Atlantic

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    262

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Atlantic

  2. Posted

    @osmosisch The City & The City is my favourite of Miéville's. It has an interesting central idea and it develops it really well, whereas the Bas-Lag books were more about continuously dumping new ideas on top of one another. There is still space in that world for more stories but I am more interested in his other standalone novels.

  3. Posted

    I finally got around to reading Iron Council by China Miéville, the third entry in his Bas-Lag trilogy. I think that it is my least favourite of the three (currently The Scar > PSS > IC). One of the things that I liked about it but didn't feel like Miéville went far enough was in the presentation of the world through a subjective viewpoint. Whereas the previous two books generally showed the world in all of its detail and complexity and then situated its protagonists inside, IC felt like it was doing the opposite. We only see the world through the eye of the characters, and they believe themselves to be in the right even when doing morally compromising things. However, there were a handful of occasions where this is broken and we're given the full story of something from the sidelines and I think it dilutes the potency of the depiction of the revolution. There is also a style shift in the writing of a long flashback section that I didn't enjoy. The events were interesting and I enjoyed the little callbacks to PSS and The Scar, but I found myself forcing myself to read IC rather than wanting to read it.

     

    Another thing that I felt was important was the notion of place, and specifically high-density urban spaces as a setting for a fantasy world. PSS had New Crobuzon and The Scar had Armada... and IC only touches on the city at times but it never feels present like in the other books. I'm all for developing an idea rather than introducing a new set but Iron Council felt a bit lacklustre in that regard. Overall, I think it's fine. It's just fine, whereas Miéville has been exceptional in his other books.

  4. Posted

    Wow, the curmudgeonliness was strong in the fidget spinner segment. I just wanted to chime in to say that fidget toys were the originals, with spinners coming later and catching on in a big way. They were initially used for helping to destigmatise and normalise "stimming" and other fidgeting behaviour in neurodivergent children, such as those with ASD or ADHD. Which makes it a problem when they become a distraction in schools and get banned because now children who benefited from them have to return to how it was before.

     

    PBS Idea Channel did a video on them:

     

     

  7. Posted

    I absolutely loved Hellblade! I was cautious about it after hearing that Ninja Theory were going to try to depict mental illness in a game with brawler mechanics, but it's so much more than that. I think they handled Senua's mental illness really well, maybe one of the best versions it in anything I've seen/read/played. It informs her personality and abilities (in an interesting way), but she is not wholly defined by it. It's easily one of my favourite games this year.

     

    I think the art design and visual fidelity are all top notch. There is an attention to detail from the moment you land on shore to the surreal Norse fantasy architecture that you journey through. The animation and particularly the facial mocap is the best I have ever seen, and performance of Senua by Melina Juergens is very strong, and heightened by the very intimate way that it's framed. I'm just kind of gushing at this point.

     

    I really like the combat too. It was a good feel to it, and enough depth and complexity to it if you want. I like also that they use the binaural voices in Senua's head as part of combat, to show that there is no escaping them and at times they are useful. It complicates the notion of mental illness in a way that games can do but books/films cannot. There's not a huge amount of combat, but there is a new wrinkle thrown in about every hour to keep it fresh. I have been trying to describe it in my head and Hellblade is kind of like Devil May Cry meets Gone Home. Does that make sense?

     

    There's also a "Special Feature" documentary that walks through some of Ninja Theory's ideas and process for making the game. It's an interesting watch once you have finished the game.

     

     

  8. Posted

    7 hours ago, MechaTofuPirate said:

    That was kind of the first episode I've been disappointed in so far. It was pretty short and not a lot seemed to happen? Or maybe a lot did and I just need to think about the episode some more.

     

    EDIT: The more I think about it I think I like it now. I think some things were just a little off putting to me like Richard Horne and the Vegas girls being dumb gag.

     

    This is becoming the quintessential reaction to episodes in season 3.

  10. Posted

    Spoiler

    Side quests that you completed as 2B remain completed as 9S. For the ones that you haven't completed, some of them save your progress through them and some you need to start from the beginning again. 9S also has a few exclusive side quests that are related to his place in the world and the different mechanics he has (but if you miss any you are given a chance later to go back and do them). The whole game has a fairly steady difficulty curve. I don't remember Route C as being extra difficult, but it adds some new mechanics that keep it fresh. You won't need to grind!

     

  11. Posted

    Spoiler

    Route B took me about half as much time as Route A. It offers new mechanics and recontextualisation of the plot so far. Route C-E is where the crazy parts you probably want live (for reference, Route C-E is one "playthrough" and not another three. It... has a lot of new things to offer.

     

     

     

  13. Posted

    @miffy495 There are a lot of sidequests! Some of them add texture and detail to the world, and some of them are rubbish. I don't know how much you know about the structure of this game, but you will have opportunities to do them later if you're interested.

  22. Posted

    Eventually missions start offering loads of money for completion, plus bonuses for doing well. Also, you unlock the online FOB thing around mission 22, which can boost your economy a bit. Side missions can also have a good deal of cash, if you drop into the free roam mode and sweep across the map. I know they patched it a bunch of times in the first six months and changed stuff about the cash flow and added additional items, which may have also changed the balance of things.