Lurker > Lightning Strikes

This is going to sound ridiculous, but if you have a Wii U try to get that version, because they made a lot of improvements.

I love the original Deus Ex but it is incredibly inaccessible.

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Dont worry weve got like four big RPGs and open world games back to back now so thatll be a bit more consistent!

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The Aphrodite scene was originally supposed to end with her pulling a knife and trying to kill you. Im kind of glad we didnt get that, but whats left is still embarrassing.

Glad this topic is back!

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I like the Stormblood maps so far. Much easier to navigate than the Heavensward maps and I like the visual design. I dont mind the empty space that much because you move so quickly its not too bad.

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Man it took me ages to queue for Susano.

Cool fight though!

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3.3 is incredible. Also 3.4 and 3.5 are interesting as though they do clearly set up Stormblood, they tell a self-contained story thats not like 2.4 and 2.5 which is basically just starting the Heavensward story early. I would say 3.4 and 3.5 are nearly as good.

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This is the nice thing about the Relic Weapon quest actually, as it forces you to use materia so you get into the habit of it.

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As far as I understand it, somebody reported 3 groups on Party Finder to a GM for advertising openly erotic RP, and also real money trading. The GM then proceeded to issue strikes (which are permanent) to EVERY person using Party Finder for RP venues regardless of content, and one guy who just wanted a fishing buddy. Meanwhile the real money stuff was entirely untouched because it was out of their power apparently. So the community is up in arms and has been protesting.

Apparently the rogue GM in question has been reported and is under review.

Edit: Well that was late, but hey there's some additional information here.

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Well thats embarrassing. Ill keep a close eye on this one haha

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There is a quest to get one at the start of Stormblood hence why I figured, but looking it up it seems that there is one in Heavensward too... ...did I just lose mine somehow?

Forget what I said me big dum

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I will say that as far as I can tell, the thing that everybody agrees on is that there are/were a fleet of gameplay improvements and the content is great, its the story that people seem to be divided over. Stormblood actually reviewed slightly better than Heavensward when it came out.

One such gameplay improvement you dont see until starting the Stormblood content that I love (spoilered for LtM and others I suppose): Aether compass, so helpful after having trouble with the currents in parts of Heavensward.

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I got stuck in to Stormblood last night, and Im curious about when the story gets bad because it seems really interesting so far!

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I would definitely say better. It also feels like a part of the main Heavensward story, not just table-setting.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

I may be rembering wrong, but when Austin Walker was playing this on Waypoints I seem to recall everyone saying he would love it once he got to Stormblood, but I don't think that ended up panning out. Other than that, yeah that seems to be the vibe.

I thought he did get into it exactly then. Tbh just from the set up I can see why.

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The Bahamut content may be the best content of any kind in the first two expansions which is why it being so inaccessible is so criminal lol.

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I actually missed that one until seeing it in game, great stuff. That said, I did have one thing that is still upcoming for me spoiled by looking at an actors credits, not even one known for games.

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Now that you are in the MMO hole, the 8-man and 24-man endgame content are the raids, the regular 4-man content are dungeons. I actually think the raids are better in ARR, but the dungeons are better in HW.

Anyway, just finished Heavensward. Took a long break after I did 2.3 last year and started again a few days ago with Endwalker hype and wanting to finish it before LtM overtakes me haha.

Anyway, the story content in the Heavensward patches is real good! Just felt I should say that.

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That was from a misinterpretation of a Kevin Feige quote saying it was six hours long in total. Counting credits, we are at the four hour mark. Allowing for rounding it could be as little as just over an hour and a half left, so could be two 45 minute episodes, or a 40-50 minute episode and an hour long finale, and the statement would still be accurate.

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Jakyl25 posted...

Capitalism rules!

Someone in this very topic series called price freezes communism!

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I think the fact that the twist was guessed beforehand is what makes the execution of the twist important, but they absolutely nailed it and its a fantastic scene and reveal. If they had just ended it at her revealing herself, that might be underwhelming, but the song and Hahns performance really elevate it and add to the impact, and they layer in the additional reveals that she is why Herb was acting weird, was faking when talking to Vision, and killed Sparky.

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This was a great episode, wow. What a way to deliver a plot twist.

On the subject of Agatha, my guess is that she has lost children in the past and is manipulating Wanda to try and bring them back. This would explain for the children, why she killed Sparky (to goad Wanda into bringing him back to life), the various weirdness regarding the twins and so on.

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More good news re: Uber...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/19/uber-drivers-workers-uk-supreme-court-rules-rights

Looks like Uber drivers and similar being classed as workers is becoming a trend. Really goes to show how badly California messed up. Especially when you consider that unlike these other countries there it also affects healthcare. Just disgusting.

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Thor was the first good Thor movie.

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I can say with some confidence that there are many generally speaking who have Endgame at number one, I just dont know about this list!

It sounds like it actually is GotG2 next, though Thor Ragnarok wouldnt shock me.

Also:

Cybat
I know Joss Whedons cachet is a little diminished these days

This aged just magnificently.

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Yeah Helios ties into Chains of Olympus, the first PSP game as well, it is kind of strange how much that one ties in as it seems like a side game on a different system, then later they released Ascension which was nominally a full console release but had nothing to do with anything. And that's not even getting to the Java phone game that was even more of a side thing.

It's also interesting that Chains of Olympus is the first in the series to use non-Greek mythology as the first area concerns itself with some Persian folklore, which is kind of cool.

Also when you're done, I recommend looking up David Jaffe's original GoWIII pitch because it's crazy, though certainly would have precluded the 2018 game if it happened!

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Cool.

Followed by "Better than Rex".

Nominate Donkey Kong Country 2 Soundtrack

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Mac Arrowny posted...

The big tweak with TP HD was shortening the tutorial, right? Getting rid of all the extra helpful tips in SS would be nice.

Hopefully they make the tadpole section better somehow too.

Also shortening the divine tears sections. They tightened the pacing in both previous HD versions so Im sure theyll do it here too.

Of course both WWHD and TPHD had complete visual overhauls as well and so far Skyward Sword HD just looks like Skyward Sword.

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Dragonair posted...

I don't know who this catgirl is, but both welsh and scottish are celtic languages last I checked

They are but at the distant ends of the tree, Scottish is Gaelic and Welsh is Brittonic, they are very different despite a shared origin. Its like comparing Portuguese to Romanian. By contrast Scottish and Irish are very similar.

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Also the Catgirl is Welsh, not Scottish, and the notion of not being able to tell two drastically distinct accents which are literally descended from different languages apart yet then rendering a judgment on the voice acting is really silly!

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2 has a great dub. It also has some obvious duff reads left early in the game that are all most people who just tried it briefly hear. But on the while the English voice acting is very strong and shouldnt be written off for that reason.

Also the hentai artist only did some blades! There were a load of guest artists. Nomura did some major ones for instance.

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DeepsPraw posted...

august isn't first half of 2021, nintendo

Like I said, focusing.

Aldo amazing that theres still 30 minutes left. Also, A LOT of people are watching this, 1.3 million on the main youtube stream alone. This is basically January E3.

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Sora is absolutely a character who would be perfect for Smash, but remember, he is a Disney property. I would say it is quite unlikely given how protective they are.

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Zigzagoon posted...

People now thinking GotG2 wins even though there's clearly a group of people who don't have it high lol

Just to be clear, I was joking, it's just done muuuuch better than A) my personal expectations and B) literally every other aggregate ranking of these films I have ever seen. I don't think I've seen it get into the top 10 before let alone potentially top 5.

Anyway:
4- Captain America: Civil War
5 - ???
6- Black Panther
7 - ???
8 - Doctor Strange
9 - Spider-Man: Homecoming
10 - ???
11 - Spider-Man: Far From Home
12 - Iron Man 3
13 - Captain America: The First Avenger
14 - Iron Man
15 - Ant-Man
16 - Ant-Man and the Wasp
17 - Thor
18 - ???
19 - Captain Marvel
20 - Avengers: Age of Ultron
21 - Iron Man 2
22 - Thor: The Dark World
23 - The Incredible Hulk

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Anyway, I do not buy the notion that Civil Wad is cold or cynical one bit. What actually stood out to me is how much it avoids just bring a cynical cash grab where heroes punch each other and upcoming films are advertised (whereas say Age of Ultron would fall into this), because the whole thing is grounded in the feelings of the characters and the emotional consequences of their actions up to this point. It is very concerned with who the heroes are as people. Like in Age of Ultron, the smashy crashy superhero action largely left me cold, but thats also not why most people come to these movies, and this film seemed to understand that while Age of Ultron didnt. Its also why its better than The Winter Soldier, because The Winter Soldier is magnificent for most of its runtime then remembers that it needs to have a huge action climax where a thing falls over a city, while Civil War keeps its climax about the characters and the conflicts between them.

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Civil War too low. Sounds like Avengers 1 is coming up.

Congratulations to GotG2, Board 8's favourite MCU movie and possibly film of all time.

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Yep, Persephone is the main villain and final boss of the first PSP game. There was a second one that used the original planned GoWII plot. They also got bundled together on PS3. They were really impressive for PSP games but likely dont hold up outside it.

I am interested in the discussions that will be had when you get to GoW2018 regarding the characterisation of Kratos.

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Yeah just to be clear I dont think there was necessarily any realistic expectation in Whedons part. Its just extremely abusive.

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banananor posted...

oh it's a metoo thing. oh well, i don't really feel anything about it

Its adjacent to that, but not really the same thing. Effectively he is accused of being an abusive boss guilty of actively creating toxic work environments and severe workplace bullying, right up to asking that a pregnant actress have an abortion so she can keep working the same hours, then firing her when she wouldnt. All of this has been corroborated. This is also attached to both sexist behaviour on his own account (see above) and perpetuating Hollywood as a sexist industry despite styling himself as a feminist and railing against sexism in the entertainment industry in particular, so he is guilty of hypocrisy.

I think that angle is in part why its gotten so much traction. For instance, David O. Russell is known to be deeply abusive and a terrible bully but nobody really cares. With Whedon its a bigger shock for a lot of people. He was heralded as a hero, but in reality hes a dick.

Anyway, I like most of his work (basically everything but Age of Ultron, which is okay I guess) and even though he is bad, that hasnt changed because in every single case they were huge collaborations that were so much bigger than one individual. And in many cases he is frankly overvalued - Cabin in the Woods for instance is very much Drew Goddards film, Whedon only co-wrote it. I think it would be better if we stopped thinking of individuals as auteurs both in terms of crediting the many other people involved for their hard work, and maybe reducing the egos of those at the top.

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masterplum posted...

And its been 80 here in central florida. Weather is weird

Thats not weird at all given that its a thousand miles away!

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I wouldnt think too much on the whole first half of 2021 thing, as they said focusing on, which usually means some stuff from outside that window.

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CoolCly posted...

There's no way GOTG2 is top 4, the number of predictions of it dropping low means there's a lot of low rankings for it to average it down. it must be 7th. IT MUST.

But what if like 20 people have it in their top 5 and all go Im probably the only person who has it this high?

Anyway, heres my top 8 predix:

114 Guardians of the Galaxy
183 Avengers Endgame
183 Avengers Infinity War
197 Captain America: The Winter Soldier
233 The Avengers
256 Captain America: Civil War
258 Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2
297 Thor Ragnarok

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Lmao

Cant wait to find out why people love GotG2 so much.

The hint screams Civil War so much that I think Inviso may be being cheeky and its actually Thor Ragnarok or The Avengers. And with the two above it so close, its entirely possible that GotG2 is above ANOTHER one of those movies!

Also GotG1 wins.

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CasanovaZelos posted...

Everything else, I see some negatives (though I'll never understand the weird backlash against Black Panther) to hold them back.

I mean setting aside the racists, the backlash is basically just due to the extreme critical and awards love that Black Panther got. It does have some technical issues and some ropey elements in its third act (incidentally so does The Winter Soldier), which means that people can get distracted by that against the backdrop of that praise. In reality however, its not that Black Panther is overrated in terms of reviews and awards. Its that a lot of the other best superhero movies have been underrated in this regard.

red13n posted...

I don't see Guardians winning with how many people have been predicting 2 to fall since like second to last place.

In terms of ranking for me, the gap between GotG1 and GotG2 is easily the biggest for a film and its sequel, though I think The Avengers going into Age of Ultron is a bigger overall drop in quality. GotG1 is just that good.

Mr Lasastryke posted...

uh, how? iron man is loaded with the kind of quippy humor that became the trademark of the MCU.

Because it came first, and thats just it.

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I might expect Black Panther to go before Civil War, or even The Avengers.

This is the company GOTG2 is keeping! What happened?

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Wat

GOTG2s run is truly bizarre. And if Id submitted it would have presumably gone out before both Spider-Men!

8 - Doctor Strange
9 - Spider-Man: Homecoming
10 - ???
11 - Spider-Man: Far From Home
12 - Iron Man 3
13 - Captain America: The First Avenger
14 - Iron Man
15 - Ant-Man
16 - Ant-Man and the Wasp
17 - Thor
18 - ???
19 - Captain Marvel
20 - Avengers: Age of Ultron
21 - Iron Man 2
22 - Thor: The Dark World
23 - The Incredible Hulk

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The Boss. Liquid Ocelot is a bad fight. Its not even the best fanservice fight in MGS4!

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I can see them bundling together the two HD Zeldas this year. Though honestly Id rather see Skyward Sword get the same treatment.

Xenoblade Chronicles X feels like it will happen, maybe alongside a sequel? That or an expansion like Xenoblade 1, Pikmin 3 or SM3DW. It feels like its been too long for just an up-ressed port with a few new features, especially since there wasnt DLC.

After that theyre basically done beyond maybe a few eshop games. The rest were designed around the Wii U in a way that would make porting difficult.

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Apparently the film was always supposed to be 4:3 for imax reasons.

...But I hope it ends up being like A Ghost Story.

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I mean of the two films from that era that were obviously two films stapled together at the last minute with terrible editing, Id rather watch Justice League than Bohemian Rhapsody.

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Wow he said we live in a society.

The original Justice League was the definition of serviceable mediocrity. This looks more interesting by far, even if its really bad.

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