26 Reply by Tomahawk

(28 replies, posted in Off Topic)

GRIS

DISCLAIMER:
I managed to click "edit" instead of quote for Immortality post, and thus deleted my post about Gris.
This will be more or less the same I wrote a month ago, but with a month to think about the game too.


GRIS is a french 2D platform-puzzle game. But don't let that premise fool you.
Sure, at its core, it *is* a 2D platformer and puzzle game, but it's also a journey through colour, sound and music. It's hard to really write anything about this game, other than it's a 3-4 hour voyage that left me crying tears of joy in the end. Simply because of it's absolute beauty. It's not a hard game at all. I got stuck a few places, but not for longer than I'd get aggravated by, and mostly because I didn't pay enough attention, and had to backtrack a few places.

The premise is pretty straightforwad. Gris, a girl-type-almost-person-thing loses her voice, and colour. You have to venture into the world to restore order, which is represented in sound and colour. The style is an almost hand-drawn/painted style, very water color-y type, and it absolutely works. I think the game is stronger because of its style. As you get further, you access new "powers" that will help you progress, and ultimately, restore balance.

Gris is an absolute masterpiece at what it does. It may not be the greatest platformer, or puzzler, for that matter, but as it's only 3-4 hours long, that never bothered me. Instead, I was in constant awe of what the game did: bedazzle me.

Should you play this game?
Yes.


Now, moving forward, that's 5 games completed. In a longer time frame than anticipated, yes, but I've had other stuff to do as well.
Such as play the, I guess infamous "Hogwart's Legacy". And while it isn't a bad game at all, I quit after a few hours because there are other games in that genre that does everything HL does, but better. I'm also not that interested in the Harry Potter universe to care enough about the game. I also have absolutely no stance on the Rowling controversy, for what it's worth.

As for my next game, that's also what's been stopping me going forward. I don't know which one to pick. There's a bunch of Final Fantasy games, but I can't play all of them at once. Certainly not the Pixel Remasters, because they're all near identical in terms of art.
But we'll see. My next post shouldn't be too far away, and it will be whatever I choose to complete next.

-Tom out.

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27 Reply by Tomahawk

(28 replies, posted in Off Topic)

IMMORTALITY

This wasn't even in my backlog. But after enough recommendations, I decided I had to play this one. I purchased it for my brother, as I was going to his place for the weekend, and although horirble weather stopped those plans dead in their tracks, there's always Discord and screen sharing.
We started it on Saturday, and completed it an hour or so ago.

I have.. Words about this game. Because holy hell.

IMMORTALITY is the third game by Sam Barlow, following critically acclaimed games "Her Story" from 2015, and "Telling Lies" from 2019.

They can't be called games in the traditional sense. As in, they're more akin to watching video clips and piecing together the story yourself. As such, they're more like point and click games than anything else.

However, The premise of IMMORTALITY, is "What happened to Marissa Marcel?".
In 1968, Arthur Fischer(totally not Alfred Hitchcock) made what was supposed to be his magnum opus, a movie called "Ambrosio", about a Spanish priest in 1500s Madrid, and a mysterious young lady played by Marissa Marcel. Her first ever role, supposed to be her big break. It's a movie about sin, redemption and desire.
For some mysterious reason the movie is never released. 

One year later, the same actress is writing another moview with a first time director; John Durick. "Minsky" is a movie about a mysterious murder of the titular character Minsky, a renowned painter in the late 1960s New York.
This movie as well, is never released.

Then, in 1999, The movie "Two of Everything" is being produced and directed by John Durick and Marissa Marcel.

Nobody knows what happened in the 30 years she went missing, why she suddenly comes back, why she hasn't aged a day, or.. what happened to her.

All we have to go by, are about 200 raw files from rehearsals and shoots. And we have to watch, and scrub through to reveal the mystery.


And oh my what a ride it was. 10-12 hours of what started out as pure voyeurism(in some part the sexual way, I guess, there are plenty of "adult" scenes), grew towards intrigue and pure, raw interest as we tried to figure out what the actual fuck was going on in this enchanting game.

It's hard to say much more than that without stepping into spoiler city, but there is much more to this game than meets the eye. The discovery of the title's namesake, and what happened to Marissa Marcel is but the surface, and it's a game I can't recommend enough.

A solid 10/10, there.

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28 Reply by Tomahawk

(28 replies, posted in Off Topic)

MILKMAID OF THE MILKY WAY


Surprise!

As it turns out, I don't have a third Final Fantasy game in a row in me right now. Roughly 30 hours is what it takes for me to need to play something else for a little while. Will get back into it, but thankfully, there's other games in my list.

So, starting on this little gem from 2017.
Milkmade of the Milky Way is a point and click adventure game. It's pixel art reminiscent of the 80s, done very beautifully.

You're Ruth. A milk maid in a Norwegian fjord in the 1920's. Ruth lives in a cottage up in the mountains, with her cows, making cheese and butter for a living, selling it to the townspeople, through her friend Erlend, who hikes to her home on his horse.
One Night there's a terrible storm, and a rock fell from the sky...

And that's all the information I could give without spoiling this absolute gem of a game. It's roughly 2 hours long, depending on how stuck you get, but like most point and click games, it gives you just enough information to solve all the puzzles, given you pay attention.
The story is short and sweet, but heartfelt and beautiful. The soundtrack is absolutely mesmerizing, and the mood is perfect.

If you've a couple of hours to spare, definitely check this game out!

I can' really give this game a score, and I don't think it's something I can keep doing either. I'm not a video game reviewer.
It's very hard to justify why one game is given a 5, and another a 6, or an 8. Especially considering how vastly different some of these games are.
Instead, I'll stick to the latter part:

should you play it?
That's a hard yes. If you like puzzles, gorgeous art direction, and a solid soundtrack, this game is definitely for you. If not, play it anyway. It's nice.

3 games down, 19 to go.

Next up? Not sure yet, something short and sweet.

-thanks for reading this far:

I like that you keep reading these, and I don't want to seem self-indulgent. I'm only writing these things because I like to write and share my thoughts, and I don't have another outlet to do this where I feel comfortable doing so.
So, seriously, thanks.

(I like you.)

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29 Reply by Tomahawk

(28 replies, posted in Off Topic)

FINAL FANTASY II PIXEL REMASTER

Right. It's been a few weeks. In some part because I took a week long vacation, in some part that my brother got me absolutely hooked onHades (absolutely brilliant game) again, but I've now completed the somewhat infamous sequel to Final Fantasy.

FF2 starts of very different to the first one. For starters, there's an actual story. The evil emperor is laying down the law by burning cities, and killing folks. You start the game as Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon, four very fresh orphans that go up agains the imperial guard. You lose the fight, and Leon goes missing. FOR THE ENTIRE GAME, I MIGHT ADD. What's interesting here is that the story of rebellion is the core of the entire game, and you recruit people from all over the "world", making acquaintances as you go, with several party members coming and going throughout the story. An interesting take.

What differs this game from the previous, is the leveling system, or rather, the lack thereof. There are no traditional levels. Instead, it's one of those systems that level up your feats and skill as you go. Taking damage? Your HP levels will go up slowly. Hitting hard? Your skill with your current weapon will improve. Using magic to heal or kill? You get the idea. It's leveling up characters based on how you use them, and unlike the first game, you're free to use each character how you want to.  This means more flexibility, and that every character can be the warrior, the mage, the thief etc. All at the same time, depending on how long you want to keep playing the game for.

There has always been some controversy about this being the least liked FF game. Not the most haded, mind you, that'd be FFXIII, and believe me, we'll get to that in a few months, but least liked, definitely.
I don't see it.
FFII is improving so much on the original title. Spells now level up as you use them, instead of being based on your level. You can use spells as much as you like, assuming you have magic points enough to do so. You can change equipment mid-battle, if something isn't working out. You can change the row of the characters(back row means less offensive, but more defensive. Great for mages, for instance), not to mention the mere STACK of spells at your disposal this time around. Sure, you have a set amount you can assign to a character, but it's not a problem.

What I can understand being an issue is the keyword system. See, to progress the story, it's almost like the game is forcing you to pay attention. I'm sure the game would be a lot longer had I not used a guide. Older games like this didn't actively show you where to go all the time, and if you left it for a week without playing, good flippin' luck remembering where you were headed. FFII solves this, while at the same time introducing a nuisance. The keyword system means that some NPC's in the game have a more complex dialogue option that "print: hello world". Instead you can ask them about words you've learned, learn new words, and give them key items. Asking them about the word will usually give some hints as to where you're going next. Yes, it's actually quite helpful if you tend to forget things, but it also complicates things.

Double-edged sword, I suppose.

In any case, back to the story. Ultimately, as is tradition, we defeat the emperor. After about 15 hours of chasing him around, killing his henchmen/henchmonsters etc and traversing the entire world. He's of course upset by this, as one tends to be, but dies nonetheless. We return to the main hub, being a castle with a princess and her knight, and LO AND BEHOLD. A new damn emperor just claimed the throne. And wants to be even more evil than the emperor. Er, the old emperor, that is.

Remember that guy that disappeared for the entire game? You guessed it. Leon is back, with a ...vengeance? There was no implications of that happening, no foreshadowing. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, Leon was pretty much forgotten within the first 2 hours of the game. Sure, he's Maria's brother, and we were also looking for him whilst defeating the empire, but no mention. Nothing. And now he decides to be the emperor.

Fine. We get to, and through, another dungeon to get to him, and he's edgy as can be. This was the late 80s, mind, so I suppose it makes sense. Then, after he taunts our heroes for a little while, a rift opens, and guess who's back from literal Hell? Old emperor. naturally. He laughs in the face of Leon for trying to be edgy, and kicks us all out of the dungeon.
When confronted with what he had done, Leon said nothing. When asked if he would join in another attempt at vanquishing the aforemention emperor, all Leon could muster was "Okay". OKAY.

Okay, the story isn't great. It's much better than FFI, yes, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

All in all, I spent 17,3 hours on this game. Missed 5 achievements. Won't be getting those. Too much of a hassle. Howlongtobeat said 24 hours to beat, and I saved almost 7. In total, that's 12 hours off the 507 hour forecast. Good show.

Scoring time.

So, for Final Fantasy II Pixel remaster, I would give a score of 6/10. Is it bad? no. Is it great? No. But I had fun, and it did improve enough over the original to keep me going. I was considering giving it a 5, but then I'd have to go back and lower the previous one, which I can't do.

should you play it?
Hard to say. I'd say the first title is actually more worth it. For what it is, and if you wanted to go back and see how the series started. FFI is a little over 12 hours, and if you don't like the old 2D style, or the limitations, FFI can be easier to take in. The systems in II are harder to understand, and while the story is better, there's a bunch of easy-to-miss content, and complicated systems that may, or may not, throw you off.
As for the music, it's SO much better than the original. A lot more tracks, but also made with a lot more "love".


2 Games down, 20 to go.

Next up, you probably guessed it; FINAL FANTASY III.

-Tom out. Again.

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30 Topic by Tomahawk

(28 replies, posted in Off Topic)

TLDR: I have stuff to say about games I should've completed earlier and/or wanted to play again. Consider this a blog post. Comment, read if you will.



In early December 2022, I noticed how my ratio of playing games vs buying them was much more in camp "buy" than in camp "play". Completely unrelated I came across this dude on youtube with the same problem, who promptly made a spreadsheet with his unplayed games. He made a list of games that he wanted to finally get around to, and used howlongtobeat.com to figure out how long it'd take him.

I immediately thought I should do the same.

But then I didn't.

For Christmas, I got 4 more games from my Steam wishlist; Final Fantasy 1, 2, 3 and 6 Pixel Remasters.

That settled it. I had to play them. For more reasons than having not completed most of them, but also because my Steam library alone is 262 games, most I haven't even played, as they've been from the odd Humble Bundle, crazy sales, gifts etc. Games that are "nice to have if you need to play them", in the multiplayer category, and games that are "games you should have played" in the single player category.
As such, I figured enough is enough.

I went ahead and made my own spreadsheet. I used howlongtobeat.com to figure out play times, vs completion times(100% completion), and combined it all to find out a complete play of all the games would take me 507 hours of playtime. 1140 hours of completion time.
Alright. I can do that. Aiming for the prior, obviously, and if I play 2 hours per day, I'd have that done by sometime in June. Faster, obviously, if I play more hours per day.

The first title seemed natural. Final Fantasy I. Never did complete that game. I first played it in the EU version of Final Fantasy Origins, a remastered version of the NES classic for PSOne, bundled with FFII. It was redone graphics, had a bestiary, cinematics, and a remastered soundtrack. All the makings of a perfect experience for me at the time. I even got Final Fantasy Anthology at the same time, to play through FFIV and FFV too. Hell, at the time the shop even had FFVI bundled with a demo for FFX, with the same treatment as the former 4 games.

Never did complete the first 2. IV I completed back then. Must've been almost 20 years ago now. V sat a little different, and I was more tempted by VI, which to this date is tied with VII as being my favorite FF game. III Never came in any bundle. It was released in Japan only at the time of release, and never made a europe/NA release, until a 2006 Nintendo DS, 3D remake came around. At the time, I didn't own a DS, and I never got around to playing it either.

Cut to:

January 4th, 2023.


FINAL FANTASY I PIXEL REMASTER

Let's do this.

Right off the bat, I know Final Fantasy. The mechanics are always more or less the same. Fire, Ice, Lightning, etc. Potions to heal, phoenix down to revive, ether to refill magic points. Bla bla bla. All the same. The thing that differentiates the titles are the stories, settings and plots. The first games, albeit barebones compared to some later titles, is no different. Except, of course, that it is. You start the game with a simple prelude; The world is in peril. Something has happened to the governing crystals. Wind, Fire, Ice and Air, respectively. They've gone out, so to speak. So it falls to you, the four heroes of light to restore balance etc. Classic stuff. Your heroes in this first outing are nameless. You can name them, or you can select 4 of 8 or so premade names. I did the latter, and although I've completed the game, I can only remember my main damage dealer Andii.
In this title, our heroes are mute, dumb, silent protagonists, whatever you want to call it. They never utter a word, and being a Legend of Zelda fan, I can respect that. The story starts. You visit a town, and a castle, to learn that the swordsman Garland has betrayed the kingdom and kidnapped the princess. You, being the heroes, are tasked to deal with it. You jump to the overworld to grind some levels, and immediately I start noticing the similarities with the source material that inspired these games; Dungeons & Dragons. There are levels, of course, but having set the classes before playing, namely a warrior, a thief, a white mage(healer, support) and a red mage(offensive AND defensive magic), they have x amount of uses for each magic levels. Healing is level 1, but healing+ (cure, cura, respecticely) is a level 2 spell, and I have less uses before I need to rest. Ok, gotcha. Different from the later series, where you have hit points and magic points.  But magic isn't that important in this game. Only versus a few foes, and if you're not using a guide/walkthrough, you'll soon find out which ones, as physical attacks do no damage. Fair game.
So, we set out to defeat Garland. Job's done. Garland disappears, you return the princess, all is well. Then, it's assumed, as you are the heroes of light, you will also, since you posess some orbs, heal the aforementioned crystals. Fine. Let's do that. We have to visit 4 shrines, kill 4 fiends that protect the corruption, and then return to finish the job against the big bad behind the curtain. No problem, I got my guide. I also pay attention to Steam Achievements, as according to howlongtobeat.com, FFI is about 17 hours to beat, 20ish to complete. Fine. We slay the 4 fiends. We return triumphant. We actiave the main shrine, only to be sent 2000 years into the past, where Garland(SHOCK AND AWE) is waiting for us. He survived our first fight, back at xp level, what, 10? and now that we're all level 50(4 heroes at level 50 achievement? CHECK) we meet again. He explains, like you do, that when we beat him, he went back in time 2000 years to heal and improve, and send 4 fiends to the future to ruin the world. We beat him, which makes sense. As 2000 years from now, he'll still be alive to go back. It's a time loop. The heroes never existed. But they did. And they didn't. It's nice.
For 1987, this is pretty badass. Starting the Final Fantasy franchise. The seeds have been planted. There's Tiamat, Garland, Bahamut, Fire, potions, phoenix downs, etc. The foundations have been laid.

All in all, I spent 12,5 hours on the game. Missed 4 achievements. Might go back later. howlongtobeat said 17 hours. So I've already saved 5 hours of the total 507 hours. Nice. Job well done.

So. Let's say I have to give every game I play a score. Scores are hard to do. Do you do 10, 6, 100 as the top? Who's to say. Let's say I switch it up. I give it a base score out of 10, because it's a nice, round number, and a little "should you play it" at the end.

So, for Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster, I would give a score of 5/10. Is it bad? no. Is it great? No. But I had fun nonetheless.

Should you play it?
Different beast altogether with this title. It's not a long game. It's not a hard game(unlike the original, which is much harder), and it sets the bar for future titles in the series. I say YES. Play this game. It won't take you long. With a walkthrough(of which there are many, but I recommend "lylat" on Steam's walkthrough. Not spoilery, will take you through all of it, no bullshit.
And, not to forget, although the original doesn't have many different music tracks, what it does have, is downright amazing stuff.



1 game down, 21 to go.

Will post again after the next game, which, unsurprisingly is Final Fantasy II.



For educational purposes, here's a list of all the games I plan to play, in no particular order. Green means completed, Yellow means started.

Final Fantasy I
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Final Fantasy XIII-3
GRIS
Milkmaid of the Milky Way
Outer Wilds
A Plague Tale - Innocence
The Legend of Zelda - Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda - Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda - A Link Between Worlds
Sable
To the Moon
Undertale
The Ascent
Day of the Tentacle
The Secret of Monkey Island
Monkey Island 2 - LeChucks Revenge
The Curse of Monkey Island
Escape from monkey Island
Tales of Monkey Island
Return to Monkey Island
Röki
Chrono Trigger
IMMORTALITY
Ratchet and Clank - Rift Apart
Life is Strange
Life is Strange - Before the Storm


EDIT:
If you're finding yourself re-reading this topic and noting there's more games on the list than the last time you read it; there is.
Initially this list was compiled of Steam games I didn't get around to, or wanted to play again, but that list expanded due to several reasons, like my brother recommending me games that happened to be on PS+, or games I own on Nintendo Consoles that I didn't get around to.
It's a work in progress, and sure to keep growing, but as long as my I keep my focus on playing older titles rather than new, there shouldn't be any problems.
As of May 20th 2023, I've completed 8 more titles than when I set out, and some of them were long. Jedi Survivor and Tears of the Kingdom were always in the time equation, as well as Final Fantasy 16. But apart from those(unless Rockstar decides to release GTA6 this year), I'm still well on schedule.

As you were.

-Tom out.

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31 Reply by Tomahawk

(5 replies, posted in Creations)

I've started.
Working one track 4 now, which is giving me cramps, but that's how it https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/w5Xsg3wXMmbbuTgY9
Posting to soundcloud, so bookmark this smile

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32 Reply by Tomahawk

(5 replies, posted in Creations)

Fuck it.
I'm in.
But you probably have to remind me.

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33 Reply by Tomahawk

(1,649 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Boter wrote:

Tom Scott did a collaboration with Beardyman (if you're unfamiliar with him, but he looks familiar, he's Jay Foreman's brother, but to a lot of people Jay Foreman is Beardyman's brother).

I was in awe through the whole process and I've listened to the resulting track roughly five times a day the past couple days since this came out.


Holy crap, that was very inspirational!

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34 Reply by Tomahawk

(22 replies, posted in Off Topic)

«But fear is their greatest ally". Mark Hamill always complained about the damn dialogue xD

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35 Reply by Tomahawk

(22 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I'm surprised at how good the synthetic voice was.
The reason it fell flat for me, was the audio mix. They didn't QUITE manage to tie Luke's dialogue to the scene, which made it sound a bit like adr. It's almost there, but just not.

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36 Reply by Tomahawk

(313 replies, posted in Coronaviral Activities)

This... doesn't count as Karaoke.
I haven't sung for over a year. And while it's not because of some traumatic experience or anything, the band broke up in January 2021. Too much creative differences, crammed in a quintet that managed to get two songs out there, and then couldn't agree on a third one, let alone an album. Very happy we turned down an album deal
Although said deal was turned down for different reasons. In that it was expensive as fuck for us too, and required a lot of traveling on our end, which, with kids, is difficult, and when you're not creating anything new for almost a year... we quit.
It's fine. I'm working on something new, but it's gonna take time.

In any case, sort of segwaying back to Karaoke, and that of course I want all the attention I can get because, I'm vain, I called everyone up, and asked if they wanted to do one final hurrah, as it were, as the rehearsal space/demo studio is getting torned down, and to my surprise they all said no.

I jest of course, we're doing a live thing on March 19th, on facebook, from said rehearsal space. It's on facebook, and I'm not gonna put a link, because nah.

We're called Fold Decay, and I'd love to see any of you there before we call it quits for good.

(Yes, there will be covers, so some form of karaoke, and yes, I'll be singing because people call me a vocalist)

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37 Reply by Tomahawk

(58 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Ghost of Sushima.
Late to the party, but y'know. I like it. It's sort of like dark souls, in that the combat wants you to be patient, and weigh out your next move, but there's no stamina management, so you don't get punished for missing a beat. Instead, you may just get sliced. But at least it's not because your character is exhausted all the fucking time.

I don't like Dark Souls, ok?

Although, I'm tempted to buy Elden Ring now. Fucking hype.

I'll finish Sushima, and see if the hype has gone away.

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38 Reply by Tomahawk

(17 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I got into Whisky(scotch) this year, and so far, it's Single Malt all the way. currently my favorite is Macallan 12 Year Double cask. So tasty I could probably identify the exact tree the casket came from by licking the tree.

Also, got myself a Glenfiddich Reserve cask. Loving it on the rocks!

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39 Reply by Tomahawk

(44 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I'm 35 now. 36 in a week.
I still don't feel like an adult, even though the adults told me I would become one at a given time.
I have a fiancee now, and a 15 year old son living with me. I'm a millenial. I'm newly debt-free, bought my first car less than a week ago, and am currently working my way through the drivers license, so I can legally drive said car.

What's the point of that?
Faking it.
I'm not unlike Teague. I work in retail, and even though I've learned a lot during my adult life, I'm still prone to faking it with other human beings, because goddamnit, I don't really care about them. "Hey, you know what I did last week?" [Innerself:] I don't fucking care. "No, what DID you do last week?"
If something doesn't concern or affect me, it's irrelevant, but I still continue to fill my already-full brain with more, irrelevant information about other people I don't even know.
But, I mean, that's just life, for me.

What I was going to tap onto, was your remarks about social media.
Why is it even a thing? What happened to humanity, that they sit through "stories" on Snapchat, Instagram, facebook and whatnot? Why do they crave to know what literally everyone else is up to, and what does it give them other than an all-knowing state of mind? People bost the most boring and irrelevant shit to those places, and somehow, other people turn up. To encourage or scald, sure, but suddenly everyone has a voice, and about 80% percent of those think their opinions matter too. "FUCK THIS" "FUCK THAT".. To which my reply is usually "FUCK YOU", but at least I keep it to myself, as I don't think it relevant.

Social media is euphoria. The ability of being heard other than on some message board. Where YOU, with your ACTUAL NAME may have some recognition. It's like a local newspaper covering your discovery of Jesus in a sweat stain, but people can't get enough. And it's not just the men. But the women, and children too. Suddenly everyone needs to be heard, and everyone needs to jump in on the latest trends(I'm OK with planking, in it being fairly innocent, but what the fuck is licking toilet seats!?), just so others can see they did it?

I'm not saying I'm better. Or, I am saying that. But that's because I managed to realize the errors of my ways a few years ago, and aptly deleted my facebook profile, keeping it strictly to messenger.
Why keep messenger? Read the first paragraph. Because while I'd love to just be anonymous, and use emails for communication, and giving my phone no. to the people I am ok with having it, my point still stands: EVERYONE uses social media. Even teachers, schools, parents, clubs, sporting people. the whole fucking lot. Want to be updated on your son's school? No, they don't do email, it's all on facebook. Want to be notified on the latest crowdfunding for a gift for a teacher or someone of importance in your son's school? GET FACEBOOK OR GET FUCKED, because you don't have it, they KNOW who you are, and that you didn't fucking participate in some platonic, making-appearances sort of bullshit, that you, or your son don't really care about or want to partake in, but if you don't?

I live in a small town. It's fucking hell when you don't. And they live by flock mentality, so you know.
The point is, facebook has already won, and there's not much we can do about it.


Now, don't get me wrong. Not EVERYONE is a problem. People like faldor will share links about stuff I do find interesting, or updates on his novels on Facebook and instagram, and that's not bad.

But maybe that's because he's one of the people I care about.

I don't know. Fuck social media. Until you need to advertise something. Then, ESPECIALLY fuck social media, because Karma I guess.

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40 Reply by Tomahawk

(22 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Alright. It's been almost a year. In that time, I've had time to reflect on Clone Wars, complete Rebels, get on board with The Bad Batch, and watch The Book of Boba Fett.


I stand by all my previous statements about TCW. It's hella good. I'm definitely rewatching it all at later date.
Rebels, is still different. While I did tear up at the right moments in the finale, the finale was still a bit of a cop-out, saving characters that seemed unsaveable. Animation style never got me, but damn there are some very, VERY good bits with returning characters(Although Disney somehow decided to re-dub Palpatine somewhere down the line. Now, usually, I'd be all for Ian McDiarmid voicing Palpatine, but I don't think he dood as good a job as Sam Witwer, and it bugs me out) in there, leaving the widest of grins on my face. I have my favorite characters, and some of them are in this, and I love that. The return of TCW characters are mostly done well, albeit Hondo wasn't his usual self, which made my girlfriend not be entirely on board.

All in all, I'd still recommend Rebels, but don't expect it to reach TCW levels. I think some part of it may be because apart from TCW characters returning, we don't KNOW these characters. Sabine, Kanan, Hera, Zeb, Chopper and Ezra make a good ensemble cast, don't get me wrong, but TCW brought on characters you already knew from before, and you already know the fate of most of them, bringing a more emotional journey to the table. With Rebels, that wasn't really the case. Sure, Leia and Lando do pop by, but it's only for fan service, and doesn't really push the story forwards, in that regard. The ending is a bit on the dividing side, tampering with things not been in SW until suddenly it is, taking the force to new supernatural levels that I didn't really care for. I accept it, but doing so opens much more windows in the rest of the saga that suddenly don't make sense. Make sense? Moving on.

The Bad Batch has no right being that good.
That's right, I said it. The show is set directly, er, actually, during the siege of Mandalore, and opens up with Order 66. Where some, shall we say 'faulty' clones aren't affected by it. From here on, it explores rogue clones trying to cope in a universe that wants them dead, constantly being recognized, and having to bounty hunt for supplies, whilst the Empire is slowly revealing its plan to replace expensive clones, with expendable storm troopers.
It explores some of the darker places of the SW universe, and mostly returns to TCW form, with all voice actors returning(It's clones, so it's mostly just one guy of course, but there's more!), and it looks absolutely stunning. It's like if someone took the clone wars art and animation style, and just hit the HD button. Think back to the transition from PS2 to PS3. Or an SD TV to an HD TV. That's how it FEELS. Obviously TCW was in HD, for the most part, but it honed its style over 7 seasons, and Bad Batch just continued that, epically.


So,
the rancor in the room.

The Book of Boba Fett.
Or, as it should be called: Mandalorian - The Book of Boba Fett.
The show isn't horrible. By no means. But following Mando S2 is no easy task, and while it's amazing to see Temuera Morrison again, in this, he somehow doesn't feel right for the role. It's not that he's old, that he's rusty, he's just not great as Boba anymore.(of course, some may argue he never was, and that he was an after thought snuck into the original trilogy after the Prequels retconned Boba, but, I mean, let it go, right?)
Add to that, that the show is cutting between two timelines that aren't really that far apart, and that Boba doesn't seem to have any other motivation than an Iznogoud complex, and they really should've explored that bit a helluva lot more during the early episodes. Because the first 4 episodes, could have been a season. That's where they should have fleshed out the character, given a proper backstory, and dealt with WHY he wants so desperately to replace Jabba. Instead, we get an old and broken Boba living in the desert, trying to do right by the Tuskens, that's suddenly collecting tribute and protection from the crime lords of Mos Espa. Not to mention he has a Power Rangers biker gang on his side, that, while feels fresh, feels like they belong in a different series.
Then, in episode 5, it takes a turn. Now, SPOILERS(and I can't be fucked hiding it here, I'm gonna assume you either don't care, or have already watched it. It's a Star Wars thread) AHEAD: It's suddenly Mandalorian S3. Not just is it two episodes where Boba makes cameo appearances, it's also the return of Grogu, which suddenly diminishes his departure, because he's back, and it doesn't actually make sense. Don't get me wrong, the episode in question is absolutely beautiful, and has other returning characters gracefully done, but it ruins the fact that his departure was some of the strongest in the series, and also means it's absolutely compulsory to watch this before the ACTUAL season 3 of Mandalorian, which I'm guessing a lot of "casuals" wouldn't know, and the conclusion to Boba Fett, while having it's CLONE WARSIAN moments, doesn't feel like it's earned, or that it builds up to anything else in the future.
Sure, I may be wrong of course, what do I know. But all in all, I've revisited Mando, and I don't really see myself revisiting this anytime soon.


Although, soon..?

Obi-Wan. May. Hyped. Even though it's Ewan McGregor voicing him, and not James Arnold Taylor, but I can't win everything, can I.

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41 Reply by Tomahawk

(8 replies, posted in Creations)

Oh yeah, breaking it down is how you have to do it to keep your sanity. I'd volunteer a few years ago, when I still dabbled in AE, and actually had time.

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42 Reply by Tomahawk

(44 replies, posted in Off Topic)

This is your home, Teague.
Let loose. We're all ears.

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43 Reply by Tomahawk

(6 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

Bryce Dallas Howard directed two episodes of Mandalorian.
And Kathleen Kennedy is in the tallest chair.

I know where you were going, I just had to point that out.

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44 Reply by Tomahawk

(1,649 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Being a JRPG guy, I can vouch. This totally works.

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45 Reply by Tomahawk

(22 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Saniss, Owen, I'm waiting.

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46 Reply by Tomahawk

(356 replies, posted in Off Topic)

So.

I don't know if you know my musical taste in general here, or if you just assumed since my band released a single, I'm "That guy". Hell, I don't know if you know I was a singer. I'm gonna assume, however, you did.

In 2016, I started taking the whole singer-business seriously. It's when my band started. It's when I more or less discovered that the whole singing thing was not something people said to shut me up, it was more of a thing I should pursue. We've done a lot since then, most of it not successful, of course, and that's a good thing, but the thing that's stuck with me since the early 2000's, is people that understand singing. So acoustic versions/covers of a song is sort of my jam. Don't really care which band it is etc, but I seriously appreciate the acoustic versions because I get to hear the vocalist do their best, and with as little backing as possible.

CUT TO:

My friend, a music merchant, if you will. For the longest time, this dude wasa the dude that just discovered music. I.E; he was the dude that always found the new shit. Be it old, new, funky or weird, he was our merchant. The dude that seemed to always have music in his repertoir, and was always willing to share it with us, and surprisingly, the guy that alwas seemed to know what we'd like, as individuals. He'd send me a track I loved, and my friends would probably agree. He was the damned music merhcang. A title not shared easily.

So; In 2020, more specifically February 14th. Most of you will know this as the infamous Valentine's day. I don't know it as anything more than a day in my calendar, but this dude heard a song. A song that would resonate through my veins like little else.

Short backround; THe band is called "Falling In Reverse" and wasn't really big in Europe, so until a year ago; I didn't know they existed. I had no idea what kind of music they were known for, nor what kind of music they were currently doing.
That being said, I really wish I did. Back in the 00's, I was deep into Linkin Park, Hoobastank, The Used, Thrice, Ceasars, Evanescence, and the whole early emo-scene. I ate it for breakfast, I brushed my teeth to that shit.

However, "Falling in Reverse" never made it to Europe. Not for lack of style or performance, it was just one of those bands that fell under the radar. Maybe they were just too close to the genre and felt too familiar; I don't know.

However, my dude had it all under control. He knows I'm a vocalist, And I think he knew at some point I enjoyed Acoustic pieces, because he knew that this track would sit very well with me.

The original track goes as follows;

Now, I know, unless you were there, it's just alright, or downright not your jam. That's alright. I get it. But, if you listen to the lyrics, you might get a sense this isn't where the writer wanted the song to go. In fact, this might seem like a classical case of the Emo's, and the lyrics don't mean jack. It's just a fairly depressive text, set to an upbeat song. But that's not the case at all, it seems. See, in 2020, the band(meaning the Lead singer) decided to reinterpret his old material, and thusly decided to break it down. It's an "acoustic" piece, in which he sings it like it means something, accompanied only by the piano, and towars the end of it all, a full ensemble and his band.
Needless to say; I fell in love with the whole thing.

Oh, btw, it's here;

CUT TO:

A year later. We've all been in a damned quarantine ever since, and we all hate it. Except those of us who don't. We hate people, we don't really look forward to going back to the way things were. Some of us even took the time to check out that "Falling in Reverse" Band. SOme of us even worked over time, listening to that band in particular, seeing as they change their style every now and then, meaning that if our taste changes, we'll still be covered. Hell, some of us got addicted to this song;

And some of us still knew that music merchant. That dude that really didn't(according to us) do anything else than browse youtube to find music and videos that would satisfy their friends.
But that friend did find another gem. And I don't really care about how you feel about Ronnie Radke, his band or anything in particular. All I can think about is how they(he) managed again, to break one of their songs down to the bare neccessities, and make it so damn different, and make it all about the vocals. Say what you want about Falling In Revese, but damn that singer can sing.

Here's their latest "acoustic" version and it's amazing;

Not only is it amazing; it shows that the singer is capable of so much more. Sure he's more of rap artist these days, but that last track was from this year, proving he's got fuckin' range.

I used to feel Jared Leto(Famously known as The Joker, less famously known as the singer of 30 Seconds to Mars) Was a great singer, and he still is, but Ronnie Radke tends to prove time and time again why he actually deserves that praise, while Leto just releases what he wants without a sense of context. Don't get me wrong, Leto is an amazing vocalist, but he doesn't come close to some of my favorites, in which Radke currently is.

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47 Reply by Tomahawk

(22 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Minor Update:

Just finished season 2 of Rebels last night, and it got good. Weird thing is I remember it just being good all the way. Season 1 was half-good at times, and season 2 is a butt load of meh, but that finale was pretty damn awesome. On to season 3!!

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48 Topic by Tomahawk

(22 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Star Wars.

It's why most of us are here. Most of us come from the TFn boards, more specifically the fan-films section.
Meaning that most of us love, or loved Star Wars at one point in time, and wanted to create our own movies set in that universe, to varying degree of success.
Some of us made silly lightsaber duels, some of us made entire flipping movies, some fought in the LCC, and some wrote scripts so epic they were never even made.

But what binds it all together, is Star Wars.

When it was announced that Disney took over the franchise, I was, at the time, what some would relate to as being "over star wars". The OT was great, the EU was fantastic, the PT was decent at best, clone wars was a thing that just sort of happened that I didn't like, and that was really it.
Disney of course announced the inevitable, such as a sequel trilogy happening, along with tv-shows and spinoff films.
A hope sort of sparked. I remember enjoying VII for what it is. Rogue One is still one of my absolute favorites, VIII just as much. Solo Was not great. Not bad, not good. Decently done given the problems it faced during production.
To be fair, I still don't understand why they went with that film at all, as there's so much more interesting stuff in that universe that doesn't revolve around the characters in the mainline films. IX, however, is a different beast entirely, and one we've discussed to death. I don't like it. I did the first time around, but I was too engulfed by emotions of the saga ending to see the flaws I saw the second time I watched it.

So, after that, it was a bit meh. Rogue 1 was great, but since Solo more or less tanked, they killed off a lot of potential spin-offs that seemingly could be great.

Of course, The next big thing was Mandalorian, which is downright amazing, which sort of sparked a new interest in the franchise. I'd find myself looking at fan films online, some old, some new, some good, some horrible. As per usual, in other words.
After season 2 of Mandalorian, I was determined to give Clone Wars a second chance. Owen has told me time and time again that it gets better, and I've never believed him. Nevertheless, it felt like the right thing to do. I wanted more Star Wars. I initially thought I'd watched around 4 seasons of Clone Wars, but upon watching, I realised I was closer to 1,5 seasons. Gave it up before it got a chance to show me what it could do. And rightfully so. The first season or so, is absolutely not a good start. It's a childrens show, telling stories out of order, which will confuse you in the beginning, but then it's like James Bond in a way; just stories. That happened in the same era.
Now, after the first 4 episodes, my girlfriend didn't really feel like continuing, but I was still content to finish this show, so I kept watching. And so did she. In fact, more often than not, she'd be the one to say "one more!" at 1 in the morning, when we both had to go to work the next day.
The show got goddamn good. Sure, there are the odd shite episodes, that are just fillers, but most shows of this scope do, and it doesn't kill the mood at all, as they're few and far between.
I also did know that the show was cancelled, and brought on Rebels instead(which I'm currently working my way through, albeit at a slower pace), and that they somehow managed to save the show, and bring on the final seasons they had planned to do.
Season 6 was a good ending to the show. Leaving it open, with possibilities of more seasons down the line, but also a very open ending that could just mean "these are the stories we wished to tell".  But my fucking lord, season 7 brought it. The 4 final episodes, popularly known as "The Siege of Mandalore" are some of the best stuff I've seen in any TV-show. Sure, I'm biased. It's fucking Star Wars. It's also an ending to a 7 season show, and of course doesn't neccessarily stand on its own, but damn.
The first episode of the story opens with a black screen, and the original '77 "A Lucasfilm Limited Production". That's when I paused the episode, closed all the curtains, shut off all the lights, and turned the volume up. I knew I was in for something very special. And very special indeed. Siege of Mandalore is a-ma-zing. I cried like a little bitch at the end, not because it was full of twists and sadness, but the way it ended is so fucking closed. So personal. So integrated into Revenge of the Sith that now it feels like you can't have one without the other. It helped me enjoy ROTS much more than I ever have, because of Clone Wars.

A kids show, they said. A show that is better than most of the movies. A show that made me feel like Ewan, Hayden, Ian, Frank, Temuera and Samuel somehow did worse interpretations of their characters than animators and voice actors did. Of course, it's well-discussed how Lucas' directing isn't stellar, but watching ROTS somehow felt wrong. The characters looked wrong, their voices felt wrong, and they were too different to what I now feel is the perfect editions; Fucking Clone Wars.

Now, Rebels, on the other hand, is a different beast altogether. Its animation style is close to CW, but it's too cartoony, and the animation itself feels very "staccato". The lightsabers are too damn thin, they sound weird, and it's just too damn stylized. The story isn't great either, and I feel like the characters should be characters we'd at least heard of from CW. Kanan, the Jedi, for instance, isn't a poorly written character, but it's told that he lost his master in order 66, a master I don't remember hearing about in any other media. Kanan himself also wasn't a youngling during the CW, so he sort of feels expendable. If he had been a youngling with ONE line in CW, and his master had been in ONE episodes, it would have felt like it was more connected, which sadly, it doesn't. I'm midway through season 2 now, and will finish it, but as I mentioned, at a much slower pace.

There's also a 3rd animated show, called "Resistance". A show much more aimed for children, in way of style and adverticing, and judging by it getting one season, it's not something I feel like picking up.


Until Recently, my head space was loving the OT era, finding the PT era okay, and not giving two shits about the ST era. Now, because of CW, I'm loving that era. The clones, the jedi, the Nightsisters, the separatists, and all the plots and stories in that era has so much depth to it, that I didn't ever think was possible. As for the Sequel era; it's boring. Couldn't care less about Resistance, don't want more Rey, Finn or Poe. It's just too shallow a trilogy, even though I do love TLJ, it doesn't save the entire trilogy, especially after that end. And it's not because "STAR WARS IS A KID'S FRANCHISE DAMMIT!". ANH is a classic tale in a new and exciting universe. ESB is a darker, more hopeless sequel that somehow managed to outshine it's predecessor. ROTJ had its issues, but was a good ending to a trilogy, and still stands as my favorite, regardless of its poorer execution. TPM is definitely a film aimed more towards children and teenagers, but even that had a decent plot. (Although a disruption of communications can mean a great many things, Sio Bibble!) AotC also had some darker undertones, but a boring love story, and stale acting didn't save it much. And the plot wasn't even close to TPM, which is saying something. ROTJ is not a childrens movie either. It certainly didn't tank, and although it's not the best of the 9 movies, it did fairly well, plot wise, considering what was set up in the prior two films. It was an impossible task, made well. It's not great, but it ain't shit either.
TFA is a remake of ANH, and we all know it. It was too damn safe, and had a female protagonist now known as Mary Sue. It's not a great film. But it did set up the story, which I found could go in an interesting direction. TLJ took some bold chances, and split the fanbase because of it, choices I felt absolutely on board with. Killing the Big Bad like it's nothing? Come on, that's just cool. Then of course, the biggest cop-out in movie history happened. PALPATINE IS BACK! And all I have to say about it now is... .but why? Even the Trevorrow script didn't mention palpatine, and instead pitted Kylo Ren against Rey(Rey PALPATINE, YES THAT WAS A GOOD TWIST, THANK YOU SO MUCH JJ YOU PIECE OF SH) in a much more interesting story.


Alright, that was a long rant.

TLDR; Go Watch Clone Wars. Get exited for The Bad Batch. Don't get excited over anything that takes place in the sequel era. But also; mandalorian is great and we all agree on that already. Love some of it. Hate some of it. s'all good.

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49 Reply by Tomahawk

(51 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

Some shots were in the trailer, iirc. I remember Rey running on the beach with her saber being in there. But the scene in its entirety is on the Blu-ray.

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50 Reply by Tomahawk

(58 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Alright. I'm finished with Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

I'm torn.

On the one hand, it's an excellent viking simulator. Not exactly realistic, but hey. On the other hand, it's supposed to be an Assassin's Creed game.

I like the setting. 9th century England and Norway is great. I like the environment, the general tone of it, the setting as a whole is quite a spectacle to behold.
However, Assassin's creed games used to be set in a single city(or a few), which worked so much better. Having to ride across the English countryside to get to another "city", which honestly passes more as a settlement than anything else, feels like a chore. It used to be "get to that district", and now it's "get to that county", and when the games compress entire countries into a 8km by 6km piece of land, it feels too tiny. Days may pass, story-wise, between towns, but it took a few minutes to ride there, which in game-time, translates to a few hours, judging by the day/night cycle.

The games used to be about parkouring your way through city scapes, and assassinating targets. Now it's a ridiculously large open world, and Dark Souls. Because the combat isn't what it used to be, and while it's good they changed it up, why does every goddamn game have to be dark souls now?
Even assassinations now, are based on dmg+crit chance. If I managed to sneak past an entire army, to perfectly stealth kill my target, I expect to be able to do just that, instead of a hidden blade penetrating the jugular be just a flesh wound, and now the entire fucking village is on to me. Not to mention the combat system is so much based on perfect parries and dodges, lest your stamina runs out.

On the story;
It's a fairly straight forward one. Go to England, seize the entire country. There are of course intrigues, drama and humor in there, but nothing I didn't really see coming.
As for the modern day setting, they actually did bring some interesting stuff to the table, only to cut it short way too early, leaving me wanting more. Classic, sure, but when theres a 2 year wait for the next game(I assume), and they have like 30 minutes or so of modern day stuff, they could've made it more compelling, if not complete.

This is the third game in the new style of games, and I still play them, but I did just download the Ezio Trilogy to play those again. Hopefully they're as good as I remember them to be, but it's been 10 years.

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