Pokemon Masters looks Tight!

Pokemon masters (from what we’ve seen) is going to be a perfect addition to the Pokemon games as a whole not just the mobile ones. Pokemon Go was the Pokemon experience I wanted ever since I was a child and the first month or so it was out I loved it but as the hype died down so did the amount of people I saw walking around playing it and for me that was one of the best parts. I realized while watching the trailer for the new Pokemon masters game that one of the biggest parts of the Pokemon shows was going on an adventure with your friends and this game looks like it wants to give you that experience! With that and the free flow style which would be awesome if they do it correctly this game looks like its gonna be good!

Okay now that I’m done gushing let’s talk about the trailer! It’s filled to the brim with well known Pokemon trainers from throughout all of the past Pokemon games some of the ones that really got me excited where Red, Brock, Silver (this will also most likely be my team unless someone has a Beedrill.) Beedrill brings me to one of the things I’m worried about with this game… do I get to choose my starter? We see a female and male starting character in the trailer but it seems they are both using Pikachu which is fine I guess it’s just if they are supposed to be my conduit to which I’m experiencing this new Pokemon world with Shouldn’t Pokemon be something I choose so to better fit who I am as a trainer? at least give us a choice from the other starters.

We haven’t seen any hints of online I hope this game gets an online because I need to prove that I am indeed the very best. We also see red wearing a slightly different outfit then usual and I hope we will get to customize our trainers and also I hope they release costumes for this different trainers like I would spend actual real world money to have Misty or Brock be put into a kimono. I hope we will get to see characters on your team interact with each other more and more as you travel as well almost like a fire emblem game and outside of actual fights certain characters can do stuff maybe Brock can cook a nice meal which gives bonuses I don’t know I feel like they can do a lot with this game they just can’t do in other games I really hope we get to see side characters fleshed out even more then they where in their original games. I might get this game I might get this game I might not.

Oh wait we will get to see Brock shirtless like in red and blue… SOLD!

Thanks For Reading, Eyon (Give Me a Beedrill) Palmer

Keanu Reeves Can Save Pokemon!

Let’s get one thing straight I don’t think Pokemon needs a “National Dex” In every game… Just as long as they never get rid of my good bee boy Beedrill. If you don’t know what I’m talking about the Game Freak recently Announced that they would not have every Pokemon be usable in their new switch release due to the overwhelming number of Pokemon and the amount of work it takes making their models. Because of this reveal they have been getting a lot of hate which I get you are scared your favorite Pokemon won’t make it in That being said Pokemon probably won’t change this no matter how much we complain so how does Game Freak help soften this blow… oh I’ll tell you!

In order for you to understand my pitch and why it’s perfect you have to know about something that happened on stage at E3 this year. Picture this Microsoft is having their big video game presentation some game we know about some we don’t the hype rise’s with every new reveal and trailer, Then we see it cast onto the giant screens overlooking the crowd of geeks, nerds, and gamer’s “CYBERPUNK 2077”. People are already pretty excited for this game it looks cool and is set in an awesome futuristic world Defiantly had my interest I was probably gonna pick up a copy and then BOOM the reveal. We see a cybernetic hand reach out to help up our fallen hero and who is it other than Keanu Reeves and that’s it the moment everyone realized they needed to get this game.

So Nintendo I know you are reading this, Put Keanu in Pokemon. Honestly, I don’t even care how you put him in, make him a trainer make him a Pokemon Really, I think you should just make him the playable character. The honest truth is Nintendo Cyberpunk 2077 gained a lot of fans and credit for that reveal and I think the same would happen for you! Picture this two bro dudes just chilling never played pokemon They preferred Sports growing up one of them looks on twitter “wow, dude!” the first bro says, his voice trembling with excitement “what?” the other bro replies shoving a handful of Big League Bubblegum into his mouth “Keanu Reeves is in this new game!” The first dude bro says, now standing atop the chair he once sat on “WHAT? Keanu Reeves is like my dad! Let’s go buy this game and the accompanying Switch the play it on!” So they did, this lead to them purchasing every Nintendo they could stupidly hoping to find Keanu Reeves once more. That could happen Nintendo!

Well me and some friends are gonna take a spin in the REO meat wagon…

Umm bye, Eyon (Give Pikachu a Gun) Palmer

Review of Monster Prom… and How Having Influence can Help a Game.

Monster Prom is a game developed by “Beautiful Glitch” and published by “Those Awesome Guys”. Monster Prom is a dating simulator where in which you play as a monster in a high school filled with other monsters. This game almost feels like a board game as opposed to a dating sim, This could be because the game can be played with multiple players which I’m almost positive is the first dating sim that is also multiplayer. So instead of just going for one character, you may be competing against one of your friends to get the same monster. I’ve played the game with a few of my friends and you really find out a lot about a person when you talk with them about which monsters they would want to date. While the writing in this game is enjoyable I’m not sure if I would have had as much fun with it if it wasn’t multiplayer.

Speaking of the writing this game is clever and the characters are amazing! The main characters are all different and fill their dating sim tropes perfectly. Some of my favorites are Scott the dumb jock werewolf with a heart of gold, Polly a ghost who is almost literally the spirit of the party, Damien the demon prince of hell who has a killer dead body collection, and finally one of the DLC characters Zoey an Cthulhu like god who is really just a weeb. That is just four of the eight monsters you can try and date and that isn’t even counting some of the secret date-able monsters (or disembodied story tellers wink). The side characters are just as amazing as the main ones whether its the tiger monster Coach or the Cat monster who runs the shop everyone in this game is filled with character!

The art and stories just like everything else in this game are incredibly strong. One of my few complaints for this game is that you will run into the same storylines a couple of times that being said it’s still so well written that if I’m playing with someone who hasn’t played through that storyline I’m still able to enjoy it. The writing can be crude and for sure isn’t for everyone but if you are okay with some messed up humor and storylines this game can defiantly be for you. Keep in mind in the game you are a monster so of course some of the story lines are going to be poking fun at dark subject matter. All of this being said this might be one of my favorite games defiantly one of my favorite games to play with a few of my friends so I’m giving it an all out 10/10!

This does make me think did they have an unfair advantage in the advertising of this game. I assume I’m not the only person who wouldn’t have known about this game if it wasn’t for the youtubers that played the game some of the more popular ones where actually apart of the game. So is this the way of the future in gaming? Could the answer to having a popular game be getting Youtubers and other famous gamers to be apart of the game to get their audiences? Don’t get me wrong I could see this game getting huge even without the support of these creators but not as quickly as it did. Who knows maybe we will see more small publishers using youtubers and making references to them in order to gain their viewers.

Anyway Scott and I are gonna go tux shopping so…

Peace out, Eyon (Still Single) Palmer

I am Excited for the new Pokemon game!

Pokemon has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember, I have a Beedrill tattoo, So when they announced the new game I was excited and a little worried… Before we saw the trailer all we had was the new starters, the new player characters, and the new logos and those logos had me worried. In the logos, it’s hinted at that the legendary pokemon are going to be two wolf’s which I wasn’t sure about. The most recent trailer confirmed these legendary pokemon are just two cute puppies and don’t get me wrong I love them I mean they look a little weird but I love them They just don’t look like legendary pokemon which is fine it seems we will be getting another legendary we just don’t know what it is yet

Although I’m pretty pro the rest of the game it looks amazing “the wilds” look expansive and beautiful not to mention how cool the weather system could be. The starters are adorable and as long as the bunny doesn’t end up a fire fighting I will be okay. The other pokemon announced look pretty cool also Corviknight is probably my favorite one I’m an edge-lord and two “steel is heavier than feathers” meme. The new mechanic is also kinda wild this making one pokemon giant is really cool because unlike other mechanics this one looks like it can be used on any pokemon you want making any pokemon possibly competitively viable. They nailed the gym fights also making them a lot more like the ones in the anime with huge stadiums with fans wanting to see an awesome fight I hope they do some tournament in that area as well.

Finally, its time we talk about him… you know who I’m speaking of the buff boy baby face himself plant loving gym leader MILO!!!!! Although I like his Spanish and French name Percy. We don’t know a lot about the thicc boy yet expect that he is a gym leader (probably the first one) and that he specializes in grass pokemon well we also know he is like really adorable. This guy looks like a baby wished to be big like Tom Hanks but they only had enough magic for the head down. If they keep nailing these character designs this might be my favorite pokemon game to date beating out heart gold and soul silver. Also, pokemon better realize what they have here and make Milo a key player in the story… I mean they probably won’t but they should! Anyway needless to say if I can battle Milo more then once it’s happening!

I guess the other characters were cool too…

Smell ya later, Eyon (The Very Best) Palmer

Goosebumps Was Weird…

If you are anything like me which I assume you must be because here you are, then you waited for your school’s book fair for the spookiest, the kookiest, the most skin-crawleriest? anyway, it’s goosebumps. When I was younger I knew that R. L. Stine made a lot of books but for some reason, I thought it was close to maybe 50… No, this guy wrote like 300 plus books I’ve read some of the popular ones but I haven’t even scratched the surface. His books are strange to say the least some stay in a pretty safe horror setting like “Night of the Living Dummy” or ” The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight” but some have a stranger horror to them like “The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena” or one of my favorites “Attack of the Mutant”. Stine does this thing with his writing where he always has a twist to the point where when reading stories later in my life if they didn’t have some mind-blowing twist I would have been let down.

These books really helped nurture my love for writing and horror even though looking back on some of the books now they just seem like a bad trip on psychedelics. One twist endings is that all the characters in the book where freakish tentacle monsters now I won’t tell you which book this is the twist of because now every goosebumps book could have these squirmy freaks as the cast and you wouldn’t know! These books always had insane stories and twists whether it’s that the main character got rid of his sister from existence or that the whole story was an alien test to see how a young alien would react to human scenarios. These books spawned a lot of different media including comics, television shows, video games, and a couple of movies.

I only read one of the comic sets which I remember liking and the video games were awesome getting to see references and monsters from the different books. There were also two movies made and they star Jack Black well the first one at least the second one less so but I will at some point review those movies. The tv shows that were made based off the goosebumps stories where killer pure B-list horror at its best this October I’m considering watching and reading some of the stories I remember enjoying so let me know if that is something you would read. Also let me know what your favorite stories from R. L. Stine’s cannon and let me know what other things I should watch, read, and play? Anyway, I should get going great have a good day everyone! Eyon turns from his computer…

His Webbed hands finish his post and he skins back into the lagoon.

As always yours, Eyon (Secretly a Monster) Palmer

I Played the Backbone: Prologue and you should too…

“Backbone” is a detective noir game coming to basically every platform in 2020 and after playing its prologue on steam I’m excited to see what this game has up its sleeves. In this game, you play as a raccoon private investigator in a sort of grimy futuristic Vancouver and everyone is humanoid animals. This game does handle some heavy subject matter so if that isn’t your jam this probably isn’t for you. Before even getting into the story of the game I’m sold, the pixel art style and character designs had me downloading the demo which is free just so you know. The music in this game also feels so nice it really brought me into the story at points, especially when entering the bite. The dialog feels really good gaining information and putting it to use. Lastly, there are a few puzzles in this game that I loved especially the last one where you need to figure out a four-digit code.

Starting up a new game you see a loading screen which is a cigarette quickly burning away over and over again which is by far my favorite loading screen I have ever seen. We meet our main character sitting in the bath after getting out and answering the phone we see the mess this raccoon lives in and works in. We then meet and talk to Odette Green an otter that thinks her husband is cheating on her. This part of the game is the intro to how it controls how you interact with things, talk to people, and move stuff around. The one complaint I have about this game is some of its controls aren’t amazing but never in a way that ruined the game for me. Later in the city, you learn to crouch and run you also meet a lot of characters who all act differently some you might have to be tough with others you might need to sweet talk.

Now I don’t want to give away anything about this game so that you can experience the whole thing the same way I did. Looking at some of the videos the creators of the game have put up it looks like this game is going to go to some awesome places! I can’t wait to see how interacting with all these characters will change depending on how we treat them which was the only thing the demo didn’t really get the chance to show me. The world building is perfect and the way the game made me feel while hiding and looking for information was exactly what I wanted from this. So if you love mysteries, puzzles, problem-solving, gritty noir stories, or just a cute raccoon faced detective you will absolutely enjoy “Backbone: Prologue” 8.5/10 and that’s just the demo!

Now to go watch the rain fall over this godforsaken city.

Signing off, Eyon (On the Case) Palmer

The Most Important Movie of My Generation (and Every Other Generation also)

Okay first thing first this is my favorite movie of all time this also is a bad movie… “Eyon you mean to tell me you recognize this movie is bad but you still say it’s your favorite?” YES! duh… anyway the train wreck of a movie I’m about to talk about is “Digimon : The Movie” so I probably got two response from that, the first one being “WHAT?!?” and the second one being “what is that?” For the first people bare with me and for the second people, Digimon: The Movie is a movie released on October 6th of the year 2000 and it’s actually three Japanese mini movies that take place in the digi-verse all smashed into one american movie. They took these three movies and sorta made them two movies given that the plot is split down the middle they sorta connect but not enough to really make it feel like one story.

So now to address the elephant in the room that being the movie is kinda bad. It starts with this nightmarish short with some paper cut out characters that I still bring up to my therapist. Once that nightmare fuel is over we are introduced to some of our main characters like Tai and Kari Kamiya as young children and a slightly larger and more violent Agumon (Also this random kid from Colorado who becomes really important to the rest of the movie) this part of the film is taken from the short film Digimon Adventure (1999) then we get a huge jump in time to my favorite part of the short film taken from the movie Digimon Adventure: Children’s War Game (2000) we meet other cast members mostly Matt Ishida and best boy Izzy Izumi this part of the film they jump into a computer to fight a virus that’s taking over the internet and stop it as it barely misses them with a nuke… yeah that kind of nuke. If you are a fan of anime movies and this sounds familiar that’s because Madhouse basically put out a movie with basically the exact same plot under the title Summer Wars (2009) Also a good movie.

Finally the last bit of the movie we follow basically an entirely new set of kids from the film Digimon Adventure 02: Digimon Hurricane Landing/ Transcendent Evolution!! (2000) they actually put two exclamation marks in the title… The new Digidestined like Davis, Cody, and Yolei also T. K. and Kari are still apart of the team. That kid from Colorado is what this next part of this movie is all about throughout the film we have been hearing little bits about this kid whose name is Willis by the way he got two Digimon the first time Kari and Tai got their egg but instead of a big mean Agumon he got two very cute big-eared Digimon named Gummymon and Kokomon. He loved his friends so much he wanted to make another one and that was the villain during the Children’s war game section of the movie and even though they thought they killed him back then he actually gave Kokomon an evil virus. So this entire part of the movie is about them figuring out how to save Kokomon. It was kind of a complex and very layered story at least for the audience it was aimed at I know the first time I watched it as a child I didn’t realize the big bad from the first half sorta created the big bad in the second half.

So why was this movie hated by critics and why do I love it? Well, this was early on in anime coming to America so all of the animations it was being compared to was basically Disney and they were putting out some great stuff. A lot of the critics also said this was a movie only children would enjoy which I one disagree with and two would make sense given it was a children’s movie. Lastly, some critics thought the movie was put together in a choppy way using other movies and stitching them together but that’s another thing about this movie I really appreciate they actually make it work and I think this is one of the first things I wanna talk about as far as the influence of this movie goes. Abridge shows on youtube had some of their road paved by this movie (an abridged show on youtube is when a creator takes an anime and dubs over it with their own lines usually for comedic purposes) now other then the English dub for Ghost Stories (2005) this movie represented an important part of a lot of abridge stories and that is making the story your own even though the three movies took place in the digiverse they really shared no other story elements. Digimon: the Movie was one of the earliest examples of an abridge series even some of the jokes felt very abridge series adjacent.

The music in this movie is amazing the track is so early 2000’s it almost hurts Kids in America (Kim Wilde), One Week (Bare Naked Ladies), The Rockafeller Shank (Fatboy Slim), All My Best Friends Are Metalheads (Less Than Jake), And oh yeah SMASH MOUTH’S AllSTAR way before Shrek made it a meme and that’s just naming a few some of the original went in just as hard. This movie easily formed a lot of the music I still listen to now and the film ends to Kokomon just grooving to Allstar and the movie is worth the watch just for that. Some of the jokes in this movie are also next level my favorite being a news reporter talking about how all the phones have gone dead worldwide and he says “If your phone has gone dead please call your phone company” and I’m not sure why but that joke always gets me. But you are probably thinking sure you convinced me the movie isn’t terrible but is it really the most important film of every generation well…

No but I had to get you to read this some how.

Forever and always, Eyon (Secretly a Digimon) Palmer!

Why We Need Couch Co-op…

Picture this it’s storming outside you and your best friend just got back from school and you two where going to go ride your bikes but because of the weather you can’t go outside. Their mom suggests everyone plays Monopoly as you all wait for the pizza in the oven to be done cooking. The game is long and at most points grueling but the pizza finishes and your friend asks the question that will determine the rest of the day for you two “Can we please eat dinner in my room?” They say timidly their mother hands you each a plate with a couple slices of pepperoni like a god delivering rain to a lowly peasant who hadn’t seen a crop in years, She then nods with a smirk and you and your friends faces light up. You two sit in their room and talk about the events of the day but you both slowly realize now you are just bored in a different place until your friend jumps up and runs out the room you are confused but before you even have time to question what happening they are back with something hidden behind their back and a smile on their face that would make the Cheshire cat shiver. They throw something in your lap and you see a controller and then he pulls out the console his brother owns you both hook it up and spend the rest of the day playing Lego Starwars, Castle Crashers, and Golden Axe. This is why we need couch co-op these moments in time.

Now couch co-op isn’t dead but I think it could be getting closer to its deathbed mostly being supported by independent gaming companies. Don’t get me wrong I love online gaming I basically still have a relationship with my brother who lives in another country because of it but, it’s killing couch co-op a lot of games that have online also have local multiplayer but it’s becoming more and more common for games to forgo it entirely for online. From a business standpoint, this makes sense why put in more work for a small demographic and make it to where you don’t have to own the game to play it, you just need a friend who owns it. But this mean’s the next generation might not get the experience of hitting their friend with a pillow because they messed up on the mission. I just think as a community we need to celebrate and support these types of games.

So to practice what I preach here are a few couch co-op games I own, play, love, and want to see thrive I hope you consider picking one of these ups. Moon Hunters: It’s like a top-down game where you play adventures and you kill monsters do quests and make choices that decide what happens to your character after everything is said and done. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime: This is a great game where you and your friends play pilots on a spacecraft rescuing cute little rabbit people and yelling at each other for using upgrade gems incorrectly. The Yawhg: a game where you have a few weeks to prepare for the Yawhg do things like bet at the arena to get money or chop wood in the forest to get stronger I have a lot of memories of this game whether it’s becoming a vampire or being poisoned cause some decided to throw a failed potion into a river. Overcooked: I played this game at 3 am in my brother’s house while visiting and trying not to wake his family while working to get dishes out as quickly as possible might have been harder than the already pretty difficult game. Monster Prom: this game is near to my heart like it’s one of the only multiplayer dating sims I know of, you are trying to impress your Terribly tasty monster classmates and take one of them to prom, will you take a classmate none of your friends are going for or are you throwing down the gauntlet and going for the same person? (the writing in Monster Prom is a little more mature just so you all are aware.) Well, I hope you consider getting one of these amazing games!

Alright I’m gonna go skip class to get a little bolder 😉

Like always, Eyon (Player Two) Palmer

Fantasy VS Sci-fi

I love the question of which is best fantasy or sci-fi and today I plan on answering that question DEFINITIVELY!!! So first things first we need a set definition of what fantasy is and what sci-fi is. Okay let’s start with fantasy personally, I see fantasy as a person or persons on a journey through a fantastic and usually magical world (they tend to be character-driven stories.) Sci-fi, on the other hand, is a story that tends to lean more towards questioning society, most of the time about how introducing a certain piece of technology would affect it. Now, this isn’t the case for all sci-fi and fantasy take Starwars for an example I would consider that a more of a fantasy story writing wise despite taking place in a fantasy world so this is just to simplify the terms as a whole. So now that we know what each genre is boiled down to as I see them, The question becomes which do you prefer character-driven or idea-driven stories.

Character-driven stories have the potential be some of the emotionally fulfilling tails that can be weaved, however, If you don’t like the characters it is probably going to be a long and boring experience assuming you don’t stop watching, reading, or playing before the end. The same goes for an idea focused story if the idea is bad the story will be as well. For the sake of the argument, we will be assuming both the fantasy and sci-fi Story is the best it can be… Since that’s kind of hard to do I will have to use an example of my favorite versions of both. For fantasy I will be using “The Adventure Zone: Balance” and for the sci-fi side of things I will be using “Black Mirror” Both of these are episodic in very different ways!

THE ADVENTURE ZONE!!!!! Okay, this is one of my favorite podcasts with my favorite boys and of course their amazing dad. First off this is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast so they are basically working together to make a story. Lets get to the characters Magnus Burnsides a human fighter who rushes in (played by the middlest brother Travis), Merle Highchurch a cleric who might not heal you but will for sure cast zone of truth (played by their father Clint), and last but MOST DEFINITELY NOT LEAST Taako [redacted] who you probably know from TV but if you don’t he is a chef turned wizard who would take anything not nailed down (played by the eldest brother Justin.) I know what you are thinking ” but Eyon those are the main characters what about everyone else? Shut up I was getting to that, Every other side character is played by Griffin McElroy He is the Dungeon Master he is the one who also writes the overarching story.

Now I can’t spoil this podcast it is too good but I will say the story and character development is nothing more than amazing I cried three times during the final episode alone. Merle started off the game as a cleric who wouldn’t have been able to recognize his deity let alone heal his teammates but by the end of the story he had made some of the most important saves of the game and yep sometimes he actually healed someone. Magnus started out easily with the saddest backstory losing his wife and seeking revenge but slowly he goes from always rushing head first into playing smart and accepting the death of his wife. Finally, Taako a character clearly made as a joke goes through easily the biggest emotional rollercoaster of them all starting off as brash, mean-spirited, and Selfish in the end he was well… Brash, mean-spirited, and so selfless!

Okay Black Mirror, This is an amazing example of sci-fi and drawing into question our dependency on technology and many other topics. Black mirror not only tells stories warning us to be wary of technology but also has episodes that show how amazing technology can be my favorite episode like this is San Junipero an episode I also don’t want to spoil but I suggest you watch it and every other episode. This show has a tendency to make me at least a little nervous about a lot of different things but I think that just means it’s doing its job. Black Mirror does a great job of making you scared of your computer which I think might be a good thing. I think sci-fi does more than just entertain but also serves as an important commentary on society.

Fantasy is a way to escape yes it can also deal with some intense subject matter and important lessons but the reason it exists is to make us forget about our problems and stress. Sci-fi does the exact opposite instead of taking us away from our life it turns the lens of focus onto us where fantasy wants us to forget our mundane life sci-fi wants to show us it isn’t mundane at all. So which is it which is better honestly I’m not sure I came in thinking I would say sci-fi but thinking back on all the amazing experiences I’ve had through other characters I am not sure I can say it’s sci-fi but sci-fi is so important I can’t say its fantasy either… maybe the world will never know one of the great unanswerable questions.

Just kidding it’s fantasy

Lovingly yours, Eyon (The wizard cyborg) Palmer

I Play Fighting Games… Even Though I Suck.

I SUCK AT FIGHTING GAMES! That being said (or shouted I guess) I absolutely love fighting games and the challenge they give me. Fighting games are one of the few multiplayer experiences that are all about skill. Don’t get me wrong almost all gaming is about skill but you can play a game of Overwatch and get carried by a strong team member or play Fortnight and just hide until the end and snipe the last man standing. Now what I‘m talking about is the relationship between the two people fighting in a fighting game and the intense mental back and fourth between the two players.

Now like I said I suck at fighting games I can Practice for hours and not even compare to people who don’t compare to pros. But I love fighting games the feeling I get when I win a match is so rewarding! When I lose a match sure I get a little mad at myself but more so I want to get better. The fighting game community gets a bad rep and in some cases its fair but I have met some amazingly kind and patient people in the fighting game community. I’ve been given such amazing advice from other players, people who just want to see the community get stronger as a whole. So even though I suck at fighting games…

I will get better.

Always yours, Eyon (Butt-Kicking) Palmer.