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altalksaboutstuff · 5 years ago

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Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero

From the 16th of this month, March 2020, to the 15th of next month, April 2020, Games with Gold has the excellent platformer – Shantae: ½ Genie Hero. As long as you have an active Xbox Live or Xbox Gamepass Ultimate subscription

It's “FREE” to download during that period but even after April 15th, you can keep playing it, it won't leave your library and if you let your subscription expire it will still remain, you just can't play it.

I have had Gamepass for about a year now, I wanted to kind of document my journey and time with games on Gamepass and one of the first that I played when I got the service last year was Shantae: ½ Genie Hero. Unfortunately, this game is no longer available on the service and I thought back in September of 2019 that I had lost my chance to talk about it in a relevant sense, but lo and behold its back now – kind of, in a zombie-esque way.

The game expiring from Gamepass was actually the launching point for me to a Switch. It was my birthday in September and Shantae was just about to be removed from the service, great present Microsoft. I was kind of depressed that in this moment in my life that I had spent about a quarter of a year playing the game that was just going to up and leave. Now I could have bought it and at a discount but if I did that I would be getting just the base game that I was practically done with. I also had all this extra money from my birthday burning a hole in my pocket and instead doing something smart like putting towards my mortgage – I ended up buying a Switch to cheer me up. And what does the Switch have but the physical version of Shantae: ½ Genie Hero that includes all the DLC.

THAT – and the fact that one of my favorite games of all time was just remade – Link's Awakening.

So I got those two games to cope with the fact that I wouldn't be able to play Shantae on Gamepass anymore in a few days ...but I had also gotten my wife a Switch Lite for our anniversary so I kind of wanted a reason to give it to them early and we had a Switcheversay on September 28th.

NERD!

On a side note of this tangent – I feel like I'm always a little behind with Nintendo, with my earliest exposure to Nintendo being no different. Way back in the dark ages of the early 1990s I was a Genesis Lad. After school I was in a program where I first got to play a Nintendo game, there were NES consoles, games and Ataris as well. While kids at school were telling me, “YA GOTTA PLAY Donkey Kong Country 2 and Mega Man X!” The cutting edge stuff of the time, I would root around and find other games like Donkey Kong Jr. and Mega Man 2 on NES. Now don't get me wrong, those were great games I loved then and still love now but I was behind the times. I just didn't have a Super Nintendo, like most of my peers that I went to school with. I just had the Sega. So when most were playing Super Mario World, Chrono Trigger and A Link to Past – I was playing Sonic... Sonic (Sonic 2)... and Sonic... (Sonic 3 but not & knuckles)

BUT Sonic is great!

When my friends had a Gameboy Advance, I still had a Gameboy Color. When the DS was the hot handheld, I got a Gameboy Advance, I got a 3DS around the time Fire Emblem Fates came out when it seemed like everyone was clamoring for a new portable technology and I got a Wii U when it was all but dead. As previous stated, I only got a Switch last September. Heck, I haven't even played the new Mary-o yet

Pushing forwarding in the way back machine to the time when I was a still a young teen, at the age of 14, I remember a Gameboy Color game came out that I really wanted to get – Shantae. I don't even know why I really wanted it other than it was a new Gameboy Color game when new Gameboy Color games weren't coming out. Like, I remember the Gameboy Advance came out about a year ago but I didn't need one according to my parents-

Me: Mom, can I get a Gameboy Advanced? Mom: You have Gameboy Advance at Home ::At home::

So the impact of a new Gameboy Color game coming out - blew … me … away.

Of course - I didn't get that game either.

Now don't get me wrong, I still got games as a kid on birthdays and Christmas but I feel like the games I didn't get are the ones I look back at and think – If only...

(^I never had a Neo Geo but I wanted this game)

Love you Mom and Dad

Back to Shantae though

Tangents aside – why do I think I like this game?

Why is it when I played Half Genie Hero in June of 2019 did I really got hooked on it well until the end of summer? I play, play, played it – all the modes, collect the endings, the tedious achievements like Queen of the Seven Cheese where you have to beat Risky Boots by just chomping at her as a mouse doing 1 damage at at a time.... ugh! For achievements I even … gasp (teeth noise) … speed ran it. And successfully, not on my first attempt though! Or … at least successfully enough to get the endings and achievements. I've never speed ran a game before, at least on purpose. I drew bad fan art!

(^Unlike everything else on this post, I actually drew that [sorry])

For the first time in my life I even looked into Fan Fiction.

Which, on a side note, I don't recommend you look at most of the fan fiction that I’ve seen if you are at work.

The game really got its hooks into me and I'm not exactly sure why but I think I might know.

Well, it feels like a SEGA Genesis game – long story short.

Short story long - I think the best way to classify what kind of game this is, is Metroidvania. You have a mini map and you unlock powers that later allow you to explore the rest of the levels you had previous been to and there are collectibles and upgrades you can buy in game. As you play you can upgrade how Shantae attacks by purchasing upgrades for her hair whip attack or armor but the big mechanic is the transformations – you can turn into animals with varied attacks and abilities as well as some other inanimate objects and living things like this tree

- to help you better get across the stages and discover the secrets of Sequin Land.

I've also read its kind of Mega Man– ish which I had never really thought about before but yeah, because I do love some Mega Man. It has a lot of obstacles/the levels are kinds of obstacle courses like the early NES Mega Man games and there are two areas particularly in my mind – The factory in Mermaid Falls and the Hypno Baron's Castle part of the … Hypno Baron's Castle stage. Well most of it is actually like an obstacle course now that I think about it

The score is by Jake Kauffman and man, AND if I ever make a game I want that guy doing my music. I mentioned the factory part of Mermaid Falls before – the best track in the game and maybe even in any game I've ever heard is Counterfeit Mermaids, its such an earworm,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkXd26E_Ynw

I feel like this song and Neo Town Burning are the two best games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yParHIzy1nA

You are going to be in the camp that one is better than the other (though Counterfeit Mermaids is clearly the superior track, ahem)

Its a great soundtrack, I find myself tuning into it during my commute to work and sometime even turning off my podcast or audio books to listen to this soundtrack (yes Even Neo Town Burning too). The game's lead voice actress according IMDB is Cristina Valenzuela (sometimes credited as Cristina Vee) who sings the games title theme that also appears in the first level, Scuttle Town the first time you play the level and also when you first boot up the game its there too. POW! Give it a listen – sample plays and fades. Its great. This soundtrack is really memorable and still in my rotation almost a year after I played it for the first time.

The characters themselves too are varied in personality and the styles are now toted as being“in high definition”.

Shantae is my least favorite but I think that works well in the sense of self insert. And that's not to say Shantae doesn't have a personality, she is kind of bubbly and she cares a lot about her ties such as to her family - such her uncle Mimic and her late mother - and to her friends. The three main friends that back Shantae during her journey (that also get their own adventure in the DLC)

Sky - a somewhat more responsible friend of your that is out to give you some counsel and a ride to each stage on her cool bird

Bolo – who offers a bit of comic relief

Rotty Tops the zombie that is a true friend that shows up to support you and cheer you on, in one time literally too.

By the way there is also Risky Boots (the best character, IMO) who is the larger than life antagonist to akin to a comic book villain.

But even with the “HD” graphics, and incredible score everything about just feels like … a Sega game. I can't really put it to words to do it justice, like, it has the essence of games I grew up with. I know a lot of people already had that nostalgia rush with Freedom Planet or Sonic Mania but I only just got Freedom Planet on Switch

Which is great so far, by the way

and Sonic Mania is on my to do pile

so for me – Shantae was it.

I felt that joy like I was 5 years old playing Sonic 2 for the first time. I took me something embarrassing like 8 hours to beat the first time. But after I beat it, I immediately wanted to play it again. I almost NEVER want to replay a game after I beat it – Best case is I take a break and play it again in a year. While it took me a laughable amount of hours to beat the game the first time but by the time I was really invested and on the 3rd or 4th time replaying it, I was completing it in under 2 hours. I was looking up speed running strats and Youtube videos of people speed running the game to compare and contrast how I played the game. I never, ever thought that I would speed run a game. Super Metroid still takes me an embarrassing number of hours to play and I've beat that almost as many times as Shantae now.

Having played both the Xbox One and Switch versions they look pretty similar and seem to play about the same. I noticed that the game seems to run a bit better on the Xbox One and the load times aren't as long

So I really recommend you get this game. I'm super jealous if you've never played it, you get to experience it for the first time! If you don't have an Xbox One but have a Switch you can get the physical version for pretty cheap, used I got this copy for about $20 and it has all the game content. And with the DLC you can finally play as Risky Boots!

It goes without saying that the game I am most excited for this year, 2020 is going to be Shantae and the Seven Sirens.

If you don't have an Xbox or a Switch, the game is also on PC too. Steam has sales, last time the Ultimate Edition was on sale it was only about $21 (show pic) and with a plug and play controls great.

And just as I was checking before posting this, it is on sale for $20.99 until March 30th, 2020

Its also on PS4, I guess if you don’t have any other options

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c7thetumbler · 6 years ago

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Quick Game Reviews: What I played 2018

I’m gonna go ahead and do this for the whole year, which includes games that WEREN’T released this year, but I played this year. I also made this throughout the year, so most the opinions were right after I played it and if it’s been updated further might not include that in my blurb.

I needed to type and felt like I needed to make something. This might motivate me I suppose. Let’s get started

DOOM 2016 [PC]

I grew up on Pokemon, Mario, and Doom II. I couldn’t play it until I got my new computer this year so yeah way too late. This is a pretty solid game, though thanks to all of the bonuses and honestly nearly intrusive leveling up system kinda stepped in the way of the raw combat. It’s obviously my choice, but I felt encouraged to spend a lot of time exploring areas I’d already cleared rather than run and gun.

That being said, I still loved it. The secrets were, for the most part, really clever and fun anyway and the combat is delicious. I would strongly recommend this

A Hat in Time + Seal the Deal DLC [PC]

I love this game. A lot. It’s really cute and looks really good, it’s got a ton of charm, and it’s honestly a very good time overall. I 100% the base game last year when it first came out, and I would highly recommend to fans of 3D platformers, and still worth a try if you’re on the fence on them. The mod support is also great that it’s in there and I want to try that a lot. however the DLC...

So the new level is pretty short and while it’s fun, it’s not as good as the other levels. The characters (I think) are really cute and the charm is all there and that great, but it has all of 3 levels, and 2 of them are exploring the exact same places (the boat) and the 3rd is a nice twist on that, but other than that it’s pretty barren. The time rifts were fun as well, but alone... eh. The Death Wish portion, that is the super hard challenge mode...

... is not good. Obviously my opinion, and I might be missing the point, but after having been frustrated over and over and over again, the game itself is just not tight or clean enough to warrant it. My backing for this is that a large portion of the challenges rely on originally unintended level geometry or quirky mechanics in order to complete, and having challenges that require you to be in the know about these honestly inconsistent “quirks” is just not good. Specific examples: the ice hat giving you a small boost to avoid jumping in challenges is alright but fluctuates in how much height it gives you a lot, the challenges around the train chase still have the wonky hitboxes that do not line up with what’s still on screen, and the parade challenge has an invisible hitbox on the main platform that can kill runs. In short If you have found you love the main game and are a bit of a masochist, go for the DLC.

Pokémon Ultra Sun [3DS]

This is more or less just a revisit of the same generation with some very minor changes. The story changes take the focus away from Lillie and Lusamine (and as a result how interesting the former and evil the latter are) and places it on Necrozma and Ultra Beasts. I really like what they did with Necrozma, but overall it feels like a lot less. And while the Rainbow Rocket post game was nice and fun nostalgia, it’s still missing a solid post game like B2W2 or Gen II had.

Ultra Wormholes are cool though, and all the good mechanics from SM are still there, so honestly I would recommend this if you haven’t played gen 7 and like Pokémon.

Hey! Pikmin [3DS]

It’s awful. I can’t think of a reason to pick this up.

I can rant about this for years, but it basically got the Zip Lash/ Sticker Star treatment: it took a franchise known for something and made it something else that was bad. It’s an incredibly slow puzzle “platformer” where you have to collect a bunch of treasure using pikmin you find in the level, it’s laggy even on a n3DS, and even though the point of the game is to collect enough treasure to leave, if you do that they’re all like “by the way, you still have to beat the final boss” so the entire auto-collecting side game you put your pikmin into is entirely pointless. This is honestly the worst 3DS game I played this year.

Hollow Knight [PC]

So I’m normally not that great with the games-that-are-pretty-dang-hard, and this was no exception. That said however, I did get pretty far (probably) before I got to a boss fight I just couldn’t beat (It was an onslaught of rolling knights in the raining city or something, it’s been a while). And after that I tried finding more power-ups and stuff to help, but I had to set it down after getting bottlenecked there. That being said, I can very easily see why people like this hardcore metroid-vania platformer, and would still recommend it if you’re into the Dark Souls style of high difficulty and mechanical mastery in other genres.

Axiom Verge [PC]

This is another Metroid-style game. I really liked this one as well, especially how its power-ups weren’t the traditional “You jump higher now” traversal power-ups. It really has a nice atmosphere and theme that still feels alien and metroidy while also feeling like the glitchy world by giving you weapons and movement abilities that let you glitch and change the environment around you. I really liked it! My only real complaint is the bosses get really challenging through a result of eventually figuring out what weapon and strategy is was designed for, and there are some areas that I was completely lost trying to find where I was going next, but all in all it’s pretty solid.

Octodad: Dadliest Catch [PC]

I normally really hate games where the focus is “lol, you can barely control your character! hahaha.” I actually really liked this one; it isn’t hard to get the hang of it and it’s really funny and still enjoyable at the same time. I rarely actually felt annoyed at the controls. I had a ton of fun with it, even if it was a little short.

Kirby Star Allies [Switch]

My complaints are very much the same as everyone else’s here; it’s a pretty okay Kirby game, but it lacks real challenge and is pretty quick. the real “star” of the show is playing the game with different characters, but since you can’t do that until after you play through as Kirby, by that point it’s either grown on you or hasn’t. The best part is the unique levels they made for the DLC characters, Gooey, Marx, Dreamland buddies, etc. Those are a ton of fun. If you like Kirby games, this one’s no Super Star but you’ll likely love all the attention to the free DLC characters and it’s not bad by any stretch.

HOB [PC]

It’s a 3D, top-down Zelda style game with an emphasis on some platforming elements. The world is wonderful, definitely the Aesthetic with clockwork worlds that Spiral Knights wishes it could’ve had. I actually had a ton of fun with it. The secrets and exploration were great, combat is ehhhhhh but that’s not really the focus. It’s a good time, If you like Zelda but with some puzzle platforming and great atmosphere, check this one out!

Poi [PC]

This is a Unity 3D platformer that attempted to brush off the Unity, and does an alright job with being mechanically tighter than most, but still has the Unity feel. Controls are a bit loose, could’ve used a lot of polish, but honestly this scratched the 3D platformer collect-a-thon itch for a bit and I actually 100% it. You have to love 3D platformers like Sunshine or Banjo Tooie to be able to like this, but if you do it’s a pretty fun romp.

Princess Remedy In a Heap of Trouble [PC]

This is a fun, short bullet-hellish game with an old-school Atari aesthetic. It’s pretty fun, but honestly I like the mechanics in the free game better (though this has more content). It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s quirky (and kinda short), try out the free game and if you like that one give this a try! The main difference is the “date” mechanic, where people you heal can join you to give you a different special power from healing, to various kinda of bombs, time freezing, homing bullets, etc. Once you find one though, it’s hard to convince yourself to try something else.

Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion [Switch]

This is Splatoon 2′s expanded hard/challenge mode. I’m a big fan; a few of the challenges are eh, but overall the aesthetic and branching map structure are super fun. The expanding on the lore and bonuses are also great; even though earlier I don’t normally go for the extremely hard, I found myself 100%’ing this. There’s a really tough challenge at the very end of all that, and I would say If you liked Splatoon 2, pick this up. It’s the expansion of Single Player that it deserves, though prepare for a few frustrating challenges.

... But now you have to pay for a terrible service to play it online so keep that in mind...

Celeste [Switch]

This is a fucking great game and you should buy it. It’s a challenging (very hard) platformer in the line of super meat boy and maybe even I Wanna Be The Guy, but this does it extremely right. restarting is very quick, the controls are incredibly tight, and the levels are genuinely clever and fun.

The story is also really solid, and I can’t recommend the whole package as a solid game.

Grow Up [PC]

This is the sequel to Grow Home, a game I’ve quick-reviewed a long time back. I liked the whole explore a whole planet and find some neat stuff, however the challenges are reliant on some weird procedural animations which don’t necessarily cooperate. It kinda overstays it’s welcome as a result, though the open nature of it is really fun. I have a hard time recommending this one, but it’s still a pretty solid romp even if it fights you a bit.

Sonic Mania Plus [Switch]

Having 100% the base game which I highly recommend, I was expecting a lot more things to do with this. Encore mode is fun; I really like how you can change up your characters and have to adjust on the fly. The new special stages are tough but fun, but the pinball minigame is.. not good. Gets old pretty quick. additionally it doesn’t add much after encore mode. Might and Ray have abilities that meaningfully add some neat gameplay stuff, but after how great the base game was, I was expecting a little bit more. That being said, the DLC is a nice bonus for the base game and you can’t really go wrong with it.

Lovely Planet [PC]

So I made a point to only play this game when I was drunk. The first few times I happened to be when I played it, so I stuck with it. This is a quick-restarting FPS with a focus on perfect shots and maneuvering to destroy all the target and get to the end as soon as possible.It’s hard as balls but really silly, so if you’re into perfectionist gameplay it’s worth a go. Probably not drunk tho.

Ever Oasis [3DS]

IIRC, this came out at a time where there was a lull in Nintendo games, or at least 3DS games so this one was very much skimmed over. It’s a mix between a town management sim and Zelda-style dungeon crawling and resource gathering. On paper, and even somewhat in game, this is a cool idea; you get townsfolk who can go with you on missions, each with their own abilities, and what you get outside of the town is used to help expand you town, which will buff you/your townspeople's abilities to go further in dungeons.

In practice however... they don’t really mesh. The limitation of 1 item per party member and items being locked to specific people you need to find, going to dungeons is a chore as you need to find out which characters you need to actually play (often not your best). Meanwhile, time passes so quickly and your town’s shopkeepers run out of resources so quickly, it’s a full time job to keep up the town and then you run out. They mitigate this near the end game by have the ability to make parties out of townspeople who can’t own shops, which are very rare. The ending is good up until the last moment where they do a thing that doesn’t make sense to get some points for emotion but... It just doesn’t work to me.

All in all, it has a demo to show how a dungeon works, and if you like management AND what that dungeon has to offer, go for it. Otherwise, the setting and character design are great but not enough to really hold interest

Q.U.B.E. 2 [PC]

The First game was Portal-esque in that you navigated the first-person Cube puzzle maze without any dialogue while manipulating the chambers with a variety of cube-spawning and extending abilities. You had to piece out and interpret the story yourself. This is the opposite; there’s a lot of dialogue, story set-pieces, and it’s bizarrely paced. You’ll get through most the game in like an hour, but then the last 2-3 chapters are the bulk of the game. Those are pretty fun, but the game is still incredibly short and I liked the tone of the first better. It’s short, it’s not bad, but it doesn’t really stand out.

NES Classic

So I dunno if I love or hate this thing. It’s great because it’s an official NES with controller and emulator and gives me the opportunity to play a buncha games I hadn’t before, but the controller cable is too small, the damn thing has trouble getting enough power (EDIT: This was actually my aparement’s faulty wiring, though if you aren’t supplying it with enough power the sound won’t work either), and this things existence is probably part of the reason we’ve not seen a proper virtual console support on Switch. You can hack it to be able to upload other ROMs to it, which is neat (I haven’t done that), but ultimately it’s worth looking at the games and asking yourself: Do I really want to play most of these? Do I really want to buy this when I’ve already bought most of them?

SNES Classic

This is the same as above but more expensive with less games... But to me is a better value. It has a better selection of games (in my opinion), though they could’ve included some better ones. It still has the power issues (which are overcomable easily) but comes with 2 controllers with longer cables. Also StarFox 2 is a very nice game. I’d recommend this more than the NES Classic, but again, weigh what’s in it vs what you actually want to play if you can’t already

WarioWare Gold [3DS]

This is a compilation game done right. It has the WarioWare charm and the voice acting adds even more to it. The microgame selection and adaptations are wonderful, and honestly I don’t have any complaints. It has changed everything to fit in one of 3 (+2 smaller ones) categories: Mash, Twist, and Touch (+ blow and short). These are normally separate by category, but near the end they mix and match and even do some fun mix-up with it in the very last rounds and bonus game modes. Whether your first WarioWare or a veteran, this is in my opinion the best in the series, and I would suggest you give it a go.

Monster Hunter World [PC]

So this one is hard. I really wanted to like it, and after playing Dauntless I thought I would. I even promised friends I would play it with them frequently and keep up but... between friends being able to play when I couldn’t and the game’s wonky controls and online issues, I was falling behind and getting frustrated. That’s kinda side stuff; if I really liked it I could’ve caught up. The truth is, I liked Dauntless better because while it was also very buggy, the combat was just a lot more straightforward and responsive. Monster Hunter seemed like Dauntless with a bunch of annoyances added onto it. There are tons of collectibles and recipes, weapon sharpness is entirely pointless when the monsters run anyway to give you breaks, the weapons I played seemed sluggish to attack with, and monster attacks were unclear a lot of the time. Everything just felt like a pain in the ass or waste of time to deal with and put a lot of focus on inventory management or grinding, and to me the core game you would do that for just wasn’t there.

Like I enjoyed the free roaming and exploration, but the fighting is just not for me and that’s the whole point of the free roaming and all that. I feel bad about not liking this after enjoying Dauntless, but I just am not into Monster Hunter and will be skipping the series from now on.

Katamari Forever [PS3]

I got this one thinking it was a compilation game of all the Katamari games!

It was not. It’s actually the hardest Katamari game... Which kinda surprised me about how much of a dick they are when you start out since their controls are incredibly weird and unintuitive (you get used to them) and anything short of perfection will get the Kings to any where from passive aggressively imply you did poorly or just straight out call you awful and not to bother.

Here’s the part where randomly in the giant text post I just completely break whatever I was talking about because I’m 95% no one actually reads this so for shits and giggles the first person to reply to my tweet where I posted a link to the blogpost stating that they found this paragraph will get a free me replying back to that tweet saying “nice” back. An enticing gift amirite? Anyway continuing on.

That being said, it’s pretty fun after all that; there are one or two levels designed to be super annoying but the ones where you play the core game of quickly building your Katamari are for the most part very solid. This is for existing fans of the series, but i had a pretty good time with it after I got past the barrier to entry.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero: Ultimate Edition [PC]

I’ve talked about liking Shantae before on this blog; I mentioned that I liked Pirate’s Curse but the fact that side missions and collectibles were actually required for game completion. This Shantae looks great and all, but they completely tossed out the open-like nature and makes it a series of linear levels that you have to revisit at least 2-3 times to find the stuff that should’ve been off somewhere in a different series of areas and optional that’s really just slightly out of reach due to a power up you arbitrarily find after the level you needed to use it in ends. Dungeons are completely gone; the game literally is just “go right” and remember all the little things you couldn’t get to for when you have to backtrack over and over again.

That’s just the base game, and even with all that said it’s not a bad game, it just doesn’t really feel like a Shantae game anything other than aesthetically. I spent a few hours trying to 100% the base game, but after getting 99% and discovering I had to backtrack yet again to a snake merchant to trade for dances just to use them once and trade back, I just had 0 interest in getting the final percent. There are also a variety of different takes on the same campaign where you play as Shantae in different costumes with different abilities, Risky, or even Bolo + Skye + Rotty, and again those look fun but... I don’t really want to play the same game another 10 times.

Dragalia Lost [Android]

This is Nintendo’s first jump into mobile with a new IP, and while it’s definitely banking hard on more traditional gacha mechanics (you can get 5 star items instead of Hero characters only), it’s definitely not bad. It’s pretty generous with stamina and resources, at least when you start, and my only major complaint is how you seem to hit a wall in terms of how long it takes to really progress about a week or so of playing every day in. And it’s quite a wall; there’s quite a lot of grinding needed once you get to chapter 6 (the current final chapter that really feels like just the end of a prologue (Edit, they recently added chapter 7)), so you really need to like it. The levels are kinda simple as well, though there’s a maze-like area in the story that’s a bit more clever so it’s a start at least. All and all, it’s worth a try, but if you don’t like the top-down brawler after the first world, it’s not worth forcing through gacha mechanics for; especially since after you complete normal story mode, all you’re going to be doing is grinding to get through hard and the summoning currency gets scarce fast. For reference, getting enough to be able to challenge the High Dragon quests and not immediately die in them takes 2 months of grinding specifically for that purpose if you use your stamina optimally, which you won’t because events are more fun anyway

Overcooked 2 [Switch Download]

So this is actually really fun with a friend or 3; and that’s where it really shines. Sure, you can do it single player but it just doesn’t feel as fun. This is a sort of quick time-management game where you have to frantically run around cooking various recipes before they run out of time, to get a star rating at the end. There’s some bad levels, but the majority are really fun and it feels very fair even in single layer; I always think at the end regardless of the rank that I could’ve managed my dudes to do even better. The only real complaint is the loading times seem... unnecessarily long. Especially for restarting a level. It’s nothing too bad though.

Luckily this has online multiplayer, so I highly recommend picking this up on a platform that your friends have it on, ie Steam. I got it on Switch and in hindsight since I strongly dislike Nintendo’s online service I really wish I had gotten like a 2-pack on Steam. That’s not a complaint with the game though; I really liked it!

Super Mario Party [Switch]

Probably the best Mario Party in a very, VERY long time. This is going to be a longer review. I played this first with Keewy and his roommates and we had a great time in every single game mode (except online).

The Mario Party mode is really good; they’ve shrunk the map and reduced how much stars cost to 10 coins, but 10-15 turn games can still take an hour to an hour and a half. This makes it a much simpler, easier to get mode, but the real star here is them bringing back the Ally & character dice mechanic from Mario Party Star Rush (had it’s good moments, but was on 3DS so that’s it for that). Each character can roll a normal 1-6 dice, but they also each have a unique die that has different numbers on it. These are for the most part balanced; character with higher numbers on their dice also have downsides instead of a 1. 0′s, losing coins, and in some cases gaining coins (because you still don’t move), and it adds a level of strategy to it where otherwise it would be just “roll and hop for the best. That’s what it is still, but sometimes you can choose. You can also pick up other characters who will help you in minigames, give you the option to roll their die, and add 1-2 spaces to your roll. It’s super fun.

The River Rafting mode is 4-player co-op, and it’s pretty fun as well your first run through. Not single player though; this very much shines with 4 people. However, because there are only like 8? 4-player co-op minigames, you see every game on your first run so it doesn’t really hold up after your first couple runs.

The dance mode is great; it’s like Rhythm heaven but Mario Party themed. Again, these minigames are really fun, but once you play through all 3 difficulties, which takes about 10 minutes, there aren’t any you haven’t played.

2v2 is ripped straight out of Star Rush, which is a great thing. Again, don’t play this with a cpu on your team at least. As far as I can tell, even in Mario Party mode, CPU’s make the same brain-dead decisions on the boards regardless of their difficulty level. Anyway, this has the same 4 boards but opened up vastly; You now roll, combine it with your partner, then add any allies you may have picked up along the way’s 1-2 rolls and other bonuses. The point is to land on the starspace and buy it, and it’s just a good time to see the strategy involved with either going for the stars, allies, or secondary goals. By far the best alternative Mario Party gameplay style in a while (way better than Island Tour’s linear maps and 9-10′s Car mode), but again there’s only the 4 maps.

So I guess my only true complaint is that while there are a lot of minigames, they’re split so much over the different modes they don’t feel like a lot and you see repeats frequently. Additionally it would be nice to turn on/off the bonus stars at the end and other options involving maybe skipping some of the cutscenes (star moving, places changed, etc.). All in all, the best and most interesting Mario Party in a long, long time. I highly recommend it if you have a friend to pick it up with.

Just Shapes & Beats

Got this game for a bit of random multiplayer. It’s a pretty fun, music based bullet hell game all about staying alive through the song while crazy stuff happens on screen. The story mode doesn’t overstay its welcome, but there’s also plenty of content and challenges for those who are so inclined, and only one of the levels felt utterly, bullshitingly unfair (which is really good with bullet hells) so It’s a fun time if you’re into top down bullet hells, and better with a friend in challenge mode

Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee [Switch]

I could write a dissertation on this game and how it’s neither good or bad; it’s just kinda... there. Some aspects are incredibly disappointing; the capture mechanics are absolute garbage, forced motion controls are atrocious, player/npc animations and interactions are completely stilted and lazy, the world is very bland vs Sun and Moon, the performance in handheld mode drops frames sometimes which is unacceptable, there’s almost zero post game, and even more. It’s by all means an HD reskin of a Gameboy game running on their crappy 3DS engine.

But there’s a lot of good here as well; seeing pokemon in the overworld is amazing and should be the case in the series moving forward, partner pokemon (eevee) are fun and fucking adorable, riding pokemon is great, having fast captures makes chaining a really fun mechanic, Having some of the E4 and Gym leaders interact with you during your quest makes the world interesting, connectivity with go is very limited but still good, having only one pokemon be obtainable only once in the game is a welcome and frankly overdue change in the game, removing breeding/abilities/held items really streamlines the mechanics and makes the game more enjoyable in a lot of cases, and I could go on.

I’m not going to recommend it, but I mean if you liked any pokemon game you’re definitely not going to not have fun with this one, even if the randomness in the capture mechanics frustrates you to no end

Super Smash Bros Ultimate [Switch]

So I mean it’s smash bros. Not much really to say about that, it’s pretty good. I kinda like Smash Bros not just for the multiplayer but the single-player as well, which is why Brawl is still my Favorite so take that as my approach here. The normal gameplay is fine, though the input buffer feels wonky at times and some characters are much harder to play against than others, which in combination with the sheer amount of characters makes it very difficult to get the hang of and counter accordingly, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just the barrier between playing casually and playing a bit more seriously feels sudden when randomly coming across characters that have inherent advantages from being wonky. Cloud for example seems to have a move for evertyhing, can spit out attacks very quickly, and if you try anything silly they’ll just charge a better move, and then randomly fighting a Ganondorf is like “I hope they don’t know how to read you because you can die at like 35 from a single fuck up”

The Single Player content though was... Disappointing. Not nearly as bad as Sm4sh, but it seems like they spent so much time putting as many characters and stages in the game as possible that they realized they wouldn’t have time to do old game modes the same way, so they made a system which allowed them to make custom smash battles with weird attributes and built the entirety of the bonus content on that. There’s really only adventure mode which is just a progression of Event Matches which gets somewhat stale and repetitive quickly, Mob Smash is just not really that fun past your first run or two, All-Star Smash is actually near impossible and not even rewarding, Classic does one or two cool ideas with routes but they clearly got lazy with a lot of characters there too, and the only platforming challenge in the game is the bonus level which takes 30 seconds and never changes.

Their Online mode is unacceptably bad and lacks options for random fights as well, and given that they’re charging for it this is just flat-out unacceptable. Buy it if you like playing Smash for the Multiplayer (which is almost everyone), but this is a hard pass if you were expecting a large amount of interesting content like Brawl’s Adventure mode had. Or are incapable of learning past a certain point, like me.

Katamari Damacy Reroll [Switch]

So after having played Forever earlier in the year and hearing how much praise this got, I had very High expectations! Unfortunately the controls are still ehhhhh and the game is surprisingly short; I beat it over the course of a 4ish hour flight. It’s definitely a lot nicer to you than Forever is, but in terms of amount of content it’s not aged well. If you’ve not played it before, pick it up on sale, but as far as I can tell this outing doesn’t add anything new to the original and it’s just a straight up re-release

Mario Tennis Aces [Switch]

So does anyone actually look forward to Mario Tennis Games? The past two have been husks of content and this one’s not really much better. The charging mechanic is interesting, but doesn’t feel that consistent or fair in some scenarios, but like was anyone waiting for this to get announced? Or is this just a “safe” series that sells okay and pads out the library for quick cash?”

It’s weird that they knew the Adventure mode was something fans really, REALLY wanted and touted it as some huge deal, even advertising it with a cool pre-rendered cutscene, and the whole mode with all challenges turns out to be at most a couple hours long, repetitive, and only actually has the two cutscenes (the 2nd being like 10 seconds). They made some silly RPG level up mechanic which didn’t feel like it made any difference, you can’t change your character so you’re really only learning how Mario plays, and it does a really poor job of explaining the different kinds of shots to you so it’s not even good for learning the game. I wasn’t expecting an experience worth telling for generations with the plot either, but even that gives up on itself; Luigi is possessed but he doesn’t do anything the whole game until you fight him, not even with the 3/5 power stones you have, and these power stones you spent the game collecting don’t do anything or matter because Bowser comes out of no where and “takes” the racket and power stones and challenges you to an admittedly fun boss fight. Not in a cutscene mind you, you’re just told this happens. It’s just lazy.

The game has some visual issues too; it’s missing any sort of stylistic flair and honestly just looks like an up-res’d Wii game, though with smoother models. Shadows flicker and cut through textures, and something weird’s going on with anti-aliasing that makes everything look blurry as hell too. I will say props for going to the effort of making tennis costumes for every character though; so that’s more effort than what went into Ultra Smash.

If you’re a huge, HUGE fan of Mario Tennis, go nuts. But uh, yeah this isn’t really worth your time for the price otherwise

Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Starter Pack) [Switch]

Yeah so it’s rich coming from me, but honestly this game is only hindered by the physical toys. As far as I can tell you can only play as generic Mr. No Personality or Fox, and then you only have the two options for weapons. The game could get interesting combat-wsie with the combinations of ships and like I think 14ish different weapons? But with just the starter pack you run through what the game has to offer pretty quick.

It is interesting though how I very rarely play Ubisoft games and hadn’t played one since their open-world formula milking, but right away I could tell that it was a Ubisoft open world game. There’s a lot to do, a lot of planets to explore, movement is fun and surprisingly easy, combat is pretty straightforward and has potential, but the key thing is that there’s like 30-50 facilities on each planets with like 4 different types of objectives (3 of which are “kill the same bad guys immediately here”), and you can spend hours on one planets doing some minor variance on that same thing over and over and over.

It’s a pretty good start in terms of base mechanics for what would be a cool system for an open StarFox game (and I know it wasn’t trying for that) but the repetitiveness of exploring, frankly pathetic writing in terms of characters, and locking a lot of the interesting content behind toys detracts from the experience. It’s definitely not un-fun, but after clearing 4 planets and seeing that’s just what the game is doing I don’t have any interest in continuing.

At least other than to see StarFox, because Ubisoft did them better justice than Nintendo has in years.

Best Game I Played in 2018: Celeste

Easy choice here, Celeste has a wonderful story, looks gorgeous, plays like a dream and managed to be an incredibly challenging platformer that didn’t make me lose my patience ever, which is AMAZING considering how little patience I have whenever I fail at a game.

I was going to pick the best game that actually came out in 2018 but honestly it’d be between like 4 games that I had gripes with in some way or another, so i’m going to say Overcooked 2 is pretty fucking solid and leave this whole run on sentence in the heading font because why not it’s my dead blog I can do whatever the fuck I wan-

Anyway that’s it. Hope everyone had a good year

#Game Impressions

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bigloquatthoughts · 3 years ago

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Thoughts While I Watch The Nintendo Direct A Day Late

Thoughts on the Nintendo Direct: Yoko Toro is an interesting person, that card game looks interesting but Y wouldn’t I just play Talisman? Cool to see more isometric RPGS on switch.

Hyrule Warriors is fun! Age of Calamity is where I really fell in love with the musou formula again - I played a LOT of DW Empires 5, so taking over a map / doing stuff on a map before combat is fun. The silly weapons like the broom etc also make this really fun. I’ll gladly play more of this. the new scientist warrior looks sick! Who asked for Chocobo GP? This looks like Garfield Racing re-skinned and with better physics maybe. When they said Chocoboooooo! I was hoping for a Chocobo’s Dungeon. My buddy Ted got that game with his PS1 and we though it was soooo cool, especially after playing Azure Dreams on Gameboy.

Thanks for telling us when we can see the new Smash Fighter which is probably more Sword boy / Sword gorl why won’t you put any interesting fighters in this game I am moving to Smash Bros CatDog Edition. Kirby washing up on an island is the most unlikely thing for a being who summons giant warp stars to fly through the universe on but okay. this looks INCREDIBLE. Kirby + Nier vibes with the busted up environment. what bums me out is that we saw the same enemy like, 10 times in the first 10 seconds of that one area. The giant snakes / fish are cool, but lets see some more variation maybe 3D Kirby boss fights look pretty freaking fun! 3D Kirby looks pretty great. It will suffer from Kirby things and also be fun. I will play it.

Hey, don’t worry. We’ll tell you some things about Animal Crossing in October. Not now - but in October. U will have content in November. Just hold on pls, be on the lookout for all ur rotten turnips in ur house

Lets move on, to more stuff second free update for Mario golf, which I would LOVE to play but can’t afford rn. I played it at my neighbors the other day and it’s pretty damn good. new courses and seeing little ninji run around will be very fun. Cool, kid Disney game. Dope. Old Republic for Switch looks great! Dying Light 2: Mirrors Edge edition. Oh, we can play with other people? That seems fun. Do we scavenge together? The Control cloud game demo felt okay on my wifi, but IDK about these cloud games as something worth getting on the switch when PC’s are a thing?

Triangle strategy looks dumb, Disgea does that shit better now right? Metroid Dread looks really cool, excited to run from big robot and make Samus Very Strong Hopefully u get to crawl around as big robot at some point in the game. Love the lore dump we get. Dude, Chozo were here! That’s sick!

Many people have been using switch online… Oh, giving out their old roms gathering dust for “free,” with their current sub was too generous for Nintendo I suppose. New plan for N64 games seem sick - the playing together online thing is very cool. Starting library is standard but nothing too exciting. Very excited to see how the emulation handles these games in relation to how they behaved on the console, as all the cool sped running shit we see in these sorts of older games vary depending on the version of the game.

I’m more excited about the Genesis line up than I am about the N64 one, save those two games I don’t recognize. We get Castlevania, a Contra, some puyo, Beatem ups, and playing this version of Gunstar Heroes might sell more of the other one. Expansion Pack is a name.

Notice how Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon and Comix Zone are not on these lists? They are too afraid to give us the best of what both platforms have to offer and it’s a shame.

WIRELESS CONTROLLERS FOR $60 EACH? ARE THEY BLUETOOTH SO I CAN USE THEM WITH OTHER STUFF? WTF

I was just talking to my friends about the Shadowrun Isometric RPGs last night! Cool. Castlevania collection looks dope. Button mapping is huuuuge for me. Love that. An Almighty Classic Returns: Actraiser - even the SNES game was hella off my radar, this looks dope. I’m down to side scroll and then town build. Deltarune + Homestuck are games that I really really want to play but my depression is such that I just sit and stare at the starting screen and nothing happens. One day I will consume Toby’s works and be better for it. But until then, I’ll just be excited for my friends and listen to the baller soundtrack. god dammit I love that dog.

new story of seasons looks cool but Natsume is dead, no hope left cept for Stardew #doomer NAMCO Hamster - yes. Rune Factory 5 might be good on the switch. The 3DS versions were sooooo sloooowwwww for me. I’ve heard really good things about the franchise as a whole though. MARIO movie thoughts: THIS CASTING IS GREAT EXCEPT FOR CHRIS PRATT WTF. WHY IS HIMBO WHO HATES GAYS MY MARIO?

CHARLIE DAY AS LUIGI WAS WRITTEN IN THE FUCKING STARS EXCEPT HIS SHORTER THAN FUCKIN CHRIS PRATT, HOW THE FUCK COULD YOU MESS THIS UP. CHARLIE DAY AS MARIO AND CHRIS PRATT AS LUIGI BECAUSE HE BUSTS GHOSTS WHICH IS SUPER THEOLOGICAL ANYWAY GOD DAMN DUDE. THIS ISN’T THAT HARD.

KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY AS FUCKIN TOAD MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD. I AM SO EXCITED FOR THAT.

JACK BLACK AS BOWSER - WOULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER MARIO BUT ANYTHING THIS MAN TOUCHES IS GOLD.

Movie is saved by Seth Rogan, I bet you 1 full bitcoin that DK saves this fuckin movie.

FRED ARMISEN AS CRANKY KONG IS ACTUALLY PERFECT. He is a real life hipster Cranky Kong and I love it. Dude playing Kamek looks familiar? Who is that

After seeing Wreck it Ralph, doesn’t Mario sound more like a Kenneth the Page than a Starlord? IDK man. Boomers are weird. Splatoon 3 looks cool, bummer it’s still 4v4 but whatever. the story mode for 1 and 2 were great aside from the difficulty spikes. stoked.

THE WAY THAT BAYONETTA IS REVEALED IS ONE PUNCH MAN TIER COMEDY.

Also, ya’ll spoiled it for us with the capcom font.

WAIT A GLOVED HAND PUNCHED, NOT A DEMON HAND? YOOOOO MOMMYYYYYYY THIS HAIR.

YOOO BUTTERFLY SHIT HELL YEAH

THERE IS MY BIG HAIR DEMON YES OH SHIT WE GET TO MEGA ZORD FIGHT WITH OUR DEMON?! THIS IS FUCKIN SICK

OH DIFFERENT DEMONS TO FIGHT WITH THIS IS SICK. THIS IS HOW I WANT POKEMON TO PLAY. 100% NOT JOKING. BAYONETTA: GODZILLA EDITION

HOLY SHIT THAT IS TIGHT

UHHHH IS DANTE GONNA BE IN THIS

WHO IS THAT BOI WITH THE SWORD

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Alright. There have been better directs, Christmas line up is looking p weak so far. Hopefully they can give us some bangers for holiday.

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attract-mode-collective · 7 years ago

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Ready To Wear, Ready To Play

As previously noted, there’s been yet another change in direction for the Attract Mode blog… which I have dubbed Version 2.8 Final CE EX Λ Core Plus Alpha. BTW/FYI. But yeah, been posting on Twitter, a lot. So much so that you may have missed something, so here’s a recap!

Note: was originally going to cover everything tweeted throughout the month, but because there’s so much to cover (and February’s short)… am guessing bi-weekly might be the way to go. Am also going to present things mostly in order.

K, enough chatter: at the very top is another fine example of a Famicom being the ultimate in fashion accessory (via nintendu). And here we have, not designer threads but designer plastic (via gamefreaksnz)...

Speaking of plastic, Sega (or someone who got Sega’s blessing, or maybe not even) made Super Monkey Ball figures? Guess so (via magimacaque)...

I was under the belief that, if I truly wanted to make an impact with the relaunch of the Attract Mode Twitter, I couldn’t just post one single piece of Klonoa fan art, but two...

And I only have one example of Cuphead fan art, but it’s the one that counts (via jothelion)...

It was Kyle who helped kick the Attract Mode Twitter’s rebirth into high gear, with the reveal of his Nintendo Power covers. So to help replay the favor, I must insistent that everyone purchase the hard copy of RPG_Friends (which I first mentioned here)...

Nothing makes me happier than seeing such a dense assortment of Japanese game stuffs (via peazy86)...

... Yet that being said, I also believe less can be more, plus a nice breeze while playing Secret of Mana is... well... nice (via sixteen-bit.tumblr)

These gamer chairs perfectly embody Japanese sensibilities when it comes to furniture, plus are a total 180 to the junk they peddle in the US (via shmups)...

Time for another excellent toco toco vid, this one features your fave old school Capcom illustrator, and mine, Akiman…

youtube

There's so much I love about this interview with the creator of Hong Kong 1997, whose goal was "to make the worst game possible”. Though this picture of the guy is near the top of my list...

I love these kooky kids, thinking they could possibly get away with stealing an entire Final Fight arcade cab (via videogamead)...

Yeah, I feel the same way kid (via tvgame)...

"This is Jesus. He lives inside my Neo Geo MVS cabinet. He was there when I got it. He is glorious." (via arcadephile)...

The pathos that is Sub Zero at the bat, in four modded screenshots(via lanceboyles)...

The pathos that is the Kachō interacting with kids, in just three YouTube screengrabs (via gaijira)...

And the pathos that is Splatoon 2, via two screengrabs and the piece of fan art that resulted (via lunaticobscurity)...

Though in addition to pathos, Splatoon is also filled to the brim with intensity (via thewaragainstgiygas)...

Welcome to VIOLENT CITY (via shmups)...

Also, STAY CHILL (via paperbeatsscissors)...

Not that any band in which music is performed via guitars hooked up to Famicoms is all that typical to being with, but this one is most definitely not typical (via miki800.com)...

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This "what the hell is going on exactly" illustration has motivated me to finally Wario Land a spin at long last (via it8bit)...

Remember Absolutely Rose Street, the Beverly Hills 90210 meets Degrassi meets Wayne’s World-esque show that was actually an infomercial for the Sega 32X in disguise that I wrote about a little whiles ago? Well here's ad for it (via oldgamemags)...

I'm a total sucker for old Japanese video game mags, primarily ones featuring models/statues on the cover (via miki800)...

Another cover to an old Japanese game rag, this one featuring the very first Metal Gear; I wonder if this slightly cutesy take helped to inspire the Metal Gear we meet in Snatcher (via mendelpalace)...

Here we have a page from an 11 page comic, done in a single sitting, for an event that celebrates various pairings of Solid Snake/Otacon, one that's called Snot Week for whatever reason (via millionfish)...

I want this woman to be my mom (via cyberfights)...

Am obsessed with this image of a man playing Xevious in the middle of a desert that's clearly fabricated and clearly from the 80s (via shmups)...

mendelpalace sez: "This picture gives me anxiety" and I feel exactly the same...

This is comparable to my own morning commute, except for the lack of floating cherry blossom petals and various other differences (via tightenupthe)...

Spring is almost here, which means it's time for a new wardrobe, which really means it's time to get new PaRappa attire (via miki800.com)...

If a glitched Nintendo logo when booting up a Game Boy looks fashionable to you, you're in luck (via gameandgraphics)...

Tho if a glitched Game Boy Advance start up is more your style (via corruptionasart)...

Has anyone received this Mega Drive/Genesis chiptune album on a cart (described as a "16-bit VMU") yet? (via catskullelectronics)

Ever wonder what a 3 part symphony, one performed via 5 different Nintendo DSs and 5 different copies of Electroplankton, sounds like? Well wonder no more (via mendelpalace)...

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And ever wonder what an Italian-based, US-born R&B, blues and disco singer (which is how Wikipedia describes Ronnie Jones) thought of video games in the year 1980? Again, wonder no more (via aestheticoftheday)...

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The new DDR, which will record your performance and also add snazzy video effects, is my early contender for GOTY 2018 (via @Sega_AM2)...

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I will never grow tired or bored of watching this run cycle, ever (via shmups)...

What appears to be a Nier motion study (via sixteen-bit)...

Sakura-ha (via rosscountertv)..

To commemorate the discontinuation of the Kinect sensor (via prostheticknowledge)...

Google Translate took the original Korean & translated it as: "Ittsumi! Maria", which @NotLikeFreddy re-translated as: "It's-a me, Mary-o"...

The medium of video games most certainly has many mountains to overcome yet, but there's little denying that we've made some progress nonetheless (via videofame)...

"I have to go now. My planet needs me.” (via sixteen-bit)...

Cuz it's been a while since I shared a gif from Sin & Punishment (via n64thstreet)...

The SNES & Genesis had cool accessories and all, yet I often wonder what it would have been like if 3D printers & Etsy were around back then...

Pretty much the cutest lil thing you'll see all day is this Genesis CDX hooked up to a 5″ Sony PVM (via decideweapons)...

“'Club Sega during the Snow' is a top-tier aesthetic, I think." (via pr0jectneedlemouse)

I love old VG sound team photos, especially when they double as old band photos, like Capcom's Alph Lyra here (via videogamesdensetsu)...

You all have no idea how happy I am to finally see a decent sized version of the flyer for Deadly Sport... again, no idea (via melvanainchains)...

Here's an illustration of Terry Bogard eating a hot dog (with the rest of his Fatal Fury posse chowing down as well)...

... Turns out, Terry's affinity for hot dogs is somewhat of a thing (via busterwolf)....

... Or, perhaps SNK as a whole are simply huge fans of hot dogs? (via meldowiseau)

I absolutely love this familiar, yet thoroughly refreshing take on Samus (via lady--peaches)...

And nothing new to report, as it pertains to @deimosremus's Metroid redesign, so am just going to continue staring at this some more...

Love Hultén is mostly known for their handheld creations, like the Pixel Vision, though I mostly dig their full-sized cabinet, the Kabin 1...

"Damn Tecmo never let Microsoft live that design down" (via sixteen-bit)...

Cuz I recently began replaying Breath of the Wild...got the Switch version for the gf on her birthday... some fan art (via it8bit)...

I've seen my fair share of comics with Sonic & Tails, but never one that addresses the debug mode from the original Genesis games (via vg-libary)...

Here we have two cats, from the game Jingle Cats, occupied with the fridge (via obscurevideogames)...

And here we have just one cat, from the Sailor Moon anime, occupied with an arcade game that I am unable to identify (via sailormoonreblogs)...

Can you believe the music video for @MissyElliott's Sock It 2 Me is over 20 years old? Crazy, I know...

Speaking of Mega Man, I guess I need to finally check out Mega Man Zero, cuz apparently X goes through some kind of religious conversion or something (via omnilunary)...

And here we have Cut Man, the one we all know (and love) from Mega Man meeting his Captain N doppelganger (via mewymarsher)...

I absolutely need this on a shirt or jacket (via @buzz_clik)...

It's always a thrill, seeing a fighting stick made out of tupperware in the wild for the very first time, isn't it? (via @silva_hime)

Yes. Fighting Layer is that game in which you jump off a folding chair to smash another one on the head of a gigantic falcon (via lordmo)...

Tonight’s episode: PINBALL ALCHEMIST (via tonights-episode)...

Here we have a Tumblr thread giving suggestions on how to access a seemingly inaccessible area of a hotel lobby; my fave, for perhaps obvious reasons, is the ring path/light speed dash combo from Sonic Adventure...

Am kinda hungry atm and feel like slicing & dicing some celery & onions, plus making some Julienne Fries; anyone got a copy of Sonic 2 handy? (via sonicthehedgeblog)

A. thanks to this fan art, I now know you can also play OutRun in Hokuto no Ken PS4! & B. great piece & all, but...still a shame that Alex Kidd is missing (via inspiredfatty)...

I've legit been staring at these rotating NES and SNES gifs all day long (via 3d-bear)...

These photos from the Dreamcast Mobile Assault Tour, circa the late 90s, right before the system's launch are very... and I mean VERY... 90s (via posthumanwanderings)...

"What will your next dream be?" (via 081594)

You know that UK/US reality show Undercover Boss, in which a billionaire CEO disguises himself as the new mailroom guy? Well there's apparently a version in Japan, with an episode starring the president of Taito (via @MMCafe_Prof)...

On Valentine's Day I came across a horror movies blog that presented various horror movie Valentines, including one for Jason Voorhees that references Friday The 13th for NES (via cameraviscera.com)...

Also, for Valentine's, my girlfriend made me pixelated chocolate; the pic does the blue hearts in particular zero justice, which look like plastic toys, but most assuredly are made of milk chocolate...

... And that’s it for now! The rest of February coming up in a few!

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zaggitz · 7 years ago

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VIDEO GAMES 2017: ONE MILLION GAMES ENTER, TEN GAMES LEAVE.

Well that sure was the best year in video games since probably 1998, wasn’t it? Nintendo put out a new console and 3 major franchise entries, basically every anticipated game of the early 10′s finally frickin’ came out, we got 4 new English Falcom games, 3 of which with good locs, and they made a new Nier? What???

What a time to be alive.

Let’s not waste any time getting to the list, lord knows VIDEO GAMES 2017 has already sucked out enough time from me for a lifetime.

Before we begin, here’s my lists for 2015 and 2016.

Honorable Mentions:

Persona 5:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaIo82uT0qs

It’s insane that this game isn’t in my top ten, hell, it’s insane that it isn’t in my top five. It’s less a commentary on Persona 5′s quality and more that the games that did make the list resonated with me a whole lot more. VG2017 truly was too powerful.

P5 is mired with stiff localization problems, but even without the loc in consideration, the thematic through-line of the game gets muddled and becomes a toothless version of the promising rebellious first ten hours the game provides by the time you reach the finish line, which also just happens to come 20 hours too late, in my opinion.

What a great looking and feeling game though.

Tales of Berseria:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYXwD2CfxOs

On the flipside we have this game, the first Tales game I’ve enjoyed since Tales of Vesperia back in 2008. This game has an amazing story and great characters with a thematic backbone that sticks to your ribs after you finish it.

Now if I didn’t hate the act of actually playing it and having to scour its way too big boring empty dungeons and crappily designed world, it’d be a list maker for sure.

OKAY NOW IT’S TIME FOR THE CERTIFIED BANGERS:

10. Metroid: Samus Returns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhQWJG-_Oco

Somehow my least favorite Metroid game got two remakes that both made my list two years in a row?? This game is pretty great in it’s own right though it has a few control scheme imperfections and I could see a switch port easily being the definitive version to get.

The reason this game really makes the list though is because of how it lives up to its title. Finally an official Nintendo Metroid game that comes out and undoes Sakamoto’s vile character assassination of Samus back in Other M. .

The queen is back, and she has been missed.

9. Horizon: Zero Dawn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD0DByDxJBA

An engrossing open world, great stealth/hunting/gathering systems AND robot dinosaurs are just a part of what makes this first outing for what seems like an extremely promising series great.

No, what really sets this game apart from its contemporaries is how it fleshes out its backstory, culminating in the creation of what might actually be the most despicable piece of shit villain ever put to writing for a video game. And he’s been dead for a thousand years so you can’t do shit to him.

Fuck you, Ted Faro.

8. Night in the Woods

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2UUFFMGcgY

This game hit extremely close to home for me. Forced to come back home to a small, dying town full of people clinging to the good old days instead of doing anything for the generation after them, having this game to play and have it be said out loud that yeah, other people are living this nightmare too, was insanely refreshing.

For as much as we all need a bit of direction sometimes, sometimes what we also need to know being a directionless 20-something asshole trying their best is okay too.

Also Gregg rulz ok.

7. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNgph1g422Q

Great gameplay, great music, fun characters, one of the most fun to explore worlds in an action adventure game. This game truly nails the sense of pure adventure Ys is known for.

It’s a shame then that it’s plagued with one of the most laughable translation efforts in the industry, much of the games personality comes from the fact that even a bad localization job can’t overwrite some character quirks, but this still leaves the rest of the script feeling extremely stiff at best and incomprehensible at worst.

I hope the re-translation patch is good. Until then, Fuck NISA and have a good day.

6. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiU65nQdZE8

I would describe this game as a great first step in evolving the Zelda formula. That’s not even really that accurate, the real first step was in Link Between World’s item rental/no dungeon order systems.

Nevertheless, BOTW amazes with a sense of scope and exploration no game has ever really come close to, and achieves it almost effortlessly by simply giving you the ability to climb anything.

More music, more proper dungeons, a deeper story and a few durability tweaks are basically all you need to make the next Zelda game the easy best in series.

5. Yakuza 0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYB-D9qEwzI

This isn’t the best game this year, but it is easily, no question, the MOST video game this year. 110 hours in and only 60% complete, Yakuza 0 is the game that keeps on giving, with an enthralling true crime story that reshapes what we know about its protagonists. It’s pretty much a non stop emotional thrill ride to the finish line.

It effortlessly incorporates the best side story aspects from the many games in the series to come out before it, and utilizes them with a fantastical glee that keeps you with a smile on your face for the whole run. This is easily the funniest game I’ve played this year. Thank you SEGA.

4. Hollow Knight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1unm0LS10ao

God I can’t wait for this game to get ported to consoles. I bought a new laptop basically just to play this game and the absolutely enthralling metroidvania world design, hand drawn and animated aesthetic, and fantastic npc characters blew me away.

The encounter designs are tough but fair(except maybe the Colisseum) and the DLC so far has been great. I can’t wait for all the post release content to come out so I can play through it all again on Switch and probably PS4.

It’s insane only 3 people made this game.

3. Super Mario Odyssey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhciLj5VzOk

Nothing to say here that hasn’t been said by hundreds of others. SMO is pure joy distilled into video game form.

I can’t wait for Odyssey 2 to come out and somehow blow this one out of the water like Galaxy 2 did for Galaxy.

2. Nier: Automata

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKOM3lNFajE

An amazing contemplation on what it means to be alive, and a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to a story that, for me at least, has been told since Drakengard in 2003. Game after game of sad tragic stories with bad endings and characters fighting an imperfect world imperfectly and only making things worse while temporarily making things better for themselves.

And really even in those cases there’s caveats.

Caviats???? Anyway.

Ending E of this game finally brings some semblance of peace for this fucked up world where a deranged killer and his dragon fell through the sky and made things the worst for everyone for literally tens of thousands of years. Finally Devola and Popola can sleep. All is well.

1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wld2q4mLhYM

Another year, another Trails game at number 1. I’ll be real with you, I’m about to drop a bunch of personal rambly stuff about what this entire trilogy means to me so if you don’t wanna read that, that’s fine.

This game is basically a perfect epilogue to a game that means a whole lot to me and serves as an amazing capper to an amazing jrpg trilogy.

When I first played Trails in the Sky First Chapter, it was the PC version in 2014. Now in 2014 I was coming off being in college for about 6 years, switching majors a few times and not really being into what I was doing but, yknow, you gotta major in something and then you gotta get a job, that’s kind of what getting started as an adult is.

So I played this weird little jrpg that was, fundamentally, about a country and the people in it trying to move on from a tragic war years prior, hiding their still fresh wounds in plain sight and just trying to go on with their lives.

It was an extremely interesting game, for how plot-light it was in the early goings, you got to really feel the struggle of these people and the unseemly past they were trying to run away from or avoid repeating. This underlying conflict builds and builds until we can’t ignore it anymore.

When I played Second Chapter a year later, I had been laid off from a job I got right out of College and had no employment prospects. I hated the fact that I’d spent basically my entire adult life up to that point doing something I wasn’t passionate about and then got let down by the system.

At the same time, the shame of my situation lead me to close up and not tell anyone about the problems I had, I was broke, I owed two months rent, on the verge of getting evicted, I felt extremely alone.

All this to get to the point that Second Chapter was ultimately a game about pulling out the dark shit we don’t like talking about and saying “it’s okay to talk about this stuff, there’s always someone who will listen.” It got me to get over myself somewhat and actually reach out for help, and I’m really thankful for it not letting me hit rock bottom.

Two years later still, I’m in a much better place, I finally feel happy about where my life is and what I’m doing and oh boy here comes Trails in the Sky the 3rd.

Completing the journey I started back in 2014, I found myself playing a game all about how it’s okay to acknowledge the bad things that happened to us, so long as we learn and move on from them accordingly.

This trilogy has so much heart, and so many memorable characters, and so much to say. It’s so, so special to me, and I was openly weeping when all the characters I’ve come to know and love over 4 years finally parted ways.

Thank you Falcom for making these games, and thank you Xseed for bringing these games to us.

TL;DR

#game of the year #trails in the sky #nier automata #night in the woods #ys #metroid #mario oddysey #hollow knight #yakuza 0 #zelda breath of the wild #horizon zero dawn

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defunctblogtobedeleted · 5 years ago

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11/15/19 3:33am - goin home, trying new things

So the trip home to see the family was wonderful. Actually I spent a little too long watching TV before leaving and waiting for the gas guy to turn on the heat, so I left a little late and was damn near passing out on the drive over. Had to stop a few times to nap, but made it. Got caught up on The Adventure Zone again. I’m really excited for this new story they’re gonna do, it’s like Harry Potter meets My Hero Academia. Pretty fuckin neato.

But yeah I got there had a beer with my mom and went to the game and froze my fucking BALLS off watching taven play football. ugh jesus. And the poor guys were against a team like 4 times bigger than them, I swear they didn’t get double digit offensive yardage. They’d get an offsides call and start first and 5, hand off the ball to taven three times in a row and he’d pick up 1 yard, 1 yard, -2 yards, and they’d punt it away again. I don’t think I saw a single first down lol. Taven got hurt so we left in the fourth, they were down 77-0 with 10 minutes left -_-

But still, good to see him play lol. It wasn’t about watching a win, it was about being there for him on his birthday. Fuck that sucks though lol. I always hated playing in the cold.

Most of the weekend I hung out with wes at his and jenny’s place. We did hang out with mom and the fam for a bonfire on saturday, I ate as much guac as I could fit in my face, we had a couple beers, made some fires. It was sweet. Then we played some super metroid before I started passing out.

Sunday wes and I beat the game and went to breakfast. My dad wasn’t around so I drove out to visit JMell in NoVa instead. His place is pretty nice, and we mostly watched some funny youtube videos. Good ol Rack Em Willie and other crackhead vids and this guy Super Sus and general nonsense. Couldn’t go crazy because I needed to make it back for work.

So I drove back. Made it to Jill’s at 2 and she helped keep me awake until I needed to get ready for work because I picked up a daytime shift from 7 to 5. And I slogged through that just fine. Got a raise at work, but like the bare minimum, but I’llll fucking take it. It’s been the exact same as every other time I got a raise I think lmfao. A little extra pocket cash to throw at new toys is nothing to scoff at, though, I need another butt plug and stuff lmfao.

I was supposed to roll from there to durham to watch the new rick and morty, but I passed out and overslept by an hour instead. fucking hate when my bodily needs get in the way of me trying to hang out with people for 48 hours straight, yknow? Sucks.

But I went to slosh still, had a lovely chill time. Made plans to go home to Jill but ended up bouncing to another bar with a bunch of people there and drank for another hour. Got me in a little hot water, but whatever. Worth it I think lol. I just can’t help myself from hanging out with as many people as long as possible.

Jill and I woke up at like 2 and hung out most of the day just fucking around watching tv. I bailed to go run some errands and do karaoke. Had to get some epoxy so I could put together my butt plug tail. I finally knocked that out this evening before work, I think it turned out great. Gotta try it out soon :3

But karaoke was quiet. Not a lot of people came out because it was like bitter cold and windy and had been raining all day. So on the plus side I got to sing like five songs. On the downside, I didn’t get to flirt with any new people lolol. An old stripper friend I had made there, Kellene, showed up and we talked about how I was in her dream the night before and chit chatted a bit. Got to sing a little together, I love her fucking voice. But at the end of the night she asked me for some money to help pay for her tab. I was like sure and gave her $8, she said I was sweet asked if I wanted to do anything with her I was like huwhaaa I guess? maybe we make out somewhere? Idk. Then she roams the room around and comes back and asks me for money again and I was like dude I gave you everything in my wallet, you have my $8 right there in your hand. And she says “no this is my $8 I got it from my purse,” while she opens her purse and pulls the rest of the money she needs out of it. I was like... pretty flabbergasted. Like not like floored, more still amused than anything. Drunk people are funny.

Also after I sang some Drake my beautiful bartender Jaime said I should sing Frank Ocean. Killed it singing self control, and she like held my hands and said I love you like she has the past couple weeks. I made a slight mistake and let my curiosity get the better of me. It’s definitely a rule of mine to not ask girls who are working out, but I was just like “look I know this is a little inapprop, but would you want to go out sometime?” and she says “yeah, as friends, definitely.” and I’m like oooooof. She had to take care of another customer so I just walked away from that one. Glad I cleared that up though I really thought she was being flirty and cutesy but I’m just a knucklehead. Could’ve been worse lmfao.

Anyway, went home with Jill, we hung out all day again watching this mediocre 911 show. Kinda fun at points though. It was mostly nice just chilling with her early since I’d blown her off til really late a couple times in a row.

Then spice was last night and ho. my. god. It was the normal confection of watching people get beat, not meeting as people this time around because I knew a whole bunch of people that were there already. But I did meet a few. Hung out with the cute boy from the fashion show for a while. We have these like really awkward pauses in conversation though where he doesn’t like ask me anything and I run out of things to say but he’s just staring at me and grinning so intently. Idk, man. Lol. I was supposed to do a scene that I had talked out with someone, but they unfortunately called in sick. So I thought I wasn’t gonna do anything, but then I ended up chit chatting with Neko and he offered to beat on me that night.

Wowowoww bottoming a REAL impact scene was intense. Like IN. TENSE. like I was thinking about tapping out a few times from the pain of it, but then he’d take a break and scratch me or rub my back and it would just feel so gooooood. By the end I was taking these hits in the back and like shivering with excitement/adrenaline/idk what. He like threw his thigh between my legs while I was up on the cross to support me and started rubbing my back and bit my shoulder and hnnnnng. god I just started lightly scratching and chewing on his arm. I was literally in uncontrollable shivers and giggles afterward, it was actually probably too much lol but I lovvvved it. I feel like I really Get it now. Especially as I sit on my ass covered in bruises today lol. Then my friend Bun squish cuddled me until I came back down to normalcy. Maya and Jill came to watch, actually, they got to see it happen so that was kinda rad. Jill wanted to go dancing at alchemy afterward but I was like no fucking way could I dance after taking that lol. So I drug them out to boxcar with me and we played some galaga and skee ball and foosball and tekken. Me and Jill almost got a shutout on Maya+some rando, and then the randos were like nahhhh so I beat Jill+Maya 2v1. We played again later and I lost the set though. But I was dressed up as a kitty all through boxcar lol, kinda neat. We stayed up til 6am just watching Daria and ranodm youtube shit.

Slept a long time, almost had a weird fight with Jill, smoothed that over, took a bath for a few hours and I’ve been working. Excited to get off though, but not for any reason in particular. Just fuck work I guess? lol.

I really felt like I needed to write about that impact scene while it was fresh. It’s kinda stuck in my head. :3

I’ve got emo karaoke in a few days, should be a lot of fun. <3 nothing too exciting coming up though. Having to schedule a bunch of extra work days to appease my boss kinda suckkssss but whatever I’ll take the money lol.

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aurimeanswind · 8 years ago

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Here We Are Again—Tuesday Chats (6/14/17)

Deep breaths. This isn’t going to be easy. I ask all you readers to be respectful of my boundaries. To please be courteous to how I choose to deal with things. To understand that I created Sunday Chats to give you an open forum of honesty. To respect the distance I need, and remember that I have incredible friends around me every day that look out for me.

That being said: let’s chat.

FIRST: Late to Chats

I apologize that I’ve missed two Sundays in a row for Sunday Chats. One was because I was in San Francisco (and computer-less) and the other was right in the middle of E3 coverage (and still computer-less).

Now I have a beefy new computer! And it’s beautiful. And I’m very excited about all the things I am going to make on it. I’ve been writing up E3 reactions and recording reaction podcasts all weekend, so if you want to see my big, drawn out thoughts on what everyone did and was up to, you can find them. Very exciting season for games, and I’m sure some of tonight’s questions will focus on them.

I apologize again for the lateness of the chats, but you all were amazing. I asked for questions and you all delivered. I think today I got the most questions for this “Tuesday Chats” that I’ve ever received. I’m humbled, moved, and I love you all.

Now is the part where I tell you what’s been going on in my head, my life, and I ask you to please, please be respectful of my boundaries. To have empathy, but remember that I am a relatively solitary person who enjoys his lonesome (for the most part).

The Part Where I Talk About Mental Health

This is really hard for me. When my mental health is at it’s worst, it’s hard for me to not want to shelter up and ignore everyone. To stop responding to tweets. To just forget existence. I’m less of the self-harming type, and more of the inward self hatred and doubt type. I’ve been dealing with clinical depression for five years now. It never gets easier.

These last few weeks have been the worst I think I have ever dealt with. Not since 2012 when Irrational Passions Podcast went on hiatus.

I don’t say this to scare my friends, my readers. I don’t say this to be brave, to ask for help, to ask for supportive tweets. In fact, all those things creeping in my head push me against sharing. Against all of us sharing. Many of my followers out there, my friends as well, also suffer from depression. I share this to put the olive branch out for them and myself. To maybe enact some level of mutual support. To let folks know they aren’t alone.

I thought about not sharing this. Sharing how every morning I wake up feeling sluggish and empty. Every day I get more and more tired earlier. How when people are talking around me it slowly becomes like a loud ringing and I just want to scream and run away. That I’m afraid every day and I don’t know why. But this is what I go through. It’s part of me and though I hope it doesn’t control me; in writing about it I think I find some level of catharsis. I also considered spinning this off into it’s own post, since I consider Sunday Chats to be some level of jolly, and maybe depression has no place in it. But I think it’s also safe to say depression has colored the last couple of SC I have written.

This isn’t a subject I like to take lightly, and even if it doesn’t mesh with the jolly answers I’ll be delivering later, I wanted to share this.

First and foremost: I am okay. I’m stable, if not incredibly depressed, but I don’t consider myself a danger to myself. I have a plan to see a Psychiatrist either this week or next. I need to go back on antidepressants, which I haven’t done in a long time, and I’m not super happy about, but I know it’s a necessary step. I’m looking for stability, and I have friends I can rely on and trust.

As a reminder, if you are having thoughts about suicide, please, please seek help. Call 1-800-273-8255. Your life matters

I do not want people reaching out to let me know that they’re there for me. I understand you want to, but I have a great support system. I don’t say any of this to freak you out, and if I am freaking you out, trust me when I say if I were in immediate danger, I’d do the right thing. I have done it before.

I’m starting to get back into the groove of working, which is helping me find that stability again. And while I don’t know what brought on this most serious depression, maybe recent family trouble, stress from my rent going up, lack of hours at work, or something else, I know that I want to persevere and power through. I definitely didn’t at certain points this weekend, but tonight, in my clear mind, I do. A genuine and unending thank you to Nato Johnston, who acted as my shining star and beacon of positivity this past weekend, keeping me company and my thoughts less cloudy.

Thank you for reading this. I’m sorry if this hurt or worried you, it wasn’t my intention. This is me, a part of me, and if you’re going through something similar, you are not alone. We can get through this. That’s the hope I hold onto because it helps me see tomorrow.

Now that the heavy part is over, I’m sad to say I haven’t really been working on anything special or playing any games. It’s been super hard to focus on working on things without a computer and with all the traveling I’ve been doing. I’m working toward stability now, and I have been writing every day, but none of it has really been interesting or thought provoking.

As for games, the only thing I’ve really sunk any time into is Shovel Knight Plague of Shadows, which has been super interesting. Coming off of Specter of Torment, which is a far better expansion because of it’s more custom-tuned level design to Specter Knight’s abilities, Plague of Shadows is a bit of a letdown. Still, the new parts of it, in conjunction with Plague Knight’s toolset is something to behold. There are really neat parts of that game, and I think going into Specter Knight they learned a lot.

But really that’s it, so let’s get to the good part, THE QUESTIONS

Questions

As always, you can look for my tweet with the hashtag #SundayChats on Sunday afternoons. Obviously today was different, this is more of a make-up chats. You know, I was really worried that because I wasn’t doing this on a Sunday, I wouldn't get that many questions, but holy shit was I wrong. You all have honestly blown me away. Thank you all so much.

Let’s get to it. I know some of you missed Sunday Chats, and while I have no clue why, I’m back and ready for action.

I agree that Nintendo really killed it. Honestly, my favorite was Microsoft. Of all of them, I liked their showmanship the most. But I always really like how they present their stuff. Phil Spencer is just such a genuine dude it’s easy to believe he gets it.

Microsoft really did have a little bit for everyone, but I’ll say this: every one of the big three had something for me. Microsoft had Ori and Life is Strange. Sony had The Last Guardian. And whooooa shit did Nintendo bring the Metroid. Two of them, in fact.

I’m so pleased with all the showings, and a lot of the things I loved the most were little things with tons of potential. The only really big game that hit hard with me was Anthem, and that’s pretty cool I think.

Hrmmmm. This is asking me to toot my own horn a little bit, and I really am not huge into that. But I’ll indulge just a little.

I’ll give you three, because I don’t think anything I’ve written is crazy good. They’re all really different.

First is my “Growing Up with a Generation” feature. It’s my first big storytelling feature I’ve ever written, I wrote it for my 100-day anniversary for writing every day. I love it.

http://irrationalpassions.com/feature-growing-up-with-a-generation/

It’s one of the big ones that I look back on and am actually super proud of. It’s also the first voice over I ever did.

The second is the first freelance article I ever did. It’s the first piece about video games I was ever paid for, and it was the first thing I ever wrote and got paid for. It’s an incredibly proud moment for me, still, and it is about playing games with my mom. It’s true, it’s cute, and it’s a fun read I think. All things I inspire to create to this day.

http://pixelkin.org/2015/05/11/playing-with-mom-inspired-my-love-of-games/

And the last is something different. It’s an opinion piece I wrote about Twilight Princess, and it’s something that’s just so different from anything else I’ve ever written. I initially shopped it around as a feature piece for freelance, but no one bought it. I had so much fun writing it that I had to turn it into a written piece one way or another, so I just published it on IP. It’s worth a read/listen.

http://irrationalpassions.com/opinion-twilit-ghost-town/

I think, honestly, of the three, this is the weakest, because it doesn’t really have a strong point. But I played around with some storytelling ideas that I think I see a lot of in Logan Wilkinson’s writing today. It’s probably why I love the dude’s writing so much.

Well. Wow. Okay. Well, I...

Okay yeah I don’t know how to answer this one.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to make PSX. It’s a huge bummer, I know, but I’d want to go to PAX West before that anyway, and I already don’t think I can make that.

Sorry guys.

OOOH!

Absolutely play Mario Odyssey. I’m sure you’ll hate it, because you hate Nintendo and fun Trevor, but I’d be curious to hear some hands-on impressions from you.

I’d say play Metroid Samus Returns too. I just want to believe that game is great.

Outside of that, do some indie sleuthing! Find some games that maybe I haven’t heard of that sound dope!

The big one for me was Bloodborne 2. Like I said on our post show for E3, I still think that game is happening, but I just think this may not be the time to show it. That could easily make its way into PSX, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Honestly, I’d have to to see more From Software presence in general. But alas, no such luck.

Also no Microsoft new IP, which is sad, but I’d bet they’re working on stuff.

I think it isn’t necessarily about the blurred lines of what a small studio can do. I think if we look at No Man’s Sky, we can clearly see that an indie game is still an indie game, and even when scale and presentation are injected into it, the realities of development are going to catch up with it eventually.

I think tools for creators have evolved a lot. I think you can make a game that is simple and presents well and people like us will gravitate to it because hey: it’s not all about big explosions and particle effects. I mean, Anthem looks amazing and has all those things, but there is room for more than that. Video games have always been about having both I think. Back to the SNES and NES, there is just a deep and rich appreciation for visual and mechanical simplicity.

I really loved the indies shown off here. I mean, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is easily one of my most anticipated games right now, and that’s very much a small team making that. But I know what they can do, and I know their style, and the way they present that to the player is seriously next level.

The lines are blurry, because I think there are still plenty of players out there that will outright ignore these kinds of games, but I think the palette of the committed player has expanded a lot, and I think part of that is because of No Man’s Sky, and Telltale games back in the day. Say what you will about the final game of NMS and the modern iterations from Telltale, but they really broadened the horizons of a lot of game players, for the better.

And of course, this is also true for Summer of Arcade games as well.

Honestly, there is just a massive amount of guilt in me from last year, because when I did go to PSX there was a lot of tension that made me unnecessarily uncomfortable while I was there. I felt like I didn’t have a super great time and annoyed some people, and it left a bad experience all told with me at the end of it, one that I didn’t really pay for. It just makes me feel bad. If I can make it to PSX this year, I will. If I can’t, I don’t think it needs to be a deal breaker for other folks to go and enjoy themselves.

Best show? Microsoft I think. They had a ton, and the more and more I think about it, the more I want an Xbox One X.

The best game is Super Mario Odyssey. Only because Fire Emblem Warriors and Metroid Prime 4 didn’t get shown. Anthem is a close second, and Ori is a tight third.

The biggest announcement, for me personally, was Metroid Prime 4 and the Metroid 2 remake coming out THIS YEAR. Both have me stoked. It really feels like Nintendo may care about Metroid again. Close behind is the Shadow of the Colossus remake though. Genuinely floored by that.

Best surprise was Beyond Good and Evil 2. Truly believed that was dead.

My biggest disappointment? Spider-Man seemed way more derivative and way less Insomniac than I wanted. Sony was a lot of retreading old ground, so to have them top it off with that was a disappointment. But I still enjoyed their showing overall, don’t get me wrong.

I love E3. This one definitely does seem a bit melancholy because of where I am at, personally, but also it’s pretty much impossible to top Persona 5 and Breath of the Wild for me. It came pretty close though.

While all is not well, I am hanging in there. And I miss you too Moises. I actually feel really bad for kind of just actually stealing your fidget spinner. To make up for it, how about a video of Greg Miller using it and not liking it?

youtube

Probably not, at this rate. I miss my Australian Prince already though.

As I said above, probably not. But I’ll miss your sweet, sweet face, Mayoral-Elect Ben Smith.

The most important thing is probably the One X. It’s a massive step, and I’m curious to see how it performs. I think there is a lot of room for it to flourish, it is the “Most powerful console ever made”. I’m curious to see what the months leading up to its release are like. Like I said before, I really want it, if I’m being honest.

Worst thing was the Just Dance bit in Ubisoft. The best was probably both Michel Ansel and director of Mario + Rabbids Davide Soliani tearing up at the Ubi presser. It’s weird to have them for both, but seeing just the genuine love in the room for the projects they had put their hearts and souls into, that’s what it’s all about. That’s a moment worth remembering, both of them.

I think Bloodborne 2 is still the big one for me, but also a big thing is that Sony seems incapable of putting a date on anything they announce?? I feel like they’re not getting enough criticism for it, really. It’s a weird thing to say, and I hate to be a debbie downer, but both Days Gone and Detroit got absolutely no hint of a date at their conference. Seeing “Early 2018″ on God of War was genuinely shocking to me, but also not because I’m confident there is no way it can make that date.

Just really bothers me, just like it did last year.

Ohh man. That’s a lot to write, and it’s already taken me a really long time to write this here. Because I haven’t had the chance, I am gonna try and do a standalone piece about that. I started it on the flight home, but it got all muddled. It was amazing. I got so many hugs. But also, I didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with as many people as I wanted to. I hate to play favorites, but I do at these events. I’m only human. And I’m trying my best.

I’m not doing alright, but I’m hanging in there. I know you worry, and I appreciate it, but I just have to deal with things in my own way sometimes, ya know? It’s hard, but I’m trying. I’m trying to be as open and honest with people as I can.

Haha, I would, but I love it too much. I was hoping this year would be the first year I could actually go to E3, but alas, not this time.

Just means I’ll have to try twice as hard next year. So no cancellations any time soon.

Haha, I do miss Aisha a ton, but I think the way Ubi went about their show this year really fit without her. Not being a hater, but I think that show would have been worse with a strict host this time around. They made the right call.

So... I mean good god this is barely even legible. I, uh...

Yeah, okay GOD OF WAR does look pretty good. The more I see the combat, the more interested I get.

The one bit that really called out to me was Kratos’ monologue to his son about closing your heart to the suffering of your enemies. I am very curious to see them try and retroactively make Kratos an actual, interesting character. And honestly that one line of dialogue made me start to believe they could. It’s a bit of a “god-out-of-water” story and the more I hear, the more interested I get. I hate to admit it, but here we are.

That snake was fuckin’ scary though.

I’m really stoked to hear about Anthem’s inevitable behind-closed-door demos. I would bet that they’re going to happen.

I want to hear about Code Vein! I hope it’s playable on the floor. Not sure if it is, but I do hope so.

I want to hear what non-Nintendo people think of Metroid Samus Returns.

I read some stuff on Mario Odyssey and it’s getting me REAL pumped.

Fire Emblem Warriors. I want to know: is this going to be my first Dynasty Warriors game?

WHEW. My god. I don’t even have it in me to do a Checklist here, but mostly because I just switched to a new computer and my internet history is just coming back now. So I’ll do an extra-long Checklist this coming Sunday with E3 stuff I liked!

Thank you all so much for your support. I know some of you may still be worried about me, and I assure you I am doing alright. I won’t lie to you and tell you that every day isn’t a struggle, it is. It’s very difficult. But like I said, I am not alone.

And neither are you.

Now do me a favor, and keep it real, until next time. <3

#sunday #sunday chats #tuesday #tuesday chats #video games #e3 #e3 2017 #aweomse #depression #clinical depression #thoughts #personal #personal experience

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beardycarrot · 8 years ago

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Nintendo E3 Hopes and Dreams

It’s probably dumb to actually hope for...anything, BUT HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS DAMNIT. Nintendo will have a twenty-five minute video spotlight, presumably showing off trailers for new games, while Treehouse Live will be going more in-depth with gameplay.

Nintendo’s big game this year is Super Mario Odyssey, which will be playable on the show floor, with Treehouse Live probably showing off some levels not available to the public. This is pretty much all we know for sure; anything else is just speculation (and wild hopes) on my part.

No Arms

Rebel that I am, I decided to start my list of things I want to see with something that I don’t want to see. Arms is coming out just three days after Nintendo’s presentation, and the reviews are already in. Anyone attending the event who would be likely to put out good press has already reviewed the game, so there’s not much point in making it playable on the show floor. I can see Treehouse Live dedicating a few minutes to showing off the game and maybe teasing some of the free DLC that will be coming out, but I really hope that’s the only focus this game gets. The spotlight video is only twenty-five minutes long, so they’d better not waste time on Arms.

Kid Icarus: Downfall

That title is completely made up, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sequel to Kid Icarus: Uprising. Sakurai is working on a new game, which probably isn’t just the Switch port of SSB4. I can totally see Sora and Platinum collaborating on a new Kid Icarus game for Switch. Maybe this time with an option to keep in the Japanese voice acting? It’s a crying shame to dub over Minami Takayama.

Mo’ Like NOkémon

Yeah, I, uh... I don’t want to see any of the stuff from this week’s Pokemon Direct in the Nintendo spotlight. That trailer for Pokken Tournament was great and really showed off the potential of the Switch, but it’s a game everyone expected to see a Switch port, and we already know everything important about it for the time being. I’m okay with Treehouse showing off some of the new content, but I don’t want it in the spotlight. Same with Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon. A trailer wouldn’t be useful to us at this point, so just show some gameplay during Treehouse Live and explain what the game is there. Speaking of Pokemon, I hope that we’ll finally see an English release for Detective Pikachu, though I don’t know whether that’s really worthy of showing during the spotlight.

Golden Sun 4

This is a long shot, but a friend recently reminded me of the cliffhanger ending to Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Unfortunately, that game wasn’t great, and didn’t sell well, so it’s entirely possible that nothing will come of the sequel bating. Which sucks, because the first two games in the series were fantastic. Since Dark Dawn, Nintendo’s just had Camelot working on bland Mario Sports titles... but with the latest one, Mario Sports Superstars, they’ve finally brought all the Mario Sports games (...and... horse racing) together into one package! They had the team from Namco that worked on Mario Super Sluggers helping out, so maybe the extra man power meant they were able to divert some resources towards a new Golden Sun pitch? I mean, with five sports games in one coming out just a few months ago, there’s no need to release another in the near future, so that totally opens them up their schedule, right? Right? Please, Nintendo, even just a teaser image showing silhouettes of the four Djinn types will do. PLEASE?

Retro Studios 2D Metroid

I know what Nintendo was trying to do with Metroid Prime: Federation Force. They knew that there was a big market for online gaming, and Splatoon’s unexpectedly huge success encouraged them to push ahead. Tri Force Heroes was... less, of a success, but people clearly liked online play and were clamoring for a new Metroid game, so it seemed like a perfect fit. Unfortunately, this is one of the few instances where Nintendo’s “develop a gameplay concept and then choose a Nintendo franchise to use it in” approach didn’t work. People seem to thing that Nintendo doesn’t care about the Metroid series, having done nothing special for its thirtieth anniversary... but bear in mind, Federation Force DID come out during the anniversary month. It just... would’ve been nice if they’d actually acknowledged it. ANYWAY, while Metroid isn’t nearly as popular in Japan as it is in the US, Nintendo DOES care about the series; it’s their only franchise in the Metroidvania genre, and it’s bad business to leave a market untapped.

All that said, Retro Studios has been quiet since Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze came out three years ago. They apparently didn’t like working with Kensuke Tanabe, and his role as a producer on Retro games and point of contact with Nintendo was supposedly filled by Yoshio Sakamoto, the director of the Metroid series. Considering Retro’s history with Metroid and their recent foray into 2D platforming with the Donkey Kong Country games, with or without Sakamoto, their secret project definitely feels like it must be a 2D Metroid game. When they finished working on DKC:TF coincides with when Nintendo should’ve started really thinking about the next Metroid game, and the silence on both the Retro and Metroid fronts is telling. It’s gotta be time to reveal what Retro’s been working on, and all signs point to it being Metroid... and a 2D one, I hope.

Zelda Maker

Somehow, it’s been over a year and a half since Tri Force Heroes, and three and a half since A Link Between Worlds. That’s not too soon for them to be far enough into the next handheld Zelda to at least tease it, right? Tri Force Heroes was barely even a game! Okay, maybe it’s too early for the next main series Zelda game, but they could definitely show Zelda Maker. It would need a lot more variation in visual styles than Mario Maker so that every dungeon doesn’t look exactly the same, and a ton of items and interactive elements so that people can make original puzzles, but I think it can be done. Realistically, I don’t think Zelda Maker is likely to happen... but this isn’t a “realistic expectations” list, it’s a HOPE AND DREAMS list!

Ice Climber. Wait, what?

This is completely out of left field, but... new Ice Climber? Nobody’s asking for it, nobody wants it, but I think they could do something with it on Switch. Y’know, a competitive co-op mode to make use of the Joycons? There are plenty of developers this could’ve gone to... Next Level, Sora... maybe a even Namco or Capcom? This game is probably never happening, but if it ever does, I can see it as a Switch eShop title.

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

A Mario/Raving Rabbids crossover RPG was rumored months ago, and while there wasn’t really anything to support it, it seemed too weird of a concept for someone to just start a rumor about. Then, a few weeks ago, what appear to be internal materials from Ubisoft regarding the game were leaked... and then the Brazilian ratings board issued a rating for the game, pretty much confirming it. It’s unfortunate that all this was leaked, as this game was probably going to be one of Nintendo’s big reveals at E3. I don’t imagine the leak will impact their plans that much, so this will probably take up a good portion of the spotlight.

Fire Emblem Warriors

Nintendo’s been all about the Fire Emblem lately, and while I don’t expect any details on the next major game in the series, Fire Emblem Warriors is supposed to be coming out sometime this year. The reveal trailer told people pretty much everything they need to know, but I expect it to show up in Treehouse Live, and at the very least in a sizzle reel during the spotlight. Assuming the only sizzle reel isn’t indie developers, which it might be.

Animal Crossing Something-Or-Other

Switch is a great console for Animal Crossing, and I’m excited to see what they do with it. They’ve already announced some kind of mobile Animal Crossing game, which is another perfect platform for the series (assuming it’s not some weird Animal Crossing-themed puzzle game or something). If Katsuya Eguchi’s been working on the mobile game he probably hasn’t had time to work on one for Switch in addition to everything else he’s been involved with... buuut, if they originally started development on Wii U, the game could be close to release by now. Either way, I’m hoping to see something Animal Crossing in the spotlight.

amiibo-Centric Games

I love amiibo, but I’d like to see more games (other than the ones they’re made for) that use them. amiibo Tap is basically just demos of NES and SNES games, and I don’t know anyone who played that Mario vs DK-type game that uses amiibo. The best use of amiibo I’ve seen is in Super Mario Maker, where scanning an amiibo unlocks that character as a skin, and Breath of the Wild, where every amiibo gives you random materials (and Zelda ones give you special items). Codename STEAM also has playable Fire Emblem characters unlocked via amiibo of those characters, which is... random as hell, but still pretty cool. I want Nintendo to put out some games that make use of amiibo in a cool way, something like Skylanders or Disney Infinity.

Switch VR

I’m not all that interested in VR... at least, not as it currently stands. The Switch, however, seems to have been designed with VR in mind. Sure, the main appeal is that it’s a home console that you can take on the go and even has portable multiplayer... but it could also easily become a portable VR system as well. I mean, the unit is a screen with two detachable motion controllers; all they need to do is release a headset to mount it in. I think the screen on the Switch may be kind of a low resolution to use for VR, but it’s definitely a much more attractive solution than other platforms that do VR and nothing but.

Monster Hunter XX

I’ve been waiting for another console Monster Hunter game, and it’s finally coming to Switch with Monster Hunter XX! Currently it’s only announced for Japan, but the series is also incredibly popular in North America, so I’m sure we’ll get it. C’mon, Capcom, give us a date! Also, while you’re at it, work things out with Arthur Conan Doyle’s family (or just ignore them, they have no legal claim to early Sherlock Holmes stuff) and release Dai Gyakuten Saiban here!

RPGs! JRPGs! ARPGs! SRPGs!

I want Japanese role-playing games. We’ve seen enough of Ever Oasis that if it’s in the spotlight it will only be part of a sizzle reel, and... I’m really not sure what’s up with Octopath Traveler, but hey, weird lighting engine aside it looks pretty cool. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of it. I feel like they’ll finally be showing off the Switch version of Dragon Quest XI, though I expect it to be close to the PS4 version. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is pretty much guaranteed to make an appearance. That’s all nice and good, but I want more. I want the Switch version of Dragon Quest X to come out in North America. I want Slime Morimori 3 to finally come out here. Hell, Nintendo and Namco have been working together a lot recently, how about a new Tales game? A NEW MARIO & LUIGI GAME WITH WARIO AND WALUIGI PLAYING AN IMPORTANT ROLE.

I think that’s about all I’ve got. I really don’t know what they’ll have time for in a twenty-five minute spotlight, but there will supposedly be announcements made during Treehouse Live as well. Hopefully the trailers for things we already know about will be short and most of the new stuff for them will come from Treehouse. I really don’t want ten minutes of the spotlight to be taken up by Super Mario Odyssey, Mario + Rabbids, and Xenoblade 2.

#nintendo #e3 #e3 2017

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lunar-paladin · 7 years ago

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Late Night Thoughts

It's 2 AM right now and I've got some random things rolling around my head, might as well write them down.

1.) Sometimes I wonder how I even had a girlfriend for almost 2 years. What the hell did she even see in me? I'm the most boring, asshole-ish, arrogant person that was in that school. I mean, we're not a couple anymore. But I sometimes wonder that. Why the hell did she stay with me? I'm sure she left because I really am super un-interesting.

2.) I'm realizing that the dark circles around my eyes are becoming more noticeable. I know why though, it's because I'm up real late (like now) and wake up at like 7-8 to get ready for morning class. I'm not to miffed about it either, call me a weird asshole but I've always kinda liked how dark circles looked. I'm VERY aware they're a bad thing but....yeah I don't know I'm just weird.

3.) This is gonna sound really vain, but I wonder if anyone in my classes so far in college has had a thing for me. It's not even to boost my ego, I'm legitimately curious.

4.) Speaking of, I've had terrible luck with women in college so far. All the girls who have caught my eye have a) been married b) had a kid c) been a lesbian d) already been in a relationship or e) any combo of the previous things. Also these are all absolutely ok with me for the girls themselves, more power to them. This is a mere observation I've made over the past year.

5.) God I really hope Metroid Prime 4 is awesome. I just got into the series I want to say in 2014 (yeah "just") but I've been wanting more for the series. Which is why I don't have Samus Returns. *exhales dishearteningly*

6.) On top of new things, please GOD let the Winds of Plague album be good. I've been waiting on this as well.

7.) Honestly, I think I am changing majors to English. I may complain about writing, but I still really like doing it. Something about it always draws me in to it. Maybe it's the aspect of giving my opinion in a constructive, explanatory matter instead of "Lul this is what I think". Maybe it's researching topics that I'm seriously interested in and then writing an essay about them. Plus the more and more I do math stuff the more I think "5 more classes of this to do computer stuff, I don't think this is what I want to do."

8.) Shit......I'm gonna be 20 next year....I'm not an adult. I don't feel like it.

9.) Sometimes, I think that my family thinks I'm, not a disappointment, but just not as good as all the other cousins. I think I'm one of 2 who didn't do anything band or sports related out of my 9 cousins (immediate family) in school. I'm the one who chose to just play video games and remain lazy through high school. That has like ZERO standing and is more than likely not true. It's just something thats popped into my head when we're all together.

10.) I think it's hilarious that I lost all my friends from elementary school, well not even that I did (that sounded bad) but more how it happened. (Hear me out) It's not even about all of them, mainly just one. I've always been a huge video game person, and I guess one of my friends didn't like that. Plus I found people who DID like video games like me. (None of them did) He startes to talk to me a lot less and I found out he had been calling me a "video game-aholic" to other people. Yeah, that's actually what he said. Fucking hilarious then and it's hilarious now.

11.) I'm finally convinced....I think I'm just going to always miss her. Despite what I said above. There are alot of songs that remind me of her.....and us.....fuck.....I wonder what she feels. Probably won't find out because we barely talk anymore outside of two sentences over text every other month. I mean, it might be for the best. But part of me still wants to know.....but if she's happy now...then.....that's fine with me. I'll find happiness eventually....eventually....

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aurimeanswind · 7 years ago

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Weak at the Knees—Sunday Chats (9/24/17)

What a week it has been.

It’s more personal life/work related, which I notably don’t talk about here on the inter webs, but it’s been a good, hard working week in my life!

I’m just gonna go right into the games, forgo the editorial, and focus on the questions, since there are some good ones this week. Back-to-back late postings of the Sunday Chats though, just been some late Sunday nights is all!

Alright. On to it!

What’s on Tap

Metroid Samus Returns

I mentioned it a bit last week but Samus Returns continues to be absolutely excellent.

It’s the full Zero Mission treatment for Metroid 2, and it’s an amazing reimagining of the classic Metroid formula from that game.

It keeps everything that made that game super rad, and is just exactly what I wanted the 3DS 2D Metroid game to be: an amazing 2D Metroid with 3D graphics!

I love it. Yay!

Destiny 2

Still chipping away at Destiny 2, trying to make it into that upper echelon of “above power level 280″ and finally being one of the cool kids.

After the demoralizing failure of not finishing the Leviathan raid this past week, there was definitely some time off necessary.

I walked away, but now I’m back up to the plate and ready to knock it out of the park.

What I’ve Been Working On

It’s been an interesting few weeks of working on things. I am still cranking those words out everyday, and I can feel something coming. I wanted to release something this week, what with it being a full year since the release of the first episode of Alex Talks Season 3, but we’ll have to wait a bit more. Stuff is coming. I do promise. I have so much written, and I wanna wait for the right time to record some footage and do some new things with video content, but I am also extremely lazy.

So, with those to things going at each other, we’ll see how it turns out.

I’ll say this week I’ve been writing almost exclusively about Destiny and Metroid, and it feels real good to write about those two things again!

Questions

Remember to look for my tweet from my @ALFighter27 twitter account on Sunday afternoons soliciting Sunday Chats questions, respond, and you’ll be in here! Having fun! Yay!

Hrm. I mean I could take this a bunch of different ways.

I think there are definitely a few things that I’ll list off. Like, I could always be a better person. I honestly, truly believe that, and I think that mentality is partly what leads people to believe I am one at all, is because I strive to be better, to be more inclusive, to be more empathetic and understanding.

Like one thing I hate about myself is how lazy I am, ya know? Like I procrastinate a lot. Whether it’s little things like doing the dishes or cleaning my bathroom, or big things like writing projects, articles, editing writers’ work, responding to important emails, or otherwise. I wanna focus on that and be better.

I also generally want to be healthier. Like, both my parents were, for a time, overweight, and had gastric bypasses done and now they’re healthy and skinny, but I don’t wanna lean on that as an option, and I know the odds are stacked against me. I wanna be happy with my body, but also I have so many medical things wrong with me that I’d like to prolong the feeling of being able to get up, and run, and play, and just be active as long as I can, because ya know, you don’t appreciate that kind of thing when you have it.

So yeah, I hope that answers your question.

But also I am not a very good writer and could be so much better but I’m trying. Putting in the work and time, so to speak.

It’s only been...

*checks calendar*

928 days today! That’s not that long at alllllllllll....

*dies*

I have talked about this before, but my Growing up with a Generation piece is definitely up there. My Twilight Princess piece is too. And I actually legitimately love my Breath of the Wild review. Super proud of that.

I think there are some reviews that could have been better, especially the ones on episodic games. But I’ve kind of stopped reviewing them now because it’s hard to encapsulate those feelings. Especially if you’re going to try and do so without spoilers.

But nothing sticks out to me that I am particularly not proud of because I just haven’t published those things. I wrote a thing about JRPGs versus WRPGs that I ended up just not liking at all, and scrapped. But that’s really the biggest one.

Haha I think I’d want Christopher Nolan to direct it, just because he is my favorite director, but no. That won’t do.

Ugh, Logan this would be such a terrible movie oh my god.

Okay, either the Russo Brothers, or, preferably, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, directors of 21 & 22 Jump Street.

Actors?

Uhh, for me I’d want like, Miles Teller for myself, because we kind of have a similar “look”. In a PERFECT WORLD a young French Stuart would play Scott, oh my fucking god that’d be so perfect. You have no idea. But like, a young one. I could totally see a Josh Gad playing Evan Wall. Joseph Fait is tough, he’d maybe be like an Andrew Garfield type. Tony Horvath would be really tough. I’d love just like, a Justin McElroy for him, honestly.

Nabeshin is a tricky one. Like, maybe a Michael B Jordan, but I’d think a Chadwick Boseman could do great too.

Danny Juarez would be played by either Michael Peña or Rob Schneider. One of the two.

Haha I mean, I think I already covered Tony, I really think the J-man could do a great job, but I’m sure there is a better pick out there.

Jurge Cruze Alvarez? Joseph Gordon Levitt.

Jarrett Green? Don Cheadle.

Logan Wilkinson? Grant Gustin. Who would also probably play Jacob Bryant. He’d play both of you.

I have to think about this more you put me on the spot haha.

Ahhh, the classic question. Actually the dogs I grew up with!

The Saint Bernard.

Although I love huskies too. Here is the only picture of a couple of them I found on my Facebook.

They are siblings so that’s why they look so similar haha.

I fucking love Saint Bernards, and big dogs, and dogs you can hug. But I love all kinds of dogs.

So HAH Joey! I bet you thought I’d say corgi! And I got you!

Definitely had to google this.

No.

NEXT QUESTION!

Goddamn Wrestlers I swear.

So i have never seen Face/Off, and I KNOW. I WANT TO. So by default it’s The Rock, and The Rock is a fucking amazing movie, so I ain’t even mad.

Not to late at all!

The BEST snack food... Hrm...

I mean I love potato chips, personally, but I try not to eat them. Not anymore, at least, because I can feel my arteries slowly closing as I put every chip in my mouth...

I’d honestly say, if accessible, the french fry. The french fry is the perfect snack-um. My brother actually just made home-made french fries, like cut the potatoes himself, last week, and they were fucking amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah I would.

I mean, I’d like to know the chance, ahead of time, personally, but I could get more than just burritos at Chipotle. Now, if my burrito BOWL exploding in my face randomly that’d just be kind of funny.

METROID.

Shit, they already did that one.

This is tricky, because there are a ton of really cool one offs that would be fun to bring back. But my totally bullshit answer is just gonna be a REAL Paper Mario RPG again. Even a Super Paper Mario 2 would be fucking amazing, but a sequel to Thousand Year Door, in conjunction with a TYD remaster on Switch, would be incredible.

Listen, I’m sorry I deleted you off my friends list in such glorious fashion Max. I’M SORRY!

But apparently Danny Juarez is gunning for my position, so in short, he’s dead to me.

Will keep you posted.

So here is a big thing I’ve realized, and there are still occasionally games I’ll like to stream, but I tend to listen to podcasts when I play games. When I stream, I can’t do that, and I end up falling really behind on my podcasts. But I’ve been streaming Destiny a lot lately, and will try and continue to do so.

Not having a schedule makes it super hard for me, and if I could figure out something consistent and fun to stream, I’d definitely give it a shot. But right now, I just don’t know. I got a new capture card, and that definitely helps, even though I mostly got it for video, but it ebbs and flows. Maybe there will be more on the horizon!

I got nothing else left in me this week, I am tired, and tuckered, and ready to just play some games and chill for the rest of my night.

Thank you all so much, for reading, supporting, asking, listening, everything you do.

Next week I’ll be asking YOU ALL a question for Sunday Chats again, so keep on the lookout, and until then...

keep it real.

#video games #metroid #metroid samus returns #destiny 2

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aurimeanswind · 8 years ago

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Podcast Sunday—Sunday Chats (2-12-17)

If you were unaware, I got very drunk last night on stream for the entertainment of the masses. That stream has been archived forever for the enjoyment of all, and if you missed it:

youtube

I played a great deal of Nioh, which is quite fun, chatted with many friends, and killed an entire bottle of wine, which is a lot for sha’boy over here.

I’ve been streaming a good deal more recently, starting two weeks ago by playing the Division with friends, which returned this week, in addition to the two Nioh streams I did and that fun Resident Evil LP! It’s been a good deal of fun, though I still need to get the ExtraLife stream uploaded over on YouTube and whatnot. We’ll see.

I don’t really have an editorial for today, because my life is weird now and I don’t have school and nothing really major happened in my life this week.

Some news then.

PAX East 2017

GET READY FOR PAX! Oh boy. We got all of our materials submitted and we were approved for badges for PAX East next month. Doing some BnB booking and getting emotionally prepared to fly to Boston, Nintendo Switch in-hand, and that’s all quite exciting.

We are bringing a big, five-person team this year, and I am extremely excited to see what me and the team can do. This is the second time ever a full editorial team is joining me at PAX, with previous years it just being the podcast crew or just myself and Tony.

We’re gonna do some killer work, and I’m very excited and proud of my team. If you’re going, please come say hi to any of the five of us! If you’re wearing an Irrational Passions shirt, you will get hugged!

What’s on Tap

It’s weird because I have yet to podcast this week (doing it right after this, pretty much) so I haven’t gotten to unload on some games yet. I’ll try and keep it brief.

Resident Evil VII

Finished it pretty much right after I finished Sunday Chats last week.

I had far more left than I expected.

Game is fantastic! Loved it.

The pacing is really incredible, and the ending part was super awesome, i felt. Game just got better and better, through to the end.

Tales of Berseria

HOLY CRAP THIS GAME IS SO GOOD.

Legimitmately blown away by how much I love and adore ToB.

Female protagonist is awesome, the set up is awesome, it’s still very much Tales and if you don’t like that than you won’t like this, but this is some of the best execution of the formula, with really great and smart changes, that it brings the series back for me in a big way.

The best in the franchise since Vesperia, hands down.

I love it.

Nioh

Ya know, Nioh is in no way a surprise, but I do love it.

The give and take of combat is awesome, the active-reload to the stamina mechanic is awesome, and the look and feel of the game is awesome.

I’ve definitely talked about it enough in the past, but the final game is wonderful, and I can’t wait to play more. Berseria is taking up most of my time though.

For Honor (Beta)

It’s good to have a firm grasp on what For Honor is, finally.

It is very similar to the pacing of Dark Souls, true to its final execution too, in that things move far faster than I initially anticipated.

Killing dudes feels super great, I played one match, I killed a bunch of people, we won, and I had fun.

It’s just another multiplayer game that I just do not want to invest or commit any time to, and as curious as I’d be to see what the single player offerings for the game are, I just have no draw to it right now.

Questions

I don’t know yet. I want to. We’ll see.

If I can get approved as press, it’s possible, but that show may end up being a bit too close to KFL3 than I can afford, and that may prevent me from going, because I apparently have to go to KFL3. I don’t think it’d be allowed for me not to go.

No.

God do I think that movie is dumb. My roommate loves it, at least.

I mean honestly I feel like Snapchat covered a lot of those gaps. I finished that glass of red wine that I had started on stream. Re-corked it and put it back in the fridge. I talked to my roommates a bit. I was very drunk.

I sent some text messages. A lot of them. Very affectionate, like I always get when I’m drunk. Thank god I didn’t send any texts to certain people on my phone. Oh that would have been bad. I rolled over and passed out. I haven’t gotten that drunk in a good long while. That was much drunker than I ever got at PSX. Whooooooo boy.

Definitely a tough question. Obviously all my scripts for Alex Talks sit pretty high on that list. I think they’re very indicative of my personality and capture who I am, how I speak, and my biggest strengths as a writer. Some of the ones I’ve been working on recently that haven’t been shot yet I am quite fond of.

Those also challenge me a great deal. I’ve been having so much trouble writing for the new format of that show because I have so many visual things I want to do that I know I am incapable of doing, but it’s nice to have that challenge to look forward to.

All of my audio features I am very proud of. Those were super fun and having gone back to listen to all of them recently, I think they’re all fantastic.

I’ve barely written any reviews as of late but my Firewatch review is an all time favorite.

Of all of that, the Twilit Ghost Town and Growing up with a Generation pieces are probably at the top with all five Alex Talks episodes.

More to come, obviously.

OH! And Sunday Chats. Fond of these things. <3

How about a fucking Metroid game Nintendo?

But seriously, Pikmin would be great, even though that franchise isn’t lost, let’s say. But I did not like Pikmin 3, so another shot at that could be cool. I don’t know in any way it could capitalize on the features of the system, but I don’t know what features to use as well as I will in what, like three weeks? Holy shit.

I’m not really sure. Weirdly enough Castlevania is something that comes to mind. A 2D Castlevania game back on a Nintendo console would be cool. And to take it on the go would fit with some of those great handheld ones released over the last few years.

It depends on what you need. For photo, Photoshop is 10 bucks a month, which I know tons of creators hate now, but you can’t beat that price as a junior photo editor. I pay it, and it’s incredibly helpful for thumbnails and feature images on the site and all.

For audio, I started with GarageBand. I know thats Mac-only, which is a hard sell for some, but that’s a great one to use. Audacity is free and can totally get the job done. Its UI is pretty godawful but it’s pretty easy to grasp when you know where everything is. I think you can access adobe audition for free as well? I don’t know for sure.

Video is tricky. Premiere is the way to go, but obviously that aint cheap. It’s either another $20 a month with photoshop, or $50 a month for the whole Creative Cloud suite. That sucks. Sony Vegas? iMovie? Those are both free on PC/Mac respective? I have used iMovie and don’t like it so much, but I’ve never touched Sony Vegas. Looks like a nightmare to me.

Start there and see what you like and what you fall into.

SO LIT

Haha, I was definitely hungover.

AND YEAH PAX EAST WOOOOOO

I woke up at 8 this morning with some hardcore spins going on. My stomach was fine, luckily, and it was not the worst case of the spins that I’ve been through. I drank a fuckton of water, took three ibuprofen, and laid back down to sleep.

It sucked, but not so bad. Again, most i had drunk in a good long while.

I made content for a long, long time before anyone cared. Hell, only the last year or two has anyone actually really cared about Irrational Passions. We’d have a few folks latch on, come and go, but it would always be temporary. It wasn’t until the writing team came on int 2014 before we really started stretching our wings.

It’s a give and take. I try and make stuff that I find interesting. Stuff I’m proud of. IP has always been my living portfolio first: I make the content for me, and expect no one to watch it, but when I apply to a games industry job in the future I can cite it as my experience.

That’s it.

If you’re jumping into it expecting notoriety... Well, I just think you’re gonna be disappointed. Getting people to watch your stuff is one thing, but hell man, that engagement? There is so much stuff out on the internet for people to give a shit about before any of what I do, or anyone else does, and it’s typically far better produced, so people engaging with me is a big ask.

For stuff like that, I would maybe look to join someone else’s project or start a collaborative thing with other folks, so you have some kind of feed into itself, somewhere to get that attention from, and then build notoriety to break off and make your own stuff. That’s exactly what I’ve done here with Sunday Chats.

But that’s a hard question to answer.

Hi Roger. Thanks for writing in. Always glad to hear from a fan.

Calebs a good kid. Sometimes I wonder if he is too good? Like, maybe he should get out there and fuck some shit up. I don’t know. Smoke a doobie. Break some rules. Blow up a toilet.

I’m a terrible influence.

Y’all are good boys and I love you two. <3

Fuck you. Fuck all of this. Fuck Waluigi. Not literally.

Shoutout

Shoutout to the writing team at IrrationalPassions.com. They’ve been killing it was great articles all week. Been a ton of work to edit them, but they’re truly excellent. Wroth a look!

http://irrationalpassions.com

Well, as tired as fuck as I am, and still slightly hungover, time to go record a podcast. Maybe I should just drunk more wine, eh?

#video games #gaming #resident evil #tales #tales of berseria #for honor #nioh #drunk #drinking

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