Julius

Insiders reporting that the Switch Pro is coming Holiday 2022 in 3, 2, 1...

Seeing as Sugiyama will likely be gone in 10-20 years can we expect him to be thrown out too? Please?

Right, time for a bit of a catch up! Had a bit of a frustrating time with making this post - about 70% of it got deleted in the editor when the page refreshed as I added a link on my phone, so if it seems rushed at times...that'll be why 11/07 Before taking my first steps into discovering Anor Londo, I reinforced my Estus Flask for the first time to +1, using the Fire Keeper Soul I found way back near the start of the game in Undead Parish. I hooked left first, as there was clearly a straight path up ahead and I wanted to see what was around. I took on two of the giant knights I mentioned before, getting used to their attack patterns, and took them down without too much trouble after goading them out of that room (mainly just locking on and circling them to draw out an attack and then slicing up their behind). There was a chest off in the corner with bloodstains around it and chest warnings, but I figured it was time to take on my first Mimic, and so I whacked it. Boy are these things creepy. The way they walk around, sort of hunched and with their arms at this inhuman angle, the noises they make, the way they run around, and especially the way they fly around and kick you. If they manage to grab you and throw you into their mouths...nightmare material. Anyways, I killed it after a while, and it dropped a Crystal Halberd. I coaxed the next giant knight out if the area and killed him before continuing up the steps, and eventually came to a golden fog gate, which I couldn't pass through as it was "Sealed by the Great Lord's power." Guessed I'd be coming back here at some point, but instead made my way back out to the courtyard and headed on the straight path down towards Anor Londo, taking the elevator down. Stepped out and there was a gargoyle, but only one, so it wasn't too bad. Kept my shield raised, locked on and strafed, focused on taking the tail out first as I remembered from the boss fight how much a pain that thing could be to deal with otherwise. I then explored my immediate vicinity, around the bottom of the lift, but there was a gap at the end of the bridge I was on to a tower. Took me a good five minutes or so to notice the support beams coming down from the building next to me with one accessible, so I slowly walked up it and rolled down onto a balcony. Walked in through a broken window and found myself at the top of a massive room, when this white ninja jumped down and rushed me. I blocked a few of his attacks and started learning his attack pattern before his friend rushed over, and together they cornered me pretty quickly and killed me. The next time around, I got back to the same place, safely dispatched the white ninja guys, then made my way up to a ladder which had me up walking along precariously on some beams, with white ninja guys off in the distance. Slowly made my way across these beams, and safely dispatched the first white ninja, but the second one ran over and knocked me off. Once I'd made my way back, I came up with a pretty easy way to kill them, which was to get their attention, and then stand diagonally from them at one of the joining points of the beams. They'd try to jump over and plummet the long way down to the bottom of the room far below. I got to the end of the room in one piece, stepped through the fog gate...but my curiosity had been piqued by an item I saw on a chandelier not too far below the beams. Naturally, I went back there and dropped down onto it, and while the chandelier of course fell and broke on the ground...so did I with it. Made my way back to the end of the area and to the top of the tower I couldn't access before, turning a wheel at the top to lower it. Out of curiosity I immediately pushed it again to see if it would go further down, and as it did, a gargoyle hopped on over. Quickly took him out and followed the path over to find myself at the bottom of the massive room I'd made my way across on the tight walkways before, with a whole bunch of white ninja guys around. Took the ones closest to me out before goading them in one by one from distance with the Longbow, parrying and riposting or landing a backstab after walking around them. After clearing the room I picked the items up that were dotted around, it seemed clear to me that these white ninja guys were guarding this massive painting...but I interacted with it and nothing happened. I then made my way to the bottom of the tower with it still at its lowest point, and found some safety in a bonfire looked over by a statue of Gwyn (?). Spinning the tower back up I made my way up a wide set of stairs to be confronted by two giant knights and a giant locked door, with a locked gate and some nude gargoyles (that's what they're being called I guess!) to the left and an open gate to my right. Sprinted past the giant knights and through the opened gate, headed down the stairs nearby to take on two of these nude gargoyles...and a third rushed me from behind, so I quickly got torn apart. Back at the bonfire, I restored my humanity and kindled the bonfire to get ten Estus Flasks, feeling that I'd need them...before immediately realising that with the tower lined up I could just have just returned to the previous bonfire, and it would probably be faster too. Whoops. Back over at the nude gargoyles, knocked one off the ledge from range with some arrows (even though they have wings and can fly?), and knocked the other two off as well. Made my way down another support beam and took on two more naked gargoyles before I took cover as two guys up ahead were firing ballistas down at me. I pegged it up the support beam after waiting for the right time, taking cover behind the pillar up ahead and then waiting for them to stop firing again before I sprinted up the support beam on the other side. Got up to a tight ledge, headed right carefully, but the guy in front of me shot a ballista through my chest and then I fell off. The next time, I hooked around to the one on the left, but as he drew his sword, the other guy shot a ballista at me and then his friend sliced me up. After that I got to the guy on the right, sprinting across the ledge at him and jumping at the right time to evade his ballista, but he whacked me with his sword and the other guy hit me from behind, so I died again. Fourth time was the charm though, this time running up and confronting him before legging it back to see if I could get him to fall off, and surely enough, he did! Carefully made my way around on the tight ledge before rolling down to a balcony, and exploring the nearby rooms I found another bonfire with Solaire just chilling. I found a hidden path behind a fireplace but it was pitch black down there and so I backed out of that. Took on a few Silver Knights, got better at parrying them after learning their moveset. I died shortly after finding Siegmeyer just chilling by a window, as a Silver Knight had chased me down to him, and even though he was getting hit, he couldn't seem less interested in giving me a hand. Decided after that and with all of the Silver Knights around to use some humanity and kindle this bonfire by Solaire. Explored every nook and cranny, got loads better at reading these Silver Knights and parrying and riposting them, so I saved Siegmeyer and opened up a shortcut from Solaire's bonfire to the main hall which was behind the giant door I mentioned before. There was also one of those headless metal demons in a room for some reason, but in that cramped a space I decided not to risk taking it on. After a bit of killing Silver Knights for fun, I freed myself from the shackles of carrying a bunch of souls around and di some levelling up back at the bonfire. However, I was kicked out. I figured I was getting invaded - totally forgot that my humanity had been restored - and so after waiting around a message finally pops up to tell me as much some ten seconds or so later, as this onion knight with a giant club walks in. It starts off well as I parry and riposte him, but then one of our internet connections must have played up, as he was a good five yards or so away and then was suddenly behind me, giving me a good backstab before going scorched earth on the place with his pyromancy. I never have a great time with invasions... Did a bit of looking around, making my way out of a broken window at the top of the hall after spotting a fog gate at the opposite end, rolling down and picking up a Dragonslayer Bow. Thought I was stuck for a moment as the gap in the fence wasn't too clear, and with no way back up, I rolled down...only for two naked gargoyles to tear me to shreds. Then, as I explored the giant room a bit more, a message popped up that the Black Eye Orb had started quivering, and so I used it...to invade the world of Lautrec, apparently the murderer of the Firelink Fire Keeper I never got the chance to meet. I died pretty quickly to him and his three friends the first time around. The second time, I equipped myself with the Firebombs I bought from Sen's Fortress and they chased me around the room like it was a comedy sketch as I would occasionally turn around and throw Firebombs back down at them. Anyways, I quickly ran out and got cornered by Lautrec and his friend with a spear, so quickly died, which was a shame as I had got them quite close. The third time I ran them close but got cornered again, so decided to leave it there for the day -- but not before noting that I should consider a spear or something next time. 12/07 Somehow on my first attempt the following day I fell from a great height and died before the fight started, thinking I was trying to get a good angle to fire arrows at their hands from that wasn't too far away. The second time I equipped my best spear-like weapon, the Crystal Halberd, and after drawing the wizard out with some arrows and taking care of him, made quick work of Lautrec and his friend after finding out just how overpowered the Crystal Spear is. Returned to my world with some rewards, including the Firelink Fire Keeper's soul. Got through the area before to reclaim my souls (as deaths in Lautrec's world didn't count) and the Crystal Halberd wrecked the nude gargoyles too. Sprinted across the giant room to unlock the front door by spinning a wheel I had noticed in the distance, but after killing one of the Silver Knights and one of the giant knights, I fell to the second giant knight. Oh, and I also found a giant blacksmith, so I stocked up on a load of arrows! Changed my look after this to wear the Silver Knight armour, with the Elite Knight leggings and Elite Knight helmet, and it looked awesome. Big fan of capes and obviously the better defence doesn't hurt! Cleared the giant room out and then made my way through the fog gate, to finally be confronted by the next boss battle: Ornstein and Smough. I got completely wrecked on my first two attempts, not even managing to get an attack off as they quickly cornered and destroyed me. The third time around, I did get a hit off, but I died soon after. After those first few attempts I knew a bit about their movesets, so would lock on, back my way around the room, wait for Ornstein to rush me and miss before poking him a few times with the Crystal Halberd...which did a load of damage! This time around I got Ornstein to about half of his health before dying. After clearing out the giant knights on my run back to O&S, I was greeted by a 'Weapon at Risk' message, which I'd never come across before. Sure enough, after checking the weapons screen, I found that the Crystal Halberd had the durability of a paper mache paddle. Though I couldn't repair it, I could reinforce it, so I reinforced it to +3 and that seemed to restore its durability. I also swapped over to the Silver Knight Shield at this point and used the Twinkling Titanite I had to hand to get it to +2. Back at O&S, got Ornstein to less than a quarter of his health before the two of them combo'd me, Smough charging and throwing my shield out of the way before Ornstein zoomed across and thrust his spear into my chest. Thought I was dead, but as I learned from the second or two delay before hitting again, I was on the slightest slither of health. The next time around I managed to kill Ornstein for the first before Smough supersized himself. I rolled through some of his attacks but died under his lightning butt stomp. I then got my Silver Knight Shield to +3, checked my rings to see if there was anything that could give me an edge - there wasn't - and I realised I needed to remember that I could two-hand my weapon too, which I quickly forget in the heat of boss battles. Got Ornstein to less than a quarter of his health and died again. Got another Twinkling Titanite, then found that I could upgrade my Broadsword to +10 - confusingly you can do it through the reinforcement screen rather than the modification screen. Died to them again, this time with Ornstein only one hit away from seeing me into the second phase after being combo'd. Got Silver Knight Shield to +4, but as it next needed 4 Twinkling Titanites, I swapped over to collecting Large Titanite Shards instead. Got to second phase Smough on my next attempt when the camera kind of screwed me over: after rolling through one of his attacks, it stopped locking on and I got hit as I tried to turn the camera back around. Got him down by about a third, so I was making progress. On my next attempt I got him to nearly half of his health before he did his charging attack, which I got myself killed by as I tried to roll out of the way while locked on, but I probably would've been better off turning around and running away instead. Got the 'Weapon at Risk' message for the Crystal Halberd again, with it down to 6/20 durability, and at this point it won't even one-hit riposte the Silver Knights like it was before. Upgraded Broadsword to +10. On my next attempt at O&S I died before getting to my bloodstain for the first time, and so lost some 40k souls...and I think this was where the frustration started setting in. Crystal Halberd got down to 3/20 durability and I pretty much packed using it in at this point, but as I liked the moveset I upgrade my standard Halberd to +5...but it barely does any damage by comparison. I died to O&S again, this time around it sinking in just how screwed I was: I barely scratched those two with my new Halberd and struggled down to get Ornstein to half health before dying. With these weaker weapons it was a struggle to get back to them when coupled with my frustration, as battles with Silver Knights and giant knights were longer, as I did less damage, and as they dragged on I took more damage and would reach O&S with far fewer Flasks than before. Figured that I would need to swap tactics to taking out Smough first, as the Crystal Halberd was what gave me the advantage against Ornstein, as it kept me out of his range. I found that I could do some damage to Smough, but it was clear at this point that I would essentially have to learn the fight again with taking Smough on first and using my Broadsword after making a lot of progress before. Decided to take one last swing at it with the Crystal Halberd, figuring it would either break when Ornstein was nearly down or in the early parts of the second phase. I did manage to take out Ornstein just as the Crystal Halberd broke...but I was out of Estus for second phase Smough and quickly died. After this I got my Silver Knight Shield to +5, but died again on my next attempt, leaving it at that for the day. Felt like I might need to try farming Titanite Chunks from the giant knights to bring my Crystal Halberd back into play - I had one drop before, but I needed another two, so this could take a while. 17/07 And then I took a break from the game for a while, not getting it back to yesterday, knowing that I would either need to grind out some Titanite Chunks and/or learn the battle all over again, which I was not looking forward to. The first time I got to Ornstein and Smough in this session I was down to two Estus Flasks as I had to learn how to parry the Silver Knights and effectively take out the giant knights with my Broadsword again. Still, aiming for Smough, I managed to get him down by about half on my first attempt at doing so, so it felt like the way to go. The next two attempts I got there with ten Estus Flasks but they quickly cornered and destroyed me on both occasions. The following attempt, though, I finally got to second phase Ornstein and died after getting him down by about a fifth. My strategy was to keep them both in plain view, as I was before recovering when hidden behind pillars, and then slicing up Smough's knees (which seemed like a weak point?) when I got the chance, sticking close when he tried swinging his hammer around so that he would miss. My only issue then was Ornstein stabbing me through Smough or shooting lightning through him, as Smough obscures your view of Ornstein almost completely. Next attempt I got Smough to less than half, with Ornstein killing me through Smough as I mentioned before. After that I got second phase Ornstein down by about a fifth of his health on my next attempt, and I felt like locking on probably did me in here as keeping my shield raised and being locked on meant he would hit me with his attacks and destroy my stamina, and being locked on when I tried to cut at his ankles resulted in a lot of missed slashes going between his legs (kind of wish it had the Tower Knight thing here where you could target specific body parts). Same story the next attempt too, this time he did his dragging attack which went on a bit too long for my liking and broke my poise before slicing my health down by about three quarters. The next time I didn't even get to the second phase... ...but then I had a break of good fortune: on my usual run, the second giant knight dropped a Titanite Chunk, which took me up to three (as I had picked up another one from his friend earlier) and so I knew that I had the opportunity to risk bringing the Crystal Halberd back into play. I reinforced it to +4 over at the giant blacksmith, but this time with a clear plan in mind: I would take Smough out with my Broadsword before swapping over to the Crystal Halberd only for supersized Ornstein. On some of my previous attempts, I had tried to roll through second phase Ornstein's attacks and get close, but had no real luck, and the length of my Broadsword probably didn't help with the attacks. This time, though, things went much better. I started out by locking on, getting in close after rolling through one of his spear thrusts, then staying close until he tried his lightning butt stomp. At this stage I locked on to back away from him and get myself accustomed to the range of that attack, and after doing so disengaged the lock-on, rolling through his attacks and slicing away at his heels with the Crystal Halberd, which did loads of damage. Got him down to about two thirds before I used up my last Estus, yet having a clear plan and a path to victory kept me focused, so I continued on, every time he jumped up quickly locking on and backing away to get out of range. Towards the end, I managed to get him in a lightning butt stomping frenzy, where I would get in close, hit him once, then he jumped up and I backed away until as soon as I knew his AoE damage stopped, stepped forwards, poked at his ankle, and he jumped up to repeat the attack again. He did this a few times before he was down to a slither of health, but then I thrusted for one last hit and he jumped back. Rolled through one last spear thrust and spun the Crystal Halberd around: Ornstein was down. Glad I stuck with it and managed to defeat them, but it was more relief that I'd get to move forwards with the game like it was with the Adjudicator jank in Demon's Souls. Ornstein's ability to attack through Smough is pretty ridiculous to be honest, and again, the way he zooms around the room but gets stuck on onjects to make it look like he's walking before he continues dashing...it's immersion-breaking. Still, the music for this boss fight is probably my favourite boss fight track in the game so far. Their theme is what you heard when you first saw over the walls of Anor Londo, which is the sort of connective tissue I love in soundtracks, and coupled with their physical size and unrelenting attacks, its a very intimidating fight. Yet there's something kind of heroic to the track for the most part, but hidden behind it is this twinge of unsettling disharmony to some parts. Great stuff. Made my way upstairs by taking a lift and came to a bonfire, naturalling doing quite a bit of levelling up as I had some 150k+ souls to hand, leaving over 20k for the Crest of Artorias which I knew I wanted to pick up from Andre when I next got the chance. Walked up the steps ahead and pushed the door open... ...a golden ethereal light shining through and this giant of a woman perched on a massive sofa. I walked towards her, the music swelling, and Gwynevere told me about how I must be the one to continue carrying the fire of Lord Gwyn. She gave me the Lordvessel, a means to warp between bonfires, which sounds like it will prove useful. Much like entering Anor Londo from Sen's Fortress, this has to be one of my favourite moments in the game. The way the music and the room just force a smile out of you, this heavenly touch to this space, music for the first time in this game feeling almost divine and hopeful. Hands down one of my favourite tracks in the game so far: I'm a sucker for choirs, but I'm an even bigger sucker for violins, and the violin solos at 0:34 and 1:54 seriously seal it, it's like they're hitting the roof of what they can do and can't climb any further, much as they may try to dig in deep and attempt to do so again. After taking on probably one of the more challenging areas and bosses in the game in Anor Londo, it was hard to not feel blown away by this track. After exhausting her dialogue options, I headed back down the steps and to the bonfire, warping to Firelink Shrine. It was here that I found Siegmeyer, who gave me something as a thanks for helping him up in Anor Londo. I found that I still couldn't light the bonfire, and so I headed back down towards the barred cave where I had found the dead body before, and interacted with it, returning the Fire Keeper's soul to her. I wasn't expecting this, but she was restored, and introduced herself, before I headed back up the steps and lit Firelink's bonfire once more. I made my way over to Frampt at the back of the Shrine, figuring he'd have something to say about acquiring the Lordvessel, and he was giddy with excitement...before he decided to swallow me whole. Not a terrifying image at all. He took me down below ground to an altar where I placed the Lordvessel, this beautiful charge of light erupting up through the darkness... ...and I saw the golden fog doors vanish. Frampt advised me that I now have the task of obtaining four powerful souls - of Gravelord Nito, the Witch of Izalith, the Four Kings, and Seath the Scaleless - and returning them to the Lordvessel. Seeing the golden fog doors I knew one was up in Anor Londo - I would guess Seath's, considering that Frampt said he was once an advisor to Gwyn - and could try to guess at where the others were, with one a cave in a dark space - maybe near the Darkroot Basin? - and the other some deep underground temple - I would have to guess beyond the Demon Ruins? Letting Frampt swallow me whole again, he took me back above ground, and I warped on over to the Undead Parish to talk to Andre. I ascended my Halberd to +6, reinforced my Longbow all the way up from basic to +5, and then bought the Crest of Artorias. Andre hinted that the grave of Sir Artorias the Abysswalker was beyond the sealed door... ...and so that's where I intent to continue my journey next.

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.