The summer heatwave churning up the south is finally coming to an end. The trees will howl as their orange skin fills up generic backgrounds, the wind will arrive from the north to tickle our necks, and kids will suffocate from Halloween sweets. I personally eat from a carton of chocolate cream for my Halloweens.
I will say that this has been both a fun but stressful summer. The best parts were definitely reviewing and refining my book, playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky after finishing the game all those years ago in my childhood, built my first Gunpla model, and getting to the Earthbound Beginnings review. But, after losing a pretty terrible job and a lot of setbacks, it’s been pretty hindering to my motivation as well. A lot is coming for this semester, especially the release of Metroid Dread, and I’m excited to ring these reviews and updates to the website. So, let’s get right to it.
Extra, Extra! We got a Mailing List!
I’m getting one. I’ll face facts, this blog is essentially me talking to a few followers and passerby’s weekly. Otherwise known as “a fish in the sea.” So, to try and get better traction, I am going to implement a mailing list. Now, I’m going to put one by Monday, but I’ll make my first after researching the best ways to use one for the kind of blog I’m trying to do. The last thing my lazy butt wants is to make something embarrassing for you readers. Plus, if I did, I got a comment section for angry comments.
So, be on the look out on your email. Hopefully, it’s the top one above the thousands we never read.
A New Coat of Paint
Now, I don’t have the comments to back up this claim, but I think my website looks terrible. Not terrible, but more like basic. I like the colors, but something about it just doesn’t work. I wanna add pazazz to it. I was gonna try and update the look on a technical level, but life decided to make me postpone that. But, I am dedicated to saving up money and looking at online website designs that I think will fit and benefit the blog. I’ll also really try to make the layout much better, and learn how other websites did it. These changes will come this semester, so don’t be surprised by any new developments.
Now, onto the things I will be reviewing!
Republic Commando: The Bad Batch But With Polynesian Bacta
I love Bad Batch, don’t get me wrong. It tickles the bone in me that’s been dead inside since Clone Wars ended for the 3rd time with its characters, its perspective of the growing empire, and the episodic nature of the show. People hate it, but I do personally enjoy the current structure of the story. However, our batch of misfits surviving a hostile and changing galaxy will probably never dethrone Delta Squad for me.
In this game, you play as the leader of a band of Republic Commandoes, specially trained clones under the Republic who do the jobs no reg could pull. You’ve got Scorch, the demolitions personal, Sev, the cold-blooded sniper, and Fixer, the by-the-books guy who hacks computers. You lead these 3 through 3 different missions in 3 locations, helping in the war effort by clashing with clankers and shanking some mercs. With the customizable DC-17m and a slew of other weapons, you may be programmed for stealth but, by the end of the mission, you leave one hell of an explosive impact.
If you aren’t into the magic of the force and only care about the war aspect of Star Wars, then you are going to enjoy this game. As Han Solo once said, “hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”
This review will come on September 3rd, 2021.
Ungifted: Being an Idiot Has Never Changed So Many Lives
When I created this website, I always wanted to do a book review cause, well, I am a writer. So, what better way to start than by reviewing a middle school level book. “Har har, he’s reading a book for kids.” Har, har, har…
This book is better written than Captain Marvel.
After slapping the ass of the school statue and sending its bronze globe rolling into the gym, Donovan Curtis knows he’ll get the punishment of a lifetime…until a mix up happens. Instead, he gets to walk the halls of the Academy for Scholastic Distinction, where young Frankensteins take classes together to show just how intelligent they are. Donovan, not wanting to face the consequences in fear of his parent’s bank account and his sister’s incoming child debt, he decides the best thing to do is fake being smart enough for the situation to blow over. While it’s hell for him, it becomes the best thing for these geniuses.
Now, this book is basically like any of those “just an average kid in school” kid movie. Average boy, goes to school, has to make friends, the characters are caricatures, yada yada. I thought that when reading it, but it turned out to be a well-written and genuinely surprising book. It may be for kids, but I implore you to read it before my review on September 24, 2021.
Child of Light: I am No Princess
I love whimsical and light-hearted fantasy ever since I watched the first 4 Harry Potter films and Adventure Time. I remember seeing this game whenever my brother played it on the Wii U, and I finally got my chance when I bought it for my Switch. I was mesmerized by it from first sight but playing through it and experiencing this masterpiece brought me so much delight.
Aurora, the young daughter of a Duke in Austria, mysteriously enters the land of Lemuria after dying from a strange illness. Traveling with a wisp named Igniculus, she learns that the moon, the sun, and the stars have been taken by the Queen of the Night, who is turning the land into a world of monsters. With the help of her friends who rhyme and a wisp who likes to shine, this young not-princess will travel the land to stop the evil queen and find her way back home before a dreaded flood turns it into a memorial shrine.
With a unique battle system in the JRPG genre, a stellar score, and a beautiful look, this small game will enchant any RPG fan and fairy-tale lover. Play it for yourself, experience the magic, and come back when I review it on October 8th, 2021.
Kamen Rider Saber: The Second-Coming of Ghost
If my post about Kamen Rider piqued your interest and showed how crazy I am for this series, well…I hope this doesn’t ruin it. I love this franchise with a passion, but even it cannot escape the hands of terrible writing. This season also happens to be about books!
Taking a more mystical and fantastical route, not seen since Wizard, the season is about a novelist named Touma, who owns a book store and is the writer for Lost Memory (don’t worry if you don’t remember this after ep 1). Though he appears to be a regular guy, a strange event happened 15 years ago that left him with a strange but small plastic book about a brave dragon. He remembers only fragments: a town attacked by monsters, bubbles floating in the air, a knight clad in purple armor, him losing the grip of a young girl before she’s sucked up by a floating book, and a damaged swordsman who leaves him the plastic book and causes a massive explosion with a red blade. All he remembers besides that is a promise he never got to keep.
Fast forward to the present; he’s late for a chapter deadline for Mei Sudo, but he shirks it off like any real writer to give a birthday present to a boy. However, things turn for the worst as the masterminds behind the event unfold a new plan by taking parts of the world to a place known as Wonder World, the world of stories, through the use of Megid. As chaos ensues, Touma is met by the very blade that saved him: the Kaenken Rekka. With no one stopping the monster of the week, and the book revealing to be a source of power, he takes hold of the blade and becomes Kamen Rider Saber: The Flame Swordsman. Now, with the help of other color-coded knights of the elements a part of the Sword of Logos, an organization that seeks to protect the world, the novelist will fight the Megid while also uncovering his past and what led to the events that happened 15 years ago.
Did that catch your interest? It did for me. On October 29th, read on how much it went downhill faaaassssttt.
Digimon Cyber Sleuth: 2 Stories, 2 Mysteries, One Digital Garden
After the huge, but not surprising, disappointment of Pokémon Shield, I decided to say screw it to the Pokémon Main Line games and decided to play the Digimon Cyber Sleuth bundle on the Switch. I played it last year and finished it in the beginning of the summer. Even with its world building and narrative flaws, these games brought back the spark of love that I had for the Digimon universe.
For Cyber Sleuth, which everyone should play first before Hacker’s Memory, the story takes place in a Japan where virtual reality has become reality and the entire concept of Summer Wars has been stolen. Eden, the virtual world created by Kamishiro Industries, allows people to bank, shop, and connect; basically a walkable internet. The story is about [NAMELESS PROTAG] who is dared into going into the underbelly of Eden, where hackers roam with a newly introduced and utilized hacking tool at their malicious or benevolent disposal; Digimon. An adorable Agumon can clean out your bank account; where is the humanity.
However, you and your friends are forced into becoming hackers by a mysterious party and are attacked by an Eater, a mysterious computer virus that can cause people to go into comas. You don’t escape unscathed, as you return to the real world with a digital body. Best thing about this situation is employment. With the help of your Digimon and a totally-gonna-be-your-waifu boss, you help solve cases in Eden which will inevitably uncover the secret of your transformation, a conspiracy, and your own past.
In Hacker’s Memory, you play as [NAMELESS PROTAG EXCEPT YOU CAN ONLY BE A GUY] in a side story that delves deeper into the scum and villainy of hackers, and what it means to have an identity in the virtual world. Speaking of identity, his, however, has been stolen by a malicious hacker; well, an internet one but still. Being accused of an account raiding scam he didn’t commit, the MC decides the best way to find the culprit is to become a hacker himself and join the group Hudie, a benevolent hacker group under Zaxon who solve cases related to more aggressive teams. Like in Cyber Sleuth, you solve different cases with your own Digimon as you get closer to the culprit, but you’ll also discover the dark secrets that lie with those close around you.
A different approach to the usual Digimon format, these story heavy games still manage to bring a fun Digimon adventure for older fans. Stay tuned as I review these games on November 12th, if school allows it.
Honestly, all these reviews may be released differently due to school so keep that in mind.
Other Reviews That May Come In The Future
Final Fantasy 9
I’m not done with it yet. The Final Fantasy series is that JRPG series I heard a lot about growing up, and it became the franchise I wanted to play so bad. As a lover of Pokémon, I held FF as the high standard of JRPGs; the franchise that any fan of the genre had to play. A Valhalla if you will. Now, for you long time fans, you may laugh at that statement or agree with it, and all the other franchise fandoms may laugh too. But I legit thought that at the time, and I still hold the series to that expectation after playing, like, 3 games. 6 was my first, 7 was the first steam game I fully played, and 9 became my second favorite.
This review may come around 2021-2022, but I hope to give my thoughts on this magical game. I’ll save the lengthy plot synopsis for a future update.
Metroid Dread
Hot damn do I want it. I’ve only played the first 3 games (still crossing my fingers for a Prime trilogy bundle on the Switch) but Super Metroid sold me on the Metroidvania genre. Genuinely one the best and most replayable games in history. When I saw the reveal trailer for this game, I was sold on it from the moment I saw the stealth mechanics with the robot thing. Horror is one of my favorite genres and seeing that implemented alongside space exploration peaked my interest to dangerously high levels. I’m watching my brother play Fusion as a refresher before I get Dread (now, if your criticizing me for not playing Fusion myself, my answer to that is it’s my brother’s Wii U and, like the little brother I am, he gets first dibs).
I might make a Quikee review of Dread after I get it on October and play the first few hours. But, I’m really excited and optimistic about this game so, hopefully, this new entry into Nintendo’s most interesting franchise, to me, meets my expectations.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorer’s of Sky
Like hell I know when this will come. It’s stuck on my brother’s Wii U and it’s one out of two games I steal from him to play. I can’t take it to college, so who knows.
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Same Boat.
Super Mario 64
Might be a Quikee as well since I played it last year. I still have to play the rest of the games I have on the All-Stars package.
Gundam Unicorn Gallery
This might come in-between the other reviews depending on when I finish the model kit. I got it over the weekend, but this week is mostly me doing work on my job and book, preparing to go to college, and having an existential crisis. The last one was a peaceful moment in this summer, so I got this as a potential hobby.
Overview
With all this laid out, I hope school doesn’t tire me out so I can be excited enough to do these reviews. I’ve got nothing left to type with these tired fingers, so I’ll take my leave. Enjoy life, follow your passions, and don’t let the fire spreading throughout human civilization harden your heart. Bye.
-Samuel Argueta
samuelargueta.com 
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