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Strider Hiryu

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  1. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in TheQuartering   
    Now you know what my issues are with him Sledge. Jeremy is just an overbloated, opinionated asshat that wants attention. Don't get me wrong some of his stuff can be good and I agree with some of it but the majority of it now is just shit. It's either attacking women, other games journalists, or other youtubers (don't get me wrong I know PhillyD isn't exactly a saint but his piece on him awhile ago pissed me off (hey I like Phil's content, it's one of my major sources of news since I fucking hate watching traditional news coverage anymore)). He doesn't have a Patreon but has something similar (I can't remember the name of it but he talked about it in one of his videos, he needs to make all the money he can now that he launched his new Exclusive Games website. Gotta pay those writers and editors now).
    Jack has been pretty much done with BFV for awhile now. He still plays it but I haven't really heard him say anything good about it in months (outside of one or two things). Jack is also pretty upfront with what content he's paid to talk about (well that and it's law) and I've seen him bash games he's paid to praise (though underhanded and slight, can't make it too obvious). I don't watch his stuff as often as I used to (other, more entertaining things to watch) but I still drop in for some of his more goofy videos or the ones covering BF4 and BF3 (where he does live commentary while playing it, those are some of his best vids imo). Quite honestly there is only one youtuber who's opinion actually matters to be and that's MrHappy but mostly because he's an FFXIV content creator (see I told you I'm addicted to this game, I even follow FFXIV content creators because of my love for it). His guides for dungeons, raids, and primals is top notch and he's very open about everything he's paid to do (and only takes on sponsors who's products he actually likes). He's also has very similar tastes to mine when it comes to game and I respect his opinions on them (hell it was him and someone else that convinced me to buy FFXIV).
  2. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to Sledgstone in TheQuartering   
    Maybe its just me, but over the last month I've realized I don't like the quartering anymore. I unsubscribed from him the other day. I first started following him because of his coverage of video games, but all he does now is make endless hate videos about whatever people are complaining about for the day.. and an abundance of them. Like every video has "woke", "feminism", "woke" again, etc. Or its a video about shaming somebody or some company, usually a female. And it feels like its all click bait topics about white male's being repressed or reverse racism without calling it that. I'm not entirely sure who his target audience is anymore.
  3. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Final Fantasy XIV   
    Finally got mounts. The QoL is amazing now. My sprint button will now get a much needed rest with the small 30 seconds of speed it provided of CD. Some of these mounts are ridiculous though.. some dude was riding a freaking massive whale wtf
  4. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in Final Fantasy XIV   
    You let me know if you wanna pay for the sub, I have a referral link that will get you some nice in-game goodies (like a helm that gives 25% more experience gained and 99 aetheryte tickets for free teleports) and get me closer to my Twintania mount.
    Now that the selfish plug is out of the way I'm glad to hear you're enjoying FFXIV. You can actually use the map to teleport to any aetheryte you are attuned to but if you're not attuned it will not allow you to do so (so you don't have to use the list unless you want to, I do but I'm so used to to it from 6 years of playing). Then again at your level your list is nowhere near as full as mine (I kid you not my list is a nightmare). See global cool downs are the norm for me since I come from playing WoW and other more traditional MMO's so when I did play GW2 that was something I could never get used to (not a knock on GW2, BDO has a similar free flowing combat system and I love it) and it just never felt right to me. Not saying I didn't enjoy my time with the game but to me FFXIV is far superior in the things that matter to me (mainly the story, amazing soundtrack, and developers who go beyond what is necessary to provide for their player base).
    You will actually get your mount from the story quests around level 20 if you're not on a preferred world (it's around the time when you need to join a Grand Company (which should always be the Order of the Twin Adder. I'll have no complaints as it's obvious the best one (I kid but I am a Serpent Captain))). You'll have to do a short little quest but it's not difficult at all and you can also use your chocobo in combat once you do another quest located in the Central Shroud. Outside of that you aren't missing out on anything with the free trial. SE made it so you could experience the game at its fullest up until level 35 with very little restrictions. Sadly you're restricted to the chocobo until you either buy another mount later on (there are special currencies with certain NPC's that allow this), get a lucky drop in end-game content, or buy one off the Mogstation (which I own every single one, yea I know but I like collecting mounts).
    If I were you focus on Main Story quests and leave side-quests for other classes/jobs if you decide to level them. FATE grinding is a chore to level with just to warn you (which is sadly something I have to do now for my other jobs in Shadowbringers, thankfully they added a new reward system to them to make them worthwhile), it's not bad but once you've grinded the same fate 50 times you get a little sick of it.
    I digress though. If you ever have any questions if you decide to continue on with a sub let me know. I'm more then willing to help (you'll also need to tell me what server you're on (since I'm sure you're not on mine as we're kinda locked for character creation at the moment due to the influx of new people)). If we're on the same Data Center I can come visit you and help out if we're on at the same time (the new server visit system is quite awesome for this) since I've pretty much done everything outside of the Savage Raids and certain extreme mode primal. It's quite obvious I love this game and SE has done nothing but cement my trust in them as a company (as seen by the obscene amounts of money I throw at the Mogstation and on other merchandise (like the Lore Encylopedia's and art books)). Out of every MMO I've played SE has done just about everything right and 10x better then most other companies that require a monthly payment (I say just about but my only grievances are with how they handle certain in-game things at endgame but they're minor inconveniences).
  5. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Final Fantasy XIV   
    As much as I love this game, I've gotten to the point where I've become a super casual after 4 years of being a hard core player. I've won fashion wars, I'm in the top 2% of wealthiest accounts on gw2efficiency, the only time I really play is when there is a significant content drop. I've tried other MMO's, none of them really impressed me for too long. SWTOR was amazing for the story, but I never really cared to get into the end game. City of Heroes doesn't count because it was before I ever played GW2, and it was amazing for its time. Black Desert has tempted me many times, but the fact that you're forced into open world PvP upon reaching the level cap just is a no go for me. I don't like to be harassed while I'm minding my own business. I tried Blade & Soul, Revelation Online, and Vindictus. All had interesting concepts, but overall lacked certain things that kept my interest. B&S's low level areas died within a month as its more of a PvP focused game. Revelation Online's combat was.. eh, and Vindictus' optimization is reaaaly bad. World of Warcraft just never appealed to me... so I gave FF14 a shot with its free trial. Even though I don't love it as much as GW2 gameplay wise. I do like it a lot and I see the immense value in paying SE's sub. I can't fairly compare it to GW2 since I don't have a max character but here are some of my observations.
    The Free Trial
    GW2 is a F2P game, Buy to unlock everything. FF14 is F2P until level 35 with very little limitations from what I can tell outside of housing and some delivery service NPC. FF14 wins hands down here. This may be tilted because I have extensive knowledge of GW2, and how it works, but the limitations put on your account suck the life out of the enjoyment, most notably the inventory limits. With how FF14 does it, you're experiencing the full game pretty much unrestricted for a ton of hours of game play. If I'm missing out on something, I don't know what it is besides maybe mounts... but I figured you just get at a later level. 
    Graphics and Performance
    GW2 is an older game, but both are on par with each other graphically. GW2 wins hands down in character, attack, and enemy animations and its not even close. That's due to the different combat systems. Where FF14 outshines GW2 is the finer details. The lighting is better, the character emote library dwarfs GW2, and along with it, the facial expressions are just amazing. There is also way less clipping of outfits and weapons. Characters don't go bald when they wear a head piece. Also FF14 runs off DX11, while GW2's severely aging engine still runs off DX9. DX9 bottlenecks mutlicore processors causing GW2 to be CPU intensive. Lag spikes, framerate drops, and skill lag are all a thing when population gets too high. Granted FF14 is more instanced, it has none of these issues. Even in a FATE full of enemies, other players, and NPCs I get zero lag, no FPS loss, and no half loaded textures for the first 10 seconds of loading into an area. FF14 is amazingly optimized, and is one of the smoothing running games I've ever played on a PC. 
    Gameplay
    This one is subjective on tastes, but this is where GW2 just wins for me. I hate global cooldowns. FF14 is a more traditional MMO where you pick and attack/skill and all of your skills go on cooldown and then you pick another. There are exceptions to this but not many. GW2 has little to no global cooldowns, combat is free flowing, and often relies on fast paced, non-ending rotations where you're constantly attacking and dealing damage non stop. For the most part this means you're doing less damage per hit than you would in a game like FF14, but for someone like me, GW2's style feels better and more satisfying, especially when you can freeflow between targets even if you class or build can't cleave. Both games have a fast travel system, but GW2's is superior and using the map is way more user friendly to hit any wp anywhere in the world. FF14's map gets less detailed at times when you click a far off objective and it shows this fancy world map with no crystals to teleport to. Instead you have to use a list, and remember where they are off of that.
    Activities
    Both games seems to be the only ones with a lively open world. During the level up process in FF14, you do basic redundant quests and FATES, which are kinda like GW2's dynamic events, but way less varied, and they don't have an off shoot minor story behind them most of the time outside of some text base stuff... its mostly kill a bunch of this creature, or kill this giant creature. GW2's dynamic event's offer more variety in theory, but they take longer than fates, and once you do them once, you really don't want to repeat 99% of them. GW2's renown heart system replaces the redundant quests... with the same thing essentially. with 303 hearts, there are only so many tasks you can come up with. Both games have dungeons, altho GW2 long abandoned that content.
    Storytelling
    Both games have great story telling. GW2's stories aren't perfect, but the way they execute them has always been extremely well done. The main campaign is meh for GW2, but you're first time through was still pretty good. It has a lot of great voice acting and high stakes. FF14's voice acting is phenomenal as well. A lot of its lesser quests are all text base, which I've noticed a lot of people knock against it. I personally think the text dialogue is well done, and better than GW2's text dialogues which aren't that intricate by comparison... its almost an afterthought at times. For FF14 a ton of work has been put into the text dialogue.... so much that I've started skipping most of it for side quests. People will tell you their life's story just for you to go kill 6 squirrels.   which going back to activities, I appreciate how the cliche trash quests only require you to kill 3-8 things rather than 10-20 like other MMOs traditionally have done.
    Rewards
    This is where that sub shines obviously. Go out in GW2 and kill a bunch of trash mobs, and your inventory will fill with complete garbage. FF14 respects your inventory. It's rarely dumping junk you don't need in your bag. Even better, when you complete low level quests, you can pick a bag some type of bullion that you can just sell to a vendor when the reward is under powered gear. Further more, unlike GW2, you can get new emotes and the equivalent of minis for doing small side quests. Basically cosmetics you'd have to buy from the gem store in GW2, are just being given out for small time side quests in FF14. I had a lot more to say about this category, but I'm half asleep about to pass out.
    Basically if you had FF's rich content, engine, with GW2's combat, it would be the ultimate MMO. Right now I'm leaning towards buying it and paying for a few months. Even paying for SWTOR for 3 months, I feel like I didn't get any value outside of being able to sprint and get the land speeder way earlier.... basically pay to get common conveniences. In what I've seen playing FF14, there is value in paying. Their trial is probably the best out there. You don't feel pressured or feel like you're missing out on anything because you're playing for free. I like that, and feel like they've earned my money with that trust in their product. That presenting it to me, would sell it. Its not really something you see much of anymore, as "try for free" these days normally come with some kind of scheme to hold candy out in front of your face in hopes you'll take the bait.
     
  6. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Top Gun Maverick   
  7. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Star Trek: Picard   
    Ugh, they had to bring up the Nemesis feels. 😢
  8. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Detroit: Become Human   
    I went full shitbag at the end and got one hell of a grim ending.
     
  9. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Detroit: Become Human   
    First thoughts:
    The Good: The story is outstanding, the voice acting is S-Tier, and the graphics are beautiful. I guess not being a free movement intensive game they can cut corners on what has to be processed, because even on regular PS4 it looks like a high end PC max settings game. Just playing half way through this so far, I'm already sold for future Quantic Dream games. The end of each mission has a flow chart that shows you everyone's choices compared to yours, and even a narrower friends choices which I find to be most interesting. I believe Strider and one other person are the only people that have played on my friends list. I've seemed to line up with them for the most part until recently when I realized being "good" or "understanding" doesn't always help you with the karma system the game has... it's very shades of grey, so it better not to stress to much in being nice or trying to cater to NPCs.
    The Bad: The controls are pretty wonky. Unless its a certain mission segment, and very few of them, there is no free roam camera. Its purely PS1 Resident Evil style camera that is slightly more modern. There is a way to free roam, but its slow and not optimal. The investigation button allows you to pan the camera for clues, but time is frozen while you do it. Outside of that you can flip the camera with R1 and it generally doesn't do a good job. Often it will flip into some useless angle, and hitting it again will most of the time never send you back to the view you just had. This is irritating when there is a viewable item/area you walk pass. You'll have to go into the investigate button to pan to it as these often pop only when you're super close. This is pretty much the only negative I have about this game. The style presented makes it forgivable, but it would have been nice to have a more free flowing camera system.
    Thing to know: This is no Telltale game. If you fuck up, there is no going back. The show goes on leaving you wondering what could have been. This def adds to the replay factor if you have that kind of time. Decisions are forced up on you to decide uncomfortably quickly. While it sucks at times, it really adds to the emotion it provokes out of you. I have several regrets already.  I selected casual controls for this go around because it made it clear in the opening menu, if a character dies, the story doesn't stop. I didn't really want to miss out on 3rd of the flow chart.
  10. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in PS Plus Games   
    I would definitely recommend getting and playing Detroit, such a fucking awesome game and it still remains my game of the year for 2018. One of the best character driven stories I've played in years. I really should play through it again so I can get the rest of the trophies.
  11. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in PS Plus Games   
    I would definitely recommend getting and playing Detroit, such a fucking awesome game and it still remains my game of the year for 2018. One of the best character driven stories I've played in years. I really should play through it again so I can get the rest of the trophies.
  12. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in Attack on Titan   
    I give dubs credit more often than not even if I prefer subs and it's actually more common to see better portrayal of emotions in dubs then it is subs (the Japanese aren't really into showing emotions and it does show in subs more often then not). There's a reason I prefer the dubs of Cowboy Bebop (I like both tracks but the English track is just so much better, the English VA's fit their characters better than the Japanese VA's), Ghost in the Shell (yes, I actually love the GitS dub mostly because it's the way I watched it originally), The Slayers (this gets me so much crap among my friends because they think the subs is superior, I like both tracks but the dub sits better with me), and Martian Successor Nadesico (the dub is far superior in every way minus one character's voice, the sub is so freaking bland) over their Japanese tracks. Sadly though it's really hit or miss for what dubs I'm willing to watch and even more so now that I have instant access to subs the day of or after it airs in Japan (thank you CR).
    My problem with dubs is the lack of voice actors over here and it gets annoying when you're sitting there and go "Oh that's so and so from (list any of like 50 shows or games)" because they don't add in variation in there voice (I can pick out Jet's voice actor instantly because of this, he keeps that voice in everything he does. Same with Spike's). I really don't like that feeling because it takes me right out of the show. True I can do this with Japanese VA's as well but they try to vary their voice between characters and it's sometimes harder to pick them out.
  13. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in My Hero Academia Season 2 SimulDub   
    Edit: it looks like Toonami will be caught up by the time the new season starts. *sigh* I'm not even going to try to hope they don't have the same deal with funi on this as they do with AoT even tho they started way behind. 
  14. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to Sledgstone in Final Fantasy VII   
    For me the main draw of FFVII was all the extra stuff you could do in it. It was one of the first games for me that had an actual end game separate from the final boss. There was chocobo breeding, full world exploration with the air ship, 2 or 3 ultimate weapon optional boss battles that were insanely difficult. There were hidden characters, like Vincent that you could outright skip on getting and finish the game without even knowing he was a character. The customization with the materia was the best though. I tried so many different combos with different weapons to deck out all my characters to be so bad ass. lol. Limit breaks were awesome. Character diversity was top notch. It had everything from superhuman soldier Cloud, Tifa the bad ass woman that punches and kicks everything to death, a talking red wolf, a bad ass black dude, a vampire, a ninja girl, so many more.. a robot looking carnival thing with a cat sitting on it being remote controlled by some guy we never see... lmao. The plot was confusing as all hell initially, but overall enjoyable and more understandable with more world exploration.
    Lol.. and Kotaku has a good point about the game.. its weird.
    https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-vii-retrospective-the-weirdest-rpg-ever-1797547869
  15. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Final Fantasy VII   
    If they're smart they'll break it up by how the game was broken up between three discs when it originally released or at least after each major plot points (it's been years since I played this last so I'm not entirely sure how the story goes anymore but I'd say around a certain someone's death and around the whole revelation behind what Cloud is/whats going on with him). I'd expect no more than 3-4 parts if they want to please fans and release it relatively fast but SE might draw that out more if they really want to milk it.
    Meh, while it looks good I was severely underwhelmed by FFVII and still fail to see why it's lauded as being the best FF game. I honestly thought the story was generic and besides a few standout characters I really didn't like the cast all that much. I might buy this once all the installments are out but I'll have Cyberpunk less than a month after this first one releases and that will eat all of my free time that isn't devoted to FFXIV.
  16. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Cyberpunk 2077   
  17. Sad
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in TheQuartering   
    Not commenting on the videos (not a huge fan of The Quartering but I won't let my personal opinions come in on this) but we'll never see a Starcraft 3 for the same reasons we won't see a Warcraft 4, WoW takes up way to much of their development time and Diablo is a major push right now after the Immortal fiasco (kind of the reason why we'll never see a KoToR 3 out of BioWare (besides other reasons)). Plus, correct me if I'm wrong, I thought SC2's LotV ending left little to no room for another sequel (I still haven't beaten LotV but from what I've read there really isn't anywhere to go with the story). I'd of taken a Starcraft FPS any day (hell I was one of the people fucking hyped over Ghost which got cancelled mysteriously, pissed me off). Honestly Overwatch 2 is something I'm surprised to hear about considering I didn't think Overwatch was in need of a sequel game considering how well its still doing (hell they're still adding characters, something you wouldn't do if you were concerned about the game dying or needed a sequel). Then again with Activision loosing one of their cash cows in Destiny 2 maybe they're forcing Blizzard to release games on currently successful franchises (I mean lets face it Starcraft has never been anything more than a cult hit over here (it's beyond huge in South Korea) so it was inevitable that it would get closeted again (probably for another 10 years).
  18. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Death Stranding   
    I can't wait for this weird ass game. As I said last year, I think the coolest part of all this is Lindsay Wagner. I use to watch Bionic Woman on the Sci-Fi channel when I was a kid. Its neat to see these older performers be able to recapture their youth in gaming. They nailed her look.
  19. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in My Hero Academia: Two Heroes   
    *revives dead topic*
    So I watched this tonight after renting it from PSN and it was fucking amazing. God damn is this movie everything you want it to be and more. I won't really go into specifics because if you've seen MHA you pretty much know what to expect (animation is great, same old lovable characters with some new ones added in (Melissa is such a great character, with this being canon I'm hoping we get to see more of her in the actual show because she has great chemistry with the cast and I could really see her being Deku's support person when he goes Pro), a great OST, and a damn good plot (interesting to learn more about All Might and his past)) and it's hard to really process my thoughts and feelings (especially after that epic finale (I think I screamed louder then I should of in excitement during it)). After re-watching some of the old episodes it looks like it takes place either shortly after the Stain incident or shortly after the Training Camp incident (it could be either or but I lean more toward the Training Camp as he makes mention of not injuring his arms early in the film and All Might hasn't well been through the rest of S3 yet).
    I will say I went into expecting the same old MHA and I'm happy it delivered that and more. Definitely worth a watch if you've seen the show or even if you have a passing interest in it (I mean it pays to know what happens before it but I feel it's not exactly necessary to enjoy the film). I had no plans on buying this movie but I'm thinking I have to make an exception now (I had no plans on buying the series due to it's length and unfinished state but I might have to now if I buy this).
  20. Haha
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Sonic the Hedgehog   
    They should have never even made it. Its funny how they're trying to market to kids.... why? Sonic hasn't been relevant for 20 years, and the average kid probably couldn't tell you who Sonic is. No good sonic games are going to come out after this. You should have just appealed to the actually fanbase of Gen X... you know the ones that were kids when Sonic was as big as he ever got. I'm not saying movies like this should be geared solely for adults. They should be balanced like Marvel films, but instead we get them geared more heavily for children. G.I. Joe is a prime example. Literally no one born after 1988 had any connection to GI Joe. But to try to sell toys the movies were cheeseball fests. If they ever get the new He-Man film off the ground they'd be wise not to do the same.
    They just better never remake this... its perfect how it was.

  21. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in Favorite Anime Intros/Outros   
    Normally I stick out of these topics but this OP is just amazing (plus everyone should hear it) and it actually beats out Shadowgraph as my favorite OP so far this year (yea I know) plus the show is just amazing. The Fruit Baskets OP is also pretty amazing as well.
  22. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in Violet Evergarden   
    https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-04-19/violet-evergarden-gets-side-story-anime-in-september-before-january-10-film/.145901
    Even though I'm sure it'll take forever for Netflix to get it it's still more Violet Evergarden and nothing could be better then that.
  23. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in Winter 2019 Anime Reveiw (+Best of Fall 18)   
    See I just can't agree with not putting Shadowgraph and Whiteout as your favorite OP and ED, they're just so damn good that no song beats them out (I have not been this in love with an OP/ED since Violet Evergarden's Sincerely and FMP's What If). Then again I am loving Demon Slayer's OP from this season so that may change.
    Zombie Land Saga is such a wonderful show and I didn't even think I'd like it until I watched Mother's Basement video on the top anime to watch of that season. Much like you I'm not into the whole idol anime craze that's been big for the last few years (hey, I love a good cute girls anime but they all honestly fall flat for me) but this show makes fun of the whole genre while being it's own idol anime. Such lovable characters (Saki is best girl, I'll fight whoever doesn't agree (yes I love Tae but Saki is just to fucking awesome)), the OST is amazing, and while the CG is kind of jarring in quite a few places it's still damn good. Overall one of the best shows of it's season and I really hope they bring out a second season of this amazing show.
    Goblin Slayer I wasn't overly impressed with. Yes it's a good show but I feel it got way to much hype for the first episode and everyone just loved it for it's gritty take on the fantasy genre (the original author is a big fan of D&D so this entire show plays out like a D&D campaign). I love the characters (especially Dwarf and the Lizard dude), the animation is really good, fight scenes are very well animated and gritty as fuck, and the OST is pretty damn good but honestly after I got over the hype I just don't see why everyone is head over heals for it (I love a great dark and gritty fantasy story but this just didn't do it for me). Honestly I think shows like Grimgar are worthy of praise for being a darker take on the fantasy genre but keeping it more grounded and not using things like rape to sell it's premise.
    That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime is such a great show and I'm extremely glad it's getting a second season (which is going to be quite a bit darker then what we've had so far). Rimuru is such a great character and such a compassionate person/slime. I honestly don't know what else I can say about it other than this is probably one of my favorites from it's season because of the mix of humor and seriousness.
    Gridman is such a blast as I've said before. This is what a Super Senshi show should be, completely off the wall with a completely bonkers plot that fucking just works. I honestly didn't think I'd like it because I normally don't go for these types of shows (I grew out of my Power Rangers and Ultraman faze a long time ago) but this was a fun ride from start to finish. I really wish I could get my hands on the live-action Gridman show because this is apparently a sequel to it and I'd love to see the original story. I loved the characters, the kaiju were amazing, this is probably the only show I've seen in recent years that uses CGI effectively with traditional animation, as mentioned above the story is pretty out there and off the wall but that didn't diminish my enjoyment of the show, and the OST is pretty killer in its own right. Definitely a show worth watching.
    As it stands Boogiepop is currently my anime of the year because it's such an amazing show and deals with a lot of heavy shit once you start reading into it a lot more. While I've never read the source material (which I'd love to, just need to get my hands on the books) I instantly fell in love with the show because of it's eccentric story and generally relatable characters. Plus each arc was interesting in its own way (though I think I enjoyed the 3rd arc the most when they introduced the origin of Boogiepop's name) though some are quite a bit better than others (I wasn't a huge fan of the arc you liked, interesting but I thought it was the dullest of the four). It also helps that I've seen the original anime sequel for the books (Boogiepop Phantom) which in itself is a huge trip. I'd say if you like shows like Serial Experiments Lain (meaning shows that make you think outside of the box) this is definitely a show up your alley and as I mentioned above that OP and ED are fucking amazing.
    I really wish you'd of gotten the chance to watching Bunny-girl Senpai since it's such an amazing show (and if you want a catchy OP this ones got your back). Sucks it didn't get a simuldub but it'd definitely be one of the shows I'd say to watch subbed if you can. Can't wait for the movie since it'll wrap the entire story up.
    I really need to sit down and start watching My Roommate is a Cat because I've heard nothing but good things about it but I was wrapped up in watching Boogiepop, SAO, and Slime to find the time. Maybe once I get through the current show I'm watching I'll start it, Quintessential Quintuplets, and The Promised Neverland. I still need to also find time to watch Kaguya-sama, Magic Girl Spec-Ops (yea, for some reason I want to watch this mess due to the shitty reviews it's been getting), and the first Peacemaker Kurogane film (the anime was freaking amazing so I really want to watch this and I'm so happy CR got the streaming rights for it).
  24. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Winter 2019 Anime Reveiw (+Best of Fall 18)   
    ZOMBIE LAND SAGA 4/5 I've never been a fan of sports/profession anime... I guess idol anime falls into that category even though it's its own massive subcategory. The twist this series presented peaked my interest and it did not disappoint. SAGA follows 7 different girls that became zombies after passing away in various time periods. All of them save one was an established idol in their past life. Their mysterious and wacky manager Tatsumi Kōtarō bring them together to form a new idol group. How they became zombies and if Tatsumi had a hand it making it happen is never explained. None of that matters. The series follows the girls as they try to establish a fanbase while also trying to avoid having their skin color makeup wash off in public. The majority of the series dedicates an episode to each girl and their personal story. Surrounding that is great comedy, and outstanding character chemistry. Each member of the band is interesting and unique. The art work and animation is very well done. My only knock on the series is the subpar CGI work done to save money on the dance routines the girls do when performing. A lot of the girls have long detailed hairstyles and they become as hard as plastic when they move in CGI form. There is an episode which they actually animated the performance and it was outstanding. If you don't think you'd ever watch an idol anime, I encourage you to watch this one. Its really good.   SSSS.Gridman 4/5 This is a Trigger anime that actually starts out off the rails, so you never get that jarring sense of a coherent story that just goes into the deep end abruptly. Its a wild ride all the way through, and that's what makes it outstanding. The series follows Yuta Hibiki, a young boy who finds himself with amnesia, not remembering anything about himself, his past, or anything from the day before and beyond. He by chance comes across an old busted computer in his friend's/love interest's mother's thrift shop. The computer contains "gridman" an entity that gives Yuta the power to go full Jet Jaguar when Kaiju attack the city. The weird part is when the battle is over, the city goes back to normal the next day with all traces of damage from the battle gone. Sometimes people die, and they don't comeback when the city is restored. Only Yuta, and his two friends Rikka and Sho remember anything that happened and the people that are gone. Every episodes has a crazy Mecha vs Kaiju battle. These fights are animated in a very Gurren Lagann-esque style. As you get to know Yuta and the supporting cast, the mystery of what is happening in the city slowly unravels until the truth is revealed in the end. Its all crazy as hell and its just a good time overall. Its no Lagann, and its not as dark as FRANXX. Its it's own crazy trigger production and its worth every minute of your time. If Power Rangers and Ultraman had a child, and Lagaan was an uncle.... this is it right here.   Goblin Slayer 4/5 This anime started in a heavy storm of controversy. The first episode IS pretty brutal to watch for those jumping into anime for the first time and even veterans. Sadly in an age where western society jumps to conclusions off some beat writer with an agenda, there are many who will never even touch this show. Their loss. It's not like this is the first instance sexual assault in anime was used as a plot device. The series was really good IMO. It follows "Goblin Slayer" a young male who's extremely traumatic past sticks him in a mental state of bloodthirst for revenge against goblins. We never really know his real name, he's a loner that always wears a suit of armor. Goblins are the weakest class of enemies in this world, but they are often underestimated because of this, as in large groups they are extremely dangerous. As a young child GS' family was murdered and his town was pillaged by Goblins. So he spends his days making money as a low ranking adventurer only taking quests that deal with Goblins. As the story progresses, Goblin Slayer's character slightly and slowly evolves as he meets new adventurers that team up with him. The series is violent and bloody, but at the same time within the darkness, the supporting cast bring a sense of warmth to the story, which is what leads to Goblin Slayer slowly becoming.. well not such a loner. Get past the first ep, its rough, but it establishes Goblins as pure evil and why the main character does what he does. It's not glorying anything.   That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime 5/5 The best way to describe this show is a vibrant, happy go lucky version of Overlord.   In all seriousness though this show is so much fun. This is now my favorite isekai anime. The story starts with your average joe blow Satoru Mikami who is almost immediately stabbed by a robber and dies only to be reincarnated into an alternate world as lowly slime monster. Under his new identity Rimuru Tempest, he quickly becomes ultra OP by absorbing many extremely powerful entities. Along the way he gains many allies and forges alliances as he builds his own community with various monsters. This anime is full of lightheartedness and tenderness. The supporting cast is great, the story is great, and it has plenty of action and comedy. As a fan of mismatch absurdity I love demon lord Milim since shes a tiny girl that's 10x stronger than Rimuru. Her punches make a DBZ nuclear dome, and its just great as Rimuru balances scolding her for going overboard and keeping her happy. Shes probably my favorite character next to Souei who's just badass. While I did compare it to Overlord because Rimuru and his companions are super OP compared to most, unlike Overlord they aren't the strongest beings in the realm. As I just stated Rimuru isn't as powerful as most demon lords and even some cataclysm class monsters pose problems for him. So there is a sense of danger at times, but all the fighting and action is sorta secondary to Rimuru's goal to give all monsters a community where they can be safe. If you had to pick a single anime to watch from this group, I'd choose this one hands down.   My Roommate is a Cat 5/5 I'm not done with this series yet, but my god is it adorable. I don't own a cat, as I am semi allergic to them. But I have friends that have them, and I know all about all the cat tropes, stereotypes, and memes. This series lives off that, and executes it perfectly. The story starts with the funeral of Subaru Mikazuki's parents. Subaru is a socially awkward introvert who writes novels for a living. With his parents gone, hes left to live alone. At first his only human interactions are with his publishing manager and a childhood friend. This changed after one day when visiting his parent's grave site he comes across a stray cat and decides to take it in. From there the show slowly progresses Subaru's character as he learns what it means to take care of someone else. He's forced out of his comfort zone by having to interact with other people like a lovely pet store worker who happens to be a close neighbor and her older brother who loves his writing without knowing he's the author. Each episode follows a similar format with the first half being about Subaru's day from his perspective, and the other half from Haru that cat. This show juggles so many things at once so well because you really get into the story watching Subaru grow as a character but as you see Haru do things and act certain ways, you cant wait to get to the second arc of the ep to see what shes thinking and why shes doing what shes doing. There are many laughs and many feels as Subaru flashes back to memories of his parents and the regrets he struggles with. This show was made for cat lovers, but even if you don't love cats, I'd still highly recommend it.   Meiji Tokyo Renka 4/5 Can this season get any more adorable? Yes it can... we're not even close to done. This is another lighthearted series that follows Mei Ayazuki, a strange girl who grew up with a strong connection to the paranormal. Growing up, her friends were ghosts who she frequently communicated with until she realized it wasn't normal and people thought weird of her for it. She quickly became a loner that always wore headphones to drown out the calls of spirits she once befriended. By chance she runs into a magic show and a mysterious magician named Charlie sends her into the past at the start of the Japanese industrial revolution... or Meiji period. There she interacts with several historical figures in an innocent reverse harem I guess you'd call it? Although Ogai Mori is clearly the best boi from start to finish and no one else has a chance.. Mei quickly adapts to her new surroundings while forgetting about her life in the time she came from, but her memories slowly boomerang back. While this happens, her character develops from an unsure timid girl to a supportive and confident young lady as she helps her new found friends with paranormal conundrums. This anime is really charming, it has some light inspiration from Ghost Hunt and Mushi-Shi, but you really couldn't compare them as Renka is way more cutesy and not dark at all. Its more about Mei learning what it means to love and have friends... and even to become a proper Meiji era lady. If you're feeling some light romance and a solid story, this is a good one to check out.   ENDRO! 3/5 This is a moe adventure anime about a group 4 four girly heroes quest to take down the demon lord. Yuusha the wielder of the hero's sword, Seira the priestess, Fai the brawler, and Mei the mage battle the demon lord in the first ep, barely defeating "him" with a forbidden spell that causes all of them to be thrown back in time to relive their journey to heroship... the twist is the demon lord is now their teacher at adventurer school. As demon lord Mao in her true form as a chibi girl with bat wings plots to flunk them out and never let them become heroes, everything she does backfires and advances their path to legend. Honestly there is nothing particularly outstanding about this show. As Strider would put it, its just a show about cute girls doing cute things. There isn't a lot of action, its more about the friendships and what not. I found it to be HIGHLY enjoyable. But I don't think I could pass out recommendations to everyone, you've just got to like this kind of stuff to like it. Its got a lot of innocent comedy and a heartwarming story.   The Quintessential Quintuplets/ 5-Tōbun no Hanayome 4/5 You probably already know I love this show. This is the most underrated show of the season IMO. People will cast it off because all they see is harem from the outside. But honestly its the best damn harem anime ever. The fan service is very mild. Wrapped in bath towels is as raunchy as it gets. The story is everything and so are the characters. The story starts with Futaro Uesugi.. socially awkward boy genius who is tasked with tutoring 5 beautiful sisters... who are academically challenged, and absolutely hate studying. Futaro is from a very poor family and cares dearly for his little sister. The Nakano sisters are from an extremely rich family and their father is paying Futuro handsomely as long as all five don't flunk out. Although Futaro also dislikes the idea of tutoring such an insufferable bunch, he wants to provide a better future for this sister. Futaro starts out on the wrong foot with a few of the sisters causing trouble from the start as most of them despise him and want nothing to do with being taught by the likes of him. Eventually he gains the trust of a few and spends each ep trying to cobble them all together to succeed. As the series goes on his relationship with the sisters develops as each being to warm up to him and even start to fall for him without him noticing since hes such a block head when ti comes to romance. The thing is, the series starts out telling you he will marry one of the sisters in the future... so you are left to guess which one it is as the story unfolds. Another wrinkle is thrown in as it's revealed pretty early one of the sisters was a childhood friend of his unknown to both. This series is just a joy to watch. The humor is a great, Futaro's struggles with dealing with easily distracted girls who in turn give him a hard time about being so smart makes for great chemistry. Each sister has their own personality and shine in their own way, but together they have great chemistry interacting with poor Futaro. The show is just a lot of fun... and yes #TeamMiku I'm on that best girl train   Date A Live III 3/5 You have to be a fan of this series to even get into season 3. Its a corny harem anime where main character Shido helps beautiful spirits escape destruction from a military organization. Its mildly fanservicey, relying more on implied lewdness rather than actual bewbs. If you love the series, this season doesn't disappoint. It's got everything you'd expect from Date A Live.   Boogiepop and Others 3/5 Honestly I don't know WTF is happening here. I'd normally say this isn't worth watching when this happens, but It kept my interest the whole time because its so bizarre. I couldn't even write a proper review for this because I don't know how to explain it. Boogiepop is some kind of powerful spirit that goes around protecting the world from danger. The show is full of supernatural stuff, but my favorite arc was the whole thing with Spooky E, Aya, and Masaki. I will say it has an outstanding OP and ED... though they get barely edged out by my favorites of the season(s).   Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 3/5 Ah yes, there you are my guilty pleasure. This show is what I thought Magical Girl Raising Project was going to be... but there are no moe girls here, its all busty bombshells saving the world from evil. This show is such a mess but I love it. You have magical girls fighting evil stuffed animal looking creatures from another dimension, all the while fighting off evil magical girls and terrorist organizations. There is bloody gore, F bombs, fan service, action, torture, MGS rip off commercial break screen cards, girly friendship, and high school. The story follows Asuka Otori, one of the magical five that saved the world from the Disas. With the war over, Asuka leaves the magical force to try to live a normal life, make friends, go to school, and be a normal girl. Her past is traumatic as she lost many fellow magical girls under her leadership, and even her parents thanks to the Disas. Her former commander appears from time to time to try and convince her to come back as even though the war is over, the threat is still out there. Eventually Asuka is forced back into it to protect her newly formed friendships with her classmates. If I had to guess without looking it up, I believe the show was animated by the same team that did the last Basilisk with heavy thick dark outlines for the characters. It worked better for Basilisk, but this show is more about the fights, dismemberments, and profanity than anything else. If you want to see a bunch stuff that doesn't belong in the genre, this is the anime for you. I'll be all about season 2.   Best Opening winner... I gotta cheat because this is a season and half full of reviews. Plus I didn't review Fairy Tail's final season because its not over... and you either love Fairy Tail or you don't. The opening is just so damn good. So the winners go to Fairy Tail and SAGA.    
    The ending winner was super close! Boogiepop's is so damn good but I gotta give it to Quintessential because its the most stick in your brain catchy song I've heard since Chobit's opening, and they execute it so good in the episodes transition to the credits.
     
           
  25. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker   
    I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the Old Republic being the setting for the next trilogy. While I'm glad they're going with it I'm scared about what they'll consider canon going forward because as it stands I really like the current, legends continuity we have with KoToR and TOR (I say legends because we're not entirely sure what current Old Republic stuff is even considered canon as of right now). It'll be a huge miss for me if they write out a lot of the currently established characters (like Revan or Vitiate (the Sith Emperor (though he's dead now it'd suck if they completely wrote him out)).
    It's pretty much been established that Rey isn't Luke's kid (and it's pretty unlikely Mara is canon anymore though it'd be cool if she was) but I wouldn't be surprised if she is somehow related to the Skywalkers (technically Kylo is a Solo with Skywalker blood so the only living Skywalker we know of is Leia though it's been established her role won't be as big anymore due to Carrie's untimely passing). Then again J.J. could be completely fucking with us and throw a huge curve ball at us. Who knows? With the way these movies have panned out so far there really isn't anything that could surprise me anymore (fuck Palps coming back is honestly par for the course now that Snoke is dead since we have no big baddie to face right now (Bitch Vader will never be anything comparable to Snoke, Palps, of good old Granddaddy Vader)). I was watching a youtube video today speculating that what we heard was actually a holo-recording of Palps that they find on the wreckage of the Death Star which could very well be (using it as a plot point for some sinister plan he was working on in secret before he up and died that Snoke was pursuing and Kylo will maybe finish, who knows).
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