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sometipsygnostalgic · 7 years

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JUST FINISHED GRAVITY FALLS

weirdmageddon was amazing! FAR better than most finales tend to be.

i wanted to know what the zodiac thing was all about though... i’d never seen it before but it was obviously important to the fans who had theorised about it.... couldnt we at least see what it would have done???? it didn’t have to be the final conflict!

ANYWAY i dont have as much to say about gravity falls as adventure time for obvious reasons so im going to rank it... Without further ado, it’s time to heavily overthink about cartoons!!!

Animation: 5 out of 5 hats - this is one of the most BRILLIANTLY ANIMATED childrens cartoon shows ive seen. there’s no weird inbetweens, the lighting for each scene is absolutely spot-on, it looks and feels amazing! honestly gravity falls looks like one of the strongest arguments for using script-driven shows instead of storyboard-driven shows, because cartoon network has never in its life produced something that looks this good. When it used 3D CGI it was implemented smoothly. The characters had no absence of body language and cues either, it was never boring to look at. Disney does it again!!!

Humor: 4 out of 5 hats - While I dont think this show is the literal funniest thing I’ve ever watched, it is consistently entertaining throughout the entire series which is more than I can say for the two cartoons (AT and SU) that i’m unfairly comparing it to. Humor is one of GF’s strongpoints, because the jokes it throws at you out of complete nowhere will always have you on ground. I laughed SO hard during this marathon, and the jokes are obscure enough that I’ll probably do the same thing on a rewatch. The animation helps significantly too. The character designs alone, especially Mabel and her sweaters, allow for plenty of visual humor. Soos is the sort of character that you dont know what hes going to do next. Grunkle Stan conning people got some of the hardest laughs out of me. Wendy is just.... Wendy reminds me so hard of early Marceline, except she will occasionally do something really cool cos shes from a family of lumberjacks. Let’s not forget Waddles, the MVP in the humor department.

Story: 3 out of 5 hats - If I made this post yesterday, I’d have ranked it 2 out of 5 hats. I never felt that there was any “story” to gravity falls, only some kind of ARG that added nothing to the experience because none of the questions were solvable until the answers had been revealed. But the second half of season 2 ups the ante on story by focusing on the Pines family and their relationships to each other, and you can feel tension rise especially when Dipper starts to hang aound Ford a little too much and you sense that poor Mabel is gonna be left in the dust just like Stan before her. Weirdmageddon also was way more entertaining than I expected! And how it ENDED? Oh jesus! The show’s final scenes were heartbreaking, if I’d been following for longer I might have started crying.

Characterisation: 4 out of 5 hats- holy crap, it’s just so much fun seeing the Pines family play off of each other. Each group has an entertaining dynamic, whether it’s playful like Mabel, Soos, and Wendy’s shenanigans, or more serious like Stan and Ford’s conflict. There was barely any time throughout the entire series that I was annoyed by how someone was acting, or thought that it was out of place and agitating. I think I might be giving this point a rather generous score because of how feelgood it was, rather than complex or deep, which in many areas it wasnt. For example earlier in the show the conflicts felt dumb, like the Jurassic Park episode where everyone was acting vaguely out of character to cause a sense of drama? idk. But later on it got more heartfelt, if predictable. Where else do I think it can do better?

Worldbuilding: 2 out of 5 hats - Yep, the area where I think Gravity Falls does the worst is worldbuilding. For 2 big reasons: The wasted potential of Gravity Falls itself, and the way its inhabitants were used. Maybe I’m just spoilt by the AMAZING job Adventure Time and Steven Universe do with this, but the land of Gravity Falls fails to be as interesting as Ooo or as realistic as Beach City. Idk, i think it’s more ENTERTAINING than Beach City but more because I get more laughs out of the show than recent SU. The issue with Gravity Falls’ civilians is that unless you’re a Pines, youre a straight up Cartoon Character. That rules your characterisation and your purpose for existence. This is fine and yes there are some memorable characters but they never have those hilarious moments of humanity, like the episode Root Beer Guy where the title character gets into conflict with his wife cos she thinks hes too involved with his actual realistic mystery novels, or the Graybles ep where Starchy ran away from the candy kingdom to get rid of a tracker in his tooth cos he knows PB was spying on him, and he runs a little club conspiring against her like some kind of real life political group. His club and Kim Kil Whan having King of Ooo memorabilia lmao. I’m getting too into this but its moments like that which make Adventure Time feel great.

As for GRAVITY FALLS ITSELF, yeah because the world doesn’t feel as real as it could be I never wanted to see what it had to offer next, and there’s never explanation for all of this. The journals play a much smaller role in the series than Dipper’s reactions over them would have you think. The closest thing to an explanation is the pondering over whether a spaceship caused the weirdness in GF or was drawn to the area because of this weirdness. But is it magic? Is it science? Is it different dimensions? Fuck knows! Is there any hint about the truth? I’m not sure! Yeah, not all things need to have answers, but it helps fire off the thinkpan. In Adventure Time the Land of Ooo’s weirdness is linked to an apocalypse that helped bring magic back to the land. The hint is that the magic potential was always there, because there were magical societies around millenia before humanity. Did magic disappear because of a comet hitting the planet? Is magic actually based on scientific principles? Like GF, not all these questions have direct answers, but unlike GF, you have enough incentive and evidence to construct your own theories. It lets you get absorbed in the lore of Ooo, of the characters inhibiting it. This is my own perspective anyway.

I think the most amazing mysteries I ever saw unwravel were Simon and Marcy’s adventures, and more relevant to my own experiences, PB’s age. Like there was puzzle pieces and hints around indicating Peebles had been around way longer than 18 years or whatever but we finally got confirmation in Season 5.2 where we saw consecutive episodes showing her in the past. The theory was that she was younger than 1000, but could be any age older than about 50. The Vault was a shock origin story for not just Finn having had a past life as a girl without an arm (THE ARM BEING ANOTHER ADVENTURE TIME THING THAT EVENTUALLY GOT some really back and forth PAYOFF), it was an origin story for peebles and the candy kingdom! but why would she make it?? ? yeah this was all stuff we were able to construct theories for, and accurate theories, because the evidence was there and more significantly the Writers were putting it together at the same time. It almost felt like we were having an INPUT in the story because of this natural way it evolved over time. That’s why AT’s mysteries are far more engaging than those of Gravity Falls, at least for me.... but maybe the same thing happened to GF fans????? Because I wasn’t there to put the pieces together, to study the Pines family or the Bill Zodiac which.... was almost as much a copout as Finn’s arm but its ok cos the stan deleting his memories shit was a decent end anyway. I just dont know why theyd put a mystery like that IN there if it was always going to be a red herring???

To conclude this description which..... ended up being another reason to talk about Adventure Time again, I want you to know that I REALLY enjoyed Gravity Falls. It reminded me of Over the Garden Wall in how it’s told, the characters it has, but much larger and grander than OtgW ever was.

My favourite characters were Stan and Mabel. Yeah, Dipper and Ford were very interesting characters too, but while they’re among the top of their trope, they still feel like an overdone trope to me.... especially dipper and his Issues,,, Stan meanwhile I liked that he was a runaway fuckup nobody as a child who became a professional conman after his parents kicked him out. That was an interesting backstory.

Gravity Falls, all in All, gets 3.5 out of 5 hats. To keep it real. Spend them wisely.

#gravity falls

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biofunmy · 4 years

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In a Year of Perpetual Motion, Moments That Stopped Time

The 52 Places Traveler

Looking back on a whirlwind journey around the world, the 52 Places Traveler revisits the experiences that offered lessons for travel — and life.

Jan. 6, 2020

On my second day back in New York I walked into my neighborhood bodega and the Yemeni man behind the counter did a double take.

“Damn, bro, what happened? I thought you were dead!” he said.

The following night, I went to pick up an order at the Indian restaurant two blocks from my apartment.

“Long time, no see,” said the Bangladeshi manager who, since I’ve been gone, has grown a bushy beard. “Where have you been?”

What happened? Where have I been? After nearly a year in perpetual transit, hopping between the far-flung spots on 2019’s 52 Places to Go list, these are not easy questions to answer. Maybe a more cohesive picture of a once-in-a-lifetime year will crystallize with time. For now, the best I can do is draw out the moments that float on the surface of my memory, the ones I’m most grateful for, as they taught me invaluable lessons not only about the world, but also about myself. And isn’t that why we travel?

1. When I said yes to goat-carcass games and urban lions

By the third hour in a field on the outskirts of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, my hair had taken on the hue of the dust that filled the air in roaming clouds. Every time I smiled, which was often, more dust poured into my mouth. Two hundred men on horseback galloped back and forth across the dry grass, in pursuit of their target: a goat carcass stuffed full of sand. Shouts from the riders, the whinnying of horses and the cheers of thousands of spectators filled the air. At one point, being the only foreigner — and so a guest of honor — I was invited to ride on the truck that drove onto the field to drop the goat and start each round of kopkari, a sport that originated with the nomadic herders who inhabited these steppes 1,000 years ago.

Six months later and 5,000 miles away, in a small suburb of Dakar, Senegal, “false lions” — men channeling the spirit of the animal — growled, leapt and twirled in elaborate costumes. Drums thundered at earsplitting volumes and children shrieked in delight as the lions chased them through the fluorescently lit streets.

There’s a natural tendency to plan our travels down to the minute: We want to make sure we’re getting the most out of a trip that uses up our valuable money and vacation time. Toward the beginning of the year, I spent hours planning each stop — going over notes on the plane ride and sketching out what each day might look like. By my final stop, I barely knew where I was going to stay until the day before I arrived. The sweet spot is probably somewhere in between, with enough planning to know where you’re going but enough flexibility to say yes to the unexpected. New friends and the currents of serendipity brought me to the horses and the lions — and gave me two experiences I’ll never forget.

2. When I became a member of the guild

Hanging from the zipper of my camera bag is a small, bronze key. It grants me access to the backdoor of the Christian IV’s Guild clubhouse in the Danish city of Aalborg. Over the past year, I’ve accumulated soccer jerseys, paintings and a handwritten poem about an Italian horse, but this key, a symbol of my membership in a Danish society with roots in World War II, has to be the oddest gift. How I got it is just one of many examples of how dropping your guard and letting strangers into your life can lead to experiences far outside the realm of conventional tourism.

It started with Kit Sorensen, a friend twice-removed, who I met on my first afternoon in Aalborg. By the evening, she had taken off work for the remainder of the week to show me around. She took me out for pickled fish and aquavit, the straight-to-your-head spirit that Danes insist on drinking with lunch. Together, we explored World War II bunkers and the city-within-a-city of Fjordbyen. Sensing that I craved a home-cooked meal, she invited me to her family’s house, where I made even more friends — and got invited by a stranger to join the Christian IV’s Guild because he felt that “I had what it takes.”

When traveling alone, it’s up to you how alone you really are. Sit at a bar and take a break from your phone and in minutes you’ll be getting a laundry list of things to do from a local — as I did in Munich, in Danang, in Tunis. You might be invited to their homes — as I was in Georgia, Puerto Rico, Bulgaria. In a quiet bar in the small Japanese city of Takamatsu you might find yourself the only customer, going on a deep dive into salsa and New Orleans jazz with a cat-loving bartender who you would have never known if you hadn’t smiled and said “hello.”

There are walls that as a man traveling alone I didn’t have to put up. Being ethnically ambiguous was also, it turns out, my superpower, blending into the streets of so many places around the world, walking home at night and not even getting a second glance from locals. One’s experience of the world so often depends on one’s identity, and I can only speak to mine. At the same time, I believe that, in general, travelers will encounter kindness far more often than hostility. An open mind, a willingness to learn and an acknowledgment of our own ignorance about a new place or culture flings the doors that separate us wide open. Just ask all my new pen pals.

3. When I became my own best friend on a Norwegian fjord

Before a six-hour solo hike in the fjords surrounding Bergen, Norway, I intentionally left my headphones at home. It was sunny — a rarity for one of Europe’s rainiest cities — and I wanted to be present. It worked. I felt the light, cold breeze; I could smell the dewy grass and feel the foamlike tundra giving way under my boots. Six hours is a lot of time to be walking with nothing but your thoughts, but not once did I feel bored.

When I started this trip, the thought of spending so much time alone was one of my biggest worries. I’m an extrovert by nature. By my third month on the move, I was getting used to it. By my ninth, I was having full-on conversations with myself — out loud.

There’s something beautiful about learning to be comfortable with yourself — especially on the road. I could zero in on moments more completely without worrying whether a companion was having a good time. I could create memories that would be mine and mine alone — building blocks for my development as a person.

I was lonely, too, of course. I cried on the side of a Wyoming highway because John Prine’s “Summer’s End” came on the radio (“Come on home, you don’t have to be alone”); during a nearly four-hour meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant on the Dutch island of Texel, I fell into the abyss of staring at my phone; more than once I dreamed about being on my couch at home, with my partner and cat. But over time, I learned to see those moments coming and lean into them. That threw the distinction between heart-wrenching loneliness and blissful solitude into relief; it made the moments of connection with strangers that much more magical. Solo travel is so many things, psychological roller coaster included.

4. When I crossed the risk line on a dark Chilean highway

It was stupid, plain and simple. After getting off a series of canceled, rerouted and delayed flights that took me from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to Santiago, Chile, over the course of about 40 hours, I stumbled into a rental car just after sunset and hit the road for the town of La Serena. I was heading 300 miles north to get closer to where I’d be viewing the solar eclipse in a few days. It was about 40 degrees Fahrenheit, but I drove with the windows down and wore a T-shirt, hoping the cold would keep me awake. I blared death metal as loud as the car speakers could handle. I drank coffee like water. One tollbooth worker, seeing my disheveled and wired state, asked me if I was okay. I pulled into La Serena well after midnight.

This year was full of risks; they come with the job when traveling at the pace I was, alone and looking for stories to tell. Within just a few days of traveling this year, it was clear that some risks are worth taking. Getting into a car with that nice stranger promising a plate of life-changing pork in Puerto Rico’s interior? I can handle that. Solo hiking through the snowy Tatra Mountains of Slovakia? Armed with a trail map, I’m good. Driving for five and a half hours in an unfamiliar country, at night, after a hellish flight and no sleep? Nope: That was stupid.

In talking to friends, it quickly became clear that my threshold for risk is different from others’ (“Are you nuts?” my partner asked, after I told her about my night in the woods outside Batumi, Georgia, drinking myself blind with a bunch of strangers). But travel is ultimately a game of choose-your-own-adventure and part of that choice is figuring out the risks you’re comfortable taking. It’s a learning process and there will be mistakes — there sure were for me this year.

By Land and Sea

48 boat rides, 45 train trips

5. When my plans went to hell and I survived

There was the late night in a hotel in Salvador, Brazil, booking a trip to Mexico that would start the following morning, after my plans to get to the Falkland Islands, also known as the Islas Malvinas, had imploded. A total meltdown at the airport had led to check-in lines that extended past the terminal’s entrance. Despite arriving four hours before my flight and checking in online, I missed my flight — and as a result the once-weekly flight to the Falklands.

There was that scorching hot morning at the port in Banjul, Gambia, where my brother and I had no choice but to wait the four hours until a ferry finally arrived. I sweated out every drop of moisture in my body; I downed two liters of water and sweated that out, too, until the also-shadeless ferry arrived.

There was the carefully arranged Airbnb in La Serena that my host canceled with no explanation, just days before my arrival to watch the solar eclipse. I spent most of a night in Mexico, on spotty Wi-Fi looking for alternatives in a city that would be tripling in population for the eclipse.

There was the moment, three months in, when we had to make the call to cut Iran from my travel plans. The geopolitical situation had grown tense and even if I were given a journalist visa (unlikely), we had security concerns. It made the regular messages I received from Iranians on Instagram welcoming me to their country and offering to be my hosts all the more heartbreaking.

Things go wrong when traveling. And there’s something about the places of travel — airports, ferry terminals, train stations, hotels — that magnify feelings of panic and sadness. It’s a powerlessness we’re not used to when we think we have every detail of a trip planned out.

I learned that there’s very little you can do when your plans fall apart. I learned to pinpoint the small actions I could take and leave everything else to play out without me. I started on a long, circuitous route to Mexico the next day and pushed my Falklands trip to later in the month. The ferry did arrive — and 24 hours later, my brother and I were on a boat floating feet away from wild chimpanzees. I found another Airbnb at the last minute, and so what if it was a little farther out of the city? I kept in touch with my new online Iranian friends, promising that one day I would make it there — and I will.

Traveling is an incredible privilege and it’s mind-boggling how easy it is these days to cross the planet. Reminding myself of that got me through many a moment this year that previously would have left me a weepy mess on an airport floor.

under the sea

11 total hours underwater

6. When “no one goes there now” became my time to go

Travel itself, regardless of destination, is taking its toll on the environment: The most frequent, and valid, criticism I’ve received this year is for my Sasquatch-size carbon footprint. While no one at the Times is encouraging everyone to go to 52 places in a year — I’d think again if you are planning on trying this yourself — I also don’t believe the answer is not to travel. To see the natural wonder that still abounds; to encounter the places that are on the verge of catastrophic change because of a warming planet; to meet the people who deal with its effects every day and forge real, profound, cross-cultural connections makes for a more informed, empathetic world. That doesn’t mean there aren’t steps we can take to be more responsible travelers. And part of that is realizing that sustainability goes beyond carbon emissions.

The Falklands in the dead of winter, when I had a colony of King penguins to myself; Mexico in the crushing heat of summer, when the beaches were empty; Senegal and Gambia during the most humid month of the year, when locals were actually excited to see visitors who had braved it; Siberia’s Lake Baikal, in neither the glorious summer nor the spectacularly frozen winter, but instead in autumn, when the trees burn bright yellow.

In planning my trip and limiting cross-continental treks as much as possible, it proved difficult to be everywhere at the “right” time to visit. But again and again, I found myself falling for low season, when it was far easier to blend into the fabric of daily life because I wasn’t just part of a horde of tourists changing the face of entire cities for months at a time.

Cities like Venice — or even Zadar, in Croatia, as I saw when I arrived in the summer — are buckling under the weight of overtourism. As travelers, we could make a difference by spreading the wealth, so to speak. That means, for the most adventurous, going to places that are still hard to get to; it took me two tries to get to the Falklands and three to get out, but that made it special. But it also means thinking outside the “Europe in summer” paradigm.

taking to the skies

40 airlines, 88 flights (only 1 missed flight)

7. When I really learned what a “place to go” is

There’s beauty, surprise and genuine wonder to be found everywhere — and I mean everywhere. A Vegas naysayer can have his mind changed through a chance encounter with a crew of rockabilly musicians. A half-Indian student of history can learn about a mighty Indian empire, of which he knew nothing, by coming face-to-face with its ruins. A traveler can come home after 11 grueling months of continuous travel and start dreaming of where he’s going next.

But first, some sleep.

Sahred From Source link Travel

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jewelwriter · 4 years

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My Two Coins: Value Insulted

Disclaimer: "My Two Coins" are to be read as such, someone's two coins about the topic at hand. IF at any point you disagree with it or agree, remember they are just my coins about said topic and the value you have of it will differ from my own because of religion, upbringing, beliefs, and logic based on your own experiences. Do not assume my coins are the international equivalent for it may be considered of a lesser value in the bank of public exchange. Thank you.

Are you people sane anymore? I really want to know since this is where I know this is getting close to ea and is in the realm of Bethesta. Whom am I getting at? Game Freak and Pokemon Company. I think an introduction is in order. Welcome ladies and gentlemen of all ages. You've found a wild Jewelwriter.

And recently, we gotten news of BOTH Pokemon's Expansions (Frozen Tundra and the Isle of Armor.) and details of Pokemon home. Allow me to explain this stuff to people who have been out of the loop or have held on for some good news. First going with the newest one. Pokemon Home has this kind of line up (Down below)

Home {=} Sword and Shield

Meaning you can transfer Pokemon too and fro from Pokemon Home to Shill and Slop (YES I said it, NO I won't take it back, you know I got opinions, or did you forget the warning label up front?) No problems there.

Home {=- Let's GO Eevee/Let's GO Pikachu

Meaning Pokemon you get in this game are likely going to never come back if they ever step a toe inside Galar. Though as long as they don't they can jump back and forth between this and Let's Go. Kind of a painful roll but then again I didn't by Let's Troll.

Home {= Bank (Generations 6 and 7.)

You'll need the Premium (Paid Plan) and in return...you'll be paying the tickets for any Pokemon you sent into Bank to NEVER return to Pokemon of the past generations, likely giving nerfs to them, and having their intelligence and power subtracted...if they can get into the games at all. (There's more but I'll hold... until the ^ shows up.)

Home {= GO

There's not a word on this yet officially but Go might suffer the same as the Let's Go games at best.

Now we get into the features of Home.

The Wonder Box (iOS) is wonder trading without any big set up and can only be done... ON the application iOS variant. (that's right, there's a switch one but I'll signal which is which as we go on.) It'll allow you to trade for random Pokemon at the expense of having your Pokemon sent to whomever it can be at the other end of the world. In the free variant you can trade as many Pokemon as there are heads on a Dodrio. If you paid up for the bigger services, you'll be able to do add two more Dodrio and a Pidgeot to make that many heads as there are Pokemon you are allowed to trade.

Global Trade System (iOS) allows you to trade Pokemon for Pokemon with the exact things you need. This normally means you were seeing legendary and mythic Pokemon being asked for ...at the prices ranging from other legendary creatures that are impossibles like a male Chansey or something at level 100 which is kind of specific but then again I can only imagine how chaotic this'll be. By the buy... if you got the free variant, you can only get as many as a diglett face showing. With the paid service, it's like that diglett evolved into dugtrio.

Room Trade (iOS) is a special room that'll allow you to trade with up to 20 people in a special “Wonder Room” where you won't know what you get until you start trading. If you are a free player you can only get into the rooms but paying up allows you to host such trolling houses.

Friend Trade (iOS) … seeing a pattern yet? Anyhow this is where you can direct trade AND see what you are getting into. Only difference is you can't use this under the age of 16. (a thing understandable...to a point.)

National PokeDex (iOS & Switch) … FINALLY something found that belongs to both. Anyhow, You can access the national dex in both and can filter things to find what is desired. BUT... and here's the big one. If you run the iOS variant, you'll get details like list by abilities, Moves, and maybe more.

Mystery Gifts (iOS) are special gifts for either Stuffing and Slime or for online which can be stuffed into a box. Be sure you have the Best OS since some details won't happen.

Judge (iOS & Switch) ever wondered what your Pokemon's IV count is well this is where you can do it. Though if anything you can do it in the game too if I recall. JUST... you'll be able to do this if you paid for it. YEP, it's a premium service if you want to do it in Home.

Room (iOS) This is where you can decorate a spot and fill it up with stickers...especially after doing certain tasks which might reward someone with more than that.

News (iOS) You'll be updated on the battles that distributions, gifts and more in this variant.

Battle Data (iOS) This can let you see how the competition is doing. Using certain Pokemon, seeing which are at the top, and more. Though this won't be on release day...likely next month.

Home Points (iOS) by inserting and extracting Pokemon you can gain Home points to trans fer into BP (Battle Points.) Screenshots provided... the exchange rate is (and I can be wrong.) is 30 points PER Battle Point.

Now that the features are out, how about storage and the differences of price?

With Pokemon Home's “FREE” system you can only...

Store a box of Pokemon (thirty), send three Pokemon through wonder trade, get one Pokemon worked on in the Global Trade System, Partake only in other's Rooms of trading, and can't judge a Pokemon online.

^Meanwhile on the “Premium” version of the system...

You can have two hundred times as many storage boxes (six thousand); which is double Bank's (btw, you'll need this to take Pokemon out of bank.), Wonder trade ten Pokemon, go for three Pokmon in the GTS at once, host and enter the rooms of trading, and judge a Pokemon. Also this is where you can take Pokemon from Bank to home.

AND after hearing all this you are wondering the price. Well let me set it up for you. (NOTE: this is all in United States currency. Your prices may differ so please use the exchange rate to find this value in your homeland. Also I added 1 penny since it makes it easier to figure out.)

There's three flavors to pick from.

The Monthly munch, a tiny but pricey three dollars. If you are wondering why this is the pricey one. Paying this twelve months straight will lead to you losing thirty-six dollars a year.

Next is the Seasonal slurp, it's a bit higher but at the same price as the bank you get three months of this powerful 'service'. And adding it all up to a year that's about the price of one year of Nintendo Switch Online Pass. (though trust me that has a lot more value than what is given credit for by many, even if it can be better compared to what is next is a god sent.)

And finally the Yearly YUM! For one year you get all this for the price of sixteen dollars a year. NOW keep in mind what I said before but also are paying for. At worst... it's forty-one per year and at best it is twenty-one dollars yearly. Why the price hike? You'll need bank in order to use it fully if you aren't trying to use the DLCs (which are coming up.) for this service. Which might work if you had to keep in mind that if you leave someone behind, you might lose them if you don't fork over the coin.

Now I can hear people saying this: “It's a service, they have to make money in some method.”

Thing is, it was free in the past and they are also the LARGEST franchise in existence. And yet the small team split their focus and… fudged everything after their failure for fudging up every bit of this game. Graphical fails, animation fails, interaction drops to barely petting them. For what? Empty Story that refused to allow you to go see what's going on and just allow you to see the next gym; a wild “area” that is as barren as get out with barely any real life with bad graphics, barely a lot of Pokemon or people for that matter, and wonky weather systems that can be as random as dice, and you're Safari Zoned since you can't catch a Pokemon over your skill level; EXP love for everyone... NO matter what; and the most BROKEN GAME MECHANIC that ever existed. And yet...that's not all. It's time to see about the Island of Armor and the Frozen Tundra!

The Island of Armor is able to allow the following.

You get a new location that is likely more of a wild area as far as seen in the tropics to the west side of the region, you'll gain a new Pokemon Kubfu and it can evolve into Urshifu which can become Water/Fighting (Rapid Striker) or Dark/Fighter (One Striker) the Power to evolve the starters to be the drum machine with party hair, Goku riding a Flaming Jynn that is enough to gulp a mansion, and double zero seven now becoming the role of TF2's Snipper, new LOOT to allow one to do more than ever before, Move tutors... which is a bit of a requirement FOR competition play, and restricted battle play which probably is a problem since we don't know how it is restricted in 'sparring'.

As far as story content, you'll end up encountering Leon's teacher (when did this get hinted at?), Mustard who has an apprentice too who is aiming to craft a gym of their own. Though it'll be based on which version you roll with. (Klara for the blade wielders, Avery for the shield barriers.) This is so far all we got with this.

Now for the Frozen Tundra's gifts to the world.

You get a new location that is far FAR south in the world that is also in a wild area (Is that the south pole of Pokemon? Seriously? I really wanna know.) so you'll be tasked with exploring this chilly place, a Mythical/Legendary by the name of Calyrex which looks like a fusion dance of Sawsbuck or Stantler and Celebi and it kind of went south, and... just a Co-op Mode to explore a certain space which probably isn't safe since mythicals are said to be in those spaces.

Now for the NEW stuff both got.

New regional forms (*looking to her personal project.* Gahhhh!!!! I got more to do?!?), Pokemon of the past rejoining the battle (*Hearing #BringBackNationalDex cheers*)...but not all of them sadly (*Hearing #BringBackNationalDex boo hard*) for now, New Pokedexes, New attire to wear for all you fashion fowls to wear, and new Dynamax/Gigantamax battles to be ready for in the Max Raid Rumbles.

More information will be sent out but keep this in mind that so far they have proven that they CLEARLY removed this since it was MONTHS since the release and already releasing new stuff just to revive their LOST content that was in the base.

“BUT Smash has this kind of stuff too and you didn't complain. In fact, you're likely buying that stupid game's second pass while hating on this game that is giving you more!”

Very cute but wrong. Let me explain why I was saying that.

Super Smash Brothers has made clear what they are doing, and even announced that they are adding more but will take time to do it since it might not be out in time for launch and they took care to balance it to work with the fighters ALREADY in the game which have old and new faces and returning heroes. They shown they CARE for their community and even at times troll them. (...I got hate hammers for two in direct range: Incenaroar, and K.Rool.) And they have made the passes more fair than buying them one by one. So far each character is six dollars if you go solo and together they were twenty-five dollars together which cuts a dollar off of each. With the second one it can be the same and it'll be worth it since the full game already has a lot of heroes, villains, and copies to pick from. Clearly Super Smash Brothers Ultimate will be one of the largest fighting/party game line ups in video game history!

Pokemon Sucker and Pokemon Snot meanwhile... was able to lie about what was going into the game, they have shown quality drops year after year in an attempt to get more money with not only making their games almost so far that competitive players are paying out the @$$ but heaven help the completionist that wants to get it all for the price of each of these games that have added up. The total of all the Generation eight content has so far hit four-hundred and twenty-one dollars and this is using the price of having it all for at least the entire year.

“HEY! Don't forget the Nintendo Switch Online stuff since you are having to use that in order to get the Pokemon for free if you aren't going to by the-.”

STOP right there! STOP right there you piece of ignorance. Nintendo's online service has problems but in NO instance is that a part of Pokemon since they did offer you the power to trade and play against others on it's own, and UNTIL that price is shown the this price can be higher and trying to say that the Nintendo Online Service is it then sorry but that has more things to do than just Pokemon and thus THIS will not be added. Period and Exclamation POINT!

And before I forget, THANK YOU REAR ENDS FOR MAKING THE ONLINE SYSTEM A PAID SERVICE SINCE I KNOW YOU'VE CRIED FOR IT TO HAPPEN! HOPE YOU LOVE IT...

Now back on topic, and getting near the end folks...how it is @$$ that a system that has so called more power, more pixels, and more controls than the 3DS is able to give less Pokemon, less interaction, less story, and less post game than what was given on generation six which was the most insulted of all next to generation five. I can't help but feel this is the true greed of Game Freak, of Pokemon...and it's disgusting to the very bleeping bone. I will never buy that trash, I'll never put it into my switch, and if anyone even thinks of getting me that game it will go right into the nearest GameStop and I'll be getting coin off of your stupidity because I rather not own something that I would not even feed a Trubbish with.

I rather be playing a mobile game than ever touch that Cr@P willingly. And I have no love, respect, or heart to give for someone defending all of those practices, all of the things removed to be put into pieces of other things... and think they should be called a gamer. So help me I rather break your game karts of that sh!t so it never enters the hands of someone naive again. Maybe I should use them, erase their contents and put a BETTER game in it's place, especially if they aren't going to fix the version they flipped up.

{|=|=|=|}

BUT... since this is the internet, I know someone's got something to say about this that I'll be likely arguing over but then again this is where I know I'll get it. So as a believer of what I feel, COME AT ME!!! in commentary down below As for me... this wild one runs away to get a shower in to cool off. F@<K you Game FrEAk!

#m2c #pokemon #pokemon generation 8 #rant #censored swearing #Bad practices #personal

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ciathyzareposts · 4 years

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My 10 Most Controversial Opinions

Counting down to my ten-year anniversary in February 2020, I offer this quick retrospective on my 10 most controversial opinions. I base this on the number of comments I’ve received arguing back at me when I’ve made certain statements, as well as what people have said about me on other web sites.

I was originally going to title this article “10 Reasons to Despise Me,” but I feel like we have enough invective slung back and forth about fairly trivial issues. Indeed, if you find yourself “despising” me for any of these opinions, I would suggest that you’re taking the entire subject too seriously.

10. I think there’s a “right” way and a “wrong” way to play even single-player games.

In my entry on “Cheats & Liars,” I used an analogy with crossword puzzles. The “point” of a crossword puzzle is not to fill in the blocks with letters; it’s to use your knowledge, intuition, and puzzle-solving skills to interpret the clues and derive the only possible answer. Thus, you are doing crossword puzzles wrong if you use a crossword puzzle dictionary or some other source to help you finish the puzzle. An unfinished puzzle is preferable to a puzzle that you finish by cheating, because at that point you’ve sacrificed the ability to ever finish it properly.

No one disputes that people should follow the rules when it comes to competitive sports. I can’t ride a bicycle along the route of the Boston Marathon and expect the same recognition–or any recognition at all–when I have the fastest time. Nor is there any other aspect of life where we say that it’s okay to break the rules if no one else is watching. A practitioner of a religion, an alcoholic in recovery, or someone on a diet does not get to argue “but I was alone!” when he (respectively) neglected his morning prayers, drank himself under the table, or ate an entire cheesecake.

Playing single-player RPGs may be a solitary activity, but that doesn’t mean there are no rules. Sure, breaking them doesn’t harm anyone but you, but then neither does breaking your diet. That doesn’t mean it isn’t at least a little shameful when you do it.

9. I wouldn’t mind if modern RPGs still made us take notes and make maps.

The other night, I was playing GreedFall with Irene. Some NPC was giving instructions to a character about a potion, and she said something like “note the ingredients carefully.” Irene immediately reached for a piece of paper and a pen, and I laughed. I don’t care what the NPC said, I knew there was no way the game was going to make a player depend on an external note to properly finish the quest. I was right, of course.

But I wouldn’t have minded if the game had required us to write down the ingredients. I would have welcomed it. I miss the days of gaming with a notepad and graph paper by my side. Quest markers have ruined modern RPGs. Even “hardcore” modes generally don’t turn them off.

Playing Might and Magic involved a lot of real work.

8. I don’t like music playing during my games.

That’s not the same thing as saying “I don’t like game music.” I very often admire the compositions; I just don’t want them playing during the actual game. I think this is largely because I’m very music-oriented generally, and I see listening to music as an active experience. I only want it playing when my primary task is listening to music. To me, “background” music is like having someone constantly talking at you while you’re trying to focus on something else.

So I play my games with the music off. Sorry. I know–I miss so much. 7. I don’t like games about rape.

You wouldn’t think that one would be so controversial, but on at least one site it makes me a laughingstock. 6. I don’t like Japanese graphics.

I don’t know if it’s because I was born too early or because I never owned a Nintendo, but for whatever reason I missed out on the era where Japanese animation and tropes became normalized among American youth. I look at the result and I’m baffled. (There was a time when I would have said “disgusted,” so perhaps I’ve made a little progress.) Part of the issue is the artwork itself, perhaps more of it has to do with what the artist chooses to depict–and what players are apparently okay with. If I’m going to play a racing game, I want to race racecars, not goofy little go-karts piloted by mustachioed plumbers. If I’m going to pit monsters against each other in gladiatorial matches, I want them to look like monsters, not characters from the Island of Misfit Toys. And if I’m going to play an action-adventure, I want to play a classic hero, not an effete little elf with bare legs and a pointy hat.

I have a lot of readers that want me to play Chrono Trigger. I’ve watched videos of it. It looks like a bunch of children running around. If I was a fan of the game, I would not be clamoring for my review.

5. I think computer RPGs are superior to console RPGs.

The primary issue is the nature of the input. A controller naturally limits the possibilities of a game. You cannot offer the complexity of NetHack‘s or even Ultima‘s interface with a controller (at least, not without annoying nested menus), nor can you move, look, and click with the same precision as a keyboard and a mouse. Entire styles of gameplay, such as Ultima IV‘s keyword-based dialogue, or text-based inputs for adventure games, or even most point-and-click adventure games, become impossible on the console. Nowadays, because successful games must be offered on both computer and console platforms, these limitations functionally inhibit even computer RPGs.

Then again, I do occasionally like playing a game on the couch, with my wife, next to the fireplace. If a keyboard is better than a console controller, a console controller is better than any attempt I’ve ever seen to make a keyboard, mouse, and PC setup work from a comfortable position with a television. So there are situations in which the console is better than the computer. I just prefer action games in those situations.

Even I admit: time for a console RPG.

4. I don’t care about voiced dialogue–in fact, I wish it would go away.

I’m convinced that voiced dialogue, more than any other factor, is keeping modern games from greatness. The necessity of getting an actor into a studio to voice every possible line of dialogue is what prevents developers from creating more quest dependencies, creating alternate endings, fixing bugs, and including a lot more NPCs in games that feel very sparse without them. It also keeps the character’s chosen name from ever appearing meaningfully in the game.

The Infinity Engine games had the perfect balance. Key dialogues were recorded with voice actors, but most of the time the text was unvoiced. It shouldn’t have progressed beyond that.

3. I don’t mind about re-use of engines.

I mostly want new content, not an entirely new gameplay experience. I grant you that a few series have taken it too far–the Gold Box comes to mind–but in general I think developers should be getting a lot more use out of interfaces and mechanics already developed. It never bothered me for a second that Might and Magic VIII had basically the same interface as Might and Magic VI. I doubt any fan agrees that the “upgrade” in Might and Magic IX did the series any favors. I think it’s basically insane that developers only issue two or three expansions for titles like Fallout 4 or Dragon Age. I would pay as much as the original game for a new story set in the exact same world using the exact same locations. Surely, I can’t be the only one.

2. I don’t hate Bethesda–or, at least, I don’t hate them for the same reason you do.

I love nonlinear, open world games, and there’s no one that’s shown they can do them as well as Bethesda. I don’t mind if some of their other features are a little rough around the edges. Many, many years ago, in the midst of the most addictive period I spent with the game, I opined that Skyrim was “perhaps the best CRPG I have ever played.” That got quite a reaction from my own commenters and commenters on other sites.

I later had reason to regret the statement; I was basically high when I wrote it. It was the equivalent of telling some guy you practically just met, “you’re my best friend, and I love you, man” when it’s 3:00 AM in a bar and you’ve both been drinking gimlets all night. But having qualified the original statement somewhat, I have to admit that it’s still one of the best CRPGs I’ve ever played. If that upsets you, I’m sorry. It gives me what I’m looking for.

That said, I do hate Bethesda a little. Not because of what they produce, but because of what they don’t. Skyrim sold over 3 million copies in its first two days. It won “game of the year” from practically every magazine and site that offers that award. It ultimately made over a billion dollars. What the hell kind of management decision delays the next game in the series for over ten years?! I’ve rarely seen a company that financially irresponsible with its intellectual property. George Lucas before he sold Star Wars to Disney comes to mind, but even he allowed a generous Expanded Universe.

Sometimes I wish I didn’t have my chibi hangup and I could be a fan of Pokémon or Zelda instead. Lovers of those franchises must lose track of all the main series games, expansions, off-shoots, and remakes. You know who knows how to run a brand? Marvel Studios. In a decade, they issued 23 films and 11 television shows, plus associated web series, comic books, and novels, and still none of its fans are complaining of “oversaturation.” Bethesda needs to sell to Disney, hire Brandon Sanderson, or otherwise do what it takes to get their heads out of their asses and start producing.

1. I not only think Fallout 4 is better than Fallout: New Vegas, I think it’s much better.

I say this believing that New Vegas is already an excellent game. But I listen to its fans describe how much better it is than Fallout 4 and I don’t know what they’re talking about. How can they argue that it has more factions, when 4 has essentially the same number? How can the argue about role-playing choices when all your choices in New Vegas collapse into the same battle at the same location? Do they honestly think that Boone and Cass and Gannon are more memorable than Nick and Cait and Deacon?

One of the 10 best NPCs ever.

Every time I get into an argument about this issue with someone, I offer basically the same list of why I think 4 is a better game:

No ridiculously low level cap–no level cap at all, in fact

The ability to keep playing after the end of the main quest, with bonus content depending on what factions you went with

A much larger, more open world with more locations to find; the game really rewards unfettered exploration

Boston is a huge, dense city rather than Vegas’s three buildings

The Settlement/building/settlement defense system

A perks system that actually encourages different character builds

Better item crafting

Much cooler power armor (with jetpacks!)

No invisible walls

An excellent “survival” mode; I can’t imagine playing without it

Flying around in vertibirds

Along with the jetpacks and vertibirds, just a more “vertical” game in general; there’s a lot to find on building tops and elevated highways

Behemoths and mirelurk queens

A gun that shoots actual cannonballs

The ability to call artillery salvos on enemy fortifications

Can blow off enemies’ individual body parts, allowing for more interesting combat tactics overall

Against this, I accept the arguments that the dialogue system isn’t very good and that whoever nerfed the deathclaws ought to be fired. Beyond that, Fallout 4‘s superiority is so obvious to me that I feel like I must be living in another universe when I get into a discussion with most fans of the series.

So there we are: my 10 most controversial opinions. Everyone will probably be enraged at something. Even if you don’t agree with me, I hope you admire my honesty and the risk I’m taking with my Patreon account.

Coming up: Ten years of upsetting people with more controversial opinions, starting with fans of the Arkania series.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/my-10-most-controversial-opinions/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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