Lurker > RyoCaliente

Mega Man (WiiUVC)

Death is an interesting concept in video games. On the one hand, it is needed to create tension and the tension adds an important and exciting aspect to the playthrough. On the other, death breaks immersion. You're in the game, making it happen, living through it, and then you see a game over screen and you realize, "Oh right, I'm playing a video game."

Mega Man is not an immersive game. It hails from a time when games were just games, entertainment bits in the way you'd watch an episode of a TV show. And good for it too, as you will die a lot in Mega Man.

Modern video games are accused of having bloat; endless amounts of meaningless sidequests just to have content, just to pad out the game length. Mega Man, a game from 1987 also has bloat. The bloat is also part of the game design. Death is the bloat.

Other video games released at the time have their difficulties. Doing a deathless run on your first time through Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda is not easy...but it is not impossible (especially if you go to them now with experience in video games, back then it was far harder). Doing a deathless run on your first time through Mega Man is impossible. Every encounter with an enemy is basically teaching you what the enemy does and how it hurts you by hurting you. The flying cutters will hit you the first time they appear. The big hopper will hurt you the first time it appears. If not by their attacks, just the area where they spawn. Mega Man loves spawning enemies at points where you have to jump over a gap. It teaches you by killing you.

Doing a deathless run on your first time through Mega Man is impossible, but is almost required to beat the game. The game is unforgiving with health drops, throws enemies and bosses at you continuously and to beat it, you will need to know the level, spawn locations and boss strategies by heart.

And that is the bloat. If you use the Suspend Point function on the Wii U VC, you can get through this game in a short amount of time. If not, you'll probably spend months honing your skills, perfecting level after level of a NES video game.

Is that worth it? If you like bragging to your friends that you perfected Mega Man 'the right way', it is. You can pat yourself on the back afterwards for your skill. If not, Mega Man does not really have anything to offer you.

I think Sabaody is short and hype enough to watch it in the anime.

Impel Down is DEFINITELY manga, Marineford could be both I guess.

Personally not too fond of TB, I just think the villains are kinda bland. Moria is okay and Perona has some fun stuff, but overall they're pretty uninteresting. At least Hogback gives Chopper some nice development.

11. Beat a game made by a developer you like
Mass Effect

16. Beat a rhythm game
Double Kick Heroes

Double Kick Heroes (Switch)

Grueling on the thumb. The artstyle looks really cool, but it's unfortunate that I didn't see a lot of it as I was way too focused on the rhythm meter. Even after beating the game, I'm not entirely clear on whether I'm terrible at rhythm games, this game is just hard, or somewhat poorly designed. There's certainly a lot to keep track of, as just pushing the buttons in the rhythm isn't enough, you also need to keep your peripheral vision on where the enemies are to shoot in the right direction. Couple that with the fact that enemies sometimes stay out of the line of fire but still 'near' that line, it can be confusing and difficult sometimes to really figure out what you did wrong in a given level if you can't succeed.

Not terribly into metal, but I enjoyed the vast majority of the tracks in the game. I also appreciate that some effort was put into the writing; it could've easily been complete filler, but they made something out of it.

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#InsightfulGuesser

I will say, the hints GuessTheGame gives you are a lot more useless than Guess the Audio.

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#ProGamer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC5zHACynR4

Turn on the Bright Lights is cool, vote for it.

FoolFantastic posted...

Turn on the Bright Lights and Automatic for the People are both in my top 100, so easy votes for me. I also want to cover Talking Heads at some point, though none of their albums would beat Automatic for the People for me.

I can't wait for the time that Turn on the Bright Lights reaches my own top 3 remaining so Ryo and I can both hopelessly nominate it every single time. Just one of those albums that has no obvious hit to sell it on but pretty much every track is excellent once you actually hear the full thing.

I've been thinking I should've linked PDA as the show-off track back in the day. Don't really want to change now because I don't want to reveal the entire album in just these previews!

Also I have somewhat the same problem with Talking Heads. I wanna nominate it, but none of their albums can even compare to Stop Making Sense. Like, Burning Down the House is neat...and then you hear the SMS version and it's AMAZING.

45. Beat a game that features historical events or people

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles: Adventures

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles: Adventures (NS)

Great Ace Attorney: Adventures has all the charm of the Ace Attorney series, but feels in some way like a DLC prequel.

Great Ace Attorney takes place in 19th-20th century Japan and Britain and feature Ryunosuke Naruhodo who stumbles his way into becoming a lawyer and travels to England to fulfil his studies alongside his best friend and example Kazuma Asogi and judicial assistant Susato Mikotoba. I won't say more to avoid spoilers, but there also isn't really that much more to say. GAA: Adventures struggles with having a real main and overarching plot. Previous Ace Attorney titles obviously had distinct and individual cases which didn't always tie in to the main plotline, but Adventures truly feels like it doesn't have anything particular going on. There are hints here and there sure; best friend Kazuma Asogi travels to Japan with a goal and a purpose which doesn't really get revealed too much. Opposing prosecutor Barok van Zieks has a deeper story which gets alluded to in the final case. Secondary companion Herlock Sholmes (yes, Herlock) and Iris Wilson are involved in some plot which is again hinted at in the first and final case. Really, the final case is the only case where things really happen (as well as the first case) and is in that sense also the only that clearly feels the most like an Ace Attorney game. It's definitely the most exciting and intense one, but it just feels like a shame that the other case are unable to match this energy. Truly, the majority of the game feels like a way to get to know Ryunosuke and Susato a little bit (as Ryunosuke has a crisis of faith after a certain case) but it just feels like for the majority this game serves as a setup to the second game, Resolve.

Gameplay-wise, the core Ace Attorney dynamics are intact. There are however three new gameplay mechanics. These gameplay mechanics are part of the problem area of this game: pacing. Because the game wants to give them their chance to shine, but also doesn't want to overwhelm the player, they basically have you sit through a case where the gameplay mechanics get properly outlined. Case 1 is just a standard Ace Attorney tutorial case, save for one example; it is incredibly long. Adventures loves having you press every statement, and seems more eager than most to have the protagonist face seemingly insurmountable odds, with the quick scene of collapsing as the prosecutor or witness has come up with a great rebuttal...even though you might already know how to counter it. In this one the first new gameplay mechanic gets introduced; multiple witnesses take the stand, and they might react to each other. This mechanic feels a little bit useless; when the reactions are very clear, there's no point in not pursuing, and there is only one instance where you have to pursue when there is no clear reaction. It feels like it doesn't add anything particularly interesting.

Case 2 does not feature a trial, merely an investigation. Here the second mechanic gets introduced, which is the Dance of Deduction. Sholmes will deduct a case and it is up to you to correct him. This is part of the Investigation, so you are moving the camera to see if you can spot anything in the room or on a character. This one is a bit more engaging with a few tricky things to spot. Case 2 suffers from not having a trial though, which in my opinion were always the more interesting parts of Ace Attorney games.

Case 3 is the first case in England, and is only a trial. Here the final new mechanic makes its debut: the summation examination. England has a jury, and it is up to you to convince them otherwise if they deem your client guilty. This is the mechanic that at its core is the most interesting, but which also feels the most like pure padding. There is a lot of pressing jurors here to then pit them against each other, but there's a lot of summation examinations where it feels you already have a piece of the puzzle for the actual trial, and now you have to sit through this segment just to get back to it.

Case 4 and Case 5 are full cases, featuring both an investigation and a trial. Case 4 features that middle-case syndrome of other Ace Attorney games, and Case 5 finishes the game off in style. It is here however, that another problem with Adventures pops its head; the characters. The Ace Attorney franchise is full of memorable and likeable characters, and Adventures has...few of those. The witnesses in case 1 & 2 are forgettable and dull, and none of the characters in case 4 are very engaging either. I especially found the client of case 4 to be on the grating side, but some of the witnesses were frustrating as well. On the protagonist side, Ryunosuke is just a little too insecure, and Susato lacks the spark that makes Maya or Trucy so likeable (and I'm not even a big Maya fan). Herlock and Iris are fine throughout. Gregson, the Gumshoe of this game, lacks some of this charm but is overall a pretty likeable fellow, especially in regards to Iris. van Zieks is an interesting antagonist as he has a clear sense of justice; this is not a man who will tamper with evidence or witnesses to win. He is, however, somewhat racist. It's one of those things where you can say that this fits the time period, but it's so noticeable because none of the other major British characters (except for one) treat you that way. There is a hint that van Zieks has a reason for being so nasty, and at the end of case 5 there seems to be a level of respect, but it still makes it difficult to really be attached to him like you would be with Edgeworth, Franziska or Godot. Although I must give a shout out to the Skulkin Bros., who are some of the best sidecharacters in the entire franchise.

Technically, the game looks beautiful, and the soundtrack is on point as is the case with so many Ace Attorney titles. Especially Gregson's theme is a favourite of mine.

Overall, this game has all the inherent quality of the Ace Attorney franchise. It's just dragged down by not really being about anything for the majority of it, and a weaker character roster than most. But the final case was really quite engaging, and at least leaves an appetite for the sequel.

Don't know if it counts as a commercial but when I wasn't paying for Spotify they ran an ad for British expats for a while (mostly during COVID) which took forever and was the most boring ad to listen to.

I only watched the movies but felt this way more about Greg.

Gonna try 1 track per game and tracks that haven't been done yet (except Gen II because that's my childhood)

Gen I: Cinnabar Island | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBby1E3tWwo
Gen II: Route 29 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxqHQ9nOZcc
Encounter! Suicune | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEiRAYy0yDA
Kanto Trainer Battle | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLIF66XLL8Y
Gen III: Intro theme | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0wGXknoPA8
FRLG: Silph Co. | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f540mV7XQSM
Gen IV: Route 229 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkVzDnJjupA
Gen IV: Game Corner | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaIx-lkGTp8
HGSS: National Park | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mWVu1Eo5f0
Gen V: Accumula Town | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=259C4AaOHn0
B2W2: Lacunosa Town | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3yUlWMxZ3Q
B2W2: Join Avenue | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGUA_V1MZdQ
Gen VI: Boutique | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zf9x4K4BVk
ORAS: Sootopolis City | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWYiMilDpNU

12. Beat a game made by a developer you've never tried
System Shock

System Shock (Steam)

System Shock is a game that did not live up to my expectations, but is it the game's fault...or mine?

The game's story concerns a nameless hacker, who is caught when accessing files concerning Citadel Station, a space station owned by a big corporation. A rep of the company, Edward Diego, offers to let you go with a military-grade interface if you just unshackle the station's AI. The surgery for the interface puts you in a six-month coma, and when you awake, you find that the entire station has gone to crap.

This is all pretty basic, and that's fine, but for me the problem is that it stays that way. Edward Diego really only features a little bit at the later end of the game, and in between the only bits of story you receive are audio diaries, similar to the ones that filled the Rapture of Bioshock, SS's spiritual successor. The audio diaries in BioShock were a lot more engaging however, offering insight into the people and the city. The vast majority of the audio diaries in System Shock are about people bemoaning their situation, with a hint dropped here and there about what you need to do to progress. Very few actually give some interesting lore or story information, which feels like a wasted opportunity.

But then we still have the main villainess of course: SHODAN. SHODAN is just one of those iconic villain names, but I have to admit this game did not really make me understand why. She's quiet for a lot of it, and when she does speak, it didn't really instill a sense of dread in me. She places a few specific traps for you in the game, but most of them were obvious or undone by the revival mechanic of the game, which made them feel somewhat hollow.

Gameplay-wise, System Shock took a while to get into. The first few levels have a certain amount of difficulty to them; there's plenty of enemies, ammo is sparse, and until you've destroyed all the cameras and reduced the security level to 0%, enemies will keep respawning, taking even more health and ammo from you. Maybe I missed an audio log, but the way to deal with respawning enemies never gets explained in-game, making the initial part of the game a frustrating ordeal. On the other hand, this could be considered good game design; it teaches you to rely on the energy gun at the start. The energy gun uses energy as ammunition, which can be freely recharged at the energy stations scattered throughout the levels.

Once you're a decent way into the game, it does become quite a lot of fun. Fans of immersive sims should certainly enjoy themselves with this game; there's plenty of weapons that for the most part all fulfil a purpose. Only the melee weapons (save for the Laser Rapier) and the shotgun feel a bit underwhelming. You'll need them too, as the enemies on Citadel Station are tough and unforgiving, and there's a good and varied amount of them. Only in the later levels does this variety fade somewhat, and most of them will just feel like big, hulking robots. But the fewer of the kamikaze bots you have to face, the better!

The maps are quite big with many hidden hallways or difficult-to-spot passageways. This is one area where it feels the remake should've adapted a little more to current quality of life expectations; the map doesn't give a lot of information on locked doors/blocked passageways, just like there isn't a journal to give even the basest notion of what you're supposed to be accomplishing. Props can also be given to the game for the couple of distractions to the standard gameplay; several doors require a minigame of connecting power nodes or charging up energy to a precise amount to open and then there's also the Cyberspace segments where you move around in a full 3D environment. While the puzzles can be tough to figure out, and Cyberspace can sometimes feel like padding, they can offer a change of pace from the action of the main game.

Technically, the game is satisfactory. The graphics look good, the monster look horrifying, and the design of the space station enforces the maze-like structure of the map. The music doesn't really stick with you, until some of the later levels; especially Executive was a track that perfectly fit in with the surroundings and the general feeling you have as a player.

So my overall experience of System Shock is still a positive one; it's just a good game. Nightdive Studios might have done better with a few quality of life modifications, but those are the choices you make to stay as true as possible or adapt to the current climate. Was I expecting more? Yes, but maybe my expectations were built for System Shock 2 and the legacy that game has, and System Shock deserves its own proper look.

I can agree with that statement, but I think Sanji's thing also only gets really bad post-timeskip.

Vehemently disagree. The LA really doesn't do justice to the stories of Usopp and Sanji and what pushes them to follow Luffy and what Luffy sees in them. It doesn't show what being a pirate means to Luffy by contrasting his idea of that vs the villains (and in doing so sells short some other characters like Koby, Zoro, and Nami).

It's an entertaining time, sure, but if the LA continues like it did in East Blue, it will not have the impact on people that the manga and the anime have had. People loooove shitting on the anime but for the majority of people who're into One Piece, it's that form of media that got them into it.

XIII_Rocks posted...

Also Zoro got sidelined for a huge part of it, and that was a shame

He got two fights!

I think Skypiea is fascinating for a variety of reasons. I think its biggest weakness honestly is that its by far the most egregious and annoying sidelining of Luffy the story ever does. It's a fun gag at first and then it keeps going...and going...and going...

And while I do like pretty much everything in it, it probably does go on for a bit too long. Pretty much every part of it could probably have been trimmed down just a little bit at least.

Finally completed the live-action. I can't fault it too much, because it accomplished what it (I think) set out to do; draw more people to the franchise. It is the worst way to experience the story though, in my opinion. I understand they had to make cuts, but it's a shame so much of the nuance and the storytelling got lost because of it, especially in the villains. All the East Blue villains are reversals of one part of Luffy's idea of a pirate, and that really doesn't come out enough, and it feels they could've structured the stories better to showcase that (even though the cutting of Don Krieg would've always made this a little bit difficult).

There's also an unfortunate case of tell don't show in Arlong's part; he believes in fishman superiority because of their physical superiority; breathing underwater, being able to swim much faster and better and, in Arlong's case, having the saw-nose and the teeth-as-weapon. I can imagine these things being cut for budget reasons, but it's still a bit of a shame.

I've never heard those bonus tracks before. I just grabbed the version of The Suburbs I have in my Spotify playlists. I don't mind ranking them, but I'm fine with skipping them as well!

1. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
They heard me singing and they told me stop/Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock/ Absolutely one of my favourite tracks of anything ever.

2. The Suburbs
So emotional to me. Everything before is great, but everything after So can you understand... again is one of those top music moments.

3. We Used to Wait
I barely lived in a time of writing letters, and this track still manages to make me nostalgic.

4. Suburban War
Such an incredibly cool sound.

5. Ready to Start
6. Rococo
7. Deep Blue
8. Modern Man
9. The Suburbs (continued)
10. City With No Children
11. Month of May
12. Empty Room
13. Half Light II (No Celebration)
14. Sprawl I (Flatland)
15. Wasted Hours
16. Half Light I

Xuxon posted...

Wordle 832 5/6







SLACK
TAMER
ABOVE
ARGUE
AZURE

Someone's going to be happy about today's word

Hell yeah I was. Considering I regularly forget to play, I was always dreading missing the day where it would've happened to be Azure. BUT I DIDN'T!

Interpol - Obstacle 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC5zHACynR4

Interpol is a post-punk band that exudes cool and a darkness without really being oppressive or depressing.

dEUS - Little Arithmetics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPsvlDMwbVg

Last time I nominated The Ideal Crash by dEUS, which is basically a perfect alt-rock indie album. In a Bar, Under the Sea is more experimental; there's a wider variety of sounds in the album, a wider variety of styles that make it a cool journey to experience.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Euj9f3gdyM

I was expecting a comment like FoolFantastic's and I have to be honest: Funeral has never really done anything for me. It's definitely THE Arcade Fire album, and Rebellion (Lies) is phenomenal and 3 of the Neighborhoods are really good but...yeah I just don't care much for it.

The Suburbs however is just one of those albums that feels like it was written for me. Especially the title track just always hits me like a truck. Arcade Fire is one of those great experiences in my opinion, a band not everyone needs to like, but should have heard at least once.

it's the name of the treasure in the GRAAAAAND LIIIIINE

GuessMyUserName posted...

Sabine's definitely just been resigned to dying in the other galaxy once she found Ezra. So in that regard I guess there's just not any urgency to spill the beans.

I wanna find Ezra! Not to like...save him or anything. I just want to find him so we can live together and who cares what happens to the other galaxies that I've unleashed Thrawn upon

Yeah I really hate what they did to Sabine in this show.

I'm not super invested in the Usopp/Kaya relationship, as Kaya is not a prominent part of the story (while Usopp is) and considering Merry died, it's weird for Usopp to essentially abandon Kaya (in the way Yasopp did his family, although Kaya is at least older than Usopp was).

I also personally love the beach, as it shows a little bit of (failed) tactics, while this show turned it into only combat. That allows Usopp to stand up and vow to protect Syrup Village, which gives him the respect of Luffy, Zoro, and Nami. That's what I'm really missing here.

I think Zoro is the character they've messed up the most so far is Zoro though. They've made him too much like post-timeskip Zoro; he's supposed to be a little bit looser, a little bit more arrogant. When you add in the flashback, it really feels like they don't know how to write him outside of action scenes (which Usopp also suffers from in his episodes).

I do think Syrup Village was done poorly. It's not a great arc in the manga/anime, but choosing Sham & Buchi over Jango is an odd choice, Usopp's bravery is completely underwhelming and while Luffy is a nicer guy in the live-action...Usopp just doesn't really deserve it here. Zoro's backstory was kinda shuffled in without really fitting or having been done well (it really should've included the line of him vowing that he will become the greatest swordsman in the world so his name will reach the heavens as THAT is an oath you can get behind giving away your family heirloom.) Not even a hint of the three kids is kind of a shame too.

If you liked Frou-Frou Foxes because it feels less overwhelming, I'd give Squeeze-Wax or Carolyn's Fingers a try, which I always consider incredible experiences.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I feel like some people are being very pessimistic about what the show is going to skip. I've seen someone say they'll skip Drum Island and just have Chopper join somewhere else.

The show is not actually skipping that much content. Besides the Gaimon chapter (lol), it hasn't skipped a single arc so far. Biggest removal was the fight against Krieg, and I think most agree that wasn't a big loss.

I do think they will need more than 8 episodes next season if they want to at least keep the pacing, though. If you go by chapter count, it will take 10 episodes in order to adapt from Loguetown all the end to Alabasta, assuming the same pacing.

I do think they dropped the ball a little with dropping Krieg though. It's a big moment for Sanji, to see Zoro and Luffy willing to die for their dream throughout the fight with Mihawk and Krieg. It kinda feels like the crew was just waiting for someone to ask them to join a pirate crew, less so that they were inspired by Luffy.

I believe you could cut down Alabasta Saga into 8 episodes, although I wouldn't want to do it:

1. Loguetown/Reverse Mountain
2. Reverse Mountain/Whiskey Peak
3. Little Garden
4. Drum Island
5. Drum Island
6. Alabasta
7. Alabasta
8. Alabasta

Really, the step up will be the budget. Smoker, Ace, and Crocodile make 3 Logias which'll be pretty intensive. Laboon is a huge-ass whale. Chopper and Dalton are two Zoan-users, although Dalton has the benefit that you could probably use a kind of werewolf effect on him, as he stays relatively the same size. Same goes for Chaka, but what are you going to do with Pell? You've got two giants. Mr. 3's wax power will probably also impact the budget a good amount. Are they doing Carue? It'd break my heart if they didn't, but that'll also cost a good amount I'll bet. Then there's Miss Merrychristmas, and Mr. 1 as well (I feel you could probably find some alternatives to CG for Miss Doublefinger). D'you remember the gun-dog?

Feels almost like they'd have to separate Alabasta purely for budgetary reasons!

ChichiriMuyo posted...

You could pick the anime up after the end of Arlon Park if you want to, I don't think you'd really be missing out on much, and there are guides on how to skip the filler stuff (don't skip G-8, its better than the story before and after imo). Considering you can get 3 eps watched in just over an hour, it is manageable. It's a long haul, but you really do not have to watch every episode to get current.

Oh God...one of THOSE people

I'm just not happy with Sabine or Thrawn. Sabine comes off as a kind of spoiled brat to me; considering her past, I feel she should be a bit more composed and able.

Thrawn comes across to me as just some old dude, when in Rebels he just felt a lot more threatening, physically as well.

For me, streams die once they get too big. It's really nice to be part of a small community of around 100-150 people, chatting with each other and the streamer about the game or other shit. Once it gets too big, I really need to be into the game to enjoy it, and even then.

JackMan posted...

Yeah, the writing's been on the wall for a while now. It dropped off for me when Covid and lockdown started and they didn't pivot very well to the change in circumstances, then the stuff with Ryan pretty much finished it off and everyone I liked left to do something else. I only watch the Randomisers with Michael and Matt (who they fired last year) these days, so hopefully they continue doing those at least.

Rooster Teeth as a whole has kinda tanked generally these last few years. Everyone has pivoted to doing podcasts and most of their original stuff is paywalled on their website. Funhaus is still good though.

All the best with the new endeavour, but honestly Trevor and Alfredo are some of the blandest personalities they have.

Without wanting to go for direct attacks, Trevor and Alfredo really signalled the downfall of AH and Let's Play. Alfredo made them (he was hired for it, so it's nothing against him) pivot toward streaming, which I think was never AH's strong suit. It was especially egregious when you saw how huge their editing staff was but then 2 of the 10 streams they did in a week got edited.

Trevor then fully took them away from "friends playing video games" to "let's do a bit or a sketch in this gameplay video" which I think few people really watched the videos for. Then he was also management when Ryan got fired, who they never replaced properly as a personality in videos or as someone who found new games to play that were interesting.

It's sad as AH was just such a huge part of my youth, and it really petered out more than anything.

SwiftyDC posted...

I'm at the part where Crocodile arrives to stop them from blowing up the Palace. Usopp/Chopper won their match. Sanji won his match. And I think Nami is currently fighting. Can't remember if she won it or not, watched it last night, but the Sanji/Copy-Copy fight was just silly. I'm hoping the Luffy/Croc fight makes up for it.

I mean, by that point you've had Ace, Vivi's argument with Luffy, Toto's loyalty, Chopper/Sanji/Vivi saving the day at Rain Dinners, Smoker getting saved, Luffy v Crocodile 1, Carue being best boi, and UsoCho vs Mr 4 duo...Don't really know what you feel like you're missing?

Alabasta takes a little bit to get going but is pretty great imo yes.

Kubo's unrelenting bias for certain characters really shined with Hitsugaya being more effective as a zombie than he ever was as a living being.

Thor: Love and Thunder and it's not even remotely close.

People complain about the anime's pacing but there really are very few issues with it until you get to about the 300s.

One Pace is fan-made, so the problem is that some of the cuts are VERY hard and they probably stick a little bit too much to the manga. TV/Anime and manga are different mediums, and letting the scene breathe a little is not something One Pace does, even when it's necessary (because in a manga, you as a reader can just decide when you let a scene breathe).

I only started reading the manga until about episode 300, and while the manga is great, not knowing Overtaken or the voice actors just has you missing out imo.

I just watched the second episode. Feels they should've clarified the DF a bit more; I think learning that Luffy can be cut is important as it kinda takes away from the feeling of invincibility he has, and Buggy should feel some pain from getting punched for the same reason. Also a shame we didn't get the Buggy flashback, but I understand the episode was already pretty stuffed.

But a good episode nonetheless, just a shame that if this would ever make it to Impel Down, we won't get depressed Buggy.

There does seem to be something wrong with German football in general. Even the club teams haven't looked as strong as they have in past times. Wonder if maybe their own success went to their head and now they are too arrogant to adapt their team/playstyle to suit the qualities of the players/weaknesses of the opponent.

AriaOfBolo posted...

"wat evar" and "o ya go my _____" are permanent parts of my vocabulary

kinda miss that guy

Every single time I see the FF X intro either while playing or watching a playthrough, "Listen to my story this maybe are last chance" pops into my head.

Also one major character assassination does happen in the first episode when Luffy dumps out all the fish to be safe in the barrel.

Luffy would have eaten all those fish, then got in the barrel smh

Keep your 1-1s and Green Hill Zones, Green Greens is where it's always been at.

Just watched the first episode. There are a few changes that I'm kind of uncertain about. As other have said, taking away Koby's agency kinda takes away from his story, and the Inherited Will theme of One Piece, where Koby in a way inherits Luffy's will to be free and pursue his dreams without fear. "I've decided I'm going to become King of the Pirates. If I die fighting for that, then I die", really is the essential line of the first episode, and it's not really put into play here. In the grand scheme of things, I can understand you want the focus to be on your main characters as opposed on an (important) supporting character, considering this supporting character really only becomes crucial much later on.

Morgan and Helmeppo probably should've been a bit more cruel. The reversal of good pirates vs bad Marines is essential, and the first episode showed them off as maybe a bit arrogant (and Helmeppo as spoilt), but not like the entire town and the rest of the Marine Corps would preferrably be rid of them.

Garp being in the East Blue and having to chase after Baroque Works seems crazy. I kinda hope if they do Loguetown he actually hands the job off to Smoker or something, I feel like this kinda diminishes him (and Garp in general looks less fun than in the anime, which is a shame).

But I do really like the casting. Iaki Godoy does a great version of this Luffy and really the rest of the casting was on point though. There's a couple of shots that look cheap (I like the idea of the wanted posters cutting in, but they don't look great) but overall I like the overall look of the sets (the Alvida battle was maybe a bit too much black background as opposed to nightfight though) and I'm interested enough to see the rest of the episodes!

Should be Pokemon, it's the only one that doesn't have a clear winner.

It shouldn't include the entire franchise but should include all the games.

I enjoyed the first episode, but am not entirely sold on Sabine's characterization. Several things just felt a little off to me. She always had a rebel (lol get it) streak but going off and ignoring Ahsoka's request that the map stay on the ship feels off to me. The fact she instantly grabs the lightsaber as her weapon of choice to pursue some droid when the majority of her existence has been fighting without a lightsaber (even when you account that short period of time where she had the Darksaber) also feels weird to me, and was obviously just leading up to the required lightsaber fight with Sith apprentice (who was standing around waiting for her??) Also all these Force people having survived Order 66 really makes Palpatine/Vader/Yoda feel like schmucks.

They did do a good job of making Lothcats cute though! They're not as cute as the animated ones, but still quite cute!