Jonnas

This chapter in the manga only felt like a bit of necessary cleanup to tie up some loose plot threads and get some characters together... but in the Anime, damn, what a difference some solid animation and inspired choice of music makes. The second OP&ED are slow growers, I found. I was underwhelmed by them at first too, but the 2nd OP sticks with you in the long run, and I'd say that out of the four songs, right now the 2nd ED is my favourite (it's melancholic and uplifting in equal measure, ideal to reduce stress).

Like darksnowman implied, there's a different mentality to it. Resetting the entire chapter is still a big penalty, so it's always a walk on eggshells to have everybody survive. In casual mode, this tension is lost, because every death is a pretend death. It's the difference between having a checkpoint in the middle of the level and having none at all. It's a lot more nerve-wracking when you think you'll be sent to the beginning, but far more casual if you believe it'll only set you back one screen. Fairly reasonable argument! Can't say I like that character, even if I'm fond of her son.

Not necessarily. There are plenty of players who'll carry on despite the deaths. My first ever playthrough of FE7, I moved on without Rath when he died. A friend of mine lost three units. When Fused King played Sacred Stones, he allowed half of his army to die in the last few chapters. My own playthrough of Shadow Dragon NES had like 6-8 casualties. The main reason someone will want to play with Classic Mode on is because tactical mistakes bring upon heavier consequence, even if we choose to be a perfectionist and restart the chapter. There's a different weight to it.

I first heard of Live a Live when looking up Japanese-only titles for the SNES. I was super into romhacks a long time ago, which is why the fan translation for that game came up.

...I was aware of this, yes (summarised, he's a sleaze and a sexual harasser), but it somehow slipped my mind when I went to fetch the source. I'll replace the Youtube link with a text summary from elsewhere, which is what I should've done from the start. I was overly careless regarding this whole thing, I apologize.

Oh hey, that's my friend Mari, she's in my local Smash scene (and plays a very solid Zelda). Does some very cute art as well. If this tweet was trending (even if only in VG-related topics), that's pretty cool.

Right! I mentioned in the Direct thread that there was a leak a few months back. A developer at WayForward apparently reached out to a Youtuber (someone who plays strategy games almost exclusively, and is hyped for the return of Advance Wars) and gave an update on several things regarding the game, like specific animations, redesigns, content, polishes, etc. This Youtuber is not the type to spread rumours for clickbait, and coupled with how credible the content itself was, this felt more legit than usual. I myself didn't share anything until I had some confirmation of its veracity. Ironically, the most unbelievable part of the leak was confirmed in this trailer: there's partial voice acting, and Max specifically is voiced by Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson of the Game Grumps (that is definitely his voice in the trailer). They also said Sturm comes with his AW2 design, but expels smoke like his AW1 self (also confirmed by the trailer). A significant part of that leak is that the developer felt like the online was still undercooked, barely tested. Since this was some time before the delay, it seems that the likeliest explanation behind said delay may be that the online multiplayer needed more work. (On account of the youtuber himself being a reprehensible person, here's a link to a summary of the leak, if you want to check out the rest of its contents) And as for the trailer itself... I think Flak looks amazing! Of all characters! Sturm be looking super menacing as well. Good to know that map designer and both of the War Rooms are back! We're getting plenty of replayability. ...

I see. In the trailer, we see Edelgard fighting an enemy Judith, as well as Dimitri fighting Randolph. I was wondering if that was confirmation that they were playable, but I guess not. (What truly muddles it, is that Judith is on Claude's side, and Randolph is on Edelgard's, so it's even harder to say what their role will be in the final game) Three Houses is surprisingly low on sword units. There's just the Byleths, Catherine, Felix, Yuri, Judith, and the new purple bloke. Out of those, Byleth has a sword-whip, Yuri is more a teleporting trickster, and the purple bloke seems to dual wield. That leaves a grand total of three sword units to potentially be clones of each other. I think the Fódlan cast may end up surprisingly varied. Between the various available mounts, the fact that several characters lack a "main" weapon type, and the existence of gauntlets, I can see this roster getting diverse.

As I said in the Direct thread, people have been predicting a game like this for the past two years or so. No rumours or leaks, just pure educated guessing. It's just that we had radio silence from Nintendo/IS/Koei in that timespan as well, so people stopped mentioning it. Anyway, a bunch of FEtubers have been analysing the trailer from top to bottom already. Some cool details all over the place (Hilda appears very briefly, matching strength with Dimitri(!). Edelgard has a new personal axe. And is that red-haired girl just Monica?!), but the most significant find seems to be that the main antagonist is a rival/enemy to Sothis. The purple-haired bloke from the trailer seems to be the avatar/vessel for this mysterious new entity. There's also a lot of speculation about this game being set in a new timeline with a Golden Ending... but when you break it down, it all stems from people thinking that every Musou spinoff is going to be like Age of Calamity. Me, I sure hope there's no golden ending in this game, as it goes against the core theme of Three Houses. Gameplay-wise, it seems like dismounting is a thing. Claude seems to have a unique mechanic depending on whether he's riding that Wyvern or not. It also seems like Female Byleth is the one protagonist for this game (she's on the boxart), but FEW precedent dictates this is just for the story, and that Male Byleth is likely to be playable in other modes. Finally, a personal wishlist for playable characters (other than the four confirmed ones): Judith Death Knight Holst Goneril Rhea (w/ gauntlets) Dorothea Leonie Ingrid Yuri Catherine&Shamir (as a pair, yes) Gatekeeper You know Musou games, so here's a question: let's say an enemy character/general has a name, face, and unique model. Is that character sure to be playable?

As Glen said, it's fine in that regard. They're there for variety and flavour, not collection. In terms of the main story, sure, but these characters have sidequests and such associated with them still. Somehow, this detail sparked the biggest nostalgia rush for me. That font was so pixelated, it felt blocky! In a way, I feel like both takes have their merits. In the sense that the connection between both games serves Cross's story far better than it does Trigger. There's also the fact that the two games are very different in art style, music, aesthetic, gameplay, narrative, general tone, and themes. It's easy to understand the sentiment of "great game by itself, but not a good sequel to Trigger".

Likewise (I found this pic by chance yesterday. Felt apropos) ... What are the similarities you're seeing between these two games, exactly? Other than the kissing, I mean

The original game is a unique experience in playing with various expected JRPG beats and tropes. It also incorporates some very abstract, high-level metaphysical concepts into its story. I have very fond memories in discussing and theorising about many aspects of this game, and I'm looking forward to rekindling those online, now with a whole new generation of gamers. But if that sort of thing isn't your cup of tea, you'll absolutely stay for the excellent art direction and music. God, that opening theme gives me chills every time. The battle system feels different for the sake of different, but it's actually not that confusing to learn. The only guides you'll be needing will be to defeat two specific bosses. You'll know when you reach them. ... Now that I think about it, the recruitment conditions for specific characters are also quite obscure, and they may be worth reading about after the first playthrough ("How did they ever expect me to do that!?"). Remind me, have you played Chrono Trigger before?

Four outta four, baby! Good thing I kept my Fire Emblem hopes as low as possible, because that's the only thing I got right! So much for the other... three hopes ------------------------- Alright, now my general thoughts on the Direct: Three Houses Warriors was an educated guess that was all over the place back in... early 2020. Kinda crazy that it's actually happening, potentially even crazier if this game brings relevant lore to the table. I might play it just for that, but for now I'll just say, I love these "mid-timeskip" designs for the main lords. I'll save guesses, hopes, and predictions for a more relevant thread; Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is looking good! There was actually a leak from some time ago that got proved by this trailer (they got Max's voice actor right), so a lot of thoughts are going through my head. Once again, I'll save more detailed opinions for the game's thread; Mario Strikers 3 and Switch Sports are games that I'm not likely to get, but I'm happy that they exist for all the folk who enjoy them (and I certainly enjoyed the wacky presentation). In fact, I'll say the same for the Mario Kart 8 DLC; Disney Speedstorm is quite the surprise. Might check it out... but only because it's free ; The Triangle Strategy demo took me by surprise. If the progress carries over, I may actually play it before I buy; Kirby and the Forgotten Land looks absolutely delightful, and I'm super tempted to get it; Portal Collection. Well slap me silly. I did not expect this! I already have it on Steam, but the Switch is more appropriate for Co-op...; Chrono Cross Remaster, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? RADICAL DREAMERS AS WELL!!? Fuck me sideways!; Live-a-Live remake, WHAAAAAAA!? I had heard of this game before, but I never expected this in a million years! I don't know what Square's "smaller, older IPs" division is doing, but whatever it is, please continue!; Metroid Dread update. Back to grounded reveals, this is something I wondered about, but didn't think we'd get. Dread Mode sounds wild (does this disallow the use of Shinespark on bosses, I wonder?), and I'm up for a few runs of the Boss Mode. For everything else, I'm fairly indifferent about. But all in all, look at how many games there still were to talk about! This was an excellent Direct for sure.

Well, it's more to do with the fact that people love to vote for obscure favourites, and that includes Tiki=Waifu. Even the likes of Cervantes (the moustache guy from Awakening) gets a few hundreds of votes every year, for example. Though it is true that the meme energy lives on with the likes of Abysskeeper (did surprisingly well this year) and Bandit Boss, the unnamed boss from the first dungeon of Shadows of Valentia (he regularly outperforms half of his own cast). Basically, yes. It is held every year around this time. There are a few factors to take into account, though: The top two winners of each gender will receive a brand new "Brave" version of themselves in the game, and those tend to be powerful and often creative; Previous winners are not in the running (hence why the likes of Ike and Roy are nowhere to be seen, as they won in another year); Beyond the winners, people like to vote for characters who haven't debuted in Heroes yet, almost like a public wishlist. It often works; Corollary: characters who do well here then tend to get alternate outfits more often as well. As a side effect, people also vote for characters they want to see more of (this year, we saw Tiki, Seliph, and Elincia get a lot of sudden support on that basis); Since it's FEH players who vote the most, you'll see more votes than expected for Heroes-original characters (like Alfonse and Freyja). And occasionally the likes of Reinhardt, who was a minor character in his original game, but a top tier menace in Heroes. Well, I suppose it's fair I share my own ballot, then: Hilda because I thought she had a shot at winning, Elincia to see more of her, Niime and Marcus because they're not in the game yet. Then the interim results came out and defined my next three votes. In the end, I voted for seven different games, which is nice.

That all sounds great (especially the Sentai outfits). I can think of a few ways all of that can be represented in FEH (Luna, Ruse skills, Menace, etc.), and I'm always fond of cavaliers. The question remains if IS is going to bring him in or not. Every character in the series is up for votes, whether they debuted in FEH or not. I figure Tsubasa's getting a lot of votes because she's the leading lady in TMS, much like Caeda, Lilina, and Elincia in their respective games (or at least that's how it looks like). Tsubasa is actually pretty strong in FEH, one of the best lance fliers at the time she was released (still is, though powercreep is always a threat). Her skill "Blade Session" is definitely a strong candidate for best skill in the game. Mamori has a similar skill (Shield Session), and though it isn't as useful, she's still a respectable armour knight (more of a menace when she debuted, but among axe armours, she has definitely been powercrept). Sad to say, Mamori actually got the least amount of votes out of all TMS characters. This is likely because she's already in the game (drawn by the Etrian Odyssey artist), so there's less support to get her noticed (Ellie suffered a similar fate). Worse still, she's annoying to fight against when controlled by the CPU, because she's so sturdy. Story-wise, she's definitely teaching medieval warriors about the joys of microwaves, at least (really, they think it's concentrated fire magic). TMS fans were also complaining that a character called "Tiki=Waifu" was not eligible to vote for. Is that the actual name of a character, or a fan nickname that caught on?

Oh wow, I actually thought we might get one next week (previous years had a February Direct closer to the 20th), but I'm not complaining! The tricky thing is that the last time Nintendo said they'd show games for only a specific certain timeframe, they blatantly disregarded their own disclaimer and showed games with other release dates. With that in mind: Serious predictions Advance Wars trailer. Gimme more! Triangle Strategy, the final showcase Kirby and the Forgotten Land showcase Deeper look at Splatoon 3 Hopes and Dreams Advance Wars demo. Out now! "The expanded NSO now has the option for a monthly subscription" Timesplitters Collection coming to the Switch Just...please any info on the next Fire Emblem project. They could be working on a Tokyo Mirage Sessions sequel for all I care, I just want to know what's next for the series. That's pretty much it. Keeping my expectations in check, and hopefully an open mind. As the local Fire Emblem aficionado, I should address some recent "leaks" that started circulating recently... ...but on a personal note, I don't believe any of that. Fire Emblem has been historically leak-free, and these rumours feel like a retread of previous unfounded rumours. I recommend they be disregarded.

Well, it's another year... The interim results are the same as the final ones (which they haven't posted in this format, for whatever reason). Several surprises this year: Awakening popularity seems to have made a resurgence; Seliph came out of nowhere! People are thirsting for an FE4 remake, it seems *wink*wink*nudge*nudge*; Elincia finally makes her debut on one of these rankings! She even surpassed one of the usual mainstays, Nino; Soren fans showed up! Might spare a vote for him next year; But most of all, the multitudes of Tokyo Mirage Sessions fans made their voices heard. Impressive effort, getting three characters into the Top 20! I'll admit, the TMS fervour made me vote once for Touma (also in honour of Cain being my MVP in that Shadow Dragon playthrough). Hopefully I made a good choice and he's a cool dude.

The switching was done differently in the GBA. Back then, there was one button to switch the bros around, and then you'd cycle through the moves (3 at most per character). In the remake, they "streamlined" the whole thing so that you need to press the same button to cycle through every single unique combination. It's actually one of my main gripes with the game, because the original felt like a natural way to control two characters, to how their powers interacted whether at front or back, and it even gave you freedom to put Luigi in the front for a while if that was all you wanted to. In the remake, it all got simplified to a strict list of moves that feels more sterile than before.

Gotta say, as a big Game Boy (Colour) fan... this game looks really good! I'm fine with the NES aesthetic, but this Game Boy look is what truly tickles my nostalgia bone. It's weird that it'll only come out in late 2023, but whatever, I'll keep this in my sight.

I'm still reeling from how perfect that episode was. Chills, man. It's complicated. Most of the criticisms came from the fact that said arc was a much slower burn than the frantic pace of Season 2, since it had a lot of political intrigue, cloak&dagger dealings, and just... way more setup and dialogue than anything else. It's great on a binge, but on a monthly release schedule, a lot of people got turned off at the time (yours included, I took a very lengthy pause from reading the manga at the time). I think Isayama took the criticism of the time to heart, so things got changed around to give us more moments of action evenly sprinkled through the season. As an example of how different things were... But when you consider the great animation, and that sick opera rap song that Kenny got... Overall, I wouldn't say one version of the arc was strictly better than the other one. Both gave us great things. Jujutsu Kaisen is a really fun one. It's stylish to the max, it's got an unique sense of humour (for shonen Anime, at least), and it promises some cool deeper themes from time to time. I'm hoping it can keep it up. It's part of the genres of detective noir, suspense, and psychological thriller, all of which are genres that make Monster what it is. The slow, methodical pace is absolutely one of its strengths. It's also a quality I'm seeing less of in recent Anime, which is a shame. I think this is a nice way to sum everything up. Horikoshi has plenty of flaws as a writer (too much worldbuilding for relatively small storylines, an inflated cast, the lightning-fast pace that can get a bit overwhelming...), but the Anime has done very little to mitigate them lately. Season 2 gave time to fights that Hori practically skipped in the manga, and never wasted time introducing characters that were unimportant at the time (for example, I don't think they even mentioned Tokoyami's name in Season 1). In recent seasons, it feels like half the episode is spent introducing inconsequential new characters, and skipping through even more events than Horikoshi did! I'll try to stay positive, though. And for now, I'd just like to give out my main suspicion for one of my favourite plot threads: the Class 1-A traitor. Just leaving this out here, because I feel like it's a matter of time before social media spoils it for me (I have no idea if it was already revealed in the manga or not, btw). MHA has done a really good job with keeping this plot point open so far.

Fair points. I'm not saying she should've been a nominee or anything, I just think she should've been part of the discussion at EZA, at least (especially when you consider who their eventual winner turned out to be, as I'm sure there are points of comparison). I agree on several points here, as well. Unlike previous years, it felt like most of the Allies weren't on the same page regarding their gaming experiences this year, and it showed (like you mentioned, weird that Ben didn't play Endwalker. In fact, there were several times I felt like that). But it might be the nature of any contentious year to be like this, with everybody pulling for their side. In the end, the game with the most shared positive experiences won, which, while sensible, can also feel underwhelming (I think Isla has complained before about Last Guardian being a similar pick that nobody was too passionate about, but ended up winning anyway).

Yeah, I can see it. Sometimes, it's cheaper to check out older games, and more often, it is more fascinating to do so. Just make sure you don't miss out on fresh experiences, either. And it can be just as fascinating to go to an old game and recontextualize the experience you had with something modern. Off the top of my head, when I first played Kirby Super Star (a Sakurai game), I was struck by how many Smash Bros mechanics that game already had.

I have finished listening to the GOTY discussion on Friday, and I'm glad they voice out their thoughts so thoroughly, because I have very few complaints or misunderstandings. That said, those are: Sad that If on a Winter's Night, Four Travelers... got snubbed (by not being talked about). Dangit Isla, that game can be played on one night! I certainly played it in two! The Allies remembered Tormented Souls at the last second, but Bravely Default II got no such luck. Bummer. They really need to better establish what "Better World Design" means, because even they were alternating between whether that meant "Game Design", "Lore Worldbuilding", or "Visually impressive". Their discussions for "Best Character" and "Best Narrative" felt incredibly short and undercooked: So yeah. The few times Ben annoyed me were in the Nier soundtrack discussion, as you said, and also when he stubbornly refused to cut Guilty Gear near the end (read the room, dude). With everything else, I think he pushed his favourites the way he's supposed to, it's just that he has plenty of those. By comparison, Huber disappointed me, as I don't think he pushed Life is Strange enough, and discussions where that game was involved ended up feeling empty as a result. Some of that energy he showed for RE Village and Mr.X, would've been nice to see for the Narrative and Character talk as well. And incidentally, Brad is the one that grated me most! It's a common thing from him, but he rarely elaborates well on his opinions. They end up being overly curt or vague, often relying more on emotion than arguments, and it's frustrating. I felt like any discussion regarding FFXIV needed Damiani to step in and explain why it's good, because Brad had a hard time doing it.

Excellent series. Rewatched a few episodes last year, and it might be better on a rewatch! The early episodes with Grimmer get even better when you know his backstory from the start. Funny, because I felt the opposite. The first half of the season was fine to me (the only criticism being that this kind of friendly competition arc should've happened about one or two seasons ago), but the second half was an absolute mess. I say all of that as an Anime-only. I have to hope the 6th season gets back on track. There was a certain cliffhanger from the Manga that the Anime was kind enough to put in the middle of an episode. I swear to you, our heads were spinning for a month! The AOT ending was contentious because of certain details. A similar thing happened with Season 3 Part 1, which was poorly received when it was running in the manga: as a result, the pace and timeline of events in the Anime was entirely different from the Manga. So I'm wondering if they'll change anything in the ending.

I understand the reticence regarding Shovel Knight (since the game has a lot intentional, indirect references to the NES era and aesthetic), but Metroidvania is just a genre. Most of them don't have any direct reference to either series.