Skip navigation
Library

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

1135 replies [Last post]
Luagar's picture
Offline
Joined: 06/28/2010

If the latest God of War were overlayed onto the ES universe it would be the game Skyrim should have been.

Bibliophael's picture
Offline
Joined: 01/03/2011

Fiore1300 wrote:

No I haven't. I don't find much time these days to watch stuff outside my favorite Youtube subscriptions, and since my ISP has begun cracking down on torrenting I now have to strictly budget for such things.

Glad to hear they didn't shrink from making changes. I'm always open to different interpretations. Would you say the changes are overall good or bad?

I'd say the changes are almost all good.

Luagar's picture
Offline
Joined: 06/28/2010

Decided to read through Greg Keyes' The Briar King to see how good his regular novels are. Was fairly disappointed. He seems quite good at writing a scene and putting his story into words, but good lord if he doesn't love himself some tropes (especially likes to abuse the 'character in dire straits gets knocked out and wakes up safe' gag). Every character is a cliche, and every minor antagonist turns out to be puppy-torturing levels of evil. Read 2/3rds, had to skim the last third, not gonna bother with the sequels. Not as bad as Eragon, but not worth reading nonetheless.

k0ru's picture
Offline
Joined: 05/08/2018

Reading: The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking.

Watching: I haven't watched a movie in a while, I find them somewhat boring unless I go with a group of friends to a theatre. Even then, I don't really like most modern movies.

Playing: Oblivion and Doom.

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a3anja/labyrinthe-japanese-game-discovered-on-private-forum

Rema the Truth ost

I also just finished star wars 8, between doing other things, so its been on for about 10 hrs... it gave me strong Santa Claus is Comin to Town vibes.

Luagar wrote:
Decided to read through Greg Keyes' The Briar King to see how good his regular novels are. Was fairly disappointed. [B]He seems quite good at writing a scene and putting his story into words, but good lord if he doesn't love himself some tropes[/b] (especially likes to abuse the 'character in dire straits gets knocked out and wakes up safe' gag). [B]Every character is a cliche, and every minor antagonist turns out to be puppy-torturing levels of evil[/b]. Read 2/3rds, had to skim the last third, not gonna bother with the sequels. Not as bad as Eragon, but not worth reading nonetheless.
That could be why Bethesda chose him to write a story about the one thing everybody who played Oblivion remembers outside the endless slog of gates: an evil sword. Shame they didn't choose Guy Gavriel Kay to shed light on what was going on in Cyrodiil politically during the Oblivion Crisis instead. I think a tie-in novel using all those notes and scenarios BGS told us was there and allegedly had to scrap could have been put to good use by Kay.

Luagar's picture
Offline
Joined: 06/28/2010

Two Sought Adventure wrote:
That could be why Bethesda chose him to write a story about the one thing everybody who played Oblivion remembers outside the endless slog of gates: an evil sword. Shame they didn't choose Guy Gavriel Kay to shed light on what was going on in Cyrodiil politically during the Oblivion Crisis instead. I think a tie-in novel using all those notes and scenarios BGS told us was there and allegedly had to scrap could have been put to good use by Kay.

Perhaps. Haven't read anything by Kay, might have to check him out once I finish my current stack.
Also recently finished A Canticle for Leibowitz. It's essentially Christian sci-fi, which sounds like it would be absolutely terrible, but is actually fantastic. Also recently finished Hillbilly Elegy, which was good and relevant to the current climate in the States, and finally made it to the fourth book in The Belegariad.

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

Canticle was good from what I read, but I put it down like 6 years ago before the timeline jump. I don't remember why. Probably moving, idr. Somebody I was talking to listened to Hillbilly Elegy and met the author at Purdue, I forget who it was, but they recommended it, yeah.

Also, I should add when I say TLJ was Santa Claus is Comin to Town, I mean no disrespect to SCiCtT, whose Christmas Magic was, I recall, more consistent than the Force.

Luagar's picture
Offline
Joined: 06/28/2010

Hillybilly Elegy, while perhaps not the definitive work on the subject, offers an amazing window into the mindset/experience of rural and/or working-class America.
 
I'm one of those heretics who liked TLJ. This seemed a good breakdown of the tension: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJhOpY7bh6s

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

I didn't know or forgot most spoilers, so I probably watched it blinder than most fans, but TLJ had to pull me back in after the prequels and A New Hope 2: https://bethesda.net/community/post/1135731
Will give that review a look at home.

The Santa Claus is Comin to Town vibes are hard to pinpoint... something triggered them, like "nobody believes in Christmas Magic - I mean hope - anymore", old man Luke postpones Christmas/ doesn't join the rebels, the new empire are toony like the Burgomeister, etc. Not like they stole the story beat for beat, but they blundered into it.

Luagar's picture
Offline
Joined: 06/28/2010

It certainly has its weaknesses, but I like the direction it went overall
 
But when you have a movie as successful as Santa Claus is Comin' to Town it just makes sense to plunder it. Surprised nobody thought of it sooner.

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

I'm a little sad the only character I liked was jerkface, Hackerman del Toro. I didn't like him so much as I want to know what else he'll do. But yeah, I don't know if I've seen a darker reboot of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town lol

I think these movies were made 20 years too late, but Lucas never thought Harrison Ford would do another movie, so we got the prequels. Its been so long now, bringing the original crew back was actually a big mistake. At most they should have used Luke to springboard into a brand new adventure right away, kill him off in a battle with Darth Pelagius, then let these new kids alone to do star warsy things.

Even if they hired somebody better than Kathleen Kennedy from Marvel, reuniting everybody and doing something most fans loved was going to be impossible at this point.

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

Love this short, anybody seen it?

ANA: https://youtu.be/fBh5TgmC-tc

baumgartner's picture
Offline
Joined: 12/23/2017

I checked ANA out - really impressive as are the other short videos by the DUST bunch that came up and totally enthralled me. 
This is great stuff, more thoughtful than a lot of the movie and game trailers out there (you too Bethesda and ZeniMax).
Couldn't help but think what Rod Serling would have done with this on Twilight Zone - maybe a logical Robotic AI World where a genetic assembly production line goes amok and creates an attacking horde of emotion driven, illogical, biologically based monsters called humans.
 

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

Anybody else awaiting Insomnia: The Ark?

https://youtu.be/vNbGbR_2IIQ

Fiore1300's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/24/2011

Luagar wrote:

I'm one of those heretics who liked TLJ. This seemed a good breakdown of the tension: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJhOpY7bh6s

Interesting take. I think I agree more with the Wisecrack analysis though. In their video, they point out how the movie in the first two acts builds up towards a significant conclusion that promises to make a clean break from the past, but then in the final act backtracks on every plot point hereto significant in the film.

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

There's a live action Jin-Roh set in a near-future Korea, where the North and South are busy reintegrating. The Red Riding Hoods are opposed to reunification. Apart from the setting, it seems to follow the original story closely.
WB anime remakes beats the hell out of their DC universe.

Luagar's picture
Offline
Joined: 06/28/2010

Fiore1300 wrote:

Interesting take. I think I agree more with the Wisecrack analysis though. In their video, they point out how the movie in the first two acts builds up towards a significant conclusion that promises to make a clean break from the past, but then in the final act backtracks on every plot point hereto significant in the film.

I'll have to check that one out.

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

Luagar wrote:

If the latest God of War were overlayed onto the ES universe it would be the game Skyrim should have been.

https://youtu.be/JflRPkSAH8A - creative lead talks about god of war 4

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

Wiz 8 was the game Oblivion should have been - https://youtu.be/hVCusBUtl_s

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

Fix the Games Media in 3 Steps - https://youtu.be/5NHWfwW2xmg

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

Mike Pondsmith on Cyberpunk 2077, The rent is too damn high! edition - https://youtu.be/Oz9EzByhhWY

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

Wherever I went in Europe I was struck by the persistence of the old original idea that America, and especially the United States, has no reason for existence except as a milch cow for Europe. People there were apparently born with this idea, as they might have been in the days of Columbus and Balboa. I observed it not only in the higher walks of society, but also in the lower. I observed also that Americans do not quite understand this persuasion, which is why I speak of it here. As far as I could see, there was no meanness about it, no spirit of grafting or sponging, or of bilking a rich and easy-going neighbour. It seemed rather to be the simple, natural expression of a sort of proprietary instinct. The general harmony and fitness of things required that America's resources should at all times be at the disposal of Europe for Europe's benefit. Especially it was imperative that when Europe got in any kind of scrape, America's plain duty was to take the brunt of it, and to stand by when the scrape was settled, and clean up the debris at American expense.

I was prepared to find this view prevailing in England, but not so well prepared to find it on the Continent, though undoubtedly I should have been. The two views, however, differed slightly. Ever since Elizabeth's spacious days, the general run of Englishry seem bred to the idea that all peoples, nations and languages should be privileged to keep seeing to it that Britannia is supported in the style to which she has been accustomed; and naturally the United States is expected to come down handsomely whenever the hat is passed. The Continental European's view is more prosaic; he has no notion of doing America any favour by tapping her resources, but merely pockets the proceeds in a matter-of-fact way, and thinks no more about it. The French Government, for example, entered up the American war-loans as a "political debt"; in other words, they were all in the day's doings, and nothing to worry about.

It was this matter of the war-debts that suggested a misapprehension on America's part. Most Americans were of Mr. Coolidge's mind, that "they hired the money, didn't they?" and when they saw that the money was not coming back, they felt that they had been let in, and were pretty warm about it, which was natural. Just as naturally the Europeans, who did not share Mr. Coolidge's view of the situation, were irked at being regarded as dead-beats and swindlers; and the result was a great deal of useless recrimination and bad blood. The Europeans simply did not get Mr. Coolidge's drift, and Americans did not quite understand that a traditional line of thought which had persisted unbroken for four hundred years was something to be reckoned with.

I could not help seeing also that America had unwittingly done a great deal to keep this line of thought going. For a century and a half America has consistently displayed towards Europe, and especially towards England, a great sense of inferiority. Its attitude, both official and social, has been one of ill-bred servility alternating with one of ill-bred truculence. When I thought of Hay, Reid and Page in my own time it seemed to me that Mr. Dooley's remark about our ambassador "going to Buckingham Palace as fast as his hands and knees would carry him" was neither unkind nor uncalled-for. When one looks at the unending effervescence of American snobbery displayed in social matters,—such as court-presentations abroad, and at home the insensate pawing and adulation bestowed upon "distinguished foreigners,"—one can hardly wonder that Americans should be assessed at the valuation they put upon themselves.

Then again, over long periods America has been taking great masses of unacceptable population off Europe's shoulders; partly to satisfy industrialists in search of cheap low-grade labour, and partly from motives of a highly questionable humanitarianism. These immigrants caused great streams of money to flow out of America to the folks at home; and up to 1914, many came only with the intention of going back for the rest of their lives as soon as they had got together enough money for the purpose. The consequent political evils, due to our system of universal suffrage, have been most calamitous; but, aside from that, it is clear that this reckless policy of immigration must have done a great deal to strengthen the conviction that America's only mission in life is that of being a good steady producer for Europe.

 

Thus logic and the course of events in the 'twenties combined their forces to convince me that the well-disposed persons whom I saw hopefully relying on education to bring about world-peace, to achieve some semblance of a civilised society, or to fulfil some other grandiose collective purpose, were leaning on a broken staff. Their hopes were based on an egregious misconception of man's place in nature, of his intellectual and psychical accessibility, of the laws which mainly determine his conduct; and finally, they were based on an enormously erroneous conception of the State's character and function. Such being the case, it appeared to me impossible that these hopes could come to anything but speedy and overwhelming disaster, as they now seem to have done. 

Memoirs of A Superfluous Man, Nock

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

Speaking of Wolfenstein, and I dont know any lore after Return to Castle Wolfenstein, but now that Bethesda have that IP, its time we discuss the overdue Alessian Rebellion fps. Instead of nazees, occultists, and undead we murder Ayleid, occultists, and undead. Instead of BJ, we're muthafukkn Pelinal. The campaign is the Song of Pelinal, the multiplayer we assume the roles of slaves, nords, and Ayleid.

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

https://youtu.be/1ccvscMTZHs

Well, that's sad. Every time somebody suggests games be cinematic makes me want hurl. I guess that's what's what happens when your gameplay is so boring people want longer and more frequent breaks from it. As well as by appealing to the lowest common denominator of gamers.

Fiore1300's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/24/2011

I recently just finished The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick. Really enjoyed it. Also starting to think that High Castle and Do Androids Dream take place in the same universe, with the latter taking place sometime after a nuclear war between the former Axis powers.

I also picked up Rat Queens on a whim after my dentist appointment on Tuesday. Its just okay. The Betty character is fun but everything else is pretty forgettable. 

baumgartner's picture
Offline
Joined: 12/23/2017

Oh yes I do remember the Rat Queens. A couple of years ago I ran across the cover art by Roc Upchurch, loved it and the personalities it positively shouted of the Queens and immediately bought an issue of the graphic novel off of Amazon. Sadly for me the 'in your face' image of the art had a few, fading moments early in the story ... but there you go, ... Terry Pratchett and the witches of Lancre turned out to be more my speed. 

Fiore1300's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/24/2011

I really ought to read Terry Pratchett. Seems like I am missing out.

And I don't know why I didn't mention it, but yesterday I watched Hostiles (2017) with my father. A major theme in the movie was hate, and I think it handled the subject really well. It was really sad, though.

baumgartner's picture
Offline
Joined: 12/23/2017

I think that sharing a movie with your Dad is really good. Enjoy it as much as you can because as time goes by families can drift apart without even realizing it until time, distance and real life makes even a simple act like that difficult or impossible.  

cpt.Od's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/02/2010

Playing Styx: Master of Shadow, a worthy stealth game in an intriguing world.

baumgartner's picture
Offline
Joined: 12/23/2017

Oh yes - STYX - tough game but fun! Kept getting poor Styx caught, skulked about while I analyzed what went wrong - reload - and tried again. But success when the little gobbo won was sweet and now that I'm posting this maybe I'll drop back into my Steam library and play it again.