Hey kiddos! Today the final trailer for Telltale Games’ critically-acclaimed ‘Tales from the Borderlands’ series drops. Set on the unforgiving world of Pandora after the events seen in Borderlands 2, Tales from the Borderlands is a five part episodic game series full of Borderlands’ trademark humor following two adventurers on their quest for greatness.
In the final episode of the season, The Vault of the Traveler, all hell breaks loose. Jack is now in control of Helios’ systems, and he’s ready to reclaim his rightful place as king of Hyperion (with or without you). It’s a mad dash to get out of the chaotic space station alive, as everyone scrambles to grab the final Gortys piece and high tail it back to Pandora. Can you guide our ragtag team through perilous corporate dangers in hopes of getting some sweet alien riches? Loyalties will be tested, secrets will be revealed, and explosions will be in large supply in this climactic chapter of Tales From The Borderlands.
Are you the kinda cat who has to binge? Fair enough. Telltale has made it easier to jump headfirst into Pandora by making Episode One: Zer0 Sum free on consoles and mobile! Catch up fast, episode five’s finale conclusion starts this Tuesday October 20th on PC/Mac, PS4 and PS3; October 21st for Xbox One and Xbox 360; and on October 22nd on iOS and Android-based devices. Are you ready, Vault Hunters?
Editor
@killerr_queen
REVIEW | Salt and Sanctuary
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
REVIEW | Spider-Man PS4
Review | Re-Exploring No Man’s Sky Next
REVIEW | Downward Spiral: Horus Station
Because who doesn’t like to win free things!?
Out of Print is Hosting an Alice In Wonderland Sweepstakes!
NYCC Giveaway
Verily, A New Giveaway
There was a period of time where I wasn’t a big fan of anime anymore. I mean I was, I enjoyed the medium, but there weren’t really any new series I actually liked. I mean I still liked more serious or artful anime films that would pop up and catch my attention but in general most shows that were suddenly popular with a lot of people never appealed to me much. Or I just didn’t tune in. I found myself returning to past favorites if I wanted my fix. Things slowly started to change a bit while I was in college when I enjoyed Gainax’s 2010 series Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt with it’s twisted take on anime tropes via vulgar 90s Western cartoons. I then tuned in to Madoka about a year late.
Current hot-button series Shingeki no Kyojin while I know all about it, know the characters, plots and have watched a few episodes, and is visually stunning in a lot of ways it’s just not my cup of tea. I may revisit but in general the tone is just a tad too intense for my liking. I may revisit that stance eventually since hey, I really like Evangelion.
Lately within the past few months I have tuned in to Free! and have tuned in to two new fall anime that had more or less debuts this past week; Kill la Kill, and finally Kyoukai no Kanata.
I tuned in to Free! to see what the fuss was about more or less as a joke, because a show about swimmers how sophisticated could this be I mean let’s be real, but it turned out to be a pleasant if not frothy (understatement?) surprise. It was actually pretty well done and a bunch of the characters surprised me in terms of personality and how they treated the female characters (which was generally, well). A lot of the characters while they followed some tropes of their percieved “type” a lot of the characters subverted what you’d expect from them which made it fresh and a bit different. It’s bait-y in the intentional HoYay and fan-service filled manner catering to women and homosexual-men but it never really crossed the line over a certain boundary and overall the series showed a great example of strong platonic relationships between male characters who actively and aren’t afraid to show emotions regarding their appreciation for said friendships between each other. In fact a lot of the main plot is making particular characters admit and realize that. You may want to give this one a second look if you thought it was going to be really gratuitous. I mean it is, but not really in the way you think it would be, and it most certainly caught a lot of people off guard.
The new school-rumble quest for vengeance narrative in Kill la Kill from studio Trigger (also known for the short film Little Witch Academia) is on the surface super fun. The series does prove the new studio (as if Little Witch Academia wasn’t evidence enough) Trigger is more than “official” and is a studio that can stand on it’s own feet. It’s visuals are stylized both old school and new, more or less a spiritual successor to Dead Leaves, Gurren Lagann, Panty and Stocking (they share the same director and I think animators or designers). The content was however was a bit well, okay really over the top and certain elements were pretty off putting. There are moments in this that made me feel rather uncomfortable. This wasn’t just toilet humor or even the crude sexual humor of Panty and Stocking. It sort of took it too far with somewhat rape-y scenes and because of that I am cautious about continuing the series because it crossed the line a bit too much. The unconventional opening and intense set-up is also rather jarring; I thought P&SwG was a bit more solid since it was outrageous but it still held itself within some parameters. We’ll see. I’ll give it one more episode.
Wow they’re cute. Stop it.
Kyoukai no Kanata from KyoAni who also produced Free! is pretty much on the opposite of the spectrum. A dark-fantasy supernatural romantic (I’m going to assume) drama Kyoukai seems slightly more or less your standard anime fare; you have the demon hunters, the half-demons. A club with low attendence and members (a literature club though, which is rather neat). However something about it does feels fresh and I am a bit curious to see how they play the genre. Some things make me concerned (a love-triangle would be obnoxious) but there is a lot here to like.
A big difference than other series which could be or are very similar in terms of content is the animation. From the get go it’s gosh darn pretty with very conscious palettes and lighting. KyoAni has been producing very nice work and as in Free! they don’t skimp on good animation.
Character designs likewise are very…safe following more or less KyoAni’s “house” style albeit a bit more individualized. The lead dusky-pink-haired, pigeon-toed scaredy-cat of a demon hunter Kuriyama Mirai and the lax blonde haired literature club member and immortal half demon Kanbara Akihito are more or less your very attractive “ordinary” high school students. Except ya know. They’re not normal.
This fact sort of bugs me a little, style wise I would love things with a more variety than the usual .God forbid they give people different builds. Blood wielding and passive-aggressive Mirai is currently a giant “moe-blob” and her ineptitude at… most everything while cute to a degree skids the line (okay it crosses it) of just being too much. I have a feeling “I killed a bucket” may become something of a meme. Her fear of killing however is a very real and valid one no doubt rooted in something in her past and it will be interesting to see where the story takes her and to see how she grows or how her character may grow throughout the series. The same with Akihito; there have been some signs but I hope additional episodes make him a bit more of a complex or nuanced person. If not I might check out.
So yeah, this week is short and sweet. As far as anime these days I’m a bit open. I’ll watch em so you don’t have to so if you have any suggestions I should check out, let me know in the comments! Most anime lovers will probably love all of the above but in terms of Kill la Kill tread lightly. It’s a bit…much and problematic. Just a disclaimer for those who may feel inclined to watch!
See you next week!
Max Eber
Staff Writer/The Doctor
max@ihogeek.com
Twitter: @maxlikescomics
Colorado Anime Fest Wrap Up
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Sub Cultured is Headed to Colorado Anime Fest!
Aniplex of America to Stream New Slice of Life Comedy, Slow Start, on Crunchyroll in January 2018
Nan Desu Kan 2016 – Recapping Rocky Mountain’s Biggest Anime Convention!
BOO-It-Yourself Halloween Costumes – Misa Amane
One of the experiences I feel is ubiquitous to being a nerd is playing a spot of Dungeons and Dragons. Friends gathered around a table surrounded by junk food, fingers rubbing nervously at multicolored die, and all trained on trying to figure out how to get their characters out of the jam they’re in. That’s what DnD should be. My first experience was 2 hours of creating a character sheet, bumbling through spot checks, and having far less fun than it sounded. I had been put off of the DnD idea for a while, but knew I wanted to try it again.
Then along came Card Hunter, a game that blended traditional tabletop gaming, card game mechanics, and charming yet simple storytelling. Could this really be the answer I’d been looking for?
One look at the visual style and overall vibe of Card Hunter and it’s difficult to not fall in love. You’re a new tabletop gamer with an inexperienced GM named Gary leading your story. As you and Gary bumble your way through your first campaigns, his brother Melvin is always watching over him and making him question his every move. And this story isn’t even part of the narrative. Card Hunter take the approach that if you’re playing a tabletop game, it should look like one, feel like one, and the scenarios are crafted around you playing this game. The story within the tabletop game is forgettable at best, but you yearn for the next quick quip from Melvin or mistake from Gary. It’s an interesting mechanic and one unique to this title.
The gameplay is part DnD, part Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, with movement being dictated by tiles, but actions being dictated by randomly drawn cards. These cards determine how far you can move, your attacks, and your defense. It’s an interesting system I haven’t seen in a video game before, but it’s not difficult to understand. The cards in your inventory are determined by the items you have equipped to your characters, meaning you don’t have the fine granularity of card games like Magic the Gathering at your disposal. Maybe a weapon has two very strong blows, but three minor ones and a negative status effect, you can’t just pick and choose what you want. This aspect brings a new level of strategy to deck building that isn’t lost on me even if I’ve played very few card games.
The visual style looks exactly like a tabletop in a friend’s basement—a flat map with standees on top. This choice is a smart one and falls in line with the game’s hyperawareness that this is a game about playing a game. In a strange sense, seeing your characters represented by flat pieces of cardboard gives them much more charm. Over the years, we’ve seen characters go from cartoony to realistic, from pixelated to high def, and from 1 dimensional to 3 dimensional. I’ve seen very few games throw all that to the wind for a static, flat, unanimated look and they’ve mostly been terrible. Somehow, Card Hunter not only pulls it off, it makes me wish I could see more like it.
Card Hunter is a free to play, browser-based game and like most in its category, the developers are paid through in-game purchases. It’s possible to go through the game without ever paying a cent, though it gets harder to do so as you increase in level. If you do choose to purchase access to the Card Hunter Club, you get an extra item for every dungeon you loot. You can also purchase the game’s monetary currency, pizza, in order to buy more dungeons to raid. They even incorporate buying pizza into the story as Gary has a huge crush on the pizza girl Karen. Seeing these interactions is a treat and it’s nice to see the developers integrating the metastory into monetary purchases, as it makes the experience seem more natural and less disjointed.
The game also features a fun multiplayer aspect after level 5 in which your multiplayer party (separate from your single player party, though I’m not sure why) can go face to face with opponents of similar level. The formats are roughly the same as the single player adventures, though the maps are generally smaller and control points are more important. Overall, it’s a nice addition to an already entertaining game.
Verdict: Card Hunter deserves your attention, and not just because it’s free either. The gameplay is addictively fun, the metastory, though sparse, is funny enough that you want to hear more, and the deckbuilding and combat both make the game a must try. Even if you don’t like strategy games (and trust me, I’m with you), this is still something you should try. And why wouldn’t you, it’s free. So grab some Cheetos and your preferred carbonated beverage, pull up a folding chair, breath in the musty scent of old card table and well-worn manuals, and immerse yourself in Card Hunter.
REVIEW | Salt and Sanctuary
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
REVIEW | Spider-Man PS4
Review | Re-Exploring No Man’s Sky Next
REVIEW | Downward Spiral: Horus Station
If you are like anybody on planet earth, then you wish you knew another language. If you have a fancy phone, specifically an iPhone (or an iPad) then you can learn another language and it won’t feel like pulling teeth. In fact, it’s really fuckin’ fun.
Having looked up apps for learning another language in the past I have been fairly underwhelmed. Most of them look cheap and the ones that are simply decent cost eight to twenty dollars. That sucks. And then one day, the clouds parted and the mighty interwebs bestowed upon me an app called MindSnacks. With a variety of different languages to learn and developed by a team of people who truly look like they are having fun, I highly recommend MindSnacks for anyone.
Hit the jump and I’ll give you some more details!
REVIEW | Salt and Sanctuary
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
REVIEW | Spider-Man PS4
Review | Re-Exploring No Man’s Sky Next
