#I actually lost boss music audio in the fight

[demonfox38]

I've been experimenting with getting capture footage from "Star Fox Zero." Currently, the video is crusty, as I haven't quite got the quality right yet.

More troublesome than that is trying to record voice audio. See, it all comes out of your gamepad. I've tried using a professional microphone and an aux cord in several locations to get it to record correctly. The best I've managed to do so far is strap a Logitech headset to my left thigh and try to keep it trained on the left speaker.

Being two hits shy of medal status while redneck rigging this wasn't too bad on my part, though. Could have done better in that ravine, but hell. I'm not seeing too many people do better online. (And no surprise, considering what a pain in the ass this is to capture!)

[cleolinda]

I never actually explained why I started playing the Silent Hill 2 remake. As many people have pointed out, it is an absolutely wild choice (complex, difficult, scary, LONG) for my first video game. (I’m a mobile gamer, I wasn’t allowed to play video games as a kid, etc.) 

Since Jacksepticeye has come back to Tumblr, I’ll be a dork and say that I became a big fan of his channel over the last couple of years, and I started watching game playthroughs generally to wind down at night. I’ll basically watch anything he plays, and in October, he played the new remake. I was maybe 20 when the original came out, but I didn’t know shit about Silent Hill. Something about Pyramid Head, The Scariest Games Ever, not really my thing, but sure. I started watching and... didn’t really get into it. Planets weren’t aligned that day, idk. I let it keep running, went on to the second video, and then we hit THIS scene:

That music comes in out of NOWHERE like strong perfume and I was like, what the fuck is this game, why is the acting so good, what is HAPPENING, I love it. 

For several weeks, I was obsessed with the Akira Yamaoka soundtrack (both versions) and the story. The Actual Autism fully kicked in, and it was better than dealing with the rest of November 2024. I watched multiple people play the game, learned everything about it, didn’t care about the combat, never thought I’d play it myself. 

And then, two months into this... I kinda... I kinda wanted to fight a leg monster. A mannequin. THEY ARE SO SASSY AND THEY’RE SMART despite having no heads. I wanted to engage in noble fisticuffs (anklicuffs?) with these things. I am proud to say that I have gone from getting stuck in the parking lot on day one to actually being really good at fighting mannequins. (It’s the lying figures that get me. Fucking splash-damage motherfuckers.) Over ten hours of practice play in the first three levels of the game, I’ve only died twice so far (and both times were when the game BOXED ME IN and swarmed me with vomit monsters. Rude).

So anyway, I decided to play the game, and @idoherty451 and I started discussing it in excessive depth, and now I want to do a text commentary for sure, and a video gameplay (voice) commentary if I can get that up and running; I already have some rough reaction audio that I've been posting. I just want all this (and the software I’m learning) to be a new set of tools in my “having fun discussing media” box, really. That said, I don’t know how far I’ll actually take the practice run, now that it’s fulfilled its purpose and I’ve diagnosed that my hapless ass needs to be on light combat. I’ve even played South Vale 2-3 times to develop basic skills! I’m doing so good! So it’s helped to do a first run, get through “I’m lost for half an hour” snarls, and practice moving the camera more smoothly. I may leave off with playing ahead before I get to the last two bosses years from now at this rate and let y’all see that happen, for better or worse, without any prep. 

The whole premise here is that I want to walk through the game and talk about all the lore and easter eggs and theories I’ve learned about. It will be the opposite of spoiler-free (minus That One Big Thing I won’t give away). If you would like to watch spoiler-free playthroughs of this long-ass game, I also recommend Marz (new to the franchise) and Gab Smolders (huge OG fan). 

Anyway, this is what I’ll be doing tomorrow while actively ignoring U.S. politics. James Sunderland has some very specific problems, and unlike mine, he can hit most of them with a steel pipe. Wish me luck with Pyramid Head. 

[devil-works-hard]

BATDR's Lack of Chapter Identity

As we all know, BATDR was originally going to be released episodically, similar to the way BATIM was released. However, the devs changed their minds, and opted to release BATDR as a full game. This definitely affects the pacing and outline of BATDR, for better and for worse. The most prominent aspect of this, for me, is BATDR's lack of chapter identity.

One of the strengths of BATIM's chapters was how location-centric they were. Chapter 1 was the Animation Department (even if it was more of an introductory chapter and less of an actual department); Chapter 2 was Music; Chapter 4 was Bendyland with a side of the Finance Department. Chapter 3 was mostly Heavenly Toys- there were other offices and little areas, but they didn't really subtract from the HT aspect. Hell, even Chapter 5 had 3 central locations (the Lost Ones' town, Administration, and the Ink Machine) and it still had an identity.

NOTE: I swear I saw someone already talk about that but I can't find the post, so if it was you let me know and I'll give you credit!

BATDR doesn't really seem to have that. While BATIM had us walking around in locations, BATDR has us walking between locations. Chapters 1-3 have a lot of tunnels and hallways, and I mean a lot. Animation Alley, Artists' Rest, Amok's sewer- we spend so little time in these areas compared to the hallways. Chapters 4 and 5 are a marked improvement in this sense. Chapter 4 gives us the City and the Gent factory, while Chapter 5 gives us Wilson's mansion, the laboratory, and whatever area Beast Bendy is in.

What's more, the names of the chapters in BATIM told us something about the chapter, alluding to the plot, location, or both.

Chapter 1 - Moving Pictures (Obvious reference to the Art Department)

Chapter 2 - The Old Song (Reference to Music, and also the first of Sammy's audio logs)

Chapter 3 - Rise and Fall (Reference to the elevator)

Chapter 4 - Colossal Wonders (Bendyland, and Bertrum's audio log before his boss fight)

Chapter 5 - The Last Reel (The Ink Machine, the Film Vault, the cycle, etc)

Now, let's look at BATDR's chapters:

Chapter 1 - Drawn to Darkness (It's a pun, but doesn't really apply to anything in-chapter)

Chapter 2 - The Demon's Domain (This is when the Ink Demon becomes a threat, but it doesn't really say anything about the location itself, which is mostly the Animation Alley and Artist Rest)

Chapter 3 - The Eternal Machine (I mean, Joey shows up too and explains the cycle thing, but the title still doesn't tell us much about the chapter)

Chapter 4 - Factory of Horrors (Now this title actually tells us something, since it references the Gent factory!)

Chapter 5 - The Dark Revival (I can't really complain about this one, it feels self-explanatory and pretty fitting for a final chapter, even if it doesn't say anything about the chapter itself.)

BATIM had some incredibly iconic antagonists that were (mostly) bound to the chapters they were introduced. Music gave us Sammy, the music-director-turned-cult-leader. Heavenly Toys gave us Alice, who felt incredibly at home in this chapter because of her interactions with Henry (and the mass amounts of Alice merch). Bendyland had Bertrum, which was perfect for the area.

BATDR certainly had some memorable antagonists, but they don't hit quite the same as BATIM's. There are a couple of reasons for this; the most notable is the lack of build-up. In BATIM, Sammy, Alice, and Bertrum all had some degree of hype. Sammy had his plethora of audio logs (from him and the other employees in his department), and we see him several times in the chapter before he actually attacks us. Alice toys with us multiple times and delivers some iconic lines. Hell, Bertrum only had two audio logs, but his fight still hit so hard, because it was so perfect.

The Widows are the most forgivable; they get revealed after Audrey falls down the elevator shaft, but they don't really show up before or after that. Lord Amok felt completely out of the blue; we're told through various signs that Emergency Shaft R is dangerous, but Lord Amok himself completely lacks context and backstory as a character. Even Alice, who makes a return in Chapter 5, comes out of the blue. There's no build-up, and she basically exists for Allison to show up and kill her. Character-wise, she's a sliver of what BATIM Alice was.

Each of BATIM's chapters ended very succinctly. I mean, they tended to end with Henry passing out and waking up in a new location, but it still felt like a solid end to a chapter. BATDR is much more fluid. Chapter 1 introduces the quest to find the missing pictures, but the chapter itself ends in the middle of this quest. What's more, the Ink Demon is introduced at the end of the chapter, but is instantly an active threat in the start of the next chapter. This causes the first two chapters to bleed into one another.

Chapter 2 ends in the spot where the first BATDR trailer took place, but, because the confrontation with Bendy in the Lost and Found took place a while before, it's a very anti-climactic end. Because of this weird ending, the first big conflict of Chapter 3 is the fight with the Widows, which is an odd choice for me.

Chapter 3 ends with Audrey teaming up with Bendy, but not quite setting out into the city. It's a good ending, and the other chapters end pretty nicely too.

In terms of pacing, BATDR has the opposite issue BATIM has. In BATIM we get from locations in chapters extremely quickly (see how quickly Henry goes from the Lost Ones' town, to Admin, to the Ink Machine). In BATDR, I'd argue we take too long to get between each significant area. BATIM could be filled out a little bit more, while BATDR could've been trimmed down.

With BATIM, once we finished a chapter, we would have to wait months for the next one; this reflects in the narrative, with cliffhangers and blackouts for endings. BATDR's chapters feel like they're meant to be played back-to-back, with chapters that blend into one another and lack the iconic cliffhangers of the first game. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you.

[transistor-rhythm-909]

Arcade Child - Nothing Left But Vengeance (Final Boss: Hell Chaos)

originally composed by Katsuro Tajima

DOWNLOAD HERE

This was a long time coming.

I love the original Splatterhouse- particularly its initial arcade incarnation. This is probably not a surprise- I like horror, I like arcade games, I like horror arcade games, you do the math. But Splatterhouse is special. I've written at length about how much I love the game several times over the years, how influential its been on me creatively, so I'll try my best to be brief: in addition to being a very violent and visceral video game, it has stellar art direction and design with some seriously creative enemy designs, really solid and desceptively simple gameplay with more depth then you might expect, and a story that whilst fairly simple serves up a for-the-time-uncommon-in-the-medium and particularly cruel (if kind of dated) twist, with no happy ending for Rick- the player character- or his girlfriend Jennifer no matter what you do.

In addition, Splatterhouse is host to a fantastic and very forward thinking soundtrack. Written by Katsuro Tajima and Yoshinori Kawamoto, none of it sounds particularly videogamey, instead drawing from the highly synthesized and often experimental horror movie scores of the 80s, to create a very specific and effective atmosphere. As a general rule, Tajima handled the more typically melodic tracks, whilst Kawamoto created the more ambient or outright outsider-music-esque pieces.

And one of my favourite pieces on the soundtrack? The final boss theme, composed by Tajima (I was unable to find a non-1hr/not shite audio quality version of the song under its correct title- we'll come back to that- so I apologise).

(Continued below)

It's such a beautifully melancholic piece- not really very scary sounding nor very triumphant, and frequently dropping its uptempo nature in favour of more contemplative sections, it doesn't sound like typical final boss music. But for a game in which you have to fight the woman you were trying to save as a boss- the woman the player character loves enough to take an obviously one-sided deal with a supernatural force and dive headfirst into hell for- two stages before this point, it fits. Though the PC Engine port of Splatterhouse would flesh out more of the story by bringing in other elements of intruige, and Splatterhouse 2 would undo this twist, Jennifer doesn't magically revive at the end of the game. For those last two levels, and for this final fight against the very essance of the titular (and apparently living and sentient) Splatterhouse and/or the spirit of its prior inhabitant Dr. West (depending on which version of the lore you go by), Rick has nothing but vengeance to fight for. That's a relatively nuanced and complex emotional core for a final boss fight to have even now, let alone at the time, and the presentation of the fight- including the music- does so wonderfully. Obviously, killing a woman off to give a male character Main Pain™ is and was even then an enormous unflattering cliche, and Splatterhouse isn't above criticism for indulging in it, but I think it's handled at least slightly better then some of the more overtly sexist Fridging I've seen happen to female characters in many forms of media.

I mentioned above that this remix was a long time coming; whilst that's partially because I started working on it early last year (I think? I forget), it's also because this is actually my second time remixing this song. I first made a remix of it back in the late 2000s when I was a teenager- long before 103 Records existed, back when the TIMGUL forums were still active, I used a long-gone youtube channel to host my music for listening purposes, and I stuck my songs up on filesharing sites like zippyshare or 4shared for downloading. It's long gone, now- its one of many of my early songs that I either never properly backed up or lost to hard drive failures, and everywhere it was hosted has since gone defunct. It's not a lost a masterpiece, I assure you- from what I remember, I struggled to get the timing and placement of the notes during the "chorus" section right, so the melody was really off, and I don't think I really bothered with either the "verses" or the "bridge". It was also made at a time when I didn't use direct line-in recording for my music, and instead used the recording function on a battery powered MP3 player, so the actual sound quality was complete shite.

As much as I cut myself some slack- I was like, 14-15, and had even less of an idea what the hell I was doing then I do now (which ain't much)- but I always felt a pang of regret that my tribute to music I love so much was severely lacking. This remix is me attempting to right that wrong. And whilst I could nitpick it- and probably will eventually- I feel teenage!Decon would be thrilled to know he'd one day be capable of pulling off something like this. Whilst mostly based off of the arcade version of the song, the melody in the "verse" section pulls a little bit from the PC Engine's rendition of the final boss theme, which emphasises slightly different notes. I also included a brief portion of the game's ending theme in there (again, have to use a 1hr looped upload, sorry about that), as said motif both appears earlier in the game (tied to cutscenes before and after the boss fight with Jennifer), and in adverts for the PC Engine port, so it could be considered Splatterhouse 1's main musical theme.

Which brings me to why I arranged the sound in this high energy breakbeat techno style. Partially, that's a callback to that original remix I made, which was similarly styled- and indeed the inetial impetous for that stylistic approach came from wanting to, essentially, do what I did the first time, but Better™.

Whilst working on it tho I realised the end result kinda reminded me of something. Stick with me here, this is gonna seem off topic; way back in the early 90s, the original Castlevania was remade and expanded for the Sharp X68000- a japanese computer with a strong gaming scene/library, vaguely anologus to something like the Amiga in the UK. It's a very good version of Castlevania. Later, around 2000/2001, this version of Castlevania would be ported to the playstation under the name Castlevania Chronicles, which contained both the original version of the remake completely unaltered, and an Arranged Mode with a number of changes both cosmetic and gameoplay oriented, one of which was a new arranged soundtrack- with many of the songs being redone in various styles of electronica. This included it's final boss theme, You Goddamned Bathead, which got turned into a hard acid techno banger with some dramatic organs for flavour- though in fairness, its original incarnation was already fairly rave-oriented in composition.

So I leaned into that idea; this is, basically, the final boss theme from the arranged mode of a hypothetical PS1 re-release of a Splatterhouse remake that initially dropped on the X68000- hence why it has a loop-n-fadeout ending. Why? Because god forbid I make something that doesn't have some ridiculous high concept metafiction bullshit attached to it. I would imagine that in this hypothetical Splatterhouse remake (and then re-remake), the fight against Hell Chaos is considerably expanded or at least even harder, given the length this remix winded up being; the original Hell Chaos fight can be beaten in under two minutes if you're good at the game. Or you cheat.

Additional fun fact; I considered naming the remix "You Goddamned Melt-head" initially, as a one-two reference to the Castlevania Chronicles song and a rip of Splatterhouse's soundtrack that gave all the songs obnixously unfunny fan titles which circulated back in the day; in this rip the final boss song was given the name "The Requiem of Captain Mozzarella", a name so egregiously unfunny I want to find whoever came up with it and give them a clip 'round the ear (this is also why I had to link to a 1hr upload above; most of the non-shit-audio-quality uploads of the song on youtube use that fucking name, and a) I didn't want to give the impression that that was its official name to the unitiated, and b) it would have deflated my talk of how the game has quite an effective score/story etc. I decided against the Melt-head name for much the same reason- I didn't want my earnest attempt to capture the emotion of the fight to be undone by a too-in-jokey reference. The remix also briefly went under the name "Stulti Hominis Finalem Votum"- pigin Latin for "The Foolish Man's Final Wish"- mostly as if memory serves right, my initial remix from all those years ago had the suffix "Venenum Sanguis Mix" (also pigin latin, this time for 'poisonous blood'), because Latin Is Kewl!!!!!!!!!!!!

[blitzwhore]

Oh my goodness the season finally of helluva boss!!! THE DANCE. THE KISS. EVERYTHING.

So here is more music that is more updated to their current stance.

EIGHT- feels very Blitzø coded. Grew up traumatized, but is finally gaining confidence to open up to others and let his walls down.

To me this is so Blitzø coded for Stolas. Now that Blitzø is confident in his feelings fully willing to fight for Stolas. I also like the head cannon of tilla singing something like this to Blitzø and Barbie.

Very end of the world them risking their lives to save one another.

Could go either way on perspectives. Currently I feel like it's more Blitzø because he is in the more caretaker role.

Blitzø in his caretaking role!!!! Trying to make Stolas less depressed and happy. It's just so sweet. It's just perfect.

Very balcony seen. Just adorable. They are cute and in love.

Blitzø is learning to love again. Very melancholy. Blitzø feeling bad for how he closed his young self off.

Stolas depression. Feeling lost and displaced with new situation. His feeling like he doesn't belong and him expecting Blitzø to stop loving him.

Enough said. Just the vibes. Very sad Stolas

Very much Stolas trying to self-soothe or Blitzø trying to comfort him that some things just take time to improve.

I have gotten the audio limit 😭. I will send the rest. I apologize for the stolitz brain rot. But my brain was like hi friend new songs for possible playlists.

Ahh thanks so much for all the recs!! I appreciate the Spotify links too 🥰 and please do NOT apologise for the brainrot, I'm right there with you! THE FINALE INDEED AKDJAKFKQKRJWKDK 😭😭😭

Okay, here I go—

Eight - you literally couldn't have known this, but this is actually one of my favourite songs 🥺 it's one of those songs that always makes me tear up when I sit down and listen to it properly, because it just feels like it's so painfully and viscerally me. And I actually recently had the thought "oh, I should add Eight to the Blitzø playlist, probably", so, hey, now's as good a time as any to do that! Just one more reason to kin him 😭😭❤️

The sore feet song - this is so cute!!! I like the headcanon of Tilla singing it to Blitzø and Barbie 🥹 gonna listen to it a couple more times before I decide if it goes in his playlist!

As the world caves in - ohh, I have a different version of this song saved in my likes! I didn't know this version, though—I really like the way it sounds! And sometimes it's just nice to add different versions of the same song to different playlists, because that makes you associate each version with a different moment in your life/set of thoughts and feelings. So yeah, definitely adding this one to one of their playlists! Probably Stolas', I feel like the dramatic vibe of the song fits his ideas of romance, especially around Mastermind!

Everyone adores you - I agree the lyrics fit Blitzø more too at this point in the story! It's so softly romantic, so patient, so earnest... I love it so much! Definitely adding it to their Fluff playlist ❤️

Irony would have it - 🥹🥹🥹🥹 it fits them so well! Definitely adding it to the fluff playlist! ❤️

Dancing in the street - awww, agree with what you said!! One more for the playlist 😍

Like a child - ohh, Mother Mother 😍 ough 😭😭😭 the lyrics hurt so good and fit Blitzø so well, damn, my heart! Added it to this playlist 🥺

Fish tank - ohh, this reminded me I have a few more depression songs I could probably add to his playlist! Right along with this one, of course! Every day I'm so thankful for what they've done with him with regards to the depression representation ❤️

My love mine all mine - yet another song I already know, but the version I know is the Mitski one! *gestures at what I said above* adding this version to the Stolas playlist :3

Things will get better - I like the mental image of this being Blitzø soothing Stolas! I added it to the Stolas playlist 🥺

Thank you so much again!!!! ❤️

[kpopmakesmequestionmylifechoices]

Kingdom Round 3: Best episode so far, and here's why.

I've seen many people being upset about the episode, about the voting, the experts, the amount of members per unit - So I started watching with a very bad feeling. But you know what, this was the best episode out of all so far. It showed people having fun with each other, having fun with creating music and performances, it showed passion and a unified love for music. What more could you want?

Frankly said, I absolutely lost the overview about the voting and how the rounds are organized and tbh, I won't care about those things anymore and just focus on the perfomances because ain't nobody got time to figure out this mess. We can't change the way MNET operates, we can't change that fans fight with each other, but we can focus on just enjoying what those idols present to us. Idk about you but I'll enjoy the few upcoming episodes without caring for all that unnecessary drama.

But let's get started with the two rap units.

Bobby | Sunwoo | Hwiyoung: First of all, mentor Bobby is just endearing. Loved their chemistry during this entire segment, and I loved their energy on stage. They just were enjoying themselves and putting out what they really felt, that's how I perceived it. I'm truly no intellectual when it comes to rap because I have no idea of such things, but I simply enjoyed it as it was. It felt swag af, it felt hip-hop af, and I totally bought this because they sold the vibe like a boss.

Minhyuk | 3RACHA | Hongjoong: My goodness this was so enjoyable. Their chemistry, how cuddly and soft they are with each other, how they just constantly were bright and joyful, loving their job? That's the content I signed up for. The meaning behind their song was just freaking amazing, Bang Chan's part hit me tho, as well as Minhyuk's "We bleed the same colour". Powerful. Meaningful. 10/10. Also not at me constantly falling for Hongjoong because he got this special aura only he radiates

Now to the dance unit.

DK | Juyeon | Taeyang: Haha they were so awkward and shy with each other tho. The fact that in particular the rather calm members came together for this unit was hilarious, but it also showed in their perfomance. It was very gentle and pretty. My problem is, as always with rather abstract stuff, I didn't necessarily understand much. I understood that the Queen died, that the king grieved for her and eventually went low-key crazy. Didn't get the ending tho. In conclusion, contemporary styled dances are not my cup of tea, but that's personal preference. They did a great job, worked well together and created an original choreography.

Peniel | Felix, Minho, I.N | Yunho, Wooyoung, San, Seonghwa, Yeosang: First of all, the chemistry once again was so so so so good! When I saw them in the practice room and later on stage, I simply thought: They could debut exactly like that. At times I was highly distracted by the audio because it sounded extremely good to me, they did a great job in my eyes I vote Minho for main vocal lol also pls San's voice was so low here omg The concept was well ... (were)wolves eating people and ripping each other apart, and that worked pretty well for me. I liked how they seemed like one entity on stage, and that move with Felix and Wooyoung was so cool man.

The two remaining perfs will be in next week's post, as always. But in general I can say, this was the episode I enjoyed the most (even more than the sports episode last week), because it was full of teamwork, passion, and joy. For the first time all members seemed to have more fun than they felt pressured, and that's simply what I was looking for in this entire show. Also the fact they barely used any stage props was just amazing to me because I finally could properly focus on what they actually performed. Thanks for reading ya all, and I hope you had as much fun as I had!

[technomaestro]

Top 5 Video Game Soundtracks

Ok. Let's try this *again*. I had a whole thing written up and I accidentally refreshed the page, so tumblr ate the entire thing, and I lost it.

Destiny 2 There's a reason D2 is one of my all time favorite games, and the music for it is one of those reasons. Destiny 2's sweeping orchestral soundtrack is full of songs that encapsulate that grand, epic nature of the world and conflict you find yourself in as the Guardian. From the mission tracks like 1AU/Forge Ahead , Valkyrie, and Guns Blazin which provide this cinematic backdrop as you fight for your victories, to the epic swelling of the raid bosses where the tension in their first phases is replaced with triumphant moments where the tide turns as seen in Riven of a Thousand Voices or Insurrection Prime (even the most hated boss in Destiny has a pretty baller theme with tons of brass in it as you get ready to put him in his grave one last time after fighting him multiple times throughout the raid). Locations such as the Dreaming City have tracks that manage to encapsulate the mystery and history behind each location. No matter my feelings and critiques on the gameplay or the story, the music in Destiny 2 is just an absolute gift of musical genius. Michael Salvatori (yes, that same Michael Salvatori from Halo) is one of my favorite composers for the work he's put into that series. Favorite track: Journey ft. Kronos Quartet. This is the song that plays after the deafening silence that comes from escaping the city during the initial Red War campaign, where you montage your way through an unforgiving wilderness, powerless, as the city fades into the distance behind you. You've been beaten, your home taken from you, but the music swells with hope as you follow a sign from the Traveler - and you know you'll return to reclaim your city. I highly recommend taking a peek at the mission, as you can't play it anymore, to see what I mean as to how the track absolutely enhances the experience.

Hades Supergiant games - the people behind Bastion and Transistor, two other games with amazing soundtracks - really did knock it out of the park with Hades. This game's soundtrack is a wonderful blend of classic acoustic instruments (Check it out - it's called a Bağlama) mixed with metal and electronica to create a theme that evokes not only the aesthetics of the region, but also give it a modern twist that meshes with the dark, haunting vibes of the underworld that you reside in. Each track flows so well from one into the next, mixing perfectly with each area or character you encounter. And the two musical characters you encounter - Orpheus and Eurydice - add in plenty of musical flair to the game themselves. The motifs present in the songs are called back frequently to make it a coherent, consistent soundtrack, and it remixes so incredibly well. Favorite Track: God of the Dead - the theme for the final boss of each run, this track is incredible. Not only does it reflect the theme of Zagreus in a different key, showing the link between Hades and his son, before delving into this heavy, frantic track that perfectly encapsulates having to fight

Payday 2 There are exactly two ways to play Payday 2. The first is stealth - you won't have much in the way of music as you silently slip by cops, cameras, and civilians to reach your score. The other is the way I play, where you suit up in the heaviest body armor you can get, grab two automatic shotguns, and go to town to some of the best soundtracks in the game. Payday 2 has a unique musical cue system with it's audio during loud heists, where it amps up the tracks in time with what the cops are doing. At first, before you've been detected, you have the Stealth track which is always low and very basic to not intrude. In low points, like when you first go loud and the first responders arrive on the scene, you're in a Control track. Then, as the police gear up, it switches to a higher temp Anticipation Track, and then when the police storm your position, the Assault track. So each "song" in Payday 2 is actually 4 songs in one, that the game blends seamlessly together in order to match the audio with the gameplay. It's an incredibly clever system that keeps you immersed in the tension of the heist even as Bain, your mastermind, calls out over comms with instructions. And it helps that almost all of the tracks are exceptional bangers in their own right, with amped up electronica with great percussion and bass lines alongside rebellious hard hitting metal and rock. But during those assault tracks, there's something satisfying about hearing the build, reloading your guns, then timing you leaving cover to unleash fury with the bass drop. There's a great playlist here with links to the different types of tracks if you want to take a peek yourself. Favorite Track: I Will Give You My All - one of the few tracks with built in vocals. This particular track feels like the exact kind of music I'd see in a movie, and with the build I run in game for Loud stuff at the moment which incentivizes me running face first at bulldozers and cloakers, giving it my all is *exactly* what I intend to do in that game.

Horizon Zero Dawn HZD's soundtrack is full of the same sort of sweeping orchestral stuff that made me love Destiny 2, with tracks that serve to accentuate the world around you. The only reason it's down here at 4 and not higher is because there's a somewhat lack of variety; as a singleplayer story game, most of the music you encounter tends to be in cutscenes, rather than during gameplay. That isn't a *bad* thing however, and over the hundreds, if not thousands of games I've played, reaching #4 on the list is no small feat. The actual orchestral bits pair so well with being able to cultivate this theme of a world full of grandeur, the kind of which you'd see in nature documentaries. The various tracks illicit this feeling of a long forgotten hope, which if you know anything about the plot, ties in perfectly. The music that *does* play outside of the incredible cutscenes add to the world's aesthetic so well, pairing the sort of instruments you'd find people playing in the civilizations you encounter with the environments you find them in. Even the battle music, when there is battle music, is a tense affair; the game incentivizes you to stalk your prey, as Aloy is not a frontline fighter: she's a hunter among predators, and the music matches that tone. Favorite Track: A tie between Aloy's Journey, which provides not only natural sounds mixed with the instruments of the Nora and the underpinning of techno that permeates the story (in addition to one of my favorite musical things where you have these grand sweeping vocals that aren't actually lyrics) and Your Hand of Sun And Jewels, which gives off this sort of air of walking through city streets in golden sunlight, where people dance just a block away and you can smell the fragrant spices of the local cuisine. It makes me yearn and if I listen to it on full blast I can forget that I'm stuck at home for a moment.

Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Pokemon OSTs hold a special place in my heart because as much as I loved games as a kid, getting started on things like Mappy for the NES (which, now that I write that, really shows how fuckin *old* I am), Pokemon was one of the first things that I basically turned into my personality as a child. Silver version especially was one of the ones that *truly* got me going, as in Blue version I always felt one step behind my brother but Silver was *my* game, my generation. I have extremely fond memories of that game, from the Lake of Rage to trying to beat a ghost gym with a Sentret and it taking four hours because normal types and ghost types are just... immune to each other. But when Soul Silver came out and remastered the soundtrack, it brought back this wave of nostalgia. The bit tunes I remember had been brought to life, in a way that was recognizably Pokemon. Hearing it again brought back the waves of wanting to journey and be a hero again that when the game came out, I was sorely missing. The music in the game is upbeat and chipper, befitting a near solarpunk world that I want to live in. Iconic tracks remain iconic but with a bit of cultural flair, showing that the Johto region hasn't lost touch with it's roots. While it isn't the almighty trumpeting of Gen 3, the nostalgic tracks that are already evocative of nostalgia brings a yearning back for a time when things were simpler and I could just play games. Also, the Rival theme is *rocking*. Favorite Track: Route 26 Theme. Route 26 is also known as Tohjo Falls, the place which connects Johto and Kanto together. And for me, this route represents having reached a triumph and the energy to explore what's next. It's a critique directly against the Hero's Journey's unfortunate end, that they can never go home - the hero here *can* go home, but they choose to set out again for new sights. It's full of the fact that when it plays, you're taking your steps into something new, something bold, and full of new challenges that await you. It is, by far, one of my favorite tracks and the orchestral version brings me to tears.

[razorblade180]

So I finished Age of Calamity

[spoilers]

Thanks to the beauty of holiday time off I have logged in 40 plus hours into this game and just beaten it, so naturally I’m gonna talk about it a bit. I’ll save the spoiler stuff for a little later though.

The game

This game might be my favorite game of 2020, or at least top three. Not just because of the world, but because everything is over the top! So far I’ve done 131 missions and 90% has the consistent energy of “we are fucking under attack��� and it’s almost overwhelming in the best way possible. It really felt like you were on a battlefield field. Your map is just a sea of red and it’s your job to clean it up. What kept me engaged in the fights was all of the character’s different uses runes. I found myself constantly ordering my teammates to face certain enemy types that match best with how they fight.

Originally, I really wanted to be fair and rotate between characters. That didn’t last long. Mipha and Link in my opinion don’t have a single bad move. The bias only got worse whenever the master sword is obtained. Before that, my Link had a spear most of the time but that sword is just handy. Especially with item drop rate and attack range on it. In the end, my strongest characters were Link 74, Mipha 70, Impa 60, and Zelda 60. It’s been awhile since I played the first hyrule warriors so I can’t remember if they had the level up system were you can pay for experience but or definitely came in handy. Combine that with how many guardians were in this game and I quickly found out I needed Link with a shield on a regular bases. I also learned I didn’t forget how to time a vase amount of blocks and dodges.

The amount of characters you get to play quickly became too massive for me to juggle, but they all had their own merits for the most part, though I did find a few of the gimmick characters a bit of a hassle. My opinion on who was viable was constantly changing as I unlocked more combos. Originally, wasn’t the biggest fan of Urbosa. That second and fifth combo modifier changed everything.

The real portion of the game that really kept me wanting to play more was not only the ability to order other people, but seeing them fight along side you. I’m a softie for things like this, but genuinely felt relieved or hyped whenever I was fighting something crazy and I can see Impa rushing over towards me while text from soldiers scream “Just keep pushing!!!!” The AI wasn’t dumb either! There’s plenty of moments that controllable and NPC characters will just go where they’re supposed to, or kill targeted enemies. I remember not wanting to switch over to Link because he had low health, so as I’m running over to him as Mipha to heal him, the madman kills the Lynel. Ran all the way over there to watch him flex. That combined with elemental reactions you can cause in a fight, and the entire spectacle just felt elevated. The feeling of fighting three Lynel’s at once becomes a little less scary when you have a lightning rod and puddles everywhere.

The only negative I found in a gameplay perspective is some of the resource gathering. Gaining the trophy notes for killing a type of enemy isn’t too much of a hassle, but I found getting the materials they drop to be a bit harder, even with increased drop rate statuses. Most of this I find irritating for two reasons. One, specialized enemies show up in relatively small groups in a majority of missions, so getting things from them could be a flop altogether. Number two, a fair amount of these missions take a decent chunk of time if you’re being thorough and killing as much as possible. So grinding is a pain. Fortunately most missions a majority of what you need . If the game wanted chu chu jelly, I knew one of the missions coming up had chu chu as an enemy. You could also keep track of what you needed with material sensor that told you when you had enough.

The story

I’ll be honest, I was upset with this game for a hot second. It was advertised as a prequel to BoTW and while sad, I was truly invested to playing the events that lead to the fall of the champions. What this game didn’t tell you is it’s like most LoZ games, on its own separate part of the timeline. This isn’t the story of they lost. It’s the story of how they win, thanks to the little adorable robot mascot that has the ability to not only show the future, but bring people from the future; the champion’s descendants. At first I was upset with this. Mainly because I’m a little tired of time travel plots and it felt really out of place here. However, time travel gave way more to this game than what I expected this game to have in the first place. It allowed at least six more playable characters that wouldn’t have been possible in the other timeline, and a wellspring of interactions through missions. Every time Mipha was with Sidon, I smiled. Having Urbosa being this super encouraging role model to Riju was so nice since BoTW had expressed just how much those two admired and missed those people. Revali was nice to Teba! They were vibing. Even the soldier commentary on the new champions were a treat. So I got over the time travel issue pretty quick. It made things sad as well when the new generation leaves because they’re going back to a time where they lost it all. There was no great union that took place across hyrule to fight Ganon and their beloved champions failed. I do appreciate that the diverge in the timeline really takes place on the day they’re supposed to die, moments before the final blow. It still lets the player see the definitive moment where good was supposed to lose.

The “new” villain is meh. I wouldn’t really say he stands out. His entire thing is thinking he’s gonna win because he doesn’t realize that he isn’t seeing hyrule’s future. He’s seeing another hyrule’s future. What comes out of his character is cool though because it gives a different, yet same finale boss. I wasn’t expecting to basically fight a giant Ganondorf. Honestly, you can kinda say you fought Demise. At least aesthetically speaking. Or Yuga. This game has also made me care about robot. Something I haven’t done in awhile. A few scenes near the end felt hammy, but also amazingly realistic to how a lot of people would feel when someone breaks your favorite thing. The war was already personal, but now it’s really personal. Quests open up after the game that plays on those emotions too. It’s very clever.

Overall, Age of Calamities story felt like a love letter to everyone who loves this rendition of hyrule and the characters in it. They even another one named Sooga, who just might be my favorite. That man has no choice but to be the brain and muscle of the Yiga. It kinda makes me sad he’s introduced here because you can assume he didn’t make it in the other timeline, so he has no descendents. The amount of serotonin I felt just seeing all of these characters fighting together as the absolutely conquer the battlefield was more than satisfying. Definitely worth the money. I don’t know if they can, but Nintendo might wanna consider some sort of audio patch. The mixing is bad in certain parts. Voice lines get really quiet. Other than that, this game is real solid. I’d give it an 8.5/10

Side note

The music is really good. Especially the Zoe’s demain track. Also, I never noticed frame rate dropping or lag, except on two occasions. Both of these happened to be me pushing the game to its limits. The first is being surrounded by enemies in a small space as Mipha. Creating the water vortex and raining down bombs makes the game wanna cry a little. The second one is a similar case. Sidon’s fifth or sixth combo made the made the game drop frames because it’s incredibly fast, involves timing, makes a vortex, and i was in a small space with tons of enemies. Other than that, not even Urbosa’s or Riju’s lightning made the game freak out from what I noticed. That may have something to do with me never using them in a place where there’s constant rain. That might actually be the cause of the drop in combination of everything else.

[neokad]

Lost Sphear review! - I Am Setsuna: the sequel!

I am finally back from being... honestly much lazier than I should have :P In my defense! The reason why I haven’t started writing this article just yet is because I became addicted to the game I’ll be reviewing next~ But to be honest with you all - and I’ll jump the gun a bit as well - this game... well, it’s honestly a bit hard to write about it for me ;-; I might as well get the basics out of the way though: Lost Sphear is a JRPG by Tokyo RPG Factory, which you may know for being the devs of I Am Setsuna a few years ago! Sadly, both games have gathered a pretty mixed reception from both critics and players. I personally adored I Am Setsuna despite some of its issues, due to how unique it was in many aspects, so naturally I was really hoping Lost Sphear would be a magical experience that would polish some of the flaws of IaS

And... I think they did too good of a job at that.

First off, for those who did not play IaS, let me tell you first that you absolutely should, especially since it’s decently short, at around 20 hours! But if you did not and don’t plan to, there is no story connection between two of those games - although some enemies and assets are reused in LS, and the battle system s largely the same. In fact, let’s start with that! I am very relieved to say that combat in LS is possibly even more fun than ever! It still uses the same base as in IaS, as you still have a normal attack command, as well as skills that can be physical or magical special attacks, as well as special buff and debuff skills. Y’know, typical RPG stuff. However, just like in IaS, this otherwise very simple combat is complemented by the absolutely lovely Momentum mode, which is a bar separate of your normal Active Time Battle bar. It fills up whenever you complete an action OR wait before you choose a command. If it fills completely, you can store a special orb tied to that character (up to three, in fact), which you can then activate along with an attack/skill for extra damage or effects if you can time it right! This mechanic is in short, AMAZING. It makes you think about when to use that extra boost, when to attack enemies or use skills, and the fact that you need to time it makes battles very engaging!  But keep in mind, all of this was also present in Setsuna, so how did they make it better here? Well, Lost Sphear actually allows you to move your characters around the map when battling! This allows you to place them to avoid attacks, as well as hit enemies as efficiently as possible! LS also introduces Momentum Boosting, which allows you to customize whatever skill you chose to put on your party member with special effects, like healing or elemental damage! Those two changes, while it makes experimentation and battling even more satisfying, does make regular battles even easier than in IaS - though you CAN make the game harder in the settings at any time if you find regular battles to not be exciting enough! That, and the bosses are usually decently strong anyway :P

Another notable feature are the Vulcosuits! These are a new combat feautre you obtain relatively early in the game. While using them spends some pretty limited VulcoPoints, it does boosts your stats, and most importantly allows you to perform special attacks either alone or with a party member (and you can have up to four of them in a battle instead of three now!) This is a pretty cool system, and I’m glad that they incited you to not overuse it by limiting the VPs you can get. But sadly it also makes so that you cannot do combo skills with a partner like in IaS, which I always thought made battles more fun and strategic too ;-; If I’ll fault LS’s gameplay somewhere else, it’s how it had a tendency to spare you of checkpoints sometimes. It’s not a very constant issue, but I sometimes had to fight a boss after not having a save point given to me for minutes - and it made me lose 40 minutes of progress once, so that was fun :/ But besides this and a couple of annoying bosses, I can say that the gameplay in LS is overall better than its prequel!

Sadly, gameplay isn’t what’s the meat and potatoes of any JRPG, so what kind of setting are we dealing with this time? Well, this is where I think Lost Sphear starts to fall flat. After a mysterious flashback sequence, we start off in the small village of Elgarthe, where we meet with Kanata, Lumina and Locke (no, not the treasure hunter). As we do, a strange phenomenon starts to occur, where we see the entire town being enveloped in snow-like mist, which translate to the town being “lost”. Curious to see why this even happened at all, our main trio, which is quickly joined by the strange, emo Van, set out in an adventure to not only find out more by visiting the capital of this game’s empire, but also to restore whatever lost things they come across. Why? Because Kanata - for reasons I will not go into - has the ability to make things return to how they are if he has enough connection/memories tied to them! (As a side note, you can even gain some stat bonuses/effects of your choice by restoring specific points on the map This setup is decently interesting, but to me? I feel like it’s not enough to really keep me engaged ;-; It’s certainly not bad, of course not, but I found it a bit boring and cliché at times to be honest. Without going into specifics for spoiler reasons, it’s a lot of “the empire is bad” and “we can save the world” and “we’re the good guys”, which while not horrible plot devices, aren’t very engaging either.And that same point extends to the characters as well ;-; I do think some of them are quite good, but even then I did not really fall in love with anyone, like I usually do in most RPGs I play, which... well, sucks. There is a few characters with neat backstories and events happening to them (such as Van, Galdra and Lumina) but overall even these three just didn’t have enough to them for me to become attached ;-;

And welp... this goes true for the music and art of LS, too. Now, I wanna say that the soundtrack to Lost Sphear was actually pretty good overall! Just like in IaS, the village themes are beautifully peaceful and relaxing, and the battle theme has a nice ring to it as well, to give just a few examples. And this time, the composer actually learned the existence of instruments other than the piano! However, I do think that the minimalistic soundtrack for IaS was a lot more memorable overall - not just for how much it stood out for that reason, but also because I think the compositions themselves were just a bit more memorable ^^ But I get that most people prefer variety, and music taste is pretty suggestive anyway :P And I also get that a more standard soundtrack - which is still good, mind you! - would fit better in a less unique world - and speaking of...

The world of LS is a lot more typical of what you would find in a RPG - you’ve got your remote villages, your massive empire city, your port areas, and so on, all presented in a grassy setting. I know this is a very strange statement to point out, but despite Lost Sphear having some very pretty shots from time to time, I really feel like it matters when you compare it to its ancestor. One of the things I loved about IaS was its snowy, setting, which blended perfectly with the minimalist piano soundtrack to create a breathtaking atmopshere. And while what’s there still works - and is much more varied for sure - I feel like a lot of the soul was lost in the atmopshere given to the player. And honestly? I think this sums up the game very well.

Lost Sphear is a good game. But that’s exactly why it was so disappointing to me. It’s just “good” and ultimately forgettable. IaS, while not perfect, blew me away with its charming cast, beautiful music, breathtaking setting, unique story and fun battle system. And while that last part is still there and mostly improved, this game, by being so much more by the books, is not nearly as interesting ;-; The story is fine, but I do feel like I’ve heard most of it before. The characters are okay, but they just don’t do enough to be nearly as likeable as I want them to be. The graphics and audio are both solid too, but again it’s just not the same. Don’t get me wrong, Lost Sphear is a solid time. But as far as RPGs go, I feel like the player should be impressed, and LS... just doesn’t do it. I definitively recommend going through I am Setsuna first <3

Rating: 7.2/10

[aftermathdb]

DEATH BATTLE Review: Gray vs. Esdeath

First Sub-Zero vs. Glacius, then Weiss vs. Mitsuru, and now this. Ice seems to be a cool power to give to fighters for there to be three-ze of n-icely themed episodes around them.

Okay, I’ll stop.

So, it’s been noted on TvTropes that Gray actually fills a lot (if not all) of the requirements to be Esdeath’s ideal lover, so this should be interesting.

Gray′s Preview.

So, in keeping with the theme of Natsu dying, being brought back to life, then abandoned by his adopted dad; Erza being a slave ad losing her best friend and an eye, Gray’s childhood was pretty traumatic.

This kid was one of the few survivors of a demon that killed his whole family and wanted revenge, so a stripper named Ur basically adopted him and taught him Ice Magic.

But the revenge story gets a bit worse, because he recklessly decided to take on the demon…

And then “Stripper Mom”, as Boomstick put it, died killing the demon.

Speaking of stripping, we get into our first Wiz and Boomstick segment.

Well, Gray has also gotten a nice group of friends after joining the Fairy Tail guild.

And he also met this admirer in Juvia.

Don’t feel bad about shipping them. Everyone does it. Even the characters.

Speaking of, as someone who recently started watching Fairy Tail, uh… When Juvia vs. Lapis (Steven Universe)?

and we have feats!

Gray also has access to “Demon Slayer Magic” which, similar to Dragon Slayer Magic, lets Gray eat his element to power up. And it probably would’ve been useful when he fought that demon.

And the guy scales to other Ice Mages that can make a snowstorm over the entire kingdom of Fiore.

All of which comes out to over 27 Gigatonns of TNT.

And speaking of scaling, Gray can also scale to Natsu dodging lightning

Or Erza busting up a meteor.

Shame that this wasn’t available to Erza when the research for her fight was being done, right? Timing!

But, since he’s in a world where fighting for your friends, Gray isn’t one to give up so easily.

Esdeath′s Preview.

So, apparently, Esdeath is flipping insane! Subscribing to a “Survival of the Fittest” mentality

When her dad died, she had the mentality of “Dad’s weak. He deserved it.”

Which, as a Raven Branwen fan, hurts me. Speaking of, Raven Branwen vs. Raven Darkholme when?

Back on topic…

The fact that he name is inspired by the Japanese phrase “I am a sadist” really drives home how insane she is. This is about as subtle as Wario being inspired by Warui.

Anyways, after proving herself, she got a Teigu, or an Imperial Arm.

From swords, to lances, to… Giant Scissors… These things are made from what are essentially boss monsters.

Esdeath chose blood. And since she’s totally sane…

she… Drank it.

After the side effects, she got Ice Magic!

She’s got a limit, but what she can do is insane.

For the record, this goes on for a while where Boomstick shows that he’s into being the “M” part of BDSM and complains about the generic anime protagonist almost winning her over.

Anyways, Esdeath can use ZA WARUDO! and freeze time… Like, literally freeze time.

It’s a once per day thing, but she’s still really strong. Either way, it’s already stronger than Gray’s Last-Resort move (Sorry for not having a shot of that, I work in a grocery store and I’m essential, so I didn’t have time to get it).

We got feats!

She once made an entire snowstorm over a continent.

Now, in fairness, she had to consume her ice army to pull this off, but she’s still strong.

She’s taken on opponents who can take on these giant things called Primus Imperators.

Which are insanely powerful.

And despite her death, she’s still proven just how powerful and dangerous she is.

The Battle Itself.

Zack and Luis are heads on animation, Gray will be voiced by Mark Allen Jr. and Esdeath will be voiced by Emma Breezy. Lost Ice Storm by Brandon Yates, and audio led by Andrew Scott.

So, the fight starts because Esdeath is attempting to conquer, and Gray isn’t having any of it.

And, as per tradition, Gray strips.

If I wasn’t A: Scared of Juvia, and B: Scared of Juvia, I’d totally ask Gray out on a date. But Esdeath isn’t exactly… impressed.

And Gray even acknowledges Esdeath’s similarities to Juvia.

I guess the script said to make Esdeath sound like as much of a dominatrix as possible. Regardless, it’s clear that Gray has versatility as his stuff keeps catching Esdeath by surprise. Speed is about equal, as neither has any real issue landing and dodging hits. So it’s going to come down to power.

So the two end up making an entire snowstorm. And it’s so intense that I bet even Mitsuru would shiver.

But, similar to how Ace made a massive inferno and Natsu ate it, Gray uses his Demon Slayer magic to eat the snowstorm.

So after eating it, Esdeath gets a bit more conservative with her own Ice Magic.

And Gray even lands a major blow.

So, we are getting to the finishing blow…

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Verdict + Explanation.

So, right off the bat, speed is equal.

So that means that the other edges are going to be major factors.

Let’s face it: covering an entire country with an ice storm is way more impressive than doing the same to a kingdom.

(Yeah, can’t wait for the Fairy Tail sequel series to come out with something that gives Gray an edge. Same thing happened with Erza, it’ll probably happen here. To be honest, I’m mainly basing this assumption off the trend of the DEATH BATTLE curse).

Now, since Esdeath needed some extra help to pull that off by using her ice generals as betteries, they divided her power output by about 3 to determine how much ice she can output per day.

Which comes out to…

93 Petatons. And we all know that a Petaton is a whole lot bigger than a gigaton.

And Esdeath’s a renowned general. So she’s not going to fall for the same trick twice, so Gray only really gets to use his Ice eating trick once.

And Esdeath’s Time Freeze is a lot more reliable than Gray’s “Encase the enemy in ice” attack.

And while the whole “Ice Demon Slayer” thing would reasonably let Gray kinda resist the Time Freeze, it doesn’t necessarily mean an auto-win. Resistances didn’t help the generic anime protagonist much, so it won’t really help Gray.

Overall impression.

Okay, credit where it’s due, this episode made me actually start watching Fairy Tail, so props for that, but Sasuke vs. Hiei got me to binge Yu Yu Hakusho with more enthusiasm than this. Incidentally, Krillin vs. Kuwabara is a better and more appropriate matchup than Krillin vs. Saitama.

Back on topic, this fight was really great. Check the comments of the music, Brandon has the lyrics of the song in the description. The fight animation is pretty good, but really, once you hear that Esdeath is in the Petaton range, it kinda becomes a forgone conclusion. It’s easy to see that Esdeath wins.

The Wiz and Boomstick segments have gotten better though. Boomstick’s smile isn’t as nightmare-inducing as they used to be, but maybe that’s because I’ve seen it enough times.

Regardless, the voice acting is top-notch, and the math is really solid.

Now if only we didn’t keep learning these new… interests about Boomstick. Like, I want a dominatrix to step on me too, but still. TMI. Just once per episode’s enough.

7.8/10.

Next Time…

… I swear, if the Pokédex entry about moving mountains is actually used as a determining factor…

Well, it’s time for Poké Kombat! I wanna be the very best! So I’ll fatality my foes! To beat them is my real test, to rip out spines is my cause~!

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

A forearm four-armed fight.

[metalgearkong]

MediEvil 2019 - Review (PS4)

10/28/19

Developed by Other Ocean Emeryville / Sony Computer Entertainment, released October 2019

It has risen again! The original MediEvil from 1998 is one of my favorite games of all time, and one of the games I have completed the most. Like other games from the PS1 era, I discovered MediEvil on a demo disc and replayed it constantly. I loved the Nightmare Before Christmas aesthetics and music, and liked that it stared a cowardly bumbling skeleton. The late 90′s was a time of experimentation for 3D action/adventure games, and while some people hold Ocarina of Time or Super Mario 64 as their favorites of the genre, MediEvil has always been my personal favorite. MediEvil II released two years later, but lost a lot of its appeal for me because it took place in Victorian London instead of the graveyards and spooky locations of the original. MediEvil: Resurrection was made in 2005 for the PSP, but was more of a re-imagining of the original game, and not a true remake.

I had heard about MediEvil being remade yet again a couple years ago, but tried to have tempered expectations, and not buy into what could amount to be rumors. I imagined it would be akin to a big screen version of MediEvil: Resurrection, or at least the developers would butcher the original game. Last year was when I saw the trailer for this MediEvil remake, and I felt more confident in it. While most people were anticipating big triple-A or franchise games for 2019, my sights and hopes were dead set on this. Finally, after all this time of waiting, MediEvil 2019 has released exclusively for the PS4, and I couldn’t be happier with the final product. Other Ocean Emeryville has created a deeply loyal and extremely faithful remake of the original game I cherish so much, but I feel like only true fans will be able to truly appreciate it for the accomplishment it is.

Before I talk about the game proper, I have to elaborate on the unexpected odyssey it took to actually get the game going. Not only do I have to make a three hour round trip to the nearest Gamestop to get a copy, the game had to immediately download a day one patch: version 1.01. This update was a massive 16GB, and with my super slow mountainous wi-fi speed, my PS4 predicted it would take at least 50 hours. There was no option to begin the game without this update. I was floored. It put me in a state of blue-balled depression and denial. So I took my TV, PS4, and all the necessary cords, and physically hooked in my PS4 to my work’s ethernet cable in a public building, hoping no one would disturb it. The estimated time dropped to a meager four hours, and it made me feel a lot better. Ironically, my PS4 only realized I didn’t have enough storage space to download the update, and somewhere along the line it quit. Thankfully, it let me play after giving up.

Expectations mean a lot, and leading up to this MediEvil releasing, I intentionally did not do a lot of research on the game in order to discover it in person as I was playing. I didn’t realize this was a fully committed remake of the original. MediEvil: Resurrection disappointed me because it changed a bunch about the game and left out a lot of my favorite levels. 2019′s MediEvil recreates every inch of the original game with modern graphics. I was so thrilled I can’t even describe how cool it was to see one of my favorite games of all time with a new coat of skin, especially because I never thought THIS game would be chosen to be remade. Not only that, but the game uses the same exact audio for most of the dialog; each and every gargoyle head and character Dan meets plays the same audio as I’ve had engraved in my skull for over twenty years, only with new character models and more elaborate animations.

The developers even used the same music for each level, only re-recorded it with only small differences or flourishes. Even insignificant things like textures on a doorway or on the ground were recreated in 3D to look just like they did. I would have been perfectly okay with the developers simply using modern graphics and textures to remake certain pieces of architecture or focal points in this game, but no, every corner of Gallowmere represented the original locations, and I constantly had to pick my jaw off the floor (no offense Dan). Cinematics also play out exactly the same, with the same camera angles and movements. Part of me thinks about how maybe Other Ocean Emeryville could have taken these short cinematics sprinkled throughout the game and elaborated slightly on lore, but that would veer dangerously close to a “re-imagining” territory, and I’m just thankful everything is kept so faithful in the end.

The banished necromancer Zarok has raised an army of the dead to conquer the realm of Gallowmere. Unwittingly, Zarok also brought back to life Sir Daniel Fortesque, King Peregrine's captain of the militia, who perished embarrassingly years prior in an earlier battle against Zarok and his armies. After Fortesque’s death, fables, songs, and legends told of his false bravery and battlefield accomplishments, but now he has the opportunity to live up to his own mythical status as the hero of Gallowmere. I’ve always loved this story, wherein the bad guy accidentally raises the very hero who would thwart him. I’ve always loved Dan because he’s so unlike most knights and heroes. He has to live up to his own reputation, and prove those wrong who know what truly happened. We play as Dan and travel from the hum drum graveyards of Gallowmere all the way through more exotic levels such as a pumpkin gorge filled with demonic pumpkins, crystal caverns filled with Minotaur-like monsters, an enchanted forest containing a demonic prison, and much more.

The first advantage to the modernization of this game was being able to see the Hilltop Mausoleum (the 2nd level) from The Cemetery (the 1st level). It would make sense if you had an expansive cemetery, and the very next level, adjacent to that level, had a massive building on top of a hill, and you could see it from far away. As a PS1 game I’d never expect to see something like that, but with this remake, they had the care to include things such as this, which only helps the world feel that much more real and connected. The controls and mechanics are nearly the same as the original as well, only made slightly more convenient. Dan can still equip a one-handed weapon and a shield, and switch between weapons in a menu. He can block attacks, but only as long as the shield’s HP holds out, until you need to find a new one. Dan has all the same moves as the original, but the more free-form camera makes the game a bit more convenient to play by making platforming and seeing things easier.

As you slay enemies in each level, you fill a chalice, and bringing back a full chalice to the end of each respective level grants you a visit to the Hall of Heores before the next level begins; this world’s version of Valhalla, where the most accomplished heroes of history drink, feast, and arm wrestle for eternity. A side goal of this game is to collect the chalice from every level so Dan can also become a member of this ethereal warrior’s afterlife (twenty in all). This is something I struggled with as a kid, but in the past many years I’ve always gone out of my way to make sure Sir Fortesque gets into the Hall of Heroes where he rightfully deserves to be. Sometimes items can be found in a level which are to be used in entirely different levels, something the game only hints at. Case in point are the Ant Caves, which is a maze-like level hidden within a level that is completely optional to complete (but not if you want all twenty chalices). 

Some of the original game’s drawbacks could be regarded as similar drawbacks for this remake. Criticisms like haphazard combat and imprecise platforming are somewhat the same case here, but I would argue that’s half the point playing as a gangling hero who hasn’t yet earned his stripes. I honestly can’t take an unbiased position on some of the game’s more objective problems, not only because I’m such a fanatic and have played the original so many times, but also because it’s impossible for me to have a fresh perspective on the game. I can’t tell you how hard the puzzles are or how tough the game is simply because I’ve played the original so many times, I’ve gotten used to any perceived problems and solved all the puzzles so long ago. Reviews for this game seem to be lukewarm, and it’s an opinion I can’t share because I’m so impressed by how faithful one of my all time obscure favorites has been recreated.

In fact the very few changes the developers did make I could count on one hand. Mostly these changes have been made to a few of the game’s boss fights. Most of the bosses have always been very easy, especially compared to today’s obsession where bosses are meant to be extremely punishing. I can honestly say the changes are for the better and improve on these boss fights. For example the fight with the captain of the ghost ship has been improved, allowing you to manual aim a canon before firing it at him, rather than running back and forth between two fixed canons, hoping one of your shots hit the captain as he paces back and forth. Another addition are the “Lost Souls” which are hidden collectibles, one in each level that can be found by Sir Dan. This basically makes you replay every level to find the Lost Souls, as they only appear once you’re already near the end of the game. I can’t say I was motivated to find them, at least not right now, since it appears to be a shallow fetch-quest.

Besides getting the game booted in the first place, I did a have a few technical problems while playing the game. These are probably because the version 1.01 patch never actually downloaded and installed, and I may have been experiencing what the developers were trying to fix. One example was a door not opening once I had defeated all the enemies in the room, effectively trapping me there forever, forcing me to restart the level. The problems were mainly things such as this, and I bet I’m the only person in the world who had to complete the game from beginning to end raw without the day one patch. Otherwise the game ran great, and looks good as Hell.

I’m so glad Other Ocean Emeryville didn’t try to subvert expectations or put a clever twist on certain things, leaving it as is. MediEvil 2019 constantly impressed me, and I don’t think I’ve felt this much fan service and satisfaction since the Shadow Moses chapter of Metal Gear Solid 4 from 2008. The music, dialog, weapons, level design, aesthetics, enemies and controls have been painstakingly remade, giving this cult classic an impressive new look. Its the restrictive nature of the developer’s design philosophy I appreciate the most; this is simply a game for the fans, and very obviously by the fans. MediEvil was my most anticipated game of 2019 and I am deeply satisfied and surprised about how well it turned out. Annoying day one patch download aside, I had an incredible time experiencing this remake. While some gameplay flaws might still exist, and those who don’t already love the original may not see it in the same level of reverence, this was a big payoff for me and I’m sure other dedicated fans feel the same. Thank you Other Ocean Emeryville, this has been a wonderful gift.

9/10

[didsomeonesayventus]

okay long time spending in gestation but I imagine that someone out of the followers I have wants to know my onion on KH3 is 

Overall, good!

so consider wordbarf of very repeated and tired onions no one actually actively asked for below:

Alright so I’ve been trying to figure out how to make these words and what my opinions even are considering this game has been out for almost a year now (KH3 existing is wild imagine it turning a year old) so this will be. mostly bullet points + incoherent and unorganized rambling forgive me

BAD THINGS FIRST lets get the salt out of the way

Literally everything with Kairi was oof. I still feel her relationship with Lea is incredibly rushed given the last time they were interacting in canon he was literally kidnapping her but go off I guess nomura they’re brother/sister friendsy now at least the fandom can sell me on that better than you can. I seethe with rage recalling that they didn’t even try to hide that killing her off was a classic case of fridging (“You lack motivation” FUCK OFF) and I have been angry since the day I was spoiled by leak stuff accidentally. I wouldn’t have minded her getting her ass handed to her if they made it look like she tried and gave us some moments where she did defend herself and get some victories and not conveniently cut away from the actually badly needed training montage (surprise! this is why we have training montages!!!!) and I get she was instrumental in rescuing everyone and the fact she wasn’t THAT bad speaks for how much she improved but it still just. bites that she still feels more like a satellite love interest than ever. 

Kairi was bad enough to get her own thing but tbh everyone who isn’t Sora also.. really suffers. The writing is really Sora-centric here and that’s not inherently bad (see good list) but it leaves a lot to be desired, especially since they dog pile the extended cast moments in at the end. There was no big confusion at Ven and Roxas sharing a face, no talks between characters who would have interesting interactions given their histories and circumstances, no obvious sign of development from anyone except maybe sea salt family and Aqua. They’re here to be more one-note than usual and resolve their arcs. Ven in particular (I’m totally not biased clearly /sarcasm) I feel is a big example given he was kinda in a really rough mental state at the end of bbs?? and 3 is exceptionally vague on just how conscious ventus was during his nap so I can’t even answer if he was able to give himself therapy the past 12 years or whatever

Anti Aqua is a damn cool concept but ultimately kinda pointless and I think we could have received it better if it wasn’t spoiled in trailers and wholly out of left field. Plus Sora coming in after what was pretty clearly set up as a Riku moment- while it gave us the incredibly gay press triangle to Sora + use a big keyblade made from ur love moment -was uh! really cheap!!!! and ruined what was clearly set up for being Riku’s thing with an almost nonsensical SIKE ITS SORA (it’s saved from being wholly nonsensical by 0.2′s opening foreshadowing + it still kinda makes sense for sora to at least help but damn if the narrative wasn’t leading us towards a riku moment)

Also everyone was hit really hard with the nerf effect in-narrative so unless you’re the dream team you’re screwed I guess and that. doesn’t quite work since it makes everyone else look... not great. And I think this is kinda a miscommunication on part of Nomura and the fans (IM MAKING ASSUMPTIONS TAKE WITH SALT) in that we kept saying we wanted people “saved” but meant having their arcs resolved in a reasonable way that preserved their agency and power and relationships, but got interpreted literally as “alright Sora comes in and solves every problem, is tough on stains, and makes julienne fries”

And yet there’s also a lot of mean spirited “oh no sora’s dumb and helpless w/out a second braincell” which was kinda funny the first couple times and I failed to pick up on it first go I’ll admit, but honestly? Yeah. they pick on sora too much. Donald and Goofy are the most guilty, and everyone else by virtue of not seeing Sora that much actually in-narrative are off the hook from me because they probably didn’t know how much teasing he’d been getting from his pals, but it felt kinda like they didn’t know what to fall back on between the three besides “oh donald and goofy pick on sora” which is cute once or twice but the amount he gets and how it clearly leads to his breakdown at the end is uhHHHHhhhHH hm.

As always the pacing is pretty awful where the disney worlds are somewhat relevant at best and then the end is 0-1000 but that is a usual KH gripe so its pretty low on the bar

Attraction flow is cute and neat at first but it gets.. really wearing towards the end and in the serious fights at the Keyblade Graveyard BOY are they a mood breaker

the “repeat the plot” worlds- Tangled, Frozen, Pirates -REALLY stick out like a sore, ugly thumb compared to the worlds that went out and did their own creative thing, and Big Hero 6 was.. cute? but kinda maybe too much of a breather.

Frozen also get an extra award for “Audio mixer most in need of firing!” because who the hell allowed the do you want to build a snowman scene.

They did nothing with Scala and I want a refund on that aesthetic if they’re not gonna do anything besides a framing device with it

HEY WAIT THERE WAS GOOD THINGS TOO!

Good news point that may or may not come to pass: Re:Mind DLC might fix some of the above salt! We shall see and probably know by the time this post is a year old sfjhdsakjgh

SORA! Sora was actually a character again!!!! holy cow they pulled up from the utter nose dive that was DDD!! god i love this dork and it was really fantastic to see him back to normal.

The graphical upgrade lost a lot of the squish and stretch that the OG graphics had but you know what? pretty. tastey. good graphics and better at doing more subtle emotions and hey have i mentioned Pirate’s glow up? Pirate’s glow up. The details in Olympus to recreate the swirly aesthetic of the clouds and explosions and lava is a great touch.

Worlds as far as levels go?? really good! They feel legitimately like worlds and explorable and with their own flavors and I LOVE battle and field themes x2 its really great I’m down for less worlds if they keep the quality. Hell we have NPCs!! maybe even too many npcs.

Writing OVER ALL/ON AVERAGE I’d say has improved a lot! It’s still not a literary masterpiece or anything but I found the disney worlds really cute and easier to get invested in even if long term they were less relevant than I hoped they would be. In every world there was at least one scene I found myself actually invested in. Like there was something to the writing that was legitimately more endearing than usual on average, and toy box and monstropolis were strong contenders for really good overall imo

honestly there were moments that- as moments -were incredible. Wayfinder reunion scene will haunt me, and Sea salt’s was good too, final world and rescuing everyone was jaw dropping, getting the LoD Back was also good, Union X, Xigbar exiting left stage pursued by a bear, wayfinder trio making a grave for eraqus, all the gummi ship scenes had great chemistry, beach party ending, hanging out with rapunzel for the first half of Corona is adorable as hell, all the nods to scenes in the movies, the easter eggs, like the game is not consistently amazing but it is peppered with stuff that I feel in a bubble ignoring surrounding context just work really really well

Damn if the end boss rush wasn’t thrilling as hell and honestly??? really good. Hard to parse out first flush but I think this was a good decision and added a lot of blood roaring urgency and wild turns, and even if I want to overhaul a number of things about the endgame I think this can definitely stay

Kingstagram is a beautiful gift man

OST? A fucking banger all around and I love how they’ve made cutscene-specific tracks that play with the leitmotifs throughout KH’s illustrious musical history

Over all there’s some really glaring issues, but overall it’s KH really at its best. I’m not sure if it’s my favorite entry and I’m still really mixed + befuddled on just how exactly I feel and I think a lot of that is I had pretty high expectations and my own ideas of how it would play out since like. 2012. it’s really hard to detach from those feelings and ideas sometimes. But KH3 wasn’t bad! It could’ve really been worse, and the fact that it got out the door in the state that it was is a good deal

now here’s to the wait for Re:Mind and to see if it’s basically the content we’d get in Final Mix that could definitely bump up my opinion

[superlucky777boy]

Amazing dream I want to make a book

I had a dream last night of a slightly different world than the one I live in. It was extremely vivid and I don’t want to lose it so I’m posting what I can remember here. So instead of being born where I was, I was born in a town further north in Texas and it was called Ritz, Texas. It had white rock gulleys and restored 20’s hotels and a thriving music and arts community and a huge diversity of people, like to the point there were embassies for countries like Cyprus and Armenia and Cameroon etc. I had lived a similar life except my mom was the superintendent of the school district and had her doctorate and my dad was a freelance programmer and I was a total punk like I’d dreamed of being. Like tatted up, crazy hair, androgyny, the works, and I even worked in a record store and knew like the underbelly of town. Lastly, my brother was still dead but he had died much more mysteriously than in real life. Instead of an accident, he was found dead in a campsite, beaten but not lethally so and had had a heart attack even though he was 20 (he’d made it a bit older in this world).

So the story starts with my folks and I doing a seedy investigation (which was routine for us apparently in the year or two after my brother had died) of some of the mysterious circumstances of my brother’s death (namely we were trying to figure out what gang or underground op had beaten him) and were led to find some strange things that ultimately don’t stick, except for finding a boy who was suspicious there. He was Cypriot and Iraqi. His name was Makshika, which is I’m sure a nonsense name my brain came up with because I don’t know anyone who is Cypriot and Iraqi and so don’t know a name to come up with for him and would want to give better justice to him if I wrote a book. He was gorgeous, skin like caramel, eyes like the dead of winter and jet black hair. He was a rap and hip-hop kinda guy and dressed accordingly.

At the point I met him, he was suspicious where he was because he was acting real shady and secretive (I find out later he thought he was in a sort of secret cruising spot, but he definitely wasn’t) and so I go to act like someone he’s supposed to meet to get information from him and he gets spooked as we talk and bolts. I kinda catch hold of him at a registration office of some kind and prove I can be trusted because I keep him from getting into a situation where the (I think) drug running manager (for some reason he has no name, but I think he was Ukrainian and that was important for some unknown reason) had his two lieutenants, both names Vinnie and with biceps the size of Matty’s (the boy I mentioned earlier’s nickname which I know doesn’t make sense) head, beat him.

Some time skips and we’re secretly dating, which is how I learn he’s Cypriot and Iraqi and Muslim and that he’s very much in the closet because I think his family is super old school and would not approve. In the dream he is like the love of my life though. Like I intend to find a way to run away and marry this boy. So I do anything I can to help him keep the secret, including attending a dance with him as my date in like full drag and he looks just as gorgeous all feminine as he does all masculine and hip-hop and I know I’m lost in the sauce on this guy. He has to run though because he sees my mom for the first time at this dance and recognises her: his mom works at the Cypriot embassy and particularly works with my mom on education stuff.

So he has to run because he can’t chance that she recognises him as my date (she knows I’m dating a boy and that he’s there in drag to preserve his identity but she doesn’t know who he is exactly) and I have to pick up a shift at the record store with some jerks I don’t like and I’m all distraught (some time has passsed since the dance and I haven’t seen Matty) when Matty comes in in drag. You can’t recognise him as Matty but you can tell a bit more he’s in drag as he hasn’t been home in two or three days and so hasn’t taken any of it off. The jerks start making fun of him and I square off immediately saying that’s my man and I’ll thank you to not say anything untoward. Matty gets a little bit uncomfortable at being semi-publicly called my boyfriend but relaxes a bit cuz he knows he doesn’t look like himself either.

Then the jerks try to start a fight and I thoroughly kick their asses (Matty assists by dumping a milk crate of records out and bashing a guy who has me in a headlock with it). The manager comes in and asks what happened and I tell him they started something with.... I think we agreed to call him Missy while he was in drag so people didn’t catch on it was him..... and that I needed to get him out of there and take care of some things. Manager wins boss of the year and let’s me out to go get Matty into his real clothes at my hideaway by taking him down a sneaky route but his brother catches us while he’s making a deal for pot (he sells it). So we have a heart to heart and Matty’s brother agrees to keep us secret because while we were wrong about him and probably a cousin or two, the rest of his family definitely wouldn’t be accepting.

Fast forward again because I’m missing some in between events but Matty and I are on the run from his folks and mine are trying to find me cuz I’m their last son and they think I’m making a mistake chasing a boy with a family that hates us both (and also I think because they’re Christian and want me to marry Christian as well) and wants me to leave him. Hassan (Matty’s brother) calls us ahead of time in secret (as does my friend Amanda from the record store who is only introduced at that point in the dream but seems awesome and deserves more than a disembodied voice cameo if I write this as a book). Suddenly he’s calling us and he’s frantic as hell saying “Matthias (I just remembered that’s his actual name while I was typing this and it makes so much more sense that his nickname is Matty now) you have to run! Baba is coming your way he figured out I was lying for you and he’ll be there soon!!”

We pack up camp and start racing to get things back in the truck we’ve been living out of when a man walks up to us and just yells out, “Matthias!!! Stop!!!” And he and I both freeze and slump and turn around because we’ve been caught. His dad’s here and that means he rest of his family isn’t far behind and neither are my folks. Matty gets this brave burst and just grabs my hand and says, “Please, Baba, I love him.” They both cry and just stare at each other before having a heart to heart I can’t remember most of, but his dad agrees to let us go and live life and promises to stand our families down as long as we never come back to Ritz. We agree. There’s a lot of tears and I call my mom from a payphone to tell her to stop looking for me, if she wants to know me anymore she’ll know me with Matty after what’s about to happen. I think his dad fakes our deaths to the city and his mom accepts it as truth even though he lets her in on the truth. It hurts Matty a lot.

Fast forward again and it’s two years later and we live in some big city somewhere (I wanna say either DFW, Chicago or San Francisco but I’m not sure). Matty has done some mocha brown highlights in his hair and wears sundresses every so often because it turns out he likes them. I’ve gotten him one in every colour imaginable because I started working at a recording studio as an audio tech and I make pretty good money now (as does Matty, he works for a Streetwear/Retro line of clothing as an advertising manager). We have a really cute house in a quiet part of town together. On Sundays I still go to church and he regularly attends a local mosque (both progressive enough to our standards of course, we’ve dealt with being chased out enough thank you). Matty has also come out as enby (like me) but still uses he/him pronouns (don’t remember why, but who am I to ask him? Those are his pronouns thank you). His father visits us from time to time with Hassan (his father’s been doing some growing over those two years but he still is a little awkward about the whole thing). I’m walking on my way home and take a box out of my pocket, open it to see a ring as gorgeous as my love, and then close it up and put it back in my pocket as I go to enter our house. Then I woke up.

It was so vivid that it took several minutes to remember that this was not my life and that my boyfriend Justin existed and I’d never fallen in love with a boy named Matthias or who even looks like Matthias. I want to write it as a book but do my research and make it more coherent. Obviously I’d do more research cuz I just don’t know much about a lot of the cultures mentioned, but I want to do this story justice. Would any of y’all read that?

[tamersa]

I’m thinking  about W and OOO a lot lately (writing fics rewatching some parts etc) and I like OOO as a series more. Still I wanted to know why so I made this VS battle for my own amusement:

MAIN RIDER: Battle between Eiji And Shotaro: Its hard one, both are interesting, have good plot twists, their characterization so nicely made and they both likable. Yet it is Shotaro win here: so relatable, and his range of emotions is great to! The Thing is Eiji was made to be”dried up” and thats the reason why his mental and emotional behave is like it is. First round winner : W THE ONE NEAR MAIN RIDER (LOL): So now it is Ankh and Philip: This one is bit easier. Ankh has way more screen time and is it written so much better. They do have some similarities: both are mind power of the dynamic duo, have some issues with the previous families, crazy hair style and have doubts about their Rider ( or other half) intelligence. The thing is Eiji takes almost no shit form Ankh when he cross the line too much. The Birb man has to pay for his mistakes and sometime the price is huge. Philip on the other hand has his  tragic background but his mistakes are sugarcoated by his partner and not addressed at all. Because of that with more modest screen time his character is not as fleshed out as it could be. Mor rant on Ankh below hehehe Second round winner: OOO FEMALE CAST: In OOO we have: Hina, Chiyako and Satonaka, while W give us: Akiko, Wakana and Saeko. I like Hina I really do, but they didn't use her gimmick as good as they could. She should have throw more barrels or something! Also bit too passive sometimes? Chiyako is spot of supporting chara, funny warm energetic. Yes, good. Satonaka has her good points too: taking no shit from anyone and treating her work as well, work and not some life mission. But then we go to W side and oh boy, Akiko, my love! She is just the best  Rider lady I even saw! Funny, dorky, has more to do, has the slipper, is actually useful even if not have special powers. Well thats debatable too, that wand made from slippers did work lool. But yes even if she is mostly comic relief, because of her Xtreeme was possible! Also She found that devil's tail. And got that name in her dream. She has guts has flaws also but really. I love her to bits. Wakana is interesting too: spoiled princess who suddenly has responsibilities. And Saeko: the dark lady with twisted desires, helping her hated sister in the end. Undoubtedly this round has one Queen:

Third round winner: W SECONDARY RIDER Terui Ryu vs Date Akira and Gotou Shintaro. Well its two vs one and  it shows. Terui has that tragic background, and his bitterness fades away so he could be true city defender. Yet for me it was done bit clunky. There could be put more emotions and struggle into it. He looks cool in the red leather tho. Also he and Akiko are cute together. On the other hand Date and Gotou dynamic is so pure. Also Date is hilarious as hell! Both him and Ryu use Rider suit for other purpose than defend others at the beginning ( well money and revenge), but Date is somehow nicer since the beginning. And Gotous is cute guy who has his own little expansion ark. So yes, sorry red boy, those housbandos  win this one. Fourth round winner: OOO VILLAINS On one side we have Sonozaki's and X foundation, On the other well Greeeds. It looks like one side  have more villain types so it would  win but... Sonozaki family makes Gaia Memories to make super humans and then let only them to live on this planet because some Earth tears or something. Experiments, no one knows who will live. Ryubee  is just laughing old man wit terror, his older daughter is psycho maniac with bad taste for men, younger one is spoiled and doesn't know whats going on at all. It works somehow but not as smooth at it should. Some things are not explained enough some are over explained. And then suddenly some X foundation. Bit messy. For OOO we have Greeeds : incomplete beings who want to be complete but it is impossible so they will destroy everything  to try it anyway lool. They have  different approach to it and later have Dr Maki as weird hybridish psycho who wanted to end the world while is still beautiful. Sounds as messy as W but it is so much better. It is more consistent, we see the twists and dynamics between Greeeds, and the m Maki. I don't like him as a chara but he is made that way to don't like him: sociopath who killed his sister while still a kid, but have issues with her, creep who talks to a doll on his shoulder. He is both comic relief and terrifying at the same time! What a wonderful blend! Also his and Date dynamics are so hilarious I just couldn't stop laughing. Psychodelic af XDXD So because he is consistent in his doing, is a creep is funny dangerous and interesting even if you want to kick him in the balls. Fifth round winner: OOO PLOT Both have interesting stories, not too complicated on the surface, with some twists, with some plot holes and mistakes. OOO has however less of the plot holes ( most of them are from the past stuff like from 800 years ago), the story is more fluent, so fluent that it is hard to see chara development without going 10 episodes behind for a moment and the realization hits you), also there are none “new villain at the end!” no, we know who will be the  ultimate baddie and want to know how it goes. One of the main twists was Lost Ankh. It was interesting and heart breaking. In W main plot is Philip past, his connection to the Gaia Memories and Sonosakis. Plot twist can be predicted quite early but it is still fun. But because of little screen time for Philip and his actual development some moments feel weaker or bit rushed. Yet Shotaro reaction to those are top notch!Still, Eiji and Ankh dynamic story  flow etc is just better in OOO for me. Sixth round winner: OOO OPENING Music is important too and opening is the most characteristic piece of audio for most series. Here you can be biased and I will be. W is more pleasant to the ear, I like the video for it more too. And I mean both what you see in the series and official one. The vocal is more clean in W opening for me too. What to say more? Seventh round winner: W FAVORITE CHARACTER A war between half-boiled and angry birb. I love them both character wise. Are complicated have their flaws as good sides fleshed out, are interesting... but the birb... ah the birb! His story ark! His struggle,  his ambiguous state towards other up until the end. His mannerism (his bird like movements and way he eats lool, he drinks tea with soup spoon! XD), way of thinking and all the changes. They way he goes from treating Eiji as and accessory to fight to having him precious enough to help him fight Maki at costs own existence/life. And he is so relatable. Not for literal stuff ( I don't think any of you is greeed) but  in general: the feeling of not fitting into a group etc. Shotaro is very relatable to don't get me wrong, but his character development is not as deep as Ankh. Both have great  clothes yes! Eight round winner: OOO

SUIT AND MERCH ASCETICS As for looks of  suits of the Riders and gimmicks it will be short: I like  standard double more over TaToBa OOO, but I don't like Extreeme much but I love TaJaDor. Bike looks better in the W animal robots are cute here and here too. Second rider suit is good enough, but henshin gimmick is more interesting in OOO (the medals and  mixing them) So a draw! ENDING

OOO doesn't have that 49th episode and it shows. But with that we have 2 very different vibes endings and both are so good. OOO is bittersweet but gives hope, W I just... god I'm so happy for Shotaro, this soft man deserved the ending. And somehow Eiji deserved his too: you should talk to your birb more Eiji! And shipping aside W should have proper hug and  not that weird thing at the end. Both give satisfaction both are great and not disappoint! Another draw!! BONUS ROUND: BACKGROUND STORIES I could write about all support cast etc but those are equals and we don't need another draw. So I'll will do one more thing as a bonus: background of the charas. Especially our main Riders. In W we know a lot about Philip and what he did in the past yet some thing are presented in chaotic way, we are not sure about important things ( like if his family was dysfunctional before or after Philip's accident), but about Shotaro? Almost nothing. Just that he was bit deliquentish in high school (we are not even sure if it wasn't middle school lool) and that he was with boss  some time before Begins Night. And thats sad because Shotaro is developed in interesting way and his past should be show more to understand better why he was like that. On the other hand we know what we should about Eiji, what made him as he was, why he is living this way. It wasn't long exposition but good enough to understand his ways. For Ankh its bit more messy (because what we hear and what we see on the screen doesn't add up well) but still it is all understandable. Winner of eleventh round : OOO So in all OOO won but not by that much. W is still very good series and both deserve to be watched (and then cried over, and made 1245643 chapters and one shots and drawings to them GAH)

[gear-project]

.      .      .

So, I went back in time for a bit and decided to really take a good hard look at the main Soul games up to this point.

Soul Blade/Soul Edge: ---Has some unforgettable music and remixes. ---The Edge Master Mode and weapon details were unforgettable. ---Despite not having full 8-way run like later games, the combat still had lots of depth to it. ---Loads of cheat code easter eggs you'd easily miss without GamFAQs and the Wiki. ---Side characters out the gamut.

Soul Calibur: ---Not my most memorable, since I played it back in the arcades and not on the Dreamcast. ---Was the first game in the series to really showcase weapon demonstrations, so it got the ball rolling in that regard. ---Interesting to note that early designs of characters were very much in an Anime style, both in terms of design and story presentation.

Soul Calibur II: ---Probably the oldest SC game that left a strong impression on me.  Not "the strongest impression" but still memorable.  The music especially stuck with me. ---Having different weapons again was awesome, as was being able to play as guest characters. ---Sound Test and Demonstrations were also memorable. ---Weapon Master Mode was tricky, as I recall, lots of weird missions. ---Getting to equip either Soul Calibur (the weapon) or Soul Edge was the highlight of this game... as was fighting Inferno. ---Extra outfits were cool too. ---First game in the series to have dual language English/Japanese audio!

Soul Calibur III: ---While I missed this game at the outset, I later finally got around to playing it, so now I can give a solid impression of what I think: ---Character fighting styles feel a lot more refined in this game for some reason, compared to a few later games, not perfect, but it was like the movelists were headed in a solid direction. ---This game was built for competitive play with the Championship Mode, and Olcadan's Tutorials (which are still applicable to this day, I might add!). ---Lots of mini-games, some fun (like Soul Smash), others annoying (Dancing Statue, ugh... Colossus battle). ---This game has a very choose-your-own adventure feel to it, but at the same time it's annoying when you mess up and make mistakes during quick-time sequences. ---I'm not sure what the point of the side-story Chronicles of the Sword is, as other than unlocking stuff and giving currency, all you really do is fight battles and level up equipment... It's not nearly as engaging as older Edge Master quests that actually connect with the main story. ---Lots of experimental weapon styles and guest fighters this time, but a lot of it feels like they didn't know where they were going with this game.  Still fun to tinker with the extras and outfits though. ---I hope they give us an Abyss and Night Terror skins for SCVI!

Soul Calibur IV: ---This was the game I played almost exclusively once I got back in to the SC games, though after a while I lost interest in it because of the huge spike in difficulty. ---The missions are very hard, and the side characters feel very disjointed, even more so than SCIII characters did. ---Characters feel sluggish, animation/combat wise. ---If there is a highlight, there are two: Darth Vader and the way they rendered all the custom outfits this time around, even today, compared to later games the outfits look so well-rendered it's crazy (maybe it’s the wind effect).  It's unfortunate they had to dial back the details of the outfits for customization. ---That said, SCIV may not be the best game in the series, but it is the best-looking visually when it comes to clothing/customization.

Soul Calibur V: ---Despite what people say about the characters (and lack of variety in the roster) the voice acting and music is actually pretty decent. ---This game felt a lot faster in terms of combat compared to previous games (even SCIII feels sluggish compared to this game).  I enjoyed the faster pace of the fights in this game compared to other games. ---Lots of character movelist revisions, but much of it felt like it was still-in-progress (thankfully SCVI perfected a lot of that area). ---New characters were very interesting to play, but at the same time I think they lacked the same "spark" that older characters had, as they barely had any story to really go with. ---I'd say Zwei and Viola have the best stories in this game. ---For some random reason they put Devil Jin's style in this game??? ---Music is still some of the best I've heard from the series, despite everything else. ---Elysium is now my favorite character (you have to customize her to really appreciate her though).

Soul Calibur VI: ---WELL ROUNDED ROSTER, seriously!  Probably the best roster since SCIII. ---FAST COMBAT RETURNS, AND REALLY GOOD MECHANICS. ---Despite what anyone says about Reversal Edge, it was a necessary evil to combat all the Impact Guarding nonsense.  Get used to it, it's a good mechanic when you need it, especially against fast attackers. ---Has the most versatile customization menu in the series, all it needs is more weapons, stages, equipment parts, and a few more characters, and it will probably become flawless. ---Showcasing a character at different times of the day is helpful for getting the right clothing colors just right. ---Libra of Soul is not only fun as a quest mode and side story, but it's connected to the main story, and it's really good.  And you can customize your weapons exactly how you want them this time! ---OLD MUSIC RETURNS... and you can listen to it while creating your characters... just what haven't they thought of??? ---The fatal hit/clothing destruction mechanics are actually quite satisfying once you learn how they work.  There's even a menu that lets you preview how your character looks with their outfits busted, useful for designing characters perfectly. ---What I enjoy the most is the fact this game "cuts out all the unnecessary stuff" and actually uses character creation to create everything it needs for the story. ---As I said before, movelists feel perfected, I don't think they can get any better than they currently are.  Even the harder characters feel "less of a chore" to play as compared to older games. ---Museum Mode is fun to read, and although it's not as scripted and interactive as older Museum mode is for SCIII, it's still informative and has plenty of info for fans of the series. ---Inferno feels like a Love-letter to all the Nightmare fans out there who loved all his gimmicks and wanted to play the best of everything he had to offer as a boss, symbolic of the Project Soul logo if you equip the Nightmare Armor! ---SCVI is probably the best of the series right now... worth getting every aspect of it.

Closing thoughts: ---I'd say I'm tied between SCIII and SCVI in terms of games I like the most... but I'm hoping SCVI starts to trump SCIV's visuals in terms of clothing and options.  Here's hoping! ---Azwel feels like a more balance replacement for Algol, but I still want to see Soul Edge and Soul Calibur weapons return as equips for everyone. ---Having more malfested parts like Nightmare's arm as an equip would also be good (just in case you want to make monster characters). ---Having custom glow stuff like Tekken games have would also be cool. ---As a side note, it feels like they expanded Tira's bust size, I know they were inconsistent with other female characters like Sophitia and such, but it seems like they tweaked models a bit for fanservice or something.  Oh well.

[captainfawful]

 With the year coming to a close, that means it’s time for me to do my “Nobody Cares Awards” thing I like to do! Check under the cut for some hot takes I may or may not have!

Hello, hello! It’s me again! Third year in a row I decided to jot my thoughts down on the years various game. I decided to change things up more from last year, kind of eliminating most of the categories in favor of writing more about the games I enjoyed. I tried to write at least something about every game in the Top 10 this time, even if it’s the bare minimum. Let’s see how it goes!

BEST MUSIC

This entire thing was first created because I wanted to write about how good Death Road To Canada’s soundtrack was. So no matter what changes with my format on this, there will always be a Best Music category. I’ll be honest though, there weren’t a whole lot of games this year with amazing soundtracks. The only real contender for most of the year was Celeste, which OST is very good, and fits perfectly with the games tone and style, but it’s not... The Best music. They aren’t songs I’ll put on loop and listen to multiple times throughout the day. They’re not the hard hitting tracks I would typically put at the top of this category, despite how great the music is. That’s how I felt until about August, when The Messenger came out. Messenger is not a game that will be in my Top 10 by any means, but it’s a pretty good game nonetheless with a couple of really weird twists. But the OST is phenomenal. Easily my number 1 favorite of this year. Just about every track in the game is a total banger. But don’t take it from me, take a listen yourself! A little later in the year I played through Just Shapes & Beats. I have a personal stigma against saying a thing with licensed music should qualify for Best Music, which is why JS&B did not make it into my top 3, but rest assured that it is sitting comfortably in the 4th place spot. Almost immediately after I played JS&B, Deltarune suddenly came out. I don’t think I have to tell you why that’s on here, right? Toby Fox cannot make bad music.

SPECIAL MENTIONS

THE MISSING:J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories

It’s hard for me to talk about what makes The Missing so special without diving deep into spoilers. There’s a reason it’s in the special mentions, and not the Top 10: And that reason is because the gameplay isn’t great. The Missing is a side-scrolling puzzle game, in the same vein as Limbo or Inside. Unlike those two, however, the puzzles you have to solve are not that hard, and most of the difficulty around it revolves around how slowly and janky the movement is. However, the overall story and twist is what makes this game great. There’s not a whole lot for me to say about the themes this game presents, so if you want to play The Missing, play it. If you don’t want to play it, then maybe take a look at some writings from actual queer women who could talk about its subject matter in a way I never possibly could.

The Quiet Man

The Quiet Man is a terrible game. When I first saw the trailer during Suare Enix's E3 presentation, I was super interested. I've always wanted a game that transitions from FMV to gameplay with as few seams as possible, and The Quiet Man promised that. Not only that, it promised a compelling story told from the perspective of its' deaf protagonist. The way I saw it, this game would either accomplish what it set out to do, or fail miserably. Either way, it was a win/win scenario for me! Little did I know just HOW miserably it would fail.... Oooooh, how miserably it failed... The gameplay is absolute trash, the graphics leave much to be desired which makes the "seamless" transitions from FMV look unconvincing and bad, the story is needlessly complicated despite how generic it is, the acting ranges from decent to awful, and it requires you to play it twice in order to actually understand what's happening. And all of those problems are the LEAST offensive parts of the game. It's racist, misogynistic, somehow ableist against more than just deaf people, semi-incestual, and also kind of pro-abuse??? I mean, it doesn't take a stance to be anti-abuse, and certainly doesn't condemn abuse, so does that make it pro? Maybe? Probably? I have a headache. I've watched this entire 2-4 hour game be played 10 or 11 times, and I still don't understand how this exists. Square-Enix published this. They dropped Hitman and IO Interactive not even one year ago, yet threw money at this horrible abomination of a video game! Oh by the way, you might be wondering why I said you have to play it twice to understand, and that's because the first playthrough doesn't give you any sound. Yup, aside from the intro cutscene and the credits song, the entire games' audio is just muffled ambiance. This includes all of it's cutscenes, of which there are MANY, and they are LONG. Entire MINUTES of dialogue happening at a time that the game just doesn't want you to hear or have subtitles for. The only way to get audio is to beat the game once and replay it. Not only that, but the New Game + with sound and subtitles didn't even get patched in until a week after it's release!!! Who does that!!!!! And the version with audio has some ATROCIOUS writing. Just about every scene has at least one line of dialogue that makes no sense, almost as if the writers were only told about how humans speak, but never actually heard one themselves. I’ve heard a lot of people saying it’s The Room of video games, and I sort of agree. Much like The Room, it’s not the absolute worst of it’s form of media, the game is playable start-to-finish, extremely straight forward so you can’t get lost, no bizarre puzzles to figure out, the FMV cutscenes are at decently produced. Hell, I wouldn’t even say The Quiet Man is the worst game to come out THIS YEAR. Crying Is Not Enough released in June, and boy oh boy is that game a trash fire. But it’s just BAFFLING that this game exists. That’s the perfect word to summarize my feelings on The Quiet Man. Every single thing about it is just, baffling. I need to stop writing about this game. This whole paragraph is probably going to be longer than anything from my Top 10, which feature a few games I ADORE, but no. All my writing energy is going to how terrible this fucking video game is. Don't play The Quiet Man. Or do, fuck if I care. Maybe watch someone else play it, I don't know. I don't know anything anymore.

Ori and the Blind Forest

Back on the topic of good games, I finally got around to playing Ori and the Blind Forest! I played it for a little while after it originally came out around 2015, but it just didn’t stick with me at the time. There wasn’t any real reason why it didn’t stick, I just got bored and stopped playing, which isn’t that uncommon for me to do. But for whatever reason I decided to go back to it super late last year. It may have been the excitement for all the cool looking Metroidvanias slated to release throughout the year, I don’t know. But I played through it, and it’s fantastic! Most Metroidvanias tend to go with around a 60-40 split between platforming and combat. Different games have different splits, sure, but most of them tend to keep those somewhat even. Ori is like an 85-15, greatly favoring tight platforming over fighting enemies. Your main attack automatically locks on to nearest enemies, and boss fights are replaced with autoscrolling or stealth segments. The traversal is also super smooth and fun, making that 85-15 split much more favorable than others in its’ genre. Great controls combined with some amazing visuals and music, Ori is definitely a game I regret not playing earlier.

2019′S COMING IN HOT

Spelunky 2, Wargroove, Indivisible, Hypnospace Outlaw, Ooblets, UFO 50, Kingdom Hearts 3, Overland, Sea of Solitude, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and  Get in the Car, Loser!. These are all great looking games that are supposed to be coming out in 2019. I remember last December when I last did this, I couldn't think of THAT many games I was really excited for, and despite that I ended up with a pretty damn good list of games for 2018. So who knows what next year will be like?!

And now... The Top 10!

#10: Spider-Man

It’s been a great year for Spider-Man. His best buddy Venom had a pretty good movie, his new video game is good, and he has a new movie that’s fantastic! Yep, it’s been such a good year for Spider-Man in which nothing bad has happened to him or the people who created him.

#9: Megaman 11

2 > 4 > 3 > 8 > 11 > 7 > 5 > 6 > 9 > 10 > 1. Don’t @ me.

#8: Iconoclasts

Iconoclasts has been in development for a very long time. Officially, development for it began in around 2010, but there is a seemingly earlier game by Konjak that shares many similarities. Basically, Iconoclasts began development at least 8 years ago, and it shows, for better or worse. On one hand, the game is gorgeous. Grade A sprite work all around. The characters are interesting and well written with their own morales and arcs, and the story is surprisingly deep and compelling considering the type of game it is. On the other hand, the gameplay feels very outdated now. The combat is super simplistic, the puzzles aren't terribly challenging or rewarding, and the weapon/ability upgrades are very limited. The traversal can be sluggish and boring, which is a red flag for a game where you have to backtrack a decent amount. If Iconoclasts came out 4 or 5 years ago, I feel like it would've been at least a cult classic. But in 2018, it's a decent Metroidvania in a year of great Metroidvanias. Overall, I'm glad Iconoclasts finally came out. I just wish it either came out sooner, or got more updated for modern game design.

#7: Slay the Spire

For all intents and purposes, I shouldn't like Slay the Spire. I always hated card-based RPGs, and always hated RPGs with only one party member. And for the most part, the issues I have with both of those are still very much present in Spire. So why have I sunk 50 hours into it so far? Beats me! If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the similarities it shares to Darkest Dungeon, one of my favorite games, that ultimately drives me to it. Now, you might be asking why Slay the Spire, a game that came out in 2017, and won’t be in 1.0 until probably 2019, is in my top 10 for this year, but Ori & the Blind Forest isn’t? Well, I started Ori last year, and didn’t start Spire until the middle of this year! Also, they’re my awards, and I can do whatever I want!

#6: Just Shapes & Beats

Just Shapes & Beats’ concept is simple: A rhythm bullet hell. Certainly not the first of it’s kind, and not even the first one to use simplistic shapes as the obstacles/characters. But there’s a bit more to it than that. JS&B has some good personality to go with it. It has some fun characters, all of the levels are demonstrative of the areas you’re in on the world map, it even has a couple lightly emotional moments! It’s much more than you’d expect from a game about Just Shapes & Beats. When I was younger and had vague dreams to make games, I always imagined making one that was basically “What if a Windows Visualizer was trying to kill you?” and also be themed around a world and a story, and JS&B is basically that.

#5: Pipe Push Paradise

What happens when you take Pipe Dream, an iconic puzzler which has given inspiration to countless others, and mix it with Stephen's Sausage Roll, arguably one of the greatest puzzle games of all time? You get Pipe Push Paradise, of course! That’s all I really have to say, and all I NEED to say.

#4: Dead Cells

Go play Dead Cells. Really, it’s the closest thing to a perfect Rogue-like (that isn’t Spelunky) out there right now. It’s a game so good, Filip Miucin couldn’t look away from it long enough to write his own review!

#3: Subnautica

If I had the opportunity to become a Fishman and live underwater, I’d probably take it. As long as you take out the jellyfish that can kill you .0001 seconds after stinging you, I have no qualms with open water. In fact, the isolated feeling from it is really relaxing to me. That’s what initially drew me to Subnautica. Survival games are usually hit or miss for me, but the ones I like I really dive deep into (Heh heh), and Subnautica is one of those. Also, I was rewatching the Super Mario Bros. Super Show on Netflix as I played this, so now I’ll have those two permanently linked in my mind from now on.

#2: Into The Breach

I love tactics games, especially Advance Wars. While I do still love others in the genre like Fire Emblem or X-COM, there are some intricacies of the AW series that most of the others don't have. When I first heard about Into The Breach, I thought it would be exactly what I wanted, a true successor to the series I'd been waiting for. And it was not! But it's still pretty damn good. It's not so much a tactics game as it is a puzzle game, described by Waypoint's own Austin Walker as a "tactical dance". You know at the start of each turn where each enemy is going to attack, and it's your job to navigate and attack with your 3 mech units in the exact right way to minimize or even straight up prevent any damage that would befall you or the cities you're protecting. You aren't trying to advance a map during combat, or conquer any enemy bases. You are merely trying to avoid damage for a certain amount of turns and move on to the next level. And it's all super fun! I've let the game sit for 10, 20 minutes while I try and figure out every possible option I have after being backed into a corner, and coming up with the absolute perfect solution and getting through to the other side is super satisfying. The biggest gripe I have with Into The Breach is the same one I had for FTL, the developer's last game, which is I don't think the unlockable mechs/mech teams are as fun as the default ones. I played most of them once or twice and went "Yeah, that's a thing" and migrate back to the first mech team. All in all, Into The Breach is a fantastic game, it just doesn't scratch that Advance Wars itch I've been feeling. Oh well, at least there's still Wargroove!

#1: Celeste

Celeste is a game I got 100% completion in. For those of you who might not know me well enough to know how I play games, that’s something that never happens. I think the last time I purposely got 100% on a game was in Uncharted 2, and even that was only to get a skin for multiplayer. Despite that, it’s been really difficult for me to write up a whole thing about why I love Celeste so much. It’s just a compilation of everything. I love the look of it, both the sprite work and the character portraits. The music, as mentioned before, is fantastic and perfectly fitting for all of the levels themes which deal in different forms of anxiety or self-doubt. The levels are hard, but not too hard. The secrets hidden throughout the game are so satisfying to figure out and find, very reminiscent of Braid. I feel confident in saying that Celeste has cemented itself as one of my favorite games of all time.

Well, that’s all I can handle writing for this year. Thanks to the few of you who skimmed through all this, and extra thanks to the fewer of you who read all of it! I’m not 100% sure if I’ll do this whole shpeel next year or not; maybe if 2019 turns out to be an incredible year for games, and definitely not if I have to move to Twitter in the off-chance Tumblr dies out completely. Hope you all had a fun holiday season, and have a great 2019!