Glen-i

Death's Door was released on various consoles last year. Developed by Acid Nerve, and published by Devolver Digital, it's an isometric action adventure game in a similar style to top-down Zelda titles. You play as a crow, it doesn't have a name, as it goes about it's dayjob. BTW, that dayjob is collecting the souls of anyone whose death date is due. It's the cutest little grim reaper you ever did see. Things quickly go south when the crow's assigned soul gets hijacked by another, much bigger crow. Said bigger crow holds that soul hostage, demanding the reaper's assistance in collecting three "Giant Souls" so he can open Death's Door, a large omnious door floating above a clifftop. The thing is, the owners of these Giant Souls have been cheating death and living far longer then they had any right to, and they're not about to die willingly. So, you have to convince them otherwise... by stabbing them with your glowy sword repeatedly. Not every game lets you recreate this. Like I mentioned before, Death's Door is a Zelda clone. All the staples are there, dungeons to find, items to get, even Piece of Heart rip-offs. There's more of a focus on combat then you'd expect though, while there are puzzles (some pretty good ones, as well), the more devious ones are normally reserved for optional goodies. The combat can also be quite punishing, because even if you find all the health upgrades, you'll still die in 6 hits at most. I died more then a few times on some bosses, but it never felt unfair. They're well designed and pattern recognition will help win the day. It's not exactly a long game. You'll finish it in less then 10 hours, and the hidden collectibles (amusingly called "Shiny Things") are reasonable enough to find due to the game helpfully pointing out the general whereabouts of things you missed. So it shouldn't be too hard to get to 100%. Also, big massive neon crows with pimp crowns I'll tell you one thing, I really like the art style this game has. The stark contrast between the Reaper's Headquarters and other areas really gives the game a striking look. I'm a sucker for cool art direction, and Death's Door has it in spades. Not to mention the cool lighting effects and great soundtrack that accompanies it. This is another game that I find myself running out of things to say, not because it's got nothing interesting going for it (The running theme of the pointlessness of evading death is interesting, for example), but because it's basically a Zelda clone. A solid Zelda clone, but nothing you haven't seen before, gameplay wise. But these days, with Zelda focusing on being something different, I'll take what I can get.

I mean, we've had jet engine Pokémon already, and they were a kind of "used to be part of one Pokémon" deal. So... Maybe? Zekrom and Reshiram aren't man-made though. Thanks for reminding me of Genesect Car, BTW. Gen 5 really does have some of the best Pokémon.

Player's choice tonight at 8pm. And I just want to stress that I didn't space on the start of the month and forget to whip up a theme, forcing me to delay it until next week. Definitely. Not. That.

Actually, I think I can fill this gap in. You see, motorcycle dragons are such a good idea, that it doesn't matter whether they fit the regional setting. Sometimes, you just gotta follow through on genius... Or insanity, it's one of them. I don't think I've liked a cover legendary as much as Koraidon since Zekrom! I gotta draw this stupid Pokémon.

Now that's good news. The Battle Tower theme he composed for Sword/Shield is one of the better songs on that game! EDIT: Field music, eh? Someone at Game Freak must have heard this. Say what you will about the games, but there's no denying the guy can whip out a banger!

I gotta say, after Sword/Shield, the battle UI is a bit of a downgrade. It's a bit... Basic?

That's because the Sword exclusive Gym Leaders were boring. The Shield ones were way better. We have creepy Shy Guy fan and Ice Gym Leader who pretends to be all delicate for about 5 seconds before she positively chucks her Poke Ball at you with full force! That said, I happen to think the gen 8 gym leaders are some of the better ones in the series. Raihan taking a selfie mid battle legit had me laughing. There's loads of personality there.

No, you're not. I immediately thought the same thing. Miraidon is obviously at least part Electric. Hard to tell what Mr. Motorcycle is from that design. But I can't imagine it reusing the Fire/Dragon and Electric/Dragon Black and White used. That'd be kinda lame. I bet they're both Electric in part. EDIT: Also, @Julius. Are you forgetting that Sword/Shield had version exclusive gym leaders? Anyway, annoyed that story doesn't dictate where you go. Ironically, that will likely make me explore less. Same thing happened with BotW.

I dunno, "Nickit" is still up there in the all-time greats. Helps that the cover legendaries aren't quadrupeds this time. Anyway, I'm going with Scarlet. Koraidon looks dope! Actual 4 player exploration might help me not fall asleep in those big, empty, boring, open worlds. No sign of catching Pokémon without initiating a battle. This is a good thing, battles were super pointless in Legends.

Ah, Sudomemo finally did it. If I remember right, it's every user uploaded Flipnote that was on the Hatena website right before it got taken down. The thing is, it's been over 10 years since it closed, and I just know my flipnotes have aged like milk. Animation is hard, y'all.

Beedrill went from a joke Pokémon that no-one ever uses, even in casual single player play, to this horrific monstrosity! For reference, that attack is as high as a Groudon! Oh, and it has double STAB power because of it's new Adaptability ability? So, basically, everything that doesn't resist Bug and Poison is super dead. And if something can take a hit? Well, that's what U-Turn is for. Beedrill is the perfect example for why Megas are better then Z-Moves and Dynamax. Megas gave new life to rubbish Pokémon, while the gimmicks that came after just serve to make already strong Pokémon even stronger, while the Pokémon that could really use the boost get left even further behind. Mega Rayquaza and other legendaries getting it was defo the wrong idea though. I mean, I like Groudon being dominant, but it didn't need the boost.

I wonder if we'll see what this generation's battle gimmick is here. Bound to be new Pokémon, sure, but I wonder if Megas will make a return? They were planned for Gen 8 and they're still kicking in Mystery Dungeon and GO. Bet the anime still has them show up now and again as well. If any old, cut feature were to make a comeback, that would be the most likely one in my eyes. Hell, they could repurpose some Gigantamax forms into Megas. They won't, but they should. Inteleon's one is far too clever to not reuse.

Welp, I'm likely to go with Golden Deer first. Granted, my only point of reference are these trailers, and which one has the upside down guy. These look the most fun with that painter aesthetic and the random horse summoning. Even if there are cases where I'll have to double up on classes, there still seems to be more variety then the first Warriors based on those trailers. My confidence in purchasing this is rising.

That's not how it works in Golf. The characters were available immediately, but the costumes/colour changes are still unavailable if you didn't unlock them in the month they were available.

Stamina matches tonight at 8pm.

Online gaming happened. Constant player engagement has become a seriously big thing for online multiplayer games. It's not good enough that a game sells well, it has to keep people playing long after it's released. It was pretty obvious they were going this route when it became apparent that Daisy, Miss Mario Spin Off herself, wasn't playable.

Righty-o. A couple of games for me to add. It's brilliant. Why? That would spoil it. You'll just have to trust me. NEO: The World Ends With You is the sequel to the DS title The World Ends With You. It's developed by three different groups, including h.a.n.d, and published by Square Enix. It was quite the surprise when it was announced because, well, the original didn't exactly set the world on fire. It's an action RPG with a... interesting take on battles, more on that in a bit. The game is set in Shibuya and follows Rindo Kanade and his best friend, Tosai Furesawa (Or "Fret") as they get involved in a road accident. Soon after, they find themselves in the "Reapers Game", a game that consists of making teams with other "players" and completing missions to collect points. The game lasts 7 days, and you probably don't want to be last. Much like the first game, there are all sorts of twists and turns that keep the plot engaging, even if some details will fly over your head if you didn't play the original game (annoyingly, some details from the non DS re-release are relevant as well, so I was pretty confused at a couple of moments). The battle system takes place in real time, tasking you with taking control of every character at once. Each character is equipped with a "Pin", which determines what attack they use when the corresponding button is pressed. Everyone on your team shares the same health bar, so if one person gets hit, the whole team loses health. This sounds like a disaster, but there's a few details that prevent this. Firstly, if you're not pressing a character's button, then the AI handles their movement, and thankfully, they will dodge almost every attack with near perfect timing (Some wide ranging attacks might still catch them though). Because of this, you're only ever controlling the character whose button you're pressing. Some people might be a bit upset that the whole dual-screen mechanic of simultaneous battles are gone, but it's a neccessary compromise, because as the re-releases show, it does not work on a single screen. All the other cool features of the original game are thankfully present in the sequel. You see, most of the pins are gotten from enemies dropping them, but there are a wide variety of ways to increase the likelihood of this, whether it be lowering your level, equipping certain clothes, or chaining multiple battles in a row. The game even has a screen that shows you the odds of an enemy dropping a pin, so you can plan on how to get what you want. It's this kind of accesibility that makes chasing 100% completion quite doable, despite the number of collectibles to get. The only real wall you might run into are the optional post game bosses, which are no joke! But it all makes for a relatively fun time. Well, fun enough for me to chase it. The game has a proper great soundtrack with a wide variety of music genres! This coincides quite well with the artstyle. NEO: TWEWY has a great street art vibe thing going on that I just adore. It's a very stylish game. It's a shame this game didn't live up to Square's expectations, because it deserves success, but I put it down to the absolutely shoddy PR the game got in the run up to its release. But that's Square Enix for you...

Imagine my horror when I tell @BowserBasher "Don't you dare pick Big Blue" on the final race, only for @S.C.G to pick it. Funny coincidence, until I turn on my phone's screen only to see him there in the chat! That is some proper advanced strats! @viceview51 there, employing the ol' "Give Glen a heart attack" tactic.

Let's try that again. Pick Paris Promenade please.

Room's open. I'll be on the discord voice chat in about 5 minutes if anyone is interested in me shouting at them.

Player's Choice tonight at 8pm.

Have you ever been working on something, only to realise midway through, that you are utterly boned in regards to completing it? So yeah, anyone here with Sword/Shield that got the single Type:Null in the game, and hasn't evolved it yet? EDIT: Yep, @Ugh first aid's laziness has saved me! She just got me to do a tradeback with my Silvally back when we were completing the Pokedex, so I just used hers! Back on track!

On the other hand, I assumed all 80's VCR's were a shade of gray. Granted, my only reference is the intro to The Goldbergs.

This became surprisingly apparent to me when I took my WiiU to the local community centre and let a bunch of kids play Smash. A lot of them gravitated toward the Wii Remote and the Wii Classic Controller, while the ones aged over 10 would use the WiiU Pro Controller or GameCube Controller. That whole thing about games that don't require the shoulder buttons is true too. Apart from Smash (which can be fun even if you don't use shield or dodge), I started focusing on games that avoided them, because young kids didn't grasp it as well as older people. Quick multiplayer games like Runbow and Towerfall became quick non-Smash favourites because of this, as well as New Super Mario Bros U for more co-operative shenanigans.

The Yearlong Ensemble pins are pretty much the only way I could pull off the last 5% or so. This game's great. Had a lot more fun then the DS game! If this was last year, I would've put it somewhere in my GotY list. Will give more detailed thoughts in the Gaming Diary thread later.