#I got so much inspirations from most of the games that were on PS3.

[liugeaux]

The Best Games of 2007 | Gaming Has Matured

This project has been a lot of fun. I didn't realize it, but I've been subconsciously making these lists for years. When looking at year-by-year groups of games, these top 10s have been jumping out at me. So, 2007 is already here and it's without a doubt the best list so far.

Remember, (I say as if anyone is reading) this post will be written as if it were published in Dec. of 2007, so all critiques will be from that perspective. LFG!

#10 - Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Ratchet games have always been some of the best games in its respective genre. Tools of Destruction is no exception. It builds on the chaotic nature of its predecessors, brings the Lombax into HD, and adds a much-welcomed cinemax spin to the story. A surprisingly serious Ratchet & Clank was not a thing I saw coming, but in the end, it was more than welcomed.

#9 - Halo 3

This year we "finished the fight" and despite its low spot on this list, Halo 3 was a triumph. Being #9 on a list of absolute bangers, says much more about the overall quality of the list than it does about Halo's appeal. Halo 3 is the best in the series so far, it's bigger and better than the first two in every way and is further proof that Xbox Live is the hottest thing in gaming right now.

#8 - Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

The developers of Jak & Daxter traded in their cartoony platformer card for an Indiana Jones/Lara Croft-inspired adventure game named Uncharted. The story is cinematic and over-the-top, it's one of the most beautiful console games ever made and it just might be the PS3's first must-own title. It's got some technical hiccups here and there, but nothing is stopping it from being the belle of the Playstation 3's ball this year.

#7 - Rock Band

Harmonix has done it again. The makers of Guitar Hero have leveled up the experience and built a full-band rhythm game. Quality control issues aside, the Rock Band instruments are the best the genre has seen thus far. That means no more loud clicky guitars. The drumming experience they've built is the most pick-up-and-play thing I've seen since last year's Wii Sports. They even allow you to sing the songs on its fantastic songlist. A list that can grow with purchasable songs in the DLC library. I played A LOT of Rock Band this year and I don't see that stopping anytime soon.

#6 - Assassin's Creed

Ubisoft Montreal's spiritual successor to Prince of Persia is the sleek and captivating Assassin's Creed. Using deep world-building, high-concept sci-fi, and a charming historical context, Assassin's Creed pushes gaming forward in both narrative and technical ways. Like Uncharted, gameplay can get clunky from time to time and Altiar's climbing mechanics sometimes feel broken. Assassin's Creed may not be perfect, but it seems important and that's even more than Ubisoft was even asking for.

#5 - God of War II

As the PS2's last hurrah, GOW2 only had to be better than its predecessor. The game ended up being much more than that. God of War 2 is the full realization of what Sony Santa Monica was trying to do the first time around. It's fast-paced, sharp, stressful, and rewarding. Kratos' story is more compelling, and his murder spree is more bloody. The combos are tight, and boss fights are epic. The opening scene is a level-long battle with the Colossus of Rhodes and that experience will stick with me for years.

#4 - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Activision has rewritten the rules for what a war video game can be. Modern Warfare is visceral, unsettling, and fascinating. By taking a Tom Clancy-esq approach to modern warfare, and sprinkling in a pinch of sci-fi, Infinity Ward paints the possibility of the world ending with such a clear picture that it is hard to not be emotionally affected, especially at the game's notorious climax. On top of that, the perks system introduced in multi-player has revolutionized the way players experience FPS deathmatches. Just when you thought war games were getting stagnant, COD4 blows the box wide open.

#3 - Super Mario Galaxy

Coming off the odd Gamecube title Super Mario Sunshine, the 3D Mario games needed a serious boost both conceptually and qualitatively. Super Mario Galaxy is a nearly perfect game. It has boundless whimsy, surprisingly intuitive controls, a stunning presentation, and the cleanest gimmick in gaming today. Running around planets and jumping from one to another with gravity physics makes Super Mario Galaxy feel like a new genre. It threads the needle of feeling welcomingly familiar, while still feeling like a new idea. Galaxy is the only Wii game on my list this year and it's far and away the best Wii game of 2007.

#2 - Portal

Speaking of important video games, Portal is transformative in ways I don't think we're even aware of yet. As a puzzle game, a first-person narrative showpiece, and an atmospheric comedy, Portal is unlike anything we've ever seen in the mainstream game space. Valve is having a moment right now and I don't think any other developer could have given us this tightly crafted, and weirdly quirky Portal game. They could have gotten away with a straightforward portal-based puzzle game that simply invents a game mechanic and then exploits it for 4 hours. Instead, the devs weave a hyper-charming world into the fabric of that mechanic and make a truly unforgettable experience. The cake may be a lie, but the brilliance of Portal is not.

#1 - Bioshock

"Gaming Has Matured" is the name of this list and Bioshock is the strongest proof of that. Movies can transport you into a world you've never seen before and Music can spark your imagination in beautiful ways, gaming creates experiences. Bioshock is an experience. Never has a digital world felt so well-realized as Bioshock's Rapture. The underwater terror den littered with deadly splicers and the brutal and unrelenting Big Daddies set a mood that MUST be experienced. On top of that, the mythology of Rapture's rise and fall is unrivaled. Philosophy, the folly of man's hubris, techno-art-deco, every aspect of Bioshock is carefully crafted to make the story as compelling and believable as possible. The 3rd act plot twist is nothing short of spectacular. Bioshock is a masterpiece and creates a brand-new benchmark for narratively driven first-person shooters.

Notable Omissions

Crysis - Crysis got a lot of attention this year for its top-tier graphics and even toppier tierer technical requirements. I played it and other than its visual prowess, it's a pretty basic FPS. Not bad, but not list worthy.

The Orange Box - This might be the best bundle package in gaming history, but putting it on this list is like saying a band's greatest hits is their best album. That's cheating. Spotlighting the most impressive part of the package (Portal) is the right way to go.

Mass Effect - I'm not an RPG guy. I hear it's good, and maybe I'll play it eventually, but RPGs aren't my bag.

Ok! 2007 was one of the best years in gaming ... ever. I can't wait to talk about the next one.

Cheers

[etrobeauty]

Eight People I’d Like To Know Better

REPOST, DON’T REBLOG

Tagged by: @rhyra (Thank you. c: )

Tagging: @guidedhearts , @kibonosentoki , @floralcetra , @ichorcoded , @mickeyclubmarchmouse , @prcmettere & don’t know who else to tag. ahjasdhda. I want to get to know you all so just take it and tag me. 

𝟎𝟏 .   ALIAS   /   NAME : Karla / kar / Rean / Res 

𝟎𝟐 .   BIRTHDAY : February 21st

𝟎𝟑 .   ZODIAC : Pisces

𝟎𝟒 .   HEIGHT : 4′11″

𝟎𝟓 .   HOBBIES : Cosplaying, self taught photo editing, photography, gaming, reading, journaling.

𝟎𝟔 .   FAVORITE   COLOR : Burgundy, Lavender, Teal, Mint green

𝟎𝟕 .   FAVORITE   BOOK : Lost in Thought, Alice in Zombieland, and I guess I’ll put in the light-novel I’m currently reading called 86 / eighty-six.

𝟎𝟖 .   LAST   SONG : Kaine Salvation. NIER feels is mood right now, okay.

𝟎𝟗 .   LAST   FILM   /   SHOW : Last show watched was the anime Angels of Death. Last film watched was The Heredity. 

𝟏𝟎 .    INSPIRATION : From what I recalled, back in 2011 I was beginning to move on from a fandom. And kind of wanted to explore something else. I normally try to watch a series or game. And was like “ oh right I have FFXIII that I still need to play.” So I did and then there. My love for Lightning was born. My very first FF I’ve actually played and not watched a friend from the side. You know what they say about the first has meaning. Well this one certainly did. It was actually a debate if I should or not, because I did not feel the confidence there. Even with the lack of confidence I made an account in the RP platform I was in that time. It was a very slow start. I actually did not start activity until five months later. So things began sparking up and I dedicated time to learn more about Lightning and re-watch cut scenes so I can grasp her character. I’m still determined to learn and improve. I’ve put so much into her. I already got two AUs damn it. Sorry for the long answer. shdkjshskdsa

𝟏𝟏 .    STORY   BEHIND   URL : This rooted when XIII-2 was coming around. Learning of her role of being Etro’s guardian. And I swear I never thought how beautiful she looks until seeing more XIII-2 stuff. I feel this is where my love for her became beyond infinite. I loved her already in XIII. And XIII-2 boost my love for her. Then with LR, it went beyond. 

[marswritingss]

haikyuu general headcanons from my sleep deprived ass

hEy this is sleep deprived me who is in in the verge of crying AND ready to go party and rob a bank

yes my kids, it's weird feelings time

ANYWAY here i suppose i'll write both angsty and fluffy and crack headcanons because i really don't know what's happening anymore

me after writing this: nope, it's all crack and fluff my guys. no angst. i couldn't bring myself to make myself more sad lmaoo

warnings: the first part is set on 2012, hence why kenma doesn't own a wii, not a switch. also there's manga spoilers but i out a warning before it heheheh

also not proof read and written while being really fucking tired. it will probably not make sense

general random headcanons

– akaashi wears clip hair locks when he has to study

– kunimi smokes weed like everyday. he'll be in class and his brain will be on another galaxy thinking about his donkey who happens to be actually a dog who happens to actually not exist. completely permafried but somehow keeps a gpa of 3.8 (in spain we don't have gpa but we have average mark which is the same lol)

– bokuto is really really good at physics. probably recites the three laws of newton while spiking and his serve routine includes him replaying the boyle laws on his mind. probably the reason why kuroo and him get along so well. kuroo prefers chemistry so they have this inside argument where bokuto hits him with his physics fats while kuroo just yells compounds and their nomeclature

– oikawa has a cat. that's it. that's the headcanon.

– makki and mattsun have the dumbes longest pet names for each other. "i love you so much, you meme of my computer, bread of my cheese, ass of my chair, you little silly beautiful brow man with the longest muscliest most tanned and amazingest arms in the world" "oh, is that so? i of course love you more you pink creampuff with no other reason of existence than to be beautiful even with that peach haircut, incredible man i'd 100% recommend 5 stars on booking, 5 of 5 in every stat, wig snatched, my pores cleared, hotel trivago" "please shut the fuck yo the both of you"

– yes that headcanon was INSTALLED in my brain as soon as i read undermattsun's one

– and yes the five stars on booking is a skam reference, if anyone got it

– that was inspired by anitwt

– the first time noya saw asahi's hair untied he had a nosebleed. and actual one

– hoshiumi has made a lot of kids cry because he just has that villain vibe while hirugami makes them laugh when he's the actual villain

– jk the villain is actually yama and tendo's bullies and michiru usuri or whatever his name is

– konoha is ambidextrous and komi calls his jack of all trades master of two

– he also happens to be very fucking good at guessing. tendo's typa shit. he'll be on an exam and he'll just guess every single answer. he'll be like mmmmm this kinda looking like an alkane

– yes that's me trying to show off my poor chemistry knowledge.

– iwaoi arcade dates but it's them hitting the dance machine with scores like 100000 and iwa surprisingly loosing at 128478-128477

– iwa's charger is oikawa :)

– oikawa's charger is iwa's arms

– suga uses kagehina's inside competition so they take care of themselves

"oh mmm... i don't think drinking so much water would be that possible"

"kageyama! i bet i can sip this in less than thirty seconds"

"dumbasss! i can do it in under fifteen"

– bokuto brought an owl to the gym once. and washio just happened to have an aunt whose hobbie was training raptor birds. and that's how the fukurodani volleyball club ended up setting their sunday meetings at washio's aunt insanely big backyard and bonding over owls.

– akaashi's favourite owl is actually an eurasian scops owl.

– wait no ima list their fav owls

– bokuto: great horned owl. you know why.

– konoha: ruffous legged owl. he fell in love with this old grey owl who loves resting only on his arm and he's now whipped

– komi: pygmy owl. bc they both tiny.

– washio: snowy owls. he just loves how they are. loves all of his aunt's owls tho.

– onaga: short eared owl. mainly because they remind him of someone *cough* komi *cough* and he just laughs everytime he thinks about it

– sarukui: northern hawk owl. just because.

– suzumeda: another sucker for snowy owls. she loves their name and their colour. and also because they remind her of yukie. which is a plus

– yukie: none in particular really. but her favourite owl in washio's aunt backyard is a verreaux eagle owl.

– kenma doesn't have a wii because not a lot of his favourite games are available on it. but he's saving for a ps4 since it's coming soon and his ps3 is kinda on the edge of dying of overuse

– the first time hinata had to go to karasuno was also the first time he actually rode a bike and he almost crashed with around twenty cars lmao

– on his second year, kageyama invited the second years to his birthday (hinata yamaguchi yachi AND tsukishima, not tanaka noya ennoshita narita and kinoshita lmao) and tsukishima DID go. he kept saltying over everything but after that, he and kageyama got aling wayyy better. (though the bantering enver stopped)

– akaken headcanon that they sometimes study together if a training camp is near finals week. akaashi is real bad at english and kenma has 0 brain for history

"kozume-san, do you know how the english word for exacerbate?"

"yes, also do you know what were the main characteristics of the meiji restoration?"

MANGA SPOILERS HEADCANONS

– fukunaga's mom is spanish. that's why he's so good at paella. his mom is from valencia ✌️😔

– inunaki atsumu and sakusa form ✨the asshole team✨

– ushijima and hoshiumi have the weirdest relationship ever.

"ushijima do you know how tall i am!"

"yes hoshiumi san. just yesterday you claimed you were 9 milimetres taller than hinata shoyo second best small giant 2 points less than you in stats"

"hahaha! yes! wait! i am going to tweet that! do you want me to tag you?!"

"please do not. my twitter gets clustered of all the fans tweeting about semi san and i's reunion last week"

"i'm going to tag you"

– hoshiumi COMPLETELY tweets in caps locks. there is not a single lowercase letter in the dumptrash of 15k tweets that his twitter page is.

"HAHAHA @HINATA_SHOYO I AM OFFICIALLY NINE CENTIMETRES TALLER THAN YOU I AM THE BEST SMALL GIANT PREPARE YOUR BUTTOCKS TO GET KICKED THIS SEASON BE READY YOU AND YOUR TEAM OF OVERLY TALL MEN WITH NINE CENTIMETRES LESS OF SMALL GIANT"

– hirugami (sachiro) is moniwa's vet, futakuchi and aone's turtle. the first time sachiro and furakuchi met, was the last time futakuchi set foot on hirugami's pet centre. he's now banned from going in there and he had to watch moniwa get checked from the cristal pannel

– shouko (hirugami's sister) has favoritism on sachiro. pays for her and her brother's netflix account and has set sachiro's name as "baby brother" and fukuro's name as "tall arsehole"

– also she and kanoka are in the same team

– miwa and alisa are completely dating. it's not even a headcanon anymore lmfao

– oikawa's argentinian team mates completely thought iwa's name was iwachan and the first time they saw him st the olympics they called him "iwachansito" and "iwatoto"

– they also call oikawa argentoto (yes that's frim twitter)

– both suna and kita have an soecial discount on onigiri miya. arsumu has to pay double for them

– kenma does actually own a house in roppongi hills, but didn't tell kuroo until the bedheaded went to bring kenma food and found out the house had been destroyed and was now being used as a gardening school

– yaku first saw lev's ad in yekaterinburg but didn't tell him. he has a very good laugh everytime he passed by the banner next to his house

– komori and yaku IMMEDIATELY got along. yaku was like "mmmmmmmmmmm a tall libero i see ,':/" and komori was like "haha yea anyway the way you dug that ball was amazing :3" and yaku fell in love

– atsumu' hair isn't that blonde only because of bleach but also because he spends some weekends helping kita with the farm and the sun has cleared it

– hinata is sakusa's favourite.

– tenma and bokuto get along pretty well, and akaashi is scared tenma will start going feral now that he's met bokuto

– ima wrap this up bc it's becoming long lmao ty for listening to my night rambles ily all

–also no it's not well edited i'm on my phone lol

– will probably do again if my mental health goes on like this which is very probable lmao

– good night

[noroalia]

please please pleaseee tell me about video game graphics

thank you zero, i owe you my damn life

a side note: i only have experience in Blender when it comes to shading, rendering and similar things, and Dreamy Theatre 2nd is the only Project DIVA game i’ve ever played. i am nowhere near an expert, and this is just a rant so this may or may not be inaccurate oops

OKAY SO. project DIVA. love those games, have been a fan of them since like?? i first found them when i was 12?? so seeing the fact that it now has a Switch release made me really happy, and i’ve been thinking of buying it, since i dont want to clog up my brothers PS3′s memory just for an old PD game, right? the other day though, i stumbled across this video, which compares 4 of the games World is Mine PV’s, right? and i kid you not that when i understood that the Switch version was the top right one, i got. so surprised. because it looks like a downgrade from even the PS4 one, which i personally believe that in this case was a downgrade from the PS3 one. 

turns out, Mega Mix uses toon shaders, which can be really good when used right! but from what i’ve seen in MM, it just looks so weird. 

i just wanna preface by saying that Future Tone is the game that looks the best overall to me; the shaders and effects highlights the models and sets really well, and uses textures (look at Miku’s clothes in Rolling Girl. they’re plasticy, the light reflects on them and the different textures on her models help highlight what is what. and i think Rolling Girl in FT looks REALLY BAD compared to some previous iterations. look at how it compares to F 2nd and how much the atmosphere is ruined in FT. by the looks of it, F 2nd also uses toon shaders, though im not sure)

toon shaders can be extremely effective. they make the characters more cartoony, overriding any textures and making everything look plasticy and smooth. MMD uses toon shaders - and it causes that unique, classic MMD look!! and i love that look!! but the MMD models were made with that in mind. Mega Mix’s models look like direct ports of the PS4 game, aka they weren’t made for toon shaders.

of course, the context of the song and the pv changes the situation drastically! i’ve seen songs like Arifureta Sekai Seifuku where i actually believe the toon shader enhances the colorful, bouncy nature of the song and PV! thats where i think the toon shaders fits, in bright happy songs! the issue is, that very rarely are there PVs like that. most of them use darker tones, grittier sets or just duller colors. for songs with effects, the PS3 triumphs, but overall the PS4 just looks so much better. just look at ODDS & ENDS. F 2nd still holds up, FT looks amazing and then. MM is just. she’s flat. it’s almost as if any sort of color filter or light bounces off her.

my main issue with the toon shader in this case, is that Miku looks washed out. any texture, bump or feature dissapears, in favor for a flat, bright look. note how you can’t see her nose at all? its small, and that makes it blend in. it drowns. any texture in her hair is replaced with a bright shine and an even, uniform color. look at how well the toon shader is utilized in Ghost Rule, and this was made in MMD. the toon shader in MM leaves no room for things like bloom, reflection or shine. it all looks like its absorbed into Miku, and that she exists on a different layer compared to her surroundings.

this was intentional, from what ive heard! SEGA wanted it to look kid friendly, which means cartoony, 2D inspired and simple. but thats pretty stupid, right? when i was 12, i was drawn to the PD games both because of the gritty songs, but also the bright, happy colors. hell, look at PoPiPo! i remember this PV so clearly because the bright colors and the look made me happy, and this was achieved without toon shaders! and its achieved in Future Tone too, like. Look at World’s End Dancehall. It’s all neon colors without a single dark shadow in sight. and that video came out this year, and because of it, i assumed that this was the Switch port! i was wrong, obviously. still the PS4 release.

i’ve seen some people argue that toon shaders were used because the Switch isn’t a powerful console. first of all, it runs games like Witcher 3, BOTW, and so much more. I agree, the Switch isnt the most powerful console! but it could easily run a game like F 2nd, which still has complex effects and shading. and toon shading is still heavy on the CPU and GPU! there’s even a video where they’ve removed the toon shader in Mega Mix, and it still runs well and looks super good. you can see the textures, the small details and it does her model wonders. you can see the wrinkles in her clothes!!!! and this is still on the switch! it looks straight out of Future Tone. and that game is almost 7 years old. the switch could 100% run it with no to minor problems.

but as far as i am aware, the Project DIVA department has been merged with other departments in SEGA, so its very possible this was made because of budget cuts as well. after all, the toon shader probably takes less effort to slap onto a song, especially since it virtually looks the same on every song, and the game itself is basically a smaller port of Future Tone.

this is the only thing ive been able to think about this week honestly, it makes me kinda sad ngl

[rainyangelprince]

what game or anime or whatever are you reblogging a lot of recently? the one with erik i'm interested i wanna play or watch it

Dragon Quest XI! I loved the games since i got hands on III! Tho i only had a few of the games, I still loved the games a lot and only finished a side game about slimes and canons ^-^'

Dragon Quest XI is a game i think on the PS3 or 4 but i am playing it on the Switch. You can play the game in 3D or clasic 2D similar to how I remember it in DQIII, so old school mode. I haven't finished it yet but so far I really like the game ^-^ 9-9? I'm bad with telling accents but I think a bunch of the characters so far are Scottish. 0-0' I was shook. I was expecting similar accents as I do to most of my games.

^-^' I'm afraid to spoil too much of the game but lets see, i believe the game is about you are the luminary who is supposed to defeat the dark one. Tho you being alive is like a bad omen that the dark one will appear so i think your father wants you killed or gone to protect everyone. In a dungeon you meet a theif who helps you escape and you gather allies on your quest to defeat the dark one and to hide low from your father's forces trying to find you.

>_<' hope that isn't a bad summary. ^-^ that would be awesome if someone I knew plays Dragon Quest too! I was so surprised to find Fire Emblem friends but Dragon Quest friends even only knowing one game would be super cool to meet. XD

I believe the game is the same price as other big nintendo switch games. I checked the eshop store and they have games 1 through 3 and they were cheeper from, i think, $6-$12 roughly. 9-9? ^-^ i am thinking of getting III again on the switch cuz i finally stopped being dumb in the game and got very far when I was a teen. 0-0' pretty sure the begining of that game was responsible for some of my nightmares.

XD when i had III, I had no clue what i was doing. Turns out you are asked questions about who you are and depending on the questions i believe you are then represented as that? It has been so long ago but i remember answering the questions and looking like a monster. I cannot remember much but i remember people screaming for me to go away. Idk if it was possible to kill them but i remember trying to be a good monster and not kill anyone until the weird dream was over. Ido remember it is possible to be a boy or girl in the game but the differences is barely noticable or none. I cannot remember. Though, it was possible to make your own heros to join your forces so of course i messed with that so much it was probably the reason it took me until I was a teen to progress further in the game.

A monster from the Dragon Quest series is actually something that inspired me to draw one of my ocs so i felt more urge to buy DQXI for that ^-^ i believe it was called something like raven and it had a human skull it dropped onto unsuspecting travelers. 0-0' it is probably really dumb but i died from that monster SOOO much as a kid. I hated that raven so much that i knew if i got that bird as an enemy to face that I was dead. ^-^' basically I was stuck at the same begining town for so long.

Sorry for my geeking or ranting out ^-^'

[altalksaboutstuff]

My Top 5 Games of the Past Generation Youtube Script Plus Notes

This is, more or less, the script for My Top 5 Games of the Past Generation video that I just published on Youtube: With the Xbox One and Playstation Four about to head out of the door to make ways for the Xbox Series X and the Playstation 5 respectively to lead us into the next generation of consoles were only Nintendo has been sitting comfortably with the Switch, the Wii U has been long gone and Nintendo also recently announced the official end of the Nintendo 3DS line cutting all the ties to this last generation.  With that almost everyone is now releasing their lists of the best games of the current generation, myself included, I couldn't help but notice a lot of same-soundy lists such as Game Informer's top 5 list.  I myself have to disagree with these, not to say that any and/or all five of those games on Game Informer's Top 5 aren't good, important or worth playing just that I don't think they are the best representative of this generation in terms of impact and wide appeal, so much as had the most money backing them. That these games on the list are more the best representative of the biggest Triple A titles.  The games that I had in mind are more impactful on how this generation swayed and set new standards.  I want you to keep in mind that while I liked some of these games, these aren't my personal top 5 of the past generation either but I think closer to what best represents our closing era of gaming, when I say the “best games of the current generation.”

First off I'd like to make an honorable mention of PT.  PT or playable trailer was supposed to be a demo for the new Silent Hill S game that unfortunately never came to be for the Playstation 4 from Konami.  A joint venture between film director Guillermo del Toro and the famous creator of Metal Gear Solid, Hideo Kojima, this demo spooked the pants off of everyone and was probably the reason a lot of people decided to buy a Playstation 4.  Unfortunately Konami let Hideo Kojima go under less than favorable conditions and the demo vanished with him in time.  Since then the immersive, first person perspective horror game demo changed the landscape of what survival horror could be.  We then saw Resident Evil VII by Capcom, the Park by Funcom, Layers of Fear by Aspyr and Death Standing by Hideo Kojima's new studio Kojima Productions that were all heavily influenced by PT (this point made more obvious for Hido Kojima's Death Stranding) and the future of Survial Horror / Suspense games seems to be headed there with upcoming games like Resident Evil VIII: The Village.  The only reason this isn't officially on the list is because, well, it was sadly never a game but its influence was too important for me not to mention.

Number 5: Sonic Mania.  Ok so Sonic Mania isn't anything new but it is very important in the sense that it is a major franchise, Sonic, by a well established publisher, Sega, and they had officially given the keys of Mobius to the fandom to make a new game and it was fantastic. While that's oversimplying things a bit errr a lot, since Sega just didn't come out of the blue offering that opportunity.  Rather Sega saw a Sonic game pitched by Christian Whitehead, aka Taxman, who worked on porting previous ports of Sonic games to Mobile platforms. Why I think it is important is that this validating the bridge between fandom and passion projects in world where game hacks and fangames are traditionally shut down almost immediately after gaining the slightest attention.  While Sonic Mania isn't a fangame, its roots were deep from the Romhack community.  This represents cracking the door between what the fandom produces and what the corporate offices allow being available to consumers in a world were popular fangames and hacks result in cease and desist orders - which is why I think is very important to put Sonic Mania as the number 5 game of this console generation.

Number 4: Rocket League.  As of today, Rocket League is a now free to play game for better or for worse.  Rocket League is high-octane fun, blasting balls across various courts and fields such as basketball and football with fast automobiles but what it is most well known for is basically soccer with cars.  Rocket League is a lot of fun to play and has a large audience of  in the streaming and esports field which would be reason enough to put this game in a top 5 but what this game marks maybe even more importantly is cross console online play. While other games have and do continue to have online play across systems, back in March of 2016 Microsoft was very interested in allowing online play between Xbox One and other consoles them being extremely hopeful for Playstation 4 in particular, however Sony was holding out.  Sony was hesitant, citing their emphasis on providing a certain quality online experience but finally came to the party and in 2019 you could finally play Rocket League online with all your friends whether it be on PC, Xbox One, Switch, or Playstation 4. Since then we have had other games slowly roll out this feature such as Wargroove and the trend seems to be expanding.  I hope to see all games adopt this in the future and since Rocket League “birthed” this concept coming to the table for cross console online play for us all to enjoy, this is why I think Rocket League deserves the number 4 slot.

Number 3: Bloodborne/Dark Souls III.  This past generation and hell even to some extent decade, spanning to the PS3/Xbox 360, has lead us to compare every challenging game that comes out to Dark Souls.  Cuphead is the Dark Souls of run and gun shooters, Dead Cells is the Dark Souls of Metroidvanias, Celeste is the Dark Souls of platformers, etc.  While the meme of “X is like the Dark Souls of” is hard to find a concrete start, according to Google Trends this first seemed to spike in April of 2015 around the release of Bloodborne, the PS4 game created by FromSoftware.  While not technically a Dark Souls game, it was made by the same team and the game play and feel is very Dark Souls in the sense that I feel the phrase is used today, in contrast to the first two Dark Souls games.  Then we can see that in/and around October 2017 the trend has risen to its peak a little after a year and a half of the release of Dark Souls III.  While this justification may seem more flimsy and ultimately the Dark Souls brand was established in 2011, I do think Bloodborne/Dark Souls III is more in the zeitgeist, if you will, of the “X is like Dark Souls” comparison that has shaped the conversation of so many games today.

Number 2: Undertale.  Undertale is perhaps the darling of this generation. A game chock full of charm with multiple ways to approach it.  Will you save everyone, sacrifice everyone, or something in-between?  This game does look next gen, current gen or even comparable to past gen games until you hit perhaps the SNES or even late NES.  Maybe a number 2 spot is too high on list – this game didn't revolutionize the industry in ways that the other games on this list did nor was it the first anti-RPG of its kind, that would probably go to MOON, but Undertale just had such a powerful impact on gamers when it came out and became so unforgettable.  I feel like Undertale will be a game that we remember for a long time and to not include it in this list because its an indie game would be a real tragedy which segways me to my number 1 game.

Number 1: Shovel Knight.  Shovel Knight is the indie game that, I think, lead to the current boom of retro inspired indie games we have been enjoying.  A love letter to the NES games of the past such as Castlevania, Mega Man and Ducktales to name a few.  Shovel Knight wasn't the first retro inspired indie games but I feel like the attention to detail in trying to stay as true to what the hardware could run in terms of look, color, sound and pixel art with its overwhelming success showed that there was a market for these type of games.  Its success kickstarter in 2013 also showed that Kickstarter could be used as a viable platform to create indie games for a wider audience without having to rely on that Triple A model of good gaming synonymous with big budget corporate funding.  I firmly believe that we wouldn't have the great retro inspired games like Celeste and Dead Cells or the Kickstarter'd Yooka Laylee and Bloodstained or games that did both like Blasphemous if it wasn't for the hard-work and ingenuity that Yacht Club Games paved with Shovel Knight.

To use a popular Youtube cliché to conclude this list, “At the end of the day” I didn't make this list to put Game Informer or anyone's personal preferences down.  If you believe that they got the Top 5 games of the decade right that's perfectly ok and valid too, to have as your opinion.  I also want to reiterate that those five games – The Last of Us Part II, the Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Zelda Breath of the Wild and God of War are all important to this generation coming to a close as well in their own way.  While this list isn't my favorite games of the past generation, maybe I'll do that in the future, they are my subjective “best games list” of the past generation for what I think they did to the industry and you are free to agree, disagree, pick and choose between my list and Game Informers list or make a completely different list of your own.  I'm personally excited to see what the future of gaming has for us in this coming generation and optimistic for what's both around the corner and late into the next systems' life-cycle.  Happy gaming to you however you play.

Webpages noted: https://www.polygon.com/2020/9/17/21443683/nintendo-3ds-discontinued-lifetime-sales-hardware-software-units

https://www.fandom.com/articles/sonic-mania-just-nostalgia

https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/15/15807138/sony-playstation-cross-network-play-xbox-block-response

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/were-ready-microsoft-says-about-xbox-one-ps4-cross/1100-6438654/

https://www.rocketleague.com/news/full-cross-platform-play-now-live-in-rocket-league/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yachtclubgames/shovel-knight

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidDAngelo/20140625/219383/Breaking_the_NES_for_Shovel_Knight.php

Games shown/referenced in the video:

The Last of Us Part 2

God of War

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Red Dead Redeption II

Witcher 3

PT / Silent Hill S

Sonic Mania

Rocket League

Blood Borne

Dark Souls III

Undertale

Shovel Knight

Shantae: Half Genie Hero

Cuphead

Celeste

Yooka Laylee

Mega Man 2

Ducktales

Castlevania

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Blasphemous

Dead Cells

Resident Evil 7

Resident Evil 8

Moon

Layers of Fear

The Park

Death Stranding

Bonus Footage:

Xbox Series X reveal trailer

PS5 reveal trailer

Also note: I messed up in the original video and said the phrase, “X is like Dark Souls of” spiked in April of 2015 when I should have said first peaked in January to April of 2015.  I noted it in the video but wanted to note it again, sorry.

[hypocrisyofandrewdobson]

Does/Did Dobson ever have his own comic series or has it all been strips of him bashing people of different mindsets than his? I mean I know of that- what was it- the thing about lesbians comic but did anything even come out of that???

He’s had a few, though nothing has lasted very long save for a couple...

Untitled Video Store Clerk/Autobiographical comic - probably his first comics posted “professionally”, part were stories about a clerk at a video rental store. Heavily manga inspired and bizarrely wacky. Others could be considered a precursor to SYAC, in which Dobson drew comics about his day-to-day life working at a video rental store. Actually shows off a lot of the talent he started off with. Can be read and seen here.

Patty - Dobson’s “realistic” take on how a tomboy in high school discovers she’s a lesbian. Lasted one volume which can be read here. Occasionally draws art of the two characters to show what a good LGBT “ally” he is. Recently drew a “redesign” to see if people were interested in seeing him redo it.

Formera - very generic “young boy magically and randomly transported to other world and meets cave girl” story. Lasted two volumes. Not really much to say about it due to how generic it was, though a follower did point out the hypocrisy between how Dobson hates on Quiet from MGSV vs how he wrote said cave girl.

Legends/Alex ze Pirate - pirate girl and her crew gets into wacky hijinks. Originally created by a girl Dobson had a crush on and was about space pirates. Lasted two volumes mixed with some comics only posted online. Best know for “Lesbian Kick”

Percy Phillips - massive Sherlock Homes rip-off. Covered in full detail here.

Danny and Spot/Danny and Spot 2: Stop Making Fun of my Wii, Assholes!) - flat-out Garfield rip-off about a guy and his talking cat. Lasted only a few comics in its original run, brought back as a comic calling the Wii the best console ever and bashing the PS3/XBox360 because some people on a video games forum made fun of Dobson for being a such an intense Nintendo shill

So You’re A Cartoonist - His longest last comic to date. Started out as a sort of “day in the life of” comic about being a webcomic artist, but quickly became a strawman comic for Dobson to bash people and things he disliked and imply anyone who disagreed with him was stupid. Origin of his blue bear persona and the “STOP DOING SEXIST CRAP!” comic. Basically, if you see a blue bear, it’s a SYAC.

Brentalfloss: The Comic - was hired to be the artist of a comic written by Brentalfloss(of “What If ~video game song~ Had Lyrics?” fame) and one of the McElroy Brothes. Lasted over a hundred comics before being cancelled. Dobson has no input aside from drawing it, so the jokes and writing are stronger than his usual stuff.

Unnamed Mythological Ski Resort comic(aka Muslim Vampire comic) - project Dobson has supposedly been working on for years but has no physical proof outside of one image. Bragged about how there would be no straight white men anywhere in the comic and mocked people who asked him why. Dubbed”Muslim Vampire comic” became Dobson claimed that the comic would be “very inclusive”, giving a vampire being Muslim as an example. Most likely will never see light of day.

The Adventure Zone: Amnesty webcomic adaptation - Dobson’s fancomic of a D&D audio podcast by the McElroy Brothers. Blatent attempt to be hired as their comic artist for an “official” adaptation of the podcast. Deflected any criticism of the comic by claiming it was a “direct adaptation” of the podcast and not adapted for better flow in a comic, so people were really just hating on the podcast itself. Abandoned after three chapters because he wasn’t getting the attention for it he wanted and the McElroys never contacted him.

Soapbox Derpy - what Dobson calls any political comics he makes. Had a couple made five or so years ago before churning out a ton after Donald Trump was elected president. Can be summed up as “all republicans are evil sexist Nazis and are also stupid racist rednecks”.

Bonus: Monkey Love: comic idea he never got off the ground about the son of a janitor and a monkey he fell in love with at the zoo. Seriously. No, I don’t know why.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #235

“the monster you made is wearing the crown; i’ll be the king and you be the clown.”

What is your favorite move franchise? The Lion King. What was the last fast food you ate? I had a hot dog from Sonic and one of those pretzel twists things. What is the saddest book you’ve ever read? Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. Do you prefer heroes or villains? Villains. Duh. They're like, always more interesting. What is something you think is overrated? Uhhh coffee, for one. But like what you like. What political cause are you most passionate about? Gay rights. What country would you most like to visit? South Africa. Have you ever considered having children? Literally the only period where I wanted kids was later into Jason's and my relationship. Hell, I wanted three while he was always like "onLY TWO." Now, I don't want a single one, ever. I would be an awful mother for many reasons. If you ever took field trips as a child, which was your favorite? The zoo with Dad, my then-best friend, and her mom. One and only time I've seen meerkats. I was so excited I almost cried. Do you have any weird family traditions? It's not like, a tradition, I think, but we have a unique thing where saying "I love you mostest period" is something Mom, Dad, and my sisters have used for all my life. It's a way of saying "I love you more than you could ever love me, no arguments." Now Sara's been dragged into it lmao. Have you ever considered acting? Nope. Who was the last person you slept next to? Sara. Do you think you can be in love and still cheat on your S.O.? You can't "be in love" with a person and fucking cheat on them, no. Do you subscribe to any streaming services? We have Netflix. Idk about anything else. Have you ever been in a physical fight? No. What is the most embarrassing thing anyone has on video of you? I don't even wanna know. Did you ever get lost as a child? Yep, in a Wal-Mart lmao. This old lady helped me find my fam. What is your favorite condiment? Honey mustard. Or ketchup. Depends. Have you ever had an existential crisis? Very surprisingly, not really. Do you like country music? Begone, demon. It's still so weird to me that I loved it as a kid, but I really just grew up with it. What color are the eyes of the person you love? Brown. What is your favorite kind of flower? I looooove orchids. What town were you born in? Not the best thing to share on the Internet, eh? Do you know how to play any card games? I only vaguely understood/understand Magic: The Gathering. It's honestly really fun, but very complex in rules. It was Jason's thing so he got me into it. I miss my PS3 working because I used to have the "Duels of the Planeswalkers" on there, and doing it digitally is much easier and helpful. I loved it mostly because the art is fucking incredible. It was an old little aspiration to wind up designing the art some day and I don't think I ever saw Jason more excited. What is something about your childhood that you miss? Being more into video games than I am now alskdjf;awe. I'm more of a viewer of let's plays now than an active gamer; meanwhile, as a kid, video games were my favorite things in the world. Did you ever have MySpace? Do you miss those days? Yeah, I had one. Honestly though I can barely remember it (other than the song on my page was "Pocketful of Sunshime" lmaooooo as well meerkat-flooded), so it doesn't matter. What is the best television show you’ve ever watched? Meerkat Manor is my favorite show of all time, but as a proper show could have been better. AP made up their own shit and deviated from the KMP facts A LOT (guess what: Mozart killed a competitor's litter before; not exactly MM's her, right?), and not only was that confusing, but just annoying. Give me the real shit; don't just tweak stuff for dramatic effect. I could list a novel of lies in the series. Now, what I feel is the best show without a meerkat bias and just has an overall good plot. I kinda wanna say Supernatural, but the boys dying five million times got old. Possibly Fullmetal Alchemist. Are there any songs you can’t listen to because they bring back memories? I 110% refuse to hear "Stairway to Heaven." Have you ever saved someone’s life? Funny this is brought up after recent events. My sweetheart online bud had a cerebral aneurysm while having an extremely difficult time talking to me, and no one was home quite yet. Her final message was concerning and she didn't reply to me for a while, so I wound up messaging her again after a bit, and her boyfriend heard the b.net notification sound. Saw it was me and asked what was up. Told him, and he figured out she wasn't sleeping on the couch, she was passed out. He told me he never would have known if I hadn't said something. So does that count, even though I didn't like, physically save her? Have you ever broken any major bones? No. Are there any websites you’ve used for over 10 years? Good question? Idk. WAIT HOLD THE FUCK UP, KM's 10th birthday is coming up real soon. Wow. I know YouTube has been much longer. Idr when I joined deviantART. Maybe there's more, I dunno. Do you have any siblings? If so, what are their ages? My two immediate are 22 (ew) and 26 (double ew). Anything exciting taking place today? No, today was A N X I E T Y !! ! ! !! !! What are you craving? Okay so I have been MEGA in "the mood" lately and it's frustrating especially because I don't masturbate so I have like nO OUTLET. Who did you last hit? Nobody saving for when I was a kid repeatedly slapped my sister's arm for doing something I don't remember. How do you do in school? It depends on the subject, but in anything, I am a MASSIVE procrastinator, and I need to fix that. Schoolwork, good good, homework in the library, good good, but when I'm at home, I cannot seem to convince myself to work. As Sara puts it, home is like my "safe" place, and I don't want to bring school into it. Adjusting to school life again after like... two whole years or so of doing NOTHING at all, almost every day all day, is very difficult. I'm SO glad I picked school again, it's just a lot for a person who was so isolated and void of responsibilities to get used to. What’s your biggest goal? Right now, continue to improve my mental health. Fight social anxiety and AvPD. Who have you texted today? Just Sara. Who do you aspire to be like when you grow up? In most ways, especially in kindness, wisdom, relentless determination, passion, creativity, etc. etc. etc. etc., Mark. I think it's obvious he's Role-Model #1. I would loooove to be like Jane Goddall and Steve Irwin, too, feeling with such ferocious potency for animals and how they should be respected and loved. UM AND ALSO, EUGENIA COONEY IS THE SWEETEST PERSON ON THE ENTIRE GODDAMN EARTH AND I WOULD LOVE TO BE AS FRIENDLY AND PRECIOUS AS SHE IS. Oh, and then there's Shane Dawson. I relate to him SO much. He is the most selfless angel that seems SO down-to-earth and relatable as hell. I feel like he could be like, my best friend. Ahhhhhhh there are so many more, I love talking about my inspirations, but I'll chill here. Do you know if you want to go to college or not? I'm in college right now, and I desperately want it to stay that way. I'm fucking going somewhere in my life, and the education it provides will bring me closer to that. College is far from mandatory for everyone, but I feel it is beneficial for me. Do you like grapefruits? I haven't had one in a LONG time, so I don't really remember how they taste. I just know sour. What do you think of guys who wear eyeliner? *drools in Darkiplier* the fuck do you think Do you like online games? Only World of Warcraft, really. Who’s one person you care about more than yourself? Okay, real talk, and I hope this is everybody's answer. No one. I'm putting my goddamn self and my mental peace first for the rest of my life. Are there any pets you’re wishing for? I want another ball python. When’s the last time you used hand sanitizer? Two days ago when Mom and I stopped somewhere to eat. Wearing anything that isn’t yours? No. What type of bread did you use on the last sandwich you made? White. How many doors are in your house? Uhhh six. What was the last compliment you received, that made you smile? Sara said she was really proud of me, and to me, that's one of the biggest compliments you CAN give me. Think you need to lose weight? How much? ugh When was the last time you watched a VHS movie? I don't have a clue. We kept our VHS longer than most, though. We had too many movies on it. What event would you go back in time to see, if you could? Ummmm I dunno. Do you remember the last thing you said you wanted? To hug Sara. Who was the last friend you hung out with&what’d you do together? Sara stayed for a week. We did a lot. Who is the person, other than a spouse, that you are closest to? Sara. If you watched it, who was your favorite Hey Arnold! character? Oh my god, I hated that stupid show, but one of my sisters liked it. Have any good school pictures? or do they all just suck? There is literally ONE picture from elementary school where I think I looked pretty. Do you like trying on clothes or not? & Why? NO. I try to avoid it if I can. It's just annoying to change clothes for like five seconds. What are your thoughts on marriage? It's sweet, but I've come to find it... kinda needless for the most part? Like I know it has financial pluses and the symbolism is beautiful, but it's just that: symbolism originating from fantasies (imo, don't scream at me). It only adds pressure to stay in a dying relationship and makes splitting much more complicated. BUT, even with all that said, I personally want to get married someday, but only if I am *sure* about this person. It's the symbolism I like. That and it's so ingrained into my head that that's the "end goal" of relationships, so I'm pretty much just conditioned to want it. How long have you lived in the current place you’re living? Two years. Do you plan on moving anytime soon, if so where? I want to, but I am not in the financial position or at a level of independence where I'm ready for that. Are you more of a follower, or a leader? Be honest. This may alter with the situation, but mostly, I'm definitely a follower. Are your dreams/nightmares in black&white or color? I've heard of this condition before and it really intrigues me. I dream in color. Have you ever wanted to be some sort of hero outside of video games? I mean, define "hero." Like an action superhero in a literal way, nooooo. I'd die on Day #1, lmao. As a hero/inspiration as a person, of course; who doesn't? Will you admit that you’re at least somewhat superficial? I mean, probably in some places? How often do you go to the mall closest to you? Almost never ever. Our mall sucks and has experienced too many shootings. Do you still count with your fingers, even if only every so often? Yep. Like, always. Have you ever gone on a road trip with just friends? No. Well, I went to the beach with my friend and her mom, but just for a day or two because my separation anxiety from Mom got too bad oof. Without trying, do you act differently around different friends? Depends on the friend. I don't "fake it," just how reserved I am can move around. What was the last thing you drew/wrote on your own or someone else's skin? Probably a butterfly on my wrists when I was actively part of the Butterfly Project community. The last time you spent money, what was it on & how much did you spend? $1.25 for a drink at school. What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on one piece of clothing? Idk, but definitely not a lot. In elementary school, were you more of the bully or the bullied? Thankfully, neither. Do you like when a spouse is clingy, or can you not stand that? I'm sure to a certain degree it would be annoying, but for the most part, hell, I think it's attractive. Especially since I NEED validation you like me. How much do you say you walk in a week outside of school &/or work? Just around my house if you exclude school. Is there anything you wish your parents did differently in raising you? I wish they'd given us chores. Wish Mom didn't spank us. What would you do if the last person you texted asked you out? Lol yo we JUST broke up like an hour ago. We're not ready to get back together yet, obviously. Don't worry a bit, we're both cool. Still best friends, even. To compress a long story, needed personal growth and distance have brought us to returning to just friends. For now, at least. Have you ever received a scholarship? I think so... but not like a huge one, I believe. Who was the last person who got frustrated with you? Most likely Mom. When was the last time you mopped your kitchen floor? I myself have never mopped it. Or maybe once. What is your favorite work of art? I mentioned the Denialism painting in my last survey. What was the last appointment or plan you had to cancel? Plan, my next one with my psychiatrist. What spur-of-the-moment decision that you’ve made has had the biggest impact on your life? I don't know if any have truly changed my life. The ones that did (that I remember) were pondered over. Do you know anyone who is (or has been) a refugee? I don't think so, What is your best friend’s worst habit? She doesn't have faith in herself for ANYTHING lj;ljalwie Do you like spinach and artichoke dip? alksd;fjwei no Have you ever felt like you were about to pass out, but didn’t? Yep, a couple times. What was the name of one of your childhood imaginary friends? I didn't have any. What’s your favorite phase of the moon? Full. Do you wish you were richer? I physically refuse to be anything less than stable, hopefully even above that, once I'm independent. We've been poor all my life and it is fuck-ing HARD. It's stressful as a motherfucker and I am done with it. Very. What’s a middle name you like? Quinn. Fits a lot. I planned on giving that middle name to my hypothetical daughter. Are you scared of spiders? y e a h Do you weigh the same as your mom? No. Were you a Mary-Kate and Ashley fan? Like the average 90s/early 2000s kid. Coffee mugs, teacups, or water bottles? Uh, aesthetically? Teacups, probably. Bubblegum or cotton candy? Gum. I like the taste and texture of cotton candy, it is just RIDICULOUSLY sweet. It bothers my sensitive teeth sometimes. Do you prefer to drink soda from cans, bottles or cups? Cans. They get the coldest. Game you were best at in P.E./gym? Idk, I didn't excel at any. What do you have for breakfast on an average day? I'll typically just have a meal replacement shake or a Pop-Tart. Favorite non-chocolate candy? Sour Punch Straws (gotta be red). Favorite book you had to read for school? The Outsiders. Most frequently worn pair of shoes? My flip-flops, 'cuz they're easy to just slip on. Ideal weather? Cool but not windy (a light breeze is fine) with a partly-cloudy sky. Obsession from childhood? Webkinz. Favorite crystal? Dragon's breath opal. Favorite activity to do in warm weather? Swim or stay the fuck inside. Favorite activity to do in cold weather? Taking pictures in the snow. Five songs to describe you? "Get Up" by Mother Mother, "That's What You Get" by Paramore, uhhh... I don't feel like thinking over this any longer. My iPod isn't near me to scan through what I have, so yeah. Best way for someone to bond with you? Let's have deep philosophical talks about like the meaning of life 'n shit. Top 5 favorite Vines? Oh my god, this is impossible. To name some that come to mind first, in no order: "It's Wednesday, m'dudes *insert mating call*", "I cOUld'vE dROPPED My croiSSANt," "this is why mom doesn't FUCKING LOVE YOU," that one at a club where a girl is doing smoke tricks and the dude just goes "check that out" (or "wow," idr) or something similar (I couldn't find it), and omfg I adore that Snoop Dogg one with the little boy just semi-dancing to that iconic song???? I LOVE IT??????? Man, there are so so many more. Very honorable mention: "a d a m". Ads you have stuck in your head? None, thankfully. What is the first meme you remember seeing? Uhhh maybe Happy Bunny? Idk. Sci-fi, fantasy, or superheroes? Fantasy. Favorite type of cheese? American. What saying or quote do you live by? There's a lot I've picked up on and cling to. #1 is perhaps "Deal with life, or life deals with you." What are you currently stressed about? Some... things I realized about myself that disgust me. Favorite fairy tale? Shrek is a goddamn fairy tale and I will fight to the death against anyone who claims otherwise. Favorite tradition? I don't really have one anymore, but I remember as a kid, I would NEVER let Mom forget to throw some "reindeer food" outside for them lol. Talent you’re proud of having? One that warrants pride, exactly? Not just random talents? Well, uhhh. I suppose writing. I mean it modestly, I really do, but as a kid, my teachers all the way through high school always thought I was cheating or a parent did my papers at home. Some were only convinced by me writing in the classroom. I don't feel as good about my writing as I did in high school, but I am sill proud of excelling in it and taking writing anywhere seriously. If you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be? I mean, name the game and genre here. Probably like "what the fuck" at like, everything, because I already do that. If you were an anime character, what genre of anime would it be? Like, based on my current life? I dunno. A sad and repetitive one with some bright days to it. Ohhh, and the color scheme and lighting vary with my mental state. Yo that would be dope. Character you relate to? lmao THRALL from WoW for being like "can y'all bastards just chill tf out" until he goes off to an isolated land away from civilization bc he's seen enough shit. Also compelled to help. Any good luck charms? I don't believe in those. Least favorite flavor of food or drink? As far as consistent flavors go, normally cherry or grape. Left or right handed? I'm a righty. Favorite potato food? Fries, when I wish they weren't. Earth tones or jewel tones? Jewel. How many phone numbers do you have memorized? Literally just Mom's. Not even mine.

[liugeaux]

The Master of Blasting

Months ago, once I realized my Retron had a save-state feature, something got into me. I realized I could go back to old retro games and actually finish them. Sure, I played 100s of games in the 8 & 16-bit eras, but I’ve never been that good at anything with a steep difficulty. Most games of the late-80s, early 90s were punishingly tough and typically, without cheat codes I never got to see the end of them.  

After playing through all the old Donkey Kong Country games and Sonic the Hedgehog 1, I turned my eye towards a peculiar series I had only dabbled in before, Blaster Master. With the release of Blaster Master Zero on Switch, I was extra interested in diving into the well-regarded B-tier NES original.  

With a little research, I found that a total of 8 Blaster Master games have been released...that’s when the classic Sergio completist kicked in. I convinced myself that I shouldn’t play the new Switch games until I’ve completed all of the retro titles. When I began my journey I didn’t realize it would be such a headache.  Here’s my run-through of all the Blaster Master Games.  

1988 - Blaster Master (NES)

Ah, the original. This little game has a charm to it that most games of the late 80′s don’t have. It was clearly inspired by Nintendo published games like Metroid and Zelda. Blaster Master’s key gimmick is the ability to play as the armored tank Sophia the 3rd or as an on-foot character named Jason, the pilot of the tank. As needed, Jason jumps out of the tank and enters human-sized doors.

Blaster Master is a 2D platformer, but once Jason enters a door, the game switches to an overhead perspective for navigation through maze-like dungeons. None of the mazes are particularly hard to solve, but all of the game’s bosses are found in these dungeons. As a kid, having a game that completely switched perspectives was rad. I never owned it as a child, but I vividly remember my time with it through rentals and such.  

This first game is super hard and I found myself using known glitches to get past the game’s harder boss sequences. In true Metroidvania-style, there’s heavy backtracking throughout Blaster Master and if you don’t know where you’re going getting to the next level can be quite annoying. Having played the whole game, I can finally say that despite a super strong first impression, Blaster Master isn’t that great. 

It's WAY too hard and by the halfway point the luster had worn off the unique gameplay. For some reason, this is the point where I decided to dive headfirst into the rest of the Blaster Master games. I’m a glutton for punishment I guess.  

1991 -  Blaster Master Boy (Game Boy)

Prior to playing the original, I had no idea there were so many titles in this series. I definitely didn’t know there were multiple portable entries. Blaster Master Boy is less a Blaster Master game and more a Bomberman game. Technically its a sequel to the Bomberman spin-off Robo-Warrior. A quick trip over to Youtube can confirm that the gameplay and music are lifted directly from Robo-Warrior. To add even more confusion, in Japan, Robo-Warrior was called Bomber-King, Blaster Master Boy was Bomber-King Scenario 2 and it wasn’t even published by the same company.  

Because of this weirdness, I didn’t spend too much time with Blaster Master Boy. It also didn’t help that there isn’t a decently priced copy anywhere on the internet.  

1993 - Blaster Master 2 (Genesis)

Five years after the original, Blaster Master returned to the console market with Blaster Master 2. It was a Sega Genesis exclusive and the only title in the series released in the 16-bit era. Playing this immediately after the original really made it quite hard. The controls aren’t as precise and the difficultly level is somehow ratcheted up. Blaster Master 2 is a more straight forward platformer without the backtracking of a traditional Metroidvania. 

Unlike the first game, when you enter the human sections of the game, you don’t start a top-down sequence. Instead, the pilot levels are 2D platform shooter areas. All of these seem half-baked, clunky and compared to the game’s contemporaries, quite sad. Fortunately, top-down gameplay wasn’t completely abandoned, before the end of each level there’s an odd top-down sequence, where you pilot Sophia. This mechanic never returns in future games, but taking the rest of the game into consideration, it really isn’t terrible.  

Unfortunately, there’s not much good to say about Blaster Master 2, It hits most of the design notes that the first one hits but the entire experience feels like it was made by a completely different team. Funny enough, after saying that, I looked it up and Blaster Master 2 was, in fact, made by a completely different team. Ha! 

The game’s only saving grace is its vivid color pallet and solid sprite design. Like the first game, the music solid, but unless you’re taking a trip through the whole series like me, Blaster Master 2 can be skipped.   

2000 - Blaster Master: Enemy Below (Game Boy Color)

It took Sunsoft awhile to get around to the Blaster Master series again, but in 2000 they came out swinging. Blaster Master: Enemy Below was released for Game Boy Color and of all the games on this list, it is the game that most resembles the original. Much of the art is designed to look nearly identical to the NES games’, even down to a nearly pixel-perfect recreation of the SOPHIA tank.   

The top-down Jason segments return as does the extreme difficulty and fantastic soundtrack. It’s hard to really complain about the execution of this title. It was clearly an attempt at just trying to make the closest thing they could to the original and in many ways, it is a tighter and more consistent experience. Unfortunately, that’s also a strike against it. Enemy Below doesn’t bring anything new to the table. The bosses are basic re-hashes of the originals, the levels feel like a “lost levels” DLC pack and the game being portable doesn’t really encourage innovation.  

I guess the coolest thing I can say about Enemy Below is that it's still available for purchase. On the 3DS Virtual Console, you can pick up Enemy Below for about $5. At that price, it’s easy to recommend, especially since it comes with built-in save-state functionality.  

2001 - Blaster Master: Blasting Again (Playstation)

Also, released in 2000 (in Japan, 2001 in North America), is the weirdest game in the series to date, Blaster Master: Blasting Again. For those of you too young to remember, the Playstation/N64 era of video games was full of 2D series trying their hand at 3D games. Blasting Again is an egregious example of this frustrating industry trend. You still pilot a tank, with all the same features, like homing missiles, and hover, but you’re dropped into a fully realized 3D world with painfully bad anime cut-scenes.  

The “Jason” sequences are still here, but they too are 3D and mundanely boring. Also, with this being an official sequel to the original, you play as Jason’s son Roddy, not Jason. Much of the music from earlier in the series is remixed, and rerecorded, so not all is lost in the odd one-off. Unfortunately, the antiquated tank controls and punishing difficulty makes Blasting Again hard to recommend. I was able to play it on PS3 with no issues, but the toggle switch for the digital and analog controls was initially hard to find.  

I ended up sinking about 40 hours into finally beating this tragedy. I wasn’t able to use save states and despite it being objectively bad, I grew to love it’s janky and unfair presentation. As a whole, these games have really tested my ability to control my anger, but Blasting Again was the first one to truly get all the way under my skin.  

2010 - Blaster Master: Overdrive (WiiWare)

Notice, I have yet to say any of these games are good, that’s because they aren’t. What they have is a charm to them that conjures the aura of the scrappy beginnings of gaming and the forced appreciation of only owning 4 games that had no checkpoints. Thus far, despite initial misgivings, I’ve enjoyed my time on this journey. Blaster Master: Overdrive is where that joy ended. The fun I was having with the series was taken out back, brutally beaten, and left to die in the town square as an example to anyone daring to play this absolute nightmare.

Overdrive starts innocently enough. It does it’s best to try and evoke the gameplay and tone of the original and for what it's worth the art style isn’t terrible. The Sophia and Jason gameplay loops are in-tact and even the gun-upgrades are more important than ever. Where Overdrive falls apart is its difficulty and embarrassing lack of control options.  

I’m sure most of you are at least familiar with the Wii-Remote. With this being a Wii-Ware only game, it could only be played with the Wii-Remote. The real downside is that the developer either ran out of time or opted not to explore the myriad of control options the Wii offered. There’s no classic controller support, no Gamecube controller support, there’s not even a way to map buttons to a nun-chuck. You are stuck playing with the Wii-Remote turned sideways.  

This wouldn’t be that big of a deal if they had found a better way to implement strafing into the controls. To strafe, the player must hold the B button. That’s the button underneath the Wii-Remote. In a world where the player is using the remote like an old-school NES controller, B button usage is a legit finger-bending-nightmare. Couple this broken control scheme with punishing difficulty and you have the perfect recipe for rage-quitting. I‘m not proud of my behavior during my time with this game and let’s just say I own 1 less Wii-Remote now.

The last thing I want to say about Overdrive is less about the game itself and more about its availability. The Wiiware marketplace is 100% closed, which means there’s no legit way to purchase this game, outside of buying someone’s Wii who had already bought it. This is an ominous foreshadowing of things to come. I would have paid for this game. Hell, I’m deep enough into this BM adventure I would have paid a premium to play this dumb game, but Nintendo’s shut-down of the Wii-Ware shop is a low-key attack on game preservation that us archivist, CANNOT forget. *steps off of soap-box* 

2017 - Blaster Master Zero (Switch/Steam)

With the release of Blaster Master Zero, the series got the most attention it’s had since the original game. Most of that attention was because Zero was basically a launch game for the Switch. The best way to describe Zero is to say that it’s developer Inti’s attempt to take the Blaster Master formula and actually make a decent game. For the most part, they succeed. Oddly enough, almost 30 years later, Zero is the first legitimately good Blaster Master game.  

Much like Enemy Below, Zero tries its hardest to evoke the look of the original NES game. Some refer to games like this as pixel art, others refer to it as lazy...I float somewhere in the middle on it. It was great playing a Blaster Master game with a proper controller where the mechanics actually work. However, it was frustrating seeing a game, based on a design aesthetic that hit its ceiling in the late 80s, try to beautify itself. Many attempts were made to make the design stand out, but it just kept hitting the ceiling established by its predecessors.  

Alternately, by Inti making the game super-playable, the flaws of the older games stand out even more than before. Typically, good Metroidvania’s have an intuitive way of hinting at where you need to go next or a good way of telling you what access you’re new power-ups give you. Due to Zero’s obsession with evoking the original, that intuitive gameplay is replaced with a red box on the map screen. This turns the game into a “drive to red box, shoot things, drive to next red box and shoot more things, experience”, rather than the naturally explorative nature of other games in its genre. The anime story seemed unnecessary from the start, but I’m sure someone will enjoy it. 

While playing Zero I honestly asked myself, “Is this game way easier than the older games, or can I finally control this little tank properly?” I’m sure the real answer is somewhere between those two extremes, but ultimately Zero was a blast, albeit WAY too easy. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the sequel improves upon this wonderful jumping-off point. However, I’m positive I’ll be disappointed that more wasn’t done to bring the series into the modern 2D-platforming space.   

2019 - Blaster Master Zero 2 (Switch)

Zero 2 is very much a sequel to Zero. In true anime fashion, the story immediately gets super self-serious and consequently superfluous. I’m sure some players will love the dialog between protagonist Jason and all of the various anime-faced characters, but that’s not what I’m here for. Needless to say, the story gets involved in ways other Blaster Master games haven’t. That’s not a strike against it, it’s just a characteristic that may not actually matter.  

All previous mechanics are intact here and new ones are introduced almost immediately. If Zero was truly the first good Blaster Master game, then the refinements introduced in Zero 2 make it...wait for it...THE BEST BLASTER MASTER GAME EVER MADE! It controls well, the levels are interestingly built, and where previous sequels in the series lacked innovation, Zero 2 is full of cool and weird, new stuff. The bosses are fresh and interesting, the Jason sequences have been enhanced with a brand new counter mechanic and the space travel segments add a level of depth not seen in previous games.  

I hate that I’m being so positive about the game. It’s been so much fun talking shit about Blaster Master games. Unlike the previous game, developer Inti found a way to modernize the gameplay and still make a genuinely challenging experience. I had trouble with multiple bosses, but never did I feel like the game was unfair, or something was broken. Many of the additions to the story also benefited the gameplay. Something as simple as making the Frog from the original game the reason Jason can immediately leave dungeons serves both the story and gameplay.  

This has been a long journey, and the real hero is Inti Creates. Hopefully, Zero and Zero 2 have done well. The work put in by Inti deserves praise. They have perfected a formula that’s been pending since 1988. Both titles are only $10 on the Switch shop, and at that price, you are basically stealing them. Anyone with a Switch has no reason not to pick at least one of them up and check it out.   

As for the series itself...I have very mixed feelings. There are very few good Blaster Master games. It's a series that trades in loose nostalgia for a widely forgotten NES game. From that, a bunch of often half-hearted sequels were developed trying to capitalize on the little bit of cache the original game still has. I don’t regret my time with the series and I think more titles deserve the Blaster Master treatment, but subjectively, I wouldn’t recommend anyone pick up any games outside of the original and the 2 newest Switch titles.  

[thanagariansnarebeast]

Top 15 favorite video games: part 2.

7. Bioshock

I remember first reading about this game in the pages of Game Informer and being fascinated by the story and the environment of what was described. I had no idea how good it was until I launched up the game and finally took that first decent into Rapture. The claustrophobic environment, visual aesthetic of a dilapidated dystopia and the enemies being remnants of once good people were all an amazing experience. The story and characters were amazing, and the idea of an underwater city built to try and be free of any ideology or morality was fascinating, and finding out exactly how the city fell apart and collapsed under its own “greatness” was a very unique experience.

6. God of War (PS2)

This game was a birthday present when I was 15 and I loved it, I love Greek mythology and I love action games, so this was an amazing gift. The opening of the game is one of the best I’ve ever played, and the boss fights are some of my all time favorites. The music in this game is incredible, and I love the accurate representation of the Greek gods being complete fucking assholes and ruining lives because they just don’t care. Kratos is a great anti-hero (or villain, ether one is fair) and the Blades of Chaos are a really unique video game weapon. The sequels are amazing but this one holds a special place in my heart.

5.   Devil May Cry 3

Another birthday present, this one from the year before, this game was a very interesting experience for me; I’d never seen such a difficult game, or one so anime inspired. This game oozes goofy, over the top fun and demon slaying is always fun. The combos and weapons in the game are fantastic, and the story might be a big generic; but the game never takes itself seriously enough for that to be an issue. The characters in the game are great and Dante and Virgil being brothers who are enemies is a fun dynamic. This game also has some fantastic boss fights they really make you have to master your timings and attacks.

4. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

I fucking love Star Wars, I fucking love RPGs, and I fucking love good stories and characters; and this game has all of that. The story of this game is one of my favorites in anything, not just video games but all media, and the Revan twist is something that I didn’t see coming and really blew me away the first time I played this game. I’ve probably played through the story 7 or so times and I still love it, Bioware is at its best here and the character interactions and your decisions effecting everything in the game and you being able to ruin entire planets with your decisions really makes you feel like what you are doing is important to the galaxy. HK 47 calling everyone a “meatbag” is endlessly hilarious, and might be the first sassy Star Wars robot. I was at a con recently and got an autograph of Jennifer Hale (Bastila Shan) and its something very special to me in large part because of this game.

3. Mortal Kombat (2009)

Mortal Kombat 9 was such an amazing experience when it first came out. The past 5 Mortal Kombat games had been 3D, and had really suffered in quality because of it. The stories and characters had become terrible and the franchise was dying. Then came Mortal Kombat 9, or just Mortal Kombat as its actually called. The first 2D game in the franchise since the good old days of UMK3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy, it was a reboot of the franchise that still used everything that had come before to set up the story. Knowing the old games was a benefit to the twists and turns of the story and altered timeline, but not essential to it. This was also the re-invigoration of the tournament scene for the MK games, which was a very welcome return. The roster of this game is damn near perfect, with the dlc adding an old favorite, the only good character from Deadly Alliance, Freddy motherfucking Kreuger, a new character that was a lot of fun, and I had the PS3 version so I also had Kratos which was awesome. Everything in this game represented a return to form and a new beginning for a franchise that desperately needed it. Mortal Kombat X and 11 have both been fantastic as well, but I chose 9 because of not just it being a fantastic game, but what it did for the series.

2. Dark Souls

I love dark fantasy and I love armor and weapons in video games, and this game has that as well as fantastic combat, and some amazing gothic horror as well. The bosses in this game are some of the best in any game and the game may be punishingly difficult, but the feeling of accomplishment when you finally get over some massive hurdle you were stuck on or finally slay a powerful boss that had been using your body as a punching bag is so incredibly satisfying. The sad state of the world in this game is also refreshing, instead of being some amazing savior sent to kill the big bad fucking up the world; your goal is ether to prolong the dying world for a little while longer, or end it and start something new. Killing gods that have been corrupted and used to be heroic adds a tragic twist to fighting bosses and makes killing them bitter sweet. I absolutely adore how you can make different characters and create builds around certain spells and weapons and I really wish more games would incorporate systems like that, even if they aren’t exactly balanced in any Dark Souls game. I also love how when you get past the opening area you can pretty much go where ever you want, the level design is almost perfect, with every location being somewhat connected to the next, often times looping in on each other.

2. (tie) Dragon Age: Origins

The second Bioware game on this list, it has all the roleplaying and great character writing of KotOR and more, a deep universe that they created; this game was in development for a long time to create a rich lore and new twist on fantasy tropes. The world really feels fleshed out and the characters feel like real people, with issues and hang ups and oddities that make them not just archetypes like most games have. Making decisions that effect characters and your companions can often be tough because you really care about what happens to them and how they feel, and how the world sees you. The gameplay isn’t perfect, its an odd mix of turn based and real time, but it still works pretty well. I put Dark Souls and Dragon Age in the same spot because I love them both for the same yet opposite reasons, if someone could take the roleplaying and world building of Dragon Age and combine it with the stats and combat and boss fights of Dark Souls it would create the perfect game for me.

1. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion

I absolutely loved playing this game when it first came out, and I really wish I could get it to work on my PC so I could relive the glory that is this game. Skyrim is probably the more obvious pick for most people, but Oblivion was my first Elder Scrolls and first Bethesda game; and Oblivion has better rpg mechanics and a better story in my humble opinion. I love the Dark Brotherhood questline in this game more than any other questline in any game ever, its so fucking good. The game looks like shit graphically now, but back when it came out it was gorgeous, and I remember the first time I played it on an HD tv I was blown away. The rich world and the big name actors being in it was a real treat, and having Sir Patrick Stewart play the king really gave that character the gravitas and importance that was needed to establish a character quickly. Sean Bean being his son was also fantastic, and brings this list pretty much full circle because of him being in Goldeneye. The armor and weapon designs are really good for the most part, and I love collecting all the Daedric artifacts and creating havoc with them. I still get excited when I hear the music from this game, and its orchestral quality really adds to the epic feeling of the game. There’s no one stealing sweet rolls or arrows to the knee in this one ether.

There are a lot of other games that I love and that were hard to leave off this list, but its pretty long as it is; and I’m sure eventually new games will take the place of some of these.

[ginnyzero]

Not All Powerful Female Characters are Warriors: Okami

Okami is a video game that I was exposed to back in college. (My friends were computer game majors.) And I was introduced to it by my roommate who had been following the development of the game for a long time. She adored the game since it featured a wolf as the lead. (For once, a reason for the silent lead to actually be silent! Woof!) We were both lovers of all things Japan and the game's art style was in Japanese ink painting. Which, if you know anything about gaming, 3D realistic was the way to go even back then. Clover studios tried it and didn't like the results. (To put this friend into perspective, she also loved SMT: Digital Devil Saga, the RPG where you play part demons that can eat enemies. Yes. EAT. But that was also based on Bhuddism and Hindu Mythology sooo..)

Okami was about Okami Amaterasu and her fight against the minions of Yame in order to cleanse and defend Nippon. The story line too many of the stories and legends of ancient Nippon (and before) and wove them into a cohesive story about Amaterasu and the people she was helping. The goal of the story was to earn praise of the locals by helping them, cleanse the land of cursed zone and solve logic puzzles, oh and fight monsters. Lots, and lots, and lots of monsters. As Amaterasu progressed through the game and overcame challenges or inspired the people of Nippon, she would regain her 13 powers of the brush.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evRYEFzAY8w

With the brush, you could 'draw' on the screen using your controller to do magic spells. These magic spells ranged from restoring/mending objects, growing plants, moving water/fire/lightning/ice, walking on walls and slowing down time. This was a really innovative style of game play at that time and inspired other games.

I always felt that Okami was a game that not only would appeal to boys (most game studio's target demo) because of the fights and the bosses, and also to girls because of well, the pretty graphics, the style of game play (at least the first half of it) and the multiple female characters. Though it's not for children. (Sake, bouncing boobs, and so on and so forth.)

Amaterasu, the silent wolf lead, is well, a female, based on the Japanese Goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu with her divine mirror and beads. (The third divine weapon was the sword, which also had significance to Amaterasu in Japanese Mythology.) There were also several major female characters throughout the game that were important, even if they weren't all warriors. Female characters don't have to be warriors to be strong characters and strong women.

Kushi's bravery to face Orochi and her sake brewing helped Amaterasu and Susano (a male warrior) defeat the 8 headed dragon. Himiko and Otohime were two Queens whose bravery, abilities and willingness to sacrifice themselves for a cause they believed in, helped find Oni Island and allowed Amaterasu to actually get there. (Otohime did this while pregnant too. Multiple props to her badassery.) There was a female villainess and despite the fact the game has been out for 10 years or so now, I don't want to spoil it for you! Just to say, that she is there and man does the game keep you guessing. Then Kai and Lika in the last arc are important in helping Amaterasu navigate the forest of confusion and keeping Nippon from turning into a frozen wasteland. Plus, there were other female characters that Amaterasu helped too, Princess Fuse, Moon Maiden Kaguya, the Sasa Sanctuary daughter and so on and so forth.

Yes, they were all supporting players. Without their help, and prayers, and belief, Amaterasu wouldn't have been able to succeed in her quest.

The end of the game in the fight against Yame (who was a big ball, sigh, what is it with the Japanese...) there was a large emotional pay out because of the structure of the game and all the work and help Amaterasu had provided to the people. (In order to level Ammy up, you had to get praise to increase health, ink pots for magic, lives and increase the money pouch.)

I was really sad and upset when Capcom closed Clover Studios in favor of making another Resident Evil rather than Okami 2 that they'd clearly set up in the end of the first game! Because, I wanted more cleansing, helping people and earning praise shenanigans.

That's the upside of Okami.

But there is a downside to the game. It's long. I mean, it's long. Don't start unless you've got 40 to 60 hours to put into it. There are a lot of side quests and a whole bunch of collectibles to find. And yeah, you need a lot of money in order to get some of the higher level magic spells and divine instruments and fighting techniques, so you will be doing a large amount of fishing and minion fighting.

And because it's long and because they spaced out getting the brush techniques. It's A) easy to forget the earlier techniques and when you need to use them. And B) the later techniques and even some of the middle techniques aren't explored to their full potential. Ice in particular and even Wind falls into this category.

The second half of the game also becomes less about restoring the land and more about dungeons and monster fighting which makes it less innovative and more like every other platformer game out there ever. In fact, the last third of the game, the Northern arc after Ninetails and before going into the Ark of Yamato, is mostly exposition. I mean lots of boring, repetitive, exposition, where they tell you the same things at least three times. The first 2/3 of the game, they spend that time having you "relive" the story and hand holding your way on what to do next in Sei-an City. (Kusa Village is also unmemorable despite being between Kamiki and Sei-an.) The last 1/3 of the game, forget hand holding (trying to figure out what to do next can be a bit of a chore and it's a bit jarring) and the tale of the Ark of Yamato gets told, over, and over, and over. ENOUGH ALREADY. I GET IT.

I mean, sure the stump city of the Poncles was great and going back in time was sort of fun? (Except this means you defeat Orochi 3 times in the game. And let me tell you, he's not that interesting of a boss.)

Thus, I tend to forget the second half of the game. It's annoying. It's boring. I dislike dungeons and racing clocks. I spend too much time facing bosses that I've already defeated. Can I please go back to clearing cursed zones and making cherry trees BLOOM?

Despite this, I do love the game. I think it had a lot of potential and really did break some boundaries of the way games were made and stories were told. It was also beautiful. Don't let the video fool you. The PS2 version wasn't that fuzzy. If it had been that fuzzy, it would have been unplayable.

They did make a digital HD download of Okami for PS3, which is too bad because I prefer hard copies of my games. (Just a quirk.) Otherwise, in order to play it again, I will have to open and set up my PS2. Fortunately, the let's play on Youtube reminded me why I won't be bothering anytime soon. (Even if I did yell at the screen a lot at the player.)

If you have the time for it, love Japanese legends and lore and enjoy platformers. I do recommend Okami.

[excusemewhileiplaykh]

What This Series Means to Me: #ThankYouKingdomHearts

I used to go to a public school right next to my apartment building when I was growing up. Unfortunately, in the 3rd grade,  my mom decided to take me out of there and put me in a private school. A Catholic private school.

I was not happy.

I didn’t want to wear the dumb private school uniform. I didn’t want to go to church. I didn’t want to deal with the strict rules and the praying and all the other stuff that was “not cool” about Catholic school.

I started the 4th grade at my new school and made friends with a girl who I actually knew from elementary school. One day, she brought her KH 1 and 2 copies to school and showed me at lunch. The box art… the instruction manual… Everything was so cool and colorful. I fell in love with it. I especially remember thinking how cool Riku looked, in all his chartreuse yellow wonder.

I went home that day and looked up more stuff on the series and really got into the lore. And by that I mean I spent disgusting amounts of time every day going on kh-vids.net.

I really wanted to buy KH 1 so I can start playing the series with the first game. I wasn’t even sure how much the game was gonna cost me, but I figured it wouldn’t be more than 15 bucks (keep in mind I was in the 4th grade so that was a lot of money to me back then lol). I didn’t bother to look up the price online. Somehow I just knew that price was right. Eventually, I scraped together the money and I was so excited to finally get to buy Kingdom Hearts so I could play it for myself and not live vicariously through kh-vids.net. There was a video game store a block away from my school (my neighborhood didn’t have a Gamestop yet) and I asked my mom if we could go there after school. I asked the guy that works there if he had Kingdom Hearts, but told me he only had 2 and one copy of it at that. I asked him how much and it was exactly 15 dollars, the exact amount I had and the exact amount I had randomly guessed the game would cost.

I was kinda bummed they didn’t have KH 1, but honestly, at that age, KH 1 probably would have been too hard for me and I would have abandoned the series after that bad experience.

So it was like everything in the universe lined up just right for me to get into the series. I guessed the exact price the game would cost me. I bought 2 instead of 1, ensuring I would fall in love with the series. Hell, if I hadn’t gone to private school I never would have gotten into the series cuz I wouldn’t have befriended that girl! We were always in different classes in my public school. I guess it was meant to be.

I went home that day and rapidly did my homework so I could play it. The rest is history. I spent the entirety of that school year playing and beating and replaying that game over and over.

Unfortunately, I lost my original copy of 2 and subsequently lost my favorite game around the time I was in the 5th grade. My discovery and detachment from the series were also at the advent of extreme family issues (which I don’t want to get into).

However, 2 years later, Days came out. I was lucky enough to have a DS at that point so I could play it. My mom bought me a copy about a month after it’s release. Just like 2, I played it over and over again non-stop.  I was kinda mad at the Xion twist at first and thought it was “dumb”. So much so I stopped playing the game for a good 2 weeks. I was so shocked when I saw Sora’s face on Xion that I immediately closed my DS and went to bed in anger. I got over it though. I can still remember beating it while I was sitting on my grandma’s bed. I watched the final cutscene as we were leaving her house that night.

BBS was announced. And I was pissed.

Like most people, we expected KH3, not another “spin-off”. I swore off the series and I said I wouldn’t be buying anymore KH games. Since I wasn’t going to buy that game, I decided to spoil myself. I knew about the x-blade and how Vanitas looked way before the game released in the US. I rolled my eyes at Vanitas looking at Sora and criticized Ventus being a carbon copy of Roxas. I thought to myself, “Wow, this game is gonna be so fucking stupid.”

I was watching abc family one day and commercials were rolling out and one of them was none other than an ad for BBS.

...

As soon as the commercial was over I walked into my parent’s room and told them I wanted a psp for Christmas.

Oh and by the way, Birth by Sleep is my favorite KH game now.

The family issue that began while I was still playing 2 intensified during this time. I used BBS to escape. I felt bad for Ven, Aqua, Terra, and Vanitas who were being swept up in the mistakes of others. I could relate.

It’s 2010, I found out Coded, the elusive phone game, was finally coming to the US in 2011. I was excited. I sold Dissidia and Saints Row 2 so I could buy it. Me and my mom hopped the bus to go to gamestop so I could get it because we didn’t have enough money for bus fare. Needless to say, we were in a bad place, but Kingdom Hearts was there to comfort me. I sacrificed a lot for Re:Coded so even though it was bad, I still remember it fondly.

It’s 2012. The Dream Drop Distance demo drops (no pun intended). I was absolutely in love. I was still going through intense hardship because of family issues and I was given another way to escape. Watching Riku face his demons and finally conquer the darkness that was holding him back inspired me. I thought to myself: “Maybe someday I could do the same”. I always loved Riku, but that game really made him a role model for me. I wanted to grow past the circumstances others had put me in too and start to become my own person, a person who was more confident and positive. I played through it twice back to back.

In 2012, I also started high school. Again because of family stuff, I was going through a really hard time and wasn’t immediately making friends at school. I eventually did, but those friends didn’t like video games. I still remembered Kingdom Hearts though.

In 2013, I started my blog and I immediately knew it needed a KH related name. I’ve had the same url since I started. I don’t plan to ever abandon this blog or diverge it from it’s Kingdom Hearts focus. Although my friends weren’t into Kingdom Hearts, I had all of you to talk to about it. Thanks for keeping my interest in the series alive and thanks for all the laughs throughout the years. I really mean that.

In 2013, the promise at the end of Dream Drop Distance seemed like it was about to be fulfilled. Kingdom Hearts 3 was announced to be in development. I remember being in my living room and then going to my room so I could freak out alone. I jumped and scream. I was so excited. I thought I would be playing this game by the end of high school for sure (I am now a Junior in college…)

I didn’t have ps3 at the time the remixes were coming out so I missed out on them initially. Again because of my never-ending family issues, I also lost my 3ds, psp, etc. so I couldn’t play any of my KH games. I was so starved to play one of those games again. My blog kept me connected to Kingdom Hearts during that time though and somewhat slated my desires.

I went over to one of my friend’s houses and she had a ps3 in her room. She said it used to be her brother’s but once he got his ps4, he gave it to her so she could watch Netflix. The ps3 had a Kingdom Hearts wallpaper on it and I thought it was really cool that her brother was into KH like me. I wanted to befriend him so eventually, I did. I started to talk to him in 2014 and we really got along (besides liking KH, we had the same sense of humor, views on life, politics, etc.)

It was 2015, and I had fallen in love with someone and it was all because the fates aligned on that September day in 2007 and I was able to buy the only copy of KH 2 in my local game store and because I managed to guess the exact price of the game. We’re still together today and everyday I feel more and more alive. I can actually say that Kingdom Hearts is one of the main reasons I found love.

Not only did it find me my soulmate, but it also kept me alive and hopeful when I most wanted to die. I always remembered the kind messages the series instills in its players. Small little takeaways and sayings like “There’s a light that never goes out!” or “My friends are my power! And I’m theirs!” or “Come Riku! You’ve been hanging around in the darkness too long! You gotta think positive!”

The series has always been there in some form to bring me happiness and that’s why I can never let it go.

Listen, I’m the first person to admit this series is a trash fire (my blog title is “Mickey Mouse Bullshit”). I will always view the series as a sanctuary (no pun intended), no matter what. As a beacon of hope. Sora’s incessant optimism found some way to infect me. Like Riku, I have become “Sora-esque”. I honestly believe I am the person I am today because of this series and moreover because of its characters who always fight no matter how dark it gets. I am still here because of this series.

So no matter how bad the plot gets or how dumb the time travel shit becomes or how bad the ship wars get or how elitist people are about KH2FM (which is overrated!) or all the “spin-offs” we get or the weird dialogue or all the Xehanorts and all the Soras, etc., etc.,  I will always love this series and support it.

I love Kingdom Hearts. I love Kingdom Hearts because over the years it has shown me how to love and has always loved me.

Thank you, Kingdom Hearts and thank you to this community.

[messer92]

Demon's Souls

So I've gotten back into the Souls Series recently, particularly I've been binging on Dark Souls 3 and it got me feeling nostalgic....

Now I'm sure you all know all that will be said but I feel like rambling so here goes;

Demon's Souls is the PS3 exclusive and and could be considered the prototype title of the Souls games, many of its iconic charecteristics refined or improved upon come the Dark Souls trilogy.

In this game you aren't some undead who came to fulfill a prophecy or link the fire, wether your character is a benelevont sort or not your some warrior who heard of Boletaria, a kingdom invaded by demons spawned from the Old One, massive being who hungers for souls, and you head there either to save the land or harness the power of souls.

As per usual in the souls games they set you out in a beginner's area where the enemies aren't that tough save one or two but are likely to come ahead in the end, easing you in and introducing you to the controls along the way before you encountre the tutorial boss.

Now if you all remember the Jail Demon in Daro Souls 1 then you'll be very familiar with how this Imp Demon boss fights, except the battle area is smaller. For those unfamiliar with the Souls Series the boss is supposed to represent as a big ol' wakeup call, because he hits hard and he doesnt go down easy, in fact you aren't expected to win most of the time because if you lose they quickly untroduce you go the original 'hollow' state after whisking you away to the Nexus, the hubworld of Dark Souls much like the Shrin in DS3.

If you do win however you get teleported to another area you can't leave and get one shotted by an Archdemon, then they teleport you the enxus

Players will immediately notice they've less health than when they were alive and that they are glowy phantoms which is the similar to how it worked in Dark Souls 1 , find some NPCs that serve their very basic needs, meet a couple of quest important NPCs and the staple crestfallen warrior but most importanly they get to meet the Maiden in Black.

The OG Fire Keeper, where you offer up souls to level up your stats. This lady was the first Souls Waifu and don't you forget it!

You will be going in and out the Nexus a lot, especially since within there are five giant stone tablets (well it was six but that one was broken) that you will be using to begin your journey to slay the Old One's Archdemons starting with world 1, area 1 of Boletaria proper.

Boletaria itself is oretty much the typical 'medival area with undead soldiers' that you've seen in early Dark Souls areas, and much like them you will also probably be revisting it later as once you reach the end of world 1-2 or 1-3 I can't remember you are required to slay the Archdemons of the other areas first before you can access the remainder areas.

Thus leads you into;

A prison world with cthulu looking monstrositities and some boss gimivks that have been recycled in other games.

A cave dwelving world with mindless miners, demonic slave masters, and eventual area with a lot of heat.

A tomb with skeletal undead that (don't resurrect to catch you off guard) can wreck you because they're gosh damng agile and have good reach and other undead things, along with another boss gimmick that gets reused in a certain other Dark Souls game.

And the last but definitely least liked area, the Blight world. You know exactly what I mean by this, filthy, poisonous, and you'll be running around in movement hampering muck all the while trying to avoid the big enemy that threatens to stomp you flat.

As you can imagine each has their own flavor and of course there is some exploration to be had. But the thing is.... Demon's Souls is a lot more linear compared to Dark Souls, and while some of the areas are definitely large there isn't as much as you can discover in comparison.

In fact some of the exploration mechanics are dependant on your characters soul alignment, killing bosses and helpijg other players as blue phantoms to pure white tendancies unlock some NPC interactions and side quests, while Pure Black which you get from commiting suicide (cliff jumping) or invading as a black phantom will alsonunlock some ares but also bring out tougher black phantom versions of some enemies and NPCs to face.

The online methods are no longer feasible unfortuenately due to the servers being officially shut down, leaving slaying bosses and such for pure white while suicide and probably NPC slaying for black.

This also means that resurrecting yourself to your living form is also limited to beating bosses or using Stone of Ephemeral Eyes.

Healing in Demon's Souls is easier than in Dark Souls though in the form of grasses that you can stack up to 99, especially if you discover an exploit which lets you bulk purchase a specific type of Grass. You can imagine how that effects your survivability and how ruthlessy that its exploited.

Which is probably why Dark Souls has Estus Flasks and Why Bloodbourn limits its bloodvials...

Yeah.....

But yeah once you finish off all the other Archdemons and defeat the Final Boss, choose either the good or bad ending, you are whisked away to NG+ to do it all over again with hardr enemies!

Now if you read through that mess above and haven't jabbed your own brain out with a spork, I'm hoping you've formed your own idea regarding Demon's Souls compared to its successors.

Demon's Souls if it were played now would definitely be considered rough around the edges, and length wise its certainly shorter, but it was the base that gave us Dark Souls and Bloodborne and inspired many similar games that follow a similar formula such as Nioh.

Would I like it if it had a sequel? Honestly, nostalgically I'd say yes because I was there before the Souls series became cool (hipster vibes!) And it was just a sleeper hit. But I don't think it needs a sequel, its successors seriies Dark Souls carried the torch more than enough and the setting is largely similar that it would become tiring for.

I would love a Bloodborne sequel though but I am not holding my breath on that.

Damn if I don't miss those tricorn hats though.

[yeonchi]

Thinking about the future of EDGN

I’ve never asked a lot out of my fans over the years, but to some of my close fans (you know who you are), I’d really appreciate some helpful advice because this is an important decision I’m making that will affect both you, the fans, and myself.

To cut a long story short for a tl;dr, I no longer enjoy posting about the voice languages in localised Japanese games because of some recent events and realisations and I want to retire from the English Dubbed Game News page altogether.

It’s been about five years since I started all this with the Koei Warriors Rant Series and since then, everything I’ve done that’s related to English dub has brought me nothing but hate. I know it’s a bit of an exaggeration and some of my close fans may have something to say to the contrary, but I’ve been feeling quite negative lately and because of that, I think it’s a brutally honest summary.

After ending the Dub Logistics series, I thought the one thing I could do to repay my fans for their support over the years was to continue posting on EDGN. Personally, I think I’ve done enough already and also, as I said in a post back in August, I’ve been having doubts about the future of the page and what I want to do with it given my current interests. There are several factors that led to me having these doubts, which I’ll be outlining after the break. (I can’t even put horizontal lines in my posts with the rich text editor now, thanks Tumblr)

1. I was never interested in any game outside of the Koei Warriors series or any game I played in the past (eg. Dissidia Final Fantasy).

This really shouldn’t be a surprise to my fans because in the past, I’ve rarely posted anything outside of the series I was interested in, including the aforementioned series. If I came across something by chance and liked it, then I would do some investigation into it, but these days, the spark just doesn’t want to light up anymore.

I’ve never really taken the chance to buy new games because my family doesn’t believe in buying things that aren’t important and as such, I took that mantra to heart. While I never brought a PS3, I did get a Nintendo Wii, but I traded it in later for a Wii U and not a PS4, which I still regret to this day. I pirated my PSP, DS and PC games (let’s face it, who doesn’t) and played with emulators on my computer. I only got a Steam account to play Team Fortress 2 (laggy though it was on my shitty computer) and I never brought anything from it, which made it difficult for me to add friends on there (not that they really cared in the end).

By extension, this applies to anime as well, which is the reason why I never post anything outside of the same few animes on the Waifu Network or on my Facebook pages. My belief on sexism in anime has also contributed to this disinterest; the only reason why I’m still posting the same few animes is because I’m still somewhat interested in them and I’m grateful for how they inspired some personal projects of mine.

2. Various factors have led me to lose interest in video games, including the Koei Warriors Series.

The reason why I started my dub crusade in the first place was because of Warriors Orochi 3 (Ultimate) and Samurai Warriors 4 not being dubbed. The reason why I decided to jump ship was because of Dynasty Warriors 9 being dubbed, just not with the same cast I had grown to love. I know that there were extenuating circumstances for the latter, but given everything that happened between that time, my hope that the old English voice cast (since Dynasty Warriors 4-6/Warriors Orochi 1-2) would return to voice that game (and other future games) was gone.

In addition to the previous factor, I started to find myself with more commitments than I had in past years, along with some different interests that I picked up along the way. At first, I didn’t feel like playing games because of my commitments, but eventually, it got to the point where I didn’t want to play most video games again because of the disappointment I’ve experienced from Koei Tecmo. Learning about all the things that AAA gaming companies do to reduce expenditure and increase revenue turned me off from video games as well. In my opinion, it wasn’t so much a boycott (per se) than it was a loss of interest.

3. The original group of people who inspired me to start writing these rants are now gone.

I know I’ve had other fans since the start of all this, but the original group had a special place in all this because of it. There were four people in the original group, who I met on Koei’s original Facebook page, and they were as follows:

The first one did comment on my older stuff, but he left quite early, possibly since DW8E’s release. I saw that he deactivated his account some time in 2017.

The second one had a YouTube channel and he was an admin on one of my Facebook pages for some time, but then he left after a period of inactivity without any explanation.

The third one was the more prominent because of his LGBT status and mental health issues. In the middle of 2015, he announced to everyone that he was deactivating his Facebook account because it was a burden on his mental health. He reactivated his account some time later, but he deactivated it again in September 2017 and hasn’t come back since. During that time, I saw a post from him stating that he was going to take a lot of pills and commit suicide. I reported it to Facebook in the hope that it might encourage him to find some help, even though I remember him stating that nothing works for him anymore. When I noticed that he hadn’t come back to Facebook months after he deactivated his account the second time, I assumed the worst.

The fourth one, also known as the family man or “the last one standing”, deactivated his account in June this year. We never really talked much, but as I said in this post, I’m still grateful to him for helping me find the new weapon and Musou information in DW8E when the Koei Wiki didn’t have it yet (because the game was just released at the time).

4. The impact of the feud’s aftermath still haunts me to this day.

When I agreed to end the feud on a mutual understanding a couple of years back, I promised myself that I would quickly move on from the troll behind it and not keep reminding myself of everything that happened. However, I’m a person that’s prone to anxiety when I think of worst-case-scenarios and at times, I found myself thinking about what would have happened had my Facebook account been deleted just because a troll couldn’t take the L when he got owned by someone half his age (compare that to Leafy who made terrible criticisms of people who are older than him, then claimed that he can hide behind the fact that he is younger than them). Him coming back out of nowhere earlier this year didn’t do any favours for anyone either. Regardless of that, I’ve got my bottom ground and I’ll continue to live on it regardless of what anyone else thinks of me.

I’d like to take a moment to digress and talk about cancel culture and political censorship. Because both parties in the feud weren’t exactly that popular (we had our own little fanbases, but that’s it), me and the other party “cancelling” each other (admittedly) didn’t seem to have as much an effect as we had hoped. Other factors that contributed to this could be that cancel culture (an extension to call-out culture) wasn’t that much of a thing two years ago and when the other party tried to cancel me, he made no attempt to spread the word to his fans. It was likely that he was trying to show mercy, but that doesn’t explain why he kept reporting my posts relating to him and current events in Hong Kong, knowing that I would eventually get banned if I didn’t call him out on it. I was as much a victim than I admittedly was an offender of cancel culture.

Following the feud, I’ve become wary of social media censorship because I experienced what it was like for someone to get petty and get people deplatformed by mass reporting them. Other pages like meme pages have suffered the same fate in the past (mostly because people take certain jokes too seriously), but despite my hopes, it didn’t seem like Facebook was going to do anything about the petty mass-reporting of those pages. Recently, however, I’ve been seeing news on tech companies being grilled over the censorship of conservatives and President Trump criticising them for the same thing. I’m not saying that I’m supporting Trump backing the pages that are being censored (conservative, far-right, alt-right, you name it), but I hope that this can hopefully extend to random meme pages being reported for petty reasons.

5. Ever since I decided to stop being toxic, I found myself conflicted when confronted with more toxic comments to the point that I’ve started to become paranoid over negative criticism.

When I decided to change the #NoDubNoBuy page to EDGN, I hoped that the hate towards my page would be reduced somewhat, but I never expected that it would be gone entirely. Since then, three people have made negative comments on the page; one was a girl who saw one of my posts being shared on a private group, misunderstood the (new) purpose of the page and despite her attitude, was still somewhat respectful, one was a Europoor dub hater from Spain (from what I’ve seen and learnt, Europeans tend to be sub fans and/or dub haters because of their English comprehension and ability to read subtitles) and one was an Americuck soyboy dub hater who pointed out about “crybaby fans” (”fans” as in the gatekeeping term “fake fans”, never mind my theory that people, especially men, who call other people, especially other men, “crybabies” are actually spreading toxic masculinity) who liked stuff to be Americanised but didn’t acknowledge the Japanese origins.

I’m gonna go off on a tangent and do a bit of an ad-homimem here (but it’s alright because I’m going to rebut his point next) and point out that I called the Americuck a soyboy because he had quite a long beard, but to be honest, if I called everyone who had beards “soyboys”, that would make people like Count Dankula and Sargon of Akkad “soyboys” as well, so it’d be a pretty slippery slope if I didn’t clarify who I was talking about.

Now, I’m going to move back on another tangent and rebut the soyboy’s point, because I think this is a pretty important point to address. No one is saying outright that they want Japanese games to be Americanised in terms of cultural references (if 4Kids has taught us anything). Saying that Americanisation is responsible for bad dubbing is a bit like blaming video games for causing violence. If someone says that they would like a game to be dubbed into English in localisation, then it is presumed that they want the dialogue to be dubbed in addition to the text being translated (or “dublated”). Any cultural changes made to the game or the dialogue are entirely the responsibility of those who made those changes, like the gaming companies who censor stuff for Western audiences, so if you’re complaining about a Japanese game being too “Americanised”, don’t take it out on dub fans because chances are that they didn’t want the dub to be too “Americanised” either.

Completing the square and going back to the original tangent, I didn’t post any of their comments to the dub hater comments album because I had deleted it after the feud in the hope that I wouldn’t be as toxic as I had been before. You can probably already see how toxic I would probably be if the above responses were posted on the page and directed back at them, which would mean that I’m not upholding myself to the standards I wanted to follow.

6. I’m becoming more and more concerned about current events to worry about things like English dubbing in video games.

If you’re someone who has unironically thought that I was making a big deal over something you thought was minor, then this is going to sound very ironic for you. From all these years of learning and research, I’ve attained an expansive world view and while I have made jokes about current events in the past to lighten the mood or express my anger, deep down I’m actually concerned about these things, particularly in regards to Hong Kong during this politically sensitive time.

For some reason, my desire to make posts has decreased because in addition to the above factors, I’ve been getting more and more worried about current affairs. Granted, the point of things like anime and video games and the Internet is to provide an escape from reality, but in the end, I guess that you have to face it whether you like it or not.

Making the decision to stop posting on EDGN hasn’t been an easy one, but all the factors I described above have gradually made it easier. Like the Undub page did, I had considered changing the focus of my page to merely report on the voice languages of games without saying whether we approve or reject it because it isn’t dubbed in English/Japanese; that is, we report on them with an unbiased viewpoint. Not adding excessively biased pro-dub comments on our posts has made it more neutral, but in the end, it didn’t stop the dub hater cucks. I should point out that one of the reasons why I wanted to change the #NoDubNoBuy page to EDGN was so that we could reduce the amount of hate we were getting.

What was the original goal of me starting this dub crusade? If you have read my rants in the past, then you will have picked up my hopes that Japanese games would be localised to the West with full Japanese and English dubbing and that if game companies couldn’t achieve that, then they should apologise and explain why. Would I say that I achieved or failed to achieve this goal? Not really, because over the years, I learnt a lot about the video game and voiceover industries and gradually realised that it’s not as straightforward as I had initially hoped. To be honest, it was kind of stupid of me to hope that gaming companies would say anything straightforward about this, but on the other hand, I learnt that gaming companies are like politicians as well; they say the things they want to say and not the things people want to hear.

To my fans, particularly my close fans, feel free to send me your opinions about my decision, however if you’re trying to change my mind, then I’m not sure if it can be changed so easily. If you think that I haven’t lived up to what you expect from me, then I’m sorry, but in the end, I have to think of myself as well.

If I could say one thing to the dub fanbase, I want to ask why no one else has ever tried to do something like EDGN. You have your groups and pages on social media and yet, it had to take two people pissed off with the dubbing direction of gaming companies to do it. Granted, that was how the Undub page started, with the lack of Japanese voices in localised games, and yet they didn’t get as much hate as my page did.

If there is anyone out there who wants to follow in my footsteps and make a page like EDGN, let me be the first to give you my blessing because I’m not going to be like the Undub page when they discovered us and point fingers for copying their posts when in the end, games are the same to everyone. While transparency regarding voice languages has increased over the years, there was never a place where dub fans could know about what games were dubbed in English. You don’t have to be like me and make a series of rants about why some games aren’t dubbed, because I’ve already done it, but instead, I suggest going the unbiased route as I stated earlier. Of course, you don’t have to follow my advice - it’s your page, after all.

My plan is to retire from EDGN at the end of the year. I have 12 more games in the backlog, all with English voices, and I’m hoping to post them all on the page before then. I probably won’t remove myself as an admin (because I think there’ll be some petty, obsessed cuck who’ll dig out my posts and make a rant series on me or something), but I’ll probably have it so that I can forget about the page as time goes on.

With this, my dub crusade has come to an end. Once again, to the fans, I’m sorry and I thank you for your support. As always, it is your choice as to whether you wish to continue following me, whether on Facebook or Tumblr, after my retirement.

[mrmallardsmobileposts]

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time holds up pretty well!

I bought the Prince of Persia trilogy at my friend's suggestion in 2016. I asked him for some input on a game sale that was going on at the time and he told me that they were some of his favorite childhood games. Based on his recommendation, I bought the trilogy.

I haven't picked up a Prince of Persia game since then. I played the first one for about 30 minutes, hated it and shut off my console.

Here's my reasoning: around the time I played Prince of Persia, I was just coming off of the Mass Effect trilogy. I had only gotten a PS3 in the last few months of 2014 - my first PS3, ever - and ever since that I had been playing catch-up on all the landmark titles I had missed over the console's lifespan. I had played the Jak remasters, but I grew up with all of those. Aside from a gameplay demo of Warrior Within as a kid, Prince of Persia was an unknown series of games to me.

While Mass Effect had its jank, railroading and poorly aged graphics in certain respects, it offered a new dimension of freedom that I was not accustomed to in video games. You spend most of the games farting around hubs, shooting up corridors of enemies and stuff - tackling each new mission on your own terms, at your own pace. It's a game series that prides itself on how free and open-ended it feels.

So to drop into a game like Prince of Persia after that is a bit of a rude surprise.

My initial opinion of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was that it was too railroaded. I felt like I was being throttled, restrained, and I didn't like it. The cutscenes weren't updated very well, the camera was a jank machine and the VA was pretty bad. All in all, I was unimpressed by it - everything about the game was working against it, in my eyes. It wasn't a game that appealed to my gaming tastes at the time.

That was two and a half years ago. It took a brief fixation on RPG games, a general sense of burnout regarding the rest of my prominent games library and a GVMERS documentary on the history of the series to bring me back around to the idea of playing Prince of Persia.

I'll get the negatives out of the way - Prince of Persia is dated. In some areas more than others, but this game shows its age in all of its crusty glory - poorly remastered cutscenes, rough facial animation and VA work, wonky camera. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is a 15 year old game, and it shows plain as day.

Combat is pretty clunky too, even in this run I didn't like combat so much. It felt like they were put in to break the flow up between parkour sections, and I frankly didn't like combat all that much.

But when Prince of Persia does something well, it excels at it. The pillars of this game are its gameplay, aesthetic and sense of progression.

First of all - the parkour is fantastic. Looking at it through the lens of a 2003 PS2 game, this gameplay mechanic would have been revolutionary at the time - and as someone who hasn't played Mirror's Edge or Assassin's Creed, it was revolutionary to me as I was playing it. This is the main draw of the game - you're dropped onto a room, the game tells you to get out of it, and the exit leads to another room. Hell, it goes as far as to tell you how to get through most of the puzzles.

When I first played the game, I felt trapped. I felt railroaded. I just wanted to play more open world games, and that is the furthest thing from what Sands of Time actually is. The game is very linear, and I didn't want to play games that were overly linear at the time - I grew up playing games like Jak and Daxter and GTA, and I was chomping at the bit for more gameplay experiences like Mass Effect. That's not to say that I would only appreciate games like Mass Effect at the time - I think I was having a blast with Catherine around the same time, which is a pretty limited puzzle game - but linearity in the same sort of vein as this Prince of Persia game was very much not my thing. Even God of War is less strictly linear than Prince of Persia is imo, because the combat offers a sense of freedom and creativity to it and I feel like I'm always in control when I play those games, even if I'm being sheparded along a straight line the entire game.

The problem I had with Prince of Persia is that I was looking at it through the wrong perspective - it was unavoidable at the time considering my tastes, but it still warrants mentioning. I wasn't looking at the game in the sort of way that really highlights its strengths, and the aspects of it that appeal to me now were lost underneath all the stuff I couldn't stand at first glance.

I'm a sucker for puzzle games - Tetris, Puyo, Tangrams, I love a good puzzle game. I'm not the biggest fan of action games with forced puzzle room sections, though - pressure switches, time gates, collapsing floors etc. So you'd think that I would hate Prince of Persia for how much of the game is made up of these puzzle sections. But it seems to me that the combat, the action of this game, plays second fiddle to the puzzle-solving. I hate this gameplay when it breaks up the focus of the game - the story, the action. I hate when it's used as an arbitrary roadblock. I hate this shit in games like Jak 2. But this game is all about switches and pulleys and wall-running. It's about getting to that next checkpoint and marking your progress as you jump and flip and swing through a collapsed palace in India. The game is very slow and methodical - Prince of Persia, when boiled down to its purest form, is a puzzle game. And that aspect of it has aged really, really well.

The aesthetic of the game - the arches, the stained glass, the pillars and ceiling domes and ever-present banners and cloths - has aged pretty gracefully as well. The geometry tends to be pretty simple most of the time, but it works - it's not a graphical powerhouse like the God of War titles, but the developers made a very pretty game world with the technology they had available at the time and they made so much of it directly interactive with the player's actions in the game. It's commendable.

Also, regarding God of War - there's no way that the Prince of Persia games weren't a primary inspiration for that series. About halfway through the game, I realised that Prince of Persia is basically an earlier God of War with weaker combat but stronger puzzle-solving. They're both third-person action games that aim to replicate historical settings with some degree of accuracy to the pop-culture impressions that people have of those settings. One of God of War's biggest draws is that gorgeously realised interpretation of Greek mythology - and Prince of Persia is just as successful in capturing that swashbuckling Arabian Nights setting that it uses. On a smaller scale than God of War, but that's not an issue - the compact nature of Prince of Persia's running time and game setting is one of its most appealing factors.

Sands of Time is a short game. I finished it in six hours, spread out over a couple of weeks - I got all the health upgrades, I kinda ballsed up the Sand Orbs but I got a whole lot of them, and I beat the final boss. One thing that kept me motivated was the completion percentage attached to my game file.

Every save point is located somewhere between 2-4% of the gameplay. Every time you hit a save point, you see your progress in the game go up, little by little - so by the time you stop playing, you know you've played though 15% of the game or so. Next time you might play for less time, so you only hit a handful of save points and go about 8% though the game. But now your completion rate is 23% - next time you play, try and reach 30%! From there, you try and get yourself to 50% completion. You tackle the game in these bite-sized chunks and watch your completion number go up little by little, and it motivates you to keep going for a higher number. This aspect of the game has aged amazingly well, at least if you respond to this sort of motivation - if that sounds like it's gonna be a motivating factor for you, then you might just enjoy Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

This game is a mixed bag due to its age, but underneath the jank and the poorly aged aspects sits a very solid skeleton of a game. You might not like it compared to flashier games like God of War, but I enjoyed its earnest presentation, satisfying campaign length and rock-solid fundamental gameplay.

[chronicas]

Your top video games list hand it over

HELL YES! I played like... exactly 10 games for the first time this year, so I'll rank everything I played. We got a lot of Ratchet & Clank games for this year.. next year even more (plan on playing the PS2 games, the remake, AND Rift Apart next year!!)

10. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: World of Light - I play smash alllll the time but I'd never really played World of Light! It was super cool and the boss fights were super dope! I loved the Castlevania themed level most :)

9. Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus - I really liked all the PS3 era games, even tho Into the Nexus is lower on the list than the others I played I still really liked it :) I think the Clank levels were really fun and unique with how they made them 2D! But I will NEVER forgive them for killing off Cronk and Zephyr >:(

8. Hades - I really really like playing Hades! It's not my favorite Supergiant game (I've only played Transistor so far) but the character design is AMAZING! JenZee, who did the character design on Hades and also worked on I think most of the Supergiant games, is a HUGE inspiration to me :) The gameplay is also super fun and I liked how a lot of the Gods were depicted.

7. Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty - PIRATE GAMEEEE!!! It was shorter than the other Ratchet and Clank games I played this year but it was SUPER fun :) I lovedddd the pirates in Tools and I'm so glad they gave them their own game! Also.. Talwyn <3

6. Mad Rat Dead - Funny rat game go brrrr. The music fucking slaps and I'm OBSESSEDD with the character design. I like how similar it is to my won art style (proof that I could use my style could be in a video game some day) Also it DID make me cry, the feelings I have about it are very familiar to how I felt about Undertale. I just wish the gameplay was a tinyyyyy bit easier! It's hard to focus on staying on beat during boss fights. But it's super fun and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this one!

5. Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction - Look the Future games might get a lot of crap from some people but I love them very very deeply. I really loved the story direction they took in Tools and going forward after it. Ratchet's characterization in Tools is one of my favorites, I love how he and Clank interact in this game! They're best friends and it's sooo sweet :) Really recommend Tools as a starting point for people wanting to get into Ratchet & Clank!

4. Sayonara Wild Hearts - Aside from Destiny 2 and BOTW, this was probably one of the games I put the most hours into. It's a short and pretty simple, but VERY addicting! The music is great and it's a fun spin on rhythm games. It's a very vibrant and high energy game, absolutely adore it. 10/10 Highly Recommend playing it yourself! It's on Switch, PS4, and PC! (It's on sale on Steam rn.. go go go!!) HUGE Photosensitivity warning tho, there is a LOT of flashing lights in every single level.

3. Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time - Now THIS is the game that sold me on this franchise and made it take it's place as my FAVORITE playstation series! The story and gameplay are both AMAZING!! I absolutely adored this game. I loved diving deeper into Ratchet and Clank's respective backstories. The ONLY thing this game lacks in is Talwyn. If you have a PS3 I can't recommend this one enough.

2. Deltarune Chapter 2: Queen. This one is self explanatory. The humor is excellent, the characters are so lovable, and the Cyber World was so fun to explore! Queen. I really really enjoyed Spamton as a secret boss, I didn't like Jevil that much tbh, but I liked that you got to meet Spamton outside of his boss fight! Queen is in this. The music is some of my favorite that Toby Fox has ever made! Queen, what aren't you getting? She's a robot MILF what more do you want? PLEASE play Deltarune if you haven't already! It's free and so so wonderful :)

1. Final Fantasy VII Remake - We all saw this coming. FFVII Remake is probably one of my favorite games to ever be released on the PS4. I really enjoyed how it was pretty faithful to the original game while taking a deep dive to explore all the character's personalities. Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge got so much love in this game and I appreciated the shit out of that. The gameplay is right up my alley, they did a wonderful job revamping the original 1997 game's mechanics while adding new and exciting things! I think the devs really understood all the characters. My only complaints are the starker changes to the story, I did not really like the whole thing with the Whispers. BUT!!! The giant penultimate boss fucking ruled and I did enjoy getting to fight JENOVA and Sephiroth early :) 100000000/10 Play this game!!!!!! >:) PLAY IT NOW!! IT'S COMING TO PC SOON PLAY ITTTTTTTT!!!!!