The Other Side of the Fourth Wall

In video games, like with other works of fiction, making a good first impression on readers is of the utmost importance. Fallout is one series that has a variety of approaches, and I will compare each of them here. This will not include spinoffs like Tactics, Brotherhood of Steel, Shelter or 76; only the numbered installments and New Vegas. Fallout: The Vault 13 Caves There's not much to talk about here. It's basically a large cave full of rats and a few miscellaneous items. The rats are fairly easy to defeat as long as you tagged one of your skills that's related to your starting weapons- Unarmed, Melee Weapons(your knife), or Guns(your 10mm pistol). The beginning is a bit slow-paced and doesn't do much to teach you the mechanics, but it's not too bad to get through. If I have a complaint, it's that the point at which you emerge into the outside world is rather underwhelming. Once you reach the end of the cavern, in-game text describes the feeling of seeing sun

A lot of people criticize Reki Kawahara's writing, particularly Sword Art Online, for a variety of reasons. Some criticisms are fair, while others are less so, but I've found that many people don't give him enough credit as a writer. I will look at a scene from Volume 5 of Sword Art Online's light novels, in which Shino "Sinon" Asada meets Kyouji "Spiegel" Shinkawa in a cafe, which shows a surprising amount of foreshadowing and subtle characterization. First, it's important to briefly discuss the scene before this one, in which some bullies are shown harassing Shino, demanding that she "loan" them 100,000 yen (about $100) for train fare, and using her trauma against her when she refuses. The anime unfortunately omits a bit of context- that the bullies used to be "friends" with Shino, but constantly took advantage of her to throw parties in her apartment- and that their extortion is in retaliation for Shino standing up to them.

 If you've watched some of the long-running anime series, such as Naruto, Bleach or One Piece, you've likely heard of filler arcs or filler episodes, which are generally greeted with dread and dismay, as boring slogs that add nothing to the story. They have their purpose, but there are better ways to accomplish that purpose. I will spend this entry discussing why filler exists, why it's hated and what alternative approaches exist. What Filler Is And Why It Exists The basic definition of a filler episode is any anime-exclusive episode that does not follow the manga's canon plot. For example, in Naruto, the Land of Tea filler arc involves Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura going on a mission to the eponymous country, their last mission as a team before Sasuke leaves the village. The concept of a story that's original to the anime sounds exciting, but I will explain why anime fans have low expectations and even lower opinions of filler arcs. For now, the basic point to understa

In any series with a cast as large as My Hero Academia's, some characters inevitably will fall by the wayside. Usually, side characters suffer this fate, but sometimes, more interesting or relevant characters don't get the attention they deserve. My Hero Academia's Ochaco Uraraka, the closest thing to a female lead, often suffers from this, despite having a promising start and an important role in the store. Who Uraraka Is First, it's important to establish who Uraraka is and why she's so important. She's one of the first U.A. students introduced apart from Midoriya and his childhood friend Bakugo, with Midoriya meeting her at the entrance exam. She quickly makes an impression on him, and is one of the students Midoriya is closest to, along with Bakugo, Iida and Todoroki. She actually likes Midoriya's previously insulting nickname "Deku," and leads to him adopting it as his hero name. As time goes on, it's revealed that Uraraka has a relatively

  This post contains Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair spoilers. Danganronpa has always struggled with the third cases, albeit not quite as much as Ace Attorney has. The third case of the second game tops some people's lists of least favorite cases, but I will examine whether it's as bad as people think it is. The Basics Danganronpa has several series-wide trends, and three of them specifically apply to the third trials. The first is that the third trial involves two victims. The second is that the killer tends to be the least sympathetic one in the entire game. The third is that one of the two victims tends to be on the cusp of character development. Both of these trends, especially the latter, get criticized among people who are tired of the series' formulaic nature, but I will offer a defense for why they can be good ideas, at least on paper. First, the double murder. In terms of the story, it helps serve a vital function in thinning down the cast relatively early on, and e

 Some of my previous entries have criticized poorly designed levels, so now I'll focus on one that did the job well. Liberty Island is the first mission in Deus Ex, as well as the only part playable in the game's demo. You play as JC Denton, a new agent for UNATCO on his first day on the job. Your main goal is to capture a terrorist that's holed up in the statue and find out where the NSF took the stolen Ambrosia vaccine. As secondary objectives, you are asked to meet up with an informant named Harley Filben, as well as rescue Gunther Hermann, a captured UNATCO agent. Just like the rest of the game, there's one major objective, but multiple ways of accomplishing it, and multiple other goals to pursue if you so desire. The level effectively gives you a taste of what to expect from the rest of the game, so I'll look at it piece by piece. The Base of the Statue The level starts at the docks, where you meet with your brother Paul. After explaining the situation, he offe