RE: Final Fantasy VII Remake

So it’s been about two weeks since I finished Final Fantasy VII Remake.  Guess I’d better commit my thoughts to digital paper, huh?

Here’s the burning question, asked (metaphorically) to someone with a reputation for slamming modern Final Fantasy games: what do I think of it?  Is it good?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

That Time I Tried Getting into Sword Art Online

I mean, granted, I didn’t try very hard.  But there was an attempt.

RE: Teppen

You know, I’ve got to hand it to Kingdom Hearts III.  Not only is it a game I still actively despise nearly a year after its release (to the letter, no less), but it’s also the one game in my time blogging that’s actually managed the impossible: it made me throw out a post I was working on because it wasn’t up to snuff -- and bringing it to par would have tacked on at least three thousand more words.  Also?  It feels pointless to talk about it until the DLC comes out, so I can finally close the book on my most disappointing game of 2019.

Speaking of 2019?  Devil May Cry V is my 2019 Game of the Year, and I almost wrote about that instead.  But given how…certain upcoming events (as of writing) may or may not play out, I think I’ll hold off before I instantly date myself with the opening ramble.  So as a substitution?  Here’s another game that’s in my Top 5 of 2019.

It’s Teppen time, y’all.  Because man, I seriously love this game.

RE: Omega Labyrinth Life

Now, I’m not going to say that Omega Labyrinth Life is the best game of 2019 -- far from it -- but in some ways, it is among one of the most interesting I’ve played this year.  The sort of thing I can’t help but want to put under the microscope, you know?  Which I did.  And, despite its nature…and history…and premise…and everything…I’m actually, genuinely kind of glad I took the plunge.

That said, this plunge cements the fact that I’m bound for the deepest, hottest circle of Hell.  So, yeah, I’ve been given one more reason to not die anytime soon.

Thanks, video game!

RE: Pokémon Sword and Shield

So I’m six gyms deep into Pokémon Sword, and creeping up on the seventh.  I probably shouldn’t be, but here I am.  To think there was a time when I said I was planning to sit the game out.

The reasoning was sound.  The eighth-generation game -- both for the franchise, and in terms of consoles -- has been mired in controversies for months.  “The graphics are awful.”  “They’re cutting out Pokémon.” “Features are getting dropped.” “They’re not even trying.” “Game Freak lied.” And so on, and so forth.  All things considered?  I didn’t need another franchise installment in my life.  I fell off at the endgame of Moon, and was willing to sit it out until Gen 9’s inevitable drop.  Maybe then, Game Freak would straighten things out.  Earn fans’ trust with a title that knocked it into space.  I bought into the fans’ outcry (despite previous indifference to it) and decided, yeah, supporting the game meant supporting a slide into mediocrity.  So, I didn’t.

Then my brother bought the game regardless.  I suspect he would have even if he knew about the controversies -- which meant I’d have to give the game an honest shot.

Pfft.  Who needs integrity, anyway?

RE: Death Stranding

Death Stranding is the kind of game that’ll make you question what a game can, if not should, be.  

The problem is that, if you’re anything like me, then you’ll be asking that question for all the wrong reasons.

RE: Indivisible

So, Indivisible, huh? 

Hmmmm.  Hmmmm.  Hmmmm.

I’ll be real: I don’t really know how I feel about this game right now.  I’d say that I need to put more time into it (and I do), but I get the feeling that it’ll only help so much -- and maybe even hurt in the long run.  Having gone all in with an impulse buy on release day, I owe it to the game, myself, and my wallet to go as far as I can with it.  That said, I also owe it to all of those (and the devs on top of that) to give an honest report on my findings.  If someone asks me “Is Indivisible any good?” then I want to give them a straight answer.

That’s…pretty hard right now.  This is a weird game -- a weird game that’s fun, frustrating, charming, plain, deep, and shallow at the same time. But we’ve got to start somewhere, and it might as well be with an anime intro.

RE: Code Vein

Hey, here’s a quick, early impressions post on Code Vein!  Because nothing says “Happy Halloween” like a “birthday” “present” “gifted” to you by a brother who tossed it your way upon discovering that he forgot to cancel his pre-order of a game he’d long since lost interest in, but frankly it works out because hey it’s a new game and there’s an open slot on the blog docket to fill up, and if nothing else it’ll spare you from the pain of having to confront the awe-inspiring dread of Kingdom Hearts III for another week at least!

Huh.  That was an oddly-specific scenario.

Like, really specific.  The kind of thing that you shouldn't really think about for any longer than you have to.  So just close your heart to it or whatever.

…

…Hey, here’s a quick, early impressions post on Code Vein!

RE: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Having beaten the Blue Lions’ campaign in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, I can now confirm that I’m 33% qualified to talk about the game with some semblance of ethos.  Well, 33.3333333333% qualified.  Can’t round up to 34% here, but all of those extra threes have got to count for something.

I mean, I was ultimately successful in achieving my end goal: making Dedue (the best character) into my husband.  

[sweetvictory.mp3 intensifies]

Now that that’s out of the way, though, I have questions about this game.  And this franchise.  Important…ish questions.  Questions that will be asked and (potentially) answered here in this very post.  Chief among them: 

What’s next for Fire Emblem?

BRB Hero is in Smash

And here come Sakurai and Smash Bros. Ultimate, thwartin’ my plans like the madlads they are.

Just as well, though.  Granted I was going to use this slot to talk more about Bloodstained, but given how much Smash I’ve been playing recently, I guess I can take a minute to post briefly on the game’s latest fighter.  And who knows?  Maybe I can slip in a few choice words on Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

…Besides “Dedue is best girl”, of course.  As if anyone needs to have such an obvious truth doled out.

RE: Samurai Shodown (2019)

I’ve been thinking of the best way to succinctly describe Samurai Shodown (2019) -- a way to summarize it in a way that’s accurate, entertaining, and gives me a 1% higher chance to get more pageviews.  It hasn’t been easy, partly because SNK’s latest is a far cry from a LOT of stuff on store shelves these days.

Pared down to basics?  Sure, you could say it’s Street Fighter at the core.  That is, it takes fundamental concepts and strategies and upholds them over virtually everything else.  Conversely, that means that this game is not on the level of your standard “anime fighter”.  There’s been a jump to 3D graphics, but it’s by no means a 3D fighter like Tekken or Soul Calibur.  I wouldn’t even put it on the same level as Mortal Kombat, goriness aside.  No, this is its own beast.  An anomaly, for sure.

That’s why I’ve come up with a way to succinctly describe the game.  Samurai Shodown is the best game.

…For pissing people off, that is.

RE: One Piece: World Seeker

One day I need to have a talk with my brother about his penchant for impulse buys.  

Like, I’m not about to tell him how to spend his money, but him grabbing One Piece: World Seeker -- and preordering it months in advance, at that -- has to qualify as a potential red flag.  Did he know that the game would be good?  No.  Did he have room in his schedule for it, given that its release date was sandwiched between Devil May Cry V and Sekiro?  No.  Is he even a fan of One Piece?  At best, he tangentially orbits it; he’s seen a whopping four episodes, played snippets of one game, and likes the “manimals” of the Enies Lobby Arc.

Oh, and he’s a fan of Tony Tony Chopper…even though he got the name confused and called him Tony Chopper Chopper.

I don’t know what possessed him to get the game, and I never will.  But what’s truly bizarre is that, in a way, I’m actually glad he did.  One Piece: World Seeker is easily the weirdest game I’ve played in a while.  So let’s talk about it.

Because it gives me an excuse to embed One Piece theme songs.

Devil May Cry V is STRONG.

At the time of this writing, I’m about two and a half hours past clearing Devil May Cry V.  What did I think of it?  

What a mystery.  If only there was a blog post title people could read.

RE: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

So from what I’ve heard, we’ve recently hit the halfway point of JoJo Part 5.  Having caught up (give or take an episode), let me say this to start:

Huh.

So that’s how that works.

Mild-ish spoilers for everything up to episode 21.  If you’re wary of getting spoiled on anything, this post is very not DI MOLTO.

…It’s funnier to use the phrase improperly.

An Abbreviated Take on Dark Souls Remastered

Hey, guys!  Have you heard about this sick new game called Dark Souls?  I’m not that far into it, but it seems really great -- lots of challenge, and exploration, and adventures straight out of your favorite --

Wait, hold on.  Just hold on a second...

*checks remaster’s release date*

*checks original game’s release date*

Oh.  Oh.  Ohhhhhhhhh.  I’ve never been so late to the party.

RE: Tetris 99

Am I seriously about to do a post on friggin’ Tetris?  What timeline is this?  And why am I so okay with it, even if it means I may have potentially jettisoned my original timeline into the depths of oblivion?

Who cares?  It’s Tetris 99, y’all.

Kingdom Hearts Voltimania: Kingdom Hearts III (Part A)

What a long and strange road it’s been.  But now it’s over.

It’s here.  It’s finally here.

Kingdom.  Hearts.  III.

Let’s go.

The Smash Ultimate Diaries -- ACT II

Hey, welcome back to another post on my newfound crack addiction.

I had a friend come over recently, and he asked me what I thought of Smash Bros. Ultimate.  My answer, without hesitation: “It goes without saying, but this is the best Smash yet.”  I didn’t think that was a controversial statement -- can’t imagine a lot of people disagreeing with me, though we’ll see what the verdict is a year out from release -- but naturally, my brother chimed in to say “Ehhhhhhhhhhh, I dunnoooooooooooo…”  Naturally.  Because naturally, he pines for the days of Melee.  Except for that time when we played Melee again, and we all decided (in an unspoken decree) that that was a mistake.

Okay, sure, it’s not as if Melee is the worst or anything.  But the game is old enough to drive now, and holding it in unrivaled esteem does it, the franchise, or us no favors.  Even if you’re the type to uphold it for its gameplay/tournament merits, can we at least meet halfway and agree that Ultimate has the best visuals, presentation, sound design, and content thus far?  Can we?

I bet we can.  And with that out of the way, let’s talk about more Smash Ultimate stuff.

The Smash Ultimate Diaries -- ACT I

You know, I had a feeling this would happen.

Don’t misunderstand right off the bat; it’s not as if I’m about to say “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a huge disappointment.”  On the contrary.  I think it’s a good game, and here’s why: just as I predicted, there have been multiple instances since release day on December 7^th (6^th if you’re like me and had the digital version pre-loaded alongside geographical advantages) when I had to make a call.  Play more Smash, or get more sleep?

I’ve chosen Smash over sleep on more than one occasion.  I probably shouldn’t.  I mean, as of writing I feel a cold coming on, and it wasn’t long ago that I went to bed early because I felt like throwing up.  I didn’t, thankfully -- I need to work on rebuilding my streak of going over a decade without puking -- but the worst part about it wasn’t that I felt like my insides sparked a bloody revolution.  It was that I missed out on valuable Smash time.

Right now, all I want to do is play it more.  But in the interest of keeping this blog alive, let’s go ahead and have a random collection of thoughts.  Then more smashing.

RE: The MISSING: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories

The MISSING: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories ranks as one of the most spiteful purchases I’ve ever made.

Granted, I’d been leaning toward a purchase for a good while.  Some strong reviews and recommendations offered a push, and when I started watching video footage -- only to shut it off for fear of spoilers, a rarity for me -- I knew I had to get it eventually.  Sooner rather than later.  The big boot came from Call of Duty, of all things.  As someone who’s sworn off the franchise (after doing my time, lest you think I’m a hypocrite), I’m still more than a little butthurt over the fact that the latest installment has made a huge amount of money again.

So consider this impulse/non-impulse buy a middle finger to the lurching behemoth on the horizon.  Fortunately, I lucked out with my one-fingered salute -- because even without the smugness brimming from my one-man protest, the game’s pretty good.