Recent Stuff 16
March 23, 2016

Not a whole lot of gaming since my last entry, but I think that mainly has to do with the second game listed below.

-GAMES-

Rogue Legacy: As mentioned elsewhere, I originally purchased this back in 2013, thinking my super old computer (it didn't even have PCIe slots) was easily capable of running the game. It could not. It ran in slow-motion. So it sat in my Steam library for two and a half years, until I finally bought a new desktop and remembered this was something I bought. After doing nearly back to back reviews for Witch & Hero and Aquatic Long Name, I wanted to just play a game without prepping a review for it.

Just as planned! I always heard good things about it, but I was genuinely surprised by the quality of the game, compelling me to write a review while everything was fresh in my head. My original plan for the review was downright gimmicky, doing bullet point-style lists with some of the relatives, their abilities, and their journeys. I even kept my own "genealogy diary" as I played the game. That plan fell through when I actually wrote the review, as I really wanted to talk about certain stuff which that gimmick wouldn't allow. It's a fun game I'd recommend if you're into SotN-style adventure titles.

Mega Man Legacy Collection: I thought this was going to be a fast and easy thing to review. Hell, I even wrote the first two paragraphs prior to getting my copy! But when it came time to mention the individual titles in the collection, I figured I should play through each game again, despite having played them countless times throughout my life. I mean, I already know what games do what and which ones I personally like, so what can go wrong?

It's weird. When I went through these games again, I was noticing stuff I never noticed before, and I was actually appreciating specific aspects and certain games even more after finishing them. And then there were others that broke my heart. Like, Mega Man 3 was my first Mega Man, so it holds a special place in my heart, to the point where I remained adamant that MM3 was easily one of the best in the franchise.

After beating the game on the Legacy Collection, this was no longer the case. MM3 is hands down an ambitious title, but most of the stage layouts feel limp in comparison to other games. It's filled with cool gimmicks, but a large majority of these gimmicks are quickly abandoned and never truly fleshed out. The magnets in Magnet Man's stage are neat, but nothing comes of them after you enter the base. The blue-sperm-ghost-whatever-things from Gemini Man's level is interesting at first, but the novelty quickly wears off when they become a nuisance to get through. They're not all bad stages, it's just I'm surprised at the ratio of "meh" stages in this game. MM3 is the weakest of the "best", if that makes sense. The problem with writing a compilation review is that I can't go into great detail about each game without dragging on, so that's why I'm compelled to explain my thoughts on the game here.

Oh, yeah, here's the review. Repeating what I said in it, I hope something good comes out of this release, at least. More Mega Man, Capcom!

Hitman Go: So this became another Rogue Legacy situation, where I just wanted to relax with a game without reviewing it.... yeah. It's one of the more satisfying turn-based puzzler thingies I've played in recent memory, to the point where it ended up being the first PS4 game I got a platinum for.

PS4 Streaming: Might as well include this in the games section. I knew the PS4 was capable of streaming, but I never gave it a shot until now. I was curious how easy it would be just to hit a button and start playing a game live. My first experiment was playing Mega Man 2 in one sitting, without cheating by using Legacy's save and load features. Considering I haven't beat the game in ages, I thought it went better than expected... My second experiment was for Hitman Go. Was going to play it for the first time, so I figured I stream it. Not really a huge Twitter guy, but I even threw up a tweet, just in case anyone was curious about it. I was poking around with the stream options prior to broadcasting, which explains the intrusive border around the game. I wanted to remove it, but I also didn't want to stop the stream, so meh.

I exported them to YouTube unlisted, so you can see the Mega Man 2 video here, and the Hitman Go stream here, if anyone is curious. Personally, I wouldn't recommend watching the Hitman Go video if you want to play it yourself, since it gives away solutions.

-TV/MOVIES-

Deadpool: Went to see this movie the weekend it came out, due to strong word of mouth. Now, if you're looking for opinions on the movie, I'm probably the last person to seek out, since I'm not really a fan of his stuff. Don't hate him, just not into him. With that said, I found the movie to be pretty competent and capable of portraying the character. Though, I was confused about the romance angle; Deadpool had a girlfriend in the comics? Anyway, it's a nice, inoffensive (I mean, you know...) movie, and Ryan Reynolds does the character justice.

10 Cloverfield Lane: (implied spoilers?) I wasn't really fond of the 'first' Cloverfield movie, mainly because the suspension of disbelief required for the 'found footage' camera was too big for me. So, I went into this one purely for the mystery angle. I liked it, but due to its very low-key, personal approach, it's not for everyone. Shoot, halfway through the film, I was half-expecting some people to walk out of the theater. In fact, I almost became one during the final 5 minutes of the film. I won't spoil the ending, but there's a VERY SPECIFIC scene I felt was the most unnecessary, forced thing in the entire movie.

Mobile Suit Gundam: I finished the whole thing at the end of last month. Definitely an interesting experience. However, the middle part of the show, the section when the White Base crew were in the mountains/desert, felt too lackadaisical for my tastes. It was an opportunity for some strong character development, but a lot was wasted on simple plot points. They easily could've fused two stories into one episode on several occasions, but meh. Afterwards, though, the paced picked up again, and got stronger when they got back into space. Mannnn, I forgot how weirdly intense some of those last episodes got when the Newtype concept went into full swing. In all, it has a very strong first 12 episodes, a weak middle, but a strong climax.

Watching the show after all these years, I also picked up something hilarious that I never noticed prior (spoilers?): Bright gets visibly butthurt over Mirai. First when he found out she's engaged, and again when she was falling for Sleggar Law, which was the most forced relationship in the entire show. It's, like, Bright wasn't even the rebound, he was the backup after Sleggar Law's death. And that even almost didn't happen if Zeta never existed! The only way this would have been worse was if Mirai went back to her ex-fiancee after Law's passing.

Zeta Gundam: After finishing 0079, I went into Zeta Gundam. I remember watching this series for the first time about two years ago, and upon return... the first two episodes are mindbogglingly terrible. Kamille is an imbecile, his actions are insanity incarnate, and it's amazing he made it past the first two episodes alive. I know he's supposed to be a brat, that he's supposed to grow over the course of the series (and in my opinion, they do a sloppy job doing that, too), but that doesn't make it any less aggravating to watch.

Other than that, the rest of the stuff is pretty engaging, though I'm basing this on the first 12 episodes I've watched so far. I'm not sure I even want to continue considering my previous watch is still fresh in my head. I only got the Blu-ray collection just so I won't have to pay extra if the price spikes months or years from now. Zeta has its good moments, but it has some moments I couldn't stand, and it only gets worse heading into the climax. I mean, now that I think about it, there's a disturbing number of Zeta characters that infuriate me...

Weird way to end the blog.

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Feedback
honestgamer honestgamer - March 23, 2016 (12:43 PM)
Your interpretation of Mega Man 3, upon revisiting it, gels nicely with my interpretation of the game all along (from the moment I first rented it, as soon after its release as I could find it at the local video store). I still like it, but I've never understood why people think it's superior to Mega Man 2, which is still my absolute favorite.
joseph_valencia joseph_valencia - March 24, 2016 (01:20 AM)
Zeta is my least favorite Gundam series besides SEED Destiny. The end of the series gets really ridiculous with all the Magic Newtype Girls showing up just to get shafted and supporting characters acting like jerks and idiots. Kamille's fate was also needlessly cruel if you ask me. I can understand why Tomino changed it for the compilation movies.

Are you going to pick the ZZ Blus? It has a terrible reputation, but I actually like that show. It's wacky at the beginning, but it gets nearly as good as the original series towards the end.
dementedhut dementedhut - March 24, 2016 (04:09 AM)
HG: I was in the reversed situation for the longest time, as I didn't really understood the love for MM2. It was just one of those games that took me ages to finally getting around to appreciating for some reason.

JV: I'm still really not sure if I'll check out Gundam ZZ. I'm aware of its 'stature', and I've heard from a lot of people that nothing is lost if I skip it. At the same time, though, a lot of threads went unresolved in Zeta that carries over into ZZ, and I remember being bummed about Zeta's abrupt ending. At this point in time, it's either a toss-up between watching Turn A and ZZ.

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