#some boss battles piss me off but overall i love the game

[stealerofthe2ndbraincell]

R.I.P. Annabelle Cane and Hezekiah Wakely.

You both would have loved Hollow Knight's Deepnest. :(((

[sc4llywag]

Please share Unity thoughts im so curious

GAH since you asked so nicely <3

!!MAJOR SPOILERS FOR AC UNITY AHEAD!!

I love Arno for one, he's so nice and charismatic. A charmer ofc and I see why people say he's the 'french Ezio' on that note I do NOT agree. Ezio was so much more fleshed out and looked into than what we get from Arno's story. He lost his father and wanted revenge, like Ezio BUT!!!! He ended up completely shifting his goal.

He went from going from target to target for the info ofc and to report back to the Brotherhood, to becoming skeptical and angry at the council. I don't think he lost the goal of revenge for his father but rather became so attached to Élise and he couldn't overlook her own goals so he aligned them with hers to PROTECT her.

GOD CAN I PLEASE GET A HAPPY LOVE STORY??? I knew she was going to die(thanks AC community) but GOD did it hit so much harder seeing and hearing the music play in the background god the utter CHILLS I get from this soundtrack.

It's so heartbreaking because his goal all along was to avenge his father, and he did. But in that process he lost his lover, who was more important to him than some target.

GOD IM JUST SHHSHWHAA

Now for the gameplay itself I have much criticism :(

I really dislike how the combat works in this one. I get so annoyed with the party timing and how slow everything is I just miss fast quick combat that doesn't take a million tries.

Along with it taking so long was my struggle with levelling up GOD did this bother me!! I hated having to spend days trying to level up my gear and skills just to do the next story mission. That kinda ruined my immersion and I got lost a lot in the story because of it 💔.

Btw the stupid gun shit SUCKS I get shot twice and I'm literally dead done gone holy shit lower the damage pls

Another thing is probably the parkour being super janky for me with the unfortunate erasure of manual jumping MY LOVEEEEE

Overall the gameplay is nice and good but it's not as good as I had expected so I'd rate it around a 6/10

The stealth system was also a little annoying and pissed me off at times because id barely be seen and then get all the guards in the whole damn building coming for my ass and I'd be dead in two seconds. Other than that I like it I suppose.

I can't specifically rate the story because yes it is more underwhelming compared to the former games imo but I did like it because of how romance centered it was in the end. I am however mad about the boss fight wtf was that shit

That's the only thing I'll diss the most bro where's my super cool battle why do I gotta be sneaking around and only doing 3 tries for an assassination come ON Ubisoft.

This WHOOOLE game you've been building up the spooky grand master dude for me to finish off and I get this janky ass boss fight and Élise is just sitting there doing nothing?? Like ok Ms "we need to take him out together!" THEN HELP ME GOOD LAWD

Ig she did help by dying but OH WELL MAN WHATEVER

I will be replaying this in the future I'm sure so I can further dive into the story and kinda carve it into my mind since I had to waste so much time trying to grind just to get to the next level

*Cough*Sequence 10 was kicking my fucking ass with that STEALTH god fuck you*Cough*

[bigfanofwomen]

finished playing the nanjo route, here are some of my thoughts on the ending of eternal punishment :3

I barely know where to start. What the fuck am I supposed to say. I think I'll talk about Monado Mandala first.

The dungeon is exactly like what I would imagine it to be. It's great. My head started to hurt after a while though. The puzzles aren't that crazy, I'd say it's straightforward. I couldn't do one of forced battle (probably in the last area), it had stuff to do with spreading rumors and I couldn't bother. Whatever item was in that chest couldn't have been worth it at that point. The OST is eh, gets a bit tiring after a while. The bosses make up for it.

I love that my choices matter so much, I eat this shit up every time but sometimes it messes up my gameplay. Love the shadow scenes so much, they're amazing. Especially Ulala (big fan of her comphet) ugh I gotta talk about them later.

Shadow Ulala and Katsuya were really easy, my setup was:

Maya - Artemis, Ulala - Izanami / Asteria, Tatsuya - Apollo / Tsukiyomi, Baofu - Hastur / Odin, Katsuya - Tishtoriya.

It's the usual endgame setup, set up buffs and use whatever fusion spells that are available and will hit a weakness. Maya is mostly using Crescent Mirror. Same setup used for Shadow Maya and Baofu, but they were way more challenging. I loved these boss fights!

Nyarlathotep's boss fight was ass clenching. Sometimes I had to risk staying with low HP for the damage. Ulala had Mediarahan on Asteria, but she was casting Kamaitachi. Baofu and Maya were open, they didn't have proper heal spells so I used some items... 3 Beads, 1 Bead Chain and 1 Soma. He didn't give us a chance to breathe, I wasn't able to switch personas at any point in the fight. He died to Baofu and Maya reflecting his attack!!? But overall, an amazing final boss. He pisses me off. I had a ton of fun with most bosses in this game. Much more than Innocent Sin. But Innocent Sin is still my favorite out of the two.

Onto the ending. I was expecting Tatsuya to leave or just something awful to happen to him in general. But this is much more hopeful? I was devastated after Innocent Sin, this is much lighter and better for my psyche lol. He's been through it. I *really* can't stand how ATLUS pushes Tatsumaya so much, they put Maya in a love triangle for some reason. That's a lesbian. Anyway, Tatsuya and Maya are siblings to me.

Tatsuya becoming a cop makes me angry, that's all I will say. Good for Baofu and Ulala though!! And Maya's coworker from the start of the game!

This is the part I wanted to talk about. Eikichi, Lisa and Jun showing up at Alaya Shrine again. It's a nice scene, but... I was expecting something more? To see them somewhere outside of Alaya Shrine. I'm gonna be honest, they're repeating the same shit they had said before. But oh well, they make me sick to my stomach (/pos btw, I don't know how else to react to this).

P1 cast reunited!! Was looking forward to this scene. It's adorable. I wish Ayase was here. I wish her character was handled better in P2 lol.

This game will be forever special to me!! My favorite game of all time!! I can't wait to see Elly's route and the EX Dungeon. It's gonna be great.

[captainadwen]

random ff7 remake thoughts from 13ish hours in (under cut for remake spoilers for all the ppl like me who are only playing it like a year after its release....)

- overall i am having lots of fun. exploring Expanded Midgar (tm) is so much fun because it is beautiful and I can tell the love that went into every detail. there are potion vending machines and music posters and “clear icicle mineral water” stuffs and also they made the defeat music into a tango and it gave me trauma when i heard it play in an old ppl home (in game)

- that said, im... kinda reluctantly agreeing with someone else who said the best moments are those from the OG game? some of the expanded bits drag a bit long (also i keep getting lost because im adamant about not using minimap if possible), and it feels like a lot of key iconic moments keep getting interrupted by the shades

- like, to the point that when the shades show up it is My Least Favorite because they just interrupt key introductions and whatnot

- i think the game devs tried hard to balance between returning players and total new players but also it just... idk why couldn’t they have left key aerith scenes alone :c

- speaking of, boy this game ships cloti. like, these first 13 hours are really less “cloud joins a terrorist group” and more “which female interaction will make cloud more embarassed or uncomfy”

(its the jesse ones i am sorry but they made me almost as uncomfortable as they made cloud like nopeeee)

- also, im really pissed off that all three female “love interests” do the lean in from side smiley thing that is more aerith’s thing from like... something, not sure what. crisis core maybe? its notable because its ONLY those three that do it and it annoys me like please... you put this much effort into shipping you can at least have different gestures for when they need to lean down and get clouds attention when hes dissociating

- that said, this... is making me ship cloti? i always preferred them as friends but they have like. actual chemistry now. they interact! have jokes! like yes some of it is the limitations of OG but also its just SO much easier for me to swallow clothi in this game than in OG (no one @ me for shipping wars just because i prefer clerith didn’t stop me from going after barret’s date lmao)

- okay no srsly why cant we give the flower to marlene it makes no sense to change that aside from the fact that gold saucer date isnt in this game therefore no date points accrued but STILL it was such a cute interaction

- clouds consciousness from the og timeline is still aware inside cloud?????????? i only know some spoilers about What The Specters Are About but like that surprised me. along w other minor changes that only sorta make sense but mostly feel like done to get the specters in the story....

- when will i go down to the seventh haven basement :’d

- why was reno’s boss fight so fucking brutal

- no twirly sword battle win animation :d

- i still stand that they made sephiroth uglier

- also sephiroth’s weird obsession with cloud is even more hilarious when so constantly re-emphasized like ‘random nobody managed to kill me through the power of sheer rage and physics when i was going insane bc my alien gene donor kinda took over my brain so now i shall obsess over him and only him while i destroy the planet (or maybe not, that was so last timeline ago)’

- for that note, tifa in the remake is also hilarious if you consider the story from her perspective is ‘that loner boy friendly aquaintance/friend of mine showed up looking like he’d been run over by a train claiming to be a SOLDIER and he has the skills and eyes to prove it so i recruit him immediately to join the eco-terrorist bombing missions i dont really support so he can gain Some Monz and then the next day he gets bombed out by a big robot on live tv on a mission he and i weren’t supposed to be on except these crazy phantoms assaulted my team-mates and the next time i’ll see him* is when my fake human trafficking victim scheme hat i employ like the next day after that makes him crossdress to save me’

(maybe i havent gotten that far yet)

- anyway i love carbuncle free gift summon

[the-elder-beato]

also Kirby

1. It's fine for a Kirby game to not have 20+ copy abilities if the system implemented is creative enough. I know a lot of people were pissed at Dreamland 2 and Dreamland 3 in particular because they came hot off the heels of Kirby's Adventure (which introduced copy abilities) and Kirby Super Star (which added multiple moves to each copy ability) respectively. However, I still think both are really solid games in their own right because even though the number of copy abilities is lower, they get really creative with them and how they interact differently with each of the animal buddies.

Dreamland 3 is one of the best Kirby games in the series because of this, it has 6 animal buddies that all have different adorable ways of using the copy abilities, it has an amazing art style, and it has some of the best random cameos in the series, there's literally a level where the goal is to kill a bunch of metroids with the ice ability and Samus gives you a heart star for it. I could gush about this game forever, but in general I wish the Dark Matter Trilogy games that aren't Kirby 64 got some more love, all 3 deserve a remastered collection and I really hope it happens some day

2. Kirby's Epic Yarn is good. It isn't as high stakes or action-packed as previous Kirby games but it isn't meant to be. People complain about the lack of lives and shit but literally when have lives ever mattered that much in Kirby games in the past, Forgotten Land doesn't have lives and people still absolutely love it. Both games still have a penalty that takes lives' place, that being you lose beads or star coins respectively. Kirby's Epic Yarn is the kind of game you play when you want to see cute Kirby shit and look at some really awesome and creative yarn graphics. The music is also top-notch, the Ice Cream Islands remix from this game is the best rendition of that theme that's been done to date.

Also you get to fucking decorate Kirby's house with yarn furniture, any game with house customization gets instant high marks from me

3. This one is gonna be weird because I've seen people both love and hate Star Allies and I have both positive and negative unpopular things to say about it. The first being that Star Allies, base game with no DLC, is really fucking boring. Levels are really long and barren to compensate for the friend mechanic, which means there's a ton of empty space, and during boss battles especially it means that the screen can easily become really cluttered and you'll have no idea where you are. The worlds are all just "grassy area", "ice area" "fire area" without much else to differentiate them from past Kirby level theming. As an example, Planet Robobot and Forgotten Land both have ice worlds, but they actually switch things up by making the levels themselves unique. Planet Robobot has a level composed of ice pops and ice cream and Forgotten Land's ice world takes place in England (which, i mean, ew, but at least it's something new and looks nice). "Puzzles" in Star Allies tend to just be "break this block in this very obvious spot and get a puzzle piece" or "wait 5 minutes for this boring crushing block puzzle to end". It is by far the easiest a mainline Kirby game has been in years, and it really fucking sucks coming right off the heels of Planet Robobot, cause that game had really interesting level design and some actually difficult puzzles.

On the positive side of unpopular opinion though, I do think that the completed roster of Dream Friends were worth the wait, they are all incredibly fun to play and I think they were used wonderfully in Heroes in Another Dimension, it just sucks that the main game itself wasn't at the same level of enjoyment as the final DLC level. Oh, and the Clean ability was the returning ability I was the most excited to see in this game by far. Nago, ChuChu, and Pitch are some of my favorite Kirby characters and I'm so glad they got to return in some form through this ability. But yeah, overall, I really can't recommend Star Allies to anyone except the most die-hard Kirby fan, and even then I'd advise you to buy it second hand because it just isn't worth the $60 price tag. You often hear people complain about Kirby games being too easy and same-y, and unfortunately this game embodies those complaints to a T.

4. Kirby's Dreamland and Kirby Super Star are vastly overhyped. I still really appreciate them both for the strides they made when they first released, especially Super Star since it basically laid the groundwork for how modern Copy Abilities would function. But both games are very outdated and their gameplay is far more polished and enjoyable in Super Star Ultra. You even get an extra mode via Revenge of the King that basically brings Dreamland's hard mode to life and surrounds the extra difficulty with a completely new story.

This is gonna be the really unpopular opinion but I think even Super Star Ultra isn't as amazing as some people like to think. And this is coming from someone who used to have it in their top favorite games of all time, it was my very first Kirby game after all. I still absolutely adore it and it's a blast to play through but after years of replaying it to completion I have to say the gameplay gets pretty repetitive after a while. Milky Way Wishes has a unique gimmick, sure, but for the most part it's just a retread of earlier levels with repeated bosses, just recolored. Most of them aren't any stronger than they were in their debut modes, they're literally just palette swapped. The other extra modes added in Ultra definitely raise it above the original, especially Revenge of the King. Helper to Hero is also fun just for the fact that you get to play as all the helpers and see their cute little sprites. Meta Knightmare Ultra is... fine, but I'll get into that more with my 5th unpopular opinion. Basically, Ultra relies a lot on reusing stuff, which is a problem the original had as well. I just feel like other Kirby games that came after Ultra had a better balance of tons of copy abilities with a variety of moves while having a much more varied gameplay loop. Still love it, just not as much as I used to.

5. I think people will be really mad at this one but here goes. The Meta Knightmare modes are REALLY overrated. Nightmare in Dreamland was its first appearance, and overall it wasn't really all that different from the main game other than having less health and being able to play as Meta Knight. Ultra onwards is where the mode improved significantly because it gave MK special abilities and had a different final boss or bosses at the end. The final boss segments of Meta Knightmare mode in both Ultra and Robobot are fucking fantastic, but playing through the entire game all over again as Meta Knight just isn't that fun to me. In Ultra especially, it really wears on me because now you have to go through all of the already very repetitive levels all over again, with the only big difference being that you don't have to find collectibles. I think this moreso has to do with the fact that we've had a Meta Knight mode in 3 games now, because the extra mode in Triple Deluxe with Dedede was actually really fun to me because it was the first time controlling him. I was really hoping for a Bandana Waddle Dee extra mode in Forgotten Land since the game is so Waddle Dee-centric, but no such luck.

Anyway, I don't mean this to be a knock on Meta Knight himself cause he's cool, it's moreso just the oversaturation of playing as him that makes me not enjoy it as much. I had a similar issue with the Dream Friend modes in Star Allies, because after the excitement of seeing their movesets wears off, you're basically just replaying the same boring main levels over and over with only slight differences. All that said though, the boss rush at the end of MK mode in Robobot is one of the best things in the whole series, the minute I heard the fucking remix of Dark Matter's theme from Dreamland 2 I was just speechless. So as long as we keep getting stuff like that, I can deal with more Meta Knight modes.

6. Waddle Dee is the best enemy in anything ever

[sonicringnoise]

Have a Jak 3 rant

Okay, I need to talk about Jak 3 and just...how absolutely janky the plot is. 

This rant is extremely long, so I put it under the cut.

First of all, I just want to point out, I love this game. I love it so much, and it’s my favorite out of the trilogy. But it just...it could have been so much better, guh.

And I know that development of this game was rushed (hell, it only came out a year after Jak 2), but I’m still going to rant about it!

It starts out just fine, with the Wasteland and Spargus and the arena, but it gets so weird as it goes on. Just...really disjointed.

We never really find out why Jak keeps going after eco crystals. Seriously, he gets a dark eco crystal from the Dark Maker at the beginning of the game, a light eco crystal from Seem, and just...starts collecting them, for some reason? Like, was he going to make a necklace? Start a rock collection? It’s never explained.

But whatever, it turns out those are needed later in the game to save the world. Fine.

After some Spargus-y missions, we then go...to the Monk Temple. You know, the temple. That’s never been mentioned before, and we didn’t even know existed, but we just went up there to explore and stuff and...

Like, how hard would it have been to have a line where Seem says, “We monks live far to the north, in a temple in the mountains.”

Then we’d at least have a reason to go there. But no, instead we just show up there and start poking around. 

This is one of my biggest issues with the game. In Jak 2, there are cutscenes that set up these missions, or even communications in gameplay that tell us where to go. In Jak 3, there’s just...a lot of that missing.

But, fine. Whatever, Jak has, like, ESPN or something.

At the volcano, Jak gets a dark power of invisibility, I guess. But only when he touches certain statues, and it’s only ever really used to get past a few traps and then never again.

Oddly enough, this was something that...made sense? I mean, invisibility is actually a power that dark eco has. Remember in Jak 2, there were metal heads who could turn invisible. 

But it’s never used! And that complaint holds true for almost every power Jak gets. You basically use the powers when a prompt comes on screen to get through a one-time obstacle, and then never again. 

Then we find out Veger is talking to the monks, but no one ever really expands on why? Or how? Like, for a city hidden in the Wasteland and forgotten, a lot of fucking people know it exists! 

Speaking of which...

We meet Ashelin in the desert and she begs us to come back to Haven City. Jak asks her how she knows Damas and she answers, “It doesn’t matter now.”

Excuse me??

It totally does matter! If Ashelin knows Damas, it begs the question: does she know that Jak is his son? Does she know the Kid is his son? Does she even know about the Kid? 

I mean, Ashelin would almost have to know that Jak is Damas’ son: during this scene, she gives him his seal back and says, “Don’t you remember who you are?”

Whatever. Add that to the list of things that are never mentioned again.

Jak says he’s not coming back to the city, because he’s an angry teenager and he likes hanging around with his Sand Dad. 

This is immediately followed by Jak returning to Haven City.

We head to the Monk Temple, again for no reason. This time, we open up some doors and Pecker leads us back to the city. 

There is no explanation as to why Jak has a change of heart. I actually think that the scene where Damas and Jak had a heart-to-heart and he mentions his lost son should be here: it leads perfectly into Jak deciding that the Greater Good is more important than his feelings.

Instead, we get nothing. Nada. Zilch. Just Jak heading back to Haven City because it’s The Thing To Do.

We reach Haven City after a boss battle and meet with Samos and Keira. Samos sucks, but that’s in character. Keira has no lines in this scene, and only makes goofy faces. Seriously, look: 

That’s it, that’s the character. 

Like, what’s happening in this scene? What’s going on with you, Keira? Are you okay? Are you making bedroom eyes at Jak? Are you confused? Did you smoke some of your father’s funny herbs again?

(Again, I know Keira’s role got cut down a lot because they changed voice actors, but it’s...so...jarring for a normally prominent character to suddenly get shoved into the background.)

We do some missions for Torn and eventually find out that Erol is the bad guy. Never explained how Erol survived slamming his Zoomer into dark eco and exploding in front of a huge crowd, but at this point, it’s whatever. 

We continue on our journey: Tess is a furry, Samos is useless, Torn is...Torn. 

We get a scene with Sig where Jak and Daxter ask him about Damas and his job as a spy and all that stuff. Fine, well and good, except the following exchange happens:

Jak: You’re playing with people’s lives!

Sig: Why not? They played with mine.

I’m sorry??

There’s a story there, and I’d like to know! What the hell happened to Sig? Why is nothing ever explained??!!

We get some Dadmas feelings, then we head over to have a chat with Kleiver. And this happens:

Jak: Kleiver, I need to find some very special Precursor artifacts, but I’m running out of time.

...Are you?? Has that been established?

So, in one of the previous missions, Samos mentions over the communicator (during gameplay, not in a cutscene) that to activate some ruins in Haven Forest, you’ll need some artifacts. But all he says is this:

Samos: Mar wrote that there was some ancient ruins to the west that were activated by five special artifacts and revealed wondrous truths. I'll see what I can find out.

That’s it! There’s never a cutscene where Samos says you need to find the Holo Cube, the Quantum Reflector, the Beam Generator, the Prism, and...by the way, there is no 5th artifact. Samos, you’re full of shit.

(Unless the Eco Sphere you get from Seem towards the end counts, but it’s very unclear.)

And, by the way, I had to Google those artifact names. The artifacts are never actually named until you acquired them in-game. Jak just finds random artifacts and is like, “Welp, this’ll do it! How convenient!”

Sigh.

Once we get all these artifacts no one told us about, we’re told to go take a cab down to the center of the earth. We don’t do that, and instead blow some shit up to visit our friends in person again. 

(Quarantine mood, really.)

And, again, I can’t get over how much of a non-character Keira is. Seriously, she just stands there and claps like a 3-year-old.

And we also come to my own personal pet peeve: the scene where Ashelin strips Veger of his title.

I can’t with this shit.

The biggest issue I have with this game, from a story standpoint, is how quickly the inciting incident is resolved. Like, Jak being banished is the whole reason we have a Jak 3. The city turned against him; his anti-hero choices in Jak 2 led to him being blamed for the war in Jak 3. It made sense.

But Ashelin decides, 75% through the game, to just be like, “Naw, Veger, fuck you. Get out of my face, buh bye.”

It just pisses me off, because if Ashelin had that power, why didn’t she use it before Jak was banished??

And why is Jak okay with this? Why is Moody McAngerface not even a little annoyed that she didn’t care enough to do this when he was dying of heatstroke in the desert?

Uuuuuuggggghhhhh guys I don’t understand.

So we see Vin again, blow some more stuff up, fight Erol, and get some tentacle wings. Seem acts all nice to us and gives us a present we didn’t know we needed. More Dadmas ensues, we see the Dark Maker ship for some reason, blow even more stuff up.

Finally, it’s time to head to the catacombs. We get into some trouble with Dark Makers (even though there’s only, like, three of them), and Damas busts through the goddamn wall in a car.

No idea how he got here, considering the Wasteland appears to be an island, but whatever, it’s a badass scene.

Then, because Jak can’t have anything nice, they get hit and crash the car all over Damas’ legs.

Seriously, dude, I get that you might be dying from blood loss, but why are you coughing, your lungs are fine.

So Damas dies, Jak is his long-lost son, it’s very sad, and Veger you piece of shit.

I will forever be salty that Veger, who was an overall excellent villain, was sidelined for Erol of all people. Admittedly, Jak 2 did the same thing with Praxis, but Kor was a much better Big Bad than Erol.

Regardless, we then get the Worst Plot Twist Ever, when we find out the Precursors are ottsels.

k.

Moving on from that tragedy, we then get to fight Erol. The fight sucks, it’s boring and I hate driving the stupid Wasteland buggies.

And then the end comes, and my blood pressure skyrockets. Somewhere, my PCP senses a disturbance.

The Precursors being ottsels is stupid, but Jak telling them to call him “Mar” is even stupider. First of all, Jak does not seem like the kind of person to get sentimental over his birth name. It’s weird, and I don’t like it.

Second of all, the ottsel leader calls him Mar once, directly after that. And then never again. 

Seriously, 90 seconds after Jak says he wants to be known as Mar, this happens:

I’m sorry, what’s that?

Why would you add that line in about Jak wanting to be called by his birth name, and then ignore it a minute and half later??!!

It just infuriates me. There’s a lot of stuff in Jak 3 that does this: it’s touched on once, then it’s gone forever.

And let’s talk about Daxter’s wish. I actually find this particular decision - where Daxter chooses to wish for pants instead of being human again - totally believable. 

Despite how much Daxter is regarded as the comic relief idiot of the duo, he’s actually shown to be pretty sharp. He’s definitely observant. And at this point, remember that he’s already seen the Precursors at work: he saw them turn Veger into an ottsel.

So Daxter probably realized that these guys were on some monkey paw, be-careful-what-you-wish-for bullshit and decided to wish for the most innocuous thing he could. Who knows what would happen if he actually asked to become human again? Might come out lookin’ like Samos.

And he’s right, by the way! Look at what those assholes did to my baby Tess. They could’ve just got her a size 6 pair of Levi’s and been like, “Here, boom, pants.” 

But nooo, they turned her into an ottsel, too, because why not why the fuck not nothing matters ahhhhHHHHHHHHH

...

...

Anyway, like I said, Jak 3 is my favorite in the series. It had such potential. It’s like a puzzle that’s missing pieces. I like it more for what it could have been, rather than the absolute mess it actually is.

[dany36]

officially done with tales of zestiria!! overall, i really enjoyed the game and i'm glad i finally sat down and played it. more junk thoughts below.

so it's definitely not as bad as i had heard people say it was. i was really surprised when i saw just how much of a bad rep this game gets, but...i can definitely see some things as to why people don't like it... one of the things i had heard was that there was barely any character development in the game, and i agree with that. i was 35ish hours in when suddenly people were already talking about going into the final battle and i was like...what?! no sub-story about rose or eizen or lilah that goes more into their past/characters like sheena in tos or something?? i guess we did get more into edna with that sidequest about eizen (it was nice seeing her show emotions for once!), but other than that, i really didn't feel like the game focused on ANYONE else at any point in the story. they just sort of get introduced into your party and are there to help sorey in his quest.

speaking of sorey, i REALLY didn't care for his character at all. i think he's the only one where i was super apathetic towards in terms of character and personality. even zaveid, who i thought i was going to dislike because of how annoying i found him in berseria, grew on me and learned to like him. i don't know, i guess when i compare him to other protagonists in the tales of games i've played, he really is the most forgettable of them all. like, when he "sacrifices" himself and goes in a sleep slumber, i felt no emotion whatsoever. as soon as i got rose in my party, i switched to using her as my main (which never happens lol i'm boring and usually stick to main characters as my Player 1--emil, lloyd, luke, velvet, dude with the purple hair in vesperia for the amount i played in the game) cus i was just like wow give me someone more interesting PLEASE. so, sorry to sorey fans (if there are any) but to me he's one of the most boring aspects of the game...and he's the damn shepherd!

and continuing on that point, i think the plot in this tales game is also probably the weakest one out of the ones i've played (weak main character, weak plot). the game starts off with the simple premise that sorey is the shepherd and he must get rid of the Lord of Calamity, and...that's pretty much it. in other tales games, you start off thinking your objective is A, but then as you journey along, a plot twist occurs and you realize now that objective A really was just a small task in what is your true objective. Something like this never happens in the game, so the pace just pretty much stays the same throughout the entirety of the game. sure, there are some cool moments (rose's introduction and her learning to armatize will forever be my favorite), but they are scattered out and about and honestly in this game i can't really remember something as impacting as luke sinking that one city (haven't played tota in a while lol) or palmacosta being destroyed in tos or velvet finding out the truth about her brother.

but anyway, the rest of the cast, i absolutely loved, so it's truly a shame that they were stuck in a sort of forgettable plot. i already talked about edna and rose being my favorites, but lilah (that scene with the oregami...OOF...OOF!!!!) and zaveid are cool too. alisha is barely in the main game, but it was great seeing more of her in the DLC and showing her struggle of what she wants to do (her combat also seems cool for the couple of fights but i had to stick with rose...sorry!). i only wish we could have had more skits showing the party interacting with one other. i don't know if it's just me but i really felt like there were barely any skits in this game, which is sad because most of the cast is enjoyable and it's a shame we didn't get to see them talk with each other in skits more!

i had seen people say that it's best to play zestiria and then berseria so you can catch all the references in berseria, but...to be honest, i don't think i would have enjoyed zestiria as much if i had played it first! prime examples are the eizen sidequest and the sidequest where you FREAKING FIND MAGILOU'S TOMB. like...hello??? when i got to the eizen sidequest, i 100% would not have given as much of a shit on killing that dragon if i hadn't played berseria beforehand. it really made me sad knowing the tragic ending that eizen wound up having. and finding magilou's grave being guarded by her friend also broke my heart. like...seriously!!! that was something that i also would not have given another thought if i didn't know who magilou was. so yeah i don't regret playing berseria first since i actually think it enhanced the experience a bit more.

gameplay-wise, i really enjoyed it! took me a while to get the hang of the equipment system, but once i did, chaining combos with Rose was a blast. i also really enjoyed how easily you could change party members (unlike in tob where it costs 1 BG!) in the middle of a fight. and MAN i never get tired of seeing those sweet, sweet mystic artes animations. <3 <3 <3 it increases any character's coolness factor three-fold.

my main gripe in berseria was the terrible dungeon design. at the beginning, zestiria did a better job at putting in puzzles in dungeons so as to not make the same mistake that berseria did, but then...towards the second half of the game...it was pretty much all berseria-like dungeons of endless same-looking rooms with endless enemies (the DLC dungeon being a prime example of this). which is honestly just terrible and boring, but at least the gameplay makes the fights seem not AS tedious...

i also felt like zestiria did a better job with the music than berseria did. i can hardly recall any song i liked in berseria (there's like two or three i'd put in my vgm collection), but for zestiria, i'm gonna need to hunt down quite a few. also, i could actually remember the names of the towns/locations and what they looked like. in berseria, i felt like i was going town after town but for the life of me i couldn't remember at ALL what we did there in the first place. i really just felt like i was passing through each town not learning much about the place, but in zestiria i really got a feel of each town, so that was nice!

oh, and the ending i felt was...kind of weak lol especially cus...no one talked at all??? it was so weird haha in tos, tota, dotnw, and tob we have the characters at least saying SOMETHING in the ending but in toz it was just...animations and that's it lol. so glad we got a DLC cus i would have been PISSED seeing just rose leave off like that without saying a word and then...they show us her GRAVE??? i always think "wow i wish they would show us how the future of (insert favorite characters here) are like!! :)" but seeing rose's grave made me so sad (as well as eizen's and magilou's) like nononono you do NOT show my favorite characters just DEAD!! >:'v but anyway, yeah i mean it was an ok ending but nothing that made me feel with a great gap in my heart like tob's or tos's did. like mikleo seeing sorey again at the end? cool. did it make me feel something like when tear sees luke again at the end of tota? sadly, no. :(

and last but not least, the DLC. i mean, i absolutely LOVED seeing the girls in the team going out on their own little adventure and just interacting and talking with each other!!! lailah + edna + alisha + rose...who doesn't love that?? we got to see more of rose being the badass that she is and uh yeah her and alisha? totally gay for each other...like that last scene before they kill the final boss?? just A+++ material (except that terrible last dungeon AND the HORRID design of the last bosses??? dragons with purple bright titties so that the player will know they're FEMALE dragons??? LMAO)

oh wow i wrote more than i thought i would but uh yeah. all in all: DEFINITELY NOT a bad game, has a great cast of interesting and fun characters (except sorey) but sadly the game doesn't delve too deep into them as in other tales game, DLC was a fun addition to see more of who i thought was going to be a greater protagonist in the main story, but overall when compared to other tales of games, the weak plot puts it second-to-last in my list of tales games i've played. would i play it again? definitely :)

WHEW, ok, now off to watch the anime!! <3

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 69 (Nice) Rundown

Code Geass: So this episode is kind of a ride, like fuck. We kinda yadda yadda how Lelouch fucking escaped from Nunally’s sinking airship and just have Rolo sitting over him in bed kind of conflicted that he’s still stuck on his old little sister, so therefore he programs the tvs in Lelouch’s train to blast Nunally’s appointment but it’s funny because he probably didn’t even have to do that because directly after that Lelouch runs into the station and Nunally shit is just everywhere, like I get it’s a metaphor but it’s just funny that Rolo had to plan for him to run into something Nunally-related only for him to run out of the plan and run into ten times more Nunally shit. Then we get Kaguya claiming herself, Kallen and CC as Zero’s harem directly followed by a depressed Lelouch hypnotizing a bunch of street punks to exercise, about to do drugs and asking to fuck Kallen, like this episode is fucking ridiculous and parts are hilariously contrived, thankfully Kallen slaps the shit out of him and Rolo’s like “yo bro we don’t need that bitch, come on and live it up in this ridiculously racist system and the one place where it’s slightly less racist with me” and then they go back to school and have the “Happiness is Like Glass” scene which is genuinely amazing and moving, like for all the weird zany stuff that happens in the first part of this episode, this is a little oasis of pure sincerity and quality where Lelouch makes a promise he knows he won’t be able to keep. Inspired by this amazing moment, Lelouch returns to the Black Knights with the thought of “Maybe there are other reasons to destroy an oppressive dictatorship aside from my one ridiculously crippled sister” which he probably should’ve thought of before. And then he defeats Suzaku’s navy with the power of FUCKING BUBBLES, like yeah, this episode is right back to being crazy ridiculous but Lelouch is back and wants in on Nunally’s special zones… okay, phrasing.

Inuyasha: So we open with a scene of Kagome playing cards with Miroku which is genuinely adorable if pointless, but it just makes me laugh that Miroku and Sango seem to know all the rules of the game but are still stumped when Kagome tells them they’re Playing Cards, probably a culture thing. Anyway, Inuyasha has to kill a Barrier Demon to get the power to break barriers, which is a bit of a conundrum because Barrier Demons have, you know, barriers, which Inuyasha currently cannot break. Worse still said demon is a little girl and a half-demon like Inuyasha which understandably puts him in quite a quandary. Inuyasha does his usual thing of “Let’s just go in swinging and figure out the rest later but Shiori’s grandfather deflects the admittedly cool-looking Water Wind Scar Inuyasha throws at them with Shiori’s barrier. Shiori’s mom is all “Gimme back my daughter you said you’d stop attacking us if I let you have her” and he’s all like “Well make me, I have a fucking barrier and can hold you hostage” so everyone’s generally pissed off about the situation and Shiori’s granddad with the long name sends all the bat demons to go destroy the village which makes no fucking sense because the only reason she’s still cooperating is so they won’t hurt her mom, without her she has no reason to keep doing it but I guess he’s hoping having nothing to live for will make her do what he says out of nihilism or some shit.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Yusuke gets to face off against Suzaku, the final boss of the Saint Beasts and the gang get to demonstrate the teamwork lessons from this arc by doing a reenactment of the jumping Bahamut scene from Advent Children so Yusuke can get up the tower to fight him. It’s really pretty cool how they splice in Keiko’s Day of the Dead montage with Yusuke fighting Suzaku, tying things together thematically and culiminating in Yusuke and Keiko both fucking decking their opponents. I also really like how Yusuke’s so confident Keiko won’t go down to a zombie hoard so easily, like she’s not a fighter but she’s smart and has got guts so he’s pretty sure she can last a while while he pretends to punch Suzaku with his shoes. Overall a really good start to the fight that means Yusuke still has to wiggle his way out after using his Spirit Gun already and Suzaku still has a lot of shit to pull.

Fate Zero: So Saber and Lancer do their fight and there’s a bunch of fightnobabble talk that someone who’s actually held a weapon in their life would probably enjoy but to me is just “Oooh cool jabbies, flashing lights” which is still fun. Basically everyone’s watching though, Kirei has his ninja squad on the job, Kiritsugu’s Black Ops is monitoring things and Iskander is watching from the Radical Highway Bridge from Sonic Adventure 2. Eventually Iskander is like “Well damn they might kill each other if this keeps up” and Waver’s like “yeah duh.” And Iskander shows who wears the booty shorts in this relationship by storming into the fight against Waver’s wishes cause he wants to fight everyone anyway. So yeah, giant lightning chariot in the middle of this First Boss battle.

Konosuba: Now that the party’s all formed the group settle into a daily routine of Kazuma being Megumin’s wheels for her Explosion training, Aqua being a waitress and Darkness doing… probably better not to think about what Darkness is doing. Anyway, Megumin bombs the shit out of a Dullahan’s castle and before the Dullahan can call his friend Celty to come kick her ass, Darkness gets hit with a death spell and he issues a challenge to Megumin to come to the tower of the Four Saint Beasts and (wait wrong anime again) but Aqua just breaks the curse on her own and they just don’t bother showing up. In the manga this is really funny because Aqua’s in a maid outfit from her waitress job and just does it like it’s nothing and then they show a panel later of the Dullahan waiting for them like “The fuck when are they getting here…”.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So for some reason even though we only have three of the five Sailor Guardians, Luna decides this is the time to give a recap and reintroduce our protagonists for the first part of this episode. Anyway there’s a big party to celebrate a dated princess Di reference that’s kind of in poor taste at this point and Usagi and friends get in based solely on having fancy dresses and being hot, man I had no idea getting in with rich people was that easy. Anyway, Usagi gets a new tiara because of love and shit and gets an upgraded Ancient Egyptian Laser Beam from the moon. The Four Kings show up to be all “Ha-ha! You defeated my demon but now there’s all four of us and even though we still think you have the crystal and outnumber you and there will never be a moment when you’re weaker than this we will now… LEAVE FOR NO REASON!” like the logic of people in this show oh my fucking god. But of course the dated princess reference’s treasure isn’t the crystal they’re looking for and Tuxedo Mask kisses Sailor Moon while she’s asleep which is definitely sexual assault there was no fucking consent there, I don’t care if they’re moon soul mates or whatever she barely knows who he is and wasn’t conscious. But yeah Luna calls him out on his shit and despite clearly being an ally he has to be all edgy and be like “Well maybe I’m a friend, maybe I’ an enemy, who knows~” because I think he gets his power from how mysterious he is, like he’s going to be utterly useless if anyone figures out who he is, not to mention Luna already knows his identity but for some reason doesn’t tell Usagi. Idk man I just have a hard time following the logic of this fucking show…

Durarara!!: So yeah, this is the “The Yagiri Family is fucked” episode Namie has a weird fucked up brocon yandere thing going on, Seiji’s an asshole that because of having two stalker yanderes going after him has become a fractured manchild that thinks love is everything and pretends he knows shit but knows less shit than pretty much everyone around him and has his sister do all the shit for him. But yeah, Celty sees Seiji with the girl with her head and freaks out, and Shinra A DOCTOR if you remember says “Hey maybe your head just attached itself to a corpse Parasyte style” like either he’s a terrible doctor and really thinks that or this is a smokescreen to make Celty think her head has moved on and she should too which is a fucked up level of gaslighting. But yeah, Mikado takes Head Girl, Seiji keeps stabbing people with pens for some reason, luckily it’s mostly Shizuo so it doesn’t do anything, and Izaya’s just like “oh shit, chaos, I’m down”. Basically everyone is awful in this episode except for Mikado who just wants to help and doesn’t know shit, Celty who’s doing her best, and Shizuo who’s just awesome as usual.

[boukenboy]

#11: サクラ大戦

Originally released in 1996, Sakura Taisen is an absolutely fabulous, light-hearted romp through 1920s Japan. You play as Ogami, a young military offical assigned to lead a group of young theater actresses who pilot mechas designed to fight against all sorts of monsters who threaten the safety of Japan.

Pardon the graphical glitches in the above image. I’m not a scientist.

Sakura Taisen features an interesting mix of tactical RPG and a visual novel. You’ll spend most of your time working at the theater where the group resides, helping out with various tasks as you get to know the ensemble cast. What separates Sakura Taisen from other games of this type is what the game calls the “LIPS” system. I do not remember what this stands for, and I am too lazy to find out. 

Essentially, unlike most visual novels, the dialogue choices in SW are timed - and the game is not shy about throwing you into situations in which you only have seconds to respond, and before you even bother to ask, no, you cannot pause the game during these sequences. Sorry! 

Answering correctly will raise the respective character’s affection level, which carries over into the battle sequences in the form of various buffs. Pissing them off will do the opposite. Interestingly, sometimes saying nothing at all is the correct option. Just like in real life! And just like real life, I always panic and usually blurt out exactly the wrong thing. I’ve played a few visual novels, so by now you’d think I’d have a good sense as to what the correct option is, but no! I’m still helpless!

The cast is likeable - I’m especially fond of stuck-up Sumire and Kanna, her tomboy counterpart. These two straight-up come to blows at certain points, and they’re some of the funniest scenes in the game. The game’s titular heroine, Sakura, is a bit bland, but inoffensive and pretty enough. The only character that I cannot stand is Iris - the token child character, who, OF COURSE, immediately develops a crush on Ogami. There is a lot I could say here, but the last thing I want for this blog is to attract THAT kind of discourse (you know what I’m talking about), so I will just say this: I don’t like children. I don’t like Iris, neither her design or personality, and every time she’s on screen I begged for her to go the fuck away.

Sakura Taisen presents itself in an episodic manner, similar to a real anime or television show, complete with previews! This was one of my favorite aspects of the game, and one I wish others utilized more. I found myself playing until late at night often - the “just one more episode” effect is in full, sleep annihilating force, and I loved every second. Unfortunately, the game’s pacing is a bit wonky once the battles begin. Fights in Sakura Taisen play out like a traditional strategy RPG, complete with grid based movement, special attacks, and a decent variety of scenarios: my favorite thus far is a battle rather early on, in which the boss will randomly summon one of your allies within his attack range. Scary!

But, as in most SRPGs, the flow of battle is unbearably tedious, watching each character s l o w l y take their turn is mind-numbing, and I found myself  dreading upcoming brawls. Strategy fans won’t mind, but I have never been fond of the genre - the time investment required for each stage just a bit too much for someone like me. I have the attention span of a confused goldfish. Sakura Taisen also features a variety of mini-games that you’ll encounter throughout your adventure, including a cooking game, an isometric platformer where you sweep the floor with Sakura, and an utterly incomprehensible card game forced onto you by Kouran, the kansai-ben speaking genius. To the game’s credit, I was fairly drunk and button mashed my way through the tutorial. Anyway! These are all pretty fun, and provide a welcome distraction from the main flow of the game.

I can’t speak much about the plot, as I have yet to complete it, but it follows our heroes fighting against a mysterious group who intend to conquer Japan and expel the Western influences they feel have tainted the country. Once again, there’s a lot I could say here, but I’m not trying to attract THAT kind of discourse to this blog, either. Nobody is getting cancelled today! That being said, there’s a fun “monster of the week” feeling with Sakura Taisen, and as someone who grew up with anime like Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z, the game overall feels very nostalgic.

Even though I generally dislike strategy RPGs due to their pacing issues, the other elements in Sakura Taisen more than make up for it. The game is literally a playable 90s anime. The game never takes itself too seriously, and the sometimes chaotic chemistry among the cast never failed to have me grinning like an idiot. A perfect game to chase away the quarantine blues. I heard it was recently translated into English, so check it out! 

[spontaneousmusicalnumber]

My SWSH Review

Beware of spoilers under the cut, but I had a lot of mixed feelings about this game. I broke things down into categories so I could better keep track of what I liked and didn’t like in the game. 

Gameplay Time: I finished the game at roughly 32 hours of gameplay, when normally I expect to finish a game at closer to 48 hours. Was more than a little disappointed when I reached the end. 5/10 was nice while it lasted.

In-Game General Content: As I noted above, this game felt emptier than I expected. Not as much to explore or many side plots to follow. Some of the towns were teeny tiny. Does anyone even live in Spikemuth? There was ONLY a gym and shop. They really hung their hats on the wild areas, easily the star of the game. For the few towns where they were relevant and nearby, I felt an almost perfect balance between a traditional pokemon game and more of a BoTW-style open world. Pokemon fans have been clamoring for an open world style game for years, and they did a really good job on that portion of the game. But there was no victory road, no post-game unlocked areas, routes were short, towns were the same few amenities with a different look. No way to farm berries, either. 7/10 Great visual design and stellar job on the wild area, wish there was more to fill it in. 

Gym Battles and Gym Plot: Easily the most excited I’ve ever been about the gym system. The way they built up excitement and hype for the gym leaders as well as the atmosphere of the battles themselves is sublime. When the music first shifted to the chanting crowd carrying the melody, I ascended. They aimed to recreate the sheer adrenaline of battling in a packed stadium and they hit the nail on the head. They did a great job building up Leon as the toughest champion, and then actually delivering one of the toughest battles I’ve had. A+. 10/10 One of the best in the franchise.

Villain Battles and Villain Plot: I was confused the entire game. Are we supposed to trust Rose, the capitalist who basically owns Galar? Everyone loves him, so I guess the weird vibes I get are wrong. Team Yell are the villain henchmen right? But it doesn’t even have a leader, they’re just fans, turns out they weren’t even acting under orders so they didn’t have a goal. What is Bede’s deal? Is he working on villainous plans? Oh turns out he wasn’t acting under orders either and is just a turd. Oh the secretary is the villain? Oh, no she had orders? From who? Oh Rose IS the villain, they did a piss poor job of foreshadowing that. None of the Grunt/Executive/Boss progression you would generally expect in a Pokemon game. 1/10 keep some consistent throughlines next time. 

Postgame Content: There’s an interesting continuation of the two kings legend that was found in game, with two of the most poorly designed characters I’ve ever seen as the villains. It gets rather repetitive in the middle while you face all the dynamax pokemon, but I appreciated more Piers content. Overall it was quite short, tying up Hop’s character arc nicely but making me quite sad that the story was over for real so fast. There are no postgame areas unlocked, the only postgame content is the Battle Tower. No national dex, of course. After hearing Masuda hint at extensive postgame content, definitely a disappointment. 3/10 There’s a theme here of good content but not very much of it. 

Battle Hook: Every game in the last few years has a battle gimmick: Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, etc. Dynamax and Gigantamax hold up well, really changing the way a battle can work. The Dynamax raids are a great addition to the series, making social battles a collaborative effort instead of a competitive one. Dynamax only lasting a few rounds also makes strategy interesting. I found myself enjoying it a ton! I do wish the difference between Dynamax and Gigantamax was explained some more, or whatever a ‘dynamax level’ is.  9/10 Solid!

Pokemon Designs: We’ve come to my absolute favorite part of the game. The new pokemon are STELLAR. I managed to avoid spoilers for the starter evolutions, so the anticipation for how my Grookey and Hop’s Sobble were going to change was intense. Although a few are a little further down my list of favorites (Looking at you, Silicobra) I didn’t really dislike any new design I saw. Galar forms were great as well, as an ecologist Cursola hit me hard. Really liked how old pokemon got new evolutions! 11/10 I want an army of Snom. 

Overall Dex Composition: First off, lots of points are taken away for not having a National Dex. You made your bed Gamefreak, you made over a thousand pokemon, now lie in it. Looking past that though, I did like the mix of generations that came in. Gen one was not the favorite here! It was pretty evenly split up, both from classic pokemon and Galarian forms. Some of my often-missed favorites were here (Croagunk, Morelull, Bronzor) and it felt like what pokemon were chosen, were chosen with care. 6/10 Wouldn’t have this section if there was a national dex.

Shiny Hunting Methods: This is an important factor to me. According to the most up-to-date sources, the native shiny method for this game has 2 facets, and one is untrackable. The first is how many total pokemon of a species you have battled, tracked in the Dex. The second is your catch combo, or how many of that species you have caught or battled in a row. This second one is invisible. What breaks it? What maintains it? How do you track it? Nobody knows! It’s never mentioned to even be a thing in game, so there’s no way to find out. 3/10 clunky. 

Overall Experience: I went into the game not knowing how high to set my expectations. As I started I had a lot of fun, feeling the old pokemon hype set in again. But as I progressed, I started to feel the emptiness in places. It is well known that this game was rushed in development, so not everything intended showed up in the final product. This was really easily felt, especially in post game. I did have fun. A lot of fun, at times. But it always ended too soon. Overall, I’d give the game a 6.5/10. 

[ahnsael]

Semi-long post, but no “read more” because I’m just too ANGRY to even bother.

So...we have a guy who comes into my work once in a while Maybe two-three times a week (although I only saw him once this work week, and he left without being served before I could tell him he wasn’t welcome).

He’s usually already VERY drunk when he arrives. Once in a while, he’s not, and we’ll sell him a beer or two before we decide he’s had enough (he’s “perma-drunk” enough that it doesn’t take much to get him back to his normal drunken state). I mean, we’re a casino. We usually give away drinks for free. But this guy doesn’t gamble, so we make him pay for his drinks. Despite what some people think about drinking in casinos, we’re not an open bar. Maybe it’s different in Reno or Vegas, but...we’re a small casino in a small town. We’re GOING to notice, when there are less than 10 people in the casino, when you’re asking for a drink but not gambling (or, in the case of other people we charge for drinks, if you’re gambling 1¢ per game, in which case we’re gonna charge you for your drink -- we have certain levels of gambling you have to meet if we’re gonna comp you a drink).

But we’re also not “all-you-can-drink.” We do our best to serve responsibly. Even our big gamblers have to wait 20 minutes between drinks. The human body can process two drinks per hour, so even at 20 minutes in between, we’re serving more than the body can process in an hour -- but we don’t mind people getting tipsy (if they have a designated driver)...that’s good for business, in all honesty, in the casino game. But...what’s bad for business is letting people get HAMMERED and creeping out other guests (or our staff).

When we cut this person off (we know his name, but we mostly refer to him as “Tall Guy” since he’s about 7′ tall), it’s final for the night. Which the shift before me, knowing that I have dealt with this jerk many times, is very good about telling me that he’s been there and that they cut him off or refused to serve him due to him already being drunk when he showed up.

I mean, even when this guy is deemed okay for a drink or two at my work until we cut him off, he then walks to another casino a couple blocks away and drinks more there until THEY cut him off (and they take WAY longer to cut someone off than we do), and then he comes back to our casino to try to drink more. I’ve honestly turned this guy down for drinks WAY more often than we’ve served him.

I tried to talk one of my bosses into letting us permanently cut him off -- just not serve him any alcohol, ever, no matter how sober he may seem. I lost that battle. To be fair to this boss, he fought the same battle over someone else, and lost that battle to HIS boss, so he was basically just giving me the same answer he got.

But last week, on one of my days off, he came in. Drunk, of course.

Our other graveyard manager is a lady. And he came in on my night off and was not just hitting on her, but following her around after she said she wasn’t interested, accused her of “leading him on” (trust me, I know this lady -- she does NOT lead people on; she’s not looking for a man), and apparently badgered her for quite a while during her shift. She has been nice to him in the past because IT’S OUR JOB TO BE NICE TO PEOPLE. And she’s been on the job for maybe 5 months. It took me three years in this job to realize that sometimes you HAVE to be an asshole to people (like one guy last night, different guy than the one I’m talking about, who came in drunk off his keister, and got mad and me for not being willing to give him a beer even though he was gambling; he said “why can’t I get a beer?” and while all my Disney training says to respond in a kind and non-confrontational way, my current state of mind had me ready with my reply of “because you’re already drunk” -- no sugarcoating required on a casino graveyard shift; when he argued that he wasn’t drunk, I just replied with “yes, you are” and walked away).

I found out about this situation four days ago from another guest who was there and saw it. The next day, the manager involved texted me to tell me about it herself (which I was glad she did, because the guest who told me about it is known to embellish things). And I unfortunately know this guy well enough from his past behavior in the casino to know, once she told me about it and it wasn’t hearsay from another guest, that it’s true. I don’t NEED Tall Guy’s side of the story (even if he actually remembers it in his perma-drunk state).

I’ve been nice to this guy in the past. It led to my first dates in 11 years (not with him, obviously), but more on that below.

So I reminded our other grave manager when I worked with her this week that she DOES have the power to 86 this guy for up to 72 hours without getting higher approval. I also showed her how to get our county sheriff’s department (the non-emergency line) on speed dial, which I have programmed into our wireless phones (obviously if she feels in danger 9-1-1 is best) in case she doesn’t have time to look up their non-emergency number, and told her that if this happens again when I’m not there to help, CALL THEM. And if she wants to 86 him, CALL THEM before she presents the trespass notice so a deputy or two can be there in case he has the urge to react in a stupid way -- he’s usually good at rejection from me, when I refuse to serve him or ask him to leave, but...given what I learned about him this week, that may not be the case with my other grave manager (and honestly it pisses me off more that he reacts differently to her if I’m not there than he does to me when I am there than anything else -- if he’s treating her as “less-than” because she has boobs, that is inexcusable). In this county, at least, deputies are MORE THAN HAPPY to back us up on stuff like this (and, trust me, I much prefer being on their good side to being on their bad side -- they LOVE doing their jobs).

But, aside from policy and aside from “call the cops if you need them,” the next time I see this guy, he and I are going to have some SERIOUS words with each other.

I mean, it’s gonna be off the record. I’m not going to report it unless it escalates (and I will grab my cell phone, which I’m not supposed to carry at work, just in case I need to call for backup, though I doubt I will need it), and it will be on surveillance since the door I take him out of leads to an area that is covered by several cameras, but...the next time I see him, which will likely be within the next week, I’m going to ask him to accompany me outside for a conversation, so I can do this out of the view/hearing of our other guests. And then I am going to verbally LAY INTO HIM. In more crass terms, I’m going to CHEW HIS ASS OUT.

I had to clarify with the other manager last night that when I said I was going to “take him outside and have words with him” that I wasn’t saying I was going to take him outside and beat him up. Even though I kind of want to, that’s not my style. I’d rather use words than fists. And I’m honestly probably more effective that way in an altercation.

I mean, on the off chance that he does square up against me, I am confident in my ability against him (I’m not overly confident in my fighting abilities overall, and would rather not test them, but if it came to that and deputies couldn’t get there in time, this guy is perma-drunk enough that I’m pretty sure I could fake an uppercut or left hook and then go for his knees to take him down, and hopefully hold him in place until the law arrived).

But I’m gonna go off on him. He can NOT treat my fellow employees like that. Manager or not. He cannot keep bugging guests, like he was doing before I tried to get my boss to let me permanently cut him off from alcohol.

(Come to think of it, I think I’m going to make the solo call to permanently cut him off anyway, despite my boss -- who has never seen this guy -- saying no; that’s a liability that we do NOT need, and I’d rather get in trouble for refusing to sell someone a $2.50 beer than to end up on the hook for him doing something stupid after we served him alcohol -- the basic rule of running a bar is that if someone does something stupid, or gets hurt, or worse, hurts someone else while drunk, it’s on the last place that served them, unless they were drinking out of a bottle at home in which case there’s no bar to blame).

But...

I mean, this is the guy who set me up on the two dates I had a few months ago (and then immediately acted like he was jealous that she was going to go out with me when she wouldn’t go out with him, even though HE was the one who tried to get us together). He later told me he tried to set me up with her because he had offered her a place to stay, and he hoped that after a couple dates I’d let her move in with me so he could get her out of his house (I’ve learned to know better than to do that -- through experience). She moved on from his house before our second date and was staying with a co-worker -- she wasn’t for me, but she WAS smart enough to get away from this asshole.

So...aside from the fact that I’ve had to tell this guy on at least a dozen occasions that I’m not going to let him drink at our casino because he’s already drunk as heck, I’ve got history with him.

And I’m DONE being nice to him, regardless of his blood alcohol content when he shows up.

I can handle my own stuff (most of the time, until about 6-10 years later when I have a total meltdown like I did recently -- but since I just had one I’m hoping I should be good for a while now). But...you fuck with my co-worker? You’ve fucked with me, whether you meant to or not.

I had a TERRIBLE co-worker’s back when a regular guest flirted with her to the point it made her uncomfortable (in that case, he was pretty much harmless, but I had to tell him to back off, but in a friendly non-confrontational “Please lay off on that, she’s not comfortable with that kind of flirting” sort of way).

But this situation is different. Tall Guy followed this other manager around wherever she went. He kept interrupting her while she was doing regulatory things that she HAS to do. He told her that she was LEADING HIM ON because she’s been nice to him in the past -- but IT’S OUR JOB TO BE NICE TO PEOPLE. She ended up hiding in the women’s restroom to get away from him. And I CANNOT have my co-workers having to fear dealing with our guests. That’s not on her, she’s a strong woman who, in the time we’ve worked together, I’ve seen stand up to things that I would struggle with. This is ENTIRELY on this one asshole who doesn’t know when to say when -- on alcohol, or on interpersonal communications. Because no matter how many times she excused herself, or how blatant she was about “I have work to do, leave me alone,” he just kept at it.

So...the next time I see this guy, I’m going to tell him that he is not welcome in our casino. I don’t have the power to permanently 86 someone, but I’m going to pretend that I do, and I’m just going to start issuing 72 hours trespass notices as many times as it takes for him to take the hint. And if he comes in DURING one of those 72-hour periods, I’m going to have him arrested for trespassing.

But none of that is going to happen until I have my chance to CHEW HIM OUT. I don’t know that I can teach him manners, but I’m certainly going to let him know that he lacks them.

[sparda3g]

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma Le Dessert Chapter 1 (315.1) Review

When you’re finished with your meal, you either call it a day or request for a dessert. Thus, the fans have their dessert that will be the definitive conclusion to the overall series. There will be three extra chapters in total, each releases a month apart. The first part takes place a year later after BLUE and yes, we do have the result. After color pages of “desserts,” the story enters the epilogue stage that has good promises for a delightful conclusion.

It makes sense for the series to skip a year since it does have a year left to cover. Instead of creating a plot, it establishes some of aftermath effects from the first two years, and it begins with a rather humorous end result from BLUE. Megumi narrates the story, much like any other times, and so, the story begins with the winner. Soma lost to Erina. Looks like we have a new member to be in the list for “Top 10 Protagonist that Doesn’t Win.” It’s Soma’s fault for giving Erina’s groove back. I laughed at the trophy size difference. Good game, Soma.

Soma almost pulled a Hitman Reborn ending, which almost terrified the hell out of me, by declaring himself to redo everything from scratch. Funny enough, Joichiro is willing to accept him back to the diner and run it, but Soma is far too hell-bent to defeat the Goddess Erina. That speaks volume that he can’t move on, even when he’s perfectly capable enough as he is. He even tried to redo everything and all he gets is a derpy look on his face, like “Why can’t I win her?” I probably meant that in more than one way.

The best solution is to go oversea and disappear for a couple of months. The problem is, it lasted over a half a month with no sight of return. Amazing how plenty of Shounen series like to have the protagonist disappear and keeps us wondering if he/she would ever return. I blame Dragon Ball for its not-really-ending endings. Anyway, I find it funny Hayama is getting Tsukasa’s treatment when he was running the Elite Ten; meaning Soma dumped all the paper works on him. Karma, I suppose. Oh well, they have an event going on, so it’s all good. For the record, Alice looks charming with that long hair. Almost like a trade; we’ll get to that soon.

The Annual Fall Classic does give me the nostalgia feeling; no pun intended. In fact, the chapter so far had the old feeling of the series in its heyday, where there’s no “deep” story to worry about (in more ways than one), and the sensation is relaxing and fun. The Polar Star has two new members, Takai and Terumoto, competing in the event. The idea isn’t to brew a new series or falsely advertise the next generation, because God knows how I took that in back in 2014, rather to establish the influence of Soma in BLUE. He lost, sure, but he greatly inspired the new generation or to be precise, those who are from “low standards” like a diner. It’s as if Soma has died for their cook; he’s a martyr. But seriously, this was nice.

I’m reminded that Isshiki and Kuga are no longer students; however, it’s good to see them associating with the events as judges. Tsukasa also arrives as well. Rindo shows up and immediately, my mind tells me, “How I miss this character so much.” Lastly, Shinomiya enters the stage, who I also miss. Shame that I can’t find a way to read the spin-off. It’s fortunate, however, to learn his dream has come true. His restaurant in Paris is the first Japanese-run restaurant in France to earn three stars. He still acts tsundere, but it’s all good. It’s neat to know Tsukasa and Rindo help out Shino’s Tokyo whenever they return to Japan. I would like to see the third chapter showcasing that.

I got to give credit to Megumi for handling the administrative side. Back then, she’d probably hesitate to death for handling this amount of work, let alone interactive with a large group. It’s easy to compliment when you have Rindo recalling her moment in Elite Ten discussion board, where no one can decide a single thing. I do miss this group though. Lunch Sets sound odd as a theme and everyone there called it, but it does bring some uniqueness to it. Bottom line, Tootsuki is heading for a bright future and that’s all it matters. It’s good to have alumnus around to know everything will be good. Again, Soma has died for our cooks. So, everything is heading for a swell end, right? If we go by Erina’s anger, then no, not really.

First of all, she has a new hairstyle, a short haircut to be exact. This is what I meant about the “trade;” Alice and Erina swapped hair length. That or Erina wants to replicate Zelda from the future Zelda game. Either way, she looks good. She goes on a long rant about Soma not showing for this month’s event; more on that later. I find her rant hilarious, considering how lengthy it is. It reminded me of another series, where one speech bubble consist a really long rant about her love interest not being in presence for her. The moral is, don’t piss them off. Amazing that she is the reason for his absence; can’t this pairing get a happy ending?!

The more notable note is how Erina worked her way to not only create the event, but also brought in the two transfer students; the one that was mentioned earlier. She had to show whose boss and they submitted it. I don’t blame them. She did it, so she can make sure when Soma returns, Tootsuki won’t disappoint him. While fans are recovering from fainting, I thought this was pretty charming. No wonder she got incredibly angry, though I do believe there’s more than simply showing up for an event. Judging by her rant, she has been doing this for a while, yet no reply. Stop keeping her waiting, Soma. Plenty of characters we know are at the event that is about to begin; this is sweet. Almost feel like the ending, but the chapter continues.

Earlier, Erina mentioned that she has dinner planned for the evening with Senzaemon and Mana. It’s nice to know that she and her mother are on better term. It also means Mana is more open to come visit to the household. As nice that all sounded, it looks like they are now rivals; the battle for the true God Tongue wielder. Well, it’s better than distance themselves, so it’s a great progress. Speaking of progress, supposedly Mana is getting better, but have a long way to go. Better than nothing. All in all, the family is getting better in health and relationship. That all being said, Joichiro was also there; gearing up for the next chapter.

Prior to this chapter, a Weekly Shounen Jump issue stated that the second chapter of Le Dessert will be about a past. Not only the fans didn’t know whose, but didn’t know how it will lead to it. In a way, this chapter surprised me. Not necessarily on whose, but how it ignited. Erina asks Joichiro about Soma’s mother, Tamako, and that leads to the closure with Joichiro preparing for an origin story.

Once again, while fans are recovering from fainting, it’s quite telling that Erina is the one to ask about her. Now, it does make sense when you remember she was there when Soma told Azami to shut it because he knows very well Joichiro was saved by his mother. She meant the world to him, and Erina noticed it. I can’t say that’s what made her inspired to ask, but it’s definitely a key moment that led to this point.

I thought this was a nice chapter all around. It’s more relaxed without worrying about a dark sinister plot. Therefore, it’s all on the characters, which are the better selling point. It’s also good to see how things are slowly evolving within the academy before entering a likely time-skip with everyone in their career. The sensation felt nostalgic; if only it was like this in the final arc. All scenes with Erina were funny and charming. The ending got me interested for the next, only to be reminded the long wait. Will this benefit the shipping? Quite possibly, but first and foremost, I am very eager to know the story.

[atopearth]

Final Fantasy X HD Remaster Part 8 - Someday the Dream will End

(Thought it’d be a great title since the above is my favourite soundtrack and this is my last post on FFX! XD)

Yay! I got Lulu’s Venus sigil! I was hesitant to start the dodging lightning thing since you have to dodge 200 in a row, but omg, after going on YouTube and knowing that there’s a ditch where you can easily gather the rhythm to do it 200 times, it only surprisingly took me like an hour and a half after getting distracted a few times and failing lmao. Gotta say though, much easier than the stupid Chocobo race for Tidus!🙄 Next thing you know, I try the butterfly catching game for the Saturn sigil and start to contemplate whether I really want to be a perfectionist lmao. I totally forgot that I hate the butterfly game the most, like THE MOST. It’s literally frustrating me more than the Chocobo and lightning combined, I don’t know why everyone on the internet says it’s the easiest of the mini games😣😣 Okay, fine, after another half an hour with trial and error, I finally got the Saturn sigil too, not that bad I guess….

Finally got all the celestial weapons too yeee~ I’ve never gotten everything before so I’m pretty happy right now hahaha! So Yu Yevon is the one that’s been constantly causing this all for a thousand years, hiding within Sin using him as an armour, and then when people defeat Sin with the powers Yunalesca tells them about, he merges with the Final Aeon to continue this cycle of life and death. I guess when everything works out, it’ll be good, but once they defeat Sin, the Fayth will stop dreaming and Tidus will disappear… It’s kinda funny how you used to be all concerned about Yuna dying and now near the end of the game, you instead have to be concerned over Tidus disappearing instead. Why can’t they just be happy together sigh..

Well! I legit spent a day farming sphere levels for Rikku and Tidus to finish off the sphere grid getting all the strength and agility nodes but omggg, can I just say that having triple AP instead of double AP is like the biggest difference ever? LOL. And omg overdrive -> AP is like the best thing ever. So easy to level lol. Funniest thing was when Don Tonberry did 83k damage on my Tidus though hahahaah, did I really kill that many monsters with him🤣 But yeah, it’s cool that I’m progressing with my sphere grid but I’m kinda sad that I’m one hit KOing everything lol. I mean, this is the first time I’ve ever gotten so far in FFX so I feel like I’m killing my experience haha! But I really want to fight nemesis and penance and all the dark aeons so oh well. Btw, it’s because I OHKO Seymour in Sin and didn’t get to see him do anything with his cool music hahaha. At least Yuna finally sent him to the farplane lol. Anyway, back to farming monsters, just need to finish Sin and Omega Ruins and I’m doneeee!

GG though, Omega Ruins took sooo long (I guess Sin did too) but dang was it annoying lol. So anyway, after much leveling with Don Tonberry again, and getting all the strength, defence, magic, magic defence, agility, luck and fortune spheres, I am legit done with the whole sphere grid! I’m honestly not dedicated enough to do 255 everything, so since 255 luck = 255 accuracy and evasion, I am not going to bother lolll. Agility maxes out at 170 as well so yayyy, don’t need to farm moreeee. I’ve legit been spending my week doing all this lmao, watching TVB and farming, that’s been my life hahaha. It’s kinda crazy seeing myself finish all this though. It was super time consuming but it’s nice to see my characters deal 99,999 damage haha. Coolest thing was defeating all the creations by the Monster Arena guy and then beating up Nemesis! Yesssss! It could have been easier if I set my overdrive mode to Comrade (charges overdrive when allies are hit) since he dealt so much damage lol, but silly me left it on Warrior (charges overdrive every time I attack), so yeaaaah, that took longer than I wanted hahaha. Btw, Nemesis is ugly but yay! I’ve completed another goal of mine! Oh yeah, I also beat Omega Weapon, of which, he was so underwhelming, especially with the random monsters you have to fight along the way, FFVIII was so much more annoying and challenging imo with the Ultima Weapon and other guys. I guess we’ll see how I feel once I defeat all the Dark Aeons and fight Penance hahaha.

The Dark Aeons were relatively easy! Especially if you have ribbon/stoneproof, not being petrified and shattered is like the most important thing imo lol. Dark Bahamut kept killing me and pissing me off because he kept petrifying my guys and killing them lol, I had to put stoneproof on my armour to survive, worked out well since I needed it for the Magus Sisters too haha. And yes, I was lazy to fight them altogether so I separated them and fought the sisters one by one to save myself from the agony lol. And what do you know? Dark Yojimbo was actually the one to bring the most trouble! It’s not even because he was hard, it was because I had to fight him 5 times to defeat him and initially, I didn’t know and just defeated him four times and was like wth, why isn’t Penance appearing?! So then, I googled and realised that I had kept missing the true third battle in the green room, so yeah, that frustrated the hell out of me because I legit defeated him 10+ times because I went to the wrong place, didn’t understand etc, yeaaah I was raging lol. I really wanted to finish the game and defeat Penance in the same day with the Dark Aeons so yeah, I was annoyed that I was not on schedule lolol. Oh well, more time to prepare for Penance I guess.

So…. I tried Penance and I died hahahah. Gotta revise my armour lolol. I think ribbon, auto-potion (with only x-potion), auto-haste and auto-protect might be the best combo. I’ll try that and see. Or not lolll! My biggest problem with Penance was not surviving his immolation attack that does a lot of HP damage and sucks all your MP too. Well, anyway, after much googling etc, I revised my armour again, luckily I had 6 million to spend bribing monsters for stuff lmao. I used auto-potion, auto-haste, auto-protect and defence +20%. This accompanied with Rikku’s Ultra NullAll mix (lasts the whole battle as long as you don’t die!) gave me enough defence to survive the whole battle (yay!). After that, it was really rinse and repeat of destroying the arms and then hitting the main body whenever I could. It probably legit took 20-30 minutes. Crazy for sure. Not sure whether it’s really worth it since I didn’t feel very accomplished LOL, I just felt like a robot constantly using quick hit (throwing a three stars so it doesn’t cost MP), dispelling after every immolation attack and thankfully, I had auto-potion because it would have killed me if I had to heal myself every turn. So yeah, after that, it was really just a waiting game where I just kept doing the same thing for 30 minutes, yeah it was pretty boring. I liked the optional bosses from previous games more.

And now I can finally fight Sin! Honestly, seeing Tidus finally open up to Jecht a bit more and be a bit more honest, I felt happy for Jecht. He’s always loved Tidus. Too bad it wasn’t meant to be for them to ever be able to hang out together like buddies. Since I maxed out my stats, last boss was so easy, I barely did anything. Kinda feel like I should have let him do something so I could see it lol, but I was too fast hahaha. Pretty devastating to see Yuna summoning every single summon for Yu Yevon to take over and then we kill it to stop Yu Yevon from having anything to take over anymore. It was heartbreaking to see all the Fayth go like that. But at least, as they said, they can now stop dreaming… Auron always has to be cool doesn’t he lolll, even when Yuna sends him to the Farplane. It hurt when he told Yuna that it was okay to send him. I really liked Auron. It was also saddening when Tidus was like, this is his last battle with them because he’s going to disappear, I guess at least he told them. Slack to Yuna when she wanted to hug him but he was disappearing. Especially when at the end, she kept whistling, waiting for him to come back.

Never even know the Eternal Calm video or whatever existed. Kinda feels weird though because it’s set two years later where all Yuna has been doing is being something like a counsellor to people until a sphere of someone who looks like Tidus (Shuyin~) is found by Kimahri, given to Rikku and then shown to Yuna and then she decides to go look for other spheres like it and soon becomes a sphere hunter. Considering that FFX-2 is set two years later which I assume is not long after this, her personality sure changed quite a bit after getting some freedom haha. I guess it’s true that Yuna has never truly lived for herself until now so it is nice that she can do that now, but how did she learn to use a gun so fast? Lol.

Overall, I enjoyed FFX, but honestly, it’s not one of my favourites haha. It’s one of the first I played as an adult probably but yeah, if I had to really choose, I prefer the previous much more. But I do like FFX because of how much more, simple it is? It’s simple, straightforward and emotional. Rikku and Yuna will always be my favourites. Wakka being silly is also a highlight. Cool Auron will always be the dream guy though hahaha. Happy that I can finally say I’ve finished it completely! Now on to getting 100% completion for FFX-2! I got like 98 or 99 on my first playthrough with the help of a guide every now and then but now I’m gonna use a guide for the whole thing and hope I get the 100% this time around hahaha, wish me luck~

[au-tumn-al]

TTGC has been out for 2 weeks now and since it’s been enough time for me to stop crying and actually do the post-game stuff, I want to get all my thoughts out about it. It’ll be under a cut because it’ll be long, and I’m not sure how many of my followers are actually interested in what I have to say. Which is ofc fine, I just like talking about it and I’ve been sitting on some of this for a while.

To start off, I loved Torna ~ The Golden Country. It’s the best expansion DLC we’ll be seeing from Nintendo, and probably from most other games in general, for a while. 

I like its core cast of main characters than base XC2, and I think I like it a little more than XC1’s as well. I didn’t actually like any of the characters more than my favorites from base XC2, but as a whole, they were all really likable and never felt like they were falling behind in the background. I never felt like “yeah, I like them I guess” to any of the cast members like Sharla was for me from XC1, and a pretty decent chunk of the protagonists in XC2. ...Because XC2′s cast was way too huge with too much focus on the antagonists and somehow not enough at the same time, but that’s neither here. Technically Team Hugo isn’t really as important to the story as Lora, Jin, Addam, and Mythra, but the sidequests very easily fixed that for me. All the characters were very present in the side-content so I never forgot about them. I regularly did sidequests when they popped up so it felt like a natural part of the story.

I would say that it delivered in everything that I was hoping for from a story standpoint but it really, really didn’t. One of the things I was looking forward to the most was seeing more of Amalthus and Malos’s dynamic before Malos left to start his rampage. Their relationship is only told through subtext in the core game and what we saw was interesting. Even in some of chapter 8 and 9, it almost felt like they were trying one-up the other on how much destruction they could cause. Malos’s “Amalthus, you never disappoint” line delivery even makes it sound like he was looking forward to what his driver would be throwing at Alrest.

The only thing we got from Torna about how they were initially with each other was

Malos shows up and Amalthus’s knee-jerk reaction is a deadpan “oh god, it’s this asshole” look. I enjoyed it probably more than I was meant to, but I wish we got to see more. Maybe it was a little unrealistic to expect it, but considering how much of the story depends on their relationship with each other, was it really?

Another thing I was hoping for was more backstory for Minoth. I wanted to know if he knew Malos (which was actually answered though, so that was nice) since they shared a driver, and I really wanted to know how he ended up becoming a flesh eater. Judicium was already destroyed by the time TTGC rolled around and we barely went into what a flesh eater even was, so that was lame. That said though, the game did go into his relationship with Amalthus and it told us all that was really important, on top of giving us some other stuff I wasn’t expecting (a North American wild west motif, Spanish, a weapon deadass called “gunknife”, and Elma’s specials except more stylized) so you certainly won’t hear me complaining. I loved what we got with Minoth even if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, and I think he’s great. 

Another thing that I was expecting was for Malos to have more screentime. He was heavily advertised so I think I’m justified in expecting this. There wasn’t necessarily anything about Malos I wanted expanded upon, I just wanted to see him more since he makes everything about a billion times more entertaining just by being there. He completely stole the show in every cutscene he was in and I loved every second of it. He was kicking everyone’s asses in his first boss fight and even won, but I was loving his script, animation, and voice acting far too much to care. 

there was a nice little detail to his animation too

After he punches the ground for the Monado Cyclone(?), you can see him shaking his hand off because like damn, that probably hurt. ,,,I just liked it. Don’t ask me why. 

He’s probably the main reason I only play in English to be honest. His voice actor sells the script and character so perfectly. I seriously don’t know if I’d like Malos as much as I do if he was played by someone else. He might be the only Xenoblade character other than maybe Shulk and Lin that I can say this about. 

OH

and his monologue to the party right after his first boss fight where he says “they see the divine flame of life and piss all over it” while sauntering away was actually the best scene in the game. We didn’t see as much of Malos as I would have wanted, but every scene we did get was the best so like with Minoth, I can’t complain. I love this man. He’s the most entertaining sack of shit I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying.

My ruined expectations and Malos aside, what the game actually gave us was so good, I can’t even complain about the things I wanted to see because they gave us plenty of stuff I didn’t know I wanted. The two biggest ones, for me anyway, are Mythra and Addam.

I had no idea that TTGC would flesh her out the way they did, and I am not disappointed. Mythra was amazing in TTGC, and really made me appreciate her and her character arc in the base game a lot more. I loved how generally unbearable and unlikable they made her. She’s completely self-absorbed and full of herself, and just overall extremely similar to Malos. The way the game handles her attitude was really well done too. Because the other characters are constantly calling her out for her bad behavior (esp. Jin and Brighid. Lora chips in too sometimes) and lack of awareness on top of being the verbal punching bag and the butt of a lot of the jokes in the game, she’s not obnoxious to the player. She could have been really annoying, but she wasn’t. On the topic of the jokes though, I laughed at more of TTGC’s comedy. They relied less on anime tropes and were more character focused, which are usually the jokes I like more. The game felt a lot more like XC1 in that aspect, and that was really great.

Moving on, I loved Addam. He was my favorite character in the game. Making him act like Mythra’s dad was something I wasn’t expecting and I loved it. I have a pretty big post in my drafts where I talk about him extensively so that should go up at some point. It’s mostly about how he’s a really good foil to Rex and how he failed as a driver rather than about his pretty fabulous dynamic with Mythra (even if he ended up rejecting her as his blade, he did accept her as person for him to take care of, and he did everything he could in that area) though. Oh, and because there’s no way to shoehorn this in that Addam post, I want to bring something up. I don’t know if there’s any good footage of this (if there is, please send it to me so I can edit it in), but there’s a post battle conversation between Mythra and Lora that goes kind of like this:

Mythra: “Hey, Lora, what do you do when the going gets tough?”

Lora: “Just think about the people I care about.”

Mythra: “Think of loved ones, huh?”

Lora: “Yeah. If I do that, I’m usually grinning like an idiot.”

Now, let’s look at Mythra when she’s at one of her lowest. She’s scared and feels alone. Malos is attacking her with everything he’s got, and she’s is looking for anything to hold on to. ...You see where I’m going with this.

She flashes to memories of her friends, and thinks of both Addam and Milton specifically. The thing is though, for all she knows, Milton could be dead from Malos’s initial attack, and Addam is doing everything he can to hold her back from fully transforming into Pneuma because of his distrust and fear of her. Mythra trying to think of all her loved ones wasn’t enough, and then all she got was a confusing vision of a person she’d never met before. She’s completely alone, confused, and hurt, and she doesn’t have anything there to ground her. That’s when she breaks down in tears, and then starts sinking Torna in a daze because she can’t control her power. 

...on a more positive note, two of the visions she gets of Rex is of him accepting her in chapter 7. 

So that was finding comfort in a loved one, but it was just too soon. Like Jin told her, her true driver and real time to come as her own as a person wasn’t in Torna. It certainly didn’t help at the time, though.

At that point in chapter 7, she was in a similarly low state as she was in TTGC, except she had Rex that time, and then was fully able to achieve her full power as an Aegis. It should be noted Mythra’s “I just...want...to save...” line was apparently horribly translated, and the original was more along the lines of her begging for someone to save her. That’s what I hear anyway and I can believe it. It makes more sense that way. 

Good God, was this a great expansion. It was already pretty fantastic with just its setting and premise alone, but it does an even better job in making me appreciate a lot of the scenes in XC2. Even the already-amazing scene in chapter 7. sPEAKING OF ALREADY AMAZING SCENES MADE BETTER BY TTGC

Rex: “I don’t even know what I’m doing here anymore... Did...did I go wrong somewhere...?”

This is one of my favorite Mythra scenes in the entire game, TTGC included. It’s so small but it’s so good. I don’t think I even need to explain why this is made better by TTGC. 

XC2 is very loud, and unabashedly anime, but it has quiet scenes like this and dammit, are they the best parts of the game. I think they’re even made better by the fact XC2′s tone is generally so upbeat and anime.

I said this before, but TTGC didn’t tell us anything new. We already knew pretty much all of the events of the game before it came out. Maybe we were missing a few details, but in the end, we knew how things were going to go down. Mythra becoming a much more interesting character because of the expansion pass just by being able to see her growth just shows how important the “show, don’t tell” rule is. 

I love Haze a lot. I hate how she’s a third wheel in Team Lora, I hate how Addam and Jin are the only people who really pay any attention to her, and I hate even more that no one hugs her when she’s crying at the end of the game.

oh yeah, Lora and Jin were the main characters. They weren’t very interesting to me (Lora barely had an arc and all of Jin’s intricacies mostly come from the base game) so I don’t have a lot to say about them other than I really liked them. The ending would have completely broke me if the game forced me to watch Lora die so I don’t even care that it was left out. 

People consider the lyrics of “A Moment of Eternity” a message from Lora to Jin but I like to pretend that it’s Addam to Mythra because it’s less depressing that way. The singer is encouraging their loved one to find someone to help them move on and if it was to Jin, that meant that Lora’s last wish for him never happened. He met Malos and then

R

E

G

R

E

S

S

E

D

but seriously though, it could be both. The song ties in pretty well to “One Last You”, and that was very obviously from Pneuma about Rex. It was probably supposed to be up to interpretation anyway. ...a little off-topic, but there’s a line in the song that goes “time flowed differently for us/not to say it was all bad” and then there’s a scene where Addam talks about how he doesn’t have enough time to adapt to Mythra so...idk, maybe that’s something? I mean, Lora got 17 years with Jin, so she didn’t exactly have the short one year Addam had with Mythra.

i’m done now. 

Half of this was me gushing about Mythra. I don’t even care because I loved her. Please forgive any of the obvious signs that I didn’t spend very long proofreading this thanks--

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S1 Ep 37: Swapping Bodies OMG There’s So Many Bodies

The card hell card games continue, and Yugioh has decided to fall on old habits and hide everything under his RNG hat.

Yep, for the 27th or 58th time people have just completely forgotten what it means for Pegasus to be a psychic. Yugi’s also a psychic so how did...anyways...

Up to now I thought the hats were a random toss of the dice, but it turns out Yugi has to choose which hat and apparently this is information that Pegasus can just reach over and nab and so Pharaoh and Yugi do their favorite thing and just start freakin the heck out.

(read more under the cut)

So, the brain brothers decide to have a time out, which is a thing they can do now, where they hang out in this hallway between a vine covered wall and a Tetris map.

It’s a little unclear if this is all happening in a split second, or if Pegasus and Yugi are just staring at each other this whole time while Joey and Tea twiddle their thumbs. I’d like to think the latter.

I’m glad we finally see the inside of this kid’s head. I’ve actually wondered for kind of a while and I’m happy to see it is sufficiently weird. Too bad we only ever get to see this blue floored room.

To think that Yugi’s super annoying habit to keep a secret and lie to everyone he loves became plot relevant to beating the final boss.

Also it’s kinda weird that we put so much pressure on Yugi and Pharaoh melding brains together like for...so many episodes, for the real answer all along to have been “Just don’t.”

It’s enough to screw over Pegasus.

Joey’s eyes have so many different looks. Like I’d say this is off model Joey but have we ever had an on-model Joey?

Considering that this is alternate history Egypt, I’m guessing that Pharaoh’s inevitable backstory plot will be way weirder than normal Egypt--it’s just that normal Egypt set a pretty high bar.

Side note from the research I did into weird Egyptian folklore, there’s some dispute about whether or not the Pharaoh that drew ho-ho’s and twinkie’s wherever he had a battle was one person or 3 people, which is even more like our Pharaoh.

Also on your own time please look up the story about the Pharaoh and the piss if you do not know it already, it is the precursor to Cinderella in the weirdest way possible.

Overall, he still hasn’t said which Pharaoh he is and hasn’t given himself a name. Yugi just calls him “spirit” which is...weird, honestly. I don’t even know if he knows at this point, he’s been dead a long time and without a body is it even important?

Speaking of people that clearly have no freakin idea what their actual name is or just don’t feel like it’s important, the ghost living in Bakura is having an excellent day.

It’s OK, storyboarder, it happens to the best of us.

None of you took off your jacket while running up this staircase? No wonder it took them like 5 minutes to catch up.

I’m actually genuinely surprised Tristan ever caught on and that his mind hasn’t been wiped yet. Like, this is the longest he’s witnessed dark magic without getting erased. He’s improving.

Anyways, lets get some lazy animation in there, with this slowly moving monster on a shot that slowly pans out. Mm. The good stuff. That’s the good low-budget stuff I’m looking for.

Anyway, Bakura really didn’t need to bother with the Man Eater Bug because he decided to throw a pot at them. Yes, a pot. It wasn’t all that interesting to look at so I didn’t cap it but the pot has been somewhat a recurring card that just kind of always screws up your day.

It’s a pot.

Bro and I did a quick count just to make sure, and not counting people that came back to life, and not counting people who have been dead before episode 1:

the imprisoned card boys trinity + PaniK + Guy who got ritually sacrificed last night + these unfortunate mooks who were just doing their job.

We may have forgotten someone though.

As for Bandit Keith, he died in such a wacky way that he’s probably fine.

Pegasus is so bothered that he can’t read their cards, that they wipe out his little toon town and he gave every hammy villain ever written a run for their money in how poorly you can scream “nooooo” Like I genuinely enjoy Pegasus’s VA but damn that line reading: wow. He destroyed it. Like not in a good way but in a “that was the take you decided to use?” kind of way.

And I went to see if there was a Youtube recording, but typing in “Pegasus nooooo” got me a lot of fan videos instead. So, I thought to myself, you know what? I can record it, it’s like half a second and I have the software, I do art and stuff!

So I go to record it in OBS but the thing about OBS is that the “record” button and the “stream straight to twitch” button are of course right next to each other. Like clockwork, I accidentally clicked “Stream” on OBS and had a legit panic attack that the five people who follow my art-only twitch account would suddenly get an email notification that instead, I’m streaming the worst voice acting in Yugioh. Thankfully, twitch has a safe guard where it won’t stream unless it’s been longer than a few seconds so...phew.

Needless to say it didn’t make it to this review. Maybe later, but I’m terrified of making that mistake again.

After mourning the loss of his weird fanfic cards, he decides “Fine then! I’ll make a freakin shadow duel! Have fun!” and Pharaoh was like “Dammit, again?”

Bakura pulling an Office, looking straight into the camera and just nodding smugly at me that he will never have to explain to me how the hell he broke all the rules so far set up in the past 30-some episodes of Yugioh.

So Ryou (which is Bakura’s first name it turns out--I did a hair of google research but didn’t click on any pages because of spoilers. We’ll talk later about how no one is close enough friends with him to use his first name.) is kind of a weird guy, right? Like he’s got a lot of the Yugi problem where you don’t always know where one ends and the ghost in his brain continues. When they’re compared with each other like this, especially in an episode where Yugi has to be independent, it’s an interesting take on the same problem.

Both Yugi and Ryou rejected their spirits at one point, but the big difference is that Pharaoh is a lot more flexible, and kinda understands that to get the puzzle to work you do actually need two people. This whole duel with Pegasus would have been pretty moot with one person. As for Bakura, he’s decided to try going solo with some desperate conjoined brain-twins surgery, and I guess we’ll find out how well that works out for him.

So Tristan has to do whatever Bakura says for a while out of the fear of getting sacrificed to a pot.

Remember, canonically, no one has checked on Tristan and Bakura in about three episodes because they assume Tristan has extreme constipation.

Anyways, next week on Yugioh:

Will Bakura take over Mokuba’s body and get hair that is like Super Saiyan huge? Will Tristan throw Bakura over his shoulder WWE style like he did to Double Spike Mohawk Mullet Man? Is anyone going to fall to their death down this big tall tower? It’s just this tower seems really underutilized, and I’m not used to seeing a villain on a tower like this in a cartoon without someone getting Disney-deathed.

[amidalogicdive]

I was tagged by @geekgoddess813 who was interested in hearing what I would say lol. IDK why, I'm such a pleb asdfghjkl  XD  hahaha! But, I did it for you!

Instructions:

To celebrate a year of FFXV and the end of the first year of updates, let’s spread the FFXV love! I haven’t seen a tag meme like this for FFXV yet, so I decided to make one. If you see this and want to, copy/paste this list and share what your favorite things about FFXV are.

Favorite Chocobro:

Oh, my god, this isn’t fair, so I can’t say Nyx?! Lol, ok no seriously.  If Noctis counts, he’s my favorite. If it has to be one of the other three, it would be Ignis. I’ve always loved Ignis and (fun fact) before I was a huge NyxNoct shipper, I was an Ignoct shipper. If ya look back I have a few Ignoct fics...that I still need to finish.  >.<

Favorite Guest Party Member (including Ravus and Libertus from DLC):

Oh damn, this is hard. This is really hard, I’ve deleted my response like three times cuz I keep on going ‘oh but what about…’ Ugh, do I have to pick, can I plead the fifth? Ugh fine…

Ravus - Because I loved getting more backstory on him. This poor boy was so wronged, and while he did come off as an ass, everything he was doing was for Luna.

Aranea - Girl got some sass and I love it, she was fun to listen too and I’m glad she was tossed into a DLC as a guest party member. We needed more Aranea in FFXV

Cor - Damn son, I love this man here. I need to know more, I want more backstory. Seriously, he got the respect of Gilgamesh!! GILGAMESH TALKS ABOUT THIS LITTLE IMMORTAL LION! *flails*

Yeah, I couldn’t pick  :P

Favorite Minor Character(s):

Can I pick two? CAN I?! Biggs and Wedge - Ok ok, they weren’t in it a lot but I loved them. They were funny and their loyalty to Aranea was just, ugh. I really liked them and I wanted more of their back and forth, especially with Aranea lol. When she asked them to drive a train into a daemon-infested city - which was basically a suicide mission for all they knew and they are just like, oh that's all? Yes boys, yes!  

Favorite Villain:

This is so easy, frikin Ardyn ‘Trash Jesus’ Izunia. What, you didn’t hear me, let me repeat: ARDYN ‘TRASH JESUS’ IZUNIA. Ok, let me explain something here. This boy, this BOY WAS SO WRONGED. He did everything that was asked of him, and what happens? He gets fucked over by his brother, the crystal changes his mind and the gods - not only do they turn against him, but they won’t even let him pass on into the afterlife. Dragonbutt needs to get some balls, but damn son, you did nothing! You caused this problem to happen!

This man had 2000 years of suffering, hatred, and betrayal built up inside of him and he went off the deep end. Like he said, it wasn’t even about Noctis. He was just the poor sap that was born to be the King of Light. This was revenge against a crystal that denied him and the gods that turned their back on him. And you can see it, you can see he’s still hurting, you can see there is a good man that’s been tainted by thousands of years of torment. When he tells his story to Noct, you can see the pain, and when Noct beats him, you can see that he thinks Noct’s going to do the same thing the Gods, Crystal and his brother did. Erase him. I love this trashy man, and I can’t wait for this DLC.

Favorite Kingsglaive Character:

No Surprise: Nyx. Do I really need to explain why? He’s an amazing, cocksure, humble, hurting little ball of fire that fights like the daemons and just makes my heart do weird things in my chest. This man is so frikin badass, even the Kings had to bow down to him and let him take charge. This dry sense of humor and self-sacrificing nature is just asdfghjkl and though all of it he never forgot who he was and what he was fighting for. Like he said, his life means nothing but giving a future to those who wanna see it is everything. Oh, baby, your life is everything, and he deserved better, damn it.

And don’t even get me talking about the fact that three, THREE frikin people put on that ring (four of you count Luche, but eh…) and all three asked the Kings for their strength and two of them for sure (Nyx and Ignis) offered to sacrifice their life and only NYX FRIKIN DIED.

No, don’t get me started - cuz we are talking more salt then the dead sea here…  >.<

Favorite Astral/Divine Being:

Funny thing, I have always loved Shiva since like FFVIII. She’s my Queen, I bow down to her… but before I realized that Gentiana was Shiva, I was in love with Gentiana. When I saw her in clips before the game came out I was thinking: Woman I don’t know who you are, or what your role is, but please I love you. Her being Shiva, my Queen, my everything… that just made it even better. Lol, so obviously - Shiva.

Favorite Character Overall:

Noctis. He is a very self-sacrificing and strong character who goes through a lot and honestly, finds his courage and self-worth. I think he had a lot of issues before, I think he was depressed and didn’t feel like he was right for the throne, and he was just playing a part. Once he was out there, once he realized what had happened and that he was now King, things changed. He because braver, and stronger. He started putting his trust in others as much as they put their trust in him. He realized that he didn’t have to do things and save people for the recognition, just doing was enough. You can see the impact that it had in comrades, where people (just random NPCs) talk about a boy or four boys in black who saved them, or helped fix their car or did some random act for them and how much it meant. He goes from a kinda sheltered boy to a King who knows what sacrifice is. I love his change, and how he keeps going. Like he told Iggy, they can’t stop, they have to keep going or everyone who sacrificed their lives for him, it would be pointless.

Noct is a good boy.  :3

Favorite Weapon:

Nyx kukri that you get in Insomnia, oh don’t act like you’re surprised lol. Noctis always has them on him and I use them a lot.

Favorite Location:

Omg, so many people are gonna disagree and be like: What?! *flails* - I like Altissia lol. It was confusing at first, but now I know my way around pretty well, and I love the 3x exp from the hotel.  >.>

And I love the arena and gambling lol, and that was the first time I head the whole “this place is so romantic” “And you're here with us, all three of us, you are a lucky man” and about died. Lol

Favourite Quest/Questline/Hunt:

The fishing questline. Hush, don’t laugh at me… I honestly really love fishing in this game and I loved the fishing questline with Navyth.

Favorite Boss:

Ardyn, lol. He’s such a shit and I love to listen to him shit talk Noctis as they fight. Ifrit was a good fight too, so kudos to that fiery SOB. lol

Favorite Monster/Monster Family/etc:

Tonberry, I’ve always loved Tonberry with their cute little lanterns and their stabby frikin knifes. They are small, cute and ruthless. It's like that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail “Aww it's just a little Bunny Rabbit…. RUN AWAY RUN AWAY!!”  Yeah, Tonberry!  :D

Oh, and Coeurls. Just cuz I like cats and much respect for something that can one-shot me with lightning from its whiskers lol.

Favorite Song:

Please like I can pick just one… So like here are my top whatever:

Nox Aeterna: So short but so much emotion. Nox Divina: Badass summoning music, yes, please! Noctis: It was not what I was expecting, and it was a very pleasant surprise!   Prayer De Luna: This is just asdfghjkl she’s got a beautiful theme and ya gotta respect it. Dewdrops at Dawn: So beautiful, simple and just all the feels. Just makes me think of the people seeing the sunrise after such a long time, or for the first time for some… and realizing what Noct gave up for them. Somnus: The original, the beauty that it is. This song is a godsend, I love it and I love her voice.

Favorite Boss Theme:

Does Somnus Ultima count? I mean its basically the second part of the... fight? Damn, I love that song! Ok if not, Magna Insomnia is epic, and love it. Also, Hellfire, damn that opening (the first like 18 seconds) sounds so ominous like wtf did I get myself into here lol.

But honestly, all around this soundtrack and all of the music is epic - honestly, there is no song I hate, except maybe Stand By Me - but only because it makes me FEEL THINGS PPL SJHAFKLHSJ!! Just kidding I love it too. ;-;

Favorite Non-Episode DLC/Update/Event:

Assassin’s Festival was awesome and I want them to put the whole roof thing into Lestallum full time so we can run up there and have fun lol. Think of all the NPC’s and shit they could put up there and quests they could add. Yes, please lol.

Favorite Episode DLC:

Ugh, ok. It’s a toss-up. 

I love Episode Ignis because it adds so much to the story and the alternate endings, yes, please. I love that SE made the end of this game so transparent and said that the ending of the main game was simply an Alternate Reality, something that could have happened. Now they start tossing in all these other endings and you realize that one choice, one thing did differently could have changed the whole outcome of the game asdfghjkl. I know some don’t like it, but like Episode Ignis said: Possibilities.  And I love those possibilities.

That said - Episode Prompto, and him finally finding out who he was, dealing with it and coming to terms with it. Finally having the courage to tell his friends, look this is what I am. Not only to see them accept him but for him to accept himself… it was great!

Other Favorites of Note:

I love:

flying the Regalia, except when I crash and kill them all. 

hitting the breaks when Noctis is sitting on the trunk and seeing him getting all pissed off.  

the fishing and I need to catch them all. 

the shit talking they do while fighting

the new character switch during battle and the geeky things they do and say.

just driving around and listening to the soundtracks.

the pics that Prompto takes.

Idk, there is so much to list. I mean is it a perfect game? No. But do I love it and do I enjoy playing it? 100% Yes. 

Anyway, I sometimes like all the plot holes that they leave all over the place. Perfect for me to build a fic around and let my own imagination inspire me. I haven’t loved a Final Fantasy game like this in a long time, and I'm glad that I do. It made me meet some really nice people and fall into a perfect little life raft of feels that makes up the NyxNoct fandom!

So, let's see what y’all gotta say now. I tag (and you don’t have to do it lol especially if you already did!): @prettyprompto @aithilin @courtingdestruction @grimmvertigo @jazzraft @midnightpyres @rsasai @argent-the-moderately-useful @ghostl0rd @ignoctgirl @cardigan-carm @glaivenoct @nicolareed @nicrt @stylishchocobutt  @bezier-curve