Recent Posts

11

TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Fire Red And Leaf Green To Release On Switch February 27, Pokemon Presents Announced

« Last post by Mythtendo on February 23, 2026, 12:22:51 AM »

On one hand it's really odd that this isn't part of the Nintendo Only GBA titles.

If they DO add Pokemon Home support, it makes sense. If it was on NSO, it would have rewind and save states, which could make it easy to send as many legendaries as you want to Pokemon Home

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NWR Feedback / Re: Connection Problems

« Last post by broodwars on February 22, 2026, 11:03:39 PM »

So, what's going on with the site now? Thing seems to crash 4 out of every 5 times I try to load a page.

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Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen

« Last post by broodwars on February 22, 2026, 10:13:38 PM »

Season 3 of the Librarians is pretty bad. No wonder this is the season I originally ducked out of the show, as this whimsical adventure show about magical doodads and creatures...tries to be serious as it indulges in cliches. We went from a magical cult lead by a former Camelot knight in Season 2 to Prospero from The Tempest trying to rewrite his own story...to an ancient Egyptian God trying to bring about...*sigh*...



...as part of a grand war over the Balance between Good & Evil. 

Plus, at least 3 of the season's 10 episodes are about romance, which just gets tiresome, especially the endless "will they-won't they" between Flynn and Baird. Between that and a triple-cross Liar Revealed storyline...bleh.

Well, at least it's over and on to Season 4.

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TalkBack / Re: Xenoblade Chronicles X Gets Surprise Switch 2 Edition Today

« Last post by broodwars on February 22, 2026, 01:40:33 PM »

So apparently this "upgrade" has some major issues because it makes the game visually worse, especially in handheld mode.

https://mynintendonews.com/2026/02/22/nintendo-offering-refunds-for-poor-xenoblade-chronicles-x-switch-2-upgrade/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvMtsLXxXMM&t

15

General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« Last post by broodwars on February 22, 2026, 12:49:58 PM »

Sometimes I like to relax and play a game with no violence, okay?

Slowly working my way through Nioh 3 after I just kinda lost interest in Trails in the Sky: First Chapter (I'll get back to it at some point, but there's just something about that game that gets old fast. Maybe it's the mediocre soundtrack). The game's good, but I definitely prefer the level design, boss design, and gimmicks of the previous 2 Nioh games. This shift to Open World works better than it should, but it also means that you see an awful lot of the SAME level design since what used to be distinct levels now have to fit together coherently.

It was cool to run through a random cliff-face cave at point point and suddenly end up in a stormy seaside shrine area with a giant Yokai chucking boulders at me, so I had to run from cover to cover to get to a safe area. More of that, please. Less cool was triggering a lengthy sidequest after entering a cave, only to end with a combat encounter against a boss that's been re-used since early in Nioh 1 and who is STILL using her entrance CGI cutscene FROM Nioh 1 AND 2. Team Ninja should be up there with Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio for an environmental impact award due to their dedication to recycling.

I'm in the 2nd main area of the game now. I'm really mixed on how they've separated out the weapons into "Samurai" and "Ninja"-exclusives. The weapons that are now in the "Samurai" class basically function how they've always done in the series, but the Ninja class can't Ki Pulse or stance change and it's really throwing me off. It's also really annoying that my primary weapon in these games, the Kusarigama, is relegated to being a Ninja class-only weapon and you have to do a bunch of button and stick inputs to do moves with it that used to be relegated to stance changes. It also means I no longer have my whirling buzzsaw of death I got so used to annihilating enemies with in Nioh 1 & 2.

On the upside, Ninjutsu has never been more useful than it is in Nioh 3, since there's now a dedicated form for it and it refills by attacking enemies instead of having to run back to a shrine. On the downside, Omnyo Magic has never been more worthless. It's all tied to equipping magic cores like in Nioh 2 that you acquire via random drops, and enemies are pretty good at dodging it in 3 compared to the previous games. Sloth has been neutered to the point of basically being worthless, and that was a key part of my combat kit in the previous games. You basically use Omnyo Magic to kill enemies with high physical defense now, and that's kinda it. Even Ninjutsu is typically better at killing flying enemies since those projectiles have tracking.

I see that Nioh 3 also continues from Nioh 2 in the story being absolutely an absolutely pointless sea of forgettable names, as well as being another time travel story because that's what Nioh 2's DLC did. I'm not sure there's a setting with less aesthetic point to having a time travel gimmick than feudal Japan. Yes, the 2nd area has snow. Take away the snow, and it looks exactly the same as the Warring States map.

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General Chat / Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe

« Last post by NWR_insanolord on February 22, 2026, 11:25:26 AM »

What a game. The hype of a potential U.S.-Canada matchup in the Olympics has been building for over a year and the game somehow lived up to it. Connor Hellebuyck had one of the greatest goaltending performances I've ever seen.

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General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« Last post by Mop it up on February 21, 2026, 12:02:32 PM »

Sometimes I like to relax and play a game with no violence, okay?

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Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen

« Last post by broodwars on February 20, 2026, 07:19:08 PM »

Well, I'm halfway through my latest attempt to watch The Libarians, having finished Seasons 1 & 2 via an old DVD collection. These are the 2 seasons I vaguely remembered from my original watch.

Man, I miss shows like this, where there is an overall story to a given season but it's still mostly episodic.

So far, it's been a fun watch and the show mostly holds up from a writing and acting perspective. The main cast doesn't particularly stand out, often feeling like early CW Arrowverse characters, but they work well together and generally put out solid performances. Definitely the most solid actor from the main cast Christian Kane as rugged art historian Jake Stone, though Noah Wyle does well as returning character (from the original Librarian TV movies) Head Librarian Flynn Carson. Rebecca Romijn is pretty standard "tough girl" as Colonel Eve Baird. John Kim can get a little annoying as the thief Ezekiel Jones, to the extent that he would in the middle of one of his egotistical rants and I'd just be thinking "shut up, Dax!". Unfortunately, I think Lindy Booth is somewhat weak as Magic Mathematician Cassandra Cillian. I don't envy her role as the character in the show that has to motor-mouth exposition and constantly having to do her best Tony Stark Iron Man virtual visualization impression, but she often feels like the character with the least to do and the most annoyance to convey.

I'm not sure how this incredibly low-budget TNT show managed to get some of these guest stars, though. The 1st season alone has Tricia Helfer; Bruce Campbell; Rene Auberjonois; Bob Newhart; and Matt Frewer playing fairly substantial roles. And of course John DeLancie would come on in the 2nd season playing a trickster devil. That's just a casting directing layup.

The real heart of the show is definitely John Larroquette as Jenkins, the curmudgeonly library caretaker who alternates between sage advice; frustration; and withering sarcasm. If this show is a shameless lower-budget Warehouse 13, he's definitely the "Artie".

If you go into this show, prepare the wine because the showrunners are definitely going to provide plenty of cheese. This is a silly show about a motley crew of intellectuals (and 1 thief) going around trying to stop would-be magicians; magical creatures; and fictional characters come to life, and the show isn't the least bit ashamed to ham it up. And the effects are only barely convincing, being both quite cheap and very scarce. Still, where I think a show like this succeeds compared to a lot of modern shows is that for all the silliness there's still a solid core of sincerity. The Librarians isn't afraid to be stupid, but does want its audience to care.

Of course, watching this now makes me want to pull out my Warehouse 13 BluRays again and rewatch that show all over again.

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Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

« Last post by broodwars on February 20, 2026, 07:02:00 PM »

Was in the mood for something different last night, so threw in my 4K BluRay remaster of The Last Unicorn I recently picked up on sale.

To the shock of no one the movie still holds up quite well, though it's kinda funny how much this feels like one of Disney's 70s compilation animated films like Robin Hood. There isn't so much a coherent narrative so much as a string of episodic events the characters just move between, and you can definitely tell where scenes got cut. There are some abrupt starts to scenes and jump cuts where clearly something violent got sliced. It lends to the movie having a certain "roughness" characteristic of films of its era.

The voice cast in general is excellent, though Mia Farrow is a bit weak as the Unicorn and Jeff Bridges is pretty bad as Prince Lir. Thankfully, the cast surrounding them picks up the slack, including Angela Lansbury; Tammy Grimes; Paul Frees; and Rene Auberjonois. I went back and forth on Alan Arkin as Schmendrick, as he had some good line deliveries but some really wooden ones, too. But Christopher Lee BY FAR kills it as King Haggard. I don't know how this is 1 of only a few animated voice roles he ever took on during his career, because he is an absolute natural at it with a certain softness and nuance that I don't usually hear from him. Apparently, he was something of a fan of the book, and it shows.

I was surprised at how much I dug the soundtrack...with one notable exception. The title theme is incredibly catchy, and it gets instrumental reprises throughout the film. I don't know who thought it was a great idea to give Mia Farrow and Jeff Bridges, 2 actors that clearly CAN'T sing, a duet, though. Farrow is constantly off-key and Bridges mumbles his lyrics.

Regarding the 4K transfer, it's absolutely stunning. This movie always had fantastic animation from the team that would eventually become Studio Ghibli, but in my experience transfers from 80s animated movies always look like **** and this very, VERY much does not.

Overall, a very enjoyable rewatch with some bumps in the road. Some minor pacing issues and jarring editing decisions.

Screenshots from BluRay.com.

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TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Fire Red And Leaf Green To Release On Switch February 27, Pokemon Presents Announced

« Last post by broodwars on February 20, 2026, 03:54:20 PM »

Dunno how to feel about this, really. On the one hand, this is my era of Pokemon: Gen 1. I can always go for a game of that.

On the other hand, these feel really overpriced at $20, especially with no online trade ability or a feature to allow you to trade with a separate save file from the other version. I feel like for that price, you should at least get both versions.

*shrug*