Time to get messy with it. Here on the Cosmia blog we’ve talked about a lot of anime-adjacent media, but I’ve never published a blog directly about an anime before. With this blog post I’m changing that. For a somewhat under the radar show from 2017 called Anonymous Noise. Why this show? Well… basically I’m participating in a sort of “you watch this thing and I watch that thing” sort of deal, and I decided to put my thoughts on a show I watched for it in this blog so here we are. I like music, I like complicated drama, and I often enjoy romance shows, so this one seemed promising. However, I also knew going into it that it’s not exactly highly acclaimed. So does this show hit the right notes or should it have stayed in the demo? As per usual I don’t have a short answer to that question. Truth is I’ve got mixed feelings about it. So if you’re interested I’m going to spend the rest of this blog unpacking my diverging thoughts on the matter.
On August 2nd, 2022 the Cosmia blog was created. It was the summer between my first and second year of grad school. I’m not going to get into my whole story on here, but that was a rough time for me. In retrospect it was also a turning point in my life. Starting this blog was part of that shift. I was getting my Master’s for Computer Science at the time. There wasn’t much writing involved with that program. I realized I missed doing it, and I knew my program wasn’t going to provide much in the way of creative outlet. As such, I took it upon myself to find that outlet elsewhere. So I bought this domain and it’s been a part of my life ever since. If you’re familiar with my older works you may recall that one of the first blogs I ever wrote was about Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. The first ever published Game Trade Review.
To be clear, the Game Trade existed before the Cosmia blog did. A certain Spartan and I started it while we were in college because I wanted him to try Persona 5 and he only agreed to it if I tried out the Kingdom Hearts trilogy. I guess Kingdom Hearts isn’t going to be a trilogy much longer but that’s beside the point. Any ways, we originally gave our thoughts on our respective games via lengthy text exchanges. However, once I started this blog it seemed like a perfect platform to host the reviews. Every single Game Trade since then has been published on here. You can check them all out using this link if you like. The only real downside to this approach is that it takes a hell of a lot longer to draft these full fledged reviews than the text exchanges we used to do. But honestly, it’s a tradeoff I’m happy to make. I don’t know if you care about any of this backstory, but I hope you understand why I consider it significant. Almost 4 years after my first Cosmia blog Game Trade Review comes one that’s directly related to it. It’s time to talk about Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.
One slightly confusing thing about this game is that it was released before Blazing Blade but the story actually takes place after it. In Binding Blade the protagonist is Roy, a guy I recognize quite well from all the damn Smash Bros Ultimate matches I’ve played against him. He’s also the son of Eliwood, the main lord of Blazing Blade. Many other characters in this game have family connections to the Blazing Blade cast as well. There are also certain characters you can use in both. From what I gather those characters conveniently get incapacitated rather than killed in Blazing Blade so as not to break the space-time continuum. Awfully thoughtful of them.
Naturally you’ll see me referencng Blazing Blade throughout this blog, though I’ll make sure I’m not just doing that. This is not a “Binding Blade vs Blazing Blade” review, it’s a Binding Blade review… coming from a guy who loved the fuck out of Blazing Blade. I also have to think about this game on its own merit, and the fact that this game came first. Blazing Blade had the benefit of being able to reuse assets and a whole lot of other building blocks that Binding Blade set up. At bare minimum I have to respect that regardless of what I think about this game. And that’s certainly not the only thing I respect about this game. Though I’m not going to spend this blog saying I loved every single thing about it either. Just got to get into it and parse it all.
In the off chance you were wondering what I’ve been up to since my last blog post, here’s part of your answer.
Yep, I’ve been been doing the incredibly important task known as Gaming. But Cosmia, you may object, the date says 2024. It’s 2026 now! Right you are if you caught that. The truth is I originally wrote this blog a couple summers ago, but I decided to bring it back from the dead. The other post I’m working on will take a while, and reworking this one takes… y’know, less long. Also considering the recent breakout of war in the Middle East, this game seems increasingly relevant.
To be clear, gaming is not the only thing I’ve been up to, but I’m not going to get into that here. I’ve got my work, I’ve got my goals, I’ve got my stretch goals, and I’ve got my elaborate distractions. The way I balance all of these needs work, but I don’t consider the distractions worthless. You can get some insight from them. Like I did with Unicorn Overlord. It is not common for me to spend this much time on any one game. I would never stick with it this long if I didn’t enjoy it substantially. I didn’t love everything about it, but I did love a lot of it. I’m fond of tactical RPGs and Unicorn Overlord delivered. I’ve got quite a few thoughts built up over that playtime, so here’s where I’m putting them out. So read on if you’d like to see that. Be warned, there will be spoilers.
Every journey has a destination, and what one would encounter on the way is entirely up to chance. When I started this set of trades with Mr. Cosmia, I did so with noble (albeit) selfish reasons. Back then, I wasn’t as connected with people who shared my interests as I am now, and just wanted to share what I thought was a good game series. And on some level, I believe Mr. Cosmia thought the same. But then FromSoft games started getting into the mix, beginning with Bloodborne.
Full disclosure for those expecting a lighthearted review that will praise this game and the developers who made it a reality: you are going to be sorely disappointed for I have made it no secret of my animus towards these types of games. Dark Souls was the progenitor of the souls-like genre, games that put you in a world with little resources and expect you to conquer enemies that can shred your health bar in seconds if you’re not careful, and bosses with often very cheap tactics that can kill you even faster. They are the definition of “Get gud” games, where you are expected to win by learning patterns, adapting to situations and overcoming obstacles after several attempts. Occassionally, you are thrown a bone by the developers, be it new weapons, upgrades to your limited healing item or other things to “help” you. Often, the games employ alternate paths (a closed gate for example) near where you enter the enemy infested area. Pulling a switch on the other side of the gate will open it, and allow you to avoid the enemies you had to get through to get to it. But make no mistake, for you’re still feeble enough that the random dog can take you out if you’re not careful.
These games are a popular pastime for those who enjoy a hard challenge, but I am not one of those people. If I wanted Mr. Cosmia to try a lengthy game, 5/10 times a FromSoftware game was going to be given in exchange and many days of suffering would endure. But ultimately, I prevailed thanks to the leniency of Mr. Cosmia, who didn’t expect me to platinum them and get every ending. “Just get to the end” was the aim of the game, and that’s the bar that I set out for. But I then began to realize that FromSoftware is just going to keep pumping out harder and harder games that I’d inevitably have to play in the trade. So I did what I always do, I bargained. I’d play whatever FromSoftware game of Mr. Cosmia’s choosing, and that would be the final one eligible for the trade. After I finished it following the traditional checklist and required bosses, that would remove any souls-like game from being elligible in the future of the trade. It was down to either Elden Ring or Sekiro, and I ultimately went down the latter option. So here we go, the one for all the marbles. This round of the game trade I will be taking on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for the PS4.
It’s that time again where I make a certain Spartan play a game and then he makes me play a game and then we both write lengthy blog posts ranting about our respective games. This time around I sent him on a brutal shinobi quest in Sekiro, and he wanted to make sure I struggled through something as well. His solution? The widely acclaimed indie roguelike based on Greek mythology known as Hades. Climbing out of Greek-Hell That Isn’t Actually Hell but Still Looks and Acts Hellish at Times is tough work y’know?
This situation reminds me of a certain video I’ve seen. It involves two women engaged in particular activities. One woman acts frustrated and proclaims, “I’m trying to punish you, you’re not supposed to like it!” The other woman continues to quietly oblige, not looking particularly bothered.
Usually I keep mentions of my kinks to a minimum in these reviews, but this game’s not entirely unrelated. Particularly this idea of a punishment that’s enjoyed. It gets at the heart of what makes a game like this work. So unlike the other woman, I have quite a bit to say about my purported punishment. A whole review’s worth.
Spartan: Welcome to the Cosmia blog’s first ever manga discussion, I’m Spartan and joining me is the host of the blog, Mr. Cosmia.
Today we’re reviewing the first two volumes of Petshop of Horrors by Matsuri Akino.
Cosmia: That creature he’s holding doesn’t show up until Volume 2. False advertising smh
Cosmia: Is it the first ever manga discussion? Well, I guess it’s the first one that’s a group act.
S: Now that you mention it, I guess it is.
So the basic synopsis of nearly every chapter involves Count D, a mysterious peddler of pets giving people companions, telling them very specific rules on what they need to do to keep the pet (and themselves) alive, and more often than not they don’t, shenanigans ensue.
C: Count D’s pet shop is run in Chinatown. Which Chinatown? IDK probably the New York one.
S: Oh it’s definitely the New York. Most of the buildings line up with the NYC. Actually wait, I’m wrong, it’s in Los Angeles.
C: I guess that makes more sense in a way. So it’s a Japanese manga in an American setting with a Chinese main character. A rather international setup you don’t see that often from Japanese media.
S: Indeed, it is rather refreshing. Also uses the setting to its advantage with the multi ethnic nature of the US to its advantage.
C: Pretty much all of the customers have been pretty damn white as far as I can tell so far, but yeah, theoretically it could.
S: They have? *fervently checks through chapters* son of a gun they have been!
Hello folks welcome and/or welcome back to the Game Trade Reviews. Where I play a game upon a certain Spartan’s request in exchange for making them play one of my things and then we both yap about it. The Game Trade Reviews have been going on for quite some time, predating this whole ass blog’s existence. I could not tell you how many we’ve done total, but I can say this marks the 5th one I’ve done for this website. 5 is a special-ish number. So for such a special-ish number let’s talk about a series near and dear to my heart: Pokemon.
I’ve been a fan of Pokemon for a long ass time. I still remember when I got my hands on Pokemon Sapphire for the Game Boy Advance when I was like 4 or some shit. I couldn’t even read yet but I was still enthralled. I was so into it that my parents regretted giving it to me and took my whole Game Boy away. It was a losing battle.
Pokemon was very much my shit in elementary school, still a solid interest in middle school, and it’s a big part of how I bonded with my closest friends from high school. Including a certain Spartan I do these reviews with. Would the Game Trade Review exist at all without Pokemon? Perhaps not. So it’s only fitting that a Pokemon game get featured in it. But wait a second, why is this game part of the Game Trade? If I love Pokemon so much wouldn’t I want to play this game unprompted without ever needing it featured in a trade? Well… there is a reason. Stay tuned and I’ll explain all about that, and how my experience went with this whole ass game. I’ll also be covering the Teal Mask and Indigo Disk DLC. So much shit to talk about yeesh. Welp, let’s get into it.
‘hoy folks, Spartan here with another exciting continuation of the much tolerated game trade, where me and blog owner Cosmia recommend games for each other to play and write a review on them. It’s been a while since the last one, so I hope that I’m able to evade another FromSoft game….
An Atlus game eh? yeah, I can do this! they were partly responsible for the first ever game trade (the fated Kingdom Hearts X Persona 5 trade) that started all of this. I also expect to hear a lot of familiar VAs in this one from previous ventures that Mr. Cosmia might not be familiar with.
Hoi folks! Spartan here with yet another review for the time honored Game Trade, where Mr. Cosmia gives me something to play/review and vice versa. Let’s see what we’ve got today, really hoping it isn’t a FromSoft game…….
Oh, Night in the Woods, perfect! I live to see another day without having to put up with Dark Souls level difficulty of combat. I remember reading about this in a GameInformer magazine once and how it tackles a college dropout returning to a small town where not much goes on. I didn’t drop out of college but I live in a small town so this will be a refreshing perspective to me.
If I were to create a tier list of animals cats and harp seals would go straight to S tier. Incidentally I’d probably put walruses in the A or B tier, they’re cool too. Just my luck that this iteration of the Game Trade gives some of my favorite animals the spotlight. Welcome or welcome back to the Game Trade Reviews, where a certain Spartan and I each play a video game the other likes and then writes a whole ass blog post about it. This time around I’m doing something a bit different. Some time ago before we conducted these reviews in blog form I took on A Hat in Time, an indie platformer full of quirks. I am not here to rehash my thoughts on the full game. It’s a good game, would recommend. There. Instead, I am simply here to comment on the additional chapters provided by DLC: Seal the Deal and Nyakuza Metro.
