Bartimaeus

Yoshi games are basically like taking most of Yoshi's Island from the SNES, but then stripping everything that's even slightly difficulty from it. I kind of forgot about them because my experience with playing the one on the Wii U about put me in the grave because of how dull it is, but it'd be good for that age group for when they want something less challenging. Seems like ever since the Xbox One came out, all my controllers have started to go bad in a very short time. It's super annoying.

I really need to do some investigation and figure out some like good pre-10-appropriate games for my nieces. If anyone has any good ideas for games around that age range, please let me know, because I don't know crap about Switch games outside of Zelda and Mario (no, really: Cadence of Hyrule, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Super Mario 3D All Stars, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, Super Mario Maker 2, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening...and Umihara Kawase Fresh - so literally exactly one non-Mario/Zelda game, ).

Cardcaptor Sakura, Episode 38, Sakura's Fun Strawberry Picking Adventure! One thing I've noticed with watching something subbed like this is that it's a bit more work to watch than something dubbed. I didn't have as much of a problem with it in JoJo's because...there's not really all that much dialogue and much of the dialogue that's in it doesn't matter too much, but for a show like Cardcaptor Sakura where my eyes and brain have to be a hundred percent glued to it, it's a bit of a different matter, .

I wonder how realistic it would be for a nation to be able to genocide itself down to 1/8th of its original population...

Final episode:

I have no idea what that says, but also, that is one terrible upscale. One episode left of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Eh, Giannis has been limping around constantly - still plays better than the rest of his team combined even with that bum knee. Series is not over, but those other guys HAVE to play better. Can't be missing literal open layup after open layup like Jrue Holiday did last night - it's an absolute game-ender. It's like the man completely forgot how to play offense as soon as we got into the playoffs...and I guess it's kind of foolish to expect him to play any better nearly 20 games in.

Sadly, no. He didn't really stick around for too long - they found him in a cage, let him be, went and fought Polnareff, then he came out of nowhere and tried to kill Jotaro, but Polnareff cut him in half and that was that. Not much characterization at all, really. I had something else I came on here to post, but I forgot what. Mush brain.

Both of these games were winnable if the Bucks could just find their groove in making shots, .

I had to go back and check because I legitimately couldn't remember. My initial thought was no, pretty sure the plane just crashes by itself...I remember a monkey, I remember Polnareff being a giant joke, I remember the monkey getting cut in half by Polnareff, but no bugs... But wait, why would it just crash by itself? Maybe there was a bug and I just missed like a second that showed it? Turns out, no, the plane just inexplicably crashed with no explanation, . Also, I guess that monkey was the one majestic mentioned? Didn't do what majestic said he did, but that's the beauty of a cut-down OVA I guess, .

I'm definitely gonna take a long break after finishing the original show before even thinking of starting Clear Card. Have to let the greatness of the original fade at least a little before I jump into its inferior sequel, . Watched a few more of the JoJo prequel; it's thankfully picked up a little because it's actually started to get on with what it wants to show instead of meandering on silly nonsense like the first couple of episodes did. If I could ever learn to only be semi-engaged with a show instead of fully engaged like I always have to be, my tolerance for the bits and pieces of shows that I don't like would probably go way up...but I'm the worst multi-tasker and I completely lose the plot if I look away for more than like a couple of seconds. Polnareff is the least convincing "dramatic" villain I've ever seen in my entire life, and not just because I've already seen the second half of this. The only people he could scare away are MAYBE very small children with his ridiculous hair. (e): fixed terrible grammar

Here's an interesting comment I saw on reddit about the game: https://old.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/ofhg7b/serious_next_day_thread_postgame_discussion_july/h4cvesl/ But yes, the perception of Budenholzer throughout the last few years in the playoffs has definitely been "he makes good adjustments between games, but he's a clueless buffoon during games".

Ah, right, I always forget that anime very often directly follows the manga down to just about the last detail, presumably because that's exactly what fans of the manga want...but it ignores that they're completely different mediums where certain conventions and such are not necessarily going to work or make sense in another, particularly if you haven't already spent years getting used to that style...or already read the manga yourself. Guess I'll just deal for the time being - it's only 5 more half hour episodes, after all, and then I can be content, knowing that I saw all of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure that there ever was. ...Yes, that there ever was, . Artorias is one of my favorite bosses, because while his move-set is difficult to master, literally all of his attacks are actually incredibly consistent, predictable, and fair. Kalameet, in contrast, is decidedly less so, and has weird move-set quirks that made him extremely frustrating at level 1. My criteria for favorite bosses is probably somewhat different from most people's after having done that SL1 NG7 run, . I was kind of joking, but also maybe kind of not? There's probably a reason that all of his writing and dialogue always seem to perfectly flow and make sense to me where so many others do not. Clear Card: Maybe eventually you'll be able to recommend Clear Card to me? ...Eventually? (e): Nope, literally contradicted like one second later.

It's not illegal to skim or skip, you know! A lot of the time we're just rambling on about sweet irrelevant nothings anyways, . DARK SOULS TALK: By the way, majestic, did you ever watch the Tomoyo's Video Diary shorts? There are three of them, about five minutes long each. Watched the first two episodes of the JoJo's prequel OVA. Feels like a gigantic drop-off from the first series, even though it's helping give me background on what was going on in the original - writing has been a lot more humorless and needlessly over-dramatic thus far (also weird stuff like...Jotaro being at school - apparently he's seventeen years old even though he looks like an insane giant compared to everyone else and his style of clothing looks completely out of place?). Video fidelity is significantly better and yet the animation is sadly worse (and I do mean the animation - lots of cheap-looking effects and scenes), which I guess I should've expected given this being made in 2000 compared to the original's 1993. And I don't know if this happens in the normal anime as well, but there's this really weird thing the show does where something will happen, and then a character, possibly even characters to really drive it home, will take an excruciating amount of time to just stoically stand around and explain everything that just occurred, that we literally just saw, in elaborate and exact detail. Over-explaining happened in the original OVA as well, but it was faster-paced and less often compared to what I've seen in these two episodes thus far. This seems to be a re-occurring problem in more modern animes that I've experienced at least some of - it's as if shows are assuming that you're like semi-retarded and can't follow what's happening through watching normally. For the love of god, anime...show, don't tell. Important story stuff that the viewer may not be able to figure out from just watching that they should probably know, okay, fair enough; a play-by-play of everything we literally just saw seconds ago, not so much. I can only assume this is because Satoshi Kon wasn't involved in and didn't co-write the prequel series - undoubtedly, he helped keep the script of the original OVA tighter, .

Bucks are constantly absolute trash in game 1s, so this should be positively apocalyptic for the Suns if they somehow manage to lose this one at home.

I would imagine so - thanks! Thanks, guess I really will never play this game, because the voice direction in that game is absolute cancer and I can't listen to that crap. Plus, garbanzo beans SonicMage had a Hollow Knight avatar for forever, so I already associate terrible, terrible things with Hollow Knight anyways on top of my other problems with the game. ...Celeste had performance issues on the Switch? Celeste? Think I'll keep playing stuff on my PC, thanks. I didn't think Celeste was tooooo bad, but there were some levels I had close to a hundred deaths on which I guess is a lot, but doesn't feel like it due to how fast-paced everything is. I liked the setting and more passive storytelling of Dark Souls, but I never got into it like all the other turbonerds did, and I did not care at all about any of that for the second or third game which were significantly less charming (and also I straight up despise the second game for the weird, awful gameplay changes it made anyways). And the first game is really not super difficult - I beat most bosses on my first or second try the first time through, and I hadn't played Demon's Souls to warm me up to the gameplay style or anything either. When I replayed the game with a level 1 character on the highest difficulty (NG7) where even the slightest breeze would instantly kill you, things were a little different, though. The attack designs of that boss sort of reminds me of some stuff from Undertale. Not sure if you've ever played that, but you definitely should if you haven't. The absolute worst fandom, of course - as always - but at this point I think we've conclusively proven you should generally not judge anything by their terrible fanbases, .

My wish has been granted...but it goes in reverse: apparently, there's a prequel OVA series by the same studio with mostly the same people that came out later that presumably helps...explain things? Ironically, it's slightly longer than the series I just watched...guess I'll watch that at some point! @KP the meanie zucchini If you've seen both, do you know whether it's better to start with the prequel series or this original Stardust Crusaders arc series? I know someone who wants to watch this because I watched it, but I'm not sure which one to tell them to watch first now that I know that the prequel series exists.

I actually haven't played Hollow Knight, so I have no idea what you're describing. Well, actually, I started it, but I only played for like an hour before the hideously annoying NPC inane voice babbling combined with too complex maps drove me insane and right off of the game. I'm bad at handling too-large Metroidvania games - my ideal Metroidvania game is more like 5 hours, 10 at absolute most...not the 30 or 40 of Hollow Knight. For longer, somewhat difficult games, Dark Souls is more my speed. Glad to hear you beat them, though...whomever they are! I know the combined feeling of both satisfaction as well as annoyance from other games after finally taking care of a ridiculous boss that just wouldn't go down, . Uh...yes, that was left out. ...Glad I was finally able to enjoy JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in SOME fashion because of this OVA, .

I edited some more stuff in after I realized I should actually describe some of the meme-ish stuff that happened, just in case you want to laugh at that, presuming once again you've already seen this arc.

Episode 6: What a meme of an ending...but it was actually pretty great. If this OVA continued, I would continue watching. I like the animation a lot better than the main series, and I'm pretty sure I like the writing a lot better as well (though I've only watched a few episodes of the """main""" series), even with a few of the things I still don't care for. Thanks once again, Mr. Kon, .

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, episode 5, Majestic do not read unless you've already watched Stardust Crusaders or whatever this arc is called presuming that the events of this OVA at least roughly carry over to the regular anime:

I love Stop Making Sense, but I'm not nearly as fond of their actual studio albums which sound...very different from that. Exactly once, to a person who's recommended like a hundred different things to me over my lifespan and has hit on exactly one of them: You'll Never Go to Heaven, . A 1% hit rate ain't so bad, though! ...It's literally infinitely better than all the 0%ers! Vibrato: Thanks, now I have a way to describe that which I hate. Vibrato delenda est! More evidence for the "I like simpler voices" theory...thanks for the edumacation, I didn't receive basically any in music, so I don't know what the hell anything is unfortunately. Sharon: Yeah, but...she also sounds like that, . Not only that, but it also kinda misses what I like so much about You'll Never Get to Heaven: it's just this...perfectly consistent mildly low-toned half-whispering kind of singing. Lunascape...doesn't do it for me on multiple levels, . BREAKING NEWS: Bartimaeus continues to be the pickiest bastard about anything and just about literally everything, more at 11! Being curious who sang that because I liked it so much is what made me look her up. As for Jungle Drum...Emiliana Torrini says she's horribly embarrassed of her very first album which was mostly random covers, but I like the weird crap she did on there better than Jungle Drum, . Seriously, what the heck is this, Emiliana? ...It's still better than Jungle Drum, . I'll take your word for it re: Heidi Klum, seeing as I don't think I've ever heard of her and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to. And also, I don't think I've ever heard an Adele song or at least knew I was hearing an Adele song, so I don't know what she sounds like either. I think I've said it before, but I try to avoid absorbing anything which I do not like, .

Is that the one where he's like...a Wild West bandit king that starts taking over everybody's bodies while Worf and...aw heck, who was it? Crusher? Or was it the empath lady I dislike whose name I never remember? Anyways, while Worf and one of those two try to sort it out? That is a funner episode...but boy, the number of "let's just conjure up a wacky scenario via the holodeck" episodes there are is way too many.

I still don't like her voice there, but it's actually less painful than the other stuff I listened to. Unfortunately, the music is even less to my tastes, so it doesn't really matter. Also, genuine growling stuff is always a no-go no matter whom it is, . Not sure, but recommended it many times I have been. Does it say more about me that people somehow think I'd magically like it...or more about the people I associate with that they somehow keep recommending it to me? https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/f8unyoxb5vpspgt/uojLuUtksI.mp4 So here's a little secret of mine...I hate long notes like this. She does it every single note she draws out here in this song and the next, it's unbearable. Up, down, up, down, up, down - clean notes, please! But besides those painful long notes, yes, her voice is much more bearable than the other lady in terms of texture, . Floor Jansen or whatever her face is provides a good contrast here, particularly in the opera video you posted of her - her voice is perhaps more unpleasant, but she can hold those long notes just about perfectly. Drats! As for the song you missed because of strange YouTube shenanigans (it still works fine for me, and no, I'm not the uploader, : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/7sqftq8pp7mop2r/White Light.flac I imagine it will be the one you like the least based on what you've described as preferring in voices...but I could listen to this lady all day. It's a bloody great freaking thing I heard her sing Gollum's Song in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers first, then listened to her latest album at the time (Tookah) second, because if I had accidentally listened to Jungle Drum as her first non-LotR song, I'm not sure I would've listened to a second. I should've known better, of course, because single songs are invariably the worst song of any given album, and Jungle Drum is no exception. Way ahead of you, pal! Also, I have no clue who is whom (though I'm passingly familiar with Within Temptation, I have no real knowledge of what they actually sound like, especially since it's been years and years since I heard a song from them), but I definitely liked the second lady a lot better, slightly nasally voice and all, . I mean...to be fair, somebody decided on stinking Usagi being queen at some point!

Seems like him not playing kiiinda portended things for the Serbian national team, . Serbia was a host country too...