tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79613452325203538752024-03-08T10:52:36.391+01:00Matt's StuffThis is where I speak my mind about Music, Movies, Comics and other Entertainment Media related things.Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-75889414826064246372022-08-17T02:12:00.000+02:002022-08-17T02:12:28.707+02:00Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes - Back to Fodlan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.volume.at/cdn/review/banner-3__original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://www.volume.at/cdn/review/banner-3__original.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: center;">SPOILER WARNING</h3><div><br /></div><div>The most recent entry in the Fire Emblem Series called "Fire Emblem: Three Houses" (2019) was my favourite entry since 2005's "Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance", cutting back immensly on the rather annoying dating-sim and fan service influences that had crept up over the course of previous entries instead adding a bunch of other new elements as well as giving the player three (four, actually) different campaigns to change the future of Fodlan depending on the house chosen at the beginning of the game.</div><br />Fire Emblem Warriors (2017), The first Koei Tecmo Hackn 'n Slash spin-off meanwhile is something I consider somewhat of a travesty. Not having any real tactical elements to play around with would have been enough of a bummer as it was but the real crime was that the only thing as paper thin as the story where the characters themselves. <br /><br />When I heard that the same studio would develope a sequel to Warriors which simultaneously be an alternate take on Three Houses I was kind of torn.<br />On one hand I was going to take all the Three Houses flavoured crumbs I could get but on the other hand I couldn't help but worry.<br /><br />So the big questions is: Where those worries justified?<br />Thankfully the answer is: Not quite!<div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: center;">Back to Fodlan</h3><div><br /></div><div>While the core of the gameplay is still the same old mind numbingly simple hack 'n slay stuff where one slash sends about a dozen or more soldiers flying and the real challenge is effective time management the inclusion of more tactical options helps against the monotonous button mashing. Equipping your units, sending them to do specific tasks or target specific enemies via the tactical screen is not only possible but even advisable and other than in Three Houses there is no way to turn back time to avoid mistakes (outside of reloading that is, of course).<br /><br />But the gameplay itself is hardly the most interesting thing in Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes (which I'll call "Three Hopes" from here on out for conveniences sake), no the really interesting things are the stories and character interactions which are equally as deep and multi faceted as they had been in Three Houses and a hundred times more engaging than anything happening in Warriors..<br /><br />There are of course differences between the three campaigns (though not as many as you'd maybe expect) but what all three of them have in common this time is that the main character isn't Byleth (or Guyleth) but rather a rival Mercenary called Shez (or Hez for the male version because I am still just as hilarious) who loses all their companions in a battle against the Ashen Demon (Byleth) and only survives because of "divine intervention" in the form of Arval Shez's self proclaimed partner in destiny whose powers unlock a very anime looking transformation power-up whichs nature isn't truly revealed until later in the game ...in theory.<br />In practice you will be able to see the twist coming from miles away especially if you played multiple campaigns of Three Houses.<br />And make no mistake, the game pretty much expects you to have done as much.<br />New players are likely to be totally lost and those who only played the Black Eagle or Blue Lions campaign in Three Houses will probably feel like they are missing some information.<br />mostly because they very much are.<br /><br />Either way: Shez, now having sworn revenge for their fallen comrades, stumble upon the three House Leaders Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude under attack by Bandits and help them out.<br />That's how they end up joining the Officers Academy in whichever house they choose, this time however as a student rather than a as a professor.<br />One of the frustrating things in Three Houses was that the first half of each campaign was always the same chain of events only with different characters. Only by the timeskip in the middle grew the campaigns more distinctive from one another.<br />Three Hopes handles things very differently. There's two short missions as a student that are the same for every playthrough but after that the schoolyear is cut short as all the students return home to deal with their respective crises.<br /><br />While you would usually spend a year teaching students, having tea parties, chatting in the mess hall and gifting gifts to students you want to join your chosen house instead there is no real opportunity for it.<br />A more limited roster of characters can still be recruited later on in different missions if you choose the righ strategies and manage to convince them (mostly by beating them into submission first) with very different motivations.<br />Some characters are quite happy to join you, others are downright miserable and a good deal of them will never be available. While limiting it feels a lot truer to the respective characters. While a foreign queen like Petra only really follows the Empire because she has to a Knight like Ashe will never quite get over what he sees as betrayal on his country and will only do so because of a promise made to his former King.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXFrLnNVQAAweMF?format=jpg&name=large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXFrLnNVQAAweMF?format=jpg&name=large" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Additionally it helps that Shez is just a more fun and engaging character than the stoic "Ashen Demon".</span></div><div>Another thing that all the campaigns have in common is that the endings aren't nearly as definitive as they had been in Three Houses.<br />Previously no matter which House you chose, it got a "Happily ever after" kind of ending where you had to read between the lines to see how great those endings actually where (which of the two ancient factions are still around? How many characters had to die to get here and why?).<br /><br />Three Hopes always ends minutes after the respective final battle with all three nations still more or less around so we can only really guess how things continue from then on out.<br />But enough of that, let us dive into the three campaigns bit by bit and rank them like I did in my <a href="https://matts-shtuff.blogspot.com/2019/08/fire-emblem-three-houses-ranking.html">article</a> for three houses starting with:<br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">3) - Golden Wildfire (House Golden Deer)</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://static1.thegamerimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Fire-Emblem-Three-Hopes-Golden-Wildfire-Unlock-Feature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://static1.thegamerimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Fire-Emblem-Three-Hopes-Golden-Wildfire-Unlock-Feature.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>And we start with a bang, or rather a crashing sound as the alternate take on the best campaign of Three Houses is... somehow the worst campaign in the game.<br />Now it would have been hard to beat the original Golden Deer campaign. Why?<br />Because it was the most complete story answering the most questions, uncovering the most lies and with the most engaging house leader with the only shortcoming being the majority of other students just not being all that great compared to the two other houses to choose from.<br />And now?<br />The Story starts well enough with Claude showing his usual self by being a crafty son of a gun in his fight against the empire but things take a different turn soon enough.<br />Making peace with the Empire and attacking the Kingdom instead comes completely out of left-field.<br />It's not necessarily a dumb twist but it feels like a twist for the sake of one rather than anything else.<br />Things continue to feel kind of disappointing when Claude receives intel from Edelgard, which we as the player know is mostly false, and doesn't ever question it, shattering the perception of the smart leader who sees through all the BS I had from Three Houses.<br />But at least he still has his heart of go- nvmd he kills his own brother, lies to his friends, makes himself king and let's allied imperial troops die.<br />All is explained away farely well but between all these instances and now a laser focus on killing the less bad ancient faction (honestly I see Rhea and co more as Lawful neutral than evil) rather than the true evil known as "Those Who Slither in the Dark" makes him and his friends a bit of an unfortunate pawn for the actual bad guys.<br />In an amusing twist of fate it's actually no one's favourite noble Lorenz who is the most interesting character in the campaign, taking over his fathers job, having a head of his own, questioning Claude for good reasons, uncovering informations about the death of Raphaels parents and being a pretty decent guy for someone so full of himself.<br /><br />At the end of the day this campaign asks the question: What if Claude didn't uncover the whole truth?<br />The answer is: Nothing good.<br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">2) - Scarlet Blaze (Black Eagles)</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://static1.thegamerimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Fire-Emblem-Three-Hopes-Black-Blaze-Unlock-Feature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://static1.thegamerimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Fire-Emblem-Three-Hopes-Black-Blaze-Unlock-Feature.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Previously siding with Edelgard meant siding with the woman who allied herself with "those who slither in the dark", kicks off a continent-wide war based on information she had from those rather untrustworthy individuals, twists the truth when it suits her campaign (remember the arianrhod bombing), mocks fallen enemies at deaths door, eagerly suggests killing the defeated Claude and is just generally a bit of a piece of shit.<br />And those didn't even include the things she resorted to without Byleth's guidance like being okay with turning soldiers into mindless demonic beasts, turning herself into a demonic beast and all that good stuff.<br />Playing the true Black Eagle campaign was basically playing the bad guy campaign and kind of reminded me of stomping around as Balrog in the shire back in Lord of the Rings Conquests bad guys campaign mode.<br /><br />This time?<br />Not so much!<br />Rather than hanging with those who slither in the dark and later half heartedly vowing to come for them next (with no proof that ever worked after the game ends) Edelgard and Hubert tell 'em to get fucked pretty much immediately even going as far as saving Monica. A good deed even if Edelgard admits it wasn't out of kindness but rather convenience.<br />They say self-awareness is the first step to improvement and things continue in that way.<br />Yeah sure the Church and Kingdom still remain the big "bads" of the campaign but it's now on-sight with those who slither in the dark too.<br />Edelgard and Hubert never quite become nice characters but they do have more genuinely fun and "soft" moments and never go down paths nearly as dark as they used to.<br />In Addition Ferdinand has a whole subplot about his relationship to his traiterous father which is low-key a highlight of the entire game for me.<br />Other than most Golden Deer characters who >largely< stay the same you can really see the changes in the story affecting some of the Black Eagles.<br />And in the end, rather than just taking down Rhea and the Church this time Thales and those who slither in the dark get a good roughing up as well to the point wher it's possible that both leaders have perished, it's kind of open ended but it's the thought that counts.<br /><br />The question this campaign asks is: What if Edelgard didn't continue to work with Those Who Slither in the Dark? <br />And it turns out the answer is: A bunch of interesting stuff!<br />Definitely an improvement.<br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">1) - Azur Gleam (Blue Lions)</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.gamelivestory.com/images/article/fire-emblem-warriors-three-hopes-best-spears-where-to-find-them-main.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://www.gamelivestory.com/images/article/fire-emblem-warriors-three-hopes-best-spears-where-to-find-them-main.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>In Three Houses the Blue Lions campaign was unique in the sense that it was completely focused on the conflict between the three Nations. The Church was missing it's leader and while Those Who Slither in the Dark where active they continued to do so in their civilian disguises with only some few bits of information hinting at that whole storyline that stayed largely undiscovered thanks in large part to the fact that the team was busy enough keeping their tortured king in check and helping him become an actual human being again with Edelgard being the sole big bad throughout the entire campaign.<br />Well, as far as they know. Amusingly enough Thales dies aynway while in the guise of Lord Arundel and Rhea gives up her position of power after the events of the game and her own captivity making for a definite-ish but rather odd end to the storyline between those ancient factions.<br /><br />But what that campaign did better than any other was highlight the bond between the members of it's house and guess what: That is once again it's biggest strength, thankfully this time with a mentally much healthier Dimitri who has his demons and trauma largely in check, letting him be the paragon of good he truly is at his very core.<br />Dimitri isn't the only one who is better of in this take on the story however. Being thrust into a position of authority Felix makes for a critical thinking right hand man of the King with a much less strained relationship between them even if he still keeps telling Dimitri all the things he doesn't want but needs to hear and making him as important a character in the campaign as Dedue.<br />But there's more where that came from: Basically all the character development usually reserved to A and S tier support conversations in Three Houses happened outside of them this time with examples like Sylvain being over his skirt-chasing nonsense or Ingrid realizing from the start that racism certainly isn't the answer to grief, both feeling ashamed of their prior behaviour.<br /><br />The other big change however is that Dimitri dodging his mentally ill edgelord phase makes for a stable leader and thus the Kingdom of Farghus isn't only aware of those who slither in the dark but actively hunts them with Edelgard not being their prime target this time.<br /><br />That's also how the campaign ends, with everyone (Kingdom, Alliance, Church) united against Thales with the fate of Edelgard and the Empire somewhat open afterwards.<br /><br />In this case the campaign asks the question: What if Dimitri was never tortured into insanity and what if Faerghus is made aware of those who slither in the dark?</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not even going to pretend I am not heavily biased towards my Blue Lions but this time the ranking actually reflects that moreso than it did last time and for good reason.<br />The actual big bad is dead, not many named characters end up dying, Edelgard may have a future if someone can help her, with their ancient enemies gone the church may be open to talks about new power structures with their allies in the Alliance and the Kingdom with tow leaders very open to change.<br />It's a lot of assumptions that go into this conclusion but to be fair that's literally true for all of the three endings, thats how they were written.<br /><br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion:</h4>I really do like this game, two campaigns improve over the originals, only one doesn't and Shez is a much more entertaining character than Byleth.<br />But at the end of the day the gameplay is still largely that of another another Dynasty Warriors re-skin which will never compare to the round based strategy game goodness of Fire Emblem Main Games.<br />I can't say which games story I prefer but I can tell which game I prefer based on that alone.<br />Still Three Hopes is definitely worth a look if Three Houses sucked you in as much as it did me back then.</div>Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-84309743763185790302021-09-23T02:51:00.002+02:002021-09-24T19:41:59.501+02:00Star Wars Visions - Ranked<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/swv_visionslogo_en_1200_3baad609.png?region=0,0,1200,310" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="207" data-original-width="800" height="104" src="https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/swv_visionslogo_en_1200_3baad609.png?region=0,0,1200,310" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Would you look at that: A new Star War just dropped. Several in fact.<br />Star Wars Visions is the name of a 9 Episode Anthology of standalone Star Wars Short Films by a number of prestigious japanese anime studios.<br />Or at least I think they are prestigious because really I don't know s*it about Anime.<br />I watched some, enjoyed a few, didn't enjoy many more and read some Mangas.<br />To this day I actually follow the somehow still ongoing One Piece Manga but even I know claiming that means I'm actually a Manga/Anime Fan would be like saying you are into Rap because you like an Eminem Song or you are into Metal because you listened to Metallica's Black Album once.<br /><br />Anyway what's cool about Star Wars Visions is that it doesn't bother trying to fit into Canon (nor the Legends continuity).<br />Each Studio was free to do whatever the hell they wanted but how well do these products hold up?<br />Well that's why I am here: To rank them from my least favourite to my actual favourite.</p><p><br />Beware of Spoilers.<br /><br /><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">9) The Twins [Studio Trigger] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.avcaesar.com/src/news/00/00/87/25/star-wars-visions-bande-annonce-qui-defonce0819003.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="800" height="178" src="https://www.avcaesar.com/src/news/00/00/87/25/star-wars-visions-bande-annonce-qui-defonce0819003.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />This Episode is probably the closest example to what comes to mind when someone mentions a Star Wars Anime.<br />Wild flowing hair, over the top action, a lot of yelling, sensory overload.<br /><br />But it doesn't at all stop there, breathing in space, two Star Destroyers pushed together with a canon slapped on it for good measure, kybercrystals that can be used for whatever basically.<br />It's a wild ride and even though it almost sounds like a parody it takes itself completely seriously.<br />Sadly I couldn't take it seriously.<br />Nonsensical over the top-everything stuff is something I enjoy in some instances but it certainly wasn't the case here yet the main problem was that I couldn't really stand either of the twins so I failed to form the emotional attachment requiered and I realized halfway through I would have been a-okay with an ending that would see either Twin just drifting lifelessly off into space.<br /><br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">8) Akakiri [Science SARU]</h4><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/0/09/Akakiri.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/0/09/Akakiri.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Akakiri sees a Jedi returning to a planet whose princess is an old acquaintance of his.<br />Said Princess tries to take back her fathers throne from a Sith Lord with the help of not only our Jedi protagonist but also two middle aged comedic relief characters that are requiered to stick around for story reasons.<br />Our Jedi has a recurring nightmare/vision that he can't interpret and really the basic structure and the downer ending are cool ideas on paper. The problem is that we simply don't have enough time to care.<br />At some point one of the comedic relief characters disappears, the Jedi saves him off screen and it doesn't really play into what comes next at all.<br />The story wants us to see the Fall of our Jedi as an Anakin/Padme situation but we don't actually get to see them all that close apart from one short flashback. More than any other episode Akakiri could have done with a longer runtime to flesh out the characters and make us care but it didn't and sadly I don't like the visual style and character designs at all either.<br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h4 style="text-align: left;">7) T0-B1 [Science SARU]</h4><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Star_Wars_Visions_T0_B1_S-164674799-large.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Star_Wars_Visions_T0_B1_S-164674799-large.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>T0-B1 is the story of a puppet that wants to be a real boy or rather that is the more famous story it draws inspiration from.<br />It's really about a Droid that kind of looks like Megaman with a mentor that kind of looks like Doctor Light and his dream to become a Jedi Knight.<br />It's real Job however is to help the doctor and all the other Droids to bring life to a barren planet which is the professors dream.<br /><br />Eventually the professor tells T0-B1 that he must find a kybercrystal if he wants to become a Jedi.<br />That is when he involuntarily alerts the baddies of the planet's location.<br />The whole film follows a swift and easy to understand Story about dreams and how people can help each other achieve them but while competently done it was a little too cutesy and the characters a little too one dimensional to land much higher on this list.<br /><br /><br /><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">6) The Duel [Kamikaze Duoga]</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://starwarsblog.starwars.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/star-wars-visions-sith-bandit-leader-the-duel-21086391_TALL.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://starwarsblog.starwars.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/star-wars-visions-sith-bandit-leader-the-duel-21086391_TALL.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The Duel was low-key pushed as the standout story of the entire Anthology with it's distinctive greyscale and red look, the novel it's getting soon and the heavy focus it had gotten in marketing<br /><br />And it's really not hard to see why.<br />The character designs are great, the visual style as well and the action, while not nearly as over the top as that of "The Twins" is flashy as hell.<br />Also the Droid wears a hat which is definitely a plus.<br /><br />The Story itself also isn't exactly bad. A Ronin type character visits a Village on his travels, the Village gets attacked by Bandits who are led by a Sith and as it turns out she isn't the only Sith around because our Ronin too carries red Lightsabers.<br />Then they fight and the "good guy" wins and that is it basically. It's fine but the action wasn't jaw dropping enough to make up for the fact that there was very little meat on these bones.<br /><br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">5) Lop and Ocho [Geno Studio] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://static1.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/star-wars-visions-trailer-social-featured.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="160" src="https://static1.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/star-wars-visions-trailer-social-featured.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Lop and Ocho doesn't only feature a character I'm afraid I'll have to see sexy fanart of soon and entirely against my will because the internet will be the internet, it also features storyline that is better suited for a pilot episode than a standalone film since the uhm... family disagreement it's based on only get worse the longer the Story goes on.<br />But thankfully it's a compelling enough story about family relations, differing points of view and doing a bad thing for good reasons or vice versa depending on who you ask.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><h4 style="text-align: left;">4) Tatooine Rhapsody [Studio Colorido]</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://starwarsblog.starwars.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/k-344-tatooine-rhapsody-star-wars-visions-386353832.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="800" height="136" src="https://starwarsblog.starwars.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/k-344-tatooine-rhapsody-star-wars-visions-386353832.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div>If you had told me before that I would enjoy this short film as much as I did I would have probably called you a liar.<br />It's very short, very simple and looks silly to boot with it's chibi style and crazy space instruments and odd character designs (look at that drummer on the right!)<br /><br />But it's really just a simple story of a bunch of musicians who just want to be left alone from dangerous family drama and play their music live on stage.<br />Was the story ridiculous? Kinda. But I found myself really rooting for these weirds misfits to just live their dream of just being in a band in a universe that is usually more focused on Force Users, politicians, fighter pilots, bounty hunters and smugglers.</div><div><br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">3) The Elder [Studio Trigger] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.playcentral.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Star-Wars-Visions-The-Elder-Beitragsbild.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://www.playcentral.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Star-Wars-Visions-The-Elder-Beitragsbild.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Okay we are in the top 3 and while I'm pretty set on my ranking thus far it is entirely possible that the top 3 could change depending on my mood on that day or on a rewatch but let's start this off with "The Elder".<br />Surprisingly from the same Studio that gave us "The Twins" this one is much more mature in tone and visual style.<br /><br />Our main characters are a Jedi Master and his Padawan who both seem to be very heavily influenced by Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi as seen in the Phantom Menace and I am not just talking about their looks and lightsaber colours.<br />Their entire vibes and at least one specific conversation reminded me a lot of that movie that introduced me to Star Wars and even the fight against the odd looking fellow with the more unorthodox fighting style follows a similar structure where one Jedi get's taken out before the other can come to the rescue.<br />This time however the roles are reversed and it's the master who wins the fight and neither of the Jedi die.<br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">2) The Village Bride [Kinema Citrus] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.cnet.com/a/img/Z1-RvcUGv3p4A4fOqJKTXI_nOfs=/940x0/2021/09/21/e8040b48-98c7-48d6-bcff-ca56629065eb/anm-012426.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="800" height="136" src="https://www.cnet.com/a/img/Z1-RvcUGv3p4A4fOqJKTXI_nOfs=/940x0/2021/09/21/e8040b48-98c7-48d6-bcff-ca56629065eb/anm-012426.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Yet another Story that sees a Village under attack while a force User is present yet there are a lot more factors at play here.<br />The Attack isn't as much an assaulta s it is a blackmail afair that sees a young woman and her husband agree to go with the bad guys if the Village is left alone instead but there is the womans sister who doesn't agree with the deal and has her own plans in motion, there is a whole storyline about how the Villagers live in harmony with nature and lastly of course there is our Heroine who is conflicted about revealing her identity as a Jedi. There is so much going on in such a short time and yet it's paced perfectly fine and never feels like there is too much going on at once.<br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">1) The Ninth Jedi [Production IG]</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://starwarsblog.starwars.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/star-wars-visions-trailer-image-3-238sk.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="800" height="135" src="https://starwarsblog.starwars.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/star-wars-visions-trailer-image-3-238sk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Again both the Elder as well as the Village Bride could totally end up in this spot depending on my mood.<br />What sets this story apart from the other two was that I immediately hoped we'd get to see this story continue. Much like Lop and Ocho it feels like a pilote but unlike said example the ending still felt satisfying rather than being blue-balled so to speak.<br />A mysterious person calls for Jedi to meet to rebuild the Order, promising them that he has uncovered the old secret of creating a lightsaber. We first meet the Jedi waiting there for their host but only a giant droid is waiting for them so far.<br />The lightsabers meanwhile do exist and interestingly their blade's are colour-less until used by an actual Jedi... or Sith upon which they get their colour.<br />After the bladesmith get's attacked his daughter, our main protagonist, has to deliver the lightsabers to the Jedi.<br />The way the blade colours played into the big reveal was just, as Thrawn would say, artistically done and literally all the Jedi featuring in the Story seem incredibly interesting to me and I, as I said, would be really eager to see a continuation for this particular story.</div><br />Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-59359272469674104512020-12-23T21:40:00.000+01:002020-12-23T21:40:15.950+01:00Assassin's Creed - Ranked from Worst to Best<p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/thumb/9/9f/Assassin%E2%80%99s_Creed.svg/1200px-Assassin%E2%80%99s_Creed.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="800" height="189" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/thumb/9/9f/Assassin%E2%80%99s_Creed.svg/1200px-Assassin%E2%80%99s_Creed.svg.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></h1>So I don't have much of an Intro to this. I just played the last main game in the series, called Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Mini spoilers: I'll gush over it a bit further down this list. Major spoilers:<br />There will be lots of spoilers, so consider that your first and last warning.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator"><br /></div>But first we'll have to make our way through the many weaker entries of this list so let's get crackin'.... aaafter a little disclaimer:<br />I won't include the Chronicles Series or smaller titles like Rebellion either.<br />The only non-main series game I'll give the tip of the hat here is Assassin's Creed Liberation since it mades it's way on main consoles eventually and has a lot of similarities with said main games.<br /><br />But to climb to the top of the tower we'll have to start at the bottom and we'll do so with:<br /><br /><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Assassin's Creed Unity<br /></h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn2.unrealengine.com/Diesel%2Fproductv2%2Fassassins-creed-unity%2Fhome%2FACU_UCS14913_EGST_BannerBundle_US_Store_Landscape_2580x1450-2580x1450-24a0303665904010909579042262c383124ad3c1.jpg?h=1080&resize=1&w=1920" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://cdn2.unrealengine.com/Diesel%2Fproductv2%2Fassassins-creed-unity%2Fhome%2FACU_UCS14913_EGST_BannerBundle_US_Store_Landscape_2580x1450-2580x1450-24a0303665904010909579042262c383124ad3c1.jpg?h=1080&resize=1&w=1920" width="320" /></a></div><br />The first entry for the then new XBox One and PS4 was an infamously buggy mess of a game and even beyond technical difficulties it just wasn't much fun really.<br />The only real saving grace was the love story which was... fine? <br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;">Assassin's Creed - Origins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://store-images.s-microsoft.com/image/apps.38218.68585966264585427.c7912f00-a6f1-456c-b133-a2784c8c0e9b.aed60143-47de-447d-a89f-c7ebacb16750?mode=scale&q=90&h=1080&w=1920&format=jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://store-images.s-microsoft.com/image/apps.38218.68585966264585427.c7912f00-a6f1-456c-b133-a2784c8c0e9b.aed60143-47de-447d-a89f-c7ebacb16750?mode=scale&q=90&h=1080&w=1920&format=jpg" width="320" /></a></div></h4>Despite the last of the "old" Assassin's Creed Games having been great it was an understandable decision on Ubisoft's part to rebuild the series from the ground up. And going in the direction of RPG's with a massive explorable world and more stat based combat was a sensible decision on paper.<br />Now if only the story, the gameplay and the world had been nearly fun enough to sustain the change in direction but unfortunately it was far from there yet. Forcing Players to grind through sidequests in order to sell XP-Boosts if they wanted to continue playing the rather tedious campaign didn't help.<br />A lot of work and a bunch of good decisions went into this game but ultimately they couldn't save Origins from being a juggernaut that had no business being just that.<br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Assassin's Creed - Brotherhood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://fanatical.imgix.net/product/original/230d819c-833a-4b72-af5d-d96f86456771.jpeg?auto=compress,format&w=400&fit=max" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="400" height="180" src="https://fanatical.imgix.net/product/original/230d819c-833a-4b72-af5d-d96f86456771.jpeg?auto=compress,format&w=400&fit=max" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator"><br /></div></h4><br />Recruiting NPC's and leveling them up to become your very own Assassin's Squad. That was what Brotherhood brought to the table and it was pretty fun for a bit.<br />But moving the game from densly populated areas to Rome and other places that weren't as filled to the brim with lots of buildings made this the first AC Game where a lot of what you did was just walking through a map that made you realize there was a reason why earlier games hadn't done more open maps just yet.<br />And the story just came down to "Here is other stuff Ezio did, you know, the guy you like from the better game that came before". There was a certain sense of laziness in the air of which the Devil was very much in the detail like how Ezio jus never removed his hood in cutscenes anymore and dialogue came mostly down to expository chat's that sent you on the way again immediately.<br />Also killing my girl Lucy for no other reason than her VA not signing on for further games without having a good idea why that twist would be a thing (I know they made up a reason which you only got to hear in a DLC when you stopped to listen and it was quite dumb) didn't sit well with me at all.<br /><br />The Multiplayer was more fun than expected actually.<br /><br /><br /><b>Assassin's Creed - Revelations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/201870/capsule_616x353.jpg?t=1532007165" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="616" height="183" src="https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/201870/capsule_616x353.jpg?t=1532007165" width="320" /></a></div><br /></b><br /><br />Same as Brotherhood but the maps and story were a tad better.<p></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://ubistatic19-a.akamaihd.net/ubicomstatic/de-de/global/buy-now/ac3-thmbnl_mobile_169619.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="631" height="181" src="https://ubistatic19-a.akamaihd.net/ubicomstatic/de-de/global/buy-now/ac3-thmbnl_mobile_169619.png" width="320" /></a><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Assassin's Creed III</h4><br />The game was more fun than people give it credit for. Ship Missions were exciting and new, the storyline revolving around the Assassin's House and the Missions that tied into it were great, playing the beginning of the game as templar, having two generations of Kenways fight side by side, everything about the final chase/ fight was actually pretty badass and emotional.<br />It is just that there were too many bits and pieces inbetween that were stale and boring and prevented all the good bits from coming together in a really satisfying way and the end of Desmond's story was all kinds of disappointing, really.<br />I mean maybe that was on me having some kind expectations at this point in the series.<br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Assassin's Creed</b><a href="https://store-images.s-microsoft.com/image/apps.62121.64148876922571625.4747b43e-3d86-49fc-aa97-ee00c70af4e5.763042e2-6d13-4a8a-a21d-b07d9f5f2cca?mode=scale&q=90&h=1080&w=1920" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://store-images.s-microsoft.com/image/apps.62121.64148876922571625.4747b43e-3d86-49fc-aa97-ee00c70af4e5.763042e2-6d13-4a8a-a21d-b07d9f5f2cca?mode=scale&q=90&h=1080&w=1920" width="320" /></a></h4><br />Back when the first entry in the series came out it was actually kind of mind blowing.<br />The graphics looked slick as fuck compared to what we were used to, climbing freely was amazing and we hadn't grown tired of combat that relied way too much on sytlish counter attacks.<br />Still even back then it was a bit jarring to return to every City 3 times and encountering more and more resistance with each kill, sucking the fun out of the late game.<br />Basically everything this game did, later entries in the series did better later on BUT at it's place in time this game absolutely rocked.<br /><br /><b>Assassin's Creed - Odyssey<br /></b><br />A more beautiful world, more diverse missions, a much more fun main character in Kassandra (There is no other choice imo), mythical beasts and objects and places, romance options, Odyssey was in every conceivable way better than it's predecessor AC Origins.<br /><br /><br /><br />And yet it still made you grind (apparently that was fixed later on after I finished it but I didn't go back to check) to play the main missions and tried to sell you exp boosts right there in the main menu so you could level faster like in some free to play online game despite having been a full price game to begin with.<br />Playing like a looter shooter with gear that you had to replace with higher level stuff every 5 fucking seconds didn't help either and lastly cutting the main story in 3 different ones that had 3 different purposes felt incredibly unfocused and weird.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://d2skuhm0vrry40.cloudfront.net/2018/articles/2018-10-05-13-49/assassins-creed-odyssey-alle-materialien-und-wo-ihr-die-ressourcen-findet-1538743767378.jpg/EG11/thumbnail/750x422/format/jpg/quality/60" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="750" height="180" src="https://d2skuhm0vrry40.cloudfront.net/2018/articles/2018-10-05-13-49/assassins-creed-odyssey-alle-materialien-und-wo-ihr-die-ressourcen-findet-1538743767378.jpg/EG11/thumbnail/750x422/format/jpg/quality/60" title="Look, now idea why Blogger doesn't put this on the right without shoving it all the way up next to the title." width="320" /></a></div>At this point Ubisoft blatantly could have released a much better product but decided not to in order to sell some microtransactions.<br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Assassin's Creed Liberation</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/260210/header.jpg?t=1532007147" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="460" height="150" src="https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/260210/header.jpg?t=1532007147" width="320" /></a></div>A short and sweet spin off with outfit mechanics that allowed for three different playstyles dpending on your approach to each mission (Slave, Warrior, Lady) and the first female character made for a very nice day or two in front of my console. Really can't complain much. If anything I'd like that mechanic back in future titles, pretty please.<br /><br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://cdn2.unrealengine.com/Diesel%2Fproductv2%2Fassassins-creed-rogue%2Fhome%2FACRG_Store_Landscape_2580x1450-2580x1450-e15109bbf6511d3cdf944a1e7ba9d007c0883035.jpg?h=1080&resize=1&w=1920" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://cdn2.unrealengine.com/Diesel%2Fproductv2%2Fassassins-creed-rogue%2Fhome%2FACRG_Store_Landscape_2580x1450-2580x1450-e15109bbf6511d3cdf944a1e7ba9d007c0883035.jpg?h=1080&resize=1&w=1920" width="320" /></a></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;">Assassin's Creed - Rogue</h4><br /><br /><div>The titles for the old generation of consoles while the shiny new ones got Unity instead.<br />Yeah, it's incredibly ironic that the old consoles got a game that was better in each and every way.<br />Borrowing the ship combat focus from Black Flag was an onbvious choice given how popular it was but yet it felt different with it's very much non tropical environment, letting you deal with icebergs and the like while playing on the other side of the conflict for once as an Ex- Assassin turned Templar but not necessarily turned bad guy.<br />Not too many people had it on their radar from what I remember but whoever had had nothing but good things to say about it afterwards. Even now I'd suggest going back and giving it a chance if you haven't done so in the past already.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://store-images.s-microsoft.com/image/apps.24056.67608528792882784.56fd0e59-8e5c-4c63-9eca-864b4e57fa73.ad05cf15-520c-44ca-861a-04c65bb46755?mode=scale&q=90&h=1080&w=1920" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://store-images.s-microsoft.com/image/apps.24056.67608528792882784.56fd0e59-8e5c-4c63-9eca-864b4e57fa73.ad05cf15-520c-44ca-861a-04c65bb46755?mode=scale&q=90&h=1080&w=1920" width="320" /></a><div><b>Assassin's Creed II</b></div><br /><br />Sometimes a follow up just does everything better than it's predecessor and this is exactly what happened with Assassin's Creed II.<br />The main character suddenly had personality, the cutscenes were fun as hell and more elaborate, the gamplay was more fluid, the game had much more variety in enemies, maps, side quests and other activities.<br />If Assassin's Creed was the blueprint for the series, AC II was the entire first floor and basement, fully decorated and everything. Much like Rogue I can still totally see myself going back and giving the whole thing another go even many years and many titles in the series later.<br /><br />Lastly it was the one time where I really looked forward to every real world sequence outside the Animus.<br />Desmond grew on me fairly quickly here and I greatly enjoyed his blooming relationship with Lucy and I'm normally absolutely not the most romantic of people but damn, it, beating up bad guys together while the credits role is my idea of a date,<br /><br />Probably why I am single.<br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Assassin's Creed - Valhalla<a href="https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/assets/uploads/2020/07/ac-valhalla-eivor--1280x720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/assets/uploads/2020/07/ac-valhalla-eivor--1280x720.jpg" width="320" /></a></h4><br />Sometimes a follow up just does everything better than it's predecessor and this is exactly what happened in Assassin's Creed II ...I mean Valhalla.<br />Well maybe not fully so, I can absolutely see how someone would prefer Kassandra over either version of Eivor but beyond that I wouldn't trade in anything for the previous game really.<br />The grinding has completely disappeared, in fact around the end I was ridiculously overpowered even just because this world sucked me in so so so fully and quickly that I did a lot of side-quests and activities all the time.<br /><br />The Map, England especially is, I think, my absolute favourite world map since probably TES V: Skyrim with which I mean it perfectly marries immersion with environmental storytelling and the best possible sandbox experience.<br />I spent so many hours just wandering around, jumping off cliffs, climbing mountains and stopping just to look around and take in that postcard-worthy landscape with it's amazing lighting system and I say that as someone who played this on a lest-gen console.<br />And that's is just the start really. Gone is the the endless cycling through new higher level gear, gone are the mictrotransactions, gone is the endless grind to artificially pro-long the amount of time spent with the game when you don't buy exp-boosts, gone is the weird story that comes in three parts.<br />Instead activities are more diverse , more fun, more rewarding, building your settlement is a thing, you liked fighting a minotaur in the last game and see atlantis in the distance?<br />Well then how would you like to straight up go to Asgaard and fight frost giants and gigantic wolves?<br />How would you like to eat mushrooms and get high as fuck to solve riddles? How would you like to blow your horn and raid whatever monastery you come across? How would you like to wield Mjolnir?<br />And how would you like to engage in medieval rap battles called flyting to raise your charisma?<br />Tired of all of that? Well how about you sail over to America and hang with some native americans for a couple of hours inbetween? Entirely optional of course.<br /><br />There are some downsides to this game: Some bugs (nothing even remotely on the level of Unity or Cyberpunk), the present day backstory finally lost me completely, a bit of a missing consistency in Eivor's characterisation and an Ending that probably could have felt bigger and more important and not like an open end to an Invsaion we all know can't have ended all the well given how the series follows actual historic events but it's a rather small price to pay all thing considered.<br /><br />For the first time since the series "rebooted" the positives to me far far faaaar outweighed the negatives and I never found anything frustrating with the exception of having to win one of these dice games in order to finish the Order Quests.<p></p><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://img.redbull.com/images/c_fill,g_auto,w_1500,h_1000/q_auto,f_auto/redbullcom/2015/09/23/1331749602741_2/assassin-s-creed-syndicate" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://img.redbull.com/images/c_fill,g_auto,w_1500,h_1000/q_auto,f_auto/redbullcom/2015/09/23/1331749602741_2/assassin-s-creed-syndicate" width="320" /></a></div><b>Assassin's Creed - Syndicate</b><br /><br />A more than worthy way to say goodbye to the old kind of Assassin's Creed games before they became huge RPG's, Syndicate is easily the best pure Assasin's Creed Game despite not really reinventing the wheel in any meaningful way or maybe exactly because it didn't do so, focussing instead on enhancing what's already been done before.<br />The two big new things were two main character, namely the Frye siblings and a grappling hook that spiced up parkouring enough to make it even more fun without going all out Batman Arkham City on us.<br />London was also just a perfect fit for an Assassin's Creed game with it's narrow streets and high buildings.<br />Hell even the river had enough traffic to traverse ship by ship by ship.<br />All the activities were hell of a lot of fun and it's one of the only games ever wehre I just felt compelled to clear the entire map (not counting collectibles).<br />And if all that wsn't enough there was an entire optional section that saw us following another Assassin who worked in London during one of the World Wars.<br />Lastly: Evie and Jacob Frye are just easily my favourite protagonists and the way one chapter always put it into Jacob's shoes to do something reckless in the name of good and putting us in those of Evie to do some damage control because other than her brother she actually thinks things through was unique and refreshing and when Jacob had one more chapter at the end of the day it didn't feel unfair it felt like he finally had to fix his own mess because Evie had been right all along.<br />Still being Siblings there endless quarrels were much more fun that jarring to me at least.<br />And hey: The Assassin's HQ was a train that was on the move all the time, I mean how can you argue with that, huh?<br /><br /><p></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7MeZVqC3STw/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7MeZVqC3STw/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Assassin's Creed IV - Black Flag</h4><br />Hardly a real Assassin's game Black Flag was just easily the best pirate game I've ever played:<br />The On foot-sections are solid but really when you think back what is it you remember?<br />If you are anything like me it is sailing around, finding diving spots to get upgrades, sinking and entering ships left and right, getting absolutely obliterated by legendary ships in the very corners of the map until I fully upgraded the jackdaw now bringing incredible thrilling fights to them, catching sharks and whales, listening to all the shanties I found on repeat and just generally doing anything that wasn't related to the main quest.<br />And when I finally cleared the map (again without non-shanty collectibles because fuck em) and finished the main questline it turned out it was great actually and instead of the typical cliff-hanger or underwhelming ending I got to sail out into the sunset with Ann Bonney singing "the partying glass" in what's probably my favourite version of an already great song simply because this game sucked me in so fully and completely that I am not lying when I say it's probably one of my favourite games of all time.<br /><br />Oh but the out-of-animus stuff sucked hard this time but it really doesn't diminish anything.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion:</h4>You'll disagree. I know I ranked fan favourites like Brotherhood and Odyssey much further down than the general consensus would and I know that not many people fell hard or Syndicate like I did to which I say:<br />Great. The world would be boring if we all had the same opinion. Like all media it comes down to subjective opinions no matter what internet neckbeards would have you believe in their youtube videos: "Why X was objectively terrible part 87 of 132".<br /><br />Peace.<p></p><br /><br />PS: Formatting on this site is an absolute nightmare, ngl.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><br /><br /><br />Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-22535137657128183972020-03-01T20:06:00.000+01:002020-03-02T19:19:36.835+01:00Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Good, The Bad, The Ugnaught<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Introduction - 12 Years Late to the party</div>
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(Skip if you don't care for context)</div>
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So I'll start this with saying that I am sorry. Sorry for two things:<br />
1) The pun in the title. <strike>Just Kidding, I am not</strike>.<br />
2) For writing the coldest hot take in the history of hot takes. Why am I so late with this?<br />
<br />
The Clone Wars first aired 12 years ago, following a pilote Movie which I actually watched at the cinema back when I was a kid. So why didn't I watch the show until now?<br />
Well: Because of the Movie.<br />
While not overly devastated when I left the cinema back then I started disliking the movie the more I thought about it.<br />
I didn't like the anime-esque fights, the fact that droids were destroyed like it was a dynasty warriors game, the art-style, the story and I really, really didn't like bratty teenage "Skyguy"-spouting Ahsoka.<br />
I think you could even say I hated her.<br />
Keep in mind I was like 14 or so, we'll get back to her later.<br />
After that I saw one or two episodes of seasons 1 or 2 and they didn't really do anything for me so I decided I'd just leave the show be and maybe give it another try later on.<br />
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And then: I saw this.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/theclonewiki/images/c/c8/DarthMaulTCW-RevengeTrivia.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120317171944" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="568" height="200" src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/theclonewiki/images/c/c8/DarthMaulTCW-RevengeTrivia.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120317171944" width="141" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Darth Maul, the least interesting Star Wars Villain to ever appear in the Star War. Alive and kicking...kicking with massive robot legs that is.</td></tr>
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Now to say that I wasn't a fan would be an understatement and thus I decided to just flat out ignore the show.<br />
So what changed my mind all these years later?<br />
It's a long story but it actually ties into the whole "discourse" surrounding The Last Jedi back in 2017.<br />
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I found the whole matter to be so tiresome, <br />
the backlash not the movie, that I just straight up stopped bothering with anything Star Wars related until shortly after the Trailers to The Rise of Skywalker got me back into the swing of things (I still have yet to watch Solo):<br />
I activated my existing but never used twitter profile and started getting back to interacting with people over Star Wars, finding that there were much more sane people than I had been led to believe.<br />
After The Rise of Skywalker things became even more chaotic.<br />
Where there once were two sides there were now numerous smaller camps and a lot of confusion.<br />
What stood out to me however was that so many in so many of these camps seemed to agree on one thing. The Clone Wars.<br />
<br />
With a season 7 on the horizon, people saying interesting things about characters I hadn't liked from what I had seen and me having some freetime on my hand I figured it was time to give the show another look.<br />
Over the last three weeks or so I have watched all six seasons that are available in Europe so far and while I thought about waiting for the last season to finish and Disney+ to reach for my wallet I figured I have already a lot of stuff to talk about as is.<br />
But rather than going through each season I'll go through the Good, the bad and the ugly.<br />
Now obviously this is all just my opinion and you might disagree, you might not. That's fine.<br />
The Star Wars fandom has too much "if you like X you are wrong" or "y isn't canon to me" BS going in as is already.<br />
Afterall: Only a sith deals in absolutes ;)<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
The Good - New Characters, New Stories, New Points of View</h3>
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And we start with the one thing I kind of suspected would change the more I watched the Show.<br />
From the first season onwards Ahsoka is a lot less insufferable than I remembered her from the pilote film.<br />
Now back then many more people hated on her but I always felt bad to have the same opinion as those who just hated that she had the audacity of being a girl, much like those who later on hated on Rey, denying that Ahsoka had gotten the same treatment back in 2008.<br />
Well let me tell you: She did.<br />
And I'm not proud I was among them even though I think it has a lot to do with me just disliking most bratty-teenager characters by default and over the course of the show she matured and changed into an incredibly likable character far removed from the kid she started out as.<br />
Still I took my dislike way too far back then and I certainly changed my stance now.<br />
In fact when people say Ahsoka is the heart of the Clone Wars I find myself unable and unwilling to disagree.<br />
Her relationships and actions define a good chunk of the show but I would argue that there are two more characters who fulfill a similar role.<br />
Asajj Ventress and Captain Rex, to be more specific.<br />
<br />
Ventress at the start didn't seem much more interesting than my least favourite Sith apprentice, Maul, before her.<br />
But from the moment on Dooku betrays her she goes through a metamorphosis unlike any other in the entire show that sees her becoming more and more three dimensional and complex and the roles she plays in different plots become far more interesting over time, especially later on when she helps Ahsoka in one of the best arcs the show has to offer.<br />
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On the other side we have Captain Rex who doesn't really change much over the course of the show.<br />
He starts out as a cool but caring Clone Soldier and he is the very same thing in the end only that we now know much more about the trials he went through and how he has deep connections to his soldiers and the Jedi he serves with... apart from one.<br />
Which brings me to one theof the mains reasons these three characters stand out so much: They all had key-roles in some of the the best story arcs in the entire show:<br />
After six seasons there isn 't a shortage of material to go through but it wasn't hard for me to pic my favourites.<br />
<br />
- While only a two episode deal, Rex spending some time with a Deserter and his family in season 2 is an early sign that the Show can be more than it has proven to be at that point in time.<br />
<br />
- Ahsoka being captured to be hunted as part of some sick game and leading a bunch of padawan maybe doesn't sound like much when you break it down to the basic premise but these episodes looked better, showed more character depth and conveyed much more emotion than anything we had seen prior with the conversation between Ahsoka and Anakin in the end being my second favourite interaction between them.<br />
This was the arc were I started to notice that I had gone and pulled a 180 on my opinion on Anakin's padawan.<br />
<br />
- The Slavers City which gave us the most heroic and charming Anakin we ever got and the interactions between our three heroes felt earnest and fun throughout.<br />
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- The 501's war disadventure with a traitorous Jedi trying to get them killed was the greatest soldier/war story I have yet seen in anything Star Wars related. Sorry, Rogue One.<br />
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- Ahsoka's trial and everything surrounding it.<br />
Barriss was a surprising choice for a Villain (of course it was clear it was her before we were halfway through, but still), Ventress a great surprise ally, Anakin's conflict between helping Ahsoka and playing by the rules was grand and Ahsoka probably became my favourite character in the show in the process.<br />
And my word that ending was so very emotional.<br />
If I was a person who cries during movies/shows I probably would have done so at that point. It's up there with the "You were my brother Anakin" scene in Revenge of the Sith.<br />
<br />
- And last but certainly not least: Fivers coming so close to revealing the Order 66 matter but failing in the End was splendid.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
The Bad - Some Killer, more Filler</h3>
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When The Clone Wars greatest strength is integrating new, interesting and likable characters into the fold, it's weakness is that it doesn't really seem to be doing nearly as well with characters that appeared in the Movie.<br />
Commander Cody doesn't get nearly as much to do as Rex, Fivers, Echo and who have you despite being right there and ready for use.<br />
We don't really get a look at how he interacts with his fellow soldiers we don't really have an idea how close he and Obi-wan are.<br />
As far as the Jedi council goes we only really expand on Plo-Koon's character and focus on him for more than one episode apart from Windu, Yoda and our main heroes.<br />
There are younglings who play a role in one single arc but they are kind of lumped in with something that I'll throw into the last category.<br />
All these things can be forgiven but what I really don't think can be is the fact the Show barely if at all expands upon the relationship between ObiWan and Anakin.<br />
Anakin has one, maybe two heart to heart talks with Obi-Wan and while they are often together the show doesn't seem to be interested in having them do much more than having them chase down and lose sight of Dooku, Grivious and whoever else needs some chasing.<br />
Generally speaking as soon as ObiWan enters a scene we always know the enemy will escape.<br />
It's in the nature of an episodic show to have multiple encounters between the heroes and Villains without a definitive outcome but there is so much escaping going on it makes pretty much everyone involved look rather silly after a while.<br />
But it's worse for our Villains if we are being honest.<br />
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Mother Talzin is so ambigous and lacking characterisation that she usually isn't more than a plot device for whatever the story demands.<br />
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Count Dooku has been done dirty the most. As a former Jedi one would think there is space for inner conflict or at least flashbacks and conversations with Jedi he once called friends that could offer some insight in his reasons to turn to the dark side.<br />
But there really isn't anything to him.<br />
He seems one dimensional and only ever appears to bark orders, rarely gets to do anything cool and at one point let's himself be captured by a dozen or so pirates without having any kind of back-up plan.<br />
But at least he's consistent even when it's consistent disappointment.<br />
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Grivious meanwhile is an unstoppable murder machine in one scene and kind of pathethic in another, especially in the first three seasons were he almost feels like a comedy chara ter at times.<br />
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And to get back to that word:<br />
My feelings on how the show uses Movie characters aside, inconsistency is actually my really big issue with it.<br />
Inconsistency in quality that is<br />
<br />
You have arcs like the ones I described above in the good section and other fun little adventures like ObiWan's time undercover as a bounty hunter and then you have dull and directionless nonsense like the D-Squad arc in season 5 were we follow five droids and a small Alien from setpiece to setpiece and the conflict changes every few minutes.<br />
I don't mind comedic arcs, I don't mind a bit of filler to allow the good stuff to come in bursts and have more impact that way but I sometimes feel like a good two thirds of the show can be skipped and you wouldn't miss anything of importance.<br />
And that's a problem.<br />
<br />
Another good example would be the political episodes.<br />
I never really minded the politics in the Prequels seeing them as necessary world building but here they are even more frequent which would be fine if they were interesting but usually it's just about Padme getting kidnapped and messages that are about as deep as the words written on motivational posters.<br />
The one exception which shows the Seperatist side of things is cut short immediately and remains the sole political episode that had a deeper meaning.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
The Ugly - I have a bad feeling about this</h3>
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While the last section was mostly about very general stuff that I felt fall flat or was wasted potential, this is were I speak my mind about different ideas, plots and other stuff I straight up disliked.<br />
This might very well be full of the kind of stuff others really liked about the show but I am not others. I am me.<br />
So keep that in mind.<br />
<br />
Let's start with the obvious one.<br />
DARTH. MAUL. SUCKS.<br />
And the fact that he got a brother with the name "Savage Oppress" made my skin crawl.<br />
If I hadn't seen pictures and clips of him back many years ago there would have been a glimmer of hope for me since when we discover Maul we do get to see his most interesting form.<br />
A broken, insane and suffering shell with the looks to go with it that. It surprised me in the best possible way because if you go with the whole "He survived because he was so angry" story you might as well follow that thought through and see how the hatred that kept him alive also completely destroyed him. If that isn't the most Sith thing ever than I don't know what is.<br />
But of course, there are toys to sell and so we got a restored Maul back and to make matters worse we not only paired him with his brother we also lumped him together with the Legion of Neckbeard favourites: Mandalorians.<br />
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I can not tell you how happy I was that the Mandalorian Show didn't end up being an absolute "cool guy" Edgefest.<br />
Because I know Mandalorian stories often times are, be that in games or some of those then-EU/ now-Legends books I read.<br />
And the Mandalorians we get in the Clone Wars are the perfect example of just that.<br />
The Deathwatch to be mors specific.<br />
The name alone gives me the creeps and the Darksaber that looks like a 15 year old Anime nerds wet-dream certainly didn't help.<br />
While I liked the pacifistic way of the Dutchess and Mandalore in theory it was never an interesting place in the show nor was her love story with ObiWan all that engaging so it was obvious that the "cool kids" would take over in time and in the end they actually did so with the only other ones as edgy as them.<br />
Red and Yellow Maul as I like to call them.<br />
<br />
While the story behind how they did it and them betraying each other was actually fine enough it wasn't until Palpatine crashed the party and killed yellow Maul that I managed to get any enjoyment out of it.<br />
I am ware I have to watch either Season 7 in a month or start watching Rebels to see where things go from here but I quite frankly don't care.<br />
For this article at the very least, none of that matters.<br />
<br />
One more thing I want to talk about is something that wasn't pulled off badly or anything I just reject the concept:<br />
I am talking about something I already disliked in the books:<br />
The constant overexplaining of the Force.<br />
I didn't really mind it as a kid but I now see why the whole midichlorian thing wasn't a very popular idea back in the day,<br />
And what's worse is that the Show insists on over-explaining the force further, putting it in categories, tying it to certain places and god-like beings.<br />
As much as I enjoyed seeing more Qui-Gon it came at a price.<br />
I didn't enjoy the story of the brother, the sister, father and their macguffin dagger and certainly I didn't enjoy Yoda's trials and encounters with Darth Bane or those five weird masked beings.<br />
And even the Padawan trials and lightsaber construction fall into that category for me although I found these to be a bit more agreeable and at least the first episodes of that arc was pretty fun.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
In Conclusion</div>
</h3>
There is a lot to like about Star Wars the Clone Wars and when it's good it is REALLY good but there is a lot of forgettable nonsense happening.<br />
Between arcs I tried and failed to get invested in, Battle Droids that are consistently incredible unfunny, catchphrases being thrown around like they are going out of fashion, nostalgia callbacks and iconography that, unlike in The Force Awakens, feel incredibly empty and serve no purpose and wasting many characters who just straight up deserve better it's by no means flawless.<br />
Many say it kind of redeems the Prequels but I am not of the opinion that that's a) needed and b) a thing they really do.<br />
With the exception of showing Anakin and the Clones in a more heroic light it often feels like the Clone Wars co-exist next to the Movies rather than tying into them.<br />
Next time I watch revenge of the Sith I would be very surprised if I felt more about Kit Fisto dying than I have done up until now.<br />
Next time I watch revenge of the Sith I'll not be under the impression that Anakin's turn to the dark side feels any less sudden. If anything, him killing a bunch of children five minutes later will feel more out of nowhere.<br />
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<br />
Don't mistake my intentions, this article isn't intended as take-down of sorts.<br />
I enjoyed the show just fine. <br />
It's mostly just that "fine" with good to great parts inbetween but also weighed down by a lot of "meh".<br />
But generally speaking it has developed in a positive way over the years and I'm curious to see how much season 7 will affect my overall opinion.<br />
I certainly hope so it will do so in a positive way because, contrary to popular believe, mostly among my friends, I get lot more out of liking stuff than I do out of disliking stuff and with that said I hope Clone Wars lives long and pros...erm...I mean may the force be with the final season of the Show.<br />
<br />
All we can do know is <i>abwarten und tee trinken</i> which is a german phrase that translates to <i>wait and drink tea</i> and it doesn't mean more than wait and see but I wanted to use this gif in the end so now you had to learn some german for context.<br />
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That's it folks!<br />
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<br />Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-70556415391317795012019-08-23T00:41:00.006+02:002020-08-19T10:29:56.777+02:00Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Ranking Campaigns & Characters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">
Fire Emblem: Three Houses<br />Ranking the Campaigns and the characters</span></h2>
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So I liked Radiant Dawn and Awakening a lot and even Fates was far from being a truelly bad game but none of them really came all that close to being as good as Path of Radiance which was my entry into the series.<br />
Enter Three Houses, the newest installment of the series and the first Home console title since the Nintendo Wii.<br />
<b>And. It. Rocks.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I'm not gonna review the game, not "really" at least. Instead I'll take a look at the the 4 different Campaigns (well...3.5) and all the characters (except only the students) and rank them because that's the cool thing to do on the internet and because I don't have to keep out the spoilery stuff.<br />
<br />
<b>- - SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT - -</b><br />
<br />
Without further ado, lets start with:<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
The Campaigns</h3>
<div><h4><span style="color: #cc0000;">4) The Black Eagles / Adrestian Empire</span></h4></div>
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<h4><br /></h4>
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<br />
<br />
Judging from online statistics, it's far and beyond the campaign most players chose first which doesn't surprise me given they stand out with a female lead and a couple of cool designs.<div>And it isn't like Eagles have the weakest roster out of the three, far from it, but given that you can recruit most characters into your House no matter which one you choose it's only Hubert and Edelgard who are limited to this route and I'm not a big fan of either.<br />
<br />
Edel especially is a character I thought would come off much better in her own route than in others because she's the Villain in every single route except this... but is she even the Hero here?<br />
Even with the Church being turned up from "somewhat suspicious" to "controlled by an insane woman" kind of enemy in this route only it feels like you are playing the bad guys here.<br />
From the first few seconds after you choose this path midway through the Campaign something feels off.<br />
Byleth just grins smugly at Rhea after siding with Edelgard for... not really all that many reasons at this point in the story, later on almost every Student that's gone with you will mention that they are just here because they trust YOU, all the former Students and Colleagues you will have to fight and kill after your side started a continent wide war will question your decision (duh), you are essentially okay with teaming up with the baddest of bad guys (who were the ones turning Edelgards live into a living hell and who actually were the ones who created what she hates and wants to see gone in the first place) in the game who killed your father on the vague promise that Edelgard doesn't like them either (and by the end, there is no proof she ever manages to get rid of them), blatant lies from the new Emporer regarding the real backstory of Nemesis and his 10 Elites or when she blamed the Church for bombing a Stronghold they never bombed, the lack of the battle of Gronder Fields which is a big deal in every other route and was all over the trailers and lastly the fact that this campaign is by far the shortest.<br />
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All things considered it feels like a "What if" Storyline rather than something that was meant to be seen the same way as the other paths and Edel is not nearly as convincing as a Heroine as she is as a Villain, especially since Dimitri and Claude on the opposing sides are presented as nothing but good guys throughout.<br />
Dimitri comes off almost more heroic than on his own route since the whole Storyline where he's captured and sentenced to death which transforms him into a bloodthirsty beast for a while, is completely missing and lastly: None of them use Demonic beasts by transforming their Soldiers into them (with one exception were it made a lot of sense plot wise).<br />
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On the other hand it's those things that still make the route worthwhile since the interactions with characters outside your team are really intriguing, especially when you have recruited people from other houses who now fight their own friends and family.<br />
Ingrid's and Dimitri's reaction to having to fight Felix (and Sylvain in Ingrid's case) really stand out to me.<br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">
3) Black Eagles / Church of Seiros</span></h4>
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For most of the Black Eagles Members this just feels right and their explanations as to why they are here just sound more convincing and "in character", especially for the likes of Ferdinand and Petra.<br />
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What's pretty nice here is that you aren't at war with everyone else. The Alliance even helps you in secret, the Kingdom would like to join forces with you and your opponents are really just the Empire and Those who slither in the dark uuuuntil the game throws one last level into your face were Rhea suddenly is unable to control her Dragon side and you have to slaughter what feels like half the Order.<br />
It feels tacked on and unnecessary but at least it gives you the nicest day of free roaming the monastery where everyone thinks you are done fighting. Having played two Campaigns before I started this one I knew this couldn't be the end yet (since I was still able to freeroam after all) but for a moment it was just really nice.<br />
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I'm a bit disappointed you don't get to participate in one way or the other on the side of either the Alliance or the Kingdom in Gronder Fields especially since it's followed up by a dream sequence that leads nowhere but all in all it's just a really satisfying route to play even though Seteth takes over the role of the Co-Main character which isn't exactly a great fit.<br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">
2) Blue Lions / Kingdom of Faerghus</span></h4>
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Other than the other routes you barely delve into the lore and overarching backstory of the game, instead it's very focused on the characters and their relationships and personal pasts.<br />
The tragedy of Duscur, Dimitri's childhood friendship with Edelgard and how the betrayal affected him, Dimitri's personal demons born from what happened in Duscur, edelgards declaration of war after being revealed to be the Flame Emperor, capture by his own Kingdom, the loss (or not) of his best friend and how he eventually overcomes it.<br />
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Sure focusing on him during his Edgelord phase could be very cringy all things considered but the fact that everyone but him considers it to be an actual problem and that he gets back to his true self make for an interesting development.<br />
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We never get to the point were we have to fight those who slither in the dark (well we do but we kill Thalus without knowing who he is) or a crazed Rhea in dragon form.<br />
It's just a well written crew of people, the best house by the way bar none, overcoming hardship and eventually beating the Empire.<br />
The Ending is also the one that has by far the least casualties since it's really just the Empire that gets in the way. No Nemesis Army killing everyone, no dragon Rhea going insane, those who slither in the dark dealt with without even revealing themselves as what they were, etc.<br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000;">
1) Golden Deer/ Lancaster Alliance</span></h4>
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Basically the better version of the Church Route, the Golden Deer Route feels much the same in terms of the kind of levels you'll play and the reveals that take place troughout.<br />
Except you learn even more here, including were the legendary weapons come from and how fucked up those who slither in the dark truelly are. (Killing someone with the bones of their relatives is pretty metal but not the kind of thing a Hero would do, take note Edel).<br />
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But really this is first and foremost Claude's story. While the majority of the Golden Deer House Characters just aren't terribly interesting or cool (with exceptions) Claude very much is.<br />
He's a Jokester and a master marksman, a capable leader and an awfully good guy all around.<br />
Especially since his dream about connecting people and tearing down walls make him the kind of Hero we need in Stories in 2019.<br />
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Furthermore he gets the most Cutscenes out of all the routes and the last two are just straight up badass.<br />
Even the Ending, while also a bit tacked on, is just a whole lot of fun. Taking down Zombie Nemesis and his 10 elites beats Rhea or Demon-Edelgard any day as far as final fights go.<br />
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And now let's do the same thing for ...<br />
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<h3>
The Characters:</h3>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(I actually used a <a href="https://rankingengine.pubmeeple.com/" target="_blank">ranking tool</a> for this because doing it manually was already a pain with my Mass Effect Character List.)</span><br />
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<b>25 - Flayn</b><br />
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Your average nice and polite "cute" anime girly. Hard pass.<br />
What makes matters worse is that you'll have her among your team no matter what, if only temporary in one case.<br />
While her backstory with Seiros and Seteth is intriguing it somehow doesn't make her more interesting, it just makes her part of an interesting sub plot.<br />
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<b>24 - Caspar</b></div>
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Your average overly enthusiastic good boy. Hard pass once more.<br />
Caspar, much like Flayn for that matter, is always the most annoying person around in every single cutscene. The only reason he doesn't get the last spot is that I enjoyed his interactions with Bernadetta.<br />
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<b>23 - Ignatz<br /></b>His shared backstory with Raphael is pretty cool and ties into the larger political powerplay of the Lancaster Alliance as is the conflict between his own goals and those of his Family.<br />
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Apart from that I keep forgetting he exists.<br />
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<b>22 - Hilda</b><br />
The sort of bitchy, sort of not, sort of egoistic, sort of not archetype just isn't my cup of tea. And I don't really like the J-Pop Star look much either. But it would be unfair to dismiss that she is reasonably complex as a character and Claude's line if she is killed in the Black Eagle Campaign lamenting the fact that she didn't fall back as he had expected is the perfect example to show that she was a better person than most think. Stiiiiiill she often annoyed me.<br />
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<b>21 - Lorenz</b><br />
Much like Hilda, probably even more so, he ends up being a better person than one would think and his sort of rivalry with Claude given their roles in the Alliance was certainly fun but looking back there were more instances of him annoying me than those that intriguid me.<br />
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<b>20 - Mercedes</b><br />
Her soft-spoken voice is a bit too over the top but for a character that is a stereotype I usually don't like, namely the overly gentle soul, I found myself surprised on more than one occasion to how much I enjoyed her support conversations with many of the other Blue Lions, especially Annette.<br />
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<b>19 - Marianna</b><br />
The games resident Emo hides a pretty cool backstory that comes with a great paralogue quest. Also: She gets over her constant despair over time. Buuut for me it's too little too late.<br />
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<b>18 - Hubert</b><br />
I never felt bad for having to kill him as he is a nasty bastard but that's exactly what makes him stand out among the rest . He's dirt and he knows it. I do like that he reveals the Location of those who slither in the dark. One last noble (and probably first) noble deed.<br />
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<b>17 - Linhardt</b><br />
I actually found his constant sleepyness to be somewhat tiring... get it?...oh well.<br />
But it was the person that came to light when he wasn't just about to run off to sleep which I found interesting. A calm, calculating mind that doesn't fall into the trap of being socially awkward because scientists are nerds.<br />
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<b>16 - Annette</b><br />
The "girliest" girl in the Blue Lions house is really just that: A girl. Annette feels like a believable person, has a kinda cute friendship with Mercedes and can be excited without being annoying. And her backstory with her dick of a father (who is still kinda cool) adds so much more to whats already there.<br />
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<b>15 - Edelgard</b><br />
Yeah, yeah. Keep your pitchfork, I've got my own.<br />
If you have read this far it shouldn't come as a surprise that Edel won't make it in my "Favourite FE Characters ever" list.<br />
I really do like her as a Villain but it was her own route (and to a lesser extent, her fanboys and girls all over the internet) that soured me on her.<br />
Her reasons for attacking the Church are flimsy, her reasons to team up with her real enemy even worse. But I can live with her just being misguided as many great Villains are.<br />
However her own route is trying to portray her as a Hero except when it's not.<br />
She's shown using those around her and twisting the truth to achieve her goals being all ruthless, except when she's not.<br />
It kind of feels like Nintendo realised too late that Fans would want to side with her to the end so they threw another path in there hence she feels very inconsistent rather than complex.<br />
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<b>14 - Ferdinand</b><br />
If you had told me at the beginning that I would end up liking Ferdie as much as I did I wouldn't have believed you but the five year skip really worked wonders. There are still signs of the arrogant brat that was a student of the academy but he grows up to be a decent guy all things considered, especially in the Church route. Also: That long hair after the skip makes him look hella badass.<br />
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<b>13 - Ashe</b><br />
The Blue Lions nice guy (not the internet kind if nice guy M'Lady) is one hell of a bad unit gameplay wise from my experience. But hey that's not really what this list is all about.<br />
Ashe is a decent character from the getgo, from his backstory to his ambitions it's all just pretty darn alright. However I very much enjoyed his interactions and reaction to and about his foster-father who is one of the earliest enemies in the game and seemingly hellbent on killing Arch Bishop Rhea.<br />
Despite having to fight against him and taking this duty seriously he vows to be the kind of men he knew his foster father was or at the very least how he perceived him. That's just neat all around, ain't it?<br />
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<b>12 - Bernadetta</b><br />
From the beginning I didn't really know whether I thought Bernie was either super annoying or super funny and I couldn't make up my mind for a long time. But I tell you what she never was: Boring.<br />
While still over the top, her backstory explains her behaviour as well as possibly and the voice acting is so on point that I couldn't help but start to laugh eventually.<br />
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<b>11 - Lysithea</b><br />
A backstory much like that of Edelgard it's Lysithea's personality that's just much more fun.<br />
Being the youngest student she hates being treated like a kid, despite very much still acting like one at times. But she's one badass kid with loads of interesting support conversations.<br />
Her A rank support with Edelgard was a bit disappointing given all the hype I've seen surrounding it.<br />
Yes it's the only one where she ends up living longer (so I assume) and yes I like that this possibility exists but uhm... her sudden enthusiasm in supporting the one who is ALLIED TO THE PEOPLE WHO TORTURED HER AS A CHILD just feels off somehow.<br />
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<b>10 - Ingrid</b><br />
The resident watchdog among the group of old friends that are the heart of the Blue Lions House, Ingrid is just one cool Lady who wants to become a Knight yet she knows that she'll have to just marry some noble because that's just the world she lives in.<br />
Overcoming this idea (and her racism towards Duscur if her support with Dedue is high enough) make her a kickass woman with just enough character development to crack the top ten.<br />
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<b>9 - Raphael</b><br />
Okay so I can hardly argue with character complexity here but I don't have to. A powerhouse in fights, Raphael is just the perfect example of the dumb but well meaning brute archetype and he made me laugh a lot. Next.<br />
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<b>8 - Leonie</b><br />
Okay let's get that out of the way: Leonie should be the Golden Deer's Archer. Not just the Lance Knight who also shoots arrows every now and then. Half of her supports are about archery, she's the only character to wear dedicated archer gloves and the teams actual archer can't see without glasses.<br />
Let. That. Sink. In.<br />
With that out of the way: Leonie is the Tomboy with Mercenary dreams who looks up to a heroic character. That's way up my alley. Also: Her paralogue mission is hilarious.<br />
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<b>7 - Dedue</b><br />
Dedue, who is at first glance nothing more than the average stoic Bodyguard type, somehow has some of the coolest scenes in each and every Campaign. His support conversation are all throughout good stuff and his reasons to stick with Dimitri just sound really believable.<br />
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<b>6 - Dorothea</b><br />
Doro is just one of the most interesting and fun characters from the getgo. It doesn't take long to see the person under all the smiling and flirting and while she openly admits to just planning to find someone to marry who can keep her safe and fed into her older years she doesn't really come off as cold and calculating since she's just way too nice... when she isn't being all sassy that is.<br />
After the timeskip she is one of those who yearns for peace the most and is gutted about the fact she is forced to fight old friends. Her conversation with Ferdie when they fight on the bridge is just heart shattering stuff.<br />
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<b>5 - Dimitri</b><br />
From everyones favourite son in law to a man barely sane enough to even breath to a humble and reasonable King trying to redeem himself, Dimitri grows from someone who seems to be the most boring house leader at first glance to someone you really root for.<br />
His childhood friendship with Felix, Sylvain and Ingrid is the core of the Blue Lions, his childhood friendship with Edelgard is the core of his entire Campaign which has a really nice pay off.<br />
Betrayal, Redemption, drama, death, love. His story has it all and affects the other House Members more than any other House Leaders story does and his last stand in the Empire Campaign is just really cool.<br />
Shame he dies off screen in 2/4 Campaigns.<br />
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<a href="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/fireemblem/images/d/d8/Sylvain_Portrait.png/revision/latest?cb=20190612074932" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/fireemblem/images/d/d8/Sylvain_Portrait.png/revision/latest?cb=20190612074932" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b>4 - Sylvain</b><br />
Another example of someone who is so much more than he seems to be.<br />
Sylvain is the worst kind of Womanizer. He's also a man with a heart of gold, much smarter than one would expect, a good friend for everyone who needs one, a guy who thinks very critically about crests and nobility and a guy I'd just like to hangout with, really.<br />
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<b>3 - Claude</b><br />
Far and beyond the breakout start among the House Leaders. Even though he has what I'd argue is the worst support cast, a role in the story that makes him seem like an afterthought to some of they keyplayers in the other factions and has my least favourite paralogue mission (out of those I played) his inquisitive nature reveals the most details about the continents lore, his conversations, be that support or not, are always either interesting, entertaining or both and his relationship with the Magister feels the closest.<br />
To Dimitri Byleth is a mentor, to Edelgard they are either a beloved tool or a sort of close ally but to Claude, they are just the best fucking friend in Fodlan.<br />
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<b>2 - Petra</b><br />
That girl is just the most charming and adorable person in the entire game. Petra is a fish out of water who bravely faces enemies, a foreign culture way different to her own and ... language barriers.<br />
Never before have I encountered a character in Fire Emblem games who made me go "aaaaawww" every time she opened her mouth without being dumb, silly or even naive.<br />
Petra is smart and self sufficient but also caring and inquisitive, determined to lead her own people one day. I couldn't help but feel that deciding to go against the empire felt much more in character for her just as it did for Ferdinand (and Dorothea to an extent) given that she is basically a hostage in the beginning but that doesn't change that I just really like her no matter which campaign I chose.<br />
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<a href="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/fireemblem/images/4/40/Felix_Portrait.png/revision/latest?cb=20190516112646" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/fireemblem/images/4/40/Felix_Portrait.png/revision/latest?cb=20190516112646" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b>1 - Felix</b><br />
The brooding lone wolf whose main interest is getting harder, better, faster, stronger is a character I liked from the beginning. It requieres a bit of digging but his support conversations with pretty much anyone shine a new light on him, especially those that deal with his past as a much more open hearted kid until the thing happened that also changed Dimitri, except Felix never bothered to hide it.<br />
What really made me put him up on the very top was a conversation that only occurs when you recruit him on the Golden Deer Route. Prior to that he spends most of his time badmouthing Dimitri because he knows from the start what's hiding underneath.<br />
However after Dimitri's death, Felix is beyond gutted when you talk to him, lamenting the fact that he couldn't help the person who used to be his best friend so long ago.<br />
Also: If you play a female Byleth and romance the guy you just get the best Ending possible.<br />
Just two badasses in love who spend the coming years duelling each other with smiles on their faces.<br />
True Love, right there.<br />
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So yeah: That's it! Do you agree? Ah who am I kidding, chances are you really, really don't if the online statistic are anything to go by. But hey, it's my list. You are very welcome to make your own ;)</div>Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-89046569581924807142018-01-05T05:09:00.000+01:002018-01-05T05:10:58.136+01:00Superhero Movies 2017 - Ranked<h2>
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<b>Beware of Spoilers!</b><br />
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So actually I wanted to review Star Wars Episode 8 but for two reasons I decided against it.<br />
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1) The Movie so packed with Content I have to see it a second time first.<br />
2) There is so much negativity surrounding it I can't help but being annoyed by it and it doesn't help that it's mostly of the non-constructive kind. <br />
That's a shame you know, because even though there were some flaws I loved the Movie and consider it the best entry in the Series (not counting Rogue One) since probably Episode 6.<br />
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But enough of that let's rank some Superhero Movies, shall we?<br />
Again, I'll only rank what I've actually seen. That means there are no animated Movies except one and the Power Rangers didn't interest me enough to give them a go either.<br />
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7 - Justice League</h3>
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Right so, no one is surprised that DC's answer to the Avengers is at the very bottom of this List, right? <br />
After Man of Steel, Suicide Squad and the ever so loathed Dawn of Justice nobody expected much. <br />
After endless re-shots, background troubles and way more years of Production than necessary expectations probably sunk even lower.<br />
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To the Movies credit there were some things that actually worked very well. The Characters had distinctive and likeable personalities, the interactions between them worked surprisingly well, there were some good jokes in there that legitimately made me laugh and the Action Scenes were mostly pretty good.<br />
Sadly the tone drifted from gloomy to ridiculous without any rhyme or reason, Supermans return had been part of the marketing campaign so there was no surprise there and the plot itself was as a whole not terribly interesting. <br />
It didn't help that the dialogues varied from alright to outright terrible and that Bruce Wayne was very tame in this. I know we all hate BvS and I am not a huge Batman Fan in general but the Intensity Affleck had brought to the table in that movie had been rather compelling.<br />
Here he just comes off as someone who's too old for this shit.<br />
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6 - Thor - Ragnarok</h3>
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Whoa! Put the forks and torches away I'll explain myself in a second. Remember that I rank those Movies in order of how much I enjoyed them not in Order of Quality. <br />
I am not a professional Film Critic nor someone who earns his money by shouting stuff about Movies in a youtube Video so ranking stuff in quality is not something I am qualified for.<br />
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The Fact that Thor is this far down the list is actually not a knock on the Movie itself but rather a testament for 2017 as a Comic Book Movie year. <br />
Last year this one would have been up rather high in my List since the transition from funny Action Movie to outright Comedy worked really well. <br />
There were some cool Action scenes, dialogues, revelations, world building and character interactions the latter being ALWAYS right on the very top of my priority list. It's without a doubt Thor's best Solo Movie but there were some things I disliked a lot. <br />
First things first: The beginning of the Movie flew by way too fast.<br />
Thor beats Surtur, the one destined to destroy Asgaard, he fucks up Loki's plan, travels to Earth, meets Doctor Strange, finds their father Odin, Odin dies, Hela shows up, destroys his hammer, sends them off to a far away planet and takes over Asgaard in what feels like the first 5 minutes of the Film.<br />
That is a lot of content of varying importance not getting it's due.<br />
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And secondly: The Warriors Three die and Lady Sif doesn't even show up.<br />
Chances are that you don't even know who I am talking about: Well it's Thor's comrades and best friends since forever from the first two Movies. <br />
But just because the Fans didn't seem to care about them doesn't mean the same should go for Thor himself.<br />
I don't mind that they die (I mean I do but well...) but the fact that the main character of the Movie never even recognizes their deaths by asking Heimdall about them or seeing their corpses is just a really huge stain on the Movie in my humble Opinion and the main reason I just didn't enjoy this entry as much as I probably would have otherwise.<br />
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<h3>
5 - Spiderman Homecoming</h3>
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Let's get that out of the way first: I still think the first two Raimi Spiderman Movies were better than Homecoming but we should consider that this Movie had not only the Job of being good (after those terrible "Amazing Spiderman" Movies) but it also had to be different enough for people to not get bored with it while also fitting into the MCU. And it worked in every way.<br />
Additionally we got a really good Villain in Keaton as the Vulture and a really good bad father-figure in Robert Dawney Jr. as Iron Man.<br />
The Humour was, obviously, on point, the teenage slice of life stuff was as compelling to wartch as the Super Hero stuff and... yeah. That's about all I feel the need to say.<br />
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<h3>
4 - Lego Batman</h3>
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As stated above I am not a huge Batman Fan in general for a number of reasons and when I say Batman I mean the brooding charismaless, Dark Knight kind of Batman that is so popular. But I'd never deny that there is some good to Wayne's corner of the DC Universe in fact it's probably the most exciting corner of said Universe. Just not thanks to Batman but rather because of the mans supportcast and Villains.<br />
Now luckily Lego Batman addresses ALL OF IT.<br />
The whole Movies is really about how stale and uninteresting everything Batman is weren't it for the colorful characters surrounding him. And to save the world this time he has to admit just that not only to those on his side but even his enemies including the Joker. You haven't seen a Batman with this much personality since Keaton played him. Do, check it out if you can stand Lego Humor.<br />
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3 - Logan</h3>
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I already mentioned it when I posted last years list: Logan was a really cool Movie. <br />
Set in... well actually no one really knows exactly in what X-Men Movie Timeline this one is set but since no one really cares anymore about these timelines why should I?<br />
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In any case: This Movie takes place in a near future where Mutants are all but extinct. The X-Men are gone, Charles Xavier is losing his mind and the former Wolverine James "Logan" Howlett is an alcoholic disillusioned Loser who only takes care of Charles and doesn't really do anything heroic anymore. <br />
That is until he meets a little girl that is just like him whom he gets paid to get to safety. <br />
Having fallen so far from Grace he actually doesn't want to do it at first and later is only in it for the money which is rather untypical for the selfless Man we used to know.<br />
And the Movie takes its merry time to redeem him throughout a plot that is all in all secondary at best.<br />
It's a really nice send off for two out of three characters/actors that actually remained memorable after a bunch of unmemorable films and yet Logans "daughter" X-23 aka Laura is the real Star of this Film. As a fan of her Comic Counter Part I am very much on board with her adaptation.<br />
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<h3>
2 - Wonder Woman</h3>
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THE Movie of 2017. <br />
The first good DCEU Film, <br />
the first good female fronted Superhero Film, <br />
the icon for women and girls for generations to come. <br />
The cultural impact of Wonder Woman is real and thats a good thing.<br />
Fortunately the Movie itself was also a "good thing". Be it the Isle of the Amazonians themselves, Diana's interactions with people and objects from the "modern" world, the way War is portrayed or the way our Heroine inspires the people around her to be the best possible person they can be without any of it coming off as too cheesy.<br />
It's a really good film with really good characters and a really good plot that makes it easy to ignore that the ending is... well. Not really good.<br />
I for one can not wait for Wonder Woman 2, Gal Gadot has made the character her own in the same way Robert Dawney Jr and Chris Evans have made Iron Man and Captain America their own only that it kind off means more in her case for the reasons stated above.<br />
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<h3>
1 - Guardians of the Galaxy 2</h3>
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If you would have told me last year that a sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy would be my top pick of the year 2017 I would have laughed in your face.<br />
Because out of all the MCU franchises the Guardians were easily the one I cared the least for and all that thanks to the fact that I didn't enjoy the first Movie much.<br />
<br />
For me the characters all had potential to be interesting with their diverse backstories and different abilities but when it came to delivering on that everyone but Peter Quill fell flat.<br />
<br />
And the way everyone of those supposed lone wolfs reminded me way too much of playing textbased Roleplay back when I was sixteen or so were everyone I played with laid out his or her past and ambitions out after five minutes of ingame talking. <br />
Two weeks later they'd marry and get children and then there was nothing left to play out. <br />
Granted I wasn't much better well... <br />
<br />
Erm... Anyway Guardians 2 actually is the opposite of that with characters being actually hesitant to open up and many of them revealing layers to their personality that hadn't been known before.<br />
Even though the Movie is set in space, with a living Planet as the bad guy and raccoons and cyborgs being part of the team it is probably the most human feeling Superhero Movie I have seen all year and easily the most emotional one. All that while still being mostly a comedy no less.<br />
That is some damn good writing and to top tings off: The Soundtrack was also better than in the first one. Having "The Chain" playing during the final battle is more than alright with me.<br />
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So thats my list. You are free to agree or disagree as much as you want.<br />
See ya' whenever I feel like writing about something again. ;)Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-45988349105576635192017-09-18T02:19:00.000+02:002017-09-18T02:19:51.786+02:00How Marvel Should Have Concluded: SECRET EMPIRE(Beware of Spoilers!)<br />
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How Marvel Should Have Concluded </div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">S E C R E T E M P I R E</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">According to me, some random dude on the Internet</span></div>
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<div>
Alright, real Talk.<br />
I loved the shit out of Nick Spencer's Steve Rogers book and the Storyline that saw said Hero to have his reality rewritten by Cosmic Cube trickery at the Hands of the Red Skull.</div>
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It was a clever and well written book which made even the lackluster Event Civil War II more interesting because every panel with "Stevil" in it was a possible case of him manipulating the Heroes to divide them further.</div>
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The whole storyline culminated in the Event called Secret Empire. You might have heard about it. I mentioned it in the title. ;)</div>
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Now I won't recap what happened in the event, to anyone who isn't initially opposed to the idea of the ultimate good guy getting turned into the ultimate bad guy by whats basically magic and taking over the world, I say go on and read it yourself. It's a really good story for the most part, focusing more on character interactions and including more panels with massively emotional impact than most other Comic Events I've read.</div>
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Sadly the ending is ... actually kinda lame. </div>
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After all the talk about the Heroes working together, finally doing what they are ment to do again and realizing that all this only happened because they had lost their ways it was a restored Version of Captain America that fought his evil self in the End. Meh...</div>
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And that's why this blog-entry exist, because I have a different ending in mind.<br />
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Let's get to it!<br />
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Now when I said I have a different "ending" in mind, I meant that. The Story in this scenario remains the same as in the actual Comic up until Issue 9.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://insidepulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Secret-Empire-7-Marvel-Comics-Legacy-spoilers-11-e1501810456911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://insidepulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Secret-Empire-7-Marvel-Comics-Legacy-spoilers-11-e1501810456911.jpg" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="800" height="167" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am truelly sorry, Nat. You remain dead.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The only changes in this issue are:<br />
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<b>1) Hail Hydra!</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Vision and Wanda aren't taken out of the Fight as early and additionally the Incredible Hulk will join Hydra. <br />
I don't exactly know where he disappeared to after smashing the Resistance HQ a few issues earlier anyway.<br />
The reason we wanna keep Hydras forces strong for the time being is simple:<br />
We need the Heroe's Heavy Hitters to be occupied fighting them.<br />
But don't worry we aren't gonna make things harder only for the good guys because...<br />
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<b>2) You are no God!</b><br />
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Other than in the actual issue, Steve will get in his Iron Man rip-off armour much sooner but before he gets the Cosmic Cube installed inside said armour Black Panther intercepts him.<br />
Time to fight!<br />
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<b>3) All New All Different Issue #10</b><br />
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Issue 10 starts out with Black Panther and Steve fighting, given his new armour it is Steve who remains victorious, using a charged blast to send T'Challe flying high.<br />
Wakanda's King crashlands to the feet of two of Secret Empire's mayor Players. Sam Wilson and Clint Barton.<br />
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Meanwhile, Cap gets a visit from Odinson who has switches sides at this point. <br />
Coincidentally they are close to were Mjolnir happens to be.<br />
After a short exchange of words were Cap tells Odinson that he is disappointed by his decision and that this is why he isn't worthy. They get in a fight (duh).<br />
Now, Iron Man armour or not, this should be the point were Steve draws the short straw.<br />
Or at least that would be the case if he didn't have control of the Hammer.<br />
Using his own former weapon against him Cap smashes the Unworthy Thor to the ground and puts the Hammer on his chest so he can't get back up.<br />
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This is the point were we and Odinson find out that the Hammer has been changed by the cosmic cube as well and that it can only be picked up by someone who is strong/Hydra, not by someone who is worthy. An enraged God of Thunder shouts out in anger as Cap makes his way to the Cosmic Cube.<br />
<br />
Again, he is intercepted. Incoming: Sam and Clint. Giving the Archer a ride the other Captain America flies low and fast while arrow after arrow explode in Steve's face.<br />
Having taken on Odinson and T'Challa before, Stevil's green armour has cracks and missing pieces everywhere.<br />
It looks like he is actually outmached this time.<br />
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<br />
Thats's when the Superior Octopus enters the Action smacking Sam out of the air.<br />
He loses his grip on Clint who falls a few meter and hits the ground hard.<br />
Before he can grab his bow, Steve kicks it out of the way and goes at Hawkeye with fierce punches and kicks. Barton is no stranger to fights between experts of hand to hand combat, being one of them as well thanks to training sessions with the very Guy who beats him up at this moment.<br />
But after a fall like this, without his weapon and against an armored foe with superior skills, speed and strength he doesn't stand a chance.<br />
Before long Steve has him on the ropes grabbing him by the neck, ready to snap it.<br />
<br />
Here Rogers recalls and mentions the time Tony Stark wanted to make Clint the new Captain America after the whole Civil War mess. He either assures him that he can see why Tony thought it's a good idea or mocks Iron Man for being a fool to think Clint would have what it takes.<br />
Always the Joker Clint replies that Red, White and Blue aren't his colours, just lik Green doesn't fit Steve so well. He then adds that there is someone who rocks the patriotic look though.<br />
<br />
In that moment a low flying Sam tackles Steve off of him, dragging Hydra's Supreme Leader away.<br />
In the background we see Spider-Man fighting Superior Octopus while a beaten and bloody Hawkeye speaks to Bucky on his headset. Telling him that, if they want to go through with the plan they'll have to do that right now.<br />
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<br />
Steve and Sam fight it out. At this point Rogers shows signs of fatigue but he still manages to stay in control of the fight. He even manages to maneuver them into a hallway, more precisely, he maneuvers them into the Hallway he was aiming to reach the entire time.<br />
<br />
Eventually Sam loses his wings and his Shield to Cap and falls to the Ground, barely able to move. <br />
Both are in front of a huge metal door. Rogers puts his hand on the control panel and the door slides open slowly. Using the remaining time they have evil Cap tells good Cap that he is glad that he is here with him. He tells him of the World he wants to create with the help of the Cosmic Cube.<br />
We get to see a few panels of his Vision and once again we see that this Version of Steve really thinks that he is doing all that for the good of the people.<br />
<br />
Behind the now open door the incomplete Cosmic Cube rests on a podest of sorts. <br />
As Steve wants to go and insert it into his armour he hears a familiar sound and dodges just in time before an Arrow hits him.<br />
At the end of the hallway it's Hawkeye again, supported by T'Challa and accompanied by the Tony Stark A.I.<br />
More and more Heroes join them, including the released Champions, Vision and the Scarlet Witch among others. <br />
The Avengers have assembled.<br />
<br />
Steve tells them that it is too late just before he turns around only to realize that the Arrow was never aimed at him. It sticks out of the podest directly under the position of the Cosmic Cube which is now in a completed state. At this point portals appear and out come Scott Lang, the Winter Soldier and Kobik.<br />
<br />
We get a short flashback of Bucky meeting the real Steve and Kobik inside the Cube and maybe some nice dialogue if we still have enough pages for that (then again you could scrap most of Issue 8 so we'd still make it with 10 issues easy).<br />
<br />
Back in the present, Kobik simply waves her hand and restores the real Steve Rogers inside the body of the man who had been Hydra's Supreme Leader for the last months.<br />
<br />
Realizing what happened Steve breaks down and cries.<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>4) Secret Empire Omega</b><br />
<br />
Cap is accompanied out of the building were a crowd of civilians is waiting. The moment they see him they want blood.<br />
It is actually Sam Wilson who holds the Shield in front of Steve, who doesn't utter a word, clearly still in shock.<br />
Sam explains to the people that it had not been Steve's fault. He tells them again about the Cosmic Cube. A few of the Heroes stand protective in front of both Captains but it is clear that not everyone can so easily forgive and forget. The civilians let the Heroes through and celebrate them but yet it's clear that among them too more than enough people can't forgive Captain America so easily.<br />
<br />
<br />
It is clear that the road to redemption will not be an easy one for him.<br />
<br />
Additionally the issue deals with the Vanishing Point and the Story of the Inhuman who got captured in the beginning of the event.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion:</b><br />
<br />
And that is how I would fix the ending of Secret Empire.<br />
Now of course I can come up with whatever I want since there is no Editorial I have to get back to, there are no Fans sending me death threats and I don't have to be in contact with artists and send them doable instructions for Comic issues with a limited number of pages.<br />
Not to mention that a lot of people seem to think we only ever got the actual Secret Empire Ending because Spencer and Marvel got cold feet. Given how the rest of the Story was just really good and the Ending was not, that is a fair assumption. Or we are all crazy and see conspiracies where there are none.<br />
<br />
And maybe someone reads this and thinks: "That would be awful, thank god that guy doesn't work for Marvel." And that's fine.<br />
It's impossible to please everyone but this ending would certainly please me better.<br />
<br />
If you have a better idea and you aren't a dick about it, feel free to let me know how you would have done it! ;)</div>
Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-6629309838897908932017-04-16T21:25:00.003+02:002021-09-23T03:07:28.301+02:00Mass Effect: Ranking the Squad Members<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/mass_effect_by_virak-d5iscye.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/mass_effect_by_virak-d5iscye.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artist: virak - virak.deviantart.com</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<h3>
BEWARE OF SPOILERS! </h3>
<br />
So over the last few weeks I played Mass Effect Andromeda. Like... lots of it. <br />
55+ hours playtime and apparently 91% Completion according to the youngest save file with my first character should make it clear that I am having quite a good time with it.<br />
<br />
Being a mix between Mass Effect 1 and Dragon Age Inquisition aka my two favourite Bioware Games it doesn't come as a surprise to me that that is the case and I have a hard time understanding why it is received so poorly by oh so many others.<br />
However I am a reasonable guy, I can see and admit that it has some flaws: The character creation is a joke, jumping from planet to planet to solve almost every secondary quest is exhausting and yes the fact that the actual Hero of the Story isn't you but rather the A.I. in your head is kinda strange. <br />
Other things are down to preference: If you prefered Mass Effect as a Gears of War-ish Corridor-shooter with a more cinematic focus over exploration on vast maps than that is good for you but we won't agree on that matter anytime soon.<br />
However there is one complaint I keep hearing and reading that is just some serious bullshit.<br />
Said complaint is: "The new characters are all inferior to the old Crew."<br />
<br />
Why is that bullshit you ask? Keep reading and you shall find out.<br />
Originally I wanted to Review Mass Effect Andromeda and compare it to each of the older games but talking about the characters alone is quite enough work already. Yes I am lazy, deal with it. ;)<br />
<br />
Before we start let's get to the Rules: I'll only talk about characters that were actually Squad Members at some point. Suvi, Joker, Dr. Chocolates (google it), etc. DO NOT COUNT.<br />
I'll also exclude Kasumi, because I haven't bought her DLC thus she obviously never showed up in any of my playthroughs.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry Kasumi but your Shepard is in another castle. Or somethin'.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Is that cool with everyone?<br />
...<br />
...<br />
Alright since I don't hear any objections I'll just go ahead.<br />
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</h4>
<h4>
24 - Zaeed Massani</h4>
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Zaeed is your typical battlehardened Veteran Soldier Guy. And that is pretty much it.<br />
There really isn't much more to him and if there is I forgot it because it probably wasn't very interesting.<br />
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<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
23 - Cora Harper</h4>
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When I said that Andromeda's characters aren't generally "weaker" than the ones from the Milky Way Squad I was talking about the other five.<br />
Cora sadly feels like a friendlier, less interesting clone of Ashley with none of that lovable bite. Her past as an Asari Huntress didn't do much for me either.<br />
I really like her voice though and if more of her dialogues on the ship would be as cool as the ones she has on the Nomad she would definitly rank higher on the list.<br />
<br />
<h4>
22 - Javik</h4>
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Being the last surviving Prothean aka the mysterious alien race everyone and their mother spoke in awe of during the first trilogy one would think having Javik around would be quite interesting. And one would be right for as long as he spouts exposition about his civilisation and it's eventual downfall.<br />
The man himself sadly isn't really of much value as a character since his personally only consists of one trait: Arrogance.<br />
<br />
<h4>
21 - Jacob Taylor</h4>
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He'd probably be a really nice guy to hang out with in real life but that is not what I am looking for in a Mass Effect Squadmember.<br />
You could kinda compare him to Hawkeye in the first Avengers Movie as the guy who is kinda there but you don't really care.<br />
And don't go on calling me a Hawkeye hater now, his Comic Counterpart is the realest of all the real MVP's but in the MCU he only works when written by the Russo Brothers so far.<br />
...<br />
Oh ahm yeah.. Jacob. He has a really cool loyalty Mission in Mass Effect 2. Otherwise he could easily find himself at the very bottom of the list.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
20 - James Vega</h4>
<a href="http://game-insider.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/masseffect3demo2012-0riwzg.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://game-insider.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/masseffect3demo2012-0riwzg.jpg" width="320" /></a>At first glance Vega is your cliche Douchebag Gym Bro. More Muscles than needed, a bunch of tattoos and dogmarks around the neck.<br />
At second glance he is your cliche Douchebag Gym Bro who is actually quite self aware, more open minded than you'd think and sometimes even funny.<br />
Who would have guessed?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>19 - Liara T'Soni</b><br />
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The one character I never had with me in Mass Effect 1. <br />
While she never struck me as overly interesting she also never bored me completely either and if being the one who is actually responsible for retrieving Shepards body between Mass Effect 1 and 2 wasn't enough to give her a pass then know that she is also always a supportive friend to your character which I'll consider a plus in this instance.<br />
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<h4>
18 - Miranda Lawson </h4>
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While my initial reaction to Space PinUp Miranda was to throw her and half of what Mass Effect 2 introduced to the Series, out of the airlock I got to admit that she grew on me over time.<br />
As an integral part of Mass Effect 2's mainstory and from what I've seen actually an alright romance option she is by default better than everyone I mentioned so far. And she actually turns out to have a personality if you talk to her often enough.<br />
<br />
<h4>
17 - Peebee</h4>
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For now she doesn't come off as an overly deep character but she sure is a delight. She will most certainly move from this position over the course of the next game/s but I can't possible say if she'll move up or down yet.<br />
She could grow stale or she could develope and grow as a person. We shall see.<br />
<br />
There really isn't more to say at the moment.<br />
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<h4>
16 - Grunt</h4>
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Other than both of the other Krogans, Grunt is a young one. A teenager so to speak. A teenager born from a testtube.<br />
Though he proves again and again that he too is a "real Krogan" which is a really huge deal for his people.<br />
Sadly Grunt drew a shorter straw in Mass Effect 3, preventing us from seeing him develope a bit more.<br />
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<br />
<h4>
15 - Kaidan Alenko</h4>
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The Guy was so boring in Mass Effect 1 he became a Meme. Well okay that isn't fair but there is a reason I almost never took him with me back then.<br />
Fortunately it's like they switched him out for someone else in Mass Effect 3 as Kaidan is charming and even funny at times. And being one of the two members who doesn't just forget that Shepard worked for a terrorist organization for a while helps as well.<br />
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<h4>
14 - Liam Kosta</h4>
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Liam is a (sometimes) likeable screw up who means well and does whatever a Spiderman can...uhm... well you get the idea.<br />
He is the mastermind behind the Tempests Movie Night aka the best scene in Mass effect Andromeda and he also has the best loyalty Mission in my opinion. <br />
We didn't get to see too many different layers of his personality yet but here is hoping that the next Game will deliver on that.<br />
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<h4>
13 - Thane Krios</h4>
<h4>
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</h4>
A really cool Assassine with a really cool Family story, and a really cool voice who is also slowly dying.<br />
<br />
What's not to love?<br />
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<h4>
12 - Vetra Nyx</h4>
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Out of all the "strong female characters who looks out for their Sisters" of which there are three she is definitely the one thet benefits the most from it. It helps that her sister Sid is a really cool character by herself.<br />
However Vetra is also very cool on her own.<br />
She has great ingame conversations with almost everyone, especially Drack and her Introduction scene alone is pure gold. <br />
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<h4>
11 - Samara</h4>
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As if being somewhat of a warrior-monk wasn't cool enough already Samara also got two great personal storylines in both games she appears in. <br />
Her credo she lives by and her calm personality add a very unique dynamic to the Team and having to kill her own daughter who is a murderer is just some really heartbreaking shit.<br />
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<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>10 - Jack</b><br />
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If Punk Rock would be a character it would be her in Mass Effect 2. As fun as Punk Rock is though, it's not especially deep or complex and fails to capture my interest for longer periods.<br />Fortunately Jack grows as a person in Mass Effect 3 almost as much as her Hair grows.<br />Seriously that is some long hair for someone who was bald two years earlier. <br />
Badass Teacher Jack is in any case awesome and vastly superior to Prison Break Jack.<br />
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<h4>
9 - Edi</h4>
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Edi is probably the character that goes through the most changes. Starting out as a rogue A.I. in Mass Effect 1 she is revamped in the follow up game as the Normandy SR2's "Soul" and in Mass Effect 3 she not only gets a body, which resulted in a disturbing amount of sexy fanart but also falls in love with a Human, namely Joker, the Ships Pilot.<br />The best part is: While an A.I. with your usual robotic A.I. tropes she is actually a layered and funny character that feels more human than some humans.<br />
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<h4>
8 - Mordin Solus</h4>
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The most badass Salarian to ever exist isn't only a fighter but also a genius doctor who... really likes to sing.<br />He also gets the best death scene in the entire series by a large margin and if you played the game "right" he even sings then. <br />I keep saying that Mass Effect 2 was the weakest game and I stand by it but Mordin is one of those reasons it's still a really good game.<br />
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<h4>
7 - Nakmor Drack</h4>
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Drack is one seriously old Geezer.<br />He lived through more Wars than anyone else and consists of quite a lot of prosthetics.<br />
Of course being a Krogan he is still a force to be reckoned with. He loves the things Krogans love, namely fighting things, shooting things and killing things but at the same time he is a loving grandfather, a father figure for Ryder and he is also as clueless about the extranet as old people in our world are about the internet. Seriously read his e-mails. All of them.<br />
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<h4>
6 - Tali'Zorah nar Rayya/ vas Neema/ vas Normandy</h4>
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Tali is without a doubt the one Squadmember who benefits the most from being a mayor player in all the original three Games. While basically a likeable but unspectacular teenage girl character during the first game she develops a great personality and becomes a keyplayer in the faith of her entire race without any of it feeling rushed, stupid or out of place.<br />
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5 - Legion</h4>
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After Mass Effect 1 we view the Geth as mindless Killer Robots as we have every reason too. And then this guy shows up out of nowhere, saves Shepards Life and shows the Player and the entire Galaxy what else Geth can be:<br />One of the most fascinating races in a Universe filled to the brim with fascinating races.<br />In a way that reminds me of the Arbiter in the Halo Series who turns from an enemy to one of the best Space Bro's in Videogame History.<br />
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4 - Jaal Ama Darav</h4>
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The very best answer to everyone who says that Mass Effect Andromeda's characters are somewhat less deep or worse written than in the Original Trilogy.<br />Jaal is a complex, exotic, sympathetic Warrior with a smooth voice and a layered personality.<br />Out of all the Mass Effect characters he definitly had the best start as that guy is your Squads MVP from the moment he shows up and he also has chemistry with every other Companion in the game.<br />
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3 - Ashley Williams</h4>
<a href="http://masseffect-universe.com/_pu/0/80024240.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://masseffect-universe.com/_pu/0/80024240.jpg" width="320" /></a>Oh boy this will be a long one...<br />
So, according to what seems like the Majority of Mass Effect Players Ashly is not only a racist and a bitch but also a traitor. An annoying military tomboy but also a brainless Jersey Shore bimbo.<br />
An unnecessary... eh.. I think you get the idea by now.<br />All this tells me is that too many people have never taken the time to get to know her and that probably holds true for a lot of other characters.<br />Firstly in a Universe full of Krogans talking about eating Salarians, a lot of Turians thinking that everyone else is beneath them and so on and so forth I think it's kind of odd to call Williams the postergirl for space racism/ xenophobia.<br />It's much more that she's a stand-in for the ignorance and fears of that plague like half the alliance in the first game specifically.<br />
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However that is just were her journey starts and yet from the get go she has friendly dialogues and a sisterly relationship with Tali (which leads to her sobbing in grief if the Quarian dies in ME3) and over time developes friendships with a lot of Aliens on both Normandies. Liara and Garrus at least even comment on it. Admittedly it seems like that is the kind of development that never really gets a pay-off which I'll blame on ME3's short production time and how much it had already going on.<br />Furthermore there would be her hatred for the Humanity-first-Terror-group Cerberus to the point were she doesn't join you during Mass Effect 2. While unfortunate, because I would have liked having her around as my Go to Romance option in that game, it fit her character quite well as she is no one who trusts people easily, especially not when you spend most of the first Games Exploration/Side quests fighting Cerberus.<br /><br />
<br />Lastly when you actually take the time to to dig beaneath her hard shell, she is actually a deeply layered and nice person who likes poetry, alcohol and cringeworthy pick up lines (though only when drunk enough). Ash is a flawed one which is something I happen to like in a character. <br />I've got a soft spot for her and she'll always be one of my favourites.<br />
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Since this has ended up being a long ass wall of text anyway I might as well add a random trivia:<br />In Mass Effect 1 Ashley was supposed to be bisexual, the scenes are even still in the game files.<br />While Kaidan was straight in the first game but became bisexual in Mass Effect 3 she stayed straight in order to balance the options for male and female Commanders shepards....I assume. A shame though as for a religious and by the books kind of character like her, having a bisexual orientation would have been another nice twist.<br />
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2 - Urdnot Wrex</h4>
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Firs things first: If you played Mass Effect and Wrex died on Virmire you played the game wrong.<br />I don't even care if you played evil asshole shepard or goody-two-shoes Shepard as keeping this guy alive is the only acceptable outcome.<br />A bit like Tali, Wrex turns from a lone Wolf to a someone who has a keyrole in the faith of his entire race and like with Tali it doesn't feel forced. Unlike Tali however he already starts out as a complex character who can become on of shepards best friends even though he is only a fully fledged Squad Member during the first game.<br />
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#1</h4>
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G a r r u s V a k a r i a n</h3>
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I mean who else could it be?<br />Garrus turns from an idealistic Citadel Cop, to a crime fighting Avenger, to ultimate Space-Bro.<br />Vakarian is there in every game, has always been a fan favourite and goes through some great character development. No matter how you play the game, he is there by your side (unless he dies in which case you reload an older safe and make it better this time, damn it).<br />While naurally a good hearted character he remains loyal even when you are the kind of dirtbag who sacrifices the Krogans and shoots Mordin (you Monster!) as the ends justify the means for him.<br />Garrus is there by your side, be it as a your best Friend, or Lover and he has some of the greatest scenes in the entire Trilogy. <br />
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Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-86374593176485292532017-03-04T03:59:00.001+01:002017-03-04T03:59:13.109+01:00Superhero Movies 2016 - Ranked<h3>
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So Logan came out yesterday and it was pretty dope. And Lego Batman came out recently and it too was pretty damn dope. That is an excellent track record for Superhero Movies so far and I hope they continue being so good throughout the year.<br />
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That said, they probably won't.<br />
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My guess is that there will be ups and downs just like there were last year. And speaking of last year:<br />I decided to rank those Movies in order of how much I enjoyed them.<br />Yeeees I know it's 2017 by now and it's march and I am way too late to the party but who cares, right?<br />
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Now before we begin this I'll say that I won't include The Killing Joke (and anything else that I haven't actually seen). <br />I still want to watch the movie but I heard mostly negative stuff about it which is a shame as I liked the comic it was based on. <br />(Poor, poor Barbara...)<br />
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Now, let's get to it. We'll start at the bottom and work ourselves up towards glory!</div>
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#6 X-Men Apocalypse</h3>
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Probably not the worst Movie on this list but easily the one I enjoyed the least.<br />I don't even know were to start with this one so I'll keep it simple. <br />The whole Movie feels, ultimately, pointless.</div>
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Half the cast seems to be about to fall asleep, especially Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique.<br />Xaviers and Magnetos on/off bromance lost it's impact a while ago, Quicksilvers scene is funny but has been done before, the whole Movie takes a detour so we can have a Wolverine scene and Apocalypse himself does his best to make guys like Thor 2's Malekith look like cool Villains in comparison.</div>
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There is no passion, there is no energy, there is no fun and it becomes clear as day that Fox is absolutely fine with riding the Superhero Movie Hype train without any intentions of keeping up with Marvel or the DCEU because that would requiere them to actually care.</div>
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#5 Suicide Squad</h3>
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This Movie has just sooo muuuch wasted potential. They got the chance to show a different side of the DCEU, one that has a bit more personality, depth, shades of gray and fun.<br />But that would have requiered them to make you care for the team itself. Spoilers: They didn't.</div>
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Sure, Harley Quinn and Deadshot are great throughout the whole thing but whats with the rest? El Diablo gets to sacrifice himself for "his family" but that came honestly outta nowhere. Rick Flag gets to bond with Deadshot AND he even has decent motivations for his actions but he is held back by the Stereotype Soldier Guy role he was assigned to and... yeah that is pretty much it. The others are just kind of there.<br />Introducing all the characters at once but not fleshing out most of them was almost as bad as the endless slow motion finale or the portrayal of the Joker.<br />But my real main complaint has to be that they played "old" Hit Songs over EVERYTHING.<br />Yes I know it somewhat worked in Guardians of the Galaxy but here it just didn't.</div>
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#4 Batman V Superman - Dawn of Justice</h3>
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Not many people seem to like that Movie and I get why.<br />(This) Batman is a murderous psychopath, (this) Superman is just dull and boring and (this) Lex Luthor is maybe the worst character to ever exist on film I mean ...seriously I wanted to punch his fucking face.<br />And it certainly doesn't help that you have to watch the Extended Cut to even get why some characters do what they do.</div>
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However I happened to see a lot of redeeming qualities in this one.<br />Ben Affleck as Batman works really, really well and he is even better as Bruce Wayne, making him the definitive Batman actor in so far in my book.<br />Then there is the score and the visuals, which are really nice and let's not forget Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman who really steals the show everytime she appears on screen.<br />Not having liked the trailers up to the release and not being a huge Fan of either Bats nor Supes I didn't think I'd enjoy the Movie at all but I ended up being positively surprised.</div>
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#3 - Deadpool</h3>
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"But Matt", I hear you say. "You talked shit about the X-Men Movies just now, how come you rank Deadpool so high?"<br />Well, that is an easy question to answer: Because Deadpool was made by people who really wanted to make this movie. It was a passion project of a small group of people, one of them being the main actor himself.<br />Fox on the other Hand had little faith in it and even cut short the budget. Ironically that might have actually helped the movie as they had to make up for missing action scenes by investing in the relationship between Wade Wilson and his girlfriend, making us actually care for them as a couple.</div>
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That said I don't have a huge amount of faith in the upcoming sequel. Deadpool, for me, never really works for a long time even in the comics were he becomes more obnoxious than funny after a while, making him a better fit for a teambook than a solo title. Clearly the world doesn't seem to agree with me as he has currently like 3 solo titles running simultaniously if I am not mistaken.<br />Back to topic.</div>
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#2 Doctor Strange</h3>
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You know, I wish my two top picks wouldn't both be MCU Movies because I don't wanna too seem biased and a little more competition wouldn't hurt but I don't want to lie either.</div>
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Doctor Strange is another high quality Superhero Origin Story, this time featuring magic which means everything goes.<br />And daaaaamn is Marvel taking advantage of that fact.</div>
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The visuals are stunning, the fight scenes might be the most creative ever seen in a movie of that genre, the humor is, like always, on point and it's just really entertaining to see Stephen Strange develope from an absolute jerk to a powerful good-hearted Wizard (who is still a bit of a jerk).</div>
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#1 - Captain America: Civil War</h3>
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Well what else could it have been? Civil War, while not flawless, is a testament of longtime storytelling.<br />There is not a single wasted scene. Everything that happens, does so because of stuff that has been setup in earlier Movies and because it makes sense for that specific character. Furthermore the Russo Brothers managed to throw in Spiderman and the Black Panther into the mix without any of it feeling forced or in any way weird, Black Panther especially is tied to the main story which has the balls to not only go small, personal and emotional in the end, it also ends on a downer.<br />The Avengers, Earths mightiest heroes, are shattered. And the worst part is that there is no one really to blame.<br />Neither Team Cap nor Team Iron Man are the bad guys, they both do what they think is necessary and when the dust settles and the actual bad guy is revealed even he comes off as kind of sympathethic.</div>
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Sure Zemo's plan was overall convoluted and he lucked out quite a bit but at least his motivations are logical and crystal clear making him easily the best Super Villain 2016. </div>
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And if that wouldn't be enough: The road leading up to the epic finale is a blast as well with the airport battle probably being my favourite action scene ever.</div>
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And that is my list. Agree? Nice.<br />Don't agree? That's okay too! Make your own list while you are at it ;)</div>
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- Matt over and out</div>
Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-29245067834447737032017-02-05T22:33:00.001+01:002017-02-05T22:33:05.931+01:002016 - And Why It Was (Born To Be) EpicI've been doing this since 2012 now but it's the first time I have a blog were I can post it as well.<br />So here it goes:<br />
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The Video (which you'll see if you klick that link below) features samples of songs from Albums I enjoyed during the last year and me writing a few short sentences about them.<br /> It's mostly metal-ish music but since I try to be an open minded person there is some other stuff as well in there.<br />
Including Wrestling for some reason ;)<br /><br />Enjoy!<br />
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<a href="http://2016 - And Why It Was (Born To Be) Epic" target="_blank">VIMEO-VIDEO-LINKY-LINK</a></div>
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[Klick dis]</div>
Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-10193901785604409782017-01-15T16:40:00.000+01:002017-01-15T16:40:00.600+01:00Review: Civil War II<h2>
(Beware of Spoilers)</h2>
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I'll start this of with saying that I have always been a fan of Brian Michael Bendis aka the Writer of Civil War II.<br />His New Avengers books were the sole reason I actually got into Comics, Events like Siege, or Secret Invasion are among my favourite Comic events and I love that he has a fetish for putting characters through the wringer. So if you are reading this thinking it will be another case of someone shaking his fist and yelling "Damn you Bendis, you ruined EVAHRYTHING." you might want to stop reading right here and now.<br />Of course if you are someone who can handle a possibly different opinion than yours you are more than welcome to continue. Now that we've established this, lets begin.<br />
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I'll go forward assuming that you are at least vaguely aware of whats going on currently in the Marvel Universe because I wouldn't even know where to start trying to explain it all to you. <br />Especially since it isn't like I am reading ALL THE COMICS either.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yeah. That's the Stuff!</td></tr>
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Civil War II starts with a dangerous cosmic being attacking the Earth and its Goons. Luckily Earths Heroes are prepared and we see Mutants, Inhumans, multiple Avenger Teams and various other Heroes fighting together and banishing the enemy from the Planet. <br /><br />That means it's time to celebr-...wait.<br />How come they were prepared in the first place?<br />The answer: A new Inhumans who only recently discovered his powers has the ability to see the future.<br /><br />That's great! Or is it?<br />Two people have vastly different opinions on that matter. One is Captain Marvel who is pretty much Earths Space Cop #1. The other one is Tony Stark who seemingly has seen Minority Report.<br />
<br />
You can see where both sides are coming from but nothing escalates just yet.<br />Carol uses the Vision Ulysses, aka the Inhuman I talked about before to stop crimes and catastrophes from happening uuuntil one of this Missions goes wrong and War Machine gets offed by Thanos in a ridiculous awesome looking panel.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i2.wp.com/fusion.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/screen-shot-2016-06-08-at-3-26-35-pm.png?resize=670%2C375&quality=80&strip=all" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://i2.wp.com/fusion.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/screen-shot-2016-06-08-at-3-26-35-pm.png?resize=670%2C375&quality=80&strip=all" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I mean look at it. LOOK. AT. IT.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now things started to get heated, both Characters mourn the death as Rhodes happens to be both Starks best friend and Carol Danvers Lover. It doesn't quite help that She Hulk also ends up in a coma due to that fight.<br />Tony goes on to abduct the Inhuman to scan his brain. Of course he gets captured but while that happens Ulysses sees another Vision and everyone else sees it too this time. The Hulk snaps and kills everyone. Yikes.<br />
<br />
Now things are about to get interesting. Or are they?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bullshift.net/data/images/2016/06/comicbookresources-hulked-69773.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.bullshift.net/data/images/2016/06/comicbookresources-hulked-69773.jpg" height="307" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This looks bad. How to you react to that? Not like Carol did, that's for sure.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A huge group of Hereos confront Banner about this. He gets angry but before anything catastrophic can happen a special Arrow pierces his brain. <br />So this is the most controversial thing that happens in this event.<br />The killer obviously is Hawkeye but Hawkeye usually doesn't kill. It's really out of character for him.<br />And it's uncertain if Banner would have even been able to turn into the Hulk as he was supposedly cured. But during Uncanny Avengers his resurrected corpse is able to Hulk up.<br />Barton says his eyes turned green but no one else saw that.<br />Banner did indeed give him a special arrow to kill him if necessary but was it necessary?<br />This questions aren't really answered in the event nor are they answered in the Comics at this point in time in general.<br />This is where the plot of CW II falls kind of apart and instead getting finally straight to the fighting we get a trial, insecure Heroes and a funeral.<br />At this point during the first Civil War SHIELD had already tried to shoot Captain America and Tony Stark & Co had already build a prison for Super Villains in the negative Zone and they were throwing in fellow Heroes who didn't happen to agree with them. And then there was the violent Thor clone...<br />
What I am saiyng is that the first Civil War was really stupid. <br />Sure it changed the Marvel Landscape which gave birth to some truelly great stories but the War itself was just plain dumb and full of out of character behavior.<br /><br />Civil War II on the other Hand is ... lacking. It's better written as a whole and it's nice to see the Characters trying to figure out solutions by doing some talking but both sides are to stubborn and they end up fighting anyway for a bit. Then they stop again. Inbetween both main characters act stupid in many ways (Carol holds a woman captive even though she seems to be innocent just because she believes in the Visions, Tony abducted Ulysses and initates the first Superhero skirmish) Then we get an all out fight between Carol and Tony over the fate of Miles Morales who is shown in a Vision to kill Steve Rogers.<br />
Speeeeeaking of. <br />What makes reading Civil War II quite a bit better is the fact that Steve Rogers aka Captain America aka the bestest and nicestest goodestest Guy imaginable (well okay he's much more complicated than that but you get the idea) acts like he always does BUT it is all an act.<br />Right now and due a storyline I won't get into now Caps past has been altered making him an Agent of Hydra and he manipulates EVERYTHING.<br />I'd suggest everyone who is interested in reading Civil War II to read his current book parallel to it.<br />It enhances many scenes to know that he is constantly planning the downfall of everyone around him including the main actors of the event because he is the one person everyone trusts.<br />
<br />
But back to Civil War itself. The Comic ends with Ulysses leaving earth, becoming something more than (In)human as a cosmic beings as his powers grow and grow.<br />
<br />Hm... I was so sure he would end up being or becoming a Villain in the End but I guess that is Rogers part. Before that we see him traveling to Old Man Logans World and Time which is actually pretty damn nice.<br />
It's only with the last issues that it becomes clear that this event is more of a catalyst for future storylines and we actually do get a few hints whats to come in the next few years which is also nice.<br />But it doesn't help the event itself that it doesn't have an actual ending.<br />Sure many things changed but they wouldn't have needed a Civil War to go there.<br />The Comic shouldn't have even been named Civil War in the first place as it's nothing like the first one and it's isn't really a war either.<br />Avengers vs X-Men. That was a war. That was high stakes, epic battles and a lot of participants.<br />It was also pretty great at that.<br />Civil War II was more of a disagreement with casualties.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Conclusion:</b></u> Calling Civil War II the worst event ever is hyperbole bullshit at it's finest. It's not even the worst Marvel event of 2016 because that would be Death of X which had about as much quality as Ultimatum just with a much lower body count.<br />It is however Bendis weakest event so far by a landslide and I now know how Scarlet Witch Fans must have felt during Disassembled or Cyclops Fans during AvX because the poop-guy of this event was my favourit Guy: Clint Barton.<br /><br />Still I always told people to stop whining so much so I won't do it now either. Besides I'd rather read 300+ Issues of Hawkeye going all Punisher on the Marvel Universe written by Bendis than seeing him in the hands of Lemire again. <br />Matt over and out.Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-89997032874367829312017-01-05T05:48:00.001+01:002017-01-05T05:48:54.147+01:00Review: Assassin's Creed (Movie)<h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">(Beware of Spoilers)</span></h2>
<br />
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<br />
In case you have never played an Assassin's Creed Game:<br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">It's
actually a Sci-Fi series and you play people who use a device called
the Animus in order to relive memories of certain ancestors which
revolve around a century old war between the Order of the Templars and
the Order of the Assassins who have both very different opinions on how
to save/ rule the world. Thats is all you need to know.</span></span><br />
<br />
So there is some kind of unwritten rule to Movie adaptations of Videogames and said rule says they have to.. well yeah..suck. <br />
Okay that is not entirely fair as Prince of Persia was quite good and so was the first Tomb Raider Film... I think.<br />
I was a teenager when I saw it. Could have just been me liking Angelina Jolie in shorts.<br />
But I guess we can all agree on the fact that the Sequel killed all the goodwill anyway.<br />
<br />
In
any case: Movies based on videogames tend to be really, really bad and
people are waiting patiently for a (nother) Movie to break the curse, to
defy the unwritten rule.<br />
<br />
And now the question is: Could Assassin's Creed be that Movie?<br />
Short answer: No.<br />
<br />
Long answer:<br />
What is it people love about the Assassin's Creed Games?<br />
Is it the Sci-Fi stuff with the animus and everything?<br />
Or is it the parkour stuff with stylish take down moves inbetween?<br />
<br />
I'm
asking because in the Movie we don't get much from the latter. We don't
see much of the past (15th century btw) and the Assassine named Aguilar
at all.<br />
Instead we get to see a lot more of a guy called Callum Lynch, an ancestor of that Assassine.<br />
Lynch
isn't exactly the most interesting protagonist but he is no blank slate
either and it certainly helps that the actor portraying him, Michael
Fassbender, seemingly REALLY wanted this Movie to be good.<br />
Because he gives it his best and you can see that in every scene.<br />
Sadly
that can't be said about pretty much anyone else. Villains, relatives,
captured assassins... they all seem to be bored to death. Except for
like one guy who tries at times to be funny in a Movie that doesn't do
fun.<br />
<br />
Don't get me wrong here. I am not saying the Movie is bad because it is not "funny". It doesn't have to be a comedy.<br />
The
Movie is bad because it's boring. Exposition left and right, missing
character development front and center and a broody and overly dramatic
atmosphere that just doesn't work as it's just exhausting after the
first 20 or so minutes. <br />
<br />
Yes the action scenes are alright for
the most part and yes they clearly tried to stay close to the source
material (except for the animus itself which is a robotic arm with a
claw that holds the subject instead of a normal table/chair for whatever
reason) but from Assassin's Creed 2 onwards these Games have been
filled to the brim with charming, colorful characters while the Movie is
not.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look, Interesting characters! They even interact! <br />
(Though I'm still mad about what they did with Lucy only because her voice actress didn't want to continue.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Sure there are one or two people who have the potential to be interesting. One of them is Aguilar's female Lover and Sidekick but she doesn't get to do much. Everything she does, Aguilar does better.<br />
They are about to be executed? Aguilar saves them both.<br />
They fight their way through a massive wave of enemies to escape? Aguilar saves her ass.<br />
They ambush the Main Villain and his Troops? She gets herself captured.<br />
<br />
At one point she even falls of a cliff and we never see how she survived it and in the next scene she is back with Aguilar. Maybe I missed something but she is, in any case, wasted.<br />
<br />
The Movie wouldn't be much different without her and that is sad considering she clearly is ment to be an important character. But with that she gets off better than the other female lead, Sophia Rikkin.<br />
<br />
She is the daughter of the Boss of the Company that holds Lynch captured and is supposed to be a moraly complex character I guess. Too bad her motivations make even less sense than Lynchs.<br />
Both seem to have a change of heart multiple times for no real reason.<br />
<br />
So yeah and if all that wasn't enough:<br />
<br />
The Movie is ugly.<br />
We either get stale, cold hallways or foggy setpieces from the 15th century that look like Call of Duty Maps. Grey in grey, brown in brown and nothing else.<br />
<br />
Let's move on to the...<br />
<br />
<u><b>...Conclusion:</b></u><br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>Assassin's Creed is a boring movie. Some things work *cough* Fassbender *cough* but most things don't. [Insert sad emoticon here]Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-53506390241569779812016-12-22T19:24:00.000+01:002017-01-15T00:38:39.312+01:00Review: Underworld - Blood Wars<h2>
(Beware of Spoilers)</h2>
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<br />
Underworld Blood Wars marks the 5th Movie in the Underworld Series and the 4th telling the tale of Selene the former Death Dealer who is by now seen as a Pariah by most other Vampires.<br />
<br />
Since Blood Wars is based on events from previous Movies I'll recap them for you. If you are aware of what happened so far or you just don't care, just skip the next section:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">_ _ _ _ <br /><br />Vampires and Lycans (Werewolves) are not the bestest of friends, meaning they have a war going on for centuries now. A war humans are unaware of.<br />Selene is a Death Dealer which means she is an Elite Warrior among the ranks of the Vampires and she likes stand up comedy, nightly walks on the beach and hunting Lycans. I might have made up two of these things.<br />She discovers that the Lycans are stalking a Human being named Michael Corvin.<br />Turns out he is a direct descendant of the Corvinus Clan. A clan the first Vampire and the first Lycan originate from. Thus his blood is rather valuable for "things".<br />Long Story short: He gets bitten by a Lycan and later on also by Selene which should kill him but thanks to his blood it does not.<br />He becomes the first ever Hybrid, him and Selene fall in love, she also gets a nice blood powerup from another Corvin and three dead Vampire and Lycan Elders later they are free to just be a couple doing couple things because happy endings are nice.<br />Or at least they would be if Humanity hadn't discovered the existance of Vampires and Lycans shortly after leading to a massive worlwide purge that ends up killing countless specimen of either race.<br />Selene is captured and wakes up years later in a tube just as another test subject escapes.<br />Said subject is not Michael but a little girl, her daughter.<br />The girl gets recaptured and Selene teams up with a human Cop (he has his reasons) and another Vampire called David to rescue her. Turns out the Company that made them testsubjects was actually controlled by Lycans. They win and also discover that Michael is still alive and escaped during their attack. Boy I can't wait for a reunion!<br />_ _ _ _</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="color: black;">Now this is were Blood Wars begins. <br />Selene is actually riding solo and she is hunted by Lycans who want to find her daughter.<br /><br />Little do they know she has no idea where her daughter is as they split up to not endanger said girl.</span></span><br />
With that the Movie starts out like the other Underword Movies.<br />
We get plenty of early and entertaining action scenes and a plot that leaves no doubt that it will evolve into something bigger soon enough. A little bit of mistery so to say.<br />
<br />
For a moment there it seems like Selene actually gets to breath for a bit but that turns out to not be the case at all. Betrayed by those who offered her a chance to make up for ths things she had done she finds herself on the run soon enough again, this time however she is not alone. Being accompanied by David whom we know from Underworld Awakening and following a hint from said mans father they travel northwards.<br />
<br />
Up there they encounter a Vampire Clan with a more mystic touch which is nice. Sadly the Movie so straight forward and in a hurry that we don't really get to know them.<br />
Blood Wars bombards one with Informations and revelations left and right and as far as plot goes it's probably the most complex out of all the Underworld Movies but you don't get the time to process any of it which is a shame.<br />
What's even more of a shame is that we don't have to hold our breath for a return of Michael Corvin any longer.<br />
The Guy just got straight up killed off screen to power up the Lycans Leader Marius with his blood.<br />
Considering I was someone who really liked that character that got dragged into this entire war without knowing whats going on in the first place, this felt like a punch in the gut.<br />
And he doesn't get a clean, swift death either, no he bled out hanging upside down.<br />
<br />
Said Marius meanwhile continues the "tradition" that every Lycan of note (except William from Underworld Evolution) has to have a Vampire darling.<br />
He is a decent Villain though and his demise at the end of the Movie makes you feel very good especially since it's a really brutal one.<br />
<br />
However he is overshadowed by Semira, the other Villain of this Story. Not only are her manipulations effective and smart her fight scenes are actually the most entertaining ones we get in this Movie. I loved to hate her so much that I actually raised my fist at the cinema when her head was smacked against a mirror during a fight with David a few moments before she died for good.<br />
<br />
Said David actually happened to grow on me, while I considered him in Awakening kind of an unecessary Support for Selene he almost steals the show this time. Not only does he get to interact and bond with his father Thomas, he also gets to wield a sword and have a really good scene with Marius in midst a battle. <br />
<br />
But of course Selene still remains to be the highlight. She slashes, shoots and kicks her way through the fourth Movie that just wants to see her suffer it seems and you buy how sick she is of all of this.<br />
She had to kill her mentor, she lost her partner (for the third time) and she can't be with her daughter.<br />
She is a Warrior who doesn't even know how to stop fighting after all this time but damn does she come close to breaking down this time.<br />
I honestly didn't care much for her new power up (althought it made for a cool hairstyle) and wish we'd rather get to see her dealing with the mess her live is. <br />
Of course that would requiere her to have a moment to sit down and process it all.<br />
<br />
At one point it actually seems like that is going to happen when she shares a moment with one of the northern Vampires. Said Woman is called Lena, a white haired mistery who sadly gets the short end of the stick when it comes to time that is decicated to exploring her character.<br />
<br />
Instead we get to know a guy called Varga a bit better. Too bad he doesn't make much sense characterization wise. At first he is Semiras loyal fucktoy and servant, he attacks Selene, kills his students and does everything else Semira wants him to do.<br />
But later he switches sides and it seems like the movie tries to redeem him somewhat.<br />
In my opinion he should have died trying to save David or Selene if they really wanted to redeem him but now he kinda just sticks around and no one cares what he did.<br />
<br />
<br />
At the end of the day Underworld Blood Wars is not a good Movie. It's however not a train wreck either.<br />
<br />
The Plot is alright but everything happens so fast that we don't get to process any of it and some of the stuff that happens has already been done in earlier Films in the Series.<br />
Whats more is that it seems at times like Humans don't even exist any longer in that Universe.<br />
Sebastian from Awakening isn't even mentioned and neither the remaing Lycans nor Vampires seem to be concerned that they too will be purged. Considering how that was the entire theme of the last Movie that is rather strange to me.<br />
<br />
However the action scenes are among the best the Franchise has produced so far, especially the duels, David grew to become a good character, we get a bit of mysticism back and Selene is still kicking a lot of ass while wearing tight clothes which is always a plus in my book.<br />
<br />
<u><b><br />Conclusion:</b></u><br />
Go and watch it if you liked the previous films, you will not love this one but you might enjoy it as I did.<br />
If you didn't like the others you certainly won't like this one.Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7961345232520353875.post-75030450672364611202016-12-18T18:14:00.001+01:002016-12-18T22:40:49.525+01:00Review: Fantastic Beasts and where to find them<h2>
(Beware of spoilers)</h2>
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<br />
<br />
Before we start this I thought I'd clarify how I feel about the Harry Potter Franchise itself.<br />
I'm not a Die-Hard by any means nor am I a hater. I read the books, I watched the Movies (as far as book adaptations go I thought they did alright), I had a Quidditch Card Game when I was a Kid (what do you mean that doesn't say much?!) and I enjoyed all of these things. I thought they were just fine and I still do.<br />
Thus there is no reason for me to be super hyped nor super depressed should the film be incredible good or incredible bad.<br />
In case you wonder: The latter is the case. <br />
<br />
But let's start at the beginning: <br />
We follow the Story of Newt Scamander a supposedly quirky, charming, introvert who is really bad at looking people in the eye. <br />
Daaaaw he is so loveable and awkward, isn't he? <3<br />
<br />
No. No he is not.<br />
Basically this guy is what you'd get if tumblr were to design a character.<br />
In case you have no idea what that means, let me phrase it differently:<br />
Take Doctor Who, Cucumbercabbage-Sherlock, mash them together poorly and then make your new and toootally original character also a huge animal lover.<br />
Needless to say he annoyed the hell out of me from the getgo.<br />
<br />
<br />
The thing is: A good Movie can survive a bad main protagonist by being... you know, good.<br />
Or by having good supporting characters. And THAT is actually something Fantastic Beasts and yadda yadda kind of achieved.<br />
Tina Goldstein has by far the most interesting backstory out of all of the Heroes.<br />
She's a former Cop (I'm sorry: "Auror") and the reason she got demoted directly ties in to the subplot of one of the Villains. Said subplot revolves around a group of people who hate Wizards and like to hit children with belts and stuff and it's actually the best bit of story we get in this movie.<br />
Too bad it's secondary to Scamander hunting his escaped pets all over 1920's New York City in slapstick fashion.<br />
Said Beasts are actually pretty cool I'll admit. They have creative designs and interesting abilitys and quirks. Thus they are basically everything Newt Scamander is not.<br />
While the Creatures are one of the better things about this movie they still pale in comparison with the other two Heroes:<br />
Jacob Kowalski and Tina's Sister Queenie Goldstein are a constant delight on their own but they are even better together as they have a mad amount of chemistry.<br />
Good stuff, really good stuff.<br />
Now if the Movie would be about them....<br /> Instead we get an additiona love story between Tina and Newt. Those two share exactly one good scene together at the End which falls flat because it doesn't feel like that either of them earned it. <br />
While it was obvious from the start that the two main characters would have an implied romantic relationship, not much was done to set it up.<br />
<br />
In fact not much was done to set up the Heroes teaming up anyway.<br />
At one point Tina is pretty much to blame for getting them almost killed and no one really bats an eye.<br />
Sure she felt betrayed and did what she thought she had to do but the least they could do is confront each other about the shit they've done. But they don't.<br />
<br />
<br />
I know I repeat myself but I really think this Movie should have been about Queenie and Jacob instead. It could be a romantic comedy for all I care, that would actually fit the tone of their relationship.<br />
<br />
But it isn't. Instead we are stuck in a constant cycle of bad slapstick scenes which abruptly switch to bad overly dramatic scenes.<br />
You know how Pixar and Marvel Studios Movies mastered the art of being serious, sad and fun at the same time. How they make you laugh and then give you an emotional uppercut in the next second and you love it?<br />
Fantastic Beasts, I think, tries to go for the same effect but in the End it only reminds you that it isn't as easy as the studios I just mentioned make it look.<br />
<br />
It doesn't quite help that the Villain is the most obvious bad guy ever (He's also pretty bland) and the ending is all kinds of anticlimactic, completely wasting any opportunity to finish strong due a Deus ex-Machina moment.<br />
Well to be fair it's not really a Deus Ex-Machina moment as it is somewhat setup halfway through the movie but it is so lazy written it might as well be one.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u><b>Conclusion: </b></u><br />
A Movie that doesn't know what it want to be, with the most annoying Main Protagonist since Max in Life is Strange. A couple of good supporters and cool Creatures don't make up for how bad and uninteresting the rest is.<br />
I don't think I'll ever watch this a second time.Matternativhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450319066077121021noreply@blogger.com0