Thomie: rambling about Video Games since yesterday

It sure does feel weird to bear witness to a “Ubisoft W” after all this time. The new trailer for their upcoming remake of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag has been outright well-received, and I can definitely understand why. Within the franchise, Black Flag is in the unique position of being just old enough to justify updating in this way, while still being accessible enough on modern hardware at somewhat low prices to the point where most fans of the franchise have had a chance to play it. Most importantly, however, it is arguably the last universally beloved title in the series. Remember, Ubisoft tried to sell an entire game based on its naval combat and multiplayer. Keeping all that in mind, the decision to remake Black Flag specifically is nothing short of the safest possible choice they could have made. Amid numerous cancellations during a corporate restructuring effort, Black Flag likely survived as a project based on that alone. The company needs an easy win and now they might just ...

Just let my GOAT ride off into the sunset. Terry’s history has seen him avenge his foster father, compete and win in tournaments and raise one of the best “pupil” characters in Fighting Game history. Passing the torch is all that remains for him to do heading into City of the Wolves, so naturally, after putting down the spectre of Geese Howard and reassuring Rock, he tosses Rock his iconic hat and just.. leaves. Terry is off to seek great adventures, ready to face whatever may come next. I personally like to think this leads to his appearance in Street Fighter VI. Now, it is not unlike Terry to travel the world in search of strong opponents. He did it before, in order to gain experience and adapt his fighting style in preparation to fight Geese. That being said, his motivations have always been more complex than Ryu’s for instance. The eternal wanderer needs no reason to wander, for he has devoted his life to his craft. The legendary hungry wolf, on the other hand, is more defined ...

Renowned Sumo-wrestler Edmund Honda enters Street Fighter 6 on a mission to convince the world of the greatness of his martial art and its culture. This time, he aims to accomplish this by showcasing Sumo in a restaurant that only serves Chankonabe, the most favored dish among Sumo practitioners. His arcade story is centered around him trying to find a fitting location for said restaurant and being advised by Manon to think of himself as the main attraction, rather than obsessing over where the place is built. He then settles on Metro City where we can find, fight and learn from him in World Tour mode. In all fairness to the guy, the idea that Honda should think of himself as the main representation of how great Sumo is, instead of hiding behind the art and culture around it, is interesting and technically counts as him finding the meaning of strength for himself . It makes me wonder what a more liberated Honda would look like outside of World Tour. A shame we are stuck with the s...

Ryu enters Street Fighter 6 as a man with nothing to prove anymore. He acknowledges this himself when recalling the events of previous games in his arcade story. R yu finds himself r eflecting on his friends, his opponents and his struggles to overcome his own dark side all culminating into the man he is now, and how that man is not so different from the one he started out being: a warrior seeking challenge. After all the events of almost 40 years of games, all the growth he has seen to his character and his power, to find even stronger fighters to measure up against remains Ryu’s main motivation, and his dedication to his craft persists as his defining character trait. When Luke approaches him at the end of his story, Ryu, after asking Luke for his reason to challenge him, accepts when Luke answers that he simply wishes to fight those that appear to be stronger than him. After Ryu wins, he remarks that Luke reminds him of himself, before wandering off to pursue what he has always been...

I sincerely doubt that we’re ever getting more Zote lore in Silksong. An easter egg, maybe, but not a genuine appearance and certainly no serious connections between him and any characters or places in Pharloom and here’s why. Zote in Hollow Knight fulfills one simple purpose: he’s a joke, the joke being that he is nothing like the knight despite somewhat resembling a vessel. His entire character is set up to embody this contrast. Whilst the Knight has (or at least is meant to have) no will to break, no voice to cry suffering and certainly has no mouth to speak, Zote lives by his own rules and never shuts up. The Knight is canonically genderless while Zote is distinctly male, it performs well in combat while he loses constantly and, of course, the Knight is on a great quest for the realm with no acknowledgment until it proves itself, yet Zote bragging about deeds he did not do impresses someone so much that they accidentally elevate an idealized version of him to godhood. He’s a p...