DeathscytheX

Finished Ultraman on Netflix, the story was good but it left too much unanswered... and the biggest travesty was the CGI. Holy cow it was wildly inconsistent and mostly all bad. The distance shots looked like some PS1 stuff, like they didnt know what shading was. They spent all the money on the final fight which was awesome, and then the last few minutes got really bad.

I never watched the original Fruit Basket because the description just sounded too silly. The premise of all anime is that at least one of the protagonists has a flaw. Luffy can't swim, Inuyasha turns human on the full moon, etc. I just generally dislike when a flaw is so overwhelming it's a massive inconvenience. BUT Since the simuldub started Friday I'll be watching the reboot. It seems to have a huge following and the first ep was quite good.

Anthem isn't perfect. It probably should have been delayed another 6-8 months, but its a hell of a lot of fun. I just find it funny how Destiny can rack up big review scores with the similar issues and significantly less content. The popular thing to do right now is crap on EA, and its justified... but it'll be a shame if this game gets the plugged pulled on it early. There is a lot of potential here to fill the gap until the next gen consoles come. Arekkz has the most realistic take on the game, the rest of the YT community is just spitting out talking points which is kinda sad too see since they're suppose to be the alternate to big game sites.

I finished Fate/Zero and I'm into season two of Fate/Stay. I really hate how Saber keeps getting screwed over. She's such a nice and honorable character. :( I'm waiting for her overdue redemption.

2018 was an interesting year. Here are my picks for best of the year.
Game of the Year
God of War
Runners up GOTY
Red Dead Redemption 2
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Anime of the Year
Violet Evergarden
Runners up AOTY
Mob Psycho 100
My Hero Academia
Movie of the Year
Deadpool 2
Runners up MOTY
Ready Player One
Avengers: Infinity War
Podcast of the Year
The Joe Rogan Experience
Runner up PCOTY
83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff
Biggest Letdown of 2018
Diablo Immortal Announcement
Runner up BLOTY
Battlefield V

Happy new year!

So after counting the cash and gift cards I got for my birthday in Oct and for Christmas I finally just broke down and ordered a Switch today all because I want the new Smash Brothers (damn you Nintendo, why do you do this to me. You know I have an obsession with SSB).
So yeah, I now get to start the journey of being a Switch owner (I just wish it didn't cost so much freaking money x.x).

I remember when I use to be a huge fighting game fan. I always like to read about the old series I use to play. Apparently 2B is way too strong in Soul Calibur 6. She launched yesterday and people are crying about her already... I'm like no shit, shes OP as hell in the game shes from. I called it when I saw the trailer. I honestly wish she'd be a new Smash Bros character.
 

The two best anime this season so far are Goblin Slayer and SSSS.Gridman. Goblin Slayer caused a huge uproar over its first ep.. which honestly is stupid. Plenty of acclaimed anime have had an uncomfortable rape scene. A heavily censored scene that took up all of 10 seconds of the episode. However, whether intended or not, it got everyone talking about it. After that, it resumed as a normal but violent anime. It also wasn't random, it established the goblin's as pure evil. SSSS.Gridman is your standard over the top Trigger mecha anime... but it starts out off the rails. I don't see how they can get much more bat shit crazy. That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime, Zombie Land SAGA, and Double Decker: Doug and Kirill have all been fun and quirky though. Overall I'm enjoying this season even if I'm skipping on a few of the shows.

Black friday sales started early so I bought a 4k HDR 50 inch samsung tv. I'm pleased with it. The blacks this tv gets still blows my mind. I doubt I'll buy a PS4pro, but in the mean time my regular PS4 has HDR.. but I only have one game that actually takes advantage of it and thats Uncharted 4. I don't think I'll be replaying it any time soon just to see the graphical difference, but regardless this tv upscales like a champ. Everything looks significantly better. Thats a hell of a lot better upscaling than blu ray players do for dvds. Its a night and day difference.
I put on Rise of the Tomb Raider last night and Battlefield 1 and the quality is top notch. Game mode works with HDR for this tv, so I can put on game mode for reduced input lag which is nice without affecting quality. It also has bitstream audio pass through which works great with my old receiver for surround sound.
The tv has Motion rate 120 instead of true 120 hz refresh rate which I didn't know was a different thing when I was buying the tv. But thats ok, I doubt the PS5 when it eventually comes out will even come close to 60 fps at 4k and my current pc graphics card will no way in hell do any better than 60 fps at 4k so I'm pretty much set for future proofing at the moment.. at least for the next 4-5 years probably. And motion rate 120 is a bit nuts. I had to turn the judder down on that. It makes everything so fluid its like everything was filmed like a soap opera.  I never realized more fps on a movie would look so different.  But the biggest downside is for animated titles. It cause a bit too much of a blur effect as the tv basically fills in the games to increase the fps.. its not good for animated shows.

R.I.P. Stan Lee. You will be missed.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a testament to what single player games can be when you spend years developing them rather than 1-2 years and throw them out there with endless sequels. It would take me a few hours to hammer out my initial thoughts on this game. The level of detail is truly spectacular. My one concern was having to juggle all the health/stamina and weapon maintenance, but somehow Rockstar made it very uncumbersome to where its there, but you don't really have to worry about it every few minutes... I've gone hours without having to rest or use consumables. I've found myself getting lost in just tracking/hunting for hours. The amount of random side content is astonishing. After I get off work tomorrow, I'll have a whole week to dive into it and get lost. I'm really looking forward to it.

With the summer simuldub season coming to a close, it played out like I predicted more or less. I'll wait a bit longer before I post my review. Pretty lackluster overall. But for me, the Fall Lineup is pretty stacked. Fairy Tail, SAO Season 3, and Black Clover continues which has become a lot more promising after this last arc I just watched... by far its strongest and most compelling. I watched the first episode of Double Decker! Doug & Kirill which was entertaining, and SSSS.GRIDMAN seems to be a Pacific Rim clone. Overall a return to more action adventure series, and lighter on the fan service heavy series.

With the summer simuldub season coming to a close, it played out like I predicted more or less. I'll wait a bit longer before I post my review. Pretty lackluster overall. But for me, the Fall Lineup is pretty stacked. Fairy Tail, SAO Season 3, and Black Clover continues which has become a lot more promising after this last arc I just watched... by far its strongest and most compelling. I watched the first episode of Double Decker! Doug & Kirill which was entertaining, and SSSS.GRIDMAN seems to be a Pacific Rim clone. Overall a return to more action adventure series, and lighter on the fan service heavy series.

Finally got our house today. All the legal paperwork is done and keys in hand.

The last two chapters of One Punch Man have been the best action/fight scenes I've seen in a manga in years. Flashy Flash's fight was epic and focused on speed and technique. Huge props to the artist for how he drew a speed battle in manga form. Very impressive.

Although its also on the PS4, I purchased Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana for the Switch recently because it's just been collecting dust. It was probably the better option anyways because the graphics look like something out of the N64/PS2 era with modern draw rates. Not a knock against it, as its quite charming... but the game looks like it belongs on the Switch rather than PS4. Everything about this game is so 1998. I've never played any of the Ys games before, but this one caught my eye for the old school hack and slash. It's very Dark Cloud-ish minus the world building. Sprinkle some old Zelda in there as well. The combat is relatively simple with 1 button main attack, and 4 special attacks that consist of holding R1 and pressing A B Y X. These use a SP meter that replenishes on kills. There are also dodge and block counters that give you a special speed combo ability. You have a party of 3, and characters that join where you can swap them out and swap between the three in combat. Each character has a assigned damage type (Slash, Precise, Bash). Having all 3 types helps weaken the right enemies susceptible to these plus you get a rare drop bonus... rather than the 1.1x bonus for having two of the same. Anyways, the story is campy but interesting, the dialogue is 90's cringeworthy, and its a lazy sprinkle of actual voice acting and text reading. The world is  large but a bunch of sectioned off instances that quickly load without a loading screen as you cross them. There are fast travel points but not in every sector, so it requires some old school memorizing where to go at times. As you get special gear, you'll find places that were inaccessible previously open up. I'm 20 hours in and I don't feel like I'm even half way through. So at $60, I feel like I'm getting my money's worth for a decent nostalgia kick. I bet this will be a free PS Plus game next year so when it comes up I highly recommend it without even finish it. I'll report back when I beat it with a proper review.

The first two eps of AoT season 3 are better than season 2 in its entirety.

Originally I wasn't going to say anything until I actually finished watching the series (which should be Monday or Tuesday night) but you were right DX, The Ancient Magus' bride is spectacular and I say this after only watching 15 episodes.
I have to say it's up there with Violet Evergarden for both visuals and story (and it's been awhile since I've seen a show that has completely drawn me in to the point that I sacrifice sleep just to watch another episode). I honestly didn't think the premise would suck me in this much but I'm glad it did (and both episodes with Nevin were extremely well done (I shed some manly tears they were so emotionally impacting)).
I honestly have to say this is probably going down as one of my favorites shows from the last few years (which isn't really hard considering my problems with the last few seasons), only taking second to the masterpiece that was Violet Evergarden. I can't recommend this show enough for those who want a story driven show focused on character development and world building (I'm just sad I only have 8 episodes and 3 OVA's left, really hope this gets another season once the manga gets further along).
 

I don't drink much soda anymore unless I'm at the theater or some other public event. But every time I see something new I gotta try it. My grocery store got some new specialty sodas in this week. Some haven't come in yet that I sill want to try. I've already had Cheerwine before which is basically a Dr. Pepper variation clone. They had some Faygo with real sugar, and a Shirley Temple soda that was liquid diabetes. But there was one called Moxie and it was pretty fucking nasty. It didn't say what it was, so I assumed it was just some type of cola... which it was with a vile aftertaste that can only be described as bitter grapefruit extract with a pinch of dirt. Apparently its an old soft drink made in the late 1800's and it should have stayed there because its nasty AF.

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

Ordered some Corsair Void Pro headphones for Prime Day. I've been putting off a new headset for PC for way too long. I have my cord duct taped and wires are coming out of the ear pieces. Its hard to give this headset up because its lasted me 15-16 years. Its just some cheap ass standard Microsoft headphones i bought at target years and years ago. The ear cushions look like cloth because the fake leather coating all fell off or deteriorated. Even with all the wires falling apart, it still works without a hitch. I don't really need turtles for PC, but the Corsair's were on a pretty decent discount, so I went with it.

So I finished watching the first season of My Hero Academia tonight and you were right DX I absolutely love the show. I think most of that has to do with my absolute adoration for All Might but I could be wrong (but I'm sure I'm not, you can't hate the man he's just fucking perfect).
Gotta say for a shounen series it certainly has a lot going for it. Great humor, awesome character development and characters , a good story (I only say good for now as it's only S1 that I've finished, I hear it gets a lot better), and a pretty kick ass soundtrack. Not going to say I don't have any problems with the show (it suffers from some of the things I hate about shounen series) but those are greatly overshadowed by everything I said before.
I'm honestly looking forward to starting S2 tomorrow (thank god I'm on vacation) and hopefully starting S3 before I go back to work (if I don't get lost in the myriad of other things I have to do this week).

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

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