Of Mild Conviction

The first Takeover of 2016, and boy did it have a lot of high expectations. Three championships on the line; two in-ring debuts from a former TNA star and a former NJPW star, the latter of whom is the opponent to Sami Zayn for his final match at NXT. The bar has been set. How much can this event deliver on? Everything and more.

Takeover opened up with American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) vs. The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) for the Tag Team Championship. It was a highly energetic and fast-paced beginning for the night, and just plain fun from beginning to end. American Alpha are amazing at pretty much everything, no doubt thanks to their real-life Olympic wrestling experience. They have power, speed, and finesse, and just a joy to watch. The Revival spend the whole match heeling it up with cheap shots and trying to isolate Gable for a beatdown. The crowd was behind the match the whole time, too; no lack of enthusiasm on their part. Excellent opening match.

Next up is Austin Aries vs. Baron Corbin in Aries’s debut match. The speed and pace of this one is a stark difference from the tag match. It’s definitely slower and more methodical, and it was obvious this caused a lot of people in the crowd to become more disinterested as the match went on. Corbin’s gimmick as the lone wolf who hates indie darlings has become a thing of beauty a lot of people have gotten behind, and Aries is an unquestionably talented guy. The story of Corbin getting cocky and Aries silencing him is a sensible one, too. However, they weren’t able to pull out their best in the ring. It’s still a solid match overall, and hopefully it plants the seeds for further feuding between the two men that grows into a much bigger and better match at the next Takeover.

Third match of the night is the long-awaited Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match. This one had the most going for it out of the whole card, and also had the highest expectations to live up to. It’s Zayn’s last match with NXT before moving up to the main roster full-time, and it’s Nakamura’s on-screen and in-ring debut, meaning he’ll need to set an amazing first impression if he wants non-NJPW fans to understand why everyone else is so excited to see him. I have no doubt in my mind that this match not only met expectations for pretty much everyone, but also blew past them. This is a dream match for many. It was apparent from the second his new, awesome entrance music hit that he’s NXT’s next huge star.

Not a single second of this fight fell flat. Everyone was hanging onto every movement both men made. Tons of amazing back-and-forth, tons of personality, and tons of emotion. It had almost zero build-up other than Zayn and Nakamura essentially being two battleships passing each other on the harbor that is the world of wrestling, but it had the drama of a story that’s been in the making for months. The best part about this match is that Nakamura’s style hasn’t been watered down in the slightest, neither in the ring or out of it. He’s the Nakamura we know and love, and he’s bringing Strong Style to WWE. Zayn did a great job handling those stiff kicks and knees and that forearm exchange between both men was awe-inspiring. This match even birthed the new “fight forever” chant, and it’s extremely well-deserved.

After Nakamura hits the Bomaye (now called Kinshasa) and Zayn takes the pin, the crowd erupts and the two wrestlers share a moment of mutual respect before Nakamura leaves so Zayn can have his final moment with the NXT fans. This is the type of match that’s isn’t just a match; it’s practically a religious experience - an eye-opening epiphany that can overwhelm you with the realization that wrestling actually can be this good.

Next up is Bayley vs. Asuka for the NXT Women’s Championship. I was definitely expecting a damn good show from the two best on NXT’s female roster, and they delivered. Lots of energy and emotion from both women; many great sequences and a satisfying ending that keeps Bayley looking like the strong-willed hero she is. She may have lost, but not willingly. Asuka only makes sense as the new champion, and I’m definitely excited to see more matches between these two.

Finishing up the night is Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship. This match started off a bit rocky due to Joe getting a cut next to his eye within the first minute or two. This caused frequent pauses that due to staff coming out and wiping the blood from his face; messing with the pace of the match. However, it created some great imagery and tension, with Joe’s bloodied face aggressively coming after Balor for the entirety of the fight. It made Joe look like a beast. Now, it’s rare for wrestlers to accidentally get cut up, but if the injury is minor and they wish to continue the match on their own, let them do it. Fortunately, Finn and Joe are competent guys who are able to turn the situation around and still make a worthwhile match out of it. They would have had much better chemistry if the refs didn’t stifle it multiple times, but it still came out to be a solid match.

I’d imagine this will be a touchy subject to some, but it’s something that’s been running through my head on and off for quite some time now. I’ve somewhat addressed sexual content in games before (check my Directory), but I’ve never really spilled out everything I want to say. For some reason, Blizzard’s removal of a simple pose in Overwatch, for a female character named Tracer, struck a chord in me and made me want to just... talk. It’s not, by any means, some life-changing, eye-opening occurrence for me, personally. It’s more like the straw that broke the camel’s back. This is just a tangent that’s been building up in me. I can’t guarantee a coherent layout to this post, as it’ll be very stream-of-consciousness, but I’ll try my best.

First off, about Blizzard’s removal of the pose; Tracer is not the only character with it. In fact, she’s not even the female character with the biggest butt who can do it (see: Widowmaker). Male characters can do it, too. Tracer was given special treatment, because she, specifically, was pointed out by the player who complained about the pose, claiming sexual objectification. Despite dozens of other people in the same thread saying otherwise, Jeff Kaplan responded with confirmation that he’d remove it, and even apologized for it - in the same thread as the many who asked to keep the pose intact. Since then, the Overwatch Beta Feedback forum on Battle.net has been flooded with statements asking to reverse the decision.

I’ve seen people saying things like “video games aren’t a democracy and the devs can do what they want” and “it’s not censorship if they change it willingly.” First off, who’s to say it’s a willful change, not fueled by fear of moral outrage or critical backlash? Second, if a single complaint was all it took for them to remove the pose, then why did they give it to Tracer to begin with? Why’d they give it to her if their conviction towards their own game’s design is so weak? “They care about player feedback and want to make everyone happy”, I hear some say. If that were true, Kaplan should have listened to the dozens of other people scrambling to urge him to keep the pose - not the one or two people trying to make a mountain out of an anthill. Obviously, that would have pleased the majority, and the people who don’t care either way would continue to not care. “Pleasing everyone” is simply not possible in any consumer-based or art-based industry where subjective perception of the product is key.

This type of behavior continues to set the awful precedent that you can easily change anything you want about any game you wish by raising your eyebrow and claiming “sexism” or “racism” or any “-ism” that bares a negative connotation. This type of behavior has way too much power over the people who should simply have all the creative freedom they want. It goes deeper, as one person in the thread claimed that, despite Tracer being 26 years old in-universe, her emotional and intellectual development could be stunted due to being adrift in time. Now, humanizing a fictional character is reasonable, and necessary to sympathize with/relate to them within the context of their plot, but trying to give them real life human rights to protect them from their own creators is taking it a step too far. 

Another damning aspect of this issue is this part of Kaplan’s message: “The last thing we want to do is make someone feel uncomfortable, under-appreciated or misrepresented.” An admirable statement... Unless you happen to like that pose for Tracer - which, again, was most of the people in that thread - then fuck you.

This whole debacle bridges me to my next statement, which is the crux of this post: sex in video games is not inherently immoral or detrimental to the medium in the general. The presence of sex in video games doesn’t make people perceive the entire industry to be “immature”. If someone does perceive it that way, they’re the closed-minded ones. Sex is a basic need in all human beings - we all want or need it, barring asexual individuals. Sex is present in every consumer-based artform. Film has it. Photography has it. Literature has it. “Music” (or just audio in general) has it. Sex can be bought and sold all over the world. Video games are not a special snowflake form of entertainment that needs to be coddled because it’s the youngest. Video games have nothing to prove. It’s a 100 billion-dollar (annually/globally) business and growing.

Pornographic games are exactly that - porn. They’ve porn first and video games second. A game is not automatically aimed at people of all ages and demographics by virtue of being a video game. And, like with real porn, you ignore the types you’re not into. Simple as that. As a lifelong gamer, one of my absolute biggest pet peeves is a person playing a game despite already deciding that they hate it before they even pick up the controller, and, surprise, they trash it when they’re done (usually about an hour or less in). It’s a confirmation bias and self-fulfilling prophecy, and pretending to be an authority on that game after your predetermined hatred only misleads and is fundamentally dishonest.

Sex in video games isn’t even a recent occurrence. Have we forgotten Custer’s Revenge back in 1982? There was an outrage about that game, too; including some hyperbolic morons trying to insist it incurred a “rape epidemic” against Native American women. How about the Leisure Suit Larry franchise? To this day, I see people citing their own children for reasons of their concern (this includes the person who complained about Tracer’s pose) and I can only wonder if they forgot that ESRB ratings exist. Yes, ratings boards like ESRB or MPAA can be full of shit sometimes (like giving an AO for sex, but not grotesque and excessive violence), but they’re there for a reason.

Sure, sex in games used to be extremely odd from an arousal standpoint back when human characters were just globs of pixels. But now, 16 years into the 21st century, 3D models can be made to be alarmingly realistic with software available for free. The gap from flesh and blood to pixels and polygons will only close more and more as years pass to the point where photorealism is accomplished with ease. That’s how technology progresses. Now, with virtual reality on the horizon, sex in video games will feel more tangible than ever.

You’re not helping the video game industry grow in a natural manner by lobotomizing it and keeping it stuck in a perpetual state of political correctness. Just let it do its own thing and it’ll evolve on its own - in all directions. It’ll reach a point where the industry will be so huge, you’ll nave no incentive to go back to any company or series you’ve abandoned; assuming it’s not at that point already.

Recently, the UN tried to crack down on Japan for having media - live action and otherwise - that contains sexual violence against women. Japan responded logically by saying “stop trying to give real life human rights to fictional people” (paraphrasing, of course). This notion was supported by many Japanese women, including yaoi manga artists and novelists, college professors, and lawyers. They even went the extra mile to say that male characters are often victims to sexual violence too, and should therefore not be considered a problem exclusive to women. Fiction does not violate any human rights. If anything, fiction is definitively removed from human rights entirely. Trying to censor or remove fiction does not help real, living, breathing people who have suffered any sort of abuse or objectification. I’m glad one first-world country has some sense regarding this topic.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading my rant. I hope it was understandable, and I hope you see where I’m coming from. I’m not trying to purposely step on toes. I’m just venting my thoughts on things that I feel shouldn’t need such a passionate response to begin with, but here we are.

This is the second half of this year’s “New Beginning” duology. Like the show in Osaka, we have a nine-match card lined up consisting of multiple tag and singles matches for various titles. The big draw here is the singles match main event for the vacant IWGP Intercontinental between Kenny Omega and Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Opening match is Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, and Cody Hall vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Captain New Japan, and Tiger Mask in a six-man tag match. Can’t say this was much of a good opener. It lacked the chemistry and energy of Osaka’s White-Finlay match. However, it was at least somewhat pleasing for those who enjoy watching the masked New Japan veterans work. Of course, The Young Bucks were doing their thing, as well. Can’t say Cody Hall was interesting to watch here, though. Basically, if you’re not a really devout fan of anyone here, you likely won’t care to pay much attention.

Up next is Gedo and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby “Best Facial Hair in the Game” Fish in a tag team match. Overall, this was a definitely a more satisfying experience than the previous match. ReDRagon continues to amaze with how well they can adapt with pretty much any opponent in any environment. Sakuraba is always enjoyable to watch with his highly technical grappling style. Gedo wasn’t too bad, either. I’d say if both duos had more time and more freedom, they could put on a hell of a show.

Third match of the night is Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Matt Sydal, and Ricochet vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguchi, and David Finlay. Definitely a wide variety of styles in this match, and each person got a little bit of time to shine. Things started off with Nakanishi taking the lead, so if you’re not interested in his limited mobility technique, the first part of this match will be pretty slow. However, once he left the ring, the energy kicked up significantly. Overall, it was a pretty fun watch, and everyone did what they could in the eight minutes they had.

Next is Tetsuya Naito and Evil vs. Michael Elgin and Jay White in a tag team match. Los Ingobernables continue to be fantastic heels, dedicating some time to messing with and bullying White, who is a hard worker. Elgin is fun to watch like always with his powerhouse style and smooth movement. A solid match that keeps the momentum going from the previous two; and everyone had pretty good chemistry with each other. Though White did take the fall, he definitely put on a show that’ll convince people to keep an eye on him.

Fifth match of the event is Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, and Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and Yujiro Takahashi for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag titles. Yes, this match again. You likely already know what to expect, and it’s more or less the same, though I think the dynamic between the Briscoes and Yano has grown on me a little bit. There’s an alternation of action and comedy with this team, and you may either think it messes with the pace, or it’s a breath of fresh air. I think it all depends on how much you like Yano, specifically. Either way, it’s a decent match, but not as strong as the three before it. The Briscoes and Yano got the title back, and I’m not sure what to think of that. Are the bookers planning on doing hot potato between these two teams? Are they stalling to make some new ones to compete with them? I guess we’ll see.

Following up is Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata, and Juice Robinson vs. Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, and Yoshi-Hashi in a 6-man tag match. No titles on the line or anything here, just a brawl between New Japan’s major players... and Yoshi-Hashi and Juice Robinson. It’s pretty obvious who would be the fall guy to take the pin for each team. However, everyone got some good time with everyone else, including Shibata and Ishii, a pair I will never get tired of seeing. Even Robinson got some an opportunity to beat up on Okada before finally taking a Rainmaker and the subsequent pin. Good match overall; lots of great back-and-forth between everyone involved. It ends with Okada trying to invite Goto into Chaos, but Goto rebuffs the offer.

Next is Kushida vs. Bushi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Bushi alluded to his desire to take the belt at Osaka earlier, so now we finally get to see the action. This one was a ride. Things started off smoothly, but Kushida became aggressive after being fed up with constant interference from Evil and Naito and getting hit with Bushi’s green mist. It ramped further after he took red mist and fell victim to some worryingly close near falls. It ended with Ryusuke Taguchi and a couple of Young Lions holding the Los Ingobernables back as Bushi tapped to the Hoverboard Lock. This match had some great progression and build-up, and established Bushi as a real threat to Kushida’s reign, should he continue to pursue it.

Eighth match of the night is Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows vs. Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma in a tag team match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. It’s not hard to guess what the outcome of this match will be, considering everyone knowing Anderson and Gallows are leaving NJPW, but this was still a fun match all around. It started with Bullet Club putting the hurt on Honma for an extended period before he finally tagged Makabe in and the momentum picked up. The crowd was really into it, and behind GBH every second of the match, especially whenever Honma landed a Kokeshi. The match ended with Anderson on the receiving end of a devastating three-hit combo of a Doomsday Kokeshi, followed by a King Kong Knee Drop, then a top rope Kokeshi, and taking the pin for a satisfying ending.

Finally, the main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega for the vacant IWGP Intercontinental Championship left behind by Shinsuke Nakamura. This match was extremely important, due to the necessity of building Kenny Omega up as a threat since taking over as leader of the Bullet Club. And who to do that better than Tanahashi? This match was straight fire. It had the drama, the in-ring storytelling, and the psychology; things the match may not have had if it weren’t for Tanahashi’s excellence at all of those things supporting Omega.

Both men were working around injured limbs for half the match, and they pulled out all the stops in order to get their hands on that belt. They even incorporated moves from their predecessors; Tanahashi using Good Vibrations and attempting Bomayes, and Omega hitting a Styles Clash. The Young Bucks assisted their leader for a short while before Big Mike Elgin came in and literally carried both of them out back. Despite losing, the match doesn’t tarnish Tanahashi’s image, as nearly all 30 minutes were spent making you think either men could come out on top. A fantastic match that can definitely propel Kenny Omega into much-deserved superstardom at NJPW.

Following up on the Wrestle Kingdom 10 event, NJPW’s two-part New Beginning series of PPVs has to keep up the momentum, which won’t be easy considering how spectacular WK10 was.

The first match of the night is Jay White vs. David Finlay; two young talents that kick the event off with an amazing burst of energy. They keep up the speed and technique in an expertly consistent manner. Clocking in at just over seven minutes, it’s not a long match, but a noteworthy display of how good these two wrestlers are. I look forward to seeing more of them in the future, as they’re quite an intense pairing.

Second match is a Jushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Tiger Mask vs. Gedo, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Yoshi-Hashi of Chaos in a 6-man tag match. Not a spectacular one, but fun enough. With the exception of Ryusuke and Yoshi-Hashi, none of these men are particularly young, but they still manage to show a lot of enthusiasm. Ryusuke and Tiger Mask had some enjoyable sequences specifically. At just shy of 7 and a half minutes, this was another short match, but it did a decent job at keeping up the pace set by White-Finlay earlier; it didn’t feel that much slower. Not much more to this one than a bit of crowd-pleasing.

Third match is Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata in tag team match; another bout consisting of veterans. This one had a better sense of progression than the previous match and more satisfying build-up. Kojima and Nagata had some enjoyable interactions. Nakanishi, however, isn’t terribly enjoyable to watch for an extended period of time, due to his limited mobility, and he was in the ring for quite a bit. Overall, still a solid match; I’d say better than the 6-man tag prior to it.

Next up is Bushi, Evil, and Tetsuya Naito vs. Kushida, Michael Elgin, and Juice Robinson in another 6-man tag match. I always enjoy watching Naito be a jerk heel. He’s cartoonishly assholish and it’s hard to not be entertained by it. I was glad to see Elgin get some love in this match. He’s an excellent powerhouse type wrestler, and his style is satisfying to witness. Los Ingobernables is definitely establishing themselves as a threat, especially with Bushi explicitly stating that he wants Kushida’s IWGP Jr. Heavyweight belt. Can’t say I was invested much in Juice Robinson in this match, as he barely got any time to impress, but I imagine there’s more to see from him in the future.

Fifth match of the night is Mark Briscoe, Jay Briscoe, and Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and Yujiro Takahashi for the NEVER 6-man Tag Team Championship. If you watched Wrestle Kingdom 10, then this match is pretty much more of the same. This might not be a bad thing if you enjoy the dynamic of the Briscoes and Yano, which continues to be an odd pairing in my eyes. The Briscoes are athletic, and suddenly having Yano come in and Yano it up can make the match’s pace feel a bit uneven. That said, there was still some pretty good sequences here and there, but if you’re not invested in either of the teams, or the belts themselves, it could be difficult be invested in the match in general. Bullet Club ended up walking away with the gold, which I’m sure some will appreciate. I definitely don’t have a problem with it.

Next is Matt Sydal and Ricochet vs. Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly vs. Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson in a 3-way tag match for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag title. Much like the match that opened up Wrestle Kingdom 10 proper, this one’s highly energetic and entertaining, with some fantastic spots and sequences, only sans Roppongi Vice this time around and with more of Cody Hall’s occasional interference. Booking for the IWGP Jr. HW belts is still getting harsh criticism thanks to constant 3-way or 4-way matches and lack of real storylines, but at least they’re consistently fun to watch. This match in particular is the best one of the night so far.

Seventh match of the event is Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the NEVER Openweight Championship. Having absolutely adored their match at Wrestle Kingdom 10, I expected these two to work miracles again tonight, and they did not disappoint. They tried very hard to outdo themselves and they came damn close. All the slaps, lariats, holds, forearm strikes, chops, headbutts, boot scrapes, and kicks you can handle in one match; delivered by two men who seem like they were born to beat the everloving shit out of each other in the stiffest manner possible, for over 18 straight minutes. Expertly portrayed ring psychology and raw emotion. A fantastic match. A thing of beauty. There was nothing about this that I didn’t love.

Next is Kenny Omega, Karl Anderson, and Doc Gallows vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomoaki Honma, and Togi Makabe in a 6-man tag match. With AJ Styles’s departure, it’s up to Kenny to establish himself as the threatening new leader of the Bullet Club, and this was without a doubt the purpose of this match. A lot of time was dedicated to Kenny going toe-to-toe with Honma and especially Tanahashi. As for the match itself, it was pretty good all around, but not spectacular. The emphasis on Kenny was pretty obvious, but a necessity if he’s to be put in the spotlight and considered a dominant force in NJPW. He had very good chemistry with Tanahashi teased here, though.

Finally, the main event of New Beginning in Osaka: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hirooki Goto for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. This match had beginning some major build-up, but it had big shoes to fill, following the amazing match at Wrestle Kingdom 10. Unfortunately, I don’t think it succeeded. It wasn’t a bad match by any means, but it didn’t emulate the masterful storytelling and progression of Okada’s defense against Tanahashi. Furthermore, Goto already lost 7 straight title matches prior to this one, so most probably didn’t expect him to win anyway. There were some noteworthy moments and exciting spots, but overall, it didn’t deliver.

Sorry I’ve been inactive lately; I just burned myself out and didn’t feel like typing anymore. But I’ve been keeping pretty busy.

First, I bought Ultra Street Fighter IV and played it for pretty much the first time ever. I was never into Street Fighter much, because I really prefer 4-button (and under) fighters like Dead or Alive, Tekken, Virtua Fighter, etc. But I put some training hours into USF4 before deciding I wanted to main Guy, and I went online to do some ranked matches. It went very well for the first 40 matches or so, then the lag screwed me over consistently on one day and I lost almost 2/3 of my player points.

That’s not just johns either, the lag really did screw me in half of the matches I lost. Offline, I can go toe-to-toe with AI on hard, but online I get several frames of lag per match. I went online to look up how USF4 handled lag to being with, and lo and behold, Battle Nonsense put up a video elaborating that the game ramps up the individual’s INPUT lag to make up for NETWORK lag. Thus, while my inputs are several frames behind from when I press a button, the attack comes out simultaneously on both player’s screens. This explained a LOT.

Of course, I understand that of all ways to deal with network lag, this is the lesser of two evils. You can’t have a fighting game where you take damage from a punch you were clearly out of range from because the punch connected only in your opponent’s screen. That’d be stupid. Still, it’s very aggravating to know that, depending on the severity of the lag, I’m fighting my opponent by guessing what they’ll be doing 4-8 frames in the future.

I watched the entirety of House of Cards season 4, and boy was it a major improvement over season three. The scheming and backstabbing were at an all-time high this season, and there were so many twists and turns. Not a single dull episode. Robin Wright directed multiple episodes and they were probably the best of the season. 

The Netflix hype doesn’t stop there, though. The night I finished House of Cards was the day Daredevil season 2 came out, which I totally forgot about. I watched the first episode already and I can already tell I’m gonna dig Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle. Netflix has me in a vice grip this month. Plus I have to binge Black Sails season 3, and Game of Thrones starts in a month. The TV show rabbit hole is deep, my friends. I plan on checking out Preacher once it’s out too.

I’ve decided I’m going to buy Pokken Tournament soon, since it’s closest thing to a new Tekken game I’ll have until Tekken 7: Fated Retribution. I’m going to order it this weekend and it should be here next Tuesday or so. No more games after that until Dark Souls 3, which I plan on dedicating a lot of time to.

I still need to watch the two New Beginning PPVs from NJPW. Invasion Attack is coming up soon, and I missed the New Japan Cup thanks to not having stream-friendly internet access. Damn satellite internet and its absurd latency and criminally low data caps. I’m glad it’s an election year, I want a fucking president to bend these ISPs over and whip them into fucking shape.

This is it. The final part. After this, we’re done. Let’s get it on.

LUD AND ZALLEN, THE KING’S PETS You already know how I feel about fighting just one of these things. I’m sure you can imagine how I feel about two at the same time.

Lud and Zallen are basically the same as Aava. The only real difference is that Zallen has an “enraged” mode at about 20% health, where he does more damage, his defenses skyrocket, and he regenerates health, but only up to a certain point (about 50-60%) and he never uses it again. Sounds annoying, but it’s also possible to still negate it and do more damage than he can heal with proper preparation.

If you had trouble with Aava, you’ll hate this fight, not only because you’re fighting two Aavas at once, but because Frigid Outskirts is one of the most un-fun, poorly-designed area in Souls history. You can have phantoms help you, assuming they live through Horsefuck Valley, but the more phantoms you have in the boss room, the sooner Zallen hops into the fight, which means the longer you each have to play safe. This can be tough with just one phantom, because Lud and Zallen both seem to switch targets for no real reason, regardless of how far you are from them.

Basically, just enter the boss arena, rush down Lud as best as you can, and pray you can finish him off before Zallen joins the brawl and makes things complicated.

Design-wise, Lud and Zallen are much darker recolors of Aava, and the arena is just a big ice hole. In addition to being an annoying as shit fight, it’s bland to look at too.

I don’t like this fight in the slightest. It feels like FromSoft didn’t know what boss to put here or didn’t have time to design a totally new one, and opted to copypaste Aava twice with no changes to make the gank a bit easier to deal with. And don’t get me started on how stupid and bullshit Frigid Outskirts is. Thankfully, this boss is entirely optional. It’s awful and I encourage anyone and everyone to just not even bother unless you’re a completionist.

BURNT IVORY KING As far as I’m concerned, the Burnt Ivory King is the TRUE final boss of the game. Everything about this fight is so epic and climactic, and I always save this fight for AFTER I beat Nashandra.

The biggest reason it feels so climactic is the reason it’s also one of the most interesting boss fights in the game: it’s a battle. Well, the first part is. A very small-scale one, but a battle. You see, it’s possible to hop right down into the Old Chaos after beating Aava and do this all on your own, but the game prefers you find the last few good Eleum Loyce knights and fight the closest you’ll see to a war in Dark Souls. As an added bonus, you can also bring in a couple summons. Either way, it’s gonna get crazy.

There’s three portals that summon one Charred Loyce Knight each, and they’ll keep coming until your Eleum Loyce allies - one by one - sacrifice themselves to close the portals for good. The game gives you one allied Knight to start with, and it’s up to you find up to three more, for a possible total of four. If you’re fast enough, you can keep one extra knight to help out with the big bad King, himself. If you use a shield, consider switching to one with good fire defense, as some knights will be pyromancers.

I’ll mention the NPC summons right now: Lucatiel and Twiggy Shei. As you may already know, Lucatiel can take quite a beating, but she can’t drink Estus, so her usefulness as a meat shield has a close expiration date. Twiggy Shei is a new face, and prefers sniping chucklefucks from a distance with his greatbow. If any Charred Loyce Knights get up in his face, he’ll switch over to an Estoc. Like Lucatiel, he can handle himself very well, but I’d still suggest helping him out if he gets overwhelmed, as he’s most effective when sniping. Overall, both summons are worthwhile if you’re struggling solo, but don’t expect them to work miracles on their own. If you can’t heal them in any way, then just be aggressive and knock some skulls while they maintain enemy aggro. This is assuming, of course, if you want to keep them around for the boss fight proper.

After two portals are sealed (the third may or not be sealed, or in the process of being sealed; your mileage may vary), a massive portal will appear opposite from your entrance landing zone, and the Burnt Ivory King himself will slowly walk out like a badass motherfucker. Now the real fun begins.

His moveset isn’t terribly varied. He likely starts the fight by making a beeline to the first ally he sees (or you, if you’re solo) and doing a cool leaping sweep. He also has an AOE where he stabs his sword into the ground and causes huge ice stalagmites to burst from the ground, and 3-4 hit combos that can be easily rolled through, assuming you have the stamina. The real threats come after he buffs his sword with magic, which not only increases his damage output, but extends the reach of his sword by, what, double? Triple? It doesn’t stop there; his buff also unlocks his stab/grab attack which can utterly destroy you. Basically, the Ivory King isn’t a particularly complex enemy, but he’s still an aggressive, hard-hitting mofo who will take no prisoners. He’s the Sir Alonne of Eleum Loyce.

Like Sir Alonne, the King only attacks whoever he’s facing. Don’t take too many chances with healing and such, because if he’s looking in your direction, he’s gonna try to push your shit in as soon as possible. If you have a summon (and I suggest you do, at least one competent human player), I suggest healing and buffing when he’s facing the other player. That way you know for sure you’re in the clear. Hopefully you had at least three Eleum Loyce knights to seal those portals, because they will continue to spawn if they aren’t. I really, really don’t think you want to deal with an endless onslaught of Charred Loyce Knights while dealing with big man in charge too. In terms of weaknesses, he’s vulnerable only to lighting. I’m not 100% sure if he can be poisoned, but I don’t recommend experimenting.

In terms of visuals, the Burnt Ivory King is a cool-looking dude. His armor is awesome, his sword with a melted blade is awesome and thematically suiting. His entrance is awesome and intimidating. The arena is big and open and epic, although not particularly unique, being just a platform on lava - which we’ve seen before (Old Iron King, anyone?) Either way, the atmosphere of this fight makes it more climactic and rewarding than either of the two finals bosses of the base game.

I like this fight a lot. It can be a bit of pain because of the battle in the first half, but as long as you keep your eyes open and don’t take dumb risks, you’ll liver through it just fine. It’s the only good boss in the Ivory King DLC, and it’s very, very good.

Before I get to the meat of this discussion, I’m going to be upfront and admit that I have little investment in normal commercial anime. In the last year and a half, the only series I’ve watched in their entirety are One Punch Man (there’s only one season as of right now anyway) and Shirokuma Cafe, and I loved both. I used to watch anime frequently about three or so years ago, but since then, I’ve become disillusioned with the medium for multiple reasons, some more rational than others.

I don’t like fanservice for the sake of it, because most fanservice anime makes me want to just cut out the middle man and look up hentai doujinshi. I don’t like moeblob anime with non-existent substance in either the dramatic or comedic sense. I don’t like braindead harem anime where the thick-skulled, Mary Sue male protagonist did absolutely nothing noteworthy to deserve thirty girls wanting his dick (while also being annoyingly oblivious to them). A popular by-product of all of these types of anime, is the tsundere girl. Tsundere girls are everywhere. And I hate them too.

I hate tsundere characters for two reasons. First of all, it’s a ridiculously overused character archetype that tries to make a character a complete asshole in place of a real, relatable personality. Second, a lot of tsundere girls are, realistically speaking, genuinely awful individuals that I - and most people, I’d imagine - would never want to be around in real life. Worst of all, truly selfish and abusive tsunderes seem to be the most common type. It’s quite hard to find a character that displays a “tsun” demeanor in a subtle way that’s neatly written. Most of them are explicitly violent and emotionally manipulative, and we’re actually expected to support their relationship with the male protag, who likely doesn’t deserve any of it. One of reasons I hate harem anime is the fact that so many of them actually have the tsundere girl win the protag in the end, and I can only groan in disdain.

The tsundere archetype is commonly made fun of online by means of people acting like a textbook tsun character in text. “I-it’s not like I did it because I like you or anything, b-baka!” You know that line. You’ve likely seen it around here on the internet many, many times. But you know what? I kind of prefer characters who actually say lines like that. I know it seems ass backwards, considering the paragraph above, but barring those who indulge in physical or emotional abuse of those they claim to love, these types of tsundere characters at least manage to show some human decency under their poor attempts at coming off cold. At least they are somewhat redeemable by virtue of the implication that they’re actually very nice deep down, to the point where they could rarely be jerks even if they tried.

There are some exceptions to my hate, such as Haruhi Suzumiya, considering what she really is; and Taiga Aisaka - but just barely, thanks to how much I enjoy everything else about Toradora and the development of her relationship with Ryuuji. Either way, I despise your typical, obnoxious, loud, selfish, volatile tsundere characters pretty much on principle until given a good reason not to. Because of this hate, I’ve moved on to embracing the polar opposite archetypes: deredere and yandere. Kuudere is pretty alright too, assuming the character actually does show a real personality or some depth at some point.

So, yeah, that’s my rant on tsundere characters. I hope I didn’t shit on your waifu indirectly, but if your waifu is tsundere, then she’s shit anyway.

Fuck, I hate Kirino.

We already know why people replay online games, especially games with some semblance of a competitive scene. You play with different people every time, or with the same people in different ways, and the experience is different and potentially very fun and memorable each time. When you play a game online, it’s nearly impossible for two consecutive rounds/matches/games/etc. to be exactly alike. Playing with your fellow human offers a sense of variety untouched by playing against AI programmed to respond in very specific ways to your own specific actions.

So how do single-player games give a reason to replay them? In what ways can an offline, single-player experience make a new playthrough feel completely unlike the the last? The incentives vary from genre to genre, but for the most part, they fall into three categories: options, discovery, and the desire to become better.

“Options” is something that mostly comes with RPGs, especially ones that have some sort of stat allocation and/or equipment optimization systems. However, basically any game that allows the player to change their character’s own strengths and weaknesses on the fly generally benefit from having options. The best ones make different playstyles practically feel like entirely different games. Concentrating on specific skills and strategies throughout the game, finishing it, and going back just to change things up and explore what’s available can influence people to play a game over and over again on its own, provided the differences feel substantial and worthwhile in their own right.

An RPG example is the Souls franchise. Souls is unique in the way that it features stat allocation and equipment optimization, but doesn’t necessarily slap a hard restriction on most weapons and armor. It’s entirely possible to slowly shift from one build to the other throughout the game, but half the experience isn’t just reaching the peak of your build’s effectiveness, but the process of developing it in a specific manner. You don’t have to stick to the itinerary you made on the first playthrough. You’re free to do things in any order possible.

On the opposite side of that RPG coin is Diablo 3, where different classes do have hard restrictions on what weapons and abilities can be used. Thus, if you do wish to experience everything, you’re required to start a new game with a new character. However, that doesn’t mean content is lacking for any single class.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain did an excellent job at offering seemingly limitless combinations of weapons and equipment you can select for your mission loadouts, as well as the option of bringing a companion or going solo. Unfortunately, you can’t replay the entire game without getting rid of your save file entirely, but you can repeat individual missions to your heart’s content and experiment with any strategies that can come to mind. In-depth loadout options in mission-based games like this can offer their own sense of replayability.

Whereas “options” is about you and your character, “discovery” is about the world around you. A strong sense of discovery can practically beg people to replay a game by planting seeds of doubt into players’ heads and making them think they’re missing something no matter how many times they play through it all. Exploration of this manner isn’t limited to just open world games in the same vein as Elder Scrolls or Grand Theft Auto, but it can also be expertly implemented in games with interconnected areas with multiple paths.

A secondary system that’s almost mandatory in any platforming game, either 2D or 3D, is collectibles. Collectibles everywhere. Of course, some games do a better job at making them worthwhile than others, but any good platformer has well-hidden collectibles and easter eggs, and significant rewards for finding them. Metroidvanias have been making exploration extremely fulfilling for decades now.

Again, Dark Souls and Bloodborne are fantastic at this, thanks to the games refusing to hold your hand and navigate you through areas with breadcrumbs. In Souls games, all paths are always worth taking, for different reasons. One could lead to progress, one to lead to treasure, one could lead to a shortcut to a previous checkpoint, or a combination of the three. Exploration is best when every trail has varying rewards waiting for you for simply walking down it. Souls games also do a very good job at hiding things, too. Ash Lake was an entirely optional but beautiful area in Dark Souls 1 that is possible - likely, even - to miss completely, as finding it required you to go far out of your way. It’s extremely common for people to discover new things even when they’re on their tenth playthrough. Not just items, weapons, and treasure, but NPCs and interactive events that can change certain aspects of the game entirely.

Last, but not least, is the desire to become better. There’s a lot of games that highly encourages players to replay over and over for the sake of mastering it. Character action games like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and Metal Gear Rising have grading systems that keep track of how varied your combos are, how much damage you take, and how long the fights last. They’re always pushing you to outdo yourself more and more. Skill-based arcade genres, like shmups, provide very short campaigns or a series of hundreds of levels that make you want to get that high score, no matter how far you get. Their replayability is welcoming thanks to their short length, but the challenge itself is what encourages you to come back.

This isn’t limited to just arcadey titles, but any game that actively reminds the player that further optimization is always possible. Once more, the Souls series does this well, thanks to its seamless world and open-ended gameplay that allows an astonishing amount of options right from the get-go. Souls is extremely speedrun-friendly, and has one of the most active and competitive speedrun scenes in gaming, because of how many people are searching to play better and better. It’s always possible to beat that boss faster, or grab that item sooner, or sprint through enemies easier.

Time to finish up the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC, and begin the last expansion: Crown of the Ivory King. We’re in the final stretch, people. Stay with me.

SIR ALONNE Not only does Brume Tower have one of the best level designs in the game, but it also has not one, but two of the best bosses in the game as well. What an expansion this is.

Sir Alonne - namesake of the Alonne Knights in the Iron Keep - is practically Raime: Speed Edition, since they both follow the same basics. Alonne is very aggressive and get do some major damage, as well as string some good combos together, but there’s a pretty noticeable difference between the two warriors: speed. Alonne is basically a samurai, and a nimble one at that. All of this attacks move at varying levels of quick, including different charge and sweep attacks that have varying delays as well. It can be a huge challenge just getting the timing right for rolls alone.

His moveset is straightforward, with no dirty tricks to take note of. He can do a two-hit combo followed by either a jump back and thrust or a wide horizontal sweep; a downward then upward vertical combo, a jump back then charging upward swing, a dark projectile at long range, a kick to guard break you; and a high jump and downward plunge, which has an area of effect upon landing. He also has a grab attack, but it’s disguised as a thrust. His sword will glow, and this is your cue to get ready to roll out of the way. Do NOT block, because blocks do nothing against grab attacks. It’s also possible for Alonne to parry and riposte you. His parry stance is when he holds his sword low to the ground, so don’t attack as he does it.

Sir Alonne can attack fast, attack hard, and sometimes leave little time to dish out punishment thanks to his quick jumps that put an insane amount of distance between the two of you. The main trick to his fight is dodging his charging trusts/swings, preferably by rolling towards him and slightly to his side. He uses them quite often and leaves himself open just long enough to hit him once before he either jumps away again, or retaliates. You receive a 2-second window or so once he begins using his jump and plunge, but he usually doesn’t start doing it until the halfway point into the fight.

As for weaknesses, he has none. He’s immune to poison and has high resistance to all elements. He’s supposedly somewhat vulnerable to trust weapons, but I can’t personally say for sure.

If you’re having trouble with Alonne, there are two NPC summons located at the very first room of the area who you can bring with you. They’re Steel-willed Lorrie and Drifter Swordsman Aidel. These two do not do a lot of damage, as they probably don’t have the proper stats to wield their respective weapons. However, they’re both EXTREMELY good at tanking and staying alive, due to them having large health pools and the ability to drink Estus. If you summon them, you’ll have to do most of the damage, but they’re fantastic meat shields/distractions and will likely stay alive for most - if not all - of the fight.

Basically, if you didn’t have a ton of trouble with Raime, then you probably won’t have a ton of issues with Alonne, unless you just can’t get used to his speed and varying delays. An interesting tidbit worth noting, is that Alonne has a unique death animation if you kill him without taking any damage - a seppuku animation where he impales himself with his sword.

Alonne isn’t just a good fight mechanically. He’s an honest fight, yes, but he’s also an atmospherically and aesthetically great fight too. The music; the gorgeous arena with the polished, reflective floors; and Alonne himself looking like a badass. Sir Alonne is, hands down, bar none, my favorite boss in Dark Souls 2. He even has badass lore supporting his backstory. 10/10 boss.

AAVA, THE KING’S PET First boss of the final DLC, and I’ll be straight with you: not a huge fan of this one. I don’t hate this fight as much as, say, Belfry Gargoyles or any of the dragon bosses, but I never look forward to this fight.

So, the “gimmick” to this fight is that you can enter it as soon as you enter the DLC, but Aava will be completely invisible. If you want to see him, you need to grab the Eye of the Priestess somewhere. But either way, Aava’s moveset is as follows: a slightly beefed up version of Homing Crystal Soulmass, a jumping bite that counts as a grab, wide paw sweeps, a jumping paw sweep, an AOE blast similar to Wrath of the Gods, and AOE ice pillars (little ice spikes come out the ground). Not a massive moveset, but Aava can still be tough.

The biggest thing about Aava is how much he moves. He will constantly jump and run away to prepare another attack, and when he does his paw swipes, he pushes himself in a certain direction, probably away from you. You’ll probably be spending most of the fight chasing him down. His paw swipes are extra annoying to deal with thanks to its hitbox being active for the entire swipe, including the very, very end, as it stops moving. His 180-degree swipe can take you off your feet if you’re behind him, as it tends to come out extremely quickly. If you’re trying to back away from him, he’ll do a paw swipe while also lunging forward a great distance, possibly clipping and killing you if you’re trying to back off in order to heal.

Aava’s jumping bite attack is also guilty of having hitboxes that are way too large, causing you to teleport inside his mouth even if you time your rolls right, but just don’t cover enough distance.

Two NPC summons are available for the fight: Steelheart Ellie and Masterless Glencour. If you absolutely need the help, summon Glencour, because he has more health and can drink Estus. If you’re tanky and need as many meat shields as possible, you can go ahead and grab Ellie too if you want, but make sure you have the damage output to make up for Aava’s increased defenses.

Attacking Aava can be simple enough; just roll through his sweeps and get a counter hit in, but don’t get greedy, and don’t roll left or right. Only roll foward or backward. His Homing Crystal Soulmass take a while to charge up, and if you can reach him and hit him a couple times as he charges it, do so. For weaknesses, Aava’s only elemental weakness is fire, so get those Charcoal Pine Resins handy, as well as any pyromancies if you use them. According to the Dark Soul 2 Wikidot, he can be poisoned in Scholar of the First Sin version of the game, but I actually haven’t tested that myself. Feel free to try, though.

I like Aava’s design, despite how simplistic is really is. He has an ice/magic aura and a black-blue coat, but is still essentially just a saber-toothed tiger. The bridge arena is nice and quite different from what we’re used to, with a nice view.

Okay, I actually haven’t been playing Street Fighter V yet, but soon I’ll start. I’m really keen in trying out Rashid, Karin, and R. Mika. Until then, I’m gonna have to quench my Street Fighter thirst with some 3rd Strike and Ultra Street Fighter 4. Yes, I’m implying I’ve never owned any iteration of Street Fighter 4 until now. But if I want to get into fighting games more, of course I gotta better acquaint myself with Street Fighter.

My search for an arcade stick continues as a I save money bit by bit. My original plan was to buy a Qanba Q4 and use a PS3 to PS4 Brook converter, but that’s out the window since everywhere I look, shops have it a low price but then charge out the ass for shipping. No thanks. Looks like I’ll need to opt for a Hori Real Arcade Pro 4 Kai, which I get with free shipping via Amazon Prime, and get a PS3 to Xbox 360 converter for it. If you don’t know, I don’t plan on using it for just fighting games. I have a ton of shmups I would love to experience with a stick. My only real gripe with the HRAP4 Kai seems to be the fact it’s not as mod-friendly as, say, the Mad Catz TE series, but I don’t plan on modding it so soon anyway.

But when I do mod it, I plan on putting my nine years of graphic design experience to good use to make myself some new art for it, and I’ll probably replace the Kuro buttons with some Sanwas since they apparently squeak and feel awkward when pressed at a certain angle. Might grab some new plexi for it, too. Not sure about changing much about the joystick except possibly the restrictor plate and maybe a new ball or bat top. I have a specific color scheme I want to try out.

There are plenty of games in existence that encourage the player to utilize any weapon, technique, or strategy they can to come out on top. In certain contexts, this idea can be met with condemnation, causing others to fling around names or terms like “cheater” and “no honor/etiquette”. Why does this happen? Why would you try to berate a player for simply choosing to use tools available to not just them, but everyone who plays, for equal opportunity usage?

This behavior has caught my attention in multiple communities, but two types stick out me the most: RPG players and the FGC (fighting game community). Of course, the reasonable individuals within these groups tend to reprimand those who behave this way, but it doesn’t stomp it out entirely. So, why does it happen? It varies from person to person, but I have some hunches.

In the FGC, every fighting game has its own mechanics that will always be frowned upon by “scrubs”, depending on who you ask. Some players will try to shame the usage of specific moves like projectiles, or the usage of specific characters, like shotos or charge characters. Assuming these moves and characters are reasonably balanced, this behavior tends to stem from a sense of insecurity. If a player lacks the skill to counter a certain attack or go toe-to-toe in a certain match-up, they try to shift blame to their opponent for playing dirty in an attempt to save face. For all intents and purposes, this train of thought comes from a place of pure salt.

Laughably, this behavior also leads to certain arcades and circles adopting ridiculous “house rules” to establish a new meta they believe to be fair and balanced. Did you throw someone? Stand still and let them throw you back, because throws are obviously broken and/or you obviously did it on accident. Maybe an arbitrary time limit to how long you can block or keep your opponent in the corner? People become exceedingly desperate to change the rules when they continue to lose again and again.

However, in the context of not just fighting games, but all games in general, is it really possible to “cheat” while still playing entirely within the rules, mechanics, functions, and limitations of the game? To cheat is to act dishonestly to gain an advantage, so how is it dishonest to do what the game allows you do in the first place? This is a question that seems to fly over the heads of some players.

In regard to RPGs, I see this happen from both sides: players judging a specific person for playing a certain way they consider cheap, and a single player refusing to play a certain way out of their own discretion because they personally feel it’s cheap. They’re two sides of same coin. In Dark Souls, for example, you’re encouraged to eliminate threats by any means necessary, including the usage of status effects, but I’ve seen some people still refuse to utilize them simply because it “feels cheap.” Personally, I wouldn’t force you to use something like poison arrows if you don’t want to, especially if you’re intentionally playing a theme build or challenge run where poison goes against your plans, but why would you purposely avoid this thing that the game itself gives you to make things easier? Does it rob you of your sense of satisfaction? Does it make things too easy? If you’re having trouble, do you still refuse to use it?

Dark Souls also has the “invasion” mechanic, which is essentially forced PVP (player versus player). You invade a random player’s game and you must try to kill them before they kill you. This is where the concept of pragmatism really shines in all the wrong ways. I’ve seen so many people try to insist on making invasions “honorable” with ham-handed meta rules. Don’t use katanas, don’t use hexes, don’t heal, don’t run away, don’t switch to throwing knives/arrows near the end, so on and so forth.

Some people refuse to accept the fact that invasions, as a concept, are inherently malicious. You’re forcing yourself into another player’s game, and the only way to win and go back to your own is to kill them. Obviously, not all players invade with the intention of killing you; sometimes they’re friendly and will drop items and leave (be wary of this though, some will drop hacked items and get you banned). However, in the case of real invasion, the host player is perfectly entitled to try and dispose of you however they can. This angers some people who actually invade in an attempt to play “honorably” even though the host is the only one that has everything to lose.

We’ve covered pure strength. We’ve covered pure dexterity. But what happens when we combine both? Is such a thing possible? What unholy creation will be brought upon this Earth? The answer is...

03. QUALITY: WHY PICK A WEAPON WHEN YOU CAN USE THEM ALL? The term “quality” in regard to Souls dates back to Demon’s Souls, where you can upgrade your weapon down the “Quality” path, which meant changing your weapon’s scaling to go with both STR and DEX evenly. Thus, in Dark Souls, a “Quality Build” means builds that keep their STR and DEX stats equal at all times. Got it? Good.

Now, Quality builds can be a bit tricky in the sense that Soul Level points are spread a bit more thin thanks to having two primary stats to keep even. However, this is compensated by allowing you to test out more weapons without needing to respec later. When developing your Quality character, you’ll need to do some rotating when distributing your SL points. For example, if you have enough souls for 4 points, put one into STR and DEX each, and 1 into VIG and END each. Then the next time you have enough souls for 4 points, put 1 into STR and DEX each again, but then rotate the other two to VIT and ADP.

Of course, this is if you want defenses to be even too. You don’t need to put points into ADP if you plan on being tanky, or points into VIT if you plan on rolling a lot. You can sacrifice any of the four secondary stats (VIG, END, VIT, ADP) to concentrate on the rest, or to concentrate even more on STR and DEX. It’s entirely up to you. As far as level caps go, you can go to 40/40 STR/DEX if you want, but you’ll likely neglecting the other stats unless you grind a lot. I recommend going only to 30/30 first, then getting your secondary stats to comfortable spots. Once you do that, you can bring up your primary stats to 40/40, or even 50/50 if you really want to be deadly with anything you can get your hands on.

Thanks to Dark Souls 2′s massive arsenal, there’s actually lots of choices for a Quality character. In fact, one of the best swords in the game - the Longsword - is a quality weapon, with C/C scaling from +0 to +10. You can get it extremely early and stick with it for pretty much the entire game. If you’d rather not be so vanilla, but still want to stick to straight swords, you can grind (in Scholar of the First Sin) for a Heide Knight Sword, which is C/C like the Longsword, but with an additional C scaling with lightning. The moveset is different, however, with much steeper vertical swipes best utilized for single enemies. There’s also the Shortsword, which is shorter than the Longsword, with slightly less base damage, but slightly more counter strength and a more varied moveset that includes some useful thrusts.

If you want to trade up in the late game, you can farm a bit for the Drakekeeper’s Sword. It’s essentially a direct upgrade from the Broadsword, but much longer (probably the longest straight sword in the game), does a bit more poise damage, and instead of keeping the Broadsword’s B/D scaling, it has an even C/C instead. However, the best Quality straightsword in the game (and likely the best Quality weapon, period) is the Sun Sword, acquired once you hit rank 2 in the Heirs of the Sun covenant after turning in 20 Sunlight Medals. It’ll take a while to obtain, but it’s very worth it. It has a varied moveset consisting of both sweeps and thrusts, passable base damage, but an INSANE A/A scaling at +10. At 50/50 and fully upgraded, you’re sitting at about 400 AR without the help of any rings like Ring of Blades or Flynn’s.

If greatswords are your thing, you have some options there too. Both the Bastard Sword and Claymore are C/C scaling, with the Claymore having slightly higher base damage, but the Bastard Sword being a bit lighter and having more counter strength. The movesets are mostly similar, consisting of sweeps and thrusts/overheads. They’re different in slight ways, but it’s up to you which feels better. Keep in mind, a Bastard Sword can be acquired much earlier than the Claymore. There’s the Thorned Greatsword, a boss weapon acquired by turning in the Looking Glass Knight’s soul to Ornifex. It’s essentially the big brother of the Heide Knight Sword, with C/C/C scaling with STR, DEX, and lightning. It’s moveset is a bit more reliable with crowd control, however, thanks to its horizontal sweeps. The heavy attacks are an overhead and thrust that also shoots a lightning bolt.

Ultra greatsword have some options for you too. There’s the Zweihander, which is not only tied for the lightest ultra greatsword, but it’s one of the longest ones too. It has surprisingly reasonable stat requirements, is obtained somewhat early, has good base damage, a varied moveset, and C/C scaling until +10, where it becomes B/C. It’s an extremely dependable, all-around serviceable weapon. Then, you have the Ivory King Ultra Greatsword, which has steeper requirements, included 8 INT, but has innate bleed and magic damage to go with it’s solid base physical damage. It obtains B/B scaling at +5, and two-handed attacks are buffed thanks to a special magical aura that appears automatically upon swinging.

Outside of swords, you also have the Grand Lance, which is acquired extremely early in Scholar of the First Sin for PS4/XONE/PC. It has C/C scaling from +0 to +10, high base damage, and pretty high poise damage. The heavy attacks can absolutely murder an enemy’s poise. There’s also the Caestus and Bone Fist, but I don’t care much for fists outside of theme builds. So it’s up to you to use either of those.

Ever since the release and the success of Deadpool last month, more people seem to be clamoring for R-rated superhero movies (and movies in general, really). Is it because people want blood, sex, and swearing shoe-horned into everything? Not necessarily. With the “R” rating comes more than just mature content. With it comes creative freedom.

It goes without saying, but in order to keep an otherwise violent/mature movie in the “PG-13″ ratings and under, filmmakers must abide by strict rules. They’re only permitted a limited amount of depicted bloody violence, a limited amount of swearing, and limited displays of other things like sex, drug use, alcohol consumption; basically anything that could be construed as a negative influence on a young audience.

For comic book adaptations, this isn’t to say a hard “R” should be pushed for every single one. For all intents and purposes, an “R” is not at all needed for something like Spider-Man or Superman, or any hero who is meant to be a role model to kids and young teens. However, in some cases, the extra freedom granted by the “R” rating certainly gives some much-needed wiggle room to make a story more engrossing, a main character’s struggle more tangible, dialogue more varied (especially in comedy), and so on.

In the cases of movies like Deadpool and The Wolverine, where the bad guys are getting cut up by the protagonist’s blades left and right, an absence of blood is noticeable and sometimes a bit daunting. In the case of something Sin City, where the various interweaving plots are all meant to be bleak and brooding like a hard boiled noir film, sugarcoating the setting and characters for a “PG-13″ rating wouldn’t be an improvement at all. Watchmen is another noteworthy example. Tackling multiple adult characters dealing with own issues, relationships, and personal demons, clashing with their own morals, and questioning their obligations as heroes, all while taking place in an alternate Cold War history, Watchmen is an adult story through and through. Forcing a “PG-13″ rating onto it may have butchered it completely.

In regard to non-comic book adaptations, sometimes horror movies are elevated in effectiveness thanks to grisly depictions of gore being a benefit to the atmosphere and imagery, rather than just being “torture porn.” Even sex can be used to a positive effect within the context of a story, as shown by last year’s horror darling, It Follows. For action movies, sometimes gruesome, hard-hitting brutality makes the action all the more satisfying to watch and experience. Recent examples like The Raid movies, Dredd, and John Wick all come to mind, not to mention the older action classics of the 80s and 90s.

That all being said, I don’t think any movies need an “R” just for the sake of it. Under no circumstances should filmmakers clumsily shove needless adult content into their work in spite of any context presented on screen. Such actions would only be detrimental to the freedom that others wanted, and might once again bring the rating down to a badge of dishonor (and financial ruin) feared by most studios.

Now we’re heading into the second DLC: Crown of the Old Iron King.

BLUE SMELTER DEMON Also known as “Cool Ranch Smelter”, this iteration of the big fiery anusface comes with a few noteworthy changes.

This time around, rather than doing fire damage and having high fire resistance, our boy is all about magic. So stack up those magic defenses for yourself, because he also hits harder than the first guy too. 100% magic resist shields (possible with infusion) will be of great help here. Luckily, his moveset is also the exact same, but with an important modification: timing. Some attacks are delayed a bit longer than you’re used to when fighting the other Smelter Demon in Iron Keep, and this can screw you over by making you roll early on accident.

Ocean Smelter also has a ton of health, so this fight may last a hot minute. As far as weaknesses go, those are the same as well: strike damage and poison. If you wield a good hammer or have poison arrows or Poison/Toxic Mist, try and use them as efficiently as you can. There are NPC summons available, but they’re not super reliable. You’ll need to babysit them a bit, but if you have the worthwhile damage output, they can still work well as meat shields and distractions are nearly the entire fight. You just have to worry about them getting through Iron Passage, an annoying-as-shit area like the other two optional areas in the DLCs.

Yeah, there’s not what else to really say about this fight. It’s pretty copy-paste for the most part. You’ll just need to get used to the altered timing and higher attack and bigger health pool.

RAIME, THE FUME KNIGHT The only mandatory boss of the Old Iron King DLC, and he’s quite infamous. According to FromSoft’s own statistics, 93% of all fights with the Fume Knight end poorly for the player. This means the average player takes 14 attempts to beat him. But those are just numbers. Who ever said math has to right? Pffft.

First thing’s first, make sure you destroy the four Ashen Idols along the exterior side of the arena walls before entering the fight. Why? Because they will heal Raime if he gets close to them, and you’ll basically just fuck yourself into trying to keep him in the exact center of the room. When that’s done and you walk through the fog, you’ll notice it’s empty, minus a big sword sticking out of the ground. Approach it, and Raime will appear. You can attack him as his entrance happens, so I suggest getting one or two good hits in. Now for the real fight.

He starts off wielding his massive ultra greatsword in his left hand, and a straight sword in his right. He’ll dish out multiple combos involving both weapons. Combos range from 2-4 swings, usually ending with a swing of the greatsword. He’s very aggressive, and reliable windows to dish out punishment are few and short. However, a guaranteed opportunity will arise when you put some distance between the two of you and he does a running thrust with his straight sword. This attack is NEVER the beginning of a combo. It’s always one and done. Thus, you can get one (or two with a fast weapon) hit in before he regains composure. Keep your distance, and soon you’ll be able to reliably bait out the thrust attack.

Now, here’s where the good part happens. Once Raime reaches approximately 60% health, he’ll put away his straight sword and buff his ultra greatsword with dark and fire damage. This will make him a bit slower in his swings, but he will hit significantly harder. He has two distinct special attacks in this phase. First is an extremely slow, wide sweep with a massive reach. This does major damage, but also grants the most generous punishment window of the fight. As he begins the swing, roll THROUGH it, diagonally to your left, and get one or two hits in. He won’t counter until after his attack animation is completely over. This makes rolling very important in this fight, so make sure you have a respectable Agility stat. Seriously. Tanky characters who only block with shields will find this fight ludicrously hard, to the point where you might even need to respec for it if you insist on doing it solo.

The second special attack he performs in his second phase is when he shoves his sword into the ground, and unleashes a circle of moving orbs that expand outward with a slightly spiraled path. When he starts the animation, BACK OFF, because you’ll need the room to dodge the orbs. If you’re quick, you can still get a hit in.

Raime, as a boss fight, is essentially just defending, waiting, and countering. He’s too strong and too aggressive to allow elbow room for risk-taking. If your Vigor is too low, he might even one-shot you. As far as weaknesses go, he has none. He’s immune to poison, to bleed, and has moderate to very high resistances to all elements. No point in trying to get clever with magic in this fight. However, unlike the Smelter Demons, his defenses aren’t temporarily buffed while he transitions to his new phase. So as he buffs, you can whack him some. Don’t get too greedy, but he can punish you severely.

Melee is the way to go against Raime, but magic is still viable, assuming you have a lot of spell uses or at least a lot of consumables to restore them. It’ll be hard because of how aggressive he is, so keeping a safe distance long enough to cast will be quite a task in itself. There’s two NPC summons available for the fight, but they’re both considered to be completely worthless for the fight unless you have a way to heal them constantly. If you need help, I suggest finding a competent human player to lend a hand. When co-oping, it’s possible to make Raime switch his aggro between players by simply healing near him, and he might target you automatically to dish out punishment.

It’s possible to make him enter his second phase upon entering the fight, by putting on Velstadt’s Helm and going through the fog. Due to the bad blood between Raime and Velstadt, he’ll become angered and buff immediately. Deepest lore.

Visually, Raime looks simultaneously intimidating and badass. It’s great that his armor is available for the player to wear. It looks fitting for someone given a title like “the Fume Knight”. The arena is a giant circular room covered in ash. Not particularly awe-striking, but thematically appropriate.

As I write this, we’re a little over a month away from the release of Dark Souls III, which is supposedly the last entry to the Souls franchise before Hidetaka Miyazaki decides to concentrate on developing new intellectual properties. He heavily implies these new projects will still contain the spirit of Souls, likely going into them with the intent of making them successors to the Souls name. Thus, while the Dark Souls title specifically may fade into a hiatus - or even retirement - the formula and foundation is likely to still stick around. This means the penchant for challenge is almost sure to stay, as well.

Every time a Souls game launches, another pool of new players exposes themselves to the demanding, punishing gameplay. Most of them manage to power through and persevere, ending with a great sense of satisfaction once they reach the end credits. Others aren’t so persistent and quit a few hours - maybe even mere minutes - into the start. Why does this happen? Why do so many new players give up so soon? Surely they know there’s more to the game than what they experienced in just ten minutes?

Personally, I don’t buy into the constant barrage of comments insisting on Souls being “the hardest series of games on Earth.” I love this series, and it’s my number one favorite franchise as of right now, but I honestly feel that references to its difficulty are far too overplayed. It became even more tiresome with Bandai Namco’s marketing of Dark Souls, going so far as to name its complete version (which included DLC) the “Prepare to Die Edition.” There’s also the opening cutscene of Dark Souls 2, where Strowen, the Firekeeper, beats it into your head that you’re going to die a lot. We get it. Thankfully, Sony and Miyazaki were a bit smarter about it when approaching Bloodborne, and we weren’t assaulted with reminders of how “so insanely hard” the game was. They simply emphasized how cool the game looked, making it appealing to potential first-timers.

This “hardcore marketing” was an issue to me not because of how annoying it was, but because it reinforced the idea that people should never try Dark Souls without expecting extremely unwelcoming, possibly unfair sense of difficulty. It’s unfortunate, because Souls isn’t like that. It also made the non-fans assume that the majority of the Dark Souls fanbase had a sense of superiority over other gamers because they beat such an oh-so-hard game. This causes some people to go into a Souls game fully expecting to fail, and thus letting themselves fail on purpose within the first few minutes to justify their predetermined hatred for the game - a confirmation bias and self-fulfilling prophecy. These are not the signs of a person diving into the game with an open mind. They already bought into the idea that the game isn’t for them, and have zero intention of investing themselves. Don’t be like those people.

Now, can a Souls game be difficult? Of course. Your first experience with a Souls game is almost guaranteed to be frustrating, but it sure as hell is not impossible. The huge, loyal fanbase isn’t made up entirely of people who’ve never made it past the third boss. There’s nothing the game demands of you that is beyond your ability. When you boil a Souls game down to its absolute basics, it becomes clear that the only skills you need to be good Souls player is just a good sense of timing, spatial/screen awareness, pattern recognition, and some semblance of foresight. Enemies and bosses can always be broken down into patterns, or at least a visual “danger zone” - places corresponding to their attacks where you risk harm. 

“Foresight” simply means you always keep in mind what you’re doing, where you’re going, and what consequences may arise if you proceed. Don’t get greedy in combat, check your corners, don’t accidentally aggro more enemies than you can handle, don’t forget to heal or look for a shortcut before entering what may be boss room, etc. Pattern recognition is important because you need to recognize certain animations your enemies do that grant a window of opportunity to counter-attack. Spatial and screen awareness is necessary because you might fall off a cliff if you’re not paying attention or get blind-sided by a hidden enemy, and you need to keep an eye on your stamina bar while fighting. Treasures tend to be well-hidden too. Always double-check the area you just cleared out before progressing down a path you might not come back from.

I know it might seem tough to keep all of these things in mind at once, but it only looks that way because you’re probably just not used to games asking all of this from you; NOT because you’re incapable. You don’t need to be superhuman to beat a Souls game. Just patient and attentive. You might need to unlearn some bad habits that other games have taught you, but it’ll be for the better.

Not to generalize or point fingers, but some gamers are so used to being spoiled with positive reinforcement that they complain when they can’t progress even though they’ve been constantly screwing up and thus don’t deserve to. Some people find ways to blame the game for their own ineptitude rather than accept the fact that they’re just bad at it. This mindset is not only childish, but keeps them in a mental shell where they think that they’ll get through the game with their inefficient playstyle through sheer force of will, because obviously they’re playing the game the way it’s meant to be played, right? Wrong. Then, when they reach their breaking point, they quit under the false assumption that they played right and that the game is just broken.

In anger, it’s common for people to fling around the accusation that a Souls game is “hard for the sake of being hard.” This is just not true. Every Souls game establishes its own set of rules, and both players and enemies follow them - even bosses. There are some exceptions for each game, and they’re typically heavily criticized by the fanbase. As good as Souls games can be, none are 100% free of oversights, rush jobs, or just plain bad ideas. Hitboxes can be janky and unreliable. A.I. can be inconsistent and awkward. Some enemy NPCs are straight up bullshit and can perform moves and have stats that aren’t even in the realm of possibility for the player. Thankfully, these occurrences are generally very rare and sometimes even extremely easy to overcome, proving themselves to be just minor inconveniences that warrant no more than a sigh.

I’m very aware that some people, when playing a Souls game for the very first time, simply need their hand held due to an utter lack of common sense and critical thinking. I personally have a friend who tried Dark Souls 2 for the first time, and got a couple hours in before remarking he was taking a lot of damage. I and another mutual friend of ours told him to equip a shield. He did so. Later, he came back saying the shield didn’t help at all. We told him to hold L1 to hold the shield up. He says “oh.” This guy was multiple hours into the game and he didn’t even think to just press buttons to find out what they did. Here’s the kicker: he actually beat Bloodborne before this. I know Bloodborne and Souls share the same foundation and basic controls, but they both teach very different fundamentals. Consider that something to keep in mind for anyone reading this who is planning on jumping into Dark Souls 3 (or 2, for that matter), with only Bloodborne experience under their belt.

Another complaint that isn’t uncommon is Souls gameplay being purposefully vague and esoteric. This also tends to be overplayed, as the vast majority of the game’s mechanics can be discovered and self-explained by simply pressing buttons and experimenting with weapons and equipment. If you watch an experienced player, they will always dedicate a minute or two to examining and trying out a new weapon they pick up, because weapons have specific stats and movesets that make them ideal for different builds and situations. The equipment and player stats menus also have a “help” function that explains what every icon on the screen means.

Item descriptions (consumables, specifically) are also rarely vague to the point where not a word even hints to what it does. The important stuff you’re likely to use frequently, are usually clear up front. The only mechanic in a Souls game that I can recall off the top of my head that was not explained at all was the “Agility” stat in Dark Souls 2. This was heavily criticized by players because it was an extremely important stat that dictates how many invincibility frames you have in your dodges. People actually thought Agility was “placebo” for the first month or so after the game was out until someone finally proved what it did with video evidence.

After all this, there are still some valid reasons as to why someone would want to stop playing the game. Some of you may have jobs/school/families, and are already short on private time. This could be a problem, because playing your first Souls game is a demanding journey that will take weeks - maybe even months - if you’re short on free time on a day-to-day basis. I know of people who needed a week to beat The Order: 1886, and that game was slammed by basically everyone for being way too short. I don’t believe Souls games are impossible in regards to difficulty, but I will admit that they typically still require a significant time investment that some people just can’t reasonably fulfill. I understand that completely. However, if at all possible, I still suggest giving it a shot for a week or so, and if doesn’t grab you enough, you can always trade it back in.

In regard to the Souls fanbase; yes, there are some obnoxious assholes here and there, as does every fanbase have. Annoying as it is, individuals in the Souls community are constantly guilty of the “you’re not playing exactly the way I’d play, so you’re shit” mentality. Variety and freedom of choice has always been important in this series. There’s hardly any build that’s completely nonviable, especially in Dark Souls 2. Just watch some challenge runs on YouTube, and you’ll see what I mean. There’s also hardcore PVPers who insist it’s the only way to play, but they’re crazy. Just ignore them. For the most part, the vast majority of players play because they genuinely enjoy the game. Few people are elitists who play exclusively to feel superior to those who have not. The only “hipster” factor these games have is the idea that it’s more old school in its insistence that you can’t progress unless you actually get better; though such a concept is not inherently bad.

At the end of the day, Souls players do play for some sense of challenge. However, the biggest challenge is forgetting counter-productive habits other games may have reinforced. I frequently see the series being compared to Legend of Zelda in the sense that enemies themselves are puzzles to figure out, and there’s truth in that. As I mentioned, pretty much every foe you face can be broken down into patterns. Souls isn’t an impossible experience. Just a different one. It’s not “hard for the sake of being hard.” It’s fair, but just sternly unforgiving of mistakes.

Time to finish up the Crown of the Sunken King DLC.

ELANA, THE SQUALID QUEEN Like Nashandra, Elana is one of the four “daughters of Dark”, and the only other one we personally fight, as one is already dead (in the physical sense), and the other is actually an ally (so to speak).

Elana is interesting, as when it comes to fighting her, she’s mechanically just female Darklurker. I’ll elaborate. The majority of her moveset is spells. She can cast Flame Swathe, Dark Orb, Chaos Storm, Dark Storm, Affinity, and Dark Hail. So her magical arsenal is entirely dark or fire damage. They’re all strong as shit, and can annihilate you in two hits - maybe even one - if your appropriate defenses are insufficient. However, there’s more to her. She can teleport around the arena and smack you around with her weapon, the Wrathful Axe. Her movement when trying to hit you with her axe is somewhat similar to Nashandra’s, as she’s totally unable to hit anything directly behind her or to her side.

And it still doesn’t stop there. As a bonus “fuck you,” she can summon adds at regular intervals. She has three different summons: a group of pigs, a group of skeletons (initially three, but one extra for each summoned phantom you have with you), and finally, Velstadt. Because fuck you. If you kill them all, she can summon them again later. Meaning, if the RNG Gods wish to smite you, you might have to deal with two or more Velstadts throughout the fight. Yay. Worst part is, she’s even capable of summoning any of them as soon as the fight starts.

Luckily, there’s some ways to get around it. If she summons a group of skeletons, kill all except one. Leave that one alive. As long as one skeleton is still moving, she won’t summon anything else. This is especially useful when co-oping, because one of you can go after Elana, while the other keeps the aggro of the skeleton. It’s highly recommended you deal with the summons first when they show up, as it’ll be extremely difficult to tank Elana with other chucklefucks coming after you. If you’re solo, you can use Alluring Skulls to keep the skeleton(s) away for windows of a few seconds.

As for Elana herself, she’s immune to Profound Still, so don’t try to get clever by casting it like you did for Darklurker. She’s also immune to poison, and has high defense of all elements except magic, which is still pretty average. Your best bet is to get up in her face and beat her up, as she’s quite receptive to physical attacks. If you want to end the fight as quickly as possible to keep her summons to an absolute minimum, you can stack as many damage-increasing rings and equipment as possible. You can even get a few hits in by running at her as soon as you enter the arena and smacking her while she talks.

Elana can be a major pain in the ass, but try to stick close and bait out her melee attacks, and follow it up with a punish. She’ll teleport around to try and catch you off-guard, but as long as you keep your eyes open, it won’t be an issue. Just pray that the RNG Gods don’t feel like fucking you with an immediate appearance of Velstadt.

In regards to Elana’s appearance, she basically looks like Nashandra covered in seaweed. That’s not to say she looks silly, as her design matches the aesthetic of the DLC in general. So she’s solid. The arena is also mostly a normal cave, but elevated by the great sculpted mural of the dragon covering a huge wall, and the candles lighting it up. Quite atmospheric.

Elana’s a boss that’d I like a hell of a lot more if she just had one major change: giving her a specific pattern that decides which adds she summons and when. It’s extremely annoying when Velstadt shows up within the first minute of the fight, and when I don’t feel like putting up with him, I just use the Aged Feather to peace out and try again. It’s basically boss fight gachapon. I don’t know why the hell Velstadt needed to be an add to begin with. She has insanely strong spells, can teleport around, and can already summon multiple skeletons at once. Just, why? Outside of that, she’s alright with me.

SINH, THE SLUMBERING DRAGON I’ve stated a few times before that I have zero love for any of the dragon bosses in this game. Sinh is no exception. This is probably a controversial statement, as I’ve seen plenty of people praise this fight, but I’ll elaborate as I go on.

First off, Sinh has a massive moveset. Like, really massive. So massive, that it’s almost impossible to discern a pattern the first several times you fight him, if at all. His grounded fire attacks are as follows: straight firebreath, a slight sweeping firebreath, standing (on his hind legs) firebreath, and a backwards (as in aiming to his hind legs) firebreath. Given how janky and unreliable fire hitboxes are in this game, I’d already be not too pleased with all of these. It’s even worse than normal fire too, because it also builds up toxic, hence its green color. Great.

His grounded physical attacks include: a bite, an unblockable lunging head swipe (he always starts the fight with one of these), a single leg swipe, a double leg swipe, a tail swipe, double tail swipe, and tail and leg swipe combos. As an added bonus, he also damages you if you’re simply touching him as he leaps from one spot to another. Fucking fantasic.

When he’s flying, he can perform: an unblockable dive (he slides around as he lands, and his tails can also swipe you), a fireball that leaves a poison mist when it hits, and airborne firebreath. He can also damage you by simply landing right next to you. How fun.

You can probably tell now that Sinh is a major pain in the ass to deal with. Not only does he move and fly around A LOT, but he can damage you by moving around too. May Gwyn have mercy on your soul if you have zero means of ranged attacks going into this fight, because you’re going to be spending 70% of it chasing him around. That’s probably my biggest issue with Sinh: he flies around so frequently, that pure melee builds are rendered almost totally nonviable. There’s not even a way to prevent him from doing it. He flies around a lot, and you’re expected to just fucking deal with it. Even worse, he does about 1.5x as much durability damage to your weapons. Not only are you forced to chase him around for most of the fight, you’re forced to keep some Repair Powder or back-up weapons handy too.

In regard to weaknesses, he has none. He has insanely high lightning defense, high fire defense, and average magic and dark defense. He’s also immune to poison.

When Sinh is on the ground, don’t lock on to him, as you’ll need free movement of the camera to keep an eye on him in case he prepares an attack. It’s recommended you don’t try to get to his hind legs if you’re playing solo, as it’s riskier back there, so just play safe and hit his front legs when you have a window of opportunity. You can cut off his tail if you stack enough damage on it, but it does nothing besides gimp his tail swipes, and isn’t worth trying if you’re fighting on your own.

When Sinh is airborne, don’t put anymore distance between yourselves. Close in on him by running towards him, and slightly to the side; diagonally. He’ll miss most of his flying attacks this way, and you’ll only need to be cautious of his landing.

If you insist on playing as slow, safe, and lame as possible, equip a Gyrm Greatshield +10 for it’s 100% fire resistance and high stability, then use an Avelyn +10 and a TON of bolts of any kind to very slowly wear him down. You’ll be immune to his fire attacks, and will simply need to roll through and/or away from any of his physical attacks. This is not a quick strategy in the slightest, so be very, very patient.

Visually, Sinh’s design is definitely a throwback to Kalameet, with the addition of that spear impaling his chest. It honestly does make for a cool image. His arena is a giant cave, but with some actual nuance to it, such at the stone pillars and platform in the center. At least this fight makes for some decent aesthetics.

It’s easy to dismiss things like motion controls and virtual reality as pointless bells and whistles that do nothing to enhance the experience, and I totally understand why. I’ve been resisting motion controls since the second the last generation of games began over nine years ago. As far as I’m concerned, simply waving your hands around like a giant inflatable noodle man does nothing to make a video game feel like a more tangible experience.

Virtual reality, however, might do a much better job at closing that gap. VR as a gaming technology was dormant for a long time until a couple years ago. Before that, the closest thing we had was the VirtualBoy, and we all know how that turned out. Luckily, almost two decades into the 21st century, we’ve finally managed to scrape up some tech to create a VR experience that isn’t headache-inducing (if it’s well-made) and is actually capable of making you feel like you’re really inside the game.

But how much value does such a gimmick have? I’ve seen lots of people still show ambivalence to the idea, despite how much further we’ve gotten since the tragic VirtualBoy era. What, exactly, can VR offer a gamer? Isn’t it just strapping a monitor to your face?

Well, no, it’s not as simple as that. There is a screen in there, but it displays two images - one to each eye - behind a lens used to create a sense of depth similar to that of the real world we see every day. This can affect the experience of the game by making us feel a greater sense of speed when moving, or danger and urgency when attacked by enemies, or vertigo when in a high place. It isn’t limited to just gameplay, either. A game centered around a strong narrative could make a its atmosphere or aesthetic more palpable by breaking down the “safety barrier” known as the fourth wall and truly turn you into the main character.

Of course, such a novelty is only as valuable as you want it to be. If you have some level of personal detachment from everything you play, VR might not not make it any better. However, despite its capability of adding more depth and tangibility to a game, is it still a gimmick? To answer that, one must be able to articulate what “gimmick” means to them, as a concept. Is a gimmick literally anything that isn’t 100% mandatory to a product or service? Is it any factor that attempts to modify the experience, but ends up failing? It’s hard to get an objective view on what a gimmick is in some instances, due to the subjectivity of the latter definition, because a lot of people are only as receptive to gimmicks as they want to be.

Either way, some technologies that could be perceived as “gimmicks” when first introduced to the world, are later adopted as industry standards. The greatest example would probably be touchscreens. Every smartphone has one. Some TVs and monitors have one. Pretty much every handheld device that isn’t a phone has one too. Of course, a touchscreen grants some major, practical benefits, such as allowing more of a device’s surface area to be a dedicated screen. However, think of all the people who said, about eight or so years ago, that they’d never bother with a touchscreen phone, and didn’t see the point in it. If VR takes off as smoothly as most people hope, then how much longer until it’s a standard practice for your game or console to support it natively?

There’s also the argument as to whether or not VR is truly ready to be brought out into the world; if it should be fine-tuned for several more years. While I understand where that argument comes from, it’s important to remember that VR is meant to be a consumer product. VR companies can’t sustain themselves on just research and development for a straight decade. A product has to be released for people to buy, or else the VR economy will stagnate once again. If that happens, we wouldn’t see as much of an exponential growth in virtual reality technology in the following five years, as we would the five years after consumer products are released and become successful. If VR fails today, it’ll only make companies wary of the concept for another decade or so. Something needs to be released for people to buy to prove that there’s a market for it.