Contest Update

According to a response made on 2ch, it would appear that the Japanese RKS community is also working on entries to AmethystViper's Schwer and Schwer Alike RKS Fanart Contest. That's exciting to know, and that means we'll be getting even more art entries. Let's keep this up, and make RKS popularity grow! Thank you to everyone participating!

zaku6 H-Doujinshi Cover

It's the 100th post! And what better way to celebrate 100 posts on the Schwer blog than with pornography! Recently on 2ch, the cover of zaku6's upcoming doujin, to be released at C76, was unveiled. It is entitled "Fukurou no Youni - Himawari". To be honest, I don't know what that means.

Click here for hot Freudia action or something. Not worksafe, of course.

Spiritia has the honor of acting as today's censor bar. Thanks, Tia!

RKS Fanfic Script from 2ch

A short while ago, someone wrote up a small RKS fanfiction script on 2ch. It took us a bit of time, but we finally got around to translating it, so here it is. Enjoy!

I don't think it has a title, so...

Introducing KreuzChannel, RKS HQ's Official YT Channel

I'm sure some people were wondering why the video I had uploaded to YouTube were deleted, and the reason is this! I've been working on transferring the videos over to an "official" Schwer and Schwer Alike channel called KreuzChannel.

This channel will be the one-stop YT channel for pretty much any videos that get showcased on this channel from here on. One thing to note is that I have now included a glitch showcase video (see below), and I changed the Grollschwert C72 Trial to contain all-new footage and a new translation of the opening. Some videos, such as the hidden Freudenstachel stages, mod vids, etc. will remain on my personal YouTube channel, mostly because they're annotated, and I really don't feel like doing that again.

The channel serves another purpose, though. This channel is for you guys, the Schwer readers as well. We will be accepting contributions. If you have a replay or something like that you would like to showcase, I'll record it to video and toss it up on the channel with the proper credits. Future challenge submissions or time attacks also have a place there. My intention is to create what amounts to a bulletin board of various things from the RKS community, much like how this blog is something of our public forum, since setting up an actual forum to my liking, is cumbersome for me.

Well, I hope this turns out to be something great.



2ch has started their 7th RKS thread, but it looks like discussion is pretty much dead until either Summer Comiket rolls around or some major update happens, like the web trial, so we won't be hearing much from that end for a while. In the meantime, I'll do my best to give you guys something so you don't end up bored. If anyone wants to contribute anything like fanfiction or art or whatever (AND IT'S REASONABLY WELL DONE, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), it may give me something to put up in our downtime. We shall see.

RKS English Preview Video

YouTube user djrelllik has uploaded a video showcasing our preview release of the full English patch for Rosenkreuzstilette.



Good to see that Darkside Translations got all the credit. I'm not bitter. :P

While I have this post up, I'll also say that 2ch has taken notice of the RKS Wiki, so over the next week (or whenever I finish watching Toradora!), I will be hard at work fixing up articles and making everything as accurate as I can. We have to dress to impress to show them that we are serious and love RKS! The Wiki will be complete in time for the full English release, that's for sure.

And still no Freudenstachel web trial.

Rosen Kraut Skillet Fruity Strudel

A quick update:

[erka:es] Blog Stuff:
- Isemiya appears to have fixed most if not all of the bugs in the Freudenstachel demo. It's safe to assume that the Web Trial is due out soon.
- WOMI has a Zeppy glass.

RKSF News:
- According to Isemiya, Freudenstachel will feature a stage that breaks the normal flow of gameplay. This includes the possibility of an X-style bike stage or an MM8-style jump-jump-slide-slide nightmare.
- With the return of Trauare's stage, some are wondering if Freudia will be able to swim a la Megaman 8.

2ch Stuff:
- Zorne-lover Kiora has been taking art requests in the RKS thread on 2ch. You can find them on the RKS Uploader.

RKS Blog Stuff:
- Schwer reader Sacat has informed us that he is currently working on a Stepmania simfile for Schwer-Muta's stage theme and has shown interest in stepping other songs from the game as well. (As a note, I have stepped Luste's theme. [Download]) Leave a comment for him or for us if you want to be involved.
- English RKS Wiki will be operational soon.
- RKS Challenge 009 is forthcoming.

English TL Patch Info:
- English Demo will be released no later than June 1st.
- Full English game patch will be released before the end of June.

RKS Doujin - English Version

So it would appear that the RKS doujin belongs to RKS fan Kiora, and the first three pages were available on his website/pixiv account, so we of Schwer and Schwer Alike have taken the liberty of translating and editing what's available. I'm not sure where this is headed, but we'll definitely make sure to translate and release the pages as they come out!

Download: (Mediafire)

RKS Doujin Update

A new doujin page has been taken straight from the uploader. When our translator wakes up, we'll get on bringing you an English version, unless one of you who can read Japanese comments first. You'll be credited accordingly.

So 2ch discussion has been interesting as of late. Shortly after they posted about Truant's Grolla picture, which one found quite cute, and the RKSF Prologue stage, they began claiming Rosenkreuzstilette waifus. Now, I normally wouldn't ask this, but whatever. I figure the results won't be much different from the poll anyway, but here's our question. Schwer readers, who is your RKS waifu?

A Talos of Two Castles

Thanks, 2ch.

UNBEKANNT Results and MegaMari

It was not easy selecting a winner, despite there being only 4 entries anyway. It was a difficult decision, as I liked all of them. First, here are the entries in order of submission:

-----------------

"A Day in a Gamer's Life" by Lion
- A gamer new to Rosenkreuzstilette thinks Schwer-Muta is cute and tries her stage first. Little does he know that everything waiting for him on the other side is just one big joke. The story is written from the point-of-view of the gamer in question and provides a commentary definitely felt by all the first time they entered the stage of the mighty Schwer-Muta.

"Die Konfrontation mit der Katze Mädchen" by Killing_Doll
- Schwer-Muta has gone berserk, and because Spiritia has gone missing and Sichte is off at a Beer Festival, Graf Michael Sepperin has put Grolla in charge of handling the situation. This story is described in the beginning of the tale as "Grolla's fight for existence... Her battle for love, peace and all... Her biggest challenge yet..."

"Rosenkreuzstilette Grollschwert: The Abridged Series, Prologue" by ViperAcidZX
- This story is a re-telling of the RKS Grollschwert intro. You'd have to read this one, as there are no words. Turns out that Grolla is a huge Zero fangirl. Who knew?

"Here Comes the Break" by GammaShade
- Freudia has sent Spiritia to make Luste wear pants, but upon entering her stage, Spiritia is overcome with a sudden urge to dance... with disastrous results.

-----------------

I've gotta hand it to you guys. In spite getting so few entries, you really outdid yourselves. Unfortunately, the rules state that there can only be one winner, and that winner is... Killing_Doll! Something about that story kept me giggling the whole time. Congrats! I will be posting the stories later, unless the authors don't want them shared. Just let me know in the comments!

For those of you who don't know what MegaMari is, it's another Megaman clone based on the Touhou Project series. It's infamous for being brutal, combining the platforming action of the Rockman series with the danmaku aspects of the Touhou world. While waiting for the release of the Freudenstachel demo on the [erka:es] website, one 2ch user started playing it and sparked an interesting discussion amongst fellow 2ch netizens. For one, it would be appear that difficulties between Grolla and the Cross Wall are not just felt here. One user brought up that battling the bosses in MegaMari is "harder than fighting the wall with Grolla." In response, someone else states that they feel the Wind Fish Egg Devil fight is harder, a stance that I personally can get behind. However, everyone can agree that nothing is harder than battling Yukari Yakumo... even the one user who felt that MegaMari was actually easier than Rosenkreuzstilette.

If you want to learn more about MegaMari, then visit the MegaMari page on either the Touhou Wiki or Rockman Perfect Memories. If you're interested, the game is available on PaletWeb for only 25 bucks and is a worthwhile purchase for any Megaman fan's collection. Rosenkreuzstilette is also up there, but it's been sold out for a while now. I encourage everyone who would like to own a copy of this fantastic game to send them a request to restock it. That's all for now!

[erka:es] Update and the Golden Bug

WOMI of [erka:es] wrote an update today in the [erka:es] diary. I'll get my resident translator on it shortly, but from what I can tell, either the delay was an April Fool's joke, or it wasn't and they're finally getting stuff done so they can get started on Freudenstachel again (and hopefully will release the downloadable demo soon). I'll amend this post with further updates when I get them.

Edit: Yeah, they're finally getting back to work with Freudenstachel. Also, WOMI loves blogging about music.



Someone on 2ch found this interesting bug in Iris Palace 1. I'm not entirely sure on the triggers, but it would appear that if certain circumstances are met, the water, as seen, remains electricuted, even after the player dies. For convenience, I've uploaded the replay here. If you find any bugs in RKS yourself, then get a screencap or a replay, and send it to us, and we'll showcase it here.

April Foo's and Random News

Some people have been requesting a full explanation of my April Fool's joke, so here it is:

First of all, TDOMMX demands that I let everyone know that he was not involved, so yeah, he was not involved. This was all my own doing. To begin, the files that you guys downloaded were completely unmodded. They were copied straight out of my Rosenkreuzstilette folder and are, in fact, interchangeable with your existing files without consequence. I am told, however, by someone that the mod caused Liebea's stage to freeze on them. I'm not entirely sure how I accomplished that, but I won't ask questions. For those who didn't take a listen, "l_graphic.dat" is actually a music file. It is a renamed .wav version of the final Iris boss theme "Last Battle -Requiem for Myself-" by Unkolyn. The code listed, if you didn't notice, was a variation of the Konami Code, and not only did it not work, it was nearly impossible to enter within the time allotted. It was all an elaborate ploy, and I'm glad it worked out as well as it did. Apologies to anyone who grew frustrated by what you thought was your own failures. :3

Speaking of music, I've grown somewhat irritated by the misinformation of the music tags for the Rosenkreuzstilette GST released at Rockman Perfect Memories. Aside from the fact that the songs have an inconsistent bitrate amongst all the files, the tags are all wrong. The song titles and artists are in the readme.txt that comes with the game. The prologue stage theme is not "Eroffnungsstage ~ Der Anfang vom Ende" by [erka:es], it's "The Ground Which Can Shine" by Silver Chaos. Liebea's stage theme is not "Liebeas Stage ~ Rapunzel ist in tiefe Trauer" by [erka:es], it's "30" by AM3 (which has a description of how the song was supposed to resemble a mood of stress or strong consideration and was a test of the sound of acoustic guitars). The given titles don't even work when you consider that all the stages are renamed when you play as Grolla. In Spiritia's game mode, the prologue stage "Ready!" message says "Der Anfang vom Ende", but in Grolla's game mode, it says "Der einsame Krieg". The Japanese Rosenkreuzstilette Wiki, if you can navigate it, has each song listed in each character's profile (which two exceptions being Zorne's stage theme and Iris Fortress Stage 1, both currently of unknown origin; I haven't cross-referenced with the readme.txt songlist personally, though). Soon, we at Schwer and Schwer Alike will provide a full, easy-to-read listing of the actual track names and artists, something we hope will end the misconceptions once and for all.

On the 2ch news front, there were many guesses as to what [erka:es]'s April Fool's joke was going to be, one of the suggestions being Liebea Mode. I believe Visual Novel mode may have been mentioned as well, as it was in the original April Fool's Joke last year. Unfortunately, [erka:es] pretty much tossed a rod in the gears with their announcement. Among other notes of interest are a replay of a pea-shooter-only run of the Iris Machine boss fight. It's an impressive fight, especially the second part of the battle. Finally, one 2ch user discovered a news report about Germany getting their first nudist-only hotel. Here's the article:

-----

Germans get first nudist-only hotel
The first nudist-only hotel is set to open in Germany's Black Forest.

Guests will be required to leave their clothes at reception and must be naked at all times when on the premises – "or they will be required to leave".
"We hope to open as soon as possible," Silvia Probsthain, a member of staff at the planned Hotel Rosengarten.
"It will be the first comprehensively nudist hotel in Germany."
The rules state that all guests must put towels on chairs and loungers before using them, that there be no sexual harassment and that all sexual activity in "commonly accessible rooms" is strictly forbidden.
The hotel is being built in Freudenstadt, which translates into "Town of Joys". Freudenstadt's tourism director Michael Krause said: "I'm in two minds. It's always good if a new hotel is set up but I'd prefer a normal hotel concept."
Nude hiking is proving increasingly popular in Germany and two villages in the central Harz mountain range plan to mark special forest hiking routes for naked ramblers.
The practice is frowned on in neighbouring Switzerland, however, where authorities plan to fine such behaviour.
There are similar hotels catering for nudists in Scandinavia, Croatia and the south of France.

-----

Hotel Rosengarten. In the Black Forest/Schwarzwald. In Freudenstadt. Really. Finally finally, I just found this on the uploader.



Someone really likes Iris.