Bartimaeus

Lmao - I got past those archers on my first try on my first playthrough and didn't think much of them...and then proceeded to die like 30 times in a row on my second playthrough. There are definitely cheap moments that you could not reasonably foresee every so often...but most of them are not nearly so bad as that.

To me, gameplay-wise, they're basically if you took the combat of a 3D Zelda game and made it a little more intricate and customizable on top of making it an actual challenge (which the 3D Zelda games are...decidedly not). I really don't think Souls games are as "unforgivably hard" as many people make them out to be - Dark Souls 1 in particular, which is the one I played first, I did not have much trouble with the majority of bosses on the first playthrough, with many being defeated on literally the first try. If you don't have much experience with 3D action RPGs, I could see it being too difficult to start off with. I love Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1, and Bloodborne, but I don't care so much about the rest - especially Dark Souls 2, which I think is pretty much just a giant heap of garbage (though it is apparently many people's favorite Souls game...how, I could not possibly begin to guess).

I like it just because it doesn't waste my time. The "tutorial" was them writing a few messages for basic controls on the ground...that the player can choose to read or choose to ignore. 99% of dialogue is the player choosing to talk to NPCs. Trying to make sense of anything is up to the player and their ability (and desire to) interpret details. In a way, it's kind of a "have your cake and eat it too" style, because if you want to just play some damn video games, you can totally do that - if nothing else, Souls games are definitely the kind of game where you can just start up a new game and jump right into it without many annoyances or obstacles artificially getting in your way...but you can also engage with it to try to figure out the world to a degree. It's such a different kind of style from the more ham-fisted "PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU NOTICE EVERYTHING WE MADE AND WROTE" approach that is endemic to so much modern (triple A) gaming. It's not always appropriate for every type of game (and it's certainly not always what I want!), but I think it works for Souls. ...Now for the SonicMages of the world who say that it's all so totally deep and unique, that's a different discussion entirely that I won't engage with because of how patently absurd it is.

Yes, because they by and large do not bother with traditional or direct storytelling, and what little there is of the latter is so incredibly basic that you'd be forgiven for not having it even register as being part of "the story". Instead, you get lots of passive storytelling for all sorts of different elements of the game where you have to try to connect little details and sometimes make assumptions if you want to try to weave together micro-narratives - why an item is found in a certain location, what's the deal with this NPC, how did this area get destroyed in this particular manner, etc. It's an especially appropriate type of storytelling for stuff that doesn't really matter because it doesn't waste your time on unimportant nothings when you don't want it to...but FromSoftware applies it to a lot of stuff that would matter in other games, so I get why it isn't for everyone. I do think it serves heavily action-based games pretty well when they're trying to have more of a low-key and less in-your-face approach, especially with consideration to how terribly obnoxious more 'cinematic' action games in recent years have become (e.g. the Horizon games). The main 'plot' may still ultimately culminate in the bog-standard "you are the hero...because you were able to do what everyone else couldn't", but the style and framing of how you get there is very different.

I think we've had this discussion before, but yeah, FromSoftware is pretty good at passive storytelling and world-building - not plot or traditional storytelling, of which they largely make no attempt to really even do outside of Sekiro (...and even that pales in comparison to most other games in terms of directness and quantity). DeS, DS1, and BB all drew me in from a world perspective - the rest were somewhere between "eh" and "nothing". I have not tried Elden Ring yet, and I probably won't for some time to come...open world trash, .

Gosh dangit, majestic. I actually briefly considered not using that as my image for it because I also noticed the dress flying up, but I decided I didn't care because it's just a silly stylistic thing and was otherwise a pretty solid art piece for the show...well, besides the TERRIBLE "Blu-Ray Vol. 1" text, which is admittedly pretty shameful with how little effort was put into it - presumably, this was originally an older concept art that they ended up using for the BDs many years later. ...I also now notice that it looks like the frog is staring right at her... Wicked City (and Nanoha) was a mistake.

So...what's the recommendation for Bartimaeus, particularly given that I already liked Samurai Champloo? Also, agreed on length - 26 episodes is pretty much the perfect length for a serious story to be told while also giving it enough room to live and breathe. ...I had this part of the post sitting as a draft in here for a couple of days because I meant to reply at some point, if you're wondering about the delayed response here. And now, something entirely different, except for the fact that it is coincidentally also 26 episodes long: Bosco Adventure...something perhaps up @Amentep's alley, especially as it is from the 80s although it looks and feels more like the 70s. The evil "Hoodman" and his minions have captured the elfin princess, Princess Apricot, on her way to her home of Fountainland, a realm that contains the legendary Fountain of Life, so that they can steal and use the fountain (somehow?) themselves. The princess tries to make her escape from the flying ship that she is being held in, but the best she is able to do is send a message out for help...to anyone and anything nearby. I've only seen the first episode, so the exact workings of everything are not yet clear to me, but that's the gist of it. Now, this is where I expected it do the whole Princess Zelda thing where, like...you have a hero get the message and go on a long quest to come and rescue the princess and make everything right, but, uh, well, it didn't go quite how I expected for two reasons. One, the "heroes" that got the message are basically three Winnie the Pooh-styled animals (i.e. well-meaning but simple gentlefolk - a frog, an otter, and a turtle!); two: they hatched a harebrained but ultimately successful rescue plan that, combined with the princess' own initiative, actually lead to her escaping by the end of the first episode - they then swore to try to help her get to her back to her home. So instead of Princess Zelda, what I really got was Wizard of Oz, or so it would seem...and I can't complain - I honestly like this a lot more than Future Boy Conan for a few different reasons right off the bat. Genuinely didn't think this was gonna be up my alley at all (and only barely decided to try it it in the first place), especially seeing as I don't really care for either fantasy or classic adventure, but it was surprisingly nice and enjoyable. Although this is more classic fantasy than anime fantasy, and I do certainly appreciate that more than the sorry displays I always see when I come across anime fantasy shows, which usually make my eyes roll up into my skull. I immediately like the cast and style of dialogue more than I ever liked Conan's, so that's also a good sign. However, first episodes can be deceiving...for better or for worse. In other news, I have way too many shows I have identified as "have to watch further" after having seen an episode or more. This one will be shelved for now - Emi and Ririka are my focus for the time being.

Oh man, I am so totally going to hate this film if even its fans can't defend it. I am just not the type to overlook something like that.

I can only hope you missed something that made...something about that make sense, because I already have enough issues with male protagonists as it is before you start doing crap like that.

I sometimes wish "made for TV" edits of movies that removed pointless sex scenes and such were in circulation. I'd check that out for Wicked City, because I really do like the aesthetic. ...So, uh, Wings of Honneamise is bad? That's a Gainax title I have on the "check out" list...

Well, I definitely did not tell majestic to watch this so I would not have to because I had a feeling I would not like it no matter how intrigued I was by the art style. That was definitely not me. I was not involved here. I was just sitting over here innocently watching random 90s trash, so I certainly cannot be blamed for this. It wasn't me.

About four episodes of...uh, Akazukin Chacha? Red Riding Hood Chacha is apparently its English name. Marin the mermaid is a bit of hoot, though - but even so, I do not plan on watching any more. One episode of something called Nurse Angel Ririka SOS. Uh... Four episodes of Magical Star Emi. It's a veritable magical girl extravaganza, folks...and by "folks", I mean @majestic, because I know he's the only one that cares even slightly about this silliness.

Bandcamp is bought by Epic Games Store.

Madhouse's The Diary of Anne Frank (1995). Believe it or not, it's...The Diary of Anne Frank. It wouldn't be a bad way to learn the material by any means, but if you've already read the book and seen another film of it like I have, it's...not the most interesting - just a solid and appropriate enough cover of it. The backgrounds, lighting, and general style are great looking for this kind of work - dark, dingy, and detailed. Sometimes doesn't even really look that much like anime in the traditional sense, actually. But...The Diary of Anne Frank it still is. See? Literally the diary of Anne Frank. ...Yep, spoiler alert: it's the Diary of Anne Frank, alright. (e): I'm determined to finish everything Madhouse I was ever even slightly interested in: Mermaid's Scar, a 45-minute single episode OVA. Don't watch it - it's not terrible, but it's just not very good either...kind of felt like a bad Miyu episode. Gist of the story was that eating the flesh of a mermaid either gives you a kind of immortality...or turns you into a monster, and there's not really any clear reason as to which will happen (or why either one happens to begin with). Who the hell cares?

Toki no Tabibito: Time Stranger (1986). The first fifteen minutes: some 80s Japanese teens get their bus hijacked by some time traveller on the run from the future and accidentally end up in World War II while it's being firebombed and nearly get executed by jingoistic Japanese soldiers that think they're weird and possibly spies. Their time machine, um, unfortunately only goes backwards, so they're pretty much completely screwed and can only keep going more and more back in time. This is one wacky Magic School Bus episode. Madhouse animated, so it looks pretty good by my estimation, although sadly not preserved in HD. The good thing about bookmarking a million things is that I have no idea what the hell to expect when I try to watch them like a year later because I don't remember the first thing about them. Anyways, that was a pretty wacked out but enjoyable film - recommended if you want to watch...I don't even know, man. Time travel, world wars, alien abductions, terminators...what more could you want? Uh... Ethically, any kind of positive attention is better than...well, what's happened historically. Entertainment value is a different matter, though...

Lmao, their faces are making a vicious mockery of the scene just by themselves. I like to use the "thanks" emoticon sarcastically on a rare occasion - guess this is kind of what I'm envisioning when I do so, . JoJo: Yeah, it doesn't take much...and as I and majestic have said, Sailor Moon in the 90s shockingly still does it better than the vast majority of current Western crap, and Sailor Moon doesn't even do it that well - the standard is just so abysmally low that it looks pretty good in comparison to what we've seen elsewhere, particularly with respect to when it was released. Present them in a variety of ways with different kinds of personalities and traits and appearances (and not just the same annoying tropey garbage over and over) just like you would any other character. Professional, outrageous, selfless, narcissistic, quiet, over-expressive, loving, cold, comedic, serious, flamboyant, understated, rational, impulsive...do anything and everything as is appropriate to make interesting, fun, and varied characters. Not all behaviorisms or personality traits show up in every situation, either - Pearl is super omega mondo gay, but you definitely do not know that right off the bat because Steven Universe wasn't written by a bunch of hack frauds trying to show how woke they are; and she has plenty of both traditionally motherly as well as warrior-like traits, and those manifest themselves very differently depending upon the occasion. Normalize and treat them like real characters, and more people will like instead of being annoyed by them. Excerpt from the article: If actual non-binary folks dislike the shameful displays in Western media e.g. as above, I think they really need to start being very vocal about it if they want it to change, because right now, the most vocal voices against it are people that despise the non-binary, and that sucks. Problem is, it seems like a lot of pro-tolerance Western folks love this kind of pathetic virtue signalling, no matter how badly it comes across to anyone with a lick of sense or taste.

Well, that's the art of it, isn't it? If your themes and social commentary are more important than characters, structure, plot, or any kind of logical sense, I'm not likely to think too well of it.

I'd be curious to know whether military leadership of NATO and China agree with that... I've seen the 1984 film - liked "When the Wind Blows" more, .

That seems like a pretty slick mountain road to be going down. Nobody's gone that far before, and probably for good reason - what starts as a "limited tactical nuclear strike" will almost certainly demand an immediate response that demands an immediate response that demands... (e): Ninja-ed by @Zoraptor.

Yeah, I hate it when that happens. I like low-key character-driven stuff - ham-fisted meta social commentary and artificially inflated stakes can both be pretty annoying when they transform the direction of a show.

Is that Anne with an E you're talking about? Feel like I heard that the first season was pretty good, but subsequent ones were kind of...not so good. Although now that I'm thinking about it, I feel like I heard that from the Obsidian forums...and possibly literally you?

I've watched a few episodes of Takahata's Anne of Green Gables - it was basically the same as Heidi for me. Nice and enjoyable enough to casually watch, but not particularly the most interesting, which kind of just makes me want to watch something else...particularly knowing that it's like 40 episodes or something long. That kind of content works better at movie-length for me.

Gauche the Cellist (1982). Man can't play a danged cello, and it's dragging the whole band down. I expected this to be really drab and boring based off the premise (this is really not something I'd ever think I'd enjoy), but this opening scene sold me: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/284rqhnriqbw98z/mpc-hc64_Y0VxznSPgD.mp4 Doesn't this face just say it all? Odd but quite enjoyable little film. Helps if you like classical music...and can appreciate the animation. (e): Director: Isao Takahata. Well, I guess that explains that - that guy has done a remarkably awful job of making movies that I dislike. He should really get with the program of making junk that I hate like everything else!

Ugh, I made the same mistake by playing the entire series on insanity, and that no doubt played into how incredibly bored I was of the combat by even the second game - it's tediously difficult with how quickly you can eat it. If I were to ever even consider replaying them, it would either be on normal or even easy, and I wouldn't really even think twice about it, especially because I'd no doubt want to be Cheat Engine-ing that sucker up to 2-3x speed for much of the game. Don't want to die to stupid crap and replay any of the combat, that's for sure. But I don't really see myself ever trying to replay them - shooters just aren't really my thing anymore for obvious reasons and the games are so long and they probably haven't aged very well... I like (and believe in*) D&D as a general setting, even if it's the very overplayed Forgotten Realms, so that's something it immediately has over Dragon Age, where I simply could not care less about anything to do with the setting or world. I don't really know why they went with such a by-the-numbers set of party members, though...and the whole main plot was pretty boring - a literally mindless corrupted guardian is passively destroying the world, oh how terribly exciting. However, I would wager that if you disliked just almost everything about the original game, you prooobably wouldn't love MotB either. *Believing in a non-Earth world/setting is something that is difficult for me to do regardless of whether it's books, games, or film - does a lot to help sell a sense of investment. I am generally way more amenable to fantasy/sci-fi that has at least a tenuous connection to Earth/the real universe than ones that don't, so it's notable when there's an exception. I hate party AI, so having to program my party to not make the combat the worst pile of garbage in the world because the controls and such are so gosh-awful is extremely off-putting to me. Even outside of that starting dungeon, a lot of stuff in MotB was immune to sneak attacks. Lots of elementals (immune), undead (immune), machinery (immune), and spirits (immune).

He really is the worst. I actually just had a false memory right now where I thought I remembered the player decapitating him close to the end of the game, but I just looked it up and it's an incredibly lame omnitool stab instead. Figures my brain would make up a much more vicious and brutal end for him than he actually got. Any time games try to have "deep" "meaningful" "choices" like that (yes, I am putting air quotes around each word individually), that's pretty much always how it turns out, especially if it's not right at the end of a game/series (which is where the least amount of branched off/exclusive content would be necessary for actually significantly different outcomes), so I wasn't even the slightest bit surprised that that happened - it's the nature of AAA game development with how expensive everything is to make that they don't want to spend more than the minimum amount of development time on something that only a minority of players will see.