A Blog with a purpose to discuss important things in life, like politics on multiple levels (mostly swedish), music, movies and video games together with the challenges in my personal life (that is none actually, it's just a smooth ride, or is it?).
The celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Legend of Zelda gave us another Game & Watch edition, akin to the Super Mario edition. Instead of two games, we got three. The two original Zelda-games, The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: Link's Adventure and the original game boy version of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. And a modified version of the Game & Watch-game Vermin. Which I have a score over 200 on as of writing.
I've pretty much played all of the games before on different consoles and versions, latest being Link's Awakening with the remake for the Switch. Playing them again, maybe that the screen isn't the best for long play in these adventure games, a bit easier to play a couple of levels of Mario and then quit. In Zelda you get into a flow and need to be able to see small things on this tiny screen. For example, you are able to see the movement of the crawlers in Zelda II while it's dark before you get the candle, not so much in this version. The only one I can't play on any other console is actually the original Link's Awakening (although, the DX version isn't that much different than the original). I also lack a way to listen on the music through earbuds or something, maybe I don't want to disturb all around me, but the music is so good that you have to hear it while playing.
Also, maybe not for the original Zelda and Link's Awakening, but I need save states to finishing Zelda II without losing my mind with the instant death and gauntlets of enemies at certain parts. That makes the Wii U, 3DS and NES Classic Edition better choices to play through. Plus bigger screens in all of them. One wonders though if there is gonna be some other Game & Watch editions. Like, Metroid version in preparation for Prime 4 (they missed the opportunity to remind people for Dread and I would like a Prime-collection)? Kid Icarus because... well, it was some time ago. Maybe Golden Sun?.. Nah, better wait for a Switch remake collection in anticipation in the (hopefully) coming episode 4?
Also, gotta add, we decided to get a couple of copies to my dad and brother-in-law for Christmas who are big Zelda fans. It only backfired in that I had to play first half of Zelda 1 for my dad so he can go around with most of the equipments. Twice I might add since I played first on my Brother-in-laws version during the Christmas holiday and then again during the Easter holiday on his own version.
After watching the Star Trek-series I've thought, what is next? Well, I like DC and since the movies are bit more hit and miss, why not watch the TV-series instead? And why not start with Arrow? Oliver Queen is found after being presumed dead for 5 years after he disappeared together with his father on the family yacht. After returning he begins to dress as the Hood to eliminate people on a list his father left him. Basically the list contains name of the most wealthy people in Starling City that worked in a conspiracy to destroy the city and reshape it to their liking. Together with his body guard John Duggan and Queen Consortium IT-person Felicity Smoaks they form team Arrow to fight them. John becomes Spartan and Felicity is Overwatch and later we get Roy Harper as Assault (which I know was called Speedy in the comics, but they gave that to Oliver's sister Thea), Mr Terrific, Black Canary, Black Siren and what not.
So I get most people from the animated Justice League-series or Atop the Fourth Wall. Interestingly the show goes back and forth between "present" and five years earlier to see what happened on the island, like meeting Slade Wilson (aka Deathstroke), Katana and Amanda Waller. They did that for 6 seasons and then shifted to the future and brought in time travel and that for the last seasons. Gotta be honest, got a bit lost at the end on what the hell was going on. Didn't help that here and there they had crossover episodes with the other Arrowverse shows, like the Flash and Supergirl, just like the comic books, and just like them you need to follow all the shows and watch them at the same time. I don't go for that and just let one show run to the end since I don't want to bother with switching shows all the time (especially since Supergirl isn't on Netflix in Sweden at the moment, or I can't at least find it).
The rouge gallery consist of Ra's Al-Ghoul and the monitor... and then a lot of people I don't think I know about, like Damien Dhark and the Dragon. Damien Dhark was at least some one with meta-powers, but Dragon was just some ruthless mobster. I mean, yeah he's scary, but he's clearly not trustworthy since he offs his companions when he want to climb the ladder or they "fail" him. And he's really not that interesting compared to Damien Dhark or a threat to Arrow. Really, they should have changed order of them.
But overall a good series. It is really enhanced if you know some lore, like names and such and then you can enjoy a bit of foreshadowing, like that Barry Allen is the Flash, Slade Wilson is Deathstroke and so on. Also fun with both Peter Stomare and Dolph Lundgren as bad guys, russians at that.
At least I refreshed myself in wait for Bayonetta 3
Finished it once again. Pretty much the same verdict like last time. I liked that you keep all upgrades from the first game so it was kinda effortless to play them back to back. It was only 16 chapters with was 2 chapters less than Bayonetta 1. And I don't know why, but it felt the gameplay was a bit more grind heavy in fighting bosses, takes more time and you seem to do less damage, or it might be just me being bad at the game. Also, the ending isn't as bombastic as the first game, I mean, riding a bike up on a rocket into space to reach a god to pry its eyes out and then throw Jubilees into the sun is rather more epic than flying (on an airwing in my case) toward a mountain where you fight angels and demons and then Bayonetta and Balder fight the evil Aeiser and combining a big Madam Butterfly to throw him into Jeanne's dog demon. Not as epic all I'm saying. Hopefully the third game up the antes.
Now with some more games under the belt I also get more references, like the Lumen Sage Panther-form looking like Amaretsu from Okami. It has more replay value as well with Jeanne as a playable character and the grind for 9 999 999 halos to get the Platinum ticket, which can't be that hard if you gotta play all difficulties and try to get platinum (or maybe even Perfect Platinum) trophies on each chapter. I won't do that, I've got a life... or rather I got a lot of other games to play.
This was the special edition I got after talking with the local game store and they had an extra copy. So of course I got it. It contained some sheets with stickers, a steel book cage, the normal game card for the second game, downloadable code for the first game and a box with what is called verse cards. I think they are the cards that Loki uses in the second game. No real value other than maybe as a prop for a DnD game or so. They are nice though, but I think I can understand what they represent, but I'm not sure. I think mostly depicting events in the game.
Fun to play, wonder how the third game will fit into this especially with the time traveling shenanigans.
*Update* What do you know, when I wrote this no release date was mentioned and now it has been revealed and it's just weeks from release. Sometimes I'm actually very current with the release schedule it seems.
What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets! But enough talk, have at thee!
The final confrontation is upon our heroes. From the top of the largest tower they descend to the catacombs once more, guided by Sergei's Sunsword. They deduce that Strahd has retired to his tomb and they follow him. And as they get closer to the portculis blocking their path, Toby gets transported away and replaced by a wraith they kill instantly. They use a dispel magic to unblock the invisible teleporters pad then they realise they can just use the teleporter brazier to enter Strahd's tomb. Toby's still gone and missing. So they teleports right in to the lion's den and begin the fight of their lives.
It begins bad as Echer attacks and destroy Pidlewick II, here on called Fu (don't ask me why, my sister named him). But then the table turns. Immeral cast wall of flame from a scroll blocking Strahds vampiric brides in their alcoves, burning every turn. Katrina uses Banishment on Escher and sends him to another plane of existence. Cygnus meanwhile uses the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind to trap the vampires, succeeding on two of the brides and Strahd, but with one Legendary Resistance he just shakes it off. Meanwhile he summons with the power of Ravenloft a Shadow from Hope's shadow. Don't last long since Rahadin tries to psychic damage everyone and succeeds in hurting our heroes, but destroying the Shadow. At least he got away with two poison darts against Katrina, which hits, but she is able to keep her concentration and keep Escher banished.
Strahd then summons 5 swarms of bats that will appear 1 turn from now. Meanwhile Toby have finally arrived by lifting the portculis and entering the tomb. As he was transported to another tomb where he had to push open a casket and then break free and run back to where he was. Can't do much this round, but he's here. Immeral starts attacking Rahadin and lays a long row of attacks on him (which we learned afterward was not allowed with the rules, so we shall try to remember that for next time). Sir Godfrey meanwhile who used his first turn to lay magic weapon on his sword now could use two attacks on Rahadin. Katrina tried to use a scorching ray, but missed all three. Hope begins sneak attack Strahd after using the first round to shine light from the sunsword. Cygnus starts using Divine Smite dealing 5d8 on each attack. And here it's pretty much over. Two of the Brides burns to death behind the wall of flame as they are paralyzed. The last one is able to escape, very badly burnt I might add by spider walk over the wall since it only goes 20 feet above ground when the ceiling is 30 feet above ground (I felt really smart when I recalled that tidbit so that they at least could escape, not as smart when I probably should have used the run action so she could have left the burning flame one turn earlier).
After that, the radiation from the sunsword kills Strahd that turns him into mist and goes in to his coffin. Then Immeral spears Rahadin, Cygnus destroys the last bride and the others systematically destroys the bats and shadows that have been summoned. Getruda lies on the coffin so they pick her up and hand her to Geofrey as the others open it. There lies Strahd, resting. They put a stake through the heart and he finally dies (for now, but the players doesn't know that) and turns to dust, leaving behind a part of a rod. They take that and since it's about midnight stays the night in the sleeping quarters. The next day on the overlook they see the sun finally break through the clouds, bring peace to the valley. The spirits of Sergei and Irena appears and thanks them for their help as they walk away into the sky. A month passes and they set up shop in Ravenloft as headquarters. The corrupt politicians are ousted and the foundations of their emporium are being laid. I guess I will have to speculate their treasures are being used to restoring the castle and pay all the employees. And so, the final step is trying to get customers to the domain or trade routes to get the flour out.
Luckily a vistani wagon appears that want's them to come with them to Madam Eve. As they pass through the gates of Barovia they enter the mist and appears in a large chamber where Madam Eve sits at a table near a corridor. As they begin to talk to her she appears to get younger (well, in her 50's at least) and look closer to her half-brother Stradh. She lets them in to meet her master. Passing through the corridor they enter another chamber, a circled room where for portals with beams in the colours red, blue, yellow and green converging on a golden triangle with an elvish looking old man meditating inside. From his forehead the four beams emerge again flowing into a black hole in front of him. With telepathy he welcomes them to the Temple of Elemental Evil where he guards the Nameless One, and that they have found the first part of the rod of seven parts which is needed to stop the Spider-Demon. The Master have localised the other parts in other planes of existence, opening 6 portals for them to choose from. The planes being the different adventure books I have that would be fun to play. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Out of the Abyss, Tomb of Annihilation, The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frost Maiden and Baldur's Gate: Decent into Avernus. After some debate (and a roll of a die) they end up with Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and the search for a dragon treasure.
So that ends the Curse of Strahd-campaign, 4 years after it started. And it all began when I watched Dice, Camera, Action and felt that this could be a fun adventure to play with my sisters. And they seemed to enjoy it. I've already figured out how to get them to Waterdeep (besides teleporting them there since they want to continue their emporium idea). Basically Madam Eve decides that since she is the rightful heir to the throne of Barovia have a proposal. Since the Vistani can travel freely across the planes they might help with the transports, for a fee or something like that. So they summon a ship to the harbour in Barovia (I think there was some mention of some harbour to the south that was swallowed by the mist) where they load up on flour and materials and then will sail to Waterdeep across the planes. And maybe they need the help from a certain mercenary organisation that happen to have a dwarven cleric specialised in accounting.
Finally got around finishing Bayonetta for the second time, but on Switch. Started on normal, but after four chapters had to go down on easy since without the combos and everything it ain't fun playing through the game. Also, at a point I stopped playing, maybe new games appeared that was more fresh or so. But that was... 3 years ago (as of writing)? Boy, times fly by.
Nothing much to say, pretty much the same game. High-octane action from Platinum with different things to break up the usual action, like riding a missile, driving a motorcycle and so on. Harder to follow the story though, mostly since I didn't pay attention. So if the story holds up now I don't know. Maybe that the film reel is a bit cheap in trying to convey the cutscenes without having to animate moving people.
Maybe I get a chance to play a bit more before the third game arrives... but maybe after the sequel. I think maybe the chapters are a bit long at times (goes for both games), but maybe that's me wanting to break up the chapters in order to not need perfection all the way through.
If you got tired on Ace Attorney you can always pop in Murders by Numbers. Picked it up at some Christmas sale on the eshop when I went home back in 2020. Finished it in November 2021 so I dropped it between that, mostly due to not finding the story that good actually.
Story is that Honor, an actress in a murder mystery show is dragged into a real murder that she has to solve with the help of a flying computer named SCOUT. That continues for 4 episodes where they go through the Hollywood elite of San Fransisco, the LBGTQ-community and a shady mercenary group that has ties to the military that backed the SCOUT-project. And Honor's shitty ex-husband who tries to sabotage her life.
I don't know why the story doesn't meld with me, maybe that it feels so over the top of liberal west-coast elite values that it's a bit virtue show of. Then again, it's made by a British team so what do I know? But beyond that, the gameplay is rather fun. It's basically a visual novel where you gotta solve sudoku puzzles (well, maybe the correct term is picross) to get clues to continue the story. And I solved all of them. But the picture they show afterwards is rather hard to grasp what I actually was doing so no help there.
It can be the ex-husband story line that really grind my gears when I think about it. Which is probably good story telling since you are supposed to hate that smug manipulative bastard, but it makes me detest the story, especially since Honor's mother constantly brings him in her life and such. Music's good though, but when it was one of the composer for the Ace Attorney-series, can it be bad? And I even recognised one of the landmarks mentioned, it was the bowler hat place, you know, the one Willie the giant picks up looking for Mickey Mouse in Fun and Fancy Free?
The continuation of Batman the animated series, now with the man of steel... who isn't the superhero Steel that also shows up in this series. Was shown on channel 5 in Sweden I recall, right before we had to go to school so the ending was missed a lot of times. Amazing how they could pull so much depths and emotions into 22 minutes episodes that took 45 minutes for Star Trek episodes to do. A great show, but it clearly isn't as good as Batman. First off, the villains ain't that good. They try to make them in the same mold as the Batman villains with tragic back stories that put them on the road to villainy, but it doesn't work that well here. Bizzaro is probably the only one that you feel sorry for and maybe Metallo.
Take Livewire, I don't feel she is justified in her evilness, she's just some random radio host that got electrocuted with Superman as a conduit and she got electrical powers. She just straight up abused her powers to dominate others. Same with Parasite, a lowly dock-worker that got entangled with villains due to debts and got showered in toxic waste. And what does he do? He uses his powers to get revenge on the world. It's not that the Batman rouges did that, they did it a lot, but their introduction episodes usually are about them getting revenge for one special thing that tipped them over to madness and then Batman becomes the target for their obsession. Only Toyman follows that formula.
The good things though is that it feels like Superman pushes a continuous narrative through every episode. As with Steel, in one episode he gets fired from LexCorp for trying to stop the use of this Robocop suit and a couple of episodes later he built his own fighting Metallo that also references his latest appearance in the show (that of being caught below a volcano). Also I like that we time to time check in on Lex Luthor on non-Luthor stories. Take the Lobo story where his office get destroyed, twice due to the Main Man or the Livewire episode where he is seen agreeing with her as a radio host since he also dislike Superman. Also the introductions of other Superheroes, like Dr. Fate, Green Lantern (Kyle Raynar) and the Flash. Makes the world be more organic.
On the other hand, Darkseid is the best archenemy introduction and execution across DCAU. As stated, good, but there are things laking. For one, there wasn't any movie in the package (probably due to not having any canon movies for that series, but they could have thrown in some of the non-canon ones... or Death and Return of Superman) and secondly, only for commentaries on 54 episodes and a couple of documentaries. I would have liked something more substantial.
