Lurker > pyresword

This is about how I expected a Trump presidency would go, though up until two weeks ago or so I'd say he was still doing better than my expectations.

An interesting thing I've noticed is that my expectations were about in line with most people my age, but noticeably worse than people a generation older than me even from the anti-Trump side of the debate. (Exception to my boss/advisor I guess, but I'm in academia where Trump is...uh...not very popular to put it lightly.)
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Anohana is one of those shows where I really liked some things about it and then really hated other things. Kind of hard to talk about my overall impression of the show because I have such mixed feelings. I do think it's more popular in places that aren't here though--I don't really think of it as a controversial show overall.
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Mac Arrowny posted...

Not super into the new character designs, but of course, they'll look different in action.

Yeah I do think this a definite possibility, which I'm also hoping for.
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I don't think so unfortunately.

Hulu used to have it but it looks like it's no longer available.
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Not gonna lie this character design for Kino really bugs me actually. The hair and eyes look completely wrong to me, and it's in a way that looks bad even separately from prior impressions I have of the character.
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I haven't seen the TitS anime but have heard uniformly terrible things.

Also I pretty definitively agree on Joker/Ryuji/Yusuke/Makoto being the best party. Covers all buffs which is the main thing, and Ryuji and Yusuke have solid damage. Admittedly I do think Yusuke is kinda bad until late game, but once he got Masukukaja he was a mainstay.
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I think in general defensive play is just better period, but as the match drags on the time limit forces one side to try and make something happen.
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I think it's more accurate to say that the time limit forces/encourages one side (or both in close games) to be aggressive because they will lose on time if they don't.
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I will say tournaments running late can be a problem in Smash especially for inexperienced TO's. My weekly is pretty good about that, but I've been to tournaments where that wasn't the case.
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Wait Solio who do you play?
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I mean I'm basing my account on 3-4 years of going to actual tournaments.

Probably the truth is that every scene is different and that some scenes are just bad which leads to these stories, but I mean I have just simply not experienced what you guys are talking about other than 1 person at our 35-50 person weekly, and even that 1 got significantly better after going to events for a month or two.
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I feel like people in this topic have been to either 0 or 1 Smash tournament and are judging then primarily based off of interactions with the community online, which doesn't reflect the actual tournament experience at all.

I suppose in theory I know little about the Melee community so it could be just that game, but I don't see a good reason why that community would be any different from Brawl or Smash 4.
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I can easily see most of what I'm saying getting lost in the VN to anime transition.

Fate/Zero won't tell you anything about what I'm trying to point out since it doesn't have anything to do with the actions or personality of the character themselves, I'm trying to drive at how other characters in the story talk about and view them, effectively.
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I really love Cassius actually. Maybe moreso becuase of his role in the story than because of the character himself though? I don't have a problem with him or anything, but I think that's an accurate description. He reminded me a lot of the way Fate/Stay Night treated Kiritsugu for anyone who's familiar with that.
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This just sounds like an awful tournament assuming this is an accurate account. I've been to tournaments most places in my state and a few in surrounding states and have basically only had good experiences. People are good to talk to, love playing the game, aren't assholes and most of them don't get too salty, etc.

If you're actually interested in playing competitively I wouldn't let that experience deter you, since I don't think it's really the norm. (Though admittedly depending on where you are there might not necessarily be any alternatives in which case...yeah)
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I waited minutes between games. The benefits of getting into the series late! I do actually really like the developments at the end here, even if I probably wouldn't have been a fan of the cliffhanger aspect had that actually mattered to me. Also:

MenuWars posted...

Seeing as I ran everywhere twice I guess the last place to visit is the History Museum and hopefully Alba before going to the rest stop.

I actually had to restrain myself from posting "this post almost had as big of a cliffhanger as Trails in the Sky: First Chapter" after this.
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I can't remember SC that well, but Time and Space are leagues ahead of everything else in TitS The 3rd. Pretty sure SC was the same and I definitely know Time was still really good.

Hollow Light pretty great. I think I still prefer Silver Will though and probably Whereabouts of Light as well.

Also, does MenuWars know Lorence's real name yet?
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My parents and I went on vacations all the time when I was younger is how I've been to so many.

Even if you don't count any of that though, since becoming "independent" I've lived for varying periods in 5 different states over a pretty wide range of the country. (Independent is in quotes because I am also counting college which was still funded by my parents.) Couple that with the small number of personal vacations plus 1 work vacation plus random day trips to events in nearby states, and I've been to probably around 20-25 of the states on my own.

Point is it's pretty easy to rack up a decent number of states even without really making a conscious effort to travel at all.
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LeonhartFour posted...

oh hey pyre have you ever watched Toradora

I know you're a big fan of Yui Horie and she voices my favorite Toradora character. Toradora is one of the few anime where I think I actually prefer the subs to the dub because Ryuji's Japanese VA is just too perfect for the role (and the English VA honestly wasn't great).

Yes I have seen Toradora and it just might be my favorite anime of all time... >.>

Minori is pretty great though yeah. I've actually been meaning to watch the dub one of these days though. I was pretty skeptical since I thought a dub would do a bad job with Minori and Taiga, but I actually liked what I heard from the trailer at least.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Season 2 in general is pretty fantastic

Pretty much.

To be quite honest, I didn't even like the series that much during season 1. Like it was still okay, but that was about it, and I almost never even bothered to watch season 2. Then one day like 4 months later I randomly decided to watch more of the show and now I love it.
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Well, I really like Velvet--I just don't think you would based on comments you've made about other things.

Also school play was easily the best part of the School Rumble anime imo. Yakumo and Eri the best.
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BK_Sheikah00 posted...

But I can't imagine Leon liking Velvet.

Oh yeah I was going to say this in my post to lmao.

Like, honestly Berseria is now my favorite Tales game I think, but I could never recommend it to Leon despite him probably being the one in this topic who has talked about the series the most?
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Tales of Berseria so good.

I was going to make a post about it in here when I finished, but then I got swamped with this research paper I've been writing, and I've been sitting right before the last dungeon (presumably) for like a week now.
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All of them except for Alaska, though I think like Oklahoma may have only been via drive-thru while going to visit Texas. (Can't remember since I was little at the time.)
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Yeah I liked Ann a lot at the beginning but she kind of fell off. Doesn't help that her social link was terrible either.
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Yeah...Yui Horie is my favorite VA, and this is probably my favorite performance of hers honestly.
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LeonhartFour posted...

School Rumble was not kind to most ships so I hope you lucked out!

Based on my spotty memory of the Wikipedia plot summary I hit the jackpot. Feels good, especially if now I can actually read the ending.
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Also I never saw the dub but Harima was great in the subbed version. I didn't really care for Tenma's voice though I'll admit. On the other hand I also have a lot of trouble imagining being able to top the Japanese voices for Yakumo and Eri (the two most important characters), considering those are two of my favorite vocal performances in basically anything.
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LeonhartFour posted...

they've resumed localizing the manga last year

Wait what. What. This changes everything.

Shame I spoiled myself on parts of the ending to see whether or not my ship survived, but oh well.
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Jeff Zero posted...

Work has cut into my free time substantially!

Yeah same here. Ironically though I think that resulted in me posting on GameFAQ's more, since that is my default escape when I have little free time rather than watching anime for 3 hours or something.
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Oh and I'm listening to the P3 soundtrack right now and I forgot one very important thing to say in my blurb about P3 music:

Screw Changing Seasons.
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School: 4 > 3 > 5

Shujin sucks because there's nothing to do. Which is fine in the bigger picture because that makes sense in the context of the game, but yeah the school itself still doesn't really bring anything to the table.

Protagonist: 3 > 5 > 4

I don't know most of the extra content for these guys and the stuff I do know doesn't really factor into my decision making process.

Party Members:
3 > 5 > 4 as individuals
4 > 3 > 5 as a unit

Honestly all 3 are top tier in this regard though. I think I've talked about why I think P3 does characters better too much already on this board, but if anyone either doesn't remember seeing it or wants to see it again feel free to ask.
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Yeah I've got some differences here to.

Music: 3 > 4 > 5

As I've said before I also felt 5 was a step below the others here, but honestly even 4 is a clear step below 3 imo. P3 just has way too many good songs. Even the ones that aren't quite amazing on their own merits still do a really good job of driving the tone whenever they play. In fairness P4 is also quite good on this last point but it couldn't quite match how much P3's soundtrack brought the world to life for me. Also I'll refrain from the wall of text I want to post on this subject, but I'll just point out (Persona 3 spoilers) the trio of songs that play in the town during the last month of the game. Stuff like that is absolutely the gold standard for what soundtrack music should be doing as I see it.

(Ok that's likely the only one I'll type a lot about)

Town: 4 > 5 > 3

I more or less agree with the things Leon said, but Inaba has dat atmosphere. I do actually rather like the P3 town also, but I don't think I can take it over 4 or 5 when there's so comparatively little to it. Also most of that is probably either nostalgia or due to the music anyways.

Residence: 3 >>> 4 > 5

3 is easily the best here. P4 residence has Nanako and Dojima in it so that's good at least.
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Yeah I also think I agree on all those actually.
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Tsuki ga Kirei looked pretty solid from what I saw, but then Persona 5 happened and I never got back to it. Really great first episode and then an okay second one, so make of that what you will. Also the visuals were one of the strong points imo, though I do admit I have a thing for that particular style. (Well I mean, not the backgrounds you're thinking of, but those really don't actually matter).

As for Your Name I also had it at around a 7 or 8 out of 10. Pacing was a bit off imo. I feel like the characterization portion should have been like twice as long as it was.
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First time you meet him is chapter 4 I believe.

What I was alluding to in my post though was that I suspect--at least for this character--that the game itself literally refers to him as "Blonde Haired Man" at this stage. (I don't remember myself however)
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I think that's who he's talking about, but I don't think he actually knows the character's name yet. (ie. I don't think the game tells you his name until the next time he shows up)
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Well I guess if we get more I'll just nom the rest of what I care about

16. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
17. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
18. Final Fantasy VII
19. Final Fantasy VIII
20. Tales of the Abyss
21. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
22. Bravely Default
23. Eternal Sonata
24. Paper Mario
25. Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga
26. Super Paper Mario
27. Chrono Trigger
28. Kingdom Hearts II
29. Undertale
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FFX was what I think of as my first RPG, but I guess I played Pokemon and some Lord of the Rings games before that.
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Airship_Canon posted...

And...It's Meiya

You know I can't remember if I ever made this comparison while I was playing (though I probably did), but I wonder if this is why I liked Laura's design so much. Characters themselves are similar-ish also from what I remember.

(Meiya >>> Laura though)
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Also Leon out of curiosity what is your game time on Persona 5?

I think when I finished I was at >100 hours, which was ridiculously long even compared to my game times on previous Persona games.
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Personally I don't really see that happening. In my head it's sort of like "if it didn't already happen with all the other Estelle stuff in the series why would this be the deciding factor?"

But then again what do I know Estelle was probably already cemented at the top of my rankings extremely early on in the series.
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Kurisu > Makoto > Mitsuru > Akane > Shiori > Yukiko > Pepper

The rest I am unfamiliar with.

Estelle better than all of them though. I don't really expect anyone's opinion of her to change much after the 3rd though for reasons I don't think I can fully explain without black bars. I will however say that the reason is not "she doesn't have good stuff in the 3rd", which would of course be a blatant lie.
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There is no ToCS character named Iona at all so I don't think you have to worry about that.
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So that's why they let you buy all those drinks at random vending machines...
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Oh I assumed that was a typo lmao.

I don't think I have more than like 1 other thing I really want to nominate though so I'm not sure it matters much.
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My last nominations:

14. Tales of Symphonia
15. Final Fantasy IV

And then I'll change the following from singles to doubles:

Tales of Berseria
Tales of Vesperia
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
Final Fantasy IX

Persona 3 still best Persona.
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I actually almost said something beforehand because I'm pretty sure the same thing happened to me >.>
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LeonhartFour posted...

Real Igor's voice (hello, Kirk Thornton) is similar to the previous VA?!

Honestly this might have been one the most singularly happy moments in the entire game for me. It was like there was this void and then it just got filled as soon as I heard the Igor voice and the "between dream and reality" monologue.

Also Lavenza so good. Wish she somehow got more screentime even though I have no idea how it could have actually worked.
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For the record the reason I asked about the Strength Confidant was because the final reward for doing that one is it lets you fuse Personas that are above your level for a (rather high) fee. It's pretty busted as long as you can afford it. I remember beating up on Shadow Sae with a level 80 Sandalphon despite only being around 55 or 60 myself, and shortly after that I had the most busted Raphael that made every main-story fight kind of trivial almost up until the very end.
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