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.

Shower Thoughts with My Hero Academia (Season 1)

You know what?  There’s a version of My Hero Academia out there in another dimension, locked deep within the darkest confines of the multiverse, where Midoriya never got his Quirk.

Like, I’ve been thinking about it, and I realize that if All Might had never run into Midoriya, and/or if neither one ran into that green blob villain -- which is feasible, given the slim odds of their encounter -- then the Symbol of Peace would have gone on as planned, given his Quirk to someone else he deemed worthy at U.A., and left our hero to be…not a hero.  

I won’t lie: there’s a part of me that wouldn’t mind seeing that story play out.  Maybe have Midoriya enroll in U.A. anyway in the support class?  Have him develop gear for heroes (in-training or otherwise) while providing support as their mission control?  Let him find ways to build armor/equipment that simulates useful battle Quirks?  Or -- and here’s the real kicker -- have him team up with Bakugou so at least one of them can make it to the top.  Bakugou’s got the talent and power, but Midoriya assists and conditions him so that the fire in his belly gets directed instead of scattered in all directions.  An uneasy alliance, sure, but a BEST MATCH when the two truly learn to work as a team.

But you’re not here for hypothetical situations.  You’re here to find out who is best girl in My Hero Academia (besides Iida, as discussed).  And the answer is…drumroll pleeeeeeeeeeeeease…

RE: God of War (2018)

If you want to know what I think of the latest God of War (and I’m not sure why you would), then let me say this to start: I’m not a God of War fan.  I touched the first game once, and never did again.  I skipped the second.  Watched chunks of the third -- and probably 75% of the first, at a bare minimum.  Skipped all the handheld games.  Forgot Kratos showed up in fighting games as a guest character.  Never used Kratos in PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale (jeez, remember that game?)  Touched Ascension once, and never did again.  

Generally swore off the series after that.

So if nothing else?  Congratulations to God of War (2018) for being the first and only game in the franchise so far to make me want to go back to it again.  For real this time.

The 900th Post: My Hero Academia (?!)

Hello, and welcome once again to Cross-Up, your one stop shop for dozens of Kingdom Hearts posts all sorts of posts on video games, movies, TV shows, and more.  And in this case, “more” happens to include anime.  And manga, by extension.  So let’s not delay any longer.  My Hero Academia has been making waves for a while now, and it’s time I use this milestone celebration -- the 900^th post here on this blog -- to take a closer look.

Here we go.  These are The Top 5 Best Girls of My Hero Academia.

…Oh, wait.  No it isn’t.  Never mind.  Continuing on.

Pokken Tournament DX is pretty rad.

I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s obvious to anyone that’s been playing the game since the original Wii U release (God rest your noble soul), but as you know, I’m always late to the proverbial party.

Technically, I should be even later than I already am.  Even though I’ve had multiple opportunities to grab Pokken Tournament DX in theory, in practice the schedule -- such as it is -- refused it every time thanks to an extra buffer of simple reasoning.  “Can’t get it now because [insert major game release here] is about to come out.”  “Can’t get it now because my backlog is too big.”  “Can’t get it now because I need to write about JRPGs that progressively erode the fibers of my soul.”  And as I type this, I’m literally less than six days away from the release of another fighting game, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle -- thus meaning I have to spend hours with that to gain basic competency.  And tomorrow (again, as I type this) Zamasu and Vegito drop in Dragon Ball FighterZ -- and I haven’t played that game in two solid months.  The inevitable session with my brother to celebrate is going to be a massacre.

So you know what?  Screw it.  I’ve got to do something for me.  And what better way to be a selfish twat than with a purchase I may end up regretting 8.56 seconds after I upload this post.  Let’s dig into Pokken Tournament DX.

A Lickety-Split Post on NieR: Automata

You guys, I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry.

I don’t know why it took me this long to start playing NieR: Automata in earnest, but now I am, and I like it a lot, and it’s great, and I’m an idiot for not getting to it sooner.  I mean, granted part of the reason was that my brother and I share a PS4, and since he was lukewarm on the game (at best) he deleted it to make space for more fighting games.  But since I got him an external hard drive for Christmas, that’s a moot point.  And now that there’s no excuse…well, I have no excuse.

This is a really cool game.  Very interesting.  And the best part is that I like it for reasons I never would have expected.

SPOILERS FOR EVERYTHING UP TO ENDING A.  BE WARY…FOR THE GLORY OF MANKIND.

Do Me a Solid -- Creepy Song Arrange

Boy, this is gonna be an unreasonable request.  But if past Christmases have taught me anything, it’s that I’m pretty good at making demands and expecting a big payoff from, you know, normal people.  No wonder I only got clothes that one time.

Also, alternative post title: I Should Have Thought of This While it Was Still Halloween, But I Guess This is Okay Too Since I Did a Super Mario Odyssey Post

Wait, would that fit into the Blogger dashboard’s title page?  I don’t know.  I’ve never exactly pushed the limits on the character count.  For titles, at least…

RE: Sonic Mania

Gotta go fast?  Nah, son.  Gotta go at a measured and moderate pace, accelerating when necessary.

All right.  Now let’s talk about Sonic Mania.

I’ve Made a Huge Mistake -- Steam Arrange

Would it be too untoward of me to admit that, despite making that blatant reference to Arrested Development in the title, I haven’t actually seen that much of the actual show?

It would?  Oh, jeez.  Then I guess that makes the title more appropriate than ever.

So How Good is Fire Emblem, Really?

You know, sometimes it seems like whenever I do these “So How Good is [X], Really?” posts, the title implies that I’m questioning the quality of X.  And technically, I guess I am.  But don’t worry about it.  I don’t mean any ill will, or to make it sound like X is worse than you think it is.

That’s definitely the case with Fire Emblem, at least for me.  I think that it’s pretty good.  Sooooooooooooooooooo…I guess I just summed up this post in a couple of paragraphs?  That’s a new record.  Okay, time to pack it up and go home.  See you guys later.  Go watch some EVO footage or whatever.  It’s got Tekken 7.  And I know how much you love being on the receiving end of Paul’s death fist.

…Okay, let’s talk about Fire Emblem.