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thirteenthdyke · 2 years

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oh yeah. here are my #thoughts on netflix a81 btw. (it’s long)

disclaimer these are just my thoughts from watching it once & all in a single day like two days ago. there were things i liked and things i didn’t like! obviously the biggest thing i didn’t like was melody not being gay but i feel like that’s been gone over so many times and i’ve been angry about it so long i’m kind of just tired so. moving on!

things i liked:

- the sound design - i know the creator said they were inspired by the podcast’s incredible sound design, and it really showed. i listened to most of the episodes with earbuds in, and that was definitely the best way to go - sometimes the most enjoyable part of a scene was just how it sounded.

- ratty was there 💗💗💗 and he even lived maybe

- i genuinely enjoyed mark’s character i thought he was funny and he had a fun role in the tv show. i do wish he’d had more petty gay best friend energy but i guess that’s harder to show off when dan doesn’t have a girlfriend for him to hate

- i LOVED the cold opens at the start of every episode & i thought that was the closest they got to the spirit of the podcast - it especially reminded me of s2 and all the weird seemingly unrelated tapes that tied into the overarching story dan had to figure out.

- rat (jacob?) wasn’t there ❤️

things i didn’t like:

- my genuine biggest complaint (asides from melody making out w samuel) was the change in motivation for melody and dan? one of my favorite parts of s1 in the podcast is how in a way they’re both motivated simply by the need to finish the story. this is more obvious in dan and less so in melody (since she’s also motivated by finding jesse) but it’s still true for both of them, and i remember that being a big draw for me as a person who loves discussion of narrative in media and when characters are aware they are in a story....that is simply My Thing. so to have that taken away to give dan and melody motivations that are? both partially based off of parents (dan wanting to know why his dad is in the tapes/tragic backstory tying in/invested in melody’s fate specifically & melody looking for her mother in visser being her only motivator before getting deeper into it w anabelle & samuel, etc) felt like Such a downgrade for me and evidence of honestly lazier storywriting.

- how everything was connected and everyone was related. when davenport said samuel was his brother........ bro this isn’t once upon a time it’s a horror tv show. plus melody being dan’s dad’s patient & dan’s family dying because of visser stuff & melody being related to some ancient witches...idk i paid less attention towards the end. OH and melody’s mom being the groundskeeper kjdsghkf like. i’m so sorry i did not care about that at all.

- related to both of the above but giving dan a tragic backstory made him so less just some guy.....like podcast dan is truly Just Some Guy and i felt like we were missing that. also podcast dan is more of a loser (i mean this in a nice way)

- whatever was going on with the plot in the 1920s. sorry i didn’t really pay attention i spent most of the time trying to figure out who was playing iris vos cause she wasn’t listed on imdb yet (believe it or not :/ i recognized her from a ouat role from like 2015. also from watching fringe with my dad over the summer. anyway)

- a lot of other people said this but the downgrade from eldritch unknowable leviathans to religious horror/a demon with a name....not fun! not a fan!! i kept waiting for all the religious stuff to kind of like. be something else when the curtain got pulled back but it never happened. especially upsetting since they all kept referencing ‘the otherworld’ and then it was just a weird little dream sequeunce like.....no dude i want the world where the city is!! where the blacktop is!!!!

- the only canon lesbian being an evil cultist :/ when it should have been melody

in conclusion: i think it’s a perfectly okay adaptation of the podcast - it makes sense that there had to be a lot of new stuff, as other people have said again they had to expand a roughly 2 hour podcast into an 8 hour tv show so there would need to be a lot of new information. but boy they were not kidding when they said ‘loosely based’ huh i also thought it was really cool to have a horror tv show with a black lead and multiple important characters of color, and i think all the actors did a really good job! however storywise i felt like the horror was a step down from where it was in the podcast and honestly </3 just wasn’t that scary. i wish they hadn’t been afraid to be weirder - they went there a few times w the cold opens & ratty!! a lot of the other horror stuff just felt very unoriginal to me though. anyway once again these are literally just my thoughts you do not have to agree with them at all lmao. if u read this far thank u i appreciate it and i hope this was legible. i’m gonna go relisten to a81 the podcast again now see ya

#sorry this took two days <3 i was in job training and a little busy #if no one reads this thats fine. i am just a person deeply affected by a81 and wanted to let everyone know my thoughts #and if you DO read this and you watched/listened to a81 too lmk your thoughts as well i want to know how other ppl felt about this stuff too #a81 tv #📓

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crystalelemental · 5 years

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I guess there’s new Sword and Shield news. You can expect salt, but perhaps not as much as you’d think.

Let’s start with this: Gigantamaxing or whatever the fuck it’s called is straight up just Mega Evolution downgraded to three turns. Fuck this stupid adjustment, this is absolutely ridiculous. Oh, but the new moves are sure gonna be great! Like the Rock one that just deals crazy damage and sets up Stealth Rock! Yeah, instead of nerfing the biggest problem with competitive, let’s just make it even more easy to do! Fucking Christ, you haven’t even shown off all the Pokemon, and you’ve somehow already broken competitive play worse than it already was. I hate this. It’s literally just, point for point, exactly the same concept as mega evolution, but for no reason, it’s adjusted to be some three-turn power-up with Z-moves built in for some reason. Because balance! I regret to inform you, Pokemon Company, that the problem here is no universal buff will ever play out for balance. By making this effectively a universal buff, you’ve essentially just made it so that Lando-T and Heatran can mega evolve. So if you honestly believe that this is going to make things equal, and that people will try out all sorts of combinations of Gigantamaxing or Dynamaxing of favorite Pokemon? You’re way more incompetent than I thought. You learned absolutely nothing from Z-moves.

That said...if this means that some Pokemon Dynamax, which is like a flat boost to stats, while others Gigantamax, which is considered a much more potent improvement on their stats, abilities, and typing? That’s essentially bringing back Mega Evolution, which is what I wanted in the first place. This means Mawile and Banette have something to work with. My only complaint is that it lasts 3 turns. That severely limits some of these mega forms. Venusaur is a good example. For three turns, it gains a ton of bulk...and promptly loses it, and is easily taken out again. Mawile is super powerful for a turn, but because it’s still slow, it’s reliant on Sucker Punch...which makes it easy to play around with no repercussions now. Banette gets to be super good, but good luck playing to its actual strengths of status spreading and priority Destiny Bond when you only have three turns to work with. It’s essentially bringing back mega evolution, but it’s also a severe downgrade for those Pokemon, meaning they take a serious hit.

Of course, all of this is assuming it’s actually just a different form of Dynamaxing. Like, the Serebii page specifies that Pokemon can only do this if they were caught in Max Raid Battles, which is severely limiting in its own right, but also implies that this isn’t quite mega evolution. Best case scenario, mega evolution is now considered some inherent thing within the Pokemon, assigned by whatever made them a Max Raid Battle Pokemon, which means you no longer need mega stones, they can just do the mega evolution and hold an item like Mega Rayquaza, but it’s been adjusted to have that level of power for only three turns. Worst case scenario, Pokemon with mega evolutions don’t have Gigantamax forms, and this is being considered a complete do-over on megas. In which case, please give Absol’s Gigantamax form a Fairy typing and Tough Claws, like it deserved.

Really, I’m still incredibly apprehensive, but this is, essentially, the return of Megas, with an attempt to rebalance the system. Which...is what they said they would do, and potentially could go over well. Only potentially, though. The Gigantamax Pokemon we’ve seen keep the same abilities as their base form, so there’s no guarantee anything good comes from this. But it’s at least a slight hope that they’re not just removing megas entirely.

On to other things. Not only are there version exclusives, but now the types in the gyms are different depending on the version! ...show of hands, anyone else think that’s a little much? I know we had Iris and that other guy in Gen 5, but they were at least both Dragon type, and the difference was mostly cosmetic. But now we have one version giving a Fighting type leader, and the other giving a Ghost type leader. I dunno. I’m not really mad about it, it just strikes me as a really odd choice. Their mains are Hitmontop and Mimikyu. Not surprised Mimikyu was favored enough to make it in, but you heard it here first, folks: Sword and Shield will be making Hitmonchan a competitively viable Pokemon. After all, one of the purposes of trimming down the Pokedex was to balance the meta, so this is hard confirmation that Hitmonchan will be competitive viable with this game’s release.

Version exclusives are starting to be noted, and...yeah. Thanks, I guess. Version exclusive Pokemon definitely isn’t a useless, awful concept at this point anymore.

New Pokemon, cool. One of them in Gigantamax form is a huge cake, so I guess that’s a thing? What kind of bizarre design is its base form going to ha-OH MY GOD THAT’S THE CUTEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN! Alcremie is so precious. Please don’t evolve it. That’s actually my favorite now. Holy shit I love you tiny whipped cream child. And Gigantamaxing basically means it got a mega, so that’s pretty cool. Oh man, this is starting to win me over. Keep it coming, what else we got?

Okay Rolycoly. That’s a neat little thing. And apparently its new ability doubles speed if hit by a Fire or Water attack. Since it’s Rock, Water is dangerous, but it might be able to survive. Switching in on Fire attacks, though? That’s gonna be fantastic. Unlike Alcremie, who is perfection, I kinda hope this one evolves. It just looks like something that would have an evolution, you know?

Duraludon is pretty cool looking, and Dragon/Steel is a great typing, I’m kinda glad we got another. I hope this one’s good, but I’m scared it’s the pseudo-legend. It fights with Tyranitar. That implies this is a higher-tier thing. I want to believe that no 4x weakness means it can’t be the pseudo-legend, but...I don’t think that’s a requirement, considering we had Metagross, and I think Goodra counted as well.

That’s it for actually new ones, but I never commented on the last two: Yamper’s cute, and Impidimp is the stuff of nightmares, why did they make that the first Fairy/Dark type?

New characters are...fine? Fighting type leader seems cool, Ghost-leader seems kinda weird. Rose and Oleana are...interesting. I guess. Mostly Rose has me worried. He seems like a sports person. I know they’ve only mentioned the Pokemon League, but I still worry every reveal about seeing Pokemon Soccer as a thing.

Overall, I...I largely like this one. Mark it here, folks: this is the first good reveal for me since we started this. Not since the starter reveal have I felt positively about this game. Well...”postitively.” There’s still a lot of concern I have around Gigantamaxing, whether aspects of mega evolution are continued in this form or not, whether something like Gigantamax Gyarados is getting the Water/Dark typing with Mold Breaker, or it’s just keeping Water/Flying and Intimidate/Moxie like its base form, etc. A lot of my positive feelings on this come down to whether Gigantamaxing is really just a re-tooled mega evolution. If it’s mega evolution repurposed for a three-turn effect, and we can expect adjustments in the transformation, that’s fine. I will actually be completely okay with that, because at the end of the day, Gigantamaxing feels like it’s doing the same thing mega evolution did: giving more significant boosts to the weaker Pokemon that needed it. That is literally all I have ever asked of you, Pokemon Company. If you can deliver on that, I will retract my decision to not get this game.

Although I gotta be real, Alcremie is already making me reconsider on its own...

#pokemon sword and shield #pokesalt #kinda #I'm still counting it because I started off really salty

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gamer2002 · 3 years

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AI: The Somnium Files - Review2002

AI: The Somnium Files is a VN game with puzzle/adventure elements. Story-wise, I personally describe it as Lethal Weapon with SF elements in anime format and with bonus twists. The game was created by Kotaro Uchikoshi, of Zero Escape series. Similarly to ZE games, the story has branching points and multiple different endings, with some being required before reaching the others.

You play as Kaname Date, an amnestic detective in a slightly futuristic setting, whose partner is Aiba, an AI in Date’s cybernetic left eyeball. The main plot is about catching a mysterious serial killer, who removes left eyes of his victims, and discovering Date’s forgotten past. Through his investigation, Date, with help of Aiba, enters to other people’s dreams, the titular Somniums, in order to discover secrets hidden within peoples’ subconsciouses.

Comparing to Zero Escape series, I wouldn’t say the AI’s twists and revelations are as mindblowing. But AI is definitely stronger when it comes to emotional scenes, and highs of this game are incredibly high. It’s also at least as good Zero Escape when it comes to characters – while maybe the game doesn’t have characters on the level of the greatest in Zero Escape (999’s Zero and Ten from VLR)*, it has even better main duo than VLR (the best main duo in the series), has no weak characters (Quark, Alice and Clover are the reason why VLR cast can’t outshine 999 cast), and has an entertaining villain (999 had a good villain, but VLR and ZTD had their issues with it).

* Boss and Renju are good and quite complex characters, but Renju is an off-screen entity, while Boss doesn’t really have any kind of arc. Which is why they aren’t on the level of Ten, let alone 999 Zero.

Music is great, visuals are nice. The game is also the most immersive VN I’ve played. Instead of having static background with 2D characters, we, as Date, stand, or sit, in a 3D environment and turn around our head to look at various characters that are talking with us. Thanks to that, we can shift our focus from a talking character, to a character reacting to the other character’s words, and then even roll our own eyes over what we’re hearing.

Somniums are the main gameplay sections, just like the escape rooms are in Zero Escape. While investigating dream worlds is a fascinating concept, and I had some fun with completing them, the gameplay itself boils down to trial and error. There are rules and hints that help you solve the Somniums as puzzles, but I went through most of them by managing items that save limited time. And “perform an action, that has nothing to do with solving the current puzzle, to be able to perform next action in just one second” isn’t a legitimate puzzle solving. Sure, I can blame only myself for gaming the system, but I couldn’t game the good old escape rooms. And some Somniums were required to be gamed, particularly, the final one.

When it comes to the story, it’s good, but better not to approach it like Zero Escape. ZE were SF mysteries, while AI is a buddy cop story with elements of SF mystery. With such elements like the ridiculous actions scenes, Ota’s family character designs, or Mizuki’s abilities, Uchikoshi clearly wanted to have some anime fun with this project. And it is fun. The main duo is always entertaining with their back-and-forth, the intrigue and mystery are interesting, and the different paths allow to look at characters through different angles. The scenes that are intended to be touching are way batter than any attempts at that from Zero Escape. But there are really silly scenes, and there is a lack of complex elements, like motives of the villain. Still, with Uchikoshi botching complex motives in ZTD, I prefer simpler, yet more entertaining and memorable villains. And AI does provide such.

Overall, I recommend this game for fans of VNs and adventure games that don’t mind silly comedic elements. It’s a 8/10 story, with some interesting ideas and really well done character moments. And that’s what it comes to a spoiler-free review, as I decided to try starting blogging about interesting me aspects of writing in stories.

So, spoiler warning - I have couple of specific subjects to talk about. Those subjects are: the issue of the right side of the flowchart, why you don’t see the greatness of Iris’ character, and the Psync Machine sized plothole. That’s a lot of critique, but (assuming I will continue this series of blog posts), you should read me for spotted writing errors and solutions to them. But to not be overly negative, I will also praise and outline a good writing job, by focusing on the topic of Aiba as a perfect partner character.

The problem of the right side of the game.

Common complaint about the game is the right path from the first branching point, specifically Iris Route. Actually, I happened to complete Iris Route first, and I didn’t mind it. I still didn’t know what Uchikoshi was up to this time, and Zero Escape had taught me that an ending in Uchikoshi games isn’t a start yet.

Still, in retrospect, Iris Route has an issue with pacing and can feel bit jarring, after playing left side of the game, which is much more focused on the murder mystery. There’s also a problem of Iris herself, but that’s a separate topic.

The left side is laser focused on the game’s plot. The goal is to catch the serial killer, the stakes are bringing him to justice for killing Mizuki’s parents, the urgency is genuine threat of another person becoming the killer’s target. Urgency and stakes raise with each next victim. More and more questions are piling up, while all our actions are strictly plot related – we either try to obtain information from a separate criminal, clear up another framed suspect, or confront the apparent man behind it all.

Iris route is more SF focused, to a degree that is shocking after completing left side’s routes. There are raised questions that are related to the main mystery, but the focus is shifted on Date’s past and stuff like a possibility of prophetic dreams. Then we have Iris’ “death” with an emotional high in the form of questioning So and entering his Somnium. But then we are bamboozled with “Iris’ body” vanishing and her sudden “resurrection”, with the focus shifting on the possibility of altering reality with dreams… And then we fall into the rabbit hole of Naixatloz.

When I played this route, which was my first one, I assumed that Uchikoshi was telling me “you know my love for pseudoscience, so get a pile of pseudoscience and guess all the red herrings”. That in itself isn’t bad, but the stakes and urgency were gone, with the primary goal becoming more and more unclear.

Instead of more and more victims being targeted by the killer, like it happens on the left side, Iris route boils down to her status shifting between “not in danger”, “in danger” and “dead”. There are no more victims, only the first victim is dead. Stuff happens, like the attack of mercenaries and escape of a prisoner, but none have the weight of left side’s deaths and injuries. There is a possibility of bringing victims back to life, which removes any threat. Sure, this one sets up a beautiful tragedy for the route’s finale, but that’s the finale. Between So’s Somnium and the finale, the only real emotional moment is revelation of Pewter’s betrayal, but this doesn’t have any proper payoff akin to confronting So in Mizuki’s route. Fighting goons of a passive villain that hasn’t hurt anyone isn’t the same as fighting goons of a murderous villain that is prepared for a showdown. Renju with his mysterious agenda also isn’t the same threat like the serial killer that keeps killing or hurting characters around you. #89 can piss you off with his escape, but that’s as well.

Instead, the route is filled with exposition after exposition. We discuss Somnium technology, mythology, Iris’ close ones, alternate realities and conspiracies. We don’t progress with the case, we only get Iris back to the “not in danger” status for few times. Date becoming apparently brainwashed by her is intriguing, but that won’t carry a route with unclear shifting goals we don’t really progress toward. What’s left, Date getting lectured on Mizuki’s well-being? If you played the left side, you know her situation isn’t that bad as it could be. If you haven’t played it yet, you don’t know her enough to care that much.

Overall, Iris route has a good beginning and finale, but the middle is exposition filled and nowhere as engaging as the left side. And while Date and Aiba duo can easily carry the game, Iris route is a problem.

Iris – really good character dragged down by an execution misstep

There is a complaint that Iris, unlike Ota and Mizuki in their routes, doesn’t have a character development. For starters, Ota and Mizuki don’t really have much of character development outside of their routes. Iris does develop in her route, but negatively. The real issue is that the game doesn’t properly justify her early actions, which you may or may not like, depending on your subjective opinion.

Personally, I have a soft spot for cheerful/wacky female characters that can bring a smile on my face. Iris, being a girlish idol with trollish tendencies, was enjoyable for me. I liked her blackmailing Date to let her tag along, and I liked her trolling Ota or Moma. Although, the way she talked about Egyptian mythology or nanomachines was bit too infantile for me.

But when all is said and done, Iris is a good character, or at least there is a really good idea behind her. A crazy idol-slash-troublemaker that produces a scandalous video, just to force a detective to let her look at a crime scene and go wild with her imagination, is in fact a terminally ill brain cancer patient that tries to have as much fun and excitement she can get in her soon to be over life. She wishes for something special to happen to her, an adventure, a conspiracy, or to find at least a replacement for her lost father-figure. Unknowingly to her, she is a center of conspiracy her mother is part of, in order to protect her from the killers of her actual biological mother. Unknowingly for her, her mother has a plan to obtain money for her treatment. Unknowingly to her, the man she things as a replacement of her father-figure is her father-figure, but they both are unable to recognize one another. She had a special life, she had a chance for a long life, and she had discovered the man he was looking for, but she was unaware of it all.

And then she gets the adventure she wished for, in form of unknown armed men trying to kidnap her. Trauma from that event, mixed with the condition of her brain and tons of conspiracy theories, pushed her into delusion. The worst of all, she ended up dragging into said delusion the man that could help her, if she had not made him lose his own grasp on the reality. Unable to handle the trauma, she succumbed to her brain tumor, wondering if she was dying in the arms of the man she wanted to reunite with.

When Mizuki’s and Ota’s stories end on positive note, Iris’ story ends on a tragic one. Her wish for excitement before the end of short life provided her with excitement that prevented her life from being prolonged. The careless troublemaker that could irritate us at the beginning was understandable, but paid the ultimate price for her own actions.

But the execution fails to deliver that.

When it comes to Mizuki and Ota, the game is clear and to the point. We don’t have to connect the dots, to see what is moving about Mizuki finding that she has her family in Date. We don’t have to reflect deeply about it, to see that irritating manchild Ota actually deals with an unhappy situation of the person he does deeply care about. When you want to emotionally move the player, you can’t expect from him to figure out why he has to be moved, you have to directly slap him with reasons to care and then bash him with emotional scenes.

The problem is that in Iris’ route we don’t learn about her brain tumor. We learn about it when we switch the path and look for information in reality, not in her delusions. The additional layer to the tragedy in her ending is revealed to us when we are avoiding said ending. Plus, the game doesn’t ever connect said revelation to her early behavior with constantly forcing Date to let her tag along, that aspect of her remains unexplained. And not every player will think that deeply about it.

The game had an occasion to hammer down why Iris’ behavior had a purpose beyond her forcing herself to the plot. After the second discovery of “Iris’” body, but before Aiba helps us with figuring things out, Date could mourn Iris and think about everything he had learned about her. He could remind himself how Iris wanted to be around him, he could realize she knew that her days were numbered, he could conclude that she was just desperate to feel alive before her own end. Then, after Aiba helps him figure out that the body doesn’t belong to Iris, he could also think about the importance of staying in reality and that it would be a tragic mistake, if he had believed Iris about the conspiracy. It’s not much, but it clarifies the purpose to everything.

It’s subjective whatever you like Iris leeching on Date, it’s subjective whatever you find the above explanation as a sufficient justification. But the character’s actions being clearly purposeful and meaningful, and not just being borderline obnoxious for the sake of being obnoxious, is an objective quality to your writing. When it comes to Iris, the game does not have such a quality, when it easily could have.

Two short monologues, with some montage of flashbacks, and the character would be put into a different light. That’s why you need to be direct about emotionally affecting the player about your story and your characters. Otherwise, you won’t affect many.

The plothole with Psync Machine prototype

So, six years ago, Saito swapped bodies with Date in Rohan’s body, using the prototype of Psync Machine. Date escaped with Saito’s body, while Saito remained in Rohan’s body, and both have lost their memories. Date was found by Boss, who made him join ABIS. The police arrested Saito, and locked him up in the local Arkham Asylum. For six whole years, the Psync Machine prototype remained in secret location, with two knowing about it men suffering from amnesia.

But there was also a bunch of Saito’s people. You know, the same guys that stole the prototype and witnessed Saito and Date swapping their bodies? Whatever happened to those guys, and how come that they never said a word about it, especially to Saito’s father?

The game doesn’t recognize this at any point. We are supposed to accept that the prototype was hidden in abandoned chemical plant, and nobody knew about it until Saito regained his memories. Sure, Saito’s people could remain loyal to him, but how come that six years later Saito was forced to work on his own and, in true ending route, had to improvise swapping the body of dying Renju? And Saito really isn’t any kind of charismatic leader that would made bunch of criminals to never use or take away a machine that allowed them to become literally anybody. That’s simply an unbelievable plot convenience.

There is a simple solution to this. One way for explaining why nobody touched the prototype would be causing the explosion in the chemical plant right after Saito and Date swapping their bodies, which would be the cause for everybody present losing their memories. After the body swapping, due to Saito overlooking one of the prototype’s properties, Date was hit with an adrenaline shot, while Saito was drugged. Or maybe Saito’s men were the ones that didn’t tell him about that feature? While Saito was unable to do much, Date was still surrounded by Saito’s men, that were going to betray their boss and use the machine for their own ends. But Date did gain access to Saito’s memory, who had a plan of causing an explosion in the chemical plant, and also had finished his preparations. Perhaps Saito choose the chemical plant as a place for the body swapping, because he intended to trap there his own men and Date, because he wanted to become independent from his father and keep the secret of body swapping machine for himself. So, Date, not having any other way of preventing the Psync Machine from falling into wrong hands, finished what Saito had started and caused the explosion, wiping everybody’s memory. Of course, Date had no intention of losing his own memory, but something went wrong and he ended up barely escaping.

While this issue is an easily resolvable plothole, I doubt if Uchikoshi would prefer such a solution instead of keeping the hole unfixed. I mean, while Date’s decision to cause the explosion would be understandable, due to being outgunned by criminals and a dangerous device being at stake, Uchikoshi wouldn’t be able to have his happy dancing party ending anymore. Because Date would be indirectly responsible for Ota’s father death.

It’s because of the chemical plant explosion that Ota’s family’s diner has lost their consumers. Because of that, Ota’s father had to take different jobs and overworked himself to death. Because of that, Ota was the only one who could support his mother, after she started to suffer from dementia. Such a revelation couldn’t be just overlooked, to let everyone dance and have a shamelessly cheesy finale that celebrates Aiba’s miraculous resurrection.

Perhaps Uchikoshi planned for Date to cause the explosion, but backed away from it, realizing its implications. Which is why he has changed things last minute (moving the explosion two years before), while doing a rather sloppy job at it (so, people could enter the epicenter of explosion two years after it, but only six years later the restricted zone was decontaminated?). I can understand him making such a decision, having a dark twists for the sake of it isn’t really that good. It’s respectable that he wished to have an upbeat ending. But he should have think things through.

But to get myself out of this game’s shortcomings, let’s look at how it delivers what it promises in its title. AI, also Artificial Intelligence. Ai, also love.

How to write a Partner Character for a video game with Love in its name

Each medium is different, each medium has its different strengths. Books allow for imagination inspiring descriptions of events, and good books make their readers lost themselves in their settings. Movies allow to condense plenty of events in one-two hours, good movies make their viewers to invest themselves in an emotional roller-coaster. Video games (and RPGs) allow direct involvement in their events, good games make their players to have intense personal experience.

Which is why gaming journos that endlessly complain about video games writing supposedly not matching to books or movies (especially when they talk about movies) are nothing more than a bunch of desperate rejects from pop-culture sites they’d like to become a part of. But I digress.

In a book or a movie, Aiba would be a supporting satellite character. While I’ve compared the game to Lethal Weapon, she isn’t exactly a Danny Glover to Mel Gibson in this. While Gibson’s character ends up having more character development and ends up being arguably the protagonist, Glover’s character is still his own independent entity with his own supporting cast (his family), and he still makes his own major plot advancing decisions (sheltering a smuggled family in 4).

Aiba is closer to Aladdin’s Genie. She was explicitly created to support Date, she doesn’t really have much of an arc, up until the very end she has no interactions with most of the cast, and in her every single decision she faithfully aids Date. So, while she shares equal screen-time with Date, she doesn’t share an equal standing with him. And while both Aiba and the Genie are memorable, entertaining and likable, and also they both form a connection with their protagonist, with whom they have great chemistry (although Date and Aiba have greater, due to being bigger opposites), there is a limit to how much you can get invested in the fate of such a character. Let’s say that Aladdin couldn’t defeat Jaffar, but the Genie sacrificed himself to save the day, and then he got his own miraculous Disney-like resurrection. Let’s make it easier for the Genie, and imagine him as a more appealing waifu material.

On paper, Genie’s sacrifice and resurrection would be the same Aiba’s is on paper – a rather predictable nice to have miracle in a kids story that has no balls for a lasting tragedy. Even when said tragedy pretty much only could impact a single character, even if said character was our viewpoint protagonist. Even if the character is fun and them being okay can make you happy, depending on your subjective experience.

But we aren’t experiencing video game plots by reading them on the paper. Aiba isn’t just a fun and likable character that solely aided another character that we were following, Aiba is our Partner Character that aided us. The reason why she didn’t get much of interaction with other characters isn’t because she is some satellite character, it is because she was, rightfully, preoccupied with us and nobody else.

We people are quite selfish, and you’re lying if you deny this. The purpose of Aiba’s character was to make us feel sadness, over her sacrifice, and joy, over her resurrection. For that, the game needed to make us love her, which wouldn’t work so well in a book or a movie. How a game can make us love a character, in a way that other mediums simply can’t? By appealing to our selfish needs of usefulness and reliability.

Aiba is extremely useful to us. In Somniums she becomes playable, with the game presenting it as her following Date’s, ours, instructions. Outside of Somniums, Aiba’s abilities and tips help Date, us, to advance the investigation, making the game proceed smoother. Zoom, x-ray, lie detecting, hacking, googling information, perfectly calculated ludicrous plans, you name it. Aiba is also completely reliable, being the character that aids us 99% of time, and also one of very few that never turns against us. And like I’ve said before, she is always fun to have around.

While in other mediums Aiba could be more than just Date’s little useful techno-Genie, in a video game this isn’t just not needed, it would be also a potential hindrance. If Aiba had another character with similar importance to her as Date, in order to establish that she would have to, at some point, push Date aside for said character’s sake. And that would be pushing aside us. Notice that the second most important character to Aiba is Mizuki, and Mizuki also never turns against Date.

Add to that she always secretly loved Date, and we have our perfect videogame waifu. You will love her, you won’t want her to die, you will want her to return, you will rejoice when she returns. On the paper, it will be one of the most played out and cliché plot turns. But you won’t be experiencing it by just reading some paper.

#ai the somnium files #ai: the somnium files #somnium files #vn #video game #video games #game reviews #game review #story review #story analysis #review2002

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in-defense-of-the-horror · 7 years

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American Horror Story Hotel: A Rant Continued

Yesterday I posted my thoughts on AHS: Roanoke, because it was terrible and all my anger was eating me up inside. I thought that would be the end of it, but I was wrong.

@colonelcaribou was curious as to my thoughts on Hotel, and so I’m here to present you with more ranting about American Horror Story (something that I’m always more than happy to do, by the way.)

SPOILER WARNING: Like my last AHS rant, this is intended for people who have already seen the season in question, this time Hotel.

Let’s just go ahead and start this off with one of my favorite things; unpopular opinions. Hotel is actually my personal favorite season of American Horror Story. While I don’t think it’s as good as Murder House from a critical standpoint, the strengths from the season all play to my preferences whereas the weaknesses are issues that I seem to have with every season of the show - making it the most enjoyable for me to watch. That being said, it’s the only season (excluding Roanoke) that I’ve only seen one time, and I’m probably the least familiar with it.

While it is my favorite season - it’s far from perfect. Since this is a rant, I’m going to start by talking about the things that drove me crazy.

I think one of the aspects that bothered me most throughout the season was Chloë Sevigny’s portrayal of the grieving mother Alex Lowe. I can see where she was going with the role, the under-played emotions were meant to illustrate the detachment and depression that her character is experiencing (at least, that’s what I got out of it.) However, it led to me feeling like many parts of the story regarding her character were bland at best. The fact that the only real emotion I remember her distinctly expressing was anger (which was often misguided, misplaced, or exaggerated) tipped the scales toward me actively disliking her character. This was a big issue that I had with what was an otherwise great subplot.

Before I move away from the Lowe family too much, it’s also worth nothing that I took issue with some character design choices for the small son, Holden Lowe. This sounds like nitpicking, and maybe it is, but could they have made the kid any creepier? It would be one thing if that was part of the story all the way through - or if they had made him look more like a normal kid in the flashbacks at least, but I actually found it really distracting. With the long, wispy, white blond hair, the pale skin, and his mother’s vacant expression - this kid was legitimately the most terrifying part of the season in my opinion, and it kind of sucks that I don’t think it was intentional.

Now let’s talk about James Patrick March.

Don’t get me wrong, I thought he was an interesting character. His design was great, Evan Peters did a fantastic job playing him, but his name bothered me. It’s not the first time that American Horror Story has changed the name of a character or even a historical figure being portrayed on the show - and I can see why they wouldn’t want to flat out say that this character was H. H. Holmes. After all, the Hotel Cortez was an amalgamation of many different locations, and it wasn’t even located in the same state as the infamous “Murder Mansion” that Holmes built in Chicago. Using the name of the actual killer would have been spreading a wild amount of misinformation, and considering the amount of liberties they had to take with the character’s history, could have been seen as pretty insensitive.

It makes sense that they would choose a new name for him and just use Holmes as inspiration (like they did with the Briarcliff Institute in Asylum) but there was one episode where it started bother me; Devil’s Night. In a room with the spirits of the most notorious serial killers, the fact that H. H. Holmes had been replaced with James Patrick March meant that he obviously couldn’t be at the soiree, since he was, in a way, hosting it. It’s a small enough detail, but it’s one that got on my nerves while I was watching, and as I’m typing this out I realize it really stuck with me.

That small issue is also a great transition into Devil’s Night, which was my least favorite episode and, as far as I saw it, the worst part of the season.

Let’s say for a moment that I buy into the premise of serial killer ghosts having dinner together annually on the one night of the year where they have physical form on this plane (which for the record, I don’t.) Let’s also say that the ghost of not H. H. Holmes was somehow a mentor to all these serial killers from all over the country, and that somehow makes sense. The execution was still very flawed. The whole scene was over the top, the dialogue felt very forced, and what the fuck was going on with the Zodiac killer?

Like, okay, I get that we don’t have enough information to do an accurate depiction of the Zodiac killer, but I feel like there were a lot of better alternatives than to making him look like the world’s worst Monty Python and the Holy Grail cosplayer (did anyone else get that impression from his outfit, or was it just me?) Much like my issue with Roanoke where they failed to give me an answer to an actual, historical mystery that they decided to bring to screen, I feel like there were a lot of ways to go.

Zodiac could have been just a regular guy whose name wasn’t mentioned. Could have been a regular woman whose name wasn’t mentioned. They could have created a name (like they did with James Patrick March.) He could have been Ted Cruz - which would have been the best use of a meme on television. He could have, and this is crazy, not been there at all. I think that would have been my top choice, actually, because from what we do know of the Zodiac killer, what are the chances he would attend an event like that anyway? I feel like the most elegant solution to the dilemma would have been to have a place-setting at the table for him (with the symbol on it of course) and then to have slipped a line in there about how he never shows.

There were some other issues throughout the season, but these are the ones that really stuck with me, and that I’m still thinking about a year after watching it. So, with all these complaints, you’re probably wondering why this is my favorite season. Unlike Roanoke, Hotel had a lot of redeemable moments and now I’m going to transition into some more positive ranting.

For one, the ambiance was great. The set was stunning, the cinematography was gorgeous, and hands down this was the season with the best sound track. (They got my favorite She Wants Revenge song AND my favorite Eagles song in the pilot, how awesome is that?)

There was an excellent use of body horror throughout the season, from the grisly killings committed to represent the ten commandments to the flashback where Sally sews herself to her friends. I think more than any other season the visuals really stuck with me.

While I have already brought up some problems I had with certain casting decisions - there were a lot of fantastic choices also made in that regard. I was surprised by just how talented Lady Gaga was in her role as The Countess, Kathy Bates continued to impressed, I think Sally was one of Sarah Paulson’s most intriguing and well-played characters. Let’s also not forget about the amazing supporting cast in this season. While there were countless characters in the Hotel Cortez that were wonderful, I don’t think any of them stand out as much as Liz Taylor.

In addition to being beautifully designed, perfectly portrayed and having a fascinating backstory that contrasts with the darker themes in the rest of the season, Liz Taylor was possibly the best instance of representation in the season - perhaps in the entire show. While the Countess also offers some LGBTQ representation, I was deeply moved by the mature way they dealt with having a transgender character recur throughout the season.

They addressed Iris not being comfortable with Liz due to her own ignorance, and she was upfront about how she didn’t know how to ask. Liz, a strong woman confident in her identity is happy to set the record straight, even though it means sharing about a time in her life before she had that confidence.

That flashback scene also shows The Countess in a softer light as she helps Liz embrace who she was meant to be and acknowledging her as a woman before the rest of the world did. She pushes Liz to come out as a woman, and when she sees that she’s pushing too hard, tones it down and suggests a smaller, more manageable step. Maybe she didn’t handle being an ally the best, but the fact that she realized she was trying to force someone to do too much too fast and backed down showed a side of her character that was unexpected, especially considering her unflinchingly dominant personality.

Where I thought Liz really shined though, was after that when she’s in bed with Tristan. Tristan is surprised that he’s fallen for Liz because “he’s not gay.” Liz is quick to assert her gender and set him straight. “You’re not gay for being with me. I’m a girl. I’m a hetero girl.”

There’s one last big thing that made me really appreciate this season, and that was the mythology. Those of you who have been following me awhile know that I am tougher on vampire stories than I am on just about anything else. It’s partially because I got burnt out on it, but I also feel like a lot of vampire mythology is poorly executed and overly romanticized. If I had known there would be vampires in the season, I might not have even wanted to watch it - but I’m so glad I did.

There are a lot of vampire romances in Hotel, but at the same time I feel like they weren’t glorified. At no point did I feel like the show was trying to sell me on the concept of eternal love through a vampyric virus. On the contrary I think it illustrates how the undead are in many ways lonelier than they ever were as humans. The relationships aren’t born out of romance, they’re born out of the lust that comes with the vitality of everlasting youth, and that’s how it was depicted.

All in all I felt like this was a much more realistic take on vampires. They’re less idealistic and in a way the idea of vampires being more human is a lot scarier than the alternative. They’re not dangerous because they’re monsters, but rather because they have the same wants and needs that we all have, but amplified. Not only does it make the prospect of them existing more plausible, it makes the idea of becoming one much less appealing - which is exactly how it should be.

The undead (the ghosts and vampires both) were glamorous, but that beauty was always matched with such clear suffering.

I have a lot more that I could probably say about the show, and about this season in particular, but this hits most of my big points about it. While it’s not perfect, there were a lot of things that made me enjoy the story.

In fact, writing this up, I think I’ve talked myself into re-watching the season to see if it holds up.

#american horror story #ahs #american horror story hotel #ahs hotel #ahs rant #rant #ranting #american horror story rant #american horror story hotel rant #hotel rant

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childofaura · 4 years

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Rating the anime I’ve watched in 2019: A really short list

Kinda just felt like doing this, 2019 has been a REALLY interesting year in anime. I didn’t watch a whole lot of stuff, but I wanted to kind of go over what I did watch. So I’ll talk about what I thought and rate it 1-10.

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND: THEY’RE RATED SOLELY ON MY OPINIONS, IF I DON’T FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT ONE PLEASE DON’T GET MAD. ALSO ALL OF THESE WERE WATCHED IN SUBS. ALSO SPOILERS AHOY.

1. Dororo.

The OP was AWESOME. The animation in the first half of the series was really smooth, but there was a slightly noticeable dip in animation later on. Not huge, but still there. Actors were FANTASTIC, and the little girl who plays Dororo is so cute! Characters were incredibly well written and varied, Hyakkimaru still struggled despite his honed reflexes and training, and Tahomaru was so morally divisive, it was great. Somber tones really bring out the nasty forbidden underside of the Shogunate’s “lasting peace”. Though the ending with Tahomaru, Hyakkimaru’s mother, and his father figure all dying in the fire was rather... disappointing, Hyakkimaru forgiving his father and Dororo deciding what to do with the large sum of money left behind, to use it for the greater good, wraps everything up.

Dororo’s a solid 8/10.

2. Rising of the Shield Hero

I ended up checking this one out after hearing all the controversy it was stirring up, because I wanted to see what it was. Like always, the “controversy” was a big tepid pile of nothing, and I got to experience an isekai that operates under a different mood with different dynamics. Animation quality is consistent and good, and there’s a LOT of female characters that are well rounded and strong, like Raphtalia, Melty, the Filolial Queen, Glass, etc. Scenery is beautiful, and Naofumi’s growth into trusting again is nice to watch. Also the soundtrack is so enjoyable, Kansas is my favorite song. Cons, though few, are still there: the pacing can be a little funky at times (Mainly what comes to mind is that AWFUL filler episode where they fight the Church from the molten pit, and don’t move AT ALL. Worst episode ever), the physical growth of some of the characters like Filo is jarring (In two days she grows horse sized, after they had that montage of taking care of her) even with an explanation. The last thing that rubs me the wrong way (It’s not really a con in general, just a con for me) is Raphtalia’s crush on Naofumi. It’s simply that they spend the first few episodes building their relationship as a father/daughter, then they try to shift to romance after establishing that first familial relationship.

Rising of the Shield Hero’s an 8/10.

3. The Promised Neverland

AAAAAAAH HOT DAMN I LOVED THIS ONE. It was completely out of my range of what I normally watched at the beginning of 2019, BUT I LOVED IT SO MUCH. The animation is eerie, especially the facial expressions and how smoothly they move. The children are so darling and thinking about how they might have possibly died in S1 broke my heart, as well as me hoping they didn’t, lol. Every episode leaves off on this wonderfully tantalizing cliffhanger, so binging the episodes are a must. Characters like Mama and Sister Krone are terrifying, though in the latter’s case I love how clever she was, and was sad when she died. Her Japanese actress definitely blew it out of the water and had a lot of fun with the character. I’d say the only (not really a con, but) thing that weirds me out is how close the characters’ mouths are to their faces, but that’s a stylistic thing and I won’t fault them for that. The children are strong and resilient and I can’t wait for the next season.

The Promised Neverland’s a 9/10.

4. Demon Slayer

I got into this one late, and I hate myself for getting into it late. But nonetheless, I’m so glad I watched it and I can say with confidence it’s up there with FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood’s level of excellence. Tanjiro is such a kind-hearted boy who constantly puts himself through physical torture for his only remaining family; Nezuko’s “hypnotism” to see humans as family feels more like placebo because she just genuinely has compassion for people, especially when she looks at Ms Tamayo and Yushiro as family when they’re also demons. All the characters are deeply involved in this story with either known or hidden (Zenitsu) strengths that allow them to conquer their struggles. The style is unique and the character designs are pretty, and HOO BOY THE FIGHTING ANIMATIONS, THE STYLIZED TECHNIQUES. MWAH! MUCH LOVE! I love the soundtrack so much, it almost reminds me of the Pokemon movies’ orchestra pieces. The story is well paced, and no issues with filler. Showing how even demons deserve compassion is a beautifully unexpected twist in this show.

Demon Slayer’s a 10/10

5. To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts

I do love this series dearly, and while the good outweighs the “meh”, I still have to address the issues. BUT FIRST, THE GOOD THINGS: Characters in this show are incredibly in-depth, even the soldiers. The designs of the Incarnates are fantastic, terrifying and imposing. Schaal is a strong young girl who sets off with just a suitcase and a rifle and, after meeting Hank, decides to get inside his mindset to see why he’s doing what he does, and why he had to kill her father. Hank is a man in constant suffering who has to see his best friends losing themselves to insanity, knowing that they’re not the people they used to be but questioning whether he’s really doing the right thing regardless. All the soldiers have their own focal point in the episodes they show up in, showing their unique traits and attitudes, and how it links to the monsters they are now. The concept of Incarnate soldiers is parallel to veterans with PTSD. While Liza’s a bit of a ridiculous fan-service character, there’s really no complaints because the fan-service in this show is balanced; they show Hank unnecessarily shirtless a LOT (Though honestly I’d be fine if they let him wear his shirts more). But the cons. There are a decent amount of them. Animation is clunky and lower budget. Pacing is not easy to keep up with, as the split between Hank’s mission and the main conflict with Cain interrupt each other quite jarringly. Schaal’s father seemingly rises as a zombie again to serve no other purpose other than Schaal’s character growth, as we could assume that a LOT of the other monsters like Keynes, with the fire of justice, would also come back to life. Liza doesn’t really seem to do much or contribute much as a character; she came close when she volunteered to take up the Incarnate Extermination Squad’s equipment by saying she knew how it worked but she literally. Just. Held up a shield for the commander (forgot his name, Cain’s little bro) to jump off of. She needs to do more. Love the series and I love watching it, but it’s a mixed bag.

To the Abandoned Sacred Beast’s a 7/10.

6. Fire Force.

Well... this one is definitely gonna be tough to deal with, because I only got maybe 8 or 9 episodes in before I had to break away. So I’ll break it down simply.

Pros: Animation is SOLID. ABSOLUTE. FLUID AND DYNAMIC. It’s literally Midoriya vs Todoroki, but in EVERY EPISODE. Some characters are fascinating and enjoyable like Shinra, Maki, Joker, and Hibana. The concept of Infernals, people who just burst into flames without warning, are a solid idea to run on. The OP is a banger. The soundtrack fits the mood perfectly.

Cons, and a lot of them: There isn’t a whole lot going on in terms of variety, it’s mainly fighting Infernals in the city. It picks up eventually, but slowly. While some characters were enjoyable, others were either flat or downright unbearable to deal with; flat characters like Obi (He’s not a bad character, but he feels... generic) and Iris (Also not bad, she’s strong in what she’s had to deal with and being kind regardless, but it’s just standard quiet girl.). Unbearable character is really just two so far: The lieutenant, who gets borderline abusive (both mentally and physically) with Maki (Like I get it dude, you had trauma with fire and Infernals but you don’t need to be an abusive shit), and Tamaki, ESPECIALLY Tamaki. She’s rude, screechy, treated Shinra like utter shit when they first meet, and respects almost no one outside of her district for no real reason. And she also falls into the next con: The one-sided fan-service. Now I will defend the right to fan-service with everything I believe in, but I’m still allowed to have my opinion on it, and the way it goes in Fire Force is just... so awful. Fan-service jarringly interrupts what are supposed to be heavy emotional or important scenes (Iris sitting on the ground with nothing but a towel, Iris getting her clothes burned off by Hibana, Tamaki sticking her butt out after getting hurt by her district partner, Tamaki’s clothes being burned up and being against the wall with that weird-ass kitty pose with her wrists, etc.), Tamaki’s “lucky lechery” is supposed to be funny somehow but it makes literally no sense, and oh cool she ends up sexually harassing the dudes with it, too. I could understand this level of fan-service if it was like a harem anime or a cheese-cake-ish anime or whatever, but it’s- it’s a shounen. There’s nothing that really shows you there’s gonna be this weird level of fan-service.

I respect everyone who loves Fire Force, but it’s just not my cup of tea. That’s all.

Fire Force’s a 6.5/10.

7. Vinland Saga

THIS ANIME. THIS ANIME IS PERFECT IN EVERY WAY AND YOU WILL NEVER CHANGE MY MIND. The first OP PERFECTLY encapsulates just how much of a hellish live Thorfinn is about to live. The animation (Being from the same company as Attack on Titan and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress) is SUPERB where the characters move with weight and purpose. Seriously, have you seen how the characters jump forward? With their legs and arms forward? It’s a little detail but it’s so great. Characters are multi-faceted and it gives me strong feelings about how awful they are but how clever or strong or brilliant they are. The pacing of the anime is perfect; something plot-important happens in each episode, the characters travel long distances to give you a feel of movement, and there’s not a single episode that could really be considered “filler”. Dynamics of these characters work in fascinating ways at times. The actors absolutely own their roles; Askeladd’s actor nails that perfect nonchalance where he seems surprised but you know he’s truly not, Thorfinn’s older actor knows how to scream his lungs out in anger. The main star, though? Thorkell, hands down. That guy is absolutely having fun with his character.

Vinland Saga’s a solid 10/10.

#anime #spoilers #Dororo #Rising of the Shield Hero #The Promised Neverland #Demon Slayer #To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts #Fire Force #Vinland Saga #Vinland Saga's easily the best anime of 2019 for me and I'm sad that it doesn't have as much traction as other shows like Fire Force

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cowbuttcrunchies · 7 years

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Uniqso Review: Colorvue Soft Green and Sweety Firely Red

With summer con season coming up, we’ll probably be back to reviewing lenses for a little bit! We gave yet another red lens a try, which turned out to be a pretty good pick despite being plano! We also tried out Uniqso’s new line of ‘tinted’ lenses that are intended more for normal wear than cosplay - check under the cut for more details!

For anyone who’d like to order from Uniqso in the future, don’t forget that you can always receive a 10% discount off everything (even already discounted stuff!) by using our coupon code CBC with the link: http://bit.ly/2pkrODc

Colorvue Soft Color Green

Diameter: 14mm Water Content: 53% Base Curve: 8.6 Prescription: Yes

This month we received one of the new lines Uniqso is carrying - 'tinted contact lenses' from Maxvue. Unlike circle lenses, these are clear lenses with just a little bit of color 'tint', really similar to the colored contact lenses you can buy from an optometrist in the US. The idea behind these is to enhance your current color or tint it very slightly, rather than change it dramatically. At the moment they only come in lighter shades of blue, green, or grey.

My experience with these is so-so! My natural eyes are a blue-green color to start with, and with them in I did notice a subtle but noticeable shift toward green. In person or indoors I did not notice any increase in color intensity unfortunately, which is a bit disappointing. However in well-lit photos the intensity is more noticeable, so I think you might get more of a 'pop' if you're spending the day outside. Aside from the color change there is no enlargement or altering of your iris, so this lens should be for casual wear only! Especially considering they are only good for a month, rather than the usual year most circle lenses can last for.

Comfort: 4/5. Pretty comfortable!! I don't think it's quite up there with Kimchi lenses but being so small and thin, they're easy to put in. I did have some rotation problems with my left eye, but that's a pretty common issue for me because of that eye's curve.

Enlargement: 1/5. These lenses are not meant to enlarge or make your eyes more dramatic - they're a casual tint only!

Color/design: 3/5. I'm not super sold on these unfortunately - maybe my eyes are just bright to start with, but I did not notice the sort of intensity increase that I was hoping for. However the intensity is much more pronounced in photos, so I could totally see these being great for a special occasion. if you want to experiment with tinting your eye color for real life or casual wear, you may want to give these a try - I guarantee you nobody will notice that you're wearing contacts.

Sweety Firefly Red

Diameter: 14.5mm Water Content: 38% Base Curve: 8.6 Prescription: 0.0 only

I feel like we've tried every red lens under the sun at this point, so time to add another to the books! Sweety Firefly is a very opaque lens that unfortunately only comes in plano prescription. Opaque lenses are really great for red lenses over blue eyes, since the color is a lot more bold and true.

Comfort: 4/5 I've had left eye trouble with other Sweety lenses in the past, but not with these! The lens itself feels thin and rubbery, and I had no issues putting them in.

Enlargement: 4.5/5 Smaller than Supeprinky Bright Red, but larger than EOS New Adult Red. Firefly is a pretty big lens by itself with a black outer ring as well, so you're going to be getting a noticeable pop.

Color/Design: 4/5 I like how 'deep' the red is on these! At first I was worried that the cartoony design might look too unrealistic, but the dark shade really helps tone it down while keeping the red true. The inner ring over light eyes is about as good as you could hope for, and my only complaint is the they only come in plano!! This is no fun for people like me who require heavier prescriptions, but for folks who don't need one it's a great, inexpensive option.

Kuroko No Basketball - Momoi Satsuki Wig

Wig color: pink Wig length: 100cm

We also received a wig this month! I chose Momoi Satsuki because I was hoping for a rich, pink color with lots of thickness and wefts because I eventually plan on using it to construct an elaborate updo. I definitely wasn't disappointed in either of these two things - the shade is really beautiful, has a soft hand and sheen (no shine though!) and is a pink bubblegum color that would be awesome for characters like Princess Bubblegum. The wig is also quite thick as well with lots of hair - I actually had a tough time getting the shorter hair in the front to frame my face because it's SO thick. The downside of course is that all of that super long hair loves to tangle - you will really want to add some motion sheen as soon as you unpackage this, otherwise you're going to have a tough time.

Sadly, the wigcap on this wig seems to be smaller than usual. Uniqso has a few different suppliers, and this is one of the ones that runs smaller. I struggled a bit to cover the long hair at the name of my neck, and my head is 22" in circumference. If your head is bigger than mine, this will likely not fit you. Folks with smaller heads though will be just fine!

#uniqso #sponsorship #colorvue #sweety #circle lenses #circle lens review

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svankmajerbaby · 7 years

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A Personal Review of Netflix’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events

Just as a disclaimer, these are my personal opinions on the show. I know that a lot of people loved it, and that a lot of people did not like it at all.

I’ve here listed what I’ve considered were the good aspects, the bad aspects, and the things I felt confused to see. As to the confusing aspects particularly, if someone has an answer for me -or even a theory- I’d love to read it.

The asoue fandom has evidently waited a very long time; and even though I completely understand the exhilarating feeling of joy we all felt last Friday, I think hype and enthusiasm can also give place to analysis and, while not as pleasant a thing, personal opinions, which are certainly not the same as facts.

THE GOOD

The Baudelaire siblings are my children and they must be protected at all costs.

Louis Hynes and Malina Weissman have good chemistry as siblings and seeing them act together and discuss plans and talk about their interests is a pure delight. Both of them are flawlessly cast. Presley Smith, as it’s expected from a baby, gets distracted very often and it’s somewhat distracting to see her looking around and making faces inappropriate for the situation taking place, but I really liked her nonetheless. Her little smile at Uncle Monty was adorable. Her saying bye at Judge Strauss broke my heart.

Violet’s self confidence. Will it work? “It will now.”

Klaus’ enthusiastic definitions of complex vocabulary.

The short dedications to Beatrice are so beautiful and well done. I love the background music, with the soft humming, and the sound of the typewriter keys.

Patrick Warburton plays a wonderful Lemony Snicket. Almost all of his scenes on screen are great. His deadpan delivery is great, his voice is great, his reactions are great. The little moments he narrates in his room are quite interesting, too. As much as I like watching him slip right into a scene in the Baudelaire’s story, I was very much looking forward to see him in his own timeline, on the run. His sigh before the Baudelaires learn the sad truth is perfectly gentle and bitter.

Neil Patrick Harris is a very convincing Count Olaf. I wholeheartedly loathed him. I like how his interpretation of the character is that of a bratty man-child used to having everything his way, and who is so overdramatic and vain he literally does not seem to care about anything but himself. His makeup was fantastically made and applied. Also, he put a nice physicality to the role, in the way he moved like he was slightly drunk, slightly hungry and like he owned the place at all times. His delivery was also quite spot-on -his Olaf voice is menacing and his other disguised voices are ridiculous but still quite distinct, which was good.

I began hating this Count Olaf so much, so early, when he first held Sunny up high.

Olaf! slapping! Klaus!!!!! Very effective on me. Also, during the second episode, Klaus still had the bruise on his cheek. Good. It kept my anger alive.

When the Bald Man made that remark of Violet being pretty I was immediately thinking, “Oh boy. They kept this.” They also kept the very, very, very unsettling remarks Olaf gives about Violet’s appearance and almost touches her hair once and then he said “I can touch what I want” and I seriously wished he was struck by lightning or that Sunny suddenly bit his ankle or something generally painful happened to him. It’s awful, it’s in character, and as much as I despise it I’m kind of glad they kept it there and didn’t hold back any punches.

Little Moment N° 1: Very near the beginning, when Klaus and Violet discuss the Proust quote: “Happiness is beneficial for the body, but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind”. That scene was great. I really like both their pleasant confusion and how it a) displayed their intelligence, b) displayed their innocence, c) displayed their inability to understand grief at that particular moment.

The set design is no Rick Heinrichs, but it’s really good. I especially like the design of all the libraries (even if they were a bit samey), the Murnau cinema hall, the secret passageways, the Reptile Room, the Lucky Smells Lumbermill office and Dr Orwell’s office. The outside of the buildings, I’m not that much of a fan. Still pretty good. What little was seen of Prufrock Preparatory, it looked great.

The secret passageways. I loved these.

It was confusing, but there was something curiously beautiful about the untimely death of Gustav. His saying “the world is quiet here” is definitely a strange choice of last words, but maybe this is a thing in VFD. It served nicely to prove how being a volunteer is definitely a perilous career path.

K. Todd Freeman gave his all to his performance, and it shows. Sometimes he veered into almost too much of a useless, clueless stand-in for neglectful authority figures, but most of the time he was perfect for the role. I know how hard is to fake a convincing cough, so kudos to him also for his very believable sore throat. He is also amazingly good at talking really fast with really long sentences which is difficult to do and sound slightly spontaneous, so yep. A greatly done Mr Poe.

I know Eleanora Poe is an awful person, but I’m kind of happy to see how Mr Poe is so supportive of her, and they seem to love each other very much. I’m always down for that.

Jacquelyn won me over by sheer determination and commitment. Hope to see more of her, even though she proved to be just as deaf to the children’s questions and despair as countless other people.

Little moment N° 2: When Klaus turns the stove on, in the first episode, he stays there, looking at the fire, with wide eyes. He stays there, looking at it, while Violet puts the pan on the stove; and then she puts her hand on his shoulder and pulls him gently to the table. It’s a very small thing (Snicket is talking over it, and it ends in a matter of seconds), but Klaus’ distress and fixation on that stove fire felt strangely deliberate and very, very sad.

Sunny biting something with her face off camera -when she flattens the skipping rock, when she chops the parsley- the effect is so cute and funny? I wish that was more used.

“A home cooked meal is better than nothing. A roof over one’s head is better than nothing. (...) But being raised in a violent and sinister environment by a man more interested in one’s fortune than comfort and well-being is not better than nothing.“ Yes.

I love Joan Cusack’s performance. Strauss was such an insecure woman, and despite being so gullible and not listening to them when they tried to warn her, she loved the Baudelaires so much and wanted to keep them and help them, and was so kind... She provided a great emotional core to the second episode. I hope Cusack returns in case they film book eleven.

Aasif Mandvi made a wonderful Uncle Monty. He managed the perfect line between eccentric snake fan and caring, loving guardian. My only complaint about his performance was that he had not enough screentime.

Zombies In the Snow, good God. The fake cow. I loved it so much.

Larry, yes. Yes, thanks.

Klaus saying that plenty of boys enjoy playing with dolls... my nerd son.

Violet’s fear for his brother’s safety in the Miserable Mill, and her insistence to clear their parents’ names while being in Paltryville. She can’t afford to think their parents could have possibly been morally dubious. In the end, the parents were still the unquestionable heroes the children wanted them to be, but I like to think this was a bit of foreshadowing of the secrets revealed in the end.

The super extra 200 page letter Beatrice sent Snicket (if one freeze-frames it one can read that it describes how she sent it through carrier pigeons and which also details how they became engaged. I love that the prop makers took the time to write that down).

Cobie Smulders is the best secret spy, ass-kicking mother since Carla Gugino. A+ casting choice.

THE BAD

More of a general thing, but the style of the show felt all over the place.

Sunny is barely in the show. She acts as the distressed victim of Olaf’s plans twice (in the cage and in the luggage) which is one scene too many, especially considering the sensible and understandable erasure of her epic duel with Orwell. Her sole victorious moment was when she bit Captain Sham’s leg. She rarely participated in the other two siblings’ discussions. She was often sat aside, in a chair out of sight, while her siblings talked. Their siblings actively left her alone! She often feels like an extra weight, which is the worst thing a baby can be in a piece of entertainment.

The ugly Sunny speech subtitles. Why that font... why that color.

Some scenes with Olaf were unnecessary -his twirling with the dress, the interview with Mrs Poe, his talking to the troupe while spying on the children at Strauss’ house. I was made very much aware of how much Neil Patrick Harris participated in the creative process.

When the show’s style was being creative it most often succeeded. I hoped they kept it up, but most of it was only about Snicket. I wish they kept using title cards, like they did before Aunt Josephine and Captain Sham’s flashback, and iris shots, like the one used with Violet. If they had continuously using a stylistic choice, these few examples wouldn’t stick out so much. They could also have played around with the ratios, just to give an example, or kept all flashbacks in black and white. It would have been a nice way to incorporate the old-feel style to the show.

I enjoyed their performances, all in all, but the troupe constantly felt like comic relief. They were very seldomly menacing (mostly the Bald Man, who I am genuinely a bit scared of) or useful.

Not enough Reptile Room creatures. I need to see the Church Frog. And the Incredibly Deadly Viper could have been so much better. And it could have had more screentime with Sunny. I find it hard to believe that they became friends so fast.

I really hoped they wouldn’t put the Shirley disguise... Olaf could have perfectly had been a secretary without dressing up as a woman.

70% of the time I felt the costume design was lacking. Not so much that it was bad, but that it was boring and didn’t say anything at all about the character that was wearing it. There was nothing particular about how any of the characters were dressed. I like that each Baudelaire seems to have a certain color palette, but even then it’s not very well determined. Aunt Josephine’s clothes in particular were drab.

The background music can be a bit overbearing. There’s many times when I felt silence would have been better, or maybe something with less choir... And as much as I love the accordion soundtrack -because it is great, and it is fitting- it would have been better with a bit less of it. It made scenes feel “extra quirky”, if that makes sense, and while sometimes it worked, there were moments in which it was overdone.

I really did not care to see the Marvelous Marriage. It wasn’t funny enough to warrant being shown.

The CGI effects were so bad! I understand that they had to use recent pics of the adults to make sure they were easily recognizable, and that Sunny does a great deal of very unusual things that a real life baby can’t possibly do, so one can’t complain too much; but still, some things -like her whistling, or her hanging from the doorknob, or her poker playing, were both unnecessary and a bit unsettling. Also, Violet’s rock retrieving device at the beginning... Surely there had to be a practical way around that. Generally, if they felt the need to add something, one would wish they wouldn’t make an effort to make that addition hard to do without CGI.

The photoshopped picture of the VFD members. It was just bad.

Klaus may have had a bit too many speaking lines compared to Violet... just saying.

Weird continuity goofs... They’re details, but there were so many of them. Most of them around Sunny, which again, understandable, but still, there should have been a way around it.

Let! Klaus! also carry Sunny! Almost all the time, Violet does it!!

So Dr Orwell was Olaf’s girlfriend. I hope they find fresh ways to repeat that trope, because there’s two more characters that exactly follow this concept, and with the already repetitive nature of the Baudelaire’s misadventures this could become quite boring.

Sometimes the adults were so ignorant and blatantly oblivious to what was going on (especially with Mr Poe actively saying what a bad idea it was to act the way he did, like leaving the children with untrustworthy people or abandoning them in the empty dock) that it was not frustrating, it was cumbersome.

Aunt Josephine’s statue. What was up with that? Why couldn’t she just throw a chair through the window?

As effective -and boy was it effective- of a red herring it was, the Mother and Father B-plot felt unnecessary in the end. It could have been cut, and despite suffering from the lack of a Cool Spy Mom and a Tired Spy Dad, the story would have flowed better. Heck, it would have been better with more Jacquelyn.

Statue woman in the middle of the maze? What the heck? What was the purpose of that? Why did she need to talk to the Baudelaires? Why was she the only one who reached out to them? It didn’t contribute anything at all.

Have another actor to be Ike... Sonnenfeld is already visibly seen in the background of Strauss’ library as her father. It was so weird.

Why couldn’t Klaus start the fire with his glasses when he needed to, in the boat during the leeches attack? Mother’s binoculars starting the fire saved the children out of pure luck.

Similarly, the Reptile Room reptiles decided a very particular moment to attack Olaf and his troupe, which also made the ending of the episode seem like a matter of pure luck.

If luck saves the children in the end, then less emphasis is put on their individual talents and resourcefulness. Having them save themselves would have often been the cheaper production decision and the smartest narrative decision.

The Wide Window episodes had sometimes an overreliance on CGI, and it turned it into a bit of a pain to sit through. The house collapsing looked bad. Sunny dangling from the doorknob was bad, Klaus jumping around was bad...

The musical numbers. None of them were truly terrible, by themselves, but they felt out of place and unneeded. The first cringy one was mercifully short and at least served the purpose to show how much of a self-aggrandizing lousy actor Olaf is. The little song with the spoons he sings in the taxi as Captain Sham feels stretched out and annoying. And the last song, “That’s Not How The Story Goes”, which everyone (why Poe? Why Olaf?) sings... It was the most bizarre thing in an already very, very bizarre show. From Snicket in his school uniform, sitting on a cliff, to Sunny’s weirdly CGIed contorted face whistling (including Mr Poe cheerfully singing it, which almost made me think he was truly looking forward to the Baudelaires being even more miserable), it’s a really good song -the best of the musical numbers- but it was a wrong way to finish the first season.

Finally, I know that Neil Patrick Harris is the Star Power, but why must he sing the title song? Why couldn’t it be an instrumental? And as much as I like the way they managed to change each title sequence for each book, it would have been better to have more interesting visuals during the titles. It felt like a missed opportunity.

THE CONFUSING

The grandfather clock toaster? Couldn’t Violet’s talents be shown with a more interesting, useful invention?

What was up with the weird James Brown references? “I’m super bad”, what? A non-sequitur/inside joke between the siblings?

At Justice Strauss’ library, Klaus showed her that he had a small notebook with him, and said he had it with him at all times. He never actually used it. Why show it if you’re not going to use it?

Why are most of the henchpeople unusually and occasionally nice? Why do they act shocked and worried when Olaf kills and hurts (most clearly with the killing of Josephine and when he held Sunny up high)?

Strauss was last seen reading a book on secret organizations. Why does she have that book? Will she become a member? Is her family linked to VFD? How can that book be a thing, if the organization is supposed to be secret? Is VFD something that is well known? Is that book’s author a VFD member, or a Geraldine Julienne/Rita Skeeter kind of badly-informed and dimwitted investigator? Are there other organizations besides VFD that one should be concerned about? Is that book a standard secret VFD reading, or is it sold in average bookstores and available in city libraries? Just how available to the public is that book?

It was suggested Strauss is Jewish (what with greeting Poe and the children with “Shalom” and mentioning how cooking could be a mitzvah), and Olaf too (mostly for the klezmer-style wedding music and his little dance, but I’d find it rather out-of-character for him to be a religious man at all) and Dr Orwell too, though much less clear, for mentioning Olaf ruined a bat mitzvah. But the big question is, are the Baudelaires Jewish?

Who was that elder lady at the cinema and why was the camera so interested in her uninteresting life

Is the Bald Man as unquestionably terrible as he was in the books? “We should use the baby as bait” kind of confirmed it, but the question is more about the future role of the character, considering what happens is following books.

Where did Olaf get that very specific snake-bite-faking device? Is that a standard VFD contraption?

What in the world is Beatrice’s name doing engraved in the remains of Aunt Josephine’s house?

What was up with Snicket buying an orange vest?

Are Sir and Charles actually members of VFD?

Why did Orwell have literal skeletons in her closet? Did she kill people, took away their clothes and hair and skin and muscle and cleaned them and stored them in her closet?

In the little awfully photoshopped picture at the end of the last episode, at Prufrock Prep, Snicket and Olaf seem to be friends; even though Snicket said at the beginning of the first episode that Olaf’s “dreadful villainy haunted [Snicket since he] first met him as a young man.” Was it a goof by the showrunners, or a proof of the unreliable narrator Snicket can be?

Are the Baudelaire parents really the ones shown in other awfully photoshopped picture of the volunteers at Paltryville? Klaus recognized them, so there’s almost no way they’re not the Baudelaires. Are these actors the confirmed ones for the parents?

Aren’t the Quagmire parents wary of telling their children about their past in VFD? Weren’t they afraid of the known fate of some members of the organization? Do they believe VFD is doing good?

Were the Baudelaire parents active volunteers till the moment of their demise? Did they balance a double life, with the VFD missions and their homelife?

Does Snicket still trust VFD? Does he support the organization that gave him nothing but pain and misery?

Will the series portray VFD as noble? What happened with the aggressive training, the indoctrination, the kidnapping, the indoctrination?

Are the Baudelaire parents morally dubious? Will the show have the guts to put that on screen?

“Call me Ishmael”???????? What the fuck??

Here’s hoping the second season rights the wrongs, emphasises on the good, and answers some questions and creates new ones -hopefully all the right ones.

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #my review

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transgamerthoughts · 7 years

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Final Fantasy XV: Thoughts and Ramblings

I’ve just finished a more detailed playthrough of Final Fantasy XV. There’s plenty to talk about but today is strange and my mind is scattered so I thought it best to keep things loose. It worked for Infinite Warfare. My general takeaway is that I like Final Fantasy XV more than I should. It is a broken, shattered game but one that managed to win me over in spite of itself.

THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS POST

1. Let’s start positive here. FFXV has one of my favorite game worlds and settings in a long time. This is impressive given how surprisingly little of it we really explore in detail. There’s essentially two major cities in this game, with a handful of minor locations. Whereas other Final Fantasy games are globe trotting affairs, FFXV remains relatively local until the latter end of the game.

By this point, you’re no longer dealing with an open world design however. For all intents and purposes, FFXV’s largest gameplay chuck takes place within the nation of Lucis and its various regions. The map isn’t dense with things to do but strong art direction and environment design gives ever location an air of believability that most games do not manage. It isn’t on the same level as The Witcher 3 but FF XV is chasing after the great Western open worlds and does so admirably. The world is fun to be in and feels steeped in a larger history and lore that feels suitably epic and magical.

2. The core cast of characters are enjoyable and memorable as well. The four party members banter and have clearly developing relationships. It adds a lot to the experience. There are weak links in the chain; Gladio tends to be far less personable than we are meant to believe and Ignis’ traits remain fairly static until a major bit of action in the plot physically handicaps him. These are minor complaints considering how well the group dynamics flow. By the end of the game, the four protagonists feel like true brothers.

The secondary cast is pretty fun as well. Iris is a charming and likable character who honestly should have accompanied the party longer than she did. Aranea makes for a memorable rival turned frenemy, and while we don’t get to spend too much time with Cor Leonis, his gravitas served the initial parts of the game very well.

On top of this, we have one of the most memorable antagonists in the series history. Ardyn is charismatic, intelligent, watchable, and when the times demand it, he can become truly sinister. There are the subtle hints of true depth for this character; he feels complicated and worn. The plot fails to investigate his highly interesting history but he still manages to make an impression. I’ve not had this fun with a Final Fantasy villain in a long time.

3. A lot of these characters draw strength from strong vocal performances and animations. Ray Chase gives a shockingly good turn as Noctis, a character who starts petty and fairly unlikable grows into a commanding presence. Darin De Paul gives an outstanding turn as Ardyn, oozing charm while slipping into more sinister vocal ranges when needed.

One of the best performances in the game actually comes from Robbie Daymond as Prompto. He brings a wonderful energy to the chipper gunslinger but also imbues him with a raw sense of vulnerability. The voce work merges well with quality animations. In particular, there’s a moment where Luna tells Ardyn that redemption is in his reach if he were to choose it and the facial animation manages to communicate an astounding range of thoughts and emotions within around five seconds. It’s great and shows how important the interplay between multiple disciplines are when creating digital performances.

4. Combat can be frustrating but I found that there’s a nice sense of push and pull to the entire affair. It’s not as technique heavy as Episode Duscae implied. Instead, the challenge is finding times to maintain your offensive actions and your defensive dodging stance. With larger groups of enemies, you will get tossed around from time to time and it can be frustrating. But after a while, you’ll find yourself slipping through guards to deliver big hits, performing strong combination attacks with your bros, and warping around the battlefield to perform deadly, magical acrobatics.

5. The game starts with an amazingly interesting core conceit that I think gets squandered. The road trip angle is given a new weight when Cor makes it clear that for Noctis to succeed against the empire, he needs to reclaim the power of the past kings of Lucis. Awesome. That sounds like a neat quest set up. But the game only has Noctis recover a few of these relics during the plot, sometimes without intending to. This then gives way to communion with the various gods around the world.

It would have been a perfectly acceptable and desirable plot to have Noctis seek out the power of kings and gods with the Empire hounding him along the way only for Ardyn to betray everyone near the latter half. In fact, that structure seems fundamentally etched into the structure of the game as an open world experience. And yet, the game abandons the quest for the king’s power, makes it unclear why Noctis is even seeking the gods (or rather, if they are seeking him), and the game totally abandons the Empire.

The best example of this is Ravus. He’s the commander of Imperial forces, a skill swordsman, Luna’s brother, someone with a personal (if misplaced) grudge on the kingdom of Lucis, and all around bad dude. He was even in Kingsglaive. In FF XV, you encounter him once before he is blamed for the disastrous events in Altissia, turned into a daemon offscreen by Ardyn, and killed in one of the game’s most lack luster bossfights. This is frankly unacceptable from a series that managed to make me give a shit about villains as minor Scarlet and fuckin’ Heidegger but Ravus is basically Beatrix by way of Char Aznable and he’s completely misused. It’s downright sinful.

Similarly, the Emperor has a single scene. If the game took time to build him up, we might have had a betrayal as memorable as Kefka’s when Ardyn usurps power and tosses the realms into chaos. No such luck here. We also only see Minister Verstael for a single cutscene but this is the dude who runs the empire’s weapons program and manufactures MTs using knowledge gained from Ardyn. He’s also, technically, Prompto’s father. There’s loads of potential here that is also wasted because the game hits ludicrous speed after Altissia and never slows the fuck down. As the result, I feel like I’m missing a significant portion of the game.

6. In keeping with the botched story elements, we have the biggest missed opportunity when Ardyn basically creates and eternal night that lasts ten whole years. The world is plunged into chaos, daemons reign supreme, humanity is hiding in a few final bastions of resistance against the hordes. And yet, when we awake into the World of Ruin, we’re not given a new variation of the game map to explore. Instead, we get an expositional dump by Talcott before easily reuniting with out companions.

Yet, in the intervening ten years, a lot of stuff has happened. Ignis has become a badass blind warrior, Aranea has gone from Imperial mercenary to champion of the people with an entire army at her command, Iris, working alongside Cor, has become so awesome that she’s known as “Iris the Demonslayer,” and Talcott, the young boy we knew from years before, has become a veteran hunter in his own right.

Why do I not see the characters again? Imagine if I woke in the World of Ruin with only Gladio to greet me, ever faithful for years as guardian of the Crystal. Talcott joins us as a temporary guest character as we journey from settlement to settlement, helping restore order while also reuniting with our friends. We could help Cindy in a brief story sequence that reunites us with Prompto, we could encounter Aranea and Ignis as they search ancient ruins for information of how to defeat Ardyn, we could reinforce Cor and Iris at Gladio’s request in a battle against daemons attacking Lestallum.

The set up is right there in the background but instead, we get an exposition dump, no satisfying reunion scene with the gang, and we’re able to immediately head to Insomnia to fight Ardyn. If the first half of the game is missing the Empire, the latter half of the game is missing basically everything.

8. In spite of these obvious oversights and missteps, the ending made me cry. It’s well done. I even think it could have been more dramatic. As it stands, Noctis gives up his life for the people of the world and the fates of his best bros feel ambiguous. I think they should have doubled down even harder on the heartbreak here and showed their last stand. If this is a game about gradually assuming responsibility, that needs to extend to the other protagonists in order to be thematically complete.

I also think that while Ardyn should have died, there was no need to have the strange moment with him in the spirit realm. If we had someone gotten to understand Arydn’s past in more detail, perhaps during the time Noctis spends in the crystal, it would have been enough to land the final blow on him and wish him peace in the next life. The ending is good but I can’t help thinking it ought to have been great.

9. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I think this game needed a codex. The world is full of amazingly interesting history that I’d gladly read about. Imagine walking into a dungeon and walking away with ancient lore you discovered on old tablets or spending time in Altissia with some type of tour guide and getting a beefier codex for it. As stated, the world is amazingly interesting. Lestallum is a city run by women, Titan is holding up a perpetually falling comet in the middle of Duscae, the Empire and Lucis had major wars, the tombs of old kings litter the land. This is interesting stuff I want to know more about

Say what you will about how FF XIII made the codex necessary to understanding I actually know the religion in that world and the cosmology. In FF XV, I still don’t quite understand what an Oracle is and that’s literally the profession of one of the (ostensibly) most important characters in the game.

10. Speaking of Luna, she suffers from the same issue as her brother; we don’t get to spend time with her. Occasionally, we see flashes to her life and her side journey but this is a powerful character. Instead, she is relegated largely to the sidelines until Altissia, where we reunite with her just long enough for Ardyn to kill her.

Luna is a prophet, mage, and priestess who can stare down literal gods and heal magical blight. FF XV could have easily given us moments where we play as here or structured itself such that we actually get worthwhile perspective cuts to what she was doing for much of the story. It would have made her death actually mean something.

11. This game has one of the best soundtracks of the series. It is a powerhouse and Yoko Shimomura nails just about every track. Shimomura has always done very well with strings and piano. Here, that strength aptly bridges the gap between the more realistic aspects of the setting with the fantasy. I don’t have an in depth analysis here. It’s just very good.

In general, the biggest issue with FFXV is that is is fractured. The open world is great, if lacking in variety. But I forgive that because of how enrapturing it is. The characters are wonderful but the plot misuses them or ignores them constantly. I genuinely like this game but I know that a better scenario designer could have gotten something much more coherent. That’s the biggest problem; this game just falls apart by the end and even if it manages to hit a strong emotional climax, you’re let with the overwhelming feeling that while it was a good time, it could have been genuinely great.

#Final Fantasy #final fantasy xv

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cdrforea · 4 years

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Blackmagic Design Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K G2 Hands-on Review

New Post has been published on https://bestedevices.com/blackmagic-design-ursa-mini-pro-4-6k-g2-hands-on-review.html

Blackmagic Design Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K G2 Hands-on Review

Blackmagic Design Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K G2 to touch

"The hardware is great, but Blackmagic RAW is a game changer for indie and small budget productions."

Blackmagic RAW codec

120 fps 4.6K

Accessible user interface

Built-in ND filters

Cumbersome placement of the iris dial

Some nickel and diming for accessories

"Bear" is a fitting name for the beast that is Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K G2 from Blackmagic Design, the flagship of the company's cinema camera. But it is a well-trained bear. The Ursa is docile where other such machines appear fearsome in their complexity. I've never been so amazed at how easy a camera is to take professional pictures.

It really feels like cheating. Turn it on, point it at something, press record, and there will be a picture for the big screen. If you know how to use a DSLR, you can find out the Ursa in minutes.

Okay, it takes a bit more work. You first need to decide which record button to press – there are approximately four of them. But once you've chosen your favorite, there's nothing standing in the way of making your director's dreams come true. At least from a technical point of view.

Despite my love of techno, the Ursa remains outside my league – and yet not alien to my budget. I won't buy one soon for a five under $ 6,000, but it's a lot cheaper than comparable movie cameras from other manufacturers.

I'm not sure why a Red or Arri, the camera of choice in Hollywood, is worth tens of thousands more. But as someone who shoots video with a mirrorless hybrid camera, I can see the value of climbing to Ursa. Six giants are a lot of money. But here, with the Ursa, it feels like a bargain.

Design and user interface

The original Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K was the first Blackmagic camera to feel ready. After a few years of eye-catching and bizarre designs, Blackmagic landed on a familiar shape that bridges the gap between a cinema camera and an ENG camcorder.

The G2 refines the formula with small but important improvements to the electronics without changing what has already worked. The result is not only a professional video camera that shames my aging but trustworthy Fujifilm X-T2, but also the best value in the cinema world.

Blackmagic gets a low price by selling you a bare bones camera. A viewfinder, a battery and a handle are add-ons that can add hundreds or thousands to the price. This can make cameras like the Canon C200 cheaper for $ 6,500 with viewfinder and battery. However, the Ursa has a hardware advantage: 15 levels of the announced dynamic range compared to Canon's 13, higher frame rates and a more versatile RAW format.

Although not new, the built-in filter control with neutral density is a key feature of the Ursa – and many dedicated video cameras. You can select 0, 2, 4, or 6 stops by turning a dial, so you never have to deal with a screw-on lens filter. Think of sunglasses for your camera. ND filters reduce light and allow you to keep a slower shutter speed for smooth movements and / or a larger aperture for a shallower depth of field when shooting in bright environments.

The viewfinder may not be standard, but a touchscreen monitor is the most accessible user interface you can get with a camera. Blackmagic has set itself the goal of standardizing the user interface for all camera models. So if you have a pocket cinema camera, you will feel at home with the Ursa. The user interface is easy to learn if you have not used a Blackmagic camera before.

The Ursa has numerous physical buttons and toggle switches for access to frequently used functions such as ISO, shutter angle / speed and white balance. A complaint? The iris dial is hard to reach when the monitor is open, a design flaw that Blackmagic may have missed because cameramen who use real cinema lenses use the iris ring on the lens.

Not me. I used standard Canon EF lenses. Apart from the bizarre iris control, I love that about the Ursa. Camera lenses are much cheaper than their cinema counterparts, but often of no less optical quality. (However, the Ursa's autofocus features aren't good – stick to manual focus.)

For this test, Sigma lent me its 18-35mm and 50-100mm f / 1.8 lenses, a pair of zooms that make a strong case for being the only lenses you need. Together, they're worth about $ 1,900. Sure, that's a bit of a change, but it's a far cry from the $ 8,000 required for theatrical versions of these lenses. (In truth, this is still quite affordable in the field of cinema glass.)

In addition, the Ursa Mini Pro has interchangeable lens mounts. In addition to the active Canon EF mount, you can use PL (the standard for cinema cameras), B4 for broadcast lenses or even a passive Nikon F mount. The latter opens up the Ursa to a decade-long legacy of photographic lenses. I have a small collection of Nikon glass from the film era that I would like to have tested on the Ursa. Next time.

Of course, cinema lenses have some advantages – mostly they make you look like an ass – but Blackmagic's willingness to let you mount any old DSLR lens natively is a big plus for the indie and student filmmakers. From news gathering to film production, the Ursa Mini Pro can be configured to fill a variety of roles. The Digital Trends video team even used it on the floor at CES 2020.

Performance and picture quality

The updated electronics of the Ursa Mini Pro G2 are all about speed. Above all, this means new slow motion HFR (High Frame Rate) options. 4.6K footage can be captured at up to 120 frames per second, while 1080p can reach 300 fps. The 4.6K / 120 film material is recorded across the entire width of the sensor and automatically played back in slow motion (up to 5 times with 24p pictures).

It looks absolutely awesome. I also appreciated how the camera records audio in HFR mode, which many smaller cameras don't. This way you can either slow down the audio in the mail to adjust it to the footage (think of the dramatic “Noooooo!” Shouted by a character approaching a certain doom) or the footage back to real-time speed boot up and use it more or less -less like a normal clip if you have to.

The updated electronics increase the maximum ISO by 3,200. That's nothing compared to modern still cameras with ISOs by the hundreds of thousands, but it makes the Ursa usable indoors. It is important that this high ISO value is useful when shooting HFR footage. This requires a faster shutter speed and requires compensation by either opening the iris or increasing the ISO.

Footage shot with ISO 3,200 can look grainy, especially when you try to lift the shadows in the post, but I never thought it would look bad. It's what it is, and you should try to stay at lower ISOs if possible, but I appreciate having that extra stop when I needed it.

The readout time of the sensor is shortened due to faster processing, which means that the "Jello Cam" effect of the electronic roller shutter can be controlled. In practice, I didn't notice it at all, except in very fast pans where I specifically searched for it.

File quality and flexibility

When I tested the first generation Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K, it was before Blackmagic released its RAW video format. It could record Cinema DNG, an open RAW format from Adobe, but I didn't have the storage or processing power to handle it. With the G2, I have finally experienced the power of Blackmagic RAW first-hand and it is absolutely revolutionary.

This is a RAW video format for the rest of us. With selectable compression levels up to 12: 1, .braw clips can be recorded on standard SD cards. In fact, the bit rate at 12: 1 compression is lower than the 400 megabits per second non-RAW codecs in cameras like the Panasonic Lumix GH5s and the Fujifilm X-T3. You still want a fast V90 card to be secure, but you don't have to be a professional studio or have a big budget to work with RAW video. That's great.

Sample material taken with the Ursa Mini Pro G2 Daven Mathies / Digital Trends

I recorded all of my test material in .braw with 12: 1 compression and it looked great. I edited and colored the clips in Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve 16 on my eight year old iMac and it worked. Performance was problematic after adding more than the most basic color adjustment, but the fact that it worked at all is impressive.

If you're worried about editing performance, Ursa can record proxy files in addition to RAW footage, so you don't have to create proxies when importing.

I am not an experienced colorist or even an experienced DaVinci Resolve user, but I come from the world of still photography, where RAW files have been common for many years. Working with RAW videos seems familiar to me. In some ways, it is easier than working with other codecs like h.264 or even ProRes, which are often recorded with a flat logarithmic tone curve to maintain dynamic range and look like garbage before color correction is applied.

In contrast, Blackmagic RAW material can be used directly from the camera. It is also flexible. Even at 12: 1 compression, I was amazed at how many details I could pull out of the shadows.

Not everyone needs RAW video, but as Blackmagic explained to me, Blackmagic RAW offers the best quality to file size ratio at any compression level compared to non-RAW formats. There is no reason not to use it. Well, unless you want to import directly into Final Cut Pro X, which currently doesn't have a plugin to support .braw files. (There is a plugin for Adobe Premiere Pro.)

Conclusion

The Ursa Mini Pro G2 is proof that we are living in an incredible time for photo and video equipment. I am jealous of today's film students who may have access to it. They can produce large-screen movies in their dormitories and never know how difficult it is to record and edit standard definition footage on MiniDV tapes.

Of course, for many of us, $ 6,000 could just as easily be $ 60,000. If it's out of your budget, it's out of your budget. However, some of the Ursa's most important functions – such as Blackmagic RAW – are available in the cheaper Pocket Cinema Camera series. The Ursa Mini Pro may still be a desirable product for people like me, but unlike a Red or an Arri, it's not a dream. I can at least afford to rent it.

Editor's recommendations

#46K #Blackmagic #Design #Handson #Mini #Pro #Review #Ursa #Product Reviews

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flyerthan-you-blog · 5 years

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Samsung Galaxy S9 review

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– Here’s the new Galaxy S9 and S9+ from Samsung. And if you squint even slightly. You might think you’re looking at last years Galaxy S8. Because the differences between it and the S9 are minimal at best. (casual music) But this is the Android phone that more people will buy than any other this year. And it does come with a few new things that those people will appreciate. And besides, it’s not like the S8 is a bad phone to start from. The overall design of the S9 in unchanged from last year. It’s still a glass and metal sandwich. It still has curved glass in the front and back. It still has an extra wide by 9 display and minimal bezels. It’s really nice and it’s really well made.

But the glass back is kind of a fingerprint magnet and it can be slippery to hold. The smaller S9 is inch screen. While the S9+ is a inches display. Both are super amulet panels with 2960 X 1440 pixels of resolution. Both are really nice to look at with vibrant colors. Sharp resolution and excellent viewing angles. They’re also slightly brighter this year which is always appreciated if not always noticeable. And they still remain the best displays you can get on any Android phone. They’re even up to par with the screen on the iPhone 10. Provided you don’t mind slightly more saturated colors. The S9 has the same fast wired and wireless charge it had before.

The same IP 68 water resistance as before. And the same millimeter headphone jack as before. And if you’re looking for high end phone with a headphone jack in 2018. Your choices are fewer than ever. So it’s kind of great to see Samsung stick with it for the S9. The big design change is the placement of the fingerprint scanner. Which has been moved from the side of the camera to just below it. It’s much easier to use than the S8. Especially if you’re using a larger plus model. But it’s still weirdly small and too close to the camera. I frequently swipe on the camera lens when I’m trying to use the fingerprint gesture to see my notifications. Which is kind of annoying. And then of course there’s that dreaded Bixby button which is still there. Still in the same spot just below the volume buttons on the left side. Now you can disable it from launching Bixby Now which is progress. But Samsung still doesn’t provide a native way to reprogram into something more useful. Now at its worse, it’s annoying.

And at it’s best it’s a little fidget button that you can press without having to worry about doing anything if you actually disable Bixby. The other new hardware feature is stereo speakers. Which basically catches Samsung up to what everyone else has been doing for a couple of years. They are noticeably louder and fuller than the single speaker on the S8.

And they’re really great for watching video. So I’m not gonna say they’re the best phone speakers I’ve ever heard. But they’re still great and I’m happy to see them here. The rest of the hardware improvements are all on the inside. It’s got Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon E45 processor. Either four or six gigabytes of RAM. Depending on which model you choose. And the new LTE modem that’s of course even faster at gigabytes speeds. Those are specs we’re gonna see in virtually every Android flagship this year. But Samsung is the first out of the gate with them. Performance, at least during my review has been great. Everything is really fast and responsive. And the network performance is just as impressive as last years and to be honest. Noticeably better than the iPhones. Though unchanged in the size of the battery and the internal storage.

You get a 3,000 million power battery in the S9 and a 3,500 million power battery in the S9+. Both of them has 64 gigs of storage and micro SD card support. I really would have liked to see Samsung increase the battery size this year. It’s not to say that the battery life is bad on either model. But it’s not the best you can get and heavy users are gonna even deplete the S9+ battery after a long day. So despite all that sameness. Samsung did upgrade one important aspect of the S9 and it did so in a pretty big way.

The S9 rear camera is all new. It’s got an improved sensor and a new variable aperture lens. That can physically switch between a really bright Fand a smaller Faperture. The S9+ gains a second telephoto lens for portrait modes stuff like Samsung used on the Note 8 last year. On top of that everything is optically image state wise. Samsung claims significant improvements in low light photography over the S8 camera. And it’s true that the S9 definitely can take some really great photos in low light.

The Faperture lets in more light than last years Flens. And the improved processing helps reduce noise overall. And I’m less impressed with the switching aperture feature. It feels more like a parlor trick than anything else. Now since a digital camera can just compensate its shutter speed for how much light is in the room. I don’t really ever feel like I would ever need to shoot at F2.4. Now if you’re in the pro mode of the camera app you can actually switch between the two modes. So here for an example. I shoot this image at 1.5. And then I’m gonna shoot this image at 2.4. And overall there really isn’t much difference between the two images. The Fis a slightly blurrier background than the F2.4. Which has a little bit longer depth of feel. But in terms of sharpness.

It really isn’t any difference there. So, I’m not sure why I would ever shoot an Fon this phone. I’d probably just leave it at and forget about it. The S9+’s second telephoto lens is similarly gimmicky. Samsung’s live focus portrait mode just isn’t as good as Apple’s or Google’s at separating a subject from the background. And in challenging lighting conditions. Image quality is kind of bad. The S9 gives you 4K video at 60 frames per second or slow motion 1080p video at 240 frames per second. Which catches it up with what the iPhone can do. Now both loads produce nice quality video. But you have to make sure you have plenty of light for the slow motion mode.

Where you’ll see a lot of noise in the video. Overall, the S9’s camera is definitely improving and it’s very good on it’s own. But if you weren’t a fan of Samsung’s image processing before. You still won’t like it now. Sure, there’s less noise than before and the colors are pleasing. But all of the images definitely have Samsung’s look to them.

Which is different to what Apple or Google’s camera produced. At this point it really comes down to personal preference. But it’s definitely something to be aware of. And I wish Samsung did spend some time on is the front camera on the S9. It’s the same 8 megapixel camera as seen on the S8. It does have auto focus which no other front camera has yet to replicate. But its portrait mode just isn’t as good as Google or Apple’s. So all of that stuff is great and it’s gonna keep the S9 at the top of phone rankings for most of 2018. But there’s a ton of other things that Samsung is pushing with the marketing for the S9 this year. And to be honest, you’ll probably never use them. It’s almost as if Samsung just couldn’t help itself. The first up is AR emoji.

Samsung’s take on the iPhone 10’s Animoji feature. Here’s how it works. It scans your face and then it produces a bit emoji character based on the hundred points to your face that kind of maybe looks like you. Then it takes this character and it creates a bunch of reaction goes with it. You can then send in messaging apps. Then there’s also some weird looking animals that you can create video clips with. That you can do with Animoji on the iPhone. Now there’s a couple of issues with Samsung’s AR emoji. First off, Samsung isn’t using any special tactic to capture your face or movement. It’s just relying on the camera. So tracking is really bad. Second, the characters it creates are just the wrong kind of creepy. And nobody I’ve tested it with has been like that’s something I like. And then the animals on top of that are just kind of weird. It’s definitely something that Samsung built just to compete with Apple and frankly it’s not very good.

Now Samsung is also trying to ape the iPhone 10 face ID with its new intelligent scan feature. It combines iris scanning and face protection to unlock the phone. But it’s still slow and now it shines a bright red light in your face when it scans. Good thing there’s a fingerprint scanner that’s easier to reach on the back because it’s faster and more reliable than Samsung’s face scanning option. Next is a new super slow motion mode in the camera. The S9 can shoot up to 960 frames per second. Which sounds really neat. But it can only do so for .2 seconds at a time and only at 720p resolution.

There’s two ways you can shoot it. You can try to manually trigger it to capture the .2 seconds of action you want. Or you can use an automatic mode that looks for a specific movement in an area of the frame and then captures slow movement and detects it. But in practice both are really hard to use. And they’re really more frustrating than anything else. Worse, you need a ton of light to make it work and even if you have lots of light. Image quality is kind of crappy. And if that wasn’t enough. There’s the awful music the app overlays on the clip automatically if you don’t bother to edit it after the fact. (slow music) Now Bixby. It’s not new but it’s still here and it’s still bad. It’s got a fresh coat of paint and it’s slightly faster than before. But it’s still way slower than the Google Assistant and it isn’t as good at parsing my voice commands.

There’s a couple of new features like an integrated makeup store that let’s you try makeup out virtually and then buy it directly from Sophora or Cover Girl. But I really can’t image anyone using that more than once. Anyways, here’s what I look like with a face full of makeup. And then there’s the perennial complaint with Samsung’s software. Why are there so many duplicate apps? The unlock the S9 that I’ve been testing has two email apps, two gallery apps, two browsers, two app stores and two payment apps. Now a couple of Samsung apps is good. Mostly the Samsung browser and Samsung Pay. But the rest are inferior to the Google Apps that are also installed on the phone.

Which just makes it kind of annoying. And if you care at all about software updates. Samsung is one of the worst manufacturers when it comes to delivering new versions of Android. As of this review. Last years Galaxy S8 still doesn’t have Android in the US. And that was released by Google over six months ago. Alright, so it sounds like I just took a huge dump on the S9 but like I said. Most of these bad things can be ignored. You can turn off Bixby. Never bother to use AR emoji or super slow mo. And disable most of Samsung’s apps. The only real sticky point for some people will be Samsung’s poor update history. But that leaves the rest of the S9 which is actually really great. Still has a modern design. Has great performance. Great screen and a very good camera. Outside of the display the S9 isn’t a class leader in any category.

But it’s good enough in all of them that the whole package makes for a great phone. Chances are if you’re spending between $700 and $900 on a new phone this year. The S9 is gonna be one of the best options you can get. But if it doesn’t do it for you. You might want to wait for Samsung’s next big thing. – Sick. Wasn’t that cool? .

As found on Youtube

https://reviewsarena.net/smartphone/samsung-galaxy-s9-first-look/

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productreviewsappshopify-blog · 5 years

Text

Samsung Galaxy S9 review

youtube

As found on Youtube

https://reviewsarena.net/smartphone/samsung-galaxy-s9-first-look/

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productreviewstemplate-blog · 5 years

Text

Samsung Galaxy S9 review

youtube

As found on Youtube

https://reviewsarena.net/smartphone/samsung-galaxy-s9-first-look/

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productreviewsonshopify-blog · 5 years

Text

Samsung Galaxy S9 review

youtube

As found on Youtube

https://reviewsarena.net/smartphone/samsung-galaxy-s9-first-look/

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