

Avowed was very mid. I enjoyed it enough, but nothing about it was particularly brilliant or terrible.
Avowed was very mid. I enjoyed it enough, but nothing about it was particularly brilliant or terrible.
Maybe by Christmas I’ll be interested, but for now the switch 2 is just a fancy new restaurant that only serves a few pricy side dishes alongside food I can enjoy anywhere else in town.
Wow, they really went all out on this episode. Best and highest production value since the first.
Is it even possible to “play” that game anymore? Last I tried, it took 30 minutes of clicking through inane dialog before I could move, only to trigger more dialog.
Early impressions:
Good:
TBD:
May Drop:
Dropped:
deleted by creator
Wow, this might be the most I’ve enjoyed a series premiere since spy x family. Hope it holds up.
deleted by creator
I hope this is well written and lands at a satisfactory conclusion. Seems like it has a lot of potential. The memory theme is strong, especially with the goldfish. the bit about how that area is supposed to be nostalgic hinting that it could even be staged. Then that brief flash to a ruined version of the tea house. So many hints and hopefully a bit of misdirection.
Random superlatives:
So Stupid it Hurt - Bogus Skill “Fruitmaster”
I wanted to like this one, and stuck with it way to long. Finally dropped it when the utter dumbness of the characters and story starting to cause me actual pain. 2/5
Most Improved from Launch - Magic Maker
The first few episodes were mid tier at best and I nearly dropped it, but that turned a few episodes in and it developed into a fairly decent show. 3/5
Top of the heap - Possibly the Greatest Alchemist of All Time
There were a bunch of adventure themed anime with isekei and harem themes this season, and I think this was the best of the bunch. Still fairly average, but the one I’d most like to see more of. 3/5 (Runner’s up: Middle aged Online Shopper and Left my a-rank party)
Better as a Light Novel - I May be a Guild Receptionist…
I don’t think this adapted well to anime. The novels are very episodic and a bit repetitive without a lot of substance, and the anime just highlighted those problems. 3/5
Best Returning - Solo Leveling
This is very, very close between Solo Leveling, Apothecary Diaries, and Re:Zero, but I give the edge to Solo Leveling. Each episode was satisfying and while it is a power fantasy, it does that very well. Re:Zero was a bit fragmented (partially due to scheduling/production) and did not end nearly as strong as the last season, and Apothecary Diaries, while still excellent, is mainly setting things up for later. All three 5/5
Most Surprising - Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf
Knowing nothing about this, I expected something more lewd and fanservice like. Way, wrong! This was wonderfully wholesome. Somehow it managed to balance both the light adventure aspects of the fantasy world with the reverse isekai cultural discovery aspects of the Japan side. Maybe the best new show of the season. 4/5
Most Disappointing - Zenshu
This looked like it could be something really special. The art, theming, concept, etc. were all solid. The plot, just wasn’t meaningful in any way, at least not before I dropped it. 3/5
Yep. The frame story, character designs, etc. seem interesting, but the sob story of the day was cliche and predictable. Hopefully it will develop beyond this and have more range, but I’m not optimistic.
Logitech has gone from one of the best tech brands to essentially garbage. The hardware might still be ok, but their software is crap, and those comments about selling a mouse subscription…
deleted by creator
The light novels are very formulaic and the anime does nothing to smooth it out. The meta plot does progress and the anime should end in a decent spot, but yeah, the slice of life overtime moping gets old, fast.
I’ve been enjoying the game and seem to be close to the end. I actually like that it is not overly complicated. Makes it easier to pick up for an hour or two and just play.
My problem is the inconsistencies. At times it acts like it wants to be a deeper game and at times it is just mindless action. Feels like they cut a lot of planned content and just smoothed it over. For example, both unique weapons and armor can be upgraded with materials you find and purchase, but only weapons allow upgrading the unique stat itself, and its only a single choice between two options. It seems almost pointless. They should have just dropped that system entirely or expanded it to be more meaningful.
Late in the game are two choices that feel meaningful and appear to influence the map and story. Great, except, where was this for the entire first half of the game? So many choices just seem to be for flavor that when one actually has consequences it is jarring.
Then there is stealth. The game has a stealth mechanic and skills to buff stealth attacks. However, the moment you attack from stealth, every enemy in range is aggro’d to your location and stealth is no longer possible. Stealth is effectively just a first hit damage bonus. Again, it seems like they planned to make stealth a thing, then either cut it or could not make it work, but left parts of it in the game.
Illusions… The game has several, fairly trivial elemental obstacles. Most can be dealt with in several ways. Tangled vines can be burned with fire skills, certain throwables, or a companion ability. Same for electric switches, freezable bars (to shatter them), etc. All except illusions. Those can only be cleared by a specific companion ability, which means late in the game you are either forced to use that companion or give up on anything behind illusions. There is even a spot in the throwables UI that looks like it could be for an extra item type, but I’ve yet to find something to fill it. Maybe in the last area…
Overall I do like the game, but no way is it worth $70.
When the news first broke, I assumed Russua was behind the ceasefire and had already pulled Trumps strings to their advantage.
Now I’m wondering if this administration might be too incompetent to be corrupt.
deleted by creator
Pure conjecture on my part but I think…
When these first came out, Google approached them in full venture capital mode with the idea of building a market first, then monetizing it. So they threw money and people at it, and it worked fairly well.
They tried making it part of a home automation plaform, but after squandering the good will and market position of acquisitions like Nest and Dropcam, they failed to integrate these products into a coherent platform and needed another approach.
So they turned to media and entertainment only to lose the sonos lawsuit.
After that the product appears to have moved to maintenance mode where people and server resources are constantly being cut, forcing the remaining team to downsize and simply the tech.
Now they are trying to plug it into their AI platform, but in effort to compete with openai and microsoft, they are likely rushing that platform to market far before it is ready.
There was a big, high wall there that tried to stop me A sign was painted said “Private Property” But on the backside, it didn’t say nothing This land was made for you and me
TotK felt more empty to me, but that’s probably a combination of already knowing the map and lacking Kass.