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razeluxe · 4 years ago

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Razeluxe’s Top Ten Male Characters

So I’ve been thinking about doing a particular list for my favorite characters across anime and games for quite a while and with some advice I decided to break it into my favorite male and favorite female characters. Most people that know me can probably guess at my top three favorites but if you don’t know me... well you ‘bout to learn lol. This was harder than I thought to compile...enjoy my fanboying of the boys lol.

By the by, I’ll do my best to keep spoilers to a minimum.

10) Apollo Justice (Phoenix Wright Series)

I’ve played only two games that this character was in (Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies, slowly working through Spirit of Justice) and this character particularly in Dual Destinies struck me even more than Edgeworth who is another amazing character. Apollo has an amazing spirit and it was only through playing Dual Destinies that I really got to understand Mr. ‘I’m Fine’ and his stupid ‘Here comes Justice’ puns. I feel his original game didn’t allow him to shine (still a great entry in the Ace Attorney series I don’t care what anyone says) and Dual Destinies allows him the development he deserves. He gets hurt during a trial and it allows a deep dive of his character even if his personality shifts for a while. Damn he’s savage. He’s considered the underdog in the Wright Anything Agency but he’s to me the hardest working person there who is also the most factual in court.

9) Gokudera (Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

Or as I like to call him, Scowludera since he’s scowling like 90% of the time. This Ichigo ripoff’s character development is insane. And I think that trend follows most if not all the characters in this list. His relationship with his sister is interesting and he’s pretty explosive in terms of personality and intelligence. His fights are all really interesting too, he has some of my favorite interactions in the series thus far (haven’t read the post anime manga chapters yet sadly, but he’s more than earned this spot on this list). He butts heads with people a lot and he can be ignorant but he grows from his experience and you get to see it bit by bit. This dude is loyal to the bone. RIP if you aren’t Tsuna or Reborn. Also, I’d like to shout out this anime as one of the few to do the shounen genre proper justice. Go watch it. Also his sister Bianchi is <3. Oh wait. Male list. Oops. Can we also talk about his weapon? Not gonna say spoilers but that thing is dope and probably one of the best ever designed weapons. And his kitty Uri <3

8) Joshua Bright (Trails in the Sky)

This will be short as I don’t want to spoil anything, but Joshua is a very easy character for me to connect to personally. His feelings, actions, development probably relates more to me than a lot of characters on this list. He’s got good people around him...I’m very happy for his ship and support it 120%. Also the Trails Series, both Sky and Cold Steel are probably my favorite series of anything period. Go play it. There is more to this character that meets the eye and has broken my heart more than once ;_;

7) Neku Sakuraba (The World Ends With You)

Neku Neku Neku. Another very relatable character for me (see the theme here? lol) He initially shuts out people and over time, through his experience in the Reapers Game, he starts to open up and bring people into his circle. He goes through some crap, like a lot of trauma. When you learn of him it’s no wonder he wound up disliking people and society. He’s extremely creative and that creativity manifests itself in different ways. Kinda like me. It’s worth mentioning I used to roleplay this character back in the day, the very first canon character I used to write for.

6) Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)

One of the only blonde’s on this list. Shulk is a character that is driven by revenge but eventually changes. He goes through some pretty traumatic stuff that I absolutely will not spoil. His personality when he encounters a certain characters shifts big time and it’s kind of scary considering how early you see this. Also he gets points for being a notably intelligent character. I mean, the dude has his own lab...and is able to fix and adjust stuff. He’s really a great and well balanced character despite all the crap he goes through. Also I used to make fun of this character and dislike him a little bit, but then I grew up.

The list gets real starting...now. Not that it was fake before. :o

5) Jaden Yuki (Yu-Gi-Oh! GX)

Anyone who has actually watched the entirety of GX might know why he’s here. His character development in the latter seasons so unreal and interesting. I’m not spoiling crap but there is a lot more to the character than meets the eye. Like a lot lot. Over the course of the series he loses his innocent eyes and his personality changes a lot...His character is probably one I can relate to in terms of the reasons for his actions, the way he gets down about himself, the way he acts in the final season...it hits me hard...he’s too dang relatable...just like..

4) Rean Schwarzer (Trails of Cold Steel)

Surprise surprise. Rean is here. -hears crickets- Guess you’re not surprised. I wonder why. I think I relate to this character more than anyone else on this list. Except number one. Number one is in his own league. Rean is a character who generally carries a happy disposition...he has a unique power but you can see he is actively scared of it. It’s something I actively deal with...he’s so scared of himself that he puts distance between family and friends. He never feels he’s good enough. He’s made headway through this, but...

One thing that’s extremely interesting about this character is his selflessness. You may think this is driven to the ground in character stereotypes but for Rean it’s different...his selfless has been described as abnormal by characters in game, and it’s not for positive reasons...Rean deals with some real unhealthy stuff. This is getting long.

As of this post Cold Steel 4 comes out in one month and I’m extremely worried for his character. If you’ve played 3 then you’ll know why. Also if you haven’t played the Trails series, go play it. No buts. Heck I’ll even buy the game(s) for you if I can.

Oh look we’re at the top three. I want to say that while numbers two and three here are pretty interchangeable, these characters have been in my top three for over a decade and a half and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Rean I love you but you have your work cut out if you ever want to breach the top 3. I wanna post a few honorable mentions here. They didn’t get into Smash but they do get Mii Costumes at least! -shot-

Davis Motomiya (Digimon Adventure 02)

This character was everything I was when I was a kid. The way he tries everything to woo Kari is too cute. Also his unwavering faith in Ken. Also Davis Cries Veemon.

9S (Nier Automata)

Not mentioning any spoilers. Just watch this character and see how his vision of the world changes over time.

Okabe Rintaro (Steins; Gate)

Okabe’s shift from his ‘persona’ as things get real and his efforts to fix everything is too relatable for me ;_;

Yosuke Hanamura (Persona 4)

No, I do not ship him with Yu. They’re great buddies for sure, and he’s pretty cool. Really likable character for me personally save for a few moments in the game...he’s also the main in the Arena games. “Let’s do this, Jiraiya!” He’s so cool lol.

Top 3 time. Fiercely dedicated to these guys.

3) Robin (Teen Titans Go! 2003)

Robin is such a raw character that carries his past and tries so hard to move from it yet it embodies him to his core. He has since gained a softer side from forming a team, and has been doing normal teenager stuff...which is good for him. However at times that Batman side impacts him so hard that he can only concentrate on his mission, and starts shutting out everyone and everything to do things himself. It actively gets in the way of his interactions. He deals a lot with moving on from failure and acknowledging his friends more, which he does get better at over time. He is also represented by the color red. My favorite color. He’s badass and yet carries so much crap. I connect to this character a lot even now. Third canon character I ever wrote for.

2 Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia)

I love Lloyd. I love his voice, I love his attacks, I love his stupid double sword logic. He says wielding two swords makes him twice as powerful lol. I love his development. I love his idealism and how it matures over time. I love everything about Lloyd. It was legit love at first sight. I remember being 15-16 and seeing him on that Gamecube boxart and saying “I wanna play that guy” Most people I feel (guys in particular) probably looked up to certain characters growing up as a child/teen. Lloyd was mine.

1. Zidane Tribal (Final Fantasy IX)

While it was love at first sight for Lloyd, that was not the case for number one on this list. I was 13 when I first played FFIX. Zidane upon encountering him, I always thought he was a cool character, but he was nothing special. Even at Zidane’s lowest point I thought he was an okay character at best. I had not finished the game.

Fast forward a few years and I decide to play FFIX again, this time determined to finish it. I had went through some things, grew up a bit before turning this game on. This damn bandit...I remember writing this bit years ago: “His infamous mantra labeled above describes him well, but under his ability to console others with a smile, to cheer people up and meet them at their point of need with his abundant optimism lies a blonde who masks his pain and keeps his issues to himself. Despite his many friends and buddies he harbors a deep loneliness that, like his problems, he keeps to himself. One would have to look carefully to notice his character flaws for Zidane does an impressive job of hiding these problems. Whether it be through his energy, his theatrics, or focusing on other people, Zidane can cover things up quite well.”

Zidane has an absurd amount of depth to his character that I was never able to comprehend as a kid, beneath his flirting, his playful attitude, he hides a lot of feelings, a lot of anger, a lot of sadness. It used to boggle me how he’s able to uphold his sense of virtue despite what goes on in his life and the end of disc 3 answers this for me. It goes without mentioning that this was the second canon character I’ve ever written for, and I still love writing him. I could and write walls of text about how Zidane is so amazing, a chivalrous thief, a lover and a flirt but I think I can let you go lol. Hit me up if you really want to hear me ramble about any these characters, also play FF9.

...So I wrote all of that and forgot to write about Zidane’s ship...have to give it its own paragraph because I love these two together and she does wonders for Zidane as a whole as does he to her. She’s a princess and he’s a thief, they take their time to show them together through different things, different ordeals...particularly the ordeals. Its interesting seeing them both at their worst moments and the many funny moments..Man, that boat scene gets me every time...If I ever write a top ten couples list this couple would no doubt be in the top two if not number one. And I’d probably write way more than this about them because they’re great. Also they’re canon. A healthy canon. Also Dagger’s hot. Oh wait wrong list.

Okay finally done. Not editing this anymore :P

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cosmos-demiplane · 6 years ago

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Microsoft E3 2018 Press Conference Thoughts

Another year, another E3, time to post on my seldom used blog! No promises for when this is going to be more active... but we will have to see what the future holds!

So I’ll start by saying I’m not an Xbox guy, I play mainly PlayStation and PC with a bit of Switch thrown in there for good measure. I won’t be making a big post like this for the other conferences except Sony’s and maybe Nintendo’s. I’ll be looking at all the things mentioned out of chronology, but in an order that bundles the similar stuff together.

This time around Microsoft gave us one hell of a show. Forgetting the exclusives for now, as a PlayStation player I was very happy with the showcase. They showed off 15 world premieres of games, some noticeable ones that I’m personally excited for were: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (Set in the Life is Strange universe), The Division 2 (they probably feel privileged they got to announce this), Devil May Cry 5 (surprising to see this and other eastern developed games here as I would normally expect this to be revealed at Sony’s show), Jump Force (Blew my freaking mind, a weeaboo gamers wet dream), Dying Light 2 (Again, Xbox got to unveil this, I know PS is scaling back this year but hot damn, incredible), Just Cause 4, and they rounded out the show with a major title that I am very much looking forward to (more on that one at the end!). In brief, WHAT A SHOW. I want all these games *sigh*.

Notable mentions - NieR: Automata is coming to Xbox, Fallout 76 was briefly talked about before Bethesda’s show, Kingdom Hearts 3 will be coming to Xbox (!), Tales of Vespira, Shadow of the tomb raider, Tunic (furry Zelda, looks cute and the world has a nice design, but the design of the player character is meh imo), and I guess I have to put Gears 5 in here somewhere or someone will bite my arm off.

THE GAME PASS, the value of this thing keeps getting better, The Division, Elder Scrolls Online, and Fallout 4 are being added as well as some new tach (machine learning algorithms) that allows your games to start twice as fast. I don’t think the internet infrastructure is in place yet for the future of purely streamed games, but tools like this will probably help it become a stable, staple service sooner rather than later.

Next I want to talk about exclusives, but before I do I’ll put this game (DLC) here as I’m very much looking forward to it, Sea of Thieves Cursed Sails and Forsaken Shores. These next two updates to Rare’s open world PvP pirate game, which I love, should hopefully inject it with some more much needed content (and hopefully not a time limited campaign!).

Xbox’s weakest point has always been its exclusives. After the cancellation of Scalebound and the further delay of Crackdown 3, they had to show us something during this conference to give us confidence in the future of the platform. After all, strong exclusives lead to strong sales, growth, competition etc. And of course, great games all around.

And oh boy did they deliver! FIVE studios have been brought into the fold to increase their roster of First Party exclusives (The quality of these studios can be discussed later, for now let’s just focus on the positives). The first, one formed for the occasion: The Initiative, led by the guy who worked on Tomb Raider. The other four were snatched up as part of a major investment: Undead Labs (State of Decay), Playground Games (Forza Horizon), Ninja Theory (Formally a PS third party dev, they made 2007s Heavenly Sword and 2017s Hellblade), and finally Compulsion Games (Currently working on We Happy Few). Ninja Theory is the big one that will help them the most against the competition, and for the others, the extra money they will receive from being first party will no doubt be a boon to the scope and quality of their games (looking at you State of Decay!).

The exclusive games they did show off were a mix of the highly anticipated and totally unexpected. Battle Toads, a game wanted by the passionate community was show to exist, with a release date of 2019. Session, a new and exclusive skateboarding game was shown. Forza Horizon 4 was shown off, open world, changing seasons, it looks very different to what they have done with the franchise previously. Crackdown 3 was shown to alleviate fears of any more delays (although, anything is possible).

Lastly, before I give my general thoughts, I wanted to give the show opener and closer their own section. They opened the show by unveiling Halo Infinite, the trailer gave vibes of it being a more open world full of wildlife (rhinos anyone??) and a story centred on Master Chief. Other than that and the name, no other info was given, but you can bet it will be taking the series in a new direction. The show was closed, remarkably, by CD Projekt Red’s, Cyberpunk 2077! They have been silent about this game for a while (approx. 2077 days in fact!) because they pride themselves on quality and only showing their stuff when it’s ready. There was no release date given as the game is still in the oven, but I highly recommend you watch the trailer as this is surely going to be one of the best games of the decade.

Of course there are a few things I left out of smaller importance (PUBG was there for some reason?), but, onto my thoughts. I’ll keep this bit brief because I think you can already gather what my opinion is going to be - Holy shit this was the best Xbox conference in the history of Xbox conferences, maybe ever. Awesome exclusives, brand new/acquired studios, game pass improvements, many BIG world premieres, amazing games for everyone; this conference honestly felt like a show for every gamer as much as it did a show for just Xbox fans. I am excited and looking forward to the future of Xbox and the new first party games they will create. This conference seriously impressed me, and E3 has only just begun!

I don’t like thinking of E3 as a competition, but I don’t see how the others can trump this. Bethesda will be the best conference for Bethesda fans, Sony has downscaled, and Nintendo showed all its cards when it won E3 last year. This year has started on a high and I can’t see it getting any higher, which is a great feeling! If the other conferences are anything like this one, this is going to be an incredible E3!

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