#. at least this movie will make for decent graphic fodder

[telekinetiq]

so here’s what i thought of MSBE

as i expected, pretty much a scene-for-scene copy of the original, just with weirdass CGI

that said, everything besides the humans looked pretty damn awesome; the environment and buildings (esp the layout of mewtwo’s castle) were beautiful

dialogue was subpar overall; a nice line here or there but what was changed wasn’t for the better, and some scenes were clearly less impactful because of the changed or nonexistent dialogue

the movie seemed to simultaneously drag shit out by repeating itself over and over, or just rush things through because hey we’ve been through this song and dance before so we should all know it by heart (which begs the question why this movie was necessary to begin with)

Amber isn’t in this nor is there any mention of her (i knew this already but still :/)

some of my headcanons or implications I drew from the original movie were supported / outright stated in the ‘new’ one, which I am happy with. examples like Mewtwo not considering himself a human or a pokemon, but superior to both; seeing Pokemon as superior to humans but despising those who choose to serve and obey humans...

several important scenes in the movie literally had no background music??? which was made even more obvious because the original had a really fuckin epic soundtrack, so the lack of it was just JARRING and made the scene feel empty

also speaking of music, as I felt when I first heard the OST online months ago, the music in the movie was generic and uninspired as hell. sometimes the music didn’t even match the tone of the scene it was covering. it was just... bad.

the voice acting wasn’t terrible (sometimes it was though), but it wasn’t great. they brought Dan Green back to voice Mewtwo, who voiced him back in Mewtwo Returns. he’s not bad, but I still prefer Jay Goede, the original VA. the voice acting for the pokemon’s voices were hilariously bad sometimes though lmao

they watered Mewtwo’s character down significantly and the events leading up to and surrounding his creation and him dealing with the scientists & Giovanni feels so disjointed?? the build up to his anger isn’t shown or developed very well, nor was it given the same justification that it had in the original. also he even says “Humans I don’t intend to cause you harm” but like... he did?? in the original he intended on wiping out the human race, even if he was willing to spare Ash & co for the moment, knowing they wouldn’t be able to escape their inevitable end. so I’m just ????????

also it never stops being hilarious to me that every human acts surprised when they find out Mewtwo was created from Mew. like you dumbasses it's literally IN HIS NAME...........

i could break things down scene by scene as to what was missing or done wrong (but i don’t have the time or patience for it and i don’t think anyone else does either lol). they put what little focus they had on the wrong things. none of the minor new things they included added anything of worth. i feel bad for anyone who saw / liked this movie but never saw the original, because Yikes. even though the original had its problems, it did so much right.

all in all, graphically it’s pretty and beautiful, although sometimes the pokemon look very plastic / play-doh-y?? the humans are, of course, disturbing.

other than that, nothing about MSBE did anything to improve or expand on the original, and a lot of things were done worse. much like the plastic-y look the pokemon had, the movie felt empty, boring, awkward, lifeless and recycled.

i still hate that they kept the ridiculous “fighting is bad even though this is literally a series about children using their pet animals to fight” sentiment that the original english dub was changed to. “originals and copies, they’re all living creatures! does winning or losing really matter?” i dunno ask your entire franchise misty lmao

but like i’m glad that mewtwo hasn’t faded in popularity at all and still gets attention and content 20+ years later. i would love more movies including him. but like... new stuff please? we already have to deal with disney’s shitty remakes. please don’t start with pokemon too....

[rallamajoop]

Inception: A Fannish Retrospective

For a while now I’ve found myself craving a fic of a particular hard-to-define quality – something with a bit of grit and maturity – not graphic or grim, but perhaps the kind of seedy underworld setting you might find in the better parts of Tarantino or Guy Richie’s oeuvre. The kind of fic that lets me believe that if the author toned down the slash and published it as a mainstream crime or espionage thriller, I’d still be enthused about reading it. Cord Smithee’s work is a particularly good example, for the UNCLE fans out there, but you can only reread those fics so many times, and fic of that quality has been especially sparse in the last few fandoms I’ve drifted through, and so the craving lingered.

Then it hit me: hey, you know what fandom used to be really good for that kind of fic? Inception.

And after all this time in Venom fandom, it was hardly a big jump to more Tom Hardy, so.

Maybe the bigger wonder is that nearly ten years on, most of the fic is still just as good as I remember it being. Mirabella’s Towards Zero remains one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever read in any fandom, and delires’ chav!Eames AU is better than any idea that cracked has any goddamn right to be, and (at least as long as you’re into the juggernaut ship that is Arthur/Eames) you are spoilt for choice ­­for more.

But revisiting a fandom this much later and binging this much fic, you notice things. We’ll start with…

The Film

Still holds up on rewatching today. It will never be nearly as smart a film as I’ve seen some claim: totems, for one, make no fucking sense (they’re objects with details known only to you, but if Cobb can unintentionally bring a carbon copy of his wife into a dream, why not a top that falls over when spun? And why does it keep spinning indefinitely in dreams, anyway?), and for all the exposition on ‘kicks’, why the kicks need to be synchronised to work under sedation is woefully under-explained, to the point I’m always by distracted trying to make sense of it in the middle of the third act. (Do not even get me started on the ‘it’s actually about filmmaking!’ theory – the mental gymnastics required to explain how Yusuf or Mal fits in or why we’re so fixated on the importance of the set designer, of all roles, is laughable. Some of the parallels are moderately entertaining, but don’t try to tell me you’ve unlocked the secret meaning of the film – Inception is not a movie that makes you work that hard to find its main themes.)

But the film works despite its plotholes because it’s not, ultimately, a story driven by its mechanics: the endlessly spinning top may make no sense, but film is a visual medium, and it’s such a good visual gimmick it’s gets a pass. The practical stunts are still as impressive ever, but what really lifts Inception so far beyond your typical action/heist film – for me, at least – are the characters, and the huge emotional payoffs at the end. Fischer’s reconciliation with his father is no less moving for its falseness, “We did grow old together” has gotten a sniffle out of me time and again, and the final “We’ll be young men together” scene is wonderful in so many ways I could only dream there was the Cobb/Saito fic to live up to. It’s not for nothing I’ve got Inception mentally filed in my very short list of humanist action movies along with Mad Max: Fury Road, Terminator II, and precious few others.

And then there’s…

 The Fandom

Film fandoms are always an interesting beast, peaking as they do when the film is still in theatres, when most folks writing fic are working off imperfect memories of having seen an hour or two’s worth of canon maybe once or twice at most. Fanon can go feral in far less conducive environments, is my point here – inevitably, there’ll be the details that get analysed to death or flanderised to the point of parody, and the details that get altogether forgotten. Here’s just one example that hit me on a rewatch: I have lately read god knows how many different theories on just what it means that Arthur knew Eames was in Mombasa – none of them the least bothered by how everything in Cobb’s behaviour in that scene suggests he already knows exactly where he’s going, and may even be right now leaving to catch his flight. We could talk about the artefacts of clunky exposition being shoehorned into the dialogue, or the actual intent of that exchange, but shipper-goggles give you some powerful tunnel-vision (and I say this as someone who ships it like burning).

Binge as much fic as fast as I have in the last few months, and you begin to notice trends. Common themes and popular fanon that have ascended to gospel, and facets of the original film I’d love to see explored that fandom seems to have collectively missed altogether (and the sad lack of decent Cobb/Saito is only one). Below, in no particular order, are some of those observations.

Since most of these come across as critical, I want to emphasise that I have had a ball revisiting the fic in this fandom, and there are probably multiple fics guilty of everything I touch on below which I have loved to bits. It’s only the repetition that really starts to make you sit up and notice.

1.       The Cobb-bashing, oh my god the Cobb-bashing! I had forgotten just how much this fandom hates Cobb. In the film, Cobb’s plan is the only reason Arthur and Eames ever end up in the same room at all – yet in fanfic, Cobb has been recast as the only thing keeping them apart. I’m not kidding there – fic with that exact premise is almost its own genre. In Inception fanon, Cobb is crazy and cares only about himself, and Arthur has wasted years of misplaced loyalty keeping him alive. Fanon!Eames hates Cobb for monopolising Arthur’s attention (in the film, Eames seems underwhelmed to learn Cobb is still working with Arthur at all). Fanon!Eames only works with Cobb at all because it’s an excuse to work with Arthur (in the film, they’re barely capable of having a civil conversation). Fanon!Eames never forgives Cobb for concealing the level of sedation they were under Inception job, and nor does Arthur (in the film, no-one even mentions Cobb’s deception after they leave the first level, and Eames’ main disappointment at the end is that he won’t get to see the Fischers’ big reconciliation, but why let that douse a good hateboner?) Meanwhile, Yusuf’s corresponding betrayal and Arthur’s equally-disastrous research-fail are rarely referenced. It’s not every fic, but the base level of Cobb-hate around these parts is pretty astounding. There’s nothing new about fans bashing the main character for having the gall to take screentime away from their OTP, and I’d be the last to play down Cobb’s real failings. But when one finds oneself tempted to leave enthusiastic comments on decade-old fic, praising the author for giving Cobb a minor scene or two where he gets to be a total bro to Arthur for a change… I promise you, it’s not me, it’s this fandom.

2.       For all that Eames is basically the single biggest reason I’m reading in this fandom, his fanon characterisation leaves something to be desired. I do get the appeal of flirty!Eames or pining!Eames – it’s just that once in a while, you find yourself longing for fic about the guy who was actually in the movie – y’know, the one who’s first response to Arthur’s name was, “Arthur? Are you still working with that stick-in-the-mud?” I am totally down with the idea he was feigning indifference– maybe for Cobb’s benefit, maybe he’s actively in denial himself, whatevs. But fanon!Eames characterisation typically ranges from “hopelessly in love with Arthur from the moment they met” to “a walking sexual harassment lawsuit in action,” and neither of those guys could convincingly feign indifference to save their lives. It’s also a shame we don’t see more of the side of Eames that got so genuinely, unashamedly invested in what they were doing for Fischer – quite beyond the money and the prestige, Eames loves that they get to fix Fischer’s relationship with his father and reveal Browning as the rat that he is, and it’s a wonderfully humanising side to such a shady character. There should be so much scope in there to cast Eames was a guy with a real idealistic streak, or more conscience than he’d usually admit to, or just an abiding love for melodrama – the possibilities go on and on (and if you can’t think of a dozen ways to tie any of those in as fuel for his rivalry with Arthur for bonus shippy fodder, you aren’t even trying). But that part of Eames never does seem to have found a place in the fandom’s collective headcanon, because hell if I can find any exploration of it in fic, le sigh. (Cynically, I have to wonder if it’s because it clashes with the fanon where Eames spent the Inception job furiously hating Cobb and focused on Arthur, but even that seems somewhat lacking as an answer. Who even knows?)

3.       As a corollary to the above, remarkably few fics make any attempt to deal with the fact that Arthur and Eames a) basically hate each other, b) for reasons that do not entirely revolve around how Arthur won’t put out. Obviously, this is a ‘hate’ that covers a much deeper well of underlying respect, but these are two guys who only stop taking potshots at each other when they’re being shot at for real, and to me that is 95% of the fun of the pairing – why does no-one even seem to try to recreate that dynamic in fic? Even 99% of Eames’ infamous ‘flirting’ would be better described as him pulling Arthur’s pigtails. Yet virtually no-one seems to want to tackle their antipathy head-on – even fic that acknowledges it as a past phase of their relationship isn’t set during that phase. I’m all for seeing them eventually end up friendlier, but you’ve got to show me how they get there first – that’s the good bit! Why does everyone skip over it? :((((

4.       This fandom has SUCH a thing for underage!Arthur. Fics will go on and on about how young he looks, or theorise that he was actually underaged when he first got into dreamshare, or at least looked it. Seriously, the idea of Eames having mistaken Arthur for a teen when they first met is, like, the accepted pan-fandom headcanon as to why they don’t get on (unless we’re in military-backstory land, in which case it’s that Arthur had to deal with Eames hitting on him during the time of DADT). Then there are the many (MANY) AUs where Arthur really is a teen, hitting on the much-older Eames – there’s that one semi-parody where even twenty-something!Arthur gets cockblocked by his own looks, and there’s even at least one that flips things so that Eames the one who was underage when they met, just for variety.

It’s a real Thing, and I only wish I understood where it comes from, since (to me) Arthur has always looked like the 29yo man JGL legitimately was back when Inception hit screens – I don’t think he’d even passed as a Hollywood!teen for a solid half a decade at that point. So… are there really that many people who thought JGL looked that young when the film came out, or is this just one of those fannish meme things? I may never know.

5.       No-one (by which I mean almost no-one) gets how limbo works. Fic after fic treats it as basically just a garden-variety coma, and colleagues can spend days or months moving the victim, gathering a team and planning a complex rescue. Rarely is it ever remembered the whole point of limbo is that you can age and die trapped in your own mind in no more than hours in the real world. When Eames talks about being ‘trapped in limbo until our brains turn to scrambled egg’, I think it’s safe to assume he’s being pretty literal. Basically, if you’re not treating limbo as the temporal equivalent of the Total Perspective Vortex, you’re probably doing it wrong.

6.       No-one does anything interesting with Ariadne. This, I have some sympathy for: it’s hard to know where to go with someone who ends the film where she does – her push-pull relationship with the world of illegal dreamshare is not a contradiction that can be easily resolved in a subplot, if at all. But the Ariadne who so quickly had Cobb picked as a loose canon never seems to appear in fic either, and nor does the Ariadne with the guts to sneak into his dream to find answers, or the prodigy whose last-minute moment of inspiration saved the whole job. No, Inception fic is more likely to give you an Ariadne who giggles and drags her teammates out partying than any of that, which is absurd to the point of being genuinely offensive. Seriously, that is some A-grade “all we remembered about her is that she’s female”-bullshit. Even when she’s not saddled with OOC giggle fits, fic!Ariadne also remains frustrating static: years after the film, she’ll still be doing extractions with the Inception team, despite seeming no more at home in their world. Where’s the Ariadne who embraces the underworld wholeheartedly and reaches Arthur or Cobb levels of badassery? The Ariadne whose natural gifts and overconfidence get her into Cobb-levels of trouble? Who takes the Inception job as inspiration to go into therapeutic uses of dreams? Who finds legitimate dream-related work through Miles or Saito, but still lets the old team drag her back into extractions every once in a while (because she’s easily one of the most reliable architects in the whole shady business, and there’s a part of her that still kind of loves it)? WHERE?

The obvious rejoinder to all this is that it’s hardly surprising Ariadne doesn’t get much play when you’re mostly reading Arthur/Eames fic. So (because the land of fic is still terrible at cataloguing character-specific gen) I had a dig through some Arthur/Ariadne fic for comparison – only to run into much the same frustrations all over again. No-one takes her character anywhere very interesting.

So you can imagine my surprised delight when I tried a couple of Arthur/Ariadne/Eames fics on a whim, and almost immediately found not one but two different stories willing to dive headfirst into the questions surrounding Ariadne’s future in the world of illegal dreamshare (plus multiple stories which made a very convincing case that Ariadne should absolutely celebrate their successful Inception by having a threesome with her colleagues, I mean, damn).

I have absolutely no idea what it says about fandom that I had to go looking at threesome fic to find real character development, but at this point, I’ll take it.

7.       So, I get why everyone reads Eames as queer (duh), but having discovered two quite excellent straight!Eames fic (which is to say, fic which utterly sells the idea that Eames considers himself straight or had no experience with men until long after meeting Arthur), the fact no equivalent seems to exist for Arthur baffles me. Sure, there’s one or two stories where one smile from Eames is about all it takes to make him change his mind, and one great kink meme fill that might have been just what I was looking for if it had ever been finished. But otherwise, the idea that Arthur (a guy who snogs Ariadne and is given no other obvious sexuality) -- the same Arthur whom every other fic portrays as seriously emotionally repressed – the idea this guy might not be experienced and comfortable dating men just… doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone. Which is so weird.

Is there not enough RL evidence that Tom Hardy can and does make straight guys reconsider their preferences? Is the idea of an Arthur who’s repressed that side of his own sexuality not a juicy enough explanation for the tension between them? How on earth did we wind up with a fandom where Eames is more likely to be the designated “straight” one at the start of the story than Arthur? The mind boggles.

Holy shit, you’re still reading? Damn! Have some more recs as thanks for listening to me ramble at so much length.

Recs!

Here’s those two from the top again, because I really do love them that much

We Can Do This Until We Pass Out by delires Disturbing London, baby, we about to branch out. (The one where Eames is a chav)

Towards Zero by Mirabella Five levels down, and five to dig yourself back out.  Arthur met Eames' projection long before he met Eames.

Where the Dead Live also by Mirabella There's a monster in Arthur's basement.  Maybe he shouldn't have invited it in. It’s the vampire!Apocalypse, and this one is intense. Utterly brilliant, but equally unapologetic about the implications of its premise. So, for a somewhat-lighter take on monster!Eames, I will also throw in:

Cthonical’s demon!Eames verse Unfinished -- arguably never even properly started, just a series of ficlets from a ‘verse that never quite got written, but they are scorching hot and still well worth a look.

That’s a lot of darker fic though, probably time to lighten the mood a little.

Anal [Inception] aka Not Now Cobb We're Doing BGs also by cthonical Arthur and Eames both play WoW. They kick ass at Warsong Gulch, and when they team up they’re nigh on unstoppable.They don’t know they’re playing with each other.

Champion Sound by pyrimidine Prompt: Arthur is a DJ, Eames is a bartender.

London Bridge by sorrynotsorry Arthur loves whiskey, and maybe strippers. 

My two favourite Arthur/Eames/Ariadne fics

How to Cure Insomnia by wonderfulwrites When she called Arthur for advice on how to deal with the unexpected insomnia - okay, fine, on the pretense of asking for advice – she hadn’t expected to have to wade through a sea of bodies to see him. But then, she also hadn’t expected Eames’s cheerful but surprising, Just come, Ariadne. You can sleep when you’re dead.  Or Eames, at all, really. The Wind on the Mountain by Starlingthefool Something in her rebels against this casual, passive seduction. God knows why, but she’s sitting up in the water, taking her foot back from Eames and dislodging Arthur’s hands from her back. She stands, wet underwear clinging ridiculously to her, and says to Arthur, “All right. Your turn.”

Aaand let’s have a few more straight Arthur/Eames to round it out.

Untitled and Untitled, redux by Helenish -- two variants on a theme, and do not let the lack of proper titles put you off, they’re both great.

Unexpected Plot Twist by ethrosdemon Post-Inception -- long and (as promised) twisty, and a very solid read.

Four Corners by Mithrigil In Eames’ line of work, a first impression means nearly everything. It’s always a pity when he doesn’t get off on the right foot.

Kiss With A Fist  by cmonkatiekatie Because apparently, to find real Arthur/Eames antagonism, I have to go looking for hate sex. (Not complaining, this is some amazing hate sex.)

And also basically Everything by Wiltling There’s a darker vibe to their work, but it rarely gets oppressive -- just generally a lot of great fic.

[fridge-reviews]

Star Wars: Republic Commando

Developer: Lucasarts Publisher: Lucasarts, Lucasfilm, Disney Interactive Rrp: £6.99 (Steam and Humblebundle) £8.09 (Gog.com) Released: 1st March 2005 Available on: Steam, Gog.com and Humblebundle Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard A long long time ago, in a galaxy far away blah, blah, blah, Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars. Clones, Empire, Rebels, Robots. Explosions, stupid mesa guy, lightsabres, Sith, Jedi, Wookies...

I think its fair to say that I don't need to explain the basic concept of what Star Wars is. I mean they have a metric ton of games, movies, series, books, comics, toys and all sorts of other stuff and that’s without going into the old expanded universe. There is some debate as to whether this game is actually part of the canon of the Star Wars universe, so if that’s important to you then you'll have to make your own minds up. Either way the events of this game happen bit before and during Star Wars: Episode two. The game itself is a team based first person shooter, in which you control a squad of four (including yourself) clone commandos. Even though these commandos are all cloned from the same person, each member has their own specialisation and personality. Your team is known as Delta Squad and you in particular take on the role of Delta RC-1138 (otherwise known as 38 or Boss).

Unfortunately I have to start off with a negative if only because its the first thing you come across when you boot the game up. I never thought I'd have to say this about any major release game but its easier to navigate the main menu (which is a dull as sin, seriously a grey background) with the keyboard due to the in menu mouse being insanely fast. Turning down the sensitivity does help a lot but it also causes the in game mouse movement to also slow down, meaning you have to turn it right back up again afterward. The HUD is shown as part of your helmet by default, you can choose to disable the helmet view in the options menu if you so wish. Personally I didn't find that the helmet got in the way but I know some people who took issue with it.

The game is separated into missions which in turn are split off into small levels that essentially act as corridors. Each missions structure tends to pretty simple and similar, get to a certain point, blow something up and escape. Of course while you attempt to complete your mission you'll be set upon by droids and other such enemies. Most of these tend to be fodder and easily dispatched but mixed among them are more elite units that generally need the whole squad to concentrate fire on to defeat. They can be defeated without issuing the 'concentrate fire' order but it takes much longer and usually you'll find that a few of your commandos have fallen in the process. As I just briefly mentioned above you can issue orders to your fellow commandos. These come in two flavours, the contextual 'blow this up / concentrate fire' or the general orders like regrouping and securing a position. If you choose not to issue any orders (other than those necessary to progress) and treat the game as an ordinary shooter you'll find the game to be much more difficult and the commandos will seem somewhat stupid, they'll eventually get the job done but they'll be terribly inefficient and will likely need to be brought back to full health after any large fight. If you instruct them correctly though they can be a real force to be reckoned with taking down large swaths of enemies. It does mean you as the commander have to have a level of situation awareness though.

If a commando goes down during a fight you can send another commando to put him back on his feet or you can do it yourself. Once they're on there feet they'll limp around and fight as best they can until they find or are order to use a healing station. I found that the combat itself felt a bit lacklustre, all the weapons seemed to lack any real 'kick' or sense of weight. Since this is basically all you'll be doing through the game its a rather large problem and its not one that I found I could get over.

This game shows its age graphically the worlds look quite angular and blocky and the textures are clearly fairly low resolution, at least compared to whats around now. All of that could be forgiven though but for some reason the games frame rate really takes a dive during combat. I don't feel that its due to any limitation on my system... I mean I can play most modern games on the high graphical settings which makes me think that this is a problem with the game itself. The game also doesn't have a setting for 1080p. I'm sure this is largely due to the games age but it does mean that on the highest resolution the game has a large vertical black bars on either side of the screen. One thing this game has done is remove my rose tinted glasses. I remember this game so differently, and feeling much more open. Now I can see it for what it is, its a decent squad shooter, not amazing but also not terrible. The levels are linear as all hell and the gameplay loop does get a bit tedious after a while. If this appeals to you perhaps try; Star Wars: Dark Forces Star Wars: Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight Brothers in Arms: The Road to Hill 30

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Oh! I wanna hear your hyper critical opinions towards p3 (and p4 if youre up to it). I am genuinely curious as to what it is!

pDSOAPFADFJIOA;FJIA;JF;DA Ahhhhhhh if only I wrote down everything I said (I did this over a year ago). under the cut cause long:

It was easier cause I was ripping it as we played and I had some nitpicks in the dialogue (more so with like “WAIT THAT MAKES NO SENSE!” or “WHY ARE YOU JUMPING TO THAT CONCLUSION?!” kinda thing rather than a translation error). But I can’t really specify what it was cause it was so long ago. The only one that comes to mind is when they’re jerks to Naoto, it must be how she’s talking in Japan cause like.......they’re really, REALLY rude to her. Like, they do realize she has a right to be suspicious of them right? Like, don’t get me wrong, I loooooooove the animosity in some way (great foe-yay/rival shipping yay fodder for me to ship her with the MC ahuhuhu 8U) but dang I wish they made more tension (and made it even). That’s actually the one thing I thought the P4 anime did right (and trust me I don’t think that anime did a lot of things right, esp concerning Naoto...ironically XD), they really built the tension between her and the group very well. Anyway I want to go into more detail some other time, maybe when I replay the two games, but for now I’ll give you a general overview). 

Ok so all and all I think P3 and P4 are fine the way they are. They did a good job with them. P3 for being Hashino’s first hoorah into the series (also didn’t have enough time or money to include everything and had to cut stuff, LIKE THE FEMC! ;W;), and P4 for.....having such....a small.....budget....and....not a lot of time....and.....the company was struggling.....Like dang man I’m surprised we got P4. So like, compared to P5, I’m a lot easier on these two cause in one case Hashino was trying to find his style, and the other he was struggling with working with almost nothing (P5, however, didn’t have any of these issues).

Ok so like.....My biggest issue with P3 is mostly it’s characters and character relationships. P4.....I wish we could’ve hung out with Naoto earlier (even before she joined the team, that would’ve been interesting if the MC and her met up and attempted to draw more info out of each other about the case), and I wouldn’t have minded if they added more to the murder plot. 

P3....ngl the first act until Aigis show’s up is.....so....slow.....and boring....and no one is really likeable imo. I hated Yukari, I hated Junpei. Mitsuru seemed interesting but she wouldn’t hang out. Akihiko....didn’t really care for him, but I couldn’t  hang out with him. I couldn’t hang out with Yukari or Junpei if I wanted to (Yukari won’t hang out till around Aigis joins anyway, I remember from my last playthrough we tried, it was an NG+ and she snubbed us). Kenji is a moron (don’t hate him, feel bad for him, but god so boring), Kaz is a moron, didn’t do Yuko the first time (should’ve I did like her, hate I only got the first rank the first time I ever played through P3), I didn’t like Chihiro (she started off fine but was kinda creepy later on), can’t hang with Fuuka unless you have maxed courage cause eff me (not like I can ever remember her gd link anyways that’s how forgettable it is, I don’t even like Yukari but at least I remember her’s). Basically......the SL sucked balls. Major balls (I liked Maiko, the Star dude, the old couple, the Hermit, and the Devil......I guess the Tower too he was ok, and....that’s it....for outside teammate links aka Aigis and Mitsuru). Silly was not a happy camper when she popped P3 in after having fun with P4 (and esp after being told P3 was a GAZZILLION TIMES BETTER!!!!1!), tbh I took like a 4 month break from P3 and replayed P4 before I picked P3 back up (after Aigis showed up I def enjoyed it a heck of a lot more after that). Now, P3′s plot is really good and very solid, it’s P3′s strong point. My issue is that.....everything P3 does is for the sake of the plot. It does it well, don’t get me wrong, but everything about the characters is only happening cause “plot demands it.” They never felt super fleshed out, and it’s probably why they feel a little odd (maybe even flat-ish) in the spinoff games (even more so than the P4 team), cause the spinoff games aren’t relying on their (P3′s) plot. I also don’t buy a lot of their friendships (esp the males teammates with the Male MC), Yukari and Mitsuru’s is....ok (I don’t like how the game makes it feel like “oh you have a dead dad? me too! let’s be friends” as a thing, I know she’s just trying to relate and sympathize but.....I’ve seen that as a complaint come up by a lot of people, for someone so popular Yukari isn’t much of a people person in this regard, from how the game frames it that is). Also the fact you can’t friend girls. There’s not a lot of bonding moments in the game, there’s more than P5, but I still don’t feel as close to the team as I should even by the end. And gawd, Ryoji? Wut I’m friends with him now? How? When? I like the guy but I don’t think he likes me. You’d think he’d want to hang out with me cause.....PHAROS! ;W;

There’s more but I don’t want to leave you hanging, but anyway it’s just....I have a lot of issues with how the characters are handled. They’re good characters, I wish there just....more to them. But the thing is.....THIS IS AN EASY FIX! You’ve probably heard me say about the P5 manga/anime “a change in medium can do wonders” or something like that. That’s cause I have P3 to look at. The manga and movies do wonders for P3 my problems with P3. There’s more bonding, character relationships are improved yadda yadda. Yes there are issues within the manga and movies themselves...... but they do a lot of good things too. One of the things the movies did was actually......influenced by it’s P3P remake (aka establish a relationship with Ryoji, yay!). Oh man, P3P/the FeMC fixed sooooooooooooo many problems (it also added some even more awesome duality to a game that already had a lot of duality going on with it), I can talk to Yukari and Junpei from the get go (and they treat me different, and more pleasantly than when I played as the dude), I can actually hang out with the guys (and I DON’T automatically have to date them, in fact I have to work to date them, every single one), the stats for character requirements are laid out more fairly like in P4 so by the time someone is available I can probably talk to them (without having to kill myself trying to manage my social stats).But man, the first act just flows so much better when you’re able to bond with your teammates (also Rio and Saori are great SLs!). Even tho they don’t change the female SLs pretty much at all (making it veeeery gay XD), it does feel like it is at least a friendship by the end (even tho I’m literally dating everyone and you can’t tell me otherwise! 8U). I also love her personality comes across more clearing (and varied) than the males, there’s a more clear progression of her psyche than her male counterpart (it’s still there, just not as obvious, and I love how they’re inverted to each other~! :D). It’s just, with P3, the really minor changes go a LOOOOOOOOOOONG way. The only thing I would change with P3 is the minor stuff. Just add more scenes (that don’t take up time) to the game, on both sides. Gameplay wise add more SLs, alternative SLs even. Heck, if they remade the game, I think being able to go to new places would be cool (and it’d be where you’d meet your new SLs) cause man you’re in a city, you deserve to do more stuff! It’s just the little things man, the little things can make a big impact! It says something that probably my fav Persona fanfic and fav Strain42 Persona parody comicis the P3(P) ones, even tho P4 is my fav game. You change a few things around, even the medium, and it makes a difference. 

Ok onto P4. Now P4 is the opposite of P3, with P4 it’s strong point is it’s characters. The characters drive P4. P4 is character based, P3 is plot based. P4 the plot takes a back seat. This is fine, it works in P4′s favor, like how the plot worked in P3′s favor. P4′s plot is ok, it does a great job with supporting the characters. Sadly I understand if you wanted more murder mystery (or just mystery) in a murder mystery game. And in P4′s defense, again, it had a barebones budget and not a lot of time and the company was doing pretty bad and P4 still came out pretty great (was the most popular before P5 came out, lord knows if it may even come out on top again if it gets an updated graphics/gameplay remake). And it’s also really hard to keep a murder mystery going for about 70-100ish hours (and only finally solving it in the last 1/5 of the game). Also P4, like P3 (forgot to mention that above), sticks to it’s theme really well. Even making it solving it/obtaining the good ending routes semi-difficult. Sure you can deduce Adachi, but tbh it’s also difficult. They do a pretty decent job building the guy up as a friend (even more so in P4G due to the SL). Izanami is also well hidden. The game makes you work and it rewards you.

Now if I were to change stuff.....it’d range from minor to major depending on what we’re talking about. Minor would be adding more scenes of Naoto bonding (she needs it cause the late game doesn’t do her justice), and like I mentioned above, I think have a deduction off would be interesting (Naoto’s SL was one of my favs cause of how we solved a gd mystery, god I’m so mad that never made it into the anime, even as an ova, it could’ve been a great team-building filler one too). Another thing I’d add would maybe be.....something similar to quests, but instead you have to solve a mystery (which means talking to people, and investigating areas), it can range from finding a cat in a tree or finding a bully or whatever. Just something minor that can give the mystery lovers something fun to do. I’d also have Izanami/gas station attendant be an SL (she originally was the Empress before giving that to Margret). Oh I’d also like to take Margret out on “dates” (c’mon gimme dem fun shenanigans).  And.....now this can be minor or major (depending on what they do, but it’s probably more major), add another red herring. I don’t care how.....but....it would help draw attention away from Adachi. Maybe they’re added from some of the mini mysteries you solved, maybe they squeeze an extra dungeon into the game some how-some way (doubt it for the later, that’d be a major change), but another red herring would be good. 

For a Major change it’d be restructuring the plot a looooooot, adding more dungeons for more red herrings. I would actually make Dojima a red herring. He originally was suppose to be the killer (but they thought that was too dark, understandable), with Adachi as the red herring instead. Other than that I’m not exactly sure how they’d overhaul that. I mean, if they made a P4 game based off of P3P’s route (aka different route/game, different killer), I’d like to see their prototype stuff play out. Short-haired ice queen Yukiko, delinquent/bully Rise, Pretty boy Naoto (actual boy this time, also make him dateable.....what? I like Naoto 8U), 1st year MC, Female Teddie, Adult(?) Kanji, Dojima as the killer, Adachi as the red herring (Chie and Yosuke are actually pretty much the same). I’d really like to see that. 

But tbh, I don’t really know where to start in giving P4 a major overhaul (except to go with the prototype set up), possibly cause it’d mean introducing/creating new characters. But P5? I do, oh man I know where I would start (P5 is where I’d make my major changes left and right, no minor changes here...except maybe dungeon 1), I’d make soooooo many changes to P5. But that’s for another time (not now, it’d take too long). 8U

[youngerdaniel]

Exploration and Rediscovery

When I was planning on moving out to Vancouver, I’d been talking about it as an adventure. Sure, I came here for school; to hone and redefine a skillset that I’ve been working with for about ten years or so. Jeez, have I actually been writing for ten years? Probably more. 

And really, if I’m being honest, writing is just the form I’ve chosen for a vocation that goes a long ways past that. Creativity has been the thing drawing my life together since I was a kid and my mom worked as a professional potter. I grew up in the house with an artist, and I was raised to always carry forth the vocation of the artist.

Hoity-toity, ain’t it? 

But fuck it, I’ve been forking out large sums of cash to go to a fancy art school for about six months now. I can be as hoity-dang-toity as I wish. Fortunately for you, dear reader person, that’s about as far as I want to take that. I just promised I’d get more content up here now that I’m out of the hell-term, and here we are again. Hi, how are ya?

So I’ve been thinking. It hurt. I don’t recommend it, but I’ve come back with gems from the brain cave. Or at least, semi-hard things that I can convince tourists are priceless gems. I’m rambling. It’s almost over, okay? Bear with me.

THOUGHTS:

Over the years, I’ve played in a shitload of artist sandboxes. I’ve been a visual artist, a lyricist, a musician; I’ve written bad poetry, decent poetry, and made really bad short films (remember when Vine was a thing? Yeah.) I dabbled with photography, typography, lithography, and had an eight year tenure as a graphic designer. The summation is, in my life I have arted. A lot.

Most of you know me as that guy who wrote a few books and a chunk of short stories... And I fell into telling stories because, well, in most of my other artistic pursuits, I found I was always telling myself the story of what my life would be like when I got my big break. I was that kid who rehearsed bad post-punk songs to imaginary audiences in my bedroom, and my mom will gladly tell you the stories. Somewhere along the way I got greedy and well, if you’re reading this, you’ve likely read another post I did a while ago about the weird sequence of absolute chance that has put me out here at VFS. 

If you haven’t read that, well, I’m sure you know how to use the search function. Go crazy.

An observation that’s fresh in my mind has emerged after spending a half year around a bunch of other talented creatives with their own perspectives, values, and agendas. Being at art Hogwarts means a new vista of influence, and I’m getting to it, but this is why I mention the whole artistic vocation thing above.

To be an artist is to have a perspective that you use a craft to share. Sometimes it’s a message, or an opinion, but above all else, it is the way you individually view the world. This view is always in flux, because as much as art is an engine for expression, it is also a vehicle with which you can explore.

And you should.

For me, I’ve been going in directions that play a lot differently from my novels’ tones and point of view. I’ve gotten more somber, I’ve dug deeper into my heart than I’m used to, and it made me uncomfortable but also glad to know there’s new stuff to mine... The well ain’t dry, and thank Cthulu for that. (Nobody likes a dry well—especially the guy who falls into it.)

But today I’ve been at a crossroads of sorts. Nothing major or world-altering... But I’m in the midst of settling on a short film that I need to turn in a first draft of five pages for on Friday. I’ve had two ideas. One of which is thematically deep, challenging, and important... And as many of my projects have since I came out here, it deals with love. 

Good, good, great. All things I’m happy to explore. Things I feel are meaningful to play with, and a great departure from the usual gonzo fodder you’re used to.

And then there’s the second, which is just a stupid-ass interrogation between two tough city cops and a talking giraffe puppet, all about the murder of a stuffed bear named Ted D. Bear.

I know, right. There’s the usual dumbfuck stuff you know and have at least read.

Today, I finished class early and took to a cafe. I opened Final Draft and tried working out the scenes for the heavy-headed romance story (which is AI teaches scientists to fall in love again, in the short pitch form), and I slammed myself against the keys for a good couple of hours.

Here’s what I managed to write. 

“                                                                                ...”

Getting stuck happens. I’m used to it, and I’ve learned to embrace it. But not in the self-punishy do nothing, wallow and drink cliched way. When I get jammed, I switch gears. So I moved over to the giraffe and the murdered teddy... And about an hour later I had my script.

When I finished, I thought about it. In one way, I’m chagrined that I can’t belt out the super cool artistic and thematically deep script... But I’m also getting the sense it needs more than 5 pages to do it justice. I want to do both. But I also realized that I’ve been really, really, overly self-serious and maudlin lately. Again, no hate to that point of view, but it’s a space I can only live in for a few months at a time. I’ll still try to get a draft of the other, but for now something is clear.

Exploration shows you new things, and it’s good to expand beyond comfort zones. It’s imperative to evolve, no matter what it is you do (unless that’s killing people. Killing people in more people-killery ways is still not cool. Sorry, murderers.) But exploration requires a return as well. It’s in the fucking Hero’s Journey template, so just take it up with Joseph Campbell. We only can track our growth by forging out and then returning to the familiar with new perspective... And today was just that for me. I’ve been expanding and going well beyond my comfort zone, and along the way I rediscovered the thing that I really love doing...

Which is telling a story that’s fun, silly, and has some sort of heart in its center. Not deep, but not self-serious either. 

The journey’s not over yet. I know I have some projects coming up that aren’t exactly comedies, but then I’ve never actually written comedies. I just happen to use humor and absurdity to express my point of view. In film school, you’re encouraged to find a sort of consistency in your work; a recognizable brand that you’re known for. The funny guy. The thinker feature film guy. The action movie guy. The sci-fi champion...

What I do is just a little different, I guess. I’m always happy to dabble in a genre or form... But ultimately the thing I’m after is whimsy that still manages to play on the heart strings, and isn’t, you know, a big deal. I’d happily call my movies movies over films. And that’s just me.

We’ll see where things go. But sometimes it’s nice to just hit the page and remember what it is you like about that job. It’s not an easy one, and it takes a thick skin to make a living of it... So heaven forbid you enjoy it a little, right?

To be continued...

[presently binge-listening to the Cat Empire. Now you can, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5AU0iBW3qw]