Bloodborne (Comic) Review

It's rare to see a video-game adaptation succeed in any medium, particularly in movies. Little faith can ever be placed in something transferring mediums, and it oddly enough seems that one of the more difficult things to translate can be within the realm of visual media. But you'd think that translating a video-game to film could be easier than translating it to comic form, where images aren't moving and the reader has no agency in the story. However, where most "adaptations" succeed is not with directly redoing what the video-game has done, but expanding upon it. Such is the case with Titan Comic's Bloodborne.

Comic Book Reviews - May 30, 2018

As one DC weekly series ends, another begins. And in an extra-large extra week of comics, one can only rely on one thing to pull them through all of the insanity: Gorgeous artwork.

Dark Souls - The Burden of Legacy

Legacy is a funny thing. Everyone strives to have one. Everyone wants to be remembered, everyone wants to be known as doing something. It's not a bad thing to want, so long as there is something else, something more, that drives you. Maybe you want to be the best racecar driver. If all that's there is the desire to be the best and not prove anything, maybe you're missing something. It's a hollow legacy. Sometimes, these people who have a legacy, who have something they must strive for, are burdened by it. They have to carry a certain weight or prowess about them that; this is seen nowhere better than the 2011 From Software video game, Dark Souls.

Bloodborne - Stilled Horror

This Wednesday sees the release of Titan Comics' own Bloodborne comic, featuring major aspects of the game in terms of lore, locations, and characters. From what preview pages I've seen, it appears to be a pretty solid translation of what's onscreen to what's on the page, even though it really shouldn't work that well. How can a game that relies on fast-paced action be translated to a comic? Well, one of the biggest hooks of the game comes not from it's quick movement, but it's slow, still, silent moments that captivate and terrify the soul.

Dragon Ball FighterZ: Impressions for Newbs

So I’m not the best at fighting games. Soul Calibur? Love it; bad at it. Injustice? Enjoy it; bad at it. And now I can successfully add Dragon Ball FighterZ to that category of games I’m flat out bad at, but continue picking up the controller to keep playing. The thing that’s different about FighterZ, though, is that it actively wants to help me get better, something I’ve never really picked up in a fighting game. Thus, I’m here to tell you, yes you, that you will not regret picking this game up even if you’re bad at it.

Blog Update: Winter 2018

So last year was a bit...sporadic. Quite different, I'd also add. There were notable omissions from this little blog here, as well as some heavy delays to some once-tightly scheduled publications, as well as a seemingly random schedule of releases when it came to some reviews or content in general. 2017 certainly didn't make it easy for me to get around to this, but after spending some time thinking about how to handle the blog moving forward, I think I know what direction to take things moving into 2018. And, if everything pans out like I'm hoping it will, then there's some pretty exciting stuff coming down the tube.

Dragon Ball FighterZ DLC Wishlist

Merry Almost-Christmas everybody! Normally I’d take this time to talk about another list of things from this past year as a means of reflection, but screw that noise, Dragon Ball FighterZ is almost here and I wanna talk about that, because I am ECSTATIC to play this game. I didn’t get in on the closed beta and I’ve basically blocked out the weekend of January 14th-16th as time to play it and learn some of the characters I’m interested in most (Teen Gohan, Trunks, Hit, Beerus for those that care). There’s still one lingering mystery over the game: who are the eight DLC fighters going to be? We haven’t gotten many hints and there’s speculation abound, so, I’ve decided to throw my hat and hopes into the ring!

Top 10 Favorite Video Games

I wouldn’t say I’m the most avid gamer in the world, but I do find myself often digging into a game for several hours at a time and not even realizing it. If a game is great, this is one of the easiest things to do without realizing. There’s few things better than getting immersed in the world of a game, or falling in love with some solid gameplay and just having a go at it. Video games provide an excellent resource for people to just hang out and have some fun, or take out some sort of frustration *cough From Software games cough*. And because I’ve been on a bit of a gaming kick recently, I decided there was little better time to talk about my ten favorite games of all time!

Gundam Versus Review

Gundam Versus, an arena-fighting game featuring various suits and characters from the decades-long “Mobile Suit Gundam” franchise has finally made its way out West for American consumers to enjoy. The game features suits from almost every series, including some of the more recent ones like “Build Fighters” or “Iron-Blooded Orphans” (the latter is currently airing its second season on Toonami), and has some popular old-school suits as well. It’s a must-buy for any Gundam fan, and any fan of big arena-style fighters, too.

Bloodborne and the Context of a Duel

Some of the most iconic images or moments in movies, video-games, and television come out of a duel. It's that moment where the hero and villain are finally clashing swords, or shooting each other down. It's almost impossible to count all the great duels we've seen over the years; from the Mexican standoff of The Good, the Bad, the Ugly to Luke facing Vader on the reformed Death Star to Oberyn Martell fighting the menacing Mountain. Bloodborne, though, manages to exemplify the very best out of a duel time and time again throughout the game, taking characteristics from past, iconic duels and possibly forging the path for new ones to be made. 

Bloodborne and the Context of a Scare

One of the most prominent tropes in modern horror flicks is the jump-scare. Every horror movie now, it seems, attempts to have a jump-scare in one way or another. Perhaps it’s meant to jolt the audience into being awake, and being alert; or, perhaps, it’s meant as a momentary beat of pure fascination and horror at what was just seen, and not being able to comprehend it. Quite the opposite of a jump-scare is a long, winding bit of tension. Perhaps a long pan down a hallway, creeping and creeping toward something. It’s Danny riding his bike in The Shining; it’s the truck from Jeepers Creepers tailing our two young heroes. But without context, both of these elements fall flat. Something jumping out for no reason is senseless, and a long bit of nothing can be just that: nothing. The context behind a scare is often more important than the scare itself.

Fate/Grand Order Review

I’m a big fan of the “Fate/” series, and I don’t think that’s a small secret. On this blog alone I’ve reviewed Fate/Zero TWICE and got into discussions circling around the “Unlimited Blade Works” route of Fate/Stay Night in animated form. I eagerly await Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel and the next part of the Fate/Grand Order anime adaptation. But what I’m not so big a fan of is mobile gaming. I’ll get into a game for just a little bit before my free-to-play experience dries up and things just become meddling, or I run out of missions to do. So, what happens when you mix a franchise I like with a genre I’m impartial to? Well, actually a pretty fun, addictive experience.

Dark Souls III The Ringed City Part 2 Review

*SPOILERS FOR THE RINGED CITY AND DARK SOULS III*

The Dreg Heap was, essentially, one big roller coaster in reverse. Normally, you get the really exciting part at the front end and then the rest of the ride tries to carry that momentum until you come back in the station and tell everyone how awesome the ride is based on the first drop. With the Dreg Heap, the best part is at the end: the twin Demon fight. The beginning is decent, the middle is harrowing, and then the run to the boss bonfire is nightmarish. Is the second half of the DLC any different?

Dark Souls 3 The Ringed City Part 1 Review

*SPOILERS FOR THE DREG HEAP AND DARK SOULS III*
One of the biggest complaints about the Ashes of Ariandel expansion of Dark Souls III is that it was too small and far too contained for it to satisfy anyone who had played through DS3 and had any remaining questions about the story, or just what could happen after we ended the world/ prolonged its existence. The Ringed City seems to come almost in direct response to that, though it doesn’t seem entirely obvious at first.

Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City Hopes/ Expectations

Dark Souls 3, and Dark Souls as a whole, looks to come to an end this month with the final DLC, The Ringed City, on March 27th. There’s already been some buzz that this DLC is massive. Perhaps it’ll match the Artorias DLC or the Bloodborne DLC in size. Surely, if they want to add to the story of Dark Souls III, it’ll need to be. My hope is that it’s huge and then some.

Assassin's Creed: Last Hope for Video-Game Movies

Seems a bit desperate to say that something is the "last hope" of a genre, but I think it's safe to say that the video-game-based part of the film industry is something that has been...lacking...since it's inception. Wreck-It Ralph doesn't count because it isn't technically based on any existing IP, it just has cameos from certain games or characters that do little to advance the story (although Ralph does get overly jealous when Pac-Man shows up, so, maybe that's not entirely true). Point is that video game movies are terrible, and Assassin's Creed is the last straw either way. 

Finally! A Dark Souls 3 Discussion!

At the start of the year, I had every intention of playing One Piece: Burning Blood and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. You know what two game I've been playing instead? Dark Souls and Dark Souls III...with some Warriors Orochi: 3 Ultimate splashed in there as well, it's pretty cool. I've played the two "Souls" games mostly because one came free with the other, but mostly because it's so easy to get sucked into these worlds and the "Souls" community is such a interesting one to be in thanks to the rich history of the games. I want to know everything about these games and this world, but I never stopped to think if that's because Dark Souls III actually made things so confusing? 

Are Environments Their Own Characters?

Settings are one of the more overlooked aspects of fiction, in any medium, it would seem. Most of the time, critics (including myself when I do reviews), or even teachers, will overlook the important elements of setting in a story. The setting is just meant to be where the characters exist to do their thing and it allows for the story to take place in a believable way. Many would present the story as just that: the presentation. Yet if setting, and in particular environments, are so unimportant, why do we remember so many of them?

What about Warframe?

I downloaded Warframe back when I first got my X-Box One mostly because it was a free-to-play game and I didn't have many games under my belt for my new system. I didn't play it at all until recently because so many other games came out fast to catch my attention and I just never got around to it. However, in the wake of One Piece: Burning Blood being disappointing and my finishing of Dark Souls III I needed something new to play and now I'm playing Warframe and yeah. I play Warframe and that's it. So, it led me to wonder: how had I never heard of such a HUGE game?

Can 'Assassin's Creed' Return to Glory?

I'd be remiss to mention that I followed this series with vigorous dedication through last year. Why stop? Because the series sort of hit a peak when we raised the Black Flag and sailed to create a great land of pirates, filled with freedom, random Assassins, and a sort of weak story but was made up by incredible gameplay and visuals!

Then, we got glitches. And more glitches. And then some more bugs. And a forced-to-be-free DLC. And the lacking use of an era filled with potential for an AC story, and just give us the ambiance with little more execution. Match all that with a lackluster current day story line and...

Wow. "Syndicate" needs to be through the roof awesome. Though, that's not the vibe I'm getting from this series.