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2017 and 2018 Anime

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If you haven't watched the 1997 series of Berserk, do yourself a favour and check it out. The most 90's anime ever, from the grunge soundtrack to the ultraviolence. The 2016 reboot is just awful by comparison. Thankfully, the current decade of anime also has plenty of fantastic shows, as surveyed in my first post  (2010 - 2015) and second post  (2014 - 2016) of reviews. This post will highlight my favourites from the 2017 and 2018 anime seasons.

Neverwinter Nights

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A video critique and retrospective of all 14 official campaigns released for Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, between 2002 and 2009:

More recent anime

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Following up on my previous post , here are some more anime (and other Japanese TV series) from the last 3 years that are worth checking out. Anime has never been easier to access, with online streaming sites like Crunchyroll , Funimation , Daisuki  &  AnimeLab (as well as Netflix, Hulu & YouTube). Many of these sites are subscription based, but some provide limited access to shows supported by advertising. The concept of simulcast and "simuldub," where shows are available within weeks of when they are originally broadcast in Japan, is really exciting.

Get your ass to Mars!

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After watching Blade Runner 2049, I was in the mood for some more neo-noir, so I decided to give Martian Memorandum another go. This is the second in the Tex Murphy series of point-and-click adventure games, originally released in 1991. It is one of many old school games that have been revived by GOG.com and can be played on modern computers. I was even able to play it on my Mac, using Boxer/DOS Box! My review (with some minor spoilers) is below.

Notes on 13 random anime

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I've been watching a bunch of anime recently, so I thought I'd collect together some brief impressions on what I've seen. This baker's dozen is very much a mixed bag, so your mileage may vary. At the very least, Steins;Gate and Parasyte are highly recommended. A lot of these series are available to stream online from Crunchyroll or Netflix and are worth checking out.

Dragon Age: Inquisition (spoiler review)

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This game is beautiful. If I blame the limitations of the Xbox 360 for many of the drawbacks of DA2 , then at least with DA:I we get an expansive game with amazing graphics that finally gives my GTX 970M something to do. Maybe the environments aren't quite up to the standard of the Witcher 3 , but it is miles ahead of the previous two games. In many other aspects, DA:I synthesizes the best elements of DA:O and DA2, particularly in terms of combat and storyline. Combat is even more dynamic and immersive than DA2, but they've also introduced the option of a tactical view, which helps make combat more strategic. I switched between both, depending on how difficult the fight was and how many enemies I was facing. Some of the encounters are more difficult than DA2, and several times I faced a Total Party Kill. As for the story, more will be said below. It took me 84 hours for my first playthrough of the main storyline (not including the 3 expansions), so almost exactly the same as