Blog, Blog, Bloq

 Had a few things swirling around in my mind this week. And the winner of it all was the one and only Piku from Pikuniku. There's just something about seeing the little, red creature that brings unbridled joy. So, the focus of the piece is to look at the appeal of Piku, and a few other characters like Piku that I enjoy. But first, I must answer the question of, "Why Piku?" Originally, the "Why" question was answered when I saw the little guy dancing to some nice tunes. However, after playing the game, I can say that this answer stayed the same. With the additional element of it's fun to be Piku, and in some cases Niku. There's not much more to it than that. Simplicity is the key to the secret sauce of Piku, and I'm going to break down what that means to me in this instance.  And what better way to do that, than to look at Piku's design. A sleek, little red bean with two legs and two black dots for eyes. Just tons of personality on its face, with ...

 Summer Games Done Quick is once again upon us. A perfect time of the year for me as I continue to trek through The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC in Elden Ring. Something that I hope to be finished up with by the middle of July, so I can post my thoughts on it. Which has been pretty great so far with some minor issues. But I am not here for Elden Ring. I am here for Speed. And this year's SGDQ schedule looks to have some really solid picks. With the only games finished so far being Yoshi's Story and Minecraft Dungeons, as Mega Man 9 moves along. As always, the times and dates are going to be relative to my time zone, which is Central Daylight Time (CDT). So, be sure to abide by this if you happen to be viewing this during the week of SGDQ 2024. Without further ado, let's get into my picks for some games to look out for.  First up, I am going to do a cheeky double pick and give my reasoning. For the first game, I will be picking Bayonetta 2 (Nintendo Switch) Any% Rosa (Easy) tha...

 Recently, I've been back on the Genshin Impact grind. And the experience is reminiscent of why I left. But I keep coming back for one reason. The Open-World is crafted well, and it makes me want to keep exploring the depths of the surrounding areas. Especially with these latest regions in Sumeru and Fontaine. The multiple layers of the regions contain a large amount of secrets. And I just find it extremely fun to run around a world, just taking in the sights and mysteries within.  I am going to discuss some of the other details that make these types of game work for me. And also how some Open-World games are just not understanding how to keep a player's attention, I think that is what separates Elden Ring from Assassin's Creed Odyssey or Tears of the Kingdom from Forspoken.  Elden Ring and TOTK make me want to stay in the world and question the structures in the surrounding areas. Piquing curiosity is essential to the formula that AC and Forespoken just don't understan...

 My game of the year for 2023 is undeniably The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I played and beat many games this year, but I only ended up finishing a couple of titles that released in 2023. So, my choice boiled down to Tears of the Kingdom, Mortal Kombat 1, or World of Horror. Two large budget projects and a phenomenal Indie game. While I loved Mortal Kombat 1 and World of Horror, they didn't hit like TOTK. A game that had massive hype and anticipation going in and managed to over deliver in the process.  I finished Breath of the Wild a bit before TOTK in anticipation because I wanted to be ready for the follow-up on release. I was so captivated by the Hyrule Kingdom in BOTW that I wanted to know, "where do we go from here?" How do you expand on a world with a numerous amount of mystery? The easiest answer was to just expand. The game world went from exploring all of Hyrule to discovering the wonders of the Sky  and the underlying Horrors of the Depths. Three sea...

 Last weekend I was watching some of the best fighting game players in the world compete on the grandest stage. While that was exhilarating, this week I am tuning into Flame Fatales. A speedrunning event that raises money for Malala Fund, a charity that advocates and supports for education for girls. The event features women and non-binary speedrunners. This event may not get the recognition that its parent, Games Done Quick, gets, but it deserves it nonetheless. The runners are exceptional and we get to see communities and runners that may not get awarded the same screen time during the big events like SGDQ and AGDQ.  The event is in full swing while in the midst of Day Three. I tuned in for a bit on Sunday, but I was hooked on the runs from yesterday. That hook was when I noticed that Illblleed was being ran. A Dreamcast exclusive that I have never played, yet the speedruns for the game are so fun to watch everytime. This survival horror game is set in a theme park with some...

 My post this time around is to go support Games Done Quick if you are reading this the week it is happening. Sadly, due to the schedule I have made for these posts, I cannot do a recap like I did with Awesome Games Done Quick earlier in the year. Seeing as we are on day three of the event, there is still plenty of time.  There have already been entertaining runs like the Banjo-Kazooie 100% No FFM that was ran by duck or the Bloodstained block that featured runs from The Blacktastic and DanTheVP with the bonus run of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night being ran by Dr4gonBlitz that capped the block off. Different skill points in speed tech being shown off across these games with engaging commentary to boot.  There is no doubt that the rest of the week will feature some absolutely insane games that I have never seen before, much like every GDQ event. So, I will have the runs playing in the background for the whole week like I always do, shifting focus for my most anticipate...

 I was recently able to see The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and it was solid. Not amazing, nor was it terrible. The film has some amazing action set pieces that made me elated in the theatre and some instances where I was just baffled.  As a movie, there aren't many interesting things that transpire or happen to the characters across the film in terms of development that aren't named Mario. While some people might say that, "Well, it's for children." This problem isn't persistent across all films for kids. The first Sonic movie did not deal with character and story issues like this even while being a template movie. Regardless, the movie works fairly well as a piece of Mario media because writing has not been a strong suit in the series' main 3-D titles quite like the Blue Blur has. While I am not an expert on Mario games, this is what I have gotten out of the franchise's attempts to inject me with their storytelling.  So, if you would rather not be spoil...

 For people who have not finished or played Bayonetta 3, I ask that you refrain from looking at this piece as I will be discussing the ending to Bayonetta 3 in addition to my thoughts on the game as a whole. With that out of the way let's begin.  The combat and some of the new gameplay sections in Bayonetta 3 are really good and some of them are not so great to really bad. The main story fights against groups of enemies and singular enemies were done super well with a nice flow to combat sequences that made the dance very satisfying and a joy to play. While some of the challenge areas were downright atrocious, especially in Viola sections. For those that don't know, Viola is a DMC type of character where dodging is not her activation for Witch Time, and instead you have to parry. This contradicts the flow of many Bayonetta sequences, making the game feel uncomfortable in some areas. These areas include Witch Time damage only portions and big enemies that have an invisible wall...

 Another Awesome Games Done Quick has been put in the record books and what a doozy it was. A week full of speedruns has always been a fantastic time for me to relax and see games that I have never seen before or ones that I love dearly. This year I was able to witness some magnificent runs indeed. I'm going to highlight a few of the runs that I thoroughly enjoyed.  The first run on my list is Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks that was ran on the PS2. The runner for this game was Elfinout with PND Ketchup on commentary. There are a number of reasons why I was looking forward to this early morning run. The first being the nostalgia I have for this game and the joy in getting to see the final boss rush being taken to task as this was the game breaker for many players in their playthroughs. Getting to see Shao Khan be made into a fool was something I really wanted to relish in.  The second reason is that recently I have been watching quite a bit of the commentator's, PND Ketchup,...

 After playing Bayonetta for the first time at the end of 2020, I was enamored at such a remarkable game that I had neglected to play for so long. The gameplay, characters, setting, and music all hit on these highpoints as a game that deserves to be played by those that love high-octane action with style. Bayonetta hit all those notes that something like Devil May Cry never really could for me. Recently, I have finished Bayonetta 2 for the first time. And it hit all the right notes that the first game did. A fun as hell game that many people might miss with it being on the Nintendo Switch and Wii U while being cursed with a lack of discounting that many first-party Nintendo games face. Bayonetta 3 is supposed to drop later this year, but I wish that the second and third games would release on other platforms because this second game is such a gem. From the introduction of the co-op feature to the remix of Moon River as this game's Fly Me to the Moon, Bayonetta 2 is truly a remarkab...