#i’m not saying you have to LIKE the pacing of c3 but accept it for what it is

[vaxieth]

so many complaints about characters in c3 “not talking” could be resolved by remembering how much time has actually passed in canon. the last 4.75 episodes took place over a singular day. shardgate was three days ago. it’s that simple.

[caeslxys]

c3 was never about bells hells and the moon. the moon was just the holding box for predathos. c3 was about Exandria as a whole and its future going forward. a future bells hells showed they wanted no part of working towards when they whined about having to speak up for the reilorians and when none of their epilogues involves any plans to tackle any harmful systems currently present in Exandria or any future ones when the betrayers pop up. imogen invited the god of slavery and tyranny to become a king and fucked off to some woodland cottage. none of them even gave a shit enough to find out about ludinus, tell anyone he was still alive or make any plans to actually defeat the campaign villian.

When I mentioned in my last post that most criticism of c3–especially on here—is often misdirected this is exactly what I mean, so thank you for the flawless example to use to prove my point.

C3 was always about bells hells and the moon. It was, also, always about the gods and predathos and the breaking of cycles unending. What you are saying, that you feel the campaign ultimately wasn’t about them, is a result of my last post’s criticism of c3’s final act’s pacing, but not true of the campaign on the whole in the slightest. I do find it hard to argue this point only because if you managed to watch 400+ hours of this story and come out the other side willfully misunderstanding it this badly, I’m not sure there’s an argument to be made that someone who thinks this may consider worthwhile.

As for their epilogues—well, one this is yet another thing my post specifies as something i wish were different, so it isn’t like I think it was handled all that well—but it is a blatant lie. Imogen specified—before she mentioned her cabin, if you could stop hating the concept of these characters having internal motivations and desires separate from the plot long enough to listen to what is happening on screen as well as reconcile that, again, this is ultimately a flaw that resulted from c3’s act 3 pacing—that she spends the following months helping ruidians acclimate and helping them feel accepted. Do I wish we had more time there, spent actually with bells hells doing this work? Absolutely, that’s kind of the root cause of my criticism of act 3’s pacing as a whole. They dropped the ball there, but that doesn’t magically erase the character work done to establish that bells hells cares about these people and actively defends them at every chance they get. Especially Imogen Temult. If you think otherwise, you did not listen to a word she has said, but especially none within the finale itself.

I, truthfully, have no idea where the concept of bells hells “whining” about helping or speaking up for the ruidians came from. I can’t argue it because it is, also, a blatant lie. At absolute most they expressed exhaustion after fighting a god and keeping two friends from near (and actual) death. Which is not at all the same as “whining”, either literally or in an internal character sense.

As for Ludinus, I would argue that I think that’s fitting. Ludinus was always a conduit for the larger themes at play in c3, never “the” conflict, as it were. It would make less sense to me for bells hells to focus on finding him if he got away—especially if he’s inactive, as he seems to be. Ultimately they did kill him where it mattered most. I’m not sure I would want the story to end with bells hells seeking out and killing someone who i can’t imagine even wanting to fight back at the moment. Not that he wouldn’t deserve it, but that bells hells was never actually centered solely on him on a macro scale, and it would feel unsatisfying.

Also, respectfully, the “imogen invited a god of tyranny to be king” thing is just a blatant twisting of the scene and of her words. She was clearly being facetious. It was a mocking line. She was making fun of him.

All that to say: most of what you pointed out—the part, at least, that wasn’t an outright lie—is not a result of the text simply “never being about [x]”, but specifically is a result of the final act of campaign 3 falling short of the narratives it had always set up. Therefore, as I began, it is a criticism that is fundamentally misdirected.

[utilitycaster]

EXU finale thoughts

I think basically everything I said last week stands; loved the characters, loved the world and the descriptions, for the most part a huge fan of Aabria’s DM calls re rules/mechanics (granting boons, allowing for a lot of flexibility but also making the characters justify and roll for it), but the plot/pacing really fell flat for me,

I want to stave off the “not all things need to be answered” criticism here; I’m not asking for that. I am however asking for enough details to get me emotionally invested in the final fight, and I didn’t feel like I had that. Myr’atta’s attack felt no different than the party running into a corrupted treant in the jungle - I was far more interested in the weird cube last week. I still don’t know why she felt it necessary to have Ted for herself. I can accept not knowing how Ted became a patron, but the idea that she could be lost to Opal lacked any weight because it wasn’t present as a threat until it was already happening.

I don’t mind the stingers - in fact I think the one with Poska at the end, had this been a story that felt contained but also included hooks for future EXU seasons, would have been fantastic! But if the buildup to the final battle is almost entirely stingers meant for the audience, the main characters feel disengaged from what's supposed to be the main plot. It felt like a surprise to them, which means there was no tension buildup and that it was hard to care.

I think the same story structure, honestly, could have existed - the biggest flaw was that the party never really knew what was going on so they were just reacting rather than planning. I honestly think a single reveal that Myr’atta was after them and behind the attacks near Gilmore’s store, and a second reveal that she was trying to control Ted, would have changed my opinion entirely. If the party left Emon not just because of Poska and the need to investigate the rune, but because Myr’atta was chasing them, and if they kept moving south because of this; then even though there would still be all these different threads and the events would have played out similarly, Myr’atta would actually feel like the main villain and the other elements would have added additional pressure and time restraints. As is, Myr’atta felt like an annoying distraction from far more intriguing elements.

To compare to campaign 2: I thought Lucien had the most rancid vibes that have ever existed - like, truly, zero positive traits - and wanted him dead - but I knew why he was doing what he was doing and that made me deeply invested in the story. Here, it felt like the party was being pursued by a bear and Myr’atta was a mosquito that was bothering them. It felt like Poska’s crew or servants of Lolth or some threat from the plane of fire or even the Iron Authority with an imprisoned Umeji could have shown up as the BBEG, and I’d have felt it was equally plausible and in several of those cases, more narratively fitting and emotionally engaging.

In short: there were several different plotlines, which is fine and even good, but the one the final battle and emotional beats hinged on was the one I cared about the least. Even the inclusion of the circlet and hints that Myr’atta was perhaps responsible for the earthquake near Emon didn’t fully land; Opal was (other than Orym) the party member least tied to the circlet, with no prior interactions with Lolth specifically because she’d spent those dream sequences with Ted.

The hook for existing fans regarding Thordak’s Crater also failed to pay off and I need to stress that “but Matt probably gave that as a starting point” is not a good explanation; either work within the restrictions, or don’t, but a vague inclusion with no payoff in a limited run series really cannot be spun into anything good. I actually think including past lore is good, but because there was no payoff, both new potential viewers and existing fans didn’t get anything out of this. Let’s be real: this is a fandom where people got loudly emotional on social media at the mere idea of Vax showing up in a non-canon one-shot where he would almost certainly be murdered in like three rounds. You don’t really need to sell this to existing fans beyond saying "Emon."

This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy myself, because for the most part I did (although the finale for me, because of the reasons I stated, was by far the weakest episode). I also completely acknowledge this is their first attempt at this shorter format, which is much less forgiving of digressions and tangents, and there probably were a lot of competing expectations. In the end, the main problem was, as I’ve said before, a lot of enthusiasm for the world and trying to be all things to all people. I can’t fault anyone for that; neither can I deny it led to a somewhat rocky and disappointing result.

I’d watch a new season. I’d even be excited for a more tightly plotted follow-up to this one. But also I’ve been a fan of the show for 3+ years and have seen Aabria in several other shows so there’s a lot of built-up goodwill. If I had a friend who was interested in checking out CR but intimidated by the amount of material, or a friend who had taken a break after campaign 2, I would probably recommend they just wait for C3 or hold off to see if EXU season 2 is more tightly plotted.

[garrulouspedant]

The Pilgrim House https://pilgrimhousesantiago.com/ has a wonderful pre-Camino reflection guide, and I thought I'd fill it out. Here goes:

What or who got you interested in the Camino?

Liz Wilkins and Barbara Blackford were talking about it one day on a bike ride around 2011 or 12.  It sounded absolutely amazing, and I thought – I’d really like to do that someday.  The more I learned about it, the more I wanted to do it.  Films like The Way and I’ll Push You deepened my desire to go considerably, as they showed both the beauty and the challenge of being a pilgrim.  I figured it would be something I could do in retirement.  When I got this sabbatical at work, it was the first thing I thought of.  I’m really blessed to be able to do this now.

Do you have goals for your Camino in any of the following areas: physical, spiritual, emotional?

Of course physically I’d like to finish feeling good and uninjured.  In addition, I am still holding on to some anger that I feel like is hindering me in many ways.  I’d like to finally be able to let go of that.  I know from previous experience that doing physically difficult things mean coming to places where you are emotional and feel like you can’t or don’t want to continue.  I’d like to keep those to a minimum, and hold in my heart as much as possible how wonderful it is just to be on this journey.

Everyone says that the Camino provides.  But – that does not mean it gives you what you want. The Camino always gives you what you need.  I am hoping to open myself up to whatever I need the Camino to provide to me.

Are there areas in your life that need healing?

I have some resentment and anger that I need to let go of.  Things are not always fair, and I have had trouble accepting that.  It is only hurting me, and I don’t like feeling that way.

How can you create space for yourself on the Camino to reflect in these areas in order to move toward healing?

If 40 days walking on my own doesn’t create that space, I don’t know what will!!!

What expectations do you have going into your Camino?

I expect to meet wonderful people, eat great food, see beautiful things, and maybe practice my Spanish.  I expect it to be difficult at times.  I expect it to be amazing at times.  I’m assuming that I don’t know the half of what it will actually be, and I’m trying to be ok with that.

What are you concerned or fearful about?

I’ve never spent 6 weeks alone, and I’m nervous about that (though I know I won’t really be alone unless I want to be).  I have some nerves around safety/security, though I know I’m probably in a more risky place for safety in midtown Atlanta where I live.

Is there anything in your life right now that you think will distract or keep you from fully embracing your time away on the Camino?

I hope not.  I think the thing I need to focus on is taking my time.  I’m used to racing, so walking at a leisurely pace is not intuitive to me.  I hope I can be really present for this.

Have you considered purposefully carrying something as you walk or purposefully leaving something behind? (This could be done physically, prayerfully or symbolically.)

I’m going to be physically carrying three things:

a rock from where my father is buried, which is also in the town in New Jersey where I grew up and spent the better part of the first half of my life.

a rock from Piedmont Park, which is in midtown Atlanta, which is where I have spent the better part of the second half of my life

a lovely tree charm that my sister-in-law had blessed and gave me to carry.

I plan to leave the first two behind at Cruz de Ferro. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruz_de_Hierro_(Le%C3%B3n)

[dreamxeyes]

JUST SAW TROS - SPOILERS

my thoughts....

At first I didn’t know what to think.

And then I realized what the problem was with the movie.

It was way too fast paced and lacked feeling.

I understand now why Reylos are upset. I understand why it is getting criticized. I understand now.

But it’s not because Ben died. It’s because we didn’t get a moment to process it.... Anakin had a moment. He actually had lines. He talked to Luke. We got the classic, “You were right... you were right...”

Ben’s last word ever spoken? 

“Ow”

OW??

OW?

While that scene was CUTE and all... he said NOTHING ELSE.

And yes, he and Rey were wonderful. Adam Driver was wonderful. The last fight was wonderful but it was TOO FUCKING SHORT. AND THEY HAD NO LINES WITH EACH OTHER. There was nothing DEEP.

And it’s not that Rey did not appear to mourn for Ben or loved him. It just wasn’t given to us. She did. You could see it in her eyes, but they had to jump from one thing to the next.

And any Reylo moments they had? Far too rushed. Their lines were great, but some of it just seemed so rushed and forced. I hated how Kylo told Rey she was a Palpatine WHILE HE HAD HIS MASK on. It was just not emotional at all. I don’t know if it was because I was already spoiled, but it just didn’t seem like a shocking moment.  Even their final fight together was just too fast. They hardly spoke up until she actually struck him and realized what she had done.

This film broke the classic way to tell a story. There was no build up. We were just hit in the face with action and the characters had to get somewhere quick. They had to jump from thing to thing. Even the characters were just talking to fast. There was no exposition or any moment for the viewer to BREATH.

Even C3-Po, my favorite original character’s lines felt forced. The new characters also felt forced into the story with no real introduction.

The Last Jedi will remain to be the best Star Wars movie for me because the characters were given depth. Reylo was fully formed with great dialogue and chemistry. Their scenes were built up and drawn out, whereas in TROS their scenes were sadly brief.

I’m not heart broken because of the story. I am heart broken because there was not much feeling to this film. My favorite scene was actually when Ben had a moment with his father because that scene did not feel rushed. We actually had a moment to breath and see the emotion. FEEL the emotion. And when Ben threw his light saber... I just.... I loved it.

Star Wars is about feeling something. Yes, Star Wars is about excitement. It’s also fun and comedic at times. But that’s all this movie was. It was just action and comedy, and any scenes that were supposed to be sad lasted 2 minutes.

Again there was no feeling.

JJ said this movie was romantic. I didn’t feel the romance up until the final kiss. There was no build up. All we saw was Rey be angry and afraid of who she was. Ben could have come to her and said there was no reason to be afraid. That he accepted her for who she was. When he came to help her stop Palpatine, he could have said something like, “You’re not alone.” Or ‘I”m here for you.” but no. We just had action and had to interpret their thoughts and feelings. And yes I loved the kiss. Their final moment was too rushed. I wanted them to both say something to each other... more than just “Ben.”

I am just so heart broken. 

I love and hate this movie so much I don’t know what to do.

[respawninguk-blog]

Wow…The sun is too bright for me…I think after spending the last month absorbed into Persona 5, something inside me clicked; an addiction of sorts, a lust, a sort of urge to explore more of the Shin Megami Tensei universe, through any means possible – Especially given that after over 150 hours of painstaking, mask-ripping, Reaper-slaying trauma through my first and second full playthroughs of Persona 5, I missed out on that glittering Platinum trophy by missing one request.

*Insert the sad trombone cue here*

Shin Megami Tensei, first released on the 3DS in 2013 is the fourth numbered title in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, with many comparing it to it’s numbered predecessor, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (Or Lucifer’s Call if you’re here in the EU) to pick apart it’s pro’s and con’s.

Story

SMT IV (Or just SMT4 to keep it short’n’snappy) is a turn-based JRPG set in the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado. No, not the pocky sticks of the same name (Although I am a sucker for ’em)! You fill the role of [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE] (Canonically named ‘Flynn’), an 18-year old teenage boy from the nearby village of Kiccigiorgi attending a coming-of-age event known as the “Gauntlet Rite”, a sacred and ancient ceremony where the holy monks and samurai of Mikado present a legendary gauntlet to the 18-year old citizens of the county to determine it’s next wielder/s…

You attend this rite with your childhood friend Issachar, where, lo and behold, you are accepted as one of the gauntlet’s new users, alongside four others – Isabelle, Johnathan, Walter and Navarre; you lead the life of a Samurai Prentice, abandon your old life (And Issachar too; just don’t look too much into his poor puppy-dog eyes, it looks like someone just kicked his puppy), and begin your work defending the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado against some truly…Otherworldly entities.

From here on out, the world is yours to craft through whatever Alignment you choose – These being Law, Neutral and Chaos. Feel like a righteous hero and want to uphold the Samurai code upon all else? Go Law. Feel like an arsehole and want nothing more than to gain total dominance and power? Go Chaos. Or want to just see where the game takes you? Go completely Neutral. Be warned however, that if you plan on playing SMT4’s sequel, SMT4: Apocalypse straight after SMT4, you may want to go for the Neutral Route.

Gameplay

Now, let me begin this review by just saying this. If you’re coming straight from Persona, and have never dabbled into an SMT title before, then be warned:

This game will KICK. YOUR. ARSE. …Multiple times, of course.

Similar to the Soulsbourne games, you will die a heck of a lot even during the tutorial sections – In fact, SMT IV is known for it’s recklessly hard tutorial, and first 2-5 hours. Prepare to grind, fuse and pray to the almighty various deities above to be able to survive these sections – Planning and coverage here are your two greatest allies, as having a demon for each element and a spell for every circumstance truly cannot be handy enough.

The gameplay in SMT4 serves as a natural evolution of SMT’s Press Turn system, seen in previous games such as Nocturne and Digital Devil Summoner – You have a party of 4, being you and 3 demons, and any supporting characters you may have (These guys however are under AI control); each of your party members get a single turn, where you can perform a single action – Hitting an enemy’s weakness, or getting a critical hit gives you a second turn, increased stats, and more damage output once per character per battle phase; if you’ve played Persona 5, it’s pretty much the same as the Once More system used there if it seems I’m overcomplicating this.

The world is usually traversed in two forms – The overworld is commonly navigated using a sort of Visual Novel-esque location list, which can get kind-of confusing with more complex areas, whereas Dungeons and Demon Domains are navigated on foot, in fully explorable, player-controlled 3D spaces. Random encounters work here exactly the same as in Persona, or other such titles like Spectrobes, with you getting a quick bit of damage off on enemies if you attack them first, and vice versa. One thing, however, that you’ll quickly find is that you will need to resort to two things to progress through the game:

A) DLC quests B) Grinding like a mad bastard

This is where the game halts to a complete stop, as you find yourself more often than not curbstomped by random encounters rather than progressing at a regular, maintainable pace – DLC quests are relatively easy, and offer a crapton of EXP, however grinding takes absolutely ages, and can really put a roadblock in your way.

Trying to find your way and understand what you need to do can also be a bit of a challenge, and can more often than not make you want to turn off your 3DS in pure rage – More time should’ve been invested into something as simple as a little icon to say “Hey, you might want to check this place out!!”…

Visuals

Now, this is where I get a bit…Conflicted. Overall, the visual style of SMT4 is good – Menus are responsive and flashy, albeit sometimes difficult to navigate; environments look good on the 3DS, considering what it has to work with, however character models and some of the sprites just look…Bizarre. There seems to be a serious divide between the old SMT artstyles and the new SMT artstyles, presumably through a change in directing artist. You can look at an enemy such as Napaea, and look at it alongside something else such as Medusa and wonder if they’re even meant to be part of the same game.

It’s certainly a bit of a divide, and personally, I would’ve preferred it if they went all-out with either the old style, or the new style. The reason this works for something like Persona is due to the art being translated to 3D space – That is impossible using 2D sprites, since you can VERY easily tell when something has been digitally or hand-drawn, which you can with SMTIV. I even started a little game where I would try to guess if the demon designs were new or old! Try for yourself…

#gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Other than that though, every other aspect of the game, especially the spells, attacks and ‘execution animations’ are visually stunning, and look great even on the 3DS’s small, low-quality screen.

Soundtrack

Similar to the visuals, the soundtrack has two distinct ‘types’ – Really, REALLY damn good, or really, REALLY damn generic; nearly every single battle theme and some of the overworld themes, however the other half of the overworld themes and dungeon themes just seem so…Generic.

Themes such as the Boss theme (B2), Domain Boss theme (C3) and the standard Battle theme are all god-tier, in my eyes, however don’t expect to be jamming out to something similar to The Days When My Mother Was Here or The Whims of Fate in Persona 5.

Overall, after my first few hours into SMT4, I really am enjoying it – It has a lot of flaws and issues that drag it down, but for a first-timer’s introduction into SMT, it’s pretty good. I just wonder if there is a better place to start than this…

I rate Shin Megami Tensei IV a 7.5 / 10.

Here’s hoping my opinion cultures a bit more the further I get into the game.

Ever since Joe spent over 150 hours in #Persona5, he's been looking for a challenge...Say 'hoy' to #SMT IV!! #3DS Wow...The sun is too bright for me...I think after spending the last month absorbed into Persona 5, something inside me clicked; an addiction of sorts, a lust, a sort of urge to explore more of the Shin Megami Tensei universe, through any means possible - Especially given that after over 150 hours of painstaking, mask-ripping, Reaper-slaying trauma through my first and second full playthroughs of Persona 5, I missed out on that glittering Platinum trophy…