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mk-wizard · 11 months

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Top 15 Games that SHOULD get a 100% Reboot/Restart

Hi. I felt like doing something positive especially after my last post, so as a follow up, here is a list of games that I think should get the reboot treatment. And when I say reboot, I don’t just mean remake with fancier graphics and bonus features. I mean restart altogether with fresh new storylines that go their own way though in some specific cases, all they need is a new look. Note that this is my subjective opinion and nobody here has to agree with it. It’s just a fun suggestion.

1- Metal Gear - I don’t mean Metal Gear Solid, I mean Metal Gear in general. In fact, I think the “Solid” should be retconned entirely because it not only stopped being about Solid Snake who is the hero, he was done dirty with a pathetic ending and the only sequels we get now are prequels. Not to mention the constant drama and tragedy became nauseating. My advice is to restart from the beginning by rebooting the games that date back to the NES as are with better writing and then after that, only do a half-reboot of Metal Gear Solid and then go its own way while respecting Snake as a main character. Solid Snake is a staple in war themed games and set the standard of how we create them. He should REMAIN the main character and have his endings always remain open with him still standing with dignity.

2- Dino Crisis - I don’t think I need to say much here. Everyone is dying to see this game get remade and it’s not hard to see why. With the exception of the third game and the spin off, Dino Crisis 1 and 2 are amazing. They are dinosaur themed games that actually feel like survivor horror games and not like shooter games with the dinosaur gimmick. This series deserved a reboot and a third game that gives it proper closure.

3- Parasite Eve - Like Metal Gear, this series did dirty to its main character (Aya Brea) in such a way that they wrote themselves into a corner. Only the first game feels unique and special while the second and third instalments have an identity crisis, a confusing weapons and spell system, and a tank control that never belonged. Only the first game should stay as is with a simple remake and then, its sequels should actually be true sequels that keep the battle, spell and control system as are. Let’s just forget that PE2 and The Third Birthday ever happened.

4- Silent Hill - Let’s be honest. Harry Mason is the most underrated male protagonist in survivor horror because unlike all the others, he is not a man of action, not a badass and very relatable for it. He is a widower, a writer, a pacifist and one heck of a dad who literally jumped into the underworld to save his daughter. Now, while I like a lot of the sequels, this series lost its way. With the exception of Silent Hill 2, I think Harry and his daughter should have remained the main protagonists of the series. Harry is proof that real men come in all flavors and having one like him is different while still showing the best attributes of masculinity.

PS: I know Silent Hill 1 got a reboot, but it was bad. Period.

5- Turok - Before there was Dino Crisis (and I’m not discrediting it), there was Turok. The titular hero who might I also add is aboriginal which is a very underrepresented group in fiction period who literally kills dinosaurs with his bare hands. He is a badass and he while he has gotten reboots before, none of them hit the mark yet, but creators should not give up on him. He is worth the effort and if they keep trying, they will strike gold.

6- Castlevania - This series is ICONIC and nobody ever gets tired of it. It should make a comeback and it is one of the few series where being 3D would make it better. And considering that medieval settings in video games is all the rage now, it would be great to see Simon Belmont back in action. Heck, I would even be open to seeing a Belmont fighting evil in our modern times in 3D.

7- The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time - Now, I stand by that this series doesn’t need a reboot, I think this game specifically should get a remake because it is a great game that reshaped the series into how we know and love it now, but it was very buggy and the graphics were not that great even for their time. Everything else about it is great, but it does need a facelift.

8- Prototype - A forgotten gem if there ever was one. This series is unique in that it is the one game where you play as the monster who is also an anti-hero. Yet again, its series did its main character (Alex Mercer) dirty though on top of that, left too many questions unanswered. This series needs a reboot with a much better storyline. If you haven’t seen it, play the first game and you’ll see my point.

9- Tomb Raider - Now, we can all agree that this series has lost its way. While I am all for origin stories and I admit it makes sense for Lara Croft to not be hardened or toughened up from the start. Keeping her as a weak frightened girl doesn’t make her realistic nor does it make her a likeable heroine. And I am woman enough to admit that being athletic, confident, daring and badass is a part of Lara Croft’s character. I don’t want her to be realistic. I want her to be cool and fun to play. This series needs to go back to its roots when it was fun and Lara was allowed to shamelessly be herself.

10- Dead Rising - Another case of a game losing its way and its main protagonist becomes someone they’re not. The second instalment was the only game that felt true to what the series is supposed to be and even then, it felt like a spinoff not a part of the main story because Dead Rising is Frank West’s story. Another thing that also stood out about this game is that unlike most zombie themed games, the main character is not only not a fighter, he’s a total lover in all the great ways. Frank is (or rather, was) compassionate, honest and it isn’t for nothing that you only got the best ending when you would save everyone. Heck, he would save people who tried to kill him. This series should get a total reboot and a total rewrite after game 1. And can we please not give Frank a heart of stone? Him being loving is what made him great.

11- ObsCure - Another lost gem with a unique premise and group of protagonists. This game plays up our childhood fear of the dark because the monsters in this game literally are allergic to the light and the setting is in a highschool. It feels like Scream meets the Blair Witch Project making it a lot of fun, and the monsters are so delightfully creepy. Plus, the story was compelling. Sadly this series only got one sequel which was actually great, but never got that third instalment that would wrap everything up. I say we give this series a reboot, so it can finally finish what it started.

12- Resident Evil Outbreak - I know this is a spinoff series, but it’s one of the best in the series. It fills in a lot of gaps in the main storyline and any game that allows you to have your own tyrant fighting alongside you is awesome. It also has a multiple ending system which was well done and very rewarding when you get the best ending. I think this should get the reboot treatment and even have a third game that expands the aftermath further.

13- Resident Evil Dead Aim - Another one of the best spinoffs in the RE series because it expands the story specifically in how tyrants are made and how the variants work. And to be honest, I even liked the characters. I would love see new life breathed into this compelling game even if it just remains the only one of its kind.

14- Days Gone - I don’t care what anyone says. Any game that allows to play a biker with the spirit of an honourable warrior is badass. Also, can we talk about how this is one of the few games where the main protagonist is married and remains loyal to his wife even long after?! He may be white, male, straight and Christian, but he is still pretty progressive and embodies the BEST part of masculinity. The parts that drive a man to be romantic, noble and heroic. This game with extremely misjudged to the point of bigotry and it deserves a proper reintroduction because it was going places.

15- Half-Life - This series helped Valve get its jump start and it had the most unique and most iffy type of protagonist in an action/sci-fi game possible yet worked: a scientist. After all, who expect the skinny nerd with the big thick glasses to save the day? Yet, it worked and this game has tons of monsters that became iconic in video game lore. What’s really sad is that a third game was in works, but never saw the light of day. I say we reboot this series and give it the chance to honour its promise to give that third game at long last.

Bonus - Other honourable mentions here are Left 4 Dead because Back 4 Blood stinks, Alone in the Dark though I hear a reboot is in the works, Doom, Devil May Cry and the right way please, Bloody Roar, The Suffering, Fatal Frame, The Evil Within and any other fantastic game series that either went bad due to bad sequels or never got the chance to keep going.

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silver-wield · 2 months

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Just finished rebirth and I gotta say, this multiverse/timeline storyline is not doing it for me. I was never a fan of the multiverse genre to begin with so maybe I have some bias. I just feel like using the multiverse hook, is a cheap cop out to keep everyone happy.

Oh your favorite character dies,but don’t worry they died in that other universe not the real universe. You didn’t like this, that, or what happened? Relax, there are alternative timelines and whatever scenario you want is entirely possible!

After remake; I told myself to have an open mind. But after playing rebirth, it just feels like the devs made the plot too complicated for no reason. Obviously the story is not done yet. But honestly, Im not sure how I feel about the next installment. At this point, tifa is the only reason why I’m still invested in this series.

My brother is an aerith fan and even he said that they are doing way to much with her character. to quote his words “just let that girl die in peace!”

These new gen ff7s could have been perfect. I get why the hardcore og ff7 purists are so upset now. The foundation of the plot is basically changing. Square enix is trying to replace a near perfect story with what basically feels like a fanfic when the reality is the story only needed to be polished off and fleshed out a bit.

The tifa scenes and her date scenarios were the saving grace for me.

The almost kiss and The actual kiss made me cry! The nearly 30 year wait for the cloti kiss was my rebirth!

Sorry I guess I kinda vented/ rambled a bit. I do have an ask and if you don’t want to answer it, I understand. No pressure.

Are you looking forward to the next installment and what are you hoping to see for tifa’s storyline? Do you think the multiverse trope will alter her storyline?

So I already have a short explanation about this here, but just to restate it's not a multiverse. It's not alt timelines. The world is the outcome of a series of choices. Once you make a choice, you can't make a different one.

The past is forever. You don't get a do over.

The cut scene with Zack shows that once you choose, the other pathway gets reabsorbed into the planet and is lost forever. There's not another Zack who went left because there's only one Zack and he went right.

Does that help make it make sense a bit more?

Tifa's storyline is the same as before. She needs to save Cloud and Sephiroth is getting between them. That's why she saw something slightly different when the team arrived to help Aerith, and Sephiroth said "it begins".

#FF7Rebirth spoilers

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thenightling · 1 year

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Terminology clarifications

Roughly twenty years ago or so Hollywood finally caught on that there was a negative stigma attached to the term “Remake.” The word “Reboot” was adopted to mean the redoing of a franchise from the beginning. Other terms (which already existed but were not in common use for movies) were also adopted. Lately the terms are used pretty interchangeably on social media and even on entertainment news sites so that people are getting confused and many so-called reporters just don’t care. Here are the terms and what they actually mean. Remake - The term Remake was quietly dropped by Hollywood years ago but it’s become the more honest term. This is when a single movie is redone with a new cast of actors and with newer (and hopefully better) special effects. Sometimes The time period the film is set in is also updated but that’s not a requirement, especially in a period piece like most Dracula and Sherlock Holmes movies. Example: The Fly (1986) is actually a remake of a 1950s film of the same name. __________________________ Reboot - A reboot is when an entire film franchise is restarted from the beginning all over again. An example of this is the 2010 version of Nightmare on Elm Street. ________________

A soft-reboot - A soft reboot is when some previous content is kept in tact, while others are ignored. Example - The Halloween franchise has had a soft-reboot where only the first movie was acknowledged and several sequels were ignored before the most recent movies. ________________________ Revival - A revival is when an older franchise / continuity is brought back and the latest film or TV show continues where the old story left off. Sometimes revivals are also a soft-reboot. Quantum Leap has been called a reboot but it is actually a revival. _____________________________________ Reimagining - A reimagining is reserved for an adaptation of a previously existing source material like a novel. Sometimes a remake, reboot, and reimagining are all the same thing and neither is actually wrong. But this term is specifically reserved for something with a pre-existing source material so the film makers (or showrunners) can claim they are looking at the source material in a different way then the previous group that had adapted it. Often the reality is the reimagining has become a quiet code for “Less faithful to the source material” and “More creative liberties have been taken this time.” Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2006) was supposed to be a reimagining of the novel that had previously been adapted as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. _________________________________ Sequel - A sequel is a second film in a franchise. Sometimes if there are many films after the first one, like a nineth or tenth installment you’d call it “yet another sequel.” Example: 1988′s Fright Night: Part 2 is the sequel to the 1985 film Fright Night. _________________________________________ Trilogy - When there are three films in a franchise. This has become rare but it’s a good number for most film franchises. Example: The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2, and The Godfather Part 3. ______________________ Mid-quel or Midquel - A film set in the middle of the first story of a franchise. Example: Beauty and The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a midquel. _______________________ prequel - A film set before the actual first film of a franchise. Example: Scoob. Scoob was meant to be a prequel to the original Scooby Doo Where are you? _____________________ Spin-off - A film set in the same universe or continuity as another film series or TV show. Example: Angel was a spin-off of Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series. _______________________________ Adaptation - This is when a play, book, graphic novel, comic book, Manga, TV show, cartoon, video game, etc has been adapted into a new form (usually for the first time) such as a film or TV series. The Sandman Netflix series is an adaptation of the work of Neil Gaiman. _____________________________ What we actually need is a new term for when an older franchise is revived AFTER it had a bad reboot that has now been ignored. Examples of this are Ghostbusters: Afterlife The Halloween franchise ignoring the Rob Zombie version. The Chucky TV series ignoring the Child’s Play remake. Fright Night (which will now be given a book series continuation from the original 80s movies, ignoring the 2011 remake and the 2013 remake that was passed off as a sequel to the 2011 film).

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crazykacey · 11 months

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Different possibilities of future Sera Myu

Since it is the 30th of June, Usagi's birthday, I thought I might finally post this thing that has been in my drafts for some months lol

Let's go!

So ever since the end of Musical Festival Chronicle, I've been thinking about what would be the next Sera Myu we get? During the Senshuuraku of Chronicle, Riko mentioned that when Kaguya-hime no Koibito ended, they weren't sure if Sera Myu would continue so most likely the same thing applies now. It might be possible Myu might end but we had Super Live this year so there are chances. Many might think that since the Crystal series finally comes to an end, so does anything else related to Sailor Moon, but it is very much certain that they will keep pushing out merch as it has been very profitable so far and even the Sailor Moon Museum announced that it will reopen in 2024 so there might be more musicals just like back in the day! Although we still haven't gotten any news regarding it and I for sure thought we would get some new info today... ANYWAY we have gone through all the main 5 arcs, one short story and one original so what next? I have a few ideas. (check terms at the end of the post if confused)

1) Third installment in the Snow Kaguya series

For me, it didn't really seem like Snow Kaguya was fully defeated in Chronicle, as she was defeated in the same way as she was in KHnK so it feels super random that she would be defeated NOW so maybe they could do one more musical to finally defeat Princess Snow Kaguya (maybe as Eternal Sailor Moon)

2) Something completely new

It could be possible we might get something completely new and original. Who knows? lol

3) R movie or SuperS movie

Ever since KHnK, people have been wondering if the other two movies would be made into a musical, although KHnK bore no resemblance to the movie as it pretty much followed the manga short story to the T, it is still possible that the other two movies will be made into musicals.

4) Another Story musical

ah the forgotten gem in the SM universe. I really love Another Story and I wish it would get more recognition. And since they are going with the Super/Mugen arc theme as KHnK takes place around that time and Another Story is supposed to take place after the Mugen arc so it could be a possibility. How it works in action is kinda ? as Another Story featured every major villain from Dark Kingdom arc to Mugen arc but they could focus it on the Oppositio Senshi and Apsu. It also would be cool if previous Senshi actors would return as the Oppositio Senshi (for example, AE Inners)

5) Kaguya Shima Densetsu/Snow Kaguya hybrid

So this is kind of similiar to my #1 idea but I feel like this needed to be its own thing. It could be possible that they'd fuse these two stories into one where Snow Kaguya replaces Dark Plasman and she is somehow connected to Kaguya Island since they have the same name(although she was given that name by Kakeru but who knows. Myulore tends to be confusing sometimes lol). And the reason for this is that I think that we will not get Kaguya Shima Densetsu remade and I will get to that soon

6) The Dracul series remake

I have my doubts about this since the Dracul series tends to be kinda confusing and since it's a story that requires all 3/4 musicals to be watched and that all to happen in the span of 3 years would be kinda hard to follow (during BanMyu it only took about a year and a half as they did multiple musicals in the span of one year but now they are doing only one musical a year, not counting Super Live). And the 4 musicals had way too many plot points in them so it would be fairly impossible to put that all in one musical. Also, it had kinda dark stuff in it so not sure if it would be allowed to be performed in this day and age lmao. (But I actually had a dream some time ago that Sayaka Okamura(Snow Kaguya) sang Muma no Oodri as Death Lamia so yeah lol)

7) Sailor V musical

I think the best point for a Sailor V musical would have been in 2018 after LMF as the main story has ended and the cast at the time had had their "graduation". So as much as I want a Sailor V musical I do not really see them doing it now when they have a cast of all the Senshi (unless they decide to do multiple musicals a year)

8) Kaguya Shima Densetsu remake

I do not see this happening as of now cause I just cannot see Dark Plasman played by a woman. I do not mean this with the intent to hurt anyone's feelings or to attack those who are fans of the all-female cast. It's just that Dark Plasman has such a deep voice that I just don't think it would be possible, or if they did, I think I would personally not enjoy it. I mean, if there is someone who has a deep voice like that, I would be happy to see it, but it just seems kinda unlikely as the deepest voice we have had in NewMyu this far are Syu Shiotsuki (UNV-LMF Sailor Uranus) and Kei Oogi (UNV Kaolinite). So unless they return to the mixed cast they had in BanMyu I do not see Kaguya Shima Densetsu happening in its original form in any way in the near future.

9) Other side stories

This is kinda random but maybe they could make musicals from other side stories. This seems very unlikely tho as the other side stories are a lot shorter and KHnK (unless they decide to make the Exam Battles into one musical or something idk) Demon Tree arc is also a possibility

10) NogiMyu R

Don't really see this happening as it has been quite a long time since the previous NogiMyu (although Super Live made a comeback so who knows). The only things to support this are the facts that at the end of NogiMyu they teased us with the Black Moon arc and ever since then it's been a possibility. Also on the Official Sailor Moon website, NogiMyu is still listed in the "Stage" section even after all this time so maybe they could be planning something with it. But if NogiMyu does make a comeback, I hope they do not do the DK arc AGAIN.

So there are many possibilities but will any of them come true? Who knows lol

Terms

KHnK: Kaguya-hime no Koibito musical from 2021

AE: Amour Eternal, musical from 2016 based on the SuperS/Dream/Yume arc

BanMyu: Sailor Moon musicals made by Bandai 1993-2005

UNV: Un Nouveau Voyage, musical from 2015 based on the Super/Infinity/Mugen arc

LMF: Le Mouvement Final, musical from 2017 based on the Stars arc

NewMyu: "new" Sailor Moon musicals by Nelke 2013-2017/2023 (some consider NewMyu to be only the five musicals of the first five arcs but some consider since 2013 to be part of NewMyu)

NogiMyu: Nogizaka46 Sailor Moon musical from 2018-2019 based on the Dark Kingdom arc

#sera myu #sailor moon #sailor moon musicals #usagi's birthday #june 30th #sailor moon 30th anniversary #30th anniversary #musical festival chronicle #banmyu #new myu #nelke myu #nogimyu #sailor v #kaguya hime no koibito

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adamwatchesmovies · 1 month

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Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

Inexplicably, the Ocean’s franchise didn’t sink into oblivion after the sewage that was Ocean’s Twelve. This third chapter in the series fares much better than its predecessor but never reaches the level of the original (neither the original original or the 2001 remake). Still, as another installment, it does offer the remaining fans more of what they want to see, which is something.

After Reuben (Elliott Gould) loses his investment in a new hotel-casino to his business partner, Willy Bank (Al Pacino), he suffers a heart attack and becomes bedridden. Danny (George Clooney) and the rest of the Ocean Club decide to get even by ruining Bank and his new establishment.

If you’re not endeared to the Ocean’s crew, this plot will be an uphill battle. "Boo hoo. Poor Reuben is so upset he’s not making millions off this gaudy casino that he’s become catatonic. Guess it’s up to his buddies to get revenge on his behalf instead of just convincing the proper authorities that he was strongarmed into signing a contract?" Towards the end of the film, the crew’s old nemesis, Terry Benedict (Andy García, whose character is brought back under dubious pretenses), sees millions of his money donated to charity without his consent. I wonder if any of the cash the protagonists end up swiping from Banks would’ve gone anywhere except their pockets had they not had a score to settle. While some of this is mitigated by the fact that Willy Bank is a jerk, what we're seeing feels like a whole lot of “the 1%’s problems”. There isn’t a love plot to make us believe this is about anything but money unless you count the brotherly love between the Ocean’s crew. Even that seems like a stretch.

In the first movie and even in the second in a “sure, whatever”, kind of way, it made sense for these 11 people (we’ll get to that number in a moment) to join forces. Now? It seems overly optimistic to think the random Chinese acrobat who doesn’t speak English would put himself at risk as he does here. Now to be fair, this story makes much better use of its characters than Twelve did. No one gets stuffed into a bag and shipped off to nowhere halfway through, for example. Everyone has a role to play and it works though it should be noted that neither Julia Roberts nor Catherine Zeta-Jones return.

You’re wondering who the two new members of the crew are. One is the aforementioned Benedict, who plays the role of a benefactor. The other is… Eddie Izzard as Roman Nagel. I think. The motif of adding a new expert to the crew with each sequel has basically disappeared, and for good reason. This series can barely handle the people it has on its roster. Adding more is becoming increasingly problematic but it’s also necessary. See, “The Bank” has insane security measures, the kind no one in their right might would even try to circumvent. On the one hand, this makes for exciting scenes that make you wonder how the lock will get cracked. On the other, it makes the plot feel manufactured. For example, there's this super secure room that contains expensive jewelry. The plan to get in? Have Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) and his phoney-looking rubber nose seduce Bank’s right-hand woman, Abigail Sponder (Ellen Barkin). With the help of some magic pheromones, she’ll get so hot and bothered she’ll have no choice but to bring Linus into the only room in the whooooole building that's guaranteed to be deserted. Apparently, there are cameras in the bathrooms, the closets and her private office. It’s a horrible subplot made unintentionally comical by the fact that nothing happens between her and Linus. The movie teases nudity for at least 15 minutes. Ellen Barkin's chest is ALMOST falling out of her dress for so long it’s ridiculous. I thought she was slobbering at the mouth for some man meat but she’s not even taking off her clothes? What’s going on here?!

I’ve been mostly bad-mouthing Ocean's Thirteen because the film is constantly on the brink of crumbling under its own weight. I will still call it a “good” sequel because fans of this series will be happy with it. You hate the bad guy, there are enough laughs to keep you smiling consistently and the con is so complicated it’s fun to see all the pieces coming together. All of the actors are obviously having a great time. I’m in no hurry to watch it again but if you love love love the first, you didn’t mind the second and you want to know if you should watch the third, then I say “sure”. I say this despite feeling like twice was too many for me. (April 29, 2022)

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sekhithefops · 3 months

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I liked FF7 Remake better than Persona 3 Reloaded Because of What They Changed

Welp, that should get half the internet blindingly furious, but here we go.

So as many of you are well aware, its been a big time for remakes lately. Resident Evil is getting the do-over treatment, Silent Hill 2 is currently getting the once over by Bloober Team (and we may one day forgive them for it,) Dead Space got a new shot of life, and of course Final Fantasy 7 and Persona 3 got the remake and reload respectively.

During the PS1/PS2 era I played both of these games from beginning to end and loved them both, I consider them focal points for my development as a gamer, writer, and yes even a person.

Final Fantasy 7 was my first experience as a young kid with a game that had a character I liked outright killed by the game's villain. (Yes I know that Tellah from FF4 got offed, but I never had an SNES as a kid.) The idea that my heroes weren't immortal and that the good guys didn't always win was a pretty big "holy shit" moment for me as a twelve year old kid in 1998.

Meanwhile Persona 3 was my first experience with truly dark storytelling and the idea of supernatural in a modern day setting (FF7 had modern tech, but it clearly wasn't Earth.) Urban fantasy is one of my favorite genres and I place the blame for this solely at Persona's feet.

So of course when the remakes came out I snapped them both up. I blew through FF7 Remake and despite the mooing of the hardcore fans, I loved it.

Then I got Persona 3 Reload and... after I beat The Hanged Man shadow I just kinda lost interest.

Yeah, I just had no desire to keep going, and now I'm going to say why.

People complain that FF7 Remake changed a lot of the story, and to be fair it totally did. (SPOILER WARNING BY THE BY!)

New characters, a more nuanced look at life in Midgar, the idea that ShinRa knew full well that Avalanche wanted to blow up the reactors but actually helped them do so because they wanted to use the attacks as an excuse to frame Wu-Tai for the bombings to restart the war... which is just so damn perfect for an evil corporation I just have to applaud it. Excellent addition.

Persona 3 Reload however... well... beyond updated graphics, updated systems, and a few tweaks to the dialogue is the same damn game I played when I was a kid.

Unfortunately... thats the problem.

In Final Fantasy 7 Remake they made a lot of changes to the narrative yes, but that made it INTERESTING to me! It was like getting a new version of the story I already loved!

Whether it was something as fun, campy, and energetic as Cloud doing a dance number with the owner of the Honey Bee Inn to get a makeover to disguise him as a woman...

... or something as randomly silly as Cloud's gigantic sword getting stuck on a doorframe when he tries to attack a Sepheroth clone.

I even liked the Whispers as an addition. As soon as those knockoff dementors showed up I immediately wanted to know more about them.

The point is, Final Fantasy 7 for me was a mix of what I loved about the old version, and a bunch of new and interesting stuff in a new version!

Persona 3 Reload was... the old version, but a bit fancier with some new mechanics. Otherwise it was the exact same GAME.

Maybe I'm just weird among gamers, but I really am not huge on going back to retread old ground. Even as big a WoW fan as I am the only time I ever installed WoW Classic was to get the undead proto-dragon mount that they gave you for clearing the Death Knight starting area in Wrath Classic.

Once I complete a game's story or finish the main quest, I want to seek out new adventures. There are very VERY few games I'm okay with playing over and over and over and over and over and over again.

When it comes to Single Player RPGs like the majority of the Final Fantasy series and Persona however... yeah. By the midway point in Persona 3 Reload I realized I was reciting along with half the dialogue.

Its still a very good game, but its a game I played years ago and believe me that makes a big difference for me.

#Final Fantasy 7 #FF7 Remake #Persona 3 #Persona 3 Reload #Atlus Games #Square Enix

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illmetkismet · 4 months

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Hiii! Might i add my two cents on how i think Capcom handles these relationships?

So i just think that first since it's a horror survival game, it is quite obvious that it's not their primary focus to showcase much romance. I think they're clever the way they execute these relationships it leaves alot of space for people to interpret them however they want and this is actually something that i love, mind. Much like you I don't ship Ashley with Leon, i simply didn't pick up that vibe while playing the game. It's something that is cute and warm in theory to me but i just think I'd need to see much much more of them to actually get to that point. It's the same with Serennedy, they look so good together and their dynamic is fun in the game but it's all just left up in the air because it ain't the primary focus. I hope this makes sense?

In any case i agree with your takes on them, throughout the entirety of the game Leon has felt like this guiding mentor like figure that was protective and looking out for Ashley. He wanted to keep the atmosphere bearable because they were fighting for their lives. And this is gonna be a bit deep but the way he subtly turned her offer down and proceeded to joke about the knife incident gave me some of my own flashbacks from the past. It's like having a crush on someone then realising that they don't feel the same way about you, which overtime expires and you just take a steps back and appreciate the kind of person that they could be in your life. I really felt for Ashley. My only wish was they at least remained friends and in touch at the end. Seeing I'm not the only one that would want this gives me comfort.

Apologies if my ask is all over the place! My initial point is that everyone has open window to create whatever they want out of these characters. It's a make-believe after all since they're not real. Love your thoughts on them and I'd love to see more! 🌺

Personally, the things I ship and how those relationships are handled in canon are sometimes only tenuously related lol... My most popular fic on AO3 is a three-part series about characters who exchange maybe four sentences in canon, so I can really make do and like, make stone soup, you know? So yeah, Capcom isn't in the business of putting romance into resi, and like you, I'm fine with that. I can use my imagination, I can read between the lines, I can have fun with the lego pieces they've created hehe...

As for Leon and Ashley remaining friends, maybe Capcom will surprise us? Who knows what's in store for the remaining remakes and new installments! And if it's not in the cards, I can fic my way out of that heartache 👍

#leon kennedy #ashley graham #resident evil #ask

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fonulyn · 4 months

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I don't know if this'll make things feel better or worse but the whole remake hype train was what got me into the resi series, my new fav ship and introduced me to the original. Honestly, i've come to appreciate the original a lot more and i honestly like some parts better than the remake. (you're right hand comes off? - absolutely iconic)

I do understand how it feel when something your into for so long gets a new installment or addition that drastically changes things up in fandom. I think i'd feel exactly the same way as you if I was introduced to re4 earlier. You're feelings are perfectly valid and i'm sorry that your enjoyment of things in fandom has not quite been the same.

I am planning on using more of the og canon and stuff in some of my upcoming fanworks. I love how in fan fiction you can pick and chose the pieces you like best and create something new and exciting:) Also, although the new game is what got me into resi, seeing that original knife fight scene on yt is what got me into metaltango! Some of my favorite metaltango works i've read were either based on the og canon or came out long before the remake. So I just wanted to say that love and appreciation for the original is not completely dead, although it seems like the newer installment has taken over things a bit.

I hope you feel better soon, I know how taxing it feels to have creative or motivational slumps in life. I don't really know if there's anything to be said to make things feel better in the moment, but I've found that trying out something new or taking a break can help a bit. ♥️ (i'm not intending to give unsolicited advice or anything, these are just some or my experiences)

first off, the most important thing: "your right hand comes off?" is 100% brilliant and one of the best lines in video games ever :'D

it's absolutely awesome that the remake has gotten new people into the fandom and like i said, it's probably a really nice game with really nice characters! it's just so... everywhere right now 😅 i've been trying to blacklist it so i won't at least need to see it so much but people aren't really tagging so most of the time 90% of my dash is the remake. i think if it wasn't so in-my-face all the time i wouldn't feel so bothered by it tbh. (and i don't even remember when i last read metaltango bc it's so remake focused now, and that makes me sad)

and you're 100% right, appreciation for the original is not completely dead! which is of course very lovely. and maybe in time, things'll even out a bit, and the original will start appearing more in fandom spaces too. let's see if i manage to hang on that long :')

and thank you 💖 (don't worry, much appreciated!) you're objectively completely right that taking a break or finding new things would probably be good for me. i'm just kinda scared because the last time i "took a small fandom break" i ended up not writing a single word for over three years and i'm legit afraid it'll happen again. it'd be miserable. even moreso than i am right now anyway.

#anonymous #ask and i shall answer

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popculturebuffet · 7 months

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Transcontinental Hustle: Ghosts UK and US (Commission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you spooky people and welcome back to Trans-Contiental Hustle, my occasional look at shows and their foreign remakes to see how they compare. This is our second installment and I honestly didn't INTEND for it to be almost 9 months between these but it happens. I"ll try to do more next year. Last time I took a look at That 70's Show and it's half assed British Remake, Days Like These, which replaced a talented cast and one sex criminal with a few british specific references and... nothing else. And while a few other remakes like this have happened like Mad About You (Which I now GOTTA see) or Married With Children.. for the most part when it comes to remakes we usuallyt ake from britian. Just looking at the list on wikipedia, the breakdown for us remakes of other countries shows is... pretty lopsided

Argentina, Brazil, France,Germany, Norway, Portugal : 1 Belgium, Columbia, Denmark, New Zeland, Spain: 2 Sweden: 3 Australia: 10 Japan: 18 UK: 53

I mean I knew it'd be going in but JESUS FUCK. Combining all the other countries it STILL only adds up to 38. We steal/adapt/borrow/rob from the UK a LOT. I will try to have variety, but expect this to happen a lot. I mean Gordon Ramsey alone has MULTIPLE shows on both coasts. And yes reality shows aren't off the table.

So naturally that leads to our first US adaptaiton of a UK show, Ghosts. The original Ghosts launched in 2019 on BBC One, the newest show from acting troupe Them There, who previously did the show Horrible Histories and were looking to do something adult albeit along the lines of Blackadder or the Simpsons: meant for adults but still something older kids can enjoy. After watching an episode of who do you think you are, Co-Creator Jim Howick, was fastinated by the story of a castmember of eastenders who turned out to be related to british royalty and having already had the haunted house idea, ghosts was born. Not much later in 2021, Joe Port and Joe Wiseman , longtime sitcom producers and writers, got the job by CBS adapting it for the US, though with the british cast helping advise.

So not only are both very recent as a result both are fairly similar. In fact the two episode pilot of each show .. follow the same plot, simply with some adjustments: A late 20's early 30's woman inherits a mansion from a distant relative, said mansion has ghosts and after falling out a window finds out she can see them. Hyjinks insue. So the question is what makes these two shows unique, is one better than the other and most importantly is the american version a good adaptation. Let's find out under the cut as I break down these episodes.

As I said the basic plot for both pilots is the same, so i'll be recapping them together again.

We start with a bunch of ghosts as the lady of their manor expires, with them thinking she'll join them before she aburbtly passes on. it quickly establishes this house has ghosts, ghosts can move on and who our main casts of ghosts are

As for introducing our ghosts...it's a lot as while a lot of the ghosts have counterparts between versions, the ghosts are mostly entirely unique between versions. This is one of the things I like most about Ghosts US as an adaptation: it copies the basic premise and a few characters, but still gives most of the archetypes it borrows their own feel and recognizes that you'd have diffrent ghosts in america than britan. It also just combines the two most annoying ghosts into one person and makes him far less of a buttwhiff but we'll get to that. So i'll be throwing a lot of characters at you at once, which the series does.. but still uses a scene early on in each version of the first episode to let you get used to them. INstead I have to infodump like a motherfucker so hang on.

Our UK Ghosts are...

Kitty Highham (Lolly Adefope): An excitable ditzy black aristocrat from the late 1700s. She's your standard bubbly woman with no brains, a sterotype I thought we'd buried but it's ghost lingers here. Thomas Thorne (Matthew Bayton): A tortured poet and a character I liked at first, an overly hammy young man.. but becomes annoying once Alison, the alive lead for the US series, comes into frame as he moons over her, despite having a husband, asks her to die to join him and generally is a creep.

MP Julian Fawcett (Simon Farnaby): A disgraced politican who as the papers reporting his death accuratley call him "a sex pest". He died with his pants down, and is generally egotistical and creepy. He's annoying but ballanced by the fact that researching himself only leads to his shock that

A public figure dying during a sex act. .is only going to be remembered for that. Shocker. Even Alison has at least heard of him for that and nothing else.

Lady Fanny Button (Martha Howe-Douglas): The uptight lady of the manor whose husband horribly killed her. She's also grating, calling Allison a whore multiple times, but eventually aquesing she might be a button after all. THey smartly.. toned this the hell down in the us version but we'll get to her.

Pat Butcher (Jim Howick): A doofy camp counsler who died via a fatal case of arrow to the neck in the 1980s after a scouting accident gone wrong, and whose the nicest and most friendly of the bunch and the only one to be happy Allison's here who dosen't also want to reinact that one scene from ghostbusters.

Rogh (Laurence Rickard): Their biggest swing, a caveman who lived on the grounds and the oldest ghost. He's kinda fun but I can see why he was replaced by a slightly younger ghost in the american versoin Sir Humphrey Bone (Also Rickard): A decapitated Tudor Nobleman whose constantly having to fumble with his head The Captain (Bill Wilbond): A boisterious WWI vetran and insufferable blowhard. He's also a closted gay man which explains a LOT.

Mary (Katy Wix): A victim of the witch trials, kinda friendly just wants people to renounce satan, ironically enough.

Our American Ghosts are:

Captain Isaac Higgenfoot (Brandon Scott Jones): Our Captain counterpart who was in the revolutionary war instead. He's also far less successful in pretending to be a tough military man like The Captain was.. or that he's at all straight.

Alberta Haynes (Danielle Pinnock): A prohibition Lounge Singer. She's the rough countepart of Kitty, both being black women in fancy dresses, but that's about all they have in common, with Kitty's personality transplated to another ghost. Instead Alberta is simply boisterous, loves to sing and is fun to have around without sinking into sterotypes. Top notch reinvention.

Pete Martino (Rich Moriarty): Pat's counterpart, complete with a similar death. Out of all the ghosts he's the only one not changed really at all. Only some details in his personal life I don't need to go into got changed between versions. I'm fine with this as Pat was both one of the best parts of the UK one and they change up the backstory enough to change the stories they tell with him. Plus Scouts just.. fit both coasts too well not to have him.

Trevor Lefkowitz (Asher Goodman): A buisness bro, whose a combo of julian (buisness dude from the past (If 2000's instead of 1990s) who died with his pants down) and Thomas, but with both's worst traits gone: Trevor hits on the lady of the house, but she both brushees it off and he's not nearly as creepy about it, and he isn't you know.. asking her to kill herself. And while he'll ocasinally say sex stuff, he's not nearly as gross as julian, nor pompus and it's later revealed he didn't even die mid sex act. I wont spoil how, but I bumped into it. All in all a MUCH better character than either of his basis.

Flower (Sheila Carrasco): A hippie who died trying to huge a bear while high as balls and Kitty's full counterpart, though the spaciness I buy more due to being a flower child and works better when you have more than two POC characters and two others who aren't idiots to ballance it out. Thor (Devan Chandler Long): Our Caveman replacement, instead being a viking and a LOT of fun: his talks were a LITTLE much at first but I grew to love the guy and his boisterious attitude and little comprehnsion of how much things have changed.

Hetty Woodstone (Rebecca Wisocsky): Fanny's counterpart. Basically just her but less obnoxious. So better.

Sappisis aka Sass (Román Zaragoza): a snarky lenape native american and a faviorite of mine. The one holding the braincell out of his ghosts Crash (Hudson Thames and Alex Bonello): A greaser and our counterpart to Humphrey. Far less prominent.

It's a lot I know, and even I mostly kept up with them by their perfession or personality.

Our human leads are easier to keep track of: For the UK version there's Allison Cooper (Charlotte Richie) and her husband Mike (Kiell Smith-Byone) and for the US we have Sam (IZOmbie's Rose McIver) and Jay (former rapper and almost Aaron Burr, Utkarsh Ambudkar) Arondekar.

And here's where our first big diffrence sets in as the reason for moving into the house is different: The Coopers are trying to FIND a home but having no luck as most flats they find are awful. The Arkondar's have one.. but Sam instantly sees the benefits of moving from a cramped city apartment to a luxrious mansion in the country.

The vibe between both couples is also different: Allison suggests renovating the mansion and Mike is all on board instantly, the two happily singing along to pop as they approach in one of the best gags of the pilot as it segues from them singing goofily and adorably to the outside of the car which has the standard "your going somewhere haunted" music cue you'd expect.

In contrast Jay.. is a bit more skeptical, seeing it as Sam jumping into this and not "holy fuck we got a mansion" and wanting to flip it without thinking.. maybe she wants to do this? Or that it's worth the risk? I get pointing out how much of a money pit this idea is.. but it's also hard to like him when he's often dismissive of his wife, only agreeing to the idea after she gets hurt. It made me like him more but ther'es a genuiness to mike that Jay just dosen't have in these early episodes. Mike is more of a lovable goofus and has more chemistry with his wife. I'll say this with the caveat it might get better with time and early episodes of a series can be awkward, but Mike was the clear winner of the two. Both share the doomed ambition that they can fix an ancient house that hasn't been updated in years with the power of google and some power tools, it just fits Mike more to buy him as that overconfident.

The ghosts are happy to have new owners at first... but things turn sour once both couples plan to turn it into a bnb. So in both versions the ghosts plan is to simply haunt them out with what limited powers they have. The US version does take better advantage of this as each of the ghosts has a little trick they can do: Trevor can move stuff (as can jullian) but only with IMMENSE effort, Alberta can make sound heard, passing through the captain makes you smell smoke etc. The bbc show does use the levitation and passing thorugh thing but just not nearly as much or for as much great comedy as Jay and Sam barely notice or like it. Simple gag, but one that works.

So it's here things take a turn. Now in the US versoin, Trevor's attemtps to move a vase finally work.. but all it does is get Sam to trip on it seriously injuring her and making all the ghosts regret their actions. It's a nice humanizing moment for them, to show they didn't want to KILL anyone, just have some peace.

Allison also falls out a window.. but it's less of an accident and more of an intentional. See you know how I don't like Julian? Well while part of it is him just

Unlike Trevor his harming sam is not only very intentional.. IT'S A MURDER ATTEMPT. He tries to SHOVE HER OUT A WINDOW

Yeah the rest of the ghosts think so too and all hound him over it, NONE OF THEM having wanted this and it makes it hard to really take his presence: HE TRIED MURDERING THE MAIN CHARACTER because it was easier to kill her.. forgetting she both might join them and not exactly be happy she was murdered, and that her dying dosen't solve the problem. Mike would still be around and as we find out he can't sell the place, more on that in a moment, and even if he COULD.. it'd just mean someone ELSE wanting to make it into a hotel or outright tear the building down leaving them without their nice giant fancy house and instead in an office building or a big new mansion or something. I don't question this from a plot standpoint as well.. Julian is a politican. They dont' think shit through, and we get the great scene of him trying to politc his way out of actually admitting to it and it not remotely working, so it works a little.. but it's also something the series apparently ignores till much later for understandable reasons.

At any rate both the accidental near muder and the very intentional near muder have the same result: sam returns, the ghosts are mildly relived.. and she notices the buisness douche in the room among the contractors they brought in. She can see them and both Allison and Sam end the episode screaming as the sight of their roomates.

So the next episode which MOSTLY has the same plot... but there's one exception. The british version has a subplot where Fanny has night terrors and jumps off the balcony every night, reliving her death. Julian is pissed about this.. because she keeps waking him up as the balcony is in his room

Both ladies of the house have a subplot where the husband is trying to do dyi repairs, and accidently destroys a wall, leaving them unwiling roomates with Kitty or Flower depending on the version.

So with Sam and Allison seeing ghosts their respective husbands advice to her having possible concussion ghosts? Why taking a tip from mr paul anka of course: Just don't look. If you ignore a head injury it will go away!

And this is another reason I don't like Jay so much as while both husbands give the same life threatening advice, Jay comes off a lot more condesencding. He's not full on "Oh you women and your emotoins you just need a hair cut" levels of punchable, but he's still very "Your wrong sweetie" levels of punchable. Mike on the other hand while also not a doctor and not taking his wife to one, at least seems more calm, patient and compassionate.

The episode goes about the same as the ghosts now realize they can run a war of attrition with their respective soldier ghosts leading the charge. The Captain fits this kind of thing better, and I also love how he's stopped: Allison gets the tv hooked up and he gets super horny for tanks. They do a similar gag in the us with thor and vikings, which is neat, but I like the original a smidge better. It's fucked up in a way that works.

We also get one of the ghosts researching themselves, Julian in the UK and Isaac in the us, on the husband's laptop and the husband having no idea what he's doing DIYing. We do get Mike singing to himself which is glorious.

The ghosts basically spend their time annoying Allison or Sam , my favorite from either version being Mary just saying GETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUT over and over.. probably meaning Sam will never watch get out. Thanks a lot Mary. You deprived her of a horror classic. I hope your satisfied.

Eventually Allison and Sam have enough and get their husbands to take them to the hospital. We get a great bit with Allison that I must've missed if they used it in the american version where she talks to a doctor about the ghosts.. who then reveals he's dead. It's a nice, simple way to show that no, her power is real, ghosts are real, and the actual doctor after, whose quite good accoding to ghost doc, confirms her brain is fine.

I do like the diffrent reactions and that instead of just having both ghost hosts be the same, their diffrent people. Same with the husbands though taking a functional couple and making them "we're oppsites ain't that wacky" which CAN work. I love me a good opposites attract. Exhibit "Thing I Watched Yesterday"

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Those harmonies man. Also I couldn't review it this spookys eason but check back in February.

But here it's more for annoying tension than actual chemistry. Again this is with the caveat it CAN improve, the show has two full seasons, it seems like he gets the stick out of his ass as it goes, but for these two episodes it's a lot.

Anyways those reactions: Sam is excited and being peppy decides to kindly approach the ghosts and ask what they want. They.. prefer this and begrudingly accept the new status quo and getting help.

Allison.. takes a bit more of a blunt approach. She TRIES to leave.. but their hooked in for tons of debt as while he's ace in every other department.. Mike just "skimmed" the contract for their loans. Mike come on....

He's Mike. So Allison, fed up, just has him pull over, and confronts her ghosts. Mike.. think's she's having a psychotic break, poor bean, but she stops him from calling a doctor , instead asking WHAT DO YOU WANT MOTHERFUCKERS. The motherfuckers is strongly implied. The ghosts are taken aback by this.. and meekly give requests. Which are mostly reasonable: Fanny wants her husband's portrait removed from her room, The Captain wants an hour of tanks a week Pat just wants to say hello, and Julian wants his articles removed from google.. well okay from his perspective it's resonable. Allison at least can tell him ther'es nothing she can do. Thomas.. wants her to "Leave your husband for me and kill yourself" She does instantly shut that shit down, and his response of "To which part" as she just ignores him and moves on is hilaroius.

And thus both women settle in with their ghosts. I do like Allison just casually hanging with all of hers a bit better but it works. We also get both women helping with the boiler their husband was working on with the help of the mass of ghosts in the basement, with the same gag of them lying about how many there are down there.

Overall Ghosts in both versions... is excellent. The original is a bit funnier, likely due to looser censors but using most of it's adult content for jokes instead of screaming

Though it sometimes falls into it and some characters don't entirely work.

The remake's husband isn't nearly as charming and it plays it safer due to being on broadcast television, but it's ghosts are more charming in places and it still has the nice charm of the original and Rose McIver gives it her best. All in all... i'd recommend both shows. I'll probably go back to the uk one first though you'll have to find seasons 4 and 5 through.. other means in the us as none of the services you can buy the show from have them. Series 5 I get as it just aired, but Series 4? What? WhY? Why exactly?

At any rate this was fun and what I suspect will be one of the few of these where one version doesn't clobber the other. Thanks for reading and have a happy halloween

#ghosts #halloween #ghosts uk #ghosts us #Youtube

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albertonykus · 1 year

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Doraemon Movie Review: The Records of Nobita, Spaceblazer (1981) and The New Record of Nobita's Spaceblazer (2009)

What is Doraemon? The title character of the Doraemon manga and anime is a blue robotic cat from the 22nd Century who keeps an array of high-tech gadgets in a portable pocket dimension on his belly, and has traveled from the future to improve the fortunes of a hapless schoolboy named Nobita. Although relatively obscure in the English-speaking world, Doraemon is a Mickey-Mouse-level cultural icon in East Asia (and some other regions, too). The Doraemon franchise was a big part of my childhood, and there are still elements of it that I enjoy now. Doraemon has released theatrical films almost annually since 1980, most of which involve Nobita and his friends (kind Shizuka, brash Gian, and crafty Suneo) getting swept into adventures thanks to Doraemon's gadgets. Despite being of potentially broad appeal to fans of science fiction and animated films, there are very few English reviews of the Doraemon movies, so I'm embarking on a project to write about all the films that have come out so far. Good luck to me…

Movie premise: Nobita and his friends protect the pioneering settlers of a distant planet from an evil corporation, space Western style.

My spoiler-free take: An atypical Doraemon film that focuses more on Nobita and Doraemon bonding with movie-exclusive characters than on their regular friend group. That may be appealing to some, but it’s not quite my cup of tea.

Despite that, I would still recommend the original over the 2009 remake, which adds new plot points and story arcs that largely fell flat for me.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT

Review: This is an unusual Doraemon movie in a number of ways, probably due to it being such an early film installment in the franchise. Something that is well known to Doraemon fans is that the main characters tend to come across as better friends in the movies than in the regular manga chapters or anime episodes. (For example, in typical Doraemon stories, Gian and Suneo are much more likely to bully Nobita than to show concern for him.) In this film, however, the character interactions feel more similar to those in the mainline series.

(Yep, this is more like the usual dynamic among the main characters...)

There is also the fact that Shizuka, Gian, and Suneo aren’t involved with most of the adventure in this story. Doraemon and Nobita are the only mainline protagonists present for most of the film, and much more emphasis is placed establishing their friendship with new, movie-exclusive characters. I can see how that could make for a compelling narrative to some viewers, but being generally more invested in the relationships among the series regulars, it didn’t do too much for me.

Be that as it may, Nobita’s usual friend group does get a moment to shine during the climax. Shizuka is the MVP here, being the one who convinces the others to help out. I don’t think I appreciated as a child how often Shizuka plays a critical role in the movies, especially in the older entries. In fact, it might be interesting to keep track of how many times it happens as I go through the film series...

Shizuka-saves-the-day count (cumulative): 1

Star rating: ★★★☆☆

This movie received a remake in 2009 as part of the 2005 Doraemon anime reboot, so I will turn to that next.

Review: As with the other early movies to come out of the reboot, this is a very visually interesting Doraemon movie that experiments a lot with the art and animation style. Although the general story remains the same, there are also some substantial changes to the plot. I liked that in this version, Doraemon offers a reasonable-sounding solution to Nobita’s request to provide a new vacant lot for him and his friends to play in, instead of the bizarre “solution” he comes up with in the original (which is to bring out a miniature baseball field so the kids can watch miniature figurines play baseball... potentially interesting, but not quite what they asked for).

Besides that, however, I thought most of the other narrative changes fell flat. The biggest alteration is the addition of an entirely new character, Morina, who goes through her own subplot that turns out to be critical to the final resolution of the movie. Unfortunately, beyond having a tragic backstory, she doesn’t come across as particularly sympathetic or involved with the main plot for most of the film. As a result, I didn’t find her story arc very engaging, especially in contrast to the resolution of the original movie, which made elegant use of a gadget (the Time Cloth) that had been set up earlier in the story.

Star rating: ★★☆☆☆

Original or remake? I’m putting in an unambiguous vote for the original here. For whatever faults it might have, it at least tells a more cohesive story than the remake.

#Doraemon #Anime #The Records of Nobita Spaceblazer #The New Record of Nobita's Spaceblazer #ドラえもん

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mk-wizard · 1 year

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Final Fantasy IV: The installment every FF game SHOULD strive to be like

Hello, friends. Let me tell you about the most underrated installment in the series which near and dear to me because it was not only my introduction to Final Fantasy, it was my introduction to RPGs in general. It is the game the showcased the best of what Final Fantasy brought to gaming, or once did rather, and it is in my opinion the game every other one should have strived to be like... Final Fantasy IV aka Final Fantasy II in North America.

FF7 gets a lot glory, honourable mentions, spin offs and a lot of games since its creation strive to be just like it if not inspired by it, but I think that the franchise is completely wrong when it comes to which game it should focus on being more like. FF4 is the one all FF games should strive to be like because it really is a gem. The amount work, time, effort and love put into it not only shows, it’s stood the test of time. Even now, you can replay the most primitive version of it (the SNES) and it will still be impressive even compared most modern original games now. Yes, it has modern remakes and a few spinoffs though it still doesn’t get the recognition or appreciation it so rightfully deserves. And here is my case as to why...

Note that there are spoilers ahead!

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Number one, it had the best music. Like I said, you can play the most primitive version of this game and it will still impress you. For a Super Nintendo game, the music sounds like it was played by an actual orchestra. The prelude alone sounds heavenly and Golbez’ theme sounds like something out of the underworld (more on him later). While the modern music on more modern consoles of FF are nice, none come close to the quality FF4 had. It was more than just about giving each character their own theme song. Every single piece suited the setting and mood it was made for.

Number two, it had the best protagonist: Cecil Harvey. Ever since Cloud appeared, the trend of FF was to have weird or broody kids play hero. Cecil was a real man who did not play hero. He IS a hero. He is a leader, brave, intelligent, responsible, selfless, kind, faithful and doesn’t need to be convinced to do the right thing. He just does it. In fact, that is exactly how Cecil’s entire journey began: with an act of honour. When he realized his king was evil after being tricked into burning the village of Mist to the ground, he had enough and began his rebellion then and there. Also, he inspired others to join him in doing right. I admit Cecil left a big pair of shoes to fill, but I wish more creators in FF would at least try to make their protagonists more like him.

Number three, it had the best antagonists. Yes, I meant for that to be plural because unlike all other FF games, Final Fantasy didn’t have just one main antagonist. It had two. The most obvious one was Golbez who just visually alone is serious, frightening and menacing. He isn’t a pretty boy at all. In fact, I even imagine his voice sounding like that of Darth Vader’s. As said before, his theme resonates with evil. He is also the perfect foil and adversary to Cecil because he’s also a leader, relentless, bold, daring, sadistic, cruel and competent. On top of that, he’s a tragic villain done right because it turns out that he was mind controlled this whole time since he was a teenager. Yet, even when he is freed, he still behaved like a badass and even took accountability for his misdeeds. Golbez knew the world would not forgive or pity him that easily nor should it, so he decided to face penance like a man and start a new life on the moon.

The other main antagonist who was memorable is Kain Highwind who also happens to be Cecil’s best friend and foster brother. What also sets him apart from all other FF main antagonists is that you only fight against him once and then, for most of the game, he fights alongside you only to betray you without a warning at the worst possible time. Another thing that sets him apart is that he’s not a tragic villain. He’s a corrupted hero. He is a good guy who made bad decisions and caved into his jealous towards Cecil making him susceptible to being mind controlled. In other word, Golbez played up that which was already there. And like him, Kain accepted that a simple “I’m sorry” was not enough to make up for the things he did and you respect that about him. I mean, he almost killed Rosa and he loved her (more on this later). There has not been a main antagonist like Kain since.

Number four, it had the best romance. A lot of the romances in FF these days are not healthy nor do they feel like they make any sense especially because the characters tend to be underage. The last believable romance I saw was between Zidane and Garnet, and even then, it cannot compare to the love between Cecil and Rosa. They not only have great chemistry together, they’re an item from the beginning and should I also mention that FF4 did a love triangle first? Moreover, it showed it accurately in how they are not fun or cute. They always end with someone getting hurt. You see, Kain was also in love with Rosa and tried to pursue her, but Rosa only loves Cecil. Moreover, though she needed saving a couple of times, she is also just as much there for Cecil. She is his greatest support, believer and is as every bit as stubborn when it comes to doing what is right as he is. Plus, she is the best healer in FF series in general as she is the only one who ever managed to learn Curaja (aka Cure 4) making her and Cecil a power couple. By the way, Cecil and Rosa got married, had a son together and are still going strong. How many FF romances went THAT far?

Number five, it had the best airships. The airships have always been a staple for FF, but you don’t get to use many all at the same time like you did in FF4. You got an airship that had a crane that helped you carry the hovercraft while flying, an airship that had a drill which helped you dig your way out of a mountain from the inside out, and airship that literally takes you to the moon and back. And the best part is, every time you got new one, you still had the others in your garage. I admit that FF5 also had multiple transportation vehicles that stayed in your inventory, but none of them impressed me the way FF4′s did.

Number six, it had the biggest and best set of worlds to explore. As well as having many airships to travel with, it had many worlds to explore. It had the usual overworld, but there was also a vast underworld to see. Moreover, the moon itself is a whole world to explore on its own not one dungeon that comes and go. Most FF games only have one world to explore or one at a time to explore, then there’s no going back. FF4 was not like that. Every world stayed intact and was there to continue being explored as the game went on.

Number seven, it had the best side quests. Like I said, the multiple worlds offered so much to explore and what you would find did not disappoint you. It had side quests that not only added to the experience, but also to the story as though you’re meant to take time to see what lies beyond. And everything you find is genuinely useful from Summons to Weapons. You’re left with the genuine impression that if you don’t complete these quests, you’re missing out. I admit FF5 and FF6 also had great side quests, but they did not surprise me the way FF4 did. I mean, how often do you get a side quest that lets you find out for yourself that not only is your friend still alive, you have a hand in saving him?

Number eight, it had the best story. The most important part of any RPG is its plot and FF4 did not fail to deliver. It’s story plays out like a TV series that you could binge watch over and over again. In fact, if one FF game SHOULD be adapted and faithfully to a TV series it should be this one. The story and character development is just so well done and really draws you in. Did you know that FF4 was the first video game that actually made me cry? When Tellah died, I am not ashamed to say that I cried and not just because I was a kid who felt bad for a character. When Tellah died, you really mourned for him because you got to care about him and what he went through. And I am grateful to this series for making me feel that way because it taught how to write tragedy right.

Number nine, it has been remade again and again, yet still always winds up still being good. I admit it translates best to being 2D and cartoony, but even the CGI 3D version on the DS was was still great and the voice actors selected were pretty much how we imagined them to sound in our minds. More importantly, the remakes always stay faithful to the source material which tells me that deep down, the creators know how perfect FF4 is.

In short, FF7 may be the franchise’s cash cow, but FF4 is its masterpiece. And I can say openly without shame that upon learning that it is getting yet another remake, I am considering purchasing it just to play it because I MISS playing it over and over again. This game not only shaped my childhood. It helped me in my writing.

Anyway, this is all just my opinion on FF4. I would like to know yours and if you disagree, which game was the best in your opinion and why? Thanks for reading and as always, stay safe.

PS: If you haven’t played FF4, play it especially if you are an FF fan. You won’t be disappointed.

#art #artwork #video game #final fantasy #final fantasy 4 #cecil harvey #golbez #kain highwind #best game ever #super nintendo #beautiful #fan favourite

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stupid-sloot-headcanons · 2 years

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Well that Silent Hill announcement was ... something.

I mostly dislike Christophe Gans's SH films because of how they interpreted and portrayed Alessa and the less I say about his Resident Evil films the better. The man has...a not great track record for adaptation. But he seems to love psychological horror, so a SH2 film adapation might work better than 1 or 3 regarding the Order. James's story may be better suited for an arthouse horror director like him than the other games and stories, yk? Then again Gans could never write James accurately since he had to change Harry to a woman in the films because a man? Showing concern and emotion and fear while looking for his daughter? Ewww no change him to a woman, that's too feminine. Yeah nvm this movie is going to suck.

SH2 is my favorite game ever made and even if i did have a PS5 I would never buy any remake of it without making damn sure it's worth it. I don't care that Ito is involved even though I'm glad he is, but after the HD collection shitshow I'd only ever buy this thing for Steam after pirating it and making sure it's not a waste of money and hope.

That said, I think that this remakes voice acting is already better than the HD version of SH2. And with Ito on staff as well as other original staff there working with Bloober, I'm really hoping that the same mountain of mistakes and fundamental misunderstanding of the game from the HD version can be avoided. Bloober's biggest weakness is their writing and stories are shit, but they seem to get the aesthetic and feel of this series down. With the original staff there to keep them in line, I think it'll turn out OK. I mean SH2 doesn't need a remake or remaster and is perfect as is. But if you want to remake it, then sure this looks like it'll be fine I guess.

Ascension is a fucking stupid concept and I hate everything about it but hopefully the monsters will look cool.

Townfall's teaser didn't make me feel much, but the name's not making me optimistic. Neither is the dialogue/monologue, but then again it's just a teaser.

Easily the BEST new installment we got from this is Silent Hill f. I'm curious about how a series set in this one town in America can have any canon connection with the Japanese village in f, but given how much Homecoming fucked up the origins of Silent Hill in the first place I wouldn't be mad if it's something totally unrelated. The cutscene was gorgeously horrifying, and I never expected to see Ryukushi07 writing/directing a FUCKING SILENT HILL GAME but I trust the man when it comes to cool horror visuals. He sucks at writing in general and the game doesn't look or feel like Silent Hill at all, but it's the most unique and interesting so that's smth I guess

In the end it's painful to me that it's hard to get excited for a remake, film, and new statues/figures and installments of my favorite game series ever made, because the company that owns the IP is such shit and has ruined a lot of what made the original series good in the first place. Still, I'm cautiously interested. I'm sure the SH consoomers going "ZOMG MORE SILENT HILL YAY TAKE ALL MY MONEY" will be happily fed for a while, but in my mind this series is still dead and has been for a while 🤷‍♀️

#sloot watches #silent hill transmission #silent hill #reminder btw ill never write for silent hill characters on here ok byeeee #sloot's essays #hot take but sh2 cant ever be remade well and has never needed a remake #if you want to play it then either watch a lets play/pirate it and play it on your pc/buy a ps2 and the game sorry

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themattress · 2 years

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The Final Fantasy VII Timelines.

1.) The Original Timeline - Contains Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children. My personal favorite timeline since it’s neat and simple, with Final Fantasy VII conceived as a stand-alone title in the Final Fantasy series while Advent Children was conceived as a stand-alone cinematic sequel w/ some literary tie-in materials. If this was all we had, I’d be satisfied.

2.) The Compiled Timeline - Contains the “Compilation of Final Fantasy VII”, which is Before Crisis, Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus, a hypothetical version of Final Fantasy VII that fits in with all the other titles (because lord knows the actual game does not), Advent Children Complete which remakes Advent Children to put it in line with those other titles, and tie-ins such as the animated Last Order OVA that was specifically made to advertise Before Crisis. I did not care for any of this at the time and still don’t like it save for some interesting elements in Crisis Core, but it works better now that a new timeline has been established, since what transpires in the new timeline wouldn’t make much sense if there had only been one timeline before it. Thus, this is a timeline where a bunch of new things happened, but the core events of Final Fantasy VII were not altered because something about Whispers and destiny; idk.

3.) The Remade Timeline - Contains The First SOLDIER, presumably some of the events from Before Crisis, Crisis Core Reunion, and Final Fantasy VII Remake plus the subsequent two installments in the trilogy. This is the timeline where the core events of Final Fantasy VII did get altered, which puts us into uncharted territory going forward, for better or for worse.

#Final Fantasy #Square Enix #Final Fantasy VII #Analysis #Comparison

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okamirayne · 1 year

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So, been re-reading BtB as part of my NY ritual (Happy New Years btw, Rayne!) and am always amazed how far your writing has come in those years from BtB to HHU. Do you ever revisit the series for inspiration? Might it help spark the burnout fire a little for your originals? love and hugs xox

Hey there Anon!

Thanks for letting me know you revisit the series as part of your NY ritual and for your kind praise regarding my growth as a writer...

...aw, that's so lovely.

Do you ever revisit the series for inspiration?

...I try...but...

Mostly because every time I visit the first instalment I want to rewrite the entire thing like one of those video game remakes...something like BtB Remastered. Ha. The temptation to do this is monumental at times...though I should probably just let it be...despite...temptation...

Might it help spark the burnout fire a little for your originals?

You have a point, Anon...especially as it may remind me how much I managed to write and complete with BtB...I often forget this...and as my original works is a hell of a lot larger and longer, it can be daunting, on top of the writer's burnout. Thank you for this suggestion, sweetie. I really do appreciate it.

Wishing you a fabulous New Year, may it be kinder and brighter for us all. Xx

#btb reader kindness #btb reader ask

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freelanceexorcist · 1 year

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FFVIIR theory time

Just one or two or five this time, but this one has been on my mind a bit lately, especially with the new Crisis Core footage. This will probably still be long as hell, though, so consider yourselves warned.

As always:

Seriously, kids, you know the drill

OK, you've officially given up your right to bitch about any spoilers in this post.

To start, some of these theories will be pretty canon-divergent. The key word here is theories. If your eye is twitching right now, think of this as an AU fic except it's just the opinion of someone who can't write fiction for shit. And like it or not, big parts of the canon story HAVE changed and these theories might even fit into canon in some way. And yes, I know the dev team has said that all of the major story beats will remain the same, but they said a lot of things back then, yet exercised their right to change their minds, which I think gives me a little wiggle room.

Anyway.

I've had the origin of Ore!Sephiroth on my mind lately, and I've tenuously concluded that he is the only real version of Sephiroth in the game. I even have my doubts about his real body chilling out in the Northern Crater and rebuilding in this iteration of the story.

So who's the person creating illusions in Cloud's mind and warging into the black-cloaked zombie men? I think it's Jenova herself trying to utterly break Cloud.

"But Jenova is just a mindless, instinct-driven animal that Sephiroth uses as a meat suit throughout the game," you say.

Yes, that's basically what she was in the OG. So much so that a man whose mind was utterly broken could wrest control away and impose his will on her. But subsequent materials give her more and more agency and suggest that her influence on Sephiroth is stronger than originally thought. It follows that the Remake series, with all of it's changes, would make her sentient and malicious.

Having said this, if you have the ability to assume other forms based on someone's memories and you want to inflict maximum psychological damage on your prey, you don't appear as yourself. The only memory they have of you is your severed head. No, you appear as the man responsible for the worst day of their life, and you taunt the shit out of them about that. You throw their mother's dying words at them. You follow them around telling them how weak and worthless they are because you know that somewhere deep down, they believe that about themselves. You constantly remind them that anyone who looks to them for protection will end up dead and you show them glimpses of the future to prove it.

I don't get the sense that it's Sephiroth's thing-either in the Compilation or spin-offs-to do that. This is why it was kind of jarring to me to see Sephiroth behaving that way in the Remake. It seemed out of character. Sephiroth's usual attitude toward Cloud is one of indifference and control at worst and, at best, seeing him as a somewhat worthy opponent. Even in Advent Children, when he was basically a rage-fueled golem made of Jenova cells and spite whose white hot hatred of Cloud fueled his very existence he wasn't that verbally abusive toward him. That was, to me, a big clue that something was off.

So my lowly opinion is that OG Sephiroth's motives will be transferred to Jenova in future installments while she continues to look like him and we won't find out this is what's going on until the big reveal. That will be the mystery of Sephiroth this time around.

Jenova as the new Big Bad is even scarier than Sephiroth when you think about it, because her genetic material is the source of his superhuman strength. As strong as he is, that would make her even stronger. Imagine being at the mercy of a villain that is mentally breaking you down piece by piece and can then instantly squash you like a grape once she's gotten what she wants from you.

So from here on out, I'm assuming that each appearance of Sephiroth other than Edge of Creation or similar instances is actually Jenova assuming his form.

Then there's Ore!Sephiroth. During the boss fight at the end, it's heavily implied that he is at least partially controlled by The Whispers. That also implies that the final battle wasn't entirely his choice. By being defeated in that battle, he's able to break free from our friendly neighborhood Dementor wannabes. I also theorize that he wanted to see how strong the party had become.

Fast forward to the Edge of Creation sequence, and you know that this person is very different from the person we've encountered throughout the game. Jenova induces hallucinations, but Sephiroth helps snap Cloud out of them. In the Japanese version, he uses a first-person pronoun ("ore," hence the nickname) that is personal, casual and used amongst peers, while all others use "watashi," which is impersonal and very formal. This was important enough for the folks who put together the Ultimania for the Remake to point out about him.

What I'm getting at is that all sensors indicate that this guy is actually Sephiroth, and that he has managed to shake off Jenova's influence and regained full control over his own mind (something that-again, in theory-The Whispers were trying to prevent in order to keep events chugging along as they were meant to).

Now I've seen some really good theories in my travels that say this is either pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth or a version from the future, either of whom could have traveled through time. While I love the idea of the former, I tend to favor the latter. The reason for that is for drama's sake.

Pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth gaining knowledge of future events and enlisting Cloud's help to stop them is a good storyline, but not as powerful as the other scenario. In that one, Future Sephiroth has shaken off Jenova and his personality has been able to re-emerge, but now he's wracked with guilt and shame over the things he's done and knows exactly what will happen if Jenova wins. Sure, as of the end of Advent Children she had been beaten back once again, but as long as she persists in the Lifestream, she can try again and again.

Who is to say that Future Sephiroth doesn't come from a time when she finally succeeded? The landscape at the Edge of Creation looks a lot like a barren planet after all. This is the culmination of everything he helped her do for so many years, and he sees the chance to put an end to it. But he can't do it alone.

Also, personality-wise, the latter would be more entertaining. Pre-Nibelheim was dutiful, determined and a bundle of personal and emotional issues. Future Sephiroth would be all of those things and also a bit of a giant asshole, too. Any good he does won't erase or excuse the awful things he did in the past, he will have to come to terms with that, and one doesn't just find out they were born as the result of horrific human experimentation and come out the other side of that with a winning personality. Kinda like Negan after his heel-face turn on The Walking Dead.

Finally, this being pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth doesn't make sense when you figure that if he's here, that means the destruction of Nibelheim likely didn't happen, or at least didn't happen in the way we know. This would completely change the story from the ground up, and big changes aside, the major story beats seem to be chugging along as usual. There's always the issue of alternate timelines that the story wants to play with, but it'll take a lot more theorizing power than I have to figure out how pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth would figure into that.

That's about all I've got right now, so I'll wrap this up. If you're still reading, thank you for indulging me.

Until next time!

#FFVIIR #sephiroth #dumbass theories #jenova

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