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slade-neko · 2 years

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EEE-yesss! Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance II is on Steam!

Not long ago I played Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance on Dolphin Emulator and then played its PC/ Steam version afterwards, then emulated Dark Alliance 2 on PCSX2. Looking forward to trying the PC version of DA2.

Dark Alliance on PC! Okay, how about the Champions games next? Oh, how I wish...

Something I noticed is on the Steam Store page there are quite a lot of reviews for this game and DA1 that were people asking for Champions of Norrath and Champions: Return to Arms to be ported to PC since the games are in a similar boat and have ties to each other.

What is Champions of Norrath?

For those of you who don't know, Champions of Norrath and Champions: Return to Arms are old PS2 top down hack n slash RPG looting games (kinda like Diablo) and was developed by Snowblind Studios, who also co-developed Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 1. Rather than being the DnD universe like Baldurs Gate, the Champions games take place in the Everquest universe. Everquest was an old MMO game owned by Sony Online Interactive.

Now I am a HUGE Champions fan. While I myself have never played the Everquest MMO, I can safely say you don't have to know Everquest lore to enjoy the Champions of Norrath games. Without a doubt they are my favorite PS2 exclusive games. Which that is the sad part, the games never re-released... EVER. They've been stuck on PS2 since they were released way back in 2004 and 2005.

PC Port? Very unlikely...

As much as I would LOVE PC ports to happen, I just don't see it being possible. Snowblind created the Snowblind engine, the engine the Champions and Dark Alliance games run on and helped co-develop Dark Alliance 1. However, the Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance games are still property of DnD and owned by Wizards of the Coast, so they were far easier to get a hold of to re-release for PC and modern consoles, but the Champions games, however, are entangled in a serious mess of copyright holders that would be next to impossible to sort out for a proper re-release. Think Goldeneye 64. how it's tied to Rareware, the James Bond IP, and Nintendo. Image courtesy of Nerrel from his video on Emulation on Youtube.

A user on Steam pretty much summed up the game's messy copyright situation as this...

Champions is not ever getting released again. Snowblind, the original developers were merged with Monolith, who's owned by Warner Bros. The game was published by Sony Online Entertainment and Ubisoft. SOE have since been sold to Columbus Nova (a NY investment firm) and are now under the name Daybreak Game Company and they own the IP rights for Everquest (the world Champions is based on). The process it'd take to get that mess untangled would be a nightmare and in the end wouldn't be worth the amount of money they'd make off of releasing it on steam.

Emulation is key!

So, its highly unlikely the game will ever be released again and will remain on PS2 forever. That's why emulation is incredibly important for preserving old games that get left behind. I recently did several runs of both Champions games with my brother using PCSX2 and had little to no issues. It felt like playing the original game, but in a higher resolution than the original PS2 could offer and some graphical tweaks for better color with the use of ReShade.

Now I still want to hold out hope that one day I'll get an official PC port of one of my favorite games ever, but if that day never comes, then at least emulation will keep the game alive.

#Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance #Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 2 #Champions of Norrath #Champions Return to Arms #Snowblind Studios #PCSX2 #emulation saves the day yet again #I highly doubt there are any Champions fans on tumblr #but I'm very passionate about that game so I made this post

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zeldareyesblog · 3 years

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Bayonetta 2: The Controversial Witch Trials

**This was a responsive essay that I had written back in February 24, 2020 and revised on March 1st, 2020 for “Introduction to Composition” college class. Yes, I got an A+ on this.**

Bayonetta 2: The Controversial Witch Trials

In Giuseppe Nelva’s article, “Bayonetta 2’s “Over-Sexualization” Complaint: A Perfect Example of What’s Wrong with Modern Reviews”, I found the reviews of the game to be unfair because Bayonetta 2 was judged based on the amount of provocative imagery it contained rather than Platinum Games’ improvement from the first Bayonetta’s gameplay, mechanics, and creative execution. Nelva’s concerns were the same as mine because we believed that no videogame should be judged by the amount of controversial content it has. Instead, video games should be judged if the video game’s creators have exceeded beyond expectations to entertain the players.

Video game reviewers are needed to help companies like Platinum Games improve their work ethic, so that the next video game they make from that specific series would not feature the same issues again. However, we have big video game reviewers like Polygon, who has judged this video game based on its “blatant over-sexualization” rather than Bayonetta 2 game’s execution as quoted from article, “I won’t guess why the blatant over-sexualization is still there, often more intensely than before. But it causes an otherwise great game to require a much bigger mental compromise to enjoy.” Even though a 7.5 out 10 would not be considered an awful rating for Bayonetta 2, it deserved more than that and it also deserved a more objective review rather than a subjective review despite the obvious adult content mentioned by Polygon’s throughout most of the review. While Bayonetta 2 did include sexual themes and references throughout the franchise and characters as much as strong language and violence is concerned, should it be used to solely judge the merits of a videogame? What if the creators of Bayonetta 2 intentionally put the controversial content there to show how our virtuous boundaries could be broken under harsh circumstances, but can still become a strong, wise, and beautiful person against all odds?

To be honest though, I did understand that when my mother and I bought this video game from GameStop just last year during the holiday semester break as my New Year’s Eve present when I was 19 years old, she and I were both already aware of the content. Such as female characters being portrayed in a sexualized manner with extremely exaggerated proportions displayed in tight-fitting suits while in combat. There were also female characters being stripped of those suits for a brief amount of time to summon “infernal demons” as an aid in combat for huger enemies until their wicked weaves covered their private parts, and the innuendos spoken while the female characters interact with male characters in advance. However, the reason my mother approved of me playing that game, regardless of the adult content, was because she took her time to educate me about such content prior to succeeding my first semester in college. Because of our mother-daughter conversations, it was still pointless to judge the game based on its own provocative content and more on how it has executed itself as an entertainment medium as a result. Unlike most parents that I met who let my friends play M-rated video games before they completed their secondary education and reached the appropriate age, my mother never let me play any M-rated game until I completed my secondary education and when I reached the appropriate age of 17 years old or older according to the Entertainment Ratings Software Board (ESRB) guidelines because she believed that proper education and parental guidance would develop a real sense of maturity and high tolerance on all adult content that I would be exposed to in the future and she was right about that.

Furthermore, when I compared my now adult self to the friends that played a variety of M-rated videogames while they were underaged and still in middle school a very long time ago, I remembered that they were complete hyperactive chatterboxes to the point of aggravation, became more aggressive in their gaming habits and personalities, and even learned new curse words that I have never even heard before. When it came to sexually suggestive content in mature-rated video games, my old middle school friends did not seem to process that kind of content in a composed and civilized manner which resulted in them having some misogynistic and judgmental views of women, especially fictional video game women like Bayonetta who had self-confidence on and off the battlefield and remained fearless in her sexuality and beauty. Although, I did not blame M-rated video games alone because I knew that it was obviously the parents who enabled their underaged children to play those mature-rated video games since they were impatient and did not take the time to teach their kids about what kind of content they could be getting themselves into if they bought the game no matter how entertaining it was, and why they should not expose themselves to it until they are at the appropriate age anyways.

Moving on, Nelva has mentioned in his article that “What should be reflected, first and foremost, in a review’s content and in its score is the game’s quality, and while several aspects of “quality” are subjective, there are also many that aren’t. Production values are an example: graphics, animation, audio, textures, effects; Those are objective aspects of a game’s value that should not be overlooked.” As somebody that has owned and played this video game series, in my perspective I think that Bayonetta 2 has exceeded expectations from the Bayonetta 1 when it came to smooth gameplay mechanics – being able to reduce the amount of constant button pressing to fully complete charging attacks. Not only that, but Platinum Games has provided extra abilities for players such as giving Bayonetta the ability to glide on higher platforms with her Madama Butterfly Wings after jumping upwards and a variety of random “hack and slash” combo attacks on all bosses and mini bosses that will leave the players in suspense on what Bayonetta would do next, and included online gameplay levels and offline quests that challenge the players’ skills after completion of the story mode. The graphics and textures of Bayonetta 2 were beautifully executed to even reach cinematic levels of gaming throughout cutscenes and gameplay with the camera angles strategically displayed on the entire environment, and used closeups appropriately on the characters to present details on their unusual cosmetic makeup, clothing designs, and accessories as the characters communicated with each other. As for audio, the music soundtrack provided a mysterious, foreboding, yet epic emotions that could keep all players on edge and interested in the story mode. Furthermore, the dialogue between the characters was uniquely portrayed and ranged from what strong, young women and men would realistically say or react if they had encountered any enemies based on their three-dimensional personalities. If videogame players were tight on budget to own a headset, they could still experience the same amount of interactive and immersive fantasy-adventure gaming that Bayonetta 2 has provided as an entertainment product that would keep the players entertained for many years to come.

That objective review I made would convince so many young adult audiences to play Bayonetta 2. Eventually, it would have gained plenty of new fans to move this game up the ranks from being stuck in the “under rated” games category to gain widespread popularity. Never had I put in my own opinion on Bayonetta 2’s provocative content, because I know that judging a game based on what kind of adult material it had was not my job as a reviewer and I already assumed that my audience knows better what kind of material they would get themselves into before buying the game to begin with.

What amazed me now was how the world wanted to showcase diversity and promote less censorship in the entertainment industry. Although, once we get what we asked for there are a lot of negative people out there on the internet that make so-called entertainment reviews to talk about how the characters in a television show, movie, or videogame do not fit their own beliefs. According to Nelva, “It saddens me that between the many calls for diversity we’ve seen lately, some actually fly in the face of diversity itself by implying that games that celebrate sexuality and beauty like Bayonetta 2 should not exist or are not worth playing and enjoying.” This quote was a reminder to me that I should not judge any video game based on the number of suggestive themes it contains, but if it exceeded my expectations on quality video game entertainment.

Overall, I believed that Bayonetta 2 was a compelling video game that unfortunately received a bad reputation since huge video game reviewers like Polygon judged this video game based on the amount of provocative content it contained rather than the actual gameplay and creative execution itself. The creators behind Bayonetta 2 were considered artists because they told a narrative story and designed characters beyond our own imagination and made money from our fascination in this fantasy, action, and adventure game. Besides that, the purpose of video games was to provide another form of quality entertainment that all young adult audiences could enjoy at their own leisure time and Bayonetta 2 would have been one of those videogames if we had better reviewers that judged it based on gameplay and performance, instead of content.

Works Cited

Nelva, Giuseppe. “Bayonetta 2's ‘Over-Sexualization’ Complaint: A Perfect Example of What's Wrong with Modern Reviews.” DualShockers, DualShockers, 17 Oct. 2014, www.dualshockers.com/bayonetta-2s-over-sexualization-complaint-a-perfect-example-of-whats-wrong-with-modern-reviews/.

#bayonetta #bayonetta2 #nintendo #sega #platinum games #video games #videogame #college #composition #essay #college essay

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prokopetz · 5 years

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Today’s random video game rec is: games you’ve probably never heard of, which for the purposes of this post will be defined as “games which, at the time of this writing, have fewer than ten reviews on Steam” (since ten reviews is the cutoff below which Steam refuses to calculate a score). Here we go --

EarthNight - A surreal hybrid of the roguelike and infinite runner genres in which you skydive from orbit without a parachute in order to kill dragons. I’d say it makes more sense in context, but it really doesn’t! Best played in short bursts.

ERMO - A neat little atmospheric block-pusher that occasionally suffers from cryptic game mechanics and an English localisation that could have used another editing pass or three. Still, nice casual fun if you can get past those issues.

Exception - A hack-and-slash platformer where you play as an antivirus program beating up evil computer viruses. The gameplay is conventional for its genre, but the level design has to be seen to be believed. Fair warning: the keyboard controls are not friendly, so bring a gamepad.

Finding Light - This turn-based RPG is retro as in Game Boy, not Super Nintendo, so don’t expect fancy visuals. The third in a series, the previous titles are pretty standard RPGMaker shovelware, but this one is several cuts above its predecessors.

Flux - I know I plug a lot of offbeat genre hybrids, but this one takes the cake: it’s a rhythm-based cyberpunk visual novel typing tutorial. Atmospheric story sections alternate with typing minigames, plus light RPG elements for customising your cybernetic implants.

Ruby & Majesty: Treasure Team - An exploration puzzler whose gimmick is that you control two characters simultaneously, one with each joystick. The graphics take some getting used to, but there is a purpose -- it’s not just weird for weird’s sake. (Though it’s also that!)

Tales From the Windy Meadow - A slice-of-life visual novel with the graphical style of an old-school adventure game. Don’t let that fool you: this one’s a pure VN, with little interactivity beyond dialogue choices, though the side-scrolling perspective gives it more dynamism than most.

Treasure Hunter Man 2 - A medium-weight Metroidvania that takes its cues from the Wonder Boy series, this sequel to a freeware title from back in 2008 casts you as the first game’s protagonist’s mom, questing to save him from a terrible curse.

Vesta - An action puzzler where you play as a little girl and her giant robot companion, swapping between the two in order to get through each area. I found the checkpoint placement a little thin for my taste, so be prepared to do a fair bit of replaying if you mess up.

Volvox - An environmental puzzler that plays a bit like a turn-based version of Lemmings. You control a brigade of single-celled organisms, each with one of several special abilities, and must use them to construct towers, build bridges, and so forth in order to reach each objective.

#gaming #video games #video game recommendations #violence mention #death mention

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gayregis · 4 years

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Hi, just wanted to ask, how did you get into the witcher franchise (did you read the books before you played the games or vice versa?). Love your blog, byeeee :)

ty for the ask!! i hope you dont mind if i go too in-depth because i was legit thinking about this earlier today...

tldr: i played tw3 and liked it, then read the books

i got into the witcher because one of my favorite gaming youtubers was doing a playthrough of tw3 on youtube in around i think september 2017. i liked this specific gaming youtuber for being shit at games and not caring about it... but tw3 was a different game. it felt like the decisions mattered, that there was an actual story here, that when this youtuber made shitty decisions and didn’t really care about the characters involved, i got frustrated because this game seemed really good... so i picked up the game myself and played it though, it was magnificent. not to r/witcher “the witcher 3 is literally the best game created in this history of ever” but it was sincerely good... not only does it have a great story, characters, and graphics, but it is genuinely comfortable to play as a game, even if you’re not great at games (i like playing video games but i’m not good at them when it comes to combat, i literally just would prefer to hack and slash through). so, i played through tw3 and the fact that it made me cry multiple times i found to be really interesting... but it was still just a game to me, it wasn’t something i thought about when i have time to daydream headcanons. i had read i think the witcher (short story) halfway through playing, just to get a feel of what tw3 came from, but from that, i realized the books and the games were incredibly different entitities, and i decided to not read the books until i had finished the game, or at least until i had more free time on my hands (mind i was in high school and was a senior, and during this time was when i was submitting college applications... exceptionally stressful, and the reading/writing part of my brain was absolutely fried from essay writing and reviewing). i was particularly struck by geralt and ciri’s relationship and the isle of mists quests fucked me up pretty bad.

then around later 2017, i was really enjoying tw3, and had finished tw3′s base game and hearts of stone, and was now making my way into blood & wine. i was just playing it like normal, then came the part when geralt met regis. at first i wasn’t too interested (i mean, i was, but in the story of blood & wine, not in the books) until the little journal text pop-up appeared on my screen. you know, the one about quests you just received, or characters you just met. it was going through the motions of saying i finished this quest, picked up this new one, i was all like fine, fine, okay, alright, and then it just fucking puts regis’ long-ass name on the screen taking up a good amount of my FOV and i am immediately like, what? what the fuck? who the fuck? that’s the name? of the guy we just met? that guy??? he didn’t seem like someone with a name like that? who the fuck IS this guy.

so i head over to the wiki page for regis. i thumb through the basic information, i’m pretty interested, this quest stuff to find ciri sounds interesting. i decide to give the witcher books another try, because i have more free time now and am way more invested as everyone here as characters. also, i want to find out more about yennefer, because she was being badmouthed by everyone i saw online, and i wanted to read more about her and see if she was really so bad (spoilers: she’s not at all, the internet is just misogynistic).

i don’t think that i’m going to actually really care about these books, i just want more flavor and explanation about how in hell a witcher met a vampire and these two somehow became friends. so, i don’t care about reading them in order. i go online and find fan translations of every book, i open baptism of fire and i just start reading the bit about the fish soup. i’m suddenly just laughing my ass off, really interested in who these other characters are, milva and cahir, and how dandelion seems to actually be the best friend to geralt that he was said to be in tw3. i also notice immediately that geralt... oh my god, geralt’s such a cranky bitch. i’m SHOCKED at how annoying geralt is. i realize that this is probably what geralt’s been like, this whole time, and tw3 just gave me a sterilized version of him. i’m trying to decide if i like this change or not, at first i HATED it... but then realized it actually gave him a character, where in tw3 he feels a little more... empty, waiting for the player to project a personality onto him.

so, i just read all of the hansa bits of baptism of fire, skipping over anything i don’t understand. i am saddened when i can’t find any more, so i move onto tower of the swallow. and then lady of the lake. “oh, so that’s why geralt was surprised to see regis in blood & wine...” feeling at a loss after reading stygga, i start at the beginning and make my way through the books chronologically, like they should be read. i soon realize that this series really isn’t about killing monsters at all, and i’m thrilled. i thought the series was just going to be about geralt killing things in a swamp and reporting back to whoever hired him, like in tw3... and i was wrong. this series is about personal connections! relationships! ... and fatherhood. [see read more for personal junk]

i can’t remember when i started disliking tw3. it must have been around the time that i finished the books (im using the word finished loosely... i still havent finished some scenes because theyre too violent to read and continue with my day in peace, and i also read tos/lotl by skipping around, so i never got the full experience of reading them as full novels).

i just distinctly remember returning to my tw3 new game+ save after rereading the fish soup scene, and thinking about how lonely the game felt... i just felt so dispairingly alone, this loneliness that i hadn’t felt while playing before, that i had to put the game down. i returned to the game again, but i had just reread edge of the world... and i felt so alone again.

so reading the books ruined tw3 for me, not out of malicious intent, but just because i think i realized geralt isn’t meant to be the lone wolf. the novels center around him and his family and friends, and i just genuinely missed that when replaying tw3. plus, i began to realize a bunch of things, like ciri’s scar is supposed to be bigger, geralt’s supposed to wear his hair in a headband, yennefer’s hair is actually curly, dandelion’s supposed to actually be in the game. there were so many inconsistencies with the characters i had imagined while reading the books that eventually i just stopped playing tw3 (i already played it once, so nbd) and got really into the books.

sometime later i saved up like $80 to buy the paperback versions of the books (UK versions including season of storms) because i knew i was in really deep lol and i wanted the official translations super badly, also we were doing an assignment in class that allowed us to do something with our favorite book, but we needed to have it in-person and not as an e-book, so it was the perfect excuse. much time spent on hansa headcanons later and... here we are today.

a read-more, because this is more personal.

the witcher series picked me up at an eerily appropriate time. two things in it stood out to me: 1) geralt’s relationship with ciri 2) regis’s alcoholism.

i distinctly remember an event where i started crying in front of my parents because my dad was being so absent in my life or maybe it was because they were arguing, something like this... and i remember referencing tw3 isle of mists quest actually by saying “i shouldn’t have to learn it (good parenting) from a video game” ... lol. it wasn’t an epic burn from a 17 yo, but it was just a painful remark made in anger. i still think back to it because of how first watching geralt hug ciri made me feel and how i was actually really bitter because i was jealous of ciri for about a week after completing the quest. then i kind of pushed it out of my mind and didn’t think so much about it, until the night i mentioned it.

in late march of 2018, something very bad happened in my family. that’s probably the best way to describe it. the situation ended in my parents finally separating. my mom and i were pretty afraid and lost after that. after i had collected my thoughts and everything and went back to as “normal” as i could, about a month later, when the creative part of my brain finally began to function again and wasn’t inhibited due to fear, i clung to the witcher more than i did before... and this time, actually particularly to regis, because guess who has a whole redemption arc relating to not being alcoholic and being a genuinely good person who speaks gently and heals the vulnerable?

#anon #ask

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douxreviews · 6 years

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The Very Best of Supernatural

Supernatural was just renewed for a fifteenth season. Which is insane. Even more disturbing is the fact that I've been reviewing this show for fourteen years, and it just... won't... end. Looking back over my earliest reviews, it's funny that I kept fretting about cancellation. Who knew?

The 300th episode will air this Thursday, February 7. In observance of this major event, six Agents of Doux compiled lists of their favorite Supernatural episodes, and I tallied our choices and made a final top ten. Okay, eleven, because there was a tie in there, but it was really hard to bring it down to eleven, let me tell you. Our list of honorable mentions went from here and out the door.

So here they are. Please note that if you haven't seen all or most of the series, there will inevitably be spoilers.

11. "A Very Supernatural Christmas" (season 3, episode 8)

Christmas arrives smack dab in the middle of Dean’s last year on Earth, or so we believed at the time. Sam, knowing he will soon be left to carry on after his brother’s death, has no desire to celebrate which is at odds with Dean’s intention to collect as many happy memories as he can before the end.

This marks Supernatural’s first holiday episode with a marriage of gruesomeness, absurdity, and bittersweetness we'd already grown to love – from a blood-soaked Santa dragging a father up the chimney in front of his son, to bridge-playing pagan gods threatening Dean with the swear jar while preparing him and Sam for ritual sacrifice, all ending with the brother’s exchanging heartfelt gifts from a neighborhood Gas Mart as Baby looks on. The pièce de résistance – learning Dean’s amulet was a Christmas gift from a young Sam in unsaid acknowledgment that Dean was often more of a parent to Sam than John was. And no, I’m still not over Dean throwing it away. – Shari

10. "In the Beginning" (season 4, episode 3)

A remarkably funny but ultimately tragic tribute to Back to the Future, Dean is sent back in time by Castiel and interacts with his young parents. He discovers that his mother and grandparents were hunters, and that Mary essentially sold as-yet-unborn Sam's future to the Yellow-Eyed Demon in exchange for John's life.

"In the Beginning" is a perfect example of the attention the Supernatural writers pay to continuity and series mythology, since it explained Mary's actions in the pilot episode on the night that she died. Plus it features, in my opinion, one of the most touching moments in the entire series. It's when young Mary tells Dean, not knowing that he is her son, "You know the worst thing I can think of? The very worst thing? It's for my children to be raised into this, like I was." It choked me up when it first aired. It still does. – Billie Doux

9. "Baby" (season 11, episode 4)

The longevity of this series has allowed the writers to experiment and take chances, which often gives us exceptional episodes. This is one of them.

The Impala is home for the Winchesters, a legacy from their father. That car is not just in nearly every episode; it's also the setting of many of the most important brother scenes in the series. "Baby" gave us an entire episode from the car's point of view. I'm going to crib from my initial review: "This episode was such a love letter to the fans. It was the world of the Winchesters, but not what we usually see on the show. It was what happens in between and around what we usually see." The camera angles, the head in the cooler, the windshield wipers, the valet parking, Castiel on the cell phone, the brothers singing "Night Moves" together, it was different from all the others but a practically perfect episode. – Billie Doux

8. "Fan Fiction" (season 10, episode 5)

Supernatural's 100th episode ("Point of No Return") was good, but arc-plot heavy. Coming in the middle of a very serious storyline, it's dramatic and moves the plot along. But its 200th, "Fan Fiction," is a complete contrast and a sheer joy from start to finish. An episode centred around a girls' school putting on a musical they wrote themselves, based on the first five years of Supernatural, sounds like a terrible idea. And yet, writer Robbie Thompson makes it work. The episode also features great performances from the young actresses, but it's the numerous call backs in jokes and the way the episode revisits old favourites with a twist that make it one of the show's most re-watchable episodes. – Juliette

7. "Swan Song" (season 5, episode 22)

Endings are hard, as Chuck would say. You have to balance expectation with payoff, death and survival and a resolution that feels satisfying. For Supernatural, this was supposed to be it, the show's literal swan song, as planned out by Kripke. It was sad and painful. If this had been the ending, it would’ve left us with Dean trying to live on after losing his brother to spend eternity with the Devil in hell, and that’s pretty brutal. Of course, framing the story around Baby, and making the car one of the most important things in the universe, was perfect. The only reason we didn’t end with Sam in the box is because of season renewal, leaving us with more questions than answers. Including what happened to Chuck. – J.D. Balthazar

6. “Dark Side of the Moon” (season 5, episode 16)

This episode has always been a huge favorite of mine. The opening scene where Dean and younger Sam set off fireworks to "Knock Knock Knocking on Heaven's Door" was so gorgeous that it gave me goosebumps.

How many shows would dare to send their two main characters to Heaven? And show that Heaven as somewhat creepy? What I found poignant was that the brothers' choice of happy memories mostly don't include each other. I've often thought that a perfect end to the series would be the two of them in a Heaven that finally included each other, with everything that ever divided them fully resolved. – Billie Doux

5. "Wishful Thinking" (season 4, episode 8)

Absolutely one of their best comical episodes, from the "deep woods Duchovny" line to the suicidal teddy bear. Although, of course, what makes funny Supernatural episodes work is that there is always an element of underlying seriousness or tragedy. Here, it was the acknowledgement that using magic to make someone love you is evil. This was also the episode where Dean told Sam the truth about his experiences in Hell. – Billie Doux

4. "Don't Call Me Shurley" (season 11, episode 20)

Supernatural has a warm heart and it's often hilarious, but it's not often happy. Usually, the joy of watching Supernatural comes at least partly from knowing that whatever's going on in your own life, Sam and Dean surely have it worse. But "Don't Call Me Shurley" is different. The ending of "Don't Call Me Shurley" is miraculous – and we mean that literally. The rest of the episode is a delight anyway, offering a witty back and forth between God and His Voice – and finally confirming what "Swan Song" had only suggested. But that ending, when, temporarily at least, we get a real miracle and a moment of salvation, is what makes this episode really special – eleven years of storytelling reaching a thrilling moment of clarity. – Juliette

3. "The Monster at the End of This Book" (season 4, episode 18)

Oh, how I love this one. "Monster" is the introduction to the meta episodes where the Winchesters discover that they are main characters in a series of novels called "Supernatural," written by hack writer Chuck Shurley. As I said in my write-up of "Baby," it's taking radical chances with the narrative while continuing to stick closely to the show's mythology that makes Supernatural special.

And wow, this episode is special. Clever and funny and full of geeky in-jokes (especially the boys' disgusted discovery of the existence of Winchester slash), there is also that foundation of tragedy that makes it all work. The brothers cannot escape their fate. It's in the Winchester Gospels. – Billie Doux

2. "Changing Channels" (season 5, episode 8)

Take a beloved character, mix in playful jabs at some of the most popular TV shows while both expanding the narrative and laying the fate of the world on the interpersonal relationship of our favorite brothers. No wonder it’s one of the show’s creator, Eric Kripke’s favorite episodes. We discover the Trickster we’ve grown to know and love is none other than the Archangel Gabriel, little brother to Michael and Lucifer. Now that the Winchester’s have given Michael and Luci the Earth on which to wage their civil war, Gabriel is eager to see it end no matter the cost.

This doesn’t mean he can’t have fun doing it. Between the sitcom Supernatural’s opening credits, Dean fangirling over Dr. Sexy, Sam and the literal nutcracker, and the meta nod to Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s portrayal of a ghost on certain Seattle based medical show that shall remain nameless, we are treated to a host of laugh out loud moments. My personal favorite was Sam’s less than ecstatic performance in a genital herpes commercial. – Shari

"Nutcracker!!!!"

1. "Mystery Spot" (season 3, episode 11)

There’s something both twisted and poignant about watching Dean die again and again. Funny in a macabre way, for sure but also a touch tragic because in the Supernatural verse, those deaths were real. Well, real in that each was recorded, and each time he went to heaven briefly. No wonder Death finds Dean fascinating and frustrating.

Of course, it was really Sam’s episode, dealing with the pain of watching his brother die again and again, and the numbness that came with it was palpable. To this day, in season fourteen this episode has been referenced. Pretty good impact for a generally comedic episode. – J.D. Balthazar

Conclusion (by Billie Doux)

Putting this list together made me want to rewatch the entire series, although with so many seasons, that's turned into a major commitment. You know, we could probably put together lists of our top ten best comic episodes, the ten most tragic, ten scariest, ten best angel episodes, ten best ghost episodes, and so on because with so many seasons, there's so much to choose from.

It's interesting that the Groundhog Day episode "Mystery Spot" turned out to be our number one, simply because most of us put it on our list. Is it yours? Is your favorite even on this list? Post it in the comments!

Billie Doux has been reviewing Supernatural for so long that Dean and Sam Winchester feel like old friends. Courageous, adventurous, gorgeous old friends.

#Supernatural #Dean Winchester #Sam Winchester #Castiel #Bobby Singer #Mary Wincchester #John Winchester #SPN #SPN300 #Doux Reviews

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sangriatimes · 6 years

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Nintendo Switch saves Valentines Day

Can you believe that we are almost half-way done with January? Maybe it’s just me and the countless hours I put into reviewing the latest titles for the Nintendo Switch...which is our focus point that can change the tide if you hit a hard spot this V-Day. Maybe you don’t have enough money for that dinner, movie and gift. Maybe you thought that restaurant you made a reservation at is more expensive than you though. Maybe you just started a new relationship but you still have some awkward silences that seem to kill the mood. Whatever the situation may be a Nintendo Switch can get you to second base and home plate...trust me.

So let’s look at some of the titles for switch that are great to play with that special someone. (Games are listed in no particular order; games are not based on “)sales”; Games are mainly hidden gems)

1. Monopoly | 9.5 out of 10

Hear me out. I was one that grew up playing the original board game with my family and the overall appeal of the game was astounding, but I lost interest when I got older and noticed how long it takes to make everyone go bankrupt. ...but this is something...otherworldly. The first awesome thing you will notice when you pick up this title is the use of the Joy-Con controllers to shake the dice and throw them. Though this is still the same mechanic in spirit as its predecessor but with the newly animated boards populated by Mii’s and watching a living city grow as you play and add properties adds an entirely new respect for Money Bags. Our team lost track of time having so much fun with this one and before we knew it, we had seen 5 hours pass. (No one wants to play Monopoly for that long.)

2. Uno | 8.5 out of 10

Uno is another one of those games I grew up playing with family. When I purchased the game, I was expecting some sort of controller mechanic similar to Monopoly’s dice...but with cards instead...but I was let down. None the less, going into this, I didn’t even know that there were so many ways to play Uno besides the normal rules. Once again, I was amazed at how much more fun this was than the physical cards themselves. Rules like “Stacking. Where Player 1 can play a “Blue Draw 2″ card and Player 2 can counter play a “Draw 2″ card as well. ...but if Player 3 doesn’t possess a “Draw 2″ card, Player 3 then has to pick all 4 cards from the previous turns” was so exciting to try and there are many other ways to customize rules and play styles.

3. Super Smash Bros | 9.0 out of 10

I really don’t need to go into detail about this one. My only issue with the Smash series is I would really enjoy a multiplayer adventure mode or campaign. I was quite pleased with the full roster of characters though. Disclaimer: Make sure your partner isn’t a sore loser. We all know about SSB’s steep learning curve for beginners. “Don’t be a butt...”

4. Diablo 3 | 9.0 out of 10

I remember having this title on my old PS4 and being able to enjoy it on my PS Vita while I was in a relationship with someone who liked the game as much as I and we would both take our Vita’s to the restroom with us so we could keep the experience going. This title can definitely be used to understand the mindset your partner has by the way they customize their character and the actions they take in response to events. It’s a top-down action-adventure-role-playing-hack-n-slash (inhale.) It is a port of it’s original released on PS3 & 360...the price tag is still $59.99. That’s a deal breaker in my book.

5. NES Emulator | 7.5 out of 10

I honestly chose this one because of how many gamers I know and how 89% of them are males. This is something for those who don’t game to get their feet wet. The emulator is free on the eShop for a 7-day trial but comes with a subscription cost after. Pretty inexpensive for the titles they have. Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros, Metroid, and many more. It even comes with special versions of some of the games which gives the player the experience of playing with Game Genie cheats.

6. 99 Vidas | 7.0 out of 10

Your probably thinking, “ Why is this even listed?” Well, just in case that partner your with doesn’t dig the 8-bit look or the low-res adventures of the NES Emulator and desires a little more action and has a fetish for Streets of Rage and Beat ‘em Up’s. Simply. The available characters are cool enough to get players to find a favorite out of them. ...so...that’s good!

7. Oh Sir...The Hollywood Roast | 8.3 out of 10

After seeing the Samuel Jackson clone named “Bad MotherHugger” who’s personality is totally canon, I had to dig deeper. If you didn’t play the prequel, you don’t need to. I honestly only used the first title to learn how to play. In this installment, you and a co-star face off on a movie set where your scenario is to insult the other the worst. It plays like a fighting game, complete with health bars, special insults, tag team insults and so much more. For the price it is, I was expecting something way less entertaining. Oh, and one point or another you will joke against a Deadpool copy...a less funnier Deadpool but funny enough.

Consider this the American version of The Office.

8. Oh Sir...The Insult Simulator | 7.8 out of 10

Obviously, this is the European version of The Office. I won’t say this is better than the sequel and I can’t say it’s worse either but I will say “I am an American...” What this game does is teach you how to layer your jokes and how lay the foundation for repetition in your topics to create combo’ s. I like to let the opponent bombard me with little weak jokes and build a super mean and super long insult that grants victory for only one joke. I call it, “The Kamehameha Effect!”

9. No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Back

The third installment to the series hits the eShop and retailers in a few days and I am super excited to get my copy. If you aren’t familiar with the series, let me fill you in:

Travis Touchdown is the protagonist of all three games. In NMH1 we find Travis at his lowest moment in life. Jobless, hopeless and drunk, he runs into a mysterious woman who offers him employment with a sketchy syndicate group he knows nothing about. Luckily he had lost all his money by winning a bid at an online auction for a Beam Katana, his main choice of weaponry. Not long after, you find out you were hired as an assassin in a shady game by her higher-ups. Travis takes the job after being promised some passionate TLC if he can take out all 10 of the already top ranking assassins all over the world. Travis is a pretty simple guy. He likes mecha anime, luchador wrestling, old school video games, porn, sex, and sleeping on the toilet.

In NMH2, Travis finds out that after becoming the #1 ranking assassin in Santa Cruise, he finds out that he actually has hundreds of more assassins in a new ranking system where Travis is the lowest ranking.

This time around, Travis is joined by the father of one the assassins he killed in NMH1, and the co-op option is something that would have been outstanding to have in NMH2 but none the less the developers always deliver great content in their titles and this one will not disappoint. Couples will enjoy the kinky nature of the series for sure. It has been proven many times.

10. Broforce | 9.5 out of 10

Every wanted to play Super Mario Bros on NES but with guns? Ever want to change Mario for, let’s say...any huge action movie star from the 80′s, 90′s, 00′s? Ever wanted it to be a co-op experience with up to 4 players with local and online co-op? As a mercenary for the USA, you are sent to 3rd world contries to liberate them from the evil control of Satan and his hell spawn. Before that, you will have to fight through waves of kamikaze soldiers, war dogs, giant helicoptors, aliens (...from the movie “Aliens”) and much more. Along the way, you will recruit an entire cast of badasses. From Rambo to Robocop, you will find Chuck Norris, Neo, Blade, Bruce Willis, Terminator, Preditor, Machette, Michelle Rodrigez, The Bride (Kill Bill) & so many more including Mortal Kombats Raiden.

Very easy to pick up, very hard to put down.

11. Nidhogg 2 | 8.0 out of 10

2D-Side Scrolling Fighter. You start of with a sword. When you die, you respawn with a dagger. When you die, you respawn with a bow and arrow. Die again and respawn with an ax. Die again and respawn with your fist. This cycle will continue until you our your opponent makes it to the opposing end of the map. Maps are relatively small and consist of about 2 to 3 different frames. Sounds easy on paper right?

Tons of laughs to be had!

12. Tales Of Vesperia

If your looking for an in-depth RPG you both can play while she sits between your legs and you both focus on the Switch screen laying in front of you: this is for you two. The co-op system usually only functions when you enter battle. Player 1 will always be the one running around the world map but this is still fine if you keep an open-mind and communicate on decisions that impact the story and more. (Keep track of your own money.)

side-note: All Tales games are co-op in this sense, even the Super Nintendo picks.

13. Harvest Moon: Light of Hope

I’ve been a Harvest Moon fan since Super Nintendo and got my first copy on the N64. I know a lot of people see this game and hate the thought of a farming simulator but unlike it’s counterpart with the same name-sake; Harvest Moon is so much more. This can easily tame the craving for an adventure-rpg-dating sim with a very rich story and characters that actually grow on you. I have not had the chance to play this particular version yet, but I saw it was multiplayer and that sold me. If you want to try a good yet cheaper version, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is by far, one of the best, next to Harvest Moon 64.

So there you have it, our picks of love for your love to love with their love! Honestly...I don’ t celebrate Valentines Day (poly-gang), but I love exposing partners to new things that they can enjoy together.

OUT!

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thatyanderecritic · 5 years

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the majority of nier automata's endings not only aren't canon, but are joke endings. usually gotten by doing the opposite of what the game wants you to do. they're not meant to be taken seriously. the true end is ending E. i also recommend at least skimming this: (theark(.)wiki/w/2B_and_9S_Relationship) 1/2

Well, there’s a lot of anon’s here. I don’t know if y’all the same person or if billions of people came out from the wood works here. I’m going to assume this is the same person and crop one of the questions since you accidentally (or intentionally) weren’t on anon.

And I want to state that this will be the last time I’ll address Nier. If the evidence isn’t substantial enough where it’s 9S literally saying “I want to make out with 2B and marry her” then I’m just going to delete it. K? K. Now then, to answer all these points.

About then endings... Yes, you say that ending E is the true ending. But what about the three other endings that are still considered canon? Chopped liver? Regardless if the ending is canon or a joke, it’s still very much as “possible ending” since the creator made it. In some alternative universe, it still “happened” since the creator made it. I can make a crack pot theory that one of these different 2B or 9S copies actually did go through with these endings and now we’re playing a different copy. Sounds stupid but I’m sure it’s not the wildest theory for Nier out there.

Btw, with the whole thing with ending E and sacrificing your save file, highkey fuck thaaaaaaat. Like I already knew it but ughhhhhhhhhhh. I rather shot myself in the face. Actually, I want to shoot myself in the face everytime I hear “multiple endings”. I love multiple endings but the completionist in me groans in pain.

As for the wikipedia page, I already read it before you even sent that link. Trust me. I take wikipedia with a grain of salt since A) it’s a volunteer who wrote it and B) anyone can edit a wikipedia page. It’s very clear that who wrote that page is very bias when it came to saying “Yes! 2B and 9S have a romantic relationship!” I’ll admit that Julie and I use wikipedia but we only grab the facts and ignore the opinion. As every high school and college teacher like to say, “wikipedia is not a good source to reference.” In the end, they’re relationship is up to debate and we respect everyone’s point of view on what their relationship is.

I looked up the video you recommended “9S losing it” and sorry, but I lost it too. I was laughing so hard lol. Like that english voice acting.... it’s so stiff, I can’t. But also, I can see why people would think it’s romantic from these clips. My monkey brain just flipped a switch when I saw these scenes. But I took a step back and thought “what if it was me and Julie” for the platonic perspective. Would we do the same thing? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. Though we would play it more cool, I would absolutely grieve over my friend... especially in a tragedy like this. I found this video to be surprisingly informative for both perspective. At it’s core, Nier is just a bunch of robots/androids searching for knowledge and what it means to be human. What is purpose and what are emotions. She uses the word “love” but never “romantic love” or “platonic love” since it’s meant to be up for interpretation. And that funnels down into “regarding your perspective on their relationship, 9S is a yandere or not. It’s up to you”. I would say more about 9S going after A2 to kill her as “finally finding a purpose” but the video goes into the perspective.

Nier is just one big tragedy of humanity, knowledge,purpose, and emotions. I honestly don’t blame 9S’s mental breakdown with everything that happened to him. And it’s not like 9S has any real partners outside of 2B that he can rely on. This entire story is just blurring the lines of love and hate. Knowledge and ignorance. I really hate to review stories where there’s nothing clear but the only thing I can say is “It’s up to your interpretation”. That’s all there is to this.

If you find 9S and 2B’s relationship is romantic then yes, 9S is a yandere.

If you find 9S and 2B’s relationship to be platonic then no, 9S is not a yandere.

Also, the fighting was pretty bad for me. Especially in the bright areas. Normally I love hack and slash with millions of enemies. But christ. Those camera angles. The colors. The multiple buttons for specials. I was tearing up from pain bros.

#anon #answer #9S #2B #yandere #male yandere #nier automata #I'm so fucking tired bros #Anonymous

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teamghosts · 2 years

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Simulator 🖥️ Part 2

What would you do if you had the power to change the world in the palm of your hands? Or computer screen in this instance.

Markus looked at the screen. His mind raced with possibilities. Facebook was still offline after he hacked into it. Well, he hacked in the game which happens in real life. Now he wanted to test it again.

He viewed the options in the game and no matter what he looked at there was one option that he was curious about, murder, the option sat in front of him and he stared at the knife icon that was next to the button. He pressed it and the options came up.

A list of people who were in game friends of his character and a option to kill a random person. Dare he press it? What would happen?

Curious, he decided to pick a random person and then clicked next. Options for killing followed such as stabbing, shooting, strangling and more. Markus clicked stab and next. As with the other crimes there was a mini game. Just like the hacking one, he had to get the arrow in the green. He clicked the screen but his timing was off. It hit the orange close to the middle.

WOUNDED flashed on his screen. He didn’t know whether to be thankful or ashamed. That’s when it hit him.

He had almost killed someone. Yes it was a character in-game but he knew this game had effects on the real world. He was disgusted with himself. How could he have thought that this was ok. Markus turned off the computer, grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat on the couch.

Hours went by and he managed to successfully wipe the thought of what he had done out of his mind. The evening news came on letting him know that the real world was just as bland and mundane as always. Until the news reported that a thirteen-year-old girl had been attacked while walking home from school that afternoon. Markus felt his heart sink.

‘The young girl was slashed across the face before being stabbed in the arm. She lost a lot of blood but doctors have said she came close to loosing her life and she will be permanently scared. The attacker is still on the loose and the public are urged to…’ the reporter give her piece to camera but Markus was already in the bathroom vomiting.

He sat on the floor with his back to the door. He did this. He attacked her, not physically, but it might as well have been. He had her blood on his hands.

He got up and walked over to his computer and immediately went into his files and tried to delete the game. ACTION FAILED. He tried again and couldn’t. He tried three more times but couldn’t delete it. He spent the rest of the night drinking until he couldn’t think about the game or the girl.

He woke up the next day with a hangover and feeling miserable. But determined to do something about the game. He went to the games’ steam page and looked to see if anyone else had been getting this strange power. No one had left any reviews. He was tempted to just move the file so he would never play it again but that’s when the warning caught his eye.

DO NOT USE YOUR REAL NAME.

He looked at the line with intrusive thoughts that took over. What was the worst that could happen?

Markus entered the game and created a new life except he used his real name and birthdate and created an avatar that looked like him.

This play through he decided to take time. He studied for school and made sure to keep his stats up and relationships close with his in-game family and friends.

Everything was normal. No strange events or pop-ups and he kept well away from that crime button. No matter how many times he wanted to. It wasn’t until his character turned sixteen that something happened.

He went through his life options and did his usual walk and exercise as well as practicing writing, acting, and singing skills and decided to get a part time job. He looked through the job options and settled on an after-hours cleaner. It was minimum wage but and a few hours each day for his character so his in-game grades wouldn’t fall like they would do if you do too many activities.

He got the job and worked hard at it and progressed a year. And his in-game bank increased to £5472. Then his phone got a notification from his bank. £5472 had been transferred into his bank account from anonymous.

Now he knew this wasn’t a coincidence. But he had to be sure.

He progressed another year and another £5472 was added into his game and his phone pinged with another transaction into his bank account.

He stood up overjoyed but went dizzy and had to sit down. He opened his bank app and looked at the amount.

Never had he seen so many numbers in his account. Of course with his overdraft, it only showed £7944. With a grin, he fixed that and in a few taps his overdraft balance was £0 and he still had nearly eight thousand in the bank.

He got up and sprinted out of the door and got a bus straight into town. He walked down the high street looking at all the shops and their price tags. The world belonged to Markus today.

First and foremost he needed upgrades to his set up so he went to a computer shopped and browsed their selections before spending £3,000 on a new PC and monitor as well as £800 on a graphics card. His capture card was new from his birthday. He then ordered a new sixty five inch smart tv and bought a bunch of games for the new Xbox which he managed to order when eating at a new restaurant where he never thought he would ever afford to go to. He opened his bank to check the damage and it was bad.

Barley a thousand pound was left. Markus had never spent so much money. It’s wasn’t until he got a phone call from his bank that reality hit him.

“Hello. Mr Kidd. We have noticed some irregularities in your account. Could you come in and discuss them with us please” the operator said.

Markus agreed but his heart was hammering. How could he get out of this? Every step towards the bank drained even more energy out of him and caused more beads of sweat to drip down his forehead. He opened the door.

Everyone was looking at the man with a bag full of games for the new console, luckily he ordered the PC and Xbox to be delivered, it saved more funny looks.

He was called in to a side office. A woman in a suit with a clock above her head waited for him in the cramped room. He sat down on the uncomfortable plastic chair. The heat in the room made him worse.

“Mr Kidd. How are we today?” She said

“I..I’m good” Markus said

“We have noticed some unusual transactions in your account in the past twenty four hours that we would like to talk to you about”

Markus’ throat went dry and he thought his voice would fail him.

“There was two large transactions into your account from an unknown account. Can you please explain where the large sums of money came from?” She said with some accusation

“I…Well…You see” Markus stammered.

He was screwed. He couldn’t just say that his magic game somehow put money in his bank as well as attacked a girl, and hacked Facebook, and robbed a shop. Wait, that’s it, the game.

“I stream Twitch and I recently signed an exclusive agreement with Diaboli Games so that money must be from them” Markus said. She typed away at her computer

“How come this money came from an anonymous account?”

“I don’t know.” Markus had to think fast, Twitch, here goes nothing. “The past few weeks I have had lots of high donations and they were anonymous so maybe that could be it. Twitch do pay out Monthly so maybe they split the payments up”

Markus knew anyone who knows about Twitch knows that’s not how donations worked or Twitch payments but he had to hope this woman didn’t. “One second Mr Kidd” she said as she picked up her phone and rang someone. They talked randomly about him. Markus not paying attention until after an eternity she hung up.

“Thank you for your patience. It seems everything has been cleared up but you will get a phone call from the Department of Work and Pensions to discuss your current employment with your streaming earnings, thank you”

Markus said goodbye and left the bank. It wasn’t until he was home that it hit him.

He had got away with it. Apart from an awkward phone call with the government about his work, he was free. So might as well make it less awkward. He typed out a professional email quitting his job with two weeks notice and sent it off.

The man from the Department of Work and Pensions helped him register as self employed and Markus was over the moon. This was it.

He put out a tweet planning a stream that night where he would play a brand new game he had bought that day in town. Just to make sure it went well he logged into the simulator, aged up for a bit more money, and created a Twitch account in-game and using some in-game money he advertised his account so he would get a few hundred followers and average eighty views.

Sure enough when he streamed that night he blew up. He started the stream with fifty followers and ended it with five hundred and sixty two. Seven hundred people joined in all together and his stream average was 82.3. A few more days of that this month and he would be affiliate, or maybe partner. And he would be earning big.

Later that night he was going over the donations he had received when he got a notification on his computer from the simulator. A random event had popped up, the mafia want to recruit you, do you accept?

To Be Continued…

#gaming #simulation #sims #paranormal #short story #stories #Simulator

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crystalnet · 7 years

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State of the Art: JRPG Spotlight-

Issue #1- 2017 at a Glance- A quarterly or bi-annual journal on the JRPG at large, focusing on recent releases, trends, quarterly reviews/analyses and upcoming release hype.

The other night I was getting yet even deeper still into the freshly minted minor-masterpiece that is Xenoblade Chronicles 2 when it dawned on me just how good 2017 was to the quaint little genre known as the JRPG. I knew all year while it was happening that some special games were getting released with a certain regularity, but now that the dust has fully settled, we can look back and be conclusively impressed by such a stellar stretch.

3 or 4 years ago I think people were getting ready to pen their moratoriums on why big developers and JRPGs should soon plan on never intersecting again save for small-scale handheld releases, and now here we are and Japan is seemingly back on top as far as role-playing goes. That return-to-form didn't always seem so inevitable as it is now that it's fully underway, especially after a somewhat shaky stretch for the genre during the 7th generation. Indeed, high-definition graphics and devs who catered to Gatorade-guzzling gamer bros seemed to not be the boon to the genre that old-school role-players really needed, and even the first couple of years of the 8th generation saw the genre to still be on slightly shaky ground, without a ton of great titles to point to from those initial years.

But then throughout the 7th gen a little franchise called Dark Souls (a JRPG in spirit, though not quite in practice, in many ways) started to build a little following, generating new interest in things like difficulty, customization, and innovative diagetic story-telling. As of the middle of this decade though, the genre still doesn’t have all that much of a presence compared to the late 90s heyday of JRPGs. Cut to 2016 though and Square drops FFXV which is a solid, if not-perfect realization of the 30-year-old standard-bearer of the genre, (a herald of sorts, if you will) and BAM. 2017 begins and in quick succession Nier Automata, Persona 5 and Breath of the Wild drop, all to stunningly positive reception. Now BotW, like Dark Souls, is not as much of a JRPG as the other 3 releases I hope to focus on, but Zelda has always had it's toe in the same waters as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, borrowing and simplifying elements of role-playing games from an action-adventure perspective, and in turn, also influencing those very JRPG franchises it seemed to pay homage to.

This wasn't just a coincidental blip of releases though, proved largely by the fact that all the way at the end of the year, Xenoblade 2 would also drop, and show yet again how the JRPG can be fresh and vital, and can be a Nintendo-exclusive at that. Indeed, I hope to demonstrate my thesis that it was a particularly strong year by triangulating my discussion around Nier A, Persona 5 and Xenoblade 2. Not only are these three very strong titles, they are also all pretty vastly different styles of JRPGs, which I think displays the health and potential of the genre even better than the fact that they are so individually good. First of all we have an industry veteran and mad-hatter in Yoko Taro finally coalescing a fully-realized vision of action-JRPG greatness by collaborating with Platinum games to make something as heady, and intellectual as it is well-designed and fun to play. That game is something like a Hegelian Philosophy PhD driving a Lamborghini in terms of the amount of stuff going on with the writing and character development, all while sporting a super classy luxury sports-car, six-cylinder engine. For long-time fans of Taro, I don't think this direction could have ever been predicted, though they may have secretly dreamed of such a fusion of form and function.

The best thing about how simultaneously weird and playable Nier A is for me is the way it hearkens back to the golden age of PS2 JRPGs for me personally. Without pinning it to a single PS2-era title, it gives me the same feeling that games during that console could consistently deliver on: a fully realized fantasy/sci fi world, a deep-yet-approachable combat system, a weird and very-Japanese, but also deep-as-hell plot, and a certain functionality that games like Kingdom Hearts 2, Rogue Galaxy and Final Fantasy XII delivered on back then. I don't mean to say it's derivative or stuck in the past, it's just that, the highlights of the PS2 days are my go-to precedent for what a good modern, post-16-bit JRPG is, since that equally sweet ps1 era can only be reasonably emulated on smaller and/or handheld retro-style releases. And while the story’s depth and esoteric nature recall the plot’s and worlds of PS1 and 2 greats like FFX, Xenosaga or Vagrant Story, the combat itself feels as fast-and-furious as hack-n-slash classics from then like Devil May Cry.

So while Nier had action-(j)RPG style gameplay covered, Persona 5 was there for all the turn-based devotees, and oh boy were we there for it also. That game was a huge victory lap for Atlus, who has built up a deep fanbase over the past decade, largely because of youtubers (at least in the west we can thank the cult-y presence of its fans online for the slow-burn development of an army of Atlus acolytes, whereas P3 and 4 were only barely noticed in the States back when they actually first came out.) And they finally capitalized on that hard-earned interest by finally following up P4 after nearly a decade, and while they were at it, they also showed everyone that fully turn-based (not even slightly active-time) systems can still melt faces, please crowds and feel fresh, which is no mean feat at all in a world where some question if turn-based is officially dead save for retro-homages.

And while Nier captures a kind of ethereal PS2-esque quality, Persona very literally pulls some of the PS2-era goodness into the future by updating and refining the awesomely deep and OCD-enabling systems of the now holy-grail-level PS2 era Persona games. Yes, wandering around Shinjuku, going on supportive dates with classmates, building up your relationships in general, and working a part time job between study breaks has been fully realized for the modern gamer, and it is glorious to behold.

And that takes us to Xenoblade which out of all the titles I might be most surprised by. Being a bit of a Xeno-noob, I wasn't sure if the release was going to be a major or minor event for role-players, especially given Nintendo's spotty track-record with the JRPG, usually sporting all of maybe one or two truly notable ones per generation, as well as their tendency to censor and/or smother developers. But alas, Xenoblade is fully-formed, proper, brimming-with-life and as deserving of the title of new standard-bearer to the genre as any of the other fantastic JRPGs released that year, many of which I won't even get to.

As is the case with the others, it seems to draw on PS2 era greatness in someways, by building on battle systems like the ones in FFXI and FFXII, while also being an actual descendant of the Xenosaga series that rocked that console, and also still draws on PS3-era titles that were successful (though smaller in number there were some good ones!) like Ni No Kuni and the Last Story. This is a round-about way of saying the combat system is an excellent take on the free-moving active-time auto-battling-but-with-real-time-triggers-style combat that started to show up towards the end of the PS2's life-cycle just when people were realizing the days of pure turn-based role-laying may be limited. And it also delivers on all those other check-marked boxes that any truly great and special JRPG must deliver on including: emotionally stirring and unique soundtrack, a deep and rewardingly complex story with all sorts of specific and detailed lore, a really nice visual style, and some incredibly beautiful locales. Okay that last thing isn't even a thing JRPGs usually have to deliver on, but it sure is a highlight. Some of the locations you move through during your travels in this game are breathtaking, and even more impressive than the similarly psuedo-cell-shaded style of Breath of the Wild, whose open-world Monolith Soft also worked on (though you can't climb all over these areas I should say).

I'm as blown away by the suddenly addictive combat (once it fully kicks in and you are given full control over 3 blades around the 15 hour mark) as I am by the surprisingly moving, funny and immersive story. I can be a little skeptical sometimes when approaching JRPG stories, but by all three of these aforementioned titles, we were treated to surprisingly mature and complex narratives, with refreshingly grounded and/or thoughtful characters. Indeed, with this many games firing on all these different cylinders (I didn't even mention the soundtrack to Persona 5 or Nier OMG), you know something special is happening.

So there you have it, three wildly differently styles of JRPG, only unified by their consistent top-tier quality. An old-school turn-based lite-novel hyprid, a full real-time action-RPG for philosophy students, and a MMO-style combat fantasy epic. And on top of all that there's myriad other fantastic releases, or even re-releases like the Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age remaster of FFXII, one of my favorites and oft-forgotten FF titles that I think got overlooked slightly upon initial release precisely because of the way it showed other developers the way forward from pure turn-based combat.

And then the behemoth that is Breath of the Wild saw a tried-and-true franchise get fully revitalized in a way that drew on the weapon system of Dark Souls as much as it did the food system of Odinsphere of all games. And like I said, though not a true JRPG, it shows that role-playing adjacent titles are also showing a come-back. Survival components in video games were always the more practical, realist cousin to role-playing/stat-grinding after all.

So where do we go from here? Well 2018 will show us whether 2017 was a stand-out year or just the beginning of a trend, but all signs seem to point to an ongoing upward trend if releases like Monster Hunter World are any indication. Ni No Kuni 2 is due out soon, Octopath Traveler, which should make good on the idea of a retro-JRPG, and Kingdom Hearts 3 at the end of the year all help to paint the picture of an equally formidable year. Alas, Nippon is poised to continue its domination in coming months. All in all, fans of the genre should be very pleased, and if you haven't checked out one of the aforementioned titles get to it, because all of them are excellent, even if Xeno takes about 15 hours to truly get rolling and Persona takes a whopping like 20. All good things come to those who wait, after all.~

#xenoblade chronicles 2 #xenoblade #nier automata #nier #persona 5 #persona #jrpg #state of the jrpg #role-playing #role playing #role #playing #ps4 #switch #turn-based #combat #real-time #state of the art

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imm-blog1 · 5 years

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One of the rare non-Apple laptops seen in an otherwise cool park full of cool people

Late in the afternoon on the last day in March 2009, I walked into Bryant Park, which is located behind the New York Public Library, between 41st and 42nd Street, facing Avenue of the Americas. There were several people reading and basking in the sun, a couple people typing on their laptop computers, and one chess game underway. I spent about half an hour wandering around to see what looked photo-worthy, and then wandered off to get some dinner…

This woman was typing away on a laptop computer … alas, it was not an Apple Powerbook. But maybe she doesn’t know any better. Just think: if she had been typing on a Mac, her photo probably would have been published a thousand times by now!

*****************

Even though this photo was taken in March 2009, Karen Bryan claims to have published it in a Nov 13, 2008 blog titled “‘The Future of the Travel Blog’ Presentation, Travel Blog Camp, London 11 November 2008." Back in the "real world," the photo was also published in an Apr 22, 2009 blog entitled "Greenify Your PC!." And it was published in a May 1, 2009 blog titled "Our New Toolbar Helps You Go Green." Then it was published in a Jul 8, 2009 blog titled "Five ways to maximize freelance writing income." And it was published in a Jul 16, 2009 blog titled "Facebook Your Way to Universal Healthcare in The Atlantic. More recently, it was published in an Aug 6, 2009 blog titled "Loudoun County Puts Development Applications Online, Earns National Accolades." And it was published in an Aug 17, 2009 Lifehacker blog titled "What Email Service Do You Use?" It was also published in a Sep 4, 2009 blog titled "https://ift.tt/2XW35EL"

It was published in an undated (Oct 2009) blog titled "How to Fix Common Laptop Problems." And it was published in an Oct 21, 2009 Brazilian blog title " Custo é o diferencial na hora de escolher uma plataforma de blog." It was also published in a Nov 3, 2009 blog titled "What Do You Want Students To Do?" And it was published in an undated (Nov 2009) blog titled "Sedentary Runners." It was also published in a Nov 9, 2009 blog titled "Keep Your Health Club Members Coming Back By Allowing Them to Book Appointments Online." And it was published in a Nov 27, 2009 blog titled "Degrees of Presence IV: My experience." It was also published in a Dec 2, 2009 blog titled "Internet Linked to Intellect."

It was published again in a Dec 13, 2009 blog titled "Las ciudades del mundo más conectadas con Internet." It was also published in a Dec 14, 2009 German blog titled "Modisch immer Online auf MySpace Fashion." And it was published in a Dec 18, 2009 blog titled La primera red 4G del mundo se estrena en Suecia, whose URL Flickr is not allowing me to embed — but it’s www dot tuexperto dot com slash 2009/12/18/la-primera-red-4g-del-mundo-se-estrena-en-suecia/

Moving into 2010, the photo has been published in a Jan 5, 2010 Fast Company blog titled "What Women Want: Facebook Ads!", www-dot-fastcompany-dot-com/blog/maccabee-montandon/upswing/rise-fan-girls. And it was published in a Jan 11, 2010 blog titled "Caen las disqueras, sube la música." It was also published in a Jan 15, 2010 blog titled "School Lunches and ‘Home’ Work: Friday Finds." And it was published in a Jan 20, 2010 blog titled "Welcome to Mobility Hacks." It was also published in a Feb 2, 2010 blog titled "Thanks for Visiting." A week later, it was published in a Feb 9, 2010 blog titled "Większość polskich internautów korzysta z internetowych multimediów."

The photo was published in a Feb 17, 2010 blog titled "What does Matador mean to you?," as well as a Feb 17, 2010 Polish blog titled "Informacja stanie się walutą." On Feb 18, 2010 it was published in a blog titled "School uses laptop webcams to spy on students." And I discovered that it was published in an undated (Mar 2010) German blog titled "Einführung," which seems to provide an online service for Germans who want to learn to speak Italian. It was also published in a Mar 24, 2010 Mexican blog titled "Uso de software ilegal en el mundo." And it was published in an Apr 14, 2010 Italian blog titled "Le donne sfruttano il lato oscuro di Facebook," as well as an Apr 14, 2010 blog titled "10 Ways To Make The Most Of Your Laptop." About a week later, I found it on an undated (Apr 22, 2010?) blog titled "Ask the Readers: Your Favorite Online Resources." It was also published in an Apr 22, 2010 blog titled "The Evolution of a Blog." And it was published in an undated (Apr 2010) Mahalo-dot-com blog titled "Ask any question, any time." It was also published as an illustration in a May 12, 2010 Romanian(?) Gadgets blog, with the same title as the caption that I put on this Flickr page; and it was also published on May 12, 2010 in a blog titled "Definition of a Truly Mobile Job."

On May 17, 2010 the photo was published without any title or description on a Technologeek site. And on May 26, 2010, the photo was published in a Spanish blog titled "Buscar Pareja," and also a Norwegian blog titled "Her handler du best på nett." On May 30, 2010, it was published in a blog titled "What is the best laptop?." And on Jun 2, 2010 it was published in what appears to be a Polish blog, titled "Yahoo! grozi lokalnym mediom. Będzie walka o reklamodawców." It was also published in a Jun 10, 2010 Rent Laptop Computer blog, with a title that was a slightly bizarre variation on the caption that I used for this Flickr page: "ONE OF A SINGULAR NON-APPLE LAPTOPS SEEN IN AN DIFFERENTLY COLD PLAY GROUND FULL OF COLD PEOPLE."

On Jun 12, 2010, the photo was published in an Italian blog titled "Libri di donne: scarichiamoli gratis dalla rete." And on Jun 16, 2010 a cropped version of the photo was published in a Spanish blog titled "Encuentros en Sevilla: los mejores sitios para ligar." It was also published in a Jun 21,2010 FixALaptop blog titled "Where can I download a new free camera software for toshiba vista laptop?" And it was published in a Jun 23, 2010 blog titled " per unit community college fee gets some support." It was also published in two Jun 28, 2010 blogs" "Where to Write Out of the House," and "Why It’s So Easy to Spend Too Much Online." And it was published in a Jun 29, 2010 blog titled "What Women Want … Online."

The photo was also published in a Nov 26, 2010 blog titled "Going Internet-Lite." And it was also published in a Nov 26, 2010 blog titled アメリカ旅行でも仕事環境を準備するお話。at linker.in/journal/2010/11/mobile-trip.php. It was also published as an illustration in an undated (late Nov 2010) Writer’s World blog.

The photo was also published in a Dec 8, 2010 blog titled "The Brief History of Apple Laptops." It was also published in a Dec 9, 2010 blog titled "A Guide To Online Dating In New York City." And it was published in a Dec 10, 2010 Smookey blog with the same title and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. It was also published in a Dec 15, 2010 Dutch "Joop" blog titled "EU-surfer beter beschermd tegen ongewenste reclame." And it was published in a Dec 16, 2010 blog titled "mi date un sito per comprare online?" It was also published in a Dec 17, 2010 blog titled "Ma con POSTEPAY posso comprare nei negozi? o posso solo comprare su internet?" as well as another Dec 17, 2010 blog titled "What are tips on how to avoid players with online dating? What should I look for in the profile?" and yet another Dec 17, 2010 blog titled "Pranzare di fronte al computer fa mangiare di più." It was also published in an undated (late Dec 2010) blog titled "Q&A: mi potete cosigliare un sito per comprare trucchi, pennelli ecc online?" It was also published in a Dec 26, 2010 New Home Businesses blog, with the same title as the caption that I put on this Flickr page. And it was published in a Dec 29, 2010 blog titled "How An Entrepreneur Create New Products At Lightning Speed."

Moving into 2011, the photo was published in a Jan 2, 2011 blog titled "Q&A: how could i make money online free?", as well as a Jan 2, 2011 blog titled "How to know which SEO software suits your search engine optimization needs?" It was also published in a Jan 4, 2011 blog titled "Online Degrees: A More Affordable And Flexible Higher." And it was published in a Jan 5, 2011 blog titled "Legitimate Paid Surveys – How to Earn Money Online from Home Starting Today ." It was also published in a Jan 9, 2011 blog titled "ciao raga ho un amica che vorrebbe comprare un cell su e bay, sevondo voi e sicuro?" And it was published in an undated (Jan 2011) "Forward SIngles" blog, titled "Медиите за Forward Singles (3)." It was also published in a Jan 19, 2011 blog titled "Getting A Degree In Sports Marketing." And it was published in a Jan 21, 2011 blog titled " Evoquer publiquement sa réussite, ses revenus internet, ou pas…" It was also published in a Jan 27, 2011 blog titled "https://ift.tt/2DsJqDg." And it was published in a Jan 30, 2011 blog titled "Q&A: do I have an eating disorder?"

The photo was also published in a Feb 3, 2011 blog titled "AWP 2011 Panel Post: How To Get Beyond “Using Social Media” & Become A Social Artist Instead." And it was published in a Feb 4, 2011 blog titled "Thanks for Visiting." It was also published in a Feb 7, 2011 blog titled "Consommation et Affirmation de soi : quand le numérique détrône l’automobile." And it was published in a Feb 8, 2011 blog titled "Zoosk To Lead Online Dating Space." It was also published in a Feb 15,2011 blog titled "Unable to meet enrollment goals, CSU may have to return state funds." And it was published in a Feb 18, 2011 blog titled "Google’s travel deal faces regulatory turbulence." It was also published in a Feb 19, 2011 blog titled "MIT Entrepreneurship Review: Designing Customer Surveys That Work: Focus On Value," with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. It was also published in a Feb 23, 2011 blog titled "Digitale bouwstenen." And it was published in a Feb 27, 2011 Eliminate Debt Working from Home blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in an Apr 23, 2011 blog titled Laptop Reviews – Best Mini Laptop 2011

The photo was also published in a Mar 4, 2011 Chilean blog titled "10 formas de organizar mejor tu tiempo." And it was published in a Mar 5, 2011 blog titled "Local High School Uses Digital Textbooks." It was also published in a Mar 7, 2011 blog titled "La crisis dispara la tasa de ocupación de la mujer mayor de 45 años." And it was published in a Mar 11, 2011 blog titled "Une table ronde autour des tendances du eCommerce." It was also published in a Mar 14, 2011 PC Gadgiator blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in a Mar 15, 2011 blog titled "New Cyberbullying Study Reveals that Students Bullying Are More Likely Insecure, Negative Towards Teachers." It was also published in a Mar 22, 2011 blog titled "How to Speak in German: 3 Unusual Facts for Beginners." And it was published in a Mar 24, 2011 blog titled "Cum abordezi o tipa pe Facebook."

The photo was also published in an Apr 7, 2011 blog titled "Download Sucker Punch Movie-The Story of A Young Courageous Girl." It was also published in an Apr 17, 2011 blog titled "Keeping JSP Development Alive." It was also published in an Apr 19, 2011 "Moscow News" article titled "Попались в женские сети." And it was published in an Apr 23, 2011 blog titled "Laptop Reviews – Best Mini Laptop 2011." It was also published in an Apr 27, 2011 blog titled "Planning For Content Delivery, Consumption and Context." And it was published in an Apr 28, 2011 blog titled "¿Eres una mujer PANK?" It was also published in a Jun 6, 2011 blog titled "This question is for bloggers who make money blogging?" And it was published in a Jun 9, 2011 blog titled "New York City Adds Free AT&T Wi-Fi to Public Parks."

It was also published in a Jul 29, 2011 blog titled "Travel Blogger, una nuova professione?" And it was published in an Aug 10, 2011 blog titled "Russian Storybooks Good for Beginners Learning the Language?" It was also published in an Aug 11, 2011 blog titled "Study Reports More Girls than Boys Cyberbullied." And it was published in an Aug 26, 2011 blog titled "Social networking helps students perform better, professor says," as well as an Aug 26, 2011 blog titled "Los amores en tiempos de internet." And it was published in a Sep 17, 2011 blog titled "La etopeya personal." It was also published in an Oct 3, 2011 Cool Best New Technology Gadgets images blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in an Oct 15, 2011 "Surviving College" blog titled "PROPERLY COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR PROFESSOR." It was also published in an Oct 21, 2011 blog titled "Disruptive News 21 Oktober 2011," and an Oct 21, 2011 blog titled "UC online instruction pilot sparks excitement, controversy." And it was published in a Nov 2, 2011 blog titled "Going Pro, at BlogWorld Expo 2011." It was also published in a Nov 22, 2011 blog titled "Virtuelle Adventskalender." And it was published in a Dec 9, 2011 blog titled "Es viernes ¿cuánto tiempo pasas conectado?

Moving into 2012, the photo was published in a Jan 2, 2012 blog titled "What would be the job title or the industry for these computer skills? , as well as a Jan 3, 2012 blog titled "looking for a part time job in west philadelphia pa?" It was also published in a Jan 9, 2012 blog titled "Personality Types and Blogging: How Personality May Affect Your Writing, as well as a Jan 12, 2012 blog titled "single mens in chicago, il? gonna moves there to start dating?" And it was published in a Feb 10, 2012 blog titled "Sleep Disorders News : 1800 – 2000 words regarding sleep disorders on insomnia. HUGE TASK ASSIGNMENT. HELP HELP!?

It was also published in a Feb 21, 2012 blog titled "If You Give a Gen-Y a Computer…" And it was published in a Mar 12, 2012 Fast Company blog titled "5 Tips To Retaining Star Gen Y Talent," at www-dot-fastcompany-dot-com/1823890/5-tips-to-retaining-star-gen-y-talent, as well as a Mar 20, 2012 blog titled "Le recrutement via les réseaux sociaux sera la tendance 2012 (étude Viadeo)." It was also published in an Apr 10, 2012 blog titled "The One Where I Turn Writer." And it was published in an Apr 14, 2012 blog titled "Are You Old Enough for Facebook?" It was also published in an Apr 27, 2012 blog titled "Nude Photo of Female Agoura High School Staffer Ends Up On Facebook." And it was published in a May 10, 2012 blog titled "Quiero ser Freelance ¿cómo empiezo?" It was also published in a May 17, 2012 blog titled "What Facebook Teaches Us About Time," as well as a May 30, 2012 blog titled "9 Studies That Show Women Rule Social Media." And it was published in a Jun 10, 2012 blog titled "Women’s Studies Should Include High-Tech Mastery," as well as an undated (late Jun 2012) blog titled "La netiqueta."

In the final month of 2012, the photo was published in a blog titled "Does Twitter Improve Education?" And it was published in a Dec 6, 2012 blog titled "Single To SoulMate." It was also published in a Dec 7, 2012 blog titled "Do You Belong to an Online Community?" And it was published in a Dec 11, 2012 blog titled "漂流する彼女。 ," as well as a Dec 11, 2012 blog titled "Calling all Delaney cousins! It was also published in a Dec 12, 2012 blog titled "Status Changing Strain," as well as a Dec 12, 2012 blog titled "Sabies que… pots estudiar de franc a la Universitat de Harvard?", and also a Dec 12, 2012 blog titled "Buscar trabajo fuera de España como alternativa." And it was published in a Dec 24, 2012 blog titled "Las mujeres y nuestra arma demográfica." It was also published in a Dec 26, 2012 blog titled "Sabies que… pots estudiar de franc a la Universitat de Harvard?"

Moving into 2013, the photo was published in a Jan 10, 2013 blog titled "A List of IT Jobs Will Make Obsolete." And it was published in a Jan 25, 2013 Scientific American blog "How Much Control Will We Have Over Our Personal Data?" It was also published in a Jan 29, 2013 bog titled "Nice Best Laptop Photos." And it was published in a Feb 4, 2013 blog titled "Building a Consistent Blog Readership," as well as a Feb 28, 2013 blog titled "Why Wont He Make It “Facebook Official” – Daily Dilemma?" and a Mar 1, 2013 blog titled "Ligar por internet: ¿Una necesidad o una nueva moda?" It was also published in a Mar 8, 2013 blog titled "How to Earn a Side Income as a College Student." And it was published in a Mar 14, 2013 blog titled "The post-job interview assignment: troubling trend?" It was also published in an Apr 12, 2013 blog titled "Can Online Learning Replace Traditional Educations? Exploring the Future of Education in America." And it was published in a May 8, 2013 blog titled "Freelance Writing Jobs for May 8, 2013." And it was published in a Jul 22, 2013 blog titled "New Coursesmart Survey Shows Increased Digital Textbook Adoption, But Not Increased Sales."

Moving into 2014, the photo was published in a Jan 8, 2014 blog titled "How to Find a Job in 2014."

Posted by Ed Yourdon on 2009-04-01 23:41:37

Tagged: , New York , Manhattan , Bryant Park , cap , laptop , HP

The post One of the rare non-Apple laptops seen in an otherwise cool park full of cool people appeared first on Good Info.

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atamascolily · 7 years

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I wanted to write about things I enjoy about Adventures of Sinbad, since I'm not sure that always comes through in my episode reviews.

1) The setting

Even though the time period of the show is ill-defined (we could be anywhere between 800 - 1400 AD, or perhaps you could make a case for even earlier), one thing is clear: it's ostensibly set in the Middle East and Mediterranean during height of the Islamic Golden Age, which is a fascinating era I know very little about. What I do know, however, sounds tremendously exciting! Calligraphy! Music! Art! Poetry! Culture! Science! People reading Aristotle and Apollonius! Lots of trade and cultural mixing and melding and fusion!

Anyway, this is not a setting you see everyday in most media, and I really wish there were more because there are so many interesting elements to play with - especially when you combine them with magic and monsters to create a fantasy setting. There are so many European/medieval historical or inspired dramas or fantasies and while there's nothing wrong with that - the Matter of Britain's got a lot going for it, after all - it's just really nice to see something OUTSIDE of that particular genre.

(If anyone does know of fantasy or historical fiction from this time period, please let me know, because I'd like to know about it.)

Also, the show is filmed in South Africa, which I love, because it looks so much like California or the Mediterranean, but different. I love the white sand deserts, boulder-strewn beaches and rocky fynbos full of interesting plants. It's a varied, strange, and beautiful landscape and one I highly enjoy spending time vicariously in through the series.

2) The magic and monsters

Yeah, okay, so the CGI has not held up well, but I still love the harpies, the sea serpents, the rock monsters, the giant animals, the animated skeletons, all the same. I love that Firouz and Maeve each have their own contradictory but complementary skill sets, and everyone's realistic and pragmatic enough to use whatever solution works best in the moment.

3) The fight scenes

Yeah, okay, so these are not necessarily realistic fights AT ALL but they do look awesome, and so I'm totally on board. The bad guys usually don't seem to be very hurt, they just get knocked around a lot, and fall over or unconscious most of the time, or run away.

I normally don't enjoy watching violence, but at least in the first season, very few people actually die, and most of that is relatively ungraphic. There's more violence in your average crime/murder/police procedurals/gritty urban series than there is here. "Family-friendly" pops up a lot on the Internet in reference to the show; I guess that means there's no obvious sex and violence that won't traumatize kids.

I'll confess: I watched this series as a kid, and spent a lot of time outdoors, pretending to be Maeve, hacking and slashing at invisible opponents with a sword. It was awesome.

4) The main characters

One thing I think this show does really well is the characters - they're all relatively well-rounded (although Rongar definitely needs some more backstory!!). One of the joys of watching the show is seeing how they come to work well together, to understand each other, and just because a really competent fighting crew... and family. And I love watching them banter - typically witty and fun, without meanness.

Some of my favorite moments in the show are when the crew is just hanging out, bantering... usually something interrupts and starts a new adventures, but I enjoy those moments while they last. I'd probably watch entire episodes where nothing but bantering and routine sea-faring happens.

5) The hawk

Okay, yes, so Dermott was a BIG DRAW for me watching the show as a kid; I got super-into the idea of falconry and learned so much about birds of prey in hope of having a hawk just like Dermott. Didn't work out so far, but I learned a lot, and I think he's a great aspect of the show. Watching Sinbad come to appreciate Dermott as a person, rather than a mere pet, is another joy as the season develops.

6) The way Maeve and Rumina are treated in the show

This is a post in and of itself, but even as a kid, I appreciated the female antagonist, who was more than just a flat character. Rumina's a jerk and not a nice person at all, she's selfish and cruel and manipulative, but she's also confident and powerful and expects Sinbad to fall for her, and is genuinely pissed off when he rejects her. She also has a vulnerable side we see for a few minutes in "Trickster" - fear of aging and being alone. She's genuinely upset about her father's death, and conflicted in her feelings for Sinbad as a result.

Then there's Maeve, who is occasionally teased, especially in the beginning, but earns the respect of the (entirely male) crew and is treated like an equal. Sinbad never talks down to her on account of her gender, and Doubar apologizes for his skepticism in "The Beast Within" when he realizes she was right all along. She fights well, doesn't take shit from people, flips a man to the ground one-handed while holding a hawk on the other fist, can do magic and talk to animals. When she gets kidnapped by Vikings, she fights, she resists, and she never stops trying to escape or appealing to her captors' humanity. She never stops talking about her choice, and why it matters.

Also, while she does have feelings for Sinbad, she's never presented as Rumina's romantic rival, and she and Rumina are not fighting each other because of their feelings for him. Their feud, although only hinted at in the series, is based on a larger conversation about power and agency. Rumina hurt Maeve's family and Maeve's village because she could and dared Maeve to do something about it. Maeve is taking action to do just that, at great cost to herself, traveling halfway around the world to do so. Even though Dermott is technically her brother, transformed into a hawk, I don't see Maeve doing this expressly because of a man - she would do the same thing if Dermott was her sister, for example. Even if Dermott hadn't been transformed, I could still see Maeve taking on this quest because Rumina committed great injustice and Maeve wants to pay her back for it.

I saw all this at a very young age, and I loved it, and I still haven't seen very many shows or series with a similar dynamic. It's not a coincidence that my favorite episodes, then and now - "The Ties that Bind," "Double Trouble" and "The Beast Within" - are the ones that deal with these unconventional power and gender dynamics.

Does this show have problems with women? Yes. Besides Maeve and Rumina, there are barely any other female characters who aren't victims (Princess Adeenah, Gaia, Queen Nadia, and Sudrah, who wasn't even real to begin with) or evil/ambiguously moraled (Talia, Sariya, Alanna) and both groups are poorly developed. And unfortunately, we don't get to spend a lot of time with the people who are more interesting - like Jiyal, who spends most of her episode tied up and screaming in a victim role, and the barkeeper in Episode 3 who Doubar is so fond of. Caipra and Serendib are the only female characters I can think of at the moment who seem like fully-rounded people, and it's probably not a coincidence that they're both magic-users. Magic is a code for power, agency and indepenence here, and I think that really helps.

The end result is that most episodes don't pass the Bechdel test because there aren't any women in major roles besides Maeve and Rumina, and when there are, the women don't always talk to each other. Furthermore, sometimes Maeve is talking to them about Sinbad or being aggressively jealous about her relationship with him. The few episodes that do pass the Bechdel test - again, the ones with Serendib and Cairpra in them - are again, the ones that deal with magic, agency and power.

As I've said, I'm not sure I would consider the show to be "feminist," and there are some gender elements that irritate me, but Maeve is a badass and a big role model for me growing up and I will never forget that.

7) Nostalgia

Yeah, nostalgia is definitely a big factor here. Were I to watch this show in 2017 for the first time, would I be so into it? Hard to say. But childhood loyalties are strong.

I was nervous the Suck Fairy would come to visit, but the most delightful part of the rewatch has been to discover that all the episodes I loved most as a kid are still actually pretty enjoyable for my adult self as well. So there's that.

Also, I have a thing for low-budget '80s and '90s fantasy and aesthetic, so this is all right up my ally, anyway. They literally do not make them like they used to, and I didn't know that I liked the old way more than the new way until the new way became the most common way.

8) The fandom

Okay, so the fandom is very small, and most of what I find on the internet hasn't been updated since 2000. Adventures of Sinbad had its big run just as the Internet was getting going, so most of the fansites look their age at this point. But still. I can find Tripod fansites with interviews and scripts. There's a whole site devoted to high-quality screencaps. One group of fans wrote three seasons of fanfic shows and 2 movies; I just found another alternate fan version of Season 2 on a different site. There are even a few things posted to FF.net or AO3 and tumblr, but for the most part, the fandom is very old-school. Still, it makes me really happy to see what's there for something that's 20 years old and relatively little-known.

I think a lot of people have good feelings about this show, they just don't necessarily remember or post about it. I usually missed out on cultural phenomena as a kid, and while this wasn't a big one, it's one I'm happy to be a part of.

#adventures of sinbad live action tv #agency and power #gender dynamics

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savetopnow · 7 years

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2018-03-14 19 MOVIE now

MOVIE

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operationrainfall · 5 years

Text

Title KUNAI Developer TurtleBlaze Publisher The Arcade Crew Release Date February 6th, 2020 Genre Metroidvania Platform PC, Nintendo Switch Age Rating E for Everyone 10+ – Mild Blood, Fantasy Violence Official Website

I should point out that until I played KUNAI, I was totally unfamiliar with developer TurtleBlaze. Thankfully, I had some experience with The Arcade Crew, thanks to their also publishing the fantastic Blazing Chrome, by JoyMasher. All I knew early on was KUNAI is a game where you control a ninja tablet (no, you didn’t just suffer a stroke, that’s the actual premise) as he hacks and slashes his way through robot hordes with his magical energy stealing katana. That alone was enough to grab my interest, but when I learned that the game was also a Metroidvania, I was hooked. So I greatly appreciated the opportunity to review KUNAI for oprainfall. The question then is, was KUNAI able to live up to my hype for the game?

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The premise of the game is loosely based around some sort of undefined apocalypse that wracked the Earth, killing nearly all the humans. In the interim, apparently a bunch of robots achieved sentience and started spreading out, with some aiming to wrest control and others retaliating as a ragtag group of freedom fighters. You play the heroic ninja Tabby, who is activated by the resistance to set things straight. There’s also an evil A.I. referred to as Lemonkus which is apparently responsible for this scenario, and while you do learn more about them, I never learned enough for my satisfaction. There’s a cool concept here, but there’s too many opaque bits that prevent the story from being fully realized. For example, who built all of the robots? What endowed them with sentience? How exactly did humanity perish? Where did the sword that steals life force come from? Which ancient warrior is Tabby supposedly infused with? There’s a lot of questions, even after beating the game. Which isn’t to say it’s not fun and there’s not plenty to enjoy, there absolutely is, but in a game that is so mechanically fantastic, the overall lack of a coherent plot stands out all the more painfully.

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However, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s focus on what KUNAI does best – the gameplay. Early on you only have access to your katana, which is not only your primary means of offense, but also your only way of healing other than using save points. Every time you slay a foe, you’ll get a little bit of health back. Soon enough, you also come across a pair of the titular kunai with chains, which allow Tabby to swing from the ceiling and climb walls. They’re a lot of fun to experiment with, and allow you a wide movement range. Just keep in mind not all surfaces can be grabbed, usually ones that are coated with metal plates. You would be forgiven for thinking that’s all the tools at your disposal, but as the game progresses you get a lot of other nifty items. None that ever totally eclipses the effectiveness of the kunai, but many that do open up the experience. For example, you’ll get a shuriken that can trigger switches and stun foes, as well as a few guns that serve multiple functions. Take the dual SMGS, which can obviously be used to unload on foes from a distance, but can also be aimed downwards to essentially hover as you blast a stream of bullets below yourself (which is awesome). You’ll also get a very powerful rocket launcher that can scatter foes to dust or be used to catapult you vertically into the air.

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Point being, everything in KUNAI has a variety of uses, and manages to make the experience more compelling. And that’s before you even take into account the upgrades you can purchase from the Tabos, accessible from old school routers littered throughout the game world. You can not only upgrade Tabby’s weapons, such as giving his katana a powerful charge attack or turning your rocket launcher rounds into homing missiles, but you can get important passive upgrades. Perhaps the most important is the one that lets Tabby slowly heal continuously, which is vital when you’re low on health, since the game never provides any disposable healing items. Generally I would clear out a room and then just take a breather for Tabby to heal back to full health. I really liked being given free reign which abilities I upgraded first, and my only real complaint is that there weren’t even more options, since I had pretty much maxed them out a while before the final boss. Which correlates to my only other major complaint about KUNAI – it’s too short.

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KUNAI is very fun while it lasts, exploring, regularly finding upgrades like double jump and dash, slaying enemies and fighting powerful bosses. Some of my favorite bosses were Furious Ferro, a giant gooey creature that crawled the walls and scattered minions on the floor, and the Guardian, which starts in a giant cocoon and then erupts into a dangerous electric butterfly. It’s also entertaining to talk to random NPCs as you wander, since they often have very funny dialogue that pokes fun at other popular nerd culture, such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon, various anime and even a well known game store franchise. It’s clear the folks at TurtleBlaze not only love game culture, they love to poke fun at it as well, but never in a way that felt cruel or derogatory. Suffice to say, even though the plot of the game left me underwhelmed, the dialogue and humor were much better than I expected.

Exploring the various areas is a treat, and very rarely was frustrating. They range from deserts to lava filled mineshafts and haunted factories. There’s a fluidity to the combat that just made KUNAI a step above many others in the genre. I loved swinging around, jumping and slashing foes, and even blasting them to smithereens when I got testy. There’s also tons of hidden corners in the game, where you’ll find one of two items. Either you’ll find heart pieces which extend your maximum health (always handy) or you’ll find hats. And surprisingly, you’ll find a lot more hats than anything else. And while it’s fun to dress Tabby up with monocles and horned hoods and even plumber hats, sadly none of these serve any gameplay purpose. Once I discovered that, my desire to find them all withered away. If only the various hats would change up the combat or alter my stats in some significant way, I would have gone out of my way to discover all of them. As it is, I found hats a silly bonus without much function. Oh and apparently there’s also a hidden Time Trial mode in the game, but I couldn’t find it. And given that I hate feeling rushed when I play a game and don’t focus on speedrunning anyhow, that just didn’t provide me much incentive or replay value.

Ultimately, that’s where KUNAI fell short, the length. The whole experience is pretty linear, and though you are given some free reign to explore, there’s nothing really important for you to find. I managed to beat the game in 6 hours, which is 2 less than the developers said the adventure will take most people. If there had been more than one ending or a couple hidden areas or even a boss rush, I would have felt more satisfied. But without them, the game is just over way too soon. It’s a blast to play, and runs silky smooth, but once it’s over, it’s over.

Visually, KUNAI is a treat. It’s colorful without being too flashy, and managed to evoke classic games while still feeling modern. I loved all the silly faces that Tabby wears as you experience the game, and especially enjoyed the hand drawn cutscenes and sub item introductions. The various minor enemies were pretty distinct and varied, and there were none that were clones. Likewise, the bosses are all very different and quite a challenge to best. This is a game that makes great use of visual clues and storytelling, such as how Tabby’s face flashes red with a battery symbol when low on health. Musically, the games is frenetic and fun, and manages to infuse just enough ninja flair to keep things fresh. I also really loved all the mechanical beeps and boops and explosions for sound effects. I really had no complaints about the design of KUNAI whatsoever.

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Now, even though I’ve touched upon the major issues with the game, the following is an assortment of minor quibbles that also kept this from being a perfect experience. While the game is a lot of fun, sometimes things aren’t as well balanced as they could be. An example is how one of the early areas, an airship, has a forced sequence requiring kunai swinging over instant death pits that felt way too challenging that early in the game. I also found how Tabby “climbs” vines incredibly awkward. Instead of climbing up and down, he kind of floats and you have to hold down to force him back to earth. And though I very much enjoyed the katana charge attack technique, which lets Tabby charge up and then rush all nearby foes with a flurry of katana strikes, it was very hard to tell at what range it would react to foes. One time it even glitched and managed to push Tabby into the background in the Mine area, forcing me to restart since I couldn’t get free. Another issue was that there weren’t really enough bosses in the game. There’s a hilarious pirate captain I thought would be a boss which instead is turned into comic relief twice, and there’s a long section where you escape from the police (dubbed Popo), but can’t actually fight back. And though the final boss was epic, it was also frustrating, and made me wish I had some way to heal quickly during fights.

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In summation, I still rather enjoyed KUNAI. I just wish it was a longer experience with a more coherent plot. That said, there’s tons of charm and humor here, and plenty of challenging and satisfying gameplay. Honestly, it’s hard to go wrong for only $16.99. I admire TurtleBlaze for this first Metroidvania, and even though it’s not perfect, I think it could be the starting point to many other tremendous projects. If you’re a fan of the genre, I’d say you owe it to yourself to pick this up.

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[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3.5″]

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

REVIEW: KUNAI Title KUNAI

#cartoony #KUNAI #Metroidvania #oprainfall #silly #The Arcade Crew #TurtleBlaze

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