BloodStained Ritual of the Night

The E3 trailer for Bloodstained Ritual of the Night just dropped and I have a good feeling this kickstarter might actually be the true spiritual successor to a classic game legacy (unlike what Mighty #9 turned out to be).

Igarashi was an assistant Director, Programmer and Writer of the legendary Symphony of the Night I have faith in IGA, if Bloodstained is half as good as SotN it'll still be 200% better than LoI.....

Netflix Castlevania Anime Series Teaser Trailer

When I first heard about this I was hopeful....still am.
I've been playing this franchise since the original you see in this clever teaser. Can't wait to check this out!

NETFLIX BLAME!

Watched Blame last night, visually it wasn't bad, the color pallet and character design reminded me of Knights of Sidonia (same production studio), but thankfully without the creepy elastic alien phallic creature! I really wasn't able to get emotionally vested in any of the characters, which apparently is true to the Manga....characters survive just as long in BLAME as in Game of Thrones and TWD. The environment in BLAME is supposed to instill a sense of dread, hopelessness and endlessness but I never felt that in this movie. Also the sound track didn't do anything for me either in fact I preferred the sound track from the ONA (below).
All in all the NETFLIX BLAME! movie by Polygon has the same sterile, muted visual style like Knights of Sedonia, with an underwhelming soundtrack and characters that you never get enough time or info to get invested in.... 

Blame felt like a hollow blend of The Matrix and Terminator 2. Visually it's good but it just felt longer than necessary.

B-

Blade Runner 2049 First Trailer

Like I said at the beginning of the year 2017 is gonna put us in the poor house with all the amazing movies coming out this year, Ridley Scott has potentially 2 huge films this year with Prometheus and now Blade Runner 2049!


I'm on the fence about Jared Leto, I have confidence that Ridley Scott chose the right actors for the roles but I still have reservations.....I have a feeling Leto is playing a relative of Eldon Tryrell.
I love the aesthetic of the new film, it feels like the original based on this trailer, but also gives the impression that the world is going to be expanded upon.
It's cool to see that Atari is still sponsoring the Blade Runner franchise LMAO! I'm not even sure if Ridley Scott needed to get permission to use the Atari logo at this point, I'm not even sure who owns the trademark any more.
I guess Gaff was right when he said. "It's too bad she won't live...but then again who does" referring to Rachael because Sean Young is nowhere to be seen.
I'm really excited for this film because I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen the entire film is a mystery at this point and I love it!
I'm going to attempt to stay as spoiler free as possible!

Alien: Covenant | Prologue: The Crossing | 20th Century FOX

The Crossing, an official prologue short to Alien: Covenant, reveals what happened to crew members Dr. Elizabeth Shaw and the synthetic David after the events of Prometheus. Set aboard an abandoned Engineer vessel, Dr. Shaw repairs David as they continue their search for humanity’s creators. 




http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/alien-covenant




 

Kingsman The Golden Circle Trailer

I loved the first Kingsman movie, and Kingsman The Golden Circle looks like it's gonna be just as fantastic if not more!
If you haven't seen the first Kingsman movie I HIGHLY recommend it!
This movie had me at One Armed Man with Rocket Fist!!

D-23 Expo July 14-16 2017 What will we get from that Galaxy far far away?

With SWCO behind us let's look to the future, Disney's Expo that happens every other year is coming this July! At the 2015 convention we got some exciting news regarding Star Wars Land and I'm positive we will get a presentation with updates on the progress and highlights we can look forward to in 2019...(that's some good timing!)







But what other Star Wars news can we expect?
A teaser trailer for the Han Solo movie?

News about other stand alone movies? 


Another trailer for TLJ?

News about the next animated Star Wars series?


News or a trailer for that other Star Wars game?

What do my dellow fellagates want to see from D-23?

Retro Game Review: Transistor

Back in May of 2014 I wrote a post about 4 games I wanted that caught my eye the 4 lil games... and one was Transistor. I finally got around to playing it and I loved it! A very fresh game with a cool art deco aesthetic and a refreshingly unique story and game play!
On the surface the game is about a weapon that absorbs the "souls" of it's victims and how a lounge singer named Red is saved by a mysterious dude "a fan". Red acquires the Transistor and seeks revenge on the group called the Camerata  that tried to "end" her. Along the way Red battles mobs known as "The Process". Defeating these processes you earn XP which help level up Red and in turn level up the Transistor.
As you and the Transistor level up you gain access to new abilities called Functions such as Crash, Breach, Spark, Jaunt, Bounce, Load, Help, Mask, Ping, Switch, Get, Purge, Flood, Cull, Tap and Void.
Each of these functions require a certain amount of Mem from 1-4 and as you progress thru the game you unlock additional Mem and additional slots; Active, Passive and Upgrade Slots to attach a Function to, and depending where you place the function determines the Functions purpose. So each of the 16 functions can be utilized 3 different ways. And later in the game you can actually earn multiple of the same function so in essence you can use Void in an Active Slot AND a Passive (sub) Slot.
There is alot of flexibility with how you fight the Process with the Transistor and tooling around with different combinations of Functions adds a great deal of depth to this game.
Once you get the gist of the game there are also Process Limiters that alter the effects of defeated processes adding a higher level of difficulty.
One of the most interesting aspects of the game is the story in my opinion, The whole story takes place in the city of Cloudbank, and the main antagonist is the "Process" that seems to corrupt high profile personalities in Cloudbank that when integrated into the Transistor become functions that compliment that personality.
The whole story feels very familiar, it reminds me ALOT of the original Matrix, where all these citizens of Cloudbank, Lillian Platt, Wave Tennegan, Henter Jallaford, Farrah Yon-Dale, Olmarq, Sybil Reiz, Asher and Grant Kendrell and Royce Bracket all exist in this reality but I believe their whole reality is artificial or with in a computer or perhaps in a cloud. And the transistor, unbeknownst to any of them is a gateway to another reality...our reality. The outro also somewhat supports my theory.
Great little game, definately worth the price!
8/10 

Retro Game Review: Child of Light

This game is simply gorgeous from the visual aesthetic of a water color painting to the haunting sound track to the story of Aurora and her quest to save her father from death.
This gem from Ubi Soft Montreal studio in is a perfect example how how small and simple doesn't always equate to a less impressive experience, sometimes less is more!
There is beauty throughout this game from the art design to the dialog between Aurora and the NPC's and party members to the games story!
The battle system is very reminisent to old school Final Fantasy games, when Aurora comes in contact with an enemy mob the screen goes to a battle screen where the enemy's (up to 3) show up on the right side and the party members on the left. There is a ATB system with a single bar with avatars representing all characters in the battle. Each character's avatar moves at different speeds till it reaches the "casting point" once the avatar reaches that point the speed slows down till it reaches the end of the ATB bar, then the character performs an action, if the attack hits the recipients turn could be interrupted sending the player or enemy back to the beginning  of the ATB bar. So the player isn't just passivly waiting for their turn there's some strategy involved in which characters you keep in battle. You can swap out any character during battles once the character reaches the "casting" point on the ATB bar, which will save your ass during some particularly difficult battles.
The level up system is also very simplistic but has adequate depth to allow the player to feel like they have control over the characters progression, you earn skill points during battles and can use the points on the characters skill tree to upgrade MP, HP, offensive and/or defensive abilities and spells. Each character has their own individual skill tree with character specific skills so building a well rounded party or a highly offensive party is up to the player how they prefer to tackle the battles.

    

Child of Light also has a crafting element with gems called Oculi,  you can think of them like the materia system from FFVII they are gemstones that can be attached 1 per item (weapon, armor, accessory) to enhance it's attributes such as adding elemental damage to attacks or enhance chance of evasion or increase max HP/ MP, 

There are 3 tiers of Oculi; 

Base Oculi: Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald

Crafted Oculi: Tourmaline, Amethyst, Citrine

Advanced Crafted Oculi: Diamond, Onyx, Spinel

The characters in Child of Light are all unique and varied enough to stand on there own,
Finn is a Capili (dwarf) who is the equivalent to FF's Black Mage
Genovefa  is a Piscean  who would be the equivalent to FF Tactics Time Mage
Igniculus is a floating orb of light that can assist Aurora by healing with his light and blinding enemies which stops them in their tracks. I'd say Iggy would be the equivalent to FF's Carbuncle.
Norah is Aurora's step sister and she reveals herself to also be NOX her skills also make her equivalent to a Time Mage
Oengus is a Kategida warrior and is pretty much a tank so we'll say he's the Knight in CoL
Robert is a Bolmus (mouse) his primary weapon is a Bow and Arrow that can inflict status ailments on enemies he's like a Archer from FF Tactics
Rubella is a Aerostati that specializes in healing....we all know what she would be in the FF realm
Tristis is Rubella's brother and he casts support spells on the party.....red mage.
CoL was a gorgeous game in so many aspects, I enjoyed the simplicity of it which brought me back to a time when RPG's ruled consoles.
If you enjoyed JRPG's back in the day you'll truly appreciate Child of Light.
B

Star Wars Battlefront II Reveal Trailer Star Wars Celebration 2017

I never bought the new Battlefront even though I was impressed by the trailer, and in retrospect I'm so glad I held off. This generation of selling an incomplete titles at full price and then releasing DLC that accounts for about 20% of the game at rediculous prices. When all is said and done and you have all the DLC expansions the game could cost over $100! Fuck that shit!
I did however play the Original Battlefront games on the PS2....back when games were sold complete....ok grumpy old school gamer rant end. I do hope EA/ Dice listened to the complaints and have re thought the DLC sales model.
Because if they did I will definitely be getting BFII.
I love the fact the story looks like a game based on the Lost Stars Novel.



Dear Lucasarts....please reach out to Capcom and make Masters of Teras Kasi 2!