SleepingSilence

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

"Ghost Song" might've left the worst first impression of any Metroidvania that I've played thus far. (To the point where I feel like these overwhelmingly positive reviews are straight up dishonest.) And I wish I looked into the game’s general opinions a little bit further. (Like I do for most things.) Because it certainly doesn't sound like it's going to get any better...

To be blunt. Here's my future review; This game gets absolutely. everything. wrong. Play literally any other Metroidvania game over this.

Note for future self: Games in development hell are basically always there for a reason, and should be avoided like the plague. Thanks for coming to my TED-talk.

What Are You Listening To?

Anime & Manga! Oh my! (Anime/Manga Thread)

This season has so many examples of rushed and downright half-assed pieces of work. That I'm not surprised to see that several anime are getting delayed.

Really hope this isn't a trend for the whole year.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

♫ This is the game that never ends.
Yes, it goes on and on my friend. ♫

Baba is You is a great challenge. (Because the developers came up with every single conceivable puzzle imaginable using its core premise.)

But it was starting to grow a little stale for me (halfway into my nearly thirty hours), and the game had way too many puzzles that I didn't find personally rewarding to solve. So I "beat the game" and installed something else.

(Still probably the 'least obviously flawed' of the three puzzle games that I played though...)

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Watched someone play Forspoken on Twitch, and it was pretty bland looking. (And Twitch only continues to become less user friendly every time I look at it.)

Sony and Microsoft are pimping out two hundred dollar controllers "WITH REMAPPABLE BUTTONS LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"

What A PC? Never heard of it.

What shows/movies are you watching?

>I wrote this yesterday while I was half asleep and never posted it.

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: I've never even fuckin' seen an Illumination movie.

I can't make a qualitative statement on Illumination movies, but I don't see why they couldn't make a good Legend of Zelda adaptation because as a studio they clearly have talented animators. I think the Mario movie will be fine and I have no reason to think their hypothetical Zelda movie would be anything less than that.

@Fabricant451

I don't know if I've ever been impressed with Illumination's animation. (It's not ever been particularly strong.) But you couldn't call them anything other than savvy businessmen. So I understand and can relate, that my own limited viewing experience means I can't say for 100% certain whether a movie will be good or not. I'd simply state that pattern recognition makes me less positive/enthused about the idea. (But the Mario movie will probably be the answer to whether or not it gets made. Regardless of who makes it.)

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I love movies. I just kinda hate the system that produces them. But I'm fortunate enough to live in an area where I can see the big dumb blockbusters on a big dumb screen and still have a theater where they show the quality shit that makes me remember why I studied the fucking things in the first place.

@Fabricant451

I won't even pretend that movies are my main source of entertainment. I'm a weeb at heart, and I'm still always behind on the "I need to watch this" trend. (If anything, it's only saved me a whole hell of a lot of wasted time.) Especially nowadays, where supposedly great shows (1899 for one instance) have been getting the early axe. (Or this trend of finished things getting cancelled before they're even released.)

I'd say the one positive trend thus far, is how foreign movies and shows are starting to become more popular. (Yeah, the weeb would say that.) Though RRR was probably my Everything Everywhere All At Once. But all the ones I did watch, were certainly far more entertaining and likable than any of the western media I consumed.

But that's neither here nor there.

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But I got really tired and exhausted with the poor state of film criticism. I basically turned into a debate lord over fuckin films for a while. (And still kinda do, but believe me I used to be worse, because I care a lot that it pained me to have people start trying to objectively state when movies were bad or good or shit like that.)

And like, I don't care if people don't like a movie (even if sometimes I get aggro, but hey who doesn't defend the things they love.) But I also want to stress to people that it's not all bad. There are good movies out there!

I think video game adaptations in general are kinda dumb, even if I liked those Sonic movies. Especially because way too many western games are still chasing this weird 'video games as cinematic experience' high. Where the first episode of The Last of Us will be well received, the game was basically 50 percent watching it anyway!

@Fabricant451

Objectivity aside. I know that merely pointing out flaws and problems with anything is easy to do. Thus, the poorest of critics do tend to have most of their work handed to them on a silver platter. Though I'd love to see more in-depth counter discussion, versus what still tends to happen. (Usually outright dismissal.) I just wish this "7/10 IGN means barely playable" mindset wasn't so normalized in film too. To the point where Zoomers' word for I dislike this/something bad is "Mid".

#MakeAverageMeanWhatIt'sSupposedToMean

And ‘The Last Of Us’ showrunners, telling actors not to look up or be familiar with the source material they're making the show from, tells me all I would need to know. If I want zombies. The Walking Dead has sixteen billion seasons for me to watch already.

I honestly can't stand this ongoing trend of "we don't like or care about the things we're adapting" shtick. (And I'm usually not even the target for their nostalgia traps.) But I still can't help but question why they continue to do it so blatantly. (I can only imagine we have a staggering number of Tommy Wiseau's in modern entertainment. Where inflated egos and personal drive defy all common sense to make products they genuinely believe to be hot sh*t.)

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Stray is a bit disappointing. In that I enjoyed the vibe, and wanted to see how the narrative would end. But it's pretty obvious that the game was rushed to a conclusion.

The 2nd city has very limited places to jump on top of, and the puzzles are a bit more directionless. (That, on top of having no ability to backtrack, or get 100% completion through no fault of your own.)

One puzzle I found to be the biggest stretch was "find this guy, he's wearing this, this and this." But nobody in the whole city had any of those features. So I assumed you were supposed to share the same logic as the developers did. (In that, you deliberately can't see those features, and you're supposed to infer that. Over every other possible option..) And I did. But talking to the NPC alone wasn't enough. Nor did it provide any further hints. Instead, I actually needed to show them something from my inventory to succeed. (But I didn't think to do this for a while.)

Honestly, Stray had a neat premise (cat pandering aside) and deserved to be better. (But I also shared the same bugged out NPC that Dunkey had, after a whole six months later. So I assume this game isn't getting any more polish...)

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Baba Is You is pretty good and challenging thus far. Perfect for listening to podcasts while puzzle solving. (Since they'll take you a while.) To the point where I'm considering downloading another game to play. So I can turn this into "my daily crosswords" of sorts.

What shows/movies are you watching?

Except I'm not going to bat for Multiverse of Madness. I'm going to bat for Everything Everywhere All At Once.

@Fabricant451

Since we both posted about that movie in this thread. I'll assume you're in on the gag, and already realize that multiple movies had used the multiverse shtick this year.

But I already know that I didn't have the same overwhelming positive reaction that others did with Everything Everywhere All At Once. Though I at least understood the appeal. Unlike other "masterpieces" like 'The Northman'.

Which one do you think a studio cares about when weighing the worth of what it costs to produce.

@Fabricant451

To avoid arguing against the same fallacious 'argumentum ad populum' that I already know won't stay consistent. (Since no one universally believes "well this is popular, well this is profitable, so it can't be criticized/poor in quality" once its something *you* don't like.)

I wouldn't claim all studios are the same. But some don't even seem to care about making money, nor critical and audience reception. (And not only those "we'll get a tax break, if we fail" kind of movies/scam projects.)

Though Illumination Entertainment's goal is obvious from the movies they make. And the reception of their movies (looking at places like IMBD) is on a downward trend. So since it's their studio making the hypothetical movie we were discussing. I want to know if you think they'd actually make a good Legend Of Zelda adaption? Or is the argument that they'd make a profitable movie?

I get that you're trying to make a statement on movies not being new, because sequels.

@Fabricant451

It's almost cliché to point out that Hollywood has no original ideas, and only continues to abuse the same trends. So yeah, I'm not exactly alone in feeling burnt out.

But, I'm human too. John Wick and Spiderverse still have my interest as well. I'm just not expecting much out of them.

And aside from a few long-standing creatives like Christopher Nolan creating Oppenheimer, with a star-studded cast. I don't think I've even heard of most of those movies. (And I'd wager the same is true for most people in general.) Since its seems more and more movies come out with little fanfare. Maybe because fewer people are watching online ads?

All I'm saying, as an admitted cynic, while I'd imagine the quantity has only increased for movies and shows alike. (And perhaps it's not unique for Hollywood that there's more bad products, than good ones.) The decreasing tolerance for (and ability to engage with) basic criticism, is at an all time low on the internet. (But this is more obnoxious in the gaming space. So I'll leave it at that.)

Point being, I'm sure you would not be the only one using The Minions Movie of all things to defend the idea of another video game movie adaption being produced. But for me, that only adds on to this feeling.

What Are You Listening To?

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

@SleepingSilence oh so you played Signalis then?

@Dark Cloud

The list man! I have a list. :P

Honestly, I haven't played much survival horror. (Aside from when I owned a random shitload of them in my teens.) So I don't know how much that game would appeal to me...

Though on a random side note, if I can afford to get a new/better PC this year. I've been thinking about getting into game development (and basic coding) again. So I'd be capable of doing so—without the computer exploding.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Finished The Entropy Center and felt relieved that it was over. Couldn't have been a more obvious ending.

Playing Stray now. And honestly, the places you can "be a cat" are strangely limited. Plus, not that it isn't already mentioned in every review, but these trial-and-error chase sequences are simply not enjoyable parts of the game. But they're also a lot more frequent than most reviews make them out to be.

However, I will disagree with most critics when they claim that the game has no sense of direction. Though it is easy to get lost without a map. The game has provided many instances of direction in the world/character dialogue.

But good visual detail and audio aside, I feel like my cat walking simulator could use more freedom and cat pandering mechanics.