Pro-Wrestling On My Mind

Or, at least they love his entrance music. Lance Archer's I mean. "Who wants to break the Guinness World Record for most characters killed off in a single video game?" - Someone a Square Enix on the FFXVI team, presumably I'm playing "Final Fantasy XVI" and, good Lord, EVERYBODY DIES! You cannot get attached to anybody. You meet a character and, legit minutes later, DEAD! I figured things were going to be wild after one of Clive's companions was crushed by a boulder in the opening sequence, but wow. NPCs, minor characters, main characters, no one is safe . At this point (which I think is about 1/3 of the way through, but I could be very wrong), I will honestly be shocked if any character actually makes it out alive. So yeah, I definitely believe that at least one person at Square is a fan of "Everybody Dies" and that it was on repeat, fueling inspiration, during the entire story writing process for FFXVI, if not the production of the whole gam...

Note: Post is only tangentially related to wrestling today. I am not a fan of horror. I think real life is scary enough as it is, so I have never understood why people want to scare themselves via entertainment. I especially don't like jump scares, so horror movies and games are generally a big no for me. Fortunately, pro-wrestling has never been too terrifying. I always liked the Undertaker, so he never freaked me out, and his storylines with Kane, while creepy, never got too far into the realm of horrifying for me (grossed me out some, but never scared me). Had I been a child when they debuted, I might have found the Wyatt Family scary, but I was already in grad school when they first showed up. While I am not a fan of horror, I am a fan of good storytelling, a necessary element of good pro-wrestling. As such, I am willing to step outside my comfort zone of non-horror entertainment if I think there is a worthy story to experience, like when I read Dracula  as a kid (slept with a ...

I've been MIA recently, but with good reason. I'm on Spring Break! The school year has ended in Japan, so I have about 1.5 to 2 weeks off waiting for it to start again. And yes, one might think that would mean I would have more time for writing. However, I have a rather large backlog of games I need to play, and that has been taking up all my waking moments. Just yesterday I completed Insomniac's "Spiderman 2," which was fantastic. This game continued the great storytelling and characterization from the previous two entries in the series, improved combat and sidequests, and made swinging (and flying!) around NYC even more fun. There are also, of course, lots of references to Spiderman's expansive history. This is one of my favorites that I came across: The Masked Challenger Gaze with Miles at this lovely lucha libre mural. Spiderman's origin is directly tied to pro-wrestling, and I was glad to see the game giving multiple nods to the fact.

This is a Cold Skull: We can all agree on this, yes? Now, dear reader, tell me what this is: Would you not, immediately upon seeing this, think "That is a cold skull."? But "Dragon Quest Treasure" insists on claiming that object is a "Cool Head." The DQ series loves its puns, I've played enough of the main series entries and spin-offs to know that, but sometimes it is best to just be straightforward. The original Japanese name is no better though. It's " いてついた化石," which translates to Icy Fossil. More accurate, but still not correct. As it turns out, though, this is the only thing about DQT that irks me. Otherwise, I am really enjoying the game. I finished the main story of "Hades" and took a break (will definitely go back to finish some post-game stuff and make good friends with the Olympians) and still wanted to fight physically, so "Ace Attorney Investigations" is also on hold at the moment. I'm getting through ...

Dear Reader, did you watch Sony's "State of Play" that dropped today? Specifically, did you see Paul Heyman introduce the newest feature of "WWE 2k25"?  My name is Paul Heyman, and I could sell water to the ocean. It's called The Island. I don't know about the rest of you, but those two words immediately triggered some MAJOR flashbacks for me. Can you see the title floating towards you on a black background, or are you normal? This was my show in college. Obsessive theory crafting, watch parties with my fellow Lost Girls, roomie finding ways to pirate episodes so we could keep up with the latest twists and turns when we were studying abroad, I did it all. So, I am going to be VERY disappointed if "WWE 2k25" does not include the following: 1) Opening segment with a deadly plane crash (Who would you like to see get sucked into a turbine and turned into fleshy mulch?). 2) A specific sequence of numbers you keep seeing throughout the game that you...

I wrote in a previous post about how I am playing "Hades." I still am, and am happy to say I have beaten Hades himself more times (but not enough to complete the story yet), but I am also playing another game when I need a break from slaughtering countless hoards of the dead. My current other game is the "Ace Attorney Investigations Collection." I've made it to game two in the collection, "Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit," and am in the midst of the second episode, "The Captive Turnabout." In this chapter, you meet a new character, Eustace Winner (Yumihiko Ichiyanagi in the original Japanese version), and damn is this boy an annoying dumbass. This is one of the most punchable faces I have ever  seen. As much as Eustace is currently irritating me, mentally griping about him gave me pause because it reminded me of a very similar situation. When I played "Pokemon Violet," there was also a boy who popped up early ...

Today's post is brought to you by Captain Holt. No, Dear Reader, this post is not revealing the title of my in-progress dark fantasy YA novel. Sorry to disappoint. Also, spoilers ahead for a 7-ish year old video game. As a Christmas treat for myself, I bought the game "Hades" for my Switch. It had been on my wish list for a while and was on sale for a pretty good discount. I am currently still playing through it (I've beaten Hades three times so far) and loving it.  What made me think about pro-wrestling when playing it was the boss of the Asphodel section of the Underworld, the Bone Hydra. Of course, Bone as the first part of a title directly takes my mind to Bone Soldier, aka Taiji Ishimori. So, every time I fight this creature, especially with the Twin Fists and especially in the early stages when it was still kicking my ass, I think about Taiji Ishimori and wish the Bone Soldier could help me take on the Bone Hydra. Or be fighting against me with the Bone Hydra. W...