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cryptofadventure · 10 months

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new ask game send me a 🌻 and ill just tell you whatever the fuck i want

Ok so I'm a persona fan yeah?

I got into the series when 5 came out so naturally I played that first right????

....

How come I felt so fucking cheated when I played through Persona 4?

P4 has a better story, better humor execution, better relationships, better suspense, just better everything save for aesthetics (bc the concept of mysterious thieves and the use of symbolism got me in a chokehold). Dude I'm sorry but as much as I love the Phantom thieves their friendships weren't nearly as close as the Investigation Team and there were times where they were downright malicious to each other (and by that I usually mean Atlus trying to be """funny"" and shit on Ryuji in an uncalled for manner while Morgana is allowed to be a fucking massive creep).

Morgana is fucking disgusting and completely unlikeable and you cannot change my mind, Shido was a hallow villian that pales in comparison to Adachi, they fucked up how cool Akechi's character COULD HAVE BEEN for making him snitch on himself so fucking fast, Okumura's palace was complete dog shit, and Haru was completely robbed of a character from Mona having his little piss fit that literally added nothing to the story but a headache.

Teddie was so fucking loveable and silly I literally cannot understand why people hated him. Dude his ''''weird behavior''' he learned from Yosuke and Yukiko specifically and several of the first dungeons were promiscuous and this mfer has NEVER talked to another person before you expect him NOT to pick up on what he sees his friends doing??? And he never soley went after the girls he did this to EVERYBODY no one was safe from his weird flirting and that's what made it funny vs Mona who literally sexually harrasses a sexual harassment victim at any given moment that's supposed to be his friend and acts like a incel constantly. Him being the 'being of hope' and being this fucking disgusting and selfish is fucking laughable. Fuck that cat.

But moving on since I can literally complain about Mona's character for hours; Shido is weak as fuck. Bro Adachi had LAYERS like an onion bro. He was just a everyday guy and that's what made it fucked up; ANYONE could have fallen down that road. A perfect example is Yosuke; a kid down on his luck, treated like shit no matter how hard he tries, and is consumed by boredom. Had Yosuke's parents not loved him and had ne not met his friends he could have became an Adachi himself. Adachi does a good job at making you feel bad...to a degree. Like bro it sucks your parents didn't give a shit about you, it sucks you made a tiny mistake and got shipped out to the middle of nowhere, and it sucks your love life is non-existent but you ain't had to kill anybody lmao. Also you like him once he pulls the chad move of 'oh man is THAT what i used to sound like??? You're cringe, kill yourself.' to a actual god WHILE it's beating his ass.

In addition I'm so ass mad they removed the cut scenes that gave the Will Seeds has so much more story purpose. I think it's extremely important to see how the villians get to the way they are bc no one is just born fucking evil. They were all just normal people at some point that started tumbling down the wrong road. One I can easily talk about is Kaneshiro. Where I live, gang activity is rampant; you don't just choose that lifestyle. It's a lifestyle your pressured into, or you feel you have no choice, or you are influenced by your media/friends/family. It's hardly ever something you want to do (instagram mfers with guns and drugs that say they're about that life aren't. it's a front to look cool they'd die here in seconds). He was pushed around in a low income neighborhood presumably by other gangsters and he had no choice but to fall inline and when you see YOUR opportunity to be the big dog you take it because it's a dog eat dog world..but that still don't make you a sad beanie baby. You're still a monster for ruining other people's lives by repeating history.

Showing that would have made every villain so much stronger than what they are.

Having Akechi snitch on himself so fast and even without the pancake thing it was blaringly obvious he was a antagonist. How he hated them so passionately, even for his image, didn't make much for a surprise. Also going on about characters; Makoto's hate isn't deserved full stop. 'oH BuT She WantS To Be A pOlIce OffIcer She'S meAn TO TThe GrouP SHe'S a BoOtLiCkEr' shut the fuck up Stacey you on;t hate the police bc you think it's cool but if you were robbed you'd call for 911 before anyone else. Makoto's character was so painful; imagine you lose the parent you were so close to and never met the other and on top of that you have to watch your only sibling turn into a abusive, selfish monster that treats you like shit. And it doesn't stop there, because you're pressured to be the embodiment of the nerd emoji other students hate you and adults take advantage of you. Bro the principal literally went 'I'll destroy your college future if you don't figure out a case the police can't solve'. Bro WHAT.

Also Ryuji was done dirty, Kamoshida was also his villian not just Ann's. I don't care he was still assulted too; homie teased this kid about his drunk dad beating him in front of EVERYONE and broke his leg knowing FULL WELL he's not academically capable and can't go to college any other way that sports now he has to be uncertain about his future.

eh, where was I? I forgot. In short: Persona 4 handled everything better than 5 ever could and it makes me so sad bc 5 has such a good premise and aesthetic. It honestly makes me wanna re-write a good chunk of it and apply it to my P5 blog to satisfy the dweeb in me.

Oh bonus:

If you think Maruki is morally worse than Shido soley bc you're an Akechi simp I think your brain is smoother than a jar of fucking peanut butter and that you've the intelligence of a rock.

#ooc #i lost track lemme cut it here #Im sorry i love Persona but soemtimes it shits the bed hard

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prof-peach · 3 years

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If you could cross over two of your favorite games, which would you choose? Please explain, why that crossover would be a good match.

Oh you’re going to regret asking this one, I’m bout to GET SERIOUS.

So Pokemon, obvs, I love the whole world it’s built in, but the games imo are REALLY boring, I haven’t enjoyed one a lot since gale of darkness, the main ones just are a little too linear obvious plots, pretty standard setups for story and style. Speaking of style, the games lack personality, the models aren’t animated well, moves have no dynamic energy or visual difference at times, and the turn based battle style just feels kind of, I don’t know, old? Slow? Just doesn’t suit what I enjoy personally, gives me a FInal Fantasy vibe and I just cannot stand the speed at which things happen in those games, plus not into 3rd person ‘let’s build a team of people’ much, but that’s a problem for another time. With this all in mind, the game I wish would happen is like gen20 Pokemon, far future sadly, I doubt I’d see it in my lifetime but god I’d be happy if I did!

Ok so take the newest Zelda graphics, the visual treat that was BOTW, open world, puzzles, not JUST combat, you got side missions, hunt the chickens, find missing pets, parcels, items, whatever. Love it! The horse taming?! Amazing you funky little game. Now take the bad guys and beasts from that. And put Pokemon in instead. Give them the diversity, the life and believable natures that BOTW gave the animals, I followed a frog in BOTW for 15 minutes, and it was a great experience, it felt like it was believable. Above world spawning, ACTUAL difficult gameplay, rare spawn rates, make dragons hard to get again, cmon, it’s too easy now, make it so we need a certain set of Pokemon for certain tasks. Water types big enough to carry you will be able to get you to new areas, rock types that can help you climb mountains faster, or break through blocking boulders. Actual towns with more than 4 houses in them, shops, barns, farms, homes. Like little link with the heat, maybe ice types would struggle in volcano areas, or bug Pokemon not be so comfortable in gale force winds. Give the weather more of an effect on your partners. Mounts, don’t even get me started that Pokemon Let’s go had you able to ride any of the larger species, but swsh did not???? Bitch please, give me my rideable Pokemon. The wild area too was far too closed, limited, online was laggy and a mess, camping is limited, let me do more with my team. Pokemon for me is all about the actual creatures, how they live with humans, and the many wonderful things they’re capable of. Yes of course it’s cool they can fight, but like what else you know?

I’d love a game that lets me buy a plot of land, maybe plant things, custom build things. I’m a sucker for the fallout4 settlement builds when they’re modded to hell and back, they’re fun! It can be a really calm and creative process. If I could do that and skip the main campaign and all the battles for a bit? Amazing, it sound perfect for me. I am that distracted hoe collecting flowers while the kingdom burns in the background. Side quests are everything to me. Let me give homeless people enough money to get them in a home? Let me adopt Pokemon that are stray around the town? Plz oh plz bring me a Pokemon game that allows me to work WITH my team to do more than KO other species. I want to save and buy a plow for my buddy gogoat, and grow amazing foods to sell to get currency to spend in decorations, to spoil my team. Give me actual game consequence, if I ignore that sick and injured Pokemon I find in the wild, later maybe it’s family don’t want to help me out with a different problem, too stricken from grief. I am all about the average bits, the old women who need help, the lost pets board in town, the general day to day stuff. Let me get cosmetic items for the Pokemon I keep, cute outfits, special gemstone items, let me actually live with them, or even feel remotely like they’re realistic.

Ok so in game, if it’s looking like BOTW it’s pretty beautiful but also stylised, I’d have it so you can send out a maximum of 3 Pokemon from your 6, using bumpers and such to throw them out. If you hit the trigger you switch from controlling the human trainer, to the Pokemon you’ve targeted with a standard lock on targeting system. You then can be the leader, but be the Pokemon. You could technically defeat the game without a human if you wanted, which incorporates the mystery dungeon games I think, and caters to that crowd. I’d love to see the use of attacks out of battle, things like using water gun to grow plants, using ember to start a campfire faster and stave off the cold. There’s no consequence to Pokemon anymore, and I think that’s where it’s lost me. I have to admit I miss the days of a poisoned pokemon fainting if you don’t heal them soon enough, I miss gym battles that were actually tough, damn, try picking charmander in red and beating brock without grinding in viridian forest first, it’s not easy. And I loved that. Yes it’s a child’s game, it will never be difficult again, but god it’d be nice to have a bit of a challenge, or maybe a difficulty setting, so some could play it with hostility turned off, great for kids, or you can be n adult like I know so many Pokemon fans are, and play it on expert mode and ACTUALLY have to work hard to beat the game. Alternate skill trees anyone? Train gun a fire type to ACUTALLy combat water moves?? Please! Cmon! It frustrated me that every challenger has pretty much a systematic set of moves to use to win. Grass opponent? Fire attack spam until you win. It’s dull, so at least with very difficult tricks to either find or learn in game would make it more achievable if you can send that fire type in and I don’t know, train them so much the heat evaporates the water mid-battle and you suddenly have a shot at winning. Pokemon has taught me that if you work hard enough you can achieve something, but the games just have such strict ways to win. Feels wrong.

In terms of battling, let us BE the Pokemon, let us learn to dodge, train our speed, train our defence, make a team of truly tough Pokemon instead of just, average? Some species have a cap on their skills, a squirtle has lower stat points than a Charizard, but you can’t ever change that? Let me choose the Pokemon I believe in, and let me work with them until they’re just as good, if not better than the game tanks. This would also make online battles more interesting. Everyone picks the top trio. Fairy, dragon, legendaries. And yknow what? It’s boring. That one IRL fight with the monster Pacharisu that won in the world tournament with follow me and the situs Berry? Unbelievable, I love that little rat so much because of this, so let us all have a chance to build a team that’s strategically viable, strong, and potentially a winner formula, even if they aren’t fully evolved, or the biggest Pokemon in the world. Yeah maybe you have to grind way harder with your unevolved Pokemon, but you get to the end game and win, because you put love and time into species that you enjoy, not just good fighters.

Unfortunately I am beholdent to Todd-idiot-Howard, and I love the Eldrescrolls and fallout games (before they got dumb, not that I don’t play the new ones. 76 I’m looking at you, you big asshole game.) honestly I hate online games, so none of that junk, just a good old fashioned open world sandbox game is plenty. Games for me are an escape from others, not an invitation to socialise. To each their own of course, and I do play online games sometimes, just pretty short lived ones, over watch and rdr2 for example. Would they be sometimes better on private servers? Yes of course, fallout76? Want to play with others? No. I do not. Please leave me alone. And if you buy a private server you’re feeding the monster that is Todd Howard, the man the myth the asshole, then we’ll get more bad games like 76. I just so desperately want the Pokemon company to see what a beautiful potential game they’ve got on their hands, that could be suitable for far greater audiences, but instead they’ve focused on the kids. It’s fine, it’s functional, but it’s lost to the fans from day 1, that are all 20+ years old now and want something meatier to play, something far more broad and inclusive. I also hate that there’s no wheelchair option in any Pokemon game. Like cmon, it’s not hard to include that.

In short, BOTW + Pokemon, with a sprinkle of open world sandbox to it, less fighting, more fun. Or, at least both options. Sure, go fight everything, great, but I want to farm carrots over here with 6sunflora, plz let me have some peace.

Edit: I forgot about harvest moon, chuck some of that in there too.

SECOND EDIT: someone in the comments mentioned to put this in Unova? Plz love yourselves, this game would be ALL MAPS. Stuff one singular location, this is the ideal game, put every map in it, join them, put islands in, make them more explorable, more detailed!

#pokemon #not peach #OOC

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hopefulstarfire · 3 years

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Astrarium: The Adventures Between Realms: An In-Depth Look

What is Astrarium: The Adventures Between Realms?

Astrarium is a massive, written work of online fiction created by myself and my boyfriend Jonathan, with the art department fully manned by our best friend Tai (@cowboytai) and edited/possibly narrated by our other best friend Watta (found here at his YouTube channel).

The story follows the adventures of Artemis, or Ari as she's better known, a human girl raised by Dragons. The Dragons of are the deities of the universe, with a select group delegated to the task of Watchers, whom take the role of nurturing, shaping and recording the histories of the Seven Realms found in their universe. Ari, at age 16, is able to begin her training to become a Watcher (and the first ever human Watcher), and takes the four years of her training to explore each and every Realm, making friends and enemies along the way, and discovering more of who she is and who she wants to become.

We're currently looking at publishing it on its own website sometime in 2022. What we're looking at having done before then is the prologue, first five chapters, and the first trips to every Realm. Currently, we have the prologue and chapters 1-3 finished, with chapter 4 in progress along with the first round of trips. The prologue and chapters 1-5 will be posted together on the launch of the website. We will also have a Patreon set up for it, with some varying reward tiers!

What are the Realms?

There are Seven Realms featured in Astrarium, all named after constellations. They are Hydra (The Water Serpent), Auriga (The Charioteer), Ursa (Greater Bear), Cygnus (The Swan), Orion (The Hunter), Lepus (The Hare) and Lyra (The Lyre). Each one also features its own aesthetics, cultures, and even specialized races/species of civilized life.

Hydra takes place in a very water and island based world, with an aesthetic setting of the Age of Exploration/Golden Age of Piracy. There are seven major oceans on this world, and hundreds of islands, both inhabited and uninhabited and many filled to the brims with treasures. There are also large underwater cities that are elegantly built and homes to all sorts of academic pursuits.

Auriga is a world inspired by both the Old West and the Steampunk fashion and aesthetic. They have new inventions coming out every day, fueled not just by steam power but also by magical crystals. And they thrive off of having big communities that all rely on each other.

Ursa is a very natural world filled with gorgeous forests and lovely springs. It's world is heavily inspired by high fantasy, dungeons and dragons, and a certain other old tale that'll be evident in its cast of characters. It is filled with magics of all kinds and magical creatures left and right.

The citizens of Cygnus live on floating islands, all connected to each other by tethers, and the inhabitants fly anywhere they please. The aesthetic is based in 1920s/1930s fashion and glitz and glam, with a little bit of a seedy underbelly lurking in the city...as well as interesting horrors down in the jungles below them.

The Giantesses of Orion have kept to the simpler life, with a definite cottage core aesthetic throughout. They are an agricultural society with many settlements and even still wandering nomadic tribes that all unite for the big Games every year.

Lepus' people have been facing an endless winter for over a thousand years. The people have long forsaken and forgotten about their magic, and have relied heavily on science and technology to help rebuild their lives and try to find a way to combat the winter. It's a very sci-fi setting with some style influence from all over.

Lyra is the land of the dead and the home of an eternal party. With plenty of Halloween based influences, there is never a dull moment for those who find themselves in the built towns, and those who are stuck in the fog wander and sing their songs until they find their way to a new home.

Outside of the Realms, there is Dragons Keep, a large mountain in space that acts as the home to all Dragons. It's caves are vast and plentiful, winding all the way through from the head of the mountain, where the High Council meets, to the very bottom. And even with many areas claimed and made use of in this large mountain, there are always mysteries to be found.

Who are the characters?

Astrarium has one of the largest casts of characters we've worked with, with tons of new friends, rivals, and enemies for Ari to meet. Along with Ari, there is a main character for each Realm, with a cast of supporting characters.

Ari (she/her) acts as the main protagonist, helping guide some of the plot and seeing everything through her eyes. On Hydra, our protagonist is Gibbson "Gibbs" Cayde (he/him); on Auriga, Huxley "Huck" Holiday (he/him); on Ursa, Ronan Löx (he/him); on Cygnus, Clyde (he/him); on Orion, Fauna (she/her); on Lepus, Henrietta "Henri" Franklin (possibly she/they, still figuring it out!) ; and on Lyra, Alexei (he/him). Also on Dragons Keep, we have Aris' family, with her adopted mother/Mama, Arabella, her Uncle Killick, and her cousin, Libelle, who is a main character for Dragons Keep.

I hope to get to share more about our supporting cast with you all soon, as they all have some very interesting stories to get to share!

We also are working on art for the main characters as we speak, but we do have Ari's done and that can be found here!

More About The Team?

We're a group of friends who have all known each other since, for the most part, high school! While I'm someone that kind of wants to keep private lives private, I can say that these are the best group of friends to have and we're honestly like our own little family. We've workshopped other projects with each other since, God, like, my senior year of high school? Just about? It's been an insane ride together. We're also just a big bunch of nerds who are all really chill and fun to be around.

How Long is The Story Going To Be?

Astrarium is looking to be the longest project we'll ever do in terms of story timeline, and page count. As the Dragons are masters of time, Ari has the ability to actually mess with it slightly and create what is essentially a "Save point" for herself to go back to after she leaves a Realm. So say she leaves Hydra on a certain day. She can make that save point, go hang out in the other Realms, and come back and it'll be either that exact save point she left at or a few hours later, give or take (though, there are chances of "hiccups" in this, usually occurring when she leaves from Dragons Keep specifically, as it is considered to be outside of the normal flow of time!).

My goal is kind of a fun one of I want it to be one of the longest word count stories out there. I don't really know why I want it to be, other than I think it'd be really cool if I could beat out that Loud House fanfiction in terms of longest works in literature. That's just a nice little goal.

How Can Readers Support the Series?

Honestly, the best thing I can ask for is just getting this around! If anyone takes an interest in this series, reblogs and likes go a long way and are greatly appreciated. We also love, love, love questions!! It's a great feeling to see people want to know more and some questions can really get our thinking caps on to develop more and more! When the site launches, we will again launch the Patreon right alongside it, so if you want to financially support, there'll be reward tiers ranging from $1 a month and upwards! We may look at a Ko-Fi as well and if it looks like people are really interested in it, we may open a merch store and I do want to start releasing some of it as actual books you can have for your shelves!

Financial support is 100000% optional, though, for when that does happen, and like, everyone's situation is different, we just want to make it an option for our audience. But the best feeling in the world to us is seeing people's interest and them sharing it with their friends!

And if anyone has anymore questions, please please please feel free to ask! We're gonna be working on getting to share more updates here soon!! And thank you all for your time!!

#astrarium #astrarium: the adventures between realms #ocs #my characters #my ocs #original story #original works #original writing #writerblr #writing community #writing #fiction #original fiction

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tumbling-odyssey · 3 years

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Games I played in 2020

Just felt like getting my thoughts out on all the games I played this year. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for years but I always let it pass me by. Well not this year! Fuck you laziness!

I played the first half in 2019 but finished it in 2020 so I guess I'll count it. DQ11 was my intro to Dragon Quest and what a good starting point. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is one of the best traditional JRPGs on the market. Characters, story, combat, it all clicks in just the right way to make a flawless game... until the end credits roll that is.

I have no idea what happened with the post game but by god does it dive off a cliff. It undermines everything you worked to do in the main plot. The characters act brain dead and it shamelessly reuses events from the main game. Please pick up and play DQ11 but for the love of god just stop when the credits roll.

Doom is a game I knew I'd like. The heavy metal ascetic and soundtrack were right up my alley, but I just never found the time. With Eternal on the way though and having found it on the cheap at a pawn shop I figured there was no time like the present. Needless to say but I was right. I loved everything about this game. The thrill of combat, the screech of the guitars, and the silent take no shit attitude of Doomguy. Make no mistake though, I SUCK at this game. I played on easy but still got my ass handed to me on the regular. But I don't care, I was having way to much fun.

I flipped my shit when this game got leaked at the tail end of 2019. Zero 3 is my all time favourite game. To celebrate this getting announced I went and 100% Zero 3 as I hadn't done it on my current cart, and Zero 3 was still the first thing I played when I got this collection! I love that game to death and I’m glad to have it on modern consoles again. As I was under a bit of time crunch with other games releasing soon I only played 2 other games in the collection Zero 4 and ZX Advent. Until the DS collection those and 3 were the only Zero/ZX games I had so I have a lot of nostalgia for them.

Zero 4 hold ups better then I remember. Not as good as 3 but a damn solid game with tweaks I honestly wish hit the series before its end. I remember having issues with the stage design and ya it’s not perfect, but it’s far from as bad as I thought. For ZXA this was the first time I beat the game on normal difficulty. For some reason the ZX games have always given me more trouble than the Zero games, so finally beating one on normal was very exciting. Maybe I can now finally go and beat ZX for the first time...

The Mystery Dungeon series rising from the depth to punch all those unexpecting in the face was a very welcome surprise. I had a lot of hype going into this one as I have very fond memories of my time with Red Rescue Team and even more with Explorers of Darkness. And the game lived up to it! The remastered music is great and crazy nostalgic, the 3D models are well used and don't feel as stiff as they do in the core series, and the QOL changes are near perfect... So why did I drop this game like a rock once I finished the main quest?

Anyone familiar with Mystery Dungeon will know that the post game is the real meat of it. The story is short and all the really cool shit comes in after it's done. But I just couldn't bring myself to put more time in after I finished said story mode. I'm definitely chocking that up to me just not being in the mood then an issue with the game. Here's hoping we get an Explorers DX sometime soon. That will fucking hook me for all it's got.

Second verse same as the first. I loved this game and sucked at it horribly. Out of all the games I've played this year Doom Eternal is the one I want to go back to the most. I was not the hugest fan of some of the changes made and retained a stance that I liked 2016 better. First person platforming has never been a fun experience in my opinion and Eternal did little to change that. And I know this a lukewarm take at best but fuck Marauders!. They are so unfun to fight and ruin the pace. The Marauder in the last mook wave took me so long I was worried I wouldn’t be able to finish the game. But the more I've seen of Eternal after my playthrough makes me think I was being far to harsh. I haven't played the DLC yet either. Mostly cuss I haven't heard great things about it. Gonna wait for the rest of it to come out to see if it's worth getting. Might just replay to whole game at that point to see if it clicks with me better.

This was my second favourite game of the year, and was going to take the top slot until a certain other game came out. Addressing the elephant in room right away, I hated the ending. But I was expecting something like that, I think we all were. I won't let the ending ruin the rest of the game though. Not gonna let 1 segment colour everything that came before it. We have to see how the later parts play out to truly see if this ending was trash or not anyway.

It took Square over a decade but they finally got an action RPG battle system that works and feels good to play. This may be my favourite battle system in an RPG period honestly. All four characters are a blast and it only gets better the more time you spend with it. Figuring out the nuances of each character’s skills and how to combine them not only with the skills of the others but how to enhance them with the right Materia set. This makes fights thrilling and satisfying when you finally best whatever was giving you trouble. Tis was the best way to bring 7′s mechanics into the modern landscape while also fixing the BIGGEST issue the OG had. The fact every character feels the same aside from Limit Breaks.

All this on top of graphics that just look fucking stunning, a few glitched out doors aside. Fuck I still feel blown away looking at the characters models (mostly Tifa) and see how god damn pretty everyone is. Also Tifa’s Chinese dress is gift from the Gods and I still haven’t picked my jaw up from the floor after I first saw it.

In my circle of the internet there was a lot of hype for this game. So much so that I ended up buying it to see what all the hubbub was about. I had never played a Streets of Rage game before and my only experience with beat'em ups was playing a LOT of Scott Pilgrim and last year's River City Girls. Turns out Streets of Rage plays quite a bit different and it kicked my ass! So sadly I had to switch to easy to make it through but I still had a fun time with it.

I started playing mostly as Blaze but once Adam hit the scene oooooh fucking boy. I didn’t play anyone else. There's a deceptive amount of content in this game. You can unlock almost every character from the previous games and all of them rocking their original sprites and moves. If I had more of a connection with this series I'm sure I would have gone nuts on unlocking everything. I stopped after my one playthrough and I was happy with that. Always glad to support a long overdue franchise revival.

To properly talk about P5R I think I need to air a lot of my feelings on the original game and the importance it has to me. You see, prior to 2017 I barely played games, only sticking to specific franchises. AKA Pokemon and Mega Man/Mega Man like games. Until 2016 though I still bought a lot of games. Eating up Steam sales and deals I found at pawn shops. This lead to a Steam library and shelf filled with games I've never touched outside of maybe an hour or 2. So in 2016 when I took interest in the newly released Kirby Planet Robobot I made a deal with myself. I could get the game but I HAD to beat it. And I did just that, gaining not just a new fav Kirby game but a new rule for game purchases. If I knew I wouldn't beat a game I was not aloud to buy it. Now what does ANY of this have to do with P5 you may ask? Well... almost everything.

I was immediately interested in P5 when it hit the west in 2017. I loved the 20 or so hours I but into P3 years ago and really liked the P4 anime I had watched around the same time. So of course with all the hype around it I wanted to dive into the series full force with P5. But I knew myself. Putting over 100 hours into a game was beyond me and I had a weird relationship with home console games as I was predominately a handheld gamer. Add in the fact I didn't even have a PS4 and I was convinced P5 would be something I always wanted to play, but never would. So when I went to the mall with a few friends and they showed me that P5 had a PS3 version, I had a dilemma on my hands. I knew I wanted to play it and I now had a way to do so. But doing that would require me to change 2 HUGE hang ups I had with games. Would I being willing to waste 60 bucks with so much working against me? Apparently I was. I immediately started going to town on this game. Making sure I spent no less then 2 hours a day playing NO MATTER WHAT. Which may not seem like a lot but it was to me... at the time.. I also had just moved to my current house, so coming home from my still relatively new job and going straight into P5 was the first real routine I formed during this heavily transitional part of my life.

I of course ended up loving P5 and put 200 hours into it. As such my outlook on gaming was forever changed. Console games were no longer out of reach and I knew I could handle playing monster length game. I started playing way more games then I ever did before and trying out generas I never thought I would play. P5 is the main reason for this and why I'm able to make a post like this. To actually touch on Royal though? It's unarguably the better version of the game and Atlus learned all the right lessons from P4G. The new characters are great and the added section at the end is possibly the best shit Atlus has ever written. I only wish Yoshizawa joined the party sooner so I could play as her more.

The release of this really came out of nowhere huh? Wayforward announced it was being made mid way through 2019, then there was its weird half release on the Apple store... and then suddenly it was out! Very little fanfare for this one. Is that indicative of the games quality? Luckily no. Seven Sirens is a solid addition to the series and follows up Half Genies Hero nicely. The game goes back to Shantae's Metroidvania roots and makes a TON of improvements.

Transformations are now instant instead of having to dance for them (don't worry dancing is still in the game) making the game feel more like Pirates Curse in its fast flow. They also added the Monster Cards which take heavy inspiration from Aria of Sorrow's Soul system. A feature I'm happy to see in any Metroidvania since Aria is one of my all time favourite games. Sadly though the game does not take the best advantage of these improvements.

Over all the game feels kinda empty. The dungeons aren't super exciting to explore nor are they challenging in any way. And the plot is very repetitive, with each dungeon repeating the same beats. Really this game feels more like set up for a better game down the line. The mechanics are all here and Wayforward has a solid art style with the sprites from Half Genie Hero. Hopefully they capitalizes on this for Shantae 6 and we get the best game in the series.

While it may not have been the most thrilling game, Seven Sirens really put me into a Shantae mood. So much so that I went back to play the 2 games in the series I had never touched. This being the first game and Risky's Revenge. Shantae 1 really is a hidden gem in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, it's the definition of jank, but there's a lot of heart to this game. The sprites are great, the soundtrack is good, and the characters are funny... but it's still on the OG Gameboy and that's a massive hindrance for any game. I'm hard pressed to recommend this with how poorly its aged but I think it's better then it looks.

Risky's Revenge on the other hand was a game that shocked me by how little it had to offer. I know this game went through a hellish development and what we got was far from what Wayforward planned to make, but it's hard to imagine a world where this was the technical BEST Shantae game. It's not a bad game by any stretch... just a boring one.

For the record my ranking of the games goes Pirates Curse>Half Genie Hero>Seven Sirens>Original>Risky’s Revenge

Sword and Shield are mediocre games at best. I know, real steaming hot take there. I managed to make my Sword playthrough a lot more fun by not spoiling myself on the new Pokemon designs for the first time since Gen 3. Either way, I enjoyed myself enough that I didn't mind playing more of it with these DLC campaigns. Plus I love the idea of Game Freak switching over to this method as apposed to making a third version, so I wanted to support it.

Klara is a fucking top tier Poke Girl both in design and personality and is probably the highlight of Isle of Armour. GF actually went out of their way to give her multiple expressions to sell her toxic bitch personality and I love every minute of it. She sadly drifts into the background for the second half of the DLC’s story which hurts an already rough section even more. Not more then having to grind Kubfuu all the way to fucking level 70 though! That put a serious hamper on my motivation to finish the story but I pushed through anyway. Having to solo the tower with Kubfuu was at least a fun challenge though, as was the final fight with Mustard. Fuck the Diglett hunt though. Ain’t no one got time for that.

Crown Tundra may be my fav of the 2 though even if there isn't a character as good as Klara in it. The hunt for the legendaries was just pure adventure and I had a fucking blast doing it. The joy I felt when I figured out Registeel’s puzzle put a smile on my face unlike any Pokemon game since I was a kid. The whole Regi stuff was honestly a nice Nostalgia trip to my times with Emerald. The story around Calyrex was enjoyable, even if I still hate its design. Not revealing the horses before release was a good call to as it gave an honest surprise. Having to chase down the Galar forme Birds in the overworld is a great way to evolve the roaming legendaries idea and I hope GF sticks to this. Plus the Galar forme birds are some of the best legendary designs since Gen 5 and I love Chocodos way to fucking much.

Here we are folks, my GotY. I love Panzer Paladin so fucking much. A combination of mechanics from Mega Man, Castlevania, and Blaster Master? Sign me the fuck up! This game is tailored made for me and I knew I had to play it once it started making the rounds on social media. I'll admit though, I was a bit worried when the the first full trailer dropped and showed the weapon mechanics. Breakable weapons that you have to sacrifice for checkpoints and power ups? I'm not sure about that.... Luckily I was being a complete moron and those mechanics are near perfect.

I love the set up of each boss being a mythological creature from different cultures. They didn’t just pull the easy ones either. A lot of these things I learned of for the first time here. I love how Grit controls. Using the upward stab as a double jump and being able to pogo off enemies Shovel Knight style just felt great and satisfying. Flame was limited but it made her sections feel tense. She does more damage then you think she could at first glance. Also the only way to heal Grit being to use pods that only Flame could access was a cool idea.

I am begging you Tribute Games, you have to make more Panzer Paladin games. Slap some new upgrades on Grit and expand what Flame can do and you have an even better sequel on your hands. Also maybe not have so many 'gotcha' moments with enemy placement. That's really my only complaint about the game. Great music, great sprites, giant robots, unique premise, and a reference to Canadian legends. The ultimate self indulgent game for me.

It felt super out of left field for Curse of the Moon to be getting a sequel. The games fucking amazing but it was really just a tie in for the main Bloodstained product. Not something I expect to get a continuation. Either way I was pumped. If this was even half as good as the original then I was in for a great time. Which held true... cuss this legitimately is only half as good as Curse of the Moon. I still like the game, quite a lot actually. I mean how could I not with a fucking Corgi piloting a Death Train Mech.

Something was just missing here that never made this click like the first game. Maybe it was the stage design, maybe the bosses, maybe the fact that it's a bit to long. I'm not sure. All I know is I couldn't bring myself to play all the modes like I did in the original. . Stopping part way in to the one where you can get the first games characters. I want to go back some day... I just don’t know when someday is.

This was an announcement I never saw coming. A Gundam Verses game coming to the west? That hasn't happened in the entire time I've been a Gundam fan. I had played a bit of Full Boost on my old roommates PS3 thanks to him having a Japanese account and I played Force on the Vita a few years ago. But to have the latest version fully translated with open servers? Holy hell that's a dream come true.

Having the open betas every weekend leading up to launch was some much needed fun during this shit hole year. I had a lot of fun just fucking around with different suits and seeing what I could do with 'em. Absolutely trashing two Bael players as the Kapool is a memory I'll keep with me for a long time. Fucking danced on their graves. This gave me some new appreciation for suits like the Baund Doc and Hambrabi, the later becoming a lowkey fav as it was my main.

I've fallen off with the game in the last few months but I definitely want to go back. I hope to start learning the game and take parts in tourneys when cons aren’t death sentences anymore.

It felt like everything in my life was SCREAMING at me to start the Yakuza series. From 2 of my friends playing 0 recently, a youtuber I following live tweeting as he played through the WHOLE series back-to-back, and Yakuza 2 having a run at AGDQ 2020. Plus the constant pleas to play this series you get from following Little Kuriboh on Twitter. I finally broke and picked up 0 in the middle of August. Boooooooooy howdy did I not know what I was getting in to. And no I don't mean the content. I knew Yakuza was a series of wildly conflicting tones between the main story and side quests. What I mean is the length. I legit thought this was gonna be a 20-30 hour game. When i reached hour 30 of my playthrough and realized I wasn't even close to a conclusion, I think I knew I had bitten off more then I was planning. That misstep aside I ended up loving this game and want to play the rest of the series.... I just need to rest up first before I dive into Kiwami 1.

Let's actually talk about the game for a moment here. Kiryu and Majima quickly clicked as likeable characters to me and I cared about their stories. Combat is fun and the multiple styles are all great.... though both the default styles take a while to get there. The mad rush I felt at the end was fantastic and the last bosses are a joy to fight. Only real complaint is the pacing of the side stories. I loved being able to just stumble into various different events while on route to the next plot objective. But this became less common as the game went on and side stories started getting more tucked away. Also hot take here, the host club mingame is more tedious then fun and I like Kiryu’s business stuff as I could do that in the background. I’m excited to dive into Kiwami and probably Kiwami 2 this year... Though I’m not sure when just yet.

Just gonna say it flat out, I think this is better the the 2018 game. The smaller scale helps in this style of game and Miles just naturally has a better move set then Peter. I'm not sure if they actually tightened up the combat system or if they just threw less bullshit enemies at you but fighting feels so much better in this one. Traversal is better too, simply because they changed the button for tricks. In the original you have to hold down 2 face buttons to enter trick mode??? In hindsight that was such a bad call.

Having both the heal and venom powers run off the same meter was a good idea. Making the choice between keeping yourself alive guaranteed or potentially ending a fight quicker/disposing of a problem enemy is super fun. The player having to make small choices like this during combat is what helps it not be brainless. I love all the different venom skills you get. While they all achieve the same thing in stunning opponents, how you achieve that goal is up to you. Do you want to just slug the bastard, throw 'em up in the air, tackle the shit out of them? The choice is yours.

Only real big complaint is certain upgrades being NG+ locked. I know you want to encourage replays, but this is a shitty way to do it I feel. Also can we retire Rhino for the next game. Man has had 2 shitty boss fights now and I need a break. Between this and Spider-Verse, I'm honestly starting to like Miles as Spider-Man more then Peter.

I got this game more on a whim then anything. I was definitely interested when it was first announced for the west. Vanillaware's beautiful art style in a story about giant robots beating the shit out of Kaijus? Sign me the fuck uuuuuu-oh wait it's an RTS? I had never played an RTS's before, mainly due to the sheer concept stressing me out. So I let it fall to the wayside. The game started coming up again though towards the end of the year with GotY on everyone's minds. This revived my interest, especially as what I HAD planned to be playing around that time was... well. Cyberpunk. Don't think I need to say much more. Also I had worried for nothing as the Real Time Strategy was not that Real Time.

This game really lays on the analysis paralysis once you're out of the tutorial. Do you want to fight, do you want to do story, who's story do you want to do, what branch should you follow, how much should you play with this one character? It's very overwhelming at first. I decided to not go ham on just one character and swap around all the time. The twists in this game are equal parts exciting and infuriating. Learning something new always came with the caveat of more questions, or something you knew 'for sure' being disproven. Like when I learned 1 characters was actually 4 separate ones! Anyone that's played knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Natsuno ended up being my fav and not just because of.... obvious reasons. BJ was cute if unfortunately named and her relationship with Mirua was my favourite in the game. Not that there was much competition except for maybe Ogata and Tomi. I ended up really liking the combat but I can see why RTS fans say it's the weakest part. It's far from complex and I had a winning strat by the third or so real fight. Aka spam turrets and have the Gen 1′s gank all the bosses.

One quick thing I want to share was how I beat the boss at the end of Area 2. The one where Inaba is singing. I had Hijiyama use the limit break skill to bum rush the boss right off the hop. I took out half its health in one hit but Hijiyama’s Sentinel was on death’s door. Only thing that saved him was sending in Amaguchi to blow up a bunch of missiles. Hijiyama took it out on his next attack but lost his Sentinel at the same time. It was a real clutch victory and crazy fucking anime.

The best way to really describe Carrion is that it's a fantastic proof of concept. Can you make a game where you play as The Thing? Why yes, yes you can. Carrion just needed a bit more tweaking to really bring this concept home and be the A+ game I know it can be. As it is now the game is a bit empty. The level design is super samey and the lack of a map is fucking brutal at points. I know it would make no sense for a blob monster to have a map but somethings you just have to gameify for convenience. The level design must have done something right as even though I was completely lost I still moved from area to area properly. Hell by the time I actually looked up a map I had 1 more item to get and I learned I was one door away from beating the game.

I love the idea of losing mass as you take damage and gaining more by eating people, but having abilities tied to size was a terrible idea. It just leads to tedium as I have to go and shed myself to the right size, do the puzzle, then of course I'm going to go back and rebuild myself to see if I can do the next segment at full power. Just make it so you can swap between abilities using the d-pad or something. I hope this game gets a sequel just so this sick ass concept can be fully realized.

#games #goty #Final Fantasy #pokemon #spiderman #yakuza #gundam #bloodstained #panzer paladin #shantae #persona #streets of rage #doom #mega man #dragon quest #13 sentinels: aegis rim #carrion

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diaryofabeautyfiend · 3 years

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⛔️ This Chapter is pretty violent. *Torture/Canon Typical Violence/ Big Battle

Small Time Witch (30)

Battle preparations were in full swing. Most of the realms armies were to be positioned on the battlefield as frontline forces. Skrýmir the giant from Utgard would lead his armies along with Aesir forces. You warned them of the dog like creatures that came in hoards. At times they were absolutely overwhelming. For that, Thor and Ororo would flank the battlefield to take out as many as possible. You were able to reach Carol Danvers who will be accompanied by the Skrull. On the back end, the Vanir and your coven would maintain a protection spell that would debilitate some of the more simple minded soldiers in Thanos’ army and to shield from air strikes. The Avengers would be on the field as promised to help with the Black Order. The plan was falling in to place. You had the numbers. The problem was radio silence from Thanos.

You exhausted all avenues in the universe to find out his plan. Even Mobius hadn’t heard so much as a rumble from him. No one had disappeared mysteriously from Vanaheim. Nothing really changed except for one thing. Loki’s memories of his time with you were restored. He was a hybrid version of your Loki. Mobius told you he wasn’t the leak. You wanted to believe him but now you were deeply doubtful. You decided to confront him but you had to be as gentle as possible.

You took dinner in your chambers that night. You were noticeably quiet. “Pet, something on your mind?”

“If I say no will you believe me?” He shot you a look that told you he did not in fact believe you. “I have to ask you something. You’re going to be angry with me. We’ll fight about it.”

“Now I’m nervous.”

You sighed heavily, “You should be. Loki, before I healed you, were you still informing to Thanos?”

He looked away from you ashamed, “Yes. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He cowered at your touch. Did he think you would hurt him? He was afraid of you.

“Loki, look at me. I’m not mad. Loki, look at me.” You could see he was shaking. You stood up from the table and knelt in front of him, “Can he still hear you?” He nodded yes. “Can he hear me?” He nodded no. “Good. I’m going to free you, my love. But first I need you to do something for me. Go get him. Bring him to me.” You kissed his hands and didn’t say anything else. You finished your meal in silence. He could feel how angry you were.

You didn’t believe that Thanos couldn’t hear you or see you when you were in Loki’s presence so you opted not to speak about your plans any longer. Before you went to sleep you rested on his chest and held him tight. He was asleep. You stroked the fine dusting of hair on his belly and said aloud, “I’m going to rip you apart for this.”

——————————————————————

The next morning you were minding your p’s and q’s around Loki. When you had a strategy meeting with the Avengers and X-men you didn’t tell him. When you met with the coven you didn’t say a word. You made Thor promise to watch his mouth and not argue because obviously the man was in pain. You were the general of this army today. Anything that needed to be said to Loki needed to cross your ears first.

Your Avengers meeting was interesting. You knew so much about them and it made you giggle to yourself. Steve was not as soft as when you met him. He mostly looked lost. You wanted to just hug him tight but you knew that would be wildly inappropriate. You decided, to hasten your actual mission, to split up the team. You had a feeling Thanos would split the Black Order to do as much damage as possible. Steve and Nat would join the Warriors, Lady Sif and Heimdall on the Bifrost. Odin would command the rest of his troops from Asgard.

That evening everyone gathered for a feast. One of many feasts before battle. You found your way over to the Avengers table to hang with Thor.

“Princess, have a seat.” Steve pulled out a chair for you and you laughed out loud. You couldn’t tell him why.

“Why thank you, kind sir. I’m sure you’re accommodations are much nicer than an army encampment.”

He laughed, “Oh by far. So you’re from Earth? How did you get involved with and marry a Prince from Asgard?”

“Oh, honey. It is a long story. Another time maybe.”

“Of course. You wear the title well, Princess.”

“Thank you, Captain.” You winked at him and freshened his drink. “Enjoy your evening.”

You made your rounds saying good night. Promising to make good on invitations to visit realms. You finally made it over to the table with Odin, Frigga, your mother and aunts. “I’m going to get Loki prepared.” Frigga looked worried.

“Oh please don’t make that face, Allmother. I feel guilty enough as it is.”

“I just want him to come home safely.” she wiped tears from her cheeks.

“It’s what we all want.” You kissed them all goodnight and asked your mother to sit with Frigga for a while. Odin asked to walk you to your chambers.

“I’m sure I’m quite capable of walking myself, sire.”

“Give an old man the pleasure of seeing his daughter off to bed. Y/N, I’m curious. Has anyone asked why Thanos is trying to destroy the universe?”

You snorted (such a princess), “Does it matter?”

“It’s always good to know what drives an opponent. For instance, love can make people do irrational things. Your meticulous plans are laid before you and something can make any seasoned general snap and the whole thing goes up in flames.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Thanos is known as the Mad Titan not the Kind Titan. I’ll be shocked if Loki comes back alive. Whatever you see, what ever he does to Loki, you mustn’t waiver. You must stay composed and trust your plan. Do you understand? There will be time enough to mourn our losses.”

“I hope I have half the nerve that you do in the face of such evil.”

“I have to tell myself the same speech. He’s my son. I would move mountains to protect him. We have to hold steady. Sleep well.” He kissed you on the cheek and went to rejoin the party.

When you entered your chambers Loki was sitting in front of the fire. “Did you have a nice time?”

“I did. I missed you.”

“And I you. I’m ready to go.”

“Lok, why is he doing this? Why does he want to destroy so many lives?”

He smiled to himself, “For love. His mother and father were Eternals. They were terribly beautiful. When Thanos was born, he was not beautiful like his parents so his mother tried to kill him. She failed but ultimately treated him as though he were a ghost. He tortured her until she perished. He just wanted to be loved and accepted. Sound familiar? And then he fell in love with actual Death. Not Hela. This being is death and one of the creators of the stones. She has rebuked him. Denied his advances. So, this is his love letter to her.”

The parallels were obvious. The two of them understand each other on a very deep level. “But you see, darling, Thanos is jealous of me because I have my goddess. He will see our union destroyed.”

“Not a chance.” You pressed your forehead to his and slipped your bracelet on his wrist. With the tiny golden screwdriver you closed it tight. “For luck.”

He kissed you deeply and deeper than any kiss you’ve ever shared. “I love you.” Before you had a chance to say it back he slipped through the portal you opened.

——————————————————————

Thanos sat on his throne watching his daughters argue when Loki returned.

“Ah Loki. I thought you scurried away to the far reaches of the galaxy like the rat you are. What have you brought me?”

“She is alone on Vanaheim. Waiting for you.”

He laughed and looked at Nebula, “Tell me , daughter, do I look stupid?”

“No, father.”

“Do we believe the god of lies?”

“No, father.”

“Should we kill him?”

“No, father. We should torture him and drop him at his wife’s feet.”

Thanos laughed again as he rose from his throne. He grabbed Loki by the neck and brought him close, “You are lucky my daughter is merciful. Gamora!”

“Yes, father!” Gamora rushed to his side.

“Take the god to the dungeons. You and Nebula play nice.”

She cuffed him and stabbed in the side then dragged him behind her. “Please listen to me. He’s going to wipe out half the universe.” Loki croaked and groaned.

“Shut up! You lie!”

“No, I don’t. I can prove it.”

She dropped him on the ground at her feet, “Can you?”

“Sister, don’t listen to him. He is the god of lies.” Nebula grabbed his bonds to continue to the dungeon.

Gamora knelt down in front of him, “Prove it.”

Loki touched her forehead and shared with her the vision of the reality you escaped. He destroyed everything just like her own planet. She could not let that happen again. She also couldn’t betray her father. “It doesn’t matter. No one will ever beat him.” She grabbed him by the hair and took him to the dungeon where Corvus Glaive was waiting.

Gamora hung him to the wall using his bonds. Corvus pulled out his knife and dragged it up Loki’s chest. He used the blade to cut the straps of his armor. He stuck him between his ribs. Loki’s lung collapsed. He was unable to take deep breaths with his hands above his head. He would pass out soon.

#loki of jotunheim #loki tv #loki of asgard #loki x you #loki smut #loki fanfic #loki odinson #loki x reader angst #marvel witches #marvel #mcu witches #small time witch #witch

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applekitty · 3 years

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psmd rewritten expedition society character things

ampharos:

used to have a kid who liked to explore mystery dungeons. key word being used to

his kid isnt DEAD you guys its a pokemon game. that mf’er is lost and he cant find them

this is derived from when in chapter 12 or so partner and hero are being talked about by mawile and ampharos, and mawile says to keep a close eye on them and ampharos says something to the likes of ‘dont worry i wont let it happen again’ or whatever

was actually VERY resistant to hero and partner joining the society, unlike in the game. only when hero and partner save him from the poliwrath brothers does he reconsider this.

his clumsiness and ease of getting lost basically translates to him taking forever on dungeons. he’s a character who just does ‘whatever he wants’ in terms of ai on floors. the rest of the society tries not to resent him for wandering off so often, but it sometimes leads to tension in particularly challenging dungeons.

mawile:

has lived / second or first hand experienced all previous pmd games. she knows exactly what happened from rescue team to gti and she does not want to see it happen again. because of her trauma, she’s a bit more shut off and calculated about things. she usually uses tough love to communicate that she really, REALLY cares about people and doesnt want them to get hurt.

can you tell my mental illness is showing

mawile is an ex-dungeon mon. she was born and raised in a dungeon and was recruited into a rescue team and lived in a friend area up until the rescue team disbanded and she decided she want to go her own.

her love for archeology is inspired a lot by the fact that she just generally wants to know more about the world around her. she thinks the better she can understand natural disasters of the past, the better she can help handle the ones in the future or the present.

buizel:

ex-pirate turned guild member. quagsire (from gti) fixed him up REAL good after he was done with him. he still retains a cartoonish accent, and also likes to talk about the ‘good ol days’ out on the sea with his pals.

buizel doesn’t actually like the kids. like at ALL. he thinks they’re a chore and he’s CONSTANTLY on their case for even like, EXISTING in the society. the few times he’s not complaining about these kids is when he’s flat out ignoring them

this is resolved when they beat up entei for him. only somewhat though, then his respect is gotten but he’s still a bit rough and grumpy around the edges

bunnelby:

the most boring of the group. grew up in a underground society (like, actually underground not unknown) at a normal house with normal parents. he decided to be a geologist because like, what else are you gonna be, y’know?

probably the least chaotic and well adjusted person in the entire society, but that’s mostly because he was really sheltered. his mental health is okay.. for now

swirlix:

the same bc swirlix is just like that lol

dedenne:

MAD SCIENTIST AESTHETIC!!! WHERES THE TESLA COILS!???

has been working off the grid for most of her life, but now that she’s with the society her research on cross-world communication has EXPLODED. she is the creator of the pokemon nexus, the communication orb, and a lot of the gadgets! if something needs fixing, you either come to her or you go and find jirachi

she and jirachi get into a LOT of fights over who’s smarter of the two of them. she asserts that her engineering is pushing the boundary of modern technology, while he says that he could run circles around her in his sleep.

it’s a healthy rivalry, and it keeps the both of them preoccupied and constantly trying to one-up eachother. which means lots of progress on new inventions

jirachi:

jirachi, after being wished on by bidoof, had the idea of coming out more into public. he was moved by bidoof’s heart, and after sleeping on it, decided to move in with the society so he could do more than just grant wishes and sleep.

he has a strong connection with stars, and ever since he moved in with the society, he’s been more well in contact with legendary and mythical pokemon than ever before. he doesnt like to talk about his relationship with other legendaries very much, mostly because he’s an introvert. he just doesn’t have a lot to say

he cannot use wishes on himself. no matter how much he tries. someone else has to wish on him, and even then, it’s monkey’s paw.

his genius seems to be ‘natural’. he thinks this is because he is a mythical pokemon and has lived for dozens of years. though, he can’t remember most of his life because he was asleep for a lot of it.

#shitpost #psmd

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thesteadydietofeverything · 4 years

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Top 10 Games of 2019

This was an extremely good year for games. I don’t know if I played as many that will stick with me as I did last year, but the ones on the bottom half of this list in particular constitute some of my favorite games of the decade, and probably all-time. If I’ve got a gaming-related resolution for next year, it’s to put my playtime into supporting even smaller indie devs. My absolute favorite experiences in games this year came from seemingly out of nowhere games from teams I’ve previously never heard of before. That said, there are some big games coming up in spring I doubt I’ll be able to keep myself away from. Some quick notes/shoutouts before I get started:

-The game I put maybe the most time into this year was Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. I finally made the plunge into neverending FF MMO content, and I’m as happy as I am overwhelmed. This was a big year for the game, between the release of the Shadowbringers expansion and the Nier: Automata raid, and it very well may have made it onto my list if I had managed to actually get to any of it. At the time of this writing, though, I’ve only just finished 2015’s Heavensward, so I’ve got...a long way to go.

-One quick shoutout to the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy that came out on Switch this year, a remaster of some DS classics I never played. An absolutely delightful visual novel series that I fell in love with throughout this year.

-I originally included a couple games currently in early access that I’ve enjoyed immensely. I removed them not because of arbitrary rules about what technically “came out” this year, but just to make room for some other games I liked, out of the assumption that I’ll still love these games in their 1.0 formats when they’re released next year to include them on my 2020 list. So shoutout to Hades, probably the best rogue-like/lite/whatever I’ve ever played, and Spin Rhythm XD, which reignited my love for rhythm games.

-Disco Elysium isn’t on this list, because I’ve played about an hour of it and haven’t yet been hooked by it. But I’ve heard enough about it to be convinced that it is 1000% a game for me and something I need to get to immediately. They shouted out Marx and Engels at the Game Awards! They look so cool! I want to be their friend! And hopefully, a few weeks from now, I’ll desperately want to redact this list to squeeze this game somewhere in here.

Alright, he’s the actual list:

10. Amid Evil

The 90’s FPS renaissance continues! As opposed to last year’s Dusk, a game I adored, this one takes its cues less from Quake and more from Heretic/Hexen, placing a greater emphasis on melee combat and magic-fuelled projectiles than more traditional weapons. Also, rather than that game’s intentionally ugly aesthetic, this one opts for graphics that at times feel lush, detailed, and pretty, while still probably mostly fitting the description of lo-fi. In fact, they just added RTX to the game, something I’m extremely curious to check out. This game continued to fuel my excitement about the possibilities of embracing out-of-style gameplay mechanics to discover new and fresh possibilities from a genre I’ve never been able to stop yearning for more of.

9. Ape Out

If this were a “coolest games” list, Ape Out would win it, easily. It’s a simple game whose mechanics don’t particularly evolve throughout the course of its handful of hours, but it leaves a hell of an impression with its minimalist cut-out graphics, stylish title cards, and percussive soundtrack. Smashing guards into each other and walls and causing them to shoot each other in a mad-dash for the exit is a fun as hell take on Hotline Miami-esque top down hyper violence, even if it’s a thin enough concept that it starts to feel a bit old before the end of the game.

8. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I had a lot of problems with this game, probably most stemming from just how damn long it is - I still haven’t finished my first, and likely only, playthrough. This length seems to have motivated the developers to make battles more simple and easy, and to be fair, I would get frustrated if I were getting stuck on individual battles if I couldn’t stop thinking about how much longer I have to go, but as it is, I’ve just found them to be mostly boring. This is particularly problematic for a game that seems to require you to play through it at least...three times to really get the full picture? I couldn’t help but admire everything this game got right, though, and that mostly comes down to building a massive cast of extremely well realized and likable characters whose complex relationships with each other and with the structures they pledge loyalty to fuels harrowing drama once the plot really sets into motion. There’s a reason no other game inspired such a deluge of memes and fan fiction and art into my Twitter feed this year. It’s an impressive feat to convince every player they’ve unquestionably picked the right house and defend their problem children till the bitter end. After the success of this game, I’d love to see what this team can do next with a narrower focus and a bigger budget.

7. Resident Evil 2

It’s been a long time since I played the original Resident Evil 2, but I still consider it to be one of my favorite games of all time. I was highly skeptical of this remake at first, holding my stubborn ground that changing the fixed camera to a RE4-style behind the back perspective would turn this game more into an action game and less of a survival horror game where feeling a lack of control is part of the experience. I was pleasantly surprised to find how much they were able to modernize this game while maintaining its original feel and atmosphere. The fumbly, drifting aim-down sights effectively sell the feeling of being a rookie scared out of your wits. Being chased by Mr. X is wildly anxiety-inducing. But even more surprisingly, perhaps the greatest upgrade this game received was its map, which does you the generous service of actually marking down automatically where puzzles and items are, which rooms you’ve yet to enter, which ones you’ve searched entirely, and which ones still have more to discover. Arguably, this disrupts the feeling of being lost in a labyrinthine space that the original inspired, but in practice, it’s a remarkably satisfying and addicting video game system to engage with.

6. Judgment

No big surprise here - Ryu ga Gotoku put out another Yakuza-style game set in Kamurocho, and once again, it’s sitting somewhere on my top 10. This time, they finally put Kazuma Kiryu’s story to bed and focused on a new protagonist, down on his luck lawyer-turned-detective Takayuki Yagami. The new direction doesn’t always pay off - the added mechanics of following and chasing suspects gets a bit tedious. The game makes up for it, though, by absolutely nailing a fun, engrossing J-Drama of a plot entirely divorced from the Yakuza lore. The narrative takes several head-spinning turns through its several dozen hours, and they all feel earned, with a fresh sense of focus. The side stories in this one do even more to make you feel connected to the community of Kamurocho by befriending people from across the neighborhood. I’d love to see this team take even bigger swings in the future - and from what I’ve seen from Yakuza 7, that seems exactly like what they’re doing - but even if this game shares maybe a bit too much DNA with its predecessors, it’s hard to complain when the writing and acting are this enjoyable.

5. Control

Control feels like the kind of game that almost never gets made anymore. It’s a AAA game that isn’t connected to any larger franchises and doesn’t demand your attention for longer than a dozen hours. It doesn’t shoehorn needless RPG or MMO mechanics into its third-person action game formula to hold your attention. It introduces a wildly clever idea, tells a concise story with it, and then its over. And there’s something so refreshing about all of that. The setting of The Oldest House has a lot to do with it. I think it stands toe-to-toe with Rapture or Black Mesa as an instantly iconic game world. Its aesthetic blend of paranormal horror and banal government bureaucracy gripped my inner X-Files fan instantly, and kept him satisfied not only with its central characters and mystery but with a generous bounty of redacted documents full of worldbuilding both spine-tingling and hilarious. More will undoubtedly come from this game, in the form of DLC and possibly even more, with the way it ties itself into other Remedy universes, and as much as I expect I will love it, the refreshing experience this base game offered me likely can’t be beat.

4. Anodyne 2

I awaited Sean Han Tani and Marina Kittaka’s new game more anxiously than almost any game that came out this year, despite never having played the first one, exclusively on my love for last year’s singular All Our Asias and the promise that this game would greatly expand on that one’s Saturn/PS1-esque early 3D graphics and personal, heartfelt storytelling. Not only was I not disappointed, I was regularly pleasantly surprised by the depth of narrative and themes the game navigates. This game takes the ‘legendary hero’ tropes of a Zelda game and flips them to tell a story about the importance of community and taking care of loved ones over duty to governments or organizations. The dungeons that similarly reflect a Link to the Past-era Zelda game reduce the maps to bite-sized, funny, clever designs that ask you to internalize unique mechanics that result in affecting conclusions. Plus, it’s gorgeously idiosyncratic in its blend of 3D and 2D environments and its pretty but off-kilter score. It’s hard to believe something this full and well realized came from two people.

3. Eliza

Eliza is a work of dystopian fiction so closely resembling the state of the world in 2019 it’s hard to even want to call it sci-fi. As a proxy for the Eliza app, you speak the words of an AI therapist that offers meager, generic suggestions as a catch-all for desperate people facing any number of the nightmares of our time. The first session you get is a man reckoning with the state the world is in - we’ve only got a few more years left to save ourselves from impending climate crisis, destructive development is rendering cities unlivable for anyone but the super-rich, and the people who hold all the power are just making it all worse. The only thing you offer to him is to use a meditation app and take some medication. It doesn’t take long for you to realize that this whole structure is much less about helping struggling people and more about mining personal data.

There’s much more to this story than the grim state of mental health under late capitalism, though. It’s revealed that Evelyn, the character you play as, has a much closer history with Eliza than initially evident. Throughout the game, she’ll reacquaint herself with old coworkers, including her two former bosses who have recently split and run different companies over their differing frightening visions for the future. The game offers a biting critique of the kind of tech company optimism that brings rich, eccentric men to believe they can solve the world’s problems within the hyper-capitalist structure they’ve thrived under, and how quickly this mindset gives way to techno-fascism. There’s also Evelyn’s former team member, Nora, who has quit the tech world in favor of being a DJ “activist,” and her current lead Rae, a compassionate person who genuinely believes in the power of Eliza to better people’s lives. The writing does an excellent job of justifying everyone’s points of view and highlighting the limits of their ideology without simplifying their sense of morality.

Why this game works so well isn’t just its willingness to stare in the face of uncomfortably relevant subject matter, but its ultimately empathetic message. It offers no simple solutions to the world’s problems, but also avoids falling into utter despair. Instead, it places measured but inspiring faith in the power of making small, meaningful impacts on the people around you, and simply trying to put some good into your world. It’s a game both terrifying and comforting in its frank conclusions.

2. Death Stranding

For a game as willfully dumb as this one often is - that, for example, insists on giving all of its characters with self-explanatory names long monologues about how they got that name - Death Stranding was one of the most thought provoking games I’ve played in a while. Outside of its indulgent, awkwardly paced narrative, the game offers plenty of reflection on the impact the internet has had on our lives. As Sam Porter Bridges, you’re hiking across a post-apocalyptic America, reconnecting isolated cities by delivering supplies, building infrastructure, and, probably most importantly, connecting them to the Chiral Network, an internet of sorts constructed of supernatural material of nebulous origin. Through this structure, the game offers surprisingly insightful commentary about the necessity for communication, cooperation, and genuine love and care within a community.

The lonely world you’re tasked to explore, and the way you’re given blips of encouragement within the solitude through the structures and “likes” you give and receive through the game’s asynchronous multiplayer system, offers some striking parallels for those of us particularly “online” people who feel simultaneous desperation for human contact and aversion to social pressures. I’ve heard the themes of this game described as “incoherent” due to the way it seems to view the internet both as a powerful tool to connect people and a means by which people become isolated and alienated, but are both of these statements not completely true to reality? The game simplifies some of its conclusions - Kojima seems particularly ignorant of America’s deep structural inequities and abuses that lead to a culture of isolation and alienation. And yet, the questions it asks are provocative enough that they compelled me to keep thinking about them far longer than the answers it offers.

Beyond the surprisingly rich thematic content, this game is mostly just a joy to play. Death Stranding builds kinetic drama out of the typically rote parts of games. Moving from point A to point B has become an increasingly tedious chore in the majority of AAA open world games, but this is a game built almost entirely out of moving from point A to point B, and it makes it thrilling. The simple act of walking down a hill while trying to balance a heavy load on your back and avoiding rocks and other obstacles fulfills the promise of the term ‘walking simulator’ in a far more interesting way than most games given that descriptor. The game consistently doles out new ways to navigate terrain, which peaked for me about two thirds of the way through the game when, after spending hours setting up a network of zip lines, a delivery offered me the opportunity to utilize the entire thing in a wildly satisfying journey from one end of the map to another. It was the gaming moment of the year.

1. Outer Wilds

The first time the sun exploded in my Outer Wilds playthrough, I was probably about to die anyway. I had fallen through a black hole, and had yet to figure out how to recover from that, so I was drifting listlessly through space with diminishing oxygen as the synths started to pick up and I watched the sun fall in on itself and then expand throughout the solar system as my vision went went. The moment gave me chills, not because I wasn’t already doomed anyway, but because I couldn’t help but think about my neighbors that I had left behind to explore space. I hadn’t known that mere minutes after I left the atmosphere the solar system would be obliterated, but I was at least able to watch as it happened. They probably had no idea what happened. Suddenly their lives and their planet and everything they had known were just...gone. And then I woke up, with the campfire burning in front of me, and everyone looking just as I had left it. And I became obsessed with figuring out how to stop that from happening again.

What surprised me is that every time the sun exploded, it never failed to produce those chills I felt the first time. This game is masterful in its art, sound, and music design that manages to produce feelings so intense from an aesthetic so quaint. Tracking down fellow explorers by following the sound of their harmonica or acoustic guitar. Exploring space in a rickety vessel held together by wood and tape. Translating logs of conversations of an ancient alien race and finding the subject matter of discussion to be about small interpersonal drama as often as it is revelatory secrets of the universe. All of the potentially twee aspects of the game are balanced out by an innate sense of danger and terror that comes from exploring space and strange worlds alone. At times, the game dips into pure horror, making other aspects of the presentation all the more charming by comparison. And then there’s the clockwork machinations of the 22-minute loop you explore within, rewarding exploration and experimentation with reveals that make you feel like a genius for figuring out the puzzle at the same time that you’re stunned by the divulgence of a new piece of information.

The last few hours of the game contained a couple puzzles so obfuscated that I had to consult a guide, which admittedly lessened the impact of those reveals, but it all led to one of the most equally devastating and satisfying endings I’ve experienced in a video game recently. I really can’t say enough good things about this game. It’s not only my favorite game this year, but easily one of my favorite games of the decade, and really, of all-time, when it comes down to it.

#outer wilds #death stranding #eliza #anodyne 2 #control #judgment #resident evil 2 #fire emblem: three houses #Ape Out #Amid Evil #games #video games #GOTY

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tessatechaitea · 3 years

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Justice League International #9 (1988)

I guess that means Black Canary will have to defeat the Manhunters.

I read The Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was twelve and I'll admit that I thought Éowyn killing the Witch-king was a pretty good twist on the prophecy that he would not be killed by the hand of man. Later, as I got old enough to despise everything in the world because my sense of wonder had been worn down to a nub like a well-used eraser, I realized twelve year old me was a credulous little rat bastard who wouldn't know a good twist if it jumped up out of the lake as a drowned zombie boy and pulled him under just when he thought the film was over and he was safe. Wait a second. I don't want to discuss Éowyn anymore! Maybe I'll get back to it but I've just realized something more important. If Jason had drowned and remained a little boy from 1957 to 1979, how does he become a grown ass adult in the subsequent movies?! I suppose serious Friday the 13th fans believe Alice simply imagined being pulled into the lake, since the police found no trace of a small boy. And the actual Jason didn't drown at all but received such severe brain damage that he decided to live in the woods like Grizzly Adams. Maybe he didn't even remember his mother until she showed up to murder all those counselors and he learned who he was by observing the first movie from the woods. Then we was all, "Man! That woman killed Ma! I'll show her you can't behead my Ma and not get beheaded yourself!" Hmm, that was too easy to solve once I spent any time at all thinking about it. I wonder how many hours I could lose looking up what actual fans of the franchise think? I'll never know though because I dislike fans and fan theories almost as much as I dislike my twelve year old self for being so amazed by the Éowyn twist! Maybe the Éowyn twist is just as good as I thought it was 37 years ago. It's not like I've ever gone back to re-read The Lord of the Rings. I've only read a handful of books more than once in my life and have never re-read a book immediately after reading it until now with Gravity's Rainbow. You can blame Thomas Pynchon on my lack of reading comic books lately because his book was so fucking good and had so much going on that I had to read it again immediately. This issue takes place during the big DC Millennium event so it might be a bit confusing for me. I'll be damned if I'm going to dig through one of the forty comic book boxes lying around just to find Millennium to read before this.

No thanks! I think I'll just muddle through!

Remember when DC had huge events that crossed over into every single comic they put out but were totally boring and inconsequential and didn't have "METAL!" in the title? I'm so glad those days are over and Scott Snyder has made crossover events super fucking hardcore and radical again! *five minutes of mouth guitar noises*

Oh! Is this some of that Éowyn-like prophetic foreshadowing?!

Rocket Red #7 has to be the most lame attempt at having a team member betray the team, especially since he's immediately replaced by Rocket Red #4. "Whoa! What a twist!" I probably thought back at my still tender and rat-bastardly age of sixteen. Rocket Red #7 comes right out and tells everybody that he's a Manhunter. I guess part of the Manhunter philosophy is to first try and recruit man. If unsuccessful, only then do you hunt man. Batman explains to Manhunter Rocket Red #7 how to painfully shove offers like that up excretory orifices. After Black Canary gets on his ass several times for not including her in his exclamations of "gentlemen," Manhunter Rocket Red #7 learns to say, "No man—or woman—can escape the Manhunters!" So I guess no Éowyn twist this time. Hell, I'll probably never learn the twist for how the Manhunters can be defeated because that's the kind of plot point that's going to take place in the actual Millennium issues. And I probably won't re-read those for another few years!

"Suck on this, manhunter!" was my most commonly used phrase in college.

Black Canary is so concerned about gender equality maybe she should be scolding Batman for not hiring any other women. Rocket Red #7 beats the shit out of everybody inside the ship (not Beetle's Bug for some reason probably explained in Millennium #1) and then flies out to stand on top of it and not say he's king of the world because Titanic wasn't the huge breakout romantic hit it would be a decade later. What a great movie! It had everything! Boobs, guns, people dying. Like an Agatha Christie novel but with boobs! Once Rocket Red #7 is outside of the ship, the members of the Justice League with actual, non-screaming-related super-powers take notice of him. That's because they're flying to show off to the others their super powers. The characters I'm talking about are Guy Gardner and Martian Manhunter. Booster Gold is also flying outside the ship but he's just a small town thief with a Legion flight ring and a force field. He doesn't even have a manly bulge in this super tight suit! One thing I learned that maybe I knew once but probably not for long because I don't think it was ever front loaded as part of his characterization is that Rocket Red (like all Rocket Reds) is a techno-empath. That means his suit allows him to control technology by crying or getting angry. If you know for a fact that it means something else, just keep it to yourself, okay? This isn't fucking Wikipedia. It's a stupid joke review blog that, most of the time, forgets to even review the comic book. Nobody knows how to stop Rocket Red #7 from crashing the ship into a Bialian oil refinery because if they try to stop him, he'll blow up the ship and kill everybody inside. Which, you know, will happen anyway if it crashes into the oil refinery. So I don't know why nobody tries to stop him anyway. They just fly ahead to save civilians. Luckily Rocket Reds #1-...I don't know, 53 (minus #7) save the day! I guess they use their Techno-Empathy to shut down Rocket Red #7's eyeballs.

Oh yeah, Rocket Red #7 dies here. I mean, not here, exactly, because nobody stops the Manhunters. He dies a little later after the jump scare out of the pile of debris scene.

Max Lord consults his mysterious robotic sounding friend about the Manhunter threat but the dumb thing doesn't know any more than he does. Lord mentions that the Manhunters have gotten close to all of their potential recruits while looking at a monitor with those recruits. One of them is Halo and Geoforce from The Outsiders! Oh why oh why couldn't Halo have become a member?! Halo was my pre-Sailor Moon role model. I think I've just always wanted to be a hot young woman. Oh yeah. Didn't Doctor Jace turn out to be a Manhunter? The story ends with Maxwell Lord's personal assistant shooting him because she was also a Manhunter. How all these people were Manhunters, I'll never know! I suppose it's like when you've been playing a Dungeons & Dragons campaign for four months and suddenly one of the NPCs turns out to be a polymorphed dragon and you're all, "Holy shit! What a twist! This DM is devious!" But in reality, the DM only thought up the twist thirty minutes before that night's campaign. It's pretty much exactly like that. Every writer at DC must have gotten a memo from editorial that read: "One of your characters needs to be a Manhunter. It doesn't matter which one but it would be a lot more exciting if they were an important part of the team!" And Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatties read their memo, shrugged, and concluded they were only willing to rid themselves of Max Lord's secretary and the stupid, replaceable Rocket Red. A second short story finishes up this issue. It's about Jack-o-lantern of the now defunct Global Guardians being wooed by Bialian Rumaan Harjavti. He wants a super group of terrorists to threaten the Western world with. I guess they'll become Bialya's version of Qurac's Jihad. If it ever comes together, of course. Jack-o-Lantern would just be using Rumaan's money and support to get a new global team together. Probably. Justice League International #9 Rating: B. Did you know China has a university called the China University of Mining and Technology? That acronym is so close to being disgusting! Some translator should point it out so they can come up with a synonym for "mining" that begins with an "n" so they can sell a ton of school merch to the West.

#Justice League #Justice League International #J.M. DeMatteis #Keith Giffen #Kevin Maguire

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sablelab · 4 years

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Covert Operations - Chapter 100

DISCLAIMER: This is a modern AU crossover story with Outlander and La Femme Nikita. LFN and its characters do not belong to me nor do those from Outlander.

SYNOPSIS: Unbeknownst to the triad, Jamie's team converge on the monastery. Meanwhile Karen Yee, Wang Yu and Jonathon Randall escape by helicopter while Jamie and Claire are left to die.

WOO! HOO! CHAPTER 100. 🤗 🤗 🤗 THANK YOU everyone so very much for your continued support of my story over these past 18 months. I can’t begin to tell you how much I really appreciate all of you who have been along for the ride of Jamie and Claire for all of their trials and tribulations of life in Section One.

All previous chapters can be found at … https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

CHAPTER 100

Lost in his thoughts Jonathon Randall returned to the parlour where Karen Yee and Wang Yu were waiting for him glad that they had seen the last of James Fraser and Claire Beauchamp.

These two Section One operatives had been a thorn in their side for months and their demise would see the end of any more interference in triad business. Having caused great havoc and mayhem to the triad hierarchy, it would now be a time to regroup and take stock. Section One would be on the backfoot as well knowing that the Rising Dragons had eliminated their two operatives and henceforth would think twice about their modus operandi in the future. The triad was resolute and their mantra was ingrained in their ethos. They were prepared for any contingency that others, including Section One or other triad groups who would try and usurp the power of the Rising Dragons could attempt. Those who dared to test their might would suffer the consequences as these two protagonists had with their lives. There was nothing more that the triad wanted from them. Their death was inevitable; it was now only a matter of time.

The rule of the Triad is absolute To the vanquished death it will bring It triumphs over adversaries Then its greatness loudly will sing The Rising Dragon!

Jonathon smirked as his thoughts correlated with the Rising Dragons’ mantra and he was most pleased with how things had turned out for the triad. Sun Yee Lok would be so impressed with his abilities and he would certainly be rewarded for his interrogation methods and for the final demise of James Fraser and Claire Beauchamp. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

All eyes glanced towards him as he entered the room. "Is everything organised Jonathon?" Karen asked. Anticipation of the outcome underlined her question. Had the deed been done and were they free to leave the monastery to report back to Sun Yee Lok of their triumph in dealing with the insurgents? "Yes ... they will be dead within the hour," he gleefully replied. "Excellent! And we got the information we wanted?" Randall was giddy with the result and he couldn’t contain his elation. "Oh yes ... it took a while but Fraser capitulated." Karen raised an eyebrow at his words. "That's surprising ..." "Not really." "... I would have thought that Claire would have given in first." "She may have ... but I didn't give her the choice. Besides ... it gave me great satisfaction to have Fraser tortured." "Yes, I can see why that would please you." Karen replied knowingly. A boastful Jonathon Randall elaborated further to those gathered. "I wanted to see how far I could go without actually killing him ... if he hadn't capitulated then I was going to torture Claire again in front of him." "That would have been interesting ... nonetheless the conclusion would have been the same. Sun Yee Lok will be very pleased," Wang Yu stated looking at Karen. "Let's hope we have put an end to it once and for all and things can get back to normal ... there's been entirely too much externalising of emotion around here lately," she replied. The others nodded in agreement, yet despite the problem of Claire Beauchamp and James Fraser being solved, Karen still had one other urgent problem to resolve. Her thoughts turned to a more personal pressing matter. She turned to Jonathon Randall.

"Well? ... Do you have it?" A slight, satisfied smile crossed his lips as he placed his hand in his pocket and withdrew a small vial of liquid holding it up in triumph for Karen to see. She sighed; relieved that at last she had the extracting agent that could reverse the isotope that Jamie had placed on her hands. Karen held Jonathon's gaze then without looking at the vial she reached out her hands trying not to show how worried she really was.

"I hope this stuff works," she whispered under her breath. She was not sure if James Fraser had been entirely truthful and she feared the outcome should this have been the scenario. Loosening the top, Karen tipped some of the liquid into her palms coating her exposed skin with the agent. She immediately rubbed them vigorously together until all the liquid was absorbed into her skin.

Jonathon sensed her hesitancy and tried to reassure her. "Don't worry ... it will work." Coating her hands with the reactive agent once again, Karen examined her palms and fingers. Time stood still and every second felt like an eternity as she waited to see if the solution had worked. After a short while she began to feel her skin start to soften and return back to its normal colouring. Relief washed over her at the outcome and she slowly released the breath she’d been holding in check. "Is there any damage?" Raising her head, she briefly looked up at Jonathon then back down at her hands pleased that the liquid had indeed worked. "Nothing permanent ... it's been effective." "That's good." Regaining her composure Karen was back to business once more. "Shall we go then ... the helicopter is ready and waiting and we have a meeting scheduled with my father. He will want to know what has gone on." Jonathon laughed, "Oh we can certainly give him the answer to that!" "Yes ... all in all it has been a most successful outcome. I'm sure he will be delighted. Let's go." As they prepared to leave the room, Jonathon Randall turned to his bodyguard and issued his orders. "Robert ... take care of things." "Certainly sir." "You know what to do. We want no trace of them whatsoever." "I understand. I'll clean up and dispose of the bodies." "Good." Satisfied that everything would be taken care of, Karen and the two men all exited the room for their departure back to Hong Kong and their meeting with the leader of the Rising Dragons. It was a meeting that was long overdue, but one at which there would be much to celebrate. They had eliminated their enemy and solved the mystery of Tony Wong and Madame Cheung's deaths. The Rising Dragons' mantra had been fulfilled. The triad had sought its retribution at long last. "An invincible, powerful brotherhood The Triad rules supreme Don't ever try to obliterate For retribution will be extreme The Rising Dragon!" ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Jamie and Claire were taken to another room deep in the monastery that was spartan except for two chairs. As the guards ushered them inside, Claire stumbled on the threshold of the doorway but the guard in front of her kept her from falling. Grabbing hold of their captives, the other guards tightened their grip painfully on the two Section operatives' arms, then pushed them towards the chairs indicating that they sit down. "I guess that this is the somewhere more comfortable," Claire flippantly stated to the guard as they were unceremoniously thrust into the chairs. Ignoring her retort, the guards bound both of their wrists to the arm of the chair, then left them alone closing the door behind them as they left with a decisive but ominous click. Except for the beating of their hearts, eerie silence surrounded them. They sat side by side in what appeared to be some sort of execution chamber. Claire looked around the room evaluating their surroundings and searching for anything that might indicate what the triad had in mind for them here in this dungeon like room. Seeing that there was little hope of escape, she stared straight ahead, her mind filled with thoughts that this may indeed be where she and Jamie finally met their demise. James Fraser also surveyed their surroundings glancing around the room like Claire had done. He too had thoughts ... not of their demise … but of what he could do to secure their survival from this place. As he looked around the room, he saw several gas valve outlets. So that was their plan ... he and Claire were to be asphyxiated.

He was determined that this place of incarceration would not be their death chamber. He didn’t want to alarm Claire to the peril they were in although he already knew that she would have figured it out that they were in dire straits. Flexing his sore muscles, he clenched his fists pitting them against the restraints on his hands hoping to loosen them. Maybe he would, by some miracle, be able to release himself from the bonds and free them both before the effects of any gas took a hold. Claire could feel Jamie moving his hand next to hers and knew he was trying to escape from his bonds. She watched her love carefully. Her heart bled for him. She knew he had been tortured repeatedly because of her and she blamed herself for both of them being in this predicament from which there seemed to be no escape. Although she knew that the Team was on its way, would they even arrive in time. Her eyes fixed on his battered face.

"Are you okay?" The sound of her voice cut deep into his thoughts. Jamie looked over to her and met her forlorn eyes. Claire was well aware of the plight they were in, but her compassion also shone through. She felt his suffering. Trying to reassure her of his state of mind, he replied with a voice a little raspy.

"Dinna fash Sassenach ... I'm fine."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Claire knew Jamie wasn't being truthful. His face was covered in welts of congealed blood; a trail of drying blood ran haphazardly down his cheek from the wound on his temple and bruises were evident over his body. He had endured more than anyone should. He must have suffered horrendous torture ... yet James Fraser was not a broken man. Physically he was battle scared but she knew mentally he was as strong as ever and would be trying to find a solution to their dilemma ... even if there was none that she could see. He was Section One's best operative. Jamie would not want her to know he was in pain or was suffering after what he’d gone through.

If he could endure what the triad had meted out then so would she.

Claire let his lie go unchallenged for every moment of this incarceration was too precious. In the scheme of things, it was not important ... their lives were in the balance here ... it was more important that she spend their every last moment conveying her feelings for him. She glanced at the door but when no one seemed to be monitoring them, Claire turned her head towards him. "What's going to happen now Jamie?" Her words brought him back to the reality of their terrible situation. His eyes followed the path of hers to the small glass pane in the door of the chamber before returning to meet her gaze.

"What do ye mean Sassenach?" Claire shifted slightly on her seat. "They've had the opportunity but they haven't killed us yet? Why?" Tension centred in her shoulders. She tried to allay the thought of impending doom in which they found themselves. "I dinna ken," Jamie replied trying to reassure her. "Do you think they are planning something?" He lifted his shoulders slightly. "It's possible mo nighean donn." She grasped at straws at anything that might be a plausible explanation as to why they had been left alone. "Perhaps they're going to trade us off for something from Section One." "Maybe." "You think so?" The inflection in her voice was haunting. "They could use us in exchange for any further Intel Section has about the Rising Dragons," Jamie answered trying to dispel her concerns but knowing that his words rang hollow.

"But you know Operations Jamie ... He won't negotiate. He'll pass on any deal."

Her summation of their leader was on mark. Dougal Mackenzie never negotiated with terrorists, and in this situation, not even to try and save his two best operatives. They would be marked off as collateral damage. "Aye ... he will." Jamie lowered his voice echoing the reply that Claire had already announced in her own mind. "Well if that's for real, then we're on our own." He glanced over at her, a telling look in his eyes. "We're going to have to think of something fast if we want to get out of here alive ... or else ..." Claire took a new breath before continuing, "... or else ... we're going to die together aren't we?" she replied softly closing her eyes in despair. Claire’s anguish was breaking his heart. Jamie stretched his fingers out towards her. Opening her eyes, she felt the rough but warm touch of skin on skin. His fingers brushed the very tips of her fingers straining repeatedly until he managed to grasp them. Jamie squeezed her flesh in his and the touch was comforting.

"Is that so bad?" He whispered willing his love to look at him and hear the depth of feeling that his words conveyed. Entwining her fingers with his, Claire turned her head to see his piercing gaze wash over her.

"No." His look filled her heart with emotion for his gaze was open, tender and compassionate. Jamie's eyes pierced her soul and revealed his inner feelings. "No …" she repeated, "... I wouldn't want it any other way." Claire held his gaze for a long moment, then bit her lip and turned her head away from him so that Jamie could not see the tears that welled in her eyes. “Dinna be afraid Sassenach. I will see ye safe," he said resolutely.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Karen, Jonathon Randall and Wang Yu exited the monastery their helicopter was ready and waiting on the tarmac for its passengers for the return trip back to the mainland. The three people boarded the aircraft in a buoyant mood knowing that they had been successful in ridding the Triad of these two protagonists.

Assisting them into the helicopter, the outside security guards reported that all was well and there was no evidence of any other intruders on the premises. They’d done a thorough search of the grounds and surrounds and had come up empty handed. With no further ado, the helicopter took off with a trouble-free departure. Jonathon Randal had complete faith in his bodyguard Robert Ling to carry out his orders implicitly. Therefore, the three triad members left the monastery completely satisfied that everything was under control and that they had finally seen the last of their captives James Fraser and Claire Beauchamp. The helicopter travelled back over the hinterland of Lantau Island before flying across the many islands surrounding Hong Kong Island itself to its secret destination the palatial home of their leader Sun Yee Lok who would be waiting for them to return with their good news.

Meanwhile the teams have gathered …

Back at Section One, Fergus Claudel's monitor showed that the parameters of the rescue Mission profile status were set. "Okay, all teams, you're in. Start the sequence. Everyone to second mark. We're closing in. We have a fix on Jamie and Claire's location." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

First team members dressed in black field attire and balaclavas systematically and stealthily approached and made their way to the inner hallway of the monastery. They waited a moment for their team leader’s signal to move forward while second team took care of business on the perimeter of the building. "Let's move!" Geillis Duncan ordered and with a silent nod to each of the team members, the operatives advanced further into the labyrinth of passageways that would lead them to where Jamie and Claire were being held captive. However, as they proceeded along two hostiles approached. The triad guards were caught by surprise and ill-prepared for what was waiting for them around the corner. Opening fire, the team managed to take out the men before they knew they were there or could return fire. "Okay, Geillis. There's a door ten metres to your right, down the hallway." Making their way to the location Fergus indicated, the team ran down a stairway then through closed double doors that opened up to another long hallway. "Keep straight ahead. There is a room to your left." Racing along the passageway the team soon approached the entrance. Making sure that they had clear passage they entered and took defensive positions just inside the door. There they stood and waited for the techie’s signal to advance. Watching the monitor, Fergus informed the team when the marks indicated a 'Code Blue.' "Your marks are up. Go!" The Team immediately advanced further into the outpost room. Jasmine Kwong, one of the team members broke away while the others provided cover ready to open fire at any given moment should any hostile appear, however before she could proceed Fergus' warning alerted the team to a problem. "Take cover ... hostiles approaching." They did as ordered. then from their advantage points watched and observed as several Chinese men entered the antechamber. They went over to what appeared to be several tall cylinders with cables and chemical containers that were stacked up against the wall. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Time meant nothing to the two Section One hostages ... it was now all a waiting game. Would the team arrive to rescue them or would they die together? Despite the dire situation they found themselves in, Jamie and Claire still had faith that the team would arrive. They didn't know how long they had been in the chamber but suddenly they heard some activity outside their cell and wondered what was happening. Something was obviously going on, for there was an increase in movement past the glass window. Although they could hear scraping and rattling noises continuing outside the room, the door didn't open. The two operatives watched as a couple of guards passed by. Then Claire saw Jonathon Randall's bodyguard Robert Ling. He stopped and looked in through the glass pane of the door. For one brief second, Claire thought Operations had agreed to an exchange of Intel and that they were to be freed. But just as quickly as he'd appeared, he moved away from the door. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Randall's bodyguard had glanced into the room where the two hostages were seated and had given the woman a dismissive glance before moving away from the door. He had his orders and he knew what he must do. The guards stood to one side as Robert hooked up gas hoses from the cylinder to the room Jamie and Claire were in. The squeak of the lever echoed in the silence as he turned each value in a clockwise direction until a red light came on indicating that the gas was travelling up through the hoses. The sound of the hissing gas from each cylinder outlet was amplified in the quiet of the room but this was music to his ears. With a satisfied smirk on his face Robert Ling took great satisfaction in having carried out Jonathon Randall’s orders to the letter. He knew that in next to no time he would have closure for his boss. All that remained was to dispose of the man and woman once the deadly noxious gas had done its work. The decomposition of their bodies would systematically start to occur once the gas had fully permeated the room. They had no hope. His eyes cast a look towards the room where the two captives were shackled with no chance of survival. Turning, Robert and the guards then moved away. A raucous laugh echoed in the room as he left Jamie and Claire behind to face their fate. However, what they did not see as they left the room, were the Section One operatives lying in wait. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Jamie and Claire both turned at the same time as the smell of pungent fumes began to flood their surroundings. Realising what had happened they both began to cough a little as inside the room the result of the vapour suddenly became apparent. The invisible gas was starting to take effect and although they both willed themselves not to succumb to it, they began to feel more and more lethargic. Jamie glanced over to his Sassenach. Claire closed her eyes. So, this was it. The team hadn't managed to arrive and now it was inevitable. Operations had finally got what he wanted. The end had justified the means ... he and Madeline would be finally rid of them. She reached for him, just as Jamie reached out for her. Desperately grasping each other's fingers, they joined hands and intently looked at each other. Jamie's hand tightened on hers. Claire could feel his pulse throbbing under her fingertips; his strong beat matched the pounding in her veins. Meanwhile the odour began to fill the room. So, it had come to this. Would this be their fate ... to die here shackled together in this stark room? He would not let them die unnecessarily if he could prevent it. There were too many tomorrows that they had not yet had and not enough yesterdays to remember. There were still too many things left unsaid, too few nights that they had lain in each other's arms; too few times they had felt free to open up to each other about how they felt. Claire kept her eyes wide open fixed on Jamie's. “Dinna be afraid. There's the two of us now.”

She was not afraid to die. On the contrary she was serene. Claire was never more beautiful to him. Jamie felt himself drowning in the gorgeous blue eyes that held his captive. "Jamie … I love you," Claire whispered as she caressed his features before capturing his eyes once more reluctant to sever her gaze. It was as if she was taking inventory absorbing him into her very pores so that when she took her last breath it would be his name on her lips... his face she saw ... his love she felt. They searched each other's faces for a long time then Claire closed her eyes holding on to the moment any way she could. Was it the grim situation they found themselves in or because of it, that they both felt their emotions rise to the fore? Claire's softly spoken words crashed over him like waves on the shore, just like when they had been on Lamma Island all those months ago and they stayed in the bungalow by the sea. Jamie felt as if he'd been hit in the gut with a sledgehammer. His breath suddenly caught in his throat. Although it was entirely possible that their death was imminent, all he could see was her. The guilt he felt for his manipulation of Claire because of Section One as well as the hurt and misunderstanding between them over the years just evaporated. All that mattered was this moment in time. Squeezing her hand Jamie tried to reassure her that he understood while Claire retained hold of his hand unable to let him go. He looked to her again. This time Claire's eyes were filled with tears. Her face crumpled tearfully, she looked down, but when Jamie leaned in; Claire raised her face and looked deeply into his eyes. This did him in as he fought to keep his own resolve. Jamie's voice was thick with emotion. He spoke softly in reply, "I love ye a nighean donn. I have loved ye from the moment I saw ye. I will love ye ‘til time itself is done, and so long as ye are by my side, I am pleased wi’ the world." The tremor in his voice sounded embarrassing to his ears, but Claire didn't seem to notice. Her tears subsided as a shaky smile bowed her mouth. Her eyes scrutinised his to verify the truth of his words. Her gaze was intense, but just saying the words from his heart had been cathartic. Once those words had left his lips Jamie knew that he wanted more time ... his Sassenach deserved more time … they both deserved more time. Jamie closed his eyes, then opened them again abruptly when he felt Claire's warm fingers brush his. She slid the length of her palm sensuously against his. Her short fingernails scraped along his skin backwards and forwards caressing him all too briefly. Sensation after sensation shot through him making his nerve endings tingle. Claire continued to torture him with her sensual touch as she trailed her fingers lingeringly over his, before finally their hands entwined. They held each other tightly not knowing how long they might have until the gas took its fatal effect. He became more resolute. Jamie willed himself to dig deep to his inner strength. They would not die here. There was too much living to do for both of them. Becoming more positive by the minute, he communicated his thoughts to Claire. Mentally he gave her a shake to keep her alert.

When the day shall come that we do part, if my last words are not, I love you, ye’ll ken it was because I didna have time ... but we’re going to live Sassenach. Today is not the day we die. Hold on my love.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Outside in the antechamber, Section One operatives were silently moving into a better position. With stealth movement they edged forward moving from one pillar to another. While the triad members were occupied, they advanced covering each other as they moved to another vantage point. Then one by one they came closer and closer.

They watched as the men hustled back and forth around the small room then stood their ground as another man opened the valves on the cylinders. Once this was completed one of the triads' moved away from the group towards where Jasmine Kwong was taking cover. As he passed by, she quickly stepped out of the shadows and felled him with a karate chop to his carotid artery. The sound of his "Oomph!" caused the others to look up. They saw him fall to the ground and with guns at the ready, they approached their fallen comrade to see what had happened.

The triad guards didn't even see the Section operatives who lay in wait. Robert Ling and the other guards had not gone far when the team came out shooting. Appearing from behind their cover each operative stood with feet apart as they let fly with a flurry of rapid fire. The triads were unprepared for any attack and although they tried to engage in return fire it was hopeless. One by one the hostiles fell to the ground.

When all the triads had been eliminated, Rupert Mackenzie and Jasmine Kwong kept guard as Geillis Duncan made her way over to the gas cylinders. Turning the lever anti-clockwise the red light disappeared as she shut off the gas supply to the room.

She just hoped they weren't too late.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ to be continued Friday 21st February

For some light relief from this situation that Jamie and Claire find themselves in and because it is Valentine’s Day, you may like to read my AU Sam/Cait story I wrote some time ago but which is appropriate for this lovers’ special day …

ROSES FOR VALENTINE’S DAY - (6 Chapters)

Sam is working in New York and may not make it home for Valentine’s Day which makes Caitriona feel very melancholy.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

THANK YOU all again for your continued support of Covert Operations. xox sablelab

#Jamieandclairefanfic #jamieandclaireau #jamieandclairecrossover #Section One #covert operations #chapter100 #outlander fanfiction #the lallybroch library

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ladala99 · 4 years

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More Thorough Thoughts on Mystery Dungeon Rescue DX Demo

Intro

When I was a kid, the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series was peak hype. You could actually play as a Pokemon, going on adventures in randomly-changing environments so nothing is ever exactly the same. The story blew me away, surprising me with how emotional video games could be. And that was just the first game, as the second improved upon so many things.

Here we are again, remaking the first games. I’m really excited for people who never played Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue team to experience the story of the Ninetales curse for the first time. It’s a great story in a great game and it deserves to be seen by more people.

Graphics/Art Style

In addition, this game fixes something I never imagined would be fixed: the art style. When the Mystery Dungeon games transitioned to 3D, they lost the series’ original art style to be replaced with the generic cartoon art style every 3D cartoon game feels like it has. With these filters, it not only regains what the drawn graphics of the original imply, it recreates the concept art with its hatched shading and bold lines. Look at any screenshot of the game, and everything other than the Pokemon looks like a drawn picture, not a 3D environment. It is so pretty and it works so well.

Aside from the Pokemon, though. The filters make them fit in for the most part, but it is very clear that these 3D models (the same ones used in everything since Gen V - GameFreak, you taking notes?) are not made specifically for this game. It’s not bad that they stick out, since in a way, they should, but it does break the concept art look that everything else has.

It does keep Super’s walking animations, too, unfortunately. They animated four-legged Pokemon very generically and it doesn’t look great. The originals had unique animations for every Pokemon, mainly because every Pokemon had unique sprites. Now the uniqueness is largely gone. It’s not a dealbreaker by any means, but I miss Skitty’s pounces as it wanders around town.

Changes from the Originals

The personality quiz will sometimes suggest Pokemon from the opposite gender compared to the original. I haven’t tested it thoroughly, but when I took it, I chose girl and it gave me the Pokemon that used to be male-exclusive for that personality trait.

And now you can choose your starter regardless of the test results. I like the best-of-both-worlds approach here. You can also choose Partner Pokemon that used to be exclusively Heroes in the original, so that’s very neat.

Dungeon mechanics have been updated to be an evolution of Super’s mechanics. The demo ends too early in the game for me to form a full opinion on this. So far, I haven’t noticed it change the difficulty, as moves didn’t really have Base Power in the original as far as I noticed, so Tackle was just as good as Slam. Better even, as it has more PP. Now, you start with better moves, but it doesn’t seem to make it all that much easier. It was already easy.

I can’t say I’m the hugest fan of “press A and the game chooses the best move for you to use,” but if you use Super’s move button combo, you can choose a move yourself, anyways. And there is a “do nothing” button combo, so I’ll just have to get used to using that rather than pressing A when I want to do nothing.

Overall, though, moves are handled a lot better than they were in the originals, at least on the accessing them front. Some people are upset about the lack of a Basic Attack, but I made my farewells when Gates to Infinity came out and made them useless. It makes Max Elixirs less useless.

Story-wise nothing has changed so far other than Diglett being introduced slightly earlier, while also making you a shortcut to the Pelipper Post Office. Not sure if that means more story additions are on the way (I hope so!) or if it’s just a convenience thing with an in-universe explanation.

Really small thing that bothers me, though, is that wandering NPCs in town have zero weight to them. In the originals, NPCs had set ranges and you couldn’t move them. Now, you so much as brush up against them and they slide away from you. Even Gates and Super did it the original way. It feels wrong and cheap the new way; at least in most games that let you move NPCs, you need to exert some force. As it is here, I try to talk to them and push them away in the process.

Conclusion?

As far as I’ve seen so far, I’m pretty excited. But there’s still more to talk about that I will under the cut! It involves mild spoilers found out through the game’s Help Menus.

Pokemon Availability

Here’s something that’s neutral-to-negative: all signs point to these games consisting of only Gens I-III, evolutions/pre-evolutions(?) of Gen I-III Pokemon, Megas and Primals of Gen I-III Pokemon, and Lucario. More than the original? Yes. But in this day and age, it’s not very many. We criticized Sword and Shield for cutting the cast, and even before the DLC those games have more than this game does.

I understand it as an artistic choice. It’s the same reason Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee only have Kanto Pokemon. But when I get a new Pokemon game, especially Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, I want to use Pokemon I’ve never used before in that context. And I’ll be shocked if any of the newcomers are available before the post-game.

And not even Alolan Formes are in. The game’s TMs indicate that this game was developed to release during Gen VII, but they didn’t even do the obvious and make the Ninetales that lives on an icy mountain ice-type.

Shiny Pokemon Exist

That’s all we know, but that’s really cool. Apparently the Friend Bow helps recruit them.

Exp. All

Something that started in Gates to Infinity and continued into Super Mystery Dungeon is the fact that every recruited Pokemon gains experience along with you, regardless if they are on the adventure or not.

They changed the name of Friend Areas to Rescue Camps, and one of the Rare Quality descriptions seems to indicate that Pokemon in Rescue Camps gain experience with you.

Unlike with the main series, I don’t really mind it. I find the game more fun when I’m bulldozing my way through everything than I do when I’m struggling. But that’s just me.

I can see this being a disappointment for some. It’d be nice to be able to turn this on or off, especially since it would be funny considering the main series took away that option. But I’m just speculating now.

IQ Replaced

Instead we have Rare Qualities, which it seems some Pokemon come with, but others can be obtained through gummis. Gummis now only come in two varieties rather than the type-based ones, and thus are likely a lot rarer. Likely. I’ve got a job sitting in my Accepted Jobs list that rewards one so maybe they’re not all that rare.

Absolute Mover has an equivalent, so that’s all I really care about here. If I can have a Caterpie that crashes through walls, I’m happy.

Six Additional Story Beats?

The original Red/Blue Rescue Team had 12 total story portraits on the loading screen. DX has 18. This could mean one of two things:

One, it could have more actual events in the story. This I’m hoping for, but...

Two, more of the game’s story could have portraits. The original only showed the Legendaries you encountered, but there’s important events that happen that don’t involve Legendaries. Plus not all of the post-game events had portraits.

So, I want to be excited, but at the same time, I can’t get my hopes up.

Conclusion

I’m still excited, but it’s not exactly what I wanted from another Mystery Dungeon game. The gameplay’s still fun, of course, and I’m excited to see the rest of the game in this beautiful artstyle, but I have to temper my expectations. This isn’t Gen VII Mystery Dungeon where I can play as a Litten, nor Gen VIII Mystery Dungeon where I can have a Sobble partner.

This is Gen III+. It’s the original but prettier and with new mechanics. I’ll definitely love it, but it won’t be what I was hoping for.

#pokemon #pokemon mystery dungeon #video game review

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nintendowife · 4 years

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Another year gone by and it’s time to pick my personal Game of the Year 2019 titles. Finished a record amount of games this year (44!) and there were so many great games it was hard to pick the best of the best. See the end of the post for a full list of nominees.

1st place: HITMAN 2 (PS4, also available on PC and Xbox One)

Agent 47 is back, balder and better than ever - 8 sandbox locations and 3 sniper levels filled with lethal opportunities and clever humor. This is a game for individuals of culture. I'll leave you to prepare.

+ Creative assassination gameplay at its finest + Great level design + Lively, vibrant and detailed environments full of fun dialogue, juicy opportunities and room for improvisation + Silly challenges that never cease to make me smile + Includes HITMAN (2016) levels for free if you own the earlier game - Some levels were a bit confusing to navigate for me

See my posts about Hitman 2

2nd place: Baba Is You (Switch & PC)

I'm not much of a fan of puzzle games but Baba Is You blew my mind. I like the game so much that after torturing myself solving puzzles for 56 hours on Nintendo Switch I bought the game for PC too. Now I've played it for 34 hours on PC. The feeling of finally solving a level that you were stuck in for an hour and thought was impossible is immensely satisfying.

+ Wonderfully fun and unique gameplay idea + Great level design that forces you to do abstract logical thinking outside the box + BABA IS CUTE (adorable visuals that just work) + MUSIC IS LOVE + Sometimes too difficult and makes you feel like a genius - Sometimes too difficult and makes you feel dumb

See my posts about Baba Is You

3rd place: Ruiner (PC, also available on PS4 and Xbox One)

Atmospheric cyberpunk shooter with fast-paced gameplay and nice world-building. The moment I stepped to the streets of Rengkok I fell in love with the game. This game felt special and I kept thinking about the game after I stopped playing. The cyberpunk feel was tangible. Gameplay is fast-paced and fun with a variety of weapons, both melee and ranged. The few glitches I encountered can be overlooked thanks to the impressive marriage of visuals, lighting, audio and atmosphere. I've now finished the game 4 times on two different platforms. I rarely replay games.

+ Fun, challenging gameplay + Incredible cyberpunk atmosphere + Cool visual style and gorgeous lighting + Fitting soundtrack (bought it together with the game) + Skill point distribution is very free + Short and satisfying game experience - Heavy use of quite disturbing strobing lights - A couple of small glitches

Honorable mention: Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth (3DS)

Challenging dungeon crawling RPG with plenty of options for strategic team builds to conquer the Yggdrasil labyrinth. Etrian Odyssey V is one of the rare RPGs where I can't plow through boss fights and actually need to carefully consider how to stay alive - I managed to beat the main game last boss on my third try after adjusting my strategy.

+ Fun and challenging boss battles + Light on story, focus is on great and rewarding gameplay + Generous freedom for building your characters + Beautiful art style + Mapping can be set to auto to reduce manual work or you can draw your maps completely by hand - Some skill descriptions were inadequate to illustrate skill's true function - I was left wanting to see my characters' models appear on the screen in combat (à la Persona Q)

See my posts about Etrian Odyssey V

Honorable mention: West of Loathing (PC, also available on Switch)

Absurdly funny RPG enhanced by its black & white stick figure visuals and hilarious animations.

+ Various classes and character builds + Funny writing and characters + Unique visuals + Learning goblin language - Some obscure and tricky puzzles (guide probably needed)

See my posts about West of Loathing

Honorable mention: Wonderful 101 (Wii U)

One of the coolest action games I've had the pleasure to play. The high-octane gameplay fluidly swaps genres from beat 'em up to first person boxing and even shmup.

+ Unique concept and imaginative action gameplay + Great art direction and character designs + Plenty of humor + Catchy music - Unreliable touch controls in Unite Morphs - Very high difficulty

Nominees for my personal Game of the Year 2019

Only games I have finished in 2019 have been included.

Baba Is You (PC) Baba Is You (Switch) Cadence of Hyrule ~ Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda ~ (Switch) Control (PC) Creature in the Well (PC) Dead or Alive 6 (PS4) Demon's Tilt (PC) Dishonored 2 (PC) Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth (3DS) Everybody's Golf (PS4) Everybody's Tennis (PS4, PS2 Classics) Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch) Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard (PC) Gears of War: Ultimate Edition (PC) Gears of War 4 (PC) HITMAN 2 (PS4) Hyrule Warriors (Wii U) Katamari Damacy REROLL (PC) Mario Kart 7 (3DS) Minit (PS4) Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (PC) My Friend Pedro (PC) New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star (3DS) Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii U) Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (PS4) Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (3DS) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice (3DS) Pokémon Link: Battle! (3DS) Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon (3DS) Pony Island (PC) Project Zero: Maiden of the Black Water (Wii U) Ruiner (PC, Steam) Ruiner (PC, Xbox Game Pass) Senran Kagura Peach Ball (Switch) SUPERHOT (PC) Super Mario 3D World (Wii U) The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game (PC) The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS) The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch) The Wonderful 101 (Wii U) Wandersong (PC) Wargroove (PC) West of Loathing (PC) Yoku's Island Express (PC)

#hitman 2 #baba is you #ruiner #goty #etrian odyssey v #wonderful 101 #west of loathing #game of the year

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makeste · 5 years

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BnHA Chapter 121: New Semester

Previously on BnHA: After an intense shounen throwdown, Kacchan emerged victorious. Then All Might showed up and revealed he had been spying on them. He explained to Katsuki why he chose Deku to inherit his quirk, and told him what happened at Kamino wasn’t Katsuki’s fault. Then he gave him a mini hug, no big deal, I didn’t cry or anything. Anyway, he told Deku and Katsuki that heroes need to have Katsuki’s strength and Deku’s spirit both. And he told them that if they could recognize each other and raise each other up, they would both become the best heroes. At this point that was more than good enough for me, but then to cap it all off, Kacchan was officially inducted into the Club of People Who Know Deku’s Secret, and the circle of trust was expanded. Ugh, this whole little mini-arc has been incredible. Where do we even go from here.

Today on BnHA: All Might lets Kacchan in on The Whole Deal with All for One and all that stuff. Kacchan and Deku become Official Rivals™. Aizawa grounds them and sends them off to bed. The next morning the rest of class 1-A (i.e. the actual good kids who don’t cause trouble and don’t sneak out to beat the living shit out of each other in the middle of the night) heads off to the opening ceremony for the new term. Kacchan and Deku have an actual conversation with no shouting and no crying and no one is getting punched or dying or whatnot! It’s less than ten sentences long but MY GOD PEOPLE IT’S A START. Class 1-B shows up for two seconds to remind everyone that they still exist. Rat Principal gives a long and boring speech and mentions the word “successors” exactly once. All Might is all, “successors, eh?” and has a flashback to when he was first hired by U.A. prior to meeting Deku, and Rat Principal was all “hey we got someone for you here.” WHO COULD THIS MYSTERIOUS PERSON BE.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 151 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

I wonder if I’m emotionally prepared to continue this shit. well here goes

haHA WE’RE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS SCENE OMG. IT’S STILL GOING. SURE, WHY NOT. I LOVE IT, LET’S CONTINUE

All Might says he’s sorry Bakugou ended up learning his secret. not in a “why does this asshole know” way, but in a “that’s a huge burden to have been carrying” way

so basically All Might understands how heavy that was for him along with everything else, so he’s apologizing

Kacchan says it’s no big and it’s too risky to tell anyone else anyway. yeah no shit

OH MY GOD

HE’S GETTING THE SAME TREATMENT AS DEKU. THE FULL STORY ABOUT ALL MIGHT AND ALL FOR ONE

which, yeah. seeing as Kacchan actually met All for One face-to-face, he knows about that part of it even more intimately than Deku

and also if he understands the whole thing and knows how long it’s been going on, it might ease some of his lingering guilt just a bit more. because All Might’s right, it really was something that was going to happen eventually no matter what

you guys I’m just really enjoying Kacchan being part of the inner circle so much. this means he gets to be in on all important plot-related things from here on out. because you can’t very well trust him with this and then not keep him in the loop moving forward

(ETA: although I’d like them to do a better job of this! granted I’m still like 60 chapters behind, so they might have caught him up on the specific thing I’m thinking of by this point. but if not, I’m officially launching Keep Kacchan in the Loop 2019 dammit. who do I need to get in touch with. what’s Horikoshi’s email)

anyway, obviously they’re not showing the whole scene because IT WOULD TAKE SO MUCH TIME!! but please show me Kacchan’s reaction now

okay good they’re showing it

lol now that he knows, he’s even more annoyed that Deku went and blabbed to him on their second fucking day of school lmao

(ETA: to be fair, it’s only because he went and challenged Deku and practically blew him up and then had a meltdown after. on their second day. and now we have this shit happening at the start of their second term. they still have two more terms and then two more years of this. will they survive?? will we survive?! stay tuned!!)

and All Might’s telling Kacchan again -- because yeah, he already did, but this is important for him to understand -- that it wasn’t his fault

and obviously words alone can’t make that kind of feeling go away completely. but he understands it in full now and knows the whole story, and to hear All Might tell him so firmly should help a lot

and now there’s a character development moment happening! no big. it’s just Bakugou having possibly the single most important and defining moment in his life which is going to change his entire course from here on out haha. it’s cool. I’m cool

(ETA: even higher. implying that Deku is now the one to beat. the goal post. the watermark. just casually acknowledging it. “chosen one.” no bitterness, no jealousy, and no underestimating him or chalking him down as not worthy either. even as he declares that he’s going to surpass him, he simultaneously recognizes that Deku is still going to be right up there with him at the top. of course. he’s the one All Might chose. how could he not be.

yeah, don’t mind me. I’m just gonna bask in this moment for just a sec. I fucking love rivals, guys. I really, really do.)

how fucking great is this. how fucking perfect is this. they hashed everything out and it didn’t wreck their dynamic or make it stale or boring. on the contrary, it now has more potential than ever before. they’re still rivals. they’ll still push themselves to become better while setting each other as the benchmark. and thus pushing each other to become better as well. but the confusion and hostility and resentment is gone. this is healthy rivalry. they’re not going to all of a sudden become buddy-buddy, but they understand each other now, and there’s a balance there that was missing before

YOU SEE, THEY CAN STILL SQUABBLE AND ANNOY EACH OTHER. but it’s so much purer now

THANK YOU ALL MIGHT. THE REAL MVP

can I just say, in hindsight, Kacchan’s emotions were going to come bursting out of him at some point no matter what. you could see during the fight how hard he was struggling to control them and to clamp back down on them, but he kept losing that battle and breaking down. but All Might is the reason he and Deku were able to resolve things so calmly and healthily in the end. he took full advantage of the fact that they both respect him so much lol. he’s such a good dad and I want him to take both of these kids out for ice cream

-- oh my god

speaking of good dads

well actually this one’s more of a mom

children you’ve interrupted this man’s beauty sleep and I’m afraid you must pay

also

can we just stop and appreciate it for a little bit. why does his hair look better in his off hours than it fucking does at work, honestly. were you just bored and wanting a change of pace. I guess it doesn’t really matter does it

does Aizawa’s ponytail have a fanclub you guys. asking for a friend

All Might’s telling him to hold up a sec and that it was his fault! wow taking one for the team

also can we take another moment and appreciate how fucking cute lil Deku and Kacchan are, being sat down and scolded like the troublemakers they are

now we’re having a quick flashback to All Might meeting Aizawa outside

Aizawa’s telling him about the fight, and All Might is all “I think I know what’s going on, can you leave it to me?”

and yes, just a reminder that even though Aizawa always seems to know everything, and even though he’s a trustworthy guy, he doesn’t actually know about One for All (even though I’d argue that he should, since Deku is his student too)

so now he’s confused and asking what this has to do with All Might, and

I fucking love so much that Kacchan gets to be a part of these moments now omfg

good thing All Might is a smooth fucking operator

fucking look at this master at work, though? he sticks to the truth enough to keep the whole thing plausible, and manages to let Aizawa in on the fact that Bakugou’s mental health has been shaky lately, so now he knows about it too and can be on the alert for it if it becomes an issue again. and he even helps make it so the boys will hopefully be in less trouble

so Aizawa looks a bit more understanding now (but like. still Aizawa though), but he says “nonetheless, rules are rules” and that he’ll dole out an appropriate punishment

fifty points from Gryffindor. but at least he won’t fucking expel them lol

who do you fucking think

Kacchan’s owning up to it because he’s a good, honest boy who owns up to his shit and doesn’t try to weasel out

and Deku is also just such a good fucking kid because he immediately adds that he fought back. yeah, after about a whole chapter’s worth of Kacchan diving at you trying to blow you up, and only after he broke down and started fucking crying and you realized it was a therapy fight

anyways. so they’re grounded

TWELVE YEARS DUNGEON. EVERYONE, DUNGEON. SEVEN YEARS, NO TRIALS

lmao this is why he’s the mom. the strict disciplinarian these kids fucking need

I want to read Bakugou’s written statement of regret so bad

(ETA: I imagine it being a single page with giant font containing only two words: “I REGRET.” he feels it’s sufficient. Aizawa just stares for a moment after Kacchan hands it to him. and then he just shrugs and he’s like, “eh. okay.”)

Aizawa’s also yelling at them to go to the infirmary if they need to. because yeah they beat the living fuck out of each other. Bakugou’s face got folded in on itself, and he slammed Deku into the concrete from like three stories up lmao

buuut, he says to “heal your selfish injuries by yourselves” and not to bother Recovery Girl. yeah as if they want to be chewed out by anyone else tonight

what are you going to do with these kids I swear. omgggg I love this

so now it’s morning and news spreads fast

lollll I love it!! so much!! the best!

GIRL YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW. IT WAS A WHOLE THING. BUT LONG STORY SHORT, YES

Deku says... it’s hard to put into words. ffff

now Iida’s telling them off. because he also thinks he is their dad. poor BakuDeku dealing with dads scolding them left and right

Shouto’s asking Bakugou what he’s going to do about the provisional license supplementary lessons and Bakugou says it’s none of his business. sorry for caring

but really Shouto don’t worry. he just likes to go about his character development the hard way is all

so now everyone’s leaving

AND WE’RE STICKING WITH THESE GUYS

I have no idea what’s going to happen but I’m loving it so much

BAKUGOU IS INITIATING CONVERSATION!?!?!?!

(ETA: nope, Mangastream got it wrong. it should be Deku asking Kacchan what he thought of his shoot style. I would have just posted FA’s scan here instead, but then my reaction wouldn’t have made sense)

NO I DON’T KNOW, WHAT ABOUT HIS SHOOT STYLE

there’s a really long pause, which it turns out it just Bakugou not knowing how to do this without being awkward about it

nothing to see here, just Bakugou fucking Katsuki giving free advice to his rivalfriend Deku because they have a healthy rival relationship. just a little thing we like to call Character Development. it’s how we do things here in BnHA. we develop our fucking characters

so Deku’s asking him about it, and Kacchan’s like, ‘how can I make sure this is still surly’

heeeeee

:))))

(ETA: and now I am going to post the correct translation though because I love this part.

:))))))))))))

I now have a headcanon of Kacchan following through on his vow to adopt Deku’s “observe everyone else and learn from them in order to get stronger” philosophy by starting his own stalker notebook (in secret. obviously. no one can ever know). because if it works for Deku then he should at least try it, goddammit. only his notebook doesn’t work at all because his observations mostly consist of things like “fuck this asshole” and “her quirk is such bullshit” and “when he punches it pisses me off.” one day the others find it and they’re just like “holy shit Bakugou I can’t believe you have a burn book.”)

I expect we’re going to see a lot of the back of Bakugou’s head during these moments in the future lol. I don’t mind. LET HIM KEEP HIS DIGNITY

so now we’re cutting to U.A.

they’re heading to one of the training grounds and Iida is telling everyone to move swiftly and DON’T BREAK THE LINE!!!

IIDA FUCKING TENYA YOU’RE A PEACH

(ETA: he wakes up at night in a cold sweat thinking about this)

ah, interesting. Ochako says Aizawa wasn’t at the entrance ceremony either

(ETA: so far this doesn’t seem to be plot related that I can recall, so I’m going to assume he just wanted to skip out on the boring speeches and have a nap instead)

here comes Monoma. I was wondering when he would hear this news

what are the odds he failed his own damn self

lol Kirishima’s asking the same thing

but Monoma’s laughing

oh snap

oh yeah!? well! our kids had character development! so

lmao Todoroki can’t handle the shame

HE’S LET YOU ALL DOWN

oh my god finally it’s that pony girl from before! I definitely looked at those bonus pages too soon lol

she has a weird accent. it’s cause she’s American, I remember that from her bio

anyway she says that their two classes will have a class together during second semester. like a one-time thing? or like a regular class. because that’ll be nuts

(ETA: I think that maybe this is either happening right now in the manga or just wrapped up, because I feel like there was a lot of class B stuff making the rounds on tumblr over the past couple of months)

Monoma’s whispering something to her

omg

NO DON’T STOP. TEACH HER MORE

oh shit look who it is!!!

Sero says he seems a little “rougher” now. does he? idk

he should have been put in the hero course after the sports festival. and since they’re showing him again and it’s the start of a new semester, can I dare to hope that they’re about to rectify that?

so all the students are lined up for the opening ceremony, and the Rat Principal (whose name I finally memorized in spite of my best efforts. but to me he’ll always still be Rat Principal, so there, Nezu) is waving at everyone

he’s rambling on about how everyone needs proper sleep. wow what a captivating speech

this is followed by a page of All Might and Thirteen, which I’m going to post because it does a great job of showing something I was trying not to get too excited about during the BakuDeku fight

namely, the fact that All Might has finally, FINALLY started wearing clothes that actually fit him omgggg

and the fitted shirt/vest/rolled-up sleeves combo looks damn good on him, I gotta say

anyway, so yet again an authority figure is lecturing everyone about the effects of All Might’s absence and how they’re going to face great difficulties moving forward

honestly, by this point they fucking get it. we all get it. shit’s tough

he’s mentioning hero internships that the second and third-year students are engaged in, and I figured it was just more of the same that the first-years did in the previous semester. but Mina and Tsuyu are whispering to each other, and it seems like they don’t know what this is about, so that’s interesting. maybe they do longer internships in the second and third years since they have their provisional licenses by that point

Rat Principal is still talking. I’ll just post the rest of the speech so I don’t have to paraphrase it

yes, everyone is very invested in making sure the new generation of heroes is prepared for the new post-All Might society. it’s great, but we covered this exact same thing less than ten chapters ago at the end of the provisional exam arc. so this is kind of a retread now

now RP is finally stepping down from the podium and bragging about how he kept thing short and sweet. ahaha. funny. jokes

and All Might is reflecting on RP’s use of the word “successors”

and remembering what Bakugou said to Deku the previous night

and he’s flashing back to, I guess, his job interview with RP when he agreed to come teach at U.A.

flashback!RP is sliding a piece of paper toward All Might

and now All Might’s thinking that U.A. used to contact him every once in a while regarding his search for a successor

oh my god

I’m almost positive that this is the guy with wings that I’ve seen in fanart and shit. oh my god

(ETA: lmao it is not. however, now I’m for reals almost positive that I’ve been spoiled on who the wings guy is, which was bound to happen since it’s been two and a half months since I read this chapter, and I’ve only gotten 30 chapters further in that entire time. and also because once I caught up with the anime I gave in and started reading fanfic. so basically I have only myself to blame)

so Rat Principal thought this guy was worthy of being All Might’s successor, huh. well, he might not be wrong about that. in fact, even though Deku is officially the one who inherited One for All, I’m gradually becoming more and more certain that the next “Symbol of Peace” won’t be a single hero at all, but rather multiple individuals, and possibly a whole new generation. but at the very least, I envision Deku and Kacchan being at the top together, the same way Batman and Superman lead the Justice League and Iron Man and Captain America lead the Avengers. and I can just see the other students from U.A. forming a team just like that, and that team being the new Symbol of Peace that keeps evil at bay and brings hope to the world

so yeah. successors. a whole lot of them. at least I hope so

haha and that’s the end of the chapter but I guess we have to skip the bonus content since I already posted it! Tsunotori Pony, who has horns similar to Mina and seems to have nothing to actually do with ponies whatsoever, and who is from America. and is adorable

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daleisgreat · 5 years

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Hulk Hogan’s Unreleased Collector’s Series

In recent years on this blog my wrestling entries have been dedicated to recent releases from the past year or two. I am dipping deep into the backlog today however by covering a 2009 WWE Home Video release: Hulk Hogan’s Unreleased Collector’s Series. I purchased this upon its release just over a decade ago and finally viewed it this past week. I remember the peculiar timing of this release because a couple weeks before its scheduled release TNA announced the signing of the Hulkster for his four year run there. That did not stop the WWE from still releasing this match anthology which at the time in 2009 consisted of previously unreleased matches on home video spanning Hulk’s entire career. Since 2009 some of these matches here have appeared in other collections and many can be tracked down conveniently on the WWE Network. Throughout the 80s and well into the 90s WWE filmed major-market live events and only aired them in that market around their original recording. A lot of these old-school cards either feature c or d-list announce teams or no commentary at all. I have seen interviews and reports from and about WWE’s archivists over the years on how they take tremendous care of their video library and the result here is 27 matches and six promos/interviews comprising the collection.

Since past Hogan DVD releases featured matches dominated by PPV and supercard main events we primarily associate with Hogan’s career, Unreleased Collector’s Series specializes in the aforementioned major-market live events and long forgotten TV main events from Nitro, RAW and Smackdown. There are brief 30-to-60 second narration packages setting up the next match and quickly touching on major moments that happened in Hulk’s career such as various world championship reigns and switching promotions. I greatly appreciate these quick video packages setting the table for Hulk’s next rival and showing where he was at in his career at the time. Another nice touch is each match has a quick graphic at the beginning listing the commentators. This compilation has one of the most diverse line of announcers ever. A lot of the major-market live events that feature c and d-list announcers are names I can barely recall, and some surprise past wrestlers I had no idea who take a stab at announcing. Here is a quick list of some of the announcers present throughout – Vince McMahon, Nick Bockwinkel, Bruno Sammartino, Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schivane, Jimmy Hart, Alfred Hayes, Mongo McMichaels, Eric Bishoff, Michael Cole, Tazz, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. What stands out is that WWE brought in Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross to record all new commentary for three of the older matches that saw Hogan square off against Bob Backlund, Andre the Giant and Kamala. Both provide great insight on Hulk and how he evolved in those early stages in his career.

As far as highlights from the 27 matches included I will touch on several that stood out the most for me. There are four matches from Hulk’s first run in WWF in 1979 as the “Incredible” Hulk Hogan. Aside from a couple squash matches, there is that previously mentioned bout against Bob Backlund I highly suggest checking out which features all sorts of school technical prowess until Backlund winds up on the wrong end of an airplane spin. There is also a pre-Wrestlemania III encounter against Andre the Giant from 1980 that has a far-less broken down Andre and Hulk deliver a more intriguing match than their carefully paced Silverdome ‘epic.’ I was a little bummed to see only one match from Hogan’s AWA run included, and it is regrettably a dud handicap match against Bockwinkel & Heenan that sees lots of villain tomfoolery. The Hulk-a-Mania WWF era is unsurprisingly where the bulk of the content is. There is a must-see match against a fresh in his WWF run Macho Man from 1986 that marked the first time I saw a pinfall from a common ‘lift-the-leg’ counter to a top-rope move. Big Boss Man and Rick Rude also face Hogan here early in their WWF runs and have fairly good matches on the Hogan curve and mix in interesting spots with handcuffs and an impromptu arm wrestling contest, respectively. I had no recollection of seeing a Killer Kahn match before, so seeing him against Hogan was fascinating. What was not fascinating was about several of these matches have the standard formula of Hogan’s early fired up offense followed by a long villain beat down until eventually Hogan ‘Hulk’s Up’ for his comeback and hits the leg drop for the W. Some of the latter matches in this collection however found fun ways for Hulk’s opposition to counter his finishing sequence to freshen things up a bit.

I was delighted to see one of Hogan’s matches against Ric Flair towards the end of 1991 in Flair’s first WWF run. This took place during a run of several untelevised matches the two had only on live events to prepare for their expected Wrestlemania VIII battle until plans changed and opponents for both were swapped in the final weeks leading up to the event. I am still bummed those two never had a PPV clash from this moment in their careers, but was glad to finally see this match get resurrected from the archives. It is not paced like a traditional PPV headliner like one would assume, but instead as a brawl with the two frequently dueling outside the ring and exchanging more fists, chops and chokes than traditional holds. It resulted in a fired up encounter I was on board for from beginning to end. Definitely make that 1991 clash between the two one of the first to see from this collection. From there the Unreleased Collector’s Series transitions into Hogan’s WCW run. Unlike WWE, WCW did not film many of their live events/house shows from this time so the five WCW matches are from WCW PPVs and episodes of Nitro that were not released on WWE Home Video before. Highlights include the ’95 Slamboree main event I never saw before with Hogan & Savage taking on Vader & Flair with Arn Anderson and The Renegade as special ringside enforcers. There are two Nitro main events against Sting in 1995 and Bret Hart in 1998 that both feature actual good wrestling, but have screwy finishes that dominated Nitro at the time. I believe this Bret Hart match was the first time the two faced each other in the ring in singles competition and it was disheartening to see the ridiculous over-booked catastrophe it turned out to be.

From there the collection wraps up with four matches from RAW and SmackDown from Hulk’s first WWF return in 2002. For a well-aged Hogan at this point, he still managed to have watchable and borderline good matches against Ric Flair, Triple H and Kurt Angle. The match with Hunter stood out the most from his WWF return matches. Sadly, no matches from his 2003 run as Mr. America are included, or his handful of matches he did for WWE in 2005 and 2006. Also interspersed throughout the collection are six Hogan promos/interviews. A few of them are vintage backdrop solo promos from syndicated shows like Challenge where Hogan is in full on ‘Hulk’ mode which only Hulk can pull off and got me amped up reliving them again for this collection. In the bonus features are eight additional promos/interviews. Some of them are more Hogan nonsensical shouting against rivals like Sid Justice and Vader, and others have Hogan donning a creepy costume taunting the feared Dungeon of Doom. Part of me wanted more of these whacked-out solo backdrop Hogan promos, as I am obviously super nostalgic for them, and for younger fans unaware of them I highly suggest going down a YouTube hole of them immediately! Hulk Hogan’s Unreleased Collector’s Series is mostly a gratifying compilation of previously unreleased gems from Hogan’s career. There are certainly a few duds sprinkled in throughout, and it can be a bit of chore seeing several of the standard Hulk-Up comeback formula matches in a row. Other than that however I dug the variety of opponents and see Hulk evolve over the years and eventually barely hang in there for his 2002 return. I have a few more ‘Unreleased Series’ DVDs WWE released over the years I would like to cover soon that have been sitting in my backlog for a while. These are for Shawn Michaels, Randy Savage and a recently released one for Roddy Piper so be on the lookout for more entries in this series in the near future!

Past Wrestling Blogs Best of WCW Clash of Champions Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2 Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3 Biggest Knuckleheads Bobby The Brain Heenan Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes DDP: Positively Living Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials ECW Unreleased: Vol 1 ECW Unreleased: Vol 2 ECW Unreleased: Vol 3 Eric Bishoff: Wrestlings Most Controversial Figure Fight Owens Fight: The Kevin Owens Story For All Mankind Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection Impact Wresting Presents: Best of Hulk Hogan Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story The Kliq Rules Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman Legends of Mid South Wrestling Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story Memphis Heat NXT: From Secret to Sensation NXT Greatest Matches Vol 1 OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History Owen: Hart of Gold RoH Supercard of Honor 2010-Present ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Hall: Living on a Razors Edge Sting: Into the Light Straight Outta Dudley-ville: Legacy of the Dudley Boyz Straight to the Top: Money in the Bank Anthology Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder Then Now Forever – The Evolution of WWEs Womens Division TLC 2017 TNA Lockdown 2005-2016 Top 50 Superstars of All Time Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season True Giants Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe War Games: WCWs Most Notorious Matches Warrior Week on WWE Network Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition Wrestlemania 28-Present The Wrestler (2008) Wrestling Road Diaries Too Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money Wrestlings Greatest Factions WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2017

#Wrestling #WWE #awa #wcw #hulk hogan #Randy Savage #Andre the Giant #bob backlund #Bret Hart #ric flair #vader #Triple H

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