Greatoneshere

Right, but it's not trying to be Control. Again, it may just not be for you (like walking simulators), but there's a difference between calling something like Death Stranding or Alan Wake II as "just not for me" and how EvilAsh put it, which is "nonsensical bullshit". There's nothing all that nonsensical about Death Stranding. Weird/strange isn't the same as nonsensical. We can but there's more to be said on the topic, how can there be any discourse if no one discusses anything with examples and in detail? But okay, you just don't like the games due to story vs. gameplay ratio, that's all well and good, but that doesn't make them objectively bad either. I don't care if you like the games, I'm not trying to get you to like them. A game that isn't for you doesn't mean it isn't good is all I'm saying. That's the distinction I'm drawing here between this stuff and actual nonsensical bullshit. But anyways all good.

That's crazy it passed the House, but now for the Senate . . .

But we love plenty of games with little to no traditional gameplay like Life is Strange or Soma or the Telltale games like The Walking Dead where the general lack of gameplay was found wanting (which I don't believe holds water for Alan Wake II - you do plenty of exploring and light puzzle solving throughout the game regardless of combat; exploring and solving puzzles and finding collectables all count as gameplay). So we heap praise on plenty of games with hardly any gameplay but when we get a full on triple AAA slick experience of the same suddenly it's a problem? Why single out Death Stranding and Alan Wake II (for example)? I do agree that's what peoples' problem is with Alan Wake II but I'm not sure it holds water and even if it did, who cares there's a lack of gameplay when its got plenty else going for it, just like Life is Strange and Soma, etc.

I'll try to address each of your points in turn. Yes, a failure is still a failure but a failure can have more artistic value to the viewer than a safe, predictable success. Obviously an interesting success is preferable, and to be clear I think Death Stranding and Alan Wake II are interesting successes, not interesting failures. I only said interesting failures to make the point clear that even an interesting failure, much less an interesting success, will be a more diverse and unpredictable experience than yet another safe success that does everything it does well but plays it safe where everything is straightforward. If you don't see a clear maturation of storytelling going from Metal Gear to MGS to MGS3 to MGS5 to Death Stranding, I think we might be playing different games. Death Stranding's storytelling is a good bit more human, dramatic, better shot and directed and written. His storytelling has improved immensely from the MGS1/MGS2 days. He has more discipline than ever in terms of the issues people have lobbied at him (too many cutscenes) by having his last two games, MGS5 and Death Stranding, both be sandbox open worlds where there is 3-4 more times gameplay than there are cutscenes. Before that wasn't the case, and he's refined his gameplay and opened it up with each passing game, especially since Peace Walker. Okay, you say a lot here without actually saying a lot. You just say this stuff is shit without naming examples within either game as to how or in what ways are they shit? I played both games in full and I don't see what you're seeing. I don't have low expectations for storytelling in games, many people watch Youtube videos of just all the cutscenes strung together of these games because they are that enjoyable/interesting to watch, pretty sure that means the storytelling is engaging for all kinds of people, not just gamers with low expectations. And naming Naughty Dog reiterates a point that's not relevant here - Naughty Dog makes a very different kind of game than Hideo Kojima or Sam Lake. Again, you just picked a rather straightforward storytelling game studio and game series (both Uncharted and TLOU; both of which I love). Like, what Kojima and Lake are doing for video games is akin to what filmmakers like David Lynch or David Cronenberg or Alejandro Jodorowsky or Gaspar Noe or Nicolas Winding Refn (who shows up in Death Stranding) are doing for films at a triple AAA level. These are all arthouse/avante garde directors whose work sometimes has mass crossover appeal but can also frequently be divisive and alienating. Are they all shit filmmakers when they get too weird or abstract or strange? I'm not seeing what Kojima or Lake are doing as much different. Are they as good? Hard to say since it's different mediums (films vs. games) but I think they have done as good a job as you can at marrying the two (avante garde storytelling and games) at a triple AAA level as things currently stand (just getting funding for such strange projects alone these days is very hard to do). Just saying: "these games are shit because there's way more story than gameplay" and "the storytelling is shit" are not real criticisms.

Which website are you using specifically? For Berserk the one I used got me the JP blurays with the English dub added in - looked pretty amazing, was a pretty hefty download.

We can have both types of games. It's important for people to broaden their horizons. It's not nonsensical bullshit most of the time, to write off such a massive gaming creator's games is dismissive at best. And it's completely fine for some games' narratives to take over compared to gameplay, that doesn't invalidate their existence as a game. It's not like well executed but a straightforward story game is going away. If all one's gaming/media diet was one type of thing, that would be concerning. What they are doing is interesting work on the edges of an art form most don't even take seriously, at the blockbuster, triple AAA level. They have mastered telling stories, maybe you just don't like most avante garde works, but avante garde by its nature isn't typically going to be a straight forward story so I'm not sure what lacking in storytelling either Death Stranding or Alan Wake II have that's such a problem or makes their games' stories nonsensical. Something not being for someone isn't the same as something being objectively nonsensical bullshit. I found nothing convoluted about either game. You appreciate something more conventional but, to provide a different perspective, I'll always appreciate an interesting failure over a safe success because we've already experienced "well executed but conventional" ad infinitum. I'm bored of conventional. An interesting failure will at least hold my interest for longer if only because at least it's doing/trying something different when most media, now more than ever, plays it safe for easily disposable competent entertainment. Southland Tales, even if you read the prequel comic book series to it, is nonsensical bullshit. There are tons of actual movies and games that have stories that make no sense and aren't worth getting invested in. Death Stranding and Alan Wake II don't fall into that category. It just sounds like you don't like games where story significantly takes precedence over gameplay. I'm watching my brother play through Alan Wake II now, for example (after beating it myself) and he's had plenty of combat and gameplay, it's less than there is story and exploration but so?

HIs games can be over the top, silly, goofy, ridiculous, etc. and his stories can get obtuse, over-complicated and abstract but writing off his complete gameography as nonsensical bullshit in an industry that panders to the base common denominator is missing the forest for the trees. We should be thankful some people like Hideo Kojima and Sam Lake (Alan Wake II), etc. are trying to elevate the storytelling with more avante garde and stranger sensibilities. That doesn't make it "nonsensical bullshit".

At least it's Ana de Armas kicking ass again.

You're sort of getting that with the John Wick spin-off film Ballerina, which she stars in. It comes out this June. It's written by the duo who wrote John Wick: Chapter 4 but it's not directed by series veteran Chad Stahelski, it's being directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld, Underworld 2, Live Free or Die Hard and the Total Recall remake) so hard to say if it will be any good - the first two Underworld's are fun (at best) and I genuinely enjoy/like Live Free or Die Hard (the unrated cut) but the Total Recall remake, while pretty, was bog standard and mediocre and none of these films reach the level of any of the John Wick mainline movies. So we'll see. Director Albert Hughes (Menace II Society, Dead Presidents, From Hell, The Book of Eli and Alpha) did a good job doing something different with the spin-off TV miniseries The Continental while still feeling a part of John Wick so it can be done, though he's a better director than Len Wiseman and as enjoyable as it was The Continental doesn't get close to the quality of any of the John Wick mainline series entries either. So Ballerina has big shoes to fill as a theatrical release by comparison. I hope it ends up being good.

I completely agree with you but I think they mean half of people who are eligible to vote (and then bother to actually do so, which isn't everyone who can vote, which is a shame). Ostensibly, the only things that matter aren't all Americans, just those who can and do vote, and the Electoral College. Can't vote? You're fucked. Can vote but don't or choose not to? What's wrong with you. Electoral college vote trumps popular vote? What the fuck are we doing.

Well, first we have Henry Cavill starring in Guy Ritchie's ex-producer turned co-writer/director Matthew Vaughn's Argylle (which, in a rare instance, Vaughn did not contribute to writing at all) coming out in just a few days. Now we have Henry Cavill starring in co-writer and director Guy Ritchie's The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, coming out at the end of April. As I mentioned in the Argylle thread, Cavill may have lost/is done with Superman and The Witcher, but if these two projects are good and do really well, Cavill's career could end up going in more interesting directions than if he was stuck playing Superman and Geralt forever. He says he is still starring in the Highlander reboot, and they did just give John Wick series director Chad Stahelski full producer control over the John Wick and Highlander franchises, so there's some hope for those two series as well (perhaps Cavill could show up in John Wick?). I'm definitely looking forward to this, more Guy Ritchie is almost always a great thing. Where do people rate and rank the Guy Ritchie films they've seen? I'm curious, he's had a lot of projects come out in the last decade so it seems about time for a redone list. -Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: 8.5/10 -Snatch: 10/10 -Swept Away: N/A (heard it's terrible, never seen it) -Revolver: UK Cut (not the US cut, which is definitely worse): 8/10 -RocknRolla: 7.5/10 -Sherlock Holmes/Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (they go hand in hand): 8/10 -The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: 8.5/10 -King Arthur: Legend of the Sword: 8/10 -Aladdin: 6.5/10 -The Gentlemen: 7.5/10 (I do need to rewatch this one, might become an 8/10) -Wrath of Man: 7.5/10 -Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre: 6.5/10 -The Covenant: 8/10 He's really gotten quite a filmography now since the RocknRolla days.

It's a great movie, but it's very much a vibe movie like The Fountain, The Fall, The Northman, director David Lowery's other film A Ghost Story, etc. So long as one goes in knowing that, I think it's pretty unique and great.

Given the random polar magnetic noises we hear (Clark's teleporting, Jodie Foster listening to the fridge), that we blatantly see the ghosts of dead people, and Clark's sudden appearance in Tsalal Station at the beginning as if he teleported there all indicate there must be some supernatural element at play, I think.

Like with Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty; I finally got around to playing RE4: Separate ways after playing and beating the base game back when it released. The remake games' buttery smooth and punchy combat and gunplay is so good that just dropping back in and doing Ada Wong's story was a lot of fun. This is, obviously, a lot shorter and very action-oriented right from the get go - I appreciated that, like the original Separate Ways, this wastes no time just getting going and never really letting off the throttle for a breather. Graphics were beautiful, as was to be expected as well, and the story fits in neatly to line up with the base game. It was fun seeing what the characters over the radio were actually doing when they were talking to Leon. This felt like a really slick, respectful remake of the original Separate Ways, same as the base game, and I'm really glad this didn't become cut content. Anyone who enjoyed any of the RE remakes should play this. The only downside was that Ada Wong's English voice actor sounded incredibly bored/stiff. I know the chud's have come out against the voice actor for other reasons but ignoring all of that and just judging the performance, it just sounds kind of bored a lot of the time. I know the character is nonchalant but I just wasn't impressed. The rest of the dub was good/normal though.

A few months ago I finally went back to Cyberpunk 2077 to play Phantom Liberty. I had already played and 100%'ed the base game back when it launched - I had a great time with the game even back then, being lucky enough to not really run into any bugs or glitches at the time. I did not replay any part of the base game, I simply re-specced my character when prompted and jumped in with my save from right before the point of no return. It was nice to see a lot of new wrap-up side quests for the base game for each of the brokers you worked with added in and getting to call your lovers/partners over to just hang out is a nice touch. The actual DLC is as Idris Elba said in an interview - this is not DLC but a full-on expansion pack that took me about 30-35 hours to do everything. How it adds to the base game's story was fairly cleverly woven in without greatly disrupting the base game's story and all the main characters in this expansion pack are given enough time for you to get to know them pretty well. The game does play a bit better though the experience was mostly the same for me in terms of gameplay (I'm mostly stealth/hack with some powerful guns when things go to shit). Really enjoyed the expansion and I hope we get a sequel down the road. I played right after the 2.1 patch update dropped as well, which was good timing.

I watched this over the weekend and it was really good - I highly recommend people check it out. First, it feels like a real film made by a real director which feels increasingly rare in this day and age. And the driving scenes are incredible and the crashes are truly horrific to witness. This is probably Mann's most human film since The Insider or Ali where he spends a significant amount of time on family drama and trauma - the different ways Enzo and his wife speak to their dead son at his grave at the beginning of the film was really well done. I'm a Michael Mann stan but this was a genuinely good film worth watching. Also frequently funnier than you would expect too.

Watched a couple of things over the weekend: -Ferrari (2023; dir. Michael Mann): 8/10 -The Green Knight (2021; dir. David Lowery): 8.5/10 -The Equalizer (2014; dir. Antoine Fuqua): 6.5/10 -Mad God (2021; dir. Phil Tippett): 8/10 -Blue Eye Samurai (2023; written by Amber Noizumi/Michael Green): 8/10 -Sonny Boy (2021; written/dir. Shingo Natsume): 9/10 -Psycho-Pass: Providence (2023; written by Tow Ubukata/Makoto Fukami): 7/10

Halfway through the season now and really loving the setting - I constantly forget that it's currently still polar/eternal night so they are working during the daytime even though it always feels like it's nighttime. This third episode was a big table setting episode as many middle of the season episodes are but we learned additional details about our main three detectives as well as more about the case and the potential supernatural or otherwordly things that could be precipitating events. It's been a very enjoyable season so far - Issa Lopez has a different style, her filmmaking feels more naturalistic and less stylized; whereas Cary Joji Fukunaga felt like he was making a statement with season 1, this plays out less showy, which I think works for it because it does do stylistic flourishes now and then which are great since they contrast so much with the natural tone frequently at play. Nothing will top season 1, this doesn't appear it will either, but it's definitely better than the messy season 2 (which I still really liked parts of) and on par with season 3 so far.

Yikes, not a great sign. That's now both shows (this and Metallic Rouge) I thought had potential this season. Hopefully it gets better. It sounds like unlike Pluto or Sonny Boy or something, perhaps Metallic Rouge is just more typical-style anime? If so makes sense it's not nearly as good as something like Pluto. Hopefully it gets better. I think I agree with your take that this winter 2024 anime season seems fine at best. Not seeing a lot that's great. Other shows I noted (some of which you have mentioned) that aren't really in genres I like but could be good in general from winter 2024 are listed below . I can't really tell if they're good yet until they air in full but most I probably would never watch (I don't really do comedies, isekai, CGDCT, or romance unless it's really good which counts out most anime every season but I do note them). After Solo Leveling and Metallic Rouge I thought Ninja Kamui and Meiji Gekken could be good maybe. This is ignoring shows that started in the fall 2023 season (Frieren, Apothecary Diaries, Undead Unluck) and shows that are getting their season 2+ (Maschle, Blue Exorcist, The Fire Hunter, High Card, Urusei Yatsura, etc.). -A Sign of Affection (adults/romance; Ajia-do) -Sasaki and Peeps (adults/comedy/isekai; Silver Link) -The Unwanted Undead Adventurer (action/fantasy; Connect) -Bucchigiri?! (delinquents/school/fantasy; Mappa) -Delicious in Dungeon (comedy/gourmet/fantasy; Studio Trigger) -The Witch and the Beast (adults/action/fantasy; Yokohama Animation Lab) -Sengoku Youko (adventure/myth; White Fox) -Ishura (action/fantasy; Passione) -The Demon Prince of Momochi House (romance/fantasy; Drive) -Ninja Kamui (action/adventure; E&H Production) -Meiji Gekken: 1874 (historical/samurai; Tsumugi Akita Animation Lab) -Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation (fantasy; E&H Production)

What a waste. Using Eidos Montreal's time the past 8 years on developing Shadow of the Tomb Raider, doing support work on Marvel's Avengers for Crystal Dynamics, and developing Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy was a terrible use of them. They finally get back to what they love, Deus Ex, to at least finish what they originally saw as hopefully a trilogy and it gets cancelled. As a fan of the first two, this sucks. Not surprised given it's Embracer though.

What's your guess when we start seeing a steep drop-off in China's success rate as an economic powerhouse?

Along with China's population issue, China is in for some rough times ahead it seems like.

I'm currently going through Sonny Boy (which is amazing) but that's a few years old. The only anime that looked good from Fall 2023 and now Winter 2024 were: -Frieren -Pluto -Ooku: The Inner Chambers -Solo Leveling -Metallic Rouge I wait for a season of anime to end before I can tell what from that season was good, so I can't say much about Solo Leveling and Metallic Rouge, they're just the only ones that looked different/better than the usual anime stuff for this season but we'll know more at the end of March. What Ghost_MH said about Metallic Rouge isn't promising though. But Frieren, Pluto, and Ooku (from Fall 2023) look great so I'll definitely get to those at some point.