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wildwinterlunas · 2 years ago

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Here's another rant for you, Kiriko isn't a poorly written character or contradictory or unnecessary, people just generally don't understand the meaning of her lore.

The Age Gap

First thing I want to address is the age thing, more specifically people saying that it doesn't make sense that Kiriko and Genji could be close with Genji being 35 and Kiriko being in her early 20s.

As someone who has their dynamic with my cousins who I have the same kind of age gap, I (obviously) find this incorrect.

I've seen people act as though Genji took her to parties and stuff, but realistically, they most likely only interacted while Genji was at the Shimada house or while training. Also its been shown that both Genji and Kiriko didn't have personal connections outside of they're families or the clan until after the Shimada clan fell. So of course they would be close, they literally only had each other.

Not only that but as I'm writing this I'm reading the Yokai short story and on the first page it is shown that the Shimada brothers obviously treated her like a younger cousin/sibling.

That and her young age is actually a big part of her story, growing up being a main theme in her cinematic, and her age actually influencing a lot of her views. Which I will get into later.

Her Personality

I've seen people say that Kiriko's personality in game contradicts what we were shown in her cinematic. The thing people forget is that the ideviduals she interacts with are people she is close to, her mum and her neighbours which she either learned sign language for or she was just generally close to.

This is important to recognise because she doesn't know most of the cast of Overwatch. So of course she's not going to treat them the same way that she treats people she considers family.

Not only that but Overwatch specially did nothing to help with the power vacuum they created. They are literally the reason the Hashimoto have so much control now, of course she's not going to be overtly nice to its members.

Not only that but the three members of Yokai that we know are stated to be younger then Kiriko, teenagers. She's leader and she needs to act like it because if she doesn't, kids could die.

I think this is most shown in her interaction with Ana;

Ana: You remind me of myself when I was younger.

Kiriko: That a compliment?

Ana: You be the judge.

Kiriko: Okay, thanks for the compliment.

Her Interactions and Relationships

"I won't say the Shimada were perfect, especially at the end..." - Kiriko, Yokai short story

I've seen people say that Kiriko defends the Shimada clan while also being "too hostile" towards Hanzo. The line above disproves the first claim, Kiriko just sees the Shimadas as the lesser evil of the "Shimada vs Hashimoto". Not only that but the whole being "too hostile" with Hanzo thing can be justified by one thing, canonically Kiriko doesn't know the finer details on what happened to Genji.

The most she could know is that Hanzo killed Genji, that's it. And we don't even know if she knows that, all she could know would be that Genji is dead and Hanzo skipped town.

Not only that but because she doesn't know the finer details she most likely believes that Hanzo abandoned her family and Kanesaka, either for no reason or he abandoned the post he killed his own brother for.

I hate how people act like everyone would be fine with Hanzo, like, Kiriko has a right to be mad at him and be openly hostile.

As for her other interactions I do think that some are brought down by poor line delivery, that's it.

But as I mentioned before, Kiriko has no reason to be nice to an organisation who didn't help fix a problem they caused.

Her Role in the Story

I believe Kiriko was introduced in order to cause conflict in the Shimada storyline, because I'm tired of people believing that Hanzo's redemption would be an easy road. Realistically Kiriko, Angela and Cassidy, along with other Overwatch agents, would at the very least not trust him and at most despise him.

Just because Genji has forgiven Hanzo doesn't mean his actions still didn't have consequences and I think Kiriko will be an example of that.

I also think that she will be a driving point for both Ana and Cassidy's opinion that sometimes Overwatch did more harm then good.

Essentially I think her character is going to be a driving point for other characters until she gets her own arc, maybe in a mini/separate story campaign.

(I honestly love the idea of her getting an anime)

Her Voice (this is more of a theory/headcannon)

Personally I think her having an American accent is a result of her having to go into hiding after the Shimada clan fell. I believe she had to learn how to do an American accent so the Hashimoto wouldn't hurt her. Because they didn't really seem to know Kiriko in the cinematic and her having an American accent would throw people off of gaining the suspicion she was related to the Shimadas or her mother in any way.

It a reasonable assumption considering the Hashimoto literally kidnapped her dad and is forcing her mum to work for them.

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #overwatch headcanons #overwatch lore #analysis #kiriko yamagami #kiriko kamori #kiriko #kiriko ow

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kehideni · 2 years ago

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I think you misunderstood a part here. I said Neltharion specifically because it's not Deathwing that Sabellian and Wrathion look up to, but this glorified "before he was Deathwing he was good" Neltharion. (Something that even Alexstrasza is guilty of in the sense that Blizzard JUST NOW decided to make Neltharion a bad guy from the start "the true spirit of the earth warder watch over you" or what she said) and deus ex Aberrus: he was ALWAYS a bad guy.

Sabellian from the first place was daddy's son who just now in Aberrus saw that no, he is not willing to follow in daddy's footsteps.

Wrathion despises Deathwing yes, but he was very anecdotal about Neltharion to Anduin in the BFA cinematic. (Paraphrasing: my father, a once noble protector of Azeroth turned to Deathwing due to the whispers) he hated Deathwing, but he had a positive look on who he possibly was. Aberrus was the proof that Neltharion never was that "noble protector", he was always shady and manipulating. (Which is inconsistent, because A LLLLOT of characters are anecdotal of Neltharion eventhough it's proven he was shitty to them all their life, see: dracthyr)

Ebyssian's part in this was that even if he didn't know that Neltharion was an ass from the get go, he wanted to cut him out from his life completely. To him he was bad, very much so and whatever remains of him i don't want or need it.

Wrathion (Sabellian too he is just not the main topic now) wanted to get whatever he could from the dragon isles concerning the Black DF, save whatever he can from the old legacy, and Neltharion (the one that was an ass but not yet corrupted completely) was part of it.

The main difference here is Ebyssian completely cutting out Neltharion from his identity(it pained him to call himself heir of Neltharion to a simple door) and Wrathion(and Sabellian) being willing to save this positive picture that an uncorrupted Neltharion provided (which was a lie in the end)

I'll be honest, i did not read Ebyssian's talk, but zeroing either of his siblings out to shun is not wise either, given the situations they were in. That would just turn the one he zeroes out againts him and he needed them united, working together. If one gets berated then the other needs to be as well because it can easily turn into a "yeah but what about him" and then again they get nowhere(as siblings do...). Ebyssian's inconsistency is in that he did not care for the slitherdrakes, when previously in a cutscene Sabellian killed a creature just so it wouldn't be noisy, Ebyssian was about to berate him for it, just put it aside because there were more pressing matters.

My problem is that Blizzard can't take a character(any character for that matter) from 0 to 1. If they do it's really slow. Just think of the most butchered characters ever and Ebyssian's inconsistency becomes insignificant.

Thrall, Jaina, Sylvanas, Varian, Arthas who got retroactively ruined when he was the one character that was well done in his genre, Garrosh's character assassination deserves a book, i could go on.

The only character Blizz doesn't ruin is the ones they kill off, and i damn hope they won't ever touch Cairne for this reason. Thank whoever is responsible for cutting the tauren plotline from Shadowlands.

Which is why i said: Try to see the intention not the end product, because Blizzard's writing and WoW lore is already an unsaveable clusterfuck. And i put way too much emotional investment into characters to let shitty writers ruin them for me when the character is perfect (Wrathion is one of THE most interesting ones they made ever and Ebyssian among crazy(both positive and negative way) characters is a welcome pace change, as tauren usually are the more considering bunch).

If you ask me, where the Black DF story started to snowball is when Ebyssian first told Wrathion and Sabellian to chill and they ignored it. From Blizzard's part it was a stupid ass decision, they literally conveyed all the messages they wanted about Ebyssian, and both Wrathion and Sabellian are clever they should be able to pause their argument for the sake of the mission WHICH THEY DID BEFORE when Sab first got introduced in DF, and they were fighting the djaradin. "We'll discuss this later."

Tldr: characters good, WRITERS bad.

A big rant about the black dragonflight story:

So... as always i have a hard time figuring out where to start...

Least complicated to most complicated i guess?

Ebyssian: SO many people misunderstand or just flat out not get his POV and point he tries to make. Players end up criticizing him for things that are flat out incorrect, such as "not standing up for Wrathion when Sabellian dissed him as fodder and playing extreme centralism"

None of those are true. Just because he didn't punch Sabellian in the face or didn't scream at him, he chewed Sabellian out in THE way Sabellian would get the message. Ebyssian approached Sabellian right away and told him flat out that Wrathion IS his brother and he better start treating him that way. He is "the middle man" but he is not extremely centric, he speaks politics, he had practice in it, he has to walk on eggshells around his brothers because both of them are extremely egoistical AND are being whispered to. I know in this modern day and age everyone wants things straight out, clean and simple otherwise they start screaming "abuse!!" But my peeps... that's not how humans work, that's not how YOU work.

For an overtly simplified example: imagine you are walking on the street, minding your own buisness and your fly is down, showing your underware but you didn't notice yet.

Which would you rather have a stranger pointing and laughing at you, screaming loudly for everyone to hear that your fly is down

A stranger discreetly pushing your arm, and pointing to your fly then quietly they continue on their own walk.

Telling something is one thing, HOW you communicate it is also important because the message gets lost if you don't chose the correct way.

Ebyssian tried his best to communicate to his brothers that Neltharion was never someone to look up to, something that those two always ignored in favor of having another bigdick contest and had to have an "in your face" wake up call in the Aberrus raid.(Sarkareth's death)

Now onto Sabellian:

Eventhough Sabellian is an older character than Wrathion and Ebyssian (both in terms of lore age and irl creation) he is the least developed. We hardly even know his character, everything he did people took as core personality trait for face value. And in all honesty that's all we can do for now. He is shown being caring, he is shown being competitive, he is shown being insecure. It's really not THAT unbelievable that he would call Wrathion fodder. Yes it hurt even to hear, but you know why it hits hard? Because THAT'S what a strained relationship between siblings look like! I had a very bad relationship with my older brother for YEARS and both of us knew exactly what to say to the other to cause the most pain. Siblings have that kind of power over each other and don't tend to pull punches in these cases. And still keep in mind the whispers that was activly keeping them on edge. I really hope the trio will not get broken up because all 3 of them were -one way or another- alone for so long... they deserve to heal.

Onto the problem child Wrathion.

Look... he is a very gray area for many of us.

Children (when we are talking about simple human children) are not responsible for the things they do. Adults take responsibility because they are supposed to know better, they are supposed to teach the younger and guide them.

Now fantasy dragon children that are just hatched but already have the lexical knowledge of a well read adult are absurd... there's no real life equalent for that, it does not exist. So how am i supposed to treat Wrathion?

A snotty, wild, "no parental figure whatsoever to guide him", misguided KID who had a serious world-politics defining shitbrewery - in which case it's "forgive and for the love of Azeroth LEARN FROM THIS WRATHION" (and for the record only forgive it because he is a fictional character, irl kids would catch these hands if they orchestrated a genocide(which is absurd in the first place))

Calculate his mental age as him having all the responsibility, in which case he is an asshole, caused an attempted genocide, sided with orc-hitler, brought Apocalypse 2.0 and weren't even around to help, AND still did not even apologize and also how dare he call Anduin a friend considering he is indirectly the cause of Varian's death. "But kehideni, he did it to prepare-" oh shut up... There is this saying in hungary that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But credits where it is due: he did stab a squid.

Look, you can like what and who you like, but first of all don't expect good writing from World of Warcraft. It's been a spagetti of a story for well over 10 years now. Retcons upon retcons, wedged in new characters, villains that are bigger than the previous ones all the time.

And even so, characters are not static. They can say something then do a contradictory thing right after.

Characters in WoW tend to explicitly explain what and why they do BECAUSE so many different kind of people precieve it, it makes for poor writing but everyone should understand it. But they don't. Ebyssian had a cinematic of him explaining he feels ashamed of his ties to Neltharion and wants nothing to do with him and people question why he won't go into Aberrus.

"But it's irresponsible what if Sabellian and Wrathion fall to the Shasowflame."

Yes, what exactly is Ebyssian supposed to do in that case? Uh huh...

Also both Sabellian and Wrathion had a well educated guess on what awaits in there, shadowflame among those things.

"But Ebyssian convinced them to-"

First of all no, he convinced them to help open the door, also both Sabellian and Wrathion were open about wanting to loot the place. "Part of their legacy" or what...

Would i have changed bits of the writing here or there? Yes, absolutely. But as a veteran WoW fan i learned to see what was intended to be the story, rather than what it became through a long ass production line. I do this with GW2 as well.

(This is exactly why i ignore SL exists btw, since there was absolutely no detectable intention there, it was just a clusterfuck)

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juvederm · 1 year ago

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chris lore i made up

i tried observing some behaviors in chris that i wanted to give a reason to. but i'm not really an expert on him, i don't think he's hard to understand, i guess i just wasn't ever invested in him the same way i am with josh so. here goes.

chris is methodical, which means he's orderly. he's organized. he knows how to reason, which makes me think his social skills are decent. he's like an anchor to someone like ashley, brings her back down to earth when she's panicking, hence why i think he's reasonable. and while i don't think his protective qualities showed up much during the game, it made me notice how frustrated he gets while trying to 'protect' ashley, or guide her. whenever she mentions the ghosts or whatever, chris reallyyy gets frustrated. he's the skeptic, but also knows that this Has to be a person messing with them. i don't think he ever believed in the ghost thing, but i think the moment he knew someone was messing with them, was when he found the note and saw the dollhouse.

ok. that aside, which was just a very condensed version of my analysis of him (i always say them aloud to myself in my autism tangents but never write it down loool), i made up a backstory for him that i use in all my stories pretty much. just for like. consistency ? idk

this will also tread into headcanon territory so i'll just list those now.

- i think chris is like kinda jacked, went to the gym

- he did sports against his will (i'll get to this)

- bisexual (i do think he's cisgender though, i'm not sorry)

- autistic

- has a softer, romantic side of him that's like the movies

ok. headcanon cinematic universe time.

i think chris had a hard ass for a dad, he was like a no-nonsense, strict guy who got these qualities from being in the military. he doesn't like softies, and didn't want his son to be one, god forbid. his dad is also bigoted, he sucks. he's emotionally abusive.

chris's mom on the other hand, is basically a hippie. she loves anything nature related, specifically owls, knows a ton about them and paints them all the time. she's the opposite of her husband (this did cause issues in the house), she encouraged chris to be soft, even when he'd be in the midst of doing something for his dad.

cuz like. in my mind, chris had this masculinity forced on him. this specific type at least. and he didn't like it, it didn't mesh well with him. his dad made him work out, made him do sports, had him do physically demanding things as if it were actually fkn boot camp.

so i think that's where his methodical nature stems from, chris always has shit organized like a schedule. he knows the next step usually. however that doesn't mean he was necessarily the best academically. i mean, ashley is like his tutor in a sense. and josh is just a guy who loves doing stupid shit like chris does, but does it out of boredom. chris seems like he likes the rush, the activity of it.

and speaking of josh, chris's dad despised him in this cinematic universe of mine. chris's dad thought josh was too scrawny, not strong and like thought he was gay. which chris dad no like. he wants chris to be with girls, always asks him about girls. and sure chris likes girls, but he also likes guys and he can't tell his dad that or the man will flip.

josh goes against the grain, he knows chris's dad will get mad and enjoys the rise he gets out of him. so he'll 'act gay', he'll hold chris's hand, he'll hug him tightly, squeeze his shoulder, little things like that that'll earn a glare from chris's dad if they're ever in the same room.

chris's mom is all for it, she was kinda convinced he and josh were something more.

so chris has this constant positive stream in his life from his mom, a supportive voice in all the chaos from his dad. but his mom is also sick, she's not gonna be around for long. so when she dies, and there's no talk about feelings at home, chris, in turn, doesn't know how to talk about feelings.

i noticed he and josh kinda suck at it, and chris can't really tell when somethings wrong, or is too nervous to ask. he doesn't know how to navigate it. so i gave that a reason: his home life sucks with dealing with it. and when it comes to his social life, chris also doesn't know how to deal with it. and despite josh being his match, he can't be there for josh like a friend would. a friend who would know how to navigate it.

and yeah i think chris has his own issues. i know josh is canonically the only mentally ill protagonist, but idk i think you could identify a lot of neurodivergency in chris's behavior. or assume he has his own problems and is more than just the 'comic relief' trope that he's written to be (which is purposeful i know)

the romantic streak i'm talking about is like. i think chris enjoys giving roses, dates, spaghetti on the same plate because with his horrible dad, he never really had a shot of something normal like this. and he kinda yearns for it. he's a softie at heart but his dad is like Um No. and it was scary to go against his dad.

chris = daddy issues (josh also has daddy issues this is why they're perfect for each other)

anyway. it's 50 degrees and my hands are extremely cold

#chris hartley #big word vomit

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cosmicaces · 4 years ago

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it’s. it’s something when the game you’ve sunk almost 1900 hours has one more surprise for you. i’ve replayed the prologue so many times, and, on the game’s final day, only just now have i discovered that you could interact with this poster

i may be a writer, but i’m not necessarily good with words. battleborn has had a significant impact on my life, for better and for worse. while gigantic is my special interest as well as the way i met my partner, battleborn was, well, the start, i suppose you could say.

when this game came out on may 3rd, 2016, i was in a real bad spot. my parents relationship had, well, gone south. the process of divorce began in november 2015, and my dad was using me to vent, spouting horrible, awful things to me, lies, blames, contradictions, those sorts of things. i started off 2016 feeling pretty suicidal because of it, leading into a downspiral of self-deprecation that worsened in april. see, my dad had decided to move us back into our shitty down, back on our shitty street, into a shitty house down the street that was small, cramped, and infested with centipedes. my sisters and i, we didn’t want to move, but we had no choice in the matter.

it was at the start of may, the start of going back into that school i despised that i learned about battleborn. i saw the opening cinematic on twitter, and i was in awe, starstruck. this game was a light in the darkness that had made itself so prominent, and when the game had gone on sale, where others laughed and pointed fingers i was ecstatic because that meant i could get it.

my laptop ran this game on the barest of minimum requirements, but it ran. low graphics? bad frames? it didn’t matter to me so long as i could play. i started with orendi. of the starter characters, i thought she was the most interesting, both visual and kit-wise. i played her until the renegade, where i got stuck. it’s embarrassing to admit, honestly, but because of my failures i unlocked shayne and aurox, who i immediately adored. they were witty, snappy, playful, and i loved the energy they brought. as a matter of fact, i played them throughout the rest of story. there’s a simple reason for that though: i just wanted to play mellka.

mellka stood out to me the moment i saw her in the cinematic. looking back on it now, i realize that it was the first step to me realizing that i wasn’t aromantic, but a lesbian (it wouldn’t be until 2020 that i realize that i was demiromantic as well, but nevermind that). she was really cool, to say the least, and god was she pretty! i wanted to play her immediately, but to unlock her you had to beat the heliophage on normal. this meant that i wanted to get through the story as soon as possible. the moment i completed that final mission, well, the rest was history.

i played mellka nonstop, constantly replaying the story and working on her lore challenges. i had almost finished them...until i ran into a bit of a hurdle. see, to get the last challenge, i needed to play with a ghalt. problem was...i didn’t have any friends with the game, hell, i hardly had friends at all. i was terribly shy, and the thought of having to ask strangers for help was terrifying. desperation to complete the challenge won, though, and that ask for help genuinely changed my life forever.

for the first time, i had sought out a discord server and joined a discord server, joined a place with complete strangers and battled through discomfort and fear and soon found my place, feeling comfortable and excited. i was socializing, and my energy knew no bounds. of course, being an 15-16 yr old with unrealized neurodivergency who had minimal knowledge of talking to people would later come back to bite, and now, haunt me, but social consequences had no thought in my mind at the time. i had done what i thought was impossible for me, and that did lead to a positive change. and, y’know, that energy did lead to some good things.

my memories of battleborn are very fond. some of them are tainted now, but stains can only cover so many feelings. feelings of fun, of bonding, of just...not being alone. i never realized how alone i was. as i was playing through each mission, i was just...catapulted with emotions. so many flashbacks of playing through missions, various divergencies of which characters we were, of who was there, of laughs, jokes, frustrations, all of these things. it made me want to smile. it almost made me burst into tears.

it’s not something i’ve talked about publicly, and i’ll scarcely go into detail about what happened, but...man, it’s hard to admit but it’s also because of battleborn that i’ve developed some pretty bad social trauma. it’s...hard, and weird, y’know? like...i wasn’t able to play the game for months after it happened. looking at the game just wanted to make me cry. that situation left me with...so much anger, sadness, and anxiety. hell, i still get angry about it, thinking about the way i was treated, about how i was the youngest person involved but i tried to make things right. i used to think i didn’t handle it in the right way, but i’m older now, and i can say that yeah, i did my fucking best. i think about those people, of course i still think about them. i can’t help but wonder, do they think about me too? do they have any idea how it’s permanently affected the way i grow with people? that i’m so fearful of being annoying, overstepping a boundary, of being lied to, of asking for honestly and being met with 0 response, given no chance to try and make things better? the answers clearly no. i know i’m the only one who still dwells on it, and i feel like they’d laugh at me for it. if they somehow read this, well...cool. won’t bring me any peace. please don’t ask me about it, either

its...not something that feels right to include with a post that’s essentially a memento, but...it’s important, and it did affect how i felt towards the community. i’d see people refer to the battlefam, but...i never felt apart of it anymore. i became all too aware of how my youth affected being apart of a community with adults, and it felt so...less welcoming after that. it’s a shame, really

thanks to that situation, though, i was able to grow closer with two people, my friends viv (@/brokenandazure) and ghost (ghostbones). viv really helped me come to terms with some of my emotions, and i’ll forever be grateful for that. they helped me be outgoing, helped me feel more confident in playing pvp, and is still an inspiration to me with how they can play games and just...be fine and not get frustrated.

i’ve a bit to say about ghost. so, remember how i said how that energy did lead to some good things? well, ghost is one of those good things. i met them through youtube. there had been a link shared on tumblr to their video about alani, and being the only channel who was posting about battleborn, i gave them a follow. still riding off that socialization high, i found myself commenting on all of their videos. they were enjoyable to watch! they’re funny, kind, and they say some pretty insightful stuff! honestly, seeing them upload anything new was a highlight of my day. battleborn brought us closer, and, y’know, they’re kinda like an older sibling to me. they were there for me in some REALLY rough times, and when i say rough i mean rough, and i’ll forever be grateful for that. sometimes i look at payday 2 and wonder if i should reinstall it, just to have another thing to do with them. we’re still pretty close, and we play apex together! they do have to deal with me being a complete sap towards pin though ehehe <3

speaking of pin, well...honestly, while we met through gig, it really is thanks to battleborn that i met her. battleborn helped me learn how to socialize, and it’s through socializing and wanting to find people to talk to about the same interests is how i met pin. i’m...really appreciative of that. my relationship with pin is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. if you read this, dear, i love you <3

as abrupt as it feels, this post does need to have an ending. replaying through the story felt so...nice. i went from playing it in 2016 with the lowest settings possible to playing it in 2021 with the best settings possible. i never thought id actually be able to see the game in its best form but...i did! and it was like playing it for the first time all over again. sort of. close enough. i think the best part of it was playing through the heliophage without any lag. y’know, i didn’t skip that ending cutscene this time, and, let me tell you, it hit a helluva lot different. i mean, asides from the “game is being permanently shutdown” thing, but the line “may our battle never end”. now, that’s a line that just sticks with you. for the worst thing about my final playthrough, well...it hurt, talking about the dumb shit i’d do. about breaking the map with mellka, of lore squads, of gags, and just...not being able to do anything like that again. it really hurts, but...i’ve found my peace with it. i think. well, it’ll have to do.

in the end, it is because of battleborn that i love, that i know im loved. this game really was something special, and it’s a shame that people never gave it a chance. i’m glad i did. and, in the end, it gave me one final surprise.

thank you, battleborn, for everything <3

#cosmic chatter #text #battleborn #battlebarn #long post #a bunch of thoughts yknow how it is #just....thinkin

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sniperct · 4 years ago

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Have you taken a peak at "Shadows Rising"?

nope! the only wow book I ever read was the jaina book when it came out cuz I ‘m that much of a jaina fan, but I actually... despise that wow puts so much lore and world building and important plot points in books and not in the game itself

there’s basically an extra pay wall for Plot in this game and I hate it

so unless it’s like, free content like the comics or short stories or cinematics (afterlives etc) i’ve noped out of the whole concept lol

#Anonymous

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 7 years ago

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Michael After Midnight - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Star Wars… what a series. Since the late 70s, this series has been influencing and shaping the very face of science fiction. Do you know how many movies, video games, comics, and more owe a huge debt of gratitude to this franchise? A fuckton. And be it their best or their worse, the Star Wars movies always give you something interesting to talk about.

Tonight we’re at their worst. Main series-wise, anyway.

Yes, I’m going to be go over all seven main series Star Wars movies this week, and what better place to start than the most controversial, the most despised, most reviled film in the franchise… The Phantom Menace. So many people call it one of the absolute worst films of all time and a childhood raping moment of epic proportions, and these people are stupid and I hate them. Is this movie good? No. Not really. But is this seriously some sort of unholy affront to God Himself? Hell, I probably think its bad for totally different reasons than most people as is, but the sheer level of hate this movie gets is just… astounding. It kind of reminds me of the shitsotrm surrounding The Emoji Movie, where people act like this one mediocre movie is the end of cinema itself. So as much as I’m going to give this movie shit, I’m gonna defend it too, because lord knows this movie gets more shit than it deserves.

So, what’s the story? Well, instead of telling you myself, take a few minutes out of your time and let tonight’s special musical guest Weird Al explain the plot for you! Take it away, Al!

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Let me just get this out of the way first: Jar Jar Binks. He’s a dumb character. Yeah, such a bold, shocking statement there, huh? Well, I’m going to say this: as dumb as he is, he’s not even cclose to being the worst character in cinematic history. He’s not Ludlow from Pixels or the titular character of Lucy or that bitchy obnoxious old neighbor lady from Rosemary’s Baby that some people treat like one of cinema’s greatest villains… he’s just an obnoxious kiddy comic relief character with a dumb voice. He’s the Scrappy-Doo of cinema, the character who, yeah, is annoying and dumb, but has such an overblown hatedom its not even funny. Much like Scrappy, he was also utilized much better in other media, such as in the Clone Wars TV series, where his kindness is played up as well as the fact everyone around him is annoyed by his klutziness. Funny what some better writers can do, eh George?

Before I move on, I need to address the elephant in the room, that elephant being ‘Jar Jar is a racist caricature of black people/Watto is an antisemitic caricature/the Trade Federation are Japanese caricatures.’ Look, if you see Jar Jar up on that screen, see how he looks and acts, and think to yourself “Huh… that’s a black person alright,” I just… I don’t even know what to say to that. Same if you look at Watto and see a Jew; what is it that makes you thinks he’s a Jew? What about this nasty space fly screams “Jew” to you? Is it the big nose you goddamn NATIONAL SOCIALIST? Like who the fuck actually believes this shit? Some people wanna convince you this is the sci-fi version of The Birth of a Nation, but no, it’s just people with deep-rooted prejudices seeing shit where there isn’t any, as per usual.

You know what IS offensive, though? The writing. The writing here is absolutely atrocious. It’s not like A New Hope was much better in the dialogue department, but in that movie there was at least a plot you could give a shit about. Here… not so much. In fact, that’s the true flaw of this film, and the thing that ultimately leads me to calling this a bad film: in the grand scheme of things, nothing that happens in this movie ultimately effects the overall saga in any meaningful way. Sure, we see where Anakin came from, but that’s about it. There’s not really anything interesting or insightful to be gleaned from this tale, which leads it to feel like the world’s most pointless spinoff movie. There’s a reason that there’s an entire suggested viewing process for the franchise that recommends you skip this movie; nothing in this movie isn’t explained better in another film. It’s just a bunch of shit you can’t bring yourself to care about onscreen the whole time, that ultimately adds nothing but annoyance and plot holes to the overarching mythos of the franchise.

So I’ve harped on this movie a lot… it must truly be devoid of value. Well hold your tauntauns there, sonny! This movie didn’t end up on Empire’s list of the 500 greatest films of all time for no reason! There really is a lot to admire here, despite the overall package being somewhat subpar. First and foremost, we have Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jin. Sure, I could nitpick this and say how Qui-Gon’s existence can open up plot holes or whatever, but… it’s Liam Neeson as a Jedi. I don’t fucking care about any lore shit, this is motherfucking Liam “Taken” Neeson swinging a lightsaber around! Even better than that, though, is Ewan McGregor beginning his take on Obi Wan and, I’m gonna be honest… he does a damn good job. While here he’s still young and learning, he’s still every bit as awesome as he’ll grow to be someday. We’ve also got the kickass track “Duel of Fates,” one of the best pieces of music in the franchise, we’ve got that pretty cool pod racing sequence, we have the awesome droidekas and the pretty cool droids, we have Darth Maul, who is easily one of the coolest and most badass characters in the franchise, what with his dual-bladed lightsaber and the fact he looks like the devil and who has a final battle that easily makes up for a good chunk of the earlier problems of the film… there really is plenty of stuff to enjoy here. The ultimate flaw of the arguments against this movie is that people act like there is absolutely nothing of value in this film. There is, and plenty of it, it just doesn’t in the end save this from being a hot, pointless mess of a movie.

Also, I’m sure you were expecting me to trash on Jake Lloyd’s performance. Well, I’m not going to do that. What kind of fuck trashes a kid’s performance for not being as good as James Earl Jones? Like fuck, you’d think people expected an Academy Award winner performance from the poor kid.

So yeah… this one’s bad. But I’d honestly say it leans more to the “So bad it’s good” side at worst. Like I said, there’s plenty of good stuff in here, if you can stomach the cringey dialogue and Jar Jar. Watching it with the mindset that it’s a spinoff and not necessary to really get the bigger picture of the franchise can kinda help, but in the end, this one is pretty easy to just skip. At the very least, I kind of admire George Lucas for doing something so wildly new and different with the series, even if it ended up being kinda bad. It’s not like he just blatantly retreaded A New Hope and tried to convince everyone it was the Big New Thing, this is most certainly an earnest film, one that showcases his true artistic vision for the series. It’s just a pretty dumb vision, is all.

Really, if you want a rewarding experience, just spend the six minutes watching Weird Al’s “The Saga Begins” and skip right to episode two; you’ll have a much better Star Wars experience that way.

#Michael After Midnight #Review #Movie review #Star Wars #The Phantom Menace #obi wan kenobi #qui-gon jinn #Darth Maul #Anakin Skywalker #Jar Jar Binks #George Lucas #Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

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sights-on-the-scifi · 5 years ago

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THE COMPLETE SIGHTS OF SCIFI STAR WARS REVIEW PART 3.

https://sights-on-the-scifi.tumblr.com/post/189204895641/the-complete-sights-of-scifi-star-wars-review-part PART 2

THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY 1977, 1980, 1983.

The movies that started it all! For this part of the review ill be covering only the theatrical prints of the original movies and not their special editions as I dont view those as legitimate versions of these classics. Ill examine their strengths, their weaknesses and more.

A NEW HOPE/STAR WARS 1977.

What more is there to say about this movie that has not already been said by countless others? This film represents a defining moment in cinematic history and the start of a franchise that has been going strong for 41 years inspiring countless imitators and successors like MASS EFFECT for example. Well, while there is not much new stuff that can be said for the qualities of its storytelling, pacing etc and there are obviously cracks on its surface... There are still things in it that thanks to new media context, have really enriched its universe and appeal to me personally and I assume this is the same for many others.

With age and the media which surrounds it STAR WARS has only gotten better and better so ill be talking about the ways in which this universe both provided a foundation for amazing things to come and in so doing was enhanced by what eventually did so.

AN AWE INSPIRING UNIVERSE BORN OUT OF THE SIMPLEST SCENE.

I dont think it is an exaggeration to say that this famous Cantina scene in STAR WARS is probably almost single handily responsible for making this universe feel so diverse, culturally distinctive and expansive. It was that good at inspiring awe and wonder in audiences that its effects can still be felt in all of STAR WARS media today! What this really was way back in 1977 is simply the filmmakers gathering a collection of random props, makeup effects and alien masks... Putting them on a bunch of actors who were then told to mingle to create the illusion this was a planet full of alien life. But an unexpected result of these simple efforts was that future creators would take all of these elements and use them as a foundation to enrich the universe in small and large ways.

Everything you saw in this Cantina, today has now been given extensive backstory in lore or been reincorporated into future STAR WARS media. Not only that but this scene has also been reinterpreted/reinvented countless times in the series, a part of this franchises identity.

For example who would of thought back in 77 that two random dudes wearing these blue, bulbous space alien masks would become the catalyst for creating an entire species in the STAR WARS universe? What we now call the Duros. Not only that but it would also be a species that gave us memorable characters like Cad Bane and Shriv two personal favourites of mine! :D

Ofcourse you also have the fan favourite Rodians etc.

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THE TONE AND AESTHETICS OF A GALAXY AT WAR.

The war depicted in STAR WARS shares a lot true to life parallels with our own world and its history. People have called this series WORLD WAR 2 IN SPACE! and that is because of the obvious fact that well... It is! A band of Rebels in this case standing in for the allied nations fighting for freedom and democracy against a bleak, authoritarian and ruthlessly militant galactic empire who stand in for the Nazi war machine. The costumes for the imperial leadership was intended by the designers to evoke the aesthetics of fascism, this extends to the design of their technology, architecture, military and the naming of the soldiers within it. “Storm troopers” this is the name of an elite branch of German soldiers for example, Darth Vaders helmet also echoes the look of WW2 German soldier headgear.

Even the actors cast to portray these ruthless characters within the empire share close resemblance to top Nazi leadership. This extends to hair style and individual performances... The leadership is shown to be petty, cruel, spiteful and short tempered arguing over how brutal their tactics should be to incite fear. The tool for which they use to assert dominance and control over the galaxy. Like I described in earlier review post parts, I really love how the new STAR WARS media provides greater clarity and context to this organisation of evil, giving us more reason to despise it and relate to the rebels doing everything they can to stop it.

Take a battle scene from STAR WARS, make it greyscale and put it next to a WW2 movie or real life photo of the conflict and you will see some striking resemblances.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE REBEL ALLIANCE.

The rebels are portrayed in STAR WARS to be much more colourful, given the WW2 parallels this means they also share a lot of resemblances to allied troops and pilots. Their soldiers are less equipped but are much more relatable to the audience because in contrast to the Storm Troopers you can see their faces, you see their fear but also their bravery in the face of this relentless enemy especially in the opening sequence as they defend the princess from imperial forces. Women are also shown to be play an active role in the politics of this galaxy and even the fighting as Leia resists interrogation and can even defend herself if need be.

Future STAR WARS media really expands and deepens the relatability of this alliance by showing us the reasons they fight against this fascist empire. Also the diversity of their leadership and forces are shown to us with the inclusion of species from all over the galaxy come RETURN OF THE JEDI be that with the famous Mon Calamari Admiral Ackbar or Rogue one’s Admiral Raddus.

THE MUSIC OF STAR WARS.

Without John Williams score it is safe to say that this franchise would of not been as successful as it was. The emotions it generates and the way it themes the struggle between good and evil is breathtaking even years later, other composers have been chasing its shadow ever since too, with varying degrees of success.

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Its classic symphony orchestra at its finest. This kind of soundtrack is also widely used in most WW2 film media.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

This movie has been called a masterpiece and for good reason as it takes what was established in the first movie and expands on it in incredibly unique and also dark ways all with sleek film making techniques. Showing our characters at their lowest point, providing shocking story revelations, expanding the true meaning of the force and more... This was all accomplished not by Lucas this time but by director Irvin Kershner which brings up a very important point. STAR WARS is truly at its best when its given to different directors who can really take a good long look at this rather simplistic source material and then reinterpret in a unique way to become something greater.

STAR WARS owes its success to the talents of not one, but thousands of people all in many different creative departments too especially the music for example.

Through the eyes of Irvin Kershner we get a much darker, but much more complex vision of the STAR WARS universe and its great cast of both new and returning characters. To this day the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK serves as the gold standard for what constitutes a greater follow up to a science fiction story or its middle chapter. MASS EFFECT 2 for example is a game that tried to echo this films darkness and more complex story directions, which can be felt in the visual design, narrative themes and more.

Without EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, this franchise would have not had the boost it needed to go from being simply popular to then being cemented in the pop cultural conscious for years to come. So much of this movie is now essential to the franchise canon and identity that Lucas’s prequel trilogy also tried to chase its shadow with ATTACK OF THE CLONES and REVENGE OF THE SITH with mixed success...

I love it, perhaps even more than the first movie which is a rare feat for a sequel to pull off.

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RETURN OF THE JEDI.

This final movie for me has to be the weakest link in the original trilogy... It serves as the STAR WARS franchise’s crossroads title, wherein the values that defined this series started to become a little strange, distorted and perhaps even altered in detrimental ways. If you want to know where the bizarre humour, crazy dialogue and more in the STAR WARS prequels originates from for example. Welp, this is your answer unfortunately...

RETURN OF THE JEDI in comparison to the first two movies is weaker in terms of pacing, themes, cinematography, originality and more. A lot of this stems from the fact its not trying to be as bold and risk taking as the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK for example, it is silly and self referential in a way that it distracts from the areas it does succeed at. All of this is in service to the franchise embracing its marketability over true creativity...

I still love the final confrontation between the Emperor, Luke and Vader... The battle to destroy the second DeathStar or the fun if a bit nonsensical rescue of Han Solo in the opening. But I dont love the Ewoks, the groan inducing dialogue, or the rubbish comedy that damages the overall tone and stagnates the middle of the story.

RETURN OF THE JEDI is still a fun adventure, just not the most solid... In general a third entry in a science fiction franchise is never going to be as good as the first two. So perhaps it was to be expected.

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Welp! That is it for this retrospective of the original trilogy! :D Still there is more to come as we look at the media that will take us into THE FORCE AWAKENS so stay tuned for that!.

#star wars #Original trilogy #Science fiction

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constantviewings · 6 years ago

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The TV Show Trials - Lore

Lore is a horror anthology television series developed by the creator of the podcast of the same name, Aaron Mahnke. The show combines documentary footage and cinematic scenes to tell horror stories and their origins.

After two months in a row of reviewing serial TV shows, I decided to take a break and watch another anthology series. For some reason, I was originally under the impression that this was going to be a fiction series (mostly because I hadn’t researched it before I watched it) but I was pleasantly surprised by the documentary-cinematic hybrid. Before I review each episode individually, I will mention that the entire series is only twelve episodes so I was unable to review my regular fifteen episodes.

They Made a Tonic

Before we knew how disease spread, medicine was as much superstition as it was science. And in the small New England towns of the 1800s, there is a belief that consumption can only be stopped by making sure the dead are actually dead.

This episode was the perfect introduction to this series and I was incredibly surprised by the amount of random information that I learnt from this episode. Such as the origin of the phrase ‘saved by the bell’ and the cultural origin of vampires; something I thought was completely originated in fiction.

Echoes

Dr Walter Freeman is the father of the icepick lobotomy. He believes the ten-minute procedure will all but end the need for the mental hospital. He has the best of intentions but winds up creating an entirely new kind of horror story.

I didn’t think it was possible to go from not knowing who someone was to hating them in the span of twenty minutes, but this episode did just that. Though this episode wasn’t the most entertaining, it provided an insight in a practise that I thought was long dead by the fifties.

Black Stockings

In 19th century Ireland, folklore has a strong hold. Michael Cleary is convinced his wife, Bridget, has been replaced by a fairy called a changeling. And his belief drives him to the most extreme act.

This is the highest rated episode of the series and I understand why. That being said, I don’t have much to say about this episode as I don’t remember most of the information it presented; which may mean that I didn’t enjoy it too much.

Passing Notes

In 19th century America, at the height of the Spiritualist Movement, a haunted house is not just the stuff of ghost stories. Many believe the dead can talk and, sometimes, will come back from the other side to wreak havoc on the living.

This episode is my second favourite of the first season and the last episode I watched; as I somehow managed to skip it. I feel, as more episodes cover similar phenomena, I should preface that I don’t believe in ghosts, demons, or anything else of that kind. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode.

The Beast Within

Werewolves are now movie monsters. But they were once thought to be all too real. In 1589, villagers in Bedburg, Germany, are convinced that werewolf is killing women and children only to discover the killer is really one of their own.

This episode covers the origin of another fictional legend, werewolves. While I somewhat enjoyed this episode, I wish the origins of a silver bullet being able to kill a werewolf had been covered in the episode; even though they have no relation to The Werewolf of Bedburg.

Unboxed

Robert Gene Otto is a child without friends. That is, until he received a doll as a gift. He names the doll after himself, Robert. They become fast friends and soon the boy believes the doll is real. But to everyone else…Robert the Doll is a curse.

Robert the Doll is an entity that genuinely spooks me, not because of any supernatural reasons, but simply because he looks gross. This is my favourite episode of the series as it covered a topic that I already knew parts of, but also revealed information that I didn’t know.

It should be stated here that Season 2 takes a completely different approach to Season 1 as it turns from a combination of dramatisations and documentary footage to strictly cinematic portrayals of spooky historical events.

In The Name of Science

Two shunned Irish immigrant in Scotland start off as grave robbers to sell the dead to doctors, but decide that creating their own inventory is much easier, and become the most prolific mass-murdering due in history.

Thanks to my obsession with Horrible Histories, both the books and the TV series, in my younger years I already knew the full story of Burke and Hare. Unfortunately, that made this episode almost unbearable to watch; its extended runtime of 50 minutes didn’t help either.

Mirror, Mirror

The ageing Countess of Blood, running out of virginal peasants to drain of their youthful essence, brings in a bright-eyed noble to start a new cycle of torture and murder.

The first thing I noticed upon starting this episode was the drastically different runtime from the previous episode, a meagre 20 minutes. This is a recurring issue with the second season that I will elaborate further in my final thoughts. Another issue with this episode is that I didn’t know who Elizabeth Bathory was before I started this episode, and frankly I still don’t care.

Ghosts in the Attic

In the German hinterlands, between World Wars, a family goes to bed, not knowing that their killer has been living in the walls and attics of their home like a ghost, watching, waiting for his chance to strike, in one of the most famous unsolved mysteries of all time.

Much like almost every other episode in this season, this episode is extremely boring and slow paced. It doesn’t help that the acting in this episode isn’t great either.

The Curse of the Orloj

As two clockmakers race against the curse of the Orloj, a curse that has already driven the city of Prague to madness and death with the Black Plague, these brothers will discover the price of trying to change history.

There are three words to perfectly surmise my thoughts towards this episode: I don’t care. I uttered this phrase under my breath almost every ten minutes and I kept checking the runtime to see how much of this I had to bear until it was over. If these two things don’t tell you how much I despise this episode, I don’t know what will.

The Witch of Hadley

A young woman, raised in a town controlled by a religious zealot, must rectify a fatal mistake before a ravenous mob hangs the Old Witch, Mary Webster, in this story set just 11 years before and 100 miles from Salem, Massachusetts.

First off, Mary Webster was already covered briefly in season 1 where a character says “you are haunted by Goody Basset, a witch hung the 6020s” . That’s all you need to know about her, so why did they make a fifty minute episode elaborating on a single sentence? Not to mention that Mary Webster doesn’t have anything to do with the Salem Witch Trials and the fact that she was killed 11 years and 100 miles away from them is pure coincidence.

The Devil and the Divine

In 1922 only one person, Jack Parsons, believed that we would send a rocket into space and conjure a demon. By 1952 he had done both. But all he cared about was the Scarlet Woman he had both summoned, and lost, Marjorie Cameron.

Here we are that the only good episode in season 2. The main reasons I covet this episode so much higher above the others is because it’s a well-made episode and it isn’t mind-numbingly boring.

Final Thoughts:

Season 1 what great, Season 2 was terrible

The runtimes for Season Two’s episodes were inconsistent ranging from anywhere between twenty and sixty minutes

Did I like this show? Season One, yes. Season Two, no.

Will I continue watching? As Lore hasn’t been renewed for a third season, I can’t continue watching it, but I will give the podcast a chance.

#The TV Show Trials #Lore

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dappers-house · 8 years ago

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Why I despise Overwatch. Wall of Text hidden for your convenience. AKA: Dapper loses the last few friends he has left.

So, another day, another group of friends lost. You think at some point I’d be used to not being allowed to be happy, but it always seems to catch me off guard. Maybe this time it’s that people I considered friends value me less than a game. A game that is objectively worse than it’s contemporaries, a game that is run by some of the worst people in the business, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

So, I won’t drag any names through the mud, but context here, for those who enjoy that sort of thing, is that a discord group made up of tumblr users exists, and, until last night, I was a part of it. I use that term, ‘part of it’ loosely, as I kinda existed at the fringes, due to my own natural introversion, but, I still liked being around them. We disagreed, but hey, c’est la vie, ya know?

This, however, ended after I commented, apropos of nothing, I’ll admit, of my disbelief of the blatant theft of a character from Paladins, a game which I consider superior, but only just. It wasn’t meant to start a conversation, mind, just a comment left for the sake of commenting. However, if you know the majority of Overwatch fans, this wouldn’t stand. What followed was one member of the group becoming upset that I would dare to say something unkind about Overwatch, and even more upset that I pointed out it’s objective (not subjective) flaws, such as it’s lower number of characters and game modes to other games of a similar nature, I.E. Paladins and Battleborn.

I feel I should mention here I don’t try to sway people. Like what you like, I’ll like what I like. But I will not be lied to. If you like a game, I don’t care, but don’t sit there and tell me it’s flaws don’t exist. I said as much, and even pointed out my own love of some objectively bad games, namely Anarchy Reigns.

I stepped away from Discord, closing it out so that it wouldn’t escalate, and they could cool off. As moderators were starting to show up. And I’ve lost groups of friends before because I dare not like Overwatch, and I didn’t want this to be another group. My wife, also a member of this group, told me that they had misunderstood my intentions, and thought I was getting upset and telling them not to like the game, or saying they were wrong for liking it. And also told me there was worry that my walking away was me leaving the group, which she corrected.

Time passed, and I went back into the group after an hour or so to say goodnight, and make a joke regarding another game I’ve been playing, and I’m greeted with the other party, and a third party, insulting me in the same chat the moderators said to stop the conversation, due to me not liking the game. The moderator active (though not in that conversation), and saying nothing. And so, I left. If I mean that little to these people, then I don’t want to cause trouble by being around if it’s just going to be okay to attack me due to my opinions, and facts they don’t like. This caused another breakdown for me, as, frankly, these were the last group of people that even know I exist, let alone give a damn about that fact, and once again, Overwatch has ruined that. Chalk that up for another kill Activision is responsible for in regards to my happiness. -TL;DR- Overwatch fans throw a hissy fit that I don’t like the game, don’t like my reasons, and I get warned to not start things, then insulted, and leave the last group of friends I had. ---- So, context established, the natural question is what is my beef with Overwatch. And that’s more or less the point of this rant. To have something I can simply point to when asked why I dislike Overwatch. Short and sweet: I abhor it as a game designer, and Blizzard is run by some of the worst people I’ve ever seen. To say nothing about the fan-base, which tend to almost universally be terrible, terrible, hypocritical people. A touch of backstory on me. I’ve been making games and studying them, both as a hobby, for around 13 years now, starting with RPGmaker on the PS1, and moving on from there. I’ve also given Overwatch three chances, once in Beta, once on release, and once when Sombra dropped. So, I’m speaking from experience here. Let’s start with the objective things first, since, ya know, there’s plenty of them, and they’re objective. -Point 1: Is half a game- First of all, it’s half a game, released for full price. (I know, I know, you CAN go jump through hoops to try to find the non ‘origins edition’ for 40, but even 40 USD is still too much for a single game mode and a handful of characters.) There’s no denying this as a fact, that the game simply isn’t a full game, and isn’t deserving of any higher of a price tag than 20-30 bucks at most. (Subjective note: It also didn’t feel done, and frankly, still feels like a beta that they pushed out early.) I’d also like to point out that when Titanfall 1 did this, it was rightfully lynched for being just a multiplayer game with no single player, but Blizzard does it, and it’s ok? -Point 2: Less than it’s peers- Compared to it’s contemporaries, as mentioned above, it had, and has, less content overall. I admit my numbers may be a bit off here, but, bear with me. Overwatch, at release, had 21 characters, and has since released three Free-LC characters. Battleborn, at release, had 26 characters, and has since released four paid characters, free with it’s season pass. (which, when paired with the game, ran it about 60 bucks, average game price.) Paladins is still in beta, and has 26 characters, and is still releasing more, all of which can be purchased with in game currency. -

Overwatch, at release, had three modes, though, more accurately, this was one mode, and then two modes splitting the mode into two. They have since released some variations, such as deathmatch, and an utter failure of capture the flag, as well as some event mini-games. Battleborn, at release, had three modes, and a story mode as well, and has since released another mode, and released bite sized story episodes. Paladins, while still in beta, has three modes.

The fact is, Overwatch simply has less. Does this make it a worse game? Not at all. Quality will nearly always trump quantity in these cases, however, that is a case for the subjective points later on. -Point 3: The price point- As mentioned above, Overwatch goes for around 40-60 USD, which, considering it’s been out for over a year and no drop in price, is still frankly a bit ridiculous. However, that is subjective, as Nintendo has a bad habit of doing the same thing. This, however, is NOT the end of the price. As anyone who’s seen anything about this game knows. The Lootboxes exist. And they are terrible. It’s been found recently, as of April, 2017, it would cost $3000 USD, with accounting for dupes, to get everything in Overwatch, or, if you wanted to get it all by playing, over 3500 hours. And they’re only adding more. You could argue these are all optional and cosmetic, but any game developer worth their salt will tell you cosmetics matter, and, add to it they’ve intentionally developed the game to make the cosmetics the only reason to play (I’ll cover this below), and it’s not a good argument to make. So, total price for the complete package: ~$3050 Battleborn has been hit by poor sales, thanks to Overwatch (and rumors of OW releasing early to step on BB’s release date), so the price of admission has gone down. To get in with the Season Pass, it’ll run you $45 USD. However, the season pass doesn’t include the recent skins or taunts released for cash (each around 2-3 USD.) or the new characters (each around 5 USD). However, it does net you all of the new story missions, and I think two characters. Once again, my numbers may be off. However, these are purchased, DIRECTLY, no lootboxes involved. The only lootboxes in the game are purchased with in-game currency earned by playing the game. Total price for complete package: ~$80 Paladins is a free to play game, so, yeah, it’s going to get hit hard with the after-market fees. However, Hi-Rez has always been good about this, and offers a ‘founders pack’ which includes every character they’ve ever made and ever will make for 30 USD. However, as I feared, they’ve taken inspiration from Blizzard with Lootboxes, so this is a bit harder to count, as the dupes from Paladins lootboxes can only be used to effect gameplay, by purchasing their cards for their card system. They also give out 3 free lootboxes a day, so.. Total Price for complete package: Unknown.

So, while it possibly beats out Paladins (though this is unknown.), it is a far FAR cry from being a good value, or beating out Battleborn. ---Point 4: Story and Lore--- I’m not going to talk about quality here, I’ll cover that later, all I’m talking about here is the quantity thereof. Overwatch has very, VERY sparse story. Limited entirely to it’s opening cutscene, which gives us very vauge knowledge of what’s going on, and why. Add to that the knowledge the game is non-canon, means it’s all bunk. ‘But Dapper’ I hear you say ‘there’s tons of cinematic and comics and lore online’ Yes. Online. Out of the game. I remind you how badly Destiny was roasted for the same thing with it’s Grimoire, and again, rightfully so. And at least all of that was included out of the gate, and in a single location. I do NOT count anything out of the game.

Conversely, Battleborn has a great emphasis on story, with detailed backstories for every character, talking about their relationships with one another, moments of their past and items they cherish, and how they fit into the story, not to mention the plot itself, which spans 8 chapters (and a prologue), and has a major focus on it. Not to mention with NPCs and enemies being given unique characteristics and personalities.

Paladins, once again, is about equal with Overwatch, even a bit worse, as, to my knowledge (I’ve accidentally deleted the files to the game, so I can’t check) it doesn’t even bother with the barest story at all.

---Point 5: Production values/intros.---- Overwatch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my_xYR_egvQ A bust shot of a character talking, while occasionally flashing still images. Battleborn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sai7jPmYg5k An animated intro detailing the plot, before a music video that leads directly into the game. Need I say more?

---Point 6: The Skinner box---

Here’s where I start getting a little more controversial. I should preface this by saying I am well aware most games, especially RPGs and ESPECIALLY MMOs live and die off the Skinner box. It’s tried and true, and it works. I play FFXIV for gods sake. That’s not my problem with Overwatch. My problem is there’s nothing else. For those who don’t know, I won’t get TOO deep into it, but the Skinner Box, as it applies here, is a very simple method of reinforcement, basically, rewarding the player in some arbitrary manner every so often, while spacing the rewards out to keep the player interested. I know I’m grossly oversimplifying it, but that’s the gist of it. Google it if you want more. As an example: Every time you level up in an RPG, you get a happy noise, maybe some visual reinforcement, and you feel happy. If they do that to much, you get used to the happiness, and you lose interest in the leveling up. Too little, and you don’t keep the happiness long enough to get the next level.

This should sound familiar if you’ve ever played Overwatch, as it’s the entire design of the game. It’s a blatent, unabashed skinner box. Every hour or so (depending on play), you get a level up, a flash of color and sound, and a lootbox, which has even MORE color and sound. This conditions the player to associate the lootbox, rather than the level, with the feeling of joy. But, what if you don’t want to wait that hour for another hit of dopamine? Well, you can just pay money to get another one RIGHT NOW! It’s gross as a concept, and is a big reason of why I despise the game.

---Point 7: The impact.--- This is admittedly much more...I don’t know, not subjective, but also much less objective. The fact of the matter is, I love this industry, but it is an industry based on cash, and voting with ones wallet. And what is Overwatch showing this industry? It’s showing that people will pay huge sums of money for pulls on a virtual slot machine to MAYBE win a cosmetic skin. That people will pay full price for a game without a single-player, and with no story. This has already begun effecting the game industry, as we have already begun to see games that you pay full price to buy into, but then still have micro-transactions. And I don’t mean to the effect of DLC. We, and by we I mean the gamers who bought Overwatch, and continue to buy Loot Boxes, are showing the industry that we will accept free to play practices in our full price games. THAT is not a message I want to send. Of course, I have subjective points too, but they are, well, subjective. -Sub 1: Every OW character is a rip-off, cliche, or both.--- To my knowledge, OW has done not a damn thing original. They either will strait rip off outside sources for characters (Winston is just Beast from Xmen)or move-sets (Mei is literally Ymir with a ranged ult) or they will just make generic cut outs. Mcree is ‘the Cowboy’. D.va is ‘The Gamer.’ etc. Nothing of substance there at all. --Sub 2: Acti-Blizzard is openly hostile to it’s fans.-- We all love a good roasting from a company don’t we? Hell, Wendy’s has begun making a name for itself just from that. However, there’s Wendy’s making fun of people making fun of them, and there’s Blizzard insulting players for pointing out their Match making is broken. They’re default reaction to ‘why am I placed with bad players.’ is “well, we place you with what your skill is.” Out and out insulting players if they complain they’re placed with people who they feel aren’t equal to them in skill, as well as the players they’re referring to. This, of course, isn’t even counting how they treat the WoW fanbase. I’m aware that’s a different game, but it’s the same company. Reminder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wrw3c2NjeE --Sub 3: HOW CAN YOU FAIL MAKING CAPTURE THE FLAG-- I mean..really. Even children know how to play CtF. I’ve ranted more than enough, and I’ve got other reasons to hate this game, but you may notice one thing I don’t talk about. The Gameplay. In a vacuum, I’d have no problem with Overwatch, It’s gameplay is average. Mediocre. It fills the space without being too offensively bad. But we don’t live in a vacuum, my friends. There’s more to Overwatch than just it’s gameplay. Hopefully this gives a basic idea of where I’m coming from, even though I’ve written entirely too much here. I come from a place of love. Not love for Overwatch or Blizzard, and definitely not for activison, But love for gaming in general. Love for this medium that has such potential to show us new places, give us new experiences, and tell us new tales. Love for the crazy, messed up bunch of folks that call this ‘hobby’ a lifestyle, and all the friendships and relationships that can come from it. A love I don’t want ruined by excessive greed and sloth.

#Modpost #Overwatch #Rant #Hatred #Games #Wall o text

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