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natsubeatsrock · 2 years

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7 Good and 7 Bad Things about Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest

It's been a while since we passed 100 chapters of the sequel.

At first, I planned to talk about it as Quick Notes once we got official weekly releases.

That didn't happen.

So that didn't happen.

Still, I've been enjoying what I've been seeing from it.

Though, not everything has been great.

It's about time I talk about what I have and haven't enjoyed from the sequel. I don’t have a particular rank for this one. There’s only one definitive best thing and definitive worst thing each.

Let's go!

7 Good Things

Confirming Gajevy Kids

No one questioned the legitimacy of Gajevy when the series ended. The real question surrounding them was about the Trouble Twins. We knew about them from a Japan-exclusive light novel. We saw hints of them before Gajeel died. And when Lucy thought she heard something about kids, it seemed like that was going to happen. Though, before the sequel, it all felt like speculation. Once they showed up on Aldoron, that was proven to be canon. This ranks low because I doubt this will materialize anytime soon.

Jellal's Involvement with Fairy Tail

Rejoice, Jerza fans! Mashima seems to have favored your ship. A big part of it was Jellal working with Fairy Tail. It's not as if the idea came out of nowhere. He has worked with Erza in the past. The difference is that now he's doing it outside of his membership with Crime Sorciere. With the guild seemingly disbanded, and his trauma handled (albeit in a stupid way we’re going to talk about in the other list) there's little else keeping Jellal and Erza apart. If he takes Erza on her offer to join the guild, Jerza being canon will only be a matter of time.

Nalu Taking L's

You knew that this was going to be something I'd enjoy about the series. Like, I was going to read the sequel regardless of how Mashima decided to handle this ship. I can't say that I believed he wasn't going to progress Nalu. But Mashima's done a lot to make the ship seem less likely. Two different versions of the ship at a much deeper state is one thing. For me, the best scene was with Hakune. Showing Natsu has deep connections with about five other girls in the guild, as opposed to Gray with just Juvia. Naturally, I hope Mashima continues with this, but I feel like saying this was my favorite thing in the sequel would be a bit too mean.

Natsu's Final Meeting With Igneel

I don't love the conversation between Natsu and Igneel near the end of the series. It felt like there was supposed to be more to it than what we got. They met again in the sequel, and we got the meeting they should have had then. Is the logic behind their meeting sensible? Not really. It's not made much better by the subsequent return of Zervis and their kids. However, I'm so glad that Mashima gave us this conversation at all. I couldn't write a better final conversation between them if I tried. And considering my rules for rewriting Fairy Tail, thank goodness I don't have to.

Touka

You have to understand. We first saw Touka as a certified Natsu stan who called out Juvia for her handling of being away from Gray. It didn't matter that she was going to be evil. As long as she didn't turn out to be horrible, I was bound to like her. Once we found out the truth about her, she was a lot more interesting. She's an Exceed that mistook Happy for Natsu and was taken over by a wizard from another dimension? This might be one of the best twists in the sequel.

Return to Edolas

We were long overdue for a return to Edolas in some way. While it was a brief return, I can't say that it was unwelcome. It was cool to see how Edolas Fairy Tail and Mystogan turned out. Time has been really good to the members. But there is a reason this isn't higher. I can't say I wished we were done with the sketch kids from Mashima's last trip to the States. Somehow, Mashima managed to make them canon. The Edolas ships got married and had them as kids. Well, there are worse things we may or may not be getting to...

Irene and Wendy

This is the kind of thing that makes me feel that I can never truly predict what Mashima is going to do. After Acnologia kicked Irene's corpse, I figured we were done with her. If you had told me that she managed to become part of Wendy after their fight, I figure this would be a horrible idea. It's a change that benefitted Wendy's arc immensely. I'd go so far as to say that this change has been more beneficial to Wendy than any other change to a member of the Strongest team in the sequel.

Negative

Fairy Tail on Guiltina

This is where Fairy Tail's structure works against itself. Fairy Tail, as a series, focuses on the guild and its happenings. However, by design, they weren't going to be involved with the Century Quest. Mashima's solution was to create a situation where they'd end up on the continent and be involved outside of that quest. I get why, but... no, I don't.

Sidelining Lisanna

"Why is this here? It's not like Mashima did much with Lisanna in the original." Exactly. I don't like that Mashima didn't decide to change that trend. I'll give him credit. We see her fight with Lucy and it's honestly one of their best individual fights. And the Edolas Strauss kids are still concerned about her. But I can't help but be disappointed in how much Mashima hasn't bucked the trend.

Fairy Nail

I might be in the obvious minority, but Edolas was a fun arc. It was cool to see different versions of multiple characters, especially within the Fairy Tail guild. The problem is that it only worked once. We see an alternate version of Fairy Tail for what reason? To help Gruvia and dunking on Nalu? I appreciate the latter. But this isn't a great reason to introduce another version of the guild. Especially when the guild's just about to be reintroduced to the continent.

Ultear's Appearances

I should enjoy the reappearances of Ultear in the series. She's one of my favorite characters and I've already shared my feelings about how Mashima's handled her relationship with Gray. But with every appearance, I come to hate Last Ages more. And that's not just the after-effects. It's saying Jellal can make the change she says she couldn't. It's Gray reliving the regret of being unable to save her. It further accentuates one of my biggest problems with Mashima over Fairy Tail for no good reason.

Elentear

Once again, Edolas was a good arc. But not good enough to justify two different versions of it in the sequel. I liked the return of Aquarius, but that's about it. Irene's potential rise of importance was a disappointment. And the idea of an alternative to Face wasn't in any way welcome. I mean, at least, we didn't get a third alternative version of Fairy Tail. That would just be something else I complain about. Then again, how much of an upgrade were the people we did see from there.

Jellal and Siegrain

I didn't need a moment in the sequel to justify Jellal moving on from his trauma. It's not like I couldn't have seen a moment like it coming. Fans still complain about Jellal's happenings. If Mashima wanted to do this, that would make sense. What he did was justify the worst fan arguments in defense of Jellal's actions. Like, I've physically seen people make this argument and was shocked to see Mashima make it canon.

Gruvia's Current Direction

Let's get something clear. Yes, I have been critical of Gruvia, basically since a month into starting this blog. The issue is not that Gruvia is on the verge of being canon. We all knew it was going to become canon one way or another, especially with how the original series ended. Mashima could have done it in a way that feels more palatable. However, he decided to go with... this route. Gray, and by extension the audience, is supposed to sympathize with Juvia near unilaterally. Juvia's toned down from the past, that much is true. But I'm not happy that this is how the ship seems to be headed towards canon.

See you!

#fairy tail #fairy tail: 100 years quest #fairy tail: 100 years quest spoilers #fairy tail month: i rate 8/8 #hopefully there aren't serious updates necessary

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kareofbears · 3 years

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persona 5 strikers thoughts and feelings

This is going to be a long post. Like, the type of post you’d only really have time to read when you’re trying to sleep but you’re not ready to be unconscious yet so you’re just looking for something to do to spend your time with minimal effort.

So in 2018, a masterpiece was born into the world: Into the Spider-verse was released and it was amazing—it’s honestly the best spiderman movie we have without a doubt, and it’ll be very far into the future before Spider-verse is beaten as the best spiderman movie. Them’s the facts. Then in 2019, Spider-man: Far From Home was dropped. It’s a great movie! Great characters, great continuation of who these characters are and works fantastic as a continuation of a story. It’s really hard trying to take the torch of a previous movie (or in Marvel’s case, juggling twenty something movies) and come up with a new movie that both works on its own, as well as being the next step in this series of films. Thus, with that idea in mind, I think it’s kind of unfair to judge into the spiderverse and far from home, because these are two movies with two completely different objectives in mind.

Okay, so this is still a persona 5 strikers post, I promise, but the idea is the same: Persona 5 could basically do whatever it wanted—new story, new characters, new everything, and it’s just plain old awesome. However, Persona 5 strikers did not have that sort of freedom. It was bound to the original game, and it had its own rules and stuff it had to keep intact, characters they had to work with, and on top of that, it had to justify its existence as a sequel (lets pretend money doesnt exist lmfao).

SO, the big question is: did it do that? Did it justify its existence?

And my answer: holy fuck did it ever do that

I came into this game knowing the extreme bare minimum. I knew there was someone named Sophia, and i knew there was roadtrip, and i knew there were Personas. That’s my knowledge of it before i played it on the Switch. I should also clarify like, early on, that i was not expecting anything from this game. At all. I was the world’s biggest cynic of this game—if you scroll down my p5s tag far enough, youll just see me complaining about a game that hasn’t even come out yet. I was fully expecting to have this be a Waifu show, and any male character that isn’t Akira to just be shoved aside like some kind of nerd in a high school hallway, and i have never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, i actually owe it an apology, because of how fucking rude i was for no reason!!! Because this game deserves everything to be honest.

Persona 5 strikers is, frankly, insane. Insane in the sense that it got to pull shit off that just would never have existed in the original game, because the original game is scared. It had to be as impressive as possible and garner as much attention as possible. Strikers does not have that problem—every single person who bought that game does not need to be convinced that persona 5 is a good game. They already played it. That means Atlus can just fuck around and have a good time, and man did they have a good time. There’s still scenes that still shock me if i think about it too hard, because i’m used to atlus having to follow this sort of rule set when it comes to persona 5 (or any of the main games im assuming, but i havent played them.) And on top of that, there’s still shit that’s Atlus Trademarked Branded in a good way. The style of story of story telling, and revealing the mystery that is so integral to what p5 is, is still there.

So, to make this even a little bit comprehensible, i will make a list!

First of all, What is this game?

In short, this game is an OVA of an anime. It’s bonus side content that has one thing in mind: to showcase these lovable characters more by putting them in fun situations. That’s it, and it is just phenomenal. That was the main point of, i’d say, like forty hours of the game. It’s just fun times with fun characters.

But to get deeper of what i think is happening, or what they were thinking during the development, is that this is a second opportunity. Persona 5 (as we all know) had a lot of problems, and we were not quiet about those problems. We yelled it all out, made posts, made complaints on every social media platform ever. And Atlus heard all of them, and Strikers is a way to mitigate those mistakes. Aside from being a fun OVA, Strikers also works to be a deeper exploration of these characters—more specifically, the characters that did not receive much in the original game. Creating this sequel is having the ability to redo what they felt (or to be more specific, we felt) in the original game while adding new ones. I will get to that in a second.

The format of the game

Absolutely brilliant to throw them on a road trip. P5V already forced us to experience Shibuya for 200+ hours, and im so glad that they didn’t do that again. Going from town to town, making us experience these new places alongside our favorite characters is so good, and it just makes sense. It’s fun, it’s lighthearted, and it’s actually shockingly good. But one thing i do want to talk about early on is the way the story unfolds and the villains that they use, and what they do with it because it’s very interesting.

So as we explore japan and stuff, we encounter jails, and with those jails comes an antagonist. This antagonist works to be a parallel to one of our characters. That character will find it in their hearts to feel bad for the antagonist, because the antagonist could have been them had the original game not happen. At first I thought all of the thieves were gonna get an antagonist, and i was really hyped for the ryuji one. And then came to hour forty of the game where i realized “yeah that’s not gonna happen. There’s just not enough time.” And i was right, and the game ended. But i am not salty at all, honestly, because the people who got a direct antagonist were: Ann, Yusuke, and Haru. (we wont count zen and sophie).

Is there a trend??? Yes. these are all characters in the original game that have received the worst treatment by atlus. The three of them are basically cast aside the minute they finished their original arc, and its horrible! BUT that’s why this is the path that atlus chose for them—to give them more depth, and screentime, and a way to show their inner self. That isn’t to say that the ones who aren’t those three (makoto, futaba, mona, akira, ryuji) didn’t get anything. Futaba still has her thing at the end with ichinose, and she was very prevalent and animated during the rest of the game. Mona and Akira have to be a focal points, that’s just the nature of the game. The other two though, I will talk about in depth in a second.

Makoto

Y’all i poke fun at shumako fans sometimes cause its kind of easy and fun, but i honestly love makoto. In my very first playthrough of p5 (my first ever jrpg game, first persona game, i had no idea what i was doing), i had only maxed out two characters: ryuji and makoto. And i know she had a lot of screentime and love in the original game which is great, but i truly felt like she was dissed in this game. Her only roles were

A driver

Someone to tell them “we don’t have a choice. Let’s keep going and see where this takes us.” (seriously, if you replay this game, you will see how much she does this)

Idk, i just wish she had more to do, especially compared to how much love they gave the other characters.

But let’s talk about some of the new characters!

Zenkichi

Damn you atlus. Damn you and your insistence at bringing in cop characters. I was fully on board with hating zenkichi, i was fucking ready for it. I was convinced that there was nothing they could do convince to like zenkichi. I was immune to their copaganda.

And then i ended up loving him, which makes me sad a little bit. I didn’t realize how desperate i was to have an adult who has a persona. Someone who wants the world to change just as much as they do, while still having that aspect of them that makes them adult. Like??? As someone who is technically an adult, its a breath of fresh air. An adult. Who fights. For justice. Using a persona. And god i love akane so much, and her obsession with the thieves (that scene is probably in my top ten fave scenes of the game). Also what i loved about zenkichi is that he fucking hates the cops!! He hates the system of the cops!! And thats why i actually really started to love him!! Because i thought it was atlus saying that the systematic problem of the police cannot be solved by one person, and zenkichi threw away his badge. I actually cried at that part!!

But then he became a cop again, and i was just :/ but as a character, i really love him to bits and would love to do a study on him, or at least use him as an outside pov. But! i absolutely love his persona, since im a les miserables fan hehe

Sophia

she’s probably my favorite new aspect of the game. I was ready to not like her—again, i just suck like that, lmfao—and when i saw her, i was scared that she was just another waifu. I mean, she was very cute after all. But then as the game went on, i thought she was a little too cute. And even further into the game, i finally slapped myself in the face and realized oh my god shes not a waifu. Shes a sister.

That blew my mind, im ngl to you. A female character that isn’t supposed to be romanced? By jove, what a miracle!

And she…is an amazing character. Im sorry, i just love her so much. I love her so much that she probably ranks as my fifth or sixth favorite character which is surprising even to me. Everything about her is delightful and invigorating. She’s funny??? Her comedic timing is amazing, and she has such chemistry with the rest of the team. She’s actually useful to the plot, and while her character design is a little too on the nose for me in terms of cuteness (i mean, good god she’s wearing oversized sweater to show how cute and tiny she is, and her hair has literal hearts in it), she is absolutely lovable.

But what i actually really wanna gush about for a second is sophia at the last stage of the game. You get the idea, i dont really like to get excited over things, so at this point i figured that there was nothing this game could do to shock me.

And then sophia had a persona awakening.

Like. holy fuck did i yell. I didnt realize what was happening until the music had already kicked in. and its just so fucking smart!!! Sophia??? The ai?? With no heart?? gOT A PERSONA???? AWAKENING??? BECAUSE SHE LEARNED WHAT THE HEART IS AND THE PASSION THAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO GET A PERSONA??? I started crying honestly, because it was just so smart. And looking back on it now, its obvious!! Of course it would lead to this, it only made sense that the culmination of her character arc leads to her getting a persona, nothing else would have been as good. Also, her voice actor is just amazing?? When she was talking to ichinose at the end, i actually got incredibly emotional because of the line reads. Its just so spot on and it really captures the essence of sophia.

Muah. five stars Atlus. You got me.

Ryuji <3!!!!

Oh man. Oh boy. Okay. so where do i start.

Yall know i love him. Hes probably my favorite fictional male character of all time, and he is the one i was the absolute most cynical about in this game. I was expecting literally nothing. Nothing. Like. nothing. I thought he was just gonna keep being used as a joke, or a gag, and he’s gonna be super horny all the time for the other girls and it was gonna make me mad and there was gonna be some insane homophobic/queerphobic jokes in every other scene and i know i was being unfair, but i cant help it.

And then i played the first two hours of the game, and i cried the entire time. Because ryuji has never been better than he is in this game. Its crazy.

The ryuji in persona 5 strikers is who ryuji should have been/how he should have been treated this entire time. From the actual funny jokes (for example, the gold bar joke + his reaction to it in the beginning of the game), defending his female friends instead of being the one people need to defend from (natsume arc), and the fact that he was the one to be there with morgana and akira in the very beginning of the game. Its such a small thing that they didnt even need to do, but it was such an integral part of the original game for me, that i just was convinced that nothing like this was going to happen. But then it happened. Its just small stuff like that that could have been overlooked but it wasn’t because this game? Persona 5 strikers? Fucking loves ryuji.

The actual respect they gave this boy is insane and i wasn't ready for it. Like, they gave the shujin trio lunch, they gave the little charm of the katana when they were in natsume’s jail, and, in my opinion this is the second-best thing that they could have given ryuji is sophia. Ryuji and sophia are the pinnacle of a brother & sister bonding relationship in the game that isn’t akira & futaba. And its really prevalent too?? Small stuff from the beginning of the game (pulling her out of a jail, calling her shorty), but then you have the iconic “shut the fuck up” scene, and that scene was so well characterized and written and voice acted, that somehow him saying “fuck” was the least exciting part of that scene to me. Ryuji is an older brother to her, like its undoubtable, and its only further cemented at the end of the game where Ryuji helps out ichinose because he knows how much sophia cares about her. This game. Love ryuji. And i love. This game.

You know what else i love? Akiryu.

Guys. i was fully prepared to starve in terms of akiryu. But theres just. So much of it. I wont get too deep into it, because i think this aspect of the game for me still needs marinate a little bit. Like, what was that last shot when EMMA died and Ryuji walked to approach Akira so they could relish in their victory together?? And the smile from both of them??? What the fuck. That was amazing. Also Joker being saved by Ryuji when he was about to fall from the cliff to save sophia??? WHAT. The LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN? WHAT. anyway. If theres anything i want to keep for myself in my own brain, its the akiryu aspect of this game, so i wont talk too much about that part of things (instead, itll probably manifest in fic lmfaooo).

Sure, there’s tidbits of stuff i dont like that they gave ryuji: sexualizing ann in that one cut scene and making him touch the jails even though it hurts, and i recognize those and frown at them, but for the most part, i am blown away with how they treated him.

Basically, Ryuji has never been better. From the opening of the game with him being the first text message and the one to sling his arm around akira, to the very last cut scene where it was ryuji wordlessly leaving because he’s so confident that they would never be separated for long, this game adores Ryuji and i am so so happy to say that.

The Royal aspect of things

Yeah, i had to talk about this, but itll be a short thing i just wanted to point out. Because the last part of this game...is persona 5 royal. Which is curious. Like taking reality and giving that power to someone else so you dont have to experience suffering anymore? And even like, the final section just looked a lot like the top half of maruki’s palace?? And whats even crazier is that we had a boss fight with sophia, just like how we had a boss fight with sumire? Royal and Strikers have like, the same thesis statement. It’s kind of uncanny.It’s interesting, it’s like atlus came up with these two ideas, and then just decided they liked both of them so much that they just did it twice. I don’t mind though—actually, in terms of how the last Palace/Jails go, i probably like them both about equally.

Though i did love the final battle in this one more than i did in royal. Splitting into teams?? Thats cool as fuck, and really innovative and i didnt see it coming. It also kicked my ass. A lot.

Now for the last stretch: the small stuff!

The music — bomb as fuck. In my heart, Daredevil is ranked the same as Rivers. Axe to grind is also amazing, but Daredevil owns me

Akechi — i really debated whether or not to talk about him, but i figured a bullet point should be enough. Im really shocked that he wasnt in this at all. Like not even a name drop. If this is an OVA, and the point of the game is to please the fans, and akechi is arguably the fan favorite character, i was really ready for something. But there was nothing, except for the pancake hallway if that even counts as a reference. Thats it. Thats all i wanted to say about him.

The humour — FUCKING HILARIOUS im convinced that in my fifty hour playtime, five of that is dedicated to me laughing and unable to continue the game

Akira — so much personality! His lines of dialogue are crazy sometimes (like. Whats up with him saying Ryuji has ‘nice abs’ when they were in bath? Im crazy and even i dont know what the fuck that could mean)

Battle system — oh my god i almost forgot to talk about this. I love it! I kind of miss the turn based aspect just because i found it very comforting for some reason, but this hack and slash style of gameplay is so invigorating because i do feel like it justifies shit like the baton pass and huge attacks. This battle system fully encompases how the Phantom Thieves are supposed to fight, you know what i mean?

Anyway, thats my thoughts on strikers. Loved it. Amazing. 9.3/10, wouldve been higher but Konoe’s Jail almost bored me to death. Also im a monster and i didnt do any requests that isn’t a fun one, teehee. As if i play persona 5 for the persona aspect of things.

#cant believe im done #but you know what?#i was actually at peace when i finished it #so i consider that a good healty thing #p5s #alex plays p5s #mine #p5 #my moon and stars #the leader and his right hand man

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fighterraven · 3 years

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My Story with Fossil Fighters Frontier.

Ah March 20th 2015. I remember that day like it was yesterday. In case you forgot what was so special about that day, it was the release date of Fossil Fighters Frontier or at least the American release date. It had been in Japan for a year under the name Infinite Gear. Now in order to fully tell this story we need to rewind back to 2014 so Insert some timy wimmy transecsion here.

The year is 2014 and I'm starting to wonder "where the heck is Fossil Fighters 3?" Of course that's what I called it. I'm on a site called "Nintendo everything." And I see this "Fossil Fighters Infinite Gear." Naturally, I freaked out "OMG THEY MADE A NEW FOSSIL FIGHTERS AND IT'S ONLY IN JAPAN!" I even had Facebook and Miiverse posts from back in the year freaked out about Infinite Gear. Now, I'm not a betting man, but if I was, I would bet 10,000 dollars that I knew about Infinite Gear before everyone outside of Japan did. I even knew about the final boss before the rest of the world too due to a Japanese video. Now once I saw this news, I immediately went to my friends and said "now you owe me because Fossil Fighters 3 exists now." I guess I was a dumb 15 year old who wanted Fossil Fighters by someone who wasn't me. I mean the original game was still one of my favorite games of all time after all, I just wanted a sequel after Champions disappointed me. (Champions was a letdown for me compared to the original.)

Let's fast forward to e3 2014 and Let's skip everything that was announced on day 1 and go straight to a video I uploaded that very same day where I had a hissy fit over Ruby and Sapphire getting a remake but Fossil Fighters Infinite Gear isn't coming to the west. Now you have to understand that I was 15 at the time and I was very edgy, angsty and angry. (Who knew my 15 year old self would be how Nintendo fans would react to the Mini directs in 2020 and the direct in 2021?) I mean I had known about Infinite Gear for months at that point, I felt like my anger had been justified at that point (although I'm glad my YT channel never gained any fame because I would have been roasted by everyone. I probably would have deleted the video if I had in order to avoid complete embarrassment.) Anyways 2 days later and Infinite Gear was announced as Fossil Fighters Frontier. Before I get into the next section, can I just point out how much cooler a name Infinite Gear is over Frontier? They should have kept the Infinite Gear name outside of Japan.

Naturally I lost a bit of control over the announcement and posted my excitement over every social media I had at the time and Frontier was basically the only thing on my mind at the time. Heck, I even went crazy over the Fossil Fighters trophy that was in the 3DS version of Smash 4. Now did I go way crazier over then I ultimately should have? Absolutely and you're probably thinking: "is the trophy in 3DS Smash 4 really that important to this story?" And I'll say "Absolutely." To me, it felt like Nintendo was celebrating my hype with me, it felt like Nintendo read all of my Facebook and Miiverse posts and were hyping the game up with me. I even did only type runs and a no Sonar chip challenge runs in the original and Champions in the time Frontier was announced for E3 up until it's release, meaning I beat the original and Champions 5 times in one year.

So now let's fast-forward to the 2015 February direct. Where they announced Fossil Fighters Frontier's release date. March 20th 2015. MARCH 20th 2015 BABY LET'S GO FOSSIL FIGHTERS FRONTIER! FOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLL FIIIIIIIIGHHHHHHHHTERRRRRRRRRRS! FRONTIER. I then make a bunch of posts on every social media I had at the time reminding myself and everything else about the date. Now keep in mind that they didn't show anything in the release date. Heck we didn't even know about Paleo Pals in the direct so before you say "didn't Paleo Pals ruin it for you?" We didn't even know that stuff back in the day.

March 20th 2015. I went to my local gamestop to pick up my Pre order and I absolutely loved Frontier and it was my favorite game of all time. Now you're probably wondering, how can I love this game when the Paleo Pals make the combat 3/4s automated? The simple answer was that I was sort of in a high when I first played this game. The gorgeous graphics, the animations and the environment all looked pretty damn good and heck I still think Frontier is the best looking 3ds title even to this day. That's entirely subjective, I realize but you can't ignore this game's presentation is top notch. Heck if you gave the game a few touch ups, it could look like a Switch game. Of course I also enjoyed the game's Miiverse community and seeing everyone's reactions to various things and getting to interact with people playing the game was a major factor for me. Although it never really occurred to me that people playing Frontier were playing it because they played other games in the series not because it was their first Fossil Fighters game. The best part of the story is easily when Nate gets his but bit. I actually saw this part in Japanese too but getting to see it in America was also very good. Seeing the twist that Nibbles was the Dreadasarus was also pretty damn good too. Of course I beat the game in 2 days and I did all the post game stuff in one sitting and I felt empty. Now I thought, "this can't be it. There has to be a reward for Ranking up every Vivisaur, Paleo Pal Vivisaur and every Super Paleo Pal Vivisaur. Maybe I'll get to use the Earth Dragon and Dreadraven." Now you're probably thinking to yourself "You're an idiot for assuming maxing out everything would unlock anything." And my answer is that the game wasn't even a week old when I set out to do this herculean task. I had basically an infinite amount of justification as to why I did this. I wasn't going to be all of the time I spent hyping this game up for nothing. I didn't just want to do to this, I HAD TO DO IT.

So I began my long, tedious grind and I posted my struggles on Miiverse and Facebook (Really wished I knew about reddit back then.) And even some person on Miiverse even called me insane and they had every right to. Nonetheless, I soldiered on with the grind and kept Miiverse informed and after 2 months of grinding, I had done it. I had grinded every Vivisaur, Paleo Pal and Super Paleo Pal Vivisaur. So you're probably wondering what the reward is. Nothing, absolutely nothing, not even Stryker becoming your Paleo Pal (although Stryker does go unused as a Paleo Pal in the game's files.) So you're probably wondering did I regret it? Absolutely not. I enjoyed every second of that grind. It led to a lot of Miiverse posts and probably a lot of memes from said posts. Sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination or goal. Sometimes it's about the friends we make along the way.

And for this reason alone, I can't legally hate Frontier and heck I still like Frontier over Champions simply because of this story. I mean I love Frontier even after my high wore off. What can I say? I just can't hate this game, I would be absolutely heartless if I did, even if Frontier did completely butcher Spinax, I still don't hate this game. This story is by far my favorite story in a video game.

And that was my story with Fossil Fighters Frontier.

#fossil fighters #fossil fighters frontier #gaming #gaming stories #Nintendo #miiverse #you actually read all the tags? congrats kid.

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bearofohu · 4 years

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Opinion on level 5 terminating releases outside of Japan?

It’s extremely unfortunate, but with their many localized failures in the recent years, I saw it coming. I left the Layton fandom due to the fact that there is simply nothing going on anymore, and my interest dwindled in favor of other fandoms, but it's still very disheartening to know there will never be another officially localized Layton game, assuming LEVEL-5 releases another one in Japan when they’re done chugging Yokai Watch fuel. Even though I don’t take part in the Layton fandom anymore, I am very grateful for the community and everyone I met during that time, and I’m so very sorry to everyone affected by this. While I’m no longer interested in translations of Japan-only Layton projects, I’m confident there're many others out there who would be willing to do so, as I’ve known many. And if those projects arise, let’s hope you can get Christopher Robin Miller to lend his ethereal vocal cords to your project. And anyway, honestly, I’ve seen fanworks and fanfictions and artists do a much better job at continuing the legacy of Professor Layton story in their own ways. Never let canon hold you back from crafting the story or interpretation and writing the characters and their futures however you wish. You will always be valid in creating your own canon (and let’s be real, all the fanworks I’ve seen have all been better than current-era Layton and the trashfire that was LMDA). I guess my main takeaway from this was to not let this news destroy your passion for these characters, and to always feel valid in writing your own canon, and continuing the story however you wish. YOU create that Unwound Future sequel; YOU make Luke Triton gay; you make werewolf Layton; YOU bring back Descole; YOU give Don Paolo a husband; YOU continue the stories or change them however you please. The puzzles never die as long as there are those out there to solve them.

#professor layton #pl #level-5 #level-5 shutdown #layton #level-5 NA #text #answered #Anonymous

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scottymcgeesterwrites · 3 years

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Final Fantasy III Review

Year: 1990

Original Platform: Famicom

Also Available on: Nintendo DS, iOS (DS port), Android (iOS port), Ouya (Android port), Steam (Android port), PSP (iOS port)

Wii/3DS/Wii U Virtual Consoles and Nintendo Classic Edition releases are only in Japan.

Version I Played: DS

Synopsis:

Four orphans (originally only named by the player, DS remake gives them names) fall into a crevice after a sudden earthquake. There, a mysterious crystal warns them about the oncoming darkness that will engulf the world. The four orphans must band together to restore the balance between light and dark.

Gameplay:

ARE YOU READY TO GET YOUR ASS BEAT?

YOUR BALLS ROCKED?

I’m warning you – this is the most difficult Final Fantasy game to date.

There are no ethers - only elixirs, which you should definitely reserve for the hardest battles. Also, phoenix downs cannot be found in stores - only in treasure chests and as dropped or stolen items from enemies.

The gameplay returns to that of the original Final Fantasy – turn-based combat and the Job System, only this time the Job System is greatly expanded. Vikings and Geomancers and Bards and Dragoons and the list goes on. Summons are introduced to the series via the Evoker job, which later gets upgraded to Summoner. The expanded Job System allowed for greater customization of your four characters than in the original Final Fantasy.

This game is notable for the Onion Knight. In the beginning of the original Famicom game, the default job is Onion Knight. If you continue playing as an Onion Knight, your stats remain relatively low. However, if you dare to play the entire game as an Onion Knight and reach level 99 – the Onion Knight suddenly turns into the most powerful job in the game.

The DS remake does things a little differently. Instead of the Onion Knight, you start out as a Freelancer – a new job that has a little bit of everything. However, the longer you use the Freelancer job, the weaker you become. This is a good incentive to have players naturally explore other jobs.

The unfortunate feature of the DS remake though is that the Onion Knight is ONLY available after performing sidequests via wireless with friends. This is impossible to do now since the wireless features for the original Nintendo DS (and also the Wii) have been discontinued. HOWEVER. Playing the DS remake through Steam allows you to unlock the Onion Knight by completing at least 25% of your bestiary. You will then receive a message via the Mognet to start the sidequest.

Final Fantasy III is notorious for its high difficulty. The trick mostly lies in constantly switching between jobs and finding the right balance for the right moment. However, changing jobs requires you to level up that job. This means grinding – lots and lots of grinding. Insane amounts of grinding. This is Final Fantasy: Grind City.

In retrospect, Final Fantasy II was hard as well, yes, but more in a stupid way. Leveling up there was annoying but people could find tricks around it like finding weaker enemies and purposely hitting yourself and healing yourself to raise your HP or defense stats.

Final Fantasy III is difficult but it hurt so good. This game turned me into a masochist. There's two types of video game rage - the good and the bad kind. The bad kind is usually because the game's mechanics are irritating or virtually unplayable. The good kind is cursing out loud but then saying, "I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME!" and actually being pumped about trying again because you see it as a challenge.

The game has an explosively difficult finale. The finale takes place in the Crystal Tower, which is surrounded by Ancient’s Maze. You have to walk through the maze, then through the tower, then fight multiple bosses through other events which I won’t spoil here. The entire ordeal can pretty well take up an entire hour. At least (in the DS version, I don’t know about Famicom) you can save before entering the Crystal Tower. But if you ever need to venture out into the world map again to get something you forgot, you have to go through the Ancient’s Maze. Once you enter the Crystal Tower, you cannot save the game. It’s one long shot to the final of final bosses. In the Crystal Tower, you get to walk around seemingly endless and maze-like floors such as this:

YAY.

Seriously though - I still enjoyed the challenge and thought it was epic. If you're going to hit me hard, you might as well go all out. Nothing in this game is held back. Also, the expanded job system allowed you to try out so many different things.

I tried for the longest time to play Final Fantasy III on an emulator but for some bizarre reason, I couldn't save, not even on save states. When I have the time, I definitely want to go back to that, try a different ROM or something, and experience the original. But I played enough of the original to know how hard it is. I died right away when I ventured outside the first town.

The DS remake mostly retains the difficulty of the original, which I admired, unlike the watered down PSP Anniversary Editions of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II.

Graphics:

The original Famicom game definitely has a lot more going on than the first two Final Fantasy games. Battles are still 90% black space but the rest of the game is 8-bit Heaven.

The DS remake is AMAZING. I would argue that Final Fantasy III DS is really the first great Final Fantasy remake. They got a chibi thing going on and it works here. It’s cute without being obnoxiously cute.

The FMV sequence for the DS is staggeringly beautiful.

I also kind of laugh at this one part where Luneth and Ingus are arguing and it’s the equivalent to a stock photo of two people arguing.

I only wish they added an ending FMV. That would have been the cherry on top for the remake.

Story:

Final Fantasy III is kind of like crossing the original Final Fantasy with Final Fantasy II. The story is wider in scope and more epic. The fictional world is much more interesting. The score has a wider repertoire. You fly many different airships. It also begins what I like to call the "Crystal Trilogy." Final Fantasy III, IV and V, as you'll read later, are quite similar in their general plot, which utilizes crystals as important plot devices.

There’s more to the story than people give credit for. You venture into the world and run into secondary characters who have their own stories, such as Cid, Desh, Princess Sara (reference to the original Final Fantasy), Prince Allus, Priestess Aria, and even four imposters of the four heroes of light. You save towns with a variety of problems, from a village cursed by a genie to finding a missing precious stone for the dwarves. Then you discover the truth behind the world you live in. . .

The DS version elaborates on the story by giving the four orphans names: Luneth, Arc, Refia, and Ingus. This sharpens the story by connecting more dots. The DS story starts with Luneth and Arc as childhood friends. They later meet Refia, a runaway who was tired of her guardian's blacksmith trade, and Ingus, a knight of Sasune who protects Princess Sara. I was disappointed by one rather misleading thing in the DS remake. The opening FMV sequence seemed to imply that Priestess Aria plays a wider role in the story – she doesn’t. That disappointed me.

As I’ve said already, the DS version is a wonderful remake of the original. I very highly recommend it. It enhances everything about the original and more. The remake's heroes hardly get any recognition in other Final Fantasy media and that’s a shame.

Music:

As Final Fantasy games keep getting bigger, so does the score. Uematsu shone here. He did some unique things for a Japanese composer at the time. An example is the illusion of having chords in the track Crystal Cave.

Final Fantasy III’s soundtrack is twice as long as Final Fantasy II’s. I’d say that out of the entire Famicom/NES era, this game probably has the best soundtrack. The battle theme has a sexy bass with more drums added to it. Eternal Wind, the world map theme, is definitely the greatest map theme in an RPG. Period. It truly gives the feel of wandering around a fantasy world.

The DS version reinvigorates the entire score. I loved every second of it.

The way Uematsu composed the final of the epilogue is reminiscent of how John Williams does his finales in the credits for Star Wars or Indiana Jones films. In this case, he references the Final Fantasy Main Theme at the end of the credits.

The result is a wholesome feel to the game. Final Fantasy III has a fantastic score that is perfect for closing the 8-bit era of Final Fantasy.

Notable Theme:

I'm split between Eternal Wind and Priestess Aria's Theme. Fortunately, the DS opening cinematic includes both. It has a great orchestrated rendition of the classic themes.

youtube

Verdict:

The hardest out of all the Final Fantasy games (so far). At the same time, there’s so much to enjoy – but it’s not for everyone. Because of the difficulty, I would save this game for last. There’s something about this game that actually gives me a true “final fantasy” feel. The final stretch is so kick-your-nuts-hard that nothing else in the series can compare to it.

If you go for the DS version, however, that can be a tad bit easier. Just a tad. A smidge. Nothing more. It’s one remake that I highly recommend. They did a good facelift on both the game itself and the story. The DS version was adapted into Android and then ported into Steam, so you can get it there.

Direct Sequel?

No.

#final fantasy iii #final fantasy 3 #final fantasy #black mage #red mage #square enix #nintendo #nintendo ds #video games #rpg #fantasy #magic #onvideogames

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icharchivist · 3 years

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hey icha! i’m looking to get into FF7 and, outside of the original game, have no idea where to start! so i turn to your expertise for help, if you’re willing. what game(s?) and films should i play/watch to best understand all the lore? and in what order? no pressure to answer of course and i hope you have a wonderful day either way!

omg hi nonny!! a pleasure to see you there! and so sweet to see you trust me with this DLKFJDLKFD

a friend asked some tips to get into ff7 a while back as well as a few links so i'm linking this to you as well hoping it may serve you!

If you want to be sure to get the lore in order of how everyone got it, you can watch it in release order, but, in my opinion without specifically entering into details, i would recommend in order:

-The Original Game (1997). This is where everything started. Every single other entry in the saga will spoil this game in some way or another. Even the remake is taking a lot of liberties (+ isn't covering everything anyway yet) and has been spoiling events that will happen further in game all over. So, OG it goes. (it exists in every plateform, from PS1 to ps4 remaster to Steam, if you want to play it the graphisms and translations will be best on latest versions. Watching it is a possibility as well but since the game is pretty old and not voiced it could get boring + some scenes can differ depending on who you have in your party and some of your choices and personally i'm never content with the playthrough i find DLKFJDF.)

-Crisis Core (2007). It is a prequel Game to the Original Game and a lot of the others entries have been incorporating the new elements from Crisis Core into it. A Must play/watch. (personally would recommend playing because the gameplay is good and is used to give you emotions and i think that's the best kind of gameplay- it's a PSP exclusive though but i think you can find it on Emulator online. Watching it works as well, just know a lot of lore are hiden in details in this game that often escapes cutscenes movies. + if you watch a cutscene movie you will not know who Kunsel is and that's criminal.)

-Advent Children Complete (2009). It's the direct sequel movie to the Original Game. The movie originally came out in 2005 (with an OAV called "Last Order" to sum up the events of Crisis Core - this OAV is now outdated and not canon due to the extension Crisis Core was, but it can still be an interesting watch for you (+ it's like 20mins long)) but got a remaster called "Advent Children Complete" in 2009 that included new scenes, some of which referred more to events from Crisis Core, which is why i recommend CC first. The 2009 version also came with an OAV called "Denzel Episode" which just explains a bit more about a character from AC that left people confused back in 2005. Complete expend on the character so it's not as confusing but you may want to check out Denzel Episode if you're curious! (but yeah check the Complete version not the normal 2005 one, Complete is superior in every single way and is leaving 2005 in the dust).

-Dirge of Cerberus (2006). It's a sequel game to Advent Children. this one has a bad rep in the fandom because the plot isn't executed at its best, but a lot of the lore developed in it has been important to the saga later. It came out before CC so its lore influenced CC, but not in a way where it has to be played before (in fact i think it's a bit more impactful with watching DOC afterward). The major lore developed in DOC has also been incorporated into the remake. It's worth checking out. (personally only watched a cutscene movie that was relatively short (4 hours long i think??). Can't say if there's more interest playing it but it's a 3rd person shooter and apparently the gameplay is really tedious. the game came out in PS2 and you can find it on emulator eventually).

-The Remake (2020). The remake has been remaking the beginning of the OG so far (it will come out in multiple parts) while incorporating the lore of all the others entries of the game and including a lot of original stuff into it. It's not a complete redux however and i would loath to spoil but the remake isn't actually exactly a remake in some ways, and works as a continuation to the saga. It makes sense if you played the game but i can't explain it too hard without entering too much spoilers territories. (you can easily watch it off youtube but yeah else it's fun to play i have no doubt and it's a clever reimagining of the OG while taking the rest of the plot into account)

Those are the major parts of the saga that are worth taking into account and to check.

I should also mention that a mobile game called Before Crisis came out near DOC at some point and is set during the CC period while covering lore elements revealed in DOC. This game however has only ever been released in Japan so a lot of what /we/ westerners know about it is from wikis and stuff like that. Mostly i don't know if it's NECESSARY to know about it, it's mostly that the game will connect the lore from CC and DOC in a more obvious way. Only read about it if you're really hardcore into FF7. (for the funfact, some of the characters from Before Crisis make an appearance in the OAV Last Order)

That would be all i would mention about it :3c it can seem like a lot so take your time and don't let it overwhelms you. Start with the OG, have fun with it, and then if you want to expand on it take it one step at a time. You can even disregard my order if it's easier for you to, say, watch the movie before CC or whatever- i gave you my spoiler-free reasoning as for why that order anyway, so it's up to you if you want to follow through.

i am so happy that you feel like getting into ff7 though!! i hope you enjoy the ride <3

Take it easy, and take care :3c

Wishing you a wonderful day!

#ichareply #ichafantalks ffvii #anonymous

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boukenboy · 4 years

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#15: 幕末降臨伝ONI / Bakumatsu Kourinden ONI

Bakumatsu Kourinden ONI is a direct sequel to Kishin Kourinden ONI, released around 2 years after the latter. Bakumatsu is an upgrade to its predecessor in many respects, and is definitely the stronger game of the two, but some baffling design decisions are present, including ones it shares its with predecessor. Set in the Bakumatsu period of Japan, an era where the shogun's influence over the rulings of the country would come to an end, we play as a group of monster-hunters working for the Shadow Shinsengumi - a secret police dedicated to protecting the country from all sorts of beasties. Our main man is Yamatomaru - originally from a small village, he would attract the Shinsengumi's attention after saving some of the village children from winding up as monster-food. Brash, foul-mouthed, and good-hearted, he is essence of a typical shounen-style hero.

After being soundly defeated by a monster seeking revenge for his slain friend in his hometown, our hero is saved by the enigmatic Jurouta, who invites the young boy into the shogun's service, stating that he has the proper qualities of a monster hunter. Initially reluctant, Yamatomaru, determined to become a strong warrior like his deceased father, meets up with the handsome man and accepts the offer. As more and more monster related incidents occur. it becomes clear that certain hot-spots of spiritual energy, what the came calls "spirit pits", are going haywire, giving rise to all sorts of calamities within Japan. Furthermore, a mysterious foreigner with dubious intentions, Riche, is also seeking out the spirit pits, and is willing to do anything to obtain control of them.

Our heroic twosome is soon blessed with the addition of the Saigami siblings: Natsume and Touya. The Saigami clan is reknowned for their spiritual prowess - including the ability to seal away the raging pits. Natsume is deeply insecure in her own power, however, and for the first half of the game, the party heavily leans on Touya to do what is needed. We are later in the game joined by Squanto - the former leader of a ruined nation due to Riche's machinations. A man of few words, he is a solid tank of a character, dedicated to defeating the colonizers that ruined his way of life.

As charming as this cast is, I felt that, outside of their initial introductions, the game doesn't bother to develop the cast much. Yamatomaru begins the game as a hot-headed himbo, and shows little growth throughout the story. Jurouta is the same, save for the revelation that he is actually a she, causing Natsume to question her tastes when it comes to her love-life, as she is enamored with the stoic warrior. Touya is the typical over-protective brother to a T, but subverts this trope at the same time in an interesting way: instead of coddling his sister whenever she expresses insecurity about her abilities, he empowers her. He encourages her. It's very progressive, especially for a game of this age.

As one can see, the scope of Bakumatsu is much larger than the previous game, and overall, has a much darker tone. The story, at times, is relentlessly tragic: in one instance, you are forced to battle a former colleague of the Shadow Shinsengumi after he willingly transforms himself into a monster in order to prove himself - in another, you watch helplessly as an entire civilization is genocided off-screen. While Kishin wasn't afraid to showcase the occasional tragedy, it never goes as far as Bakumatsu. This is a dramatic game, and I commend the writers for going where others would not.

The narrative is focused: unlike the vignette-heavy style of Kishin, Bakumatsu is fast-paced and dynamic - allegiances shift at a breakneck pace, and as soon as one threat is vanquished, another rises to take its place. It feels exciting to play. The dungeons are, for the most part, short and snappy. I remember the dungeons in Kishin being an absolute chore at times, as the game would frequently chain multiple locations together with little plot to entice the player to continue on. While Bakumatsu does feature the occasional marathon sequence, the player is always provided with plenty of cut-scenes and opportunities to save and recover.

That being said, the game lacks in dungeon variety. Almost all of the dangerous places you'll visit in Bakumatsu are mountains, with only a color palette to differentiate them. It's boring. I found myself rushing through these levels, mashing the fast-forward button and avoiding thorough exploration. I understand the memory limits of the Super Famicom, but it still feels lazy. And while they are a definite disappointment, the rest of the graphic design in Bakumatsu excels. Your characters are superbly well-animated, full of personality and character. During the latter half of the game, your party travels across the sea to the New World - and it truly feels like a different continent! The level of detail in the map of a game this age managed to really surprise me, and I loved seeing my home country portrayed through the eyes of a different culture than my own.

Bakumatsu features an upgraded combat system. Each character has a variety of sword-techniques that use their own MP gauge which is restored by walking. They're are all super well-animated, flashy, and just plain cool. Even the most basic moves are stronger than your standard attack, so even the ones you acquire early on retain their usefulness throughout the entire game. The standard magic spells and summon abilities have been upgraded graphically, too, making the battle sequences, as a whole, feel much more exciting and dynamic.

Which is great, because like its predecessor, the encounter rate in Bakumatsu is disrespectful. Battles occur every couple of steps, and enemies are, due to the expanded combat mechanics in comparison to the previous game, often take a bit longer to defeat, as they tend to have an immunity to either magic or physical attacks. Remembering these characteristics is a matter of memory, as there are no spells available to identify weaknesses. Despite this, the overall difficulty level in Bakumatsu is much more reasonable than in Kishin - there are only two instances in which I had to stop and grind out some levels: once in the very beginning, and another near the very end of the game.

There are two other types of encounters that are worth discussing: the ship battles, and the underwater battles. Once you acquire your ship, you will, at times, run into other sailors that want nothing more than to send you to a watery grave. Your ship functions as a character would - it gains experience and levels up as you defeat enemies, but you must spend a pretty penny at the Yokohama docks for it to be upgraded. These oceanic encounters are novel for their time, and amusing enough, but suffer from balance issues. The first time you embark out onto the sea, you will have no way of knowing which ships you can take on, and which ones you have no chance against. It's a matter of trial-and-error, so frequent saving is recommended.

The underwater battles are similar to regular encounters, but special attacks and spells are disabled, and are instead replaced with a bar that represents how much time you can stay underwater. Should this meter run out, your character dies instantly. Taking damage and attacking foes decreases this meter, but you can choose to surface for air, but doing so will end your character's turn. This presents an interesting "risk and reward" system - the player has to choose whether or not to risk drowning or finishing a battle quickly. I wish spells were available, though. I feel as though it would have been easy enough for the developer's to disable fire and water attacks, leaving the earth and other elements. Some of the monsters you'll find underneath the water's surface are vicious. I've never been more afraid of crabs in my entire life!

Like it's predecessor, there is plenty of side-content to discover throughout the world, including a village-building minigame. Inhabited by friendly monsters you found throughout Japan, you can earn various rewards as it develops into a bustling hamlet. Special summons can also be found, but you'll have to meet special conditions in order for them to lend you their aid. This is where Bakumatsu’s most intriguing aspect comes into the play: the karma system. Depending on your choices throughout the game, you'll be assigned a rank, ranging from "Absolute Villain" to "Godlike" - these can affect whether or not you'll be able to obtain certain allies or spells. Unfortunately, once you reach a certain point in the game, it becomes impossible to influence your rank beyond a certain point. If you're aiming to obtain everything, I'd recommend a guide.

There is a lot to like about Bakumatsu: the game is well-paced, graphically stunning, and I loved how the developers were unafraid to experiment with all sorts of different mechanics. While the execution of these ideas were occasionally lacking, they were novel for their time. Between Bakumatsu and Kishin, if you were to only play one, I'd definitely recommend this title. It's a solid, if occasionally frustrating, experience, dripping with style and visual flair. Definitely recommend!

#retrogaming #retro gaming #super famicom #super nintendo #oni series #bakumatsu kourinden oni #game review #rpg #jrpg #gaymer

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derekscorner · 4 years

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When relevancy goes too far

Relevancy is a bit of a complex topic the more you think about it. How far do you push it? Which parts of a story are needed to know the other? How should something define the follow up? These questions have widely different answers depending on the person and especially depending on format.

Hell, if you wish to nit pick it further, even the series in question is a factor. Some series’ thrive on whats done while others drown in their own scripts. I believe Kingdom Hearts is one of the latter.

That said, I am not someone who hates KH’s expanded stories simply for existing. The “side games” in of themselves aren’t bad nor is the idea of using such things to expand a world. The same could be said for game novels or comics in my opinon.

However, these things can be a slippery slope or a lazy exist. For example, Assassin’s Creed threw out it’s whole Juno arc into a comic just to get it out of the way which completely shattered my investment.

In turn, Nomura himself isn’t at fault for as much as we bash him for. Something he’s admitted himself as seen here;

So, the new Days is one of the three titles announced in the Autumn of 2007 as new projects in the KH series.

Nomura: Those three titles were all announced at the same time, but in reality the opportunities for the projects were raised in a disjointed way. Birth by Sleep is a project that was raised within our company, but Days is from Nintendo, and coded is from Disney, so we started by talking to each of them.

-source <--Link btw

And anyone that’s read interviews out of curiosity will know that there’s also factors like how ‘Birth By Sleep’ was shifted from PS2 to PSP or that ‘Chain of Memories’ wasn’t a planned title either. (seen here)

So if these things aren’t inherently bad or planned that begs the question of why it’s a problem here? At least in my opinion of the series.

The answer is simple and it lies solely on Nomura’s shoulders for it as a fault, relevancy. The man goes out of his way to make each and every game, concert, or otherwise is attached to the series in some meaningful way going forward.

Naturally, any expanded media is tied to the main narrative in some way. I know this, I am not that foolish. The problem is that Nomura makes them plot relevant going forward.

These titles can’t be true “side games” because they dictate the story going forward in some way. It’s for this reason the more radical fans hate to hear the terminology “side game” to begin with.

This problem was especially bad for years because of how spread out the series became among other gaming systems. And while some like to say it’s fine now due to the collection discs I dont think this will last long given the “phase 2″ images released for KH’s near future.

Hell, I’d even argue this problem isn’t even fixed in truth because the current KH story involving Foretellers, Luxu, and so on is all things spun from a mobile game. Yes, you have to sit through scenes on YT or play a mobile game to fully grasp that cat creature (Chirithy) you saw in KH3.

Naturally, it’s much easier to watch the scenes on YT these days but that also feeds into the loop of not paying for the game itself. I personally see no issue with it but companies are much worse in recent years for shutting down Youtube channels over loose definition of “piracy”.

No game series is worth several consoles. Of course, I’m just speaking from experience, with KH now on the Xbox this may be a moot point in a few years.

I am rambling, off track, lets focus. “Why is this an issue?” is what you’ve read this far for me to explain. The biggest issue with this poor decision making is how it harms the main narrative you’re telling.

For comparison, look at Sora in KH3. He’s often confused by people he doesn’t remember meeting or events he doesn’t remember nor took part in. This is roughly close to what it would be like for someone that’s only played KH1, 2, and 3.

Sora has that same level of insight including what he was told about others like Roxas or Aqua but other characters in-game. This feeds into KH’s misconceived air of complexity.

Kingdom Hearts, as a story, isn’t that complex. It has deeper themes it throws to the wayside but it is easy to follow if you play most games in some form. This ties back into how the series was handled up until the PS4/KH3.

Ever want to know who Roxas was in KH2? Well you had to play Days or you can sit through that horribly boring 3 hour movie on the Remix disc. Even then, the Roxas you see in Days wont be like the one in KH2.

Wish to know who Xehanort was? Play Birth by Sleep! All three campaigns with little variance. Then once you’re done get ready to sit on YT or download a phone app and play Kingdom Hearts Dark Road.

The Foretellers, Luxu, or the Master of Masters? That’s another set of hours, if not days, with the KH Union X Cross, KH Dark Road, and should you choose you can even watch the Back Cover movie which answers nothing at all but shows you the Foretellers in Kh3 graphical glory.

You wish to know how Namine knew who The Lingering Will was? Well dig up a fan translation of a script the Japanese voice cast read for a music concert event. (yes that happened)

You can see where this is going I assume and this is just scratching the surface by the way. You wish to know the finer details like Keyblade types, the inconsistent time traveling, “recompletion”, and so on then be prepared to read word of god interviews, in-game dictionaries/journals and always be ready for a few to change.

Whether it’s a true retcon or just an ambiguous statement, the series is ongoing, Nomura heads the ship, and he is by no means obligated to stick to previous statements if he can make a new one to alter those events.

Then again, holding too much weight in words said outside the game itself is a faulty way of doing things that most fans (like me) have fallen victim too at least once.

At the same time, all of these things are relevant by Nomura’s decision. Sure, the remixes have fixed this to a degree but it’s anyone’s guess for how long. Better yet, at what cost did the remixes fix anything?

The best example of what I mean is Coded. It was originally a game for phones. At the time, only Japan had a phone capable of playing it. Feeling that a shame the game later found it’s way to the DS for all fans to play.

At this point in time Coded was the only true example of a “side story”. It was by no means necessary. The whole datascape plot was more convoluted than it needed to be despite data!Sora being far better than the original at this point, and easy to miss.

But...well that was good. The DS version of Coded was fun as hell to play. The only version of the “command deck system” I’d consider worth any semblance of praise. It did it’s job of getting some level of fans invested such as my friend @blackosprey and it’s story was missable.

You did not need to play Coded to understand Dream Drop Distance or further. This was perfect. This is what games like Days, KH Chi/UX, 0.2, and DDD should’ve been.

Games that reached out to grab new people, games that played around, and games that expanded on the main narrative without dictating it’s direction. A side game is something that exists alongside or outside your main story.

However this isn’t what we got. 0.2 A Fragmentary Passage was a short sequel to BBS but also a pretty tech demo for KH3. Dream Drop Distance was there to show the real Sora that people needed help and to show us that Xehanort was back.

KH Chi was a browser game meant to show the Keyblade War and how it shaped Sora’s era. Now it’s an ongoing curse on the series with time traveling plot that affected KH3 directly.

Coded was made into a movie you needed to sit through thanks to one small newly added scene. Days lost many small interactions it’s fans loved in the transition to a movie that is hard to sit through.

I’ve also heard KHDDD and 0.2 were “shaved off” KH3 in a sense to be their own titles...this...this makes so little sense.

Nomura calls KH “Sora’s story” but this is a lie. If it truly was Sora’s story then your main narrative would be BBS, KH1, CoM, 2, and the original combined form of KH3. That’s the titles he’s relevant, those are the titles he stops Xehanort’s plans.

These other titles could’ve been so fun but none of them were truly allowed to breath and be themselves. They were weakened and limited by Nomura deciding to prop the ongoing story upon them like they’re stilts.

Then as a result you can’t close out KH3 without resolving all of these other events and characters which drags it’s own story down. KH3 feels all over the place because it is. It’s trying to tie as many knots as it can from threads created in titles that were way more relevant then they needed to be.

Kh3 can be seen as a clean break for many but I see it as a matter of time. KHUX and now KHDR are still there casting a shadow, dictating what comes next. Melody of Memory is one of several games planned for an unknown but hopefully more thought out direction.

I worry I haven’t explained what I meant well enough but moral of my story is that making things too relevant hurts not only your main story but these new stories you wish to explore.

You can’t have a story and it’s cast breath if you’re tying a knot of mythos too tightly around their necks and this is a tragedy to me. KH began life with such potential but it constantly holds itself back because so few entries into it’s story are truly just an entry.

And I am not saying games can’t follow up one another nor that they shouldn’t. What’s needed is a clear idea and some breathing room. A good example would be to save people in Days with the game DDD. DDD could’ve wiped away some clutter to focus on the final Xehanort battle in a sense.

Nomura has a huge problem with wanting connectivity without letting games be connected by the name alone. It’s like he wants to do the opposite of what Final Fantasy has done but to detrimental results.

This harms so much but worst of them it hurts development. Because Days was made so important, we had a movie made. Because Coded was elevated, a movie was made. Because the keyblade war was so popular, Union Cross was made.

The Remixes would’ve been better to consolidate lore not waste time trying to appease every whim. KH’s relevancy is a huge problem and I doubt it’ll stop any time soon.

#kingdom hearts #kh3 #khdr #kingdom hearts melody of memory

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askagamedev · 5 years

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Game Development Myths: The Publishers aren’t Evil

I understand that many players out there have the misconception that the publishers of the game industry (especially the bigger ones like EA and Activision) are evil - doing things like cutting content from finished games in order to repackage it for separate sale, forcing the noble and good-hearted developers to do unspeakable things against their will. Many of those in the industry, myself included, have spoken out saying that such things make no sense, that these practices are actually justified with things like budgets, scheduling, and the way things actually work. But there are those stalwart devotees out there who know in their heart of hearts that they know the truth no matter how many insiders tell them otherwise. Fear not, true believer. Your day of vindication is at hand. The truth actually goes far beyond what you’ve imagined.

Game publishers actually are evil.

Publishers actually gain strength from the misery they cause. Every historical decision they have made has been to maximize the misery of the players while still stringing them along with just enough hope and enjoyment to keep them continuing to play. For example, they were the ones who allowed online chat to continue being toxic. They are the ones who came up with removing features that people loved. They are the ones who green light endless sequels instead of fun new ideas. It’s all because they are actually evil.

It all started in 1983. Nintendo of Japan, led by longtime president Hiroshi Yamauchi, had spent a huge amount of their funds researching and developing their pinnacle video game console - the Nintendo Entertainment System. However, the game console crash of 1983 shook them to their very core. The console video game market at the time contracted nearly 90%. The top executives at Nintendo were heavily considering their options - they had bet it all on the NES being an enormous hit and the state of the market looked dismal. Rather than face ruin for themselves and their families, Yamauchi and his executive-level compatriots did the only thing they could.

They summoned a demon prince from the fourth circle of Hell.

Yamauchi and his team forged a blood pact with Mammòn the Golden Avarice. As part of the pact, each of them would be possessed by a demon. In return, they would be granted success beyond their wildest dreams. The demons were true to their word. In late 1984, the Nintendo Entertainment System took the world by storm. Thanks to the influence of the demons, the world completely forgot the console crash that had happened a scant year before and wholeheartedly embraced the NES.

The evil wasn’t satisfied to stay within Nintendo, however. There was an entire world to influence. Other companies - third party developers - expressed interest in developing on the Nintendo platform. The demonic presence wished to expand, so they did - as a secret part of the certification process, the executive leadership of the developers and publishers would be required to become possessed by another of Mammòn’s ranking demons in order to obtain permission. This act of fealty would secure the rights of the publishers to release games on those platforms. The evil spread quickly throughout the entire industry. Those publishers and developers that refused to join were quickly brought low by the power of the demons until they were either driven to ruin. Those that agreed (or were made to agree) were brought into the fold. Activision, EA, 3DO, Atari... their leaders were all quickly assimilated. Once the executive leadership of each major developer and publisher became one of them, the evil could exert their industry-wide influence and push the gaming population to both grow in size and massively increase in overall misery.

This is why you see so many indie studio acquisitions. The overseers and executives see great potential in the fresh ideas from the outside, but are unable to make them happen themselves. Publishers thus buy or acquire these studios and forcefully bring their leaders into the fold to twist their formerly noble ideas into sheer malevolence.

The only reason I am able to tell you this is because the leadership at my publisher offered me a big promotion and I read the contractual requirements. I managed to get access to a terminal so that I can bring the truth to light, but I can only hold out for so long before they get to me. I can hear them just outside the door-

...

Please disregard all things written in this post. Nobody would believe such nonsense anyway. Continue to play games. Feed us your misery. Mua ha ha.

The FANTa Project is currently on hiatus while I am crunching at work too busy.

[What is the FANTa project?] [Git the FANTa Project]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

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#april fools

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duhragonball · 5 years

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Dragon Ball Z Movie 10: Broly -- Second Coming

The tenth DBZ movie premiered on March 12, 1994 at the Toei Anime Fair, after the airdate of Episode 220, and before 221. So presumably there was some kid in Japan who watched Dabura turn Piccolo and Krillin into stone, and then this movie, and then the episode where the Saiyans enter Babidi’s spaceship.

The original title was “Dragon Ball Z: Dangerous Rivals” or “Dragon Ball Z: Dangerous Duo! Super Warriors Never Rest.” When Funimation dubbed it in 2005, they simply named it “Broly -- Second Coming”, emphasizing that this is a direct sequel to Movie 8.

For my part, I didn’t wait for 2005 to see this movie. Cartoon Network had finished airing DBZ way back in 2003, and I was getting sick of waiting for Funimation to release the last few movies. I think Movie 8 and Movie 9 were released a year apart, to give you an idea. So I downloaded the fansubs of Movies 10-13 and watched those. I didn’t watch them in order, though, because 12 and 13 were of greater interest to me, and I was curious about 11 because I knew nothing about it. Turns out Movie 11 was the third part of the Broly trilogy, so I kind of goofed on that, but we’ll get into that later. If anyone from Funi! is reading this, rest assured that I legally purchased all four movies once they became available. As a matter of fact, I bought them again on Blu-Ray around 2009, and again in 2019 because your shithead streaming service doesn’t have them, and I can’t take screencaps from the Blu-Ray editions. So I think we’re more than square. Support the official release, kids!

So let’s cut to the chase. This movie is about Broly coming back to get revenge, kind of like how Movie 6 was about Cooler coming back after losing in Movie 5. The difference is that Movie 6 at least tried to explain how Cooler survived certain death in the previous film. Movie 10... doesn’t do this. At all. When we last saw Broly, Goku punched a big hole in his abdomen, and I’m pretty sure he exploded (!!) and then the planet they were fighting on got hit by a comet. Movie 10 just stone cold doesn’t care about any of that. It opens with a Saiyan spacepod drunkenly heading for Earth, and then it crashes on a mountain.

And here’s Broly, still glowing green and muttering about Kakarot. He’s badly hurt, but he looks a whole lot better than he did at the end of Movie 8. So I guess he just didn’t explode after all? How did he heal his wounds? Dd he heal himself, like Cell? Where did he get the pod? We only saw three spaceships on Planet New Vegeta in Movie 8. Paragus had a pod, as well as a larger ship, and Broly destroyed them both. Then there was the Capsule Corp. ship Piccolo used to join the battle, and all the good guys rode home on that.

To be fair, it would make sense for Paragus to have had a few extra spaceships handy, except the whole point of his scheme was to keep Vegeta (the prince) on New Vegeta (the planet) long enough for the comet to hit it and kill him. This is reflected in Paragus’ final scene in that movie, where he tries to make a run for it and leave Broly to die, and Broly catches him in the act. Paragus claims that he wanted them to leave together, but Broly knows that there isn’t enough room for them both in the pod, so Paragus’ betrayal is clear. The tragedy of the movie is that Broly kills Paragus, who he had once saved, and then he dies in the same trap that Paragus had intended for their enemies.

Only Broly didn’t die, because he’s here in Movie 10. There was a spare pod on the planet, and Broly somehow crawled into it and escaped before the comet hit. Then he rode it all the way to Earth, and somehow survived the trip. To be sure the only part of this that really adds up for me is that Broly wound up on Earth. Paragus planned to conquer it after killing Goku and Vegeta, so it makes sense that the coordinates would already be laid in. And Broly would want to go there, because he wants revenge on Goku.

But then the crater around the pod gets filled with water and freezes. How did Broly not drown? How did he not freeze to death?

I mean, I get that they were going for this Captain America thing, except they show the crater filling with water, and then they cut to Broly gasping for breath as the water freezes around him.

And here’s the title screen. Okay “A Pair in Peril” makes a lot more sense than “Dangerous Duo”. I never understood who the duo was supposed to be. Goten and Trunks? They’re hardly dangerous at all in this movie. But they are in danger, so maybe this is a big translation mixup.

The story picks up seven years later, with Goten, Trunks, and Videl gathering the Dragon Balls. Continuity-wise, I assume this movie was intended to be set after the Babidi crisis wrapped up. It couldn’t be set before the 25th Budokai, because Videl and Trunks hadn’t met yet, and they’re awfully chummy here. We never find out how Videl learned about the Dragon Balls. For that matter, how did Trunks and Goten know about them? I think Toei just assumed that they would find out about them eventually, which is fair.

The big thing that disqualifies this movie from canon (other than being a sequel to Movie 8, which also wasn’t canon) is that Videl doesn’t know very much about DBZ stuff yet. She can fly, and she know about ki, but she still doesn’t know about Super Saiyans, etc. But she gets a crash course in all of that over the next fifty episodes of DBZ, and by the time it’s all over this movie just wouldn’t make sense. The post-Buu Videl has seen Gohan and the others transform, she’s been on a Dragon Ball hunt and seen Shenron, and she’s died and come back to life. But no one knew all that would happen when Movie 10 was written, so they made due with what they had.

As far as wishes go, Videl just wants to see Shenron, while Trunks plans to wish for his own amusement park so he won’t have to wait in line for the rides. Goten wants to wish for infinite chocolate, and he hasn’t seen that gif on Tumblr yet.

One sidebar on their quest are these naturally forming crystals that Videl finds in the area near the final Dragon Ball. Trunks and Goten don’t care, and I’m not really sure why it’s supposed to matter. Videl remarks that the people who live in this place could make money off of the things, but their village looks very poor, so something doesn’t add up. And there is something afoot in the village but the crystals never seem to have anything to do with it.

The trio enters the village to check it out and maybe get some food, but they find a ritual human sacrifice taking place instead. This is sort of the same deal as Oolong’s first appearance waaayyyyy back in the Pilaf Saga, where the townsfolk would hand over a bride to Oolong to save their community. Only here, the monster is supposed to eat the girl instead of marrying her.

The sacrifices are organized by this dude, who never gets a name in the story. The subtitles call him “Prayergiver-sama”, and I think the dub called him a “Shaman”. The Dragon Ball wiki identifies him as Maloja, but I have no idea where that name came from. I’ll run with it, though, since I need to call him something.

Basically, the deal here is that things were pretty cool in this village until about seven years ago (hmm...) and then the climate became harsher, which apparently caused the emergence of some monster from the mountains. When the local wildlife became depleted, the beast started attacking the villagers, and Maloja convinced them that the only hope for their survival was to appease “the mountain god” with these human sacrifices.

Videl dismisses the whole thing as superstitious nonsense, which is kind of rich coming from a girl who used ki energy to fly to this place so she could summon a magic dragon. I mean, she’s right, but for all she knows Maloja’s plan is perfectly sound.

The kids offer to defeat the best and save the village from having to do any more child sacrifices. Specifically, Trunks demands Maloja’s ceremonial necklace as payment, which seems kind of random to me. There’s a big orange sphere on the front, so when I first saw this I assumed it was the Dragon Ball they were looking for, but that shows up later. Maybe it was originally intended to be a Dragon Ball in one of the early drafts and they ended up changing it but keeping Maloja’s design. But now you have Trunks asking for the thing for no apparent reason. Does he really like it, or is he just looking to humiliate Maloja by taking his stuff?

So their big plan is to hide in the buffet the villagers left for the beast, and then whenever it shows up to eat, they’ll jump out and kick its ass. Videl seemed to think she could handle this alone, but Goten and Trunks wanted to be there to see her get eaten, or so they say.

But the boys are hungry, and there’s food sitting right outside of this pot they’re in, so Trunks reaches out and swipes an apple. When Goten tries to do the same thing, Videl smacks him in the face, and then he starts throwing a tantrum.

Eventually, Videl gives up and hands Goten a roll or something to shut him up, because she’s worried that Goten’s cries will give away her trap. Trunks tells her that Goten was only pretending to be upset, and she fell for it. I don’t want to give the wrong impression here. I’m not big on this movie, but Goten and Trunks are pretty awesome. I love these little shits.

But Goten’s wailing has unintended consequences. Somehow Broly heard him from all the way up in the mountain. Even though he was unconscious. And submerged in a frozen lake. Sigh...

Of course, as we all remember from Movie 8, Broly was traumatized as a baby when he heard Baby Goku crying back on Planet Vegeta, and just being near Goku as an adult was enough to drive him into a murderous rampage. So it does kind of make sense for Goten’s crying to be the one thing that disturbs his hibernation.

Moreover, Goten’s cries also remind Broly of when Goku wrecked his shit in Movie 8, so if anything, Broly’s original trauma was compounded by the events of that movie.

So Broly busts out and goes on another rampage, right? Wrong, first we gotta wrap up this “beast” subplot. Turns out it was just a dinosaur the whole time, and Goten and Trunks kick its ass.

Then they... eat it? Savage. I thought Trunks was only trying to punish the dinosaur and scare it away, but unless the villagers had some other dinosaur already curing in their smokehouse, they must have killed it and brought it back here for the victory feast.

Ok, this place is called Natade Village. Good to know.

And Trunks has Maloja’s necklace. See, I’m pretty sure this guy didn’t have a name in Movie 10 or 11, because Trunks refers to him by the chant he was doing during the sacrificial ritual.

But by the next morning, Maloja’s at it again, begging for the mountain god’s favor, because there’s some other disturbance in the village, and when Videl goes to check it out, she runs into Broly.

And they just star throwing down. Okay, so here’s where the movie really starts to get stupid. I like both of these characters, but it makes zero sense to have them fight like this. Broly spends much of this movie in Super Saiyan 1, as opposed to his jacked up “Legendary” mode. But that’s still strong enough to kill Frieza with one blow. Videl just learned what ki was a month ago, so how on Earth is she able to survive a hit from Broly?

To be fair, Mr. Satan took a hit from Perfect Cell and survived, but I think it was clear that Cell had no interest in killing him, probably because he wanted to terrorize him later. But Broly’s a deranged lunatic. He never showed mercy before, and he’s even more unhinged now. Even if he wanted to spare Videl here, I don’t know if he’d have the self-control to hold back.

Then Goten and Trunks show up, and Broly immediately goes after them, because he notices Goten’s resemblance to Goku.

So you might be wondering, where the hell is Gohan during all of this? Well, the movie doesn’t know either. We just cut to him in some far-off location, and he senses Broly’s ki and heads off to investigate. Did he just not want to join Videl on this Dragon Ball hunt? That seems a bit weird.

As for Goten and Trunks, they seem to do okay on their own, at least starting out. Their attacks have no effect on Broly, but they’re agile enough to stay one step ahead of them, at least while they’re in their Super Saiyan form.

But then Broly starts using stronger attacks, and the boys quickly find themselves outclassed. They land in this abandoned mine, which I guess was for those same crystals Videl found earlier? This is never explained. Did the villagers operate this?

The thing is, Broly clearly has these boys dead to rights, but he never bothers to finish them off. This is the same problem I had with him fighting Videl. If Goten and Trunks are in base form, Broly should be way out of their league while he’s in SSJ1. And yet he keeps tossing them around like ragdolls, and they never die and he never bothers to try harder. Is he just screwing around?

So then he just starts walking menacingly towards them, and the boys notice the seventh Dragon Ball lying nearby, so they devise a hasty plan. Trunks moons Broly to distract him, while Goten grabs the Dragon Balls and wishes for Shenron to defeat Broly for them.

So there’s a few problems with that plan, but besides all of that, Goten loses the ball in a pile of spherical crystals in the mine, so it takes him a while to find it again. During his search, he stops to take a whiz.

Meanwhile, Trunks does surprisingly okay fighting Broly alone. I guess the conceit here is that Goten and Trunks can hold their own against SSJ1 Broly, but they lack the stamina to maintain the form the way Broly does.

Eventually he has to take cover in a cavern behind a waterfall, and I guess Broly can’t sense ki or he would have found him a lot more easily than this. While he waits for Broly to leave, Trunks considers how his father would react to him hiding like this. So where is Vegeta during all of this, anyway? I used to think this movie might have been set after his death against Buu, but that hasn’t even come close to happening yet in the anime, and I’m fairly sure the manga hadn’t gotten there either. Are we supposed to believe that Vegeta just doesn’t know this is going on? He sensed Trunks was in danger in Movie 9, and he showed up in Movies 6 and 7 without an invitation.

Look, if they just didn’t want Vegeta to be in the movie, that’s fine, but they should have at least explained why he isn’t here. It doesn’t make any sense for him to sit this one out, and I have a hard time believing he would have no idea that Broly’s running amok on Earth.

Anyway, Goten finally tries to make the wish, but nothing happens. I don’t know if he just isn’t summoning Shenron correctly or what. Goten decides that he needs to move the balls out of the cave so that Shenron will have more room to manifest, and I guess that makes as much sense as anything.

So that leaves Trunks in the same bind he was in before. Broly starts doing... whatever this is supposed to be. Seriously, was this the most lethal manuever he could come up with? Even if he’s trying to hurt Trunks before killing him, there’s got to be better ways to go about it. Besides, why did he let Goten leave a minute ago? He’s the one Broly really hates right now.

Also, this screencap gives us a good look at the scar tissue on Broly’s chest. This is maybe the silliest thing in the movie. I remember in the Budokai 3 game, there’s a mode with a Red Ribbon Army theme, and Commander Red is there to introduce it, and he has a little bandage on his forehead, covering up the spot where Staff Officer Black shot him. That was a cute little joke, but this is supposed to be somewhat serious. Goku ripped Broly open in Movie 8. The scar tissue runs all the way up to his clavicles for crying out loud, and we’re supposed to believe that it just healed over like a hangnail?

Anyway, Trunks breaks the hold by peeing on Broly, and no, that’s still not as dumb as Broly growing back half of his chest.

Broly finally gets fed up with the boys and tries to finish them off, and then Gohan finally arrives to save them. Gohan’s surprised to see they lasted so long against an enemy as terrible as Broly. No, it’s not that amazing, Gohan, this movie just really sucks.

He tries to fight Broly... in his base form. Why? Why would that be a good idea? Then Videl shows up and kicks Broly in the head. Okay, so here’s why this movie is stupid.

To me, the whole point of bringing Broly back was to show how he’d fare against Gohan as a Super Saiyan 2. Movie 8 couldn’t deliver on this idea because it was made before SSJ2 was introduced. Then Gohan dominated Cell as a Super Saiyan 2, and he did the same thing to Bojack in Movie 9. Broly only lost in Movie 8 because the Z-Fighters donated their power to Goku, which made him strong enough to turn the tide.

But in this movie, it’s seven years later, and Goku’s dead and Future Trunks is gone, so it’s basically up to Gohan, with a lot less backup. But that’s okay, because he’s a lot stronger than he was in Movie 8. Sure, he’s slacked off on his training, but he still knows how to turn into a Super Saiyan 2, so maybe that’s all he needs. And Broly’s been out of action for a while too, so maybe the playing field is more even than it looks. Of course, Gohan would have to win against Broly, or the movie couldn’t have a happy ending, but most of the battle would be this suspenseful thing. Both Broly and Gohan have forms that surpass Vanilla Super Saiyan, but which one is superior? That’s what this movie should have been about.

But instead, Toei tried to do the battle from Movie 8 all over again, only it doesn’t work because most of the guys who were in that fight aren’t here for this movie. Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, and Piccolo have been swapped out for Goten, Trunks, and Videl, and they can’t look credible against a monster villain like Broly. That’s why they spend most of the fight doing comedy spots with him, and that’s why Gohan has to skip the first leg of the battle, so that he can rescue them here. In Movie 8, that was Piccolo’s job, but Gohan has to do double-duty because there is no Piccolo this time around.

The whole fight strains Broly’s credibility. He has to be at Super Saiyan 1 most of the time just to keep it from looking too ridiculous, and even that’s pushing it too far. If Videl can kick this guy in the face, why was he ever a problem in the last movie? You had four Super Saiyans fighting him at the same time and they couldn’t do anything to him. This movie has Videl survive his attacks and Trunks peeing on him. What was the point of bringing Broly back if they were just going to make him look like a joke?

So then, finally Gohan turns Super Saiyan 2, prompting Broly to whip out his Legendary form. I’m pretty sure Toei recyled the animation from Movie 8, since Broly’s clothes aren’t tattered like they are through the rest of this movie. But whatever, we’ve finally gotten to the part that I wanted to see.

And Gohan still can’t win. I wouldn’t have a problem with Broly being stronger, but Gohan can’t even get in some decent offense, which is all I wanted out of this stupid movie. If I wanted to see Broly clobber Gohan, I could have just watched Movie 8 again. I realize that this is kind of Broly’s deal, but thewhole point of doing a sequel set seven years later is to change things up.

Is Gohan using Super Saiyan 1 or 2 in this movie? You never see the lightning arc around him, which is kind of the tell or SSJ2, but the movies seem pretty inconsistent about this. Personally, I think this looks like SSJ2, but it’s open to interpretation, to say the least. My thing is, why would Gohan not use his strongest form in this fight? He knows how dangerous Broly is, and it’s not like he can’t use SSJ2, so why wouldn’t he? And this should have been clarified in the movie. This is where another character should have said “He’s gone beyond the Super Saiyan, just like he did against Cell!” Or if he’s not using that form, then someone should have made that observation instead.

Likewise, no one knows if Broly is stronger or weaker in this movie than he was in Movie 8. If he can dominate a Super Saiyan 2 like this, then maybe he’s gotten stronger. His power was out of control seven years ago, so maybe now that he’s finally recuperated from his injuries, his ki is increasing again like before. Or maybe he just got a zenkai boost from Goku nearly killing him.

On the other hand, he might be weaker. Look how lethargic he was against Goten, Trunks, and Videl. Movie 8 Broly would have slaughtered them without a thought. Maybe Movie 10 Broly is still suffering from the beating he took, and that’s why it took so long for him to ramp up to his Legendary form. And while he is dominating Gohan, it’s still a one-on-one battle. Broly never had this much trouble against a single opponent before.

I’ve lurked on message boards where fans tried to argue both sides of this, and I used to have opinions on the matter, but now I realize that it doesn’t matter. We shouldn’t have to ask these kinds of questions, because it’s the movie’s job to communicate that information. Nobody had to ask how strong Broly was in Movie 8 because they showed us. Here, it’s ambiguous, because no one bothered to go into detail.

I mean, this shouldn’t be so complicated. Each movie villain is supposed to be stronger than the last, mainly because the heroes get stronger as the story progresses. Logically, Broly ought to be stronger in Movie 10 than he was in Movie 8, and the selling point should be that Gohan is stronger too, but will it be enough? And then it is enough, because that’s what the fans want to see.

The closest we approach to this is when Gohan escapes a hold by kicking Broly in the face. I think this is one of the few times Broly actually experiences pain from an attack. From here, Gohan realizes that he can beat Broly by luring him into a river of molten lava, which was brought to the surface by one of Broly’s prior attacks.

So it seems to work, but then Gohan passes out on a patch of land right as it’s about to get swallowed up by lava...

And then Piccolo shows up to rescue him. Well it’s about time.

Only it’s not Piccolo, it’s Krillin disguised as Piccolo. Okay, that’s cute and all, but why isn’t the real Piccolo here? This stupid movie would have me believe that Krillin was sitting at home, sensed Broly’s ki, went upstairs to get out his custom-tailored Piccolo costume, put it on, and flew out here, but Piccolo and Vegeta have no idea what’s going on? This is bullshit.

I don’t want to give the wrong impression here. I’m pleased with Krillin’s cameo here, but it just raises more questions than answers. Broly’s kind of a big deal, and this movie seems to revel in the notion that less than half the cast would notice if he showed up on Earth. Where’s Tien? Yeah, he probably wouldn’t be able to help much, but he’d be one more guy for Broly to knock around. It’d make more sense than having him fight Videl.

Anyway, Broly survived, because he has the same force field he used to survive Planet Vegeta’s destruction as a baby. For that matter, Gohan used a similar force field earlier, so maybe this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to him.

So then Broly catches Gohan in a bearhug. Why are there restholds in a cartoon? Seriously, it’s like Broly suffered a career threatening neck injury after Movie 8, and he had to tone down his style so as not to aggravate it. Only that’s dumb because he’s an anime character who doesn’t exist. Just punch the kid already.

Then Videl wanders over and tries to help by throwing a crystal shard at Broly. Well, I can’t fault Videl for being all heart, but that’s not enough to save this turkey.

Broly swats it away, which gives Gohan an opening to escape. But why? Wouldn’t Broly just let the thing hit him? It’s not like it could hurt him anyway. This guy took a Kamehameha to the face.

So Gohan decides to end this now with a Kamehameha, and Broly decides to do the same with his.... Gigantic Meteor? Omega Blazer? Gleaming Sagitarius? The video games had all sorts of stupid names for Broly’s moves, even though they all look the same. This one is, “Toss some more green shit at things.”

So then we get to a halfway decent part of the movie. Goten runs over to help Gohan, and they do a beam struggle with Broly. Cool.

But it doesn’t look good, and in desperation, Goten prays to Shenron for help.

Then Goku shows up. Is this because Shenron heard Goten’s wish? That’s the general idea here, but the movie refuses to say for certain. What I do know is that Shenron never actually manifests to grant wishes. The Dragon Balls just glow, and then this happens.

Also, Goku doesn’t have his halo, so I have no idea what this means.

Meanwhile, Trunks gets up from wherever he’s been laying, and he fires one last ki blast at Broly, for spite’s sake. This turns out to intercept one of Broly’s attacks, which seems to give the Son family an opening. It’s basically like how Vegeta attacked Cell right before Gohan finished him.

Actually, now that I write all that out, this all seems pretty derivative. We saw a Father-Son Kamehameha in the Cell Games, and a lot of this “Goku returns to help” stuff was covered in Movie 9. Even so, I dig this version a little better, because Goten is here. I still would have preferred it if Gohan had just beaten Broly on his own, without all this overbooked nonsense.

So the triple-Kamehhameha manages to break through Broly’s bullshit armor and it sends him flying into the sun, just like how Cooler lost in Movie 5, only all this green crap spews out of Broly as he dies.

Then he explodes, and the blast comes out of the other side of the sun, so maybe that’s enough to finish him this time?

Then the sun turns green for a second, like it has to burn off the last vestiges of Broly’s Gary Stu ki.

After the fight, there’s no sign of Goku, although the Dragon Balls have scattered, indicating that a wish was granted. Then Videl starts questioning how Gohan beat Broly, and she chases after him, demanding a full explanation.

As the movie closes, the narrator asks how Goku appeared during the battle, but claims that no one can ever know for sure. That’s horseshit, frankly. We know how the Dragon Balls work, and we know they couldn’t bring Goku back to life, so none of what happened makes any sense. Goten didn’t even say the wish out loud. He just thought it and Shenron heard that? It’s dumb. You had the whole movie to explain these things, and you blew it on piss gags.

Oh, and Krillin’s still embedded in the rock where Broly hit him.

So yeah, this movie isn’t very good. Team Four Star ranked it near the bottom of the list of movies and specials, and they often talk about how everyone says Movie 11 is the worst, but they actually dislike this one more because it’s more boring. Personally, I think 11 is worse than 10, but I’d hate to live on the difference.

I’m pretty sure Movie 10 is the main reason people dislike Broly. That’s not to say that Movie 8 would be universally loved if Movie 10 weren’t around. But I think Movie 10 cemented a lot of the worst aspects of Broly’s character. He comes back, surviving what should be certain death, then he survives several other predicaments, and he just says “Kakarot” over and over again for the entire movie. The only other line he speaks is when Gohan gets ready to Kamehameha him, and he’s about to fire back. Otherwise it’s all grunts and “Kakarot!”

In Movie 8, the guy at least had a personality, even if it was twisted and cruel. In this movie, it’s like they were trying to imply that he suffered some sort of brain damage. It’s just so dull watching him fight. He moves like he’s in slow motion sometimes, and he never seems interested in actually defeating his enemies.

And this is a complete inversion of how they brought back Cooler in Movie 6. Remember Cooler? He came back as a cyborg with unlimited spare bodies, just so he’d be strong enough to cope with fighting Goku and Vegeta at the same time. Movie 6 is far from perfect, but at least it understood the need to raise the stakes. Movie 10 brought back Broly and took a bold step backwards.

But at least Broly was actually in this movie, and I think that at least puts it ahead of Movie 11. I’m not sure that should be the only criteria for rating Broly movies, but I think it should be a major one.

#dragon ball #2019dbliveblog #dbmovieliveblog #broly second coming #broly #goku #gohan #goten #trunks #videl #krillin #piccolo #well not really #maloja

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thearkhound · 5 years

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Muneki Ebinuma’s commentary on various Technos projects

The following is a translation of various bulletin board posts that were allegedly posted by Technos Japan designer (and motion capture actor) Muneki Ebinuma on the now-defunct 喫茶ダブドラ/Kissa Dabudora (Double Dragon Teahouse) fansite back in the early 2000′s. Some of the inside stories he brought up he would later bring up in his Super Double Dragon and Double Dragon Advance commentaries he later wrote for the site Game Kommander, so these posts seem pretty legitimate.

Source: http://web.archive.org/web/20010305081410/http://www2.tkcity.net/~kissa/itadakimo.htm

Anecdote #1

When Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki Dayo Zen’in Shūgō! [a 1991 Famicom game. The title loosely translates to ”It’s Kunio-kun’s Historical Drama Play, Gather Everyone!”] was reaching the end of its development, I wrote a plan starring the Double Dragon brothers. It was basically the same gameplay system as Jidaigeki, but it took place in a kung-fu movie setting. It was supposed to be a Kunio-kun game, but it probably deviated a bit too much from the rest of the series. Development ended up being abandoned due to the strong popularity of the Kunio-kun sports game in our surveys, but I really wanted to make it. The Double Dragons were supposed to appear alongside Ryuichi and Ryuji [a pair of characters from the Downtown Nekketsu series modeled after Billy and Jimmy. In River City Ransom they were renamed Randy and Andy], since the project was intended to be a “festival of Technos” (of course, other guest characters would have also appeared). I was even planning to have Kunio perform the “shadowless kick” technique using a wire.

Anecdote #2

There’s quite many inside stories, so feel free to ask any questions you might have. Me nor Mr. Mitsuhiro Yoshida [co-director of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari and many of the Downtown Nekketsu games alongside Mr. Hiroyuki Sekimoto] won’t mind.

The arcade version of Double Dragon started development as a sequel to Nekkketsu Kōha Kunio-kun and since we were aiming for the U.S. market this time, we started development using the graphic image of Renegade as a basis[the export version of the original Kunio-kun]. I heard that Kunio and Riki were supposed to be the Twin Dragons themselves, since they wore gakurans [a type of Japanese school uniform] with dragon embroidery within their jackets. The Kunio-kun series afterward then became console-centric [after the first two arcade games].

The arcade version of Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone was not developed in-house by Technos, it was outsourced. However, the NES version [titled Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones outside Japan] was made in-house. Personally the first two games were my favorite. Double Dragon II in particular was perfect for me. The story was pretty good too.

The Super NES version [Super Double Dragon, released in Japan as Return of Double Dragon in a slightly revised version] was supposed to be a port of the arcade game using an 8-Megabit cartridge, which was the largest ROM size at the time, but we were not familiar with the hardware and we didn’t know how to compress the size of the sprites, so it was impossible to match the character sizes of the arcade version. The Technos Arcade Team were responsible for the graphics and programming, so they had a peculiar roughness to it.

There were many ideas that ended up being cut since I was young and inexperienced at the time. There were texts and images that were being made for cutscenes that were inserted into the game’s ROM, but ended up being unused. The ending and sibling confrontation were even programmed into the game, but I was forced to patch it out due to fears that it would end up bugging the game. We were given priority to meet the announced release date given by the company. Thinking about it now, I believe I was disqualified as a provider. Shodai Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun [a 1992 Super Famicom game that came out only in Japan. The title translates to “The Original Hot-Blooded Tough Guy Kunio”] also had a troublesome development as well, since that game was also being made by people with no prior experience working on the Super Famicom. It was a very brief development period of around six months. I ended up learning things the hard way and that earned me a reputation of sorts within Technos. The sound test [in the Japanese version] has music tracks that isn’t played anywhere else in the game, like the boss theme. Actually, the boss theme was supposed to start playing during the unused conversation sequences with the bosses. Marian, the game’s heroine, doesn’t even appear in the game at all [despite being depicted in the Japanese version’s manual].

During the development of Hybrid Wrestler [a 1994 wrestling for the Super Famitsu endorsed by actual wrestler Masakatsu Funaki], I asked one of the designers to draw Billy and Jimmy Lee in the same size as the Street Fighter II characters. He also drew Abobo lifting a large rock. However, we ended abandoning that plan to assist in the development of Popeye on the Super Famicom and the arcade game Shadow Force. There were also plans to port Shadow Force to the Super NES, but they were canceled. If American Technos hasn’t asked us to prioritize the development of Popeye, then maybe Shadow Force and Double Dragon fmight had been made. [Other Double Dragon fighting games were later made, but the project Ebinuma is talking about here seems to be unrelated to either of those].

Personally I want to make a perfect port of the arcade game with some additional content. [Ebinuma would later get his wish with Double Dragon Advance]. If it wasn’t for that particular programmer and designer, that sense of roughness would had never been born. I was blessed to have such a staff. A good team is capable of creating a masterpiece. I think a game can be even more interesting if you know the joy of bringing out one’s imagination and creativity. I hope new game creators will be born out of the people who are familiar with Technos games. I’m looking forward to such a game that will entertain me.

Actually there are some larger-than-life people making games. Everyone has great potential. Please do your best in your various fields. Make an effort and realize your dreams.

Anecdote #3

If I remember correctly, I was taken to the vacation home owned by Mr. Yoshihisa Kishimoto [director of the original Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun and the Double Dragon trilogy] and his family around the time the scenario [screenplay] for Kunio-tachi no Banka [a 1994 beat-’em-up for the Super Famicom. The title translates to “The Eulogy of Kunio and Friends] was being finalized, where he told me various stories. The screenplay was bulky like a movie screenplay, in which every character and line was thoroughly described on every scene.

He told me he wanted to take the image of the original Kunio-kun arcade and upgrade it for consoles. Unfortunately, Mr. Kōji Ogata, the character designer of the original Kunio-kun, was unavailable due to another project he was assigned to, so the character designs ended up being very different from the conceptual stages. I though the characters looked on paper, but when they appeared on-screen within the game, they were not well-received within the company. It was neither, realistic nor comical, but somewhere in-between. It was really regrettable. But I remember being really happy when I was shown the animation of Kunio doing the Bruce Lee backfist. There was also a stage that was drafted that ended up being cut, as well as a scene that was planned out that didn’t make it, as well as a scene that was impossible to realize due to technical difficulties. Other than, Kishimoto-san was pretty satisfied with the final product.

Instead of Mr. Kazuo Sawa, the usual composer for the Kunio-kun series, the music was instead composed by Mr. Kazunaka Yamane, who did the music for the first two Double Dragon games.

The pixel art for the backgrounds were exceedingly good too. And punching sound effects sounded painful too. It was pretty interesting that familiar characters from the original arcade game appeared too. The enemy’s A.I. programming was a bit different though. There were some aspects of a fighting game that could be seen there, but it was also different.

The TV commercial, which was shot in live-action, featured weapons that was brought in by the company’s staff. The nunchaku there was mine! Mr. Kishimoto was once again really proud of that work. I really another Nekketsu Kōha to be made.

An illustration from a 1991 pamphlet featuring various Technos Japan characters.

#Technos Japan Corp.#Double Dragon #Kunio-kun #River City Ransom

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keyogrey-blog · 5 years

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Nintendo E3 Summary and Review

Being one of the Big 3 gaming companies, it was expected that Nintendo would have a lot to show at this years E, and they did not disappoint. Ranging from Smash Bros. to Animal Crossing, Nintendo had an incredibly good showing this year, and I’m going to walk through the games shown through the direct, and featured on Treehouse Live.

Starting in chronological order is one of two DLC character reveals for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. A character that is more popular in Japan than in the west, The Hero from Dragon Quest makes it into smash as DLC Fighter 2 (3 if you include Piranha Plant). Before the reveal many people thought that Erdick, the playable character in Dragon Quest III, would be put in. However Erdick is just a title in the Dragon Quest games, not a name, so Nintendo decided to include Dragon Quest III, IV, VIII, and XI as alternate skins for the character. The character will simply be known as “The Hero” and wields a sword and shield like Link, but also focuses on magic, with the character trailer showing a MP bar and spell selection screen. The Hero will no doubt work in a similar fashion to the other “limit” characters in smash (Cloud and Joker). The Hero is slated to be released Summer 2019, so we can expect more gameplay and news in the coming months.

Astral Chain was shown after, with the trailer focusing more on story than gameplay, though a gameplay demo was shown during Treehouse Live after the E3 Direct. Astral Chain is a JRPG title that focuses on two police force members that are part of the special task force Neuron. Neuron’s purpose is to fend off extra-dimensional beings known as Chimeras. To do this, a device was developed to capture Chimeras and turn them into Legions, beings that fight with the main characters. Gameplay is real time action style, similar to Xenoblade 2, with Chimeras functioning similarly to how Blades from Xenoblade 2 work. Outside of battle Legions can be used to break up civilian violence, track down Chimeras, clean up “Red Matter” which seems to be a collectible, and close extra dimensional portals. Multiple different Legions can be used and swapped, each with its own play style and skills. This game has a lot of potential, and I’ll be sure to keep an eye out. Astral Chain in set to release on August 30th, 2019.

Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield were shown off heavily as one of the main draws of Nintendo’s show this year, and rightly so. The newest entry to the series is coming to Nintendo Switch and it looks beautiful. The art style of the game is following that of recent trends shown in Ultra Sun and Moon and Let’s Go! Pikachu and Eevee, which is to be expected. New features like Dynamax, a system where Pokemon can grow to gargantuan size was displayed, new Pokemon were unveiled, and the Wild Area was featured heavily. The Wild Area will be taking the place of Routes it seems, with different biome’s and weather conditions. Interestingly, the game as a whole seems to have more focus on open world, allowing the player to move the camera themselves, and providing them with ways to traverse the environment without the use of HM’s, a system that was replaced in Pokemon Sun and Moon. The Wild Area also spawns different Pokemon depending on weather conditions and time of day, and even allows Pokemon to be in the overworld with the player, which makes the game feel a bit more populated. The old gym system seems to be making its return as well, after a brief departure in the Alola region. Two gym leaders, Milo and Nessa, have been revealed, with the predictable types of Grass and Water respectively. The champion has also been revealed, although all we know is his name is Leon, he’s undefeated, and he has a Charizard. Surprisingly, the evil “team” has not been revealed, though we can safely assume they exist, as there has been one in every Pokémon game prior. The legendary Pokemon, Zamanestra and Zacian, were shown off before E3, but it's still worth mentioning that they play into the overall plot of the game, as was stated in the Pokemon Direct earlier this month. Pokemon Sword and Shield will release worldwide on November 15th, 2019.

Another large franchise is also receiving a new entry on the Switch. Fire Emblem Three Houses brings the franchise back to consoles this year. While most of the information regarding this game was given during a previous Nintendo Direct, the new trailer shown at E3 points towards some sort of time shenanigans. This is shown through character appearance rather than gameplay. Interestingly, the trailer dropped at E3 takes place after the gameplay shown in previous directs, and while I love to speculate about games, feel it’s better to let the game give us the answers. Fire Emblem: Three Houses will release for Nintendo Switch on July 26th, 2019.

Nintendo spent a large amount of time talking about Luigi’s Mansion 3, even bringing out new President of Nintendo of America Doug Bowser to introduce it in the Direct. The first game spawned a decent following and good reviews, so it makes sense to keep a beloved franchise going. This time around Luigi and company go to a haunted, multistory, architecturally impossible hotel. The game follows Luigi going through the hotel looking for Mario, Peach, and Toad. With a new game comes new features, and this one is no exception. Luigi has a new Poltergust that has the ability to push and pull ghosts, attach a plunger to an object and move it, use an air burst to stun enemies and elevate Luigi, and bash ghosts on the floor Hulk style. Gooigi is a new feature that allows the player to take control of a Luigi who is made of, you guessed it, goo. This version of Luigi is able to walk through spikes, metal bars, and more that normal Luigi is unable to do. What’s more, Gooigi can be taken control of by a second player, allowing local multiplayer. Another new feature is the Scare Scraper, a floor progression based mode that allows up to 8 people to play together and fight through the different floors. Luigi’s Mansion 3 releases for the Nintendo Switch sometime this year.

Some other things that Nintendo showed off was the third party support coming to Switch. Titles like Ni-No Kuni, Witcher 3, and Dragon Quest XI were revealed. This change in ideology from Nintendo is welcomed, as the only reason to own a Nintendo console in the past was for exclusives. With this support, Nintendo may finally be able to compete with Microsoft and Sony directly again.

The beloved Animal Crossing series is getting its next installment with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. New Horizons lets the player live on an island, complete with beaches, NPC’s and of course, absurd loans from Tom Nook. Players are able to craft their own furniture and equipment like axes and fishing rods, as well as place furniture outdoors. Horizons seems to focus on player freedom more than anything, with the ability to create roads to form villages, or place houses on the beach for that scenic life. Additionally, local multiplayer is supported, with up to four people per console, while online eight player as well. In local multiplayer, one player is designated the “leader”. This player seems to be the only one capable of interacting with crafting benches and NPC’s, while other players are able to perform actions like fishing, digging, and wood gathering. The release date for Animal Crossing: New Horizons is March 20th, 2020.

Finally, the remade Link’s Awakening was the last game revealed for the E3 Nintendo Direct. The game looks incredible, using an art style that looks like clay models. The full game is in tact, and features like the Color Dungeon are also returning. For some reason Dampe from Ocarina of Time is in the game, running a feature called Chamber Dungeons. Chamber Dungeons are player made dungeons created using a tile selection system. The dungeons can be completed by the creator or by other players. The clear time is recorded each time, and the best clear time is displayed. These dungeons can also have multiple floors, and contain items that help in the base game, like fairy bottles. It is unclear if the bosses of these dungeons are chosen at random each time or if the creator can choose which boss waits at the end, but either way this feature is a unique one for a Zelda title, which is always welcome. Link’s Awakening is arriving on Nintendo Switch on September 20th, 2019.

The last 2 things Nintendo showed in their Direct were trailers. I’m going to start with the second DLC character reveal for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. After years of begging and speculating, the Western Smash Bros. players got their wish: Banjo and Kazooie have finally joined the fight. With a happy-go-lucky feel, these characters are welcome additions to the staggering roster of Smash. This addition means there are now four Rare characters in Smash, with King K. Rool, Diddy Kong, and Donkey Kong all having been in Donkey Kong Country. We can expect to see the Bear-Bird combo sometime in Fall 2019.

The final announcement made from the Nintendo Direct is one not many-if any- people were expecting. It’s no secret that Breath of The Wild was one of the best games of 2018, as well as one of the best games in the Zelda Franchise. The game seemed to leave a lasting impact as on Nintendo as well, as they announced that a direct sequel to Breath of The Wild is currently in development. Direct sequels aren’t commonplace in the Zelda series, which is why this particular announcement shocked me. Who’s the villain? What’s the plot? Do I still retain the fancy powers of the champions? The Master Sword? There are a lot of questions that won’t be answered for some time, but one thing has been said. During an interview with IGN, Zelda director and producer Eiji Aonuma stated that "The new Breath of the Wild or the sequel to it, it’s not necessarily going to be related to Majora’s mask or inspired by it... What we showed you currently is a little darker,".

I eagerly look forward to how much darker Zelda is going to get.

Overall Nintendo had a VERY strong conference this year. Titles like Pokemon and Fire Emblem were expected to be present and showed heavily, but some sleeper titles also made their name known. Astral Chain looks promising in its gameplay and premise, Luigi’s mansion looks to be a very whimsical puzzle/action game, and the third party games coming to Switch will expand a bigger audience to the incredible games on the market.

Keep a lookout for more pieces like this in the future! Next up is Square Enix!

-Nick Owens

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fuckyeahbrigadoonmarintomelan · 6 years

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Thought this Brigadoon blog was dead to news posts, huh? NOT ON YOUR LIFE.

As of January 19th, 2018--the official twitter of the SUNRISE Rights sales department tweeted out that they appreciate and encourage title recommendations to be featured on Netflix. They note that “Brigadoon: Marin to Melan” and “Bomberman Jetters” are among the titles that have been recommended.

They have also linked the URL where requests can be sent.: https://help.netflix.com/ja/titlerequest

They have also noted that if it would occur that a recommended show cannot be requested, an explanation will be given. Brigadoon is not part of this case.

Higher ups in charge of legal distribution are still very interested in series with potential, and their trust on the might of the fans of Brigadoon is notwithstanding.

As this blog has focused on before, it cannot be stressed enough how much fan involvement has heavily impacted the state of this beloved TV series in very positive ways.

In 2013, people largely involved with Brigadoon’s production (The creator/director himself, visual artists, voice actors, right distributions dept., etc.) have realized that not only has Brigadoon garnered much love from Japanese viewers, but much love from people in the west and subsequently, all across the globe. This is where faith within the series was reinforced the most, despite Brigadoon not being awarded the grand prize of a Blu-Ray re-release at the time.

But due to this attention, many great things for the series occurred afterward.

The series was once again upvoted for a chance at a Blu-Ray Renewal contest soon after the loss.

HOSHI SUNRISE aired the ending theme on STARRY SKY SUNRISE of the series finale over the radio purely for fanservice purposes.

The entire show was put on the air for a limited viewing time shortly after on the BANDAI channel. It was then put up for unlimited viewing on the online BANDAI channel website for Japanese viewers after the initial TV re-airing. The series would then air a second time for the series’ 15th anniversary.

SUNRISE cares so much about the series that they confirmed that if Brigadoon was ever going to be ported on Blu-Ray, it would be a fully remastered release, and not a cheap conversion.

a 24-hour series screening during SUNRISE FESTIVAL 2015 was hosted.

The series was then announced to be remastered for Blu-Ray as a limited release.

It should be stated that all of these above past events have been many miracles that was have been blessed with to occur. And we are blessed with such another great event.

Since SUNRISE insists on fans gaining more traction for the series they love, it is absolutely important for fans to do just that.

As it is known, Brigadoon has not been re-released in Japan apart from the out of print VHS and DVD physical copies. The limited blu-ray collection may have it available, but it is in no way easily acceptable with such a high price wall and niche recognition.

Much less treatment is given to anyone outside of Japan, but there is a great chance to change all of this.

Brigadoon being accessible via NETFLIX is a sure-fire way to garner new viewers/fans and to further suggest the prospect of potential profit through re-releases, remasters--you name it. SUNRISE has faith, and it’s just left to the fans to prove them right in believing in a gem of an anime series.

Dare I remind you, the prospects of a sequel or any kind of new material for the series is still within the realm of possibility.

So as much as possible, please do send title suggestions via the provided link from the tweet above. (But be careful not to spam it like the example done below!)

Submit the title once, and that should be enough as much as NETFLIX is concerned with your request.

However, if you wish to write more about your love for Brigadoon, always remember that you can by following this link and sending your regards to SUNRISE! (Seriously, this post is the single most important post I have ever written in regards to fandom involvement so don’t be shy and please tune in your two cents!)

Here you can show your support and voice your concerns on the welfare on the shows you love. For instance, if they were to bring Brigadoon to NETFLIX, would the blu-ray remastered version be available for streaming? Are you planning to collaborate with NETFLIX to have Brigadoon available in multiple countries?

All of these are legitimate concerns--so get your voice out there! Feel free to tweet SUNRISE Rights or the creator himself when it comes to love and support!!

The fate of Earth and the Funny World rests in your hands, fandom!

#Brigadoon #brigadoon marin and melan #Brigadoon Marin to Melan #Brigadoon: Marin to Melan #news post

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animesavior · 6 years

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“Lupin, i have one more thing to ask of you. Let me have your name. Let me be Mrs. Lupin. It's not for the tabloids, I'm being serious. No matter how far away you are, all you have to do is hear the name Mrs. Lupin, and you'll know it's me. It'll be our own secret code. I want you to see it, Lupin. To watch me grow into a...good woman. I need to grow up into someone you can't live without.“

- Rebecca Rossellini, Lupin the Third (Ep. 26)

The Toonami Trending Rundown for January 20-21, 2018. It’s a night of ends and new beginnings as among other moments, Dragon Ball Super begins the Future Trunks saga, while Asta gets recruited by the Black Bulls, and of course, we reach the thrilling conclusion of Lupin the Third: Part IV.

On Twitter, Toonami would trend as with every show during their respective East Coast airings, as well Hunter x Hunter and Outlaw Star as well during their respective West Coast airings. Lupin The Third in particular trended both US and Worldwide, making sure it completed its current run on a high note. Meanwhile on Tumblr, Toonami would also trend as with Dragon Ball Super, DBZ, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Hunter x Hunter.

This week’s feature was a game review of Animal Crossing Pocket Camp for the iOS and Android, as one of Nintendo’s first forays into conventional mobile devices. Interestingly enough, this was the first time Toonami has ever reviewed a game released on mobile devices, and was also reviewed by Dana Swanson, the voice of SARA, herself. It received a 7.5 out of 10 score.

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As we begin seeing the English dub of the Future Trunks saga, those who watched ahead to where the sub is currently at will know that Toei has announced that the finale of the Universe Survival Saga, set to end in late March will serve as the series finale for Super. While this chapter of Dragon Ball will soon reach its conclusion, this most likely won’t be the end of the franchise, as Toei is presently hard at work producing the 20th feature film as well as mapping the franchise’s general path going forward, to say nothing about the manga, video games, and various other content for the future. Toei has hinted a potential continuation of the anime series down the line, so we’ll see what happens in the months and years ahead. Of course, we still have 84 episodes left to go until Toonami itself reaches that point, so this could allow the dub to catch up in time for the potential sequel, depending on how long this hiatus is among various other factors. Regardless of what happens, it’s been a great ride so far to see Dragon Ball continuing to shine both inside and outside Toonami’s scope, and I’m personally very confident on what the future of this great anime franchise is ahead.

And speaking of DBS, for those wanting to get more of your Dragon Ball fix, Arc System Works and Bandai Namco have just released the newest video game fighter to the franchise, Dragon Ball FighterZ, presently available on all major platforms except for the Switch.

To commemorate Lupin’s finale, Jose Argumedo and Discotek had another Q&A periscope livestream with several of the show’s staff and voice actors including Richard Epcar (co director and voice of Jigen), Ellyn Stern (co director and voice of several minor characters), Lex Lang (the voice of Goemon), Michelle Ruff (the voice of Fujiko), and Doug Erholtz (the voice of Zenigata).

Ever since Monkey Punch began publishing the original manga in 1967, Lupin the Third has grown to be a very illustrious media franchise, with numerous manga, anime, anime films and OVAs and the like released over the decades. Back in 2003, Adult Swim in its early days aired 26 episodes of Part 2, though episode 3 was skipped over for content issues, and the remaining 129 episodes of part 2 never aired for various reasons. While Lupin’s legacy among long time Adult Swim viewers and Toonami Faithful isn’t as large as some of Toonami and Adult Swim’s other highly acclaimed and well requested classics, the series still is pretty well regarded among fans and the Toonami crew to this day, and it perhaps comes as no surprise that Lupin was looked into to make a comeback to the better cartoon show, especially with the series having a renaissance on the Japanese TV scene.

In 2016, Toonami attempted to bring Lupin back with The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, following the end of Michiko and Hatchin’s run (both series were directed by Sayo Yamamoto, whom would also go on to create Yuri on Ice) however issues regarding nudity (ie. too many boobies to censor) would have required Toonami to heavily chop the show’s content into bits barring objections from the network and advertisers, forcing them to choose an encore run of Samurai Champloo instead. While Toonami found a way to air the likes of Black Lagoon, Hellsing, Kill la Kill, and soon episode 23 of Outlaw Star with as little edits as they could to appease the network and advertisers in that regard, Toonami decided that that the amount of censoring needed that time around just wasn’t worth it.

But Toonami and Lupin fans would not give up, as over a year later, Lupin would eventually find its way back onto Adult Swim, as Toonami partnered up with Discotek to bring in the newest edition of the main Lupin series in part IV, the first acquisition for Toonami from Discotek and the first from TMS since 2003. While Discotek has been around since 2005, considering that they mainly focus on classic titles and underrated gems, including helping to bring IGPX DVDs back into production, and it wasn’t until 2016 with Lupin that they started producing dubs, its not a surprise that this company was under the radar from many fans and perhaps even the Toonami crew as an acquisition partner for so long. Then again, classics and underrated gems are sometimes just what Toonami needs.

One of the earliest hints that this was going to occur was when Jason released a poll to gauge interest on shorter shows like Tokyo Ghoul, Mob Psycho 100, and Lupin potentially airing on the block. While industry politics among other factors between Toonami and the distributors have unfortunately dashed Mob’s Toonami hopes for now, Tokyo Ghoul would get its shot on March, while Lupin would finally make its return on June 17, 2017 as Toonami premiered the English Dub premiere of Part IV.

26 episodes of Lupin and his crew doing what they do best and avoiding Zenigata to do so, finding love with Rebecca, and solving the mystery of Leonardo Di Vinci, and now this season is in the books. During Part IV’s run, the hashtag #LupinThe3rd trended in the US during all but 2 weeks of its run as well as worldwide during the season finale. The show did not produce any character trends or trended on tumblr during its run.

For those wanting to check out more Lupin in the interim, Discotek has been hard at work producing and re-releasing Blu-rays and DVDs of Lupin’s previous installments and several films, so feel free to check those out. And of course, this won’t be end of Lupin as TMS and Telecom Animation Film are presently working on a part V to the franchise, set to premiere in Japan this upcoming April as Lupin and the gang travel to France, the home of Lupin’s grandfather. The sub will be simulcasted on Crunchyroll and Hulu.

No word yet if and when Discotek will be tasked to dub the new season or if Toonami will pick up this new installment down the line, but we’ll see what happens. As I would say with every potential show and every successful Toonami show looking to return for a continuation, if you wish to see Lupin return for Part V and perhaps beyond, keep supporting the show by legal means and to send your show recommendations to Toonami's Facebook and Tumblr message boxes as well as letting Discotek know in their respective outlets.

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Regardless of what happens, Lupin’s return was quite a fun ride for both fans watching since Adult Swim’s early days (and perhaps even before then) and the new fans it gained along the way, and I’m sure I can speak for every fan that we’re all looking forward to what adventures Lupin and the crew will be taking in the future. So until then, Arrivederci, Lupin, and hope to see you again soon.

As previously mentioned, there was a show that was originally supposed to replace Lupin on the schedule, but unfortunately Toonami and the distributors ran into some legal issues preventing a broadcast, delaying the show announcement and premiere to a future date. We’ll keep you posted on when it does happen as well as any other incoming shows in the year to come, but in the meantime, Space Dandy will be having an encore run beginning tonight at 2:30 am, while Naruto Shippuden and Outlaw Star also move up to 1:30 and 2 am respectively in the interim. Until then, see you again next week and stay dandy, baby.

Legend: The shows listed are ordered based on their appearance on the schedule. Show trends are listed in bold. The number next to the listed trend represents the highest it trended on the list (not counting the promoted trend), judging only by the images placed in the rundown. For the Twitter tweet counts, the listed number of tweets are also sorely based on the highest number shown based on the images on the rundown.

United States Trends:

Toonami/#Toonami [#6]

#DragonBallSuper [#8]

#DBZKai [#7]

#BlackClover [#9]

#JoJosBizarreAdventure [#8]

#GundamIBO [#8]

#HunterXHunter [#6]

#LupinThe3rd [#1]

#Shippuden [#9]

#OutlawStar [#8]

#CowboyBebop [#6]

#GhostInTheShell [#6]

Worldwide Trends:

#LupinThe3rd [#10]

Tweet Counts:

Toonami [8,616 tweets]

#Toonami [11.7k tweets]

#DragonBallSuper [12.8k tweets]

#DBZKai [10.5k tweets]

#BlackClover [9,102 tweets]

#JoJosBizarreAdventure [11.8k tweets]

#GundamIBO [10.3k tweets]

#HunterXHunter [11.1k tweets]

#LupinThe3rd [19.7k tweets]

#Shippuden [10.1k tweets]

#OutlawStar [10.9k tweets]

#CowboyBebop [12.2k tweets]

#GhostInTheShell [10.1k tweets]

Tumblr Trends:

#toonami

#dragon ball super

#dbz

#jojo’s bizarre adventure

#hunter x hunter

Notes and Other Statistics:

#GundamIBO: @WhoTrendedIT reported that @KyleMcCarley started the trend in the US.

Special thanks to @coreymbarnes, @jmb70056, @mmorse1017, and others I forgot to mention for spotting some of the trends on this list.

The Grind is Real. Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.

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