A Gamer's Visit from St. Nick- Parody Poem

 T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house

Not a controller was stirring, not even a mouse.

The game mats were spread across the table with care

In the hopes that by morning, new killer decks would be there.

The gamers were nestled all snug in their beds

While visions of upcoming games danced in their heads.

The TV was turned off, the consoles in Sleep Mode

And the PC's ran not one line of code.

When all of a sudden, arose quite a clatter

So the gamers got up to see what's the matter.

And what to their wandering eyes should appear

But a brilliant red sleigh pulled by flying reindeer!

With a jolly old driver, so lively and quick

The gamers soon realized, t'was old Saint Nick!

And then, in a twinkling, their heard through the roof

The prancing and pawing of each reindeer hoof

Then as soon as the gamers came in and turned around

Down the chimney St. Nick came with a bound.

And I swear, this description comes not from payola

But the man dressed like the pictures from Coca-Cola!

On his head a red hat, on his torso a red suit

On his legs red pants, on his feet black boots!

The gamers took a glimpse at what he carried on his back

It was a whole bunch of games in a giant cotton sack!

With a wink of his eye and a tilt of his head

The gamers knew they had nothing to dread

With a movement so quick, the gamers didn't see

Old St. Nick's gift giving spree!

The tree was soon covered in presents

And I don't need to tell you their contents!

St. Nick gave a nod, and by pressing his nose

In the blink of an eye, up the chimney he rose.

He got on his sleigh, then gave out a whistle

And away his team flew, like the down of a whistle.

Then we all heard him say, as he flew out of sight

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

An unplanned hiatus

 I'm currently on a much, much needed hiatus. The last quarter of 2022 has been rough on me, I'm sad to say, so don't expect any new updates for the rest of December. See you guys in the year 2023.

What happened to PokeMonth?

 So I'm sure you've noticed that I didn't upload a thing all month long, even though I promised I would. Truth is that, between school, natural disasters befalling my homeland, and my health issues, I simply had no energy to blog. Sorry about that.

My Top Eleven BEST RPG's on the SNES

 You read the title, you know what this is. Remember that this is all OPINION. Let's do this.

My Top 11 Skyrim Mods

 You've read the title, you know what this is. As always, it's ascending order. Friendly reminder, of course, that this is ALL OPINION, so don't come after me if your favorite mod didn't make it. Let's get to it!

Announcements

Well, I've been gone for most of August due to real life issues, mostly to do with my health. But rest assured, the blog isn't dead; in fact, I'm here to announce some future projects for my next themed months!

On September, we'll be doing mostly opinion pieces, rants, just some light stuff to destress.

Since we're getting Pokemon Scarlet/Violet this November, October will be Pokemon Month! Every weekend this October, you'll be seeing blogs analyzing the Pokemon franchise!

November, again we're taking it easy; don't expect too many entries this month!

On December, I'll be doing something different: it's JRPG Month! Every weekend, I'll be talking about a JRPG from the SNES, PS1, PS2, and PS3 eras! Which ones? Well, wait and see!

Nine year anniversary!

 It seems almost hypocritical of me to be celebrating the ninth year of me writing this blog, considering the fact I took a three year hiatus that is only now retroactively a three year hiatus! And yet that's what I'm doing: celebrating NINE years of this blog's beginning!

I originally ended the blog on January 5th, 2019. It was the day I promised myself I'd retire from blogging and focus on my career and personal life. And in fact, that's what I did.

But for those three years, the itch to write about gaming remained strong. I had so many ideas, so many things to say about video games, and yet I wouldn't let myself talk about them. During 2020, I relaxed with video games. During 2021, the itch to talk games grew and grew, until one day I said to myself "fuck it, I'm making my comeback!"

By December 2021, my decision to make my return was solidified. I had a LIST of things to talk about! And since then, I'll be honest: I've been happy with my decision to return.

Am I the most famous blogger? NOPE. Is this blog making me any money? Not a penny! But am I happy with the blog? Yes, I am.

I don't have much in this world, but I do have this hobby I love. I love gaming, and I love blogging about gaming. I'm glad to be doing both now.

And while I'm at it, remember that I'm also a Let's Player! My YouTube channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCckYWq5fRDpIgXe4MrmexwQ

Nine years!!! WOOO!!!!

Let's Play Brave Fencer Musashi, episode 1

Click here to view my latest Let's Play video!

Ranking the Tiny Bird Pokemon

 Every Pokemon Generation has its Tiny Bird Pokemon: little birds that you can get before the first gym battle that stay on your team for a while, and then they evolve into bigger birds. These Tiny Birds are staples of the franchise, just like Starters are. But which one's the best, and which one's the worst? That's the question I'm answering today!

The rules are extremely simple: they must be Flying type Pokemon that look like birds, and they HAVE to be capturable BEFORE the first gym or game equivalent. Let's begin!

My Top Eleven BEST RPG's made on RPG Maker (and similar Game Maker engines)

 RPG Maker games tend to have a bad reputation, mostly because the overwhelming majority of them are made by novices who overestimated their skills and forgot to temper their ambitions. But if 90% of all RPG Maker games are crap, that still leaves a 10% worth seeking. These are MY top 11 BEST RPG Maker RPG's.

My time as a Let's Player

 From 2018 to around 2021 I dabbled in doing Let's Plays, even sharing my first four videos on this very blog before my temporary retirement. I'd like to share some of my experiences with this hobby.

Gayming Month- A final word

 As we close Gayming Month in the final days of Pride 2022, it pays to remember why Pride is celebrated.

Gayming Month- Lovestruck's LGBT+ Representation

 It's been three months since Lovestruck closed all operations forever, but while the loss still stings, it pays to look back at just a few examples of how well the app's stories represented LGBT+ people. This is a quick rundown of how well the app did LGBT+ Representation.

Gayming Month- Kanji from Persona 4

Few subjects are as touchy as the subject of defining masculinity. Societies all over the world have somewhat different ideas of what it means to be masculine, and yet they all share the same conclusion: it's shameful for a man to either lack it, or deviate from it. In gaming, few characters embody the dilemma of masculinity as much as Kanji, from Persona 4.

A young man with questions against a society with no answers

Gayming Month- Cho Aniki

 This month of June we're celebrating Pride with what I like to call Gayming Month, where we will take a good look at the highs and lows of LGBT+ representation in gaming! And we're kicking it with that infamous shooter series, Cho Aniki!

This doesn't even qualify for the Top 10 Weirdest moments from the franchise

My Top Ten characters for Nickelodeon All Star Brawl

 Nickelodeon All Star Brawl is a Smash Brothers-like game featuring characters from the Nickelodeon TV network. Having grown up with Nickelodeon, I want to list ten characters that I'd LOVE to see in this game. Let's go!

On mobile game ads

 It's a story all too common these days: you're using an app on your phone, like TikTok for example, and suddenly you come across an ad for a mobile game. The game looks kind of good, you admit to yourself, if a little too easy. Let's say it's a puzzle game, and the ad shows a ridiculously easy puzzle, like matching shapes to their shadows. THEN the person playing the game in the ad keeps making mistake after mistake, like trying to match the X shape with the circular shadow. Why is this? Why not show off GOOD gameplay instead?

Happy Mother's Day

 To all the gamer's mothers, to all the gamer mothers, and to all the good mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers out there.

Happy Mother's Day, from your pal, Angel S. Adames Corraliza.

Five Game Series that DESERVE a Comeback

 You've read the title, so you know what this is. These are five game series that DESERVE a comeback.

The Eleven WORST Chrono Cross Party Members

With the recent release of Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers on the Nintendo Switch, I figured it'd be a good idea to compile a short list of the eleven WORST allies you can recruit in the game. Of course, I will explain what makes them so garbage in the game, and we're going in descending order. Let's get to it...

11- Korcha

Korcha is a Blue Innate ally that you get if you agree to save Kid from dying from Hydra poisoning. Problem is that refusing to save Kid gets you Glenn, one of the BEST characters in the game. So the game is almost forcing you to pick between this punk, and the guy who can dual wield later in the game...

But besides that? Korcha is mediocre at his absolute best. His weapon is a fishing pole, so his hit rate is sub par. His Magic Attack stat is below average, and otherwise the kid's outclassed HARD by most other Blue Innates, most of whom also happen to AT LEAST be above average mages.

And you're telling me I have to give up one of the BEST characters in the game... for HIM? NEXT!

10- Turnip

Few characters in the game learn Double Techs, which was one of Chrono Trigger's more unique battle mechanics. That, and his decent Strength, are reasons to have Turnip in your party.

Reasons AGAINST having Turnip in your party? Low stats overall, being yet ANOTHER sword wielder (and he's not even the best Green Innate sword wielder), and honestly you can do better than this little green veggie. He can't even use Magic very well, due to a small Elements Table AND a low Magic Attack stat! No thanks!

9- Steena

This is an unfortunate case of an objectively good character getting screwed over by the game itself. Steena has three BIG problems going against her. First off, she's recruited SUPER late; in fact, she'll generally be among the last, if not THE last character recruited. For joining so late, Steena's stats are ridiculously low; she seems better suited for the middle-to-late game. Second, her Techs all have to be FOUND. Don't have a guide? Go to GameFaqs! And thirdly, she's a White Innate who does the exact same things Serge does, but does nothing he doesn't do better!

Why even bother?

8- Zappa

Zappa is a case where he's good at doing ONE thing, but you need your characters to be more fluid than that. Zappa is a GREAT physical attacker, yes. But in this game, pure physical attackers are not nearly as versatile as the guys who can both attack AND cast magics. There are other, BETTER Red Innates in the game, and most of them do what Zappa does; some even do it better.

7-NeoFio 

This little flower has ONE thing going for her, and that's the fact she can do a Double Tech with Turnip. That's it.

Her stats are otherwise too low to be of any real use. She's a mediocre at best Mage, her attacks aren't particularly strong, and she's otherwise a waste of a party slot that could be filled with a GOOD character. She doesn't even have a unique niche to fill! Next, please!

6- Van

Van's one of the few characters who can attack ALL enemies at once with his Attacks, plus his final skill can really HURT!

But he otherwise lacks the stats needed to justify bringing him along over any other character. If you need a good Green mage, you've got better options. If you need a Green Innate attacker, you have better options. Van's only "good" for when you recruit him, and even THAT is because your pickings are low, low, LOW!

5- Skelly

Skelly isn't a BAD character per se, as you certainly could do WORSE. He's got decent stats, can use Magic well enough, is fast enough, and for the early-mid game, he's pretty good.

But recruiting him is a BITCH! Seriously, try recruiting this guy without a guide handy! What's that, you can't find all the pieces to bring him back together? Welp, too bad! No Skelly for you!

And after that odyssey to recruit him, what do you get? An average character! One who WILL be outclassed all too soon! So, RIP.

4- Funguy

Like Zappa, Funguy is a case of a character being good at ONE thing, when you want your characters to be good at more than one thing. He's got good Strength and good HP, but that's about it. That's not enough.

But what sets him below Zappa is the fact that his last Tech skill is earned so very late in the game; almost at the end! By that time, Funguy is SO BEYOND outclassed, using him is more of a joke than anything!

3- Unevolved Pip

Pip is unique in that, depending on how many Elements he uses, he'll evolve into a new form. Using a set number of White, Blue, or Green Elements gives him an Angel form, while Black, Red, or Yellow elements gives him a Devil form. But if you fail to evolve him by the time you get 35 stars, Pip will stay stuck in his base form, who'll end up being one of, if not THE, weakest member of your team!

You don't want that, trust me.

2- Mojo

Mojo has THREE things going for him, and that's it. First off, he's a very early recruit, and in fact he can even be the second character you recruit in the game if you know what you're doing. Second, he's pretty much your first Black Innate character, again if you know what you're doing. Thirdly, he's got GREAT evasion.

And that's absolutely it. Inarguably, Mojo is a bottom tier Black Innate character. Arguably, he's the absolute bottom of the barrel in terms of Black Innates. Once you get someone like Skelly, Mojo will find himself PERMANENTLY benched!

1- Pierre without the Hero Equipment

For Pierre to be useful, he has to equip the Hero's Sword, Hero's Shield, and Hero's Medal. When he has all three, he's pretty good; otherwise he sucks.

But is he GREAT? Nope! He's "above average" at best, getting himself outclassed HARD by Glenn, Fargo, Viper, and so on. At best, he might be considered the second best Blue Innate physical fighter, but again that's only if you have the WHOLE Hero Set. Forgot to find the Hero's Sword? AYYY LMAO, you ain't getting it again outside a New Game+!

Without the Hero Set, Pierre is far and away the absolute WORST Blue Innate character, and in fact he may well be the WORST character you can have if you've recruited him. You can do WAY better.

Kingdom Hearts 4: Want, Don't Want

 With the recent announcement of Kingdom Hearts 4, I think this is as good a time as any to make a short list of what I want in the game, and what I DON'T want. I'll keep this simple and clean, and I am NOT sorry for the reference!

Is Dragon Quest 1 still good today?

 A few weeks ago I managed to buy Dragon Quest 1 for myself on the Switch shop. It was cheap, and I was curious about it, so I gave it a go. I believe it is always good to go back to the classics, to study them and see how the building blocks of gaming were created and developed. But is Dragon Quest 1 still good?

The Top Ten BEST Games EVER

 Utilizing a complex mathematical formula, I have compiled a list of the ten greatest video games of all time. This isn't an opinion piece; this is just straight up FACTS. Onto the list...

Goodbye, Lovestruck

 Lovestruck was a Visual Novel app that you could have downloaded for free on the Google Play store. There were several stories to play, with most (if not all) of the stories starring a female character. The app was notable in that each and every story had at least one Gay Route to play on, with several of the newer stories having an equal number of male and female love interests. There were even some routes that starred non-binary love interests! But by March's end, the app will be no more.

The reason the app is closing down is, of course, due to money issues. The app depended on users buying Tickets and Hearts so they could continue playing the games and seeing the special cutscenes; otherwise, you had to wait two hours for ONE ticket (capping at 2) and earn Hearts doing special missions. A bit annoying, but par the course for these apps.

The tragedy of this loss is that Lovestruck was one of the few visual novel apps that was 100% LGBT+ friendly. You had Queer characters in EVERY STORY you played! Gay men, bi men, lesbian women, bi women, pansexuals, non-binaries, genderfluids, you name it! The app had them all!

So to see the app close down, with no indicator that the games themselves are being saved elsewhere, means the loss of one of the few franchises that was LGBT+ Friendly visual novel franchises. The stories themselves were (mostly) VERY well written, too, starring a myriad of amazing and unforgettable characters. Many of these stories defied stereotypes for the kind of genres they explored. 

One example that sticks out to me is Love and Legends, which was the very first visual novel that was original to the Lovestruck app. The story is about a young Chicago nerd girl who gets transported to this typical fantasy world (meaning Medieval Europe with elves and magic) and she meets a wide cast of characters that the player can romance. Your options are: The handsome and serious knight, the boyishly good looking and coy Elf archer, the aloof and broody demon (who looks like a guy with heterochromia), the cute Magician girl, and the mature King.

Normally in tales like these, you have a few expectations: The knight is the one doing the chasing, the magician girl is cold and focused on her studies, the elf is borderline racist, and so on. NOT SO with Love and Legends! In THIS VN, the Knight does NOT like the main heroine AT ALL at first, and he takes some time to warm up to her! In contrast, the Magician girl is flirty right from the word GO. The brooding loner has a GOOD REASON to be brooding and a loner. List goes on and on!

Another FANTASTIC visual novel that I GREATLY enjoyed was called Havenfall is for Lovers, which again played with stereotypes regarding supernatural lovers. Take for example the werewolf lover. In normal werewolf stories, the werewolf is someone poor, or a vagrant, and someone predisposed to violence. In Havenfall, the werewolf love interest is the town sheriff who has EXCELLENT social standing and is economically comfortable, and she's actually very sweet to the main heroine right from the word go and NEVER acts possessive towards her. Also she's female, and RIPPED! Seriously, Mackenzie Hunt (the werewolf) is one of the few female body builder love interests I've seen in ANY visual novel!

Lovestruck was an app that carried visual novels with wide appeal. There were fantasy stories, science fiction, gangster stories, globe trotting thief stories, you name it. Now, those stories may well soon be forgotten because they were ONLY found on the app. As a writer, I find that to be heartbreaking.

And that's only the finished stories; there were still plenty of other stories that were still receiving updates just DAYS before Voltage (the company that made Lovestruck) announced the app's permanent closure. Particularly, their then-newest visual novel My Siren Crush had only been on the app for a scant few months! It only had three routes, and NONE of them were finished yet! And now they never will be...

Really nothing else I can say. Like a good show that ended well before its time, Lovestruck is an app that closed down while it was still good. Goodbye, Lovestruck.

The day I quit SMITE

 One of the hardest lessons you learn in life is that you gotta do what you gotta do to protect your mental health, but sometimes that means quitting something before it destroys you. This is the story of why I quit SMITE, as well as playing PVP online.

Xenoblade 2 and the hypersexualization of female characters

 As I was browsing one of my favorite subreddits today (r/JRPG) I stumbled upon a thread discussing sexualization in JRPG's and how off-putting the content can be to some gamers, particularly female gamers as well as gamers who aren't attracted to women. Let's be completely honest; very many JRPG's are designed with a teenage male audience in mind, which means we're gonna be seeing a LOT of female characters in rather skimpy and impractical outfits that show off highly idealized figures. Is this a good or a bad thing?

Ranking the Normal Type Common Pokemon

 Normal Type Common Pokemon: they're all Normal type, they're pretty common, and you'll be sick of seeing them by the time you hit the second Gym in whatever game you're playing. But how do they rank? Which one's the worst, which one's the best? THAT is what we're here for today! And remember: this is an OPINION piece!

To qualify for this list, we establish three rules: First, the Pokemon must be Normal type. Second, it must have an encounter rate over 35%. Thirdly, they must ALL be capable of being encountered BEFORE the first gym (or in Alola's case, the first Trial). Sorry, Audino!

Side note: the Common Flying Type rankings will be saved for a future entry.

A special message

 With the war happening in Ukraine right now, I'm seeing a disturbing amount of young men and women itching to head over there and blast some Russians. I find myself in need of sharing this special message...

War isn't like in Call of Duty or Medal of Honor. When you get shot, it'll hurt like hell. Unlike in video games, one bullet will be more than enough to kill you if you get shot in certain parts of your body. There'll be no respawning for anybody. Combat armor is heavy, gunshots and explosions are very loud, and having debris flying everywhere is detrimental to your breathing.

War isn't a game, and I can't stress that enough. War is war, it's hell on Earth. You don't WANT to be in a war, trust me. The Ukrainians and the Russians are in a war, and I promise you, they hate it. The only people who like war are the people who know they won't have to fight in one.

If you've got the luxury of  staying home, do so. If you have a family, consider your duty to be taking care of them. Pray for a swift end to this war, and to all wars.

Black People in Gaming- Muriel Tramis

 

We continue Black People in Gaming month with a brief appreciation post for Muriel Tramis, the first black female game developer! But to simply call her that is a disservice to what can only be called an extraordinary career for an extraordinary game developer...

Black People in Gaming- Jerry Lawson

 In the month of February 2022, we're doing Black People in Gaming Month! And to kick it off, let's learn about that unsung hero of gaming, Jerry Lawson!

1 December 1940 - 9 April 2011

My take on Pokemon Legends: Arceus

I've been obsessed with Pokemon Legends: Arceus for the past two days, playing it every chance I get, to the point that I have to force myself to put it down! I'm not gonna waste any words here; this may well be the BEST Pokemon game I've played since frickin' Pokemon Gold!!!

Renting video games- a memory

Renting video games simply isn't done anymore; paying a couple of bucks to have a game for a set number of days, and then having to return it is a thing of the past. In this day and age of digital copies, prevalent piracy, and gaming consoles requiring you to install a game before playing it, renting games just isn't feasible or profitable anymore. But back when it was, my God it was glorious.

Why are old school games so grindy?

 The grind: every RPG aficionado is familiar with the term, and there's nary a single player who doesn't have a story related to grinding. For the two or three of you unfamiliar with the term, grinding is when you spend a long time gaining experience points and gold so you can be strong enough to pass through a certain part of the game. These days, it's rarer for Modern RPG's to force the plater to grind, but pop in an NES RPG and suddenly it's grindsville. Why is that?

Final Fantasy 7 Remake- What Went Wrong

 Never in my life did I look forward to a game as much as I did the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. When I FINALLY got it, I was overjoyed. Then, a scant few weeks later, I was putting it down and never picking it back up again. What happened?

2021 in Review- Gaming

 With 2021 gone (Hallelujah!) it pays to take a look back at how the year went in terms of gaming. So without further ado, I'm giving you just a few examples of the Good, the Bad, and the downright Ugly of 2021 in terms of gaming. Here we go!

THE GOOD

1) The Tales series is one of the most celebrated JRPG franchises in the world, and in fact may well be considered the third most famous series of the genre, only below such juggernauts as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. But with many hailing Tales of Arise as THE JRPG of the year, we may well be seeing the franchise get the mainstream recognition it truly deserves!

2) Hey, did anyone catch Arcane in Netflix? Of course you did, it's one of the most famous shows of the later part of 2021! This League of Legends really spat on the notion that video game adaptations always suck! Not only that, but the game saw a surge of new players joining the game, thanks to the show! Now let's hope the community doesn't drive them ALL away...

3) I'll be honest when I say that one of my personal highlights of the year was the release of Shin Megami Tensei V. The SMT series is one of the most unique franchises in video games, and it's high time it got the recognition it deserved outside Japan!

4) Other GREAT games of the past year include It Takes Two, Metroid Dread, Resident Evil Village, Bowser's Fury, and so forth...

5) Nintendo 64 on the Nintendo Switch! Sega Genesis, too! Do I need to say more!?

THE BAD

1) Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Fun games? VERY MUCH SO! Great games? Yeah, I'd say that! Good remakes? Ummm... not really. They're not entirely "remakes" so much as they're just a slightly updated version of the original Diamond and Pearl games, which depending on one's view, could be good or bad. Yes I'm grateful to be playing these games, since I couldn't when I was younger (no money for a DS), but on the other hand, I can't help but to think about how Pokemon Ruby and Saphire were remake for Gen 6, and how much friggin' BETTER said remakes are compared to the originals. BD/SP didn't really add THAT much to the original Diamond and Pearl; it's the same game for all intents and purposes, with just some a few bells and a couple of whistles thrown in. It's almost a 1:1 remake, and that's simply not good. We expected better because we've been given better in the past.

2) Disgaea 6 seemingly stumbles while taking the franchise to 3D. With a far smaller pool of generic units than any game that came before it, the removal of Weapon Skills, Magichange, Mon-Toss, Chara World, TOWER ATTACKS, and the fact that you can unlock ALL the Humanoid units by chapter 5 of the game (less than halfway through!!!) makes this, arguably, the least satisfying game in the series so far. Nippon Ichi Software sought to make a game that was simpler than what came before, and they succeeded. Sadly, this means the game feels like a giant step backwards for the franchise...

3) I'll mince no words: The PS5 shortages shall be remembered for decades to come. The lack of a specific chip to make the processor has turned the PS5 into one of, if not THE most sought after console in history. But that leads to...

THE UGLY

1) PS5 scalpers. It was not unusual during 2021 to go on Amazon in the hopes of buying a PS5 and see one on sale, only to notice that the price was beyond unreasonable. A five hundred dollar console was being sold at prices ranging in the four digits; I once saw a single PS5 with NO games being sold at a whopping one thousand, three hundred dollars!

I'm back!

 I've been gone for three years, and in that time I dedicated myself to growing as a person and as a writer. I managed to accomplish quite a few dreams, reached a fair share of goals, and earned some scars. But my passion for writing about gaming had never, ever withered away. For too long I'd been away from Blogger, away from this blog that has been with me through ups and downs.

Well, this new version of me is craving but one thing: to return to writing about gaming! It's a new year, it's a new me, but it's the same old Video Game Overanalysis! I can't wait to write about gaming once more!!!