Archive for the Best / Worst Category

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Ys: Origin Completed: Thoughts & Images

Posted in Artwork, Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Ys on November 1, 2017 by slateman

After finishing up Ys II and Ys: The Oath In Felghana, I picked up Ys Origin, a game I’ve been meaning to play. Its arrival on the PS4 this year gave me the perfect chance! In addition, I just grabbed Ys Seven so that may make another title beaten in 2017, we’ll see.

In any event, the game was pretty fun though I rued the lack of voice acting like the other two titles I played. The story was fun enough and the gameplay solid. Therefore, with yet another Ys title under my belt, I thought I’d share some more images, replete with spoilers, of course! There are two more campaigns but I can’t say I have much interest in doing them, although I’d like to see how the third one pans out; I think that one is canon.

And so, here are some images from my runthrough of Ys Origin which really offered some fan-service about the…ahem…origins of Ys and the games I’ve been playing for over 25 years! Enjoy!

Cuphead: A Work Of Art

Posted in Artwork, Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Screenshots on October 14, 2017 by slateman

This game is insane. It’s weird though. In no way is it new. The visuals hearken back to nearly a century ago and the tough-as-nails platforming isn’t far removed from my own youth. However, it is gorgeous and one of the more refreshing titles I’ve played in years. In an age when everything feels like it’s been done before, Cuphead comes along and tells you that old can be new again. I’ve opted to share some screenshots, but they simply cannot do this game any justice. The silky-smooth animations and impressive boss battles can only be appreciated by watching it in action…something I highly recommend anyone doing.

This last image is one you’ll see a lot of. It taunts you with showing your level progress, thus inciting another retry. And another. And another.

Clicker Heroes: The Stupidest Game…

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games with tags on October 2, 2017 by slateman

…that I can’t stop playing. After picking this free title up months ago, I was enthralled by its mathematical crack, constantly beckoning me to return. Long sessions weren’t required but a consistent minute here or nine there fed the need. Then I hit a wall.

For some reason, I returned recently and figured out a way past the barrier. It could’ve been a few months of idle coin harvesting. And then I ascended again. Now, with dozens more hero souls, things were going by so quickly. I managed to reach level 100, a feat that took days, easily, in about six minutes. Madness!

And as I reached the lofty level 360-whatever, I ascended yet another time, relishing in the hundreds of hero souls. And on the next playthrough, making it to level 150 or so in mere minutes, I accidentally scrolled to the right, revealing Transcendence as an option. Hmmm…should I? Shouldn’t I? Typically I’d read up a bit: what to do before, should you transcend, etc. This time, however, I just said, “Screw it,” and clicked it. “You will lose this and that,” “yeah, yeah, yeah.” Clicked. Done.

Then, back at level 1, now with absolutely nothing, I instantly regretted my decision. I have to actually click again? No idle bonuses? Umm, what is the benefit to this again? Well, things aren’t quite back to square one, but they’re close. I understand that there will be incredible perk to my idle build…once I have unlocked my Ancients. But, with too few rubies, waiting for level 100 is the only option.

So, after this useless game took away everything, why do I still play? No clue. It’s a strange active-passive experience based on saving money, spending it, calculating and…waiting. Very strange indeed.

Postseason 2017: 2am start.

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Reflection, Yankees on October 1, 2017 by slateman

The first season I’ve been detached from in decades winds down today and the postseason for my beloved Yankees is a bit shaky. While it’s been a fun and rather surprising year, I don’t know if we have what it takes. The one-game playoff versus Minnesota is one of those ‘anything can happen’ situations and I’ll admit the best of two concept I heard about recently sounds like a better solution. But even if we beat the Twinkies, we go up against the team coming off the hottest streak in over 100 years. That shortened five-game series is no less stressful! And the winner faces either the Astros (*ahem*, 2015) or the Sox (hatred). OMG, the latter would be insanity.

But that’s getting way ahead of ourselves. Gotta fend off Minnesota, whom we recently swept, first. And that game starts at 2am here. How can I not watch? Alternately, how can I? Well, I did get up at like 3am to watch when the Yanks and Matsui opened their season in Japan a lifetime ago. Oh how I love the postseason. Oh how I hate thee.

Ys II: Completed! Thoughts

Posted in Artwork, Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Screenshots, Ys on September 20, 2017 by slateman

Ys Books I & II remains among my favorite games ever. That’s partly tied to the time of my life, about 13. However it is also tied to its innovation, its technological prowess (CD quality!) and its music, which is still remarkable. But now having finished the remake of Ys III and my save game but a few hours into Ys II, it was time to complete this retelling. And now that I’m done, I realize…It’s dated.

The game was still great, with the familiar faces of Feena and Reah bringing a smile to mine. However, its source material is almost 30 years old and it shows. The labyrinthine level layout was needed with limitations of the ’80s. Now it just feels empty and repetitive. A guide helped me through this journey and I’ve no shame in that. In addition, Felghana’s remade soundtrack may very well be superior to the PSP iteration of Ys I & II. In fact, the former may be the best the series has ever seen.

As Ys VIII hits shelves this week, my return to Eresia will have to wait. Until then, here are some snapshots from the last hour or so of Ys II – spoilers, quite obviously!!!

Ys II: Hello Zalem!

Posted in Artwork, Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Ys on September 17, 2017 by slateman

This is a totally unnecessary post – but I found it humorous. Having gone back to beat The Oath In Felghana, I figured why not polish off Ys II as well. I abandoned that title at around the same time as Felghana. Well, once you land in Ramia village, you can go upgrade your equipment by meeting Zalem. Well, turns out if you talk to her before trying to do any business, then give her three herbs, then visit her bed, you’ll be given an option to join her there. It’s entirely juvenile and silly, and I certainly don’t recall this option back in the TurboCD days!!! In any event, here’s some visual evidence. Warm and sinful indeed.

Ys: The Oath In Felghana – Revisited!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Screenshots, Ys on September 15, 2017 by slateman

After putting in 15+ hours in early 2014, I abandoned Ys: The Oath In Felghana, the remarkable remake of the legendary Ys III: Wanderers From Ys. The latter, a game I played waaaay back in the late ’80s/early ’90s, was an amazing game with an even better soundtrack. Just why I quit is unclear and returning to games, especially any type of large-world titles, is never easy. However, after doing book research and poring through the excellent Castlevania book I have, I was inspired to return to the other excellent game, Symphony Of The Night. I tinkered for a bit before pondering that very question of why I bailed, more than three and a half years ago.

And so here I sit, at the very end of the game, in the very week that Ys VIII ships. Reviews are positive and of course I’d like to pick it up. But now isn’t the time. Hell, if I could wait almost four years to finish this, I’m sure Lacrimosa Of Dana, which itself is over a year old, can wait a bit longer. Come to think of it, I never finished Ys I & II Chronicles on the PSP either. Backlogs aren’t so bad, maybe! For now, a pretty decent screenshot of Adol before the setting sun in anticipation of that annoying-as-hell Chester fight.

SFV: Abigail Vs. Zangief

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Screenshots, Street Fighter on August 7, 2017 by slateman

The 8-foot-tall Abigail joined the SFV roster two weeks ago and his size is almost a joke. While Hugo already dwarfed the rest of the cast, Abigail’s inclusion tops even him. Why not compare him to the quaint size of Zangief. Funny shit.

The Golden Age Of Television

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Lists, TV on August 3, 2017 by slateman

I can think back to when I was a kid and TV consisted of Family Ties, The Wonder Years and Cheers. The ’90s brought Seinfeld and Friends, the ’00s shows like 24 and The Sopranos. But since cutting the cord, it should be difficult to keep up on the new shows, but clearly it isn’t.

I’ve spent more time since Erin and I moved to Sweden than I did in the decade before it. As we start a new show, Ozark, I recalled the countless shows before it that we’ve binge-watched over the last half-decade. The quality varies, of course, but a number of them can live up to the Seinfelds of the past. I thought I’d try to reflect on this fact, partly for my own posterity, really. Asterisks denote completed shows.

  • Americans, The (5)
  • Big Little Lies (1)*
  • Boardwalk Empire (5)*
  • Bloodlines (3)*
  • Breaking Bad (6)*
  • Catastrophe (3)
  • Fargo (3)
  • Game Of Thrones (7)
  • Homeland (6)
  • House Of Cards (5)
  • How To Get Away With Murder (3)
  • Leftovers, The (3)*
  • Mr. Robot (2)
  • Narcos (2)
  • OA, The (1)
  • Ozark (1)
  • Sherlock (4)
  • Stranger Things (1)
  • Taboo (1)
  • This Is Us (1)
  • True Detective (2)
  • Vikings (4)
  • Walking Dead, The (7)
  • Westworld (1)

Several are in a strange “is it over”? stage. But that’s a good listing of shows, some can stand up with the best shows ever IMO, like Breaking Bad, the first season of True Detective and early Vikings.

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection Wishlist

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Street Fighter on July 31, 2017 by slateman

It feels as if it were only yesterday I imported Hyper Street Fighter II as part of the series’ 15th anniversary. It later came to the US with SFIII: 3S as a pretty sweet package. As 2017 is now more than halfway done, I remain curious as to how Capcom plans on celebrating. News started to surface this week that an anniversary collection might be coming.

As exciting as it might be, a wishlist of what could be should be reality-checked. Does anyone remember the Street Fighter Collection from back in ’97? After months of hoping for a complete compilation of SFII we ended up getting two games rather than one. Surely the arcade ROMS couldn’t fit in one collection?

That may be unfair, as we later got the excellent Fighters’ Generation / Alpha Anthology which showed Capcom could do it right. But while I should really be cautiously optimistic, I’m going to throw that caution to the wind and express my excitement over the possibilities.

With Ultra Street Fighter II newly-on shelves, I’m not sure that’ll be part of this package and they can’t realistically put out the HD Remake if USFII is already out. Hyper Street Fighter II may be more likely, but both games are just broken from a competitive standpoint. However, either game would be great for the collection and USFII may be the easiest to port over. I think a form of SFII is almost required for the 30th anniversary.

As for SFIII, a collection of all three versions would be sexy as hell, but I think a 3S Online Edition translation would suffice for most purposes. It could be done easily enough as they’ve brought Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and Ultra Street Fighter IV over to the current-gen systems.

Speaking of…I wouldn’t expect any original SF or SFIV games to be involved.

So what are we left with? Oh…just my favorite Street Fighter series of them all. The Zero/Alpha games launched as I got into college and the animations, style, sound effects, roster and overall feel remain the best of them all. They hearken to a different time of my life, of gaming, that whole thing. I remember going to the mall to play as Adon in SFA. I bought my first Playstation alongside a fight stick and SFA2. I imported SFZ3 and my fascination turned into an obsession. The aforementioned collection of Zero/Alpha games is so utterly spectacular and complete, I would do anything to have those games playable on the PS4.

However, that may be a bit too optimistic. That’s an awful lot of upgrading, but I truly don’t think a 30th-anniversary collection would be complete without the Zero/Alpha games. I’m not sure precisely how they could work them into this collection but I think it has to happen. It’s entirely possible we just get one game and as Zero 3 really encompasses everything the series stood for, with its Isms and vast roster, you then wonder what version of SFZ3 they’d include. The GBA and PSP versions are the most complete, but with a max resolution of 480×272, it’s simply unacceptable on a big screen. That’s a dilemma. I’d prefer not have an incomplete collection all these years later, but a full one might require too much work. Oh, if I could just get Z2A/A2G, I’d be so friggin’ happy.

I think we’re above a anything would be better than nothing. We’re a far cry from the bare-bones ports and translations of the mid-to-late 90s. There’s no reason this shouldn’t be a kick-ass collection. Having bought so many versions of SFII (no fewer than 6), SFIII (maybe 2?), SFIV (vanilla, Super, AE, Ultra, Ultra on the PS4), and now SFV (base game + 2 seasons of DLC). Please don’t fuck this up, Capcom. The 30th anniversary should celebrate US as much as it should celebrate SF.

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