Pokemon Sword and Shield Versions

               The eighth generation of Pokémon games has been announced. And I am not that excited. Look, I love Pokémon. I have played every generation, a ton of spin-offs, a majority of the anime episodes, and I sometimes play the TCG. But this video did nothing for me. I was super excited heading into it and then… nothing.

               This is the first new generation on a home console. It should be the best, most ambitious game yet. From what little we’ve seen, it isn’t. It looks just like every previous game in the series. Literally. It looks like they’re using the same models as the 3DS games, but now in HD. And that will be enough to make some people happy, but not me. I actively disliked Ultra Sun and haven’t loved a game in the series since Black Version.

               Unfortunately, that was almost a decade ago. I know I haven’t outgrown the franchise because everything about that list at the top is true. I even regularly listen to a Pokémon podcast (You should check it out. Its good). But I’m not excited. That will probably change as we get closer to release. It was definitely true for Ultra Sun, even if that was a disappointment. And if all else fails, I still have the older games to go back to.

               But here’s to the future and some hopefully amazing Pokémon games! Bring on Sword Version and Shield Version.

Comic Reviews - 02.24.2019

Hey y’all! Welcome to the inaugural Weekly Comic Reviews! I’m so excited to get into this, but first let’s break down the format for these reviews:

Every week we’ll open with an introduction where I give a brief overview of the comics I read this week. After that, I’ll name a Comic of the Week and then we’ll jump into the reviews. I’ll be giving each issue its own section with a list of the creative team, a story summary, and then my thoughts on the issue.  I will also include a final Verdict of either Buy, Borrow, or Pass (Which I’m stealing from the immortal Uncanny X-Cast). Buy is highly recommended, Borrow is a worthwhile read, and Pass is a comic I don’t feel needs to be read. I think that’s everything so let’s get started!

I decided to only look at five comics this week because 1. I only read five comics this week and 2. I wanted to start small. Expect much more next week. I do think it ended up being a fun week that focused on some of my favorite characters in Superhero comics. They just happen to all be Marvel this week. Comic of the Week was pretty easy to decide this week: Uncanny X-Men Annual #1.

Comics Reviewed: Uncanny X-Men Annual #1, Uncanny X-Men #11, Miles Morales Spider-Man #1, Archie #701

Introducing: Weekly Comic Reviews

Hey y'all! I've got a new feature to announce.  It's all pretty much right there in the title. Every week I will be highlighting the comics I am reading and discussing them. This will include a mix of brand new comics and comics I am catching up on as I have a stack about 3 months old to get to. I am basically going to steal the Henchman-4-Hire template (With some tweaks) because I like it and Sean does a fantastic job. Everyone should check out that blog… After you’re done here. The tweak I’m going to start with right are eliminating the number grade because I’ve never been a fan of that. That scale will be replaced by two options: Buy and Pass. It is a pretty simple system that may need adjusting in the future but I really like it. The plan is to post these every weekend beginning this Saturday. I’m super excited for y’all to see what I’ve been cooking up and to get a regular series going! I'll leave ya a sneak peek of one of the issues I'll be looking at this week. See you this weekend!

Kingdom Hearts 3 Thoughts So Far Part 2

I finished Kingdom Hearts III and did some of the post-game content. I wrote about the actual gameplay a lot in my previous look at the game, so I am going to write generally about my opinion here and then move into spoilers and mostly focus on the story. I’m going to take a short break from the game to get some separation from it before posting my final thoughts.

So, this is a very good game. Right now, it has not surpassed Chain of Memories as my favorite, but it is solidly in the next tier. I think it is on par with KH2. And I know that is a controversial opinion, but it is how I feel. I am going to take a short break from the game and then come back to it and explore the gummi ship world more as well finish all the flan, collect lucky emblems, etc. The combat is flashy and satisfying, but I’m not sure how much depth is there; I need to experiment with it more. Which is how I felt about KH2 for a long time so that will be fun. The story is good and satisfying, but I wish it kicked into gear a little earlier. I have some minor complaints about various worlds and what have you, but it is a really good game. Let’s get into the spoilers:

                Sora is dead? I think. He is definitely in Shibuya, The World Ends With You version too. The way he faded out from the beach scene makes me think he found Kairi but didn’t make it back. This comes after they were set up as a romantic couple in this game (kinda). The real question I have is about Riku. Did he go to look for Sora and end up in the world of Verum Rex? Did the Master of Masters (I am assuming he is the one in that cloak) grab him and take him there? Is Verum Rex a real world inside a video game or is the video game based on it? Does the Kingdom Hearts staff understand what data is?

                But back to this game. The story is pretty good. I wish some of the end game stuff was a little more spaced out, but I appreciate that Sora must have character growth over the course of the game before he can unlock the Power of Waking. Which is where the Disney worlds come in, especially Olympus. Sora grows and changes throughout this game more than maybe the entire series up to this point.

                The end of the game is especially satisfying. And boy did I not expect everyone to DIE. Of course, it gets undone, but Sora still experienced it. And Donald’s Zettaflare spell was wild. Donald fucking Duck is now canonically one of the strongest spellcasters in Square-Enix history. And then you end up in The Final World. The closest thing to purgatory this series has shown us thus far. And Sora must collect himself in order to return to life. Which make CONSECUTIVE games in which Sora must be collected.

                Afterwards, Sora rides a bunch of Keyblades with the help of the X era wielders to destroy the giant Demon Tide tornado thing. This is followed by a million other awesome events leading to the Skein, one of my favorite areas in the series. There is not much to it in terms of exploration, but the boss fights. Facing off against multiple bosses that where hard (some being the final bosses of their games) before shows the growth in ability Sora has experienced. The all Xehanort battle is the highlight for me.

                The final boss battle reminds me of Final Fantasy XV in some areas. Or at least what I think that battle was supposed to be. Master Xehanort was the most challenging part of the game to that point (as you would want from a final boss), but also looked very cool. Nomura going full Baphomet with Xehanort was the perfect design for his armor.

                And after all that has happened, everyone gets a happy ending (except maybe Sora and Riku). It is incredibly touching to see all the characters reunite and the final moments on the Destiny Islands were everything I could have hoped for. AND ROXAS FINALLY GOT TO GO TO THE BEACH!

                Kingdom Hearts III is an extremely good game. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. I will get into that more in some post in the future, but this game satisfied me in almost every aspect. There are a few plot holes, but that has never been what Kingdom Hearts is about. Kingdom Hearts is about people and the way they relate to each other. And in that regard, I would say this is a perfect game.

Frozen 2 Teaser

I know I am a couple days late, but I really wanted to talk about this. Because I am hyped. Frozen is one of the most (but not THE most) overexposed films of my lifetime. Which is why many resent it. I understand, but y’all should rewatch it. Because Frozen is a BANGER. The animation is incredible; the acting is incredible. The music still slaps. And Frozen II looks just as good. There isn’t much to go off from this teaser, but the animation looks really good. And the character designs are amazing. It’s so subtle, but clear that all the characters have aged. It’s hard to get a great look at Anna’s outfit in this, but the others look really good. I am way more excited than I thought I would be.
Oh! And Kristoff rides Sven as they lead a charging army of reindeer!

Blog Update 02.07.2019

Courtesy: @_branden_ on Twitter

Kingdom Hearts is my favorite series of video games, maybe any media. That is why when I started this blog I wanted to individual game retrospectives. To be honest I am struggling with the second half(ish) of those articles. I have so many thoughts that I am beginning to think that I have may need to temporarily discontinue the series to get that organized and coherent. In the meantime, I will continue to put out Kingdom Hearts content, along with more varied posts on other subjects.

 In terms of Kingdom Hearts 3, I will be getting the game Sunday and will post several articles featuring my ongoing thoughts on the game as I play. These articles will be split into non-spoiler and spoiler sections so that those who have not yet played the game can still read the first part. After I finish, I will post my full thoughts.

I mentioned above that I will also be branching out a bit. This will include some comics, anime, and film articles. I already have the ideas for a couple articles but need to flesh the ideas out before announcing anything.

I want to apologize to anyone that has been enjoying my retrospectives and is looking forward the rest. They will return, but I am unsure how long that may take. I promise they will come back though! Thanks for reading this update and all my other posts and I look forward to the bright future.

Kingdom Hearts 3 Thoughts So Far

                The fated day has arrived… And I’ve played Kingdom Hearts III y’all! I planned on writing this post like three worlds ago, but I kept playing. Oh well. I am getting ready to begin the last (I think)  section of Disney worlds. This post is going to be my impressions so far with a non-spoiler section mostly focused on gameplay followed by a spoiler section mostly focused on story. I am being fairly conservative about what is a spoiler (i.e. I won’t say what order you travel to worlds or when you receive certain abilities) just to make sure anyone that doesn’t want to know that doesn’t get spoiled. Spoilers will include Chi/Union X because I have theories about where this game is going. Let’s get it going!