Music of the Week #300

What have I gotten myself into

Guess who just entered Gacha-Hell for 15 hours and came out with the Servants he wanted in FGO? Not me because I got someone else’s account out of sheer luck and generosity. Cue the entire day of me just overleveling myself through high AP nodes and getting way more NP than the game’s tries to limit lower level players with and I have two ascended servants with their levels capped for now before another ascension occurs. Once you’re out of gatcha hell, it’s not too bad honestly. It’s basically another F/E except less flashier than more pokemon styled rock paper scissors.

This marks the end of Bloodborne’s music spotlight and instead of ending it on the tough as nails Orphan of Kos, whose theme you can barely hear from all of his screaming, we’ll cap it off with Lady Maria’s. The nightmare version of Yharnam does something oh so special in showing you that there’s two sides to the Healing Church, physically in the nightmare world and figuratively in the real world. The Grand Cathedral where we find Laurence is but one area of the healing church’s quarters and the building we ascend after killing Luwidg has us enter the Research Hall, a place filled with patients and doctors who have massively bloated heads due to their self experimentation. Some are chained to their beds begging for death while others roam the halls, while the “especially gifted” patients have been reduced to nothing but an overgrown head. Maria is the name a lot of them mutter for mercy, understanding, and acknowledgment. Maria herself lies behind another boss encounter and her backstory has to do with how she was Gehrman’s most promising student, one of the few who mastered quickening. Apparently, the hunters’ raid on the Fishing Hamlet that hosted the body of Kos left her so scarred that she withdrew her weapon and seemingly committed suicide, an act that also haunted Gehrman he too is also connected to the incident at the Fishing Hamlet.

Boku no Hero Academia Episodes 26: Back to Neutral

Here we go, we’re starting off the Hero Killer Arc with news that Iida has signed up to join his the agency his brother worked at for an attempt at vengeance. Meanwhile Deku is about to learn a fancy new trick which will finally make him not a complete pushover.

Things are looking up and I can’t wait til the kiddies finally meet Stain. I’m just wondering if it’ll take the entirety of the next cour since I think it’ll only take around 8 episodes to get there.

Music of the Week #299

RAgh

Late because of reasons and poor sleep schedules. Not much else going on other than Magic the Gathering frenzy and the will to buy more cards with money I don’t have. Settled with a completely green deck and I’ve been really liking the Wurm archetype since I’m not too keen on a full wolf, treefolk, or elf deck. Maybe it’s because I have so many cards that bring land into my field that I can’t even imagine running a multi-colored deck.

Anyways, that stuff aside, our music nears its conclusion and this fight theme is that or Laurence, one of the other storied characters in Bloodborne’s rich lore. As one of the founding members of the Healing Church, fittingly titled the First Vicar, Laurence is presumably one of the first and oldest Cleric Beasts. While his beastly skull is used as a holy artifact in the waking world, his once human skull remains in the nightmare world of Yharnam and bringing it to his smoldering body will spring him to life. As a Cleric Beast on fire, his moveset remains the same, only that he’s basically 80% covered for his attacks and finding an opening is absolute hell, especially when he snaps in half and his entire half-rear end is spitting lava.

Boku no Hero Academia Episodes 25: One Stands One Falls

The Sports Competition Festival comes to its formal conclusion and while one character finds himself a starting point to greater heights, one other falls into the pits of despair as the brother he looked up to as an inspirational hero becomes hospitalized. While we’ve got just a bit before we move into our spotlight character Stain, Iida’s brief path of vengeance will soon come to light as we’ll see in the next episode where everyone chooses their Hero Names.

Music of the Week #298

Even more distractions

Schedules are getting busier but that’s a good thing, always having something to do is pretty nice. Summer has been pretty, which is honestly a great thing because I can recall two summers where I did nothing but weekly music posts. Hero Academy thankfully is going into its better portions after the next episode settles the fight between Bakugo and Todoroki, I’m excited to say the least. It’s a nice pace we’re at.

But of course, most of these music posts won’t be as interesting to read since there’s not much else going on unless people are actually interested in what I’m playing with but unless something really stands out to me, I won’t really say much. Moving on, we dive into the one of more stellar DLCs that Fromsoft has produced, The Old Hunters. Sitting at the absolute top of the series’ DLC roster, The Old Hunters’ sheer scale of additions into the base game in both of weapons and content is a rarity for the series as it was meant to be two separate DLCs as shown by the radically different areas of the Hunter’s Nightmare and the Fishing Hamlet. In most cases, like the Lost Crowns Trilogy in DS2 and the Painting Duology in DS3, DLCs are usually split up to lengthen out the playtimes and have people invest in a Season Pass. The Old Hunters however stayed true to its entire package and was released as is with a wealth of content which normally would have been split. What better way to start that off with one of the more mentioned characters in the lore, the leader of the Chuch hunters, Ludwig. While many people theorized the Cleric Beast we fought on the bridge was Ludwig, as it hinted how the clergymen became a very discernible type of beast, Ludwig was turned into something more monstrous. However, a sliver of his own self still remains, only drawn out by his titular Holy Blade’s light.

Boku no Hero Academia Episodes 24: Enter the Hero Killer

With the exciting match concluded, we only have the rest of the sports tourney arc before we move onto the real nitty gritty arc of the kids going off to do their own heroics with some pros for experience and training while a greater evil looms over them. Best not to worry about that for now since the conflict for this arc, Stain, has been shown off and he looks as menacing as ever.

Music of the Week #297

More distractions

Got into Magic the Gathering

Had it been any other theme this week, I would have left it right at that but what is essentially the final boss battle for Bloodborne, I just couldn’t. While Moon Presence’s writhing self is the game’s final boss, Gehrman fulfills that role in such a more emotional way even if the player never bothers to find him sleeping out in the garden and overhearing his nightmares. Gehrman’s very own weapon details how Gehrman’s duty is to relieve the hunter’s of the harrowing nightmare while he continues to sustain the Hunter’s Dream. Normally, the hunter would accept freedom and be executed but the other endings involve freeing Gehrman of his fate and either has you taking his place and ascending to become an infant great one.