Slumber

1.) Probably sky diving. 2.) I really don't get too bothered by a lot of stuff. Bad driving is probably the biggest one I notice. I really don't get road rage. 3.) Neon Genesis Evangelion. Alternatively, Sony's direction for AAA exclusives in the post-PS2 era of gaming(See question 8). 4.) Guitar Romantic by The Exploding Hearts. 5.) I like Morrowind, not a fan of Oblivion, and can really only stomach Skyrim with heavy mod support. I have a lot to say about TES3-5, but that's almost a thread on its own. 6.) The aimless hero finds a purpose trope/The idiot hero who is destined for greatness trope 7.) As said earlier, the moody rival/The idiot hero 8.) Does satisfying combat count as a trope?/Gameplay that suddenly and without clear indication transitions into cinematics(Also, NPCs you have to follow that move slower than your slowest movement option) Howdy. 1.) Can't remember first impressions, but currently you're another one of my favorites here. 2.) Get rich, retire early, and live on a beach somewhere. 3.) They're cool, but a huge hassle. Maybe eventually, but right now I have no plans. 4.) Probably Dark Souls 2 or FF8. Not everyone hates those things, but those are big things that come to mind. More so Dark Souls 2 than FF8, but I find Dark Souls 2 to be a perfectly acceptable Souls game(Albeit definitely not quite up to the series' standards in a lot of ways, but it manages to do some things better than any of the other Soulsborne games), and a great game in general. 5.) Juno. God I hate that movie. The morals of the Jason Bateman/Jennifer Garner couple is so fucked, and we're meant to sympathize with the absolute wrong character there.

Plus, IS made a shittier Narcian knock-off two games later, so obviously even they knew we needed more Narcian.

I just see that sort of thing as it being "my turn". @Hawkwingwas pretty persistent about getting me in there these last few weeks.

's going good. It's only stressful when I'm at work and see 3 new lines of questions on my break.

I think most mods don't care as long as you're not going over board. If you're in the middle of a serious discussion on like, the Awakening board, saying "fuck" every two words probably isn't the best idea. But a few here and there, no matter the board, seems to be fine. I swear like a sailor and have never gotten warned about it. Even while talking to mods and staff and stuff.

11.) Pfff... I actually rather like Nyx and Leo. Between the two, I might lean towards Leo, simply because he doesn't have a creepy little girl body. 12.) Yes. "Niche" might not be the best way to describe them, as they do have 100k+ subscribers, but Double Toasted. I was a big Spill fan back in the day, and as much as I'm not a huge movie fan right now, I love their movie reviews. I'm bad at finding smaller channels I enjoy. I'm not sure if I'm subscribed to a single channel under 100k subs. 13.) It's a dumb popcorn flick that lacks much of the charm the original had, but it's not as bad as Lost World. 14.) Utilitarian in general. I think it is generally a better way to live day-by-day, and I think it makes it easier to do good. There's more flexibility, it's easier to compare similar actions. For massive moral dilemmas, there might be more of an argument for deontological, but utilitarian ethics help deal with shades of gray. 15.) LEMMY 1.) Mostly music these days. I can hear 5-10 seconds of a song and usually determine how much I'll like it. Every month or so I'll hear a song that makes me go "THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE SONG OF ALL TIME AND NOTHING WILL EVER TOP IT" Shaun of the Dead is a non-music example. My best friend and I got into the theater in like... the 7th grade, and I was just enamored with the movie. It was the first time I ever processed that a comedy could have amazing direction and proper writing. It's been one of my favorite movies ever since. Also Dragon Ball Z. Watching DBZ in the late-90s as a kid was like taking some sort of mind-altering drug. There was nothing like it. My normal child brain was acclimated to colorful slapstick cartoons and Pokemon, and then suddenly there were these ripped dudes screaming, throwing fire balls, punching holes in each other, and just in general brutalizing each other. 2.) Science. In 8th grade when they were giving us generalized science courses intended to get us introduced to lab etiquette, I was one of those "Man, screw this nerd stuff, let me play with the Bunsen Burner." kids. Earth Science in 9th grade and biology in the 10th grade went similarly. It wasn't until Junior year chemistry that I started to really like the sciences. I had a teacher I really liked, and I found the subject matter interesting. I still wasn't all on the ball, and I still skated by in chemistry and physics in my senior year. When I got to college and I needed to figure out what I wanted to do, I figured I had not future in music, and came to the conclusion that after music, the thing I enjoyed most in school was physical education but there was also no future in that science. Specifically chemistry. Then after taking college level biology courses, I also figured out that I really like that, too. And that's how Slumber the Biochemist was born. 3.) An army of clowns fighting an army of mimes. 4.) Batman's great. Been a big fan since growing up with TAS. 5.) Unfortunately I'm a super light sleeper and never remember my dreams. I've never had vivid dreams. 1.) I think I'd rather have something be equal parts amazing and terrible. It mostly depends in which ways that thing is terrible and amazing. 2.) Demon's Souls. I rented it when it shortly after it came out, and didn't even get to the Phalanx. I got my ass kicked so many times, I just gave up. It was already down to $20 on Amazon about 6 months after, and on a whim I decided to buy it. A few hours in and everything clicked, and I've been a massive Souls fan ever since.

I like Jaffar just fine, I was just messing with you. 1.) Yes, and I love both. I was totally in to Jackass and Viva la Bam when 2 came out, so I wasn't turned off by the framing device of 2. It has some of my favorite music in the TH series, and some of my favorite levels. 2.) I was a skater in middle school, and I still totally rock Vans Off the Wall as my casual shoe. In general any canvas, like Chucks, or skate shoe will be my go-to. 3.) I want to say no, but apparently the Como Zoo has a giraffe exhibit, and I went there tons of times as a kid, so I probably have seen real life giraffes.

That's something Ivalice is known for. Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story and FFXII all tell very grounded stories, the world seems a lot more cohesive than... just about any FF story, and they manage to make the politics interesting, despite all of these games taking place in a very fantastical world.

Anyway. Funny you mention FFXII. I've spent a lot of the last 12 years wondering if I like it or not. After playing the ZIJS version and eventually the Zodiac remaster, I think it's actually one of my favorite FFs. That's basically a game that could go in both this thread, and the other, since I initially expected to like it, didn't really, then played the ZIJS expecting more rigid character progression to not add a whole lot, but actually ended up loving it. So don't think your opinion isn't worthwhile because you like an unpopular FF.

1.) Mechanic specific to Thracia 776? Personal promotions. 2.) Uh... Matthew Volke Perne I'M NOT FALLING FOR YOUR TRICKS TO GET ME TO SAY JAFFAR 3.) Completed? Probably FE6. I start a bunch of FE runs and stop for one reason or another often, but I completed FE6 again a month or so ago. 4.) Personality-wise, Leif. Gameplay-wise, Ike. 5.) I really like the ideas of axes, but they're crap more often than not. However, one very busted one climbed its way to meme glory in FE5, so I am going to say FE5. They're actually pretty good as a whole in that game. FE9-10 axes are in contention, too. So many good units wield axes(Primarily).

Yeah, a lot of my FF rankings have to do a lot with initial feelings and how they impacted me, so I understand the idea of falling in love with FFVI on a long trip. I've fallen in love with many games that I had on road trips as a kid(I actually fell back in love with FFIV with the GBA version on a roadtrip I had when I was 14, and having all of my memories flood back). I like FFIV's soundtrack a lot, but I agree that Uematsu largely got better as the FFs went along... baring a dip with the FFVII OST, which I think has a lot of great melodies, but I think as Uematsu's first game on the PS1, it shows quite a bit(Much like a lot of aspects of FFVII), and the actual OST doesn't really sound all that good. Especially on modern technology. 6. I loved going to the science museum as a kid, and I still enjoy checking out the Science Museum of Minnesota every couple of years. As for art galleries? That kind of stuff escapes me. Modern art escapes me. Botanical gardens I got sick of as a kid, since my mom is a landscaper and had a big garden in the yard, so I'd always see plants. The few times I went as a kid were enough for me. 7. Kiefer from DQ7. I enjoy him a lot, and he got his own side-game. Yangus is also great. Really the whole DQVIII cast it up there with Kiefer. 8. As for the ones that are so common they feel like a crutch? The broody rival. Just so long as it's not Sasuke extreme or worse. 9. Honestly probably Boyd. There's a lot I like about him. He's kind of a humble idiot, but he has a good heart, and seeing him calm down from rowdy teenager to actually mature adult between the two games was a nice character progression. Him being just about the first to be sincerely cool with Laguz joining the army was also nice. 10. Oh god, this is the hardest question so far in this interview. Just answering this could be like, a 10-question post in and of itself(Favorite boss theme, favorite emotional song, favorite world music, etc). I think this is both an awesome, awesome piece on its own, and its use in FFIX is so good that it immediately left an impression that's stuck with me for nearly two decades now. It's a theme that manages to be booming and epic, but also thoughtful and contemplative. I can see why Uematsu considers FFIX the best work he's ever done. I rewrote this answer about a dozen times, and probably 8 or 9 of those were FF music.

1.) I had a Spotify playlist probably 4 or 5 years ago based on the Distillers, and it must have just picked that up to mean "Female led garage rock/punk rock bands", and I think it recommended Ripe, which I really liked. Then like a few months later I started playing Rocksmith 2014, and it had Rotten Apple, which became one of my favorite songs to play on that game. So at that point I figured "There must be something to this Screaming Females band", and I've been a pretty big fan ever since. 2.) I enjoy Elliot Smith. I don't listen to him often, but I liked his shoe-gazey/folksy acoustic soft rock stuff. 3.) I have this giant Fender... It was called a Windjammer or something, and I loved annoying my sister with it, since it'd get super loud, but I think some of the tubes are busted in it, and it has an audible hum and it pops when it's on and not even anything is plugged in. Ever since I've started playing in my own, I've been using this non-descript Marshall Amp that came with my first guitar waaaay back when I was 12-13. It's been pretty solid, though I should probably replace it soon. 4.) Yes. I've tried doing more finger stuff, but I always go back to relying on picks. 5.) I have these Dunlop Tortex jazz picks that are really nice. I think they're nylon and 0.73mm or something? Generally I prefer thinner picks, closer to 0.4mm, since I tend to find it a bit easier to alternate pick with them. 6.) I use two different sets. My Gretsch tends to rattle a bit on thinner gauges, so right now I have some D'addario XLs that go from 11-48. I like those a lot. My PRS, since I'm trying to keep the tension on the neck low, gets some standard Ernie Ball 9-46s. 1.) Love LotR. Read all the books(Except the Silmarilian for obvious reasons) in elementary school just as the moves were coming out, and love the movies. 2.) I'm basic. I like Cards Against Humanity and its ilk. I only get one real opportunity to sit down and play Card/Board games a year, and that once a year is enough for me to not get too tired of CAH's schtick. My sister and her boyfriend roped me and my cousins into Mice and Mystics last year, so we've got a game of that going. 3.) I like em. Really depends on how addictive the puzzles are. I'm also fine with obtuse puzzle games. 4.) I like something in between. Flashy, but within human boundaries. I grew up on DBZ, though, so insanely over the top fights are cool with me. 5.) As long as he doesn't hit on minors, Homer, obviously. Or Llweyn. A hard partying bard seems like a great "This will be a day I'll remember for the rest of my life" choice. 6.) "Actually try in school before college" 7.) TNG 8.) Picard. As neat as Kirk can be, I prefer the diplomatic politics of Star Trek, so Picard is more of what I want.

1.) REmake. It's the most "complete" RE to me. It's scary, it plays well, there's a ton of content, and it looks great. RE3 would be #2 for me, because I really enjoy how Nemesis works and constantly keeps you on your toes. And it's fine to like RE6. I just really don't. A Jazzmaster would be sweet. Jazzmaster and Strats are both single-coils, so they'd both give the clean tone jangle I like. 2.) On and off for 13-14 years now. It was pretty irregular for a long while, so it sure doesn't sound like I've been playing for 13-14 years. I really got back into it about 4 years ago, though, and I've been playing pretty regularly since. 3.) Like electric vs. acoustic(If it's this, electric)? Or like body-types(If it's this, Les Paul)? Or actual style of playing? If it's that, I like to play anything with clean tones and jazz chords, but I enjoy wailing out on power chords and playing some fast, fun punk rock-y stuff. 4.) I strive to be good enough to be lead guitar, but right now I'm more at a rhythm guitar pace, just focusing on chords and progression. 5.) I played drums briefly in high school, and I've recently picked up piano, though I haven't had much time to practice. I guess I also technically play bass, but that doesn't really count. 1.) For preference? Tactics(I'm counting it)>9>8>4>7>6>12(Zodiac Edition)>5>1>X>Type 0>3. Not counting the MMOs for obvious reasons, though I really enjoy FFXIV and it's by far the MMO I've spent the most time with. Additionally, I've avoided XV up until now, so I have no opinion on it. Also, it might be sacrilege to out 4 above 6, but 4 was my first FF, so I have a tone of nostalgia for it. Also, it might be sacrilege to put most of the games I put above 6 that high, but I played 9 before I played 6, and 9 scratched my itch for a classic FF way more than 6 did, and I hold 9 much closer to my heart. 6 is still fantastic, I just don't hold it in my heart like I do everything above it. And, as I've mentioned before, I actually do like X to a certain degree. I just start to hate it if I play it too long. The only two FFs I consider truly bad are XIII(Sorry Eclipse) and 2. XIII-2 actually isn't completely awful, though the other sequels in the series are. 2.) Zidane. I like the happy-go-lucky types, just so long as they're not aggravatingly stupid like so many happy-go-lucky protagonists out of Japan are. Zidane's a smart and shrewd guy, and him being a "Whatever happens" hornball checks all the right boxes for me. I don't think his development is quite as cohesive as Squall's is, but I think he's a better character from the get-go. 3.) I've played TRS. The hexagonal grid of BS has put me off. I'm sure I'll get around to it sometime. As for TRS, I really enjoy it. My Discord profile picture is one of the derpy villagers who I think tells you about the arena training school. It does a lot of interesting things, even if it's not totally FE. 4.) Yes, and a lot of enthusiasm/interest. 5.) You're one of my favorite users here.

6. Broadest one? Probably biology. Specifically, I enjoy biochemistry, as that's what I got my degree is. But you get too far into the chemistry side, and that's where it starts to lose me. I'm more comfortable with biology. I did enjoy the philosophy courses I took and I am good at almost all things English, but I enjoy the natural sciences the most. 7. Dismounting, as I've said again and again. It's a good way to balance horses by nerfing them indoors. Just don't make it imbalanced and only make them use swords, so that any horse unit that doesn't use swords is instantly at a disadvantage. 8. Not especially. I like seeing obscure characters show up all the time, but I don't care for the story and I don't care for the online stuff. 9. In the deepest part of my heart, the original Jurassic Park. I was one of those kids obsessed with dinosaurs growing up, and Jurrasic Park coming out in my very early childhood left a strong impression on me. I didn't even realize how bad the sequels were until I was hitting adolescence. 10. Probably Fates. There's so much it does right, but at the same time, does so wrong. Mechanically it could very well be the best FE, but it has so many features that I just don't think the franchise well. Even the less ambitious Birthright slips and falls all over the place. 1.) I got a G5420T. Fairlane Blue. Love the thing. 2.) I wanted a guitar that did clean tones really well. While there are plenty out there, the something about a Gretsch was alluring, and it was a very striking guitar. My dream guitar is also semi-hollow, so a guitar that was affordable(For a hobbyist), did clean tones well, and was semi-hollow was a must. It came down to a proper Fender Strat(Which was admittedly easier to play and a bit cheaper) and a Gretsch, I asked a buddy who is also into guitars. He said Gretsch because everyone has a Fender. I'll still get a Strat eventually, probably. 3.) My heart says "You can never have too many guitars", but my wallet says "I'm a one guitar is enough" kind of guy. Right now I just have my Gretsch and a PRS SE 245, which has a busted neck but still sounds fine and is totally playable. I have to stop myself when I'm on YouTube, because like once a month, I see a guitar review that makes me go "I need that guitar". 4.) I'm not the kind of guy who worships guitar virtuosos, so I tend to admire guitarists who can just write good, interesting, mildly intricate guitar riffs. And when it comes to that, Josh Homme(Yes, I'm well aware his style is famous for its distortion and I like clean tones) or Marissa Paternoster are the two guitarists I am most inspired by right now. 5.) Yes, but that's fine. Bonus.) The bones of people who eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch 1.) Smash Bros. initially. I was one of the "The hell is a Fire Emblem?" types when Melee came out. When I got a GameBoy Advance and started picking up a bunch of RPGs and adventure games, there was a little pamphlet in the back of many of those(Off the top of my head, I remember it coming with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, A Link to the Past, and Sword of Mana), one of the games advertised in the pamphlet was Fire Emblem. Once I saw that it was a real game that I could play and not a trick by Nintendo to fill out a Smash roster, I hunted it down as soon as I could, and the rest is history. I think I was 11 or 12. 2.) Add the subs from FE4. The Crusader kids have their time to shine in Genealogy. Let the subs have some glory in FE5 like they were supposed to. As mentioned above, don't make dismounting force swords. It should let you use whatever weapon rank is highest. Remove the 1-99% hit percentages, and go back to 0-100%. Additionally, remove Staves missing, and make Status staves have a Magic/Res based hit% 24x 3.) It's nice. I've always used the site, and I've always known it as a big FE fansite, so having been on online communities and a big FE fan for... like, 15 years now, I knew what I was getting into. Wasn't hard to adjust to posting here. 4.) Probably some day in elementary school. Hard to pin down any day, since nothing has been so monumental that a single day has really stuck with me in my life.Graduating from schools or getting accepted to colleges/jobs never gave me extreme happiness. I just remember a lot of happy days in elementary school. 5.) Again, tough to pin down. Most of my answers would involve women.

1. I have a pretty positive impression of you from when I've seen you around. Can't say there's really anybody here who has left a negative impression on me... Well maybe one or two. 2. Mareeta, probably. She's strong, she's prominent in the story, and she's Galzus' daughter. 3. Any of Selfina's stooges. I never use any of them, even though they're all pretty fine units in their own right. 4. I haven't watched any since the first Avengers. And of the ones I saw, definitely the original Iron Man. Not too much of a movie guy, and the movies that do strike my interest typically aren't the big blockbusters. 5. Only watched it a few times, and it was because my kid cousin would have been watching it during family gatherings. It was fine. As somebody who likes breaking and building things, it appealed to a basic part of me. I would not have watched it if Andrew WK wasn't in it, though. 1. Like the original trilogy, despise the prequels, and haven't bothered with any Disney-era SW movies(Again, not really a big blockbuster kinda guy). There are a few great video games, and I do enjoy seeing Star Wars stuff in general, cuz I have a lot of nostalgia for Star Wars. So overall, positive. *coughcoughStarTrekisbetterthoughcoughcough* 2. Broccoli. 3. Final Fantasy is a big one. I'm one of those kinds of people. I love it from the bottom of my heart, and I hate it with all of my being at the same time. 4. I'll pick Resident Evil and say start with the REmake. The most polished and accessible of the old school REs. As much as RE4 is beloved, REmake is probably a better litmus test for if somebody will enjoy more than just the shooty bits of modern REs, and thus enjoy the series as a whole. 5. I'll pick Resident Evil again and say AVOID 0 AND 6. Those games are bad representations of both the Survival Horror and Action REs, and you're probably more likely to walk away thinking the series isn't very good if either of those is your first game.

1. Tough one. Resident Evil is up there, I have a lot of love for Dragon Quest, and it's always a joy to play the Ratchet and Clank games. Those are probably my top 3. I'll say Resident Evil overall. There's probably not a game franchise I've replayed as much as that one. The Souls franchise is definitely my favorite of the last decade, and it's probably in my top 5 overall. 2. I have a lot of respect for fighting games, and I used to love playing them with friends as a kid. Tekken was always my go-to. But as I've gotten older, and the idea of calling my friends over to hang out and play video games on the couch becomes less feasible, I've mostly fallen out of love with them. It's tough as a casual fan to get into them these days, as even the less-hardcore fighting games have ridiculously high skill-ceilings I could never hope to come close to reaching, and playing them online with randoms just leads to a lot of disappointment. 3. Punk or indie rock. I used to be a big metalhead, but it just became too much at times. I like what punk and indie bring to the tables, and they're two genres that are always changing, so there's always tons of new and interesting stuff to look for and find. 4. I wanted an FE related picture, but I didn't want a super obvious one. Thankfully one of my favorite units(And I've started liking him more since using him as a profile picture) is an obscure FE character from an obscure FE game, so Homer became my face here. Plus I like his official art, so it worked out. 5. It's a very raw FE game. I like quirky games, and Thracia 776 is kind of where all the Kaga-era FEs came together and made a game that set the template that Fire Emblem as a whole is still following to this day. I really like the focus on map and objective design as the source of difficulty as opposed to enemies with raw stats, and I find it to be one of the more replayable FEs since nearly(If not all) every character is viable. It's a kind of FE that wasn't replecated until arguably Conquest, and I find the warts on FE5 a lot easier to deal with than the warts on Conquest.

A boozy Bard going from town to town wooing local towns-girls? Yeah, sure. Alternatively, a nerdy Dark Mage traveling the world, trying to discover its secrets would be cool.

I think you'll be pretty hard-pressed to find any FF7 fans right now who are happy with how the remake is turning out. Even back then, I recall far more skepticism than optimism. Most FF7 fans seem to agree that the Square of 1997 is not the Square from 2015, and their faith that they'd handle one of their favorite games correctly nowadays is pretty low. And yes, tumultuous development is a thing in gaming, but if you think I'm being unfair about this, I think you're vastly underselling how tumultuous Square's development process is. And, once again, there was no development when the game was announced. Which brings me back to why Sony lost that E3. E3 is largely a spectacle for consumers. You sell products to consumers, you sell ideas to investors. Sony was selling ideas and trying to pass them off as products, and it was blatant as all hell that year. Yes, they did show games, some which ended up good, some which ended up bad. But they tried to pass off their big reveals as things that were actually happening.

That's more Thracia 776. Genealogy actually does have a fair bit of character interaction and one-off scenes with characters. There's also the marriage dialogues, which each character has. Some get better treatment than others, but it's a pretty noticeable step above anything that came before it. And if it weren't for supports, it'd be a noticeable step above anything that came out after until PoR, really. Though the second Gen suffers a bit. The static characters like Seliph, Leif, Oifaye, and Finn get plenty, but the other kids get shafted. Ced gets some focus, Nanna gets some focus, but everyone else is mostly relegated to their recruitment scenes and marriage dialogues. The subs get completely screwed, as the most they ever get is comparable to the least the Crusader kids get.

The point with Squall, though, is that his friends and eventually romantic interest basically coax him into being a well rounded person. FFVIII's story does get dumb, but I'd argue that it's not necessarily dumb in concept(I wouldn't argue, however), more just dumb in execution. The plot twist of the game basically comes out of nowhere, and buying the twist hinges on your ability to believe something that's hinted at once by a one-off NPC, and never brought up in the main story. There's also Irvine scenes that vaguely foreshadow it, but those scenes could have been telegraphing any number of things. If they integrated the reason why the plot twist matters into the plot, there'd probably be a whole lot less "Wow, this sure is stupid and out of nowhere" comments towards the twist. There are a number of ways it could have been executed better, but I don't inherently think it's a bad plot twist. As for Tidus, I'd actually argue that Tidus really doesn't interact well with Spira and most of the people around him. One of his first actions in the game is basically saying "Fuck your traditions" and nearly singlehandedly ends Yuna's pilgrimage before she can leave her goddamn home island. All because he heard she was in a room for a day. He had no details, and presumably the only thing going through his head was "BUT HOW CAN SHE PLAY BLITZBALL?!". And from then on, yes, he cares about Yuna and her pilgrimage, but every moment he can, he mentions how he just wants to go home and show everyone Zanarkand(Despite being told multiple times to not mention Zanarkand). Tidus' disregard for the world around him is a whole different flavor of shit. And while Squall eventually gets better in this regard, Tidus doesn't. It was one of the things that really struck me when I replayed X years and years ago. Despite the puppy-dog demeanor and him always smiling, Tidus is a huge, inconsiderate asshole. The one moment of self-reflection I can think of is when he recalls how much of a jerk he must have seemed like when he was constantly prodding Yuna to cheer up and smile, which, as you said, is dark in hindsight. But again, notice that the only time he does this in regards to Yuna. All of the other awful shit he does in Spira? Never reflected upon, and we never get any sort of reasoning for why he's like this. He's just the type of guy who would tell everyone their religion is dumb(He's coincidentally right on this one, but this is divorced from the actual reason Yevon sucks), break all sorts of rules, encourage his friend to in-fight with his clan for saying mean things, and in general just boast to people that he's the most important sports star from the forbidden Holy Land every chance he gets, despite being told that it makes everyone upset. The biggest, non-spoilery revelation we get about his back story is that he hates his dad for being a self-centered drunk. At least Tidus didn't inherent the alcoholism. Tangent time: Compare him to Zidane from IX. Zidane is a similarly, happy-go-lucky type. He has his faults, as he's a horn dog teenage thief. He also genuinely wants to help people, has positive interactions in his world, and he's quick to realize when he goes too far. But unlike with Tidus, we learn that he's never felt like he's belonged in the world he loves, and he puts up a carefree attitude to cope. What we're shown of Zidane, we mostly love. And the parts we don't love are eventually explained and developed. Same idea with Squall, but the idea is more "Let's see if we can get you to love this apathetic mercenary". Tidus feels like the developers just wanted us to love him immediately, and accept that he won't change. I have a hard caring that Tidus has more to say in most situations than Squall. Because I just saw it done better in a previous game, and the things Tidus has to say are almost always baffling dumb. It's why I said that Tidus comes off as having the "inverse problem" as Squall. He may not have much to say initially, but I'd rather have somebody say nothing than constantly say something stupid. But I do accept that somebody who doesn't want to deal with a disc whole disc of trying to scrape the Teflon off Squall shouldn't feel as if they need to like him for getting better down the road. So sorry if it came off as "You shouldn't like Tidus, you should like Squall". I was more just trying to compare the two and explain why I like one and not the other. And since I don't want to spoil FFVIII, it ended up just becoming a Tidus rant. ... At least Tidus is not racist. Thankfully we have Wakka for that.

I'll add that one of the nice bits of FFVIII is that it does explain why Squall is the way he is, and it addresses how his current situation is getting him to care about the world and people around him. I actually do think he's one of the better developed FF protagonists. But if you hate his initial antisocial, apathetic self, then yeah. Not much to latch on to until about halfway through disc 2 that put tiny moments he's had up until that point into perspective. It's like the inverse with me and Tidus, though I actually played through all of X, so I know there's no real light at the end of that tunnel aside from him dealing with his daddy issues. Every other one of his flaws(At least the ones that annoyed the hell out of me) is still there and out in the open at the end of that game.

I always try to stifle my laughter when I see in news stuff like "GEORGIA IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY AFTER 2 INCHES OF SNOW" in news headlines. I deal with feet of snow every year, and I had to work through the middle of a huge blizzard this year. But I have to remind myself: 1.) Emergency routines don't really exist for snowy conditions in the south, and there aren't nearly as many ways to clear snow off the roads. 2.) Vehicles and tires in Minnesota(And other places where it snows often) are specifically designed to deal with snow, while ones in places where snow isn't expected aren't 3.) Everyone who lives where it snows regularly *knows*(Using this loosely. Every year there are tons of accidents and traffic during the first snowfall because people never remember how to drive in snow until they're driven in it again for a few hours) how to drive in snowy weather, while people elsewhere probably don't. It's like your car is constantly hydroplaning, and God knows people don't know how to deal with that shit happening out of nowhere So yeah. To back up what I said earlier about how I find tornadoes and strong winds so much scarier, the cold and snow is more of a minor annoyance that I've dealt with my whole life. I was born in a blizzard, I just worked in a blizzard. It ended up being more of a bonding experience as my coworkers and I all pissed and groaned about getting home for 8 hours, wondering why some departments got to go home early while we had to stay and work. Places that don't deal with snow will probably have a much different outlook.

That's not true. Microsoft and Nintendo tend to show games that are actually coming out in the foreseeable future. There's generally enough shown to get people talking about whether they think they'll enjoy the game in the run-up to its release, or they're showcasing the tech behind the games. The most comparable case in recent years is Crackdown 3, and even they have talked(Probably too much, now that it's a meme and people are confused to how they're implementing it) about the tech showing it and the people involved. It's taking forever to come out, but there's very little possibility that it isn't a game. I am pretty sure it will be a bad game, but I think there's something tangible all of these years after the announcement, and that there's been something tangible to some degree even back when it was announced. What Sony did with that E3 was basically just one step above flashing "FINAL FANTASY 7" and "SHENMUE 3" across the screen. THEY'RE STILL PUTTING THE TEAM TOGETHER TO DEVELOP THE FINAL FANTASY 7 REMAKE. IT'S BEEN 3 YEARS. NOTHING ABOUT THIS GAME ACTUALLY EXISTS YET. And what was the last we heard of Shenmue 3 after the director realized that tech has changed over the last 15 years? As much we joke say "Haha E3 is just for investors", the announcements of FF7R and Shenmue 3 were 100% investor reveals. Literally for Shenmue 3, because, again, the announcement was there so that people would fund the game because the director has been failing for years to get big name publishers on board. Sony utterly failed at the 2015 E3 purely because of how much it felt like a conference for investors I'll admit. I'm a dumb consumer, and I enjoy the spectacle. When the spectacle wears off, I want to be excited for something that may be in my hands some time soon. If that spectacle is all there is and nothing follows, then the big name publishers have failed me as a consumer. As somebody who is a huge fan of FF7, the announcement of the FF7 remake did nothing but arouse suspicion and concern, because they showed me nothing besides "Hurr durr, Cloud's in HD". It's even worse that I'm sure Sony was super proud of themselves. "We got FF7R and Shenmue 3, we won E3."

I'm going to say dumb. It's an interrogation you'd see in a sitcom, where the interrogator is trying to convince the target that they're comedically crazy, while the scenario in Detroit is supposed to be played very seriously. Part of what makes David Cage games so unique and enjoyable despite being story and character driven games where nearly all the characters suck and all of the stories are borderline nonsense, is the utter lack of self-awareness(Ironically part of why Detroit actually kind of works relative to the rest of his games). Telltale games and one-offs like Until Dawn never take themselves as seriously as that, and that's why you'll probably find more people who unironically like those games. That scene is prime David Cage-ness, and it's dumb as hell.

By all accounts, it seems like David Cage made his best game yet, and the premise covers up a lot of the typical awkwardness that comes with David Cage games. Unfortunately, it still has David Cage writing, so it's still schlocky, dumb, and about as subtle as a rhino charging down the streets of New York.