#is to deny a large facet of the reasoning behind his character development and character choices

[mrcowboydeanwinchester]

sam not being the main character wasn't really the point of this post. and i mean. learning about characters through their dialogue is an intrinsic part of storytelling and dean doing scenes with people such as charlie, bobby, benny, cas, donna means we learn about their story AND his. and usually in scenes with women, for example, the story is particularly focused on dean - think his violent arc with charlie during his moc era displaying his loss of control and guilt due to the mark, and his conversation with donna is s14 when he's building the ma'lak box, revolving around his emotional wellbeing - this means that he is the main character.

and then you list the characters that have scenes with sam - rowena, dean, jack, jody, etc - and that is not as long a list as the characters you associated with dean. one of those characters IS dean. and arguably sam's relationship with jody is less explored than dean's (dean using her as a maternal figure etc). so if we are measuring being the main character by the amount and depth of developed relationships with other characters, sam is much less so the main character than dean.

and that is what i am critising in my post! i am not being positive here about sam being seen as a side character! in fact, i would argue that sam being pushed to a supporting character rather than the main character understands his lackluster character development to be MORE unjust than saying he is the main character. recognising that dean becomes the main character over sam is recognising that sam's emotional story narratively becomes seen as less important... thus him appearing not to grieve cas. sam is not the silent hero he is the #silenced hero

i support your samgirling wholeheartedly but objectively dean is the main character. to the detriment of our best friend sam. which is the cause for criticism

the start of s13 is wild because it's so focused on dean's grief that sam just. doesn't get any. so maybe he thinks mary's still alive but his mother is still physically unreachable and he has no idea what has happened to her, which is arguably just as mentally draining and horrific a thing to go through. and cas was his closest friend and he's properly dead; sam was at his funeral. sam watched his best friend die but because cas is closer to dean sam cannot mourn him. and i know it's because dean is the Main Character and has the closest emotional ties with everyone and sam is trying to be the one that helps him and is prioritising dean's grief over his own but god. there's literally no room for his sadness he's hiding his grief in his own house

[secretsofthecastle]

Starting with the basics, characters patronus and wand headcanons and why?

my goodness this has taken me a while!!! i'm not going to post the character patronuses, just because those are spoilers for later when they learn that spell, but the wands have been extremely fun to decide!!! and guys, please do send things into my inbox whenever you want, because this is FUN!!!! this is very long. but please read it!!!!

Beca – fir wood, thunderbird tail feather core, 10.5 inches – it is said that fir wands are well-suited to Transfiguration, and also “favour owners of focused, strong-minded and, occasionally, intimidating demeanour.”. Beca likes to think that her wand chose her due to her intimidating nature, the way she can command a situation, the way she can provoke and defeat an enemy. Stacie frequently reminds her that her wand’s sole desire was to be used for Transfiguration, and that it only settled for someone so not intimidating as Beca due to its thunderbird tail feather core also being useful for Transfiguration and being powerful in and of itself. Whilst Beca agrees to disagree with her friend, she can’t deny how pleased she feels to know that her transfiguration skills ere truly pre-destined. Beca’s wand is 10.5 inches long, on the shorter side of average, but average nonetheless. This is probably due to her introverted personality!

Chloe – chestnut wood, dittany stalk core, 13 inches – chestnut wood is described as “most curious, multi-faceted” allowing the wand to vary in character and taking colour and talent from the personality of its owner. In short, Chloe’s wand moulds perfectly towards her interests, which is wholly ideal for a girl who doesn’t really know what she wants academically or magically but knows that she does indeed love magic and being magical. This wand wood is also well suited to those who are natural fliers and possess great gifts in Herbology. Her wand’s core is made from dittany stalk – whilst this is seen as inferior and old-fashioned, dittany also possess unique healing abilities! This speaks to Chloe’s innate desire to always see the good in people and help out where she can. Her wand aids her in her desires but becomes temperamental when used for magic or subjects that Chloe does not enjoy. Her wand is particularly long, which Ollivander assumes is down to her large, bubbly personality and big presence in any room. (When stepping into his wand shop at aged 11, Chloe greeted him in excitement, talking his ear off about how excited she was to choose a wand and complimenting the dusty, dark shop immensely).

Benji – ash wood, unicorn hair core, 8.5 inches – Ash wood wands are extremely loyal to their original owners, worse so when cored with unicorn hair. Those with ash wands are typically “kind and generous with a gift for seeing what is beautiful in the world and in others”. It makes perfect sense for this wand to have chosen Benji, who truly has no bad things to say about anybody. He fears those who are unkind, and his wand matches his personality in this way. It is said that the magical tools made from Ash are productive due to the Ash tree attracting energy. This wand aids him immensely during Herbology! However, this wand has a unicorn hair core – this is perfect for Benji, as his wand will never become unloyal to him no matter how little he uses it, but unfortunately, these cores do not make for powerful wands. This makes it more difficult for Benji to execute basic spells and may be the reason why he occasionally falls behind in his wand-based classes. Benji’s wand is only 8.5 inches long. Short wands tend to choose wizards whose character lacked something – for Benji, he lacks courage. This does not mean that courage cannot be learnt and developed over his time at Hogwarts!

Jesse – dogwood, veela hair core, 12 inches – It is said that matching a dogwood wand with its owner is always entertaining, due to the fact that Dogwood wands are “quirky and mischievous” possessing “playful natures” and insisting upon “partners who can provide them with scope for excitement and fun”. Jesse’s favourite thing to do at Hogwarts is goof around and be silly. He tries to focus on his work when prompted by his smartest and most driven friends, or by his family, but he loves to have fun and loves to use his magic for entertainment, be that to create flying paper birds, or to procure flowers. When Jesse walked into Ollivander’s to purchase this wand, as soon as he stepped through the threshold, his wand began to rattle in its box. This may also be due to its veela hair core, which Ollivander states makes for ‘temperamental’ wands. I believe this core also aids Jesse in spells with romantic intent. This makes magic done with this wand charming!

Aubrey – elm wood, white river monster spine core, 12.5 inches – elm wood is known to produce the fewest accidents, least foolish errors, and the most elegant and sophisticated charms and spells. Of course, Aubrey would settle for nothing less. In fact, she strode right into Ollivander’s and requested an elm wand without so much of a greeting first. When told that the wand chooses the witch, Aubrey snapped back that she knew, and she also knew that only an elm wood wand would be choosing her. How she had predicted her wand Ollivander would never know, though he had a sneaking suspicion that it was something to do with being a Posen, like the minister of magic. Ollivander showed her several elmwood wands - none of which matched her perfectly - until coming across the white river monster spine core. This was a curious wand, as Ollivander knew it to be amongst the most powerful and most elegant in the shop. It fit Aubrey perfectly.

Cynthia Rose – spruce wood, phoenix feather, 11.5 inches - the spruce wand is said to be ill-matched with cautious or nervous owners. This came as no surprise to Cynthia Rose, whose friends thought her to be the bravest, coolest, most confident individual they had ever met. Not a sheep and never a conformist, Cynthia Rose’s wand reflected her personality perfectly, requiring a firm hand and a temperament to perform magic whatever way it wanted to. In fact, Ollivander had tried this wand on many young witches and wizards over the years, but to no avail – every one did nothing but cause intense havoc in his shop. This was no doubt due to the phoenix feather core, being as powerful as it is and having as much initiative as it does. Without fail, glass would be broken, shelves completely dismantled, desks and tables of the strongest wood shattered. It was not until Cynthia Rose entered the shop, with excitement and grace and certainty of her ability to be chosen, did the wand behave.

Stacie – walnut wood, white river monster spine core, 14 inches -  It is said that only the most intelligent witches and wizards were to be matched with a wand of walnut wood. It was all but impossible not to perform magic – both good and bad – with a wand like this, a wand which trusted its owners capabilities no matter what, with little regard to morality. This wand was one which answered to those who understood exactly the way in which their magic was to be used, those who were interested in perfecting magic rather than simply doing it. When paired with the core of the white river monster spine, this wand is sure to produce the most elegant and powerful magic for an elegant and powerful witch. Its abnormally tall height is Stacie’s proof to her friends that she will certainly always be the tallest in their group, and that she may go into modelling after completing her studies to become a witch at Hogwarts.

Luke – hornbeam wood, jackalope antler core, 13 inches – the hornbeam wand adores a wizard with a passion, an obsession, if you will. Luke has been following Quidditch as avidly as any lifelong fan since the age of four. He lives and breathes and thinks Quidditch. It is extremely difficult to find Luke walking around Hogwarts in anything but some variants of his quidditch uniform, even if he simply has his quidditch jumper on underneath his robes and over his shirt and tie. Music is interesting too, but he prefers not to delve into the Hogwarts music scene, with its frog choirs and its awful school song. Luke’s style of magic is what drew his wand to him, as his spells are always deeply intentional. Even if that intention is simply to escape a lesson as soon as possible or take so long that the time moves faster. The jackalope antler core helps here. It is a misconception that this wand core’s properties are unknown – in fact, they are aligned with help. Help to the owner who desires something more strongly than anyone. This wand has gotten Luke in trouble with Madam Hooch a few times too many, being sentient enough to go off at inopportune times in flying lessons, or worse during a match.

[communisticrevolution]

I wrote an essay on Jalph because I’m a maniac and a nerd - here’s that.

(Apologies for how inevitably awful it is, but I really hope you enjoy!)

When analysing the unique and vastly contrasting characters of Jack and Ralph within Lord of the Flies, published in 1954 and written by William Golding, it is evident that some homoerotic undertones and implied mutual romantic attraction are prevalent. As the book’s major theme of the descent into savagery and complete abolition of perceived civilisation continues to alter the genuine nature of human interactions and behaviour, both as portrayed by individual relations and internally conflicting morals, the actions of Jack and Ralph towards each other also decline in ethicality as the original tension, inferred to be fuelled by an amorous motive or ideal, transforms into a rivalry and contrasting group dynamic.

Upon their first encounter with each other, the two typically somewhat extroverted, natural leaders, who have and continue to express social attributes (although Ralph is, admittedly, poor at articulating his ideas and emotions), are reduced to conversing almost exclusively using brief expressions which lack eloquence. They become awkward and demonstrate many of the characteristics frequently attached to the embarrassment found in first love, particularly in youth, and immediately after meeting an individual attraction is felt towards. Only a few pages into their first interactions, following Ralph summoning the equally stranded choir boys through use of the discovered conch shell, Jack and Ralph “smiled at each other with shy liking” (page 20), indicating a definitive, automatic bond developed later through further conversation and actions. This quotation implies something beyond mere desired friendship and perceived platonic compatibility, especially regarding the conflicting symbolic interpretations of both characters; Jack, a power-hungry, savagely primitive persona who strives to enact a regime resembling a dictatorship upon the boys, and Ralph, more representative of safety, civilisation, clearer ideas of morality, a tie to the adult world, and democratic government. Such a vastly contrasting set of ideals enforces a sense of tension and easily sparked conflict due to the disposition of having a fragmented relationship, and also alludes to the potential presence of a trope frequently incorporated into fictional relations, but also ubiquitous within genuine people, in keeping with Golding’s apparent views on society and human nature being dark but complex, with many layers of emotions and feelings in which love and hate are often blurred and become convoluted.  Ultimately, there is a recurring theme throughout later interactions, which links back to the original expression delivered in a manner which suggests romantic chemistry.

Later on that exact page, there is a reinforcement of suggestive inclinations between Jack and Ralph, more explicit in the sense of lacking the vaguer, childish romance usually portrayed. Ralph is described to have “glanced admiringly” at Jack’s “grey shorts,” also illustrated to be “sticking to him with sweat,” focusing more greatly on the physical attraction experienced despite the other, equally relevant aspects of their relationship and mutually expressed desire. These are indicated via discussion and the emotional impacts they and their actions have on each other, regardless of the confidence expressed by both parties to be significant, commanding features of their personalities. This demonstrates that, completely besides all other implications, traits, motives and behaviours made more blatantly obvious throughout later chapters, the dynamic between both boys has undeniably romantic undertones, reminiscent of youthful infatuation, which, at an early stage in the novel, could develop further or be stunted to the extent of nonexistence, at least on behalf of one individual character.

As the story progresses and Jack and Ralph’s views on society and leadership become increasingly more extreme and disparate, Ralph appears to remain attached, as expressed by his miserable behaviour and constant pining, which Jack ignores and remains fuelled only by a desire to impress, succeed, and hunt, prioritising immense gain in power and authority above all relationships and other necessary factors to be considered in attempting survival. This includes the maintenance of his original closeness with and immediate appeal found in one with Ralph, who he seemed to care about and strived to please before his views on ethicality and its importance spiralled into a level of near nonexistence. When Jack finally abandons Ralph and decides to establish his own group, intent on hunting and killing, Ralph sinks into a state of pure desperation, where his hope diminishes to a degree not previously reached and his child-like optimism is replaced, eventually, by a cynicism seemingly brought on by the atrocities he has witnessed and an inexplicable unhappiness made perceptible by Jack’s ceasing to comply and live within the body of civilisation he has attempted to create. Ralph expresses to Piggy, with a buoyancy appearing to have ulterior motives and emotions behind it, that “when the sun goes down, he’ll come” (page 140), perhaps demonstrating more his personal desires than a rational outlook on the situation. His ability to behave logically deteriorates significantly when in Jack’s presence and influenced by a willingness to be seen favourably by him, truly showing that this opinion is valued on a level only explained well by viewing the implied romantic undertones and feelings Ralph has for him. Ralph’s mental and physical regression essentially occurs in close adherence to the collective descent into savagery and loss of key priorities experienced surrounding the previously crucial objective of being rescued – this aligns more specifically with Jack’s loss of innocence and civilisation, as well as the evident decrease in his own moral values and closeness to Ralph and his group, which extends as he draws closer to animalistic primitivity and further away from the categorically human emotions and behaviours illustrated formerly through their seemingly intimate connection.

Finally, towards the end of the novel itself, when engaged in conversation with Samneric and in relation to his internal, paranoia-fuelled monologue (whilst being hunted down by Jack’s tribe following Piggy’s brutally-enforced demise and an intense fight between the respective protagonist and antagonist), Ralph fully articulates and confronts the original intent and indubitability of his relationship with Jack, stating that “there was that indefinable connection between himself and Jack; who therefore would never let him alone; never” (page 204). The use of the word “indefinable” automatically implies to the reader that it’s difficult to clearly vocalise and hence perhaps something perceivably obscene and profane when considered with historical context, a concept which could easily be applied to both the stigma surrounding same-sex attraction and the inherent embarrassment and denial of many first genuine ardent sentiments. His connection with Jack is beyond expression via the medium of words, which is an attribute typically attached to love because of the candid and profound nature of such a feeling and its portrayal within society. This connection is perhaps a reference to the mutual romantic interest suggested from the beginning of the text, to their immensely contrasting and intense power struggle, to the end of the novel, where although all former positive relations have completely deteriorated, some elements of their past interrelation still cannot be truly denied, even by the omniscient narrator and Ralph himself. Additionally, on page 209, Ralph also suggests his feelings of remorse over their loss of friendship through the combination of question and statement underlying in “what have I done? I liked him – and I wanted us to be rescued - “, a comment which admittedly could feasibly be interpreted as solely reminiscing over a tragically lost platonic relationship through the pull of power, bloodlust, and an inherent desire to attain complete dominance and superiority, which is illustrated particularly through Jack’s motives and underlying characteristics. However, when considered in special regards to the implications and allusions to romance between the characters of Ralph and Jack, I personally believe it could be increasingly sufficient evidence to the aforementioned, especially when analysing prior interactions and the definitive reference to them as an individual unit that lies somewhat outside the general bubble of their vaguely structured civilisation (or lack thereof). This could be construed as exhibiting their connection as beyond the early, childish comradery shown within their first engagements and fundamental original character development, and also as something greater and more complexly multi-faceted than the pure, largely unfacilitated, burning hatred signified later on, in keeping with Jack’s metamorphosis into a tribal, aggressive dictator, which is inevitably incredibly far from the C sharp-singing choir boy he was originally portrayed as.

Overall, as far as it can be legitimately argued, I would conclude that there is adequate evidence and textual reference to the viability of romantic undertones lying within Jack and Ralph’s characterisation and collective relationship, and that it could easily be proclaimed as a valid interpretation, despite the tendency of disagreeing parties to expostulate and contradict without consulting genuine quotations or implications found in the novel itself. However, as much as significant corroboration is located within the early passages of Lord of the Flies, it is equally rational and reasonable to state that as the book progresses and tensions are increased exponentially between the two characters, a considerable amount of their previously clear attraction to each other ceases to exist almost entirely, as Jack becomes increasingly fixated with the idea of complete, totalitarian authority and desire to engage in violent behaviours, eventually almost murdering Ralph in a severe conflict, leaving the ending of potential return to society lacking ultimate clarification in many aspects. Regardless, despite the inevitability of the relationship being fundamentally damaging and hence understandably corrupt, I personally believe that it was alluded to throughout the text, and is perhaps merely used by Golding as a subconscious device to show the effect of potential, primitive descent into savagery and lust for power on human relationships and interactions.

[rwbyconversations]

Why I think some people don’t like Jaune

Jaune Arc. Jauney boy. You make very hard to like you sometimes. 

Jaune Arc is almost certainly the most discussed character in RWBY, even more so than the titular four girls. This is not a very good thing. Since the early days of Volume 1, Jaune has been derided and mocked by portions of the community, often dismissed as a poorly planned out audience surrogate, a writer-insert and/or Miles shoving in a cliche shonen protagonist into Monty’s tapestry of art. That last one is hyperbole, for the record. But regardless, Jaune is far from unanimously loved by the fandom- just go see how many RWDE posts are about him. I tried reading some of them and after I finished washing my eyes out with bleach, I found myself mildly disagreeing with their contents. 

(sidenote if anyone ever convinces Dudeblade to learn how to use italics, bold or underline to emphasize something instead of random capitalization like Baby’s First Word Doc I will actually pay you in pesos)

But while the reasons people give for hating Jaune are many, some of them have little basis in reality. Others, meanwhile, are quite painfully true and have incredibly valid criticisms that can be applied to RWBY as a whole at the core of their message. So today, I’d like to explain why I think some people hate Jaune, why some of the reasons don’t hold much weight, and why a few are quite valid.

Reason 1) “Jaune’s a Self/Author Insert!” 

Perhaps the most common and damning criticism of Jaune, especially in the earlier volumes, were claims that Jaune was just an insert character for Miles to fawn over. Miles and Kerry have themselves said that Miles has had very little to do with writing Jaune in the show proper since Volume 1, and that most of Jaune’s larger scenes were done at the behest of Kerry or Monty. Quote:

In the first few Volumes, if Jaune was in a scene it was almost always because either Monty or myself wanted him in a scene. From the very beginning, Monty was very big on having that archetype of character be fairly prominent in the show. Miles has always been incredibly hesitant to insert Jaune into scenes, to the point where he's voiced before that he wishes sometimes that he didn't voice him.

That said, this only came out in early 2018 after Volume 5 had already wrapped. In the years before then, many a fan was utterly convinced that Miles was behind most of Jaune’s more limelight-hogging scenes in Volume 1 particularly. This wasn’t helped by some quotes of Miles that got taken out of context, primarily that he based Jaune off himself as a younger teenager (the quote is in fact referring to Jaune’s voice).

Fandom also plays a purpose in Jaune gaining the inglorious title of self-insert. Jaune’s lack of a semblance, conventional attractiveness, age that put him close to the girls and vague backstory meant it was very easy for fanfiction writers to appropriate Jaune into whatever they needed, which at best included harem comedies and at worst...

Well, hell on earth. Fandom has had a large impact on RWBY, and I believe the “self-insert” accusations regarding Jaune are perhaps the most clear example of this. Some people do still believe to this day that Jaune is an SI, but I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the writing team and assume that no, any intent was not maliciously planted and it was an accident.

Reason 2) Jaune’s an audience surrogate

This one actually has basis in reality since the crew have actually said Jaune’s purpose in the early volumes was to be the audience surrogate (see above, second bolded part). To explain the term the audience surrogate is a character, usually found in fantasy or science fiction stories, who is new to the setting and its more complex rules. Thus, when someone tells this character how the system works, it doesn’t feel weird for the audience to have this information. We learn with the character, drawing us further into the setting. On the surface, an audience surrogate is not a bad storytelling device, but what it comes down to is execution, and here is where I feel that RWBY falls flat on its face in handling Jaune.

Jaune’s primary purpose in the first half of Volume 1 is largely to serve as the vehicle through which we discover Aura. Aura, the resource incredibly common in-setting and able to be tracked to an exact percentile in tournaments. In fact, Aura is so easily tracked, Remnant’s smartphones can track other people’s Auras no sweat. Most audience surrogates usually only need lore explained to them when it’s a rare facet of life, hence why it’s often seen in fantasies with magic to get the reader caught up on the rules. 

For example, in the Mistborn series, while Vin is aware of burning metal, she unlocks her Mistborn powers at the beginning of the trilogy and then has to learn about the other metals she didn’t know she possessed, and gets further training on the one metal (brass) she could burn that she thought was just her luck. As well, Vin infiltrates high society, so alongside learning about the different metals, we also use Vin’s inexperience to learn how high society works under the Lord Ruler.

For Jaune to have no clue about Aura, despite the commonality of it in-setting, is almost unthinkable and essentially requires his parents to have locked him in a basement for his entire life. While surrogates aren’t meant to know everything about a setting, it is expected that they at least know the basics- again, see Vin from Mistborn as an example of this.  Therefore, I will not deny that Jaune is an audience surrogate. However, I do believe that Jaune is a bad audience surrogate who breaks the internal rules of a character alongside the logical rules of the setting.

Reason 3) Jaune’s a cliche shonen lead

Let me rattle off a quick idea for a story, like I’m giving an elevator pitch.

Our story is about a young boy (usually with spiky hair) who goes to join a magical academy so he can slay monsters. He’s not proficient in the art of combat but he has a big heart and genuinely tries most of the time, so through outside circumstances he manages to enroll in the school. Immediately, he gets pegged by the headmaster for special reasons and develops a crush with an cold-hearted young woman who rebukes his advances. All the while, he develops a close friendship with a shy girl who is holding a candle for him but he doesn’t see her desires until it’s too late. In the meantime, he continues to train to prove himself a great hero.

Now, who did I describe. Jaune Arc? Or half of the shonen genre? There’s a reason for the popularity in the stock shonen hero cliche- it’s pretty easy to get right on the first try, makes for a mostly likable hero who the audience can get behind and root for as they aspire to become a Pokemon master collect the Dragonballs win the Battle City Finals become the greatest hero who ever lived. Jaune hits a lot of the cliches of the Stock Shonen Hero in early RWBY, and this set off alarm bells in the minds of many of RWBY’s more anime-conscious fans. The moment Jaune fell for Weiss and she shot him down, the early fanbase were on-edge about Jaune. RWBY had been advertised as four girls fighting monsters and kicking ass with great choreography. And here comes this blonde wannabe in a hoody trying to insert a love triangle into all of that? Yeah, no thanks. Again, this was likely something Monty intentionally pushed through since the AMA says Monty was big on Jaune’s archetype being in the show.

Though Jaune, in my opinion at least, did step away from these trappings later in RWBY, becoming more sullen and less focused on traditional shonen ideals, the early days played no small role in defining why people loathed Jaune in early RWBY. And once the label of “shonen lead” was plastered onto Jaune, it would prove nearly impossible to remove. 

In all honesty, this is one of the smaller reasons for people’s dislike of Jaune, but notable in that it set the groundwork- people already dismissed him as a cheap shonen lead, and that principle latched onto Jaune like gum onto a shoe. 

Reason 4) Jaune’s stealing scenes and where it hurts characters

Though Jaune has had a significantly reduced presence in RWBY since Volume 1, it seems that his primary scenes in Volumes 4 and 5 had a very unintended consequence of taking away from other characters. One of the often-cited scenes of this is Volume 4 Chapter 10, Kuroyuri.

The scene is set for Ruby to finally confront the trauma bubbling beneath the surface that had been eating at her since Volume 3- Penny and Pyrrha’s joint deaths and the Fall of Beacon, her Silver Eyes and how no one was willing to talk to her about them. And yet who does most of the speaking in this scene? Jaune. Jaune indirectly hijacks the scene away from Ruby so that instead it can become a scene of, quite frankly, platitudes that ring hollow. Despite supposedly being a scene where Ruby is being built up, despite supposedly being about Ruby,  and how inspiring she is, the active character in the scene, the one with agency and prevalent on-screen characterization... Is Jaune.

Volume 5 Chapter 11 is the other standout example of this, in what is now an infamous string of events. Jaune basically hijacks not one, not two, but three active character arcs- he again strips Ruby of her agency by going after Cinder, who also has her sub-plot of hating Ruby curtly kicked out a window because of Jaune hogging her attention, and then Weiss takes a frankly insulting dive so that Cinder has someone to spear so we have a cheap cliffhanger so dramatic tension can die onscreen so Jaune can have an excuse to pop his Semblance’s virginity. And let me stress, Ruby has about as much agency as some belly-button fluff for the rest of the Battle of Haven and by extension the entire Volume.

This is a reasoning for disliking Jaune that I fully understand and can get behind. Through a mix of tragic circumstance (the Volume 5 scene is effectively the one time Jaune takes relevance in the entire volume) and some mind-boggling creative choices, Jaune now twice in a row stripped Ruby of agency she has desperately needed, interrupted a two-year in the making subplot with Cinder, and indirectly killed RWBY’s dramatic stakes. Did you really think they’d kill Weiss in Volume 5? Exactly, no one really thought they’d go through on it, Weiss and the rest of RWBY are basically safe until the last two or three volumes. Regardless of whether or not Jaune is meant to be seen as a main character or a side, his focus scenes have the tragic mishap of constantly coming at the expense of someone else being undermined.  

Reason 5) He’s... not actually that good a strategist.

Jaune is a crap fighter, he’ll readily admit to being much weaker in direct combat than anyone else in the heroes side. So instead, he adopted the sub-trope of shonen leads, the strategist/quick thinker. Be it Izuku in My Hero Academia or many of the protagonists in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, shonen has a long history of heroes who fight as much with their minds as they do with their fists.

Here’s the problem with that. Jaune’s really bad at being a strategist. In fact, despite not even doing it since Volume 3, Ruby has displayed far more tactical acumen than Jaune.

JNPR vs BRNZ isn’t won through tactical skill beyond just throwing Nora at the problem after Divine Cindervention (compare this with how effortless RWBY make taking down ABRN look). Jaune even rips off Ruby’s idea of code-names but his attempt fails due to insufficient practice. Meanwhile Ruby says “Checkmate” in Volume 5 and despite not having trained together for months, Blake and Weiss immediately jump into action.   

Jaune explicitly quotes one of RNJR having said "you're the strategist", and is the character that gets to come up with a plan for taking down the Petra Gigas. And even though the way his plan is phrased initially gets played as humorous, his dumb strategy ultimately gets vindicated by actually working.

“Keep moving, run in a circle” is pretty poor advice (in fact, Ren had already been trying this strategy when Jaune said it and the Nuck still landed a blow on him), but in-universe it’s treated like gospel. Nobody points out how weak Jaune’s strategies are because from a meta perspective, the only way Jaune is able to stay relevant in fights in Volume 4 is to shout inane “strategies.” The issue with this is that (yet again) it comes at the expense of other characters, including (again) Ruby, who in Volumes 1 through 3 was shown as far sharper when it came to using her team and their strengths. Everyone else on the hero side has to take an intellectual dive so Jaune can take home a glorified participation trophy. 

Jaune using his greatsword for a stabbing attack when it’s built for slashing in the Haven battle. I brought this up in my “What went wrong at Haven?” post, but I thought it was worth repeating that this is a massive blunder.

Reason 6) General misc stuff

I couldn’t make full points of these, so I made bullet points for some of the smaller reasons Jaune is disliked

The Weiss obsession. There’s no real nice way of sugarcoating Jaune’s actions in Volume 2, no means no. That this came about from some glorified improv and the idea that it would be a funny idea makes my stomach churn. 

The bully arc taking so much time. Thanks to how Volume 1 cut some episodes, Jaune’s arc with Cardin took four weeks in real life to complete. This only exaggerated the issues people took with Jaune, and had RWBY not immediately come back with the fight-scene Renaissance piece that was Blake and Sun vs Roman, I can’t imagine how many people would have dropped the show thanks to an after-school special that got wedged in their fighting anime.

Jaune looking away and letting Cinder shoot Amber. Ignoring that Cinder’s Semblance can let her shoot around targets, which she does in the Pyrrha fight, Jaune never stood a chance against Cinder, and no matter what, most friends would be distracted by their friend’s agonized screams and would likely turn around in despair.

Jaune hating Qrow in Volume 4. Thanks to Jaune being the one member of RNJR willing to call out Qrow for his and Ozpin’s parts in Pyrrha’s death, Jaune got some flack from Qrow’s notable fandom. Ironically enough, people began to dislike Jaune more when he refused to ever act on these feelings after Ozpin’s return in Volume 5, with Jaune only ever calling out Ozpin after Yang did it with the Birds Reveal (I’ve written a piece before about why that reveal fell flat). His out of nowhere tepidness in approaching Ozpin regarding Pyrrha’s death was so out-of-nowhere that people were begging for Jaune to have screentime again, that’s how random it was.

To conclude, there are many reasons why people hate Jaune Arc, and the story doesn’t really help his case a lot of the time in all honesty. While some of the stated reasons are far from logical (I at least hope I’ve explained why I think he’s not a self-insert), Jaune unfortunately fails to set himself as a distinct character without it usually biting someone else in the ass. He fails to be a proper audience surrogate due to lacking essential knowledge about the setting. He has an unfortunate tendency to overshadow other characters and hijack their plots for his own scenes (poor Ruby), and he fails to even be that competent a strategist, leaving his supposed skills to be more of an informed attribute. Add in a variety of smaller reasons for his hatedom, legitimate or not, that have stacked up over the years, and Jaune unfortunately has several valid reasons to dislike him. While I still personally like the Noodle Boy, and I do hope that he can develop and grow stronger as a fighter, tactician and character in the coming future, I cannot deny that I fully understand why people would be turned off by Jaune. So much could have been done with Jaune, but much like a bad salad that comes before a great main course, you’ve already lost your appetite before the main servings arrive.

To surmise, Jaune-hate began because of a perfect storm of circumstances that would be impossible to make happen on purpose. He could have recovered from the flirting with Weiss, the Audience Surrogate/Shonen lead status, or being the main character in several drawn-out arcs, but all at once? Was too much for any one character to bear, and Jaune was unfortunately the character who had all of this lumped on him within a year of the show beginning.

Thank you for reading.

... damnit kid why do you make it so hard to like you sometimes I don’t like doing this

[lindsay36ho]

Nelson Goerner – Exploring the depths

Nelson Goerner is a sort of ‘rare bird’ on the concert platform. Each of his concerts is a unique experience. His most recent CDs featuring major works by Brahms, Godowsky and Paderewski are simply breathtaking. Eric Shoones met him in Groningen to discuss his recordings, his views on his artistry and about Maria Tipo, with whom he studied.

Goerner grew up in San Pedro, a small town near Buenos Aires. He was a prodigy who taught himself to read and write before he was three years old. When he was seventeen he played for Martha Argerich and, with her help, gained a scholarship in Europe. On her advice he went to Maria Tipo, by then already a legend, for further instruction. He won the Concours de Genève and eventually even took over Maria Tipo’s class at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. At the invitation of Daniel Barenboim he recently also taught for two years at the Barenboim-Said-Akademie in Berlin. But Nelson Goerner’s focus is primarily on giving concerts – much to the delight of his audiences.

– Maria Tipo wasn’t unknown in Argentina. – No, she was an icon, and played everywhere – not just in Buenos Aires. When I took my entrance exam in Geneva, I immediately felt that something incredible awaited me.

– She was a very demanding teacher. – (laughs) Very much so; all of her students were reduced to tears at some point. She was enormously critical, also of herself, and was rarely satisfied with her playing. She really liked teaching, and never forgot an appointment. We spent a lot of time together, and she really took care of her pupils. After teaching for hours she would then go and practise herself. Generous as she was; she let me play one of her concerts because, despite winning the prestigious Geneva competition, I had very few opportunities to perform at first. My career was slow to get started. She knew it would take a while before I got a proper engagement in Italy, and that’s why she let me take her place.

Nelson Goerner and Martha Argerich

– Quite unlike the teachers who alienate their pupils from concerts. – Yes, I’d like to stress that. She put in an appearance at the concert, and also made the arranger aware that she hadn’t cancelled because she’s received a better offer or because she wanted to be rid of it. It was a most unusual thing to do. I played Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata. She was very exact about the structure, the context and the dynamic construction of the fugue. Above all it shouldn’t sound like a stunt. She was a very natural pianist; just watching her play was a lesson in itself. She had an incredible legato, like a great singer, and her use of the pedal was quite extraordinary – all the critics wrote about it. She combined sonorities in a magical, very unorthodox way. ‘You have to stroke the keys’, as her mother Ersilia Cavallo always said, who had studied first with a pupil of Rubinstein and later under Busoni. Her sound was never hard or aggressive, the way you often hear today, and that’s insufferable. Listen to her Scarlatti recordings, which made her famous at a stroke in 1955. So refined – they’re really dances, and she doesn’t imitate the harpsichord, but uses all the potential of the piano, with taste, character and imagination. Every sonata has its own character.

– When I listened in on your rehearsals yesterday, I was struck by the way you work with sound relationships within a chord, between melody, bass and middle parts. – Yes, it’s hard to make a chord sing; the balance between the various voices is so important; you train your fingers, but you train your ears even more. Ultimately you can achieve unbelievable things even on a mediocre piano, and I try to develop this sensitivity to sonority in my pupils as well.

– Your most recent CD include music by Paderewski, Godowsky and Brahms. Can you discern the pianist behind the composer? – Always, and especially in the case of pianists like Godowsky who had such an all-encompassing technique. Paderewski was a fabulous pianist as well. His recording of his own Nocturne, Op. 16 No. 4 – which I have recorded too – is incredible, but I also admire La leggierezza by Liszt and the F minor Variations by Haydn greatly. Likewise, for instance, Grieg’s Ballade and Chopin’s Études played by Godowsky.

– You say that Godowsky was always nervous at recordings. – Yes, unfortunately there aren’t any recordings of him in large-scale works, but that applies to many artists. I never heard Arthur Rubinstein in person, but some of his live recordings give an idea of what he sounded like in real life, and I find this immediacy slightly lacking in his studio recordings.

– Therefore the recently discovered recording by Rachmaninov is also so stunning. – Exactly, he wasn’t aware that he was being recorded. The idea that something was being set down for all eternity made him nervous too. But a recording is just a snapshot in your development.

‘I’ve already been living with Brahms’s Third Sonata for 25 years.’

– Is that why you perform the programme of your CDs in concert first? – Absolutely, it’s essential – not the other way around in order to sell more CDs! A CD is the result of a long process of study, searching for the meaning of every note – a process that continues in concerts too – where, if you feel at ease on stage, you find out a lot that doesn’t become apparent when practising at home. It’s the only way. I’ve already been living with Brahms’s Third Sonata for 25 years – half my life. It’s such an incredible piece; it contains everything – power, drama, youthful optimism. Brahms was still young, but already in possession of all his faculties. Moreover it’s also very original for its time.

– And still – not every recording is the result of such a long process. – No; I played Paderewski’s Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme at the request of the Chopin Institute, where I’m a member of the advisory board, and it was love at first sight. I love playing Paderewski’s Piano Concerto, but the Variations are more profound, in a certain sense enigmatic, psychologically very multi-faceted, and the fugue is grandiose. People see Paderewski as a miniaturist, but this is something wholly different. I hope that in a modest way I can contribute to the fame of these Variations.’

– And the feeling of freedom during a concert? – Yes, I try to achieve that in the studio too, but it’s very difficult, because at a concert you’re sharing the music with hundreds of people. That’s a very special feeling. For that reason I make as many live recordings as possible. In the studio you’re searching more for an ideal.

– Is there such a thing? – At a specific moment, yes, but the concept keeps on developing, and that’s why I don’t like listening to my own recordings.

– At the rehearsal yesterday I noticed how a single note can clarify the structure of a piece, so that unexpected dimensions arise. – I learned that from the great pianists such as Josef Hofmann and Ignaz Friedman. They reveal the psychological content of the music in such an immediately recognizable way, without losing their personalities and without placing their own egos in the foreground. Just recently I heard Josef Hofmann in Chopin’s Fourth Ballade. So extreme, individual and overwhelming, with a demonic power, intense lyricism, and completely in Chopin’s spirit. His pupil Shura Cherkassky was recently a role model for me in this respect.

– Many would regard it as a gamble to play Brahms’s Paganini Variations in concert. – (laughs) And so it is. They’re notoriously difficult, but their virtuosity is not that of Liszt, who was also a performer in the best sense of the word. He makes some concessions to the taste of his time, when the piano gained its place as the king of instruments. I am totally against the view – often still encountered today – that Liszt was superficial; but unfortunately many pianists still go for superficial virtuosity.

– The same is actually true of Rachmaninov. – You shouldn’t play the Third Concerto like a big show. Listen to Rachmaninov himself; he has so much grandeur, and it’s so noble, so rich and also so emotional. He never displays his technique for its own sake. It’s impossible to deny the truth of this role model.

– You have no time for great extravagance. – I have learned to avoid it completely – a very important point, because it keeps you away from the real meaning of the music. You can see with the really great pianists: they don’t try to seduce the audience with grand gestures, for example. If you do that, you’re more concerned with yourself, and less with the music. Consciously or unconsciously – both are bad. I also see it as one of my duties as a teacher to make genuine talents aware of this. You must approach the music from within, I don’t decide anything from the externals. It remains an eternal quest – otherwise you just turn into a copy of yourself.

Recent Albums

Brahms: Sonata, Op. 5; Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 39. Alpha Classics 557

Paderewski: Variations and Fugue; Godowsky: Künstlerleben. Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, NIFCCD 061

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Author: Eric Schoones

More about Nelson Goerner: www.nelsongoerner.com

This article is a contribution from the German and Dutch magazine Pianist through Piano Street’s International Media Exchange Initiative and the Cremona Media Lounge.

Pianist Magazine is published in seven countries, in two different editions: in German (for Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxemburg and Liechtenstein) and in Dutch (for Holland and Belgium). The magazine is for the amateur and professional alike, and offers a wide range of topics connected to the piano, with interviews, articles on piano manufacturers, music, technique, competitions, sheetmusic, cd’s, books, news on festivals, competitions, etc. For a preview please check: www.pianist-magazin.de or www.pianistmagazine.nl

from Piano Street’s Classical Piano News https://www.pianostreet.com/blog/articles/nelson-goerner-exploring-the-depths-10073/

[spicynbachili2]

Red Dead Redemption 2 Review

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A meticulously polished open world ode to the outlaw period.

By Luke Reilly

Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 is a sprawling Western story of loyalty, conviction, and the worth of infamy, chronicling the inevitable collapse of a motley crew of Wild West holdouts kicking in opposition to the sluggish march of civilisation and industrialisation. Set in Rockstar’s most genuine and lived-in open world ever, there are such a lot of issues to do, so many individuals to satisfy, and so many locations to discover it’s giddily overwhelming. Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 isn’t simply Rockstar’s best achievement thus far; it’s a sport so missing in compromise it’s robust to know the place greatest to begin discussing it.

So let’s begin firstly: It’s 1899 and American outlaws are an endangered species. Dutch van der Linde and his gang are on the run after a botched heist within the rising city of Blackwater and so they’ve retreated excessive into the mountains the place an atrocious blizzard is masking their escape. We slip into the spurs of Arthur Morgan, an exceedingly cool and succesful outlaw who was discovered by Dutch as a boy and raised on the fallacious facet of the regulation, and settle in for a roughly 60-hour story.

It’s a self-contained and linear introduction nevertheless it’s a intelligent one. The slick cinematics make a hell of first impression, embedding you within the gang and bringing you proper up near the characters who’re doing their greatest to bellow over the howling wind. It additionally positioned me in a distraction-free bubble whereas I discovered a few of Pink Lifeless Redemption 2’s early controls and programs, which heightened the impression of getting the total map divulge heart’s contents to me a couple of hours later. The situations on the mountain are nearly claustrophobic, with visibility at a premium and thick snow trapping Arthur’s ft. Being set free within the true open world after toughing it out on this deliberately oppressive atmosphere actually underscores the unbelievable feeling of freedom the total map provides.

The Massive Nation

And what a world it’s; broader, extra stunning, and extra diversified than the one we explored in 2010’s Pink Lifeless Redemption by an enormous margin (although components of that sport’s map are additionally included). There are snowy peaks and dank, alligator-infested swamps. Thick forests and open plateaus. Quaint homesteads and grand plantations. Slim streams and nice lakes. Dusty gulches and dim caves. There’s the muddy livestock city of Valentine, with its wood buildings and rustic attraction, after which there’s the imposing metropolis of Saint Denis, a dirty and rising metropolis full of recent extravagances like electrical trams, paved roads, and Chinese language eating places. The huge assortment of ecosystems and environments seamlessly stitched collectively right here is nothing in need of outstanding.

Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 does an distinctive job at slowly rationing out causes to go to each nook of its enormous world, too. I used to be nonetheless led to areas of the map I hadn’t but visited even within the closing phases of its 60-hour most important storyline. As a result of so many playing cards are saved up its sleeve, the enjoyment of discovering new components of the world is maintained all through.

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The flexibility of this sport to maintain itself recent after so many hours is extraordinary

The flexibility of this sport to maintain itself recent after so many hours is extraordinary, and never fully because of simply the dimensions and variety of the world; it’s how alive all of these locations really feel. Whereas the largely rural world of Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 is way much less dense than the likes of Grand Theft Auto V, it’s completely brimming with wildlife to find, folks to work together with (and doubtlessly assist), and locations to scrutinise. The very best sort of open worlds are those who appear nearly detached to your presence in them; like life goes on whether or not you stick your nostril into proceedings or not. I’ve sat and watched lumberjacks felling timber at a bustling logging camp and curiously tailed a perturbed Englishman wandering round city on the lookout for his mate “Gav.” None of that is essential to the development of Arthur’s story; it simply helps construct a world round him that made me really feel like a customer reasonably than the centre of the universe. Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 nails this in a method that few – if any – video games have earlier than.

In a Valley of Violence

The slower tempo of Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 in comparison with one thing like the marginally extra breakneck GTA V can also be an enormous a part of the way it inspired me to drink in all of the world has to supply. Our bodies must be manually looted, and Arthur must bodily manhandle a physique to take action. Single-action pistols have to be cocked earlier than firing. Weapons Arthur isn’t at the moment carrying must retrieved from his saddle. Espresso must be brewed earlier than ingesting it.

I think some people could regard this type of stuff as chore-like, however I actually dig it. There’s one thing methodical about it that actually helps floor Arthur on the earth, reasonably than have him really feel like he’s gliding via it. As an illustration, I love the deliberate and mechanical strategy of biking a brand new cartridge with a lever-action rifle by way of a second pull of the hearth button – you may even pause for dramatic impact midway via. Rockstar’s designers didn’t must issue that in however I feel they perceive that tiny, nearly trivial cases of delicate management like this subconsciously seat me into the world as Arthur much more.

The unhurried tempo of checking vanquished enemies for goodies is an fascinating design resolution however I fairly like the chance versus reward loot loop, to be sincere. Do I dart round and pickpocket a dozen lifeless guys or do I simply get the hell out of Dodge? They’re penalties you must be ready to simply accept both as a result of your consideration is required elsewhere or as a result of lingering across the scene of a criminal offense naturally places you at additional danger of being found. Bounties don’t at all times come low cost. Did a kind of fellas have a gold nugget in his trousers? Maybe you’ll by no means know.

About my solely main logistical gripe is that the weapons I used to be beforehand carrying are often swapped out for others. Oftentimes it’s clearly mission-related to make sure you go right into a activity with a scoped rifle or bow when required, which is okay. Extra irksome are the occasions I find yourself with mismatching pistols for twin wielding, with the sport buying and selling out my choice. The admittedly transient little bit of time it takes to swap again did elicit the occasional grumble from me.

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I spent a great deal of time off-mission merely moseying round, bingeing on the world like a digital museum

At any fee, it’s significantly price settling into the tempo Rockstar is attempting to set right here as a result of there’s simply a lot to see and listen to. You’ll hear distinctive, one-time conversations that happen in camp after sure missions, in addition to different bespoke bits of dialogue that reference latest occasions. Strolling via camp, I’ve been aware about all the things from a heated bust-up between John Marston and his associate, Abigail, to the good-natured con man Hosea Matthews regaling the younger Jack Marston with tales of his newest fishing journey. That is all taking place round Arthur whether or not you pause to eavesdrop or not. It makes the camp really feel like a concentrated model of the world at giant, a spot with folks going about their enterprise and interacting with each other fully independently of you. I can’t understate the real feeling of life this injects into the general expertise for me.

Elsewhere on the earth there’s nonetheless lots for individuals who care to cease and scent the roses. Newspapers offered on road corners contact on the aftermath of Arthur’s exploits, in addition to different issues occurring around the globe. Very like in GTA V, you may go to theatres and soak up some old-timey leisure. Canines may be patted. I spent a great deal of time off-mission merely moseying round, bingeing on the world like a digital museum. There’s merely an excessive amount of to listing.

How the West Was Gained

The primary story missions themselves are a cocktail of high-stakes heists, lethal shootouts, determined rescues, and thrilling chases, blended with a prolonged listing of different actions. Lots of these perform as natural methods to show us about new facet hustles and actions that may be undertaken, from promoting stolen horses to taking part in poker or fishing.

All of it feels nice to play, comparable in a whole lot of methods to its fast predecessor however injected with a pile of recent animations and a number of layers of interactivity. It asks a whole lot of the finite quantity of buttons on a controller, however as soon as I grew to become accustomed to which instructions require a faucet and which require a press-and-hold I had few hassles. Shootouts are supremely cinematic because of loads of gun smoke and the identical fashion of on-the-fly, ever-changing demise animations which have characterised Rockstar video games since GTA IV. You may even shoot off folks’s hats and choose them up later for your self.

I feel there’s a standard presumption that Pink Lifeless Redemption is simply GTA on a horse, however that’s a bit reductive. Actually the GTA DNA is right here, however with much more primitive firearms at your fingertips gun battles are extra intimate and anarchic. I like the shut vary clashes, hunkered down behind bits of canopy exchanging lead with enemies typically simply yards away, or slugging it out in bareknuckle scraps. It’s thrilling and enjoyable. Fight from horseback is equally well-handled and it’s at all times a grisly spotlight to look at unlucky saps go limp and tumble from the saddle in a seemingly infinite variety of methods. I feel Arthur feels a fraction heavier than any of the GTA V trio, however I’d not say that I discovered his motion cumbersome. I actually like how linked Arthur feels to the world. I’m not a selected fan of that old-school, skating third-person really feel – just like the participant character has no inertia – and that’s actually not current right here.

Lifeless Eye returns, naturally, because it’s been a part of the sequence since Pink Lifeless Revolver. It’s had some upgrades this time, probably the most helpful of which highlights essential hit areas on a goal (very helpful for clear kills whereas searching). It’s nonetheless a really efficient method to make you’re feeling like an unstoppable gunslinger and the grotesque ballet of slow-motion death-dealing stays disturbingly satisfying.

I didn’t have interaction a lot with the out there camp improve choices – not the aesthetic ones, at the least. There are some sensible upgrades I acquired that had gameplay advantages hooked up, like a ship to go fishing in or a map at Arthur’s quarters that unlocks quick journey. I don’t really feel like I missed a lot by opting out of buying animal skulls and rugs and such. These items feels a bit extra like a primer for Pink Lifeless On-line, the multiplayer part coming at an unspecified later date.

I selected to not do an enormous quantity of crafting, both, and I used to be by no means actually punished for it. You may craft tonics and satchels, and recipes may be found all through the course of the story. Nonetheless, I principally made it via on bought objects, restocking in camp, and religiously ransacking lifeless our bodies for liquor, well being tonics, and cigarettes. (I created a lot  of lifeless our bodies.)

Two new components I did take fairly significantly had been horse bonding and the honour system. The previous is an impressed methodology of constructing you deal with your horse with practical respect as a substitute of driving the poor factor off cliffs or parking it on prepare tracks for giggles. All horses are distinctive, and solely those that belief Arthur may be relied upon to remain calm and never kick him off within the face of a predator or in a gun battle, and that belief is constructed by driving, brushing, and feeding it. I preferred having to click on within the thumbstick to reassure my horse when he was scared – it makes him really feel actual  and establishes a physical-to-digital bond between you two. Your horse can die, too, and there’s no bringing her or him again if that occurs. I saved the identical horse from early within the sport all the best way to the finale and was really hooked up to that massive man. A few of the different people right here have been much less fortunate and have had needed to endure the intestine punch of euthanising their equine comrade (at all times pack some horse revivers, folks).

In the meantime, Arthur’s private honour is one thing that’s within the background always, rising and falling based mostly on his actions on the earth. In sensible phrases, being an outlaw who refrains from killing in chilly blood and who helps common people around the globe will get you reductions in outlets and customarily means you received’t must look over your shoulder fairly as typically for bounty hunters and lawmen. Taking part in via as a vicious monster can also be attainable, though it’s not fully clear to me whether or not there’d be some dissonance between that method and Arthur’s precise story. I nonetheless want to analyze additional, however I’m actually pleased with how my playthrough turned out and the outlaw-with-a-soft-side Arthur I selected to inhabit.

As soon as Upon a Time Within the West

Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 is an undeniably fairly sport throughout the board. The lighting is incredible, significantly in darkish, misty conditions the place shafts of moonlight stab via the timber, and I like the best way it handles Arthur leaving weakly-lit interiors into the quickly blinding solar exterior. The sunsets are particularly spectacular and appear to range relying on the climate system. Some are harsh and beaming whereas others are heat and delicate. The facial animation is a noticeable step up from GTA V, and the extent of granular element is sort of absurd, from the best way blood smears on Arthur’s shoulder after carrying a kill to the best way particular person strands of his majestic mutton chops quiver within the breeze. The best way wagon wheels grow to be caked in mud. The best way rust builds up on a poorly-maintained firearm. It’s one other lengthy, lengthy listing that speaks to a excessive degree of consideration to element.

Regardless of the place you look, all the things feels meticulously handcrafted. Each consumable is labelled and may be picked up and inspected. Each catalogue in shops is filled with customized textual content and illustrations pointing to merchandise out there on the market or previous timey ads. Hallways are embellished with framed photos I’ve by no means observed repeated all through the world. Keep in mind: that is the sport the place horse testicles shrink when the climate is chilly. Greater than as soon as I discovered myself quickly hypnotised by the musculature and pores and skin creases on my horse’s butt. That’s a bizarre sentence, however you’re going to spending a whole lot of time taking a look at a horse’s butt. It’d as nicely impress you.

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Regardless of the place you look, all the things feels meticulously handcrafted

Horses are astonishingly well-animated and really feel like real dwelling creatures as they swing their necks, stomp their ft, and shudder their our bodies on their very own accord. That mentioned, it’d be good if the identical self-preservation abilities horses show when galloping in direction of a ravine kicked in when careening in direction of an impediment in entrance – I undoubtedly clattered into a couple of posts and fellow riders earlier than determining my steed typically wasn’t going to keep away from these on his personal.

Johnny Guitar

Equally spectacular is the audio, from the sound results to the voice work to the massive library of music. Whether or not you’re anticipating the satisfying metallic crunch of a reload, the enduring twang of a Hollywood Western ricochet, or the delicate squeak of a lodge floorboard, it’s all there. Bullets fired on mountaintops ring with cracking echoes, fully totally different to the sound of bullets fired indoors. There are a variety of distinctive sounds which were recorded to look simply a few times throughout the entire of Pink Lifeless Redemption 2, just like the squeak of detonator wire being unspooled or the clink of bottles behind a moonshine wagon. They’re all fixed reminders that little appears to have been missed.

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I additionally love how the world appears to be ready for just about any motion you may consider

I additionally love how the world appears to be ready for just about any motion you may consider. Flip round and stroll straight again right into a retailer you’ve simply left and the shopkeeper will seemingly make a remark about the way you’re again so quickly. Go away a theatre earlier than a movie is completed and the ticket clerk will quip, “Appears you didn’t like that.” Shoot a well mannered howdy in direction of two folks standing collectively and Arthur will use a plural time period reasonably than a singular pronoun. All of it contributes to a sense of uncommon polish that’s even rarer in a sport of this girth.

And the music? It’s excellent. Woody Jackson’s authentic rating is prime notch – an evocative mixture of jangling Ennio Morricone-esque guitar and extra soulful items higher suited to patiently trotting via the world absorbing its combination of magnificence and ugliness. There are additionally a couple of events the place non-instrumental tracks are used to glorious impact; one artist, specifically, was an enormous shock to me and sings an impactful monitor throughout a key second late within the story.

The Wild Bunch

The plot thread holding Pink Lifeless Redemption 2’s astonishing array of programs and gameplay alternatives collectively is Rockstar’s most critical and earnest story thus far, and positively one of the best written. It’s not important to have performed Pink Lifeless Redemption to understand and perceive what’s occurring right here, particularly since it is a prequel story that takes place 12 years earlier, though I discovered it very rewarding being acquainted with the bigger plot because it connects to the eventual destiny of the enigmatic Dutch van der Linde. Arthur’s relationship with Pink Lifeless Redemption protagonist John Marston right here can also be significantly fascinating to me as a fan of the 2010 sport, and it’s very well-handled. Marston is a vital a part of the story however Rockstar has been restrained sufficient to not highlight him at Arthur’s expense.

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We get to look at an extremely nuanced efficiency as Dutch’s confidence ebbs and his restraint fades

Even higher, nevertheless, is watching Dutch’s gradual descent from being the charismatic, profitable, and intelligent chief of a gang of lethal outlaws to somebody on monitor to grow to be the cold-blooded and overwhelmed man being hunted down by Marston 12 years later. We get to look at an extremely nuanced efficiency as Dutch’s confidence ebbs and his restraint fades. Wonderful, too, is most important man Arthur: Not solely is there an infectious authenticity to his low and easy tone of voice, which appears excellent beneath the swept-back hair and massive mutton chops I let him sprout by solely ever shaving his chin, however when Arthur himself is a far wearier man by the story’s climax his supply is doubly potent.

The entire forged is nice, actually. Antagonists just like the Pinkertons on the gang’s path are a bit thinly painted and one thing about younger Jack Marston’s sing-song voice didn’t sit proper with me, however Arthur’s companions in crime all get swags of display time; actually sufficient to really feel like convincing, three-dimensional characters that Arthur has an actual relationship with. What’s extra is that regardless of representing a variety of folks from quite a lot of disparate cultures – from Irish thug Sean Macguire to Native American brawler Charles Smith – all of them really feel like credible human beings and never caricatures.

Mixed with robust writing and path, the result’s a sport that’s honest as a substitute of satirical, and humorous whereas remaining able to some supremely well-earned emotional moments, particularly all through the really glorious crescendo and epilogue.

And even after finishing the epilogue, which is break up into two components and longer than many complete video games I’ve performed in latest reminiscence, I nonetheless have a stack of strangers that want serving to, gangs that want killing, cheats to experiment with, and fish that want catching. There are 30 several types of fish on this sport about cowboys. I’ve caught 4.

The Verdict

Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Grand Theft Auto V as one of many best video games of the fashionable age. It’s a beautiful depiction of an unpleasant interval that’s affected person, polished, and an enormous quantity of enjoyable to play, and it’s mixed with Rockstar’s greatest storytelling thus far. Even after ending the prolonged story I can’t wait to return and play extra. This can be a sport of uncommon high quality; a meticulously polished open world ode to the outlaw period. In search of considered one of this technology’s best single-player motion experiences? Right here’s your huckleberry.

from SpicyNBAChili.com https://www.spicynbachili.com/red-dead-redemption-2-review/