#*review

[klauswalz]

I just finished clair obscur expedition 33 and the tldr: it's a great game with amazing graphics, great music, interesting cast of characters, but the parrying/evading might turn some players off because I can see how frustated they can get because most enemies will attack you multiple times in one turn. You need to learn how to parry against bosses because evading sometimes will not be possible even if you play this game on the lowest difficultly. 

I would recommend this game to people who love turn based rpg games and loves a challenge but you struggle with parrying/evading, this might not be for you. 

Major spoilers under a read more:

Gustave's death in this game felt like it was there for shock value. I think he should have been alive throughout the whole game but I think the reason for his death is to add to the theme's story about grief and moving on. I wish there was some reunion between him and Maelle in Act 3. If he had to die in this game, I kinda wish it was later on because he died way too soon.

Act 3 was kinda rushed? I felt like they rushed a few things to at the end of the story. I do appreciate the game giving me a choice to play as Verso or Maelle at the end. I can understand both character's perspective.  I understand the game's theme around grief and how living in the past is not living.

The romance options were so unecessary? I don't mean this as a shipper. I didn't want to ship Verso with Sciel and Lune because they should have gotten together instead. 

I felt like the game was short but that's probably cause I didn't do most of the side quests and focused on the main story. I think it's because I so used to playing long rpgs. I thought this game would have been 70 hours? I do like it, I might replay it again and look at the other content. 

[crawledthru500]

TMNT: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

dir. Jeff Rowe

Star rating: 5/5

edit: lowered to 4.5/5

(spoilers free -- review under the cut)

after Spiderverse, i have loved almost every single animation to use that style. this is absolutely not an exception!!! the art style is BEAUTIFUL, it uses it perfectly. it creates this gritty atmosphere, almost sketch-like, but i feel like sometimes that can be it's downfall. some scenes were hard to follow, or i guess i just didnt understand what i was looking at?? more specifically in the fight scenes.

speaking of the fight scenes, they were fucking INCREDIBLE. i have a specific scene in mind but i'm keeping this spoiler free. i think this style needs to be used more in action animation!!!!!

i cannot get over how FUNNY this was. it had NO reason to be this charming and endearing. every character felt natural, every interaction thought out with care and love. the turtles and their relationships with each other and Splinter is probably my favorite rendition of their dynamics !!! Superfly as a villain was fucking HILARIOUS. every line made me laugh. my theater also really loved the comedy in this.

my theater was filled with a CLASSROOM -- i am NOT JOKING -- of young boys. their reactions made this movie that much more special, especially the black kids that saw themselves in the turtles. there was a scene where they were using AAVE (which they use throughout the movie, but im thinking of a specific scene) and i could hear them gasp with excitement. although this representation was not targeted for me, i felt it in the audience. it was very sweet

the soundtrack was incredible, such perfect songs with perfect scenes to go along with them!!!

after having a rough time with mental health, i took a hiatus from the movie theater (once my comfort place) and this was the perfect, lighthearted movie to come back to. i am so glad i forced myself to get outta the house lol <3 i even took my Donnie plush with me that i got when i was a kid :]

[aropride]

[aromanticduck]

I came up with this three-way table to help me (and now you, if you want) to rate things out of 5 stars. I was thinking of books and films when I made it, but you can probably use it for other stuff.

The idea is that you rate the thing on how much stuff you loved and how much stuff you hated, and those things weight against each other. There's only one way to get 5 stars or 1 star, so those should end up as the rarest ratings, wtih 3 stars being the most common.

'Spicy' means that the thing inspires emotion, whether positive or negative, while 'bland' means it doesn't affect you much either way.

An example of a 3-star (spicy) - for me personally - would be the Twilight series, because there's plenty of garbage in there but also some things that are like crack to me. I can't think of an example of a 3 star (bland) because by nature they don't stick in the mind.

(This also assumes giving 0 stars isn't allowed. That'd throw it out of whack...)

[neenarchive]

the sense of horror when you finish a book that was Ass Bad and you go to see what fellow haters are saying but all the reviews say it is the best thing they've ever read. feel like i just saw my reflection in the mirror move all by itself or something

[sleepy-bebby]

There’s a scientific journal called “Get me off Your Fucking Mailing List”.

In 2005, computer scientists David Mazières and Eddie Kohler created this highly profane ten-page paper as a joke, to send in replying to unwanted conference invitations. It literally just contains that seven-word phrase over and over, along with a nice flow chart and scatter-plot graph.

An Australian computer scientist named Peter Vamplew sent it to the International Journal of Advanced Computer Technology in response to spam from the journal. Apparently, he thought the editors might simply open and read it.

Instead, they automatically accepted the paper — with an anonymous reviewer rating it as “excellent” — and requested a fee of $150. While this incident is pretty hilarious, it’s a sign of a bigger problem in science publishing. This journal is one of many online-only, for-profit operations that take advantage of inexperienced researchers under pressure to publish their work in any outlet that seems superficially legitimate.

[unashamedly-enthusiastic]

This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a banger

VeryVeryVinny

[byelacey]

a guide on how to enjoy: LEAF 🍂

[sophasphinx]

Sometimes I see a book review that's like "THIS BOOK 👉 📖 is SICK 🤢 and TWISTED 😵‍💫 Not only are there TORTURE SCENES 😵🩸 against WOMEN 🙋‍♀️ (anti feminist much????! 😡) but also SEX 🫂 VIOLENCE 🔪 and RELIGIOUS TRAUMA?? 🙏⛪ (random???? 🫥🤔) I would NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK 🙅❌ to ANYONE ‼️‼️ it is PERVERSE 🤨 and WEIRD!!! 😱 I did NOT expect this from THIS BOOK!!.! 😤" and the book is titled The Twisted Pervert's Guide to Torture and Lesbian Nun Sex

[twulfs]

✦ fluorescence

[artist-issues]

That’s It.

I’m tired of seeing everyone repeat the same four points: “1) Nani gives Lilo to the state! 2) Hawaii has a better marine biology program than San Fransisco! 3) Jumba doesn’t get redeemed! 4) Pleakley’s not wearing a dress!”

Those are not the only things that were bad about this remake. You could easily tell it was going to be all that and more beforehand, but most people’s reaction to the trailer was “it’s surprisingly good!” and now they’re acting all surprised. If you didn’t see this coming, enough to purchase a ticket, you’re part of the problem and you don’t get the original movie any more than the people who made this remake did.

So I’m done being quiet, this is the Lilo & Stitch 2025 Takedown Post.

And as usual the only good thing about an attempted-remake is that it gives people a reason to think about what made the original so good.

Let’s go in order. But just scroll down to the Heading you Care About if you don’t want to read all this.

1. Cobra Bubbles

In this movie, Cobra Bubbles is a secret agent hunting for aliens and they have a new character take his place as the state social worker.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With this Change: “We shouldn’t have a black man or a government worker feel like an insensitive antagonist to Lilo’s family.”

That’s a stupid surface-level one-dimensional misread of the character from the original…and it wouldn’t have been hard, at all, for a child to explain to the 2025 filmmakers that Cobra is not an insensitive antagonist in the original.

Cobra Bubbles is not insensitive and he is not in any way portrayed as a bad guy in the original. Nani sees him that way, Nani sees him as antagonistic, because he’s the representation of Lilo being taken away.

But Nani is wrong about him and learns that she is wrong about him by the end of the movie.

Can we please make a list?

Cobra’s first interaction with the caretaker of the child he was being sent to protect was that she ran out into the road, yelled at a complete stranger, and dented his car.

Then he found her locked out of the home and threatening the child inside with a hammer in her hand.

Then he found out the stove was on while she was out, and she’d left a 7 year-old alone.

The 7 year-old made comments about being disciplined with bricks and a pillow case.

The 7 year-old looks like she might be more than a little emotionally unbalanced because she’s figuring out how to put voodoo spells on her friends to punish them.

He still gave that pair of sisters three days to straighten the ship. When in actuality, in 2002, under HRS §587-73, (don’t play with me) the social worker would’ve been well within his rights to remove the child from the home right then. But instead he gives her three days to fix it. THEN

The 18 year-old loses her job.

The family gets a “dog” who he is implied to know is an alien, right off the bat.

The alien is violent and wreaks havoc across town.

The 7 year-old almost drowns while they surf instead of find a job.

He lets the child and caretaker have one more night together to say goodbye, but when he’s on the way to get her he gets a call that she’s being attacked by aliens, hears a chainsaw, and finds the house on fire.

Do you understand what I’m saying.

Cobra Bubbles had NO BUSINESS being as BIG A SOFTIE AS HE WAS for all of the original movie. He was not only well within his legal rights to take Lilo away from Nani immediately, but he was actually required by law, it was his DUTY, to remove her immediately. But he didn’t do that. Why?

Now listen to me very carefully.

Lilo and Stitch is a movie about how “Family chooses to love and commit to one another selflessly, no matter what the other person can do for them or how hard they make it.” The fancy way they say it is just “Ohana means family: family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”

Did you catch that? “No matter how hard they make it.”

Cobra Bubbles was a CIA agent before this. A CIA agent who saved the planet, by doing what? Convincing an alien race to leave them alone. Oh, he didn’t fight them off? No. How? He “convinced” them? He talked it out? Sounds like a pretty compassionate guy, for all his tough exterior. How did he do that?

He could’ve picked any animal that’s actually endangered. The filmmakers chose to make him the guy who convinced aliens to value mosquitos.

MOSQUITOS. Creatures that give nothing, only take. Ugly little bloodsucking monsters. That’s the creature he convinced them to care about enough to save the planet.

NOW do you have any trouble understanding why this is the specific social worker who would give an alien-infested dumpster fire of a dangerous home a chance when two sisters are about to be torn apart?

Do you see that Cobra is just another example of the grace that the movie is always talking about? The love that transforms someone from bad to good simply because it refuses to give up even when it gets nothing out of it? I’m repeating myself because I want you to see why he was a well-done character who NEEDED NO CHANGE.

Cobra Bubbles’ character is not an insensitive monster who doesn’t care who his actions hurt as long as he gets the job done. But you know who that does sound like?

2. Gantu

Gantu is not in the remake at all.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With This Change: “It’s going to cost us upwards of 1.5 millions of dollars to design, sculpt, rig, animate, and render a character this big in addition to finding a suitable voice actor to play the part.”

This is a really dumb choice for several reasons. A. Without Gantu, there is no “stakes-raiser” to Lilo and Nani’s story. The movie has no climax without him. For the first and second acts of the movie, it’s about a grieving pair of girls trying to prove themselves to a social worker while the story-equivalent of Beethoven the Destructive St. Bernard wacky Jumba & Pleakley antics get in their way. But when a 40-foot tall alien stomps into their lives and abducts Lilo & Stitch in a spaceship that careens around the island during an explosive sky-chase scene, now you have a high-octane, somebody-could-die climax.

B. Without Gantu, Stitch looks weaker. The climax gave Stitch a reason to come out of the wackadoo puppy he’s been posing as and suddenly remind everybody that he’s a lethal weapon who can survive thousand-foot drops, lava, and astronomic explosions—and a giant alien’s Thanos-dwarfing fist. Take him out and who do we have as a match for Stitch to go up against, even for a moment, and prove how much he’s changed to be willing to risk his freedom and fight?

C. Without Gantu you have no villain to reflect that STITCH is no longer a villain. (So they substituted Jumba.)

But the reason this character is really worth millions is, again, the theme.

I told you Cobra Bubbles was a character who did not put “duty” or even “convenience” or “position” over the real lives of Lilo and Nani. He saw that there was love there, and in his own way, he gave it a chance. And even when he chose to take Lilo away, he did it carefully; he gave them time to say goodbye.

GANTU IS THE OPPOSITE OF COBRA BUBBLES.

Gantu is the insensitive, uncaring, unyielding Captain whose commitment to duty turns into rage and cruelty. Not Cobra.

Nani thinks Cobra is walking in a threatening to tear apart their family in a display of government judgement. But that’s what Gantu literally does.

His first reaction to Stitch is to call for his destruction. Without even waiting to see if “it can be reasoned with” like the Grand Councilwoman suggests. He’s merciless. He mocks Stitch when Stitch is captive. And he knows that he caught Lilo, a human, along with him. He doesn’t care. He even suggests that Stitch eat her as a snack.

There are only two other characters who laugh at others’ misfortune in the movie. One is Stitch, the original villain. Then love changes him. The other is Jumba, who made Stitch. Then love changes him. But Gantu never gets changed. He’s only concerned with his job, and with personally annihilating the flaws he sees in Stitch.

Gantu is unyielding, ungracious, and cruel. And he’s big and powerful enough to be a test for Stitch to prove he’s changed. For the benefits he brings to the story, he’s worth 1.5 million and more. But they cut him anyway.

3. Jumba

In the new movie, Jumba is a villain through-and-through with designs on overthrowing the Galactic Council using Stitch, and instead of being redeemed, he’s sentenced to prison.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With This Change: “We can’t spend money on our real villain so we’ll just keep Jumba evil.”

The reason this is dumb is obvious. They created their own problem, and the ‘fix’ makes the movie weaker, not stronger. But here’s how.

In the original, Jumba is introduced as trying to self-protect. He’s on trial, and he lies. But when Stitch is revealed, he’s genuinely passionate about the thing he’s created. And he cares about image. He prefers to be called “evil genius,” and he hates the headlines labelling him “idiot scientist.”

You have to remember he’s part of “Galaxy Defense Industries.” They had him making weapons of destruction anyway. He just got too into it with his genetic Experiments, went a little insane.

I’m not downplaying the fact that Jumba is evil at the start of the movie. He is. It is evil to be outcasted from society and then respond to that with, “well, if they’re going to treat me like an idiot, I’LL SHOW THEM, I won’t care about anything except my passion for mad science!” That’s evil.

But it also explains a lot.

I said it in another post. Jumba’s whole utility as a character is that he knows who and what Stitch really is, better than anyone. He made him to be a monster who can’t belong and wreaks havoc on everybody else’s ‘place of belonging.’ Jumba is the audience’s insider’s perspective on what is going on in Stitch’s head, at first.

But when he’s redeemed, it happens fast. And why? Because that’s how plain and simple Stitch is, as a character. Jumba knows Stitch is a disgusting little monster with nothing inherently loveable about him, and no “greater purpose.” So when his disgusting monster is loved by someone? When his disgusting monster is willing to ask him, Jumba, for help? Something totally outside his programming, totally not what Jumba thought he’d ever be capable of?

That proves to Jumba, in an instant, that there’s love out there that transforms. And creates a place of belonging.

There were already germs of that, a desire to belong, a compassion, in Jumba after he reached earth.

He doesn’t try to get Nani fired, he offers an explanation for Pleakley’s swollen head.

He claims he won’t hit Lilo (why would he care about collateral damage?)

He sounds sorry for Nani when she’s upset about losing Lilo, and tries to keep Stitch from bothering her.

My point is, Jumba’s redemption isn’t important because it’s cute or because we need to set up the big happy found-family trope everybody loves.

Jumba’s redemption is important because it is just one more PROOF that what’s happened to Stitch is so incredible. The love Jumba finds transforming his monster is enough to transform Jumba, too.

But sure, fine, whatever, make him a soulless one-dimensional talking head. Whatever.

4. Stitch’s Design

In this movie, Stitch is cuter than he is ugly, and he’s half Lilo’s size.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With This Change: “Ugly-cute doesn’t come across as well in ‘live action’ animation. And all the Wal-Mart moms remember Stitch as ‘cute.’ Plus we’ll save about 15% in rendering the animation.”

This is crippling to the characterization of Stitch.

Stitch is supposed to be an echo of who Lilo could become now that she’s lost her parents and may be losing Nani. This scene:

Where Jumba points out that Stitch has nothing, and destruction is his only purpose, is the evidence for that. But Chris Sanders, who made this whole story, also point-blank said it. Stitch is a future Lilo, if she loses her family.

So that’s reason number 1 that he should be her same height. But also, practically, no iconic pair of best friends, yin and yang, have visuals where one is smaller than the other. Especially not if one of them is supposed to be disguised as a pet.

The point is, Stitch is not LILO’s pet. He is her best friend, her other half. But between the muzzle-muscles they worked into his upper lip and the darkened dog nose and the butt-scooting across the floor, the remake is trying to make him more pet-like in relation to Lilo.

That’s not what he is.

I said this in another post. But Stitch is supposed to throw food to the back of his head like a gator—his lips are not designed for forming words. His gums and teeth are supposed to look like a shark’s. His nose is supposed to be too big, stamped into his face. His ears are supposed to be like bat ears, not bunny ears. He hunches forward, instead of bending at the waist like a toddler. His eyes can narrow to lizard slits.

He has to look like he can believably be a disgusting monster. Yes, he can also be cute. But he has to first look like a monster. Because that’s what he really is, in the story. If he isn’t, then LILO’s love for him doesn’t look as powerful.

It is easy to love a cat even if it scratches you, because it’s cute. It’s harder to love a life-sized spider that keeps knocking you down and eating your prized possessions and laughing when you get hurt. Stitch is supposed to be closer to the second one, so that Lilo’s love shines brighter.

But also, practically:

She can’t look him in the eye for emotional shots when he’s that short. He’ll always have to awkwardly be standing on a box or a chair or a bed.

How is he going to scoop her up, hero-style, and leap off of an exploding spaceship with her in his arms, when he’s half her size? He could do it: it’ll look stupid, though. So they just don’t have that part in the movie.

She can pick him up. That alone is demeaning and again, the visuals are silly. Not what we’re going for.

5. Lilo’s Personality

In this movie, Lilo doesn’t like weird stuff, and she screams when she first meets Stitch. There’s no problem that this solves. It’s just laziness and a lack of care about the characters.

I would like to remind you that the original Lilo:

Made her own doll that looks like a shrunken head and pretended a bug laid eggs in her ears.

Makes up stories about a fish that controls the weather and actively deep-sea dives to bring it peanut butter sandwiches.

Has a knee-jerk reaction of using practical voodoo spells on friends who wrong her.

Listens exclusively to Elvis Presley.

Fills baby bottles with coffee.

Believes Nani’s manager is a vampire.

Has fishing nets and seashells in her room for decoration.

takes safari pictures of overweight bleached tourists.

meets a social worker and her first impulse is to ask if he’s killed someone.

Nails the door shut when she’s mad at her big sister.

She’s not friends with pound dogs in that original movie; when they first get there she acts like she’s never been in the kennel before, and originally wants a pet lobster.

I know that we all love that little girl they got to play Lilo, but if you were really being objective, you’d acknowledge that she’s a little girl. She’s not Lilo. She’s a cute little girl.

They did not write Lilo into the 2025 movie. They wrote any old little girl.

You should have known, from the moment she first sees Stitch and her reaction is to scream in the trailer, that THAT IS NOT LILO.

Lilo had a very specific set of characterizations. She was a character with a personality that exploded out of the screen. Every other character in the movie meets Stitch and reacts with disgust.

But not. LILO. She’s the only one to react to him like THIS:

She is literally not like anyone else. She’s doesn’t care that he’s ugly. Or weird. Or blue. Or even bat an eye when he can talk with all those shark teeth.

From Moment One, Lilo chooses Stitch. She chooses to love him. Regardless of what he can do for her. Regardless of how many times he pushes her over or rips up her house or makes her relationship with Nani harder. That is the number one thing about Lilo.

She is desperate for people to stay, but she chooses to love Stitch even though he’s a monster. And she tries to make him better. And her love succeeds in transforming him when nothing else could.

Lilo’s personality traits all mean something in the story. (I.e. she likes Elvis because she’s clinging to the past, she snaps pictures of tourists like they’re safari animals because they’re inherently people who LEAVE and she has issues with LEAVING, etc.) But the thing I think that was so obvious that the moviemakers missed for 2025 is she has to be weird. If she’s not weird, there’s no reason for her not to have friends. And if she has friends, what does she need Stitch for?

But also, Lilo’s personality in the new movie is just boring. Cute. But boring. Cute’s not that great of an accomplishment; any 7 year-old is cute.

6. Nani

I don’t think you guys need to know this. It’s not just that Nani leaves. It’s that “take care of yourself” is the exact opposite of the selfless message of the movie.

In the beginning, Lilo literally argues with Nani after being told she’s “such a pain,” and goes, “why don’t you SELL ME and buy a RABBIT INSTEAD?”

And then breaks down and cries at the thought of Nani wishing she had a rabbit instead of Lilo, later.

Because Lilo is afraid of people leaving. But Nani won’t leave her. Nani loses her job, her own life, because of Lilo. But she’s desperate to keep Lilo anyway, because she loves her. Don’t you understand? The message of the movie was about self-sacrificial love. A love that doesn't care what I get out of the relationship.

Nani starts it. But you know what, David loves her like that, too. And then Lilo transfers it to Stitch, who shows it off to Jumba. It’s a chain reaction, but Nani is spearheading it.

You realize that when their parents died, Nani already would’ve been in high school? With a whole life of her own? Her own friends, her own potential boyfriend, a job she went to, surf competitions (the trophies are in her room.) Lilo would’ve been well aware that that was the status-quo: Nani has her own life. And even a seven year-old can see that that life is being put on hold, but maybe the big sister wants to go back to it, at every turn.

The fact that Nani never does that, never expresses a desire for that, only ever expresses a desire to keep Lilo with her, is huge. It’s the core of the movie.

I don’t think that needs any more explaining.

We could talk more. Like about how Lilo needs to see that Stitch is an alien, because that’s the ultimate test: he’s one of the monsters who destroyed her house, he’s been lying to her and using her as a human shield, he’s a criminal—but she still winds up giving everything up to protect him.

Anyway. My neck hurts and I don’t want to type anymore. But we could talk about the music, the social worker, the grand councilwoman—it just doesn’t matter.

Ya’ll had more than enough details in the trailer to be able to not go see this movie because it was obviously going to ruin everything. But instead you chose to make this twisted corpse “the highest-grossing movie of any Memorial Day.” You bought tickets because they ruined a perfect movie and slapped together an uglier package for you.

Whatever. It was my favorite movie today, it’ll be your Treasure Planet or Tangled tomorrow. Keep riiiight on giving them your money, and keep letting influencers regurgitate the same four obvious facts to you over and over, because they paid Disney to make a talking-point for their content benefit. Whatever.

[klauswalz]

I finished Metaphor Refantazio last Friday (Feb 21st) and I wanted to give my quick review

TLRD:

If you're a huge fan of Persona/SMT games, love turn-based games, or are just a vivid fan of JRPG games. Then this game is up your alley. I enjoyed the story, combat, social links, and companions. I am giving it a 9.8/10.

I'll go over the things I like and the setbacks.

The things I enjoyed:

First, I love the UI design, colour schemes, music, and overall art style.

I like the fact that this game doesn't take place in a high school setting. I love the fact that there are zero romance options and it focuses on the social links and the primary story.

I love the fact that the game gives you an option to restart battles.

I do like that if you're over-leveled, you can easily knock enemies without having to fight them individually.

I loved the companions and I believe this game had some of the best social links in the game (Ex. Alonzo).

Story Thoughts:

I enjoyed the story. I wasn't sure where it was heading in the beginning but I was interested in the tournament to be king and the trials and challenges that awaited in the game. The game does focus on racism but I also felt like it also focuses on fear, anxiety, and fantasy. "Fantasy" in the sense of certain ideas or concepts being nothing but mere ideas/concepts. I think this game explores the idea that concepts/ideas do not have to be limited to just fantasy. These concepts/ideas/dreams can manifest which is what happens with the prince and MC.

I enjoyed the characters, the emotional beats, and what the story was going for. In most games I've played, I tend to drop them if the story is uninteresting but I can say that I never felt that way while playing this game. I would love to stay in this world or get to know the other races, and characters so I am hoping for a sequel. I did have some setbacks with the story so far:

Not taking Joanna with them to Oceanna felt like a huge mistake since she could choose not to be there. While she said she changed, I felt like this was risky because saying that doesn't solidify it, "Actions speak louder than words".

I don't know if it's me but I felt like the pacing of this game, went fast after the Dragon Temple. I thought that there was going to be another challenge to do but it seems like this is where the contest ends. I also felt like the "Mage Academy" was going to be a dungeon but it seems that it was glossed over with a Rella boss fight. It felt like the game was trying to quicken the pace of the tournament and go straight to the end.

Louis trying to kill that family in the theatre area. It didn't make sense to me as Louis has been decisive and calculated in anything he does. I felt like this was a way to give Basilio a character arc with his brother dying. I think this could have been handled better that made sense. Maby Louis tries to kill Junah as she has no use for him?

Rella being the assassin reveal was kinda mixed. In the beginning of the game where you see the flashback of the assassin cursing the prince. The assailant is quite adult size but in the flashback, Rella is so small talking to Forden. If she was 12 when she cursed the prince, wouldn't she look smaller in that scene? I don't know if I am nitpicking but it didn't feel right to me.

The dialogue choices in this game felt like flavor text that didn't add anything meaningful. Even in the story, no matter what dialogue you pick. The game will force you to pick the correct option with how the story is going. If you reject the idea of throwing the lance at Louis, the game will push you to do it anyway. I felt like the dialogue choices were so unnecessary and added nothing of value. I know P3R had this issue that if you did not agree with what SLs were doing in their story, the game would freeze the SL with them. I understand that this is what Persona Games did and other games as well. I think in a game about a tournament to be king and winning the people over with your ideals. It could have been interesting to have dialogue choices that branch out of the game's story. Maby you choose to be an evil king or choose to have a different mindset when wanting the throne. I could be wrong about this but this is what I thought when playing.

Gameplay Thoughts:

I haven't played SMT and I am unfamiliar with the battle system in those games. When experienced the idea around "archetypes", I was frustrated that I couldn't switch between in mid-battle as I was used to doing that in the persona games. I did appreciate the fact that you can inherit different skills between different archetypes but to only get 4 slots, you need to max out the bond of said archetype. Certain archetypes aren't available until the end of the game so it might be harder to use or get certain abilities or max out the slots.

I did like how you can give any of your companions different or similar archetypes which added a lot of versatility to your play style. I will say in my playthrough, I didn't experiment that much. I mainly used the "healer" archetype for my MC and I made Strohl a mage despite being a warrior archetype. I also felt like the game focuses on elemental weaknesses which is why I didn't put that much effort into physical attacks. The summoning and dancer archetypes were interesting but it seems like I barely customize them as I was almost at the end of the game. I did like how this game had a lot of strategies involved with using synergy and also how important buffs/ are in combat. I can understand people's frustration with how hard this game is but I did appreciate the challenging combat that gave me time to develop strategies while playing. I do feel like the faker archetype could have had the abilities spread out to other archetypes as this archetype isn't used for combat.

There's not much to write in this category as I did enjoy the combat system even if most of the archetypes aren't available to you until the end of the game. I wish the mage archetype was available at least in the theatre section of the game.

Bond/Optional Content Thoughts:

I don't really have that much of a strong opinion with the optional content in this game. I enjoyed the dragon trials, the Colosseum fights, hunts, etc. I did like the traveling aspect and doing things on the ship with your companions.

I have gripes with the calendar system sometimes. I think it's lacking for late party members since you don't have that much time to spend with them. I know you get 30 days but I wish we got more with Basilio and Eupha.

I don't have much to say about the ending. I am wondering if there's a sequel in work.

[crawledthru500]

Get Smart (2008)

dir. Peter Segal

Star rating: 3/5

spoilers under the cut

honestly i dont really like action movies or comedy movies, but i was pleasantly surprised with this one!! the comedy wasn't half bad, a lot of the jokes did land so i can give it credit where it's due. i gotta be honest, the jokes that didn't land were either fat jokes or jokes said by characters that weren't played by Steve Carell so...

the Bill Murray bit where hes in the tree was so fucking funny though i will not lie to you. also, the scene where Steve Carell's character goes through the beaded curtain and it falls apart was TOP TIER comedy. i think i laughed a little too hard at that

i'm surprised The Rock doesn't have a bigger part to play in the movie. i mean he does, he's the big plot twist, but i mean in the grand scheme of things, he doesn't have a lot of screen time. the poster kinda makes it seem like it's going to be a trio situation between Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway and The Rock. i don't really know if that would've made the movie worse or better imo?

speaking of the big twist, the action aint half bad!! it was a pleasant surprise !! the costume design is also pretty good. i liked the party scene, especially when Steve's character gets his suit torn up, those costume designs are really nice!!

HOWEVER what is bad is the CGI. now i'm not saying it's the worst thing i've ever seen ... but... yeah it's still bad

a nice start to the random movie series honestly!!! :]

random movie series | random movie website

[aropride]

youre monogamous? oh… it’s ethical, right? ethical monogamy? okay good for you! i mean pretty much every monogamous couple i’ve met didn’t work out but maybe you guys will beat the odds! haha. so is it a sex thing? you guys have sex with- just each other? huh. how does that work? i could never do monogamy, i’m too jealous, i’d worry my partner would leave me for someone else instead of dating us both… how do you deal with the jealousy? is it hard? like, how hard? extremely? do you think you’ll break up? i mean in the long run these things rarely work out,

[thewatcher727]

Writing Description Notes:

Updated 9th September 2024 More writing tips, review tips & writing description notes

Facial Expressions

Masking Emotions

Smiles/Smirks/Grins

Eye Contact/Eye Movements

Blushing

Voice/Tone

Body Language/Idle Movement

Thoughts/Thinking/Focusing/Distracted

Silence

Memories

Happy/Content/Comforted

Love/Romance

Sadness/Crying/Hurt

Confidence/Determination/Hopeful

Surprised/Shocked

Guilt/Regret

Disgusted/Jealous

Uncertain/Doubtful/Worried

Anger/Rage

Laughter

Confused

Speechless/Tongue Tied

Fear/Terrified

Mental Pain

Physical Pain

Tired/Drowsy/Exhausted

Eating

Drinking

Warm/Hot