Poll of the Day > H1Geek1

(+) Yeah! (+)

I didn't know how much I needed to play Bloodstained until I encountered this enemy:

https://i.imgur.com/gA3iUHR.png

Now I want one as a pet.

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Demonic aqua cat.
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Robotic Scottish Cat

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Vince's whole identity is the WWE. He tried twice with the XFL, and the second time it took the world ending to kill the XFL permanently, and he's just been losing all over the place. I don't think he would sell the company at any price, but if Papa Vince gets worked up enough he can make a rash and stupid decision.

In other words...Who knows!

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Really? Shovel Knight is just standing around with his thumb up his ass waiting for me to farm his shards?

This just keeps getting more and more...charming. Can't say Iga's love letter to the genre isn't... gorgeous.

Miriam is both Alucard and Soma at the same time.

Adding missions and...a purpose for all forms of farming on top of go forth and find all the things?

It definitely not pure CV. But as far as a metrovania? If this is all the shit Iga wanted to put into SotN and couldn't given hardware and time constraints, I get it.

Iga is a treasure, and I love what he's doing.

The graphics, the sound, the overall design...it's genius.

Bloodstained is SotN^2 and I'm loving it.

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tbh, that's the only reason I'm kinda doubting the news, although I imagine the WWE *must* be in terrible shape because of the C-Virus. If the company is teetering on insolvency, I could see him selling it to get something (before it bottoms out) while ensuring that the whole operation doesn't fold.

That said, unless there's a specific clause preventing him from opening a new promotion, he could always do that. I imagine there'd probably be a non-compete of some sort for a few years and... well, how many more years does VKM have left? He's 74 and if he's not juicing now he certainly juiced in the past. It's not so much for him at this point as it would be for his family. He could have a clause in there which leaves him with a token position or something.

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And I know I'm totally fanboy gushing over this game, but out of my top 5 favorites, Iga is more or less responsible for two of them...so I have no shame right now. This game is a work of art.

I knew the second I got the fairy familiar that it was going to sit on my shoulder as soon as I found a place to sit.

The attention to detail is...amazing.

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Entity13 posted...

The general reaction to Nomura Fantasy VII's ending was overwhelmingly negative among FFVII's fanbase, and yet the game is still doing well as far as I know.

A lot of those sales also happened before the "holy fuck Nomura's gonna Nomura" info really got out there.

There's kind of a difference between having to buy a game and play through hours and hours of RPG play to get to the part where you realize the entire thing is kind of asinine, and having someone leak that info in advance and giving it months to percolate, potentially discouraging impulse buys once it comes out, or actively leading people to cancel preorders.

Also, there's probably a difference between "Hey, we're kind of changing things to make the game fresh and relevant and not just a nostalgia wank" and "We're apparently going to shit on literally everything you actually liked about the first game". I can see a lot of FFVII fans (as well as people who never played FFVII but are buying the remake to "see what all the fuss is about") being willing to forgive the changes or at least not letting them discourage their buy, but the Last of Us spoilers being much more likely to discourage sales.

I mean, I was never going to buy TLoU2 because I didn't actually like TLoU1, but if I was a fan of TLoU, I would absolutely loathe the implications of the leak (especially since Sony essentially confirmed they were accurate). It would absolutely discourage me from buying - in the same way the negative feedback about Mass Effect: Andromeda discouraged me from buying that in spite of the fact that ME was pretty much my favorite series of the last 15 years.

Though honestly, I'm much more interested in seeing how Nomura Fantasy VII: Episode II does. Because sales of that are going to be much more telling when it comes to judging how many people were actually annoyed by the changes and refuse to come back to get burned again.



Zeus posted...

Rumor floating around today that VKM may sell WWE

It's already been debunked.

The assumption is that either Dutch misheard/misunderstood something, or was trying to joke around when he said it.
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I'm having a blast with Final Fantasy VII Remake. I don't give a **** what the Inyernet says about anything. I'm enjoying the game, and if I wasn't dealing with funeral/house/moving quagmire then I would be finished by now. As it stands the game is really damn good. It does have a lot of padding, but it adds to the story and characters.

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Yeah the VII remake is actually damn good. They're taking the story in a weird direction but I've played and loved much weirder games lol.

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Did anyone play Dragon Quest XI? It's going for cheap on steam this week and I'm wondering if it's worth picking up.

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WhiskeyDisk posted...

Did anyone play Dragon Quest XI? It's going for cheap on steam this week and I'm wondering if it's worth picking up.

If you like your plot to be exceptionally trite and by-the-book tropes, the cutscenes unskippable, the combat overly simple, and the soundtrack to mainly consist of the the same half dozen tracks on repeat, then DQXI is your game. The game, like the series is hails from, has a certain charm to it, but for some folks that charm may or may not get old.

Also, obvious token waifu party member is obvious and totes eye candy.

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Watched Archer: Danger Island tonight, which is a contender for my favorite season. Mostly because of Parrot-Krieg, which is the best version of Krieg.

Currently watching Archer: 1999 (season 10), which has been pretty good. Barry-6 is probably my favorite version of Barry.

Entity13 posted...

If you like your plot to be exceptionally trite and by-the-book tropes, the cutscenes unskippable, the combat overly simple, and the soundtrack to mainly consist of the the same half dozen tracks on repeat, then DQXI is your game. The game, like the series is hails from, has a certain charm to it, but for some folks that charm may or may not get old.

Also, obvious token waifu party member is obvious and totes eye candy.

Stop drilling, you already hit oil! >_>

Oh, even with the sale it's still $30? Meh, I'll wait to get it cheaper. I liked DQ9 and one of these days I have to get around to playing that other DS DQ I picked up.

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I feel like my opinions of DQXI would be similar to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imQRnghxkmo

He and I have pretty comparable options when it comes to JRPGs in general.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I feel like my opinions of DQXI would be similar to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imQRnghxkmo

He and I have pretty comparable options when it comes to JRPGs in general.

Of course he stops during the first orb collection, during which the apparent big bad of the first two acts is only hinted at. Then the big bad shows up after, and only after, you've collected the ultimate weapon against the big bad, and the game throws a by-the-book twist at you, and you are suddenly in a much darker world where people are alleged to have died in large number (but you hardly notice). Then you have to re-collect the orbs after reuniting with most of your characters minus one, and also the addition of one other character who had had it out for you in the first act. Eventually you beat the big bad, see the credits, and then are told "By the way, there's more we can do" so you are led into a the final act where you go back in time, beat the big bad before the world goes bad, and the true threat only then appears and you have to deal with it.

Really, the only impressive thing about this game is how loaded with tropes it is, and this is coming from someone that loves "Tales of Symphonia."

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Finished Archer s10 (1999) late last night/early this morning. After the weirdness of the last two seasons, it kinda seems disappointing that the show returns to the normal continuity afterward. Which is funny in a way because I disliked s8 and just wanted the continuity to return at that point. Then again, s8 kinda sucked anyway which was an issue unto itself.

And, of course, s10's last 2 episodes were kinda killed by the return to continuity.

At any rate, I loved how they inserted that prolonged discussion of The Hobbit into Danger Island.

In other news, I'm kinda tempted to grab Ultra Street Fighter IV on Steam despite having the vanilla version of SFIV for the ps3 and Super SFIV for the 3DS. The only thing holding me back is that this edition only contains like 8-9 fighters not available on the 3DS version, none of whom are a must-have, although it has a lot of characters not in my ps3 version of SFIV and not having it locked to a home console has some appeal... although the 3DS kinda partly fills that role anyway.

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WhiskeyDisk posted...

Did anyone play Dragon Quest XI?

I thought the game was fantastic. My favorite console game of 2018, in fact. ... But, as the others have observed, it does not reinvent the wheel. What it does do is take that wheel down one heck of a road. Classic JRPG in every sense, so, if JRPGs are not your jam, DQXI will not change your mind..


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Doesn't the Switch version have more content? Also the Steam version has Denuvo still.
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Entity13 posted...

Really, the only impressive thing about this game is how loaded with tropes it is, and this is coming from someone that loves "Tales of Symphonia."

We don't speak poorly about ToS around these parts.

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CyborgSage00x0 posted...

We don't speak poorly about ToS around these parts.

On the contrary, I'm not speaking poorly of ToS, but I am acknowledging how trope-heavy it is. The difference here is that ToS handles those tropes well, the cutscenes are not obnoxious in length nor in number (DQXI makes you sit through doors opening or several items being acquired), and there's even a little replay value for the next time you feel like starting a file of it. ToS, for whatever flaws it may or may not have, tries to feel organic and have a flow to it.

DQXI goes out of its way to interrupt its own flow so you are fully aware you picked up that orb, or that you won some money in the casino, or whatever else.

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Zeus posted...

Also, obvious token waifu party member is obvious and totes eye candy.

Just looking at the available mods...

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After buying USFIV, I finally found my 3DS copy of SSFIV >_> Had been playing DOA:D on my 3DS before that (and buying USFIV).

At any rate, kinda started to get bored of USFIV pretty quickly. Had I replayed SSFIV:3D first, probably wouldn't have bothered with it... although maybe it's more of a toss-up because the 3DS version has ease of use options that the other versions lack. I suppose another part of the issue is that the SF series really needs either a fightpad or a fightstick (due to having 6 basic attack commands, as opposed to something like MVC which only uses 4 buttons for basic attacks), neither of which I have for the pc atm.

WhiskeyDisk posted...

Just looking at the available mods...

After all the changes to the site, you'd think they're fix the quote system so it has the right attribution >_>

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Entity13 posted...

On the contrary, I'm not speaking poorly of ToS, but I am acknowledging how trope-heavy it is. The difference here is that ToS handles those tropes well, the cutscenes are not obnoxious in length nor in number (DQXI makes you sit through doors opening or several items being acquired), and there's even a little replay value for the next time you feel like starting a file of it. ToS, for whatever flaws it may or may not have, tries to feel organic and have a flow to it.

DQXI goes out of its way to interrupt its own flow so you are fully aware you picked up that orb, or that you won some money in the casino, or whatever else.

Alright, this checks out.

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Entity13 posted...

Of course he stops during the first orb collection, during which the apparent big bad of the first two acts is only hinted at. Then the big bad shows up after, and only after, you've collected the ultimate weapon against the big bad, and the game throws a by-the-book twist at you, and you are suddenly in a much darker world where people are alleged to have died in large number (but you hardly notice). Then you have to re-collect the orbs after reuniting with most of your characters minus one, and also the addition of one other character who had had it out for you in the first act. Eventually you beat the big bad, see the credits, and then are told "By the way, there's more we can do" so you are led into a the final act where you go back in time, beat the big bad before the world goes bad, and the true threat only then appears and you have to deal with it.

Just reading your post gave me a nosebleed.

And made me reaffirm my long held video gaming stance of "Fuck Japan".
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Hard to imagine you don't have *any* Japanese-made games you like.

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Zeus posted...

Hard to imagine you don't have *any* Japanese-made games you like.

It's not so much Japanese-made games, as it is games where the weirdest and most lolkawaii aspects of modern Japanese culture sort of bleed into the game's aesthetic. And also the weird, convoluted storytelling of most modern JRPGs (and Kojima games).

Like, a large part of why I liked Final Fantasy 1, 2, and 3 (aka FFI, FFIV, and FFVI) back in the day was because the programming limitations and the chosen aesthetic basically turned them into somewhat generic Western fantasy settings, which I find more relatable than idol singers, J-pop boy bands touring the world in their magic car, or passive emotionally damaged teen-boy lead characters. But as the technology got more advanced, and thus stories and settings could grow more complex, a lot of elements of JRPGs started to grate on me, while WRPGs started getting more and more interesting for the same reason.

I'm fine with stuff that's just made in Japan, or even stuff that's set in medieval Japan, but if my instinctive reaction to something is to roll my eyes and go "Oh, Japan...", that's the sort of stuff that kind of turns me off.
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So basically your objection isn't to modern Japanese games, but just most modern JRPGs?

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I tend to agree. The last JRPG series I enjoyed was the Xenoblade series, which takes a lot of cues from Western style MMOs. Before that, it's mostly the Takes series, or one offs like Baten Kaitos I liked.

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Zeus posted...

So basically your objection isn't to modern Japanese games, but just most modern JRPGs?

Pretty much.

Though since 90% of my current gaming is either RPG or RPG-adjacent (or at least strongly story-driven), it colors my view of Japanese games a lot more narrowly. Something like, say, Super Mario Odyssey doesn't really trigger most of my issues, but it's also a platformer, which means I will almost certainly never play it.
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Reaffirming that I am the anti-PO, or that PO is the anti-me. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

Related to the above: I like Tales of Symphonia, but I acknowledge that it is derivative of many different games before it (e.g. Final Fantasy X ... and Grandia II ... and Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete ... and ultimately Breath of Fire II).

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I actually liked Silver Star Story. The only real problem I had with it was how enemies leveled with you, so you could never grind/overlevel to beat them if they were too hard. Made the final fight almost unwinnable for me.

SOMEWHERE in my house, I have to still have the medallion from the Eternal Blue box set. I remember wearing it at one point as part of one of my RP characters (though I can't remember which one any more, because I am old and my near-perfect recall is no longer as near-perfect as it used to be).

http://www.lunar-net.com/merchandise/pendants.php
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I actually liked Silver Star Story. The only real problem I had with it was how enemies leveled with you, so you could never grind/overlevel to beat them if they were too hard. Made the final fight almost unwinnable for me.

SOMEWHERE in my house, I have to still have the medallion from the Eternal Blue box set. I remember wearing it at one point as part of one of my RP characters (though I can't remember which one any more, because I am old and my near-perfect recall is no longer as near-perfect as it used to be).

http://www.lunar-net.com/merchandise/pendants.php

I think the enemies stop leveling with you when you get around level 80.
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Yeah, but under normal conditions you get to the Magic Emperor somewhere around level 50.

Having to grind THAT MUCH to bypass level scaling is annoying as hell.
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Realize I'm going to have to take a break from all fighting games -- or anything involving a lot of fast button pressing -- for at least least a week. I seriously pulled or strained something in my right arm. Moving my forearm horizontally hurts a little and the pain is a bit worse when I ball my fist and raise it vertically towards my shoulder. What a fucking pain, I finally have time to game and now I'm not going to be able to (unless maybe it's a turn-based RPG or something... although I'm not sure I want to risk that).

That said, I'm *kinda* tempted to pull out my ps3 Hori fightstick and see if it also works on the PC. After all, it probably wouldn't put the same kind of strain on my arm.

As for the subject of over-leveling, I kinda like having at least some enemies scale a little because a lot of my overleveling isn't necessarily deliberate and it can kill the difficulty. That said, I've also sometimes overleveled as a crutch instead of figuring out a better way to win a battle just because it's a lot more convenient most of the time.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Just want to say, I'm oddly happy to live in a world where things like this exist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34CZjsEI1yU

Actually kinda enjoyed it despite only understanding *maybe* half of what he said

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Zeus posted...

Actually kinda enjoyed it despite only understanding *maybe* half of what he said

It's an Italian metal band, whose entire gimmick is that they pretend to be dwarves out of Tolkien, singing a cover of a song originally written by Youtubers who play Minecraft, and who threw out a completely spontaneous "song about digging holes".

It's like a living avatar of the concept of nerd culture. And by that I mean actual nerds, not people who pretend to be geeky because "nerds are cool" now.
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Wait, meaning they do nothing but that?

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There's this trilogy I'd written in the past that I may or may not have mentioned in the past. It's one I won't be linking here due to the nature of both sites it is on, but I will say that, to this day, I still get the occasional new reviewer who says they adored and enjoyed the second story, the prequel, but also "How dare you?!" in regards to the devastating, tragic ending of it. The audience who stay around for the third part of this trilogy love that story as well, and find the ending to be most satisfying.

The power of an ending is undeniable. The ride we take to get to those endings is of equal measure.

As a writer, being able to balance these things and provide my audience with a worthwhile experience is a source of great pride. I hope to one day have a plethora of stories out there for various people to enjoy. I'm confident in my ability, but less-so of the time I can commit to my lifelong dream of being a successful writer.

What dreams do y'all hang on to after so many years?

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Entity13 posted...

What dreams do y'all hang on to after so many years?

I still want to publish a CCG, create video games, create a cartoon, write comic books, own an island (which isn't as prohibitive as some of the other things because it doesn't even necessarily require a massive amount of money), create some tabletop games, and... well, there's a lot of little stuff. Granted, if I could get one of the things going, it could help with the other stuff (except maybe for owning an island, that probably wouldn't help with the other stuff).

When I was young, like a great many readers of fiction I had aspired to write enough to fill a small library with books. I get bored or distracted even when writing short fiction, though.

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Zeus posted...

Wait, meaning they do nothing but that?

Yes, every song that band does is basically about Tolkien or dwarves.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Yes, every song that band does is basically about Tolkien or dwarves.

Reminds me of Alestorm, a Scottish group that has the gimmick of "pirate metal."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f55CqLc6IR0&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1F6j9ld_O4kIsIxJFNpqvlCM2VnNt6E1dxYnKjdm-hLTQo643f_rxslhY

Or Sabaton, the Swedish group where all their songs revolve around WW2 battles or events.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVWEb-At8yc

Assuming the Judas Priest concert I'm seeing in October actually still happens, Sabaton will be the opening act.

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Papa Vince is ticked off at Roman Reigns because he didn't work Wrestlemania. Much like myself, Roman is immune compromised, and decided not to show up and work at the performance center for Mania. I guess recovering and surviving cancer isn't enough of a reason for you not to show up for work.

His release might be coming soon, but who knows with Vince. That carnival barker is crazy and upset at the world because he is bleeding money like a stuck piggy.

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My initial assumption was that maybe people were overreacting, and it was just Vince's whole OCD obsession with "Don't hint at matches we don't plan to deliver on" mentality, where he was basically going "If Roman's not going to be around for like a year, let's not mention him and raise expectations that he's going to show up."

But yeah, now it's starting to feel a bit vindictive.
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Entity13 posted...

What dreams do y'all hang on to after so many years?

That's a tough one. I just keep writing to see what happens. Didn't expect to live as long as I have, so I'm kinda making stuff up as I go, at this point.

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Dreams... my dreams died when they took my leg. Naw, I'm joking. Let me think about this for a while, and I will come up with something clever, or at least something deep and profound. (Not likely.)

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I've never had dreams or aspirations, because I've generally always lived in the moment.

I'm fully capable of forward planning (and can and do often come up with elaborate plans or long-term goals), but it's more organizational than aspirational for me.

It's probably the same reason I never really had any idols or role models growing up. Most of my emotionality is rooted in the present and in myself - I don't really spend a lot of time looking outward or ahead, as it were.

It's probably also tied to my impatience - if I want something, I generally act to accomplish that thing as quickly as possible (this is why I make an absolutely terrible person to buy presents for - if I want something I already own it, if I don't already own it I probably don't want it and won't appreciate it). So I've never really had the mindset of "Someday, I hope I can do X" as much as I tend to just get shit done and then appreciate it later.
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I grew up super poor, and didn't have much, and wanted for everything, and made due with the little I did have. Which is why I don't have a lot of dreams either. When you grow up poor and desperate then you learn to not be a dreamer at a very early age, and learn to focus on the here and now. A lot of times when I did get excited for something it lead to disappointment. I just became a realistic person at an early age.

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Actually, my answer is the same more or less as PO's. I never had a "big dream" or heroes/role models. I've really not had a lot of want in my life, so being content in the day-to-day could be why that is. Hell, I don't think it dawned on me until after college that being an author (as in, publishing a work and having someone buy it) would be something I would like to do. And other wants I have aren't what I would call "dreams"- like, I want to visit X country, or get my pilot's license is on the list, but I think the only "dream" I have besides writing is to hit the lottery and become stupid rich, so I can just do whatever I want.

It's annoying, because every new UPM/Producer you meet on a show (especially when you're lower on the totem pole) asks you "What do you want to do in your life/film?" I learned that it's better to give some bullshit fluff answer ("I wanna be a Producer!") or something than say, "I dunno, I'm kinda OK just working and seeing which way the wind blows."

That's not to say I'm not ambitious, but the range in which I'm willing to really pursue a goal is narrow. I mean, I would like to be a UPM/Producer someday, but I'm not willing to make it my driving motivation in life, considering the annoying amount of hard work/luck that would have to go into making that happen.

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Tiny Toons really holds up well.

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I got some POPS. Happened to be in a FedEx store and they had some cheap ones. I got a random Star Wars droid and Arnold from Hey Arnold.
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The Sonic Pop figures look too much like the old shitty ice cream pops

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