#considering silvers WHOLE deal in the og games

[moonpaw]

i beat the big bad boss fight in xeno/verse and i think my opinion of this game is that i dont like it very mach

[themattress]

Pokemon Adventures - 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 22, 23, 25, 26

3. No, I have not. That's generally not something I do, with only rare exceptions.

4. I’m not sure how popular it is, but one of my big all-time NoTPs is Silver/Green. They’re siblings, people. Yes, not by blood, but siblings all the same. Also, Blue/Green is fairly popular and I get the appeal, but I just can’t get into it. I don’t feel as though the chemistry is there, especially when compared to Red/Blue (also, Green just....doesn’t strike me as straight.)

5. Nope. Canon kind of ruined Ruby/Sapphire for me, though!

6. Can’t say that it has; shipping isn’t that big a deal to me with this series.

7. Faba. I liked him when he first showed up and it looked like being the one who cheated Sun’s grandfather out of his island was the farthest he was going to go in terms of plot relevancy. But then Kusaka dumbfoundingly made him single-handedly responsible for the Aether family tragedy and had him usurp Lusamine’s rightful position as the arc’s main human villain. As far as I’m concerned, he can stay in Ultra Deep Sea; I don’t want him back!

9. On a moral level, Ghetsis and Lysandre. But on a character level: Emerald, Norman, Courtney (the original one), OG!Archie and Maxie, the aforementioned Faba, and Carr. Professors Juniper and Sycamore were also pretty bad until the last stretch of their arcs.

10. I’m perpetually torn between the Ruby/Sapphire arc or the Emerald arc. The former because it was going fairly well despite the inherently flawed set-up but then all went to absolute shit, and the latter because it, like its title character, just wasn’t very interesting.

11. Blake doesn’t seem all that well-liked from what I’ve seen, but I really appreciated his character. To have a straight-up sociopath as one of the lead characters and not in a villainous capacity is a unique creative choice that I can’t help but admire Kusaka for.

12. I’ve seen a lot of division in the fandom over the Sword/Shield arc, primarily due to Schilly seldom getting to battle on-panel due to her handicap of missing Pokemon and Soudo being considered not that interesting (at least, until that happened), but I really like it. To me, this is what the games’ story and depiction of the characters and setting should have been like.

15. The Ruby/Sapphire arc wasn’t good (a particularly unpopular opinion in Japan!)

16. I could change many things, but if I had to choose one, I’d change the whole Faba thing. Although if Kusaka doesn’t damn well rectify the lack of Moon/Lillie interactions in the volume releases, then I’d begrudgingly let Faba slide and choose more Moon/Lillie as my answer.

17. Instead of the infamous Celebi Ex Machina happening, I’d have Norman, Courtney and Steven remain dead, with only Steven later being resurrected via Infinity Energy in OR/AS.

19. I guess how much many of them take this manga for granted. It’s not perfect by any means, but for it to run for as long as it has and usually be of high quality is no easy feat.

22. I don’t hate Ruby, but I’ve never fully warmed up to him either.

23. Isn’t this just 11 all over again? But I’ll answer differently this time and say that Soudo is a good character and shouldn’t be shit on just because Schilly is understandably more popular.

25. Instead of Sird’s Darkrai clashing with Mewtwo causing five Dex Holders to become petrified, I’d....not do that. Then we could move on to a self-contained Emerald arc focusing on the Battle Frontier with Wally as the main character and no Guile Hideout shenanigans.

26. Green and Crystal, they both lend themselves well to a lot of different ships.

[mechanicalinertia]

What’s next for Divine Patronage?

So my Ranma / Ah My Goddess! / other miscellaneous anime that take place in 1990′s Tokyo fanfic has become more popular than anything else I’ve ever written. I may have classes but this is my designated ‘leisure activity’ now for sure.

Anyway, I have a rough idea for this initial ‘arc’, and how it’ll end. Fine. Whatever. More importantly, though, I have continuing ideas about how to cross over more and more mid-90′s anime and other things into this mishmash where Urd and Ranma have to ‘problem-solve’ things. Christ I wrote like 9 possible arc setups last night; it’ll take me years to make good on them if I do at all.

That’s why I’m a-posting brief summaries of them here, so if I give up on these people can just steal em’.

1. CRIMES OF THE MISHIMA GROUP AGAINST GOOD TASTE

Sayoko Mishima and her zaibatsu god-nap Keiichi and in doing so royally piss off Belldandy. Urd has to snatch the poor kid, who is now a minor god, out from Sayoko’s clutches before Belldandy just loses it and nukes earth in silent rage. Ranma can’t beat the compound alone, though, so Urd turns to Akiko Natsume - the actual head of Mishima - and her all purpose combat android for some help. Unfortunately, the android has a cat brain. Cue Ranma struggling to confront his fears to save the world.

Crossover with: All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku, a medium-obscure OVA from the 90′s starring Megumi Hayashibara as the wacky cat-bot-girl with Saeko Shimazu (Kodachi’s voice among others) as Akiko. Good fun.

2. FATE / STRANGE; DAYS

Remember Lind, the Valkyrie from the Angel Eater Arc of AMG? Well, she back. She intervened in Fate / Zero’s Holy Grail War (assumed to take place around 1994) and contracted w/ Kiritsugu the way Urd did with Ranma. Now Kiri may have lost all his lady companions, but he gets Illya back from Germany and is raising her alongside Shirou with the help of Illya’s wacky maids. Maybe lil’ Rin and Sakura are involved, too, I dunno.

Anyway, Lind considers the Sailor Senshi a threat to the divine order (they do appear to predate human civilization) - especially since Saturn’s Glaive of Silence is believed to be the Norse Gungnir, Spear of Destiny, Odin’s superweapon that could (even in the OG myths) rewrite reality itself to render enemies nonexistent.

So Lind gets Kiritsugu, Arturia Saber, and Prisma Illya to go to Tokyo and track down Sailor Saturn with Ranma’s help. Then they end up teleporting to the distant past of the Silver Milennium, back when the Senshi’s magic rendered the other planets of the Solar System inhabitable. Cue a string of John Carter references.

Crossover with: Fate / Zero, Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya. Might even separate the Fate story from the whole Saturn / Gungnir subplot - they’re just hunting Kirei and Gil, then. Sure. Fine.

3. THE FUTURE IS HERE AND IT SUCKS

Skuld time travels into the future, only to find that almost every single timeline ends with humanity being wiped out before the 22nd century - perhaps by SM’s Great Freeze, perhaps by other factors. Unfortunately, she forgot to close her possible-future-timeline portals properly, which leads to various cyberpunk futures bouncing off one another for supremacy in 1996.

(Look I wanted to just fuckin do BGC or GITS crossover. Couldn’t decide. Why not both?)

Crossover with: BGC 2032 (Or my 2069 rebot), Ghost in the Shell, Silent Mobius (maybe)

4. GAMES OF THE GODS

The obligatory ‘gang plays an RPG’ sitcom episode, only a) it’s Cyberpunk 2020 because I’ve read that system’s books, and b) the goddesses all bring their boytoys along to be sucked into the game world as their player characters. (Urd gets Ranma, Bell gets Keiichi, Skuld is the GM, Peorth gets Ryoga, Lind gets Kiritsugu) (I guess I better do an arc where Peorth patronizes Ryoga to screw with Urd...)

5. GUNS, BOMBS, ROCK N’ ROLL

Ranma gets dragged along by Urd for a vacation, theoretically to LA. But then after getting bored of the Obligatory Beach Episode, Urd rediscovers that she has a daughter in Chicago - Rally Vincent. She and Ranma rush off to screw up the events of the manga and protect her daughter from the brainwashing of a lesbian rapist crime lord. (I wish I was making that last bit up). Maybe Priss of BGC tags along to really hammer in the WACKY KENICHI SONODA CROSSOVER thing?

Crossover with: Gunsmith Cats, Riding Bean, maybe BGC

6. HEISEI BLOSSOMS BLOOMING

The Japanese government decides to reactivate the Teikoku Kagekidan project, this time using idoru as the mecha pilots instead of the Takarazura Revue thing they had going on in the 20′s. The K-on girls audition, the Love Live girls audition, someone in the Ranma cast or something tries out as well. Mecha are now nuclear-powered instead of steam-powered (whatever that means)

Crossover with: Original Sakura Wars franchise, Tite Kubo iteration non-involved. maybe K-on and Love Live

7. RANMA’S LUDICROUS EXCURSION: STAR-DIAMOND DUST IS UNCRUSADERABLE

Ranma gets a stand. Urd thinks it’s like her angel. Yare yare daze.

Crossover with: What do you think, genius?

8. ETERNAL SUMMER

Ranma gets trapped in a temporal anomaly centered around Tomobiki Town. Now it’s August 1982, Ataru and Lum are about to get married, and unless he can stop the total breakdown of the pocket reality within the seven days before the time loop resets he’ll become part of it forever. Trippy New Wave Existentialist Bullshit - Screwball Comedy meets Body Horror. Also see: Higurashi.

Crossover with: Urusei Yatsura

9. TRICOWBOYOUTLAW BEBOPGUNSTAR: EFF YOU, SPACE COWBOY

A valiant attempt to crossover all three of the late 90′s ‘Cowboy shonen’ anime of the time in one universe. A shared universe? Nah. We’re probably just gonna transplant all the characters into 90′s Tokyo again and watch the body count pile up.

Crossover with: Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Trigun. Oh, and maybe one of those ‘robo-maid’ shows from the aughties (Hand Maid May, Mahoromatic, Steel Angel Kurimi), just to fuck with everyone.

10. COPS AND ROBOTS

Ranma gets in trouble with the police for sneaking onto the Babylon Project, forced into community service, and then ends up blackmailed into the long-running grudgematch between the SV2 Labor Squad and the Tokyo Highway Patrol.

Crossover with: You’re Under Arrest, Patlabor (original OVA mostly)

11. SUPERIOR AUTOMATRONIC DISPUTE RESOLUTION: GO NAGAI EAT YOUR HEART OUT

Skuld gets in a fight with some deities from some rival pantheons, and as a proper grudgematch resolution they all resolve to build Giant Robots and then Battle Royale them. Ranma has to pilot one.

Crossover with: NOTHING.

12. THE HOUND OF ULSTER BARKS AT MIDNIGHT

Cu Chullain, husbando of Ex-Valkyrie and turncoat Irish goddess Scathach, teams up with Ranma in Dublin to stop IRA extremists from resurrecting the Tuatha De Dannan, specifically the Morrigan. A teenage Bazett (from Fate) shows up and gets all fangirly.

13. TALES FROM THE OOPS

An abandoned particle accelerator built in the 80′s near Stockholm may or may not cause Ragnarok. Ranma and some edgy Swedish Teenagers have to deal with 90′s recession bullshit and clean the place out

Crossover with: Tales from the Loop, Things From the Flood

That’s about it, honestly. I have other things I’d like to crossover with, tbh, mostly mecha stuff. Among them:

- Cannon God Exaxxion

- Eva

- Gundam UC

- Muv-Luv

-Negmia / another Ken Akumatsu trashpile (and I mean that in the best possible way)

Shit this is fun. Imma make another one of these posts with even more ludicrious crossovers later. Peace out.

[hjh-ceilo-monster]

Shooting Star pt.3 last (Jimin ff)

Continue from the last time...

I wake up in the room.Everything that I see is so bright at first.My eyes need to adjust for awhile to make it clear.Oh I’m in hospital?I can see my grandma and doctor are talking.

“Thank you doctor.” And that’s the que for the doctor to leave.My grandma walk to me and scold me a bit.“Why don’t you tell me about this before.” I stay silence for a moment and start speaking.“It isn’t this serious last time.” My grandma look at me well more like stare.

“Isn’t serious?The boy with pretty face told me last time you got bruise on your stomach.” Pretty face guy who? and she still continue.“And the one with boxy smile with the rabbit like face told me that you got bullied almost everyday.” Okay now I know who are they but how about Jimin?Did Jimin even know this as well? 

“I’ll talk to you later.The boys’re waiting.” She then walk out of the room.The door still wide open and the new guests come in.“Noona how’re you?”Jungkook speak with lovely voice and then Jin bring up the whole package of food.“Eat it,I just made it before we come hear.”

Meanwhile at the school

Author POV.

“So from what mr.park and kim tell me.I’ll consider you guys to be suspend for a month.It isn’t the propriate thing to do in school especially in my school.Your parents will get to know your action.” Taehyung sigh in relief.At least he can help Y/N by telling the principle.Jimin who still stay silent all the time look at Taehyung.

“Why you never tell this to me?” Jimin ask him with cold icy voice.“I know you’re mad at me,Jungkook or even Jin hyung.But listen,I really want to let you know. However your crush didn’t let me.” Allof sudden that makes Jimin flush red.

“Aish I’mmad at you and you still tease me.Also I didn’t” “Yeah yeah yeah whatever you will say I won’t listen.Because I know you literally head over heel toward Y/N.” Taehyung cut Jimin in the middle of his sentence.They both bickering with each other along the way to the hospital.

“Uhhhmm sorry Jimin-ssi.” Someone call Jimin from behind so both of them stop.Jimin turn around to the girl with confused look.“I think this is yours.”She hands him a diary and quickly leave.Jimin shrug and then with Taehyung they continue to go to hospital.

- Magical Time skip -

Jimin with the boys take a good care of Y/N since the incident.The whole school know about it.Y/N got a lot of gifts from her class,wish her to get well soon,when she was in hospital.She was glad that her class was kind toward her.The boys visited her everyday back then especially Jimin.

It has been a year now that the incident happen.Now they are reaching the end of their semester.The home coming is going to set up soon.Every students excited with because this will be last celebration for seniors with their friends and juniors.Every year the school will set dress code and theme of the event.

“Hyungs who will you be your partner to the event?” Jungkook ask Jimin and Taehyung who just walk toward the table.“I don’t know man,I’m not interest to bring someone with me.” Taehyung answer.“How about you,Jimin hyung?” Taehyung then start to nudge Jimin and smirk.“Kookie,isn’t it obvious that he’ll Y/N to home coming?” “Yah! stop tease me for a second,will you?” Jungkook and Taehyung burst out a laugh.

“What’s so funny guys?” Y/N who know nothing just walk into the canteen.Take her sit and then prepare to listen for their answer.“No noona we just tease Jimin hyung like always.” They all then chit chat and eat the lunch.

“Will you attend the home coming?” Taehyung ask and he know well who listen carefully to her answer right now.“Maybe nope because I might have to help my grandma.” With that Jimin facedrop a bit and Jungkook pat his shoulder.She didn’t notice his face.

“I think you should come noona.It’s our annaul event for the school,promise this will be fun.” Jungkook speak to encourage her to say yes.“I’ll try then but if I can’t remember to catch up with me about the story later.” Taehyung and Jungkook glance at each other.Jimin only sigh and eat qiuetly for the rest of the lunch.

The day of event arrive in no time.Y/N didn’t attend since she don’t want to deal with her ‘problem’.She sits in her room and read her favourit book.She is so focus with her reading without even notice the knock on her window.

“Why is there a sound outside?” She wonder when she hear a lot og knock on her window.She walk toward it and open the fold.Look through the window she see a car park in front of her house.

“What are you guys doing here?” She ask Taehyung and Jungkook who already dress in tux.Her grandma walks toward her and hgently pat her shoulder.“Go back up and dress.You need to attend that home coming with the boys.” Y/N look at her grandma and glance back a bit toward those two.

“Noona please hurry,I didn’t want to let him wait.” Jungkook speak and Taehyung just push Y/N upstairs.Those boys help me with the dress and make up.You finish in no time.“Well let’s go!” Y/N talk with her grandma again.“You know what is today right?So why...” “Aish stop thinking too much and hurry.Isn’t your date waiting there?” “No no you’re-” Grandma only smile.“Just go.”

Taehyung drive his car with full speed.They all reach the event in no time. Entering the room,all eyes are on the girl that walk in between them.No one really remember who she is until they see her up close.Gaspes and whispers then fill the air.

“Where’s hyung?” Jungkook ask Taehyung but notice the guy from afar afterward.“Aye you guys so late.” Jimin speak,he’s going to continue his speech until...“You...come?” All the words in his head mess up when he sees the girl he wish her to come the most stand here.Standing with that stunning look in the dress.He never sees her in make up before and he loves it,love her even more.

“Hyung! let’s go and get some drink.” Jungkook look at his hyung with disbelief look.When they start walking,he walk to Jimin and whisper.“You need to thanks me and Tae Tae hyung later.We did a lot of job for your girl.”

The event start with some speechfrom MC.He tell the students what activities they will do during the night.Playing some games,the show from honnor students and of course there’ll be the time for finding king and queen for the event.The night continue with beautiful songs with the musical vibes since that’s the theme.

“Well well,no is the time for the king and queen of the event,isn’t it?So where should we start from,the king or the queen?” The MC ask and everyone is throwing words toward the stage as a reply.“Let’s from the Gents first,the king of the event in the musical theme goes to...” The teachers who are judges walk to the stage and send the result.

“Oh the result well a lot of names here.But the final decision belongs to...Park Jimin.” Taehyung and Jungkook smile then push Jimin up on the stage.Everyone rounds applause.Y/N smiles at him.“So shall we get the queen then.”The MC flip to the other page and start the announcement.“Wow surprisingly there;sonly one name suggest to the list.The queen then belong to Y/N.”

The crowd look at her then applause.Those two beside her even scream for her. Meanwhile the boy who stand on the stage now getting nervous.Taehyung and Jungkook act as her gaurd and send her to the stage.Giving Jimin smirk faces before return.“This is the king and queen for event,give the a finalapplause again ladies and gentlemen.”

“Now to ending the night,shall the king and queen dance to open the final activity of today on the dance floor.” Jimin then bring Y/N to the dance floor,hold her tight with his strong arms.Y/N who is now flush red and doesn’t know what to do follow his lead.“You should hold my hand like this and the other one put it here.”

Jimin take her hand and place on his shoulder while the other one he hold really tight.The song then start and they both start to dance.Step by step follow the melody of the song.It’s such a memorable moment not only for everyone but or them.They only focus on each other.The other couples sthen step in and start.

“Hyungs seem like our work paid off really well.” Jungkook talk and Taehyung nod.They both flee in the crowd and try to get a girls.Jimin then walk out the room with Y/N.He still hold hands tight.Walk down the corridore until it lead them to the garden of the school.Y/N notice the moon.

“Jimin I think I’ll go back now.” Jimin frown with her words.He didn’t want her to go just not yet.“Stay please.” Jimin grab another hand and hold her tighter.”Ummm okay.” ‘I’m going to tell him/her now then.’ that what’re they thinking now.Both take the deep breathe.

“I have something to tell you.” Both say at the same time.“You first.” and again, Jimin scratch his nape before speak.However the girl speak first.“I like...you a lot Jimin.But I don’t know if you believe me this,that I’m...” Y/N then take off her pendant.Her form start to change into a fox with bright red fur and silver glitter. Jimin only look at her witheyes full of hope.

‘I find her,I really find her.’ He exclaim loudly in his head.He’s so delight that finally he find what he lost.Y/N confused with his reaction and wear back her pendant.“Why?” Jimin only smile and walk to her.“Well actually I kinda know you’re my Eundae.” “You know..all along?”

“Not that I’m so sure.I noticed you habbit since we start to be friend.The thing that make me realise is this.” He hand her something with she surprisingly take it.“My diary?You read all?” Jimin nod and smile.“Open it.” She does what he say,flip the diary open and see the note which not her hand writting.

‘I read all of it already.Why didn’t you tell me hhmm?For all the time I’m with you, it makes me realise a lot of things.Make me know who you’re,the real you and many struggles.Knowing you’re wishing with the starts every year before that to meet me make me sad and happy at the same.I’m not gonna lie to you,I do exactly the same.Thank you for giving me the feeling of caring,warmness and lastly the love.So will you be mine?’

“Yes” She only whisper,aware that her tears will fall down even more and sob out of her mouth.Jimin just lift her up with excitement.Kissing her passionately and hug her really tight.He finally found what he lost so does she.Just because of the wish that they made with the stars,that shooting stars at night.Their wish collide and fate bring them back togather.Under the moonlight that once they curse toward it.Curse that how cruel of the night was.But not anymore,not form now on.The stars always bring their gift back,standing at the old place in their memory with new feeling that they called love.

“I love you…my foxey.”

“I love you Jiminie.”

-The end-

[crystalnet]

The Awkward 7th Gen of JRPGs and Mistwalker Games

Ah the seventh generation. The era in which, partly because of the actual state of gaming and partly because of unrelated circumstances, I fell out of love with games. It wasn't until the dust had cleared on the gen that I got back into this past-time and was able to appreciate and re-evaluate the generation by doing a bit of an autopsy on it once this long, strange gen had finally come to a close. The 7th gen seems troubled and problematic from the outset for a variety of reasons, but being a JRPG-centric blog, I'm going to specifically discuss the state of the JRPG during this gen. 

To very briefly summarize in a likely unacceptably reductive sense the prior generations in order to contextualize the seventh gen, the prior gen, (gen 6: dreamcast, ps2, gamecube, og xbox in that order) was what I would refer to as the bronze age of JRPGs if we are going to go by a condensed version of the generations of American comic books as a model. JRPGS had fully made the jump to full 3D graphics, began integrating voice-acting and had even feauted some titles that made the first major moves away from traditional turn-based or active-time-battle-esque combat systems, whether that meant leaning closer to the action-RPG genre or using MMO-esque semi-automated combat devoid of random encounters. 

That was a slightly awkward, growing-pains-ridden period that had, despite the odds, having some pretty strong titles. Still riding the hype and massive popularity/sales of games like FFVII, this specific genre was still a big deal at that point and hadn't quite begun its quick fade into obscurity which happened later in the first decade of the 21st century. The best JRPGs of this gen built on the success of their prior gen and examples include the solid to great FFX and universally hailed Persona 3 and 4, as well as Dragon Quest 8, just to name a few of the most well known  of several strong candidates. These games were about as strong as the best of the previous gen, while enjoying the advantage of much stronger graphical presentation, and potentially deeper systems. The PS1/Saturn generation had some really strong titles in this genre and for some this is easily the peak of the genre, but even if you’re partial to this one the most (which includes the run of FF7-9), you have to admit the graphical limitations led to these games being visually trapped between the more detailed graphics of the next gen and the clean-cut if limited pixel art of the SNES/genesis games (which are the golden age to PS1's silver). Indeed, the Cthonic era of JRPGS (NES/Master Drive and earlier) culminated in an explosion of inventiveness and refinement in games like Final Fantasy 4-6, Phantasy Star 4 and Chronos Trigger, all games that would become the actual gold standard of the genre.

And so without derailing much further, we thus have three straight generations of impressive and semi-consistent JRPGs and development of the genre. This would peter out significantly though, even before the 7th generation began, and the muted reaction to Final Fantasy XII, towards the end of the PS2's life-cycle may have marked a bit of a sea-change. As big, mainstream games like Halo and Call of Duty gained more and more momentum, I think more specialized and more-- for lack of a better term-- Japanese genres and institutions took a bit of a hit around this time. Developers wanted to cater the American and Global market and so big shooters and neu-platform open-worlds like Assassin's Creed had a lot more cache at the beginning of the 7th Gen. I also think that part of the problem was the question of what to do about turn-based combat. As technical possibilities opened up in gaming, the back-and-fourth of true turn-based combat that was previously expected from the genre began to feel more and more archaic. This was partly due to titles like Ocarina of Time or the several strong Action-JRPGs around the time making real-time combat seem like a viable option for deeper role-playing experiences. Alas, there was still a feeling, and for some there still is, that turn-based combat will always be the central tenet of the genre, and that real-time games just don't count. 

In fact, JRPG's themselves reflected the feeling that turn-based systems were passe by openly experimenting with it in the 6th gen. Games like FFXII and the Tales game, as well as Level 5's string of Action-RPGs all feature the depth of systems that RPGs of olden always offerered, while also featuring real-time combat or something close to it (Indeed FFXII featured the pseudo real-time of MMO-style combat, which would be the way forward for other franchises going forward. And so in a way the genre could be seen as undoing what it once was in order to adapt.

But where did that leave it by the time the 7th gen was underway? Well, it practically left it in absentia. This was about a decade after the massive and fortuitous success and sales figures of FFVII (which, considering, it was always strange to me that it sold so well in US. Was that evocative cover with the buster sword, and Cloud looking toward Midgar amidst a clean-white backdrop the sole marketing for that game?). Alas the landscape had thoroughly chanced, and this was before Skyrim would drop. There were over 3 years of 7th gen games before that mini game-changer was unleashed on the world, helping to shift any attention on the RPG that existed at that point in a westward direction. But certain sign-of-the-times moments were abound before this even, like the release of FFXIII to initially positive critic reception which quickly faded to very very scathing reception more generally, almost instantly after initial buzz wore off. What used to be the paragon of the genre had reduced said genre to a largely automated, overly-slick walking-and-fighting simulator, sending the reception of the genre down one long, linear hallway of death and despair. Now this specific gamer actually appreciated a lot of what that game did despite the hate, but I can't deny that the game sucked out a lot of the life of the genre in the way exploration, free-will and customization was either limited or entirely absent. The games a giant anime movie with tons and tons of successive fights. If you like the combat system, which imo was a valiant if slightly superficial riff on the active-turn-based systems of old, this might have been okay, but if you didn't-- and many don't-- then the game was nothing but endless cut-scenes and confusing lore. But hey it was gorgeous, and that's what this generation was all about right? Right...

The very Western focus on graphical prowess and polish was something Square Enix seemed to believe was an essential part of Final Fantasy, and so put more focus on that than, oh I don't know, having anything in the way of a single town or basically any exploration in that game. And this focus on graphics was kind of the story of the gen, save for Nintendo who defiantly snubbed their nose to processing power and went the way of innovation instead (innovation that largely did not include all that many JRPGs...). Speaking of Final Fantasy though, the once titan of the genre took another hit around the time this gen was about to begin when Sakaguchi, the OG creator, left Square to form Mistwalker Studios. This would be a hit for Square as far as many fans were concerned, and even a nail-in-the-coffin for some, but it also meant good things for the genre as a whole. Sakaguchi ostensibly left Square Enix in part due to the increased pressure that management was putting on the creatives there during the fall-out from Spirits Within’s financial failure-- their dalliance in Feautre Film- headed by Sakaguchi himself and the project which caused the company to briefly experience financial free-fall as they hemorrhaged money right up until FFX and Kingdom Hearts turned things around for them in a major way. But the damage was done, and projects at the company would be handled differently going forward. It is a bit ironic then, that Sakaguchi would go on to struggle with management at Nintendo while working on Last Story after returning to the company he previously had left along with Square when they refused to adopt CD-technology a decade prior. Last Story-- the game he made for the Wii-- would still come out as a brilliant answer to the dearth of the genre at the time, featuring inventive real-time combat that put a focus on positioning-based strategy.

Indeed some of the more promising games of this genre during the gen were developed by Mistwalker. Not all are perfect, but their third big effort in Last Story is quite good, and is still a unique and novel example of what combat could be in JRPG's going forward. Their first two games, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, both had tried-and-true turn-based style combat, and felt a bit uninspired, if not unwelcome in a very dry stretch of time for the genre, the former's Toriyama-led art-style giving it the feeling of Dragon Quest 8 and Chrono Trigger. It didn't quite live up to those games, but Lost Odyssey is an interesting entry considering it gives us a glimpse into what FFXIII could have been in some alternate universe where Square stayed Square-Soft forever maybe. 

And so, weirdly, Sony takes a huge hit from Mistwalker's sheer existence, since all three of these games were released on 360 and Wii--consoles that basically had no JRPGs otherwise-- and to top it off, another one-time Sony loyalist Tetsuya Takahashi, who also having left Square earlier in the decade, went on to work on Xenoblade for the Wii, after previously doing the terrific Xenosaga trilogy on PS2. Alas, Sakaguchi and Takahashi may have singe-handedly kept the genre alive with their games, keeping the promise and magic of the golden age of JRPGs alive, if just barely (indeed, both of these men cut their teeth on classics like Final Fantasy 4 and Chrono Trigger). Meanwhile, Sony holds things down with only a couple big JRPGs, among which is Ni No Kuni, an excellent offering from Level-5 and Ghibli which is super solid and yet skews a bit young (as any Ghibli-related project reasonably should), alongside Nier, from the whacky Yoko Taro who had previously released uneven if cult-status-y JRPGs on previous Sony consoles in the form of the Drakengard games. And while Nier, Ni No Kuni, the Mistwalker games and Xenoblade are all solid to great JRPGs, they’re pretty much the extent of the genre this gen-- five measly games, all of which are spread across the three systems unevenly. Indeed, no single console this gen could stand on its own this gen when it came to this genre, with Sony being the old stand-by failing to deliver on that unless you just happened to really love the entire FFXIII trilogy.

�� Things we could formerly rely on like Persona, SMT or Dragon Quest were either just straight up no-shows this gen, or were relegated to handhelds. There was Last Remnant on PS3 as well, and I haven't played it, but reception is mixed to negative. All of the other aforementioned games though offer solid experiences, with some sticking to their guns by way of old-school turn-based combat and a few others pushing ahead with new iterations of Active/Semi-Real Time systems (Last Story, Ni No Kuni, Xenoblade), and yet, they are simply too few and far between in number compared to the previous gen. This problem really dogged the entire gen, and was merely symptomatic of the darker turn gaming took around the time, and I'm glad to see things feel like they're headed in a better direction as of late. JRPGs are always the deepest games I play out of the various genres that I fuck with, so my estimation of a console's library is directly related to how many solid JRPGs there are. And while I love the Wii and PS3 overall for what the do offer, they come close to not having enough to offer based solely off their relatively skimpy JRPG offerings. Wii comes out on top for me based only on Xenoblade and Last Story, and sort of Muramasa and Zelda insofar as Vanilla Ware and Zelda games count, but even the freakin 360 might have a stronger offering than PS3, which is a serious problem. 

Luckily, I really do think things are on the up-and-up lately though, with smaller, retro-style JRPGs coming into vogue among other things, giving smaller developers wiggle room in terms of acceptable budget, and big franchises like Persona are finally thawing out of deep-freeze after being a no-count dring the previous gen (save for Catherine), while Final Fantasy and Square in general are enjoying a bit of a comeback (Nier Automata, Nioh and I Am Setsuna all in one year). Alas, Persona 5 showed up finally and just in time to universal acclaim, and the fact that it's a successful and truly turn-based JRPG with a decent budget and progressive, forward-thinking mechanics is very impressive in itself. I think Dark Souls was a bit of a beacon of light last gen, in the way that it showed how a Japanese dev could make a deep RPG in a style that was markedly different from more traditional action-JRPG style, while also drawing on western games like Skyrim in its approach. It seemed to bridge the gap between western and eastern-style RPGs and gave people a reason to hype Japanese RPG developers once again at a time when there were less reasons than ever before. I'm not a big Souls guy, but I really appreciate that it brought attention back to a dying genre at a crucial time. So despite this awkward generation's slightly lacking and inconclusive answer to the question: "what should JRPG's this gen be like?", things may finally be settling back into what just might be described as progress for a genre that some may have thought was down for the count. Perhaps it was a necessary awkward period that has allowed developers working in the genre some time to re-calibrate and reassess the landscape,

Now if only devs could figure out how to resuscitate the 3D platformer--Indeed, If JRPGs experienced a drought during last gen, then the 3D platformer went into a near permanent coma and was basically pronounced dead save for the big, mainline console Mario games that come out every 5-10 years. But that's a story for another day, for now, I still need to beat Persona 5 before Xenoblade 2 drops...

[sanuske-ramblings]

Fire Emblem Echoes Thoughts

I just finished Echoes, and time to write up some thoughts

I really enjoyed Echoes, the overall experience was a lot more enjoyable than my playthrough of Fates. Admittedly I never ended up finishing Fates, but I think that speaks to how much I enjoyed Echoes. 

Considering this is going to be a long one, I’m going to be nice and throw it under the cut

One of the things that stopped my from finishing Fates was the fact that my shoulder buttons on my 3DS don’t work, so soft resetting my 3DS was a challenge. I also played Fates, and Awakening, on hard mode, which was probably a mistake. So Mila’s turnwheel has been a godsend. The magic Ctrl+Z of the gods has done wonders for the enjoyability of Echoes. Naga’s Mistake Eraser turns a slightly misplaced unit, OR THOSE DAMNED WITCHES, a minor inconvenience instead of an entire mission restart.

The voice acting and the pre-Awakening Supports have also been a breath of fresh air. Clive and Mathilda’s supports being some of my favorite to listen to. Mae and Boey also had some fun banter and seeing their relationship develop over the course of the game, even in side conversations inside of dungeons/towns was really enjoyable. I really hope that Fire Emblem Switch is closer to Echoes than Awakening when it comes to its supports. Awakening has some nice supports, but everything, with the opposite gender, needed to potentially end in marriage, which kinda limited how things were written. Admittedly there were some weird lack of supports for some characters. like Alm not having supports with any of his friends, and Mycen not having a support with Celica. I get that it would mean that you’d only get the support in the post-game, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

I wasn’t a fan of the single item inventory system. Having only one weapon is fine, but the fact that healing items, support items, and the random cosmetic items were also bound to that inventory spot was dumb. As there were like 3 cosmetic items I found that I couldn’t even use because I should just give them a healing ring or a shield. I’m fine with weapon degradation leaving fire emblem like in Fates, I have no strong feelings one way or another.

Weapon Arts were cool, it provided some nice specialization in a game with like 5 classes total. My issue is with how long it takes to unlock new weapon arts, and I’m sad that I didn’t find out about the Warding Arrow art from the silver bow until after I had to deal with the multiple medusa wielding enemies. That would’ve made my life a lot easier. I liked the unique skills from Fates, and some of the character building from Awakening/Fates with the class skills. Even if it did kidna turn into a spreadsheet of who to turn into what when.

Speaking of classes. The tiny number of classes keeps things simple, but is very much something that is a relic of Echoes being a remake of FE2. The lack of the thief class makes me sad. I hope to see the full gambit of colorful classes in Fire Emblem Switch. 

The bosses were stupid. Medusa is a stupid spell, that while hard countered by silence/Ward arrows... you don’t know those exist until you’ve already had to do some dark magic shenanigans to teleport Alm across the map to stab a witch in the face so hard she died yesterday. Side note, the witches themselves were dumb. In a game like fire emblem, enemies that teleport across the map and deal magic damage to literally any unit is so dumb. I only lost a unit to that once, and it was either Valbar or Clive... BECAUSE BY THE END OF THE GAME CLIVE HAD 1 FREAKING RES. Thank god for Grima’s failure De-happener. Jeddah’s gimick is dumb, mostly due to the lack of resistance on my units because I didn’t have any dread fighters to completely ignore the damage by the high priest of Duma. Duma himself wasn’t that bad... mainly because Alm is busted and having a godslaying sword makes killing a god pretty easy.

I was a bit bitter about the lack of living dragons in the game. You fight an entire fallen dragon civilization’s worth of necrodragons throughout the game, but when you end up fighting some ghost dragons... they were ghost necrodragons. Which was really disappointing. Why have a ghost zombie dragon? Why not just make a ghost dragon? So naturally I was elated in the post-game when a trio of water dragons known as Dagons appeared on my ship and promptly kicked my ass. Once I decided to bring Nino Delthea on board to OHKO a dragon in the face the dragons were less of a threat, but I’m amused that Alm’s godkilling sword that he used to kill a dragon god not 2 hours prior isn’t effective against OH dragons. I should note that after killing the 3 water dragons, the living version of the necrodragons appeard and promptly got wiped out because they still counted as undead/terrors so Alm murdered them in like 1 turn. I was also pleased to find an OG fire dragon in the post-game dungeon that I didn’t manage to kill because Alm got OTK’d in an optional fight with some entombed.  RIP Alm

Character wise, Delthea was one of my favorites. Not only because she was my strongest unit by far, having the highest attack, luck, and speed out of my entire army, but because she was so dang fun to listen to. Her god-complex was fun, and her victory/level up quotes are just full of confidence. My favorite memory of her involved her killing a necrodragon in one hit, and then saying “Who do you bow to now” or something similar. Which is the equivilent of a small child killing a demi-god and saying “who’s your god now” with no sense of irony. She flat out believes that she’s perfect and the goddess’s favorite, and it’s just charming. Similarly the battle couple dynamic of Clive and  Mathilda is just so cute. Their supports were literally them expressing their love and how they’d slay a thousand men to express their love. I love it, it’s cute, and the voice acting is great.

My biggest issue has to do with the end of act 4. For reference, an embarrassingly large number of Celica’s army were on their teir 2 classes, and even tier 1 for a certain Atlas. I was waiting until the final act to get everybody up to their prime and be ready to fight off against the evil god Duma. Except there was one thing that got in my way. The fact that the end of act 4 takes control away from celica’s army and makes you use Alm’s army until the final battle where you suddenly get the whole army again. I expected to have more time to develop Celica’s army, so my final battle was supposed to be both armies reunited fighting together, but instead I had a fully armed and powerful Alm’s crew, and a handful of units from celica’s path who are better suited to killing brigands than gods.

The animations were pretty cool, but it is pretty much a undisputed fact that Fire Emblem animations peaked in the GBA games. That is one of the things I’m most excited to see in Fire Emblem Switch. Seeing Fire Emblem animations on a home console where they can go all out with animations instead of being limited on the 3DS makes me unbelievably excited for the next fire emblem. Sidenote: If Fire Emblem Warriors doesn’t re-create GBA Crit animations in epic 3D for people’s special attacks it will all be for naught. 

Echoes is probably my last 3DS game. I’m pretty sure it is the last 3DS fire emblem game, and my 3DS has the aforementioned shoulder button issues that are a nuisance in fire emblem, but literally game breaking in other games. I’m really glad that my last 3DS game was so enjoyable.  Echoes has it’s faults, but it is enjoyable and mIla’s turnwheel makes fire emblem as a handheld game without that required downtime every time you get crit and die randomly. Thank you Fire Emblem Echoes. Thank you very much. I hate that I missed 2 90% hits in a row and then got hit by 1 30%, but thank you for everything but that.... and the witches. They are just actually bad game design.

[junker-town]

Damian Lillard’s amazing finish and 6 other things from Sunday night in the NBA

Damian Lillard has arrived

Damian Lillard has always been overlooked. He’s one of the best shooters in the league at his position and has always been one of the league’s better scorers. Plus, he’s always dependable late in games.

Yet, he’s still been an All-Star snub for the last two seasons. He’s never been in the national conversation discussing the best players in the league, either. Until now, that is. On Sunday night, Lillard showed out against Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony. He dropped 36 points and 13 assists while keeping the Trail Blazers’ above water through a late rally from the Thunder.

But there was one moment during the game where you knew it was going to be Lillard’s night. Let’s freeze the frame.

It went in. http://pic.twitter.com/pyae6mGQHb

— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) November 6, 2017

Did that really go in? Seriously. Lillard left two defenders in the dust and finished through Paul George’s 6’10 wingspan? Yup, he’s arrived.

That snapshot came from this. He was too quick for the Thunder to keep up with.

Damian Lillard is good at basketball. http://pic.twitter.com/EeYLHjnzL0

— Mr. Portland (@Mr_Portland) November 6, 2017

And he was clutch — again. But take a look at the whole performance. It was masterful.

I’m not saying we should call Lillard an MVP candidate or anything at this point, but he’s certainly playing like he believes he should be there. And if he keeps playing this way, there’s no way he’ll be an All-Star snub for a third year in a row.

Lil Wayne knows what it is.

The shoes. Probably the shoes. Gotta. Be. The. Shoes. /// @adidasHoops x @Dame_Lillard x @LilTunechi /// http://pic.twitter.com/oxUmKLbBvF

— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) November 6, 2017

Gregg Popovich is a great winner, but he’s a better human being

Pop is going to go down as one of the best two or three coaches to ever coach the game of basketball, but probably won’t have a coach of the year award to show for it.

On Sunday, he got win 1,156 and passed Phil Jackson on the list for sixth all-time in wins. He’s only 181 wins away from being the all-time leader and he could probably do that in his sleep.

Congrats to @spurs Coach Gregg Popovich on moving up to 6th on the all-time wins list with 1,156! http://pic.twitter.com/6HFBXzVvEm

— NBA (@NBA) November 6, 2017

But, of course, it’s Popovich. And he knows when it’s time to use his platform to recognize something bigger than himself. So after he crossed his milestone, he didn’t really feel like talking about basketball in light of the mass shooting that happened in Texas on Sunday morning.

Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich 6th on all time wins list after tonight's win. But he didn't want to talk about bball http://pic.twitter.com/hHMgVA6jgH

— Kacie Hollins (@kaciehollinsTV) November 6, 2017

“We won a basketball game. Considering what’s gone on today, it’s pretty meaningless. When you think about the tragedy those families are suffering, it’s just inconceivable — impossible to put your head around,” Popovich said when addressing reporters after the Spurs’ win. “So I think talking about basketball tonight, that would be pretty inappropriate. So you guys have a good night.”

Well done, Popovich. Enough said.

Kristaps Porzingis joins great company in a wild win

The OG Unicorn is back at it again. Porzingis had to bring his team back from a 19-point deficit after the Indiana Pacers pulled away from the Knicks early on Sunday evening.

The game seemed to be in hand, but talent always shines through in the NBA. Porzingis was very clearly the best player on the floor for either team and proceeded to play like it. He dropped 40 points on the Pacers along with eight rebounds and six (!) blocks — including this one.

Yeah, Porzingis is the new mayor of New York. http://pic.twitter.com/rkDThs6HE4

— SLAM Magazine (@SLAMonline) November 6, 2017

Almost every player to put up numbers like those in a single game is in the Hall of Fame today.

It didn’t matter what the defense did. Porzingis was too big and too skilled for them to handle. The 40 points he scored weren’t easy. A lot of them were tough, contested jumpers like these.

New York's future is bright with Kristaps Porzingis + Frank Ntilikina. Porzingis is playing like an MVP. Ntilikina is defending like a vet. http://pic.twitter.com/DdOPJMU5sm

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) November 6, 2017

At one point, Porzingis scored 15 straight points for the Knicks to rally them back into the game. He put on a clinic on both ends of the floor and showed us exactly why he was the original unicorn.

The Lakers are actually winning games

Don’t look now, but the Lakers are 5-5 and seem to be making fast progress with their young stable of players. Brandon Ingram scored 20 points and snatched seven rebounds in a 107-102 win over the Grizzlies.

The Lakers’ rookies weren’t too bad, either. Kyle Kuzma got his second start of the season and put up his second double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Lonzo Ball hasn’t found his shot quite yet, but still managed to dish out nine assists and grab five rebounds while scoring nine points.

This team probably still isn’t any good, but it’s loads of fun. They’ve got quirky players with lots of flaws, but they’re growing and that’s fun to watch. Plus they do things like this sometimes.

This will make the Showtime Lakers very proud. Lakers ran this to perfection. http://pic.twitter.com/HKqhYjC0DJ

— Donald Green. (@TheDonaldGeeNBA) November 6, 2017

SHOWTIME IS BACK, BABY.

James Harden can’t miss

How do you stop this from happening?

James Harden goes off for 22 points in the first quarter against the Jazz That step back though http://pic.twitter.com/0tlKDDOlqa

— NBA Inside Stuff (@NBAInside_Stuff) November 6, 2017

You don’t. It just happens. Wrong time, wrong place Jazz.

Harden only missed six shots throughout the whole game and took 25 total to score his points.

The only other player in league history to score that efficiently? Michael Jordan himself. Harden is consistently hitting levels that all-time great players have in this league. He’s one of the best offensive players we’ve ever seen. I mean, look at this.

Need more proof that Harden’s one of the best you’ve ever seen? Here you go.

James Harden's 91 points scored or assisted on is the third highest total in a game in @NBAHistory. 1) Wilt (104) 2) Harden (95) http://pic.twitter.com/m7I1lb5psk

— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) November 6, 2017

James Harden joins Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in @NBAHistory with 50+ PTS & 10+ AST on 75% FGM in a game.#Rockets http://pic.twitter.com/iakAdd3Hrf

— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) November 6, 2017

Any time you’ve got a guard being mentioned in the same breath as Wilt Chamberlain, you know you’re dealing with something special. That’s what Harden was against Utah and that’s what he’s been during his time in Houston.

And Harden seems to be a pretty cool dude, too.

After the Jazz win, @JHarden13 gifted young hoops prospect @Griggs_boy32 with his @adidasHoops sneaks. #swag http://pic.twitter.com/m0xfd2ysJJ

— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) November 6, 2017

Fear the beard.

Bradley Beal is working on his All-Star campaign

With no John Wall on the road against the Raptors, Beal scored 38 points, giving him three straight games of at least 36 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Beal came out the gate hot against the Raptors and dropped 22 points in the first half. He hurt Toronto from outside with his three ball and inside on drives.

Bradley Beal nets his 3rd straight game with 35+ points in @WashWizards road win! http://pic.twitter.com/lwMXasQnno

— NBA (@NBA) November 6, 2017

Keep playing like that? That All-Star nod is coming soon.

Are the Cavs still bad?

Yup. They gave the Hawks their second win of the season.

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Better luck next time, fellas.

Sunday Night’s NBA Scores

Hawks 117, Cavs 115 (Peachtree Hoops Recap | Fear The Sword Recap)

Heat 104, Clippers 101 (Hot Hot Hoops Recap | Clips Nation Recap)

Celtics 104, Magic 88 (Celtics Blog Recap | Pinstripe Post Recap)

Wizards 107, Raptors 96 (Bullets Forever Recap | Raptors HQ Recap)

Rockets 137, Jazz 110 ( The Dream Shake Recap | SLC Dunk Recap)

Spurs 112, Suns 95 ( Pounding the Rock Recap | Bright Side of the Sun Recap)

Knicks 108, Pacers 101 (Posting and Toasting Recap | Indy Cornrows Recap)

Timberwolves 112, Hornets 94 ( Canius Hoopus Recap | At The Hive Recap)

Trail Blazers 103, Thunder 99 ( WTLC Recap | Blazer’s Edge Recap )

Lakers 107, Grizzlies 102 (Silver Screen and Roll Recap | Grizzly Bear Blues Recap)