Crow the BOOLET

I've been watching this stuff go down last night and boy what a mess. I honestly never expected something like this to go down. Firstly I didn't expect Holly of all people to sleep with a married man, assuming if she wasn't still married to Ross at the time. I had this image of her being wholesome and needless to say that got shattered pretty quickly. Secondly I'm surprised that PBG would come in and defend Jared during this despite a lot of shit being dug about the guy. Like Holly I always thought of him as someone wholesome and I'd like to think he's not really in the know as he claims to be (which is different can of worms) but again this is just odd for him. I don't want to lose respect for someone I really liked on Youtube but if it happens, it happens. Kind of wish he didn't got himself involved when he should had known better. As for the main instigator of this, Jared? Well I thought he was "eh ok" and despite him being one of the older gaming Youtubers I wasn't too into him because he was too monotone and really didn't talked about stuff I was too interested in. But wow I never thought he would go off and do all these things he's reportedly done. I dunno if its just me but the way he worded his announcement of his divorce was condescending since it implied that he saw Heidi as a crazy woman with mental sickness. I wasn't really a fan of him so I'm not too shaken that he turned out to be a douche in the end. I just don't know what else to say. I'm losing respect for people and to be frank flat out disgusted by the whole ordeal as anyone would be. Man its weird knowing that a lot of popular Youtubers are getting into hot water lately. Normal Boots might end up becoming what happened with Channel Awesome at this rate. If it happens, oh well. All I can ask for right now is those who are deeply affected by this asshat to recover from this mess. I know Heidi didn't deserve any of this shit so my best wishes goes to her.

Buh? I never thought I'd get quoted for something I'd said in 2010 in 2019 but its clear I'm a way different person. Its nice to see how much I did change from then though. I will say I would mention a lot of changes that 4Kids did during the localization which includes translation errors and censorship but that's pretty easy to pick up if you're really good at checking the smallest details. I will say there are a lot of translation issues early on like for example Eggman's base being named "Chaos Control" for example. And if something feels sped up or cut awkwardly then they censored it, namely for violence like Shadow hitting Chris during the latter's big speech. I'm only really mentioning it for the topic's sake really. I've just gotten really good at picking up localization errors over the years. I won't try to nitpick on things because that takes too much time and not every change is bad but its interesting when you have an eye for it.

So I decided to on a whim buy a Wii U just for a game I missed from last gen. That game? Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. You know? The Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem crossover game no one played? I did initially hated at the time because I didn't get why it had to be a idol RPG game with the Fire Emblem characters as Personas. Now thanks to Love Live and a ton of idol anime later my idol tolerance grew that I'm a fan of this kind of thing so I decided to give this game a chance because of that. So what do I think about it now? Well its not bad but I really like it. I should probably address the elephant in the room first thing. I actually like what they did and make an original game instead of it being just "x meets y" kind of plot you see all the time. It gives the game more room to be creative than just being another crossover game. I know people won't agree with me on this but honestly I think it works so well, especially since the setting from these two games are vastly different time periods that they wouldn't meet at all. I dunno I just think this works out for the best of both worlds. And I actually don't mind the idol stuff as I mentioned since I'm not a fan of the stuff but its not completely about idols since some of the characters want to get into show business in some kind of capacity but the idol stuff is more or less the focus. As for the game itself? I will say this; I absolutely in love with this game's visual style. It just looks so pretty and stylish, especially in the battle system where everyone looks cool and there's small details related to the themes of the game like spotlights when you target something, attack names look like songs, and whenever a character does a magic attack they will make their signature (something I didn't notice until Kiria joined my team because she writes in English) during the casting. They went all out with the theme and it just looks so good. The game itself has a few unique mechanics too. Those coming from the Persona series might be confused a bit since hitting a weakness here doesn't grant an extra turn but instead if your party has specific skills they can jump in and make a big attack chain. You do have to be careful with these as sometimes an enemy might have a null element of one of your party members if you're not prepared. Another unique thing is that while there's no social links but side stories you'll unlock as you progress and which in turn can give you the ability to "ad lib" attacks that happen at random but when they do it hurts. Its interesting to me even its something not to be relied on but welcomed against the bosses. As for everything else I like the characters for the most part. They're all fun and have some depth to them. I do really like Tsubasa for being the clumsy one even if the character type has been done to death. She's just an awkward mess who at least tries to keep up with everyone. I will say I do like Itsuki too despite being a supporting protagonist since I like his design and how he's supportive of everyone despite his life being directionless at the moment. I do really like the music too and they really went out on their way to get a lot of big name talent for this game. So for some criticism here and there. Firstly while I do like the plot it can be predictable but again it doesn't mean it can't be fun. The game itself can get a bit repetitive too which might just be a general complaint but I can see someone getting bored from it if its not their thing since there can be a ton of grinding involved. And if you're a veteran of JRPGs you might find this game overall easy except for the bosses which can be pretty hard so I honestly recommend trying out the hard difficulty. And I honestly recommend having at least some understanding some Japanese too since not everything is translated. The battle lines aren't translated at all but from what I understand you can hear the character development from them. For example Tsubasa early on in the game comments how scary the situation is only for Shiida/Caeda to calm her down and later on she gains enough confidence in herself that she starts posing cutely. Its small details but it kind of makes a big difference in the game's context. Overall I really love this game so far. Its been a fun experience and it manages to at least stand out without much of the typical crossover billing. Maybe it did hurt it a bit during release but it happens. I just enjoying this game as much as I am and I would recommend it to anyone who's a fan of both series or of JRPGs in general.

So I've been playing multiple games lately. Not all at once mind you but I'm trying to at least clean up the backlog a bit. Yakuza Kiwami 2 So this game has been a blast so far. There's a lot that I really love about this game. I like how big Kamurocho and Sotenbori feels in this game, it might be because Kiryu walks by default but it adds to the atmosphere. That said they changed things up where there's very little loading screens between places that everything feels connect and I love the fact you can drag fights into stores now since the game is more open than previously. I do like how there's more to do and it feels unique to this game like the golf minigame or the fact you can play Virtua Fighter 2. The fact they brought back the Cabernet Club minigame from 0 with some simple fixes to it really makes me glad its back. And finally the story has been pretty good. I do wonder where it could go from here because its an interesting crime drama. It is taking some cues from 1 but it feels like its doing it better than that game. Metroid Prime I wanted to revisit this game after like a decade or so to see if it holds up and to get the point where I can tackle Prime 2. I am having fun with it and it has a lot of neat effects that I don't see too often in modern gaming that I wish they'd take notes from. I do love how it tells its story with minimal words as possible but there's a lot of world building through scan logs (which I tend to do a lot). However my disk is having issues running because its an old game so I'm thinking I might have to replace it or something. I don't wanna go to 2 just yet since I really like Prime 1 and I want to experience it again. Star Fox Adventures Now this is a random one, mostly because I found it by complete chance when looking for Metroid Prime. I decided "hey I haven't played this game in a long time so let's give it a shot!" I kind of don't know what to think of this game right now. It looks fine for the most part but its gameplay is a bit weird. It does feel like a lesser Zelda clone for various reasons but the thing I really don't like is the lack of camera control where you only have a button to move the camera behind Fox since the C Stick is used for the inventory of all things. I am trying to be fair to it at least but I think it has its own issues not related to the series' history to say the least.

So ever since I've gotten my SNES Classic I've been playing quite a lot of Earthbound, the first time in years actually. The last time I've played it was when I was in love but I digress. But now that I'm older now somehow I feel like I appreciate this game a lot more now and I've been looking at it critically at least. Firstly besides my nostalgia for it this game feels so wonderful to play again. I do like how colorful and cheery it is. However there is one thing that I realized about it, namely its an more urban fantasy over the medieval settings in usual RPGs like in Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana, and Fire Emblem and that makes it pretty unique. Even then no other RPGs, including ones with a similar setting don't have the same child like glee it does. Instead of swords, guns, and the like you're armed with baseball bats, slingshots, frying pans... Needless to say Earthbound plays around with the typical RPG tropes. Heck it even leans a lot on the 4th wall and its actually pretty endearing that this is a game with a kid's perspective. However I did notice there's a lot of dark elements here and there which is somewhat jarring like someone brandishing knives on a kid, an evil cult is around, and there's domestic abuse. I'm not taking points away for that, its something interesting to point out. The cheerful world that our carefree protagonist isn't so bright in a way but our hero still goes on trying to save the day regardless. Its a typical coming to age story and I do like it. But with that said I think this game might be ahead of its time in some aspects. There's no random encounters since you can see the enemies on the map. I will note that Earthbound also has the ability where if you're too strong you'll automatically end the battle when you encounter an enemy. This is something I rarely ever see and its a very unique mechanic RPGs should honestly take note of, if to make grinding less tedious as well as not wasting time getting from place to place. Another unique mechanic I also never see is the rolling numbers mechanic. Whenever you take a big blow your health goes down but if you're fast enough you can heal yourself before you end up dying. I think that's pretty neat. Also like I said I think the setting of the game is also pretty unique and again ahead of its time. Even today RPGs go for either fantasy or futuristic settings where Earthbound is "today." The closest thing I could think of that's very similar is the Persona series namely it has a hero going around a modern day setting and saving the world in some way. If anything Persona 1-2 is pretty close to Earthbound but even then Earthbound's child like atmosphere can't be replicated. However despite that the game has a few flaws that aged terribly, namely the inventory system. Each character can only carry so much but some items are necessary to keep in for the space, namely the ATM card, the Sound Stone, and Equipment. Not only that but managing it can be a pain whether or not you have to go through the party members or call Escargo Express to take stuff at a time. Still though I still this game is unique, even to this day. I feel so happy revisiting this game again. Its just giving nostalgia all over again and I still think it holds up to this very day. I'm sorry if I'm rambling too much about it but that's how much I love it. I'd put it on my top 10 if I were being honest. But that's been a nice hot minute of CROW talking about Earthbound.

I bet what your pal CROW got for Christmas huh? Well actually I'm more confused than anything. Firstly I got a battery charge meter thing to check batteries cept I'm not one who uses regular batteries anymore. And then I got a Bible? Ok I may not be the most religious person around but I do have my faith and all that. I just dunno. I feel like its just gonna sit there. The funny thing is that my parents got my brother the same Bible but I feel like that's gonna be more of a waste since he can't comprehend stuff like this too well and he doesn't have a good reading level. Ah well. I did get a SNES Classic though which is nice because I do miss that era of gaming. And I have been enjoying it so there's that. I'll play more at my grandma's but we'll see. I do know what ever is left to get is money but I'm not expecting a ton of it but that's fine. I make money anyways hahah. Dood! You're gonna love it! I wasn't sure what to expect from this game but I ended up loving it so much it became my number 1 favorite game ever. Funny thing is cause I actually did beat it last night. Something hilarious did kind of happen but its spoilers. Don't open that until Christmas. But yeah I hope you enjoy it. Anyways MERRY CROWSMAS 1 AND ALL! I sincerely hope everyone's wishes comes true.

I know these games by reputation. However I also know they're currently one of the most expensive games out there, making it hard to play outside of emulation. If they're giving people a shot to play these games then I'm all for it. Panzer Dragoon is a pretty unique game and its nice to see it being referenced in other games in one way or another.

Its a combination of a forced gimmick, odd controls, and repetition makes it not as popular as the Adventure series. I think everyone was hoping to play these characters solo, not as a big totem pole that slows down the game just to get past a big vertical ceiling. I might as well add in a few points others haven't brought up yet. The story for one is scaled back pretty bit from the Adventure games. The story is more lighthearted where its just a typical Sonic vs Eggman conflict because the latter wants to take over the world, again. The other stories aren't as complicated either since they're motivated by one thing. However one of the big issues is that Shadow is back which some people feel like negated his big sacrifice in SA2 and didn't go well over them. Its just not as "epic" as those games to say the least. Another issue I could think of that turns people off a lot is the Chaos Emeralds. The Chaos Emeralds are back and now you have to get them again to get the true ending. However the only way to get them is by grabbing a secret key and keeping it onto for the whole stage. If you get hit once, bye bye key! Nice knowing you! There are multiple keys but even then there's stretches of level between them, to the point where you can miss them. Not only that but the special stages aren't as good because its just grab balls to go fast to get the Emerald. It makes an already repetitive game more grindy. And I guess the last thing related to the above point is that yes it is grindy as hell. Yes I keep mentioning the repetition but it is a major issue I think because you go through the same 12 stages or so 4 times with minor changes to them. I think the special mention is the Chaotix who are the most grindy of the teams since they have special missions to do that aren't "go to the goal ring" all the time. There are some levels that make you go "just why?" The biggest example is the haunted mansion level where you have to blow out all of the torches by using Espio's tornado move. Every.Single.TIME. Needless to say it gets very tedious at times. Not to say that the characters themselves are bad because they're pretty fun characters but its just there had to be some way to justify their gameplay by trying to make it "different" from the others and it doesn't work in this kind of game. Heroes was just another game filled to the brim with experimentation and experimentation doesn't always mean success. Yes it has more consistent gameplay but it just doesn't do things different enough from itself to make it noteworthy and I think people wanted more from it. That's what I can understand for the most part.

Not a big fan of Secret Rings. I've mentioned it before but I do get motion sick from it. Yes I tend to get motion sick easily depending on the game (it tends to be a trend with me) but Secret Rings is the most consistent to the point thinking of it makes me feel kind of sick. My personal health aside I think its pretty lackluster compared to other Sonic games. Its too straight forward and I'd say it doesn't have good level design since its flat and don't have Sonic's trademark platforming. Also I really don't like the controls since there's a lot of waggle involved with the Homing Attack, which is usually Sonic's go to move for attacks. Granted this what I remember like a decade ago and I don't plan on revisiting it just for a post. I do remember liking Black Knight though. Yeah its more further away than a traditional Sonic game than even Secret Rings but somehow it worked. Maybe because I always love swordfights but it just really clicked with me. I guess it has the last bits of Dreamcast era Sonic with being more experimental, having a relatively more mature storyline, and Sonic can't just win by speed alone. The swords did work fine in the game but like Secret Rings there's a bit of waggle (but not to its level where its annoying) and the stages are more flat but it might be me but it seems like BK's levels are more dynamic at least. Also being allowed to play as Shadow in any level was a plus for me. Yes this was me in the yesteryears but I digress. I just remember liking a lot. But ehhh... I'm probably not the one who should be really posting here since I'm talking about my experiences for the series I had a looooooong time ago. My opinion would be pretty different if I played them now. Its nice to share things once in a while however so yeah.

I know people have been saying this game looks decent but... That's what everyone said about The Woolies Strike Back and look what happened with that. ...Ok so it ended up kind of ok but it still had a lot of short comings. Maybe I should be giving Bubsy benefit of the doubt and hope he learned from the past, especially when Woolies was a step in the right direction.

So a new DLC character was announced and its a pretty big one. Welp I found a new main. She looks really fun to play as and really looks like she plays how she did from Automata.

Hmmm... There's a lot of things that scared me as a kid since I was easily scared back then. Now? Not so much. Funny huh? Anyways here's a few things I've thought of. This is an oddly weird but specific if not personal one but the Goosebumps show did scare me a lot. However there was a specific thing that actually scared me. I remember there was an episode of a guy turning into a pig (or at least having a pig face) after eating a lot? Its been a while so I don't remember the context. Why did it scare me? Well I woke up in the middle of the night one day and my stomach was hurting from eating too much garlic bread and I instantly remembered that. I guess I was too scared to be that pig man thing but I was oddly a memory I kept. Weird huh? Another one is the Space Pirate Frigate from Metroid Prime. So this is going to sound weird but Metroid Prime is actually the first game I've played that was genuinely dark, well at least darker than what I'm used to playing. For some context I was pretty big on Mario and Kirby during the time so Metroid being a more realistic, alien game was a curveball. So anyways I just found the whole Frigate to be scary because it had a lot of creatures in stasis and somethings are best left to the imagination judging by their experiments. I guess the idea of aliens experimenting on something so big and so dead really freaked me out that I couldn't take it so much. However after that I did find Prime to be an enjoyable game, especially with the fact you can explore and learn about the lore and creatures of the planet. I guess I should put aliens scared me a lot when I was a kid. However that's all I can think of at the moment. I can't remember my childhood too well. I'll ask my sister because she has better memory on this kind of thing so consider this a "to be continued" post in the meantime. Its weird that I can't remember beyond that.

I suppose I should do my usual hot takes on this. I think the classic games' soundtracks aged pretty well. Yeah there's some strange tracks like Hilltop Zone from 2 and CD in general depending on which region (not that it makes them lesser) but they don't feel dated as you'd think. Its weird because Sonic has been characterized by being the mascot with an attitude and a guitar. The music doesn't really reflect that, at least until... The Adventure era. Ohhhh boy this where the hot takes begin. The Adventure era's music hasn't really aged too well. Yeah it shows how technology progressed and how you can get new sounds that don't sound like it came from just a keyboard. However this where 90s edge really oozed into Sonic and it shows way too much. The instrumentals are fine for the most part. Its just the vocal tracks are just cheesy and at times nonsensical. Its tone are just too 90s during a time when the rest of the world was moving on and makes it more of a product of its time. The more I think about it I just wonder how or why we got so excited for Open your Heart or Sonic Heroes when its just so cheesy at its core. I would even say some of the songs are pretty cringe. Its just hard for me describe because music doesn't have anything physical to type about. The modern era does at least try to do different things and manages to keep away from what the Adventure was. Will it be a product of their time as well? Probably. Reach for the Stars came out during a time where more electronic music was getting popular if I recall. But again they tried to keep the soundtrack to be more timeless than it was before. I guess this is where I praise Sonic Unleashed in that regard. Time will tell so its a we will see thing. I probably sound like a grumpy old man now which I probably am but I digress but after I branched off from Sonic music and found all sorts of bands I found what I was missing in music. Now I'm just wondering what I was thinking back then when I listened to Sonic tracks and thinking "this is the best thing ever!" It makes me kind of regret my childhood in a way. I guess its probably because I've been moving away from the series. Maybe Sonic is destined to be a product of the time period but its something bound to happen when you're a long running series. It can't be helped at times since you want to appeal to people in the now. But its not always a bad thing. You gotta preserve things in some way. But in the long run only you like what you like and don't like. So yeah there's the CROW hot take of the day.