Celebrating 5 Years of "Life" and "Hometown."

You know, it's amazing to think that a series that was created largely on a whim to become so endearing in such a short time. Senran Kagura started because series creator, Kenichiro "Righteous Boobage" Takaki saw the 3DS and knew the one thing he wanted to see in 3D were breasts. Fast forward 5 years and the series has not only garnered world wide attention, but also has improved itself with each entry. From the flawed but endearing Portrait of Girls and Burst, to the Solid albeit rough 3D Combat of Shinovi Versus, to Deep Crimson's Stacked Arts and impressive visuals at 60 FPS, to the HD gorgeousness of Estival. Not only did each game improve on it's predecessor, but also offer an experience that was new and unique, yet still familiar.

It's strange that in the very short time I've played the series, my appreciation for it has done nothing but grow. Looking back at my original review for Burst I can't help but feel that my initial thoughts on the story and characters where selling it too short. I realize now that the core of the series' story isn't in the struggle between the Good Shinobi and Evil Shinobi. It never was. Rather it is in the characters and how they grow. It isn't the stuff about "Super Secret Ninja Scrolls," or "Shinobi Battle Royal," or even the Yoma that stick with you, but rather it's Rin tragic past, or Ikaruga's relationship to her brother, or Hibari's insecurities about her power that you remember most about the games.

The gameplay of the series has also grown on me. Many call it simple and brain dead compare to other action series like Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden, and they're right to a degree. But each game just hits the right cathartic nerve with it's combat. It may be repetitive killing waves and waves of useless goons, but taking out dozens of enemies with well-timed, over-the-top Ninja Art is so satifying.

And finally the Fanservice. I think I may have done a complete 180 on the series' trademark Fanservice. When I first played Burst it was more of a distraction for me. It was more like I enjoyed the game despite it rather than because of it. However, as I continue with the franchise I not only realized that the fanservice is something built to the core of the series, that if you ever removed the fanservice from Senran Kagura, then the series would no longer be Senran Kagura, but more than that I realize that the fanservice is something more than just looking at Tits and Asses. Yes many will dismiss it as distasteful and objectifying and label the ENTIRE franchise as sexist because of it, but there is a sense of fun and playfulness that comes with it. With how over-the-top it is, it's almost impossible not lot crack a smile at the ridiculousness of it all.

And that's what Senran Kagura is: Fun. Pure unadulterated, unrestrained Fun. The kind of Fun that doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks. The kind of Fun that says "It's okay to look at cute girls with enormous knockers." That is the world of Kenichiro Takaki, the man who created a world of boobs and Ninjas because he wanted to. The man who has so much love and passion for what he does that it shows in his work. The man who created a video that parodies popular trends in the gaming industry because he is a massive shitlord.

And so, to the Senran Kagura Franchise: Happy 5th Anniversary. Let's make it to 10 and beyond.
To all Senran Kagura Staff: Thank you for creating this series.
To all Senran Kagura Fans: Let's enjoy these games together, and fight for our right to boobs.
To all Potential Senran Kagura Fans: Don't let the fanservice dissway you.
And to Kenichrio Takaki: May the Oppai be with you.

Now all together:

"Tits Are Life. Ass is Hometown."

Game Review: Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus

Happy Tits Day, I guess. Yesterday, Senran Kagura just celebrated it's 5th Anniversary. That's right, the series created by Kenichiro "Tits are Life, Ass is Hometown" Takaki has been going strong for 5 years now, so what better way to celebrate than to review another game in the series, this time Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus. Originally released for the Vita, the game was later ported to PC via Steam (which is the version I played). Now get ready to lose your clothes.

Game Review: Arcana Heart 3 Love Max!!!!!

2D Fighter; EXAMU/Arc System Works; PS3, Steam

Well I said I was going to review either Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus or Arcana Heart 3 Love Max!!!!! (Yes the exclamation marks are still necessary), but I've already covered the Senran Kagura series at length already, so let's cover a series that also features a bunch of girls beating each other up. Here is Arcana Heart 3 Love Max!!!!! for PS3 and Steam.

Follow me on Minds!

Okay, never review hasn't been decided yet. I'm either going review Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus or maybe Arcana Hearts 3 LOVE MAX!!!!! (Yes, the five exclamation marks are apart of the title). Either way, it's going to be a game that may people do not want to even exists, just my kind of game.

Anyway, this is kind of an update post. First and foremost is that I have set up a Minds account. Now what is "Minds"? Well, this is Minds.

Simply put, it's a new alternative to Social Network sites like Twitter and Facebook. Minds was created as a counter to the increasingly authoritarian rules and restriction on Twitter and Youtube. As many of you who follow hashtags like #GamerGate or keep a close eye on "Feminist" talking points have noticed, these sites have become increasingly SJW and will censor free speech in the name of protecting "The Narrative." Bans, Demonetization, and flagging tweets or responses that can be best described as "Wrong Think," have all become an all too common practice on these sites. And so Minds was created to serve as a platform that values the user's Freedom of Speech. I've just created my own profile (The benefit of being an early adopter to sites like this is my name isn't taken yet) so if you follow me on Twitter please follow me on Minds as well. I'll be making "tweets" over there and depending on how Minds grow I might migrate there completely.

Here's the link to the website: https://www.minds.com/
And here's my profile page: https://www.minds.com/CRES

Also, I've set up Ads on my blog. Since I'm trying  to turn what I love into what I do for a living, monetizing my blog is a necessary step. Now, I'm not an idealist and think that immediately I'm going to be rolling in the cash, but at the very least this will help my wallet for the time being. So for those of you who like my reviews, please share the links and spread them around. Just doing that will help immensely. As for other venues of income, like Patreon or Pay-Pal, I'll hold off on those ventures for now. Once I know I have a sizeable audience that are willing to support me, then I'll consider it.

That is all for today. As I said check out Minds and follow my feed there. See ya.

Game Review: MegaDimension Neptunia VII

RPG; Idea Factory/Compile Hearts; PS4/Steam

I've recently started playing the Neptunia games, having gotten the first three games on Steam during last year's Winter Sale. Now the fourth and latest game in the Neptunia main series, MegaDimension Neptunia VII (For those of you who are confused that's suppose to be V-Two, not Seven) which makes the series' first jump into the Next Generation of consoles. But how well does this series about Video Game culture with this new technology?

I'm Back Bitches!

I'm back. For those of you who have read my blog before, I apologize for the extended absence from blogging and writing reviews. Long story short, after the horrendous treatment that Fire Emblem Fates received at the hands of Nintendo Treehouse, I began to become disillusioned by Video Game Journalism as a whole. I became active in the #TorrentialDownpour twitter hashtag, and then later moved to #GamerGate (a movement that I remained neutral on due to the controversy surrounding it's early days). The thing was I had a lot of opinions about things like "Censorship" and the disingenuous coverage about #TD and #GG by both the gaming media and "professional" Journalists. But at that time, I really questioned "Is this what I want my site to become." I wanted to review Games and Anime, and I want THAT to be my site's focus, but there was so much controversy surrounding the games I like, or at least WANTED to like, that if I covered those I would have no time to talk about reviews. YET, it was the controversy topics that got more hits, meaning that writing reviews was just not rewarding enough in that context. And so, I just left my blog to wither.

And then in May I got laid-off at my job. Suddenly, I had a lot more free time to write about games, but no money. I had thought about returning to my blog, but I was unsure about what direction to take it in. Should I continue writing reviews or should I start making GamerGate posts? Should I continue in the written word or should I start making videos on Youtube for a greater impact? My indecisiveness continued until I finally got a new job, unfortunately it is at the hive of scum and villainy known as "Walmart." I don't like working at Walmart, and I don't want to continue working at Walmart. So I thought back and decided to go do something that I liked doing. Something that I enjoyed even when it was hard or I had no motivation to do it. I wanted to get back to Writing.

And so here we are. I'm going to go back to writing reviews of video games and anime. I'll probably change up the format a little to make these reviews easier to make. I'm also thinking of doing short video reviews (maybe 5 minute long). I don't know if I'll do any major "controversy" posts or anything like that because of the time commitment required, and these reviews are going to be a little inconsistent as my work schedule is likewise inconsistent, but I'll try my best and hopefully if enough people check me out, I can finally do my dream job and make money doing what I love to do. Play and Talk about Video Games and Anime.

Expect my review of MegaDimension Neptunia VII shortly.

CRES's Thoughts On: Fire Emblem Fates Controversy or Don't Read if You Want to Enjoy Fire Emblem Fates

I'm sorry I haven't been around lately. Right now I'm a little caught up in some internet drama that, just like a trainwreck, I just can't look away. As you can probably guess, it involves one of my favorite video game franchises of all time: Fire Emblem. Namely, the newly released Fire Emblem Fates. Now, I'm sure you have all heard about the controversy surrounding this game, and I have been silence on it because I didn't want my expectations to be skewed. However, after looking into the controversy a little bit more (after playing a bit of Fates) I have lost all desire to play Fates at the moment. That's right, what I have learned from looking into the issues surrounding Fire Emblem Fates' localization has made me, a diehard Classic Mode Fire Emblem fan, not want to play the game.

I'm warning you right now, if you want to or are planning to play and enjoy Fire Emblem Fates, take the blue pill and just leave right now. If you want to take the red pill, I'll show you just how bad it can get.

Anime Review: K-on!

I'm back. You know I should really beat Xenoblade Chronicles X. Every time the TV is available, I just have to play it for as long as I can, which is why I'm not as productive on the weekends as I would hope. Fortunately, I seem to have just beaten the game's main story, and rather unexpectedly I might add. I thought that with a game that splits its story up into Chapters that the last chapter in the game would be called "The Final Chapter," but it isn't. Anyway, I'll have a full review up when I have fully collected my thoughts on the game, until then here is an anime about a bunch of high school girls hanging out with each other that ISN'T Lucky Star. This is K-on!

DEMO-lition: Project X Zone 2

Sorry for the late post. I thought I would be able to finish the small indie game I was playing on Sunday, BUT that game turned out to be a bit longer and more ball-busting than my initial assessment. Simply put, I am not yet finished with the game. In light of that I have been playing something that I can at least talk a little bit about and that is the demo for Project X Zone 2 (the "X" in this title is suppose to be pronounced as "Cross").

So what, if you don't know already, is Project X Zone and why does it have a sequel? Well, Project X Zone is the successor to Namco X Capcom, a SRPG released only in Japan for the PS2 where protagonists from the two companies join forces to defeat their respective adversaries as well as a force that threatens the entire Cross-over multiverse. Project X Zone added a third company to the mix, SEGA, and moved the series onto the 3DS because the developer is Monolith Soft, who is now owned by Nintendo. I have a full review of the game here. Strangely enough, PXZ was successful enough (especially in the West) to warrant a sequel and thus Project X Zone 2, which maintains the current line up of participating companies, but also adds a few Nintendo characters to the ultimate roster. The game releases later this month, but for those of you who want a taste of what's to come a Demo is available on the eShop which is want I'm about to look into today.

CRES's Thoughts On: Anita Sarkeesian's Strategic Butt Coverings or Is Anita REALLY Going to Spend 5 Minutes Talking About Character's Asses!?

Are you F*&^ING KIDDING ME!?

Well it's that time again, It's been 4 months since Anita released her previous video in her "Tropes VS Women in Video Games" series and it's high time she released another video before she disappears into the aether of public awareness. So what is it this time Anita? Half an hour about the Sexy Sidekick like what was promised during your Positive Female Characters video? A multi-part series about how "Unattractive Equals Evil" or about the likewise contradictory "Sexy Villainess"? Or will you finally bit the bullet and give us what we are REALLY after and do "The Fighting F*&K Toy"? What is this new video?... STRATEGIC BUTT COVERINGS!? ARE YOU F*&KING KIDDING ME ANITA!!??!? This wasn't even on your original video list, and now you are going to talk about "Butt Coverings"? And this is only 5 minutes long.

Okay, it seems that Anita realized that taking over THREE Years to finish a project that was suppose to be done in six months is just a LITTLE slow, and so she "promised" to complete the series this year. However, this means that her videos are going to be completely different from what she had promised and each will only be a few minutes long. Anita said that it's taking so long because of the amount of "Research" she has to do, but I highly doubt that any amount of research that can be dismantled in only a few minutes after listening to the argument can't have taken that long. But anyway, since this is another short video I'm going to have Anita talk and then I will try to destroy her points as she spends the next 5 minutes talking about a bunch of asses.

Game Review: Stella Glow

SRPG; Nintendo 3DS; Image Epoch; 2015

Just so all of you know, I'm feeling rather sick at the moment. Why why WHY did I have to get sick over the weekend!? Why couldn't it be during the week so I wouldn't have to work? Anyway, I have just beaten Image Epoch's final SRPG; Stella Glow. In case you didn't know, Image Epoch, the creators of Luminous Arc and Arc Rise Fantasia, filed for bankruptcy early last year after a string of disappointing sales and the disappearance of the company's president. However, before going belly up, Stella Glow (which was to be the celebration of the company's 10th Anniversary) was completed leaving the in the hands of it's publisher SEGA and ultimately handed off to Atlus for US release. So how is Image Epoch's Swan Song RPG? Read on to find out.

CRES Special: Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

Sorry for disappearing last week. I have a lot on my plate right now, namely with my Testing for my next Black Belt rank coming up, which includes writing several multi-page essays about various topics. However, this week I'm going to give you guys something different. See, I've just returned from watching Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, and I figure I might as well put my thoughts out on the internet like everyone else. I know I'm late to this party, and I really don't care. But here is my impromptu review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens split into a Non-spoiler section and then a Spoiler section.