Strider Hiryu

Finally got caught up on my backlog of Marvel movies over the last two weeks (well the backlog of ones I wanted to watch, the only one's I haven't seen are Thor 2, Homecoming (which I will watch eventually), Ant Man (no real interest in seeing it) and I've only seen half of the first Captain America). Will say things make a lot more sense now in the big picture after getting them watched, thoughts below:
Winter Soldier: As much as I hat Cap I really enjoyed this movie and when my friend said shit hit the fan he wasn't kidding. I finally understand why Shield wasn't around in Avengers 2 (I really had no idea what was going on since I never watched the TV show and I really had no interest in watching Winter Soldier until recently) so a lot of my questions about certain things were finally answered. Really like how it played out more like a spy/action flick then a superhero flick, definitely one of my favorites in the the Marvel verse behind GoG 1 & 2 and Civil War.
Civil War: Good god I really enjoyed this movie though I do feel like the whole movie focused more on Cap and Stark's underlying past issues (and personal issues) then it did on the real issues at hand (it really felt more like a Cap obsessing over Bucky and Stark reliving his daddy issues more then a flick about a superhuman civil war). Have to say I'm completely pumped to see the Black Panther flick, after seeing him in Civil War I'm sold on him (great actor choice and the character alone is really interesting). I have a ton of questions and theories now about how Infinity War is going to play out (can anyone say Nomad).
Doctor Strange: I honestly didn't know about this one and based on the reviews I had seen about it I wasn't even sure if I'd like it. Glad to say I'm wrong. Though I really don't like Strange (his attitude rubs me the wrong way) I really enjoyed the movie (fucking trippy as hell). Considering I knew nothing of this character I thought it was a really good origin story for the character (yes I know the actual origin story but for the MCU this is actually a great introduction). I have some issues with the movie (like a lot of people) but I'm interested to see what his role is in the MCU going forward (especially considering the Infinity War movies are going to reset the MCU (or at least kill off quite a few heroes)).
Guardians 2: Watched this last night and I absolutely loved it, tied for favorite Marvel movie with Guardians 1. Brought back all of the charm and humor from the first one and backed it up with a pretty serious story. Was great to see how the interactions between all the characters have evolved from the first one and yes Baby Groot was fucking adorable (the beginning of the movie was freaking cute with him dancing, yes I said cute (get over it)). Overall the movie was a fun ride and the ending, while sad, was a great way to send off such a great character (even if he was an ass).
So yea, gotta say the Marvel movies are really impressing me considering my general distaste for superheroes (I'm sorry my heroes as a kid were the Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and G.I. Joe. Superheroes never realy interested me, men in tight spandex beating up other men in similar costumes just seemed wrong). As I said above I'm really looking forward to the Black Panther movie and after finally watching Civil War I'm really looking forward to seeing how things play out in the Infinity War movies.

RIP Jerry Lewis. I remember watching Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis movies when I was young. He made me laugh as a child.

Whether you were a big fan or not today is a tragic loss for the music world. Chester Bennington, lead singer and front man for Linkin Park, was found dead today at 41.
I was a huge LP fan when I was younger (though I sort of lost touch with them over the years, their music past Meteora was so so) so this hits pretty hard for me. Their music, his music, helped me through a lot.
RIP Chester, though you're gone your music and message will always remain.

Whether you were a big fan or not today is a tragic loss for the music world. Chester Bennington, lead singer and front man for Linkin Park, was found dead today at 41.
I was a huge LP fan when I was younger (though I sort of lost touch with them over the years, their music past Meteora was so so) so this hits pretty hard for me. Their music, his music, helped me through a lot.
RIP Chester, though you're gone your music and message will always remain.

I'm adopting a cat from the shelter. We went there last saturday and picked her out. A little kitten 4 months old. We're waiting to hear back from the place about when to pick her up. They give her full vaccinations, spay and a month of flea treatment. They have to spay her before they can release her to us, so we just gotta wait a few more days to find out when we can get her. They got hit with multiple large hoarding cases recently of saved animals and theres alot of volunteers there now. I hope this shelter doesn't screw this up. We have little cat toys and a new litter pan all ready for her.

So because I was bored and I'm getting kinda burned out on FFXIV (yea, week off to play it probably wasn't the best idea) I decided to play some BF1 last night. Have to say I really like a lot of the new changes they put forth since the last time I played (which was shortly after ribbons were introduced). The best feature by far is the new battlepack reward system and I won't go into specifics since I'm sure most of you have seen videos on it. Suffice to say after one match last night I almost had a battlepack (did get one after my second and almost halfway to another one). Nice to see they implemented a system that rewards team play as well as high placement on the scoreboard (about fucking time) for getting battlepacks instead of the RNG based system they had.
Also have to say Frontlines is fucking amazing. IMO it's what Operations should of been instead of the crap they gave us. Being a mix of Conquest and Rush (at the end if you get that far) it's pretty fucking fun and the battles get extremely intense at flag points. If Frontlines would of been introduced from the get go I'd of probably continued playing this (hell I most likely will start playing more now, it was kind refreshing to play an FPS again (even if it's one that pissed me off when if first came out)).

So the Stormblood Early Access is fucking broke and everyone in NA trying to play the story is locked behind a mission no one can do due to SE dropping the fucking ball because of server congestion (or that's what they're saying, I've been waiting since 7 am to finish the god damn quest. Finally gave up since I can't get into the instance to do it). GG SE, I'm pretty sure if you get it fixed it's just going to break on Tuesday when SB officially launches. I forsee many angry customers and a lot of rage quitters. On a side not Samurai is fucking amazing and I think, once the story is finished on my Ninja, I'm switching jobs again. The amount of dps and damage this job can put out at 50 is enormous so I'm expecting great things from it at 70.
On a much better note I finally got around to trying out Black Desert Online tonight. Gotta say besides being a freaking beautiful game it's actually pretty fun and addicting. Really like how the combat plays out with all of its combos. Definitely worth the $10 entry fee (that is if you're computer can run it, I'm running on high settings and not having any real issues). I think I found my new game to fuck around in when I run out of things to do in FFXIV (if I ever do x.x).

So the new computer finally arrived and boy is it beautiful (and bigger then I thought, thing is huge). I'm now not looking forward to installing everything I need on it to get it up to snuff like my laptop is (so much to do). Sadly I won't be playing FFXIV tonight because it's going to take 3+ hours to download and install all the updates (not to mention Heavensward which I opted to dl instead of digging my disk out of the closet).
I'll take pictures of it tomorrow and post them, to tired to do it right now as I spent the last two hours digging it out of the box and setting it up.

So the new computer finally arrived and boy is it beautiful (and bigger then I thought, thing is huge). I'm now not looking forward to installing everything I need on it to get it up to snuff like my laptop is (so much to do). Sadly I won't be playing FFXIV tonight because it's going to take 3+ hours to download and install all the updates (not to mention Heavensward which I opted to dl instead of digging my disk out of the closet).
I'll take pictures of it tomorrow and post them, to tired to do it right now as I spent the last two hours digging it out of the box and setting it up.

So I was bored yesterday and played some of the Overwatch free weekend (sadly I won't have anymore time to play it). Quite honestly I'm actually considering buying it now because Quickplay was not as bad as it was last time. It seems either people have learned to play the game. Really like a lot of the changes the game has gone through since the last time I played (really happy to see you can only have one of each hero on a team now, such a fucking lovely change). I actually think I could stomach the grind to 25 to play comp now (if I could find the time to play it, I'm working on my Bard's Anima Weapon in FFXIV and I've got less than a month till early access for the expac launches (and I still have to beat ME:A and Horizon)).
I've also pretty much proved that I'm going to be stuck playing healers as I have lost all skill at playing anything but them. Went on a tear with Lucio last night, getting play of the game for knocking two people off the map on Ilios and getting three more kills on top of it. I have to say if I didn't love Mercy as much as I do I'd have to say Lucio is my favorite hero (also got a Legendary skin for him, not to hip on it as its the blue hockey one but still it was a nice gain from a lootbox). I also wall skated my way out of dying in the center well on the first part of Ilios, was pretty fucking epic (considering I didn't think it could be done).
I also have to point out that I really like Orisa. I never actually played as her but she was a major reason as to why my group won on Defense for Volskaya in the first part of the map (that place down shield is powerful with the right set up). She's a very nice addition to the hero lineup. Also have to say I fucking hate Sombra, in the right hands she's a fucking nightmare.

Finished Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans Season 2 last night. Gotta say it wasn't as good as the first season and it was kind of a let down story wise but the battles were freaking amazing (I am in love with Barbatos, that fucking machine is amazing). I think the title of "Kill them all" has finally been taken from Tomino, good god Nagai was kill happy (I honestly didn't think anyone was going to survive to see the end (yea, kind of a spoiler but not really as I didn't say who dies)). All in all a solid 7/10, definitely worth a watch if you looking for an action oriented show (not the best Gundam to come out but it definitely ranks up there as a damn good addition to the franchise as a whole).
Also started watching Grimgar tonight since DX had mentioned what he thought of it it awhile ago (and it's up on Crunchy so I don't have to watch those fansubs I got a hold of). Only 4 episodes in and I have to say that was one hell of a gut punch, not because of his death but because of the way the others took it. Fucking hit me right in the feels. I do have to say that I was right, it feels like a cross between Log Horizon (being sucked into another world) and SAO (death being permanent) without the whole being a game aspect (since it seems it's never actually confirmed/denied). Overall I'm enjoying it so far, looking forward to what the next 8 episodes have to offer.

Finished Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans Season 2 last night. Gotta say it wasn't as good as the first season and it was kind of a let down story wise but the battles were freaking amazing (I am in love with Barbatos, that fucking machine is amazing). I think the title of "Kill them all" has finally been taken from Tomino, good god Nagai was kill happy (I honestly didn't think anyone was going to survive to see the end (yea, kind of a spoiler but not really as I didn't say who dies)). All in all a solid 7/10, definitely worth a watch if you looking for an action oriented show (not the best Gundam to come out but it definitely ranks up there as a damn good addition to the franchise as a whole).
Also started watching Grimgar tonight since DX had mentioned what he thought of it it awhile ago (and it's up on Crunchy so I don't have to watch those fansubs I got a hold of). Only 4 episodes in and I have to say that was one hell of a gut punch, not because of his death but because of the way the others took it. Fucking hit me right in the feels. I do have to say that I was right, it feels like a cross between Log Horizon (being sucked into another world) and SAO (death being permanent) without the whole being a game aspect (since it seems it's never actually confirmed/denied). Overall I'm enjoying it so far, looking forward to what the next 8 episodes have to offer.

Finally ended up breaking down and paying for a Crunchyroll membership on Sunday (cancelled my TOR subscription since I've done everything the game has to offer for now) since it seems the hay day of fansubs is dead (and I was dying to watch IBO season 2 and now I can finally get caught up on Sailor Moon Crystal (god that just sounds wrong)). Gotta say, and believe me it hurts to say this, they've really come a long way since I last used them back when they were doing this illegally. Great quality, passable subs (need a little more work on localization but they're better then they used to be), and I get to watch everything on my TV instead of my computer (major bonus for me).
My only gripe is I wish they had more to offer. Their selection is rather small for having a partnership with Funi (then again I've seen pretty much everything I want to see that Funi has to offer). Meh, hopefully they'll continue to grow and get more stuff (and hopefully older stuff, a lot of the newer shows these days suck).

Been screwing around in the Ghost Recon beta these last few days. Gotta say the game is fun but you can definitely tell it was made to be played with friends. Don't get me wrong the A.I. squad mates are better then what you would get in other games (almost as good as the A.I. squad mates from Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (which this game has some similar mechanics to)) but a lot of the missions seem to be built with the idea of going in with 3 other players due to enemy patrol routes and placements. Beyond that gun play is pretty solid (a little wonky at times but this is a beta), combat is quick and sometimes relentless (I made a minor mistake approaching a base in the new area for the beta and damn near paid for it with my life (fucking enemies called in 2 choppers, still trying to figure out how I survived it)), and the story is pretty good for a Tom Clancy game (not generally into Tom Clancy stuff but this game and the Rainbow Six games have always had relatively good stories to go along with good game play).
Honestly if it wasn't coming out a week after Horizon and two weeks before Andromeda I'd probably buy it but no, Ubisoft had to pick the worst time to release it. If you get a chance this weekend try it out, the beta runs until Monday and it's definitely worth a quick play through (even if you don't get through the entire first area you'll get a good feel for the game play and what the story is about in the first few missions).

So after playing TOR since it's release I've finally finished all the class stories this morning earning my Legendary Player status. I have to say TOR is an exceptional game with some of the best storytelling I've seen in an MMO to date (FFXIV takes second sadly, while the story is amazing it's just not personal enough like the TOR class stories are).
Have to say my favorite Class Stories were Sith Inquisitor (even if it was a little predictable at times), Imperial Agent (I haven't played the Light Side version but the Dark Side one was pretty damn fun), and surprisingly Jedi Consular (which I beat this morning. While a little boring the twists and turns the story takes after Chapter 1 were fun). The other stories were just a little to bland for my tastes (Sith Warrior was okay but revenge stories just aren't all that great any more. Jedi Knight wasn't all that amazing but the final story mission was pretty cool. The rest I really don't have much to say about (though Smuggler was good for a few laughs)).
Gotta say for their first time doing an MMO Bioware did a great job, even if the game has gone through more rocky points then most MMO's. The Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne expansions were amazing, well done, and outside of the class stories had some of the best story writing I've seen in awhile (this goes for single player games as well). Can't wait to see what Bioware has in store for TOR in the future but I'm happy to say I can finally put this game on the back burner until it happens.

Looks like I get to play the For Honor beta this weekend, just got my code today. Can't wait, if only I didn't have to work Friday (this overtime shit is getting old).

Two years after I bought it I finally started watching Tekkaman Blade. 16 episodes in and by god am I loving every minute of it (even if it is a bit campy). Great soundtrack, ok characters (hey not all anime has great characters), and a plot that's actually pretty good (if not recycled from other similar shows from the time).
Also makes me miss the old days when anime was hand animated and we didn't have all this CG shit mixed in. Sure the art wasn't always great but damn the shows were still good. Also makes me miss when anime actually had good plot and stories, not this same recycled bullshit we get every year.

Two years after I bought it I finally started watching Tekkaman Blade. 16 episodes in and by god am I loving every minute of it (even if it is a bit campy). Great soundtrack, ok characters (hey not all anime has great characters), and a plot that's actually pretty good (if not recycled from other similar shows from the time).
Also makes me miss the old days when anime was hand animated and we didn't have all this CG shit mixed in. Sure the art wasn't always great but damn the shows were still good. Also makes me miss when anime actually had good plot and stories, not this same recycled bullshit we get every year.

So I found my new favorite Medic weapon in BF1, the Cei-Rigotti Factory. I didn't notice until last night but it has a full-auto feature like the Sweeper and it's more accurate then the Sweeper. The 10 round mags kind of kills its killing potential but at least 80% of your shots will hit unlike the Sweeper. I'm also ashamed to say I was enjoying using the Model 10 Factory last night, I went on some killing sprees that surprised the hell out of me. I still say it needs a nerf but I understand why people like using it and it's Hunter loadout now, the gun is a beast.

So I'm going to go find a hole and hide in it for the next 4 years, anyone want to join me? I have snacks and video games. (This is all I will say on what happened yesterday).

Since the BF1 servers were down yet again tonight (fucking christ DICE/EA, get your shit together) I finally beat the Tanker storyline of the campaign. I have to say if the other 5 are anything like it I'm in for a treat. This is by far one of the best campaign stories I've played for a BF game since the original Bad Company. Good lord that was fun as hell and the spark plug mission was great (I fucked with the Germans so hard it wasn't even funny).

Started playing Journey today. Have no idea whats really going on (I understand for the most part but without any talking or narrations it's all pretty much how you take what you're shown in the cutscenes) but the art style is nice, the puzzle mechanics are pretty interesting, the ability to meet random people playing it is cool (even if you can't speak to each other), and the soundtrack is freaking amazing (probably the best part of the game so far for me). It's a rather relaxing game, can't wait to find time to sit down and actually finish it (I think I'm a third of the way through the game).

Day 2 of being back to work and I'm dead/exhausted. Good god these 10 hour days are rough, so not used to it (not to mention my feet are killing me, my shoulder hurts like hell, and my hands are stiff and ache all over (this assembly shit is not easy on your body)). If you don't hear from me for awhile I'm probably dead from exhaustion (and I have mandatory overtime this week too so no three day weekend , just got to think of all that lovely money).

After 4 months of going through hell to find a job I finally landed one today (start on Monday). Damn good thing I did, I'm almost out of money (my computer fund went bye bye, need to start saving again). Once I get my first paycheck I'm picking up Overwatch, I need something to take my frustrations out on (and BF4 and R6S just aren't cutting it).

Just got done trying out the Hawken release for PS4, gotta say its fun as hell. Still learning the game but I find it more enjoyable to play with a controller then I did with a mouse and keyboard in the PC Alpha release. Definitely going to be playing quite a bit of this going forward (just need to get 98,000 HC to get the sharpshooter mech).