Posts made by bam541

Other than watching season 2 of Karakai Jonzo Takagi-san, I'm also watching Tsuki ga Kirei. 4 episodes in and I'm absolutely loving it so far. The animations and graphic style is so goddamn pretty, and not only they show the characters' personalities and moods very well, the environment's atmosphere and feel is also accentuated. There's so much to grasp from each scene because of it. I also really like how they framed certain scenes, and also letting the show progress naturally by showing the characters walking around more. Not to mention the awkward-cute interactions between the two main characters are great, it really pulls you in and makes you root for them. I also love the music, particularly the delicate and subtle piano that fits the tone of the whole show like a glove.

Just started the game last night, first hour in. Solid character creator, fun and cheeky writing, and stats that actually matter for dialogue branches: the classic Obsidian hallmarks are popping up already. It's already brimming with personality in it's writing (can't get enough of the ship AI making mediocre threats while it lasted). Thank you Black Friday for making me get this game earlier than I expected.

A little update on my backlog:

• I have to say that Persona 4 Golden isn't really doing it for me right now. I love the characters so far (got past Kanji's dungeon or whatever they call it here), and doing the social link stuff is always a blast, but I just can't care much about the structure of the dungeons and the combat experience overall. Persona 5 really spoiled me. Putting this on indefinite hold, might be a DNF if I don't finish when this year ends.
• The unfortunate progress loss I had in Wasteland 2 really messed me up. Might also turn to a DNF.
• I have started LiS Beyond The Storm but haven't played it again in a while. I do plan on continuing it.
• Looks like I won't be finishing Hollow Knight anytime soon, lol. Control has reminded me of my tendency to mess around for a absurdly long time in these metroidvania style games.

Okami HD DNF
HZD The Frozen Wilds
Persona 4 Golden on hold
Shenmue II
Thumper
What Remains of Edith Finch
Nier Automata
Hollow Knight
Life is Strange
Wasteland 2 on hold
Life is Strange: Before the Storm
My Hero One's Justice

The rest I haven't played yet. Hoping I can at least finish Edith Finch and Thumper.

I'm also keeping my self to pre 2019 games. Ordered from the best:

1. Life is Strange. This reminded me why I don't play story heavy games that much, I just tend to be overly invested in them and this one just pulls my heart strings more than most. It's mostly because how "natural" the writing feels for me.

2. Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. Didn't expect to be able to play this at all this year, but boy I'm glad I did. It gave me more appreciation to what Ace Combat 7 did to Ace Combat's formula and structure. Also, the story felt pretty intimate.

3. Sonic Mania. One of my favorite 2D platforners ever, with one heck of a soundtrack.

I also beat RDR2 this year but since I started it last year I didn't include it.

I only used Spotify regularly for the first half of this year since I've been spending time on my Walkman after that, but I'll return to Spotify again starting this month since it's getting very very hard for me to get hold of individual albums. Anyway, I feel like my Spotify Wrapped is still kinda accurate in some places so here ya go:

Also, my top artist is Toro Y Moi... I don't know why lol, I don't remember listening to him that much.

Just started the game. Scorbunny hype!

Ace Combat 7 has lots of great tracks. It works better for me personally when I'm playing the game instead of listening it on it's own, but nonetheless it's still a great OST overall.
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River City Girls' music is very entertaining. I've only got through the first two bosses, and the music so far has been great.
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I don't remember much of Days Gone's music, but this one really sticks out.
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I wish I played more new games this year, those 3 games above are like the only ones I can remember having enjoyed the music.

I have been drowning in the thick, moody and dream-like sea of melody that is Angel Olsen's All Mirrors. While the effect wears a little after repeated listens, I still enjoy it quite a bit. The title track (below) is one of my favorite songs of this year.

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Just finished season 1 of Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san, and man I love it very much. It's wholesome, cute, easy going and funny; nothing more, nothing less. It's obvious what will happen most of the time, but seeing it actually happen is so fun. This is easily one of my favorite anime shows in recent times. I'll go straight to season 2 soon.

I finally got around to finishing the main missions! It's been quite a ride, really loved this game. Some thoughts about the whole game. and a score:

• I like that they made the last big shootout in the main missions quite easy, it's just blasting level 30 folks with the power boost the Board gave you. It feels great for me since the game hasn't been on the easy side for most of the time. The ending does feel flat, but I'm not really disappointed by that.

• I still can't get over the lore stuff in this game. It's so interesting and well written overall, it feels great to read new documents, listen to the Bureau recordings, and watch some really weird stuff (like that Threshold Kids thing). It made exploring the Oldest House even more exciting, as if it needs that boost. I feel like the whole game hinges on the dynamic between the Oldest House's structure and things in it, and it's a pretty strong hinge.
• I think Dr. Darling might be my favorite video game character from this year. His presentations are really entertaining, I just smile everytime I came across a new presentation. Props to the actor, he's done a great job showing his charisma, passion, and ultimately, his progressive downfall.
• Shoutout to the Grip and Shatter combo, nothing else beats it for me. So effective and satisfying. Well, maybe Launch kinda beats it.
• I still don't think that the aiming controls really feels as good as it could have been. It doesn't feel snappy, quick, and accurate enough, and in a game like this, where the combat is pretty much about dodging around and not staying in one place, it hurts the whole thing a bit. Still loved the combat though. I do wish it was slightly easier.
• I also feel that the random enemy spawns during regular exploration of the Oldest House got a bit tiresome, and I just ended up skipping more and more the game goes on. Thankfully the main missions got some cool scenarios/shootouts.

• The Astral Maze shootout is pretty dope. The music that was playing the whole way through really sells it for me.

8.5/10

I have not played any new games since Control (broke and busy af), so I'm currently playing older stuff that I got on sales... and GT Sport.

• I've been playing GT Sport online daily races a lot recently, I forget why I don't play multiplayer that much in this game, it's so intense.
• Bought 1979 Revolution: Black Friday for a dollar, one hour in and it's pretty cool so far. Not technically amazing at all, but hey at least it doesn't crash every 10 minutes... cough Telltale cough
• Also got L.A. Noire for the Switch. Tell you what, it's really neat playing something like this on the go. It's still as good as I remember, let's see if this holds up till the end.

I just got Pokemon Sword and I'll be holding out my playthrough until my friend can come over so I can geek out with him about the whole thing.

I really enjoyed the latest induction session, happy with the winners and with the presentations. Bloodworth's might win it for me though, as someone who's never played the Animal Crossing games, his story got me feeling nostalgic for a memory I never had. It's really wholesome, which is what the Animal Crossing games seems to be all about.

https://www.vg247.com/2019/11/20/wolfeye-raphael-colantonio-interview/

Ex-founder of Arkane Studios, Raphael Colantonio, launches a new studio and announces a new game. I'm happy he's back, this means more games like Dishonored 2 and Prey and I love that... or maybe he's got something else in mind? Anyway, I'm excited about the stuff he talks about in the interview.

Finally, Shenmue III's number one. Proud of ya.

I don't play Fortnite at all these days, but man it's hard for me to resist playing it again just to try out this skin.

Also, it's weird that Apex didn't get this crossover.

This looks lovely. Hats off to the artists.

Decided it's time to start listening to Kero Kero Bonito. Really enjoying their 2016 album, Bonito Generation so far. The vibes and feel of the whole thing is clicking perfectly with me right now.

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