Strider Hiryu

Well I need to go change my pants now. Can it be 2018 already so I can get my hands on this game?

Gah, I really want to know what brought this conflict on now especially since it takes place after 6. Eursea has some balls taking on Osea and it's well trained and well equipped military (especially their Air Force, I wonder if Razgriz Squadron is still around (then again this takes place 9 years after 5 so who knows, would really like to fly with Blaze and Edge again)).

As I said they were barely in it so I'm not surprised you didn't know they were there, which sucks because every member of Section 9 is a major part of the team and a major part of the stories (not so much in the original movie or the 2nd movie but they all play major rolls in SAC and 2nd Gig).

I kinda figured this would be an origin movie going in and that's why I said they'd most likely be making another one (than again this movie didn't get a good score on Rotten Tomatoes so who knows, seems Hollywood is actually taking those ratings a little more seriously lately). As I said someone not familiar or overly into the source material/franchise would like this movie. It's probably not a movie you'll re-watch multiple times (like Star Wars and what not) but one you can enjoy at least once (I only say that because I'm currently re-watching SAC again and I'm finding even more problems with the movie, I won't list them but yea).

So I got on again today and tried out Warlock, have to say I'm actually really impressed with how Dawnblade plays and feels (don't get me wrong, way overpowered. I get a feeling it will see a nerf before release. The ability to knock out yellow barred enemies in 2-3 shots is way to useful). I actually think losing Sunsinger was a good thing if this is it's replacement (still doesn't mean I'm happy for the loss of self-res but the raw damage output of Dawnblade more than makes up for it if it doesn't get nerfed into obilivion). Healing rift is a little OP as well but I do like it, great for those oh shit moments (like the boss fight in the strike) when you need constant healing due to enemy damage output. Everything else feels the same as the Sunsinger loadout (grenades are the same, everything else seems relatively the same. Much like Gunslinger there are a few things missing and a few new things). I actually liked the exotic submachine gun Warlocks got, that ability to chain lighting between enemies is devastating (plus I think it reloads itself when it procs that, I found myself very rarely having to reload it. Wasn't really paying attention to what was causing it).

I did get to play the strike from the beginning and honestly it's not that great. The boss fight, while tedious, is fun but the strike as a whole felt rather bland. A few interesting parts here and there but overall it felt just like every other strike we've ever run in D1 (which is sad, some of the enemies were interesting but I didn't think they were utilized to their full potential here). I also thought it was extremely short, from start to finish I think it took no more than 20 minutes (then again my fire team members seemed to know what they were doing so that may be why).

As I said my thoughts haven't changed. I won't be picking this up, the bad taste D1 left in my mouth overshadows whatever potential this game could have (and I honestly don't see what potential it does have, it feels like Destiny 1.5 and I don't really see that changing). I hope everyone who bought it, yourself included DX, get you're $60+ worth out of this game because I know I wouldn't.

Initial thoughts, meh. I pretty much got what I was expecting from this, a lot of what we've already seen gameplay wise with minor tweaks to enemy A.I., weapons, and class adjustments. Don't get me wrong the opening story mission is pretty epic in its own way and can be challenging at certain points but the Cabal felt like the Cabal from D1, I noticed no real difficulty change. New Cabal types did throw me off a bit until I learned how they fought but overall it felt like I was fighting the same Cabal I tangled with on Mars. I do like how enemies will charge at you with a melee weapon now when you're in close proximity, made going for those melee kills a little more risky (as a Hunter anyways, I still need to try Warlock (I won't be trying Titan as I have no interest in the class)). Overall its a nice change to actually see a story at play here and knowing what this faction of Cabal's aim was, instead of fighting enemies that have no real drive only to be set pieces for a strike or fodder for daily bounty grinding. I did try out the strike but sadly I was placed in at the end against the final boss so I didn't actually get to experience the full thing but as DX points out he's an HP sponge and the weapons they give you barely do any damage so it's tedious (fun, I like some of the mechanics but tedious none-the-less). I plan on running it again tomorrow to, hopefully, get the full experience so I can give my thoughts on it. I have no want to play Crucible since they went 4v4 so you won't be getting any thoughts on that.

As for Hunters, the class as a whole hasn't changed any since D1 (Gunslinger wise, I don't know about Arcstrider). Outside of loosing some of our options in the gunslinger sub-class menu and gaining some new/tweaked ones it pretty much felt the same and I felt completely at home while playing (though I had to brush off the initial rust form not playing in over a year). I'm not entirely happy about the Golden Gun changes, while six shots is nice and it will one shot normal enemies I don't like how it feels weaker against stronger foes (not like 3 shots was any better) where in some cases it'll take 2-3 shots to kill them (the harpies on the final boss battle in the strike are 2 shots, which sucks since clearing out trash is kind of key to winning that fight). I like the dodge reload option, comes in handy when you're in a pinch and need more ammo (especially when you're using a Hand Cannon). Grenade options are still your standard fair and tripmines are still the way to go (imo, I didn't actually try out the other grenade types but they're exactly the same from D1). Overall Gunslinger Hunters will feel right at home with the class, it's the same from D1 with some minor tweaks (some good, some bad). It'd be nice to get a chance to use those bottom options in the third section of abilities so I could give a more complete review but for now this is what I got. Oh yea, Sunshot is a fucking beast of an exotic and I see it getting a nerf come release. That Hand Cannon is way to powerful for what it is.

Overall I'm not really impressed with D2 as it stands now. Granted this is a beta (and compared to D1's alpha and beta a pretty poor one) and an extremely short one at that I still don't see myself buying this. Is it fun? Yes but so was D1 up until you got to max level and had to start endlessly grinding for better loot you weren't always guaranteed to get. Unless there is some fundamental change to how endgame works in D2 I see this game suffering from the same problems D1 suffered from. Though I doubt my I'll change my mind I will be playing again tomorrow to actually do the full strike and try out Warlock and the Arcstrider sub-class so I'll most likely have more to say then.

Adapting Cowboy Bebop into live action would be a travesty, I hope to fucking god they never get the rights to do it. The show is iconic and pretty much what brought the majority of our generation into the world of anime (besides DBZ, Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, and the rest of the original Toonami lineup).

I can't say much on Death Note, the anime never really interested me but considering it's Netflix doing it I don't think it'll be horrible. Then again this is a western adaptation so who can really tell.

Ok so I finally watched this and I'll give my thoughts on it (because I know everyone wants to hear them (yea I know you don't)) but be forewarned I have some major issues with this movie. I will point out that I did not hate this movie, as an action/sci-fi movie it's pretty damn good and the visuals are fucking amazing (some of the best cg I've seen in a long time, damn did they do a good job on it). The soundtrack is also pretty damn amazing, has hints of music from the original animated movie in their. Now anyways lets get on with what I thought (from now on things will be in spoilers, read if you wish too but I'm doing this for those who don't want anything ruined).

The Bad:

The Good:

Again I didn't hate this movie but as a self-respecting GitS fan I cannot call it a welcome addition to the franchise. It's a good action/sci-fi flick and I recommend giving it a watch if you're not a huge fan of the franchise (and by that I mean like me, if you have a passing interest in the series give it a watch but you'll be sorely disappointed in it if you're a die hard fan). The only thing I fear though is what this means for a Gunm/Battle Angel Alita adaptation (it's in the works but considering how much they butchered the source material for this movie I fear what they'll do with BAA).

Eh, I'd probably try it but honestly banana's on pizza doesn't sound to appetizing (then again I never thought pineapple on pizza would be any good until I tried it (to this day it's my favorite topping on pizza besides the basics)).

Sledge you won't be disappointed, HIMYM is an amazing show. I was heartbroken when they ended it as it's probably one of my favorite shows ever (great humor, great cast (NPH does an amazing job portraying Barney), and some of the best jokes I've heard in years).

Sadly I can't really say I have many favorite old TV shows as growing up I never really had control of the TV (my father controlled it and we spent a lot of time watching Wrestling and random stupid shit I couldn't get into) and when I did I spent most of that time watching cartoons. The only real shows I got into were Star Trek Voyager (the one show both my father and I liked watching), Star Trek: TNG, X-Files (I was a huge X-Files junky up until Mulder disappeared, could never get into it after that), the good shows on MTV (like Daria), and a few other shows here and there (yea the 90's kid in me shows, I was also a huge Power Rangers fan (the one show I watched religiously)).

Sigh, that made me want to load up my FLCL playlist and listen to it again (I'll have to do that (I own all three OSTs for FLCL)). I'll give this a shot, I just hope it's as good as the original.

Quite honestly I don't know why people use these, your ISP knows everything there is to know about you as does Facebook/Google/etc. The only real reason to have one is if you plan on doing some shady shit on the net and even then if the NSA/US Government really wants to find out what you're doing they will (almost every company has a price to give up sensitive information no matter how much they say they never will).

I broke down and bought two years of Avast's SecureLine VPN on my laptop about 2 months before I got my desktop (was on sale and since I've been an Avast customer for years (a paying customer for 3) they gave me a freaking good discount). It's alright but I notice a considerable amount of signal degradation when I play FFXIV on my laptop (not much but there is a considerable amount of lag, might have to do with the fact the VPN server is located in Chicago and the Data center for the FFXIV servers is somewhere in Cali (we think) so I'm going through more steps and longer connections just to get to it). As for downloads its fucking retarded, I can't start downloading any torrents with SecureLine on but as long as I start the dl before I turn SecureLine on it'll download fine (kinda defeats the purpose of a VPN but whatever, I don't download as much stuff as I used to (occasional movie here or there, I have Spotify for music and I really don't watch much anime outside of whats on Crunchyroll or what I personally own)).

While I chose this track the whole OST is a fucking eargasm of amazing music, this is just the culmination when you beat the game (and considering how it ends this song is extremely fitting). As of playing this game this has been and will always be my favorite soundtrack of any game (ABZU comes in second but I have yet to beat the game). This game has no voice acting and little to no story (except for what you make of it) except for snippets on random walls/shrines. The game relies entirely on the soundtrack to set its pace and it couldn't of done a better job. If you never get the chance to play the game do yourself of favor and listen to the soundtrack, its definitely worth it.

Of course I had to put a FFXIV song here. If it wasn't for this trailer/video I probably never would of started playing FFXIV and I freaking adore this song (I've listened to it on repeat so many times I actually have it memorized, song's name is Answers btw). Such a beautiful song and by far my favorite one off the entirety of FFXIV's discography (which is massive now and has some amazing music. Other personal favorites include Titan's Theme, Ramuh's Theme, Dragonsong (the theme song for Heavensward), and Revolutions (theme song for Stormblood)). FYI this video is how they wrapped up the story from the failed 1.x version of FFXIV and what led us into A Realm Reborn.

There's plenty more I could post but those two stand out the most for me. Honorable mentions would be Zone of the Ender's OST (first game, I wasn't really into the 2nd Runner's OST), Ace Combat 5 and 0's OST (both extremely good soundtracks), Chrono Cross's OST (there are some amazing songs in those 3 discs), and every Chocobo Theme ever produced (hey I love the Chocobo Themes).

I was excited about his until they left out the best SNES game ever, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (hands down the best game ever to come out on SNES (sorry Link to the Past, I love you dearly but nothing beats Turtles in Time)). Well that and Chrono Trigger (how you can release this without CT is fucking mind boggling). I might still pick one up for nostalgia sake (I do love me some Mega Man X).

Shit Sledge you can mod these things the same as a Pi, my friend has the NES classic and has the fucking thing loaded with every NES game released (plus almost all the SNES titles). Each their own though.

2 hours ago, Sledgstone said:

As for how old this site is.. Ancient Clan has been around since May 1, 2000. 17 years now. lol. Amazing how time flies.

God that means I've been here for 16 years X.x  What are you putting in the water Sledge? (better not be Big Wheel, you know I'm addicted to the stuff)

Welcome to our little slice of the internet. As DX pointed out we're pretty much a little of everything now though we mostly talk about games (a little anime here and there). Out of the few of us left I'm probably the one that watches the most anime (just currently finished re-watching Last Exile and watching Girls und Panzer). Whats your favorite anime?

XIV doesn't need a graphics overhaul considering this iteration is only 4 years old (you have to remember the original XIV or 1.0 in this instance failed hard and the game was scrapped, rebuilt from the bottom up, and re-released as ARR or 2.0). Stormblood is amazingly beautiful, they really upped the graphics quality with this release (they redid nothing but they utilize DirectX 11 now, instead of 9 like they did with ARR). I expect to see XIV go on for at least another 5-6 years considering it's still growing (last count was 8+ million subscribers) and if they keep releasing a quality game (launches with standing, they can't seem to get that shit right) and continue their patch cycle (every 3 months we get new content) this game will go on for a long while.

You also forget FFXI, its been out for 15 years and has not seen any major graphic overhauls (minor gameplay ones) and it's currently the longest running MMO to date (then again Everquest is still technically running) and it's due for a Mobile release soon (don't really know the details but it's a scaled down version of FFXI). Fuck people still play the game religiously.

WoW's game engine hasn't seen any real improvements, it's still technically the same engine but they've expanded it to do a lot more then it was originally capable of (graphically included, the graphics overhaul was because Blizzard thought it was time to leave the cartoony graphics behind (though it's still pretty cartoony).

Honestly we won't see another major iteration in consoles for another year or two and that will most likely be out of Sony more than Microsoft. MS already stated they won't be releasing a new console and wish to only improve upon the XBone going foward, maybe releasing newer versions like the S and X (considering how much money and time they put into the X they would be retarded to start developing a new console now). If anything generations are gone, we'll be stuck with similar consoles only slightly more powerful than the last. Ultimately I think the goal is to go modular, like a computer and allow us to upgrade parts going forward. While that may sound stupid it's actually not. It'll allow gamers who can't afford high-end computers to get into gaming at a cheaper cost and allow them to upgrade as they need to any parts going out of date (instead of spending $2100 like I did on my computer someone can go out, pick up whatever iteration of the XBone we're on for lets say $500, and then down the line buy a new graphics card/cpu/etc. This in the long run is much cheaper as they're still paying a smaller fee to get in whereas no matter what I'll always be spending more since my initial in was $2100). Meh, you can take that as you will but honestly I don't foresee anything more out of consoles, generation wise, other then slightly better versions coming out.

On 6/19/2017 at 10:18 PM, Sledgstone said:

No CoD player would want to purposefully play that game mode for the objective and get killed endlessly.

Actually you're wrong on that thinking. War mode is not new, it was introduced in World at War and it was the most popular game mode besides TDM (though they made some significant changes to it since WaW, back then it was more like BF Conquest where you fought over flag points. War mode in COD (click this link for more info) ). You should know this DX considering how often I saw you in it (fuck I remember that one match we had against each other in it).

I honestly think the game is pretty polished for a Kickstarter game. Graphics are relatively good, combat is pretty much a copy-paste out of almost any side scroller (not a bad thing, don't fix what's not broke), menu system is a little clunky but not something I can bitch about (I'm used to more convoluted systems), and honestly it looks rather fun compared to Castlevania (I never got into Castlevania, couldn't bring myself to enjoy it. Odd for me because I actually like side scrolling games (Strider and Strider 2 being my absolute favorites)). The only real gripe I have with it is how unbalanced the weapons seem. I honestly thought the Rapier looked to be the best weapon, fast attack with moderate damage. Get off more hits before the enemy can hit you (more risk but it honestly seemed to pay off for him in the video). They were trying to show all the weapons in the video, hence why he didn't use it that much. Plus it seemed like he preferred the Rapier over everything else most likely for the same reasons I think it's the best weapon.

Eh, BioWare isn't one to just say something and not deliver (ME:A being an exception here), I could see this being a 10 year game if they do it correctly. By correctly I mean timing their DLC perfectly, making said DLC free and not put it behind a pay wall (though I would not be against paying for DLC if they can justify why we need to pay), and actually treating this game as an MMO and not a hybrid shooter with some MMO mechanics (this is really what hurt Destiny, Bungie never gave it a clear cut identity and it shows). The other thing is having a good plot/story that actually allows for expansion on the base game, not actually requiring a second game to fix fuck ups and plot holes introduced in the first.

Due to BioWare's status as a AAA developer that always delivers (again ME:A is the exception but this was made by their B team, not one of their A teams) EA seems to be giving them more free reign on how they go about their business (especially considering how well the original ME trilogy did). Sadly this is all speculation and we won't have anything concrete on this game until most likely either TGS, Gamescom, or E3 next year (I'm assuming we'll get news out of Gamescom but probably not much, TGS really doesn't have many western developers make a showing and they'd be stupid to keep quite until E3 next year. Hell we might get lucky and get news out of GDC but I doubt it).

Plus honestly we still don't really know the limitations on the current gen hardware, especially when you factor in the PS4 Pro and the XboneX. Most of the premier games for either the Xbone or PS4 had limitations forced on them by last generation consoles so we really haven't seen much more then a few titles that might be pushing either console to its limits (Horizon is one of the most beautiful games I've played on PS4 and I've only really run into a few issues here and there which I blame on bad coding more than console performance).

I'm one of the masochists, I've done a complete play through of just using the mini gun on AC4 (it was fun and glorious, actually made the game somewhat difficult). On a normal difficulty play through I tend not to use XL's or XM's but that doesn't mean I don't spam the shit out of them on Hard and above.

I hope it stays that way. If dog fighting mode is put into this I will riot, such a fucking waste of code and time to develop it.

It doesn't look any worse than the the Aigaion fight from AC6 or the fight with Pasternak and the Nosferatu from the same game (in fact I'd put the Pasternak fight as harder then that (and I've beaten it on Ace of Aces which is fucking rough)). Honestly he could of easily completed that if he'd used both normal and special weapons (though XMAA's or XLAA's would of been a better choice), maybe occasional use of the minigun. Then again I don't know the difficulty this was being played at (and not everyone is as good as I am at Ace games (it's the one thing I can brag about so let me have this one)).

Looks damn good though. Waiting until next year is going to be rough X.x

God I've wanted to play this for so long I'm honestly happy it's being remade (ever since I saw Reign Over Me (great movie, Adam Sandler's character plays this to cope with the loss of his family) I've been obsessed with playing this game). Sucks the cut content won't be coming be put in but I'm fine getting the original.

, I don't have a group to play with so that's why D2 just isn't worth it (honestly I only ever played Destiny with you and Sledge outside of that one time I played with your group and so old workmates). Sadly if Anthem is released on PC that's the version I'm going with (I don't know but this new PC just makes me want to say fuck my PS4 and focus on gaming on this).

It's a great feeling Sledge, for the first time in years I'm actually able to play every game I own (I fucking can't wait to play Skyrim with all of the ultra HD textures and the amazing mods I've been downloading over the past few days. I also can't wait to finally play a Total War game (I've wanted to for so long but my laptops were never powerful enough to run one)). Sadly this is probably the worst time for this considering early access for Stormblood is Friday and I'll be spending all next week glued to it (I took next week off for the launch, my mind ready but I don't think my body is. Going to be a lot of all nighters).

Luckily Stormblood will keep me busy for the next year (when new content comes out, thankfully FFXIV is on a 3 month content cycle), I still have Horizon to beat plus the new DLC coming out, I'm actually thinking of picking up AC: Origins, Detroit: Become Human (though I doubt this will release this year, been a huge Quantic Dream fan since Indigo Prophecy), and now that I have a PC capable of playing all my Steam games my whole Steam Library (which numbers at 89 games as of yesterday with plans on buying more (I'll be picking up Civilization 6, Black Desert Online (I really want to try it out and for $10 I'm willing to do so), Total War: Warhammer (and possible 2 if I like the first one) and Total War: Shogun 2). Yea, I definitely won't have to pick up Destiny 2 so I can whether the wait until next fall.

As far as I'm concerned Bungie has a lot to prove to me personally and I won't give them money for what is essentially Destiny 1.5. Unless the beta changes my opinion I won't pick this up. Considering one of the DLC's is pretty much dealing with Rasputin I'm thinking you'll have to shed money out for the revelations about it.

Meh, I'm happy the Cabal are finally getting their spotlight  but I just can't bring myself to be amazed or overly interested in this story. I'll give the beta a try but I just don't see myself getting back into Destiny (especially with the announcement of Anthem, if I had to choose right this instant I'd choose Anthem (it looks better and has a much more interesting concept than Destiny)).

They're going for a more FF approach to this by allowing you to be anything you want which I like (I can play every Job on one character in FFXIV which has ruined me for other MMO's now). I'm just wondering how many suit variants they're going to have. Colossus is obviously a tank based suit with heavy armor and I'm assuming heavier armaments. Ranger seems to be the jack of all trades middle road suit, most likely packing medium armor and a range of weapons. Make me wonder if we're also going to get a light, agile suit for hit-and-run tactics.

I'm assuming this is all one planet and we won't be traveling off of it (based on the look of the city the most advanced things we have are the suits and those giant AT-AT things, I could be wrong but it seems this is going to be a more grounded game unlike Destiny). It seems like travel is seamless so I'm assuming fast travel won't be a thing since the suits apparently come with a jet pack/rocket booster attachments that allows them to fly (based on the video, seems like it's infinite as long as you can control it properly). Again I could be wrong and there might be a fast-travel system but based on that video I wouldn't want to use it. Seems like a lot of random shit goes on when traveling through the world and I'd hate to miss any of it (plus that jungle/forest looked amazing in the vid).

I wonder what Bungie's response to this is going to be as it's obvious this is superior to Destiny 2 and it's not even in alpha yet. It's obvious that EA/BioWare has been watching Bungie and learning from their fuck ups (by what I understand there is a crafting system in Anthem so that already beats D2 out in my books). As I said before I'll be watching this closely. My interest is piqued but until I can actually get my hands on it and try it I'll reserve judgement (sadly you just know any beta for this game is going to be locked behind a pre-order).

Color me impressed, still not 100% sold but I'll keep a close eye on this one. Starting to wonder if maybe some of those Bungie employees that jumped ship went over to BioWare because this looks like they took the original concept of Destiny (open world, do as you please, etc) and actually went through with it. You can definitely tell this was done by BioWare Edmonton and not one of the support teams.