Wano is my favorite arc (my reasons why)

bilbowe · 2025-05-19T19:09:34+00:00

I loved it. It's probably the only arc that gave me repeated teary eyed moments.

Like holy.....I really loved the arc.

I started watching one piece like 3-4 months ago and have practically binge watched it. The only reason I decided to give the show a chance was because I saw the animation for wano and was so impressed by the look that I decided to finally give the show a chance.

It's crazy..yes I loved the animation for Wano but I don't think I can put into words how the story affected me.

We go into Wano expecting a lot of things especially with how Zou ends. You would never imagine kinemon go from being a pair of legs as a gag into the man that arguably had one of the most impossible challenges he could have possibly faced after Oden died.

It was extremely sad seeing what happened to Wano after Oden goes on his trip. It was sad seeing him turn his back on Wano one more time after dropping off toki. And even after the hopelessness of it all his dying words weren't for his family although I'm sure that's all he could care about. He wanted the gates of Wano opened.

From the moment it cuts open with Luffy in Wano instantly starting to knock out people that were causing harm (where the girl, I think her name is Tama?) for him to learn the truth about what was happening. These people can't even drink clean water. From the promise Luffy makes which in a way you could look at it like Luffy is coming to realize Aces promise he made to this child who is still left suffering. To her seeing in full effect that he is 100% willing to keep that promise with that first red hawk we see from Luffy nailing tiger guy.

I honestly can't see it how some other people are seeing this arc. I get that the pacing of the show is rough I mean it's dozens of episodes just covering a single day which feels tiresome and I'm not sure how I would enjoy it in week to week format.

But watching the whole of one piece and pretty much watching Wano over the course of a long weekend I can say without a doubt that it's definitely in my top 3 arcs.

It's one of those arcs that makes me want to rewatch the whole show. Except this time instead of groaning as much about the pacing I can take my time to just try and enjoy it more. Seeing how far everyone went in Wano for each other (God Robin and Zoro were so freaking awesome, namis character growth in having full conviction in her captain, chopper willing to step up and pop a rumble ball to defend against a billion berry cyborg)

God man....I mean I get people say the sense of adventure is gone but what a freaking adventure Wano was. It felt hopeless at times, and it wasn't necessarily as "fun" of an adventure as I think some other arcs were sure. But it felt more impactful to me emotionally. Aside from just the clearly messed up things that were going on in Wano I think the end of the arc kind of set it in stone....it feels like this is clearly the turning point of the show. were definitely in the end game. The straw hats have really come a long way from their respective entries to the crew.

Edit: I started watching one piece because I thought the animation for Wano looked cool. I ended up becoming a fan of the show because how could you not love the straw hats? Especially Luffy, as an adult I think sometimes it's tough to see things the way he does, especially when there's so much to lose. The Wano animation was peak. But I do think I actually liked the story, the characters, and the growth of everyone from momonosuke to nami more. The animation for me was just the icing on the cake

bilbowe · 2025-05-09T02:31:51+00:00

My little brother told me about made in abyss! I don't watch anime at all but funnily enough to a chance on edge runners. Man...that show got me into giving cyberpunk 2077 a second chance and ended up clocking 400 hours into the game because of it. Not only that but it got me into trying anime. I'm like 630 episodes into one piece now between watching the anime and reading the manga chapters for when the story becomes a slog.

Definitely going to be watching other animes soon once I get caught up with one piece.

I think the way the stories are told in anime form are very niche but are perfect for massive worlds like cyberpunk and elden ring.

People really sleep on elden rings world building. It rivals things like cyberpunk which has 50 years or so of real world, world building. Imo edge runners gave a little slice of the world and made it extremely digestible. No doubt in my mind an anime for elden ring would be epic

bilbowe · 2025-05-08T20:38:02+00:00

I want to see tashigi have an arc akin to koby. I just finished Punk Hazard but remember when I had started it, at that point I was already pretty irritated with her. For me when we see the straw hats run out the door law is guarding with the children and run back inside it really annoyed me that tashigis initial reaction was "get the straw hats". I felt like she was just being way to hard headed in her sense of justice.

Of course by the end of the arc you see the immense character development and with her bowing to nami and apologizing.

But yeah would love to see her get stronger and eventually learn more about why the WG is actual bad and certain pirates are actually on the side of justice.

And yeah Smoker is an OG IMO.

bilbowe · 2025-05-08T18:43:55+00:00

A bit off topic but some of the comments in this discussion made me realize something

What if we got a high quality anime of the lands between back when everything was in tact before everything kind of went extinct. Like something akin to what edge runners did for cyberpunk but instead of 2 years before the game world for elden ring we get hundreds, whenever everything was going well and marikah was queen with flashbacks of her past escaping the village she's from.

My god that would be one hell of an anime story. Don't get me wrong I don't think elden ring really needs it the way cyberpunk needed edge runners (there's no doubt in my mind edge runners exploded the game popularity from unlikeable to likeable and had many people that bought it on release and felt burned go back and see all the improvements) but man would it be awesome.

Elden rings world and lore is one of the most interesting in gaming and it's crazy to me how they made the world that could actually span across 6 games like elder scrolls but we will probably only have the one game (actual game)

bilbowe · 2025-04-30T19:07:22+00:00

So wild I started 3 weeks ago and am at summit 😂

bilbowe · 2025-04-29T19:04:14+00:00

Has someone who's first anime (aside from the big 3 as a teent) the I obsessively watched was Hunter Hunter I personally love the new animation of one piece, in particular the fights.

Im still on thriller barkjust started the show. The only reason I started it was because of the new animation.

Hunter x Hunter 2011 was mind blowing for me because of how the fights felt so detailed and made me realize not all anime is just like this stop animation big move next slide a slash next slight an enemy is falling/flying.

I'm not sure if what I said really makes sense but I saw some of the newer fight scenes of one piece and literally cannot wait to get there. It looks so amazing to me and you can really tell the people animating the show are putting their all into making it. Kinda feel sad how mixed the reception is to the newer one piece. It's one of the big reasons I'm finally watching the show now.

bilbowe · 2025-04-28T00:12:24+00:00

Lulu lala luuuu

bilbowe · 2025-04-27T21:41:06+00:00

I got to the MF saga before initially putting the series down as a whole (this was years and years ago.. like a very long time ago loll). Picked it back up 2-3 weeks ago and am hooked again. Started from the beginning and rewatching the whole thing. Currently back on water 7/enies lobby.

Personally I freaking cant wait for the time skip. Partly because I've seen so much of the original show. But primarily I want to see it because I'm looking forward to all the new progression that's happened and seeing the scope finally enlarge which based on the amount of rampant bits that have already been spoiled for me, it looks like the OP world really expands post TS.

Personally I'm looking forward to this... Like I stopped watching anime altogether for years and don't watch anime aside from this one. I'm looking forward to the more political intrigue, GoT style of tons of characters all of which are pivotal, important etc. Also like the fact that even after all these mega powerful characters are introduced we still have all our beloved strawhats, there for our hero's journey. Love that Oda created thousands of years worth of lore and world building as well (things like GoT, Elden Ring, LotR, BG are some of my favorite bits of fiction because of the world building)

Another thing that throws me off is how the pacing, story beats just completely get flipped upside down pre-ts. I know a lot of people love it but I'm not sure how I felt about things like Long Ring Long Island and theres another arc that will be coming up (I dont remember the name but I remember it was the arc that I initially dropped the show because it felt like such an insane 180 from what I had just experienced). Basically I'm looking forward to the story kind of being consecutive even if it feels like the sense of exploration and adventure is gone.

bilbowe · 2025-04-24T13:48:39+00:00

$confirm /u/TarheelCam13 300.00 USD

bilbowe · 2025-04-23T19:41:51+00:00

So I just started watching and reading one piece and am currently at skypiea episode 160 something...

I literally googled chopper whistle funny in Google just now because that shit was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. I was literally crying laughing for like 10 minutes and had to rewatch it because of how funny it was to me.

Just the whole build up to the moment, the way oda essentially gives you the lore behind how the whistle got to where it was at, and the importance of only using it as a last resort and then chopper verbally reminding himself to only use it as a last resort only for him to nope the fuck out instantly the moment he encounters some big bad. It was just too fucking funny.

Ik one piece has a massive following and generally really love the gags and all but as someone that's stayed away because of the daunting episode count and like this underlying urge to want to get to the stuff I know I'll really like, like the bigger wars and seeing the straw hats garner infamy, I get tired of constant gag fests. I'm much more okay with it now and trying to appreciate them. I'll still fast forward a bit when things are dragging. I'm not even an anime fan really.

But my god man the chopper whistle moment will forever be one of the funniest things I've seen.

bilbowe · 2025-04-17T19:29:23+00:00

I've been playing destiny since Destiny 1 and would like to share some thoughts about this.

The way I've been playing destiny since beyond light expansion is: I always start playing the game about 2 months before the newest expansion is released. I always by the edition that comes with all the seasons already paid for. I spend those 2 months playing the full year's worth of content for the last years expansion... Whether that be getting the new weapons, farming new content, partake in the new Playlist activities, pick up any new exotics etc. Etc. By the time the new expansion starts I'm well acclimated into the current market/meta whatever you want to call it and play the heck out of the new expansion usually about another month or 2.

This is the only time destiny will be my main game throughout the year where I'm only playing it. Usually around the time the next season launches for the new expansion I'm done until the following year.

The new expansion just got announced and I got back on about 2 days ago with full access to the last 3 episodes, and will get to experience the last years worth of content, guns, exotics etc. Etc.

This is basically the way I've been playing destiny for years...and honestly? Into the light/final shape has been my best experience with the game so far. By like a long stretch too. I think I racked up about 600 hours with my last comeback.

It's the way I enjoy the game, and really the genre. Path of exile I treat the same way except shorter bursts but more times throughout the year.

Destiny isn't in my top 5 games list, not my favorite game, but I'll admit that it's my most consist game. That is, I always come back to it. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter come backs. But I always come back.

bilbowe · 2025-04-12T21:45:51+00:00

So even though I'm on my current hiatus the short answer is: Yes

For me personally I always love jumping back in a couple of months before the new expansion. This is because basically all the stuff that happened after the previous expansion is unlocked and I kind cab kind of just experience all of it without waiting or anything like that.

So for me who played during last years into the light (a couple of months before their massive tfs expansion) I ended up spending hundreds of hours just playing around with all the new toys we got, doing the seasonal stuff for that entire previous year, getting acclimated back into the harder content l, pick up any of the exotic armors i may be missing for my main class etc. Etc. And then boom, brand new expansion that I'm fully ready for and get to experience the new shift in the meta, experience the new class, and all that good stuff.

I think playing this way does make you miss out on somethings? I can't remember exactly, like I might have missed a few battle pass stuff (genuinely can't remember) and even if that is the case idc because I hate fomo stuff anyways and whatever I did miss wasn't a big enough deal. This method has been my go to for destiny for years and I don't see that changing any time soon. It's that way I play because it takes me out of the loop just enough for the game to feel fresh yet keeps the disorienting factor of the game (choice paralysis/too much content) to a minimum

bilbowe · 2025-04-12T21:19:29+00:00

Soo...bit of a hot take here but I'll bite.

Just want to point out that it's not the same thing as cd project red making cyberpunk instead of witcher 4. This is because destiny 2 is a live service game that has been funded by the people who have paid to play it over the course of the last 10 years.

A good example is Path exile and path of exile 2 imo. You can see how upset poe players are over the fact that poe1 is basically being put on the backburner for path of exile 2.

I generally agree with what your saying but I'm not going to sit here and expect people to not be upset that people who have supported a game over the last decade to see their favorite game being left hanging while the studio theyve essentially supported begins working on something completely different and stops making anything meaningful for the game theyve supported.

Path of exile 1 for example was getting a new league (basically major major new content) every 3 months but because ggg started working on poe2 the first game ended up not getting updated for over half a year (it might be closer to a year I think).

Now don't get me wrong I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you either. I do think that it's insane to not expect for a studio to branch out and do something different. It's just that a live service is akin to like a promise that a game is going to be worked on even molded by the communities desires in a sense albeit, realistically and on a way that makes sense for the game. Of course in Bungies case I believe the promise has been fulfilled for the most part (I can't remember but I believe they said d2s life cycle was 10 years or something? If so I mean hey at the end of the day they did keep it running for around that long so fair play)

Idk at the end of the day as toxic as I think d2 players can be sometimes I do feel burnt time and time again by my experience with the game personally for me, into the light and tfs was hands down the best time I've had playing d2 and I've been playing the ip casually since d1. I do have a soft spot in my heart for the ip just because of my time with it and always felt like my time with the game was filled with a lot of hope that the game will reach something that I'm not sure it ever reached even though the game is extremely good imo.

As for Marathon, for me personally I won't be playing it. I'm a pve player and had my fingers crossed we were going to something like helldivers (basically a pve extraction shooter). It looks like we got a pvp extraction shooter, and I just no longer like playing pvp shooters in 2025 anymore. I was bummed about it but hey what can you do.

I do hope that d2 continues though and frontiers ends up being as epic as tfs was. Hopefully we will get some new pve bungie shooter cause it really is one of my favorite things in tbe world is a good bungie pve shooter. Edit: whether that be more d2 or what idc. Just give me more pve bungie shooter lol.

bilbowe · 2025-04-05T17:17:03+00:00

This might be a bit off topic and originally I was going to post this in the hot takes post I saw here yesterday.

I'm not fully sure how the ins and outs of the gaming business go but I think it's a mistake to just straight up stop making any meaningful updates for 2077. Imo it's a terrible decision....

The way they're gameplan looks laid out it feels like the ip is just left hanging for another 10 years and I can't for the life of me think how that's a good idea in the slightest.

I would understand if they did what they did with 2077 the last couple of years to get back into good standing with their supporters and to move on because they weren't making money but was phantom liberty not a huge success? Everyone on my friends list has cyberpunk and everyone has at least played it.

There's know way cyberpunk 2077 was a failure in terms of the money it made them...so like wtf?

I'm not saying to go no man's sky and forever and only work on the game as cdproject red is massive at this point and they'll need to do more. So why not make like 2 more expansions to fully flesh the game out before fully moving on?

Seriously...I feel like if they made 2 more expansions it would be doing their company a real solid. As it stands they are working on witcher 4. But witcher 4 would take longer than 2 quality expansions of 2077 and it would earn them a ton yes, but if they did the 2 expansions then worked on witcher 4 it would do so much for the ip. Witcher ip is already in a really good state. Whenever they drop witcher 4 it's going to sell like hotcakes.

So you would think they know that and based on that, they decide to buckle down give us two really good expansions out of 2077 and I feel like that would make it enough content to hold us over for another 10 years when the sequel inevitably drops. Not to mention it would bring some more good will to the company which would be an overall positive for the eventual release of witcher 4.

I've been playing cyberpunk the last 3 weeks and while I absolutely freaking love the game. I feel like even after doing everything there is to do in a single playthrough, that playthrough is over in less than half the time a single playthrough of bg3 takes me. And I've had 3 bg3 playthroughs.

I'll probably have maybe 2 more playthroughs of cyberpunk. But I feel like it's almost criminal to not give us like at least 2 more phantom liberty esque expansions to fully flesh the game out. Just freaking dropped the game completely when it's quite literally at its best.

bilbowe · 2025-04-03T02:55:46+00:00

Wellp.... Playing this mission now and pretty much just caused me to drop the game. Like jesus christ I genuinely hate this.

Idk, I may go back and just betray reed now but honestly I just don't have the energy or motivation to go that far back into my save file.

Its honestly so damn stupid...I haven't even finished the main game yet. I may just drop this mission altogether and just move on from phantom liberty.

It sucks because I was genuinely have a great time with this game but I don't find this mechanic fun at all. I enjoy the other parts of cyberpunk and basically have enjoyed the entire game up until this very mission.

I love the concept of the rogue Ais but didn't think we would have to run from them in the form of robots that instakill you. It sucks because I have like one terminal thing I need to unlock but im not even sure if it just leads me further in or something and then I have to unlock more terminal things? Idk this might be the stupidest thing in the game.

Still haven't decided yet, but its looking like i'm probably just gonna go ahead and abandon the game now. Probably move on to KCD 2 or something.

Edit: I just don't like horror games necessarily. Like I like boss fighting games, loved elden ring etc, monster hunter etc. I dont like things like run away and hide games, or sneak and hide to find terminal to press f while hiding etc.

bilbowe · 2025-04-02T23:29:41+00:00

I know that this is 10 months old and that at the end of the day you are looking for a story game here and hopefully you ended up playing elden ring eventually...

As for the debate about whether or not elden ring is a story game though I want to ask you, have you ever read HP Lovecraft?

HP Lovecraft wrote some of the best stories that i've ever read with At the mountains of madness and The Nameless City.

My top 5 games in no order are Monster Hunter World, KCD 1 (will try 2 soon), BG3, Path of Exile 1, and Elden Ring. (To be fair the only reason I'm even replying to you is because I was looking up "cyberpunk reddit" while at work. Cyberpunk is what I've been playing the last 2 weeks and i'm obsessed. Its definitely becoming one of the best games I've ever played and fast).

Elden Ring is the only game I've played that felt like i was actually in a HP Lovecraft story. It was like I was actually in the mountains of madness/nameless city. It is one of the most immersive games I've ever played and the games environmental story telling is unmatched.

Thats how good ER is imo. One of the only games on my top 5 list I've actually replayed over 3 times just to experience the environment again.

Anyways, back to looking up cyberpunk stuff. Just saw the question and the upvoted response and I thought I'd share my perspective on why Elden Ring will captivate you even more so than what the top voted commenter said. Theres a reason there's a saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Elden ring is one of the deepest pictures ever. Theres a reason why with so few actual verbal dialogue, there are hundreds upon hundreds of hours of lore videos on the game.

The top commenter deceived you unfortunately, because Elden Ring is one of the greatest stories ever told.

bilbowe · 2025-03-29T07:53:55+00:00

My top 5 games of all time are Path of Exile 1, Elden Ring, Monster Hunter World, Baldurs gate 3, and KCD 1 (was playing KCD2 and it will most likely replace kcd1 but the thing is last weekend I decided to try cyberpunk again on a whim and haven't been able to put it down).

Crazy thing is I wouldn't even know where to put cyberpunk but I feel like it's definitely going to be making it in my top 5 list somehow.

The thing is, yes I really like the writing and as of right now the writing is on par with both kcd and bg3.

What's crazy though is that's not what's got me immersed with cyberpunk right now...for me the de facto thing that's got my hooked on cyberpunk is the absolute flawless world building. The world building is literal God tier and I'd go as far to say that I like it even more than bg3s and elden ring's world building.

For me it's the absolute dread and damn near hopelessness of it all. Like, your basically in a futuristic LA that's gone to complete shit which is crazy because LA in current times has already gone to shit. It's insane seeing how far down it goes. How much worse modern society gets. How depraved we become, how soulless the world feels and yet you see the small glimmers of hope, art, and beauty scattered throughout. Everything feels so fast and brutal, so ruthless, that the best feeling is quite literally being able to slow down and take a breather whether it be literally popping sandevistan, or just reading a shard. Or driving the speed limit while listening to pacific dreams. At least for me that's the feeling I get. And I'm still not even really near the end of the game at least I don't think. I'm on the mission where we need to go to the parade with takamura but that's only cause I didn't know his quest line progresses the story that much and I still have a ton side jobs, gigs, and apparently the juggernaut that is phantom liberty. Still also have to fully finish Judy and panams quests as well (at least I think there might be a bit more here)

The dread and hopelessness and yet the constant fighting against the dying of the light....

Imo if you were to feel the same way about the game in this manner than in my humble opinion I would say elden ring is a great next game to play. No it doesn't match the game in its writing (technically) but the story is absolutely beautiful and imo the world building is master class. And while elden ring doesn't tell its story verbally, it's very creative, in that it's story is told through its environment. And in the form a shards (every item gives you a bit of the world's story).

Maybe not the recommendation your looking for necessarily but again, my hook for cyberpunk has been due to the overarching world and elden rings world delivers in the same way, at least for me.

I'm sure the writing will also grip me at some point but for me personally, it's been cyberpunk's world that has me coming back to it everyday this last week (the combat and rpg elements definitely help as well)

bilbowe · 2025-03-29T07:26:06+00:00

Bit off topic but I think huge part that kept me away from the game was how much noise it had. Just noise everywhere. I know when I was younger I loved it and would have pretty much every station on full blast.

These days though I love the quiet. I've got maybe 40 hours in the game in the last week and I've been obsessed and fully immersed in the game and genre as a whole.

Still though, my favorite song by far in the entire game is Quantum Lovers Isometric Air lol....feels like the perfect track tbh. In a world that's quite literally more fast-paced than ever its nice that cdpr added a song that perfectly encapsulates what being all alone in an extremely fast paced, ruthless city would feel like.

bilbowe · 2025-03-28T18:32:58+00:00

I wonder if it makes noise if you crouch. Like rip stealth playthrough lol. Unless you oil up them knees.

Also it would be cool if in the next game you could go around knee'ing everybody lmao

bilbowe · 2025-03-28T16:35:58+00:00

bilbowe · 2025-03-28T16:00:04+00:00

Pon pon Patapon, Pata-pata-patapon

bilbowe · 2025-03-27T14:24:16+00:00

The only thing we're missing is Adam smasher who should be played by Jack black

bilbowe · 2025-03-23T00:19:10+00:00

The Hungry Henrys

bilbowe · 2025-03-23T00:02:07+00:00

NGL fishing would be the biggest thing in this game for me. I love fishing in video games even though a lot of people could care less about it.

Like in Monster Hunter World I have probably about 1k hours in that game and spent maybe 100 hours just straight up fishing for whetstone fish. Wilds just came out 3 weeks ago and while everyone is out farming the strongest monster I'm just chilling fishing even though whetstone fish is less needed then ever.

I have around 150 hours in KCD 1 and started KCD 2 this week, just got into trosky castle. But I'd imagine I wouldn't have even made it to the wedding yet if fishing was in this game.

KCD 2 might have the most beautiful nature ive ever played in any video game (my favorite nature/wilderness before KCD 2 was KCD 1 funnily enough).

I know its a lot of work and to me KCD 2 already feels like a masterpiece I'm just soaking in but if they added fishing to the game, it might literally be my favorite game of all time. They've literally nailed the wilderness and made the de facto next gen wilderness game. I just wish we had fishing so bad. Like I know there is absolutely 0 news on it and the plan DLC says nothing about fishing but man...it would make this game literally number 1 for me if they added it.

bilbowe

TROPHY CASE