#I replayed mystery dungeon explorers of sky the other day

[nightgeist]

Okay one of my mutuals (hi @sle3pykaynn :D) responded to my post about wanting to talk about my all time favorite characters saying i should, so i decided to!!

I won't explain all of them because it would be a lot lol. But, my overall list of longterm favorite characters is Triffany from Bugsnax, Snorpy from Bugsnax, Grovyle from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers Of Sky, Alfred from Doll Eye, Bobby Fulbright from Ace Attorney, Simon Blackquill from Ace Attorney, Shadow from Sonic, Dib Membrane from Invader Zim, Blackstar from Warriors, Gary from Club Penguin, Rookie from Club Penguin, and Ford Pines from Gravity Falls! I have lots of other favorite characters, but this list is the one that stick with me more than any others, and most of them have been my favorites for many years!

There's different reasons why they stick with me which is what i wanted to infodump about, so I'll split it up by fandom to keep it less jumbled since a few repeat

Bugsnax: Triffany is my favorite from the whole game, which kinda surprised me at first because I'm usually more a fan of the aloof-like characters, but i quickly realized why. I'm super into abandoned places and the dark story behind them, like so into it that it's weird to others, and when i saw how Triffany is so into the ruins of Snaktooth and the dark history on the island, i just... Clicked with her. I relate to her a lot and I love her so much. As for Snorpy, i tend to really love sciencey characters, and he's an inventor. I relate to his anxiousness a lot, and i just love his relationship with Chandlo. He was an instant "that's it, that's my boy" kinda character for me XD

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: I first played PMD: EOS when i was 10 years old, i got to rent it for free from family video because of A's on my report card, it was a thing the store did every year. Good times, i miss family video. Anyways, the game really makes you get attached to Grovyle, i could explain how but that'd take forever, and he becomes like a best friend in a way. Until he sacrifices himself and you and your partner never see him again. I cried SO FUCKING HARD as a little kid, and it still makes me cry when i replay the game XD. But i finally got around to the special episode with him when i was 16, and it made me love his character even more. Nintendo wrote his character out beautifully and it'll forever be my favorite game ever

Doll Eye: Doll Eye is a game by my favorite artist Twisted_Doctor, and I've been a huge fan of his since 2016. Back then, his universe went by a different name, Re-Nightmare. I love all his characters now and back then, but I've always really loved Alfred. 2017 was my worst, darkest times and some of Alfred's issues were similar to mine so i grew attached to him, and his design both now and before is awesome.

Ace attorney: I've explained this one on my page before so I'll keep it short and avoid any spoilers for Dual Destinies! I adore the silly relationship these two have and i like to ignore the very end of the game. Their banter is funny, and I have lots of headcanons for them. They're the main thing that makes me return to ace attorney tbh

Sonic: i was a huge Sonic kid. Like, my sister, cousin and I would pretend to be sonic underground characters in my grandma's backyard when we were little, i was always Manic, my cousin was Sonic and my sister was Sonia lmao. All these years, Shadow has remained my favorite due to how he acts and his story. Can you tell I was an emo kid? XD

Invader Zim: Dib is probably my #1 favorite character of all time. I literally grew up on invader zim and still love it to this day (i have IZ pins on my bag i take everywhere, Gir fingerless gloves, Gir socks and a dib figure on my desk lol). It shaped a lot of my interests and personality growing up, like a lot. Dib has always been my favorite, i love his personality and role in the show, as well as his rivalry with Zim. The movie expanded upon how he feels toward his dad and showed him feeling sympathy for Zim too, which was awesome. I also had a crush on him when i was like... 9 😳

Warriors: I think it's pretty damn obvious i was a warrior cats kid just by looking at my page. Warriors introduced me to so much of what I'm into now, and i was obsessed with the series big time for years. Blackstar was always my favorite because i liked his personality and how he redeemed himself after what he did during Tigerstar's leadership. Fun fact, the first fic i ever posted online was a cringey poorly written blackstar x reader fanfic i wrote when i was 10, and it is still out there online today which is... Yuck XD

Club penguin: I've already explained why i love club penguin so much here, but it was a massive part of my childhood. Rookie was my favorite as a kid because i loved his goofy character and really wanted to be his friend if he were real. Over the years I've come to really love Gary as well because science characters again, but also because of how nice he is to your character during the EPF mission things and his lore during operation blackout. I want to slap his bald head <3 /ref

And lastly, Gravity Falls: i was a huge GF fan when it was still releasing new episodes, and i fell DEEP into the rabbit hole of theories based on the new ciphers and whatnot. I was one of the people who hardcore believed in Stanley having a twin, but overtime began to deny it since it took so long, so when Ford was revealed i absolutely lost my shit, it was a huge deal for child me. Not only that but he's a badass old man, i love him

Just felt like rambling about my favorite characters of all time lol! I tried to keep it short but it's still pretty long. I'm not crazy fixated on any of them rn, when I'm hyperfixated i can go on and on for an unholy amount of time, but i think these are some good small summaries about them :)

[electrivolt]

poke.mon Favourites!

FIRST GAME: yellow, it was my first console as well getting the gameboy color! fun fact i had a pikachu limited edition one that for the life of me i haven’t been able to find anywhere, it had pikachu and pichu on the sides and one of pikachu’s cheeks was overlapping with the on/off light of the gameboy, and it was semi transparent. it was cool as fuck i miss that gameboy :(

FAVOURITE SPINOFF GAME: mystery dungeons and rangers, to be even more exact explorers of sky and shadows of almia/guardian signs. mystery dungeons was my silly childhood dream of getting to play exclusively as a ‘mon and when i first played rangers it blew my mind how different it was and yet how cool it all was, both gameplay, story and the setting itself because getting to be a ranger was one of the coolest things i could think of. i still think a lot about those games they were just so good. 

FAVOURITE EVIL TEAM: team galactic, always team galactic, they still seem like one of the best teams to me to this day. they feel like one of the most actually dangerous teams of the games i’ve played that actually shows it, the lake bombing still sticks in my mind with how memorable that was not to mention spear pillar!! great team 10/10 nothing will top it for me

FAVOURITE TEAM LEADER: painfully obvious but cyrus, i could go on a 1 hour yt video essay on why he’s in my humble opinion the best team leader out there. i just think he’s neat and his ideals are smth wild and yummy to explore

FAVOURITE STARTER: rowlet because i love decidueye and ghosts are some of my favorites all around, but like. i could pick one for most gens. i love totodile i love turtwig i love snivy. help.

FAVOURITE BOX LEGENDARY: giratina. that’s my favorite legendary all around it’s never gonna be topped really

FAVOURITE POKEMON: can’t pick just one and go but i can narrow it down to very few ones actually excluding legendaries- luxray for sure, the whole line really but like. i love lux isn’t that obvious. big electric cat my beloved. mimikyu is another BIG one, i love mimikyu to death it’s just a lil guy that wants to be loved just a cute lil ghost that did nothing wrong AND THEN there’s gengar i love that mf it was actually my fave ghost type before mimikyu came along. espeon particularly is also a big fave though i don’t? really know why somehow?? but it’s my favorite eevolution all around. AND hisuian form zoroark i love that bastard ( to volkner’s dismey :) ) it’s such a cool regional variant concept ok-

if i had to mention legendaries ( other than gira ) there’s the obvious zappy bird and i’ll admit the galarian version is also p cool, the dogs are also pretty cool and lugia is one of my big favorites as well. there’s probably a few more but between technicalities of legendary vs mythical and all i can’t just sit here naming everyone

FAVOURITE PROFESSOR: admittedly i don’t really pay too much attention to the professors usually, but i think it’s rowan, i’d like him to be my grandpa

FAVOURITE RIVAL: barry my dear adhd crackhead child. i do remember using to like hugh a whole lot too as a kid when i first played bw2 but i cannot for the life of me remember why. i have to replay those games

FAVOURITE CHAMPION: cynthia! she’s always been great and so memorable, i just can’t help but be attached to her especially as my first “real” elite 4 challenge. steven is pretty close too for being weird

FAVOURITE CHARACTER (if not already covered): for obvious reasons it’s volk here but roark is neat too :) ( also for obvious reasons ). grusha and allister too though i got attached to these weird lil guys and i rlly want to go back to writing them if the mental illness allows me

FAVOURITE STORY: MMMMH WELL. i love the original dppt a whole lot, bw is also something i’m attached to a lot for many reasons, so i’d say those two are tied. i do have to add legends though because that fucked so hard

FAVOURITE MUSIC: i don’t. really pay attention a lot to the music but i guess the gym leader theme in galar is neat. some other stuff like the poke.mas remix kinda count too honestly and i really like some of the stuff in the og gen4

FAVOURITE REGION OVERALL: sinnoh all around. by extention hisui as well, like sinnoh already held a special place for me because it felt so alive and special with that care put into what is its own culture and the dedication to legendaries, and i love to have gotten hisui and to get to see the origins of so much of current sinnoh. unova is also a big favorite nearly as close to sinnoh with how much character it has and i have a lot of good memories of those games

[shnipshnap]

LITERALLY. ALL. OF. THEM. ALL THE NUMBERS ON THE POKEMON ASK. DO IT.

vAlright anon, I am not opposed to doing that. 

fave type - Water. Its got a lot of my favorite pokemon! Such as sharpedo, ludicolo, whiscash, swampert, and many more!

least fave type - I’d have to go with bug, only because I have to pick a least favorite type. I think all types have their own merits

fave dual type - Water/ground cause like i stated earlier good pokemon and stops electric type attacks.

least fave dual type - normal/flying cause of its overuse.

fave pkmn char - Wally cause he’s a memorable rival.

least fave pkmn char - Ghetsis. Plain and simple, he’s an asshole.

fave gym leader - Cheren cause you get to see his growth from being your rival to a gym leader.

least fave gym leader - probably Clair from soulsilver cause she refuses to give you they gym badge after you win against her.

fave elite 4 member - Lance cause he look cool and is in both gen 1 and 2.

least fave elite 4 member - Agatha cause she talks smack about my boy Oak.

fave trial - Haven’t played sadly

fave antag team - Team Magma. I like groudon and they’re outfits look cool as hell.

least fave antag team - team flare. They were just less memorable to me.

fave shiny - Wooper cause their pink and look like an actual axolotl.

least fave shiny - Any that is just a slight change. Like pikachu who goes from yellow to a more golden yellow

fave 3 pkmn - Sharpedo, Tropius, and Flygon.

least fave 3 pkmn - This is tough cause I like them all to some degree, they all have their own merits. Metapod, Alolan Persian, and Mr.Mime

fave pkmn game - Main series would be SoulSilver. I loved the music and the atmosphere of that game. Side series would be Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. Lots of memories and fun from those games.

least fave pkmn game - Pokemon Shuffle.

fave legendary - Dialga. Their design is dope, typing is dope, and their appearance in explorers of sky.

least fave legendary - Uxie.

fave music from a game - Sea of Time from Explorers of Sky.

your favorite team of pokemon you’ve ever had

fave design - Shedinja. The cool halo they have, that serves as aesthetic and to signify they’re a soulless husk.

least fave design - Ditto, as cute as they are, at the end of the day they’re just an amorphous blob

fave gen - Gen 3. First gen so that kind of skews my view. It had my favorite aesthetic. The weather, the music(all those horns!), and the locations! It also had the largest amount of my favorite pokemon introduced in it,

overall least favorite generation of pokemon - Maybe gen 6. I loved that gen, but something about it makes it my least fave.

favorite normal type - Exploud, currently using this in my replay of emerald!

least favorite normal type - probably slaking. He’s got that ability where he fucks off every other turn.

favorite fire type - Magcargo. An absolutely adorable magma snail.

least favorite fire type - Blaziken. Don’t like the karate chicken.

favorite fighting type - Breloom. A good mushroom dino.

least favorite fighting type - Sawk. Bland as heck.

favorite water type - Sharpedo! A good toothy boy!

least favorite water type - Basculin.

favorite flying type - Altaria. A good fluffy bird.

least favorite flying type - Fearow.

favorite grass type - Tropius! A very good plant dino!

least favorite grass type - Cacturne.

favorite poison type - Toxicroak. Love me a froggy boi.

least favorite poison type - Zubat. Won’t let me go caving without attacking.

favorite electric type - Manectric.

least favorite electric type - Elekid

favorite ground type - Whiscash

least favorite ground type - Hippowdown

favorite rock type - Steelix

least favorite rock type - Graveller

favorite ice type - Froslass

least favorite ice type - Jynx

favorite bug type - Armaldo

least favorite bug type - Pinsir

favorite dragon type - Hydreigon

least favorite dragon type - gabite

favorite ghost type - Chandelure

least favorite ghost type - dusclops

favorite dark type - Spiritomb

least favorite dark type - vullaby

favorite psychic - Metagross

least favorite psychic type - Mr. Mime

favorite steel type - Aggron

least favorite steel type - Bronzor

favorite fairy type - Whimsicott

least favorite fairy type - Mime Jr.

favorite pokemon plushie - Mudkip cause I have one.

favorite pokemon merchandise - The eeveelution merch on the pokemon center site.

favorite alolan version of a first gen pokemon - Alolan rattatta

a pokemon that you feel is overrated - Charizard.

a pokemon that you feel is underrated - Porygon

favorite eeveelution - Glaceon

least favorite eeveelution - hard question but it’d have to be Umbreon.

[704goomy]

about pokemon: my relapse and my backlog

since i basically made a whole new tumblr to talk about my current obsession. here's me talking about my current obsession. read under the cut!

Did you like that ancient livejournal reference? I wonder if people still say that?

It's April right now, but it was around the start of the year in late January when I impulsively decided that I was going to finally buy Pokemon Shield. And yes this is 2021, and SwSh was released November 2019, so you have no idea how fashionably late I fell through the ceiling to this thing.

Did you know what gave me that impulse, by the way? It was fanart. I saw a RaiLeon fanart and I vibed with it so hard that I decided, bruh, I need to get licensed for that ship. And now I'm onto them like white on rice, but this is a story for another time.

My sweet gaming setup at the time.

Anyway I hadn't been playing Pokemon since 2016 when I halfheartedly played through half of Sun, so when I bought Shield, played Shield, I was surprised because--

All the press and reviews I heard about it--

-- was negative --

-- BUT I LOVED THE EVERLIVING SHIT OUT OF IT!

I WILL NEVER LISTEN TO GAMERS ON THE INTERNET EVER AGAIN!!!!

I became the Pokemon stannie that I once was in my middle school glory days and I also became somewhat inspired to review all the Pokemon games. Well maybe not all, just the modern ones... But mostly my reasoning is the internet needs less sweaty gamers and more people who appreciate other different aspects of the pkmn games (me) (I'm people)

But before I can do that I need to clear out my backlog in order to have a solid opinion on all of them! Without further ado here is my backlog <3

COMPLETE Sun

IN PROGRESS Let's Go Eevee UPCOMING Alpha Sapphire Ultra Moon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky

UPCOMING (REPLAY) X/Y B/W, B2/W2

Now that I've listed them it's actually quite a lot huh...

Once I finish LGPE I'll probably try focusing on the non-remake ones first. I'm looking forward to all of it tho!

By the way in LGE I'm currently at Silph Co and halfway through the badges. The art direction in this one is lovely. Also is it just me or did SwSh really spoil us with minimal battles? There's so many people to fight here.... help..

🐾110421

[cosmiciaria]

Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age Review (Spoiler Free!)

I'm terribly sorry, but I'm one of those who played FFXII for the first time this year.

 Final Fantasy XII was actually the first game I ever got on my PS2, because the vendor recommended it to me, but alongside that game, I brought many others, including Final Fantasy X-2 (yes, not X, but X-2). By then, I didn't even know what Final Fantasy was, so I tried XII, didn't like the gameplay, got stuck after two hours and never touched it again.

 After 2014, which was when I've played Final Fantasy X for the first time ever (yes, quite late) and fell in love with the franchise, I actually tried FFXII again, to see if I could manage beyond those first hours of story. It turns out, I managed, but got stuck again, at six hours, without being able to leave the dungeon where I was. I was quite underleveled and didn't have many resources to buy supplies, so I said 'screw it!' and never touched it once again.

 I was really not fond of the gameplay. I was all about turn based combat, not this real-time-thingy-but-not-so-real-time. But when I saw that this game was coming completely upgraded for the PS4, and with the new gameplay mechanics from the International Zodiac Job System (which should be called Japanese ZJS, not International), I desperately wanted to play the game. I have a friend who wouldn't stop recommending it to me, and insisted even more when she knew about this new version. I had no excuses, so… yes, third time lucky!

 I managed to play beyond those first six hours, and up until now, I've played over sixty hours, and there's plenty more. And I can say, what a good game! What a good Final Fantasy! How could I pass on this all these years?

 I must start this (or… continue?) by saying that I'm completely, utterly, totally, overwhelmingly surprised. With two previous failed trials, I didn't have many expectations for the game in general. I only knew this was a Final Fantasy game, and it was going to have a guy called Cid, chocobos, magic, crystals and friendship and all that cheesiness. I did not expect a political conflict, I did not expect such a diversity of characters, I did not expect that much of a challenge. Guess what, I was wrong, of course! It is a Final Fantasy game after all, why would I doubt it?

 Final Fantasy XII happens in the world of Ivalice, in the middle of a political turmoil. The Archadian Empire is engulfing everything in its stride, and pretends to claim the Rozarrian lands. In between these two behemoths (no pun intended) we have two small kingdoms, Nabradia and Dalmasca. The king of Dalmasca marries his daughter, Princess Ashe, to the prince of Nabradia, Rasler, thus sealing an alliance. Rasler will take the reins of this newly formed nation and fight the Archadian Empire back, who was trying to step on both their kingdoms to get to Rozarria. Overwhelmed by their power and strength, Rasler falls in battle (because it seems these people had no sense while designing their armors), and the Empire takes Nabradia and Dalmasca under its totalitarian wing.

 Princess Ashe isn't oblivious to what's happening. The Empire kills her father and she, the only survivor of her dynasty, fakes her own death to fool Archadia. She starts working in the shadows, preparing a resistance, an insurgence, and waits for the right moment to reclaim her throne and her title.

 Two years pass, and fate will bring together six very different characters: the aforementioned Princess Ashe, fighting to get back what's hers; Vaan, an orphan and thief, the so called main protagonist but is less protagonist than that chocobo over there; Penelo, who follows Vaan wherever he goes because, yes, they're friends; Basch, a forgotten soldier who lost everything, even his honor, in the war, but is willing to regain his dignity and to defend Dalmasca; Balthier, a sky pirate with whom I may've fallen in love SO HARD; and Fran, a very beautiful viera (a hybrid with bunny) who's Balthier partner in crime and senses the Mist and speaks in encrypted riddles.

 These guys, who seemed to be taken out of a magician's top hat, will be accompanying Princess Ashe in her pursuit of regaining Dalmasca back, revisiting her ancestor's scattered hints across the globe to learn of a power beyond her comprehension. Along the way we'll MEET: many creatures; different landscapes; lots of tracking and backtracking and tracking again; lots of grinding, grinding, grinding, GRINDING; a very weird but crucially important stone called nethicite (of which I still don't understand much about); the almighty and solemnly mysterious MIST; giant bunnies; some guys with horns called 'garif'; some people who are always acolytes and when you see them from a close up you can learn they're actually white MONKEYS; beautiful and 'step on me senpai' BRITISH ACCENT; sky pirates and ships addressed as 'she'; summons who are not the summons we're accustomed, and the summons we are accustomed were put in the game as names of ships; violent chocobos; a thousand hunts; moogles everywhere doing everything and always in the right time for you; A GIANT ASS CRYSTAL WHICH DOESN'T HAVE A FRICKING MAP; Vaan asking stupid questions; Fran sensing the Mist and collapsing into Balthier's strong arms sorry not sorry; a twelve year old boy who acts and speaks better than all of us; and a ton crap of places to visit and maps to fill and dungeons to suffer through.

 I'll be honest, the game has a lot of content compared to its predecessor in the PS2. FFXII feels like an open world but condensed into zones (because of the limitations of the hardware, of course). But it's, in fact, the closest thing we had to that genre, and it does it perfectly. There's always something to do besides the main story. There's a ton of optional bosses, of unlockable Espers, of spells and technics to find, of weapons to seek, of maps to explore. There are also many, many hunts available, which unlock new areas in previously visited places, and also some hidden fetch quests, which are a must for those looking for the platinum. The game still doesn't cease to amaze me with its content.

 The gameplay might be a bit problematic at first, but you soon learn to grasp it. You basically can control any of the six party members, and set up the orders for the others to fulfill in a certain order. It seems hard to understand when the game explains it, but hey, if I could, then anyone can! The idea is to give priority to those orders which will save your character's life, and then make the appropriate combinations that suit you for fighting. These orders are called 'gambits', and they're the core of your gameplay. Better befriend them.

 You also have 'License Boards'. These licenses 'authorize' you to learn certain ability, or to wield certain weapon. For instance, to wield Excalibur, you not only need to have the actual sword, but also the license for it. And so on, so on. It goes the same for spells and technics. You can buy them at shops or find them in chests across the dungeons. Just bear in mind that some of them are only attainable in certain parts of the game (COF COF, HOLY, ARDOR, FLARE) and won't respawn later if you don't get them on time. 

 In this Zodiac Age version, we get to choose two jobs for each character. Now, I recommend you search in Internet for the best combinations, for I've made many mistakes choosing those, and I'm in no position of giving any strategy to anyone. I'm just going to say that, if I ever replay this, I'll be having a White Mage/Knight character, and it'd be a badass paladin.

 Dungeons can be a pain of the ass, and there's no shame, I repeat, there's no shame in looking for maps and guides. The Crystal has a great dungeon design, I won't deny it, but it can be really annoying and confusing to traverse. Pharos is also a great example of good dungeon crawling, but it can be really tiring with all its many, many floors. 

(Oh, and in case you were wondering because you’ve already played this game, there are no more ‘forbidden chests’ and the Zodiac Spear is located in another place altogether. So don’t worry about opening whatever appears in front of you)

 I can keep on talking about the gameplay and stuff, but I'm missing the most important thing here. What I liked the most about this game and what enthralled me so much, was the complexity of its characters. As I said before, I didn't expect many things. I didn't expect the characters to be morally grey. Ashe, who is the main driving force in the story, many a time doubts about the right path to follow, and blindingly falls into temptation. Gabranth, Basch's twin brother, has a divided loyalty, a complete devotion to his young master Larsa, and contradictory feelings about his brother. Balthier claims to be only there because of the treasure and the sky pirate spirit, but he soon gets on the personal race thing when his father appears on screen. All this, I've never seen it before in an FF game (maybe there was, but not in the ones I've played – that's a conversation for another day), and I was very glad to find that my characters weren't all on the heroes side. Speaking of heroes, our main villain might be the very first Final Fantasy villain I completely hate; he's not relatable, you can't sympathize with him in any moment, he kills his siblings because reasons, he's just bad because he wants to be bad. And also I hate him because I had to replay his battle three times before I finally defeated him. F*ck him.

 So, overall, I really enjoyed this FF. With each game I play, I fall in love more and more with the franchise. I'm glad I've come back to this one after all those years. The story is mature, the cast of characters is adorable (except for Vaan, sorry) and the soundtrack is on point, with many memorable themes. If you haven't already played this game (like me), this is the moment to give it a shot. And if you're a die hard FFXII fan, just dive in and enjoy the same old ride, but in HD!

 Final Fantasy XII is one of those stories which you've heard about but never actually experienced it. But once you do, there's no way in hell to let go of it.

[teampogostix]

RATING THE GAMES

Having played all the PMD games, I thought I’d rate them all based on how I think they stack up to each other, for no reason other than I wanted to! (I actually started doing this in a chat with a friend but I think he was getting bored...) Anyway, I’m ranking them based on a few criteria: Writing/Story content (without going into too many spoilers), Post-credits content, Bonus content (if any exists), and Mechanics, pointing out particular gripes I have along the way. Keep in mind that this is my opinion; I’m allowed to post it, and you’re allowed to think it’s stupid. Without further ado...

RED RESCUE TEAM/BLUE RESCUE TEAM

Writing/Story Content: Compared to later generations of PMD games, the story feels a bit rushed and oddly paced. That said, it’s not entirely fair to compare it to the games that came after; this was the first go, the experimental first game, and they didn’t know if it would be a success or a flop, so they probably didn’t have as many writers and programmers on board. Nevertheless, it’s charming, and definitely worth a replay one of these days. This was the first game to bring me to tears with feels, something all the subsequent PMD games would inherit. Post-Credits Content: To be entirely fair, I’ve never gotten through all the post-cred stuff in this generation. Shame on me! I do remember that the one thing that made me kind of sad, is that your partner stops following you around through town :C Post-cred you get much more freedom, but very little guidance on what you’re supposed to do, which led a young Pogo into a bit of a dead-end before her game of RRT mysteriously vanished, never to be seen again... Bonus Content: To the best of my knowledge, Red/Blue Rescue Team have no bonus content. Mechanics: As stated earlier, this was the first generation of games, and it set all the major mechanics in place. That being said, there were definitely things that could’ve worked better: - Recruitment/Friend Areas. I was always running out of room to recruit Pokemon, and it was improbably hard to recruit certain Pokemon (Mew being the big offender here.) - Inventory Issues: You only get 2 “pages” of 8 items (for a total of 16 items) that you can hold in your bag... which is for some reason a Toolbox in this generation? I guess you could count one extra inventory slot for each team member, as this generation had each Pokemon have a separate 1 item inventory... Anyway, it was hardly enough sometimes. Another thing that could’ve been better: if you selected a consumable and chose “eat” or “ingest,” it would automatically be used by you/the player; the only way that I found to feed an Oran Berry to my partner was to literally throw it at him and hope he didn’t catch it instead. The graphics and sounds were a bit rudimentary compared to later games, but again, it gets a pass on this because it’s the first generation of games. Rescue mechanics left something to be desired; dual-slot communication between Red and Blue only worked half the time if memory serves, and it was a complicated and confusing process of sending/receiving mail. Overall Rating: ★★☆ The white star is a consolation star, because it’s the first generation of games and it’s not really fair to compare it to later games in that sense.

EXPLORERS OF TIME/DARKNESS

Story: The Explorers series has, by far, one of my favorite stories of the entire series. There’s Adventure! Betrayal! Escape! Laughter! Tears! It’s a wonderful sucker-punch to the feels, and remains one of my Top 10 games of all time. If you’re looking to get into PMD, I highly recommend these games, or even better, Explorers of Sky (which has so much extra crap it gets it’s own review).The pacing and dialogue are much improved, and the characters are much more memorable; even the ever obnoxious Chatot became lovable after enough time.  Post-Credits Content: The Explorers series has so much post-credit story that it’s basically an entire other storyline, every bit as good as the first. You’ve saved the world once, think you can do it again? Bonus Content: No bonus content for these games, alas! Sky more than makes up for that though... Mechanics: The major differences that I noticed was an over-all smoothing of the inventory system. Now you can choose who eats what, and as your team’s rank increases, your bag gets bigger. Minor inventory tweaks include the team’s held items now being counted in the main inventory, and a change to Kangaskahn storage; instead of being able to deposit up to 99 of one item, which were all collapsed into one stack, the storage system here acts more like a very, very large bag, with each item taking up 1 slot. Again, like the bag, it gets bigger as your team rank increases, but it is finite. About the only gripe here is I’m a notorious hoarder and kept running out of room. Another system they changed a bit was the recruitment system. Actually recruiting Pokemon works the same, you beat them and hope you get lucky, but you’re no longer restricted by Friend Areas. Further, you can send new recruits back to the guild, and they’ll stay in your team even if you fail the dungeon. The rescue system is much improved, taking full advantage of the DS system’s wireless functions; you can even send items and team members to other people. Lots of new mechanics were introduced in this generation: - Treasure Boxes: What’s inside? You won’t know until you open it, but there’s a good chance it’s going to be.... - Exclusive Items: A.k.a. those blue-worded ones you get from treasure boxes, named such things as “Pika-Hair” or “Char-Fang.” These are items that give a passive stat boost for their specific evolution line; they could be traded at the Swap Cauldron for upgraded versions, which is a fun little thing to play with if you’re a crazy completionist like I am. - Different types of missions: True to their names, Red and Blue Rescue Team are all about rescue missions; unfortunately they don’t have any other mission types, and it could get really boring, really quickly. The Explorers series adds lots of different types of missions, including taking down criminals and delivering/recovering items. You’re no longer just a rescue team, you’re an exploration team! - Eggs: Sometimes you receive an egg as a reward for a mission. Chancy will take care of it until it hatches, after which you can chose to have the newly hatched Pokemon join your team (although I find it kind of morbid that people are giving away unborn young as rewards...) - Sentry Duty: A fun little minigame, which can net you some nice rewards if you’re good at it. Some people find it annoying, since you have to play it for a few plot sequences, but I enjoy it! It gives me Reviver Seeds - More options for player/partner characters: Much wider selection of Pokemon you can play as, and choose for your partner.

Overall Rating: ★★★★

EXPLORERS OF SKY

Story: The core story of Explorers of Sky is identical to that of Time/Darkness, with some additional chapters that aren’t in the other two games, namely Sky Mountain and the Shaymin Village. Again, if you’re looking to get into the series, Explorers of Sky is the one I would recommend the most! Post-Credits Content: As with the main story, Sky is more-or-less identical to it’s predecessors. Bonus Content: Aside from additional chapters in the main storyline, Sky has additional “Bonus Episodes,” smaller, separate plot lines that explore the background of the other characters in the game. Most of them revolve around the other guild members, where you play as them and see events that occurred before, but are related to, your arrival at the guild. One episode, however, deals with with a certain grass-type Pokemon, far in the future, and offered some solace to my aching feels. All told, the Bonus Episodes add a significant chunk of extra plot for you to enjoy! Mechanics: Further small refinements to the inventory system; you can give items to a team member out of a dungeon now. Exclusive Items have had the rarity/swap system slightly reworked, so if you exchange an exclusive item via wireless from Time or Darkness to Sky, it might have more rarity stars. Now you can save your game at the small watering hole at the crossroads instead of having to trek all the way back to your bed, which is very nice. Sometimes you can find bottles washed up on the beach, with a rescue request tucked inside, which can help beef up your job list. The graphics are much better looking, and the soundtrack is one of my favorites from any game. The number-one big change, however, is the Spinda Juice Bar: - Juice/Reworked Gummi System: Instead of taking them into a dungeon and stuffing your face, you can take them to Spinda, who will turn them into a delicious beverage. This grants the same IQ boost as a gummi normally would, along with the occasional additional stat boost. If Spinda makes a particularly amazing drink, you could get more than one boost. You can make juice out of most any food item, although only gummies have effects. Word of Warning: Do not make juice from grimy food. It will only end in tears! - Random Juice Prizes: Sometimes you’ll find a piece of paper tapped to the bottom of your glass. These often reveal a new dungeon, which often have treasure boxes on the furthest floors. Other times a Pokemon from across the room will ask to join your team, or give you an egg. - Extra Missions: Sometimes you’ll find a Pokemon waiting near the entrance of the Juice Bar, who will give you a mission request personally. - Your extra team members will wait inside the Juice Bar instead of out by the watering hole. You can buy them drinks too. - Recycle Shop: If you have spare items hanging around in your storage that you’re never gonna use, you can trade them in for other items or prize tickets at the Recycle Shop. Prize tickets can be used in a raffle, and come in three tiers: Normal, Silver, and Gold. The higher the tier the more items you have to recycle to get the ticket, but the better the prizes are. There’s a rather special surprise if you get a Big Win... If enough items are recycled, eventually it will unlock new dungeons. - You can evolve! Hooray! Overall Rating: ★★★★★ Seriously one of my favorite games ever, cannot recommend enough.

GATES TO INFINITY

Story: The story for Gates to Infinity is solid and enjoyable, with many a good plot twist. One I saw coming, the others, I did not! It has just as much feels-punching goodness as the other games, however... Post-Credits Content: ... the story is rather short, particularly when compared to the Explorers series. There’s a brief bit of post-credit story, but it’s short and rather predictable. After it ends, you’re given free rein, but there’s no further achievements to go for; no rare treasure, not much for completionists to aspire to. I’m afraid it got boring rather quickly. There are only a few super-challenging dungeons, and the “hardest” dungeon was not worth it at all, loot-wise which I’m still a little bit salty about. Bonus Content: DLC exists for Gates to Infinity, but what I bought didn’t add much. It also takes space on your SD card, which is bad news if your card is small. Mechanics Here’s the good: - Fancy new 3D graphics! Ooh! - Storage is back to being unlimited - AR Dungeons: You can point the 3DS camera at a circular-looking thing and find a randomly generated dungeon there. - V Wave: Every day a different type of Pokemon will get stat and XP boosts in dungeons; i.e. when the V Wave is Fire, Fire Pokemon will get more XP. You can play a minigame to change the V Wave, but it costs Poke. - Shared Team XP: Everyone on your team roster, even the ones who aren’t in the dungeon, will get XP from each exploration. - Evolution: Evolution is now much easier, not requiring any specific area, but now your enemies can evolve too! - Move Levels: As you use a move, it will get better and better. Every time it levels, it gets more Power, Accuracy, or PP, or any combination of those things. Much like how XP is shared across all team members, move levels are shared as well; if you’re a Pikachu who knows Electro Ball IV, your Emolga team member will also know Electro Ball IV. - Glorious Gold: Occasionally you find a gold bar on your explorations. These are useless on their own, but you can trade them to Cofagrigus for money and rare items! GLORIOUS! SPARKLIES! - Paradise: You basically build half the town. Outside of the Kecleon Shop and a few other core stores, you can buy and clear land to build new facilities. Some of these are shops that specialize in one thing and will buy that at a higher price (For instance, you can open an Oodles of Orbs or a Berries and Seeds), some are Dojos where you can improve your moves (see Move Levels above), one shop is a recycle shop (now named the Swap Shop), and some are minigames. - You can now save from the menu anywhere in town. - You can pick which Pokemon you want to be from the get-go, no more resetting and taking the stupid quiz 24 times to get the one you want! - New recruitment method: You can give gifts, either found in dungeons or purchased from Cinccino in town, to a specific Pokemon to befriend them. Super useful with legendaries! - Dungeon Distortions: After the main game, dungeons will receive a level of Mysteriousness. The higher the level, the more likely something weird will happen. Sometimes you’ll find a floor that only has one kind of item or enemy, or is made entirely of corridors. Sometimes you’ll wind up in a completely different area for a bit, such as the Gilded Hall... - IQ skills are now party-wide, and can be found in treasure boxes, getting rid of the Gummi system. - Multiplayer Dungeons: I never experimented with this? I don’t know anyone else who owns the game. - Rampardos opens boxes by literally smashing them to pieces with his head. This isn’t actually a new feature but I think it’s funny. Here’s the bad: - Almost all Pokemon from anything but Gen 5 are conspicuously absent. - Kangaskahn and the Bank are gone, now both storage and banking are handled by a Deposit Box. - Purple Kecleon is also gone :C - No Exclusive Items And the ugly: - There are only 5 options for the Pokemon you play as and your partner. The 3 Gen 5 starters, Pikachu, and Axew. - They removed Job Stacking, which is the term I use for doing multiple missions in one dungeon run. Why they did this, I have no idea, but it drives me up the freaking wall. Biggest gripe right there. - Completely overhauled the rescue system, now it relies on Street Pass. You have to hope someone else has the game, and has a Reviver Seed in their Passerby Post. This worked well for me on campus but sucks if you don’t live in an area with many other Pokemon fans. Overall Rating: ★★★ Overall, I feel like this game was rushed; it had a lot of potential, but some critical mistakes were made. The only thing saving it from being worse than Red and Blue Rescue Team is the plot.

SUPER MYSTERY DUNGEON

Story: The storyline of Super is very reminiscent of the Explorers series, for reasons that are spoilery so I won’t get into them, you’ll just have to play it and see for yourself! And prepare to have your feels hit hard by the twist at the end! Definitely one of my favorite games of the series. Post-Credits Content: Super is also somewhat lacking in the post-credits storyline, but what there is is longer and put together much better than what Gates had to offer. Also, a certain legendary joins your team... After the storyline is over, there are plenty of achievements to strive for, such as map completion, and a list of rare treasures to collect. Bonus Content: As far as I know there’s no DLC for Super Mystery Dungeon. Mechanics: Things that are new/changed: - Party size: Decreased from 4 to 3. Not a super huge deal. Client Pokemon who accompany you are now additional and won’t take a party slot. - Completely overhauled mission/recruitment systems: The Connection Orb replaces the old mission system, and while it’s very similar, once a mission is completed, the client becomes Connected, meaning they are now in your team roster. You can get all 720 Pokemon this way. No more delving into a 99 floor dungeon to try and find that one legendary! As connections spread, more missions will be unlocked. Sadly this means missions are finite, as far as I can tell... - Kangaskahn now runs the Connection Cafe. Talk to her to receive any rewards you get from missions. - Job Stacking is back THANK ARCEUS! - Motivation: This replaces the V Wave system. Every day or so 3 random Pokemon on your team roster will become Motivated. Motivated Pokemon get triple XP for the day. If an Unown is Motivated, and you bring it along, it doubles everyone’s XP, motivated or not; this means Motivated Pokemon will get six times the normal XP, which, let’s be honest, is the only time you’d ever bring an Unown in the party. - Many, many more options for the player/partner characters: All starters from gen 1 to 6, along with Pikachu and Riolu. The quiz is back, but if you don’t like the result, you can just pick which one you want. - Lucha Tokens: After the credits roll you can take a Lucha Token to Hawlucha to change a Pokemon’s ability, assuming their species can know more than one. - Looplets and Emeras: These replace both the scarves and IQ system; Looplets are bracelets with notches for gems called Emeras. Emeras come in many varieties, and when placed in a Looplet, they give the holder certain effects. Some of these are immunity to traps or bad status conditions, some are like the IQ skills from older generations (finding the stairs, knowing where shops are, etc.) and some are passive stat buffs. One Emera, Awakening, is how Mega Evolution is used; placing an Awakening Emera into a looplet will either Mega-Evolve the holder, or give the holder the Awakened status, which greatly boosts attack power and makes you immune to attacks from the front. Sadly Awakening only lasts a short time and will burst afterwards. - Progress Device: Replaces the Quick Save function. It’s an item that can be placed on the ground in a dungeon, allowing you to save your game there. Unlike Quick Save, this save data won’t be cleared after reloading, so you can reload there multiple times. - World Map: In a radical new step, you can now travel to 5 different continents, each with their own towns and dungeons! After comparing many, many different maps from all the games, I can safely say that these continents (aside from the Water and Sand continents) are, in fact, the worlds from the previous games; the Air Continent is where Red/Blue Rescue Team take place, the Grass Continent is where the Explorers Series took place, and the Mist Continent is where Gates to Infinity took place. (no idea where the Sand Continent is from though, possibly those PMD games that were only in Japan?) In addition to that there are CAMEOS. CHARACTER CAMEOS, EVERYWHERE! Made my inner fan super happy! - Wonder Mail is back. In addition, you can now attempt to rescue yourself, using a team built from your roster. Things that are removed: - No more building of dojos and shops. Sadly this means no recycle shop, but most core shops are readily available. - No AR dungeons and no multiplayer dungeons (did anyone even use those...?) Overall Rating: ★★★★★ Right up there with Explorers of Sky. Another game I would reccomend if you’re looking to get into the series.

[bitesofeverything]

Admin time!

Yeah, this is just for fun. No, I don’t really do “art” because I do a sketch and then call it a day! 

Anyway,  here’s a little about myself and my Pokemon experience !!

 What of Pokemon do I know of? Well !! I mostly know the games. The first Pokemon game that I’ve ever picked up was Pearl, and it all pretty much went on from there. I have played a couple spin-off games, I guess if we want to call them that, being; Pokemon Ranger (Shadows of Almia and Ranger Signs), and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explores of Darkness (and Sky), oh! And Pokepark 2. As far as main-line games go, thanks to emulators and my lack of sleep, I have pretty much played through every generation. On exception of Gen 6 because I’ve heard how easy it was and I will stay away from it !! Of course, I can’t say that I absolutely love all the games because I’m a gen 4 kid and I feel like any type of first Pokemon game you pick up will always be your favorite, right? Although, I really liked Gen 2 (Including the remakes) because it’s like... two games in one !! 

That was a huge tangent... I also know  a bit of the Adventures Manga !! But like, when I say “little” I mean, a grain of salt. I think I’m still on book two and ?? Yeah. I just haven’t had the motivation to keep going, even if it is extremely entertaining !! 

Okay, so you’re a gen  4 junkie... why muse as Green/Blue? 

Why? Because he’s an old fart now!! He and Red are pretty much the only protags of a game to show up more than once in other regions, yeah? I fell in love with Green’s progression as a character- and I only just recently figured out how important Red and Green are as characters after my play-through of (Ultra) Moon and starting up Heart Gold and realizing how I’m missing the last four badges from 7 years ago... And realizing that Feraligatr is not a great HM slave (Thank you 10 year old me.) I’m currently replaying it  with a better understanding of Pokemon and Natures and all that jazz. 

Anyway... I just think that Green is a fun character to muse as !! Especially since he’s uhh “Toned Down” a bit in gen 7 compared to his 10 year old self in gen 1. 

So, does this blog have some rules?

Sure! For the most part, I won’t be doing any drawing requests because I simply don’t have enough time to sit down and do them. I have a job with increasing hours, and I have College coming up soon. Same goes to story requests. 

The second thing? I will totally 100% take head-canon ideas or whatever you’ve got. Just throw them at me, I will gladly give you my thoughts on them. 

Do I rp? Yes. A Fat Yes. This is pretty much why I made this. ... Also, I wanted to make an ask blog, seeing how there’s not many who’re active. I’m also thinking about making an ask/rp blog for my Alolan M! Ace “oc” Ashton. I have grown attached to this ace and I’m glad that people have noticed this godly npc. 

Uhh... nsfw ?? I guess I’m 50/50 about it. Half of me is like “Yeah, sure. Why not?” and then the other half of me is like “Eww why would you do that?” So? For right now, let’s keep the nsfw stuff out. 

Swearing is allowed !!

Single shipped. Multi Fandom (Because not everything revolves around Pokemon and Guilty Gear). And More Than Likely Straight. They only gay ship for Green, that I gush about is Original... sorry y’all. 

Oh, and the most important rule?? Please Interact. I plan to have fun with this so please send anything Green related this way !!

Great !! Now, do you have a name to go by?

Yes !! My name is Anubis !! It’s a pleasure to meet you, reader!

Aha, I am really new to Tumblr, believe me, so ?? I’m not sure what to expect... Maybe I should’ve made a main blog before this one... oh well. This’ll be both Admin and Muse functioned.

Anyway, if you read this far, Thank You !! So much !! If you have any questions about me or really anything else that you think I missed, don’t be afraid to drop something somewhere around here !! Have fun and keep smiling !

[bigboobshaunt]

Have you ever made a top 10 list of vidya you like? I enjoy reading your insight into games and I think it would be interesting to see that list and your reasons for liking them.

What is your favorite… sibling? Body part??

OK like, technically I did already make one, on this very site a long time ago (technically I reviewed the 10 that made the cut, separately), but I’m not super crazy about my analysis skills then and many that were on that list just ended up changing with time - both because I played more games and because I just ended up realizing I liked different games better.

Given that I absolutely love running my horrible mouth for probably way too long, your ask made me want to do one again, which was already an idea somewhere on the back of my mind.

A couple of disclaimers before we actually get into it: 

No game is perfect. Games are made by human beings, who carry personal biases and intrinsic flaws. I love a ton of games and they are All flawed in different ways and amounts. If anyone tells you a piece of media is straight up perfect, you should run. I am not claiming any of the games on this list are perfect, and I am well aware of their issues. I have eyes and can read.

This is my list, the barometer for it is Me. If anyone reading this takes issue with picks (which is something I keep seeing happen and it still makes no sense) just simply don’t interact or make your own list. Not looking for arguments here.

These are not, of course, gonna be in-depth for all of the games, just what exactly makes me like them so much, which was what I was asked. There are only so many spoons an enby can have, after all.

I tried keeping it to one game per franchise (barring one arguable exception) because otherwise this would get much, much harder than it already was.

Additionally, I failed to round out 10 of them, only managing 9. I beat around the bush a LOT about what the 10th one was gonna be, but no matter what choice, I always felt like I was gonna betray myself in the end, so I have reserved a section for honorable mentions at the end. These are also not numerically ranked, because while I have a long-standing Favorite game of all time, which is the last one I’ll get to, the other ones occupy uncertain, ever-changing spots.

I’m currently sitting atop a good pile of games I’ve been meaning to check out for ages, and since 2 games I’ve played recently made this list, I think it’s prudent to also make a spot for games I plan on playing to completion soon.

Here you go, anon! (And anyone else who might be interested)

Stardew Valley:

This game is both the most recent release to be on this list and also the newest entry, since it literally hasn’t been a month since I’ve finished it, and that’s part of why I placed it first here.

Though saying I “finished it” is kind of a lie, and that in itself reveals the magic, even after the “soft ending” I just keep going back to it every day, because it’s a world that just puts me in such a relaxed state… I want to spend time in my farm with my bisexual husband every day and I’m already planning two other playthroughs even if my first one is already creeping up on 100 hours!

See also: I’m… not particularly into farming sims? I’ve tried getting into them before but I just found them a little inane and unfocused, if that makes sense, so if my love for a game can transcend even a genre itself, I’d say that’s a pretty well-executed game, generally speaking.

I just also find it super endearing that the entire game was made by one person. From the artwork, the writing and the soundtrack… it’s crystal clear that a LOT of love and genuine effort went into it, and that’s very heartwarming and gives me hope.

Speaking of love, it’s also the entry in this list that has the most queer representation in it, and that’s a huuuuge plus for me, as a nonbinary bisexual. It’s a pretty cute game, and it also still manages to juggle a lot of complex themes which are very personally relatable to me with surprising tact.

Pokémon Black and White:

This is going to date this post pretty hard, but I’m actually replaying this one riiiight now. It’s actually right next to me on the table. How quaint!

These have been my favorite main Pokémon games since their release, and it’s largely a case of me being awed by its story and characters when I didn’t expect to be. I also really appreciate the risk these ones took by excluding Pokémon of previous regions to post-game content, since it forces you to get to know the new ones (which are both plentiful and incredibly creative imho!!) as you make your team.

I really appreciate the moral themes explored in this game, and how they even toyed with core concepts that had been with the series from the word go, questioning the morality we were just supposed to accept from the onset of this franchise, to the point that I’ve seen many people feel guilty about opposing this game’s main antagonistic force, N (who’s one of my favorite characters in fiction, at that).

If we’re talking strictly about casts as collective, this one has my favorite, without a doubt, in terms of rivals, antagonists, gym leaders, and even other minor npcs. I liked how they managed to effectively tie in the gym leaders with the plot, which really should be done more often, and I feel the games suffer when that doesn’t happen (hey X and Y! what’s up). The character development a lot of characters get in the sequel (which while still good, I’m not as fond of) is also very good!

Am I also still salty about folks passing this one up and then posting misinformed, under-researched opinions about it, or even deriding the Pokémon designs? Maybe! …Yeah, okay, I am. I have vivid memories of forum posts at the time, okay?

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky:

So this was the exception I was hinting at before, in the disclaimers. It’s a spin-off that’s quite different than the main series in gameplay, so I’m counting it. I really couldn’t live with myself if I made a list of my fave games and didn’t put this one in it, seeing as it’s one of the most surefire ways to make me cry there ever were.

Much like the previous entry, this one is yet another case of the writing taking me entirely by surprise. It would have been very easy to make this spin-off a quick cash-in just using the Pokémon name, but hot damn does this one’s narrative deliver in good writing.

The previous Mystery Dungeon game was absolutely no slouch in touching very dark themes, but I do feel like those were executed both better and more uniquely in the “sequel.”

Every part of this game past the time travel is just lip-smacking, and although it starts slow, you can definitely see pleeeenty of foreshadowing nearly everywhere, which makes replaying this one very fun. It’s definitely also on my “Must replay at least once a year” list as well.

I think every game in this list has a great soundtrack, but this one takes the cake in utilizing it to heighten my emotions. I think everyone reading this who’s familiar with the game knows what I mean when I say that the farewell scene (and the track that plays in it) is completely heartwrenching and beautiful. Definitely one of my favorite scenes in gaming.

I’m also gonna give a shoutout to the relationship between the player and the partner here for being super endearing and genuinely touching, whether you see it as romantic or platonic.

Sidenote: I will have the liver of that one reviewer who stopped at Apple Woods and then said this game was nothing special.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask:

The prize for reused assets done well goes to…

I would follow that up with a joke, but I’m not gonna. This is legitimately a good thing imo. I think it’s incredible that this game was made in one year because they had to rush it, and there’s a lot you can learn about game design and creatively cutting corners by the way Termina was created, too.

The fact that this game came out as great as it did is almost a miracle, everything considered! I really like the setting here, it’s so delightfully weird, and it makes me care about the fate of even its incredibly minor characters, which makes their impending doom and that of Link’s even more harrowing.

I could see how the time-management aspect of it wouldn’t fly with a lot of people, and admittedly I’m most familiar with the 3DS remake, so I can’t comment too much on how it used to be originally, but I think it largely synergizes well with the story. This IS a world about to end, so it feels warranted in a way that could be tough to justify otherwise.

This game also does something very well with horror, both in-game and in backstory, which is that it doesn’t spell out every implication and event out for you, but it implies juuuust enough that your mind makes you even more anxious and paranoid, as nothing could ever be as scary as your mind actually makes it out to be, and toying with this is way better than outright throwing scary shit at you… even if this game does that as well, what with those mask transformations and whatnot! Jeez.

Undertale:

I don’t know how to start this entry without outright saying this in some shape or form, so it’ll have to do - I don’t care about the fandom. I just don’t. They’ll do whatever the fuck they want with those terrible AUs and character biases, and I’ll bemoan it as usual, but I actively refuse to stop loving Undertale as it is because of them.

This game is a brilliant commentary on video games as a whole and has a great metanarrative! Pretty brilliantly and excellently executed, to be honest. It’s also yet another game that makes me cry frequently, and also makes me introspect more than I already do.

The gameplay itself can be hit or miss for me, but I don’t feel like it hurts the strength of what is there in other areas like storytelling, worldbuilding, soundtrack and character writing. It’s a bit like pinching a very hearty, stout elephant!

The different endings offer very, very different experiences that ultimately contribute to this setting and its commentary as a whole, even if I’m too much of a goody-two-shoes to ever do the No Mercy Run, but I enjoy the fact that it exists AND that the game itself calls me out for not doing it myself but watching it on youtube. Boy, did I get read for filth with that one. 

It’s also a game that masterfully implements a very specific kind of humor that I can’t get enough of, and it does so while simultaneously developing its characters and giving each of them just enough time to shine. It’s a great cast, all in all. I just wish people would appreciate more than one of the characters.

Fire Emblem: Awakening:

Like the game that made me etch a symbol on my fucking flesh forever wouldn’t make the cut. Come on.

I feel like this is the game in the series that comes the closest to getting the balance of qualities I appreciate about gaming right. It could always be better in a multitude of areas, but there’s a reason why it’s one of my most replayed games in general. The more whimsical tone? Doesn’t actually come close to bothering me, at the end of the day.

A lot of people don’t really attempt to get to know the characters like, at all, and then go on to say really dumb shit about them on social media that I’ve been known to flip the fuck about, just a little. But there’s just so many little details and anecdotes about them that you can learn through supports that make them feel more familiar to me, personally, than other casts even within the same series.

This game is also the one responsible for getting me through a really hard time in real life, so of course I still hold it extremely dear while growing out my critical lenses about it simultaneously (Yes, this can in fact be done). It did something similar to the franchise, too, which is always incredible and noteworthy!

It’s also responsible for me being on this site, so you really can say that its impact on my life is the biggest on this list, and I’m… not at all ashamed of admitting that.

I’m pretty sure I’ve spent over 500 hours with this one, without even counting the hours spent re-reading supports and other convos for my writing. This is a lot of goddamn time, but I don’t necessarily want it back, and that’s a good thing.

Udobure owns my soul.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia:

If you were to suck out my brain into this fucked up jar thing and make it spit out my aesthetic biases in creative goop that creates games, two of them would come forth from this messy birth - Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and Bloodborne.

Given that I’ve actually played OoE myself, it goes on the list! End overview.

…Now, that’s not exactly untrue, but I would be underselling the game if I left that as is, so I’ll clarify other aspects about it that I enjoy.

The main character, for one, she’s one of my favorite protagonists, and it makes me glad she seemed to be popular, but I’m not exactly thrilled with how what a lot of people (and the company) remember about her is fanservice. 

Her story really struck a chord with me. She’s been robbed of her own emotions and memories at the start of the game, and when she regains slivers of it throughout the game, they still feel foreign to her, but even when things look to be at their absolute lowest (REAL nice plot twist, by the by!) not even that will stop her from performing her duty.

Another thing I enjoyed about this one was the difficulty. Normally, I’m not one to prefer the higher settings just because, and even when I try them, I frequently find myself in the position of questioning the absolute bullshit some games pull to fake any actual difficulty, but it works here because it’s actually balanced really well with what you can do and what you have available to you, making you actually think strategically.

Another thing I liked about this title that makes it stand out from the rest of the series is the map variety, since Shanoa isn’t constrained to Castlevania for the entire run, the game has an actual opportunity to show different locales, which is nice, even if they sometimes get reused in a boring way with just a different paint job.

Bayonetta:

Thiiiiis one gets on here for the longest period of courtship, without a doubt. I’ve been wanting to play it ever since it came out, but only got around to it this very year, since it was finally released on a platform I owned.

Well, alright, that’s one of the reasons, the other reason it’s here? It’s fun as FUCK to play! Every movement you make, every action flows into another and the combos all feel very natural, easy, but not devoid of strategy or thinking behind them. Beyond the gameplay, the entire thing is so darn over-the-top in typical Platinum fashion. It’s a very enjoyable ride that never forgets video games are supposed to be fun, above all.

I absolutely adore Bayonetta herself as a character. She is so amazing and multi-faceted despite the fanservice packaging. She’s quipping like the best of them in one scene, like nothing ever affects her, and then also ripping your heart out later when she shows believable vulnerability. 

I would be remiss to not mention the soundtrack, since it’s one of my favorites in gaming (beaten only by the very next entry on here) and is also my go-to for writing; Between fun, catchy themes like Mysterious Destiny and Tomorrow Is Mine, reimaginings of older songs that imho are better than the originals, like Fly Me To The Moon and Moon RIver and utterly jaw-dropping boss themes like Blood and Darkness and The Greatest Jubilee, the OST conveys every beat of the action spectacularly and makes the experience even more memorable than it would have already been.

Bayojeanne forever.

Legend of Mana:

I swear I’m not trying to be hipster-y by having my favorite one also be the least popular one on the list (by a long shot) but it’s likely that the fact that content for it is so rare somewhat influenced how close this game is to my heart, in a way. I think it made me cherish it more.

You won’t find another game quite like this one, I don’t think. The setting is extremely unique in that… you build it. You have to decide where every area in the game goes and all. It’s actually implied you’re rebuilding this world after all the magic in it has gone to shit. It’s something I really like, for sure.

It definitely makes you work for its story, and though the gist of it is presented in a cumbersome way, being exposited in history tomes you can acquire and view in a specific location… even they don’t completely spell out the backstory of this world, but in a good way rather than the usual “we blatantly didn’t finish this” kind of way. It helps that there is a lot you can learn about it from environmental storytelling and interpretation, as well. I like that, being asked to think about symbolism and what it means.

Another good point about this game that’s difficult to articulate is that it manages to create an entire world with its own set of morals and philosophies that, if taken at face value, can sound completely alien to us, but the game immerses me so deep into its world, that I end up understanding what they mean by it anyways and sympathizing where I might have not. I think that helped shape my introspective nature a lot, in retrospect. 

 There’s also the fact that although the four biggest story arcs aren’t actually linked at all, they do still absolutely play into the same major theme… even if a lot of people end up missing what it is due to how obtuse this game can be (It’s love, my dudes. Love and its classical understandings are the theme that permeates this game’s setting).

It’s also absolutely impossible for me to talk about Legend of Mana without gushing about its art design. Even if the graphics themselves aren’t great, the way it implements backgrounds still completely floors me every time I play. It does really interesting things with perspective, which you don’t see often. Hell, even the aptly-named Junkyard is unreasonably gorgeous.

The soundtrack, then? It’s Yoko Shimomura at her absolute best. It goes all the way between upbeat melodies and soul-rending compositions and it’s just intensely distinctive. A special note goes to the song City of Flickering Destruction, which still makes my heart tighten even after so many years.

Whew uh, this got long… if you’ve read this far, congratulations! You certainly can put up with an untold amount of bullshit. I’m sorry this became so disorganized, but I also… really enjoy sharing these. Really, I do. I hope I at least piqued your interest with even one of these entries. That alone would make writing this worth it a thousand times over.

Honorable mentions: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, Earthbound, Bloodborne, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Pokémon Emerald, Pokémon Sun, Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia,  The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Digimon World Dusk, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros., Super Smash Bros For 3DS, Silent Hill 3, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil: Revelations, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Bravely Default, Night in the Woods, Shovel Knight, Zero Escape: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, Okami, Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

To play list: Dragon Age: Origins, Transistor, Bastion, The Darkness II, Skyrim, Hollow Knight, Dark Souls, Dark Souls II,  Sonic Mania, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6, Alan Wake, Sonic Mania, Kingdom Hearts.