Board 8 > SaveEstelle/LeonhartFour in Different Houses: Tales of X vs. Zero Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

i'm two hours ahead of you dude

its 10:30 here
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what, are you in Newfoundland or something
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whew finally beat the General as Zero

that fight was a pain
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Nova Scotia
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Mega Man X4 beated as Zero

Zero is pretty fun once you get him all decked out. Of course, the problem with that is that you've beaten most of the game already by the time you can really rock him at full potential, and X4 doesn't really do huge Sigma stages like the first three games did, to boot.
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Attack on Titan S3E2 beated

Another excellent episode. Main character Levi the best. Also rewatched Episode 1 leading into it and the music when Levi is talking to Mikasa on the roof about the attack not making sense is so good.
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Hot take: FFX-2 has a better soundtrack than X. Also Triple Triad has a new contender for best FF mini-game. Well, not quite but Gunner's Gauntlet is super fun and addictive.
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Not a hot take at all imho

Also Sphere Break is the real X-2 minigame
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I don't even remember Gunner's Gauntlet, haha.

Not a fan of the X-2 OST though. FFX was the final game in the hotstreak of amazing OSTs from 6-10 (plus 4). 14, 13, and 13-2 all have pretty great music too.
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Finally broke and bought the rest of the Smash 4 DLC (probably dumb given that Ultimate will come out soonish, but whatever!)
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I think FFX's OST is generally kind of overrated among fans of the series, but it's still better than X-2's.

X-2 has the better Besaid theme though, no denying that.
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Attack on Titan season 3 episode 2 complete

season 3 is already better than season 2
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Episode 11 (Remote Island Syndrome, Part 2)

I like how Nagato just nonchalantly watches Asahina pass out when Arakawa says Keiichi (nice Higurashi reference, in addition to the setting being very reminiscent of Umineko) is dead. Probably your first big hint this is a fake murder is that Arakawa quickly stops Haruhi from checking for a pulse.

The part where Kyon and Haruhi go out in the rain and end up in the cave doesn't happen in the book. She never sees a mysterious shadow either. I guess they had to pad the run time a bit to stretch this over two episodes, and just for the sake of drama, too, I suppose. In the book, Kyon solves the mystery pretty quickly (although Haruhi coming to the wrong conclusion and getting freaked out that Kyon and Koizumi killed Keiichi happens, too). For as much as he plays up his own stupidity (he's likely just a bad test taker), he shows signs of being smarter than he lets on from time to time, like in this episode.

I like how Nagato responds to Kyon's request despite her stubborn insistence on the literal wording of Haruhi's order not to open the door for anyone. It just goes to show that Nagato values Kyon's opinion above Haruhi's, and that he knows how to deal with her while Haruhi really doesn't.

This whole thing of Kyon pretending to kill Koizumi and talking out stabbing Keiichi in front of him to freak him out so he'd break character doesn't happen in the book either. Kyon just calls Koizumi's bluff, and he concedes.

Man, the Phoenix Wright homage is so amazing, right down to the speed lines during the conclusion. Kinda ironic that Wendee Lee (Haruhi's English VA) is now a VA for Ace Attorney.

I like how the reason Kyon believed the whole thing was fake from the start was that he believed that Haruhi would never actually wish for someone to die. It speaks to the trust between the two of them.

Also, that hairy mole on the back of Kyon's neck at the end is kinda weird because that's not in the book either. My guess is that it was supposed to come back into play in the parallel story (Snowy Mountain Syndrome), but it never got adapted, so 'whoops.'
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Episode 12 (Endless Eight I)

The running gag of Endless Eight was a rather strange decision on the part of KyoAni. The story in the book starts on the final loop and never explores any other loops. It's actually a really good story, but it won't get the credit it deserves because people disliked the execution of this series of episodes. Animating every episode individually was impressive, but they could've done it justice in two or three episodes (one where they don't recognize the loop, one where they recognize it but fail, and the last one where they succeed). Oh well.

OP2 is just the best. Every single thing about it is excellent.

In the book, when he has to give Haruhi and Nagato a ride on his bike, Kyon says that Nagato felt practically weightless and wondered if she had done something to reduce her weight to reduce the stress of the ride on him.

I could watch Nagato eat and drink stuff all day long. Give me eight episodes of that, and I wouldn't complain.

One of the weird quirks about Nagato is she seems to enjoy wearing masks or hats. It might be a way of expressing some sense of individuality, especially considering she usually wears the same thing all the time, even when they're not at school. She usually only changes outfits when Haruhi makes her.

One of the only times Haruhi's logic makes perfect sense is when she says the best approach to summer homework is to get it done as quickly as possible so you can enjoy the rest of summer without worry.

Kyon says he's not interested in the prize of being Brigade leader for a day, but he always finishes second to Haruhi in the cicada catching contest.

It's cool just watching them do normal things and have fun together. It's a cast chemistry builder, even something as innocuous as seeing them all (except Nagato) fall asleep on the train or during the movie. This is one of the rare episodes with nothing overtly supernatural in it.
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LeonhartFour posted...

It's actually a really good story, but it won't get the credit it deserves because people disliked the execution of this series of episodes.

Huh? I always hear people talk about how great the book version is compared to the anime version.
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well sure if you actually read the books

I'm guessing most people who watched the anime didn't
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Supposedly Endless Eight turned out the way it did because they wanted to turn Disappearance into a movie instead of TV episodes. As a result they didn't have enough content for one cour of episodes. To address this, they got creative and came up with an insane way to pad out the season.

Speaking of Endless Eight:
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2018-08-16/the-melancholy-of-haruhi-suzumiya-anime-gets-88-hour-endless-eight-streaming-event/.135553
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Well, I'd like to say it worked out for the best in the end because Disappearance is an incredible movie, but you gotta wonder if things would've turned out differently for the series as a whole if they hadn't done that.

Team Rocket Elite posted...

Speaking of Endless Eight:
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2018-08-16/the-melancholy-of-haruhi-suzumiya-anime-gets-88-hour-endless-eight-streaming-event/.135553

Haha, yeah, I saw someone post about that the other day.
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I mean, I feel like Disappearance would've worked just as well as part of the TV series...
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I don't think Endless Eight really mattered in the long run. Disappearance had fantastic box office results and DVD sales. As much as the fanbase might grumble about Endless Eight, they were still willing to follow the series.
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Eh, it probably would've had to be trimmed down a bit. They probably wouldn't have had a unique OST for it. It wouldn't have had the bump in animation quality.

So while it's a great story regardless, it was probably better off being a movie.
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Yeah. It could definitely still work in the TV format but it wouldn't have gotten as much of a budget.
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Do you watch all eight every time?
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Nah, sometimes I'll just watch two or three. I'll watch all eight this time to celebrate Haruhi's victory in full though.
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To be fair, just about everything is great compared to the anime version of Endless Eight.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Attack on Titan season 3 episode 2 complete

season 3 is already better than season 2

better than both seasons tbqh
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pyresword posted...

To be fair, just about everything is great compared to the anime version of Endless Eight.

Nah, Endless Eight is pretty overhated, which is the only reason why I lament the decision, because it's become an easy target to pick on, like ME3's endings are. Fans complaining too much about something that wasn't really that bad has resulted in the deaths of two of my favorite series. The last episode of Endless Eight in particular is excellent.

xp1337 posted...

better than both seasons tbqh

It's certainly on pace to be the best season, but it's already finished ahead of season 2 regardless of what else happens.
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Disagree that the ME3 endings, but that aside, I always got the impression Andromeda was what killed Mass Effect. Certainly ME3's endings poisoned the well for a lot of people with how they looked at Andromeda but as an outsider looking in it looked like a lot of that game was a mess. Maybe it endures if the bad will from ME3 ending wasn't already present but the combo is what did it in, IMO.

Though again, obviously, I say that as someone who just watched all of that go down from the outside. You played Andromeda IIRC so maybe the impression I got just wasn't reflected by the game itself.
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The last episode of Endless Eight was the worst one for me tbh. I really hate the way that arc ends.
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xp1337 posted...

Disagree that the ME3 endings, but that aside, I always got the impression Andromeda was what killed Mass Effect. Certainly ME3's endings poisoned the well for a lot of people with how they looked at Andromeda but as an outsider looking in it looked like a lot of that game was a mess. Maybe it endures if the bad will from ME3 ending wasn't already present but the combo is what did it in, IMO.

Though again, obviously, I say that as someone who just watched all of that go down from the outside. You played Andromeda IIRC so maybe the impression I got just wasn't reflected by the game itself.

Like with the ME3 endings, many of Andromeda's problems were vastly overblown because BioWare fans are terrible. It's a good game. Not a great game, but certainly not a game that should've killed the series.

pyresword posted...

The last episode of Endless Eight was the worst one for me tbh. I really hate the way that arc ends.

Well, I'll get into it later, but the ending is great because of what it reveals about Haruhi.
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Anime E8 is probably the worst piece of animation ever, IMO.
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I've seen plenty worse.
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like for instance what the heck have they done to Mega Man with MMX5?

what's all this stuff they've added to the formula? why do I have a time limit? why am I collecting parts to shoot a super laser? why do I have to collect all the parts of an armor before I can even use it? why is this Alia chick talking to me so much during the stage?

letting me use the MMX4 armor from the get-go is pretty nice though
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So Manu Ginobili is retiring from the Spurs.

R.I.P. the Spurs of my youth

It's going to be so weird watching them this upcoming season with all of their franchise pillars gone.
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I tried getting into post snes mmx but even 4 had too much extra stuff for me.
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Okay, that Volt Kraken level was pretty fun.

but seriously this Alia girl needs to go away

I don't need her explaining to me how weapons and weaknesses work every time I get a new weapon
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Ive been playing a bit of Smash 4 3DS for the first time since it came out and man, the fact that the rubber piece of my circle pad is no longer attached to the directional pad is way more inconvenient here than for any other 3DS game

(Also the little c-stick nub is kind of painful to use after a while)
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I tried playing Smash 4 3DS and I just couldn't do it.
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My 3DS has that same problem because I played too much Smash on it lol

That was actually what caused me to buy a Wii U I'm pretty sure, because I probably would have ripped my thumb apart trying to play with my 3DS in that state. (Well Smash anyway. Other games are still more or less okay)
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One of the nice changes about the newer MMX games that I do like is that you can still use the X-Buster even if you have a special weapon equipped because special weapons are mapped to a different button now. It takes some getting used to though.
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Steins;Gate 0 episode 17 complete

Mayuri and Suzuha are both pretty great here. We're getting ready to transition into the final phase of the story, looks like.
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So yesterday I finally got around to buying and playing Super Mario Odyssey. Did a bunch of stuff in the Sand Kingdom. I have access to the Wooded Kingdom now but I think there's a bit more I'm going to finish up in the Sand Kingdom first even though I feel like I already did a lot there. This game is pretty rad. Really nails that feeling of exploration that I got from old 3D platformers, and there's...uh...a lot to do in this one it seems like which is good.

This might even have a chance of stealing the "best Mario game" title from Super Mario Sunshine.
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"Best Mario game since Sunshine" - user pyresword

that'll sell
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All Mavericks defeated as X. Time for the Sigma stages now.

Or later, rather. I'm gonna take a break for a little bit.
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SMO is so good

Definitely my favorite 3D Mario
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I still prefer the Galaxy games, but Odyssey is definitely better than all the other 3-D Marios.
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Episode 13 (Endless Eight II)

Random Kyon shirtless scene to open the episode. I guess there are more variations in these time loops than Nagato elaborates on later in the episode...! Of course, nobody in this show ever wears the same outfit more than once (other than the school uniform, naturally), even during these time loops. They must all come from well-to-do families! Or they have funding from their superiors, I guess.

Seriously, OP2 is the best. I like to pause on the characters sometimes and read the phrases behind them. Koizumi's has the word "Gobang" on there for some reason.

You can tell Crispin Freeman and the writers tried to have fun with these episodes with the line variations in some of these scenes. BOOST!

It's kind of interesting that Kyon offers to pay for Nagato's mask at the festival, but she refuses. It's the total opposite of how things go with Haruhi, where she forces him to pay for everything against his will.

I like how Nagato catches a different rare bug during the cicada catching contest in each episode.

Nagato says they did a bunch of different types of part-time jobs, so I wish we had been able to see some of the other ones instead of the one with the frog costumes each time!

I love that Asahina is such an emotional wreck that she's not being careful about what she says at all, but her self-censor prevents her from leaking anything she's not supposed to say.

Perhaps the most shocking part of this arc is the fact that this loop has recurred over 15,000 times. It's kind of insane, especially that they were never able to figure it out. Although in the book, Nagato says that they never became aware of the time loop half the time, but they became aware much more often the more times it repeated.

I've seen a lot of fan theories that Nagato not being permitted to take any independent action to stop the time loop ("My function is to observe") is what led to the events of Disappearance. Nothing within the series ever seems to confirm this, but it makes sense.
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I believe they originally wanted to do a gag dub for Endless Eight but were unable to get permission.
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Episode 14 (Endless Eight III)

"We've only got so much time, and once it's gone, it's gone for good, so we're going to do all we can while we can during our only summer as tenth graders!" I love the irony of that line every time.

OP2 is the best. Apparently, all the scientific/mathematical stuff in the background was added by Tanigawa himself because he loves this sort of thing.

Poor Kyon. He always gets crushed by Koizumi in the contest to see who can hold their breath the longest in the pool.

EXCELLENT

Apparently, they only missed going to the Bon Festival twice in all of the 15,000+ time loops. Makes me wonder how those played out since it was such a rare occurrence.

I love that even Koizumi can't hide his utter shock at realizing they worked in the sweltering heat in the frog costumes just so Haruhi could get one for herself.

Koizumi: We're currently stuck in a time loop that seems to have no end to it.
Kyon: Huh? A what?
Koizumi: We're currently stuck in a time loop that seems to have no end to it.
Kyon: Uh...
Koizumi: We're currently stuck in a time loop that seems to have no end to it.

Great gag.

When I first watched the show, I knew nothing about it, including how this arc worked (I can't remember the first time I talked about it with anyone on B8, but it was quite a while after). As such, I didn't know how many episodes this went on for, so I always watched the ending with bated breath wondering if Kyon would figure it out this time. I also tried to figure out what the solution would be but never did. As a result (and as a result of having an addictive personality that has no problems doing the same things over and over again, as well as enjoying noticing the little differences between each episode), I never really got bored with Endless Eight.
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Closing in on the end of MMX5 as X. Just the fight against Sigma left to go. I was kinda disappointed during the fight against Zero because the music was so quiet you could barely hear it, which is a shame because it's great!
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