Stories by Marcel Hoang

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How well do you know the references and homages found in Genshin Impact?

Watch Video One of my favorite things in Genshin Impact are the references that really get me to latch onto the world and its characters. I’m reminded that Mihoyo’s tagline -- tech otaku save the world -- probably isn’t... read

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How have you been liking Genshin Impact?

Nov 03 · 2 min read · Marcel Hoang

Genshin Impact has been out for around a month now and it's pretty insane the positive buzz the game has for being a free-to-play gacha game. Despite the inherent dangers of gambling your money away on in-game content, the game beneath the gacha mechanics is really good. I am an unapologetic sucker for games with grinding mechanics, and Genshin Impact has grinding in spades. read

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What was your favorite moment from Monster Hunter World: Iceborne?

Nov 01 · 3 min read · Marcel Hoang

After farming Fatalis, crafting everything I wanted from him, and strolling around SOS signals as a god, I think it’s safe to say I’ve had a hell of a time hunting in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. Now that all t... read

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Here are some strong contenders for Pokemon Sword and Shield: The Crown Tundra

Oct 10 · 6 min read · Marcel Hoang

On previous lists looking on the Pokémon meta, we've seen both brand new Pokémon set the tier list aflame as well as witness old favorites continue holding down the fort. Now it's time to see what has chang... read

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Are you playing any of EVO Online's headliners now?

Jun 14 · 2 min read · Marcel Hoang

Despite a feeling that EVO Online isn't quite the real EVO, having a game featured as an official headlining title will do wonders for its visibility. And with the tournament being free-to-enter and no travel expenses to worr... read

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How was Guilty Gear Strive's beta for you?

Apr 20 · 3 min read · Marcel Hoang

Watch Video It was a long weekend for me and the Guilty Gear Strive closed beta test. The beta was a painful ordeal of latency and connectivity issues, which is to be expected in any beta environment. But when it came to playing the game, I had a fine time, even if the delay-based netcode wasn't indicative of the final product's promised rollback netcode. read

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People on eBay are asking insane prices for these Animal Crossing amiibo cards

Apr 12 · 6 min read · Marcel Hoang

Several years ago, after the debut of Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Nintendo released amiibo cards featuring the extensive list of Animal Crossing characters. At the time, reception was pretty mixed. The cards' primar... read

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Has Doom Eternal been harder for you than expected?

Apr 05 · 2 min read · Marcel Hoang

There’s no mistake that both Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal have both proven big successes, with both consistently popping up in my social media feed. But while Animal Crossing has been opening up a surp... read

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Let's show off our Animal Crossing islands here

Mar 29 · 2 min read · Marcel Hoang

It's been a little over a week since Animal Crossing: New Horizons released and already a good chunk of new island reps have a groove going with how their island is developing. I'd bet that a lot of people, at the very least,... read

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After its many demos, are you still interested in Nioh 2?

Mar 08 · 3 min read · Marcel Hoang

With its Last Chance Trial now finished, showing off how Nioh 2 has changed since its early alphas, the sequel is less than a week away from dropping, kicking off a deluge of new games for 2020. Since Team Ninja takes feedbac... read

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A fighter's guide for Granblue Fantasy: Versus

Mar 07 · 15 min read · Marcel Hoang

Granblue Fantasy: Versus is finally out, and if you've read our review, you should have a solid idea of how it works compared to other fighting games. Granblue Fantasy: Versus, I think, succeeds in making every char... read

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Watch out for these Pokemon if they return in Sword's and Shield's expansions

Jan 16 · 8 min read · Marcel Hoang

Last week, during the reveal of the Pokémon expansions, my favorite reactions came from people on Twitter who behaved with disgust and sometimes PTSD when the sizzle reel for the Crown Tundra scrolled through many Le... read

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Marcel's games of 2019 and the games that influenced them

Jan 05 · 5 min read · Marcel Hoang

Twenty nineteen was truly the year Capcom took it back. It's hard to believe I've been playing games from this company since back when I was a kid in the '90s, back with Mega Man X, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and Street Fighte... read

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The skipper's guide to Warframe's new railjacks and Empyrean

Dec 30 · 8 min read · Marcel Hoang

Warframe dropped its Empyrean update, first for PC during The Game Awards and then a week later for PS4 and Xbox One. Like many of my experiences with new Warframe content, it is buggy as hell, but it hit the promised Decemb... read

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Everything you should do during Monster Hunter World's Joy Festival

Dec 21 · 3 min read · Marcel Hoang

It's hard to believe Monster Hunter World: Iceborne has been out since September because the first big seasonal event is now finally running. While new hunters in both low and high rank can enjoy the Winter Star Festival, vet... read

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Tips and tricks for Monster Hunter's Safi'jiiva siege

Dec 20 · 7 min read · Marcel Hoang

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne's newest siege monster, Safi'jiiva, has been out for about a week now. I've been farming him this whole time and delving into shared information from others, so this guide has almost everything ... read

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Capcom needs to bring back Marvel vs. Capcom by remembering what made it great in the first place

Dec 17 · 4 min read · Marcel Hoang

The silver age of the fighting game genre is seemingly over. There are tons of great titles to play, both old and new, but many discussions I've come across are constantly debating problems like netcode, season passes, and th... read

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Here are Pokemon Sword and Shield's most competitive Pokemon so far

Dec 09 · 6 min read · Marcel Hoang

Back when Pokémon Sun and Moon released, I hopped onto Smogon.com and took a stroll around the Uncharted Territory forum to explore the potential of a lot of the newer Pokémon. A lot of them held ... read

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My favorite Pokémon in Sword and Shield is a dirty, smelly, metal cat. What's yours?

Dec 04 · 2 min read · Marcel Hoang

Watch Video I'm on the precipice of finishing the Galarian Gym Challenge in Pokémon Shield, after catching a wide array of Pokémon and scoring copious amounts of EXP Candy from Max Raid Battles I've grinded in the... read

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How are you liking Samurai Shodown?

Jul 26 · 2 min read · Marcel Hoang

It's been a few weeks now since Samurai Shodown released with a wicked vengeance. As I've been playing it and following tournament videos, even two weeks out, there's a lot of stuff to be discovered in a new entry to a series... read

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What anime are you watching for summer 2019?

Jul 19 · 9 min read · Marcel Hoang

Summer anime 2019 is officially a post-basement-reveal world. Summer is a post-Diavolo world. A post-Rising of Shield Hero world! A post-One Punch Man season 2 world! We're now a few weeks into summer 2019 and I've been looki... read

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Check out the Destructoid community's Super Mario Maker 2 levels

Jul 15 · 3 min read · Marcel Hoang

Personally, I think the quality of Mario levels, now that we live in a Super Mario Maker 2 world, has gone up considerably. There are some cool, high-stress runners, some comically-themed levels, and some fun, puzzle-oriented... read

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Do you have a GOTY 2019 yet and why is it Devil May Cry V?

Jul 08 · 2 min read · Marcel Hoang

It's a tale as old as time, eternally retold. Halfway through the year, it's easy to look back on what we've played to date and possibly use it as a measuring stick against what we expect from the rest of the year. There are ... read

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What did you think of the Monster Hunter World: Iceborne beta?

Jun 24 · 2 min read · Marcel Hoang

Watch Video While a lot of our brave editors managed to crawl out to LA to check out Monster Hunter World: Iceborne a few weeks ago, a sizable portion of us may have finally gotten their hands on their own gameplay of Iceborne, courtesy ... read

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What are you guys looking forward to for E3?

Jun 08 · 4 min read · Marcel Hoang

For a few years straight now, I've been going around, asking people around this time of year if they're excited for what will come out of E3. There are many ideas, a lot of predictions, and while there is also some apathy abo... read

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Did you get a chance to check out the Nioh 2 alpha?

Jun 03 · 2 min read · Marcel Hoang

The Nioh 2 alpha has now come to an end. For about a week, a select few players jumped into a small demo of the upcoming sequel, provided they were lucky enough to get a code. Nioh was an important game to me, as it got me in... read

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How have you been liking Mortal Kombat 11?

May 19 · 4 min read · Marcel Hoang

Right now in the fighting game scene, we're between releases. Older games have been receiving new DLC - like GT Goku arriving in Dragonball FighterZ, Blazblue Crosstag Battle getting Arcana Heart characters, wh... read

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How difficult was Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for you?

May 05 · 3 min read · Marcel Hoang

A few weeks back, everyone started talking about difficulty and accessibility from how hard Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is and we all had a nice laugh as the internet burned down around us. But we haven't heard from how the lov... read

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What anime are you watching for spring 2019?

Apr 22 · 8 min read · Marcel Hoang

Spring has sprung! A fresh new season stretches out before us as we dive into a pile of new anime and argue about what's worth watching and what's worth hate-watching. As always, the new season snuck up on me while I'm rewatc... read

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How are you liking Devil May Cry 5? (Spoilers)

Mar 14 · 2 min read · Marcel Hoang

Watch Video Hideaki Itsuno promised that Devil May Cry 5, the just-released fifth game in the main Devil May Cry series, would "exceed all expectations." I think many would agree that it didn't just exceed all expectations, it damn well ... read

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About Marcel Hoangone of us since 1:23 PM on 07.09.2011

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