#even if i usually do NOT like additions to the main cast in remakes and is usually why i don't want remakes in the first place for tales

[irrelevantnostalgia]

5. Cake Mania: Lights, Camera, Action (2011)

*Previously on Cake Mania: Main St*

It’s been a while! Throughout this entire cake mania saga I’ve applied, got accepted into, and started medical school. If I’m gonna be honest, this was not even the biggest contributor as to why the Lights, Camera, Action review took forever (I’ll get into another reason later). But I finally finished, and I’m ready to review! 

🄿🄻🄾🅃: Pregnancy is the milestone in Jill’s life that is the center of this next Cake Mania game. A game that represents the entirety of her pregnancy would be pretty boring (I would still play it) and at this point they can honestly tack on literally any kind of plot to go along with Jill’s pregnancy. I mean, she’s been to the moon and in Antarctica in Cake Mania 2. She’s time traveled. There are no rules to contain Jill and her journeys. This time, we are going to be dealing with..

A movie being shot in Bakersfield. Directed by...Michele Be. It is going to be a Pride and Prejudice remake with martial arts starring Tiny as Mr Darcy. It will additionally feature: explosions, aliens, a yeti monster, angry dwarves, and ninjas. It’s very lol-so-random-xD, very in-tune with the time that the game was developed and released. Bakersfield is being overrun by all kinds of interesting characters associated with the shooting of the movie. Eventually, it turns out that Michele Be is an evil fraud of a director that treats has cast and crew like dogshit. Risha is the one who saves the day and directs the movie in her own way.

This game is also repeating the set-up that Cake Mania: Main St has, which is welcome by me. Risha has ditched her stepping stone plant nursery and is now running a business that is more in line with her passions--a boutique. Since Tiny is one of the leads of the movie, we aren’t following his sushi restaurant. Now, we get to go through Giorno’s Pizzeria.

🅆🄷🄰🅃'🅂 🄽🄴🅆

No drink station: The drink station did not make a return this time around. I’m not sure why, I didn’t mind the addition of it and thought it was a nice break when things got crazy. This is just a guess on my part, but there is a new addition to the cake-making process that made its debut, and maybe they got rid of this to make room for that. 

Equipment breaking: Holy SHIT this is so annoying. The first time this happened was when I finally had enough money to upgrade my snail green oven to the slightly faster purple one. Literally the worst feeling on the planet……which is a welcome addition by me. This introduces conflict that breaks the monotony of the game once you become ultra mega gold standard equipment, where the angry and/or Blue Bubble customers become a minor nuisance instead of ruining the whole level. This also does not occur randomly, as it always occurs once you finish a certain level and the opening screen for the next level is Jack admitting to causing it. Speaking of Jack...

Fruit Station: Jill cannot run around like she usually does and now has let Jack take control of operations, which was a risky move, but what business runs without risks? So while Jack is wreaking havoc around the bakery, Jill is sitting in a corner running the fruit decoration station. This game is not going to let you get away with clicking one button to add fruit to the cake, no. Instead, to add fruit to the cake you have click on the cake in a set pattern. 

The equipment: There really isn’t much to say about them, just that I don’t know how I feel about the designs. They feel friendlier and more approachable, but they have less swag than the ones from Cake Mania 3 and Main St. 

Here is the final set up for everything ^_^

Risha’s Boutique has a similar “fruit station” where customers can request their clothes to be put in a box with a pretty bow

Risha’s Boutique and Giorno’s Pizzeria have the same general format of the Burger Barn and Sushi Restaurant from the previous game. But let me tell y’all...I could do just about anything and beat a Cake Mania level with the superstar goal. I could move as slow as that damn green equipment and make a surplus of like $400. These two games? If I do not sit in the right position, move my arm 0.00005 m/s slower than what is ideal, and pause for 0.0007 seconds to look at the screen to figure out where to click next I am not even going to make the bare minimum goal to get to the next level. Every move has to be perfectly choreographed in order to beat the level. At least with Giorno’s Pizzeria the ingredients are splayed out so you can easily click on what you need. In Risha’s Boutique, the clothes the customers want will be the tiniest little “shirt” hidden between the jackets that are puffier than the average New Yorker’s and you will just have to angle your cursor just right to click on it. So you would think that Giorno’s Pizzeria was a breeze, huh? 

Right?

Well, wrong. 

Now...I pride myself on being a good Cake Mania player. I pride myself on being a tenacious one too. I am willing to play a level 60 times in a row to ensure that I do not leave the game without a 100% rate of achieving superstar goals. This time though.....I had to raise my white flag :( 

Here is Level 18 of Giorno’s Pizzeria. Broke my streak and everything. This shit literally killed a large part of my soul. Had me tweaking and shaking and crying all at once. Once I hit $473 mark I just couldn’t do it anymore. I’m not sure how I pulled this off besides rapidly clicking on the TVs to keep all customers with a maximum number of hearts (thus, maximum number of tips) AND IT STILL WASN’T ENOUGH.

Level 18 is the reason why it took me so long to upload this review. This time last year, I was well on the way to finishing this game until I got to this level. I just couldn’t beat it, I would be like $20-30 off from the superstar goal most times, which is fairly significant in these two businesses, and when I was still $7 off after giving it my all I was seething.  I will not bullshit y’all, the sheer butthurt I felt at not being able to achieve the superstar goal made me take a long, loooooong hiatus from finishing it. And of course, life stuff. However, towards the end of this past semester I picked the game up again, and decided to clear all my progress and restart the entire game. I still didn’t get the superstar goal on day 18 of Giorno’s Pizzeria, but I was able to get it for the rest of the levels. I’m fine with this, I guess (no I’m not). 

But in all honesty, even with me being a dramatic sore loser (just guess my zodiac sign from this) one of the biggest factors I look for in these games is ways to keep it engaging and create some challenges. So I really cannot be that mad that Giorno’s Pizzeria made me work for that Superstar goal. With the cake-baking portion of the game, the monotony is inevitable even if it gets delayed with some new approaches to the recipe of the game. The kooky customers are annoying and do create troubles, but what will a Yeti that pisses everyone off really do when you have gold-standard equipment, high-speed TV, and unlimited distraction cookies? With Risha and Giorno’s games....YOU are the oven and the cake froster.  Each new upgrade you get is just keeping track of more and more possibilities that customers can throw at you. Especially Giorno’s! With Risha, only the most recent clothes collections get featured while old ones are thrown out. By the end of Giorno’s Pizzeria, you will have an entire produce aisle to keep track of, the customers will want every leafy green on their pizza, AND you will have to put that shit on them in order. Your cursor will be forced to move all around the screen. 

Another factor that had me seeing red during Giorno’s is that some of the dishes (like the pizza) would STILL have to bake after you compile all the ingredients 

I know, strange thing to complain about, but hear me out. In all of these games, you want the customers to get their orders and gtfo as soon as possible so you can fit in the maximum # of customers and thus get the maximum number of funds.  It’s why strategically upgrading equipment is so important in the cake-baking parts of these games. When it comes to Giorno’s Pizzeria, it already feels like an eternity gathering all the ingredients for an order. Longer than clicking a few buttons to make a cake. But then, on top of that for a pizza or lasagna you have to wait additional time for it to bake, and then have to wait on the damn customer to do their stupid emote before leaving!! After all of this, what do you get for an order? $40, maximum

Anyways, here are the low paying cheapskates themselves.

🄲🅄🅂🅃🄾🄼🄴🅁🅂

♥Ballerina♥

Favorite TV Show: ANTM

Omg this is so Lana Black Swan Coquette ^_^  

♥Lola Fierezza♥

Favorite TV Show: World Cup

She is That Girl. Because she is That Girl, the moment she steps in and reveals her order, every other customer changes their order to match hers. The Regina George effect. There would be whole levels dedicated to her recurring appearance, and it was fun figuring out how long I should delay handing the menu to her. There is an art to it!

Farmer

Favorite TV Show: ANTM 

Average Customer over the age of 50

Favorite TV Show: The Orange channel. I couldn’t think of a witty name for it so I’m just referring it by the button color on the TV 

He comes in with a stank attitude, so we’re already off to a great start. It takes maybe a few seconds and then he starts swinging his axe around, which causes customers to leave. Ruining your business in the process. They should have AXED him from this game!

♥Cameraman♥

Favorite TV Show: ANTM

Before you hand him a menu, he’ll film the customers in line which will increase their hearts. I feel like something like that may produce the opposite effect, but I suppose I am living in a post-TikTok world where the sight of someone filming me without my permission would turn me into the above customer

Little Kid

Favorite TV Show: Food Network

That’s so Raven 

Favorite TV Show: Food network

In a world filled with Blue Bubble Demons....the game devs decided to give us a character who is actually going to see the pearly gates. Psychic Sheila will use her crystal ball to automatically reveal the order of subsequent customers. It’s like Medieval-level power-up in Cake Mania 3, except we get an entire character who performs this task. I thank her for her service 

Me in the Future if I Become a Superhero

Favorite TV Show: World Cup

Meet Super Cat Lady. She turns people into mimes. Kinda lame, would be better if she turned them into cats. Maybe that’s not actually me in the future...

Mime

Favorite TV Show: Food network

Mimes pair up together in a line.

Biblically Accurate Naruto

Favorite TV Show: ANTM

Another Blue Bubble repeat customer. Ninja does exactly what he did last time make your job harder attack people with smokebombs and make them freeze in line.

Firefighter and Stuntman

Favorite TV Shows: ANTM and Food Network

I putting these two together because it is pretty funny. This doesn’t have much consequence for the gameplay or anything, but a stuntman and firefighter being in line together causes the firefighter to hose him lmao. 

Sad Sack: Chicken Edition 

Favorite TV Show: Orange Channel

Only the most Noble Knight

Favorite TV Show: ANTM

He’s such a good and noble knight. Such a gentleman. He demands to be served before everyone else so that the other customers can have more time looking at the menu ♥ such admirable behavior

Yeti

Favorite TV Show: Orange Channel

He is a double whammy. Not only does he piss people off, but his ass has the nerve to freeze people so they are stuck in place. Pick *one*, jackass! 

Klepto Kelly

Favorite TV Show: ANTM 

You Know, she looks really nice and snazzy. Her outfit must cost a lot *and* she’s ordering expensive cake. I wonder how she makes a living? Oh yeah, she steals from you, that’s how. 

Tiny: Our Leading Man!

Favorite TV Channel: Orange Channel

Another customer who helps you out instead of making you wanna tear your hair out. He orders multiple times, just like he has been doing in the past games!

Risha: Our Debut Director!

Favorite TV Channel: World Cup 

Jack: The dumbfuck

He is typically an endearing Himbo, but in these games......🙄........so you already know that in Risha and Giorno’s games you need to be ON IT! Well, when he walks in, the momentum that I would build up throughout the level would be thrown off because now I would need to use my peripheral vision and WAIT on the proper item to show up in his bubble before I could hand it to him and clear out another space for a proper customer. What’s more infuriating is that in Giorno’s level he would only “order” a single ingredient so I had to expend energy looking out for him only to receive $17 in return. And YES, he appeared in Level 18. Ugh!!!

♥Jill: La Reina del pastel♥

I hope the Duolingo lessons are paying off. 

Also I never figured out their favorite tv shows. Probably because I didn’t need to haha.

🄼🅈 🄾🄿🄸🄽🄸🄾🄽: I mean hey, what can I say? I can’t get too mad about them repeating a good recipe a second time in a row. I really enjoyed the Main St formatting, and think repeating it one more time to experiment with different kinds of secondary games is alongside adding more “Jill lore” is not a bad idea. Cake baking game is a classic and they basically maintained the formula that everyone knows and loves. The equipment breaking was a nice touch to create more “conflict.” Even if the secondary games (especially the damn pizzeria) made me cope and seethe, I didn’t hate them. In Main St, the Burger Barn and Sushi Restaurant were easy as shit and I beat them with very little struggle. These games, on the other hand, made me work a little bit more for the superstar goals. I don’t mind the more relaxed environment in some of  Main St’s secondary games, but as I expressed many times before, I appreciate a good challenge that keeps my on my toes (disregard the long stretch of temper tantrum I had about level 18 of the pizzeria). 

I give this game a ⓕⓡⓔⓢⓗ rating on the tomatometer! 

Now onto the choice screenshots!

When I saw this shit, I actually keeled over. Jack predicted family vlogging in 2011. 

*sighs* 

I love Risha talking about “high couture” and then the collection of clothes we are introduced to look like they are from JC Penny. 

Look at all of them slayinggggggg. The artstyle here is so pretty I love it. 

I will not lie, there were way more screenshots I could have gotten. I couldn’t though, because for some reason this game only works in full-screen. I tried changing my desktop resolution and everything, and the game still wouldn’t budge and I had to play this game full-screen. Which meant. One screenshot per every time I had the chance to play. Let me tell you, each and every screenshot featured in this review I got was very, very strategic. I never put so much brain power in determining when I want to get a screenshot of the customers in my life. 

After everything, here is my trophy room. 

Well, at least it doesn’t look like I’m missing a trophy from not being able to achieve superstar goals for all the levels in Giorno’s Pizzeria! 

#cake mania #cake mania lights camera action #2000s nostalgia #early 2010s #old web #pc game #time management #childhood nostalgia #childhood game #nostalgia

[shoujoinvestigation]

Our 2020 Drama Recs

What a year 2020 has been - a time of tumultuous change, anxiety and reflection. During this time, dramas have certainly become a safe space for comfort and entertainment. Fortunately, we’ve also seen more and more quality dramas released in 2020!

As we head into 2021, here are our top 2020 dramas picks:

1. Winter Begonia 鬓边不是海棠红 recommended by Admin JY

The story of two seemingly polar opposite characters in 1930s China - a feisty traditionally-trained Beijing opera star and a wealthy Western-educated businessman in a setting where Western influence meets Chinese traditions. Yet when they finally cross paths, their parallels in fact draw them closer to each other. The main characters shine and sparkle both as independent characters with their own depth, flaws and quirks and with their ever-so-natural chemistry interacting with each other, in what could be the most healthy and balanced relationship dynamic I have ever seen between leads.

Winter Begonia presents brilliantly written three-dimensional, human yet relatable characters growing with each other through a time in history of change and uncertainty, in addition to great acting, beautiful costume design, production value and showcase of Beijing opera. If you are looking for a show with drama, history/culture, comedy, family, action (and tragedy), look no further than Winter Begonia for an entertaining yet reflective story of growth filled with all the *feels*.

2. A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower 摩天大楼 recommended by Admin JL  

What’s your idea of a feminist drama? An ensemble of badass, confident female cast kicking ass and bonding with each other? For Horizon Tower, it is to be concealed in a mystery. Two detectives take us through the life of an attractive cafe owner after her death, retracing it through the eyes of people new to her and old ones who had known her well. They all have various things to say about her - each have a different piece of the full picture. What part of the truth do we trust? How do we, or can we judge her? While women are often expected to be the “perfect victim”, Horizon Tower says, the simple truth is, a victim is a victim, and a crime is a crime, regardless the conduct of the victim.

Horizon Tower is a sophisticated, brilliantly written and directed story. It’s fast-paced, compelling as it plays with multiple facets of the truth. There is no simple dichotomy - of black vs white, of women vs men. Instead, it fundamentally embraces the complexity of human nature - which is what makes it feminist. For me, this drama will stay in my heart as one of the most powerful and brilliant feminist stories to exist. In a time of feminist movements, it feels extra important and meaningful for China to have produced such a drama this year. Thank you for being the voice we all needed, Horizon Tower!

Watch the official episodes, subbed, on Youtube.

3. Hyena recommended by Admin JY

Not quite simply a law drama, nor a “badass” law drama turned into a sweet romance drama - Hyena is great for its culmination of confident writing featuring strong and unique characters that break stereotypes, balanced with a refreshing focus on morally ambiguous law cases.

Just as much as the focus was placed on the well-paced and exciting stakes in  the legal cases featured, the drama always gave space for the characters’ legit explosive chemistry to shine through and be developed further. While KDramas have been attempting to write “badass” female leads, Jang Geum Ja always stayed true to her anti-hero and morally grey character, with her gaudy, loud masculine style, unscrupulousness and shameless ambition to the end - a truly strong and admirable female lead who may not be fully likable. Yoon Hee Jae as the male lead also deserves praise as a more sensitive and softer portrayal of a privileged and powerful male lead, without ever overshadowing others or overstepping his boundaries.

Even as someone who struggles to watch purely-law/detective dramas, there was much to appreciate and enjoy from this drama, with its quality acting, writing and even memorable OST that can only be fully appreciated by watching.

4. The Bad Kids 隐秘的角落 recommended by Admin JL 

This is China’s year of high quality, sophisticated suspense dramas! Alongside Horizon Tower, The Bad Kids is certainly the one which had first carved out that status. Before it was named one of the Best International TV Series of 2020 by Variety, it had already achieved a phenomenal status in China with plenty of good fun memes and incisive meta created.

The success of The Bad Kids, in my opinion, represents creativity and the heart for storytelling triumphing over rigid, spartan censorship. It’s a testament that witty and thoughtful writing is what you need to tell a good story - and even censorship can’t get in the way of this (sometimes). It told a compelling and introspective story threading into moral fallibility while opening up questions to audience about what we perceive and know. This is a rare accomplishment when so many other recent cdrama stories are increasingly sanitised. The auteur-level of directing was vital in shaping the experience as well, down to the quirky selection of music.

So, do you believe in fairytales or reality? :)

5.  Brutally Young 十八年後的終極告白 recommended by Admin JY

How far would you go to hide the secrets from your past to protect your present? - that was the simple but solid foundation that this HK Drama delivered.

A group of high school friends are forced to reunite after 18 years to unravel the mystery of a recently discovered corpse, related to their shared pasts. Through this premise, mystery and suspense unfolds as the characters’ complex motivations and hidden pasts are revealed.

Despite the wide ranging cast, many characters are given good depth and personal arcs for development, and even decent romance feels. The pace of the story is also kept tight and remains consistent and realistic throughout.  Definitely an unexpected dark horse from TVB’s 2020 lineup, worth checking out!

6.  Candle in the Tomb: The Lost Caverns 鬼吹灯之龙岭迷窟 recommended by Admin JL

Okay, after two heavy suspense dramas from me, is there anything more lighthearted to watch? I’m usually not an action/adventure fan, but I’ve been a fan of the remakes of Candle in the Tomb directed by Fei Zhenxiang along with his team, following after the prequel adaptation last year, The Wrath of Time. 

This time, we have Pan Yueming as Hu Bayi, forming the Iron Triangle with Pangzi and Shirley, embarking on a tomb-raiding treasure-hunting adventure. Director Fei makes action digestible and fun to watch, on top of the witty script, great character-writing and performance - true to canon (as far as possible). As far as old fans of the franchise and new ones of the drama know, this is the best remake so far. I’m looking forward to the next instalment, The Worm Valley, likely out early 2021!

Watch the official episodes, subbed, on Youtube.

-

Let us know what your picks for 2020 are!

Written and gifs by Admin JY and Admin JL, unless stated otherwise.

#cdrama #cdramanet #kdrama #winter begonia #a murderous affair in horizon tower #the bad kids #hyena #candle in the tomb the lost caverns #brutally young #hkdrama #drama #鬓边不是海棠红 #摩天大楼 #隐秘的角落 #十八年後的終極告白 #鬼吹灯之龙岭迷窟 #shoujoinvestigation #sji: recs #sji: year in review #admin: jy #admin: jl #year: 2020

[thanatophobia-thoughts]

Oh, Final Fantasy VII.

The original was considered a game changer back in its day. It wasn’t the first one I recall playing, that honor belongs to FFVIII. FFVII isn’t even my favorite one, but it was many things to the world, and many things to me, all the same.

My favorite two characters were Aerith Gainsborough and Red XIII, or Nanaki. I usually renamed him on additional playthroughs to be his actual name, the way I’d rename “Garnet” in FFIX to Sarah when given the chance.

What does FFVII have for death anxiety?

It has Aerith Gainsborough.

She is a main character that dies permanently in the course of the game. In the game, there is a mechanic for revival known as “Phoenix Down” or Life magic. Neither of these could restore her, suggesting the Phoenix Down and Life magics only “wake up” someone from being knocked out, not actually restore life.

This game has been out forever, so if that’s a spoiler for you, I’m sorry. I’m not sure if the FFVII Remake is going to go that direction, as the game has already gone off the rails of the original FFVII, so who’s to say. This isn’t going to talk about the remake, either.

This is probably not the first time a game killed a main character, but the impact of it was notable. I think it surprised the fanbase, especially given how important a role Aerith is made to play in the course of the first disc. Like Eddard Stark or Robb Stark’s death in Game of Thrones, few people saw it coming.

That’s now how these games went.

The good guys win, the bad guys don’t.

And the bad guys didn’t win.

Aerith’s story is a story to show how your actions live on after your death. Yes, there’s a lot of magic involved here, but it’s still a good story to show that you can have an impact after you die, whether because of how you die, or because of the choices you made in life.

Prior to her death, Aerith set in motion a chain of events to save the planet that was under attack by Sephiroth. In the game, she does this by more or less, casting a spell known as Holy, and then after her death, using the Lifestream to aid Holy in destroying a meteor destined for the planet. In using the Lifestream, she sort of had to get a lot of other people on board.

What this helps to show is the power of movements.

It shows why it’s also worth starting something in your life, even if you may not finish it. Other people can help where you left off – Aerith starts the process to save the planet, but she can’t finish it. It takes the help of others who find out what she was doing, and continue in her footsteps, to help make it so Holy can work, and so things can move forward.

Aerith didn’t expect to die. The players didn’t expect her to die.

She did – but her efforts are the story of FFVII. Don’t let a fear of death stand in the way of your works. They may outlive you, and that’s not a bad thing.

Other parts of FFVII that deserve some attention, include the fact it is also a story of identity. Cloud Strife starts the game living a lie, thinking that he is someone else. It takes a long time for him to figure out who he actually is, and to then determine who he wants to be. This isn’t Cloud deciding to live a lie – he’s dealing with some amnesia problems and a promise he made to a friend. He slowly dismantles this with the help of his new friends, and comes to figure out who he is, and who he wants to be.

Most of us don’t have that kind of issue of amnesia, but some of us can relate to an identity crisis, and not being who we thought we would be – so watching Cloud struggle with it, and reidentify himself, can be helpful.  

There is also another story of death, in that of Seto, Nanaki’s father.

Nanaki has grown up hating Seto because he thought Seto ran away during a war. It turns out, Seto instead rushed to defend his home, and ended up literally petrified because of it – unable to return home, and dead in all the ways that matter, but a permanent fixture of his courage, and his resolution.

The lesson from this is obvious – Seto chose to sacrifice himself, for the good of others. It’s a position I wish on no one, and I can’t say I would be able to make that decision myself. Nonetheless, I still find that it is actions like these, that tend to give hope and inspiration to many, that there is “good” in the world, because we can acknowledge and see beyond our own lives, to the lives of others, and weigh the importance of the many, over the few.

It also has my favorite song in the entire game at that point: The Great Warrior.  

#ff7 #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #final fantasy vii #death anxiety #death anxiety talk #thanatophobia #spoilers #final fnatasy #aerith gainsborough #aeris gainsborough #red xiii #nanaki #aerith #aeris

[self-loving-vampire]

Geneforge 1 - Mutagen (2021)

Geneforge 1 - Mutagen is a modern remake of Spiderweb Software’s classic Geneforge series, which spanned 5 games and ran from 2001 to 2011. It is notable primarily for its unique setting and quality writing. I especially like how the game does not squander the potential of its premise and explores many of the ethical, political, and legal aspects of Shaping.

Summary

In the world of Geneforge, there is an order of mages called Shapers. Shapers are capable of creating and modifying living beings simply called “Creations”. There is a very wide variety of Creations, built for different purposes.

You are a Shaper in training, sailing the seas in a living craft as part of training. While doing this, you come near an island that has been Barred, meaning that entrance to it has been strictly forbidden (this can happen due to failed experiments, secret projects, etc.)

At that moment, your craft is attacked and killed by a strange ship. You manage to reach the shore, finding that the island you have found yourself in is far from abandoned...

Freedom

Really good overall. Not only do you have a good selection of playstyles but you also have multiple endings and various faction choices. Additionally, you can explore the world rather freely, stopped only by organic barriers such as strong enemies, environmental hazards, and lack of access tools rather than plot contrivances.

Many quests have multiple solutions, and you also often get multiple dialogue options in reaction to various things.

One weakness I noticed is that there are situations where your dialogue choices make for a simple binary. However, this is not such a big deal in the grand scheme of things and this game still does far better than many others in this department.

One thing I particularly like is that while some of the game’s final decisions determine the bulk of what ending you get, your relationships with the game’s three main factions still seem to have an impact on the ending and interact with your other decisions in complex ways.

Character Creation/Customization

On the surface, I thought the character creation of this game was simply good but basic. You can select one of three classes and spend some points to increase your initial stats and skills. There are no backgrounds, traits, races, or even all that much appearance-based customization.

However, after some hours of playing I discovered that the versatility of Shaping makes things far more complex than they first appear.

The three classes available to you are:

Shaper - A specialist at creating and enhancing various allies. They are weak in combat, but can have the strongest and most numerous Creations. They are also decent at magic.

Guardian - The warriors of the shaper sect. They are the strongest in terms of physical prowess but have very weak magic. Of the three classes, they are in the middle in terms of shaping ability, being able to field some Creations but not as many as the Shaper.

Agent - Allegedly the most challenging class to play. They are highly skilled in “conventional” (non-shaper) magic and average at combat, but not very good at shaping, often acting on their own.

Out of these, I think Shaper is not only likely the easiest but also the most interesting and the most appropriate to the themes of the game.  In addition to your basic stats, you can select skills in things like combat, offensive magic, buffs, a few different shaping styles, and three non-combat skills (Leadership, Mechanics, and Stealth).

The Leadership skill serves as a diplomacy skill and also allows you to control Creations with your will. The Mechanics skill allows you to disable traps and pick locks.

The complexity comes from the creations you will unlock throughout the game.

There are nine base creation types (each with an alternate form with slightly different abilities) plus hidden creations you will have to discover as you play.

All creations consume varying amounts of Essence. Often, more powerful creations will have higher Essence costs, and you have a limited amount of Essence to distribute among all of your creations.

You can spend additional essence to enhance your creations with better stats and additional abilities, both passive and active.

On top of that, Essence is also required to cast most spells, so the more of it you spend on creations the less of it you will have for things like healing and combat buffs.

This means that even within just the Shaper class there is a variety of playstyles available. From bombarding the enemy with multiple weaker ranged creations to focusing on just a couple of more powerful ones such as upgraded Drayks, while also keeping some essence on reserve for your own spells.

Story/Setting

The game takes place on the mysterious Sucia Island, which has been barred for reasons you will uncover during the course of the game. You are not alone in this island, as you will soon make contact with intelligent life in the form of Serviles.

Serviles are a common Creation, made to essentially serve as slaves to the Shapers. Many of the Serviles you saw while growing up treated Shapers with fear, awe, and absolute submission.

But that is not the case here. The Serviles of Sucia island are largely “rogue”, and have divided themselves into three factions.

The first is the Awakened. These Serviles remain grateful to the Shapers for giving them life, but wish to deal with them as equals rather than slaves. They believe that all intelligent creations should be treated equally.

The second is the Obeyers, who retain the instinct bred into Serviles and wish to remain loyal to the Shapers, yearning for their return to Sucia. However, dealing with them is still not so simple. If you try to tell them that they should be independent like the other two factions, they will (correctly) see you as a rebel who does not represent the true will of the Shapers or act in accordance to their laws.

The third, and probably most complex, of the factions is the Takers. This is a group of radical Serviles who despise the Shapers. Their name comes from their willingness to take their destiny into their own hands by any means necessary. Many of them treat you with some degree of hostility, but none of these factions is a monolith with a completely unified worldview.

In fact, if you meet the leader of the Takers, you will discover that at least some of them would be willing to forgive everything if granted freedom, they just don’t think it is likely that the Shapers would grant it and are willing to die rather than return to slavery.

And the thing is that this is probably correct. The more you play the more you realize that the sect you grew up in is twisted and would sooner genocide all life in Sucia island than treat “rogue” creations as equals.

One moment that I felt really highlights this is when you meet one of the few Drayks who inhabit the island. Drayks are pretty much Geneforge’s take on fantasy dragons. They are highly intelligent and independent creations, which is the reason why creating more of them was forbidden by the Shapers.

As Sucia has been barred and isolated from the rest of the world for a long time, the Drayk you meet is not aware of this new law. When you inform them about it, their reaction is grim.

The drayk realizes, in that moment, that their entire species will one day go extinct simply because your people will it. Because they were not submissive enough. Not good enough slaves.

The Shapers may have the power to create life, but they are not kind to that life. They are no different from abusive parents who want children to be servants or property.

And this is not even getting into the topic of the titular Geneforge or the other inhabitants of the island...

Overall, I found the story and worldbuilding of this game to be excellent. None of the factions feel one-dimensional and often there are many different points of view within each of them. That makes them feel deeper and more real than many other video game factions, where everyone on the same side is implied to have broadly the same beliefs and there are no schisms, sub-factions, or major differences.

Immersion

Judging how immersive Geneforge games are is somewhat complicated. On one side, this game lacks a lot of the features that make it easier for me to roleplay living in its world day to day.

On the other, the writing and worldbuilding are great and the consequences for various actions sound sensible.

The writing is really carrying this aspect of the game I think, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Gameplay

Combat is in a reasonably good place. It is extremely simple to understand, while still offering some level of depth later in the game. For the most part, combat is also not that difficult unless you push yourself into areas you are not yet ready for.

I do have a number of complaints to make, but want to make it clear that these were never enough to really ruin my enjoyment of the game.

The most significant of these complaints has to do with the way experience is awarded in relation to your own level.

As your level increases, not only enemies but also quests will start granting you less and less experience. I can see why one might make such a design decision, as it means exploration and unique quest rewards will quickly become more significant sources of power than combat alone, but on a purely psychological level I just don’t like to go through a fight and get nothing at all in return, especially since the game does have quite a bit of combat.

This can make some sections of the game drag on. In particular, fights against defensive crystals in a couple of locations can be a bit slow, as the crystals are very durable and dangerous to approach in melee due to how they explode upon death.

Aesthetics

Spiderweb games are known for having minimal budgets, and the area that usually ends up receiving the least funds is the graphics and sound.

So despite being a remake from 2021, this is a game that looks like it was made in the 90s and has no music apart from the title screen’s.

Personally, this does not bother me at all. I think pretty graphics are nice and good music can definitely add to the atmosphere of a game (see Fallout 1 or Planescape: Torment, for example) neither is the core of what I am looking for in a game, especially in this genre.

I do like some of the ambient sound effects though. In particular the corvid cawing in some of the game’s more desolate areas.

Putting the graphics and sound aside, the way the game uses Shaping to establish its setting earns it a lot of aesthetic points, as it ends up with a very unique identity.

For example, Geneforge does not use bows as its primary ranged weapons. It uses living batons that launch thorns. It also largely does not include any generic fantasy races like elves or orcs.

Accessibility

Actually really good, far better than I expected even. Combat is an extremely simple affair, making a functional build with most classes is not complicated, the game’s general mechanics are transparent, and there is both a short tutorial and in-game instructions.

Really if you can get past the presentation you won’t have many obstacles to playing this game. It even has multiple difficulty options, including a casual mode for those who just want to follow the story and don’t want to have to think too much about how to overcome the game’s obstacles.

Conclusion

Geneforge has a lot of what I like in an RPG. Things like character creation, rich worldbuilding, non-linear gameplay, and the ability to make meaningful decisions.

I especially recommend this one to people who want something different from the standard fantasy RPG experience, and also to the type of mega-nerd who will enjoy analyzing the game’s world and themes in detail. There is much to talk about here.

#vampire reviews rpgs #geneforge

[casualotptrash]

Persona Ask List: #26

“How do you feel about definitive editions/remasters/remakes” and this applies to all games.

I feel like this is a pretty interesting question because everyone has different expectations of what any of those mean and which treatment the persona games should receive.

Beware spoilers for all third semesters and added waifus

I have made a previous post about what I would want for a Persona 3 definitive edition to be (and what I consider remasters and remakes to be in that post) but to tl;dr that whole section: by definitive I mean that the game has added content and adds the most content in comparison to the other games, by remaster I mean the core game is not changed at all but the graphics and such are updated, and by remake I mean the game is remade from scratch with new assets and graphics and all of that. Like I said in that post, I have a hard time fitting what I believe a definitive edition embodies into either of those categories, even if it probably could be forced into one of those two options.

With that said, I actually really enjoy the definitive versions of these games. I think making a “definitive edition” that kind of toes the line of remaster and remake is the best route to go. Remasters are nice, but it’s a combination of the upgraded graphics and gameplay that hooks me in. Also, as far as I remember remasters have a tendency to be half-assed (I think Nocturne had some negative feedback?) but people (understandably) buy them anyway because it’s a game they really like that’s been updated a bit. Remakes can also be cool, but personally I wouldn’t want like a completely new story for the game; or enough major changes to make it seem like a whole different game. Because definitions toe that line, and seem to have the best of both options, it’s enough to make the games feel new but not unfamiliar. As a side note, I also can understand some frustration with the definitive editions because (at least with P5 and P5R) the definitive editions is usually released 3/4 years later with what may seem like “minimal” additions. At least, minimal enough to not warrant another $60 price tag. Royal is definitely worth the $60 on its own as a game, but when taking Vanilla into consideration it does feel kind of overpriced (and that’s not even counting the DLC issue).

Onto the more in-depth details about the editions and my opinions, for Persona 3 I believe an actual definitive game would mostly end the P3P vs P3 FES debate and I would love that. As far as Persona 4 goes, I never played the original, but from what I’ve heard Golden does improve upon it a lot. Now for Persona 5, where I experienced Vanilla and Royal both, I definitely like Royal 100x more than Vanilla. I thought that the third semester content tied in well to the main plot, even if there was a bit of a disconnect between the Yaldy fight and the third semester, and that Sumire’s introduction and use wasn’t too heavy handed. My only complaint with her, besides the ending credit scene, is the fact that you can’t use her until the last Palace when she agrees to help out with Shido’s. I get that she didn’t “truly awaken” until the last Palace, and that scene probably wouldn’t fit in during the whole Shido arc, but overall I think she was handled alright. I do wish she had more scenes with the overall thieves, but that’s just an issue Persona 5 as a whole has with its cast members.

As for the typical things that accompany the definitive version, aka a “third semester” and added female waifu, I think they could have done a lot better. I have not finished P4G yet, but I’ve heard that the “third semester” type deal in 4 has a lot more disconnect than the third semester in P5R. I have also seen a lot of Marie, as I maxed her confidant, but have not seen her “third semester” stuff, and my opinion of her is...mixed. On one hand I like how they have her interact with a lot more of the cast, on the other hand I absolutely hate spending time with her. Her poems are just annoying and her tsundere attitude isn’t endearing to me. All in all, I maxed her only because I knew I had to, so that probably isn’t the best sign. Even though I didn’t play base P4, I still think that they incorporated Sumire better into the overall plot than they did with Marie, but I wish we got to spend more time with Sumire rather than Kasumi. It was pretty disappointing to find out that we can only use her for one palace at the very end of the game, especially when she offers to help even earlier, and that we only get to interact with the “real her” for also that one palace.

I do not know how I would have worked her in earlier, but if we were able to get to know Sumire, and see her reactions to things in the eyes of Sumire rather than Kasumi, and use her in an earlier palace with everything still making sense I would have liked that a lot better. To be honest, it’s just an unfortunate trend for the last party member that they’re often underutilized due to their late introduction. It definitely happened with Haru in P5 Vanilla, but is slightly fixed for her in Royal due to her not technically being the last member. I feel that Naoto doesn’t experience this as much due to her importance in the plot from early on in the game, although it is annoying having to speedrun her social link in order to max it, and P3 doesn’t have this issue at all due to the fact that the last party member joins in September. I actually really appreciate that part of P3′s story, because then you have all of the time from September until the end of the game to get to know the characters and have them all interact with plot points.

Overall, my opinion is that I like the definitive editions that come out, but I believe they could be executed a little better (and perhaps be a little lower in price). It’s interesting to see the new twists on the already-formed story that the edition can add, but I wish it did something a little different than adding “Ok you get an extra month for the new story plot” and “Here’s a plot-centric waifu that has some hidden backstory.” Also, please make it so we can get more time with the “real” new character rather than the “fake” them that we interact with through most of the game.

#persona series #Persona 3 #Persona 4 #persona 4 golden #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #persona ask #this was sitting in my drafts and I'm finally getting to it

[loregoddess]

Ib and Ff7

FF7 is under the cut bc I Had Some Thoughts about it, and I am so sorry.

Ib:

Favorite thing about that game: I was NOT expecting to end up as emotionally invested as I got after like, a handful of minutes playing it? Like it's a little indie rpg maker game and yet it's honestly one of the most impactful games I've ever played.

Least favorite thing about that game: The motion controls are a bit wonky which like, small indie rpg maker game mechanics are to blame, but it made getting out of the mini-maze hell when I was on my "I have to save Garry" run.

Favorite character in that game: Garry, I've never gotten so attached to a fictional character in such a short amount of time only to be BETRAYED by my own choices, resulting in him being dead and in a painting for my first ending.

Would I recommend it? Why? Yes yes yes, it's free, it's fun, and it only takes like, 30 minutes to play.

Free space to go off about something! Despite Mary being the antagonist and responsible for Garry's death in several endings, I do feel a bit bad for her and wish there was an ending where Ib could like, save both Garry and Mary. It doesn't make much sense for the overall mood of the story, but still.

Rating out of 10: 9/10, good game overall, strong narrative, slightly wonky controls, excellent soundtrack, endearing aesthetics.

FF7:

Favorite thing about that game: It has a really interesting plot and cast of characters, and just a really strong narrative overall. Getting into all the extended compilation stuff was easy because the initial game experience left me wanting to explore more. The Remake does a really good job integrating a lot of this extended lore into...whatever the Remake's narrative is trying to do.

Least favorite thing about that game: The fandom--Okay, for real though, in the original game I hated Aerith's death. Like, yes, from a story perspective as the player because she was one of my favorite characters, but I actually think that was strong writing for the narrative development. What I mean is that mechanically it was a hideous decision because it leaves this gaping hole in the game. Maybe the player was using her and now has to try and get a character they weren't used to using up to level speed with Cloud and whoever else they were using for their main battle party, and that's just frustrating from a player perspective, but also when she leaves she takes everything except the materia she was carrying with her and the player looses access to that entirely for the rest of the game, but can still purchase her staffs and stuff from in-game vendors? Like, knowing this now what's the point of using her at all for the first part of the game? There's literally no point in leveling her up when I could use the exp for someone else, and there's no reason to buy her any good equipment because her most powerful staff is in the last dungeon you can use her in and you could give her any throwaway bracelet because you're going to lose it anyway. It literally makes no sense from a mechanic standpoint and I hate it because the original game's mechanics are already wonky (although that wasn't entirely rare for that era's jrpgs) but then just having this mechanical gap appear halfway through the game just messes things up even more. The original FF7 game has a lot going on in it, but because there's so much I feel it lacks the sort of polish it could have had, and I especially feel that Aerith's death just made the lackluster mechanics feel more insulting. However, the Remake has so far done a fair job of balancing the party mechanics so that even if the writers do decide to kill off Aerith again, I don't think there will be the mechanical gap that the original game suffered from because the Remake is much more mechanically balanced and well-designed.

Favorite character in that game: Aerith and Tifa, even when I was playing through the original game with it's really wonky writing (or localization, maybe), I just liked them a lot. Aerith breaks a lot of the "jrpg squishy healer girl narrative's heart" tropes I've come to expect, and Tifa had a lot of depth stemming from all that was going on in her personal character arc, and I really appreciated the writing for both. The Remake's kept the momentum and added even more details that make me love these two even more. Special mention goes to Nanaki (Red XIII) because would it wouldn't be a game series I've been obsessed with if I didn't love one of the characters the main writing team loves to ignore.

Would I recommend it? Why? Y...yes? I mean, sort of. Like my very long rant shows, I'm not actually a fan of the mechanics of the original game, and that's saying a lot since I actually love a lot of old game's for their wonky mechanics. But like, I had a hard time figuring out the internal logic and battle systems, and I'm still not even sure what healing magic scales off of right now, or the most effective use of materia and other items to their maximum effect, which is something I usually pride myself for knowing in jrpgs. The story is really interesting, but there's also a lot of plot gaps that sometimes get explored in extended lore but were never hinted at in the original narrative (like, when I found out that Tseng and Rufus not only survived their "this character very much just got killed on screen" deaths, but got quasi-redemption arcs, I was so, so confused). Also the general pacing is really weird, like the Midgar section sets up the Turks as being Really Serious antagonists, but then they just. End up being comic relief for the rest of the game, and slightly annoying boss fights. Rufus gives this really dramatic speech about how he's going to be a tyrant who rules by fear and then spends the rest of the game Not Doing That, instead chasing after Sephiroth and failing and then dying but not really dying bc as I noted, that got retconned. Hojo is literally one of the most evil characters in the story and the root of almost every issue, but you also get directions from him on a beach surrounded by girls in sexy (for PS1 era graphics) swimsuits, and it's like, why? So like, the original is decent and has a lot of interesting points, and the ost is amazing, but the mechanics are wonky and the actual plot flow is...weird. So like, if you just want to know the story, watch a playthrough, but if you want the challenge of the wacky mechanics (which I know damn well people have figured out and made incredibly strong end-game teams), then go ahead and play it yourself. As for the Remake, I would suggest at least watching the original game to get to know the narrative to better understand how the Remake is changing the direction of the story, but also like, I'd recommend it just because it's plain fun, the mechanics are pretty easy to pick up, the ost is still amazing, and the narrative is even more rich. I would suggest a handful of things from the extended compilation works to better enjoy some of the Remake additions (i.e. the novel where Kyrie and Leslie first appeared as characters, they're both actually super amazing and the Remake only skims the surface with them), but like, it's not necessary for the overall enjoyment of the Remake.

Free space to go off about something! I've gone off about enough already, but I would suggest avoiding the fandom if you're interesting in getting into the game because there's so much petty arguing over shipping nonsense and what is or isn't canon, like, it's not the most toxic fandom I've ever seen but it's not what I'd call fun either. Would fully recommend the entire compilation though, I really loved all the novels/short stories, and even just watching playthroughs of the games related to FF7 was so much fun and added so much depth to the world and characters. Would recommend Advent Children, but only after playing/watching the original game and reading at least On a Way To a Smile (and additionally reading The Kids Are Alright for the Complete version of the movie) because nothing in the movie makes any damned sense otherwise.

Rating out of 10: Original game is 6/10, and the Remake is 9/10

#I am so sorry the second section is so long #I even cut parts from it to try and sound less petty about things but I have Many Thoughts #ask meme #lookerdewitt #I still don't have an ask tag

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | The Departed (Scorsese, 2006)

This review contains spoilers for this movie, and half-remembered ones for Infernal Affairs.

After my lukewarm reaction to The Aviator and the fact that I hadn't seen this in about a decade, I was a little worried about revisiting this after all these years. The fact that certain lines and images (*cough* the closing shot *cough*) had become something of a running joke in the internet circles I'd frequented and the fact that I hadn't seen it since maybe my high school days had me primed for an embarrassing relic of the 2000s. Thankfully, the movie held up extremely nicely when I revisited it this past weekend. (It's almost like teenage me had good taste, a quality I've managed to shed over the years.) Is it obvious at times? Of course, but I feel that's intentional on Scorsese's part. The way The Irishman seems intended to correct audience misreadings of his work, The Departed also seems to spell out his recurring concerns as bluntly as possible, possibly for the dum-dums in the audience. (It even flirts with self parody at times, dropping "Gimme Shelter" multiple times during the movie.) It's no surprise that this was the movie that finally won him Best Picture and Best Director Oscars.

Did you know that Scorsese is interested in how Catholicism burrows into its believers' psyches? Well, with the extremely on the nose closing shot and other moments (a certain character's arms splayed out in Christ-like formation, hellish red lighting, crude dialogue regarding sexual abuse), now you know. Did you know that loyalties founded on ethnic lines can actually be toxic? In switching perspectives from his usual Italian gangsters to Irish ones (and with Italians and Chinese criminals at the fringes), the meaninglessness of these alliances becomes more obvious. Did you know that a life of crime actually doesn't pay? With enough scenes of low level criminals performing demeaning work or otherwise sitting on their ass, you get the hint. He's also not blind to the economic motivations of the characters in their pursuit of a life of crime. Both main characters are born into seemingly destitute circumstances. One of them (Matt Damon) sees a local criminal as a rare exception to the squalor around him and immediately falls into his orbit, leveraging the support of his criminal benefactors into a genteel, almost white collar version of success. The other (Leonardo DiCaprio) keeps toiling away, his undercover work as a low level criminal proving just as his experience growing up. Modern technology figures into the plot in the form of stolen microprocessors and high-tech surveillance (a character excitedly shouts "Patriot Act! Patriot Act!" during a sting), something that might seem cool or flashy in another director's hands but highlights the fundamental banality of the enterprise here.

None of these elements are especially subtle, but what makes them resonate is their forceful assembly, in particular thanks to the aggressive cross-cutting. (The Scorsese-Schoonmaker team is one of the most formidable in cinema in this respect.) There's an appreciation for the harsh morality and rigid arcs of classic gangster films, the DNA of which mixes strikingly with grittier modern crime cinema. When the movie reaches its bloody denouement, the Rube-Goldberg-like intricacy with which it plays out gives it a thunderous impact. It's been a while since I've seen Infernal Affairs, of which this is a remake, but I don't remember it hitting quite as hard in this regard. And if I recall correctly, it has two love interests for the protagonists instead of the one major female character here, meaning there's no last minute realization by the villain that he's been cuckolded the whole time by the man whose funeral he's attending. Both characters struggle with their identities and the increasingly tense web they've spun throughout the film, but DiCaprio has the last laugh from beyond the grave.

The film is also a masterclass in casting, which lends it additional power. DiCaprio can sometimes be a bit obvious or strained, something I struggled with in The Aviator, but I think that quality serves him exceedingly well here as an undercover cop. If we can see the calculation in his performance, can the criminals around him see through him as well? Damon seems chosen in part for his slight resemblance to DiCaprio, but his natural pomposity is appropriate for his character's aspirations towards respectability, and is a great match by the smugness exuded by his colleague Alec Baldwin. (Here and in The Aviator, Scorsese makes great use of Baldwin's distinct mix of of genteel machismo. At different points in both movies, he practically whips it out.) Jack Nicholson's "Cool Jack" shtick has always struck me as a little sleazy, and he takes that to sickening extremes here, a man without a filter, shoving his appetites in your face relentlessly. (In one of his first scenes, he makes untoward comments towards an underage girl who he later grooms to be his girlfriend.) If this is supposed to be an aspirational figure, it only drives home how dismal a life of crime really is. (It's worth noting that one element likely intended to make him seem unctuous, his ownership of a porno house, makes him seem like a heroic proprietor of an independent theatre these days. I bet they don't play superhero movies at this joint. I also remember an amusing anecdote about Nicholson trying to ad lib setting another character on fire, only to realize his glass was filled with a soft drink.)

As DiCaprio's handlers, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg serve as each other's foils. The former is warm and paternal (perhaps the only such character in the movie, which perhaps telegraphs his fate), the latter is a source of unmitigated douchebaggery. Wahlberg is not someone I'd consider a great actor normally, but in the hands of the right director and placed (usually) out of his element, he can be extremely effective. (I'd cite Boogie Nights, Three Kings and Pain and Gain as the other high points of his career. And maybe The Happening, although unintentionally in that case.) Here, surrounded by obviously better actors, he channels that insecurity into foul-mouthed indignation, serving as a tenuous moral pillar in a world hellbent on doing away with them. (He's also the clearest source of comic relief in this grim movie. Every line, snarled in his nigh impenetrable Boston accent, is a howler.) Is Marky Mark the key to holding this movie together? Probably not, but he's an essential piece of the intricate, thrilling puzzle that is The Departed.

#film #movie review #the departed #martin scorsese

[ineffablebuddies]

Thoughts on how the Star Trek remakes should approach the characters , in a way that I think would be realistic for 2021 and our current climate:

Romantic relationships:

Sulu/Chekhov - We know they spend a lot of time together on a one to one basis, especially in the films, and they are very endeared to each other. It also wouldn’t change their dynamic or the dynamic on the bridge, and could slip into any future films or shows without change to character. (unlike Spock and Uhura, which I don’t hate, but required adjusting Spock’s character in order to enable a pre-existing relationship.) Like, all you’d need is one throwaway line to make it canon and you could keep the rest exactly the same. And there is obvious value in representing an interracial same sex relationship.

Uhura/Scotty - this would work as a slow burn, because Scotty is a bit of a hopeless romantic whilst he is younger, and is easily misled by his heart and can be a bit overprotective in a very 60s style which is a character flaw integral to his character (and is the plot of a few episodes). Which is why a slow burn is nice for him, because he needs to learn to come from a place of genuine respect and deep affection. And whilst I do like that Uhura stays relatively unattached as one of the few prominent female characters in tos, I do think that as a black woman it is important to allow her to have a romantic relationship due to current representation issues. Which is why I think the slow burn is also nice for her, because you can’t change her character, or make her the object of affection, but showing a deep love and affection developing on the job is nice. We also only start getting the scotty/Uhura romantic dynamic coming in the films when they’re much older. And again I think this is one you can show without having to change anything integral to them. Same with checkov/sulu that it shouldn’t be a plot point, but a character thing that happens without needing to be focused on. Neither of them seek it, but it happens naturally.

Amanda/Sarek - obviously this is already canon, but I think it should be explored in a little more detail. I also think we can do away with the whole “Vulcan is incredibly sexist and treat women as property” thing, which doesn’t actually make sense considering the female Vulcans we do meet, so doesn’t really add to the world building anyway.

Ambiguous Relationships:

Kirk/Spock/Bones - now I know this is controversial, but I don’t think they should necessarily make them canon in the remakes, except possibly at the very end of the shows/last film. To focus on the romantic relationship between Kirk/Spock too early on will potentially reduce the time for Bones to be included as a very necessary part of the main three, and the fact of the matter, the three of them are presented as having a deep bond, not just Kirk/Spock. And there’s a certain level of yearning and unspoken love that really defines their relationships. They should always end up together in some manner, with no other romantic attachments. Part of me would love to make it a ployamarous relationship, but I don’t think it’s likely to happen anytime soon.

I do think however that they should make Spock gay, and I think they should keep the relationship with the Romulan commander but make it a man, because that was actually very well written and acted, but the fact that Spock is able to use that romantic affection to his advantage against a woman is a little sexist considering it’s like the only time we see a female romulan commander, but as a man we wouldn’t have those same issues. And I think that’s the only other relationship we should see Spock have outside of Kirk/bones, because it’s marked by the fact that he can’t act on it the way he would like to, and none of the other relationships in tos really work IMO because it just seems ooc for him. But I think it’s important to allow him to be confirmed as gay considering he is queercoded.

I don’t think it’ll be as easy to confirm a queer identity for Kirk, but I think that for the women he has flings with, he should never be the one to initiate it, but have the same flaw of scotty as being a bit of a hopeless romantic who can be misled by his heart, and again that would give more value to the slow burn he has with Spock. I think you can very much allow him to refer to Spock with love, and I think you can confirm a relationship with Spock at the very end, but I think it should be non-sexual. Vulcan kisses are the way to go, and should allow you to give confirmation of romantic love whilst also having plausible deniability for the people who would riot against it.

I think it’d be fucking amazing if we could cast a trans guy as Kirk. I don’t think you’d get away with saying the character is trans, but having a trans actor and just never mentioning it in show may just be enough to get away with it. Especially if this is a relatively unknown actor who passes completely so casual watchers can’t even get fussed about it (I know this wording has some issues, but I’m thinking more about getting around execs and producers, than on what would be best for rep.)

I’m torn on how far you could get away with including Bones in their relationship. The bones/Spock dynamic is interesting because it is like enemies to lovers, they definitely develop that care for each other, whilst Kirk/bones are old friends. I think Bones shouldn’t have romantic relationships on screen, and should maybe be quite unromantic as a result of his divorce. I don’t think we should ever meet his daughter, though I’m also quite interested in the idea of his ex wife having remarried for a number of years and then having a brief affair with Bones, before breaking it off, but then gives birth to his child but it remains a secret. Because it’s definitely part of his character that he has no attachments to his home, and it makes more sense of his attachment - his love for a daughter that never knew him - if it’s one he can’t do anything about. And would understandably make him more bitter towards his ex, which can make him more unromantic. But I don’t think it needs to be a major plot point.

Like I said, Spock/bones/Kirk should always end up together in some way. And I think it’s in their character to never define why they end up together, but to acknowledge that they can’t live without each other. And I think you could get away with including that as ambiguous to how far their love for each other goes. There’ll be too much backlash to make it completely canon for it, but you could get away with the Good Omens approach. Perhaps you could include Bones in a Vulcan kiss subtly enough to get away with it.

Characters who should be important:

Christine Chapel - she should definitely be in it and made a more significant character, because otherwise Uhura is really the only woman in the show. But it’d be very nice to have a woman who doesn’t need to have a relationship, and there’s no need for her romantic desire for Spock to exist in any remakes. It would also be nice to just make her a doctor from the get-go. Her friendship with Uhura was present in tos, but can now be focused on more, as well as her supportive role to Bones throughout. She wouldn’t be part of the main group, but she should be a big part of their lives.

Doctor m’benga - he was an interesting character, and it’d be nice to have a fixed medical team that work closely together. There’s also a potential for an interesting concept of him being an expert on Vulcans, Bones being an expert on Humans, and thus they’ve both been hired on the ship to work together for the sake of Spock. Also, having another established doctor on board could give an actual explanation for why it’s okay that their only doctor keeps beaming down to dangerous missions and going up to the bridge for no reason lol. Plus there is a lot to be said for casting a dark skinned black man in the role of knowledgable caregiver, especially if they can make him more of a scientist of alien biology too. There may be value if it naturally develops of him having a relationship with chapel, because whilst I like allowing women to exist without relationships, it might be balanced out with the positive representation of an interracial relationship.

Lieutenant Rahda - remember her? She was like In one episode but was great, and she should definitely be introduced as part of the bridge team again. Though her exact culture or religion is not disclosed, she is seen to wear a bindi, and i think it’s always a great time to add more diversity. It makes sense to have more people in the bridge crew too, even if they aren’t part of the main team dynamic. Considering the current political climate, it’d also be a great idea to add another bridge crew team who is visibly a Muslim woman who wears a headscarf, seeing as various countries are still trying to ban that.

Walking Bear - he was only in the TAS for one episode, but again I think he would prove a valuable addition, especially considering star trek’s representation of native people has never been the best, so it’s time they started to make up for that a bit. In most episodes there’s always usually others in the bridge that are helping the main team, and it’d make sense to have a fixed cast of who these people are and flesh them out a bit more.

Saavik - she shouldn’t be in it until much later, at least not as part of the enterprise crew, but there is something very interesting about her character and the dynamic with Spock (which is why I think they should meet later on, because he takes on a role of mentor which is a dynamic shift, and thus should probably happen later. Multiple Vulcans on board is also a dynamic shift that I think should be addressed more.) I do wonder whether it might be nice to move her to being a scientist rather than bridge crew, as that would afford her more interaction with Bones as well, who I think we should get to see interact with other Vulcans more, to establish that he is not xenophobic despite his conflict on Vulcan philosophy with Spock. (Or at least if he does start xenophobic, to start showing his development away from this.) She also should not have a relationship, especially not with Spock oh my god. I think a nice way for her to be introduced would be if she was staffed on a Vulcan only ship that the enterprise for whatever reason has to work alongside, because I think we need to see Spock interact more with other Vulcans and see that Vulcans, despite claims to the contrary, can have the same xenophobic failings as humans. I think her being one who is sympathetic to the enterprise and to Spock is a nice set up to them then meeting later and working together (and also why she might change careers and move away from the Vulcan only ships, as we do get the sense it is unusual for Vulcans to serve on board a starship.) Whilst I do think that a romulan/Vulcan offspring could provide an interesting story, I think she should be fully Vulcan in order to make her acceptance of Spock more poignant.

Kevin Riley - I just think he’s neat. Also maybe we can return to the Tarsus 5 colony story point?!?!?!?

I’d also think it’d be cool to establish some engineers that work beneath Scotty, and a mix of genders of course.

But yeah, I think there’s a lot of ways that any remakes could stay true to the original, whilst still pushing for progressiveness in the same spirit as tos, whilst managing to manoeuvre around execs and producers and negative media. Star Trek should always be progressive for its day, and it’s a new day now, so we need to keep moving onwards.

#Star Trek #Star Trek tos #long post

[moviesrotbrains]

FREAKY slashes up a piece of that horror-comedy pie

Hey, let’s remake FREAKY FRIDAY, but this time it’s about a middle-aged serial killer who swaps places with a 17-year-old girl. That simple yet ridiculous premise is the main plot behind a surprisingly perfect, and fantastically gory, horror-comedy.

FREAKY is one of those movies that could have failed hard. It’s a brilliant idea that could have fallen apart in the wrong hands. Many films have tried to balance genres and get lost along the way. FREAKY is NOT one of those fails. It’s one of those films that had me rooting for it from the first 5 minutes and still had me pleasantly surprised throughout. In addition to being a great body-swap flick, it’s also an engaging horror flick. It’s like someone shoved your favourite FRIDAY THE 13TH scenes in a blender with MEAN GIRLS. It shouldn’t work… but it does. It’s an ode to 80s slashers, but it’s also an ode to high school-centred comedies? And it does all this while keeping hardcore horror fans pleased by giving it a hard R rating?!? And it’s actually really funny?!?

When they first announced this film, I was expecting a fun PG-13 flick in the vein of HAPPY DEATH DAY, and I was okay with that. I really liked HAPPY DEATH DAY (as with FREAKY, also directed by Christopher Landon). HAPPY DEATH DAY, was a smart spin on GROUNDHOG’S DAY that it did a lot of cool things while also being able to do so with a PG-13. It wasn’t trying to be MANIAC, nor did I ever expect it to. I’m an annoying purist, but I’m ok with light pop-corn horror if done right, and that film did it right. 

So with that in mind, I was utterly blown away by the very, very R-RATED kills in the opening 10 minutes. It was a brutal onslaught of gore. It was Landon’s way of saying, “Relax, horror bros, I got you.” It was like a Greatest Hits from decades ago but with a fresh spin on it. Slashers got a little lazy in the last few years, and this film just let it all hang out in that opening scene. It was ballsy as all hell, and I was totally on board. And luckily it didn’t just stop there.

This one has all the tropes of classic stabby fright flicks. Huge emotionless killer? Check. Ominous mask? Check. St upid teenagers getting in trouble? Check. Inventive kills that make you cackle “Holy Shit”? Check. Twists and turns? Check. A growing body count? Check. Final girl? Check. And let’s throw in an occult artifact in the mix that swaps that final girl with that emotionless killer and that’s where you get something new and different!

And if you’re coming into this one from a comedy perspective, this one has all the tropes of classic high school movie. Insecure lead going through an awkward time? Check. Supportive comic relief friends? Check. Parents that just don’t understand? Check. Villainous teachers? Check. Mean girls? Check. Huge awkward misunderstandings? Check. And let’s throw in an occult artifact in the mix that causes said misunderstandings and that’s where you get something new and different!  

That new and different wouldn’t be what it is without the standout performance from the two leads, Vince Vaughn & Kaythryn Newton. Vaughn is the aforementioned creepy masked killer. He’s wonderfully cast here as a towering, silent brute. Vaughn of course might be known for his comedic work, but he’s actually got an impressive range that’s very rarely utilized (see BRAWL AT CELLBLOCK 99 for more details). Here he excels as the Butcher. Effective, brutal, and cold. He’s been on a killing spree lately, which we see a bit of at the beginning, and he’s definitely looking to kill some more. And it looks like he found a spooky looking occult dagger

Newton, known to genre fans from her recurring role in SUPERNATURAL, is very likeable as the main lead, Millie. Having recently suffered from the loss of her father, Millie is currently dealing with the ongoing depression that the loss put on her mother, as well as her own struggles to return to normality. Can she survive a day at school from the usual trials, tribulations, bullies, and high school crushes, let alone a serial killer lurking nearby?

And thus their two paths meet in the most unexpected (or very expected) of ways. We soon witness a thrilling chase, very reminiscent of the best Michael Myers and Jason hunts-- in fact this whole chase actually takes place on the eve before Friday the 13th, a very knowing wink to the genre that birthed this film. And soon the Butcher, with Millie in his grips, claims his latest victim… only he doesn’t… darn those occult daggers!

And that’s when the two leads really showcase their acting chops. Vaughn is now a frazzled high school student, and Newton is the silent and sinister stalker. Both take on their new roles excellently and they both embody (heh) them flawlessly. Vaughn is awkward and fragile and Newton is menacingly fierce as fuck. Newton utterly transforms into someone else and her performance is a total triumph. Vaughn is adorable. 

Seeing them both re-interact/meet with their friends (and foes) in their new forms is endless fun. You see Vaughn run like a girl and Newton go on a homicidal spree. You see Vaughn give off his best flirty eye and Newton’s best glare of doom. They both seamlessly fill their new roles.

But it’s not quite the seamless exchange for Millie and the Butcher. Millie clumsily gets used to their bigger and stronger frame… and the Butcher realizes they are not as strong as they once were. A lot of what works about this ride is seeing how they both adapt to their new struggles and use it to their advantage. The Butcher has a new mask, and Millie soon finds confidence in herself in her new self. 

The supporting cast is used with great effect, too. They all get us to where we need to be. Everyone serves a purpose. From the mom, to older sister/cop, to the comic relief, to the love interest, and classmates of varying degrees of douchebagginess. Everyone is either likeable or unlikeable as they should be. There’s even a nice nod to previous academic farces with a cameo from FERRIS BUELLER’S Alan Ruck as an asshole shop teacher. 

Director Christopher Landon is really slicing out a nice niche of off-kilter spins in the horror genre, and it’s reassuring that he knows what he’s doing. It truly is a well-crafted film. Not just as a horror film, but also from a technical standpoint. The pacing is dead perfect, every joke hits, the story beats and setups are well orchestrated, and not a moment is wasted. It’s tense when it needs to be tense, gory when it needs to be gory, and legit laugh out loud moments when it needs to have those LOL moments.

It’s such a great spin to the body-swap comedy genre, a genre that feels like there’s an endless amount where they all sort of felt very “samey”; especially in the 80s, where at one point three different body-swaps came out within 2 years of each other! This one takes the better elements of those, relishes in them, carves new ground, and adds a bit of Tom Hanks’ BIG in for good measure.

 But homage to a decade old cinematic fad aside, at no point does it ever stop delivering on the humour and slasher content. It’s tight, daring, and keeps you enthralled throughout. Whether you’re a horror junkie, or into well-written oddball comedies, or even into clever thrillers, the end result has you covered.

There’s a great message in there too, as the film tackles school killings, social media, pc culture, and the general malaise many of us experience after the loss of a loved one. It’s about grief and acceptance and moving on… yet it’s very light-hearted. And you still get ample buckets of blood and splatter.

Yes, fans, there’s so many gruesome and cool looking on screen deaths your morbid heart’s desire. Amazing uses of wine bottles, tennis rackets, chainsaws, and industrial equipment. A creepy serial killer flophouse complete with creepy mannequins and various implements of torture. Possibly a severed head in a bloody toilet? Yeah, this film has that too.

You can currently rent this one on various VOD services. Hopefully this one hits the majority of streaming services soon, since it had the misfortune of opening late last year during the pandemic. It definitely needs a wider audience because it’s another one of those instant classics. It’s easily my favourite current horror-comedy, and I’m looking forward to more from Christopher Landon. A film that’s both goofy and gory with just enough twists to keep your attention and please jaded genre fans? That’s freaky.

#horror #horror movies #blumhouse #freaky #kathryn newton #vince vaughn #Christopher Landon #Slashers #movie reviews #film reviews #body swap #moviesrotbrains #movies rot brains #universal

[baconpal]

Bravely Default and BD2

Here it is, the partially prompted bravely default rant/retrospective/whatever the fuck!

With the announcement and demo of bravely default 2 out now for a bigger market than the original game ever had, I feel that as a massive fan of the original I should put some amount of effort into explaining what the appeal of the original is, why bravely second missed a lot of the appeal, and why bravely default 2 has been very, very worrying so far.

If you care about any of that, come on in and I'll try to actually avoid spoilers this time and make this a more legitimate recommendation of a game than usual.

THE APPEAL OF BRAVELY DEFAULT The games obviously have a beautiful art style, especially when it comes to the backgrounds. Every city is like a painting, a beautifully composed shot that you see from just one direction to give you one very strong impression. While the overworld and dungeons are fully 3d and do not have as strong of an artistic impact, they are still very competent and have good colors and cohesive elements. The character design, including the job outfits, the monsters, and all the villains are just top notch. Simple, evocative designs that make the most of the 3DS' limited hardware and build upon the teams skill in making handheld games look good. (its the same team that did the ff3 remake and 4 heroes of light, which looks absolutely kino on original DS) The music is also consistently excellent, with great use of motifing, a full and varied orchestra, and many good slow paced tracks for most of the non-combat segments. Shit like "Conflict's Chime" being the main battle theme, "Infiltrating Hostile Territory" being a common dungeon theme, and "That person's name is" as the rival boss themes makes even the seemingly repetitive songs a constant joy to listen to.

The story is pretty decent, it's not the best part of the game, and there are definitely some aspects of the story some people loathe, but the characters (specifically ringabel fuckin love him) are pretty good and the make for an enjoyable experience. The side material like D's journal are really well done and integrate into the main narrative well for how tucked away and ignored it is.

The gameplay and systems are also some of the best of any RPG I've played, and I've played far too many. The job system from ff3 and 5 is brought to an even greater depth with the addition of universal job abilities, allowing any character of any job make use of another jobs features to create an endless depth to strategy. The way various jobs can mingle together, and how no job is completely perfect on its own makes for very compelling team composition and unit design. The extensive amount of jobs helps as well for replay value and for assuring that no easy winning strategy is found by all players.

The BP system makes battles take on a very unique pacing as the player and enemies can choose to save up turns or blow them all at once to make more complicated strategies possible, or to make the most of an enemies vulnerabilities. This powerful option gives the player a meaningful way to capitalize on their knowledge of the game, while also allowing them to make truly detrimental mistakes. That may sound not good if you're a fucking baby, but nobody wants an RPG you cant lose, but losing because you fucked up is much better than losing because the enemies are just stronger than you or anything to that effect.

But the single greatest part of bravely defaults, which creates the games wonderful balance and unique design philosophy, is that the player is expected to hit the level cap long before finishing the game. Reaching level 99 should occur somewhere just after the middle of the game, at the point where the player has access to almost every job and has encountered almost every type of threat. Reaching level 99 brings with it a certain security, the implication that from then on, all enemies will also be level 99, and that any failure to defeat an enemy will be a result of a bad strategy or the players own mistakes. The game is not easy, and is certainly intended for veteran final fantasy players used to the games with job systems and changing up your entire party to combat a single encounter. Leveling up is not a slow grind part of the game, as you have a lot of control over the speed and frequency of battles, and it is not difficult to keep up with the games level curve.

The other layer to this unique design is that the game expects you to "cheat", or use strategies that would be overpowered and frowned upon in most other games. Bravely default easily expects you to know or discover strategies such as: applying a status to all enemies and killing every enemy with that status using another spell, cycling a counter move over and over to have a nearly invincible party member, applying a healing attribute to a self-damaging character to get huge damage at little cost, casting reflect and dangerous spells on your own party to bounce them at the enemy, or duplicating a move that does maximum damage 15 times in a row. The game builds all of its encounters with the knowledge that your team will be the maximum level and that you will be using the most vile tactics you can come up with, and the game will do the same. Bosses and even common enemies will employ equally vile tactics using the exact same moves that you have access to, meaning you can learn from your enemies or quickly grasp the enemies strategy through your own experiences. One of the late game dungeons is entirely optional, but involves several fights against parties of 4 just like your, using the same jobs and skills you have gained during the game as a perfect test of your ability to develop counter-strategies, instead of relying on your own overpowered tactics. This type of design is really not something you find in many games due to the prominence of grinding or the lack testing strategies, and it is the most true appeal of bravely default to me.

BRAVELY SECOND EXISTS I GUESS So bravely second, a direct sequel to bravely default, definitely is a video game. It uses the original game as a base to generate more content, but completely misses the appeal of the original, and the new content added makes the experience even less focused. Overall, it's still a fairly alright RPG, but it fails to follow up on bravely default in a meaningful way or to provide as compelling of a gameplay experience. Here's some of the things it fucked up.

The game reuses almost everything the original game had, including the same music, world map, and most of the original's towns and dungeons, while adding a few of it's own. Going through areas you've been before never feels good, and the new areas lack the quality or brevity of the original game, leading to uninteresting areas that overstay their welcome, despite being the only break from repetitively reused content.

This extends to the classes but in an even worse sense. One important trait of the original jobs is that they were not perfect by themselves. While every job provided some useful abilities to be shared with other classes, or provided a good base with which to make a character, no class was without flaws. The new classes in bravely second are a lot of the opposite, they are closed loops that think of everything they could have to make a good standalone character. The 4 starter classes you get in bravely second are all brand new, and there's almost no reason to use any class besides those 4 as they are just insanely good. The priest and magician specifically augment magic in a way that makes spells infinity scalable into the end game, completely trampling on any other magic classes territory without needing the extra effort of grinding a new class out. Many of the new job concepts are actually really interesting, like going back in time to return to a healthier state, or a class that changes the stats and attributes of all units in a battle, allowing for all new kinds of strategies; but these classes lack any opportunity to be used to their full potential since they don't mesh well with other jobs and are limited by their self-centered design.

Another completely missed aspect of the original is the level curve discussed before. Bravely second only really requires you get somewhere in the ballpark of level 60-70 to comfortably beat the final boss, and getting too leveled up is really hard to avoid if you are plan to try out various jobs.

Second also fails to account for how many incredibly strong strategies the player can come up with, and even introduces some of its own strategies that it has no way to counteract, such as halfsies (the first skill the first class gets) pretty much splitting the game in two by tripling the value of items like phoenix downs, and allowing for fool-proof strategies by making 1 character focus entirely on defense, effectively making the party unkillable. Essentially, if you play second after having played the original (like any sane person would) then you will absolutely destroy the game with no sense of satisfaction.

The story is also a large step down, enough to become an annoyance, as the writing style changes to a strange romantic comedy situation with, for lack of a better term please forgive my sin, anime writing, but like bad anime writing, ya know the kind of shit that makes people write off all anime cus a lot of it is awkward and unpleasant to listen to. The story tries to mess with some big concepts like "what if new game + was a real thing???" and time travel and shit like that but it doesn't mesh with the tone the rest of the game has and that tone doesn't mesh with the world or art style and it's just a mess.

BRAVELY DEFAULT 2 SEEMS KINDA POOPIE SO FAR So unfortunately, the big appeal of bravely default being part of it's end game makes it hard to judge how 2 is gonna go given we only have a demo of the beginning, but given that the original team behind bravely default has slowly been stripped out of the series as it goes on, the outlook is bleek.

Most immediately obvious is that the artstyle has made a horrible transition from handheld to console, somehow even worse than pokemon. The areas are all fully 3d and lack the style or compositional excellence of bravely default, and the outside environment look like asset store products. The small proportioned characters with simple features to be readable on a small screen have been replaced with identically proportioned characters with excessive detail and ugly features, and look horrible up close on a big screen. Only the negatives of the art style have made it over, and everything good has been made unsavory. The character and enemy design overall is much worse as a result, everything is messy, unclear, and clashes with everything else. It's an absolutely shocking downgrade.

The characters themselves are overly hammy and feel like shallow attempts to have a similar party dynamic to the original without having identical character types, and the writing as a whole doesn't seem to have improved from second, which was already quite a step down from the original.

The gameplay also has not done anything different or interesting yet, and seems to be selling itself to people haven't heard of or gotten enough of the BP system. Enemies being on the overworld as opposed to random encounters shows they have dropped the player agency over encounter frequency, which is dumb. The battles lack any of the flow the original had, especially when using the battle speed option, as the camera does not present everything very well and changes position often as a result. Overall, I have not enjoyed the bravely default 2 demo and feel it shows nothing but a continued decline in the series that likely should have just been a single game. With the release date being set for sometime this year, I feel there is no chance any amount of player feedback could save the game or even begin to pull it in the right direction, as it seems to be fundamentally flawed with an inescapable feeling of shovelware.

SO WHAT? Basically, all I wanted to say here is that the original bravely default is a very unique experience I think every RPG fan should give a good chance (and just do all the optional stuff during the "repetitive" part of the game, it's where all the best content is you bozo) and that the sequels are NOT the same experience. I guess it's kind of mean to just say "hey don't buy or like this new thing cus its not like the old thing" but people should know why there's a bravely default 2 in the first place, and should fight for what made the original great. I worry that BD goes down the same sad path that FF did, becoming a completely hollow, middling series that strayed so far from it's home that a whole new series had to be made to give the fans of the old style a place to go.

Thanks for reading, and hope you got something out of it.

#bravely default #bravely series #bravely default 2 #juvenile rant #vote now for the next rant! including things such as The Great Ace Attorney and why it's kino #or why i think arms is a really well designed game even tho i'm fucking shit at it #very exciting topics indeed #or ya know whatever other shit you think i have a lot to say about

[bodhirook1138]

The Problems with Aladdin: Orientalism, Casting, and Ramadan

Originally posted on Medium.

Edward Said and Jack G. Shaheen did not do the work they did so that movies like Aladdin would still get made.

I say this as someone who has had a complicated relationship with the 1992 Aladdin animated feature. I loved it when I was a kid. For a long time, it was my favorite Disney cartoon. I remember proudly telling white friends and classmates in third grade that Aladdin was “about my people.” Although nothing is said in the movie about Aladdin’s religion, I read him as Muslim.

When I grew older, I read Jack G. Shaheen’s book, Reel Bad Arabs, which analyzes about 1,000 American films that vilify and stereotype Arabs and Muslims. Among these films is Aladdin, which Shaheen reportedly walked out of. Shaheen spoke out against lyrics in the film’s opening song: “I come from a land from a far-away place/Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face/It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” Although he convinced Disney to remove the lyrics for the home video release, the final verse was still there: “It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” As a 1993 op-ed in The New York Timeswrote, “It’s Racist, But Hey, It’s Disney.”

In Edward Said’s seminal book, Orientalism (1978), he described orientalism as a process in which the West constructs Eastern societies as exotic, backwards, and inferior. According to Said, orientalism’s otherization of Arabs, Muslims, and Islam provided justification for European colonialism and Western intervention in the Middle East and Muslim-majority countries, often under the pretext of rescuing the people — especially Muslim women — from themselves. In addition to orientalism’s practices of constructing the “Orient” as the West’s “Other,” Said asserted that another major facet of orientalism involves a “western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the ‘Orient.’” In other words, it is not the Arab or Muslim who gets to define themselves, but rather the West does.

There are plenty of excellent and detailed critiques out there about how the original Aladdin is filled with racist, sexist, and orientalist tropes, so there’s very little, if anything, to say that already hasn’t been said. In her extensive report, “Haqq and Hollywood: Illuminating 100 Years of Muslim Tropes And How to Transform Them,” Dr. Maytha Alhassen argues that Hollywood’s legacy of depicting Arabs and Muslims as offensive caricatures is continued in Aladdin, where the main characters like Aladdin and Jasmine are “whitewashed, with anglicized versions of Arabic names and Western European (though brown-skinned) facial features” and speak with white American accents. Alhassen notes the contrast with the “villains, Jafar, and the palace guards” who are depicted as “darker, swarthy, with undereye circles, hooked noses, black beards, and pronounced Arabic and British accents.” In another article, “The Problem with ‘Aladdin,’” Aditi Natasha Kini asserts that Aladdin is “a misogynist, xenophobic white fantasy,” in which Jasmine is sexualized and subjected to tropes of “white feminism as written by white dudes.” Not only does Jasmine have limited agency in the film, Kini writes, but her role in the film is “entirely dependent on the men around her.”

When Disney announced plans to produce a live-action remake of Aladdin, I learned through conversations that the Aladdin story is not even in the original text for Alf Layla wa Layla, or One Thousand and One Nights. It was later added by an 18th century French translator, Antoine Galland, who heard the story from a Syrian Maronite storyteller, Hanna Diyab. Galland did not even give credit to Diyab in his translation. Beyond the counter-argument that “the original Aladdin took place in China,” I am left wondering, how much of the original tale do we really know? How much did Galland change? It’s possible that Galland changed the story so significantly that everything we know about Aladdin is mostly a western, orientalist fabrication. For a more detailed account about the origins of the Aladdin tale, I recommend reading Arafat A. Razzaque’s article, “Who ‘wrote’ Aladdin? The Forgotten Syrian Storyteller.”

Disney has been boasting about how the live-action Aladdin is one of the “most diverse” movies in Hollywood, but this is an attempt to hide the fact that the casting of this film relied on racist logic: “All brown people are the same.” It’s great that an Egyptian-Canadian actor, Mena Massoud, was cast in the lead role, but there’s inconsistency elsewhere: Jasmine is played by British actress Naomi Scott, who is half Indian and half white; Jafar is played by Dutch-Tunisian actor Marwan Kenzari; and Jasmine’s father and a new character, Dalia, are played by Iranian-American actors Navid Negahban and Nasim Pedrad, respectively. The casting demonstrates that the filmmakers don’t know the differences between Arabs, Iranians, and South Asians. We are all conflated as “one and the same,” as usual.

Then there’s the casting of Will Smith as the genie. Whether deliberate or not, reinforced here is the Magical Negro trope. According to blogger Modern Hermeneut, this term was popularized by Spike Lee in 2011 and refers to “a spiritually attuned black character who is eager to help fulfill the destiny of a white protagonist.” Moreover, the author writes that Lee saw the Magical Negro as “a cleaned up version of the ‘happy slave’ stereotype, with black actors cast as simpleminded angels and saints.” Examples of the Magical Negro can be found in films like What Dreams May Come, City of Angels, Kazaam (which also features a Black genie), The Green Mile, The Adjustment Bureau, and The Legend of Bagger Vance. In the case of Aladdin, the genie’s purpose is to serve the protagonist’s dreams and ambitions. While Aladdin is Arab, not white, the racial dynamic is still problematic as the Magical Negro trope can be perpetuated by non-Black people of color as well.

I need to pause for a moment to explain that I don’t believe an Aladdin movie should only consist of Arab actors. Yes, Agrabah is a fictional Arab country, but it would be perfectly fine to have non-Arabs like Iranians, South Asians, and Africans in the movie as well. That’s not the issue I have with the casting, and this is not about identity politics. My problem is that the filmmakers saw Middle Eastern and South Asian people as interchangeable rather than setting out to explore complex racial, ethnic, and power dynamics that would arise from having ethnically diverse characters existing within an Arab-majority society. Evelyn Alsultany, an Associate Professor who was consulted for the film, states in her post that one of the ways Disney tried to justify casting a non-Arab actress for Jasmine was by mentioning that her mother was born “in another land.” However, this seems to have been Disney doing damage control after they received some backlash about Jasmine’s casting. The result is convenient erasure of an Arab woman character. Moreover, the change in Jasmine’s ethnicity does little, if anything, to reduce the film’s problematic amalgamation of Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures. Alsultany writes that “audiences today will be as hard pressed as those in 1992 — or 1922, for that matter — to identify any distinct Middle Eastern cultures beyond that of an overgeneralized ‘East,’” where “belly dancing and Bollywood dancing, turbans and keffiyehs, Iranian and Arab accents all appear in the film interchangeably.”

Other examples of how the film conflates various Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures is highlighted in Roxana Hadadi’s review: “Terms like ‘Sultan’ and ‘Vizier’ can be traced to the Ottoman Empire, but the movie also uses the term ‘Shah,’ which is Iranian monarchy.” Referring to the dance scenes and clothing, she writes they are “mostly influenced by Indian designs and Bollywood styles” while “the military armor looks like leftovers from Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven.” An intersectional approach to the diverse ethnic communities represented in the film would have made for a more nuanced narrative, but this would have required a better director.

Speaking of the director, it is amazing that, of all people, Disney hired Guy Ritchie. Because if there is any director out there who understands the importance of representation and knows how to author a nuanced narrative about Middle Eastern characters living in a fictitious Arab country, it’s… Guy Ritchie? Despite all of the issues regarding the origin of the Aladdin story, I still believed the narrative could have been reclaimed in a really empowering way, but that could not happen with someone like Guy Ritchie. It’s textbook orientalism to have a white man control the narrative. I would have preferred socially and politically conscious Middle Eastern and Muslim writers/directors to make this narrative their own. Instead, we are left with an orientalist fantasy that looks like an exoticized fusion of how a white man perceives South Asia and the Middle East.

Lastly, I have to comment on how this movie was released during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. In fact, the film’s release date, May 24th, was just one day before the last ten days of Ramadan, which are considered to be the most important in the month. During Ramadan, Muslims around the world fast — if they are able to — from dawn to sunset every day for 30 days. The time when we break our fast, iftar, typically involves dinner and prayer with family, friends, and/or the community. But Ramadan is more than just about fasting, it’s a time of self-reflection, compassion, and strengthening our connection with Allah, our loved ones, and community. I don’t believe Disney released Aladdin during Ramadan intentionally. If anything, I think the film’s release date is reflective of how clueless and ignorant Disney is. It’s so ridiculous that it’s laughable.

I don’t want to give the impression that Muslims don’t go out to the movies during Ramadan. Of course there are Muslims who do. I just know a lot who don’t— some for religious reasons and some, like myself, for no other reason than simply not having enough time between iftar and the pre-dawn meal, sehri (I mean, I could go during the day, but who wants to watch a movie hungry, right?). Even Islamophobic Bollywood knows to release blockbuster movies on Eid, not towards the end of Ramadan.

But this isn’t about judging Muslim religiosity during the holy month. No one is “less” of a Muslim if they are going to the movie theater or anywhere else on Ramadan. My point is that Disney has not shown any consideration for the Muslim community with this movie. They did not even consider how releasing the film during Ramadan would isolate some of the Muslim audience. It’s clear that Disney did not make efforts to engage the Muslim community. Of course, there is nothing surprising about this. But you cannot brag about diversity when you’re not even engaging a group of people that represents the majority of the population you claim to be celebrating! In response to Shaheen’s critiques of the original Aladdin cartoon, a Disney distribution president at the time said Aladdin is “not just for Arabs, but for everybody.” But this is a typical dismissive tactic used to gloss over the real issues. No doubt Disney will follow the same script when people criticize the latest film.

I don’t have any interest in this movie because it failed to learn anything from the criticism it received back in 1992. The fact that a 1993 op-ed piece titled, “It’s Racist, But Hey, It’s Disney” is still relevant to the live-action version of a film that came out 27 years ago is both upsetting and sad at the same time. As I said earlier, Edward Said and Jack Shaheen did not exhaustively speak out against orientalism, exoticism, and vilification to only see them reproduced over and over again. Of course Disney refused to educate themselves and listen to people like Shaheen— their Aladdin story was never meant for us.

#Aladdin #aladdin remake #Orientalism #Disney #Muslim

[gascon-en-exil]

Is there anything you want out of Three Houses?

Oh, lots of things. How likely all of them are to occur is another story, but that’s true of every game. I believe I answered a question like this months ago back when all we had was the E3 trailer from last summer, but in light of more recent information:

We still don’t know enough about the story structure to judge, but if all/most of the playable cast is split up by the houses system it would be interesting to keep the number usable at any one time fairly low. Say ~15 characters to each house, plus a handful outside of the monastery system. That would appeal to my preference for smaller army sizes while also allowing for around 50 playable units total which is about the average for these games.

A smaller cast would also go a long way toward getting me resigned to the extreme level of unit customization on display here. I’m not fond of the thought of most characters starting off as blank slates to be moulded into whatever the player wishes give or take some innate advantages and disadvantages, as that strips away a lot of opportunities for characterization using class-based tropes. Consider the total free-for-all that is reclassing in the DS games and how it does absolutely nothing for fleshing out Archanea’s already thinly characterized roster. Hopefully Three Houses can avoid that obvious pitfall.

Screenshots confirm the existence of a priest class, and it’s fair to assume that the Faith “weapon” level will incorporate some form of light magic, so that plus the heavily religious setting already fulfills my love of pseudo-Catholic elements. I’m interested to see how the unit customization affects classes generally. Would we, for example, be able to make paladins who can use light magic in the vein of paladins in pretty much every other piece of fantasy media? Will armor have benefits beyond the increased DEF to make up for it being a total detriment otherwise? Will there be a form of dismounting now that mounts are treated more like a skill? Etc.

Speaking of Catholicism, even though everyone has been predicting that the church of Seiros is going to be evil I have a not-insignificant desire for this not to happen. It’s incredibly predictable for one thing, and for another killing God (who may or may not be a dragon) is well-trod ground for this series. Tellius did it, remake Valentia did it, Fates sort of did it…I want something else. Not a perfect all-loving church - how dull - but maybe a morally neutral, politically invested one playing its own games with Fódlan’s nations but not in a main villain way.

With that said, I don’t see the story pitting the houses against each other as major antagonists, and after what happened with Fates I don’t have a lot of confidence that such a scenario would be written well. At least not without relying on flat disposable antagonists like Hans and Iago, anyway, and who wants that?

I still want Dimitri and Claude to be pairable or at least come with a good amount of subtext. I actually care about this more than I do Byleth having same-sex romance options, because I’ve never bought into the Avatar as a self-insert and in fact find those characters rather awkward for that same reason. If this game has anything like the lord dynamic of Blazing Sword it would be immensely disappointing to not build on the sweet homoromanticism of Eliwood/Hector with something more substantial (albeit still probably impeded by the necessity of begetting heirs, these guys being who they are).

That said, same-sex options - note the plural - would be nice for Byleth too. Ditto the usual array of FE weirdness in addition to the predictable teacher-student fun. As I mentioned earlier, I like that this series continues to be freaky for no apparent reason.

And finally - I want Fódlan to be able to connect to the other settings in some way, preferably in a more explicit way than, for example, Tellius connects to the rest of the series by writing a kinky origin story for the whole dragon-blooded superhumans with brands phenomenon.

#Fire Emblem #Fire Emblem Three Houses #FE16

[skammovistarplus]

Teenage angst in the time of social media

[translated from Angustias adolescentes en tiempos de redes sociales, by Concepción Cascajosa]

What is it about SKAM? We talk about the show, portrayal of a generation of young women whom we have to learn much about.

Skam España has been one of the most curious bids in Movistar+’s original show strategy, maybe because it has opted to follow a somewhat different path compared to the ambitious productions the digital platform has recently premiered. One of the main difficulties for Movistar+ shows is that their results can’t be assessed like you would broadcast tv (this is obvious, despite the determination of some) nor like your regular pay TV, due to a strategy designed to get the subscribers (of which I am one) to use the on-demand video platform. Always keeping an eye on what’s happening in the European market when it comes to purchasing formats (that’s how some of the best shows on #0 came to be), Movistar+ succeeded at purchasing the rights to adapt Skam to Spain. The groundbreaking Norwegian teen show managed to become a social phenomenon and accumulate fans worldwide, with a unique distribution on social networks: clips are uploaded matching the time and date when they happen, before they’re collected into a conventional episode.

Skam relied on its realism and the identification of its potential viewers with the show, thus it premiered in Norway with no promotional complain. In Spain, Movistar+ opted to replicate this strategy, as opposed to its undoubtedly overwhelming campaigns for previous shows, with huge banners in the heart of major cities and even commercials on broadcast tv. This quasi subterranean launch  has led Skam España to become the platform’s “invisible show.” “Do you know anyone who’s watching it?” was, after its premiere, one of the recurring questions in the world of television critics, who appeared taken aback. The problem is that we still tend to think that a successful show is one that we and the people we know watch, applying a mainstream mindset to an infinitely fragmented landscape, with niches we can’t even imagine. For instance, I’ve learned that some of my students are famous youtubers followed by thousands, a reality that those who have found their first grey hairs might think baffling.

A few weeks ago, while Skam España was on air, I had the opportunity to meet for coffee with Begoña Álvarez Rojas, the show’s director and executive producer, and Rafael Taboada, the young Movistar+ development executive in charge of the project. Rafael told me of the loving care the platform has treated the project since the beginning. The original series creator, Julie Andem, even spent a workday in Madrid — there was a clear purpose to retain the spirit of the original series, although keeping in mind that, “Norwegian society is very different from Spanish society.” Movistar+ picked Zeppelin to take on the remake, partly because how important social network strategy is for the show. The Fama, ¡a bailar! reboot on #0 was a good testing ground and proved, in Taboada’s words, that, “Zeppelin was a good traveling companion.” Álvarez Rojas, veteran director and producer of shows such as Periodistas, arrived soon after to captain the ship. Álvarez built a writing team with Jon de la Cuesta, Beatriz Arias and Estíbaliz Burgaleta, the latter as script coordinator. Should the reader search for a non-daily show airing in Spain in 2018 with such a relevant presence of women in the creative team, they would find none other.

As it happened with the Norwegian series, Skam España involved intensive research with actual teens, which included discussion groups and in-depth interviews, performed by psychologists. Casting also commenced, looking for very young actors, with more charm than experience, and whose skills were sometimes written into the script. Begoña Álvarez remembered that, “many of the actors have a lot in common with their character, and the characters’ final concept was made based on the actors, their strengths and weaknesses.” One of the features of Skam is that a relevant portion of the characterization happens not on the show itself, but through their social media interactions, and specifically in Skam España, through Instagram. So, the show’s creative team was in constant touch with Zeppelin’s social media managers, Felipe Jiménez Luna and Georgia Elliott, whom Álvarez remembers having talked to late into the night about whether “a character would follow someone on instagram” and having held meetings to hammer out details such as what kind of smartphone each character would use.

In truth, when I saw the first Skam España episode, its freshness caught my attention (I have to add that the Norwegian show made no impression on me), even as I realized that I, older and distant, was not at all the target audience. If you don’t understand something, the next logical step is to ask. I began asking my college freshman class, who are the closest in age to the audience Skam España seeks. I found that, out of a class of seventy people, around ten knew and followed the show, a pretty good amount. Doubtlessly, the number was superior to any other Movistar+ show and, very likely, to any other show until the Élite hurricane arrived a few days later. So I asked some of my students what their Skam España opinions were. First, I confirmed something Rafael Taboada had already told me — Skam España fans also follow the other remakes. Sara, for instance, told me she’d watched, in addition to Skam, the French, Italian, German and US remakes. “I really like that they altered the story a bit, the plot is still the same, but they haven’t copied the clips exactly like other remakes.” However, that also introduces an element of comparison, added to the level of effort that is already expected of the show’s creative team.

Sara, on the other hand, complained that the Spanish cast’s lack of body diversity, in comparison to Skam, whereas the main criticism for another student, Carlota, was that the acting sometimes felt forced. The search for realism, either way, was a central element. Begoña Álvarez said that fans had really appreciated that they included a well-known grocery store vodka in the trailer, which price is within their spending capacity. For Carlota, that relatability is one of the main reasons she’s interested in the show, and she singled out “the use of cellphones and social media, as well as situations that each of them live, if they go out, if they hang out with friends, if they show up studying, etc.” For another student, Alejandro, compared to the original, “the show was adapted very well to Spanish society because it portrays our lives,” singling out the soundtrack, in particular.

One of the things that draw attention about Skam España, is the absence of drama in their storylines as opposed to other shows. However, it is obviously a matter of perspective, because for a teen such as Eva, the season 1 lead, facing the outpouring of feelings that is her first love and the danger of ostracism because of her difficulty dealing with it, is anything but inconsequential. For my student, Alba, Eva’s character, full of fears and secrets, was a key element in identifying with a show that, “I often see myself reflected in and makes me feel I’m not the only person who has that kind of problems at school, at home and with my friends.”

Getting to know my students’ opinions convinced me that Skam España is a narrative which strong point is the primacy of its female characters. Begoña Álvarez, in our talk, told me her vision about a generation of young women who, more than ever, take to the streets to fight for their rights: “They’re the first free generation. They are extremely clear about having to fight and they know they’re strong.” That search for authenticity led to some of the characters being more politically active on social media than it’s usual for Spanish fiction. For Rafael Taboada, it was important “not to self-censor” — “if a character wears a “no means no” tee, her social media is going to reflect that.” Only a few days ago, in reaction to a new case in which there were pretty much no consequences for a rapist, on the instagram profile of Nora Norris [sic], the show’s most outspoken feminist, a post featuring the #ThisIsNotConsent hashtag, popped up. Once season 1 ended, and I watched as Eva’s character arc was completed, I felt that maybe this is the show’s most prominent virtue: to sensitively portray the coming-of-age of a generation of women from which we have a lot to learn.  

#skam españa #skam spain #skamesp #articles

[ladala99]

Spyro Reignited Countdown - Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage

Like Spyro 1, I was obsessed with this game as a kid, to the point that I would grab the controller from guests to march into the Colossus “boss fight” because I found it hilarious. I specifically have a memory of that happening. Probably only happened once.

Anyway, onto the review!

Gameplay

I’m just going to go over the points as they differ from previous titles just to avoid repeating myself too much.

The basic controls are exactly the same as Spyro 1. The models have been updated, but it still essentially feels the same. I really can’t say much here.

As the game progresses, though, Spyro gains new abilities.

He first gets the power to swim underwater, which opens up an entirely different style of gameplay. Honestly, Spyro’s underwater controls are the best underwater controls I’ve had in any game. They just feel right, and the freedom of movement you get makes underwater-heavy levels my absolute favorite in the series. Like Aquaria Towers is my absolute favorite level. Ever. No contest. Just because you can swim anywhere.

Climbing lets you get higher. It doesn’t add much gameplay itself (but was used cleverly in Magma Cone), but allows there to be certain vertical surfaces you can move up without making an awkward staircase or whirlwind. Although really it doesn’t do much of anything a whirlwind doesn’t do other than block progress until you get it and the aforementioned Magma Cone. Kind of underwhelming.

And finally, Headbash. It’s a new move. That’s usable in very specific circumstances. And yet somehow has made it into every game, including The Legend of Spyro and Skylanders. It is super satisfying to Headbash into water (and use it for swimming-in-air glitches) but otherwise it’s not all that impressive.

The only real improvement is swimming, but hey, at least they gave Spyro new abilities. Not sure why you need to bribe a guy to tell you to hold onto a ladder, though.

Collectables

This game keeps the gems, gets rid of the eggs and dragons, and replaces them with orbs.

Orbs are gotten for completing challenges. They’re also scattered around a few homeworlds, but for the most part, NPCs will hand them to you once you complete challenges for them. These challenges have a star rating that shows their relative difficulty. I’d say those star ratings are fairly accurate, for the most part.

It makes it significantly different from dragons, since these challenges vary greatly, from using powerups to do various tasks, to defeating enemies within a time limit, to finding additional collectables around a level. There’s a lot of different challenges, and some are in fact a lot easier than others.

Gems have a new use as well: paying Moneybags to give you new abilities and in many cases let you progress. It’s not all that functionally different from the balloonists telling you that you need X number of whatever collectable to progress, but it does add flavor. And makes you hate that bear. Moneybags is the character Spyro fans love to hate.

Powerups

Superflame gets a huge upgrade from the previous game, becoming a giant fireball that shoots straight at whatever you aim at. You even get a helpful aiming receptacle when you have the powerup. It’s also usable underwater, unlike your regular flame breath, and it has this really cool spiraling star effect that somehow doesn’t affect your aim.

Supercharge is as great as ever, but isn’t nearly as necessary to complete a level. Now, however, almost all (maybe actually all?) of the Supercharge areas have a track you can infinitely circle if you so desire. It’s also used in Speedways in this game, a feature which I neglected to mention in my Spyro 1 review a couple of days ago.

Superjump is used a few times. Neatly animated, but it honestly doesn’t do anything a whirlwind or a ladder wouldn’t be able to do.

Superfreeze is a new powerup used in one level. You use it to freeze enemies in blocks of ice. Neat! It also has a huge range, but since the enemies unfreeze so quickly, it’s best to be right next to them, so that part’s kinda useless.

Superfly is now in a few levels, and it is super overpowered. The developers knew it, and made the timer run out really quickly when you exit the intended area. Much like swimming, though, it adds a great deal of exploration ability to the levels you can use it in. Flying freely is always satisfying.

Invincibility is used once, and it’s pretty neat - allowing you to walk on usually-dangerous terrain. Definitely feels very freeing.

And there’s a combo Superflame/Superfly powerup in one of the last few levels. It does exactly what it says it does, and it’s amazing.

There’s also rocks you can spit, for basically a ranged charge attack. This singlehandedly taught me about arcs in aiming. It wasn’t used too much, though.

And there’s some turret(?) guns in a few levels to blast some particularly strong enemies and break down walls. Again, it taught me a lot about arcs. The fact that it doesn’t show you were exactly it’ll land like most games would is both annoying and satisfying when you figure it out.

Speedways

Forgot about these last time. Speedways now have a hidden challenge involving Hunter, but otherwise they’re pretty similar to the Flights in the first game.

These levels are pretty polarizing because they’re fairly different: they’re free-flying levels where you have to destroy/go through various objects and enemies around the track under a certain time limit. I love them, because I love flying around them. I also really love Hunter’s challenges (even though the last one in this game is way too loud).

Bosses

There’s fewer bosses in this game than the last, but they’re all much improved from the last game. They definitely scale with difficulty, with Ripto being the hardest, and Ripto’s fight is by far the most impressive boss fight in the game, if not the entire series.

Crush is pretty straightforward and is somewhat similar to Spyro 1 bosses: you dodge his attacks, then flame him when you have the chance. The difference is that he attempts to attack you back and ends up harming himself.

Gulp is huge, has two attacks of his own, and also can use the weapons you gain to use against him. This is my favorite type of boss fight, and racing your opponent to the weapons is really fun.

Ripto takes Gulp up to eleven. First two phases you’re fighting him for the powered-up orbs, and then the last phase takes place in the air as you use a combination powerup orb to fly and shoot fireballs at him. No time limit. Great fight. Difficult fight, but great fight.

All in all, very effective bosses.

Levels

They’re well-designed and well-themed. They cover various cartoon locations and are varied and distinct. Unlike the first game, some do require backtracking once you gain new abilities, which is in some ways annoying, but in other ways makes the new abilities more fulfilling. When I was younger, I definitely preferred this method, since I didn’t like saying goodbye to a level forever, but nowadays I just want to get it all done with in one go. So, I’m a bit neutral towards this.

Levels now have NPCs in them that introduce the main task of the level (almost always just to get to the end) and other side-missions which give you orbs. As before, I’m neutral towards this, since I like the simplicity of the first game, but I also love the minigames in this game.

Minigames

This is the one Spyro game with minigames in which I like them all. They’re all integrated into the level, and use the game’s controls in unusual ways to provide more variety. And speaking of variety, they are all very different. From Idol Springs’ puzzle-solving to the dashing around a small cave racing Hunter to crystals in Magma Cone to Trouble With The Trolley(tm) to the trade quest in Mystic Marsh, there’s so many different things you do. You haven’t seen them all until you get to the end.

Story

Spyro wants to go on vacation from the rainy Dragon Realms (as someone also from a rainy city, I get you, Spyro). He decides to head to Dragon Shores for a vacation.

Meanwhile, the citizens of Avalar are altering a portal to hijack a dragon to solve their problems: there’s this guy called Ripto who hates dragons, and he’s decided to take over the place.

Spyro gets transported to Avalar and, at least since Ripto blasted the portal he came from, agrees to help them out. The citizens of Avalar promise to get him to Dragon Shores as soon as they’re able. Friendliest kidnapping ever.

Honestly a bit of an excuse plot just to get Spyro out and somewhere new. But the characters introduced show a lot of personality through both cutscenes and when you speak to them in gameplay.

Each level also has a mini-story mostly unrelated to the overarching story. It’s shown in cutscenes before and after the level, and of course in the level itself. Avalar has more problems than just Ripto, and it takes a fire-breathing dragon who helps the first person to talk to him to sort things out, for better or for worse. (Like seriously, you help thieves in Scorch. And help both sides of the Breeze Builder/Land Blubber war.)

The story isn’t going to make you rethink your life or write deep fanfiction, but it serves its purpose well and is entertaining. Perfect for the Spyro world, even if it gives off a very different feel from the first game.

Unique in the Series?

This game codifies the series. NPCs, powerup gates, minigames, and especially the cast all move on to other games.

The one thing I can think of that’s truly unique to this game is the Soul Particle system - where instead of giving you treasure, slain enemies power the powerup gates. Not a bad system, but definitely is forgettable.

And Elora. She’s in cutscenes in Spyro 3 and in a trading card in Spyro Orange, but this is her only full appearance in the series until the remakes. Which as someone who does not care for romance subplots, I’m fine with. She’s a neat character, but her crush on Spyro would have been her main trait if she stayed in the series, I’m sure.

Conclusion

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage is tied with the first game as one of my favorite games of all time. It’s fun to play, and I have a huge amount of nostalgia for it. Definitely looking foward to seeing it again on my Switch, with all the graphical improvements.

#spyro #ripto's rage #video game review #spyro reignited

[arcticferedir]

Final Fantasy I

Final Fantasy, as a series, has always had a bit of a...special place in my heart.  It’s my first video game memory, actually.  My cousin was playing the first final fantasy on NES, and I was fascinated by what was going on on the television.  Not that I could really...read anything properly, or understand what was really going on. I was only three at the time.  But he was fighting the final boss, and I watched with rapt attention.  I think it was realizing it wasn’t just like cartoons, but my cousin was making things on tv do what he wanted them to do and that fascinated my little kid mind.

I never owned the original NES version.  I had an uncle that did, though never really played his copy much for a few reasons.  Eventually I did come to own two of the ‘remakes’ for it.  The PSX version, Final Fantasy Origins, which had 1 and 2 on one disc.  The other was the GBA version, Final Fantasy 1 & 2: Dawn of Souls.  That one had some extra things to it, but that’ll get discussed later.  Eventually I also emulated(I know, shame on me) the NES version to play through what it was like.  And I fiddled with the PSP version as well, also through emulation.  

So, let’s get into the meat of the game, and my opinions on it, shall we?  Though most of this will be from memory, so...bear with me.

Story: The story is simple.  The world is starting to ‘fail’, the winds dying, the sea churning madly, the earth decaying.  A prophecy tells of 4 young heroes that will come.  Your four characters, each holding an orb, appear in the castle town of Corneria/Cornelia(depending on the translation).  They visit the king, who tells them the princess Sarah has been kidnapped by former knight of the kingdom Garland and taken to the Chaos Shrine to the north.  After you rescue her, you return to Corneria, where the king congratulates you and the princess gives you a lute handed down through the kingdom.  You then travel north to the now fixed bridge, to restore order to the world, as well as the world’s crystals(being the driving force behind the main elements of the world: Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind), and hopefully save it.

It’s a simple story, you progress from town to town, entering dungeons, fighting monsters and bosses, learn more and more about bits of the world until you reach the final stage...but beyond that?  It kind of runs like a possible D&D campaign.  Your characters don’t really interact with each other or NPCs, so any personality is given by you, the player.  But the general consensus is that your characters are just relatively good people, and are just out to save everyone.

For the first game in the series, it’s not the most ‘complex’ story, or really ‘nuanced’(though the final bits can throw you for a loop with the curve ball).  But, personally, I feel it’s still solid in it’s own right.  

Gameplay: The first bit of gameplay you get is choosing your four characters.  They can be any of six ‘classes’, each that get an upgrade to a stronger class later:        Warrior: Your strongest and toughest class.  High HP, Defense, and Strength.  Also the most equipment options and get most of the best/strongest equipment.  So they can be somewhat...expensive to be the best they can be.  They upgrade into the Knight, which gets up to level 3 white magic.        Thief:  Your ‘budget’ warrior.  Generally faster, and with a better chance of escaping from a fight if you feel running is better than fighting and losing. They don’t get as much equipment as a warrior, but they are still solid in their own right.  They upgrade into the Ninja, which gets up to level 4 black magic.        Monk: Your ‘naked’ warrior.  Odd for most people considering equipping weapons and armor could sometimes make it weaker than leaving it weaponless or armorless.  High hp and defense and strength to make up for it.  Upgrades the Black Belt.  It doesn’t gain much beyond more equipment options like the other class upgrades, and the higher stats, but still holds it’s own(and usually ‘naked’ doing it)       Red Mage: Your ‘magic’ warrior.  Jack of all trades, master of none, while wearing a cape and fancy hat. Not as strong as your physical classes, but not as weak as the other mages.  Not as magically superior as the other mages, but more so than the upgraded physicals that learn a touch of magic. They get both black and white magic, but not all.  And with only three magic slots per spell level, you have to carefully pick and choose which spells they get.  They upgrade to the Red Wizard, which gets even more black and white spells to choose from, but still not all.       Black Mage: Your battle mage.  This is the mage you want if you want wanton destruction on your side.  They use Black Magic, mostly for elemental damage, instant death, and the almighty Haste spell which buffs up the damage your physical attacks can dish out.  Their most famous spell, Flare(originally called Nuke), is raw non-elemental damage.  They get most black magic spells, but once they upgrade to Black Wizard, they have the ability to learn and cast all black magic.  However, black mages tend to be the frailest and weakest out of all the classes, so they won’t be doing much damage physically and can’t take a hit well.       White Mage:  Your healer.  This is the mage you want if you want to survive without buying potions or running back to towns to heal status ailments or death/KO or heal up every time you take a beating.  They use White magic, mostly for healing, raising defense to physical or elemental damage, or damaging the undead with their Dia spells.  Their only pure damage spell(for anything that isn’t undead, but still hurts the undead) is Holy.  They get most white magic spells, but once they upgrade to White Wizard, they have the ability to learn and cast all white magic.  However, while a little stronger physically and defensively than the black mage, it’s not by much.  So no matter how cool it is they weild giant fuck-off hammers into battle, they will pale in comparison to your physical classes.  

Once you pick your classes(be they all different or all the same) and name them, you’re off into the world of final fantasy to explore and learn and figure out what a random battle is.

As you wander in areas, you can get into battle if there are monsters around.  Basically the world map and dungeons, mostly. Your characters on the right, enemies on the left.  You select what everyone is going to do that turn in the fight, then watch them go with the highest speed going first, and then going down the speed order.  Fight, run, use an item, cast magic if able.  The usual RPG deal.

I won’t go into every nuance of difference between the original and the remakes in terms of main gameplay.  But the original did have more limited inventory and your item command was ‘drink’, meaning you couldn’t use a potion on someone else in battle.  Those got abandoned in the remakes...maybe on the limited inventory but even then it was still greatly expanded from the original.

Remake Additions:    While not going into all the changes, there were some heavy additions.  Namely in the form of 4 optional bonus dungeons, collectively called the Soul of Chaos.  Each one held an elemental theme, tied to the crystals, and filled with tougher enemies, stronger equipment, and bonus bosses that were from other games(3, 4, 5, and 6) that weren’t originally in the first game.  They add a somewhat nice challenge, but are completely optional.  Of course, if you can run through them, it generally means the final boss will be a relative breeze for you, especially if you beat the final one.

Final Opinion:  Personally, I feel that the first final fantasy...it shows it’s age.  In a time where story is a big driving point of a lot of games, ESPECIALLY Role-Playing games, it shows in any of it’s iterations that it’s an old game.  But I feel that it’s a ‘classic’.  Perhaps it’s nostalgia, perhaps it’s because it’s so close to my heart, my identity as to who I am and why I like video games and RPGs so much, it’s hard for me to dislike this game, and I do suggest it to anyone with patience and a willingness to try an RPG, especially the RPG that started the entire series that has gained so much popularity in the world.  

I do suggest, however, maybe picking up a newer/remake version.  If not for the bonus dungeons, at least because it makes a few things easier(limited inventory and items in battle).  Or, if you’re like me, because the NES version runs a touch slow on battle text and leveling up is paaaaaaaaaainfully slow thanks to it.  

#blah blah blah #final fantasy #final fantasy 1 #final fantasy I #ff #ff1 #ffi

[jmgiovine]

TOP 10: 2019 Most Anticipated Movies

10-. Godzilla: King of Monsters- Michael Dougherty.

I like Dougherty. I love Trick ‘r’ Treat and I think Krampus is better than most people give it credit for. I like his vision towards monsters, and that’s pretty much enough for me to get me hyped for this upcoming Godzilla sequel, even if it will be an evident lack of practical effects in this titanic blockbuster film. Most important of all, I believe the Gareth Edwards remake of 2014 is highly underappreciated and Kong: Skull Island is as good as a blockbuster-kaiju-popcorn flick could be, so yeah, I’m pretty much excited to see what this film has to offer in addition to this baby-shared universe. For instance, the rivals look amazing: King Ghidorah, Mothra and the already confirmed Rodan all have great updated design, and even if the film has this over saturation of cast, the presence of Charles Dance and the return of Ken Watanabe assures me I’ll be enjoying the “human” part of this sequel.

9-. The Missing Link- Chris Butler.

Laika has grown to become one of my favorite animation studios. Coraline was the perfect start, and Paranorman is an underappreciated little gem that is up to become a Halloween classic. Boxtrolls is just too weird for me not to like it and damn Kubo: And the Two Strings is a marvel. Now, I have to admit, this installment doesn’t look potentially epic or outstanding, in fact, I bet it’ll one of the studio’s smallest in every way, since it looks heavily simplistic, but the trailer Is fancy and funny enough for me to expect another enjoyable little stop-motion flick. The cast itself looks great: Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, Zoe Saldana, Zack Galifianakis, Timothy Olyphant, Stephen Fry. Man, do Laika know who to voice-cast, huh? Yeah, again, it doesn’t look like a potential Kubo, but damn if I won’t give it the benefit of doubt just for being this particular studio, or how I like to refer to it: the American Ghibli.

8-. The Lion King- Jon Favreau.

How do you manage to beat a classic? Short answer: you don’t. Will Favreau’s remake of the classic Disney animated flick will beat it? Well, I don’t think so… but there are plenty of reasons for me to be excited for this upcoming live-action take of my favorite animated film of all times. For instance, the trailer looks visually astonishing, and the voice cast is A+ stars, purely: Donald Glover, Beyonce, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Seth Rogen, God even James Earl Jones will be reprising his role as Mufasa. Yeah, there’s almost cero chance for this to overcome the original, but thing is, it doesn’t have to, as long as the essence be respected and the movie works as its own, I’m pretty much on board. Besides, Favreau delivered The Jungle Book, once of the best remakes ever made, so I don’t know, I have to expect something not as good, but good enough on its own.

7-. Glass- M. Night Shyamalan.

Boy, did I never expect Split to be as good as it is. Much less, to be part of a universe that connects itself with my favorite Shyamalan film, Unbreakable. Shyamalan has a certain reputation, given the fact that I’ve only truly loved two of his films: The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Yeah, stakes are high on this one, being a sequel-crossover of the later flick, Split demonstrated to be a strong (although phony) horror-thriller, blessed mostly by McAvoy performance(S) among Anya Taylor-Joy, who’s also reprising her role in this one and mainly will be the main connection between films. Yeah, I cannot wait to see McAvoy among Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis in the same film, especially given the style I already enjoy from Shyamalan in his “Superhero takes”. Hopefully it won’t disappoint, but given my impression towards the trailer I get to rest easier.

6-. IT: Chapter 2- Andy Muschietti.

IT: Chapter One was a film I was totally prepared to hate. Seriously, the original tv-miniseries is a cheesy product of the early 90s, and given the fact that Tim Curry was its only good element, the remake (or re-interpretation) of King’s universally beloved novel was something to be careful with. Fortunately, Andy Muschietti scared the hell out of us with his 2017 horror hit. There are plenty of elements to love out of his entry, but I gotta say, the kids, boy those kids nailed and got me in a corner, since I love their chemistry and their performances altogether. Admitting, first things first, it’ll be hard for good old Muschietti to craft a film as good as the first was, considering that the kid’s will be all grown up. Fortunately, we’ll have a great cast to compensate the absence of the little losers, being James McAvoy the lead role along Jessica Chastain. Oh, and Bill Skarsgård will be reprising the role of the frightening Pennywise so, yeah, we’re all good to expect a worthy follow up.

5-. John Wick 3: Parabellum- Chad Stahelski.

You don’t mess with good old Mr. Wick. I love these two films, and each one grew better; the second is one of my favorite action flicks of all times. Combining the best out of the stylized over-the-top action techniques from the 80s with a great environment and an amazing setting, along the presence of Ian McShane, Laurence Fishbourne and, of course, Keanu Reeves in what it has to be one of the best comebacks for an actor after years of self-exile. John Wick is everything I love from the genre, and surely I’m already pumped with this third installment in what I hope could become one of my favorite trilogies ever. After all, the promise of “the biggest killing count” is not to take it so easy, isn’t it?

4-. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden Kingdom- Dean DeBlois.

Speaking of potential favorite trilogies of all times, I underestimated the first HTTYD when it came out in 2010, and surely ever since I saw it for the first time I became instantly a fan. The second one hit and, as expected, I loved it, and the steaks rose into higher levels for the third one, and now that we have an official release date, my body is shaking. Dean DeBlois created a series of films that reached a deep spot in my heart, and I was amazed how much substance and quality these past two films had, so the promise on this one to be even better comes instantly. Hopefully it will be, or even if it’s as good as the first two, yeah, I can live with that, but I won’t lie, I really wish this can move me even more. I wish for the conclusion of Hipo and Toothless reach a worthy and satisfying ending, but better yet, a heartwarming-epic one.

3-. Star Wars Episode IX- J.J.Abrams.

There is not much I can say but… damn, I really do want to see how this concludes. No, I’m not a part of the fandom that trashes everything created by Disney-Lucasfilms and no, I didn’t hate The Last Jedi. The former was one of my favorite 2017 films, and I’ll be damned if I don’t say I anticipate the hell out of Episode IX, also considering Abram’s return. I get the decisions made and I get the changes, and I’m open for some of the same, but definitely the task is even bigger now that the Skywalker franchise is coming to an end. Will Kylo Ren remain in the dark? Will Rey be able to fight him and restore the balance without submitting to the dark as well? Will Luke train her as a Force-ghost? What the hell are they going to do with Leia’s character? I need answers! There are no Trailers, no official Title and no footage yet, so yeah, it’ll be a long wait for a glimpse of anything, but in the meantime I’ll prepare and I’ll keep enjoying my favorite franchise of all time with enough hype and anticipation. God bless you, J.J., and hopefully you’ll do the Lord’s work.

2-. Once Upon a Time In Hollywood- Quentin Tarantino.

Quentin Tarantino has to be one of my favorite recent directors out there. The guy plans to retire after his 10th film, being this one the 9th so, yeah, one more to go after this. The story is a fanfic of Hollywood in the sixties, but taking a darker approach than usual by adding the presence of the late Charles Manson. As always, the project is intriguing and the presence of plenty of familiar faces for the director’s filmography, such as DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Damian Lewis, Tim Roth, Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen, gosh, I’m just naming a few. Certainly this upcoming film has caused plenty of controversy, and until we see any Trailers there’s not much to anticipate than Tarantino’s classic old-school retro-style, with tons of black humor and his typical pop-cultural scripts. Yeah, I’m always down for some Tarantino until the guy decides to stop doing what he loves the most.

1-. Avengers 4- Joe & Anthony Russo.

Oh boy, this is it. The end of the part we started this on. The conclusion of the last 10 years of build up over a universe that took its time and made us fall in love with. The Avengers against the threat that beat them in the previous film, their ultimate foe: Thanos, but this time, its all or nothing. The stakes are incredibly high and the chances are all against them, but considering this will be 3 hours long and even more heartbreaking-according to the Russo’s, this will be a rollercoaster of a ride for us fans, for all that matters, for better or worse.

Special Mentions:

- The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.

- X-men Dark Phoenix.

- Captain Marvel

-Zombieland 2.

- The New Mutants.