#honestly just DMC and dmc soundtracks in general | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

reimahowaido · 3 years

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I’ll get to those Magic Crafter Dragons I sweeeear But first, fun stuff from Discord. Dunno who made the original, it was just posted on a server, but yeet I did it anyway First of all, I don’t play a lot of games. I like games and the idea of them. I enjoy people playing stuff, I love watching others play. It’s that little sibling culture. But lemme toss a word or few about all of these. Though first of all, I only own 4 of the 8 games listed and even still I’ve only played 3 of them xD R.I.P. Pokemon Cafe Mix - The game is just Super Cute. Like oh my god Aesthetics! Adorable, every pokemon looks so nice and I just want to go to the cafe and taste everything and just chill. Please. It looks so cozy and relaxing. Gameplay is fairly simple too. Sometimes things seem a bit BS but in one way or another I’ll get through every stage etc. so it’s not too bad. Most of the time relaxing, can be addicting because of how simple things are. But really I love the game and I hope one day they’ll add more of the pokemon I like xD Buizel is my current favourite <3 It’d be nice seeing Mienshao or Mienfoo for one, maybe Glameow as it doesn’t get a lot of attention. We got Gogoat, but I wouldn’t mind a Sawsbuck or Deerling Pokemon Black 2 - To keep the Pokemon trend going, this is my fave out of the mainline games. I’ve been a fan ever since the first generation, I’m older than Gen 1 at that. But yeah, we did buy games but Nintendo stuff was too expensive and so I never really got to play those growing up. Black 2 was the first game I ever bought, for myself, with my own money. It was my first game and I loved it dearly. Still do and man I’d Love to replay it, but the curse of only 1 save file is cruel. I don’t want to restart my first ever save file. Currently I have no way of transferring anything over and I even have a Shiny Gothorita there (as underwhelming as it is, it was my first ever shiny). I love these games~~ Lots of different pokemon to choose from, great story, the fact that it’s a sequel is so freaking cool and unique I Love It So Much. Of course it’d be cool to have some extra things to do in it, like cleaning my badges, contests would be cool, I loved the mining stuff in Gen 4 when I got to try it on my friend’s Platinum save file as a kid. Speaking of, Gen 4 games would probably be my favourites, if I ever had the chance of owning and playing any fully. They have soooo much to do in them! Gen 5 is good and certainly up there in faves, but bruh, Gen 4 had all sorts of extra stuff, especially Platinum, and in HG/SS you had Pokemon following you like bruh that’s Crazy and I’d love to have that for a game I own, it’s like a dream Honorable mentions to Mystery Dungeon and Gen 6′s Pokemon Y for some grand memories. Firstly Pokemon Y, the second game I ever owned I think, great fun. I played that game for hooooooooours and it’s the only Pokemon Game that I’ve both played as a Nuzlocke and actually reset to play again. Also the first gen where I actually really got into competitive stuff, breeding for natures and stuff, and I’ve caught so many shinies in Y and Omega Ruby (mostly Y, OR has 1 shiny in Pidove, while Y has Ninetales, Pachirisu, Burmy, Gligar, and perhaps some other ones I caught/hatched myself). Mystery Dungeon games get a mention for having cool stories and I like the idea of the personality test and stuff. I’ve never played or owned any of these games, but I’ve watched Marriland play a handful of the games and currently am enjoying MDB playing through the first games in the series. Also a quick bloop on Colosseum being Cool as heck, and Battle Revolution gets a shoutout for looking so freaking good, having amazing music and making me search up videos with my favourite pokemon and just looking and watching hundreds of videos just because they looked so nice

Fire Emblem has to be the 2nd series of games I’ve gotten the most into. Although I’m a fairly new fan and my experiences and knowledge are limited, I do still enjoy the series and games - both old and new - a bunch. I only own Awakening, Conquest and 3 Houses, but I’ve again watched others play the past games a bunch, so I have some knowledge and memorable moments from those games too. Now I haven’t actually gotten myself to play 3 Houses yet, I’ve seen playthroughs of the game already and know the story etc. But yeh. Still, I’d say that I’ll probably like 3 Houses more than Awakening and Conquest. Awakening is nostalgia galore for me, but it does have its things with the story and characters and stuff. It’s nice, but I dunno, I just feel 3 Houses has an edge on it in some way. Maybe it’s just... Less controversial? Less Flame Wars? Maybe? Fates games, well, we all know the big glaring thing here. The story. And some of the characters suffer from this too. I kinda do wish that the Player had a biiiit more control in how the story went and played out, like I feel you definitely could have saved Scarlet in some way still, and all that. But eh, there’s enough stuff for me to go and prefer 3 Houses over it. And yes, I like choosing the members of my team and playing however I like, so giving me the ability to class my characters however I want is going to be a mistake as I’ll just make everyone a mounted unit and get destroyed but hey! Options :2 Variety :22 Great tiiiiimes~ Also it’s Blue Lions for me, Golden Deer Second Now for the games I don’t own. I chose Radiant Dawn because the Tellius games are just so good. I love the character in them, the story is pretty solid and the worldbuilding is cool too :2 I like both of the games, and while Path of Radiance is more coherent and doesn’t give split the characters up a bunch, Radiant Dawn has More of the great characters :2 Yes I know, not all of them are as fleshed out and thought out as the first game’s characters, but yo I still love them. I love a good continuation to a story. I love a ‘hey maybe it wasn’t as Black & White as we were made to believe’ twist. Also just hella good memories from watching BigKlingy play these games. The audience memed Aran to the final levels. We did it, he did so well, Aran deserved to be there xD Radiant Dawn also brings us Nailah, who is just. Yeah, you speak to me on so many levels, I’m easily readable. But also, woman, wolf, strong, yasss~~ Also I love the idea of the Jaegan character being a Thief/Assassin. That’s just so different and cool to me after all these Horse Units. And I’m the one guy who likes Levail and would love to see more of him. Give us more of Levail, the man who almost made it to being playable. Man. Levail is probably the one reason I’d pick Radiant Dawn over Path of Radiance xD The other game I’ve watched BigKlingy play through (and that’s my only experience on that game) is Sacred Stones. Pretty solid game all in all. Story, characters, but speaking of that story, if you really think about it, it’s Hella Dark, and that’s actually kinda cool in a way. I’m not that into dark stories, but here it worked. Also watched PhoenixMaster1′s playthrough on the Echoes game. I do like the game, if i find it one day I Might buy it but I’m not like in a hurry to get it. It was cool though, different for reasons but hey~ Also, Berkut, yes. I’m one of those people who like this angry man. But come on, he was really good xD Spyro I’ve already talked about in my lengthy little thing that I’ll get to continuing eventually xD But yes, I freaking love Spyro, my childhood, still very enjoyable experience full of great memories Metroid Fusion - Oh boy here come the nostalgia~ I’ve actually never played any Metroid games myself. I got introduced to the series in the early 2010s through youtube videos. I’m fairly sure it was me looking through dozens and dozens of Top 10 videos, several of which were on ‘the scariest bosses’, either unexpectedly scary or something else. But guess what, Nightmare from Fusion was in there, and I Think the person in the video said something on not wanting to even show the final forms of Nightmare’s face because it was that horrifying to them. And honestly? The fact that they didn’t show how bad it got, mixed with my morbid curiosity and woop, here I go~ Down the Metroid rabbithole where I watched a lot of videos on people fighting Nightmare and the other bosses in the game, eventually going into watching full run-throughs of the game and enjoying my time. Game looked pretty good, soundtrack was really nice too. And so I ended up on listening to a lot of the game series’ music and getting more familiar with the other games and the lore too. Learning to know that Samus was a lady was also hella badass. Fusion started it all for me, and while Super Metroid is cool, people also just play it a loooot, especially the Speedrunners, there’s also plenty of hacks based on that game and yeah I get it the game is Good, but that makes Fusion all the more special to me~ Devil May Cry 3 - Ok so again, I’ve not played any DMC games myself. This one again though is nostalgia ocean for me~ 2010 or such, I’m on some forum, said forum has a forum game based around songs or such and someone links one from this game. I Think it was the Doppelganger battle theme, or then I just found that one and listened to it for hours among the other battle themes these games have because they’re soooo gooood~~ DMC 4 was fairly new at that time, but I remember Gredo’s and Agnus’ themes being up there in songs I listened to a lot too. My experiences and stuff on this series was fully based on the songs, images on said songs, bits and pieces of the cutscenes of these games I saw and comments I read. I didn’t get too deep into DMC back then though, but I did have a bit of knowledge here and there, even if my idea of the stories in all the games was, well, I wouldn’t call it warped, but I definitely had imagined the story going differently to how things actually went xD Still, as a few years back I returned to DMC out of that feeling of nostalgia, and discovered DMC 5 had Just been released, boi, I was In. And I watched through cutscene compilations, playthoughs and what have you on all the games (Except for DmC, boot to you ReBoot), and it was quite the hype time~ I enjoy the chracters, the story that there is around them, and just how carefree and fun stuff can be. The party sure did get crazy~ Lost Dimension - The last game I have on the list there. This might be a weird one and I get that yeah. How many have even heard of this game? I sure wouldn’t have ever known of it without BigKlingy’s playthrough of it. But that playthrough was full of memories, I should really rewatch it one day~ I may not remember an awful lot about the game, but I do keep coming back to it in one way or another. I liked the character designs, the fact that all of them were unique and had their own abilities, there was a bit of story around all of them, the traitor system had you thinking & made each run a little different... That’s some Cool Stuff! The game might be a bit obscure and seriously not known at all, but for what it was, it was great and I enjoyed it a bunch! And now for stuff that wasn’t on the list but I kinda still want to mention. Because why not~ IB - This Almost made it onto the list, but I felt a little closer of a connection to the other games on it. But IB is one of those games from the early 2010s that I also got introduced to through the wonderful world of Youtube. I have forgotten the name of the person whose playthrough in the game I watched. But I watched a ton of people play this game. It was just. So cool. The puzzles in this game were nice and the fact I myself could solve and understand them too was pretty nice to me, and for some reason I just enjoyed watching other people react to the game and try solving stuff. It also had a couple different endings so watching and seeing what the other people got was also interesting. Great memories~ Witch’s House / Ao Oni / Mad Father - And all sorts of other horror games that kinda fall under this grouping and style and stuff. Yeah, IB kinda opened a bit of a thing for me as I realized I greatly enjoyed the horror games with puzzle elements to themselves + a bit of story here and there. There’s definitely much much more than these 3, I watched soooo many of these games being played by others. Ao Oni I may have discovered through my Hetalia phase though, HetaOni, if any of you still recognize that name. Daym. Although at first I didn’t want to watch HetaOni because of the portraits. Pfffff I thought the person who made them was being mean to some of the characters, but nah, I’d later learn that those were simply just mimicing the ones from the original game. But yeah, Ao Oni had a dozen variants and things inspired by it so those kept me busy for a whiiiiiile Hades - Now here’s a cool recent game! Again, haven’t played it, but it looks cool. The story is nice, character designs are God Like (hehe), soundtrack is super cool, aesthetics and oh my god everything is voice acted oh my gooood. This game is just. So cool. And the team who did it seems really cool too and are seemingly full of nice amazing people. This is definitely some great example work on how things should be done :2 Definitely something to look up to, I love everything about them~ The only reason Hades isn’t up there is because of its recentness and my brain not managing to think of it somehow even as I struggled to come up with stuff (I was mostly trying to think of stuff I had played, so that’s one thing. I even struggled to remember DMC because my current hyperfixations are elsewhere and that’s freaking Wild considering how much I enjoy DMC) But yeah, Hades is Super Freaking Cool Crash Bandicoot - These games I did play as a kid actually, the 1st one was way too hard and the 3rd one was my favourite. I like Crash, these games were nice too and I have plenty of good memories with the game, just not enough to make it up there on my list. Yeah it sounds stupid that I’d take out a game I actually played and replace it with stuff that I didn’t, but... Hey, my list Minecraft - Watched several videos on other people pllaying this game, I know of it, I respect it, but I’ve never played it myself and stuff. It’s cool but didn’t make it on the list Animal Crossing - Riiiiiight, these games seem adorable and I wouldn’t mind owning an AC game one day. I’d probably reset continuously though to get Skye in my town/village/island, she’s my favourite xD If the recent game had cost lest I might have gotten it. 60-70€ is just, a lot of money Persona - I guess I’ll mention these too. My experiences are through Bigklingy’s videos again. 3 is a fave, 4 seems cool, 5 I don’t know a lot about but it seems nice too. I probably wouldn’t be able to play these games myself, since some fights kinda need certain things and strategies and you can’t really just pick whatever and whom ever and roll through with brute strength. I mean, I Guess you could, but that might not be as fun in the long run? Who knows, but it’s not exactly like Pokemon or Fire Emblem in those regards you know The big conclusion is that I like all sorts of different aesthetic looks, mostly probably natural with some brighter colors in it. Stories are good, I love stories! Good characters with nice designs and backstories are really nice too. Things being thought out and built nicely is great you know? A little bit of strategy, fantasy here and there. Nothing too dark and gloomy or ‘hyper realistic’ or what have you. I guess no first person shooters either, though combat is fine. Games where I can pick and choose what to use and what kinds of ‘teams’ I build and the ‘members’ I use in them is nice. I do love watching others play, but with games like Pokemon & Fire Emblem I have that drive of choosing who to use and having my own unique experience kinda gets me to buy the games.

#Games #Lists #Text #Some sort of 'fill this' meme I think

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synchronmurmurs · 4 years

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Punchy Playlist

AKA Sync reveals how much of an ultra nerdweeb she is

Panda Hero sung by GUMI - “If you find yourself in trouble, call for them on the field surrounded by electrical towers / a hero of black and white ambiguous morals, wielding a metal bat in their left hand”

Dangerous by Royal Deluxe - “I’m the baddest mother up in here, and I’m about to make it clear / it’s going down like I told you / I’m the baddest mother up in here

Status Quo Destruction by SPYAIR - “I want to go out in a blaze of pure white / Roaring out at those days that are just passing by / I want to pierce through this pitch-black path / I want to hit it with everything I’ve got.” “Bring me down (I want to wreak havoc) / Bring me down (Yell and kick up a fuss) / Bring me down (what on earth can I find here?)” “Precious things don’t come to us in spades / If this is what it’s like, then I don’t want it / I want to be laughed at and hated / I can’t smile well, and I’m unloved, but that’s how I want it / That’s fine for me.” HONESTLY THE WHOLE SONG IS VERY PUNCHY

Intelligence for Violence from the Yakuza Kiwami OST - BIG PUNCHY ENERGIES

The Party Must Go On by T.M. Revolution - “Living the life of a drawn sword means even in darkness, shadows fall at my back / Stumbling forward as I’m tempted to pull back / Don’t be stingy, show me tomorrow.” “The only way out of this decisive battle is victory.”

Cave In by Owl City - “I’ll soak up the sound, try to sleep on the wet ground / I’ll get ten minutes, give or take / ‘cause I just don’t foresee myself getting drowsy, when cold integrity keeps me wide awake.” “Tie my handlebars to the stars so I stay on track / and if my intentions stray I’ll wrench them away / then I’ll take my leave and I won’t even look back.”

I Want You by Savage Garden - “You’ll never know what hit you when I get to you.”

BLAZE [Zero-Two version] by Hiroyuki Sawano - Sengoku BASARA was my other great Capcom love back in my early DMC days. The soundtrack for the anime was EXCELLENT. Heaven’s Door, the sort of... antithesis(??!!) to this song is very relevant to Pact!reader!! I’ll work on getting a playlist for her and Pact in general sorted soon..!

Some remix of a song from a Medabots game on the GBA LOL - If Punchy had an ex-taunt, it would be to this, and she would do the associated dance with it. YES I’m that embarrassingly weeby, wanna fight about it 😤😤. The dance is just super relevant for all the emphasis placed on the arms and legs, since.. ya know, Punchy has gauntlets and greaves for a Devil Arm

Any Other Way by We The Kings - “You could give me hell, you could give me death / Break before I bend, I will have revenge / Fire through my veins, I will fan the flames / Until my dying breath.”

fake town baby by UNISON SQUARE GARDEN - “’I hate what I hate, buzz off, shut up’ / You’re probably well past getting by like that / The rule of this town is that if all you do is complain, nobody will give you the time of day.”

Know Know Know by DOES - “We’ll do nothing but the things we like / Staying forever as we are - here in this place.” “Yes I know know know know, we have no need for eternity / Because we have this ultimate [present]” “We don’t fear regret.”

What’s Up Danger by Blackaway & Black Caviar - “’cause I like high chances that I might lose / I like it all on the edge just like you, ay / I like tall buildings so I can leap off of them / I go hard with it no matter how dark it is.”

Maybe I’m A Lion (Remix) by Enrico Deiana - I am allowed one(1) FF song per playlist okay, it’s low hanging fruit, but it’s SO FITTING.

THE FOLLOWING WERE SENT IN BY SONG ANON. PRAISE UNTO SONG ANON 😭😭🙏

I Like It Heavy by Halestorm - “I got a demon in my soul and a voice in my head / It’s saying go, go, go! I can sleep when I’m dead.”

Love Bites by Halestorm - “I've felt pleasure without pain / My soul you'll never tame!”

Gladiator by Zayde Wolf - “Have you ever shaken hands with the devil in the night? / Let me tell ya / I’ve got every reason to fight”

Champion by Barns Courtney - “I've been on a long road / With the devil right beside me / Rising with the morning sun / It's a hunger that drives me” “Champion, I can take a beating, I'll / Rise again, we're into the jungle, until the end / I can live forever, I'll rise again / Keep rising up, ah” “Every time when I’m down / Is the struggle that reminds me / So even gon’ fill me now / Put the wings upon my feet.”

#Punchy #sync's stupidass ocs: unnamed brawler chick with fist weaps #playlist: punchy #I'll eventually sort one out for Pact!reader and Pact in general too..!#I'm just on a big ol' Punchy binge

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greatrunner · 5 years

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Did you get to play DMC5? What did you think of it? Also RE2 Demake? I pirated the latter lol.

(They shoulda gave you pirate eye patch for that one :p) Yeah. I rented both from Gamefly and constantly worried thatI was about to send the family PS4 to an early grave. (The last game we rented,from Blockbuster, in ye olden times, was Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction,and our thicc PS2 died shortly thereafter).

Both left me feeling mixed and a little disappointed,between the two of them, I came out feeling a little more positive about DMC5than RE2R.

DMC5

Positives

+ I played through the first time using the JPN dub, and I think that was a large part of why I enjoyed the experience more than I would have if I simply used the default ENG dub. Nico sounds decidedly manic in the JPN dub, and the energy of the actress translates better to her motion capture actor. The only negative is that I don’t get to hear Daniel Southworth the first time through, who, legit, probably gave the strongest performance out the cast for ENG dub of DMC5. JPN Vergil is just kinda generically evil. I just prefer Southworth’s deliberately stilted and measured Vergil.

+ As far as newcomers are concerned, I actually enjoyed Nico. She’s obnoxious and juvenile, but I figure that’s the point so far as her function as comic relief. (I don’t know how her mother ended up in cahoots with stuttering moth guy, but whatever, I’m not gonna think about it considering the game couldn’t be arsed to name him.) I definitely like her rapport with Nero, especially within the opening and closing discussions they have. It feels like a genuine friendship with no preoccupation with forcing the two together. I honestly feel like a lot of these relationships too absent in media, so I’m kind a hoping to see more of their dynamic in later games.

+ I liked the soundtrack, I think it’s the first DMC soundtrack I can honestly say I listened to almost all the way through, but I’m also less inclined to listen to it again without playing the game. I’ll miss the irrelevant screaming buttrock, but the EDM-esque direction – even if it tends to sound like bees dying in a jar - elevated the action of the game to a point. “Devil Trigger” and “Crimson Cloud” are the standout battle themes. It’s a shame Dante never got one. I would’ve loved to have heard it.

+ The Devil Breakers are a boon to Nero’s playstyle. It took a while to get the hang them, y’know, without detonating them prematurely. They don’t have quite the same feedback loop as the Devil Bringer, but their special abilities more than make up for what they lack in that department. Just in terms of pure power, “Punch Line”, “Gerbera”, “Ragtime” and “Tomboy” are definitely my favorites based on the destruction they can land on multiple or single enemies.

+ I had more fun playing with Dante this time around, he fares better against DMC5′s enemy types than Nero given the arsenal he has at his disposal. The SIN Devil Trigger is cool, but I wish it was perma thing instead of temporary like the default Devil Trigger.The fact that he comes so late in the game (yet again), will never not bother me. There’s a lot about the progression of Dante’s character that feels like one of those things that got completely undermined by the introduction of Nero. Dante creating his new sword using the broken hilt of Rebellion in combination with the Sparda sword was something I wish had more importance to the plot, because all the pieces, the stakes, the mood are right there. But, the fractured storyelling kinda reduces it to a quick power-up.

+ Out of the bosses fought in the game, I think the most fun I had was with Vergil, Goliath and the Operatic Tuna Fish Boss (which did nothing but remind me of the opera boss from Nier). All three bosses encouraged the right kind of momentum and at the very least, had me trying a little harder to play fancier than I would’ve (and that got me killed, a lot).

Negatives:

- I think the biggest problem I had with this game is howthey chose to structure the plot. There was no reason not to start this game inchronological order and work to its logical conclusion. The plot plays aterrible game of non-linear hide and seek and fade-to-blacks in an attempt tomask the fact that Urizen is Vergil and The Mysterious V™ is “Vergil’s HumanHalf”.

- V is one of the biggest issues with the game. I wasn’t afan of his gameplay, specifically because it felt like an RPG character gotstuck in an action game, and splintered both the gameplay and the plot. Vergil’s humanity reallydidn’t need to be personified. I think the non-personification of a demon or half-demon’s humanity makes forfar more interesting characters. There’s a lot you can do to communicate that Vergil abandoned his humanity without giving it awhole other personality.

- I’m not a fan of how they decided to change Vergil’sgambit for power from understanding his mother died trying to save both him and Dante – and wanting the power toprevent something like that from happening (among other personal reasons), toseeking out power in an almost petty bit to get even with Dante on theassumption that Eva only saved Dante and abandoned him. Maybe Imisunderstood, but Dante explaining that outta-nowhere bit to his brother justbaffled me, because I swear that’s not why Vergil wanted the power of Sparda.Also, reducing their feud to almost something they have no control over (like the magnets bouncing off each other) kindabugged me.

- Dante feels more auxiliary here than he did in DMC4. Ithink I’m at a point where I’d rather see a DMC game focused entirely on Danteonly (with Trish and Lady), or that Itsuno give up the ghost and just get ridof the character and focus on Nero and his newer characters. I don’t think he has a real interest in Dante (or his supporting cast) either as a protagonist orsupporting character. He’s just not as poorly treated like as Trish and Lady,who were abducted, strip naked, and left to “wait in the van” until the guysfinish saving the world.

- I really wasn’t crazy about the bosses this time around.Excluding the aforementioned three I liked, the others didn’t stand out as unique tome? Some of the bosses were either too big, or too same-y (tentacle monstersout the ying-yang). The first two or three battles with Urizen (before the last one) confused me, because I was never sureif I was supposed to be doing damage or wasting time until a cut scene hadDante or Nero thrown across a room. I also wasn’t crazy about fighting all theMini Nelo Angelo bosses throughout the game. It just kinda soured the characterfor me.

- I really don’t like that Nero just grew his arm back. Iwould’ve preferred that he remained without it because it’s almost like erasing what the consequence of losing it did to him (to a degree). I thought the Devil Breakerswere probably a solid progression of Nero’s Devil Bringer gameplay set. Tobasically nullify the reason he’s using them, was just kinda lame. I’m also notcrazy about how patchwork anime his Devil Trigger form looks. It’s so jarring and outof place when compared to the monstrosity of Dante and Vergil’s DTs. (Who or what did Virgil have sex with???)

Resident Evil 2

Positives

+ Resident Evil is usually a game I’ve played with my sistersince RE4. We love the co-op options that RE5, RE6 and Revelations 2 provided,but without a co-op option with RE2R, we passed the control around every thirtyminutes. Playing RE2R with my sister kept it from being a miserabletime, largely because my sister isn’t as into RE as I am, so her generalnonchalance toward anything that nothing to do with the gameplay was a welcomerespite. Mostly because we talked about other things to distract each otherfrom the sudden zombie growls and the arrival of Mr. X. I think she took the spongy-ness of the zombies better than I did (she’s also the better shot), but Ialso did warn her in advance to aim for the legs and arms because headshotsweren’t the same as earlier games.

+ I liked most of Claire’s campaign. Even if it feels like alot of Leon’s campaign gets stitched together with some extra environments, herplot thread flows way better than Leon’s, which is not something I wasexpecting considering all the promotion focused solely on him and barely on her. Even her interaction with Marvin is more engaging. I think, as far as characterization goes, the worst thing about her is theartificial foul-mouth they slapped onto her dialog, but, she has morepersonality than whatever that representation of Leon was supposed to be.

+ I liked Sherry’s brief segment in Claire’s scenario(s). Itwas like whoever worked on that level decided to make a Clocktower game in themiddle of the remake’s production, which was cool. I just wish Sherry was morepresent in the plot and gameplay, because it was over too quickly once you gotChief Irons’ pattern down.

+ I really liked the [extremely brief] interaction Claire and Sherry were allowed to have in the game, largely because they put more focus on Claire’s relationship with Chris and used it as a way for her and Sherry to bond.

+ Marvin Branagh is probably the strongest character in the game, based purely on the performance of his actor. Like, there is not a character in RE2R quite like him. He actually feels human, you barely know him any better than you did in the original RE2, but damn if I didn’t want to do everything in my power to save him all over again. They really should’ve done more with his character.

+ I loved the fact that the game decided to arm Claire witha Gatling gun during the elevator boss battle with Birkin. The game just gave up any kind of pretense of selling itself as “survival horror” and just defaulted back to ridiculous action.

Negatives

- The decision to make the zombies bullet sponges to varyingdegrees really killed whatever enthusiasm I thought I could maintain from agameplay perspective. It felt like I was playingwith a nerfed weapon set just trying to get them stay down on the ground ortrying to get a decent headshot. I’m being dramatic, but it was absolutelydemoralizing to hit a zombie with Claire’s grenade launcher or Leon’s shotgun andnot have them explode into a fountain or gore or body parts, but just kindastagger back like I had shoved them a little. I missed the over-top, buteffective melee moves like crazy. Perishable knives were a bad idea. If this isthe direction Capcom plans to take the gameplay, I hereby automatically optmyself out from any future Resident Evil experiences. I’m not here for that atall.

- I was not a fan of what they did to Ada Wong. She seemedless capable as a character, and prone to making the absolute worst blunders inthe world. Nothing about how they dealt with her role in the plot feltparticularly smart, she seemed present only to bolster Leon’s new role in theumbrella plotline and nullify her own. I was really hoping they could capitalize on all the timesAda was not with Leon (in the OG game) and the best they could come up with wasa fuse box hunt where Mr. X just showed up for no reason and they injure her insuch a way that she’s written out of the primary action of the plot. Theattempt at a ‘romance’ between her and Leon comes off absolutely terribly. The worse I could’ve said about the original attempt was that it was justhammy (and equally unearned). I want to set fire to that ugly red slip they put her in as well. RebootAda is terrible and thinking about her makes me angry as hell.

- The frequency of Mr. X’s appearances (early on) diminishedwhat made him such a startling and imposing character in the original game. Heeventually becomes nuisance and hindered the want to explore the environment. Ihonestly envy PC players who can use mods to make Mr. X an almost non-factor intheir gameplay experience.

- The game is a little too serious for its own good. It tries to play the events off as deadly serious, but also tries to be campy (that whole ending sequence went over like a led balloon in comparison to the extremely cheesy turn-back-to-look-into-the-camera-and-make-a-bold-declaration moment from the A/B endings), so the tones end up working in disharmony instead of together.

- The overall design of the game is very much in the vein ofa “modern video game”, and while that’s not necessarily terrible, it honestlyjust made me miss the dungeon crawling and puzzle-based environment design of theoriginal game. The fact that they decided to keep the puzzles in a game thatclearly didn’t need them ended up making a lot of the revamped puzzles feellike busy work. It’s at its worst during the sewer level, which feels like itgoes on forever and forever. With all the talk about people up-rezzing andtouching up the pre-rendered backgrounds of RE2 for PC, I wish the classic gamewas available to purchase on GOG so I could play with one of these up-rezzingmods. Effectively, I’m not even a die-hard fan of OG RE2, but damn if this gamedidn’t make me appreciate it a whole lot more.

- RE2R kinda left me feeling a deceived. Even seeing how different the game was to the original, Capcom spent so much time marketing it as a “remake”, that waiting until a year before its release in 2019 to backtrack and say “oh, it’s a re-imagining”, felt particularly scummy. As far as “oh, it’s different”, I honestly felt it wasn’t different enough. I just started looking into the scrapped version of RE2 that they made for a 1997 release, and honestly? That felt like a better re-imagining of the concept than what the 2019 game ended up being (Marvin was alive. You could save Marvin). The 2019 RE2 clings too much to the original premise and what’s different or shifted around doesn’t really do anything to really warrant it.

#greatrunner answers questions #thequantumranger #resident evil #resident evil 2 remake #devil may cry #ada wong #devil may cry 5 #long post

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l-l-kristofferson · 6 years

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My Music

I am a big lover of music. I am eclectic and am up to listen to anything. If I like it, I will keep listening to the band. I do have a particular taste though. I am absolutely in love with rock music. It can range from soft rock to heavy metal. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy my pop, R&B, rap, and techno/electronica every now and again. But if you have ever browsed my YouTube playlist, you will find a lot of rock music. I am a big fan of Linkin Park, Breaking Benjamin, A Day To Remember, Kung Fu Generation, Bullet For My Valentine, Shinedown, Skillet, Disturbed, Paramore, Natewantstobattle, Flyleaf, Seether, Metallica, Three Days Grace, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, and The Pillows to name some. I will only focus on a few for now.

My first rock band ever was Linkin Park. As a kid with ADHD, not a lot of things made sense. The one thing that did make sense was music. The first song I ever heard on the radio that I remember was Numb by Linkin Park. It was the first song I ever learned to sing that wasn't religious. Throughout the years, I would watch MTV's Top Ten Countdown, wishing there was a Linkin Park song on it. Breaking The Habit was the second Linkin Park Song I heard and got into heavily. I remember begging my mom to buy me a Linkin Park CD at the store. It was from their 2007 tour and it was all live. I played that CD out, memorizing each song word for word. Linkin Park was the music of my teenage years. When I heard that Chester Bennington died, I was heartbroken. I loved Chester's voice. He was the driving voice of the band. My top songs from their newer music is Heavy and Talking To Myself. Heavy really hits a cord with me. You can hear Chester's anguish and pain. I only wish he could have gotten help. Although it was a big hit to me, I know that he is no longer in pain. RIP Chester. You're an angel now. I'll hear you singing in the afterlife someday.

The next band I got into was Three Days Grace. I remember hearing their songs Riot and Animal I Have Become in one of the wrestling games my brother would play. Animal I Have Become was more my taste. I loved the heavy bass at the beginning, then it started in with the kick drum, then the guitar rift. It was just pure harmony. Since I had yet to get deep into YouTube, I went on Pandora to find out more music. I discovered their self titled debut album from 1999 and was deeply in love. I listened to edgy songs like Home, Just Like You, I Hate Everything About You, and Burn. Then I got into their 2006 album One-X. I was enamored with Adam's voice and got lost in a different world. As of now, the older stuff is what I listen to. I listen to a little bit of the new stuff with Matt as the lead singer. I have been giving them a try but nothing can erase the staple of Adam's voice like the old Three Days Grace.

My next band would have to be Seether. I discovered them by listening to MTV's Top Ten Countdown. The first song I heard from them was Breakdown off of their 2009 album Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces. From then on, I was hooked. I found their first album Disclaimer and loved it. My favorite songs from that one would have to be Fine Again and Driven Under. Then there was Karma and Effect in 2005. My favorites off of that one were Remedy, Truth, and The Gift. On Disclaimer II, I absolutely loved Sold Me. Off of their One Cold Night album, I loved their acoustic rendition of Tied My Hands. Seether was basically my Junior year of high school. I've tried to get into their newer stuff from Poison The Parish but it just doesn't have the same progressiveness as their earlier albums had. That's just my opinion. I know not everyone would agree. Don't get me wrong, Seether is still a kick ass band. But I feel that they lost their edge.

Let's get into my favorite 80's rock band, which would be Metallica. One might wonder how a twenty something got into Metallica. I got into them because of their Guitar Hero game. My brother and I grew up playing Guitar Hero. It's partially how I got good at recognizing a lot of singer's voices and the years the songs or albums were released. My favorite album by them would have to be Death Magnetic from 2008. I love their Black album and some of their Load album. But I'm more towards Death Magnetic. Although I like their newer work, I am a big fan of the song No Leaf Clover. I sing my little heart out when it comes on. I also like Enter Sandman (1991), Fuel (1984), To Whom The Bell Tolls (1984), Master of Puppets (1996), Whiskey In The Jar (1988?), and Nothing Else Matters (1994). I hope to see one of their shows before they decide to stop touring. I've been following their European tour online and I know that they're kicking ass. Rock out guys! Rock out!

Let's get into some of the bands that have leading ladies! The first band I will talk about is Paramore. Who doesn't love a punk rock band with a super awesome chick at the helm? I first got into Paramore due to their song Misery Business being in Guitar Hero World Tour. I loved Haley Williams' voice the instant I heard it. I bought their second album Riot when I was fifteen or sixteen. I would go through the lyric book and sing along to learn all the songs on the album. My favorites would have to be That's What You Get, We Are Broken, Crushcrushcrush, and Born For This. I love their cover of My Hero from The B-Side Bootlegs and I absolutely adore the alternate version of Emergency. Like Three Days Grace, I prefer the old Paramore compared to their newer stuff. Some of their newer songs are catchy, especially Ain't It Fun and Still Into You. But I like the grit they had when they were first starting out.

The last band I'm going to talk about is one that I didn't list. It would have to be Evanescence. Like Linkin Park, Evanescence was one of the first bands I got into as a kid. I used to own their album Fallen and memorized every song on it. Amy Lee's voice was intoxicating. And let's face it guys, Amy Lee is gorgeous! She was my first band crush. The band's song My Immortal was and is my absolute favorite. I just marveled at the emotion and power behind Amy's voice. I hoped to have a voice like hers when I was younger. I love the way Amy conveys the raw emotion in her lyrics and the sheer power of how she does it is astonishing. Two examples of this would have to be Breathe No More from the Elektra soundtrack and the 2016 edition of Even In Death from Lost Whispers. The melody and feeling just penetrate the soul and invigorate emotions that have been long forgotten. I'm breathless (figuratively and literally) when I am enriched by Amy's music. I hope to see an Evanescence concert in the future before they also decide to stop touring. I love you Amy!

There are tons of other bands I could talk about. But I will leave that for another post. Music is my escape from the world. Even now as I write this post, I'm listening to music. I feel that music is something the world needs more of. I'm sorry to say that a lot of the music now is hot garbage. That mainstream mumble rap stuff is terribly disappointing. I honestly wonder what happened to groups like Run DMC, Rage Against The Machine, and rappers like The Notorious BIG and Tupac. I feel that music has in a way lost its roots. If we can go back to basics and get into the true heritage of what rap used to be, we can revive the lost art.

Thanks for listening. Write again soon.

#writer #writing #music #rockeratheart #rocker #metalhead #paramore #metallica #threedaysgrace #linkinpark #chesterbennington #breakingbenjamin #seether #evanescence #ilovemusic #musicisanescape #welcometomyworld

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invokingbees · 4 years

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Top Games of the Decade

IT ME FAVOURITE GAMES OF THE LAST DECADE!!!!! OH SHIT!!!!!

Entirely predictable but here you go:

2010 - Demon's Souls

Fuck you! Came out in PAL territories, aka, me, in 2010, so it counts. I played the Souls series ass backwards, and played Demon's nearly last, but I completely and utterly fell in love with it. I've babbled like a fool about it before, but it boils down to its powerful atmosphere of horror and strange hostility, as well as its gameplay which holds up so well, it's still fluid and satisfying, the soundtrack is unique, its mechanics are baffling and weird and I just really, really honestly love it to bits. And you can get back online again with the fan server! Or emulate it if you have a powerbeast of a PC, but no online.

2011 - Dark Souls

I mean, I guess, I've played it four or five times now. It's actually my least favourite of the Souls games for gameplay, it's a step back from Demon's in terms of general movement and combat, but it can't be denied that its lore is so powerful. It sets up a fascinating mythological world of pseudo-materialist fantasy, it's full of implication and possibilities, full of holes and shit that makes no sense and we love it, it's perfect. It's enthralling. I might not enjoy actually playing it but I could talk about it for hours.

2012 - Dishonored

I was never one for stealth games, because I'm shit at them. But for some reason I checked this out and I'm REALLY glad I did. I found the gameplay really fun, the powers are super fun and the levels are great to explore. Also, time stop. But what I came out of the game with was a fascinating setting with a weird Victorian/Dieselpunk setting that goes HARD cosmic horror, but really subtly. Dishonored's world is incredibly well structured, the story of Corvo's revenge against the assassin who killed his girlfriend THE EMPRESS and kidnapped his daughter THE HEIR TO THE THRONE takes precedence, but throughout it all is a looming sense of a cold, hostile universe of weird alien horror. There's the ever-present implication that killing off the whales will make something horrible happen. There's the occult nature of the nameless Outsider and the people who worship it and try to contact it. There's a supercontinent across a monstrous ocean filled with who knows what horrible shit. The setting is so full of flavour and I love exploring it every playthrough.

2013 - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen & MGR: Revengeance

This poor, poor fucking game. Gutted in production, whittled down, concepts stripped away, areas ripped out. The game isn't even half as big as it was in early production. And yet it is STILL amazing. A grand fantasy adventure with a rich, classic, mythological feel to it, with a fairly unique metaphysical component behind it all. Dragon's Dogma is the story of you, a no-name fucko whose comfy little village gets attacked by the best dragon in all of media, you're the only madman with the sheer balls to attack it, get slapped away, and then get your heart stolen and turned into a semi-immortal Arisen, who is goaded to go fight that fucking dragon. But there is a LOT going on behind the scenes, both in the Duchy of Gransys and the very universe. Dragon's Dogma is like the best loveletter to medieval European fantasy I've ever seen, its monsters have a gnarly medieval manuscript look to them, ripped right out of Classical mythology, folklore and traditional fantasy. There's court intrigue, dark secrets, much talk of destiny and epic quests. Everything about Dragon's Dogma is just pulsating with ADVENTURE. You get up to three other companions, your Pawns, inter-dimensional pseudo-humans whom only the Arisen can command. That's where it starts getting weird, the game has a whole theme about the power of will, cosmic cycles and shit. And that's not even mentioning the SICK FUCKING COMBAT. Directed by Hideaki Itsuno, he of Devil May Cry fame, the game has robust and really powerfully satisfying combat, even a DMC Stinger. You can climb on monsters to attack weak points, glide on harpies, your pawns mimic your strategies like re-lighting extinguished lanterns - there's so many little details you can discover for yourself in exploration and combat. Of course, the game also has the most visually impressive and satisfying magic of any videogame. You haven't felt powerful until you've played a Dragon's Dogma Sorcerer, calling down meteors, summoning spires of ice, point blank sniping drakes out of the fucking AIR, or piggy-backing on your Sorcrer pawn's in-progress spell to suddenly unleash a massive torrent of DAMAGE. Gransys is also a beautiful place to explore, and the main hub, Gran Soren, feels like a proper huge town, as well. The game has quirks, mainly in its slightly weird levelling system, as well as the delightful pawn chatter that reminds you at every turn how wolves hunt, or what goblins are weak to. But then there's Dark Arisen, a tragic tale set in a pocket dimension or possible 'outside' realm, pitting you against the rage of a former Arisen who spurned the cycle, a massive hard as shit megadungeon full of really great stuff. I just cannot recommend it enough, and it's on just about literally every fucking platform.

I have never played a Metal Gear game before. I'm a shitter and they're kind of hard to track down where I am. Just how it is. I'm also massively intimidated by them. But then I watched Super Best Friends (RIP) play this fucking nonsense and I knew I had to feel it for myself. What is there to say? It's fun, it's goofy, it's played totally straight and quite serious at times, it's an absolute meme engine, it's so full of character and flavour, it is undistilled HYPE jammed into a disc by divine spirits and doled out to humanity. I'm not a character action man, never been good at DMC games, and I will never be good at them, or this, but by GOD do I have fun whenever I play it. Zandatsu is just the shit, forever, every song is GREAT, the game so expertly drives and controls moments of exciement and tension, it's like a big blockbuster movie that actually cares and has something complex at the core of it. Yeah there's like political and cultural concepts and musings and that's great, but I'm an idiot who wants to cut things with my sword. Everything and everyone is charismatic, and most importantly, totally earnest. It never really winks at you or says 'hurr we're sooo cuh-razy amirite', it just does its thing and nothing ever feels out of place. We can be talking about destabilizing impoverished nations with corporation-led private armies one moment and chuckling at MEMES DNA OF THE SOUL the next and it feels fucking normal. I'm rambling but I just really love Revengeance and I have no idea how to handle it. What an entry point into such a convoluted series.

2014 - Dark Souls II

Ah yes, the black sheep of the family, the only one not directed (but kinda overseen) by Miyazaki, with a notoriously troubled production whose director was fired halfway through and replaced, then the game kind of scrambled together. But, like Dragon's Dogma, it kind of worked out well. DaS2 is recognizably Dark Souls. But what I like most about it is, like a lot games I love, the story, the world, the feeling. Dark Souls 1 and 3 are grand, they're about cycles and fates and illusions, but DaS2 has a really personal angle. You came to Drangleic to free yourself of the curse. You're not a Chosen Undead or anything, you're someone that by their own hand, went out to cure themselves of the undead curse. You got there, and found the kingdom in shambles, the king gone, something horrible having happened. So you find out that he probably has the answer, and you go track him down, only slightly unwittingly following in his own footsteps, doing what he did. Before you know it, you're fit to become the next monarch. And when you finally do find the king, hollowed and mindless, well you best pick up the pieces and do this monarch thing. And you do it...maybe. You take the throne, the most powerful being in the world. It's up to you what happens next. Or maybe you don't, and leave to find another way out of the curse. I love the feel of Drangleic, it feels wartorn, I love the details put into making you feel like you're traversing an old battlefield with the hollowed out soldiers still following their last orders, their last memories. The Giants, as characters, are fascinating, however little we get of them. Revealed to not be monsters, but a people King Vendrick attacked and stole something from, who struck back in violent retalation for a horrible wrongdoing. Dark Souls 2 is just far enough removed from Dark Souls 1 that it could be its own things that brings over a few core ideas. I would have liked to see that happen in Dark Souls 3, but alas. My love of Dark Souls 2 is almost all lore, world, flavour. Its gameplay is actually fine, I think, a lot of people think its bad but I think DaS1 combat is pretty bad. The game has issues, like the doubling down on difficulty but not really getting it well, but for all the problems it has, it does a ton of things very well. It introduced some great ideas we never saw again, like bonfire ascetics, powerstancing, a changed up NG+, full left-hand movesets, and so on.

2015 - Bloodborne

You don't even know, you can't even comprehend, I doubt you could even imagine my love for this thing. It was my first 'Souls' game (although I think it's different enough it shouldn't be lumped under that banner) and it is, to this day, and forever shall be, my favourite. It is, in my opinion, THE best piece of modern Lovecraftian media out there. Period. It handles everything just so right, despite being an action game, it never betrays what makes Lovecraftian, and wider cosmic horror work. I could go on a very, very long time about all of this and one day I might. Bloodborne is just basically perfect, tonally, thematically, it's so rich and weird and intricate and it is, all of it, balanced with masterful precision. Gameplay-wise, it's just so f u c k i n g o o d. Like, this here, this is the best it's ever been. DaS1 feels like glacial ass compared to this, awkward, stuttering, lacking in energy. DaS2 is fine, in fact I think it's the best speed for the Souls game, but man are like all of the movesets just really bizarre and unsatsifying. DaS3 is just turbomode seizure-souls with zero weight, and don't get me started on the bossfights. But Bloodborne? It is both fast and heavy, the ferocity of attacks has weight, everything hits with satisfaction, every weapon is tailor made to be unique and feel unique. The game is a labour of love made with tech more than capable of realizing it, and it shows. There's nary a thing in the game that doesn't feel polished, that doesn't feel out of place. We know from datamining Bloodborne got switched around and whittled down a lot, but these were clearly necessary changes by a director honing a concept into perfection. And just as a weird cosmic horror gothic action game, it's so strange in just general existence it deserves to stand out and be praised. And although shitters and fools will bandie around the word edgy, they're tasteless jackasses with no ounce of aesthetic nuance.

2016 - Dark Souls III and Far Cry: Primal

CAVEMAN SHIT IS COOL AND WE REALLY DON'T GET ENOUGH OF IT. Never played a Far Cry game apart from this one, never plan to! I just like me unga bungas! What can I say, the land of Oros is gorgeous, the light, the trees, the mountains, the marshes, the animal sounds and deep rumble of caves, the proto Indo-European language crafted especially for the game, it's a place I just like walking around. It's supremely comfy and dangerous and exciting. Gameplay is a complete template sure, regardless of having never touched another Far Cry game I can feel that, but it sure as shit works.

Dark Souls 3 is a very complex game, because while it's a total smorgasbord of top tier dark fantasy aesthetics, none of it really comes together very well, it's a game oozing with creativity, but also feels like a haphazard mishmash. It's a game Miyazaki didn't really want to make, but had to, after the reception of DaS2. But for all that it's just Bloodborne Souls, it's still a fantastic game full of memorable enemies, areas, bosses, a game with a really unique general tone of exhaustion in every little detail, of a world falling apart at the seams. And you don't save it, either. The good end of Dark Souls 3 is the end of fire, but it doesn't really accomplish anything other than letting nature take its long diverted course. The DLCs don't fix that either, everything ends up in the Dreg Heap, all of 'human enterprise' for naught, but there's a smidgen of hope in the new painted world whose pigment is Dark. As you can tell I like DaS3 far more for its atmosphere and flavour rather than its story (which actually makes no sense whatsoever and is the worst in the series due to being literally incomprehensible and unfinished) or gameplay, which is perfectly fine and fun at many points, but the bossfights mostly boil down to flailing around like a fucking lunatic with 15 hit combos. There's concepts like the Deep which are so fundamentally important to major players but vague and with little to no elaboration. I literally couldn't tell you what Pontiff Sulyvahn was about, and he's supposed to be the main villain? DaS3 suffered its internal change arounds in a way that it came out weaker, with many other concepts dashed aside. But that doesn't stop it all from being fascinating and being a nicely definitive, if massively obscure, ending to a landmark series. When your game ends at the literal end of all time, you're done. Good night.

2017 - 2019 fucking nothing I guess

Yeah not even joking here, gaming more or less ended in 2016 for me. Yes I've played games since then but nothing's left an impact for me the ways the others have, and I played all those past their prime. All but two of my favourites were Japanese games, too.

Honourable Mentions:

The Elder Scrolls Skyrim

Gotta mention it. Dumped literal years into this fucking thing. And that was on Xbox 360 with no mods! But it proved far too shallow in the end, and even with the Special Edition that allowed mods on consoles, it's just not good enough. Frankly, Dark Souls has ruined videogames for me and I pray Bethesda pull up the slack with TES6 and reintroduce the flavour that makes TES what it is, and gives us more than serviceable combat. But as for Skyrim, it's fucking boring and shallow, story is rail-roady as fuck, combat is just terrible aside from some magick, although Shouts will be forever iconic, and will be one the more fun and interesting videogame powers for me.

Death Stranding

I got to this a little late, and had I played it earlier and completed it, it would likely be 2019's best game for me. As I'm still barely into it, I can't say much more than its mechanics are fantastically fresh, no game has made just walking around so enthralling and the world is compelling and bizarre. Every BT encounter is tense and boy are they fuckin spooky. I'm dying to know where it'll go next.

God of War

I'm a fan of the old GoW games because they're really fun and super over the top. GoW2 is one of my favourite games, it's incredibly well made, great environments and combat and bosses. It's a big ol' blockbuster. Dad of Boy is a very different beast. Scaled way, way down, and given the Sony Cinematic treatment, though not necessarily to its detriment. The game has problems. I mean, yeah, Kratos snapping Baldr's neck and saying 'violence is bad' is kind of fucking stupid, but I guess I get what they were going for. Gameplay-wise, pretty good. The axe is satisfying, though the Blades of Chaos are more so, and actual hits do feel nice and heavy, though I bemoan the lack of blood. What's most suprising is how it felt like a God of War game just from a different angle, the exploration and puzzles were familiar in feel. In fact I have a lot of praise for the game in its characters and gameplay, even its story. But I'll probably never play it again. Once completed I felt absolutely no want to go back again, despite the NG+ introduction. I hope they follow it up.

Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order

I was very unsure about this but something took a hold of me and one trade in of Skyrim later, I was home playing Star Wars. And oh look, it's the best piece of Star Wars media since the buyout! Mandalorian aside, but there's very little that feels 'Star Wars' about that other than the paintjob. Anyway. Fallen Order takes place somewhere between episodes 3 and 4 in a newly risen Empire before Luke and all that shit happens. Ex-Padawan Cal Kestis is hiding out on some junkyard scrapper world and has to run when he saves a buddy with the Force. He teams up with an ex-Jedi, a space goblin, the best droid buddy ever and eventually a goth alien to find a Jedi Holocron containing info on young Force-sensitives throughout the galaxy before the Empire gets it. It has a wonderful sense of adventure to it, and that really holds it together. I actually think it feels like a remaster of an older gen game, to be honest, especially the platforming which just feels far too videogamey, but that doesn't stop it from being fun. The combat is almost ripped right out of Sekiro but I like this waaaaay more than Sekiro. Effortlessly deflecting blaster shots back at Stormtroopers and taking out whole groups is the good shit. Fighting melee guys is challening but never oppresively so, and bossfights against Inquisitors are fairly gruelling but rewarding. If you're a shitter with no reaction times like me, you can switch that up almost on the fly so you don't end up feeling like every encounter is a chore. Best of all is the lightsaber customization, a necessity for any Jedi-centric Star Wars game and now you can even remove Cere Junda's ligthsaber switch with the latest update! But you know what? Unless they release DLC, like God of War, I don't know if I'll ever play it again.

Ziggurat

Combining wizards, Quake and rogue-likes, Ziggurat has you playing a wizard shooting your way through a trial to be accepted into an order of magicians. That's it. You get your wand and can pick up a rapid fire staff weapon, mid-range spell weapon and slow but powerful alchemy weapon. There's a bunch of different ones for each type, some better or more satisfying than others. There's talismans that can grant special abilities but with long recharge times. Most importantly there's the level up system where you must choose one or two random perks each time. This is where the variety and replay value comes in, making the most of perks you get and potentially building absolute beasts of characters over five levels. Games are short but sweet. You unlock different characters too, based on things achieved in-game. Each character starts with a number of perks and some have unique handicaps like low starting health or levelling up slower. Honestly, not much to say other than I really enjoy it, it's super fun to pick up for half an hour and play.

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entergamingxp · 4 years

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DualShockers’ Favorite Games of 2019 — Ryan’s Top 10

December 26, 2019 2:00 PM EST

This year wasn’t short of excellent games that were looking to push boundaries like Death Stranding and more: here’s my top 10 games of 2019.

As 2019 comes to a close, DualShockers and our staff are reflecting on this year’s batch of games and what were their personal highlights within the last year. Unlike the official Game of the Year 2019 awards for DualShockers, there are little-to-no-rules on our individual Top 10 posts. For instance, any game — not just 2019 releases — can be considered.

For me, 2019 really felt like the year of there being a wealth of too many great games to play and just not enough time to get to them all. Even in the last couple of weeks leading up to the release of our Game of the Year Awards and our individual staff lists, I still have a massive pile of games from this year that I want to get through. Especially considering the fact that the first few months of 2020 are already stacked with tons of incredible games on the horizon, this is kind of a problem.

But nonetheless, 2019 proved to be a great year in games and honestly, this was probably the most difficult Top 10 list that I’ve had to put together in quite some time. Of course, with the necessities of keeping this to 10 games, there are always going to be some great games that get left on the sidelines, so I’d at least like to give some honorable mentions out. Metro Exodus especially is one that just missed my list as a bold evolution of a series I enjoy (please play it!), and Astral Chain easily proved to be one of PlatinumGames’ best titles of the generation.

There are still plenty of games that I just haven’t had the chance to play yet but are on my radar to dig into in 2020, namely Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, The Outer Worlds, Outer Wilds (yes, that other “Outer” game), Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Gears 5. Hopefully in the new year, a few of these might just make my Top 10 list in 2020, if it isn’t already dominated by the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and so many other games coming soon.

But anyway, with all of that out of the way, here were my favorite games of 2019:

10. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

I had only ever played a brief amount of the original Link’s Awakening when it was first out on the Game Boy, but even within the first 10-15 minutes that I spent playing this year’s Switch remake, it already felt like fond memories of it were coming back to me over 20 years later. As a longtime fan of the Zelda series–and especially coming off recent entries I loved like A Link Between Worlds and Breath of the Wild—Link’s Awakening for me just scratched that itch of a lovable 2D adventure with Link that I could get lost in.

Like Resident Evil 2 before it (which is also on my list), The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening strikes a near perfect balance of honoring a classic entry in a classic series, but with plenty of modern touches (and an adorable visual style) to make it feel fresh. Aside from giving me the chance to finally revisit a Zelda game that I had sorely been missing out on playing previously, Link’s Awakening is in its own right a wonderfully inventive game that harkens back to the classic entries of the series, but presented in a way that feels like it’s just being discovered for the first time.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.

9. Ape Out

I might just be a sucker for snappy jazz music, but Ape Out came out earlier this year and has stuck with me ever since. Sure, there’s the fact that the game is just manic fun involving a killer ape on the loose, but how can you not forget a game like this when it looks and sounds so stylish?

Taking several elements that I love from Hotline Miami, Ape Out takes its simple but chaotic premise and jazzes it up (literally and metaphorically) with an incredible visual and aural presentation. Having the music and visuals blend so seamlessly with the ape-fueled chaos that you are causing only made me admire the game more, and whether you wind up playing through it on Switch or PC, this is one ape escape that can’t be missed.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Ape Out.

8. Life is Strange 2

Compared to its predecessor, discussion and conversation around Life is Strange 2 has, strangely, seemed a little muted. Whether that’s because of the game’s sporadic release schedule or not, over the course of the last year Life is Strange 2 has evolved in ways that I admired even more than the series’ first season.

The story of Sean and Daniel Diaz and their trek across America to find a new life with family in Mexico not only gave us a heartfelt depiction of a brotherly bond, but also explored new ground narratively that most other games shy away from. Over the course of its five episodes, Life is Strange 2 delved into politics and contemporary issues of today that games hardly ever get the chance to explore, while also looking at maturity and love, family issues, and heritage, especially from the viewpoints of its protagonists.

Episodic storytelling is hardly a new experience in games, but Life is Strange 2 found a way to give it a deeper, more engaging meaning.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Life is Strange 2: Episode 1.

7. Untitled Goose Game

Oh, that damn goose. That damn, lovable goose. Untitled Goose Game, by design, is a simple game, but even with the few hours that I spent with the game on Switch, I had a smile on my face the entire time that I was playing it.

Is it the deepest game? No, not at all. Is there much of a challenge? Hardly. But all in all, Untitled Goose Game is one of the funniest and most charming games that I played all year, and it’s truly the type of game that I would encourage anyone–gamers or non-gamers alike–to give it a try and become a chaotic goose for a day.

HONK.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Untitled Goose Game.

6. Luigi’s Mansion 3

Well, okay; Untitled Goose Game is one of the most charming games that I’ve played recently, but so is Luigi’s Mansion 3. Maybe even more so.

Luigi’s always been in the shadow of his red-suited brother, but with Luigi’s Mansion 3, he finally has a game that can stand alongside some of Mario’s best adventures. Luigi’s Mansion 3 not only shines as a brilliant and funny adventure starring everyone’s favorite lanky, awkward brother, but also shines as one of the best Switch exclusives of the year. That’s saying something considering the fact that this year has been an absolute banger for the Switch with other games like Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Astral Chain, and more.

Even if the game is technically Luigi’s Hotel 3, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is still a stellar, spooky sequel that will have you smiling all the way through, even if is mostly at Luigi’s expense.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Luigi’s Mansion 3.

5. Resident Evil 2

Despite being a longtime Resident Evil fan–arguably one of my favorites–I’ve had a blindspot in the series by never having gotten the chance to play Resident Evil 2 or 3. Thankfully, in 2019 I was able to finally correct at least one of those problems by playing through the stellar Resident Evil 2 remake, and we won’t have to wait too much longer until it’s Resident Evil 3‘s time to shine next spring.

While I hadn’t played through the original iteration of the game, Resident Evil 2 was still an outstanding horror experience made even scarier by its modern tweaks and refinements. Constantly being pursued by Mr. X not only gave us one of the most terrifying game experiences of the year, but also made for some fantastic memes. But more than that, Resident Evil 2 perfectly blended the series’ classic elements of survival horror with the innovations of its modern entries, making me even more excited to see what is to come from the franchise in the years ahead.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Resident Evil 2.

4. Sayonara Wild Hearts

I played through all of Sayonara Wild Hearts in one sitting on the Switch earlier this year, and it’s safe to say that this game, as the kids say, slaps. Part interactive music video and part rhythm game, Sayonara Wild Hearts is an entirely sensory experience that few other games in could match in 2019.

Dripping with style and easily the best game soundtrack of 2019, Sayonara Wild Hearts is flashy and vibrant for days, but doesn’t let that overwhelm substance. At the heart of its stunning visuals and design, it also manages to craft a brief but impactful story of overcoming heartbreak and discovering your true inner abilities.

From the game’s stunning opening moments, to its wonderful surprise reveal at the end, to its soundtrack that I still listen to on a regular basis, Sayonara Wild Hearts is a game that I just haven’t been able to get out of my head just yet.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Sayonara Wild Hearts.

3. Devil May Cry 5

As a longtime fan of the Devil May Cry series–and someone that thoroughly enjoyed Ninja Theory’s take with DmC–it just felt so damn good to have Dante and the crew back. Devil May Cry 5 was easily one of the games that I was most looking forward to playing in 2019, and it fully delivered on everything that I could have hoped for as a fan and then some.

Aside from finally returning to the series’ mainline story after a decade since DMC4, Devil May Cry 5 came roaring back not only with a kickass story (and incredible soundtrack), but also delivered arguably the series’ best gameplay and combat since DMC3. The series’ stylish action has never looked, well, more stylish, and the amount of ability and input combinations that players have at their disposal in DMC5 is enough to rival nearly any fighting game.

From the introduction of wonderful characters like Nico and V, to a more badass Nero, and finally to Hot Dad Dante, Devil May Cry 5 moonwalked its way into my heart this year, and I can only hope that we’ll see them all kick some demon ass again sooner rather than later.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Devil May Cry 5.

2. Control

Admittedly, Control is the only game on my list that I have not entirely played through to completion, as I’m currently around halfway through the game. It’s been at the top of my backlog for months now, and though I’m just now starting to dig deeper and work my way to the end, Control has already, well, taken control of my thoughts and emotions since I started playing it.

Much like Remedy’s past games, you can easily point to many of the influences that Control blends together, from the obvious references to works like Twin Peaks to the more subtle inspirations behind it. But even without that, Control builds what is easily Remedy’s most defined and well-realized world to date, with the Oldest House serving as an intriguing setting with endless mysteries and secrets to discover.

Combined with Jesse’s powerful abilities and a roster of memorable characters–especially this year’s MVP, Casper Darling–Control is easily the game that I can’t wait to finish the most during my Christmas break and to really discover just what the Oldest House is really hiding.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Control.

1. Death Stranding

During the discussions for our Game of the Year Awards, when Death Stranding came up I explained that there are almost as many reasons (if not more) to debate against the game being GOTY than being for it. Death Stranding is, in a lot of ways, incredibly messy and convoluted. It drags significantly in many places story and gameplay-wise, it saves most of its best story moments for the very beginning and end, and its gameplay can feel finicky and not quite put together completely.

But for all of its faults, Death Stranding is still one of the most impactful game experiences that I’ve had all year. As much as I came into the game expecting the typical amount of Kojima Weirdness, I was also taken away by the story’s surprising thoughtfulness and emotion. The game’s themes of connection and working together was elevated by its online elements that seamlessly integrated “multiplayer” into the experience, and understanding the ways in which this world worked kept me invested throughout the dozens of hours that I spent with Death Stranding.

For all its convolution and exaggeration, Death Stranding also managed to be deep and meditative, and was ultimately the game of 2019 that I just couldn’t stop thinking about after I played it. Like its protagonist Sam Porter Bridges, Death Stranding is always on the risk of toppling over, burdened by the layers of gameplay and story it stacks on top of each other. And yet, the game also manages to keep it together from falling apart entirely, in a profound, surprising, and beautiful way.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Death Stranding.

Check out the rest of the DualShockers staff Top 10 lists and our official Game of the Year Awards:

December 23: DualShockers Game of the Year Awards 2019 December 25: Lou Contaldi, Editor-in-Chief // Logan Moore, Managing Editor December 26: Tomas Franzese, News Editor // Ryan Meitzler, Features Editor December 27: Mike Long, Community Manager // Scott White, Staff Writer December 28: Chris Compendio, Contributor // Mario Rivera, Video Manager December 29: Scott Meaney, Community Director // Allisa James, Senior Staff Writer // Ben Bayliss, Senior Staff Writer December 30: Cameron Hawkins, Staff Writer // David Gill, Senior Staff Writer // Portia Lightfoot, Contributor December 31: Iyane Agossah, Senior Staff Writer // Michael Ruiz, Senior Staff Writer // Rachael Fiddis, Contributor January 1: Ricky Frech, Senior Staff Writer // Tanner Pierce, Staff Writer

December 26, 2019 2:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/dualshockers-favorite-games-of-2019-ryans-top-10/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dualshockers-favorite-games-of-2019-ryans-top-10

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