Tirranek

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Posts posted by Tirranek

  3. Posted

    I don't know if this is just symptomatic of binge watching stuff these days, but this show has been really interesting with how it plays on expectations week by week. If often feels like the response to an episode directly informs the next. This isn't just in terms of plot points, but also reactions to certain characters and scenes. Doris's nagging and Hawke's heritage come to mind. They sit uncomfortably for about a week or two, then they're revealed to not be what we expected.

     

     

  5. Posted

    Really enjoyed this episode! Some things I jotted down while watching:

     

    - The 'speed' of this episode felt much more like a normal TV show. Dialogue seemed more natural, despite the situations being absurd.

     

    - Going to school theme. I think Cooper was crying because he saw how miserable Sonny was. Cooper getting out of the car for work seemed to evoke this feeling as well.

     

    - 'Damn good Joe'. More teasing.

     

    - Ridiculous car explosion. Everyone was too close to the blast. It was cut really choppily. Very funny.

     

    - Truman's wife is a condensed cliche, like the recurring Hill Street Blues "Hello Fay." moments, which Mark Frost wrote.

     

    - Setting up a new Laura Palmer, smiling upward in a similar way to the end of FWWM.

     

    - Jacoby was like someont straight ouf of Bioshock Infinite. Laughed out loud at the shit-digging shovel.

     

    - Taking the "Oh, this rebel bad boy is kind of charming." trope and killing it. That part shocked me, and then I felt stupid for being lulled into it.

     

    - Tammy looks like she's floating in water.

     

    - Lastly, it's interesting to have this meet or defy expectations over a longer period of time. It's different from his films where those questions are contained in a couple of hours, and everyone discusses the whole thing afterwards.

     

    Sorry for the choppy notes! Overall I really enjoyed this episode. It's one of my favourites so far.

     

     

  8. Posted

    Dishonored - Really enjoyed it. Tried to not game the systems to much and just went with what felt natural. Ended up being a very nice hybrid of stealth and action.

    XCom - Great game. I've only played one so far where I ended up losing horribly, but that made it no less enjoyable.

    Bioshock Infinite: Beautiful and a lot of fun, but was also too long and lacked almost any kind of subtlety.

  9. Posted

    I can't see how you can get annoyed about being quoted literally when you throw out a statement like "wank ironically". I construed that statement was somehow related to your former about character designs, breasts and gameplay mechanics. You post seemed to imply that the only reason they chose such a style was because they wanted to titillate you.

    It's terrible when people make assertions about the intent of the things you write or create, right?

    I didn't 'dodge' anything. In my mind, the consistency does makes things less murky - everything in this game is hyper-exaggerated. Hate to repeat myself, but I did indicate that consistency doesn't mean it isn't sexist, just that it's in line with the typical style of high fantasy.

    I think that does validate Vanillaware's choice; it's just not a validation some people are happy with. The game is set in a fantasy realm and they chose to mimic the style prevalent in high fantasy with numerous shout-outs and references to existing works. It is pandering, but not in a purely sexually-demeaning fashion.

    I think both Danielle's Polygon review and Amanda's have lot of merit. Danielle makes a number of valid points, and is completely in her rights to disagree with the art style and the liberties it takes. I prefer Amanda's interpretation.

    EDIT: Another piece to read with replies from Kamitani is this here Forbes article.

    Not annoyed at all, just to be clear. But yes, I'll admit I do find it a stretch to think that it wasn't solely for titilation. If you look at the artwork outside of the game, I think the intention is pretty clear. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's not difficult to come to that conclusion.

    I also think the point about consistency is an interesting one. In my opinion, it doesn't strengthen or weaken any points raised against it. If there was a game called 'Naked Crusaders 3: Fukugadame' or something, would it really make a ifference if one or all of them ran about with no clothes? It doesn't impact the quality of the underlying game, but it's hard to say it's not exploitative.

    I also don't see how this is actually typical of high fantasy. It seems more typical of the banner ads you see for internet games that are kind of about fantasy.

    Thanks for the links though, I'll check them out.

    EDIT: Checked them out. The Forbes article was really interesting. I can see that context for how everything fits together and works off each other, but it's still very targeted exaggeration. An alternate example of an absurdist female character design is Millia Rage from GGXX. Everything in that game is crazy and super exaggerated, and so is she, but in this case it's because she fights with her hair. It's very different kind of effect.

  10. Posted

    Interesting. So Kamitani's reason for choosing these character designs is solely for the purpose of a quick wank? 'Seems' is still a far jump from 'is'.

    I must say, Amanda's review (The humour of a site called Tap Repeatedly reviewing Dragon's Crown is not lost on me.) touched on a point that every other reviewer failed to emphasize - the art style is consistent in it's execution. Which isn't to say it's not sexist; just consistent, and in line with the tropes of high fantasy.

    You're quoting me literally, which is kind of dodging the point. And if the purpose is really open to interpretation, what reason would you put forward for it? Is the purpose of some of those screenshots really to suggest she's clumsy with a soup spoon?

    Also, consistency doesn't actually validate the choice in my opinion. I'm not saying it's not a good game beneath the breasts, but it is pandering hugely.

  13. Posted

    On a lot of boards ME1 seems to be held to some sort different standard to the other two. Sure, there were big open spaces but they were horribly sterile. You barely get a sense of place other than 'room with boxes'. Also people say that 2 and 3 pander to the fans, but ME1 is just as guilty of this with moments such as Benezia being introduced rack-first.

  15. Posted

    One of the things I think Alpha Protocol and the Walking Dead did really well was create a time limit for giving a response. It's not a replacement for overlapping voices but it does make conversations flow much better. It also models the stress/importance of giving an answer within a specific timeframe.