Music of the Week #653

Here we go again.

In a rare occasion, I was recommended the series Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii? (we’re just going to call it Elf-wife from now on) during my obsessive Unicorn Overlord discussion adventures and was surprisingly hooked by it. For one, it isn’t isekai and the magic system and cast did charm me. I was about 2/3rds of the way caught up before I learned that it got an anime adaptation THIS season so now I have something to look forward to every week, even though the anime will definitely not have the time to get to the interesting parts of the series. I also have DAL 5 and Blue Archive but those are definitely turning out to be duds.

The very first big task for ALttP is for Link to rescue Zelda, a task his uncle fails to do. We trek our way through the Hyrule Castle dungeons, face a mini-boss, and meet with the princess incredibly early given how the rest of these games have been. This is the earliest rendition of Zelda’s Lullaby we get to hear, a series staple that we’ll definitely be hearing more versions of in the future.

Music of the Week #652

How the hell is April half-way done?

Unicorn Overlord has been dominating my time and my sleep schedule. I do plan on talking about it but will probably do so after I give it a 2nd go on the highest difficulty because I overestimated it’s difficulty. It’s a great game it’s definitely a gameplay first type appeal.

The previous two Zelda games were directly tied to one another and thus the intro sequences were nice and short. ALttP is the first to create its own backstory with deeper history than the previous two with 7 sages, Ganon’s imprisonment, and the Golden Realm. Instead of exploring a Hyrule that has been abandoned, ALttP would have the first lasting town name mainstays such as Kakariko Village to make the land of Hyrule feel more lived in. It’s also the first appearance of Hyrule Castle as a level. This theme is also used for the beginning sequence of Link trudging through the rain in search of a way into the castle.

Music of the Week #651

Spring Time

Blue Archive released its first episode a couple days back. While my fears about “no sensei” were quelled, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that Volume 1 of its story isn’t really all THAT engaging and the fighting is your typical “shoot at people offscreen” fare. At least they had the decency to clarify that shootouts like this aren’t dramatic at all and are regular occurrences.

We’ve finished Zelda II because I have no shame in admitting I got filtered by its gameplay so we won’t talk about the Great Palace or the memory bug that makes Shadow Link one of the easiest final bosses. We’ll be moving on to the more substantial Zelda sequel, A Link to the Past, which for the longest time I look “Link” as in actually Link and not a “connection” to the past. I do much prefer the Japanese title for the game as “Triforce of the Gods” though. We begin the journey with the first official rendition of the Fairy Fountain theme acting as our file select, a brand new series main stay.

Music of the Week #650

Sleep schedule deteriorating.

Unicorn Overlord doesn’t have much gas left in the tank for me because I fear finishing it too fast. I still have the hardest difficulty to overcome but man, what a fun ride it’s been. I was apparently so caught up with it that I made a mistake with the tracks from a couple weeks ago and I’ve rectified the issue.

There aren’t too many boss battles worth bringing up in Zelda II aside from Dark Link who went on to be an entity far surpassing Zelda II. One story I think is worth telling is that the boss of the Ocean Palace, Gooma, was actually only present in the western release of the game. Originally, the Japanese version featured a rematch with Helmet Head but the releases outside the game decided an entirely new fight was the better choice. A rare example of content actually being added in the international releases.

Music of the Week #649

That didn’t last long.

Within a week of the previous post, I managed to get Unicorn Overlord and have been playing it a dangerous amount. While there’s nothing overtly profound about the experience aside it from being so jam packed with stuff to do and things to consider with its automated gameplay, it’s an incredibly addicting game. I haven’t had the moment where I stared at a units stat screen and just PONDERED about the combinations I could make in long time.

In the vein of walking around fantasy-land and helping towns, the towns of Zelda II are a welcome change in atmosphere, especially with how desolate the first Zelda was with any trace of civilization. Canonically everyone in Hyrule simply moved north to avoid the monsters and simply built the towns there. It’s wild to me how the NES could even support walking NPCs that made it really feel like a bustling town. Although, the things to do in town are usually 2 healing spots, a wiseman to teach you a spell, and plot relevant NPC to tell you something. Then there’s a town where the residents are actually monsters in disguise, that gave me trust issues as a kid.

Music of the Week #648

Huh, what’s left?

With Hyakkano and Blasphemous out, I currently do not have anything else I wish to talk about that I have more or less finished. I am interested in trying out Unicorn Overlord but I also have Yakuza 7 to start too. Decisions decisions.

The most iconic theme from Zelda II is undoubtedly the palace/dungeon theme for when you enter a given dungeon usually behind a significant obstacle. Dungeons in Zelda II usually have you enter through an impressive outer area before descending down an elevator. Every dungeon has a major piece of equipment Link will need to access areas going further into the game but this also means Link can advance to the next town and area without beating the boss. While some sequence breaking to unlock more spells might be helpful, you will still need to clear these palaces to access the final area.

100 Girlfriends who really really really love You- Count Em’

Hyakkano was something I probably mistook for another series that had one guy romancing two-three girls at once but I watched some clips of the anime before I decided to dive into the entire thing. As per usual this was about the time the season ended and I binged the whole thing before binging the entire manga. I actually enjoyed it to the point where I bookmarked its updates so I could keep up with it, which doesn’t always happen with these series I tend to binge.