stuuuuuff
Christ, Good Old Games, WTF are you doing? Regardless of what this ultimately means, NOT COOL :|
Erm, I've finally collected my random thoughts on a few video games, TV shows, and books I've indulged in over this year. Thar be spoilers, for sure.
Deadwood
My favorite character has to be the Doctor: he acts as a huge bright spot in the story and has some of the best lines. The writing and cast are both of the highest quality. Ian McShane is as great as everyone says. I wanted to pull for Seth and Alma SO BADLY. I know Fox gets flack for cancelling shows, not giving them a chance, but HBO denying Rome and Deadwood proper send-offs is practically a crime in my book. At least Rome seems to be getting a movie...I think? I hope?? All signs are go, but nothing solid is being reported anymore. But, even Rome's TV ending was better than Deadwood's, which left off just before a major MAJOR conflict that we spent all of the last season building up to. If any HBO series deserves a movie, or series renewal, it is DEADWOOD, but they will probably never get all those wonderful actors back together again. God, I hate it when endings suck :/
A Song of Ice and Fire books 1-3
Yeah, I couldn't make the books last, despite my best efforts. BUT I plan on saving the 4th book until GRRM announces the release date of aDwD. Then I can experience the excitement of a midnight book release :B
- There really are no weak POV for me. Sure, I may come across a chapter and think "Damn, I really don't care about this person right now, gimme *insert name here* NOW" but once I begin reading it, I am hooked. Though, Bran's and Jon's and Catelyn's are sometimes weaker. Sometimes.
- There are always the chapters that stick with me long after I've read them. In GoT, it was Arya's escape from Harenhal and the last chapter with the birth of the dragons. That last chapter in particular was really powerful to me. I imagine the scene in my head and I get chills every time. In CoK, it was Sansa's chapters. In ASoS...wow, best book in the series, indeed. I absolutely loved Samwell's first chapter. Perfection. Dany taking Astapor. Red Wedding, duh. I physically cringed every time someone brought up what they did to Robb's corpse. Tyrion's last few chapters with the wedding, his trial, and finally being sent over the edge. None of Jaimie's chapters hit me the hardest, but I loved when he returned home and took charge as Lord Commander. Also, any of the chapters where Arya and Sandor were together were my absolute favorites. ESPECIALLY the one where Arya gets Needle back, just wow. Aaaaand, Sansa's last chapter.
Ok, wow, there are so many more that I adore, but those are personal favs...and I need to re-read.
- Sansa just kills me. And I shake my head so damn hard at anyone who's a hater. What a kick in the gut her wedding chapter was. GRRM may be the death of me with her...and with Arya.
- Must have more of the Hound, dammit.
- Well, I DID want all the Stark children to be reunited again, but...yeeeeaaaaah. Still looking forward to reunions, though, whatever GRRM will throw our way.
Thoughts on the TV adaptation: HBO I LOVE YOU SO GOTDAMN MUCH. ONLY 6 MONTHS. MAYBE. I cannot wait.
Folklore
What started as an intriguing mystery wound up not paying off in the end, sadly. Though the game is absolutely a visual treat, the music is gorgeous, and I love the atmosphere. Also, I liked the combat and the different roles and abilities folks have that you needed to take advantage of and the six-axis controls worked really well (sure, there were some challenging fights and one motion prompt in particular that I dreaded, but no point where adjusting my strategy couldn't fix the situation). The exploration/investigation parts were way too short and painfully linear: you are either told exactly where to go and/or where to look or you are warped directly there. The town and island you explore is very small to begin with, so it would have been nice to have more reason to explore it and way less hand-holding.
What I really hate, too, is that there are around $20 worth of downloadable side missions that are essential to understanding parts of the plot and the Folklore universe. While downloadable content is nice, it shouldn't be necessary to understanding the plot and ending of the main game. Also, some of the content contains character development that would have greatly fleshed out some of the characters in the game that were otherwise just there and pretty much I knew nothing about. What a waste of a potentially interesting cast. Other than the two leads, the cast needed way more development than they were given.
While the ending was satisfactory enough, it felt a little lacking; makes me wonder how rushed the development was. Also, it's not a good sign when I can't find one person who can explain the ending and important plot events without hesitation; this is where the DLC comes into play, which is a shame. I guessed that Keats was Herve in Chapter 5, which turned out to be kinda true. I really liked that. It would have been nice to see another adventure with Elene and Keats, but apparently any chance of a sequel has been scrapped. Too bad, b/c I thought this series had potential.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Oooh, the ending made this worth playing. I kept my expectations low and the experience turned out better than I thought it would, gladly. One thing above all else, though: This should not have been a Silent Hill game. Silent Hill has always been about a town and the fucked up things that happened there. It was really a character in itself in all the games. But the town in Shattered Memories was inconsequential to the characters, to the plot, to everything. What this should have been is an entirely new survival horror series. It seems so pointless to take already established characters, completely change them, and fit them into an entirely new story; if you're going to completely change everything, why not just make up your own goddamn characters?
And, I just don't find the whole ice motif scary in the least. Not when the graphics don't show it off as anything more than the walls turning blue and not when the things that make cold weather and ice scary to begin with are completely nonexistent: hypothermia, treacherous travel, and isolation, to name a few. Well, you are alone lots of the time, but nothing bad really happens to anyone you encounter with one exception, but even that just came out of the blue and lacked any significance or terror.
They could have taken the psychological profiling a lot further than they did. For all the questions you have to answer, there sure were a fuckton of insignificant things that can change during gameplay. While some little details are cool to see changing from playthrough to playthrough, it would have been better to see way more important stuff being affected. Sometimes that happened, but not enough.
The Hunger Games series
I actually had never heard of these books until about a week before Mockingjay came out, thanks to a book post on ONTD that recced it all over the place. And, wow. I enjoyed the first book, especially once the games actually started. I was never a fan of the chapters dedicated to the prepping of the characters for the games, though. The second book was my least favorite overall...I thought the games were disappointing in that one, though I liked how it ended. Considering past winners were back in, I expected it to be more epic. I wish we could have gotten to know those fighting better, too.
The third book....oh boy. Opinions are strong with this one. I actually did love the build-up that was most of it. Katniss coming back to life again and we got to see more of Gale, finally. Now, reading the last chapters of the siege, I did get angry. I was someone who had issue with the number of characters dying off one after another without time to fully process the deaths. And Prim and the children...yeah, that put me over. I actually laughed, because the amount of violence and horrific death crammed in there at the end was ridiculous. Yeah, NOT the reaction I wanted to have reading the climax of the story.
However, I am against what seems to be popular opinion when it comes to the chapters after all that. I loved the post-war chapters (they may be my favorite after the first book's about the game): Katniss struggling with the aftermath, how Katniss murdered Coin (though how she got out of any sort of punishment from doing so makes no sense to me at all), how heartbreaking it was to see how she struggled to go on living after everything she's experienced, and how utterly numb I felt after finishing the book. I don't really care one way or another about her having babbies, but I'm glad she was (kinda) happy could live her life in the end. I did hate her ending with Gale, as I finally felt like I knew him better in the last book, but oh well.
I was never a fan of the love triangle b/c I wanted to see more development for both pairings..and tbh, Katniss and Gale made more sense to me personally. I wound up not having an issue with her being with Peeta in the end, probably because they took their time getting together (Though, once again, it would have been nice to see that. I'm all for sexual/love affairs in dire situations, but I want to witness true, long-lasting love grow.) I just wish Gale was still apart of her life in the end.
And, I know people get miffed when others say it's similar to Battle Royale...but it is. In large part. Not like that's a BAD thing, and it certainly is its own story. It doesn't seem right that the movie will be PG-13. I know it's for profit-purposes, but it concerns me how they're going to pull that off. We shall see...
Erm, I've finally collected my random thoughts on a few video games, TV shows, and books I've indulged in over this year. Thar be spoilers, for sure.
Deadwood
My favorite character has to be the Doctor: he acts as a huge bright spot in the story and has some of the best lines. The writing and cast are both of the highest quality. Ian McShane is as great as everyone says. I wanted to pull for Seth and Alma SO BADLY. I know Fox gets flack for cancelling shows, not giving them a chance, but HBO denying Rome and Deadwood proper send-offs is practically a crime in my book. At least Rome seems to be getting a movie...I think? I hope?? All signs are go, but nothing solid is being reported anymore. But, even Rome's TV ending was better than Deadwood's, which left off just before a major MAJOR conflict that we spent all of the last season building up to. If any HBO series deserves a movie, or series renewal, it is DEADWOOD, but they will probably never get all those wonderful actors back together again. God, I hate it when endings suck :/
A Song of Ice and Fire books 1-3
Yeah, I couldn't make the books last, despite my best efforts. BUT I plan on saving the 4th book until GRRM announces the release date of aDwD. Then I can experience the excitement of a midnight book release :B
- There really are no weak POV for me. Sure, I may come across a chapter and think "Damn, I really don't care about this person right now, gimme *insert name here* NOW" but once I begin reading it, I am hooked. Though, Bran's and Jon's and Catelyn's are sometimes weaker. Sometimes.
- There are always the chapters that stick with me long after I've read them. In GoT, it was Arya's escape from Harenhal and the last chapter with the birth of the dragons. That last chapter in particular was really powerful to me. I imagine the scene in my head and I get chills every time. In CoK, it was Sansa's chapters. In ASoS...wow, best book in the series, indeed. I absolutely loved Samwell's first chapter. Perfection. Dany taking Astapor. Red Wedding, duh. I physically cringed every time someone brought up what they did to Robb's corpse. Tyrion's last few chapters with the wedding, his trial, and finally being sent over the edge. None of Jaimie's chapters hit me the hardest, but I loved when he returned home and took charge as Lord Commander. Also, any of the chapters where Arya and Sandor were together were my absolute favorites. ESPECIALLY the one where Arya gets Needle back, just wow. Aaaaand, Sansa's last chapter.
Ok, wow, there are so many more that I adore, but those are personal favs...and I need to re-read.
- Sansa just kills me. And I shake my head so damn hard at anyone who's a hater. What a kick in the gut her wedding chapter was. GRRM may be the death of me with her...and with Arya.
- Must have more of the Hound, dammit.
- Well, I DID want all the Stark children to be reunited again, but...yeeeeaaaaah. Still looking forward to reunions, though, whatever GRRM will throw our way.
Thoughts on the TV adaptation: HBO I LOVE YOU SO GOTDAMN MUCH. ONLY 6 MONTHS. MAYBE. I cannot wait.
Folklore
What started as an intriguing mystery wound up not paying off in the end, sadly. Though the game is absolutely a visual treat, the music is gorgeous, and I love the atmosphere. Also, I liked the combat and the different roles and abilities folks have that you needed to take advantage of and the six-axis controls worked really well (sure, there were some challenging fights and one motion prompt in particular that I dreaded, but no point where adjusting my strategy couldn't fix the situation). The exploration/investigation parts were way too short and painfully linear: you are either told exactly where to go and/or where to look or you are warped directly there. The town and island you explore is very small to begin with, so it would have been nice to have more reason to explore it and way less hand-holding.
What I really hate, too, is that there are around $20 worth of downloadable side missions that are essential to understanding parts of the plot and the Folklore universe. While downloadable content is nice, it shouldn't be necessary to understanding the plot and ending of the main game. Also, some of the content contains character development that would have greatly fleshed out some of the characters in the game that were otherwise just there and pretty much I knew nothing about. What a waste of a potentially interesting cast. Other than the two leads, the cast needed way more development than they were given.
While the ending was satisfactory enough, it felt a little lacking; makes me wonder how rushed the development was. Also, it's not a good sign when I can't find one person who can explain the ending and important plot events without hesitation; this is where the DLC comes into play, which is a shame. I guessed that Keats was Herve in Chapter 5, which turned out to be kinda true. I really liked that. It would have been nice to see another adventure with Elene and Keats, but apparently any chance of a sequel has been scrapped. Too bad, b/c I thought this series had potential.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Oooh, the ending made this worth playing. I kept my expectations low and the experience turned out better than I thought it would, gladly. One thing above all else, though: This should not have been a Silent Hill game. Silent Hill has always been about a town and the fucked up things that happened there. It was really a character in itself in all the games. But the town in Shattered Memories was inconsequential to the characters, to the plot, to everything. What this should have been is an entirely new survival horror series. It seems so pointless to take already established characters, completely change them, and fit them into an entirely new story; if you're going to completely change everything, why not just make up your own goddamn characters?
And, I just don't find the whole ice motif scary in the least. Not when the graphics don't show it off as anything more than the walls turning blue and not when the things that make cold weather and ice scary to begin with are completely nonexistent: hypothermia, treacherous travel, and isolation, to name a few. Well, you are alone lots of the time, but nothing bad really happens to anyone you encounter with one exception, but even that just came out of the blue and lacked any significance or terror.
They could have taken the psychological profiling a lot further than they did. For all the questions you have to answer, there sure were a fuckton of insignificant things that can change during gameplay. While some little details are cool to see changing from playthrough to playthrough, it would have been better to see way more important stuff being affected. Sometimes that happened, but not enough.
The Hunger Games series
I actually had never heard of these books until about a week before Mockingjay came out, thanks to a book post on ONTD that recced it all over the place. And, wow. I enjoyed the first book, especially once the games actually started. I was never a fan of the chapters dedicated to the prepping of the characters for the games, though. The second book was my least favorite overall...I thought the games were disappointing in that one, though I liked how it ended. Considering past winners were back in, I expected it to be more epic. I wish we could have gotten to know those fighting better, too.
The third book....oh boy. Opinions are strong with this one. I actually did love the build-up that was most of it. Katniss coming back to life again and we got to see more of Gale, finally. Now, reading the last chapters of the siege, I did get angry. I was someone who had issue with the number of characters dying off one after another without time to fully process the deaths. And Prim and the children...yeah, that put me over. I actually laughed, because the amount of violence and horrific death crammed in there at the end was ridiculous. Yeah, NOT the reaction I wanted to have reading the climax of the story.
However, I am against what seems to be popular opinion when it comes to the chapters after all that. I loved the post-war chapters (they may be my favorite after the first book's about the game): Katniss struggling with the aftermath, how Katniss murdered Coin (though how she got out of any sort of punishment from doing so makes no sense to me at all), how heartbreaking it was to see how she struggled to go on living after everything she's experienced, and how utterly numb I felt after finishing the book. I don't really care one way or another about her having babbies, but I'm glad she was (kinda) happy could live her life in the end. I did hate her ending with Gale, as I finally felt like I knew him better in the last book, but oh well.
I was never a fan of the love triangle b/c I wanted to see more development for both pairings..and tbh, Katniss and Gale made more sense to me personally. I wound up not having an issue with her being with Peeta in the end, probably because they took their time getting together (Though, once again, it would have been nice to see that. I'm all for sexual/love affairs in dire situations, but I want to witness true, long-lasting love grow.) I just wish Gale was still apart of her life in the end.
And, I know people get miffed when others say it's similar to Battle Royale...but it is. In large part. Not like that's a BAD thing, and it certainly is its own story. It doesn't seem right that the movie will be PG-13. I know it's for profit-purposes, but it concerns me how they're going to pull that off. We shall see...