Memorial Weekend Massacre (presented by Yosuke)

originally posted in the Northwest VFers thread, since that's where I put Northwest VF news

THE MEMORIAL WEEKEND MASSACRE (presented by Yosuke) IS OVER! And many Happy VFers in the Northwest is the result!

On behalf of the Portland VF5 scene, "Yosuke, we had an amazingly wonderful time hanging out and playing VF with you (and KOF '98, CvS2, and Third Strike)! We can't wait until the next time we meet in Portland or Seattle!" We also hope your studies go well!

Also, don't forget that you are an honorary Portland Player! (tee hee)

The Massacre began on Friday afternoon a bit after I arrived in Lynnwood, WA. Yosuke and I setup some VF in the recreation room at his dorms and I enjoyed getting destroyed in VF and learning a lot of lessons (but it takes like hundreds of matches to break some really bad fundamental problems in one's game sometimes). After a good number of games, I created a new Lion character named Meatbag. Didn't want to destroy any progress I had in Quest Mode with Chanchai...

Femto eventually joined us and he had great enthusiasm for VF and Zone of the Enders. Femto's lack of human competition shows in his game, but when you consider that particular detail, it's also impressive how far he's gotten in VF on just fighting the CPU and his brother. I am really looking forward to seeing how his game shapes up. Especially when the Seattle scene grows and he's playing with others and Yosuke. Femto might become the excluvie El Blaze player of the Northwest /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Late in the evening, Yosuke and I finally hit the road to go to Portland. Hours later, we arrived at "The Art-House" where quite a few of the Portland VFers had been waiting awhile. RaybladeX (Lei Fei + others), @js (Brad), Thomas (Aoi), Kabukimono (Shun), and Raishinken (Pai) were practicing when we arrived. ShinryujinX showed up a little later. The real massacre began as Portland saw hints of what real high-level VF play is (it took Yosuke like an hour and a half for Yosuke to really warmup, but he was still destroying everyone with like a 200-1 record). Acknowledging that Yosuke hasn't played all that much VF5, that his game represents fundamental strength and natural ability--I think Portland got a good deal of perspective. We know that as scary as he was at the Massacre, when he comes back from two-months in Japan, he's going to be even scarier.

Yosuke also played some hilarious CvS2 showing off that it really isn't his game, but his energy and enthusiasm made some hilarious moments. While playing VF5, he watched some of the MvC2 action going on in the next station and it sounded like he was getting into the "drama" of the matches. He played some 3S with his jump away and setup c.MK-Super Chun Li against Portland's top players and saw that they indeed play the game at a very good level, "They are too strong."

The first night at the Art-House was pretty crowded. Even after I setup a second VF5 station, the lack of space sort of went against the idea and people were still pretty much playing on one setup. At the end of the night though, all of the Art-House critics of the night were very impressed (how could they not be?) and I think it made a memorable evening for us. Even the non-VFers seemed to be digging the beatdowns.

The second day began as a study session. Yosuke and @js were studying and doing homework. It's Memorial Day Weekend and Yosuke has a Massacre to perform, but gotta get the school stuff out of the way. I studied some VF /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif Not enough, but I got some studying done ^_^

On Saturday night, we went to Thai Orchid, Chipotle, Lloyd Center Tilt, and then to the Art-House. I'm really glad Yosuke and @js really enjoyed Thai Orchid /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif Things began very slow. It was Memorial Weekend Saturday, so some people were with family, some were camping, some were partying. Fighting Game Sessions were delayed a lot. In the first hour and a half, RaybladeX, @js, Yosuke, and I were playing some VF5 and watching the Black Book DVD (on another station). Yosuke took a nap and we knew some more players would eventually arrive, but very late.

At around 1:30am ShinryujinX, Thomas, Hellsap, and his friend Matt (who only plays Guilty Gear) arrived. We setup a second VF5 station as well. The action commenced, Yosuke woke up, and momentum would build for hours as Professor's Yosuke's "learn by getting destroyed in VF" lessons continued.

At around 2:45am or so, Yosuke played some KOF '98 on MAME with Hellsap. The matches were entertaining, but I can't follow KOF worth a damn. But I really want to play it now. I did some combo practice (it's so dumb that after all this time, I still do the weakest combos in the game when given the opportunity--but that's been fixed 80% already by the time I write this), Rayblade took a break, and @js and Thomas were doing a lot of VF5 sparring.

At some time around 3:40am, Yosuke came back to VF. The MAME station turned into the Big Bang Beat station. And the massacre went on and on. It was great! Yosuke's energy was super high at this point too and you could tell by seeing his crazy input control get sharper and sharper.

The Art-House closed a little after 5am, but Yosuke and @js wanted more. Back at Chanchai HQ, @js and I did more blunt-force-training with Yosuke. Mindful of the fact that I would be driving to Seattle later on on Sunday, and that I had not slept much in the days before, I had to go to bed at around 6:45am. It was tough, I really wanted to keep playing, but I certainly wouldn't want to accidentally kill some great VFers if I fell asleep at the wheel (though the vehicle I drove was like a tank, so I'm clearly exhagerating). I woke up a little after noon. @js woke up around 1:30pm and Yosuke at 2:30pm. I found out soon afterwards that Yosuke and @js played until 11:00am! My word! Now I felt bad about waking them up...

More studying ensued, more food from Thai Orchid, and then Yosuke left us with a wonderful present... MORE BEATDOWNS FOR HOURS ON END FOR CHANCHAI AND @JS!!! But boy did we appreciate it. @js and I have our own individual laundry list of things to work on. If it wasn't explained in english by Yosuke, it was illustrated by his gameplay.

Sunday night, it was time for Yosuke to go back so we went up to Seattle, had dinner at a 24-hour restaurant, my wallet was getting massacred by the Memorial Day Weekend Gas Prices, and we enjoyed a nice long drive with some "H-interesting" conversations.

This was a great Memorial Day Weekend! It reminded me a little bit of the old E3 Gatherings at Spotlite's (AkiraLove) house, except instead of E3, we had studying ^_^ But I'd rather study VF anyways.

-Chanchai