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Continuing from yesterday's post. After a bit of trying around, I discovered another mechanism of the game. That being that holding down the R button doesn't merely enable you to detach limbs, but while engulfed by the blue sphere your crustacean radiates you can recruit the smaller animals which litter the stages, like the jellyfish and starfish, who in turn will aid you by attacking your foe.
Also here be four more videos.
Two more after a click on the link below.
Also here be four more videos.
Two more after a click on the link below.
A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a video of a game and after a bit of research discovered a few others on Nico Nico Douga, as well as the site of the developer. Not much else was to be found, yet the site promised a trial version to be released in due time, whose release I hotly anticipated. Today I somehow felt compelled to look again, and to my joy there was a new tutorial video on NND and a site for the game, which hosted a demo: http://www.neoaq.net/
Excited like a little kid on Christmas Eve I immediately began playing, and goodness gracious it did not disappoint, at all. After a few rounds I immediately searched for a working screen recorder and after a while had finally found one and started recording, here's the two videos I uploaded to YouTube:
Now as to the game itself. Neo Aquarium simulates a tranquil underwater world presented in humble 3D. You select to play as one of currently 5 crustaceans, including a cancer, a lobster, and a hermit crab. Once you have chosen your maritime avatar, you set out to swim and wander around the sea floor until you encounter another of the characters. You thus engage in battle with it, which involves using your claws to strike them, shooting bullets all over the place, FIRING LASER BEAMS FROM YOUR PINCERS THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVER
The game seems to be tailored to joypad controls, primarily PS2 ones. I personally used a 360 controller and it worked very well. I can't say anything about the optional keyboard consoles as I never tried them. Nonetheless, let me explain how you play the game.
Excited like a little kid on Christmas Eve I immediately began playing, and goodness gracious it did not disappoint, at all. After a few rounds I immediately searched for a working screen recorder and after a while had finally found one and started recording, here's the two videos I uploaded to YouTube:
Now as to the game itself. Neo Aquarium simulates a tranquil underwater world presented in humble 3D. You select to play as one of currently 5 crustaceans, including a cancer, a lobster, and a hermit crab. Once you have chosen your maritime avatar, you set out to swim and wander around the sea floor until you encounter another of the characters. You thus engage in battle with it, which involves using your claws to strike them, shooting bullets all over the place, FIRING LASER BEAMS FROM YOUR PINCERS THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVER
The game seems to be tailored to joypad controls, primarily PS2 ones. I personally used a 360 controller and it worked very well. I can't say anything about the optional keyboard consoles as I never tried them. Nonetheless, let me explain how you play the game.
Another interesting conversation in the channel.
Click on "Weiter lesen" to read it in full.
Click on "Weiter lesen" to read it in full.
Earlier this morning, I suddenly felt compelled to draw this scene and thus I did so over the course of the day. The muse just suddenly kissed me after watching a few time lapses of flowers blooming.
It should be noted that the daffodil is... no, let's... never mind.
The melody on her lips is "Einmal am Rhein" by Willi Ostermann, by the way.
It should be noted that the daffodil is... no, let's... never mind.
The melody on her lips is "Einmal am Rhein" by Willi Ostermann, by the way.
Friar Konstantin coughed as he failed to get up and merely managed to move his body to sit upright.
"Hah, devils. Now you finally have me at your mercy, haven't you. But before you complete your filthy deed, at least reveal to me in whose orders you are doing this. My cousin, I presume?"
"What are you going on about? For the last time, we aren't spies or anything like that!"
"Then why did you sneak into our abbey to wreak all this havoc?"
"Don't tell me this is a normal abbey! You have these monsters walking around, you yourself carry a weird thin sword... Not to mention all those clockworks on this thing! There must be something wrong here!"
"This is an abbey of Cistercian monks, who have chosen to live in seclusion where they survive through their own work and labour. These "monsters" as you call them were created to aid them in tending the fields, building this cloister, and to generally make the isolated life up here possible. The same applies to the clockwork embedded into this complex, which controls a couple of mechanisms; for example fresh water supply and regulation of the temperature in the winter."
"So why do they carry weapons and can fight that well?"
"A couple of them were assigned to protect us from robbers and other such evildoers."
"But the villagers said..."
The beaten brother raised an eyebrow, and then suddenly burst into ugly yet also very bitter laughter.
"The villagers? Now this explains it! The foolish peasants, yet again not able to grasp the truth and instead deluded by their laughable fantasies lacking proper examination of the facts."
With shaking legs and grasping the wall, he slowly rose back to his feet.
"Hah, devils. Now you finally have me at your mercy, haven't you. But before you complete your filthy deed, at least reveal to me in whose orders you are doing this. My cousin, I presume?"
"What are you going on about? For the last time, we aren't spies or anything like that!"
"Then why did you sneak into our abbey to wreak all this havoc?"
"Don't tell me this is a normal abbey! You have these monsters walking around, you yourself carry a weird thin sword... Not to mention all those clockworks on this thing! There must be something wrong here!"
"This is an abbey of Cistercian monks, who have chosen to live in seclusion where they survive through their own work and labour. These "monsters" as you call them were created to aid them in tending the fields, building this cloister, and to generally make the isolated life up here possible. The same applies to the clockwork embedded into this complex, which controls a couple of mechanisms; for example fresh water supply and regulation of the temperature in the winter."
"So why do they carry weapons and can fight that well?"
"A couple of them were assigned to protect us from robbers and other such evildoers."
"But the villagers said..."
The beaten brother raised an eyebrow, and then suddenly burst into ugly yet also very bitter laughter.
"The villagers? Now this explains it! The foolish peasants, yet again not able to grasp the truth and instead deluded by their laughable fantasies lacking proper examination of the facts."
With shaking legs and grasping the wall, he slowly rose back to his feet.
"What are you doing here?"
The two intruders started up in surprise and terror. Slowly they turned around to see a younger monk who despite of his not that old age seemed somehow bitter and weary.
"I, er... We, we just..."
Ruben struggled to find an answer.
"We're travellers and were heading for the valley on the other side when it got dark and sought shelter here?"
"Women are not allowed in this abbey. Your weak excuses do not make you any more trustworthy either. Who are you spying for?"
His voice grew sterner and from out of a corridor behind him arrived two armed machines, coming to a halt to either side of the relatively skinny, bald man in his white habit covered by a black scapular. As they menacingly pointed the tips of their halberds at the two suspects, the male one grasped his longsword.
"We're no spies. But what about you? You've got all those... monsters around, don't tell me it isn't you who's hiding something!"
"I inquire you to leave immediately!"
Upon his loud command, the clockwork knights stepped closer to their targets. Ruben reacted immediately and dashed forward, using his mighty zweihänder to push aside one of the weapons pointing at him, seized its blade and thrust it half-sword into the waist of the archaic robot. Yet as his sword penetrated the small open space under the sound of shattering iron parts, from his side swung downwards the axe-like blade attached to the halberd of the second guard. Having flung off her cloak Nadia had sprung forward and rammed the tip of her rod into the mechanic soldier's metal stomach. She quickly whispered a few unintelligible lines causing her rod to suddenly release a voluminous fireball right into the foe's clockwork abdomen. From all small rifts and gaps within its armour burst flames. Nadia sprung back, and as the flare made way for smoke the armour collapsed with a louder noise than the one it had made when it could still move.
"Assassins!"
The two intruders started up in surprise and terror. Slowly they turned around to see a younger monk who despite of his not that old age seemed somehow bitter and weary.
"I, er... We, we just..."
Ruben struggled to find an answer.
"We're travellers and were heading for the valley on the other side when it got dark and sought shelter here?"
"Women are not allowed in this abbey. Your weak excuses do not make you any more trustworthy either. Who are you spying for?"
His voice grew sterner and from out of a corridor behind him arrived two armed machines, coming to a halt to either side of the relatively skinny, bald man in his white habit covered by a black scapular. As they menacingly pointed the tips of their halberds at the two suspects, the male one grasped his longsword.
"We're no spies. But what about you? You've got all those... monsters around, don't tell me it isn't you who's hiding something!"
"I inquire you to leave immediately!"
Upon his loud command, the clockwork knights stepped closer to their targets. Ruben reacted immediately and dashed forward, using his mighty zweihänder to push aside one of the weapons pointing at him, seized its blade and thrust it half-sword into the waist of the archaic robot. Yet as his sword penetrated the small open space under the sound of shattering iron parts, from his side swung downwards the axe-like blade attached to the halberd of the second guard. Having flung off her cloak Nadia had sprung forward and rammed the tip of her rod into the mechanic soldier's metal stomach. She quickly whispered a few unintelligible lines causing her rod to suddenly release a voluminous fireball right into the foe's clockwork abdomen. From all small rifts and gaps within its armour burst flames. Nadia sprung back, and as the flare made way for smoke the armour collapsed with a louder noise than the one it had made when it could still move.
"Assassins!"
The light of the moon was lighting the stone steps leading up the cold rock as the waterfall next to them sparkled in its cold light. Carefully, both of the travellers set one foot in front of another trying not to slip in the darkness. Eventually, both suddenly stopped still.
"Wait! Nadia, do you hear this?"
"Yes... Is it another of those monsters?"
They listened into the night. From above them, barely audible in the neighbourhood of the rushing water, a creaking sound could be heard quite akin to the one the two had encountered earlier.
"It sounds like it..."
"But then again, it sounds too... The cogwheels seem to keep revolving without ever stopping."
"You're right, the thing back down only made that sound when it moved. And I doubt if there's more of them up there they would be walking up and down all the time."
"What should we do...?"
"...I'll take a look."
"Be careful!"
Ruben pulled himself up a small edge upon which the water seemed to fall before again tumbling into the depths at its corner and carefully peeked at what would await him. To his surprise, no moving being stalked the rock. Instead in front of him a tall structure rose into the sky.
"Nadia, you've got to see this!"
He climbed up the ledge and heaved her up to him. Like trees being sown and breaking it overwhelmed their ears, the origin of the noise extending all the way up the waterfall till the very top of the mountain. Sown all throughout it and turning as quickly as the liquid poured downwards were waterwheels, norias, and complex mechanisms of countless cogwheels of the most varied sizes connecting them to a mass of entangled buildings whose clearly defined and not too ornate shapes formed with a light and nearly colourless stone radiated a ghostly flair being bathed in the icy moonlight. Towering ogival windows lined many of the walls attached to one another to form over dozens of metres up to the point where the mountain touched the sky a series of mostly rectangular buildings gripping into another like the wheels of the giant machinery on its side which sometimes even expanded to the front. Their rooves, at least the ones not formed to low gables, stood out and served as sizeable terraces.
"And that's supposed to be a cloister? That's more like a... I don't even know."
The pair followed the small bit of stream flowing between the bottom of the upper half of the waterfall and the point where it again plunged down the edge. Along its entire length it was filled with water wheels - a few small pipes fuelled overshot ones situated higher up at the building and undershot ones directly in touch with the flowing water, behind small uneven places in the latter were a multitude of breastshot water wheels, and a new norias of varying size lifted up heaps of the crystal clear fluid into aqueducts. All while countless intertwining axes and cogwheels connected all of them into a most magnificent clockwork attached to the whole width of the cloister, and sometimes even extending into the rock. Though it was night, the sky was clear and the relatively sizeable moon's light emphasised on the mechanical masterpiece's outlines and reflected off its metal parts.
"I've never seen something like this before..."
"It looks like a giant clockwork. Who built all this I wonder?"
"Shh! Nadia, look!"
The two had been approaching the entrance of the structure, but mesmerised by the enormous window of stained glass extending above the tall gate framed by multiple overlapping layers of arches they had up until now not noticed the shady figures standing to the doorway's either side.
"Curses, more of them!"
The brave children seemed to not have been noticed yet, or were merely being ignored.
"Ruben, we can't fight again. Especially not two of them at the same time!"
"I know, I know... Looks like we can't climb up all these wheels either, that would be suicide."
Ruben looked around. On one wall's surface a single drop beamed in the moonlight as it fell down from something. Carefully and while trying to hide in the shadow and noise of the waterwheels he got closer and much to his pleasure found the droplet to have fallen off a leaf belonging to a convoluted set of ivy vines clawing at the pale stone. He motioned to his companion to follow him, which Nadia promptly but carefully did.
"Look at this, we can climb up here!"
No sooner said and done. Using the elegantly curving and mingling twines they managed to sneak onto a terrace and scurried into the shadow of the columns forming with the arches resting upon their shoulders a high arcade. Both kept silent, as within the light of a few torches they could see and hear on the terrace two more of the mighty clockwork knights. Yet in their metal gloves they did not wield weapons but instead ploughs.
"Are they... gardening?", whispered Ruben in disbelief. It was not until then that both noticed that below their feet was soft soil on which a few vegetables were planted. Indeed the two machines were tending the soil and sowing out seeds. Bewildered, the adolescents decided not to further question the matter and quickly sneaked into the building unseen.
"Wait! Nadia, do you hear this?"
"Yes... Is it another of those monsters?"
They listened into the night. From above them, barely audible in the neighbourhood of the rushing water, a creaking sound could be heard quite akin to the one the two had encountered earlier.
"It sounds like it..."
"But then again, it sounds too... The cogwheels seem to keep revolving without ever stopping."
"You're right, the thing back down only made that sound when it moved. And I doubt if there's more of them up there they would be walking up and down all the time."
"What should we do...?"
"...I'll take a look."
"Be careful!"
Ruben pulled himself up a small edge upon which the water seemed to fall before again tumbling into the depths at its corner and carefully peeked at what would await him. To his surprise, no moving being stalked the rock. Instead in front of him a tall structure rose into the sky.
"Nadia, you've got to see this!"
He climbed up the ledge and heaved her up to him. Like trees being sown and breaking it overwhelmed their ears, the origin of the noise extending all the way up the waterfall till the very top of the mountain. Sown all throughout it and turning as quickly as the liquid poured downwards were waterwheels, norias, and complex mechanisms of countless cogwheels of the most varied sizes connecting them to a mass of entangled buildings whose clearly defined and not too ornate shapes formed with a light and nearly colourless stone radiated a ghostly flair being bathed in the icy moonlight. Towering ogival windows lined many of the walls attached to one another to form over dozens of metres up to the point where the mountain touched the sky a series of mostly rectangular buildings gripping into another like the wheels of the giant machinery on its side which sometimes even expanded to the front. Their rooves, at least the ones not formed to low gables, stood out and served as sizeable terraces.
"And that's supposed to be a cloister? That's more like a... I don't even know."
The pair followed the small bit of stream flowing between the bottom of the upper half of the waterfall and the point where it again plunged down the edge. Along its entire length it was filled with water wheels - a few small pipes fuelled overshot ones situated higher up at the building and undershot ones directly in touch with the flowing water, behind small uneven places in the latter were a multitude of breastshot water wheels, and a new norias of varying size lifted up heaps of the crystal clear fluid into aqueducts. All while countless intertwining axes and cogwheels connected all of them into a most magnificent clockwork attached to the whole width of the cloister, and sometimes even extending into the rock. Though it was night, the sky was clear and the relatively sizeable moon's light emphasised on the mechanical masterpiece's outlines and reflected off its metal parts.
"I've never seen something like this before..."
"It looks like a giant clockwork. Who built all this I wonder?"
"Shh! Nadia, look!"
The two had been approaching the entrance of the structure, but mesmerised by the enormous window of stained glass extending above the tall gate framed by multiple overlapping layers of arches they had up until now not noticed the shady figures standing to the doorway's either side.
"Curses, more of them!"
The brave children seemed to not have been noticed yet, or were merely being ignored.
"Ruben, we can't fight again. Especially not two of them at the same time!"
"I know, I know... Looks like we can't climb up all these wheels either, that would be suicide."
Ruben looked around. On one wall's surface a single drop beamed in the moonlight as it fell down from something. Carefully and while trying to hide in the shadow and noise of the waterwheels he got closer and much to his pleasure found the droplet to have fallen off a leaf belonging to a convoluted set of ivy vines clawing at the pale stone. He motioned to his companion to follow him, which Nadia promptly but carefully did.
"Look at this, we can climb up here!"
No sooner said and done. Using the elegantly curving and mingling twines they managed to sneak onto a terrace and scurried into the shadow of the columns forming with the arches resting upon their shoulders a high arcade. Both kept silent, as within the light of a few torches they could see and hear on the terrace two more of the mighty clockwork knights. Yet in their metal gloves they did not wield weapons but instead ploughs.
"Are they... gardening?", whispered Ruben in disbelief. It was not until then that both noticed that below their feet was soft soil on which a few vegetables were planted. Indeed the two machines were tending the soil and sowing out seeds. Bewildered, the adolescents decided not to further question the matter and quickly sneaked into the building unseen.
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The couple was slowly approaching the enormous armoured guard. He has about two metres tall, and seemed to be of a mist healthy build. "There's no way around it, we have to get past him..."
Ruben clutched the hilt of his still sheathed zweihänder. But Nadia laid her hand upon his, exhorting him.
"Let's first talk to him, perhaps he will just let us past!"
"Hmph."
They had come well within the reach of ears and eyes, but the knight seemed to ignore them. His face was hidden by a most frightening helmet only leaving open a few small slits for his sight, which seemed to be fixed on the mountains of the other side of the valley, even as the two now stood directly before him.
"Uhm..."
The young warrior hesitated and scratched his head at a loss of words. His robed companion tried to take over.
"Could you please let us climb these stairs? You seem to be guarding them, but we don't have any ill intents, and..."
She briefly lost her fire, and looked to the ground before continuing.
"We've climbed all the way up here and would like a stay for the night, and that castle up there seems to be the only thing around here proving shelter."
There was no response, and the guard stood as firmly, unmovable, and silent as the mountain behind and beneath him.
"Please, let us through..."
Nothing. Eventually, Ruben stepped forward.
"I'm tired of this. We'll just go up there now, if you don't want to talk I'll just take that as a yes."
The second the hasty adolescents motioned his foot towards past the stairs and around the person before it, he was stopped short. In a most noisy manner of creaking metal almost akin to the sound of thunder, the halberd of the guard had blocked his way, hating right before his nose. And yet, despite his arms having reacted to swiftly, the bearer of the weapon stood as silent as before. Ruben stepped back again.
"We will go up there whether you want it or not! Now get out of the way!"
Not being reached in time by his friend attempting to hold back the furious fighter, he had drawn his sword. Almost simultaneously, the knight had immediately changed his position, adopting a dynamic stance fit for battle, his halberd pointing forward with its broad tip.
"Ruben, stop it!"
"Sorry, but we have to get past him. It's not my fault if he doesn't want to move."
The opponent remained still.
"Looks like I have to make the first move!"
The yell fell behind its speaker as the latter leaped forward, swinging down his blade at the defender.
The sound of it being blocked by the metal handle of the defender's tool of destruction was drowned in the one of the latter's motion, which thereupon became a forward thrust throwing Ruben backwards. He quickly got to his feet again, finding his enemy to have assumed the same position as initially.
"Grr... Just you wait."
He again dashed towards his target, this time readying his blade for a horizontal blow along the knight's waistline, where the seam of his solid armour revealed a thin slit. His advance was halted as he had to quickly leap sidewards to evade the mighty swing of the guard's elongated axe ramming into the ground.
"An opening...!"
Ruben attempted to ram his longsword into the enemy's weak spot; suddenly, his face turned pale. While the silent armoured one's right arm still held the halberd having dug itself into the rocky soil his other reached out and stopped short the blade endangering the body attached to it, grasping it tightly.
"N... no!"
Two simultaneous sounds stabbed the ears of the two adolescents, both that of metal parts grinding others. Both came from the direction of the soldier's arm, and one of them was his hand's struggle with the sword it tried to crush.
"You... you monster! Let go!"
In panic upon hearing that his weapon was losing Ruben attempted to tear it away from its oppressor, and yet it was naught.
"I said let go!"
All of a sudden, in his terrorised and widened eyes reflected the shine of a bright flame firing past him and smashing onto the thick armour. A bit startled and to maintain his balance, the knight let go of the sword giving its bearer a chance to retreat a few steps.
"Thank you."
"Ruben, stop it! You don't have a chance against him!"
"And make you climb down this mountain in the darkening night or make you sleep up here in the height? Never!"
Nadia gasped slightly. The smoke which had formed around the tip of her staff was seen dissolving in the wind.
Ruben clutched the hilt of his still sheathed zweihänder. But Nadia laid her hand upon his, exhorting him.
"Let's first talk to him, perhaps he will just let us past!"
"Hmph."
They had come well within the reach of ears and eyes, but the knight seemed to ignore them. His face was hidden by a most frightening helmet only leaving open a few small slits for his sight, which seemed to be fixed on the mountains of the other side of the valley, even as the two now stood directly before him.
"Uhm..."
The young warrior hesitated and scratched his head at a loss of words. His robed companion tried to take over.
"Could you please let us climb these stairs? You seem to be guarding them, but we don't have any ill intents, and..."
She briefly lost her fire, and looked to the ground before continuing.
"We've climbed all the way up here and would like a stay for the night, and that castle up there seems to be the only thing around here proving shelter."
There was no response, and the guard stood as firmly, unmovable, and silent as the mountain behind and beneath him.
"Please, let us through..."
Nothing. Eventually, Ruben stepped forward.
"I'm tired of this. We'll just go up there now, if you don't want to talk I'll just take that as a yes."
The second the hasty adolescents motioned his foot towards past the stairs and around the person before it, he was stopped short. In a most noisy manner of creaking metal almost akin to the sound of thunder, the halberd of the guard had blocked his way, hating right before his nose. And yet, despite his arms having reacted to swiftly, the bearer of the weapon stood as silent as before. Ruben stepped back again.
"We will go up there whether you want it or not! Now get out of the way!"
Not being reached in time by his friend attempting to hold back the furious fighter, he had drawn his sword. Almost simultaneously, the knight had immediately changed his position, adopting a dynamic stance fit for battle, his halberd pointing forward with its broad tip.
"Ruben, stop it!"
"Sorry, but we have to get past him. It's not my fault if he doesn't want to move."
The opponent remained still.
"Looks like I have to make the first move!"
The yell fell behind its speaker as the latter leaped forward, swinging down his blade at the defender.
The sound of it being blocked by the metal handle of the defender's tool of destruction was drowned in the one of the latter's motion, which thereupon became a forward thrust throwing Ruben backwards. He quickly got to his feet again, finding his enemy to have assumed the same position as initially.
"Grr... Just you wait."
He again dashed towards his target, this time readying his blade for a horizontal blow along the knight's waistline, where the seam of his solid armour revealed a thin slit. His advance was halted as he had to quickly leap sidewards to evade the mighty swing of the guard's elongated axe ramming into the ground.
"An opening...!"
Ruben attempted to ram his longsword into the enemy's weak spot; suddenly, his face turned pale. While the silent armoured one's right arm still held the halberd having dug itself into the rocky soil his other reached out and stopped short the blade endangering the body attached to it, grasping it tightly.
"N... no!"
Two simultaneous sounds stabbed the ears of the two adolescents, both that of metal parts grinding others. Both came from the direction of the soldier's arm, and one of them was his hand's struggle with the sword it tried to crush.
"You... you monster! Let go!"
In panic upon hearing that his weapon was losing Ruben attempted to tear it away from its oppressor, and yet it was naught.
"I said let go!"
All of a sudden, in his terrorised and widened eyes reflected the shine of a bright flame firing past him and smashing onto the thick armour. A bit startled and to maintain his balance, the knight let go of the sword giving its bearer a chance to retreat a few steps.
"Thank you."
"Ruben, stop it! You don't have a chance against him!"
"And make you climb down this mountain in the darkening night or make you sleep up here in the height? Never!"
Nadia gasped slightly. The smoke which had formed around the tip of her staff was seen dissolving in the wind.
Author:P.P.A.
I'm but a simple Rhinelander following the flow of time indulging in the beauty thriving at its shores while leaving behind my wavering thoughts and unworthy creations.
