The Ancient Magus' Bride: First Impressions

The Ancient Magus’ Bride begins slowly, introducing us to characters without explaining them, however this is done well. We see their personalities and develop empathy for them fairly quickly. Its a good example of showing rather than telling with a lot of exposition. The background music and well done art gave me a warm feeling, which was good, because the show got dark quick.

Chise, the titular character is a mage in training. She lives together with her teacher, a familiar named Ruth, and a housekeeper.  By mid-episode a flashback begins and we are shown Chise’s past. I will not spoil the details but no one seems to be able to make sense the little girl because she sees spirits everywhere. Eventually however she wonders into a magic library which is where the episode ends. 

Overall the show seems very solid. The art is pleasing; in a style that reminds me of older anime. The plot too seems well thought out, and the world developed. The show is a bit slow paced but that is only a problem if you have a short attention span, everything else seems good.

I definitely think The Ancient Magus’ Bride is worth a watch. It’s pleasing to the imagination, and seems to be written with genuine passion for the craft. 

-Gedaemon 

Harvest Moon: A Tale of Two Games

I’ve played several Harvest Moon games. One of them always blows me away. After finishing that game I often turn to a later title which is always a disappointment 

Harvest Moon 64 is a classic and probably one of the most memorable games of the series. This old cartridge for the N64 is full of secrets, simple charm, interesting characters, and replay value. You are drawn into the rural simplicity of Flower Bud Village, the rustic charm of the farm and Vineyard, and the magic of Moon Mountain. All around there are opportunities to make friends, make money, find hidden events, and even start a family. You can also get drunk at the tavern. You can get drunk in a game for Nintendo. Let that sink in. all the while you grow attached to the game world in a profound way. 

I bought Harvest Moon decades ago, when I was still in middle school.  I’ve never sold it and its one of the few N64 games I still own. I’ve played it within the last year and it was a pleasure. There are still things in the game I haven’t seen after nearly two decades. The writing might not be as deep as I remembered as a kid but it still has compelling and moving moments. 

Harvest Moon DS looks very similar to the N64 title. The graphics are simpler but it has more content, more characters, more ways to make money, and more story elements.  But compared to the masterful balance of game play and storytelling found in Harvest Moon 64, the DS title is a confused mess, complete with a contrived and unnecessary plot. You will spend most of your time trying to make money and gather raw materials. The family building feature is locked until you rescue a bunch of harvest sprites by completing meaningless, repetitive tasks.  This will take you years in game and hours upon hours in real time. As the days blur together you will lose any sense of wonder or fun you might have felt when the game began. Indeed, almost everything about the game is tedious. 

Beyond the terrible game design there are more fundamental problems with Harvest Moon DS. Several versions of the game are horribly bugged. Many Harvest Moon games are famous for their glitches but DS is particularly bad. Game files can become corrupted, and its impossible to obtain many of the “special” wives such as the Harvest Goddess and the Witch Princess in many versions. Though, even if you have one of the less bugged versions good luck jumping through the endless hoops needed to get one of the special wives. 

It’s amazing how Harvest Moon DS manages to suck the fun out of what should be a great game. The developers lost sight of what made previous Harvest Moon titles so great. You didn't have to perform a lot of endless tasks to enjoy Harvest Moon 64. Those long term tasks that did exist were fewer and took less time and effort. It’s nice to have a few high bars to top off an otherwise great game, but making a wall of tasks to block off so many enjoyable features is bad game design. Game play should draw the player in. It shouldn’t be tedious, it should be fun. 

In a way Harvest Moon DS does have a slight charm, but I always got bored and frustrated before I accomplished anything story wise. That was after playing for years in game. But the underlying charm is why Harvest Moon has endured as a franchise. But these two games should serve as a guide to the difference between a game with depth and a game that is overdeveloped.
 

-Gedaemon

Harvest Moon DS & Quest Mechanics 

Thoughts on Dragon Ball Super 72

As always the animation in Super was sub-par. As the plot: Goku does something outrageous, Vegeta acts like a Beta for comic relief, and we got our fight with Hit which was at best a 6/10. Well, for filler it was alright--but damn it--considering all the money their probably making off Dragon Ball can’t they at least get some better animation!?  I mean come on!  

I  love the way Goku casually lies to his wife. It’s like the most fucked up functional marriage in history. Goku does whatever he wants and Chichi yells but is soon distracted by money, or children or something. Also they have sex without kissing, apparently. Chichi doesn’t ask for much does she?

We’re promised a Gohan filler episode next week. I won’t get my hopes up but I hope the Great Saiyaman is amusing. Gohan is my old favorite character and it would be great to see a little of him fighting every now and then, even just a sparring match with Piccolo.

-Gedaemon

Rogue One: The Good Star Wars Movie that isnt a Star Wars Movie

Rogue One is not a star wars movie. It’s a movie set in the star wars universe.  It does not follow the formulas used in episodes I through VI. This is important because judging it as a Star Wars movie might leave you disappointed. It does not have the iconic power the good Star Wars movies have. If you judge it on its merits however it is a great movie. It’s creative, it’s fun, and it doesn’t rely on nostalgia nearly as much as The Force Awakens.  It wasn’t prefect, but it is a film that has earned its place in a storied franchise.

Rogue One is the tale of Jyn Olyo: the daughter of an imperial scientist. Along with a team of rebels she seeks to obtain the blueprints of the Empires new super weapon: The Death Star. Opposing them is Director Orson Krennic: a high ranking imperial officer leading the development of the battle station. The movie paints a dark picture of the Star Wars universe under imperial rule: rebel groups are willing to use any means necessary, including torture and murder to overthrow an empire with no regard for individual rights or life. Great villains like Vader are largely kept in the background, as are great heroes like Mon Motha and Leia. This movie focuses on the people doing the dirty work on both sides. The characters are often put in morally dubious positions for the sake of their cause. This isn’t your parents Star Wars. There is an actual grey area and the films better for it. 

Rogue One took risks, something that the Force Awakens decided not to do. I’ve written about risks before, but this time most of the risks worked out. Especially at the beginning, Rogue One doesn’t feel like a Star Wars movie. But I soon got over that as I was drawn in by great Characters and excellent world building. There were a few fan service-like references to the old movies, but compared to The Force Awakens it didn’t feel like it was constantly trying to tap into forty year old magic. Rogue One can almost stand on its own: something that cannot be said of any Star Wars film since the original trilogy.

Where the movie is weak is some of its dialogue. Overall the dialogue is good but not great. But when they get to the speeches it feels like they were reaching for the cliché.  The dialogue is not bad but it’s not as good as it could be. For us nerds there are also some inconsistencies. Why are R2D2 still on Yavin IV when they should already be on the Tantive IV? Little things like this should have been caught by some anal fan boy and dealt with pre-release. Lack of internal consistency is always disappointing. Some may also find the CGI inserts of characters from the original series like Tarkin Jarring. Last there are a few ass-pulls. Like in most action movies the characters sometimes do things that are pretty much physically impossible. Jedi could get away with that because the force, but that doesn’t fly here. There were at least two times where I was saying “bullshit” at impossible feats.

Flaws aside, Rogue One is a great film. It’s one worth seeing and a worthy addition to the franchise. Various naysayers on the internet should not be listened to. It’s not iconic like the first trilogy, but it’s new and fresh. It doesn’t try to be Star Wars, and that’s why it works so well. I can only hope Disney keeps up this level of work.

8 out of 10.

-Gedaemon

Dragon ball Xenoverse 2 Review: Nostalgia goes so far

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 : Steam Version

The first Xenoverse was a delightful nostalgia trip, and little more. It had a lot of problems: Lame  buffs and super high HP made up for poor enemy A.I. The story mode could not be properly replayed without going into the games files and deleting shit, and despite online play options, there was not much a community. Xenoverse 2 takes off where Xenoverse left off, you can even upload your gameplay file from Xenoverse one. They’ve also improved on most aspects of the game; unfortunately the game suffers from several flaws.

Gameplay as improved a good deal since the first game. Like Xenoverse 1 the gameplay is a mix of RPG-style leveling and fighting game mechanics. The buffs which make bosses hard have been improved. They’ve been given better endurance rather than the no knock back buff featured in the original. The effect is similar but it’s much less annoying. Leveling also feels like less of a grind. Only the last few levels were annoying to get. Instead there are extra quests to keep you playing. Also improved is the “mentor” system which allows you to train with characters from the series and learn new moves. In the original game you had to wait for the character you wanted to spawn on the map and stick with him for a long time to get all his moves. Now they just spawn somewhere on the map and the tutorials become available as you pass various tests in game. You can redo the main quest as a new character and the many races and stat builds let you try a lot of different strategies. I made both a ki blaster build and a melee build, both were substantially different experiences.

Online play was where the game fell flat. The developer clearly tried to improve online play with more and better quests, but several fundamental problems were left unaddressed. The game gives you preset chat options and voice chat only in combat. There are only a few people doing multiplayer quests at any time and good luck trying to make friends or have a conversation. This is a major let down because it would have let you connect with other players and fans of the Dragon Ball series. It would have added a ton of replay value to the game, making you play far past the point where you’ve unlocked everything and leveled up your character. Now it’s like you’re playing by yourself with lots of other people doing the same. Even on multiplayer it feels like you’re playing by yourself. I never once had a conversation or traded jibes. It was boring.

The story mode is not bad. In terms of writing it is probably better than the first game, but it lacks impact. I already fought Radiz, Freeza and the other bad guys in the last game. The nostalgia has worn off. This nostalgia thing is something the writers could not really account for, but it makes a real impact on the player’s enjoyment.

So in the end nostalgia only goes so far. It was a fun game, but there are enough mistakes that I don’t really want to keep playing. I will probably come back for the added content eventually, but the addiction did not last long for this one. There was a lot of hidden potential in this one that was never tapped.

6.3 out of 10 .

-Gedaemon