Music of the Week #582

Ahead

I’m writing this one in advance as I start up the final third of Stone Ocean and I wanted to put my expectations down on text before going further.

• The OP better get some time-based mishaps by the time we get to Made In Heaven
• C-Moon and DIO’s kids better get more than just silhouettes
• Heavy Weather better better change up the opening too
• Mickey

Honestly, it seems that most of said expectations are from the OP since it can be so emblematic of a given part it represents but I can only hope that the climax of the saga gets the justice it deserves. Not going to lie, the voice performance in the updated ASB doesn’t give me too much hope at the moment but I really hope they nail the lines better in the real deal.

Anyways, the Riverside Station acts as the “dungeon” part of the chapter that isn’t all that long but provides an unmistakably atmospheric little trek through a seemingly abandoned station. I still remember the sunset backdrop as being one of the more memorable vistas in the game.

Music of the Week #574

Oh whoops.

Nothing really big going on at the moment aside from editing a couple of other stuff I’ve been writing and thinking of posting. The season is going pretty slowly for me since I’m currently watching two shows that aren’t don’t really need much talking about given how one is a rom-com in the vein of Nagatoro but with too many peanut gallery members and the other is just molcars. Maybe I should give Bleach a shot since I haven’t read past Fake Karakura Town, see what the hype is about since I sure as hell remember no exciting developments from the manga version of it.

Cortez’s fight is hilarious in hindsight since you really didn’t need to end up fighting him at all. Most of the dead pirate souls you fight make up around a 3rd of the enemies you fight here since the rest are buzzies, bob-ulks, and some swoopers if I’m remembering carefully. It’s still a really cool fight though because Twilight Town dealt with a creative and meta type of creepy while Cortez is just classic and obviously supernatural with how he’s got four hands.

Music of the Week #567

No excuses here.

Just more of me being bad with time management when I couldn’t think of some blurb to talk about here. Distractions are everywhere these days and I haven’t really played anything “new” to really talk about besides Maou-sama at the end of the season here.

Thankfully, there’s a lot to talk about the song this week. Doopliss’ encounter is the one shining star of Chapter 4 of Thousand Year Door. The name gimmick is something you absolutely cannot be expected to know and the fact that his name being hidden is repeat-playthrough-proof is also a testament to his gimmick of having deliberately taken a letter off the typing board. While this complete asshole will make you walk back and forth between Twilight Town and Creepy Steeple 5 to 6 times, it’s a pretty neat little trick.

Music of the Week #557

Pondering.

I finished Elden Ring’s post around a week ago and wanted to save it until I got some pictures to accompany it but I think people have seen enough of the game to warrant adding the pictures at a later date if it means just getting my thoughts out in the open. Seasons coming to an end and I have only kept up to date with three shows while another two I’ve fallen behind on. Hopefully I can find the time to watch.

A bit surprising of a choice here for this week because I’m trying to think of occasions where a mid-boss occurred before Chapter 3. The only ones that come up are Lord Krump in the Prologue, Red Bones in Chapter 1, and the Shadow Sirens. I think Red Bones had this theme play but it wasn’t featured earlier in the OST which I thought was weird. I guess the mid-chapter break in the Glitz Pit is a lot more notable because you are physically not able to beat the Iron Clefts Duo until you get your Yoshi partner.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice- Now with four old people to kill

Even in the earliest of Souls games, active defense was more optimally achieved by the dodge roll. It universally costed the same amount of stamina for a roll than it would be to block an attack and 100% reduction shields or specific attacks would require a bit more effort to find and upgrade than simply rolling through enemy attacks. Certain bosses would be way too much on the stamina drain for a proper offense to be mounted ala Fume Knight so by Dark Souls II, the message was for players to start rolling more often. Out comes Bloodborne that did away with shields all together, even making fun of the idea, and added quick-step dodges when locked on. The emphasis on aggression, offensively parrying with firearms, lack of equipment weight and rolling penalties, and even healing HP lost with the rally mechanic all pointed towards a refinement given to the combat system. Dark Souls 3 kept some of this design philosophy with an increased invulnerability to the rolls, a mechanic that’s a far cry from Dark Souls 2’s rolling invulnerability tied to the Adaptability and Agility stat. 

So how does Sekiro push the envelope in its design philosophy?

Music of the Week #507

Another down

Hollow Knight was a really fun game, you should read about it. I’ve got a couple more to write up but since I was insistent on 100%ing the past two games, I’m a bit behind on playing new ones. I should really hop on the next Yakuza game.

Lava Piranha would not be the first boss in Paper Mario with a 2nd phase but I always did like the idea of elemental Piranha plants when I was younger. Unfortunately, no other big piranha plants became notable enemies going forward. The Chapter specific partner, Sushi, makes decent work out of his multiple attacking parts if you use the upgrade blocks on her and hey, when was the last time there was a friendly Cheep-Cheep in a Mario game? TTYD’s own jungle island chapter got a very unique boss that I enjoyed but the flower-based enemies in Super Paper Mario were if pretty non-threatening, if hilarious in a political sense. Yeah, political. You heard me.

Yakuza kiwami 2- okay, who isn’t korean?

This one didn’t turn out as long despite having been delayed for so long. I’ll also apologize in advance right now since I don’t have too many varied screencaps, but it’s telling when I don’t want to get new and appropriate ones to delay this longer than necessary. Battle Chasers will get its time in the limelight but I want to represent that game a bit better compared to Yakuza which has gotten its fair share of popularity in the past year.

Long time coming for this one. Now that I had some time to think Yakuza 2 over, I think I can make a seemi-organized recap of this. Yakuza 2 stands apart from 0 and Kiwami 1 by being released AFTER Yakuza 6 with its Dragon Engine and easily looks the part of having some incredible lighting, a new combat system, as well as destructible windows for you to scare shop owners during combat.