Comments

Features these Characters

Belongs to these Storylines

|

736

Our armies can’t repel firepower of that Badassitude!

I beat Horizon: Zero Dawn, and I think it’s one of my favorite games of all time. Probably up there with Metal Gear Solid 2, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Onimusha, and Ocarina of Time. Oh geez, all my favorite games are SO OLD. Well, not anymore, I guess! I’ve also been playing the Shadow of the Colossus PS4 remake, it’s pretty rad, although it fails to recapture the magic I felt when I first played the game on PS2, not that reproducing that feeling in a remake is a fair expectation. I envy anyone picking it up for the first time.

I can’t wait to see Black Panther, but I’m currently on vacation, and do not have a movie theater easily available to me. I’m sure it’s great, don’t spoil nothin’! I only just learned about afrofuturism and now I’m all in on that aesthetic. I did see another movie recently, Jumanji. Not gonna lie, it’s kind of a good time, if you don’t think about it too hard. The script is a little more solid than a lot of recent comedies that rely way too much on adlib gags that don’t lend themselves well to scripted films. But Jumanji is a solid narrative with simple, but effective character arcs. It have no pretentious aspirations like the 1995 film of the same title, which skewed pretty heavily into the melodramatic. Amusingly enough, the new Jumanji actually sets itself up as a soft reboot, sequelizing itselfΒ  to the original through a bizarre bit of unnecessary continuity. But I admit I’m a bit of a sucker for film continuity, so I mostly enjoyed the handful of references to the ’95 film. But I think anyone’s enjoyment of 2018 Jumanji is going to come down to their fondness for Dwayne Johnson’s charisma and well timed, but not very substantive gags and slapstick.

WAIT, my list of favorite games didn’t even take into account my early childhood PC gaming years! the X-wing franchise (including TIE Fighter, of course), Wing Commander Privateer, Commander Keen 4, Command & Conquer (the original).

Published on by

  • clogboy

    I’m considering getting Shadow of the Colossus, but sadly I already know the ending.

    • Kid Chaos

      I’m a “Horizon Zero Dawn” guy, but that’s just me. 😎

      • clogboy

        That seems to be the trend, tbh. Relative to their own timeframe and console, they both scored equally well (depending who you ask, but reviews generally scored around the 8.9 – 9.2 range consistently for both). But I want to expect that a game that scores a 9 now would be more entertaining and impressive than one that scored similarly in the PS2 era.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      you can probably beat SotC in 6 to 8 hours your first time through. HZD’s gonna take you at least 30, possibly 60 depending on how much side stuff you want to do.

  • cu

    Ooooh, ok… “Yeah, I do.”… DUN DUN DUNNNN. What you did there, I saw.

  • Minando

    I think I killed a few joysticks playing X-wing. It was then when I found out about cheats.
    Ah, good times…

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      I’ve recently had a strong compulsion to replay TIE Fighter on Steam or GoG (hopefully it’s been fully optimized for current PCs).

  • Xinef

    But isn’t Maru like a… Senshinbadass?
    or… plot twist… he’s like Genchu half Wataro just so that you could make that sound effect sound the way it does?

  • KungFuKlobber

    What’s Honou-Ko gonna say when he realizes that Yori isn’t coming over to fight him? “FEELINGS! DISAPPOINTMENT! SADNESS!”

    • Turul

      Sounds a bit emo for Honou-Ko. I expect he’ll just HACK BURN SLICE EXTERMINATE! his way to Yori.

  • Aodhan Xenaz

    Time for wacky predictions.
    Ken will save the day by screaming really loud scaring the enemy army.
    Maru will save the day by out drinking the entire enemy army.
    Ina will save the day by glaring at the enemy army.
    Cho will save the day by comical coincid- I mean the will of the Tao.
    Lord Senshin will save the day by being kidnapped by a clan of sexy male ninjas.

    • Ocean Burning.

      Considering what’s already happened in this story these are not really that wacky 😜

    • clogboy

      Always bet on Ken!

  • Major Tom

    You could turn Eijiro to confetti with twin blade action and it will fail to stop Nataku. Instead you should turn Nataku to confetti and then burn the remains so that he can’t reform himself T-1000 style.

    • KungFuKlobber

      “There is no ‘overkill.’ There is only ‘open fire’ and ‘reload.’

      – The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries, Maxim 37

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        omg is that where that quote came from? I saw it in a comic strip snippet once and I was like, yes. I love it.

        • tinwatchman

          It’s from Schlock Mercenary. Warning: it’s a long runner.

  • Ocean Burning.

    That’s right, Ina, let Yori come help kidnap his brother.

    • clogboy

      Yes, let’s create this opportunity for confrontation and drama while Ina tries to save the day!

  • animalia555

    Did I call Nataku not stopping or what.

  • LordBolanderFace

    Ken, didn’t you learn anything from… oh, who am I kidding?

    I own HZD, but I’ve barely played it, and I feel freaking horrible for it. I keep saying, open world games have a hard time keeping my attention, but even I can’t deny that it’s an amazing game and I need to put more effort into enjoying it and I’m a terrible person baaaaaaaaw!

  • Nos Rin aka CTCO

    wait… you LIKE MGS2?! o.o……..

    • Kid Chaos

      What’s not to like? 😎

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        the garbage excuse for a plot?
        Which was apparently, according to a rabid fanboy, a genius design of mocking fans who wanted a sequel. Because no one is worth idolizing more than a man who mocks his fans.

        Don’t get me wrong I had fun with that game. The gameplay was excellent. Boss fights interesting. But most of the characters were annoying as hell. The story was contrived bullshit, and you barely got to play as solid snake.
        But it was ALL worth it! JUST to use a sword with the analog sticks. OMG WAS THAT SOME AMAZING GAMEPLAY!!!

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          I love the insane deep diving conspiracy nonsense of MGS2. I Ioved puzzling out all the lore and replaying the game over and over again to find hidden easter eggs (there are sooo many). I also LOVE Raiden, much like I love Kylo Ren. I have a huge soft spot for super nerdy characters who aspire to be total badasses but 100% are not.The first time I played the game I was definitely bummed I didn’t get to play as Snake for most of the game. But I was all about the buddy cop trope of rookie Raiden and veteran Snake teaming up. The game expanded the lore of the MGS world to me and filled my head with potential sequel ideas. I also loved the mechanical and character designs in MGS2, and was actually bummed when MGS3 went back to the 60’s, as I missed my hologram displays, laser cannons, and organically shaped metal gears. And also I wanted a direct sequel with more Snake, Raiden, and Otacon. But that’s all aesthetics and opinions, and I would totally agree that it’s narratively the weaker game compared to MGS 1 and 3 due to too much philosophizing and overlong codec cutscenes. But in college I drank that shit up like it was sweet delicious hot chocolate.

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            oh don’t get me wrong. I had a blast playing MGS2, and omg those katana mechanics. soooo good.
            zone of the enders had AMAZING controls too.
            the gameplay was phenamonal.

            narratively weak is not how I would describe it. the story was awful, the villains back stories were hilarious. and I mean.
            sparkling vampire.
            XD
            and that chick who “wanted to die”
            or how about fatman on rollerblades. XD
            and don’t even get me started on the main villian. wtf was that.

            I didnt hate raiden as many did but he was still a bit meh.

            I think one of my favorite moments was when his girlfriend goes “Remember when I broke into your room? It was empty! like your heart!”
            I fell over laughing so damn hard. it was so bad.

            Solid 1 was a solid game though. no complaints. never managed to do my triple playthrough though. :( couldn’t decide what difficulty to play MGS3 on sadly. never played 4.
            and that newer one i only messed around in. ran around with the chicken hat stealing everything in plain sight. WHEEEEEE

            but from what i gathered, it was purposely done as a blatant rip off of the same storyline as the first game because kojima did NOT want to make a sequel and resented his fans for asking for one so did that on purpose to mock them which is just… pathetic and sad really.
            and now look at the joke of a game coming out without him. sad.

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            You have no idea how much I love that stupid “Your room was empty!” conversation. I died laughing.

            I’m also a big fan of the part where the president of the United States grabs Raiden’s crotch and exclaims “A MAN!”

            I’m CERTAIN that Kojima intended Raiden to be a badass, and his Japanese voice actor has this insanely cool deep voice. No doubt the drama surrounding Raiden was intended to be emotional and draining, Japanese media LOVES psychologically tortured characters, it’s old hat. And I don’t know whose decision it was to cast Quinton Flynn as Raiden’s English voice, but, intentional or not, it cemented him as a hilarious try-hard. Flynn is so naturally dweeby sounding, and he nerdifies every character he voices. I mean look at the guy’s portrait on his wiki page!

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinton_Flynn

            I also love the parts where Rose keeps asking if Raiden remembers what day it is and he’s constantly going “Geez, Rose, I’m trying to save the president here!!” When the AI started to flip out and the Colonel went crazy while Raiden’s running around naked, I was like “WHAT EVEN IS THIS GAME??” I absolutely loved MGS2, and the graphics blew my mind. Heck, they still hold up great today.

            I don’t know why I was willing to just roll with the insanity of the game. I enjoyed Neir Automata recently, so maybe my tolerance for weird anime nonsense and pseudo-philosophy is pretty high.

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            I’m glad I’m not the only one who found that scene to be fucking hilarious.

            Ya, MGS2 is like one of those really cheesy old films that you know is terrible, but it’s just so much fun you can’t not enjoy it.
            and that katana play with analog sticks. I can NOT rave ENOUGH about how GOOD that was!!! it was amazing! excellent!
            lol i almost want to play revengeance.

            ya i couldn’t care less about the story in 5 but the gameplay was fun. which the multiplayer had been better. *shrugs*

            but still, the main bosses were just laughable. fat man on roller blades. sigh. XD and sparkly vampire. SPARKLY VAMPIRE!!!

            In my mind MGS1 is the pinacle of the series and 3 is probably close to as good, but the rest are just. eh. story wise.
            they’ve all had solid gameplay.

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            but hey, I’m not going to knock you for enjoying it. if you had fun with it that’s cool.
            I enjoyed the game play, and laughed at the terrible story.

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          “the garbage excuse for a plot?
          Which was apparently, according to a rabid fanboy, a genius design of mocking fans who wanted a sequel. Because no one is worth idolizing more than a man who mocks his fans.”

          Interestingly, this is also the logic behind why the original Evangelion anime is so brilliant.

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            Ya, the guy i ran into on a forum had some serious snob issues. it was quite funny.

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            so the original Evangelin was made to insult fans? that’s confusing.
            and Evangelion was actually pretty good.

  • Nos Rin aka CTCO

    wait, commander keen, FOUR?
    oh. I always considered that 2.
    with 1,2,3 just parts of 1.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Ha, but it was called Commander Keen 4! And it was such a graphical and gameplay improvement over 1-3. I also liked 5 but didn’t play it enough to feel as attached to it. 4 I knew inside and out. Dopefish for life!

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        oh btw, isn’t BJ Blaskowiz keen’s dad?

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          Yeah, and Doom Guy is Commander Keen’s son, I think.

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            holy shit.
            well shame he’s “dead” in the new doom.

  • Mike Sanders

    Onimusha was one of the best games on the PS2. I *loved* that game. and its sequels!

    also, I give even odds that Ina wanted Yori to go with Ken more so they didn’t distract each other by making moon-eyes XD

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      I’m still waiting on my Onimusha Trilogy HD re-release. Come on, Capcom, whatcha got to lose? I Gimme some Samanosuke!

      • Mike Sanders

        Senpai noticed me! XD
        sadly, Capcom has a whole lot of nothing at all to lose. they pissed away anything they might have had with shitty reboots and dolled-up Facebook timewasters.

  • Crestlinger

    ‘Good. Now go with Ken and fight Natuku.’
    ‘But…’
    ‘No! You said you would listen.’

    • AGV

      Bad Yori!

  • Arkone Axon

    I’ve been leery of seeing Black Panther in the theaters BECAUSE of all the glowing, positive, 10/10 5 star reviews. There’s a definite sense of “Emperor’s New Clothes” about it, as if the critics were terrified of being demonized as racists if they gave less than perfect scores to the film. Much like with the Ghostbusters reboot, which was a film that completely failed to live up to its hype and was then promoted with a “if you don’t see the movie AND spend $100 on merchandise, you’re a sexist” slogan (and I’m not joking. There were actually articles written about how people should support the film by paying to see it several times, plus paying for various pieces of merchandise. To “support the film.” Because a film needs supporting).

    But I’ve finally heard from some friends who have seen “Black Panther” and say it was a decent film (and their political views make them rather trustworthy on this subject). I’ve also read a few reviews from black writers who have given the film more realistic and nuanced reviews, without the “It’s the best Marvel movie EVER! And the first black superhero… oh, uh, except for Blade. But it’s the first movie with a black superhero AND a black ensemble cast… er… well, except for a number of other movies such as Steel (though in their defense, Steel was a pretty forgettable piece of crap).”

    So yeah… I’m planning to see it. After all, it’s a MCU film – done by Disney, and Disney knows how to do great films. I’ve watched pretty much every single film in the MCU so far (I missed the Spider-Man film in the theaters and need to find it on Netflix or Hulu or something), and the only ones that I could call crappy were Iron Man 2 and 3. That’s a pretty damned good success rate – and what I expect from Disney.

    • Kid Chaos

      See it for the outfits; notice how General Ayo’s uniform conforms to her *ahem* upper torso… 😍

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Much like Wonder Woman, it’s not so much that these films are done significantly better than other films of a similar ilk (maybe Black Panther is, I haven’t seen it yet), but it’s the fact that they are films of a similar quality and budget being helmed by women and minorities. They’re a statement that white men are not inherently more talented or exceptional than others, and movies like Wonder Woman and Black Panther help break apart the extreme exclusivity of these superhero films. Considering we live in a country run by like 80% old white men that don’t seem to think racism exists, there are plenty of people out there who want to see people like them at least represented in media without the common tropes and stereotypes associated with their race and gender. Hollywood’s definitely improving in that department, but there’s a long way to go.

      2016 Ghostbusters is not a terribly good movie (it’s not the worst thing I’ve seen but it’s definitely a one and done experience, and I fully admit to being pretty lenient with comedy films). But it came at a time where there was, and still is, a strong call for more female representation in blockbuster films. The concept behind a female cast reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise isn’t inherently a terrible idea, it was just helmed by middling film makers. Sony Pictures has not exactly been hitting it out of the park with their films in general, and they did not handle the political zeitgeist attached to Ghostbusters well. The movie ultimately got a bump in its review scores due to all the representation debate, but on average its reviews are still pretty middling.

      • Arkone Axon

        Eh… gotta disagree with you a bit here. With Wonder Woman the trick was that they managed to keep all the SJW types “out of the kitchen” lest they interfere with what was being cooked up. They STILL tried to “help” by implying that you had to see it or else you were sexist and this was the first empowering film for women ever… which did not help at all, because nobody likes to be guilt tripped into doing things. But WW still did amazingly in spite of that… because it was just an awesome film. Far better than any of the titles with Batman or Superman in the last couple decades – no “grim and gritty angst,” no “muted colors because bright primary colors are as silly as untarnished idealism.” They captured Wonder Woman the way she’s supposed to be – a symbol of Justice. They had other impressive female characters other than the amazons (the secretary certainly enjoyed kicking butt; she was a reminder that a lot of women back then were Suffragettes who actually trained in martial arts and the use of improvised weapons such as hatpins to defend themselves against the police attempting to shut down their rallies), and the only man whose portrayal revolved around his sexism was that one lord guy who was clearly not well thought of by his own peers.

        Ghostbusters… Ghostbusters 2016 was an blatant attempt to cash in on an old franchise. Unlike the original (which starred three legendary comedians at the height of their careers, plus the guy they got when they couldn’t get Eddie Murphy, and who wrote their own lines and handle the script and put their hearts into everything), the remake was four talented but not overly famous comedians reading the lines they were given for a script that was written to maximize product placement. Creating a political shitstorm to boost its reviews was a calculated and cold blooded attempt to… as I said, to guilt trip people into watching it.

        Remember: all these films come from the same industry that harbored people like Harvey Weinstein for DECADES. People who dared to complain had their careers derail as a result. They’re hypocrites who virtue signal in public to cover the things they do in private.

        Being perfectly honest with you: you do a better job with No Need For Bushido than 90% of the crap Hollywood spews. I forget if I said this in a previous post… I was once hired to write for a television series that never made it past the pilot. I can’t tell you the details (I signed an NDA), but… the stuff that went on behind the scenes is why the show never made it past an absolutely HORRIBLE pilot episode that was posted on Youtube for all of two weeks before being taken down. (I just checked. The promos are still up there… ah, what might have been…)

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          I’m not sure what you’re disagreeing with me on. Are you disagreeing that women and minorities want to see better representation of themselves in media? Because that’s basically all I was saying. Also that Sony Pictures makes mediocre movies. I don’t even disagree that Sony tried to play up the sexism issue in their marketing of another mediocre movie, but ultimately GB2016 was still in and out of theaters pretty quick with middling reviews.

          • Arkone Axon

            I’m disagreeing about the idea of quality films having to be an identity based statement. A good film should be a good film – in fact, it’s best when anyone can see themselves in the position of the characters, that helps in the understanding of what we all share in common. But staking a fence around a film with signs reading “For group X only, everyone else is to pay for tickets and then go away feeling excluded” is not the way to go – caucasians (and asians, polynesians, and hispanics) should be able to look at Black Panther and say, “yeah, that is an AWESOME hero and I want to be like him.” Though I do certainly agree with you about the desire for better representation. Though that will require the continued draining of the swamp. We can only hope! :)

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            Sure! I never said that a film’s quality should be judged on its representation alone, but it’s an undeniable factor considering box office numbers, which film executive absolutely care about. Trust me that if a movie is terrible, I’ll likely hate it no matter how diverse the cast is.

  • endplanets

    Plot twist: Ken died yesterday (bad sushi) and now his invisible ghost haunts the battlefield.

  • Alexis Casto

    “Yeah, I do and that worries me.”

  • Frank Royce Harr

    That’s why she’s worried.

comic735 comic736