Craig H

Oh man, Clair Obscur continues to deliver and had me laughing pretty hard in act 2... This game really continues to surprise me every time I play it.

Y’all aren’t talking enough about how godly Kyle Fletcher was during the DCF promo. Dude had me dying. There has to be a gif or clip of it.

The sheer amount of characters or super powered folks in Superman is still the main thing that concerns me. I mean, I'm tickled we're getting Guy Gardner, goofy haircut and all, on the big screen, and I know that James Gunn is extremely talented with juggling lots of characters in a superhero movie, but this is Superman. I kinda just want to see Superman and not, hey, here's Superman but don't you also want to see all of these other super powered characters as well?! I'm sure it will be good because James Gunn has one of the best batting averages in movies, but I'll have reservations until I can finally see it.

I loosely followed a build guide for Elden Ring because I had no idea WTF was going on. I use build guides in PoE 2 and Last Epoch because there is just way too much shit happening to understand. Expedition 33 isn't as hardcore as those games so you can kind of figure out what build to make or honestly, you're really picking and choosing what abilities, Pictos, and Luminas to go with the weapon you assigned to that character so your options are very, very wide open. There is sometimes a clear path given, maybe, like in Act 1 it felt like Maelle should be my main DPS and crit person and the other female friend that joins your group, not Lune...anyway, it felt like she should be the outsider to go in and try to mop up if the party all gets killed during a fight so I assigned the Pictos and Luminas that gave her buffs to fighting alone. I had a healer for a little bit in Act 1 and it just didn't feel necessary. Now that I'm in Act 2, it seems like Lune has become my main DPS person, she has a weapon that just gives her those fire, earth, ice, or light things and then that feeds into some of the abilities she has that makes use of all of those or some specific ones. Another person in my party is the defacto healer but their heals are combined with doing damage or help them do increased damage. It's really fucking fun. I think the only time I looked something up was I had a Picto that was something like <Buff Name> I and <Buff Name> III and I wondered where I missed II.

Pay attention to the audio cues. Just about every enemy has one, they're all different, but it's like Fire Pro where like in Fire Pro you hear that "slap" sound and you know that's when you press your button for the move you want to do. So it's basically hear the audio cue and then right after that hit your parry button. Other cases it's easier to just see and know when to hit dodge or parry. And in some instances, like in a couple boss fights, I couldn't hit a parry or a dodge, but I set my party up so that we had heals going and we had enough revive and health pots to keep us going.

What milquetoast name will she get in WWE?

Additional Expedition 33 thought… Here’s my biggest gripe with and game and it’s so minor and nit picky. I have a real hard hearing Charlie Cox’s voice come out of a character that looks almost exactly like Robert Pattinson (and depending on the hair style you chose maybe there’s a little bit of a Timothy Chalamet look too). The voice acting is great, the expressions are great, but there is something really weird to this Charlie Cox/Robert Pattinson mashup. I’m inclined to look online just to see if I’m not alone, but the last thing I want is for something to be spoiled.

I will say that the Ozcutter normally happens out of nowhere like the RKO. It’s a surprise big move like Okada’s dropkick.

I don’t think this is a spoiler, but the secret fight club in Expedition 33 is really confounding in that they’re giving you a really easy and fast way to gain levels. I stopped doing it after a bit because I felt like it would make the game too easy.

They would because those aren’t the only money makers for them and they basically wasted the Star Wars license, which is funny because Battlefront 2 has seen a big influx of players and it doesn’t really mean anything for EA now. But EA still has BioWare, Dice, Playdemic for mobile stuff, Respawn, Motive, etc. EA may fuck up a lot, but they still own a ton of studios that make them a lot of money.

Turning on the Outcasts...A really, really long payoff that would require weekly watching and a good memory for all of the Degrassi High or The Challenge-esque drama and storylines that play out in AEW. Yeah, that is definitely going to happen. People may as well get their bitching in ahead of time. Meanwhile, me, the guy who has watched Lost 7 times and watches the Challenge is sitting there like the Jack Nicholson gif from Anger Manager.

Man, that music fucking rules. Holy shit. I think my dinger moved listening to that. That's another difference between AEW and WWE that feels weirdly ironic given that HHH is in charge of WWE. AEW is the more metal promotion and WWE is the more pop/shit hop promotion.

This show fucking ruled. There was such a long holding period with them DR stuff and in the last month or so they've really dialed up meaningful wrestlers taking them on. Hangman and Swerve is the gift that keeps on giving. Both of these guys are the most interesting dudes in wrestling and honestly, Will as the third wheel trying to get these guys to come to their senses works very well too. It's crazy that you have Hangman, Swerve, Will, and Moxley all at the top in a promotion that also has Kenny, Okada, MJF, and a bunch of other guys I'm forgetting. Like, guys on the come up like Fletcher, Ricochet, hell, even Speedball are all being used well. The booking isn't perfect, but my god it has been the best shit in wrestling for a long while now. I'm trying to think of anything I enjoy as much and it's basically Jacob Fatu and Bron? Cody is back, but WWE is a promotion of wet farts with Cena, the never ending Punk and Rollins feud, Bron is the little brother to Rollins and now with Bronson Reed in the mix it feels like Bron has even less of a voice, the goodwill or joy from Jey winning the title is gone and it's just sort of waiting to see who he loses the title to. WWE is still wildly better than it was under Vince, but man it feels like a year of them spinning their wheels. Say whatever you want about Punk, but at least in AEW he was having fresh matches and programs. In WWE they're wasting his last years on this fucking boring horseshit. Punk came back, what, almost 2 years ago now and it feels like it has been a nonstop feud against either Drew Mac or Rollins. Drew is another one where he should be doing so much more than he is. And I don't even know what the women are doing. I don't watch TNA, I've been out on NJPW for forever now (I barely watched leading up to WK, I watched WK, and then haven't watched anything since), and I don't have the time to check in with Noah, Stardom, or Marigold.

I have a few friends that haven't played the game and don't intend on watching season 3. I thought this was bad. You had a really long production time for 7 episodes and a budget that ballooned and the end product was something where you can't even see where that budget went. Infected were far less prevalent this season compared to last. There is also so much happens on a green screen. One of those friends that didn't play the game and is a working actor doesn't see how HBO lets this go on to a 4th season unless S3 viewership is through the roof. I'm inclined to agree with him and we'll probably end up getting a Deadwood-esque ending. Myself? I don't think I bother with S3. I gave it a fair shot even after episodes 2 and 3, but worse than the game, which just made me mad, this makes me feel nothing. I'd rather this series create a debate among people than just leaving them empty. I also thought that if HBO was going to give a Sony game such a huge budget then it would have been better spent towards something like God of War. Just go balls to the wall and make a metal as fuck series about Kratos seeking to kill one god after another.

So…I may have dozed off during all of Okada vs Speedball. I remember Speedball’s entrance and then Okada had won. Stupid ADHD medicine (Jornay PM) thatthat makes me crash at the same time every day. So I need to go back and watch that and probably AITA too because there were a bunch of times were I was looking at my phone and chatting on the DVDVR Discord.

TK, yeah, to echo Niners, if you're still reading this, if anyone on your staff reads this, thank you, thank you, thank you. Up until 6 years ago I was basically nearly down to just NJPW. AEW hasn't always been perfect, but man, it sure is a lot of fucking fun and it has delivered some very emotional moments. Not only that, but man, thank you for giving credit to Dean and the folks here who have kept this place running for all of us knuckleheads who went from being young and stupid and fighting and talking shit to now just old and crotchety and just too fucking lazy and tired to bother talking shit. I was howling watching Toni Storm break during the scrum and for looking completely unhinged with her makeup and asking for Luther to bring her the meth. Hanger came out and didn't stay long but showed some very real emotion while couching things in kayfabe. I'm glad he's where he's at. This PPV was such a fucking blast and so much fun. I honestly think the thing I liked the least was the DCF vs Paragon. And then, for a brief moment motherfuckin Brody comes out with Ishii, I get nearly jumping out of my seat...and then their third guy was Tanahashi and the joy just got sucked right out of me. Aside from that, stellar fucking show. Finish the job, Hangman.

I fucking love Hangman so much. Pro wrestling fucking rules. I’m spent from that main event.

Just have to state this again, but why does a game over world feel so fucking good again? Expedition 33 rules.

That’s super helpful. My other concern is that I boned myself on my various points or that I used them all and I’m going to get more teammates and have no improvement points for them. I have avoided basically all build guides so I don’t know how many more people will join me but my one friend who is really into it said there will definitely be more people on my team. Oh yeah, I just tried on hard mode and man, that’s punishing.

Hey! Here I was just coming to talk about Expedition 33. Fantastic game. Probably the most fun I've had with a turn based RPG in forever. The parry and dodge mechanics are great. Plus, holy shit, an overworld in a video game in 2025! And it's great! Man, note to game devs, figure out a way to use game overworlds again! I have two issues though, the first doesn't need to be spoilered. When you go into an area or zone, you really should have access to a map. There have been so many times I've backtracked over and over and over again not knowing where the fuck to go. Second issue...the story starts out by making sense and then quickly turns into nonsense. It's just fucking weird. Even worse, it's confusing as fuck. Here's the part I'll put in spoilers because I need someone to explain some things to me...

The Cubs are so fucking ridiculous that I don't even know what to think.

My Final Reckoning thoughts without spoilers: Best in the franchise including a moment where I think I stopped breathing and my heart dropped into my stomach. This was an Endgame level movie. Completely stuck the landing. I fucking love this franchise so fucking much. Probably the best stunt in the franchise’s history, but I think there are some things M:I Fallout did better. Even still, it’s incredible and the only other movie aside from Endgame where 3 hours flies by. Going to see it again next weekend. I can’t wait. Fallout still has the better score and I still like Solomon Lane (the main villain from Rogue Nation and Fallout) as the biggest bogeyman in this series, but Esai Morales as Gabriel is still really fucking good.

It’s still so early in each conference final that I’m not close to counting the Knicks or Timberwolves out, but if we do get Pacers and OKC then I wonder what that series even looks like and if Indiana learned anything from losing to OKC a few months ago. The Pacers have been the hottest team in basketball, but the Thunder were the one or maybe one of two teams that overmatched Indiana. And Indiana didn’t have an answer for SGA, but not many do. Small sample size of one game though.

Oh I know it's already filming. Even still, they only just started filming a little bit ago. If they stuck with the May date then a little more than a year of runway isn't nearly enough for a movie the size and scope of what Doomsday should be. I'm surprised they didn't set this as the release date earlier on. Basically, every single thing would have to go perfectly for everyone involved to finish the film on time.

I figured it would have to happen, but Doomsday was pushed back to 12/18/2026 and Secret Wars was pushed back to 12/17/2027. I kept thinking there was no way they were going to get Doomsday out by May of next year unless it was like 90 minutes long. I wonder what this does for the rumored Doctor Strange/Time Runs Out movie.