My Life: Wakatora Tanjou

Well, that Wakatora period didn't last too long. After a slight sophomore jinx with an ERA around 1.80 and a record of 1-1-27, I got a little tired of the Tigers. The reason why my saves went down was because of Okada sharing saving duties between myself, Fujikawa, and Kubota. If I had the combined saves of the other two, I would've lead all NPB in saves.

In addition to that, we dominated the Central League until August. We had a solid 8 game lead on the Giants, until a ridiculous collapse in August and September. The Giants ended up taking the pennant by 3.5 games. That and our weak offense made me ask for a trade. The signing of Cliff Brumbaugh did little to make me want to stay.

Now the thing with asking for a trade is, you never know where you'll go. I ended up being traded to the Carp for a second year industrial league prospect pitcher. Since the Carp are struggling with starting pitching, I may convert to starter next season. My stamina is only D level right now, so I don't want to rush into it.

So now with a new number(12), new team, and new mentality, my job is to now turn the Carp into a championship team.

My Life sounds really fun.

I think I'll try it even though I don't speak much Japanese.

I've read that understanding Japanese is not as critical in My Life as it is in Success Mode.

With a sheet of Katakana translations, I've been able to figure out nearly all of Pennant Mode.

You and Shinigami have also helped me a bunch.

My first season with the Carp wasn't solid, due to me being stuck on the farm team for a month after being traded. I switched between closer and starter a couple of times. At the end of the year, I finished with a 6-4-16 record with a 2.31 ERA. I re-signed and became a million dollar player. We finished in 6th place.

My second season with Hiroshima was a lot better, since I was closer for the entire year. Unfortunately, we had one of the worst teams, so I didn't get that many save chances. By the allstar break, I was #2 in saves and had a lower ERA than all other closers. I lead allstar voting for most of the voting time, but Fujikawa beat me on the final day. Despite that, our manager voted me into the game, and I became an allstar for the first time. I finished the season 2-1-26 with a 1.31 ERA. I also recorded my 100th career save. This year's Hiroshima team finished in 5th place.

I qualified for free agency after that and signed with the Swallows for a 1.4 million dollar contract and 200,000 dollar incentive if I get double digit wins. I am all for loyalty, but Hiroshima was offering me less money than I made the previous year. The offense was also dying, and Yakult has Yoshinobu Takahashi, Kenji Johjima, and Akinori Iwamura batting cleanup. It's also more convenient to be a player living in the Tokyo area.

I finished my first year as a starter going 16-2 with a 2.05 ERA, earning 3 monthly MVP awards, ERA title, winning percentage title, and Best Nine. I was saved numerous times due to our great offense, hence the winning percentage. I put a huge exclamation point on the ERA title by only giving up 1 run during September and October. I wasn't strong enough in the first half of the season to make the allstar team. We barely finished 2nd behind the Dragons. I re-signed for 2.1 million dollars.

Now, as the team's ace, I'm aiming for a 20 win season and a trip to the series.

I'm playing with CPU batting on Hard level, by the way.

I really need to work on my Japanese.

My Life sounds more and more amazing each time you talk about it. But the few times I've attempted it, I've always wound up aborting because I don't feel comfortable enough with the language yet.

If you could offer any pointers, I'd be grateful. But if you think its just too complicated, I understand.

I'm pretty good with Katakana characters, but the other 2 types of characters still give me trouble.

> I'm pretty good with Katakana characters, but the
> other 2 types of characters still give me trouble.


Well, for me, Katakana is the easiest because all you need to do is look at the charts and just sound it out and you'll get the meanings.

Hiragana is more difficult because when you romanize it the meaning still won't be known because its still in japanese. My advice is to go here:

http://poets.notredame.ac.jp/cgi-bin/jedi-inon

get a hiragana table, romanize it, and type it to get the english meanings. That's what I do to know som eof the hard characters.


as for Kanji, forget about it.

Thanks for the link and the tips.

There are lots of little things you can't understand without some Japanese knowledge. Such as...

-Manager voting you into the allstar game
-Personalized obento goes on sale and you become the new face of the team
-Your own bobblehead night to show how your popularity is increasing
-Nicknames...So far I've been Wakatora(Young Tiger), Renpai(Losing Streak) Stopper, and Dr. K

I still need to get all A on hobby skills, get married, have kids, buy a bigger house, buy an expensive car, win a pennant, win a series, win a Gold Glove, and an MVP. So far as a soon to be 24 year old ace, I'm on pace to win the quadruple crown. I'm 6-0 with an ERA around 2.00 and 10 more Ks than Igawa to lead the league. Nomaguchi is somehow 8-1, so I have to get more decisions.

I've heard about some of the stuff you mention.

But I hadn't heard about BOBBLEHEAD NIGHT and NICKNAMES. This sounds amazing.

I'm thinking about getting serious about learing Japanese. So far, I've scraped by with some basic Katakana knowledge.

Its Kanji that scares me.

Kanji scares everybody hahaha!!

I finished season 6 with Yakult going 19-2 with a 2.08 ERA. I played a majority of the season with an ERA around 1.50, but was lit up a couple times towards the end. It got up to 2.50 and I was trailing Kisanuki for the ERA title, until he couldn't get enough innings to qualify.

Matsuzaka of the Giants(yes) gave me my second loss and tied me for the lead in games won. He was 15-7 and I was 15-2. It seemed like Igawa was also just ahead of me in Ks by 10 or so each go round. I missed a couple of starts and I think Hanshin used a 5 man rotation instead of our 6 man.

We ended up winning the CL pennant and beating the Hawks in the series in 7 games. I lost the opener by giving up 4 runs in 7 innings. Then in game 6, I won by giving up 5 runs. I easily became a REVERSE SERIES OTOKO which means my stamina, control, and velocity now stink in the playoffs and Nihon Series. I just choked, but luckily our bats got the job done. The thing that happened was, the other women in my life all left me before the series and my condition went to crap because of it.

I ended up winning the MVP, Sawamura, Best Nine, ERA title, most wins, winning percentage, and I believe I had the most shutouts in the league with 3. I'm now worth over 3.1 million dollars a year. I've also been named as the opening day starter.

Ai, the new TV announcer, has fallen in love with me, but I can't propose to her until my fame is at top level. Not quite there yet. I got a 10 year loan on the 4.5 million dollar house and bought an SUV and luxury car.

All my stats have been maxed out except for stamina...

Speed - 154 km/h
Control - B
Stamina - B
Slider - 2
Curve - 4
Change - 2

Attributes - Pinch 4, Lefty 4, Relief 4, Hit Ball 4, Injury 4, Winning Pitcher, Comeback Hit Stopper, Strike Out Power, Sayonara Hit, Popularity, Reverse Series Pitcher

That's funny that your condition can be messed up by your woman. Nothing like a huge fight with your girl before a world series start LOL!!

I find your My Life descriptions interesting, even though I can't play it myself yet.

Recently, I ran Pawapuro 12's customer reviews on Amazon Japan through an English translator. I had heard many people were unhappy with this latest installment, and I was curious why.

I disagreed with many of their complaints.

My own experience with the game, and BigManZam's descriptions of his My Life experience suggest that many of these negative reviews are much too harsh.

I'm enjoying Pawapuro 12 and it sounds like BigManZam enjoys it too.

Here's what I think is going on. Pawapuro 12's gameplay saw more of a major overhaul than previous versions.

The mit cursor is gone. The fielding feels different. And I think the game emphasizes power-hitting more than before. Power-hitting rules MLB now. And while its probably not quite as dominant in NPB, I bet its on the rise. The new version of Pawapuro refelcts this.

Many reviews complained about too many bloop hits. But I believe this is a realistic side effect of emphasizing power-hitting.

Pawapuro has been around seemingly forever. I'm new to the series myself, but I sense that its one of those games that people get very attached to.

So anytime a major change is made, many people will get upset - regardless of whether the change is good, bad, or just neutral.

To truly give this game a chance, you've got to let go of the past a bit.

Some reviewers really liked the game. Famitsu also really liked the game. I really like the game.

Hope someone finds this interesting.

Japanese gamers are VERY picky. They have a point with a lot of things. The game does have a lot of bugs. There are a lot of things that need correcting in My Life and Pennant. The gameplay needs some more tweaking. There should also be some more additions to presentation like better homerun celebrations, better commentary, mascots, etc.

They just expect a lot from Konami, especially the Pawapuro team.

Wouldn't it be great if other gamers were as picky as the Japanese are? Imagine the possibilities.

I'm picky too, which is probably why I play Japanese games almost exclusively.

You mention bugs. So did a lot of the Amazon reviews. What are some of the bugs?

What are the things that need correcting in Pennant(the mode I play the most)?

I agree that the gameplay needs more tweaking. But considering the MAJOR changes that were implemented in Pawapuro 12 for the first time, I think the gamemakers did a fine job. I'm looking forward to the Final Edition in December.

I agree with your suggestions for improving presentation. I guess its just a question of how much the PS2 can handle at this late phase of its life.

Nah, not a fight. They ended up finding other guys and left. That happens when nothing happens with them over time.

hahaha!!! Now that's real life. I'm getting this game just for that.

Hey Jom, your insight is well taken but I think you have to think about our perspective vs. theirs. Us Americans think japanese baseball games are ten times better than MLB games (which is true) because we haven't played anything like it. Most MLB games we get are just loaded with bugs and just bad fundemental mistakes that you wonder how it got passed the programmers ie: mlb 2k5. I've read some reviews by japanese gamers that love MVP 2005 and gave it a A rating. I had MVP 2005 and it was just too boring for me to get use to. Each play was the same, homeruns were way too easy to hit and stats were really bad.

I really hope that japanese baseball games don't go towards the power homerun gameplay that is hurting MLB games right now. I hope they keep it the same with pitching, fundamental hitting, and fundamental defense.

I agree that Japanese gamers have had great baseball games to choose from for quite some time. So its not surprising that they tend to be much pickier.

I just think many are being too hard on Pawapuro 12. Its great that people point out its flaws and bugs, but giving this game 1 or 2 out of 5 stars is just ridiculous/insane. It reeks of people simply clinging to what they've become accustomed or attached to.

I've gone back and played Pawapuro 11 Chou Ketteiban for a comparison. And I can honestly say that Pawapuro 12 feels a lot better in many respects. Of course its not perfect, but that's why we have a Final Edition each year! Though if this year's Final Edition sees many of the same problems, I might change my tune.

I agree that MLB 2k5 was garbage.

MVP 2005's presentation was more polished, but the core gameplay was still horrible.

If some Japanese gamers loved MVP 2005, I guess that's more proof to the adage that doofuses exist everywhere.

I also agree that "homerun gameplay" is hurting MLB games. Although untalented and/or underfunded gamemakers is an even bigger problem for MLB games.

I don't think Japanese games will ever go this route. All I meant in my earlier post was that Pawapuro 12 seems to emphasize power A BIT more. Pitching, contact hitting, and defense are all still crucial.

Maybe my perspective on power hitting is warped because I play as the Hawks so much.

BigManZam,

I apologize for posting so much unrelated material in your My Life thread.

I probably should have started a new thread. Sorry.

I started a the shortstop for the Chunichi dragons, ranoff the reporter girl in the first three days.

We had wins and losses I know most of the loses weren't my fault cuz i hit most of my pitches for doubles I got 50 plus doubles with 11 home runs also. I got the trophies in every stauium and dome my average is 2 per.

We missed the pennant by 12 games. We had a very bad season the only good part is that we were in second. Hashin was really good.

I'm my second season and got a new contract, a new car and a new place cuz my landload kept walking in on my dates. (also do the girls kiss on dates?) I started my season against the tokyo yakult swallows and beat them 2-1 series with a strating homer run and a grand slam on the next pitch