Author: Zach Archer

Weekly Highlights – October 3, 2022

Weekly Highlights, Written Posts

Highlights of the Week

Fire Emblem: Three Houses on the Nintendo Switch:

Recently I just had that Fire Emblem itch and decided to go ahead and scratch it. I know it is a significant time sink to actually see the game to completion so it was always daunting but I figured I would at least give it a good shake so I could sate my curiosity. I’m happy to say that I am definitely enjoying my time with it so far but as someone who started on the GameCube with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, it’s kind of striking to think just how different this game is from classic installments in the series. Even just the ability to walk around the school and do things other than the traditional strategy RPG style we’ve come to expect from Fire Emblem is so unique to the series, and while I’m sure the day-to-day activities would be lost on some classic fans, these elements in games are right up my alley so it works out! Just different than what I’m used to in this particular series! I look forward to more time with this game, for sure!

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune on the PlayStation 3:

It’s crazy that it has actually been almost 15 years since this first Uncharted game came out and I am just now playing a game in the series for the first time ever! And honestly, as much as I have heard such incredible things (about later parts of the series especially), I probably still wouldn’t have ever gotten around to it on my own. The reason I decided to finally get around to it in reality is because I was assigned to play it as part of a little series of challenges we do on my gaming community’s Discord called the “Gents Challenge”, where usually everyone is paired up and your partner picks what game you are challenged to finish before the deadline out of the list of games you have provided. This time around the challenge was different in that everyone’s games were essentially decided by random draw. So I had a completely random assortment of games on my list and the two games I was assigned were Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Resident Evil 6, both of which were on the lower end of games I was looking to play soon, in all honesty. But it was just the push that I needed and I have been thoroughly enjoying this game! I love the style of the game which even to this day feels so unique compared to how most games present themselves. You will definitely hear more of my thoughts on an upcoming video we will be recording for Tarqaron, so look out for that as well!

Content of the Week:

Survivor: Guatemala Review – Tarqaron

No season of Survivor on Tarqaron ever feels truly complete until the season review, where we can tie up any loose ends, give our final thoughts, and provide some closure for the experience with this nice proverbial bow to top everything off. That’s exactly what this review was for us and since Guatemala feels in many ways like the redheaded stepchild of Survivor seasons there was plenty for us to get into and have a lot of fun with!

Zach’s thoughts on Survivor 43 Ep. 2 – Tarqaron

While the premiere for Survivor 43 didn’t immediately hook me because of its “more of the same feel,” I really feel like they kind of knocked it out of the park with the second episode. I think a lot of it was also thanks to the 90-minute episode, which I so so wish was the norm for Survivor, in addition to some things that were executed well and lots of fun character and strategy moments to complement it all.

Weekly Highlights – September 26, 2022

Weekly Highlights, Written Posts

Highlights of the Week

Big Brother 24 on CBS:

Just last night I witnessed what I believe to be the best finale in Big Brother history, with the most iconic final two speech and most satisfying winner in Big Brother history as well. I truly don’t think I’ve ever rooted for someone as hard as I did towards the end of this season, and it happened to produce the most unlikely winner and the most incredible underdog story the show has ever seen! I’m thrilled with the outcome of the season and am grateful for the mold being broken in such a meaningful way.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Switch:

I have been making more progress with my replay of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and I have been enjoying it for sure! Still very much at the early stage of the game having just passed through Kakariko Village and having only completed a handful of shrines at this point. I don’t know whether I will see this second playthrough all the way through or not , but I am definitely going to continue to enjoy my time with it for as long as I’m feeling it!

Renaissance by Beyoncé:

Though I’ve always had this sort of unspoken respect for Beyoncé and her music, I’d never really taken the time to listen to much outside of the mainstream hits and never listened to an album of hers in its entirety… until now. My girlfriend and I listened to this album together for the first time a week or two ago and we’ve been enjoying it a lot ever since! Personally I think my favorite song continues to be Cuff It, but I’m pleased with most of the songs overall and am honestly impressed at how seamlessly they transition into each other if you listen to them in the proper album order! As someone who appreciates and loves music, I’m always eager to listen to and appreciate more!

Content of the Week:

Survivor: Guatemala Ep. 14 Reaction (FINALE!) – Tarqaron

The finales of Survivor are always a fun time where you really get to see the narrative of the season either stick the landing, stumble a little bit at the end, or completely fall on its face and I always look forward to enjoying these old-school finales with Alec. Not only do we get to see the jury grill our final two but I also get to see Alec’s reaction to the ultimate winner of the season. In some ways Guatemala is like a redheaded stepchild of old-school Survivor and you will see some of those ways explored in our comprehensive season review this week.

Survivor: Guatemala Ep. 15 Reaction (Reunion) – Tarqaron

I even mention in this video that reunion episodes tend not to be my favorites, or even very memorable in general, and this one was really no different BUT like always there are little nuggets of live tv weirdness that make it worth it. As I’m writing this, Blake’s comments during this reunion stand out for me at least, and I’ll just leave it at that…

Pinocchio (2022) Review – Tarqaron ft. Rusty

Quite a while ago at this point, Alec, Rusty, and I said that we would make it a mission of ours to go through the live-action Disney remakes as well as tackle any new releases that come our way and somewhere along the way we lost sight of that. Of course, naturally, Pinocchio would be the one to bring us back together and hopefully get back on track. We spent nearly an hour talking about this movie and I’ll just say that not much of it was positive but we enjoyed talking about it at the very least!

Zach’s thoughts on the Survivor 43 PREMIERE! – Tarqaron

While the overall public discourse that I’ve seen tends to lean towards a positive reception of the premiere, I’ve got to say that while I was happy for Survivor to be back, I still am very much hesitant to enjoy some of the new norms that have been established over the last new seasons. Additionally, while I was happy with the editing I found myself underwhelmed by the episode and its more of the same vibe overall. But as always I will keep an open mind and enjoy the season as it is another season of Survivor, after all.

Weekly Highlights – September 19, 2022

Weekly Highlights, Written Posts

Highlights of the Week

Smash Ultimate Summit 5 on YouTube:

The only games I enjoy watching competitively are Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and my favorite event for both of them is always the Summits, where some of the best players in their respective games are brought together to duke it out while producing content in a unique environment. The fifth installment of Smash Ultimate Summit delivered on all fronts, with plenty of intense game-five sets and dramatic upsets that made for exciting results and entertaining gameplay all around. I always eagerly await the next Summit and that’s no different for the next Melee one on the horizon!

The Walking Dead on AMC:

So I’ve been behind on the latest season of The Walking Dead for some time now, but this past week I’ve really been making some decent progress towards catching up. For the final season (season 11), they split it up into three parts, each with eight episodes, I believe, with the final part to be released soon. But I had previously only made it into the first part and am now in the second part after watching a few episodes and I have really been enjoying it! At this point I’ve watched through the tenth episode of season 11, and that one especially saw a significant change in the feel of the show and although I’m still behind by several episodes, it has been a refreshing change of pace and I look forward to seeing how things shape up later on!

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Switch:

As much as I absolutely adore this game, I haven’t played it since its initial release and sank only about 30 hours into it before leaving it behind for the time being. I had been meaning to revisit it for some time now, in anticipation of the previously unnamed Breath of the Wild sequel (now officially titled Tears of the Kingdom). There was plenty left for me to do in the base game and I never even touched the DLC at all! So I’m hoping to get to as much as I can, but I did start over with a new file because it has been pretty much five years at this point and I figured it would feel like a practically brand-new experience for me at this point anyway! So while I’ve put very little time into this so far, I’m looking forward to reliving the magic of this game again.

Content of the Week:

Survivor: Guatemala Ep. 13 Reaction (The Curse of the Car) – Tarqaron

This was a fun episode to have in the mix! The episode right before the finale can tend to not be one of the most exciting episodes in the world and although the end result of the episode tracks with that, I think there’s a lot of fun character moments and personality to counteract that and make it a memorable episode.

Survivor 43 Pre-Season Spectacular – Tarqaron ft. Rusty

It’s really cool getting to jump back into that modern Survivor mindset with my pal Rusty. Given all of the factors involved in the last two seasons I am cautiously optimistic, but overall know I will have a good time because it is ultimately more Survivor at the end of the day! It was fun doing this draft and going through some weird pet peeves that the cast has.

Now ZACH ranks ALEC’s favorite things! – Tarqaron

Yes, Alec stole my idea for this video because of course he would. It was fun being on the other end of it and I anticipate us having fun with more fun and unique tier list templates in the future as well!