Thinking About Sin

WLC 7.2: Tail Combat

The twins drag Ling down the dark corridors. The pink one, holding Ling's left arm, barely keeping herself from giggling. He sister, on the other hand, is equally attempting to conceal her anxiety.

"Ya don't have to," says Ling, "If ya don't want to." With purple's confused grunt, Ling continues, "I know my daughter put ya up to this."

"What? No," says the anxious twin, "I'm honored to be here tonight."

"Pinky," says Ling, turning her head, "What're we going to do tonight?"

"You're going to eat me," says the giggly twin in a raw raspy voice, then she growls, "then I'm going to eat you."

"Beauty," says Ling, turning back, "See, your sister's got a good time planned."

"I'm not going to leave this to her alone," says the lighter voiced twin, as a maid spots the trio and darts off.

"But sister, Natya will be-"

"Not there."

"Do ya two have a pair of doors to be guarding?" asks Ling, her tail wiggling its way out from her robe, "Pinky, if I asked your sister what ya would say your name is, what would she say?"

"What are you talking about?" asks the purple one, as her sister attempts to decode the question.

"Naleemi," she says, "She would call me my name." She giggles. "Sister, what would the doctor say if-"

"We're not playing this game," interrupts her sister, "and to save you time, Dr., I am Nataki."

"Nice to meet ya, Nataki," says Ling. "Glad ya can answer honestly. Now, how many are waiting for us?"

"None," says Nataki, "It's j-"

Ling slaps Nataki's butt with her tail. "Who's Natya, Naleemi?"

"She's my girlfriend," giggles Naleemi, "She's so smart. She's always planning."

"She's always scheming," mutters Nataki.

"Where's she from?"

"The North Pole!" shouts Naleemi as the twins drag Ling around a corner. "Sister's friend, Emera is from up north too."

"Solar elves?"

"Nyata is," says Naleemi, as the group reaches their destination, "Emera is a northern tree elf."

"The proper names are the horakty and the osisi," chides Nataki, opening the door into a dark bedroom. A pair of elven figures are barely visible within.

"I told you before," says a tanned elf clad in a yellow outfit otherwise identical to the twins (unlike they're bun, her hair is cut like a long bob), "if I killed your loser boyfriend, I'd be rubbing your filthy nose in it. I tell you all about how pathetically he died." She twirls a bladed tonfa. "But I didn't and I know you're only blaming me because your jealous that I'm with a princess while you hold your tongue, waiting for-"

"Jealous of a snake like you?" yells a green-clad elf of far darker complexion, her hair braided to her knees. "Princess Nataki is my friend. Friendship, have you heard of it? Is that concept too alien to you. Exploiting Naleemi is going to-"

"Friendship? Friendship, again?"

"Lmaoth, help me," mutters Nataki, as Naleemi clears her throat.

"G'day" says Ling, "Nyata and Emera, I presume."

SPINNING WITH A BIG SWORD

Whether you're a dark knight...

Or a pretty princess...

This feeling is unmatched.

Victory Pose Double Feature

In Bushido Blade 2, victory poses are locked to characters, but I've found a way to make everyone be able to strike all those poses.

This video is of Mikado first and her Shainto counterpart Kaun second doing every victory pose except their own in their Versus mode outfits.

This video is the same arrangement, but with Story mode outfits.

WLC 3.8-1: Intermission

The three geckos remain sitting around the old brick house. The empress on her conjured throne, her daughter on the conjured stool, and her mother, the wizard, on her molded dirt chair.

"So, what happened next?" asks Dalini, "What did Gank do?"

Ling tips the brim of her violet wizard hat up to eye her daughter. "Yeah," she asks in a mock tone, "Who can continue the yarn?"

Jevoi rolls her eyes, "Oh, that would be-"

"ME!" yells a specter bursting out of Jevoi's body. The ghost of a four-armed lizard woman leaps into Dalini's face.

"A GHOST!" shrieks Dalini, running out of the room, crying.

"Gank!" yells Jevoi, "You said you were going to do something cool."

"That was cool," says Gank, floating back to Jevoi, "Look."

The adults peer over to Dalini hiding behind the doorframe. The young gecko is shivering in her tattered brown dress.

"No, Gank," says Jevoi, "What would have been cool was you saying, 'Hey,' from the doorway or while sitting next to her. Walking up from the wrong angle. We've been over this."

"I saw an opportunity and I took it," says Gank, crossing all of her arms smugly.

"Gank?" asks Dalini, slowly sneaking back to the group, "You're her friend?" Dalini looks the ghastly charda up and down. "Are you dead? ...Are you my other mother?"

"Yes. Yes," Gank says with a nod, "And NO." Firm head shake. "Your mom's already told you where she is. D'ya forget?"

"Why were you in my mum?" ask Dalini.

"That's where she lives now," says Ling. She waves to Gank, "How's unlife in my daughter treating ya? Speaking of, how's the missus feel 'bout it? Sharing her wife's a**e?"

"This is not an appropriate topic," says Jevoi, raising her hands in offense, "For several reasons, Mum."

"Same old, same old, Doc. Ling," says Gank, "And that's not a problem since-"

"STOP!" says Jevoi, clamping Gank's ghost mouth shut, "We're not talking about this!" She points at Ling. "You are the worst."

"So, what happened when you beat up my mum?" asks Dalini, now on the stool again.

"Yes, continue the story," says Jevoi, sitting down, "Please, anything else, right now."

Game Manual

Here are some some details and pictures from the games' official manuals.

Mikado and her Shainto counterpart Kaun face off.

The manual pairs her with Jo as speed-type. The stats the ladies have are similar with the four swords, but the polearms are a different story. The Shainto spear is Jo's worst weapon, but the Narukagami naginata is Mikado's best. Mikado and Kaun have the maximum speed and power with the big pointy sticks!

Mikado's stats with each weapon, if you're curious are:

Weapon-----Power----Speed

Naginata----22/22----15/15 Same as Kaun with Yari (Jo is 15 and 12)

Broadsword-15/22-----12/15 Same as Jo

Katana-------12/22-----14/15 Slower than Jo

Nodachi-----15/22-----13/15 Much weaker than Jo (18)

Longsword--10/22----14/15 Slower than Jo (Tied for the weakest Char/Weapon combo in the game.)

Notes: The lowest normal power is 10 and speed is 12. NPCs and the secret duo are above the limit. Mikado is weaker and slower than Kaun with all swords except being as fast with the katana.

In the original game, Mikado and Black Lotus (aka Kokuren, aka James, aka Highwayman) are the medium characters. Sadly, I haven't found the character stats in BB1 yet.

Also, that codename: Gate of the God's Descent. That's even cooler than my nickname for her: the Empress.

Mikado and Tatsumi face off, back when she was balance and he was speed.

These scans came from Archive.org, so that's why the text is scrunched like that.

An Overview of Bushido Blade 1 & 2

I really love Bushido Blade 2, the somewhat realistic sword-fighting sequel for the PS1. Though I understand why someone may love the first game more.

Both games operate on the idea that if I stab you in the face, then you die and I win the fight right there. In the first game the area on the body for a fatal hit is much smaller, so fights could take longer. You could also break both the left arm and a leg to greatly weaken a character. Leg-breaking was removed in the sequel for being too devastating; you were reduced to only a few desperate attacks in that state.

In BB1, buttons were high, mid, and low attacks and a deflect/parry. You changed stances with the same buttons that controlled jumping snd crouching. There was also run and surrender (for when your legs were broken) buttons.

In BB2, buttons were vertical/stab and horizontal attacks, and stance change. Jumping and crouching are easier to do, as are the moves from those positions (like throwing things). Running is the same and surrender is now a pointless gimmick cutscene you can trigger for fun. Parrying is now done by hitting an attack right before the attack hits. Opposing attacks are an advantageous parry, same attack are disad. You can quit a fight from the pause menu instead of having to die; you can choose to go to either sub-menu (character select) or top-menu (main menu). Yes, those are the names they use.

BB1 has far fewer characters (6 plus Katze), but more weapons (8 plus Katze's gun) and bigger movelists, making each character feel special.

BB2 has a huge number of characters (20 plus 2 gunners), but the weapon pool (4 swords plus 2 faction exclusive polearms plus 2 guns) and special moves are less diverse. It does have dual-wielding, iaijutsu, deadly grabs, and falling to your death. The final bosses also cheat requiring breaking the first games honor rules: one wears armor (you have to stab him in the back) and the other can teleport for no dang reason (you have to hit him while he's getting back up from it).

BB1 modes are story, normal versus, 1st person link versus, training (freely fight the CPU), and chambara/slash. BB2 adds an additional training mode (commandable CPU), vs CPU, and team battle to that list.

Chambara/Slash is a vs 100 survival time trial against progressively harder mooks. This unlocks Katze the revolver user in both games and Tsubame (who traded her NPC ninja sword for an M16) and the bonus mirror match duo in 2.

Vs CPU is actually a gauntlet against every character you've unlocked (minus your chosen and one of those two bonus characters).

Team Battle has both players select one of the two factions and select 3-5 characters and weapons each. No character or weapon can be repeated for each team. CPU cannot play this mode.

Link Battle requires two copies of the game, PS1s, and TVs along with the PS1 link cable. All that just so both players could play in 1st person mode. Both games have a special maze stage exclusive to this mode.

Story mode is the only changed mode. In BB1, you fight 4 of the other characters (but are actually supposed to lead the first across the huge map, break their legs at the exit, and escape in a tunnel), the fight the last playable character and a series of NPCs. All without breaking the code of honor or getting hit.

BB2 is much simpler. There are eight stages consisting of 3-5 ninja and then boss on all (except the first). The gun characters and the final boss have no ninja. The Shainto also have a ninth stage, but it's just a choice of killing the descendant or just leaving. You have additional characters that you switch to for a stage, and, if they don't die, you unlock them.

The six normal characters in the first game and the starting six characters of the second have alternative costumes in it. You normally cannot use them elsewhere.

I'll probably post more about these games later because I have a lot I could talk about. I will definitely post pictures too. Special pictures; the kind you won't see anywhere else.

WLC 4.3: Queen of Swords

"We'll be right outside," says Jevoi to Dalini, "If you need me, just speak up." She exits the room and scowls at Ling.

"Sorry, I don't have fancy pipes," mocks Ling, "Apocalypse is happening."

"It's not about the toilet, Mum," snaps Jevoi, "You're a wizard; you have magic."

"Always thinking magic'll solve everything." Ling shakes her head. "Never thinking about the consequences."

"You don't think it's terrible conditions you were raising her in?" asks Jevoi.

Ling walks over to the little table and stares at the mock tea set. "Better conditions that Nana Ning had... minus the eternal freezing night. At least I've done a better job than Nana Ting."

"Ting?" Jevoi's caught off-guard. "You've never told me anything about Ting."

"How could I?" laughs Ling, "I never met her."

Suddenly, the door from the hall opens and six-armed elf-esque woman with a serpentine lower body slithers into the room. She's wearing a green sweater and, for the brief moment that she was entering the room, a smile. But then, she saw Ling. Now, the smile is gone; replaced with rage.

"YOU!?" yells the raven-haired demon, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? I"LL KILL YOU!" She conjures six swords and advances toward the wizard. "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

Ling sighs in resignation. "Not expecting to be forgiven, demon."

Jevoi jumps in front of the swordswoman. "Calm down, Angustias, my queen."

"Why are you stopping me?" asks Angustias, her eyes still trained on the wizard, "Why did you bring her here?"

"You know why," says Jevoi, pushing the swords down, "I want her dead too, but do you want to explain to your daughter why Nana Ling had to die?" Jevoi grabs the bronzed amazon's face and forces their eyes to meet. "She doesn't even know you yet. Don't lose sight of what matters, my queen."

Angustias drops her weapons, which fade away, and picks up Jevoi in six-armed hug. "Of course, my empress." The demon's eye briefly twitches in pain and she makes a threatening gesture toward Ling with one hand.

"Mum!" yells Dalini from the bath, "What do I do now?"

Jevoi dismounts her wife and races to the door. She hops quickly in place, alternating legs. "Oh, I'm going to help my daughter get dressed for the first time!" she squeals before calmly walking the door.

"She's stoked about this mum s***e, isn't she?" asks Ling.

"Don't f*****g talk to me," says Angustias, trying to figure out how to pose her arms in loving, motherly way.

WLC 6.B: And They Were Broom-Mates

As Ling approaches the metal windmill, the ground under it groans and shifts. A chunk of land rises up, revealing a crude staircase.

"If anyone is still alive up there," demands a young woman's voice from the dark, climbing upward, "Identify yourself."

"A passing wizard," says Ling, "Who's asking?"

"I am the Gr- hold on, give me a second," says the voice, hurrying up the stairs. As she reaches the surface, she announces, "I am the Great Witch Zingiber, Herald of Calamity."

Zingiber is a tan elven woman, barely a few centuries old, with fluffy red hair. She wears an extremely dark red cloak. Her ruby earrings are so large that the bend her long pointy ears (as they are hooked into the tips). She posed dramatically when she emerged and sneaks a look with one eye to see what reaction she garnered.

"By the Gods," says Zingiber, dropping the pose into one of exaggerated shock, "You're Dr. Ling, creator of Tendon Tearer! It's such an honour!"

L: It was a nice feeling being identified for magic for once. Wish it had been my food magic...

"Ripper, my rep precedes," says Ling, "Sorry 'bout ya're spell minefield, but I couldn't give ya a bell."

"Don't worry about that," says Zingiber. She turn around and waves for Ling to follow, "Come in, please." She giddily kicks about before squealing and charging in.

Into the darkness, Ling descends. Her orb's shine guides her until a distant glimmer sparks into view. This staircase must reach into the Underdank. If that's the case, then the sheriff was half-right.

The room at the bottom is bare, lit by the single smokeless torch hanging on the wall. A large metal door stands in the far wall inscribed with runes.

"Apple crumble and filch," says Zingiber to which the door opens. "Let me show you around."

The cavern was carved in an uneven yet cubic way, a chaotic and artificial mess. The dark stone lit by yet more smokeless torches and splattered with dried blood. An arrangement of mini mesas form a set of table and chairs with small cushions set upon them.

L: The room was a tripping hazard deathtrap. One wrong step and there's a pointy corner in your face.

"This is our main room- oh, I NEED to introduce you to the rest of the coven!" Zingiber turns down a corridor and yells, "Gudrun! You'll never guess who's here!"

"This better be good, or they better be dead," grumbles a distinctly dwarven voice from down the way.

Stepping into the room in an extremely dark green variant of Zingiber's witchy robe is a brooding pale middle-aged dwarven woman. Her hair, beard, and overdone eye shadow are as black as the stairwell Ling just crawled down. Both her long hair and beard run through simple sapphire bands.

"Why'd ya let a stranger into our lair?" asks Gudrun, "What part of secret is escaping yer erratic brain?"

"But this is Dr. Ling," whines Zingiber, "The genius that created all those body horror spells I've been practicing. She's my inspiration."

"So, ya're the lovely partner to this little psycho?" asks Ling, "Where's the third?"

L: Not a fan of being labeled a body horror wizard.

J: Then stop making new body horror spells.

L: Those are my "stop trying to kill me" spells; ya have to keep making new ones or your enemies will learn how to counter ya. Anyhow, I knew I had to distract these two to search the place.

"Elsewhere," says Gudrun, "How'd ya guess?"

"All covens have at least three witches," says Ling, "But I guess I can be your third 'til morning." Ling licks her eyeballs.

Zingiber squeals again, but Gudrun seems hesitant.

"One of my idols wants my body," she says to no one specifically. She swiftly spots Gudrun's face and falls to her knees before her. "Please, please, please, please-please, pleeeeeeeeease. We HAVE to."

Gudrun shakes her head, "We shouldn't. Not without her."

"Well, if she wants to be an equal part of this relationship then maybe she should be living with us instead of leaving us alone."

"Fair," says Gudrun, "Alright, lizard, hope ya're better than my ex-hub."

"I'll get the honey and the chaaaains!" says Zingiber darting off.

"Wait," says Ling, casting a spell on the elf. The confirmation sign appears over her head. "Carry on." She turns to the dwarf, "So, ya and this one, huh?"

"Ma always said not to stick yer tongue in crazy," says Gudrun, "But what Ma don't know won't kill her."

"Strewth."

Regret

I apologize for putting such a poorly written bad guy (technically not a villain) like Honeycrisp out here. I thought I had an idea going here, but it just fell flat. He won't be in the story much longer.

Nothing in this child-kidnapping witches plot is meant to represent anything in the real world. There's no political intent here.

WLC 5.B: Slippery When Wet

Jevoi awakens slowly. Her body greatly resists separation from the bed, adhering itself to it like honey. With considerable effort, she rises.

The cabin's shower is pleasant and its water warm. As she cleans her scales, Gank keeps watch on the cabin. The ship's distractions may not avail the lawgnome's thievish intent.

There had been no disturbances during the night, or whatever could be considered night in space. Does time even flow here in this outer void?

'She's here,' thinks Gank, 'Keep the water on.'

Jevoi slips silently back into the cabin's other room. Despite the door out still being shut, Jevoi can clearly see the gnome searching her things. Naked, but armed, Jevoi sneaks closer.

Tanglepork suddenly turns around, gun drawn. "Walked right into this, Kiddo," she says, "Where's it at?"

"Where's what?" asks Jevoi.

"Don't be coy~, Jevoi~," sings Tanglepork, "The faeriedust: where is it?"

"You think I'm some addict?" snarls Jevoi, still dripping wet, "Why would I have that?"

"You make it?" Tanglepork's voice carries sarcastic confusion. "I'm the one keeping my overzealous deputies from undoing your mommy."

"Cretin," yells Jevoi, "You have done my mum!"

"Every woman in town has done your mommy," Tanglepork rolls her pretty little eyes, "Regardless, you need to pay your taxes~."

"I'm not bribing you," says Jevoi, "How did you even get in here?"

L: I wish.

A: She doesn't pay taxes?

J: That's not- can we focus here?

"I asked Lurentooz for the key." Tanglepork holds up a purple tendril-esque key; it squirms in her hand. "Even out here, the law is abided."