Hey there!
Welcome to the official KZread channel of Matthew Tyler Di Leo and his alter ego SonicMTD!
Here you will find reviews of video games, anime, and film.
Occasionally I do original music performances as well as some covers.
Also on this page will be my Twitch Livestreams and possible vlogs.
I hope you enjoy your time here.
Side Note: I try to upload as often as I can but expect a 1-3 month gap between uploads. I usually lurk around and love answering anything you might ask.
Later Days!
![Always Right Reviews - Link Click [Season 01]](/img/d.gif)
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We dont need physical media. Its insane to think sony will just pull support and "rob" anyone.
Heat 🔥
My comment may have been swallowed up by Google which is disappointing-or maybe it’s under review?-but I guess there could be a number of reasons for that (it was too long? It touched on potentially sensitive topics like censorship? It included a non-KZread link?). It happens sometimes and it’s a bit disappointing, especially since it _was_ kind of a long comment. 😔 If it’s actually gone to the ether, I just wanted to say that donghua gets a lot of flack for not being anime and/or for the Chinese government, but most people don’t realize how diverse donghua can be and how there are many hidden gems in there!! I hope more people give it a chance. 🫶 I have a list of recommendations that’s almost 300 pages long now with summaries, links on where to watch, and images, and just in case, I’ll leave a link in a reply (so this comment specifically won’t be swallowed if Google doesn’t like me linking things (they’re pretty finicky and on-and-off with this)).
Usually when you include links to other sites KZread will flag it as spam. I had to watch a few snippets of Donghua when editing this video. There’s a lot of poorly made ones. The ones that got me interested was Heaven’s Official Blessing, and Cinderella Chef. There’s some good stuff in there, you just have to dig through a lot of mediocrity.
Yeah I know about the links thing since I have a lot of experience with it. You could say I have an agenda to sort of spread donghua or at least share resources with newcomers to donghua. 😂 Because of that experience, I also know sometimes Google actually lets me leave a link, which is the frustrating part. The fact it’s so finicky and unpredictable! With that being said about mediocrity though, isn’t that how it is with anime too? ;P Anything these days that can be mass-produced will mean a lot of mediocrity alongside some actually good-and actually bad!-stuff. I brought up some titles in my old comment before Google ate it, but yeah, there are lots of underrated hidden gems within donghua that unfortunately get lost in the shuffle _because_ people aren’t familiar with donghua. For example: Besides the big danmei ones like _Tian Guan Ci Fu_ and _Mo Dao Zu Shi,_ for 2D animated shows, we have _Scissor Seven; Legend of Luo Xiaohei; Fog Hill of Five Elements; Biao Ren; All Saints Street; Fei Ren Zai; You Shou Yan; Alita’s Trial; God Troubles Me; False Memory; Quan Zhi Gao Shou;_ the later seasons of _Fox Spirit Matchmaker_ and _Yi Ren Zhi Xia; Bai Yao Pu; Salted Fish; Cat’s Tea_ aka _Mao Zhi Ming; Beryl and Sapphire; Dragon Raja; X&Y; The Dining [Room] of Link Lee; Dalisi Rizhi_ aka _White Cat Legend;_ and so on. Even with 3D CGI donghua, which is the one that usually throws people off due to a) the appearance and b) the sheer multitude of shows being produced each time, still has some good ones: _Ling Cage; Ringing Fate; No Doubt in Us; Rescue Eternal Desert; The Island of Siliang; Shaonian Ge Xing; The Young Brewmaster’s Adventure; Tales of Dark River; Lie Huo Jiao Chou; Legendary Twins; You Yao_ and so on are all quite unique and/or pretty well-animated in style. This also doesn’t touch on the movies, which some are famous in the west (like _Nezha_ 2019 and the _White Snake_ films), but there’s also _I Am What I Am; Dahufa; The Storm_ aka _Dayu; Jiang Ziya; Deep Sea; The Legend of Hei;_ the _New Gods_ series; and _20,000 Miles from Chang’an_ (and for those curious about classics, you’ll find them under the Shanghai Animation Film Studio in films-and some television series-such as _Nezha Conquers the Dragon King_ and _Havoc in Heaven_ etc). All quite gorgeous and generally have some stories that can tug on your heartstrings a bit, even when they can be somewhat overambitious. And that’s basically what I’m getting at here: I could highlight _my_ personal favourites, like _Beryl and Sapphire, White Cat Legend, Fei Ren Zai_ and its two sister series _All Saints Street_ and _You Shou Yan, The Legend of Luo Xiaohei, Scissor Seven, 20,000 Miles from Chang’an, Dahufa,_ and many, maaany more, but a lot of this is subjective! I simply wrote my recommendations list of now almost 300 pages _because_ I want to offer a wide range of choices to people new to donghua and show them that the industry has a lot more to offer than you might expect. It just requires digging-and I don’t fault people for “not digging far enough.” There’s the language barrier and the fact China uses entirely different websites and streaming services, which is exactly _why_ I did all that digging-for myself and for others. 😆 Whether the donghua I listed above can grip someone emotionally and whether they are written well is subjective, but I do think there are some in there with good storytelling and cool ideas. And thankfully, claiming many of these _look_ gorgeous or unique and _move_ very fluidly is a much more _objective_ statement, so although newcomers ultimately have to find for themselves which stories they like in donghua, I can still easily direct them to actually good-looking animation from donghua. ^^ It’s also nice that donghua doesn’t rush its workers quite the same way anime does (I assume because everything’s streaming online and there’s no TV deadlines to meet) and series are unlikely to get outright cancelled (I’ve seen donghua come back 5+ years after they seemingly went dormant, like _Beryl and Sapphire, Cinderella Chef,_ and _Psychic Princess_ as some examples). Studios are also quite supportive of each other and promote one another’s works, which can be seen in shirts like _Light Catcher_ or _What Is the Light You Are Looking For?_ or shorts compilations like _Capsules_ and _Yao-Chinese Folktales_ (and other shorts include _The Scenery of the Seasons_ or 万华镜, while if we want to go even more indie, there’s DaddyLoong and Lostreak Chicken’s channels). The lack of rushing also means there’s some works that are being polished very carefully, like _Lord of the Mysteries, Saye, Shuofeng: Po Zhenzi, Linglong Mountain, To Be Hero X, Guai Xiang Shou, Jing Wei Qing Shang,_ 《紫禁御喵房》 , _Guwei Nanting, Postman Above the Clouds, Bronze Crazy Horse, Fox Fairy, Slaying the Dragon,_ etc are some examples of that. Even children’s shows like _Xi Yang Yang yu Hui Tai Lang_ aka _Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf_ have gotten a lot better in story and animation, as seen with everything after the Mighty Little Defenders season. It’s kind of blown me away how rapidly the donghua industry has grown since 2017 and I wish more people would embrace the excitement of that. Like I know China is controversial and feels unfamiliar in its history to many people, but the animation community is always talking about wanting more unique and diverse animation from the west’s standards, and while anime has always been seen as a pinnacle of an alternative, donghua has developed pretty nicely for the much shorter time it’s been expanding, and that means a whole new world of possibility. So yeah! As you can tell, I’m quite passionate about this haha, but it’s exactly because there’s so many cool things out there in the donghua world that get overlooked as “just mediocre Chinese anime” that I try to share it.
I'll check out some of your recommendations. I know for a fact Harriet has been begging me to start watching Heaven's Official Blessing.
Make it simple, "Face" is easier to understand if you translate it into "Family Honor ". For most East Asian countries, Honor, is very important thing for it not only affect yourself but your whole family/tribe. No body will trust you if your family is seen as one without honor.
Great example. I still find it interesting because all it takes is one blemish and it affects everyone. Seems like a really rough system to live under.
@@SonicMTD Back in the day there is no credit score people can depend on. How much can people can trust each other based on how well known or how much honors a family carry. It's just a system developed in order to make the society function more effectively.
Nice review. It even shared some info that some who are new to Link Click wouldn't have known, and I think that will be very helpful. Season 1 is great! Season 2, imho, is even better! It will be fantastic if you guys review it too~
Glad you enjoyed it. :3
Awesome to see you Back!
Nintendo agrees with you. I remember years ago in the Wii gen they were asked in an interview why they wont have achievements like the Xbox 360 and they said they act of playing the game itself should be why someone is playing a game not trying to a gain a digital award.
And that's why I love nintendo.
🤔 Promo_SM
Filtered.
Nice. That is a solid sound y'all have got there!🤘
This sounds more like a "I have a addictive personality that forces me to obsess over things" problem rather than a "This is a thing that is ruining gaming problem". I also feel like a lot of people only had a problem with this once someone else had a problem with it, or it is yet another case of overthinking. It really isn't this deep psychology hold that has gamers in a twist. It isn't that deep. Feel like psychology has made us into a society that makes us look at even the simplest of things are predatory when they really. aren't. That's more an issue with psychology, then anything else; but still.
Trophy hunting makes you addicted and brainwashes you that's a simpel fact. Sure some are awe where like youtubers who get their money from that.... But what are the benefits of a normy??? There isn't. Sure if you love a game so much but still do 100% and still didn't get the platinum... Like what's the point???
I disagree. Trophies are cool. The option is always there for you not to get them
I just dislike the frikin collectibles you always need a guide for but love the challenges
Correction: It's not the "Gallian Ranger Corps," it's the Edinborough Army Ranger Corps, with a handful of Gallians in it.
I am so sick achievment as well
My only issue is when the system is broken and its impossible to get an achievement, its an achievement for money sinking or when its tied in some way to game progression, outside of it, achievements are 100% opt in and they have 0 impact on your game if you dont like them. People that are jerks about their achievements are just as insuferable as people on the other side that are jerks to people that like them. It isnt an achievement issue, its a person issue. If you like them, want to have a badge, prove your skill or whatever else, its ok, its also ok if you dont care at all about them. One thing that i really hate about them is that you cant just delete them, tough.
This is still one of my favorite games of all time. Its not the best story, not the best gameplay. but the chatter and the dialogue and it all just gives you a sens eof purpose and just overall hits you in the gahd damn feels. Right on the heart strings. And the music is a FAT juicy cherry on top. The voice actors are amazing in this game and Im glad you shed light on them as well
Glad you liked it. I put a lot of work into this one and have been using it as a level of quality to hit for all my future videos.
how to make achievements feel actually gratifying to get: get rid of all the "progression" and "random obscure action" achievements, and only have ones that require you to do actual challenges to get
Getting rid of the “collect all the things” achievements goes a long way for my sanity.
When I started play games with trophies, I went for the random trophies; but now I just play the game as if I enjoy it and whatever trophies I get I get. Mostly story related sure, but some side stuff like tournament stuff or a collection trophy that I naturally find all the stuff of.
I only 💯 games if they are good and fun. And if its manageable.
Good strategy. For me I have to remind myself of this. It’s easy to go on autopilot.
how do you feel embarrassed about low trophies, that just doesn't make sense, who gets embarrassed by looking at someones trophy list. and you say "making you" get these ridiculously difficult achievements, but no one's making you. you get them if you want them, if you don't want them, don't get them, the point is you earn them, you might as well just get some software to insta give you all the achievements then, no one is forcing you, if you just want to play a game, just play the game. a lot of people love achievements, the exact point is its difficult or you have to do something you wouldn't normally do. the dark souls games, you have to grind attempts at bosses, but that's mandatory to progress unlike achievements, would you say that's worse then. some achievements can change the entire way you play a game. and you wanna know the best part, you don't got to do them if you don't want to. I can guarantee you, no one except yourself is looking at your trophy list like that.
exactly, no one talks about this enough.
I hate trophies now because of the gatekeeping and elitism in gamers who put down others on these tracking sites, it's not important to enjoying a game, took me a decade to realize it but as an older adult it makes it less fun.
Most definitely. I think one of the reasons why I still enjoy a lot of my favorite games is because I never cared about trophies.
That’s it I am purchasing the game
I always feel quite proud when my videos help introduce people to new things. :3 Glad you liked it!
Some games are worthy at full price imo. Katana zero being a good one, but hey, nice video man
Katana Zero debuted at $20. This video was primarily targeted at the big budgeted $79.99 ones that have launched at incredibly poor quality...
Nah.
Used to be games cost 40 bucks. Then 50. Then for a long time it was 60 to 65, which they slowly crept in on us. Now I see PS5 and other vidya costing SEVENTY DOLLARS. BRO. WHAT Back in my day we paid 70 for collector editions that had behind the scenes DVDs and artbooks included. No way anyone should pay full price for games, and always go physical so you can resell them and someone else can buy it cheaper.
I remember it Gandalf... I was there over 2000 years ago. It's one of those things where people don't pay attention to the warning signs until it's too late.
Too short sighted. I think developers need to unionize and stop so much of the "full price" of games going to the top/shareholders to begin with. Video games (holistically) have never really been cheaper than they are now for what you're getting. Looking at the SNES era, people were paying $90-120 in the early 90's for 15-20 hours of gameplay. That's equivalent to significantly more than it is today. And the video game market was significantly smaller than it is today. Game Dev unions are the only thing that's actually going to redirect things. The amount of gamers playing/paying games nowadays means that there are always going to be a significant amount of enablers, no matter how many people you try to convince. It would be awesome if there was a game devs union with a patreon/crowd funding option to bootstrap them getting their union started. There is no way a significant enough amount of people will ever actually boycott paying full price for games, but if the industry had an established union, these companies wouldn't have a choice. We're never getting back to the days of tons of AA dev companies competing out there and reigning prices in. There has been too much consolidation over the last two decades and we're only left with indie studios who can do nothing to measurably change things, and massive studios who are led by people with no care or incentive to do anything but continue to consolidate and squeeze even more profits out of everything they can.
I’d be intrigued by a game dev Union. I don’t know what it would look like but it’s better than what they currently have which is no protection whatsoever. Thanks for your input.
I remember when games were games and not things to do to achieve "something". Today people are mostly not even gamers. They are mere trophy hunters. Today I wish I could simply deactivate trophies or game scores and just play the games without any achievements running in the background. I love High on Life. An awesome FPS adventure. The game tells me I still need to get 32%. 32% in terms of what? Some trophies are hidden or secrets the game won't even tell me until I achieved them. Otherwise I do enjoy the game itself and did everything I could except I'm still missing some loot boxes as for me I can not figure out where they are located. Maybe I go and try to find them since I beat the game properly already. But if I can not, I just replay the game itself.
How do you define “gamers”? Legit curious, cause there are many different kinds of people who play games. Also I’m in agreement on the whole deactivating trophies part. I find on the development side trophies are a quick and dirty way of not having to put in more content.
Even when there were no trophies, people still did random things and went as far to achieve things. Think about it in terms of a game that came out when trophies weren't a thing getting a remake or remaster with trophies, people did the things in the original game that would've gotten them trophies.
@@SonicMTD Sorry for coming back late. Gamers are people that play the games for the games sake. People that just love to play games and feel rewarded by doing just that -> playing the games. I feel that trophy hunters are mostly people that would not linger long in the world of gaming if it was not for fake rewards. People that made gaming seem weird on the outside. I think those fake gamers will break away soon and leave the gamer sphere for us gamers.
@@POIUYTREWQ62 People figured out things for fun and not for fake rewards. Imagine Metroid games after 2005 were pumped with trophies you only get when doing some absurd speed run stuff. Because speed runners figured out stuff for fun. I would not like to have the game tell me to do the other missing 45% to turn me into a speed runner against my will. That is what trophies do. Make people play for the wrong reasons.
As someone whose fav anime is E7, I've has this on my watchlater for like 4 years HAHAHA Anyway, do you any plans on reviewing the trilogy movies?
To be honest I’m not too sure. I can definitely review them. Part of me worries that if I see them and they suck it’ll affect how I view the original. 😅
10:43 Not true. The vocals are done by Mark Gardener from the seminal UK band Ride. It’s also the reason the character name is changed from Matt to Mark in the anime.
Dam sick man enjoy
I had a lot of fun. Good people and just an all around good vibe.
@@SonicMTDI'm glad you enjoyed it man
I do think unlocking the armor in Halo 3 via achievements was fun. When you saw someone with a certain armor piece you knew what they've done to obtain it. But Halo Reach's way of using credits made things more accessible for people who wanted to look a certain way without being gated behind a specific task.
I think they ruin games. The negative effect they have outweighs the positive in my opinion. For years I actively or subconsciously change my playstyle to cater to gathering achievements. Which makes me play less for fun and more for how the achievements require me to play. I have a completionest mindset even if I don't 100% a game. I hate missing things or leaving loose ends. So its hard for me to ignore achievements even to this day when I'm fully aware that they are pointless. The point of games is to have fun, admire the world, enjoy the game mechanics, get immersed, etc. Playing for fun will skip a lot of achievements.
P.S. I'm playing dishonored 2 for the first time right now. And I'm not even thinking about achievements, I'm just playing casually even tho the story is lame and copies the first game but thats a topic of its own
@@Mote. sorry to hear Dishonored 2 isn’t as enjoyable but at least you’re playing to just enjoy the game.
@@Mote.. Turn off all notifications for achievements and stop visiting hunting websites like Xbox Achivements or subs like the Achievements sub. You can do this if I could. I learned that it was an addiction to me and it killed my love of gaming for a long time. Do this and also don't look at your list. You will enjoy gaming a lot more. You mentioned Dishonored 2. What if you could play it however you wanted to ? No "complete a level undetected" BS or whatever.
Nier automata had better trophy system, I enjoyed it a lot actually developers said, wait you loved the game so you want the rest of the trophies??? If you don't have time we have an secret place to buy rest of the trophies, only 4 left, which i bought them at the end and finish the one more ending and got the trophy, this is how the trophies suppose to work Not like gta 5, collect like 50 evidence 50 ridiculous annoying jump Find 30 nuclear waste in slow ass submerine, fly sharp knife, or there's another stupid trophy which wants to earn 70 gold medals, fuck this trophy designs, i have a life to take care of
Huh, I’m going to have to look into that.
You'll be able to enjoy games much more without the silly trophies.
Wrong. Trophies make me play more games with greater variations in genre. It’s almost like trophies dare you to play something different. I played GTAO almost exclusively since launch and trophy hunting broke me out of the monotony.
yep in your own shitty personal opinion :)
Sorry but this seems like a you problem. No one forces you to go for all the trophies
I really hate achievements/trophies. We are already playing a videogame, there was no need to gamify it even further. One of the best things I have ever done was to turn off steam notifications when I get a new achievement.... this has improved my enjoyment SO much
Now if only we can do it for PlayStation and Xbox.
Trophies are a dumb feature , its force you to complete a game and not to enjoy the experience , i love crash tag team racing in PS2 era and enjoyed a lot , do 100% and get all caracters , or cheat in GTA San Andreas and dont care about the story missions thats FUN . Today in PS4 era you have to force to get dumb collectables , grind and online tedious trophies im stuck in 84% in rdr 2 and i gave up the mvp and level 50 are just trash , i have just 3 plats and i dont want to get more its just sickning doing this stuff
Class
I just miss fun cheats. San Andreas. Fkying cars. Peds riot. Everyone is Elvis
Yeah… it seems the only time you’ll get cheats is if it’s paid dlc.
I stopped trophy collecting when I realised you couldn't even view them offline. They are literally only social thingummybobs
Just go back to PS2 and enjoy games again. It will change the brain chemistry back again. Then you can play the newer titles without giving the trophies a thought.
I’ll give it a try. Most people on this channel want me to review new games.
Trophies are never implemented properly by developers because they are used as a substitute for game content. Make a puzzle then put the collectible inside a room you can access only afterwards. Don't just hide them so you need a guide. That ruins fulfilment.
(Nods) I definitely have stopped playing certain games after trying for an achievement. I don’t think I’ll ever play them again.
Кароче минусов не нашёл крутой ролик
Well as Nintendo player I always hate the thing why we don't got any trophies and achievements but now I really don't care I only focus on the game story than completation
This is the way.
On the Shizune sex scene: Hisao could have simply shook his head or tried to struggle in any way at all. I haven't read Shizune's route, but I don't think he does any of it. So it was consensual. Maybe not explicitly like with Hanako nodding multiple times in her scene, but still consensual. Both scenes are terrible starting points for the respective relationships, but that's the story. On getting the Emi route accidentally: you have to choose to push yourself while running in order to get on the Emi route, and to me that sounds like a recipe for a heart attack. Again, haven't read Emi's route yet, but I've heard that's what happens (at least at some point). Considering that taking it easy with exercise is what I've done IRL with my own (less severe than Hisao's) heart condition, doing the same in game was the natural choice.
As a ps3, psvita, ps4, ps5 trophy hunter finally I found a video like this. I just got a gaming PC and I'm a lot happier not caring about trophies and just playing and finishing a game.
I’m glad you were able to escape. I sometimes get pulled back into hunting for trophies and I hate it.
@@SonicMTD not really my back logs still linger and im still bothered by it and not getting trophies on pc feels bad sometimes and there's this feeling of emptyness finishing a game not getting platinum
@@richardyamato The struggle is real. You have my sympathy.
In simple terms this is just one of those avoid the spinoffs and only stick with the mainline games. It's kind of a shame that they did this to their own franchise because the Persona series has an overall great OST.
It’s amazing what people will do to make money… hmm… might be something to make a future video on…
@@SonicMTD Top 10 times gaming companies released a half-assed game for the sake of turning a quick buck? Actually never mind the list would be filled with nothing but Call of Duty games. XD
@@BassEXE I think I can make an IMHO on 2 related topics. I just gotta write the scripts.
@@SonicMTD Nice. Definitely looking forward to seeing what you come up with. :)
0:08 well i wanted to be a terrorists when I was kid 😅
… I have no idea how to respond to this. Part of me wants to make a joke another part of me is genuinely curious.