Lurker > BlueCrystalTear

I do want to apologize if I appeared too angsty this morning. I've been dealing with a lot of things and wasn't thinking straight. I deleted my comment and wish we can simply move on - will try my best to ensure that doesn't happen again, and I appreciate you two (darkx and Inviso) for handling it diplomatically instead of making it worse. Thanks for being tolerant.

Inviso posted...

Real Love Boat is moving to Paramount+ and TAR is moving into the 9 PM time slot!

This is awesome news. I hate that I'm quoting myself from above here, but:

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Also: Is literally anybody watching the RMS Love Boat? It looks like only ~1,600,000 watched it last week, and the rating was just a 0.26.

What's worse is that it's tanking Amazing Race in the ratings. CBS really did think this was going to be a slam dunk sandwiched between two of its marquee shows, but instead it may be taking TAR down with it. They learned nothing from the Love Island disaster.

This weeks' rating was a 0.19 and Amazing Race picked up nearly a million additional viewers despite being out of primetime, so I think CBS finally got the message. Survivor won the night and people still care about TAR, so this will get TAR's numbers to recover since this move was made so fast.

I hope this is the last time CBS tries any of that kind of garbage. If they filmed a second season, that's a HUGE loss they're taking, so after Love Island also tanked, they should learn their lesson. SHOULD. Doesn't mean they will.

Underleveled posted...

Accusing someone of being racist is not a theory you "just throw out there."

I have my issues with Ermine but I've never sensed that he is racist.

I saw someone hate on Maryanne that couldn't justify it and they got called out for racial prejudices, which they then confirmed by the way they defended themselves, though that was on Facebook so that probably explains why. I blocked them too.

I was just throwing theories out there, that's all.

But I'm not sorry if Ermine's gonna act like that.

P.S. I blocked him for that. Not gonna miss him.

Inviso posted...

But how can you hate Maryanne? She's one of the best winners Survivor has ever had.

My guess? He's a closed-minded soulless zombie. He decides who he likes episode one and doesn't change his mind. His enjoyment hinges on how well his early favorites do and nothing more; this is not how you watch reality TV. I don't understand, but to each his own.

I despise Shan, too, but I still enjoyed her as a character, especially her comeuppance being surprisingly early. That's good TV. This season is devoid of people who make good TV, and that is a fact. We can just continue laughing at him for saying something as factually incorrect as "this season is better than S42." We all knew he's wrong.

Could also be that he's a racist. I can't think of a valid reason to hate Maryanne - sure, she can be a little over-the-top with her enthusiasm at times, but that makes her endearing and real. She's a top 10 winner (not top 5) for how she played a strategy that was perfect for someone like her and her game-winner of taking Omar out was shades of Natalie Anderson. S42 had plenty of others with charisma, too - this season lacks that. I find myself rooting for nobody, which is an immediate criterion for bottom 5 consideration.

Frankly, as terrible as Edge of Extinction was due to the twist and editing, at least that had plenty of people who were fun personalities (even if Rick Devens overwhelmed them all in said poor edit). This is on par with Ghost Island, but unlike that season, the pre-merge was soulless instead of brutal and tragic. So that means bottom 3. I hope it turns around but my hopes are low.

Zigzagoon posted...

It's clear we enjoy different things though. You like things that make for good TV. I just like certain people and want to see them do well, and if they don't then I don't give a fuck about the rest of the people that I don't care for.

You watch reality TV to... watch likable people? The what? Reality TV is not "feel good TV" in any shape or form. It's at its best when there's drama and tension. This vote was a total mess but I couldn't bring myself to give a shit because this cast is so flat. My favorite seasons have entertaining people making good TV, whether that's through vicious blindsides, humorous confessionals, or intense drama. I like examining the human condition and if there's no tension, a season doesn't feel human. This season is robotic and bland. I see Martin agrees here. You're in a huge minority, Ermine - if you want to watch "likable people doing well" then watch Let's Make a Deal or something. I find that show incredibly boring because it's just watching people I have no investment in get free stuff. This is similar in that I have zero investment in these people. The merge episode should have been great, but there are so few colorful people here that it was hard to care.

Worth noting that among my least favorite seasons are ones where I didn't find anyone rootable, while some of my favorites have people I adore do well and people I hate get awesome comeuppances. But you need to have both. This season has neither. It's so soulless. When Mike Gabler is the only person popping off the screen in any way, and he's frustrating to watch, you know you have a big dud of a cast.

MartinFF7 posted...

Survivor: very happy with that elim, but also realized I don't think I care for any castaway other than Cody which can't bode well for me??? I guess I can also root for the continuing Gabler trainwreck, lol

I'm not exactly happy with the vote out, but I'm not mad either. I'm just like "what ever countie voting" in response to it. The soulless editing has turned me off, even with an episode that looked good on paper!

Maybe it's just that I've seen all this before and this did literally nothing that other seasons didn't already do better.

This cast has too many gamebots who aren't showcasing any personality. Without Gabler, the entire season falls apart because, as frustrating as he is, he's half the entertainment right now. Cody is the "secretly smart guy who appears crazy" though he's not a very good one, at that. Jesse is flat. Where was Ryan hilarious? I legit forget he exists half the time. The only "funny" thing I can remember was him throwing the challenge and being clueless; Geo was by far the more amusing of the two there.

Karla and Noelle are both very likable but narratively speaking, they aren't as interesting as they should be. And I think that stems from a void of conflict and tension. This group simply gets along and was cast to be likable. You can't have people to like if you don't also have people to hate. No villains is a huge step down from the last two seasons. Shan was a great main antagonist of S41 and I cheered her comeuppance. Because that was good TV. S43 is a bottom 5 season so far because there's been very little good TV. Geo "lying" that he's on the bottom and helpless and yet actually being on the bottom was hysterical, especially given his jaw drop at Tribal. That was the best moment of the season so far - this vote being a cluster wasn't fun at all, simply because I legit feel bored by practically everyone here. It's issues with casting and editing both.

No idea why you hated 42's cast because that group had epic chemistry. There was tension between them and, as frustrated as they were with each other at the end of the day, they were still willing to make amends. They weren't spiteful and they most certainly weren't boring. And how can you hate Maryanne? Do you not have a soul?

Also: Is literally anybody watching the RMS Love Boat? It looks like only ~1,600,000 watched it last week, and the rating was just a 0.26.

What's worse is that it's tanking Amazing Race in the ratings. CBS really did think this was going to be a slam dunk sandwiched between two of its marquee shows, but instead it may be taking TAR down with it. They learned nothing from the Love Island disaster.

Underleveled posted...

This season is not nearly offensive enough to be bottom 5. It's just a dud.

Philippines absolutely holds up on rewatch. It's a top 5 season.

Some of the "offensive" seasons are actually quite entertaining for one reason or another. Redemption Island is heavily underrated and actually has a lot of entertaining moments. This season is so boring that I'm not even remotely engaged in it, which is why I put it in my bottom 5. With other bad seasons, I'm at least engaged at some points. Like IOI has a fantastic pre-merge until, y'know. Honestly, S43 reminds me of One World's merge sans Kim painting a masterpiece. Instead of Tarzan, we have Cody. We don't have a Kat or eye candy like Chelsea. It's so soulless.

Philippines top 5? Wow. It fell five places for me when I rewatched it last year. It wasn't as dynamic or engaging as I'd remembered, and most of the votes post-merge were teed up more than I'd recalled. Still, Jonathan Penner gives it more than enough points. His exit is legendary, as is Abi-Maria. Denise and Malcolm are both great, but the Matsing disaster is the high point of the season, what with gems like Angelia Layton's "cookies" and Swan mistaking Jeff for God. Maybe I went in expecting a top ten season and maybe it'll bounce back up whenever I rewatch it again. IDK.

I think you're reading to deep into this tbqh.

Old habits die hard. I can't not critically analyze the edit at this point.

Pokewars posted...

Lol one of the most obvious merge boot in history.

Mewtwo59 posted...

And yes, I agree. It was obvious as soon as Elie said how awesome she was at Survivor before the challenge.

The early episode made it so obvious it was Jeanine or Elie. Let's not forget Jeanine talking about how she'd dreamed of "making the merge" since she was a kid. It was obviously going to be one of them, but it wasn't obvious which one.

But yeah, no tension. Just give everybody a merge feast. And go back to 39 days while we're at it. With just 26 days, people are less likely to lose their marbles. You want people losing their marbles. Though apparently Jeff just wants a likable kumbayah group of people, which makes for unwatchable television. If this continues, why would anyone keep watching this kind of Survivor? I have fun dissecting dynamics when the relationships are interesting. This season is devoid of relationships with soul; really, the Gabler/Elie rivalry was the only relationship that was anything to write home about.

Inviso posted...

Sami is more like Spencer, when Spencer is in a position of power.

Or when Spencer is talking about vaccines.

We can just say Elie is part Angelina, part RC, but without the things that made those two stand out. Angelina was hilarious for all the wrong reasons and RC was edited as a rootable underdog even though she sucks. Philippines is a massive improvement from the two seasons before it but doesn't hold up very well on rewatch. A middling season like that is still leagues better than this crappy season, which so far is in my bottom 5.

Blaziken posted...

Sami is just such a frustrating character. Whenever he speaks, it's just so flat and robotic and matter-of-fact that makes for boring television.

I like my arrogant douchebags like Drew Christy: The trainwrecks that fully lack self-awareness and thus end up being nothing but amusing. Sami is just as you said: He's an arrogant meathead that lacks any other kind of personality.

Honestly, since we lost Elie, we're losing one of the people with personality. And that's saying a lot given how little of it she has! She's the fifth woman to leave pre-jury here... which is a further reason this season sucks.

Cody, Gabler, Karla, Noelle, James, and Jeanine also have personality. Most of them don't have much but I am literally grasping at straws here. This season is shaping up to be bottom 5 for me, and possibly the last one I care to watch.

"Now that we are into the individual portion of the game..."

Doesn't that mean a MERGE, Jeffrey?

This vote is such a mess. With a better cast, I would be on the edge of my seat, enjoying the heck out of this disaster. But since all these people are so bland, I legit am "meh" on it.

Underleveled posted...

Sami is obnoxiously cocky but at least I have hope that he is being set up for an amazing downfall.

I am so hoping that Sami's story is headed in that direction too. It's been something that was seeded earlier, with him saying "I AM THE GREATEST 19 Y/O WHO EVER LIVED!" at the start.

Blaziken posted...

Kinda hoping it's Elie, because I feel like otherwise it's gonna be Coco, and I like Coco far more than the impending 9-person majority. Plus, Elie going here would at least give her a solid storyline.

That would, but Baka shouldn't cannibalize themselves. And Gabler keeps airing dirty laundry, and now literally everyone is going to be like "Don't tell Gabler anything. He runs his mouth." He'll either be an easy vote soon or the zero-vote getter at FTC. I hope it's the former.

This season is just so bad. Like I legit don't care about any of these people.

Gabler is such a moron. Elie thinks "Baka strong" is a thing. Exploit that. Work in the shadows. Don't blab out your dirty laundry because then these people who are new to you will think you're a loose cannon. Keeping Baka numbers will also let Gabler have a foothold later, but this removes that safety net unnecessarily. Elie wasn't coming for him any time soon now that they merged!

Looks like I was wrong, but I guess that means that ...Elie... is gone.

This buff looks like a pretty different color. I may have to get it, even though this season sucks. I already got the three starting tribes with the intent to sell at least one, probably two of them in a couple years. This one I'd keep.

I'm sad we're losing Jeanine tonight. This edit couldn't be any more obvious, what with her saying she's SO EXCITED to "have made merge" (when it turns out she hasn't) and then her mistaking which tribe she was on in this one-challenge "swap."

Mewtwo59 posted...

I know they like saying "earn the merge" nowadays, but does anyone not consider Sydney and Lydia as not having made the merge?

They both definitely made the merge. They both even got a merge buff for two days!

Played a little more last night to prevent myself from falling asleep. What a weird day yesterday was - I don't even remember forgetting that detail!

I took out the wyvern in Pletzerback Wetland. Apparently this was somebody Zaveid knew, someone he'd made a pact with on "a previous journey" in the same area many years before, probably back when Reneed still existed and that place wasn't nearly uninhabitable. I'm not sure who this could be since Zaveid wasn't playable in Berseria. It's not Velvet, who was sealed away and had her therion form. It's not Rokurou, who was also a daemon to begin with. It's not Eizen, who we killed already (RIP). It's not Laphicet, who's now Maotelus. It's not Magilou, who's buried in Trizolde Cave. And Eleanor wouldn't make any sense. Looking it up, it was one of the wyverns from Lothringen (yeah, back before it was "partial"), the one he'd stopped Velvet and Eizen from killing in that whole fracas. Easy to forget that part of that sequence given everything else that transpired. Anyway, this fight unlocks Zaveid's ultimate Mystic Arte, which I've yet to see.

After this, I hike back through Rolance to Loegres, and there I see Sergei who says the two sides have agreed to peace, but the details haven't been worked out yet because politics. What he says sounds uncannily realistic. The conservatives are refusing to budge on their principles and aren't willing to negotiate. The progressives are trying anything they can to gain political power and drown the other side out. Seriously, this sounds like OUR world. It sucks being a moderate, I guess. I have people ask me how I can support both outlawing abortion and a situational death penalty. And that's because I think logically, not politically. Logic would indicate that nothing really needs to change with this treaty aside from border control measures, so there aren't any further skirmishes or battles.

After this, I head into the woods by Lastonbury to check on the two remaining kids and tell them we killed the bad guys. Unfortunately, by returning to the same place and constantly recalling the death of her friends, the girl becomes hellionized again, and Talfryn (one of Rose's assassins, the guy in the hat who got away) is trying to calm her down. Sorry just goes and purifies her instantly, but it's too late. The other kid is dead, and this one... may or may not be. Sorry rues that he wasn't actually able to save anyone, but Rose talks him down by saying if he hadn't managed to purify her the first time, she could've killed many people. She always knows what to say, and never needs comforting herself, after all.

Also, Berseria was CLEARLY being planned when this late-game NPC dialogue was written, and it's unclear what was added later in this game to tie in. Like, Vortigern is there, but it's in a desert and looks like a dried-up wall; this may have been added later with the thought to make it a major dungeon in Berseria. A random NPC in Loegres talks about seeing an old map of what became Glenwood, and how different it was, and how "a lot of guesswork" had to go into it. That last part we know to be untrue, but that's what time will do. People aren't aware of this stuff. There are a lot of tie-ins, including Zaveid mentioning Melchior, the grave that's probably Magilou's, the wyvern... they really tied the two games together at this point, but it feels forced. It doesn't feel natural. It just feels like they tacked a lot of stuff on and that's probably why a lot of people ended up confused. I think I figured out the secret to not outright hating Zestiria: Play Berseria first.

Now, I would by all means consider this a mediocre JRPG, and especially a sub-par Tales game. The first two thirds of the game is devoid of anything exciting or interesting; the buildup is thrown away to replace Alisha with Rose, and the lack of conflict or tension for too long a period makes it boring. It only starts to get interesting when the Dezel/Symone drama unfolds, but the writing is so uneven after this - there are parts that are great, particularly the climax (in no small part due to "Rising Up"), but other parts that are downright terrible (the entire Lunarre thing in Loegres, as well as how confusing the Symone thing is) - that it isn't as engaging as it could be. It honestly feels like they KNEW Berseria would have to exist as they built this part, so that in turn shows issues with the writing of this game.

I also gotta say that the battle system is really boring by now. Armatization has long lost its novelty, and that mechanic makes it easy to overpower foes with their weaknesses, making it harder when you're not linked up. It's imbalanced. What's worse is the skill system - you have no real way to control what skills you have on your weapons, but at least you're not getting hundreds of 'em like in Berseria. I'd prefer a mechanic that could let you choose skills to add to weapons for a fee. You'd have to pay a blacksmith each time instead of getting each skill for free ONCE when you encounter the normin it's tied to, using a very unintelligently-designed UI. You can't even check how adding those skills affects your loadout! There's a lot of back-and-forthing there and it's obnoxious to figure out. If you're designing a game, you should play this one to see how NOT to do a UI. But yeah, the normin should simply unlock the ability to add that skill to a weapon at the smith; each weapon has one innate skill and three other slots, just as it is now. Just pay 500 gald for the first column skills, 1000 for the second, 2000 for the third, etc. Also increase the gald output by 25% because 256,000 for the last column isn't easy to come by. That's all I have right now and it's endgame, where my gald total is usually in the millions.

So yeah, this game is pretty mediocre. And, going into the grand finale, I'm thinking it's just a 5/10 game. That's higher than I've seen some people give it. There's nothing particularly WRONG with it - I don't outright hate any of the cast, but I don't really like any of them either. It's mostly ambivalence. I don't care what happens to any of them. I don't care who wins in the end. There's nothing that's made me wholly invested in their story, what little of it there is. There hasn't been enough drama or tension between party members. Really, the only fun part was Edna and Lailah trolling Mikleo on the regular.

We'll see how the finale is, of course. I haven't quite seen the Chernobyl-level disaster people speak of yet, just a few shoddily-written parts like... the Scattered Bones execution nonsense. Like WTF was that shit? Was that written by the same 6 y/o that wrote the terrible scene in Marlind where Rose was whining about how Sorry had to leave? This is why you need someone to read over your work. I'd be extremely critical of this, and also ask "What about the FUN scenes? This party seems all business. When they aren't so serious, they're great, but those moments are rare." I blame Rose.

Mewtwo59 posted...

I'm surprised you didn't have more to say about that, given how strongly implied it is about who that Mayvin actually is.

I wasn't sure tbh. In part because 1) there's no Bienfu and instead we have an Aksha with whom I wasn't familiar, 2) it was just 300 years as opposed to 1000, and 3) "poet" isn't exactly how I'd describe Magilannica Lou Mayvin.

I also played that late last night and some of the connections might've been lost on me. Of course, the secret to immortality might've been something Magilou inherited after her step-monster got his comeuppance. But he's the one whose actions cursed the clan, yes? That connection I made. I'm just trying to figure out the weird family tree here!

Also thanks for confirming you're still reading. These are becoming low-effort too so...

Played some last night. A lot of the time was devoted to escaping Rayfalke Spiritcrest, since that area's monsters are VERY rough. These were not the same ones from when I first met Edna, and because Lord of the Land buffs, they were ROUGH. The good news: I got some good equipment, and was able to go back and save to ensure I didn't lose it. I died twice and had to redo that, so I learned, lol.

I got back to Ladylake and after I save a Katz from some bratty children outside Alisha's manor and a skit at the inn, Rose suggested visiting Eizen's grave again. The WUT? I just escaped that mountain and now the game wants me to go right back there? Yeah, no, I'm just gonna warp and pay the fee. So that's what I do. Edna learns Shooting Stars, her ultimate Mystic Arte, and that one is lively and badass. After the game fails to activate it on its own (seriously, she had a 3-hit combo, and it requires a 4), I just go ahead and do it once she has 5 BP. Worth it, even if Edna controls pretty clunkily. I do wonder how the others get their Mystic Artes since this is the only one I've gotten as of yet.

After visiting Eizen's grave, I head back to Elysia. I get into Aroundight Forest and something is very, very wrong. Heldalf has come through with the goons he converted on the battlefield and turned the place into a malevolent mess. He overwhelmed Gramps' domain and left some more strong monsters here. Mythril monstrosities... and this daemon sorcerer that's, as Rose would later put it, "a son of a submariner." No idea where THAT one came from, but yeah, that was a brutal fight and it was something in my way. I manage to get to the exit and waiting for me is none other than Orthrus - yup, Niko's dogs, still fused together after 1000 years. I beat the crap out of him and this is easier than the resistant-to-everything sorcerer, but still depletes me. Also worth noting: The game changed my party composition so Lailah and Mikleo were the active seraphs........... the two that Orthie and Russ are of course resistant to. It's a middle finger to those being smart about who you put in your party, a poor and unnecessary attempt to inconvenience a player.

Elysia is a ghost town. Sorry's bedroom is inaccessible since the daemon knights made a mess because Heldalf said to not let anyone get away. But some of the soldiers were so rich with malevolence that they turned on each other, losing their damn minds, and Heldalf had just sat back and relished it. We worry about the others until we get to Gramps's house, where we're repelled by a barrier. Sorry knocks on it and he and Mikleo announce their presence, and everyone comes out SUPER happy to see them. Everyone except Gramps, that is. Honestly, I don't even remember these people's names, save for Natalie, Mason's wife, who's still coping with her husband being eaten alive. I was hoping I got to tell her that Rose killed the motherfucker, but nope (hmm... Mason was a fire seraph, perhaps Lunarre bursting into flame was his doing?). They didn't do a very good job at getting me to care about Elysia - really, the only one I didn't want anything bad to happen to was Natalie since that would be just too cruel, after all that grieving.

Gramps apparently went to fight off Heldalf and had everyone garrison within a barrier that repelled anyone from outside, but whoever it was leading in Gramps's absence changed it so Sorry and Rose's biosignatures were admitted in and out just the same. I head back out and find Symone taunting me again. Seriously, when do we get to finally kill her? Hopefully soon, because she just disappears after completing her assignment. Heldalf wants Sorry to be paranoid and worrisome, which will allow him to manifest with malevolence. Sorry is aware of this and is magically fighting it off. Because the plot demands he has to. Really, "malevolence" is a lame plot device in this game - it manifests when the plot needs it to, but when it doesn't need to, there's always some excuse as to why it doesn't. Berseria did a much better job making it clear that all humans have malevolence, but it only manifests into daemonblight if you let it consume you. Here, it's inconsistent. Cardinal Forton had malevolence overtake her despite her believing her ideals were pure, but other baddies - the priest serial killer, for example - didn't experience that. What's the diff?

Now, for whatever reason, I can warp to Rolance. Probably because plot device Gramps will fend off Heldalf until I complete whatever dumb sdiequests had to wait until this time. I warp to Lohgrin and get a tip about a poet named Mayvin in a cave nearby; apparently she's been dead a few hundred years but she was a prior Storyteller of Time. "Mayvin" is a clan name, and their role in history is to ensure people continue to know it - punishment for Melchior Mayvin doing the horrendous deeds he did, according to Zaveid. "The first one did something bad, this is the punishment" - and that comes with immortality as long as you keep the oath, so you get to live long enough to see all your loved ones die. Who Wants to Live Forever and all that jazz.

I next head to the Camelot Bridge for the tip about strong daemons and there's one in the wetlands by where Reneed used to be. But I don't quite get there before I get too tired to keep playing, so that'll have to wait until next time. The plan was to warp to Lohgrin and work my way back. That's still the plan. Tonight's a movie night so maybe tomorrow after Survivor.

Lopen posted...

I think if you reveal the votes the idea is unworkable because then scum gets votes and it's too hard to actually lynch any of them

But maybe scum is paranoid that if they're one of the wagons they split their votes. I don't know.

I guess the idea has a lot of unpacking to do but I could see it working in any case.

I interpreted as it was like Survivor. You see the vote totals but not who voted for who. That way, you have to figure out who was telling the truth and who wasn't. There would need to be a "vote cop" role that could determine who someone voted for, so someone who had no vote would have to be scum.

But I would think what could work is that scum is not told who town voted out. So if they kill the person with the most votes, they don't get a different kill. They would need to be given a further disadvantage, such as having no powers, to allow town to figure the game out. Because town can't win if scum get two kills every night and town hardly gets any information - it's just blind luck.

Alternatively, there are no night kills, only the vote out, and scum gets one bonus strongman kill but town has almost no powers. This basically amounts to "Survivor with a scum team" and a different win condition.

I don't know. There has to be a way to make it work.

TheSultanOfSlam posted...

Uh I thought this was its own private discord channel? It should work. Corrik is just band from the B8 server

Yeah, this is its own Discord channel. What I was saying that if more than one of our crew is banned, there's no use in arguing with Steiner and them about unbanning two people. It won't go well.

5tarscream posted...

I think Discord like everything else is banned in China. My VPN also isnt working because its party conference time so they work extra hard to shut down all the VPNs for a week or so. Sucks to be me I guess.

Commies gonna Commie, I guess. Really sorry to hear that. I can post a new invite link in a week if anyone needs it!

Corrik7 posted...

Did you forget I am banned because "Steiner doesn't like me" lol.

I didn't know that. Whoops. That's pretty stupid, and I'm sorry to hear you're being treated like that too. So, that settles it - we're doing our own server. Later today, I'll throw together a logo, give everyone their role, and streamline things a little!

I'm not sure about the 24 hour days. There were occasions in the last game where I wasn't able to be active for an entire day, so forcing activity that could jeopardize my social life doesn't sound appealing to me. I'm going to pick what's happening in real life every time.

The rest of that idea sounds interesting - it's basically a cross between Survivor and Mafia.

Johnbobb posted...

Fun fact, 300 was the first ever R-rated movie I saw in theaters when I was 13 years old

I didn't see it in theaters and I turned 19 y/o around when it came out. I saw it after because memes.

GavsEvans123 posted...

It's such a relief to hear this one holds up! I was 14 when it came out, just the right age to think it was the coolest thing ever. I've been meaning to watch it again, but I've been scared to, for fear that if I did, the magic would be gone. Sounds like I have nothing to worry about in that regard!

It's still ridiculous and, while the CGI hasn't aged well, the visuals are still the most entertaining part. It's funny just how violent it is, and, really, my only issue wasn't okay in 2007 either: Leonidas being ableist toward Ephialtes, the real version of whom wasn't disabled. As you know, I don't take well to that, as someone who has been treated unfairly many a time for "not being neurotypical enough." Fuck people like that. This one shouldn't have been staged for amusement, because that's not cool. Sure, it does give Leonidas a character flaw, but making him a bully is not how you get people rooting for the "hero" of the story. But I loved how Ephialtes didn't just take it and was like "Fuck you, I'm defecting."

And, yes, the Internet took to 300 just like it had Snakes on a Plane half a year earlier. Aside from that one thing, which was never okay to begin with, it's held up well as a visual masterpiece, and it's still quite hilarious even without male stripper jokes. That's the only reason I watched it way back when, and frankly I barely remembered a thing. 15 years and having watched it pirated on a laptop would do that.

I was just making one so we don't have to deal with that >_>
https://discord.gg/APakhqha

I can delete this if "everyone involved" is okay with Ulti rejoining the main B8 server and we can have a queue post pinned or whatever. But right now, that's an "if" and AFAIK it's kind of a big one.

The way I was thinking this could work is we have dead town and scum chats for each game there, and to prevent anyone playing from knowing the full truth, the host of each game gets to be the server admin until the next game starts, when they pass the torch. That may be more trouble than it's worth vs just creating a new server, but it's an idea that's out there.

masterplum posted...

I think Im still in the B8 one though if we want to chat in the mafia section

I don't see such a section, which is why I suggested we do our own thing, and having our own server would let us utilize multiple channels instead of just one. That and some people still don't want Ulti in there. We need all of us in one place.

Joining is optional, of course, but I think I'll make it as a sort of home base. Give me an hour or two and I'll post the invite - I'm just waking up and haven't yet had my coffee.

Maybe we should have a Discord server for just the Mafia crew? We can keep the queue in there, ping people when sign-ups are posted, and even give everybody their own role so we can do scum and/or dead town chats in there if hosts want to.

Okay, maybe not that last one, but we all use Discord for those, so I thought maybe I'd suggest it. I can create it if you guys want!

Wasn't in the mood to write tonight, so I watched something mindless. Then Firefox was like "FUCK YOU!" to me and froze, so... UGH.

300 (2007)
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Written by: Frank Miller, Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, Michael Gordon
Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Heady, Dominic West, David Wenham
Previous status: Saw ages ago

"Madness?! This is SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Had to go with the iconic quote. Anyway, quick list of things, because I'm not writing all my thoughts in the same level of detail again:

• I hardly remember anything, and only ever saw this once because this board insisted back in the day. I just remembered it being mindless.
• The movie was clearly ridiculous from the getgo, and why it gets negative reviews is probably because ppl r dum and take things too seriously. I mean, there's this Pride Rock sequence above a pit of skulls, a shot of young Leonidas that looks like Gollum, a CGI wolf getting skewered, a bunch of shirtlessness, an overdramatic warrior culture made romantic through narration, full frontal nudity (I wrote "Cersei's boobies" on here - it's not like I haven't seen them before, and Lena Headey is an excellent actress as proven when she did drunk Cersei, but this was a nice surprise since I didn't think this was unrated)... the list goes on. Don't take something like this seriously. It's not meant to be taken seriously.
• The mindless violence was over-the-top, as were the CGI animals. EVERYTHING was over-the-top. There was that great rock music - kinda like an electronic Led Zeppelin - that they marched to. Really stood out. And was hilarious, much like how unserious this movie was.
• Xerxes was bribing a lot of people here to get his way, which should prove he's not a god right there. I didn't really like the portrayal of the Persians as one-dimensional baddies but it's not a big deal - I wasn't taking it seriously at all. The historical inaccuracies make it clear that this isn't a serious war movie, but the biggest one is the shirtless fighters. Like how much more ridiculous does it get than that?
• This movie is ripe for a drinking game. Every time someone says "Sparta" or "Spartan" take a drink. You'll get plastered in no time!

Here's the rest of what I had before btw since I screenshotted it; I was about to fix the "os" to "so"):
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/8/0/AAR0ZFAADzeg.png
Was also going to add about how awesome it was that Gorga skewered Theron for betraying her and projecting his own lies onto her, and the council believed her when Persian doubloons turned up on his corpse. It was AWESOME.

Really, I enjoyed the hell out of this movie for what it was. It's something I went in knowing was completely mindless but still was impressed by just how mindless it is. And how much I was laughing and reveling in how violent it got for no reason, when I don't usually like that stuff. It's a visual masterpiece even though there's plenty of green screen and CGI that was probably obvious back then too. All the animals were computer-generated and that made things look... unrealistic. But it doesn't matter. Realism was out the door here. The romantic narration over crazy meathead warriors wielding swords while shirtless is just hilarious to me. And I'm very much straight.

This is kind of hard to rate, honestly. It's by no means a grand achievement in storytelling, but it's a great achievement in visuals and ridiculousness, punctuated by some of the performances of the guys. The scenes back in Sparta seem like they're from a different movie, and the contrast actually works wonders. I'll give it a 4/5 - it's definitely something I'll return to if I'm ever feeling like watching something totally mindless and dumb like this, but really only in those circumstances. And for that, it's glorious.

@GavsEvans123 you get another nomination!

Oh yeah, played a TON last night. Not much to say, honestly. Because for the most part, there wasn't much to talk about.

Another pointless ruin in Glaveid Basin, which took over an hour and a half to clean out and kill the boss and whatnot. Not sure why these places exist, exactly, but they do, so I explore.

I get to Marlind and, on a tip from one of Rose's assassins, find out that the guy who murdered the kids is some NPC I've never heard of named Romano. His goons are mercenaries; two of them head for the hills when Rose claims she's one of the Scattered Bones, and then we have to beat the crap out of the other two. This takes me two tries, and it's not an easy fight. Afterward, Romano goes on some rant about how only people who truly understand and appreciate art should be able to have it, and you can't put money on it so stealing is the best way, and it doesn't matter if some brats have to die for it, it's none of his business. Rose just says "fuck it" and stabs him in the heart. Good riddance. And it turns out the two thugs are wanted in both Hyland and Rolance for numerous murders and raids.

After staying at the inn a few times, Sorry decides something he needs to do, having been inspired by the fight with the dragon in the basin. That something? Kill Eizen. Can't let Edna and Zaveid have that baggage for another few hundred years, since apparently Eizen turned 2-3 centuries ago. This is weird. Why, you ask? Because Zaveid tells a very tearful Edna "You know what your brother told me? "When I become a dragon, kill me. I can't let Edna suffer for it."" So................ he waited 250 years???? WHAT??? Edna is broken down and I'm struggling against the monsters at Rayfalke Spirit Crest, the mountain on which Eizen and Edna were born and staying, because they suddenly changed from weaklings to stronglings. Zaveid went ahead and Edna's busy crying.

Edna realizes that this is what's best, that her brother doesn't even recognize her anymore (which is why she gave herself permission to leave on a journey with a Shepherd), and he's nothing but a mindless monster. Sorry is right: The way to free him from the pain of being a dragon is to kill him. The fight is ridiculous; I take so much damage early that I spend an All-Divide, and suddenly this fight reaches Nebilim lengths. I am NOT kidding you. It wasn't hard - I was just spamming Saint's arRow and the like while fused with Mikleo, but it was LONG. As Eizen fell off the mountain in dragon form, I was like "Wow, that took me an hour." Sure enough, it took me an hour!
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/7/4/AAR0ZFAADzbS.jpg

And, yes, as you notice, I bought the swimsuits for the ladies (that was another project last night that took considerable time). Just for the ladies. Because I was getting bored and thought that was a good use for five bucks, including going back for a bit and playing around with Alisha in hers. Also I like Rose's hat (you know I have a hat fetish, yes?) and it looks good on Edna too (and Alisha, but I didn't get a pic for w/e reason - will change that and load an old save), particularly the band around it:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/7/5/AAR0ZFAADzbT.jpg

I saved and quit after that since it was 1:30 am. I regret that 3 pm coffee I had but I knew what I was getting into. Tonight should be better, but I gotta do a movie.

But yeah, that fight with Eizen was rough on me, having played Berseria first and getting to know him when he wasn't mindless. I knew this was coming. I knew he was a boss fight in Zestiria as a dragon. And he needed to be released from his curse, which strangely wasn't mentioned at all. Edna really didn't go into detail about her relationship with him, as I noted above, and she should have. This wouldn't have been emotional for me if I hadn't played Berseria, but that retcon helped me actually feel something here. And seeing Eizen's gravestone set up hit me. That said, his drinking buddy Rokurou has been long gone, as are Eleanor and Magilou, Velvet's soul is sealed away suppressing Innominat, and Maotelus isn't the same as Laphicet, honestly. He reinvented himself. But even so... Maotelus was the answer to curing Eizen. There's only one thing that could have, a possibility I'd entertained earlier: Omega Elixir. Maotelus would surely oblige since it's Eizen, someone he was eternally thankful for.

That's all I did and thought about. Long post for little actual content though! Will play more soon, probably not tonight though. Gotta get a movie in for the other project.

Wordle 489 3/6

CRATE
PRIME
GROVE

Oh yeah - forgot to mention Dezel's spirit blowing his hat off Zaveid's head. A nice little touch. Also didn't mention that Zaveid didn't turn and look when a hot (human) chick walked by behind him. You'd think he'd be checking her out, with the short shorts and legs. I mean... I noticed. She was that noticeable.

Also, with the climax behind me, I thought I'd do a character ranking but most of this cast is just whatever, and my ambivalence toward the lot of them is quite similar. Top 3 are Edna, Alisha, and Lailah, probably in that order (none of them would be in my top 10 Tales characters - meanwhile Abyss has three there). Then probably Zaveid and Dezel. Then Sorry, Mikleo, and Rose. Really, though, this cast is unremarkable, and I legit do not care what happens to any of them. That's the sign of a poorly written game. You'd think when I'm over 80 hours in (I have no idea why it has taken me that long tbh, probably my "leave no stone unturned" philosophy, plus playing on Hard) that I'd care about this cast by now. I just don't.

Sorry is boring, and his design and personality are as "generic JRPG protagonist" as you can get. I don't hate him, but am I going to be able to tell you a thing about him or his backstory in five years? No. This topic may help me recall more details, like him and Mikleo being orphans from a destroyed village. And that - plus the ruins thing which kinda disappeared after we cleared the elemental temples - are the only things tying them together, the only story threads relevant. Mikleo is a good punching bag for Edna and Lailah, but that's the extent of his personality. There's not much there. We don't see many nuances of character. The discussion between our cousins was great and reminded me how that had been missing - you establish characters' personalities through their fun times together, and this game has been devoid of that. This is why I will only remember Mikleo as "punching bag for the jokester and the prankster."

Edna the prankster is an epic troll but has nothing else going for her. Yeah, she's Eizen's sister, but that's about the only backstory we have; we've hardly seen what their relationship is like at this point, and only got those details in Berseria. We don't know how that changed over time, or even how long Eizen's pirating days lasted for. Edna certainly found out eventually, but she's said nothing about what Eizen's like. While she has mad troll skillz, her personality doesn't really have many other fleshed-out facets to it, nor does she have a journey edit where she's still grappling with her brother having turned into a dragon. This is what's missing - a vulnerable side, mostly related to that, and that would've made things a lot more interesting, especially if Eizen's transformation had only happened recently as opposed to years prior.

Lailah the jokester had her previous journey with the last Shepherd, Sorry's father and Mikleo's uncle, but that's the only backstory we got. She's just a typical seraph aside from being the Prime Lord, one who was born after the events of Berseria (unlike Edna and Zaveid), but is still quite advanced in age compared to humans. She has a notorious addiction to puns, wants to find "the perfect curl" or whatever unmemorable crap that was, and seems to be easily roped into things. There's also that stuff about a pact she made that she can't violate, but that was only used as a story device to withhold things from the player until later. It didn't culminate with anything relevant to her.

Zaveid has probably the most memorable story here given his relevance from Berseria, affinity for the ladies, rivalry with Dezel, and general cavalier attitude - but that's not saying much, seeing as how most of the others have virtually no story. Dezel's death was something, but that - alongside his design (it's the hat) - were the only things that stood out about him. His blindness and vengeance against Symone are nothing remarkable, since he was discarded instead of enacting said vengeance in epic fashion. It would have been far superior if he had gotten to kill her by sacrificing himself.

This leaves just Alisha and Rose. You all know which one I prefer here, and it's not just because I love Alisha's design and find Rose's boring. No, it's because Alisha brings out the best in Sorry, and she is a compassionate person even though she's a bit gullible and emotional, despite masking it well. She was duped by Maltran for years and this shows depth and flaws that Rose couldn't hope for. My rant on Rose is above. I don't quite hate her (Emil is probably my most hated), but she is being portrayed infallibly, and thus this is mild disdain. At the very least she got used to the seraphim talking inside her head, but that storyline was left behind and was never given any finality. "Yeah, I just needed to get used to it. Sorry I was rude." This was excluded because it would portray Rose more negatively than her boyfriend wanted, I presume.

Really, the best thing I have to say is some of the character designs. Alisha and Dezel are both great. Edna, Mikleo, and Lailah are also pretty strong here. I'm too straight to enjoy Zaveid's shirtlessness. I find Sorry's design generic, and Rose's boring.

So yeah, quick aside over. Hope to finish this off real soon.

Wordle 488 3/6

CRATE
SINEW
DENIM

We're going to need a new topic in the next day or so. Whoever wants to make it can!

Sorry, was doing something else.

Mewtwo59 posted...

For an advantage called "Knowledge is Power", the people who had it never realized that knowledge is power and the way to completely nullify the advantage. (Well, I'll give Liana some slack because she never meant for Tiffany to find out. Drea and Geo definitely misplayed it, though.)

Liana misplayed it by telling Shan the truth in front of Tiffany. Just say you got an extra vote or something inoffensive, then blast Shan later for running her mouth like that. Liana also made a mistake in betraying Yase for Shan, whose loose lips sunk Liana's ship.

Drea played it well until she suddenly told Omar. Omar then told Mike and then (thankfully) embarrassed Drea, thus ruining Probst's advantage boner and taking an awful human being out of the game. Win-win!

This time it flopped because Geo got cocky and they chose to boot him for having an advantage that they didn't want him having. I hope the Do You Have an Idol Xander advantage flops again in S44, at which point production decides to get rid of it since it's not working.

Inviso posted...

This is a beautiful location, but holy shit this episode is boring as hell.

Sounds like Amazing Race in general. It's gotten stale and redundant. The scenery porn is still great (I saw the ads promoing Petra) but that's about it. The show is hardly entertaining to me at this point.

Mewtwo59 posted...

And the Knowledge is Power advantage flops again

I call it the "Do You Have an Idol, Xander?" advantage, just to mock it. And this time, people know about it, so they can play hot potato with their allies so nobody knows who has it any any given time.

Ugh, an early merge? Why 5-4-4? Just one more Baka TC and it would've been fantastic!

Underleveled posted...

Yeah, Lindsay freaked the fuck out about her own allies. Cassidy is saying "If this move goes south, I'm going home, so let's stick to the safer original plan" and they aren't hearing it.

I hope that was included just to "create doubt" about who was going home because US Survivor loves to confuse viewers for no reason, which in turn softened the hilarity that had been building up. James suggesting Cassidy's name does indeed prove that he's bad at Survivor. Karla should doubt him.

Inviso posted...

Unrelated to tribal, but I HATE Sami. He's so smug and arrogant, and it pisses me off to no end.

If he wins, I'm so done with this show, because he thinks he's the greatest 19 y/o to walk this earth. He's not even an entertaining meathead who you enjoy watching get owned, he's just flat.

This isn't like Lindsay - this is HEALTHY paranoia, not OTTN paranoia!

Mewtwo59 posted...

The fact that his fake story was actually true but he didn't know that would make it even better.

This whole thing is hilarious. Geo and Ryan are so clueless! This is Funny115 material.

And the edit could've done better with making the order less predictable.

Underleveled posted...

Yeah, Ryan with the Drew Christy right there.

I'm a little behind but I literally just thought this (ahead of that point now). Ryan and Geo are so cocky, that it's going to be SO satisfying for this edit to just clown them. It's funnier to make this not a #blindside to the viewers, just to Geo and Ryan.

Not every vote needs to be a surprise to the viewing public. This is an example of why it's better to just edit it as two arrogant guys getting what's coming to them.

tbh I don't see myself as interested in Mafia anymore. It's not healthy for me; I am too stressed out playing. I will still put this Complicated Mafia game together but that will likely be the end of my involvement.

Wordle 487 3/6

Cater
Swirl
Quirk

This is why you go with your gut. Scoredle says that was the only possibility left (the other two are "wut" words), so my second guess was a great one. That said, Scoredle also thinks you should guess double letters on your second word, so it's not perfect.

Rose and Sorry land in Volgran Woods nearby, and are able to move about just fine but go to the old hideout anyway. They lay down and are comatose for three days. They didn't even act tired, but I guess dragon slaying will do that, unless you're Coach. The seraphs wondered when they'd both get up, and they only needed a little bit of sleep. We head over to Lastonbury (yeah, I know it's LastonBELL, but I combine it with its old name, okay?) and Alisha and Lucas are at the gates, with Sorry not realizing that Lucas was her bodyguard. Sergei comes and negotiates a temporary truce with Alisha, saying she'll get an audience with the emperor... all the while Lucas just imbibes. Since Sorry, for whatever reason, says he's not going with Alisha (what else does he have to do right now? The Empyrean's Throne can wait), I get a potential romantic implication between Alisha and Sergei, a sort of "Hey, Hyland's princess married a general from Rolance! PEACE!" kind of thing. It's the type of political marriage that can actually reap benefits, or at least get the dominoes falling.

There's this fantastic sequence at night told by narration from Rose and Lailah up by the bell, with them kibitzing as they talk about what Zaveid and Edna are talking about, though they're kind of wrong. Zaveid is chasing dreams and flirting, and it's not going well. They also talk about Sorry and Mikleo, who go from talking about there being as many stars as there are emotions, and romanticism... until Sorry changes the subject about closing his senses. Apparently, he's willing to go into a coma so Maotelus can inhabit him and something something ALL HUMANS WILL HAVE GREATER RESONANCE something something. I guess that makes sense...? Maybe...? I don't quite know how one Shepherd's body would accomplish that, but it WOULD help end the daemonblight and allow for human-seraphim cooperation, especially to stamp out the very evil people of the world, some of whom have already met their ends at our hands, like Cardinal Forton, Maltran, and Lunarre.

Really, this sequence is fantastically written and told - the camera work is great too, and it's nice that the romanticism comments pay off with Sorry being called a romantic before everyone calls him an idiot for wanting to give himself up. WHY HAVEN'T WE HAD MORE OF THIS? This feels like a lot more casual chatter, something that's been heavily missing from this game. All the skits - there haven't been that many, and they're at either inns or save points for some inane reason (instead of being easily accessible at any time). I think this stupid mechanic severely restricted the amount of skits, and most of those that we get are business-related, even if at times they devolve into Edna and Lailah trolling Mikleo. Sure, there's stuff about the Beef Bourguignon and such, but that's quite rare. This scene felt very casual and made the party feel more like friends who understand one another. Berseria was much better in this regard, with Magilou's antics and Rokurou's subtle trolling devolving many a skit, plus things like Magilou's failed career as a stand-up comic and all the Bienfu abuse.

Sorry decides to leave Lastonbury in the middle of the night so he can remember the night under the stars forever. Because he's a romantic, of course. I am spawned outside town and I can't go back in because I can't. And all the sidequest dialogues are finally available with Rose and some of them are in Rolance (Code Red IDs, Mayvin's Grave), and I can't quite get there because the shortcut TO Rolance is through the woods, so... welp. There's one I can take care of quickly: The Medusa sisters. They're back in their hole in the wall village, the one with their family name. There's two of them, but I'm stronger and they aren't, so I don't have much of a problem. It takes me two tries since I got an insanely unlucky break shortly before killing one of them in my first go - that and I had forgotten how to react quickly enough, but I get the gist again fast and purify the crap out of them. I end for the night on a skit about choosing the path of light or darkness - it's a choice since we have free will, and all three sisters chose darkness because of an epidemic of a sleeping sickness that wiped out the rest of the village about 20 years ago. Apparently the soldiers - a patrol of both Hyland and Rolance goons - found records of Forton Village in such a short amount of time. Wow!

But yeah, as you can see, tonight had some very high highs, but also some lows. The up-and-down nature of all this makes me understand why people think it was a disaster. How can it so quickly switch between shoddy writing and good writing? How are there so many things to complain about even when I'm enjoying it? Why are there so many stretches where I'm NOT enjoying it? Here, I had:

• The Lunarre sequence, which I hated
• The battle in Glaveid Basin, which I loved
• The aftermath of the battle, which was eh
• The Lastonbury sequences, which started okay but got great later
• Some stupid BS after that too

This feels like a rush job, with more effort focused on certain aspects than others, and that's probably why the first half of the game was mostly pretty dull. The payoff here is great, but there's still major holes in the writing that make me think nobody went over this to revise details and ask questions about why stupid things are stupid. Including Sorry.

I'm definitely close to endgame and I'm looking forward to laying this one to rest. More coming soon!

Strap in on the roller-coaster, peoples! It's going to be a bumpy ride~

I get to Loegres and hear whispers of a local Robin Hood ripping off from the rich and throwing money into the street. The only piece of evidence is a note that essentially amounts to "ATTN: Lunarre; Love, Boss." Yup, it's Rose's handiwork, all right. I go to the inn and stay the night, then overhear a conversation between Lunarre and a noble who's hired him as a hitman. Apparently, three of the five Scattered Bones members are to be executed come morning, and Rose is still at large trying to free them (as is the one who got away to warn her of what had happened). Lunarre runs out when the client says it's none of his business where the boss lady went off to and since he worked with her, he can find her.

I find Rose on the stage. She's fighting Lunarre. I relieve her, and she goes to release her brethren from their bindings. So, uh, they were left hung out to dry overnight like that? They're not being held in a jail cell over by Sergei's garrison? Was there even a guard here? Did Lunarre kill a pair of them? I'm sorry, but this is some really weird math here. I beat the shit out of Lunarre, with Rose eventually joining in the fracas after she frees Eguille and the others. Never really cared to learn all their names. The one who got away shows up to help his sister, too, and Rose stabs Lunarre in the chest after he refuses to accept purification. He bursts into flames for no reason, singing about how the sentiment of Rose's "fake family" relationships really kills him. Literally so.

Rose says she'll take care of things, but I'm most astonished that she and her Sparrowfeathers just fly away when they were, y'know, scheduled to be hung in the morning. Nobody comes to be like "lol, no, and you're ALL being hung now." They just up and leave like they never did anything, when Rose had murdered Cardinal Forton - more on her later - and now was ripping off of nobles who were footing the bill for the Rolance army, because they had a stake in it or something. Politicians, basically. And she just got away with all of this with on consequences. Personally, I don't quite see what's wrong with her doing what she did, seeing as that was money being used for war, and instead she could help feed some people who were struggling. It was for the good of the populace. Her logic is sound and her motives are pure. There's no problem with those.

There IS, however, a problem with how Rose ALWAYS has sound logic and pure motives. It's like if a job interviewer asked you "Tell me about a time you made a mistake." - they're really looking for 1) that you take responsibility for your humanity, 2) that you don't dwell on anyone else's mistakes much, and 3) that you learned a lesson and rectified things going forward. If you say "I don't make mistakes" you're instantly unhireable because of how you lack self-awareness and/or are a cocky SOB. Rose has both self-awareness and isn't overly cocky, and yet... she could legit answer that she doesn't make mistakes. Which, in turn, would not get her a job. This is a problem, because she's literally too perfect; there's no character flaw that makes her relatable. There's nothing she ever does that is wrong, and that in turn makes her a boring character and a Mary Sue. I hate those. Back when I wrote an epic Pokemon fanfic (never finished that), the protagonist was kinda like that at first but there WAS going to be misfortune and there WERE going to be mistakes, they just weren't going to happen until later and that was my mistake. I need to establish character flaws early and ensure that someone isn't perfect. Rose did not get this treatment. This is amateur writing. She always does what's right for the most people. She always just walks away as if she's a saint. Though I've heard people call her a hypocrite, I haven't quite seen that myself - she only killed Cardinal Forton because of how many people were suffering at her hands.

I leave town, Rose in tow, and Symone appears out of nowhere to taunt me, saying "Battle of the century. Glaveid Basin. What kind of Shepherd are you, missing out on the action?" I get to the battlefield in a hurry and am actually able to enter it now. There's just one problem: Somebody forgot to put the BEWARE OF THE DARGON sign out. Typo included! Seems like Maotelus spawn is murdering soldiers faster than they can murder each other, in part due to Godzilla being eight hundred times their size. And, uh, everyone's panicking, retreating, and nobody knows whose side they're on anymore, just that this overgrown lizard is killing people at an alarming rate.

After taking out some daemon soldiers, I encounter a Toitolez and fill up on Life Bottles and the goods. This is a frustratingly long battle, but with epic choreography strewn in between. Even more frustrating is that, after the first part, it suddenly heals back to full health just because there was a cutscene, as if that part didn't count, and my 152 hit streak isn't counted at the end (though I DID get a new battle action so I presume it did stick). Alisha and Sergei make a quick truce on the sidelines. Lucas, the mercenary from the start of the game who I haven't seen in a significantly long time, is serving in the Hyland Army still, and he rallies the troops. They start firing arrows at the big scaly thing in the way. And this makes the second half of the fight a whole lot easier, because his spellcasting is frequently interrupted by arrows and this lets me finally get Mystic Artes off, which I had been locked out of before that for whatever reason. This leads to an epically satisfying ascent, where Sorry and Rose take the dragon to the skies and purify him into the clouds, killing the seraph in the process. This is awesome, even though the AMV felt like there was a lot of dilly-dallying. This really is a satisfying conclusion to all the tension between Hyland and Rolance; the buildup was well-executed.

GavsEvans123 posted...

For me, the earlier executions and rehearsals helped demonstrate how Paul and the other guards were able to desensitise to an extent by making the process into an almost mundane routine

Which could've been more effective had it been truncated, honestly, like it's nothing to them. Drawing it out made it feel less routine, since they had to rehearse and all.

Of course, we also get to see why the rehearsals are so important, because things get really ugly really fast when they aren't spot on.

This is also why I don't like the idea of an electric chair execution. It's too elaborate. And too cruel of a way to go. The guillotine may be a violent instrument but the reason it was created was to deliver a swift and painless end to anyone condemned to it. The only reason people went away from it was the violence.

May get another in tonight, but gonna play a little Zestiria first.

Could also be first boot Abraham.

Wordle 486 4/6

React
Smelt
Onset
Exist

The Green Mile (1999)
Directed by: Frank Darabont
Written by: Stephen King; adapted by Frank Darabont
Starring: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt
Previous status: Never seen

"John Coffey. Like the drink, only not spelled the same."
"What happens on the Mile, STAYS on the Mile."

This was a longie. A bit TOO long tbh. But the length is really the only knock I have toward this movie - there were some scenes that could've been trimmed out, and I'd think the overall product would be even stronger. Now, worth noting that I'm not ordinarily a horror fan, so the Stephen King things I like are those that are less gory or scary, such as this. The movie made me want to read the book.

It starts with a very retired Paul Edgecomb in a nursing home getting sentimental about an old movie, sentimental in ways that deeply affect him (certainly more than the hilarious Jerry Springer clip - that show is only enjoyable if you take it as parody of the talk show genre). He tells the story of working on death row, and how an inmate named John Coffey changed his life back in the Depression.

Now, it's immediately apparent that John Coffey is innocent. Like this guy is huge, and he's very much black so racists, particularly in places like Louisiana in the 30s, immediately think he's a thug. This is obviously one of the things Stephen King was commenting on, alongside the death penalty - which imho is only acceptable for extreme individuals proven guilty by DNA evidence (which did not exist back when this movie is set) and when carried out swiftly in a simple, painless manner (none of this "waiting 20 years" crap). The electric chair here is too elaborate and painful, and can certainly go wrong as... one idiot certainly proved.

That idiot, Percy, is a very different kind of villain. He doesn't fit the archetype of most villains. He's spoiled and sadistic, yet has connections so he thinks he can get away with whatever his impulses lead him to do; he's essentially an amalgamation of several villain archetypes. He murders the poor mascot Mr. Jingles, only for John to revive the little mouse. This is when it becomes apparent to everyone, as Paul already knew from having his bladder healed (which led to lots of fucking with his wife - zesty!), that Mr. Coffey was something special... and probably someone innocent. And it turns out he was: Billy did it. The same Billy who got hosed for pissing Harry off. John found the two girls and was sorry that he was too late to heal them. That was the only reason he was there! He was condemned for helping because he was black. And the public defender was certainly a racist too, as he compared Negroes (the term he used) to dogs. Like... wut?

Percy wants to watch someone fry, so poor Del, Mr. Jingles' master, has an agonizing death since he neglected to wet the sponge, then played dumb. The punishment was delayed; he got gagged and thrown in solitary, the same place Billy had been, while the guys smuggled the big man out to heal the warden's wife from a brain tumor. This entire sequence is wonderful. When they get back, John regurgitates the tumor into Percy's head, leading Percy to lose his mind and shoot Billy multiple times in the chest for making some homosexual remark. This is absolutely delicious. Both of them got theirs good, and John is relishing in it. After this, Percy's request to transfer to an insane asylum is granted... as a patient. OH HOW I LOVE THAT KIND OF IRONY!

The ending was just... brutal. Well, not the character Brutal (Paul's right hand enforcer), just... brutal. Coffey got to watch the movie that had made the elderly Paul lose it. And then he was taken to his execution, with the parents of the two girls who'd been killed wanting to take it out on him, not knowing the truth, NEVER knowing the truth. Paul shakes Coffey's hand... and unwittingly gets pseudo-immortality. Back in the present, Paul reveals that he's been caring for Mr. Jingles, who's somehow still alive after 60 years, and that's because John gave him a gift of eternal life too. Now, Paul has seen Highlander before, and probably knows the lyrics to "Who Wants to Live Forever?" and believes them. He thinks this is more a curse than anything, since he's 108 y/o and doesn't have any family left. He gets to see everyone he cares about die before him, just for working on death row and allowing John Coffey to die. That said, I don't know if there was a way out of it back then. Appeals were less sophisticated, and a pardon probably wasn't going to happen since the governor was married to Percy's aunt. This event caused Paul and Brutal to both put in their two weeks' notice. They couldn't do this anymore, not after they'd been touched by such a guy, a guy who never deserved to die.

Tom Hanks played Paul Edgecomb perfectly, just as Stephen King had thought he would (he was King's choice, apparently). Michael Clarke Duncan was fantastic as John Coffey, playing the emotions well and making him appear as a very intimidating guy simultaneous with the "gentle giant" he actually is. This is the kind of complexity I like in characters, and it's awesome when actors are able to pull it off (my previous familiarity with Duncan is limited to Benjamin Motherfucking King in Saints Row, as well as Brother Bear [he also was in Armageddon but I haven't seen any part of that in forever]). I also have to mention the direction of the scene where Coffey "coughs" the brain tumor into Percy - that entire thing was fantastic. And the ending was touching and meaningful. Really, the only people who deserve no mercy are those who showed no mercy to their own victims - and are proven innocent beyond ANY doubt. John Coffey was the antithesis of this, and it's sad that this was basically a very real story, with similar biases seen in To Kill a Mockingbird (which everyone over 18 y/o in the US has read).

Really, my only issue is the movie's length. They spent too much time on redundant executions and rehearsals for them, and could have easily truncated the first guy's execution significantly to speed up the reveal of John Coffey's powers, which happens an hour into the movie. That's a bit too late to get the plot really moving. Really, if this were 15-20 minutes shorter, with more scenes toward the front cut down, this would've potentially been a gold. It's still a 5/5, but it's not a movie I see myself watching often simply because of how long it is. @GavsEvans123, you get another nomination; @Johnbobb , I've reverted yours to Brokeback Mountain, so you're back at 5 finally!

Underleveled posted...

Were still in the doldrums of this list and almost halfway through the BB24 cast, and if that doesnt tell you how bad that cast was, then Terrance ranking 10th from it ought to.

Didn't BB24 have a great cast? It had people to root for (Taylor, Joseph), people to despise (Daniel, Nicole, later Michael), people who frustrated you (Terrance), people who were interesting... from everything I read, it reminded me of BB15. There were a bunch of assholes giving each other comeuppances. And then someone who's not an asshole won. Though Andy Herren is a weasel, sure, but I don't think he's a mean-spirited person like many of his castmates. Taylor is a much, MUCH more satisfying winner.

BB24 has the kind of cast I like to see. Drama, betrayal, power moves, people to love to hate, interesting personalities... I really should watch through it but I don't have time.

Wordle 485 4/6

Cater
Spent
Steno (whoops)
Stein

Should have gotten it in 3 but I'm just waking up and not thinking straight today.

Okay, played some more last night and this morning.

The game won't let me warp to Elysia like it says I'm supposed to, because it's dumb. At the Camelot Bridge, I hear rumors about a war brewing, and some greedy merchants start plotting at how they can profit from it. That's how corporate executives operate and always have, even before they wore stiff suits and designer slacks. Immediately, the plan becomes "let's stop this from happening" because this is a JRPG, and stopping wars is a thing. Also Toitolez vs. Katz is a thing but I can't figure anything out there at the moment, I got 99 problems and a puss ain't one.

We go to Glaveind Basin and Rolance reports a skirmish with some casualties, and Sorry is shocked at how such numbers are "low." Must be nice, being so sheltered. We agree we need to find a way to get this stopped, so we go back into Volgran Forest and... Rose's right-hand man is there,clutching his chest. Turns out their cover was blown by that foxy snitch Lunarre, who took a good sum of profit from telling Rolance that the Sparrowfeathers and Scattered Bones were one and the same, and also informed them that they were paid by a high-ranking Hyland government official to murder Cardinal Forton. That part was, of course, a lie, but Rolance has been stamping out Rose's crew and he comes to tell us that. Rose takes his tip and goes off to Loegres to kill some fuckers, and we're left with a "choice" of three options:

1. Find Alisha and get her help in calling off the Hyland advance
2. Find Sergei and get his help in calling off the Rolance advance
3. Go help Rose

I choose this order specifically, mostly because I want to see Alisha again since it's been a while.

Alisha isn't at the Hyland camp yet - Maltran says her little pawn is supposed to bring the order to attack, and if she doesn't, she'll be imprisoned as a traitor, and that it's quite brilliant of Chancellor Fartlow. That guy hasn't been present AT ALL since the early scenes for whatever reason, which is bad, but whatever. I go to Ladylake and Alisha is at her manor, refusing to budge so as to stand up for her ideals. Edna doesn't hesitate to drop the bombshell: Maltran is a daemon and has been using her the whole time. Alisha, of course, doesn't believe this, but once we're set upon by some Hyland thugs who have been hellionized, she starts to see the truth and wants to talk to Maltran herself. Also Lailah just magically reactivated her Squire's Pact like you can just do that. Okay then.

With Alisha in tow, we go back to Maltran, who cackles about the truth and leads us into the Bors Ruins. She's been the ones pulling Hyland's strings for her master, Heldalf, and helped incite the war. She also talks smack about Alisha serving two purposes: One was her goody-two-shoes attitude to keep Fartlow in line or something to that effect. The other is... right now. I presume it's to be a martyr to rally the troops (Mikleo later theorizes it's also to turn Sorry into a daemon, having seen his girlfriend die). We beat the crap out of her in quite the slugfest, with Alisha's resolve standing up for herself. She still refuses to believe that Maltran outright works for the Big Bad and asks her to stop being a willing pawn, but Maltran doesn't want any of that bullshit. The thing she hates the most about Alisha is how soft she is, that she still believes there's good in people. Maltran then impales herself on Alisha's spear and bleeds to death (the "blood" is her excess malevolence). Alisha is in shock. After staring into space, jaw agape, for a while, she runs away crying.

Sorry chases after her and comforts her, saying that said softness and naivete is part of why Alisha's awesome, and what it REALLY means to be a knight is preventing the war like she wants to do. Maltran may have been blowing smoke with the "kindness makes a good knight" comment, but that had impact on Alisha and has gotten her to push the envelope in that direction. She goes off to call off the dogs and the seraphs all know that Sorry's being a good boyfriend - it's also one of the few times I've seen him show likable personality instead of being horrifically flat. Alisha really brings out the better side of him, which is a stark contrast to Rose. I am quite happy that she was in the party again for a spell. It was a nice change of pace. She leaves just as quickly, going to try to get Fartlow to call off the troops.

With the Hyland side being tended to, we need to go do the same for Rolance. Heading to Lastonbury, we find Sergei in front of the Sanctuary, where Sorry had the duel with him earlier. He has his hands full with angry locals who accuse him of being lazy and not a true knight since he's not willing to give his life for his country. They don't seem to understand that it has to be within reason, and instead treat wars like sports teams. I... honestly can see where the tribalism of sports teams comes from - it's stuff like this. It's quite the resemblance, honestly. Sergei takes us outside to talk but finds the 9 y/o boy who'd been giving him grief getting set upon by three daemon Hyland knights, and goes to confront them. We're about to help but are told to stay out of it... by Symone? I thought she was dead! How'd she come back to life...?

Symone toys with us and masquerades as Sergei, and since it's just two in the party right now since Sorry can only be tethered to one seraph at a time and for some dumb reason that precludes any others from fighting unless another human is in the party, it's not an easy fight. But like with Maltran, I win it in one go, whittling away at Symone and her skeleton sorcerers one at a time until they burn to a crisp. I was thinking that Symone was going to admit that Sergei never existed and she was masquerading as him the entire time to lead us on and manipulate Rolance into the war, given the "JRPG equivalent of Chernobyl" comments I'd heard, but thankfully there wasn't such a nonsensical retcon. She taunts Sorry after having the snot beaten out of her and just talks about la la la goody-two-shoes crap that's really just brim and bluster. When we go to impale her, she dissipates, taking her domain with her. The real Sergei's fine but two of his men aren't, nor are any of the Hyland soldiers. The twerp said he wanted to die happy by killing at least one Hylander, and is reminded that Hyland's soldiers are people too, and that we shouldn't blindly rush into conflict if we can avoid it. The citizens thank Sergei for saving the boy like a knight's supposed to and put their trust in him. Sergei is shocked that he's not overrun with malevolence but that's because Hideo Baba didn't want him to be, and thought of justification as to why being his convictions. It's so inconsistent.

None of this was quite as bad as I was anticipating. But I have a feeling I've saved the biggest writing disaster for last, especially with what I've heard about Rose's hypocrisy. This is probably when that rears its ugly head. I haven't noticed anything hypocritical - she condemned Cardinal Forton for her self-righteousness causing endless amounts of people to suffer, not just for her idealism. Rose hasn't yet caused anyone to suffer. YET. Big difference between partisan condemnation for having disagreeing ideals (a la political tribalism) and accusing someone of having ideals that leads to the suffering of many, i.e. through that eternal rain.

Anyway, I stop there for now. Can't say I'm looking forward to this next part.

Wordle 484 3/6

Crate
Shape
Spade

Wordle 483 4/6

Trace
Watch
Blimp
Catch

I expect people in certain places to blame Wordle for their streak ending again, just like last time there was a word just like this. That's why I did a throwaway to cover all possible answers, leaving me with the one. I only self-impose hard mode when it's more fun that way, and this isn't one of those times.