659

Hey, it’s that guy with the purple kimono!

So, like, my weekend was great, the nation’s weekend was awful. I want to talk about how my E3 hype, but my enthusiasm to write my thoughts has been dampened. I’m sure next week I’ll be ready to share my thoughts on the gaming news of the week!

Published on June 13, 2016 by Alex Kolesar | 30 Comments on 659

658

Back to Genchu and his travelling troupe for a little bit of second amendment conversation.

I’m trying to get back to updating the comic Sunday night instead of Monday night, it’ll happen! I’ll try not to be too distracted by E3. I’m curious to find out how many of the games I’m excited about will get pushed back to 2017!

Published on June 7, 2016 by Alex Kolesar | 27 Comments on 658

657

That’s it, we’re done with flashbacks (for now). What’s the deal, Hirotomo, no love for Eijiro?

I started playing Life is Strange, which has been staring at me through its shrink wrap since Christmas. Gotta say that I’m really loving it so far! There are too many 60+ hour games coming out lately, and I just want something that I can beat in a week. Although, I recall that the internet seemed kind of down on the final chapter’s ending, so maybe I should brace myself for disappointment. Then again, the internet was really down on Broken Age, another quirky adventure game (albeit one with significantly less swearing and murder), and I loved that game. That’s fine, internet, we can disagree sometimes. I still love you and spend most of my time with you, and constantly want to know what’s going on with you, and carry you around in my pocket at all times in case you have something to tell me.

Published on May 31, 2016 by Alex Kolesar | 25 Comments on 657

656

I promise only one more page of these humanizing flashbacks and then we can get back to less dynamic character building! I got the page up a day late again. I’m wondering if we should just officially move the update day to Tuesday instead of Monday, but I’m not sure if Tuesday is just working better for my schedule or if it’s been a more temporary weekly struggle with free time!

I’ve been backing up all my old CD’s lately with the intent to get rid of them in a larger attempt to de-clutter my basement. I came across my old Total Annihilation disc, which was a real time strategy PC game that I doubt many people remember. Heck, I don’t even remember it, really, but what I do remember is its PHENOMENALLY GOOD SOUNDTRACK. Seriously, this CD was in my collection not because I loved the game but because the game disc doubled as an audio soundtrack CD. Jeremy Soule composed it, and gosh that guy has done dozens of great game soundtracks. What’s hilarious is that the battle themes in Total Annihilation are so good that the game had NO CHANCE at matching them in sheer wow factor. I mean, listen to this track! Whatever images pop into your head are going to blow the actual game out of the water.

And what did the game look like?? Ehhh…

Granted I still remember beating it, although I don’t recall being half as enamored with Total Annihilation as I was with Command and Conquer and C&C: Red Alert (Acknowledged!). Oh, and Warcraft 2. The 90’s were good times for RTS games, that’s for sure! Here’s one more Total Annihilation track, it’s SO GOOD. And feel free to share with me your nostalgic music gems.

Published on May 24, 2016 by Alex Kolesar | 67 Comments on 656

655

Oh Nataku, why you gotta be hatin’ on Genchu? You coulda been BROS!

SPOILERS:

I saw Captain America: Civil War a few days ago. You know, I think we can all appreciate a tight script that the writers clearly thought about and bounced off of each other, working in great foreshadowing and smart red herrings. I think we can all agree that if that same script can turn some overused tropes on their heads in the process, we can all get behind it as a solid film, even if not everything else works as well outside of that script. Luckily everything in Civil War works well!

Can I talk about the wonderfully subversive ending? We’ve been going through the film, and identified a clear external threat that our divided Avengers team can unite against, despite their different points of view. More super soldiers could be resurrected! Oh gosh gee no! Cap reconciles with Tony and they go to confront the evil badguy person. Then BAM the bad guy has already shot all the super soldiers before waking them up! Then DOUBLE BAM Bucky killed Tony’s parents! Then TRIPLE BAM Vader is Luke’s father and Boba Fett got away with the frozen Han Solo! WE ARE AT OUR LOWEST POINT, NICE!!

What I’m saying is that Civil War is actively trying to be the Marvel Movie Universe’s ESB, going so far as to reference Empire during the big centerpiece airport runway battle, and I think for the most part it succeeds. Although, if I had to pick out something that prevents this movie from really letting me love it to death, it is its rather bland cinematography. There’s very little this Civil War does to visually differentiate it from other Marvel films, or other action films in general. I mean I’m trying to think of any particular striking or well composed shot in the film off the top of my head and nothing comes to mind. Sure, I remember a lot of character moments and great dialog, but no iconic visuals fill the void.

That’s not to say the movie is poorly shot! In fact I greatly appreciate how clear and legible the fight scenes are, they don’t fall into the shaky cam trope. It’s just that, well, Empire Strikes Back is a strikingly gorgeous film. The artistry behind it is one of the reasons the movie endures as a classic. Civil War, on the other hand, is probably not going to stand the test of time. With all the end credits teasers and character crossovers, Marvel movies feel more like very expensive tv episodes than feature length films at this point. There’s so many of them and they’re produced so rapidly that it’s hard to keep them distinct in my mind. In comparison, I saw the Rogue One trailer for the first time in theaters before Civil War (granted I’ve seen that Rogue One trailer like a dozen times on youtube now), and that trailer is visually incredible! If the Marvel movies were tapping half of that visually creative energy, I might be a lot more excited about each film.

Civil War is a tightly written story with great characters to drive the plot forward, enjoyable, well composed action scenes, and an excellent twist at the end that’s a real emotional gut puncher! It’s also full of gray buildings and rather dull set pieces that drains the film of a visual identity. BUT IT’S STILL GOOD, GUYS! I wish I could have this same story in a prettier film, but that’s a minor complaint considering how all these Marvel films continue to be so much fun.

Other minor complaints:

Black Panther’s country of origin was kind of offhandedly explained. For some reason I got the impression that the African country where Scarlet Witch accidentally blew up a building was Black Panther’s country of origin, which made the whole ‘super suit and cool jet’ extra confusing. Luckily my friends were able to explain to me that Black Panther was from the highly advanced country/city we see in the jungle at the end of the credits stinger. Maybe that could’ve used more explanation in the movie, I dunno.

When Cap and Falcon figured out the one doctor was the real bad guy, they decide not to tell Tony because ‘he wouldn’t believe them’. Just tell him anyway, there’s nothing to lose! And maybe you’re wrong and he will believe you! Then you aren’t just blindsiding him with that info when he shows up with his team of supers to fight you.

I found out that they cancelled Agent Carter shortly after Civil War killed her off screen, AND revealed the gruesome fate of Howard Stark! This was a dark day for any Agent Carter fans like myself.

I loved the staircase fight with Cap and Bucky escaping the UN troops (the UN has soldiers at its command?). Reminded me of the super rad staircase fight in Daredevil Season 2 Episode 2. Staircases, what a great place to have a fight!

Published on May 15, 2016 by Alex Kolesar | 45 Comments on 655

654

More bittersweet happy memories, let’s assume this will all pay off in a big emotional way later in the comic! But who am I kidding.

There’s this new Onimusha game you can download and try for free RIGHT NOW on the PS4 called Neo, err, I mean Nioh! It’s a limited Beta demo available for a limited time, until May 5th. I’ve been playing it a lot, and, well, I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with it. On the love side it’s got wonderfully authentic feudal Japanese environments that I enjoy getting lost in. The combat is highly tense and addictive, with great animations and high/med/low stances for each weapon type. The designs of your character’s armor, the enemy humans, and the oni are so quintessential Japanese that I can not get enough!

What I don’t like, and it’s essentially the same thing I don’t like about Dark Souls, is that when you die, you lose all your amrita, the currency for leveling up your character. And I get that keeping your amrita when you die and respawn would make the game a lot easier in that you wouldn’t have to grind by just farming weaker enemies close to the nearest shrine. All your grinding would be done while simultaneously attempting to push forward and make progress, but is that such a bad thing? I suppose the dichotomy of being heavily punished for pushing forward and dying versus not being able to progress in the game unless you push forward is the heart of what these games are; a tense, high stakes gamble where gaming skill gives you the edge.

But what about people like me, who desperately want to enjoy these games for their difficult combat and art direction, but don’t want to be forced to grind mindlessly or lose a massive amount of progress because they dared to push forward? The only answer currently is “git gud” or “don’t play these games”. the Souls style of game that’s recently become so popular is endlessly frustrating to me, because I ALMOST love these types of games! I have no problem with the difficult combat and that feeling of pushing against a wall and making incremental progress, but these types of games often define ‘incremental progress’ as ‘no freaking progress at all’ after what could be half an hour to an hour of play, which is what a lot of us older gamers have to spare nowadays. So, really, all I want is to be able to keep my souls when I die, so that I know that I’ve advanced in the game even if my character didn’t make it deeper into the world on that run. Why not just make this an option in the game? An EASY MODE, if you will? The combat would still be as brutally hard, and dying would still put you all the way back at the bonfire/shrine/checkpoint, but at least it wouldn’t all feel like a colossal waste of time!

Having said all that, I still have every intention of buying the full version of Nioh whenever it gets a release date. I don’t see any Tenchus, Onimushas, or Genjis coming out any time soon. Where else am I gonna get my samurai hack and slash fix?

Published on May 1, 2016 by Alex Kolesar | 36 Comments on 654

653

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Genchu and Hirotomo not trying to kill each other! They were bros once, for sure. Also this page probably should’ve been two pages because it took quite some time to finish!

Published on April 25, 2016 by Alex Kolesar | 35 Comments on 653

652

Oh, young Hirotomo! You were going to go kick some ass on the battlefield and it looks like you made some friends instead.

Guys, Hyper Light Drifter is SO RAD. After three years of anticipation I got it on launch day and have been playing it on and off when time permits. Something about the aesthetic is just ideal to me, there’s a lot of Evangelion influence in the visuals, and even though I downright hate Eva’s story and characters, I love its visuals beyond measure. The gameplay also feels really tight and fluid, it’s got a rhythmic quality to it so that when you’re in the zone you feel like the ultimate ronin badass, but when you’re off, you get murdered to death. My advice to anyone who wants to pick it up is to purchase the unlimited dash upgrade before anything else. It greatly enhances your drifter’s mobility and just improves the experience immensely. I feel like I was struggling through the first half of the game until I picked up the unlimited dash ability, and now it’s a non stop sword slashing joy ride!

Also, about that Rogue One trailer? I mean, I’ve probably mentioned I’m a Star Wars fan once or twice. The thing is that I got into Star Wars around 1990, during the dark days when Star Wars wasn’t really a thing anymore. The franchise I grew up with was the original trilogy, and the 90’s expanded universe, where the focus was mainly Rebels/New Republic vs Empire. Jedi were an ancillary thing that was mostly explored through Luke and the Solo children. Pretty much all the major conflicts in the books ended with big ass space battle. In all the games from the 90’s  you almost always played as an Imperial or a Rebel pilot or agent, games like Dark Forces and X-wing Vs TIE Fighter. I used to doodle starfighters in my middle school notebooks and read Expanded Universe novels exclusively. So it turns out the Star Wars movie I was REALLY waiting for wasn’t Episode 7. It was ROGUE FREAKIN’ ONE. Heck, it practically looks like Dark Forces the Movie. I’m, like, so hyped, I can’t even think straight!! This Star Wars renaissance is feeling mighty good.

Published on April 18, 2016 by Alex Kolesar | 36 Comments on 652

651

 

Published on April 11, 2016 by Alex Kolesar | 13 Comments on 651

649

I’ve gotta wonder if Ina and Yori were talking politics this whole time during the cut away. It IS what they share most in common, after all!

A couple weekends ago one of my visiting friends brought his Oculus Rift (the dev kit version, not the commercial release that’s coming this week) to try out. I was able to play Elite Dangerous for about 20 minutes and the experience was brain melting, I need VR in my life. The feeling of docking a ship while looking all around you as you enter a space station with full surround sound audio is incredibly immersive. There are a myriad of reasons why VR may never catch on as a popular media outlet, but I’m really hoping it takes off. Basically all I want to do now is play every game in VR. (Granted, my opinion on the PS4K are mixed, to say the least, even if it will better support Playstation VR.)

Also, guys, I am SOO EXCITED for the new Netflix Voltron. All these Korra alums are involved! LOOK AT THOSE CHARACTER DESIGNS! LOOK AT THE MECHS! It’s like a dream project come true. And since it’s Netflix, we’ll get all 13 episodes at once! Geez, I hope they include the classic theme music in there somewhere.

Published on March 27, 2016 by Alex Kolesar | 54 Comments on 649