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Character #50: Victor “Sully” Sullivan ”We don’t get to choose how we start in this life. Real ‘greatness’ is what you do with the hand you’re dealt.”    First Appearance: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (Nov. 19th, 2007) Bio: One of Nathan Drake’s business partners, Sully has a talent for pulling people into financing his treasure hunts to cover his enormous debts. He has a close relationship with Drake, to the point where he’s considered his mentor and father figure. --- As of these writings I still have yet to even start Uncharted 3, but for my money, Sully will always be the best part about the Uncharted series. What works about Sully is that he has a very simple desire to find some treasure and pay off his stupid enormous debts, but he also has a great relationship with his business partner Drake. The two of them are close enough together that they can crack jokes with each other, exchange some banter and helpful advice in the middle of a shootout, and support one another when one of them is in a jam. Even when most people think Sully’s just in it for the money, the amount of respect and friendship he has towards Drake is really something else. Plus, Sully is just really drat funny to listen to. You’ll get great quips from him every now and then like how he compares things not easily found to “finding a bride in a brothel,” and his sarcastic nature is second to none in the whole series (well, maybe Drake can one-up him every now and then but I digress). It really makes the series come together as a fun adventure whenever he’s alongside you, and he makes every other companion not even worth your time (except Tenzin, he’s cool). Sure he can be kind of an rear end in a top hat and more often than not tends to focus more on the treasure above all else, but at the end of the day, there’s no one else I’d rather be stuck in the jungle with than Victor “Goddamn” Sullivan. Question: Who are some of your favorite "humorous sidekick" characters in video games? Alf's 49th Favorite Character Teaser: Gets really stressed out when they lose a fight ==== Game #50: Rhythm Heaven Fever ”Soon we will see we’re living the dreams of our generation!”  Released: July 21st, 2011 Synopsis: The smash hit rhythm game comes to consoles in this explosive new game! With 50 games to choose from, plenty of endless games, and games you can play with a friend, it’s a non-stop barrage of rhythm fever! Chosen Music: Dreams of Our Generation Between the two Rhythm Heaven games I’ve played (never owned the one for DS), Rhythm Heaven Fever is the one I happen to like most of all. Both of them are great games in their own right, but I don’t like a lot of the little things that Megamix does. The story is pretty neat (as out of place as it is), and I do like the selection of games it has, but I always feel bothered by a point-scoring system requiring pinpoint accuracy if you want a perfect score (which gets really annoying when you want to go for perfect accuracy opportunities on each game), way too many controls to keep track of for every game, and the weird decision to be forced to play through shorter and easier versions of previous games at the start of the game, only giving you the regular versions later into the game. Fever on the other hand feels good to pick up and play immediately. The only buttons you have to work with are A and A+B, but it’s a control scheme that can be remembered for any of the games available. Then as the game gets more complex with newer versions of previous games and more varied Remix compilations, it’s much easier to keep track of what the game wants you to do, which is something I highly appreciate. It also helps that Fever has by far one of my favorite soundtracks of the Rhythm Heaven games (Tonight, Lonely Storm, I Love You My One and Only, Beautiful One Day, and Dreams of Our Generation are all great), and just about every game in this title is absolutely great to play (except Monkey Watch; gently caress that imprecise bullshit). It’s just a drat good game, and I have a huge affection for its rhythm games and soundtrack; if you have a Wii U and $20 to spare, this game is an absolute steal at that price. Question: How do you prefer a score and ranking system to be implemented in a game? Alf's 49th Favorite Game Teaser: You can die by getting stepped on
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Apr 2, 2017 00:00
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Help Im Alive posted:and I don't know what it would be like since you already played Megamix but I think Rhythm Heaven on DS is probably still worth buying (i played them in order so idk) I would probably like it more than Megamix anyways, so I will look into getting it when I have the time
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Apr 2, 2017 01:01
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Character #49: Guzma “The hated boss who beats you down, and beats you down, and never lets up... Yeah. Big bad Guzma is here!"   [x] [x]First Appearance: Pokemon Sun and Moon (Nov. 18th, 2016) Bio: The leader of the villainous Team Skull, Guzma shows no mercy in a Pokemon battle and always strives to come out on top. His goal is to fight back against the traditions of Alola and establish himself as the strongest Trainer in the region. --- One of the things that make Team Skull so awesome compared to previous evil teams in Pokemon is their leader, Guzma. In addition to being the perfect kind of guy to lead a team of tryhard punks, Guzma absolutely revels in the spotlight whenever he’s on the scene, calling himself “ya boy” with complete confidence. Unlike most evil bosses that prefer keeping their plans to themselves, Guzma puts himself and his plans out there all the time, only adding to the “gang of punks” mentality of Team Skull. He spends a lot of his time instilling fear into those around him, but he also respects those who have real strength, which is something he overlooks in anyone that isn’t a Kahuna or Trial Captain. Then he loses his poo poo when he loses a battle anyway because he’s kind of a sore loser like that. Pokemon Sun & Moon Spoilers Though it gets kinda hard to just laugh off those outbursts when you learn about how he failed to be a Trial Captain, or how his previous group got crushed really badly by one of the Tapus. He did have his successes in the past, as evidenced by the trophies in his room in the house on Route 2, but that doesn’t make it sting any less when he does lose. Even when his parents love him unconditionally, he still ended up taking his anger out on them, all because of his internal frustration with getting other people to recognize his real strength. When you look at it like that, it’s easy to see why he fell in with Lusamine, the only adult that actually recognized his potential, and the resulting trip to Ultra Space does a lot to ground him and make him feel fear for the first time in his life. It’s made all the more satisfying once he disbands Team Skull and decides to start all over again, showing that underneath his sometimes-childish attitude, his willingness to do better is real and earnest. Question: How do you prefer a redemption of a character to be handled? Are there any examples you can name of a character's redemption done poorly? Alf's 48th Favorite Character Teaser: Collects figures modeled after themselves ==== Game #49: SimAnt ”Ants. You’ve shared your food, your home, and your planet with them. You’ve stepped on them, sprayed them, cursed them and bombed them. Now you can BE them!”  Released: 1991 Synopsis: As an ant living among your colony, you must gather resources and battle for survival within the confines of an ordinary neighborhood backyard. Crush the rival ants and claim the entire backyard as your own, or take it a step further and conquer the entire house! Chosen Music: Title Theme --- OKAY SO LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT A loving AWESOME GAME CALLED SIMANT  YOU SEE THIS DIPSHIT YELLOW ANT?! THAT’S YOU! YOU ARE A MEMBER OF AN ANT COLONY AND YOUR GOAL IS TO BE THE BADDEST ANT COLONY THIS SIDE OF THE BACKYARD YOU DO THIS BY COLLECTING FOOD TO SURVIVE AND BEATING THE poo poo OUT OF THESE RED rear end in a top hat ANTS  BUT THERE’S LOTS OF CRAZY poo poo BESIDES THE RED ANTS THAT’S READY TO gently caress YOU UP, INCLUDING: RAIN  ANTLIONS  THE LAWNMOWER  GIANT SPIDERS OH CHRIST  BUT DON’T WORRY, THROUGH THE POWER OF BEING A TOTAL HARDASS, YOUR ANT WILL BE REBORN FROM A NEW EGG AND poo poo BE LIKE  BAH-DA-DA-DA DAH-DA-DA-DA DA-DAH-DA-DA DAH-DA-DA-DA DAH YOU CAN DO A QUICK GAME IF YOU WANT TO PUT THOSE RED ANTS IN THEIR PLACE, OR IF YOU’RE A REAL BADASS, YOU CAN DO A FULL GAME AND TAKE OVER THE ENTIRE YARD AND HOUSE  LOOK AT THIS FAMILY. THIS FAMILY IS WEAK. YOU HAVE JUST PROVEN THE FOLLY OF MAN THANKS TO YOU AND YOUR ANT BUDDIES. THE ANT QUEEN IS SO PROUD OF YOU SO IF YOU WANT TO ENTER THE RADICAL WORLD OF BEING A DEATH-DEFYING, NO-SELLING, ZERO-FUCKS-GIVEN HARDBOILED ANT, JUST TELL ‘EM THAT I SENT YOU. THEY’LL KNOW WHAT TO DO FROM THERE Question: What's your favorite Sim or general simulation game? Alf's 48th Favorite Game Teaser: A fighting game with only one character that speaks English Alfalfa The Roach fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Apr 4, 2017 |
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Apr 3, 2017 23:24
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Went back and edited a line in Guzma's write-up which was a pretty big oversight on my part. Sorry about that
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Apr 4, 2017 00:12
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Character #48: Doom Slayer/Doomguy "In the first age, in the first battle, when the shadows first lengthened, one stood. Burned by the embers of Armageddon, his soul blistered by the fires of Hell and tainted beyond ascension, he chose the path of perpetual torment. In his ravenous hatred he found no peace; and with boiling blood he scoured the Umbral Plains seeking vengeance against the dark lords who had wronged him. He wore the crown of the Night Sentinels, and those that tasted the bite of his sword named him... the Doom Slayer."    First Appearance: Doom 2016 (May 13th, 2016) Bio: A viciously brutal space marine, the Doom Slayer is awoken from slumber after a previous failed attempt to wipe out the denizens of Hell. Although his benefactor simply needs him to stop Olivia Pierce, he has only one objective in mind: kill anything in his path. --- Usually I don’t like main characters that are mute and have to have a lot of their personality filled in for them by the player (looking at you, Crono), but Doom Slayer is absolutely great at this. Why? Because he and the player share the goal of killing poo poo all the time! He doesn’t want to wait around for some dumb explanation about Argent Energy and “the threat to humanity” or whatever, he wants to just get in and murder some demons! Yeah he’ll do the job you gave him to shut some machines down, but why do that when you can just CRUSH THEM! He won’t give a gently caress about the long-term consequences so long as he’s able to destroy whatever’s in front of him, and at the end of the day that’s just a beautiful thing (some cutscenes spoil this aspect and is more the fault of the game than anything, but I digress). There’s a lot of lore surrounding Doom Slayer that you find in-game as well, but the amazing thing is it never feels over-indulgent. Hearing a demonic voice speak at length about Doom Slayer and how much of a badass he is gets you hyped and feeds into the thrill of actually playing as the Doom Slayer. It perfectly compliments all the cool poo poo you’re able to do already, and adds more gravitas to the mythology of the character rather than leaving him as “some space marine who happens to be good at killing things.” It’s a joy to play as Doom Slayer, learn about Doom Slayer, and most importantly, BE Doom Slayer, and it’s a big part of what makes Doom so drat good. Question: How do you prefer silent protagonists in video games? Would they be improved if they weren't silent? Alf's 47th Favorite Character Teaser: Gets possessed more often than not ==== Game #48: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars ”You can fly over the rainbow with me; close your eyes and just believe!”  Released: December 2008 Synopsis: The best of Capcom’s video game warriors meet the greatest of Tatsunoko’s anime heroes! Choose from over 20 characters and engage in classic 2v2 Vs. series gameplay, while taking advantage of new mechanics such as Baroque and Mega Crash! Chosen Music: Across the Border --- Smash Bros. will always be the game that got me into competitive gaming more than anything, but Tatsunoko vs. Capcom was the game that really got me into fighting games in general. I remember my first memory of the game was seeing it in magazine scans for the Japan-exclusive Cross Generation of Heroes version, not knowing who the gently caress anyone was. Then I see a gameplay video and go “Oh my god, you can launch people into the air and do sick air combos?! That’s fuckin’ awesome!” I earnestly wanted this game when I saw it in action, even when I thought there was no chance in hell that we’d ever get it in America. But then a year later, Capcom decided to blindside everybody by releasing it internationally as Ultimate All-Stars, complete with online play and a few extra characters (RIP Hakushon Daimao tho). I was so excited. I bought it as soon as it came out and I proceeded to suck immensely at the one tourney I went to for it, and then as the years went on it got quickly forgotten and replaced by Marvel 3 (a much worse game if you ask me). But even with how much I suck at it, and how it’s not even the best game in its own genre, I still really appreciate Tatsunoko vs. Capcom for giving me that taste of what traditional fighting games were capable of. I’d argue that it still holds up in comparison to the more recent Capcom fighters and it’s probably the one game I can think of where there’s very little about it that’s outright broken (biggest outliers would be Zero and Tekkaman Blade, and I don’t know much about the giants PTX-40A and Gold Lightan to really call them broken). I do wish the international version kept some of the features in Cross Generation of Heroes like the FMV endings, individual mini-games for each character (that got replaced by this lame Ultimate All-Shooters mini-game), and character-specific music themes, but all in all they did a bang-up job with this title and I’m hoping we can get a sequel sometime within the next decade. Seriously guys, TvC2. Hajime Ichinose from Gatchaman Crowds. Instant platinum seller in my book. Question: Which fighting game do you have the most nostalgia for? Alf's 47th Favorite Game Teaser: Features extremely simple controls Alfalfa The Roach fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Apr 6, 2017 |
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Apr 5, 2017 23:07
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Character #47: King Dedede ”You can’t be mean to my Waddle Dees! Only I can be mean to my Waddle Dees!”    First Appearance: Kirby’s Dream Land (Apr. 27th, 1992) Bio: The self-proclaimed ruler of Dream Land, King Dedede’s selfish ambitions and abuse of power leads him to clash with Kirby frequently. More often than not, however, he’s willing to help Kirby defeat greater threats to preserve the peace. --- There’s something that’s always delightful about seeing King Dedede on the screen at any given moment. He’s already fantastic just based on his character design, with a face that’s perfect for his wide range of emotions, and a giant hammer that lets him really throw his weight around. But he also embodies being the polar opposite of Kirby brilliantly; while Kirby usually eats in the company of others and only kinda tends to get carried away, Dedede’s gluttonous and selfish habits take center stage, usually at the expense of his own kingdom. It’s his own comical buffoonery and his attempts to pass himself off as a pimp that keep him interesting, though, and it gives him everything he needs to perfectly counterbalance his rivalry with Kirby (also of note is the Kirby anime giving him a southern accent, which instantly makes him even more amazing). And yet, with all his self-absorbed swagger, you’d never think he’d be one of Kirby’s most consistent allies against a greater evil. Sometimes he just gets possessed or cloned by the main bad guy and that’s real lame, but stuff like turning off the Fountain of Dreams to keep Nightmare trapped inside shows that he has more concern for Dream Land than he lets on. The fact that he’s willing to work with Kirby of all people, despite really not wanting to sometimes, might be a hint that he respects his rival to some degree and shows his willingness to help him for the greater good of the world. Or maybe he just wants to get it over with so he can go back to telling everyone how great he is, who knows. But it’s all part of the fun about Dedede, and I appreciate every moment that lets him shine the brightest. Question: Which characters in video games (or media in general) are so self-absorbed that you can't help but love them? Alf's 46th Favorite Character Teaser: Ruined a comedy act after an arson joke was told ==== Game #47: Kirby Air Ride ”Kirby’s ready to ride!”  Released: July 11th, 2003 Synopsis: Kirby takes the racing scene by storm with Kirby’s Air Ride! Race against friends in the free-range Air Ride, race top-down in Top Ride, or gather power-ups in preparation for a big showdown in City Trial! Chosen Music: Checker Knights --- Kirby Air Ride is such a weird game in that you can completely remove Air Ride and Top Ride from the game and get all the enjoyment you’ll ever need out of City Trial. But they decided to include those two anyways, and... yeah, I’m not gonna lie, Air Ride is kinda boring outside of the gorgeous track design. But I do like Top Ride quite a bit; it’s got this nice, arcade racer kind of feel and there’s a novelty to watching chaos unfold from launching items everywhere and seeing the maps change in various ways. It’s mostly hurt by making the handling kinda awkward, and you’ll have to finagle with steering a bit until you get a good feel for how it works, but it's still a lot of fun. I also like the addition of the Checklist to give you plenty of goals to work towards, and the music is some of the absolute best in the Kirby series. But of course, I and everyone else know that the real meat of the game lies in City Trial. The feedback you get from collecting stat boosts and applying them to your preferred vehicle (Wheelie Scooter boys represent) is immediate; every power-up has a purpose, and each one you collect makes an even more impressionable difference to separate your craft from the other players. That’d be cool enough on its own, but City Trial lets you do so much more; you can directly interfere with other players and ruin their poo poo, stealing what they’ve earned in the process, you can collect parts for two wildly different Legendary Machines, and you can benefit from or try to survive various different events like Dyna Blade, meteors, T.A.C. stealing poo poo, wrecking a mysterious-rear end pillar, or just getting on top of a UFO and grabbing power-ups. And the final matches at the end are even more varied: a dart board, killing enemies, flying as high or as far as you can, beating up each other, BEATING UP KING DEDEDE, on and on and on. It’s such a visceral, high octane, and endlessly customizable mode and it’s something I’d gladly play until the end of time. I doubt we’ll ever get a Kirby Air Ride 2: City Trial Harder, but at the very least, I hope Air Ride can get a port or rerelease on the Switch so that the added benefit of portability can bring it a little closer to being a perfect game. Question: What sort of features can make a seemingly mediocre game an absolute joy to play? Alf's 46th Favorite Game Teaser: Features Chozo statues
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Apr 8, 2017 00:17
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Character #46: Eleanor Hume "I won’t turn a blind eye to the consequences of my actions. I chose this path to seek the truth, not to deny it."    First Appearance: Tales of Berseria (Aug. 18th, 2016) Bio: After a fearsome raid on her village by daemons took her mother’s life, Eleanor joined the Abbey and became an Exorcist to prevent anyone else from going through the same trauma that she did. She initially pursues Velvet with the intent to take her in, but a sudden event forces her to travel with her, and ends up changing her outlook in the process. --- You gotta appreciate Eleanor for trying her best, even when she’s misguided for like half of the game. She has a very earnest sense of duty and a desire to do good for those around her, which helps add some balance in a cast that’s otherwise full of criminals. Some of her most hilarious moments in the game even come from her being a self-righteous stick in the mud and assuming she knows better (ruining Magilou’s act after she makes an arson joke and muttering out loud about Velvet’s clothes are some of my favorites). Even when she’s as caring and compassionate as can be, though, she has a very good reason to hate daemons, and her duties as a Praetor only hinder her understanding of daemons and malakhim alike. Tales of Berseria Mid-Game Spoilers That is, until the events of Palamides happen and Eleanor encounters Kamoana, a therion who only manages to survive after her mother, already a daemon, gives her life for her. The sequence of events and the personal irony associated with them come so fast and brilliantly, and they send such a shockwave through Eleanor, who experienced the same thing when her mother was murdered. Suddenly everything she was ever taught by the Abbey comes crumbling around her, and she realizes the lengths the organization she trusted will go to achieve their goals. It’s here that she really starts to see daemons as more than just monsters, and she takes Kamoana under her wing to take care of her in place of her mother (who she clearly expresses some guilt over killing, as evidenced by her side-quest). It’s a beautiful moment for her that helps her see the good in more than just humans, and it makes her desire to help others that much stronger. Question: Can you relate to a character who believes they're doing the right thing? Alf's 45th Favorite Character Teaser: Has a strange obsession with the number 2 ==== Game #46: Guacamelee! “I am CARLOS CALACA, THE GREATEST CHARRO THAT EVER LIVED... and died... BUT LIVES AGAIN!!!”  Released: April 9th, 2013 Synopsis: Juan Aguacate, a simple agave farmer, is killed during a raid on his village by the evil charro skeleton, Carlos Calaca. After obtaining a mysterious mask from the underworld that brings him back to life, Juan must use his newfound abilities to defeat Carlos Calaca and save El Presidente’s daughter from certain doom. Chosen Music: Temple of Rain --- Guacamelee is like if you took a Metroidvania, put it into a blender with elements from Mexican culture and folklore, then gave it sentience and put it into a class on how to be a good action game. That’s kind of a weird metaphor to start with, but that’s the gist of my argument; it’s a game that blends these elements drat near perfectly. One of my absolute favorite things about this game is how it handles combat: You get different abilities throughout the game by breaking Chozo statues (and yes, they are actually called Chozo statues, just with an extra ‘o’ in the middle), and you get stuff like wall jumping, double jumping, and turning into a chicken. But you also get new combat moves like an uppercut, a headbutt, and a dash punch, and all of these moves can be configured into your playstyle to keep your combo going in encounters. They absolutely nailed the feel of deftly dodging enemy strikes only to continue your combo a second later in a two-dimensional space, and the ability to warp between the lands of the living and the dead to fight certain enemies put its own spin on combat. And of course, being a luchador means you get all kinds of different grapple attacks at your disposal, and it’s a joy to pull off every single one of them. This all comes on top of it being a real good Metroidvania, with plenty of great puzzles to solve and areas to explore (though going for the true ending can be a bit of a pain), plenty of upgrades to get, and plenty of enemies and bosses to beat the poo poo out of. Top it all off with a seriously awesome visual style, a cool cast of characters, and great writing, and you’ve got one of my favorite Metroidvanias of the last decade. Any person who’s a fan of the genre should seriously check it out. Question: What's your policy on games that give you new abilities over time? How should they be implemented in the game in a way that makes them gratifying and fun to use? Alf's 45th Favorite Game Teaser: Opens with a Marco Polo quote Alfalfa The Roach fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Apr 10, 2017 |
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Apr 9, 2017 23:11
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I never got around to playing the Super Turbo Edition actually, but that is kind of a bummer to hear. Still, I probably should look into it
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Apr 9, 2017 23:50
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psyman posted:What self-respecting adult writes bios about Pokemon bosses and King Dedede, please stop embarrassing yourself OP and get a girlfriend/boyfriend Writing essays about Dedede owns actually
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Apr 10, 2017 17:54
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Character #45: F.A.N.G “Two minutes - I’ll finish you in two minutes!”    First Appearance: Street Fighter V (Feb. 16th, 2016) Bio: The new second-in-command of Shadaloo’s forces, F.A.N.G prides himself on his Poison Hand fighting style and his cunning strategies. While he previously attempted to kill M. Bison, he now seems content with pledging his allegiances to him and helping him conquer the world. --- Full disclosure here, I have little to no interest in ever picking up Street Fighter V, but if I did, I’d try to learn F.A.N.G in a heartbeat. Having gameplay mechanics centered on poison in a fighting game is unique enough, but he absolutely loves just being a dick to everyone he meets. And not just like throwing his weight around like some of the other guys on this list, he has so much fun being an annoying poo poo to his co-workers and the other fighters that it’s kind of hilarious. But despite all his bravado and taunting, he has a huge amount of respect for M. Bison, which I happen to like since he initially started with trying to assassinate him. I think why I ended up liking F.A.N.G more than a lot of other minion-type characters was due to me getting to him just after getting disappointed with D’Vorah’s role in Mortal Kombat X’s story mode. Maybe it’s just me, but characters that serve someone until it’s revealed they were an irredeemable double agent all along are starting to feel worn out and not as exciting anymore (unless they can do something interesting with how they became double agents in the first place). With F.A.N.G, he has every opportunity to kill Bison now, but he genuinely wants his new boss to succeed, which is something I hardly ever see in a minion these days. Not only does that give his character a huge amount of legitimacy, it makes his ridicule of the enemy all the better when you remember that he has the full might of Shadaloo backing him up. Question: What kind of second-in-command evil characters do you prefer? Alf's 44th Favorite Character Teaser: Made their grand return in Super Smash Bros... as a Mii costume ==== Game #45: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves "I did not tell half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed..."  Released: October 13th, 2009 Synopsis: Treasure hunter Nathan Drake takes on a job to steal a Mongolian oil lamp from a museum only to be embroiled in a struggle to find the legendary Shangri-La. Along the way, he must decide who to trust and who to save, lest they all meet their fate by the hands of the ruthless warlord Zoran Lazarević. Chosen Music: Nate’s Theme 2.0 --- When I got my PS4 bundled with the Nathan Drake Collection, I must have subconsciously told myself that the only reason I got that particular bundle was to play Uncharted 2. As of this writing, I haven’t booted up Uncharted 3 at all yet, and Uncharted 1, while it’s a neat Indiana Jones-inspired adventure, is about as perfectly average as you can get, even with its snappy dialogue and cool gunplay (the climbing and puzzles, while they help break up the action, can get a little samey and boring). With Uncharted 2, though, they took what worked with the first game and amped it up immensely. I played it on Hard because I was too weak to try Crushing, but either way, the way the game plays out is incredible. There are more situations where the usage of every one of your options is important (grenades included), and there are more setpieces and encounters that change up your approach in new and interesting ways (shooting dudes while hanging from a signpost, shooting dudes on a train while avoiding a helicopter, shooting dudes while running around trying not to let them punch your head off, the works). You will be exchanging and going through different weapons very quickly, but that’s what makes this game really work; it forces you to adapt and change your strategy multiple times within a given chapter, and pulling it off every time feels immensely satisfying. I do kinda feel like Uncharted 2 was the point where I realized the writing in the series amounted to a lot of quips and one-liners, but to its credit, it still makes a lot of characters really likable. Nathan Drake’s still a cocksure bastard with a heart of gold, Sully is THE MAN and an absolute joy to listen to every time, Elena and Chloe exist I guess, and Lazarevic manages to be a much more legitimate and imposing threat compared to Uncharted 1’s really lame business man bad guy. If I ever start up Uncharted 3 I’m kinda hoping for the writing quality to start picking up, but as long as the gameplay remains excellent, that’ll be enough for me. Question: Do you think a story can be shallow as long as the characterization and dialogue writing remain compelling and good? Alf's 44th Favorite Game Teaser: One of the most 80's-inspired games to come out in the past decade
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Apr 11, 2017 23:48
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Bogart posted:Alfalfa is too genuine and honest for me to poo poo on this thread. You're a treasure, Bogart. Thank you
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Apr 11, 2017 23:48
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Character #44: King K. Rool “I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment. Soon, Donkey Kong and his pretty little island will be no more!”    First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country (Nov. 21st, 1994) Bio: The ruthless leader of the Kremlings, King K. Rool will stop at nothing to destroy the Kong family and take their bananas for himself. He has a habit of changing his profession with each encounter, and his plots range from kidnapping and extortion, to blowing up the Kongs’ home island. --- King K. Rool has coasted to this spot almost entirely on rule of cool. Unlike a lot of other Nintendo villains that have sprung up over the years (save for people like Bowser, most Pokemon bosses, and arguably most Fire Emblem villains), K. Rool has always stood out for his sense of style and to just get poo poo done. Half of the time he shows up in the series, he’s donned a new outfit and has his minions follow closely to his own flavor-of-the-month theming to an almost impressive degree. I mean I dunno about you guys, but I’d love to fight an awesome alligator boss who dresses up like a pirate and forces his cronies to also be a band of seafaring brigands. Nowadays he’s fallen to the side as other Nintendo villains have started to take up the spotlight, but I have a huge appreciation of K. Rool for being one of the best parts of the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy. poo poo like the Kredits in his DKC1 fight and making KAOS out of his wife’s kitchen bowls as Baron K. Roolenstein is great, and I wouldn’t mind another game where he just goes as Kaptain K. Rool again. And even outside of that he has that incredibly sinister voice in DK64, his hilarious and foppish moments in the DKC cartoon (which admittedly I never grew up on), and a surprise reappearance in Mario Super Sluggers where he dresses in tribal clothing and his bat is just a scepter. We’ll probably never get to see him make his grand appearance in Smash Bros. (excluding the Mii costume), but he’ll always be at the top of my list of most wanted fighters. Question: Will we ever see King K. Rool in Super Smash Bros.? Alf's 43rd Favorite Character Teaser: Once tried to take over the world with dancing ==== Game #44: Double Dragon Neon ”Marian?!” ”Aw man, not again!”  Released: September 11th, 2012 Synopsis: Marian has been kidnapped by the evil Skullmageddon! Billy and Jimmy Lee must work together to get her back in their wildest and craziest adventure yet! Chosen Music: Title Theme --- For the longest time, my favorite beat ‘em up game was always TMNT IV: Turtles in Time on the SNES, mostly because it was one of the few co-op games I played with my brother back in the day. There were tons of things about it that I loved; the graphics, the music, the gameplay, all those voice clips, and the awesome boss fights. Then, when Double Dragon Neon came up on the horizon, I awaited the day where I could play it with my bro (or anyone, really) to recapture that magic feeling of beating the poo poo out of punks with a buddy by your side. That’s why, on the very first day of this year, I went out and got a PS3 controller, fired up a copy I downloaded on my PS3 some two or three years ago, and spent an afternoon mopping up the streets with my bro, and it was a drat good time. Most of my history with the series itself comes from hazy memories of Double Dragon 1 on the NES, but Neon does an amazing job honoring the series’ legacy all the same. It takes full advantage of the time period it came out in to bathe the characters and visuals in a glamorous 80’s style, and it takes the time to mix in pop songs relevant to the era while also providing fantastic tunes and remixes by Jake Kaufman. The combat, while kinda stiff like Double Dragon games tend to be, is evolved through power-up bonuses for dodging at the right time, and a variety of different techniques and passive abilities gives you plenty of options to work with. It also does a lot of neat things with the co-op, like being able to revive a downed bro, and the high-five system, which lets you be as much of a bro as you want (for better or worse). It’s also got some of my favorite bosses in the beat ‘em up genre, including the main baddie Skullmageddon, who is literally just Skeletor from He-Man right down to the voice. It’s awesome. It’s kind of a bummer that Double Dragon IV goes back to the NES visual style when Neon does so much to update the series for the modern era. I’d go as far as to call it the best beat ‘em up out there, with lots of great action, hilarious dialogue and in-jokes, and plenty of awesome boss fights. If you’ve got a bro and an afternoon to spare, get this game so you too can enjoy the thrill of punching Literally Skeletor in his stupid nerd face. Question: What are your favorite kinds of beat-em-up games? Alf's 43rd Favorite Game Teaser: Features a rabbit creature as an ally
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Apr 14, 2017 00:42
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Character #43: Waluigi “Hey! You might be getting better, but nobody cheats better than Waluigi! You got that?!”    First Appearance: Mario Tennis (July 21st, 2000) Bio: As Wario is to Mario, so too is Waluigi to Luigi. Sneaky and underhanded to the extreme, Waluigi has no qualms with cheating to get to the top, while simultaneously trying to ruin the chances of anyone in his way. --- Man, there are a lotta assholes this early into the list, huh? Well whatever, these are all cool assholes, so we’ll let it slide. Before Waluigi really embraced meme status with the advent of Brawl in the Family, Waluigi occupied a very specific niche as my flavor-of-the-month pick for Mario Party games from 2001-2002. There were a lot of cool things about him, from his purple clothing to his extremely thin mustache that told me “this guy is a cool-rear end dude and I’m gonna use him.” The feeling came and went as soon as Mario Party 5 came out and I wanted to try out some of the newer characters instead, and it wasn’t until years later (somewhere around the time that Brawl was still in development) that I remembered what made him so great in the first place. Then Brawl in the Family introduced him as part of an April Fool’s gag and I fell in love all over again. It’s hard to really describe what makes Waluigi work, because a lot of things about him end up making his existence a complete paradox. He’s cool as hell and carries tons of swagger with him, but he’s also a gigantic loser who can’t take a loss gracefully. He seems powerless to do anything without his partner in crime Wario’s help, but he can somehow do insane poo poo like summon entire bodies of water and swim through the air for his special moves. He accuses everyone around him of cheating all the time, while he does his own non-stop cheating in every competition he enters. He’s one of the biggest cheaters and most self-pitying losers in the Mushroom Kingdom, but as Luigi’s foil and Wario’s partner, he’s perfect in every way. (Please give him his own game soon, Nintendo) Question: If Waluigi were to get his own game, what kind of game would it be? Should Waluigi even get his own game at all? Alf's 42nd Favorite Character Teaser: Is a total weenie ==== Game #43: Fire Emblem Awakening "There're better places to take a nap that on the ground, you know. Give me your hand."  Released: April 19th, 2012 Synopsis: The continent of Ylisse lies on the brink of war between the Halidom of Ylisse and the kingdom of Plegia. As an amnesiac tactician, you must assist Prince Chrom and his Sheperds in defending Ylisse from enemies of the present and future. Chosen Music: Don’t speak her name! --- Back in the early days of Fire Emblem starting to make waves in the West, I always hated playing it because of its perma-death mechanic. I can at least recognize the fact that it puts more emphasis on smart strategy and making each member of your unit more valuable, but it’s annoying to reset every time a unit dies to some lucky crit or when someone who wasn’t supposed to get hit suddenly bites it. So when I heard that Awakening was introducing a Casual Mode for people like me who hate perma-death, I was completely onboard, except even after I bought it when it came out, I still wasn’t too interested in finishing it and put it down for a long while. It wasn’t until Lucina and Robin were introduced into Smash for 3DS/Wii U in July of 2014 that I finally decided to play it more. Of course, I was still a little slow in playing it, but as soon as I reached “that chapter,” I was completely hooked. That’s probably why I like Awakening for reasons other than the inclusion of Casual Mode: when it gets its moments to shine, the writing quality is top-notch. The story itself is a pretty by-the-books Fire Emblem plot - fight off an evil kingdom who wants power, also there’s an evil dragon involved because of course there is - but what makes it work is the lengths some of the characters go to in order to achieve their goals. There are themes of self-sacrifice and nearly murdering someone for the greater good at play here, and it’s all handled extraordinarily well. It also helps that the cast is very likable, with a helping handful of hilarious and sometimes touching Support conversations breathing a lot of life into them. I used to think that Awakening had some of the best gameplay in the series before Fates came along (even when the story of Fates is a hot mess), but on its own, Awakening is still really drat fun to play. You can break the game over its head real fast with the Pair-Up mechanic on Normal, but it helps add plenty of depth and strategy to how you approach enemies, especially on higher difficulties. Pair-Up is also really good for building up Support conversations, which helps to play into how the children units turn out; not only do they make it work in the context of the story (which Fates failed to do), but it’s super fun being able to pass on abilities from parents to their kids, and it makes for a Fire Emblem game that’s far more customizable than most entries. All in all, I’m really happy that Awakening got the success it deserves; it’s such an earnest and sincere love letter to the Fire Emblem series as a whole, and it’s helped to pave the way for the franchise coming back from the grave and eventually becoming a major IP for Nintendo. Question: What's a game that you're really glad that you got to play? Alf's 42nd Favorite Game Teaser: A game about heroes
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Apr 15, 2017 22:59
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No clue honestly, but it's something that's worth looking into Character #42: Asgore “Human... It was nice to meet you. Goodbye.”    First Appearance: Undertale (Sep. 15th, 2015) Bio: The king of the Underground, Asgore is kind-hearted and compassionate to all of the Underground’s denizens. After a great tragedy befell him, however, he began collecting human souls in order to break the barrier trapping everyone beneath Mount Ebott. --- From an objective standpoint, Mettaton would be the one to take this spot for being such a fantastic entertainer in every one of his encounters. But Asgore has always stuck out to me on a relatable level, mainly in his role for continuing the war against humans and how it runs opposite to his actual character. Throughout the course of the game, you’re told various things about him from the denizens of the Underground, usually about how great or how terrible he is, that it’s hard to parse who he is at the center. But then you finally meet him in his throne room and oh my gosh, he is just the nicest and most humble person in the entire realm. And it makes what you have to do next in the story that much sadder. Major Undertale Spoilers Destroying the Mercy button before the start of the fight is an absolutely genius move on a Pacifist run, since it really hammers home the idea that there is literally no other way to end the fight. You have to either fight to kill him and potentially crush the hopes of the Underground, or die while vainly telling him not to fight and give the monsters a better tomorrow, and either option is a horrible reality to confront. It’s absolutely one of the best boss fights in the game, and in a game filled with amazing boss fights, that’s saying a lot. Plus, once you beat him... you just kind of feel really bad for the guy. He’s done a lot of awful poo poo to get where he is right now (which, honestly, is kinda lovely of him in hindsight and I’m glad they touch upon that in the True Pacifist route), but he never meant for the whole situation to get to this point. The anger and frustration over losing both his sons caused him to declare his intention of collecting human souls, a decision that he ends up regretting and can’t even back down from or risk losing the respect of his people. It’s a heartbreaking scenario to be in, and regardless of how questionable his actions were up to that point, I can’t help but relate to all that regret that he carries with him. Question: Even when a character does some terrible things, how much are you able to relate to them on some level even after all they've done? Alf's 41st Favorite Character Teaser: Makes horrible noises ==== Game #42: Overwatch ”You know, the world could always use more heroes.”  Released: May 24th, 2016 Synopsis: Overwatch has been dismantled by the Petras Act, but crime and corruption are still running rampant throughout the world. Choose from over 20 heroes and heroines, each with their own unique abilities, and fight for truth and justice everywhere! Chosen Music: The World Could Always Use More Heroes --- As soon as I saw Overwatch’s very first gameplay trailer back in 2014, it was love at first sight. A team-based shooter that was bright, colorful, and just really really nice to look at would have been enough, but the character design spoke to me in a way that most games would only dream of, and arguably still continues to speak to me to this day. There’s just so much variety and so many different cool ideas going into them; each character is brimming with personality, and they come from so many different nationalities. Then you mix in character concepts that work brilliantly in the game’s universe, like a robotic monk, an old woman sniper, a Russian strongwoman, a gigantic knight with a huge hammer, a techno-musician who functions as a fighter and an RPG-style bard, a pro gamer who fights in a customized mecha suit, and a black ops soldier that stylizes himself after the Grim Reaper, among so many other examples. Just, god, I adore how well designed every character in this game is, even ones I’m not so fond of like Widowmaker and Torbjörn. When it comes to the actual gameplay, I find that it’s just about perfect. There are some characters that are more annoying to fight against than others (Widowmaker especially), but the balance has been refined to the point where it’s hard for anyone playing with friends to have a bad time. What helps the most is that each character in the cast has their own unique weapons and abilities, and it’s incredibly gratifying when you make a smart play by popping an ultimate at the right time or just by using your standard abilities to the fullest extent. The only reason why this game isn’t higher on my list (aside from Loot Boxes being Loot Boxes and not always getting what you want) is that it can’t run at all on my computer, and it chugs considerably on my laptop, making actually playing it a herculean task for me. But once I get myself the right set-up that can run the game good, you better believe I’ll be revisiting it more often. Question: What's a game that you absolutely love even though you haven't played much of it? Alf's 41st Favorite Game Teaser: Features moving treasure chests
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Apr 18, 2017 00:04
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Character #41: Mimikyu “Pikachu ja nai no Mimikyu da yo.”    First Appearance: Pokemon Sun and Moon (Nov. 18th, 2016) Bio: Mimikyu, the Disguise Pokemon. To stave off the immense loneliness it feels, it wears a costume modeled after Pikachu in an attempt to make friends and disguise its horrifying appearance. It usually hangs around dark areas, and exposure to sunlight will cause its health to deteriorate. --- Throughout the long, 20-year history of Pokemon, Pikachu’s popularity hasn’t died down even once. It’s one of the few Pokemon that’s managed to break away from its own series and become a cultural icon, a phenomenon that Game Freak has tried to emulate with each generation to little avail. Then, in Sun & Moon, along comes a Pokemon called Mimikyu, which is probably one of the smartest and well-made Pokemon to come out of the series (and I like a lot of the newer Pokemon too). It’s a Pokemon based entirely on Pikachu’s popularity and how no other Pokemon can ever hope to match up to its fame, so it dresses up like Pikachu to try and gain friends through emulating its image. That in and of itself is an incredible concept and I applaud the people at Game Freak for coming up with such a brilliant and heartbreaking Pokemon. The fact that it’s actually a hideous and horrifying monster underneath the disguise is its own special quality, and it allows for some clever takes on the character depending on the adaptation. As the Totem Pokemon in Sun & Moon, it leads you on through the entire Trial until you get to the boss room, where photos of Pikachu are plastered all over and the entire encounter is really eerie. Then there’s Jessie’s Mimikyu in the anime, who hates Pikachu’s guts and wears the disguise as a reminder of its overwhelming hatred for the electric rodent (and it makes really unsettling movements and noises to boot). Then there’s that music video where Mimikyu raps about wanting friends and warning people not to remove its disguise. It’s a great Pokemon with an amazing concept, lots of utility in game, and a lot of fun to interpret in a number of different ways. Question: What kind of characters really speak to you on a meta-narrative level? Alf's 40th Favorite Character Teaser: Gets motion sickness easily ==== Game #41: Rayman Origins] "Long ago, the primordial forest, deep and mysterious, witnessed the birth of a man...uh, a vegetable? No, no, no...ah...a thingamajig."  Released: November 15th, 2011 Synopsis: The Darktoons have plunged the Glade into chaos, imprisoning all the Electoons of the world and giving the Bubble Dreamer horrible nightmares! It’s up to Rayman and his friends to beat back the Darktoons and save the Electoons and the world! Chosen Music: Land of the Livid Dead ~ Chasing a Dream --- It’s hard to find anything to dislike about Rayman Origins. I’ve always had a soft spot for games that make great use of a hand-drawn art style (Wario Land: Shake It! and Shantae: Half-Genie Hero are great examples of this), but the UbiArt engine takes Origins to another level. The characters by themselves are incredibly expressive and appealing; there aren’t a lot of games or media pieces out there that use this particular art style, but it’s almost immediately charming and recognizable. The backgrounds, meanwhile, are breathtaking, and they add so much to the varied and imaginative worlds you’ll come across (a desert littered with instruments, a Hailfire Peaks-esque landscape where the ice side contains frozen fruit and the fire side has chefs and food grills galore, etc.) There are levels in this game that are just begging to be explored, with plenty of Electoons to rescue and trophy rankings to aspire to, and if you can grab a friend, it’s an absolute blast. One of my favorite things about this game, though, is how it handles movement. When you slide down a slope you gain a huge burst of speed, and continually jumping at the right time will allow you to continue your momentum for however long you want. Once you get the right upgrades (helicopter hair and swimming especially), it opens up your movement options even more and gives you plenty of different tools to fly through a level. Some of the more difficult levels like the treasure chest chases will require careful planning to make the most of your movement, and it’ll definitely get frustrating when it starts demanding perfection (Ice-Fishing Folly gave me so much trouble the first time I played it), but it’s so rewarding when you finally get it down right. A lot of people might come up to me and ask, “But Alf, why should I play Origins when Legends has most if not all of its levels in the base game?” I mean Legends is still really good (the music levels are some of my favorite in any platformer), but I also feel like it’s uncomfortably bloated with slow as hell Murphy levels, an annoying amount of Invasion levels, the aforementioned Origins levels, and an absolutely absurd number of things to keep track of. I would still recommend Legends on the basis of being an above-average platformer, but overall I gravitate more towards Origins for not overstaying its welcome and maintaining a great balance between main game content and bonus content. Question: How much do you value an artistic direction in video games? Alf's 40th Favorite Game Teaser: A licensed comic game
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Apr 19, 2017 23:49
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Character #40: Cloud Strife “Alright, everyone. Let’s mosey.”    First Appearance: Final Fantasy VII (Jan. 31st, 1997) Bio: Formerly a fighter in Shinra’s SOLDIER 1st Class unit before becoming a mercenary, Cloud Strife joins the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE to fulfill a childhood promise to his close friend, Tifa Lockhart. When he learns about his old partner Sephiroth’s return, however, he departs from Midgar with AVALANCHE in order to stop his ambitions. --- I feel like a lot of people tend to forget what Cloud was like in Final Fantasy VII, including Square-Enix themselves, who have since diluted his character way beyond recognition. In the original game, Cloud is boastful of his abilities as a 1st Class SOLDIER, claiming he’s only a merc for the money until Tifa ropes him into joining AVALANCHE. In a lot of his scenes, and even in the middle of combat, he passes himself off as this cool and collected individual who gets the job done. But every now and then you get a hint that something’s not entirely right with him; from the voices in his head to the various flashbacks that he experiences, you get the sense that Cloud is hiding something big. It’s only after a shocking encounter at the North Crater that this comes to light: Major Final Fantasy VII Spoilers And as it turns out, Cloud was never a 1st Class SOLDIER but a regular infantryman. The shame of not making it into SOLDIER, combined with the trauma of Mako poisoning from Hojo’s experiments, the Nibelheim incident, and Zack’s death, all combine to distort Cloud’s memories and make him believe that he was something that he wasn’t. The image that he fabricated about being in SOLDIER was nothing more than a façade to mask his own sense of failure and to protect his own ego from harm. It’s not until Tifa helps to restore his memories that he finally learns to accept who he is and be proud of everything he’s done up to that point. And then, once Cloud hits that point, you start to see that he’s actually kind of a lovable dork. He says corny lines every now and then, and manages to give clumsy but helpful advice to his teammates (like teaching Yuffie how to deal with motion sickness). Aside from that, though, he shows a genuine concern for the fate of the planet, which is a far cry from how he acted at the start of the game. He goes a long way throughout the course of the game and he ends up being a surprisingly complex character in his own right, which should be something that more people remember him for rather than... whatever the hell happened to him in Advent Children. Question: What's a character you like in one game but hardly anywhere else? Alf's 39th Favorite Character Teaser: Voiced by Goku ==== Game #40: Batman: Arkham Asylum "Welcome to the madhouse, Batman! I set a trap and you sprang it gloriously! Now let's get this party started."  Released: Aug. 25th, 2009 Synopsis: After stopping the latest plot of the Joker and personally transporting him to Arkham Asylum, Batman is suspicious that his long-time nemesis would turn himself in so easily. His hunch turns out to be right when Joker immediately seizes control of the prison and blocks off the island from the outside world, pitting the Caped Crusader against his many foes. Chosen Music: Main Theme --- I remember wanting to play Arkham Asylum for the longest time, particularly during the era when the Arkham series was starting to expand to open world with Arkham City. I very distinctly remember people saying the open world approach only really worked the best with City, and then later installments tanked that sentiment right to the bottom. It wasn’t until later on that I really started to pay attention to how much praise Asylum had, and even today people still see it as a really good 3D Metroidvania title with some cool ideas. Luckily, I was able to grab a copy and play it through before the end of 2016, and let me tell you, all those people were absolutely right. What the later Arkham games like to do is use the entire setting of Gotham as a playground for Batman to go around and clonk some dudes in the face, but Asylum curtails this to a great extent by only giving you Arkham Asylum to work with. The smaller scope is an honest-to-god boon here, and it lets the developers play with interesting scenarios and come up with clever hiding spots for the collectible goodies strewn about. The way you get new equipment kinda feels like its on rails at times, but most of them get super unique and they help open up paths to brand-new areas to explore. And all the while, the Joker is taunting you over the speakers and TVs, in a very Gruntilda-esque manner, which is great and helps him keep a presence over the course of the game. Combat’s sort of interesting in that you can continually bounce from dude to dude once you get the timing down, and the gear you get helps to extend those combos even more. But by far my favorite moments of the game are the Predator rooms, where the only way to beat the enemies is to use stealth to your advantage. As you pick off each enemy one by one, Joker will chime in about how much his own men suck and how Batman is totally kicking their asses. Then when it’s down to just one person, he gets scared out of his mind, shooting at nothing and frantically looking over his shoulders, not knowing when the Batman will descend upon him. It’s absolutely amazing and nails the feeling of playing Batman better than any other game to date. Question: What should be absolutely essential for a game based on a well-known IP? Alf's 39th Favorite Game Teaser: A game that I've intentionally played the wrong way for all these years Alfalfa The Roach fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Apr 22, 2017 |
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Apr 22, 2017 00:03
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Character #39: Lucario “The aura is with me!”    First Appearance: Pokemon Diamond and Pearl (Sep. 28th, 2006) Bio: Lucario, the Aura Pokemon. It possesses the ability to sense and manipulate Aura, a unique energy existing in all living things. Sufficient training can allow it to sense faraway Pokemon, read the thoughts and movements of its opponents, and even identify the emotional state of others. Legends tell of a Lucario that is able to communicate telepathically with humans as well. --- There are a lot of other characters from Pokemon that could fit this position just fine like Lillie or Mewtwo, or hell even Hau, but I picked Lucario out of them all for two very specific reasons. First of all, literally everything about Lucario’s design appeals to me in every way (I don’t mind the random spikes as much but they are kind of odd on base Lucario). Like, it’s a dog that knows kung-fu and it can use and feel the life energy of all living things, like some Pokemon version of Goku (and they even give it Goku’s voice in the Lucario movie and in Smash 4!). And it powers up on fighting spirit and its Mega form makes it even more wild and bursting at the seams with energy and poo poo. Like god drat, Game Freak, you must’ve sold me on it the instant it got revealed or something. Second of all, Lucario is what I consider to be the perfect example of the bond between a Trainer and their Pokemon. You could argue the merits of Ash/Red and Pikachu being friends for 20+ years and I would agree with you, but in my mind, Lucario embodies every aspect of what it means to have a Trainer. By nature, most Pokemon are always willing to battle to prove themselves, and having a capable Trainer lets them grow stronger and fulfill their desire to fight. This leads to them sharing a bond of trust with their Trainer, and together, they battle through thick and thin, fully accepting any risks that come their way (including the painful process of Mega Evolution) to achieve their dreams. And I can think of no other Pokemon that perfectly encapsulates all that better than Lucario, whose spirit is unyielding in the face of danger. Question: Which Pokemon is your favorite? Alf's 38th Favorite Character Teaser: Prepare yourself! ==== Game #39: Donkey Kong Jungle Beat ”A DK Adventure with Bongo-Pounding Controls!”  Released: Dec. 16th, 2004 Synopsis: An incredible force of evil has invaded the peaceful jungle, claiming the kingdoms and every last banana in them for themselves. Only Donkey Kong can put a stop to this madness, and he’ll have to bring his mettle and pull off some stylish moves in order to defeat every last foe out there and prove himself as the rightful king of the jungle. Chosen Music: Sky Garden - Helibird Nest --- Brief bit of history with this game: I didn’t have any interest in it until I played it at a demo stand at Best Buy using only the GameCube controller. I was immediately sold on it, so I managed to get it like several days before me and my family moved from Alaska to Indiana. Then sometime around 2006 or 2007, I somehow lost my original copy of the game, and then I settled for getting the Wii version sometime later. It did some stupid stuff like getting rid of aerial/underwater clap grabbing and using a traditional health and extra lives system and I hated it. So then I ended up selling that, and then I finally managed to find another GameCube copy at Indiana Comic Con in 2015. The incredible thing about Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is that, underneath the unorthodox control scheme, the insane character design, and crazy amount of things you can do, this game is undeniably a score attack game. You’ll be actively encouraged to learn every trick in the book, like back flips, wall-jumping, ground pounding, bouncing off ropes, leaping from flowers, gliding off a surface, getting launched from a dragon’s mouth, and catching a ride on a bird, all to keep your combo going and max out how many points you can get. Going through each level is a learning process of how to get through a level while pulling off the most stylish and high-scoring combos that you can get, with the game pushing you to do just a little better every step of the way. It can get kinda frustrating, especially in levels that let you do one big, continuous combo, but it’s all worth it once you nail it perfectly and get that beautiful Platinum Crest at the end (and lemme tell you, discovering that as a kid was an absolute thrill). But another cool thing that this game does is that, once you get all those points, now you gotta defend them from the enemies and bosses. The points that you collect through each level turn into your health, which is a great idea that incentivizes you to pay attention to enemy patterns and strike while the iron’s hot (traditional levels in the Wii version use a standard health system which is stupid and lame). But while the game encourages you to defend your hard-earned points with your life, it also lets you go ham on enemies once you get in and you’re smashing that control stick back and forth to beat the poo poo out of some idiot who tried to gently caress with DK. This game combines all the excitement of score attack games with all the thrill of a good action game, and I’d definitely call it one of the GameCube’s hidden gems. Pick it up if you can (but not the Wii version because it loving sucks). Question: What games do you like to play in a way that's different from the norm? Alf's 38th Favorite Game Teaser: Has a college professor as a villain
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Apr 24, 2017 01:01
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Character #38: Johnny Cage “Fans think my moves are all wirework and special effects. Truth is... I AM the special effect!”    First Appearance: Mortal Kombat (1992) Bio: A cocky and overconfident movie star, Johnny Cage enters the Mortal Kombat tournament solely to prove to the world that he doesn’t rely on special effects in his movies. Later on in life, he marries Sonya Blade and becomes a mentor to a new generation of Kombatants, including his daughter, Cassie Cage. --- Okay I’ll be honest here, Johnny Cage is only on this list because of Mortal Kombat X. I never even played as him a lot whenever I played a Mortal Kombat game, but I do like him just fine enough. There’s a certain novelty to playing an actor who’s so used to filming movies that he initially sees the Mortal Kombat tournament as more stunt work, and when he’s not being completely insufferable he plays off the main cast well enough. I also appreciate the running gag of Johnny Cage using his experiences in the tournament to produce a couple in-universe Mortal Kombat movies, and his character arc in general about using the tournament to prove that his skills are legit is admirable despite his overabundance of pride. But then you get to Mortal Kombat X and holy poo poo, Johnny Cage has a DAUGHTER and he ACTUALLY BECOMES A GOOD CHARACTER! Like you look at a trailer for the story mode and you’re like “oh haha Johnny’s gonna be a deadbeat dad now” but no he CARES SO MUCH about raising Cassie and SONYA’S the one who can’t commit to family because she’s too busy chasing some Australian cyborg fucker. And even when he’s all mature now and mentoring the new kids and his daughter (who is also awesome, but sadly did not make this list), he’s still the same fun-loving, wise-cracking ball of sass he’s always been on the inside. It’s just stunning how it took one game for Johnny Cage to go from a near unlikable jackass to an awesome team dad, but I am all too glad for the change. Question: Which character do you like that went from unremarkable to incredible in just one game? Alf's 37th Favorite Character Teaser: Can describe a fishing pole in great detail ==== Game #38: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies ”These are dark times, where the law has been reduced to rubble. And it’s up to us to restore it to its former glory.”  Released: July 25th, 2013 Synopsis: In the Dark Age of the Law, fabricated evidence has become the norm, and innocent civilians are found guilty on false charges on a regular basis. In these troubling times, it is up to the Wright Anything Agency, consisting of Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice, and newcomer Athena Cykes, to rebuild confidence in the legal system and bring this dark era to an end. Chosen Music: Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials 2013 --- I didn’t get into the Ace Attorney series until near the end of 2013, when I played through the first game on an emulator. After that it wouldn’t be until 2016 that I started to get into the rest of the franchise following a series of 3DS eShop sales in preparation for Spirit of Justice. I played through 2, 3, and 5 (I skipped 4 because it’s trash) over the summer and managed to beat them all in time for Spirit of Justice to come out. I ended up liking it a whole lot, but out of all the Ace Attorney games I’ve played, I’ve only put two on my list, one of which is Dual Destinies. Spirit of Justice tried to do what it could to keep all three main characters relevant, but Dual Destinies does a great job of balancing their leads and making them shine when needed in gameplay. Taking apart Psyche Locks is just as fun as ever with Nick, and though I didn’t play Apollo Justice’s game, I was able to pick up his ability to perceive when people are lying in no time at all. Then you have Athena’s mood matrix reading into the emotional state of witnesses, helping to clarify their testimonies or sift through responses in the middle of a mental breakdown. Sometimes it can be a little tricky, but it’s a lot of fun to use and I’m surprised it took the series this long to dive into the psychology of witnesses to this degree. Most of the cases in this game range from alright to great, and it even should be mentioned that the DLC case is definitely worth getting (one of my favorites in the game, if not the whole series). But what really makes Dual Destinies special to me is how every main character becomes involved with the overarching plot. You could make the argument that Nick is only there because he’s the boss of his own agency, but Apollo and especially Athena have a lot to ride on near the end of the game. Friendships are tested and some ugly truths are brought to light, but it all becomes worth it once all three lawyers come together and face the final culprit. And while I can appreciate Spirit of Justice for continuing to find new ways to use its characters, I’ll always love Dual Destinies for making them part of a bigger story and pulling it off so drat brilliantly. Question: What kind of games make the best use of their characters? Alf's 37th Favorite Game Teaser: O say can you see...
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Apr 26, 2017 00:45
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Character #37: Eizen ”There’s nothing I hate more than someone else trying to control the direction of my life. My wheel is mine to hold. If I’m not the one steering the ship, then I’m not truly alive.”    First Appearance: Tales of Berseria (Aug. 18th, 2016) Bio: The first mate of the pirate captain Van Aifread, Eizen is known to the world as the “Reaper” for his ability to bring misfortune wherever he goes, much to his dismay. He joins Velvet in her quest to take down the Abbey, while also searching for Aifread, who has mysteriously disappeared. --- Eizen’s only real involvement in Berseria’s story comes from him hunting down his captain or any time he needs to drop exposition for the team, but I love him all the same. He likes to present himself as stoic and serious a lot of the time, and yet he's still capable of blabbing your ear off about the history of bathing with a straight face. He carries a lot of knowledge that he's gained over his long life as a malakhim, and there’s something enjoyable about his desire to share that knowledge with others (almost to the point of being too passionate, like when he admires a painting or describes a fishing pole in great detail). His worldly experience also lets him give a lot helpful and even thoughtful advice to the other party members, and he’s an absolute treat in most of the other funnier skits. In fact I’d go as far as to say most if not all of his best moments come from skits, like wanting to build an island just to get underground tunnels or when he uses rigged coins to defeat his Reaper’s Curse and fails every time. Speaking of his curse, the game deals with that aspect in a way that I actually rather like. For a long while, Eizen resented how bad luck would follow him everywhere, to the point where he had to leave his sister behind just to keep her out of harm’s reach. But then he meets Aifread, who tells him to accept the curse as part of who he is, and that... makes total sense to me. There would be no point in trying to get rid of his curse because it’ll always be with him no matter what he does, so accepting it as part of himself allows him to cope with having it in the first place. Flipping his coin only to have it come up tails is just a reminder of who he is, for better or for worse, and though it would be nice to not have to deal with it sometimes, he just wouldn’t be who he is without it. Question: What specific traits of a character can help to enhance their character overall? Alf's 36th Favorite Character Teaser: Appears in Smash Bros. ==== Game #37: Spec Ops: The Line ”This is Colonel John Konrad, United States Army. Attempted evacuation of Dubai ended in complete failure... Death toll... too many...”  Released: June 26th, 2012 Synopsis: After Dubai is ravaged by an unprecedented series of sandstorms, Colonel John Konrad of the US Army elects to stay behind with his troop to help with relief efforts. Then, after intercepting a cryptic and harrowing radio message from Konrad, the US Army covertly sends in a three-man team called Delta Force to ascertain the situation. Chosen Music: Truth Revealed --- Spec Ops: The Line is not a fun game. On console, it handles like one of the stiffest third-person shooters I’ve ever played, with most any chance of precision thrown out the window. Near the end the difficulty cranks up to absurd levels that only the most patient of people could make past on Normal (I had to crank it down to Easy just to finish it). On a surface level, there seems to be little reason to play this game when there is already a deluge of military shooters out on the market. And yet, making this seem like your dime-a-dozen shooter is one of the most brilliant things about it. In a pre-Undertale world where barely any thought had been given to the consequences of a player’s actions, Spec Ops: The Line stood head and shoulders above the competition. It’s hard to describe it in too much detail without giving away a majority of the experience, but it’s a game that’s quick to challenge your morals when the time arises. Every time it seems like just business as usual, that image gets torn down and burned to smithereens, and you’re confronted with the true ugliness of the situation you’ve stumbled into. You’ll get broken down again and again until the very last moment, and what happens after that depends entirely on you. It’s a game that’s put a lot of forethought into its narrative, with the end result being just as gripping and suspenseful as you’d expect. The only reason this game isn’t higher on my list are my aforementioned problems with aiming on console and the ridiculous difficulty spike near the end. It’s a shame too because when the combat works, it works well, and there’s a lot of variety in the environments and shootouts to boot. Though I really wouldn’t recommend it to anyone just for gameplay alone, and hell, even nowadays Undertale does what this game does a lot better. But for its time, it’s still a well-made game, and I think any fan of the shooter genre should at least look into it. Question: How much do you value moral choice in a video game? Alf's 36th Favorite Game Teaser: Features basic enemies riding cars Alfalfa The Roach fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Apr 28, 2017 |
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Apr 27, 2017 23:32
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Character #36: Bayonetta “Don’t gently caress with a witch.”    First Appearance: Bayonetta (Oct. 29th, 2009) Bio: One of the last known survivors of the Umbra Witch clan, she awakens after a 500-year slumber in modern times, initially with no memory of who she is. Going under the alias Bayonetta, she travels to discover who she is and kill any angels in her path, making sure to look wicked good while doing it. --- Look at this woman. Show me any other woman in video games with as much style and class as Bayonetta. You can’t. It’s impossible. Admittedly a lot of my appreciation for Bayonetta is purely on a superficial level and not for a lot of deep character-related reasons. Rather than me going “yo check out this character and their backstory,” when it comes to Bayonetta all that comes to mind is “YO CHECK OUT THE CRAZY poo poo BAYONETTA CAN DO!” And like, that’s all she really needs at the end of the day; you could make long arguments about why certain characters do what they do, but Bayonetta... she just goes out and loving does it, man. There is no otherworldly being that can put her down, and there’s not a man alive who can try to sweet talk her lest they just end up face first on the pavement. I’ve got nothing but respect for Platinum and Kamiya for making such an incredible badass of a woman that can pull off the coolest poo poo imaginable. When she’s not trashing heaven’s hierarchy, there are some moments of clarity that help to give her some more depth, if only a little. She’s compassionate when she needs to be (like with Cereza and Loki), and she shows undying loyalty toward her fellow witch Jeanne in the sequel. Most people who want something more out of her might be disappointed that there isn’t a lot more to her character, which honestly I don’t really blame them for since Platinum’s rarely been good with story in their games. But when you’re actually playing as Bayonetta, and your modus operandi is just kicking the poo poo out of angels and not taking any lip from anybody, it’s hard not to have a bunch of fun watching her doing anything at any one time. Question: Which characters do you like for no reason other than "they're just incredibly cool?" Alf's 35th Favorite Character Teaser: One of the most misunderstood characters in video games ==== Game #36: Kirby: Planet Robobot "Noble Haltmann, we adore him Noble Haltmann, we adore him! Every day we wish him glory!"  Released: Apr. 28th, 2016 Synopsis: The Haltmann Works Corporation has begun to invade the peaceful planet of Pop Star, capturing many of its inhabitants and mechanizing the planet. Kirby must venture forth to stop the machinations of the Haltmann Works Corporation and restore the planet to its natural state, while utilizing their own technology against them. Chosen Music: One Last Shot --- For a long time, my favorite Kirby game was Kirby’s Adventure and its remake, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land. I think a lot of it had to do with how it amped up what the Kirby series was capable of (think of it like the Mario 3 to Kirby’s Dream Land’s Mario 1), and how it was the first game that featured Kirby’s now famous Copy Abilities. Later games would expand upon the concept and give each power more variety, but there’s a real novelty to how Adventure/Nightmare in Dream Land experimented with Copy Abilities and how they affected gameplay (even when it led to redundant abilities like Burning and Freeze). But then along comes Planet Robobot, the third in the modern day Kirby side-scrollers after Return to Dream Land and Triple Deluxe where a new mechanic is added onto a familiar game. The thing is, while the previous two games were content to let these new features roam about in only half of their levels, Robobot actively involves its core mechanic at every opportunity, and it is absolutely great. Riding around in a big mech tearing through enemies and environments is great fun in its own right, but the Robobot Armor also has the same Copy Ability mechanic that Kirby himself has. Each one is a blast to use (except for maybe Spark Robobot), but the game takes this opportunity to really flesh out how to approach different puzzles. It’s a joy getting to learn how each new Robobot power works, then applying that knowledge into some smartly designed puzzles to acquire some collectible goodies. Seriously, I haven’t seen this much depth for finding each level’s secrets in a Kirby game since Kirby 64, but it’s absurd that HAL has managed to do so much with the Robobot Armor. And then beyond that, what you have left is just a really drat awesome Kirby game. The music is stellar as always, both Side Games are great and filled with content, and the boss fights are incredible (the final boss especially is my all-time favorite in a Kirby game). And while other Kirby games have gotten used to referencing past material by now, Planet Robobot does incredible things with all the accumulated lore and characters that have been put out thus far (yes I said LORE. In a KIRBY game). It’s stunning how they’ve managed to reach into that well and pull together callbacks to previous games that work brilliantly in the game’s story, and even manage to have some characters make their long-awaited comeback as extra content. I love the poo poo out of this Kirby game, and if you ever have a love and appreciation for Kirby, get this game as soon as possible. Question: What are some of the best ways to innovate a classic game series? Alf's 36th Favorite Game Teaser: A birthday game
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Apr 29, 2017 23:51
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Sorry for the lateness on this one; I wasn't feeling too good and was in bed for the past three hours Character #35: Tom Nook "I know it seems that the world is my oyster, what with my fine shop... But in my childhood, I lived the kind of life you couldn't even imagine!"    First Appearance: Animal Crossing (Apr. 14th, 2001) Bio: While seen as a shrewd businessman by many, Tom Nook is nevertheless more than willing to help new home owners settle in or upgrade whenever needed. His expertise in business allows him to run a town shop and transition to the real estate market without missing a beat. --- Out of all the wonderful and nice characters that Animal Crossing has to offer, Tom Nook ended up being my favorite out of all of them. A lot of people just tend to believe he’s a greedy old raccoon who’s running his store for the money, which... is kinda true but that’s just because he likes it when he’s successful. Any “mob boss” interpretations of him bore me to tears, though, and goes against his kind-hearted nature, which you do see quite a bit of throughout the series. Regardless of how you interpret his business in selling homes, helping you move into a new one shows his generosity just fine, and he gets along with most of the other residents just fine. What really drew me to liking Tom Nook so much though was his backstory, which Sable informs you on in Wild World. In the past, he and Sable were good friends and he wanted to travel to the big city to achieve his dreams. But once he got there, life in the city was much harsher than he ever imagined, and his dreams were crushed one after the other. By the time he got back to his hometown to set up shop, he was changed by the experience, and he and Sable weren’t talking as much as they used to. It gives him a surprising amount of depth and it’s a bitter and sad reminder of how easily ones aspirations can crumble. But the great thing about Nook is that is he still finds the time to show his gratitude for others. Sometimes he’ll get stuff from the café for Timmy & Tommy or the Able sisters, just to show he appreciates their hard work. He still wears some clothing that Sable sewed for him, and Sable regales you on a time when he sent her some scissors even when he had very little money. In New Leaf he slowly starts to rekindle his friendship with Sable too, and it’s even implied that he has a crush on her, which is really adorable and I hope future games touch on that. That he’s still capable of being nice and generous even after all the terrible poo poo he’s gone through says a lot about his character, and I only hope more people will start to see the good in him soon. Question: Do you feel Tom Nook is misunderstood? What other characters do you like that are similarly misunderstood? Alf's 34th Favorite Character Teaser: Draws inspiration from Zeus ==== Game #35: Sonic Generations ”Hey, Sonic! Enjoy your future, it’s gonna be great!”  Released: Nov. 1st, 2011 Synopsis: Past and future collide as a mysterious monster known as the Time Eater rips apart the space-time continuum, plunging reality itself into chaos. In order to save his friends and restore time to what it was, Sonic must team up with his younger self and traverse through familiar locations to obtain the Chaos Emeralds. Chosen Music: City Escape - Classic --- There are very few video game characters that have had such a rough and turbulent history like Sonic the Hedgehog. Within the span of 25 years, he’s risen, fallen, been resurrected, and fell back into a slump (if Forces and Mania are anything to go by he could experience another rebirth), and he has a long laundry list of games to determine his real worth. Most companies that want to push a specific brand wouldn’t even think to bring up some of the worst aspects of their franchises’ history, preferring to keep the roughest parts in the back of everyone’s minds. But for Sonic Generations, a game that came out just in time for Sonic’s 20th birthday, his entire history up to that point is embraced, and the end result is something marvelous. The key to what makes Generations work is how it respects both its legacy and the needs of the fans. On the one hand, the classic 2D style of Sonic games returns to the spotlight in full HD, with an adorably retro Classic Sonic leading the charge. And on the other hand, the Sonic that has been with us since the Dreamcast era continues to shine, only this time the style of gameplay first introduced in Unleashed’s day stages has been polished to perfection. Take those two styles, throw in stages and bosses based on the mainline games from Sonic 1 all the way to Sonic Colors, and you’ve got the makings of an incredible celebration of Sonic’s history. And it’s actually really fun to re-experience these classic moments all over again (except the final boss, which is one of the worst I’ve ever faced in recent memory). It isn’t just a showcase of the standout levels and bosses we’ve seen over the years, though; the team behind this really went the extra mile. Not only are there missions galore to beat and loads of ways to customize both Sonics, but there are tons of easter eggs tucked into the game. You’ll find wanted posters for obscure characters like Nack the Weasel and Mighty the Armadillo, and there’s loads of old music either remixed directly into certain songs (a section of Endless Mine from Sonic 3 is snuck into City Escape Classic’s music) or unlocked that you can play on any stage. There is just so much love packed into this game, all the way to the end credits where there’s the recording of everyone wishing Sonic a happy birthday, that makes Generations a game that makes me glad to be a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog. Question: What should a game really focus on in order to be a celebration of its franchise's history? Alf's 34th Favorite Game Teaser: A 90's movie is considered canon
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May 2, 2017 01:14
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Character #34: Damon Gant "You know, we should all go swimming together sometime! Jolly!"    First Appearance: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney DS (Sep. 15th, 2005) Bio: The jovial and spirited Chief of Police at the Los Angeles Police Department, Damon Gant is an upstanding citizen who is highly respected among his peers. He’s well known to be highly efficient in his work, though he’s not above using unscrupulous tactics such as intimidation to get the job done. --- One of Ace Attorney’s biggest strengths is the way it’s able to write and present interesting characters. The main cast already does a bang-up job of getting us invested in the world of the law, but it’s the side characters that are arguably one of its main attractions. Each game gives us a huge and colorful variety of intriguing, hilarious, weird, and sometimes sympathetic characters, and anyone who you come across can be a potential witness, or a potential murderer. But while there have been a lot of crazy and interesting side characters over the years, few of them have left such a huge impression on me compared to Damon Gant. Not that there aren't a lot of other good characters too, but Damon Gant is just completely fantastic right from the first moment you meet him. Every time he’s on the screen it’s like seeing an old friend; he gives everyone cute nicknames and he’s always up to partake in his favorite hobby (i.e., swimming). While he can seem like a pushover, it’s how he adjusts himself for business purposes that really makes him great. It’s downright terrifying whenever he says “I said to wait” to shut down someone like Edgeworth, and even his long stares are really unnerving. It’s the perfect balance of being friendly and affable versus being downright intimidating that Damon Gant nails to a T. Case 1-5 Spoilers He also ends up being one of the most clever and smart villains in the whole series, having turned the Joe Darke incident into a means to control Lana and the rest of the prosecutors’ office. Most of the villains in the series are already decent about covering their tracks, but Gant takes it to another level by both giving himself “insurance” and controlling the investigation team as he saw fit. It’s almost impressive how he was able to get away with his crime for two whole years, up until Goodman puts the pressure on him and forces himself to murder again. And it’s incredibly cool how his downfall comes from the law being used against him, which is some delicious irony considering his own abuse of the law. He’s the perfect villain to prop up what would otherwise be a huge slog of a case, from his introduction all the way to his graceful defeat. Question: What sort of traits should a good villain have in order to make them work in a game or story? Alf's 33rd Favorite Character Teaser: Makes up competitions on the spot often ==== Game #34: Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden ”Warning: The game you are about to play is canon.”  Released: Jan. 22nd, 2008 Synopsis: Basketball has become outlawed after Charles Barkley performed a Chaos Dunk during a regular game, killing the attending audience and leading to a worldwide manhunt against all b-ball players. Struggling to make ends met in the Post-Cyberpocalypse, Barkley’s past comes back to haunt him when another Chaos Dunk kills millions in Manhattan, forcing him to find out who is behind it while avoiding the B-Ball Removal Department. Chosen Music: johnathan taylor thomas --- Take a moment and just read the synopsis for this game right up there. Think about it. Ruminate on it. Really ponder the nature of what you’ve just read, because believe me, it only gets weirder. It’s still unbelievable to me that a game like this even exists. We’re talking about a game that started out in RPG Maker before it went over to Game Maker, and owes its roots to the era of 16-bit JRPGs and unabashed professional basketball glory days. Yes, the pro basketball player Charles Barkley is the protagonist; yes, the Space Jam movie is considered canon in this game’s universe; and yes, one of the primary antagonists is the head of the B-Ball Removal Department, who is none other than Michael Jordan. The entire game is this absurd journey where Barkley teams up with an absurd crew (including the octoroon great-grandson of LeBron James and a space dwarf with basketball skin) and goes through absurd locations (a sewer populated by furries and a town underneath the sewer that is haunted by the Ghost Dad) in order to stop an absurd organization called B.L.O.O.D.M.O.S.E.S. If you told anyone about this, they’d likely say it’s the dumbest thing they’ve ever heard. But that’s what makes this game work, in a weird, kinda hosed up way. It’s gone in so deep on its own ludicrous jokes and parodies, from every single Truck Pump rant that was stolen from some NeoGAF or Something Awful post to a boss fight where you fight Bill Cosby’s ghost head, that there’s genuine hilarity to be found in every single moment. It steals so much from every single source it can find (one of the boss songs is just Eternity from Blue Dragon) to create the insane world the characters live in, and yet the writing quality never takes a dip at any one point. And the weirdest part is that underneath the layers of bizarre humor and references, it actually has a really solid combat system! There’s a lot of care that goes into having each character feel unique and making each fight engaging, and there’s at least an attempt to make some of the boss fights interesting (if it’s not strategy, it’s figuring out where the enemy you’re currently fighting came from). Just, here. Play the game and see the magic for yourself. It’s free, it’s like 4-5 hours long, it shouldn’t take you more than an afternoon or two. And above all else, it’s a loving good game that needs to be seen to be believed. Question: What games are so stupid that you can't help but love them? Alf's 33rd Favorite Game Teaser: Contains a character that is able to change their appearance
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May 4, 2017 00:21
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Character #33: Severa/Selena "I can fight like my mother. I'll PROVE I'm every bit as brave as her."    First Appearance: Fire Emblem Awakening (Apr. 19th, 2012) Bio: The daughter of the famed Pegasus knight Cordelia, Severa harbors a deep inferiority complex over her inability to live up to her mother’s name. Later, under mysterious circumstances, she travels to the kingdom of Nohr and becomes a subordinate to Camilla, changing her name to Selena to protect her identity. --- Lately it’s rare for me to like a side character over a main character in most media, but I ended up liking Severa more than any other character in the Fire Emblem series, main characters included. It’s especially odd because Severa usually isn’t the kind of character I like; she’s bossy, rude as hell, and condescending to just about every person she talks to. She spends a lot of her supports getting into pointless quibbles with like half of the other child characters, which often just makes her look childish. I honestly wouldn’t blame you if this sounds like a recipe for disaster, but as for me, most of what makes me appreciate her comes from her relationship with her mother, Cordelia. The general gist of it is while Cordelia has been endlessly praised for her skill as a Pegasus Knight, Severa has tried numerous times to match her legacy and has come up short every time. This ultimately leads to her harboring an inferiority complex over how seemingly perfect her mom is, leading her to over-compete with everyone and get really jealous over people who do certain things better than she does. While this behavior of hers leads to quite a bit of self-loathing, she also uses it to try and mask her kind nature, which does tend to peek through every now and then. It’s not enough to totally excuse her behavior sometimes, but I’ve oftentimes pushed myself in competition with others enough to understand her frustration, jealousy, and self-loathing all too well. Then she shows up along with Owain and Inigo in Fates as Selena, and the reason for how they got there is really dumb because Fates has a really dumb story. And while Owain changes professions entirely and Inigo becomes... exactly the same, Severa ends up becoming more competitive with everyone instead of spending most of her time bickering. It’s a nice change of pace, but it kinda leads back to the problem where she just acts like an rear end in a top hat most of time. I will say that Severa’s inclusion in Fates is ultimately worth it in the Revelation path when she becomes Caeldori’s mother. It’s such a brilliantly cruel twist of fate when her daughter ends up exactly like her mother, but it ends up leading to a really sweet A-rank support between them that shows that, despite all her internalized frustration, Severa still tries to better herself as a person. Question: Are there ever any moments where you like side characters over main characters? Alf's 32nd Favorite Character Teaser: Has a dog companion ==== Game #33: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door "Never, ever give up! That's the most important thing I've learned from you, Mario."  Released: July 22nd, 2004 Synopsis: Mario receives an invitation and a treasure map from Peach inviting him to the seedy port town of Rogueport, where she bought the map and is eager to look for treasure. When he arrives, however, he discovers that Peach has mysteriously vanished, and the treasure map she bought has something to do with an ancient, thousand-year old door hidden underneath the town. Chosen Music: Main Theme --- If you were to ask me how I felt about The Thousand Year Door several years ago, I probably would have called it one of the best RPG games ever made. Of course, this was back when all I knew were Mario RPGs and Pokemon, so that list was a pretty short one. Now that I’ve played a lot more games and gained a lot more insight into what I like about games, Thousand Year Door has slightly fallen out of favor for me. A lot of this has to do with how half of the game is a lot more tedious than the original Paper Mario, with a majority of its chapters involving a lot of backtracking and doing a lot of long and menial tasks to get anywhere. While some of this isn’t a big issue on a first playthrough, it does tend to get a little mind numbing on replay (Glitz Pit, while amazing in concept, is unfortunately one of the bigger victims of this along with the entirety of chapter 4 and the first half of chapter 7). Thankfully, though, the combat system is a huge step up from the first game in a lot of ways. For one, I really like how each battle is presented as a stage play; even if it leads to dumb bullshit you can’t predict a lot of the time (walls falling on you or getting inflicted with random status conditions), it’s a nice way to make battles more engaging. Each specific audience member can do specific things to help or hinder the fight, bosses sometimes use them to restore health or as part of an attack, and your popularity is tied to how strong you are and how much you’re able to impress the audience. Finding out how to mitigate the effects of on-stage or off-stage incidents and pleasing the audience to get Star Energy becomes just as important as winning the fight itself, which adds a fun new element of strategy to the core gameplay. And underneath all that, it’s still the same great gameplay as before, with some new polish to make it even better (partners having health and the addition of Stylish moves are a huge plus). It should also be said that the writing is still as solid and flexible as ever, too. While Mario’s off gathering the Crystal Stars to solve the mystery of the Door, Peach is relaying info to him and teaching a supercomputer how to love (which I didn’t mind as much but I can see why some would find it creepy). Then you have Bowser tearing his way through Rogueport to steal Peach back and get the Crystal Stars for himself, leading to a lot of hilarity as a result. The actual dialogue tends to be more snarky than the first game, but it still knows when to be genuine and heartfelt at critical moments. It still remains to be seen if a modern Mario RPG can capture even half of what makes this game so great (Color Splash honestly comes close, even if the combat is still garbage), but I feel that’s more of a testament to how it still holds up extremely well today. Question: What's a game that you love, even when you revisit it and the flaws are much more noticeable than the first time you played it? Alf's 32nd Favorite Game Teaser: An old man throws nuts at you
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May 5, 2017 23:52
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Character #32: Yuri Lowell “I think there are some things that you have to do, even if they're a crime. Someone has to do them, even if it means taking the blame.”    First Appearance: Tales of Vesperia (Aug. 7th, 2008) Bio: A former Imperial knight, Yuri Lowell sets out to retrieve a magic blastia stone that was stolen from his hometown, befriending many other people along the way. Cool and agreeable most of the time, he is nevertheless prone to resorting to drastic measures in order to quickly solve a troubling situation. --- Yuri Lowell isn’t the type of character that experiences any big change through the course of the story, mostly because his values are pretty set in stone by the time Vesperia starts. A lot of the time, he ends up giving advice to most of the other party members throughout the game, usually trying to get them to think about how they really want to tackle a certain situation. Then most the rest of his character consists of personality traits I happen to like a lot in most characters; he’s cynical and snarky a lot of the time, and he’s the kind of person who’d respond to you wanting to jump off a cliff with “alright, seeya at the bottom!” He also shows off a lot in combat, can flirt with the best of them every now and then, and isn’t above teasing some of his mates from time to time. Fortunately, he’s also kind-hearted, loyal to his friends, and has a desire to improve the lives of others all while remaining his own humble self. Tales of Vesperia Spoilers What really makes Yuri interesting to me is how he gradually descends into vigilantism by murdering two high-ranking officials in the Empire. His reasoning for doing so is usually based on his concern for lower quarter citizens, and when he realizes the law won’t mete out proper justice on scum like Ragou and Cumore. It could easily be used as an excuse to dodge responsibility on his part, but to Yuri’s credit, he does openly acknowledge the weight of his actions, to the point where he starts advising Flynn and Estelle not to associate with him too much. For a guy who’s usually chill most of the time, it’s honestly intriguing how far he’s willing to go to ensure lives are saved (and it’d be even better if that plot point wasn’t completely dropped and ignored for the rest of the game at a certain point, but I digress). Then you have the First Strike prequel movie, which... honestly it does more for Flynn than it does for Yuri, but I still like the role Yuri plays in it. On top of being his usual overconfident and snarky self, it’s a nice look into how he got where he is and how he grew to dislike the Empire. It’s hard for me to really recommend Vesperia as a whole to people now when Berseria is out and does everything Vesperia wanted to do so much better. But I always like to prop up Yuri and give him credit where its due; he can do some questionable stuff and might seem like an rear end in a top hat, but he’s always got his heart in the right place, and it’s hard not to respect that. Question: How much do you value a morally ambiguous protagonist? Alf's 31st Favorite Character Teaser: Has killed tons of people ==== Game #32: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations ”The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over.”  Released: Jan. 23rd, 2004 Synopsis: In his third year as a defense attorney, Phoenix Wright must wage battle in court against Godot, a mysterious and skilled prosecutor who bears a deep grudge against Phoenix. Also, the story depicts the earlier years of Phoenix’s mentor, Mia Fey, including her first encounter with the man who would go on to become an ace attorney! Chosen Music: Godot ~ The Fragrance of Dark-Colored Coffee --- Honestly, there are moments where I feel like Trials & Tribulations could be usurped by Dual Destinies. There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of things that I really like about Dual Destinies, from how it involves its characters in the main plot all the way to how it tackles each case in the game. But then every once in awhile I have to remind myself about what actually goes on in Trials & Tribulations, and it ends with me going “man, that game is just really strong from start to finish.” Like some of the other Ace Attorney games would probably surpass it if they had more polish to them, but that’s just speaks to how well made Trials & Tribulations is as a whole. One of the things it does so well is how it handles the story. Later games would go on to ape what it does just fine, but Trials & Tribulations was the first game in the series to really have an overarching story rather than having just one last final case to cap off the game. We get a lot of really cool details about Mia Fey that we hadn’t learned from her brief moments in the first game, and there are even some story elements that are brought back from Justice For All and integrated into the plot. Then it all comes together for one of the best final cases in the series’ history, involving most if not all the wonderful main characters we’ve come to know and love over the course of the games. And then aside from the main story cases (3-1, 3-4, and 3-5), the rest of the game is also just really drat solid. 3-2 gives us an interesting mystery that quickly turns sour halfway through, and 3-3 is both absolutely hilarious and pretty sad once you learn everything there is to know. This is backed up by an incredibly strong supporting cast, probably one of the best to ever appear in an Ace Attorney game, and I sincerely don’t think there’s a bad character in the entire game. It’s the perfect send-off to the original trilogy, and it’s still my favorite Ace Attorney game to this day. Question: What's your favorite Ace Attorney game? Alf's 31st Favorite Game Teaser: Features a sunken ship level Alfalfa The Roach fucked around with this message at 01:03 on May 8, 2017 |
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May 8, 2017 00:02
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Character #31: Martin Walker “Gentlemen, welcome to Dubai.”    First Appearance: Spec Ops: The Line (June 26th, 2012) Bio: The leader of the elite tactical unit Delta Force, Martin Walker holds a great deal of respect for Colonel John Konrad, who saved his life in Afghanistan. While initially sent into Dubai with his unit to confirm the presence of survivors, Walker instead elects to search for Konrad, who is also trapped in Dubai. --- “Is John Konrad the greatest man I ever served with?” is a line that says a lot about Martin Walker. Much like how Spec Ops: The Line is meant to emulate the average military shooter game, Walker is modeled after the ordinary military shooter protagonist. He’s confident, knows how to read a situation, plays off of his squad mates just fine, and knows how to get the job done. That’s all well and good, but the reason he’s on this list is because of his relationship with Konrad; even when he doesn’t like to talk about the past, he wouldn’t even think to hide his appreciation for the Colonel (the entire sequence after the in media res opening is great at expanding upon this). Even when things start going to poo poo around him real quick, he still holds on to that glimmer of hope that Konrad isn’t behind it, and repeatedly tries to justify going against orders and defending themselves because it’s what Konrad would have done. Major Spec Ops: The Line Spoilers Then, once Walker inadvertently kills innocent civilians with white phosphorus... something inside of him just snaps. The mission is no longer about finding Konrad; it’s about getting everyone out and making sure that Konrad and the Damned 33rd pay for what they’ve done. Walker repeatedly goes through hell and back, all to get to the man he thought he knew, while his mental state slowly starts to deteriorate. His methods of execution becomes more psychotic, he snaps more often, he becomes haunted by visions of burning hellscapes and illusions of his own men. And while Konrad is content to sit back and taunt him over the radio, Walker cuts a bloody warpath through the ruined city of Dubai just to find the man responsible for all of this. MASSIVE Spec Ops: The Line Spoilers And as it turns out, the “man responsible for all of this” was dead the whole time. There was never any John Konrad keeping in touch with him over the radio; rather, it was a byproduct of Walker’s broken mind. The shock of what he did to those civilians caused him to shift the blame off of himself, and every time he hosed up the situation he just kept piling the blame onto Konrad, only to find his rotting corpse waiting at the end. What happens after discovering that will say a lot about the player by the end of it all, and is probably one of the strongest bits of player/character interaction to come out of a video game. Though I wouldn’t find out the implications until later, I ended up taking the shot and then going home, because as John Konrad himself would put it, “It takes a strong man to deny what’s right in front of him.” Question: Are there any characters like Martin Walker that you have a huge appreciation for? Alf's 30th Favorite Character Teaser: Knows a lot about video games ==== Game #31: Super Metroid ”The last Metroid is in captivity. The galaxy is at peace.”  Released: March 19th, 1994 Synopsis: After exterminating nearly the entire Metroid race, Samus Aran places a newborn baby Metroid in the care of the Ceres Space Colony for research. But when the dreaded Space Pirate Ridley ransacks the colony and captures the infant Metroid, Samus must venture back to Zebes to get it back, while dealing with the forces of a newly resurrected Mother Brain. Chosen Music: Brinstar Red Soil --- I didn’t play Super Metroid until about my high school years, and by that point I still had very little experience with the Metroid series or thinking about games more extensively in general. I remembered the copy of Metroid we had when we used to own an NES, but any nostalgia I had for the series didn’t start until me and my brother got a Game Boy Advance and Metroid Fusion. I have a lot of good memories of playing Fusion and Zero Mission, but it wasn’t until later in life when I had a Wii that I found myself downloading and playing Super Metroid, though I can’t recall if I stopped and then picked it up again later or if I just beat it on a new file. Fast forward several years later, having finally played through the Prime series from 2015 to 2016, I could begin to understand what made people like it a lot in the first place (especially Prime 1). But for whatever reason, despite Prime 1 being excellent and a hallmark of the series and its genre, I’ve always preferred Super Metroid more. I think a lot of this has to do with how incredibly well Super Metroid handles exploration and atmosphere in a 2D space. Not that other Metroid games aren’t capable of this too, but Super Metroid is very particular in how it manages to balance subtly guiding the player while keeping all actual guidance to a bare minimum. There’s nowhere you have to make a pit stop at to get information and interrupt the flow of gameplay; you just go in, get the poo poo you need, and move on. It makes exploring the world you’re in much more authentic and interesting, and it gives you a greater sense of accomplishment for discovering things on your own. But I wouldn’t say I really started to appreciate Super Metroid until I started catching all the major speedruns for it at the end of every Games Done Quick event. I won’t bore you with all the specific details on what the speedrunning community has achieved with the game, but seeing all the different ways you can go through the game was and still arguably continues to be an incredible sight. Whether it’s intentional or not, it’s really fascinating how the game lets you tackle nearly any path however you want, and watching a really good speedrunner fly through this game is like poetry in motion. I still have yet to play a lot of other games in the Metroidvania subgenre (Symphony of the Night being a big one), but for my money, I still consider Super Metroid the one to beat them all. Question: What games do you like to watch as a speedrunning game? Alf's 30th Favorite Game Teaser: Features a character voiced by Khary Payton
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May 9, 2017 22:19
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Character #30: Chiaki Nanami “Don't you think there's something that's way more important than whether or not you have a talent?”    First Appearance: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (July 26th, 2012) Bio: The Ultimate Gamer, Chiaki Nanami is oblivious and spacey, often falling asleep in the middle of the day when she’s not intensely focused on games. Whenever a killing happens, however, she does everything in her power to help Hajime and the others figure out the culprit, often acting as the voice of reason for most of the students. --- I’ll be among the first to admit that Nanami’s impact on me has waned a lot over the years since I finished reading Danganronpa 2. A lot of this has to do with how she’s very clearly meant to appeal to the kind of people who would play Danganronpa, but to their credit, they manage to do it pretty drat well with her. Unlike Kirigiri, who I was always either annoyed or bored with, Nanami makes an effort to help guide the player and give them hints on what to do next, and she’s not above trying to make a silly joke or two along the way. Then there are those moments where she gets sleepy really quick or when she’s intensely focused on a game, which, honestly, I just find charming and relatable. But despite whatever eccentricities she has, I respect how seriously she takes each case that comes up, and I happen to like how quickly she’s able to settle a dispute among friends. Case 5 and Case 6 Spoilers for Danganronpa 2 That she’s secretly the spy sent in by the Future Foundation is the perfect cap off to what makes the fifth trial so great. Everyone is at their wit’s end over who to trust, and their most trusted ally ends up being associated with an organization they’ve assumed is their enemy. Of course we later find out that this isn’t the case, but the sheer weight of that realization, and the fact that Nanami still cares deeply about her friends even when she’s the traitor, makes for one of the most heartbreaking executions in the series. Then a lot of the stuff in the sixth trial like Nanami actually being an AI and her coming back briefly to help Hajime is stuff that I just go “yeah, I accept that poo poo” because what she says ends up being really heartfelt and inspiring, and it becomes an awesome motivational moment that you can’t help but go “gently caress YEAH NANAMI!” And then for all the stupid stuff that happened in the Danganronpa 3 anime, one of the few things I actually liked about it was how it gave some depth to Nanami. I mean, for the most part her character stays the same, but adding that little detail about her social anxiety is something I can relate to all too well (but that’s a story for another time). Then her role in DR3 becomes really dumb because DR3 is bad about plot and using its characters in that plot, but it did its part by helping to keep Nanami just a little more relevant to me. Question: Who's your favorite Danganronpa character? Alf's 29th Favorite Character Teaser: Calls their minions "children" ==== Game #30: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots “Snake... had a hard life. He needs some time to rest.”  Released: June 12th, 2008 Synopsis: In a world that relies on continuous civil wars to keep the economy going, Solid Snake has grown old and tired, having only a year’s left of time to live. Despite his rapid aging and deteriorating health, he is given one last mission from his old friend Roy Campbell with a simple objective: track down and put an end to Liquid Ocelot! Chosen Music: Metal Gear Saga --- I was introduced to Snake and the Metal Gear universe through Smash Bros. Brawl, but I didn’t actually get into it until 2014, when I first started on the Legacy Collection. In between life and other games I was playing at the time, it wouldn’t be until 2015 when I finished the entire collection (excluding Metal Gear 1 and 2). You wouldn’t think that blowing through most of the mainline Metal Gear Solid games in the course of two years as an adult would give me a whole lot of nostalgia for it. But as I made my way through Shadow Moses Island as Old Snake, that familiar music only kicking in when I found that old base, it was a sobering moment for me. It was only then that I realized how special Metal Gear Solid 4 really was. Like, I won’t deny that MGS4 was only made to tie up literally whatever loose ends it could find, but for me that’s part of why I like it. By the time this game came out, Metal Gear as a whole had already crossed the 20-year benchmark, and there were still lots of questions that had yet to be answered. Whether or not they needed to be answered in the first place isn’t something I can say with absolute certainty, but it allowed the developers to make a lot of surprising callbacks and references that I just thought were solid all around. Then it takes the time to reinvent certain aspects of the series in new ways, like introducing The Beauty and the Beast Unit (which combines themes from the previous three MGS villain groups in each member), and allowing music from across the series to be played anytime, anywhere. It’s a beautiful celebration of a long and storied franchise, and I’d definitely call it a highlight of the series. The only real negative I have against MGS4 is how it handled Ocelot, which I won’t spoil for those that haven’t played it, but it becomes kind of a letdown when previous games made him so cool in my eyes. But that moment is forgiven by a boatload of other ridiculous and awesome scenes; just off the top of my head you’ve got Johnny Sasaki actually being kind of badass a couple times, Drebin being great in general, the entire climactic fight on Shadow Moses, and every single event after that, among other stupid cool moments. It’s also one of the more melancholic MGS games in my opinion, both in what Snake ends up going through and how it all comes to an end. But all in all, it’s the best possible send-off for Solid Snake I can think of, and a great and heartfelt end for the Metal Gear Solid series as a whole. Question: When should some questions in a story-driven media not need an answer? Alf's 29th Favorite Game Teaser: Features dinosaur friends
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May 11, 2017 23:02
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Character #29: Viridi “Good riddance, human scum! The world’s better off without you!”    First Appearance: Kid Icarus: Uprising (March 22nd, 2012) Bio: The Goddess of Nature, Viridi bears a deep grudge against humanity, wishing to destroy them before they completely ruin the Earth. Despite her hatred of humans, she hates the Underworld Army even more, as she frequently clashes with them and the Palutena’s Army from time to time. --- Honestly, Viridi is a character that’s hard not to like. In contrast to Severa, who’s a little hard to appreciate for being an rear end in a top hat sometimes, Viridi thrives on being a smug little bitch for me. She’ll just be laughing and taunting you while her Reset Bomb lays waste to humanity, which helps a lot to keep herself relevant as a legitimate threat. Being forced to work with her doesn’t make her dial it down one bit either, which is great for when she takes Pit down a notch just by being her own sassy self. She injects her own strong personality in every chapter she’s in, and in a game that’s filled with strong personalities, she does a lot to stand out from the crowd. There’s also something really interesting about the way she’s portrayed as the Goddess of Nature which I didn’t realize until some friends pointed it out. Nature in and of itself is seemingly cruel and unpredictable at times, with huge weather cataclysms coming and going almost randomly. With this in mind, depicting Mother Nature as a snarky and childish brat is a much more accurate depiction of the concept rather than having her be warm and loving like most interpretations. Like, of course she would be mad at humans for messing up her Earth and wanting revenge, that suits her nature just fine. It’s a detail like that that goes a long way to make Viridi more real, and I appreciated her even more once I realized that. Then after a few chapters into fighting the Forces of Nature, that plot point kinda tapers off for the rest of the game once Viridi starts working with Pit more. I kinda wish there was more of a resolution to that as opposed to barely any, but Viridi still manages to be a hoot even as an ally. She injects a lot of humor as Pit’s guide either by insulting him or insulting everyone else, and no amount of effort on her part can mask her own dorkiness that shows up every now and then. She’s even got a lot of great quips as part of Palutena’s Guidances in Smash for Wii U, and I also like the subplot of having Dark Pit on her side after the events of Uprising (also her crushing hard on Link is a treat). I wouldn’t mind seeing new characters if we ever get a new Kid Icarus game, but I also know that I’d want to see more of Viridi every chance we get. Question: Do you generally prefer when some bad guys become good guys in media? Alf's 28th Favorite Character Teaser: A character that you can date ==== Game #29: Super Mario World ”Welcome! This is Dinosaur Land. In this strange land we find that Princess Toadstool is missing again! Looks like Bowser is at it again!”  Released: Nov. 21st, 1990 Synopsis: What was supposed to be a relaxing vacation in Dinosaur Land quickly turns into pandemonium as Princess Peach is kidnapped once more by Bowser. Along with their new friend Yoshi, Mario and Luigi must travel through Dinosaur Land and defeat the forces of Bowser once more, in order to save Peach and the island’s inhabitants from his grasp! Chosen Music: Credits --- My memories with Super Mario World go way, way back; back when I was a little itty baby. I can’t recall if Super Mario World was the first video game I ever played or if it was the first one I ever saw, but I remember it leaving a huge impact on me. I was enamored with Mario and how he got different power-ups, all the different and crazy enemies he fought, and his awesome dinosaur friend Yoshi who could eat anything. Most of my gaming youth was spent on the N64, but whenever we had the Super Nintendo set up, I would gobble this game up every time I got to play it, either going through it normally or taking the Star Road right to the end. It was a magical game that helped me get into video games in the first place and it holds a special place in my heart for that. Eventually I got older and many other games came and went, and I came to realize that Super Mario World... actually still holds up really well. Apart from just introducing Yoshi (who I’ll get to later), I really enjoy how much the game expands on the world map that Mario 3 helped to popularize. There’s a lot of joy to find a secret exit in one of the levels, then watch as the map expands in scope and size, and suddenly you’re finding yourself traveling all over the place. It’d be so easy to just make map exploration a straight line to the end, but I love the freedom that comes with taking the road less traveled and making your own way across Dinosaur Land. It adds some authenticity to the scale of the entire island, and it makes the adventure grander with all the different secrets you can uncover. Outside of just exploring maps, there’s a lot of other cool details that I love about Super Mario World. Who could forget the first time they got the Cape and figured out how to fly through the air (and all the other times where they plummeted straight to the ground). Or when they learned that every shell that Yoshi swallowed granted them different powers (and when each different colored Yoshi had their own permanent shell power). Or when they just discover Soda Lake’s entire existence like years after they played the game (and the absolutely absurd method they had to go through to unlock it). poo poo like that makes Super Mario World a treat, and I wish for a time where I could rediscover the magic all over again. Question: What was your first video game? Alf's 28th Favorite Game Teaser: A Pokemon game
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May 13, 2017 23:17
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Character #28:Papyrus "I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN! THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE!"    First Appearance: Undertale (Sep. 15th, 2015) Bio: A guard working in the service of the Underground, Papyrus desperately longs to capture a human in order to gain fame and notoriety. Though he’s an immense klutz and most of his plans fall through, he still earnestly tries his best, secretly motivated by his desire to make as many friends as possible. --- Undertale has all the ability in the world to be powerful and emotionally moving, but it’s also capable of being absolutely hilarious at all the right moments. And what better example of that than Papyrus; Mettaton and Undyne are great in their own right, but for my money Papyrus is Undertale’s undisputed king of comedy. Capturing you just happens to be strategy #1 to make himself popular, but his comical fumbling, tendency to always shout, and his pathetic attempts at making puzzles makes him more endearing than threatening. Of course his actual boss fight isn’t a joke, but Papyrus still manages to bring a lot of personality to the fight, especially with his “special attack.” His quest to become popular actually becomes part of his character arc once you start learning more about him. He puts on an optimistic face all the time, though it’s hard not to see how insecure he is over how little attention he gets from anyone. Capturing you also serves as his motivation for getting into the Royal Guard, since he was too innocent for his own good to ever be accepted, and that kinda thing stings a lot. He even starts to ask himself if people liking him superficially will ever compare to having the player as a friend during his fight. It’s a wonderful little arc that he goes through, and it makes your friendship with him that much sweeter. His innocence really comes into play during a Genocide run, though. Everyone else has abandoned Snowdin trying to get away from you, but Papyrus is still there, holding onto that shred of hope that there’s some good deep inside you. Whether or not he manages to stop your rampage all depends on you, but he’s just so earnest in believing that you can become a better person that it’s both heart wrenching and incredibly sweet. Like if nothing else, for all the humor he brings to Undertale, he’s capable of bringing it a lot of heart too, and he ends up being one of the most memorable parts of the game for it. Question: Which characters do you love that have a surprising amount of depth to them? Alf's 27th Favorite Character Teaser: A character that knows how to play Russian Roulette ==== Game #28: Pokemon Sun and Moon ”Can't wait to see you in person then, cousin!”  Released: Nov. 18th, 2016 Synopsis: Shortly after moving to the tropical Alola region, you are quickly invited to grab a starter Pokemon and take on the Island Challenge! Journey together with your newfound friends and clear all the Trials to fulfill the challenge, while also dealing with the insidious plans of Team Skull! Chosen Music: Battle! Island Kahuna --- I’m in a bit of a weird spot when it comes to Pokemon. Over the years, I’ve played just about every mainline entry in the series and I love it to bits, but for the longest time there wasn’t really a game in the franchise that stood out to me. I have fond memories of playing them, and I’ve met a lot of different people through Pokemon (especially in the D/P era), but I wouldn’t really put those experiences on the same level as, like, Brawl or something. Up until the release of Sun/Moon, my actual favorite game in the series was Black/White 1, mostly for how it served as a soft reboot for the franchise by having entirely new Pokemon and putting more effort into the story. But now that Sun/Moon are out, I can safely say that this is the Pokemon game to beat, and the perfect culmination of the series’ 20-year legacy up to this point. Sure, the gameplay is still the same deal, just with some quality-of-life touches to the core combat and overworld travel (HMS ARE GONE THANK CHRIST), but what makes it stand above all the others is the context surrounding it. You’re not traveling to the same 8 Gyms like the last several games; you’re partaking in a challenge that’s rooted in the culture of Alola, with different objectives and requirements surrounding each one. It’s a much needed change of pace that makes the journey a lot more fresh, and the bosses waiting at the end of each Trial have legitimate difficulty to them. The added emphasis on context is also a brilliant way to capitalize on Gen 1 nostalgia by introducing species variations on older monsters. Not only is it a wonderful spin on adaptation that adds some authenticity to the world of Pokemon, but also seeing our old favorites take on new and exciting forms that change what they are entirely is an amazing thing that I hope future games expand upon. Probably the most surprising thing about Sun/Moon, though, is how it’s managed to craft a great story on top of refining the gameplay. At least three or four major characters each have a distinct arc they go through (more than most Pokemon games!), and most of the other people you meet have wonderful personalities and characteristics to boot. The story also takes the time to go through some pretty heavy subject matter, which I never expected out of a Pokemon game but it works just fine. By the end I had legitimately enjoyed the time I spent with this game’s cast, and unless we get another third version I’m more than okay with a BW2-style sequel just to meet these guys again. Question: Which generation of Pokemon do you love the most? Alf's 27th Favorite Game Teaser: Four
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May 16, 2017 00:22
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Character #27: Nagito Komaeda “The Ultimates stand together and rise against the despair of the death of their friend! Ahhh... such a magnificent... beautiful sight!”    First Appearance: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (July 26th, 2012) Bio: The Ultimate Lucky Student, Nagito Komaeda always seems to experience an extreme amount of good or bad luck at any given time. Though appearing friendly and mild-mannered, he is dangerously obsessed with the concept of hope, willing to do whatever it takes to ensure his classmates achieve this ideology and crush despair. --- There are some people in this world who believe talent is necessary to obtain success in this world. Most of the time it’s a general acknowledgement that hard work is how you make it in life, but for someone like Komaeda, talent becomes an obsession. The thing about Komaeda, though, is that he doesn’t fixate on talent for himself at all; in fact most of the time he just thinks of himself as worthless. Even when he has a talent as advantageous as luck itself, he places no actual value upon himself whatsoever. He’d much rather compared his talented classmates to gods and treat their skills as a means to achieve true hope. Case 1 Spoilers for Danganronpa 2 That’s something that really starts to stick out about him once you complete the first case. It’s morbidly fascinating to watch him go on and on about such a simple concept, and it’s especially frightening when you realize how far he’ll go for this ideology. Hurting people or even murdering in the name of hope becomes fair game for him, and he’ll gladly work with anyone who wants to murder other people “for the sake of hope.” He even goes as far as to claim that those without talent or weak hope should just be used as stepping stones for the real bearers of talent (himself included, since he doesn’t think of his luck as a talent). It works a lot better in-game than you’d expect, and he becomes responsible for some of Danganronpa 2’s most intense moments. MAJOR Case 5 and Case 6 Spoilers for Danganronpa 2 But it’s how he orchestrates his own death in case 5 that really propels Komaeda into greatness. After discovering he and the rest of his classmates were brainwashed in the name of despair, he concluded the only way out was to have everyone murdered so as to bring forth the Ultimate Hope. What eventually happens is that he engineers a scenario where someone out of the remaining students ends up murdering him, but because of the nature of how he died, there’s seemingly no real answer as to who murdered him! There are just very few characters that are willing to go to that kind of extreme, but Komaeda does literally whatever his takes for his own ideas of hope, and its oddly compelling to watch him work throughout the game to make it reality. Question: What are your thoughts on talent? Do you think talent is all that's necessary to succeed in life? Alf's 26th Favorite Character Teaser: Is mistaken for a demon at one point ==== Game #27: Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U ”Wow! Incredible!”  Released: Sep. 13th, 2014 (3DS)/Nov. 21st, 2014 (Wii U) Synopsis: The fourth installment in the Super Smash Bros. series isn’t just one game, but two different titles exploding with content! Enjoy playing on the go in the fast-paced Smash Run mode in the 3DS version, or brawl with up to eight players at once in 8-Player Smash and enjoy a high stakes game of Smash Tour in the Wii U version! Chosen Music: Credits (Smash Bros.): Ver. 2 --- Alright I have a lot of things to say about this game and I’ve never had the chance to say anything about it in close detail, so let’s cut to the chase and list off what I don’t like about Smash 4: ---No story mode is kind of expected but it’s hard for me not to be bummed out about it’s exclusion ---It’s hard for me to get invested in Wii U’s single player modes, because honestly some of them just suck. Smash Tour is less fun and more tedious than it looks, Master Orders is worthless compared to Crazy Orders, and Target Blast (which is shared with the 3DS version) is just a poor man’s substitute for Break the Targets. I’m fine with Classic and All-Star in both versions for the most part, but I dislike how enemies in Wii U Classic will just go straight after you on harder difficulties. ---Stage representation is inconsistent as hell in both versions; in the 3DS version there are no new stages for like a third of the represented franchises, while in the Wii U version some franchises they got new poo poo in the 3DS version don’t get any new stages in the console version (Flat Zone X doesn’t count, it’s just two previous Game & Watch stages duct-taped together). Also there are way too many stages that are similar to other stages, and I have a suspicion it’s due to all the returning stages they brought into the Wii U version. ---Yeah, people don’t like Stickers, but there was a novelty to collecting artwork of things that weren’t already covered and using them to power up your characters. Equipment in Smash 4 do not carry on this tradition and are worse in about every way for it, especially when you end up with tons of them when you’re just grinding for custom moves and Mii Fighter outfits (which in itself is another problem). ---I need to make bullet points within a bullet point for music because this poo poo is ridiculous:
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about what I adore about Smash 4: ---As far as gameplay goes, this is the perfect balance between Melee and Brawl. It’s not extremely technical like Melee, nor is it slow and sluggish like Brawl; it’s this nice in-between that’s much easier to go in and be a pro at. ---Seriously guys, all gripes about dream Smashers aside, Smash 4 has probably the strongest roster of characters not just in Smash or a fighting game, but video games period. Right off the bat you’ve got some of the hottest icons in the industry with Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Cloud Strife, Ryu, and Bayonetta alone, then the rest of the cast is a huge smorgasbord of fan favorites, retro revivals, and weird surprises. Nearly all bases are covered, and unless the next Smash game can bring even more to the table, this is the video game roster to beat all others. ---You wouldn’t think a huge cast could be consistently balanced to the degree that it is, but the team did a great job making sure everyone could be worthy for tournaments. It makes Smash 4 one of the most consistently fun games to watch in a tournament setting, especially when you start seeing new blood taking different characters to Top 8. ---On the 3DS version, Smash Run is some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing a single-player mode in any Smash game. Yeah it’s fundamentally a worse version of City Trial, but I don’t give a poo poo when I can make Ganondorf run at max speed while beating up different enemies from across the represented franchises. It keeps all the high-octane thrills of City Trial, and once you get really good at it, you basically feel like a god every time you play it. It’s amazing. ---On the subject of the 3DS version, I actually kinda like it more than the Wii U version. Aside from the novelty of playing Smash Bros. on the go, it feels like it manages to distill some of the best of Smash 4’s massive amount of content into a smaller package, making it work better as a “less-is-more” product compared to the overwhelmingly packed console version. ---gently caress it, have some more music from Smash 4 that I happen to like a lot. Overall there isn’t enough consistent quality to Smash 4 to ever make it top Brawl for me (and even if it did, it still wouldn’t replace the memories Brawl gave me), but I would definitely call it a worthy successor. I kinda hope a Smash Bros. game for Switch is just the Wii U version with Smash Run and other new additions, because that would make it the absolute best version of the game to get. Question: Do you prefer any one version of Smash 4 over the other? Alf's 26th Favorite Game Teaser: Has multiple campaigns Alfalfa The Roach fucked around with this message at 18:51 on May 19, 2017 |
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May 18, 2017 00:33
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Character #26: Apollo Justice “I’m Apollo Justice and I’m fine!”    First Appearance: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (Apr. 12th, 2007) Bio: A young up and coming lawyer, Apollo Justice uses the special bracelet on his wrist to perceive subtle changes in body language and expose lies. Though he’s well meaning, he tends to shout a lot with his “Chords of Steel,” and has a habit of constantly saying, “I’m fine!” when he’s nervous. --- I never bothered to play Apollo Justice since most people I knew said it was hot garbage, so my first exposure to Apollo was in Dual Destinies. I honestly didn’t really know what to expect out of him, but I was endeared to him pretty quickly. It’s fun to compare his amateurish style of defending to the now older and (somewhat?) wiser Phoenix Wright, though he’s still capable of holding his own in court. Of course, he has his own quirks to make him separate from Nick too, like flexing his Chords of Steel for practice or when nervous, his tendency to speak his mind more than Nick, and his frustration with not being taken seriously. Despite all this, he’s a great ally to have on the team, and it’s always a blast playing as him. Case 4 and Case 5 Spoilers for Dual Destinies Something I especially like about him is the conflict he goes through when his friend, Clay Terran, is murdered. Not only does he have to live with the fact that his friend is gone, but his bracelet starts telling him that Athena, his partner for months now, knows more about his death than she lets on. And yeah, Apollo gets hella suspicious about Athena when he thinks she’s hiding something, but he wants so badly to believe she has nothing to do with Clay’s murder that he has to bandage up his perceiving eye and separate himself from the Agency just to avoid getting into some huge confrontation with Athena. It’s a great test of Apollo’s trust that makes it even sweeter when he rejoins the Agency for the final showdown at the end. And I should also mention that he looks drat fine with those bandages and that coat. Case 5 Spoilers for Spirit of Justice Then Apollo’s role in Spirit of Justice is why I take issue with Nick’s name getting top billing in the game’s title, because this could easily be Apollo Justice 2 for my money. Dhurke is a great father figure to him and all their scenes together are sweet, which makes it all the more crushing when he finds out he’s been dead all along. And while I don’t really care for Spirit of Justice repeating the events of 2-4 except worse, I do like how it ends up pitting Apollo against Phoenix just for showing how far he’s come along. It feels like the perfect cap off for his character arc since his introduction, and while I wouldn’t mind seeing Athena get a bigger starring role, I hope there’s some way we can see Apollo again in the future. Question: How much do you value a test of the bonds between characters in media? Alf's 25th Favorite Character Teaser: Is really good at faking tears ==== Game #26: Shovel Knight ”Prepare to taste justice! Shovel justice!”  Released: June 26th, 2014 Synopsis: The land has come under fire from the evil plots of the Enchantress, who maintains control over the world with an iron grip alongside her order of knights. Though he was in self-imposed exile after losing a friend while adventuring, Shovel Knight raises his shovel once more in order to stop the Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter! Chosen Music: Strike the Earth --- When I first saw Shovel Knight on Kickstarter back in 2013, I had no idea it would explode to the degree that it did. Nor did I believe in the abilities of Yacht Club, fresh out of leaving WayForward and starting their own company, to deliver on their campaign promises and make a good-rear end game. I could tell that their heart was in the right place when I saw the initial pitch, and I really liked what I saw from gameplay demos and updates on their Kickstarter, but there was still a lingering sense of doubt even after I backed the project. It wasn’t until I got my hands on the game, and I looked up all the work the team did to emulate the NES style, that I realized how special Shovel Knight really is. And now, with the team still working on the game to meet all the expectations promised in their Kickstarter, I can safely say that my pledge was completely worth it. The thing about Shovel Knight is that it’s not just copying the old school aesthetics and calling it a day; it’s made by a team who understands and appreciates everything about the NES. It’s one of the ultimate love letters to an era where games like Mario, Castlevania, and Mega Man reigned supreme, and it understands the rewarding feeling of clearing these legitimately hard games rather than relying on the bullshit difficulty of bad NES games. They also understand the need to modernize these kinds of games to reduce frustration, while also adding new elements to keep the game interesting. My favorite example of this is the checkpoint system; you can break any of the checkpoints you want for extra cash, but it’ll set you back even more if you die, making you take better care in using all your options. There are also plenty of bonus stages, surprise boss encounters (like my boy Baz Knight), customization options, goofy moments, and well-staged drama that makes Shovel Knight a joy to play every time. That’s all fine and dandy, but the fact that Yacht Club is still keeping up with their promises and adding even more content to the game for free is honestly incredible. And there’s a lot of good stuff they’re adding to the game to boot, like Plague Knight’s campaign, which has you experimenting with different bombs and has a surprisingly sweet story. Then you have the recently released Specter Knight campaign, where all the levels are remixed, Specter Knight has tons of tools for mobility, and the story is surprisingly somber for a game like this. It remains to be seen how King Knight’s campaign or the Battle Mode content will be handled, but Yacht Club has done more than enough to make this one of the best indie games to come out of the last decade. If you’re not already striking the earth, get this god drat game and fight for shovelry! Question: Do you tend to gravitate towards games that try to recreate a particular console's graphical style? Alf's 25th Favorite Game Teaser: Starts with you waking up
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May 19, 2017 21:45
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Starting from here on out, the majority of characters and games on this list will start being more personal to me. As a result, some of the questions I'll be putting out will be more personal in tone. But regardless of whether or not you choose to answer them, I have to thank you for sticking with me for this long, and it won't be too much longer before this all concludes. So, with that said, here starts my Top 25: Character #25: Rise Kujikawa ”There’s no such thing as a me who isn’t me.”     First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (July 10th, 2008) Bio: A cheerful and outgoing girl better known by her idol name “Risette,” Rise quits her career and moves to her grandmother’s place in Inaba to avoid being in the spotlight. While she seems perfectly satisfied with her decision, it gradually becomes clear that she misses being in the center of attention. --- Rise was one of the characters that surprised me the most while I was playing through Persona 4. I had originally intended to go through the game dating Yukiko until I saw how incredibly boring she was, but I was instantly enamored with Rise when she made it onto the team. She’s spunky and cute without being too overbearing, and she’s got a pretty mischievous side to boot (she absolutely nails those crocodile tears). Probably my favorite moments with Rise involve her being overly flirtatious with Yu, both in her S.Link and outside of it, while also playfully teasing the rest of the cast. While P4 has a really strong cast already (though for me, I don’t really care that much about Yosuke, Chie, or Yukiko), Rise does a lot to stand out, and she’s always a favorite in a lot of the scenes she’s in. She also happens to have one of the more interesting Shadow encounters in the game. There aren’t a lot of Shadows that can top Shadow Yosuke (“you just wanted to go and be the hero” is a brilliant putdown), but Shadow Rise is one that comes close, though it isn’t due to the Shadow itself. They do a good job of capturing how Rise misses being in the spotlight as an idol (being presented as a stripper helps), but Rise realizing that her idol self and her “normal girl” self were different sides of her really fascinated me. Instead of just accepting one side of herself as the “real” Rise, she comes to accept all the different faces she’s worn over the years as being a part of her. That kind of acceptance really stuck out to me, since no matter how differently we may present ourselves to different people, they’re all part of who we are, and they’re each worth accepting as a part of ourselves. And then out of all the S.Links in P4, Rise’s is among my favorites. In it, she reveals she became an idol by chance, and wanted to use it as an opportunity to improve her life when she spent a majority of her childhood bullied and alone. Then the stress from work and people only wanting to be friends with “Risette” led her to leave the industry, and the frustration only compounds when an old manager asks her to come back. I won’t spoil the rest of how that whole scenario goes for those that haven’t seen it, but it’s a really sweet and touching S.Link that builds on her encounter with her Shadow self, and what was learned from it is something I still think about to this day. Question: Do you have multiple sides of yourself that you tend to hide from other people? Alf's 24th Favorite Character Teaser: A child character that isn't Clementine ==== Game #25: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ”But courage need not be remembered... For it is never forgotten.”  Released: Mar. 3rd, 2017 Synopsis: Hyrule lies in ruin. Calamity Ganon grows in power with each passing day, threatening to break free from his prison. After awakening from a 100-year slumber, Link must recover his lost memories to discover what happened to Hyrule, and find some way to put a stop to Ganon before he dooms the world. Chosen Music: Main Theme --- When I was a kid, my parents forbade me from getting into any sort of media where magic was a part of the story (one of the downsides of growing up in a Christian home). As a result, I didn’t get into Zelda until much later in life, and I do mean much later, since I never had much of an interest in finishing a Zelda game in my high school years. That all changed when, on the second semester of my first year of college, I went out and got Skyward Sword and actually managed to beat it. Though I managed to finish a few more Zelda games after that (Link’s Awakening, Link Between Worlds, and Majora’s Mask 3D being particular stand-outs, though the last one was a game that took me forever to finally get around to beating), I couldn’t look at a lot of them as anything but “good.” Then, I got my Switch on launch day along with Breath of the Wild just two months ago, and it was unlike any Zelda game I had played before. I would get sucked into that world almost every time I played it, and actually going through it was an immense joy. Breath of the Wild is that rare game where exploring a massive landscape isn’t a gigantic slog, mostly because of how much emphasis is put on freedom. Right from the start, what you do and where you go is all on you, and once you get all the tools you’ll need from the starting area, the world is your oyster. You can follow the path the game gives you to prepare yourself for the final battle, or you can just ignore all of that and take on Ganon at any time (but expect to get your rear end kicked). And even if you do decide what you want to do, there are so many distractions strewn about, like an enemy camp, or a Korok hiding spot, or a Shrine housing a worthwhile prize, that you feel encouraged to go off the beaten path every now and then just to see what you find. There’s so much to do in the world and so many different ways to experiment with your tools to complete a certain task, and it’s really incredible how a game like this can put so many other open world games on the market to shame. Another thing I really appreciate about this game is the way that it handles resource management, like with cooking and breakable equipment. It might seem annoying to get a cool weapon only to have it break after using it a lot, but I really like how it keeps you on your toes and has you always hunting for more equipment to use. And I actually rather like cooking to make health-restoring items and other different dishes to keep yourself alive, especially when hearts don’t appear in the wild like in the old games. It really helps to emphasize how learning to survive out in the wild is your best bet at succeeding, and it’s one of the many, many things that makes exploring the world feel really organic. As for the story content, I appreciate how this is the first Zelda game to finally utilize voice acting, though I have mixed feelings about the English dub overall (thankfully a patch came out recently that allows for multilingual audio). I also really really like this game’s take on Zelda as a character; her arc takes far more advantage of the series’ legacy than Zeldas before her, and it’s really interesting and kinda gut-wrenching to see her struggling with the legacy she’s been made to inherit. I also like how the main dungeons make you work with what you have instead of relying on you getting a new item halfway through, though I do miss the theming that came with previous Zelda dungeons. I hope they can expand upon the main dungeons in future installments along with fixing other minor gripes I have (can’t board any mounts other than horses, would like an easier way to increase equipment slots than hunting for Korok Seeds). But as far as I’m concerned, and what little experience with Zelda I have, I can definitely say that this is the Zelda game to beat, and an absolute must-play for any Zelda or open world fan. Question: How do you feel about open world games in general? Alf's 24th Favorite Game Teaser: I knew we forgot someone - you!
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May 21, 2017 23:24
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Help Im Alive posted:Is Shadow Yosuke really the standout shadow encounter for people? I guess I never really thought about it but it's maybe less memorable to me since it's basically just the tutorial I don't know for sure, but I know I and a lot of my friends were really impressed when Shadow Yosuke goes "you were so bored with regular life and you just wanted to go on an adventure" Like that's probably a hard putdown for a lot of people right away
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May 21, 2017 23:57
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Character #24: Laphicet “When I came with you, that was my own choice. You gave me the freedom to choose.”     First Appearance: Tales of Berseria (Aug. 18th, 2016) Bio: Originally a Malak attached to Teresa of the Abbey, Velvet and her crew kidnap him and bring him along with them after an assault on a local port town. Although the Abbey kept his personality suppressed, traveling with the group allows him freedom, the reemergence of his emotions, and even a new name: Laphicet. --- I’m not usually the one to really like child characters all that much, but there was something about Laphicet that stuck out to me the further I went into Berseria. Rarely did they ever treat his initial emotionless state as a joke, so it felt really painful to see him obey orders that weren’t meant to be followed or react harshly to pain. It’s not something that a lot of media tends to explore, and I could find myself relating to his state somewhat given how much I kept to myself growing up. It also makes his journey of self-discovery much more rewarding and fulfilling when he starts to rediscover his emotions and learn about what it means to be alive. And the whole group helps to teach him how to be his own man (well, most of the group; Magilou jokes around with him more often than not, and Bienfu is just Bienfu), and it’s honestly such a joy to watch him learn about the world through traveling with Velvet’s group. That point about him becoming his own man leads to a rather interesting scene about midway into the game. He was given his name by Velvet, since he reminded her a lot of her deceased brother of the same name, and had been thinking of him as a surrogate brother in place of her actual brother. This eventually leads to an altercation between them when they’re out on a mission, since Laphicet is trying to be his own person but can’t do that when Velvet is still associating him with her dead brother. It was a pretty surprising scene in what was supposed to be a fairly light-hearted scenario, but it works out pretty well in the end, and it’s a sign of how far along Laphicet has come since his first appearance. But what I love most about Laphicet is that he never loses sight of his optimism or kind-hearted nature. He goes through a lot together with the party, seeing some pretty horrible stuff as a result, but there’s still something inside him that believes in the good of humanity. Like... there’s just something special about his earnest, wide-eyed appreciation for the world around him, and his desire to know more and help as many people as he can. His side-quest is absolutely great, too, challenging his desire to improve his friend’s life while putting his optimism at stake, and it ends on such a touching note, too. I honestly feel like he could be rated much higher than it is, because for all the wonderful elements surrounding Berseria, Laphicet embodies a lot of its heart and soul. Question: Do you have any favorite child characters in media? Alf's 23rd Favorite Character Teaser: Is the "drummer" ==== Game #24: The Wonderful 101 ”The alien invasion of Earth will be met by a group of fearless warriors that number just 100 souls. One hundred wonderful defenders of our world. Their names are forever masked. Their tombs are forever unknown. They are...”  Released: Aug. 23rd, 2013 Synopsis: GEATHJERK, a fearsome alien terrorist organization, has invaded the Earth once more, instigating a third war against its inhabitants. To combat the threat, the CENTINELS Planetary Secret Service calls in the Wonderful Ones, a group of one hundred superheroes who unite into different massive forms to drive back the alien invaders. Chosen Music: Tables Turn --- Wonderful 101 is definitely a game that’ll color your perception of it depending on how well you can acclimate to its control scheme. Creating your Unite Morph forms to do battle with enemies is done either by drawing out the shapes on the Wii U GamePad touch screen, or by using the right stick for a less intrusive method. It’s hard to stop what you’re doing in the middle of combat to draw shapes on the GamePad, so using the right stick is what I generally prefer even when making the precise shape can still be a bit of an issue. I wouldn’t blame anyone if a lot of this sounds like a turn-off, since this ends up complicating what appears to be a simple-looking action game. But to those that do want to put in the time to learn all the systems and mechanics, this game becomes immensely rewarding and tons of fun – the hallmark of any good PlatinumGames title. But before I even get to combat, I wanna take a brief moment to just gush over this game’s setting and aesthetic. Anyone who’s played Viewtiful Joe knows that Kamiya has an undying love of superheroes and tokusatsu (Kamen Rider, Super Sentai), and this is one of the best and most genuine tributes to the genre that I’ve seen in my game-playing career. You’ve got all the character archetypes you’ve come to expect from the genre (the leader guy, the rebel, the chick, the rival, etc.), and you’ve got scores upon scores of bad guys and monsters to beat down. The story manages to take some pretty surprising twists and turns too, and some of the characters are more fleshed out that people give the game credit for (Wonder Red and Wonder Blue are the biggest stars and also my favorite dudes). It’s all backed up by some great set pieces and an awesomely heroic soundtrack that helps amp up the excitement of being these incredible heroes (big shout-outs to the main theme for being cheesy as hell but still awesome). And like I said about combat, it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but once you’ve got it down, it’s extremely addicting. You’ll be busting loose all sorts of different combos with the Unite Morph of your choosing while organizing the rest of your squad into their own Unite Morphs to help out. Purchasing moves from the Wonder Mart opens up your options even more, and soon enough you’ll be at the point where dodging an attack activates Hero Time (think Witch Time from Bayonetta), then you can follow up with a huge attack string and eliminate the opposition before they can even touch you. You’ll also be treated to a lot of different shooter sections, vehicle sections, and sections where you pilot a robot to crush enemies with your fists (and for anyone wondering, there are TWO boss fights in this game that are just a tribute to Punch-Out!!). It’s one of Platinum’s most gratifying games in their catalog, and I highly encourage anyone with a Wii U to try it out. Question: Do you like any games that have some unorthodox control schemes? Alf's 23rd Favorite Game Teaser: A really great follow-up to a really bad game
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May 24, 2017 02:51
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Character #23: Beatrice Santello “My entire life feels like running after something that keeps moving away into the distance while I stay in the same place.”     First Appearance: Night in the Woods (Feb. 21st, 2017) Bio: The store-runner for the Ol’ Pickaxe in Possum Springs, Bea single-handedly began running the store after her mother passed away. She comes off as gloomy and sarcastic while also lamenting the situation she’s in, though hanging around her friends usually seems to help her cope. --- To say that Bea’s been given the short end of the stick in life would be a severe understatement. She wears everything she’s gone through on her sleeve, all the way up to her gloomy mood and her generally uninterested attitude, but somehow still manages to get through the day most of the time. If you were to ask her about that, she’d most likely say she has no choice, given that her dad is incapable of working after her mom died and she’s the only one left to run the store. And like, that’s how it is for a lot of people in situations similar to Bea’s; there’s no easy fix or a way to get out of the whole situation, so they feel trapped in their circumstances no matter what they do. It was honestly kind of an eye-opener to see a character like this in a video game, and I feel that some people I know could relate very strongly with Bea. But what’s really painful about Bea’s situation is that she has dreams of her own that she desperately yearns for. Unlike Mae who ended up dropping out of college, Bea’s wildest fantasy has always been to leave Possum Springs and go to a university, to the point where she has to dream about going to college just to live out her fantasy. But because of her current responsibilities, she has no chance of dropping everything and ditching her ailing dad to do what she actually wants to do. She most likely doesn’t even have the money for it either, since the bills from her mom dying were so huge that she and her dad lost the house they lived in and have to settle for a crappy apartment. It sinks my heart every time I view some of her biggest scenes in the game, and it’s such a harrowing and real situation that anyone in the world could fall into. Even at her lowest point, however, it’s really admirable to me that Bea still manages to keep going. Though it may not look like she cares about the other band mates, the fact that she still hangs around them is enough for me to believe that she values their company (especially Angus’). Even when Mae ends up getting on her nerves the most, seeing them rekindle their friendship by the end of the game is a wonderful thing to see. And most people seem to agree that they’re among the most compatible people of the main group in the whole game, which I can kinda see even when I think Mae gets along much better with Gregg. But all in all, for how much poo poo Bea goes through and for how much she wants to just throw in the towel, the fact that she still tries is something I admire a lot about her. Question: Have you ever been burdened with seemingly inescapable situations? Alf's 22nd Favorite Character Teaser: Lives off a diet of instant ramen ==== Game #23: Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening ”Maybe somewhere out there even a devil may cry when he loses a loved one. Don't you think?”  Released: Feb. 17th, 2005 Synopsis: Before the establishment of the Devil May Cry office, Dante receives an invitation from his brother Vergil disguised as an attack, while a huge tower erupts from the ground and looms over the city. Sensing his brother’s presence on the tower and interpreting it as a challenge, Dante enters the tower to defeat the demons inside and face off against Vergil. Chosen Music: Devils Never Cry --- This one might actually come as a surprise to some people, especially because of how stiff it is compared to how nicely everything flows in a PlatinumGames action title, but... I actually really, really like Devil May Cry 3. Most of the exploration stuff is something I can either take or leave, but I do love how the combat works in the game. Devil May Cry 1 did a lot to shake up how to approach combat, but I always felt like there wasn’t enough you could do to make getting a high rank feel satisfying. With DMC3 though, you’ll need to learn how to switch your weapons on the fly and pull off different moves if you want to make the Stylish meter go up and keep it from getting stale. It’s a tall order at first, but once you get a nice rhythm going, it becomes a joy to head into battle and get high marks with your stylish-rear end moves. DMC3 also has my favorite ever example of a rival battle in a video game to date. In most old Capcom action games and most PlatinumGames titles, one of the biggest obstacles that most players will face is a rival character that is essentially “you, but better.” (Think of people like Jeanne from Bayonetta or Prince Vorkken from Wonderful 101) These characters most often serve as a means to test the player on their abilities, and they’ll usually be fought 3-4 times throughout the course of the game, which each encounter building on itself until you get to the final showdown with them. In DMC3, this rival character manifests itself as Vergil, and while most rival characters have little to do with the main character themselves, I adore how Vergil being both the rival character and Dante’s brother adds a ton of weight to each fight. Not only does this make complete sense from a story perspective, but also the satisfaction you get from beating him is unlike anything you get from beating any other rival character. It’s fuckin’ awesome. And yeah, outside of that, I also happen to love a lot of DMC3’s aesthetics and how it handles the story. You’ll get plenty of great boss battles that are set to these heavy metal tracks with screaming and death growl lyrics in the back. Most of the cutscenes in the game have excellent choreography and sound editing as well, among the best of the PS2 era for its time. It sure as hell ain’t winning any awards for the writing or story, but it’s all so cool and witty that I can’t help but get hype for whatever’s about to go down. I’m sure eventually it’ll get sidetracked by whatever comes my way next (still have yet to play Nier: Automata), but I’ve got a huge appreciation for how DMC3 chooses to be itself and have loads of fun in the process. Question: Do you ever love a game just for its aesthetics? Alf's 22nd Favorite Game Teaser: Features questions about the game itself
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May 26, 2017 00:13
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Character #22: Dick Gumshoe “That's Detective Gumshoe to you, pal!”     First Appearance: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Oct. 12th, 2001) Bio: A comically inept police detective working with the homicide division, Gumshoe struggles to make any headway into a given case while his salary shrinks day after day. But while his work is often questionable, his heart is ultimately in the right place, as he never gives up on a case until he manages to see it through to the end. --- As much as I love the newer Ace Attorney games, one of my biggest complaints about them definitely has to be the lack of Gumshoe. It’s easy to write him off as just some schlub when you first meet him, but like... that’s exactly what he is. He’s some third-rate detective that constantly gets involved with cases that are out of his league just to give the higher-ups an excuse to not have to deal with him for a while. And the poo poo that gets thrust upon him whenever he messes up reaches insane levels of unreal. You need to read this list to understand just how bad Gumshoe gets it; over the course of the original three Ace Attorney games, he:
That kind of environment would make anyone throw in the towel, but Gumshoe wholeheartedly takes it all in stride. He’s one of my absolute favorite Ace Attorney characters because he never gives up even in the face of a lay-off, and he does whatever he can either through his own skills and techniques or by JUST TRYING HARDER. Sure he’s a bumbling fool, but he puts so much effort and heart into his work that it’s hard not to love him and feel bad for him all at once. And it makes it all the more gratifying when all of his hard work ends up paying off every now and then, and ends up leading to a case being solved at last. I earnestly love the guy, and I continually pray every day that Gumshoe will eventually make his grand return in a new Ace Attorney game. I wouldn’t want anything less for my pal. Question: What kind of characters are the ones that you can't help but root for? Alf's 21st Favorite Character Teaser: Has a level taking place in their stomach ==== Game #22: Paper Mario ”Thinner Mario, Bigger Adventure!”  Released: Aug. 11, 2000 Synopsis: In his latest plot, Bowser steals the Star Rod from Star Haven and uses its power to defeat Mario, while he keeps Peach’s Castle floating above the clouds. In order to stop Bowser and restore order, Mario must team up with several new allies and rescue the imprisoned Star Spirits, giving him the power necessary to save Peach and the world! Chosen Music: Siege on Bowser's Castle --- I used to not respect Paper Mario as much as I do now. I can recognize it as being one of the few RPGs that I managed to get into that weren’t Pokemon as a kid (again, growing up in a Christian home meant I never grew up with stuff like Final Fantasy), but I was much more attached to Thousand-Year Door in my later years. Even upon replay, I couldn’t help but be turned off by the lack of gameplay improvements that its successor brought with it, though I could still manage to acknowledge it as a pretty fantastic RPG in its own right. But it wasn’t until much later, when Mario RPGs started getting duller and I began to notice more of Thousand-Year Door’s flaws, that I started to realize how special Paper Mario really was. And while I still miss the improvements that Thousand-Year Door brought to its gameplay, now I can say with certainty that I honestly adore Paper Mario. I think part of what makes Paper Mario work so well is how much it expanded upon the Mario universe. While Super Mario RPG introduced loads of different and new environments, species, and characters, Paper Mario instead chose to expand upon the things that were already introduced in older Mario titles. For probably the first time in the series (barring SMRPG’s Monstro Town), we got to see enemies Goombas and Koopas have communities and lives of their own, and we even started seeing all the different kinds of Toads inhabiting the Mushroom Kingdom. And using the species of Mario enemies as a base, we were also introduced to lots of lovable characters that made a perfect fit in the world of Mario. I just earnestly love how creative and interesting Paper Mario can be with its setting and characters, which makes me even more upset that current Mario RPGs severely lack this kind of world building. But aside from that, I also really appreciate how streamlined this game is. There aren’t a lot of areas that give you a lot of trouble (Chapter 2’s desert annoyed me as a kid but it’s fine now, but Chapter 6 is kinda painful), and most of them have unique and fun environments to explore. I also enjoy a lot of the game’s boss battles (except for like, Kent C. Koopa) and how they make you consider different approaches to take them down. The story is also surprisingly heartfelt and well thought-out (the intro alone is masterful), and even as early as the first in the series, they knew how to make hilarious and great writing. Honestly, I’d be more than okay if the next Paper Mario was just an HD remake of this game, because this game is so creative and imaginative that I’d always love to go back to it. Question: What are some games that you only came around to appreciating much later? Alf's 21st Favorite Game Teaser: The reason I joined Something Awful Alfalfa The Roach fucked around with this message at 23:38 on May 27, 2017 |
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May 27, 2017 23:08
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Character #21: Hades “Sorry to keep YOU waiting! But now that I’m here, let’s get this party started!”     First Appearance: Kid Icarus: Uprising (March 22nd, 2012) Bio: The true leader of the Underworld, Hades is as twisted and evil as they come, having no qualms with disrupting the balance of life to obtain power. Callous to the destruction left in his wake, he enjoys taunting and belittling those around him, though despite his jeers, he knows not to underestimate his opponents. --- There were a lot of elements that made me really, really like (and still really, really like to this day) Kid Icarus: Uprising, one of which being the characters. I’ve already talked about how much Viridi works as a great character and an appropriate interpretation of Mother Nature, but there are loads of other great characters worth mentioning in Uprising as well. You’ve got Palutena providing you with plenty of banter and a great person for Pit to play off of, and you’ve got Dark Pit poking fun at the “anti-hero” archetype just by existing. And every other chapter provides more characters with their own personality and brand of humor to make each chapter a joy to listen to. But out of all of the supporting characters you meet along the way, my pick for the best one definitely has to go to the real villain of the game, Hades. From the moment he tore away the fake staff roll after I defeated Medusa, I knew I was in for a treat. Hades makes just about any chapter you’re playing highly enjoyable with his smarmy attitude, his penchant for joking around and taunting, and a heaping helping of absolutely hilarious moments. One of my absolute favorite moments is the conversation he has about using the Wish Seed in Chapter 10 to “revive a young girl’s dead parents” which he murdered in an “unfortunate chariot driving accident.” It’s a loving riot of a conversation and it establishes how much Hades can keep a joke going and still make it absurdly funny. There are a lot of great and entertaining villains on this list that I have yet to introduce as well, but Hades was the first time in a long time that I truly felt engaged with a villainous character. His comedy moments are some of the biggest highlights of the game, but he’s also capable of being legitimately sinister and threatening, as any good villain should. He even takes the time to prattle on about some of his own philosophy at one point (the whole “reincarnating souls being different people” argument is great), and his boss fight is among the best Nintendo has ever put out. I doubt he’ll play a major role in another Kid Icarus game after the events of Uprising (assuming we ever get a new Kid Icarus game), but I’d still love to see more of him all the same. He’s seriously one of the best new villains Nintendo’s made in a long time and it’d be a shame to let him disappear after one game. Question: Who are some of your favorite one-off villains? Alf's 20th Favorite Character Teaser: Ate a massive sandwich ==== Game #21: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc "It's an all-you-can-kill, kill-or-be-killed, killing-killing-killing-all-around world!"  Released: Nov. 25th, 2010 Synopsis: 15 promising students of Hope’s Peak Academy become trapped within the school on their very first day, by a strange creature calling himself Monokuma. They are promised freedom at a terrible price: take part in the Killing School Life game, and murder a classmate without ever being discovered! Chosen Music: New World Order --- I first discovered this game back in 2012 when a friend of mine was doing their own Top 50 thread and they had mentioned Fukawa as one of their favorite characters. That was the start of how I discovered Danganronpa through orenronen’s Something Awful LP, and I didn’t know what to expect as I cautiously started to read it. Once the first murder happened, however, I was hooked, and from that summer onward I feverishly kept pace with the LP to see how it would all unravel. Eventually, after many paywalls stymied my attempts to read the LP for free, I finally registered an account on Something Awful in order to read the finale. It’s been a long and rough road for me as a Danganronpa fan ever since then, but honestly, I still really enjoyed the time I spent reading the first Danganronpa game. The biggest strength of Danganronpa to me ultimately lies in how it handles its characters and its interactions. The actual mysteries usually aren’t anything special, but the motivations behind the mysteries and how and why they played out the way they did caught my attention greatly. Every culprit has a believable, tragic, or even cruel reason for doing what they did, and those kinds of reasons help to give the characters a lot of depth. And the nature of the killing game that these high school students are forced to compete in means you never know what will happen; someone you’ve been rooting for will be killed, or will be the killer and found guilty. It helps keep the tension high and the stakes ever real, and outside of the main character (and a couple other exceptions) you never know who will be next on the chopping block. And while I’ve never had the chance to actually play the game for myself, a lot of the systems involved are great. You have the Class Trials, which are fun and frantic with lots of different gameplay features all geared to help you quickly solve a case. You have these Free Time event opportunities to increase your bonds with your classmates and gain different abilities to use in the Class Trial (think something like Persona 5’s Confidants system). In the later versions there’s even an entire mode where no one gets killed and you can enjoy a normal school life with your fellow classmates. It still remains to be seen if I will ever get the chance to actually play Danganronpa for myself, but for all that it’s done for me, and for all the memories it’s allowed me to make, I’m proud to call it one of the best games I’ve never played. Question: What are your thoughts on visual novels? Can they be considered video games? Alf's 20th Favorite Game Teaser: Changed a prominent character's voice into what it is today
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May 30, 2017 00:33
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Character #20: Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik "Citizens of Earth, lend me your ears and listen to me very carefully! My name is Dr. Eggman - the world's greatest scientist, and soon to be the world's greatest ruler. Now witness the beginning of the greatest empire of all time!"     First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog (June 23rd, 1991) Bio: An evil genius with an IQ of 300, Dr. Eggman wishes to conquer the world in the hopes of realizing his dream utopia. Though his plans are always foiled by Sonic, he has come up with many different mechanical creations over the years, including a powerful robotic replica of the Blue Blur. --- Before I realized how great one of my other favorite childhood villains was, Eggman was one of the coolest baddies around. A lot of this love for him came from Deem Bristow’s incredible performance as him in the Dreamcast era, in games like Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes. With just about every time he spoke, he stole the show with his over-the-top line delivery and his endless laundry list of amazing quotes (“No way! I can’t BELIEVE THIS!”, “ALL SYSTEMS, FULL POWER!, and the intro to Egg Fleet are among my favorites). Bristow could also nail Eggman’s sinister tone to a T and make him legitimately threatening once he reached the end of his rope. Back then, I couldn’t think of a more perfect voice for Eggman, and it makes me all the more sad to know that he passed away all too soon. Then Mike Pollock took over after he was brought on board with the rest of the Sonic X cast, and... I’m not gonna lie, it took me a long time to warm up to him. The period of Sonic games from 2005-2010 was me basically trying as much as I could to accept Mike Pollock as Eggman while also discovering the absolutely hilarious cartoon Robotnik voiced by Long John Baldry (who also passed away all too soon, and in the same year as Bristow no less). It wasn’t until Colors came around and gave Eggman tons of hysterical intercom announcements that I began to wholeheartedly accept Pollock’s interpretation of the character. I think we’re really fortunate to have a guy like Pollock who earnestly loves voicing Eggman and understands how to balance his goofy nature, overblown theatrics, and hidden villainy to an absurd degree. And when you look at how Eggman’s been portrayed over the many years since his introduction, I really feel like there’s not a bad version of him out there. I love the moments where he’s goofy and comical, since it helps give some levity to counteract some of the schemes he can come up with. I love every single moment where he’s giving an elaborate speech and laying out his master plan, stroking his giant mustache like any great villain who’s full of himself should. Hell, I even like him when he gets dangerously serious, since more often than not it leads to some of the coolest moments and boss fights in the Sonic series. He’s one of the most entertaining and awesome video game villains in the business, and regardless of how good a Sonic game may be, I can always count on Eggman to be one of the most enjoyable parts. Also, if you don’t think the Sonic 2006 version of Eggman is cool, let me show you how loving wrong you are. (volume warning) Question: Do you ever associate a character with a particular actor or actress? Alf's 19th Favorite Character Teaser: Helped inspire a labor strike ==== Game #20: Yoshi’s Story ”The page turned, and the Yoshis grew happier.”  Released: Dec. 21st, 1997 Synopsis: When Baby Bowser steals the Super Happy Tree for himself, the denizens of Yoshi’s Island fall into a severe state of depression. To restore the happiness of the island, six newborn Yoshis must follow the fruit left behind by the Super Happy Tree and take it back from Baby Bowser! Chosen Music: Yoshi's Tale --- Yoshi’s Story was always the game I played as a kid to offset the fact that I never actually owned a copy of Yoshi’s Island. Although I still yearned for the day when I could finally get Yoshi’s Island for myself, I still managed to have an enjoyable time with Yoshi’s Story whenever I popped it in. Levels weren’t cleared by normal means, relying instead on eating exactly 30 fruit, but I felt this allowed the game to be really open about how you tackle each stage. There’s no time limit, you’re free to explore levels at your own pace to find secrets, and a majority of the levels are really nice to traverse and look at. It’s kinda hard not to feel relaxed whenever I play it, unless I’m playing a really hard level (gently caress you, Jungle Puddle and Shy Guy’s Ship) or when I’m starting to run low on Yoshis. I also happen to really like Yoshi’s Story for how it ended up becoming one of the earliest score attack games I ever played along with Star Fox 64. This comes into play the most during the main Story Mode, where access to more levels in a given world depends on the number of Hearts you find in a level. But as a kid I used to think it was based on score, so I would spend a lot of time on certain levels trying to do things like get all the Hearts or go an entire level eating just one fruit (I was so proud of myself for being able to consistently clear Surprise!! eating only melons). I’m not sure how well the main Story Mode has aged nowadays, but back then it was a real good way to encourage me to explore every nook and cranny just to see what I could unlock next. And then whenever I cleared a level in the Story Mode, I could always go back to Trial Mode and play through it without worrying about what would happen after clearing it. Then in 2015, when I started thinking about games more seriously, my thoughts traced back to Yoshi’s Story and how it incorporated themes of happiness into every aspect of the game. This led me to think that Yoshi’s Story may have in fact been among my Top Ten of video games (before I realized nowadays how foolish that sounded). But despite never quite reaching that height, I do earnestly love Yoshi’s Story; it’s one of the games I associate the most with my childhood, and I enjoyed nearly every memory I had with it. Every time I think of it, I remember those days of discovering the secret Black and White Yoshis, getting tricked by cheat magazines into believing there was a secret Purple Yoshi, all the weird and crazy bosses, and humming along to that beautiful staff roll tune (which is the best staff roll music ever and I will fight anyone who says otherwise). And even though Yoshi’s Island will always be the better game by comparison, I still hold Yoshi’s Story in high regard for enriching my childhood and making it just a little happier. Question: What's a game you wouldn't normally like but you have a huge nostalgic connection to? Alf's 19th Favorite Game Teaser: A genius game Alfalfa The Roach fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Jun 1, 2017 |
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Jun 1, 2017 00:10
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Character #19: Manny Calavera “You know, sweetheart, if there's one thing I've learned, it's this: nobody knows what's gonna happen at the end of the line, so you might as well enjoy the trip.”     First Appearance: Grim Fandango (Oct. 30, 1998) Bio: A travel agent working to repay his debt to the powers-that-be in the afterlife, Manny longs to have a decent client just so he can keep his job and eventually move on to the Ninth Underworld. But when he steals a seemingly perfect client from a co-worker, he inadvertently sends her on a harrowing four-year long journey to the Ninth Underworld instead of skipping the journey altogether, prompting Manny to find her and set things right. --- If Grim Fandango weren’t mired with a horrible amount of adventure game logic, it would’ve shown up on this list at some point. While I was able to figure at least some of it out on my own, I had a guide on-hand practically every time I turned it on just so I could make it through in one piece (and for the sake of this thread). I am really glad I managed to finish it, however, because underneath all the bullshit, there’s a really creative game with a fantastic setting, clever dialogue, and a great story. And it should be noted that all of the voice acting in Grim Fandango is absolutely marvelous and helps to bolster an already incredible cast. But while I do like a lot of the characters in Grim Fandango (Glottis and Meche are great, and Domino is a really good antagonist), I’ve only got one character showing up on my list, and that would be the protagonist, Manny. What makes Manny brilliant right off the bat is that he starts out as just a simple office worker trying to repay his debt in life, but routinely comes up with nothing to show for all his hard work. He’s got that very dry sense of humor you’d expect from a guy who only does menial labor (and since being a Reaper is generally a thankless task), but his ability to come up with quips on the fly is great. He’s not even above pulling several pranks to try and get a better deal, and throughout the whole game he never really loses his sarcastic wit. Now all of that is already intensely relatable and makes him work wonders as an everyman, but it’s his desire to take responsibility for his actions that makes him really shine. Most of what he goes through to save Meche ends up being more of a means to an end than anything, but it’s really admirable how he intends to see a job through to the end and make sure it goes smoothly. Then during Year 4, near the end of the game when he’s at the terminus for the Number Nine train, there’s a really incredible piece of dialogue that he says when he’s near the tunnel. He remarks on how he could just go down that tunnel and enter the Ninth Underworld and forget about everything else, but he chooses not to for the sake of everyone else relying on him. That says so much about how Manny subtly develops throughout the game; at the start he’s deeply pessimistic about his future and hardly cares about anyone that doesn’t help pay off his debt. But by the end, after meeting all these different people and realizing the stakes with his rear end in a top hat co-worker Domino and mob boss Hector LeMans, you start to see his earnest and caring nature break through. It’s probably not enough to make him the best person in the world, but it’s a wonderful bit of development that shows that, beneath the layers of sarcasm and frequent pettiness, he does honestly care about the people closest to him. Question: What does a character arc need to do in order to be successful? Alf's 18th Favorite Character Teaser: The villain of the story ==== Game #19: Mega Man X ”How long will he keep on fighting? How long will his pain last? Maybe only the X-Buster on his hand knows for sure.....”  Released: Dec. 17, 1993 Synopsis: In the year 21XX, the world is thrown into turmoil when Sigma, a former hunter of renegade replicate androids called Mavericks, turns Maverick himself and declares war on the world. It is up to X, the base for all current Reploids, and Zero, an expert Maverick Hunter, to put a stop to Sigma and the rest of their former teammates. Chosen Music: Spark Mandrill --- Unlike Metroid, which I only have some nostalgia for, I’ve got nothing but love for the Mega Man and Mega Man X series. Both of them are incredibly formulaic with most of their games, but most of the time it’s so drat fun to gain new abilities from enemies and using them to sniff out the weaknesses of other enemies every time. Some of my favorite Mega Man games go a step beyond and introduce mechanics that do a great job complimenting the formula (which is one reason why Mega Man 6 is actually my favorite Classic game outside of blatant nostalgia). I’ve even dipped my toes into some of the other spin-offs as well, albeit with more mixed results (Battle Network is great, but I loving hated Mega Man Zero). If I had to pick just one Mega Man game out of them all to call my favorite, though, I would definitely give that honor to the original Mega Man X. Like, everything about Mega Man X just feels so TIGHT. The level design is rock solid and doesn’t make things cheap by putting spikes everywhere (while I also love X2, it had that problem a lot from time to time), and almost all the levels are a blast to play through (except Launch Octopus). There’s a real sense of accomplishment for finding part upgrades, and almost every one of them have their own practical uses for gameplay (helmet upgrade is kinda meh honestly). The amount of upgrades and collectible items alone almost makes it feel Metroidvania-esque, and it opens up each level in tons of unique and fun ways. I also really love how clearing certain levels affects other levels in the area, like when Flame Mammoth’s factory freezes over after you beat Chill Penguin’s stage. It’s a seriously awesome touch that makes the world feel just a little more alive. Also worth mentioning is how Mega Man X takes the opportunity to explore a thematically darker world than the Classic Mega Man games. In contrast to the Classic series where everything is more cartoonish, here the world is more serious, and the game itself isn’t afraid to explore themes of doubt and self-sacrifice. There’s like this really somber tone at the end of the game, where X, who lost his comrade and best friend Zero, is just staring out over the horizon, wondering how long he’ll have to keep on fighting wars like this. It’s a surprisingly heavy tone for the Mega Man series to take, and it makes me kinda sad that only a few games in the X series manage to reach that same level of depth (though X4 comes close). I wouldn’t be opposed to Mega Man X ever coming back if Capcom decides to bring back Mega Man in general, but my only hope would be that it can match all the things that the original X game does so right. Question: Do you generally prefer a more dark or mature tone in most video games? Alf's 18th Favorite Game Teaser: Takes place in Alaska
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Jun 2, 2017 22:37
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I pretty much gave up on the Zero series when I realized Zero 2 was no different from Zero 1 (both were unfun platformers with impossible criteria for getting good rankings made worse by having the Cyber-Elves mechanic detract from overall ranking), but maybe I can muster up the willpower to get back into it to reach Zero 4
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Jun 2, 2017 23:26
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