Blazbaros

Just did my first playthrough of Elden Ring, which took me about 118 hours to do. I did just about everything available, did all the questing to unlock the endings and beat every boss I could find. This is probably the first Souls game that's gelled with me. It did take me a while to get to that point, but I'd probably say about 75% of my playthrough was genuine enjoyment and there's is definitely a hurdle you need to overcome in your first hours of the game to really "get it". At least, that's how I feel anyway.

I flubbed around blindly for myself for the first few hours of play thinking eventually I'd get put in the right direction, but linear Dark Souls 1 this is not because we're open world now, baby! It was honestly daunting to take your first steps out there and I had missed the "intended" path that I assume Fromsoft wanted you to take, only to come back hours later and be totally overleveled for that hilarious Agheel dive bomb that would have nuked you in the early game.

Because I don't really have the time or the energy to devote to games like this anymore, I found myself getting into the pattern of looking up guides. Having played them before, I know how they roll, my friends know how they roll, so I don't feel like I'm spoiling myself for looking into something a head of time. ESPECIALLY QUESTS.

The side quests in this game are bonkers and I found them personally hard to keep track of if you weren't already committed to finishing it in one go, lest you forget where you were on that quest. I really think that having some kind of log book would be nice in game because I'm old and I don't have time for this nonsense anymore. Plus a lot of them are cryptic as hell and I don't understand how anyone was supposed to figure them out.

Then again its a Souls game, I had figured that would be the case. It was still a challenge even with help and by the last legs of the game I felt like I'd grown, gameplay wise.

Now what isn't fun is the promise of multiplayer and how its implemented into the game. I hate it. Its tedious, its dumb, there's no reason why items should be involved in this, just give me an invite I can send to my friends online so we can play your damn game. Its clunky and stupid and I think out of my play time I did it like, twice. Its a shame, because when I was co-oping, it was super fun.

Overall I think this is my favourite of the Souls games that I've played. I'm not sure if I'm too keen on doing a NG+, because there's some areas that are just a pain in the ass (also a Souls staple) and I had just learned as of writing this that I missed a few opportunities for some bonus loot before moving on. Which sucks.

Ah well, that's 50GB of space that another game can take up. You were fun, Elden Ring, but I think its time to move onto something else. . .

. . . like Doom 2016. Or Red Dead 2. I started Red Dead before Elden Ring came out, playing the multiplayer with some friends. Its fun, but the controls are probably some of the worst I've ever experienced in a game. Maybe it functions better in the story mode or somesuch, I dunno. We'll see.

Oh oh, maybe Fallout: New Vegas, I actually haven't played that one at all. . . hmmm. . .

I noticed that I haven't been logging any of the stuff I've been watching, so I'll just rapid fire a whole bunch of them here. Some of its old, some of its new, maybe you'll find something that sounds interesting.

EXPANSE - 8/10

I still wonder how the hell I missed this show when it first started. Seasons 1 to 3 are SUPER good, and while Season 4 to 6 aren't bad, sometimes they meander and the cursing gets really egregious. Avasarala acts like she has an f-bomb quota to meet or else she'll explode.

Aside from that, highly recommended, very fun sci-fi.

ARCANE - 8/10

I don't play League at all or have kept up with it, so I had no idea what to expect here, but HOLY BAWLS was this show good. Like REALLY good. The animation is wild, the story is engaging, most of the characters are great and the world is. . . interesting. . . I don't buy the weird punk-aesthetic the undercity has, it really clashes with everything else. Especially the neon-paint.

If I had to criticize anything is that the show really wants you to sympathize with Jinx, but her actions continually do the opposite. She's like diet Harley Quinn. I also don't buy Vi and Caitlyn's relationship, seems kinda thrown in there for . . . reasons.

Anyway, go watch it, its real fun, has a lot of feels.

JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL - 10/10

This one caught me by surprise, I hadn't heard a single whisper about this show until a friend badgered me to watch it and we just binged the whole thing. It has excellent pacing, fantastic characters, a very fun take on magic and the fey and a very engaging story.

Don't want to spoil the fun, find a place to watch it, you won't regret it.

EL CAZADOR DE LA BRUJA - 5/10

This was certainly. . . something. I'm more upset and disappointed about it then anything, it has a really interesting premise, but does nothing to capitalize on it and instead focuses on weird slice of life nonsense with occasional danger. The budget for this thing was the contents of a shoebox found out back, so the visuals aren't that great either.

I think in the hands of a better writer it could've been far more entertaining and if the more supernatural elements were brought more to the surface more often, instead of just vaguely toying with them, I think it would've been a better show.

GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUROUS PLANT - 8/10

I saw ads for this years ago and intended to watch it, but somehow never did. Its like Waterworld, but actually good and with a giant robot. I'm surprised that it was short as it was and ended when it did, I definitely felt it could've gone on for a lot longer. Questions by the end were answered, but it feels open enough that if they wanted to, they could easily come back to it and explore it more.

Definitely worth a watch, even if there's a weird fanservice episode that seems super out of place. At least its early on and they just kinda move past it. For a bunch a people on a water planet, they sure are THRISTY. . .

MUSHISHI - 7/10

Another old animu that I never heard of and I am currently watching on recommendation from a friend. I haven't finished it, but I figure I'll bring it up now since we're almost done. Its a super weird, yet comfy, yet eerie show that has some spooky critter-of-the-week antics, but they're more often then not misses instead of hits. Despite this, when its good, its REALLY good. Thankfully a lot of the episodes aren't tied together too strongly, so if you're just not feeling an episode, skip it and move on, you likely won't miss much.

BOOK OF BOBA FETT - What the Fett/10

I know this one isn't done yet either, but I got some BEEF. Expect spoilers.

This show start off well enough, but goddamn its taking a nose dive. Boba is acting way off base from what you're expect from him (disregarding EU content of course), he's no longer a hardened hired killer who wants what's owed to him, now he wants to be a . . . pillar of the community. . . ? There's nothing warranting that. I can understand taking over Jabba's place as a crimelord as compensation for getting eaten for five years, running things yourself instead, sure, why not? Turn Boba into Conan the Space Barbarian, that seemed like where it was going originally, that seemed fun and exciting. Now he's not only turning into a contrived "good guy", he's also a secondary character in his own show! There's an entire episode dedicated to catching up with Mando and then the very next one is about Baby Yoda, he's not even in either of those!

The episode that just came out (episode 6) should've been the first episode. It establishes what's going on with Baby Yoda, we get to see Luke and Ahsoka again, a new threat is established, and it begins leading up to something interesting. Portions of episode 5 should've also been in there too, since that one was a snoozefest and needed to pick up the pace. Too bad the rest of the season is just us beating around the bush with Boba, where episode 2 was the only one worth watching because STUFF was happening.

I don't mind when a show takes some time for us to get to know a character, but there's a limit to that. It seems like padding and intentionally stretching the content out to make sure you're subbed to Disney+, and I wouldn't be be surprised if that's actually what they're doing. Its sad to see a show that has some generally interesting ideas get bogged down with subpar storytelling and boring pacing.

Also everything on Tatooine is just a little bit too clean. There's a bar you see multiple times and its just spotless, the air isn't even choked with the smoke of patrons, what the hell happened to this planet? I could go on with small details like this that just take me out of it, but we'd be here forever and I've already discussed it at length with those that can tolerate my ramblings. If there is one thing that I can definitely praise it for, its the de-aging on Luke, I dunno what they did, but it looks really good and I wish we got that a lot sooner. Maybe the movies would've been better for it. Too bad they butchered his character here too.

In the end its Disney Star Wars, I keep holding out hope for something, but all I keep getting back is disappointment. I'm tired.

Saw this last night and was honestly surprised as to how good it was. Like really good. Probably because it was hitting all the nostalgia buttons. It gets a well earned 8/10, but a 9/10 because the theatre audience was super into it and made it even more hype.

That being said I don't know if its worth going to see it in the theatres, which is something I've been grappling with for a little while now. Its good, but not "gotta go see it in theatres" good.

Without going into too many spoilers, because the less you know about this movie the better, there was really only one glaring problem that bugged me to no end. So in the previous film, Far from Home, Spiderman is framed for killing Mysterio who was seen as this new hero to save the world, and that plays heavily into the beginning of this film. That plot thread is just dropped part way through, is never brought up again and is not resolved. Spiderman is just a murderer now in the eyes of the public and a lot of people are weirdly okay with that . . .? I dunno, I don't think that bit was handled very well.

As soon as the action ramps up you kind of forget it anyway. It got real wild, real fast.

So if you need to see something during the holidays, I recommend it.

Its finally heeeeeeeeere!

And it was worth the wait.

I'll give it a big ol' 8/10, although I can't recommend it for everyone. It is very long, about 2.5 hours, and a slooooow burn. Its also only part 1 of 2, so the movie just kinda ends without a complete resolution.

It was described to me as an "audio-visual experience" and it is certainly that. I'm glad to have seen it in theatres. The casting and acting is on point, the aesthetics (for the most part) were very pleasing and the sound track was haunting and beautiful. The set design was grandiose and imposing when you could see it, because if I have one major criticism, is that the film is shot too dark in a lot of scenes and its really difficult to make out all the details.

Without getting into too many details, I do have some other thoughts to share, which may contain spoilers. Considering the length of the film and the amount of time spent on world building, I'm honestly surprised this stuff was looked over. I'm guessing there's going to be a director's cut that may cover them, but for now, here's a few things I had a bit of an issue with:

• Spice in this film is weirdly downplayed for how important it is.

• No mention of the Bulterian Jihad against thinking machines and the reason why Mentats exist (or even what they are)

• We don't get a see a navigator or how they fold space from one planet to the next, the scene where I would imagine it taking place just kinda. . . does a weird screen transition and then we went from Caladan to Dune. (It turns out we do get to see them, they're some guys in white with orange masks we see at the beginning, but I was hoping for a fish-dude in a spice tank or something)

• Speaking of, we don't really get to see the navigators get involved with the Emperor's plan outside of being the ones to transport the Harkonnen during the invasion. There was a perfect scene where the Baron was talking to Gaius Mohiam that would've been a nice introduction at the very least.

• We don't get to see the Paddishah Emperor, the Princess or Feyd-Rautha, but they're probably being saved for part 2. There was already a lot of characters to keep track of.

• I wanted to see Rabban Harkonnen do more, like he was the one that killed Duncan Idaho or Leyt Kines or was actively killing folks during the invasion. He just kinda stood around, looked menacing and executed some soldiers.

• Everyone's armour looks awesome, except for the Atreides and the Sardaukar. The Atreides look like they're wearing cheap syrofoam slabs that doesn't look very convincing as armour. The Sardaukar on the other hand are. . . white? That doesn't look very imposing. If they were black they would've been hard to differentiate from the Harkonnen troops (which in the book they were disguised as such), I probably would've gone with red to make them stand out and look scary.

These are honestly small things that don't impact the film too much, its still really enjoyable and if you can see it in a theatre, I think that's the best way to see it.

Turns out even anime can't save Star Wars.

This has got to be the biggest waste of an evening I've ever had. It wasn't all bad, but goddamn, I had hopes that at least 50% of it being to be fun. I understand that the purpose of this project was to meld the anime style, Japanese legends and storytelling with Star Wars, but its just a Star Wars veneer and has very little to do with Star Wars at all, sticking mainly to Samurai Jedi, Samurai Sith and a Planet Nippon whenever they can. In fact, if you took away any references to Star Wars, you'd be left with some pretty decent shorts -- the Star Wars references actually take away from it.

I'm just gonna dig right into some of these, so if you haven't seen it and want to, I suggest watching it to form your own opinion.

Episode 1 - The Duel 8/10

This one is by far the only episode worth watching, its essentially Seven Samurai with a TWIST. The stylization is rad, the action is radder and the character designs are RADICAL. They also somehow made the saber-copter work. I'd consider this a must watch.

Episode 2 - Tatooine Rhapsody 1/10

And with such a strong start, it immediately trips and falls flat on its face. This one's about a Jedi who becomes a rock star and his hutt friend gets kindnapped by Boba Fett. The only good part is the hutt friend, his design is hilarious. Otherwise its a hard pass, as soon as the musical number started I couldn't be bothered to finish it.

Episode 3 - The Twins 4/10

Ah, Trigger, what do you have in store for us toda- oh. . . is that. . . two Star Destroyers fused together? Weird flex but okay.

This one's about twins who are products of the Dark Side and who are crucial to the function of a Super Laser. They got cool suits n' shit. The brother decides he doesn't wanna commit planetary genocide, while his sister is coo-coo for coco puffs. This one looks like Kill La Kill and Promare had a baby and that baby was really into Star Wars, but only heard about it from their grandpa. I didn't finish this one either, while I love Trigger's over the top fightin' and whacky shenanigans, it just got too goofy for me.

Episode 4 - The Village Bride 5/10

I would've liked this one a lot more if the dialogue wasn't written in that certain anime way where characters talk about things, but never actually say anything. Also if 2/3s of the run time wasn't boring as hell. Its something about a planet that's under occupation by the Separatists and they're gonna take the chief hostage, but then his daughter steps in instead, but she just got married, something something, a Jedi shows up for whatever reason and I dunno man I just stopped paying attention.

Episode 5 - The Ninth Jedi 6/10

About half of this one is good, I like the premise a lot. Its set sometime where the Jedi are scattered and the technology for building lightsabers has been lost. This ruler wants Jedi to come to his planet because he's figured out how to do it and wants to rebuild the Jedi Order. Also the planet's temple is in space and looks kind of rad.

While the invitees await at the temple for the ruler to show up with the lightsabers, a dude is making them on the planet below. Aaaaaand then the episode drops the ball because its using the new lore where the lightsaber colour changes depending on whose holding it. You were doing so well up until that point. So this girl whose blade is "colourless" takes the sabers up to the temple after a pretty cool chase scene and then gives them to the Jedi, but OH NO, they aren't jedi, they're SITH because all their sabers are RED. Then a fight scene breaks out and is pretty cool.

Despite the saber colour thing, this one is pretty okay, as I mentioned, the premise is good.

Episode 6 - T0-B1 5/10

Its Astro Boy.

Episode 7 - The Elder 7/10

This is the only episode that I could see existing in canon without any trouble. Two Jedi are travelling in space when the master picks up a disturbance in the Force and heads towards a planet. They find out a weird old man showed up earlier in a Sith-styled ship and the padawan bumps into him and gets into a fight. The fight choreography could've been a lot flashier I feel, but at least the killing blow was awesome.

Episode 8 - Lop and Ocho 6/10

This is the one with a bunny girl in it! Its got a good style and I like the environmental shots and the backgrounds quite a bit. We're back on Planet Nippon, a backwater world, but since the Empire showed up, they've become more technologically developed and things are looking up!

And then terrorists happen. It feels a lot like Final Fantasy 7 in that regard. Turns out the local clan head doesn't like the Empire polluting their oceans, but his daughter thinks that they should just embrace the future with the Empire. How bunny girl fits into this is that she was a slave (?) whom the clan head freed and adopted.

After the clan head's daughter throws her lot in with the Empire, the local clan is falling apart. Then the clan head takes bunny girl into a cave shrine where he gives her an ancient lightsaber given to his family by a Jedi many years ago. Then they go fight the daughter at the Imperial base in a pretty cool action scene.

Episode 9 - Arakiri 6/10

Here we are at the end. And it ends on a downer. Interesting.

A Jedi crashes on Planet Nippon and he meets up with a princess her servants (?) and they go on a quest to stop the Sith Shogun from doing. . . something. I dunno, instructions unclear.

After some Samurai Jack levels of travel scenes, they get to the castle and confront the shogun, who turns out to be an absolute MA'AM -- I guess the dark side really is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural :wink:

Anyway, Jedi guy has been having visions of someone dying in front of him and its becoming more clear as time goes on. Eventually he sees its one of the guards. And somehow during the scuffle, the princess is one of the guard uniforms and he kills her. Darth Ma'am then convinces him to join her and she'll show him how to bring her back to life, which he does, then she does and now princess is back.

We end on him following his new master to a ship as it ascends off world.

What a fuggin' mess.

Don't get me wrong, I've been wanting Star Wars anime since forever, but holy crap, the Japanese were making better Star Wars rip offs back in the 80s and 90s. Now that they actually got the license to do it, it doesn't seem like they know what to do with it.

I was hoping for a little more variation, but I'm not surprised that they were all Jedi centric with lightsabers everywhere. It could've stood to have a pod-racing episode in the vein of Initial D or starfighter episode in the style of Gundam or something. Hell, recreate the classic lightsaber duels from each movie, it wouldn't be story driven, but it'd be sure as hell entertaining.

And its not like they can't be done, those Galaxy of Adventure shorts feel even more anime then this. Have you seen those re-edited anime intros? They're baller!

If that video dun work, here's a direct link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwqwVVHGRgU&list=LL&index=122

Anyway, its disappointing that even anime can't seem to breathe life back into the husk that was once the best science-fantasy setting out there. At least it keeps reminding me of how good the originals and the prequels were. RIP Star Wars 1977-2015.