Blog, Blog, Bloq

Today is March 31st. Otherwise known as Transgender Day of Visibility. A day that is dedicated to the celebration of Transfolk and the injustices that they face. In honor of this glorious day, I have decided to touch upon something that I noticed when replaying Saints Row 2 last year. What I had noticed is that the Boss is canonically Trans. While this is a conclusion that some will not come to, the logic behind it makes sense. So, let's go through some history of the series and see how this is solidified and embedded in the franchise's design.  In Saints Row 1, the Player Character is known as Playa. This name is dubbed by the leader of the 3rd Street Saints, Julius Little. The ambiguousness behind the name allows the player to design Playa as they see fit. You get to decide on the skin tone, body size, haircut, etc. Some normal character creation tools that are found in other video game titles. But there is a major distinction that is found in SR1 that is not present in the o...

 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...

 GOODBYE WORLD is a game from Isolation Studio that delivers everything meant in the title. One last hurrah for old times sake. A melancholy look at the life of two game developers. One stuck in a void and the other moving on to new and brighter paths. This game is the embodiment of all of those feelings. Something that started out so well, but the wick had slowly dwindled down. Fading to nothing but ash. A short and bittersweet end.  The game follows programmer Kanii, and Artist Kumade. And their partnership through school that would eventually lead them to  becoming an independent team after college. The moments featured throughout are those key moments in their journey that led to them pairing up as well as the conclusion to their story. That story is tough to watch.  There were many times when the tension would tighten so much that I would be uncomfortable. Seeing the end of something that felt so strong was depressing. I just wanted the happy parts to come. And ...

 Back in the saddle with more Horror, and this time I am talking about Alisa. Specifically, Alisa Developer's Cut from Casper Croes. To put it plainly, this game rules. I am a big fan of Alice in Wonderland adaptations and this one hits on those notes of deception and bizarre worldbuilding. The game is very much a modern PS1 Horror game through and through. It wears that title proudly on its sleeve and makes sure to do the genre justice. I had a lot of fun with my first playthrough and am looking forward to jumping back into it with the new game plus mode.  The game starts with the Elite Royal Agents,  Alisa and Jean-Francois, being given the task to hunt down Albertus Alvarez. When Jean-Francois swallows his toothpick, Alisa is tasked to give haste and chase down Albertus. But she is met by three porcelain dolls made up of various parts in an horrifying amalgamation. You can fight them if you want, but it's much easier to just succumb to them. After being taken in by the...

 Recently I saw a post on a show that I did not know existed. For a series that I had only just recently became aware of in name, but not in context. That show is the anime adaptation for Flowers of Evil by Shuzo Oshimi. The adaptation was animated by the studio Zexcs. Zexcs has a wide catalogue of Battle and School Life series, while also handling the Shadowverse franchise. There aren't any series aside from Shadowverse that are as notable as Flowers of Evil. Just looking at these other series, I can say that Flowers of Evil is unique and special among their works.  The story in Flowers of Evil revolves around Takao Kasuga and his relationship with Sawa Nakamura. While Takao is a typical nerd in middle school who loves to read, Sawa is a pariah. She is crass toward everyone and is genuinely unlikable. Her unstable mannerisms are clear signs of someone dealing with mental health issues. These issues are more or less seen as someone just acting out. There are sentiments to be h...

 It is time play to games fast once again. Awesome Games Done Quick is currently underway and there have already been some entertaining runs. Jet Set Radio Future Any% (Xbox) ran by Yomsa with 7thace and Twinkachu on commentary showcased some really sick movement and a secret boss that was only discovered in the past couple of years. The Cult Classic Horror game Clock Tower (Super Famicom) S Ending was ran by Ecdycis and portrayed a great use of Text Box and Item manipulation that allowed for many long sequences to be bypassed while getting the game's coveted secret ending. Not to mention the treat that was the Glitched D ending incentive that was utilizing the same tech in order to beat the game in under three minutes while showing how you can save all your friends in the process.  These are just two of the many runs that have already gone on through the first day and part of the second day. And that train is not gonna stop for the rest of the week either. While I love doing ...

 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...