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Story Mash-Up! (whatcha reading/watching/playing/etc.)

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Xarnac The Conqueror's picture
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Rewatched the Force Awakens and it was pretty bad. The middle of the film doesn't work and Rey is a Mary Sue like Anakin in Episode 1. And that's not even getting into the copy/paste job they did with the plot.

 

Also saw 10 Cloverfield Lane, for some reason, and was pleasantly surprised. It's actually watchable unlike the original Cloverfield.

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Tailin Sero wrote:

I summoned Hircine today!

I failed. :(

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Xarnac The Conqueror wrote:

Rewatched the Force Awakens and it was pretty bad. The middle of the film doesn't work and Rey is a Mary Sue like Anakin in Episode 1. And that's not even getting into the copy/paste job they did with the plot.

Yeah, the copy pasta is real with that one. People would roast dissenting opinions such as mine around the time of release, though. I did like a few things (the Stormtrooper's story, for example)  but as a whole I was disappointed by the lack of artistic license taken by the new director and co. I feel like we might of talked about this before, Xarnac. Maybe over Steam or somethin.

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I've been a lurker on here for awhile but figured this would be a good time to join the community.

Reading: The Infernal City for like the tenth time or so. There is just something about these novels that pull me back to them time and time again.

Watching: I just finished the Seven Deadly Sins, and just started watching through Log Horizon.

Playing: Elite:Dangerous, Halo 5, and why Skyrim of course!

cpt.Od's picture
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Welcome aboard. You joined at a lull, so there isn't much new to discuss, but you came to the right place.

xoAutumn's picture
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Yeah I've been hanging around here since like 2012/13 but figured hey why not be a little vocal sometimes.

Xarnac The Conqueror's picture
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Fiore1300 wrote:

Xarnac The Conqueror wrote:

Rewatched the Force Awakens and it was pretty bad. The middle of the film doesn't work and Rey is a Mary Sue like Anakin in Episode 1. And that's not even getting into the copy/paste job they did with the plot.

Yeah, the copy pasta is real with that one. People would roast dissenting opinions such as mine around the time of release, though. I did like a few things (the Stormtrooper's story, for example)  but as a whole I was disappointed by the lack of artistic license taken by the new director and co. I feel like we might of talked about this before, Xarnac. Maybe over Steam or somethin.

Probably. Havne't seen you on Steam in a while.

 

All The Way, the HBO LBJ movie was great. Bryan Cranston did his thing better than I've ever seen.

Going to go see The Nice Guys this week. Looks decent.

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I'm rewriting Antares' Tribunal Quest, to take advantage of the English language. I like his mod, but his own translation wasn't so hot.

The End of Times cult is now the Mysterium Xarxes, and there are more commas.

I'm also working on an ancient Velothi hospice. The concept is to serve as a derelict skyport, which the player can purchase from the Temple, or as a monastery of the Morag Tong. I was inspired by the architecture of Tribunal's Old Mournhold, which exhibits First Era construction in Resdayn. The ancients reeled in gigantic conch shells as well, but the hospice won't feature them, as its too far from the coast, and gaslight transport of the shells would have been a logistical nightmare.

 

Atreides Ebon-Arm in dream before the goddess, Cavern of the Incarnate:

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After a couple beers with the homes, I went to see Jason Bourne. Too bad my social anxiety kicked in, because the first half hour was a blast.

Reading Aleksandr Dugin's The 4th Political Theory.

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LiquidHurlant wrote:
snip

I haven't gone to see Jason Bourne. I saw a few reviews that were like "meh" so I figured I'd watch it once it came to DVD. Did like the original Bourne movies though. Glad you had some fun watching it.

I did see Suicide Squad but that was "meh." The characters were great but criminally underutilized. I'm okay with the simple storyline, but I expected there to be a lot more clever banter. Frankly the funniest moments were all spoiled in the trailers, so there ended up being too few laughs from this film. The fights tended to be bad as well. Also the backstory segments for all the characters at the beginning was unnecessary. So yeah, lots of people failed on this one, but the actors did a superb job.

Currently reading:

In Praise of Forgetting: Historical Memory and its Ironies by David Rieff

The Rotinonshonni: A Traditional Iroquoian History Through the Eyes of Teharonhia:wako and Sawiskera by Brian Rice.

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Yeah, Suicide Squad should have been character chemistry, easy on the plot and hold the backstory. I didn't want an anti-hero drama, just crazy shit. Ah well.

For Bourne, I was expecting the Asset to be scion of project Outcome, and more reference to Legacy. I'd definitely recommend a rent.

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I like all the bits where the Joker comes and rescues Harly. So ruthlessly efficient. A hero would need an entire film for it, Joker does it as an intermezzo, twice!

Not really into the whole DC universe but its female villains seem to be rather stereotypical. They're all angels that became devils one way or another. I guess its a step up from damsel in distress. Bah.

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I started playing Spelunky. Fun game, but I hate how the dungeon restarts from the beginning every time I die!

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I have to ask, those of you who have been reading/watching, in countries outside the US, who do major news outlets say staged the putsch in Turkey? Erdogan himself or the CIA? Americans reported Erdogan staged the coup against his own regime.

 

 

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If you haven't watched Stranger Things yet, you should go watch it.

Proweler wrote:

Not really into the whole DC universe but its female villains seem to be rather stereotypical. They're all angels that became devils one way or another. I guess its a step up from damsel in distress. Bah.

Talia seems like abit of an inversion of that.

The Gotham tv series does a decent job of subverting that trope as well (Catwoman, Poison Ivy, etc).

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Was just watching Extra Credit's video about dialogue animation systems, which talked about how such systems work and where Andromeda's system might have failed.

Just made me wonder if Bethesda is up to the task at creating such a robust system on a probable new engine (if that's how we interpret Todd Howard's comments on waiting for new technology).

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Drifting after having finished Andromeda three days ago. It's a damned shame that game is what it is. Since, I've been dabbling in another playthrough of Assassin's Creed: Rogue, as well as some Destiny.

After my life having been lit up so beautifully by Netflix's Marco Polo only to be utterly devastated to learn that it won't be renewed further, I've returned to Star Trek TNG to soothe the ache. I've also taken up 'Alo 'Alo!, a British sitcom set in German-occupied France during WW2.

I've been extremely noncommittal in my reading of The Norse Myths (Kevin-Crossley Holland.) I've more frequently been reading games-related articles, like the differing views by the creators of The Witcher and Metro in regards to having their books adapted into games.

And in an instance of kenosis, I've put a ridiculous amount of effort in drawing both Luigi and Helga Pataki in Saiyan Armor. I don't like to draw, nor am I good at it.

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I just got back from watching Colossal.

Holy crap. Probably the best movie I've seen so far this year. And I can't say anything about it, because that would spoil it.

See it if you get the chance. Its not in a whole lot of theaters.

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Fiore1300 wrote:

Was just watching Extra Credit's video about dialogue animation systems, which talked about how such systems work and where Andromeda's system might have failed.

Just made me wonder if Bethesda is up to the task at creating such a robust system on a probable new engine (if that's how we interpret Todd Howard's comments on waiting for new technology).

If that was preDX12 (so 2015), he was probably referring to that. If not, well, I don't know, "tech" could just be code for what trend they can ride next.

I think BGS have issues of another kind, coming down the pike, which they could ride out on torrents of praise, but present something to consider. The open rpg has definably entered the post-Witcher age; while Tamriel had managed to ride the viking and lotr crazes, BGS won't always get so lucky. A sandbox needs narrative, now. Narrative needs good lore (not talking speculative metababble) and convincing characters.

Their games amount to hiking some pretty landscapes, some less so, or unskeptically epic-questing for the macguffin, while a cast of manikins spectate. I don't mean characters are emotionally shallow, emotion isn't the only status humans communicate, I mean they have no role but to beg our capricious will.

This was ok, but Witcher 3 did the narrative and open world to mass and critical praise, enshrining an obscure, Slavic fairytale world as an industry leader of above BGS & Bioware's own responses (F4, ME4). BGS need to return to Morrowind's canon more than ever. 

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LiquidHurlant wrote:

Snip 

Your response made me think of this video, which I listened to while cleaning my bathroom today. The author speaks to the weak narrative of Skyrim; especially in the sense that the narrative that Bethesda went with clashes terribly with the kind of game that Skyrim (and other TES games) excel at being.

I think you're right, and the Witcher is really the new standard in a lot of ways. Its not a "can-this-open-world-rpg be as good as Skyrim/The Elder Scrolls?" anymore. The Extended Edition almost felt like a old champion coming back out on the field with all his characteristic swagger, yet being outclassed by the present generation you feel a little embarrassed on his behalf. But that's a little too harsh. I guess I'm still pissed about it.

I don't think I've ever been so anxious about the potential direction of a series as I have been about the Elder Scrolls over the past few years. 

Speaking of narrative and Morrowind, I have been browsing the Tamriel Rebuilt forums lately, and it kind of occurred to me that the TR team doesn't seem to be thinking much about developing compelling characters or narratives all that much. While I understand they're more focused on just getting the interiors and exteriors together at the present moment, characters and story often shapes those very things. I think they're neglecting this pretty vital aspect but I myself have really neglected to tell them so.

 

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I don't know what TR's planning internally, but what you're seeing is probably owning to their very small team.

[snip]

As far as Skyrim's story, I think he's right on.

So I watched that and his F4 vid. I thought New Vegas, regardless of what F3 hinted for the future, sealed the Fallout story for me. NV resonated like a 21 gun salute, like a hero's farewell, and I never played Fallout before F3. Its a problem for me, because all BGS have really done is exhume the corpse Obsidian laid to rest. This creative deadness burns through everything I've seen of F4.

Maybe BGS have thought about this. Maybe its time for that third IP they've hinted about. I think a new IP would be smart sooner, rather than later. Tamriel and Fallout could use a break; a little distance could be very good for them creatively... but what do I know?

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https://youtu.be/CpSmW_wTaPM

Fucking antifa, mommies dropped them off a little too far from school. This is gold, though.

Xarnac The Conqueror's picture
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Anybody else watching American Gods?

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LiquidHurlant wrote:

https://youtu.be/CpSmW_wTaPM

I don't see the entertainment value. Its just one asshole provoking another group of assholes and everyone acting like they're punks in high school. I'm not even sure where the guy gets info that these are antifa or neo nazis or the local gun club or anthing else. Just a bunch of pointless dick swinging.

Xarnac The Conqueror wrote:

Anybody else watching American Gods?

I've never read the book, despite the recommendations that have come my way. I guess its now at the top of my reading list.

EDIT

So I was browsing Youtube trying to peg down music for a Bosmer project I've been working on. My first idea was to go straight up ocarina, pan flute, harp, etc., because Valenwood is basically a province of forest spirits so why not go the classic satyr & nymph route.

What in the world did I discover.

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Xarnac The Conqueror wrote:

Anybody else watching American Gods?

 

Watched it. Interesting but I'm not hooked yet. I mostly watched it to see Ian McShane again because I miss Al Swearengen. By the way, I saw a report that the Deadwood script had been delivered to HBO and that David Milch might work on True Detective season 3. Excited for that. 

 

I havent read the Gaiman original but I've been recommended it so many times. 

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I'd rather have the rumored HBO's Rome movie, than Deadwood. Deadwood was OK, but I found it a bit overrated. Ian McShane is always awesome however. It was a McShame he was wasted in the" Jumped The Shark" season of GOT last year.

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Thoughts on the Star Trek: Discovery trailer? My eyes immediately glazed over once it said it's a prequel, and it takes some artistic liberties with the Klingons, but it looks to have good production value and I really like Michelle Yeoh. I'm pissed CBS is locking it behind their new streaming service, but new Star Trek will compel a lot of people to buy in.

I hope it's good :(

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Just finished Achieving Our Country by Richard Rorty, which was a solid read. Currently going through Dialectic of Enlightenment by Max Horkheimer and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, along with lots of other stuff for school. Also picking through Jacques Ellul's Propaganda, which gives some good insight into the current administration in the US.

Currently looking for another good TV Series to get into. Watched Legion and 11.22.63, which were both fantastic. Also kept up with 12 Monkeys and The Man in the High Castle and Doctor Who.

Was abit disappointed with Guardians of the Galaxy 2.

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Just gone through Debt: The First 5000 Years and The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics. Very enlightening and actually quite useful when dealing with management types. Do make sure you get that exact subtitle. There is another one by the same which is not up to scratch.

I'd like to watch West World but  its on HBO which is a bit too expensive for my tastes.

I've been playing a little bit of Factorio which  I think shows extreme restraint. This game is addictive.

https://www.factorio.com/download-demo

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Luagar wrote:

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis,

This has been on my to-read-list for seven years. I should stop procrastinating.

Proweler wrote:

The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics

I listened to this a few months back. Its a intriguingly simple theory. Maybe too simple? But very good book none-the-less.

 

I've been listening to a lot of books lately via Audible.

After The Dictator's Handbook, I've listened to Your Deceptive Mind by The Great Courses, Team of Rivals (fucking fantastic history - I cried) by Doris Kerns Goodwin, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and The Plantagenets by Dan Jones.

Currently listening to The Water Kingdom by Philip Ball, and currently reading (after stopping for a few months) the Rotinonshonni  by Brian Rice (this is excellent myth, btw).