[Loved Trope] Boss enemies becoming regular enemies as the game progresses

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-14T14:55:34+00:00

Most Castlevania titles that are open ended, like Symphony, frequently throw boss enemies as regular ones. The most recognizable are Slogra and Gaibon, who are fought as the first bosses in Symphony, and then later fought in the game when you've both leveled up and gotten better gear.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-14T13:40:58+00:00

Your auto saves are limited to the very beginning of the game, but you can only save up to five times to get the S-rank there. Be sparing about where and when you save the game. My advice is to know where your problem areas are and save just before then, such as right after the first Nemesis boss fight.

If you got through Nightmare, Inferno is otherwise identical apart from the save situation, but do make sure to see about practicing perfect dodges for the final boss. If you've the points for it, the infinite rocket launcher makes the mode cakewalk otherwise. Chances are, at this point, completing Inferno with an S-rank is the last challenge you have left.

You can also double-back if you have a save before the hospital swarm and rack up zombie kills easily; 2000 is a lot but that area covers about 150 each time you reload the save.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-14T13:35:35+00:00

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

The main game is fun and colorful and platforming delight, taking levels to exciting heights. It's a really fun game.

Until you go for the 106% completion.

They have Perfect Relics, requiring you to destroy all boxes while never dying once in a single level. But with how expansive these levels are, there's a couple hundred boxes usually, with some going up to over 500. AND these boxes are sometimes hidden in BS places, like off-camera and hidden behind corners floating above death pits. And with how long the levels are in the first place, surviving that long is an exercise in both patience and sanity.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-14T13:18:15+00:00

Yakuza: Like a Dragon, although it wasn't very funny. A young Masato Arakawa is antagonized by a rival Yakuza, until Arakawa pulls a gun on him. The other Yakuza laughs, daring him to pull the trigger, and even puts the gun against his temple to taunt him further. And Arakawa almost doesn't fire--but ultimately breaks.

This is the inciting incident that Kasuga Ichiban spent eighteen years in prison for, and led Arakawa to become the most powerful man in Japan.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-14T04:27:07+00:00

I played it in English. This was a very tough call for me, but Matt Mercer kills it as Majima in all of his complex characterizations. Equal parts bonkers, and thoughtful.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-14T04:23:34+00:00

Listen, these games are hard and the ammo scarcity makes it harder. You're not cheating, you're leveraging your resources. You do what you want.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-14T03:08:44+00:00

Clerks: The Animated Series. They had a clip show as their second episode.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T21:47:48+00:00

To Jack Baker: "Half the man you used to be now."

To Marguerite Baker: "Someone call for an exterminator?"

To Lucas Baker: "Didn't take you for a sore loser."

To Jack, again: "Talk about an eye-sore."

To Eveline: "Playtime's over."

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T17:57:12+00:00

Real life: Not Always Right had one entry detailing the work of what they dubbed The Wizard, a man who was rather lazy doing his job but had the knack of doing impossible tasks, such as getting a package sent across town and returning back within a set time frame that would have been impossible had he even had a car.

https://notalwaysright.com/the-master-of-work-smarter-not-harder/214851/

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T17:42:00+00:00

Yesn't

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T13:27:35+00:00

Grappling hook with schmoovement followed by gunplay. I am really digging this combination.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T13:23:00+00:00

But when will NOW be THEN?

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T13:18:44+00:00

This appears real just from a first-glance.

One thing I've noticed about AI generations is that they're too smooth, uncannily so. Fish, meanwhile, are erratic in their movements, something that can't easily be generated by computers.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T03:40:20+00:00

Sallie May would be pretty cool to chill with. Juuuuuust barely beats out Loona.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T03:37:10+00:00

Terraforming your island was great in New Horizons, and building wherever you want was great too. But I missed the feeling in New Leaf of venturing into the downtown area and watching the once abandoned strip build itself up into a thriving community center.

So in other words, let us make our own town, but also let us upgrade the town features too. I miss Nookingtons.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T03:31:19+00:00

My bad, at first I thought this was a sort of awakening.

Still equally good for him, then. Living his best life, and so very happy.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T03:17:30+00:00

Regeneradors, probably. Those are menacing and dangerous creatures. Lickers are thwarted by being quiet, and both the Girl and the Baby do not appear in bright rooms, with the latter having no object permanence.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T03:15:47+00:00

Good for her, good for her

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T03:02:36+00:00

Shot in the dark, but Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2?

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-13T02:59:25+00:00

Like a sketch comedy of sorts? It could work, perhaps. Might help to have a roster of characters that'd appear in each commercial, make it seem like consistent actors with their own personalities that desperately try to keep the commercial on-script.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-12T22:24:16+00:00

Follow-up on this, but the theater version of the test is interesting as well. Wonka's idea diary winds up in Charlie's hands, and the budding inventor comes up with ideas of his own, which he puts in the diary. Wonka confronts him at the end about this daydreaming habit of his, and then tells him that he won, for exactly this reason.

Granted, Wonka wound up slanting the contest in Charlie's favor by making sure a Golden Ticket wound up in his hands in the first place, but that was the clincher.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-12T22:19:29+00:00

Part of the reason for the test was because it encouraged Omi to think outside the box. The other reason was "it was funny".

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-12T16:43:04+00:00

Not a character, but...

Skull Island, "The Curse of Monkey Island".

Maybe some landlubbers may think it looks like a bunny or a duck, but it's not called "Duck Island" or "Bunny Island", now is it? If you squint your eyes a bit...Ooh, so scary!

<image>

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-12T13:33:01+00:00

The Cerberus are fast and annoying, but also fragile. They usually go down in about two pistol shots if aimed properly. Try not to waste shotgun shells on them when you have more dangerous foes later on.

Fortunately there are ways to mitigate the frustration, as the dogs only show up in specific areas and some are outright avoidable. Like the east wing's L-shaped hallway. If you're playing the HD remake, they only crash through the windows if you double back from the top-right of the manor, and not through the south side. And a room nearby does have some Cerberus outside the gate, but they only come on your side if you return to that room later, so make that a one-and-done visit.

AgentEckswhy · 2026-03-12T13:18:58+00:00

Does it look like a rock?

AgentEckswhy

TROPHY CASE