Psycho666Soldier

I caved and started watching DanDaDan because I figured my girlfriend would like it. Looks I'll be roughly keeping up with it going forward. I love the OP. Everything else is incredible as well. Animation is other-wordly.

A little behind on some stuff. Might try to catch up a bit today. But I wanted to shout out one of the newest series Hakutaku. Third chapter dropped today, I really liked the first two chapters. It's about becoming a video game coder. Good art, very interesting characters, and it feels like it has the right level of charm and style as all the best anti-battle shonen. Hard to say if it'll hold up, but it hasn't disappointed yet. I think once I get caught up on the last couple rounds of the usual series, I'm finally gonna move to the second chapter of Kagurabachi and burn through that.

I already bought the first two volumes of Dandandan a good while back because I really liked the first couple chapters but didn't want to read on the website all the time. Of course, now there's an anime and the manga is available on the app, but I think I might still try to start by reading my volumes. We'll seez though.

1. :gba:Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons 2. :ps5:Disco Elysium 3. :ps5:Final Fantasy VII Rebirth 4. :ps1: Final Fantasy VIII 5. Tales of Kenzera: Zau This game had a lot of controversy on Twitter because it was made primarily by black creators who used African mythology to inspire their lore and world-building while saying they wanted to make a story everyone could relate to regardless. So naturally, when it was getting great reviews, a lot of idiots complained about it being a DEI game and the only reason the game was getting strong reviews(it was getting some 9s and 10s). It got so bad that one of the head creators made a video online explaining the vision(black people have spent years finding theirselves in white fictional characters, why can't it be the other way around sometimes?), and asked all platforms to discount the game so people could give it a fair shake. So I decided to give it a fair shake. And I thought it was really good. It's a classic Metroidvania in a mythical African fantasy world. Pretty compact game. Couldn't have taken me more than 15 hours to complete. It doesn't necessarily reinvent the wheel, but the setting had me in awe, and the characters and story were touching and told in an interesting way. The game shined in its boss sequences(which were pretty epic and intense) and its movement. It felt very satisfying to maneuver the map, and the ability upgrades you get are neat. There are these platforming challenges you can do for extra items that were really good tests of your reflexes. Its biggest flaw is its combat. They've crafted an interesting system with some cool abilities and a flow that forces you to think. But the issue lies in the game's structure, where most of the combat you do is repeatedly getting in a trapped zone that's about one screens worth, where you have to fight X amount of waves of enemies which all have very specific ways to beat them. The result is the combat ends up feeling more tedious than enjoyable, and it slows down what is otherwise a really enjoyable experience. I don't think it's the 9-10 game that some were claiming. But the complaints were definitely coming from bad faith, because while mechanically it might not be changing the game, the game comes together in a fun and captivating package that is only marred by it's dodgy combat. 8/10 easily

Super glad to hear this. I'll have to buy it soon

Also, Kaiju No. 8 was hype as usual. Akane-banashi #126 & 127

I've been digging the prison arc for Sakamoto Days so far. This chapter in particular was really cool, seeing how Shingo has developed both his powers and his compassion from the beginning do the series. Chainsaw Man #178 Elusive Samurai #172 & 173 Also, kind of a random thought, but I would love a Dynasty Warriors-style Elusive Samurai game.

I do feel like VIII really is aesthetically just on another level than it's contemporaries. They managed to make things modern while feeling so fresh and inventive. Between the soundtrack, the visuals, the landscape design and the way it feels like all the locations are tied together geopolitically, it just pops so much.

1. Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons 2. Disco Elysium 3. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth 4. :ps1: Final Fantasy VIII FF8 is, like many from my childhood, a game that I've restarted countless times but never finished. Sadly enough, when it was next up for my "I'm finally playing all mainline FF's in order to completion" run that still isn't finished after 10+ years, it still didn't get finished despite getting farther than before. So I finally buckled down after Rebirth and made sure that it would happen, and I'm glad I did. FF8 gets a bad rap and is considered the worst by many alongside FF2 and FF13. But being it was my second Final Fantasy, I still have fond memories of it. While I think there's a lot to critique, I do think this game is far better than most give it credit for. And this completion run has only confirmed that for me. The presentation of this game is outstanding. The things they do with some of the models is jaw-dropping. The music is excellent, the cinematics are great. The thing that's mostly lacking is story and a bit more focus on the cast. It's very comparable to XVI for me where presentation wise, they nailed it, but they missed elsewhere. For XVI, it's a great story with mediocre gameplay. For FF8, it's amazing gameplay with an ok but sloppily executed story. The amount of background plot, lore, and extra cutscenes is nothing short of impressive, and gives a lot of purpose to backtracking and exploring more than most entries in the series. Also just the amount of side content in general gives me all the right tickles. I think one of the biggest public critiques of the game is the battle system, particularly the junction system. But honestly, I find the progression system to be inspired and mostly lacking some more clear intention being told to the players. If you're the kind of person that enjoys breaking games, this system is perfectly suited to it. I do wish weapons mattered more and it wasn't so easy to make it the Squall show. Despite putting the best magic on them, my secondary attacker could never do even half as much damage as Squall. FF8 is a scenario tour de force. I think something missing from modern FF is the way parts of the game would involve almost mini-game-like gameplay to fit certain events. Having to manipulate the trains and avoid guards, needing to play missions a certain way to get better SeeD scores, trying to get the right band setup for the festival performance or even the big battle of the Gardens. There are so many moments like this that keep the gameplay fresh, exciting, and memorable. I think this is probably FF8's greatest strength, and I'd argue it's handled better than at least FF7, but probably on par with 9. The story is...definitely mixed. I think Squall's journey from edgy, standoffish teenager to passionate, empathic leader is great. And surprisingly, I actually like the romance between him and Rinoa. The moment when coming back from space and you find out Rinoa is going to be imprisoned due to becoming the sorceress is so fucking powerful, with Eyes on Me swelling in the background and nearly bringing me to tears. And while this game doesn't have my favorite character designs, I do find myself really enjoying the party. That said, the overall plot is a mess that I think is probably what drives many hardcore fans away. The orphanage reveal is handled so sloppily. No build, no plausible explanation for how Irvine was the only one to remember other than the GF making people lose memories which like...ok, it's a decent explanation, but feels so improperly set up. And the Ultimecia reveal dump from Edea feels very forced in and the scene doesn't have a lot of weight. It eventually becomes a thing where you're just along the ride and trying to power through it rather than actually being drawn into the plot. The action set pieces are great, and the interpersonal interactions are pretty top notch, but the why for it all is just lacking. The final boss battle feels fairly un-epic as a result, and while FF is no stranger to last second asspull demigod final bosses, it's particularly disappointing here when it felt like there could have been so much more. I will say the final dungeon is pretty awesome, and the care that went into giving the different bosses special death animations made the game feel very ahead of it's time. Overall, FF8 is a mess. Plot-wise, I think it sits just above the NES games where there was virtually no plot. Mechanically, I think it could have used a bit more balance in making characters other than Squall feel useful. But the messiness kind of adds to its charm for me. When the presentation is still impressive today, with one of the best soundtracks in the series, and when the world on general is just so fun and rewarding to explore...I can't help but feel it's a great game that just got saddled with a weak plot. And when it comes to games, I think missing the story mark while being fun to play is a better mistake than having a great story with shit gameplay. 7.5/10 that would be an 8.5 with it's flaws ironed out. Oh, and of course Triple Triad is awesome. Though I think Queen's Blood has officially surpassed it.

1. Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons 2. Disco Elysium 3. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Ok, I've been pushing this off too long to the point where I'm forgetting my ridiculously detailed mental notes, so it's time I finally get this over with. So yeah, as a complete package I think it missed the mark some when it comes to story and presentation. But as far as structure, gameplay, the way the story is generally presented, and basically everything else, I think this is the foundation the rest of the FF mainline series should be built on. Because were it not for the ending stretch and comparison to the original, this damn near would have been a perfect game for me. Also an almost complete improvement on the first installment. 8.5/10 I've beaten some other games since then, but in the case anyone actually cares to read all that, I'm gonna add them over the next couple days to give some room to breathe.

It honestly wasn't too bad until near the end where they say it more frequently. But I agree it does fit the general aura of that part of the story. I'm mostly going through Z because I've never read the manga all the way through, so I wanna see how it plays out in that form. Plus, just watching Toriyama's art continue to evolve.

It's so good, dude. I ended up finishing about a week ago and I've moved on into Z territory now. The Red Ribbon was originally as far as I got with the anime a long time ago because the files I downloaded had corrupted subtitles around the episode where he's training with Karin, and I checked and every episode after that had the same issue. So it was nice to finally see the Fortune Teller Baba arc. It's really funny that out of all the things the manga has, they feel the need to censor the cusswords. Every time they say, "Fooey!" I have to laugh.

Finally ready the most recent Elusive Samurai:

I did end up reading Beat & Motion: Holy shit, and Chainsaw Man:

I had a day where I said fuck work and was reading at my desk, and then I literally just spent the rest of the evening at home reading. I think I started that day halfway through the first tournament and just found myself wanting to blitz through the Red Ribbon arc. The time flew. Like you said, even though a lot of the chapters are only 13 pages, between the dialogue and how drawn in to the individual panels I am, it feels like a lot is going on. It's pretty awesome to see how great at depicting motion in his art, and I just don't think you can fully appreciate that watching the anime, so I'm glad I went this route.