Strider Hiryu

They're doing the same thing for Shadowbringers when it comes out (sadly but whatever, I only ordered it for all the special little goodies I'm getting with it). It's more common with PC games but I honestly don't know why they do it (outside of charging for the packaging) if the game is digital only.
As much as I hate it this is what gaming is going to and sadly I'm slowly adopting it (I don't like the idea of buying a digital download since we technically don't own the game (and the fact they have the audacity to charge $60 for a digital download is fucking retarded), just a license to play it which can be lost a lot easier then a physical copy (especially if you get hacked or locked out of your account)). Plus with console manufacturers refusing to give us consoles with hard drives that can actually install more than four games it's harder to get on board with it (I'm fine with digital purchases on PC since its a lot easier to upgrade your storage or get external storage (that doesn't require you to format it for a specific console), that and I'm slowly starting to move to PC gaming since console gaming isn't worth it anymore). Most of my PS4 games I own physical copies for (outside of Nier, Ace Combat 7, Detroit, and Destiny 2 and the free ones we get every month), then again I'm not lazy and don't have a problem with switching discs when I want to play something new 😛

While I have yet to touch a Witcher game CDPR has never failed to deliver a stellar game from what I've heard from friends so I'm pretty damn sure Cyberpunk will be everything it's hyped to be and more (yes I am on the hype train for this and am actually considering buying a PS4 Pro just for this game (well that and my PS4 is showing its age pretty badly as of late) because I'm pretty sure my PC will kill itself trying to run it) and CDPR is probably one of the few developers that never cuts corners to bring games out (the joy of having the Polish government funding their studio). I honestly don't get hyped much anymore but this is probably one of the only titles I'm hyped from outside of Shadowbringers. I'm just really hoping it releases this year (and not around Shadowbringers like rumors are suggesting).
Kojima will deliver a pretty solid game even if it's not what everyone is expecting. I've only played MGS2 and only half of it at that (great game but I just never had time to finish it) but considering how outstanding Zone of the Enders and Zone of the Enders 2 were I have complete faith Kojima will deliver an outstanding game. Now if only he could wrestle the ZoE IP from Konami (hey a man can dream can't he).
I have no opinion on Borderlands as I've never been interested in the series (outside of ZoE2 I can't stand cell shaded graphics and that's my major issue with the games, that art direction infuriates me) but I'm pretty sure Gearbox will deliver since it's the only title they seem to be able to release without issues and at a higher quality then most of their other games (Duke Nukem Forever and the aforementioned Colonial Marines).
Anthem was doomed from the beginning and there were signs of that everywhere. BioWare is not the same company that brought us gems like KoToR 1, Neverwinter Nights (by far one of my all time favorite PC games and RPGs), ME 1-3, The Old Republic (say what you will, it's a solid game even if it's really no longer an MMO (from a gameplay stance)) and a myriad of other games from our childhood. They've been gutted of their actual talent and turned into yet another lackluster EA studio (which is sad since they brought me so many of my favorite games.

Seems like they got more right then I gave them credit for (then again apparently Cameron is a fan of the manga which lead to him getting the live-action rights) but that is what I get for being a major fan of the franchise. They could go on with the motorball events but those take place after Hugo dies in the manga, it's her way of dealing with her grief from loosing him (and her fallout with Ido). Again Alita's past doesn't come up until pretty much the end half of the manga so they already skipped ahead quite a bit (and most of that was rewritten with Last Order and Mars Chronicle, god damn authors changing shit). I have a feeling if they make a sequel they'll go with her time as a Tuned agent for Tiphares (the city in the sky, I will not speak the name the movie gave it) if they decide to leave the motorball stuff. It's probably the second best arc in the entirety of the original manga. Then again they could just skip way ahead and go into the events of Last Order (the Zenith of All Things tournament would be fucking amazing to see adapted in either an anime or a live-action if done right but that is the last half of the Last Order run so chances are high they wouldn't go that far ahead). As I said I'll wait until it hits home release or at least until PSN puts it up for digital rental as I have no intention of seeing this in the theater. Even though it's getting good reviews from movie goers I still hold reservations that they fucked something up that will piss me off (then again I did enjoy the GitS movie for what it was even if I hate what it'd did to Motoko as a character).
XD, a live-action Shining Finger might literally make me vomit blood.

You know you want some live action SHINING FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's what was covered in the movie. It's as if you've seen this movie. Lol.. I should probably read the manga. After the motorball tryouts they skipped all the motorball stuff because that was where the movie ended after the final scene with Hugo which would be the setup for a sequel. If they do a sequel they could cover all the motorball events in a flashback or just start the sequel movie with something like.. "after what happened with Hugo, I focused on motorball..." and then cover all the motorball stuff. Her age wasn't exactly stated but Ido told her she's roughly 300 years old at one point in the movie. And her new body was called Berserker and it has nano tech.
You might actually like this movie. Lol.

Motorball takes place in the entirety of volume 3 of the manga (the old release, new release is 5 volumes so I'm not sure which volume its in) and her Berserker body (I don't know if they call it that in the movie, not even close to the power of her current body) is in the manga as well (first volume). From what I've heard it's a pretty accurate adaptation of the OVA which was a haphazard adaptation of the first volume of the manga (still good, I enjoyed it for what it was) with elements of the manga thrown in (badly by what I hear, sounds like the skip all of the motorball stuff after the tryouts which is a bummer since that's by far one of the high points of the manga for me).
Not entirely sure what they said her age was (221 in the manga currently) or what her background is as it's never really covered until toward the end of the manga and the Last Order continuation (to sum it up a Martian terrorist and Panzer Kunst specialist (cyborg martial arts) who was stranded on Earth during the Terraforming Wars on a botched up mission) but I'll have to wait and see as I won't see it in theaters (I'll wait until it hits home video). As much love as I hear for this adaptation I'm skeptical it's any good (I'm a purist who loves this manga and we all remember how much I tore down the GitS movie) but I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Sigh, they just want to adapt everything now don't they. Didn't they learn their mistake with G-Saviour. Gundam isn't meant to be adapted into live-action >.<

Motorball takes place in the entirety of volume 3 of the manga (the old release, new release is 5 volumes so I'm not sure which volume its in) and her Berserker body (I don't know if they call it that in the movie, not even close to the power of her current body) is in the manga as well (first volume). From what I've heard it's a pretty accurate adaptation of the OVA which was a haphazard adaptation of the first volume of the manga (still good, I enjoyed it for what it was) with elements of the manga thrown in (badly by what I hear, sounds like the skip all of the motorball stuff after the tryouts which is a bummer since that's by far one of the high points of the manga for me).
Not entirely sure what they said her age was (221 in the manga currently) or what her background is as it's never really covered until toward the end of the manga and the Last Order continuation (to sum it up a Martian terrorist and Panzer Kunst specialist (cyborg martial arts) who was stranded on Earth during the Terraforming Wars on a botched up mission) but I'll have to wait and see as I won't see it in theaters (I'll wait until it hits home video). As much love as I hear for this adaptation I'm skeptical it's any good (I'm a purist who loves this manga and we all remember how much I tore down the GitS movie) but I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Sigh, they just want to adapt everything now don't they. Didn't they learn their mistake with G-Saviour. Gundam isn't meant to be adapted into live-action >.<

I watched Battle Angel Alita today. It was the most true anime to live action movie I've ever seen. I never read the manga so I can only assume the motorball stuff and her new ultra powerful body was part of the manga. Aside from that every scene that happened in the anime movie happened in this movie almost exactly. It's a shame it was PG13 but that's alright. It still had all the brutal deaths but the kill shots that were gruesome generally took place right off camera which was only a few times. Other times it was mostly a lack of blood to get around an R rating. Like slicing a guy into 5 parts is ok for pg13 when there's no blood flying everywhere. Overall I'm very pleased with how the movie played out and it was setup for a sequel. The movie does explain alot more about Alita than the anime does, like what she is, how old she is, etc.
And the giant eyes that freaked everyone out before is nothing. I got used to it within the first couple minutes. The realy unique thing about this movie are all the cyborgs. There's no two cyborgs that are even remotely similar except for in 2 flash back scenes. Other than that a girl with giant eyes is nothing compared to a 10 foot tall guy with a shoulder width bigger than a semi truck or some guy that's larger than a SUV with multiple appendages with circular saws.
Also I didn't see any sex appeal at all. Lmao. they made her look physically fit like she was in the anime. And she kicked ass. This was a great movie and I highly recommend it.

I never had any trouble running TERA on my laptop back when I played it. In fact it was probably one of the best running F2P MMO's I've ever played. Then again this was 4-5 years ago so things may have changed for the worst since then. Honestly when I played BDO I never paid attention to that shit. The grind does kinda suck once you get higher in level but the cash shop never once bothered me. In fact I should log in again and play it because the combat system is probably one of the best out there outside of TERA's.
I actually miss CoH/CoV. It was one of the first MMO's to drag me away from WoW for an extended period of time. True it wasn't one of the best MMO's out there but it was fun while it lasted (I still have my physical copy of CoV somewhere in my closet).
I'll agree though it's difficult to find anything worth while in the MMO genre (especially since everything is pretty much a copy of the successful MMO's). Everything plays the same, nothing is really changed outside of a few mechanics, etc. As much as I love FFXIV I am burned out and only log in for weekly housekeeping duties atm (currency grind and capping, gearing my Samurai, and a few other things) but I still love the game after 2800+ hours and can't imagine no playing it. Luckily we have a patch in about a month or so (after Tokyo fanfest) so I'll finally have things to keep me interested again.

Meh, while I enjoyed the beta I don't really see myself playing it (I'll pick it up though). My co-worker says the game is pretty dead atm since not a lot of people bought it and Ubi did a shit job of trying to incentivize those that did to keep playing. Maybe this will give the game the kick in the ass it needs to get popular again.

I haven't read a news site review in years, but I heard either IGN or Kotaku docked it because it was "too hard". Seriously? While it had some frustrating moments, it was certainly not the most difficult. Like you said, go back and do the Pasternak fight, which is probably the crowning achievement of the series as far as intense dog fights. The dog fights were less intense in this one. They did require a little bit more out of your piloting skills... although I can see the canyon spotlights being easier with the novice controls... I have no idea how you'd do the final mission without the pro controls. I haven't used the beginner controls since Air Combat. I remember quite a few times previous Ace Combat games made you resort to finishing up enemies with the main guns because you just weren't going to ever get a clean lock on harder modes. This game has crazy special weapons, along with buffs to homing, lock on speed, and damage, you can pretty much always rely on them so long as you can control your aircraft and keep the enemy on your TV screen.
The only time I got my ass handed to me truly was because I was being super lazy with the A-10, and it caught up with me on the Stonehenge mission. Trying to evade Arsenal Bird's missile barrage along with the drones protecting it presented an interesting challenge when trying to take out the propellers within the time limit. Being that slow, made me regret my choice.. I had a bad habit of looking at the air and ground target breakdown pre mission and being like "A-10 time!" The mutli ground target missile special is just great, and the F-35 has an even more powerful version of it which is nuts. Like you said about the constant missile warnings, I pretty much made it a thing to take out all the SAM and XSAMs I'd find just to ease my ears of that damn alert.
That Fleet destruction mission was indeed annoying because of the time limit, I think I came up short by 2-300 points twice and started getting irritated. I eventually figured out that I needed to target the main ship, and ignore all of their SAM and guns. Even with a strafe run (WARNING PULL UP PULL UP PULL UP 🙄) and missile and bomb barrage all at once, some of those ships were damn beasts when it came to damage intake. The frigates and destroyers went down fast but the ships with the missiles, I think it was VAL or something, took 2 runs of perfect barrages... which was a little much. The Aircraft carrier, I understood since it was worth an ass load of points. But once I got that down, I could take out the first  eastern fleet with plenty of ammo to spare and about 8 minutes left.. even then I'd still go to replenish because it was the closest to the base. As long as you took out that whole fleet, it would get you a little more than half way there, after that I took out the smaller array of ships on the way to that base that looked like a massive oil rig.. I guess they both did, but the one out in the open water. That would push me over, but I still think I was down to about 2 minutes or less by the time I was done. They did a good job of tucking some ground targets in places where the standard missiles would hit the ground or wall they're in. Don't get me started on having to manual ID in that night city escort. As much as I loved that mission overall because of how it looked, damn they made some annoyingly placed targets to ID and then take out.
The aircraft tree was nice, but you're right, the aircraft unlocks should have not been apart of it. Plus half of the upgrades you didn't really need. Like the Queen's touch, or any of the performance enhancers... yeah they were good on lesser fighters, but for the better ones, you're better off going with capacity and weapon upgrades. Thats one of the reasons I didn't go the F-15 route, the ice up part i felt, and found out was completely useless. I never wished I had it at any point in the game... the only time it remotely became a thing was when you're out flying to avoid the radar zones on the way to the space elevator near the start of the game. I think I iced up one time chasing fighters into heavy clouds... the only upgrade I could have used, if it exists was a lightning strike resistance.. that was kind of annoying when it happened.

So I just decided to go ahead and beat it tonight since it would free up some time for me to get other shit done tomorrow and allow me to start my easy play through to round out the points needed for the X-02S (and to start the path toward a few trophies) and maybe start playing through 5 again.
Overall I love this game and its nice that Bandai Namco finally decided to give Ace fans what they wanted after all these years. The story is very well written and as noted earlier in the topic takes place roughly 10 years after the events of 5 and it was nice to see all the little references and major plot points that linked back to the previous story (though I'm still pissed there was no reference to Wardog/Razgriz squadron nor do you even get to fly with/meet them in combat (though the ending redeemed that a little bit in my eyes with that transmission from Kei)). Boy did they pack in the references to the previous games, I was seriously loosing it when we fought at Stonehenge (a place I remember taking out in 4, yea all that damage you see there is caused by you in 4) and the briefing map having Megalith listed was awesome. Was nice seeing some of the squadrons I wiped off the map in 0 come back (Mage I'm looking at you) and one of those prisoners is from 0 as well. I really thought those were nice touches and really tied the story of all the games together (though I still haven't really seen a reference to 6 whose events took place only 4 years prior to this). Overall I thought the story was extremely well done though there were places I feel the writing could of used some work (like the whole throwing us in prison over something we didn't do).
The mission variety was nice but I do agree with DX on the timed missions, they are aggravating as hell when you're given only 30 seconds to destroy 7 targets before the mission fails (I'm looking at you end part of Mission 20). I also had a problem with the "score so many points to either end or progress the mission" missions. It's aggravating as hell when most of your targets are worth little to no points but you still need to score 15,000 points before you can move on (oh and waste your ammo causing you to resupply if the mission even has a resupply line). Overall though there was a nice mix of aerial combat and ground combat mixed in (though that flying through the canyon mission still pisses me off, god damn those fucking spotlights).
Combat was fun though I still feel there is some room for improvement. While a lot the aerial fights are fun I still feel 6 has far superior engagements to 7 (the Pasternak fight will always remain one of my all time favorite engagements in any Ace game). Drones were, while easy, an annoying part of a lot of missions and I can't stress enough how much that missile lock on alarm annoys the hell out of me because of these damn things. The crowning jewel of the combat comes with your engagements with Mister X. While not as fluid as the Pasternak fight they are extreme adrenaline rushes as he's one mean son of a bitch and those damn moves he can pull off are spectacular. I honestly wish he was the final fight in the game instead of those knock-off drones. I will admit though I had problems with the cloud systems they put in place as it really through me off my grove when fighting in or around them, while they're a nice touch I really would of preferred they not be there (and don't get me started on being struck by lightning, so fucking annoying).
As usual the soundtrack was stellar (though I still prefer 5 and 0's soundtracks to this) and the voice acting some of the best in the series (will have to do a play through in Japanese to see if that's just as good). It goes without saying the graphics are amazing even on the old school PS4 and is probably one of the best looking games I've played in awhile (Detroit is still much better looking but damn does it come close). My only real gripe is the Aircraft tree system as I prefer the old method of acquiring planes through beating missions. It was extremely annoying knowing that I had to spend over a million points just to get the chance to unlock the F-22 and then another 920,000 just to get it and 220,000 to unlock all sp. weapons (which took, as I mentioned before, until mission 17 to acquire said points). I do, however, like the whole parts system they put in place as it allows you to customize you're plane to your liking (because you know making you're F-22 go faster is always a good thing).
Honestly this game was a blast to play through and ranks up there as one of my favorite Ace titles taking second only to 5 (which isn't surprising as it's the parent story to what's going on specifically in this one). I write this all, however, having not played the multiplayer aspect because I honestly have no interest in playing it (I might give it a shot like I did 6's but quite frankly I never though multiplayer had a place in the Ace series outside of co-op missions (which I notice there is an extreme lack of those)). I also, obviously, don't have the ability to play the VR missions but I do here they are quite fun (I wish I could play them but I'm not dropping that much money to be able to play and handful of missions). Overall a solid entry in the franchise and I hope going forward that Bandai Namco sticks to the the Strangereal universe and doesn't give us anymore duds like Assault Horizon.

Heh, that mission sucked balls. Can't remember what I flew it in though, it was either the Strike Eagle or Tomcat (all I know is even with a multi-role plane it was a bitch due to the game's constant need to auto-correct you every time you pull moves it doesn't like (it took me 5 tries to finally beat it due to that)).
See I've never liked the F-35 (both in game and in real life), such a waste of the F-22's tech but since I do plan on unlocking all planes (yea I'll probably play this like 10-15 times completely through) I'll give it a shot since it's also got some of the better equipment unlocks down that tree. Sadly though that will have to wait since I just found out the X-02S unlocks after you beat the game and since it's 2 million points I'll have a lot of grinding ahead of me (the X-02 is my favorite plane in the Ace series, such a beast of a plane). I have a thing for the F-15 so that's why I went that tree (and the upgrades weren't all to bad, especially the Vulcan upgrades (that tracking assist is so nice when you have lock-on)). Kinda sucks to hear that mission 20 is lackluster, was hoping for one hell of a finale (like AC4, 5 and 0).

I'm so freaking hyped and I'm so happy that the next season starts where it starts, god it's going to be epic based on everything I've read about it (plus yay, Eri finally animated). Can it be October already?

Yea, I've been seeing that it's highly underselling compared to BF1 when it launched (even if it is getting pretty stellar reviews).
I got your text this morning about it but I think I'll wait a bit before I pick it up (kinda spent a little to much money on anime for Black Friday and I kind of called out of work today due to the freezing rain we got last night so I lost 10 hours today (even if I do have vacation it still sucks to use it for this)) even though it is kind of hard to pass up that price. Let me know how it is and if they made any real significant changes or not since the beta (I was not impressed with the beta so I pretty much planned on not buying it).

My internet finally came back online...  I bite the bullet and bought the game for $29.99 at target on sale.
https://www.target.com/p/battlefield-v-playstation-4/-/A-53691372
I'll get it friday and try it out this weekend. I'm glad I didn't pre-order this for $60. One week after launch and its already half off. wtf. The sales must have been abysmal. Good thing theres no longer a premium to purchase or the first dlc map pack would drop the player base drastically.

Hmm, nothing I really want but good deals all around. You should of picked up Nier, I started playing it two weeks ago and I'm in love (though I notice I'm not as good at these types of games anymore).
Nice choice with Horizon, such a great game that I still need to beat. I have a feeling your really going to enjoy it.

The Yakuza games look great and I grabbed it (though when I'll have time to play it is another question), everyone I've talked to that has played the games have nothing but great things to say about them. Bulletstorm on the other hand I wasn't that impressed with the beta back when it first launched (interesting concept but honestly that's all it is, I liken it to a wannabe Gears of War without the shit that made Gears great).

Hmm, nothing I really want but good deals all around. You should of picked up Nier, I started playing it two weeks ago and I'm in love (though I notice I'm not as good at these types of games anymore).
Nice choice with Horizon, such a great game that I still need to beat. I have a feeling your really going to enjoy it.

https://store.playstation.com/en-us/grid/STORE-MSF77008-BLACKFRIDAYSLLP/1
Alot of good sales going on, including PS+ 12 month membership for $39.99
PS4 Digital Games:
ASASSIN'S CREED ORIGINS – GOLD EDITION $39.99 ASSASSIN'S CREED ODYSSEY $40.19 ASSASSIN'S CREED ODYSSEY – DELUXE EDITION $53.59 ASSASSIN'S CREED ODYSSEY – GOLD EDITION $64.99 ASSASSIN'S CREED ODYSSEY – ULTIMATE EDITION $77.99 ASSASSIN'S CREED ORIGINS $23.99 ASSASSIN'S CREED ORIGINS DELUXE EDITION $27.99 BATMAN: RETURN TO ARKHAM $4.99 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 4 $47.99 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS III – ZOMBIES DELUXE $49.99 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS III-ZOMBIES EDITION $29.99 CALL OF DUTY BLACK OPS III: ZOMBIES CHRONICLES $19.49 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS III – SEASON PASS $24.99 CALL OF DUTY: WWII – DIGITAL DELUXE $49.99 CALL OF DUTY: WWII – GOLD EDITION $29.99 CALL OF DUTY: WWII – SEASON PASS $24.99 CRASH BANDICOOT N. SANE TRILOGY $19.99 CREED: RISE TO GLORY (VR) $14.99 DESTINY 2: FORSAKEN $29.99 DESTINY 2: FORSAKEN – ANNUAL PASS BUNDLE $59.49 DESTINY 2: FORSAKEN – COMPLETE COLLECTION $69.99 DESTINY 2: FORSAKEN – DELUXE EDITION $67.99 DESTINY 2: FORSAKEN – LEGENDARY EDITION $35.99 DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN $21.99 DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN DIGITAL DELUXE EDITION $27.49 DIABLO III: ETERNAL COLLECTION $19.79 DIABLO III: RISE OF THE NECROMANCER $8.99 DISHONORED 2 – PREY BUNDLE $25.99 DISHONORED 2 COMPLETE COLLECTION $31.99 DIVINITY ORIGINAL SIN 2 DEFINITIVE EDITION $41.99 DOOM – FULL GAME $14.99 DOOM VFR $14.99 DRAGON BALL FIGHTERZ $26.99 DRAGON QUEST XI: DAY ONE EDITION $41.99 DYING LIGHT $13.99 EA SPORTS UFC 3 STANDARD EDITION $17.99 FALLOUT 4 $14.99 FALLOUT 4 GOTY $23.99 FAR CRY 5 $26.99 FAR CRY 5 DELUXE EDITION $34.99 FAR CRY 5 GOLD EDITION $40.49 FIFA 19 $29.99 FIFA 19 CHAMPIONS EDITION $39.99 FIFA 19 ULTIMATE EDITION $49.99 FINAL FANTASY XV POCKET EDITION HD $19.49 FINAL FANTASY XV ROYAL EDITION $24.99 FIREWALL: ZERO HOUR $29.99 FIST OF THE NORTH STAR: LOST PARADISE $39.59 FOR HONOR $9.99 FOR HONOR MARCHING FIRE EDITION $29.99 GHOST RECON WILDLANDS ULTIMATE EDITION BUNDLE $59.99 GHOST RECON Y2 GOLD EDITION $39.99 GOD OF WAR $21.99 GRAND THEFT AUTO V $19.79 GRAND THEFT AUTO V & GREAT WHITE SHARK CASH CARD BUNDLE $32.99 GRAND THEFT AUTO V: GRAND THEFT AUTO ONLINE MEGALODON SHARK CASH CARD $84.99 GRAND THEFT AUTO ONLINE WHALE SHARK CASH CARD $42.49 GRAND THEFT AUTO V: PREMIUM ONLINE EDITION $32.99 GTA ONLINE: CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE STARTER PACK $19.49 GTAV: PREMIUM ONLINE EDITION & GREAT WHITE SHARK CARD $37.39 GTAV: PREMIUM ONLINE EDITION & MEGALODON SHARK CARD $79.19 GTAV: PREMIUM ONLINE EDITION & WHALE SHARK CARD $52.79 HOLLOW KNIGHT $7.49 HORIZON ZERO DAWN COMPLETE EDITION $14.99 INJUSTICE 2: LEGENDARY EDITION $17.99 JUST DANCE 2019 $23.99 KINGDOM COME: DELIVERANCE $29.99 LEGO DC SUPER-VILLAINS $29.99 LEGO DC SUPER-VILLAINS DELUXE EDITION $37.49 LEGO THE INCREDIBLES $29.99 MADDEN NFL 19 $29.99 MADDEN NFL 19 – HALL OF FAME EDITION $31.99 METAL GEAR SURVIVE $14.99 MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF WAR $19.99 MLB THE SHOW 18 $20.09 MLB THE SHOW 18 STUBS (1000) $0.49 MLB THE SHOW 18 STUBS (11000) $4.99 MLB THE SHOW 18 STUBS (150000) $49.99 MLB THE SHOW 18 STUBS (24000) $9.99 MLB THE SHOW 18 STUBS (5000) $2.49 MLB THE SHOW 18 STUBS (67500) $24.99 MLB THE SHOW 18 ALL STAR EDITION $26.79 MLB THE SHOW 18 DIGITAL DELUXE EDITION $46.89 MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD $24.99 MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD DIGITAL DELUXE EDITION $29.99 MORTAL KOMBAT XL $5.99 NARUTO TO BORUTO SHINOBI STRIKER $35.99 NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER DELUXE EDITION $53.99 NASCAR HEAT 3 $19.99 NASCAR HEAT 3 BUNDLE $31.99 NBA 2K PLAYGROUNDS 2 $19.49 NBA 2K19 $29.99 NBA 2K19 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION BUNDLE $49.99 NBA 2K19: 15000 VC PACK $4.49 NBA 2K19: 200000 VC PACK $44.99 NBA 2K19: 35000 VC PACK $8.99 NBA 2K19: 450000 VC PACK $89.99 NBA 2K19: 75000 VC PACK $17.99 NBA LIVE 19: THE ONE EDITION $19.99 NHL 19 99 EDITION $39.99 NHL 19 STANDARD EDITION $29.99 NIER: AUTOMATA $29.99 NIER: AUTOMATA 3C3C1D119440927 $6.99 NIOH – THE COMPLETE EDITION $22.49 NIOH $15.99 OVERWATCH LEGENDARY EDITION $19.79 PERSONA 5 $19.99 PREY $17.99 PREY – DIGITAL DELUXE EDITION $19.99 PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2019 DAVID BECKHAM EDITION $34.99 PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2019 LEGENDARY EDITION $39.99 PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2019 STANDARD EDITION $29.99 RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 SPECIAL EDITION BUNDLE $69.59 RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 ULTIMATE EDITION BUNDLE $89.99 ROCKET LEAGUE $9.99 ROCKET LEAGUE – GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION $12.49 SCRIBBLENAUTS: SHOWDOWN $19.99 SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER $29.99 SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER – CROFT EDITION $44.99 SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER – DELUXE EDITION $34.99 SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER – SEASON PASS $20.09 SOUTH PARK: THE FRACTURED BUT WHOLE $14.99 SOUTH PARK: THE FRACTURED BUT WHOLE GOLD EDITION $22.49 STAR TREK BRIDGE CREW + TNG DLC BUNDLE $27.49 STAR TREK: BRIDGE CREW (VR) $11.99 STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT II $9.89 STARLINK: BATTLE FOR ATLAS – COLLECTION 1 PACK $50.99 STARLINK: BATTLE FOR ATLAS – DIGITAL EDITION $44.99 STARLINK: BATTLE FOR ATLAS DELUXE EDITION $59.99 STRANGE BRIGADE $29.99 STRANGE BRIGADE DELUXE EDITION $47.99 SUPER BOMBERMAN R $19.99 THE CREW 2 $23.99 THE CREW 2 GOLD EDITION $49.99 THE CREW 2 MOTORSPORTS DELUXE EDITION $27.99 THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE COLLECTION $39.99 THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE SUMMERSET $14.79 THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE SUMMERSET COLLECTOR'S ED. UPGRADE $14.79 THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE SUMMERSET COLLECTOR'S EDITION $22.19 THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE SUMMERSET UPGRADE $11.09 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM SPECIAL EDITION $19.99 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM VR $29.99 THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE $9.99 THE EVIL WITHIN 2 $19.79 THE GOLF CLUB 2019 FEATURING PGA TOUR $29.99 THE JACKBOX PARTY PACK 5 $19.49 THE JACKBOX PARTY QUADPACK $37.49 THE LAST OF US REMASTERED $5.99 THE SIMS 4 $15.99 THE SIMS 4 DELUXE PARTY EDITION $19.99 TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX SIEGE $14.99 TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX SIEGE ADVANCED EDITION $17.99 TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX SIEGE COMPLETE EDITION $38.99 TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX SIEGE GOLD EDITION $26.99 TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON WILDLANDS STANDARD EDITION $19.99 TOM CLANCY'S THE DIVISION $9.99 TOM CLANCY'S THE DIVISION GOLD EDITION $17.99 TORN $20.99 TRACK LAB $11.99 TRANSFERENCE $14.99 UFC 3 CHAMPION EDITION $19.99 UNEARTHING MARS 2 (VR) $9.99 VALKYRIA CHRONICLES 4 $29.99 WATCH DOGS 2 $17.99 WATCH DOGS 2 – DELUXE EDITION $20.99 WATCH DOGS 2 – GOLD EDITION $29.99 WE HAPPY FEW $40.19 WE HAPPY FEW DIGITAL DELUXE EDITION $59.99 WOLFENSTEIN II DELUXE BUNDLE $26.39 WOLFENSTEIN II: THE NEW COLOSSUS $19.79 WWE 2K19 $29.99 WWE 2K19 DIGITAL DELUXE EDITION $44.99 YAKUZA KIWAMI 2 $34.99 ZONE OF THE ENDERS THE 2ND RUNNER: MARS (VR) $20.09 Credit to slickdeals.net for the list of sales.
https://slickdeals.net/f/12269656-ps4-digital-games-persona-5-20-hollow-knight-voidheart-edition-7-50-more?src=frontpage
 
I picked up the PS+ membership, God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn. I would have bought the new Tomb Raider, but I think I'll wait for the Croft edition with the DLC to drop in price more.

Honestly I'm not all that impressed with Path of Exile. I downloaded it yesterday since I was out of work sick and played for about two hours. While the systems they have in place are interesting and I do like the in-depth skill tree I'm honestly not sold on everything else and that inventory system is atrocious (and don't get me started on the whole Scrolls of Wisdom thing (used as currency and to identify items, wth?)). I wouldn't go so far as saying it's D3 with D2's character build system x10. There's obviously some correlations between them but quite frankly I wouldn't even consider this a poor mans D2 or D3. Again just my opinion (and I understand why others like the game I just can't bring myself to. If I want to play a D2 inspired game I'll stick with Torchlight 2, it not only captures the intricate character build system from D2 but it also plays a lot like it (not to mention it was developed by the guys who developed D2 for Blizzard)).

Sadly I was so hyped to pre-order this until I saw that list. Don't get me wrong, a solid lineup of games (I mean I'd buy it for Twisted Metal alone) but I was hoping we'd at least get Legend of Dragoon (by far one of the best RPG's ever created on the PS). It's not worth $100 for the three games I'd play.

Overlord was extremely good despite the extremely slow start but it was necessary to set up what happened later in the season. Overall I'm happy with how things progressed and really hope they green light a fourth season (especially with how things left off) and as far as I know there's still plenty of story left to adapt before they catch up with the novels.
While Steins;Gate 0 was amazingly good (the drama, the emotional investment, the amount of fuck you moments) I felt it didn't live up to the original. Then again it's not supposed to because this isn't exactly a sequel but a what if had Okabe made the decision not to go to Stein's;Gate. I also felt that a lot of the drama was placed in the show just to be drama (the whole deal with Kagari, the Professor, Amadeus, etc) and draw the show (or in this case the game) out. I felt Okabe's struggle in the original was much more emotional and harder on him then this season (I mean he watched Mayuri die countless times trying to figure out how to fix his mistakes, something we didn't see here and it completely killed him inside (hence the whole split at episode 23 where we branched into 0)) though not to say this was less harder for him. Overall one of the best shows of the last season that I actually watched (not saying much as I only watched it and Overlord, MHA doesn't count as it carried over from the previous season).

After a pretty awesome Spring lineup packed with more hits than misses. Summer kinda felt meh by comparison. There were still some enjoyable shows for what they were, but there isn't much that really popped out.
Attack on Titan Season 3
While it's one of the few remaining shows that have yet to end. I feel like this is the best showing not counting the carry over MHA Season 3 from Spring. After a Season 2 that felt like it didn't go very far save for the big reveal, season 3 dives deeper into the political scene of AoT. As with most apocalyptic series of any medium, Season 3 is mostly humans turning on each other. Killing people is a new and chilling concept for the scout regimen as they face this new grim reality. Season 3 is plenty visceral and dark. Levi takes the spotlight after being in the back seat during season 2. He makes this season for me. He was my favorite character in season 1, and he proves why here. Levi is the scouts, and they are not the same without him, neither is this show. 
Black Clover
Black Clover won't get an in depth review, but I will mention my feelings on it every season as it will be a continually running anime with no seasonal breaks unlike MHA.  Last time I reviewed this series I said the supporting cast made this show, and that is still true. Asta has improved as a character somewhat with less constant shouting and screaming. He's still annoying, but god damn is the supporting cast so good in this series. The Black Bulls are a bunch of flunkie mages and the laughing stock of the Clover Kingdom, but this season they've really went into great depth on Asta's guildmates... when it all comes together for the big show down, its amazing. The action in this series keeps getting better and better.... I don't recommend this series to non-shonen fans like I would MHA. This show has no shame with exploiting shonen tropes and concepts. Its very DBZ-y and Narutoy at its core.
Steins;Gate 0
Did I say AoT3 was the best showing this season? Well technically it is, because Steins is a carryover as well from winter. I actually just finished the finale. Bravo... although I was initially irritated until I saw the post credits scene. This is one of the few times they make a sequel to something, and they don't mess it up and ruin the original's legacy. I loved the second season for its emotional value. It really beats on your feels and manages to pull off a few surprises that should or could be obvious. I was so caught up in the feels at times I guess it was a surprise to me. The stuff Okabe had to go through this season would mentally break any normal being. I couldn't even imagine going through what he did near the end on top of all the shit that has happened to him since season 1.
Overlord Season 3
It started out slow, but it's gotten a lot more interesting. More action this go around thankfully, and new interesting characters... Lupusregina most notably . The geopolitical scene is finally taking shape here, and I'm looking forward to see what is coming. I've been watching a lot of character analysis on youtube and it just makes me more interested in the series. Shalltear is still my favorite floor guardian, especially after learning that despite not being the most powerful guardian of Nazarick, no one can defeat her 1v1... except for Ainz... and barely as we saw in S1.
Alright.... on to the new stuff
How Not to Summon A Demon Lord
So some dude that goes by Diablo, nolifes an MMO and gets summoned into it by an overly busty elf and a loli cat girl. Since his character is super OP and has a magic reflect ring, their enslavement summon enchantment reverses on to them. Diablo runs around his new world with his companions in tow getting into all sorts of mischief... there isn't much here tbh. The story is nothing special or new, and its chalk full of fan service and modern day sexual innuendos. Some of the fights are pretty cool with Diablo's ultra OP attacks. You'd be good to skip this one as I doubt it gets a season 2.
Angels of Death
Apparently this is based off a game? Rachel Gardner wakes up in a hospital only to find out its a psychotic murder dungeon featuring different floors with different floor guardians. After cutting a deal with one of the floor guardians, a maniac serial killer named Zach, the two venture though each floor trying to find a way out. This series was ok... its more a play on the mental state of Rachel as she wants to die and the deal cut with Zach was she helps him escape in exchange for him killing her afterwards. Its a grim arrangement as Rachel clearly isn't right in the head, but neither is Zach. There is lots of blood and violence, but you find it hard to care for either character as one is reprehensible and the other is clinically depressed. Every floor guardian is just as deranged as the next, each with their own theme. I wouldn't recommend this one either.
The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar
Hoooo boy. The premise of this was excellent, its a shame it was wasted on a low budget harem anime. Yuuto, an average high school student is transported back in time/to another world through a cursed mirror. He eventually becomes the ruler of the Wolf Clan because his cell phone magically works in this bronze age world, and wirelessly charges somehow. He brings wealth, prosperity, advanced weaponry and tools, and military might via Google. Yuuto, using battle tactics of ancient and modern generals, quickly builds an empire by conquering his neighboring rival nations, all while capturing the admiration of everyone... Sounds kinda cool right? Well all of that you have to learn as you go... there is actually no explanation how he had gotten there until 3/4ths of the way through the series. It feels like the series starts on episode 3 or something. He's just there using his cellphone to give out battle commands. All while being surrounded by voluptuous beauties that can fight, protect, and blacksmith. He can just give his blacksmith instructions on how to make steel, crossbows, katanas, and what not. All the meanwhile he calls his average looking, air head high school crush at night who I guess was with him when he got sucked through this mirror that actually belonged to her. Each fight the Wolf Clan endures is a complete route, minus a few times where he still pulls out the win. The fight scenes are lazily done with tons of recycled animation, and blurred scenes. When he's not commanding his army, hes busying fighting off all his horny subjects competing for his love. At least he isn't a pervert I guess? There is a difference between a good fan service anime, and a bad one.... this one is somewhere in between. It had all the promise, but none of the effort. Some of the characters were interesting enough... but more effort was put into the bust sizes and lavish hair styles than sword play.
ISLAND
Some guy washed up on an island naked with few visions and memories of his past. He knows his name is Setsuna, and he is from the future. He's suppose to save someone but he can't remember who. He eventually comes across a girl name Rene, as his time with her progresses his memories slowly come back... Yeah no... don't waste your time here. Its some terrible time travel anime that isn't time travel and makes little sense. He's suppose to save Rene based off some love story legend about Setsuna and Rene... she dies, he finds a time machine to try to save her, but its just a time stopping machine. Apparently he only really ever travels forward by being frozen in time, but like out of an episode of futurama, if you go forward far enough, civilization just resets and repeats. This series was a big fail as they do way to much to confuse the shit out of you until they reveal the "time traveling" method... then it makes the whole thing unbelievable.... along with some almost close call accidental incest. PASS
Lord of Vermilion: The Crimson King
Tokyo Majin 2.0... pass. I couldn't even tell you what is happening in this anime. A bunch of pew pew crystal power flying post apocalyptic Tokyo.
Magical Girl Raising Project
This one I had high hopes of being the most f'ed up anime I've seen in a long time... sadly it fell a little flat. I would have passed on this altogether if its TV-MA rating didn't catch my eye. The first 15 seconds indicated that this was going to be a blood bath of cute magical girls... and eventually it was. It took a long time to get there though, and it wasn't satisfying enough. Basically a bunch of girls around an undisclosed Japanese city get selected to be Magical Girls from playing an innocent magical girl mobile game. They each protect their own district of the city, and compete by scoring "magic candies" from the amount of good deeds they do weekly. Each magical girl has their own unique special powers... eventually its announced to them that there are too many magical girls and each week, the person with the least amount of candy will be dismissed and lose their magical girl status... little do they know at first that the result of losing your powers also ends in death. This later evolves into some girls murdering others. Some deaths are pretty brutal and sad, but overall it keeps its magical girl anime tone. It was ok I guess... it leaves you with a somewhat happy ending. I wanted more and it didn't deliver.
Chio's School Road
After the first ep I thought this was going to be my surprise of the season... but it fizzled out fast. Chio's a nerdy gamer girl that neglects her studies and sleep for online game binging. The series is actually about her daily trip to school rather than actual class which I though was a neat new concept. Every day is some insane adventure on the way to school... the first two episodes were hysterically funny. I thought this was going to be one of those crazy randomness comedies like Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. Sadly the comedy later falls flat with a bunch of perv jokes and sexually charged shenanigans. It wouldn't have been so bad if some of the episodes are just flat out boring.
HANEBADO!
I normally don't do sports anime, but there were two this season... well 3, but I didn't watch FREE! For obvious reasons in my tastes. This one got a lot of western media hype for "FINALLY! STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS!!!!!!!!!".... WRONG. Erza Scarlet, Revy Two Hand, Chise Hatori, Haruhi Suzumiya, all the girls of Toji No Miko... all of these are strong female characters in different ways and genres. Please give me a break. HANEBADO actually features some pretty broken characters, that are mentally weak and screwed up. I assume since this series is almost completely devoid of eastern tropes, is why it got love. Either way its not a bad series. I quite enjoyed it. Its about Badminton which is weird. It revolves around Ayano and Nagisa... two prodigies of the sport. Nagisa is naturally gifted because of her height, while Ayano was raised by a world champion mother who trained her from a young age. The series starts with Ayano destroying Nagisa 20-0 in the nationals and then flashes forwards  years later. Ayano has given up badminton because her mother inexplicably left to go overseas, and Nagisa is captain of her high school badminton club where she takes out her past failures on her club members. At the start Ayano is the vulnerable character and Nagisa is the one you don't like. Somehow Ayano finds her way to the badminton club because of her pushy childhood friend. Nagisa finally comes to the realization shes been a bitch the whole time to everyone and clams down... later Ayano turns into a psycho when she runs into her adopted sister she didn't know she had. She's a Danish badminton superstar that was also trained by her mother... this puts Ayano into a crazed mental state that she never really recovers from.. she goes from super sweet and shy badminton pro to snobbish cut throat. It swap doesn't make any sense really and her mother just seems like she doesn't care about how she is acting making it worse. Its honestly hard to like either character. Some of the side characters have better stories but they all get berated by Nagisa or Ayano at some point... and the whole thing that set her off with her adopted sister was just to gain her acceptance in the worst way possible... which ends up backfiring making her adopted sister sad... the story is actually pretty shitty now that I think about it.   But the badminton matches are pretty crazy and well animated. I wouldn't recommend this one, but if someone asked me if it was worth watching. I'd give it the thumbs up.
Harukana Receive
So this was actually my surprise anime of the season. An anime about beach volleyball... I totally went into this knowing it was all about jumping around in bikinis on the beach. I left surprised with a pretty solid story and some great suspense. The animation IS beautiful... but seeing as the color pallet was very limited to sand, net, water, and skin... they really didn't have to do much here to be challenged. This is about as tasteful as fan service gets. Yes these girls have goddess bodies with muscles and curves... trust me I enjoyed every bit of it with no shame. But there isn't a bunch of silly bouncy and jiggles nor the sound effects that normally go along with them.. its a 100% female cast at all times, and there is no boob groping or shower room trope scenes. The series faithfully sticks to volleyball the entire time. Gratuitous butt shots is as racy as this one gets. *Eh hem* Anyways, the story is about Haruka Oozura coming to Japan to live with her cousin Katana Higa. Katana was once a world class child volley ball player and won nationals with her partner Narumi Tooi. They defeated Emily and Claire Thomas... the best team from the US to do this. As they got older, Katana never grew any taller and felt that she was holding Narumi back. One day Katana gives up the sport in the middle of a match after having a panic attack while they were losing... completely abandoning Narumi. Seeing as Katana lives on the beach where some practice courts are, Haruka becomes interested in beach volleyball. Katana plays around with showing her the basics only to run into her former partner Narumi along with her new partner. The overly excited Haruka wants to play them, unaware of Katana's past. Narumi gives out a childish challenge where they only have to score one point to win and she'll buy them ice cream. You should guess how the rest goes... anyways Emily and Claire see the match from afar and take interest in Haruka since she was able to get Katana to play again... the four become friends and help train Haruka who is naturally gifted because of her height. This series has really good pacing, all the matches were pretty intense, and they don't always spend time on every single point of the match. The only absurd part of this anime is how a total noob can learn the basics of beach volleyball and all of the sudden carry her short cousin to victories against pros that have trained since they were small children. When they aren't playing volleyball they're doing innocent girly things like buying ice cream and talking about the power of friendship and believing in each other. It was enjoyable enough for me, and there will most likely be a season 2 of this which I will watch.
Best intro this season: Overlord
Best outro: Magical Girl Rising Project
 

Fucking finally, I know what I'll be watching either tomorrow and Saturday night.