Crow the BOOLET

So in my typical CROW fashion I am playing several games once again and never going to finish at any rate Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Ok I absolutely love the Castlevania and I wanted to play a simple game so I picked up Bloodstained. As everyone knows by now its a Metroidvania that's Iga's love letter to the very thing he got kicked from making. I'm actually pretty on board with this game; Its just that I suck at the genre. I love the themes and atmosphere from the game as well as being a fun platformer with a ton of RPG elements. You know I was really surprised by the customization by this game because I equipped a stone mask for the stats and it actually appeared on Miriam's model and I burst out laughing because of how goofy it looks. Thankfully there's better customization options later on to the point where I made Miriam look like an Aikatsu character. Anyways the combat is simple effective and there's a lot of exploration to be had. Its just that I'm a complete idiot at navigating through the whole thing. There was this part in the library that was showing you can move bookcases with Miriam's hand and I didn't pick on the fact this would be in fact a mechanic used in the level so I ended up passing up on the level for a while before finding that out and learning that's where you get the double jump ability. But yeah still me problems aside its been a fun game so far and I really wish I didn't had to use a guide for it because I like learning new locales by myself but its life. Sonic Team Racing Who would had thought I'd be playing this game? I do plan on doing a review on this game at some point but I'll just generalize my thoughts here. Sonic Team Racing is pretty interesting as it tries to be different from the crowd with the team mechanics and it works? In Adventure mode they make sure everyone has a balanced team so you can pick whoever and your teammates will follow. Your team will always support you in some way like for example whoever is in your team is ahead of the back will leave a slipstream and riding it will give you a gradual boost called a Slingshot boost and if your teammate spins out you can recover them somewhat with a boost by driving nearby them but this sometimes doesn't work for me because when it happens to me I usually don't have control and fly off a cliff. I also like how they did try to make every character class unique too so they kind of play a role in the team like the Speed characters being able to deflect projectiles at the start of a boost for example. I was surprised how well thought out it was. However I found the game too chaotic for my liking as the CPU likes to crowd together and the race can change in an instant. I also for the longest time didn't know what any of the items did so most of the time I didn't know what was going on. But I noticed there was a distinct lack of defense here too since the only way I can tell for blocking is by using the Cube Wisp and the most dangerous thing is the Team Ultimate that works like a Star that everyone can use with the power of teamwork or something. The story is alright, the character roster feels kind of small, and the only unlockables is skins and cart upgrades. And there are some level gimmicks I don't like in Adventure mode like the Daredevil Challenges but eh its not a bad game, just an alright one. I think I'm rambling now so moving on. Crystar This was a genuine surprise for me. Crystar is a very depressing action JRPG similar to Drakengard and NieR where you play as a girl who accidentally kills her sister in the afterlife and now has to journey through it while gaining the souls of people to bring her back to life through the power of tears. The game itself is pretty simple enough as is; You hack and slash through enemies while getting bigger stats. It has quick attacks and heavy attacks like one but it lacks any defensive options other than a quick dash meaning you have to learn how to avoid damage from enemies to succeed. There's also special attacks that be done at anytime and can fit the situation when needed like a spin attack or a more damaging hurricane move. Its your typical dungeon crawler but I really like how it plays. There's also a super mode where after attacking or being attacked fills up a tear meter which activating when its full lets you summon your STAND to give you more damage and a super move. I think the real heart of the game is the story though. There's a ton of world building in this game, from enemy backstory to how things work in Purgatory. The story really does focus a lot on the character's issues as well and it wears its Drakengard inspirations on its sleeves because the characters know they're doing something wrong but go with it anyways because they're forced to do it due to being contracted by a pair of demon twins. I do find the characters relatable somewhat though because they're all going through some tough times. And goddamn I am in love with this game's visually and character design so much. I can't really describe what I really like about it but its moody yet mature about it? I don't know but I really love it. I do have a few gripes however. I really don't like playing as Kokoro. She's fine as a character but she doesn't play too well. She's the hard hitting brawler of the group who focuses on single targets which isn't a problem, in fact I would be 100% on board with. Its just that her combo strings suck ass compared to everyone else. She only has 3 hit combos that just feel so clunky. If she does the full 3 hits she can't even combo into her strong moves. Rei is just so much better to play as due to having longer combo strings that can combo into her stronger moves while having a special moves that have utility like a spin attack to deal with crowds and a projectile. Kokoro just feels incomplete as a playable character and maybe that will change over time but she doesn't feel fun to play as. I also don't find the music to be memorable either. I remember the bedroom base music the most because I end up being in there most of the time. It doesn't help that this is the kind of game I'd play a podcast to. But overall I really love this game so far. It has a lot of things I love in a video game; Moody atmosphere, interesting story, and fast gameplay. I feel like this is the kind of game I need right now despite it being depressing because of how simple the gameplay is while having great characters. I did buy a lot of games this week but I haven't really touched them yet because of Crystar but I'll get to them eventually. lol

I think most of you know about this but I'll mention it any way. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you THE most confusing box art in the history of video games ever! This is Phalanx. This is specifically the North American box art of the game. So what's this game about? Its about banjo man? What's with the spaceship? Is this a fever dream? This is the Banjo & Kazooie prequel we were missing? Well... Its just another shoot em up like Gradius at the time. The reasoning for the strange box art is that there was nothing that made the game stand out in a sea of space shoot em ups so they had to give it an interesting cover. Its a shame because I would wonder how the game would be like if banjo man was in it but atlas this isn't this timeline. Heck AVGN did an episode about it. That's how bad it is. Again I'm sure all of you know of it but yeah the 90s were the wild west for video games.

Happy Pokemon Day everyone! We got a reveal of the mysterious Pokemon shown earlier in the month. Its a new mythical called Zarude, a Dark/Grass typed Pokemon with the ability Leaf Guard. That's all we know about it at the moment.