Yesterday Review

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I remember seeing the trailer for Yesterday way back in the day. It’s got a solid premise to it and reminds me of a writing prompt challenge on Reddit. You basically take a scenario and then see how far you can run with it. That’s basically what the film is doing here and so it’s not trying to let you know how this scenario came to be or anything like that. It just takes the premise and goes forward. I don’t think the movie did as much as it could have with the concept though and the ending isn’t super satisfying but I thought it was a fun ride overall.

The movie starts with Jack not doing so well at yet another musical performance. He is trying to write a lot of hit songs but the problem is that people just aren’t very interested. He tells his manager Ellie that he is finally giving up for good. His plans are put on pause though when he is run over by a bus. The world loses electricity for a moment and then a bunch of things are erased from history. All of a sudden nobody knows who the Beetles are, Coke a Cola doesn’t exist, and a number of other things are gone. The world just changed overnight and Jack is seemingly the only one who remembers the old universe. Nobody knew who he was before but with the power of the Beetles perhaps he can change that! Will he finally be a household name or is it possible that he just doesn’t have the voice for this?

So it’s a fun setup and I actually like that it wasn’t just the Beetles who are gone. By also removing soda and other things, it shows that this world is different in quite a number of ways and we’re just focusing on the change that Jack cares about. It gives the writers complete control to come up with a lot of interesting dynamics in here. Jack can try to get famous now but he will always have that fear in the back of his mind that history can reset and then suddenly he will be doomed. Is it worth it to get famous like this? Also, is he doing a disservice by using the music as his own?

Now to the moral question there, if the Beetles completely don’t exist then I don’t see anything wrong with using the music as your own. Put it this way, if Jack doesn’t sing the songs then they will never exist in the world and nobody can enjoy them. Yes he should be ethical enough not to try to really wring every penny out of the people but I don’t think it’s a problem to get rich off of this. So he can go and play as normal and it should be fine. My problem with Jack is more basic. The man does absolutely 0 research. He is on several interviews where people ask him why he chose the name of the song and he just has a baffled look on his face every time. You’re telling me he never thought that someone would even ask that question? It just makes him look so bad to be caught unaware each time. That’s not a good look for him and this happens way too often.

My problem with Jack is he doesn’t adapt to the situation and approaches everything half heartedly. This leads into the main problem in the film which is the romance. This part gets way overly dramatic and takes away from the fun little story that we’ve got here. So Ellie likes Jack and basically that’s why she’s always been driving him around for the last 20 years and is his manager. She just wants to help him out as much as possible and hopes he will notice her someday. So she has to take some blame here but I’ll get to her in a minute. For Jack, well he didn’t notice all those years and that’s fine. He may have just assumed she was being a good friend and that’s actually a very reasonable position. When you’re dropping hints they have to be legitimate hints because otherwise it may have just been the person being kind. If I was Jack I wouldn’t assume that Ellie liked him like that because at least as the viewer we see no indication of that.

Where Jack goes wrong is she actually does confess in the middle of a party. Jack was in a hurry but you absolutely have to respond and instead he just dashed off. Yeah that’s a full rejection if I’ve ever heard of one so later on when he tries to explain it just comes off as forced. He made his choice and now he has to live with it. It’s just way too late for him and so later on when he’s confessing and trying to win her back you can’t root for him. Particularly since she has already gotten a rebound boyfriend by this point. That should have been the end of the romance earlier and the film ends on that sad note where he is super rich and has everything in the world but lost Ellie in the process. Sure it’s not the super happy ending a viewer may want to see but it makes a whole lot of sense.

Then for Ellie well she should have confessed sooner. It’s traditional that the guy confesses to the girl but that’s not how this works. You’re not living in a movie and so you could lose your opportunity if you don’t go for it. If you like someone then you have to make the move. So Ellie had 20 years where she could have asked him out or at least been more direct about the whole thing. Then she got another boyfriend rather quickly even though she admitted that she still liked Jack. That’s really the biggest problem here because then she’s just using poor Gavin and as soon as Jack was ready for her she ditched him in an instant. That’s not a good romance and it reflects badly on her for that quick rebound.

I can’t say that Gavin had a lot of self respect either since he admits that he knew he was the rebound. Look if you know that you’re the rebound then you shouldn’t say yes. I don’t care how big your crush is, it’s not worth being the second choice because at any point you may be pushed back into that spot. You just need to get over your feelings and find someone else. So the romance was definitely the weak point of the film and will have you groaning the whole time. Don’t even get me started on the ending. I won’t go into specifics here but a lot of times there seems to be a black and white choice about being happy or being rich and I always feel that you can do both. So I didn’t agree with a certain decision by Jack.

On the whole the film was fun though and part of what makes it succeed is the fast pacing. The character cast is strong for the most part too. I liked Ed’s boss Debra as a solid villain the whole time. Every minute she was on screen she was insulting somebody and that was fun. She is not someone who will talk behind a person’s back, she’s just direct with her insults and I can appreciate that. It would have been nice if Jack could have talked back at least sometimes though instead of just taking it every time. It’s part of what makes him look bad here since he should have been saying something to his defense instead of just taking it each time. Cmon Jack you’ve gotta have more confidence than that.

Speaking of low confidence though, I thought Ed didn’t look good at all. Early on he challenges Jack to a contest and then when he loses the guy sulks immediately and goes to bed. Cmon you can’t act like that just because you thought that you would win. It makes you look like a sore loser. There’s also Jack’s friend but that guy is annoying since he squanders every opportunity. You’re supposed to feel bad for him but all of his issues are his own fault so how could you feel bad for him?

Towards the end of the film we ratchet up the tension a bit as two new characters come in that threaten to shake everything up but it’s more of a red herring. I thought that the idea of these characters was interesting but also brings up more questions about the premise. That’s why I would not have included them. Again I don’t think it’s bad that the film chose not to explore why these things were removed from history. We just have a scenario and you roll with it but adding a new element makes you think about the origin which is the problem. I feel like they were just there to make the scene rather tense but should have been cut out completely.

After all this is more of a comedic film first and foremost so it’s not like you needed a lot of danger. The film is at its best when it’s just having fun and the humor does land rather well most of the time. I thought the writing and script were solid as well. I’d even give the soundtrack a thumbs up since the little jingle that would play when he noticed something was off was pretty fun. Even just having one theme that stands out put this one way above most movies.

Overall, Yesterday is a good movie. I do feel like it left a whole lot of meat on the bone though and could have been better with a stronger pair of leads. Re-organize the romance a bit and remove the extra characters from the equation. Do all of that and this movie gets exponentially better in an instant. It’s still a movie I would recommend checking out though and I’d be down with more films like this where something happens and we see how the main character handles it. In a way this is like an Isekai even if the main character hasn’t left because he has knowledge that everyone else does not. It’s part of why the genre has gotten so big because it’s fun to imagine what you would do in that person’s place.

Overall 6/10

Asdivine Menace Review

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Whenever there is an Asdivine game that is a direct sequel it’s really cool to see. It’s not everyday that you get to see what happens after the heroes have saved the day. It has certainly happened like in Golden Sun but I would argue that it is still more on the rare side. Of course the whole Asdivine series is interconnected by the two goddesses from the first game and it’s cool to wonder where everyone is at these days. We do see a cameo of the cat but since Zack and the heroine took over the roles later on maybe this takes place early in the continuity. It could also be a multiverse setting. Either way that’s not important to this game but it’s fun to think about.

The game starts with Izayoi waking up after the 100 years slumber he had to take from the first game. He saved the universe though so things should be good but unfortunately that isn’t the case when he wakes up. His powers still haven’t fully returned for some reason and the Murk (Shadow energy that corrupts all) is still around. Then a goddess from another universe arrives and explains that things are getting worse across all of the dimensions. Izayoi decides to go and tells the other gods to watch over the universe while he’s gone. This writes out the cast from the first game so don’t expect them to do much aside from quick appearances here and there. Instead the main cast is this goddess, a shrine maiden, and a mysterious little girl who accompany Izayoi. He must check in on all 4 of the universes and take down the main villain.

It’s a pretty fun plot because this was also foreshadowed back in the first game. It had that creepy ending with a girl appearing and she’s the main villain here. Her backstory is also kinda tragic so you can see why she got this demented. Of course it’s another cast of “Sad story but you’re still evil bro” moment but I appreciate the game giving her such a tragic backstory where you can really see why she went the way that she did. It would have been tough to have been on her own for so long. The story evolves quite a lot as you play through it and we have a pretty big cast here. Izayoi is as oblivious as ever and one of the characters is also super oblivious in nature which makes for some fun dialogue. On the whole this game does lean more into the shipping than some of the other Asdivine games but the core story will tide you over. It’s a good premise here and the game takes advantage of the fact that you are playing as a super powerful god this time around. You aren’t going to back down when the villains show up and that’s how it should be.

Of course the whole “I’m depowered!” trope is a bit annoying since at full power this would all be trivial but you do understand why they went in this direction since ordinarily Izayoi could just wipe everyone out. My counter would just be to make the enemies all scale up to gods though. It would be interesting to just make this a big fight between gods of all sorts of dimensions. There is still a human villain here as well but he looks really bad the whole time. Yeah he is being suckered for a good portion of the game but he was suckered too easily and it doesn’t take away from what he was doing. The guy doesn’t have a lot of strength of heart and do I don’t cut him any slack here.

The graphics are really good here as expected. I really like the way that the cosmic realm looks and of course it has one of the best tracks in the game as well. You really feel like this is a big battle to end them all. The fights are also really tough and the game notches the difficulty level a few layers higher to really make the whole thing feel authentic. No expense is spared for this game and you appreciate that. All of the tracks are excellent as you would expect too so the game really has no weak points. You definitely feel like going for the true ending as a result. I went for that right away and even with all of my level ups it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. I’ll try getting the rest of the true endings at some point.

The length is fairly standard for an Asdivine game at around 15-20 hours. You shouldn’t have a problem really diving through the game and by the time you get the platinum as well we’re definitely looking at closer to 30 hours. It’s a fun experience all the way through and well worth the price. The gameplay is top tier as always with Asdivine. The game doesn’t have some of the quality of life features that the others have but it’s got the ones that matter like battle effects and reducing enemy encounters in the wild. Then when you want to grind you can increase the encounters.

The only mechanic I never really used was Unison here. You could merge magic attacks so you do them all in one turn but then the other characters did not get a turn so I never felt like it was worth it. To me it just seemed like using your normal attacks but with more steps so why would I really need to do that? I’m sure there is some benefit but I couldn’t really figure out what it is. Just focus on leveling up and buying all of the EXP upgrades. Do that and you should be good and ready to take on any challenger. Some bosses may still take you more than one attempt but that’s normal so fight hard and just keep pressing forward!

Overall, Asdivine Menace does a great job of following up Dios and it’s a blast to see the old cast again. It would have been nice if more of the old characters could have participated as well. Maybe in a third game we would get to see the extended cast of both games team up. That would be a blast and to this day I’m waiting for an Asdivine game where the protagonists of all the games get to team up. Now there would be a game for the ages! Trust me, it would be incredible and probably a 9 star game right out of the gate. The longer we wait on doing this, the more leads there will be to crossover so I suppose that’s a plus. I definitely recommend picking up this RPG.

Overall 8/10

Asdivine Cross Review

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Asdivine continues to churn out hit after hit and this is one of the better ones in a while. I thought the characters had a really good dynamic going for the most part and was one of the stronger dynamics since the original Asdivine Hearts which will still go down as one of the best RPGs of all time. This one isn’t quite ready to challenge the original of course but it’s still a very strong game all around. With classic end of the world stakes going on and all of the usual quality of life updates this is a game you don’t want to miss.

The game revolves around a thief named Harvey who is really good at what he does. So good that the son of the leader of the guild wants him out of the way and is always trying to get him captured. This time he succeeds but Harvey is broken out along with a girl who claims to be the princess of the kingdom. Problem is that a shapesifter/look-alike has taken her place so she is not currently wanted at the castle. Harvey will have to help her out since his thieves brigade’s motto is to always protect a lady at any cost. He’s not thrilled about this assignment but will do his best. Along the way the heroes will meet up with some allies and enemies as they get closer to unraveling a giant conspiracy. It wouldn’t be an Asdivine game without some cosmic threats on the way right?

Right off the bat we do have a lot of the usual quality of life features that make the games so much fun. You can reduce enemy encounters, turn off battle effects, and more to make walking around and the villain encounters more fun. Grinding up to the max level just doesn’t feel like a chore this way since you can keep on getting stronger and stronger. There are also a lot of different abilities from unity attacks to skills, magic, etc. So you can have fun building your character in a whole variety of ways until you find the one that really sticks with you. Then once you are strong enough you really feel like you can do anything. It’s one of those games where you really feel your strength as it increases which is nice.

The Asdivine series also has fun experimenting with a bunch of features to keep their games feeling different. For example one had a tree that you would raise to get stats every 8 hours, others have weapon merging to make them stronger, roulettes, combo attacks, etc. They’re always features that you don’t have to use of course but they make the game more balanced overall and I appreciate them being there. Trust me it’s a great thing to have. You’re only going to get one final smash during a battle so you have to decide if you use an offensive one that deals mega damage or a support type that restores everyone’s health and boosts their stats. Personally I really liked the support one for once because restoring everyone’s health is huge.

Grinding to get the levels also benefits you in slowly earning currency that can be used to buy online items or saved to use as an extra life mid battle. I recommend using it to buy all of the EXP upgrades and then after that it’s really up to you. I’ll typically buy other permanent upgrades but I recommend skipping on money since by the end it is inevitable that you will have more than you know what to do with. Don’t make the mistake of of wasting your coins on that since they are tough to come by. Extra lives are also super handy because even at around level 300 I was getting beat by some of the opponents. These games can really be challenging if you don’t have a plan up your sleeve.

So the story was really good and that’s one of the things I really enjoyed about the game. Sometimes these titles will go a bit too far in trying to make all of the characters very quirky and zany but this one was mainly keeping the characters feeling real. There is one that gets to be a bit too tsundere by the end which could make you shake your head a bit but otherwise the cast all interacted well. I enjoyed seeing the stakes get higher and higher as the game went on. I’m sure you will see some of the twists coming before the title ends but maybe not all of them. Either way it still makes for a fun adventure cover to cover.

The graphics here are also very solid. I always enjoy the illustrations used for each character portrait. It would be nice if the game ever went a bit farther to have some kind of cutscene during the game. That would just go a long way to making the game feel a bit more special. It’s not necessary of course but would be really effective since it hasn’t happened before. One of the highlights of the game is the soundtrack as expected. The Asdivine games always have a tremendous ost with a ton of really fast paced tunes and this one is no exception. The tracks really hit you with a lot of power in an instant and it works perfectly. I highly recommend looking up the tracks on Youtube when you finish the game.

The story is a good length at around 15 hours or so and then there is a good amount of replay value in trying to unlock all the endings. My only slight complaint here is that unlike most of the other games where you just keep reloading and fighting the main boss, for this one you actually have to play the whole game again on new game+ mode. I thought that was a bit odd and feels a little forced since it was never like that before. It’s not a big deal because you don’t have to play the game again but it seems like a way to extend the replay value a bit without needing to.

Overall, Asdivine Cross is definitely a great game. It’s an RPG that is a whole lot of fun to play. The aesthetic, combat, and soundtrack are all top notch. Kemco knows how to really get you invested into a game and they spare no expense on the fundamentals. In some ways the game will feel familiar and that just makes it even better since you know that all of the other games you’ve played in this style have been fantastic. So naturally that would be the case for this one as well. Hopefully it gets a sequel like some of the others have at some point because there is definitely a lot more you can do with this cast.

Overall 8/10

The Lego Movie 2 Review

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It’s time to dive into the Lego Movie game. I haven’t played a whole lot of Lego games. They’re fairly safe platformers that don’t try to be too ambitious and give you a good time but at the same time they never seem to really be able to match the big titles. There are so many of them that it could make for a good theme someday but as it is this would be the weakest one that I’ve played. It’s not bad by any means, but as I said it’s just rather basic.

The game starts off with the Lego world being invaded by all kinds of crazy enemies. Only the two main characters from the first movie can try to save the day since Batman and the rest of the heroes have all been scattered to different planets. They must be found and assembled before taking the fight to the villains but it won’t be easy. Do they really have what it takes this time? The game doesn’t go much more into the plot than that though and most of the story only appears very suddenly during the final cutscene which was an interesting move. I can tell you that I had not seen this before but ultimately it felt a bit lazy. They could have easily tried to throw in some more cinematics and a plot to this. The main character doesn’t even get to speak outside of grunts because there isn’t much to say although the heroine talks a lot.

Let me jump into my first main issue with the game which are the unskippable cutscenes. Right when you boot up the game you are greeted with a very long intro that can not be skipped and this happens every time you turn the game on. Then during the game whenever there is a tutorial you have to listen to a full speech and there are a lot of tutorials. This is an easy quality of life miss for the game since in this day and age there should never be so many moments that are unskippable. You should always give the player some way to get around that because if you don’t then that’s just going to be annoying.

It was a rough first impression. When it comes to the gameplay I can’t say that I have very many issues though. You use the legos to create objects and move through the stage. It’s all rather easy to understand and there are less characters with specific abilities than in other Lego games so that helps in keeping track of things. There are even some boss fights here which can be fun as you have to create specific objects to defeat them. They don’t always explain everything so get ready for some guessing but on the whole it’s handled well. I would have liked more bosses though.

The game is very short. You should be able to beat it in a few hours, maybe 4-5. There is some replay value in trying to get the Platinum trophy though. I’m not sure exactly what that entails just yet but I think I’m going to aim for that one. It seems like it would be a fun little thing to do that wouldn’t take very long. It does help to make the game a bit more worth it and the price is fairly low so you also have that to consider. If this was full price then I would be a little harsher but for the price it’s a decent value.

It’s hard to really gauge the graphics since the Lego style will never look amazing or anything like that but it’s clear enough. I was able to always know what was going on and keep moving from there. The soundtrack is more on the generic side and I don’t think that you will really love any of the tracks or even remember them to be honest. It’s very by the numbers in that respect and you can tell that the game is just playing it safe on every turn. Nothing wrong with that but you’ll never be a great game by doing that. You have to go a little farther and try something dynamic.

That sums up the game in a nutshell. You’ll have a good amount of fun the whole time if you just want a fun little platformer to play but there are so many better ones out there that you will never quite feel like this one is a title you would search out. For some things the game does well, I like the map/compass. It always tells you where you should be going and I appreciate that. The collectibles are clearly labeled and all of the menus are very easy to understand. You could put this game down for years and I bet you would still understand exactly what was going on after that. This is absolutely one of those games and some of the level designs are also decent. I actually liked the DC world where it’s just a bunch of houses and roads. It felt like something out of a classic Gamecube game which was great but other levels were more on the generic side.

Overall, The Lego Movie 2 is a decent game but it just doesn’t do anything special enough for me to call it very good. It ends up being stuck right on the edge instead of really going anywhere. If you’re looking for a little game to keep you entertained then you can’t go wrong here. That being said, you can do better so keep that in mind. Buying one of the main Lego games like Batman or Star Wars would also end up giving you a lot more content but hey maybe you should go and check them all out. The prices for the Lego games actually aren’t that bad nowadays.

Overall 6/10

Anguirus vs Bullseye

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Suggested by Destroyer Bullseye’s power is all about being lethal so I can definitely see how you can make a case for him taking the win here. That said, I don’t think his usual equipment would be able to pierce Anguirus. You can have the best aim in the world but if your weapons are found to be lacking then that’s it. There just isn’t a whole lot you can do. Bullseye isn’t much without his tricks and that’s going to be clear in the match. Anguirus wins.

Anguirus vs Jason Voorhees

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Suggested by Destroyer Jason has a lot of durability and never really wants to go down but at the same time I think he will stay down here. Anguirus is much larger and more powerful than Jason. It’s not a stretch to say that he basically just has to fall on the guy and that would be game over. There just isn’t a whole lot that Jason could really do to stop him at that point. Anguirus is just much too powerful. Jason won’t be able to damage him enough to stand a chance. Anguirus wins.

Ice Man vs Nana

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Suggested by Destroyer Nana won’t fare much better than Popo here. She is still a reasonably agile fighter but what use is that against someone like Ice Man? Ice Man still has the superior ice attacks and is more of an overall fighter. He can throw ice shards or just freeze Nana and there wouldn’t be much that she could do to counter such attacks. That is why she would go down in the end because you just can’t defend against such powerful moves. Ice Man wins.

Ice Man vs Popo

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Suggested by Destroyer Popo has his hammer and a lot of hard hitting hits but ultimately they aren’t going to do a whole lot against Ice Man. Ice Man can freeze anything that comes his way and that’s when Popo will really be at a disadvantage. Popo isn’t super fast so getting around Ice Man’s attacks isn’t really an option. This is why he’s doomed in this matchup. Ice Man wins.

Rubberband Man vs Raphael

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Suggested by Destroyer I’ve never been too impressed with the Rubberband Man. Yeah I know that may sound a bit crazy but hear me out on that. He doesn’t have the amount of super strength or speed to really contend with Raphael for long. Raphael is a better close quarters fighter and with his twin sai he can deal a lot of damage in a short amount of time. The Rubberband man will be outmaneuvered at every turn and that’s what is going to cost him here. Trying to wrap Raphael up would be a mistake since that would put him within cutting range. Raphael win.

Takamiya vs Berserker

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Suggested by Sonic This is a pretty close battle without a doubt but I think Takamiya has the edge here. He was really able to give Oga a good fight and has the speed needed to keep Berserker at bay. Berserker is super strong but doesn’t have nearly the same level of fighting ability as Takamiya and so that would be his downfall here. Takamiya also has his energy attacks which likely won’t deal a ton of damage to Berserker but every bit helps. Ultimately he has the tools to claim victory here. Takamiya wins.