Sledgstone

Tuesday my favorite festival of all time for GW2 comes back. I'm more hyped to play than I have been in a very long time. I was a n00b when this festival first debuted, and I'm sure a lot of nostalgia boosts it's memory for me, but even then, I remember feeling that Halloween and Wintersday paled in comparison. When the year spun back around and it didn't come back I was disappointed. Labyrinthine Cliffs is going to be much easier to traverse without the need of the aspect crystals, but the Dolyak Race should still be funny. I'm looking forward to the additions they've made, and I'm ready to grind out Boss Blitz. I hope they've scaled up the bosses properly and made the rewards worth grinding so it doesn't become a ghost town if people go back to Istan.   

I completed my 6th world completion on Guild Wars 2. It will probably be my last. Mounts definitely made this one much easier to complete, but it still wasn't much fun. My first two runs were done the old school way with WvW map requirements. My third, forth, and fifth were done post HoT with gliding, and elite specs providing me with more mobility and power. This last one took less than half the time, but the hearts are so tedious, it's too much. The Beetle is cool for zipping around the map and unfogging everything. You may pick up a few WP and POI along the way, but if you were to move from heart to heart, half the time you'd just get your boost meter full and you'd be at your destination already. The raptor is still the best for these scenarios. The best thing the Beetle is for is getting to an event fast before it completes. Also the skimmer made maps dominated by lakes and ocean so much faster. With 10 gifts of Exploration, I doubt I'll ever grind out the Gift of Mastery track 10 times to go with it. I kind of wish I would have bought more than I did before that change occurred.

I just wanted to pop by and say hello! Hope things are going well!

My router shat out on me today and screwed me for over an hour as I thought it was my internet. My power went out and after it came back on my router started freaking out and will only stay connected for 5 seconds at a time and then go down again for 4-5 minutes. I hooked up my old back up router in the meantime. Now I have to call up the support line tomorrow and see if Tenda will honor their warranty. I ordered a TP-Link router off amazon a little while ago for a cheap $59 on sale. It seems decent enough and I've never had any issues with TP-Link before.

If there is one thing I despise about anime across all genres, its the damn "recap X.5" episode. Nothing makes me cringe more when I load up my funi app only to see this week is a waste of time for one of the shows I watch. I was really irritated that FMP had one after just 4 episodes, and Legend of Galactic Heroes has one this week. Seriously, what a waste of effort and time. Even if I missed episodes, I'd rather go back and see the whole ep rather that get caught up on some clips from it mashed in with everything I've already seen.

On another note, My Hero Academia was freaking amazing this week. Any ep where All Might fights is seriously some of the best content of the series.

And then Steins;Gate 0 just gut punched us in the feels this week with Okabe shortly going back to an alpha world line... oh the feels. The emotional level of this series is brutal. It's been a while since I've felt this much empathy for a character.

When I watched Tokyo Ghoul season 1 and 2 a few years ago, I thought it was the most over hyped pile of shit I've ever seen. Apparently it didn't follow the manga at all. I've been watching season 3 just because its a simuldub, and while I find it more entertaining, it's so disjointed from the first two seasons, it doesn't make any sense as a whole. Apparently they somewhat decided to start following the manga after skipping a few arcs? Apparently they announced season 4 and it's going to skip more between 3 and 4? What a train wreck... They might as well start over.

When I watched Tokyo Ghoul season 1 and 2 a few years ago, I thought it was the most over hyped pile of shit I've ever seen. Apparently it didn't follow the manga at all. I've been watching season 3 just because its a simuldub, and while I find it more entertaining, it's so disjointed from the first two seasons, it doesn't make any sense as a whole. Apparently they somewhat decided to start following the manga after skipping a few arcs? Apparently they announced season 4 and it's going to skip more between 3 and 4? What a train wreck... They might as well start over.

Manafort is in jail. That's how ya MAGA. 

You could definitely tell this was the last E3 for this generation of consoles. Super small showcases for everyone this year. Next year's E3 will be back to the ultra hype reels for Sony and Microsoft unveiling the next consoles followed with the games that are being made for them. It will be an off year for Battlefield next year, but the first COD will be by C studio Sledgehammer, since MW4 will be the last COD this gen.

Absolutely gutted and devastated to hear of Anthony Bourdain's death, turned an already shitty day into an extremely shitty day. I would of said something earlier but I had to come to terms and sort out my own thoughts on this (and of course get through a 10 hour work day).

The world truly is a bit darker and a lot less interesting today with his loss. His passion, gift for storytelling, humanity, and all around awesome attitude were what drew me in when I first started watching A Cook's Tour (his first show) so many years ago and what cemented my love for this man during the run of No Reservations. Sadly I never did get around to watching Parts Unknown or The Layover but I can only imagine they were as good as the other two. This man truly had a gift for opening his heart and mind to people and their culture as well as getting them to open up as well.

RIP Mr. Bourdain, not only have you opened my eyes to new things, given me countless hours of enjoyment, and been an all around awesome person you've also inspired my love for travel (that one day I will hopefully get to do) and my love for other cultures. You will truly be missed and my heart goes out to your daughter and family in this extremely tragic moment. I can only hope you've finally found the peace that so eluded you in life.

This has got to be Destiny's last run. Twice expecting people to pay for a Y2 overhaul can't be sustainable. I don't regret my purchase of D2 because I did get a lot of fun out of it. Bungie just has no idea how to balance a game to appease hard core and causal players. They've reverted the game to get max progression via raids again so I'll probably never play since my clan died off months ago. They either give it all to you easily or make grueling time gates and obnoxiously low drop rates. Like there is no in between here? Now they have some new $100 million dollar deal for a new IP which makes me think they are giving up on Destiny. With even COD ditching the MP season pass, the days of paid DLC are going away and yet Bungie is trying to milk two season passes out of each game. Meanwhile Overwatch is still healthy after 2 years.. match queues are pretty much the same as they were 6 months after launch. No DLC, free heroes and maps, along with constant rebalancing and hero reworks for underpowered characters. I REALLY hope Battlefield V gets this level of support for 2 years until the next main BF game comes out. I'm getting a bad vibe that the launch game will only have like 5 maps or some BS "because Tides of War". Yeah we get it, we'll progres along with WW2, but give us the same amount of maps every launch title has had. Hopefully The Division 2 comes out swinging from lessons learned unlike Bungie. The Division is in a good state right now and if they can release it with all the content this last free patch had, they'll be good to go. Really I just want games to be successes again, I want to stress over what to play instead of waiting for something that's hopefully worth my time. I hope Anthem is amazing for BioWare's sake, and I hope Borderlands 3 is going to be amazing as well.

In 2009 I bought a 32" Sony Bravia TV. It was my first HDTV and I bought it for the release of MW2. Its been an awesome TV, never failing except one of the HDMI ports recently went bad after my PS4 had been hooked to it since I got my PS4. With 4k TV's becoming affordable I'm probably going to upgrade to a Sony X900F 55". Its not OLED, but I don't plan on looking at it at an angle so it should serve its purpose. I'll stick with Sony TVs since its all I've ever used and none of them have ever gone bad on me. My old SDTV 20" VCR combo is still in my Mom's room. I won't be getting a PS4 pro though, with only 2-3 years left in this console cycle it will be pointless. I'll wait for PS5 to take advantage of 4k gaming. Plus I want to be able to see these damn snipers on Battlefield that can see me through blades of grass. They probably have 75" TVs though.

The housing market is crap around here for what we can afford.  I really really want to move this year. I just hope we can find something before winter.

The housing market is crap around here for what we can afford.  I really really want to move this year. I just hope we can find something before winter.

The housing market is crap around here for what we can afford.  I really really want to move this year. I just hope we can find something before winter.

I must have started watching Fairy Tail like 4 or 5 years ago. I always got held up by the dub progress. I finally finished the 265 or so eps that are out. Overall I really loved this series despite its tons of flaws. The story was very child friendly as no one really ever dies in a fight. If someone dies, its none of the important characters and they're already dead when they're found. Hell they even brought one back that was supposedly dead the first 3-4 seasons. However where it isn't child friendly is the fan service that progressively gets more abundant each season. Rather than a joke here and there it's bewb flaunting and gratuitous bent over shots. FT does have the most luscious cast of females you could ask for in an anime, and they exploit it the later into the series you get to the point its laughable. I feel like the series peaked at the Grand Magic Games and they ran out of inspiration after that. The whole former enemies turning good got old after it kept happening. I mean Minerva had resting bitch face, and Flare had psycho face to indicate they were indeed villains, so it was odd later to see them get the normal face when they weren't evil anymore. What made me love the series is the running gags and the fact that most all the characters had their own fights and stayed on equal footing with Natsu, rather than taking the DBZ approach and having the main character surpass everyone to where only he could do anything of value. Even though Laxus and Guildarts were super mega ultra OP, they were never around when it really mattered. Anyways, I'll be looking forward to the final season later this year. This was by far my favorite opening sequence.

After four days of playing I finally beat Detroit: Become Human or should I say finished my first play through and boy was it a pleasure. It's been a very long time since I've played a game with such an amazing story behind it and it's been even longer since I've felt such emotion while playing. This is my game of the year and nothing will come close to over taking it. A little early to be saying this? Probably but the chances another game as rich in story, character development, and emotional attachment coming out this year is slim to none. Games like these are what influenced my decision to get my degree (even if I'm not using it or working in the industry) and it's games like this that I've always wanted to create.

True, the story has problems (and an extremely slow start after the first mission (the demo mission if you haven't played it)) and borrows heavily from real life events (civil rights movement is the big parallel with Markus coming off as the android MLK (depending on what choices you make)) and covers some pretty heavy subjects (domestic abuse, drug use, what does it mean to really be alive, etc) but they are few and far between and do little to detract from the narrative being told (in fact I think it gives the story more character). This game also does an extremely good job of making you feel the consequences of the choices you make and drives those points home later on down the line (every choice you make effects how the story ends, even the most mundane).

All three main characters are interesting in their own ways and it was a joy seeing them all evolve throughout the course of the story and while I admit some of them were bland (Connor coming to mind, his character arch is the most interesting but his character is rather bland until about half way through the game) that hardly detracts from the story. If I had to choose I'd say Kara's story was my favorite for pure emotional reasons and Connor's being the most enjoyable (mostly due to the Detective he works with). Don't get me wrong Markus's story is good and the beginning of it really makes you feel for him but overall it doesn't outshine the other two. Plus the actor's they got to play these characters did an extremely amazing job bringing these characters to life so much so that I became emotionally attached to each one of them (this goes for secondary characters as well, I had to make some real hard choices at the end of the game and it was heartbreaking to do so).

While I'm not one to gush about graphics I must say this game is beyond beautiful and the motion capture and animation are top notch (not to mention the starting screen is probably the most unique one to date). It's obvious this is a game and everything is CG but sometimes you forget given how well they nailed the likeness of the actors/actresses they used (almost all the main characters and certain side characters share their likeness with the actor/actress that portrayed them). I also have to say the soundtrack is rather amazing (now to rip it off my PS4 for my listening pleasure).

All in all this game was an emotional ride and probably the best $70 I've spent on a game in years. I can't recommend it enough but I warn you this game is not for everyone. There is very little action (and what little there is completely consists of quick time events) and it's completely character driven, think of it as a CYOA movie that takes some input from the audience. Plus if you've never played a Quantic Dream game (Indigo Prophecy, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls) then you probably won't really enjoy it. However if this sounds like something you'd like I highly recommend it. As I said it's been a really long time since I've enjoyed a game this much and I can't wait to play it again this weekend to try out the paths I didn't take (and to get all the trophies, this will probably be the only game I 100%) and see the other endings (I got what could be considered the best ending).

I'm going to preface this by saying I'm normally not a fan of Super Robot mech shows (more of a Real Robot guy myself (Gundam/Macross)) and never really have been (there are exceptions but they are few) so that will tell you just how much I adored this show.

It took me 11 years to finally sit down and watch it (and it's spent many years on my Netflix to watch list (I watched in on CR though) but I finished Gurren Lagann tonight and I have to say I absolutely fucking adored it. I don't understand why it took me so long to finally watch it but god am I glad I finally did. I haven't been this pumped after watching a show since I finished Kill la Kill (funny considering Trigger is also responsible making that gem). I'll admit it was a little rough in the beginning and if it wasn't for Kamina I would of dropped it but man am I glad I stuck through it, it only kept getting better. I'll admit, my taste for shows like this has dwindled over the years and I'm not really into the over the top, ridiculous shit anymore but god this just scratched an itch I didn't even know I had. Sure, I have my issues with the show (some pretty poor character development in some of the secondary characters, story is a little hard to follow after a certain point, some of the mech based science bugs me, and the whole Spiral Energy thing is ridiculous) but god damn do they seem insignificant when put up against an awesome soundtrack, awesome visuals (a little jenky considering how old it is), and a downright stellar main cast.

If it wasn't for my absolute love for Zeta Gundam this might have taken the place as my all time favorite mech anime (you all know me well enough to know how high of praise this is). I can't wait to watch the movies this weekend (yea they're recaps but apparently the second movie makes the final fight even more epic then it already was) and I'm sad to think there is no more of this wonderful show to watch (manly tears were shed at this realization).

I'm going to preface this by saying I'm normally not a fan of Super Robot mech shows (more of a Real Robot guy myself (Gundam/Macross)) and never really have been (there are exceptions but they are few) so that will tell you just how much I adored this show.

It took me 11 years to finally sit down and watch it (and it's spent many years on my Netflix to watch list (I watched in on CR though) but I finished Gurren Lagann tonight and I have to say I absolutely fucking adored it. I don't understand why it took me so long to finally watch it but god am I glad I finally did. I haven't been this pumped after watching a show since I finished Kill la Kill (funny considering Trigger is also responsible making that gem). I'll admit it was a little rough in the beginning and if it wasn't for Kamina I would of dropped it but man am I glad I stuck through it, it only kept getting better. I'll admit, my taste for shows like this has dwindled over the years and I'm not really into the over the top, ridiculous shit anymore but god this just scratched an itch I didn't even know I had. Sure, I have my issues with the show (some pretty poor character development in some of the secondary characters, story is a little hard to follow after a certain point, some of the mech based science bugs me, and the whole Spiral Energy thing is ridiculous) but god damn do they seem insignificant when put up against an awesome soundtrack, awesome visuals (a little jenky considering how old it is), and a downright stellar main cast.

If it wasn't for my absolute love for Zeta Gundam this might have taken the place as my all time favorite mech anime (you all know me well enough to know how high of praise this is). I can't wait to watch the movies this weekend (yea they're recaps but apparently the second movie makes the final fight even more epic then it already was) and I'm sad to think there is no more of this wonderful show to watch (manly tears were shed at this realization).

I'm going to preface this by saying I'm normally not a fan of Super Robot mech shows (more of a Real Robot guy myself (Gundam/Macross)) and never really have been (there are exceptions but they are few) so that will tell you just how much I adored this show.

It took me 11 years to finally sit down and watch it (and it's spent many years on my Netflix to watch list (I watched in on CR though) but I finished Gurren Lagann tonight and I have to say I absolutely fucking adored it. I don't understand why it took me so long to finally watch it but god am I glad I finally did. I haven't been this pumped after watching a show since I finished Kill la Kill (funny considering Trigger is also responsible making that gem). I'll admit it was a little rough in the beginning and if it wasn't for Kamina I would of dropped it but man am I glad I stuck through it, it only kept getting better. I'll admit, my taste for shows like this has dwindled over the years and I'm not really into the over the top, ridiculous shit anymore but god this just scratched an itch I didn't even know I had. Sure, I have my issues with the show (some pretty poor character development in some of the secondary characters, story is a little hard to follow after a certain point, some of the mech based science bugs me, and the whole Spiral Energy thing is ridiculous) but god damn do they seem insignificant when put up against an awesome soundtrack, awesome visuals (a little jenky considering how old it is), and a downright stellar main cast.

If it wasn't for my absolute love for Zeta Gundam this might have taken the place as my all time favorite mech anime (you all know me well enough to know how high of praise this is). I can't wait to watch the movies this weekend (yea they're recaps but apparently the second movie makes the final fight even more epic then it already was) and I'm sad to think there is no more of this wonderful show to watch (manly tears were shed at this realization).

Finished Darling in the Franxx today. Its definitely not for everyone. It starts out confused to what it is. A lot of people could give up on it after the first few eps. What's seemingly a corny mecha series with horny teens quickly evolves into an interesting and mysterious world were a group of kids try to find their place on society and struggle to cope with their emotions. Lately, I've been unintentionally watching series with slow build ups that lead to big payoffs and this is one of them. Having to wait each week for a new episode deprived me of the instant gratification or lack there of I'm accustomed to. The series ends without answering a lot of questions and adding a few more about the actual social structure and why the world is the way it is. But the questions about Hiro's issues and his explainable connection to 002 are all resolved. The animators of Gurren Lagann did this series, and it's easy to see that. Instead of a over the top epic tale, we get a darker world with mysterious creatures that probably wont be explained until next season.

Just got a severance from my old job, and I immediately paid off a credit card. Feels good because that's a monthly payment gone that will act as a buffer for the small pay cut I took at my new job. Plus it was the card with the highest APR. I gotta hold out another year hopefully. My PC is showing signs of its old age, and I'll probably have to upgrade completely in the future. At 10 years old, its mother board is probably severely outdated to rebuild on, 6 of the USB ports don't work anymore, and more are dying. My wireless connection is kinda shit because I think the USB ports cut off for a second and kick me off at random times. I say this because the USB port I had the adapter plugged into died when it was giving me problems, and I put it into a new one and after a few days the same issue started happening again. I had to swap my mouse to a new port because that one died. Even though I haven't been playing GW2, I can imagine getting kicked off while doing something important. My PC case is too small at that. The video card I just bought a few months ago barely fits in it, otherwise I'd strip the old ass wireless card my dead PC had and put it in... although I think I lost the antenna for it. I also have plans to buy a new firearm. I sold my 1911 to the FFL I frequent so I could secure a larger down payment for my car. I never carried that behemoth, but I want a revolver since I don't have one. That will only cost me around $600... so that empty credit card balance is already begging to be used.

Just got a severance from my old job, and I immediately paid off a credit card. Feels good because that's a monthly payment gone that will act as a buffer for the small pay cut I took at my new job. Plus it was the card with the highest APR. I gotta hold out another year hopefully. My PC is showing signs of its old age, and I'll probably have to upgrade completely in the future. At 10 years old, its mother board is probably severely outdated to rebuild on, 6 of the USB ports don't work anymore, and more are dying. My wireless connection is kinda shit because I think the USB ports cut off for a second and kick me off at random times. I say this because the USB port I had the adapter plugged into died when it was giving me problems, and I put it into a new one and after a few days the same issue started happening again. I had to swap my mouse to a new port because that one died. Even though I haven't been playing GW2, I can imagine getting kicked off while doing something important. My PC case is too small at that. The video card I just bought a few months ago barely fits in it, otherwise I'd strip the old ass wireless card my dead PC had and put it in... although I think I lost the antenna for it. I also have plans to buy a new firearm. I sold my 1911 to the FFL I frequent so I could secure a larger down payment for my car. I never carried that behemoth, but I want a revolver since I don't have one. That will only cost me around $600... so that empty credit card balance is already begging to be used.

Funimation started the dubcast of the Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These. Apparently it's a reboot of the 1988 series Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Never saw the original, but the first two episodes has me pretty impressed. If this series is full of huge 5000-10k ship battles using old school formations and tactics I'll def be hooked. Since the original was over 100 eps, I hope I don't get The Legend of Legendary Hero'ed here after season 1.

The dub of first ep of My Hero Academia Season 3 finally came out so I caught up on the first four. Holy crap, they aren't wasting any time this season. Shit is already going down! Finished Garo Vanishing Line. It was really good, I want a second season of this era, and they left it open for one. I'm pretty pumped about the movie that takes place in the first era though. Overlord Season 2 was kind of a let down for me. The action was still good but it felt like the season had no real beginning or end... it was like the middle of a season, and there was no apparent turning point or climax. The lizard people happened, and then this whole thing with six arms... but nothing was resolved. Hopefully season 3 is more structured.