Strider Hiryu

You'd be surprised. Hell Shion no Ou is an anime about shogi and its fucking amazing (though it does have other plot elements going on). Aria is a show about cute girls with gondolas and it's amazing. It's funny how the Japanese can take something that seems mediocre and turn in into the best damn thing you've never done. Might as well leave one myself. Probably my favorite OP out the this season's new offerings (I don't count Fire Force's new one (though it is a banger, still like the first OP better)). Hell for a bonus here's the ED as well (my favorite of this season). I don't know what it is about this show but I love everything that's going on in it from the story, characters, and the music. I definitely wasn't thinking this show would become a favorite of mine when I heard of it and I'm glad to say it has become my favorite of the season.

So after having done the Nier raid twice now I definitely have to say the FFXIV team and Yoko Taro knocked it our of the fucking park. This is probably my favorite 24-man in the entirety of XIV and favorite story based raid in the entire game. The boss fights are extremely fun and interesting, the enemies are well modeled and varied to say the least (some of which don't appear in Automata (they might as I still haven't beaten it yet but from what I could tell quite a few of them are original to this raid)), and that soundtrack is fucking amazing (the final boss theme is fucking beyond amazing and I so want it now, looks like I'll be buying the next Shadowbringers soundtrack just for it (its a remix of Weight of the World and it's tear inducing)). Not to mention the story for it is damn good and I get the feeling we might be meeting some more familiar faces in the next two raids (I won't ruin it unless you've already seen or been told but I wasn't honestly expecting to see who I saw at the end of the raid even if it was kinda spoiled in the trailer). Now if only I could win the god damn roll on the 2B armor set so I can be happy and have my 2B look (I want those fucking thigh boots god damnit, they'd fit so well with a current glamour set-up that I have). I look forward to patch 5.3 and 5.5 for the next two sets of this raid because if they're anything like this I'll be more then happy (now to get around to beating Automata, I'm almost done with 9S's route/B ending. Should hopefully have that done this weekend if I don't keep getting distracted by side quests or the XIV raid (I must have my 2B glamour)). Also I take back what I said about the 5.1 Samurai changes. While I still don't think we're where we should be dps wise I'm feeling like we're in a better place then we were prior to this. Now to try out the new Ninja changes and see if I pick up Ninja as my secondary main.

Meh, I'm still tempering my expectations. Quite honestly Blizzard has done nothing over the last 5 years to make me think they're worth investing the money in anymore. When I see more gameplay I'll make my full decision but this will most likely not be a pre-order for me (unless the collector's edition is worth my while). I want to know how in-depth this talent tree is and how in synergizes with your abilities (and, by the looks of it, there isn't separate trees for different play styles/magics (no idea what class that screen shot is for but that doesn't look all to promising for me (I enjoyed sorcs having three different trees to specialize in in D2 and that's what I want to see back)). D2's skill tree was extremely in-depth and that's what made the game so fun to me as two people could have completely different play styles going down the same skill tree (no two lightning sorcs were the same unless they specced the same) on the same class. Also I'm disappointed in not seeing Demon Hunter confirmed to be coming back (I knows it's broken but it's by far the best class in D3 barring Necro (though I can't make a complete comparison as my Necro never made it past the first chapter as I lost interest in D3 after it came out)). Honestly it feels like they're going full D2 so I wouldn't be surprised to see Assassin or Amazon come back (I'm banking on Necro coming back which would make me buy it if the gameplay meets my expectations as Necros were my favorite class in D2 second only to Sorcs). Will have to wait and see. I don't expect this to come out until sometime next year at the earliest.

While I'm excited I'm tempering my expectations until I see way more gameplay. I jumped on the Diablo 3 hype train to early and was extremely disappointed with what we were given at launch (now D3 is in a good place but it took way to long to get there). What would make me happy is if they bring back the skill trees from D2 but I highly doubt it as it looks like the combat is extremely similar to D3 with D2's darker world design. Interested to see how Lilith coming back will play out considering she is one of the creators of Sanctuary and nowhere near as powerful as her dad or uncles (which Diablo is still out there somewhere, wondering if she's going to try and bring him back or try and steall his powers and become the next prime evil).

Oh my body is ready (and I'm way over ilvl for the 24 man but it looks like it's going to be fun) and I've slowly started progressing through Automata today and will hopefully have it beaten by the end of the week (on vacation so I should have plenty of time). I just fucking hope we're getting armor sets based off 2B (could care less about the male equivalents since I play a female), Yoshi-P heavily hinted at we'd be getting everything we wanted armor set wise during the live letter Friday morning (hell they wouldn't even show us what it looked like). Also hope they throw us poor Samurai's a bone and give us the Virtuous Contract for glamour purposes (hey, we're the only physical dps in a very bad spot atm and the changes coming with 5.1 don't look like they're going to make us any better. Hell I'd even take a Virtuous Treaty for my Dark Knight).

This movie has nothing to do with the current DCEU/previous movies, this movie is in its own universe (kind of like the Elseworlds comics) and this Joker is not currently established in any timeline. This is Todd Philips and Joaquin Phoenix's take on the Joker and the world he lives in (hell it's already been established that Batman will never exist in this universe even though Bruce Wayne is in it as a child). Quite honestly its a good thing this movie isn't connected to the shit shoe that is WB's DCU. I'm actually extremely hyped for this movie and have been since the first trailer dropped. I've heard nothing but amazing things and this will probably be the one movie I actually go see in theaters this year.

You have to remember that light saber crystals were extremely hard to come by during the Empire's grip on the galaxy with Palpatine outlawing the ownership of such crystals (as well as lightsabers). Plus what crystals there were were under Palpatine's control and were used in the formation of new weapons (like the Death Star Super Laser which used kyber crystals to power and shoot it). I'm assuming that what we see is a vision Rey has sometime in the movie or that Palpatine finds a way to take over her body (a power he did have) and uses whatever crystal he can find to power the lightsaber. That or she's using the red crystal Luke had (yes he has a red crystal he found in his journeys that he wore around his neck) and is using it in place of a her blue crystal (though this is a stretch and I don't know if that crystal was cracked like Kylo's is or why you'd use a red crystal in place of a stable blue). All in all it's most likely nothing serious since I highly doubt they'd make Rey fall to the dark side. Then again who knows in this "Star Wars makes no fucking sense anymore" world we live in since Disney bought the rights. Plus, being totally honest, that's the most ridiculous and stupid lightsaber design since Kylo's and I've seen plenty of bad designs. Quite honestly that little sneak peak kinda ruined my hopes of this movie being any good beyond the things that made the other two movies worth watching. The only real reason I'm going to see it once it hits streaming platforms is because I want to see how Palpatine plays into this, could really give a fuck less what else goes on in the movie (outside of Rey's development as a character). The last two films were such a disappointment considering all the lore they threw out the window to make them.

I'm actually surprised at how much of a shitbag he is considering how he portrayed himself when they first introduced him. If anything I thought Burns would be the one based on how he treated Shinra when they first met (happy to say I'm wrong since Burns is a badass). Though after what Rekka did to Tamaki I hope Shinra kicks the ever living shit out of him. MIght have to check out the dub to hear his voice.

They need to quit hyping me the fuck up and release it already damnit! Gah, this wait for the 12th of October is killing me.

Poor Tamaki (2nd best girl after Maki) but thankfully 2nd best hero Shinra saved the day (he's no All Might but he's up there). God damn this show is taking some dark turns and I fucking love it (those poor kids though).

Honestly I don't see whats wrong with that. That's the kind of shit my friends and I used to say and joke about back in high school. I honestly agree with Jeremy on this in that I'm not offended in the least (though the Goku one will probably land that guy in trouble). Fucking christ people get worked up about shit that doesn't even matter, it's not like any of that was said to be mean or demean anyone. It was just for fun and stuff they never thought would leak. Honestly people just need to fucking lighten up and allow harmless shit like this to pass (don't get me wrong I'm all for calling people out when they do something demeaning or hateful but come on, this is in no ways either of those).

Just because it hasn't been done yet and this happens to be my favorite op out of this season (still takes second to Demon Slayer though)

Oh you and old papa Midgardsormr become fast friends throughout Heavensward (fuck you get him as a mount and no it's not big badass mode, I'm sure you've seen someone riding him around) and Stormblood. Meh, I still think all you nubs need to suffer through ARR but considering I am leveling an alt character I'm happy to hear they're condensing the story because the whole 2.1 - 2.55 slog sucks ass (I'm guessing they're going to get rid of the majority of the useless inbetween quests and just condense the story elements from those into others because honestly there is quite a few things they can't cut out). Then again though I actually play this for the story so the running errands and what not didn't bug me that much since it adds to the story as a whole. It's Lahabrea by the way, the worst of the three major Ascians (and I'm so glad we're done with him but I won't reveal what happens, you'll have to learn that on your own).

Yea but the Doman Refugee's actually play a pretty big role in the story later down the road so helping them now is a good thing (the story for them comes full circle in Stormblood and gets you brownie points with the second coolest Samurai (after Gosetsu, one of my favorite characters in the entirety of FFXIV (he only takes second to best girl Y'shtola and the man, the myth, the legend known as Haurchefant (hey the man grows on you, I initially found him annoying but his character really grows in Heavensward)). Ah so you're closing in on Shiva then so you got a little ways to go yet but things move pretty quickly from here on out. I can't wait until New Game+ is added in 5.1, really wanna go back and relive some of those earlier main story quests.

The last quest you need to do is "Before the Dawn" and after that it's Heavensward content (if you've done Keeper of the Lake (dungeon) you're on the home stretch, you'll have one more Trial to do and quite a few MSQ's to do but it's all pretty quick (unless you're into the story and reading everything). Then you get to enjoy the high point in the story for many before Shadowbringers). God it's been so long I don't even know what Dungeon you're talking about (I'm assuming it's Lost City of Amdapor (Normal since you shouldn't have access to Hard yet)). Fuck I got Snowcloak the other day in 50/60/70 Roulette and I was completely lost on what to do for the second boss (it's been like 3 years since I last ran it). I never did Odin when he was relevant (I've done the fate countless times, that's a blast) but I recently solo'd him and damn near failed it with my fully gear Paladin (1 second more and I'd of wiped). Just wait until later dungeons, the mechanics get pretty crazy (I wanna meet the guy who designed the Shadowbringers dungeons and kick him in the nuts, that motherfucker has a serious hard on for melee range aoe's and it fucking sucks when you play a Samurai. Over half of the fights I'm standing in a corner because I can't do shit) The highlight for me, mechanics wise, is Extreme mode Titania. That's a blast, frustrating but so much fun. Crystal Tower is a quick knock out honestly. Most runs I get through them are no more than 20 minutes (people are so overpowered everything just melts) it's just the quests to unlock each section that take the longest now (and you didn't even have to do the original attunement). With you being this close to clearing ARR completely though I don't blame you for waiting.

*reviving a dead topic again (I'm good at this)* So I finally got around to watching the movie tonight (I really like the idea of renting movies off of PSN). Honestly it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be and that CGI is fucking amazing (better then Ghost in the Shell's which I honestly didn't think was possible and those fucking battle scenes were awesome). Rosa Salazar did an amazing job bringing Alita to life and I have to give props for that as I didn't think any actress would be able to do so (her CGI was a lot better than the trailers showed though she is still in the uncanny valley for me (her look didn't throw me off or anything but I think a lot of the other Cyborgs looked a lot better than her and much more believable)). Now you're wondering, what do they do wrong Strider as someone who has read the source material (currently in the middle of re-reading it since I bought the Deluxe Edition Hardcover set that was recently released)? I'm not going to nitpick this to death like I did Ghost in the Shell as it will be a lot of spoilers for the source material and I suggest going and reading it if you can. I will say that they re-wrote a lot and took way too many artistic liberties when adapting this but it works for the film as it's telling it's own story not the original's (and it's obvious Cameron is a fan of the manga as he took great pains to adapt it in his own loving way). They changed a lot of characters names, changed a lot of scenes from the manga to make this work, threw Motorball in only as a means to an end (this was my biggest disappointment of the whole movie, we finally get a chance to see an adaptation of Motorball and they do a piss poor job of it and fucking make Jashugan look like a fucking punk (he's a fucking badass in the manga and is the fucking Grand Champion of Motorball)), changed a lot of Hugo's back story and story in general, and added in characters that didn't even exist in the manga (and changed quite a bit about Ido but god damn did they pick a perfect actor to portray him). If you want a full list of all the changes and aren't afraid of spoilers since you have no plans on reading the source (what the hell is wrong with you? go read it and if you need me too I'll send you my scanlations discreetly) let me know and I'll go into full detail about all the changes. Overall a solid 6.5/10 mostly for Rosa's portrayal of Alita, Christoph Waltz's Ido (god damn did he do a good job), and the fucking amazing CGI. Soundtrack wasn't too bad as well.

I mean you could get an IL 130 Bow for Poetics if you grind them (I think all together it costs 600 for the tokens, tomestone, and carbontwine to upgrade it) plus you can also get a whole set of IL 130 armor doing the same thing (plus IL 130 will last you to lvl 55 and you can start getting new gear from dungeons then or use the MS quest reward armor around then). Not entirely sure what roulette's will give you Poetics though since it's been a long time since I've run shit that low (but I believe 50/60/70 roulette (if you have access to it), MSQ roulette (easy 300 poetics if you can put up with the cutscenes), and Alliance roulette should if their available to you (though you will have to unlock all the level 50 dungeons and actually have access to all the Crystal Tower raids (Labyrinth, Syrcus, and World of Darkness))). Yea the Relic weapon for ARR is a grind and a half. I'm still not done with it on my Ninja (I have two steps left but I have no want to grind the low level dungeons for the mats and spend the gil for everything else (but I still want it since it's one of the better looking Ninja weapons (if only Ninja wasn't trash in Shadowbringers >.<)). I've also done all the relic weapons up to their Zenith step (next step for you, only one I'm missing is Black Mage because that's still level 30 since I hate dps caster's in this game (though I have to level it to 80 if I want my Amaro mount)). The Heavensward weapons isn't too bad to get but it's another grind (I know because I've done it twice, once before it was nerfed (cost over 5 million gil to do just one step) and once after it was done (the Bard one is by far one of the best looking weapons in Heavensward (with Dragoon's and Paladin's)). For reference I have the NInja one (which there are screenshots up here for) and the Bard one (which I completed a few months before Shadowbringers launched)). I wouldn't bother doing the Stormblood weapon when you get that far unless you want to spend countless hours farming an unforgiving set of content that has yet to be nerfed yet (I gave up after one three hour session in Eureka, wasn't worth it imo)). Heh, I either take screenshots in one of the inns (last three were in the Crystarium's Inn) or outside my apartment in Shirogane. That's mostly due to the congestion is most of the places I log out at (my server is still full and I'm getting sick of the queue times) and I don't like having others in my screenshots.