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britesparc · 3 years

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Weekend Top Ten #472

Top Ten Suggestions for Future Star Wars Games

Concluding an accidental trilogy of Top Ten lists that feature the word “Star”, here we journey back to a galaxy far, far away. This is also one of those lists that’s been bubbling under for quite a while, since the announcement (feels like ages ago now) that Disney have shopped the Star Wars licence around to a number of developers, and we’ll get future games from companies other than EA. But really it goes back even further, because for me Star Wars and gaming are inexorably linked. I associate my teenage PC gaming phase very closely with Star Wars, because it occurred in the mid-nineties, when Star Wars games were truly ascendent. In a run that I would argue stretched from the release of X-Wing in 1993, right through to Knights of the Old Republic in 2003, it felt like just about every genre was getting a nod from the House of Skywalker, and generally speaking the games were excellent. This time also saw the resurgence of Star Wars as a multimedia powerhouse, with the films getting reissued on video (and in Widescreen!) before the 1997 release of the Special Editions, the subsequent DVD releases, and then in 1999, the beginnings of the Prequel Trilogy with The Phantom Menace. You could argue that that’s when the wheels fell off, because even with the “Han Shot First” controversy and mixed reaction to some of the new effects shots, the late-nineties releases had been warmly received, Star Wars felt cool and exciting all the time, and anticipation was building to fever pitch at the thought of new movies. Amidst the Jar Jar hatred there was, I think, a bit more antipathy towards stories set in the Clone Wars, and although there were still some very good games being released (the first LEGO Star Wars came out in 2005!), the spark of the Golden Age was mostly absent.

Could we be entering a new Golden Age, or at least a Silver Age? Maybe; hopefully! I really, really enjoyed Jedi: Fallen Order and Squadrons, even though neither are perfect and both have plenty of rough edges. Now that the Skywalker Saga is out of the way and the franchise as a whole is spreading out into new areas (check out the number of Disney+ shows on the way), perhaps we’ll see all different facets of the galaxy explored in games too. And that’s what this list is: ten possible games, set in the Star Wars universe, that I think would be cool.

For the most part I’m not trying to invent a whole game; rather, it’s “Star Wars in this genre” or “Star Wars with this hook”. There’s probably an exception or two here and there, but you’ll get the drift. Some of these have been in my mental wishlist for years, from right back to when I first played X-Wing on my mate’s Mac, or when I installed a friend’s copy of Dark Forces from floppy disk (we, er, did that in those days). One of the best things about Star Wars is that it contains multitudes; George Lucas really did create a whole galaxy full of weird side characters, intriguing backstory, and funky-looking locations (aided and abetted, of course, by a bevy of talented collaborators). What corner of the universe couldn’t support a game of some kind?

So here’s to the future, to the newly-rechristened Lucasfilm Games, and to ten titles that could all benefit from beginning with those classic blue words on a black background.

Jedi Padawan RPG: I’ve wanted a game like this for about twenty years: a third-person action-RPG where you play a Padawan. You create your character and build your lightsaber, and then follow your master on missions around the Republic, learning the ways of the Force and developing your character. In a way, Fallen Order has adopted some of these ideas; the fact you only use a lightsaber and Force powers, for instance. But in my mind this is more similar to something like the first Fable, or maybe Mass Effect, where you’d have a hub to return to (the Jedi Temple) and then go off on missions that you could choose. All the while there’d be a plot bubbling up, and an arc to follow, and all sorts of quasi-open-world Jedi shenanigans. It’d be cool if they could make lightsabers feel like the really dangerous one-hit-kill weapons they are in the films, or if you could use them to, y’know, open doors and stuff. Maybe this could be set in the “High Republic” era we’re starting to explore.

Deus Ex-style first-person RPG: I suppose this one could be reductively called “Cyberpunk on Coruscant”, but the idea is you’d play someone – not a Jedi, in my mind – going on quests or solving some kind of mystery, shooting people in first person whilst also upgrading your body and abilities in typical RPG style. I wouldn’t want it to be too dark; I don’t like it when people try to make Star Wars “edgy”. But that Mandalorian or Rogue One tone of seriousness interspersed with Star Wars’ typical melodrama and weirdness would be good. I see your character as a small-time crook or maybe a minor mercenary who by circumstance is forced to take missions for either the Rebels or the Empire (or maybe First Order and Resistance); perhaps mirroring Poe Dameron’s journey from spice smuggler to X-Wing superstar. It’d be cool if there was Fallout-style hit-modelling on characters, and if your arm or whatever got damaged, you could have it replaced with a robot one.

Star Wars meets Elite: I even have a title for this one: “Scoundrel”. Basically, like I say, it’s Elite but in the Star Wars universe; you have a ship, you fly from planet to planet, you trade goods or offer passage, you spend your money on upgrading your ship or buying a new one. You’re Han Solo, basically; hence “Scoundrel”. In my mind it’s set at the dawn of the Rebellion, so you can choose where your allegiances – and your ethics – lie. Take on official Imperial assignments? Help their war effort? Stay neutral but legal? Stay out of the politics, but, y’know, smuggle a little bit? Run a bit of spice? Or do you go all-in and work for the Rebellion – even take part in military action? Maybe it could even run all the way up to Return of the Jedi and give you the chance to fight in the Battle of Endor! C’mon, this one has “hit” written all over it.

Clone Troopers turn-based “Tactics” game: by “Tactics” I mean like X-COM or, well, Gears Tactics; turn-based team combat games. I think of all the groups of military characters most suited to this style, it would be the Clone Troopers; they’re a well-organised military force that functions as part of a team. We know there are loads of types of Troopers, with different uniforms for different jobs, so there’s lots of room for customising your team, as well as experimenting with different classes. Plus if they die there’s more to come, they’re just in vats! Get Temuera Morrison to voice them all for added authenticity.

A point-and-click adventure: this was the first ever idea I had for a Star Wars game, because at the time I was really, really into adventures. This could be anything; I’m not too fussed on the plot. Some kind of mystery obviously lends itself to the format. Whether you play as the same character all the way through or switch protagonists (a common genre trope), I don’t mind. But I want it to be a fairly straightforward, old-fashioned point-and-click game, with no action or QTEs. Make it look like Thimbleweed Park, make it look like Clone Wars or Rebels, make it look as real as possible, it’s all fine; just give me a slow-burn narrative adventure story in the Star Wars universe please.

Lemmings, but with porgs: yeah, there’s nothing more to add to this. Maybe you play one of the Space Nuns, or even Chewbacca, and you have to help out all these crazy porgs? They’re just wandering around, getting into mischief, chewing on the Falcon or playing with a lightsaber, and they’ll kill themselves if you don’t help. That’s it. That’s the game. Lemmings, but with porgs.

Rebel base construction/management game: my template here would be stuff like Evil Genius or Two Point Hospital: real-time games where you build different rooms or services in a given play space. So, the Rebels are constantly darting all over the galaxy, setting up shop temporarily and then evacuating when the Empire comes a-calling; here, you have to kit out the different bases, often to service different aims (a recon base, an aerial support base, a training centre, etc), and in different planetary conditions (think Hoth, Yavin, or Crait). Obviously there are essentials: communication, power, accommodation. Then you can build starship docks, weapons arrays, bacta tanks, astromech services, even Jedi training rooms. Instead of attracting “customers” the idea is to be recruiting new Rebels, so the bigger and better your base, the more troops you have. Maybe there can even be some kind of meta-game where the progress of the war is smoother if your bases are better? But there’d be virtually no combat, apart from maybe shooting probe droids or scaring away wampas. Anyway, I think it sounds cool.

Rebel Commandos cover-shooter: I guess this could also be a Clone Trooper game, but we’ve already had a Clone FPS, and I just invented Clone Tactics up the page a bit, so let’s spread the love. It’s basically Gears of War but with the Rebel Alliance. Think about the Battle of Endor or the Battle of Scarif; teams of well-trained and battle-hardened troopers up against superior odds but still kickin’ ass. Unlike the rent-a-clone nature of the Tactics game, this would be more story-driven, with a small team (four, maybe, as it’s a good number for co-op) who have to infiltrate and/or assault heavily-fortified enemy positions. I think this could be good with a nice narrative behind it, fleshing out the Star Wars universe, and maybe offering a bit of those Rogue One-style shades of grey.

Fallout Shelter-style Jawa Sandcrawler management game: utini! Jawas are great aren’t they? Whether it’s electrocuting Artoo, cheering at podracers, or just eating the shit out of a great big egg, everyone loves a good Jawa. How can you make a game about Jawas? Well, what about if you’re this tribe or group or whatever of Jawas, and you’ve got your own knackered sandcrawler. And as part of the game you have to develop it, tart it up a bit, recruit new bands of Jawas, and then, y’know, rob droids and flog ‘em. Like Fallout Shelter, you have to build and maintain different rooms in the sandcrawler to grow your people and earn more cash from droids, but you’re constrained a little by size. The sandcrawler can’t be expanded too much, and although you could upgrade to bigger ones, you have to make strategic decisions about where to allocate precious space. I see this as being quite low-fi and stylised (bring back Yoda Stories!), and working as a kind of chilled-out time-wasting game on Switch or something.

Homeworld, but in the Clone Wars: and we’re back to the Clone Wars again! But here, we kind of have to, as it’s the only war in the Star Wars wars that features two huge and evenly-matched armadas (Rebels vs Empire and Resistance vs First Order are both very much “scrappy underdogs up against vast organised militaries”). Playing as the Republic or the Separatists, you have to maintain huge fleets of capital ships, support craft, fighters and bombers, and go on missions to attack, defend, or escort. It’s probably the best way to recreate the feeling of that absolutely vast battles we see in the opening minutes of Revenge of the Sith. Maybe an add-on could even give us ground battles too, recreating scenes such as the Battle of Geonosis. Anyway, sounds cool don’t you think?

Incidentally – and speaking of the Star Wars of it all – this is the first week that we’re not watching a War for our family movie night. We’ve done ‘em all! All the episodes of the Skywalker Saga, the two live-action spin-off movies, and even (well, me an’ the eldest) the animated Clone Wars movie. I might do another Top Ten ranking them, based on the kids’ opinions; that’d be interesting. Although – of course – we’ve only got a couple of weeks to wait until the two Ewok movies hit Disney+. What a time to be alive!

Now, the Ewoks – there’s a good idea for a game there…

#top ten #star wars #games #gaming #lucasarts #lucasfilm games #jedi knight #fallen order #squadrons

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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The Best Games of 2020

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Despite how almost every other aspect of the year went, 2020 was a landmark year for video games. Not only did it see the release of highly-anticipated titles like The Last of Us Part II, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Ghost of Tsushima, and Cyberpunk 2077, but 2020 also marked the beginning of a new generation of console and PC gaming with the release of the Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and new GPUs from NVIDIA and AMD. We even got a new Half-Life game this year!

What would’ve made the gaming year ever better? Big-name video game companies could have done more to eliminate development crunch and be more transparent about their business practices with customers and the press. And we definitely could have all been nicer to each other.

But video games also helped keep us connected when we couldn’t see our friends and loved ones in person. They helped us travel to new and interesting places when we couldn’t leave our homes. Most importantly, all 20 games on our best-of-the-year list made us feel excited about this medium at a time when it was so difficult to enjoy anything else.

To that affect, Den of Geek is celebrating 20 video games our contributors and critics, as well as our community of readers, voted as the very best of 2020.

20. Star Wars: Squadrons

For the last decade or so, most Star Wars games have focused on the power fantasy of being a lightsaber-swinging, Force-wielding Jedi. That’s all well and good, but for a long time it seemed like everyone forgot that some of the most beloved Star Wars games of all time were actually space shooters like X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and Rogue Squadron. In many ways, Star Wars: Squadrons is a throwback to those games, both in terms of gameplay and design. Controls are a pitch perfect mix of arcade simplicity and strategy, requiring quick thinking about whether to focus your ship’s power on attacking or defending.

Squadrons is also much more tightly focused than other recent games from large publishers, with a breezy yet enjoyable single-player campaign, and a multiplayer mode that, while light on modes, eschews the more annoying modern conventions of the online PvP like invasive microtransactions. But Squadrons is not stuck in its old school ways.

If you have the hardware for it on PC or PS4, you can jump into the cockpit of any of the playable ships for one one of the most immersive VR modes around. Similar to how The Mandalorian has rejuvenated the live-action side of the Star Wars media empire, Squadrons is a perfect mix of all of the best things we’ve always loved about Star Wars video games, and everything we want them to be going forward. – CF

19. Journey to the Savage Planet

Science fiction writers have long held on to this idea that, if and when humankind eventually colonizes the universe, it will do so as some sort of united, utopian entity, like Starfleet. But that future seems less and less likely every day. If and when humanity spreads across the stars, it will likely be messy, absurd, and profit-motivated. Journey to the Savage Planet wallows in that type of future. As an unnamed human (or dog, if you choose), you’re dropped onto the planet AR-Y26 by Kindred, the fourth biggest intergalactic exploration company with the simple goal of collecting as many resources as possible and leaving.

The Metroidvania gameplay loop of crafting equipment to access new areas is compelling, a rarity for 3D games in the genre. And it offers plenty of surprises too. You’ll start off with the typical blaster and scanner before eventually unlocking a grappling hook that lets you swing around levels like Spider-Man. But it’s style that ultimately lifts Journey to the Savage Planet above so many other games released in 2020. For one thing, the world and the fauna you’ll encounter are incredibly unique, and well, alien. And the regular live-action updates from Kindred beamed directly to your ship are among some of the funniest and most bizarre cinematics out this year in any game, providing plenty of motivation to see this journey through to its end. – CF

18. Half-Life: Alyx

As VR gaming continues to evolve, it’s becoming clear that the technology is more than just one truly great game away from widespread adoption. If that were all it took, then Half-Life: Alyx would have put a VR set under a lot of Christmas trees.

It’s truly wild to think that we got a new Half-Life game this year and that it sometimes feels like the game’s release was barely a blip on the cultural radar. While its somewhat muted debut can be attributed to its VR exclusivity (and the fact it launched at the onset of a global health crisis), Half-Life: Alyx surpassed all possible hype by offering a truly incredibly narrative-driven adventure bolstered by some of the cleverest uses of VR technology that we’ve ever seen.

Half-Life: Alyx isn’t the first great VR game, but Valve’s glorious return to form does shows how VR can advance fundamental elements of gameplay and storytelling rather than just show familiar games from a new perspective. – MB

17. Carrion

The indie game space is where you typically see the most experimentation, and this year proved no different when the gruesome and morbid Carrion released back in July. Highly inspired by the likes of John Carpenter’s The Thing, Alien, and other cult classic horror films known for their excellent use of practical SFX, this platformer cleverly flips the script, putting you in the role of the monster to dispatch helpless scientists in the claustrophobic depths of an underground lab as an ever-growing amorphous blob creature. What follows is a brief but effective 2D platformer that is fast paced and delectably gory.

The controls could have made controlling the creature a real pain, but Phobia Game Studio recognized that the key here was letting you move swiftly through the levels. As such, gliding through vents to take down scientists from above or underneath quickly becomes second nature. Encounters still pose a good degree of challenge, however, thanks to the heavily armed soldiers that show up later in the game, but this never stops Carrion from fulfilling every horror aficionado’s devilish fantasy of being the bloodthirsty monster. – AP

16. Kentucky Route Zero

Calling Kentucky Route Zero an homage to classic point-and-click adventure games is technically correct, but it doesn’t come close to doing the experience justice. Kentucky Route Zero is more like a poem or fable in video game form. It’s a feeling, a distillation of what it’s like to come of age in the Great Recession and its fallout over the last decade. Kentucky Route Zero is an epithet for rural America told through a fever dream, an examination of a version of rural Appalachia where talking skeletons and robotic musicians live alongside gas station attendants and truck drivers.

Nothing about Kentucky Route Zero fits the typical confines of what we expect from a video game, and that includes its release. Developed by a team of only three, the first episode of the five-episode experience was released in 2013, but the final product was only realized in early 2020. That lengthy development cycle meant that the game’s scope and story could grow to only better encapsulate this moment in time, and the final product stands out as one of best games of the year. To say more is to spoil its excellent story. – CF

15. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2

Though it’s been a hot minute since skateboarding games dominated the console space, Vicarious Visions’ excellent remake collection of the first two Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater titles was a reminder of how the entire series captured a whole generation of players in the late ’90s and early ’00s. Whether it’s grinding down rails, performing kickflips, or landing the gravity-defying 1080 on a vert ramp, everything in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 feels and looks exactly as you remember it but touched up with modern flare. That’s the mark of any great remake, and why this game in particular was the best example of the practice this year.

Classic skating locations like Warehouse, School and Downtown have all been faithfully remade from the ground up for a 21st century audience, effortlessly delivering the same thrills and balanced challenge as they did before. The fact that select mechanical features like reverts, which wouldn’t arrive until later entries, have been retroactively added is also a nice touch, instantly making Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 the definitive way to experience these skateboarding classics. – AP

14. Ori and the Will of the Wisps

The fact that Ori and the Will of the Wisps managed to usurp the critically acclaimed 2015 original in most design aspects speaks to just how well Moon Studios has mastered the art of the Metroidvania. Whisking players off on another tight 10-hour journey set within a mystical forest full of secrets to discover, this 2D adventure gives off a fantastical vibe in a way few others do. It’s an expert blend between smart combat mechanics, highly polished platforming, and emotional storytelling. That it runs at a silky 60 fps both on Nintendo Switch and Xbox is the cherry on top.

The major improvements Will of the Wisps makes over Blind Forest relate to saving and combat. Whereas previously it was the responsibility of players to lay down specific checkpoints, progress is now more in line with other 2D platformers and less punishing. Combat, meanwhile, has been completely revamped with the inclusion of special charms and upgradeable skills, most of which result in more flexible enemy encounters. These tweaks are implemented without ever compromising on Ori’s core hook of magical exploration and challenging platforming, instantly making it one of the best Metroidvanias out there. – AP

13. Call of Duty: Warzone

Call of Duty: Warzone was a natural and perhaps even necessary evolution for the long-running shooter franchise, carving out a space for it in the ever-crowding battle royale genre. While it’s largely derivative of battle royale titles that came before, the staggering 150-player count, always excellent CoD controls, top-notch presentation, and flexible cash system have made it eminently popular and fun for casual players and series vets alike. The CoD fan base feels vibrant again after years of stagnation in the shadow of breakout titles like PUBG and Fortnite, and that’s without going into how Warzone has revitalized the franchise’s presence in the streaming space.

One of the best facets of the game’s design is that the large player count all but ensures that, even if a player is new to the genre or series, the chances of them being the absolute worst player in the field is very low. Better still, the “Gulag” respawn mechanic opens up the possibility for ultimate revenge should you earn your way back into the match, which is a nice way to up engagement for those who suffer disappointing deaths.

The game doesn’t feel quite as dynamic or high-stakes as some of its competitors on the market, but it’s definitely one of the easiest to pick up and play. It’s no wonder Warzone has expanded CoD’s already enormous audience over the course of 2020. – BB

12. Astro’s Playroom

With launch lineups mostly filled with graphically enhanced releases of last-gen games, the release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X has been more than a little underwhelming. The one bright spot is Astro’s Playroom, a little first-party Sony game that received virtually no pre-release hype and comes pre-installed on every PS5.

While at first glance a typical 3D platformer, Astro’s Playroom soon reveals itself to be a fantastic showcase of what’s possible with the new DualSense controller. In one level, you’re feeling the resistance from the controller’s adaptive triggers as you spring jump through obstacles dressed as a frog. In another, you’re expertly moving the controller back and forth to climb walls in a robotic monkey suit. Even just standing in the rain causes the controller to pulse ever so slightly with each drop. And all of this takes place across worlds celebrating the entire history of PlayStation, where you collect classic consoles and accessories, culminating in an unexpected boss battle throwback to an original PSX tech demo.

Astro’s Playroom may be short, but it’s an oh so sweet and exciting taste of what’s possible with the power of next-gen consoles. – CF

11. Doom Eternal

It would have been easy for Doom Eternal to be more of the same. After all, 2016’s Doom became the surprising gold-standard for single-player FPS games by virtue of its clever writing and gameplay that blended the best of classic and modern design concepts. Yet, Doom Eternal proved to be something much more than “the same but bigger.”

With its arena-like levels and resource management mechanics, Doom Eternal sometimes feels like a puzzle game set in the Doom universe. While the transition to this new style can be jarring, you soon find that Doom Eternal is speaking the same language in a different dialect. The brutal brilliance of a classic Doom game remains but it’s presented in the form of a kind of FPS dance that puts you in a state of pure zen once you figure out how to make that perfect run through a room full of demonic baddies.

Four years after Doom showed this old franchise could pull off new tricks, Doom Eternal proves that this series is at the forefront of FPS innovation once more. – MB

10. Demon’s Souls

Although initially released in 2009 for the PlayStation 3, Demon’s Souls would help define the next generation of gaming by establishing the Soulslike genre, which has influenced everything from recent Star Wars games to The Legend of Zelda. The “problem” is that the legacy of Demon’s Souls has been sort of eclipsed by the accomplishments of its successors.

That’s the beauty of the remake for the PS5. Aided by the power of the console’s next-gen hardware, developer Bluepoint Games pays homage to one of the most historically significant games of the last 15 years while wisely updating it in ways that show that the foundation of FromSoftware’s breakthrough hit remains arguably the best entry in a genre that isn’t exactly lacking in modern classics.

In a year where finding a next-gen console proved to be more difficult than any Soulslike game, Demon’s Souls remains the best reason to battle the bots at online stores in the hopes of joining gaming’s next generation as soon as possible. – MB

9. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

There were multiple times this year where couped-up players relied heavily on “bean” games to help maintain a human connection. Before Among Us dominated the Twitch streams, it was Mediatonic’s intentionally clumsy and hilarious Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout that had us competitively raging with our friends. It did so by merging the wildly popular battle royale genre with the inflatable-fueled antics of early ’90s game shows, where dodging swinging hammers and battling giant fruit against 59 others became the norm for a few weeks – all in the pursuit of winning a highly coveted crown.

Needless to say, making Fall Guys free to PS Plus subscribers for a month turned out to be a genius marketing move, urging everyone to hop into the game’s inventive gamut of levels and make a fool of themselves. Much of what sets it apart from other battle royale attempts is its low-skill barrier to entry, and thanks to frequent seasonal updates, new unlockable outfits and fresh mini-games always being added, bumbling to the top of the pack as a colorful bean remains consistent fun. – AP

8. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Animal Crossing: New Horizons should be included in history books about the Covid-19 pandemic. Releasing just as lockdowns were being instituted across the globe, New Horizons provided the escapism we so desperately needed while quarantining, attracting not just the usual Nintendo fanbase, but even those who had never played games in the past but were now looking for something to occupy their time at home. Whether we played it with friends or alone, New Horizons provided the routine and distraction that so many of us needed in a world suddenly thrown into chaos.

Of course, it helped that New Horizons is the best Animal Crossing game to date, with tons of new ways to customize your island (and yourself). And as Covid-19 restrictions have stretched much longer than many of us anticipated, New Horizons has kept pace, with Nintendo releasing a steady stream of new fish to catch, fruits to harvest, and events to participate in throughout the year. It may not be the game that everyone wanted, but New Horizons is the game that 2020 needed. – CF

7. Cyberpunk 2077

When Cyberpunk 2077’s legacy is written, there’s no doubt that the opening chapter is going to focus on the bugs, technical shortcomings, and empty promises that have turned what looked to be one of 2020’s guaranteed hits into one of modern gaming’s most debated debuts.

Yet, the reason that this game’s initial issues will likely not ultimately define it is that Cyberpunk 2077 reveals itself to be a special experience whenever you’re able to play it without crashes or bugs ruining your experience. From its stunning side quests that revive one of The Witcher 3’s best elements to its shockingly human narrative, Cyberpunk 2077 regularly showcases the undeniable talent of the individuals who battled internal and external factors to deliver their vision.

Cyberpunk 2077’s technical problems wouldn’t hurt as much as they do if there wasn’t a truly great game at the heart of them that people are begging to be able to play as intended. – MB

6. Final Fantasy VII Remake

The pressure was on for Square Enix from the moment it announced Final Fantasy VII Remake back in 2015. For those who obsessed over the original back in 1997, the prospect of a remake was the stuff dreams were made of, and this year we finally got to relive Cloud, Aerith, Barret, and Tifa’s grand adventure (the first act of it, at least) with fully updated, well, everything. Astonishingly, the remake actually lived up to expectations and delivered not just a faithful update to the original game but a modern RPG that stands as one of its generation’s best regardless of nostalgia.

The key to Square Enix’s success was its approach, which aimed not to duplicate the experience of the original game, but to capture the essence and spirit of it while using modern game design to deliver the story in a way that doesn’t feel retro or rehashed at all. The game looks dazzling by 2020 standards (Midgar never looked better) but doesn’t compromise the integrity of the original designs, and the real-time combat—arguably the biggest departure from the original—is a blast to play.

Time will tell how exactly Square Enix will follow through with the rest of the remake as we enter a new console generation, but in the meantime, they studio has left us with a terrific reimagining of the most celebrated title in the studio’s expansive oeuvre. – BB

5. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Ubisoft deserves credit for keeping a franchise like Assassin’s Creed, which is 13 years old at this point, thriving in an industry that is flooded with more open world games now than it ever has been. The series is always competitive in the genre, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla proves why: it’s as refined as any of its predecessors and delivers a balanced experience with a rich world to explore, tons of strange stories to uncover, and a mash-up milieu that combines the eerie atmosphere of 5th-century England with the otherworldly spectacle of Norse mythology.

No open world game is perfect, and Valhalla certainly has a handful of shortcomings. But it’s a bloody good time to play, and there’s so much to do that there’s no question that you get your money’s worth. Eivor’s quest for glory and domination is also arguably the most cinematic story in the entire AC catalog, with some truly breathtaking cutscenes that rival those found in more linear games that can’t sniff Valhalla’s scope. Some of the more otherworldly moments in the back half of the game are pure, unadulterated, nonsensical fun, and overall, this is one of the best entries in the series. – BB

4. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Insomniac is one of those studios that you can always rely on to deliver fun, polished games that shine in every category, and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales only adds to the team’s sterling reputation. Building on the already brilliant formula the studio created with the original Marvel’s Spider-Man, Miles’s story is one of loss, friendship, identity, and the strength of the Black and Hispanic communities of Harlem.

The side-quel is also one of the best launch titles arguably ever. While it is a cross-gen game, the PS5 version is currently the best showcase of what next-gen gaming is capable of from a visual and performance standpoint. You won’t find a better-looking New York City in any other video game, period, and Insomniac’s outstanding animation work looks insanely good when bolstered by the PS5’s considerable horsepower. Miles plays differently than Peter Parker did in the original game as well, with his Venom Powers giving enemy encounters a new feel and rhythm.

Insomniac outdid itself with an excellent follow-up that would’ve been a forgettable DLC expansion in the hands of a less ambitious studio. But Miles Morales is one of the best modern-day superhero characters ever created, and it’s only right that he get a game that lives up to his greatness. – BB

3. Hades

The popularity of roguelikes has been calmly bubbling up for years now, yet only in 2020 did it truly become mainstream thanks to an ideal balance between gameplay and story as demonstrated by Hades. Players who previously took umbrage with the genre’s nature to wipe out all progress at each run’s end suddenly had a reason to jump back in, now inspired by Zagreus’ various tries to escape hell and overthrow his eponymous father. This alone sees Hades tower over most of its peers in terms of balance, further backed up by rewarding gameplay and a gorgeous comic book art style that makes the well-worn mythological Greek milieu feel fresh.

Developer Supergiant Games proved its penchant for creating flexible mechanical loops in prior titles, and in many ways, Hades feels like a culmination of all those ideas distilled in one neat package. It’s a great example of semi-randomized systems layering perfectly on top of other systems, until players eventually find themselves completing runs using distinct weapons, upgrading persistent abilities and slowly discovering which of the god’s many boons gel best with one another. Hades is always a hellishly good time. – AP

2. Ghost of Tsushima

The concept of honor has never been explored in a game as lyrically and philosophically as it is in Ghost of Tsushima, Sucker Punch’s story-driven samurai epic. Jin Sakai’s grand adventure is both brutal and beautiful, stretching across the grasslands and snowy peaks of the titular island, as he pushes the oppressive Mongol army out of his homeland, all the while wrestling internally with the kind of man, warrior, and leader he ultimately wants to be.

This game is outstanding on so many fronts that it’s difficult to list them all here. Visually, it looks so stunning that anyone who walks past your TV as you play is all but guaranteed to stop and stare for a while. The combat is fast and challenging, the stealth mechanic is on-point, the score is sweeping and sentimental, the character models are incredibly realistic, the online multiplayer mode “Legends” is actually a blast to play…and the list goes on. This poetic, pitch-perfect modern masterpiece is emblematic of the soulful, cinematic storytelling PlayStation Studios is known for, and it’s a wonderful way to send the PS4 off into the sunset. – BB

1. The Last of Us Part II (Also Reader’s Choice)

You can’t even say the name of our 2020 game of the year without sparking numerous debates that often make it nearly impossible to have a productive conversation about the game itself. That makes it that much more tempting to somehow find a kind of middle-ground that will “justify” the game’s lofty position to everyone regardless of where they stand.

The thing about The Last of Us Part 2,though, is that its divisiveness is very much part of the experience. Naughty Dog’s follow-up to arguably its greatest game is a bold attempt to live up to the franchise’s legacy by furthering what came before while trying to find its own way. Much like Ellie herself, The Last of Us Part 2 doesn’t always make the right decisions. Yet, at a time when bigger budgets are seen as an excuse to play it safe, The Last of Us Part 2 impresses through its willingness to present a big, bold, and personal adventure that is often anything but what was expected.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Anyone can generate a little controversy by saying something stupid, offensive, or hurtful. The beauty of The Last of Us Part 2’s controversy is that it stems from a heartfelt attempt to advance the conversation through indie-like passion and big budget production. – MB

The post The Best Games of 2020 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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crasherfly · 4 years

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What I’m Up To

Taking a brief pause from my fantasy screenplay to talk a bit about what I’m playing/reading/listening to these days.

VIDYA GAMES

Cities: Skylines- Still working on my shithole city in all its glory. San Cruz has expanded to over 100k residents and in the past week I’ve built a level 3 park, extensive monorail system, and even extensive helicopter pickup lines. It’s still a terrible place to live, but it’s also fun to grapple with the challenges of a desert map.

Yakuza 0- I’m gonna post this take here, since we’re not on twitter and I’m safe from the mobs- Yakuza 0 is the experience everyone promised me Witcher 3 would be. Thrilling combat, a fascinating game world, and lovely, meaningful side quests. If this sounds like I’m digging at Witcher 3, I promise I’m not. I personally didn’t enjoy that game. But obviously, many, many people did and would disagree with my critiques. That’s totally fine! I’m just saying I’m enjoying Yakuza 0 for merits similar to what I’ve heard in connection with the Witcher franchise- and I could also see people having similar gripes, too! I’ve been on a well documented single player drought over the past couple months. Yakuza 0 finally broke me out of that, and it’s been a thrill. Getting out of the COD grind cycle has been a joy. This is a lovely experience that rewards curiosity by sparking yet more curiosity. I can’t wait to see how it continues to open up. Expect my Twitter account to go on about this for a while.

Mario 64- I have 8 stars! I’m told I have like, 113 more to go, a number which makes me groan. So far, Mario 64 has felt like an obligation that is occasionally fun. It’s very dated, but it has the DNA that would go on to make later games like Odyssey an absolute joy. Games like these feel more like an exercise in filling in my gamer history gaps than they do labors of love. Like most retro games, I have a hard time getting into Mario 64 for longer than 20 minutes at a time. So this will likely be a long-running project.

Star Wars: Squadrons- I probably should have known better, but I picked this game up ‘cuz the reviews were decent and the price felt right. Good news is that in the couple of hours I’ve spent with it, the gameplay is mostly solid and the graphics are beautifully rendered. It feels like both Rogue Squadron AND X-Wing, which is a hell of an accomplishment. Bad news is several of the missions appear to be badly broken, requiring numerous restarts. The game is generous with checkpoints, so it’s not a huge deal, but it is annoying. Hopefully they patch that stuff. I also haven’t tried multiplayer yet. None of my friends have bit on picking this up, so I’m not sure when or if it will happen. Assuming I can power through the hammy story, I’ll at least finish the campaign sometime down the line, even if I can’t be bothered to care how any of this fits into the larger world of Star Wars.

Warzone- Still doing that Season 6 thing! Subways have been mostly a disappointment for me so far, and the new marksman rifle has made the current meta a veritable hell for anyone with underdeveloped quick scoping skills, but I still get a couple matches in every day.

ANIME

God of High School- To say God of High School moves fast is an understatement. True to form, it sprinted its way through the finale. It’s got some lovely sequences, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the OST, but beyond a couple of choice battles, it didn’t leave a strong impression on me. I’m glad I saw it, but I’m not thirsting for a new season.

Dragon Ball- I switched over to the English dub of this show. I don’t usually do that, but I was struggling to keep my attention. I think in a way it helped? The English dub actors are far more cartoonish and silly, which really plays to the absurd animation and story turns. I’m on S1E13, and the first summoning of the dragon just happened. I won’t spoil except to say...this show has a deeply specific sense of humor, and I’m starting to dig it?

Fire Force- Season 2 is finally taking off for me. I’m on ep 14, and the focus has shifted over to the mysterious Joker. The battles have been compelling, as have been the mysteries placed by his storyline. I was struggling with feeling invested in S2 thus far, but the past few ep’s have reminded me of why I found this show special in the first place- when it gets serious and stays focused, it’s one of the tightest active shonen stories.

Manga

I’ve been on a bit of a manga break lately. Today I did take time with another chapter of Fruits Basket, which continues to be a lovely delight. I also recently received Master Edition copies of both Fairy Tail and Berserk. This week, my goal is to finish both Fruits Basket and my latest volumes of One Piece so I can dive into my new Master Editions.

Music

I haven’t had much change in my music tastes lately. I’ve been listening to a lot of Kompany and other dubstep artists, mostly ‘cuz I find the deep bass and variety of sounds soothing to me while I’m writing and zoning out during sessions of Cities: Skylines. I also enjoy its tempo while I’m running. Anything that helps the time pass, really.

Tabletop Games

I played 6 hours of DND this weekend. It was mostly a free-form improv session where I let the players do basically anything they wanted to within the gameworld we established during The Lost Mines of Phandelver. It was very heavy on roleplay, without a single instance of combat. While I was personally exhausted after the session, the players expressed that they had a very good time. We’ll be looking to finish up what they started in a bonus session for October!

Wrastlin!

My WWF Discord group just finished 1999 King of the Ring. Mr. Ass won! One of our folks actually got her bracket right. I had predicted Kane winning, so I was obviously out of luck on that. In the last RAW, Stone Cold Steve Austin just won the Heavy Weight Title from the Undertaker in an unlikely win! We’ll see how long that stint lasts...

Streams

I tried streaming from my personal Twitch using a schedule last week!

It...had mixed results.

My Warzone streams were my most popular, which is funny, ‘cuz I’m not that good at Warzone. My least popular were my Dungeon of the Endless and Yakuza 0 streams, which is not a big surprise. Those games aren’t that fun to watch.

I wanted to do the schedule as a an attempt to see if I could get a small audience or find some new meaning in games I was working through by presenting them as content.

I found the answer to both was more or less “not really”.

And that’s okay!

I also learned streaming, even just for an hour a night, is hard work. We should all be kinder to our content creators and in awe of the friends we have who do it even when on one is watching. Content creation is so unforgiving. Maybe if I stuck with it longer I’d have found my niche, but honestly, I just enjoy games for the games, and turning them into content just isn’t my speed.

I’ve been doing the whole SpriteClub thing per usual. I’m a paid subscriber now! And I even am on a greeting basis with some folks. That’s been really cool. We had debuts this weekend too, where creators submit new fighters. The system matches them with other fighters to determine ratings. It’s a lot of fun, and the event always has this festival atmosphere to it.

I’ve also been watching a lot of streams from the gals over at hololive-EN. Specifically, I’ve been watching Gawr Gura, Amelia Watson and Mori Calliope. It’s become nightly viewing in my household. I’ll save the debate on V-Tubers for a different place, suffice to say I have enjoyed the games they’ve presented and the personalities they’ve developed, and I think the success they’ve found is well earned. There are some talented folks behind these projects, and I find the streams to be relaxing, enjoyable, and at hours I can actually tune in for.

Personal News

Lately, I’ve been feeling pretty down. This can be easily correlated with the shift in temperature, for sure. I know a lot of people really dig fall, and I used to be a SPOOKY SEASON guy myself, but as I get older, fall has shifted into this period of mourning as I recognize the shortening days and the coming winter, which has always played hell with my body.

I’ve been struggling with a number of phantom symptoms that seem to pop up this time of year- bad digestion, terrible sleep (likely resulting from mild apnea), fatigue and heart palpitations. In turn, my mental health has been seriously flagging.

At the suggestion of my therapist, I’ve started up a new vitamin regimen including a multivitamin and magnesium. I’ve also focused on finding potassium enriched foods and have cut back significantly on my drinking and caffeine. So far, this has actually resulted in me gaining weight ‘cuz I’ve been indulging in a lot of sugar as a coping mechanism, but I’m working through getting back to a healthy place where I can both track my intake but also be content with where I’m at. Right now I’m doing my best to try and fight the urge to become a Nap Guy.

Last week I took several naps, even on my off days, and I’ve had a hard time sustaining my energy throughout the day, so I’m doing a better job of getting the sleep my body asks for while also structuring my day with more purpose so I’m left with less time just lying around wondering what to do.

Last week I broke my personal best for a 5K, breaking 24 minutes. For today’s run, I plan to try and break my 7:30 time on my mile run to the gym.

For weights, I’ve gotten into a rhythm of 3 times a week, with Mondays and Fridays focusing on my core exercises- presses and curls, with Wednesdays focusing on pulls that are centered on working out my back, as well as bodyweight exercises such as dips and pull ups. This variation has given my limbs more time to heal up, which is welcome. Now if only I could be kinder to my body AFTER the gym, I might see some actual progress!

Work continues to be what it is. I’m at 30 hours now, which continues to be a huge positive. I don’t think I could keep at it with 40 hours. Change is a constant, and they seem to find new ways to make our jobs more convoluted every day. I have a quarterly review coming up with my new supervisor, but I have a feeling it won’t be nearly so traumatic as the last one, as I’ve done a good job of straightening up and flying right.

As I get more distance from August, I’m starting to recognize it- the events of my workplace disasters, my unplanned vacation, my off the rails spending and drinking- for what it was- it was a breakdown. And I’m still recovering from it. I was deeply unwell, and I took on some trauma- some of it wasn’t stuff I was looking for, some of it was stuff I brought on myself. I’m working through it. I wish I could say things like therapy have made a huge difference, but frankly, most of the work comes from stuff like this, where I’m just writing and being transparent with myself. That’s where I find the most healing work happens.

I still have a lot of my social media muted. When I need news, it typically filters through into my Discord, or Yahoo dings my phone or I see it on my Facebook feed. It’s fair to say that lately it’s felt like everything just Happens So Much.

I feel for my friends who are directly impacted- by the election, by the supreme court, by...just, everything. It all makes my own personal journey and endeavors feel...deeply small. At the same time, I just don’t have the emotional capacity required to house this perpetual crowd of events or constantly process everything in real time. I’m not sure when, if ever, I will have that again. I struggle to read ANYTHING- even friendly sites like Defector or The Discourse, without feeling an immense downswing.

I don’t know what the answer is. I wish I could just gut up and stay constantly plugged in for the sake of pals who might need to openly hash this out or draw attention to their causes or needs, but based on the past few months, I’m not sure I can take care of myself, let alone others. As I often tell close friends, my priorities these days are this small and in this order- Stay Healthy, Stay Kind, Stay Employed, Stay Productive- anything that goes right beyond that feels like a bonus in 2020.

At any rate, thanks for reading the update, y’all!

I’ll try and post these more regularly. I just wanted to check in with everyone and let y’all know how everything is going these days. Stuff like this helps me keep honest, as lately I’ve had a hard time sussing out what my direction is these days. Stay safe and well, and hit me up with what you’re up to, when you find a moment!

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depizan · 4 years

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I am incredibly tired, so my sense making may not be up to par, but one of my frustrations with the X-Wing books is their lack of consistency.

On the one hand, the villain has a deadly disease created, the horrifying results of which are fairly graphically described. On the other hand, the torture Corran is subjected to is the usual bloodless sci-fi sort that never leaves any marks or lasting harm.

On the one hand, prejudice against non-humans is a thing in these books, and the good guys of course aren’t while the bad guys are (sometimes to horrifying extents - the deadly disease targets non-humans). On the other hand, the writer keeps using words like “humanity” in phrases like (actual quote) “He knew that was part of the psychological war waged by Isard on him and the other prisoners--deny them human clothing and you deny them a little piece of their humanity.”

On the one hand, Isard is the kind of villain who kills underlings, killed her father to get his position, and has horrifying death viruses created. On the other hand, she keeps prisoners...because she does. (In a prison where the guards use stun weapons on the prisoners, and have medical staff, and such.)

There’s just a lot of stuff that doesn’t fit together well, or seems appropriate to different kinds of stories. And a lot of really shaky plotting/world building decisions. Like the whole thing with bacta. Why would the Empire not take direct control of it? Why is the major medical thing of the galaxy not a hotly fought over commodity, particularly when it’s mostly limited to one planet? (This is a problem with kolto in SWTOR, too, I admit.) Or weird shit like how powerful Isard is supposed to be when it seems she held one planet and had a plan that involved her abandoning that planet (with a horrible disease present) and moving to a different one. Arguably a more strategic one, but you had characters acting like they couldn’t just fuck off and abandon her when there’s a whole frickin’ galaxy she’s not in control of.

I know Star Wars tends toward “explosion in a trope factory” and questionable world building, and maybe the inconsistencies and world building problems wouldn’t bother me if Corran weren’t so annoying, but still...did no one think this stuff through? (Speaking of no one thinking it through, when Rogue Squadron goes, er, rogue so they can go after Isard, isn’t it a bad idea to use their real names and Rogue Squadron call signs if they want people to not think it’s a New Republic thing?)

*sigh* A lot of Star Wars stuff makes me feel like either I’m drunk, or the writer was drunk.

Though at least in the fourth book, Corran is fairly diluted. There are enough other characters that his special amazibalness isn’t quite so in your face. Minor victory there.

#Mac reads things #Mac reads the X-Wing books #Mac still doesn't like Corran Horn #Mac vs Star Wars

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ginnyzero · 5 years

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Main Character or Group of Characters

Single protagonist vs. ensemble writing

When trying to sell a story or summarize a book, a question I get asked a lot is “who is the main character?” For me, when trying to sell the Lone Prospect this is more difficult to answer than you think. The titular main character would be Gideon, the Lone Prospect. But, he’s not really the main character, he’s an important character. He's one character in the pack that is hiding in plain sight as a motorcycle club. There are other important characters too. Brand, the President, is an important character. Savannah, the Vice President, is an important character. So, they could be classified as main characters too. Because there is more than one way to write as story. There are single person stories and then there are ensemble stories.

Single person stories are the stories that most book readers are familiar with. Anne of Green Gables, The Hobbit, The Dresden Files, The Hollows, Harry Potter. Those stories are stories about one particular person. In movies, spy movies tend to be single person narratives, James Bond, Jason Bourne, the Taken films. The story is focused on their life and their adventure. The pitfall of single person narratives is that the main character has to become everything. They are the hero, the savior, the pinnacle, they are the driving force behind either saving the world or destroying it. Unless you’re writing say a romance series where your main character changes every book, in speculative fiction the main character of the story often becomes larger than life with a very drama filled life. They have to be special in some way in the minds of most authors in order to keep the reader interested. (There is a point to this, if the character wasn’t special in some way why would we read them but so many authors go over the top with this. The female is chased by four different men, her blood is special, she has special powers, she’s descended from some deity and so on and so forth ad nauseam.)

Ensemble stories in some cases are just as well-known but not really praised for what they are. Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, X-Wing Novels, Anne Bishop’s The Black Jewels. Ensembles are stories about groups of people. A lot of ensemble writing has gone to television where having a large group of people can be shown better. Seinfeld, Buffy, Firefly, Sons of Anarchy, almost all forensic style crime shows, Blue Bloods, Gilligan’s Island, MASH, Star Trek. Movies also get into ensemble writing, The Avengers, X-Men, Lord of the Rings again. (Which revived the ever popular argument about who is the main character of Lord of the Rings. I argue having a main character is not the point.) Heist movies tend to be ensemble movies, The Italian Job, Ocean’s Eleven, St. Trinian’s, Sugar & Spice. In ensemble writing, there are important characters and at different times during different parts of the story, some characters are more important than others. The pitfall of ensemble writing is that there can be too many characters and the reader/watcher can’t focus on any of them or can’t tell them apart. (Always bad.)

There are also buddy stories, Rizzoli and Isles, Rush Hour and any other buddy cop movie, Thelma and Louise, These stories are focused on a pair of characters and their interactions.

Writing an ensemble story and writing a single protagonist story are extremely different. They require different modes of thought at times. When I write a story and it doesn’t feel to be working as a single protagonist story, I have to ask myself some questions. What story am I really trying to tell? What am I trying to convey to the reader? Who are the important people to this story? What is my theme? Can that story, can that theme be told with a single character? Or do I need to broaden my scope and embrace the stories of the other characters? At some point, I sit there and go “Well, I can’t be everything. So, let’s focus on this story for now and work on adding more to it later.” Or else I’m going to be overwhelmed and the reader is going to be overwhelmed. But by answering these questions, I can get a feel for if I need to stick with one character or if I need to make a group. Or even write the group I have without worry about trying to stick to third person limited omniscient point of view.

It can and does start with the point of view. A lot of single protagonist stories in modern speculative fiction (urban fantasy) are in first person. Thus narrowing the viewpoint of the reader even further with unreliable narrators. Writing an ensemble story in first person requires having character chapters or even character scenes. Sometimes this happens even if the story is written in third person. George R. R. Martin and Anne Bishop do this. Ensemble stories tend to be written more in third person especially if they are not using individual character chapters. Ensemble stories will have different character arcs against an overall plot arc and the scenes of these character arcs are put juxtaposition to each other to further the overall story. So, while there are two characters doing one thing, another set of characters are doing another thing possibly at the same time and all of it pushes forward the overall plot. The Star Wars Classic EU X-Wing novels are really good at this. I recommend the Wraith Squadron arc over the "this is actually a story about Corran Horn" Rogue Squadron arc.

In an ensemble story, if the author wants to show another part or facet of their universe, they can spread it across to a different character, create another character arc that may or may not effect one of the other important characters. And in an ensemble story, that’s okay, you can get away with it. But in a single person story, if it doesn’t affect the main character, then it probably won’t be shown unless the author ties the story into knots to show it. Anne Bishop's Stories of The Others is this way, it started out as a single protagonist story about Meg, and by the fourth book had to twist itself into knots as an 'ensemble' story to show what was going on in the war of humans versus the others. It didn't work well because these characters hadn't been set up back in book one and so, as a reader, I didn't care about them enough.

A lot of times it comes down to a preference or even what the author is trying to convey. What is the story? What is the theme? Look no further than the Hobbit versus Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit was a tale focused on Bilbo and an adventure he took to the Lonely Mountain and how he found the ring. Sure, there were dwarves and a wizard with him, but the story didn’t focus on them very much. It was Bilbo’s journey. But in the Lord of the Rings, it wasn’t just Frodo’s journey. It was Aragorn’s journey. It was Gimli’s journey. It was Legolas’ journey. It was even Gollum’s journey. The journey, the story, was bigger than just one person. The fate of the world rested with a group and Frodo could never do it alone. The tones of the two stories were different. The themes were different. The purposes were different. The audiences were different.

I’m not saying one is better than the other. They are both very valid methods of storytelling. They are tools in a writer’s tool kit. And the choice of to use a single main character or a group comes down to what serves your story better. Choose wisely.

Enjoy my blog posts, please think about chipping in and buy me a Ko-Fi.

#writeblr #wrtblr #writing #ensemble writing #main characters #writing advice #writing tips

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queer-starwars-bracket · 9 months

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Queer Star Wars Characters (Round 1): Special Legends Rematch 1

(In the special three way poll for the non-binary aliens only discovered after the poll began, I said that if one results didn't get at least 50%, the poll would be rerun between the top two contenders. However the two losers of that poll got exactly the same number of votes (I even used inspect element to check to a higher degree of precision). So they will be facing off against eachother, with the winning facing off against Garr, who got the majority in the original poll.)

Qlaern Hirf | Identity: alien nonbinary | Media: X-wing novels

Qlaern Hirf was a member of the Vratix species, an insectoid species without sex differentiation that invented bacta. They were also a member of the Ashern Circle, a group of militant Vratix who opposed human control of bacta. Qlaern represented the Ashern Circle to the New Republic and the group’s intention to join the new state. They informed Rogue Squadron of the location of deadly bacta aboard a space station. They produced a cure for the Imperial bioweapon Krytos virus for the New Republic.

(Apologizes for any errors in the summary, this is one of a few characters I have no personal experience with.)

Keeramak | Identity: alien nonbinary/intersex (it/its) | Media: The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic II: Refugee

The Keeramak was a mutant member of the normally sexually dimorphic Ssi-ruuk species (lizard aliens invading the Galaxy, not the Yuuzhan Vong, the other one). It was born of a union of two Ssi-ruuk of different colors, but unusually was born with scales of all caste colors. This birth fulfilled an ancient prophecy that foretold that it would free the lower caste Ssi-ruuk and the enslaved species P’w’eck. It was elected the leader of the Ssi-ruuvik Imperium by the religious elders and began to set plans to invade the Galaxy. However, because it didn’t do the liberation promised by the prophecy, the Keeramak was killed by revolting P’w’eck.

(Apologizes for any errors in the summary, this is one of a few characters I have no personal experience with.)

#star wars #sw #sw legends #new jedi order #sw x-wing novels

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corelliaxdreaming · 5 years

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Hi! I need some more Wedge in my life, do you have any recs of something to read? Novels or comics, I like both, and I haven't read any EU stuff yet, so anything you can think of will be appreciated. There's just so much stuff it's overwhelming. Thanks!

Okay, sorry it took me a couple days to get to this, but here we go! Honestly, I was ridiculously thrilled to get this ask. Like, pretty sure I made a noise only dogs could hear, then kept repeating to myself “I’ve trained my entire life for this, my moment has come!” XD

So, yeah, there is a lot, and obviously endeavoring to read it all (or as close to it as you can) like me (I’m obsessive, it’s sad) isn’t for everyone. I think finding a character you really like and just seeking out the things they’re in is a really good place to start.

1. That said, the first thing I absolutely recommend is my very favorite Star Wars book series (and, honestly, piece of SW in general), the X-wing novels by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston. There are ten of them (Rogue Squadron, Wedge’s Gample, The Krytos Trap, The Bacta War, Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Isard’s Revenge, Starfighters of Adumar, and Mercy Kill), though the tenth takes place significantly further down the timeline than the rest and so is the only one I haven’t personally read yet. Wedge is a lead in all of them, and there are a lot of other compelling characters, too - these books are just so good. And, if you ask me, they’re very easy to read without having to know any of what’s going on around them; they don’t need a lot of context from the rest of the EU. There’s lots of pew-pew action and, particularly in the Wraith Squadron-foucused books (Wraith Squadron/Iron Fist/Solo Command), some truly excellent character stuff. If you want to have a real blast, you should definitely check out the Rogue Podron podcast as you read along!

There’s also a 35-issue X-wing Rogue Squadron comic series that takes place before the novels and shares a handful of the some characters. It’ll give you background on some of what happens in the novels, but it’s not 100% necessary to enjoy them. I didn’t read it the first time I read the books, and I managed fine, though being the continuity slut I am, I enjoyed being able to spot those tie-ins the second time around. I personally enjoyed the book series more, but I also haven’t reread the comics since getting super into pilot fandom, so I might like it even more if I read it again now.

2. However, for Wedge fans, the one-off/special comic (not sure how that works exactly) “X-Wing Rogue Squadron Special” is a must. It’s only 13 pages and involves Wedge pulling a stunt on a mission that upsets the locals, and when they get on his case, Luke puts them in their place by detailing just exactly how and why Wedge is the best and deserves their respect. I love it!

3. The 20-issue comic from 2013 just titled “Star Wars” is also a bucketload of Wedge feelings. 12/10 would recommend. Everyone is super messed up after Yavin, Leia helps form the Rogues - it’s great. I did a more in-depth review of it here, but it contains what are probably considered spoilers if you don’t want that.

Those are the biggest three I’d recommend. A handful of other random mentions:

4. The short comic “Lucky” from Star Wars Tales 23. More Wedge feelings re his lost love from before he joined the Rebellion.

5. Shot comic “A Day in the Life” from Star Wars Tales 12. It’s a serious one, but also Wedge hotwires a serving droid and eats emo sandwiches with Luke in the middle of the night.

6. The Empire and Rebellion comics (40 issues as Star Wars: Empire, then 17 as Star Wars: Rebellion, but it’s all continuing characters and storylines). Wedge only pops up in a handfull of them, but they’re overall excellent series.

7. The Wedge/Qwi stuff in the Jedi Academy trilogy (Jedi Search/Dark Apprentice/Champions of the Force, all by Kevin J. Anderson) is almost painfully adorable, and I enjoyed it a lot, but it’s honestly not that big a part of the story.

X-wing: Starfighters of Adumar is currently the latest in the timeline I’ve read, so I can’t say anything for books/comics after that, though I know the boy does crop up a lot, and I’m looking forward to getting to see him again! Especially seeing as I’m currently in a stint where he doesn’t show up much (mostly cuz I’m kinda focussing on the wrong parts of the timeline - oops!).

Er...this is maybe a little all over, so if you have more questions, please feel free to ask. I love answering them, and I’m really glad I got this and was (hopefully) able to help! Also, I would absoultely love to hear your thoughts if/when you end up reading any of these.

(Also, if anyone has anything to throw on here, please. Especially @drinkupthesunrise, you’re kind of the expert.)

#ask #recs #Wedge Antilles #op #captaingondolin

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douxreviews · 5 years

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) Review

"We have hope. Rebellions are built on hope!"

Disney has a lot riding on this film. As the first stand-alone Star Wars movie, it needs to work as a solo outing, but also as a part of a greater whole. From the first moments, it's clear this isn't a normal Star Wars film: gone is the familiar yellow crawl and the opening music. Yet there is so much connective tissue that makes it flow perfectly into the rest of the series that it works on several levels. But it isn't perfect.

First the good. Our main characters are all likable, although some could benefit from a bit more backstory. I found myself emotionally invested in the characters at least, and that goes to show how well written and acted they are. The stand outs for me are Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, a reprogrammed Imperial droid, who basically steals every scene he's in, and Donnie Yen as Chirrut Îmwe, a blind non-Jedi force user who personified what the force is all about. Of course, the film wouldn't have worked without Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who basically held everything together as the plot raced by. Although the first act is a bit jumbled and the characters introduced very quickly, things never feel rushed. Jyn is given the bulk of the character development, and it's impressive how much I ended up rooting for her to succeed in her quest to fulfill her own personal destiny.

Then there is Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) who is kind of the heroic lead, but with an edge that I don't think Star Wars has really tackled before. Actually, every character has an edge to them, and that darker element when boiled down to the basics touched on the motivations of every character throughout the movie. The Rebellion is a reaction to the Empire, a deep and desperate fear of an Empire who will destroy an entire planet if it gets out of line.

This fear forces several characters to cross ethical lines that are common in real life war, but are generally glossed over in fantasy. The more kid-friendly main sequence movies never really address the often intangible lines people have to cross in war. Who is really a monster is often a matter of perspective, especially when the victors end up writing history books. Because the film isn't afraid to have our Rebel characters make dark choices, it isn't always easy to like our heroes, even though it made for compelling drama to watch them struggle with those choices.

There is more than just drama and character, though. The special effects are fantastic (well about 90% of them are). The numerous references to the rest of the franchise are almost all on point except for a couple of minor unnecessary ones. My favorites involved minor characters, including the leaders of the X-Wing squadrons that lead the attack on the Death Star in A New Hope, and some of the Rebel leaders like Mon Mothma.

The only major flaw I can think of centers around the choice to use a character from the original film played by an actor that died nearly twenty years ago. The use of CGI to replicate the character isn't quite up to the level of photo-realism and it made the performance feel off. Thankfully the same cannot be said for a certain major villain's return which I won't detail here, except to say it is probably the best use of the character I've ever seen.

Rogue One is darker than The Empire Strikes Back. It is impactful to the universe, beautifully made, and wonderfully realized as an immediate prequel to the original Star Wars. It stands alone as the tale of how the Rebellion stole the plans to the first Death Star. It isn't what I thought it would be, and because of that I'm a bit conflicted about it, but I imagine those conflicts will be put aside when I see it again.

For now I'll say this is a well made film that feels like Star Wars, and had more than enough to tide me over until next year when Episode VIII comes out. I think Disney's gamble is going to pay off.

J.D. Balthazar is a confirmed nerd who loves most things sci-fi or fantasy-related.

#Star Wars #Rogue One #Jyn Erso #Cassian Andor #Darth Vader #Star Wars Reviews #Doux Reviews #Movie Reviews #something from the archive

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oh-no-eu-didnt · 2 years

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Interdictor-class Star Destroyers were a specialized type of warship used by the Imperial Navy. Not to be confused with smaller Immobilizer 418 cruisers, more commonly known as Interdictors, these craft were upgraded Imperial-I Star Destroyers. Possessing large gravity wells, they were able to pull objects out of hyperspace and prevent new ones from entering. Although they sacrificed some firepower and complement for the wells, Interdictors were still an unwelcome sight.

Source: The Essential Guide to Warfare (Art: Ansel Hsiao; 2012)

First Appearance: Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron: The Phantom Affair (1996)