Ajay
@animeajay.bsky.social
Gave up posting my personal thoughts and opinions on Twitter so now you get them here instead 🙃 Welcome to the secret little club away from the 45K.
Slowly collecting personalised prints from performances that mean the absolute world to me. Managed to get Laura Bailey and David Hayter this month! I got Jennifer English for BG3's Shadowheart a few years ago, but would so love to get her and Ben Starr together for an Expedition 33 one someday.
November 11, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Slowly collecting personalised prints from performances that mean the absolute world to me. Managed to get Laura Bailey and David Hayter this month! I got Jennifer English for BG3's Shadowheart a few years ago, but would so love to get her and Ben Starr together for an Expedition 33 one someday.
BRAVO VINCE. Insane debut two episodes from Pluribus.
Go in as blind as you can if it's not too late.
It's so startlingly different in tone from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul, but you can feel the DNA running through it. Very excited to see where this goes.
Go in as blind as you can if it's not too late.
It's so startlingly different in tone from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul, but you can feel the DNA running through it. Very excited to see where this goes.
November 8, 2025 at 12:40 AM
BRAVO VINCE. Insane debut two episodes from Pluribus.
Go in as blind as you can if it's not too late.
It's so startlingly different in tone from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul, but you can feel the DNA running through it. Very excited to see where this goes.
Go in as blind as you can if it's not too late.
It's so startlingly different in tone from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul, but you can feel the DNA running through it. Very excited to see where this goes.
Finally found a moment to watch Shōgun after all this time. I really have almost no words to describe it - that's the best season of TV I've seen since Chernobyl. Stunningly shot, movingly told, beautifully acted. All the superlatives! What a triumph from start to finish. Genuinely astonishing stuff
November 5, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Finally found a moment to watch Shōgun after all this time. I really have almost no words to describe it - that's the best season of TV I've seen since Chernobyl. Stunningly shot, movingly told, beautifully acted. All the superlatives! What a triumph from start to finish. Genuinely astonishing stuff
And shoutouts to these guys lmfao
(shit pic cause they were so far away)
(shit pic cause they were so far away)
November 2, 2025 at 3:28 AM
And shoutouts to these guys lmfao
(shit pic cause they were so far away)
(shit pic cause they were so far away)
Had a wonderful time at the Metal Gear orchestral concert tonight. The second half going back-to-back through MGS1, 2 and 4, and ending with vocal performances for Snake Eater and When Heavens Divide was some biblical shit. So good. Got properly emotional during the medley with the main theme.
November 2, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Had a wonderful time at the Metal Gear orchestral concert tonight. The second half going back-to-back through MGS1, 2 and 4, and ending with vocal performances for Snake Eater and When Heavens Divide was some biblical shit. So good. Got properly emotional during the medley with the main theme.
I think unfortunately, the Bloodlines 2 name doomed it to impossible expectations, but TCR made an honest effort, even it doesn't quite work. They’re masters of story, not combat design, and the fact there's *something* there under the confused design is kinda neat. 7/10 from me - story 100% carries
October 29, 2025 at 8:42 PM
I think unfortunately, the Bloodlines 2 name doomed it to impossible expectations, but TCR made an honest effort, even it doesn't quite work. They’re masters of story, not combat design, and the fact there's *something* there under the confused design is kinda neat. 7/10 from me - story 100% carries
It’s weird because despite that, it’s not exactly a chore to play, it's just frustrating. It’s full of sick abilities that rarely get to shine because the gameplay design is in the way of itself. It’s like having a cool puzzle someone put back together in the worst way possible lol it's so fixable!
October 29, 2025 at 8:42 PM
It’s weird because despite that, it’s not exactly a chore to play, it's just frustrating. It’s full of sick abilities that rarely get to shine because the gameplay design is in the way of itself. It’s like having a cool puzzle someone put back together in the worst way possible lol it's so fixable!
As a vampire, you obv want to be stealthy, but you're often forced to clear entire areas of enemies. Abilities are tied to blood pips, so you run dry after a few uses and either fall back on boring takedowns or dull fistfights where you can't feed to refuel easily because there are no i-frames???
October 29, 2025 at 8:42 PM
As a vampire, you obv want to be stealthy, but you're often forced to clear entire areas of enemies. Abilities are tied to blood pips, so you run dry after a few uses and either fall back on boring takedowns or dull fistfights where you can't feed to refuel easily because there are no i-frames???
Unfortunately, you do have to engage with its gameplay and I have v little praise there. It is ROUGH - the gap between its narrative quality and gameplay design is maybe the largest I’ve ever seen. The mechanics themselves are cool, but the structure around them just doesn’t do them any favours.
October 29, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Unfortunately, you do have to engage with its gameplay and I have v little praise there. It is ROUGH - the gap between its narrative quality and gameplay design is maybe the largest I’ve ever seen. The mechanics themselves are cool, but the structure around them just doesn’t do them any favours.
The art direction really is remarkable, but that writing sucked me in something fierce. I'm a sucker for those 20s noir detective novels and I found the mystery here so gripping. It's also surprisingly funny and heartfelt - Fabien in particular is one of my fav characters this year. What a guy haha
October 29, 2025 at 8:42 PM
The art direction really is remarkable, but that writing sucked me in something fierce. I'm a sucker for those 20s noir detective novels and I found the mystery here so gripping. It's also surprisingly funny and heartfelt - Fabien in particular is one of my fav characters this year. What a guy haha
I don't think it was ever going to be a great sequel to a beloved RPG under TCR's rule, but as a standalone linear story, it definitely delivers there. I went in expecting a compelling story, memorable characters, and great atmosphere over quality gameplay, and that's what I got for better or worse.
October 29, 2025 at 8:42 PM
I don't think it was ever going to be a great sequel to a beloved RPG under TCR's rule, but as a standalone linear story, it definitely delivers there. I went in expecting a compelling story, memorable characters, and great atmosphere over quality gameplay, and that's what I got for better or worse.
I actually had no real interest in VTM: Bloodlines 2 at first, but I have been a fan of The Chinese Room since Dear Esther in 2012, so seeing reviews say it’s not really an RPG but a narrative-driven game, in line with the studio’s usual output, shot it straight onto my must-play list. It was okay!
October 29, 2025 at 8:42 PM
I actually had no real interest in VTM: Bloodlines 2 at first, but I have been a fan of The Chinese Room since Dear Esther in 2012, so seeing reviews say it’s not really an RPG but a narrative-driven game, in line with the studio’s usual output, shot it straight onto my must-play list. It was okay!
Kaiser and I discussed it a bit on discord after. Maybe my summation here makes my position clearer
October 24, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Kaiser and I discussed it a bit on discord after. Maybe my summation here makes my position clearer
Did the new FFXIV deep dungeon yesterday with my FC. That was good, actually! The later floors were spicy with our shitty RNG lol. Looking forward to checking out the Quantum difficulty. Four-man difficulty choices are nice, but it seems without good rewards, it'll probably die like Criterion did.
October 23, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Did the new FFXIV deep dungeon yesterday with my FC. That was good, actually! The later floors were spicy with our shitty RNG lol. Looking forward to checking out the Quantum difficulty. Four-man difficulty choices are nice, but it seems without good rewards, it'll probably die like Criterion did.
Bunch of UHDs I ordered showed up recently. I've well and truly run out of shelf space at this point so I have no idea where these are gonna go... or the 50 other things I have on pre-order 🙃🙃🙃
October 19, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Bunch of UHDs I ordered showed up recently. I've well and truly run out of shelf space at this point so I have no idea where these are gonna go... or the 50 other things I have on pre-order 🙃🙃🙃
I don't regret my time with it at all. I really did have so much fun. It's a perfectly good open world action/stealth game... it's just nowhere near the masterpiece its predecessor was. When it's still much better than pretty much any of its competitors in this space, it's hard to be actively upset.
October 17, 2025 at 2:19 AM
I don't regret my time with it at all. I really did have so much fun. It's a perfectly good open world action/stealth game... it's just nowhere near the masterpiece its predecessor was. When it's still much better than pretty much any of its competitors in this space, it's hard to be actively upset.
Thankfully its gameplay and art direction is stunning enough to largely carry it through these flaws. As you can see, I spent half my near-60 hour playthrough in Photo Mode once again. It's a blast to explore, solve puzzles, take out camps, and all the usual things you'd expect from this game.
October 17, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Thankfully its gameplay and art direction is stunning enough to largely carry it through these flaws. As you can see, I spent half my near-60 hour playthrough in Photo Mode once again. It's a blast to explore, solve puzzles, take out camps, and all the usual things you'd expect from this game.
I'm not entirely sure whether they ran out of time or money, but outside of the start and end and a few select bits, the cutscene work is very bad. Main mission scenes often look like side content from last gen in terms of framing and animation work. Such a bizarre step back from the last game???
October 17, 2025 at 2:19 AM
I'm not entirely sure whether they ran out of time or money, but outside of the start and end and a few select bits, the cutscene work is very bad. Main mission scenes often look like side content from last gen in terms of framing and animation work. Such a bizarre step back from the last game???
The world is split up into segmented regions, and the plot all but vanishes throughout two of them, leading to one of the baggier middles I've experienced in a while. The final act certainly has come nice moments in isolation, but they're not particularly earned or believable.
October 17, 2025 at 2:19 AM
The world is split up into segmented regions, and the plot all but vanishes throughout two of them, leading to one of the baggier middles I've experienced in a while. The final act certainly has come nice moments in isolation, but they're not particularly earned or believable.
In contrast, Yotei's plot is trite and underbaked. A revenge tale as simple as this just feels hollow, particularly when there are only three memorable side characters, and a core antagonist whose complexity is a sentence long. Stretch that over dozens of hours and it just becomes even more apparent
October 17, 2025 at 2:19 AM
In contrast, Yotei's plot is trite and underbaked. A revenge tale as simple as this just feels hollow, particularly when there are only three memorable side characters, and a core antagonist whose complexity is a sentence long. Stretch that over dozens of hours and it just becomes even more apparent
It's hard to fault the game mechanically - it evolves nicely on Tsushima's core, adding additional complexity to the combat through new weapons, stealth systems, and doling out quests more organically throughout the world. It's so fun that I platinumed it like Tsushima anyway. I almost never do that
October 17, 2025 at 2:19 AM
It's hard to fault the game mechanically - it evolves nicely on Tsushima's core, adding additional complexity to the combat through new weapons, stealth systems, and doling out quests more organically throughout the world. It's so fun that I platinumed it like Tsushima anyway. I almost never do that
That's a wrap on Ghost of Yotei! I feel like I have to preface this thread by saying it *is* a good game (just shy of an 8/10 for me), but I was very disappointed to find that it's such a far cry from Ghost of Tsushima's quality - a game with one of the finest marriages of narrative and gameplay.
October 17, 2025 at 2:19 AM
That's a wrap on Ghost of Yotei! I feel like I have to preface this thread by saying it *is* a good game (just shy of an 8/10 for me), but I was very disappointed to find that it's such a far cry from Ghost of Tsushima's quality - a game with one of the finest marriages of narrative and gameplay.
Was sad to say goodbye to the game. I was so completely captivated by Hinako's journey and everything she'd been through. Hopefully the game's success will see even more projects from this team. They really struck gold here and I just want more of it.
Next up: Ghost of Yotei!
Next up: Ghost of Yotei!
October 2, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Was sad to say goodbye to the game. I was so completely captivated by Hinako's journey and everything she'd been through. Hopefully the game's success will see even more projects from this team. They really struck gold here and I just want more of it.
Next up: Ghost of Yotei!
Next up: Ghost of Yotei!