PixlBit

I will admit to consulting a guide on Clossus #3 in Shadow of the Colossus. This one I felt kinda bad about, because the answer was fairly obvious, but I got tired of the hints constantly saying to knock off the guy's armor and me saying, "I GOT IT! I HEARD YOU! I'M TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW I DO THAT!" I learned later you can shut those hints off, which, thank God. 

Not pictured: A more annoying Navi with a deeper voice

Once I do figure these out, the controls and camera sometimes fight me a bit too much for my taste. Honestly, I had an easier time with The Last Guardian. I think I got lucky in that one, cause while there were a few times Trico was a lazy asshole, I didn't experience the constant frustration with that game others did. Trying to jump between moving parts of colossi in Shadow of the Colossus seems to be "my turn," so to speak. 

Anyway, I'm trying not to consult a guide for colossus #4, but I'm pretty sure the game wants you to do a very specifically timed jump to solve this puzzle and I'm not sure I have the patience for figuring out how to get the colossus into the exact right spot on my own. We'll see. I'm hoping maybe arrows have something to do with it. 

What's that voice? I should go underground and deceive it?

I'm also not a fan of the game telling you you can create manual save files, then starting you back at the temple no matter where you saved from. The whole point of creating a manual save to me is so I don't have to "find" the colossus again and just start fighting the thing from where I left off instead of retreading ground. I noticed the healing shrines are also save points since I respawned at one away from the temple last time, but I really do wish you could just manually save like the game tells you you can. 

I beat Night in the Woods over the weekend and am now on my second playthrough trying to get more notebook pages filled in. I'm actually enjoying the game-within-the-game Demontower but losing one kitty of health every time you progress in exchange for more dash is kinda brutal. 

I love metal typefaces and font styles

I hate these Fire Fuckers, which is the enemy name I've given them.

The ones with swords are Fire Fucker Knights

There are 10 levels total and I am on level 7. Not sure how well I'll handle having only one kitty of life on level 10 ... but I'm going to try. 

The other game-within-the-game that I wish they'd give you more practice for is the rythm-action minigame when your character plays bass. They do let you play bass in her bedroom, but to get a certain trophy you have to do really well at band practice, and when they throw shit like this at you it becomes a taller-than-expected order:

I'm fine for two of the three trophy-relevant songs, which are "Die Anywhere Else" and "Weird Autumn," but "Pumpkin Head Man," pictured above, goes absolutely nuts right toward the end. Apparently you can save and quit during band practice to retry but maybe I should just try to get the trophy for failing every song instead ... 

As for the main game, you can choose which character you hang out with on certain days, which ends up meaning you HAVE to replay the game in order to get everything completed. I like the game enough I don't mind, but I wish they'd allow you to replay just sections of the game instead of having to see everything again. But I'm sure it changes some dialogue at least, so I guess it's worth it one more time. Then hopefully I can just finish up any undid trophies on playthrough three. 

You choose whether to hang out with Bea (goth dragon) or Gregg (leather jacket fox) certain days.

Angus (the bear) is a more specific part of the storyline.

I was also annoyed when I told the main character (Mae the Cat)'s mom I would think about hanging out with her that the option to do so went away after you responded once, when everyone else just has the same dialogue bubble with options every time you go back. I hate things like that. Oh well, at least I enjoy the game and think it's probably the best value proposition of recent story-driven indie games. 

 

Me to Night in the Woods trophies

I actually didn't play much of Yakuza 0 over the weekend, but I did buy the steelbook edition of Yakuza Kiwami for about $20 along with Blue Rays of The Town, Straight Outta Compton, and Kick-Ass from the local Game X Change. I loved Kick-Ass, The Town is one my best friend will like and I've seen and liked, and I'm excited to check out Straight Outta Compton, which is my "free" one in the buy 2 get 1 free deal ... even though it likely wasn't since it was $2 more expensive than the other two and I doubt the cashier took that one off, but still. $34 for three movies and a game isn't too shabby. 

Also, while my friend and I were trying to watch The Town at his place (my apartment's washing machine isn't rinsing properly and they were cleaning anyway), I realized the Oscars were on when he had to take a call. So I went back to my apartment after missing the opening monologue and whatever else. 

Here's how I did: http://challenge.oscar.com/ballot

If that link doesn't work, I got 13 out of 24 right. 

In was happy to see Jordan Peele win Best Original Screenplay for Get Out and got that right on my ballot as well. I guess he is the first black person to win that award, so kudos!

I correctly guessed Call Me By Your Name won the best adapted screenplay, because it just seemed like the type of movie the Academy goes for but wasn't likely to win in other categories. I haven't seen it. 

I was super-happy to see Blade Runner 2049 win best visual effects, because while I can see people not liking that movie and its slow pace (ditto the original), it really was the closest I've felt to what older generations have said seeing the first Star Wars made them feel. Visually amazing imo. 

I also correctly guessed Dunkirk would win for sound mixing, since that has a tendency of going to war movies. Or so my flawed memory says. That could be completely not the case, but whatever. I guessed right. I wasn't a big fan of Dunkirk, because I felt the plot was kind of aimless and it seemed like a bunch of different scenes stitched together outside the people on the boat I rooted for. My history faculty friend didn't much care for it either, so at least it's not just my ignorance talking. 

I incorrectly clicked Dunkirk for sound editing as well and was pissed I didn't click on Baby Driver, which I figured would get the Oscar. If you haven't seen it, the reason I saw that coming is because it relies so much on the music editing given the character's playlist has kind of a Samson's hair thing going on. It didn't break new ground anywhere else, but it's a really well done action/heist movie.

I have no idea what The Silent Child is, but the title was Oscar-y, so I correctly guessed it won for short film (live action). EDIT: Ok, I do know what it's about because the acceptance speech lady said she promised to sign her acceptance speech. 

 

I also correctly guessed Dear Basketball would win for short film (animated) without knowing what it was. I also did not know Kobe Bryant had anything to do with it. Lucky guess. 

Production Design I had pegged for BR 2049 as well, but I'm glad The Shape of Water got it. I can understand people being weirded out by the latter, but I enjoyed it and thought it was one of the more original movies I'd seen since last year. 

No surprise "Remember Me" from Coco won Best Original Song. Got that right because if Disney/Pixar is in a category, you pick the Disney/Pixar movie. I honestly thought the performance of other songs that night were WAY better than the live performance of this, but the set design was cool and the song works really well in the actual movie. 

The Shape of Water won best original score, which I had pegged to go to Phantom Thread, which I haven't seen. I really liked TSoW, but thought the score was pretty standard, honestly. Well, I'm not on the committee. 

I hate myself for picking Wonder to win best makeup when I've actually seen The Darkest Hour and should have known of course the movie that turned Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill would win. I actually thought The Darkest Hour was a lot more interesting than Dunkirk, despite the latter being nothing but action scenes and the former being all talk.

I guessed On Body and Soul  for foreign language film but it went to A Fantastic Woman. I have no idea what either is about. 

I haven't seen I, Tonya so I incorrectly picked Dunkirk for film editing. I kinda figured Dunkirk would win most of these technical awards, but I wouldn't know without seeing other movies. 

I picked Knife Skills for documentary (short subject) purely cause I'd seen it in a New Yorker article I was reading on Friday. Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405 won because the people voting live near that highway, I'm sure. Traffic Stop looked interesting from the clip they showed of an officer wrestling someone to the grounf. 

I correctly guessed Icarus won for documentary (feature).  Lucky guess. No clue what the movie is about. 

But it is on Netflix, apparently ... hmmm

I got directing right for The Shape of Water, which was apparently Guillermo del Toro's first directing Oscar. I thought Pan's Labyrinth had won Oscars in the year it came out, but I guess they weren't for directing. I still need to see that one. 

Phantom Thread is literally about costume design, so of course it won for best costume design. And I got that correct as well. 

I was happy to see cinematography go to Blade Runner 2049, but I again thought the academy would be more friendly to Dunkirk, so I happily got that wrong.

Again, Coco is a Disney and/or Pixar movie and was therefore a lock for best animated feature. I'm not mad as I liked the movie and it probably was the best in its category. What I AM still mad about is Boss Baby being nominated but not LEGO Batman? Seriously, what was up with this category this year? It's like they stopped trying to hide that the Disney movie would win. I would like to see Loving Vincent though. That one actually looked really cool. 

I had actress in a supporting role going to Phantom Thread, but Allison Janney from I, Tonya took it instead. I liked her "I did it all by myself" line when accepting the award. She seems fun. 

I had actor in a supporting role going to Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, but good ole Willem Dafoe got that for The Florida Project, which I'm interested in seeing. They must have given this out super early this year, cause I definitely turned the Oscars on within the first 15 minutes. 

I had Saorse Ronan in Ladybird winning best actress in a leading role, but Frances McDormand won for Three Billboards and ... her laugh kinda freaked me out. Like an evil supervillain. 

I correctly guessed Gary Oldman would win best lead actor for The Darkest Hour, because the Academy loves a "transformation" role and Daniel Day-Lewis didn't pay up this year.

And, finally, I correctly guess The Shape of Water won Best Picture. Not surprised, not "delighted," but as a fan of the movie I was happy for it.