Frieren Season 2 Continues Its Journey January 16th 2026

 

Whelp I'm super late, but there's a lot to go over regarding information about Frieren Season 2 since my last blog in September. Well for starters I forgot that it was announced back in September that the premiere date was going to be January 16th(two days ago as of writing this) along with some key visuals. We also got character art for Frieren, Fern, Himmel, and Eisen. In October we got a "battle ready" visual featuring Frieren, Stark, and Fern. Following that was another trailer in November 2025 and then a few weeks before the premiere we got news that Mrs Green Apple who provided the song "Inferno" for Fire Force, would provide the song "Lulu" for Frieren's second season opening.

The Cast consist of :Mallorie Rodak and Atsumi Tanezaki will voice Frieren in the English and Japanese dubs. Jill Harris and Kana Ichinose will voice Fern in both dubs, Jordan Dash Cruz and Chiaki Kobayashi will voice Stark, and Nobuhiko Okamoto and Clifford Chapin as Himmel. More cast members consist of Hiroki Tōchi and Jason Douglas as Heiter, Yōji Ueda and Chris Guerrero as Eisen, Atsuko Tanaka, and Lydia Mackay as Flamme, Yūichi Nakamura and Christopher Wehkamp as Sein, Ikumi Hasegawa and Morgan Berry as Übel, Jirō Saitō and Ben Phillips as Denken, and Mariya Ise and Anastasia Munoz as Serie.

he production crew will consist of Tomoya Kitagawa and Keiichirō Saitō as the series directors, Daiki Harashina will be assistant director, and Tomohiro Suzuki on series composition. There's also Takasemaru, Keisuke Kojima,Yuri Fujinaka are the character designers, Seiko Yoshioka returns for concept art, and Evan Call returns for soundtrack composition.

                    Key Visual of Frieren, Stark, and Fern

           Second key visual featuring Frieren's original party of Himmel(the blue haired human), Eisen(the dwarf), and Heiter(the priest in the front of the line)

Conclusion...

Frieren Season 2 has arrived and It's been two years since season 1 so hopefully it was worth the wait.

N.B. Yomi's Justice League Review

 

The promotional poster of Justice League 

Introduction

So I saw Justice League, and to be honest I thought it was a good action film. Was it a good Justice League movie? Well no, but that's based on my own bloated expectations made by my love for The Avengers film and The Justice League cartoon. But I'll express everything I found wrong in the pros and cons after the summary.

This feels familiar... 

The Summary

In the wake of Superman's death, Batman and WonderWoman rally a team together. We meet Barry Allen trying to find a way to clear his dad's name of the death of his mother. We get to meet Cyborg lamenting his cybernetics, and Aquaman helping a small town of poverished people. From there Batman met with Barry and Aquaman to recruit them. He succeeded in recruiting The Flash, but not Aquaman. WonderWoman met up with Cyborg, and offered him to join them before he refused and left. Meanwhile, the amazons dealt with the "Mother Box," before it opened a portal that summoned SteppenWolf. SteppenWolf proceeded to lay waste to the Amazons, before he stole the Mother Box. SteppenWolf made his way to Star Labs where he retrieved the second box. SteppenWolf attacked Atlantis and took the mother box from there after thrashing Mara(Aquaman's soon to be wife) and Aquaman. His efforts put Cyborg's dad in danger, which gets Cyborg to join the team, as he rescues his dad. This also motivated Flash to actually be a hero, as he wasn't very brave initially. From there they used the mother box to resurrect Superman, before it back fired as Superman attacked them. After he wailed on Batman, WonderWoman, Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg, Batman summoned Lois Lane to calm him down. After Superman calmed down, he returned with Lois to his farm in Kansas, and SteppenWolf stole the Mother Box they used to resurrect Superman. From there SteppenWolf used the Mother Boxes to bring ruin. From there The Justice League united, fought him, and beat him. How? WonderWoman smashed his axe, and he got scared which caused the para-demons to attack him.

Now with that done, as opposed to stating pros and cons, I'mma just explain what I liked and didn't like about the film. Hopefully it'll be easy to follow...

This I enjoyed... 

SteppenWolf fighting humanity, the old Gods, and aliens...Geez... What was this, the universe's "World War 1?"

A diatribe of what I liked and didn't like about this film

I admittedly didn't care for the opening, though I understood why it was done, but the fan backlash towards the tone of Man Of Steel and BatmanVSuperman rubbed off on me. As a result the moment this film started out with that downer intro my immediate reaction "Oh lord, not this crap again..." Another aspect that added to my dismay was the trailers of the film came off as:"No really, this'll be a more lighthearted and fun superhero film, we swear!" I enjoyed what followed however, where WonderWoman thwarted a bomb threat. It felt authentically like WonderWoman, and it was neat to watch. I also enjoyed Batman stopping a thug all street level vigilante style, but that enjoyment was ruined when Batman was attacked by a para-demon. This ruined the film at first, because I immediately thought they were gonna fight Darkseid in the climax. Which is a no-no, because once your protagonists fight a God in the first film, there's nowhere else to go but down. Now given the numerous DC Villains, Warner Bros. could've made that work, but it'd be hard to top Darkseid, unless they used Gog, but that's a stretch. However this was salvaged for me when the amazons monitored the mother box, before it opened a portal that brought forth SteppenWolf. Seeing SteppenWolf made me breathe a sigh of relief, as I sadly associate the para-demons with Darkseid, so to see them with other New Gods(Granny Goodness and Kalibak not withstanding...) is different for me. Moving on, I enjoyed SteppenWolf's fight with the Amazons, as it felt intense, and gave an idea of how imposing SteppenWolf is(sadly that's all he has, but we'll get to that...). I also liked how Batman and Barry met, but I HATED how Cyborg was introduced. Granted Cyborg has lamented the disposition his cybernetics leaves him in, but this felt off. And the idea that his cybernetics are evolving Krypotian tech bugged me, because I thought after Superman sacrificed his life in fighting Doomsday, people would get over the whole "Krypotians are a dangerous menace" mentality. And I hated the fact that this film's production team gave AquaMan mommy issues, as I tend to prefer AquaMan as either an angry environmentalist or a high spirited adventurer. And we get one of those traits shows up, and I'll address that later. I HATED Diana interaction with Cyborg as she tried to recruit him. Cyborg's moping annoyed me to no end, as it didn't feel in line with his character. I also didn't care for AquaMan's refusal to join the team because it seemed directionless. However I get that's what they were going for, given AquaMan lamented with Mara in Atlantis that he didn't know where he belonged. I didn't enjoy how Superman was frankensteined to life with the attempt to make Flash useful by having him recharge the Mother Box. In fact I get why they gave Flash a lack of confidence, so he could have a character arc. My problem was while Flash was upbeat and humorous, he just seemed absolutely inept until the climax. I enjoyed final climax of SteppenWolf vs. The League, as I enjoyed seeing the League fight off the para-demons, while we got AquaMan enjoying the thrill of the action. That's the only time we get a glimpse of AquaMan being a high spirited adventure, as there's no build up to that. I enjoyed Superman's upbeat attitude after he was resurrected, despite how forced it was... I enjoyed seeing Flash and Superman save people during the climax. I hated SteppenWolf was beaten, as WonderWoman smashed his axe, and the para-demons tried to eat him as he got scared, before he was teleported back to his home planet. Which leads me mentioning how I hated how SteppenWolf served as merely an obstacle for the League. After seeing characterization for Marvel villain's like Iron Monger, Loki, Hela, and Ronan The Accuser, and Hell even Zod had a character!!! Why, oh WHY was SteppenWolf robbed of his character.

Now with that finally done, on to the conclusion...

Amusing, but the military didn't know he was a God... 

Awesomeness... 

The Conclusion

In giving it some thought, I figured out why despite everything this film did wrong. I just accepted it for what it was, because it FAILED my expectations, but I enjoyed the cast and the characters they played. The thing is like I said at the beginning of this, my expectations were set up by the 2001 Justice League cartoon and The Avengers. BUT I expected the set up would be similar to the Justice League cartoon, in how HawkGirl, John Stewart as the new Green Lantern, and WonderWoman's characters were established in their introductions. Basically after the Flash, Cyborg and AquaMan's introductions, every moment of their time should've further elaborated on their personalities. All we get is that Flash is socially awkward, and he stays that way throughout the film. Cyborg is bland, and yeah he eventually stops moping, but he just reacts to everything around him. But at least they show off that Cyborg's tech savvy. And AquaMan is a stoic reclusive nomad, and we only see his high spirited adventurous side during the climax.

Like I implied there came a point when watching this film I was like:"All right movie at this point, I'll take whatever I can get." It was a good action film, but not a good Justice League film. And regarding the pacing, it would've helped if the film started out with a dower tone and slowly escalated to a light hearted tone. During this escalation we could've gotten character development, and interactions that developed their relationships. We also could've gotten development for SteppenWolf, as from what I've heard he was originally written to be a slave of Darkseid trying to earn his freedom by offering worlds to Darkseid. That would've been awesome and would've added weight to how he was defeated with the para-demons attacking him.

At the very least this film is sadly a Six out of ten... Which to me is good, but not good enough.

Devolver E3 2018...Yeah...

 

Devovler Digital E3 2018 poster

Devolver's conference was better than last year's and honestly I wasn't expecting that. I like how they focused on the conference and skits within said conference and not devolve to people sitting around and playing video games that looked uninteresting over all.

But let's go over the madness that awaited us...

Is this guy playable...?

 

Probably what no one has had in mind.

Looks fun, don't it...?

DEVOLVER! YEEEEEAH!

So the conference started with Cinco Miller as he explained that they had new management, and a new direction. Really vague, and then he mentioned Devolver was getting into the "Battle Royale" play space. Well that was until Nina Strutter from last year comes out of nowhere, kills Miller by snapping his neck, and started the conference in earnest... Sure...Why not...? She announced that the conference would have overly flashy graphics, guest appearances from recognizable personalities, and marketing that would ignite a nostalgic response. I swear, it's like they get it. It was the same with last year's conference, as they poked fun at the superficial PR jargon E3 conferences are known for.

And she vuglarly addressed how the criticism that there weren't enough game reveals at last year's conference. A criticism I agree with, and I love how they humorously took it in stride.

We got our first reveal with Scum:Supermax Open World Survival. A trailer of a stout man running for his life from a gun man. The gun man is decapitated by a gunshot from a mech who then crushed the head of the stout guy under its foot. Then the guy becomes a zombie? What? But it looked worth checking out, as I am curious to learn more.

And apparently they'll be implementing loot boxes, which are a deeply insulting monetization model that people foolishly dump their money into. But since it's so monstrously successful along with Crypto currency's massive success, they devised a product called "Loot Box Coin." A currency so secure, not even the owners know its actual value, and it's unregulated. And it's devoid of civil, institutional, and governmental liabilities.(I seriously don't see companies going that far, but strange things have happened, so it's possible.) Loot Box Coin can't be mined, opened, block chained, walleted, or crypto-verified. It of course can be bought with actual money. So loot box coins are like Bit coins, except possibly illegal? Can you buy anything with it, gamble with, and is it worth anything? Well here's the thing, Nina doesn't know, so neither do we.

Nina was about to announce a new game from Dead Host, and mentioned how many might have seen it from a gif, mispronouncing gif, before she corrected by man in the crowd pronouncing it as "jif." It was here that I learned the name of the original developer of "gifs," "Steve Wilhite." The poor sap who corrected Nina was incinerated by her, before they cut to the trailer for "My Friend Pedro." It's a side scrolling rail shooter that gave m the impression that it was a Metroidvania style game given the platform aesthetic of the levels. But it look like fun all the same.

Next was the announcement for nostalgic cash grab. And it came in the form of the Devolver Entertainment System Classic... It came preloaded with 25 classic Devolver games, and when Nina called Jeffery over to test it, snd I got nervous. Jeffery pointed out it was actually a Sega DreamCast, and the game to be demo'ed was Metal Wolf Chaos which was a Japanese exclusive available for the original X-box. Sadly these correction costed Jeffery his life, as he was hacked to death by Nina's assistant, Margret.

And that lead us to our final reveal, which was Metal Wolf, or rather Metal Wolf Chaos XD. It didn't have any actual metal wolves, but a mech crashing through the white house was a good substitute. We got a shot of an enemy mech, AirForce 1, and the protagonist charging into battle. And I must regrettably admit that despite the lack of gameplay footage I am amused. It will also be available for Playstation, Xbox One and PC which is good for my cheap hide. And it will be available later this year, which is awesome.

And just when we thought it was over, the volunteer who lost his arm to the malfunctioned "Devolver Screen Play" device returned with a gun mounted arm, and gunned Nina down in cold vengeance. She was rebuild however, and the results of that will be revealed at next year's E3.

I'm so glad this doesn't exist, nor will companies go this far.

The trailer looked cool 

The Conclusion....

The conclusion is this started out well and showed off a few good games, and a legit surprise in MetalWolf Chaos. It was indeed better than last year's Devolver conference, as in it didn't "Devolve."

So here's to hoping next year's conference will be just as good.

A look back on Andrea Romano's career

 

Andrea Romano at a San Diego Comic-Con Panel

So it came to my attention on July 31st from Kevin Conroy's tweet, that after thirty years of voice casting and directing, Andrea Romano will be retiring. She initially announced in December 2016 that she'd retire in four years. However due to being diagnosed with Optic Neuropathy which left her blind in one eye, she announced she'd retire in the week of July 31st. Her casting credits include shows like Snorks, Ducktales, Animaniacs, Batman:The Animated Series, Static Shock, The Boondocks, and many many more. Also her work spanned from 1984 to 2017, which means that she's voice casted for three generations. Three generations of kids were impacted by her casting choices. That to my knowledge is three generations This article will be a brief overview of her career and its impact on my childhood.

Somewhere in this image is key to someone's childhood memories...

Tom Ruegger, Peter Hashtings, and Andrea Romano cameo appearance in Pnky And The Brain.

Andrea Romano surrounded by some of the successful characters she casted.

Andrea Romano's career began in earnest in 1984 when she worked for Hannah/Barbera. In the 80s she did casting for shows like Challenge Of The Gobot, The Smurfs, The Snorks, Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, The 13 Ghosts Of Scooby Doo, Pound Puppies, and The New Adventures Of Johnny Quest. And then you had the 90s with shows like Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Batman:The Animated Series To me, with shows like Super Powers Team, Scooby Doo, Jetsons, Yogi's Treasure Hunt, or DuckTales, I'm left with impression that she went for familiar voice overs that people recognized as a draw to those shows. But what about shows like Smurfs, Pound Puppies, Tiny Toons, or Animaniacs that lacked the legacy of established voice actors at the time? That seemed to be where Romano seemed to shine as she picked actors who's voices became iconic for many Gen-Xers and Millennials. This was the case with iconic DC animated cartoons in the 90s like Batman:The Animated Series, Batman Beyond and Superman The animated series. This was also the case for Reboot, Bonkers, Chip N' Dale:Rescue Rangers, Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Spongebob, and Avatar The Last Airbender, to name a few. This she showed a great eye for talent in voice acting. It also spoke her capabilities as a director. And of course she was recognized by the Academy Awards for her casting and directing.

I first became aware of Andrea Romano's existence in watching the behind the scenes and listening to the commentary of The Boondocks around 2007 or so. Then when it came to watching reruns of Batman The Animated Series, Avatar The Last Airbender, Animaniacs, and Teen Titans, I learned how many series she's casted for. It was shocking to me how much of my childhood memories she had a hand in crafting. And as I found out in writing this article, that was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Aside from Avatar, she was also responsible for casting in shows in the early 2000s like The Boondocks, The Batman, The Thundercats reboot, and The Zeta Project to name a few. It's a amazing to realize that Romano had worked for the big four:"Hanna/Barbara, Warner Bros., Disney, and Nickelodeon.

Andrea Romano with her Emmy awards.

The Conclusion...

So in the wake of Romano's retirement I hope she enjoys her retirement, but I'd be lying if I said "I'm not sad." In the twenty six years I've been watching cartoons, Andrea Romano is responsible for casting arguably 80% of my childhood, even well into my adolescence. It's also coincidental that some of the cartoons she did casting for has influenced me as a writer of fiction like Teen Titans and Avatar The Last Airbender.

So with that in mind I'm sad to hear that she retired, but I still an grateful that she is partially responsible for many fond childhood memories.

Payback 2017 Review... Why's this called Payback again...?

 

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No really why was this called "Payback" again...? Because the only one that any Payback was Chris Jericho, and then the flip-flop between Orton and Bray... And maybe Strowman got payback for losing at FastLane...? And Alexa Bliss...? Maybe...? The uncertainty in my writing should give you an idea of how bad I thought this was in terms of outcomes, but the matches were decent at least. So let's get into that.

Reigns vs Strowman Poster

U.S. Champion, Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho was our first match of the night. It felt pretty standard for the kind of feud they had. Granted that's to be expected with Jericho and Owens being good workers with good choreography, but the story behind this was one of betrayal. Owens and Jericho were at one point the best of buds, until Owens betrayed Jericho.(I find that he has a knack for doing that...) You'd think, Jericho would charge Owens and pummel the crap out of him, before Owens retaliates and the match devolves into a chaotic brawl. We did get some chaos however, when Jericho hooked Owens in the "Walls Of Jericho" submission hold, before Owens got released it by grabbing the hold, with his index finger. Jericho loses it and slams Owens' finger into the steel steps and then smashed them in the wedge between the steps and corner of the ring. Jericho then tosses Owens back into the locks him in the Walls Of Jericho again, and become U.S. Champion as Owens taps out. Despite being understandable and a pay off to Jericho adding Owens' finger to his list of "those who have it coming," this felt hellish on Jericho's part. But in his defense, he was also frustrated which can result in this kind of outcome. But this result was a genuine surprise, mostly because I had heard Jericho would be leaving to go on tour with his band Fozzy. So I thought Owens would retain, but it was apparent that Jericho wasn't leaving just yet.

What followed was Cruiserweight Champion Neville vs. Austin Aries for the CruiserWeight title. This too was a good match, and I dare say a favorite. I enjoyed seeing Neville and Aries toss each other around, perform high-flying moves, and trade holds. I even enjoyed the finish of Neville pulling on the referee to escape Aries' "Last Chancery" submission hold. Now admittedly I didn't enjoy it because DQ finishes in PPVs have become teeth grindingly irritating to me, but it makes sense for Neville as a heel to do something so desperate to retain.

Next was The Hardy Boyz vs. Sheamus and Cesaro for the tag team titles. This was also a good match as there was some improvement in the choreography between the Hardy and Sheamus and Cesaro compared to WrestleMania where their choreography was a tad sloppy. The Hardy high-flying played off well against and Cesaro's strength based styles, which is what made this enjoyable. From the high spots by the Hardyz and slams from Sheamus and Cesaro. Cesaro however being impressive as always with his strength and european uppercuts. The Hardy retained however this is where Sheamus and Cesaro blind-sided and beat the snot out of them. Thus cementing a heel turn.

Next was RAW women's champion Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss. This match started out slow which bugged me given how talented these women are. But it eventually picked up in pacing, as Bayley and Alexa utilized moonsaults, clotheslines, supplexes, an various other moves. Bailey dominated some of the match, before Alexa came back, and nailed Bayley with a DDT, which cemented her as the new RAW women's champion.

Same Joe Vs. Seth Rollins... I forgot about this one too actually, and I don't know why. Especially since it was another match that dealt with the subject of "payback." Samoa Joe wanted payback for Seth Rollins tricking Triple H into pushing Stephanie McMahon through a table. And does it pan out for Joe to get his payback...? Well we'll get to that, as during this match Joe worked Rollins' injured knee here and there. Rollins persevered however managing a few suicide dives, and filler slams. But things looked bleak win Joe locked in a rear naked choke. Rollins however managed to roll Joe onto his back, and won with the three count. So no, Joe did not get his payback.

And then what followed was a match that as of the writing of this review, I completely forgot about:"The House Of Horror's Match." I personally think this match was overhyped by Bray Wyatt, because it turned out nothing like I imagined. I sadly it was very underwhelming. It was a one story house with baby dolls dangling from the ceiling. I sadly expected to see something out of Silent Hill, but oh well. As for the fight itself? Engh, it was simple and average. They punched each other, tossed each other about the house. The match ended with Bray dropping a fridge on top of Orton, before Bray left the house. After Bray returns to the arena, Orton appears behind them, and they continue to fight, as Bray was overpowered. The Sing Brother(formerly known as the Bollywood Brothers) and Jinder Mahal interfered, and pummeled Orton, allowing Bray to win with his "Sister Abigail." Then as Orton lied defeated, as Jinder Mahal and the Sing brothers swarm in to pick the remains of Orton.

And lastly was Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman. This was another match with the implication of "payback," as Reigns was payback for Strowman tossing him off a landing, and tipping over the ambulance. And did he get it? Well again, we'll get into that,(though at this point the answer should be obvious) as Reigns came out with bandaged shoulder and ribs. Roman fights like a wounded underdog, as he was tossed about by Strowman. Reigns sold his injuries, and struggled valiantly against Strowman. Strowman ended up winning but tainted his victory by continuing to pummel Reigns, and then pummeled him with the steel steps. Despite this after Referees managed to get Strowman to back off, Roman left the ring of his own power. This lead to Strowman following Reigns to an ambulance in a garage, where they brawled, as Strowman sustained an injury that put him out for a few months.

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Alexa Bliss vs Bayley

Samoa Joe vs Seth Rollins

Orion:"Dude, we got pretty trashed..." Wyatt:"I know, right...?" 

BUH GAWD! HE'S GONNA KILL HIM!!! 

Final Thoughts and Conclusion...

The US Title match was a good technically wrestled match, but I would've liked more in-ring psychology given the narrative of a "betrayed friendship" being told. I feel that should've played more of a role in the wrestling choreography, but it didn't. But Jericho winning was a genuine surprise, so it get a "B-" for that...

The Cruiserweight was a good technical match as well, and despite Neville's mild show boating it felt like there was very little story told. The only saving grace was that infuriating finish. Which for me earns this a C+.

The Tag-Team Title match I give very little credit to, as the Sheamus and Cesaro fought hard to try and obtain the tag-team titles. And I did enjoy that there was better choreography between The Hardy Boyz and Sheamus and Cesaro. And that heel turn despite it being predictable felt genuine. The foundation of their heel turn was frustration at losing to the Hardy Boyz and fed up with being good sports. This for me was a B-.

Bayley vs. Alexa started off slow, but ramped up later on. I give this a C- because I expect better from these two, though given how consistently these wrestlers are on the road, it's no wonder some matches aren't as energetic as others.

Samoa Joe and Seth Rollins' match was better told with in ring psychology, as Joe worked over Rollins' injured knee, and Rollins fought to overcome this obstacle. I even liked the ingenuity of Rollins' win with rolling Joe onto his back for a three count pin. This was a B+ for lack of Joe getting any payback...

Then was "House Of Horrors" match... It was a D, because the "House Of Horror" lacked any real horror, and while Bray did win, thus getting his "payback," he got it through interference by Jinder Mahal and the Sing Brothers, and with no title on the line. So it was half hearted payback, since Bray won the match with interference and not getting the title as a prize.

And Braun Stroman Vs. Roman Reigns, and for me this was a C-. Why? 1. Reigns didn't win, thus no payback for him. 2. They did that stupid underdog "will he or won't he win" booking for Roman Reigns. I get that WWE wants Roman Reigns to be popular, but what they don't get is that Reigns doesn't need to be an underdog to get over. He can still be a big guy who says little and usually speaks with his fists. Things haven't changed that much from the 80s with kids idolizing truly macho-men. Why Vinny Mac and crew don't get that baffles me. But apparently Reigns got his "payback" but only after the match which is too little too late for me.

So with very little "payback" to be had, and very little in ring stories being told with the wrestling choreography during each match, I'd say this was a C-.

Devolver's E3 Conference...Devolved...

 

                                                    Devolver Conference poster

The title speaks for itself, but before we get into how it devolved, let's cover of what Devolver Digital is. Devolver is a publisher founded in 2009 in Austin Texas by Mike Wilson, Harry Miller IV, and Rick Stults. They published several games such as: Serious Sam HD, First and Second Encounter, Hotline Miami, and Shadow Warrior. They published many of these games through acquisition from defunct publishers, but I feel that's obvious to long time gamers who are aware of these titles.

With that established, let's get on with this...

Ruiner title card...

"FunHaus," huh...? Who are these guys...?

Serious Sam's Bogus Detour Poster

What happened...?

Devolver Digital's conference started out with a skit of a man behind a desk, named Jon Carnage, in shambles, while sitting across from him are three of his cohorts. They help orient him, he seaways to the conference, and thus things get weird... As we cut to three women hosting a livestream reaction of Devolver's conference. This felt meta, because this popped up just as they cut to a shot of the convention E3 was hosted at. Then we got a joke of some dude asking when was Devolver going to announce Shemue 3. I coulda swore Shemue 3 was in development, but I digress... What followed was the actual conference started Nina Strutters, as she gets an annoyingly overwhelming amount of applause. After she silences them by firing of a handgun,(yes this happened, no, no one got shot) she proceeded to express in a blunt manner how Devolver's games and merchandise was going to win over our hard earned money. What followed was our first game trailer of a top down action game called Ruiner. You apparently have to survive and fight your way through a dystopian futuristic city filled with an array of psychos and killers. My kind of fun. Milo Lowrie who mentioned how there's a disconnect people wanting to buy video games and people actually buying video games. He mentioned too how people say they're throwing money at the screen, but it leaves their bank accounts empty. So he unveiled a device called "Devolver Digital Screen Pay," a device where you can throw money into the screen and it'll be transferred directly to Devolver. The demonstration resulted in the loss of a volunteer's arm... I am so glad this tech doesn't actually exist.

They immediately cut to the gameplay footage of an upcoming Serious Sam game called Serious Sam:Bogus Detour. It's a top down shooter, and featured a lot of stuff getting shot and destroyed in glorious 16/32 bits. Sorry I'm a sucker for such classic looking games. It also has a campaign mode and co-op. I hope that's local co-op too, because I miss local co-op, plus it fits games like Serious Sam.

Nina Strutter returns with an announcement of Devolver's Early access that allows to play games that are in conception. We then cut to Suda51 who's under the impression that he's presenting for a big named publisher like Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony. Why is that my interpretation? Because when h's told by a figure off screen that he's presenting for Devolver, he ask:"Who is that," and shoo's them away as they were interrupting his important work. This is followed by a fast talking disclaimer that Suda51 won't be working with Devolver, before the announcer hastily brings us back to Nina Strutter who just plays it off. She brings out another device that allows the input criticisms to effect developers called "Comment Created Content."

And here's where the crazy happens... Nina's rambling on about how Devolver will be the head way in the future of gaming and unethical business practices, while blood pours out of her nose. She keeps rambling however, as the footage gets interrupted repeatedly by cuts to the audience, Serious Sam, other games, the Devolver logo, and the (possibly disgruntled) demonstrator typing away with the comment system. All culminating in Nina's head exploding, before her corpse is dragged away by God-knows-what, and the credits roll...

We then cut back to Jon and his cohorts playing what appeared to be obscure NES games, before playing Miami Vice for about an hour.

So that's what happened, but the question how did the conference devolve? Well let's get into that...

Milo Lowrie on stage

This is where things got weird...

How Devolver Devolved...

Now on to how the conference devolved. The conference started from Jon Carnage, the mini-livestream, to Nina Strutter's presentation was a parody of video game E3 conferences. It was bizarre, yet hilarious. But after that was over, it got really dull, really quick. And with this being the first conference I felt I could sit through without watching a live reaction to accompany it. And yet when the conference was over it lulled to a dull crawl. What followed was a bunch of dull and unfunny crap. It's as if they either lost the humor pacing, or couldn't keep the momentum of the humor utilized in this conference. Which is understandable, or maybe this wasn't planned out properly.

It would've been nice if they had've kept up the momentum, but I'm sure they knew what they had on their hands. Regardless it started out great and bizarrely hilarious, which I enjoyed, and I wish it had stated that way.

Bethesdaland Was Fun, but it Lacked New Content

 

Looks Fun, Don't it? | Source

It might just be me, but when Bethesda started their conference with "BethesdaLand," my expectations got high, really high! I expected new content like in Microsoft's conference. But what we got were iterations of existing games, with one or two new IPs. That doesn't mean that the iterations weren't interesting, but we'll get into that in the assessment of the content.

The Fallout mascot and Dovakiin

Doom VR title card: It looks F'ing Hardcore!!!

Morrowind title card

Visiting BethesdaLand...

After we were welcomed to BethesdaLand, I was confident that it was gonna be the most fun conference at E3. And while it was the most fun conference aesthetically, (Nintendo and Devolver would come close, but I'll address those when I write those articles) it left a lot to see desired content-wise.

For starters, our first attraction was Doom VFR. And while it was only a matter of time until we got Doom on VR, this didn't interest me all that much. Neither did Fallout 4 for VR, which was the following attraction. Which is a shame, because I remember growing in the 90s Virtual Reality was a fascinating concept, but now that it's here, my fascination with it seems to be dead.

But regardless, I did like the aesthetic of Doom VFR, though I doubt the graphics look anything like the Xbox One Game. But one can hope, I guess. I also liked the Fallout 4 VR's use of Mr. Sandman by the Chordettes with showing environments, the construction of rooms, explosions, mecha. And yet... I'm not excited for it.

And then there's a return to Morrowwind, as I learned this was a fan favorite. That surprised me because I didn't get that impression from the Toonami review back in 2002. Although I'm guessing it's a fan favorite amongst Elder Scrolls fans, but one of the turn offs for me back then was the lacking combat in Morrowind and I hope they fixed that in this rendition of Morrowind.

Then there was Bethesda's Creation Room where gamers can mod their characters legally with paid customizations. While this is a step in the right direction, it's a retooling of a system where they charged for mods in Skyrim and Fallout 4 back in 2015. This retooling is called "Creation Club," and really I'm baffled by this. How is this better received than the original concept? Well only time will tell. But to be honest, I like the idea, and I'll need to what the prices are before I moan and groan.

What came next was Elder Scrolls Legends for the IOS, and I could've sworn they showed that at E3 2015. Oh right, they made a Skyrim pack for the game. Regardless, can't say I'm interested in it. I'd prefer a physical trading card game to be honest. Well that's not entirely true, as I am interested in giving Hearth Stone A shot...

But going further into the Skyrim Attraction we got Skyrim on the Switch. And what's sad is that I've been meaning to get Skyrim on the PS3 ever since it came out. Now, I'm wondering if I should forego that and get it on the Switch when I can afford to buy a Switch. Or maybe I can get two copies, especially since I'm looking to buy Kingdom Hearts Chain Of Memories on the GBA even though I have Re:Chain Of Memories. And I'll be looking to get Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and 2.5 for the extended stories and content. So maybe I'll end up owning two copies of Skyrim, because I like the Link skin for Dovakiin.

Then there's the unveiling of a third Dishonored Game... Dishonored:Death To The Outsider. It looks good graphically, as we pan through what looks like a prison with guys getting killed by...a woman...with a cybernetic eye? Is that normal for this storyline? Also The outsider? From what I hear, The Outsider is like a specter that grants the main character his powers in the game. I wonder why this cast of characters would wants him dead. Can he even be killed? Regardless, I'm mildly interested, but feel I'll be more interested after giving the first game a shot.

Next was the Quake attraction. This is where I learned that there's a Quake Tournament that takes place in my home town of Dallas Texas. I'mma look further into that. But first, I'mma look into playing Quake to get feel for it. Or rather I can get Quake Champions, which was featured at this attraction, and save myself the trouble. Regardless Quake from the trailer looks like fun. The Unreal Tournament kind've fun. Hard hitting and fast-paced. My kind of fun.

The next attraction involved a dude with a glowing seven carved into his hand and snow white screaming heads that gave me Berserk Solar Eclipse flashbacks. While the trailer covered a psychological horror game, I'm sadly not convinced that's what Evil Within 2 is. I must be getting a tad too cynical since modern horror games seem to be nothing but a plethora of jump scares. There's no meat or substance to the horror anymore. But with that said, watch this game prove me wrong.

This ended out tour of BethesdaLand, before we were treated to a Lassie parody in the form of a robot dog setting a truck on fire. Then A black and white sitcom, an action figure, superhero cartoon, gameshow, to a cat headed lemur channel hopping. No I'm not high while writing this article, this was actually in the trailer. It was funny in that weird way. This was followed by a man having war based flashbacks, as apparently you're joining a resistance in a Nazi governed world. By the way, the game in question this all takes place in is Wolfenstein The New Colossus, a sequel to New Order. This of course was the final game featured at the conference.

Three games featured during the conference.

Skyrim on Nintendo Switch

Quake Champions title card

The Conclusion...

In conclusion, Bethesda had a lot of games, but again there wasn't a lot of new content. I know I shouldn't expect new IPs, especially since they have to elaborate on content featured at the previous E3. It helps to do that, especially for those of us who don't keep up with the development news over the year.

I did enjoy the aesthetic of BethesdaLand though, and hope they do it next year. Though that might be asking for a bit much.

Every Bethesda E3 2017 Game Announcement in 2 Minutes - E3 2017