Julius

Finished Beastars S2 earlier today, and...I'm a bit conflicted. While I thought it was still good, I think it failed to deliver on the promise of the first season. I guess maybe some of my frustrations with it could probably be aired at the source material in the manga, but basically, the three main characters the first season revolved around are isolated from one another most of the time this season, and so there are very few interactions between them, so you end up with a lot of daydreaming and thinking scenes. One of them ends up tossed to the side this time around, and I'm pretty sure we hear and see them more in these reflective scenes from other characters than we see them. Extremely bizarre. And considering how much suspense there was in the first season around a certain event, I was taken aback by how they just threw the answers out there with little build-up. I think it became obvious who it was when someone we barely heard from in the first season got more screen time. The whole season is more of a clash of ideologies, but considering what happens in the final episode, it all kind of falls flat. Pretty sure I rolled my eyes, which is never a good sign. I think what I miss most from the first season are the secondary and tertiary characters, people in the drama club or Legosi's roommates, and just seeing how they interact. It did a great job of subtly informing you on the dynamics in this society, whereas the second season kind of just plainly states it. Music was solid at least. Every variation of the main theme is still fantastic, definitely pulling a sad smile, and I've posted it before, but this season's OP is catchy as hell: I'll watch Season 3 if and when it arrives, but while I think this season was good, I seriously hope next season gets back to us seeing how these characters interact with each other and the society they're in. Didn't quite deliver on the promise of the first season, but worth checking out if you watched the first season and wanted some answers.

Just finished Episode 12 of The Bad Batch. Show just keeps getting better and better! Don't think it's much of a surprise that our first multi-episode arc since the start of the show is a great one. Rebels had some great arcs, but The Clone Wars in particular really had a chance to shine through them. Fingers crossed things start ramping up now towards the finale!

Well, never mind then. Just checked on a whim after finishing a late gaming session with someone from work and seems like they're unlocking the reserves and may have thrown Sunday out of the equation, so I've nabbed the one I wanted (512GB). Downside is it doesn't expect it to ship until Q2 2022. Thankfully I'm not in a massive rush to get one (gives me a bit of time to more sensibly and intentionally get those funds together) and don't need it Day 1, so I don't mind the wait for this as it's not like my PC is in my gaming rotation at the moment anyways. I guess there's the answer on how much of an impact they expect on the production from the continued chip shortage issue though! Do appreciate being able to reserve one even this far out, that's for sure. Again, they've blown Xbox's and PlayStation's next-gen pre-order system out of the water. Obviously I think the demand they'd need to meet would still have been higher, but being able to stick a reservation down now and not even having to wait until Sunday as seemed to be the plan before, when in my case it's not expected to be available until upwards of 9 months from now, just saves so much hassle. The people still looking for the PS5 and Series X should definitely have this option, and it's a bit embarrassing that they don't.

Nice! Think I got a bit overeager and probably dismissed my chances too early, the payment screen loaded up a minute or two later but I'd gone to get a drink and by the time I was back it wouldn't let me pay for it. Oh well. To be honest I'm in no real rush for one, would just rather get one of these reservations in than risk it after the fact due to the chip shortage -- will try again on Sunday!

Did anyone manage to get one? I went to reserve, looped loading screen for a few seconds, then kicked me back. Added again, got through to my basket, went to checkout aaaaaaaand it started again, actually logged me out because of the servers going down for a second and the store crashing. Pretty sure it's already over, showing next round at 18:00 on Sunday.

Yeah, any semblance of interest I had in the Switch OLED got thrown out of the window after seeing this. Someone needs to edit the Switch OLED into this image I think I'll be looking out to reserve the 512GB one later today when the reservations drop, fingers crossed I guess. There are a fair few games I have access to on PC but not elsewhere (some of which are on Xbox through backwards compatibility), but I struggle to use my PC for gaming at the moment as it's heavily integrated into my work set-up, and once my workday ends, I want to be as far from that thing as humanly possible (in practicality, the next room over). Adding a dock into the equation so I can play these games where I play all of my other games - on the TV my living room sofa - immediately makes this something I want to sit alongside my other consoles. Making this essentially a portable PC gives it so much room for modification, and while I'm not one for emulation (I try to avoid it as best as I reasonably can), this thing seems like it could be an emulation beast. For what it is, the price is awesome, and I honestly doubt that a hypothetical Nintendo Switch Pro would have got/will get anywhere near this sort of power or speed. And fair play to Valve for actually trying to do something about scalping, because the console manufacturers have been absolutely useless when it comes to finding a counter to it. While it excludes non-Steam users from the opportunity to get one on Day 1, I don't think they care much from what the team said in their IGN interviews: they don't have any specific sales targets in mind with this (and if they do, at least, they aren't answering to shareholders and so the pressure is very much a self-imposed one). It's pretty much what we all said the next-gen pre-orders should have been like -- maybe not for all of them, but if you assigned a good chunk of those to your existing market and the rest to new people entering your ecosystem for the first time, I think it's a much better narrative than "well, now I either keep following this daily and drive myself insane, or fold and pay sometimes double it's normal price". I don't think they would be aiming to launch this year if sales were their main goal anyways, what with the chip shortages. Anyways, yeah, this will make a nice early birthday present for me if I can get a reservation in and it does land in December

Comes with the territory of being a Smash-like with popular IP's people grew up on It's less being concerned about the slots being taken up though, and more just genuine surprise. I'm sure Timmy Turner will turn up at some point, but it surprises me because Fairly Oddparents always seemed to be the more popular property of the two by some margin, that's all. It'd be like getting Fox McCloud but not Link in Smash Bros. I think they have to, they've thrown their weight behind the Avatarverse with their plans for Paramount+, it's a no-brainer (*flashbacks to how they treated Legend of Korra ensue*). I'd be really curious to see how they incorporate the different elements, I'd love for it to be different stances for each, but we've seen them struggle to manage something like that even in dedicated games, so it'll probably just end up being attached to different specials I'd imagine. And yeah, agree with you on both fronts: Aang and Korra could be really unique from one another, and Zuko seems like a lock for DLC. Feel like they could do some awesome stuff with stages potentially too (Appa as a flying stage, Republic City...). And then there's the potential in track remixes too! Trying to not get carried away with it, as obviously compared to Smash Bros. it doesn't have that massive backing, but I'm just hoping it's given the time and resources to live up to a fraction of the hype that something like this easily could. The fact that I completely forgot the Cartoon Network one even existed before @Glen-i mentioned it says it all, hope this doesn't just drop off the face of the planet a week after release.

Anyways, thought Loki was really solid. Gave me Doctor Who vibes at times (Lamentis in particular), thought the music was great, Tom Hiddleston is spectacular in pretty much everything I've seen him in and he does an excellent job of carrying this show alongside Sophia Di Martino, who also did a fantastic job. Not my favourite MCU show so far (it's still Falcon & The Winter Soldier for me with it's Winter Soldier vibe, action scenes and the sense of finality to the final episode), but not the weakest in my mind either (sorry WandaVision).

Not technically MCU but also not not technically MCU. Gave me a good chuckle at least: Been saying to my friends that the best way to do the first MCU Deadpool movie is to just break the fourth wall and pretend he was there the whole time. Show him getting trampled by Hulk during the Battle of New York in the first Avengers, edit him into the background during the last stand in Endgame, etc. You could also just have him react to all of the films like a marathon

Ah okay, good to know! Though, it still kind of hurts. Avatar might have the most characters suited for a Smash-like out of all of the Nickelodeon IP's, and a massive variety of potential movesets that could come with that too, so going with the two main characters we've seen on-screen so far is a little lame Sokka and his boomerang? Appa (tbf his back could be a pretty cool stage as they fly around)? Uncle Iroh? Suki? Also, where the hell is Timmy Turner, and the Crimson Chin?! Really surprised they go with Danny Fenton from Danny Phantom when Timmy from Fairly Oddparents is probably the better known character from Butch Hartman's works. Guess it's probably just a case of a less complex moveset and animations for Danny than Timmy.

That roster is sacrilegious until we see some Avatar representation. (someone better post the That's rough buddy gif )

Pretty sure they'd try to explain it with what she is (in the film) contextually, and in terms of a technical feat it's pretty cool, but I agree that it was creepy, and I think it was a bad decision. I think they kind of missed the point of why drawn characters often end up with such big eyes: it's for expression, which makes their work somewhat easier, as they don't need to then overcompensate by expressing emotions through the character's face. There are no such limitations when it comes to film, just zoom on into the eyes and face if you need to, or get an actor that can deliver what you want. So yeah, I get why James Cameron of all people wanted it...but it was silly

Because it's based on a manga. Pretty sure I remember Robert Rodriguez, who ended up directing the film, saying James Cameron (it was a passion project of his, he ended up producing) wanted photorealistic manga eyes. Which is silly, because I agree, it does look creepy

Thanks for the advice @Sméagol, appreciate it! Yeah, lesson learned with Crystal Weapons I think. Unless I manage to get a few of them, think I'll steer well clear of them, but at least I learned that I enjoy using the Halberd for its range and poke attacks. It was really useful for Ornstein as I could circle the room with both in frame while locked on, and just get a few pokes in when he missed an attack or I dodged it, but seeing as I can't get the standard Halberd I've got beyond +5 (as I have no means to ascend it here, at least that I know of), the fact that it does significantly less damage than the Crystal Halberd at this stage and I was pretty frustrated at that point and was probably my own worst enemy, I think sticking with my strategy of going for Ornstein first is going to have to change. Probably going to have to relearn the fight a bit, but seeing as my Broadsword+10 does quite a bit of damage to him and is the strongest weapon that I'm familiar with, I think I'll be going for Smough first instead. I had been using the pillars for cover and healing when I could, but again, it was circling around the room, so probably not as optimal a use for them as I could think of. The camera could just be me, I do have a bad habit of locking on to bosses quite bit before I'm comfortable with their moveset and drop it (and then do better against them), I think being dependent on it just came from my strategy of going for Ornstein first, as it was definitely the safest way to go about things, so I'll have to relearn that part I think. I get flashbacks to Flamelurker in Demon's Souls a lot when having to stop locking on, running around to find cover or to create some distance, and swapping items at the same time (though admittedly haven't really had to do that last one in Dark Souls so far), the way my hands contort around the controller during fights like these can definitely give me a good chuckle I'll stick with it. I know I can do it, it'll probably take a bit longer than with the Crystal Halberd, which was a pretty crushing blow to lose for my confidence considering how close I was getting when I had it, but again: lesson learned. I'll update the rest of my journey in Anor Londo once I make it past these guys, but I get the feeling that this is probably going to be my Adjudicator moment with this game, so hopefully I'll be able to kick on in full force after this. At least I know a few ways I could try to go after - go get the Crest of Artorias for that door in Darkroot, the golden fog gate in Anor Londo I'm guessing will open up at some point soon, and there's also New Londo and the Demon Ruins - but there's no rush, I'll just take it all in my stride and hopefully get it finished by the end of the month.

Demon Slayer Season 2 hype: I never got to catch the film in the cinema, as I was (and still am) being cautious around the rising numbers, maybe even more so now that restrictions over here are about to be thrown out of the window. Still no news on it coming to Funimation or its home release, but hopefully it'll come sooner rather than later so I'll get to watch it before the second season hits later this year (probably October?).

How naive I was. Watched one episode of Erased while eating my lunch, watched the second episode while waiting for my dinner to finish cooking...and I've flown through the rest of it non-stop since then. So yeah, that's a freaking fantastic anime which has been on my list to watch forever, and my only regret is that I didn't get to it sooner. Murder mysteries are my jam, but you throw time travel elements and the awkwardness of school life in? Best way to describe it in the context of other anime is Steins;Gate x Your Name x Anohana, so I'm not surprised that I loved it. Great characters, definitely some character elements and background that I could relate to (a little too much, unfortunately, but made it a more powerful watch for sure), excellent pacing, and such brilliant, brilliant ways of misdirecting you from the get-go. I caught onto the culprit almost immediately (as soon as you're introduced to them), and yet the show still had me wavering throughout, it does such a fascinating job of meandering truths and mysteries into one thread. I can't even say I have a problem with the contents of the ending, though maybe it was a bit rushed. I haven't looked up other reactions to it yet, but I feel like some might have hoped for things to go certain ways based on how certain characters interacted in the past, and while I can't blame them, I think the story does such a great job of making one thing crystal clear: even being the "good guy" has to come at a cost. Practically flawless. I couldn't turn the TV off.

Yeah, I'm also going to have to go with Fillmore. I haven't played Actraiser, but that track makes me want to check it out -- haven't played any Castlevania games either, but my exposure to their tracks through Smash and some trailers makes me agree with @Jonnas that it has the same vibe as some of those.

Yeah, just to chime in here (as this is the only part I can really speak to), for PSN it literally takes a few seconds. I tested it yesterday for one of my FIFA saves because I just wanted to mess around (aka spend every penny because I was bored) with it outside of its own save feature: you close the app, upload the save which takes a split second, and then downloading that save back takes 3-4 seconds. And then it's just starting the game back up.

Glad Rashford got out and said his piece, kind of love how fans covered up the defaced sections of the mural with messages of support. I said it last night and I'll say it again now: he deserved to have that ball hit the back of the net last night. Everything he's done off the pitch these last 18 months - the way he carries himself and his maturity, the way he isn't actually afraid to use his status to put pressure on politicians as and when it is the fair thing to do so - completely warranted it going in, it just wasn't meant to be unfortunately. He'll bounce back, and I hope this England team bounces back. I didn't have faith until deep into extra-time (funny how I'm optimistic a lot of other places, but football isn't one of them), but I felt the way I did last night - head buried deep in my t-shirt, heart pounding, covering my eyes - for the first time with football since Chelsea won the Champions League in the midst ridiculous of circumstances in 2012. Made me feel like a kid again, powerless yet empowered. Fingers crossed these lads will get another chance!

Just finished the first season of Vinland Saga after starting it on Friday, and holy cow, think the second season might now be my most anticipated anime series at the moment (sorry Attack on Titan). I'm just praying that it's WIT handling the second season after the phenomenal job they did with this first one, rather than shipping it out to some place like MAPPA; it's nothing against them, but they already seem to be in the thick of it with other productions at the moment as it is. I mean just look (and listen to) the OP's for the first season, that second one in particular is hype-inducing: Definitely surprised by how much of Vinland Saga felt a bit familiar to Berserk (some scenes spring to mind in particular), it's definitely on the dark side of things...but it didn't get as dark as Berserk (let's be honest, that takes some doing!). It follows Thorfinn on his quest for vengeance during the turn of the last millennium, but there's just so much depth and complexity to the writing and politics, especially at the scale of it all; it's the sort of thing you love to watch, and it's rarely ever predictable. The thing is, it has a fantastic first season, and yet it feels like it's got so much more to give -- I really do hope that turns out to be the case. It has one or two things I'd highlight as being a bit weird, such as two characters in close proximity for much of the second half of the season not ever having their relationship to Thorfinn become known to each other, which felt like an inevitable conflict, but it never came to be. Their differences in ideologies and how they would view each other's actions in relation to Thorfinn in particular is what I was hoping to see figured out, so it's a bit of a shame. Admittedly, haven't read the manga, so maybe there was something there, but I doubt it, considering how important an interaction you'd think it would be. Not that the rest of the season hadn't been special, but the moment when I knew I was in for something truly special with this came towards the end of the season, when... Seems like I jumped in at a perfect point to, what with the second season just being announced the other day: So, I guess this has now become my annual summer anime phase. Between this and Odd Taxi, I've been having a fantastic time will probably take a break the next few evenings to either crack on with other things or watch some films, because on Thursday it's time for the second season of Beastars!

Took a bit of a break until I got back to the game yesterday, it's been very stop-start the last few weeks between this game and I, but what can you do unfortunately because of that the pressures of returning to the game feel compounded I'll talk about Anor Londo more in-depth when I complete it, but the level itself I really enjoyed. Every corner of this place is huge, I've loved learning to parry and riposte against the Silver Knights, it's been a good time. But...yeah, I'm stuck on Ornstein and Smough now. Maybe my thoughts will change after I beat them, maybe I'm being biased, but of all of the bosses in the game so far, genuinely don't think this is a well designed boss fight. I get what they were going for - one big guy, one small; one slow, one speedy - and I think their armour is cool, the arena is cool, but some particulars of the boss fight itself kind of suck. To be fair, that seems to be the case for a lot of these boss fights where you're taking on more than one enemy -- the camera really sucks (in the second phase the range for locking on seems smaller, and that's got me killed a couple of times), and when you're seeing Ornstein dash in position because he's being blocked off by Smough (but can shoot lightning or hit you through him?) or look like he's walking around (but is actually dashing) it's like the game is struggling to understand what it was wants to do itself. There's also the fact that Ornstein can throw lightning and hit you through Smough. The part I'm enjoying is playing how I normally do: taking it slow, selecting my moments to strike, backing up, then going again. But because of some of the jank it reminds me (in a bad way) of my experience with the Adjudicator from Demon's Souls...but don't worry, in my case, it gets worse. You see, things were going swimmingly to be fair, I found a Crystal Halberd and had been using that, which made taking Ornstein down not too difficult after a few attempts (it just dragged out the fight), and I got a few attempts at second phase Smough...before my Crystal Halberd conked out and broke. I'd upgraded it as much as I could to +3 at that point, and as you can imagine, without it, getting to the boss fight became a pain because what took a minute or two now took me ten, I'm using more Estus and just generally feel a bit more frustrated. Guess it's on me, but yeah, it's not been fun since, because now the first phase of the boss fight (and everything else) is taking an age. I haven't used a Crystal weapon before, so I didn't realise how fragile they are or that you can't repair them outside of reinforcement...it's a pain. That weapon breaking has kind of broken my spirit a bit as I've effectively had to relearn the fight without it, and I was pretty close to packing it in. Haven't spent too long in it yet, just a couple of hours trying them and farming souls for the giant blacksmith in-between, and nowhere near as much as I tried Stray Demon (yet). But I'm not going to (though I'm done for today), I'm just not sure what I'm going to do now. I need 2 Titanite Chunks to upgrade the Crystal Halberd to +4, but I'm not even sure if that would restore it's durability, but considering that I was consistently getting to second phase Smough with it, I think that would be the way I have to go. If so, I know I can farm them potentially from the giant gold knights in the room just before Ornstein and Smough (as I managed to get one on one of my runs through to them), so maybe I'll have to give that a go tomorrow.

Isn't that same sentient toupee the one that refused to condemn fans booing our lads that took the knee? What a joke.

Alright, I feel like this tells you pretty much everything you need to know

Wait until they realise we only got to the final because of Sterling. Oh wait, selectively turning the blinders on and having double standards is a classic trait of a racist (and virtually other group you'd want to avoid). It's one of the two things I will forever struggle with when supporting England (the other being just how toxic and tunnel visioned our own media can become when it comes to success, which obviously pales in comparison). I think this country has a long, long, long way to go when it comes to tackling racism, and unfortunately it seems to get ignited by our performances in sports (whether that be success or failure). I will always pride myself on - and be proud of others for - being raised to be empathetic towards others, but I'll never be able to empathise with unreasonable idiots. Very hard to put yourself in someone else's shoes when they're always wearing them on the wrong feet.

Yeah, we did look better in the second half of extra-time...but maybe that's just it. Henderson came on and was completely walked over, had no real impact on the game. Subs were left way too late, if we're being walked over in the 65th minute then you need to make changes. Again, like I said before: we should've just gone for it. If we lose 3-1 with Sancho, Foden, Grealish and Rashford on with Sterling and Kane still there? At least we'd know we'd done everything in our power and it just wasn't meant to be. Foden. Grealish. Sancho. So much talent on that bench and none of it used until really late on. When everyone else looks leggy, you need to make those changes. Think that's the next step Southgate needs to take, he needs to work on subs ahead of the World Cup. And, for a change, expectations will rightly be high -- we were poor early in this tournament, but we really grew into it. We beat what was in front of us, yes we got lucky at times, but this could be a great learning experience. Put it this way: I don't think it'll be another 55+ years until we're next in a final with these lads. Put a smile on my face and got me believing in this England team for the first time in my 22+ years of life, thanks for the memories lads. As for Italy, Donnarumma was fantastic, deserved Player of the Tournament (maybe alongside Chiesa? Heck, could've been Spinazzola too if he didn't get injured), shame his manager is a right idiot and the jewel of Milan is off to France (but fair play to Maldini for not putting up with their crap). This Italy team looks fantastic. Can't wait to see them at the World Cup next year, feels so good to finally see an Italy team worthy of that blue shirt take to the pitch again. Great job Mancini!