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Pokemon Music Covers: Pokestir

I think I have mentioned it a few times here that I love hearing covers of video game music. And I even posted a few Pokemon focused ones, and generally I am pretty pleased. However, I was surfing through Spotify one day and stumbled upon a cover of the Kanto Trainer Battle theme and I was instantly blown away. The artists name is Pokestir and I've been listening to his stuff for the past few days now. It's all quality, and definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of Pokemon music and especially Pokemon music covers. Here's a few that I love:

Kanto Trainer Battle


Hoenn Elite Four


Hoenn Gym Leader

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Pokemon Music Covers: Braxton Burks

Bandcamp: https://braxtonburks.bandcamp.com/

I'm going to talk about another artist that does Pokemon music, and I think I have talked about it before, but it's Braxton Burks. Instead of me telling you what kind of versions he does, I'll just let you listen. Here's a few of the tracks that I really like but honestly any of them are good:

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Pokemon Music Covers: Pokemon Theme Song

I haven't had much of a chance this month to talk about the main theme song for the Pokemon anime, but god damn it is good. And yes, there have been many different kinds of covers made for it, however nothing will ever touch the original as far as I'm concerned.



Covers aren't bad though. Give some a listen:

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Collecting Stuff: Pokemon

I enjoy collecting things whether it be vinyl, VHS tapes, video games. Though I feel a little deja vu as I think I have mentioned this before in a previous theme month. Well, anyway, yeah I like collecting things. And one of those things is Pokemon items. Whether it be posters, cards, again video games, and whatever else. I try to collect many different kinds of things so that as a whole, I have mini collections of everything I like. However, I was not anticipating ever having this particular item in my collection again, and the way I acquired it is quite the neat story. We're here to talk about this bad boy:



If I remember correctly, I believe I had one of these as a kid, but at some point in time had lost it. And although I had never really planned on looking for another one, my brother had been at a flea market and noticed people were selling Pokemon items. He had picked up a copy of Pokemon Red and Pokemon Silver and some Pokemon cards. Keeping in mind I had no idea he was even looking for stuff for me. Though then he said he had one more item but he wanted it to be more of a surprise. During this same time, he showed me the Poke Ball box and although it was empty, he then showed me the actual item and I was stoked. Again, not even thinking for a second that he had gotten this for me in particular, but he did. And it has been a part of my collection for a while now.

I think that's honestly one of the coolest aspects of Pokemon is that even if you aren't as interested in the games as you were as a kid, there are still tons of ways to show your love of Pokemon by collecting other things. And I understand the slight irony of collecting things of a topic that revolves around collecting Pokemon. I getcha. I think the little toys and figures like the one I posted above are still cool enough to this day to look out for. And I also know that there are two more of these, of which they are different Pokemon. But for the moment, I have the Pikachu one. And I love it.

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Important note: There will be an updated post on Star Wars: Jedi Survivor once I have played it. These are my half baked initial thoughts before release

We are about a week away from being able to play Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, and lemme tell ya, I am excited. I have done my absolute best to stay away from any big spoilers or big reveals as far as gameplay etc are concerned, but god damn, I am really looking forward to this. I originally pre-ordered Jedi Fallen Order back when that one came out, and I have since beaten that game twice. Once on PS4, and once on Xbox. I will say that my experience the second time through was better not only because I knew what I was supposed to do, but also the game just runs better as a result of being on better hardware. Not as many framey issues etc. Which is nice.

Jedi Fallen Order in my opinion is still a really good game and a great introduction to this series, and when they had announced that the sequel was coming out, I was stoked. It's crazy to think that again, we are literally a week away from being able to play it.

The few things I've noticed so far that I am very excited for is the fact that not only does the combat look like it's improved, but literally every aspect of the game itself looks better than it's predecessor while also not doing too much to separate it from its predecessor. I don't necessarily think we're looking at anything mindblowing or groundbreaking, but simply the hype is real for single player Star Wars games, and Respawn is doing a damn fine job at it.

I also did lie a little bit when I said that I have stayed away from anything that gives the game away because let's face it, I can't help myself. I did check out this trailer and if this doesn't get you excited about jumping into this game, I don't know what will.

I will be sure to post my thoughts on this once the game actually comes out and I have had my time with it. But for now, just enjoy this trailer:

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On top of Star Wars: Jedi Survivor closely making it's debut, I am also really excited for the sequel to one of if not my favorite game of all time. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom looks seriously amazing, and I am really liking where Nintendo is taking The Legend of Zelda as a whole. Breath of the Wild was not just good, it was breathtakingly good. So many things you can do to make the game basically last forever, and I am excited for the fact that we basically get to run around in that same field, though things have certainly changed.

I already like the fact that Tears of the Kingdom while still in the same field as Breath of the Wild, enough things seem to be different about it that will make this feel like its own experience as opposed to just a simple improvement. There's so much going on in the final trailer that they released that it's virtually impossible to not be excited. New powerups to learn, new areas to traverse, new possible dungeons that will certainly be an improvement from its predecessor. As much as I liked the shrines, I think we definitely are in need of some more Zelda like dungeons and temples that we saw in Ocarina of Time and even Wind Waker. We'll see if that actually comes to fruition, but who knows. Nobody does at the moment.

Much like Jedi Survivor as well, I will be talking about this game more in depth once the game actually comes out, but I am also very excited for this as I have preordered both the game and the special edition Nintendo Switch. So I'm basically ready to go other than the fact that the game simply isn't out yet.

Like the last post as well, here's the trailer to get you excited. I still think Breath of the Wild has one of the best video game trailers of all time, but this definitely takes 2nd place:

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Dead Island II - First Impressions

I'll just cut to the chase. If you're not a big fan of zombie survival games or weren't really all that impressed with the previous Dead Island, this game may not be in your wheel house. However, if you're able to put that aside and realize that this game is just meant to be sort of a zombie killing grind fest, well this game will fit your splendidly. Now don't let that confuse you and make you think that I dislike the game, quite the contrary. I spent my entire weekend playing Dead Island II and whether I was just simply running around killing zombies, or doing the main quest, or doing the side quests, it was a good and satisfying time.

The main thing that would be the deal breaker for this type of game would definitely be the combat, and lemme tell ya, being able to jump and drop kick the zombies in the head while dealing massive amounts of crit damage and killing them in one hit will never not be exciting. It's extremely satisfying and as you level up, you gain more skills to better take down your foes. However, even with the satisfying nature of the jump kicking, the weapons is really where the combat shines. Whether you're using a modded golf club, or a pipe that you found sitting on the ground, the impact that you feel when using said weapons to take down zombies is so incredibly satisfying that it's almost addicting. Almost. And whether you're using your kicks or your weapons, you're sure to have a good time with taking zombies out because there's certainly a lot of them to take down.

As far as story goes, it seems to me so far that you're basically working to get enough people together to take on what seems to be a zombie apocalypse in los angeles, and you just have to do whatever you can to help as many people as you can while also making sure you survive. Which isn't always guaranteed. Though I do have to give credit to how forgiving the death is in this game, and as it should be since you can certainly die a lot in the early parts of the game as you sort of get your feel for it. You really don't lose much if any progress, and in fact, the zombies that you die from don't automatically heal themselves, so you can just run back in and finish the job. This proved to be especially useful when fighting elite enemies or bosses. Even when you die, it's only a relatively small amount of time before you can get back into the action and "finish the job" so to speak. Combat is definitely more enjoyable than the quest lines but they're also fun to do as they aren't all really the same. The characters have personality so it is certainly worth going around and doing the side quests in hopes that the people providing them will come back to your home base.

Graphically this game is quite good. I'm playing on Xbox Series S and while there have been a few times in the early game where I noticed it being a little choppy, it seems to have smoothed out since then, and I am currently level 9. So, it looks like the game stutters a little bit but it smooths out. I honestly haven't had any issues since little bit that I mentioned before. And that could've also been simply that the game wasn't finished installing yet so that could have been causing it. I don't know other consoles and how they are performing but for Xbox Series S, the game runs really well. And as it should given that you're going to be doing many things at once sometimes.

Dead Island II is a really good game to be playing while I'm waiting on other games to come out. Seeing as Star Wars: Jedi Survivor will be releasing at the end of this week, a grindy zombie killing RPG is exactly what I needed to kill the time until then. I don't know if I will finish the game in its entirety, and maybe I'll just finish the main quest and call it good. But I'm enjoying it a lot. And that's more than I could say out of the 2 hours I got in Dead Island before I put it down, uninstalled it and never touched it again. Dead Island II is everything it needs to be - an improvement of the first one. Again though, if you're not really looking for a zombie survival game or aren't really a fan of the genre in general, I wouldn't recommend. If you are willing to put that aside and just have a good time, I would recommend it. a 70$ price tag is a bit steep though and will probably turn people away.

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - First Impressions

Just a few things to get out of the way before I dive in: There will be a full review of Jedi Survivor once I have finished the game, this post is just my first impressions of the few hours of gameplay that I have right now. Some of these thoughts could change, though I don't really see that happening. If anything, the points will just be made stronger as I go along. As well, this post will contain minor spoilers. So read on if you like but just know that you will be spoiled on the first part of the game. Other than that, let's get on with it:

So, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, what is this game? Well, simple answer is that it's the sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The more in depth answer would be that it's the exactly the kind of sequel it needs to be without losing what makes its predecessor great. In other words, this is a shining example of what makes a great sequel, and keep in mind I'm saying this solely based on the first few hours of the game. It starts you off further along in Cal's adventure, though this time you find yourself captured on Coruscant, or so you think you are captured. Until you are brought in front of a senator who then takes your lightsaber from the guard that transported you to him. However, you quickly then find out that this was all a ploy and even the guards that transported you to the senator were in on it. You then take possession of your lightsaber again and off you go. Right off the bat, you can already tell that both the movement of Cal and the combat have been massively improved from the first game. The entire starting area of Coruscant is basically built around giving you a quick overview of the skills you already acquired from the first game, and putting them to use to find other skills that make platforming around the game even more enjoyable. Quick shoutout to the grapple, which so far has proven to be a really cool ability to use for platforming. Makes the platforming element of the game even stronger than the first game. Which again, is what a sequel is intended to do. Not take away from what the predecessor did well, but instead making them stronger while making the game as a whole stronger.

As far as graphics and performance go, keep in mind that I'm playing this on Xbox Series S, but you can immediately tell that this game was built to work well on next gen consoles. I've been hearing people talking about the performance issues they are having on the PC versions, and while that does suck to hear, you can tell that these games are meant to be played on hardware that can support next gen graphics. In my experience, the game looks and feels beautiful and there have been several screenshot moments and I've only just finished the starting planet of Coruscant.

Coruscant by the way is incredible. You really feel like you're in the heart of a city with the landscapes of skyscrapers and speeders flying by constantly. It makes the entire environment feel alive and makes it even more enticing to traverse through. I hope this stays true for the planets ahead, but I have yet to see much after the starting point, so that remains to be seen.

The combat like I mentioned before has been massively improved from the first game while still maintaining what made the combat great in the first game. This time you have access to different stances that give you different move sets depending on which stance you choose. At the current moment, I've only unlocked one extra stance on top of the two default ones that you start with, those being single and double bladed lightsabers. The new stance I got allows you to duel wield lightsabers which again, gives you a completely different move set that works with the duel wield respectively. The other stances have other move sets which keeps combat fresh and feeling tighter than ever. I always felt that the combat in Jedi: Fallen Order had more potential, and it's certainly met if not exceeded in this sequel. Again, keeping in mind that I have barely scratched the surface of the combat. But the starting area gives you many opportunities to get warmed up with it and I have already taken down two bosses early on, so you get warmed up pretty quick.

As a side note, Cal Kestis truly shines in this game already, and I'm excited to see where this adventure takes him. I'd really like to see a TV show made for this character, though I think these games are doing a really good job of setting up his narrative and making him a truly memorable character in the Star Wars universe.

I'm excited to continue my time with this game since I stopped playing once I got to the next planet, so there's still and entire game for me to experience and subsequently enjoy. So far though, all signs are pointing toward a positive experience overall. And on top of that, the reviews have been pretty good aside from the negative reviews stemming from poor performance on the PC version. Hopefully that gets fixed because this is a game people will certainly want to experience. Having played Jedi: Fallen Order twice, I would highly recommend playing both as this is just a really strong continuation of the first game, and the context will definitely help.

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (Screenshots) Pt. 1

On top of enjoying the hell out of the little time I've had with Jedi Survivor so far, I've managed to get a few screenshots that sort of blew me away the first time I saw them in game. Keep in mind I had to size these down, but the game looks absolutely beautiful both during gameplay and during cutscenes. It's sort of like watching a movie. I'm sure I'll have many screenshots to show over time but these are the two I have right now:


This comes from the cutscene between leaving hyperdrive and landing on the next planet.


This image is the first taste of the second planet though I have not explored the planet much further than this point, so the rest is yet to be seen.