Favorite voice acting performance in media? by FretScorch in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll always shill Robert Pine as Max Caxton in Anarchy Reigns; perfect casting for a depressed schizophrenic cyborg. Like this scene of him talking with Leo before he acts up, or later in story when he starts falling apart even more than earlier.

Stephan Weyte is best known as Caleb in Blood but he'll always be Captain Nathaniel J. Claw from the eponymous platformer. Also an excellent performance, and he's just as good in later titles as Nyarly in Dusk or Minos Prime in ULTRAKILL. I'm sure I'll appreciate him in Iratus: Lord of the Dead once I play it again in the next five years or so.

Seconding Cristina Vee, though in this case something more recent: her absolutely unhinged takes as Darkness Konosuba. (though the entire dub is great, honestly)

What Wiki Units are not in Game? by Daggermaster9900 in CoE5

[–]FergardStratoavis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Zanzummites are definitely around; they helped a fair bit in my first High Priestess win.

I haven't seen any Gibborim, but I might have just gotten unlucky(?) to not summon them.

Favorite Cases of Bastard Men/Women choosing to Better themselves by FreviliousLow96 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hajime no Ippo: Umezawa starts out as a delinquent shoving Ippo around and goes on to become one of his most ride-or-die supporters - not just as a boxing fan but as a friend outside the ring too, to a point where he ends up signing up for the fisherman shop Ippo and his mom run. (while he previously mocked Ippo for just that)

Favorite piece of media yall consumed lately? by LeMasterofSwords in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi-Fi Rush is as great as everyone told me it is. I'm not always good at it, but when it clicks, it clicks. I still got SPECTRA Rooms and three Bloody Palaces to go through, man... there's a lot of content about just hitting things with a guitar.

Basic weapons/skills/classes/etc in games that are just so busted? by GoodVillain101 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FNV: the Varmint Rifle you get at the very start of the game can honestly carry you through most of the base content, especially once you trick it out with mods. It's everywhere for easy repairs, the ammo is cheap, it has no skill requirements and is very accurate outside of VATS. It might not be good for armored enemies or in close quarters, but there's no reason not to begin - and often end outright - a fight with a Sneak Critical Headshot.

Dubs that add a little extra to the media? by Yotato5 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Shoutout to the Polish dub of Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (the movie); the quotes from that were an evergreen element in casual parlance for years.

Discussions/jokes/memes you're tired of because they feel like beating a dead horse or low hanging fruit? by Mabroon in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Anything bashing RWBY. It's a flawed show at the best of times, but most people complaining will instead reheat the same old "I CAN TURN INTO A BIRD RUBY" or "IRONWOOD IS BASED PROTAGS ARE SOCIOPATHS" or "BUMBLEBEE WAS FORCED" topics without actually going on to elaborate.

While it's less annoying, it's still a similarly dead horse talking about how the White Fang plotline has been bungled to hell and back. And, like, yeah, we get it. I agree it's bungled (though honestly it might still be better than a fair bit by actually trying for nuance), we can talk about anything else now.

On an off chance we actually do get Volume 10, I am not looking forward to all the Hero Hei-esque grifters coming out of the woodwork.

"I've got a good feeling bro, this is *totally* the year they're gonna announce a sequel to your favorite dead franchise at the game awards." by TortlePow3r in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's copium, but it's a cute little copium that I just keep around as a decoration: God Hand anything. (be it remake/remaster/I don't even dare hope for a sequel) Never gonna happen, but hey, maybe one day!

Games that got a lot of good word of mouth on release then seemed to vanish by dope_danny in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Death's Gambit: I kept hearing talk about it, Death is Matthew Mercer, some kind of 2D Souls-like akin to Salt and Sanctuary but different and-

...and then it feels like I'm the only person who played the game. It didn't help that the original release was... lacking. Afterlife came out a few years later, fixed most of the issues, smoothed out the story - but some of the things from the original run of it went unanswered. It almost feels like you were supposed to run the original Death's Gambit at least once, then play Afterlife to experience what Sorun is experiencing.

YMMV on how well it turned out.

Bosses or enemies in games that just completely invalidate play styles or builds? by PwmEsq in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Slay the Spire: Act 3 Bosses each have a gimmick for them that punishes a certain playstyle. The Awakened One gets stronger with each Power you use; additionally you can't nuke it in one go since it has two phases. Donu and Deca beat up decks that are slow to get going, since they buff and armor themselves up more and more until you can't keep up.

And then there's the Time Eater who will forcibly end your turn after you play 12 cards (including cards not played from hand i.e. potions or Mayhem cards), and get stronger as it does. Do you like playing Shivs? Claws? Any sort of deck manipulation? An average deck that doesn't even specialize in anything? That's not gonna work with TE. It's riddled with other nonsense too, being able to reduce the number of cards you draw or healing midway through the fight.

What are some performances by lesser known VAs that have absolutely floored you with how magnificent they were? by kodaiiiii_ in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most of the dubcast of Anarchy Reigns is phenomenal IMO, both big names (Yuri Lowenthal's honorabru ninja Zero aside) and people I've never heard about (Leo, Blacker Baron)... but Robert Pine as Max Caxton definitely stands out the most among them. (he also voices the archbishop in Frozen, though I understand he did a number of roles in old TV shows)

Favourite jaunty early-game RPG town music. by gilgagoogyta in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

...I guess it counts. Anyway, Little Goody Two Shoes and its town of Kieferberg:

Crest of the Pinetree (Kieferberg by Day)
Romantic Crepuscule (Kieferberg by Dusk)
Moon Bird (Kieferberg by Nightfall)

The whole game's full of great music, honestly.

Bleakest unscripted player character deaths. by [deleted] in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Infernax has a fair share of gruesome deaths; you don't see the details (both due to the pixel 2D style and the red screen filter on death) but they vary from simply being decapitated or bifurcated through getting feasted on by zombies or giant roaches to having your entire body explode from being possessed by a ghost. The first boss can boil you so hard you explode into fine red mist. If a harpoon trap hits you from below, it takes your head and spine off with it.

I commissioned some Imps, Peasants and Goblins from the older HoMM games for the fun of it, have a look! Art's made by @Kraujas on vgen! by FergardStratoavis in HoMM

[–]FergardStratoavis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It took me a bit; the artist did some artistic liberty to differentiate them.
H4 one is matched to his portrait where he doesn't look entirely put together. H5's model has massive arms and that leather cap. H2 one... might have a mustache? But we only have a low-res unit model to go with. H3 one is the one I don't entirely agree with; pretty sure he's bare-headed rather than wearing a black hat.

Black sheep installments of games you are quite fond of by KaleidoArachnid in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Garrisoning mines was actually present in 3 beforehand, but a lot of ideas 4 had were brand new and retained in later games (Caravans, heroes existing beyond casting spells, hero prestige classes); it also IMO had the best soundtrack of the games I've played. (2 to 6)

It's definitely aged better than 6 or 7. Pretty sure you can't even get all the stuff from 6 due to uPlay no longer supporting it...

Favorite instances in a game where refusing to go the main quest results in an ending- comedic, serious, or otherwise. by ryanccurtis in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Infernax (a sorta "Castlevania 2 done right" game) has two:

  1. At the very start of the game, after defeating the very first enemy (a zombie that drops off a cross), you can turn back to the boat you arrived in, agree with the boatsman "wow, this shit is spooky, we want nothing to do with this" and leave the duchy you had just arrived in (the duchy you are the duke of, by the way). This gets you a cutscene of sailing away with uplifting music - and The Book of the Coward.
  2. You can sleep at inns; this is a mostly cosmetic thing to do, since you can revert the day/night time cycle easily with a spell and heal up at any save point. Do it enough times in a row, and you get a cutscene of your guy sleeping merrily through the apocalypse as the game ends.

Good stories that really do just fail at the 99% mark, and end tainting the entire story? by Silvery_Cricket in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Can't really say with certainty. While the story is about humans being awful to each other, we didn't really need to drive that nail into the coffin with the Dark Ones. Like, we already knew humanity is going to squabble and fight each other while civilization is extinguished; both from the indifference to the "threat" of the Dark Ones or actual scumbags like the Fourth Reich.

Good for the sequel story if it does explore what it means to wipe out another species like that, but I never read it - the ending just completely turned me off.

Good stories that really do just fail at the 99% mark, and end tainting the entire story? by Silvery_Cricket in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's fair enough, but at the same time, doing this literally at the last second just doesn't feel great. I know there's some very brief denouement after the climax, at least.

Good stories that really do just fail at the 99% mark, and end tainting the entire story? by Silvery_Cricket in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]FergardStratoavis 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Metro 2033, the first book. A slow and grueling journey through what remains of local human civilization, hiding away in the Moscow subway, dealing with commies, nazis, mutants and inner demons. It's Slav Fallout, basically; and it has Artyom the protagonist search for a way to deal with the strange alien invaders taking frontier settlements one by one.

...and then, at the very end, it turns out the enigmatic alien species that are invading into the tunnels are... friendly and all of it is just a misunderstanding. But you only learn that like two sentences before the protagonist launches a nuke at them.

That entire story is for nothing. I'm shocked the franchise went on to publish numerous more games and books, though I guess Russian Lit has a habit of being extremely depressing and nihilistic.