#I've been itching to compare their dialogues for a while

[wolfsong-the-bloody-beast]

Warden: You've never killed an innocent?

Zevran: Now there's an interesting word, "innocent." How many men do you know who can claim to be truly innocent?

Zevran: But if you're talking generalities, such as children and relatives and bystanders and such… never on purpose, but it happens.

Zevran: It's unfortunate, but death comes to us all. If not me, then some wasting disease. Or a fall down the stairs. Or at the hands of a darkspawn. It's all relative in the end.

Zevran: "Death happens," as we like to say. And when I get paid for it, death happens more often.

-

Zevran: In Antiva, being a Crow gets you respect. It gets you wealth. It gets you women… and men, or whatever it is you might fancy.

Zevran: But that does mean doing what is expected of you, always. And it means being expendable. It's a cage, if a gilded cage. Pretty. But confining.

-

Davrin: Lucanis, how do you decide when one of your targets deserves to die?

Lucanis: Usually when the client pays up front.

Davrin: I'm serious. Do you just kill anyone?

Lucanis: No. There has to be merit.

Davrin: "Merit?" Who decides that?

Lucanis: The Talon of the house.

Davrin: And then you just carry out the order?

Lucanis: It's my job.

Davrin: Must be tough to sleep at night.

-

Lucanis: You kill for a living, too, Davrin. How do you sleep at night?

Davrin: Like a baby. The things I hunt are pure evil. Monsters. There are no shades of grey with darkspawn. But you...

Lucanis: Provide a service.

Davrin: What if your target doesn't deserve to die?

Lucanis: Who does? Good, bad, everyone dies eventually. We just speed things up.

-

Emmrich: Do you have any say in your... targets?

Lucanis: You want to know if my victims deserved it.

Emmrich: Forgive me, I shouldn't have asked.

Lucanis: Everyone wonders.

Lucanis: I've never killed an innocent, by my count.

Lucanis: I cannot say if yours would agree.

-

Emmrich: Lucanis, do the implications of your work never trouble you?

Lucanis: Everyone on this team has killed before. I'm hardly unique.

Emmrich: Yes, of course. But in your case, it's a profession, rather than an act of necessity.

Lucanis: I'm not sure the Venatori or the Antaam see the distinction as you do.

-

Emmrich: I find it extremely interesting, Lucanis, that you consider the point of view of your enemies in battle.

Lucanis: I have to. It's much more difficult to find and kill them, otherwise.

Emmrich: Exactly! A utilitarian attitude towards death, and yet you extend empathy to your victims.

Lucanis: Not that much empathy.

Emmrich: Enough to wonder how the Venatori and Antaam view your actions.

Lucanis: Death comes to everyone, in time. I get paid to deliver it. Like a letter not everyone wants to read.

-

I think about this a lot. I'm always... surprised when I see the talk that they're supposedly trying to make Lucanis into the perfect "cinnamon roll" in Veilguard, because his sweet personality doesn't "match" his profession and background. Like, no? That's a very surface level of looking at it, I think.

Zevran is like this, too. He is an incredibly chill guy, and when you romance him, he is also very sweet and vulnerable, despite being an assassin. They're not that different in that department. They were both trained to be assassins since they were children. They're both traumatized in various ways. But neither of them acts like a bloodthirsty, evil freak. But they both also take pride in the job they do (or did), and how well they can do it, and have no intention of stopping. And yet they both express surprising empathy. (Zevran argues against annulling the Circle! Quite extensively!) And they make pretty much the exact same arguments about being killers for hire, as shown above.

Death is a natural part of life. Sometimes it just comes sooner, because we're there to deliver it. There's (almost) no such thing as an innocent person, so my victims aren't innocent people. Therefore, I've never killed an innocent in my entire life, as far as I know. (At least not intentionally.)

And that's interesting and fun about them! It's beautifully deranged. Lucanis completes an assassination mission, slitting somebody's throat or what have you, and then goes on his cosy coffee break, satisfied with a job well done.

The fact that they both say that they've never, in their opinion, assassinated "an innocent", so it's all good, doesn't automatically make it true and doesn't mean it's not complicated, however. Not every line of dialogue can be taken at face value. As video game players, we're rather desensitized to this, but hearing this should normally be at least a little alarming. For a regular person, at least. And it is for the people in the game! Like Emmrich and Davrin. Davrin has several banters with Lucanis about it. Like, who decides when somebody deserves to die and which contract's going to get carried out? Well, the "CEO" of "the company," of course! What could ever go wrong that way? Emmrich tries to coax Lucanis into saying that he does feel something about the whole thing, because he really wants it to be true. While Lucanis is very matter of fact about it. He knows what the Crows are, and that's it. He doesn't glamorize or demonize it.

So, it definitely isn't that "Veilguard says that Lucanis has never done anything wrong ever in his life," just like Origins doesn't do it with Zevran. Both the men's attitude towards killing is warped in an interesting way, completely in line with their background and upbringing. It shows when Lucanis argues with Davrin about them both being killers, because it completely escapes him (or maybe he ignores it for the sake of the argument) how the killing he does (contracts where the targets tend to be people) and the killing Davrin (a monster hunter, a darkspawn slayer) does is of different kind entirely. His logic is flawed at that point. But to him, it boils down to the fact that "it's just a job," and "killing is killing," and "death is death" regardless of form, and that rightfully baffles Davrin to no end. If anything, it shows how the Antivan Crows are taught to hand wave the issue, because the arguments Lucanis and Zevran both present are too similar to be anything else.

Of course, Lucanis, unlike Zevran, as the grandson of the First Talon and her favourite, might have had some extra privileges and wiggle space in comparison, which might have allowed him to bend the rules sometimes, give him space to show more compassion and act more heroically, because people are complex and there are many layers to what each person might consider right and wrong (e.g. killing is okay in various circumstances, and slavers in particular can get fucked - hell, we do it in video games all the time), but still. The fact that his grandmother wanted to tap a new market, so she made Lucanis specialize for hunting mages, which ultimately led to him killing a lot of Venatori and blood mages, makes it cleaner, which is nice, but then again, we hardly know the full extent of all his work. Moreover, when you ask Zevran to tell you stories about his jobs, you don't get much dirt out of him, either. He talks about some of the goofiest ones he's had. One of his targets that he (unsuccessfully) participated in taking out, a royal that got his position through plotting and murder, he also describes as somebody so immoral he basically deserved it. Also very clean. (Compare both these guys with somebody like Blackwall who truly committed a despicable act of murder for money that we do know of. And this single crime sounds so much more upsetting than anything either Lucanis or Zevran describe. None of the things Zevran says is as awful, besides the murder of his lover, which is framed like it wasn't really his fault, because he was misled.)

It's also worth noting that Zevran talks about how he was the best the Crows had before he left and how it brought him respect, wealth, women, men, or "whatever it is you might fancy." All in all, it comes with benefits. By his own admission, he was well off. But of course that came with a catch, as well. The "gilded cage" Zevran talks about. But that's not what made him leave. It was the plotting, backstabbing, and ever present distrust in the end, which led to the biggest mistake he'd ever made. Much like him, Lucanis also mentions that he had a comfortable life before getting captured, in the same quest where he also talks about how he didn't actually have full control of his life. ("Even before I was captured, my life was not really my own. So much had been determined for me.") The gilded cage comes up yet again. And it was plotting and backstabbing that made him lose a year of his life in the underwater prison.

My point is: Lucanis and Zevran are both assassins, because that's what they've always been, they were trained to be assassins since they were kids, they have a very pragmatic approach to death and killing, which they were most likely taught or perhaps were forced to develop, and they both take pride in how good they are at their job, and express no intention of ever stopping. And yet they both show that they have a good heart in various other ways, turn out to be friendly and incredibly loyal, and even very sweet as lovers. Because people can be complex, and so can be fictional characters. Yes, they're very different men, with different problems and personalities, yet also not that different.

You can't think that Lucanis is "too good" without also thinking that Zevran is "too good." You can't have this problem with Veilguard unless you also have it with Origins, is what I'm saying. And I think this may also apply to some of the other Crows we meet in Veilguard.

[kaiowut99]

A Special Announcement~ | Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Tag Force Special Re-Translation Project!

I've been itching to get around to posting about this for a few months now, but wanted to wait until I'd worked on enough for it, but also had the idea to create an announcement trailer to go with it for added good measure--after recording and editing clips for a couple weeks and leveling the audio last night, heremst we are! (For some clips, I forgot to turn off the PPSSPP emulator's DevMenu option so that shows up in the top-left, buuut I didn't feel like re-recording those, lmao.)

Details worth reading below the cut here, but tl;dr work has been in progress for over a year in between things, work will continue to be in progress for a while, and the release will happen when everything's ready, but stay tuned, fun's getting started etc etc~

So, I'm sure most of us are familiar with the as-yet-unlocalized-by-Konami TFSP, the seventh and last entry in the Tag Force series on the PSP that came out early in ARC-V's run (featuring the first five series which was a cool first), as well as the current translations out there originally worked on by the guys at XenoTranslations (omarrrio and ScrewTheRules/ClickClaxer01 at GBATemp handling the card and story/etc translations, respectively) and how there are... some issues with what's out there. Everything from the DM story mode being loaded with YGOTAS references (no shade to YGOTAS and much respect to LK/Martin for his ongoing work on it still making me laugh sometimes, ofc) to the off-the-cuff edginess of 2014-2015-era internet culture and the problematic (in some cases, derogatory) language that permeated it--though to its credit, some parts do have some level of translation attempted, but taken as a whole, it can definitely turn people off from giving the game a try and seeing what it brings to the table (which is still a good amount despite the corners Konami cut here/there compared to prior TF games).

I actually did attempt a translation of my own back in 2015 (if you've been following me for a long time, you might remember it lol), tackling the GX story text starting with Judai's heart events, but eventually put it on the backburner as I focused more on my GX subbing work and beginning to finalize everything (which I'm still doing). Sometime in 2022, a friend over on NeoArkCradle (the "anonymous YGO fan" in the opening screen) was poring over the story text and patching it up the best he could to remove the references and inaccuracies with more coherent work, and after a while of seeing what he was working with in the Discord, I was a bit blown away by just how inaccurate much of it was--so alongside him, and using the better tools available since then (including some really awesome work from both nzxth2 [who did a proper re-translation of 5D's TF6 not too long ago and was kind enough to release his tools for it] and our coding helper Xan1242 who we eventually reached out to for some help), I decided to *cracks knuckles* get involved and help give everything a more accurate and professional translation, much like I do with my GX subs, working directly off the Japanese text and files. I've been taking cracks at everything in between the GX episodes I've been finalizing going back to at least last January (and I'd used my little hiatus after finalizing GX Season 2's subs to really get at some other stuff throughout the game), starting with re-translating DM's story text but also properly translating other aspects of the game, from the character names (using the original Japanese names, including those of the TF-exclusive characters, partly since Konami made a whole mess of them in English TF1-5), in-duel dialogue, pack descriptions, and more to images with Japanese text (such as localizing the in-duel cut-in onomatopoeia as you see in the video above, or other little images throughout) using some Photoshop skills I've picked up. And it's been a joint effort, as said NAC friend and I have been bouncing off how we'd like to see this go between us to stay on the same page and all, while also checking with other translators there for second/third opinions as needed.

Our plan is to release two versions of a translation--one which uses the OCG [translated] card names in Story Mode, in-duel, and other text but not in the game's card system (mainly to deal with story-relevant notes like Osiris vs Slifer with the Gods or things like not-Utopia Hope being symbolic between Yuma and Astral, akin to how I do my GX subs), and one which uses the TCG card names in everything (like how the official subs go about it). While we're mostly working with the Japanese game files due to how the Xeno team went about decoding everything, we'll be using the card-system-related files from the fixed ISO provided by FLSGaming which fixed some issues that had been present there. And Xan has helped us with a plugin that will be used to apply our translations to the system files that were hard to edit otherwise (things like the character and recipe names, as well as the pack names pulled from for the Card Description screen), but more on how that'll work once this is ready for release, lol. At some point, I'd like to also look at HDifying textures and things, but that's definitely a bonus-level thing for after the main work here is done.

SO.

Currently, Story-Mode-wise, I've gone through everything up to Yusei's events--so Dark Yugi/Kaiba/Jounouchi/Ishizu/Mai in DM, Judai/Manjoume/Asuka/Misawa/Ryou in GX, and Yusei in 5D's have been fully retranslated, though I took initial cracks at Yuma and Yuya's events to get content for this video lol (I've also been intentionally holding off on as much ZEXAL as I can until I've properly watched the whole show so I have context). I haven't tackled overworld text yet, though (like pre-duel or the tournament-related text, which is all in the same file as all the story text). I've also been handling the in-duel dialogue as I go through the character stories, so also just up to Yusei, though I did take initial cracks at Aki's, Yuma and Shark's, and Yuya and Yuzu's for the video.

Other things tackled that were sprinkled into the video, along with some other notes:

Pack names and descriptions have been retranslated, though the descriptions may see minor edits closer to release for a little variety between worlds given the different characters at the shop. Character recipe names were also retranslated, with Yugipedia's translations for them used as an occasional second opinion, though ones based on pack names had to be abbreviated in spots.

Menu text, from the Options to Help screens and stuff in between, has been retranslated, as have in-duel text strings (so, you'll see a full "Activate Effect" instead of "Activate" or "Switch to Attack/Defense Position" instead of "Switch to ATK/DEF Position", etc--also fixed the "BATTELE PHASE" graphic typo, and NAC friend created a new translation for the "Turn Change" graphic for accuracy since ENG TF1-5 made that into "Next Player's Turn").

Database stuff, such as the Sound Test, Tutorials, Duel Missions, etc., have been retranslated closer to the Japanese text; originally I retranslated the Tutorial text via hex editor, with compromises done on quite a bit of it due to the space limits, but as Xan recently updated a text extractor tool of theirs to more cleanly pull out and reinsert that text, I've been going through and fleshing out those translations more (on my commutes to/from work mostly, to be productive lol).

As mentioned, I've been localizing/translating Japanese-text images throughout the game as I come across them, like with the in-duel onomatopoeia that come up during cut-ins or images in the shop/duel/etc screens using Japanese text, to make sure the game is fully translated.

The series logos, used during the title sequence and in the Series Select screens, were updated with translated fan edits shared on Deviantart (which we'll credit in the final release) for DM and GX, while the 5D's-ARC-V logos were edited to enlarge the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" text on them that was pretty hard to see originally.

The game's original opening sequence starts on an anti-piracy message before going into the Konami logo and then a "From Yu-Gi-Oh!..." screen before the opening animation for each series logo--the original team decided to use the first image to vent their frustration at Konami for not localizing this game, and while that's valid (to some extent), we thought we'd use the opportunity to dedicate this project to Kazuki Takahashi for inspiring our love for YGO and the place it's had in our hearts for all these years.

We'll be updating the names of cards that had TCG releases after the original patch was worked on/updated by FLSG to those corresponding names.

Xan has been working on many UI fixes for us to apply with this, among them 3-line dialogue box text as is used in the ENG TF1-5 games--once implemented for TFSP, I'll be going over everything to make full use of that extra space where needed, so things might not look as they do in the video by then.

Character bios will be worked on after I've done the story stuff, though I've taken initial cracks at it for Yuma and Yuya's bios for the video, along with translating the location/affiliation names ("Domino High School," "Satellite," etc).

Currently no release date is planned, as I'm working on this between my GX-finalizing work and actual IRL work, though we'll see how later this year looks as more work gets done--but as noted in the video, all things being equal, it will be released when everything is ready. I'll try to post regular updates or rambles now that this announcement's been made, lol, but do try not to constantly check in on a release date. 🙏🏽

All that said, I think that covers just about everything I wanted to put out there with this, lol. It's been fun to work on this so far and getting to see what I've re-translated in-game is definitely neat; looking forward to us being able to release everything when ready.

Stay tuned for more; the fun's just getting started!

[megafreak400]

Mega's Year in Gaming Awards 2024

Hey guy it's the end of the year so wanted to do a quick post highlighting my overall favorite games this year as well as a tier list of every game I played this year. I 'beat' 50 games, though I played way more than that. I'm not gonna drone on too much since I've done write ups for every game I beat already. Without further ado, let's get started with Mega's GOTY Awards Viewer Choice - Favorite one off Stream

Just a note, UFO 50 got equal votes by you guys. But yea you really enjoyed me taking a look at these compilation games this year. Makes me think maybe I should look into more quick burst stream in 2025. Action 52 is not good, but it did make for a fun stream and i'm glad the UFO 50 stream convinced some of you to also check the game out.

Viewer Choice - Favorite Stream Series

Similarly, Pokemon Ranger Shadows of Valentia also had equal votes. But I decided to feature FF6 Pixel Remaster for this spot. My Final Fantasy streams tend to be some of my favorite streams of the year and i'm glad most of you agree. Nothing too crazy happened in this play through but it was a good time and I'm looking forward to another RPG stream in 2025.

Best Song of the Year

Lots of good choices but my pick goes to Sudzsy Swings from Penny's Big Breakaway. The entire soundtrack is incredible, but this one stood out to me the first time I heard it. Shout out also to Kick Club from UFO 50, that song will not leave my head, I love it so much. Biggest Disappointment

As some of you may know I did a Let's Play of Ufouria the Saga over a decade ago. So I was super interested in a sequel, as insane it was that it even exists. While the game looks adorable, sadly game play wise the random level generation just makes the game have no real substance. Add in odd translation issues and easily my biggest disappointment of 2024. Worst game I played this year

Again disclaimer, I played the remake. If the original really has better physics, then I'm sure i'd enjoy it more. But as far as the N sane Trilogy version is concerned, this was awful. Easily the most miserable experience of the year for me, with me only beating this game out of spite to lambast it. At least Crash 3 was cool. Best Old Game of the Year

This game has been on my backlog for over 15 years and I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. With surprisingly hilarious and weird dialogue, engaging game play, fantastic sprite art and a pretty solid soundtrack I had a blast streaming this game. Easily my favorite game that didn't come out this year and it really makes me want to play Guardian Signs. Best Game I haven't finished

Look for many of you, this is my Game of the Year. I played like 120 plus hours, beat over 30 games in the collection. I would not be faulted for just blanket claiming it my game of the year. But I want to stick to my rules and unfortunately I have not beat it by my standards. And since i'll probably beat it next year, I wanted to at least honor it this year because it really is one of the best experiences you can have this year. Don't miss out on what should have been Indie game of the year. Game of The Year

A last minute addition comparatively, but man did this one leave an impact on me. Maybe you could argue recency bias but this game scratched the itch that echoes of wisdom failed to do with clever puzzles that span the entire game, creating a maze you need to untangle. Please check this game out if it at all sounds like your kind of thing, you won't be disappointed.

And there we go. I also wanted to include some tier lists. First off we have a tier list of every game I played this year.

Next just the games that came out this year

And while I haven't beat all the games yet and some of these rankings will change (and I still need to write about most of these,) I did want to give an in progress tier list of the games I beat in UFO 50 so far.

And that's it. I plan on writing about games of 2025 year, One Piece, and UFO 50 still so please give a follow if you want to keep up with what should hopefully be a better year than 2024.

[styrmwb]

I beat Yakuza 3 Remastered

Why can't this poor man have a happy life

I've had the itch to pick up a Yakuza (a LaD) again for a minute now, and I think the announcement of Pirate Majima finally kicked me into gear.

It's been like... 3 years? Since I played Kiwami 2, which I actually think was a good thing for this game. Rather than going from modern Yakuza immediately into old, still growing Yakuza, and feeling that whiplash, I feel like I got to have a pretty fresh experience with this guy, and kinda judge it on its own merits rather than comparing it to the great remakes before it/the Objective Superiority that is 0 (I feel like this isn't a terribly hot take)

I've seen the comments people leave, the rumors, people fuckin hate this game; so it was good to finally get my own feelings on it (and now this is the part where I say those feelings)

Chapter 1: Gameplay 第1章：ゲームプレイ

The Big Controversial Part. The Evil.

To start on a positive, more general note; this is Yakuza. You Cannot Go Wrong With The Formula. It's a completionist's dream/worst nightmare, it's perfect for whatever tone you want, it's tried and true. This is the 3rd time they have done it and they are becoming exceedingly efficient at it. If I didn't like the baseline of this series I wouldn't be at the 3rd entry. I love doing fight, eating food, filling up the numbers on the completion, it's fun, it makes my monkey brain happy. I love being in the same city I've always been in and seeing how it's changed this time around, as well as what hasn't changed. It's such a unique feeling that I don't think other games have.

Coming from the previous entries, I wasn't used to random battles having dialogue instead of a smooth transition; I was iffy at first, but honestly the rewards having silly adjectives won me over and I was entertained until the end (I don't even want to know why this ¥50,000 is lukewarm). I also actually really liked the running sequences. It took some getting used to for the rhythm of dodging around pedestrians, but once I got the hang of it I actually looked forward to them. I do wish Mack's training came earlier, though, and also came with more diverse benefits other than More Stamina and Strong Tackle.

Minigaaaaaames. As with every entry in this series, they are wide and diverse; some I love, some I despise. My favorites ended up being Karaoke (this is every game though, and I love rhythm games this is no surprise), Koi-Koi (a love I've obtained from previous games), Darts, surprisingly enough (once I figured out The Strat I cleaned house), and Bowling (another classic, figure out The Strat). Least favorites were Fishing (I generally don't like fishing in games though), and that God Damn Batting Center. I HATE the batting center I swear I just could not get that timing right. I also don't like mahjong but I knew that from previous games so I didn't touch it. One day I'll learn but not today. Aroma Massage was frustrating but I didn't need to do it much so it gets a pass (also the baby failure was fuckin FUNNY), and Boxcelios was actually pretty neat but it didn't wow me. Also getting put here is the Hostess Maker; I respect it for being the start of good minigames later, I do not care for it, and I swear I had constant garbo luck.

Alright, now the main part. Combat. I think from the start, I was aware of "Blockuza 3"; and I'm not sure if having that awareness affects my bias of analyzing it at all. Like I said, it's been 3 years since I last played a Yakuza game, so I don't.... really remember the general combat flow of those? I remember bosses have always been a bit frustrating. Start of the game was fine. I didn't have issues, and I felt like I was using grabs, weapons, and heat actions a lot more than I remember doing in the past (I also think me thinking of heat action completion more helped this). I vibed with it for a good while! No issues. Bosses took a little bit, but they always did. However, once I hit late game, especially when I was doing the coliseum, I understood. There's an issue here.

To be blunt, the AI sucks. EVERYTHING ELSE is fine, the AI sucks. There are two things here. Everyone knows the blocks; they're all the time. So ok, I'm gonna work around it. I'm gonna go for grabs, I'm going to tiger drop to negate all damage. I'm going to use the counter mechanics it's given me cause I can't quite get in otherwise. This would be ideal, if the AI did anything. The most egregious example of this, and the summarization of my point, is the final training with Komaki. I need to parry his attack, and then use ultimate dragon king essence. Awesome! ...why isn't he attacking? He's just... dodging. And looking at me. He doesn't do anything until I throw a punch in his direction, which then he freaks out and kicks my ass. How am I supposed to parry him if he doesn't attack? How am I supposed to get around the invincible walls if they won't interact with me? How is tiger drop supposed to negate all damage if there's no damage!?!?! There's workarounds of course. I learned some good rhythms, I figured out the combos that could get in, and When I had weapons they were useful, but those have durability and I can't rely on them forever.

There is a clear problem here, but I do think it is only apparent on the higher level play of the game. Generally, for the most part, I had a perfectly fine time, and I got to do that one scene from Avengers where Hulk throws Loki back and forth and it worked so frequently it was hilarious. I can imagine if I played above normal, I would be more upset (But I didn't cause I'm not looking for a punishing experience and I'm cool with that!).

One last thing, super minor; I definitely prefer the later games' leveling. They give you more stuff more often, where here my leveling really started to slow down giving me less things which made me sad. It's not huge but it's there.

Chapter 2: Story 第2章：物語

This is the REAL treasure of this game. I Love This Story. Kiryu Dad Simulator is the greatest thing ever. How do you make the Father Fantasy even better? By adding several more children, and giving you time with each and every one, letting you love, and appreciate them, so that way you care for this orphanage in the same way that Kiryu does. Honestly if I just left Kamurocho for Okinawa and there was no crime the entire time and it was just take care of your foster children I would be so so so so ok with that.

Anyways, there's two major reasons why I enjoyed this game's story so much more than the rest. 1. The characters were all great, and 2. I think it felt a little more cohesive than some of the previous entries.

Substory 120: Characters

Kiryu - I really felt for the man here. This is a man who has been dragged into bullshit for far too long now, and finally literally got to run away, and spend time doing something fulfilling, only for him to be dragged right back in yet again. You could really tell how much he cared for everyone around him in this game, which only served to make his self-sacrificial nature worse. It makes me think of The Incredibles: "I'm not strong enough to lose you". I love this man, give him a break.

Haruka - Not a forefront, but one of the best parts of this series so far is seeing Haruka grow; and this game really gave her a huge leap. Putting her in that big sister role was such a good play. I can almost see the Kiryu in her here, the caring for others, with that little bit of stupid self-sacrificing for others being shown in her section with the credit card running.

The Morning Glory Orphans - My children. This game introduced 8 new characters, and (like I mentioned above), through giving you time with each of them, their own dedicated stories as well as their times in the others'; I love them! They did such a good job portraying them all as kids, but also as a family. Taichi was my favorite. This big ol big brother type with a big heart.

Rikiya - MY BRO. MY ANIKI. I LOVE THIS DUDE, I LOVE HOW HE LOVES HIS HOME AND HIS FAMILY. He was such a fun character and I think Kiryu having a brother character is highly needed, something he really hasn't had since (in-universe, not irl) 0. I could feel his fate coming from a mile away, but it didn't make it hurt less. You fucking dumbass you should have just STAYED BEHIND AAAAGH

Mikio - Another bro character; a younger type compared to Rikiya, but still someone I cared about. This dude is full of love, and for a criminal, someone that I would trust around children.

Nakahara - Grandpa. Yeah I know dad/brother is more accurate, but he's old so grandpa. I like him and I loved how him being a positive influence (again, Despite Being A Criminal) spreads to his whole family clearly being beloved in Okinawa (DESPITE BEING CRIMINALS). I'm so glad him and Saki get to be a happy family by the end. (I'm not gonna give Saki a full section but that poor girl went through so much unnecessary pain and she gained a whole family by the end of the game, she deserves the world)

Majima - I think this is where Majima really started to become Friend. He got back into the game for Kiryu, he was loyal and doing what he promised to the end, and he was a great support. I loved the truck scene, and his genuine concern for Kiryu.

Daigo - My favorite princess. He was literally the damsel in distress this game, but his impact is something I appreciated. You can tell that this is a decent man, and even though he's in power, treats those below him as equals. His good character was literally part of the reason of why the final boss was so interesting.

Kashiwagi - :( A very similar role to Daigo, where his character, rather than his actions, set his role in the game. A decent man, setting a good, honest foundation inside of a criminal empire. The fact that he set up an organization to get people safely out of the business was huge, and I'm gonna miss Kiryu's big brother.

Tamiya - I'm going to steal a joke from the other game set in Japan that I beat in 2024: You can tell this is a fictional game because there is an actually decent politician. I actually felt surprised that the angry dude pushing for the military base was like, the best person involved in everything.

Mine - Such an interesting character. A very very hurt man that never learned how to love, finally finding A Purpose, but throwing it away out of pain. I really liked him as an antagonist, and I loved that he wasn't the traitor, that he wasn't some Secret I Planned Everything For Power; he just happened into place. A series of unfortunate events put Mine where he ended up, and I found that really cool.

Joji - He's a bit of an asspull, but not one that ruins anything. Like yeah "character has a secret twin" is some comic book shit, but I actually enjoyed his presence here. He gave an interesting mystery to the story, and became a good support towards the end.

Andre - He's definitely the most... Nothing, in the story, but I didn't hate him. I thought his voice acting was surprisingly decent (hearing that constant SHITTO... in the coliseum didn't give me high hopes). I think every Yakuza needs to have that weird side villain that's the main cause of everything, but this dude didn't feel as disruptive as Jingo, or as insane as the Korean Mafia. He's fine!

Hamazaki - I Genuinely think, that presenting this huge threat with connections out of country, but then having you not even fight him, and having him offed by his own hubris, was SUCH a neat play. Absolutely a twist that I did not expect. He might have seemed as wasted potential, but I kinda really liked how he ended up being off-screened.... and then.... then you bring him back? You bring him back for... a final cutscene... that doesn't mean... anything. A guy that should be dead.... stabs the main character, who ends up being perfectly fine. This dude is like... the one cause, of the one problem, I had with this story. Why couldn't he just stay in the ocean

Kanda - He sucks hard which is good cause I get to beat him up and I don't feel bad about him being a head, you love a character that's easy to hate.

Tamashiro - Absolute scum of the earth, that dude deserved a bullet in his head. I hate you I hate you I HATE you.

I feel like whenever I write a characters section it doubles the length of my already long post, but again, they are such a huge reason of why I loved this story.

As for the cohesiveness, I think the little point I made with Andre is a good summary. Previous entries have had this like, last minute What The Fuck plot twist nonsense that completely go wild and kinda tie together all the plot points. But in 3, I didn't feel that What The Fuck. I got it. I think the Okinawa land, the opposing bills of Resort vs Military Base, the involvement of the CIA, Black Monday, and the Yakuza, as well as the inner turmoil of the Tojo Clan; I honestly think it all tied together pretty smoothly. Andre was just the strangest part of it but he was so nothing compared to the rest that I literally don't care. (I Am Trying My Best To Ignore That Second To Last Cutscene)

I think overall, the general theme I got from this game was love. I felt the Essence of Love (press Heavy Attack at Blue Heat near Family) infused through nearly every part of this game. In Okinawa, with the Orphanage, with the Ryudo Family. In Kamurocho, with Daigo, with Mine, with Joji. Even in some of the substories, they generally felt... kinder? than usual? Like maybe I'm crazy for that, but there wasn't a lot of mean spirited things in the game I don't think. Hell, there was a whole sidequest that literally said trans rights lmfao. It all made me very happy.

Chapter 3: Aesthetics 第3章：美学

I've seen some criticisms on how this game looks (like one time when I was trying to google something one of the suggested was literally "why does yakuza 3 look bad"), but honestly, I kinda like it. It's absolutely the start of what modern LaD looks like, with a bit of that PS3 edge (and I mean that literally, bit of polygonal action). I think the best looking area is Morning Glory Beach, I love the water, the sands, and the greenery there. Music is classic Yakuza, there's not much to say beyond it's good, but doesn't always have tracks that stick out to me (there are some; Fly, Dead Run, and Another Demiworld I think are the standouts (also D2A lmfao)).

Chapter 4: Similar, But Not Equal To, A Dragon (aka the rest of my thoughts and the finale) 第4章：似て非なるもの、ドラゴン（感想の続きとフィナーレ）

Yakuza is usually beloved and infamous for its tonal dissonance. My favorite quote I saw once was "Yakuza is a serious crime drama occasionally interrupted by an episode of The Simpsons". I think 3, for the most part, felt a little bit more on the serious or genuine end. But from my research (light googling) on what the original 1 and 2 were like, 3 is the start of what we know now, what eventually turns into 0. Karaoke is getting its ridiculous start, we have revelations giving us more over the top comedy. But I think the balance it gives is something I appreciated. The serious parts had a genuine feeling to them that really grabbed me, but I still got my silly fix.

It's such a shame that this game has that stench of combat attached to it, cause it really was a good experience. I think it's overhated, and especially because you'll naturally play it after more modern games doesn't help.

While I could absolutely feel The Inevitable Yakuza Burnout towards the end, I still think I'm gonna look back at 3 positively.

8/10. Amazing story and characters in a genuinely heartfelt wrapping, just with kinda clunky gameplay. Fix that AI and my major issues are solved.

also like wasn't it super fucked that Sayama became a love interest for Kiryu, but then just fucking dipped and went to go date an American dude in the side text

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Books I’ve read so far in 2023!

Friend me on Goodreads here to follow my more up to date reading journey for the year!

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140. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris--⭐️⭐️⭐️

Re-read in 2023!

Screw you, Bill. That's my main takeaway from this one again--my feelings on him being a crap boyfriend remain intact.

I also appreciated Sookie talking about money and how hard it has been for her to keep going and making ends meet. It's weirdly cathartic, especially when we compare the difference of how financially difficult life was in comparison to the financial difficulties of today. But also because I think a lot of the time, in these books (at least in the past), we focus so much on the relationships and the will-they/won't-they themes that we don't focus on the general lives of the characters. I'm excited to see what else comes Sookie's way! So glad I'm doing this re-read!

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141. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beyond the romantic idea that Sanderson essentially wrote this for his wife, this was such a fun and clever story full of adventure and hilarious moments. I enjoyed this so much more than I was expecting to, but I shouldn't have doubted because Sanderson's writing always scratches that one little fantasy itch you never knew was waiting to be scratched.

I loved the characters and how they all came together for this memorable adventure. Especially the narrator and how they spoke to us despite their current self not...being the way we expected them to be.

Also, my favourite and obvious theme was how it is a young woman who essentially saves the day. Sanderson's wife supposedly commented on how Buttercup didn't really do much to save her man in THE PRINCESS BRIDE, and I was curious to see what a more modern-day adaptation might look like. I wasn't disappointed because his mc is a badass who did all she could to save the love of her life.

While there were definitely some slower moments in the story, the dialogue and witty commentary will surely bring you back! Highly recommend it to anyone who wants a surprisingly humorous adventure set on another planet's oceans full of unexpected dangers.

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142. The Encounter by K.A. Applegate--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am genuinely enjoying the heck out of this series!

THE ENCOUNTER is from the perspective of the one kid whose unfortunate actions in book one changed his life forever. Keeping that in mind made this book so incredibly heartbreaking. There's obviously the pain of missing what his reality once was, but seeing his fight to keep the past part of him alive despite his life changing so much made me hurt so much for him. I think his actions during this book were perfectly suited to his age, because he is, after all, just a child.

I really hope we see a better outcome for him in the future. My heart aches knowing that he is the cautionary tale for the other kids in the group.

Yes, these books are fun and full of adventure and I love that they are actually meant to be read in order. But I think that in between those suspenseful moments, the reader needs to remember that these are kids fighting a very non-kid friendly war.

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143. I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As a bookstore employee, I'm enjoying reading these books because I can give better explanations to my younger customers! Also, these are just really fun bite-sized reads.

The titanic was a massive tragedy, so it was interesting to see it from the perspective of a child who had a better chance of actually surviving the sinking (a wealthy child). It made me think of a very, very condensed version of REFUGEE.

If you want a quick and eye-opening snack of history, I'd recommend this series!

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144. Monster Blood by R.L. Stine--⭐️⭐️

I don't even know anymore. LOL this book was something. Not the worst I've read in the GOOSEBUMPS series, but I do wish it had a bit more character development because, honestly, is it normal for kids who have just met to trust each other so thoroughly in the case of human-eating slime? Would you, as a precocious child, put your life in danger for the random kid you literally just met?

This is why I should have read these as a child. As an adult, my stranger danger alarms are just shining bright like a diamond.

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145. Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I went into this book with way too many expectations and that's my fault. I expected a gory and disturbing horror story set in a camp, what I got was a deeply disturbing exploration of the toxic world of cult-like religion that sent gay teens and young adults to Camp Damascus so they could be "cured" by any means possible...even if those means may be out of this world.

The book had it's moments of spook and legitimate chills because some of the language is deeply disturbing. Massive trigger warning for anyone who has trauma related to a religious upbringing. I wasn't raised in this way and I was deeply disturbed.

I wish I'd gone in with no expectations because I think I might have enjoyed it more. Was it fun? Absolutely! But I was very sad to see that it wasn't the setting I was hoping for. I know that a lot of other people will enjoy this book way more, and honestly that makes me happy!

That ending was great though--the explosion of build-up from the rest of the book was well worth the wait!

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146. Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There are only a few books where I can say I related a little too much to the main characters. Usually, it's books exploring my immigrant background, or growing up plus-sized, but this is the first time I've read a LGBTQ+ book where I related so much to the mc and her journey to understanding her sexuality and who she is as a person.

I grew up surrounded by heteronormativity. Any moment in my childhood where I was one step away from realizing my sexuality, something or someone was there to remind me that I can't stray too far. I had a friend who wasn't the greatest of allies and I still believe that set me back a million years. Coming to terms with who I am in my late 20's and early 30's was a massive mind-fuck. Suddenly, I started thinking about all of the signs and moments I ignored so I could stay in my little bubble. Reading IMOGEN, OBVIOUSLY by Becky Albertalli was like having a mirror put up to my face with a character yelling, "I told you so" (and plot twist, that character yelling is my younger self who always argued against me hiding my truth.)

Imogen, the mc, has a friend in this book who is the personification of doubts a new member of the LGBTQ+ community may feel when they finally let themselves step out of the closet. "Am I queer enough? Do I have a right to be queer when I haven't experienced half of the things other people in the community have experienced?" This friendship was toxic and a reminder that every community has its darker side. I wanted to hug Imogen for the doubts this friend seeded in her. But I wanted to celebrate her childhood friend who helped her understand that she is valid.

Yes, there is an incredibly adorable (and quick) romance in this one, but I think more than that, what needs to be celebrated is the support of non-toxic friends, and the personal growth Imogen experienced despite the storm brewing inside of her.

This book was difficult to read because of how incredibly relatable it was and because I know this is also something Albertalli wrote from her own experiences. I often worry about what others think of me when I approach the topic of being a part of the LGBTQ+ community and thankfully, I have some amazing friends who help support me. But I can't help but think of the other kids or younger adults who don't have that support, or guidance. This book could genuinely help so many questioning readers.

Through quick, witty, personable, and deeply emotional writing, Albertalli has created a novel that I recommend to everyone--whether they're a part of the community or an ally. Words and assumptions have more power than a lot of people seem to think.

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147. Far From True by Linwood Barclay--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As always, Linwood Barclay entertained me and kept me hooked. I'm always amazed by the twist and turns and the moments where my jaw genuinely drops because of the reveals.

I'll hopefully be reading the third one in the series soon--I'm curious to see why 23 is so important and who is behind it all! I'm totally reading this series out of order, but book four thankfully didn't spoil it for me!

Onto the next one!

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Have you read any of these? What are your thoughts?

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Happy reading!

[maulthots]

genuine veilguard ama question: what do you find so compelling about it? I ask because veilguard gives me crazy motion sickness, and thus far I've found the game itself to be pretty boring and not worth pushing through the pain. but again, this game makes me so sick that I've probably played for a max of 20 hours, and haven't even picked up my fifth party member yet. does the game get more exciting at a certain point? does the dialogue ever stop feeling like a terrible boilerplate YA novel??

thank you for asking! this is a fun and interesting question because i think veilguard is a bad game, straight up. it's not good. i don't want to get into all the things i didn't like, because the list is long and i don't want to yuck anyone's yum any more than i'm about to, but in summary: almost everything about veilguard is done better in other games, and we would probably all be better off playing those.

that being said, i have spent many hours playing it, and i can tell you what i find compelling:

the world of dragon age is interesting to me, even if the game never explores most of the world like it should. therefore, it's up to me to use my mind palace to put my little guy into situations that don't exist in the game. what would they think about this event or that event? what if my little guy's backstory didn't suck and was different? and so forth. while frustrating, it's also so good for my imagination. it is enrichment in my enclosure to think about these things.

love to pick up items. love to open chests. love to kick down ladders for a shortcut that i will literally never use again. these mundane tasks are dumb as hell and pointless, and yet they scratch an itch. your mileage may vary.

gray wardens. my second playthrough, i picked the gray warden faction, and i actually really enjoyed myself. while much of it was not nearly as fleshed out as it should have been, i thought it was uniquely compelling compared to all the other factions so far, mostly because the game is about the blight, and your experience as a gray warden is directly relevant. again, if you put your mind palace in overdrive, you can fantasize about how your romance might mercy kill you someday. wonderful content that is totally made up and not real.

genuinely, it is beautiful. it's nice to look at (assuming you don't get motion sick!). me and my companions and all our little outfits look so nice and move so nice and don't creep me out.

idk how far you've gotten so i don't want to spoil it too much, but you have to make a choice between one city and another. i don't know how to say this without spoiling it but i picked one city the first two playthroughs and picked the other city on my third, and it was Way more fun and interesting to me. depending on what you pick you'll gain a quest and lose a quest, and i really liked the quest i gained. so. for whatever that's worth.

latching onto some nothing side character is also enriching. it didn't happen until my third playthrough, but when it did....oh boy.

as far as excitement goes, i would say definitely yes it gets more exciting once you get all your party members. there's a very big and exciting battle at the end of act 1 that's a lot of fun, imo. i think it happens not long after you get your whole party. that being said, you also start to run into significant pacing issues around companion quests, most of which are not super compelling. in addition, because veilguard has a limited number of enemies and is not focused on unique bossfights, the combat starts to feel repetitive. i love repetition so this isn't much of an issue for me, but it's a long game where you only fight a handful of the same enemies over and over.

tldr, no don't bother lol if it makes you sick. don't be a masochist, it's fine, i promise you're not missing much.

[todayimgonnaplay]

Today I'm gonna play: Final Fantasy 7 Remake

If my previous posts aren't obvious yet, I love RPGs, specifically JRPGs! First one dating all the way back to FF 1 itself, but on the PSP. I fell in love with the cute yet cool sprites, and this feeling of exploring a fantastical world filled with adventure. I watched the original FF7 on YouTube as a kid, and Cloud was my favourite protagonist for the longest time! I still love him, but after playing more FF titles over the years, I'm actually on the fence because there's a lot of great protagonists in this series! My memory's hazy with the plot but I know the main points, so I can't do many comparisons with the original. So far I've reached chapter 11. Despite the total gameplay time being approximately 33 hours which sounds short, there's quite a bit to do in the game. The main campaign takes its time, while periods of ''rest'' allow you to take on side quests that add onto worldbuilding. I'm not a fan of side quests in general for the repetitiveness of ''go to X place'' or ''fight X monsters'', and FF7R still has this, but the narrative gives this community spirit that thrives in the slums of Midgar. Dialogue and characterization is massively fleshed out compared to what I recall in the original. And from what I've also seen in FF16 (even though the dialogue is divisive), I think both games can be considered a new standard for writing going forward in the series.

I don't need to get into character designs for this game, they're iconic as is and are nicely enhanced. The new characters Leslie and Rosch are also nicely designed for their purpose (and characterization too), although I do think Leslie stands out quite a bit compared to the other NPCs, I wonder why.

Combat wise, in terms of post FF X (I've watched 16 but not played) or their turn-based systems, this is the most decent combat they've put out so far. Comparing to their other titles I've played (15, Strangers of Paradise, Lightning Returns), I think they've nailed it. It's not my favourite action combat in general, but it does its job. Cloud moves swiftly when I thought he'd be slow, and the other characters play smoothly too, even if there are mechanics that try to slow you down such as charging attacks and the ATB system which provide a nice sense of strategy for those that like turn based combat. I can't say that this does satisfy that turn based itch though, as I found myself needing to do the action bit despite the Classic system settings turned on. I'm not complaining though, as I do tend to enjoy action RPGs more than turn based.

I see that Masashi Hamauzu has returned to work on the music, and hearing the new arrangements have been great so far! Not one track has disappointed me so far, and I like the variety of instruments and versions used for tracks too. Like the motorcycle chase level.

Apart from all the praising, I do have a few gripes. I've noticed a few transitions that occur such as when you rest on a bench, which take way too long to complete before getting back to the overworld. I've also seen some repetitiveness with these slow segments in the level design too, such as going through small spaces, or walking on a thin plank/pipe. I was okay with it a few times, but with the amount of times this occurs, I wasn't too sure what the point was of adding them other than to pad the length, or create an artificial loading screen, or it could be an artistic choice in which then the last two are valid. A game that I've seen that does this well is Mirror's Edge. Small spaces are used often but don't take long to go through, and you're required to balance on pipes to provide some challenge while quickly getting to the other side. I've also noticed that there's no memory cursor in the commands, which RPGs pretty much have as a cursor. It's a bit irritating especially when healing, to have to manually navigate to the party member and select them, rather than automatically have them as the selected option first for quicker input. It's not like FF has never had this before, so it's a strange decision to leave it out.

But apart from that, I've been having a good time! I'll probably have to take a break from RPGs after this though, and go for other genres or shorter games, I'm sensing a RPG burnout coming up! Also, Wall Market was amazing. Terms exclusive to the game: ATB (Active Time Battle) - A type of turn based system that existed in the original FF7 and uses gauges as turns. Classic system - A game mode in the remake that allows your characters' actions to be automated while you can focus on the ATB aspect.

[iloveabunchofgames]

#JakeReviewsItch

Aerannis

by ff

Price (US): $4.99

Included In: Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality

Genre: Action

Pitch: A stealthy action-platformer with a 32-bit pixel aesthetic about a pink-haired assassin in a purple-drenched, matriarchal future.

My expectations: It's incredibly hard to stand out in the crowded world of indie, pixel-art metroidvanias. I hope that's the only reason I've never heard anything about Aerannis. If the game matches the quality of the screenshots, this could be something special.

Review:

Reviewing a different indie game every day can be exhausting (see: most of the reviews on this page), but then, out of nowhere, comes a game like Aerannis.

Aerannis claims to be a game like Metroid or Castlevania, and I can see the connection. It’s a side-scrolling platformer where new powers are acquired, which can be used to reach previously inaccessible areas, but that’s only a sliver of the pie.

Most of the action takes place in discrete, linear stages. Some focus on fast-paced jumping and shooting, along the lines of Metroid or Mega Man, while others are strict stealth challenges. Most often, they’re a blend of the two—stealth is the safest approach, but a quick trigger finger is usually a viable alternative when things go bad. Just don’t expect to make it through a fair fight without taking some hits.

Aerannis ate most of my day, and if I hadn’t forced myself to stop and write this review, I wouldn’t have quit until I reached the end. It’s a successful blend of genres, with terrific variety and style, and it hates bigots who think we can’t tell the difference between feminism and fascism.

+ An incredible blend of stealth and action. I haven't even mentioned the boss fights! + Looks great, sounds great. + I'm hesitant to comment too much on the story since I haven't finished the game, but I can't wait to see if it answers all my questions. If it ends up with some kind of both-sides, horseshoe-theory garbage, I'm coming back and re-writing this whole review, but I think it's commentary on fascism—whether it's addressing litigious transphobes or the Bush administration—is going to land on the correct side. + New abilities, new environments, new enemies, and new types of stages give the game fantastic momentum, hour after hour.

– Despite nailing a million little details throughout its enormous world, there are a few basic oversights that really bother me. The main character should have one more animation pose when launching into a jump. There's a stamina bar that recharges after dashing, but it's this teeny thing way off in the corner—it should make a noise when it's full, or the character could blink, or anything that would let me know she's ready to dash again. Switching between different types of grenades through a radial menu makes the character walk left and right. – Navigation. Characters tell you where to go next ("west of here"), but if you don't retain that dialogue, good luck making sense of the pause menu's clue ("go to the office"—okay, but which office, in which city?) Fast travel locations are often in weird spots. The radar's useless. The space between action levels provides a nice reprieve and good world building, but a map would have been nice. – Could probably stand to be an hour or two shorter. I can't think of a specific section I would cut—none of it's bad—but i know some of these rooms could go, and I wouldn't miss them.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🤍 Bottom Line: Play the danged game. This isn't "good compared to most of the Itch games I play." It is good. Play it. Buy it for your friends. Jumping, shooting, sneaking, and making fun of bigoted fascists—Aerannis has it all.

#JakeReviewsTwitch is a series of daily game reviews. You can learn more here. You can also browse past reviews...

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