Opening Songs
OP 1 - Hyadain no Kakakata kataomoi-C (Hyadain)
OP 2 - Hyadain no Jōjō Yūjō (Hyadain)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Zzz (Sayaka Sasaki)

Genre: Comedy, Slice Of Life

Episodes: 26



Highly regarded as one of the most legendary comedy animes out there, I finally took the time to sit down and give "Nichijou" a good, thorough watch. I must say, it has indeed been a long, LONG time that a show made me laugh SO MUCH because of its sheer stupidity and idiocy. "Nichijou" rides along the lines of "Baka Test" and "The Daily Life Of High School Boys" when it comes to levels of stupidity, and for a show to be THIS stupid, it ultimately becomes glorious. From now on, when it comes to the top comedy animes, "Nichijou" will be sitting at the top alongside the 2 shows that I mentioned. I'd recommend "Nichijou" to anyone in a heartbeat because of this. Its simple to watch, its simple to follow, and the comedy appeals to everyone, not just Japanese people or anime fans. I've had non-anime fans watch this and said that they love it, its that good. Despite being 5 years old, "Nichijou" proves that comedy does not age, and that it can appeal to almost anyone with a sense of humor.


With a cast THIS colorful, how can you say no?!


The opening themes for the anime fit really damn well. The first opening theme is "Hyadain no Kakakata kataomoi-C " and the second one is "Hyadain no Jōjō Yūjō ", both themes are sang by Hyadain. They're really catchy and silly sounding which totally fits the theme of "Nichijou". If I had to pick one theme over the other, its obviously the second one, because we all like to smoke some weed everyday. The ending theme is "Zzz" by Sasaki Sayaka, its a slow, catchy little theme that kind of sounds like a rhyme. Its nice, but not really something I'd listen to a lot.


Rating: 9.0/10



An easy recommendation to almost anyone, really. "Nichijou"'s scale of humor is so simple that it appeals to all that watch it. No Japanese cliches, no jokes that only otakus can get, none of that. Its something that everyone can pitch in, watch together, and just laugh the hell out of. The small character pool makes it easy for viewers to remember everyone, and its safe to say that everyone matters in "Nichijou". Episodes are split into multiple short stories, each of them funny on their own. This bite sized bits of fun can last between 10 minutes to 10 seconds, and that's the beauty of it. Some of the jokes happen so fast that you'll find yourself on the ground, laughing at a 10 second joke. The visual style is pleasing to the eye as the characters are all cute and bubbly, the cast is easy to like, the jokes are awesome. There's almost nothing wrong with "Nichijou", period. Maybe there are times where you'd wish the plot advanced faster, but the show really likes to take its time, so some character interactions probably won't take place until quite some time later.



A bear faced girl chasing the shit out of you.
Only in "Nichijou" man...

Yuko, Mio and Mai are 3 best friends that have just enrolled into high school recently. In commemoration of finally reaching the pinnacle of what some people would like to call youth, they decided that the best way to spend their time in high school was to be stupid as shit. Literally, from the get go, their so called "ordinary life" is bombarded with ridiculous deeds and intruded upon by some less than reputable people. Meanwhile on the other side of town, an 8 year old genius child prodigy known as the professor is living HER ordinary life with a human robot girl that she created....along with a talking cat that happened to be in her house. Once again, WTF. The show revolves around the 2 parties and their certain encounters in their everyday lives that lead to an obscene amount of nonsensically comical situations.


"Nichijou" probably won't get a second showing because its been a really long time since it aired, but honestly, it was fun while it lasted. A show like this one deserves to be kept in the archives, when you're feeling down or want to introduce someone to an anime that's easy to get into, "Nichijou" should be one of your first few choices,



Let's be honest here, "Undertale" is an amazing game, and one of the best things about it is its OST. Easily one of the best OSTs made for ANY game in a long time, most of it is incredibly addictive, however, the boss themes take the cake for some of the catchiest songs I've heard in a long, LONG time. Here are my favorite themes in the game, and they are songs that I'd definitely recommend you to give a listen.




Song: Bonetrousle
From: Undertale
Artist: Toby Fox


Was there any doubt that everybody's favorite funky skeleton's theme wouldn't make the list? I didn't quite enjoy Toriel's theme as much as everybody did, but Papyrus's theme...now this was some funky shit. While the battle started off ridiculously easy with his normal theme playing, there was almost no feel of threat, it was more of a joke. When he caught you off guard with his blue attack and "Bonetrousle" started playing, shit got real. While its just "Nyeh Heh Heh" with drum beats added it, it shows you how brilliant the song is and how just simple drum beats can make the song into a cool boss theme. Like almost every boss in the game, Papyrus's fight was a blast, and the song only made it better.






Song: Spider Dance
From: Undertale
Artist: Toby Fox



Really just Napstablook's theme on drugs and weed, "Spider Dance" got me jumping up and down during the entire time while trying to dodge Muffet's attacks. Like many songs in the game, even though this is a tweaked version of another theme in the game, its amazing how much the song changes to suit the flow of this particular fight. Particularly because Muffet's battle feels like you're playing a rhythm game, this one is incredibly catchy and amazing to listen to. Mechanics wise, this is my favorite fight in the game. "Spider Dance" just gets you to bop to the beat as you try to bop through Muffet's deadly attacks. God damn that muffin is scary as shit.







Song: Battle Against A True Hero
From: Undertale
Artist: Toby Fox



Was there ANY doubt that this wouldn't be on the list? To have to go through the crappiest route in the game to hear 2 best songs in the game and to fight the 2 most challenging bosses is just sad. "Battle Against A True Hero" is the closest thing to the most epic song for the most epic scenario in the game. The moment when Undyne raises herself from the dead to fight against you, the monster hiding in a human's body, is just full of epicness. Then she dons her special armor, her eye glows, and this theme plays....its too good. The song itself is just amazing, the tension levels have never been so high in "Undertale", and you just want to fight to the very DEATH with this song in the background! To top it off, Undyne is tough as nails in this battle, probably the 2nd hardest battle in the game. Its you or her, and lets be honest, we're not about to lose since we have infinite attempts.







Song: Death By Glamour
From: Undertale
Artist: Toby Fox



Let's f**king go. "Battle Against A True Hero" was the most epic song in the game, but "Death By Glamour"...its something else. Its the song with the most HYPE in the game, hands down. Words cannot describe how hyped up I was with this song in the background when I was having a pose war against Mettaton EX. In terms of atmosphere and overall likability, this was very easily my favorite boss battle in the game. Sure, it may not be exceedingly difficult or as fun mechanical-wise as the Muffet boss battle, but this fight was...just so freaking amazing. It was like the dance off of the century to determine the savior of Earth, Mettaton was strong and more than capable of being mankind's savior, and instead of a death battle, we get a dance off because he's just that fabulous. The battle was so random and funky, with this in the background, you just want to get down and dirty while being a Jojo pose master. All while trying to raise the ratings...THEY'RE OFF THE CHARTS.








Song: Megalovania
From: Undertale
Artist: Toby Fox


Video game OST of the year. "Megalovania" is just the very definition of awesomeness, and it says something that this piece got over 3 million freaking views on "Youtube", which is on par with some of the most popular pieces of video game music. This plays during the battle against Sans, the hardest and most satisfying battle in "Undertale", and while I didn't think this was a suiting song to play against such a badass, I soon grew to absolutely love it as I kept dieing to Sans. Sans is a complete monster, seeing as how he could easily destroy you in any of the other routes, he chose not to unless he absolutely had to...like in the genocide route. This song, while surprisingly upbeat, ironically portrays you as a demon, and Sans is probably the demon slayer. Its an incredibly catchy song, and I must say that its impossible to get this song out of my head, unfortunately, that's how good it is.




Opening Songs
OP 1 - Rally Go Round (Lisa)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Vague Hurts (Nao Toyama, Kana Hanazawa, Mikako Komatsu, Kana Asumi)

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Slice Of Life

Episodes: 12



Following its rising popularity, it was almost 100% confirmed that "Nisekoi" would be getting a sequel. It was one of those manga series that people have been following for a long, LONG time, and apparently a 2 season, 20 episode run wasn't enough to satisfy the fans. Especially since the anime adaptation was pretty well made with a solid voice cast and excellent animation production quality by f**king Shaft, it was only a matter of time before its popularity got blown out of proportion...at least for a harem anime. Having never read the manga at all I kind of wanted to see what was next for the series, seeing as the manga has almost close to 200 chapters at the moment. For something THAT long, it must be good right? Well, maybe I'm a little bit premature about wanting the plot to ACTUALLY progress, more "Nisekoi:" (a dumb title for a second season) ends up being more of the same in season 1....with the introduction of more potential love interests. Kind of sad, actually. Without further ado, let's dive into Shaft's second helping of "Nisekoi".


More seasons, more girls!


The opening theme is "Rally Go Round" by Lisa. I'm really surprised that they decided to give her a spot for an opening song here, I always thought ClariS fit the role better. Anyway, for a Lisa song, I'd say its mediocre, probably because instead of an epic, catchy tune, we get a pretty easy-going, cutesy one, which I'd say isn't more to her style. The MAIN ending theme (there are actually a ton of other ending themes used for different episodes sang by the different female seiyuus) is "Vague Hurts" by the 4 primary seiyuus of the 4 main heroines. Nothing new here, its a simple, slow ending song without much of a punch.



Rating: 7.5/10



I was going to give it a slightly lower rating if not for a particular episode that was extremely well done, but all in all, I can just say that this second season is nothing more than the same thing we got from the first season. New scenarios pop up, Raku is introduced to new characters, and somehow...they grow some feelings for him. Then, being the dense f**k that he is, he doesn't catch their feelings and moves on, adding more girls to his harem without even noticing it. This repeats at least twice for this new season, while also opening up more screen times for the main girls introduced in season 1, however this time, its quite apparent that character development isn't as strong, as we don't really see them developing stronger feelings or relations to anyone else that's already been introduced. For the newer characters, sure, like how Paula and Seishiro or Chitoge and her mother grow close together...those scenes are nice, but I feel like there isn't any deep progression between the girls and Raku this time around. The episode with Maiko and his love interest was REALLY interesting, and that was honestly my favorite episode in the whole franchise thus far which kept this season afloat.



All aboard team Tsugumi!

There's really not much to say here. Raku and Chitoge continue with their daily lives as fake lovers bound by a rule because of their stupid families. With more and more girls showing up with different ideas of their lockets being similar to that of Raku's, his quest to find his old childhood love only becomes harder and harder. Things certainly don't help when these girls around him are so sensitive and easily flustered/offended, plus, with more girls coming into his daily life as we speak, he honestly can't keep up with all the shenanigans in his life. However, all for the mystery of the locket, Raku just wants to find out who his lost love is, and as the girls develop feelings for him, all of them can only truly hope that they are the ones who've met him in the past. Though we all know that it's more or less likely going to be Chitoge.



"Nisekoi:" ends on a rather nonchalant and simple note. I'm not too sure if there's hinted to be more on the way, but this was a pretty...non-inspiring way to conclude a season. As a second offering "Nisekoi:" doesn't do much that encourages previous viewers who didn't like what they saw to watch it again, but those who did enjoy season 1 should still enjoy it. Its a simple harem that looks great on screen, and that's what it still is.

Wednesday 16 December 2015

Undertale

Gamespot Score: 9.0 (Editor's Choice)

My Score: 9.0


(+) Pros: - Simplistic gameplay that's easy to get hooked on, - Amazing world and characters, - Multiple story paths with a multitude of different endings, - Somehow manages to make you attached to almost every character, - Innovative and fun boss battles.

(-) Cons: - Some of the best boss battles are locked behind the most scummy route

Gameplay time: Less than 10 hours







There's really no need for me to say much here since "Undertale"'s pretty much one of the most popular and talked about games on the internet at the moment. It's a pixel RPG created by Toby Fox, the genius mind behind "Homestuck" and a certain "Earthbound" hack. I've never played his games before and "Undertale" is my first. Let's just say that I had no idea what the hype was all about in this little ass pixel RPG game that looks like something that could easily be made 20 years ago...of course, until I played it. It's one of the most emotional, character driven experiences I've ever played in a long time, coming from a game with no voices at all and only the text on the screen, that's saying something. "Undertale" is a game that'll tug at your heart strings and break your emotions at times, but its most certainly worth it. A game like this comes very rarely, and if by any chance you haven't played it, you owe it to yourself to get it, now. FFS this is only 10 f**king dollars on steam!


So you play as a human who fell into the underworld, a entire sanctum that's been ruled by monsters since a long long long LOOONG time ago. When you first enter the world, waking up from a flowerbed, you encounter a talking flower named Flowey. Flowey teaches you the basics of the game and instantly makes it apparent to you that this world infested with monsters...is not apparently the most fun place on the planet. However, a mother figure named Toriel opts to take you in and teaches you the way of surviving in the underworld: to always be nice to your enemies. That by itself, is the morale of of the game. Will you survive the underworld by killing all who stand in your way? Or will you try to get your opponents to open up and show mercy? The choice is yours, and it shall impact this world forever.


Reading isn't for everyone.

"Undertale" is a very simple game with very simple rules. Its a standard JRPG styled adventure where you traverse a world filled with NPCs and random encounters. On the overworld side of things, there's not really much to compliment the game about. While its certainly quite varied in terms of environments, there's nothing special going on here. The main combat is where the game truly shines. Taking the form of a hybrid cross between a "bullet hell" game and a turn based RPG, "Undetale"'s battles mostly have you trying to dodge enemy attacks as this little heart that's floating around the screen. Getting hit damages you, and during the enemy's turn, you'll have to dodge their attacks for a pre-set amount of time. Given the game's large pool of varied enemies, and the fact that each one of them has different attacks of their own, the game can be quite challenging to newbies.


Either way, combat is split into multiple options. There's the "Fight" option, which lets you hit your opponents with the intent to kill. You can talk to them with "Talk", in hopes to learn more about your enemy to hopefully find some weaknesses or to spare them. There's "Item", which is self-explanatory, it lets you use an item to heal yourself. Finally, there's "Mercy", which either lets you flee from battle or SPARE your opponent, a huge deal in this game. Playing "Undertale" as the game encourages you to, by "sparing" your foes lets you discover a whole new side of JRPGs. You discover ways and methods for your enemy to slowly "like" you during a battle, to the point where they don't want to fight you anymore, then you spare them. Doing things this way gets you no EXP, but the game rewards you for this. Every opponent you choose to spare or kill...the game keeps count of them, and this greatly alters the path you're going on in the game.



Sugarcoating as its best...

The world of "Undertale" itself is wonderful. There are a variety of locales for you to visit, ranging from the ruins to snowy mountains to waterfall caves to burning, fuming volcanic fields....or even luxury hotels and hi-tech science facilities. Also, I'll try not to spoil anything. but the lore behind the world is INTENSE, there's a whole lot to discover that you'll probably miss on your first couple of playthroughs. and believe me when I say there's a whole lot going down in this world. The characters play a huge part in making the world amazing. Almost everyone you meet is somehow likable, without spoiling too much, each character is somehow connected with one another and the game tries its hardest to make you love the shit out of them before making you try to kill-I mean *Ahem*, confront them.


"Undertale" has multiple endings which vary depending on how you play the game. Who you decided to kill or spare comes into play here. While the game sits mostly on 3 major ending paths, the neutral ending has a ton of varieties to it on its own. While its not exactly tough to go about getting these 3 major endings (except one of them, you'll need to be a monster at heart for that one), the differences in each route can be quite exquisite, and trust me when I say each ending is worth experiencing for yourself.




I'VE BEEN PET!

What "Undertale" excels most in however, is its extremely innovative boss battles. If you don't choose to pointlessly just kill off the bosses in a straight out murder fest, then every fight just turns into a battle of attrition as you find out how to make the boss spare you. Sometimes its just a matter of dodging all their attacks until they give up, sometimes its something else. Either way, boss attack patterns are so fun and innovative, each one has a unique theme tacked on to them to make them extremely enjoyable. They break the rules of the game, instead of having you floating around to dodge attacks, they add all sorts of weird mechanics to make the battle fun and unique. One boss has you only be able to walk and jump, another one makes you stationery as you have to block incoming attacks instead of dodging...while another one has you become a plane in a shooter to shoot out its projectiles. Its crazy, wacky fun, unfortunately, there aren't too many bosses in the game.



Tems are vicious....

I can't really find any fault in "Undertale" at all. Despite it being almost a perfect little game of its own. If anything, the most "fun" route in the game, the "genocide" or "No Mercy" route, is practically the worst one morally. Its a little bit unfair how to fight the 2 toughest, most challenging and most enjoyable battles are locked behind a route that most people don't want to experience. I gritted myself past the route just to fight these 2 bosses. I felt that it was worth it, these 2 bosses were TOUGH, but its a damned shame that many people won't get the opportunity to fight them.


"Undertale" deserves all the hype that surrounds it and more. Its a wonderful little game that never fails to impress. It may not be the most visually impressive game, but it certainly has the heart that most modern games seem to lack. A top contender for one of the best games of the year, no doubt.





Happy Gaming!



Opening Songs
OP 1 - Pseudo-Spring (Yanagi Nagi)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Everyday World (Saori Hayami, Nao Toyama)

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Episodes: 12



Here we are with the follow up to one of my favorite school RomCom animes. "My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU", or as I would like to shorten it to just "Yahari", was pretty unique in its pool of competitors. Instead of focusing on a standard romance/comedy/harem plot with a pretty generic main character, we actually got a glimpse of a fairly bleak look of high school life through the eyes of a shambled, crude protagonist with a lone wolf personality. A guy with no friends, as he would like to describe himself. This refreshing take on a standard high school anime without anything too special backing it up was impressive, and the interesting cast of characters only served to  improve the experience. I thought that the show concluded well, but I would happily accept a second season. Despite changing studios, the second season of "Yahari" holds up to its previous standards with no major issues. Hell, it looks f**king AMAZING, whoever complains about the studio switch is just...blind. With an improved visual style and with it staying true to its season 1 roots, "My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO" succeeds with flying colors.



Deep down, we all want them to remain like this...

The opening theme is "Pseudo-Spring" by Yanagi Nagi, who once again returns to sing for the anime. Like with "Yukitoki", the opening theme for season 1 of the anime, "Pseudo-Spring" takes the same approach and gives us a rather simplistic opening theme that's nothing too special. Still I feel like its slightly better tan that of "Yukitoki". The ending theme is "Everyday World", a slow song that's sang by Saori Hayami and Nao Toyama, seiyuus of Yukino and Yuigahama. Nothing too special here, though its not slow enough to put someone to sleep, so that's that.



Rating: 8.5/10



Like how the first season blew me away with how the main character acted throughout the show, season 2 ALSO captivated me the same way. This time however, the show takes a slightly darker tone as things between our 3 main characters aren't going so well. This time, there's a lot of drama between the characters we know and love from season 1. This severely heats things up and right off the bat, there are multiple problems to solve that carry themselves throughout the entirety of season 2. Hell, I even think some problems aren't solved yet at the end of season 2. Some of the older minor characters get more focus here, and newer, more interesting characters got thrown into the mix. Our main character still remains as the scum he is, as he should be, and this personality of his contrasts well with the other 2 heroines, as with season 1. The visual style is remarkable this time around, the change in studios did the anime a service. The individual arcs themselves are also better, with the problems being more difficult to solve and the arcs themselves being generally longer. They also involve a lot more characters this time around, but unfortunately my man Zaimokuza does not get as much screen time as he deserves.




Totsuka is too damned attractive for a dude.


The story takes place after the culture festival in season 1. Hikigaya Hachiman just got done putting off Sagami in the worst way that he could on the rooftop of the school, and almost got hurt by Hayama. Despite all this, he never changes his personality and the way he does things. Things go back to normal (somewhat), and he resumes attending the service club with his club mates, Yukino and Yuigahama. Anyway, they go back to their regular duties, and the season starts off with the class trip almost coming up. Hayama and Tobe show up before the trip, asking them for a favor. It seems that there's somebody Tobe likes in their regular group of friends, that girl is Ebina. Unfortunately for him, he does not know how to approach her, and Hayama doesn't want Tobe confessing to ruin the relationship between their group as friends. So begins the trip, with the trio having probably their hardest request yet.



"My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO" is an amazing follow up to an already amazing show. Unfortunately, it ends, as one of the best shows this year, I didn't want it to end, especially with THAT kind of indecisive conclusion. Its come to my realization that I need more of this anime in my life, considering that its one of the best "slice of life/high school" themed animes, its only natural. If there is going to be another season, I want them to take all the time they need so that it keeps up to its standard. Brilliant writing, I hope whatever's left is THIS good.









Opening Songs
OP 1 - Kimiiro Signal (Luna Haruna)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Colorful (Miku Sawai)

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Episodes: 12



While I'm almost burned out by the genre itself, I do admit that I need some RomCom animes in my life once in awhile. There are plenty of mediocre entries in the genre nowadays, but sometimes a rare few do manage to end up being quite entertaining. "Saekano: How To Raise A Boring Girlfriend" tends to hover over being borderline decent in terms of its characters and story, but it does eke out to be something above its competition. Sure, while most of its characters do seem stereotypical, I do like one of the main heroines a whole lot, and considering most shows this year, "Saekano" is pretty damn impressive in the visuals department, I would even compare it to "Nisekoi:", which is pretty much beautiful because its by Shaft. "Saekano" looks GOOD, and overall as an experience its not bad at all. To prove my point, it got popular to the point of already getting a season 2 that's been green-lit for production for quite awhile. Now then, into the world of "Saekano"!


Feast your eyes. Feast your eyes...

The opening theme is "Kimiiro Signal" by Luna Haruna, a singer who's been getting a decent amount of fame recently. While I cannot say that I thoroughly enjoy her songs for action oriented anime, I can say that her songs fit well for animes like this one. "Kimiiro Signal" sounds soft and inspiring, while not being too slow or boring, it works well for an opening theme like this. The ending theme is "Colorful" by Miku Sawai. Its nothing too special and is just a typical slow ending theme, so nothing much to see here.



Rating: 7.5/10



I enjoyed my time with "Saekano". For a story to have a GOAL is important, because most shows in the genre tend to end up going absolutely nowhere by the end of the series, its nice that "Saekano"'s story has something going for it from start to end. Though the series is somewhat inconsistent until later in the second half, it does back it up with amazing visuals and a rather interesting main heroine. Since this anime IS about building up a boring heroine into an interesting one, our main girl: Kano Megumi, is absolutely charming as the female lead. One can argue that she ISN'T the main heroine, but come on, no other girl is as interesting or intriguing as she is thus far. She's interesting because she's probably the most normal girl that you could ever find in an anime...ever. You really want to see the other characters size her up to become a more appealing character in the eyes of the otaku...wanting to see her evolve: that's kind of exciting. Of course, let's not forget the good visual style "Saekano" has going for it. Comedy wise, it works well enough, while the show is not drop dead funny, it has some serviceable jokes and good laughs along the way.



An unfinished heroine can't just go walking around!

Aki Tomoya is an extreme otaku that's living on his own. Despite being a high school student he juggles multiple part time jobs at once to afford all the otaku merchandise he has at home. He is also extremely passionate about being an otaku, trying to spread its culture with fellow school mates in school. Instead of being rejected, despised, or hated upon by his school mates, they eventually came to accept him as who he is and open themselves up to his shenanigans. The fellow hosts anime screening events in school and stuff, he's like the anime messiah in his academy. He also owns a popular blog that has him reviewing and talking about games/anime. He is one of the most popular guys in his school. One day though, due to a certain encounter with a girl over the holidays, his inner creator awoken as he decided to create an eroge to shake the entire otaku world. For this, he needs 2 brilliant minds in school, the prodigal script writer Kasumigaoka Utaha and 18+ hentai artist Sawamura Spencer Eriri as his personal aids, the scenario writer and artist for his game. He also runs into the very girl he met during the holidays that inspired the game, an extremely normal, plain and boring girl: Kano Megumi. The 4 set out to create an eroge that Tomoya claims to be the best int he world.



"Saekano" manages to hit a lot of high points and does well as a RomCom experience that's slightly better than most of its competition in recent seasons. Its half-assed conclusion only serves to strengthen the fact that a sequel is incoming, and I'll wait for that one to fully judge the series as a whole. As it stands though, its a good enough harem experience that stands slightly above its competition.



Giant Lord
HP: 5970
Skills: Sword Slam, Sword Swipe*, Foot Stomp, Explosion
Souls: 75000


Difficulty: 2.5/5
Deaths: 5



So now that you're finally almost at the end of your journey, its time to finish up. After getting the ability to go into the memories of the fallen by the Ancient Dragon, you'll find one particular giant behind a door locked by the King's Seal back in the Forest Of Fallen Giants. Enter the lost memory of Jeigh. After running through all the giants, raining fire blasts and rolling stone heads, its time to get into one of the most un-fun boss battles in the game. Introducing: the Giant Lord, the biggest upset-er of cameras in "Dark Souls II"...EVER.



You big piece of shit.

The Giant Lord is massive. Its hulking stature and colossal size make it a foe to be feared in terms of looks alone. And trust me, you will learn to fear it, for it f**ks up your camera more than any other boss does in the game. This fella is so huge that you'll most probably lock on to his foot, and if you choose to lock on to his torso your camera flies up to get a clear view on him, which screws up vision on your character. What's more, you fight him in such a tight space that its so f**king frustrating to get a proper view of what's going on unless you ascend the steps, which isn't a good idea most of the time. This isn't a fun fight, but by no means is it hard. He only has a few attacks, memorize those and you're good.


Sword Slam - A straightforward downward slam with his sword, because of the length of his sword, this reaches quite a distance away. Does massive damage. Dodge this one.

Sword Swipe* - He swipes at the soles of his feet when you're attacking his legs. This comes out very quickly and is hard to see coming most of the time. Does massive damage. Roll out of the way the VERY moment you see him stop stomping around, as this attack is probably coming.

Foot Stomp - A simplistic foot stomp that's the same attack as the one The Last Giant had so long ago.

Explosion - He stabs his sword into the ground, causing an explosion soon after. Used rarely.



This is a relatively straightforward fight despite the insanely shitty camera. Chances are that's going to be the only threat in this fight, most of his bugger's attacks are very easy to dodge, despite doing an insane amount of damage. its highly recommended that you forgo the shield in this battle, since he doesn't take too lightly about throwing out attacks that you can actually block. He's huge as f**k making him easy as hell to hit since his ankles don't move around too much. While chopping away at his ankles, you only need to realistically watch out for 3 attacks, 1 of which he won't even use if you kill him fast enough: Explosion. When you see his sword plunge into the ground, just run up the steps to avoid the incoming explosion.



Better duck!

That actually leaves only 2 other moves, the Sword Swipe and Foot Stomp. The swipe is easily the most dangerous of his attacks, because most of the time, the camera screws with you so much that you can't even see this attack coming. Make a habit to automatically move out of the way when this bugger stops stomping for awhile, because there's a high chance that this move is coming next. Its fast and does tons of damage, its really frustrating to keep getting hit by this attack because of the terrible camera work in this godforsaken area. The other attack is his normal stomps, which should be no issue since its the same attack as the Last Giant's so long ago. Finally, when you're far away, he spots a Sword Slam, which is basically a downward slash attack that's slow and easy to dodge, you'll probably not see this one most of the time as he won't use it when you're at his ankles cutting him up.


Finally, you get 75000 souls for beating the Giant Lord, which is quite a hefty sum for a boss like him. With him out of the way we obtain the Giant's Kinship, which is needed to ascend the throne. So where else do we go next but the throne itself?

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Throne Watcher, Throne Defender
HP: 3910 (Defender)
HP: 2760 (Watcher)
Skills: Slash Combo, Thrust Combo, Magic Sword (Watcher), Thunder Sword (Defender), Resurrect*


Difficulty: 3/5
Deaths: 4



Really? After running through the long, long road to get to the actual Throne Of Want, we are greeted with THIS?! Not only is this incredibly poor design compared to many other duo boss battles in the "Souls" series, its also one of the laziest and most uninspired fights in the damned game. These buggers look pretty good, make no mistake, but they might as well be a couple of NPCs that were given boss health bars with almost no unique skill sets AT ALL. Its a completely borish fight, but its not an easy one. When you're ready, step forth to face these doubling teaming sons of bitches.



Sigh...1v1 me-*gets stabbed*


What's with this game and its unfun boss battles towards the end? These guys are the very definition of NOT having fun. Unlike other double teaming bosses in the franchise like the Maneater battle or the infamous Ornstein and Smough, the Throne Watcher and Throne Defender are complete jokes in terms of boss design. They pack the very same slash and thrust attacks that any NPC using their weapons would have, and they don't bring any unique, non-player attacks to the battle, AT ALL. Its just a matter of slugging it out with a couple of tanky NPC characters, that is NOT a fun boss battle. The worst thing? You probably can't steam roll these guys. Hell, I died more than a couple of times. Even though these guys don't pack any teamwork whatsoever, they can very easily kill you if you make any small mistake, because the instant you are attacked by one of them, the other will be on your ass, period.


Slash Combo - A standard combination of slashes. Can be blocked or dodged.

Thrust Combo - A standard combination of thrust attacks. Can be blocked or dodged.

Magic Sword (Watcher) - The Throne Watcher applies a magical buff to his weapon that lasts awhile. Used at 50% HP.

Thunder Sword (Defender) - The Throne Defender applies a thunder buff to his weapon that lasts awhile. Used at 50% HP.

Resurrect* - When one or the other enemy has fallen, its counterpart will revive its comrade to FULL HP if left alive long enough.



Despite being completely boring and uninspired, these guys don't play around. Getting cornered by both watcher and defender will quickly spell your demise if you don't know how to deal with their shenanigans. The arena is decently sized, but you can still fall off ledges to instantly lose the fight, so you'll need to move in circles here. These guys have shields, and while the Defender blocks a lot more than the Watcher does, you'll want to kill the Defender first. As seen above, these f**ks will revive one another if one is dead and the other is left alive for too long. Since the Defender has more HP, you'll want to hit him more. Of course, you'll need to whittle them down together, its preferred that they are killed within short time spans of one another's death to prevent Resurrect. Resurrect revives at FULL HP, you don't want that happening.



Keep them both in view at all times.

As for what attacks the two idiots bring, as mentioned early, they only pack regular NPC type attacks with their swords. You'll want to split them up and get a few strikes in before backing off, because if they are together, its going to be hard to go on the offensive with them backing each other up. Split them up, hit them up a few times, back off, rinse and repeat. The Defender is rather slow in his attacks while the Watcher is slightly faster, either way, their range individually is terrible, so make use of that and hit them during their recovery times. Since the Defender will be holding up his shield the majority of the time, its preferable to hit him during his attacks.


When the both of them hit 50% HP, they start to amplify their weapons with special effects. The Watcher gets a magic blade while the Defender gets a thunder blade. At this point if you played the fight defensively with blocks instead of dodges, things start to get sticky because their attacks start to chip for quite a little bit. The buffs do eventually run out but they'll quickly re-apply them, so don't count on it. At this point its a good idea to go all out and try to burst them down. Remember to kill them both at once, or the Resurrect bullshit will screw you over.


When you do take these losers down, the game is almost over, next time, we cover the last boss, which is one of the better final bosses in the series thus far (Old King Allant and Gwyn were terrible final bosses IMO). These guys give you 68000 souls for your effort.







Opening Songs
OP 1 - Kindness To Others (Rolling Girls)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Moon Bomber (Rolling Girls)

Genre: Action, Comedy, Slice Of Life

Episodes: 12


I like shows that are different, and such is the case with "Rolling Girls". Sure, it isn't the craziest, wackiest and most insane thing that you've seen...but at least it doesn't lump itself with many of the generic anime troupes that are present nowadays. I guess it kinds of falls between the lines of "Cute girls doing cute things", but from there, it does everything that its supposed to do quite well. For an anime that's primarily about action, adventure and slice of life, it does pretty well. At times, its confusing, and the show is HIGHLY inconsistent, most of its arcs are completely different from each other, its hard to say that you'll like all of them (because I didn't). Still, I think its an alright show. Its unique visual style and highly abstract special effects make it quite an eye opener at times....at least visually, I'd say "Rolling Girls" does impress. Its certainly not something that'll suddenly make you want to enjoy the genre of "Cute girls doing cute things", but its not completely bad as well. Its not easy to recommend this one, but hear me out.



Introducing our no-so-special heroines.

Both opening and ending themes are sang by Rolling Girls, presumably the group with all 4 seiyuus of the main heroines in it. The opening theme is "Kindness To Others" and the ending theme is "Moon Bomber". "Kindness To Others" as an opening theme reminds me a little bit of the slightly more powerful "K-on!" songs, which isn't bad, but I've out grown most cute songs, so this one doesn't quite satisfy me. The ending theme is "Moon Bomber", which is weaker than the opening theme, but as an ending theme, at least it isn't awfully slow or dull to the ears.



Rating: 7.0/10




As much as I'd like to love this show, its a little bit tough to do so. While there are some really good arcs here and there, its also littered with some uninteresting or uninspiring ones. The show is chuck filled with characters that will come and go, leaving little to no room character development or viewer attachment, that by itself hurts the show quite a little bit. While you'll feel for some of them, you won't feel the same for others. The 4 main heroines do have a certain level of charm towards them, and towards the end you'll come to like them as a group...hopefully. The action sequences are highly colorful and this is where the show's abstract style kicks into full gear. Its a sight to behold, and while these segments aren't aplenty, they are easily some of the show's stronger points. The sense of adventure is also there, its fun to watch the girls ride around in the long, empty roads on their bikes, as they chat and listen to old rock songs. Comedy isn't the show's strongest point however, as there aren't many funny moments, even then, the comedy isn't consistent and may not appeal to everyone. Above everything, the show can be quite confusing and can even make no sense at times. PLUS, the ending, while it does close everything up, its not all that satisfying.



The best way to talk it out when things aren't working is with your fists!

In a post war-driven Japan where things aren't going so well, there exist heroes and mobs, which follow their respective heroes. Chances are, each important area in Japan is ruled by a single hero and their respective mobs. Mobs mostly consist of regular people while the heroes are...self explanatory. They are godlike human beings with super-human abilities that far exceed that of any human. A battle between 2 heroes can result in massive destruction of terrain and property, so its usually either up to negotiation of settled by the mobs. Nozomi is a regular girl who's inspiring to be a mob to help Macha Green, the leader around her area. However, little did she know that Macha Green is the elder sister figure that she had respected for her entire life, Masami. After battling it out with another local hero figure, Shigyou, her identity is revealed to Nozomi. Both Shigyou and Masami are hospitalized, with Masami's job requests put on hold. Trying to be of assistance, Nozomi decides to leave to the neighboring cities of Japan to clear these jobs under the name of Macha Green. Along the way she meets 3 unsuspecting allies, and off they go into the wilderness!


"Rolling Girls" is obviously not a show for everyone. While its a decent show, its not something that I can easily recommend, not at all. Still, its strong on its own, and has redeeming qualities for every downfall that it presents itself with. You can probably give this one a pass, but picking it up won't really hurt you in any way, as there are fun times to be had here.


Peace.

Monday 30 November 2015

Bloodborne

Gamespot Score: 9.0 (Editor's Choice)

My Score: 9.0


(+) Pros: - New setting is interesting and well executed, - New environment types are great to look at,- Reworked game play is superb, making the game faster and more aggressive is a great idea, - New weapons are unique and fun to play, - Plenty of build paths and high replay value, - Great enemy types and boss fights all around.

(-) Cons: - Long load times and crappy chalice dungeons.


Gameplay time: 100 hours +







"Bloodborne". Seriously, what is there to say about this game? I got a PS4 not too long ago and its mostly to play this game along with "MGSV". "Bloodborne" is just a godlike experience, that goes without saying. All of the games in the "Souls" series have been absolutely godlike in terms of gameplay and immersion, being the spiritual successor to those games, "Bloodborne" achieves those same heights of greatness with flying colors. In some aspects, "Bloodborne" even far exceeds those of the "Souls" game, especially in terms of immersion and the combat. Unfortunately, I'll have to say that compared to the other games in the franchise (I consider "Bloodborne" to be in the same franchise as "Souls", they are SO similar, after all), "Bloodborne" is easily the "shortest" and has the least amount of content. Otherwise, quality over quantity, "Bloodborne" has become one of my few guilty pleasures ever since I started playing, and I've finished the game 4 times since then. Its an amazing experience for fans of the franchise, and even if you're not, this has NOTHING to do with the previous games AND has new mechanics...it's a good place to start.


Yharnam is a city of death and bloodshed. Hunters are consumed by the scent of blood, and transform into blood hungry beasts that are void of any sense of morality. Beasts are then in turn, hunted by other hunters, this vicious cycle repeats itself in Yharnam. Your character, a foreign hunter, finds themselves in Yharnam for an unknown reason, and has the blood administration ritual performed on them. When all is said and done, they are blessed with the old blood, and with it, they are now as good as any other Yharnam citizen. However, since you arrive on the night of the hunt...everything has already gone to shit. Beasts roam the street, crazed villagers roam around trying to kill anything that isn't siding with them: which includes you.




The hunt...is on.

First things first, as the "newest addition" to the franchise, "Bloodborne" takes a much darker tone and a more unique setting when in compared to previous games. Sure, its supposed to be a whole different thing on its own when compared to the "Souls" games, but damn, this is WAY too different, so much to the point of awesomeness. As much as I love the medieval setting of "Souls", "Bloodborne"'s gothic setting looks and FEELS amazing. Immersion is greater than its ever been, and I find myself pretty much ABSORBED into the game. The feel and thrill of the hunt just got to me, and at every turn of almost every area, monsters of various grotesque appearances wait to jump you. In a way, it feels a little bit more like an action/horror game this time around because of how horrifying the game feels.


Yharnam is a doomed nation, instead of knights in armor and spell casting mages we are treated to bloodthirsty hunters with their very own muskets and cleavers. The transition is quite magnificent, and you'll adapt to the game soon enough. And speaking of which, because "Bloodborne" took on a whole new setting, the environments are a lot more different than in previous games. Sure, there's the shitty forest and swamp level (even that was done well), but the city of Yharnam is home to a lot more varied looking places than Drangleic or Anor Londo. The world is a lot darker, streets are filled with lighted up dwellings of bystanders, and beasts roam the streets. There are a lot of urban areas in "Bloodborne", the architecture of the streets, churches and multiple districts make the for some interesting encounters in mostly congested areas. Then there are areas like the nightmare realm and woods that seem a lot more fantasy themed, but are also fun to play through.



Confused villagers love to stare at fire.

With a brand new theme and game comes a brand new reworked combat system. While most of the core controls and feel of the game are similar to that of the other "Souls" games, "Bloodborne" is a lot more aggressive compared to its predecessors. The shields of old have been mostly removed, and with a secondary weapon on your left hand instead of a shield, the game is instantly a lot more action based. Defensive play is actually punished in "Bloodborne", and because of this, highly aggressive play is rewarded. You can both kill your enemies faster and even regain lost health if you just go completely ham on your enemy. To compensate for the lack of any defensive play, "Bloodborne" gives you a health regeneration system in combat; whenever you're hit by enemies, you can quickly hit them back after taking damage to restore some, if not all of that lost health. This means that instead of sitting back to bait out enemy attacks or attempt to dodge them, you dodge TOWARDS them most of the time and keep hitting them.


The new "fast" combat is excellent. While I feel that the overly aggressive game play makes the game a little bit too easy at times, its a lot more fun, its a lot more interactive, and its a lot more engaging. More than ever, you'll need to pick your fights properly, with defensive options nerfed you're going to have to try your best NOT to get grouped up against, and when you do, you need to be able to burst them down quickly, or you'll suffer. And since you can pretty much heal off your attacks like lifesteal, they've limited your healing resources. In this game, blood vials, your new "Estus Flasks", are not replenished upon death, no, like the grass in "Demons' Souls", they must be looted and hunted from by enemies. While that means you'll have to grind for these things from time to time as you'll be using these things quite a lot, its the game's way of telling you to BE MORE AGGRESSIVE. When you get hit, don't back off to heal, CHARGE IN, hit the bugger who hit you, get your health back. This makes encounters more intense and exciting.



The hunter's dream is where you'll be adding stats and
smoking the blood echos of your fallen foes.

With the game actually encouraging you to go ham more than ever, they've got to give you the right tools for the job. Enter the world of "Bloodborne"'s arsenal...the trick weapons. These are EPIC instruments of death that far outshine almost every other weapon to be created in other "Souls" games. These weapons, while little (compared to other games in the franchise, this game's weapon count is far inferior), pack variety and uniqueness in their move list. Every trick weapon has an alternate stage or form that can be swapped on the fly during battle. Be it the Saw Cleaver unfolding its blade for longer reach, the Thread Cane unleashing it flay of blades, or using the sword in Kirk's Hammer as a handle for lifting the massive hammer behind your back...you've now got 2 ways to fight for each weapon you have equipped. And since you can hold 2 of these...you pretty much bring 4 ways to fight all the time.


It's take me hours to sing praises and write about all the interesting trick weapons in the game, so we'll move on to your secondary arsenal. Primarily, your guns. Since there aren't any shields left in the game anymore other than the crappy Plank Shield, your left hand's gotta be occupied, and that's were your firearms come in. While there is a stat completely dedicated to firearm damage, these bad boys usually aren't used as your main form of damage, that's for the trick weapons. Firearms are more of a means to parry and stun your opponents as you go in for the kill. Guns are limited by Quicksilver Bullets, and even though they run on bullets, their damage isn't on the high end most of the time. Guns are a way to open up opportunities for your character to either go in for the kill or regain their footing from a bad engagement. These are MEANT to be saved and not spammed, since they also, do not replenish upon death, like the blood vials. Of course, not ever gun has to be used to utility, there are firearms meant for damage. This only opens up for more build paths.



Paarl you motherf**ker, calm the f**k down with those
lightning bolts!

Speaking of build paths, as with all the previous games in the franchise, you have options here in "Bloodborne". I've played the game 4 times, with a total of 3 character builds. but there can easily be more. While they completely streamlined the game and took out the different kinds of addable stat types, there's still fun to be had experimenting with the various build options. Strength, Skill, Arcane and Bloodtinge are the 4 main offensive stats, but by no means does that mean that the game only has 4 ways to be played. There's a lot of fun to be had experimenting the various kinds of shenanigans and the different weapons combinations only serve for us to have more fun f**king around. While there aren't as many ways to play the game like in "Dark Souls" or "Dark Souls 2", the replay value here is still strong enough to warrant a compliment.


The game wouldn't be "Souls" if not for the enemies and bosses you face (technically, it isn't a "Souls" game, but still). I'd say that there are a lesser variety of enemies in "Bloodborne" than in the "Souls" games, but the game makes up for it with their strange behavior and algorithms. While most enemies before are straightforward, some enemies in this game are tough to take down and behave in strange ways. Crawling corpse enemies lay in wait for you to pass before striking, the masked cleric enemies bombard you with a variety of attacks, the brain suckers tend to run from you, then binding you with magic before they close in for the kill. Mosquito men assault you to build up your frenzy meter, nasty bell ringing ladies make her allies respawn over and over. There are some TRULY BIZARRE enemies in this game, and its because of its setting. I love it though, while the game doesn't let up in terms of difficulty in its monsters and levels, its still a great experience.



Watch out for the 3 fat naked men that attack you without mercy.

Boss design in "Bloodborne" is severely improved and are a massive jump in quality compared to some of the bosses in "Dark Souls 2". You face beasts and foes that come in a variety of shape and size. As usual, they are hard, but admittedly, there aren't any EXTREMELY difficult bosses in "Bloodborne". Before, every "Souls" game had a boss that's the very definition of soul crushing regret and never ending sorrow...I find that "Bloodborne" lacks such a boss. While there are some great fights, none of them had me die like more than 10 times a row to win, where as in previous games, there are bosses where I died upwards of 20-30 times or more just to even come close to winning. That's cool though, I'd rather they focus on the quality of the boss rather than just making it cheap, the bosses in this game, other than 1 battle, are mostly fair and fun to play against, especially the final battle. Its a DAMNED good battle, probably the best final battle in the franchise thus far, NOT counting the follow-up boss battle if you intend to go for the true ending...that one wasn't as epic.



Eileen is badass indeed.

The game does suffer from exceedingly long and frequent load times, I won't defend the game for that. I mean, holy shit, every time you go to the Hunter's Dream or enter a whole new area, loading screen. You get one when you die too. I used to be fine with this, but load times in "Bloodborne" are pretty long, so you'll be stuck reading item descriptions, I hope you have fun with that! Chalice dungeons are also an awkward new addition. Sure, they add to your play time with the randomly generated dungeons and almost rogue-like play style. But these chalice dungeons, no matter how many times they are randomly generated, while they have different layouts, they look devastatingly bland, and have plenty of glitches. These don't hold a candle to the main game, and are pretty boring. The boss battles in the chalice dungeons are even just supersized versions of normal enemies with health bars. Yeah, that's not impressive.


I can take about this game for hours but let's just end it here. "Bloodborne" is a fantastic addition to the franchise, not counting the DLC that just released recently. Even as somewhat of a side project, I think Miyazaki definitely went for broke here. This is another amazing game in the franchise that stands equally to the other games alongside it. Fans of the franchise will definitely not be disappointed, and trust me, when you get a taste of this new aggressive playstyle, you can't ever go back again.







Happy Gaming!