I try not to be negative. when i come across something i don't like... i just stop watching/playing it. I may come and do a rant here but after that i stop caring.
i'm still annoyed about most of this stuff.
I'll be frank, this year for all it's up points had some real lows.
and i know one choice in particular is going to annoy some people but understand this is just my opinion and these things just didn't click with me... i don't think they are bad, i just didn't like them.
The rules for the list:
1. I had to see it/play it for the first
time in 2014. This means that older shows/games can be on here as long as i
hadn't seen/played them before.
2. even though i called these things top tens... i may go under or over that limit depending on the situation
3. Everything is fair game.
12. Hamatora
I wouldn't say the show is bad but it just took forever to get anything else across and then they killed off my favourite character so... it's here because i dropped it but i don't think it's bad... just boring. had some interesting artistic choices.
11. La Cordo d'oro -blue sky-
Pointless but at the same time harmless, i wish this had a bit more substance since i remember enjoying the other seasons of this show but this one was just far too bland and whiny.
10. White Album
This show could have been interesting but it ended up just being very dull, i didn't care about either of the girls feelings for the main character because i didn't buy that either of them felt that strongly about him. the art was okay and the music was fine but overall pretty forgettable.
9. Future Diary
I know a lot of people really like this series, one of the people who had a dairy actually ended up triggering a anxiety attack in me so i didn't like it... i just can't deal with the death of a character that young/a character that young being a murderer so i had to stop the instant that happened. Plus i am not a fan of stalker story lines... so yeah... one of the worst shows i've seen all year.
8. DRAMAtical murder
Once again the word pointless comes to mind, things happen but there is no reason to care because the characters don't get enough development... i'm sure that different in the game but it's not the type of game i like to play so i'll never know.
Also that artwork... i know i have called sailor moon, world trigger and samurai flamenco 'derpy' but this title takes the cake for horrendous animation.
7. Bravely Default
I think if i try to put this any higher on the list a bunch of my friends will disown me.
But please listen to why i didn't like this game... first some positive.
The music is amazing, as good as JDK falcom sound team. Revo does an amazing job with the soundtrack.
The pseudo paralax scrolling in the fixed camera towns is so cool! not only does it make it feel like a bit of a pop out story book but it just has such a neat look.
Being able to pick between so many classes is pretty neat and i love the over the top designs for some of them (i mean... merchants have no reason to be that adorable)
So why didn't i like this game?
Overall i'm not sure but i think it has to do with a handful of things.
a) I figured out the plot twist almost immediately... i mean i saw one character speak and i knew exactly what was going to happen... this always bums me out when it happens.. i like being surprised so to figure out everything within the first few hours is just so disappointing... but i'm sorry no one gets that excited or insitant about something without having an agenda.
b) i felt like characters personalities would flip flop a lot, the main girl in particular... i dunno it just made her unlikeable and if i don't like the characters i wont like the game.
c) I was insanely bored of the tedious story before i activated all 4 crystals... so when i heard about what happens after you activate them i was stunned. Had I played to that part and seen thats what they planned to pull... not once, not twice, not thrice but four times? I would have chucked the game out the window. I would be so mad. nothing would have stopped me from putting this at number 1 no matter how much it annoyed my friends. It's just one of the most bullshit moves i have seen to pad out a game since A witch's tale.
however i didn't play that far so... game is only boring to me... still great music
oh and i guess...
d) the combat while interesting at first get broken when you can brave 4 times. which i did for everything except bosses.
oh and
e) environmental hazards.... i don't always hate these but considering how the status effects never seemed to ware off and curing them was a pain... yeah i didn't like it.
So yeah, not a bad game but a game that i really didn't like... maybe BD2 will fix all the issues i had with 1... i'll probably never know unless i hear from everyone how different it is.
oh wait.
f) microtransactions? really? this game already cost me 45 bucks... screw your micro transactions
ok enough of that.
6. Yowapeda
This one upsets me cause it was really fun and sweet and then they get to the grand prix and it just grinds to a halt, they stop focusing on Onoda and focus on all these characters i don't care about. I thought after the first sprint Abu guy would shut up but NOPE... we continually cut back to him talking to andy and frank (his pecks) and i just couldn't sit through it anymore... plus it was taking forever... dragon ball z levels of time passing so slow snails are telling you to hurry up.
5. Glasslip
Every week i tuned into this hoping it would have some kind of point
a message
a theme
just some reason for existing.
every week i was disappointed.
the animation was decent but considering which animation house it came out of boy was this show a huge disappointment.
4. Brynhildr in the Darkness
It could have been interesting
it could have had a point.
instead it wanted to be a harem show with one of the worst deus ex machina/god mode endings i have ever seen.
it didn't even set off my fear of space cause it was just so unfathomably stupid. but what could i expect in the end... it was just a stupid harem show.
3. Golden Time
this was made by the same creator as Toradora.
Toradora is adorable and sincere and sweet and well made.
this makes me wonder if the creator actually had amnesia and forgot how to tell a good story.
I'm supposed to like this girl? i'm supposed to care about her getting together with banri even though she is awful to him the entire series? I'm not saying Linda would have been better but had the story focused on linda and banri things would have made more sense.
but it doens't it focuses on koko for no reason... i don't understand how this was made by the same person who made toradora. i do not get it.
2. Wolf Girl and Black prince.
This one may be as high as it is cause it's so recent.... but honestly i think it's here cause it glorifies an extremely abusive relationship and it's supposed to be cute and endearing? NO. No you stupid piece of crap that is not sweet... becoming more submissive to avoid setting off your boyrfriend isn't cute. having your boyfriend get you hopes up just to crush them and revel in your broken hearted face is not adorable. NO. Easily one of the worst shojo titles i have ever seen and i think it will bump free for my top five all time shows that make me rage.
Free is dumb but harmless.... this... everytime i see something who thinks this is cute i worry that they will think abusive relationships in real life are okay. they are not... if you have someone treating you like that or breaking your stuff or isolating you from your friends or treats you like an objects then get out of there. do not hesitate, just leave.
And the number one worst thing i endured this year shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who hears me talk about it. (just to reiterate it is playable but boy i didn't like it)
1. Tales of Xillia 2
This game doesn't need to exist. That may sound harsh but this game could have never happened and nothing would have been lost. (ok maybe elle... she is pretty darn cute)
The plot is pointless, this doesn't need to be a Xillia game it may have been better if it weren't but the main character is so bland i don't even think it could have been saved by being called something else.
maybe it would have been better if Elle was actually the main character since she is bursting with personality but... uh.... Ludger? that was his name right? well he's extremely bland and thats in part because of the stupid choice to make him silent (unless you beat the game, then you can unlock his voice) all for a twist that you can figure out the second you see elle.
Maybe if it had a theme of the ramification of choice it could have been really cool. but it doesn't, the choices are arbitrary and do not change a damn thing... it's not even really the illusion choice and most of the time the choices you have suck and are not things you would do... or they are slightly different worded options for the same thing. the best you will probably get is an extra line of dialogue from a character if you pick right.
And then there are returning characters who have less personality then they did in game one. Like i can't count the number of times a certain character betrayed you in the first game but thats more then he ever does in this game... he's just there cause he was in the first one.
I do like that you get some character you couldn't play as in the first game.... thats pretty cool.
I hate that you can't change your characters on the fly anymore since that was the best part of xillia 1.
but the saddest thing of all were the stupid forced breaks to pay off your debt... just to have your debt paid off in the final chapter no matter what... i mean i'm sure theres a different ending for payign it off yourself but i will never know because i can't be bothered to do so that much useless padding.
I swear if you tried you could beat this game in 10 hours on easy.
I know cause i beat it in like 15-17 on normal
also most of the music for the planet without mana is terrible.
so we have bad music, bad character, pointless predictable story, a worst combat system then it's predecessor and no overarching theme or plot lines to make it interesting (not to mention less then no reason for the characters from Xillia 1 to be there)
Therefor i just have to say it was the worst thing i played this past year.
Agree? Disagree? either way it's fine, most of these i have personal reason for disliking and i don't expect anyone to agree. what was the worst piece of media you experienced this year?
I hope you had a great 2014, i hope 2015 is even better! Have a happy new year everyone.
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
Monday, 29 December 2014
Year End Top Ten: Video games
This year was Sony heavy... in fact all the games i beat this year were either Psvita or PS3... partially because i was playing catch up on these systems but also because the games i did get on other systems are technically games you beat. and i could put smash 3ds on here but... honestly was a little dissapointed by it (and i dont get the wii U version till christmas and i'm writing this on the 22nd)
Also you are going to notice a trend in titles... again i was playing catch up this year cause nothing new really interested me.
The rules for the list:
1. I had to finish it for the first time in 2014. This means that older games can be on here as long as i hadn't played them before.
2. even though i called these things top tens... i may go under or over that limit depending on the situation
a final note this is all my personal opinion, if you don't like the titles i put on this list then please tell me your top ten of the year!
Alright so i only beat 12 games this year... and one of them will be on my next list so only one Honourable mention this year and that is....
Tales of Xillia
It's okay, i really like that you can switch out characters on the fly but i felt like splitting the story up into to stories was just a way to artificially extend the gameplay. I also felt like some of the characters were a bit bland but overall better then i expected.
Okay onto the list.
10. Atelier Meruru (vita)
I really like the Atelier games, i played a lot of them this year (haven't played rorona yet... just waiting for it to go on sale... i'm not made of money) however this one was easily my least favourite of the bunch. that doesn't mean it's bad... it had some of the prettiest male character in the entire series... the open endedness of the goal was kind of nice....
But i couldn't stand Meruru... I have to wonder how she remembers to breath she is just so dense.
it doesn't help that on my first playthrough despite trying really hard the time limit caught up to me and i got the bad ending.
Also there wasn't a plot (at least compared to the other ones i played) just this goal of have more people live there... but no side goal of trying to find family or running away from past mistakes.
9. Tales of Hearts R (vita)
I should preface this by saying i loved most of the games i beat this year and this game in any other year would be much higher. The only reason it's so low is the less then stellar translation... i don't like when i hear one thing but read a almost completely different plotline... i don't like hearing Shingu but reading Kor. If you are presenting it in the original language the translation needs to be as accurate as possible... you want to change things then dub it. Still the combat was great (though a bit easy at points) and i love the fact that it came here and if you own a Vita you owe it to yourself to get this game.
8. Atelier Ayesha (ps3)
Again, a great game... i love how natural the exploring feels and the characters are wonderful but Ayesha is just so whiny and annoying half the time... if i don't like the main character i'm probably not going to like the rest of the plot. still as far as starting off a new set of the atelier games i think it does a wonderful job and playing on my nice big tv was a joy.
7. Disgaea 3 (vita)
It's strange... i remember really liking this one.... but thinking back i don't remember any key events like i do with D1... i vaguely remember the main character and the whole you have to be bad to be considered good dynamic but in the end it felt more like a setting of convenience then a plot driving these characters forward. But none of these games are bad on this list... it just didn't stick with me as much as other titles here.
6. Danganronpa (vita)
One of the most fun Visual novel games i have played, i love the action elements of the court room (though some still felt a little gimmicky... oh well) HOWEVER... playing this game made me miss the complexity of the zero escape series. Still loved it... wish i could replay but thats part of the problem with this type of game... you beat it once and know all the solutions. still love the art and the gameplay..... music not so much but oh well it fits.
5. Danganronpa 2 (vita)
This fixes some of the problems i had with 1, the music is better... the cast is larger... the plot is stronger and that ending was practically perfect at tying up everything and leaving me excited for Danganronpa 3 (you know... around the time Zero escape 3 releases *has a little cry*) but again... this game (more so then the other for reasons) reminded me way more of the zero escape games and just made me sad... i want the conclusion to that series... i want to know what happens after [spoiler] goes to [spoiler] and then [spoiler]. Still a great visual novel and everyone should go play them...... and 999 and virtues last reward since if more people buy them maybe we will get 3 *cries more*
4. Atelier Totori (vita)
This was the first Atelier game i played (not the first gust game... that was mana khemia) and i loved it. The plot was great, the character designs are lovely, the music is really pretty and the exploration felt pretty natural. Sure it was a bit more fanservicy then i was expecting... that okay.. .i would just enjoy Sterk. the game play was great i love the alchemy system and yeah... overall a good time... 3 games were just more fun to me though. i do laugh that i got to the final boss on like the last few days of the game... oh well.
3. Atelier Escha and Logy (ps3)
true story, the pronunciation in the english dub was so poor i had to play in japanese to keep my head from exploding.
on the other hand Gorgeous male character to play as... lots of fanservice aimed in my direction and just overall lovely colourful lush and thought out world? hell yes!
"but doesn't this just split up the story to pad gameplay like xillia?" YEP... don't care... i like these characters... and i haven't played Escha's plot yet... i am planning to soon because i am curious. This game is the reason i'm excited for the next atelier game which again apparently has two mains... though i hope for that one instead of it being two plots it's more like "this character is good at alchemy and this one is good at gathering..." that kinda what i expected from Escha and logy and yeah... not so much. Still get this game, wait for the + version on vita but get it.
2. Disgaea 4 (vita)
I enjoyed this one nearly as much as i enjoyed Disgaea 1. Valvatorez has one of the best plots of the series. the comedy was on point, i was actually surprised by some of the twists and yeah just overall really enjoyed the story. The map design was okay... i notice they are starting to reuse some maps and that makes me sad. Still in the end it's the only disgaea game since 1 where i was interested in getting other ending or trying to do post game content. Also that art, i love the artist style... always have... it just feels top notch in this game.
And the number one game which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone considering there is no Ys title this year.
1. Tales of Graces F (specifically Lines and Lineage) (ps3)
I'll be honest, Tales of graces is good... not great, if i were only talking about it it would probably be 5 instead of 1. However the post game content called lines and lineage is not only some of the best post game content i have ever seen... it makes this entire game my second favourite tales of game ever. Bumping out Abyss and Vesperia (though that could change if i stop being a lazy bum and beat vesperia)
It deals with some of my favourite themes and it does it magically. It broke my heart to watch but i couldn't stop smiling. It should have had it's own disk and been called Graces 2.... it's better then some other sequels Tales of has done... and it's relegated to this thing that i bet most people don't end up playing cause we all have piled of games we need to beat... no time for post game content... but it's not post game content it's a whole other game with new mechanics and plot and character development and it's wonderfully executed.
I cannot stop gushing over this game so it just had to be my number one pick of the year.
still kinda bummed no falcom this year... oh well.
What do you think? what was the best game you beat this year? let me know!
Tomorrow i will be discussing my 10 worst things of the year and this will be both Anime and video games mixed together.
Orenchi no Furo jijo
How do i review something that is only 4 minutes long for 13 week...
hm...
I can't really.
It's a cute little comedy show that deals with a Merman staying in the bathtub.
Why is he there? who knows but more importantly who cares... it's 4 mins long and it's just supposed to be cute and fun and it succeeds in that.
If you were worried about it being Shonen Ai it's not really... the most they do is share a bath because.... well where is the merman going to go when they bath?
Considering it's a webshow it's got one of the better intro songs (yeah something that is 4 mins long puts aside 30 seconds for intro... and another 15 or so for ending gag)this season and the animation is actually very pretty.
I found it charming and fun but i have a hard time recommending it since it's not insanely funny or clever. It just is what it is.
Also i know i say no webshows... i barely watched anything this season so the webshows i did watch filled the gaps.
Also Merman.... i enjoy those *nods*
alright Top Video games will be posted in a few hours so i hope you look forward to that.
hm...
I can't really.
It's a cute little comedy show that deals with a Merman staying in the bathtub.
Why is he there? who knows but more importantly who cares... it's 4 mins long and it's just supposed to be cute and fun and it succeeds in that.
If you were worried about it being Shonen Ai it's not really... the most they do is share a bath because.... well where is the merman going to go when they bath?
Considering it's a webshow it's got one of the better intro songs (yeah something that is 4 mins long puts aside 30 seconds for intro... and another 15 or so for ending gag)this season and the animation is actually very pretty.
I found it charming and fun but i have a hard time recommending it since it's not insanely funny or clever. It just is what it is.
Also i know i say no webshows... i barely watched anything this season so the webshows i did watch filled the gaps.
Also Merman.... i enjoy those *nods*
alright Top Video games will be posted in a few hours so i hope you look forward to that.
Sunday, 28 December 2014
Year end Top Ten 2014: Anime
So i watch a lot of anime.
Some would argue too much
i would argue too much actually.
But i can't help it, i love it. This year i completed 42 shows (not including the stuff i rewatched).
8 were films.
1 was a webshow
2 were OVAs
and the rest were 13-26 episode shows.
Did i like all of them?
No... but thats bound to happen... not everything can be good.
however i have narrowed it down to the titles i think everyone should go see.
The rules for the list:
1. I had to finish it for the first time in 2014. This means that older shows can be on here as long as i hadn't seen them before.
2. even though i called these things top tens... i may go under or over that limit depending on the situation
a final note this is all my personal opinion, if you don't like the titles i put on this list then please tell me your top ten of the year!
Honourable Mentions:
Samurai Flamenco
I really enjoyed this show, i thought it was sweet and funny even if it has horrendous pacing and half the reason i liked it was cause it was like an alternate universe Kyon. But despite the fact that i like it i can't really recommend it anyone cause again it has serious pacing problems, derpy animation and just really stupid moments.
still good in my opinion but yeah, not good enough to be top 10.
Attack on titan
Really great show, i was extremely late on the bandwagon (mostly so the hype could die down so if i didn't like it people wouldn't threaten me) the reason it's not top ten is because it's a bit obvious... pretty much everyone has seen it and most see how good it is so no point in having it on the top ten... and besides there are other shows that overall stuck with me more.
Ano Hana: letters to Menma
I really enjoyed what this movie added to the overall story and showing the flower that they saw that day was brilliant (cause i know the name of it) but it was a bit too flashback heavy so it didn't feel completely new. Still enjoyed seeing it in theaters with friends and bawling like a baby but i prefered some other titles more.
Natsume Yuujinchou OVAs
Because if i don't put it here then it'll be number 1 and i can't be too predictable can i? the other reason it's here is because watching this raw was pretty hard, i loved every minute of it but doing that much translation in my head is still pretty draining. I do love that it comes with the stage reading disk which has some of the loveliest music i have ever heard but still... this would automatically be number 1 and thats not terribly fair.
Ok onto top ten!
10. Karneval
I thought this show was fun, i love all the colour and music and character design BUT it ends in a way that would hint to another season and considering how the first season was received i doubt we'll be getting more any time soon. It was licensed by Funimation and if you are curious you can go check it out on their website.
9. Captain Earth
I am convinced i am one of the only people out there who like this show, much like samuai flamenco this should probably be an honourable mention but dammit i like it too much to do that.
The music is great, the designs are lovely and even though sometimes they go into space it never gave me a panic attack. A+ show in my eyes.
even if no one else agrees. You can watch it over on Crunchyroll and Sentai has licensed the physical release.
8. Princess Jellyfish
This show is far too funny, it's sweet and charming but also kind of ends part way through. I have been reading the manga which is a bit of a bad idea since the actions of one of the main characters has made me dislike them so thats probably why this is as far down the list as it is... well that and i really love all the titles i'm about to mention. Licensed by funimation and is viewable on their site and netflix
7. Wolf Children
So much crying... my friend put it best, this film makes you want to go and hug your family. It's just a wonderful supernatural slice of live with some of the most stunning back ground animation i have ever seen. One thing i didn't like was the ending... i just felt like a simple action could have negated all that trouble. otherwise it's lovely and everyone should watch it if they get the chance. It is licensed by Funimation but i'm not sure if it's watchable online
I didn't expect it would already be this hard to pick... hm.
6. Barakamon
This sweet summer time story will give you feels, you end up caring for all these character and watching just a wonderful sense of community with everyone in town. unfortunately since it's about calligraphy a lot of the artform was probably lost on me, i could see it was lovely but not understand the nuances. Still one of the best shows of the year. You can watch it over on Funimations website.
5. Ys 2: Castle in the heavens
I adore that this goes into the part of the lore dealing with the fact that Adol may actually be the devil. That made me squeal in delight when it was revealed. However i know not everyone likes Ys as much as me and the animation is quite outdated so better to have it on the list but not too high.
I still am sad that the Ys4 trailer was just a pitch and not an actual anime... i want it so bad. The dvd was put out by Anime Works and you can get it pretty cheap.
4. Blue Spring Ride
It's getting too hard to pick. This show gave me a lot of feels and I adore the overarching theme of how much people can change (or seem to change) in a few years. The animation is stunning, the story is one of the best Shojo titles i've seen this year and i so hope we eventually get more as the manga gets ahead. Also stunning artwork. You can watch it on Crunchyroll and it'll be released by sentai eventually.
3. Nagi no asukura
The first half of this show was cute but nothing special... but then we get into the second half and it easily skyrocketed to one of my fav shows of the year. The art, the music, the overall theme... the fact that it's kinda an enviromental story without shoving it's message down your throat. It's all just so well done and when i heard that NISA got the rights i was as happy as could be. I can't wait to own this. For now though you can watch it on Crunchyroll.
2. Noragami
Honestly i expected this to be my fav show this year.
It's got my fav voice actor, some of my favourite subject material, stunning animation, brilliant music and to date is the only title that reading auxiliary material for it made me cry (granted that was the manga not the show) however despite all that it's not the show i keep thinking about months after it ended. I look forward to owning it whenever it comes out and i did order a few yatogami mugs and a figure but there is still one title i think i enjoyed even more this year. but before that if you wanna watch noragami it's on funimation and netflix
1. Monthly girls' nozaki-kun
This show has everything. Comedy, sweetness, artist problems, catchy music, wonderful character design, character arcs for everyone (and when you consider it's a 4koma thats really impressive) and potentially the funniest tear inducing ending ever.
I was literally laughing and crying at the same time. That never happens. i can't wait for more, it could easily have another season or two but right now i just hope the manga gets licensed since it is practically perfection. It's the only title i tell everyone no matter how much they like comedy anime to go watch cause it's pretty much universal comedy. If you get the chance go over to Crunchyroll and marathon it, you will be glad you did. Otherwise Sentai got the license and much like a few other titles here i am just waiting to be able to pick it up.
And thats my list! Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you top shows were this past year!
Tomorrow: Top 10 games 2014!
Some would argue too much
i would argue too much actually.
But i can't help it, i love it. This year i completed 42 shows (not including the stuff i rewatched).
8 were films.
1 was a webshow
2 were OVAs
and the rest were 13-26 episode shows.
Did i like all of them?
No... but thats bound to happen... not everything can be good.
however i have narrowed it down to the titles i think everyone should go see.
The rules for the list:
1. I had to finish it for the first time in 2014. This means that older shows can be on here as long as i hadn't seen them before.
2. even though i called these things top tens... i may go under or over that limit depending on the situation
a final note this is all my personal opinion, if you don't like the titles i put on this list then please tell me your top ten of the year!
Honourable Mentions:
Samurai Flamenco
I really enjoyed this show, i thought it was sweet and funny even if it has horrendous pacing and half the reason i liked it was cause it was like an alternate universe Kyon. But despite the fact that i like it i can't really recommend it anyone cause again it has serious pacing problems, derpy animation and just really stupid moments.
still good in my opinion but yeah, not good enough to be top 10.
Attack on titan
Really great show, i was extremely late on the bandwagon (mostly so the hype could die down so if i didn't like it people wouldn't threaten me) the reason it's not top ten is because it's a bit obvious... pretty much everyone has seen it and most see how good it is so no point in having it on the top ten... and besides there are other shows that overall stuck with me more.
Ano Hana: letters to Menma
I really enjoyed what this movie added to the overall story and showing the flower that they saw that day was brilliant (cause i know the name of it) but it was a bit too flashback heavy so it didn't feel completely new. Still enjoyed seeing it in theaters with friends and bawling like a baby but i prefered some other titles more.
Natsume Yuujinchou OVAs
Because if i don't put it here then it'll be number 1 and i can't be too predictable can i? the other reason it's here is because watching this raw was pretty hard, i loved every minute of it but doing that much translation in my head is still pretty draining. I do love that it comes with the stage reading disk which has some of the loveliest music i have ever heard but still... this would automatically be number 1 and thats not terribly fair.
Ok onto top ten!
10. Karneval
I thought this show was fun, i love all the colour and music and character design BUT it ends in a way that would hint to another season and considering how the first season was received i doubt we'll be getting more any time soon. It was licensed by Funimation and if you are curious you can go check it out on their website.
9. Captain Earth
I am convinced i am one of the only people out there who like this show, much like samuai flamenco this should probably be an honourable mention but dammit i like it too much to do that.
The music is great, the designs are lovely and even though sometimes they go into space it never gave me a panic attack. A+ show in my eyes.
even if no one else agrees. You can watch it over on Crunchyroll and Sentai has licensed the physical release.
8. Princess Jellyfish
This show is far too funny, it's sweet and charming but also kind of ends part way through. I have been reading the manga which is a bit of a bad idea since the actions of one of the main characters has made me dislike them so thats probably why this is as far down the list as it is... well that and i really love all the titles i'm about to mention. Licensed by funimation and is viewable on their site and netflix
7. Wolf Children
So much crying... my friend put it best, this film makes you want to go and hug your family. It's just a wonderful supernatural slice of live with some of the most stunning back ground animation i have ever seen. One thing i didn't like was the ending... i just felt like a simple action could have negated all that trouble. otherwise it's lovely and everyone should watch it if they get the chance. It is licensed by Funimation but i'm not sure if it's watchable online
I didn't expect it would already be this hard to pick... hm.
6. Barakamon
This sweet summer time story will give you feels, you end up caring for all these character and watching just a wonderful sense of community with everyone in town. unfortunately since it's about calligraphy a lot of the artform was probably lost on me, i could see it was lovely but not understand the nuances. Still one of the best shows of the year. You can watch it over on Funimations website.
5. Ys 2: Castle in the heavens
I adore that this goes into the part of the lore dealing with the fact that Adol may actually be the devil. That made me squeal in delight when it was revealed. However i know not everyone likes Ys as much as me and the animation is quite outdated so better to have it on the list but not too high.
I still am sad that the Ys4 trailer was just a pitch and not an actual anime... i want it so bad. The dvd was put out by Anime Works and you can get it pretty cheap.
4. Blue Spring Ride
It's getting too hard to pick. This show gave me a lot of feels and I adore the overarching theme of how much people can change (or seem to change) in a few years. The animation is stunning, the story is one of the best Shojo titles i've seen this year and i so hope we eventually get more as the manga gets ahead. Also stunning artwork. You can watch it on Crunchyroll and it'll be released by sentai eventually.
3. Nagi no asukura
The first half of this show was cute but nothing special... but then we get into the second half and it easily skyrocketed to one of my fav shows of the year. The art, the music, the overall theme... the fact that it's kinda an enviromental story without shoving it's message down your throat. It's all just so well done and when i heard that NISA got the rights i was as happy as could be. I can't wait to own this. For now though you can watch it on Crunchyroll.
2. Noragami
Honestly i expected this to be my fav show this year.
It's got my fav voice actor, some of my favourite subject material, stunning animation, brilliant music and to date is the only title that reading auxiliary material for it made me cry (granted that was the manga not the show) however despite all that it's not the show i keep thinking about months after it ended. I look forward to owning it whenever it comes out and i did order a few yatogami mugs and a figure but there is still one title i think i enjoyed even more this year. but before that if you wanna watch noragami it's on funimation and netflix
1. Monthly girls' nozaki-kun
This show has everything. Comedy, sweetness, artist problems, catchy music, wonderful character design, character arcs for everyone (and when you consider it's a 4koma thats really impressive) and potentially the funniest tear inducing ending ever.
I was literally laughing and crying at the same time. That never happens. i can't wait for more, it could easily have another season or two but right now i just hope the manga gets licensed since it is practically perfection. It's the only title i tell everyone no matter how much they like comedy anime to go watch cause it's pretty much universal comedy. If you get the chance go over to Crunchyroll and marathon it, you will be glad you did. Otherwise Sentai got the license and much like a few other titles here i am just waiting to be able to pick it up.
And thats my list! Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you top shows were this past year!
Tomorrow: Top 10 games 2014!
Saturday, 27 December 2014
Laughing under the cloud
Most inaccurate title this year, the title should be "oh look i'm crying again"
This was really the only Funimation show i stuck with this season. it had an interesting art style and even though the actual plot isn't revealed for a few episodes it was intriguing enough to keep watching. Granted i did wait till the season was nearly over and just marathoned it (which i think is the best way to watch it)
The plot follows the three brothers of the Kumoh Shrine, they have been tasked with ferrying criminals to a prison in the middle of Lake Biwa that is said to be inescapable.
However thats not the plot at all the plot is actually about a giant Snake named Orochi that is revived every 300 years in a human host and must be destroyed before it fully awakens or else the world will be destroyed.
While i quite enjoyed the show a thought hit me while watching this final episode.
"damn i've already written my top 10 shows of the year" but then i paused and really thought about it. despite enjoying the show it's no where near the top ten of the year for me... it wouldn't even crack the honourable mentions.
Why?
Well the obvious one being that my top ten was hard enough to pick already, i love pretty much all the shows on it more then i can describe.
But besides that this show has some huge problems... the biggest one being pacing and the second biggest being lack of direction.
Like i said there are two plots and the first one is really inconsequential to the overall story. you only see them ferry anyone across the lake twice.... three times tops.The mystery of the prison is solved incredibly early and what happens in the second half of the series regarding the prison feels forced and unexplained.
Without spoiling too much when a character is introduced quite late in the series what happens just felt way too convenient and in part destroyed some of the set up from earlier.
The ending is also really rushed, the problem with a 12 episode show that doesn't introduce the actual plot till halfway i guess.
Still i did enjoy the show, i got connected to the characters enough to cry at certain parts, the lore of the world is really well done but there is just way too much convenience with characters meeting or acting a certain way or changing at certain parts... i just didn't always buy into it and that took me out of the experience.
Still if you are north america i suggest checking it out on FUNimation's website, it's all available for free (and if you pay you can actually see the Dub, the whole SimulDub is a pretty neat advancement if you ask me, i don't have a sub to Funimation site though so i haven't heard it yet)
otherwise i don't have much else finishing this season... i do hope next season has a few more shows to enjoy (even though i may end up working soon)
Anyways
The good:
Animation, music, intro and ending song changing it's visuals depending on plot progression.
the not so good:
Scattered, poor pacing, doesn't introduce the actual plot till quite far in and it makes you wonder why bother with the first half of the show.
The bad:
Short, potentially could have had more depth with more time.
This was really the only Funimation show i stuck with this season. it had an interesting art style and even though the actual plot isn't revealed for a few episodes it was intriguing enough to keep watching. Granted i did wait till the season was nearly over and just marathoned it (which i think is the best way to watch it)
The plot follows the three brothers of the Kumoh Shrine, they have been tasked with ferrying criminals to a prison in the middle of Lake Biwa that is said to be inescapable.
However thats not the plot at all the plot is actually about a giant Snake named Orochi that is revived every 300 years in a human host and must be destroyed before it fully awakens or else the world will be destroyed.
While i quite enjoyed the show a thought hit me while watching this final episode.
"damn i've already written my top 10 shows of the year" but then i paused and really thought about it. despite enjoying the show it's no where near the top ten of the year for me... it wouldn't even crack the honourable mentions.
Why?
Well the obvious one being that my top ten was hard enough to pick already, i love pretty much all the shows on it more then i can describe.
But besides that this show has some huge problems... the biggest one being pacing and the second biggest being lack of direction.
Like i said there are two plots and the first one is really inconsequential to the overall story. you only see them ferry anyone across the lake twice.... three times tops.The mystery of the prison is solved incredibly early and what happens in the second half of the series regarding the prison feels forced and unexplained.
Without spoiling too much when a character is introduced quite late in the series what happens just felt way too convenient and in part destroyed some of the set up from earlier.
The ending is also really rushed, the problem with a 12 episode show that doesn't introduce the actual plot till halfway i guess.
Still i did enjoy the show, i got connected to the characters enough to cry at certain parts, the lore of the world is really well done but there is just way too much convenience with characters meeting or acting a certain way or changing at certain parts... i just didn't always buy into it and that took me out of the experience.
Still if you are north america i suggest checking it out on FUNimation's website, it's all available for free (and if you pay you can actually see the Dub, the whole SimulDub is a pretty neat advancement if you ask me, i don't have a sub to Funimation site though so i haven't heard it yet)
otherwise i don't have much else finishing this season... i do hope next season has a few more shows to enjoy (even though i may end up working soon)
Anyways
The good:
Animation, music, intro and ending song changing it's visuals depending on plot progression.
the not so good:
Scattered, poor pacing, doesn't introduce the actual plot till quite far in and it makes you wonder why bother with the first half of the show.
The bad:
Short, potentially could have had more depth with more time.
Sunday, 21 December 2014
Wolf Girl and Black Prince
i'm going to not retread ground from my rant so you are welcome to read that here but now i'm going to try and talk about the show as a whole.
and if you don't wanna read my rant (i don't blame you it's long) the TL;dr: Abusive relationships are NEVER cute and glorifying one is pretty twisted.
So wolf girl and black prince is a Romantic comedy where the hook is a girl who lies about everything accidentally picks the most popular boy in school to be her fake boyfriend and magically he agrees to it.... on the condition that she will then be his dog.
Personally the "you are my slave" brand of shojo titles don't always bug me since most of the time the person is just bossy and not actually mentally and verbally abusive and they often end up getting put in their place by the halfway point. However when they are abusive boy does it remind me that some people have a really screwed up sense of what love is.
Though in most title in this vein the "Master" character always learned that their ways are horrible and change to be better people.
NOT THIS ONE.
Kyoya NEVER changes
he is horrendous to her the entire 12 episodes.
he is calling her names, refusing to do anything she wants (expecting her to drop everything for him though), playing with her emotions and even deleting things off her phone or destroying her things cause it annoys him (despite her treasuring it) and we are supposed to thing this is cute because occasionally he shows himself to be a little caring (and a lot possessive).
And in the end the show just ends, no one has had any kind of character arc, Erika is still blander then dry toast (infact she gets worse over the course of the show since her solution to kyoya's verbal and mental abuse is to become more submissive as to not set him off[i couldn't make this shit up if i tried]) Kyoya is still an asshole (who now occasionally smiles... great... oh and he's willing to dig through trash with erika even though it's his fault she got in such a panicked mess about losing something)
Best friends gotten through lives added nothing to the plot, best friend who sees through the eyes gave nothing to the plot, womaniser boy gave nothing to the plot.
This show could not exist and nothing would be lost or gained... well at least there would be one less glorified abusive relationship out there.
is it all bad? no. The intro and ending song are fun.
thats about it.
is the show bad enough to get into my all time shows that make me rage?... maybe i'll have to think about it... top 10 for sure but not sure if it can crack top five with competition like School days, amnesia, SAO, k-on and free... hm... maybe it'll bump free cause free is harmless it's just the reason we got a run of crappy fanservice for girls shows (come on is plot really that hard to have with fanservice?)
but yeah, didn't like this show, will not ever reccomend, avoid at all cost... go watch Ao Haru Ride instead
and if you don't wanna read my rant (i don't blame you it's long) the TL;dr: Abusive relationships are NEVER cute and glorifying one is pretty twisted.
So wolf girl and black prince is a Romantic comedy where the hook is a girl who lies about everything accidentally picks the most popular boy in school to be her fake boyfriend and magically he agrees to it.... on the condition that she will then be his dog.
Personally the "you are my slave" brand of shojo titles don't always bug me since most of the time the person is just bossy and not actually mentally and verbally abusive and they often end up getting put in their place by the halfway point. However when they are abusive boy does it remind me that some people have a really screwed up sense of what love is.
Though in most title in this vein the "Master" character always learned that their ways are horrible and change to be better people.
NOT THIS ONE.
Kyoya NEVER changes
he is horrendous to her the entire 12 episodes.
he is calling her names, refusing to do anything she wants (expecting her to drop everything for him though), playing with her emotions and even deleting things off her phone or destroying her things cause it annoys him (despite her treasuring it) and we are supposed to thing this is cute because occasionally he shows himself to be a little caring (and a lot possessive).
And in the end the show just ends, no one has had any kind of character arc, Erika is still blander then dry toast (infact she gets worse over the course of the show since her solution to kyoya's verbal and mental abuse is to become more submissive as to not set him off[i couldn't make this shit up if i tried]) Kyoya is still an asshole (who now occasionally smiles... great... oh and he's willing to dig through trash with erika even though it's his fault she got in such a panicked mess about losing something)
Best friends gotten through lives added nothing to the plot, best friend who sees through the eyes gave nothing to the plot, womaniser boy gave nothing to the plot.
This show could not exist and nothing would be lost or gained... well at least there would be one less glorified abusive relationship out there.
is it all bad? no. The intro and ending song are fun.
thats about it.
is the show bad enough to get into my all time shows that make me rage?... maybe i'll have to think about it... top 10 for sure but not sure if it can crack top five with competition like School days, amnesia, SAO, k-on and free... hm... maybe it'll bump free cause free is harmless it's just the reason we got a run of crappy fanservice for girls shows (come on is plot really that hard to have with fanservice?)
but yeah, didn't like this show, will not ever reccomend, avoid at all cost... go watch Ao Haru Ride instead
Monday, 15 December 2014
My Fav Christmas/Winter Anime
this will be off the top of my head so if i forget an obvious one sorry.
A brief history of me and Holiday media... I'm the person who's christmas consists of such classics as A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, The Ref (which is the best holiday film but be warned it's a dark comedy), Die Hard and Leathal weapon.
Most Christmas movies are just a little too sappy and unrealistic for me personally (or i didn't grow up with them) but i have never had that issue with Christmas episodes in anime (probably because i haven't seen too many bad ones) mostly because the amount they get wrong is just too funny for me.
Still this time of year i get in the mood to either watch a show that takes place during winter or one with a focus on christmas.
Here are some of my favorites in no particular order.
1. Toradora!
The first time i watched this show it took me a while to warm up to it, i have since rewatched it multiple times and gotten friends to watch it as well and i really do adore all the sincere/happy/heartbreaking moments. Some of the best moments take place over christmas in this show... and it's actually a large portion of the show spanning 2 or 3 episodes. It's just the warmest and saddest arc i have seen and this year it's what i'm watching over christmas.
2. Clannad or Kanon
Clannad is kinda cheating since Christmas is barely mentioned but winter (or more accurately snow) is an important part of the show so i feel like it's okay to watch this time of year... you know if i feel like crying.
Kanon is Key/Vis arts set in winter anime so again, no christmas but still good for the holiday season... and tears... not as much as clannad but clannad is also twice the length.
3. Kodocha
I wish we could legally get everything after 'season two' (as north america called it)... one of the major plot points is that since one character never celebrated a brithday the main character makes up this Mid birthday thing and the midpoint between their birthday happens to be christmas eve and again it's just a sweet couple of episodes (over multiple years) and yeah the connection to christmas is more so that there are gifts exchanged on that day but it's just really sweet and gets the overall feeling of the holiday.
4. Cardcaptor sakura
The episode where they celebrate Yukito's birthday is one of my fav and it just happens to take place on Christmas and that's good enough to watch it during this time of year (however... i'm still recovering from that horrendous dub so not this year)
5. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
I don't care that this movie is like... 3 hours long.
I love it
and it's 100% a christmas film.
it takes place about a week before christmas and it's just so good, and yeah the overall plot never touches on christmas but it is important.
Unfortunately i can't describe it anymore cause mentioning anything about it is a spoiler.
i will say it's best to watch the series before watching the movie, it's not really necessary but it's good for clearing up certain.... things.
6. Natsume Yuujinchou
a) it occasionally is winter in the show.... good enough.
b) i swear every 3 months or so i just need to rewatch this show and sometimes that falls over winter.
Okay thats all i can BS for 'christmas' anime... there are ones that fit the theme better but ask anyone and most of them are no good. (see Love Hina, school days) but i prefer to rewatch things i like... and i like all these titles so much.
What are your favourite shows to watch over christmas?
A brief history of me and Holiday media... I'm the person who's christmas consists of such classics as A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, The Ref (which is the best holiday film but be warned it's a dark comedy), Die Hard and Leathal weapon.
Most Christmas movies are just a little too sappy and unrealistic for me personally (or i didn't grow up with them) but i have never had that issue with Christmas episodes in anime (probably because i haven't seen too many bad ones) mostly because the amount they get wrong is just too funny for me.
Still this time of year i get in the mood to either watch a show that takes place during winter or one with a focus on christmas.
Here are some of my favorites in no particular order.
1. Toradora!
The first time i watched this show it took me a while to warm up to it, i have since rewatched it multiple times and gotten friends to watch it as well and i really do adore all the sincere/happy/heartbreaking moments. Some of the best moments take place over christmas in this show... and it's actually a large portion of the show spanning 2 or 3 episodes. It's just the warmest and saddest arc i have seen and this year it's what i'm watching over christmas.
2. Clannad or Kanon
Clannad is kinda cheating since Christmas is barely mentioned but winter (or more accurately snow) is an important part of the show so i feel like it's okay to watch this time of year... you know if i feel like crying.
Kanon is Key/Vis arts set in winter anime so again, no christmas but still good for the holiday season... and tears... not as much as clannad but clannad is also twice the length.
3. Kodocha
I wish we could legally get everything after 'season two' (as north america called it)... one of the major plot points is that since one character never celebrated a brithday the main character makes up this Mid birthday thing and the midpoint between their birthday happens to be christmas eve and again it's just a sweet couple of episodes (over multiple years) and yeah the connection to christmas is more so that there are gifts exchanged on that day but it's just really sweet and gets the overall feeling of the holiday.
4. Cardcaptor sakura
The episode where they celebrate Yukito's birthday is one of my fav and it just happens to take place on Christmas and that's good enough to watch it during this time of year (however... i'm still recovering from that horrendous dub so not this year)
5. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
I don't care that this movie is like... 3 hours long.
I love it
and it's 100% a christmas film.
it takes place about a week before christmas and it's just so good, and yeah the overall plot never touches on christmas but it is important.
Unfortunately i can't describe it anymore cause mentioning anything about it is a spoiler.
i will say it's best to watch the series before watching the movie, it's not really necessary but it's good for clearing up certain.... things.
6. Natsume Yuujinchou
a) it occasionally is winter in the show.... good enough.
b) i swear every 3 months or so i just need to rewatch this show and sometimes that falls over winter.
Okay thats all i can BS for 'christmas' anime... there are ones that fit the theme better but ask anyone and most of them are no good. (see Love Hina, school days) but i prefer to rewatch things i like... and i like all these titles so much.
What are your favourite shows to watch over christmas?
Saturday, 13 December 2014
Dropped: World Trigger
This season has been odd... some of the titles i'm watching simply because there is nothing else and they had promise.
World trigger is one of those potential filled titles.... that just squanders it.
Essentially the plot is simply that there are alien-like beings from an alternate dimension that get called neighborhs... they go around wreaking havoc in the main dimension and border was developed to keep them at bay.
Kuga Yuma happens to be a neighbor but he looks just like a normal human (aside from the hair i guess) and he decides to go to school in the normal dimension and his dad told him he had a friend in border but he doesn't wanna join border cause he may just be seen as a bad guy so instead he destroys some bad neighbors and ends up giving this rookie ll the credit and the story goes from there.
So, standard story with fish out of water elements.
but even though thats the plot, thats not what the show is about.
The show is about = 3 =
and o_o
and -_-
btu mostly = 3 =
it's been 10 episodes.
nothing has really happened
i though that maybe cause it's got a lot of techno jargon BS and world building that it would just be a slow start but then something would progress the plot forward.
but most of this episode was two characters silently fishing.... with a tiny bit of plot at the end of "oh by the way there is meaning to this character being here"
you know what? no
nope i have stopped caring
you waste 15 mins of a show that is 18 mins long with a intro song halfway through the episode and then a 2-5 min recap of the techno jargon BS... and you have the gall in the final 1-3 minutes try to end on a cliffhanger? no.
No world trigger you don't get to pull that shit.
You are one of the worst rated anime this season. In a season where the sheer amount of shows that have no plot... only fanservice... somehow you are still considered the worst.
That takes skill.
That takes effort.
actually no, that takes Lazyness.
this show is so Lazy, the animation is terrible (though i may just not be a fan of Toei animation, it doesn't seem to improved much in the past two decades)
The exposition is lazy and repeated a minimum of twice and most times 3 or 4 times.
The rules feel extremely convenient. "oh by the way this is the way the world works" or "hey the world works this way, oh something showed up to reinforce that"
and in the end i just got too bored to actually watch it, and it's just too repetitive to be good BG noise.
I do like the intro song... or midshow song since most of the time it shows up around 7-10 min mark.
but you see all those characters in muted colours? yeah they are essentially the buisnessmen of border and the show spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on the internal politics.
Nope, don't care, shove 15+ characters in my face with no backstory and shady motives and expect me to be interested... it's not going to happen.
but still... i could deal with it cause it was interesting enough.
but blatant Cliffhanger Bullshit is apparently one of the fastest way for me to say i have better stuff to do with my time. at least the other episodes had stuff happen... stupid stuff but again, i forgive world building.
but nope, the show isn't ending any time soon and i am not wasting any more time.
too bad, it really could have been fun.
World trigger is one of those potential filled titles.... that just squanders it.
Essentially the plot is simply that there are alien-like beings from an alternate dimension that get called neighborhs... they go around wreaking havoc in the main dimension and border was developed to keep them at bay.
Kuga Yuma happens to be a neighbor but he looks just like a normal human (aside from the hair i guess) and he decides to go to school in the normal dimension and his dad told him he had a friend in border but he doesn't wanna join border cause he may just be seen as a bad guy so instead he destroys some bad neighbors and ends up giving this rookie ll the credit and the story goes from there.
So, standard story with fish out of water elements.
but even though thats the plot, thats not what the show is about.
The show is about = 3 =
and o_o
and -_-
btu mostly = 3 =
it's been 10 episodes.
nothing has really happened
i though that maybe cause it's got a lot of techno jargon BS and world building that it would just be a slow start but then something would progress the plot forward.
but most of this episode was two characters silently fishing.... with a tiny bit of plot at the end of "oh by the way there is meaning to this character being here"
you know what? no
nope i have stopped caring
you waste 15 mins of a show that is 18 mins long with a intro song halfway through the episode and then a 2-5 min recap of the techno jargon BS... and you have the gall in the final 1-3 minutes try to end on a cliffhanger? no.
No world trigger you don't get to pull that shit.
You are one of the worst rated anime this season. In a season where the sheer amount of shows that have no plot... only fanservice... somehow you are still considered the worst.
That takes skill.
That takes effort.
actually no, that takes Lazyness.
this show is so Lazy, the animation is terrible (though i may just not be a fan of Toei animation, it doesn't seem to improved much in the past two decades)
The exposition is lazy and repeated a minimum of twice and most times 3 or 4 times.
The rules feel extremely convenient. "oh by the way this is the way the world works" or "hey the world works this way, oh something showed up to reinforce that"
and in the end i just got too bored to actually watch it, and it's just too repetitive to be good BG noise.
I do like the intro song... or midshow song since most of the time it shows up around 7-10 min mark.
but you see all those characters in muted colours? yeah they are essentially the buisnessmen of border and the show spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on the internal politics.
Nope, don't care, shove 15+ characters in my face with no backstory and shady motives and expect me to be interested... it's not going to happen.
but still... i could deal with it cause it was interesting enough.
but blatant Cliffhanger Bullshit is apparently one of the fastest way for me to say i have better stuff to do with my time. at least the other episodes had stuff happen... stupid stuff but again, i forgive world building.
but nope, the show isn't ending any time soon and i am not wasting any more time.
too bad, it really could have been fun.
Monday, 8 December 2014
The problem with Wolf Girl and Black Prince.
So, I am a girl... and i tend to like girly series (which i'm am just putting under the giant umbrella of Shoujo cause there are too many subsections to name)
Though i have found as i've grown up a lot of the series i liked in Highschool i cannot stand.
I have a feeling that if i had read this 10 years ago when i was in highschool i would have thought it cute and sweet.
However watching it now all i see is "how to spot an abusive boyfriend 101"
Now i am lucky, i have never had an abusive boyfriend... but i did have one that was showing signs of being controlling and I know a few people who have had abusive partners and seeing those traits glorified through a main character is a little unsettling.
If your boyfriend is comparing you to an object or animal or talks about possessing you that is not sweet or endearing, it's a sign to move on.
If your boyfriend gets so jealous when you simply acknowledge that other men exist in the world (examples: saying hello, trying to cheer them up) that they put you down in whatever manner available to them (examples: Throwing a kind gesture back in the persons face, calling names) then that is not being sweet and endearing and he is not just being a "Tsundere"... thats just him being an asshole.
If your boyfriend does things to mentally abuse you via teasing, name calling, getting your hopes up just to dash them or anything that could be considered mental abuse it is not sweet and endearing... it's abusive!
and the worst part is the main girl just takes it. "i can't help but love him" she says.
This girl has the personality of dry toast.
one time she does think "i am not an object" but instead of telling him that and walkign off on her own she just follows him cause he stopped her from being tricked by another mean guy who just wanted to get back at the main guy.
Normally in these types of series the main guy realizes what an asshole they are being and after losing the girl do their best to change their ways because being a controlling abusive asshole is a bad thing...
he's lost her a few times, changed nothing, gotten her back cause "she can't help but love him" and i'm sorry but no.
This should be the point where the friends stop being such enablers, realize that every waking moment of this girls day is consumed by pleasing her asshole boyfriend and try and help her get out of a situation that could get dangerous.
Instead the overall message seems to be "deal with the abuse cause deep down he really does like you he's just bad at showing it, maybe one day he'll stop being an asshole but until then just let him spew all his vitriol at you"
Yeah.... thats not a good message to send out to people.
Thats not the only problem though.
It is set up in the first episode that the main girl is a compulsive liar and does this in order to get friends... that how she ends up with the fake boyfriend to begin with....
well spoilers, after they start to actually date instead of fake date the Liar aspect of her character vanishes with no consequence.... and considering thats the only personality trait she was given (well that and being a saint for being able to take that amount of abuse with a smile) she just becomes this smiling puppet that goes to his every whim. She even seems to aspire to be more obedient since she figures that will make him like her more.
I'm sorry but no.
no no no no no.
that is not a healthy relationship.
there is some give and take and this asshole didn't even want to spend time with her on her birthday.
He doesn't want to do ANYTHING she wants to do even though she goes out of her way to do everything he wants.
It just annoys me that this is never addressed as being negative traits... this is just how he is and everyone else should deal with him.
Still... currently only 10 episodes are out... there are two more.
i don't know if i'll watch them... i mean i probably will because i've made it this far... if i can finish amnesia i can finish this (this is nowhere near as bad or rage inducing as amnesia but it's still back enough i felt i needed to write something before it was over)
I don't know if i'll do my normal ramble like i do when i finish shows.... i may just take on other problems (or if it redeems itself) to this post so yeah... guess we'll see in two weeks.
For now i have some Sailor Moon Chibi's to finish and some Otomen manga to read.
Oh i should mention that it's not all bad, animation is decent and the intro and ending song are fun.
just.... yeah everything else needs more
Though i have found as i've grown up a lot of the series i liked in Highschool i cannot stand.
I have a feeling that if i had read this 10 years ago when i was in highschool i would have thought it cute and sweet.
However watching it now all i see is "how to spot an abusive boyfriend 101"
Now i am lucky, i have never had an abusive boyfriend... but i did have one that was showing signs of being controlling and I know a few people who have had abusive partners and seeing those traits glorified through a main character is a little unsettling.
If your boyfriend is comparing you to an object or animal or talks about possessing you that is not sweet or endearing, it's a sign to move on.
If your boyfriend gets so jealous when you simply acknowledge that other men exist in the world (examples: saying hello, trying to cheer them up) that they put you down in whatever manner available to them (examples: Throwing a kind gesture back in the persons face, calling names) then that is not being sweet and endearing and he is not just being a "Tsundere"... thats just him being an asshole.
If your boyfriend does things to mentally abuse you via teasing, name calling, getting your hopes up just to dash them or anything that could be considered mental abuse it is not sweet and endearing... it's abusive!
and the worst part is the main girl just takes it. "i can't help but love him" she says.
This girl has the personality of dry toast.
one time she does think "i am not an object" but instead of telling him that and walkign off on her own she just follows him cause he stopped her from being tricked by another mean guy who just wanted to get back at the main guy.
Normally in these types of series the main guy realizes what an asshole they are being and after losing the girl do their best to change their ways because being a controlling abusive asshole is a bad thing...
he's lost her a few times, changed nothing, gotten her back cause "she can't help but love him" and i'm sorry but no.
This should be the point where the friends stop being such enablers, realize that every waking moment of this girls day is consumed by pleasing her asshole boyfriend and try and help her get out of a situation that could get dangerous.
Instead the overall message seems to be "deal with the abuse cause deep down he really does like you he's just bad at showing it, maybe one day he'll stop being an asshole but until then just let him spew all his vitriol at you"
Yeah.... thats not a good message to send out to people.
Thats not the only problem though.
It is set up in the first episode that the main girl is a compulsive liar and does this in order to get friends... that how she ends up with the fake boyfriend to begin with....
well spoilers, after they start to actually date instead of fake date the Liar aspect of her character vanishes with no consequence.... and considering thats the only personality trait she was given (well that and being a saint for being able to take that amount of abuse with a smile) she just becomes this smiling puppet that goes to his every whim. She even seems to aspire to be more obedient since she figures that will make him like her more.
I'm sorry but no.
no no no no no.
that is not a healthy relationship.
there is some give and take and this asshole didn't even want to spend time with her on her birthday.
He doesn't want to do ANYTHING she wants to do even though she goes out of her way to do everything he wants.
It just annoys me that this is never addressed as being negative traits... this is just how he is and everyone else should deal with him.
Still... currently only 10 episodes are out... there are two more.
i don't know if i'll watch them... i mean i probably will because i've made it this far... if i can finish amnesia i can finish this (this is nowhere near as bad or rage inducing as amnesia but it's still back enough i felt i needed to write something before it was over)
I don't know if i'll do my normal ramble like i do when i finish shows.... i may just take on other problems (or if it redeems itself) to this post so yeah... guess we'll see in two weeks.
For now i have some Sailor Moon Chibi's to finish and some Otomen manga to read.
Oh i should mention that it's not all bad, animation is decent and the intro and ending song are fun.
just.... yeah everything else needs more
Sunday, 30 November 2014
Baking all day.
Everyone has their own holiday tradition... even those who don't celebrate things this time of year tend to have that one they they do every year cause why not.
For me thats getting together with family and friends and watching The Ref on christmas eve.
For those who haven't heard of this film, it's easily one of the best Christmas eve movies... because it's not saccharine. now... don't get me wrong i love a cheesy happy holiday film as the next person but i also like when the holidays aren't so perfect because... well... it's funnier.
Also for the record, Die hard is another great christmas movie... i mean if Sound of music can be qualified as a christmas film simple because she talks about packages and snow.... Die hard which takes place at a christmas party is 100% a christmas film.
Anyways this year the christmas eve get together is at my house and I am known to be a bit of a baker (i don't know how... 95% of the time i just find the simplist recipes and call it a day cause i don't really have a lot of time to put aside for baking.)
So i have sort of been appointed as the head baker and i figured... maybe cookies would be too boring.
So i've been trying to learn a few more tricky (but still not terribly time consuming) recipes.
This past week i have been trying to bake Profiteroles with varying degrees of success (read as they were edible but not what i was expecting) and finally on the third try (and buying a new cooking sheet since apparently air insulated ones do not work for the dough) they turned out pretty damn good (you know... for someone who is leaning)
look at them all puffy and hollow.
However at this stage it's really just a shell... so we made a pastry cream (which sounded hard but was actually pretty easy and really tasty) yesterday and after piping them... Voila!
... hm.... ok... that probably doesn't get the point across.
There we go.
Next time i'll probably mkae them smaller cause the amount they puffed surprised me but for now... yum~
Yesterday i also made some rose shaped Meringues.
well even though the recipe said they would be ready in 1:30 hours.... it lied.
this needed to stay in the oven frying out overnight before i could get them off the silpat.
but still i think they look pretty (and lemon flavores as well)
The final thing is something that was more of an experiment.
Macha shortbread.
we also had these imprinting mats so yeah.. .gave that a shot.
alright this looks great, cake wait to see how it looks when they bake!
oh..... oooohhhh...
well we tried that's what matters... you can kinda see the imprint but yeah... maybe one of the other mats will work better.
and thats the end of my baking photodump.
i figured it was better to post it here then to twitter.
But seriously go see the ref, it's dark comedy but it's just done so very very very well.
Now to figure out what other recipes i can try... i saw one for sugar cookie penguins.....
but i would just end up making Sugar cookie Prinnies.... and have everyone looking at me like i'm nuts.
For me thats getting together with family and friends and watching The Ref on christmas eve.
For those who haven't heard of this film, it's easily one of the best Christmas eve movies... because it's not saccharine. now... don't get me wrong i love a cheesy happy holiday film as the next person but i also like when the holidays aren't so perfect because... well... it's funnier.
Also for the record, Die hard is another great christmas movie... i mean if Sound of music can be qualified as a christmas film simple because she talks about packages and snow.... Die hard which takes place at a christmas party is 100% a christmas film.
Anyways this year the christmas eve get together is at my house and I am known to be a bit of a baker (i don't know how... 95% of the time i just find the simplist recipes and call it a day cause i don't really have a lot of time to put aside for baking.)
So i have sort of been appointed as the head baker and i figured... maybe cookies would be too boring.
So i've been trying to learn a few more tricky (but still not terribly time consuming) recipes.
This past week i have been trying to bake Profiteroles with varying degrees of success (read as they were edible but not what i was expecting) and finally on the third try (and buying a new cooking sheet since apparently air insulated ones do not work for the dough) they turned out pretty damn good (you know... for someone who is leaning)
However at this stage it's really just a shell... so we made a pastry cream (which sounded hard but was actually pretty easy and really tasty) yesterday and after piping them... Voila!
Next time i'll probably mkae them smaller cause the amount they puffed surprised me but for now... yum~
Yesterday i also made some rose shaped Meringues.
this needed to stay in the oven frying out overnight before i could get them off the silpat.
but still i think they look pretty (and lemon flavores as well)
Macha shortbread.
we also had these imprinting mats so yeah.. .gave that a shot.
well we tried that's what matters... you can kinda see the imprint but yeah... maybe one of the other mats will work better.
and thats the end of my baking photodump.
i figured it was better to post it here then to twitter.
But seriously go see the ref, it's dark comedy but it's just done so very very very well.
Now to figure out what other recipes i can try... i saw one for sugar cookie penguins.....
but i would just end up making Sugar cookie Prinnies.... and have everyone looking at me like i'm nuts.
Friday, 28 November 2014
Tales of Hearts R
Truth be told i have been at the final boss of this game for a few days but..... Project Diva F2nd came out and.... well one more song syndrome never seemed to end.
But now i have beat it and i can talk about it... yay.
So Tales of Hearts R is about a knight named Chalcedony who is driven by his desire to protect the empress... though he finds out his emotions are being manipulated by this one girls heart essentially breaking and making everyones emotions extreme.... then with no help from anyone else he saves the day!
.... thats... thats not what happens?
Well damn.
Okay it's actually about Shingu (the game translates his name to Kor [i'll explain how later] but ears win out over eyes every time for me) who has never left town and adventure is pretty much thrown in his lap as he finds out things you hear in fairy tales may be more accurate then anyone ever guessed.
First he Meets Kohaku, a lovely girl who is desperate to get a special type of weapon that only certain people can use. then Hisui, her brother who doesn't like how close Shingu and Kahaku have become in the.... 5 or so minutes they knew each other (the emotional whiplash was a bit sudden)
Eventually they also Meet Gallade (Gall in english but at least thats close), Beryl, Ines, Kunzite and finally Chalcedony.
To describe the plot.... the best way i can do it is say "this is Genderswapped Princess Tutu" and... yeah i'm not wrong. There is a character with a broken Heart and the group go around finding shards and realizing that while some emotions really really suck they are needed to enjoy the good emotions.
There is also this Parallel story about one of this world's moon falling if Sleeping Beauty wakes up.
So here we have the basis for the name scheme.
Everyone in this game has a pun name... japan loves their pun names.
everyone except the main character is named after some kind of stone.
so where does Shingu/Kor fit? why change the name? Shingu sounds fine considering.
Apparently the way Shingu is written is 心具
Now that first kanji is Heart - Kokoro
Because shingu is the only one not based off a rock (though his last name is Meteorite/meteor) i guess they wanted to get the 'pun' across to the took the Kor from Kokoro since a lot of people know that means heart but...... seriously should have just left it shingu... it's okay for us not to get the joke.
This game actually helped me learn something about myself regarding translations.
Had the game been dubbed in english and they called him Kor it wouldn't have bugged me at all.... but considering it's still in japanese i kinda want the translation to be as accurate as possible.
And the translation is good... some lines are changed but nothing that affects the story... more so what manner the characters speak in....
granted there was a scene early one where the onscreen text was "i don't have to talk to you" but what he said was "oh you knew my grandfather" and.... yeah i threw a little fit over that... i understand they changed it so the next line would make sense to an english speaker but still.
but other then some minor changes the translation is good.
The whole game is pretty good. for whatever reason they didn't bother getting the rights to the intro song so we get this terrible generic instrumental bit that doesn't really get you pumped to play.
The combat is neat in the sense that it limits how many special moves you can do in a row.... but considering how long it takes for those to recharge if you don't guard (and guarding feels useless) having your characters also limited by TP seems silly.... i guess i was just spoiled by the lack of TP in some tales of titles.
A great addition to combat is that sometimes enemies make a noise and if you guard at the right time you can counter. it helped me feel like i was actually needing to pay attention to combat instead of just tap the attack button.
Still despite enjoying myself i think this only ranks around the middle of my Tales of chart.
It's good, it's way better then the last tales of game i played.
But there was just something missing.
My fav tales of games have themes that can easily translate to real world issues.
and while this one does have "friends are great" it doesn't have the same "holy shit i need to think about things and maybe give some people hugs" like i got with Phantasia or Graces F
However.... it does have Hiroshi Kamiya in it... (he plays Chalcedony.... he never left my party[and honestly he never should cause his weapon naturally was strong against the final boss... on that note, even though i love him, don't use kunzite]) so that should count for something....
ok so...
1. Phantasia
2. Graces f [specifically lines and lineage]
3. Abyss/Vesperia
4. Hearts R
5. Symphonia 2
6. Xillia
7. Destiny* (my system wouldn't play it properly)
10. Symphonia
15. Xillia 2
So yeah i really enjoyed it, it could have been a little more engaging but considering it's a handheld JRPG it's a good length (i beat it in 30 hours which is longer then Xillia 2 took)
If you don't mind listening to japanese audio then you really should go play.
if that or "power of friendship" plotlines aren't your thing then this may not be the title for you but i still think you should give it a try... even if we get more games brought over like this (japanese audio only) at least we would be getting more awesome games.
Also today marks me owning my Vita for a full year.... that kinda happened by accident.
for a system that i have been told has no games i have beaten 13 games in the 1 year i have owned it... not including the 2 rhythm games cause... well you don't really beat those do you?
I like both the Vita and the 3DS, they are completely different systems with 100% different types of games. I'm happy i own both because this past year has been great.
anyways... i liked this game, i know i ranked it in the middle but i still really liked it. maybe one day we'll get Innocence R like this.... or hell i'd even be okay with Zesteria being brought over this way (really excited for that one, look so pretty) but for now.... at least i won't feel guilty about playing so much project diva *ignored pile of unfinished sketches*
oh one last thing, if your like me and get easily lost (or hated the map in symphonia) then you may be annoyed with the world map here... and you don't get the airship till pretty much endgame.... so that's fun.
but otherwise great game... need more tales of... .maybe some fanart on the way.
I already drew mint.
But now i have beat it and i can talk about it... yay.
So Tales of Hearts R is about a knight named Chalcedony who is driven by his desire to protect the empress... though he finds out his emotions are being manipulated by this one girls heart essentially breaking and making everyones emotions extreme.... then with no help from anyone else he saves the day!
.... thats... thats not what happens?
Well damn.
Okay it's actually about Shingu (the game translates his name to Kor [i'll explain how later] but ears win out over eyes every time for me) who has never left town and adventure is pretty much thrown in his lap as he finds out things you hear in fairy tales may be more accurate then anyone ever guessed.
First he Meets Kohaku, a lovely girl who is desperate to get a special type of weapon that only certain people can use. then Hisui, her brother who doesn't like how close Shingu and Kahaku have become in the.... 5 or so minutes they knew each other (the emotional whiplash was a bit sudden)
Eventually they also Meet Gallade (Gall in english but at least thats close), Beryl, Ines, Kunzite and finally Chalcedony.
To describe the plot.... the best way i can do it is say "this is Genderswapped Princess Tutu" and... yeah i'm not wrong. There is a character with a broken Heart and the group go around finding shards and realizing that while some emotions really really suck they are needed to enjoy the good emotions.
There is also this Parallel story about one of this world's moon falling if Sleeping Beauty wakes up.
So here we have the basis for the name scheme.
Everyone in this game has a pun name... japan loves their pun names.
everyone except the main character is named after some kind of stone.
so where does Shingu/Kor fit? why change the name? Shingu sounds fine considering.
Apparently the way Shingu is written is 心具
Now that first kanji is Heart - Kokoro
Because shingu is the only one not based off a rock (though his last name is Meteorite/meteor) i guess they wanted to get the 'pun' across to the took the Kor from Kokoro since a lot of people know that means heart but...... seriously should have just left it shingu... it's okay for us not to get the joke.
This game actually helped me learn something about myself regarding translations.
Had the game been dubbed in english and they called him Kor it wouldn't have bugged me at all.... but considering it's still in japanese i kinda want the translation to be as accurate as possible.
And the translation is good... some lines are changed but nothing that affects the story... more so what manner the characters speak in....
granted there was a scene early one where the onscreen text was "i don't have to talk to you" but what he said was "oh you knew my grandfather" and.... yeah i threw a little fit over that... i understand they changed it so the next line would make sense to an english speaker but still.
but other then some minor changes the translation is good.
The whole game is pretty good. for whatever reason they didn't bother getting the rights to the intro song so we get this terrible generic instrumental bit that doesn't really get you pumped to play.
The combat is neat in the sense that it limits how many special moves you can do in a row.... but considering how long it takes for those to recharge if you don't guard (and guarding feels useless) having your characters also limited by TP seems silly.... i guess i was just spoiled by the lack of TP in some tales of titles.
A great addition to combat is that sometimes enemies make a noise and if you guard at the right time you can counter. it helped me feel like i was actually needing to pay attention to combat instead of just tap the attack button.
Still despite enjoying myself i think this only ranks around the middle of my Tales of chart.
It's good, it's way better then the last tales of game i played.
But there was just something missing.
My fav tales of games have themes that can easily translate to real world issues.
and while this one does have "friends are great" it doesn't have the same "holy shit i need to think about things and maybe give some people hugs" like i got with Phantasia or Graces F
However.... it does have Hiroshi Kamiya in it... (he plays Chalcedony.... he never left my party[and honestly he never should cause his weapon naturally was strong against the final boss... on that note, even though i love him, don't use kunzite]) so that should count for something....
ok so...
1. Phantasia
2. Graces f [specifically lines and lineage]
3. Abyss/Vesperia
4. Hearts R
5. Symphonia 2
6. Xillia
7. Destiny* (my system wouldn't play it properly)
10. Symphonia
15. Xillia 2
So yeah i really enjoyed it, it could have been a little more engaging but considering it's a handheld JRPG it's a good length (i beat it in 30 hours which is longer then Xillia 2 took)
If you don't mind listening to japanese audio then you really should go play.
if that or "power of friendship" plotlines aren't your thing then this may not be the title for you but i still think you should give it a try... even if we get more games brought over like this (japanese audio only) at least we would be getting more awesome games.
Also today marks me owning my Vita for a full year.... that kinda happened by accident.
for a system that i have been told has no games i have beaten 13 games in the 1 year i have owned it... not including the 2 rhythm games cause... well you don't really beat those do you?
I like both the Vita and the 3DS, they are completely different systems with 100% different types of games. I'm happy i own both because this past year has been great.
anyways... i liked this game, i know i ranked it in the middle but i still really liked it. maybe one day we'll get Innocence R like this.... or hell i'd even be okay with Zesteria being brought over this way (really excited for that one, look so pretty) but for now.... at least i won't feel guilty about playing so much project diva *ignored pile of unfinished sketches*
oh one last thing, if your like me and get easily lost (or hated the map in symphonia) then you may be annoyed with the world map here... and you don't get the airship till pretty much endgame.... so that's fun.
but otherwise great game... need more tales of... .maybe some fanart on the way.
I already drew mint.
Sunday, 23 November 2014
Tegami Bachi Letter Bee
I thought i would have a little post about this but either it didn't get posted over from tumblr or i watched this before i started writing these.
Either way I am going to talk about this wonderful show (including reverse)... and a little about the manga... and about the artbook.
While i don't talk about this show as much as Princess Tutu or Natsume Yuujinchou or Haruhi Suzumiya it is easily right up there as one of my all time fav shows.
The story follow Lag Seeing, an Albisian boy who is found tied to a mail post and sent as a letter to his aunt. Apparently his mother was taken to the capital Akitsuki and lag was left alone.
The Letter Bee (this worlds postal service) that finds him is named Gauche Suede and aong with his dingo Roda they deliver the boy safely and even manage to befriend him.
Lag vowed that one day he'll be a letter bee like Gauche.
Fast forward 5 or 6 years and Lag is now 12 and has passed his first exam for becoming a letter bee.
through a chance encounter he meets up with a girl he names Niche who becomes his dingo. she is known as a child of Maka and wields golden swords.
shortly after they meet up with Steak, a mysterious creature that is probably the last of his kind... Niche treats him like emergency food rations.
shortly after passing the final exam Lag finds out that Gauche has been AWOL since shortly after delivering Lag. Considering that the weapons of this world (shiden) fire pieces of heart most figure Gauche just shot too much and lost his heart. Lag's new mission is to find Gauche and bring him back to the Beehive (postal office)
Of course nothing is that easy.
and anymore then that is getting a bit spoilery so.... onto why i love this show.
As you can tell by all the terms this show has a deep and rich lore. The world is cloaked in darkness and the only source of light is the artificial sun. The class system is set up where the closer you are to the sun the more power, status and money you have. everyone works their hardest to get closer to the sun. There are also these giant bugs that roam the land and eat peoples heart (which is why letter bees who need to traverse the land use fragments of their heart to resonate inside the bugs and destroy them). Also theres an anti government movement known as reverse who want to destroy the artificial sun.
i could go on and on just about the world building but i would be here all day writing.
The point is i just love the world and the characters and the music.
wow the music
First - I just found out recently that the singer of the first ending song for this show was actually sung by a Canadian. I find that kinda neat.
Second - Perseus, the fourth ending, is easily one of my all time fav songs (even if it's REALLY hard to sing along to cause the breaks between versus are pretty much non-existent)
Third - out of all the intros and endings the only song that i'm kinda not a fan of is the second intro... it just lacks the power or meaning that all the other songs have.
But the music and lore don't even begin to be the best aspect of the show.
If you were to ask me which of the artbooks i own is my fav. Shine would be my answer.
Not Ys 25th aniversary.
Not Falcom 30th Anniversary.
Shine: Tegami bachi Illustrations by Hiroyuki Asada.
This artbook makes me want to try new things and push myself as an artist. You look through it and you can tell that this artists loves his craft. When reading the manga he mentions that he traveled all over the world and it shows.
The art is just so breathtaking (to me at least)
the art in the anime doesn't quite capture how lovely his style is but it does a really good job of trying.
However it's not all good.
When the showed originally aired there were two things that pretty much doomed the chance for a 3rd season.
1. it 'caught up' to the manga and needed to make it's own type of plotline for the final set of episodes.
it's a common thing that happens when shows are being made as the books are still being developed.
2. There was a devastating earthquake in japan in 2011 that was shortly followed by some horrible nuclear accidents... this happened when the show only had two episodes left to air and people complained that the destruction of a town in the show so close after the destruction of an area of japan was insensitive and people complained. This caused the final episode to be the most sunshine and rainbows and lets tie up all loose ends even though the story isn't even halfway done i have ever seen. (including the sudden ending of Yumeiro Patissieru which came out of nowhere)
unfortunately with that "tie up loose ends" ending certain evens were drastically changed from the source material... so even if we did get season 3it wouldn't be able to continue the same plotline as the source.
and thats really annoying because we were just starting to get hints about certain aspects of the lore that are kinda important to the show... like the artificial sun, what it is and why it's needed.
but nope... gotta read if you wanna know more about that.
and considering how lovely the art in the manga is i am honestly okay with that.
I know i've been more all over the place then normal, i did something to my arms and the pain is clouding my thought process but i finished this last night and wanted to talk about it ESPECIALLY since i haven't talked about it before.
If you like really well thought out worlds with interesting lore and great music as well as fantastic art i cannot reccomend this enough.
um... i guess if you don't like crybabies or the world essentially being put on the shoulders of a bunch of kids (ranging from 12-24) then this wont be fore you... but it's all over on crunchyroll so you can give it a try.
the DVD was licensed by Sentai and is Japanese only (which is funny because a lot of the show is in english already... funny how things work.
and with that i have gone through my right stuff pile... (not including legend of heroes which will not be watched till Second Chapter is out and has been beaten cause i enjoy torturing myself for some reason) i think i'll rewatch Ouran high host club cause it's been a while and i do think it's cute.
Either way I am going to talk about this wonderful show (including reverse)... and a little about the manga... and about the artbook.
While i don't talk about this show as much as Princess Tutu or Natsume Yuujinchou or Haruhi Suzumiya it is easily right up there as one of my all time fav shows.
The story follow Lag Seeing, an Albisian boy who is found tied to a mail post and sent as a letter to his aunt. Apparently his mother was taken to the capital Akitsuki and lag was left alone.
The Letter Bee (this worlds postal service) that finds him is named Gauche Suede and aong with his dingo Roda they deliver the boy safely and even manage to befriend him.
Lag vowed that one day he'll be a letter bee like Gauche.
Fast forward 5 or 6 years and Lag is now 12 and has passed his first exam for becoming a letter bee.
through a chance encounter he meets up with a girl he names Niche who becomes his dingo. she is known as a child of Maka and wields golden swords.
shortly after they meet up with Steak, a mysterious creature that is probably the last of his kind... Niche treats him like emergency food rations.
shortly after passing the final exam Lag finds out that Gauche has been AWOL since shortly after delivering Lag. Considering that the weapons of this world (shiden) fire pieces of heart most figure Gauche just shot too much and lost his heart. Lag's new mission is to find Gauche and bring him back to the Beehive (postal office)
Of course nothing is that easy.
and anymore then that is getting a bit spoilery so.... onto why i love this show.
As you can tell by all the terms this show has a deep and rich lore. The world is cloaked in darkness and the only source of light is the artificial sun. The class system is set up where the closer you are to the sun the more power, status and money you have. everyone works their hardest to get closer to the sun. There are also these giant bugs that roam the land and eat peoples heart (which is why letter bees who need to traverse the land use fragments of their heart to resonate inside the bugs and destroy them). Also theres an anti government movement known as reverse who want to destroy the artificial sun.
i could go on and on just about the world building but i would be here all day writing.
The point is i just love the world and the characters and the music.
wow the music
First - I just found out recently that the singer of the first ending song for this show was actually sung by a Canadian. I find that kinda neat.
Second - Perseus, the fourth ending, is easily one of my all time fav songs (even if it's REALLY hard to sing along to cause the breaks between versus are pretty much non-existent)
Third - out of all the intros and endings the only song that i'm kinda not a fan of is the second intro... it just lacks the power or meaning that all the other songs have.
But the music and lore don't even begin to be the best aspect of the show.
If you were to ask me which of the artbooks i own is my fav. Shine would be my answer.
Not Ys 25th aniversary.
Not Falcom 30th Anniversary.
Shine: Tegami bachi Illustrations by Hiroyuki Asada.
This artbook makes me want to try new things and push myself as an artist. You look through it and you can tell that this artists loves his craft. When reading the manga he mentions that he traveled all over the world and it shows.
The art is just so breathtaking (to me at least)
the art in the anime doesn't quite capture how lovely his style is but it does a really good job of trying.
However it's not all good.
When the showed originally aired there were two things that pretty much doomed the chance for a 3rd season.
1. it 'caught up' to the manga and needed to make it's own type of plotline for the final set of episodes.
it's a common thing that happens when shows are being made as the books are still being developed.
2. There was a devastating earthquake in japan in 2011 that was shortly followed by some horrible nuclear accidents... this happened when the show only had two episodes left to air and people complained that the destruction of a town in the show so close after the destruction of an area of japan was insensitive and people complained. This caused the final episode to be the most sunshine and rainbows and lets tie up all loose ends even though the story isn't even halfway done i have ever seen. (including the sudden ending of Yumeiro Patissieru which came out of nowhere)
unfortunately with that "tie up loose ends" ending certain evens were drastically changed from the source material... so even if we did get season 3it wouldn't be able to continue the same plotline as the source.
and thats really annoying because we were just starting to get hints about certain aspects of the lore that are kinda important to the show... like the artificial sun, what it is and why it's needed.
but nope... gotta read if you wanna know more about that.
and considering how lovely the art in the manga is i am honestly okay with that.
I know i've been more all over the place then normal, i did something to my arms and the pain is clouding my thought process but i finished this last night and wanted to talk about it ESPECIALLY since i haven't talked about it before.
If you like really well thought out worlds with interesting lore and great music as well as fantastic art i cannot reccomend this enough.
um... i guess if you don't like crybabies or the world essentially being put on the shoulders of a bunch of kids (ranging from 12-24) then this wont be fore you... but it's all over on crunchyroll so you can give it a try.
the DVD was licensed by Sentai and is Japanese only (which is funny because a lot of the show is in english already... funny how things work.
and with that i have gone through my right stuff pile... (not including legend of heroes which will not be watched till Second Chapter is out and has been beaten cause i enjoy torturing myself for some reason) i think i'll rewatch Ouran high host club cause it's been a while and i do think it's cute.
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Project Diva F2nd (Vita Version)
ok so i've only beaten the song once but i still think i can give an overall ramble cause... well i'm not new to this series.
Prject Diva is a rhythm game featuring Vocaloids... if you do not like vocaloid music or japanese music in general stay away.
if you do like those then boy do i have a game for you.
This is the second Diva game to come out in north america and upgrades from Diva f as pretty small.
now there are double scratch which mean you have to scratch with both sides of the screen (or the two thumbsticks) I had no issue with this other then if i'm playing the song for the first time i may miss a note cause i wont be able to see it.
It also has these sctraches that go to the beat..... i don't get ewhy they did this since
1. when playing the song for the first time it's hard to know what beat it's going to.
2. the seperate starts also go to the beat but are on a fixed tempo and therefor easier to read so why would you add this silly feature?
other then that it's pretty similar to the first one just with a bunch of new songs so if you like Diva f, this is just more of the fun.
Now there is one thing i need to mention.
When i was younger i importated Project Diva for psp.
later on i ended up buying Project diva extend for psp as well (it's like p.diva 2.5)
So playing this i knew a lot of the songs because they are reused.
now this game has changed A LOT since project diva 1. the addition of arrows, scratches, chance time and tecnical zones really have made the game fairly different.
so if you are like me and important those games you will be very familiar with about half the playlist... however they do play different enough where it doesn't bug me.
what bugs me is that my favorite song is nowhere to be seen... electric angel... i miss you~
but yeah if the F series are all you know i don't think any songs were reused from the other game.
and the tracklist is massive which is nice.
can it still be difficult? oh yeah... you can still finish a song but not pass it. still i love having it in my system to play whenever i am out (well if i could ever find a case for my vita so i could feel safe enough to bring it to cons.)
from what i can see there isn't too much difference between vita and PS3 versions... just however to prefer to play (i like the handheld aspect)
oh and easily the most fun song is Kagerou Daze... the note placement can trip you up but once the pattern is apparent it's just a blast.
but yeah... happy sega is bringing these over.
I do not like that if you want the dlc songs it's 30 bucks....
and if you want more costumes it's 70
thats just so incredibly stupid... 100 bucks of dlc for a 35-45 buck game? yeah i have a few choice words for you Sega.
but yeah the base game has tones of stuff so even if you don't get DLC it wont be lacking.
also if you have both Pdiva f and P diva f2 you get some bonus stuff (lots of costumes from the other game) which was nice... and you can share your ps3 and vita save if you want... which is kinda neat.
ok.. i gotta get back to beating Hearts R.
and maybe working on some birthday gift art.
Prject Diva is a rhythm game featuring Vocaloids... if you do not like vocaloid music or japanese music in general stay away.
if you do like those then boy do i have a game for you.
This is the second Diva game to come out in north america and upgrades from Diva f as pretty small.
now there are double scratch which mean you have to scratch with both sides of the screen (or the two thumbsticks) I had no issue with this other then if i'm playing the song for the first time i may miss a note cause i wont be able to see it.
It also has these sctraches that go to the beat..... i don't get ewhy they did this since
1. when playing the song for the first time it's hard to know what beat it's going to.
2. the seperate starts also go to the beat but are on a fixed tempo and therefor easier to read so why would you add this silly feature?
other then that it's pretty similar to the first one just with a bunch of new songs so if you like Diva f, this is just more of the fun.
Now there is one thing i need to mention.
When i was younger i importated Project Diva for psp.
later on i ended up buying Project diva extend for psp as well (it's like p.diva 2.5)
So playing this i knew a lot of the songs because they are reused.
now this game has changed A LOT since project diva 1. the addition of arrows, scratches, chance time and tecnical zones really have made the game fairly different.
so if you are like me and important those games you will be very familiar with about half the playlist... however they do play different enough where it doesn't bug me.
what bugs me is that my favorite song is nowhere to be seen... electric angel... i miss you~
but yeah if the F series are all you know i don't think any songs were reused from the other game.
and the tracklist is massive which is nice.
can it still be difficult? oh yeah... you can still finish a song but not pass it. still i love having it in my system to play whenever i am out (well if i could ever find a case for my vita so i could feel safe enough to bring it to cons.)
from what i can see there isn't too much difference between vita and PS3 versions... just however to prefer to play (i like the handheld aspect)
oh and easily the most fun song is Kagerou Daze... the note placement can trip you up but once the pattern is apparent it's just a blast.
but yeah... happy sega is bringing these over.
I do not like that if you want the dlc songs it's 30 bucks....
and if you want more costumes it's 70
thats just so incredibly stupid... 100 bucks of dlc for a 35-45 buck game? yeah i have a few choice words for you Sega.
but yeah the base game has tones of stuff so even if you don't get DLC it wont be lacking.
also if you have both Pdiva f and P diva f2 you get some bonus stuff (lots of costumes from the other game) which was nice... and you can share your ps3 and vita save if you want... which is kinda neat.
ok.. i gotta get back to beating Hearts R.
and maybe working on some birthday gift art.
Monday, 17 November 2014
Hard to say I love you
I don't tend to watch many J-dramas or K-dramas cause they can tend to be just a little too over the top for me.
But this one had a cute premise.
5 people who use twitter and live in the same town meet up and it's about the friendship they start.
It's still pretty over the top... but it had this sweetness to it that made it really enjoyable.
that and it's only 11 episodes.
I do find it kinda funny that they all use their usernames instead of their real names but i have a feeling thats more for the viewers then anything else... or maybe i'm just the strange one who likes online name kept online and real name used in person. (though i don't mind being called my real name online as long as we have spoken a few times... i'm really picky about this now that i think about it)
So we have Haru, a techer intraining/teachers assistant
Nakaji a photographer who online seems like Haru's best friends but things are awkward when they meet.
Doctor who works selling medical equipment and has a crush on Haru.
Peach who is new to twitter and just tagging along as support for Haru, she manages to get some great support from this new group of friends.
and finally Linda, a columnist for a magazine who is the reason they all met up in the first place. He was planning to write an article about the experience.
giving away anymore then that would spoil the show so if it sounds interesting give it a shot. it's over on crunchyroll.
While i'm not a big believer in 'trigger warnings' (because if i were to tell someone to not discuss space stuff around me they would look at me funny and then discuss it more [i know from personal experience]) I do think it's important to say that this is a drama, one of the dramatic things that happens revolves around the implication of self harm. I saw one of the comments complaining that it wasn't a 'trigger warning' so yeah... you heard it from me.
However overall the super duper dramatic stuff isn't too over the top except a few scenes which is kinda refreshing for a drama.it's not all sunshine and rainbows but i do find all the situations (to a point) to be fairly believable.
But yeah i enjoyed it a lot. i am trying to watch more J and K dramas so if you have any suggestions just let me know!
But this one had a cute premise.
5 people who use twitter and live in the same town meet up and it's about the friendship they start.
It's still pretty over the top... but it had this sweetness to it that made it really enjoyable.
that and it's only 11 episodes.
I do find it kinda funny that they all use their usernames instead of their real names but i have a feeling thats more for the viewers then anything else... or maybe i'm just the strange one who likes online name kept online and real name used in person. (though i don't mind being called my real name online as long as we have spoken a few times... i'm really picky about this now that i think about it)
So we have Haru, a techer intraining/teachers assistant
Nakaji a photographer who online seems like Haru's best friends but things are awkward when they meet.
Doctor who works selling medical equipment and has a crush on Haru.
Peach who is new to twitter and just tagging along as support for Haru, she manages to get some great support from this new group of friends.
and finally Linda, a columnist for a magazine who is the reason they all met up in the first place. He was planning to write an article about the experience.
giving away anymore then that would spoil the show so if it sounds interesting give it a shot. it's over on crunchyroll.
While i'm not a big believer in 'trigger warnings' (because if i were to tell someone to not discuss space stuff around me they would look at me funny and then discuss it more [i know from personal experience]) I do think it's important to say that this is a drama, one of the dramatic things that happens revolves around the implication of self harm. I saw one of the comments complaining that it wasn't a 'trigger warning' so yeah... you heard it from me.
However overall the super duper dramatic stuff isn't too over the top except a few scenes which is kinda refreshing for a drama.it's not all sunshine and rainbows but i do find all the situations (to a point) to be fairly believable.
But yeah i enjoyed it a lot. i am trying to watch more J and K dramas so if you have any suggestions just let me know!
Friday, 14 November 2014
Did i play the same game?
something happens once, it can probably be considered a coincidence...
Three times you gotta wonder....
Did i play the same game as everyone else?
I have three games that i own that i consider to be terrible.
A witch's tale (DS) (horrible controls, terrible combat and needing to play a broken game twice just to get the 'true' ending)
Hoshigami Remix (DS) (unplayable, cheating AI, dumb characters)
and L'ark Rise Fantasia.(Wii)
These three all share one thing in common, i bought them on a whim and they ALL disappointed.
But of the three Ark Rise is the worst.
The voice acting is the worst i have ever heard.
The music is bland and derivative.
The story has the chance to be interesting but is really just a convoluted mess
But worst of all the cambat is non-existant.
It has all these things you can do, some of them activating at times where it doesn't make any sense... but none of that matters because you can just press a button (it's a shoulder button i think) and the game will play itself.
and wow is it tedious.
Still no matter how bad a game if i spend money on something i'm going to try to finish it (except hoshigami and witch's tale cause they are unplayable and i can't win) so i have managed to get all the way to the penultimate boss.
and he's too strong and i don't wanna grind so it's just kinda been sitting there on my shelf cause i rather play damn near ANYTHING else.
But the strangest thing keeps happening.
a few years ago i was talking about JRPGS on a bus and the person i was talking to suggested i play L'ark Rise since it was his favorite game. Whatever, everyone has their own taste... i'm sure most people don't care for Ys as much as i do.
then a few months ago someone else suggested i play it since it was so good.
Then the other day... same thing.
I have to wonder... did i play the same game as everyone else? am i missing something that makes the experience more enjoyable? I would love to know what so i can finally beat it and write a nice long ramble on why i didn't enjoy my experience with the game.
Have you ever had an experience where you play something and didn't like it but everyone else seems to? or where you hear great things about something and then when you play it you're underwhelmed?
Also what are you least favourite games and why?
Also just for fun, voice clips!
Three times you gotta wonder....
Did i play the same game as everyone else?
I have three games that i own that i consider to be terrible.
A witch's tale (DS) (horrible controls, terrible combat and needing to play a broken game twice just to get the 'true' ending)
Hoshigami Remix (DS) (unplayable, cheating AI, dumb characters)
and L'ark Rise Fantasia.(Wii)
These three all share one thing in common, i bought them on a whim and they ALL disappointed.
But of the three Ark Rise is the worst.
The voice acting is the worst i have ever heard.
The music is bland and derivative.
The story has the chance to be interesting but is really just a convoluted mess
But worst of all the cambat is non-existant.
It has all these things you can do, some of them activating at times where it doesn't make any sense... but none of that matters because you can just press a button (it's a shoulder button i think) and the game will play itself.
and wow is it tedious.
Still no matter how bad a game if i spend money on something i'm going to try to finish it (except hoshigami and witch's tale cause they are unplayable and i can't win) so i have managed to get all the way to the penultimate boss.
and he's too strong and i don't wanna grind so it's just kinda been sitting there on my shelf cause i rather play damn near ANYTHING else.
But the strangest thing keeps happening.
a few years ago i was talking about JRPGS on a bus and the person i was talking to suggested i play L'ark Rise since it was his favorite game. Whatever, everyone has their own taste... i'm sure most people don't care for Ys as much as i do.
then a few months ago someone else suggested i play it since it was so good.
Then the other day... same thing.
I have to wonder... did i play the same game as everyone else? am i missing something that makes the experience more enjoyable? I would love to know what so i can finally beat it and write a nice long ramble on why i didn't enjoy my experience with the game.
Have you ever had an experience where you play something and didn't like it but everyone else seems to? or where you hear great things about something and then when you play it you're underwhelmed?
Also what are you least favourite games and why?
Also just for fun, voice clips!
Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Attack On Titan Bluray
Specifically the dub.
Now as i mentioned before (like... just a few months ago) i was worried i wouldn't like this show because
1. I Do not like the art style, the abundance of white highlights on skin is stil lenough to pull me out of the moment.
2. The hype behind this show was a bit intimidating and i worried nothing could live up to it.
3. The internet had spoiled one of the bigger plot twists.
4. I had heard that while it was a huge cast characters died before they had much chance to develop...
5. It's a title that focuses on fighting which are hit and miss with me... they tend to get boring.
And upon my first viewing i realized.
1. even after 25 episdoes i still do not like the art style... the animation is stunning and i love how diverse the characters all look but that shading on the skin...
2. i found, especially early on, some of the imagery to be far to on the nose or shocking for the sake of being shocking.
3. The music is pretty kick ass.... not only that one intro but ALL the music... every intro and ending song as well as all the background music and insert songs.
4. The show, for the most part lived up to the hype, I found Eren to be a little bland for a main character but the rest of the cast was handled well... especially Levi and Mikasa and even Armin.
So when i saw the Bluray on sale i figured no harm i npickign it up, i am curious about the dub after all.
upon rewatching i remembered how easy it is to marathon this show... "one more episode" goes by so quickly it doesn't feel like 22-25 mins at all.
So how was the dub?
Pretty good, the main cast was very solid, Mikasa, Armin and Eren are pretty much perfect casting choices... I even warmed up to Eren a bit cause the voice gave him a little more personality... he's still bland versus everyone else but what can you do.
the background cast was a bit wooden at times though but i don't blame them... they had a lot of characters to cast.
Also the casting for Levi was good too. I missed hearing Hiroshi but he's actually a character in hearts R so i've been getting my fill as of late. but yeah everyone does a good job, I still hope that we eventually get another season of this... i figure considering how close this came out after the manga started that maybe they were just waiting forthe manga to get further ahead. i haven't read the manga at all so i don't know for sure. (i may eventually read it but that art... *sighs*)
I know theres a movie coming out but i'm not sure if thats new content or a condensed/alternate retelling (cause like... 70% of films based on anime are alternate retellings... irritating)
I do hope the show continues to grow since the first 25 episodes only really cover a few unanswered questions. We still need to know abotu the key, the basement, the wall and the secret of the titans.
OH... one thing about the bluray i didn't like.
In the midroll bumpers there are little explinations about the world.
I read all of them because crunchy translated them all... but when watching in english these midroll bumpers are not translated.
And i just can't think of why... especially considering some people can't stand watching subbed anime if there is an english alternative. if you don't read those bumpers you miss out on some key parts of the story (especially for the monolith wall of text that is the ep 25 bumpers that explains the entire myth of the wall)
So yeah if you are unsure about the show, give it a shot Crunchy only has 1-13.5 available while the Bluray is newly out. Apparently it'll be back after December 9th.
If you don't like hyper violence this show may not be for you but if you are overall unsure theres no harm in giving the first 4 episodes a try to see if it's something you like. I dsay 4 because it gives you enough explination of the world and it's rules and starts to tone down on the insanely blatant imagery.
Now as i mentioned before (like... just a few months ago) i was worried i wouldn't like this show because
1. I Do not like the art style, the abundance of white highlights on skin is stil lenough to pull me out of the moment.
2. The hype behind this show was a bit intimidating and i worried nothing could live up to it.
3. The internet had spoiled one of the bigger plot twists.
4. I had heard that while it was a huge cast characters died before they had much chance to develop...
5. It's a title that focuses on fighting which are hit and miss with me... they tend to get boring.
And upon my first viewing i realized.
1. even after 25 episdoes i still do not like the art style... the animation is stunning and i love how diverse the characters all look but that shading on the skin...
2. i found, especially early on, some of the imagery to be far to on the nose or shocking for the sake of being shocking.
3. The music is pretty kick ass.... not only that one intro but ALL the music... every intro and ending song as well as all the background music and insert songs.
4. The show, for the most part lived up to the hype, I found Eren to be a little bland for a main character but the rest of the cast was handled well... especially Levi and Mikasa and even Armin.
So when i saw the Bluray on sale i figured no harm i npickign it up, i am curious about the dub after all.
upon rewatching i remembered how easy it is to marathon this show... "one more episode" goes by so quickly it doesn't feel like 22-25 mins at all.
So how was the dub?
Pretty good, the main cast was very solid, Mikasa, Armin and Eren are pretty much perfect casting choices... I even warmed up to Eren a bit cause the voice gave him a little more personality... he's still bland versus everyone else but what can you do.
the background cast was a bit wooden at times though but i don't blame them... they had a lot of characters to cast.
Also the casting for Levi was good too. I missed hearing Hiroshi but he's actually a character in hearts R so i've been getting my fill as of late. but yeah everyone does a good job, I still hope that we eventually get another season of this... i figure considering how close this came out after the manga started that maybe they were just waiting forthe manga to get further ahead. i haven't read the manga at all so i don't know for sure. (i may eventually read it but that art... *sighs*)
I know theres a movie coming out but i'm not sure if thats new content or a condensed/alternate retelling (cause like... 70% of films based on anime are alternate retellings... irritating)
I do hope the show continues to grow since the first 25 episodes only really cover a few unanswered questions. We still need to know abotu the key, the basement, the wall and the secret of the titans.
OH... one thing about the bluray i didn't like.
In the midroll bumpers there are little explinations about the world.
I read all of them because crunchy translated them all... but when watching in english these midroll bumpers are not translated.
And i just can't think of why... especially considering some people can't stand watching subbed anime if there is an english alternative. if you don't read those bumpers you miss out on some key parts of the story (especially for the monolith wall of text that is the ep 25 bumpers that explains the entire myth of the wall)
So yeah if you are unsure about the show, give it a shot Crunchy only has 1-13.5 available while the Bluray is newly out. Apparently it'll be back after December 9th.
If you don't like hyper violence this show may not be for you but if you are overall unsure theres no harm in giving the first 4 episodes a try to see if it's something you like. I dsay 4 because it gives you enough explination of the world and it's rules and starts to tone down on the insanely blatant imagery.
Tuesday, 11 November 2014
Tales of Xillia 2
Scroll down to the bolded text if you don't wanna read my ranting and raving over the past week
Normally i write these when i finish them...
Normally games don't piss me off as much so i'm going to make notes while i play.
Sadly i don't easily forgive bullshit game design so even if the rest of the game is amazing... this can't be any better then a mediocre for me.
So, i had seen a lot of mixed things about this game... mostly negative but hey.... i have liked games that most people didn't care for in the past so i figured i should still give this a shot... it's only fair considering i bought it.
Things i liked right off the bat.
i got lots of in game stuff for having played Xillia and Graces F... that made me smile.
um...
yeah that was pretty much it.
Things that worried me off the bat
No intro song upon first boot up... you have to play to a certain place in the game (it's really early on) before you see it... they did this in Xillia as well but it was a bit easier to understand since the visuals you got for the intro vid were different based on who you picked.
the game takes a long time to load up and feel the need to check for DLC 3 times before you even get to pick your file.
So then i got to playing... and was reminded that the music for the world you start in is really terrible (that may just be me and jazzy tunes not getting along but i think even people who like jazz would hate the music)
Still i enjoyed the fact that there is the Illusion of choice, it makes you feel like your in control even though i have a feeling a lot of the dialogue choices lead to the same end result.
But then we come to Ludgar.
now before anyone says "they made him say nothing so that you created his personality"
Bullshit.
someone can correct me if i'm wrong but when i played Tales of Symphonia 2: dawn of the new world there were dialogue options... yet Emil (emile?) still had a lot of personality... and i still felt like i was shaping his personality and dealing with the whole ratatosk (no idea if i'm spelling it right... it's been years since i played TOS2) thing.
It's neat that they are trying to give me a bit more control over how this character acts but wow he is just so dull, and he always looks like a wounded puppy which makes me dislike him even more.
For me Character trumps everything.
character is more important then plot, music and gameplay combined for me... this goes for all entertainment. if i don't like the protagonist then i will not enjoy what the rest of the thing has to offer.
Still the supporting characters are fine.... i guess... they kinda feel fanservicy for the most part cause it's like "look they are the same but slightly different.... you shouldn't need to accuse one character of betraying you again... granted now he has no personality but hey he's got a beard.... neato right?"
Elle is cute but other then "i need to go to cannan" she doesn't do much... i'm still pretty early in though so that should change when it's revealed that she is or is related to a certain character who has been mentioned lots lately.
but all that is not why i'm starting to write this early.
ok... side story:
Back in the day my father came home one day with a game i had never heard of "Evolution Worlds" for the Gamecube.
the graphics were terrible but the plot was lovely and is a game i still think about and remember the good times.
that game had a debt system.... if you payed off your massive debt then you got something special.... if you played again and paid off your even bigger debt you were treated to something even better.
however the game didn't care to much if you never paid any of your debt off.
it was up to you. (side side story, the game took away my best character for the final battle... boy was i pissed)
So.... coming back ot this game... you have to pay off your debt.... but apparently no you shouldn;t
you should just wait for the game to say "hey you have to pay this off to progress the story!" because otherwise you are going to be stuck doing fetch quests and bullshit gametime padding crap that doens't further the story and above all else IS NOT FUN.
i play games for fun.... why would i want to play a game for work... i shouldn't be forced to do quests if i don't want to and giving me a stupid paywall blocking my progress... what is this a mobile game?
however... it's not all bad.
one thing that made Xillia a little enjoyable was trying to connect it to Phantasia.
this one practically confirms is... i'm pretty sure Aska (like maxwell) has only appeared in one other game... phantasia...
also Elle's last name is Mal Marta
marta is the other character is TOS2 which is canonically in the phantsia world.
still... a few nods to my fav Tales of game will not win me over...
i just gotta beat it before Tales of Hearts R arrives cause i know if i stop playing Xillia 2 i will never pick it back up... it's just not enjoyable enough right now.
still... lets see where it goes from here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now since writing up my little rant i have looked up a few things.
I wanted to see how fast the game could be beaten... and i saw around 12 hours. i tend to explore a bit so i figure it'll be closer to 15-20 but i am aiming for 15.
i am halfway through the story (chapter wise) and i only have done one side chapter (and i didn't know thats what i was getting into when i started it)
I also remembered my most favorite part from Xillia 1... i can put Glasses on ludger... and alvin... and gaius... and jude...
prety much all the male characters now wear glasses and i gotta say my enjoyment of the cutscenes has gone up.
the story is still stupid and pointless but hey... glasses...
But now i have to talk about Milla.
did she change voice actors? like it's bad enough that they took all the charm and sweetness of her character and made her really annoying. when characters only whine and complain and blame others without actually trying to do anything to make it better... it's just annoying. I know too many people like that in my real life i don't need that in my games.
Lastly I want to go up to the person who decided you could only change your party in towns and smack them... the best feature of Xillia 1 was being able to change party members in the middle of a fight... now half the time the game doesn't even give me a choice of who's in my part when.
maybe i don't wanna have Gaius, milla and leia in my part.... maybe i want alvin instead of milla.... but nope... can't switch simply because the game has told me no. the others are there with me... but nope... plot says no.
oh... and the Slash/smash/pierce fighting dynamic is just making me wanna play Ys 7 or 4 instead of you... it does the system so much better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay... i was wrong... not even glasses can save this game... the novelty wore off the instant i hit another "you gotta pay off your debt!" chunk.
the way i've been paying off debt is find elite monsters... kill a few.... pay off debt.
but night now i'm just feeling like i can't find any of them.
I head to the areas that i think it said they were in but really it was a different place and i wasted time looking around.
It's not that earning money is hard... even if you don't do any quests it's possible to fight enough monsters in a decent timeframe to pay off the debt.
On the other hand if i wanted to play an MMO where i needed to grind/do fetch quests to proceed then i would play an MMO.
There are two key things that can keep me playing a bad game.
1) If the story is good and/or just interesting enough where i don't care that the gameplay is a little dull or repetitive...
2) if the gameplay is fun enough to override a dull plot.
Had this been a game about Alvin's time pre meeting Milla and Jude... or perhaps about jude after the events of the main game and how he's dealign with that.... or about Gaius and Muset and their mindset... this could have been a really interesting story.
Instead we get a story of two brothers who can go into other dimensions and destroy them... are the ramifications of destroying a world brought up? occasionally but it always boils down to "well i feel bad but i kinda gotta do it so.... too bad"
oh and it has characters from the other game so we can call it a sequel... even though sequel should expand upon ideas or world elements and this just doesn't do anything.
The combat on the other hand actually annoys me.
In Graces F (which i shouldn't have played before i played this cause then maybe i owuldn't be so annoyed by the combat here) square is Dodge, side step and backstep. when you do these actions it feels like you are actually dodging attacks.
in Xillia 2 dodge and backstep are square.... Side step is some odd combo like L1 and X... while X is otherwise attack... and L1 is half of the button combo needed to switch weapons... it's just not intuitive... it has no flow and 99% of the time ends with me hitting X a bunch, maybe throwing a circle in there if i'm bored... and then waiting for the fight to finish.
Graces f came how many years before Xillia 2? why would you take a really good combat system and just not keep any of the elements that made it good (guard also being used for dodge, having to wait for your meter to fill up before you can attack again and figuring out if you should attack early or wait for it to fill all the way, having two strings of attack possibilities with a sheathed weapon vs a blade)
Part of me thought that if i can get to the end of Arc Rise Fantasia that i would be able to play through any terrible rpg....
another part of me thougth that tales of symphonia would always be the low point of that series for me..
i guess part of me was wrong.
I don't know if i want to finish it.
i mean i wanna finish it cause i bought it and i hate wasting money...
but it's not fun
i'm not having fun
i play games to have fun
this is just so damn dull... i don't even want to bother anymore.
oh well.. Hearts R in a week... if i haven't beaten it by then... then i probably never will.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spoilers from here on cause i am just... beyond caring.
We you start up the game you see a character and my first reaction to him was "that is either Ludgar or Ludgar's father"
why?
because tales of isn't always the best at being subtle... and knowing that ludgar was going to spend the rest of the game caring for her and their cooking was damn near the same and how he is so much like elles father like she CONSTANTLY reminds us.
but how it was revealed to me made me wanna throw my controller.
Ludgar never talks, you have to beat the game one to get his voice because otherwise the reveal would be too obvious.
Ludgar does grunt and occasionally say a word here or there...
it was enough.
When Victor spoke for the first time i was so angry. "you took his personality and his voice for a stupid reveal that i guessed when i booted up this stupid game?... all to hide this 'secret' that was confirmed the second the character in question spoke? Are you kidding?" like... it wasn't a surprised but i dunno... i think it's pretty obvious that it's the same voice actor.
he then proceeded to kick my ass so... who knows if i'll be able to beat him since i don't think i can grind at this point.
but yeah i just so don't care.
i am so done...
but at the same time i only have 3 more chapters after this.
so close to the end... but so done with this stupidity.
oh... and even if it hasn't been declared cannon as the same world as Phantasia and Symphonia... it is.
100%
between Aska, mentioning the city of Thor, the look of the little spiryte, shadow, mentioning chamelion, focusing on origin and the two worlds thing... yeah... 100% same world just in the far future.
what about the tree? i'm sure it's there somewhere and even if it isn't it's withering away would make sense with the one world losing all magic.
and maybe elves/half elves were all killed off or something.
but yeah... being connected to phantasia didn't make me like symphonia and it sure as hell isn't making me like this one.
Also i'm done putting in effort for something that put no effort in itself... easy mode activated cause i just want this over and done with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I didn't think this game could make me any angrier.
Boy i've been wrong a lot in this extremely long rant over multiple days.
So in Chapter 15 (which is the penultimate chapter as far as i understand) you see a scene of how ludger could have been
talking
full of personality
not a sniveling mopey blank slate.
Why would they take that away?
i know why, i complained about why the other day but that reason doesn't seem worth crippling your main character.
he could have spoken the entire game and when victor started to talk most people would have just gone "oh!" instead of "oh you kept him from talking so we wouldn't figure it out even though it's pretty obvious"
oh well... in the end... i'm on what i believe to be the final chapter... i should be able to beat this before hearts r arrives... and then i will write my final thoughts as concisely as possible... cause i think this has gone on long enough.
~Hearts R arrives~
Dammit... ok... still i wanna beat this so Hearts R will be my reward for getting through Xillia 2..
unless i cave
i may cave.
i have less then no will power.
REVIEW BEGINS HERE
I'm going to keep this as short as i can... i have gone on more then long enough.
This game doesn't need to exist, which is kinda fitting since if i were to tack on any central theme it would have to be Existence.
However unlike other tales of games it really doesn't have a point.
Theres talk about fractured dimensions and the fact you may just be another 'fake' world and you are essentially murdering thousands of people left right and center. Is this ever explored? not really.. you get a bit of "oh boy i sure feel bad about this" as you are crushing worlds.
Theres talk about bonds and what it means to protect someone... but in the end it doesn't really matter because as much as i tried to protect people it was just shoved back in my face as none of my choices even mattered (well none of the choices before the 15th chapter as far as i can tell)
Theres the slightest hint at what it means to be family.... but according to the game what it means is that you have to kill each other to get ahead... sacrifices must be made and all that.
I dunno maybe had they done something with the fact Ludgar is essentially a blank slate and what it means to actually be an individual and the weight of a choice it could have been a really interesting concept. but instead they just hide his voice to 'hide' and insanely obvious plot twist.
This had potential and i think thats what pisses me off so much about this.
It feels like a blatant cash grab
it feels like they weren't even trying
it feels like they were trying to pad out what should have probably be an expansion on the first game.
When i first beat the game i was positive i got the bad ending cause of the weak sappy music.... and i was okay with that cause honestly i had stopped caring about this somepoint after the charm of putting all the male characters in glasses wore off.
BUT NOPE
i got the normal ending.... which was cute i guess but still very normal.
apparently i made the right choices in chapter 16 for the true end but not 15... oops
now that i have watched the true ending (cause i will not replay this, even for the 'joy' of actually listening to ludgar talk) there is still no point. there is no central theme... there is no bigger message.
Oh well at least in the credits i got to see the same name attached to Phantasia, symphonia and xillia.... (and vesperia but ignoring that for now) so i say thats confirmation of same world... at least it's close enough in my eyes.
To be honest.... i was hoping the cat would be a more important role... why else would it be there the entire time.
oh well.
Still i shouldn't be completely negative...
The good:
Elle is adorable, if the story had been even more about her and her dealings with being away from her dad i would have been happier.
uh....
you get to have gaius in your party... thats kinda neat.
Oh! the intro song is nice, makes a good theme through the game. (i mean... it's not as good as Karma but what is)
The bad:
Debt system thats just meant to pad out the game
has little to nothing to do with xillia 1 other then returning characters.
combat system is crippled.
during all but one main chapter stories you don't get to pick your party (which i loath, don't give me a wealth of characters and then not let me pick)
The returning characters have no personality... this one i may come off as a little unfair since i didn't do any side chapaters (other then 1 for jude and boy was i annoyed that happened, i just wanted to get through the game as quick as possible) but seriously Alvin is no longer fun, Jude is just whiny, Millia was always kinda flat and seems to have lost what littler personality she got at the end of the first game. Elize and rowan play no part in the main plot at all in any way.
I didn't like this game....
I never thought i would dislike a tales of game more then Symphonia.
But i hate Symphonia cause i hate Lloyd... he was just so annoying.
Not to mention it was insanely predictable, my friend (who i was playing with) punched me every time i guessed the next plot line.... i got punched a lot.
Where this it's the complete absence of any personality... the plot happens around them... and they just happen to follow.
in my opinion that isn't good storytelling and it sure as hell isn't good for a game thats main draw should be it's story (again i may be alone on this one but this game doens't have good game mechanics either).
So yeah.... my Tales of list!
1. Phantasia
2. Graces f (specifically trails and tribulations)
3. Abyss and Vesperia
4. Symphonia 2: Dawn of the New worlds
5. Xillia
6. Destiny (cause it didn't work on my system)
9. Symphonia
10. Xillia 2
NOW... i got Hearts R earlier today and i'm hoping it'll be better then Xillia 2.
also if you read all this then thank you very much for dealing with my angry ranting... it made me feel a lot better to get it off my chest while i played.
Normally i write these when i finish them...
Normally games don't piss me off as much so i'm going to make notes while i play.
Sadly i don't easily forgive bullshit game design so even if the rest of the game is amazing... this can't be any better then a mediocre for me.
So, i had seen a lot of mixed things about this game... mostly negative but hey.... i have liked games that most people didn't care for in the past so i figured i should still give this a shot... it's only fair considering i bought it.
Things i liked right off the bat.
i got lots of in game stuff for having played Xillia and Graces F... that made me smile.
um...
yeah that was pretty much it.
Things that worried me off the bat
No intro song upon first boot up... you have to play to a certain place in the game (it's really early on) before you see it... they did this in Xillia as well but it was a bit easier to understand since the visuals you got for the intro vid were different based on who you picked.
the game takes a long time to load up and feel the need to check for DLC 3 times before you even get to pick your file.
So then i got to playing... and was reminded that the music for the world you start in is really terrible (that may just be me and jazzy tunes not getting along but i think even people who like jazz would hate the music)
Still i enjoyed the fact that there is the Illusion of choice, it makes you feel like your in control even though i have a feeling a lot of the dialogue choices lead to the same end result.
But then we come to Ludgar.
now before anyone says "they made him say nothing so that you created his personality"
Bullshit.
someone can correct me if i'm wrong but when i played Tales of Symphonia 2: dawn of the new world there were dialogue options... yet Emil (emile?) still had a lot of personality... and i still felt like i was shaping his personality and dealing with the whole ratatosk (no idea if i'm spelling it right... it's been years since i played TOS2) thing.
It's neat that they are trying to give me a bit more control over how this character acts but wow he is just so dull, and he always looks like a wounded puppy which makes me dislike him even more.
For me Character trumps everything.
character is more important then plot, music and gameplay combined for me... this goes for all entertainment. if i don't like the protagonist then i will not enjoy what the rest of the thing has to offer.
Still the supporting characters are fine.... i guess... they kinda feel fanservicy for the most part cause it's like "look they are the same but slightly different.... you shouldn't need to accuse one character of betraying you again... granted now he has no personality but hey he's got a beard.... neato right?"
Elle is cute but other then "i need to go to cannan" she doesn't do much... i'm still pretty early in though so that should change when it's revealed that she is or is related to a certain character who has been mentioned lots lately.
but all that is not why i'm starting to write this early.
ok... side story:
Back in the day my father came home one day with a game i had never heard of "Evolution Worlds" for the Gamecube.
the graphics were terrible but the plot was lovely and is a game i still think about and remember the good times.
that game had a debt system.... if you payed off your massive debt then you got something special.... if you played again and paid off your even bigger debt you were treated to something even better.
however the game didn't care to much if you never paid any of your debt off.
it was up to you. (side side story, the game took away my best character for the final battle... boy was i pissed)
So.... coming back ot this game... you have to pay off your debt.... but apparently no you shouldn;t
you should just wait for the game to say "hey you have to pay this off to progress the story!" because otherwise you are going to be stuck doing fetch quests and bullshit gametime padding crap that doens't further the story and above all else IS NOT FUN.
i play games for fun.... why would i want to play a game for work... i shouldn't be forced to do quests if i don't want to and giving me a stupid paywall blocking my progress... what is this a mobile game?
however... it's not all bad.
one thing that made Xillia a little enjoyable was trying to connect it to Phantasia.
this one practically confirms is... i'm pretty sure Aska (like maxwell) has only appeared in one other game... phantasia...
also Elle's last name is Mal Marta
marta is the other character is TOS2 which is canonically in the phantsia world.
still... a few nods to my fav Tales of game will not win me over...
i just gotta beat it before Tales of Hearts R arrives cause i know if i stop playing Xillia 2 i will never pick it back up... it's just not enjoyable enough right now.
still... lets see where it goes from here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now since writing up my little rant i have looked up a few things.
I wanted to see how fast the game could be beaten... and i saw around 12 hours. i tend to explore a bit so i figure it'll be closer to 15-20 but i am aiming for 15.
i am halfway through the story (chapter wise) and i only have done one side chapter (and i didn't know thats what i was getting into when i started it)
I also remembered my most favorite part from Xillia 1... i can put Glasses on ludger... and alvin... and gaius... and jude...
prety much all the male characters now wear glasses and i gotta say my enjoyment of the cutscenes has gone up.
the story is still stupid and pointless but hey... glasses...
But now i have to talk about Milla.
did she change voice actors? like it's bad enough that they took all the charm and sweetness of her character and made her really annoying. when characters only whine and complain and blame others without actually trying to do anything to make it better... it's just annoying. I know too many people like that in my real life i don't need that in my games.
Lastly I want to go up to the person who decided you could only change your party in towns and smack them... the best feature of Xillia 1 was being able to change party members in the middle of a fight... now half the time the game doesn't even give me a choice of who's in my part when.
maybe i don't wanna have Gaius, milla and leia in my part.... maybe i want alvin instead of milla.... but nope... can't switch simply because the game has told me no. the others are there with me... but nope... plot says no.
oh... and the Slash/smash/pierce fighting dynamic is just making me wanna play Ys 7 or 4 instead of you... it does the system so much better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay... i was wrong... not even glasses can save this game... the novelty wore off the instant i hit another "you gotta pay off your debt!" chunk.
the way i've been paying off debt is find elite monsters... kill a few.... pay off debt.
but night now i'm just feeling like i can't find any of them.
I head to the areas that i think it said they were in but really it was a different place and i wasted time looking around.
It's not that earning money is hard... even if you don't do any quests it's possible to fight enough monsters in a decent timeframe to pay off the debt.
On the other hand if i wanted to play an MMO where i needed to grind/do fetch quests to proceed then i would play an MMO.
There are two key things that can keep me playing a bad game.
1) If the story is good and/or just interesting enough where i don't care that the gameplay is a little dull or repetitive...
2) if the gameplay is fun enough to override a dull plot.
Had this been a game about Alvin's time pre meeting Milla and Jude... or perhaps about jude after the events of the main game and how he's dealign with that.... or about Gaius and Muset and their mindset... this could have been a really interesting story.
Instead we get a story of two brothers who can go into other dimensions and destroy them... are the ramifications of destroying a world brought up? occasionally but it always boils down to "well i feel bad but i kinda gotta do it so.... too bad"
oh and it has characters from the other game so we can call it a sequel... even though sequel should expand upon ideas or world elements and this just doesn't do anything.
The combat on the other hand actually annoys me.
In Graces F (which i shouldn't have played before i played this cause then maybe i owuldn't be so annoyed by the combat here) square is Dodge, side step and backstep. when you do these actions it feels like you are actually dodging attacks.
in Xillia 2 dodge and backstep are square.... Side step is some odd combo like L1 and X... while X is otherwise attack... and L1 is half of the button combo needed to switch weapons... it's just not intuitive... it has no flow and 99% of the time ends with me hitting X a bunch, maybe throwing a circle in there if i'm bored... and then waiting for the fight to finish.
Graces f came how many years before Xillia 2? why would you take a really good combat system and just not keep any of the elements that made it good (guard also being used for dodge, having to wait for your meter to fill up before you can attack again and figuring out if you should attack early or wait for it to fill all the way, having two strings of attack possibilities with a sheathed weapon vs a blade)
Part of me thought that if i can get to the end of Arc Rise Fantasia that i would be able to play through any terrible rpg....
another part of me thougth that tales of symphonia would always be the low point of that series for me..
i guess part of me was wrong.
I don't know if i want to finish it.
i mean i wanna finish it cause i bought it and i hate wasting money...
but it's not fun
i'm not having fun
i play games to have fun
this is just so damn dull... i don't even want to bother anymore.
oh well.. Hearts R in a week... if i haven't beaten it by then... then i probably never will.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spoilers from here on cause i am just... beyond caring.
We you start up the game you see a character and my first reaction to him was "that is either Ludgar or Ludgar's father"
why?
because tales of isn't always the best at being subtle... and knowing that ludgar was going to spend the rest of the game caring for her and their cooking was damn near the same and how he is so much like elles father like she CONSTANTLY reminds us.
but how it was revealed to me made me wanna throw my controller.
Ludgar never talks, you have to beat the game one to get his voice because otherwise the reveal would be too obvious.
Ludgar does grunt and occasionally say a word here or there...
it was enough.
When Victor spoke for the first time i was so angry. "you took his personality and his voice for a stupid reveal that i guessed when i booted up this stupid game?... all to hide this 'secret' that was confirmed the second the character in question spoke? Are you kidding?" like... it wasn't a surprised but i dunno... i think it's pretty obvious that it's the same voice actor.
he then proceeded to kick my ass so... who knows if i'll be able to beat him since i don't think i can grind at this point.
but yeah i just so don't care.
i am so done...
but at the same time i only have 3 more chapters after this.
so close to the end... but so done with this stupidity.
oh... and even if it hasn't been declared cannon as the same world as Phantasia and Symphonia... it is.
100%
between Aska, mentioning the city of Thor, the look of the little spiryte, shadow, mentioning chamelion, focusing on origin and the two worlds thing... yeah... 100% same world just in the far future.
what about the tree? i'm sure it's there somewhere and even if it isn't it's withering away would make sense with the one world losing all magic.
and maybe elves/half elves were all killed off or something.
but yeah... being connected to phantasia didn't make me like symphonia and it sure as hell isn't making me like this one.
Also i'm done putting in effort for something that put no effort in itself... easy mode activated cause i just want this over and done with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I didn't think this game could make me any angrier.
Boy i've been wrong a lot in this extremely long rant over multiple days.
So in Chapter 15 (which is the penultimate chapter as far as i understand) you see a scene of how ludger could have been
talking
full of personality
not a sniveling mopey blank slate.
Why would they take that away?
i know why, i complained about why the other day but that reason doesn't seem worth crippling your main character.
he could have spoken the entire game and when victor started to talk most people would have just gone "oh!" instead of "oh you kept him from talking so we wouldn't figure it out even though it's pretty obvious"
oh well... in the end... i'm on what i believe to be the final chapter... i should be able to beat this before hearts r arrives... and then i will write my final thoughts as concisely as possible... cause i think this has gone on long enough.
~Hearts R arrives~
Dammit... ok... still i wanna beat this so Hearts R will be my reward for getting through Xillia 2..
unless i cave
i may cave.
i have less then no will power.
REVIEW BEGINS HERE
I'm going to keep this as short as i can... i have gone on more then long enough.
This game doesn't need to exist, which is kinda fitting since if i were to tack on any central theme it would have to be Existence.
However unlike other tales of games it really doesn't have a point.
Theres talk about fractured dimensions and the fact you may just be another 'fake' world and you are essentially murdering thousands of people left right and center. Is this ever explored? not really.. you get a bit of "oh boy i sure feel bad about this" as you are crushing worlds.
Theres talk about bonds and what it means to protect someone... but in the end it doesn't really matter because as much as i tried to protect people it was just shoved back in my face as none of my choices even mattered (well none of the choices before the 15th chapter as far as i can tell)
Theres the slightest hint at what it means to be family.... but according to the game what it means is that you have to kill each other to get ahead... sacrifices must be made and all that.
I dunno maybe had they done something with the fact Ludgar is essentially a blank slate and what it means to actually be an individual and the weight of a choice it could have been a really interesting concept. but instead they just hide his voice to 'hide' and insanely obvious plot twist.
This had potential and i think thats what pisses me off so much about this.
It feels like a blatant cash grab
it feels like they weren't even trying
it feels like they were trying to pad out what should have probably be an expansion on the first game.
When i first beat the game i was positive i got the bad ending cause of the weak sappy music.... and i was okay with that cause honestly i had stopped caring about this somepoint after the charm of putting all the male characters in glasses wore off.
BUT NOPE
i got the normal ending.... which was cute i guess but still very normal.
apparently i made the right choices in chapter 16 for the true end but not 15... oops
now that i have watched the true ending (cause i will not replay this, even for the 'joy' of actually listening to ludgar talk) there is still no point. there is no central theme... there is no bigger message.
Oh well at least in the credits i got to see the same name attached to Phantasia, symphonia and xillia.... (and vesperia but ignoring that for now) so i say thats confirmation of same world... at least it's close enough in my eyes.
To be honest.... i was hoping the cat would be a more important role... why else would it be there the entire time.
oh well.
Still i shouldn't be completely negative...
The good:
Elle is adorable, if the story had been even more about her and her dealings with being away from her dad i would have been happier.
uh....
you get to have gaius in your party... thats kinda neat.
Oh! the intro song is nice, makes a good theme through the game. (i mean... it's not as good as Karma but what is)
The bad:
Debt system thats just meant to pad out the game
has little to nothing to do with xillia 1 other then returning characters.
combat system is crippled.
during all but one main chapter stories you don't get to pick your party (which i loath, don't give me a wealth of characters and then not let me pick)
The returning characters have no personality... this one i may come off as a little unfair since i didn't do any side chapaters (other then 1 for jude and boy was i annoyed that happened, i just wanted to get through the game as quick as possible) but seriously Alvin is no longer fun, Jude is just whiny, Millia was always kinda flat and seems to have lost what littler personality she got at the end of the first game. Elize and rowan play no part in the main plot at all in any way.
I didn't like this game....
I never thought i would dislike a tales of game more then Symphonia.
But i hate Symphonia cause i hate Lloyd... he was just so annoying.
Not to mention it was insanely predictable, my friend (who i was playing with) punched me every time i guessed the next plot line.... i got punched a lot.
Where this it's the complete absence of any personality... the plot happens around them... and they just happen to follow.
in my opinion that isn't good storytelling and it sure as hell isn't good for a game thats main draw should be it's story (again i may be alone on this one but this game doens't have good game mechanics either).
So yeah.... my Tales of list!
1. Phantasia
2. Graces f (specifically trails and tribulations)
3. Abyss and Vesperia
4. Symphonia 2: Dawn of the New worlds
5. Xillia
6. Destiny (cause it didn't work on my system)
9. Symphonia
10. Xillia 2
NOW... i got Hearts R earlier today and i'm hoping it'll be better then Xillia 2.
also if you read all this then thank you very much for dealing with my angry ranting... it made me feel a lot better to get it off my chest while i played.
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