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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 4 years

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After going the Ace Attorney games again, here are my rankings of the six main series prosecutors:

(Side note: Still haven’t played any of the Investigations games or the Great Ace Attorney series)

6) Nahyuta Sahdmadhi

Poor Nahyuta. I hate to place him in the last place slot but after going through Spirit of Justice again, he still hasn’t grown on me. Let me just say, I don’t really like Spirit of Justice. There are a lot of aspects of that game I was not fond of, such as the final case being a repeat of Farewell, My Turnabout and the underwhelming Khura’in Civil War storyline. However, in Nahyuta’s defense, I don’t hate the character.

Nahyuta has a decent storyline and he has a unique gimmick. It’s just when compared to the other 5 prosecutors, he doesn’t really do anything for me. His storyline with Apollo feels like a rehash of the previous games (oh, the prosecutor was close friends with the defense attorney? Hmm, where have I heard that before *coughPhoenixandMilescough* *coughAthenaandSimoncough*). Also, he’s not as fun or as interesting as his counterparts.

Basically, I don’t think Nahyuta’s a bad character, he’s just my least favorite of the prosecutors.

5) Franziska von Karma

This one hurt me, mainly because I love Franziska. She seems like a fun character outside of the main Ace Attorney games based on her appearances in the Investigations series. However, if we’re going purely with her role as prosecutor in the main series, then I have to place her in the 5th place slot. But it’s not because I think she’s a bad character. She’s great! She’s a fun character to interact with and she has an interesting backstory. The problem is Justice for All.

In my opinion, Justice for All is the worst Ace Attorney game in the main series. It’s to the point that it affected my placement of Franziska on this list. First off, it’s already bad that one of the main cases she’s the prosecutor in is Turnabout Big Top aka the worst case in the entire franchise. But then there’s Farewell, My Turnabout, which absolutely screws over her character by making Miles Edgeworth the focus of the finale.

Now let me back up. Before you Miles Edgeworth fans jump down my throat, I am aware that Miles is not the prosecutor for the final case in the first game. I am NOT saying that Franziska needed to be the prosecutor in Farewell, My Turnabout. I am NOT saying Miles ruined the story. The point I’m making is that even though Miles wasn’t the prosecutor in Turnabout Goodbyes, he was still the main focus. Everything in that episode revolved around Miles’ past and his relationship with Manfred von Karma. He still got a complete character arc even though he wasn’t the rival.

In Farewell, My Turnabout, Capcom just went and said, “Go fuck yourself Franziska” and made everything about Miles again. Franziska was barely a presence in that final episode and by the time the game ended, her arc felt incomplete. Yes, the writers attempted to make her relevant to the story by having her be the one to deliver the evidence but just think about that for a second. She’s the main prosecutor of the 2nd game and the most significant thing she did in the finale was deliver items. I honestly feel her appearance in Trials and Tribulations was damage control for how shit she was treated in Justice for All.

Thankfully, it looks like the Investigations games treated Franziska better. But as for the main series, she deserved a whole lot better. I’d love to place her higher but with the storyline she got, I have to mark her down.

4) Klavier Gavin

I don’t have much to say about Klavier. I think he’s a cool character and he has a kickass gimmick. However, he’s just a mid-tier kind of character for me. Like with Franziska, it’s mainly to do with Apollo Justice / Ace Attorney 4.

People have already pointed this out but the storyline in Apollo Justice feels more like set-up for something bigger. When I first went through Apollo Justice, it felt like there was going to be more to Kristoph Gavin, more to Klavier Gavin. Phoenix Wright was at the start of a different kind of character arc and the Gramaryes/Trucy Wright would be the main focus of the Apollo Justice trilogy, just like how Maya and the Feys were the focus of Phoenix’s trilogy.

In fact, just going off on a little tangent, I already made a post about this but I was thinking that the abandoned Apollo Justice trilogy would lead to Phoenix becoming a Godot-type character. He had the seeds of that character arc planted, with his darker behavior, willingness to bend the legal system to get what he wants (using forged evidence and trapping Kristoph with the jurist system) and a similar reason to become an anti-villain (Godot was poisoned by Dahlia, Phoenix was disbarred thanks to Kristoph). He would then show up in the final game as the main rival, leading to a Phoenix and Apollo showdown.

Sorry, this was supposed to be about Klavier. The point I’m trying to make is, Klavier is a cool character but he feels wasted. Since the 5th and 6th games didn’t follow-up on the 4th game’s story, it feels like Klavier was left behind as a result. That’s why he’s low on the list.

3) Simon Blackquill

Ah yes, the twisted samurai. For the record, Dual Destinies is my favorite Apollo Justice-era game, so it’s not a huge surprise that Simon is my favorite Apollo Justice-era prosecutor. For me, what makes Simon stand out is that he’s the most “complete” of the three AJ-era prosecutors.

My issue with Klav was that his storyline feels incomplete while my issue with Yuty was that he wasn’t that interesting of a character. Simon doesn’t have those problems. For one, he has the best gimmick between the three of them. It’s an interesting concept to have a prosecutor be an actual death row inmate. What’s cool about that is that the death row inmate gimmick worked for Simon’s character arc.

Dual Destinies set Simon up as the embodiment of the dark age of the law. He was a death row inmate who constantly talked about killing his foes. That’s why the reveal that he’s actually an honorable man who never killed anyone works so well, it’s a strong contrast to how he’s set up. Also, it’s a twist that works with Simon’s character as he’s supposed to be a psychology expert. He plays up his image of a crazy killer to intimidate his enemies.

Other than that, I also feel like Simon had the best storyline of the AJ-era prosecutors. Also, even though his appearance in Spirit of Justice was a bit silly, it was still fun to see this character in a more lighter tone.

2) Miles Edgeworth

Yeah, of course Edgey is this high up on the list. Like I wrote, I can’t count the Investigations games as I haven’t played them but even then, Miles had a pretty good run in the main series. He had a strong character arc in the first game, a decent return in the 2nd game, and a strong return in the 3rd game. It was great that you actually got to play as Miles in T&T and that he was the acting defense attorney. For me, Trials and Tribulations felt like the end of Miles’ character arc as he finally became a defense attorney, just like his dad.

And honestly, Capcom should’ve left him at that. I’m not saying this is why he’s only 2nd on the list but I just want to say, I don’t think he needed to be in Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice. Yes, I am aware that Miles’ appearances in those games were just fun guest appearances for people who want that AA original trilogy nostalgia. However, I felt that his appearances in 5 and 6 slightly ruined his character arc.

Why? Because he was back to being a prosecutor. Last time I checked, wasn’t his entire character arc about him becoming a defense attorney? He wanted to be a DA like his dad, he developed a misguided hatred of defense attorneys due to the DL-6 Incident, he was misled into believing that the number one goal of an attorney is to win court cases by Manfred von Karma, he was rescued by his friend Phoenix which led to him reassessing his life goals, he goes on a trip around the world to find himself, and then in the final game, he becomes Iris’ defense attorney, overcoming his initial hatred of DAs and fulfilling his childhood goal.

Maybe it’s just me but having Miles come back as a prosecutor in the AJ-era games feels like a step back in character development. But once again, that’s not the reason why he’s 2nd on the list. I like Miles, but I like the next guy even more. It should be obvious who it is by now.

1) Godot

Yes, I know, this is potentially a controversial choice. I just wanna say, I don’t care if you love, like, dislike, or hate Godot. Let me write the reasons why Godot is my number one prosecutor.

When I was writing this list out, I was measuring the prosecutors based on several factors. Story, character arc, design, strength as a rival, humor and so on. Just to be clear, I don’t think Godot is the best of all those categories. For example, when it comes to strength as a rival, I’d say Miles and Franziska were stronger opponents. Godot is definitely a mid-tier rival, which makes sense as he’s supposed to be a rookie / defense attorney out of his league.

So, why Godot then if he’s not the best in every category? Honestly...I’d say it’s the character overall. Regardless of your feelings towards the character, I feel that we can all agree that Godot’s story is the most tragic.

Let’s recap; Godot’s story is of a good man who was destroyed by a wicked monster. He was then abandoned by the people around him and lost the love of his life. With no one to help him, he let his grief consume him to the point that he became a bitter shell of his former self, obsessed with shaming the people he feels are responsible for the death of his lover. It’s only at the end when he realizes that all of his hatred and anger was just him projecting his own self-hatred onto someone else. That even though it wasn’t his fault, he still holds himself responsible for his lover’s death. However, it’s too late to make amends as he’s damned himself. In a moment of blind rage, he doomed himself by committing murder.

That is some HEAVY material for a game series that features the main character cross examining a parrot and conveniently developing amnesia just to set up a tutorial sequence.

Going on another tangent, you know who Godot’s storyline reminded me of? Jax Teller from Sons of Anarchy. Both characters started out as honorable men who were deeply in love. Then, tragedy struck. They lost the love of their lives and, in their final character arc, they took their rage out on everyone. Sons of Anarchy season 7 is still some of the most devastating TV I’ve ever watched and part of the reason was because of how sad it was to watch Jax fall. He fell so deep into his rage and anger that by the time he got his revenge, he burned so many bridges that the only place his character could go was death.

Same with Godot. He’s a damn Shakespearean tragic protagonist in that he was ultimately undone by his own rage and anger. You can sympathize with him based on how he came to be but at the same time, he destroyed himself. It’s a devastating character arc and, as someone who loves Shakespeare and all things theater, I absolutely loved it. It’s the one character arc that has stuck with me after going through all six games over again, even more so than Miles and Simon’s arcs.

In addition to all of this, the fact that Godot’s character arc tied the entire trilogy together is definitely worth noting. From his storyline, the game tied together Mia Fey’s death, highlighted Mia’s importance to the main storyline, and even set up Trials and Tribulations’ main villain, Dahlia Hawthorne. I love it when stories do that, when the character arcs actually work hand-in-hand with the story that the writer is trying to tell.

On some smaller notes, Godot definitely has the best character design in my opinion. Also, the best character theme (I still have the Fragrance of Dark Coffee playing in my head). Lastly, he has the best case in the original trilogy (Bridge to the Turnabout), as well as the best moment (the original pursuit theme plays when you expose the knife wound underneath his mask).

So yeah. In my opinion, Godot is the best Ace Attorney prosecutor. Those are my reasons, feel free to disagree if you want.

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #franziska von karma #godot #diego armando #klavier gavin #simon blackquill #nahyuta sahdmadhi #apollo justice #athena cykes #aa #capcom

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kirain · 6 years

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Top Ten Favourite Anime Games

For this list, I will only be including games that are specifically considered part of the anime genre, NOT games that were created by Japan Studio or other Japanese companies/creators. So games like shadow of the colossus, Bloodborne, Metal Gear, Resident Evil, etc., won’t be mentioned. While it is arguable that such games could fit the anime genre, it’s never been clarified. So here’s a list of my top 10 anime games.

1. Gravity Rush

There’s no real order for this list EXCEPT for Gravity Rush. It is easily my number one favourite pick. I bought it for next to nothing thinking it would be a cute little experience, but it ended up gripping my interest for four days straight; which is rare for me. While at work, all I could think about was getting back to it, and it’s one of the few games with trophies that didn’t annoy me. Seriously-- not one trophy pissed me off. In every game there’s at least two or three that really grind my gears, but Gravity Rush had nada.

There are several challenges in the game that are tough but fair, and they never become boring because they’re designed in such a way that the more you play them, the better you get. You begin to learn the controls, the landscape, the shortcuts, etc., which makes for some excellent gameplay. At no point in the game do you feel like a failure, which is nice once in a while. On top of that the story is fun, the characters are lovable, and the art is breathtaking. During each new chapter, we’re given information in the form of a hand-drawn manga, which only adds to the uniqueness. The language in the game is also made up, so anyone can relate to it. And the music? Oh, don’t even get me started:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxIC6Vu1ee0&t=43s

And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, they went ahead and created a sequel, Gravity Rush 2! It’s pretty rare, in my opinion anyway, that video games have sequels that measure up to their predecessor, but Gravity Rush 2 might be even better! It lets us revisit old friends, make new friends, explore more areas, it gives us grater challenges and a newly implemented difficulty setting, and additional online adventures that have nothing to do with achievements! What really hits me about these games, though, is the freedom. You get to fly wherever you want, anytime you want, at ridiculous speeds. The world is vast, beautiful, and so fun to navigate.

After playing and falling in love with these games, I can only assume they’re called “Gravity Rush” because they’re an absolute rush to play.

2. Devil May Cry

Specifically the first game, Devil May Cry will always have a special place in my heart. I played the game a lot when I was in grade school and kept replaying it well into my high school years. All the way up until my PS2 broke. :’)

Now, I do know that this game was created by Capcom and that it was supposed to be related to the Resident Evil franchise, but director Hideki Kamiya openly stated that the game is an anime-style hack and slash action-adventure game, and even gave the anime T.V. show, Devil May Cry: The Animated Series by Shin Itagaki, his professional seal of approval.

That said, Devil May Cry is addictive with its brutal but charming character Dante, and its dark and twisted plot/gameplay. If you’re into cool characters, blood and guts, and kick-ass combat, this is the game for you!

3. Catherine

Another nostalgic game for me, Catherine was something I played constantly when I was in high school. The animation is enticing, the story is a giant mind f*ck, and the English voice acting is stupendous. Like many story-related anime games, it has multiple endings, as well as a karma metre that wraps into your choices. The story revolves around a man named Vincent Brooks, who is beset by supernatural nightmares while torn between his feelings for longtime girlfriend Katherine and the similarly-named beauty Catherine.

While the game is mostly a platformer, the challenges are unreal, especially in Babel (an extra area not related to the story) and the arcade game, Rapunzel. If you want your brain to turn to mush, I’d suggest setting this baby to the hardest difficulty. Naturally there’s a trophy for beating everything with a gold time, so if you get that you’ll be able to gloat to all your friends about how smart you are. XD

Jokes aside, though, there are other aspects to the game that keep you going. You won’t get bored of the platforming because between each level is the story, given to us in two distinct anime styles, and a trip to the bar, where you can get drunk and interact with other characters. Depending on the dialogue you choose, you could be responsible for their dreams coming true ... or their untimely death. A remake of the game will be coming out for PS4 next year and I can’t wait to play it!

4. No More Heroes

No More Heroes is another action-adventure hack and slash video game that follows a man named Travis Touchdown ... who is a hardcore otaku. Literally all he cares about is killing and anime, which makes for a hilarious story. Travis is also a top-class assassin in a world where assassins constantly compete. Think John Wick: The Anime. This game is full of comedy and combat, as well as cool characters, crude challenges, and a cuddly kitty cat. I played this game religiously when I was in high school, and enjoyed it even up to it’s weird mind f*ck of an ending. The only downside being that it’s only available on Wii, which made for an interesting and unique experience, but a sad realisation that it will never be available for any other platform.

5. Trauma Center: Second Opinion

Just like No More Heroes, Trauma Center: Second Opinion is only available on Wii; but that in no way affected my love for it. Second Opinion is the second game in a long line of Trauma Centers, but for some reason it’s the only one I enjoy. Perhaps it’s because playing it on the Wii gave it a sense of realism. The game is a surgery simulator, and like an actual surgeon, you have to concentrate and keep your hands steady to succeed. If you move too quickly or throw yourself off balance, the patient will die. The art and music are also incredible and, believe it or not, there’s actually a pretty interesting story that goes along with each chapter. As you work your way to more advanced operations, you really take a liking to the characters and feel a strong sense of duty to your patients. To anyone who owns a Wii, this is definitely a game I’d recommend.

6. Chibi-Robo!

Chibi-Robo! This game takes me back! I spent hours upon hours playing this game, and I still would today if my copy hadn’t been stolen. This little treat is only available on the Wii and GameCube, and was created by Nintendo. It’s one of the most adorable platform-adventure games I’ve ever played to date. The Wiki explains the plot perfectly, so I’ll just post it here:

“Chibi-Robo! takes place in a 1960s-style American home and revolves around a tiny, highly advanced robot of the same name. He is given as a birthday gift to a socially withdrawn eight-year-old named Jenny Sanderson by her father. This is much to the dismay of Jenny's mother, a homemaker who is constantly stressed over how much money her husband spends on toys despite his unemployment.”

For a game that seems so basic, there are a plethora of areas to explore and they are huge. Ironically so, I’m sure, but it makes for some amazing gameplay nonetheless. As you wander, you help other creatures around the house, including the family, solve their problems and complete challenging and often comedic tasks; such as flipping burgers, cleaning up puddles, and-- you know-- helping the egg general save his fellow egg soldiers from the household dog. Yeah, stuff like that. XD

Honestly, it’s super fun and I recommend it to anyone, no matter what their age. It’s clearly geared towards children, but I can’t think of a single reason why an adult wouldn’t enjoy it just as much. It’s relaxing, freeing, and puts a genuine smile on your face. :)

7. Pokemon X and Y

Okay, I know I probably shouldn’t add Pokemon to this list, but I can’t help it! I’ve always loved the Pokemon games, but they just get better and better every time! Pokemon X and Y quickly became favourites of mine, and they consumed my life for a good two months as I captured every single Pokemon, bred the perfect IVs, and worked my ass off to get every shiny I desired. On top of that, I loved the story and, for once, how my character design turned out. What’s more, I fell absolutely in love with the Looker side quest, which is possibly the best and most emotional side quest I’ve ever played in a Pokemon game. X and Y will always be special to me, because in was with these two games that I caught ‘em all!

8. Pokemon Sun and Moon

Visually, Pokemon Sun and Moon are the best of the Pokemon games, in my opinion. They were also the first to really shake things up and give fans new and improved methods of breeding, capture, travel, communication, and more. We were also introduced to a new type of pokemon called “ultra beasts”, along with a fun and alluring story with several new characters and legendaries. Throughout the game, I found myself laughing hard at some of the experiences, and I spent countless hours capturing, trading, breeding, spoiling, and loving all of the new pokemon the games had to offer. I even transferred my pokemon from X and Y over so I could give them the same love and affection. ^_^

I have to thank @cassafra5 and @george-nordington, because they’re the ones who bought me this masterpiece! Thanks, guys! <3

9. .hack//OUTBREAK

This is a game that will always be near and dear to my heart. Back before guides were widely available, I was playing a game called .Hack//OUTBREAK. It came out in 2002, when I was only 12 years old. Back then, my dad was still alive. He never really understood my taste in anime, but he wanted to try and relate, so he bought this game for me on a whim. Little did he know I knew absolutely nothing about the .Hack series, and little did either of us know that OUTBREAK was actually the third part to two other .Hack games. Still, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so I played the game-- and I fell in love.

Visually, OUTBREAK was one of the best games I owned on PS2, and although parts of the story were difficult to follow, I was hooked. I dedicated entire days to this game, and because there weren’t any guides, I had to write down every code and location so I wouldn’t get lost/forget them. Today, I still have pages folded safely in the case. The amount of exploration and character interaction opened me up to a whole new genre of video games. In fact, it basically introduced me to anime-style games. I could actually buy gifts for my friends and build relationships. That seems common now, but back then it wasn’t for a typical PS2 game.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck when the save cartridge was accidentally kicked by my brother and all of my data was lost. I wasn’t too concerned, since I figured I could just replay the game and get everything back ... but the disk was also severely, irreparably scratched. It no longer plays. As such, it is now merely a keepsake from my father. I miss you, dad.

But 16 years later and my sister and I are still quoting this game! XD @alannahkiwi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I-7hwgwqa4

10. Persona 5

I only recently started playing Persona 5, but it’s quickly made its way to my top ten. I can’t say too much about it just yet, aside from the fact that the animation is crisp, the story is gripping, and I’m ready to sink hours of my life into platinuming this gorgeous feet of human achievement! So much heart and sole was poured into this game and it shows with every in-game step I take. This is the only game on this list that I haven’t yet finished, but I have a sense that I don’t really need to. Thus far, every mission has been a gem and I don’t want the party to end!

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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15 Best Legend of Zelda Boss Fights Ever

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Boss fights have been one of the pillars of The Legend of Zelda series since its inception. Link enters a dungeon, finds a new weapon, and often uses it to take out the big baddie that’s established residence there. It’s a solid formula that’s worked for over three decades now.

Not all Zelda bosses are created equally, though. Many are easily forgotten. Others, like Ocarina of Time’s Water Temple guardian Morpha…well, we just wish we could forget them. Of course, we’re here to celebrate the bosses that often defined the games they were in and helped establish The Legend of Zelda as one of the greatest series in gaming history.

You might also notice that some of the better Zelda games, namely Breath of the Wild and Link’s Awakening, aren’t represented on this list, while some of the more maligned games in the series do show up. The bosses on this list don’t necessarily hail from the best Legend of Zelda games, but they are among the most unique and creative in the history of this in the storied franchise.

15. Crayk – The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

With its low overall difficulty level and emphasis on using the DS’s touch screen controls, Phantom Hourglass isn’t well regarded by many Zelda fans. Still, it’s hard not to be impressed with the ways Nintendo intelligently used the handheld’s two screens as the basis for one of the series’ most unforgettable boss fights.

Crayk turns invisible on the bottom screen, but on the top screen, you can see the room from his point of view. You have to use the top screen to figure out exactly where Crayk is so you can shoot an arrow at his eye and turn him visible before going in for big damage.

14. Helmasaur King – The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

The Zelda series started in 2D, and while those early games are all-time classics, most of the bosses from that era honestly haven’t aged that well. However, Helmasaur King, the first boss in A Link to the Past’s Dark World, is still a standout all these years later.

First, Link has to use bombs or arrows to remove the giant lizard’s mask. It’s only then that you can expose this boss’ weak point and finally go in for the kill. It may sound simple, but that combination of action and puzzle-solving became the template for most future boss fights in the series.

13. Vaati – The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

The Minish Cap is an oddball Zelda game for a few reasons. Capcom handled development instead of Nintendo, it’s the final fully 2D “classic” Zelda game to date, and it’s one of the few games in the series that doesn’t even mention Ganondorf.

The evil sorcerer Vaati may not get as much love as Ganondorf, but he is the star of this epic multi-stage final boss fight. This battle requires Link to use all of the abilities he’s acquired during his adventure just to survive. That means dividing himself with the Four Sword to take out Vaati’s four eyes simultaneously before shrinking himself to enter the mage’s arms and deal damage from the inside out.

12. Gohma – The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Gohma is far from the toughest Zelda boss (he’s actually the very first dungeon boss in Wind Waker), but he makes up for a lack of difficulty with his imposing design and the fact he’s just so much fun to beat up. Gohma may be an absolutely massive, armored, fire-breathing bug unit, but it turns out that armor doesn’t help him much when Link shows up.

The key to defeating Gohma is to hookshot the tail of Valoo (the dragon you’re there to rescue). That will make Valoo drop rubble on Gohma’s head, giving Link the opening he needs to hookshot Gohma’s eye and go in with his sword. This fight is just a fantastic combination of mechanics, environment, and execution.

11. Goht – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

With its 72-hour time loop and complete absence of series mainstay Ganondorf, Majora’s Mask was the first title in the series to break away from a lot of The Legend of Zelda’s conventions and redefine what a Zelda game could be. Some gamers dislike it for that. Personally, I’m a big fan.

While most of the temples and bosses in Majora’s Mask don’t stray from Ocarina of Time too much, Goht is the appropriately giant exception. This massive bull creature charges around a circular arena throughout the battle and the only way to stop it is to change into Link’s Goron form and ram him at full speed. It’s a boss fight mixed with a destruction derby, and it’s a truly unique encounter for this franchise.

10. King Bulbin – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Most of the better boss fights in Zelda history focus on creative uses of the various items Link finds. King Bulbin isn’t one of those fights. Actually, the first phase is just a mad dash through Hyrule Field as Link, on horseback, tries to hack away at Bulbin while being swarmed by even more riders.

What really elevates this battle, though, is the iconic duel on the Bridge of Eldin. You only have to hit the king with your sword twice to defeat him, but without any guard rails, it’s easy to fall to your death. There’s a reason why this moment has been immortalized as a Super Smash Bros. stage. It’s one of the most memorable scenes in franchise history.

9. Dark Link – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Dark Link is technically a sub-boss, but this encounter is too cool to leave off the list. You meet Dark Link near the end of Ocarina of Time’s much-maligned Water Temple in what at first seems to be an unusually calm room. It’s only when Link’s reflection in the water goes missing that it becomes apparent that something is amiss.

No matter how you attack Dark Link with the Master Sword, he will counter your moves perfectly. It’s that premise, and the way it forces you to find new ways to deal with such a powerful foe, combined with the set-up that makes this one of the most creative bosses in any Zelda game.

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8. Argorok – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Throughout its many installments, the Zelda series has actually been really good about coming up with unique enemy designs. So if a somewhat generic dragon shows up, he better put up one hell of a fight. Thankfully, Argorok delivers.

Argorok starts the fight in the air but can creatively be brought to the ground by latching on to him with your double clawshot and then equipping your iron boots to bring him crashing down. That takes care of the dragon’s armor, but it’s not the end of the fight, as Link spends the rest of the battle using his clawshot to zip around while targeting the weak spot on Argorok’s back.

7. Twinrova – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Ocarina of Time is full of memorable boss battles, but Twinrova stands out as the best temple guardian boss in the game.

The first phase of the battle requires Link to absorb this pair’s elemental attacks (fire and ice) with his newly obtained mirror shield before reflecting them back at the sister who controls the opposite element. That’s not the end of the battle, though, as the sisters combine into one entity for the final showdown. This time, Link has to absorb each element three consecutive times before firing back at Twinrova and finishing the job with some truly satisfying sword strikes.

6. Stalblind – The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

A Link Between Worlds really doesn’t get enough recognition for being an excellent spiritual sequel to the beloved A Link to the Past as well as one of the better showcases of stereoscopic 3D on the 3DS. That technology is used to power Link’s best new skill in this game: the ability to turn himself into a flat piece of art and do his best sidescroller impression.

That ability is essential for a lot of the game’s puzzles, but one of its best uses is found in the fight against Stalblind. This massive boss uses a shield to block Link’s attacks, but Link can turn himself flat onto Stalblind’s shield, which confuses the enemy and forces him to put the shield on his back. That’s the only opening Link needs in this simple, yet brilliant, boss fight.

5. Puppet Ganon – The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

While many Wind Waker fans think the final battle with Ganondorf is the best in the game (and one of the best in the series), it’s ultimately a fairly simple fight, even if the setting is quite dramatic. Puppet Ganon is just a much more strategic encounter, and I’d argue that the setting is even better.

First, this is a really cool incarnation of Ganon unlike anything else in the franchise. It probably wouldn’t even work in another game, but here, Wind Waker’s cartoony style gives the puppet boss an especially creepy vibe. It’s really rather haunting watching this entity’s limbs dangle limply as it moves around the room before morphing into its even freakier spider and worm forms. It’s also ingenious how each of the forms requires you to use skills gained throughout the game to put this puppet away forever.

4. Stallord – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The fight against Stallord doesn’t even feel like a traditional Zelda boss fight, but that actually works to its advantage.

Stallord is certainly one of the cooler-looking bosses in the series (it’s a giant demonic fossil protruding from the sand), but the creature is no match for Link’s trusty Spinner: a top that kind of acts like a skateboard. Even Nintendo couldn’t resist cashing in on Tony Hawk. The Spinner is mostly used to ride rails, but in the first phase of the Stallord battle, Link uses it to dodge enemies and crash into the resurrected fossil. The second phase is even better, with Link riding the spinner up a pillar to take down Stallord’s floating, fireball spewing skull.

3. Koloktos – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Though it was well-reviewed at launch, a lot of gamers have turned sour on Skyward Sword over the last decade for a simple reason: its motion controls were unreliable. Still, there’s a solid Zelda game under the frustration, and when the controls do work, they really enhance the game. So far as that goes, Koloktos is the prime example of Skyward Sword at its very best.

To defeat this six-armed automaton, Link first has to use his newly acquired whip to remove the arms Koloktos uses to guard his weak point. Deal enough damage, and Koloktos then grabs six swords for each of its hands. You’ll again have to use the whip to remove his arms, but this time, you have to pick up one of the swords it drops to slash at the weak spot for massive damage. It’s an oddly visceral and satisfying boss fight that stands out even when compared to the best encounters in the series.

2. Majora’s Mask – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Between the magical masks, 72-hour time loop, and the ever-looming threat of the moon crashing into everything, Majora’s Mask is one trippy game. It’s fitting, then, that the final battle against the titular villain is truly psychedelic. After stopping the apocalypse and entering the moon, Link finally comes face-to-face with Majora’s Mask. The first phase just sees the mask floating around a hallucinatory room, but for the next two phases, the creature sprouts legs and, finally, tentacles.

There are actually two ways to defeat Majora’s Mask: the strategic way or the badass way. The first method requires switching masks and strategies and quickly moving around the room while carefully avoiding attacks. The second method, which is arguably more fun, is to obtain all 23 masks in the game and collect the all-powerful Fierce Deity Mask for your efforts. That mask allows a nearly invincible Link to just beat the hell out of Majora’s Mask in a couple of minutes. No other Zelda game ends quite like that, but then again, there’s no other Zelda game quite like Majora’s Mask.

1. Ganondorf/Ganon – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

There might be some bias here for those of us who grew up playing Ocarina of Time, but more than two decades later, this boss fight still holds up remarkably well.

First, there’s the atmosphere and sense of foreboding. After several dozen hours adventuring through Hyrule, gathering the seven sages, and breaching Ganondorf’s castle, you finally confront the face of all evil in the land…and he’s eerily playing his theme on the organ. Admittedly, the first phase of this fight is kind of silly (it’s basically a game of tennis as Link and Ganondorf exchange a ball of energy back and forth), but where this boss fight truly stands out is in its second phase. It’s there that you confront Ganon: a towering pig beast wielding two massive swords in an arena surrounded by a ring of fire. The strategy here is pretty simple (just get behind him and strike his tail repeatedly until Link can land the killing blow) but it’s such a cinematic moment and satisfying conclusion to a classic game that it’s hard not to consider it the best boss fight in franchise history.

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zydrateacademy · 6 years

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Review - Monster Hunter World (PC)

This review contains spoilers. The benefit of playing a port months after the game initially hits consoles is that there are a host of guides available, which I recommend if you want to take this game moderately seriously (bit of an oxymoron there but bear with me). I don’t typically like games that require you to have extra study material to understand but to its credit, all I had to do was watch one video guide about the mechanics of my favored weapon, the Light Bowgun. After which I was probably fifty percent better every hunt after that. So I certainly recommend looking into that.

The story begins with your highly customize-able character on a ship to a ‘new world’, previously undiscovered in other games of the franchise. Your ship gets waylaid by a mountainous “Elder Dragon” who came up from sea. His back is full of magma and volcanic spouts and you climb his back in order to escape. Once you’re in safety, you find out he’s one of many that have migrated to this place for mysterious reasons. Typically one every few hundred years, now it’s one every decade and that has caused some turmoil in the ecosystem. Your job is essentially research. Kill monsters, stabilize the ecosystem, and arm yourself while doing so.

Eventually there is an extended epilogue. Once you discover that Elder’s goal and what it might mean, you enter a “High rank” hunt mechanic because the ecosystem has changed and you react accordingly. Monsters in these quests are tougher and more aggressive, and you continually work your way up.

This review may maintain some comparisons to Dauntless. As I mentioned in that very review, my only experience with MH as a franchise was during a brief road trip with my friend back in the PSP days. I have little memory of it and I doubt I was any good or understand any of the minutiae of mechanics. As such, a majority of my experience in this genre comes from Dauntless, the free-to-play variant with more dumbed down mechanics than you couldn’t shake a stick at. Veterans of MH are calling World dumbed down, ha. If only they knew how far that could actually go. My immediate first impression of MHW was actually quite positive. There’s something I can do here that I never really could at Dauntless; actually solo monsters. Dauntless was fairly unforgiving, only giving you five (count them: five) potions per hunt. You burn through those without burning the monster down properly, and you were done. Mercifully here, you not only get dozens of varying degrees of usefulness, you can also craft more on the fly or withdraw some from your loot in various camps set up around the impressively large zones. While some monsters give me more trouble than others (most flying types can do a one-two knockout by rushing me, putting me in a twelve hour stun animation, then merely swipe at me for an instant death), I’ve been in awe at what I’ve actually been able to accomplish on my own. ...And unfortunately, I am forced to do a handful of things on my own. Let me tap into some of the problems I have before diving back into the meat and mechanics of the game. Steam reviews are mixed for a couple of reasons. Bad controls and connectivity issues. The bad controls are a remnant of the fact that it was originally a PS4 game and the menus really show that. The UI itself is very controller friendly while the M/K is barely given a second thought. I had to rebind my weapon draw to left click like it is with melee because I’d find myself engaged in too many fights, frantically clicking only to find out I was actually just using my slinger and tossing useless rocks at the monster. In addition, the radial menu might as well not exist, as it is bound to your various F1-F4 keys. It’s very clunky and not at all the “quick” menu that it’s supposed to be. Frankly, I’m tired of hearing “just get a controller” from my friends. I don’t think I’ve touched a controller since 2008. Next is a problem that Capcom and Steam are already looking into. While I’ve been able to progress, just last night I lost out on three high ranked hunts because it kept dropping me from the group. From what I’ve read, the monster’s hitpoints balance towards groups (instantly doubling when a second person joins your hunt) but doesn’t at all go back down if anyone leaves. At the time I was replaying what was basically the main story’s ending, fighting the last boss over and over. Thankfully his mission doesn’t have a lot of open combat and is mostly just firing cannons and ballistae at him over and over. Still, it dropped me three times and had little to show for it overall.

There’s no direct party system, just player listings and hubs. You have to find a convoluted “Session ID” in the menus for your friends to copy and eventually join together. Someone posts a quest and everyone joins it. You won’t physically see anyone outside of a hunt unless you visit the gathering hub on top of the main town. The whole Session ID is just a pointless extra step that the likes of Capcom just love throwing in there. I am reminded of Black Desert Online. Despite being a different country, it still has the same idea behind its mechanics. One does not simply just craft or buy potions. First you have to press thirteen buttons just to get a stack of them. Then they might be put in your storage box, not personal pouch so you have to remember to take them out before your hunt. Then there’s the canteen mechanic, where you’re encourages you to eat to gain decent buffs before every hunt. Why not make that a single item you can use midhunt? Like Dauntless, pretty much every important thing in town is far apart and forces you into miniature loading screens. After every hunt you’re plopped on the bottom level but you still have to run up to the Blacksmith to fetch some upgrades. One does not simply make armor, too. In the higher levels you have to micromanage “decorations” to socket into your arms and armor to increase various passive skills. Why not just make those skills up-gradable like the armor itself? Indeed, one does not simply upgrade their armor! You have to collect “spheres” that you get from bounties and hunts in order to do so. Everything just has a pointless extra step, but I admit these are all nitpicks in what I do believe is a pretty damn good game. I have adjusted to the controls (even though it takes twelve clicks to get anywhere in the menu, but the combat is fine) and I can stomach the connectivity problems... for a time. Everything else is just a niggling annoyance that I have to deal with before I get to the real heart of the game: Expeditions and hunts. To its credit there’s a lot to do. Expeditions are the closest thing this game has to an “open world” setting. You will keep everything you acquire, gather materials and hunt the local monsters at your own leisure (though once you attack, they enter a sort of timer where they will flee the area if you fool around too much, but the mode itself will never kick you out). You can pick up quests on-site and continually remain in the zone you’ve chosen. Admittedly I haven’t explored expedition mode to a severe degree, as doing the various optional quests and bounties give me more than enough gameplay on their own. I never really need to piddle around the same zone for that long.

I mentioned earlier that I was happy that I can actually solo a handful of monsters in this game as opposed to Dauntless. There’s a lot more to that, the “simplest of MH’s” claim be damned, I embrace convenience if it comes hand in hand with actual fun. You can farm the same monster a few times but I found that the game offers you a handful of armor sets that can be crafted from bones and minerals alone. You can pick up bones from piles around every map and mine at little alcoves and continually gain materials to sets that will be perfectly passable for a time. I wore the basic “bone” armor for a while before getting into the more specialized stuff. Revered is the Anjarath, the game’s T-Rex who has a fire breath attack that will absolutely one-shot you and serves as the game’s first difficulty wall. His armor, however, gives fire resistance so if you can stomach fighting him a couple times (ideally in multiplayer), then you can likely build yourself up to handle him properly. Fun fact; I’ve yet to solo him myself. Other monsters have given players trouble that have instead given me more fun. The Radobaan for example, a sort of mid-game encounter in a zone called the Rotten Vale. It is a place where many monsters go to die and their essence feeds the Coral Highlands above it. The Radobaan covers itself in the bones of dead creatures and is thus highly armored, and you must burn through that in order to do some raw damage. I know of players who find this armor annoying but his movements are highly telegraphed and he’s a fan of stumbling himself which gives me a lot of free shots at him. So far he’s honestly been one of my favorite monsters to fight.

I did not realize this was the franchise’s first foray into big name consoles and even PC, the rest were evidently all handheld games. The intro into this hardware allows for a lot more powerful mechanics to come into play. New to the franchise, as far as I’m aware, is animal behavior. I can’t speak for the other games but I noticed a few things. There’s a turf war mechanic where two big bad monsters will encounter each other and start their own duel regardless of your presence. Each monster has its own “rating”, and I doubt a Great Jagras (the first and easiest monster) ever wins any of those.

In addition to that, I’ve found that docile animal mechanics can occasionally tip me off. You see it in a cutscene a time or two but even before my scoutflies (the game’s justification for a “go this way” mechanic) start tracking the monster, I’d be going down a path and find herbivores running the opposite direction. Sure enough, down that path was a large monster. Part of the hunt or no, animals do react accordingly. Sometimes they’ll take defensive positions as you initiate combat, or sometimes they’ll fly down and knock you over in a moment of monster camaraderie that I wish they hadn’t bothered with. Still, its moments like this that help the world feel like an actual world, appropriate for the game’s namesake. I know I droned on a bit about the problems the game had but some of them (the controls) can be mitigated. I’m enjoying myself, spending a good majority of my time responding to SOS flares or pushing myself in the high rank hunts to see what exactly I might be able to handle. I rarely push myself to see what exactly I’m capable of in gaming, but MHW pays that off so well. Maybe I can’t handle that flying Rathian on my own, but managing to take down a tunnel dwelling Diablos was a thing of beauty. The hunts can be long and exhausting but finally watching a beast get taken down after a couple of deaths can be very exciting. The genre may not be for everyone. If you’re story driven, you’ll find the one here is short and weak and mostly just serves as a framework for the gameplay. If you like content, then there’s plenty to do that should be varied enough to keep you around, and I’m sure they’ll update more monsters in as time goes on. Even after I get my fill, I’m sure I’ll keep an eye on this one.

#Monster Hunter World #Monster Hunter #MHW #Capcom #Gaming #PC Gaming

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brothermouzongaming · 6 years

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Warmind thots

Better if only by a bit

I understand that Vicarious Visions made this expansion, a fact that is a little troubling if you ask me and my pessimistic tendencies. Even with that information, I almost forgot another developer had taken care of this expansion because it was very much along the lines of Bungie’s typical format. I still feel that these thoughts and feelings are relevant and still perfectly appropriate despite Bungie doing this a little differently this time around. The fact remains: nothing is going in the game that doesn’t have Bungie’s approval. Hell, as far as we know Vicarious merely did what Bungie would’ve done anyway, following a template that was explicitly written by Bungie. From what I understand they did design the Raid Lair but I doubt they were given such liberties with dlc given what we have is reported to have been lined up for a while. Regardless, the overall message of this is that the Warmind dlc is an improvement. The subtext is that such an accomplishment means fuck-all in the face of what can only be described as a huge flop for both Bungie and Activision. Despite what the financial reports may say. Changes to exotics are great and give us something to grind that improves our favorite guns. Escalation Protocol is a challenge that takes coordination but is still a great idea at its core. Nodes are another means of grind that again give guardians a reason to come back. Curse of Osiris was a low bar to step over, but at least they did it and did it fairly well.

“Dress-tiny”

Good god how is it that the dlc adds blander armors. I think the focus on armor is all wrong and centered way too much around looks but since it’s here; the least they could do is stand out. Hunters get straight up screwed with some of the least impressive and lazy designs I’ve ever seen. Literally solid color sleeves and a slightly different glove design. Titans are clearly the character type that inspires the artists the most because from the looks to the functionality they have it the best hands down in my opinion. My preferred class, Warlock, sits somewhere in the middle. With armor pieces that work like a dream in the field, some that are beyond useless and those are just the exotics. The legendary pieces rarely vary in any significant way beyond a couple points this way or that way between the whopping three stats you have to manage. So looks are really all that is left, and there isn’t anything definitive about a lot of these “legendary” pieces of armor. The shader situation is an absolute trash fire, hopefully, the Warmind dlc was gonna add some interesting tweaks to the color scheme...imagine my surprise when the color pallets are few and far between as far as anything really distinguishable. I put on four shaders on some pants and they all looked exactly the same. That’s one of Destiny’s many problems, it’s only half in with all of its ideas.

“Remember whoo you areee”

Lion King reference aside, I can’t be any more serious. *snaps fingers repeatedly* Hello Bungie, wake up! You are squandering all the goodwill built up in your past successes. I understand this is far from the team that brought us Halo: CE but I would’ve thought they would be fighting in its memory. The ambition is there, I commend and respect that much. The effort and execution, however, has been wildly lackluster. I can forgive a large amount of D1′s problems, it’s an ambitious idea that was gonna have some kinks and issues in it.

Company’s like Ubisoft and Capcom are giving away the occasional free update to games like The Divison and Monster Hunter World respectively. For Destiny 2 to become essentially the biggest flop of this generation and offer no respite or token of gratitude to the fanbase that stayed is miraculously idiotic. Oh what’s that? They gave us the broken Prometheus Lens? Aw, that’d be nice if it wasn’t the only gesture Bungie has made, and it released so broken it singlehandedly turned the Crucible into laser tag. Yes, that was fun, but it wasn’t even something Bungie did, it was an accident. That accident for a short period of time was the most exciting and engaging thing that has happened in D2 for a while now. The initial concept of Destiny is very promising, especially when you find out it’s in the hands of Bungie. I can’t help but feel that somewhere along the way they realized that the idea was better than the actual physical manifestation of it. Now that they’re in way too deep, all they can do is press on through the self-made muck and mire. Doing what they want to expand the franchise rather than improve it; coming from a developer I once revered it’s both infuriating and deeply saddening. Please Bungie, get it together for your sake, not ours. I’m not buying D3 and I have a funny feeling a decent amount of people won’t either, you aren’t an indie dev with no experience. Why are you acting like it?

Copy and paste

Warmind’s loot pool is vastly more interesting and enticing than that of Osiris. The sharp geometric shapes, as well as the sounds and skills associated with the guns, are very distinct and dare I say enjoyable. They don’t drop quite as often, Destiny has reverted back to its old ways in that sense and I’m not against it at all. If we get everything in the first week what’s the point of paying so much/ what’s keeping us here? My issue is the recurring problem of both reskins and returning exotics. Osiris was fairly wrought with reskins and even worse with poor and just unsavory perks, these guns rained from the sky I practically had to set up a direct deposit to my trash bin. Even better, these weapons seem to be tiered and earned with different kinds of currency. Now getting that new auto rifle or sub-machine gun feels good when it drops and not repetitive. The bringing back of D1 exotics is nice, there’s no reason in the world why some of these guns can’t and shouldn’t exist in this game. When two of the four guns are D1 guns, that’s when I get peeved. There needs to be more, I’m not talking truckloads but half the guns shouldn’t be D1 guns not for dlc we paid for. Honestly, how hard is it to design a new gun, what are you guys saving it for D3? Why not put out as much as you can to satisfy a fanbase that is struggling in the here and now? Seriously would it kill you guys to throw us a bone beyond fixing the issues we shouldn’t be dealing with at all? I know I can come off as entitled, but realize that this is a game with so much money behind it that I’m genuinely uncomfortable with the figure itself. This money could’ve gone to like... help people. Bungie got $500 million for the franchise as a whole, let’s say it broke up evenly which is about $166,666,666. Where the fuck did that money go? Destiny 2 is essentially one massive asset flip and when players like me were told D2 would progress the series, it’s done almost nothing but regress. So maybe as a paying customer who has been deceived and lied to since day one of this game, maybe in this instance entitlement is a little understandable.

Change ‘Gon Come

The exotic changes are good, this is a big step in the right direction. Destiny beat its dick to no end about being a power fantasy, then D2 came around and took away the power. These guns are starting to feel exponentially better, really living up to the “exotic” term. Escalation Protocol is brutal, I’m worried it is more difficult than any random group of guardians can handle. The most I’ve done a run with is four or five and I’m suspecting it may take somewhere up to seven. Hard isn’t bad but it’s crushing to the point where I can see players avoiding the event entirely to go complete something they actually have a chance of achieving. The title of this segment is two parts, change is coming to Destiny in the form of the development end. Changes to the game that are efforts in the right direction to give this game a sense of life and purpose. We’ll see what E3 holds, this “Comet” expansion is gonna be featured due to their “brand new game mode” or whatever, something that’s “never been done before int he genre of FPS”. I have no idea what that means but it sounds like th same high aiming that got us in this mess to begin with, we will see. The other half is the changes in the form of who plays Destiny/ how many people will be playing Destiny. I said it earlier and I’ll say it again. Four years is too long for a big name dev like Bungie to say “sorry guys, making games is hard”. You signed up for this, you had time to prepare. No one asked for Destiny, and though making games is no doubt very difficult; I don’t see how you can use that as an excuse in a case of sheer negligence and outright maliciousness by Bungie. Change ‘gon come, one way or another.

#Destiny #Destiny 2 #Bungie #Activision #video games #gaming #Warmind

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