Genshin

Genshin was the main game I played this month; it’s just an easy game to turn on and waste time on. Most of my time on it was spent towards developing my characters for Spiral Abyss, which is still a work in progress due to the fact that I have more units that I’m leveling now. This month’s banner gave me quite a few new units that I’m dedicating resources to because they’re fun and fill a need for my roster.

  • First and foremost, I got this month’s banner character, Eula. Eula is the physical DPS of Genshin. If you wanna make big white numbers pop up on the screen, she’s your girl. Eula was an easy choice to go for since I already had artifacts that would go nicely with her since she occupies the same space as Razor, being a physical damage oriented claymore user. Getting her also frees me up to let my Razor pivot a little bit towards a build that takes more advantage of his Electro element.
  • Thoma was a strong pickup for me in my quest to get Eula. He’s a pyro shielder who shines best in Burgeon teams that take advantage of his shield to protect the team from the Burgeon self-damage and the steady pyro application from his burst that triggers said Burgeon reactions.
  • Layla was given out free in the event this month, giving me a strong cryo shield character that slots in basically anywhere, but especially nice with Eula & Razor, helping the former’s energy needs and helping the latter trigger the Superconduct reaction.
  • Kujou Sara is a character I got without really aiming for, but she has my favorite aesthatic in the whole game, so I was excited to pull her. She mainly functions as a buffer, so she still slots in nicely with my teams without too much of a hassle.
  • Keqing is who I lost the initial Eula 50/50 to, but she was probably the best unit I could’ve lost it to. She works well with my dendro units in Aggravate teams.
  • Fischl was a godlike pickup since she’s great for Eula teams and Aggravate teams. Constant, powerful Electro damage from off-field is great.
  • Rosaria, in addition to being my waifu, is just a strong damage dealer who has the unique ability to buff her teammate’s crit rate. She goes just about anywhere I need damage, so she’s a great pickup.

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DNF

DNF Duel finally got its big patch, and it’s quite a doozy. Mechanic-wise, the biggest thing this patch introduced were Indomitable Spirit and the ability to roll backwrds.

Indomitable Spirit has some very interesting implications for offense and defense. Being able to give yourself white health, which unlocks what is essentially this game’s version of a Roman Cancel from GG, is stupidly powerful. It also affects the blockstun and pushback of moves being guarded, which opens up some punishes on both sides - being closer and potentially reducing the blockstun of some moves can lead to punish opportunities, but they gave everyone the ability to cancel some normals into throw, which can punish this use of ID.

Backroll is very straightforward - the game now essentially has an invincible backdash that’s not a backdash. This has done a lot to reduce midscreen okizeme situations since forward roll could be caught easier midscreen should the player on offense be playing around it, mainly with safejumps.

They did add a cube system that lets players choose different types of awakening buffs, but it’s not a lot to write home about. Some are hits, some are misses.

85

I started back listening/watching the 85 South Show, and that’s gotta be one of the best decisions I’ve made recently. Consistently funny show that’s just always a good time. Karlous, Chico, and DC are a trip.

I’m still of the opinion that DC is the weakest comedian of the trio, especially during the actual shows, but he’s a lot more my speed in the podcasts. He still ain’t as funny as Chico or Karlous, but he’s way more tolerable in the podcast setting than he is in the live shows.

Karlous & Chico are just amazing. They regularly bring some sense and perspective, but still bring all the laughs I could ever ask for.

Shin Kamen Rider & They Cloned Tyrone

I saw two movies this month that have both staked a claim for “Favorite Movie” for me: Shin Kamen Rider & They Cloned Tyrone.

I’d already seen Shin Godzilla & Shin Ultraman in addition to be a huge Kamen Rider fan, so I knew what I was getting into with Shin Kamen Rider. Like the other two Shin movies, it moves really fast, although it has more of a “structure” here since they lay out early on that they want to defeat Shocker’s top officers. After Hongo’s freed from captivity in the very beginning of the movie, we spend the rest of the 2-hour runtime learning about him, Ruriko, and later, Ichimonji as they fight Shocker’s best.

This movie is really good, man. The performances are really strong, and the characters here are really enjoyable, even if they’re more reserved than your normal action movie heroes. Especially as a Kamen Rider fan, it hits all the right notes. My only complaint from this whole experience is that the Double Riders vs the Shocker Riders fight in the tunnel was way too damn dark. It was legit hard to make things out in that fight. Other than than, movie’s perfectly fine.

They Cloned Tyrone is probably my new favorite movie, straight up. It reminds me a lot of Atlanta in that I’m following this group of Black people just experience this looney and surreal ass shit. Granted, it’s a lot more out-there than Atlanta since this is dealing with actual cloning and goverment conspiracies, but you get me.

Everybody in this movie was in their bag. John Boyega once again manages to make me forget he’s British, Jamie Foxx has the best lines in the whole movie, and Teyonah Parris does a great job playing Sane moral compass of their little trio.

The humor in this movie is wonderful, a good chunk of it being from Foxx’s character Slick Charles, a down-on-his-luck pimp. Whether it’s complaining baout his lack of OJ, tasting drugs in places he shouldn’t, or deilvering one-liners, he had me laughing at just the right times the whole movie. John and teyonah are also hilarious in their jobs as his Straight Men.

My favorite thing about this movie on my first watch was just how unpredictable it felt. There are some story beats I called out the moment Fontaine is cloned for the first time in-film, but I spent a good amount of time during my watch wondering just wtf they could do and how. ANd I don’t feel like this tension will completely go away on later rewatches. Good tension sticks, even when the outcome is known.

Actually, I gotta scratch that. My favorite thing about this movie was definitely the characters. The main trio all become lovable in their own ways. I can’t relate to Fontaine too much, him being a hardened drug dealer and all, but I can understand him plenty. His reaction to learning he’s being cloned is very natural, and what he learns halfway through the film really made me feel for him. Slick Charles is just one of the funniest characters to be on screen; it’s really not hard to like a guy played by Jamie Foxx, man. Yo-Yo is moral compass of the group, and she’s showing her heart the entire time.

Both of these movies are great.