Arrow and Flash: Legends of Tomorrow Crossover

I've been watching CW's Flash and Arrow almost since they originally debuted.  I didn't catch on to Arrow until I binge-watched the first season on Netflix shortly before the second season was to begin.  After that, I was hooked.  For Flash, it took me a few episodes to warm up to it, which was fitting since the show itself took a few episodes to find its footing.  After the proper introduction of Reverse Flash, Flash put the pedal to the metal and has been racing ever since.

That said, the first crossover event between Flash and Arrow during Flash's debut season and Arrow's third season was lackluster.  The two episodes really had nothing to do with each other.  While it was fun to see the two series crossover, it wasn't much in the way of a continuing event.  This year's crossover is an actual two-part event, but it's also functioning as a backdoor pilot to a third series, Legends of Tomorrow.

None of that is my biggest problem.  My biggest problem was with the portrayal of this guy: Vandal Savage.  My issue isn't with the character himself as I'm not really all that familiar with the comics, but I am concerned with how he's supposed to be the primary villain on his own show when he wasn't all that intimidating here.  He didn't have the gravitas of Damien Darhk nor the subtle danger of Malcolm Merlyn.  He came across as a bit campy and not in a fun way.  Maybe that's intentional and he'll be edgier in Legends of Tomorrow. 
 

Final Fantasy VII Remake Trailer Footage

At the 2015 Playstation Experience event, Square Enix showed off the first gameplay footage of the Final Fantasy VII remake.  It looks incredible, which I already thought it would.  They're doing away with the old turn-based combat system from the original and switching to a more action-style system.  That's fine with me.  They didn't show how that would affect boss fights.  With the Shinra soldiers and similar characters, that would make sense to have a sweeping combat area.  Not sure about boss battles.

I'm liking the character redesigns though.  Barrett's design here is much better than his Advent Children model.  Cloud looks kinda lanky and ill, which might be intentional.  Can't wait to see what Tifa, Aeris, and Red XIII's models will look like.

Another interesting detail about the remake is that it will apparently be a "multi-part series."  That heavily implies that it will be more than one release, but the question is how many and at what price?  Will it be episodic like The Walking Dead games or Resident Evil: Revelations 2-style?  Or multiple games telling one story a la Mass Effect?  Only time will tell. 
 

Captain America: CIVIL WAR Trailer Thoughts

So the first trailer for Captain America: Civil War has finally dropped.  I have to say it looks pretty good, but then Marvel's always done a phenomenal job with marketing their films.  

Anyone familiar with the Civil War story in the comic books already knew the movie adaptation could not follow it exactly, but it seems like it will keep the general theme intact.  Iron Man will fill the antagonist role and Captain America will lead the rebellion.  

There's  no mention of where Ant-Man fits in nor Spider-Man or Crossbones.  It's widely believed Spider-Man will make at least a cameo since his casting was done late in the production of Civil War, but his role might end up being a little bigger.  I'm hyped already.

The Quiet in Nature

Metal Gear Solid V has been receiving much critical acclaim and praise for being what is believed to be the conclusion to the Metal Gear Solid series of games.  Metal Gear Solid is well known for its stealth gameplay mechanics, complex storyline, cutscenes that can be a movie unto themselves, giant robots, and interesting character designs.  

One of those characters is Quiet, a sniper whose character design has been lighting the internet ablaze for some time now.  

I drew my own spin on Quiet and this was the end result.  I felt it came out pretty good.  

Blast From The Past: Final Fantasy VII

With the announcement at E3 a few weeks back that Final Fantasy VII would at long last be getting a full remake, I got inspired to play the original version once again. 

Final Fantasy VII is a classic for many reasons: great character designs, an intricately woven and complex storyline, a simple battle system, and a variable approach to magic usage.  Admittedly, the story has gotten retconned a bit since its debut with the release of additional games set in the FFVII universe, but it still holds up even 20 years later.

Graphically, it hasn't held up that well.  I always thought the chibi-esque field models were a dubious choice even though the battle models were largely okay for the time.  However, the ability to mod games on the PC has enabled many gamers since then to experience FFVII in a new way.

I bought the Steam version and downloaded a set of mods collectively referred to as Tifa's Bootleg.  It can be a little daunting to get everything installed and running correctly, but you should be okay provided you have a decent machine and follow instructions.  The field models being replaced with close to normal models makes the experience much lesser grating to the eyes.  Enhanced backgrounds, different Limit Break colors, and upscaled magic effects all help to breathe brand new life into the game.  It's about as close to an HD remaster of the original Final Fantasy VII that I think we will ever see especially with a full remake coming on the horizon.