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Challenge Quest 2 and Other Update Stuff

This update saw the arrival of a new Challenge Quest, new Levelup Quest and a few other new things that I’ll be going over in this post. I won’t cover the scratch, that’s Bumped’s deal and they always do a great job for that.

Mission: Decision

The first thing to note is that you can’t access the 2nd Challenge Shop at all until you’ve cleared Mission 3 of Decision. Don’t worry, this isn’t a particularly difficult task so you should be able to access the shop fairly quickly.

Unlike Start, Decision is only 5 missions long. It also gives out a mere 2500 miles for completing it, assuming your party opts for VR capsules instead of Mile crystals. Decision’s main gimmick is like the name suggests, a decision as to which resource to take. Seemingly, the true challenge of the quest will be clearing without taking any of the optional VR capsules at all, with the possible exception of the one at the end of mission 4.

So how is the quest? In some ways easier in other ways kind of more frustrating if you ask me. It’s easier in the sense that it requires less coordination than Mission: Start, but it’s more difficult in that not being able to communicate with other players may deny you some builds entirely. Drop rates for consumables seems to be worse than in Start, and weapon drops are nonexistent outside of boxes which seem to love giving me Assault Rifles and Gunslashes. The first two boxes are at least guaranteed to give you a weapon and two random PAs, but you might not get a PA you can use which may lock you into using normal attacks for the first two missions unless you can ask for a disc. In terms of overall difficulty, the community reaction is that it’s too easy which they might be correct about. That said, I feel the fact that we’re used to what challenge mode requires of us may have contributed to how easily people are handling this one.

I have a horrible feeling that this quest is going to end up more irritating to do pick-up group runs of than Start is, because players may have severe differences down the line as to when to pick up miles or when to go for VR capsules. That said, I feel like Mission: Start was a clusterfuck of different strategies until the community seemed to nail down a particular strategy so maybe I’ll turn out to be wrong. The same will probably happen for this one.

As more information is discovered about this quest, I may make a separate post detailing some potential tactics but for now it’d be irresponsible to do so.

Level Up Quest

It’s the Darkernest mission from Maximum Attack! Just in case you missed having Nyau screaming in your ears every 5 minutes.

Again, not really sure of the point of this quest when we have Advance Quests in the state they are, but this could be a way to complete some Client Orders or upcoming Bingo Orders. It will be a decent way to farm for Nyau’s fever affixes at least, but those are relatively valueless anyway nowadays.

Badge Exchange Shop

Xie’s weapon shop is still here, sortof. It’s moved to the badge counter, so you can still spend badges on weapon camos and the Yozakura series weapons. The consumables are all gone, however.

Ideal Units

So now we can get them, are they any good? The answer is, “ish”. They’re inferior to Saiki, but Saiki units are currently considered the best units in the game. The main reason for this is unit crafting makes nearly all units equivalent in terms of stats and hidden bonus stats. It effectively gives every unit in the game 100 HP or 10 PP along with various resistances, which leaves set bonuses as the only differentiating factor. Therefore, unless the unit’s passive bonuses can best crafting their set bonus really is all that matters and right now Saiki provides the best one.

Native Stats:

  • 206 S-def, 202 R-def, 202 T-def at +0
  • 288 S-def, 282 R-def and 282 T-def at +10
  • Rear Unit: +100 HP
  • Arm Unit: +10 PP
  • Leg Unit: +100 HP

So essentially equivalent to crafted units in terms of bonus stats, but a little weaker than crafted in terms of base stats even at the typical Ex8 that people tend to go for. It is stronger than Ex3 but not by much. Ultimately its going to be a preference thing, but a lot of players tend to craft for extra PP instead of HP, rendering 2 of the units needing to be crafted for those players if they were to use these units at all.

Set Bonus:

We knew about this already but for the sake of information:

  • Leg and Rear: +50 HP, +5 PP, +75 all attack, +40 Dex, +80 Rdef and Tdef, +2 Ice, Wind and Dark resist.
  • Weapon and Arm: +8 PP, +75 all attack, +40 Dex, +80 Sdef, +4 Fire, Lightning and Light resist
  • Total (excluding elements): 50HP, 13PP, 150 all attack, 80 Dex, 80 all defense.

Compared to Saiki, which gives:

  • 25PP, 60 all attack, 80 Dex

At first glance this may appear less impressive, but it’s that 12 additional PP plus the fact you can use any weapon with this set which is what makes it so desirable. That said, for bossing the complete Ideal set would likely edge out in terms of power, but only if an Ideal weapon is the best choice for your class combination.

The sketchy side of this is you will need to re-affix your Ideal units to get the most out of them. This presents a major barrier for a lot of people, given that it’s expensive to affix units so it may be hard to justify the cost for such a niche set.

For example, let’s compare my using an Ideal sword with my current Saiki set with the same and an Ideal set. Overall, I would gain 90 S-atk for using the Ideal set while losing 12PP. Given matching the affixes I have would cost me something near 10 million meseta per unit, I’m not really sure that 90 extra attack against bosses is worth it.

With the release of Photon Boosters, a bunch of weapons gained new potentials. Some of these potentials are absurdly powerful while others leave something to be desired. This section will list all of the known ones with their weapons. It’ll be updated as new information is gathered.

Notes: Photon boosters are required in varying amounts depending on the level of the Potential you’re about to unlock (3 for Lv1, 4 for Lv2 and 5 for Lv3). They cost 3500 miles each and you’ll need 12 to max your weapon. Seeking confirmation for this.

  • Psycho Wand: Boost tech damage by 10%/12%/15% and reduce PP consumption for techs by 10%/12%/15%
  • Blitz Fender: Boost critical rate and critical hit damage.
  • Lavis Blades: Boost frontal damage during Brave Stance by 12%/20%/23%
  • Sange and Yasha: Recover 0.4%/0.6%/1% of damage dealt as HP to a maximum of 30 HP per attack.
  • Ely Sion (Sword): Boost HP Recovery by 20%/25%/30%, boost attack PP recovery by 30%/45%/60% and boost damage by 10%/12%/15%
  • Magical Piece: Boost Compound Technique gauge fill rate by 50%/ 60%/70%.
  • Yasminkov7000V: Boost shooting damage while moving by 25%/ 27%/30%.
  • Red Weapons: Boosted damage if this weapon is crafted by 14%/15%/16%

Still seeking confirmation for a few things in this post. Let me know if there’s anything wrong.

End of Episode 3: Thoughts on The 34th Broadcast

The 34th live broadcast just ended on a somewhat limp note it has to be said. Overall, given that it was allegedly meant to be the host of some major news I feel the show was kind of disappointing for it. They did however reveal some things, so I’ll discuss some of those and maybe look at some of the things they didn’t announce with relation to things found in the data. Not gonna cover all of it though, because no one cares about the collabs.

A summary re-cap can be found on Bumped here.

Ultimate Changes: Giving You a Reason to Run Naberius Again

Yes, Ultimate Naberius will become relevant once more. How will this be achieved? By adding yet another currency of course as well as adding in a few more 12* weapons. On top of this, they’ll be adding Hans and Franka orders akin to the ones that already exist for Kuron. These will reward you with Yurlunger stones from Lilipa as well as the new “Garrel” stones that will be obtainable from Ultimate Naberius required for the new 13* “Nemesis” series of weapons.

Skip to 2:00 to get to the Ultimate stuff.

This is a welcome-ish change. I’ve said before that it was a daft decision to leave Ultimate Naberius in the dust like they did with both the Ultimate Lilipa and Free-Field Kuron updates. That said, I fear for my inventory space if they continue to add all these currencies to solve the problem. This is also an age-old complaint of mine, one they have not only not addressed but continue to make worse.

This road-map covers Autumn and early Winter it appears.

For this Autumn we’ve got:

  • New Story Quest
  • New Dark Falz
  • New 12 Person Boss Battle
  • New Anime Collaboration Scratch
  • Limited Quest

Somewhat confusingly they list the new Dark Falz and 12-person boss battle as separate items. I’d figure they’d be related, given there’s nothing else in the data to suggest a new raidboss that isn’t a Falz. This could be referring to Dark Falz Abyss and the 12-man is Dark Falz Double seeing as technically Double isn’t a new Dark Falz. But then, Dark Falz Abyss could well be the Profound Darkness (or a simulacrum) which also isn’t a Dark Falz! A might confusing.

For the Winter we’ve got:

  • New Video Game Collaboration Scratch
  • New Time Attack Quest
  • New Mining Base Defense
  • Extreme Quest Expansion
  • A new legend..

Mining Base Defense 4 has been known about for some time. It’s possible that this is where Dark Falz Apprentice may make her full form known, as she’s finally gained a full form in the client’s data. It’s also nice to see that Extreme Quests will get some attention again, as they’re among my favorite quests in the game. While I feel like it’s likely to get the Extra Hard treatment that Advance Quests got a while back, there has been nothing said about it so far, I’m expecting either additional floors with Lv80 enemies or an entire new Extreme Quest that includes Harukotan enemies. Good chance that Ultimate enemies might well sneak their way into the quests, though perhaps not as I’ll elaborate in this next bit…

Things Not Said.

No mention of Ultimate Amduscia. The data-miners have known about the area for a long time now, we know it’s coming but it’s seemingly mentioned nowhere on the road-map. This could put the addition of the quest after the Extreme Quest expansion and thusly some time in early 2016. All we know is that they’re counted as “Episode 3” enemies, so they ought to be out before the expansion at least, but who knows. So while Ultimate Naberius and Lilipa enemies could sneak their way into the first two Extreme Quests, the second may be missing its Ultimate Dragonkin equivalents. Likewise, the third quest would be lacking any Ultimate bird Darkers or Oceanids, if an Ultimate Vopar is ever to be an area anyway.

There was also no mention of Dark Falz: Apprentice. Or at least so it would appear. Curious given how big a deal Apprentice finally having a form should be, but then again mentioning her at all could spoil the contents of the quest.

There was also no mention of the Episode 4 content, though that’s somewhat understandable.

End of Episode 3

Like the blog title suggests, Episode 3 is indeed drawing to a close. Following that will of course be Episode 4, entitled “Reborn” for now. That’s essentially all that has been announced for it, aside that the logo is the same as the one used in the upcoming PSO2 anime. Trailer for the end of Episode 3 below:

So yeah, that’ll be the Dark Falz Abyss model extracted a while back. It also seems that the next Story Quest will be set on Corrupted Naberius, possibly confirming the link between the Profound Darkness and those areas. I mean that and the rough similarity in appearance between Abyss and Anga Fundarge anyway!

As a side note, I’m getting increasingly irritated at their insistence of showing the trailer characters constantly dying in all their trailers. It does less to make the content seem more intimidating and does more to just annoy, I feel. Especially as most of them seem like they’re deliberately walking into certain doom just for the trailer footage.

So with Episode 4 officially announced for 2016, what do we know about it so far? Nearly fuck all! The only real snippets in the client are references to a “phantom” series of enemies, which are specifically noted as Episode 4 enemies. With enemies like “Phantom Rex”, “Phantom Man Assault”, “Phantom Man Gun” and “Phantom Heli” you might be forgiven for thinking it’s a bizarre Metal Gear Solid crossover. Unfortunately, it’s no longer possible to ascertain if a new planet is coming. As mere speculation, they could be a new Darker Type, a new form of corrupted ARKS or something entirely unrelated.

PSO2 on the PS4

Yo, remember when they said that a console version wasn’t gonna happen? Well I guess that went out the window! To be fair, it was already out of the window when they released the PS:Vita version of the game. Do I really care? No, though the only real concern is similar to the concerns they had before; where developing and managing the game for multiple platforms may make things more difficult for them. Perhaps the relative success of the game since has granted them the resources to cope now, who knows.

PS4 players will be welcomed to the world of PSO2 some time in 2016. It will be playable at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.

And yes, still no word on an NA/EU release. Did you really expect it?

Class Cap Bonuses and Mission: Decision

The official page for the next series of updates is up here. This post is just gonna share information on the class cap bonuses and anything else I deem interesting.

For the unaware, getting a class to lv75 will make all characters on your account eligable for these bonuses. You won’t have to cap every class on all of your characters.

The bonuses are as follows:

  • Hunter – +50 HP, +15 R-atk, +40 S-def
  • Ranger – +20 R-atk, +15 T-atk, +40 R-def
  • Force –  +15 R-atk, +20 T-atk, +40 T-def
  • Fighter – +2 PP, +50 S-atk, +15 T-atk, +10 T-def
  • Gunner – +2 PP, +15 S-atk, +50 R-atk, +10 S-def
  • Techer –  +2 PP, +15 S-atk, +50 T-atk, +10 R-def
  • Braver – +2 PP, +20 S-atk, +20 R-atk, +30 Dex
  • Bouncer –  +2 PP, +20 S-atk, +20 T-atk, +30 Dex

Totals for all classes capped on at least one character:

+50 HP, +10PP, +120 S-atk, +120 R-atk, +120 T-atk, +60 Dex, +50 S-def, +50 R-def, +50 T-def

Roughly the stats you might get from a selection of good all-round affixes on units. It’s not a bad boost overall. In order to claim your stat boost, you will need to collect it from the title counter upon reaching level 75. This rules out the danger of these bonuses stacking (as in getting multiple characters to say, lv75 Braver to stack the bonuses).

Challenge Quest: Mission: DECISION

The next challenge quest is set to arrive on the 26th of August and will feature Tundra, Tunnels and Skyscape areas, this was already known so there’s no need to go into detail here. What’s more interesting to me is how they’ve decided to handle a poential flaw in having multiple Challenge Quests.

Challenge Quests are best run by organised groups, but most people don’t have this option. Most of us are gonna have to run with randoms, and randoms will typically refuse to even attempt the quest if there are less than 12 people there. So having multiple Challenge Quests would be an issue, as it’d split the player-base and in theory make it more difficult to start the run you’d like to do. This is just my theory-crafting of course, there are other reasons this could be problematic; such as one quest being easier than the other causing the more difficult one to become a ghost town as everyone takes the path of least resistance.

Anyway their solution is to seemingly alternate a boost between the two quests on a weekly basis. The boosted quest will pay out more Miles, giving incentive to people to run it. Is this a good solution? It’ll probably prevent the player-base being split up at least.

Mission: Decision will be boosted between 26th Aug to 1st Sep.

Mission: Start will be boosted between 2nd Sep to 8th Sep.

These could of course be one offs or just done every so often.

Mission: Decision is incidentally not necessarily the name the patch team will go with. If they choose a different name I’ll edit this post to reflect it.

PSO2 News: The Gathering 6th Aug

With yesterday’s update, we could finally journey freely into the lands of Kuron. Bunch of other things have arrived too, some of which I have mixed opinions about so hey let’s have a look at some of them. Odd tidbits of information came out elsewhere so let’s gather some of those up too because why not.

I do like this field’s aesthetic quite a bit, it’s certainly got a distinct colour theme to it and a few of the map pieces are quite interesting looking. It has both indoor and outdoor areas, with architecture in various states of disrepair with a natural cloud-top mountainous backdrop.

Hit the right head and make me scream!

Hit the right head and make it scream!

The enemies that wander Kuron are certainly a varied bunch, from ghosts to clown cars. The centaur enemies also boast their own e-trials, with various (if simple) mechanics attached to them. The doll-house “Orota Biketta” is itself a mini-game of sorts, where you have to hit the correct head in order to have an available weakspot. Get the wrong head three times and it’ll enrage.

Oh and everything screams. EVERYTHING.

Overall however it still suffers from the same issues some other maps do; the enemies are too sparse for the size of the area. It’s quite spacious, so it’s incredibly noticeable if you’re running the field by yourself, as you have these massive areas populated by about 2 or 3 enemies…

Unique Qualities

Well, beyond enemy types which are often unique enough for every field there are some truly unique things about Kuron, at least for now. For one, it’s the only field in the game with a permanent Extra Hard difficulty attached to it.

Presumably, this was to support the next unique thing about the field; it is the only non-Ultimate field to give a currency. You are rewarded with 2 Chandra stones for clearing Extra Hard with an S-rank as well as a chance of obtaining one by clearing e-trials. Hans also offers two daily orders which can grant you 6 Chandra stones per day per character, assuming your alts can handle Lv70 Kuronites. This currency can be spent on a selection of 12* and 13* weaponry, making it the only area where you can earn items over time.

It’s also the only Free Field in which you’re forced to get 500 quest points before you’re granted access to the boss. This I guess is to mete out the quest currency at a relatively controlled pace. Related, it’s the only field where you can opt to never fight the boss at all if you want, as getting 1000 points clears the quest.

Finally, and something I feel somewhat strongly about, it’s the only field in which you’re allowed to go back to the campship and re-engage the boss where you left off should you die to it, even if you’re solo. This is for me, quite irritating as it’s one of those things that I always felt was un-necessarily punishing for solo players. While I’m happy they finally broke their own stupid rule on this, I wonder why this hasn’t been applied to the other fields and boss areas? It perhaps makes sense for some bosses (especially Advance Quests, where after all it is a risk that you need to consider), but given the fact you’re solo means you’re already having a harder fight and that your rank will go down if you return to the campship upon death, why was there any need to then tack on additional punishment by making them go back to the beginning of the stage?

In general, some of these unique qualities I have mixed feelings about. I love that you can actually work towards something and not depend entirely on random numbers, but I don’t love that this is yet another currency eating yet more of my inventory up. This is also why I’d be mixed about them retroactively adding these to the other fields, as while it would curb some of the RNG and make progression a thing, that’d be 13 more inventory spots eaten up by yet more currencies. If they’re going to do this, I feel the developers should seriously consider adding a currency storage of some kind.

Codotta Idetta

Opens up by donning its armor assembled from various toys and then screams at you. Because this is Kuron, you have to scream.

An interesting boss, but not at all a difficult one. Just break its limbs and while it’s down just kill it. If your gear is remotely up to scratch you should one-cycle this boss, even on Extra Hard.

Guar Zigmorde

The first yokai boss in the game (the other being a miniboss). How is she? Aggressive would be my choice of word. Low-hp characters may find her attacks difficult to dodge with how frequent they are, however she’s overall not that difficult a boss. She does frequently use a stunning attack and when she’s in phase 2 she can inflict injury with a number of her attacks as well as stun, so those depending on Massive Hunter might want to be wary. The frequency of her attacks can cause injury to stack dangerously high surprisingly quickly.

You can break her tails and her mirror. Breaking the tails reduces the number of projectiles she fires (though her tail projectiles aren’t usually a threat anyway) and breaking the mirror will expose a weak-spot.

The primary mechanic teased about her when Kuron was being discussed before was her curse of death. She will perform a pulling area-of-effect that will end with a pulse. If any player is hit with this pulse, they’ll have a blue orb floating above their head. I believe after a certain period has passed this orb will turn purple, making you eligible for execution. When she does this, any players eligible will be instantly incapacitated. This sounds threatening but in practice it really isn’t, as all you need to do is break her glowing thorax when anyone is cursed. This will break the curse and it has very low HP, even on Extra Hard, so this mechanic shouldn’t be a threat…ever. Her fast-stacking Injury de-buff is far more threatening in my opinion.

What’s fun is the curse of death is currently disabled on the boss because apparently it was causing people to disconnect from blocks. I don’t even know how they managed this fuckup, this is possibly as funny as the old “chairs cause lag” issue from way back…

Weapons of Kuron

Here I’ll go over the exchange weapons added with Kuron and purchasable with Chandra stones. Are they any good? Judge for yourself:

The 12*s:

  • Sword [イクサコウシャ]: 15%/17%?/20%? increased damage for attacks activated with a just-counter.
  • Daggers [センノシュウハ]: Potential currently unknown.
  • Double Saber [ イダテン]: 6%/8%/10% bonus damage for attacking while mid-air.
  • Bullet Bow [ハマノゲンシ] – Chase Arrow PP consumption reduced by 35%/50%/65%
  • Wand  [メイセン] – 17%/19%/21% bonus damage to enemies inflicted with status effects
  • Jet Boots [ハクジレンセイ] – 10%/15%/20% bonus damage and ?/?/150% PP recovery when striking breakable points.

The 13*s:

  • Knuckles: [グリダフヘクス] – Reduce PP consumption from PAs and Techs by 20/25/30% but reduces damage by 5%
  • Katana: [ベクスダグーナ] – Reduce PP consumption from PAs and Techs by 20/25/30% but reduces damage by 5%
  • Gunslash: [スカルシュクター,] – Weakpoint Damage increased by 7/?/?%
  • Rifle: [スカルソーサラー] – Weakpoint Damage increased by 7/?/?%
  • Twin Machinegun: [スカルフェジサー] – Weakpoint Damage increased by 7/?/?%
  • Talis: [ベクリュサバーカ] – Reduce PP consumption from PAs and Techs by 20/25/30% but reduces damage by 5%

No Partizans, Wired Lances, Launchers, Rods or Dual Blades. They made sure to add yet another Katana though! That said, it appears no class was entirely left out this time.

In terms of attack stats, the 13*s typically seem to sit at stronger than Ares (just) and are slightly weaker than Slave weapons. That said, Ares Weapons are still better than most of them in terms of damage, in part thanks to latents. Rifle and Twin Machinegun might be stronger against weak points, not sure.

Note that 12* weapons come with 20% element and cost 80 Chandra stones, meaning you’ll need 240 to 50% one (at worst). 13* weapons cost 200 Chandra stones and come with 15% element, meaning you’ll need 800 Chandra stones at worst to 60% one. Notably, all of these weapons can drop in the quest. So it’s the “get lucky or get one eventually anyway” approach which I’m quite in support of.

Ideal Units

G-heaven posted up the Ideal Set bonus stats here. Re-posting the numbers below:

Set Bonus:

  • Leg and Rear: +50 HP, +5 PP, +75 all attack, +40 Dex, +80 Rdef and Tdef, +2 Ice, Wind and Dark resist.
  • Weapon and Arm: +8 PP, +75 all attack, +40 Dex, +80 Sdef, +4 Fire, Lightning and Light resist
  • Total (excluding elements): 50HP, 13PP, 150 all attack, 80 Dex, 80 all defense.
  • Unfortunately, the element icons are too blurry to tell total elements. Thanks to a video uploaded just today, it seems the units come with 5% ice, 5% fire and… 5% ice. I don’t know if those are inherent or if the units come with any element resist affixes though.

Each unit costs 20,000 miles, for a total of 60,000 for all armor, 240,000 for a weapon and 600,000 for all units and a maxed element weapon.

So a total of 150 all attack. Not bad, but the loss in PP has made the set rather unattractive for those already in possession of a Saiki set. The only remaining unknown factor is what stats each unit provides (not even element or the displayed Sdef really, as those could be affixes) That said, it doesn’t appear to be a bad armour set either and those who use Ideal weapons should certainly consider it, though affixing is afterall expensive and this set is only at its best with Ideal Weapons, which themselves are only good for killing bosses. It’s a niche set, so those not willing to spend the Meseta may want to pass these units by.

Level Up Quests

A new-ish feature. Truthfully, all these are are re-labelled Limited Quests but with a permanent +50% exp boost applied to them. Like Limited Quests they’re only going to be around for a limited time, but their primary intention is to help with levelling from 1 to 70.

So are they any good at this? Not when compared to other options, no. It could be an alright way to level up from 1-45, but beyond level 45 it’s likely better to just run Advance Quests. Since the entry requirement to Advance Quests is minimal, the permanent 100% exp boost is pretty much always available to you, so in light of this why would anyone run the Level Up Quest from 45 onwards? I mean with Advance Quests you can even work towards 12* weapons, as if the superior EXP wasn’t enough.

For that matter, new players are likely going to be carried to level 30 or so just by unlocking areas. It’s been a while since I ran a new character, so I don’t know the exact level you might end up at, but regardless this makes the actually useful window for the Level Up quest ever smaller…

PSO2 Anime

In case you forgot that was a thing (I know I did), looks like we got a promo image of the anime land some details about the staff involved located here at Crunchyroll. Reposting below cause that host seems to load slow as hell for me.

Guess this confirms the idea that it’s set on earth. Beyond that, still very little is know about the animation and is frankly likely to stay that way until it’s out. What a painful wait it will be.

34th Broadcast

Finally, the 34th broadcast is coming up. It’s on Nico which is a shithole of a website, but you should be able to find re-streams on the day. Of note, we seem to be getting a schedule detailing a series of “Large Updates” over a period of six months and there’s going to be a “major announcement” regarding the story. We’re also going to get a preview of the content for this fall.

The broadcast is set to happen on the 16th of August.

That’s all for this post! Maybe I should consider splitting these up in future… As always, give me a poke if there’s anything wrong in this post or if you have additional information.

The Dark Falz Family

Guess that could be the Profound Family too? This post is dedicated to everything Dark Falz so far!

As this post is going to contain story details this is likely to contain big spoilers. If you haven’t done the story and care about spoilers, don’t read this post! This also contains a good deal of my interpretation as well as observed interpretations of the story, so let me know if I’m way off base with anything! Details are fairly sketchy on some Dark Falzes…

Not helped that there isn’t a story wiki of any kind and as far as I’m aware the efforts to translate the story ended some time ago (Update: They are still going apparently, though at a very slow rate compared to the older days). That said, there is a Japanese site that has story dialogue here, though naturally it’s all in Japanese.

Dark Falz: Elder

Also known as “Collosus”, Elder was the first full Dark Falz introduced into Phantasy Star Online 2. Elder was sealed in the Naberius Ruins area 40 years before the player character became an ARKS operative. During the events of Episode 1, a man named Gettemhart unsealed it and became its new host (seemingly unwillingly, at that). It is the head of all fish-type Darkers.

This is by far the largest of the Dark Falz introduced yet, being the size of a small planet at full power. The only way the ARKS can successfully fight him is to wear him down slowly by defeating many thousands of its fragments, known as “Dark Falz Arms”.  Despite its sheer size, when it erupts from Naberius the planet doesn’t seem to suffer any major effects.

Dark Falz Elder in its current form is rash, reveling in the thrill of battle and as such is eager to duel with any ARKS operative he deems worthy of his attention. He just really fucking loves fighting, it doesn’t matter whether he wins or loses. In fact, losing seems almost preferable to Elder as it meant he found a worthy adversary. Despite his status as a force of evil, Elder does seem somewhat honor-bound as he refuses to fight the ARKS while they’re tending to the wounded Shina and waits patiently for Zeno and the player to be ready to fight him.

Dark Falz: Apprentice

Apprentice is technically the second Falz introduced in the story via the “End Cluster” cutscene. Apprentice was severely wounded in a battle with the second Claris around 10 years ago. In her dire state, she opportunistically made Yucretia, Affine’s sister, into her new host. While she was transferring into her new host however, she was devoured by Dark Falz: Double, rendering the process somewhat incomplete and arguably not a true Dark Falz as a result. She is the leader of all insect-type Darkers.

Notably, her hair has retained some of its original colour. This is unlike any character that has transformed into a Dark Falz shown so far. This presumably is due to her incomplete status.

Nothing is known about Apprentice’s additional forms, though I believe it is implied that she does have a full body buried somewhere on planet Lilipa. It’s possible that it may be underneath the mining bases, but I don’t know where in the story this is confirmed. It would explain why she’s so focused on attacking the bases, however. Data recently discovered in the game client confirms she has a full form, at least.

The current Apprentice is more cautious and strategic than Elder, preferring to plan an attack method rather than jumping into fights with the ARKS fists flying. In fact so far she has never directly challenged any ARKS to a fight in her current incarnation, where her past incarnation seemed more aggressive. Her summoning abilities seem to out-do any of the other Dark Falzes revealed so far, seeing as she is capable of summoning an entire army to do her bidding. This is all the more impressive when you consider that she’s been partially devoured by Dark Falz Double.

Dark Falz: Loser

Otherwise known as “the vanquished” (and “dentist”). Dark Falz Loser is the end result of the ultimate ambition of a Photoner scientist by the name of Luther. Luther was combining Darkers with all sorts of things, including Dragonkin and even citizens on the ARKS ships. He was hoping to combine it with Xion, a world computer, in order to fuse it with himself and obtain omniscience. He essentially wanted to become a god as far as I could tell, but anything and everything that could go wrong for Luther did go wrong, except for his fusion with the Dark Falz he created. He was the leader of all bird Darkers.

Loser is extremely convinced of his own power. He considers himself god-like and has tremendous technique power as well as a degree of control over time itself to back up his claim. He seems to bear no camaraderie with any other Dark Falz. In fact, the other Falzes don’t consider Loser a true Falz at all. Also unlike the other Falzes, as the host Luther seems to be in total control.

After the ARKS find and defeat Loser in the center of the corrupted Mothership, Loser is executed by Regius with his unsealed Yonohate. His corpse is devoured by Dark Falz: Double, who thereafter gained the ability to create clones of Loser at will. Despite being killed, Luther somehow got better and is currently alive within Double’s inner universe. However, he is not eager to escape into the outside world, as Xion is now dead and he has lost his chance of gaining omniscience forever.

Dark Falz: Double

The third Falz introduced during the “End Cluster” cutscene, this Falz is unique in that as the name suggests it is a pair of hosts instead of a singular one. Little is known about Double’s origins, although it is shown destroying a planet in an early cut-scene in Episode 3. It is the leader of all toy Darkers..

Double isn’t mentioned in the PSO2 timeline as far as I know, so there’s not much of a history to speak of. It behaves in a distinctly childlike manner however, doing a lot of what it does seemingly for fun and turning the things it encounters into toys until it gets bored of them. Currently, it considers the Kuronites of Harukotan its playthings and is the main antagonistic focus of Episode 3. Alarmingly for the other Falzes it won’t hesitate to turn other Dark Falzes into its toys if it gets the opportunity. It devoured Dark Falz: Loser after Reguis killed him and it also partially devoured Apprentice. It may or may not have also consumed Dark Falz Elder, we’ll see when the next story chapters are out.

While its actions may seem selfish and immature, it’s possible that Double may be the only Dark Falz that remembers its true purpose; the revival of the Profound Darkness. Elder exists only to fight, Apprentice being a shell of her former self isn’t really sure what her purpose is and Loser was solely in it for himself. In this sense, absorbing the other Dark Falzes is an essential part of reviving the Profound Darkness, as the other Falzes have forgotten their true purpose anyway. As such, defeating Double may be the only way to prevent the Profound Darkness from being reborn.

While this may be true, the other Dark Falzes aren’t willing meals for Double. On Lilipa, Dark Falz Elder challenged Double directly. Elder considers Double’s actions a betrayal, regardless of whether or not they may have been correct. During their fight, they teleport away. It isn’t known yet what the outcome of the fight was, however as Double seems to have gained some of Elder’s abilities it doesn’t bode well for Elder.

Dark Falz: Persona?

A recurrent character in the storyline, Persona hounds the player initially with murderous intent. However, despite wearing the clothes of the other Falzes and having a lot of the same abilities as them, Persona is never directly referred to as a Dark Falz and is merely presumed to be one. Unlike the other Dark Falzes so far, Persona does not appear to be in charge nor is he ever shown to be able to summon Darkers. Though it is implied that he can influence Darkers when he was hunting for a fragment of the Clarissa in Episode 1.

Despite challenging the player on a frequent basis, Persona is arguably the weakest Dark Falz yet. Until recently Persona didn’t have any additional forms in the data nor was it implied to have any addiional forms. This may have changed with the last patch, adding in a reference to “DpAbyssChar ProtagonistEnemy enemy/”. More on that in another section.

At the battle between Claris and Apprentice 10 years ago, Persona is revealed to have the player character’s appearance. While it is strongly implied that Persona is actually the player character (possibly from a different timeline) it has yet to be fully confirmed this is the case as far as I know. Originally, Persona was out for the player’s life but lately they seem more interested in warning them about the Profound Darkness for whatever reason. Indeed, during the cutscene they attempt to kill Matoi even after they’ve begun turning into whatever it is Matoi is turning into. If she is turning into the Profound Darkness and the resurrection of it is their true goal, why did they try to kill her? Similarly, why did Persona protect her from Apprentice if the goal was to kill Matoi anyway?

Aside the player and possibly Xiao, Persona seems to be the only other character doing any time travelling. Apparently the player requires Xion or Xiao’s Matterboard technology in order to travel through time. If Persona is the player then they may still be in possession of their own Matterboard, presumably allowing them to travel through time as well. This is just speculation, of course.

Dark Falz: Abyss?

This is an as-yet unreleased and technically unrevealed Dark Falz. Although the player character was deemed “Code: Abyss” when they were marked an enemy of the ARKS by a mind-controlled Regius this is could be nothing but a coincidence. In that case, the “Abyss” was instead an “Avis” (絶対令), or an absolute order. At the time, the absolute order was to take down public enemy number 1, which was you!

What’s known about Abyss is entirely data-mined stuff for now. It has a human and full form in the data, making it a likely candidate for the next Dark Falz encounter beyond Double. That’s actually all that’s known for now, so the rest of this section is pure speculation.

Is Abyss the Profound Darkness?

I argue this as somewhat unlikely, as the enemy file’s internal name includes “dp”, which is used on all other Dark Falz. For those unaware, another translation of Dark Falz is “Dark Phallus”. Yes, get your giggles out of the way. Point is, the Profound Darkness is the source of Dark Falz but isn’t a Dark Falz itself.

Who is the host?

Judging by recently data-mined information, the indicatoin is that it is you. Or rather, Persona. This would mean that “Dark Falz: Abyss” and “Dark Falz: Persona” are in fact one and the same, but as this isn’t confirmed yet I felt it better to split them into their own sections. Before this latest data however it was presumed that the host would be Matoi under the assumption that Abyss is the Profound Darkness.

The Profound Darkness

The ultimate goal of the Falz family is to resurrect their creator, even if some of the Dark Falzes appear to have forgotten this goal. This entity is mentioned numerous times throughout the plot, finally being revealed to have apparently been an attempt by the Photoners to create an artificial world computer, an Akashic Record like Xion. Unfortunately, it absorbed negative emotions (as photons are fueled by emotions, I don’t know either) and it became the destructive force it’s now known as.

It’s implied that Matoi, or the second Claris, is the current host of the Profound Darkness. During her transformation, Xiao remarks that the energy emanating from her is much worse than that of a Dark Falz. Beyond this, I believe there’s very little to speculate on about the Profound Darkness.

The Profound Darkness has been the main antagonising force behind almost the entire classic Phantasy Star series, with leaking fragments of it manifesting as Dark Falz in all of the games and finally showing itself during the events of Phantasy Star 4. PSO2 is the first online game in which the Profound Darkness may make a direct appearance (even if it was argued to be Amplam Umbra in PSO:Episode 3). Defeating the Profound Darkness in PS4 ended the 1000 year cycle, preventing any future Dark Falz from being generated. However, there is no known link between the classic series or the online series (though there has been plenty of speculation) so it’s likely that it’s a separate universe.

As we have another story chapter coming out soon it’s likely some of the information in this post will need to be updated. As said before, much of this is interpretation and speculation, as some of the facts haven’t even been acknowledged canonically. That said, if I’m wrong about anything let me know, preferably with reasons why. It’d be nice to nail down some of the looser information here.

PSO2: The South-East Asian Hype Train

Recently it seems the region lock preventing people outside of the South-East Asia territories from connecting without a VPN has been lifted. This means at least for now, anyone can play a fully English version of the game.

This should be good, right? I should be happy about this and hyping it up to people who were holding back from starting the game due to the fact parts of the Japanese version will always be in Japanese despite the awesome efforts of the patch team. Well I’m not, and I’m even somewhat concerned about the hype train going on about it. Don’t get me wrong, as a fan I’m happy to see that people are still excited about this game but I worry people are getting ahead of themselves and don’t know what they’re in for. Particularly as the news seems to be spreading fast.

Now I’ve read plenty of rumours about the SEA version of the game and to look into them I’ve made an account over there to see if there’s any truth to them. I’ve only reached about lv14, mind, so there’s some things I have yet to confirm. I may detail more stuff in a future post, we’ll see. At most I just want to make sure that people know what they’re getting into and to confirm/dispel any of the rumours about the game. Overall I want people to be making more informed decisions and to not be swept up by the hype train and shocked by what they find.

Update: As of the 22nd of July it seems the IP block has been re-instated. This means you’ll need a VPN if you want to keep playing on the SEA servers.

The IP Block (or lack thereof)

The first thing is the lock itself. There hasn’t been any official acknowledgement of it yet by Playpark, meaning there’s a fair chance that it was removed by accident. This means that at any time the lock could be re-established, barring you from playing without a VPN. Now, it’s true that to an extent, the non-native Japanese playerbase faces a similar issue however the reason players were blocked from the Japanese servers were not as deliberate as with the SEA servers.

This naturally should be a significant concern for anyone thinking of investing real money into this game, but shouldn’t bar anyone from just checking the game out if they want to.

Content Lag

Currently the final area of PSO2 SEA is Lilipa’s Quarry area, which was added to the Japanese servers on September 4th 2013. This roughly puts the servers around 2 years behind the Japanese version. You’re getting considerably less content, however frankly this is likely to be a danger with the official western servers as well should they ever come to be. The SEA version also has yet to have its first Tower Defense quest, which is something we got on the Japanese servers back in 2013. This should not be taken as a direct indicator as to when to expect content however, as updates aren’t arriving entirely in order on SEA.

For players who never encountered any of the content this really doesn’t make much of a difference anyway, however it’s something to be aware of.

Photon Art Balance

The only word that need be said in this section is “Nazonde”. For some reason, this tech has been absurdly overpowered for a while. This speaks somewhat negatively about how much the company cares about player feedback on the issue. How strong is it you might ask? Well.. video speaks more than words here.

Incidentally, that’s a Force/Hunter. Yes, a Force/Hunter. Using a junk rod and no affixes. That should say it all, really. To compare, as a lv75/75 FoTe (non-lightning specced) with +70 T-atk on all gear I do a whopping 2000 damage a pulse with Nazonde on the Japanese version. That’s how broken this Technique is right now!

I can’t really form an opinion on how quick Playpark are to address balance issues as I haven’t interacted with them long enough. The Japanese servers have had their fair share of balancing issues as well (and arguably still do) however I’m not sure they’ve had anything as severe as Nazonde on SEA.

The localisation on SEA is extremely spotty in places. I made a post comparing names across the patch team’s efforts and SEA in the past. Essentially series specific names were dropped in favor of things that people could more easily relate to, such as renaming “Force” to “Wizard” and “Braver” to “Samurai” and “Monomate” to “Health Drink” among a long list of other changes.

Does this matter much? I can’t argue for you. This bothers some people hugely and others frankly couldn’t give a shit. You can call whatever as dumb a name as you like as far as I’m concerned, but when you’re naming it different things in different places such as Oceanids in e-trial names and quest objectives, Neptunians in some quest text, Sea Kings in other random places, all referring to the same enemy type. There’s also Vaadersoma (tips call it Vardha Soma), rare counterpart Embryo Vardha and Big Varder, soul is “Vardha Soul”… You can find some more examples here. Note that some of it has actually changed, so work is being done by them to make things more consistent, but still something to be aware of.

It’s a mess, basically. If this kind of thing will bother you, beware.

Pay To Win

Now I know what some of you are thinking, “PSO2JP is P2W as well!”, but hear me out because it’s more exaggerated on PSO2SEA.

According to some posts I’ve seen, it largely revolves around outfits. Outfits are exclusively cash content, much like with the Japanese version, but unlike there they can come with affixes.

These affixes are absurdly strong compared to anything you could create on regular gear and what’s more the game’s content appears to be balanced around them. The gear can confer some serious defensive stats, so in an attempt to likely make the gear seem more attractive all monsters in the game apparently deal significantly more damage than in the Japanese version. Unless you go Guard-stance or are able to never ever get hit you’re going to find life much harder unless you pony up. What’s worse is apparently these abilities are time-limited and they expire just about when it’s time for the next round of cash-shop items to turn up.

Sadly I’m too low level to confirm the enemy damage rumour, so if I get the chance I’ll do a comparison in another post.

While on the subject of cash…

Players familiar with the Japanese version are going to likely say that the economy is an issue on PSO2JP as well, seeing as dance lobby actions and some hairstyles usually go for 20M+ on JP. However, searching a few items on the SEA server does seem to suggest that things are at least a little more expensive over there. Whether this is due more to inflation or it’s simply down to content differences is a little more tricky to say.

Here are a few item price comparisons (noting that I’m comparing SEA Ship 1 to JP Ship 2):

  • Item – SEA price(JP price)
  • Photon Sphere – 156,000 – (20,000)
  • Grinder – 6,000 – (1050)
  • Grind Risk +1 – 156,000 – (6,300)
  • Affix Success +10% – 250,000 – (7,000)
  • Grind Success +10% – 1,000,000 – (105,000)
  • Mizer Soul Units (1-3slot) – 315,000 – (1050-26,000, 1-3slot)
  • Vol Soul Units (1-2slot) – 130,000 – (19,000)
  • Modulator Unit (3slot) – 315,000 – (871,000)
  • Male Cashshop Outfit – ~735,000 (starting) – (315,000)
  • Female Cashshop Outfit – ~1,500,000 (starting) – (315,000)

Now some of the price differences could be explained with content difference. Excubes are much more difficult to obtain on SEA compared to JP, which has a couple of Emergency Quests that shit them out in large quantities. I remember a time when the 6 Excube price of a 250% rare drop booster ticket was a considerable price to think about, so being able to convert cubes into Fun and subsequently into grind boosting items is rather out of the question for SEA players right now.

Grinders were also rarer once upon a time, which may explain why they’re more expensive.

Boss souls are likely skewed in price due to the fact that Japan has had better alternatives for some time now. Mizer Soul has been replaced by Siorg Soul and Vol Soul by Leopard Soul (Quartz by Bayari at that).

While it would appear that costume prices would be solid evidence of an inflation issue, it has to be pointed out that costumes on the SEA version are bind on equip. This will constantly remove items from the supply chain, as you can’t resell old unwanted clothing. As such, the price is going to naturally be higher. Edit: It’s been pointed out that this seems to only apply to scratch-complete items. So scratch that off as a potential explanation for the state of the economy.

Modulator is the clear anomaly of this data sample, being more expensive on PSO2JP by a considerable margin. I’m going to guess that this is because it’s only lately on the Japanese servers that it’s been practical to include Modulator in affixing setups. A big thing to remember is that SEA doesn’t have Soul Receptor, making some affix setups significantly more impractical than they are on the Japanese servers.

Another factor that may be pushing the economy out of balance is that SEA currently still has the daily TACO system. With enough alts, this used to be an absurdly good way (if incredibly mind-numbing) of generating Meseta. While PSO2JP does have the additional daily system and weekly Extreme Quest orders that allow you to make a similar amount of money, it’s a fair sight more spread out.

I don’t know, maybe I need to search more items or maybe I’m making some gross mis-interpretations here, but I’m not convinced that SEA’s inflation issues are significantly worse than JP’s.

Alright, I can’t tell you not join the SEA servers. I can’t make you come to a decision, that’s not what I’m here for, so I’m not going to say to join the Japanese servers if you’re considering playing like so many other people may. The purpose of this post isn’t to tell you what to do but to make sure you’re better informed before you make a decision to go join these servers.

The main concerns I argue are how bothered you are by localisation issues and pay to win issues and most importantly whether or not the IP block will return. If you just want to try PSO2 out, go right ahead.

That said if you’ve been waiting for an English version I can fully understand your excitement, as an official western version of the game seems exceedingly unlikely at this point. This is a shame as evidently there is still an eager fanbase awaiting its release. If nothing else, the reaction from the fans should encourage any efforts to localise the game for the west that may currently exist. Despite the odds and all the time that has passed, it seems they still have an audience.

Also sorry for the long post, turned out there was a lot more to cover than I anticipated! But of course, let me know if I’m particularly wrong about any aspect of this post.

PSO2 33rd Broadcast Junk

Hey, been a while I know. May talk about this towards the end rather than the beginning because I’m sure most people want to see the new stuff and not me talking about my thoughts regarding this blog.

So yeah, Sega did it’s 33rd live broadcast and as is the norm they showed a bunch of new trailers. This post is more gonna act as a means to collect the videos together into one place for more convenient watching and some information that I can share below them.

The first trailer’s main focus is the new Kurona area of planet Japan Harukotan.

Highlights include:

  • New compound Technique: Barantsion (need a better rendition of this name)
    • Carve your enemies up with blades of frozen light in a furious melee combo. Looks like a solid boss-killer from what they’ve shown so far.
  • New Photon Arts
    • Wired Lance PA: Adapt Spin
    • Assault Rifle PA: End Attract
    • Katana PA: Guren Tessen
    • Twin Dagger PA: Fall Nocturne
  • Blazblue costumes
    • Ragna (male female), Jin (male, female), Noel (female), Izayoi (female), Mu -No.12- (female). I wonder why we didn’t get male versions of the primarily female outfits…
    • Hairstyles and voices too!
  • Blazblue weapon camos
  • New accessories
  • And of course, Kurona
  • New 12* weapons and new 13* dark themed weapons (Pyroxene exchange weapons)

As far as I know it’s not actually explained where to get the pyroxenes for the dark-themed weapons, unless they’re adding a clear incentive for running Kurona free-field at all. If it was explained during the presentation, please let me know.

Kurona as an area looks great, if nothing else it seems far less annoying than Shironia was with its multi-story gimmick where jumping on roofs would make some enemies easier to hit. Hey it was a nice idea, but it didn’t really work out in my opinion. I also generally feel that this area just plain looks more interesting than a generic ye olde Japanese towne…

Challenge Mode Part Two!

  • Guilty Gear Xrd Collab
    • Costumes for Sol (male), Ky (male, female), Millia (female), Elphelt (female) and May (female).
    • Weapon camos, hairstyles and voices too!
  • Various new accessories, room decos, new room theme
  • Photon art customisation demo (brief one, alas)
  • Time Attack Rankings split into “Team”, “Solo” with “PC” and “Vita” platform sub-categories.
    • Probably about time for this change, naturally solo players could never compete with teams and the PC has some clear technical power advantages over the Vita. Doesn’t mean players like me are gonna have a better shot at the gold, though! They can’t fix my sucking…
  • Racaseal and Racast PSO costumes revealed.
  • Sato accessory
  • New Challenge Mode quest revealed
    • As was datamined, it starts in the Tundra and proceeds to Tunnels and Skyscape (not necessarily in that order).
    • Includes Darker enemies from Kurona
    • Ideal Units can now be obtained with challenge miles as well as “Photon Boosters” (20,000 miles each)
    • The new Photon Booster items can be used to unlock hidden weapon potentials on 12★ weapons.

Well one of the fears I was aware of among the playerbase for Challenge Mode was they’d include new weapons or something, which would make the current set of Ideal Weapons obsolete potentially. This turned out not to be the case so those people can relax for now! Ideal Units were not something I expected, however. At this point their stats are completely unknown, let alone any hidden stats or potential set bonuses.

According to Bumped, there are going to be some other changes to Challenge Mode quests too, such as relaxing the VR drain for 9+ player parties and granting bonus miles for picking up excessive VR capsules. While cool, I imagine this won’t change the current strategy of having a VR manager to pick up capsules only when needed for as much time in the quest as possible.

Meanwhile it appears that Advance Quests may be getting a permanent 100% exp boost applied to them, making them a viable way to level up outside of emergency quests. Cool enough, I’m quite happy with this idea if it turns out to be true. They’re also going to boost the drop rate of large Pyroxenes, which is another welcome change although the cynic in me anticipates that it won’t be that much of a boost to be noticeable.

Toy Falz: Dark Falz Double

No need for a highlight section, it’s just toy falz! So yeah, seems that Double will indeed be the next raid boss and the next Falz we will encounter in the story. Not particularly surprising perhaps, but there was a small chance that the plot could have diverted and we ended up fighting a different Falz instead. There was another Falz revealed in the data at least, by the name of Dark Falz Abyss. More on that possibly in a separate post.

The humanoid form of Double seems appropriately hectic, in line with the other humanoid Falz forms so far. Looking at the trailer it does seem like the boss has a few moves that could get somewhat cheesy, but without any damage numbers or player level shown it’s hard to say for sure how damaging some of its moves may be. It seems to borrow Hunar’s ground-pound attack, but then Loser has a similar attack in its full form as well.

As for the full form, I have to say it was nothing like I imagined Double would be. A dark, living castle. It’s cool looking! The moves it has look pretty dynamic. I can’t wait to see what the boss’s mechanics turn out to be. It seems to lack a Loser-style MPA-wipe move going by the trailer, but I’m sure they haven’t shown everything the boss can do.

Other Tidbits

Class Cap Bonuses

Seems you will be able to earn a stat bonus for capping a class on a character. For example, getting to Lv75 on Braver will give you +2pp, +20 all attack and +30 dex. This bonus will apply to all of your classes forever. This will also apply to all of your classes for each character on your account, so you won’t need to cap all classes on all characters. Well, in theory. They haven’t actually said that it doesn’t stack, but I doubt it will. Regardless, there is a chance that this could be a really nasty pay-to-win incentive if it does stack…

This, along with the class Excube system and SP-orders tied to them after hitting the lv75 cap does make me seriously speculate that we could be at the ultimate cap in PSO2 now. If so, this means the only progress our characters would make from here on out would be gear alone. I may be wrong on this, but if not I’m not really sure how to feel about it. I can say that I wouldn’t be eager for any level cap raises anyway.

Casino Changes

Along with increasing the payouts for all the casino games (aside Roulette), Lambda Grinders, Yurlungers (otherwise only obtainable from Ultimate Lilipa) and Lilipariums will also be added to the prize shop there. Rare Enemy Trigger E-Trials will also reward Arks Badges (Peach!) and a unit with the “Spirita Alpha” ability. Not a clue what effect this ability has at this time.

And something about a Neptunia collab in the fall but no one cares about that.

Thanks to Bumped for some names and Manta for uploading videos from the stream.

Oh right, before I forget PSO2 IS GETTING A GOD DAMN ANIME!? Like, what the fuck? I mean OK, it isn’t really that huge of a stretch because the game is already neck deep in anime as it is but still! God damn, man, god damn! It’s apparently an original story set on a near-future Earth which… if true I’m not really sure how that’s going to be related to PSO2 at all? I don’t know. For those of us with a morbid curiosity, we’ll find out in 2016 when it airs.

About the Blog

I’ve found myself getting a bit worried about the purpose of this thing. I mean it’s always been a semi-news blog/mostly my dumb opinions blog. A thing to exercise my writing skills with and above all it’s been fun to write. The trouble is, not being able to do news cause I can’t read the language and because its one of the less enjoyable things to write about in my opinion, it means when I don’t have an opinion on something I just end up not writing anything. And of course, I have my own professional skills to develop (I do not intend to ever do writing for a living) and these things can take a surprising amount of time to write.

Truthfully, I did also anticipate being able to cover the western version of the game whenever it would decide to rear its ugly face. So far this has yet to happen and honestly, judging by the data present in the South-East Asian version of the game I’m pretty sure the western version has been canned. This is just my thoughts and the thoughts of a few others I know, so we could be wrong. I’d happily eat humble pie on this if an announcement were to come out from either Sega or some company that buys the license. I know there are people out there who still don’t want to play on the Japanese servers and I really don’t blame them. Yeah I know signing up isn’t hard and there are some seriously awesome community efforts to make it all the more trivial but some people still don’t feel welcome on the Japanese servers and are also put off by the fact that playing there entitles them to zero support from the developers. The latter is a particularly understandable concern for some people.

All in all, I’ll keep this going when I can and as long as it’s fun to write. If I end up in a position where I can’t keep the blog going anymore, I’ll make a post saying so and put this thing to rest.


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Research in Psychiatry

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Research conducted in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience is broad and multidisciplinary, spanning molecular, biological, and genetic approaches in animal models to human laboratory studies and patient-based clinical investigations in psychiatric disorders.  Our collective mission is to identify underlying mechanisms, risk factors, and develop efficacious treatments for a number of psychiatric and health conditions including aggression, anxiety and depression, autism spectrum disorders, bipolar illness and schizophrenia, dementia, obesity, eating, substance use, and impulse control disorders.  Examination of developmental and cultural factors that impact mental health and treatment response are also strengths of the department, as is the use of cutting edge technologies including neuroimaging and functional genomics.

Participate in Psychiatry Research:

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Johnson, Adam J., God's Being in Reconciliation: The Theological Basis of the Unity and Diversity of the Atonement in the Theology of Karl Barth, (London: T & T Clark, 2012), x + 220pp. $120.00 ($34.95, paperback)

Reviewed by Scott Rice (January 2, 2014)

If the thought of Karl Barth continues to be appropriated as a theological resource in the English speaking context in years to come, it will be due to the impact of constructive works like this one. In God’s Being in Reconciliation, Adam Johnson (now assistant professor of theology at Biola University) deploys a creative perspective on Barth's theology that unites scripture’s diverse expressions of Christ’s saving work by way of the doctrine of God. While much current discourse on atonement approaches the subject noting either the plethora of metaphors or cultural variations that might make up a coherent framework, Johnson's argument, in an improvisation on 2 Cor. 5.19, turns to “the God who was in Christ accomplishing atonement” (5–9). His treatment of Barth results is a refreshing look at how scripture’s diverse ways of speaking about the atonement might be unified by attending to their ultimate ground in the unity-in-diversity of the perfections of God's triune being.Cover

Johnson sets the stage in chapter two by laying out the central features of Barth’s being-in-act ontology and its relation to his doctrine of election. Familiar to most Barth readers, Johnson makes the claim that God’s being is one with his acts of self-manifestation (32), and that this self-manifestation centers upon the person of Jesus Christ (40, 43). In chapter three, Johnson turns to Barth on the Trinity. Two points from this chapter stand out: first, Johnson focusses on the full presence of God in Jesus which results from the divine unity; and second, he highlights how Barth’s use of traditional concepts and maxims for the divine distinctions—like perichoresis and opera trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa—underscore the dynamic relation of God’s unity-in-diversity. For example, the divine distinctions provide an antecedent basis for God to assume and reconcile the other-ness which is sinful humanity without ontological separation (67, 70, 83). With this treatment of God’s being-in-act, the christological center of God’s self-manifestation and the Trinitarian distinctions in place, Johnson moves on to explicate the connection in Barth’s thought between the divine perfections and the atonement.

Chapter four lies at the heart of Johnson's argument. In the first half of the chapter, he develops Barth’s inclusion of the divine perfections within the doctrine of the Trinity to unearth its implications for atonement. The result: “the perfections of God's one being bear the impression of that triunity,” a formal “unity in diversity” pattern in which each perfection belongs wholly and equally to each of the three eternal modes of God’s being (99–100). While each perfection evinces the entirety of God’s essence, the perfections, corresponding with the traditional concept of perichoresis and the opera ad extra maxim, are marked by a unified inter-relation, inseparable from one another (102). Consequently, scripture’s diverse ways of speaking about the atonement that takes place in Jesus Christ—God fully present in the locus of his reconciling ways (chapter 2)—reflects “the oneness and multiplicity of the being of God by witnessing to the role of the divine perfections in Christ’s reconciling work” (125). Theories of atonement can and ought to identify how such ways of speaking are rooted in God’s being without simultaneously claiming exclusivity or primacy for one or another, just as each perfection belongs truly and wholly to God’s self. Moreover, Johnson notes that this approach clears the way for filling out underdeveloped expressions of reconciliation in scripture.

Chapter five reiterates Johnson’s thesis through the perspective of the doctrine of sin. Just as sin in its many variations is revealed in Christ on the cross, so too is revealed the diversity of the divine perfections which there confront sin.

Chapter six is the other particularly innovative section. Here Johnson puts his project to practice at length by developing one such underdetermined salvific expression through the perfection of (omni)presence. This is done by placing scriptural themes concerning God’s presence and absence to Israel and its temple alongside New Testament temple imagery. From this, he offers an atonement theory using a modified version of CD IV’s well known “Four-Fold ‘For Us’” framework: Christ comes as the temple in the form of God’s promised presence; Christ bears the fate of the temple which departs from God, undergoing the divine forsakenness God brings upon himself and remaining present to God when the former temple had not; and finally, Jesus shows himself to be God’s temple, the divine presence which he yields to his church by the Spirit (182–92). Johnson believes that this approach has multiple benefits: (1) it makes explicit otherwise latent themes associated with God’s (omni)presence; (2) it recognizes an important connection between thinking about atonement in both testaments; and (3), it highlights the connection between sin and God-abandonment (193).

God’s Being in Reconciliation is a lucid and well-developed argument which maintains a consistent engagement with prominent Barth scholarship, both past and more contemporary. Most notable, however, is the solution Johnson proffers to the problem of accounting for scripture’s diverse ways of speaking about the atonement by grounding them in the unity-in-diversity of the triune God. It is not only the material content of Johnson’s work that is important, but also the form of his reading of Barth. He takes Barth as a source in the theological task and then creatively applies—and, when necessary, corrects—Barth’s thought to address contemporary theological issues.

A specific implication latent in Johnson’s work is worthy of note. Although he does not go as far as saying that incorporating Israel into atonement theories working with the divine perfections should be, to borrow a phrase from him used elsewhere in the text, a “dogmatic priority,” his temple theory of atonement, immersed in the text of the Old Testament, takes an important step in this direction (120). If Barth is right to say that at the center of God’s being-in-action is the eternal election and actual assumption of a man from 1st c. Judea, then this ought to have a greater impact on all our attempts to understand and articulate the atonement.

The reader will likely ask concerning the resurrection’s place in this work. Johnson admits that he postpones dealing at length with this significant event (along with a more explicit focus on the Holy Spirit) due to the scope of his task and the lacuna in atonement scholarship on this particular subject (199-200). But something is certainly lost if the bifurcation of cross and resurrection does not include an adequate treatment of their inter-relation, even if that bifurcation arises only for heuristic purposes. For instance, in Johnson's temple theory of atonement, the presence of the Spirit in Christ that is repeated in the lives of believers is possible only on the presupposition that a future has been opened up by the risen one (194). When Johnson does take up the other side of the atoning event, one hopes that he will give attention to the necessary relationship between the cross-event and the resurrection. That said, this criticism and suggestion only intends to strengthen an otherwise excellent and fruitful argument that incorporates Barth’s theology for the present in an admirable way.

The views expressed here are strictly those of the author; they do not necessarily represent the views of the Center for Barth Studies or Princeton Theological Seminary.


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Phineas Fahrquar:

And another canon of faith in the Church of Anthropogenic Global Warming goes bust.

Originally posted on Watts Up With That?:

WUWT readers may recall seeing stories like these in the past. Warming wailers like Bill McKibben, who unthinkingly regurgitated this bogus Jellyfish news in op-eds like this one, take note.

A new new peer reviewed study shows that once again, these wild claims are falsely attributed to “global warming”. Instead, these temporary blooms are part of a natural cyclic global oscillation. Further, the researches find no trend saying

“…there is no robust evidence for a global increase in jellyfish.”

The stories, like the one above, are products of nothing more than increased awareness due to more eyes on the sea. We see the same sort of reporting bias effect in tornadoes, now that we have storm chasers and Doppler radar.

Here’s the Press release and PNAS paper:

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Phineas Fahrquar:

I have very mixed feelings about this: On the one hand, Giffords is an incredibly sympathetic figure for the nightmare she went through. On the other, I’m left very uncomfortable by the exploitation of her shooting to render invalid and immoral the arguments of those concerned with the preservation of constitutional rights and liberties. One can almost hear the “absolute moral authority card” being played. Beyond that, the “responsible solutions” I suspect Giffords’ group will seek simply don’t address the problem and don’t work.

Earlier posts about gun control.

Originally posted on Twitchy:

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has made a remarkable recovery after suffering a gunshot to the head during the Tucson massacre two years ago. Today, on the second anniversary of the shooting, she’s ready for her next chapter as the face of the gun control movement.

Monday night, Giffords’ husband Mark Kelly teased the launch of their “broad new effort,” an organization called Americans for Responsible Solutions.

Evidently “responsible solutions” don’t necessarily involve respecting Second Amendment rights.

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refers to any thought, feeling, or behavior that departs from accepted practices in a society or group

refers to any thought, feeling, or behavior that departs from accepted practices in a society or group

widely held beliefs in society

less-serious rules of behavior in a group or society

Symbolic Interactionist Approaches of Deviance

The interactionistapproach to deviance views it as a manifestation of social interactions, like any other thought, feeling, or behavior- labeling theory

Ethnomethodology coined by

•Harold Garfinkel(1917 -2011)

Ethnomethodology and sociology

•EM: Not interested in those things, except to understand how a sense of those structures are created in everyday life.

sociology and ethno

Sociology: bureaucracy, capitalism, the division of labor, social systems, culture

Ethnomethodologist and social order

assume that social order is illusory.
•Social life merely appears to be orderly; in reality it is potentially chaotic.
•Social order is constructed in the minds of social actors as society confronts the individual as a series of sense impressions and experiences
-We must somehow organize into a coherent pattern.

•More simply: EM is the study of the ways in which people make sense of their social world.
Seeks to discover the "methods" that persons use in their everyday life in constructing social reality
•Arduously Empirical; Often atheoretical
•Discovery of "essential features"
-To uncover what is generally true and not limited to culturally or temporally relative conclusions
-Goal: to find essences of the human condition which are universally true

assumptions of ethno-

ethnomethodologists assume that order in the social world is an accomplishment, not a given;
-order in the social world is emergent;
-individuals constantly shape and (re)create it through their interactions with others.

Method of Ethno-

one of the most important forms of interaction is conversation, thus conversation analysisis important for ethnomethodology
•Study of talk in interaction

Documentary Method

The process through which immediately given information (documents) are used to infer meaning and motive in the behavior of others.
-appearance, reputation, past events, actual documents
selecting certain facts from a social situation, which seem to conform to a pattern and then making sense of these facts in terms of the pattern.

people make sense of a remark, sign or particular action by reference to the context in which it occurs; that is they index it to particular circumstances.

Breaching Experiments

The taken-for-granted world we all inhabit is to some extent necessary in order to avoid confusion which would be experienced if we saw everything as if it were the first time.
Disrupt temporarily the world which people take for granted and see how they react.
-Deviate from normative expectations (Deviance!)

point of breaching expierements

The point of this is to expose background assumptions that have been accepted as reality for a long time.

Labeling theory

argues that deviance is a consequence of a social process in which a negative characteristic becomes an element of an individual's identity
-An individual becomes a deviant through the acceptance of a deviant label

Types of Deviance coined by

Tannenbaum's(1938) early research focused on the process by which juvenile delinquents are "tagged" as deviants
•Edwin Lemertextended Tannenbaum'swork by arguing that there

primary deviance

refers to the initial act that causes others to label the individual a deviant

secondary deviance

occurs after an individual accepts the deviant label and continues to commit deviant acts, thus supporting the initial label

Agents of social control

represent the state's attempts to maintain social order, to enforce the moresof society;

Moral Careers and Deviant Subcultures

Lives a deviant lifestyle

moral careers coined by

Howard Becker (1973) elaborated the processes through which people become outsiders:
-An individual commits a deviant act (primary deviance)
-The person begins to accept the deviant status (secondary deviance)
-The deviant joins a deviant subculture

stigma coined by

Presentation of self is important

: an attribute, behavior, or reputation which is socially discrediting in a particular way

Physical deformities or other deviations

Affiliation with a specific nationality, religion, race, or other marginalized group that constitutes a deviation from the normative

Known deviations in personal traits

Other socially undesirable "character flaws" (culturally relative): Mental disorders, addictions, sexually promiscuous (double-standard)

Attempt to hide stigmatized characteristic
-Only possible when stigma can be obscured

downplaying stigma to reduce tensions to "normals"
-Undomiciled inviduals

"Being Middle Eastern..." (Marvasti2009)

Being "Middle Eastern-looking" as a stigma.
-How do people manage in the face of discrimination

Retrospective Interpretations: Narratives are subject to participants' interpretations

Narratives are subject to participants' interpretations

Accounting Practices (presented)

Humorous Accounting
•Educational Accounting
•Defiant Accounting

Social Structure and Deviant Behavior

Deviant behavior may be a choice but those choices are made in context of a larger set of factors
-Choices are constrained by the information and resources we have available to cope with our situation
-Larger societal norms create limitations on how we can achieve legitimate goals in life

Anomie coined by

Durkheim argued that individuals can lose their sense of place in society, especially in times of great social change when norms and values become less clear
•Under these conditions, individuals may develop a sense of anomie
-"normlessness," where there is little consensus about what is right and wrong
•Without a clear sense of right and wrong, individuals lack the guidance to make clear decisions in life

Social Strain Theory coined by

Robert merton

social strain theory-

Deviance is a function of imbalance between socially acceptable goals and the legitimate means of reaching them.

social control theory,

deviance results when individuals' bonds with conventional society are weakened in some way
-Related to the proximity principle

Four ways that individuals are bonded to society:

Four ways that individuals are bonded to society:

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when a child care worker recognizes
and notes an identifiable performance or behavior and uses instruments such as checklists, anecdotal records and running records. The instruments are used to measure progress against a standard and to share results
with assessment experts.

instrument intended to identify and monitor normal development or possible developmental delay. Screening programs are not diagnostic, and are not based on whether a child has passed a certain curriculum.

become concerned about progress

When the child has not yet acquired the skills that are typical for the childs age or when they seem to give up

The Florida Legislature

mandated that child care providers complete a course that covers the topic of observation of developmental behaviors, including using a checklist or other similar observation tools and techniques, to determine the
child's developmental age level.

Early detection of problems

allows for timely
referral for intervention

attention should be focused on

activities that strengthen the child's skills.

Proper screening

leads to sound assessment so that early detection of potential developmental
delays will determine the correct referral and intervention

a window

represents air and other
things have free access to the space
within, but when the window is closed,
nothing can get through the window

Development in young children occurs

Development in young children occurs and typically progresses in

All children develop at their

Heredity and environment

work together to make each child special and different from all others.

logical sequence

Skills are acquired in

Developmental progress is periods of stammering, characterize development and Periodic regression is normal and should be expected.

Early experiences and opportunities to practice new skills are

Cultural influences

are important. The social setting and culture the child lives in influences the ways the child grows and develops.

six Developmental Domains

Physical Health
Motor Development
Cognitive Development & General Knowledge
Language & Communication
Approaches to Learning
Social & Emotional

Physical Health

refers to the changes in body shape and proportion. It includes change in weight and height

Motor Development

refers to a child's
ability to move about and control body
parts such as grasping, rolling over,

Cognitive Development

a child's intellectual or mental abilities. It involves finding processing and organizing information and using it appropriately. Discovering, interpreting, sorting, classifying, and remembering information.

"Language and Communication

child's ability to express himself verbally and to receive and understand the verbal communication of others. It involves vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, and ability to understand things around them

Social and Emotional

Focuses on how children feel about themselves and their relationships with others. Refers to individual behaviors, responses to play and work activities, attachment to parents and relationships with siblings and friends.

Approaches to Learning

how skills and knowledge are acquired through the three qualities of eagerness and curiosity, persistence and creativity, and problem solving.

Age-level expectancies

represent a range(rather than an exact point in time) when specific skills will be achieved.

not age that is the important factor in evaluating a child's progress

make notes

Participants should always ____ during the observation process before and after the observation

Participants must be _____ in their observations.Subjective information is open to interpretation and is not useful for describing behavior.

Tools for Recording

Checklists, Anecdotal Records, Running Records

Record only ____

Record every ____ don't leave out anything.

action words

Use ____ that describe but do not judge.

Record the facts in the ___ they occur.

natural settings

Observation of children in ____ lets the observer report what the child is able to do in an environment that supports the child to perform her best.

one child

Do not try to observe more than____ a time.

Do not influence the child's by your presence.

adequate space

Make sure there is ____ for the observation.

Make sure that ___ are kept to a minimum.

Use an area that is ___ to the child

child and parents

Make sure you build a relationship with the___

Participant observation

Allows you to interact with children directly and ask them certain things

Overt observation

You do not hide the fact you are observing a child's actions

Non-participant observation

The observer is concealed behind a screen or a 2-way mirror and does not interact with the child

Covert observation

When the children are not told they are being observed.

six major developmental domains

Physical Health, Motor Development, Cognitive Development & General Knowledge, Language & Communication, Approaches to Learning, and Social & Emotional.

a disability

The screening process can not confirm

Screening helps to ___ children that could benefit from early childhood intervention programs

screening instruments

are divided into the categories of physical, cognitive, language, and social/emotional.

The social/emotional developmental domain

is difficult to test.

Sound screening tools are

reliable, valid, and free of bias

A record keeping system

for tracking the individual children as they progress through the program

Information sheets

where you record the child's name, parents' names, the child's age at the time of the screening, name of the screener and their relationship to the child (parent, child care provider, nurse, doctor)

Scoring sheets

where you record the child's actions and responses

Interpretation scale

for locating the child's data in relation to the norms of other children their age;

Decision guide

to help with the screening results (continue screening at next interval, referral).

Planning the process you will use, identifying how you will engage parents and at what points in the process, obtaining the materials if any are needed, developing forms.

Identifying the time and location for the activity, scheduling staff or substitutes if the activity requires 1:1 attention to an individual child.

Obtaining permission from parents, conducting the activity, recording the activity, scoring the activity if appropriate, working with parents.

Following Through

Talking with parents, beginning to identify the next steps.

organizing, scheduling, executing and follow through

four basic tasks involved in developing and maintaining a successful behavioral observation and screening process

parental permission

the first step of any observation and screening activity

Communicating with parents

is important. You must be clear about the need for assessment and its benefits to the child.

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Pamela Busch (left) and Cynthia Rolewski both teach at La Cima Middle School

Cynthia Rolewski & Pamela Busch, teachers at La Cima Middle School, discuss the drawbacks of overcrowded classrooms. Cynthia teaches technology and reading and Pamela teaches reading and arts.

Arizona Spotlight airs Fridays at 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. on KUAZ Radio (89.1 FM/1550 AM).

View more stories on the Teachers Voices page.


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Arizona Public Media
AZPM on Facebook AZPM on Twitter AZPM on YouTube AZPM on Google+ AZPM on Instagram

All Stories

Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?

A conversation with filmmaker Frances Causey about a new documentary that examines America's financial woes and the dwindling size of the middle class.

Historian and University of Arizona Mexican American Studies Professor Lydia Otero, talks on the past and present time of Tucson's multicultural development through the city's centennial existence referring to her novel, "La Calle" and the permanent photo exhibit in the Joel Valdez library in downtown Tucson.

Centennial Inspires Book on History of a Tucson Barrio

Book and exhibit commemorate community impacted by urban renewal project

Executive Director of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, Bill Carnegie, talks to us about the lack of money for food that will be able to be distributed in holiday food boxes for the first time in 35 years.

Food Bank Cancels Holiday Box Distribution

Demand more than doubles over 4 years; agency can't keep up

Arizona film Industry

Time to Revive Arizona's Film Industry

Two Tucson-based filmmakers spearhead plan to revitalize the Tucson-area's once mighty film industry.

Desert Aquariums

Finding Fish in the Desert

Two aquariums are attracting thousands of visitors in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Lucky Mary's restaurant

Mary's Lucky Dollar

Local eatery helps define a sense of place

Youth Farming

Millennials on the Farm

Local kids work for sustainability at Community Food Bank's Youth Farm Project

Korea House

Korean Cuisine in the Old Pueblo

Oldest continuously operating Korean Restaurant in Arizona

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Posts Tagged 'Gregor Collienne'

Control Your Girlfriend Via Your PS3 Controller (You Wish)

Gregor Collienne is a German photographer with a flair for the dramatic. I don’t think he really wants geeks to control our girlfriends via our video game controllers, but this image really caught my eye this week.

gregor colienne girlfriend video game

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I’m researching my blog post for Twigs of Yore‘s Australia Day challenge. This year it’s about work. Shelley says:

Choose someone who lived in Australia (preferably one of your ancestors) and tell us how they toiled. Your post should include:

  1. What was their occupation?
  2. What information do you have about the individual’s work, or about the occupation in general?
  3. The story of the person, focussing on their occupation; or
    The story of the occupation, using the person as an example

I’m looking forward to taking part. Last year’s Twigs of Yore challenge – to write about the earliest document you have found relating to an ancestor –  was what started me blogging regularly (I wrote about Nicholas Delaney’s 1799 trial transcript).

Moyne, Little Hartley - the Delaney family farm

Moyne, the family farm

But who to choose? And which occupation?

Most of my Aussie ancestors were farmers. Then there’s another great-great-great grandfather, John Simpson, who was a tailor. Or I could stick with Nicholas. He ended up farming, but before that he was a roadbuilder, both as a convict and a free man, and an innkeeper. In Ireland, before the Rebellion of 1798, he was a landless labourer.

And there are the false leads, the family myths and cover-ups. Before we started to look closely at Nicholas’s life, we’d heard a few of these, the results of misinformation and the shame that used to cling to having convict ancestry. They can’t be blamed – it was all part of the idea of the ‘Convict Stain’. How times have changed.

Sydney: Government House, an 1802 watercolour ...

Government House, Sydney, 1802 (Wikipedia)

We’d been told that he’d been the Lord Mayor of Belfast (highly unlikely!). In Australia, family stories had him as a gardener and a butler at Government House in Sydney, where he had met his wife, Elizabeth Bayly, who was a maid there. Or he was a carpenter working on an extension to the (‘Old’) Government House in Parramatta.

All very respectable. But in researching family history there are often false leads. And there is no written evidence to support these stories. So, tempting as they are, they go into the bin.

So – a tailor, a roadbuilder, an innkeeper or a farmer? What’s it to be? Do come back on the 26th January and find out.

 © Frances Owen and A Rebel Hand, 2010-2014

About rebelhand

A Rebel Hand is: about Nicholas Delaney, Irish rebel of 1798, transported as a convict to New South Wales, roadbuilder, innkeeper and farmer. My great-great-great grandfather. Other ancestors transported to Australia, like Sarah Marshall, John Simpson and James Thomas Richards, pop up as well. This blog's also about the historical background to their lives, in England, Ireland, and Australia. My respectable Welsh ancestors sometimes get a look in.
This entry was posted in Australia, Blogging and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

10 Responses to Family myths, cover-ups – what did Nicholas Delaney really do?

  1. cassmob says:

    Look forward to hearing which it is…you’ve got me intrigued.

  2. Shelley says:

    I’m looking forward to finding out!

  3. Pingback: Wealth for Toil – Australia Day challenge for 2012 | A Rebel Hand

  4. My wife was stella delaney, daughter of Victor Delaney born 1 December 1881 at Marrickville.Father was James Delaney who was married 1866. I am trying to add to the bits and pieces I have read in order to up-date her ancestory, so anything could be helpful. Thanks Neville Michael

  5. Pingback: Transports of delight – researching the book about Nicholas | A Rebel Hand

  6. Pingback: Back to Blog – death and renewal | A Rebel Hand

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Car World Records

113 Records Found

00:14 United States

Longest Basketball Shot Made From A Car Trunk

Alex Cunningham

Alex Cunningham made a basketball shot while standing in a car trunk from a distance of 36 feet.

00:24 Netherlands

Fastest Time To Complete Track A01 Of "Trackmania Nations Forever"

Division X completed track A01 of “TrackMania Nations Forever” in 24.00 seconds.

01:23 United States

Most Times To Say "Prius" In One Minute

Mark Foster

Mark Foster said "Prius" 189 times in one minute.

Most Times "Giving The Toe" Out A Car Window In One Minute

Kathy Lynch

Kathy Lynch lowered all the toes on her right foot except the middle one 75 times in one minute, with her foot sticking out of a car window.

United States

Tightest Parallel Parking Spot

Brooks Mason

Brooks Mason parked a car between two adjacent vehicles with exactly 3.75" of space between his car and each vehicle in front and back of the car.

Fastest Time To Drive Around Manhattan

CBC Life

CBC Life drove around the island of Manhattan in 26 minutes and 3 seconds. NOTE: This record is extremely dangerous. The category is closed. Future submissons will not be accepted.

00:32 Canada

Longest Distance To Jump A Ford Crown Victoria

Ryan Stock

Ryan Stock jumped a Ford Crown Victoria a distance of 130 feet. The attempt was part of Discovery Channel's Guinea Pig. NOTE: This attempt is extremely dangerous and should only be attempted by trained professionals.

03:22 United States

Most Consecutive Laps Around A Four Door Vehicle While Bouncing Two Table Tennis Balls On Two Paddles Simultaneously

Brian Pankey

Brian Pankey completed seven laps around a four door vehicle while bouncing a two table tennis balls on two paddles simultaneously.

01:00 United States

Fastest Time To Run Five Laps Around A Car While Holding A Mounted Deer Head

Andy Pelphrey

Andy Pelphrey ran five laps around a car while holding a mounted deer head in 29.79 seconds.

00:29 Ireland

Longest Scream While Riding In A Convertible

Chanele McGuinness

Chanele M. screamed for 21.35 seconds while riding in a convertible. NOTE: If you attempt to beat record, you must follow all rules. Use safety precautions and do not ride in a moving vehicle without wearing a seatbelt.

00:56 England

Fastest Time To Skip Five Laps Around A Car

Liam Hill

Liam's friend, Rocco, skipped five laps around a car in 26.86 seconds.

00:50 United States

Most People Bending High Notes On Electric Guitars At Once In A Toyota Prius

Prius Records

This record was set as part of Prius Records, a two-day event streamed live on the Internet. In a 48-hour period, URDB officials adjudicated 200 Prius-related world records. This was the most records ever documented in a 48-hour window, a world record in and of itself. The event took place in Los Angeles, California on March 30th and 31st, 2011. See all the records set at the event here.

04:01 United States

Most Inflated Balloons Transferred From A Nissan Altima To A Chevrolet Corsica

Brandon Lane

Brandon Lane and his friends transferred 54 inflated balloons from a Nissan Altima to a Chevrolet Corsica.

06:00 United States

Most People Inside A Ford Bronco

James Eustace

James Eustace and 17 students from Connect Student Ministries climbed inside a 1992 Ford Bronco at once. WARNING: This record can be dangerous. Please use caution if attempting to beat it.

00:36 United States

Most Times Saying "McDonald's" In Five Seconds While Riding In A Car

Daniel Anderson

Daniel A. said McDonald's 11 times in five seconds while riding in a car.

00:45 United States

Most People Pretending To Be NASCAR Drivers

iD Tech Camps UC San Diego

A total of 54 student campers from iD Tech Camps UC San Diego pretended to beNASCAR drivers. [#iDTech][]

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