Lurker > pyresword

Someday I will watch the 7th movie.
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Overall I honestly consider SAO a good show. There's a lot of things that are easy to criticize and some parts are pretty bad, but I think the things it does well it does well enough to make up for it.
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My ELO on the Lichess Blitz ladder is around 1550 which puts me at slightly above average among a large selection of people that play regularly. So I'm relatively good I guess.

(Rapid ELO is ~1700 with a sample size of only about 30-40 games.)
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How is the dialogue/writing in Tokyo Xanadu?
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Bump
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Not a surprise on this board but TTYD is my favorite.
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Not gonna lie I thought Saki had really good character designs. I don't remember her name but I specifically remember the tall girl from I think the Nationals arc being among my all-time favorite designs.
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Saki is pretty cool imo.

Not exactly a gambling show but oh well.
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Vesperia=Berseria > Symphonia > Abyss

I got super bored with Abyss at around what I think was roughly 2/3 of the way through. Part of me kind of wants to go back to it, but honestly it probably won't actually happen :/
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Man just before one of my songs was going to get ranked also.
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LeonhartFour posted...

NFUN posted...

No Renne

I thought we were naming problems

I will not tolerate this blasphemy.
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Games that I think have the least problems:

Trails in the Sky FC
Chrono Trigger
Metal Gear Solid 3
Okami
The Wind Waker

I will emphasize that this is not the same thing as the games I think are the best or my favorite games. For example Chrono Trigger, while still a great game, doesn't even break my top 20.
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I want to say needs no fixing, but getting rid of blue coins seems like it can only be a good thing.
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I'll tag this, but I'm busy often enough that it'll basically just be if I happen to be available whenever you guys happen to have it I'll probably participate
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LeonhartFour posted...

Bonus Question: What is your favorite Final Fantasy song?

Man I have no idea. A list of candidates probably looks something like this

Dancing Mad
Aerith's Theme
You're Not Alone
Melodies of Life
To Zanarkand
Someday the Dream Will End
Distant Worlds
Answers

I've probably forgotten something though.
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Xeybozn posted...

pyresword posted...

pyresword posted...

So I watched In This Corner of the World tonight.

Well, for sure 90% of that was a really good movie. No matter what my overall opinion ends up being I'm glad I watched it at least for that 90%. But boy does that remaining 10% leave a fucking sour taste in my mouth.

Probably more after I've had time to sleep on this and mull it over. Or possibly less if I end up deciding I'm okay with this. Idk.

Ok after thinking about it, I'm somewhat more okay with this? I think the biggest issue is that more than anything, the writers were interested in making a war movie rather than anything else, and I just fundamentally don't think the way war is typically depicted in anime makes for a good story. I can at least see what they were going for with the parts that initially bothered me though, and it's not the worst idea in the world.

That's interesting, I've seen a lot more people complaining about the exact opposite thing (only liking the "war" parts and thinking everything else in the movie sucks).

Speaking in generalities, (In This Corner of the World spoilers) the problem I have with a lot of war stories (with anime seemingly falling into this trap more frequently) is that they rely on what I view as cheap tragedy. Not cheap in the sense that it's any less sad, but cheap in the sense that it stops being beautiful when there's no reason for it to happen or no significance in the fact that it happened.

For this specific case it's probably pretty easy to figure out what part specifically bothered with me at the time. Of course, there's still movie after that, so that isn't really a problem if it's not the point of the movie. What really was a dealbreaker (at first) though was that they started making the remainder of the movie about moving on from tragedy, which is totally fine, but then just the understated way they give that message at the very end really did not sit well with me at first. Like a lot of the ending feels like it's just "and then they moved on" when to me this kind of thing should be the focus of the entire movie if that's the route you want to go. Of course, I'd be lying if I said the way this was handled does totally sit well with me now, but it's more of a "this could have been better" thing and not the "this was actively terrible" reaction that I had immediately at the end of the movie.

On the other hand though, I thought the story of a young bride marrying into a completely unknown family and slowly becoming accustomed to her new life and growing close to her new family was really well done! The main character was really great in pretty much all respects.
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pyresword posted...

So I watched In This Corner of the World tonight.

Well, for sure 90% of that was a really good movie. No matter what my overall opinion ends up being I'm glad I watched it at least for that 90%. But boy does that remaining 10% leave a fucking sour taste in my mouth.

Probably more after I've had time to sleep on this and mull it over. Or possibly less if I end up deciding I'm okay with this. Idk.

Ok after thinking about it, I'm somewhat more okay with this? I think the biggest issue is that more than anything, the writers were interested in making a war movie rather than anything else, and I just fundamentally don't think the way war is typically depicted in anime makes for a good story. I can at least see what they were going for with the parts that initially bothered me though, and it's not the worst idea in the world.
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So I watched In This Corner of the World tonight.

Well, for sure 90% of that was a really good movie. No matter what my overall opinion ends up being I'm glad I watched it at least for that 90%. But boy does that remaining 10% leave a fucking sour taste in my mouth.

Probably more after I've had time to sleep on this and mull it over. Or possibly less if I end up deciding I'm okay with this. Idk.
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bumpo

Sent you a pm @DoomTheGyarados
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One thing I'll say is that my perspective on a lot of Umineko songs changed when I stopped treating them as singular experiences being defined by their Youtube videos, if that makes sense. Like, in context the songs are just background music and are designed to just repeat indefinitely until you move to a different part of the game. So, whether the Youtube version of the song (or even an officially released version of the song on a soundtrack) repeats 0 times, 1 time, or 100 times doesn't really change how I view the song as a whole.

All that said, I think Deep Blue Jeer specifically is only average as far as Umineko songs go, so you won't hear much complaint from me about this specific entry. (Which still means I rate it pretty highly overall, but yeah)
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Paratroopa1 posted...

But that is not at all a universal interpretation of that line. "Has spoken through the prophets" doesn't mean "literally every word of the bible is 100% true and equally important, yo"

Further clarification: I don't think I ever interpreted that passage in quite this extreme a manner. I did, however, think it necessitated treated the Bible with a greater degree of reverance than just a tool created by humans to better understand God. Maybe to attempt an analogy, I treated the Bible sort of as a human-made (and still therefore imperfect) transcript of God's word, as opposed to an author's interpretation of it, which seems to be how a lot of people in this topic view things.
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Interesting that those posts happened back-to-back.

For clairty's sake I am definitely aware there are more ways to interpret that passage than the one I was implying. (Which is definitely the way I interpreted it once upon a time when I considered myself a Catholic) I was only trying to create a basis on which to view the other side of this argument.
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Relevant excerpt from the Nicene Creed

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

Even still I don't think that most practicing Catholics at any level of the Church take the Bible as 100% literal and relevant, but it is worth mentioning that this idea of the Bible literally being the word of God is directly written into many people's religious experiences.

Of course, you can still claim that the Bible is an interpretation of the words of the prophets, but my point is that there are many people who don't see things that way.
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NFUN posted...

pyresword posted...

You know the more I read this topic the more it feels Catholicism is just a completely different thing from all the Christian denominations you guys are referring to. From my perspective as a kid the way the Catholic Church worked is that it's the job of the upper echelons of the Church to interpret what the meaning of the Bible is, and basically they then disseminate that to the rest of the world. And from our perspective whatever they say is law/truth. But it doesn't sound like any other Christian denominations operate that way at all. It would definitely explain why I so quickly became disillusioned with the Church for reasons that don't seem to bother a lot of other people in this topic even when it seems like we're similar philosophically. (Of course determining that through GameFAQ's message board posts is probably wildly inaccurate so who knows)

For context's sake, I was raised as a Catholic but have been non-religious since about the time I was in high school, although I had trouble reconciling the Church as an institution somewhat before that time.

Do you know the history of Protestantism at all?

I mean in historical sense yes. But I couldn't tell you what their actual religious differences were at any level of detail above what you'd find in a middle school history textbook.

I also don't think it's immediately obvious that the difference between Catholics and other Christian denominations is as pronounced as it was in those days, although maybe it turns out that is the case? I really don't know much that's significant about what other denominations of Christianity look like in today's world.
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You know the more I read this topic the more it feels Catholicism is just a completely different thing from all the Christian denominations you guys are referring to. From my perspective as a kid the way the Catholic Church worked is that it's the job of the upper echelons of the Church to interpret what the meaning of the Bible is, and basically they then disseminate that to the rest of the world. And from our perspective whatever they say is law/truth. But it doesn't sound like any other Christian denominations operate that way at all. It would definitely explain why I so quickly became disillusioned with the Church for reasons that don't seem to bother a lot of other people in this topic even when it seems like we're similar philosophically. (Of course determining that through GameFAQ's message board posts is probably wildly inaccurate so who knows)

For context's sake, I was raised as a Catholic but have been non-religious since about the time I was in high school, although I had trouble reconciling the Church as an institution somewhat before that time.
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LeonhartFour posted...

What is your favorite Persona song?

Oh I somehow missed this question, but it's definitely either Heaven or Memories of You
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Lopen posted...

Yes but there are huge diminishing returns

It's more like making a certain amount is a pre-requisite to be happy but once you clear that bar more helps increasingly less as you clear the bar by more and more.

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I mean there's still time!

Probably not.
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LeonhartFour posted...

What's the worst ending for a game you like?

Can I vote Clannad even though I've only watched the anime?
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Someday.

I believe
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I don't actually remember anything about it other than I thought it was dumb.
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5 > 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 6

Still never watched 7 lmao.
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I think my favorite thing about Kurt and his gang is how they're supposed to be these really experienced bracers, and yet their role in the plot literally all of the time is to get humiliated by the bad guys so that then Estelle and crew can go and show them who's boss.
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Arti posted...

ninkendo posted...

_SecretSquirrel posted...

AquaArcane posted...

WickIebee posted...

I never put on socks in the same place as shoes, so it's always sock/sock ......................................................................... shoe/shoe

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Ok so, people who say that these views aren't incompatible with Christianity, could you explain that? I guess my question is, what specifically do Christians believe in--in the religious sense--if not what has already been outlined in this thread?

Edit: More specifically, the second half of the first post seems in direct contradiction with the notion that God specifically sent his son to Earth for the purpose of saving humans from their sins, which from my perspective is pretty much the fundamental tenet of Christianity.
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LapisLazuli posted...

pyresword posted...

I'm pretty much used to it though. I'm generally on my own or in the minority when it comes to characters who act like assholes due to inferiority complexes. (I'm the same person who insists Shinji Matou is a good character, remember)

You watch Last Encore yet?

No.

I may watch it eventually but to be honest I don't have much interest in the Fate/ spinoffs.
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That wasn't really a defense as much as a statement.

And I mean if you want a defense it's that to me a character having a likeable or unlikeable personality isn't the same thing as me liking or disliking them as a character. And in this case his reasons for being unlikeable make him a believable and compelling character, and then the way he develops in the latter parts of the game as a result is really great.

I'm pretty much used to it though. I'm generally on my own or in the minority when it comes to characters who act like assholes due to inferiority complexes. (I'm the same person who insists Shinji Matou is a good character, remember)
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Junpei and it's not even close.

Junpei is a top tier character in the series whereas the other two are near the bottom of their respective main casts
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I still haven't seen Hibike Euphonium, but I would be incredibly surprised if it topped Clannad for me, which is in my top 5. Also A Silent Voice for that matter, though I guess that's a movie and not a series.
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I mean FLCL is a top 10 anime for me, so you'll hear no complaints there. Nothing else from Gainax/Trigger comes close to that imo, but yeah. (Though NGE and Gunbuster are also quite good)

The style itself isn't exactly the issue I have with them, though I probably would say that it's a symptom of the problem. If I were to try and summarize it, my issue with them is that it seems like they tend to like using self-parody as a tool to tell a serious story, which to me feels wrong from the outset. Of course, I think the reality is probably more complicated in a way I can't quite figure out, since what I've just said could probably apply to Danganronpa for example, which is something I do like. Or maybe I just happened to watch something by Gainax/Trigger at the wrong place and time and it ticked me off such that I never got over it, idk.

(To clarify, nothing I've said in that paragraph applies to FLCL, which I will unapologetically claim as a masterpiece)
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It started last season, but The Ancient Magus' Bride is quite good imo.

I also like all the shows LtM mentioned a lot, but I also find them hard to recommend to someone who isn't already a fan of their respective genres.
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Yeah I meant old Gainax. The last show by Gainax I could even name is Panty and Stocking.

Looking it up I guess they did Medaka Box after that which was sort of relevant I guess?
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@DoomTheGyarados

Sometime this week? Tomorrow is probably bad for me but I should be around at night the rest of this week. (Including tonight starting about an hour from now)
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Something about their overall philosophy about anime and art in general just makes me want to hate everything they put out on principle. Gainax was the same way to a lesser extent, but in their case I'm forced to admit they do good work despite our apparent differences in philosophy. Trigger I have had no such experience.
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To clarify, I am not claiming my hatred for Studio Trigger is an entirely rational hatred.
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Gainax >>> Trigger

Not that I like Gainax much either, but Trigger is basically everything I don't like about Gainax turned up to 11 while killing the things I did like about Gainax shows. (To be fair, I'm not sure if the latter half of that statement is a trend or if I just didn't like the specific Trigger shows I've seen.)
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Aw yes Velvet the best.

Well actually I probably still like Yuri more, but still.
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Ok I really liked this episode of Citrus.
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It was a reference to the OP of Serial Experiments Lain.

I'm one of the few who would not recommend the show at all, but the OP is pretty cool.
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I...don't really think Danganronpa is angsty at all. Although, I guess what I should actually say is that I think saying this is already a refusal to meet the game on its own terms.

beneath the unfunny humor and the shitshow that is Monokuma

I guess applying it to this specific context what I mean is that I think Monokuma and his brand of humor is the very thing that makes the game not just "angst for angst's sake".

Also I think Danganronpa has significantly more charming characters than Ace Attorney. But then again you'll pretty much never see me have anything good to say about Ace Attorney unless it's about Edgeworth, so whatever.
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