SleepingSilence

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Okay. So I finished the few (twenty seven) games on my phone. With a few decent surprises. But I'm glad that I didn't need to pay for any of them. <.<'

"Dandara: Trials Of Fear Edition" was the one I was most eager to try. (Due to it being a Metroidvania & liking its art style.) Thus, I tried to save the best for last. But the controls weren't good enough for how bullshit the gameplay was. (And it didn't even have the proper controller support as advertised. Since the (PS4) buttons weren't properly displayed.

"Ticket To Earth" was one that I almost avoided due to its unappealing art style. But I'll give it this, the core gameplay loop is actually pretty engaging. For a while. (And it felt like a more 'full' experience. For a phone game.) But the many characters, dialogue-heavy cutscenes, and storyline were so damn uninteresting. (That I didn't get past Chapter Two. Because its combat was getting a little repetitive for its own good.) And there was nothing else keeping me there.

"Detective Mimo" does Doki Doki Literature Club better. (If that doesn't kind of spoil the game's tricks already.) But with this, and "There Is No Game", 'quirky puzzle games that take full advantage of being on a phone', seem to be the best genre of app games.

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And the reward for "most egregious game to pay money for" goes to...

*drum roll*

"A Normal Lost Phone" has FIVE goddamn puzzles and the shittiest music you'll ever hear, for about 4 bucks. (I swear it had to be made on a "I dare you to make a game less interesting than Gone Home" bet.) With it also having a very mysterious mystery.

Here, let me give you the set up, and you can take a wild stab in the dark at guessing its conclusion.

Game: Reading texts of how this person's parents are very unapproving of him suddenly breaking up with his girlfriend. And they're so so so confused as to why their son wouldn't date the perfect girl (As you're hearing the shittest indie music imaginable, playing on a loop in the background.)

This is not a mystery, writers. Try harder.

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But I digress. Now I get to focus on my Steam library, and play real video games. Yay!

What shows/movies are you watching?

It's just a shame most of the things you *can* watch in theaters right now, aren't even worth the $3.

As there's so many poorly-reviewed things out right now (that I've never even heard of). Beast, Fall, The Invitation, Gigi&Nate, DC Pets, Three Thousand Years, The Minions Movie, Nope. (The answer to "Do you want to see any of these movies?" Buh-dum tish.)

Though maybe Bullet Train can get more eyeballs. And DBZ for nerds. This is sarcasm.

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Brief Reviews (of mostly cartoons):

Primal (Season Two) is certainly not as strong as the first. Something that could be reasonably expected, given how high the bar was set. But I still feel a bit disappointed thus far. (The ‘writing’, which is an odd thing to say for a mostly silent show, has gotten notably worse.)

The Dragon Prince’s first two episodes were borderline painful to sit through. With repetitive exposition, horrible dialogue, obvious plotting and art direction so bad that the creators themselves supposedly changed it for later seasons. (But I could only manage to skim through the next obvious ‘hook episode’, before I gave up.) Sorry Sokka.

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts proves that Dreamworks can animate. First season looks nice throughout. Characters are generic, but entertaining enough. But the hip-hop music is poorly-fitting, and the writing is pretty bad. (Hits every trope and cliche that it could fit in a single season.)

Lost Ollie is a mini-series, without a clear target audience. (Or a hint of decent acting in sight.) And somehow, “the kid is actually dead all along”, would’ve been a better pay off than the saccharine crap you get.

Hilda is comfy and adorable, thus far. (At least its first few episodes are.)

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And in terms of something I want to watch, because of the hype surrounding it, is "RRR". (That three hour long bollywood action movie thing.) But I can't find it anywhere yet...

Edit: RRR was fucking ridiculous, and kept me (and a friend) fully entertained throughout its run time. Plus, it portrays the British as accurately as possible.

What Are You Listening To?

What Are You Listening To?

Post a random fact about yourself.

I single-handedly made everyone stop fighting and have some fun on my vacation. Thank you card games.

Plus, food markets are great and spicy fruit jam is delicious.

What Are You Listening To?

What shows/movies are you watching?

Bullet Train is 100% worth watching for a pure fun good time. Have no notable complaints that could be easily fixed, and its not giving everything away in its trailers.

Also the critics gave it a thrashing, so you know that its actually one of the better things that's come out this year.

What shows/movies are you watching?

I'll have to see Moon Knight instead. Looks slightly creepy and I haven't seen any Marvel shit for awhile.

@BangoSkank

The only thing terrifying about it is Disney's special effects, and the sheer amount of money they spend per episode.

If you can handle a well-directed character study with no plot. I'd take that, versus a poorly shot clusterfuck plot. Where the main draw of both is "this director made it/and these actors are in it". But, I suppose everyone has different tastes.

Because where I was starting to feel the artsy movie drag, after about 50 minutes. I knew from the very start of Moon Knight, that I was getting a mystery box bullshit show. That also has very little of consequence in it, and an ending that even the vast majority of its own fanbase doesn't seem to like...

Go watch Primal instead, it kicks ass.

Though for most new Marvel shows, regardless of the potential quality in each, I've seen a general consensus and pattern in nearly all of them thus far. Where the beginning is the best bit you're going to get...and it only goes downhill from there.

That, and the title & main character of the show, is rarely ever the focus of it. With Moon Knight being no exception.

What shows/movies are you watching?

Now I'm questioning Adam Driver's ability to act instead.

Inside Llewyn Davis was alright. (If you like hearing folk music like me, and can tolerate the typical western movie stereotype of everyone being an asshole. John Goodman's performance was obnoxious. (And if you don't mind the lack of a plot.)

But, I'll admit. Despite not being a very well-rounded character. He did play his role pretty well, and I didn't know he was a singer until now. So I won't deny that he has talent, at least.

And the Rotten Tomatoes high 90 from critics, and the more reasonable 'seven out of ten means I like it' 70 from its audience, doesn't surprise me either.

Here's something from Reddit /Truefilm, if this is the right kind of movie for you. And I quote.

"I don't know whether anyone can fully get Llewyn's character without understanding his grief firsthand. Not saying someone can't 'get' the movie or sympathize with him, but that grief is the window into him, and understanding it is less about intellect than about emotion."

In other news, my god Redditors are pretentious.

What shows/movies are you watching?

@Fabricant451
Proves my point that I rarely watch movies. Since I've never even heard of half of these.

But I have watched Triple Frontier (or at least tried to) and uh...I had the same problem. Not that his acting is even in the top five problems of that one.

Though I've heard generally positive things about Ex-Machina. (As established, Sci-Fi has never really been my favorite genre.) And Annihilation didn't exactly strike me as a movie where male actors had much screen time. So, maybe I'll go watch that cat movie, because I'm obvious and was looking for something he'd play a major role in.

And despite my limited knowledge of both Twilight actors. I can easily see why people defended/sympathized with Robert Patterson so hard. And yes, I've seen him do better than the Twilight movies. (Much as that means.)

But in everything with Kristen Stewart that I've seen, or even seen by proxy through other people reviews; her acting was not one of the highlights. To put it mildly. Though who am I to write off the Oscars ability to pick nominees/winners?

The cat better not f*cking die.