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Showing posts from March, 2024

Lights up on Princess Peach! (Princess Peach: Showtime, in review)

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     It's no secret that the crown monarch of the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach, has had very few chances to stand in the spotlight. It's one of the many reasons why I liked the Super Mario Bros. Movie as much as I did, because they took the time to give her some character besides the "damsel in distress" persona that she has been assigned most often. This is also why I was so excited for Princess Peach to have a new game announced, her first in about 20 years. On top of just having a new game, this was one that looked to be almost entirely original, instead of the DS game Super Princess Peach which derived most of the identity from the larger Super Mario Bros. series. Princess Peach: Showtime deliberately went out of its way to not reuse anything from Mario canon, and gave Peach something that she can do all on her own, without anyone mentioning a plumber or a turtle king for the entire duration. The big question now is, now that the game is out and I have alr

A long time, but a mostly good one! (Final Fantasy XVI in review)

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      Final Fantasy XVI is a very well made game. The gameplay is very different from almost any other game in the long series and plays more like a Bayonetta or Devil May Cry with some of the intensity or tight timing constraints involved in dodging, though the writing is definitely still that of an RPG title. With those two elements working hand in hand, this game could be really something special, but I'll dive into that a bit today. Did they take things too far into the serious side of RPGs, or did they lean too far into the wacky and wild world of action games? Let's talk about it! An Ambitious Task!     A long time ago, maybe even starting with Final Fantasy XII on the PS2, Final Fantasy began the move to an Action RPG instead of the Turn-Based model that they had relied on since its inception, I never played any of the XIII games (of which there are three, titled Final Fantasy XIII , XIII-2 , and XIII-3 Lightning Returns , respectively), but XV was definitely a fu

Mission Accomplished... I think? (Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League in review)

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     Hey friends! Today I would like to talk about a game that came out recently to a pretty negative reception, but one that a friend of mine and I have played together and have had a lot of fun, being Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League . Before I get started today, I would like to address the elephant in the room. Yes, no one likes live service games anymore, people would rather get a game that has a complete experience right away. As far as I can tell, this is the main reason that people are disliking this game, unless they actually don't enjoy the game, which I'm sure there are some, as every game isn't for every person. I would just like to ask for you to read this with a fresh set of eyes and to come in without any preconceived notions. I'm not going to be giving this game the argument that it's a perfect title in basically any way. There are a fair number of bugs and glitches, and not every story beat is handled in the best way, but there's still a pr

A Fantastic new expansion! (Thoughts on Fantasy Springs update for Tokyo DisneySea!)

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     Hey friends, it has been a long time since I've been able to talk about Disney Parks, so I was very excited the other day that lots of new information was given about the new expansion to Tokyo DisneySea, "Fantasy Springs," which is apparently opening on June 6, 2024. I'd like to take some time today to just go over some of this information and hopefully get you as excited as I am for it. I will say, I've never been to Japan, much less Tokyo Disneyland or DisneySea, but I would love to visit sometime, as these parks have always looked to be some of the most interesting in the world. Without further ado, let's take a quick sprinkle of fairy dust and head over to this new area. Just for reference, check out this page  for more information, since I'm getting all of my information today from there! Sometimes, Fantasy Springs upon us!     I should begin by explaining exactly what the idea behind Fantasy Springs is, and exactly why I'm so excited for it

Pokemon Presents are Always... Interesting? (Short thoughts on Pokemon Presents 2/27)

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     Hey friends! How many of you are Pokemon fans? I'm going to assume that at least the majority of you have heard of the series at this point, considering it's the most profitable media franchise of all time (let that sink in for a moment), and February 27 is considered "Pokemon Day" since it's the day that the original games, Pokemon Red and Green Versions   came out in Japan all of those years ago. In celebration, the last few years have always come with some sort of presentation, with a few announcements here and there, always fairly low key stuff with maybe one or two big announcements tucked into the ending of the show. This will not be a terribly long post, but I just thought it would be good to talk a little bit about what was announced today, not that it's a very long list. Mostly Mobile Games!     I feel like it's just a given at this point that every Pokemon stream has to begin with updates to the myriad mobile games that the franchise has put