Timothy Monbleau

As always, it was a blast to join @bloodgodpod.bsky.social to nerd out about HD-2D games and Team Asano in general. Listen in to hear a compelling pitch for a Final Fantasy 6 Remake, as well as why I think Philabieldia is a good name, actually. #blutoid

Hey, I'm on this show today! Catch me talking about HD2D games on Axe of the Blood God! #blutoid

Okay I'll leave my tomatoes left unthrown, but only because you asked nicely.

Seriously though, I 100% agree on the top spot.

Hey! You! Yes, you! Are you following Kotaku on Bluesky yet? Well, if not, fix that. And if you are, cool, share this post!

Kotaku has new owners that aren't assholes, a website that isn't shit on mobile, and we are doing great work.

You want to follow us! Trust me!

bsky.app/profile/kota...

Two screen caps of the final episode of The Office (US). Andy is saying “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.”

Every so often I remember what it was like to wake up every morning and do nothing but play this banger of a game and write about it.

Oh wow Darksiders 4 #Darksiders2

my first NGT is live! go check it out!

(also Primal Planet is really cool and i'm really enjoying my time with it)

Not only is the music in Astlibra wildly good, it also credits who wrote each song in the sound test. I've actually bought a couple albums after looking up who wrote some of my favorite tracks in the game. It's humans helping humans!

I was also surprised that, as far as I can see, the original 8 5* protagonists from Champions don't show up either? Just whatever's going on with 0, it's looking far removed from Champions so far.

At least the villains are confirmed in. Everyone needs to experience Auguste going MARVELOUS!!

Like, in Champions, each character you'd get through the gacha had their own questlines you'd find in the open world where you canonically meet them. It seems like that'd be a perfect way to just recruit them since the gacha didn't make sense anyway?

Last thoughts on Octopath Traveler 0 (probably)

Squenix only saying it has "over 30 characters" when Champions had well over 100 leads me to believe that this might only be a partial adaptation of the mobile game. Which is a shame if that's the case, I was really hoping for Octopath Suikoden.

Dialogue from The Adventures of Elliot. The textbook reads “North is up, south is down, west is left, and east is right.”

Dialogue from The Adventures of Elliot. The textbook reads “And those are the four cardinal directions! Not bad, eh?”

First impressions of The Adventures of Elliot
1: True to Team Asano’s whole vibe, this plays like a SNES game.
2: I think it’s pretty fun. Huge comfort food vibes.
3: Dialogue like this makes me think it’s well aware of how silly it is.

Alright, so Square Enix confirms it's "inspired by" Champions of the Continent.

My points stand on this. It's transformative enough that I could barely recognize it, so clearly there's a lot of elbow grease on display here. And there was good stuff in Champions of the Continent! This is good news!

Hecatontapath Traveler

Since I think what I said here might be misunderstood:
- Champions of the Continent didn't have you create your own character.
- CotC had a town that was gradually built up as you played, but no actual "town building" mechanics.
- I don't think this is the mobile game.

Artwork of King Pardis III from Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent

That said, I wouldn't mind a gacha-less port of Champions of the Continent because it's actually really good (at least it was when I played it in 2022). You haven't lived until you've experienced what it's like to absolutely hate this dude with every fiber of your being.

Since there's chatter about it, if Octopath Traveler 0 is based on the mobile game, it's a very comprehensive remake. It seems to have the 8 person parties, and the town development stuff is kinda similar, but I didn't recognize any of the new characters or story events at all.

the adventures of elliot feels like team asano petulantly going FINE we wont call it MILENNIUM WAYFARER and you'll still complain about the title. no pleasing you

PARTY SIZE LIMITS ARE FOR COWARDS

And now there’s a new Octopath I’m sorry that I was the target audience for this presentation

I’m sorry this is a good Nintendo Direct because HD2D Red Mage Action RPG With A Goofy Title is actually made just for me

A screenshot of Brennan Lee Mulligan giving a monologue from Game Changer. The caption reads "Now, Sam has built a monument to devilry and chaos," but the name Sam has been replaced with Naoki Yoshida's face.

Andrea trying to enjoy a friendly cooperative MMORPG when .0056% of the content is competitive.

(This is very stupid but it was easier to make this than live with the image in my head)

I know FFXIV PVP is not serious, but that has never stopped me from treating every minute inside it as if my ancestors' honor was on the line, so I get it tbh

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound slaps. I was thrilled to break down how The Game Kitchen took the essence of what made NES Ninja Gaiden awesome and reinvented it to create some of the coolest 2D action you can find. I couldn't have asked for a better game to make my review debut at Kotaku, give it a read!

Despite Everything Linkin Park Has Been Through, The AMV Band Is Alive And Well Everyone has their favorite early 2000s AMV set to ‘In The End’ or ‘Faint’

saw linkin park again last night.

cried a bit.

woke up today and decided to write about the eighth anniversary of chester's death and how, after 25 years, one of linkin park's enduring cultural footprints is that they're the soundtrack to all your favorite anime videos from the 2000s.

I was ready to crack jokes about using Crawling to make AMVs but man, that opening paragraph struck right through the heart. Genuinely mind boggling to think about the sheer cultural impact this band has had, just a fantastic article all around.

Thank you. ❤️ You killed it at IGN too!

"2D Ninja Gaiden is back, and it’s not a Metroidvania!"

Well, I'm sold

<3 <3 <3

I can see that, and I do think it's cool if what it does doesn't exactly click. I'd alluded in my own review that I felt it ended an act too soon, so I'd have been happy if the difficulty was upped just a bit more before looping back around to hard mode.