SleepingSilence

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

There's a surprising amount of "watchable/passable" shows this season.

And every show isn't going on hiatus, like Winter.

But there's not exactly anything that's "go out of your way to watch this" worthy. So it's still probably best to clear out your "to-watch list" first.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

For someone with limited Dark Souls experience, Elden Ring is great thus far.

Combat's far more fluid and manageable than it is in Dark Souls. And it's far more open-ended and visually stunning than Bloodborne. Both games that I still had positive (albeit brief) experiences with. Yet this is the one that I'll probably stick with...

But I haven't gotten far enough to experience its "boss and length" fatigue, that most Triple A games seem to be guilty of nowadays.

Then again, after watching someone playing Ragnorok and listening to the obnoxious son blab on and tell you every puzzle solution in ten seconds flat, I've found no such annoyance in Elden Ring.

The horse/mounted combat kind of sucking aside.

---

I played Greedfall first. But its lack of direction wasn't doing it any favors. Regardless of if it was setting up an interesting narrative (or not).

The map is so needlessly confusing, that it's difficult to navigate through the floors of most buildings. And the open world areas are usually small, and don't have much to reward your curiosity. (Probably due to its smaller budget.)

But the sheer amount of "two characters dryly exposit dialogue" cutscenes that played in the beginning, was a good reminder why I (usually) prefer playing indies over 'the games that so desperately want to be movies'.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

I tried my best to enjoy the atmosphere. But Blacktail's combat is just awful, and it made me want to play something else.

'The Forgotten City' is interesting as a narrative so far. But the sense of direction seems a little vague and contrived. (Like I was supposed to think that diving off a huge cliff into a shallow pool would keep me alive, when I took damage after jumping from far smaller heights. Very logical.) And it was hard to feel immersed, when I had two separate characters introducing themselves, and then abruptly canceling the conversation as the ‘time loop’ moved forward.)

(And it also had some pretty egregious load times. But I might've fixed that by verifying the game files somehow.)

---

In other news, I upgraded to a PS5 after all. (Since my launch PS4 was starting to die on me, and it was cheaper than buying a whole new PC to play Elden Ring.)

I just wish most of my Steam wishlist was on the Playstation Store.

So now I’m waiting 16 HOURS for my game data to transfer.

Edit: 20 Hours later, and it claimed their was an error. (But only after it finished.) Fuck me. (And Sony.)

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

@Fabricant451 It isn't the soundtrack's fault for why the game is so unpleasant to experience.

The nauseating camera that constantly zooms in and out, or wildly changes perspective out of nowhere, is the primary culprit. (Along with all the other consistent visual glitches and bugs that kept happening.)

The first song that played near the beginning sounded fine, I guess. But then the soundtrack would frequently cut in and out at times that felt unnatural. So I don't even know how much of "the soundtrack" I actually heard (as intended), when the bike-riding tends to be silent/cut out the music.

Plus its open world felt empty, and the game was absolutely boring me to tears. (And the very few mechanics that it did have, were f*cking broken. Like the ability to "call your bike back to you" and the fact that it basically never works. Supposedly due to how poor the pathfinding is...)

I digress. What have you been playing?

---

Review for the game I played instead: Downpurr (Basically Kero Blaster) would be an indie darling. If the boss fights weren't rigged against you. It's short, but I enjoyed its platforming/gimmick levels. However, I swear most bosses have RNG attack patterns that CANNOT be dodged (well). (So you'll die until the game lets you beat them, essentially.)

Next game is Blacktail. My first impressions go as follows…



It's intrigued me. Just hoping the combat improves over time...

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Sable: It's Breath Of The Wild, except there's basically nothing to do. (The camera is broken. There's audio and visual glitches aplenty. (Mostly the latter.) It's a game that feels like (and most likely is) an unfinished product. So it fucking baffles me that this is so highly played/reviewed. Had to bring my own soundtrack to keep myself going with this one...

Don't know if I'll bother completing this one. But I guess we'll see...

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Well, that's a buzzkill.

Metal Hellsinger feels like it might've been rushed in development, and could've used a bit more time in the oven.

The game's art (through its numerous cutscenes) is great, and so is its soundtrack. And despite being difficult, it does feel like its accessible. (Even has a 'game journalist' mode option. A mode that let's you completely bypass the rhythm matching part.) And any game where you improve as you play, has to be doing *something* right.

But the shielded enemy is a complete flow killer. Most upgrades feel a bit tacked on. And Archeon, it's 2nd to last level, is buggy as all hell. Had numerous enemies falling through the terrain, and I got soft-locked at the boss, due to a spawned minion vanishing and spoiling my entire run. So if that shit happens again, I won't be finishing the campaign.

(Also, the fact that all the bosses are the exact same monster design feels a bit lazy.)

Though either way, I'll be playing something else tomorrow, most likely.

---

Edit: Fortunately, I was able to finish it. And yeah, Metal Hellsinger can be pretty engaging. (Once you're good enough to do well, and realize that some weapons just aren't worth using.) I'll rate it a 6.66. Because metal.

And I don't know if it quite reaches a 7/10, "I'd easily recommend this to others who like the genre". But I did like it.

The next indie I picked is back to average. 'Last Night Of Winter' has a decent artstyle, and its combat is functional throughout. Limited by a tiny inventory system, and its occasionally unfair enemy hitboxes. But the platforming and ice skating sections are miserable and boring. Plus its story doesn’t exist, and the character dialogue isn’t particularly interesting.

So I’ll be nice, and give this a 5/10. (I think I’ll be able to complete this one in another session.)

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

'Pronty’ was a pretty good game. (And one that I needed, after going through so many mediocre ones in a row.)

It really nailed the atmosphere and worldbuilding. (Even without a full soundtrack. Which I would have loved to have.) It had a decent enough story & conclusion. (It helped that the protagonist was adorable.) And some of the bosses were near Hollow Knight perfection level of 'challenging, but fair' in difficulty.

And despite being such a linear Metroidvania, there’s an impressive amount of collectables and lore. (For those who like to read.) A decent variety in its challenges, and an 'Ender Lilies'-like variety to the combat. (In that there's a lot of 'charms' that you'll find, and probably never use. But it's nice to have the option to experiment.)

Best of all, you know how platforming is easily the worst part of nearly every Metroidvania? Even some of the good ones, like Blasphemous? Well, this one doesn’t *have* platforming. See? Literal perfection.

Few flaws aside, it was a fun time.

('Dungeon Defenders 2' is indeed better with a party of friends. But the game is clearly optimized like crap. Had to reinstall the fucker three times to get it past the opening cinematic, and its immediate crash.)

'Metal Hellsinger' kicks your fucking teeth in. (Maybe it’s because I’m relatively inexperienced at rhythm games, and I absolutely suck at modern twin-stick shooters.) But I want to suffer anyway, because the soundtrack is great and I might just need some more practice. (Or to fiddle with my latency options.) I do see a lot of people complaining that it's hard to stay on beat.

What shows/movies are you watching?

It is harder to kill someone on horseback that is running away from you than it is to kill someone who is coming towards you in a car. For one thing you're not having to deal with the entire "riding on a horse" thing.

@Fabricant451

If anything, the way that he maneuvered in the car, would only make it harder for him to consistently hit his target. But I guess we both probably haven’t shot targets on horseback, or in a car going 60 MPH.

So maybe all my personal problems come down to how much slow action is in the first half. When I don’t have those same choreography complaints in the second half. Even though I’m sure there’s imperfections somewhere, if you care to overanalyze it. But the pace is much better and they don’t focus on each kill for quite as long.

---

Those scenes of characters talking absolutely does much for the plot.

@Fabricant451

Okay. So technically, you’re correct. So what I mean is, and I’d wager all my grossly inflated currency, that the dialogue in the other movies was much snappier and entertaining to watch.

Whereas every talking scene in this movie is pure and dry exposition. (At least that’s what it felt like to me.) But unlike the talking scenes in the first three, which are mostly worldbuilding and introducing new concepts to flesh out this “you come for the doggy and the violence” movie. This one has a lot of rehashing things you already know, or repeating things to John Wick that they’ve already said. Etc etc.

---

The most blood in John Wick 2 is in the suicide part and nothing in the 10 minutes I watched was any more or less bloody than these movies typically get. Which also didn't have blood spray when he was killing armored dudes.

@Fabricant451

The second movie might have the most “you see blood” moments in them. So maybe it’s an arguable outlier? But I did go back to look at the armored dude scene from the third one and he certainly got some blood splatter out of a few of them. (Using the Shotgun especially.)

I suppose I’m not complaining that “there was no blood” when he was twatting two dozen goons with a stick (won’t spoil). But comparing the intro fight in the third where he was throwing axes directly into people’s fucking heads. The movie felt so much less visceral. How is that one upmanship?

---

He didn't fall down the stairs, he was pushed down them. By the bad guys trying to stop him. It wasn't several times either.

@Fabricant451

The way he rolled down those stairs for so long, and continued to roll on the flat surfaces was more than a little ridiculous. And he does tumble-roll down the stairs more than once. But it’s also another instance (the traffic scene being a bigger one) where John Wick’s plot armor was only more easily focused on, because the shots linger for so long and give you time to think how much sense they make.

It seemed unintentionally funny, is all. (When John Wick has always had a sense of humor. But in this one, there might have only been *one* ‘you’re supposed to laugh at this moment’ in the movie. Least as far as I remember.)

---

How is it contradictory? One of his 'allies' straight up says that his bounty isn't high enough for him to consider being his enemy and another of them has his own agenda. He has two main allies that have been around since the first and second movie respectively and he is pretty much on his own for the duration.

@Fabricant451

For how many conversations include how alone he is in this movie. It *is* odd. When he gets more help in this movie, than any of the other three.

It would be one thing if this was meant to be a “you don’t have to do this alone” moment of character growth or something. But it seems to pretend that he doesn’t have a guardian angel watching over him, as he’s the only guy not hit by random traffic when he’s fighting in the street.

Now, the characters that share the spotlight in the movie are a lot more charismatic and enjoyable to watch. (Compared to one that practically took over the last movie.) And I don’t think heel turns are illogical. The fact that they were antagonists that went along with any of the comically evil/stupid bad guy’s plans is though…

---

Because they're good homages.

@Fabricant451

I’m referring to when it recreates scenes and moments similar to the other three movies specifically.

Like, even the obligatory pencil scene (This isn’t a spoiler. You expect it by now) seemed like it was a “memberberries” / half-assed inclusion.

---

His introduction had him intimidating the unflappable Winston, and then there's the part with the Tracker. That he is arrogant is a character flaw, which all good characters have.

@Fabricant451

Sure the scene with Winston is a perfectly serviceable “this guy is bad and you hate him” scene. But the part with the Tracker felt like a Saw parody. Or “the evil guy is so evil, because he kills his own minion” moment. And it didn’t feel believable for the characters. It only made me question why anyone would follow/comply with such an obvious twerp.

But sure, arrogance is the downfall of all the villains of John Wick. But it’s the least surprising downfall of any of them. (The guy in the fatsuit is getting all the media flak. But even he manages to be less embarrassing. Least his death was more impactful. Literally)

---

Though regardless of how I feel, I'm sure this movie is the best we're going to get for a while.

But maybe the D&D and Mario movie are going to be secret not totally cynical cashing in on the brand masterpieces.

What shows/movies are you watching?

I don't know how you could call the beginning slow, considering it takes all of a minute or two before John Wick is on horseback shooting people.

@Fabricant451

It takes him quite a long time to kill three people on horseback within pistol range, when he can kill a dozen or more people in a moving car in the same amount of time. But logic aside, the rest of the beginning has a lot of build up and scenes of characters talking. (That ultimately doesn't do much for the plot. Unless you count the after-credits scene.)

---

Bloodless is a weird complaint considering 1: John Wick is not exactly a bloodbath franchise because of how quick the kills are anyway. 2: There is plenty of blood like on the drum in Osaka.

@Fabricant451

So I admittedly don’t remember how bloody the movies were or weren’t off hand. But fortunately, I have Youtube to back me up. Watch this and tell me there’s not plenty of blood spray when he shoots people/more blood on John Wick as he carries through the movie.



And the little bit that gets on the drum, is some of the only blood in that action set piece, and it only makes its absence all the more confusing to me.

---

He didn't feel super heroic at all. There were multiple points in the movie where he actually had to be bailed out.

@Fabricant451

I don’t mind that he’s usually over the top invulnerable. But he also has several “i’m an old guy” moments, like how comically he fell down those stairs (several times). So it feels a bit tonally off as well. Mixed in with how he never has any blood, dirt or tears on his clothes.

And he certainly took the most punishment in this one, and it seemed the least realistic in terms of how “tired/worn out” he looked after the fact. (Non-spoilers aside.)

Maybe it’s just me. (And my friend who I watched it with.)

---

The plot isn't any more or less simple than the other movies. The movies are not exactly movies you watch for plot or character development,

@Fabricant451

Fair enough.

---

The third movie is him trying to erase an open bounty on him. The fourth is the consequences of everything he's done since the first movie. He's a man on the run, because he has no safe haven and even fewer allies. Everything in the movie makes sense and flows.

@Fabricant451

(IMO) The bounty felt a lot less impactful this time around. Because it was sort of “dropped” into the story, and all the set up for it was in the third movie. Unless I’m mistaken. So “oh, uh, we raised the price to a gazillion dollars”. Doesn’t hold much narrative weight. When “everyone is after you” has already been established.

And for how often they set up how he’s “going in alone, with no allies, and with everyone else against him”. The amount of times that he gets helped in this one, is a bit contradictory.

The omniscient radio announcer, and how all these assassins kept finding him/attacking him while going to multiple locations in less than 24 hours feels a tad farfetched. (The third movie at least gave them several days to hunt him down. Unless I’m mistaken.) But nitpicking what makes sense or doesn’t, really isn’t my point/goal.

---

The cinematography isn't 'expensive' looking, it's just well shot and creatively lit to boot.

@Fabricant451

Expensive-looking doesn’t *have* to be a purely negative critique. In fact, I’d argue that this might be “the best looking” John Wick movie, in terms of how elaborate the set design was at times. (That top-down perspective scene alone probably cost them plenty.) But the proof is in the pudding. John Wick 4’s budget is 100 million. The third was 75. 2nd was 40. Etc.

I’ll agree that money alone doesn’t make a “well shot”/“well remembered” movie. I can’t even recall much of anything that happened in the third movie compared to the first two.

---

It's a movie that constantly one-ups itself in terms of spectacle and set piece and every single action scene in the movie would've been the climactic action scene of any other movie.

@Fabricant451

Honestly, one of the weaker points of all of the John Wick movies, is how their endings are usually pretty lackluster. At least in comparison to some of its other scenes and spectacle moments. (2 probably having the best conclusion of the bunch?)

Maybe because “great villains” were never the movies’ strong suit.

Otherwise, I agree that most action movies pale in comparison.

---

If you're going to comment on people not reacting to the violence then maybe you should watch the other movies.

@Fabricant451

See video clip of Two again, and I see a crowd of reasonably panicked people. First one has a similar party crowd/reaction.

---

The movie doesn't 'repeat' so much as 'homage' and raise the stakes and choreography to boot.

@Fabricant451

I won’t spoil more than I have to. But there’s so many “homages” that I’m surprised no one gave the movie any flak for it. Not even its few critics, far as I saw...

---

John Wick 4 is tightly paced and still delivers a satisfying narrative in a movie you don't really watch for the narrative.

@Fabricant451

Agree to disagree about its pacing.

---

As for the villain, I didn't see him as boring or made to look stupid at all.

@Fabricant451

Bland might be more accurate. No good lines. No personality. And I never saw them as a threat. And he was never in control, or shown to be intimidating to any other character. Sure, he’s not actually General Hux bad. (Aside from his final scene, when he has a “I believe he’s pranking you sir” moment.) He’s more of a “that one smarmy kid who killed his dog” vibe. But we’re supposed to believe that this kid has some high level of power. (And the other side-villains were pretty bad too.)

Guess that's just my two cents.

What shows/movies are you watching?

Well other than keanu being bad but he always is.

@Fabricant451

I don't think what I said could even be argued against. (Aside from the slow beginning/first hour, I suppose.) There were so many bloodless deaths throughout, that it didn't do the action scenes any favors. John Wick took the 'most punishment' in this movie. But reacted like nothing happened after nearly every fight. The plot *is* much simpler in the first two movies by far. The movie has nice expensive looking shots/cinematography. (Like the dancing scene that has the dancers not act like human beings and keep dancing in the middle of a gun/axe fight.) It's the longest movie. Etc etc.

Unlike most things, I went into this one expecting to like it. (Especially after I saw some IMDB reviews claiming that 'despite being disappointed with the third one, this one is a return to form'.)

But this one reminds me much more of the third one. Even tries the same "tension building moment" of making everyone hunt him, after putting a big bounty on his head. But the "highs" are probably better than the 3rd's. (Though I remember very little about the third one.)

This movie repeats a lot of ideas already done, and from the people I saw checking their phones on several occasions, I know I wasn't the only one in the theater, who thought that the film was dragging.

I know there's this "backlash" of the first John Wick movie. Because everything popular gets some amount of flak, justifiable or not. But the revenge/feeling of catharsis in the first movie has been lost. (IMO) And I didn't *have* to look it up, to know that different writers were apart of the third and fourth one.

How exactly would you rate the movies? (And how would you defend the boring/made to look stupid in every scene that he's in, villain.)