#which is proven every time new lore is released. i know i am not in the industry

[planet4546b]

@synnthamonsugar @xivu-arath thank you for encouraging me!! i think that my biggest issue (outside of a general decline in writing quality) is an extreme narrowing of focus + that focus being almost exclusively on characters that are part of the main cast. like, earlier releases had the majority of their lore cards focus on characters that were previously unknown and would never show up again, little one shot weirdos that had no further relevance. this starts changing as far back as i believe opulence (there’s a card in there that pisses me off where drifter visits calus for no reason) and seems to reach its current level in lost, where almost every card has a major character in it somewhere and there’s this whole collection that’s just like. amanda talks to misraaks. misraaks talks to saint. osiris talks to crow. zavala talks to caital. etc etc which is how most seasonal lore continues to operate, just as various conversations between major characters about one thing or another (usually the current big threat on the table). the ones that aren't about main characters are about this small cast of important lore-only characters that sort of keep coming back - there are just way, way fewer cards about some random ass guy you will literally never hear from again.

this isn't an inherently bad mode of storytelling, and using the lore space to explore characters in more complicated situations when you have such a huge cast is a decent idea (if any of the characters were actually like. interestingly explored in that way. which like the iron banner armor from lost is just ‘oh saladin feels really bad for crow :(‘ over and over and tells us nothing about saladin, one of our oldest and most complex characters, lol) but this does mark a big change in the lore generally being used for worldbuilding to generally being used for character building. again, not inherently a bad mode of writing. but what it does is make the world feel incredibly small. this is sorta the star-wars-skywalker-saga problem, where because in a lot of star wars content someone has to somehow be connected to the main cast, the galaxy just feels tiny. you can't explore the complexities and weird side stories and bizarre little worldbuilding things as effectively if someone has to connect this to a main character or a big plot event or make it be a lead up to an upcoming story element. it just feels so much more limited!

theres still a lot of lore cards that i really like in the newer stuff too!! there are some interesting character moments and interesting concepts and especially some neat worldbuilding for a lot of the enemy factions from our new alliances. but overall i miss her (early d2 lore writing)

made it to lost on my lore journey and i’m realizing that my hunch about why i (unfortunately) haven’t liked the lore of the past few seasons was right and man is it making these last few seasons feel like a slog.

[thefirstknife]

Help, I ran Garden of Salvation with some clan mates and i'm Experiencing Great Sadness about the Kentarch 3 again.

I haven't been following you since shadowkeep, and was wondering if you had some theories about what happened, because a lot is left unexplained, specifically about Lisbon-13's motivations. The story from Yardarm-4's perspective shows that something is influencing them before they accept power (stasis teaser?) from the darkness. Do you think they really had a choice? Do you think he was influenced in his decision to kill them? If so, why? As a test just for him? Presumably he's still out there somewhere, and I can't tell from the lorebooks whether Rekkana let him kill her first or not. I just feel so bad for them, they all loved each other. Yardarm probably took the power in the first place to help get them out safely. Do you think it'll ever get concluded? The whole lore series seems interestingly close to what happens with Shayura, just sort of in reverse.

Kentarch 3 fireteam and the whole story on the Garden of Salvation armour and the associated weapons and equipment is amazing and very interesting, I agree. I haven't talked about it before but it's a good thing to revisit every so often! I think there's still a lot we don't really understand, mostly due to not fully understanding the power of the Black Garden.

In short for the general audience, Kentarch 3 was a fireteam that consisted of Yardarm-4 (Titan), Rekkana (Warlock) and Lisbon-13 (Hunter). They went to explore the Black Garden at the behest of the Warlock order called the Cryptochrons which Rekkana was a part of. This order got exiled some time after Osiris for dabbling in prophecies. Cryptochrons were formed around a Oneiromantic Circle and led by a Sibyl (or multiple sibyls; or Sibyl was just a name of one member, it's unclear). Oneiromancy is the practice of interpreting dreams to predict the future and sibyls were ancient Greek female prophets and oracles.

I didn't think this would get long but it did so the rest under the cut:

The Cryptochron order continued operating after its exile and Rekkana received a prophecy from them that revolved around a fireteam learning about the Black Garden and retrieving from it a Vex relic of some sort. The relic is the exotic weapon Divinity and the lore tab on it details the prophecy they were chasing:

"And after any other Cryptochrons they learn of. But your path is more dangerous than most. The Circle has foreseen many fireteams following in your footsteps. You can find the knowledge the order seeks at the Tree."

"Can? Not will?" For the first time, Rekkana sounded concerned.

"The Circle has had limited success in piercing the veil that surrounds the Black Garden, so the order offers no certainties. They say that a group of Guardians will discover secrets about the origin of the Black Garden at the Tree. The Oneiromantic Circle foresees no reason why it will not be the Kentarch 3."

"Nor can I. But…?"

"There is another thread in the tapestry, entwined with this one. The Vex, or some fractal faction of them, worship or honor a… divinity there."

"The Black Heart? It was destroyed."

"Yes, but this is something different. An object. Something like a sacred relic. It is important to the Vex for reasons that we have not yet fathomed. The Circle has determined that it is dangerous—"

"A Vex weapon?"

"Perhaps," the Sybil sounded annoyed at the interruption. "Rekkana, the Circle concluded that it is a danger to you."

"To me? But then, why send me on this mission?"

"When the Circle dreamed of the object, you were beside it."

They agreed that, should they find this object, Lisbon should be the one to carry it. They did find it and he was indeed the one to carry it, as is shown later in another lore tab detailed below.

We know that Lisbon-13 killed the rest of his fireteam because they got corrupted by the Black Garden, something happened to their Ghosts (they all just dropped down and started losing their Light) and then turned on him. He was being hunted and he really had no choice. But he couldn't live with it. In Beyond Light, he's shown trying to kill his Ghost in order to stay permanently dead because he couldn't bear the burden of what he did to his fireteam, even though his actions were justified and he acted in self-defence.

But before he managed to do that, he was faced with his own doppleganger, just like the YW at the end of Shadowkeep. In the end, Lisbon didn't kill his Ghost because the doppleganger offered him power and Lisbon (presumably) chose to take it: his wish was simply to make himself forget about his fireteam (and Rekkana specifically, whom he loved). It's implied that he accepted and after that, we have no formal information what happened.

The outcome of what happened to Kentarch 3 is somewhat known, as detailed in this ship lore. The Vanguard knows Lisbon killed the other two, they're not sure when they lost their Ghosts and they have not found anyone's body, not even Lisbon's. But we know from the lore that came out after that Lisbon accepted the deal with his doppleganger and we have no idea what that entailed. Is he still in the Black Garden? Was he killed? Replaced? Just memory-wiped and sent back? Something else entirely? We'll explore at the end.

I'm pretty sure the voices they heard talking to them were also their own dopplegangers. And it's somewhat implied that they made some sort of a bargain and accepted "new powers" that came "from the wrong side." There's only one description of it:

Her fist glimmered and quaked with an unfamiliar power. She only had to release her grip, and that energy would rip through him, burning without fire.

That's Rekkana attacking Lisbon. It's never fully explained what it is, but it could very well be some sort of prototype Stasis in my opinion. Or some other Darkness power. Not sure why the Black Garden would give them this, which is why I think they simply harnessed the power of their dopplegangers. This is something that's been mentioned a few times in regards to Darkness: duplication. Same is present with the Taken as well (Taken psions duplicate). I mentioned the duplication theme being discussed in Clovis' journal before too.

Honestly, I can't make any definitive conclusion, but Kentarch 3 definitely found something horrifying in the Black Garden and fell to its influence. They also reference doing the puzzles to get Divinity, which they got and Lisbon used it to kill the other two.

Garden of Salvation raid ends with a Pyramid scale opening up and leading us down into the area with the Darkness statue. I think this could've easily been some sort of a lead into the future of Destiny and the powers of Darkness. Kentarch 3 may have accidentally received this power early on or were perhaps some sort of a test the Darkness did on Guardians before offering them Stasis for real.

It's an interesting story and yep, it does mirror Shayura's fireteam and how the story is told! Each member of the fireteam tells the same story from their own POV on armour for that class. I'll link all of them in order, roughly how I think it's best to read each POV:

Rekkana: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Yardarm-4: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Lisbon-13: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

I like how the armour follows the same name pattern: Righteousness, Exaltation, Transcendence, Ascendancy and Temptation.

Associated Garden of Salvation weapons also have some tidbits of lore that might help, namely:

Ancient Gospel Hand Cannon:

"These forces have existed forever, but only one of them speaks to us." —Rekkana, Warlock of the Kentarch 3

Sacred Provenance Pulse Rifle:

"These gifts were not made for us, but we were meant to have them." —Rekkana, Warlock of the Kentarch 3

Zealot's Reward Fusion Rifle:

"Why not use these gifts we've been given?" —Yardarm-4, Titan of the Kentarch 3

I would really like to learn more about them, and specifically Lisbon because he might be able to actually tell us what happened. He or his Ghost, Piri, who managed to survive last we've seen her. I think the Ghost might be able to give the most accurate version of events. It's interesting that Lisbon was very much against whatever power they received and that was the reason he abandoned his fireteam, which made the other two consider him a traitor to their friendship.

Very intriguing lore story that could possibly be mentioned again in some form. Also as a brighter note, yes, Yardarm literally flew into the Black Garden with an entire ship and crash landed inside. On a less brighter note, we've never seen the remains of a ship in there (to be fair, Black Garden is huge) and it's somewhat implied that they entered through the Vex Gate on Mars which puts the timeline of when they got there into question. The Vex Gate on Mars that led into the Black Garden was destroyed in the Red War. The new gate showed up on the Moon in Shadowkeep (and you can't fly a ship into it because it's in a cave).

An additional note which answers certain things when it comes to Lisbon's fate that I hinted at before: in order to acquire the quest for Divinity, you have to go to the Moon to the Vex Gate for the first time. The gate will open up and a Vex mind will come out. This giant Vex minotaur is called Zeteon, Redemptive Mind. Upon killing this minotaur, you receive "Divine Fragmentation" quest. Details of the quest here. You pick up a Vex core that has strange readings coming from it and you have to decipher it by running it through various Vex technology. Once fully completed, you have to go into Garden of Salvation, do the Divinity puzzles and the weapon will drop from the extra chest at the end.

Why am I mentioning this? Well. Zeteon, Redemptive Mind drops a core that contains information about how to get Divinity. Lisbon was the member of the fireteam that held Divinity and used it to kill his fireteam. There's a quote from Lisbon on the weapon called Accrued Redemption:

"I should never have let it come to this. Now each arrow is a penance." —Lisbon-13, Hunter of the Kentarch 3

Divinity's perks are called Judgement and Penance.

Basically, I believe that whatever deal Lisbon accepted that made him forget his fireteam, free him from the suffering and redeem him ended with him being converted into Zeteon, Redemptive Mind. It's the reason why this Vex in particular had the pieces needed to construct Divinity again. Lisbon was the last person who had it. Becoming the bearer of parts needed for Divinity was both his Judgement and his Penance.

Final note because I love ancient languages being used for the names of things in Destiny: "Zeteon" most likely comes from Greek "zeteo" which means:

to seek, search after, look for

to inquire into, examine, consider

to strive for, desire, wish

Probably tied to Lisbon's search and desire for redemption for what he's done. I think that wraps up his fate quite nicely, although tragically.

[jackdawyt]

I am beyond privileged to share my very Early Access impressions of The Waylanders, thanks to the developers at Gato Studio who gave me an early key. 

The Waylanders is a party-based RPG set in the Celtic and Medieval eras, inspired by classics like Dragon Age: Origins, Neverwinter Nights 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I’ve only played the first 10 hours of this game, and I’ve fallen for it. It’s very apparent that the developers of The Waylanders love Dragon Age. And so, to anyone who loves Dragon Age, will love The Waylanders.

I’ve played prologue and the very few early hours of the game which are in early access, meaning there’s plenty of work that needs to be done and nothing in the game is final. However, I was able to get an amazing feel for what the finished game will look like, and believe me when I say, this is the Dragon Age successor we’re all looking for.  

Character

Upon starting the game, you’re taken to a very recognizable character creator, clearly inspired by Dragon Age: Origins. You can choose between a male/female body, four races, six classes, and then an origin story based on each of those choices.  

The races in Waylanders are rather distinct, as opposed to traditional DND races like elves, humans and dwarves. Here we have the choice between human, werewolf, mourian and semi-fomorian.  

The classes are rather straight forward, each of them have unique weapons, abilities and features. As an example, Rangers have the Pets feature which allows them to have animal companions, and Sorcerers can teleport using their specific magic feature.  

You can customise your character with a few hairstyles, facial types, different skin tones, eye, hair and facial hair colours.  

You can then apply more points into your statistics based on your race and class. And the final aspect of customisation is your identity, where you choose your name, pronouns and voice.  

The voice is just for grunting noises in combat, I believe the game follows a silent protagonist so you can make up your own voice.  

After making those final decisions, you’re given a cute lore character summary, backing up each choose you’ve made for your PC. Now your adventure can begin.  

Story

The story is told through a plentiful of cutscenes and long dialogue interactions, of course, just what Dragon Age fans love. I found each of them engaging and I was hooked from the start really.  

I’ve played the prologue twice, and a few blocked out side quests that are still in very early alpha. The story starts with the Spanish Celtic tribes arriving at Ireland to meet and convey a union with their gods. However, things don’t go according to plan, as you can imagine.  

What’s fascinating about The Waylanders compared to Dragon Age for example, is that the lore is steeped in Irish and Spanish folk lore. We discover many legends like ‘The Tuatha Dé Danann’. Which means ‘the tribe of the gods’ in Old Gaelic. It’s exciting lore that actually exists in some of the real world’s sub-cultures today.

The setting of the game is based in medieval Galicia, which is in Spain. The developers are actually from Spain, the stories they’re telling throughout The Waylanders are tales each of them has grown up with.  

I won’t say much more on the main story, other than the protagonist has a mystery that reminds me of Kingdoms Of Amular Reckoning. Of course, another stellar RPG that takes pinches from Dragon Age: Origins.  

The plot seems to surround a lot of time travel themes, going forward and back in time, with many choices and consequences taking effect from your decisions.

As a whole, the writing is excellent. And that’s expected due to the fact that Chris Avellone, best known for writing Fallout: New Vegas, took the helm. Alongside with him, Ex-Telltale's Emily Grace Book who’s the fabulous Narrative Lead.  

Not to mention Mike Laidlaw aided to team with his creative vison to “create a high-level narrative and to structure the game and the story.”

And if that’s not enough, Dragon Age veteran Inon Zur composed the soundtrack of The Waylanders too, which is just beautiful.  

I want to share more about the main characters. So far, they’re compelling, even in just the first hour, I found myself latching onto each of them, with their many different personalities.

In my opinion, the dialogue holds the game up, I found myself engaging in every single conversation I could, interacting with every character. I’d say my favourite character so far is Nazhedja. Naz for short.

She’s very intriguing! Being a mourian, she’s immortal, though she composes herself as a charming and relatable individual.  

The voice cast is amazing and familiar with the likes of Simon Templeman, known for playing Loghain in Dragon Age taking the role of the Celtic Druid Amergin. Personally, as a Brit, I fell in love with hearing so many of my countries’ varying accents.

And apparently there will absolutely be romance in the game, however, it’s not in the alpha stages. But we can all look forward to that!  

Gameplay

The Waylanders gameplay centres on building up the narrative, there’s an emphasis on interactive conversations. You’ll spend a fair amount of time asking questions and getting to know each of the characters in this world, building bonds and shaping the story.  

The game has a linear feel to it, however, once the prologue is done, you can explore many of the hub areas. Very much like Dragon Age: Origins. The world is lush to explore, and the art style is fantastic. It has a cartoony feel to it.  

While exploring the stunning areas, you can switch the camera’s placement for a more isometric feel, or stick to a more third person feel, whatever suits your playstyle. This is an amazing quality of life feature, that I think other games like this need to adopt.  

There’s a huge codex, which updates frequently after conversations. It’s a wonderful touch, I spent plenty of time reading each of the characters and their backstories.  

Combat

The combat is rough around the edges and it can be hard to properly aim and target your opponents. Too often I’d cast a spell at an offensive enemy, and I’d accidently click and switch to my warrior companion who’s bashing the same enemy in the face.  

You can have up to five party companions at a time. And there are these grouped up attacks you can do as a squad called formations. You band together and attack. It works like a charm.  

The combat does feel very identical to Dragon Age: Origins, even down to the animations of fighting and how long it takes to fire a spell, or shoot an arrow from a bow.  

One of the developers gave me a few console commands for my stream, and I was able to see what animal pets we could have, I was very surprised with the amount of animal companions you can have. There’s even a dragon!  

Each of the classes prove to be very unique, in my two playthroughs, I played as a Sourcer and a Rogue. I loved the individual features each class provides whether it’s a passive or an actual ability, each class have dynamic ways to stand out. And of course, if you’re undecided which class to play, Waylanders is a party-based RPG, you’ll always have a companion with a different class you can switch to and play as.  

Summary

In summary, judging the early hours of The Waylanders, the game has very reminiscent systems and gameplay that anyone who’s played Dragon Age will find themselves familiar with. However, the game has proven itself to be original with its engaging story, intriguing characters and unique lore.  

Of course, the game is in its early access alpha stages, and there are plenty of bugs and things that need further improvement. But I can see the heart and passion that has gone behind this game, and that’s what I’ve grown to like about this game.  

I’d say to anyone who’s a huge fan of Dragon Age: Origins, why not go and give The Waylanders a shot. The game launches on Steam’s Early Access store on June 16th, support this game as it grows throughout development, and releases as an epic Dragon Age successor.  

[the-desolated-quill]

The Quill Seal Of Approval Awards - The Best Of 2019

Hey guys! I’m still alive!

Sorry for my two month absence. Things have been pretty difficult at home lately. I’ve been having a really hard time at university lately, my mental health has suffered as a result, and oh yeah, there’s a worldwide pandemic going on and we’re all probably going to die!

So thanks to this Coronavirus, my uni has been shut down, which means I now suddenly have a lot more free time. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to catch up on things I’ve missed. Yes it’s once again time to hand out the most coveted and prestigious of awards that every writer, producer and director so desperately craves (or at least they would if they actually knew this existed). The Quill Seal Of Approval Awards. Where I list the very best the creative industry had to offer over the course of 2019. (yes I know it’s now March 2020, but if Jon Campea can release a best of 2019 list in February, then I should be able to get away with it). For there is no greater honour on this planet than to have your work of creative artistry praised and acknowledged on an obscure blog by an anonymous snob. That’s the dream, isn’t it?

First a couple of parish notices. Obviously due to various other commitments, I haven’t had the chance to experience everything 2019 had to offer, so this list will be limited to the media and literature I personally got to experience. So sorry that HBO’s Watchmen TV series won’t be on this list. I know everyone loves it, but I’ve only seen one episode so far (and will be posting a review on that soon) as I’ve only just gotten around to watching it. Also bear in mind this is my subjective opinion. If you disagree with my choices, that’s fine. Go write your own list. I won’t be upset. You have every right to like what you like.

...

But if you disagree with me, then you’re a philistine and a poopyhead. That’s not my opinion. That’s a scientific fact that’s been proven in a lab by grown-ups. Sorry. The truth hurts, I know.

Shazam!

Do you remember the days when superhero films used to be fun? When they weren’t some heavily militarised, dark and angsty loners with all the charm and charisma of a pub toilet at closing time? If you do, then you’re going to love Shazam. A funny and moving film about a kid that can transform himself into a Godlike chosen one figure through space magic.

Joking aside, Shazam is an exceptionally good movie with a strong cast, great writing and a very personal and intimate story about self worth and finding your place in the world. For those who have grown sick of these soulless, big budget, CGI heavy superhero flicks with world ending conflicts that end up meaning nothing in the grand scheme of things, Shazam serves as the perfect antidote.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

I’m very much late to the party when it comes to John Wick. I’ve never exactly had the highest opinion of Keanu Reeves as a credible action star and I’ve always found the Matrix movies to be overrated trash with delusions of grandeur, but after constant nagging from my friend @dicapitoe​ I eventually gave in and watched the first one. I loved it so much, I watched the second one immediately afterwards, and then the following day I went to see Chapter 3 in the cinema. Now I think it’s safe to assume I’m a fan.

I actually don’t want to say too much because I want to do in-depth reviews of these films at some point, but needless to say, John Wick: Chapter 3 earns its place on this list. Hell, the whole franchise deserves a Quill Seal Of Approval Award. John Wick is a masterclass in visual storytelling and worldbuilding, and Chapter 3 continues this exciting and dramatic narrative with great confidence and skill. Oh and Keanu Reeves, I take back every snide comment I’ve ever said. You sir, are a national treasure. Can’t wait for more :D

Joker

No! No! Stop! You, yes, you, the one who’s about to comment saying how wrong I am and that Joker is a derivative, dangerous movie. May I remind you once again that this is my list. It’s fine if you don’t agree. In fact I can understand completely why some people really don’t like this film. That being said, I very much enjoyed it and I feel it represents a unique achievement for the comic book movie genre. As superhero movies from The Dark Knight to Captain America: The Winter Soldier to Black Panther have been slowly and steadily proving that these films can not only be socially relevant, but can also be considered high art, Joker represents the genre’s apotheosis. It’s a smart and sharply written film that doesn’t shy away from exploring its themes of mental health, social neglect and narcissism, and it demonstrates the reason why characters like Batman and the Joker have been a staple of popular culture for so long. Even after all this time, we’re still finding new ways of reinterpreting them and exploring them. Combined with Hildur Guonadottir’s amazing score and a career defining performance from Joaquin Phoenix, Joker is truly a force to be reckoned with, much like the title character himself.

Elementary - Season 7

CBS’ brilliant adaptation of Sherlock Holmes sadly came to an end in 2019, but not before one last excellent season.

Elementary has always stood head and shoulders above its BBC counterpart in terms of quality, but personally I always felt that the show never managed to live up to the heights of its very first season with Moriarty. While Moriarty ultimately doesn’t return sadly, we get a great substitute in the form of Odin Reichenbach, a tech mogul who uses social media for his own ends in his misguided pursuit of justice. He serves as a great source of moral conflict for Sherlock and Joan, who have been known to use morally questionable tactics themselves, and is a compelling antagonist. Under showrunner Rob Doherty’s expert direction, Elementary ends on a high as we see the stories of Holmes, Watson, Gregson and Bell conclude in an emotional and satisfying finale. It’s sad to see a great show like this end, but it felt like the right time to stop and I’m glad the Elementary team kept their high standards throughout and were allowed to finish the show properly on their own terms. You will be greatly missed.

The Outer Worlds

Have you heard the news? Single player video games are dead! Nobody wants RPGs anymore apparently! It’s all about ‘live services’ and multiplayer looter shooters. Nobody wants a story driven, single player RPG these days.

Wait! What’s this? A story driven, single player RPG?! And people actually like it?!?! OMG!

Yes, from the people that brought you Fallout: New Vegas comes a new IP that makes a mockery of the AAA industry and their greedy trend chasing. Introducing The Outer Worlds. Set in the Halcyon Colony in the far future where rampant capitalism has taken over and disrupted society, you play as a colonist that’s been recently released from cryogenic suspension and has been tasked with saving the colony from the Board who are hellbent on taking away humanity’s civil liberties and destroying lives all for the sake of profit. The lore and setting is beautifully realised and the writing contains the same wit and satirical charm as Fallout. It also boasts a wonderfully diverse cast of characters, including a very unorthodox vicar and an openly asexual companion. Add to that some super smooth first person shooter combat and a great amount of freedom in customisation and roleplaying, The Outer Worlds proves definitively that single player isn’t dead. Take note Bethesda.

And there we have it. 2019 is finally over and done with. Now we can finally look forward to 2020. Assuming we’re all still alive by the end of the year :S

[blandmemoirs]

Ode to Fury

This song has been incredibly relevant in my mind as of late. Playing on an almost loop. Obviously, a song themed on an unending anger and how to live with it would be relevant to my psyche. But I think it has been made more important in my listening habits as I took the time to learn the lore of Kratos through hours of YouTube walkthroughs of the God of War games and my own personal play through of God of War 2 on the PlayStation 2. The character has had my interest for several years before my recent deep dive into his history. I've always had a base level understanding of Kratos and his story. I had just never made the time to fully explore the depth of his pain and anger. That is, until the most recent God of War game came out. I let the initial release pass me by and took little interest since I didnt own a PS4 myself, but I caught glimpses of gameplay here and there through random YouTube encounters or looking over the shoulder of my peers watching gameplay in class. The game was beautiful, and I got glimpses of a genuinely raw story. Then Miracle of Sound dropped two songs about the game.

For more context, Miracle of Sound is my favorite musician. Simply because his songs all take great stories from movies or games I adore and condense them into an epic song that recites the themes and messages from the original material with outstanding beat and vocals. Much of his songs are in my personal playlist of favorites, particularly this one. When he makes a new song, I trust the source material is going to be good.

That said, two songs dedicated to God of War was enough to convince me. I listened, enjoyed, but didnt fully appreciate. I didnt fully understand the themes or message since I hadnt fully consumed the source. So, I picked my favorite lets player who did a walk through and dedicated myself to discovering this world and understanding it. I was enthralled and I fell in love with the characters and lore. When the game ended, I knew I needed more. So I bought a Kratos figure and acted out a few of my own stories as I introduced him to the world of the blandclan. I watched videos explaining the story behind the other games in the franchise, and eventually happened upon a copy of God of War 2 at a local game shop. I played it, beat it, and began to truly appreciate this series. I added the original Kratos to my toy collection as well.

Kratos is a man of tragedy. In a quest for power he was tricked into killing his own family so that he may lose his humanity and be a servant of the gods. But in doing so he turned his rage onto his betrayers and killed every single god in the Greek pantheon through his own ascension and fall from godhood. He killed his father, Zeus, a betrayer and manipulator. His rampage resulted in the total destruction of the Greek world. Surviving his own suicide attempt, he retreated to the realm of the Norse gods to live out the rest of his days in solitude, eventually starting a new life with a wife and son. But the fury is not quieted so easily. His pain was not satiated in the destruction of the gods, of the ones who betrayed and hurt him. In fact, he is haunted by his actions. Kratos still is full of anger and hatred. Because he hates himself, and he cannot destroy himself. He already tried that. His whole story is a tale of the everconsuming flame that is anger and when kept unchecked it will burn all it touches. Kratos must learn to control his rage, not to let it control him. He must learn to live with himself instead of merely killing all that hurts him.

As such, in the newest God of War, Kratos struggles to raise his naive son as a now single father. In the past merely being a distant hunter-gatherer occasionally teaching his son to fight and hunt, Kratos let his wife do much of the raising. Kratos does not want his son to be like him, and so he hides himself from his son. He lies about his son's heritage and is very stern in order to keep his "boy" from violence. But through the game Kratos is ultimately forced to come clean and tell his son all the hard truths of their life and lineage. Kratos is forced to once again remember his past and own his rage he kept buried for so long. Once Kratos allows himself to be honest with both himself and his boy, the two are able to repair their strained relationship and work as a true team. No longer afraid of his own rage, Kratos controls his fury and lets go of his pain.

Kratos is an angry character. He is quite literally too angry to die as proven several times in his life. This song is dedicated to that unending fire in the heart of the Ghost of Sparta. Full of grief, shame, blame, and woe, Kratos has attempted to lock up the anger inside him, but "the fury it never leaves". He has tried to run from it and hide it away, but he cannot. When he attempts to bury his anger he suffers from the "hunger" and attempts to "silence the cry" of his fury. It yearns to be free. It burns, and it will not be forgotten. He is angry. He will be angry. He will hurt. He must carry his pain. Yet, he fears his emotion because it may lead to judgement upon his son. He doesnt want his son to suffer the same fate he has. But try as he may, the fury it never leaves. So he must live with it. He must not run from it, he must contain it. He has to accept himself for who he is so he can raise his son to be better. He must own his anger and pain so he may teach his boy how to live with it.

The music itself is so captivating to listen to, from the chanting of the lyrics to the beating of drum to the scrapement of chains throughout, it is a powerful sound that conveys the many mixed feelings which guide Kratos' arc. He is suffering and unable to forgive himself, and so he only really knows anger, causing himself to further resent himself. It is no secret at this point I have at times found myself in a similar condition.

As such, this song serves as both an Ode to Kratos' Fury and a piece by which I can use to remind myself of my own powerful feelings I harbor. Through my ability to relate to Kratos' arc, I can search for my own peace and acceptance of myself. A search which may never end, but will allow me to live with myself easier. I love this song. I love the artist. I love the game. I love the character. I love the series. I love myself.

The fury it never leaves me, but I am living with it.

As Kratos says in the climax of the game, "the cycle ends here".

[swingbeard]

Matt’s Top 7 Games of 2017

2017 was a weird year.

At times, it was hard to focus on games.

On a global scale, we found ourselves often transfixed on news both positive and negative; in my opinion, it was often more of the latter. Games became an afterthought in a lot of ways. 

But at times, it was easy to focus on games.

They provided a sanctuary, a place to take a breather and relax, to joke and laugh and have fun with friends or on my own. Even at times when the subject matter of some games took on relevance to real world issues, it was still fascinating and an escape in a way but a thoughtful one.

With this all in mind, I still wanted to take some time to celebrate some games I very much enjoyed (and others I’m just starting to get into and very much enjoy) in 2017.

Originally… this was going to be a much longer and more involved thing. 

Instead, I’m going with something a bit shorter and more succinct so here’s seven games I really enjoyed this year, one of which has taken up a spot as my favorite game of the year. Thanks for reading and following along this year! 

ABSOLVER (Sloclap)

As someone who doesn’t exactly enjoy playing fighting games, Absolver would seem a bit of an anomaly, right? You’re correct! 

When it was presented at E3 a few years ago, I actually saw it as a Dark Souls-esque RPG with martial arts combat and lore instituted in place of sword-and-board action. I was so into the world, into what they were trying to build, into the ideas of gameplay (stances and switching between them, the moves themselves).

To a degree, this game is that… but the true endgame? What really drives the game once you’ve defeated the campaign? It’s the PvP, the actual “fighting game” part, and it’s something I’ve very much enjoyed - I never thought those words would leave my mouth.

Ever.

For someone like me, Absolver has proven to be a perfect introduction into that world; into fighting the same people online over and over to learn their movesets, to practice timing and get that down, to get frustrated but also understand why I’m getting beat and getting better.

The year is 2017 and I now enjoy playing an honest-to-god fighting game. What has happened to me?

FINAL FANTASY XIV: STORMBLOOD (Square Enix)

2017 was the year I truly got into Final Fantasy XIV.

I had struggled in the past, but the quality-of-life improvements plus finding two jobs/classes (Samurai and Monk) that I really liked propelled me into the main story of the core game, the Heavensward expansion, and the recently released Stormblood which brings you - the Warrior of Light - to far-off places like Gyr Abania, Othard, and the Ruby Sea.

I’m someone who’s never really been into the series in general, but the story and characters of FFXIV has grabbed me in an unexpected way and brought me along for a pretty wild ride at times. What World of Warcraft lacks in terms of consistency in its lore and sometimes not going far enough with its visuals? That’s what this game makes up for me.

I’m glad I finally got into this game and am looking forward to whatever patches and stories Yoshi-P and team have next for us. 

* A shoutout goes to the people in my free company too, some of whom I like to think are pretty dang good friends now.

DOOM (id Software) 

A game from 2016 on 2017’s list?

You’re correct, but this game is just that good and there’s a good reason for why it shows up on this list.

I actually purchased this game last year, but was never able to play it due to technical limitations. When I purchased a new PC in early September, this was one of the first games I installed.

And holy shit, all of the hype? All of the coverage I read? DOOM delivers on that, and more. It understands what it is, reverential in a way to the first games in this series… but also fresh, fun, and thrilling with modern twists and turns. While short, the campaign is worth the price of admission and I hope we get to see more of this story in a proper sequel after a good cliffhanger ending.

All in all, this game is a hell of a thing.

Literally.

WOLFENSTEIN II: THE NEW COLOSSUS (MachineGames) 

I’m only a couple of hours into this game, and there’s already been a few moments where I’ve had to just sit back and let out a loud “What the fuck?” at what I’m seeing on the screen. It’s enough to put it on this list. Really. 

As someone who never played The New Order but is generally aware of what happened, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus appears to be something that stays true to the themes and roots of what that game set… and then expands that beyond those boundaries and confines to a degree that at times feels unsettling and uncomfortable in a way which reflects the fears of many in modern times.

It’s a game that is both an escape and a reality check in a way.

Even in a game with such great characters and shows reverence for them (but also will pull the trigger at any time), the compelling performance and depth Brian Bloom gives as B.J. Blazkowicz is absolutely incredible. The little things he says as you traverse levels, the flashbacks to a brutal past; the catharsis you seem him go through in often spectacularly bloody and violent fashion? It’s incredible to watch, mesmerizing almost.

Sure, the gameplay isn’t exactly what a lot of folks love… but at the same time, it almost doesn’t matter.

The New Colossus succeeds because the themes and message are heard loud and clear.

DESTINY 2 (Bungie) 

I’ve seen a lot of negativity aimed toward Bungie lately.

And I think it’s understandable.

They’ve messed up a lot on a variety of fronts, including the most important - communication and transparency - and at times? It seems like Destiny 2 may be an unsalvageable situation, a repeat of the mistakes the company with the first game.

But a lot of the time? I have a great time with this game still and have spent hours exploring, raiding, or just chaining Strikes over and over with an occasional foray into the Crucible. I still appreciate the lore of Destiny to a ridiculous degree, to how the idea of “post-apocalyptic space fantasy opera” is explored. As frustrating as it can be sometimes, when Bungie does their lore right? It’s some of the best worldbuilding and storytelling I’ve ever seen.

I hope that Bungie can iron out the issues, because this game has the makings of a great foundation with which to build upon. Only time can tell if they can pull that off.

SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY (Nintendo) 

Remember the crazy trailer for this game at E3?

I don’t think we actually thought this would deliver, right? Maybe?

Who knows?

What matters is that Nintendo delivered on that crazy gameplay reveal and gave us Super Mario Odyssey, which at its heart is the Mario everyone wanted all along with a few twists and turns that make it a fresh experience. Incorporating the “Capture” mechanic to the way this game does is tremendous and getting to utilize Cappy himself as a tool for exploration allows for you to fully explore the beautiful and vibrant worlds of this game.

Plus there’s the 2D sidescrolling element, and the photo mode, and the post-game stuff which-

You get my point. There’s so much here. 

The thing I want to give Odyssey the most credit for? It’s just a happy game. It’s about making exploration fun, it’s about having a damn good time, and it delivers on those in every single way possible. In any other year, it might be my favorite game of the year but…

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD (Nintendo) 

If you know me, this is no surprise.

I’ve been thinking on how to best write this since early March.

For Nintendo to basically blow up the standards of what a Zelda game is? To bring back the roots of what made games like the original the thing that caught fans’ attention and kept them hanging on for thirty-plus years? It’s a hell of a thing to do, but I feel as though they stuck the landing and with aplomb.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an incredible thing; an open-world action-adventure game which takes so many elements plucked from so many other genres and then blends them all together in something that never fails to awe or amaze. It’s something I wanted for them to do for so long, to shake up the franchise and do something different.

Does it have some flaws here and there? Absolutely. It’s not a perfect game daresay, but damn it’s… an experience, it’s something I’ve told almost all of my friends who likes games to go play. Those dungeons you loved to explore or those items you so loved from past titles? They’re not here, but for good reason.

Why?

Because Breath of the Wild’s true challenge is exploration in this vibrant and amazing world of Hyrule. It’s conquering that highest mountain top or finding that shrine in a den full of dangerous enemies; maybe it’s hunting Lynels all day or trying to find all 900 Korok seeds.

In a year where I feel like I needed an escape at times? This game provided just that. 

Hell, I’ve put 400+ hours into this thing and I can see myself putting in more.

What surprises me most about this game is the emotional impact I felt. In previous games, the same plot is often followed; many of the tropes and story beats in Zelda games are often circular. While this story is sparse in some places, the delivery of it is interesting enough that it makes me more interested in the canon of this universe than I have been since Wind Waker. I want to know what’s next for this incarnation of Link and Zelda in this world Nintendo has so elaborately constructed.

All in all, I wouldn’t call Breath of the Wild just my favorite game of 2017.

It’s without a doubt one of my favorite games ever, a classic that propels this franchise into the future and for the better by drawing upon its “you can do anything anywhere at anytime” beginnings. 

[scrawnydutchman]

When Should a Franchise be Revived?

So as the common fan of film and television has more then likely noticed by now, reboots, remakes and revisions are everywhere. Pandering towards our collective nostalgia has proven to be far more profitable and less risky then creating a whole new original classic for our mass consumption. The people have voted with their wallets on what they’d like to see, and now EVERYBODY is doing it. Cartoon Network rebooted Powerpuff Girls and will continue to bring back Ben 10. We’ve seen reboots of Fantastic Four and other superhero properties in recent years thanks to the everlasting boom of Marvel comics popularity. Power Rangers, Smurfs and other nostalgic franchises of old are coming back. Even the animation powerhouses of Disney and Pixar, who can earn a profit simply by slapping their name on a film, have decided it was more worthwhile to continuously remind everyone of how great and ambitious they used to be . . . . rather then continue to be great and ambitious.

Yeah, as anybody who has read an article I wrote previously about the Beauty and the Beast remake in particular and just knows me in general will have figured out by now that I am HIGHLY opposed to this phenomenon. I think it’s a discouragement of mold changing ideas, it tells our future generation that the great idea they had for a new movie or show will be supported by absolutely no one, and it generally makes our culture come to a grinding halt. It’s especially ironic because these franchises we want to come back so badly are so great in the first place BECAUSE they challenged our sensibilities when they first came out, rather then pandered to them. They redefined what could be expected from our entertainment, they changed the way we look at a medium, they made all encompassing shifts in our culture. Remaking Beauty and the Beast doesn’t shift our culture, or at least it doesn’t shift us forward. It just holds us back. We could have put that same money into creating a new spectacular film that was so jaw droppingly amazing it RIVALED the original Beauty and the Beast in it’s majesty, instead of just trying to live up to it. Now, I have to come clean; I have not seen the new Beauty and the Beast so upon seeing it my mind could VERY much change upon a viewing, but I’m personally really self conscious about putting my hard earned money towards a mentality I greatly oppose, and truthfully at this point I might go in with a bias of “ready to hate it” where I don’t go in expecting a movie, I go in being like “okay . . impress me”, which for any art completely changes your outlook. When I see it, if I see it, I’ll have to take time to change my mindset in the name of being fair. On the other hand the whole movies marketing strategy is “remember the first movie?” so I’ll likely know exactly what to expect.

All of that said, bringing back a franchise is not ALWAYS bad, in fact sometimes I too get incredibly hyped about the news of one returning. There are certain exceptions of the rules, and I’m here to create a distinction between when you SHOULD bring a franchise back, and when you should just leave good enough alone.

1. It should be something that didn’t have a satisfying conclusion

One of my absolute favorite shows growing up was Teen Titans. Action packed, suspenseful, heartwarming, sometimes scary, hilarious and overall dripping with charm, this show was a clever blend of western animation and anime tropes brought together to make a really thrilling colorful ride with the unforgettable main case of Robin, Beast Boy (my favorite as a kid), Cyborg, Raven and the lovely adorable Starfire (who is my new favorite after rewatching this great series). As wonderful as this show was, it has an infamously unsatisfying conclusion. Without giving too much away to people yet to see this show, basically a major character from a previous story arc comes back without remembering who they were, one of our main heroes tries to help them but then has to leave them to continue crimefighting. And that’s it. That’s all we got. No answers to why this character came back, no answers as to what this means for the team, nothing about why their memory is lost. The show just ended without warning. If this show came back and kept telling amazing stories featuring our favorite motley crew of teenage superheroes and had an entire arc about how this character came back, you bet your ass I’d watch it. I WANT ANSWERS DAMMIT. Besides, part of the ingeniousness of the Superhero genre is that it’s so broad and limitless you can tell an infinite amount of stories with it. It just lends itself to being an ongoing franchise. Which leads to my next point.

And before anyone brings it up, yes, I’m aware of Teen Titans Go. I just try my best to forget about it.

2. You have a premise with potential for more stories. 

Coming up with a timeless premise is a difficult task. How do you come up with a plotline that’s timelessly epic or intriguing and is easily accessible to fans from every generation? Well, more often then not the answer is to make your premise as simple as possible, and to play towards themes everybody can relate to. One Piece is a great example, being one of the longest going franchises EVER and being SO successful it beat Spider-Man for the number 3 spot of best selling comic book franchise of all time (and at the rate it’s going it’s not unlikely it will beat Batman and Superman in the next few years). That’s because the premise is very easy to understand: Guy wants to become king of the pirates, to do so he must find the thing everybody is looking for, hijinks ensues and he meets a bunch of new friends along the way. With a premise as broad as this you can go ANYWHERE with it, and as a result this series has some of the most expansive lore out there where even the smallest character has the most intriguing arc. They’re always going to new islands, they’re always finding new bad guys to beat up, they’re always overcoming new bizarre challenges, and because the story essentially ends when our main lead finds his treasure, which could be at anytime, it can be as long as it wants. It also means if it were ever to end randomly without Luffy finding the One Piece it wouldn’t be out of place to just bring it back a few years later.

3. The franchise has potential not fully realized

Now, after the recent success of the new Beauty and the Beast in the box office you’ve probably heard that Disney has a SHIT TON of remakes in the works for the near future. They’re basically remaking everything, regardless of how much sense it makes. Barf. But that said, there are a FEW Disney remake examples I wouldn’t mind seeing tbh. The biggest one for me is Treasure Planet, reason being that it was a passion project by originators of the Disney Renaissance John Musker and Ron Clements, that was held back since it’s inception (thanks Katzenburg) and once it FINALLY got released it essentially bombed in the low point of Disneys popularity at the time. Now it sits alongside it’s brother Atlantis: The Lost Empire as the nostalgic Disney films fans get to at the END of their marathon, if even that. It’s a shame because this really is a neat idea. Treasure Island in space with a steampunk vibe really lends itself towards incredible and imaginative visuals (even if this movie has sort of a weird style of not quite mesh between historical and futuristic). I’d like to see a live action remake of this because the first movie doesn’t get the respect it deserves, especially for being the passion project that it is (poor Musker and Clements) and live action CGI has potential for bringing this premise to life in a way that was limited for it’s time due to this idea being held back for years. Plus I’d like to see this movie fix the problems the old one had (and when I say fix, I mean ACTUALLY MAKE BETTER, not just address knitpicky bullshit like so many people who think they’re smarter then a 90s movie when they actually just demonstrate that they completely miss the point. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ISN’T ABOUT STOCKHOLM SYNDROME. okay, rant over). I for one would just blend the two styles a little closer together so it looks more like a steampunk mesh and less like .  . . regular pirate ships with rockets taped on. Also, get rid of the robot. Just cut him out entirely.

So yeah, those are the 3 reasons I think would make bringing a franchise back acceptable. If your franchise had an unsatisfying conclusion, has potential for more stories and perhaps was incredibly limited upon it’s initial release, I see no reason not to talk about it again. And if you can hit all 3 of them then man, at that point you have a DUTY to bring it back.

Now those of you who saw the top picture was probably wondering when the hell I was going to mention the new season of Samurai Jack. Well rest assured, I saw it. And it. Is. AMAZING!!!!!! Seriously, this is some of the most spectacular stuff I have ever seen in an animated series. You are doing yourself a disservice if you are not watching Samurai Jack right now. But incidentally, the franchise itself just so happens to fit all 3 of the criteria I mentioned. The Samurai Jack series DID have an unsatisfying conclusion; we never saw Jack return to the past. The simple yet ingenious premise of Samurai Warrior gets flung into bad past by arch enemy and has to get back to the past to undo the damage done by him lends itself a LOT to endless possibilities for storytelling. It’s beautifully broad and in a futuristic setting, so you can put Jack in any situation you want. A western? go ahead. A fairy tale? Absolutely. Scotland? Why not? An Alice in Wonderland homage? You bet your ass! Sometimes the premises just write themselves. And finally, this new season is the vision of Genndy Tartakovsky fully realized. It’s no longer held back by censorship towards children or a constraint in budget. It has complete permission to go all out. The scenery is more beautiful then ever before, the action is awe inspired, the suspense is intoxicating, the new use of gore is artistic beyond all hell, and it maintains everything great about the old series and improves upon them. THIS IS HOW YOU BRING A SERIES BACK.

Now, compare that to Beauty and the Beast. The original is also an awe inspired risk taking and breathtaking work of art that really challenges the conventions we used to know and love. But the facts are: it had a satisfying conclusion, there were no more stories to tell (despite the efforts of the terrible direct to DVD sequels) and it was it’s own potential fully realized. The remake has nothing to offer but nostalgia for a movie you can watch any time if you wanted and the promise that it will fix what was never broken. Beyond that, all it’s got is songs we’ve already heard, a cast of talented people, granted, but would frankly be better off putting their talent to a fresh idea that needs the exposure more, and cgi that’s nothing new from what we see every year.

BUT ALL OF THAT SAID . . . there is one factor that breaks all the previously stated rules and warrants the existence of a product no matter where it’s basis comes from . . . honest to God quality. If a movie is genuinely entertaining or enchanting or funny, for any reason at all, then it’s done it’s core job and that’s that. So maybe I will be pleasantly surprised by this new Beauty and the Beast, it’s totally plausible. I’ve heard friends of mine say it’s BETTER then the original . . . I can’t help but remain skeptical and a little pessimistic at the whole idea, but fun is fun so, if you enjoyed it, don’t let me stop you from doing so.

[odanurr87]

The problem with Star Wars Rebels

At the behest of several friends and acquaintances I decided to start watching the animated series Star Wars Rebels. I had previously watched The Clone Wars, but eventually gave up on it for a variety of reasons that I may explain in a separate post. I am currently on episode 14 of the second season of Star Wars Rebels, yet I feel I am able at this time to try and pinpoint some of the issues I’ve been having with this series.

Let me preface this by saying Rebels is not a bad show, at least I don’t think so. I think all fans, both old and new, can agree it’s entertaining, there’s a lot of humour, and voice acting is very good. Some might even delight in meeting familiar characters from the Star Wars Universe, like Leia, Lando, or the droids, or learning new bits of lore, such as the origin of the Rebel B-Wing starfighter. I do believe that someone (relatively) new to the Star Wars Universe will find more to enjoy in Star Wars Rebels than an old fan like me, but I am trying and I will keep on trying.

Speaking for myself, I come with a lot of Expanded Universe (EU) baggage, and retcons are not something that I take to lightly, especially when they’re gratuitous or badly done. My head is filled with details that fleshed the Star Wars Universe, details provided by the EU, so when I see something in Star Wars Rebels (and in The Clone Wars too) that overwrites that data an alarm goes off at the back of my head and I’m taken out of the experience even if for a tiny bit. The Clone Wars is perhaps the most egregious culprit as Dave Filoni messed with continuity (LucasArts wasn’t owned by Disney then) resurrecting already-dead characters (e.g.: Darth Maul) and completely altering Mandalorian culture, among others.

However, retconning is only (a small) part of the problem with Star Wars Rebels. I believe there are more basic issues with the series that I’ll do my best to outline in this post. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what happened a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

The origins of the Rebel Alliance... kinda

Star Wars Rebels follows the adventures of a young group of mercenaries turned freedom-fighters 5 years before the Battle of Yavin (BBY). The show starts as a young thief by the name of Ezra bumps into a group, led by Kanan, a former Jedi-turned-mercenary, in the process of stealing supplies from the Empire. These will be our heroes for the remainder of the series. Besides Kanan and Ezra, we have: Zeb, a Lasat male honor guardsman who acts as the muscle; Chopper, an astromech droid that’s in charge of opening every door and repairing everything that doesn’t work properly; Sabine, a Mandalorian who has a penchant for art and blowing stuff up; and Hera, daughter of Cham Syndulla (from TCW), top-notch pilot and sharing the lead together with Kanan.

From left to right: Sabine, Zeb, Hera, Kanan, Ezra, and Chopper.

Comparisons with the gang from the Original Trilogy (OT) are self-evident and are not the focus of this post, nor of this particular point. As the show progresses, we come to learn that his group, while operating independently, does strike against the Empire every now and then. Circumstances eventually force them to make a stand, and thus we learn that they were actually operating as a cell, and that there are other Rebel cells operating throughout the galaxy. In short, what we have is a small window into the origins of the Rebel Alliance.

Putting aside the (non-canon and Force-powered) story of The Force Unleashed, which also depicts the origins of the Rebel Alliance (and is incidentally very good at it), one obvious question comes to mind, do we really need this story? Do we need to know exactly how the Rebel Alliance came together to stand against the might of the Empire forged by Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader? To my mind, the answer is no. History has shown us that rebellion is commonplace in empires that abuse their power and oppress their people. Therefore, that a rebellion would surface in the span between Episodes III and IV doesn’t come as a surprise. Would I want this story to be told though? If executed properly, the answer is yes.

Planting the seeds of rebellion.

George Lucas tried to show us some of this in Episode III with a series of meetings between Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Padmé Amidala, and a few other senators, where they discussed the future of the Republic and what they might need to do to save it. Unfortunately, those scenes got cut for the theatrical release. Maybe they were a tad too on the nose, maybe Lucas thought it would remind people of The Phantom Menace’s politics. I am perhaps one of the few who finds that politics are an integral part of the tale of the Republic’s downfall and who believes they don’t have to be detrimental to a story. Just look at the excellent The Legend of the Galactic Heroes for reference. Whether you’re a fan of the light novel series by Yoshiki Tanaka, or the (superior) anime version, it’s a story fraught with history, politics, economics, religion, and warfare, that finds the right balance between all these elements. If Star Wars Rebels were to combine these elements half as well to tell us how the Rebel Alliance was formed, it would make for one hell of a story.

Unfortunately, so far Rebels has made no attempt to do so. There are many basic questions that remain unanswered. For instance, if Hera’s (she’s their commanding officer now, right?) band of freedom fighters is just one cell out of many, does that mean that there’s some sort of centralized power structure? The story seems to suggest the rebels were disorganized before Hera’s group rallied them into action but it’s never really clear. At the same time, it also suggests Hera was already taking orders from some form of command authority back in their early ‘independent’ days. Which one is it? 

If there is a commanding body to the rebel movement, is there a larger plan beyond ‘sticking it to the Empire’? How exactly are the rebels planning to overthrow the Empire, if indeed that is their goal? Are we even at the point of calling it the Rebel Alliance? It would appear that at least the rebel group working with Hera is mobile and doesn’t have a base of operations. Is this the same for other cells? 

My head is filled with dozens of questions that scream (a bit of hyperbole, okay) to be answered, but the show remains oblivious and chooses to plunge through regardless. To be perfectly honest, I doubt the creators themselves know the answers. It is this internal confusion that throws me for a loop. Perhaps they believe these are trifle questions not worth pondering. I beg to differ. If you choose to tell a story about the origins of the Rebel Alliance, thoroughly exploring said origins is a must; at the very least I would expect it to be internally coherent and not sow confusion every two episodes.

This ties neatly into my second point, which is...

The Force is too strong with this one

When old Ben Kenobi tells Luke how the Jedi were once the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic, one has the sense that he’s talking about a distant memory, something that happened a long time ago. Indeed, watching the OT, you get the feeling that most of the galaxy believes that the Jedi were nothing but a myth. General Motti went so far as to question Vader’s sad devotion to that ‘ancient religion.’ Tarkin is adamant that Vader’s the only Jedi left. Even though he’d be proven wrong minutes (and an episode) later, the universe of the Classic Trilogy has all but forgotten the Jedi.

When Luke picks up the Jedi mantle it’s an incredibly boon for the Rebel Alliance. Not only have they now a powerful symbol to rally behind, for the Jedi were considered bastions of the Republic, they also have someone to stand against the powerful Darth Vader. This was further reinforced by the EU. Sometimes a story would feature people who would dabble in the Force, or people who pretended to be Jedi, but in the end, the notion that Luke was the last of them was ever present.

Luke Skywalker, last (hope?) of the Jedi.

The Prequel Trilogy (PT) was the first to create problems for this narrative. After all, the events of Revenge of the Sith take place 19 years before the events of A New Hope. I would hardly think that 20 years is enough time for the galaxy to forget about the Jedi. Even less so when you consider that the Clone Wars would have spread the Jedi throughout the galaxy, making them known even in the most distant Outer Rim worlds.

20 years ago there were thousands of Jedi. Now there are none. Revenge of the Sith tried to explain this through Order 66, just one in a long series of orders drilled into the clone army that instructed them to eliminate their Jedi commanders and every other Jedi they could get their hands on. The film shows us they were mercilessly efficient at that and very few Jedi managed to survive the betrayal, the most notable examples being Obi-Wan on Utapau and Yoda on Kashyyyk. But as the film also shows us, not all Jedi were killed by the clones, either on the battlefield or back at the Jedi Temple. Obi-Wan managed to get a message out warning any surviving Jedi of the fall of Coruscant and the clones’ betrayal, and instructing them to stay hidden until... whenever. There’s a very funny deleted scene from Episode III where the clones dress up as Jedi to trick Yoda and Obi-Wan with predictably bad results.

Anyway, as I was saying, no matter how efficient the clones might have been, it stands to reason that some Jedi other than Obi-Wan and Yoda would have survived the purge. Again, going with EU material, the Dark Times comic series show us as much as Darth Vader begins his quest to eliminate any and all surviving Jedi, and he’s very good at it. Any Jedi that might have survived that second purge where probably in hiding during the events of the OT, right?

Wrong. In Star Wars Rebels, Kanan notices that young Ezra is strong in the Force and undertakes the daunting task of training him. So now we have a Jedi Master and Padawan, fighting together with the Rebel Alliance, five years before the events of A New Hope. In fact, the events of season three of Star Wars Rebels take place as close as 2 BBY. 

What?

It gets better. Joining them in their struggle in season two is none other than Anakin Skywalker’s former padawan, Ahsoka Tano, who’s also working with the Rebel Alliance! As if that weren’t enough, we also have the Inquisitors, an organization of Force-sensitive agents working for the Empire to hunt down Jedi. By episode 14 of season 2 I counted at least 3 Inquisitors and there are probably more if the “fifth brother” and “seventh sister” quotes are any indication.

Um, well...

There’s more. Darth Maul makes an appearance at some point in season two and definitely returns in season three. Kanan and Ezra travel to a Jedi Temple where they both receive guidance from Yoda himself. Holocrons pop up, and the Bendu monks get transformed into Bendu, a Force-sensitive individual who represents the center of the Force.

...

Where should I begin?

If it was hard for me (or anyone, really) to believe the galaxy had forgotten about the Jedi over the span of 20 years, you can imagine it’s even harder for me to believe they’d forgotten about them over the span of 2 years (and that’s if Rebels ends at 2 BBY, it could end at 0 BBY!). I suppose one could argue that the galaxy is a big place, and that even dozens of Force-powered individuals running around waving their lightsabers like mad might get unnoticed by the galaxy at large. I can see myself conceding this point. There could’ve been Jedi rebels spread throughout the galaxy waging their own personal little wars against the Empire, careful not to attract undue attention to themselves.

Unfortunately, Kanan and Ezra seem to do everything in their power to stay in the Empire’s spotlight. Furthermore, they’re irrevocably linked to the Rebel Alliance, to the point that Princess Leia Organa herself saw the pair wielding their lightsabers and using the Force! Such a tale would’ve certainly spread like wildfire throughout the rebel cells, reaching both the Core and the Outer Rim. The Rebel Alliance had found not one, not two, but three Jedi (so far) to rally around and bring the fight to the Empire... 5 years before they found Luke Skywalker and 9 years before the Jedi, um, returned? Revenge of the Jedi’s starting to sound awfully better now, isn’t it? Pity the Sith got there first.

To further compound the problem is the matter of Ezra’s training. At the rate this is going, he’ll end up having more training than Luke ever did in the OT. He’s had access to a Jedi Temple, two Jedi who’re around almost full-time (Ben died fairly soon and Luke cut short his training with Yoda on Dagobah), two holocrons, and there may be other things I’m not aware of yet. Perhaps Marvel intends to fill the gap of Luke’s training with novels and/or comics? My point is that Ezra seems to be turning too powerful too easily and Disney will have to pull off another Order 66-like stunt if they’re going to get rid of him, Kanan, and Ahsoka by the time Luke arrives. 

Will this be Kanan and Ezra’s fate?

We already had an episode in season one where Vader fought more eager, less experienced, versions of Kanan and Ezra and couldn’t (or wouldn’t) defeat them. I believe there’s a similar episode in season two with pretty much the same results. Do the creators intend to go The Force Unleashed route with a final showdown between the Emperor, Vader, Kanan, and Ezra, where Palpatine wipes the floor with the Jedi? The Inquisitors are useless after all. Will they instead go into hiding like their fellows? That would be quite the reversal given everything that’s happened on the show but it wouldn’t surprise me. Not anymore.

A galaxy without stakes

The struggle between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire is more than well documented, at least under EU material. Even if we’re talking canon sources, only recently we had Rogue One, a new Star Wars movie set around 0 BBY that tells the story of how the Rebels got their hands on the Death Star plans that Darth Vader is so keen on getting back in A New Hope. 

Rogue One is, in essence, a war drama in the vein of the old World War II films I used to watch, like The Guns of Navarone or The Dirty Dozen, sharing more similarities with the former than the latter. It’s a film that attempts to show us the Alliance’s darker side and the lines they’re willing to cross to defeat the Empire, all the while driving the point that war is not a clean and clear-cut affair, with multiple rebel groups having different goals and methods to go about it, and civilians often getting caught in the crossfire. This movie does not shy away from death, having the largest body count since the Death Star blew up Alderaan in A New Hope. Okay, maybe not that high.

In Rogue One, war is hell.

Perhaps more so than A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, Rogue One succeeds at making the Empire feel powerful and menacing, to the point the Rebels actually consider giving up on the entire endeavour. Indeed, the Rebellion in Rogue One, while an organized force, is no match for the Empire, less so when the Death Star is put into play. 

Far superior at showing this was The Empire Strikes Back during the Battle of Hoth, when the full force of the Empire was brought to bear on the Rebel base. A blockade around the planet was enforced by Star Destroyers while AT-ATs under the command of experienced General Veers led the ground assault against the Rebel forces. The Rebels put up a valiant effort but the outcome had been clear from the start: this battle was already lost; all they could do was delay the Imperial forces long enough for the evacuation to be completed. Even then, the evacuation was no simple affair. The Rebel transports could not evade nor outgun the Star Destroyers around the planet so they had to use Echo Base’s powerful ion cannons to disable them long enough to make the jump to lightspeed.

This is what it took to (temporarily) disable a Star Destroyer in Episode V.

Even our heroes are not safe from the Empire in Episode V. Luke learns a painful lesson when he hastens to rescue Han and Leia at Bespin, losing a hand in a duel with Vader that nearly cost him his life. Han is tortured, frozen in carbonite, and handed over to a bounty hunter. Later, in Return of the Jedi, a more seasoned Luke Skywalker pays the price of underestimating the dark side of the Force, something both Ben and Yoda warned him against. Had Vader not turned against the Emperor right there and then, Luke would’ve been toast. Of course, the Rebellion would’ve won the day nonetheless, right?

It is true that the depiction of the Imperial forces is uneven even among the movies of the OT. For the excellent Battle of Hoth we also have the (underwhelming) Battle of Endor, where the Empire’s forces are defeated by a small Rebel strike team working together with the primitive Ewoks. To be fair though, the size of the garrison on Endor is a lot smaller than the forces deployed during the Hoth battle and the terrain is a lot trickier and particularly well-suited for guerrilla tactics, where the advantage of numbers can be severely hampered. As a side note, there’s also a deleted scene from Return of the Jedi where we see Commander Jerjerrod’s conflict at being ordered by the Emperor to destroy the Endor moon, thereby killing friend and foe alike. No doubt Palpatine intended to use this to leverage Luke into submitting... or forcing him to use the dark side to strike at him. Quite the deviously cunning fellow Palpatine.

Well, that looks impressive.

Still, the sense that the movies and the EU convey is that the Empire, at the time of the OT, has a vast and fairly competent military, but suffers from corruption and internal power struggles, as does any large organization given enough power. Why would anyone expect anything less? The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was perhaps the most effective and efficient military at the time of the Clone Wars, comprised mostly, but not excusively, of highly-trained clones. I’m uncertain whether the clones’ rapid-aging is something that’s still canon (I somehow doubt it), but in any case Star Wars Rebels tells us that the Empire started phasing them out after the events of Episode III, replacing them with regular people, probably drafted from the many worlds of the Republic/Empire. 

I’ve seen many people use this argument to explain away things like why the stormtroopers have such bad aim but that’s ridiculous. With the right training and the right tools/weapons, the Empire could still have the most powerful army in the galaxy, and guess what? They do have the right training and the right tools and weapons. Rex himself admits that the Empire did use the clones to train new recruits and pass down their knowledge. The Empire also obviously kept all the vehicles, weapons, and technology they used to fight the Separatists, acquired some new ones, and upgraded others. 

There’s a popular, misquoted I believe, phrase that says, “There are no bad soldiers, only bad officers.” Possibly a re-interpretation of a quote attributed to Alexander the Great, “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” Regardless of the exact wording and of who said what, the point is clear: soldiers can only be (shown to be) as good as the person commanding them. 

Yang vs Reinhard: Two sides of the same coin.

This is a point that the excellent Legend of the Galactic Heroes illustrates time and again. For all his clever strategies, Yang Wenli cannot help but follow the orders of the corrupt and self-serving, but duly elected, government of the Free Planets Alliance, with disastrous results. All Yang can do is stave off defeat and live to fight another day. On the other hand, the Empire’s own master strategist, Reinhard von Lohengramm, has carte blanche to deal with the Alliance as he sees fit, and surrounds himself with officers that have the talent and skills to defeat his enemy, regardless of their background.

Which is the case in Star Wars Rebels? Well, I guess it’s neither. The Imperial forces in Rebels are depicted as grossly incompetent, there’s no other way around this, hardly better than the battle droids from The Clone Wars. The stromtrooper effect is brought to bear in full force in this show, so much so that even the main characters are forced to comment on how bad the stormtroopers’ aim is. Officers fare no better, being made a mockery of, like missing a shot at point-blank range, and falling into the usual tropes of caricaturesque villainy, like having a fat Imperial officer steal a fruit from a vendor and daring him to stop him.

If I had a penny for every time I’ve seen this scene...

Rebels tries to revert this by introducing mildly competent characters like Agent Kallus, Tarkin, the Inquisitors, Vader, and even Thrawn in season three. Unfortunately, the more these characters are foiled (and they’re foiled a lot), the less effective they are at trying to reinforce the notion that the Empire is a force to be reckoned with. Halfway through season two, Kallus and the Inquisitors are more of a bad punchline than anything else. Tarkin and Vader are better off since their appearances have been few and far between. The only fear that the Empire seems to have sowed so far is among its own, as Imperial officers are made to account for their failure with their lives. It’s difficult to take the Empire seriously if it takes so little to foil them.

Only recently I watched an episode where Princess Leia tries to indirectly deliver ships to the Rebels. The plan is for Kanan and company to steal the freighters while Leia’s delivering supplies. The Imperial officer on the planet, in what shall hence be known as “that time that the Empire did something smart,” aware that Alderaanian ships have fallen into Rebel hands under similar circumstances, secures them with gravity locks and adds a pair of (old?) AT-ATs for further security. The Rebels are initially stumped and grimly reach the conclusion that, at best, they’ll be able to steal one of the freighters but not all three. However, as is the case with the show, they manage to steal all three. The gravity locks are easily disabled by Chopper working together with an escaped Imperial prisoner who just happened to build gravity locks while in captivity; the AT-ATs are easily destroyed by the Ghost (that’s the name of Hera’s ship by the way), while Kanan chops off their legs with his lightsaber; and the stormtroopers are their usual useless selves.

Guess Luke forgot that trick in Empire Strikes Back, and Dark Empire, and pretty much every other story ever.

The Empire’s ineptitude on its own is enough of a problem but there’s another that adds to it, and that’s the familiar trope of plot armor. Yes, our main characters have it, a lot of it. Our small band of freedom fighters can do no wrong or get seriously injured. They can easily defeat the toughest of enemies and they always get away with anything no matter what. 

As an example, in that very same episode I mentioned above, at a certain moment a Hammerhead-class cruiser fires at the spot where the Princess, Kanan, and Ezra are standing still. My initial thought was, “How are they going to make it out of that? ‘cause that cruiser is bound to pack a punch.” The end result was nothing but a bit of smoke, a punch no more powerful than if a couple of stormtroopers had fired their blasters. The Hammerhead-class cruiser is not equipped with blasters but turbolaser cannons, and their discharge on ground troops should feel like artillery was raining down on you. However, this is far from the only example where the rules bend around our protagonists.

Perhaps the most egregious example though is the one I saw recently. I was watching episode 13 of season 2, “The Protector of Concord Dawn.” The Rebels are searching for new hyperspace routes not monitored by the Empire and they come upon the idea of using the hyperspace corridor through the Concord Dawn system. While the system has no apparent Imperial presence there is a Mandalorian colony on the planet Concord Dawn and so the Rebels try to negotiate safe passage with them. To make a long story short, the Mandalorians aren’t keen on the idea and shoot down a bunch of Rebel A-Wing fighters. Sabine’s the only one who makes it back to the fleet in one piece whereas Hera also makes the jump to lightspeed... with a half-destroyed A-Wing.

I mean, take a look at that. Are you seriously telling me an A-Wing managed the jump to lightspeed in that state and wasn’t torn apart in the process? Give me a break! And you know what the worst thing is, worse than that even? It was completely unnecessary! Indeed, having Hera captured by the Mandalorians would’ve been the perfect excuse for Kanan to mount a rescue op and return. Hera didn’t need to be safely tucked inside the belly of a Rebel frigate recuperating. But then Sabine wouldn’t have had a reason to seek revenge, would she? More on that later. 

At the end of the day we have an Empire that’s less of a threat and more of a joke with every passing episode, and protagonists who can get away with anything with no consequences. A perfect example of this happens early on in the series when Sabine infiltrates an Imperial airfield to blow up its TIE fighter contingent. The reason behind this is unclear, or maybe that’s what I’d like to think, because otherwise the show would suggest she did it for the lolz and because she’s an artist. Right, an artist of death, there’s nothing disturbing about that.

Anyway, the stormtroopers are soon alerted to her presence and, in typical Rebels fashion, she toys with and taunts them until one stomtrooper notices something odd on the wing of a TIE that looks a lot like a bomb. Sabine promptly makes her escape while the bomb blows up on the stormtrooper’s face. I’m not kidding, look, here’s how close the stormtrooper’s face was to the bomb:

And he lived. Yup, he and his buddies lived to tell the tale in their next encounter with Sabine in the airfield where she again blows up the TIEs, thereby reassuring us viewers that Sabine’s actions are completely harmless and that the stormtroopers will live to get blown up again. Isn’t that funny? I’m guessing that showing the shockwave from the explosion chopping the stormtrooper’s head off in a kids’ show would’ve been too funny, right?

All of this, the fact that the Imperials are useless, that the Rebels are invulnerable, that actions have no consequences, it all adds up to one simple, inevitable, truth: there are no stakes in this galaxy. Sure, a rebel fighter will be blown up from time to time, but who cares, you never knew him anyway. But wait, a protagonist gets captured! So what? Getting him out is as straightforward and repetitive as going to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters. It’s no big deal, just send in the A-Team, they’ll extract him and blow up half the Empire while they’re at it. There’s a blockade around the planet where the Rebels are at. So what? The A-Team will blow stuff up and escape with no casualties. Who needs a planetary Ion Cannon?

But there are AT-ATs! 

Made out of paper apparently.

Inquisitors! 

They sure don’t live up to the name.

Darth Vader himself! 

One appearance so far and he fails to capture or seriously cripple the Rebels in any way.

Um, Thrawn?

Look, I’m sure the creators thought that they were upping the stakes every time they introduced a new villain but I would question whether there were any to begin with. Like I said before, are we going to go all the way up to the Emperor to finally get things done? For all its faults, the Empire wasn’t that useles in the OT.

In a galaxy without stakes there’s little reason to care about its characters or their struggle and eventually you have to wonder, why is there even a struggle at all? When the show makes me ponder why the Rebellion hasn’t beaten the Empire already you know there’s something wrong somewhere.

What the Rebellion stands for

There’s a traditional narrative that the Rebel Alliance are noble idealists who rise up against the tyranny of the Galactic Empire to deliver peace and freedom to all peoples throughout the galaxy. That’s no secret, the opening crawls of the movies reinforce this by describing the Empire as ‘evil’ and having ‘sinister’ agents, and that ‘dreaded’ Imperial Starfleet, whereas the Rebels are ‘freedom fighters,’ and they have a Princess. Nobody doubts that the Empire are the bad guys here and the Rebel Alliance are the good guys.

Recently, Rogue One attempted to tint that narrative with shades of grey, at least on the part of the Rebels. Yes, the Rebels had spies, and assassins, and bombers, and they did terrible things in the name of the greater good. Our own history tells us that sometimes even the good guys can take extreme measures to end a conflict. Just consider the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The U.S. used a superweapon to raze two cities to force the Japanese Empire to surrender. There was a reason behind the madness though. Oblivious to the development of the atomic bombs, the Allies had been working on a plan, codenamed Operation Downfall, for the invasion of Japan. Projected casualties for this plan were high and some estimates even reached the millions of fatalities on each side.

Depending on how you look at it, where you stand, war can be seen as an abstract, white vs black, a fight between the forces of good and evil. But from the battlefield, things aren’t always so clear cut, it’s not always easy to tell what’s the right thing to do and what’s the wrong thing to do.

Welcome to the harsh reality of war: she’ll be fine.

As I was watching “The Protector of Concord Dawn,” I was struck by Sabine’s anger at how the Mandalorians cut the Rebels to pieces. Hera almost dying now convinces Sabine that the Protectors are bad, what hardens her resolve to seeing them killed. Maybe it’s not said in so many words but the subtext (to be honest, there isn’t much sub) is there. After all, how dare they shoot at Hera when all the Rebels wanted was to negotiate for safe passage... and bully the Mandalorians into submission if that didn’t work. In fact, if memory serves, that was the original plan proposed by Commander Sato, a show of force meant to say, “you mess with the bull, you get the horns.”

Even Kanan, who initially suggests to try the diplomatic approach, soon changes his tune once the Protectors make it clear they won’t help the Rebels. But let’s explain exactly what the Protectors’ role is, shall we? The Protectors of Concord Dawn are a small group of Mandalorian warriors, led by Fenn Rau, who helped train clone troopers during the Clone Wars and even fought with the Republic in a few battles. Disillusioned by the result of the war, Fenn Rau has opted to bend his knee to the Empire, what I guess amounts to making sure no Rebel ship passes through Concord Dawn unscathed. The Protectors don’t have many resources, maybe as much as two dozen fighters, so it’s doubtful the Empire expects a lot of results from them. This means the Protectors are no direct threat to the Rebels unless the latter insist on using the Concord Dawn hyperspace corridor, which they do. As a result, the Rebels blow up most of the Mandalorian starfighters and kidnap Fenn Rau who, out of the blue, decides not to pursue the Rebels nor report their presence to the Empire. That doesn’t get him out of cuffs though.

Using blackmail to get things done. The Empire would be proud.

How was the Rebellion any better than the Empire here? Aren’t they abusing their power as they accuse the Empire of doing? The fact that Sabine was so eager for the Mandalorians’ blood is equally disturbing. What does she think happens to the stormtroopers they shoot or the fighters they destroy? The stormtroopers aren’t droids, the TIEs aren’t unmanned. These are people, good and bad, who are serving the Empire for a variety of reasons. But Rebels isn’t keen on exploring this, is it? Worse, it seems the writers are oblivious to it. Perhaps they expect us to go along with everything the Rebels do just because they’re the good guys?

When Anakin Force choked Poggle the Lesser in The Clone Wars it didn’t make his action any less bad because he was fighting for the good guys and we knew it. Everything in that scene suggested he was doing something bad, that he was drawing closer to the dark side. When Cassian shoots that man at the beginning of Rogue One you know he’s doing something bad, everything in that scene plays to that effect. Cassian’s momentarily disturbed by it and later brings up the subject of all the terrible things he’s done in the name of the Rebellion. At least he acknowledges it, Rebels doesn’t even try to ponder the matter. Kanan and company don’t even stop to consider that perhaps it wasn’t the right thing to do. That perhaps they could’ve left the Protectors alone, that perhaps they could have tried to recruit them at some other time and continue to look for another hyperspace route. What happens the next time the Rebels ask for something and they’re told no, do they take it by force regardless? 

These are questions that should naturally occur to any of the protagonists but, sadly, don’t. If they did, it would certainly elevate the show’s value in my eyes. To clarify, It’s not the fact that the Rebels do questionable things that I find disturbing, what I find disturbing is the fact that they don’t find anything questionable about them and that we, the viewers, are not meant to regard them in such a light. They’re the Rebels and their cause is just or, in other words, the ends justify the means.

To be fair, this was just one episode and it may very well be the only one. Turning out script after script for each new episode is probably no mean feat, and some episodes are bound to be tighter than others, but it had me asking all the wrong questions about Star Wars Rebels.

Conclusion

Having written all of this one might be led to believe that Star Wars Rebels is a terrible show, a stain on the popular franchise built by George Lucas and now owned by Disney. But like I said at the beginning of this post, it’s not. Rebels is far from the only show where its protagonists have plot-armour, or the villains are incompetent. It’s not the first show that suffers from narrative issues and it certainly won’t be the last. It’s certainly not the first one to mess with Star Wars continuity, oh no, Lucas was doing a fine job at that before Disney, with as recent an example as The Clone Wars.

What Star Wars Rebels is, is lazy. Its depiction of the fight between good and evil is one we’ve seen countless times before, and one we’ll see countless times hence. It’s easy to show the Imperials as incompetent bullies and the Rebels as invincible do-gooders, and it gets tiresome to watch the same tropes repeat themselves over and over again. One can go as far as saying it insults the viewer’s intelligence when the good guys’ actions are never challenged, even when they may be morally (or otherwise) reprehensible, or when the laws of the universe are knowingly ignored, damaging the narrative for the sake of drama.

There are no consequences to speak of that invite discussion, no stakes to make us care about the protagonists’ struggle. And it’s important that we care, if not for them, at least for the fledgling Rebel Alliance in their struggle against the mighty Empire. But if our protagonists don’t take the Empire seriously, why should we? Why should I? Might as well be just another day at Tosche Station picking up power converters.

[terryblount]

Elden Ring: Miyazaki talks about story, gameplay, world-building & more

Elden Ring, oh Elden Ring! I don’t know about you all but I am really excited about this title. Sekiro was brilliant and FromSoftware has proven again and again that they can deliver an unforgettable experience each and every time.

So far we know very little about the game. We do know that initially the game was supposed to be a continuation of the Dark Souls series, but Miyazaki had other plans as it seems. Of course we also know, the studio does not like sequels and that is probably the reason why we seeing new IPs.

Elden Ring is a third-person action role-playing game with a fantasy setting. The gameplay is not so far from Dark Souls. That doesn’t mean that the gameplay will be identical, but you could say that Elden Ring belongs to the same genre. Hidetaka Miyazaki

This game is going to be open-world, something the studio has never done before and this concerns me quite a bit.  Though the previous titles might be considered open-world-ish since there is no loading, for the most part, and almost all the areas are interconnected.

Villages will be the dark dungeon-like ruins that you have come to expect from us. Creating a more open game is a big challenge for us. Hidetaka Miyazaki

My biggest concern is the story and that’s because From approaches story and storytelling very differently from other studios. But I guess that’s were R. R. Martin comes in play. More specifically R. R. Martin works closely with Mayazaki on creating the world of Elden Ring. Time will tell and to be honest I cannot wait.

The player will be able to learn about Martin’s mythology through exploration. Hidetaka Miyazaki

Below are some highlights regarding the game:

“Elden Ring is a third-person action RPG with a fantasy setting. The gameplay is not so far from Dark Souls. That doesn’t mean that the gameplay will be identical, but you could say that Elden Ring belongs to the same genre.”

According to Miyazaki, Elden Ring goes beyond simple changes to the game systems. By adding larger and more open environments, he believes that the game will evolve on a greater scale.

“With a larger world, new systems and action mechanics inevitably become necessary. In that sense, I think that Elden Ring is a more natural evolution of Dark Souls.”

“While the narrow and complex dungeons of our previous games were indeed interconnected, Elden Ring’s environments will be much more open and vast. The more extensive world will form the base of Elden Ring’s gameplay, and its mechanics are designed with that type of environment in mind.”

The dungeons of Miyazaki’s previous games were interconnected in the style of a Metroidvania game, but this time there is a vast field between them. According to Miyazaki, the inclusion of such an environment was decided for the sake of showing the story and world on a larger scale, to increase the freedom and depth of exploration, and to create more variation for battles.

You can get around the world on a horse, and you can fight enemies while riding.

Miyazaki wants to offer depth to exploration in Elden Ring in a way that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice did not.

Do not expect vibrant villages and towns. According to Miyazaki, “Villages will be the dark dungeon-like ruins that you have come to expect from us. Creating a more open game is a big challenge for us. If we were to add towns on top of that, it would become a bit too much, so we decided to create an open-world-style game focused on what we are best at.”

Miyazaki studied various open-world games as reference for Elden Ring‘s world, while at the same time not being too heavily influenced by a specific work, to make a game that is true to the DNA of a From Software game.

Regarding the collaboration with George R.R. Martin, Miyazaki said, “It all started with me being a fan of Mr. Martin’s works. A Song of Ice and Fire and its drama adaptation Game of Thrones are both masterpieces. I am also very fond of Fevre Dream and Tuf Voyaging.”

Miyazaki got in touch with Martin for a meeting, which he found to be surprisingly easy to do. From there, the two clicked and Martin was all in for Miyazaki’s idea of making a game together.

According to Miyazaki, Martin did not write the main story of Elden Ring. Rather, he wrote the events that happened long before the era the player explores—in other words, the “mythology” of the world. Miyazaki said that there were two reasons he had Martin write the mythology rather than the main story.

“Storytelling in video games—at least the way we do it at From Software—comes with a lot of restrictions for the writer. I didn’t think it was a good idea to have Martin write within those restrictions. By having him write about a time the player isn’t directly involved in, he is free to unleash his creativity in the way he likes. Furthermore, as From Software we didn’t want to create a more linear and story-driven experience for Elden Ring. Both issues could be solved by having Martin write about the world’s history instead.”

According to Miyazaki, the excitement, drama, and depth in the mythology written by Martin had a major impact on From Software’s creation of the world for Elden Ring.

Miyazaki compared Martin’s mythology to the dungeon master’s handbook in a tabletop RPG.

“The player will be able to learn about Martin’s mythology through exploration. We are known for letting the player explore the game’s lore through fragments of environmental storytelling, and this time around Martin’s story is what you will be trying to unravel. The period the player actually explores is still connected to the old times, so as you slowly discover why the world has become the way it is, you will learn more about Martin’s mythology as well.”

“There is no fixed main character in Elden Ring. We mostly leave it up to the player to decide the characteristics and personality of the character they create.”

Miyazaki believes that Elden Ring‘s NPC characters will be more compelling than his previous works thanks to Martin’s mythology as a source of inspiration.

There is no official release date at the moment, but since the game has been in development for quite a while we should probably expect some gameplay in the coming year.

Thanx IGN & Gematsu

Elden Ring: Miyazaki talks about story, gameplay, world-building & more published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[spryfilm]

“Avengers: Infinity War” (2018)

Action

Running Time: 149 minutes

Written by: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely

Directed by: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo

Featuring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, and Chris Pratt

Nick Fury: “There was an idea…

Tony Stark: “To bring together, a group of remarkable people…”

Vision: “To see if we could become something more…”

Thor: “So when they needed us, we could fight the battles…”

Natasha Romanoff: “That they never could.”

Critical Commentary:

Well the wait is over, so after eighteen previous MCU movies we can now see where the entire franchise has been heading to, this movie, “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) where the villain Thanos as well as his minions take center stage to assemble the often-mentioned infinity stones so that he can have total power over the Universe. What is puzzling has been what will the mad Titan (he is a Titan as that is the world he comes from) do once he actually gets the stones in his vaunted Infinity Gauntlet. The good news is that we find out, not only that we also get a primer on what those stones are, where they come from and why use a glove to assemble them anyway?

This movie deserves accolades for just getting to the screen as it is an exercise in not only logistics but in getting the right tone for a movie with this huge scope as well as so many characters from the previous movies over the past ten years. It is the second MCU movie this year, it should have been the crowning achievement of ten years, as well as possibly the biggest event movie of the current blockbuster climate, or at least this year, but some of its thunder has been stolen, one could say even cannibalized by the release this year of “Black Panther” (2018), which has generated over US$1.3 billion globally becoming the biggest grossing MCU in the US alone. It now appears that this new movie is set to possibly be anti-climactic, in fact if it turns out not to be great or could affect “Black Panther’s” chances come awards time it may be seen as a disappointment. I can say that is not the case it actually reminds us how great Wakanda as well as that entire movie was, so great to see it again in all its glory.

Fresh of the double success that was “Captain America: Winter Soldier” (2014) and “Captain America: Civil War” (2016) directors Anthony Russo & Joe Russo, not forgetting  screenwriters Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely had the task of corralling over thirty main characters as well as bringing to a kind of conclusion the past ten years. However, with two of the best MCU films under their belts all four seem to be the obvious choices to bring “Avengers: Infinity War” (as well as its sequel next year) to the screen with its disparate locations, very different characters, high drama and of course comedy that has become the staple of not only their other work but the MCU in general. Of course, there is one other player, the constant force behind every single MCU movie from the first “Iron Man” (2008) through to this one, that is producer Kevin Feige. Feige is the real mastermind behind all the ups, downs, accidents, mistakes as well as the successes of all the MCU movies, the question is will this new Avengers movie be a “Black Panther” or an “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015)? The good news is that as far as I am concerned this is an unmitigated success on most fronts, it brings together a promise of what was started all those years ago while if not actually delivering makes a promise of more epic stories to come as well as leaving the entire MCU on a razor’s edge.

Two years after the Avengers were torn apart during the events of “Captain America: Civil War”, Thanos arrives on Earth to collect the Infinity Stones for a gauntlet that will allow him to bend reality to his will. The Avengers must join forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy to stop him before his onslaught of destruction puts an end to half the universe

Much has been made of the amount of characters within this movie, there are plenty, so much of the actual story as well as the character beats are presented with looks or shorthanded dialogue, this is a movie that expects viewers to know the histories as well as previous plot points before going in, it is one of the ways the movie has been streamlined – if you could say a running time over two and half hours is streamlined. That and the fact that the majority of this movie is spent on the run, literally, from the opening to the very end (when yes there is a cliffhanger of sorts), this is most definitely the first part of a six hour epic. Unlike previous MCU movies this is not a comic book movie presented within the framewprk of other genres, like a heist movie, a spy movie or even a comedy – “Avengers: Infinity War” is exactly what it is presented as, a 100% comic book movie, with a villain trying to get something, with hench men and heroes attempting to stop him in a variety of ways, at various locations and of course the ultimate comic maguffin, the Infinity Gauntlet, more precisely the power behind said gauntlet. It is goal focused, one of the easiest stories to tell as well as plot so that audiences can keep up, staying focused until the very ending which for some will most definitely be a shock.

There is so much to unpack with this movie, but the central character who has been threatening to arrive since the first Avengers movie is finally here, all CGI but voiced by the malevolent Josh Brolin, who plays him as well as you would expect. In fact Thanos is really the only new main character to appear (in full that is) so it is up to the movie to convince the audience of not only his power and credentials but his purpose as well. What I found refreshing was that this is partly accomplished by concentrating on the relationships between Gamora, Nebula and to a lessor extent Peter Quill. Some of the best scenes are in the middle of the movie with the search for the Soul stone, as well as the exploration as well as origins of Gamora and Thanos, these were carried out extremely well, giving new depths to the characters of Gamora, Nebula as well as Thanos. Similarly this was something that was explored in last years “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017) with the short scenes between Odin, Thor and Loki which were far too brief – this relationship to is again briefly explored at the beginning of the movie. In saying that they are the only real personal moments in a movie packed with action, spectacle and awe.

The use of CGI is stretched to its limits here with the (over?) use of artificial sets, artificial people as well as artificial lifeforms, the good news is that they are juxtaposed by the real sets of New York and Wakanda which at times were welcome relief after so many digital backgrounds and extensive makeup, as well as of course the completely CGI characters of Rocket, Groot and Thanos himself – not counting multiple CGI iron people, spider-man, henchmen and various others. In saying that I loved returning to Wakanda, surely one of the location highlights especially after the success that was “Black Panther”, not only that but the various cast member of that movie are all still excellent as well as impactful, my personal favorite M’buku was a treat, he did not disappoint, in fact the last third of the movie is set there, and I am sure it will play an important part in the next installment.

“Avengers: Infinity War” is such an assuredly as well as competently directed movie by the Russo’s that it is easy to forget the challenge that was placed before them, they have made all the right moves, covering each location with just enough to give the audiences a taste of what is to come in the final shocking act, we are given enough to foresee the conclusion if you know your lore. This is based on a comic book storyline, one of the best ever constructed, so fans of that will know what is to come as well as the power behind the character of Thanos as well as his madness. This is an alien that asks for no quarter, none is given; he dispatches characters with ease as well as no remorse as we see in the opening of the movie. What is shocking is that Thanos knows all of the people he is going to face, which is proven by interactions with Loki and Tony Start, something that covers a few bases in case you think there is room for trickery – there is not. Of course the writers Markus & Stephen McFeely have alerted many of the aspects of the original story to fit within previous movies, some may complain but I find the possibility of surprise refreshing – even though I would love to see Starlin’s story played out as on the page. It is not enough to just transfer the story, any good adaptation has to retain the feeling of the original but make it something more than a copy, it has to be original which I am happy to say this is.

The MCU is still dominated by Robert Downey Jnr as Iron Man, more so with his new armor as well as his ability to stand up to anyone, but it was with glee that I thought Chris Hemsworth as Thor take his well earned success from last years movie, running with it and proving that like Downey he now owns his character, I hope to see more of him in the future. However, it is Chris Evans as Steve Rogers who is the real heart of these movies, he was born to play Captain America, someone who is the least powerful among his peers, but time and again proves that the bigger they are the harder they fall. As he moves away from the role tough I can easily see Chadwick Boseman taking his place as the born leader who will make decisions many are unable to, as will Sebastian Stan as Bucky who more and more proves he too owns his character. The surprise other than Brolin for me was the skill and ownership Zoe Saldana had as Gamora, that and the fact that in many ways this movie is all about her character, the growth she has as well as the influence she has over the people who are and have been in her life. To be fair the rest of the cast add their own skill to the screen but it for others to do the real heavy lifting which may change when next years sequel arrives.

This is by no means a perfect movie, the fact that all the character development is given to Thanos means that his top tier villains are no more than carborard cut outs with no real explanation of their powers or weaponry, they come and go at whim with little rhyme or reason. I would have liked to know the limits of their powers or at least some kind of back story, I completely understand why we didn’t but it does not help when you want to know more, especially when the MCU has always given backstories to most of their characters. Also there is an overreliance on knowing these people through different stories, mostly their own movies, so there seemed a clumsiness to prove that while they are appearing in a different movie they are still the same people – Drax for me became a little annoying and one dimensional which I thought was a bit of a disservice to him and the rest of the Guardians, Quill was the same – this may be an example of what happens when Downey dominates your section of the movie. Of course after a while there also seemed like a vacuum of ideas of how Thanos and his cronies could interact without violence especially since in most cases there was no or not much of a resolution until the last part of the movie, in fact there felt like an overreliance on the last scenes to make the previous two hours worthwhile. I will say that as character creations go as well as how they interact within crowded fight choreography the MCU are the best without doubt which shows in all of the action scenes in “Avengers: Infinity War”.

In saying that I still loved this movie, has there ever been a bigger event movie in terms of not only anticipation but also a possible payoff after ten years as well as the weight of eighteen movies? The answer is no, this has been the most successful franchise globally ever, it has had ups and downs, but it has persisted with more good parts than bad, which is proven by the fact that next year we will be seeing the conclusion to this movie as well as some of the characters that this franchise has been built on. In terms of comic book films as spectacle and jeopardy this has to be one the best of all time, it has such an emotional ending that I was surprised by how I felt in thinking about what the ramifications were going to be as well as how some of the characters will not only move forward but how this story will resove – my only problem is I have to wait a entire year.

Technical Commentary:

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray:

Disney brings “Avengers: Infinity War” to Ultra HD Blu-ray as a two-disc combo pack.

Video

The Avengers 4K arrives on Ultra HD with a beautiful and generally satisfying HEVC H.265 encode that offers several nice enhancements over the Blu-ray.

Shot on the Arri Alexa 65, capable of 6.5K resolution, and later mastered to a 4K Digital Intermediate, the 4K presentation delivers an uptick in overall definition and clarity. However, the improvements are not all that dramatic with several moments of softness sprinkled throughout. There is negligible aliasing or wobbly lines along the sharpest edges of some objects, and from time to time, especially in the long shots, the picture can appear somewhat noisy.

The better upgrade is definitely the brighter, more vibrant contrast delivering a sparky more brighter presentation, particularly in the daylight exteriors, such as the battle for Wakanda. The freshly-minted transfer comes with crisper, more radiant whites. Specular highlights don’t really improve much, but the brightest areas are nonetheless noticeably tighter, allowing for better visibility of the finest details. Black levels are a tad richer and inkier with great gradational differences between the various shades so that we can see the tiniest feature of everyone’s costumes.

Audio Review

Unlike its Blu-ray counterpart, the Ultra HD has a highly enjoyable Dolby Atmos soundtrack, offering a few noteworthy improvements over the DTS-HD MA 7.1 version. It may not compare to some of the best tracks currently available, which could make it somewhat disappointing, but it delivers a better aural experience that’s more engaging.

For one thing, the overall volume can be adjusted to normal listening levels although the design remains a very front-heavy presentation. The explosive action is largely confined and restrained to the three fronts, leaving the surrounds and ceiling speakers pretty much in silence for a majority of the runtime. On the plus side, the random effects discretely pan between the channels more fluidly and convincingly. Other scenes come with good atmospherics in the overheads. Such moments don’t really create a hemispheric soundfield that ideally matches the exciting, fiery visuals, but it manages to deliver a satisfying soundscape.

Like the lossless mix on the BD, the object-based track, however, delivers a highly-engaging and satisfying soundstage, displaying excellent channel balance and separation from beginning to end. The movie is littered with lots of background activity and off-screen movement, generating a broad and expansive soundscape. The mid-range exhibits outstanding clarity and definition with plenty of warmth and fidelity during the loudest, most bombastic segments.

Special Features

Blu-ray Disc

Audio Commentary — Directors Joe & Anthony Russo sit down with writers Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely for a detailed discussion about the film’s development and production. Terrific commentary.

Beyond the Battle: Wakanda (HD, 11 min) — “Go behind the scenes to find out how the filmmakers pulled off the most massive and challenging battle Marvel had ever attempted.”

Beyond the Battle: Titan (HD, 10 min) — “Dive into the climactic struggle on Thanos’ ruined world, including the epic stunts and VFX, to uncover the source of its power.”

The Mad Titan (HD, 7 min) — “Explore the MCU’s biggest, baddest villain, his trail of influence through the stories, and the existential threat he represents.”

Strange Alchemy (HD, 5 min) — Marvel filmmakers talk about the power of crossovers following separate or individual superhero movies.

Deleted & Extended Scenes (HD, 10 min) — Four scenes rescued from the cutting room floor.

Happy Knows Best

Hunt for the Mind Stone

The Guardians Get Their Groove Back

A Father’s Choice

Gag Reel (HD, 2 min) — Showing the lighter side of the production.

    4K Blu-ray review: “Avengers: Infinity War”(2018) "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018) Action Running Time: 149 minutes Written by: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely…

[terryblount]

Elden Ring: Miyazaki talks about story, gameplay, world-building & more

Elden Ring, oh Elden Ring! I don’t know about you all but I am really excited about this title. Sekiro was brilliant and FromSoftware has proven again and again that they can deliver an unforgettable experience each and every time.

So far we know very little about the game. We do know that initially the game was supposed to be a continuation of the Dark Souls series, but Miyazaki had other plans as it seems. Of course we also know, the studio does not like sequels and that is probably the reason why we seeing new IPs.

Elden Ring is a third-person action role-playing game with a fantasy setting. The gameplay is not so far from Dark Souls. That doesn’t mean that the gameplay will be identical, but you could say that Elden Ring belongs to the same genre. Hidetaka Miyazaki

This game is going to be open-world, something the studio has never done before and this concerns me quite a bit.  Though the previous titles might be considered open-world-ish since there is no loading, for the most part, and almost all the areas are interconnected.

Villages will be the dark dungeon-like ruins that you have come to expect from us. Creating a more open game is a big challenge for us. Hidetaka Miyazaki

My biggest concern is the story and that’s because From approaches story and storytelling very differently from other studios. But I guess that’s were R. R. Martin comes in play. More specifically R. R. Martin works closely with Mayazaki on creating the world of Elden Ring. Time will tell and to be honest I cannot wait.

The player will be able to learn about Martin’s mythology through exploration. Hidetaka Miyazaki

Below are some highlights regarding the game:

“Elden Ring is a third-person action RPG with a fantasy setting. The gameplay is not so far from Dark Souls. That doesn’t mean that the gameplay will be identical, but you could say that Elden Ring belongs to the same genre.”

According to Miyazaki, Elden Ring goes beyond simple changes to the game systems. By adding larger and more open environments, he believes that the game will evolve on a greater scale.

“With a larger world, new systems and action mechanics inevitably become necessary. In that sense, I think that Elden Ring is a more natural evolution of Dark Souls.”

“While the narrow and complex dungeons of our previous games were indeed interconnected, Elden Ring’s environments will be much more open and vast. The more extensive world will form the base of Elden Ring’s gameplay, and its mechanics are designed with that type of environment in mind.”

The dungeons of Miyazaki’s previous games were interconnected in the style of a Metroidvania game, but this time there is a vast field between them. According to Miyazaki, the inclusion of such an environment was decided for the sake of showing the story and world on a larger scale, to increase the freedom and depth of exploration, and to create more variation for battles.

You can get around the world on a horse, and you can fight enemies while riding.

Miyazaki wants to offer depth to exploration in Elden Ring in a way that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice did not.

Do not expect vibrant villages and towns. According to Miyazaki, “Villages will be the dark dungeon-like ruins that you have come to expect from us. Creating a more open game is a big challenge for us. If we were to add towns on top of that, it would become a bit too much, so we decided to create an open-world-style game focused on what we are best at.”

Miyazaki studied various open-world games as reference for Elden Ring‘s world, while at the same time not being too heavily influenced by a specific work, to make a game that is true to the DNA of a From Software game.

Regarding the collaboration with George R.R. Martin, Miyazaki said, “It all started with me being a fan of Mr. Martin’s works. A Song of Ice and Fire and its drama adaptation Game of Thrones are both masterpieces. I am also very fond of Fevre Dream and Tuf Voyaging.”

Miyazaki got in touch with Martin for a meeting, which he found to be surprisingly easy to do. From there, the two clicked and Martin was all in for Miyazaki’s idea of making a game together.

According to Miyazaki, Martin did not write the main story of Elden Ring. Rather, he wrote the events that happened long before the era the player explores—in other words, the “mythology” of the world. Miyazaki said that there were two reasons he had Martin write the mythology rather than the main story.

“Storytelling in video games—at least the way we do it at From Software—comes with a lot of restrictions for the writer. I didn’t think it was a good idea to have Martin write within those restrictions. By having him write about a time the player isn’t directly involved in, he is free to unleash his creativity in the way he likes. Furthermore, as From Software we didn’t want to create a more linear and story-driven experience for Elden Ring. Both issues could be solved by having Martin write about the world’s history instead.”

According to Miyazaki, the excitement, drama, and depth in the mythology written by Martin had a major impact on From Software’s creation of the world for Elden Ring.

Miyazaki compared Martin’s mythology to the dungeon master’s handbook in a tabletop RPG.

“The player will be able to learn about Martin’s mythology through exploration. We are known for letting the player explore the game’s lore through fragments of environmental storytelling, and this time around Martin’s story is what you will be trying to unravel. The period the player actually explores is still connected to the old times, so as you slowly discover why the world has become the way it is, you will learn more about Martin’s mythology as well.”

“There is no fixed main character in Elden Ring. We mostly leave it up to the player to decide the characteristics and personality of the character they create.”

Miyazaki believes that Elden Ring‘s NPC characters will be more compelling than his previous works thanks to Martin’s mythology as a source of inspiration.

There is no official release date at the moment, but since the game has been in development for quite a while we should probably expect some gameplay in the coming year.

Thanx IGN & Gematsu

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