#hypest moment of my whole life

[bornetoblood]

Guys I went to see Mountain Goats and John sung the fucking Union song

[styrmwb]

Favorite Final Fantasy Music (FFVIII)

eight

VIII is a weird game. Everything about it is weird. The plot is weird, the gameplay is weird, the world is weird, the characters are weird, and of course, the sounds are weird. They're unique! Like VII, VIII has a very distinct sound, and I love it. I love VIII for all of its strangeness. I think out of the 3 PS1 games, it's not my Favorite soundtrack, but it's fucking Final Fantasy. There's literally not a bad soundtrack in this entire goddamn series. This shit is B tier AT WORST. Let me tell you about my favorite songs, as I love to do, and you can judge me silently in your transparent gray textboxes if you so wish.

5. Silence and Motion This is a silly song; I love how silly it is. It's perfect for a silly future city ruled by a very silly man. This starts by feeling very strange and cautious, probably like how you would feel if you entered a random futuristic city in the middle of an icy wasteland - and then the circus music starts? and it makes you feel like, oh actually this place is good? Then it speeds up. You feel a sense of rush. A silly sense of rush, but a sense of rush regardless. And Boom, the fuckin super speedy xylophone kicks in, and this song sounds like a busy city, with people running around, it SOUNDS like what a busy news station would sound like. That's my favorite part right there.

4. Blue Fields bum bum BUM BUM bum bum bum bum BUM BUM. Going from a silly song into a fun song. Fun, yet also calming. Blue Fields is the perfect name for this song, because to me, the main instrument in the melody reminds me of water? This might be an insane person take but like it sounds like a pool looks to me. But not like a community pool I mean like a classic backyard pool with the good blue siding. I'm rambling worse than I usually do. I do not get sick of listening to this song while walking across the overworld, and it is very important for an overworld song to be something you are not going to get sick of, cause you're going to be ALWAYS listening to it.

3. Balamb GARDEN This song sounds like a school. This is a song of LEARNING. And like sure it's a school where you're learning to be a child soldier but like who cares this is an AMAZING song for where it plays. It feels like school, but it also feels like home (it is home!). I love the strange piano sound it has (again, FFVIII has a very unique sound and I love it for that) and then you get the odd flute/wind instruments as well. As I was starting this list, I was expecting me to put a lot more battle themes, but it turns out I love the overworld themes a lot more than I thought??? Anyways, let's immediately throw that thought away and go into:

2. The Extreme Here's the battle music. The final battle music even. This song starts out so cool, giving you the same FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC "motif" that has been spread through a few points throughout the game, and a somber piano opening before going full into the actual meat of the song, which is INCREDIBLY COOL SOUNDING. It's all like, awesome fuckin synth instruments and a high energy melody and backing that pumps you up as a final boss theme should. I love the part where the synth goes ham up and down the scale towards the middle of the song, and then of course there's the part where it slows down and brings in the choir reminding you of almost like, the core of what this encounter is, against a magic wielding sorceress (who I swear the translation should have been witch but whatever!!!). Banger song.

1. Force Your Way Honest to god contender for best normal boss theme in the whole series (VI might have it beaten out by a slight margin). I LOVE the intro so much; the organ and the heavy string hits building up the atmosphere with the little bwoodooloodooloodoo in the back going into the sickest synth melody you've ever heard in your goddamn life. Throw in a little heavy MIDI guitar and you've got the hypest moment of your life. I can imagine Uematsu had a LOT of fun crafting this one for the game, this is easily the pinnacle of how unique FFVIII's sound is and I hope I've beaten you over the head with this fact that I've made enough. This song should make you feel like you should pick up that Yamaha keyboard your family has sitting in the basement and you should fiddle with it for At Least Like 2 Hours.

Honorable mentions this time go to The Man With The Machine Gun, Maybe I'm a Lion, Fisherman's Horizon, The Castle, and water and water and water water (Don't Be Afraid)

[sofibeth]

Random Sonic 2 movie thoughts

Have lot in my mind now that I have time to process it last night 

(Spoilers below)

- Like their could be alot that you can critque bout this flim (1st act bit slow compare to 2nd, fart jokes aren’t funny) but this movie was soo fun I don’t really care as much XD

- I feel you can make a drinking game with how many time Tails say “THAT’S SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!!” I get he’s a kid but it did get kinda annoying after awhile.

- the biased in me wished their was more Sonic and Tails bonding since it was kinda fast but considering how packed this film was they did alright all things considered. The sleeping scene stole my heart!

- “They call us freaks, so let’s get freaky” ya did it ya understood the assignement!

- Okay I’m forever a Tails’ stan but Knuckles was clearly the MVP of this film! They find the right balance of being the funniest character in this film as well being soo heckin cool!

- Man went from trying to kill Sonic to any sec to “Sonic they have sprinkles” iconic

- Compare to Tails Knuckles felt alot more natural from enemy to friend I love they found losing a loved one as a simple connection with him and Sonic to begin bonding with.

- Jim Carry as Eggman was great no surprise, highlight was def going high on Chaos Power!!

- bless Agent Stone he and his actor having the time of his life.

- Speaking a which I like how they handle the humans here giving euongh to do while not overshadowing the main trio.

- I feel the wedding subplot might not be everyone’s cup of tea but 1) the plot twist of being a GUN was amazing and over the top I luv and 2) Rachel performance was so hammy I was just along for the ride.

- I’m glad they pushed Tom and Maddie more into parental role and being ride and die for their hedgehog son. Makes me appreciate their scenes in the beginning due to having payoff by the ending.

- Speaking of which THE LABYRINTH SCENE UP TILL THE ENDING WAS THE LIKE THE BEST/HYPEST PARTS OF THE MOVIE NO CONTEST!

- Ya know your in a room full a sonic fans when everyone cheering over Sonic inhaling a bubble, proud of my audience last night.

- Final Sonic vs Knuckles fight, best animated scene I wanna watch it again just to see every single detail.

- I know they showed death robot in trailers but yea seeing the whole cilmax they did everything with justice hard to talk about everything.

- I hadn’t felt this strong bout Team Sonic in a long time and seeing the trio working felt satifiying! Good thing since Knuckles isn’t confided to an island in this universe cause this mean this group can work in long term. 

- Also look I was expecting thr after credit to be hype but HAVING SUPER SONIC IN THIS FILM WAS MY POP OFF MOMENT OKAY!! I LOVE THEY PULLED FROM SA1 WITH SONIC DRAWING HIS POWER FROM LOVE OF HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS! HE LOOKS SOO GOOD AND GOT CHILLS WHEN HE STOP DEATH ROBOT’S HAND HE SOO COOOL AHHHH!!!

- I glad all the fanart of movie Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles hanging out is canon, take the Ws.

- Regarding the after credit scene I glad they’re keeping some aspects of Shadow present, having alot more faith in how he’s portrayed considering how well they understood Knuckles. I do hope Amy gets her jump into the movie verse soon, feel she can fit in since they establish the whole heroes order thing.

- And yes my theater popped off, shoutout to the dude who stand up and yelled “LET’S **CKIN GOO!”

- man we gotta wait like 2/3 years for the next film at least got my fox boy so wait won’t be as bad.

Overall yea I don’t think non-sonic fans will have a much of a fun time but this film is definiely a Sonic’s fan’s fever dream of movie it was just sooo fun to sit through. (what is worth I saw kids and parents in my group enjoying the film as well) 

Anywho this film gonna live rent free in my mind for weeks I apologize!

[animatedminds]

What If: Every Character In Dragonball FighterZ Had a Dramatic Finish? (Pt. 4 - Final)

Well, here we are at the end. For the last four days, this blog has been going over each of the characters in Dragonball FighterZ - the tragic, bereft ones without Dramatic Finish - and imagining what moments from their history would work best in Arcsys’ glorious animation style.

So far we’ve gone through near the whole franchise, with only a few characters left - and there’s no time like the present to give those few remaining characters their chance.

As before, this isn’t so much a request for all these characters to legitimately get Dramatic Finishes - Arc System Works’ animation is too intricate and time consuming for that to be a reality - as much as speculation of what might have been. Though only a few of the characters in the roster can have a Dramatic Finish, most of them can definitely carry one in my opinion, and at the very least it makes a great excuse to go back and watch a few classic Dragonball clips. It’s worth noting again, as well, that on this list we’re looking for appearances in Dramatic moments: not necessarily wins. Across the list there have been quite a few characters whose best, most cinematic options have been losses of theirs. If you want the whole list, no lines, no waiting, no need to go back, check out the SoundCloud cast of the whole thing - or if you prefer to sit back and read here’s Part 1, Part 2 and - of course - Part 3. But let’s get on with it. Last time we finished off Dragonball Super (with one exception), and UI Goku himself hit the stores... that is, without the Dramatic Finish we were expecting (that went to Blue Goku). What’s left here are the extras: additional characters, interesting ideas that don’t fit anywhere else, that sort of thing. But first, one thing needs to be settled with the last remaining Super character...

That, right. Goku (Ultra Instict) himself!

As you might have figured from what I just said - and the previous entry - the Dramatic Finish that came with the latest DLC turned out not to be an Ultra Instinct Goku Finish with Kefla, but was actually given to Goku Blue instead. This not only knocked Goku Blue off the list (just as well since - as I went through last time - the option I thought of for Goku Blue and the option I thought of for Hit were one and the same) and, naturally means we had to put Ultra Instinct Goku on in his stead.

This is a little tricky, as some of Goku’s best moments in the Tournament of Power have already been snapped up by the game. The Surfing Kamehameha moment with Kefla is of course the stand out, but there’s also already a Goku vs Jiren Dramatic Finish (with Base Goku). They’ve repeated themselves before - giving a Vs Freeza Dramatic Finish to both Super Saiyan and Base Goku (and I’ve already suggested what is effectively a third, albeit starting with Blue Vegeta), but it still makes this an odd thing to approach.

As seems typical, I ended up with two big ideas. You guys might not like this ruling so much, since the first is an overall very solid moment, and the second - my main idea - is a little unorthodox, but bear with me.

For the first idea, a picture perfect Dramatic Finish, I’d go with the moment Jiren attacks the stands, along with Goku’s enraged payback.

For those who haven’t seen the arc, the Tournament of Power is odd among Dragonball major storylines in that there isn’t really a “bad guy.” Everyone is fighting on equal terms in a universal storyline, for fear of having their universe erased if they lose (stakes which - spoilers - turns out to be semi-fake, or at least more than they think). Everyone in the tournament, moral or amoral, is neutral to one another... but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their hang-ups.

Jiren - the final boss - is a being who suffered hardship in his youth because he felt he wasn’t strong enough, and so dedicated his life to obtaining more power. Goku - anime protagonist that he is - claims that his power comes from his friends and Jiren, who couldn’t care less about friendship, doesn’t exactly like that, especially when Goku starts winning. So he throws a fit and tries to blow up Goku’s friends to prove a point. Goes without saying that Goku didn’t exactly like that either. This moment is very self contained, cinematic and strong, with quickly established stakes and an epic conclusion, which makes it a perfect Dramatic Finish - in fact, it might not have been a bad place to end the original arc itself. You would pretty much have to do it on the Galactic Arena stage - which is a FighterZ original - as the lack of a Tournament of Power stage means there’s no other place for Goku and Jiren to have a battle of the scale we’d need while also letting his friends be there in the firing line. But, that being the case, you would simply have it start - as all Dramatic Finishes do - with Jiren getting knocked back, he rants about how friendship is easily erased and shoots a blast as the stands, Goku deflects it, and goes to town: a fight ensues a la the Super Broly Dramatic Finish, with a couple extra dramatic shots, and ending with an uppercut and massive Kamehameha that takes Jiren out. End with a shot of Goku standing over Jiren, but on a much less cheerful note than the Base Goku one.

All in all, it’s a pretty great idea. One only has to look at the clip to see that. So what’s my other option, which I would prefer? Well... we’ve seen so many good Dramatic Finishes in the game, I kind of think the Dramatic Openings could use a little love, don’t you? I’ve already suggested a few, but mostly as side ideas. However, this one could serve as the most epic opening in the game, if done well. The moment where Goku goes Ultra Instinct for the very first time:

Against Jiren again, of course.

The hypest moment of any transformation is always the moment the hero unlocks it. The point where they’re pushed to their limit and tap into that power they didn’t know they had. The God and Blue transformations were elaborate and offscreen, respectively, so this was really Super’s big transformation moment, and it was definitely hype.

Much earlier on, Goku tries to finish Jiren off with what he hopes is his ace in the hole - the Spirit Bomb. Jiren, having none of that, just flings it back... the resulting war ends with Goku losing: the blast slowly overtakes Goku before detonating in a truly spectacular way, and for a moment it looks like Goku is done.

That is, until he steps out of the transformation... changed.

It would definitely be the most elaborate Dramatic Opening - with the same amount of scene-work and modeling you would expect from a Dramatic Finish, but it would be worth it. The Dramatic scenes have in general become more and more spectacular over the years, but most of the Openings were early and so missed out on it. Still, the best thing about the Dramatic Openings is that they really get you energized for the fight to come - make you feel like it’s about to go down, and this scene would absolutely accomplish that. Not to mention, it would go perfectly alongside the Super Saiyan Goku and Super Saiyan 2 Gohan transformation openings as well.

But both options work pretty well, and either way it would be a great way to let the newest content in the franchise continue to shine. If Moro shows up later in this season, I’ll be surprised, but you can bet they’re will be some options off of that. But with Super now officially done, we move on to the truly extra candidates. Starting with...

Android #21

The villain of FighterZ’s story mode herself: a terrifying android who, thanks to a few infused traits from the Buu line, seeks to consume all life on Earth - while at odds with her own good side.

Since literally her only content ever is FighterZ’s story mode there’s not much to pull from, but luckily the choice for her is an absolute no-brainer. I’ve mentioned before that you could give her a decent Dramatic Finish with Android 16 - using any of his death scenes - but the best option is simply to take the end of the story mode, modify it and give it to us as a Finish of its own.

That’s right, we’re talking about the moment where Good #21 sacrifices herself to take Evil #21 out for good.

And, on the unique side, it would make this the only Dramatic Finish to trigger off of a mirror match - which is something rather impossible for anyone else.

You would need Goku on your team, of course - in a climax reminiscent of Kid Buu’s death, the moment involves Goku charging a Spirit Bomb while #21 holds her evil self off. Once the bomb is ready, Goku lets it fly - but Evil #21 is just powerful enough that she can resist the explosion. All seems lost, until the good half, knowing that she still holds the malice within that could lead to her becoming like her other self one day, tackles her evil embodiment - resulting in both being eradicated in a blazing explosion.

It’s a simple moment, sans all the dialogue, and the would be very simple to adapt to a Dramatic Finish: arguably, you would barely have to alter anything that isn’t already there (well, besides making the models fully animate in the “in between” moments, which would probably take some doing). Granted, one would have to have played the story mode to know what’s going on, but it’s not as if Dramatic Finishes aren’t fairly lore heavy in the first place.

And with her settled, we move on to the next questionably canon character without a Dramatic Finish, and one that was pretty hard to think of one for...

Goku (Dragon Ball GT)

... I don’t want to say “why couldn’t this have just been Kid Goku?” I really don’t.

However, for the purposes of this list, him being GT Goku makes it almost impossible to think of a Dramatic Finish. There’s the rumors Omega Shenron is going to be appearing later on in the season, but so far those are only that: rumors.

Otherwise, Goku doesn’t really get much in the way of awesome fighting moments against the rest of the game roster. He fights against Gohan (and adult Goten, which for obvious reasons isn’t happening) when the latter was under Baby’s control, but that doesn’t really have a conclusive end - let alone a dramatic one. He fights Vegeta in the same way, but Baby Vegeta is very much a different character from any other Vegeta we’ve got, far past the point of finagling, so the reference wouldn’t work.

Thus, I’ve mostly been going with “why not just pretend GT Goku is Kid Goku” for this list and any future Dramatic Finish. It came up in the Tien section, if and when Roshi appears it’s my suggestion for him as well, and it works far easier than trying to shoehorn a GT scene into the game.

With that in mind, I’ve already noted a great option in the first part of this: the end of Tien and Goku’s first fight, on the Tenkaichi Budokai stage. It’s epic, it’s a classic moment, and it’s lots of fun. Honestly, it’s GT Goku’s best option for a Finish.

But to give a new idea, I’d love for them to do something small but sweet for GT / Kid Goku. Something that would be both a cool call back, and a neat fighting game classic moment as well.

I’m talking about Goku and Krillin’s fistbump:

This still takes some finagling - that’s Kid Krillin you see above you, who is a lot smaller than his adult version (though not by much, you’d think). And there’s also a moment like this in Super between adult Krillin and and what would be in Base Goku in FighterZ terms, which would probably work even better (if anything, they could make this opening between Krillin and Base Goku and have GT Goku stand in during the flashback) -

- but if we’re talking about GT- sorry, “Kid Goku,” giving him this moment would work fairly well too. It’s another moment geared towards presenting a classic reference from the series’ oldest days, and gives us a sweet Dramatic Opening vs a tense and spectacular one.

It also doubles as a decent fighting game ref. Having characters who in lore are friends enter a fight with a simple fistbump or some other sign of respect is an enduring opening idea that’s most often seen in Street Fighter - which has often had Ryu and Ken begin fights this way.

This kind of small but sweet reference has somewhat gone out of style these days, along with a lot of the nuances you got with sprite-based fighters, but if it could be done more, I’d actually love to see it.

Here, for this case, you would simply have it happen on the Tenkaichi Budokai stage, and either have them walk onto the stage together and fistbump or - to save on animation costs - just begin with them doing it and jumping back to fight. For the full Base Goku version, doing that with a flashback of Kid Goku (a la GT Goku standing-in) doing the same, and then back to them as adults.

That and the Tien Finish are really the best GT Goku’s going to get unless something changes in the future, and both are pretty neat ideas, so that’s as far as we’re going to get with him.

And that’s the whole roster: with this list, now everyone has a Dramatic Finish. So I’ll end it instead with a truly extra suggestion: a Finish for a character who already has one, but which would be a very different kind of Finish that would still be pretty neat.

Kid Buu Destroys The World

I’ve already suggested something like this for Blue Vegeta’s Dramatic Finish - a finish in which the bad guy wins, and blows up the planet. It’s something that’s oddly cool to think about. Dragonball has many fantastic moments, including ones where the bad guys get ahead - King Piccolo blowing up Shenron, Nappa wiping out Goku’s friends, Cell crippling Vegeta and humiliating Trunks - but in the end, we mostly talk about the heroic ones.

So why not flip the script and just do one where everything goes to hell? Literally, for the evil people who happen to be on Earth.

Buu doing this is even more iconic than Freeza, imo, because while Freeza has been destroying planets for longer, it was always planets that weren’t our heroes’ own. He killed off Namek, but when he tried to come back to Earth and do it on the good guys’ home turf he got eviscerated - it wasn’t until a long time after that he was finally able to pull it off, and by then the heroes had a means of instantly undoing it. I still think Freeza vs Vegeta is a good choice for a potential Blue Vegeta Dramatic Finish, but if you’re approaching it from a “let’s make a Finish were it all goes horribly” standpoint, Buu is the standout moment.

For this, Kid Buu wins against Super Saiyan Vegeta or Goku. After the customary knockback, Buu grins, and laughs, and creates a planet destroying ball of energy. Goku and Vegeta run, but can’t get away - for bonus points, you could have Gohan, Goten + Trunks, and Piccolo on the ground, just out of saving range as the two are forced to instant transmission away. Cut to a shot of the planet as a whole, just before it all goes up.

Then, in the empty nothing of space, Buu reconstitutes, and flies off for more destruction. The end.

It’s a very different feel from the rest of the Dramatic Finishes, I think, which is why I felt it deserved to be on here even though Buu already has one. It’s just a fun, extra idea of the kinds of interesting things they might decide to do with Dramatic Finishes in the future.

And that’s everyone!

Hope you all enjoyed sitting through my nerdy listing habit. This was a lot of fun, going through all these Dragonball moments, remembering this and that and finding the most epic things each of our favorite characters have done. This isn’t even touching the iceberg for most of the cast, but if they do someday decide to give more of the rosters Dramatic Openings, none of these would at all be a bad place to start.

But if you think I’ve got the wrong idea, let me know. If there’s some moments you think would be better, give ‘em a try! Keep playing FighterZ if you have it, and simply stay Sparking if you don’t. The sky’s the limit for Dragonball, maybe even farther, and sometimes I think we haven’t seen anything yet!

[mosseatenrobot]

this just in: THE OUTER WORLDS GOOD (incoming word vomit)

can you call something escapism when it satires the current world state so accurately that you just want to stare at the wall for a few minutes

spoilers ?

goddamn I don’t play games all that often anymore but hell if that wasn’t the HYPEST last thirty or so minutes

I managed to stay pretty much completely unspoiled since release so I was not expecting everybody I helped out to come back and whoop ass with me / declare war on my behalf

that trope will never not completely rule

the INCREDIBLE way that the reveals were set up in the beginning of the game! you leave edgewater thinking reed is a fucking idiot for putting goddamn sawdust in the food (and he is for not linking that to the periodic “plagues”) but you find out that everyone in the entire colony is past the event horizon of starvation because the food is nutritionally useless, and you pick up on that through the sublight quests (the station in particular was fucking creepy i loved it)

now that I’m thinking of it there’s a solid chunk of side quests that gradually steer you in that direction, very sexy of the writers

I forgot to go back into the restricted area in cascadia FUCK

I had so much fun pissing the chairman off telling him I just liked causing trouble, got him so irate he called me a bitch it was great

then to turn around after he did the whole spiel on his dumb death robot through a very locked door and to go through some beefy hacking skill checks (thanks max) and a science 100 skill check, the one I focused on maxing out the earliest I could, and just skipped that whole fight?

I LAUGHED

damn there really wasn’t a final boss in that play through? I just employed the non combat skill that my character was oriented around and just moseyed on through

That gave that whole section much more of a “This is a culmination of all your effort, it’s your victory lap”

Very much liked that phineas gave me a long range n-ray rifle which also fit my build nicely, made for some good rp

I wanted to hug the weirdo at the end, he was a good egg

The entire hope section was a goddamn punch to the gut because it never crossed my mind that the ship would have a crew living on it, and that they were trapped there, responsible for thousands of lives

I didn’t understand what was up with the massive amounts of missing pods, or why that one room freaked Parvati out so much until the light caught on all the blood.

Frank talking about how the colonists were clammy when he opened the pods, and how they screamed. Phineas talking about how they screamed. Making it known that Harley was thirty three and that she liked to sing, and that he was sorry.

I was role playing a specific character through the game, and they liked to take the non violent approach when possible because fighting wasn’t usually worth the effort, and they liked to sneak around instead of bringing attention to themselves, and something about the hope really put me in their headspace, and when we got through reading Phineas’ log, we just kind of stood still and walked around a bit in that room, trying to process that. And it really made sense for that character in that moment to go “fuck it” and waste the entire stationed corporate force.

They’re a person of an even temperament, and the oldest sibling besides, used to managing a pack of brats because no one else seemed to be doing so, so they got used to looking out for people, to making sure they kept themself in check, to being the responsible one. Through out the colony they tried to help as many people as possible because fuck, what else are you meant to do?

(ellie’s nihilism was a bit grating)

Becoming a captain wasn’t that much of a change of pace. Look out for your crew, because they’re yours and no one else is gonna. Keep a lid on yourself, no need to make them worry over what all goes on in your head. Keep a lid on all that shit that grinds your teeth and your gears, let off just enough steam to keep it from boiling over, but keep a lid on it.

Try not to punch a hole through the hope’s interface when it interrupts the skip, even though you really wanna.

Walk back to your ship calmly and acknowledge this is the angriest you’ve been in your entire goddamn life.

“I don’t want to die like Donna did.”

Let off some steam. Kill the chairman of the board.

“I just like causing trouble.”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The last two quests of the game are real good, is what I’m saying. Also the moment before that when you’re trying to brain storm with Phineas and you’re the one to suggest “we’ll skip the Hope”

high science characters are unbearably sexy in this game

Byzantium was also fun with this particular character because it really was “I try to be a nice person but I’m about to start throwing rocks at people”

The early retiree bit about laid me in the goddamn dirt jesus christ, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE YOU SEE THAT CROWD OF PEOPLE WHEN YOU LAND! And you go back for the quest and they’re gone, and you head down the elevator into the opulent ass hallway that gives you the fucking hibbie jibbies and you’re like “aw fuck what do they have these poor people doing?” And the answer is nothing, they just have them get mowed down in a pit. Every person you saw in that hallway when you arrived is dead, you gave it a cursory glance and walked on by because you had other things to do, and when you came back they were all dead.

Sophia can go fuck herself

to do a really intense pivot I loved how parvati was handled in the game

CANONICAL ACE WLW

I was worried how the player response could be to her asexuality, a la krem in dai and the fuck awful invasive questions, and there’s like one response that falls under that kind of with the others being good and reassuring, but then:

YOU CAN TELL HER YOU’RE ACE TOO

YOU CAN TELL HER YOU’RE ARO AS WELL

HOLY SHIT

my character is canonically aro ace in this universe and it is the coolest goddamn thing I could not believe my eyes

wish those mother fuckers would quit calling me a lady though

but how matter of fact her relationship with a woman is treated and that it’s the only romance you’re directly involved in, and how relieving it is that you don’t have to be worried about the romancing yourself? things to ponder over

I lost track of how many times I thought “wish I could play this on switch :/”

but really what the fuck is past that bridge in cascadia?

[crazy-talk]

As promised, here’s a little large compilation sort of thing of little moments and memories from SBFP that you folks have submitted. I really appreciate everything that you’ve all submitted, it’s pretty clear that SBFP helped and entertained a whole lot of people - in equal amounts.

Here’s some SBFP moments:

Grand Wizard Wakka

The Shitstorm VII Woolie haunting plan

“What a mysterious game.”

MY HOUSE

“Wait, what’s my objectives?” “You don’t haaave any objectives!”

Qui Gon Chi

“Whah happuh?” “das whah happuh!”

“No, shut up though.”

The Baby

“Shut the fuck up about Face/Off!”

“Bleetzboll...”

The Sadness Trilogy

“KIDS LOVE THE FOCKIN’ DEVIL!”

Pat thinking he’s dying because he sat on a chocolate bar

Kenpachi Ramasama

Shit-kids

“Whut deh fuhk? Is he using duh bät room?”

Mr. Shakedown/Kenny/Quint/Eric Sparrow

TAR-KUS! TAR-KUS! TAR-KUS!

“Love is just chemicals.”

Pat eating candy alone in a closet

Matt throwing the fire axe

“Oh no, I make’da bad game!”

“Hey, is that the script?”

“JAAASON!”

“It’s fine.”

The RE2 valve noise

“Yeyeyeye!”

Woolie’s atomic purple Gameboy

“Eyy, what’s goin’ on, man? You ready to play?”

And some SBFP memories. Some of these may be a bit emotionally heavy so feel free to skip this part:

the sbfp lp of yakuza 0 got me and my best friend into the yakuza series. we watched it together and we still laugh about matt falling to pieces over "never-before-seen results" - Anon

the best friends have had such an influence on my speech patterns that i've infected people who've never watched them before. half of my friend group says super big [x] and porked up now - Anon

SBFP introduced me to so many games that ended up becoming personal favorites of mine, like Deadly Premonition and the Silent Hill series. Their videos became a way for me to spend time with some of my own best friends as well! -  captainofthestars

theres one particular moment that will always resonate with me - in their devil may cry lets play, i cant remember if it was 1 or 3, they talk about someone in the comments who mentioned that they had to beat devil may cry with items due to having a physical disability of some kind, i cant remember which. they talked about how it was awesome that he managed to even beat the game like that, and, personally, as someone who struggles with motorskills issues this made me very happy, as a devil may cry fan. theres a lot of other great moments from the tbfp, both funny and genuine that made me happy, but this one in particular stuck with me a lot. -  krillfingers

I'll never stop making "pull out king" jokes thanks to sbfp - venerabledreadnought

I remember the first Shitstorm that made me actually have to get up and sit in a brightly lit room with other people in it, Anatomy. It's become a Halloween tradition to watch it every year since, though watching a whole bunch of Shitstorm also became one. As someone who started watching at their second machinma ep, it's not a lie to say that they made up the entirety of my teenage years. I will miss the channel dearly, but I look forward to the future. -  duke-nitro

My friends and I have been watching The Zaibatsu for so long that we have accidentally adopted a bunch of their phrases like going “yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah” or saying someone “go down.” Also, despite us not knowing each other when we became fans, we all somehow began with their Man vs Wild let’s play and I even made friends with one of them because I quoted something from it at work. Favorite moment probably has to be the entire Omikron playthrough, I can’t pick a single moment. It was a beautiful trainwreck start to finish and I still put on the playlist from time to time while I’m doing other things. I swear I could gently fall asleep to the sounds of Pat screaming about the shooter segments. shogun-ceanataur

Persona 4 and Kenpachi Ramasama were my favourite. I found the name itself hilarious, but how they kept on referring to him as the full name in different little bits and tones never failed to make me laugh. That “See you later, fuckers!” part from when you see Yosuke was also hilarious. I’m not sure if that video is the oeigin, but it’s why I’ve integrated that phrase into my everyday life. Goddamn what a fun, memorable episode. - whatthehellisthisevenfor

tbfp got me through being homeless in my car twice. every time that I wanted to give up, to just stop trying, i'd turn on whatever new video they had out and it brightened up my life. my mom, who was with me, came to love them to, she used to wait to hear them to relax. i have so many memories of that time, and i don't fully relax or even eat on long days until I've turned their videos on. my favorite quote is still "mistakes into miracles". its a rly motivating quote imo. -  c0l0c4k3s

I always loved the Silent Hill 2 LP. I never played it when it came out - all I knew was that it was a horror game, and I hated horror at the time. But when the LP came around, I knew a bit more about the game and I was intrigued. Seeing the game, meeting the characters, hearing Pat disect the story and themes for Matt, I loved it all. I was fascinated, and still am. I will still watch the LP every few months, and I call SH2 one of my favorite games, even though I still haven’t played it.Thanks, SBFP, for all the great moments and the great memories. I wish you all well. - iamthewanderingbard

The best friends are what got me so invested in the Dark souls games, and what motivated me to get through DS2. Even if I say 'You see what i mean' unironically a lot, and go 'You. Did it.' -  awkwardmuses

I got into Super Best Friends from a post on the Twin Perfect forum, that linked to the Silent Hill Downpour lp, and never looked back. Their let's plays brought me so much joy back when I wasn't in the best living or health situation, and continue to do so. My favourite let's plays have to be Eternal Darkness and the Shitstorms; I always go back to those when depression hits, or for any reasons. I'll miss them together, but I'll always have those delicious delicious memories. -  mrjaffesxeldritchtwin

The Best Friends Play are the reason I end so many sentences with "though". I first found them when a friend recommended the Best Sisters Play MLP animations, and I've loved them ever since. I know it's used as a joke, but I really believe they've earned the title of HYPEST GAMEPLAY ON YOUTUBE. I love all of their David Cage playthroughs, and I adore how many plot-points they guess during Beyond: Two Souls. I love how, when they play a game they really love, they show so much knowledge and care. -  mads-in-zero

It was incredibly amusing and oddly touching that the Zaibatsu created this hate circle of David Cage and his godawful games. Even before Detroit’s release, the best friends AND the fanbase were ready to hate it because as a collective, we just latched onto that one thing to hate/make fun of. And we go all out on it together like some fucked up family, and I love it. -  missinghmmingbird

I can’t help but shrug off every minor inconvenience and major issue in my life with “it’s fine” thanks to Gun Jumper Liam. Thanks to Matt and Woolie supporting Skullgirls like no one else on the internet, I really got into it and fighting games as a whole. I’m not good at them, but oh boy do I love them.And if it wasn’t for Pat, I don’t think I’d ever have touched a Yakuza or Persona game.These guys affected my life more than any other individual or group on the internet ever really has. -  dklordg

The first Best Friends video I ever watched was Portal 2. That short LP had me in stitches. I'd never laughed so hard. I've been a huge fan since then. These guys where the ones that introduced me to LPs and made me realize that you can have fun watching other people bumble through games. TheSw1tcher has been one of my favorite channels on YouTube since I began watching. It gave me something to look forward to. I got through high school, and essentially grew up, watching these videos. There are so many catchphrases and memes I will never forget and will always make me smile. I absolutely say stuff like “whah happun?” and “shit-kids” all the time. The Deadly Premonition and Detroit: Become Human playthroughs are wonderful gems in my eyes. It’s amazing how a group of guys can get so many people to collectively love and bash certain games. We’re all on the same page, having a blast like a huge group of friends at a slumber party. Matt, Pat, Woolie, Liam, Billy, and everyone who involved themselves with the Super Best Friends are the absolute best. They gave me a chance to relax and laugh along with some familiar voices. Although it's sad they are going their separate ways, I totally respect that fact. They have my love and support. I wish them nothing but success and happiness moving forward. I'll be watching! And a note to my fellow fans: This has been a wild ride. I'm glad I got to enjoy it with you. You are all fantastic people. -  fablesamongus

[davidmann95]

On Nightwing #18

This is just getting unfair. I think I’ve mentioned before that Nightwing’s been sailing under the radar as one of the two or three most entertaining classic-style superhero comics right now, but Nightwing Must Die! as even more of a straight-up continuation of Morrison’s Batman than Grayson is basically scientifically engineered at this point to appeal to me. And with the latest development, there’s a lot to unpack.

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

I didn’t think Bane’s "I swear by the blood of my parents to avenge their deaths by spending the rest of my life conquering all criminals" was going to have any competition as the hypest moment in comics this year, but it seems the gauntlet’s been thrown down. Dr. Hurt is back - if visibly a bit worse for wear going by his suit and cowl - and the threat is on an entirely different level now, not just to Dick Grayson but to the Batman Family as a whole. And way beyond the surface-level homages to Morrison’s time on Batman (shot to the back of the skull, except this time Dick’s the one who has to beat the clock and save the day rather than getting yanked to the side in the finale issue of his own story!), he actually fits this arc like a black glove.

On basic level a big chunk of this arc has been about Dick in a parental position between Damian and the potential child with Shawn, so it makes sense for the ultimate Bad Father of their world to emerge as the real threat. Pyg’s his servant (one whose talents are particularly suited to what Hurt’s trying to do here, which I’ll get to in a second), his status as either The Literal Devil or an unwitting servant of Darkseid potentially justifies the weird Multiverse bits leaking in around the edges of the arc, and as Damian’s 14th birthday is imminent given Rebirth has established him as just turning 13, the events leading to Batman of Bethlehem start to get closer, and Hurt’s known to play a crucial role in them when Damian one way or another sells him his soul.

But there’s more to it than that.

The immediate question is: why Dick Grayson? Hurt visibly never cared about him in their first meeting, and while he was one half of that amazing double-punch with Damian in Batman and Robin, I don’t think that’d get him to devote a scheme on this scale to killing him when a sniper would do, much less risk the life of a Wayne. The answer of course is that he doesn’t want him dead. Hell, the solicit for #20 tells you that, and also makes clear why it’s Hurt: “Very few villains have ever broken Batman—but the man who’s been tormenting Nightwing is one of them! Why has he chosen Nightwing, and not Batman, to serve him in the dark new world he sees coming?” He wants a servant. More than that, one formed under very specific conditions, because “the best of you are driven by pain, powered by tragedy”.

This is not a new strategy for Simon Hurt. In fact, it’s the oldest trick in his book.

That’s why the arc is titled Nightwing Must Die. Not because he wants to kill Dick Grayson, but because he wants him to be Batman again - a monstrous new kind of Batman, broken and bent to the devil’s service. To Hurt, Grayson was never more than a worthless piece of big top trash, meant to serve his betters (might he know about the Court of Owls’ plans for him?). In this case via Pyg’s mind-eroding and person-crafting talents going hand-in-hand with the death of a loved one, tying together Dick’s fatherly concerns and Damian’s worries over who will inherent the cowl into a single coherent idea: is Dick Grayson supposed to be Batman?  Of course this puts me in the awkward position of kinda rooting for Dr. Hurt, given my answer to that question is definitely and thoroughly yes (especially if that means no more editorially-forced Blüdhaven arcs that Tim Seeley’s visibly less interested in than the good shit on either side of it), but even though this probably won’t lead to Dick reclaiming the title, I’m hopeful that Seeley will finally be able to justify Nightwing as an independent identity in a way that’ll work to my satisfaction.

And on top of all that: where the hell do we go from here? Dr. Hurt’s back, and it feels like it’s going to take more than the remaining two issues of this arc to resolve that given the scale of the danger he represents. And if and when Hurt makes it out of this, it makes absolutely no sense for only Nightwing to be going after him alone; Batman isn’t going to go “oh yeah, totally Dick, you handle my immortal evil-powered grandad who once drove me insane all by yourself.” What’s his place going forward? Is he going to be heavily involved in Metal? If not, I suspect any further attacks by him are going to be on the scale of a full-blown crossover. Batman as a title is going into the past for awhile (I suspect because of Metal being the obvious Important Batman Story and running at the same time, same as Zero Year ran during Batman Eternal), and when it comes back I wouldn’t be surprised if Seeley’s old Grayson partner in Tom King collaborated on a huge Batfamily vs. Dr. Hurt story. If they hold off awhile maybe it could even be the big 80th anniversary Batman event for 2019, with Detective Comics #1000 playing in as Damian’s birthday approaches and the death of Batman (which King already hinted at coming in his run!) looms. In any case, while there’s still every chance the creators could blow it, I’m at the moment more than happy to see Simon Hurt return to wreak, as he would put it, spectacular new atrocities.

[pvpxrswvg]

Migos - Culture

Offset was the Migos that I was most excited about going into Culture. While he had the obvious hit in Bad and Boujee, which made sure that everyone knew that he was a force to be reckoned with, it felt for the past year that he had been building towards becoming the main guy in Migos. From having a similarly impressive verse on the group's remix of Look Alive, to becoming a must have feature and working with guys such as Young Thug, Lil Yachty and Lil Uzi Vert, over the past year Offset has really been making a name for himself.

While it may have been due to the fact that he was in jail for part of the project's recording, Offset really doesn't have that strong of a presence on this release. Despite being on 12 of the project's 13 tracks, it's really only Bad and Boujee and Brown Paper Bag where I sit up and take notice of Offset. Perhaps I'm just being ignorant throughout my first two weeks of listening to this project, but after roughly 15 listens I'm still barely taking notice of the group’s most technical rapper.

Perhaps it was due to his heavy reliance on auto-tune on this record, which takes away some of his amateurish charm and dope triplet heavy delivery, but I really think Offset was a clear third best on this record, as his Migos family absolutely demolished him.

Quavo, also known by most of the general public as Migos, has always been the star of the group, which with his features on hits like Minnesota and Pick Up The Phone, and hooks on most of the group's most popular tracks such as Versace, T-Shirt and Handsome and Wealthy, should not be a surprise.

Perhaps the simplest reason he is most notable is that Quavo is the loudest member of Migos, in both personality and actual volume. Quavo has a larger than life presence and it heavily comes across in his music in a way that reminds me of the guys from Rae Sremmurd, especially fellow hook aficionado Swae Lee.

Quavo also takes himself the least seriously of almost any rapper out at the moment, and uses this to craft a whole bunch of fun lines that only he could get away with. While I should perhaps use an example from Culture, the most Quavo verse of all time is his contribution to Lil Yachty's Minnesota, where he has one of the hypest verses of last year proclaiming his love for his Motorola.

Quavo may not be the best rapper out at the moment, but he is definitely one of the most likeable, which makes him work so well as the spiritual leader of Migos. When you listen to a Migos project like Culture, one of the most compelling things is how much fun the group seems to be having while recording, which includes them having perhaps the most adlibs of any group in history. Apart from the rapping ability, it's this fun atmosphere that really separates Migos from the rest of the trap pack. This I believe can fairly be attributed to Quavo.  

Takeoff is the unknown to the casual fan, however the more I listen to Migos projects the more I feel he is their backbone, as his hoarse, deep and energetic style brings to life a lot of the group’s quieter moments. If Quavo is the QB and Offset is the young athletic WR, Takeoff is the group's workhorse running back, getting the group the hard yards and making the case for being their most important member.

There's usually a pattern of Migos releases where Takeoff will be subdued on the project's hit singles, which for the longest time would be all anyone would listen to, then when you get to your full listen of their mixtape/album you realize that he is holding them up.

The same thing happens to an extent on Culture, as he isn't on Bad and Boujee and his role on T-Shirt is outshined by frequent outshiner Quavo. Yet for the rest of this album Takeoff is the MVP. The clearest example is his absolutely stunning verse on the track Deadz, which is one of the album’s high points. Takeoff's energetic rapping sits perfectly on the epic sounding Cardo beat, as the beat shifts by bringing in a ghostly synth that perfectly matches the occasion of Takeoff's album stealing verse.

Speaking of Deadz, I guess that's as good a segue as any to discuss how on point all of the features on this release are. While a solid defining release still escapes him, 2 Chainz is rightly recognized for his ability to slay a feature and I think his verse here may be one of his strongest to date. The opening lines “Gang bang slang 'caine/Heroin, half a ton, Purple Haze, Cam'ron/Plays off a Samsung, get the job done” is one of the hardest hitting openings to a verse in recent memory. While the rest of the verse is average guest appearance 2 Chainz, everything from the 2 Chainz adlib to the “get the job done” lyric is gold, and does a great job building hype for the ensuing Takeoff verse.

The other two new features on this release, Gucci Mane and Travis Scott, are expectedly dope and do a great job making sure the constant Migos verses don't start feeling monotonous. It's that freshness that on my first few listens really made Slippery and Kelly Price such memorable tracks, as it took a while for some of the other songs to stand out on their own.

There's also the critically maligned Lil Uzi Vert verse on Bad and Boujee, which is, fuck what anyone else thinks, really good. While a lot of people wanted Bad and Boujee to be somewhat of a rapper's rap classic, Uzi came in with an ignorant hype as fuck verse. While it's incredibly corny and has nothing that you'd describe as traditionally good from a rapping point of view, it fits the track perfectly and you can't help but rap along as Uzi spits one of the simplest verses of the year.

Overall the final product on Culture is absolutely phenomenal and one of the best trap albums that I've heard period. The Migos are all incredible rappers who brought their A game to their breakout momentous release and the cast of producers all did a great job at making an array of memorable hard hitting beats. This is an album that I'll be playing all year as it has barely a dull moment and is nothing but non stop head banging hard hitting trap classics.