#he has like 4 game boys and has beaten every pokemon game ever

[icarrymany]

BAHAHA WAITTTT brian and jay COD freaks. they were probably cod youtuber enjoyers too wayyy back when THAT dominated the youtube gaming scene. jay and alex played halo i bet. but alex is more of a handheld guy imo the nintendo ds rocked his world. jay resident evil/silent hill fan ugh i hate him (<3) tim is bad at every video game ever made (EXCEPT GUITAR HERO) but will always win poker

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale’s Top 10: Favorite Pokémon

Rules:

1. No mega evolutions/gigamax alone. I have to like the Pokemon outside of just those bits.

2. Regional versions are covered if they make the list.

3. These pokémon are not Meta, they are my personal favorites. 

4. This is simply my favorites. I would love to hear yours.

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10. Volcarona

This thing just looks really f***ing cool.

The Fire bug typing.

The mothera reference. The insane special attack.

Stupidly fun to use when playing.

Volcarona is Alder’s ace for a reason. And if you don't kill it quick. You will be begging for your life by turn 3.

When ever I get the chance. It always has a spot on my Unova team. No question about it.

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9. Guzzlord

The Ultra beast with the code name Glutton.

I will say that gen 7 was... interesting in its approach towards Pokémon. I honestly didn't care much for the designs (outside of the Alola forms). The Generation did have a few cool things going for it, but I found most of the line up to be kind of boring.

UNTIL THIS MOTHERF***ER SHOWED UP.

This Dark Dragon type Pokemon just looks so ... monstrous. In the Ultrasun and Moon games, The pocket of space where you find it is a decimated city with nothing in it but it, waiting for something to eat. This thing destroyed its world, likely ate every person and Pokemon. Its downright terrifying. It looks like a boss monster or the final form of a JRPG boss. (Plus his appearance actually made me watch the anime for a brief moment, so kudos)

And it hits like a truck. Sure fairy type attacks grind it to dust. But outside of that, I can just RELATE to this thing. Being unable to fill its stomach and wanting to eat all the time. 

But the reason he is so low is that... you can't really use him until late game and in a sea of other ultra beasts, his impact is minimized

_______________________________________________________________________

8. Electivire

I just love this Thunder Yeti.

One of my favorite build on evolutions. The means of getting him are a bit hard, (having a special item to trade with just to do it) but the benefits are vast. He is fast and his ability neutralizes electric attacks, allowing him to go even faster. 

His movepool allows him to use fire, ice, ground, rock, steel and even Psychic attacks.

He can even learn a move that lets him get rid of his ONE TYPE WEAKNESS. 

Regardless of what side of the fight he is on, Electivire is one tough customer.

_______________________________________________________________________

7.Arcanine

He is a big fluffy boi!

ITS A DOG THAT BREATHES FIRE AND IS BIG ENOUGH TO BE RIDDEN!

My 10 year old self DREAMED about having one. It has soft fur and is loyal. It also is mega versatile. It can learn dragon type, electric type, ground and even grass type moves. It also just looks so cool. I wish we got to see it more commonly used, but sadly it is always outshines by ANOTHER fire type of the gen and that is sadly that.

_______________________________________________________________________

6. Rayquaza

Its a giant green dragon that looks like Shenron and has the best mega evolution. He is also my favorite Legendary. Sorry all other Legendaries. not even Arceus or Mewtwo could touch this beast at his best.

It is majestic, and I have played through emerald version MORE times than any other Pokemon game ever.

So let me tell you about how  monstrous this thing is. Its mega evolution was banned BECAUSE IT WAS SO RIDICULOUSLY OP and it is the reason why Mega evolution is no longer allowed because Z moves couldn't counter this thing. 

It always is cool. And THIS is what a dragon is.

______________________________________________________________________

5. Empoleon 

This might have been shocking to see him so low on the list. Only barely making the top 5.

His design is one of my favorites. And his evolutionary line is my favorite LOOKING of all starters.

Its just... I always keep forgetting he is steel type and when someone uses a ground or fighting move he gets rekt. Now this is more on me and not on the grace that is empoleon.

I also wish this Pokemon got more love. It was overshadowed in the anime, its constantly ignored by most when talking about Sinnoh, and it has a diverse move pool.

I just wish it was either more of a tank or more of a fast sweeper. 

I want to love him more, but battling is kind of important to me and I just feel on edge using him.

______________________________________________________________________

4. Hawlucha

My favorite Gen 6 pokemon.

Bar none. This wrestling bird is just so cool. It has THE best Shiny colors. It is based of a luchadore. It has its own special move, Flying Press. And it hits like a truck.

He has great versatility, he also is just fun to look at. And the Pokemon anime gave me a new appreciation for this bird. If he was a penguin, he would be number one.

_______________________________________________________________________

3. Lucario

Okay I admit it, Lucario is my more obvious pick. BUT COME ON!

It is one of the coolest Pokemon ever created!

It is fast and strong. It has Aura Sphere (one of my favorite moves in the game)

He was also my main in smash before Ultimate came out and nerfed him.

He was my boy. He also has one of the better Pokémon movies made about him and he deserves it.

Also you know a trainer is a bada*** when he/she has one on her team. Its like a status symbol.

And with the coverage he has, its no wonder he is so well loved. 

Plus his design is amazing, his shiny is one of the coolest designs, and he looks like a good boy.

_______________________________________________________________________

2. Raichu

HE IS SHAPED LIKE A FRIEND!

okay so I always liked the Raichu line, but I always felt Pikachu was overrated.

I still love the electric mouse, but I always evolved him.

When Gen 7 happened and THIS form of Raichu happened. I fell in love. Look at this Electric Psychic typing. And the answer to evolve or not was put to rest forever.

Having access to Thunderbolt, surf, psychic and an assortment of other moves. I just love how amazing it is to use. He also looks so cute and cuddly. This is the ideal Pokemon design, you may not agree, but this is what perfection looks like.

Plus, his tail is a surfboard. Your argument is invalid.

_______________________________________________________________________

1. Feraligatr

Let me tell you all a story.

My first Pokemon game that I ever played by myself was Pokémon silver.

My first starter was Totodile.

I started my journey with this little gator and every step of the way, whenever I was backed into a corner, this guy came through for me. I called him Gatorhawk. Because he had the little red tuft that I thought was a mohawk.

I remember playing the game in the car on my way home, doing my best against Lance and his three dragonites. The rest of my team was down. Only Gatorhawk remained as I faced his 3 remaining Pokemon. Surviving attack after attack.  Yet somehow finishing off his dragonites.

I got down to his last Pokemon, Out of healing items, and up against charizard.

My Gatorhawk was in the yellow. I was so close. All I needed to do was survive that Charizard’s attack.

It fired a hyper beam. I thought it was over. All of the hardwork I had gone up to this point, it was for nothing.

But Gator tanked it. By some logic He tanked a hyper beam with only one HP left.

And he hit with a critical Surf. It was over. We had won. 

I screamed so loud my mom thought something bad had happened.

I was a pokemon champion. I had beaten Lance. No older cousin help, no sister assistance. it was just me, and my Gatorhawk.

So when I see Feraligatr. I think of Pokémon, I remember the nostolgia, the good times.

I remember what it meant to be the best.

[theultimateegghead-blog]

50 Follower Special!                      Part 4

Here we are, the penultimate part. These games are all amazing and I love them for various reasons. I can play any of these games time and time again and enjoy them. Lets take a look at number 20 – 11!

20 - Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill 2 is my favorite horror game. While I do believe the third silent Hill game is the scariest, this one is by far the most well-known. A very symbolic game that acts upon the psychological torment of James Sunderland and other people trapped in the hellish town of Silent Hill. This game can be clunky and can have some very stilted dialogue. Despite its age as an early ps2 game, its still a fantastic game. It has some great moments and very memorable monsters, especially pyramid head. If you want to play a good horror game, play this one.

Will I review this game? – Yes

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19 - castlevania Symphony of the Night

As I said earlier, metroidvania is an awesome genre, and this game was the first. While honestly any of the Metroidvania games could fit this spot, I choose Symphony for one reason, Alucard. Alucard is a great character and I didn’t play this game until after I saw the castlevania Netflix animated series. This game can offer hours of exploration and combat and can be somewhat difficult. It can cost a pretty penny to get a physical copy, so it will be best to just buy it off PSN.

Will I review this game? – Yes

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18 - Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII…The most famous title of the Final Fantasy series. I got this game as a gift for graduating high school and I loved it. The music, the combat and all the bonuses and extras that I could find. There is a group of people that claim this game is inferior to most other final fantasy games. While this game does have some flaws I think that the mindset that this game is not good either comes from a personal vendetta or gripe, or just a desire to be ‘different’. Cloud as a protagonist was ok, but I will say he is not my favorite Final Fantasy protagonist, but he isn’t bad either.

Will I review this game? – Yes

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17 - Elder Scrolls Skyrim

Skyrim is one of the most well-known games of all time. Essentially available on everything ranging from the PS3 onwards, its hard to not know about this game. An open world fantasy RPG made by Bethesda. When I first got this game, I didn’t like it that much because I had the buggy original with no way to update. Several quests were locked due to glitches and so on. My opinion changed when I got the special edition for the Ps4 and since then I have platinumed it. If you can only get one game, make it this, it can keep you entertained for a very long time.

Will I review this game? – Yes

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16 - Undertale

I played Undertale shortly after watching the Game Grumps played it and I feel in love. Yes, like the sonic franchise, this game has spawned an…interesting fanbase, but that aside, this is an amazing game. An RPG bullet hell where you can choose not to kill anyone, this game has a massive emphasis on story and character interaction and it is great. The music is one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard and the combat is unique and diverse. Undertale is a game you can beat in only a few hours and it is totally worth the price. This is a game I am proud to see become a success.

Will I review this game? – Yes

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15 - Super Smash Bros Brawl

My favorite smash title, while MANY players will disagree, I think Brawl is the best smash game, and unless Ultimate changes my mind this will likely stay the same. I wanted brawl the moment I saw it, and boy was I excited when I got it for Christmas nearly a year after it came out. This game is what introduced me to Metal Gear Solid as well so bonus points for that. I love everything about this game. The trophies, the game modes, the story mode and so on. I didn’t have a main, but I did play as Link and Charizard a lot.

Will I review this game? – Yes

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14 - Breath of the Wild

This was a breath of fresh air! This game was at first very different from previous games and was really difficult to get started into! This is probably the hardest Zelda game with a lot of ways to get a game over. This also has a ton of character in it as well and I loved the characters introduced. I openly welcomed the voice acting and it was great, and the combat, while hard to get used to, was very rewarding. This is a great game and is the king of my Wii U collection. This game deserves all the praise it gets.

Will I review this game? – Yes, but we have a loooong way to go before we reach this one.

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13 - Pokemon Platinum

Pokemon Platinum is my favorite main series Pokemon game with Sun being a very close second. I love generation four and the Sinnoh region. Platinum fixed some of the pacing issues of Diamond and Pearl and focused on one of my all time favorite pokemon Giratina. This is a game I long to have in my collection again, as I have lost my old copy many years ago…

Will I review this game? – Maybe.

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12 - Final Fantasy XII (Ironic huh?)

Now for the final Final Fantasy title. Don’t blame me, I love this series and I have played every single game to completion barring 11 and 14. 12 was a title I poured a lot of time into. I liked the combat, the missions and the overall world. I didn’t care much for the story at all and it probably has the most forgettable Final Fantasy Villain in my opinion. It had some amazing cutscenes and is probably one of the prettiest games on the Ps2. Now I am waiting for the chance that I will be able to purchase the Zodiac Age remake for Ps4 and experience it all over again.

Will I review this game? – Yes, but we have a long way to go before we reach this one.

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11 - Halo 3

Halo 3 is an excellent game and is a title my brother and I have spent a lot of time playing. I have beaten this game so many times and have done everything I could to discover every secret and Easter egg. With epic battles, great dialogue and action-packed levels and a cool story. Halo 3 was my first outing to the Halo series and I beat it in one sitting. This game holds a fond place in my heart and is an excellent Xbox 350 game…but it isn’t my favorite Halo game…

Will I review this game? – Yes.

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A huge thank you to my friend Noah. We have never meet in person, but if we did I know two things, one, your taller than me and two we would get along just fine. Heres to you Noah!

See you next time for the Finale!

[littlestartemis]

I have nothing better to do so I’ve decided to ramble my opinions on all of the pokemon rivals in sequential order. Under the cut cause I intend to go into detail on these.

Blue

This kid is a mixed bag for me. Part of his problem is that he just suffers from being a generation 1 character, which means only having one character trait apparently. Yes, he’s a jerk, the first ever jerk rival, and people love that, but being a jerk without nuance just makes you... loathsome. Even some of the weaker rivals, I still had these surprised moments of joy when my gameplay was halted to duke it out with them. With Blue? He’s the only one I ever uttered a groan at. “Oh good, this fucker has to waste me time and make me backtrack to a pokemon center to patch myself up before moving on.” The most insufferable thing about him is that no matter what, no matter how many times you put him in the dirt, he’s always convinced he’s so much better than you...

Until later games. It’s never stated what happened. If he had some self reflection, if Oak sat him down and told him to grow the fuck up, or what. But the next time we see him in the generation 2 games and onward, he’s still got this aura of smug confidence about him, but he seems more matured despite it. Like yeah, he’s hot shit, but you can be too if you work hard enough, maybe even almost as good as him. And while I love all of that for his character, that all comes after the fact. So as it stands, the Rival Blue, is lackluster, annoying, a headache, and undeserving of such a good fucking champion theme. Also the bitch has no unique rival battle theme unlike literally anyone else.

I’m also going to go into their music, though not nearly as much as their character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5s4VYC9xR4

There are so many official variations and remixes and retoolings of the Kanto Champion theme that picking the “Best One” would be a practice in futility I think, so I just picked one of the better ones. What I have to say applies to pretty much all of them. And goodness, while I think Blue is a lukewarm rival it’s no wonder why this track has stood the test of time. Normally champion themes are in one of two categories, at least for me. The buildup themes, or the 0-100 themes. Some of them take some time to get there, to make you sweat a little as you realize who you’re dealing with, and some of them just kick down the door and GO. Blue’s theme though is interesting in that it kind of does both. It’s powerful, it’s oppressive in its composition and instrumentation, but there is just the tiniest buildup right after the bombastic kick off. I love it, it’s a strong theme with no real weaknesses.

5/10 rival, 8/10 character and theme

Silver

I think there was a time where if you asked around communities who long time player’s favorite rival was, a good majority would probably say Silver, and for good reason. He was another jerk rival, but with that fun little word I used before; nuance. He was mean, but rather than very deliberately being rude to you, it seemed more like he had other plans that you just happened to keep standing in the way of. He had a goal and he was going to accomplish it. And what was that? Curb stomping anybody brave or stupid enough to traipse around in a black and red uniform. This kid had a clear cut vendetta against team rocket, but instead of making him your ally with a goal like that, it set you as his obstacle every victory for you was one less for him, one less distraught rocket face he would get to see. And we even find out later why, and it’s fascinating. Giovanni’s kid? That’s utterly unique, and it really puts his hatred of team rocket and the idea of finding strength in others into a perspective you can really understand. Not to mention, there’s a bit of storytelling through gameplay with Silver that I’m sure most veteran pokemon fans know. So, he gets a Zubat on his team. Cool, right, edgy bat fits with the edgy tween. But at the very end of the game, when he’s been beaten time and time again and forced to confront why he isn’t strong enough, he realizes it’s because he’s been thinking only of his own strength, and not how much stronger his pokemon could be if they had his genuine care and support. And lo and behold, in his postgame battles, he’s got a proud, fully evolved Crobat on his team, which can only evolve with strong friendship. That’s good shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZAV8mJY_Qs

For some reason it was kinda tough finding a decent rip of his theme. Ah well, this is easily one of the coolest rival themes. Much like Blue’s champ theme, it has this sort of oppressive energy about it, as if Silver isn’t even looking down on you, he’s just waiting to crush you and be on his way. He’s a fucking bad dude, and he’ll snuff you out however he can if it means he can get his shit done. 

9/10 rival and theme

Brendan and May

This pair of nerds. They’re... interesting. I do feel like they get a worse rap from folks since they were the first friendly rivals and the ones to start the trend, and truthfully I have nothing against the idea of having friendlier rivals. If every rival was an asshole it would get really stale really fast. These two though... Well, there’s just not much to them. In the rival role, they’re Professor Birch’s kid, which is basically their entire motivation for going on a pokemon journey to start with. A glorified favor/errand to fill out the dex cause they just happen to have easy access to one. Us being around is purely incidental, and I’m pretty sure the only reason they initially have an interest in us is because we’re Norman’s kid, a gym leader’s kid (dark shoutout to Brendan for throwing some nice 2002 sexism in his introduction with “Oh, you’re a girl? When I’d heard our neighbor was a gym leader’s kid, I was kind of hoping you’d be a boy.”) They get some extra significance in ORAS, which is much needed, having them around for a few Team Aqua/Magma encounters and even one last hurrah battle after you become champ to make up for throwing in the towel like a bitch after Lillycove. I don’t have much nice to say about them, but that’s mostly because I don’t have much to say about them, and what’s there is just... there. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rP0OXxc-zk

I’m not sorry. So, with our first friendly rival is our first more chipper rival theme. And truthfully, I like it! It’s very high energy, and has this twinge of suspense partway through to remind you that they have a wailmer you son of a bitch and you will respect the shit out of it under the cycling road. It’s bouncy, it’s fun, and it still has just the edge it really needs to be a proper battle theme I think.

4/10 rivals, 6/10 theme

Wally

And possibly the reason Brendand and May are so Just There. Wally. Now, I’ll say up front, I have a massive Gardevoir/Gallade bias, they’re my absolute favorite pokemon of all time, so having a rival character themed entirely around the pokemon family? Yeah that gets some free points from me. But earnestly, even without that, for as little as he appears he really is the true rival of the game. It’s a short story, but one you can rally behind. This sickly kid who isn’t even capable of catching his first pokemon without supervision and has to move to a small town with clean air just to like, function properly. But with dreams of becoming a pokemon trainer. He has the knowhow, he downloads apps he can use and study, he’s done the research beforehand for what all he needs to know, and after we set him straight in Mauville, he goes on his own journey separate from our’s. And when we see him again... what a god damn transformation (how do you become a badass by just unbuttoning your shirt). He really did it, he worked his ass off, and he made it to the pokemon league, he got a fucking mega stone - two mega stones actually since he gives you one - and he isn’t that same weak kid from the start of the game. He’s your equal, and you will respect him, if not for his power, then by the effort he had to put in to get to where he is now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_CiTJJg5_s

Why is this song so short. Powerful, resolute, triumphant, and 40 seconds long what the fuck. Length aside, this is the song Wally absolutely deserves, without question. I can’t express it anymore than in those few words. It’s the theme of perseverance, and the strength you can attain by never giving up.

8/10 rival, 9/10 theme

Barry

What a perfect bundle of energy. Barry is another friendly rival, but not just because he’s nice or something. No, he’s your friend, your childhood friend, and he treats you like it. He’s nice and is clearly happy to go on this adventure with you, but he also slams into you without saying sorry or feeling like he really needs to, and threatens to fine you billions of dollars if you’re late for your super important meeting on the outskirts of town. He is fucking chaotic dumbass personified, with such brilliant strategies as “run through the grass so fast the wild pokemon can’t catch us”, “let’s say thanks to the professor for giving us these novice pokemon by catching a legendary pokemon”, and “here’s the perfect foolproof winning strategy: never miss and never get hit, you’ll win every battle gauranteed”. And god dammit if he isn’t endearing for it. He’s your best friend, and has your best interests at heart, going so far as to take the fall with Rowan when he thinks his dumbass plan might lose you both the chance to get your first pokemon. But, he also wants you to be damn sure that the next time you see him he will be stronger, and he will beat you, and he will be the champion first, and is that one of those walls you put your face in to take a funny picture holy shit check it out I’m a croagunk haha. If you don’t like Barry, you’re taking the games too seriously, and I suggest you get in touch with your inner child because they’re probably starved for fun characters in your media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv8g5u55QFA

Did I say high energy because I meant high energy. A battle theme for the sugar high in all of us, he’s just so fucking excited to battle you again. Much like Brendan and May, there’s the tiniest hint of suspense later in the song, but it’s much shorter and less pronounced here. Because it’s not so much a battle with much at stake so much as two best friends having a good old fashioned round against one another for shits and giggles.

9/10 rival, 7/10 theme

Cheren and Bianca

If you had asked me a month ago what I thought of these two I don’t think I’d have had much good to say. Or... much to say at all, for that matter. For reasons that are very unclear to me now, generation 5 didn’t stick with me like others, and that’s actually kind of upsetting since I just recently finished playing through White version again. And boy, do these two have character in spades. 

I’ll start with Cheren. Cheren is great, because he’s actually almost a jerk rival, and I get the feeling if you weren’t supposed to be prior long time friends he actually would be. He’s very cool and calculating, and not too shy about getting pissy with each loss. He’s happy to lend you a hand, giving you tips, items he’s found that might be helpful, and fighting beside you against Team Plasma at a few turns. Something that stuck out to me was how nearly every rival battle was punctuated by “We both have the same number of badges now, so we should be on equal footing. Let’s put that to the test.” And each time, he’s not just being mad that he lost and then storming off, he’s very outwardly trying to deconstruct why he’s losing. You could almost picture him with charts and tables out, nose buried in his X-Transceiver screen between destinations, absolutely sure he missed some key strategy you used or that he simply overlooked. He’s very much the “power for the sake of power” rival at the start of the game, until the champion and the events with Team Plasma force him to confront his own flawed, short sighted goals. He can’t just Be Strong, he needs a reason for that, and that reason is ultimately protecting not just people important to him, but everyone. And that is just. So god damn cool. It extends to his eventual teaching role. Not only will he get stronger on his own, but he’ll teach others to be stronger, and in turn they’ll protect others too, and so on. And I think that’s perfect character motivation through and through.

Now Bianca. Oh man, do I love Bianca. She’s somehow the living version of if you perfectly spliced an introvert and an extrovert. She’s charming, outgoing, friendly, encouraging, and... also very shy, humble, not one to speak up most of the time. At least at first. And it’s such a tiny, blink and you miss it character trait, but every time she looses she needs like a full five seconds to hide her face under her hat before speaking again. Losing to you time and again does get to her, but she’ll be damned if she lets that deter you and your progress. It’s not your fault she lost, it’s her’s for not being stronger, and she ultimately realizes it’s because while she’s enjoyed raising pokemon and going on this journey, battling just isn’t where her heart is. But she still went on the journey, and fought to go on it, arguing against her father’s wishes for her to return home, and fighting by your side however she can through the debacle spreading over the region. She learns to stand up for herself and what she wants when she actually wants it, and even though in the end she might have been good enough to challenge the league if she kept at it, she realized it wasn’t for her, and that’s still ok. 

I don’t have much to add on regarding Cheren and Bianca’s roles in B2W2, beyond that it’s such a delight seeing them both realize their true purpose and being really happy with where they’ve wound up. Also I love their new looks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yr5Taoyalo

Their theme invokes the same sort of feeling as Barry’s in the sense that this is less about beating the other person and more about two friends having a good time with some friendly competition. Any sense of suspense is almost nonexistent, and the fun factor has been cranked up. It’s bubbly, it’s cheery, and it never really lets up, and while I do think that makes it kind of weak as a theme representing both of them, it makes for a fun song.

9/10 rivals, 6/10 theme

N

So like, I know BW/B2W2 are older games, but, spoilers for plot stuff.

I’ve heard a lot of arguments regarding whether N even counts as a rival instead of an antagonist outright, but I personally think he’s meant to be the rivalry edge to make up for Cheren and Bianca being so buddy buddy, like they were trying to address the friendly rival complaints after the last two games. And N is certainly a fascinating beast (hah), being very intentionally directly designed to be the dark antithesis to the standard pokemon protagonist character. The protagonist doesn’t speak at all, he speaks too quickly. The protagonist’s goal is very vague and broad, simply being “the best”, while N’s is powerfully stubborn and full of conviction. And of course it’s right there in the design, he’s even got the hat. N is also a very tragic character, intentionally raised and taught from childhood all for the purpose of being Ghetsis’ perfect tool towards world domination. He can literally speak with pokemon, he doesn’t get people, and interestingly up until the final battle in the game, he exclusively catches and uses local pokemon when you meet him, presumably releasing them once his friends have helped him test your own resolve. Team Plasma eventually splits into two factions in B2W2, those who truly believed in their ideals, that what they were trying to do was create a better world for people and pokemon alike, and those who were just using it as an excuse to be cruel dickbags and steal pokemon. If Ghetsis is the later, N is the former. This isn’t an evil plot for him, he isn’t some wicked mastermind working behind the shadows, he’s very clear cut and up front with you about what he’s doing, why he’s doing it, he even basically says “hey I could be wrong, I’m like 90% sure you’re also a hero so prove it and show me who’s intentions are more pure.” I love this guy, and I’m genuinely happy he ends up just living a happy life with his pet dragon wolf friend by the end of B2W2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0ajBL15Knk

N’s theme is a weird one for me. I genuinely don’t enjoy the composition, but I can’t deny that it’s pretty perfect for him. This intentionally twisted idealist seeking all of the best things in all the wrong ways. It’s dark, fast paced, foreboding, and the ticking clock in this final version really sells that he won’t back down on creating what he truly believes to be a perfect world if you don’t get him to listen to reason. In short, wonderfully thematic, just not for me.

9/10 rival 5/10 theme

Hugh

I’ll be up front, I’m very overdo for a replaying of B2W2, so my recollection of Hugh is a bit foggy. That said, I do recall liking him. He’s high energy, but he also has a better handle on knowing how to direct said energy. Much like Silver before him, he’s very goal oriented and with a vendetta to work through, but rather than seeing your presence as an obstacle, you’re a trusted friend and ally, anything to make stomping out Plasma that much easier, and what better way to fight crime than with a friend at your side. I recall he had a habit of lashing out at strangers for being inattentive of their pokemon since his little sister’s purrloin got stolen (irony) by Plasma, but it comes from a place of good, so you can kinda get it. He’s well meaning, head strong, and a bit of a hot head, and while I need to reacquaint myself with him, I remember liking him alright if nothing else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZDEr6_xzsM

Shockingly, his theme is a bit more subdued in terms of your average battle theme. It’s got a bit of an edge to it, and I love the shit out of those drums, but it still has that friendly ring to it. Oddly, it gives me more of a megaman vibe than anything pokemon. And trust me, that’s not a bad thing. Just a very strange song altogether though.

6/10 rival and theme, subject to change

Serena and Calem

I don’t recall how much of this is true for Serena, but I do seem to recall the two actually having somewhat different personalities. And Calem borrows a bit from what I liked about Cheren. He’s still being buddy buddy with you, but as each loss piles on, he starts to get more and more outwardly frustrated with himself over them. What’s he doing wrong? You’re supposed to be at the same level as one another, why can’t he pull out just one win? And he’s slightly less apologetic about it, so he is a bit of what I described with “what if Cheren was still your rival but not your childhood friend”. I want to say that Sarena is much the same, but it’s simply been far too long, and for what good points they’ve got even after two full playthroughs, they just... don’t bring much to the table, much like similar rivals before them Brendan and May. And man, speaking of not bringing much to the table...

The Friend Gang

Mmmm... let’s start with what I like about them. Because earnestly, there is an aspect about Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna (respectively) that I like. For all of our rivals up until now, you’ve had roughly the same goal. To conquer all 8 gyms, defeat the elite four and champion, become the champion yourself, and maybe save the world if you happen to be in the area at the time. And you know, world of pokemon, that makes sense it’s all well and good. But like, some people run businesses. Some people drive taxis, some are singers, some are artists, some are scientists, not everybody wants to be a world class ace trainer. And, neither do these three. Tierno is interested in dance, and seems to want to go out there just to see new moves and techniques to incorporate them into dance moves. Trevor is actually interested in and invested in filling out every shred of information in the pokedex, which is refreshing since you know, we usually get as far as like maybe 50 pokemon tops before just calling it quits. And Shauna, I’ll admit I don’t recall much of her, but I seem to remember her going out on her journey much for the same reason Bianca did. Do figure out what she actually wants to do in the first place. Unlike Bianca though, she never really finds it I don’t think. So, they’re trainers, but with their own unique goals in mind. That’s cool! ... and it’s also all there is to them. They’re extremely one note most of the time, and regrettably very forgettable. Calling them rivals at all honestly feels kinda generous. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73UoF45hBVQ

Imma be real with you chiefs, I’ve been listening to like every other Gen 6 song except this one while writing this. This could have easily just been the generic trainer battle theme in any other region, which... after my analysis, I’ll admit, kinda makes sense. These aren’t ace trainers or anything, they’re just... some friendly peeps doing their own shit who happen to know how to battle too. But, thematics doesn’t save a song on it’s own.

3/10 rivals and song

Hau

Hau is just... god damned precious. He’s loose, he’s chill, he’s excitable, but not always excited, and happy to go with the flow on things. He’s not your childhood friend, but he acts like that just means he’s got lost time to make up for once he gets to know you, more than happy to offer you up snacks and whatnot. He’s a fast and loyal friend, and surprisingly one with his own goal in mind that actually kind of weighs on him in the background. He’s the grandson of the island Kahuna, Hala, which means he’s eventually supposed to take that role from the old man. And that’s a huge responsibility for a kid who just wants to enjoy the sun and malasadas. But, it’s one he wants to live up to earnestly, and he’s willing to work towards. He just has a little trouble working past that initial fear of “how can I possibly be as good a kahuna as my grandpa”. Plus, once he makes a friend, he’ll fight for em, eagerly and happily going along with you to the Aether Resort when he finds out Lillie’s in trouble. Rain or shine, Hau’s got your back, and is easily one of the best friendly rivals to date if you asked me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BYcMPXxJrg

This one reminds me a lot of Cheren and Bianca’s theme but this time it’s a lot more fitting. It’s a fun and silly time, whoever loses doesn’t matter, so long as everyone’s having a good time! A bit of a boring song, but perfectly befitting the character, so it gets a bit of a pass.

8/10 rival, 6/10 theme

Gladion

I would say “who hurt you”, but we have the answer to that question, and it really helps propel Gladion and indeed the entire Aether family to the heights of “well written pokemon characters”. But, we’ll stick with just Gladion here. When we first meet him he’s just another skull flunky, but even then not really. For as pathetic as the skull grunts are (I love all of you but you’re so bad), even they make fun of him. He’s a nothing to nobody who has nobody, nobody but him and his weird dog. He is so much the rebellious tween but dammit if he doesn’t have a good reason with how horrible and abusive Lusamine became after her awry experiments with ultra space. He took their experimental pokemon for his own, ran away, and never looked back, just trying to live a happy life as best he can with Type: Null. He’s very hardened, and clearly not looking to go make any relationships, but eventually he does warm up to you at minimum as someone he can trust in battle, and by the end of the game someone he can see as an equal and maybe even friend. Really, calling him a rival is a bit off. He has no real beef with you or your journey, most of the time it seems like he’s just fighting you because he’s in a bad mood. But he’s a young man who’s been hurt badly, and wants to keep others from feeling that same kind of hurt, and obviously if he’s nice and strong then nobody can ever stop him from keeping himself and the people he cares about safe. The friendliest of jerk rivals who deserves the utmost care and protection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDLj143lxVk

How to make a good battle theme: Step 1, slap bass. Step 2, there is no step 2. Jokes aside, I love this shit. It is utterly not in line with what you normally expect from a pokemon theme, and that kinda makes it work really well. It’s wild, it’s strong, and it denotes a kind of complexity to its energy. Not jaw dropping, but just a great slap.

8/10 rival and theme

[kokichiomakin]

GOTG Headcanons: Video Games

OVERWATCH

- They have a pretty solid teamcomp. Quill is usually a fairly reliable ADC, Rocket tanks, Groot is a support, Gamora is a sniper, and Drax is usually a second tank. Mantis can be swapped in as a second support.

- Quill’s main in Overwatch is McCree. He’s pretty spot on with the flashbangs and decent with headshots. Occasionally he’ll swap to Reaper for more guaranteed damage (and because hearing ‘DIE DIE DIE’ over his music amuses him), or Lucio if the team needs more healing. He’s probably honestly best at Lucio, but he likes being an ADC, so go figure. He can tank as well, but he only started trying after Halloween thanks to Zarya’s new skin. 

- Rocket is a tank player to the end in Overwatch. He’s familiar with all the tanks, but he’s best with D.Va. He’loves ramming into people using a giant mecha and blowing people up. Giving her missiles was just an improvement in his opinion. He can fill if needed - his ADC is 76, healer is Moira, and defense is Junkrat. If he’s particularly angry, he’ll enlist Groot....and his Junkrat paired with Groot’s Roadhog is terrifying. Rocket’s Junkrat is the definition of ‘nowhere is safe.’

- Gamora is a sniper most of the time - usually Widowmaker, though she can Ana if they need the extra heals. She’s a pain in the ass to fight against if she’s focused, and most of the time she is. If she wants to really get into the fight, however, she’ll go Doomfist. She likes hitting people head-on and that usually results in a fairly panicked Groot following after her while she stays entirely fine.

- Groot is the team healer. His Mercy is fairly honed, and he’s not half-bad at the other supports as well. If healing isn’t a big problem, he’ll probably go Symmetra. He’s pretty good at being real jumpy so people can’t stop his beam. He can probably also go as Roadhog for a tank, and Mei is his best defense.

- Drax is probably close to a one-trick Reinhardt if he didn’t also sometimes play Doomfist as well. He can try other tanks, but none are near close to his pretty terrifying Reinhardt. You know how Rein laughs sometimes when he attacks people? Drax is literally doing that at the same time as he plays.

- Mantis is another good healer, though she prefers playing Ana. She is the one that will give Drax the nanoboost and let him go wild on the opposing team. Alternatively, in some tight pinches, she’s proven to be a fairly adept Genji, though she doesn’t necessarily like it. 

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

- This teamcomp is a bit more adaptable because they tend to watch off and on, but their most solid comp is Gamora on top, Quill on mid, Rocket as ADC, and Groot as support, with Drax in the jungle.

- Quill is the most annoying Lux player you will ever meet. He will stun you. Repeatedly. His specialty in League is ‘make the opponent so annoyed that they really don’t want to bother anymore.’ His biggest problem is that he gets so into the one-on-one fighting that he really doesn’t farm minions enough. Alternatively, he can easily go top as Jayce or Garen or support as Rakan. If he goes Rakan, it’s almost guaranteed Rocket will go Xayah and they’ll win their lane.

- Gamora is usually their top, and she has a variety of champions she could pick, but Riven is her favorite. Irelia is a close second, however. She’s horrible with setting up for ganks - but she usually doesn’t need them, anyway, unless the enemy jungler is smart enough to focus her right away. She had the steepest learning curve with the game, however, because she kept getting hit by the tower and thinking it was okay until she died when she first started playing. She’s also a fairly good mid, given Katarina.

- Rocket is a pretty straightforward Twitch main as far as his ADC goes. Occasionally, he’ll bust out a pretty cruel Jinx or Kalista, but Twitch is definitely his main - unless Quill is volunteering to support, in which case they’ll both go for a Xayah/Rakan team. He’s fairly adaptable as a fill - he uses Rumble a fair bit on top, Udyr in jungle, Lulu as support, and Veigar as mid. 

- Drax is jungle. He will jungle all day every day and his Warwick and Rengar are bad news all over.  It’s safe to say that most of the Guardians will easily bounce off of his ganks fairly well, though sometimes he gets too bloodthirsty and ends up with the most deaths on the team. He can also top pretty well as Tryndamere or Pantheon. He is convinced Rocket is literally a yordle. Rocket cannot change his mind on this and has given up on the prospect of ever doing so.

- Groot is the support again.  Surprisingly, his main is Bard, and he only plays Ivern if he wants to jungle. He’s a fairly passive support when he’s given Bard and mainly focuses on making sure Rocket is okay, but if he’s given Blitzcrank, that’s when he gets vicious. His Ivern isn’t a slouch, either. The few games where he’s played top, he is the most annoying Teemo. He will poison everyone. Repeatedly. And get away scott-free. 

- Mantis is an alternative support, though she prefers playing Soraka. She’s very much focused on heals and she knows when to best use them, though she’ll occasionally switch to Sona for variety. If she has t pick another lane, she’ll likely jungle and use Amumu. She’s good at stuns - and there’s at least one time she played mid as Annie and did fairly well. 

OTHER GAMES

- Overall, Rocket is best at tactical strategy games (he plays Fire Emblem on the hardest difficulty and....his victories are pragmatic, but he still has beaten all of the ones he’s played. He’s also a fairly passionate Metal Gear fan. His secret soft spot is Harvest Moon games. He will let absolutely no one know about this (the only reason he knows Quill knows is that the second save slot on his copy of Harvest Moon DS was taken by Quill at some point, who immediately took on marrying the Witch Princess. Rocket approved, though he married Muffy on his save file.)

- Quill is more into action-adventure, though one of his new prize possessions is an original game boy with Pokemon Gold. He takes pride in being a pokemon master and it’s pretty unwise to face him. He also, of course, adores Just Dance and Dance Dance Revolution. He’s had all the Guardians try Just Dance at least once and it ended with a fairly drunk Rocket stuck doing ‘You’re The One That I Want’ with him, which was fairly nice all things considered since he was promptly dragged away by Rocket afterwards. He also learned that Drax can dance to Rasputin. And ONLY Rasputin. Anything else is out of the question.

- Gamora is the one who plays the most fighting games. It’s best to not give her Princess Zelda in Smash Bros unless you want to lose immediately, which is also why it’s a poor idea to give her Paasoul in Skullgirls. The only one able to rival hhr in Skullgirls is Rocket, and that’s when he’s playing Peacock, though Drax’s Beowulf isn’t bad either. She’s still the best, though. She’s also a big Metal Gear fan, and it’s one of the rare things she and Rocket can bond over.

- Groot plays games for the story, which is...fairly interesting for everyone else involved, because if it’s something like a Telltale game, that’s when they can really see what he’s like outside of Rocket translating for him. And he has played all of his games as lawful or at least neutral good. The one time he tried to play a game on an evil path he felt too bad and immediately started over. The time he was playing Wolf Among Us with Rocket watching, and he picked [GLASS HIM] was also a sight to behold. Rocket cracked up. Groot was distressed.

- Drax is the one who will play rage-inducing games just for the challenge, however much everyone else really doesn’t want him to. Surprisingly, he hasn’t broken any TVs or game systems. Yet. He’s jealous that Quill and Rocket are a pretty good Cuphead - Mugman team, however. He’s also the one who accidentally sends everyone invites to crappy games over Facebook. Castle Wars was a thing for a while. No one but Drax was happy and Rocket half-assed it from the start.

- Mantis likes story-based games as well, though she loves dating sims. She doesn’t care about the sex, but she is there for story and seeing how she can improve other characters lives. Dramatical Murder was the only one to weird her out enough to the point of stopping completely, and Mink’s route was...distressing to her. Rocket tried to play it afterwards and regretted his decision. The Quill tried to play it. Quill was the only one to finish it. It was a firm ‘4/10 on his list.

[inyournightmares97]

Why We Need Friends (Ch.7)

In which Jeon Jungkook discovers what true friendship means, and how it's more important than anything else in the world. (Featuring Yugyeom, Bambam, DK, MIngyu, The8, Jimin Park, Lisa... and a bunch of other 97-liners)

Prologue,  Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7 Chapter 8  Chapter 9  Chapter 10  Chapter 11 (Final)

Jeon Jungkook hadn’t had many friends in his lifetime. The few that he had had in his life, he could count on his fingertips. For some reason, socializing never worked out for him.

No. There was a reason. That reason went by the name of Lee Mirae.

It had started in elementary school. Park Jimin had been the slightly chubby, almost equally shy boy that sat next to him in the first grade. It hadn’t been easy, but Jungkook had worked up the courage to ask him to play together and the two boys had grown close over some passionate discussions on Pokemon playing cards. Over the next couple of weeks they made a habit of comparing and trading cards over recess. Until Lee Mirae had come along.

She’d had a fight with her best female friend and was sulking around the classroom during recess when she spotted the two boys playing cards. Jungkook was annoyed when she invited herself to join them; after all, girls had cooties and they were annoying. But Mirae happily inserted herself in between him and Jimin, and spent a total of five minutes trying to understand how Pokemon cards worked before declaring that they were boring and asking if they wanted to go play on the swings.

“Pokemon cards are fun,” Jungkook had informed her. “We’re playing. You can go on the swings.”

Jimin blinked. “I want to go on the swings!” he admitted with a smile.

Before Jungkook knew it, Mirae and Jimin had left him alone with his Pokemon cards while they pushed each other on the swings and laughed happily. He wanted to join them, but he was too angry to go. They were stupid. Swings were stupid. Jungkook liked Pokemon cards, and he would play alone if he had to.

In middle school, it was Kim Taehyung. Taehyung was an extremely friendly person, and he had persistently nagged Jungkook to hang out with him once he found out that the younger guy held a high score on a bunch of the games in the arcade. Jungkook liked playing games with Taehyung; even though he was pretty shit at them, he was a good sport and generous with admiration for Jungkook.

Until one day, Mirae followed Jungkook to the gaming arcade out of boredom. Taehyung had looked at the girl with literal heart eyes and his boxy big grin had spread on his face as he promptly proceeded to teach Mirae how to play every game she was interested in, and hurried to get her a coke and fries when she expressed that she was hungry. Apparently Mirae was oblivious to his advances because when Taehyung asked her to be his girlfriend a few weeks later, she had blinked at him and told him that he was sweet but she just wanted to be friends.

Jungkook never saw Taehyung at the arcade again, after that.

In high school, Jungkook barely had a chance to get started on making friends. Mirae had promptly gotten herself involved with the wrong crowd, which was inevitable when one got involved with every crowd. Jungkook received a call from her at about 10 pm at night. Mirae sounded scared and upset and he was forced to sneak out of home to meet her near the park. He was mildly annoyed that he had to come all this way on a weekend night but Mirae’s miserable expression had shut him up.

She had apparently lied to her parents, told them that she was sleeping over at a female friend’s house so that she could spend the night with her first boyfriend. Except she’d had a fight with him and the boyfriend had slapped her across the face. Jungkook was awkwardly trying to comfort the girl who was holding back  her tears, when the boyfriend himself found them.

There was a physical fight, which Jungkook won. Partially because he had been taking martial arts lessons for a while and also because Mirae had sunk her teeth into the (ex)-boyfriend’s arm and bitten down until she tasted blood. Yet Jeon Jungkook was the one who walked into his second week of high school with a painful black eye, rumors that he had beaten up one of the senior students, and a reputation that made anyone scared to approach him. Everyone that Jungkook attempted to befriend ran away from him and by the time the rumors and reputation had faded away, it was too late. Everyone had already made friends and Jungkook was left alone.

Again.

Mirae had tried to help him get in with her group of friends, but it never worked out. Jungkook was too shy to make any interesting conversation with the girls and somehow, the boys always saw the handsome boy as a threat. The third time that he had gone out with Mirae’s friends and had received a muttered warning along the lines of, ‘Is there anything going on between you and Mirae? Good. Because Minseok has his eyes on her’ or a plea for help that sounded something like ‘You guys are friends, right? Has she ever talked about me? Do you think she’s interested?’ Jungkook realized that he would never make any meaningful friends with her group. The males there either saw him as a threat, wanted to use him to get closer to Mirae, or merely found him so boring that they didn’t spare him a second glance.

It was no surprise, then, that Jungkook always had a sense of foreboding when Lee Mirae was around. Things rarely turned out well, at least not for him.

So when Kim Yugyeom walked into Jungkook’s room that afternoon, pale-faced and tired and with no greeting besides the words, “I need to talk to you. It’s about Mirae,” Jungkook had no doubt in his mind.

Everything was going to go downhill again.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Yugyeom looked upset and nervous.

“What happened?” Jungkook wondered, scooting up on his bed to make room for his friend to sit. He shoved aside a few books and CDs and blinked up at Yugyeom in anticipation. What had Mirae done now? He was personally tired of the girl. Yugyeom was just as sensitive as he was cheerful and innocent, and it wasn’t right for Mirae to play around with him like this. Jungkook couldn’t help but feel that Yugyeom had been much happier before Mirae had come by.

Yugyeom ran his fingers through his messy hair and let out a slow breath. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at Jungkook nervously. “There’s no point in trying to hide from you that I have feelings for Mirae,” he said finally. “I probably blabbed everything when I got shit-faced last night.”

Jungkook blinked. “True,” he agreed.

“Are you mad?”

“About your liking Mirae?” Jungkook raised an eyebrow and crossed his legs to sit more comfortably on the bed. He was surprised that his friend would ask such a thing. “It’s not an ideal situation but I don’t have any right to be mad about it. She’s not my sister or anything, Yugyeom. You didn’t even meet her through me. You met her because she’s roommates with Lisa.”

Yugyeom looked relieved and let out a sigh, rubbing his eyes with one hand. “Thank God. I thought you would be pissed off.”

“Is that what you came here to talk about? Whether I’m okay with your liking Mirae?”

He blinked and shook his head, turning to look at him. “No.”

“Then what is it?”

Yugyeom hesitated, opening and closing his mouth a few times as though he was thinking about how to say the words. Jungkook watched him silently and patiently until Yugyeom finally clenched his fists. “Fuck it- there’s no other way to say this. Yah, Mirae came by my apartment this morning. I think she confessed to me,” he croaked out.  

Jungkook had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. No kidding. It was a surprise that Mirae had managed to keep her feelings for Yugyeom hidden for this long; she was mostly incapable of keeping quiet about anything. He noticed how agitated Yugyeom looked and blinked. There was more to this than a simple confession. “You think she confessed to you?” Jungkook repeated.

Yugyeom looked up at him with big eyes. “You don’t believe me?” he asked.

“What- no, of course I believe you, but you don’t sound too sure of yourself.”

“I’m not. Doesn’t it sound absurd?” Yugyeom demanded, running his hands through his hair in a frustrated manner. He sounded upset. “If I told anybody else that Lee Mirae confessed to me, they would probably laugh in my face. It feels so unreal to be true and yet there’s this… weird, uncomfortable feeling like something isn’t entirely right-“

“Why?”

“Because. What sense does it even make? What kind of girl goes home with Byun-fucking-Baekhyun and then confesses to me the next day? She didn’t mean it, right? She probably just meant that she likes me in a fond way, not in a romantic sense.” Yugyeom bit his lip. “Does she do this often?”

“Do what often?”

“Tell guys she likes them.”

“Fuck, I don’t know, Yugyeom. I try to stay away from Mirae’s love life. It’s a messy place to be.”

Yugyeom was silent for a long moment and he stared down at his hands. He seemed deep in thought and Jungkook watched him. He wasn’t sure what was making his friend so agitated. He waited for Yugyeom to speak and when the boy didn’t, he prodded him.

“Yugyeom. What’s bothering you?” he asked, finally.  

“I like Mirae. A lot,” Yugyeom explained. He took a deep, shaky breath. “I love spending time with her, and I love how playful and friendly she is and she’s fucking beautiful but I can’t shake off this sickening feeling that she’s just playing around with me. I’m worried that I’m going to fall too hard for her and get myself hurt while she just thinks of me as one of a million other guys she treats the same way.”

Jungkook blinked. “I see.”

“Is she really interested in me?”

He sighed and frowned, feeling sympathetic for his friend. “I don’t know. Look, I told you. Mirae doesn’t have the best track record with dating. She’s dated a lot of crappy guys. Her first boyfriend was borderline abusive. None of them have lasted long and she’s always the one dumping them. She led on one of my friends in middle school and then turned him down. I don’t want to say that Mirae’s a bad person, it’s just…”

Yugyeom let out a brief sigh. “She’s a tease.”

“Well, yeah. Look man, I don’t want to tell you what to do. But if you came here for my advice, then you deserve better than Mirae. She’s going probably going to mess you up. She loves playing around. But you should still make your own-“

“No, you’re right,” Yugyeom cut him off quietly. “You know her better than I do.”

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“- would you please take their calls?”

Mirae clutched the phone tightly to her ear as she climbed the stairs. Her legs were tired, and she felt a burst of irritation at Baekhyun’s voice over the phone. He had been calling her persistently all day and was trying to convince her to talk to others after the incident the previous night.

“I don’t want to,” she replied.

Baekhyun sighed over the phone. “Yah. Suho-hyung feels really bad. You know he’s not usually like that, he was just really drunk last night. So was Irene. She had no idea that you liked Yugyeom. She wouldn’t have hit on him if she’d known. She was just mad at Suho because they’d had a fight and she wanted to get back at him-”

Mirae ran her fingers through her hair, frustrated. “Why are you telling me about their fucked up relationship? I don’t care. I don’t want to talk to them right now.”

“You need to at least let them apologize-“

“I don’t want to. If this is the way they’re going to treat my friends then I want nothing to do with them again,” Mirae replied firmly. “I had to apologize to my friends on their behalf. Besides, I can’t even think about those two right now. I’m busy-“

“Is something else going on?” Baekhyun asked her.

“I…” Mirae took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Sort of. I confessed to Yugyeom this morning.”

“Really? What did he say?”

“He didn’t say anything. That’s why I’m worried. I’m trying to get in touch with Jungkook but he’s not answering his phone and I don’t know what to do, so I-“ she stopped speaking as she reached the top of the stairs and let out a tired breath. “It was really stupid of me. He was hungover and tired so it was a crappy time to confess. I need to figure out what he’s thinking.”

Baekhyun sighed. “Okay. What should I tell Suho?”

“Tell him to get anger management. Bye, oppa.”

Mirae hung up and stuffed the phone into her pocket, before adjusting the box of cookies that she was carrying. She had baked them herself as a sort of half-apology for Jungkook. She knew how much he hated clubs and drunken fights and she felt like she needed to apologize to him about the mess yesterday in addition to finding out if he’d heard from Yugyeom. She knocked on the apartment door. It swung open and she was met with the pleasant smile of Jin.

“Oh; hello oppa,” she greeted lightly.

Jin smiled at her. “Mirae! Come on in. Are those cookies?” he asked eagerly, eyeing the box.  

Mirae laughed. “They are. They’re an apology for Jungkook though, so I’ll offer them to him first, oppa. I’ll put the rest in the fridge for you. is Jungkook here?”

“Yeah. He and Yugyeom are in his room. Go ahead.”

Mirae’s eyes widened. Yugyeom was here? Trying not to let her anxiousness show, she  took a deep breath and walked further into the apartment. Jungkook’s door was the last one and it was about a quarter ajar. Mirae approached it and hesitated. Should she knock? What were they talking about? She slowly pushed the door open a little further and spotted both of them sitting on Jungkook’s bed.

“… don’t want to tell you what to do,” Jungkook was saying with a sigh. “But if you came here for my advice then you deserve better than Mirae. She’s probably going to mess you up.  She loves playing around. But you should still make your own-“

“No, you’re right,” Yugyeom muttered. “You know her better than I do. I’ve been wondering ever since I heard about her rejecting Jaehyun that maybe she’s not as interested in me as she seems. How could she claim to like me and then flirt around with other guys right in front of me?”

“She’s like that. Look, you’re a really sensitive guy, Yugyeom. I would have told you this earlier if I’d known that you liked her. Mirae has so many people around her and she has a tendency to get obsessed with things for a short while and then forget about them. I’m worried her feelings for you are the same.”

Mirae felt her heart skip a beat. The box of cookies trembled in her hands slightly and she felt her head spin. What am I hearing? This can’t be real. She had been prepared for rejection and to hear that Yugyeom didn’t like her. But for both of them to sit and discuss why she wasn’t good enough for him? You deserve better than Mirae. She’s going to mess you up. The words felt like daggers in her mind.

She suddenly felt nauseous and turned around to leave. I can’t listen to this. Her throat was closing up and  she whirled around to leave the place and try to stop the words echoing in her mind. In her hurry she didn’t notice the pair of sneakers lying on the floor outside Jungkook’s room and she tripped over them clumsily. The box of cookies crashed to the floor and the cookies spilled out while Mirae landed on her knees with a thud.

“What the-“ there was a fumbling noise and both Jungkook and Yugyeom rushed to the door to see what the sound was. They spotted Mirae on her knees on the corridor, trying to stand up and pushing her hair out of her face. Cookies were strewn all over the floor. “Mirae?”

She didn’t respond, merely brushing the crumbs off her skirt and moving to stand up. Yugyeom rushed forward to help her but she flinched away from him. “Don’t touch me,” she muttered, leaning away from him and moving to stand up herself.

Yugyeom hesitated. “S-sorry-“

“What are you doing here?” Jungkook demanded.

The irritation in his voice made Mirae snap. She whirled around to face him, eyes red in anger. Her knees were burning from the fall and she felt small under the sharp gaze of the two men. Mirae took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She wouldn’t let Jeon Jungkook intimidate her. “I came to apologize and bring you cookies,” she bit out harshly. “But it looks like you had a present ready for me already, huh? Sitting and discussing why I’m not good enough for Yugyeom?”

Jungkook winced. “You weren’t supposed to hear all that.”

Mirae laughed scathingly. “I would certainly hope not. It would be pretty weird for you to intend for me to listen while you told the guy I like about why I’m a piece for crap. Because then you’d have to show your back-stabbing face to me, right?”

Jungkook scoffed “Back-stabbing- don’t be dramatic, Mirae.”

“What else do you want me to be?” Mirae hissed.

Yugyeom was glancing between them, eyes wide in panic. He wasn’t sure what was going on but his face was red in embarrassment. He hadn’t imagined that Mirae would hear that conversation and he was feeling horribly guilty. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before hurrying to speak. “No- don’t fight, Mirae, we’re really sorry-“

“Don’t apologize to her! We did nothing wrong.”

Mirae gave Jungkook a long, hard look. Her glare was icy. “You did nothing wrong?” she repeated.

“We weren’t bitching about you. I was giving Yugyeom a realistic opinion about how you are when you date people. I was telling the truth. I wasn’t going to let you fuck over my friend while I watched in silence,” Jungkook repeated heatedly.

There was a long, pregnant pause.

“Funny,” Mirae said softly. “I thought I was your friend.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

[hallowedmasamune]

for the gaming asks~ EVERY SINGLE DING DANG ONE OF THEM~ you're welcome :3

I freaking hate you XD

1. First console you’ve ever owned?

I can’t remember for certain, but I believe it was either a Nintendo 64 or a PlayStation.2. First game you played?

Oh gosh, that’s a hard one to remember, too. I’m going to say Pokemon Stadium, since that is the first game that I can vividly remember playing.3. Favorite childhood game?

Specifically as a child? Probably Pokemon or Shadow of the Colossus. Or Final Fantasy. My favorites haven’t really changed.4. Longest consecutive hours you’ve played a game?

Hm… Probably around half or more of an entire game. I’ve spent ALOT of time into Pokemon in particular.

5. Game with the best soundtrack?

This is a hard one. There are so many amazing video game soundtracks! I’ll say Shadow of the Colossus, Kingdom Hearts, any Final Fantasy, and Okami.6. An underrated game from within the last few years?

OH GOSH. The Last Story, definitely. That is a really amazing game that deserves a remaster.7. Most disappointing game you’ve played?

I’m not sure. Most of the games that I’ve played are games that I’ve played before at a friend’s house, so I knew beforehand if I would like it enough to play it or not. I will say Gary’s Mod, though. I don’t really get the appeal, and it wasn’t really fun the round of Prop Hunt that I played.8. The game with the best atmosphere/scenery?

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS. The scenery is so beautiful, even though it seems empty and barren to some people. It’s just vast, and there are good varieties in the environment. I thoroughly enjoyed going through the landscape and exploring every bit of the world that I could.9. Last game you played?

Basara 4 Sumeragi with a friend. It was fun~10. Prefer PC or console?

Console. I’m not sure why, but I just don’t really like the idea of using a computer to play video games and stuff on. I use that for school work, working on artwork or stories, and watching YouTube or something. Not really games beside visual novels.11. Have you written any fanfic or made any fanart?

Oh, HAVE I. It’s a bit embarrasing, really. I think the ‘best’ one that I made was one for Samurai Warriors. It’s called Dear Agony. It’s not finished, but it’s one that I’ve always wanted to finish.12. Most bizarre game you’ve ever played?

Let’s see… I’m not sure. If we mean bizarre as in a weird or an ‘interesting’ experience, I guess DRAMAtical Murder would be the most bizarre. It was…an experience to go through the…situations that happened in that game. I like the story and the characters (most of them), but there were just some moments that would have been better without.13. Scariest game you’ve played?

That I have played personally? Probably The Evil Within. I would say Resident Evil 4, but there are only a couple of parts in that game that truly terrify me. I can only spend a few minutes with each session of The Evil Within before I feel too stressed out to play it.14. Do you watch playthroughs online?

Sometimes, for games that I don’t really think I’ll play or for tips. Sometimes I’ll watch people I like online play games that I like or have played as well. It just depends on the Youtuber.15. Favorite animal in a video game?

It’s a REALLY hard decision, but I would say Agro from Shadow of the Colossus, Epona from Legend of Zelda, Repede from Tales of Vesperia, and Trico from The Last Guardian. I can’t pick one.16. The best year in gaming you’ve experienced?

2016 was a pretty good year, mostly because two games that I’ve been looking forward to came out last year (Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian). Another good year was either ‘05 or ‘06, since that’s when I played alot of my favorites, like Final Fantasy VII and Grandia III.17. Have a video game themed background or lockscreen?

N-no! …..Almost all the time. If it doesn’t pertain to an anime, then it’s more than likely related to video games. Right now my lockscreen is Noctis and my phone background is the special artwork for the FFVII remake that was released recently. My computer background is Gladion and Silvally from Pokemon Sun.18. Worst game you’ve played?

Shadow Warrior. That was not a game that appealed to me at all. I gave it a shot, and it was just…no.19. Hardest game you’ve ever played?

Probably something like Bloodborne. It’s a game that I’m not used to playing, and a game that I would normally avoid. I try not to get super angry with things, even though it happens all the time regardless.20. Favorite publisher and/or developer?

Probably Square Enix or Team ICO. 21. If you had to play one game for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Shadow of the Colossus or the whole series of Final Fantasy VII. Or maybe Final Fantasy XV.22. If you could turn one game into movie, which would it be?

As long as it’s a good rendition of the game, probably The Last Story. I feel like that would be a really beautiful movie.23. Favorite genre of video game?

Action or adventure, more than likely. It’s a wide genre that most or all of my games have in common.24. Ever cried because of a video game? Which one(s)?

There have been too many emotional times in video games for me to just list here. I will try to list the ones that impacted me the most. Crisis Core, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XV, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Story.25. Proudest accomplishment in gaming?

Being able to defeat Sephiroth when no one else could. I’ve beaten him in every game that I have that he appears in. I’ve had people ask me to beat him in Kingdom Hearts II, almost begging.26. How often do you play online? Co-op?

I don’t play online ever. I don’t really like playing with other people. I’ll play co-op with friends. Whenever we feel like playing Basara, Dynasty Warriors, or Samurai Warriors, we’ll play together.27. Have you gotten any friends into gaming?

OH BOY. Most of my friends are gamers. That’s basically a requirement for being my friend. Although I did get one friend who didn’t really game before into playing games, like Pokemon Channel.28. Who got YOU into gaming?

I can’t remember. I guess technically my parents. I remember my dad playing Tomb Raider alot when I was younger, and they didn’t really have a problem with me and my brother playing games.29. Watch cutscenes or skip them?

Watch. I love story, so I watch cutscenes. Although if I’ve seen a scene too much because I keep losing a boss fight (freaking Riku in Hollow Bastion in the first Kingdom Hearts), I’ll skip it.30. On average, how long does it take you in the character creation screen?

I try not to spend too much time there. I don’t really like elaborate character creation stuff, so I tend to avoid games like Skyrim and Dragon Age. I would say maybe 5 or 10 minutes.31. Game with the best theme song?

I’m not sure of that, either. There are a good bit of games with great theme songs. I’ll say Final Fantasy XV. The cover of Stand By Me was really great.32. Do you cosplay?

I cosplayed once, but it wasn’t anything special or any good. I don’t really have the talent with clothes and stuff to do that.33. Favorite female npc?

Of all time? Probably Aerith. She’s always so precious and amazing. And she’s a person who seems girly and like she can’t defend herself, but she can prove very easily that she can save herself if necessary.34. Favorite male npc?

Since there are too many to list more than likely, I’ll think of the first one that comes to mind… Therius from The Last Story. He had really great character development, and he’s just a really cool character in general. He’s a great example of a knight.35. Best protagonist? 

Oh no, this question. I’m not sure again. Too many good people. I will say Zack Fair from Final Fantasy VII or Wander from Shadow of the Colossus.36. Best antagonist?

Hm, antagonist… Maybe Caius from Final Fantasy XIII, or Kuja from Final Fantasy IX.37. Ever been made fun of for playing video games?

Nothing too extensive. I was pretty quiet, so not many people knew what I did and didn’t like. 38. Have you tried a game, hated it, then tried again, and loved it?

That would be Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII, although I wouldn’t say that I hated them. I couldn’t get them at first. It was either the Sphere Grid, the License Board, or the battle system, but I just couldn’t play them when I was younger. I tried them both again recently, and it seems like something finally clicked and I had no trouble whatsoever with playing them. I have a new adoration for them now.39. Do you play for achievements/trophies?

Eh, they aren’t that important. If I like the game enough, then I might go for a complete trophy list, but other than that as long as I enjoy the game I’m good.40. Favorite voice actor?

FRICK NO. This one is really hard. There are too many awesome seiyuu, so I’ll just say my favorite voice actor. That would be Crispin Freeman. He voices characters like Haji from Blood+ and Itachi Uchiha from Naruto.41. Gone to a midnight release before?

Yeah, I’ve gone to one myself, for Final Fantasy XV. I have worked a couple while at GameStop.42. A game you will never forget (in a bad OR good way)?

I’ll always have a gross memory of Shadow Warrior. It was just….too weird. 43. Favorite sidekick or companion?

Would you count animals? ‘Cause it would be Agro, Epona, Repede, and Trico again.44. Do graphics matter?

Not entirely. Some of my favorite games are older and not as good in the graphics department as recent games. Although if a game has really great graphics, I most certainly won’t complain.45. Do you like funny or more serious games?

I tend to lean toward serious games, but I don’t mind if they have funny moment in them. I like comic relief, especially in games with stressful storylines or situations.46. Always, sometimes, or never use subtitles?

It depends on the game. Or if I’m playing it in English or not.47. First person or Third person?

Third person, all the way. I’m not a huge fan of first person.48. A game you’ve always wanted to play but have never gotten to it?

Kamigami no Asobi. I’m sure there are a couple more, but that’s the only one that I can think of. I hope they bring it over to the US someday.49. A game you haven’t played in forever, but want to replay?

DIRGE OF CERBERUS. And Shadow of the Colossus. Always Shadow of the Colossus50. How many games to do you own?

….No idea. I would say around 25 or 30. Maybe. 51. First character you’ve had a crush on?

I have no idea. It’s been so long, and I can’t remember when I started thinking that it was okay to have a crush or something on a character. I’ll say either Link from Zelda or Blank from Final Fantasy IX. 52. A game you will always stand behind, and support no matter what?

Any game that I like, really. But I guess if I have to list anything specific, Final Fantasies that I like, Shadow of the Colossus, Pokemon, The Last Story, and The Last Guardian.53. Your most immersive game?

Resident Evil 4, probably. That game somehow made it feel like what happened to Leon was actually happening to me. 54. A sequel you really want?

Honestly, a sequel or at least an explanation to the secret ending of Dirge of Cerberus. I won’t spoil anything just in case, but that last scene just leaves a big ‘What now?’ question that has never been answered. 55. How much time, on average, do you play in a week?

I’m not sure of an exact amount. I try to play as much as I can between school and work.56. Do you tell people irl that you play video games?

Of course. Why wouldn’t I? It’s something that I enjoy doing and something that I have to be able to connect with other people.57. What is an overrated game you’ve played?

I’ll say Fire Emblem Awakening, since I’ve been seeing alot of people saying that about it and that you’re not a true fan if you’ve only played Awakening, Birthright, or Conquest. (whoops, I played all three)58. Ever have someone walk in on a sex scene between you and you LI?

I have no idea what that is, but I have had my mom walk into my room and want to talk to me when I was playing DRAMAtical Murder. A couple of times had been during an awkward scene.59. A game you are looking forward to this year?

Breath of the Wiiiiild. I feel like it’s going to be a really great addition to the series. 60. The game you are best at?

Probably Shadow of the Colossus. I’ve gotten to the point where I can beat every Colissi in less than a day.61. A game you know everything about?

I won’t say everything, but I have more knowledge than I know what to do with about Final Fantasy VII. I’ve done alot of reading and research about stuff that happens in that game.62. Would you want to work with video games when you are older?

Of course. I don’t know if I can do the techy stuff, but I would love to create storyboards or art for a game.63. What’s a game that has inspired you?

Pretty much any game that I’ve played, really. I feel like each one carries a sort of message that I take away from it when I play it. Some more…friendly than others.64. Describe your favorite video game using only three words?

Kill giant creatures.65. Any favorite screenshots of games?

I can’t even begin to express how bad it is that the PS4 has an option to screenshot. I have so many from FFXV that it’s ridiculous.66. Game with the yummiest looking food?

FINAL FANTASY XV. I want to experience Ignis’s cooking for myself. It looks TOO good.67. Most violent game you’ve played?

That would be either Bloodborne or Metal Gear Rising Revengeance. Both games are really violent and gory, buuuuut they’re pretty fun.68. An older game that you’ve just recently gotten into?

I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, but a friend of mine gave me a copy of Legend of Dragoon. I’ve always wanted to play it, and I’m looking forward to trying it soon.69. Your first LI?

Again, NO idea what that means, so I’ll just ignore this one.70. Do you play any mobile games?

A couple, but not nearly as much as on my consoles. I have at the moment Love Live!, Terra Battle, Pokemon Go, and Fire Emblem Heroes.71. A game you can’t stop talking/thinking about at the moment?

Final Fantasy XV. It’s really amazing, and has been a truly great experience, even though it seems like it’s getting nothing but complaints and hate. I know that people still enjoy the game but think it’s unfinished, but I personally have loved every moment of it, even the moments when I wanted to throw my controller across the room because of a frustrating enemy.72. Have any guilty pleasure games?

Ripping the spines out of cyborgs in Metal Gear Rising. It’s way more fun that it should be, and it’s very stress relieving for me.73. A game with the best fandom?

The Last Story. It isn’t that bad with shipping and stuff.74. Which game has the best lore?

Not sure. I think most of the games that I play have really great stories and lore to them. I don’t really play games where the storyline doesn’t interest me.75. Do you focus on main storyline/quest or do sidequests first?

I try to even the two out. I try to go through the plot when I feel like it, but I also make sure to do sidequests so that I’m not underleveled or I can get weapons or items that are hard to get in the main game.

[radramblog]

Nintendo Direct E3 Takes

Well we’re pretty much done with E3 at this point, and it looks like once again Nintendo is carrying the whole damn thing on their back.

This is obviously a bit biased, because I’m not really into the AAA gaming industry otherwise, and the only other potential announcement I cared about didn’t happen. You had one fucking job, Capcom. One job.

Anyway as I did last time this came around I’m giving some hot takes like every single other person on this godforsaken internet because innovation is dead and react culture is king. Shall we?

Smash DLC Fighter…10 or something idk

I mean, look. I was hoping for an indie representative. Kazuya isn’t really that. But on the other hand, Tekken rep is something I can still get behind. They’ve already got Street Fighter and Fatal Fury in there, might as well get Tekken. What’s next, Raiden from Mortal Kombat? Hell, might as well get some Rivals of Aether character in there, might as well, don’t even have to change much.

From what little we’ve seen of Kazuya’s kit, it looks like his gimmick is going to be…complicated input combos for special attacks. Hm. Well, it’ll probably be fine. People managed with Ryu, they’ll manage with Kazuya. I do appreciate that they gave this guy his demon form- I guess they had to make him jump somehow, huh?

 Life is Strange

I haven’t played the original Life is Strange, but I did watch a playthrough so I know how it goes. Don’t really know much about Before the Storm or 2, but I don’t think 2 is part of this collection anyway? Look I’m probably not going to buy this, but it’s probably good that it exists. The original was like, actual good rep, I think, so they’re probably not going to fuck this one up. New character is neat looking, good for them.

 A Bunch of games, I guess

Guardians of the Galaxy? Damn dude, did I ask?

Worms Rumble said it had 32-person multiplayer, which I was like well hang on how’s that going to work with turn-based Worms combat you’d be waiting for ever. Except it isn’t turn-based. And it looks like ass as a result. F.

Astria Ascending…I’m reading this name and I already forgot what this was. Sorry if you cared about it I suppose.

I know nothing of the Two Point…series, I guess? I keep on seeing Hospital pop up on either Steam or the eShop, and I’ve scrolled past it without thinking twice every single time. Not about to change that.

 Super Monkey Ball

I understand this series was a lot of fun for a lot of people, but it just looks miserable to me. With that said, I have seen some speedruns of these games that look incredible, so on that axis I’m happy this is getting made. Makes doing a marathon-length run of this a fair bit easier.

 Mario Party

Look I haven’t even gotten around to playing my (very fake) Mario Party 3 cart, you think I’m going to buy another 80 dollar game on top of that? Nah.

 Metroid

Yoooooooooooooo lets fucking gooooooooooooo

Okay so I’ve actually never beaten a Metroid game. Got some ways into Fusion and Super but didn’t complete either of them. But this looks super cool and good and I’m here for it. They mentioned that this was the first new 2D Metroid game in 19 years, which I guess means Fusion was the latest one.

…wait how many Metroid games are there even? Like, the original, Super, Fusion, the three Primes, and that one we don’t talk about…is that it? That feels a lot smaller than I thought it was, but I guess it adds up.

Just don’t cock it up, I guess. Metroid and Castlevania’s absence have left indie devs to fight for the Metroidvania name, and it’s about time the big boys got to come back around again.

 More bullshit

Just Dance 2022. Is this one also coming out on the Wii?

Some racing game that looks cheap as fuck, neato. Man I feel bad for the devs working on these absolute shovelware games, like I bet they’re either working hard or being worked to the bone. But this is what the result is. R.I.P.

It’s about 13 years too late for me to be caring about Dragon Ball. Especially since this is just a port. Next.

Mario Golf

I mean we saw this earlier this year. I don’t even know what was actually new in this presentation.

Bowsers outfit is fucking clean though. Once again proving himself the best Mario character.

 Monster Hunter

Fuck off Capcom. Y’all are leaving Mega Man in the fucking dust and he doesn’t deserve it.

I mean I guess ill get into it here, I mostly just wanted something, anything for the Mega Man Battle Network series. It’s their 20th anniversary, and we haven’t gotten shit so far. Literally just a MMBN collection for the switch, that’s all I want. They were even on the Wii U VC, you can just port those again, I don’t care fucking give it to me.

Anyway. Monhun? Ehhh they already showed this at their lacklustre presentation who cares.

 Warioware

Look I haven’t played this series before, it’s probably fun, but I’m not sure how they stretch microgame content out into a fully-priced game.

Also, the multiplayer looks kinda miserable? Like, in case Mario Party was a little too efficient for ruining friendships, now you can yell at one person specifically for fucking the both of you up, and vice versa. Wheeeeee.

 SMT5

Shoutouts to Squiggy, they’re super hype for this and I’m happy to see it. I personally again haven’t played this series, let alone Persona (though 4 is sitting untouched in my steam library, oops), but it looks pretty aight. I’m sure there’ll be a huge pile of demons to fuck up, or friend up, and some level of story that people will like (I have literally no idea what the plot of the series is), so. Atlus (?) has been at this for a long fucking time, they aren’t goofing this up.

 Danganronpa

Shirtless Rantaro Shirtless Rantaro  (shamelessly stolen from u/ AnaLissaMelculo on r/danganronpa)

I’m interested to see Talent Development Plan develop into it’s own fully fleshed out game. It was surprisingly good for a tacked-on minigame, and I hope that they’ll fully take advantage of its potential.

It also looks like the 4 games are releasing separately on Switch, but there is a physical collectors edition with all of them, and I mean, I can probably afford that, riiiiight?

R.I.P. Ultra Despair Girls fans, snubbed yet again. Ehhhh fuck it aside from the dialogue that game sucks ass so its fine.

 More stuff

Fatal Frame looks spooky, I guess. I dunno, I was talking to mates through half of this one so I basically missed it.

DOOM Eternal DLC, cool. I still haven’t finished the original.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater should be on the Switch, and now it is. Or, it will be, in a couple weeks. Good.

There’s something on this list of notes called Strange Brigade, and I have literally no idea what that is. Oops again.

Mario+Rabbids 2, now with a Rabbid Goth GF. I’m terrified to go on any fuckin NSFW platforms for the next couple weeks, because I’m sure everyone is drawing incredibly cursed hentai of that thing. Ubisoft sucks ass, fuck Ubisoft, don’t buy this.

 Advance Wars

This sure isn’t Fire Emblem. Actually when I was explaining to my mates why this was cool, I called it Fire Emblem but with tanks instead of waifus, except I forgot this game still has waifus. I know strategy nerds love this series, so for their sake I’m happy to see it remade. This just looks unbelievably cute.

 Zelda

Oh look, Hyrule Warriors 2 DLC, Zelda gets the motorbike now, cool who fucking cares we got more BOTW sequel footage

It does kinda bug me that people keep calling this BOTW 2, because there’s no way that’s what it’s going to be called. Zelda has never done numbered sequels. I mean, they’ve also very rarely done sequels at all, but there are a few- Phantom Hourglass is a sequel to Wind Waker iirc.

It is kinda funny that right after I was saying boo who cares to Skyward Sword remake (still mad this is one game and not a collection) that the new game clearly has SS-ass floating islands and such.

I was hoping we’d get to see Zelda do things this game. Apparently not, she’s stuck in a hole now. Or dead. A shame. But Link at least looks kickass, so.

Look, they could not say a single other thing until release and everyone would still buy this game. Breath of the Wild was an incredible enough game that so many things that vaguely resemble it get compared- Genshin Impact comes to mind. This is likely made by the same (or similar) team, in the same world, and it looks fucking incredible. We all know this is going to be a good game. My hot take isn’t going to change that.

 And that’s the tea, sis. All the shit that Ninty had in their corner of E3. It’s a pretty solid lineup! It looks like they are bringing their A-game. I was kind of surprised not to see any Pokemon stuff- while it usually gets its own direct these days, BDSP is really coming up soon and they kinda need to win back the crowd on that one.

Oh what am I saying, it’s fucking Nintendo, it’s too big to fail.

[locatie]

2019 Gaming Year in Review

This year I beat 21 games! Last year I beat 38, but this year was a little rough on me in many ways, and I had to go a few months without really committing to anything.

I’m going to go through my list of games and jot down a few thoughts I had about them! Spoilers ahead, naturally.

Rating System:

5⭐: An absolute favorite! A game that’s going to stick with me for a long time. Regardless of any flaws I found, I fell deeply in love with these games. 4⭐: A pretty good game! I really enjoyed my time with these ones. They’re not quite perfect, maybe a few story beats or mechanics I couldn’t jive with, but I did still love these as well. 3⭐: A decent game! I didn’t fall in love with these games and the good and bad felt fairly equal. I don’t regret playing these games, but they had a lot of room for improvement. 2⭐: A bleh game. Most of these games were very ‘miss’ rather than ‘hit’ for me. Good concepts are probably buried in these ones, but I struggled to get through them. 1⭐: A terrible game. There is very little about these games that I find redeeming. I probably played them wishing they’d be done already. That I finished them at all is a miracle.

In order of when I beat them, starting with the beginning of the year:

Gris by Nomada Studio

4⭐

A visually gorgeous game. The mechanics were satisfying and made puzzle solving enjoyable, and I adored ‘unlocking’ the colors of the world to restore it to its former beauty. The game only got more beautiful as time went on, and the level design was very memorable to me. Also the soundtrack is one of the best of all the games I played this year, and I keep it on repeat a lot.

Best Part: The art in general. A treat to look at, and it makes for the best desktop wallpapers. Worst Part: The ambiguity in narrative. It’s not too bad, I just wish there was a little more to it.

Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee by Game Freak

4⭐

Despite this feeling like the millionth time they’ve focused on the Kanto region, and the blatant baiting of nostalgia, I appreciated this game. I’m a sucker for having my Pokemon follow me or being able to ride them. Much more accessible than going back and replaying the original R/B/Y games, which I can’t seem to enjoy anymore due to the QOL features that newer games have, so if I ever have a craving for Kanto, this will satisfy me. Not the best Pokemon game though just because Kanto was a pretty boring region visually and they stayed true to that, haha.

Best Part: Pokemon following the player! Riding Arcanine was a blast. Worst Part: Being in Kanto again. Really wish it was Gold/Silver for the double Johto/Kanto region thing, because Kanto alone just isn’t worth it.

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix by Square Enix

3⭐

I liked this game a lot as a kid and was interested to see how I would feel about it as an adult. It’s... something. There’s something always very off when JRPG localized dialogue is voiced -- it’s extremely cheesy to listen to in English, and this game is no exception. Still, I enjoy the sheer absurdity that is mashing up Disney and Final Fantasy characters anyway. The platforming is not remotely fun at all and the story is ridiculous, sometimes not in a good way. Thank god for skippable cutscenes or I wouldn’t have survived the end of this game.

Best Part: The creativity of the worlds. It was such a unique and ambitious concept for its time. Worst Part: The dialogue/story. This might be the only JRPG where the whole ‘friendship makes us stronger’ angle makes me want to strangle a fictional child.

Dear Esther by The Chinese Room

2⭐

I do enjoy walking simulators, but apparently not ones by The Chinese Room. Not as bad as Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, but still...not very enjoyable. I couldn’t seem to process what was going on as it was narrated to me -- I liked how it was written, and I was interested in hearing it, but I dunno. It meant nothing to me. I might replay it and try to grasp it again, really focus on it, but as it was presented to me on the first playthrough, it didn’t grab me. This is what I get for expecting something really good of a game where I wander around aimlessly for a couple hours

Best Part: The writing style is really neat and I enjoyed reading along and being fascinated by the prose. Worst Part: The ambiguity of the narrative. what the fuck is happening. why am i in a cave. who was that i just saw

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey by Ubisoft

4⭐

Not the first AC game I’ve ever played, but the first I liked enough to beat! It’s essentially an action rpg more than ever -- stealth is completely unnecessary if you so choose. I loved Kassandra so, so much, and exploring Greece was extremely fun for me! It was gorgeous and I often found myself wandering around towns and cities, soaking in the sights and feeling pretty dang immersed. I haven’t played the DLC yet but hope to some day. Not a perfect game -- while a lot of side quests are fun, the charm wears off after a while because the gameplay loop of sneaking in and murdering everyone got stale finally after 50 hours. Still, I’d love to go back and replay it some time.

Best Part: Kassandra. Everything about her. I would die for her. Also Greece in its entirety. Worst Part: Every goddamn time Deimos opened his mouth.

Rose of Winter by Pillow Fight

3⭐

A pretty cute but simple visual novel! I liked the protagonist quite a bit and a couple of the romances, but I wished it was longer/more fleshed out. I liked the universe it took place in and the concepts it presented (time travel! Race relations/the variety in cultures!) and would’ve happily played a longer game about these things. The romances leaving me wanting more was a good and bad thing, in the end.

Best Part: The protag! I love this chubby pink-haired knight! She is SO cute and lovely. Worst Part: Lack of depth in the romances. I like drawn-out romances, and these take place over the course of a couple days, and that’s not my bag.

Celeste by Matt Makes Games Inc.

4⭐

My review on this game is a little skewed. I was very bad at it, in the end, and very tired of dying literally hundreds of times in some areas that I had to give myself extra dashes. I had to keep toggling them on and off after giving myself a certain number of tries, because I really wanted to see how this game would play out. The gameplay and design and soundtrack give it the score it has, but the writing it was knocks it down from being a 5 star game. The concept of the story is good! Madeline wanting to reach the top of the mountain for her personal reasons was really lovely but the delivery of it felt very flat. The writing itself didn’t do it justice for me! I only ever see people talk about the gameplay itself and not the story/writing and maybe that’s why.

Best Part: The fact that the developers added accessibility options to people who aren’t very skilled at games, like me, can enjoy a game like this, even if we’re not playing “as intended.” Worst Part: Madeline’s reflection. As a narrative device she’s good, but the dialogue between the two characters was kinda mehhh to me.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt by CD Projekt

5⭐

There’s nothing I can say about this game that a million other people haven’t already said. I loved dad!Geralt. I loved Geralt in general. I did enjoy the first two games but who he was as a character in this game was my favorite. Yennefer was also great, as was Ciri, and the family dynamics were The Best. Also probably the best side quests in any rpg I’ve ever played! None of that radiant quest bullshit or fetch quest nonsense that pad a lot of other WRPGs I’ve been into :/ I still need to finish Blood and Wine, but so far it’s incredible, as was Hearts of Stone. Ugh I have so much to say about how much I loved the music, and Skellige, and Novigrad (Novigrad is one of the best video game cities as a worldbuilding device, imo), but I’ll keep this all brief. Don’t like Gwent at all though!!

Best Part: The entire portion of the game where you have to be a Good Dad or else you get a bad ending. Worst Part: The fact that Iorveth and the entire Scoia’tael subplot was cut entirely yet Roche got to stick around. I hate Roche. Iorveth was way better. Bring back my boy.

Persona 5 by Atlus

5⭐

holy shit. I haven’t beaten a JRPG this good in so long. This game changed what I want out of a JRPG. The soundtrack is phenomenal, the design of everything is impossibly stylish and I never got sick of any of it in the 96 hours it took me to beat the game. I adore Joker, Yusuke, Haru, and Ryuji as characters!! I don’t really care for Akechi and Shido as villains, but the proper final battle was very tense for me and the cutscene that followed felt so good. BIG GUN. Sometimes the palaces were a little tedious, and it took me a really long time to actually finish the game from when I started, because I needed big breaks after chunks of the game, but once I got into the swing of it after Makoto’s introduction as a Phantom Thief and that palace, I was pretty sucked in.

I will never forget my desperate struggle to max my stats by aggressively eating giant burgers until the endgame.

Best Part: The entire ‘student daily life sim’ portion. Managing my time and my relationships was very fun and I loved getting closer to my friends and choosing where to go, how to spend my time. Worst Part: The occasional sexism and homophobia that I had to sit through. Giving Ann agency after the first palace, but then trying to convince her to get naked really sucked, and then those two predatory gay men. Ugh. Oh and Ryuji looking at Ann’s boobs all the time. Seriously? are you for real??

Nier: Automata by PlatinumGames

4⭐

I waffled between giving this 4 or 5 stars, but I think 4 is right. I adored this game to bits, but admittedly didn’t do everything in it that I wanted to. I loved the world, the music, most of the characters, the combat, and that fucking ending. I didn’t like Adam and Eve (their dialogue...was so dumb...), and I was a little eh on route B, since it’s a lot of the same as route A, just from 9S’s perspective. At first I thought it was asking a lot to make me essentially do all the same shit over again, but when everything started changing in the third route, that’s when I was getting really invested. I mean I was already loving it during the first route, I was just slightly skeptical about having to replay a lot of the same things.

Ending E fucked me up though. Hearing Weight of the World didn’t hurt me until that ending, after all I’d been through, and then accepting help and hearing the chorus of voices. Ugh. No ending has ever been like that in a game for me.

Best Part: Sacrificing my data to help some stranger out there, because people do want to help. Humanity can be good. The message that there is worth in having feelings and being alive and real and loving. Worst Part: we really out here sexualizing 2B and looking at her panties a lot, huh.

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage (Reignited Trilogy) by Toys For Bob

4⭐

This is the Spyro game I played the most of as a kid, and this remaster is incredible. All of the Reignited Trilogy makes the Spyro games look the way that I felt they did when I was a child. Seriously, it’s gorgeous and I can’t believe how true to the originals it is. I had a blast playing this one; it doesn’t get 5 stars, though, because I wouldn’t say this is like a ‘favorite’ game or anything. It’s wonderful, but not mindblowing.

Best Part: Getting to run around the hub worlds and drinking them in -- they’re where I spent hours as a child, and that nostalgic really got to me. Worst Part: the fucking TIMED FLYING PORTIONS

Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon (Reignited Trilogy) by Toys For Bob

4⭐

I was really excited to play this one because I didn’t get to beat it as a kid, and it was impossible to emulate because every rom of it didn’t work. Not as good as Ripto’s Rage to me, personally, because I didn’t love the levels where I was the penguin or the monkey. There were a lot of gimmicks, so to speak, in this game that I could do without. Skateboarding didn’t add anything to the experience either, ehh. Still, 4 stars because what Toys For Bob did with the trilogy is amazing and it made me wish games there had been more Spyro games that were like this.

Best Part: I finally got to beat this game after so long and it felt like a childhood wish of mine came true. Worst Part: I never want to be that stupid monkey ever again. Most of these side characters do not feel like they belong in a Spyro game, even though I know they were just trying to innovate the formula.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses by Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo

5⭐

Ohhh my god. I was nervous about another mainline Fire Emblem game, ever since Fates burned me pretty badly with how much I hated that game. Three Houses gave me nearly everything I wanted out of a Fire Emblem game, thankfully. No stupid explanation for offspring, no wasted dialogue between characters that didn’t need to have supports! I fell in love with so many of the NPCs and while the story isn’t perfect, it was a blast to go through and see the multiple sides to the conflict.

I went Golden Deer first and watched most of Amy’s playthrough of Blue Lions. I was in the middle of a Black Eagles run when I got a little burnt out and put it down, but I’m super excited to eventually see what Edelgard’s side of the story is, seeing as I don’t like her in the other routes but I’m shrimpterested in what her possible justification for anything is. Can’t wait for more story DLC whenever it happens!

Best Part: The support dialogues between characters. Also Claude von Riegan, destroyer of racism. Worst Part: the fact that there’s barely any time between Dimitri finally being nice to Byleth and the end of the Blue Lions route. he’s such a growly ass for so long.

Genital Jousting by Free Lives

2⭐

Obviously this game is a self-aware joke and isn’t meant to be much. The reason it got 2 stars instead of 1 is because I played it at a time that I really needed a laugh. I streamed it for my friend and for a while I was happily distracted by the story mode, even if it mostly involves hopelessly sticking my dick head into butts. The narration gave me Stanley Parable vibes, which was amusing, but yeah. Obviously this wasn’t gonna be some game of the year shit

Best Part: Playing with friends and yelling “GET OUT OF MY BUTT” at the top of your lungs. Worst Part: You can only enjoy sticking your dick in butts for so long before you don’t wanna do it anymore

I Love You, Colonel Sanders! by Psyop

1⭐

Yes, I am ranking this game as worse than a game about wiggly dicks. I didn’t have any hopes or expectations for this game, as it was always obviously meant to be a giant advertisement for KFC food, but that’s not even the part that bothered me. I didn’t care or mind the blatant product placement, the millions of mentions of all their herbs and spices and their gross bowls of corn, potato, and whatever.

I was so damn disappointed because it just wasn’t a good visual novel. I spent the whole time comparing it to Hatoful Boyfriend, which is an actually good parody of the entire genre. ILYCS felt more like “ha ha see how fucking weird dating sims are?? See how stupid and absurd the things that happen in them are?” rather than any kind of remotely interesting subversion on the genre. I don’t know why I expected that ILYCS would bother to do that, but I figured if a pigeon dating sim could surprise me, maybe this would too. Bleh.

Best Part: I did succeed in making Colonel Sanders love me, at least. Worst Part: Literally everything else.

The Outer Worlds by Obsidian Entertainment

4⭐

I’m giving this 4 stars, but this game gives me conflicted feelings. I love the companions in this game a lot, but some of them do have slightly disappointing arcs -- Ellie comes to mind for that one. The writing for the dialogue is great, but some of the main quests are just OK. The flaw system is really cool in theory, but I definitely didn’t think of them were worth the perk points, though they’re great if you’re serious about roleplaying.

I did have a lot of fun, but the ending felt very abrupt to me. I got to Phineas and we spoke for a minute, and then the credits rolled. And capitalism sure was bad! That was very heavy-handed. I enjoyed my time with it a lot but I am not itching to replay it. If there’s a sequel, though, I will definitely be on board with it.

Best Part: The dialogue options. They’re so fucking funny. Obsidian is the champion of snarky/witty dialogue. Worst Part: The ending made me the leader when I didn’t really feel prepared for that, I didn’t feel like that was the narrative I built for my character. The ending came at me so fast, it felt wrong.

Tyranny by Obsidian Entertainment

4⭐

If nothing else, Outer Worlds made me crave more of Obsidian’s writing flavor. This is the first CRPG I’ve ever committed to and beaten, and I do not regret that choice. I had tried to play it before but stopped very early on because it’s a lot of reading -- the entire opening has you do so much reading to make choices to kind of build your character’s backstory.

I loved playing a bad guy and accumulating power. My character was so loyal to Tunon and I loved the active development I got to have as someone who was so devoted to being a cog in the machine to someone who realized that they are special, they can be a conqueror, they can shape the world however they want. I know it’s possible to undermine all the bad guys and use your power for good, but eh, this is a game about being bad! It’s wonderful! And it was just long/short enough that it was great for someone just getting into CRPGs.

But. Like Outer Worlds, the ending felt rushed in Tyranny, though in an even more egregious way. Just as the story starts truly kicking off -- you have all this power, I had succeeded in making my superiors bow to me -- the game ends. It seems as though they ran out of time or money to have you actually face off against Kyros, the obvious next step in your plan for domination of whatever flavor. Maybe it was always the plan that taking down the Overlord was sequel material, but the way they built it up, it doesn’t feel right. And the game didn’t do well enough, or so I’ve read, so there will never be a face-off against her. I had such a good time with this game, but the ending left a real sour taste in my mouth.

Best Part: Really feeling like I had earned the power I got by endgame, by ‘playing’ the system. Defeating Tunon by manipulating him into bowing to me had me on edge and I was terrified until I walked out of his room. Worst Part: Knowing I will probably never get a resolution for the fight against Kyros. Really felt like all the cool stuff I did meant nothing.

Pokemon Shield by Game Freak

3⭐

Biiig mixed feelings about this one. I know Pokemon games are not known for their storytelling prowess, but even this one felt insultingly stupid to me. I know they can be good and interesting and posit cool concepts based on the worlds they’ve built. I didn’t like the gameplay of Black/White but I guess since that one tackled the ethics of Pokemon, Game Freak doesn’t want to try making any more challenging storylines.

The world also felt so empty. I never really noticed it in older Pokemon games, but SwSh has all these houses and no one has anything interesting to say. The NPCs aren’t worth talking to except when they give you items. Problems like that are common in Pokemon but I really hoped that bringing it to a home console meant that the game could be bigger and more full of content. The post game is almost nonexistent. For the first time ever, I don’t feel compelled to play long enough to complete my dex.

Best Part: The Wild Area, and doing raid battles with Amy. Playing alongside her and battling together was fun, and it was nice to cut down on the time it would’ve normally taken us to grind. Worst Part: Hop, Leon, and Bede. Worst characters in any Pokemon game, hands down.

Pillars of Eternity by Obsidian Entertainment

5⭐

I had initially tried this game out last year or so, but couldn’t get into it. Beating Tyranny finally made me feel able to tackle this one, and I’m so glad I gave it another chance. For most of the game I was meticulous and did almost all of the side quests, and I felt extremely rewarded by the narrative for doing so. Most of the companions were a joy to be around, and the lore of the world really drew me in.

Thanks to PoE, I think a whole new world and genre of games has opened up to me! But I’ll always feel like this is the first one I really loved.

Best Part: Eder!!! Ok also the themes of the game, especially in White March. Almost a month later I’m still thinking about the meaning to some parts of the game. Worst Part: That part in White March part 2 with the debate I couldn’t win. I understand why it was like that, I didn’t hate it or anything. Just the prerequisites to get the good outcome are bananas and there’s NO way I could possibly get the “good” ending of that dlc without following a guide WAY ahead of time. Oh well!

Katamari Damacy Reroll by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment

2⭐

I didn’t play the first game when it came out. Instead I played the sequel, and that’s the game I have fond memories of, so unfortunately I spent this remake wishing they’d remade that one instead. The controls are more frustrating than I remember, and the level design is kind of meh. I do like that the town gets bigger with (almost) every level, until you’re rolling up adjacent towns and cities, but it wasn’t as fun as the paper crane level or the flower level or the zoo level of We Love Katamari :/ I absolutely pushed myself through this one as fast as possible, no replaying levels for the fun of it.

Best Part: The creativity and absurdity of Katamari as a whole. Rolling around a little Japanese town and finding very Japanese items is fun. Worst Part: The controls. Trying to climb up things is a nightmare and I ran out of time during some levels purely because it was so difficult to climb sometimes.

A Plague Tale: Innocence by Asobo Studio

3⭐

I didn’t know a whole lot about this game going in. I didn’t think the narrative was as incredible and resonating as reviews led me to believe, but it was alright. The first half of the game was very interesting to me -- the perspective of children running away from the Inquisition during the plague was exciting and I feared for these children as they never seemed to be able to get a moment of rest. I did like that Amicia and Hugo needed to build their bond from scratch, and it was full of missteps that I could understand children would make.

However as soon as things got supernatural wrt Hugo’s blood, then I felt like it lost a little bit of the charm for me. I liked the ‘found family in an unforgiving world’ aspects, but then suddenly blood powers happened and the vibe of the narrative changed. Oh well.

Best Part: The progression of power in the game. At first I felt very nervous when sneaking was the only option I had, as I am bad at stealth, but then gradually being able to kill people with my sling and solve puzzles with fire and light and being nearly unstoppable was really cool. I felt like I had earned Amicia’s strength. Worst Part: Hugo’s RAT POWERS and that final boss. just. what.

Untitled Goose Game by House House

2⭐

I wanted to close out the year with something fun and short, but I didn’t expect just how short this game would be. Although, ngl, if it were any longer I think I might’ve gotten rather tired of it anyway. The memes and whatnot that Goose Game gave the internet were worth more to me than the game itself. $20 for roughly an hour of gameplay just feels... bleh. I don’t even normally believe in that whole “$1 per hour of gameplay” stuff that many gamers like to throw around, but this felt like a rip-off. Still, it’s kinda fun to be a wretched little goose.

Best Part: Being a naughty little goose is cute and amusing, and bullying that Griffin McElroy looking boy into the phone booth is the highlight of my experience. Worst Part: It’s a hilarious concept but I don’t feel like I got to harass people half as much as I expected I would. The objectives to find a series of items and dump them somewhere else is just boring.