Play Log: The Ride is Over

Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

Well, it's finally over.  The ending... wasn't very satisfying, but I guess I can't complain too much.  I think IBO is going to go down in history as a pretty polarizing show among Gundam fans.  It's very different.  That's not unusual for an AU show, but IBO really has a fundamentally different feel to it from even most other AUs, in terms of everything from mechanical design to tone of its story.  Okada brought something very new to the franchise, and in the end I think that's a good thing.

After War Gundam X

I finish watching one Gundam, and promptly start up another.  Coming from IBO I was very worried that older shows would suddenly feel very dated (even though I've already seen and enjoyed plenty of them), but X is hitting it off with me right away.  I like Garrod, and I really like the overall set up of the show.  "After War" turns out to have been a very apt timeline title, as the show takes place only a few years after humanity has already largely destroyed itself in an all-consuming war.  It's the typical Earth vs. Colony feud, except this time nobody was around to stop both sides from going all the way.  Now it's just scattered remnants trying to pick up the pieces in a Mad Max-esque world.  As a result the show is weirdly dark sometimes.  Like for example, there's a scene early on when a bunch of bandits are trying to steal Gundam X from Garrod, but they're not united at all and the moment one of them falls over or is defeated by Garrod, the rest dogpile him/her and finish them off, just to reduce competition.

I guess Gundam X is fresh in its own way just because how cynical it seems to be in its portrayal of humanity.

Amagi Brilliant Park

I ended up watching the 14th episode of this for reasons, and enjoyed it.  So I decided to come back and give the actual series a try.  I'm already having a blast with it.  It goes without saying that it's a beautiful show (with lots of beautiful women, hue), but it's got a lot of character.

Black Lagoon

Another one of those well-known shows that I haven't seen.  Let's fix that.  I'm only a couple episodes in, but it's not bad.  I think I might have a soft-spot for anime set in places in the southern hemisphere, in places like Malaysia and South America.  Those are places that I know little about and don't have much interest in visiting, but there's an exoticism to them that I enjoy seeing portrayed in fiction.  And if nothing else, it's a nice break from the endless stream of anime set in Japan or facsimiles of it.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

Now that some of my Master Quartz are maxing out and I'm getting some really good slot quartz, combat's been kind of a breeze.  I'm in Roer now, that's a cool place too.

Company of Heroes 2

So, the balance patch is out.  Penal squads have anti-tank rifles now, which... Isn't totally strange I guess, but I didn't feel like Soviets were really hurting for extra AT options, and giving Penals PTRS rifles makes Guards less attractive.  The fact that satchel charges can stick to vehicles now is hilarious, though.

The PIAT got a big buff too.  Overall, I'm happy with the changes.  The shots home now, which is silly in action, but makes the weapon much less frustrating.  This is counterbalanced by a big reduction in range, which makes it easier for enemy armor to kite you.

And, well, right on the heels of this patch, it seems another one's cooking.  This time Relic's finally giving in to the whiners and nerfing the Comet and Cromwell.  Personally, I felt the Cromwell was in a great place, so it stings a ton to see it get nerfed.  The Comet was a really good tank, so good that it rarely made sense to choose the Churchill over it, but the balance changes currently suggested seem way too harsh.  Especially buffing the population cap up from 16 to 20.  That's right in line with a King Tiger.  It's one thing to make it cost more popcap, but they're also reducing its overall effectiveness at the same time, so we're getting a worse tank for higher popcap.  I think the ride might really be over for me if this is the future of UKF.

Shadowverse

So a new expansion came out recently, Tempest of the Gods.  For me, the most exciting cards came for Swordcraft, but it feels like almost every faction got some pretty scary new additions.  Dragoncraft in particular got buffed like nuts.  But what seems to really be shaking up the meta is Heavenly Aegis, a new Havencraft card.  Heavenly Aegis is an extremely strong card just looking at its attack and defense, but the kicker is that almost nothing can kill it.  It can't be damaged, it can't be banished, it can't be removed by spells.  Theoretically, the only way to deal with it is to use a a card with Bane.  It seems like with every expansion, Cygames pushes the boundary of what ought to be permissible for a balanced meta, and they're really stretching it this time.  There are some factions that, as far as I'm aware simply do not have cards with Bane (like Havencraft, heh), so Heavenly Aegis becomes unstoppable.

Granted, Heavenly Aegis costs 10 points, so you're not going to see it until very late.  This means you can realistically kill a Havencraft before they ever get a chance to play it, especially because Havencraft decks often have a slow start anyway.  That said, I feel like if your strategy to defeat a card has to be "beat the player before they can play that card", that card might be a little too strong.

I'm not even sure what Cygames hoped to accomplish by introducing Heavenly Aegis, as it's not like Havencraft was a struggling faction.  In fact, I've long considered Havencraft to be one of the strongest factions; even though it's not my favorite faction (that'd be Swordcraft or Forestcraft), it's the one I usually win the most with.

Play Log: Fun Times

I spent a good portion of this month traveling, hence the break in activity.

Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta
I believe I commented earlier that this show was pretty easy on the eyes.  That was an understatement.  The animation is honestly pretty damn topnotch sometimes.  And Kotoha is awesome.  I like her character, I like her design, I like her ability.

I went and did a bit of research concerning just where this anime sits in the continuity, and apparently it is actually supposed to be generally covering the beginning of the manga.  It sure as heck doesn't feel that way, though.  Take the vampire twins, for example, or the cop.  The story treats them as familiar characters, but they never had an introduction...

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
I think I finally understand what's been throwing me for a loop with IBO.  I don't want to make Gundam sound like some super intelligent franchise, but I do feel like they're usually more cerebral than IBO.  It's a franchise that loves to portray clashes between various philosophical and political ideals.  IBO has this as well (mainly in McGillis and Rustal), but on the whole it's less about a bunch of high-minded individuals fighting to change the world and more about people fighting to preserve what's important to them, or better their own lives.  So the battles are more emotional, more base, and more brutal.  What the show lacks in complexity it makes up for in raw impact.

Company of Heroes 2
I'm probably lying to myself even as I write this, but I don't know how much more of this game I have left in me.  It's still fun, but the community is insufferable, and it's obvious Relic's not going to add anything more to it beyond perhaps the occasional skin or balance patch.

Cowboy Bebop
This is a great show and I'm glad I finally got around to watching it.  However, as mature adventure stories go I think I liked Michiko and Hatchin more.

Play Log: War Rages Again

Company of Heroes 2 
Whelp.  I feel like by getting this game working my Surface I've re-opened a forbidden well.  I don't think I realized how much CoH2 was cannibalizing my time with other games until I found myself regularly turning to it instead of continuing Trails of Cold Steel or Grandia.

Sadly, while the game is workable on here, I think I might have to veto maps like Sittard Summer.  I love the occasional bridge game just as much as the next guy, but my poor Surface can't handle all the action that gets compressed onto that bridge.  I ended up in a 4v4 custom game with 200 popcap and double resources, and my FPS would regularly dip into slideshow territory.

In other news, Relic is inching closer to another significant balance update.  Very little of it is of much interest to me, but they're completely overhauling the PIAT, which is a godsend.  They also seem to be nerfing the AEC vs infantry which is a little bit of a bummer since unlike every other faction, Brits don't really have a mid-game option for dominating infantry.  But on the other hand it's getting a boost to its overall vehicle hunting capabilities, which is probably the bigger boon in the end.

Cowboy Bebop
This show continues to be good, but at the same time my enjoyment of it has waned a little.  I'm not sure why.

Moana
So I saw this.  It was good, but this is one of those movies that I think I enjoyed more for the visuals and animation than for the content.  The story was fine, the songs were fine, and I did like Moana as the main character.  But it's a really colorful movie, which made it fun to watch in and of itself.

Inside Out
I guess I'm playing catch up with animated movies.  I didn't think much of Inside Out based on the pitch and trailers, but I ended up really enjoying the premise.  There were a few beats here and there that I found predictable, but it was overall a pretty imaginative movie.

I also found myself rewatching Frozen in Japanese, as it was airing on TV.  I had forgotten how charming that movie was.  They clearly did an outstanding job on the Japanese dub.  I vaguely remember hearing that Frozen was absurdly popular in Japan, maybe even more so than it was in the US.  That seems to hold true, as my dormmate said he's seen it five times, and also apparently had memorized the lyrics to every tune in the movie in the process.  Him and anyone else that walked by would happily sing along to the music as it cropped up.

Play Log: Easy times

Shadowverse
They put out a pretty big update yesterday that finally added some new story chapters.  I've only played a bit of the new Swordcraft chapters, but the AI sure did open a can of whoop ass on me, despite the fact that I think my decks are a lot more developed than when I first beat the story.  I did beat it, but I'm not looking forward to the new AI difficulties they also added.  Elite was already quite a pain.

In other news, there's a Granblue fantasy crossover event going on.  I haven't played Granblue because the mobile version's still Japan-only, but at least this means more rupees and card packs!

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
So, I finally got to the part where the prologue takes place.  It's been well over a year since I started this game, so I had completely forgotten that the prologue had in fact shown a bit from the middle of the game.

The state of technology in this world is a real hodgepodge.  They have guns, armored cars and main battle tanks, but air power and automotive transportation is still in its developing stage.  Meanwhile you have the Internet in its infancy, and people still running around with swords and staves.  I'm definitely thinking about this too closely in terms of our own world's technological history, but what they have going on in Zemuria is very interesting.

Company of Heroes 2
Had a compstomp game yesterday where we were so thoroughly outpaced in tech by the AI that they had tanks on the field before I had my first light vehicle.  I'm dumbstruck how it happened.

I've been tinkering with more Soviet commanders.  I'm usually all about Armored Assault tactics, but there are some commanders that give Conscripts submachine guns, and that seems like a match made in heaven.

Spice and Wolf Synopsis: Volume 5

The girl giggled. “There is that, but there’s something about you that just makes a girl with a bit of confidence want to have a go. Do you get that a lot?”

I haven't seen the anime in a while, but I'm pretty sure this comprises the second half of Season 2.