Sunday, December 4, 2011

New Web Trial Soon?

Freu Test

Hooray for new content! According to WOMI’s latest devblog update, a new web trial is currently going through testing. No one’s quite sure when we’ll be seeing a release, because it appears that he finds a new bug every time he tests it. (The while loop he posted is pretty funny.) Whatever the case, it’s something to be excited about, and we get a “new” Freudia picture to go with it! SaSA will keep you posted on this release, and we’ll be sure to give it a full review when it’s released.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

RKS Tank Glitch

Don’t know how I missed this one! Two years ago, YouTube user Deatrathias discovered a glitch involving pick-up items and energy tanks. It seems that if you access the sub-menu while collecting a health/weapon energy pick-up item, the game registers item usage within the sub-menu, which results in the use of an energy tank. If you don’t have one, then the game gives you negative energy tanks. I was unable to recreate this glitch in RKS version 1.06a and the RKSF web trial, which leads me to believe that the bug was fixed by disabling menu access (or perhaps controls entirely) upon item pick-up. Still, I thought this was an interesting little thing. Perhaps there are still a few other distinct bugs in the game?

Monday, November 28, 2011

Site and Social Adjustments

We’ve made some changes. We’re still getting a little used to things, but in the end, it should be alright. The current blog layout isn’t permanent, mind you, and I’m still making adjustments here and there, so if you guys have any suggestions or comments, feel free to voice them below! Now, time to address a few things~

Sidebar Links

I will be adding more links in the sidebar directory as time goes on, but I need to make custom bars for some of them. I fully intend to re-link zaku6’s site, as well as WOMI’s and other various RKS artists, but it’s very clear that they need specialized “not-safe-for-work” buttons. With that, if there are any site recommendations you have, feel free to let me know. Also, I took away the counter, because we really didn’t need that.

Social Network Updates

I’m pleased to announce that I took all of 20 seconds to make social networking accounts for the blog! That way, you don’t have to deal with a bunch of non-RKS drivel in following my main accounts (assuming you’re just there for the RKS stuff). That said, in addition to our Facebook group, you can now find us on Twitter and Google+, where we’ll be posting all of our major updates and some other random things. It’ll be great! In addition, the G+ page seems to be a pretty nice place for discussion amongst team members for things like the fandub and translation updates, so there’s that! I like it.

Site WritersRKS Famicom

This is probably a mistake, but whatever. I want more activity here, so I’m thinking of doing a weekly art update. RKS art is still being made, so I figure this would be a good place to show it off. With that, I need a writer who I can specifically dedicate to that. I mean, pictures like the one on the right are pretty cool and deserve to be shown off. (Click it for the artist’s Pixiv.) I haven’t heard from Viper in a while, and there is one other person that comes to mind, so if anyone’s interested, post below, as per usual.

That’s pretty much it. I hope you like the new changes, and hopefully there will be many more that you’ll like in the future!

“Hey, you’re messing everything up!”

Greetings, all. If you’ve checked into Schwer and Schwer Alike and are noticing that everything looks different/like garbage, it’s because I’ve updated the Blogger software to the newer templates (finally). I’m screwing around with stuff, and I’ll need to probably make a new logo, as well as some new sidebar buttons. I promise this won’t be going on for very long, and in the end, we’ll all be better for it. In the meantime, while you’re waiting for this travesty of a website to fix itself, why not help yourself to some Darkseed 2?

Sunday, November 27, 2011

New RKSF Title Page

New RKSF ArtworkFor those of you who keep up with WOMI’s updates and/or read the comment sections here (I swear, I should just make you Anons writers for this blog), you may have noticed the changes made to the RKSF product page. These changes are showing that we’re one step closer to a release of the Freudenstachel. Are you excited? I’m excited. We probably won’t be seeing a Comiket release, but I don’t think that really matters. All that counts is that Freudenstachel is on the horizon, and we’ll be making landfall soon enough.

By the way, the dub is still happening, as is the WOMI interview. There’s a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that we’re working on, so don’t think we’ve abandoned that ship. Also, Kiora’s doujinshi is still sitting in storage, and I really need to do something about that… I guess we’ll see what 2012 brings, other than the end of the world, of course.

ps the art style is great, haters gonna hate~

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Rosenkreuzstilette AfterStory Sequel in the Works

For those of you who follow us both on Twitter, you may have noticed that Kiora and I were talking a while back about further RKS-related doujinshi works. Eventually, Kiora sent me a link to a blog post containing the latest page in his AfterStory tale. For those of you not in the know, the original AfterStory… story has Zorne seeking revenge against RKS for the death of her father while Iris attempts redemption by allowing Spiritia to kill her. Freudia appears to be overcome by Zorne’s overwhelming power, and Iris asks Tia to end her life.

Here’s the first page of the sequel. As far as I can tell, Spiritia is a very forgiving lady and doesn’t comply with Iris’s request. However, who knows what sort of things may be going on behind the scenes with Freudia and Zorne, so here’s hoping that we’ll see some serious action in the future!

If you want to keep up with this stuff or just see what Kiora’s up to on a normal basis, then you should follow him on Twitter and on his blog. I’m sure we’ll be seeing further updates. You’ll probably see them faster than you would here, since I’m really bad at keeping up this blog and RKS news and all of that.

There’ve been some complications on my end, so I can’t say for sure when you’ll be seeing the next “WOMI’s Latest Update” translation post. As a matter of fact, if anyone can read and write Japanese, I could probably use your help with some things here at Schwer and Schwer Alike, so please post a comment or drop me a line. You’d be a huge help. Well, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

The Answer

Friends, Imperials, countrymen: lend me your ears!

Transcript:

Hello, everyone. This is Leif Landevag, Project Coordinator for Darkside Translations. Most of you know me as TDOMMX - scriptwriter, programmer, graphics guru, and all-around jack-of-all-trades for Rosenkreuzstilette ~Blades of the Rose Cross~.

I have some very good news:

Those of you who have been following the Darkside Translations website (and I'm assuming that's maybe three of you), you probably know that, back in August, we hosted a series of panels on Neon Genesis Evangelion at Montreal Otakuthon. A little while before that, I got in touch with an aspiring young voice actress by the name of Amanda Lee. Long story short: I was really impressed with her English rendition of "Beautiful World" (for those of you who don't know, that's the ending theme to Rebuild of Evangelion), and she was honored that I wanted to use her performance as the ending theme to one of our panels.

The panels themselves were a huge success, and the songs we used were very well-received; I know that for a fact because a lot of people came up to the front of the room at the end asking us to upload them onto YouTube or onto our site, so we've done exactly that, if you haven't heard them before.

Anyway, a couple of weeks later, I got off of work early and remembered that TrickMasterMint was trying to produce an English dub of RKS with the help of Voice Acting Alliance. So, I decided to try and get in touch with Amanda to see if she'd be interested in taking part. At the same time, I remembered something I'd heard in an earlier podcast and decided to give it a shot. So, after sending out a couple of emails, I started translating the spoken dialogue for Spiritia Rosenberg and Freudia Neuwahl into English. When I was finished with that, I went to check my mail - and my jaw hit the floor when I realized I'd gotten a response. I listened to the two MP3s that were attached... and I nearly had a heart attack. Tristan MacAvery, the original voice of Neon Genesis Evangelion's Gendo Ikari, not only wanted to take part in the English dubbing, but he wanted to actively, in his own words, "pimp your game".

OH, YEAH!

Naturally, this was a huge confidence boost. And, over the next few weeks, I was able to get in touch with a good number of professional voice actors. And my luck kept snowballing. Long story short: Amanda said "yes", and a good number of the people I had contacted wanted to take part in the "Blades of the Rose Cross" Project. I've received a couple of amazing auditions, and I have many more on the way.

So, yes, it's official: Rosenkreuzstilette is being dubbed into English. But not just any dub. LadyMiaow's YouTube review of our original English release [in the video description] noted that we could teach professional outfits a thing or two about localization. And our English dub is going to do the same.

As of this recording, Amanda Lee, Tristan MacAvery, and Kira Buckland are officially part of our cast. The first clip I posted was taken from one of the MP3s Tristan had originally sent me, and the second was an excerpt of Kira's delightful audition for the part of Iris. As for the others: Patrick Seitz, the voice of Ragna the Bloodedge from BlazBlue and Count Vlad Tepes Dracula from Castlevania, has expressed interest in taking part. Cristina Vee, who a lot of you know as Noel Vermillion from BlazBlue, Nanoha Takamichi from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, and Louise Leblanc de la Valliere from Familiar of Zero, will not only be taking part, but she'll be helping us with the casting and directing. Jennifer Alyx, the voice of Fate Testarossa Harlaown in Nanoha, will be acting alongside Cristina. I should note that none of the voice actors have been cast yet and we're still looking for five or six more voice actresses, so this is far from final.

Alright, enough with the buildup already. I'm sure all of you want to hear them in action right now, don't you? First, a couple of disclaimers, though:

1) These clips were taken from auditions, some of which were recorded without ever having heard the Japanese voices and with little or no direction.

2) I'm not an audiophile, but I'm a very quick study. I've applied a bit of filtering to try and compensate for the MP3 quality loss, and to try and recreate some of the special effects in the Japanese audio track, but I'm still no expert. So, if it ends up sounding like crap: sorry, I'm a newbie at this, so, uh, it's the best I can do.

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy!

For those of you who dove head-first into this wall of text and didn't notice the underlined heading: this is a transcript of the MP3 at the top of this post. The one in red and blue. Start over and pay attention if you want to hear the voice samples - I'm not gonna transcribe them for ya. That'd kinda defeat the point, y'know.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Well, what do we have here...?

Hi, guys. TDOMMX here.

Things have been pretty interesting these past few weeks. How interesting? Well, I'd better not say just yet since four people have nearly gone into cardiac arrest (myself included) as a result of this series of developments...

In any event, I'll just leave this here. Curious to know what it means? If you live in the New York area, you'll find the answer with one of the vocal guests at Anime Syracuse Festival 2011 this weekend. The rest of you... well, we'll try and fill you in next week.

Update: As I mentioned in the comments 2 days ago, some very welcome surprises have come up that I'd like to work into our announcement. This will not be my usual wall-of-text deal, so please bear with us while we get things ready.

For those of you who can't stand the suspense: I apologize, I apologize again. As a token of forgiveness, please, take this psycho.

See you later.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Original Story Contest Idea Thing

This is only a contest in name only. There’s no prizes beyond bragging rights, at least for now. I don’t really intend on including anything, but if this gets a decent response, I might compile everything into a printable .pdf or something. So yeah, here’s the deal. There are a lot of talented artists and authors out there, and the universe of Rosenkreuzstilette is pretty interesting with a lot of untold stories. So we, as the fans, should tell a story. Or something. This is just a quick thing to maybe re-spark some RKS interest until the super big awesome thing we’re working on happens.

You will be given three scenarios, and the task is to write a short story or draw a comic based on one of those scenarios. When you’re done, post it somewhere and link us, or submit it directly. That’s it! It doesn’t matter where your level of writing or drawing is. This is purely for fun. I will be participating as well simply as a means to help with my writing and seriously get started on some RKS work. Okay, here we go:

[Scenario 1]
Unlike the events of the original game, Schwer-Muta’s birthday is actually remembered. Everyone decides to throw her a party that she’ll never forget. This story is a comedy where everything goes right or everything goes horribly wrong.

[Scenario 2]
Based on the concept of Kiora’s doujinshi, Zorne, heartbroken at the loss of her adoptive father, severs her ties with her Magi friends in order to confront and defeat Spiritia, who she believes killed him. In a quest for revenge, she stands against everyone she knows for the sake of her fallen father. This story can be told from the perspective of any Magi, including Spiritia or Zorne, and can end with Zorne winning, losing, or neither.

[Scenario 3]
Despite her best efforts, Spiritia fails in her attempt to defeat Iris, who is able to convince the others that Tia’s ideals are simply a sign of weakness in the grand scheme of things. With Spiritia dead, the war against the Empire goes as planned, with the main eight bosses acting as generals on the Magi side. Various magic uses are brought forth in a call-to-arms to stand together as a magical army against the Church. Write a story about the happenings of one of those soldiers. The soldier will be an original character and can be male or female.

What do you think? I think this could be fun, so it’s worth a shot, right?

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Womi and Womi Alike

WOMI updates, SaSA... doesn't? A summary of things I missed over the last month:
- Eifer done, screenshot is of Opening Stage Eifer.
- Updated Schirach. Didn't go to C80.
- Skipped Pamela and finished twins.
- Finished Pamela.

And for the current update:
"Been working on the castle bosses, but I don't have a screenshot. Instead, you get the updated versions of the character portraits. Only managed to get one boss's graphics done, but September has quite a few holidays, so I should be able to get something done.
TIRED."




Posted by that-one-guy-that-never-actually-posts-but-does-all-the-tls-anyway.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Where’s the latest WOMI update?

I haven’t forgotten about you guys. I’m working out some issues right now, but everything should be back on track soon. When I get stuff settled, I’ll be back to regularly scheduled updates concerning the game that isn’t coming out. Just as a little filler thing, I’ll go ahead and say this about RKS:F.

The game’s current release date is “when it’s done.” If it is completed close to a Comiket, it will be sold at a Comiket. If not, it’s probably going straight to stores.

There you have it. I’ll be back soon with further details. Thanks! *punches crappy internet card*

Sunday, August 7, 2011

WOMI's Latest Update: Part 7

A timely update!?
  • Took a while, but finally finished Schirach. She was too difficult in test-playing her, so I had to mess around with the algorithm a lot..
  • Got most of the graphics done, going to finish up everything after I get some people to test play things.
  • Working on Eifer now. Then Pamela, then the twins. The twin battle should be pretty good.
  • And while I want to go to comiket, I'm going to just ignore it for the time being and concentrate on finishing this up.
LOVE IS OVER.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

WOMI’s Latest Update: Part 6

  • All the black cross stages are done with new enemies, and he's working on Schirach.
  • He’s going to be showing character portraits since he doesn't want to spoil stuff.
  • Hopes he hasn't fallen out of practice drawing.
  • Won't be attending Comiket for obvious reasons.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Sunday, July 24, 2011

WOMI’s Latest Update: Part 5

Meant to update this yesterday.

  • Working on stages first instead.
  • Twins and Schirach stages are pretty much done, so I'll be working on Pamela's and Eifer's for now.
  • Adding in new normal enemies as well.
  • I'd like to keep the stages and bosses a secret for now, so I'll refrain from posting screenshots of them. But now I don't know what I'll post for next week!

Our resident translator says: “Someone mailed in saying he was impressed with WOMI for not giving up, even though it's just a doujin work and really, he doesn't have the obligation to, unlike a certain company. WOMI said Isemiya is probably crying tears of blood right now (though he doesn't know since he hasn't heard from him).”

There you have it. Things are looking good!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

WOMI’s Latest Update: Part 4

I actually had the TL for this yesterday. Whoops!

  • Schwer's stuff is a secret.
  • Also, according to the test players Liebea's attack is way too easy and anyone should feel ashamed if they get hit by it. So I changed that around.
  • Finally finished Schwer, taking a small break right now.
  • Finally, pretty much done with the OP stage and the first 8 stages and bosses. I still have some graphics to make and some voices to ask around for, but it's in a playable state. Hooray.
  • I had hoped for this all to be done last month, but with all the new moves and changes, it took quite a while. I didn't really like how Zorne jumped around and made everything impossible to dodge in the trial, so I tried to tone that down as much as possible. We'll see in the next test play.
  • What's left is finishing the other half of the levels and programming the story stuff in. I hope to keep going strong until the end. I can finally start working on the black cross people now. Exciting.

Straight from WOMI’s mouth to you.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

WOMI’s Latest Update: Part 3

Part, the third!

  • Finished Zorne and Sichte, working on Schwer now.
  • They've changed quite a bit since the trial. Schite all around, and Zorne has some new moves.
  • When in desperation mode, the HURRY blocks will appear, mecha zorne will appear, and she'll be jumping all around the place. It's kind of pretty busy!
  • Couldn't work on it as much as I wanted the week before, but I think I can finish Schwer this week.
  • With that, the first 8 stages and bosses should be done, and then it can be test played (although I still need to work on some graphics).
  • Someone reported a bug where they get stuck hopping instead of jumping no matter what they do. Can't reproduce it, so I doesn't know how to fix it.

There you go.

Friday, July 8, 2011

WOMI’s Latest Update: Part 2

Yeah, this was a thing.

  • Worked on Dolis. She was to the point of being undodgeable, but now she should be fine. Fought her all day today.
  • Working on Sichte now. Thinking about scrapping everything from the trial version and going a different route, who knows.
  • I've been posting up screenshots, but I don't want to ruin stuff for people with spoilers and stuff, so I'll try to refrain from posting some things (Schwer might be one of them!).

That’s about it. Enjoy.

Friday, June 24, 2011

RKS Facebook Group Updated

I did that update group thing on Facebook for the RKS group. Only 77 members as of this writing? Silliness. Join up, everyone.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_141097580312

Word.

Monday, June 20, 2011

WOMI’s Latest Update: Part 1

I’m tired of coming up with titles for these posts, so I’m just going to call them the “WOMI’s Latest Update” series. Here’s the latest update.

  • New Grolla screenshot. Subject to change.
  • The new Grolla is different from the one in the web trial.
  • Had a few people test play the game over the last week. Bosses were too easy (beaten on first run), so he's gone back and changed Luste and Trau.
  • Plans on doing Liebea's and Dolis's upgrades next.
  • At the moment Schwer's attack pattern might be undoable on a no-damage run, so he's saving it for last because of how difficult it will be to balance.
  • Can't say anything on release date in fear of jinxing himself.
  • He plans to have Dolis done and screenshots up by the weekend.
  • The new bosses will be done after the originals.

There you have it. Also, come on, Justin. The guy is working on this game by himself. Don’t bother him with extra work like fankits and hi-res images.

Monday, June 13, 2011

RKSF Update: PSMO Edition

Alrighty, here’s some more info from the latest [erka:es] update, courtesy of our resident translator.

  • He finished tweaking (more like completely remaking) Luste's and Liebea's bosses this week.
  • Finished most if not all of their graphics as well.
  • Liebea's was in one of the trials, but her tower stage theme got sucked in with Trau's stage, so now she has a new one with all new movements.
  • Put up Pamela because of the request. But he doesn't have any movements or attacks or anything done for her yet, so you can expect a lot of changes of those pictures from now until the end.
  • He's fixing up Grolla now. He plans on taking out the slippery floor in the boss room because screw that.
  • Apparently they changed Freudenstachel to go back to max power after losing a life? Taking a while to balance that out with boss difficulty.
  • Mail form should point to the new address, so you can use that now. Don't expect any answers from Isemiya though.
  • Hissatsu mailed in laughing that Dolis was overpowered. Apparently Dolis's dodging during her attacks in the later half of her lifebar is too good, so he plans on changing that.
  • He'll work on her or Sichte afterwards.
  • He's going about randomly but Schwer will definitely be last, because her attack pattern will be the most complicated.
  • The next trial will probably come out after he's finished up the game, so it'll be a while.

We got a Pamela update thanks to ColonelRVH, so that’s pretty cool, and apparently WOMI has enough programming knowledge to turn this into a one-man show. Will we see a return to Isemiya? WHO KNOWS? Will we see a winter Comiket release? Almost without a doubt. Stay tuned!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Remember when Rockin' Android said they'd localize RKS?

Well guess what? It's NOT going to happen. I have gotten in touch with Adam Milecki, an employee at Rockin' Android through e-mail to ask him questions about that interest of localizing Rosenkreuzstilette (among other things) that were sent to Enrique Galvez, and he has confirmed to me that Rockin' Android has no plans of localizing the Rosenkreuzstilette. The interviews you may have read about from a very old blog post here at Schwer and Schwer Alike clearly had some misconceptions and misunderstandings with such and such interviews that my have you (myself included) believing they would translate and publish the game to North American shores.

"Hello, ViperAcidZX, sorry for the delay. Unfortunately, any articles you've seen saying that we will be localizing Rosenkreuzstilette are erroneous. We have no plans to do so. Apparently there was some misunderstanding during that interview. Sorry to disappoint you."

So for those of you hoping that Rosenkreuzstilette would maybe get released on PlayStation 3 (and maybe even on Xbox 360 and PC via downloadable purchase through Steam), it's not going to happen unless someone else in the gaming industry has an interest of localizing the game, which will probably be never unless Capcom doesn't mind a direct Mega Man-clone circulating the gaming market. Although I certainly hope Rosenkreuzstilette's localization is not handled by the likes of SNK Playmore after their beautiful handiwork of localizing Studio SiestA's Trouble Witches NEO!. But hey, fans of the original PC game still have the updated English patch to look forward to.

With that, I bid you guys adieu...

Monday, May 30, 2011

Another Freudenstachel update!? Zounds!

Here’s the word on the latest [erka:es] blog update. You know where it is. I don’t need to link.

  • WOMI’s working on it, slowly but surely. First 8 stages are done; Luste’s and Trauare’s are getting revamped with new enemies and stuff.
  • Stages should be done and ready to playtest somewhere in June.
  • Bosses will come later.
  • WOMI listed a new e-mail on the blog: erkaes_wm (at) hotmail.co.jp. He felt it was a bad idea to link people of all ages to his incredibly NWS website to contact him, so there’s an e-mail just for talking to WOMI about RKS stuff

That’s pretty much it! Progress is being made. Have at it.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Overdue update? I guess.

About a week or so ago, there was an update to the [erka:es] blog about what’s going on with RKSF. I really didn’t real like updating for a small blog post, but nothing’s happened and I don’t feel like being lazy anymore/waiting for the next big batch of information updates, so here’s what the deal is/was, thanks to our resident translator:

  • First half of the bosses are done, and about 15 new normal enemies and traps have been made and are working in game.
  • Picture is of one of the enemies and a trap.
  • WOMI thinks he'll be able to finish all of the normal enemies in about a week (today), and then he'll work on mid-bosses and then the latter bosses.
  • First 8 bosses are done, but he wants to work on them, not satisfied, etc.
  • Because he's working on just RKSF stuff, his own site won't be updated, so everything will be posted on erka:es' website.

There you have it. They’re pressing forward. Let’s hope for the best!

Monday, May 9, 2011

No Ice This Summer! RKSF Delayed with No Release at C80

Well, it’s the moment everyone’s been waiting for (and maybe secretly dreading). The latest update to the [erka:es] blog brings us news that a Freudenstachel release at Summer Comiket isn’t even possible. Here are the details according to our resident translator:

  • No changes, even the weekly updates are gone.
  • So WOMI's pretty much just going to just wait it out now.
  • He's continuing with his part of the game as much as he can, enemies and such.
  • Summer Comiket is an impossibility.
  • Even if WOMI wanted to go (because they've already applied for it), it's in Isemiya's name, so WOMI can't do anything.
  • [erka:es] is run by Isemiya, so if it happens to just up and disappear, then updates will be posted on WOMI's site. He also has backups of stuff, so that shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully.
  • He thanks people for sending e-mails, but he doesn't want to jinx anything, so he's just going to shut up about it getting completed and just work on what he can while he waits for Isemiya.
  • And if Isemiya doesn't come back, then RKSF will turn out according to what's in WOMI's head. Which can't be good.

Knowing what I do about WOMI, I would actually love to see a special edition of RKS that features nothing but his ideas. It could only be the Modern Warfare 2 of the doujin world, the pinnacle of independent game, nay, of human creation. Just kidding. It would probably be terrible in the best way, and I’d still pay money for it. Alas, we’ll see how all of this turns out. Until then, have fun playing the original game over and over again. Maybe you can start practicing for the inevitable RKS Challenges I’ve got planned up~

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Hugh Man's RKS Sprite Movie



So this is done. I haven't watched it yet, but I can say this for sure: reception has not been kind. For those of you familiar with the likes of Retsupurae, there's a thread on the Something Awful forums created by a user named LesBeardly that, like Retsupurae, provides a voice-over highlighting many of the things wrong with the Let's Play community on YouTube. While LesBeardly didn't specifically point out the RKS fan video, someone else did, and the criticism over it has been... quite scathing, I should say.

Honestly, if you have an hour and a half to kill, give this a shot and post your criticism here. Like I said, I haven't watched it myself, so I don't know the scale of the positive or negative (though I can say that a preview screencap that says the Seyfarth have been "wiped out" is less than attractive to my Grolla-fanboy tastes), but I think it would be beneficial to Hugh Man and the RKS community as a whole if this is watched and critiqued. I think.

Monday, April 25, 2011

WOMI updates, SaSA writes about it.

A new [erka:es] post! Isemiya’s given himself a deadline of the beginning of Golden Week. We’ll see what that brings!

According to Justin, WOMI’s also updated his own personal INCREDIBLE NOT WORK SAFE site with new information concerning the RKSF project. Nah, just kidding. It’s mostly people saying that dealing with the delay must suck with WOMI going “Yeah, it does.” That’s pretty much it.

I’ll be making a new and interesting update soon! You’ll see it shortly!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The curtain has… not done anything, actually!

I’d like to say that the curtain has risen, but it hasn’t. Still, who knows what has yet to unfold? Unfortunately, WOMI doesn’t.

So apparently, over the weekend, WOMI went to Isemiya’s house. This resulted in nothing, because there was no answer. According to the post, this isn’t the first time this has happened, and WOMI claims that he should’ve seen this coming. There are a lot of words in the post, but it all boils down to one thing:

The future of Rosenkreuzstilette ~Freudenstachel~, and [erka:es] for that matter, is completely unknown.

What we’ve got so far are some images, one of which hints at a new weapon, another that shows an inspired enemy from Mega Man 2’s Wood Man stage. Aside from that, you get a sliver of hope that RKSF will actually see a release.

Well, until we get some further information, you have the Grollschwert novelization and the revamped English patch to look forward to. I’ll actually be taking the scripts we have and doing some rewriting later this week. I may also try to get in touch with WOMI myself to see if we can arrange a talk. It’ll be something, I guess.

Until next time, everyone! Hopefully…

Saturday, April 16, 2011

You will probably not see RKSF at C80.

At the rate things are going, this is entirely plausible. The latest [erka:es] update shows a timeline of what’s been going on with RKSF and what’s left to do before the game is finished. This is what’s left:

  • The Fortress Bosses (think Sepperin Castle and Iris Palace)
  • Variations of normal enemies (probably for the Fortresses)
  • Story Mode
  • Balance and debugging
  • Voices

So, literally, almost everything. The main levels are supposedly finished, and I assume that the rest of the RKS cast are accounted for (aside from the Dark Magi, which are probably part of the Fortress Bosses or perhaps like the Doc Robots). Beyond that, there’s no Story Mode in place, there’re barely any voices beyond what we’ve already heard in the demo, and the game hasn’t even reached the testing phase yet.

Apparently, Isemiya was supposed to have had the Fortress Bosses done by February 19th. At this point, he has pretty much gotten in touch with WOMI every Sunday to extend his own deadline for a week. It is now April, and his latest update is “I’ll have it done by the 17th!”. So now, WOMI just wants to go to his house to punch him. WOMI (along with the rest of us, I’m sure) is hoping that Isemiya still wants to even finish the game, so keep your fingers crossed!

Oh, and don’t bother e-mailing them about it. WOMI can’t seem to read any of the mail form stuff, and there’s a chance that Isemiya, for one reason or another, can’t (or won’t) either. It probably all goes to Isemiya, but because they’re not really in contact, WOMI can’t do anything about it.

Welp, we’ll see what happens, I guess!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Here are some words about magical girls.

I got bored. Here are words.

----

As the chamber doors closed behind her, Spiritia stepped softly yet firmly through the deep snow, slowly approaching the lady in the white dress who stood silently at the distant cliff's edge, staring into a blue emptiness. The wind was strong, blowing sheets of snow almost completely horizontally. The icy woman's dress flowed somewhat violently, like the waves of a storm-ridden ocean. As Spiritia got closer and closer, the chill that ran down her spine was not from the frigid world around her. She stopped and looked upon her dear friend while she gathered words to speak and the courage to speak them.

"Fr-"

Before she could utter a full syllable, the princess of ice, her best friend Freudia, broke the silence, her back still turned.

"Tia," she spoke with a hint of happiness, "it overjoys me to see that you've changed your mind, for certainly, you've come for no other reason."

Spiritia's heart ached, but she remained steadfast in her decision.

"I'm sorry, Freu," she replied. "I can't let you do this."

Freudia bit her lip as her teary eyes stayed out of view. Her heart, too, ached with a pain that only comes from love and loss.

"Tia..." she nearly sobbed. "Surely you've not sided with those who hunt us."

"No, Freu." Spiritia shook her head. "I haven't sided with anyone. Both we and the Empire are wrong!"

Freudia's voice suddenly cracked from one of sadness to one of disbelief and frustration. She turned to face Spiritia, staring coldly into her eyes.

"How dare you place us on the same level as our persecutors!" she exclaimed. "Tia, what has become of you!?"

Spiritia, slightly taken aback by Freudia's sudden change in tone, responded in turn. "I should ask you the same, Freu! RKS would never start a war like this! You would never do something this heinous!"

Freudia began to walk towards her. Her footsteps sounded as though she walked on concrete; her feet never once sunk beneath the white. She moved atop the snow, like a god on water. Her eyes glowed a passionate blue. Her hands visibly trembled.

"You say we are the heinous ones!? Tia, do you not recall our own childhood!? We watched as Imperial soldiers destroyed our homes, our families, and for what!? Because we were born gifted!?" Freudia's voice grew angrier as she reminisced of the history she and Spiritia shared. "The Holy Empire is nothing more than a devilish hypocrisy that fears our kind. They began this holy crusade to end our existence years ago, and since the beginning, there has been no retribution! That ends today, Spiritia!"

Freudia raised her hands, manifesting gigantic sharp icicles from the air around her. "RKS shall stand above the Empire and rain upon them the justice our people wish to be served!" With a swift swing of her arms, the icicle spikes flew in Spiritia's direction, flying past her and crashing loudly into the ground behind her. This was but a taste of Freudia's righteous hate. Spiritia did not flinch.

"Freudia!" she cried out, her hand beginning to glow. "Justice cannot be served through fire! You're the one who taught me that! Are you saying that we should throw away our ideals for the sake of a stupid war!?"

Freudia turned away once more.

"The rules have changed, Tia," she said. "We have done nothing but uphold our end of the bargain since Father Rosenkreuz's sacrifice. Now, Liebea's brother is a prisoner-of-war. The Zeppelin family is in a panic. There are even rumors of Magi who've allied with the Empire! We stand here, on these grounds, victims of circumstances we did not bring upon ourselves." She turned back to Spiritia, an icicle summoned to her hand. "To hell with ideals! We must take a stand!"

"There has to be some other way, Freu!" Spiritia begged. "I'm sure of it!"

With tears forming in her frozen eyes, Freudia asked once more. "Tia, my sister..." she said. "You have been gone far too long. Please, Tia. I ask you again. Will you stand by us?" She extended her free hand. "Will you stand by me...?"

Spiritia, stricken with grief, shook her head one more time.

"No, Freu," she replied. "I won't let this go on. I'll show you myself that there's another way. I'm sorry..."

Freudia slowly lowered her hand. "You're a fool, Tia. ...I will make you understand." Suddenly, Freudia fired the icicle from her other hand directly at Spiritia. In an instant, Spiritia returned fire with a magical shot from her hand, shattering the icy spear on impact.

She looked to Freudia with horrified eyes, only to be met with an icy gaze. Two sisters, two best friends, stood on opposite sides of a battlefield, engaged in a duel neither wants to fight in a war for which neither asked. In those two shots, there were more words and more feelings than any other time that either could remember. Two women, firm in their beliefs, now stared their destinies straight on. Spiritia couldn't leave things as they were. She needed to defeat the one she loved more than anyone to prove that this war need not be fought, and Freudia was going to resist her every step, every shot, of the way.

The curtain had risen on a duel of fates. On that day, into the tundra, destiny would forever be etched.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Of Belmonts and Paleschs

To those of you who couldn’t figure out the meaning of the rot13 cypher from the previous entry, here it is in all its legible glory:

“Unfortunately for everyone looking forward to Karl Mode (and those who can actually read Japanese), WOMI also stated in this update that they didn't have enough time to finish up their April Fool's joke for this year, so he went ahead and posted what they had. Karl Mode is not a real thing, so you can go ahead and remove that stuff from the RKS wiki, you jerks.”

Karl Palesch, Liebea’s brother mentioned in the first game, is not a playable character in Freudenstachel and was created for the sole purpose of this year’s April Fool’s joke. However, WOMI wrote that they didn’t have the time needed to complete the joke in its entirety, so what they had was posted for our viewing pleasure. What’s funny to me is that some people immediately pounced on the opportunity to announce a mode that very openly listed as fake in the [erka:es] blog, going as far as to update the wiki, listing Kahl/Karl as a playable character. This emphasizes the danger in having some people directly involved with the flow of information concerning the RKS series, something I’ve been very adamant amount since the wiki’s creation. Entries will get updated with whatever people feel is right or wrong, regardless of accuracy, and eventually, people take notice. This is not the way things should be handled.

Therefore, I have come up with a solution. Soon, we of Schwer and Schwer Alike will no longer support the RKS Wiki; we will instead create our very own on-site encyclopedia with all of the important and accurate information readily available to all readers of this site. It will not publicly editable; all information posted will be done from within the site, and any additions or requests will have to be run through site administration before it will be posted. This “RKSclopedia” will see its creation alongside the upcoming main website, of which the details will be announced at a later time.

This is the best possible scenario I can come up with, so please be aware of it. I don’t think I can actually *delete* the current RKS wiki, nor will I try to. The only thing I can request is that when the RKSclopedia is created, it should be considered the authority and the first option for RKS information, and I would like that to be known. We’ll worry about that when we actually get there, though.

In other news, I can’t wait to see what Hugh Man has in store for that RKS sprite-based movie, I still have a Kiora doujinshi to give away, and some other things are blah blah blah I’ll post later when I actually get it all together. Until then!

Monday, March 28, 2011

New [erka:es] Update!

As noted in the comments for the previous entry, [erka:es] has made an update detailing their current progress on RKSF, as well as a surprise addition! They’re currently working on the last bosses of the upcoming sequel, in addition to handling various balance issues in the game. This is good news, considering the disaster that has befallen Japan as of late, so it’s good to know that Isemiya and WOMI are alright.

The other, more surprising part of this update is the apparent addition of RKSF’s alternate playable character, Kahl/Karl Palesch, Liebea’s imprisoned brother from the original game. According to the included pictures and screenshots, he plays pretty much exactly like Simon Belmont of the Castlevania series, keeping everything in line with the Castlevania motif the game already has. His sprite is really big and goofy-looking, though; it tries to show off his burly physique, but it just doesn’t fit. Regardless, that’s pretty cool, and I personally can’t wait to play that mode!

Anyways, post your comments below concerning this new, exciting, and amazing thing that has happened!

Hasbeghangryl sbe rirelbar ybbxvat sbejneq gb Xney Zbqr (naq gubfr jub pna npghnyyl ernq Wncnarfr), JBZV nyfb fgngrq va guvf hcqngr gung gurl qvqa'g unir rabhtu gvzr gb svavfu hc gurve Ncevy Sbby'f wbxr sbe guvf lrne, fb ur jrag nurnq naq cbfgrq jung gurl unq. Xney Zbqr vf abg n erny guvat, fb lbh pna tb nurnq naq erzbir gung fghss sebz gur EXF jvxv, lbh wrexf.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Hey, I’m revamping the blog soon.

I’m using the outdated blogger design, and I want to make things look a little neater. With that, I’m looking to remove the background and banner in their current forms, instead going for some original RKS artwork. I’d like to start by giving this place a new and unique banner featuring our title character, Schwer-Muta Casasola Merkle, and I’d like you all to help me out! This isn’t a contest deal or anything; pretty much anyone who sends me a banner that looks like some effort went into it will have it used.

Anyone interested in helping out?

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Go donate to Japan. Do it.

Yeah, something really crazy happened over there, or something, and they need some MORNING RESCUE, so go find some Japan Red Cross outlet to donate to Japanese relief efforts. Isemiya and WOMI would be grateful, I’m sure.

★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - HELP JAPAN NOW ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/11/tsunami-aid-and-relief-how-you-can-help/..­.
►INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS http://www.ifrc.org/en/
►SALVATION ARMY http://blog.salvationarmyusa.org/
►AMERICARES http://www.americares.org/newsroom/news/massive-earthquake-tsunami-devastates...
►SAVE THE CHILDREN https://secure.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6239465/k.544E/Chil...
►GLOBAL GIVING http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/
►INT MEDICAL CORPS http://www.internationalmedicalcorps.org/Page.aspx?pid=1970
★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ – ★

Links taken from this amazing video about the current state of the hip-hop industry.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

New Luste Teuber Official RKSF Art

Well we're back, everyone. I know this got mentioned quite a bit in the comments of the previous post, but I feel as if this Luste concept art by WOMI really needs an honorable mention here on the blog in full detail. (After all, this is an Rosenkreuzstilette blog.)

You can view it here in the latest site update: NWS http://kurotama.sakura.ne.jp/diary/index.html NWS

One quick thing I'd like to add: I also stumbled onto WOMI's personal blog, and [erka:es] is still hard at work with ~Freudenstachel~. Hopefully Summer Comiket 2011 will be the date we see ~RKSF~ in it's entirety. I hope.

Monday, January 3, 2011

RKS Site Update? Projected C80 RKSF release? Gasp!

The long-awaited update to [erka:es]’s site is finally here! And what an update this one is. What should I comment on first? Well, I guess I’ll handle things in order.

First things first, there’s an update patch for the original RKS that will bring the current version of the game up to 1.06b. This patch makes the following changes to the game:

  • Changed the Key Config in the Options menu. The game will no longer allow the same key to be used twice for the OK/CANCEL/START/PAUSE functions. Also, controls can no longer be bound to function keys or special keys.
  • Fixed a bug where if you collected an item right before it disappears, the game would freeze. (Did this ever happen to anyone?)
  • Fixed a bug in which non-correct passwords would work anyway.
  • Fixed a problem where the game FPS would skyrocket in the case of losing focus to another window.
  • Fixed a bug where moving the mouse to the top of the screen in full screen mode would crash the game.
  • And a bunch of other small changes.

And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Freudenstachel news! The actual projected release date for RKSF is summer of this year, so we’re looking at a Comiket 80 release, folks! They posted up two e-mails from English speakers about the development status of the game, and they’ve assured us all that they’re working on it, and the planned release date is this year. Will we see another delay? Only time will tell! I doubt it, though.

This is especially because we have some new treats: screenshots! The title screen has changed, and we now have caps of an underwater area and a forest level. As many of you may know, the Wood Zone was originally in the beta but was taken out before the final release of RKS2; the only accessible beta stage is the Hidden Palace Zone, which was reused in Tia & Freu as the resting place of the Chaos Smaragde. Anyway, the water area is probably Trauare’s stage, and the wooded area is most likely Luste’s. In the original RKS, you basically destroy Luste’s little sky palace place a la Storm Eagle, and in the April Fool’s screenshots, Hero of Justice Luste was encountered in a forest level. We’ll just have to wait and find out!

The RKSF web demo is slated to receive the bug fixes from the 1.06b patch. Instead of releasing a patch, they will be releasing a brand-new trial version. I wonder what secrets this one has in store for us?

That’s essentially it. Go check out the screenshots. I encourage traffic to their site, so please go there and stop putting literally everything that ever happens on the wiki. Thanks!