nonsensical-rants

[nonsensical-rants]

Expectations for Persona 5 Royal

Well, its been a while. I've been busy with schoolwork and my birthday recently passing so I apologize for that but it has also given me the opportunity to think about a lot of things. Such as the re-release of Persona 5 that was announced not to long ago. Honestly it's one of the biggest titles that I am looking forward to in recent memory. Borderlands 3 is also up there but that is neither here or there. Either way, I wanted to talk about what I want personally for this re-release and the expectations I am placing on it. So, with that said. Lets get started I guess.

Before you ask, no. I have no problems with the design of Kasumi’s Phantom Thief outfit. It fits with the theme of what someone with her mindset and hobbies would see as "rebellion". If you wanna talk about risque, why wasn't anyone talking about the literal dominatrix and whip combo from Ann? It's fine. Nothing else to really say. Though I saw on Twitter that her code name should be Ace, to contrast with "Joker" which I thought was a fun idea.

As one of my favorite JRPG's that I have put three hundred plus hours in, I can say that I am pretty well versed in both the story and game play elements of Persona 5. Am I an expert? Of course not. I have no say in what is actually going to change but a man can hope and dream. So to get started, I am happy with what has been shown in the trailers thus far. Game play seems to be getting even more sleek and has the group attacks that I loved from P4G (Persona 4 Golden). In addition to this, there is the new character! To put it simply, I think shes great based on what we know. Though I am concerned about what elemental type she'll be using against demons. As I have not heard anything concrete about it thus far. My guess would be here Light or Dark? But that's already taken up by Akechi.

Last thing I've seen in terms of game play is that (presumably) all party members will be getting a third persona just like in P4G! This is amazing for me because I felt that some of the designs were lacking when compared to the originals (Captain Kidd looks better than Seiten Teisei in my opinion). Other than that, we are gonna be able to play during the winter months instead of having it end abruptly which is fantastic. I want some kind of confirmation on new events, Haru Okumura getting more development, and maybe even being able to rank up Akechi, and Morgana's Confidant's on our own time. Leaving Morgana's second form Persona until the LAST Dungeon was a huge mistake in my eyes. It made me never want to use the poor cat as the rest of the party was already past their Second Awakening's and beyond powerful in comparison. He was more so left as an out of combat heal-bot. Which no character should have to be designated too.

As for my reason for mentioning Akechi's confidant. It was just.... So obvious that he was the traitor. At least for me, maybe you were surprised. But I immediately noticed the infamous pancake line which got my gears turning. Even before then though it was just suspicious that you couldn't rank up his and ONLY his confidant (besides Morgana like I mentioned, but he was with you from the beginning and hes the mascot. No way would ATLUS make the mascot character be the traitor). I am expecting to see another P4G idea converted to this game, in which Akechi's social link can progress naturally. But it will stop at rank 5/6 until you learn more about him via story beats. And if you reach that point before the story gets there, you can maybe save him?

Lets move onto the story then. I want a proper build up to the confrontation between Ryuji and Morgana, or to just have it removed entirely. It ate up way too much time and it annoys me how much shit Ryuji gets from everyone when he's trying his damnedest. Like yeah a few jokes is fine (especially because hes comic relief I guess?) but having to hear from Palace One: "Oh Skull, you're pathetic" from Morgana over and over, and how the whole team beats him up for saving them, but getting exploded out of the Metaverse? How is that his fault; he was knocked unconscious after Shido's palace and they blame him for not telling them when he physically couldn't! That's not even mentioning how his trauma is kind of underplayed after the Kamoshida arc. But that can be said about all characters after their arc is over. Ryuji deserves better all around.

We need to see more of Shiho! And not just in Ann's confidant. She's officially part of the story and Ann's best friend. Kind of an important character who went through. Just an awful experience. Player's should be getting the occasional update after Kamoshida's palace that she is okay! She attempted suicide and it is rarely mentioned after that point in the game. On my first play though it was all over my mind even after Madarame's confession. Maybe make her a confidant, but with no romance? I feel like it would be in bad taste to try and romance her after what shes been through. She needs more friends and more exposure to help her get back into the society of P5. She wasn't even in the finale where everyone decides to put faith in the Phantom Thieves!

Then there's Akechi, which. Like I said earlier. I think it would be fine if they took another page from P4G but modified it slightly. Similar to Adachi we could hang out with Akechi on our own time, and if we rank up enough before Shido's palace we can try to convince him to rejoin the Phantom Thieves? Or maybe during the end of Shido's palace some "Power of Friendship" shenanigans happen and he's able to defeat his Shadow and continue moving forward. Changing him from Justice to... Something beyond it. I dunno but it would be an interesting concept to see a semi-deranged party member fighting with Loki.

Oh! I almost forgot. For DLC. PLEASE let us be able to choose what music we want to hear for combat. There are some songs that play for combat that I LOVE with all my heart but the outfits associated with them just don't mesh with the style I want to use. Like I wanna hear Mass Destruction while wearing the outfits from Catherine. Or listen to the Persona 1 theme with the Casual summer/winter outfits. And this last one might be a bit much but. Could the ending cards (shown below) match the outfit the characters are currently wearing? In terms of design and style, P5 exceeds in every way but it's always disappointing me that I couldn’t see my band of thieves posing in their Winter suits or P4A outfits.

There are a lot of expectations for this game in my eyes and I hope it can live up to even half of them. Akechi doesn't have to be entirely redeemable. But he shouldn't be batshit crazy. Everyone has problems and he might just need help to work through it. Thats one of the lessons I took away from Persona 3. And it could work well here. With all that said, this game will be an instant buy for me, and I look forward to dumping another 300+ hours and 4 play through's.

It's also a huge shame we still have boring robotic Makoto as a party member instead of actual Queen Hifumi Togo, fight me. Haru is best, followed by Hifumi. There's my controversial take. Have a nice day.

Art from:

 https://www.reddit.com/r/Persona5/comments/7dbm8f/all_out_attack_pt_hifumi/

[nonsensical-rants]

So, I 100%ed the Kingdom Hearts Franchise.

Alright. This might be a long take, just saying that now. But I know exactly where to start. This franchise. Is not as confusing as the entirety of the internet would like you to believe. It's mostly due to bad writing decisions here and there. I mean, yeah if you wanna have every single detail and definition ingrained into your brain. Then of course it can get complicated, but what franchise lasting as long as Kingdom Hearts isn't annoyingly convoluted? I can't think of one.

So my thoughts about  the series is that they're pretty good! Both as a story and as games, with some very big exceptions. I wanna say that you should definitely not try to 100% all of these games in chronological order in rapid succession. It will drain you. I can confirm this beyond a shadow of a doubt. After I beat KH2 it really start to hit me. Chain of Memories was fine, if not a bit tedious to get all the cards and Riku to level 100. But other than that I more than enjoyed my time with the game.

Heartless are born from the darkness in peoples hearts. Nobodies are created from the husk of a body left behind in the creation of a Heartless. While Unversed are born from supreme negative emotions that live inside us all. The stronger these feelings are/the person is, the stronger the heartless/unversed and nobody. Especially strong people can keep their identity when transformed into Nobodies. Thus explaining Organization 13. Only the keyblade can truly defeat these creatures. What's so hard about describing that to someone? It isn't that far fetched in terms of the fantasy genre.

Though personally. I have an enormous hatred from Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. Despite trying to keep an open mind about any and all forms of media I come across, I cannot ever get behind this title in the series because it is just too much and strays too far from what i consider to be "Kingdom Hearts". The gameplay was not fun for me personally, the story was iffy at best in comparison to the others and it really felt like the biggest amount of padding. If you have to do that to become a Keyblade Master, I think i'd rather stay as a rouge agent like Sora did for 99% of the series.

The dream eater system was probably the biggest factor here as for 100% completion you have to get every single dream eater, and every single skill that they can give you which means leveling a lot of them up to the point where they have points to buy said skills. Which takes forever. And then there's the Dream Eater tournaments, which I would have never gotten past without cheap strategies I found online. Usually I get everybody to max potential in these games and give the best items and accessories all around. But as soon as I got the platinum I ejected the disk and took a break. I felt like I needed it.

Alright, putting that behind us. The difference in fighting styles from game to game can get a bit jarring but in the PS4 re-releases it can usually be adjusted too in about half an hour to an hour's worth of gameplay. Chain of Memories was fun, but tedious like I mentioned. And Birth By Sleep was actually a fresh of breath air (until you get to the secret boss fights that is...) If it wasn't for my need to see that 100% bar next to the game title I would classify these games as something everybody should try out and enjoy. They are fantastic experiences. So lets go in order for a bit.

KH1 is a classic story, going through Disney worlds with a fine mix of Final Fantasy. Meeting the princesses and seeing they are "Princesses of Heart" that have strength beyond muscles. Able to use the power of Light and what not. There's a few hiccups here and there (like Cloud and Sephiroth not acting like how they are in FF7 but everyone's already mentioned that.) But aside from that and the bad platforming, its a genuinely fun game to 100% and I'd highly recommend it. Maybe even try to get cosmic arts for everyone so you can have 16-19 MP bars. It gets silly.

Chain of Memories i've already mentioned a lot so far. So I don't think I need to go that in depth. Fun to go through but wouldn't recommend 100%ing it because it takes far to long. The story is actually pretty decent and isn't that complicated. Sora and the gang lose their memories of KH1 because of the magic witch Namine, while we get our first look at Organization 13.

KH2. The golden child. Still played by many to this day and its obvious to see why. The game play is crisp and fantastic as I remember it from my youth. Traveling to Disney worlds again (and not card versions of them that have no people except for cut scenes, like CoM) and having a constant looming threat over your head while you try to have fun on your journey. Its great. I have yet to do a level 1 critical mode (as that's not required thankfully) but I did thoroughly enjoy my regular Critical play though. Story still isn't that bad yet. Organization 13 comes in full force, trying to get a new version of "Kingdom Hearts" so they can restore their humanity. I'd highly recommend 100%ing this one as well. Would also recommend maxing out your stats and putting on multiple Full Bloom+'s and Shadow Archieve+'s for the fun of it.

Birth By Sleep. Still not that bad honestly. It comes at a weird time though, and the story telling kind of requires you to have some outsider knowledge so that you're not thrown for a loop the entire time. So it feels weird to go back in the past, but also necessary for the story as a whole. Fun game to play minus the hundreds of mini games you need to do for all three main characters. If it wasn't for that I would recommend playing this game to completion. It's hard to reach higher levels though and as everyone's who played the game knows. Terra sucks at End Game compared to Aqua and Ven. I beat the Secret bosses by sheer luck and I would not go back for them. You do get to learn the origins of what makes most of the future events play out though and you even get to see younger versions of Organization 13. Back when they weren't evil!

Nothing eventful happens in Re:Coded.

Dream Drop Distance... Already talked about it. Let's move on before i'm forced to remember dream eaters and their annoyingly high pitched theme song.

Birth By Sleep 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage. Really good demo for KH3 in all honestly. I had a fun time with it and seeing Aqua's pain and journey through the realm of darkness for a whole 10 years was interesting.

And now we're at Kh3. The big game we waited so long for. And its... Alright. Nothing really spectacular. The graphics are certainly splendid and gameplay feels great! If not a bit too floaty. Thats a problem for some people, especially those who were avid fans of KH2. But I had no problem with it. I have yet to play it on critical but i've heard it makes things far more entertaining. As for story, its also alright. Not the grand ending I was expecting but it was really fun all things considered. Just another ride through more modern Disney worlds. But no Final Fantasy! I get that they feel KH can stand on its own legs now but you can't take out half the formula that people fell in love with originally. Then there's no battle arena or replayable boss fights. Doesn't have to be the Real Orginization 13. Just any replayable fights with end game gear would be enough.

As for my real problem with the games. Is the treatement of the third member of the original trio. Kairi. Oh, how this character has divided a good portion of the fan base just by existing. It feels like all the time that she is just a damsel for Sora/Riku to save and rescue. In the first game, thats fine. Whatever. She was unconcious the whole time and had her heart within Sora. Chain of Memories was a game about Sora losing his memories and Riku overcoming his darkness. Thats also fine. But in KH2. Really? She gets a keyblade and can't even handle a group of shadows? The lowest level of heartless? It's embarrassing. She's supposed to be a Princess of Heart. What's that even mean anymore? It doesn't even seem relevant.

KH2 should've been her moment to become a party member just like Riku did. I dont care that it means you could possibly not have Donald or Goofy. KH2 felt the most like the penultimate ending to the series than Kh3 did in my opinon. Having the choice between your KH1 buddies (Sora, Donald and Goofy) or the Island Trio (Sora, Riku and Kairi) would have added excellent variety and much needed development for Kairi as a person rather than leaving her as a one dimensional damsel in distress who has a Nobody with more internal conflict and character motivation. Moving past that... BBS is a prequel so nothing for the original trio except for meeting Aqua/Ven/Terra. And we come back to the dreaded DDD again.

If my vision for Kairi in KH2 couldn't have become a reality. Then why wasn't DDD Kairi's game? The set up was perfect. The heroes of light need to train to overcome almost double the amount of darkness agents. Kairi (and Axel) are practically beginners at wielding a Keyblade. It should've been their time to shine and get some love while occasionally helping Sora and Riku in their Mark of Mastery exam. Why did it have to be something you do alone? Well actually you're not alone you have the stupid Dream Eaters. Regardless it could have been the newbies learning how to get to Kh2 Sora's level while Sora goes beyond his limits.

As for KH3, it's just awful. Kairi's treatment is awful and everyone knows it. She said she was gonna help but hit one whole heartless in the finale. Better than KH2 i suppose. And as for the argument of her being "too weak" to try anything agaisnt Xemans. Really? She couldn't even like. Step on his foot? Pull agaisnt his grip or switch which hand the blade is in? Since the keyblade can teleport to your hands when you need it. I don't expect her to randomly become a Keyblade Master, but. I think we all would've prefer if she just did ANYTHING over what actually happened. It's sad. I hope KH4 will give Kairi the proper treatment and character development she deserves. But for all we know it might be another Sora/Riku dual protagonist game like CoM or DDD. What do you think?

[nonsensical-rants]

I really hope raditz and nappa are in the movie

Ummm…

Actually,I’m super curious to see if they’re in the movie!

EspeciallyRaditz, since we’ve only seen Goku with his parents, so it makes me wonderwhere lil’ Raditz was. Also, Nappa played an important role by being chosen totake care of Veggie as a little kid, so I’d love to see if we’ll get to hearabout him too.

I’m so intrigued!

[nonsensical-rants]

The wasted potential of Raditz and Nappa and what could’ve been

I really wish they could’ve let Raditz and Nappa live longer. I strongly feel like it was a mistake to kill them off. There is potential for these two Saiyans to grow as characters and learn to be good like Vegeta. I feel like it was a real wasted potential to just have two of the surviving Saiyans just to die, especially when they could’ve eventually joined the Z-Fighters.

With Raditz, I am inspired by MasakoX’s take. But The only thing I would change is  Raditz’s plea to let him go was genuine and Piccolo’s special beam cannon fired and Goku died to save his brother and that’s what gives him a change of heart.  Raditz tells Piccolo about Vegeta and Nappa, they will know about Earth. So they agree to train Gohan together. Much of MasakoX’s version would be the same. Raditz would die fighting Vegeta, Goku wants to use Namek’s dragon balls to bring him back. Raditz would have a relationship with Launch and close relationship with Goku and rivalry with Vegeta. Raditz becomes a Super Saiyan, has a daughter and becomes one of the Z-Fighters.

As for Nappa, Maybe Vegeta wouldn’t try to kill him, he helps him up and Vegeta orders Nappa to return to planet Frieza and wait for him after he destroy Kakarot and this worthless planet, you know normal Vegeta bravado. After both Vegeta and Nappa rejuvenated, both would receive a Zenkai boost. Nappa at this point, probably more powerful than Doodoria. When they are forced to team with the Z-Fighters and eventually Raditz, they of course put aside their differences for Frieza’s destruction. I feel like the change would be that Nappa would die for Vegeta. Nappa fought for Vegeta ever since he was kid, of course he would die defending his prince from Frieza. When he’s brought back he once again dedicates his life to protecting Vegeta and getting strong together. 

By the time the Android saga arrives, I believe both Nappa and Raditz would achieve Super Saiyan. When the Cell Saga happens, Nappa and Raditz would have a turn in the time chamber. At best mastering the Super Saiyan form. 

Raditz would have a close relationship with Goku and his family, having his own family with Launch and  Nappa would be as he always was Vegeta’s bodyguard and friend but does it for his family now and is like Trunks’ uncle. I feel like Raditz and Nappa could’ve really grown as characters and really hold their own throughout Z and Super and it’s such a waste to throw them away. 

[nonsensical-rants]

Detroit: Become Human isn’t perfect but. It’s pretty good.

Shitty titles aside, this time around I felt like talking about David Cage’s most recent title in his story driven games that look at different aspects of life. Currently I am playing both Heavy Rain and Beyond Two souls so I won’t be able to make any comparisons to those previous works. However, what I can do is write about what I have seen in this title thus far. Detroit: Become Human is a visually stunning game with audio to match the realistic aesthetic that it is trying to achieve. The voice acting is top notch and while the controls can be clunky at times, the action scenes and interactions are nothing to scoff at. It is a game that clearly has a message to be told about the current state of society and people who live in suffrage and overall shitty conditions. While I may not be a master in this field, I can understand the clear as day metaphors and signs (such as the graffiti saying “We have a dream”. Real subtle there.)

Personally, I have no problem with this kind of title. In fact I think it’s interesting to see a game attempt to tackle ideas and topics that are relevant and affecting people within our generation. However, what I don’t appreciate is the half-halfheartedness or lack of action during some of the scenes. What I mean by this is that we see these arrows, representing good or bad recognition by that character (Hank, Alice, and the General Public) but rarely is it something that actually MEANS anything. This is more easily identifiable with the General Public’s view on Marcus’ rebellion against Robotic Oppression. The only character who’s actions change based on “Public Opinion” is President Warren and the dude at Border Control when you play Kara. If it’s good. The President can potentially see the reason behind the rebellion, and spare the androids. But if its bad then she goes through with her plan even with a protest. (Which does make sense as you’d need to be evil to get a bad reputation, and a sudden peaceful protest isn’t gonna change people’s minds that quickly).

Then the guy at Border Control will either feel bad for you, or he won’t. That’s the only change based on Public Opinion. We don’t hear from any human’s on their thoughts about everything. No matter what you do, Rose, Hank, Adam, Gavin, and everybody else don’t do anything to reflect the “good” or “bad” rating you see. They keep their stance on Androids, wither that be in favor of them or being afraid of the potential they have as a unit. If we have a good reputation, why isn’t there literally even one person attempting to help the rising? It could theoretically cause a impactful scene where an officer is forced to shoot android based on his orders, and a civilian is killed in the process. Thus making public opinion sway even more in your favor because you we’re just protesting peacefully with Androids and humans who believe in you and you we’re shot down for it.

For a game that’s supposed to have so many branching paths, a lot of it can be seen as either a good or bad ending with mild changes in between based on if you messed up this scene, or chose to do “this” instead of “that”. But, this isn’t even touching upon the literal concentration camps that are on the games bad endings. Where if Kara/Alice/Luther/Jerry gets caught, they need to physically remove their identity and walk to their deaths while they cry, feel complete fear and just wait for Marcus to either fail or accomplish his rebellion in one way or the other. During scenes such as this, I was thinking to myself. Are all these military guy’s just mindless drones who follow orders, no questions asked? Even minor characters are shown to have feelings and thoughts about who they are and the events surrounding them.

 Plus, if you were to have public opinion leaning towards “good” you would assume there’d be AT LEAST one person asking themselves “Are our superior officers in the right when it comes to this society changing event? These androids are running for their lives, crying over dead bodies of their friends, and pleading for their own lives.” But no, they’re all blank slates with no room to think for themselves. I’m not saying half of the force needs to go out and start waving banners to protect the androids, but at the very least. Seeing some kind of hesitation to murder these robots that look exactly like a normal person would show humanity in these people, where in the actual games. Any human who isn’t directly helping one of the protagonists is a straight up asshole.

The game as a whole just makes it seem that in order to get something done, it either has to be be done in one extreme or the other. But even putting this into theory is something that can be disproved. If you are unwilling to do some kind of action when being attacked, it can get the pity of others who are unaware to your cause. But in the case of Detroit, where a limited amount of lives are on the line, you could potentially die out before your message is sent out on a huge scale, and everything you fought for becomes null and void. On the other hand, causing too much violence can make people scared of the message you are spreading and instead of trying to be on equal grounds as many would prefer it. You instead bring yourself to the position of power, where you then oppress the oppresses. Fine in the world of video games, but since this is clearly mirroring certain events of the real world. It just shouldn’t work. Being a nice, clean cut, pacifist will not always be the solution when you are striving to end years of harm to a people. 

Like I said, I am not the most well informed on topics such as this. I mean come on, I’m a Graphic Design college student writing about his opinions of video game worlds on Tumblr. But I would like to believe I at least understand some kind of concept as to how people would theoretically react to a situation like this, and this game does not provide any of the ideas i was thinking about while playing it. I will still certainly 100% it, but when the narrative structure is the ENTIRE focal point of a video game. It should be something that is considered many times over, to the point where you want to give someone else the script because you’ve read it over to many times. In order for Detroit to become one of the “perfect” games in my library, the world would have had to become more interactive, with me being able to see visible changes to people around me. And not just one civilian and the President. Everyone who isn’t a protagonist is on a set of rails they can’t get off of.

 However I would still recommend Detroit for the experience and thoughts/discussion it can bring about.

[nonsensical-rants]

Summer’s been roughing up everyone so how about some ice cream sundae

Come on down to Dunkin’ Dairy, home of the “Too Many Gokus” Sundae Special.

[nonsensical-rants]

Regardless, Bardock is a different character and a popular one. It's not like he wasn't requested and he has different moves.

Yeah, he is a different character and a popular one. I can recognize that. And no matter who is added into the game, ArcSys will always make them unique with a dedicated moveset that fits their character and personality. However, I only say that since we’re coming upon the release of season 2. We could stray away from the main cast. There are 2 anime shows to choose from, not including GT or OG Dragon Ball (if they choose to pick from there) that have a large cast of potential characters (some of which i listed on the original post).

[nonsensical-rants]

Goku Black and Bardock are different characters from Goku. At best you can say we have two versions of Zamasu with Goku Black and Fused Zamasu.

I did say that Bardock was a different character from Goku, but he looks exactly the same. Hair and facial features (minus the scar). I haven’t kept up with the actual show so I don’t know everything about Goku Black, but that still doesn’t take away from the fact i’ve seen various threads where people are seriously requesting at least 3 more versions of goku. Also completely forgot Fused Zamasu was in the game lmao.

That doesn’t touch upon the topic of little to no diversity in the game in comparison to the rest of the entire franchise.

[nonsensical-rants]

Yakuza is a great franchise and I recommend it with all my heart

So, i just finished both Yakuza Zero and Kiwami on the PS4 and I have to say that it may be all over the place with its content and also a heavily driven story about the journey of two men, where they stand in this group and how they deal with the actions thrust upon them. That is something that I personally adore in a game, but not everyone will. Having an intricate story with real characters by itself is something that I have been searching for throughout the past couple of months. The amount of side quests and actions that you can do when you’re not literally hitting people down the block with a bicycle is also astonishing and refreshing. But also it is down right goofy and hysterical with the side content and how the characters face and deal with the problems they are introduced too.

I don’t believe I would be able to describe Yakuza as a series to someone in just one word, but if you had a knife at my throat when asking this question. The word Unique is definitely one of the first to appear. It’s a unique franchise like none I have seen in my collection of games thus far. If there is a game like this, I am completely unaware of its presence.

It is over-dramatic as hell and I love every second of it. Oh look, theres another word you can use to describe it if you so wish. Even the side content is just as dramatic as to where you can barely take it seriously because of how stone faced the characters are while making all this unnecessary movement just for the sake of doing it.

But the story is meant to be taken seriously as you see and understand how the characters grow and develop as people, learning from their previous mistakes and events in life. So once you’re done playing old Sega games, dancing at the disco, and singing karaoke with your brother in arms, running a real estate agency/cabaret club. You have to go back to the reality of showdown duels with the Lieutenants of your family in order to re-establish your position and prove what you know and what they are (possibly) ignoring. Save the day and probably do a running front flip or something as the final attack. I am unaware as to how long it will take for the rest of the games to be remade for the current generation. But I do know that if it takes to long, I will buy three, four, and five or the PS3 just so I can continue the story into “The Song of Life”.

[nonsensical-rants]

Dragon Ball FighterZ is all over the place.

Apologies for anyone who actually looks forward to these posts (as little as a group as that may be), but I have been playing an increasing selection of games to talk about in order to make up for that fact. Right now, i’m back on Dragon Ball Z and specifically the newest fighting game created by ArcSys. To be quite honest, it’s a mixed bag of feelings for me. Like everyone has said in the past it IS indeed one of the smoothest fighting games of the current generation and takes the 3v3 format of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (a game i love immensely) and adds Dragon Ball Z characters too it. Its such a vast and amazing world full of characters with different personalities and goals and fighting styles. However, the roster reflects only a small portion of this variety. And this is where my (and most likely other peoples) main problem with the game arises. 

To put it simply, the game is a damn Goku fest. Everyone knows it. SSJ, SSJB, Goku Black, Vegito, Base Goku, Bardock (i realize he’s a different character, but aesthetically hes just Goku with armor, a scar, and a headband), and even cell if you wanna argue over that 10.78% of his DNA. While that last one may be a bit of a stretch, there are still to many variations of this character for some people’s liking. But some people are still requesting more versions of him! Kid Goku, Ultra Instinct Goku, SSJ4 Goku, etc. What happened to this extended universe with hundreds of unique characters shown across the series?

A couple of my personal selections would be Roshi, Videl, Raditz, Cooler, Zarbon, Tapion, Hercule, Dabura, Gero/Android 19, Toppo, Cabba/Kale, Uub, Pikkon, Omega Shenron, Janemba, Bojack, and Android 13 to name a few. Not all of them are possible/realistic but I mainly just wanted to point out the diversity that this franchise has, instead of rehashing the nostalgia of growing up with Goku. But, regardless of what I say all of the characters that are added to the game will have unique move sets and play styles that are able to differentiate them from the rest of the roster. I enjoy playing and watching people play this fast paced fighting game full of characters they cherish and appreciate. But i didn’t grow up with DBZ so i am a little more critical of what I see in this as a game and as a product.

No but for real, add my boy Raditz to the game and i’ll be on there everyday.

[nonsensical-rants]

2064: Read Only Memories. Indie games are great.

So i’ve been recently playing more indie titles on steam whenever I get a moment of spare time. They’re generally cheap, have great music and in cases like this, can have stories and characters that are better written than some of the bigger names on the market. I see next to no one talking about the video games that I love within their respective tags (ala One Shot, 2064, and Dead Cells) And with 15 hours invested into this game from start to finish, even without seeing alternate routes based on in-game decisions. I know that this is one of my current favorites that I would recommend to anyone.

2064: Read Only Memories, is a cyberpunk point and click adventure game where you control a no name journalist (literally, you name them) in world filled with cybernetically enhanced people and robots! Also people who are called Hybrids who by definition are more cybernetic than human. The whole game plays with the idea of what it means to be human, and what future developments in technology could mean for us as a people. How it would split people apart, and how some could be saved by this technology but then never be accepted by people or culture.

Insert Turing, your Non-Binary robotic partner! (Art from: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=841681406) Turing is the the first Artificial Intelligence who is able to think beyond binary code and processing just like a human being. They have passions, hobbies, and emotions about how you act during the story. Since Turing is the mascot of the game, and the one you will spend the most time with, they will probably be the first (of many) characters you fall in love with. I know i did.

Honestly, despite how much i love this game, I don’t want to say much more about this game because of how much of an experience it was. The difference in character personalities from Turing, to Jess, and even “Starfucker”. I recommend this game immensely so that more people can explore the world of Neo-San Francisco and see all of its twists and turns. (Soundtrack is also recommended)

[nonsensical-rants]

Unpopular Opinion about Dragon Age

Bioware’s classic hero fantasy story about saving the world (no, not the space one) is a franchise that has shaped me as a person over multiple years and affected my life and some of my best friendships. I will be talking about my experiences with Dragon Age for a while so feel free to skip two paragraphs ahead for the opinion if you wish...

 The legendary tales of Ferelden’s Hero, The Champion of Kirkwall, and the Inquisitor visit my mind space at least three different times across a week. Role Playing mechanics, different builds, and the various personalities of all the characters you meet across the three games are all elements of my love for Dragon Age. However, I am ashamed to admit I yet to learn every single detail about each game since I prioritized my money into other areas for the longest time. That will change in the upcoming weeks however as I plan to replay the entire series on PC, included with mods.

If you are wondering which parts of the game I am missing out on, it would be: Everything except Darkspawn Chronicles, Leliana’s Song, and Shale (DA:O), Sebastian (DA:2), The Decsent and Trespasser (DA:I). So yeah I am missing a lot and i can’t claim to have all of the information I wish i had.

The order in which I played these games was completely backwards. From Inquisition, to Two, and ending with Origins, i learned about the tales of prior heroes and THEN lived through them. It was an interesting experience to say the least. It may be because of this particular play style that I have the exact certain ideas circulating around my head. Not being in the “Origins hype” that I so often see. In fact, I think Dragon Age 2 does a lot of things better than Origins (not just with combat being more involved). Now, this may be the result of not playing these games for a long time. But from what I can recall, the characters I met in Kirkwall had much better involvement and establishing traits when compared to those who defended Ferelden.

That is not to say that Origins didn’t have amazing moments and characters. In fact, I believe that the original four characters were some of the best developed characters across the series since i used them more frequently than others. I did try to spice up the team but Nightmare difficulty always had me leaning back on Alistair, Morrigan/Leliana, and Wynne. While I was a Dwarven Noble named Elena Aeducan who romanced Alistair and sacrified herself to save Ferelden. I could tell you a whole lot about those four, but not so much about the other party members. Maybe Shale since they’re a chilled out golem who hates birds with a burning passion.

On the other hand, I may not be able to tell you every single tiny detail about Hawke’s posse (Sarcastic Blood Mage Male Hawke), but I remember every interaction with them fondly. Whether it be seeing Carver’s progression from someone who was always in his brothers shadow, to being able to stand up for himself as a Grey Warden or how his relationship with Hawke changed from a deep rivalry to an amazing friendship between brothers. Possibly having Fenris deal with the trauma and disturbing nature of his past as a slave with lyrium markings to a man who could learn to begrudgingly look past his disdain of mages and assist and later romance the Champion.

Don’t get me wrong. Origins was still one hell of an experience and I will play it again multiple times to see what will become of the Hero of Ferelden across different timelines/play through’s. But everything from Dragon Age 2 captivates me more from its narrative. A family you probably wouldn’t even look at if you didn’t play as them, coming from Lothering has to escape the Fifth Blight so they head to Kirkwall. Managing to barely escape from Darkspawn and saved by Flemeth. Later rising up through the social ladder, becoming the centerpiece in the survival of the attack of the Arishok, Anders’ bomb, and finally the Templar vs Blood Mage dispute really allows the player to know that this story is more personal and about how things will turn out for one town instead of for the entire world. We aren’t fighting an Archdemon, we fight Corrupt Mages and angry Templars. To me, this makes for a better story that is able to focus more on the aspects that make it better rather than stretching it across an entire world and introducing new lore at every turn.

Both games are great in their own aspects and have flaws that people can point out. I am just tired of seeing people calling Dragon Age 2 the black sheep of the family with no fans, and Origins is a superior product in every sense of the word. Origins has great world-building, a custom character with an origin story, concepts, characters, personalities, Alistair, but worse in combat and diversity in classes (which did bug me a lot and hindered me from using more characters in combat). While Two has better combat, in depth characters, a greatly voiced character, political and topical discussions, nice romances, but is held back by the copy and paste appearance of dungeons, along with other things which i didn’t mind. (Oh also the Darkspawn look weirdly menacing in Origins, but straight up goofy in Two). Inquisition is a whole other bag of worms, so expect more posts about specific aspects of Origins and Two, as well as what I think about Inquisition.

[nonsensical-rants]

I am ecstatic for Catherine: Full Body

With the announcement of one of my favorite games ever made, Catherine getting a remake. I thought now would be a better time than any to voice my opinion on the very strange and very adult-life story made by ATLUS. For those of you who are unaware, Catherine is a puzzle game where you control the main character Vincent Brooks, who goes through nightmare sequences where he must escape a hellish puzzle of block towers after block towers. When you aren’t playing through puzzles however, you are managing Vincent’s love life between two women named Katherine McBride (his girlfriend) and Catherine (a woman who he finds himself waking up as he is contemplating his current life situation).

Life in general seems to be fed up with Vincent’s constant indecisiveness and forces this conflict upon him. Will he remain with his loving girlfriend who he has been with for many years, and find the courage to propose to her? Or will he leave her for the new cute girl at the bar? That question is up to player choices and how we interact with the world we find ourselves in. It’s not just the romance that changes the story, as there are many side characters you meet throughout the game. All with there own struggles and life problems that you *can* help them with if you so choose. You meet them both in Stray Sheep and in the nightmare world, and you can help them as much as you think you should.

What makes Catherine: Full Body different from the original is that there is a whole new girl added to the mix named Rin. There are also changes to the puzzle mechanics as we can see in the trailer, but for now we are focusing on the story. We don’t know what exactly will change in the story with this new choice. Will she join Vincent in the neutral routes, or is the morality system completely changed because of this? Having one hundred percent-ed this game on three seperate occasions, i can safely say that this game does hold a lot of my intrigue no matter the time period and always manages to drag me back with its fun storytelling, realistic characters and deep puzzle solving game play.

The trailer shows us a sneak peek at an entirely new animated cut scene involving Rin which makes me want to play this game now more than ever. I have so many unanswered questions, but i need to find something else to take up my time until this is released. I forgot to mention that in the nightmare world, everyone sees one another as sheep to prevent them from knowing who is there and talking about it during the day time. But to us, as the player. It is kind of obvious to know that the cigarette smoking guy with a brown jacket is the smoking sheep with a brown jacket.

Any new elements that are added on-top of the game’s interesting physics and block based system, as well as the story will be a treat for me personally. To take aspects of the game and over analyze them is one of my favorite things to do. No matter how annoying I may find all one hundred and twenty eight Rapunzel mini game stages to be, I still brought myself to do it three times so whats wrong with once more in this remake? I still have more to say, about characters such as Erica, Toby and Vincent’s places in the game and what they do over the course of one week. As well as what might be changed with the co-op and competitive game modes (Golden Playhouse). But this about covers my feelings about a remake being announced. I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

[nonsensical-rants]

Goro Akechi: The poorly executed frenemy.

So in Persona 5, there is a character that is introduced about half-way through the story and is so poorly executed in the sense that i have yet to hear anyone who was actually surprised about the twist that occurred after Palace six (belonging to Sae Nijima). It was something that could have had much better context and relevancy to the overall plot, but was instead made into an obvious kind of side plot that wasn’t given very much focus.

One of the first times we see Akechi at all is when he is being overly excited to help with the case of the Phantom Thieves with Sae, and then later at the Television Station. From the moment Akira/Ren and crew met this “Detective Prince” I could tell that he had a completely different aura that made him stand out among the other cast members. But in a different way from Persona 4′s Detective Prince, Naoto Shirogane. In that instance, Naoto stood out because she was introduced early, given bits of development across the story until we finally recruit her. She felt real, and was trying to achieve a goal that she set for herself across multiple years. But even then she gets disrespect by her superiors because of her determination about the string of murders in Inaba.

On the other hand, we just see Akechi getting fame as if its something we’re supposed to know and understand, with people praising him for voicing a few opinions towards the Phantom Thieves, both positive and negative. So to summarize, we have a seemingly happy-go-lucky, thought provoking character who is cherished for work and discoveries that we do not see personally. Its plain to see how he stands out from everyone else instead of seeming like another citizen or even someone who was visiting for the investigation. It’s unrealistic in my opinion and could’ve been fixed with a little more fine tuning.

Finally we’re at the main idea of this entire discussion which is how Akechi was written after Sae Nijima’s palace. Since we know just as much as the game told us until this point, it would be a good place to reveal the truth about the last party member. If the difference in character archetypes, outstanding move set, the idea of *someone* in the group being a traitor (which was said from the beginning. Huge misstep in my opinion), hints from earlier parts in the game (aka Morgana saying Pancakes), and even the fact that Goro was so intelligent he could handle any situation in Nijima’s palace, and finally being blackmailed to go to Nijima’s Palace all didn’t give it away. He was the traitor in the group. All these factors made it way too obvious for anyone else to be “ratting us out”.

It really is such a shame too. The premise of having someone who is working against your main goal as a group of Robin Hood type heroes could have brought up many different types of conflict and struggles between the characters. Since Akechi is so intuitive, maybe he would be the one too really press on the question of “what truly happens to people when we steal their hearts?”. Perhaps introducing him as a party member earlier in the story and reliving him of some personal trauma could have made things go smoother. 

Akechi was a simple person who wanted to get revenge for the neglect that he was given as a child by his father: Shido. Trying to become one of the best prodigies in his field was a possible coping mechanism that allowed him to be good at something, and be loved by all. Despite that, it wasn’t enough for him because he still needed the respect of the one man who never acknowledged him for who he was. Not that any amount of popularity or glory would do him any good regardless as Shido later states that he was planning to rid himself of Akechi once the election is over.

Then there is the whole “Death of Akechi” scene during Shido’s Palace, where Goro figures out based on context clues that Akira/Ren is somehow still alive and operating as a Phantom Thief and trying to steal Shido’s Heart. A battle ensue’s showing he has the ability to switch his trickster persona Robin Hood to the more devious Loki and he is full of blood lust and seething with anger towards our main cast. The protagonist wins of course, but then he is no longer considered a valuable asset to his father’s grand plan and is “killed” (i use that term loosely because it was off-screen) by Shido’s own interpretation of what Akechi is. A cold blooded assassin. But we don’t feel remorse for Akechi. In this scenario he was just a good person turned wrong for reasons out his control. But it doesn’t excuse the actions that he himself committed.

As I said, i truly believe that trying to write Akechi as a earlier party member who received friendship (but not real “help”) could have been something to mask the obvious fact that he was working for a higher power. There could have been a palace dedicated to Goro that showed his twisted, but true perspective of his position and the people that surround him. A kingdom of his own ruling, where he is the hero that saves everyone from  the Phantom Thieves and gets recognition from Masayoshi Shido. This idea comes from CrossPawGaming’s “How I would have CHANGED Goro’s story line”

[nonsensical-rants]

A Sayian named Raditz

I was never really the biggest fan of Dragon Ball Z growing up, or even to this day. I have yet to watch the official franchise dubbed or otherwise. However i have played many of the games, looked at discussion videos/threads and watched TeamFourStar’s abridged series which has allowed me to know what I am talking about to a degree. The world of Dragon Ball Z has always had a kind of interest to me that I can’t say I have found anywhere else. However, as I said in my previous post. One thing i hate about story telling is unused potential in any concept. While i realize not everything can be used to their fullest extent. It still annoys me as a member of the audience when I see an idea that could be used even as a minor asset to the larger story.

In comes Raditz, brother of Goku/Kakarot. The first “major” villain of DBZ who introduces us to the concept of intergalactic travel, other villains, sayians, and power levels higher than 1,500. He hits Krillin with his tail, kidnaps Gohan and forces two previous rivals to work together for a common goal. However this is just about all he did for the series and while it definitely wouldn’t be the same without him. He only had a small role in the grand scheme of things that it irks me every time I play a Dragon Ball game and repeatedly have to play through the same Goku, Piccolo and Raditz fight. This statement has more to do with the games I have personally played and how I wish the main story line you play through consisted of possible What-If scenarios instead of the same story we all know except with one or two spins added to make it “new”.

Raditz, as we all know is promptly killed off by the Special Beam Cannon and is never heard from again. We are then introduced to Nappa and Vegeta, who are several times stronger than Raditz and one of them (take a wild guess) becomes a mainstay for the franchise and has a major redemption arc that allows him and his personality to become one of the most beloved parts of Dragon Ball Z. Spoilers, its Vegeta. After playing through Dragon Ball Xenoverse one and two and completing all of the parallel quests, i felt like there could have been so much more to the story and the Time Patroller we play as.

Off the top of my head, i can recall that Budokai Tenkaichi two and three and even Raging Blast had what-if scenario’s that were either voiced or given extensive text boxes to explain the following fight (in the case of Raging Blasts’ Galaxy Mode). Why couldn’t this be the case for Xenoverse? Instead of “fixing” the timeline we have been hammered with over and over, why not explore fresh new ideas with characters we haven’t heard from in a long time. Again, returning to my original point about Raditz and how, just maybe. He could of had a redemption arc of his own given the chance and proper treatment.

It’s not as if he didn’t have the potential to be something more. He very well did. With him having a cowardly yet proud personality, having some care for his family (or his mission depending on your interpretation of giving Goku a fighting chance), and being deceitful just to save his own tail. Sayians are a proud warrior race but Raditz clearly did not want to die, as he probably wanted to succeed and become greater than what he was when we saw him. But instead, he was killed off in an instant and never to be heard from again. But his father Bardock, mother Gine, and the rest of his family get to flourish with well developed personalities and stories that let us understand why they went on to do what they did? I can’t understand why he was made to be a one-off character.

Finally this comes to the video that sparked this whole thought process to me. MasakoX’s “What if Raditz turned Good” video series. It’s nine minutes long and discusses how the story would play out differently if Raditz became a mainstay in the franchise and we had one more Sayian to root for when going against the major villains Frieza, Cell and Majin Buu. I found all of the videos to be interesting points for discussion to begin and have a very underdeveloped character have a life where he gets married, has a child, and starts a rivalry with the Sayian Prince who belittled him across his whole life. Raditz was always one of my personal favorites in the games based on his design and slightly cocky attitude alone, but this thread of videos (and other what-if’s) made him into so much more in my eyes.

[nonsensical-rants]

Thoughts on Persona 5

The persona series is one of the biggest influences to me and who I am within recent memory. I’ve played every game and anticipate the idea of exploring every nook and cranny the game has to offer, across hundreds of hours. Both three and four were games that I cherish and the same can be said with five. But just like with any game I've played there are some gripes that get to me whenever i think about them for too long. This is my personal opinion but i do like hearing different viewpoints since it will always add insight to a discussion. I am prone to rambling and sometimes getting of topic but i shall do my best. Spoilers ahead for anyone who has yet to beat/see the game in its entirety.

During the “anticipation” for the games release, I didn’t really look up a lot about the game because i wanted everything to be a surprise. Aside from some trailers that hooked me in with an amazing story about Phantom Thieves who steal peoples hearts and jump out of Casinos, everything would be a surprise for me. So when i started up the game and reached Kamoshida’s Palace. I was having a grand time with all the mechanics, the music, and the different characters that were being presented too me. Personally, Morgana is one hell of a upgrade in comparison to Teddy. Both as a character, and as a mascot.

During the game play, I was always looking forward to what would come next and how it would be done. Hanging out with Ryuji and seeing Mishima change as a person were some early game highlights. Of course i went through the dungeon as fast as possible because i wanted to know the characters as much as possible. Ryuji filled a good role as a partner and as comic relief, but I felt towards the later end of the game he could’ve had another spark to get him excited (other than being pissed at corrupt adults). And no. The confrontation between Morgana and Ryuji does not count. I felt like that could have been so much better of a scene, but it was executed poorly with Morgana basically getting away for his constant belittling of “Skull”. Everyone just laughs it off, except for me because its actually just unwarranted and unnecessary rivalry between characters who just started off on the wrong foot. Morgana is a know it-all and Ryuji may need a second explanation sometimes but he has more heart that anyone in the gang.

But, i’m getting ahead of myself. The original four were interesting characters who had good traits to bounce off one another whether it be through bickering or bonding. And as the story progressed, i really found myself hating Kamoshida because of how much of an asshole he truly was behind his public mask (haha). Shiho’s involvement only strengthened that belief. As sudden as her introduction was, it still meant something to me. So taking him down, and seeing him crying while confessing everything was great satisfaction.

But this is where something started occurring to me that would constantly present itself to me throughout the course of the game and it was bothersome. Climbing up the confidant ranks of Ann, and later Makoto made me ask a question to myself over and over again. Why am i not learning more about THESE characters, but instead about Chiho and some random girl from Makoto’s class. I understand that they are being used as catalysts to show traits and ideas about their personality, but i would rather observe those traits for myself while also learning more about them. I found myself to be learning more about these characters during story cut scenes (in-game or otherwise) then i did in the confidants. And that’s a problem in my eyes. 

It almost felt like they were flattening themselves like Persona Q did for the casts’ of three and four. Ann is a female model who loves sweets, cares deeply/respects herself and her friends, and can stand up for others but not so much for herself. I could’ve learned this through different scenes in the game like with different encounters of Kamoshida, the Shido cruise, and just how she carries herself. And Makoto is a whole other basket case with how shes supposed to be this “badass” who only reveals herself when she is pushed too far but she is also motherly and wants to protect what is right in her eyes. Those are the only defining traits i can think of when i think of Makoto and they are mostly shown in her Awakening scene. Maybe also when she defies her sister to download the case files and slaps her friend. Other than that, she felt very robotic to me, wanting to help this nameless individual.

We could of had a scene where Sae is worrying about her sister and wants to see one of her friends, and thinking you are the best option. She invites you (the leader of the phantom thieves) to come over. More interaction with Sae, more personal depictions of Makoto, rather than seeing the problems of someone we aren’t invested in. Or hell maybe even Akechi could show up during a confidant session. This is my first pet peeve with Persona 5. In comparison to the previous games, we learn so much more about the characters personality and problems through hangouts. Junpei isn’t a social link/confidant but we learn about his experience with Chidori and feel for him during a later confrontation (He’s a social link in Persona 3 Portable i know but im refering to three and FES). Or Kanji being a “delinquent”. We see others belittling him for his appearance and what they perceive to be his personality, but we know better as his friend. We learn about his mother and his desires through the rank ups. Moving on though.

Yusuke has one of my more favorite social links as he is overflowing with personality and (in my opinion) humor. Even if accidental, all the posing, painting and quirkyness from Yusuke is what i expected from everyone. After Madarame is taken down he goes from being defensively aggressive to shaken up and finally angry at the man he once cherished. We learn more about him both in and out of confidants, like how he doesnt have much money so he rarely gets to eat, and also didnt have a place to stay for a while (even though that was brief. I would’ve loved seeing Daytime scenes with him). He has almost a brother like relationship with Futaba Sakura, who i believe to be a well executed hermit character. For me, her backstory was very developed and believable for someone to shut themselves inside when they dont have all of the answers to a problem/life event that has become essentially the bane of their existence. Her social link developed her bond with Sojiro and shows of traits of herself through another person in a way that didnt completely focus on them instead of the person im hanging out with (*cough* Makoto *cough*)

Seriously though, I think all the characters were written well for the most part with only a few exceptions. Atlas really knows how to write their characters. Haru is actually one of my top picks for a favorite character because of how she was portrayed in having to deal with stress and how we kind of lead to the demise of her father. Though that was completely unavoidable as most things are in a supernatural franchise such as this. One last thing that urked me about the game was Akechi and how blatantly obvious the whole traitor aspect of his character was depicted. Atlas had it right with Adachi, making him one of my favorite characters in general and showing off a hopelessly Nihilistic perspective of the world when we as a player are seeing the world as happy and carefree. He didnt have a social link (until Golden), while Akechi did. The difference is that Akechi’s was progressed through story events while Adachi’s was an optional relationship that led you to learning more of his quirks earlier in the story. He could have been so much more but was thrown aside for a nameless “big bad” who we (as a player. Not the protagonist) have no relation too. I’ve seen discussions saying how Akechi could have been the one to have the River’s in the Desert battle, with a shadow realm showing his perspective of the world as a kingdom with him as the hero who protected everyone. He is the best in his own eyes and could not be defeated.

If there is one thing i hate in story telling, it is wasted potential. And Pancake Boy has a lot of that to spare. From the moment he blackmailed the Phantom Thieves to show them Nijima’s Palace (also with just how GOOD his moveset was), it made it so much more obvious he wouldn’t be a mainstay.

Those are my main comments with Persona 5, but they are mostly nitpicks compared to the grand scheme of things. I invested 200+ hours and two playthroughs into this game. My regular play through and a Fresh Merciless playthrough (with the help of a guide for 100% sake). I love this game to pieces and i wouldn’t be talking about it otherwise. Maybe there will be a P5Crimson Edition that adds more context to Akechi’s character and fixes problems other people have with the game. Maybe not. Who knows.