I was lucky enough to find this game back when it was still new and hot. Back then I was keen on classics JRPG's and the cover art alone told me this was something really special.

To keep this short, Breath of Fire IV is more or less a very typical late 90's JRPG with leveling up system, random fights and such, if you happen to know games like Lunar then you pretty much have the same good stuff here.

What really got me and still do are the design choices which couldn't be any more interesting and creative. Instead of taking the easy anime and fairy tale route all the others were doing, these guys were inspired by Chinese and Shinto mythologies and the presentation is truly memorable and unique, there's nothing quite like it even in our time.

I especially love the hardest motherf'king boss of the game that is Won-Qu, a shishi and guardian spirit of the god emperor. That beast always handed me my arse, but the character itself is so damn cool.

The ending is the reason why this isn't one of my favourites, though, I just hate it. There's two different endings, both of which are more or less the apocalypse of this fancy and unique fairy tale world. I just hate it so much, why not just let it be as it is and leave the rest to the player's imagination. Not only that, but if you happen to choose the good ending, it just stops all of a sudden out of the blue. Everything leading up to that point is so epic and fun it ruined the latter part of the game for me.

I know it's for kids, but good lord is it so much fun! Like, imagine the dumbest films Steven Seagal has ever made and put in John Rambo to do his usual stuff. Because it's for kids there's shitton of stupid humor and moral lessons and some of the most awful one-liners I have ever heard in my life. The action is so over the top it's awesome, like Rambo sinks every damn battleship and shoots down planes and even nuclear missiles, but because of censorship nobody ever hits anything with their guns or gets hurt. That's because the people who made the show realized that there's a fine line between violence and action and that's how they could go extreme with the latter without breaking any rules.

The best (and most bonkers) episode in the whole series is the one where a group of international terrorists kidnap Santa Claus and Rambo has to go teach those evil men what Christmas is really all about... in his own merry and loving way. In this episode alone Rambo rides Santa's sleigh while being chased by a battle helicopter. It's insane and over the top, but that's just how it should be. I can't believe I just found out recently about this gem, it's so entertaining and full of unintentionally hilarious stuff it should be taught in schools.

This cartoon is THE definite proof that God does exist.

I can't believe how back in the day when people told me to get this thing I just thought it would by another cookie cutter Norwegian style black metal album with lo-fi production and lots of blastbeats. It wasn't until recently that I got really curious since its popularity and acclaim have only gotten bigger over the years, to the point even mainstream metal groups in social media are constantly telling me to listen to it. Then I finally did, and...

Jesus frigging Christ this is good. Mgla are anything but average, they may be very straightforward, but the skill and talent present here are insane. The production quality is more or less lo-fi and there's even some blastbeats, but that's just how it's supposed to be. The songs themselves are masterfully constructed and despite being very long, they never get boring. There's amazing atmosphere and tensionbuilding, great use of repetition... it's amazing stuff.

The best songs here are the first and the fifth, but it's still all killer and no filler. The latter is especially famous for the drummer making it sound like he has multiple extra limbs, that's some crazy skill right there. So frigging cool.