Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[Sharpandpointies]

*checks weather*

Humidity is 100%.

Oh no.

Ouch. Sounds like Ottawa, mid-winter.

[Sharkerbob]

Never even heard of that one, sorry.

It was pretty good, I rec it.

Oh yeah, he was also in Inception

Oh yeah!

[Vakanai]

Oh yeah, he was also in Inception

That one I did watch! Don't really remember him in it, but then I only watched it once when it was brand new and never felt the urge to watch it again...

[Len Ikari145]

Y'know, this theory actually has a fair amount of credibility to it. It could also explain why there is seemingly another Chainsaw Man in Part 2 wandering about. And Pochita's name is Spanish for Glutton. It would also be hilarious and clever from a meta-perspective if Fujimoto was using Asa as a narrative proxy to hint to the readers that Denji is not bonded to the real Chainsaw Devil.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Watched the Seven Deadly Sins: Grudge of Edinburgh mov... OVA, it's more of an OVA.

It's a fun little adventure following a younger Tristan as he spoilers:

tries to save Elizabeth after she's been made the victim of the titular grudge.

end of spoilers

The animation is completely CGI, and while it might be a bit video game cut scene-y in design, the animation itself is fluid and fun to watch.

This is the first of a two part story and it's less than an hour long. So a few aspects are a bit on the short end. But you still get a solid grasp of Tristan and his struggles, as well as an update on most of the Sins. *mutters bitterly that they tease us with Diane/King kids but don't show them*

spoilers:

Lancelot is also in this movie as a twist, and figuring that out before it happened was quite satisfying. I look forward to the second part delving more into the relationship and rivalry between Tristan and Lancelot. I was a little surprised at how nonchalant Ban seemed to be about Lancelot still being missing at this point in time. Apparently he and Elaine just really trusted their son. Deathpierce as the main antagonist was a neat surprise. And the monster designs are cool as usual for this series.

end of spoilers

Fun little romp. Looking forward to the second part.

[grampagen]

...I may be having withdrawal from the beta test. June is a long ways away lol

[Postmania]

...I may be having withdrawal from the beta test. June is a long ways away lol

It seems pretty fun from what I see on social media.

[Tami]

I suppose, but he is the one who makes it to the end to confront the antagonist and do the thing.




Hang in there!

Whole countries gunna be feelin' the chill this week.

Just checked the weather report, Friday 55 degrees, Saturday and Sunday 22 and 25 degrees. Tell me how that makes any sense.

Seriously, I'm used to really cold winters, but this year I don't think it will get below 20 degrees in the daytime.

[Guy1]

[Guy1]

[Guy1]

[Jcogginsa]

New Dragonball Super chapter is a fun romp

[Wildling]

I've heard of A Quiet Place 2 only, but I've never seen it or even the first one.

I'd recommend it if you're even remotely into horror, considering it's only a 2 movie long series so far. Other than longer franchises like The Conjuring, in my opinion movie horror can only remain really interesting if we get more movies like Smile.

[Dark Soul # 7]

New Dragonball Super chapter is a fun romp

Yeah, reminds me of best stuff from when Gohan was in high school.

I was especially delighted to see the Pilaf gang growing alongside Trunks and Goten since I'd honestly forgotten about them.

[Postmania]

Beat Midnight Suns.

Despite my growing ennui/distaste for MCU stuff I have to say it's quit noticeable when someone picks up the formula and tries to do it... but does it badly. Ending's pretty bad. After Credits scenes also just abruptly end and don't really give you much. And I generally don't even like these elements of the movies but damn.

My opinions from earlier are pretty much the same. Game is carried hard by the gameplay being so simple and easy to make fun with leveling, tactics, heroes abilities, etc. And the social aspects where you do things like hang out with characters in book clubs basically papers over the rest of the game.

The remainder consists of:

A) Fetch quest/busywork type stuff where you walk around the hub collecting ingredients/finding quest elements/unlocking different areas with abilities Metroid style. This isn't very good. Tons of collectible items that don't really mean much all told. A significant amount of this is cosmetic items which are often just colors, not even big changes on that front.

B) Story/Cutscenes. Like I said, these are not great. But even in places they should be meaningful they're often undercut by

C) Dialogue. I think the lines here are if anything a Flanderized variant of stereotypical MCU dialogue. Every other line is a joke, a pun, or a reference to something else (which is usually better). The annoying part with this is, as usual, that it's not confined to one character. Pretty much everyone does it, with the few exceptions being sweet relief. I've never been so glad Wolverine doesn't talk much in a work.

Probably the thing that kept me going besides just liking the gameplay loop is that Firaxis seemed to have hit on a few points on storytelling that basically seem like kind of easy/cheap ways to generate interest in a plot. This aspect is probably more interesting than anything about the game really for me.

They used two things to basically punch up the story in a way that works due to the MCU formula being pretty well established

A) Demonic/mental corruption in general. You liked that character? Now they're evil. Pretty quick way to just gut punch you repeatedly. This is basically like the MCU nostalgia thing where they ask you to get excited because you recognize the character. Here it's like that but its just different enough that it works harder for a short period because they are evil and wrong. But even as it works it also feels cheap bc the game doesn't really explain how the corruption works or how it really interacts with the character's thought processes. So it's just "you're evil now" energies. And once characters are freed from corruption the game doesn't do a good job of getting into the heads of these characters and what it all means after that either so...feels cheap. It's a tool that comes in, does things for the plot, leaves when it's needed, and has no real weight in game after.

B) You lose a lot. Even though the plot is bad it makes you get pissed and thus invested bc your team is getting their asses kicked so bad. There are multiple points in the story that look like you're going to get a win but then the game says "aha! That was the plan the villains had all along! You have just made them more powerful."

At points this happens in multiple story missions back to back,. But even as it works it also feels cheap partially bc your team often has no way to anticipate or learn from these occasions. It just feels like they lost because the story wanted them to lose.

That aspect of things is actually kind of interesting to me because I wouldn't have thought about either of those things in a direct storytelling perspective until this game.

But it's still just an okay game overall.