#EDIT: THERE’S TWO NEW CHARACTERS? THEY’RE CANCELLING STORY MODE???

[fizpup]

tfh stuff from like a year ago

[kuinliekkienroihu]

I (crysuzumushi, haha) am working on answering your ask game prompts, you picked two of my very favorites, thank you! I'm gonna ask you to do Kaname too! And Byakuya.

Okay, thanks for the ask!! Sorry it took so long to answer, i wrote a novel. Also sorry for all the spelling and grammar mistakes, English isn’t my first language

Kaname:

1. Favorite thing about them

How he always seeks to act according to his sense of justice. Also he's one of the best written characters in the entire series. He's very complex, which makes him feel kinda like an actual person with understandable actions caused by his past. There are a lot more things, but i'm not good at putting things to words so yeah.

2. Least favorite thing about them

How underutilized he was as a character. I'm really glad there's more of him in cfyow, even though i've only read the first part

3. Favorite line

" I follow the path least soaked in blood. The path I walk is justice."

4. BrOTP

I have many, mostly Shuhei, Aizen, Gin and Sajin

5. OTP

-

6. NOTP

hmm, i don't like him and Aizen romantically at all, same goes for Sajin

7. Random headcanon

He has a plant garden in Las Noches in which he grows, among many other things, the ingredients for Aizen's tea, which is Kaname's secret special mix of herbs. Aizen really misses the tea Kaname made for him.

8. Unpopular opinion

He did nothing wrong, or rather, all he did was (more or less) justified

9. Song i associate with them

-

10. Favorite picture of them

This is my favorite too

Byakuya:

1. Favorite thing about them

Yes. I love every single thing about him. Even the things others would consider as flaws are perfect. I really like how calm and collected he is regardless of the situation, he's intelligent and calculating.

A very well written character with, in my opinion, the best character development. Especially his relationship with Rukia from ignoring her out of pain (since she looks almost identical to Hisana), protecting her to keep a promise, letting her be executed to keep another promise to genuinely caring about her and saving her life in many occasions, clearly regretting what he did to her and trying to compensate for his actions.

Kubo wrote his development extremely well, in the end of the series he's objectively a better person than in the beginning, but his personality didn't change much. He's still the same overly serious, stuck up asshole we know and I love him for it.

Another thing I love the most about him is the fact that he's another walking contradiction. But somehow, these contradictions make a paradox or a perfect harmony without cancelling each other. Kubo did an amazing job making him have many layers in his character. There's this line from a book (had to look it up, the book is called "the chrysanthemum and the sword") that the author used to describe Japanese people, I think I read that in someone's ig story and it got stuck in my head since it reminded me of Byakuya so much, and in my honest opinion, describes him rather thoroughly, especially second, third and fourth ones. His zanpakuto, which is one of the infinite reasons I love him, being fully portrayed by the second one "both militaristic and aesthetic" being combined into the beautiful but deadly weapon Senbonzakura is.

"both aggressive and unaggressive, both militaristic and aesthetic, both insolent and polite, rigid and adaptable, submissive and resentful of being pushed around, loyal and treacherous, brave and timid, conservative and hospitable to new ways"

When you think about it, he has the most fitting zanpakuto for his personality compared to the other shinigami and the way he uses it is one of the tiny details which make him, him.

His spot as a captain and the head of the Kuchiki clan is in my opinion fully earned (rest of the nobles (except Yoruichi) can go fuck themselves) (sorry Tara, ignore this please lol). He is hardworking and precise, almost workaholic, has trained hard from a very young age and puts duty above everything. But he still has a hidden "work mode: off" -side which we see occasionally as cracking a dry joke or the wakame taishi fuckery in general. Latter being, in my honest thoughts, hilarious and adorable.

There is a lot more but i literally can't list everything. This is already a hell of an essay.

2. Least favorite thing about them.

My answer is probably as you can expect: none.

There is one thing i don't really like, but it's about the writing.

!!TYBW SPOILERS!!

In the beginning of the arc i think that immediately releasing bankai, especially when he knew it was gonna be sealed, was out of character and i would have been very upset if he stayed dead, since the action which resulted in that was not something he would do.

3. Favorite line

“If it’s for the sake of my pride there’s nothing I won’t destroy.”

I know it’s from a filler but this line just sums his whole character, personality and motivations up so well.

4. BrOTP

I have so many, i want him to have friends lol. But to point out the most significant ones i'd say Rukia, Renji, Kenpachi, Toshiro and Ichigo

5. OTP

The only one i really ship him with is Nanao. Hisana is kind of “it’s canon and i’m fine with it.” I haven’t seen enough of her to form an opinion about the ship, but it’s obvious how much Bya loved her and it’s so sweet.

6. NOTP

Okay, i have never mentioned this before since i know many of my followers/mutuals ship them. Renji. The only ship I. Can't. Stand.

Like, platonically? Yes, they're bros. But romantically or especially sexually? No. Fuck no.

I don't care if you ship them, good for you, but please tag the stuff so it gets filtered.

7. Random headcanon

He sleeptalks a lot. And it's not mumbling, he talks the same way as when he's awake but it's absolute nonsense.

Byakuya, asleep: Do not eat the drawer.

Hisana, awake: *watches him in utter confusion*

Byakuya, still asleep: Give him a pink tricycle.

Hisana: To whom?

Byakuya: Head captain Yamamoto

Hisana: *trying not to laugh*

Another hc that i have is that he is a closet metalhead and likes especially power- and symphonic metal (this might sound very weird if you know nothing about this kind of music lol)

8. Unpopular opinion

His actions in the soul society arc were understandable. He was put between the bark and the tree (i hope you get what i mean) and had to choose from just letting things happen and going against central 46 and all of soul society (or at least that’s what he thought). Also the line he said to Ukitake, which is still easily in top5 most asshole things he has said/done, in my opinion shows what he thought of Rukia’s execution and why he didn’t do anything to prevent it. “Once you’ve let one of your people die.. ...two or three more make no difference.” Both of his parents are dead, Hisana is dead, Ginrei is most likely dead and he thought for 100 years that Yoruichi was dead too. I think Byakuya thought losing one more person he cares about couldn’t hurt more than it already has and therefore didn’t think it was worth breaking the promise he made in his parents’ grave and trying to save her. And that fucking breaks my heart.

9. Song I associate with them

I have a 6h long playlist which I’m not gonna post. Can’t choose just one lol.

10. Favorite picture of them

*digs through nearly infinite pinterest board, tumblr and phone’s gallery*

This is (one of) my favorite manga panel(s) of him. I love how calm but powerful he looks. The lines representing the heavy spiritual pressure. Like an inescapable doom approaching (which indeed was the case). And for some reason i love it. 

My favorite fanart, which i obviously can’t post since you can’t post others art so here’s the link: https://www.deviantart.com/keelerleah/art/Bleach-Byakuya-Looking-Back-127254804

and then one which I think is official art or at least an edit of it, if I’m wrong please lmk

[crowdvscritic]

round up // MAY 20

When the going gets rough, I find I keep coming back to two kinds of movies: Romantic comedies and action adventures. For whatever reason, those are my comfort food, even if I’m watching someone get their heart broken or fight for their lives.

Hopefully you’re finding small ways to make your days brighter with books, movies, music, and shows that either help you fight or forget some of the darkness around us for a time. These were a few that made my month brighter, including a number of rom coms and action flicks.

May Crowd-Pleasers

SNL at Home

I almost cried for joy when I learned SNL would finish out its season even though it wouldn’t be in Studio 8H—it felt like a glimmer of a lot of joys we’ve lost in the last few months. While the At Home episodes have an odd rhythm compared to the usual broadcast (that live audience makes a difference, especially during “Weekend Update”), I still laughed every week. A few highlights:

“Bailey at the Movies”

“Dreams”

“Grocery Store”

“MasterClass Quarantine Edition” + “Another MasterClass Qurantine Edition”

“RBG Workout”

Watch those skits, then enjoy an infographic-heavy review of the season from Vulture.

Extraction (2020)

Is this a groundbreaking action movie? Heck no, but watching Chris Hemsworth fight to save a kid with a supporting appearance from David Harbour made for a great Sunday evening. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 6/10

The Wedding Singer (1998)

Somehow I’ve never gotten around to this rom com, perhaps because Adam Sandler’s sense of humor usually isn’t my cup of tea. But here he replaces the gross out jokes with a sweet chemistry with Drew Barrymore. I liked it so much I gave 50 First Dates a shot, but, uh, I only recommend movies I finish. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

Baby Boom (1987)

Another not-innovative genre entry, but a satisfying one. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7/10

Action Movies set in 1700s America: The Last of the Mohicans (1992) + The Patriot (2000)

Sometimes I don’t want a complicated villain—sometimes I just want Jason Isaacs (aka Lucius Malfoy) to be so evil I want Mel Gibson to take him down with a tomahawk. The Last of the Mohicans: Crowd - 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10 // The Patriot - Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

Taylor Swift City of Lover concert (2020)

I’ve seen Ms. Swift live twice and have loved the stadium tour spectacle. But an intimate show heavy on acoustic performance reminds me how well her songwriting holds up no matter the production

Prop Culture (2020)

I know, I know: Disney+ original series are well executed, long-form advertising. But can you find better-executed advertising than Jason Schwartzman chatting about the Mary Poppins snow globe at a piano with Richard Sherman, the character he played in Saving Mr. Banks? These staged treasure hunts for Disney movie props may be a bit self-important, but they’re also a dose of nostalgia and lessons about the technical side of filmmaking.

This Drake Bell TikTok

If you get this, you get this.

Silverado (1985)

My weird New Year’s resolution? To watch Westerns, a genre I’ve basically skipped until now. Silverado feels like a throwback to classic Westerns with a modern sensibility and more laughs. Plus, baby Kevin Costner and Jeff Goldblum in a fur coat! Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

Chromatica by Lada Gaga (2020)

Turns out I’m not just a fan of the A Star Is Born/duets with Tony Bennet/Joanne Lady Gaga. I’ve always been cooler on her electronic-dance-club Top 40 hits than her recent guitar-and-vocal stylings, but I can’t stop listening to album-long jam sesh. It’s old Gaga meets 2020 beats meets Depeche Mode/Flock of Seagulls/Madonna/New Order of the ‘80s.

The Heat (2013)

Two of my favorite funny ladies teaming up was—not surprisingly—a win. No one delivers a kooky insult like Melissa McCarthy. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

May Critic Picks

Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, and more try to keep Hollywood and their careers afloat despite a bizarre series of kidnappings, line flubs, and tap dances. Of course the Coen Brothers have a dry, wacky take on the Hollywood studio era. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

Jane Eyre (2006)

Confession: I have not read Jane Eyre. But my mom did, and since she enjoyed the book so much, I figured a happy medium would be to watch this BBC miniseries with her commentary about what they changed from the Brontë classic.

Daisy Jones & the Six (2019)

The highest compliment I can give a book is staying up way too late to finish it, which is what I did with this buzzy Taylor Jenkins Reid book. It’s a barely-fictional oral history of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll in the ‘70s, and somehow it’s not crass or gratuitous about any of them. Most impressive is that Jenkins Reid keeps her characters well-defined even though it’s not written in a traditional novel format. My favorite parts of this story are the deep dive into the creative process and the exploration of how we remember the past. Here’s hoping the Sam Claflin/Riley Keough-led, Reese Witherspoon-produced, (500) Days of Summer team-written Amazon series can do this book justice—I need this soundtrack!

The Plot Thickens podcast (2020)

A Turner Classic Movies podcast hosted by Ben Mankiewicz about film history is a specific—and predictable—Venn diagram of my interests.

Alfred Hitchcock Double Feature: Psycho (1960) + The Birds (1963)

The story about Psycho goes that my grandmother ran out of the movie theatre screaming during the shower scene. Now that I’ve finally watched it, I know why. This horror drama is still terrifying today even if you know what’s going to happen. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 10/10

The story about The Birds goes that my mother was terrified as a little girl after walking into a room where it was on TV, and now she still won’t watch it. The Oscar-winning visual effects have aged so much I didn’t find it scary, but I was still sucked in by the eerie plot. That said, I did have a frightening dream last night involving Tippi Hedren, so it may be more effective than I realized. Give me just a sec while I schedule some Hitchcock-focused family therapy. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Spend two hours with the two nicest bank robbers you’ll ever meet! A winsome Paul Newman and a laconic Robert Redford make their escape on the scenic trails of the Southwest, and gosh darn it, if they aren’t just a barrel of fun. I enjoyed this Western so much I recommended it in a piece I wrote for Round Trip, too. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

Katharine Hepburn Double Feature: Alice Adams (1935) + Woman of the Year (1942)

Saying you love Katharine Hepburn is like saying you love sunshine and flowers—of course you do! In Alice Adams, she’s an optimistic Cinderella with a down-on-their-luck family who falls for a high class fella (Fred MacMurray). In Woman of the Year, she’s a high-brow journalist who falls for sports columnist Spencer Tracy in their first of nine films together. She earned Oscar nominations for both, but I dare you not to fall in love with her after watching just one. Alice Adams - Crowd: 7.5/10 // Critic: 8/10 // Woman of the Year - Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

Also in May…

When you’re not allowed to travel, you get creative! For Round Trip this month, I recommended 13 movies about travel that will make you feel like you took the vacation COVID-19 made you cancel (including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). And if that’s not enough, why don’t you recreate your trip? I turned my apartment into Paris, and here’s why you might want to do the same.

Kyla and I didn’t go far back in time for most of our Gilmore Girls pop culture references on SO IT’S A SHOW? We covered three movies (or two, depending on how you see it) from the 2000s with connections to this year’s Oscars, 8 Mile and then Kill Bill. We also looked into the famous architect Stanford White and a movie he was featured in, 1981’s Ragtime, which had more connections to today’s culture than we expected.

I made another attempt at Jim Jarmusch for ZekeFilm with Broken Flowers. I still don’t get Jim Jarmusch.

My movie count in quarantine is up to 156. You can see them all on Letterboxd.

Photo credits: SNL, Taylor Swift, TikTok, Lady Gaga, Daisy Jones & the Six, The Plot Thickens. All others IMDb.com.

[silverwhisp]

I’ve Completed KH3 And I Have Thoughts.

I have finished KH3 short of the side stuff like the ultima weapon, classic kingdom, gummi ship stuff, battle portals and the cooking. I have some thoughts. First off, I loved this game allot. I only have a couple of complaints gameplay wise and three story wise but all in all, I loved every minute of this game. For those who don’t want to read everything I’d give the game a solid 8.5/10. It was amazing but a few small flaws and the three story issues I had made me bring the score down. First I will discuss the issues cause I feel that’s what one should do when critiquing art. I will offer solutions where I can. 

I will discuss my gameplay complaints first.

The manual lock on is ass while the auto lock on is decent. I almost never used the manual lock on due to the fact it can just drag the camera where ever it wanted. Especially if enemies start flying. This is largely due to how often you spend in the air while in combat. The auto lock is good though and doesn’t seem to change targets unless you make it or bump into another enemy. The manual lock is good for human sized bosses though. Short of making the camera tighter this may not be able to be fixed.

The game is to damn easy. I had this issue in BBS and DDD after I got to level 30 and beyond. The game becomes easy even on proud. This is largely due to bad enemy health scaling. They still can hit damn hard and enemies like the Ice Dragon still are dangerous. But since the enemy’s health and defense don’t scale up better the game becomes real easy after level 40. I don’t doubt they will patch in a critical mode which may be a better way to play this game. Just better enemy scaling would fix this problem.

That’s all my gameplay complaints now for story ones. SPOILERS will be discussed so leave while you can.

The game has bad pacing in the Disney worlds. Some like Olympus, Toy Box, San Fransokyo and Kingdom Of Corona have great pacing while Monstropolis is meh and ones like Pirates and Arendelle were just awful. Why are you cheering for Anna and Elsa Sora? You didn’t do anything you turd. This could have been fixed if they added intervals in between all the worlds to reset the pacing and if they just followed the movies from start to finish in their entirety instead of jumping around.

Twilight Town is more of a bus stop then a world. They should have made it bigger and included old areas to explore. Even an expanded sewer system would have been fun. No story reason needed it just exists. Oh well.

These next issues ARE MAJOR SPOILERS so leave now if you don’t want to be spoiled.

What the fuck is Nomura’s issue with writing a good arc for Kairi? I mean they set her up to be training to become a bad ass and we don’t get to see either the training or a decent fight scene. We fight with her once, she gets kidnapped, and then fucking dies!? I’m starting to think Nomura doesn’t know how to write female characters. That may be one of the reasons they dropped him from FF Versus XIII since females had big roles in the story. He fucked Kairi over and made her the least likable and cared about character in the fucking finale of this Saga to me. What the hell? This alone may actually get me to start my own series on something I’ve been thinking about for awhile. Jesus. The death isn’t the issue its that there was no build up for her.

The last story complaint is a small one. I saw Sora’s “death” coming since death seemed to be a theme in allot of the world’s we went to. Flynn, Anna, Jack, and Tadashi were or are dead at some point. Even Young Xehanort hinted at it when he said, “There is a high price to pay for wielding such power recklessly (...) There is no saving you.” The issues I have with the “death” of Sora is that it means nothing. Nomura said he will be the protagonist for the foreseeable future. If he didn’t say that then the death would be okay. The main complaint about this is the final scene on Destiny Islands where everyone sees Kairi and Sora but Sora just gets Thanos’d. That shouldn’t have been in there. There are two scenarios that would work way better than that one in my eyes.

One: Everyone is just looking out to the sea and the music goes quiet. All you can hear is the sounds of the waves and it zooms to Riku and he just smiles.

Two: Same thing but Kairi comes from the ocean in tears and Riku helps her up. They all look at her and she shakes her head. Everyone gets solemn until Riku chuckles. He smiles and says, “That knuckle head always getting into trouble. He’ll be back. Even if I have to drag him home.”

Maybe its stupid but if you removed the scene where Sora turns into smoke or whatever, the ending would have allot more impact.

Those are all my complaints for the game. Like I said solid overall but with a few issues that could easily be fixed.

Now for the stuff I loved about the game. Gameplay Is First

All the worlds were so much damn fun to explore. I easily spent and extra couple hours in each just looking around for chests, emblems, Easter eggs, and ingredients. Even Pirates was fun and I was worried it’d be gimmicky due to the ship mechanic but nope it was so much fun. The only one that was less fun was Monstropolis but since it takes place in a factory its okay. It seemed more into hidden paths than open places which is fine.

I haven’t had that much fun with a combat system since playing as Vergil In Devil May Cry 4 Special edition and that’s saying something. His combat was so smooth and easy to experiment with I didn’t think it could be beat but KH3′s comes close with transformations and grand magic. The attractions are a bonus though I didn’t use them allot. There wasn’t a need at later levels.

Thank god for combo cancelling with dodges and slides. Against the Gigas, which are the only enemies that pose a threat now, its a god send.

Flowmotion is fun to use and not over powered like in DDD. No more spamming air slam at early levels.

The party members all feel useful. Not many died in combat and seemed smart enough to back off when they’re in danger. Donald also heals based on need versus what he did before. Like if I was out of magic and potions he would heal me over goofy even if we had similar amounts of health.

There wasn’t a single boss I didn’t like short of Dark Baymax since it felt so slow. Skoll is now my favorite heartless design finally surpassing the Wyvern from Kingdom Hearts 1.

That’s all for gameplay since I could go on and on.

Now for story stuff. SPOILERS INCOMING! All the original story stuff for the KH characters was amazing. Anti-Aqua’s theme was so heartbreaking and beautiful and what she said as we fought made me feel like shit even though it was Mickey’s fault for leaving her there. Vanitas’ voice is god like and his scenes are so good. Him calling Ventus and Sora a brother to him makes sense yet unsettled me with the tone he used. ALL OF THE TRIO’S BEING REUNITED!!! I cried when Xion, Roxas and Axel hugged and cried. I was so happy they got to be together. Aqua’s reunion with Terra and Ven was also beautiful. Xehanort’s story beats were great and the man they got to replace the late Leonard Nimoy is amazing. Sounds more sickly and dying like he should at this point. The twist where Terranort wrecks everyone before we go back into time was a fucking shock and amazing. THEN LINGERING WILL SHOWING UP! The voice for Lingering will was amazing. DONALD’S ZETAFLARE HOLY SHIT! All the foreshadowing of Sora’s “Death” or “Disappearance.” Death was talked about allot and Young Xehanort even said Sora couldn’t be saved since Sora uses the power of waking so recklessly. All the Disney characters who met organization members being sick of their shit before they even talk. Woody especially. “I bet you’ve never been loved.” and “That makes you more hollow than any toy.” My son I am so proud. All the instagram style posts were so cute. The epilogue was mind blowing. I knew that sarcastic sniper knew way more than he let on but him being Luxu was a fucking shock. Amazing. And the secret ending seems to be hinting that Sora’s been given a second chance in the form of The Reaper game from TWEWY. Either its going to be DLC which Nomura said if he did decide to do he’d do free stuff and/or one big dlc that adds to the experience in a big way or the next game opens with The Reaper Game. Riku being in Verum Rex is interesting to me. Maybe he realizes Sora isn’t in the realm of light and after talking with Goofy and Donald he learns of Verum Rex and how Sora was tossed in so he goes looking for him there. And finally the Master of Masters looking at the moon and forming a heart with his hands. Is he looking for a new plain of existence for everyone to live on but before he can move people there it needs a new Kingdom Hearts? And is that what’s in the box? I’m excited to see. All in all I love the game and would recommend it to people who want a good JRPG.

8.5/10

[breadknight-likes-things]

Gaming's Biggest Disappointments of 2018,  And Their Silver Linings.

Video games were absolutely incredible in 2018, from bombastic AAA games like God of War to smaller, intimate looks serious subjects like Night In The Woods.  We’ve had an incredible year of games, but with all incredible years come some downsides, and even though this post is about the biggest foibles of the year overall, I think most of them are also indications of improvements big and small that we can look forward to.  So these posts are going to be fairly negative, a thing I try not to do on this blog, but hopefully I can interlace enough positive information in there to keep my usual tone up, so without further ado here they are.

The Telltale Closure: 

So I’m going to open with an event from this year that, frankly despite my title, has no silver lining.  The closure of Telltale games was a gigantic bummer in all respects, hundreds of people lost their jobs suddenly, were given no severance and told their health insurance was only going to last to the end of the month.  All future projects were cancelled and the even their currently running Walking Dead season was left half finished in limbo.  Some employees reported having moved across the country for a job at this well known dev less than a week before, only to more or less immediately lose it.  The higher ups running Telltale kept all of their financial issues so close to the chest that nobody below even knew anything was wrong, so when a new round of funding didn’t pull through at the last minute the only thing they could do was fire nearly every worker. In the end this left only a skeleton crew to finish the contract on Netflix Minecraft, and even they got laid off a couple weeks later!  Telltales death is a cautionary tale, and though we now see that The Walking Dead The Final season will be finished that isn’t what we should be concerned about, if it’s this easy for people in the gaming industry to be mislead about how their company is doing, something is seriously wrong.

Fallout 76, Like, In General:

Alright, Fallout 76 is a mess, and I’ve written before about how I can still enjoy it despite it’s innumerable problems, but almost all events surrounding this games release and it’s bizarre descent from “Buggy but fun” to “just not fun” after it’s patches is something that still needs to be talked about.  I think the most obvious thing to be said about Fallout 76 is that this game simply wasn’t done, I have a feeling it was rushed out to give Bethesda a product for this fall and to match up with the release of the masses of tie-in merchandise, but even so the game just isn’t finished.  As a release, the game is chock full of bugs, some visual like your characters power armor not loading right and you just being rendered spindly and nude and some gameplay affecting like enemies re-spawning in a location seemingly at random, leaving you immediately overwhelmed and dead within seconds. 

Thing is though, that isn’t where it stops, outside the game Bethesda Game Studios has shown an alarmingly tone deaf reaction to the player bases complaints.  I’m not talking about the nylon bag thing(never buy $200 collectors editions everyone, it’s never worth it), I’m talking about leaking peoples personal info and acting like it’s not a big deal or trying to placate anger by giving away paltry amounts of in game currency or collections of old games they didn’t even make.  Despite all this however, if you were to ask me my positive feelings on the thing, at the very least I’d tell you Fallout 76 is a promising blueprint for parts of the franchises future.  Even if this game is deeply flawed, imagine this being reworked more as a co-op mode in a more traditional Fallout or even Elder Scrolls game.  We could be looking at a wonderful future of exploring these big Bethesda worlds with our friends and even if the first attempt is rough as hell, it is ultimately still a first attempt, and hopefully one that portends a potentially great future. 

Metal Gear Survive:

Okay honestly, I don’t have a lot to say about Metal Gear Survive because I didn’t actually play it.  Why I’m bringing it up though is my general feeling that Konami is getting more hatred than even they deserve, based mostly around the ugly mysterious breakup between them and Kojima(though reports of how their employees are mistreated are pretty grim).  Survive is an awful game, and a cynical attempt to cash in on both the Metal Gear name and the boost in notoriety Survival Games have been having in recent times.  What the silver lining in this is however, is that Konami is very clearly not afraid to use their IP’s as some feared after that Kojima breakup.  Castlevania is enjoying success as a much loved Netflix show, two Belmonts and Snake both showed up and were well received in Smash Bros and even Zone of the Enders, which even the biggest Kojima fans seem to forget existed, got a full re-release for PS4.  Though we may need to worry about new attempts at these franchises if Survive is any indication, the scary idea that all those IP’s would just vanish seems to have just been conjecture, so instead of those video game things we all love, lets just watch TV!...Hey at least it’s a good show okay! 

The Response to Diablo Immortal:

This section is not about Diablo Immortal being a bad game, because we don’t know if it is, the thing isn’t even out!  This is about the, in my eyes, stupid, childish and cynical response to the games announcement.  What’s the issue with a mobile Diablo game?  I honestly have to ask myself this question every time I see the horrible response so many people continue to have to this benign spin-off to a much beloved franchise. People tried so hard to be mad about this game they’ve never even played, acting like an innocent nervous joke, one made by a dev after being greeted by a round of disrespectful boos, killed their dog.  Making wild claims that Blizzard no longer cares about their fans or IP’s or that they’re doing this as some kind of bizarre intentional slight against players.  Gaming has a real issue with reactionary anger, and we seem to see it happen for both valid and completely invalid reasons multiple times a year.  

People being angry at being nickled and dimed to death isn’t strange, we can so easily see this in Battlefront 2 from a couple years ago, who wants to grind out 40 hours of an online shooter to unlock one character?  Stuff like that is clearly an absurdly bad choice and the anger it engenders should probably be expected, but Diablo hasn’t actually done anything yet and people are already acting like it’s the biggest affront to video games they’ve ever seen.  What’s the silver lining in this nerd fury you ask?  It’s the game itself.  To be honest even if the game is mediocre having a Diablo game on my phone is an enticing idea, and good or bad I can’t wait to find out how it’s going to play.

We can find the good, we can find the bad, but video games remain a unique medium for stories and entertainment, and I for one can’t wait to find out what 2019 has in store for us!(I mean besides hopefully getting some answers on that batshit twist at the end of Gears of War 4 I still haven’t actually written about, i’ll get to it!)

[theliterateape]

If Non-Binary is the Goal, Why Fight So Hard for Binary Labels?

By Don Hall

Asia Kate Dillon (Billions, John Wick III) has a suggestion for the bloated motion picture awards season: do away with gendered categories.

"Separating people based on their assigned sex, and/or their gender identity, is not only irrelevant when it comes to how an acting performance should be judged, it is also a form of discrimination."

I love this idea. After all, the rest of the goddamned Oscars aren’t separated by gender—there is no Best Female Film Editing or Best Male Director—why should there be this random binary created for actors? It’ll also make the damn thing half as long.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t a binary present. Male and Female. Men and Women. These labels exist and can be biologically demonstrated.

Recently, J.K. Rowling (she of the Harry Potter books) has been under attack for stating that simple fact. That there is, in fact, a biological Man and a biological Woman and the push for TransCitizens to co-opt those binary labels is, in her opinion, harmful to the issue of Women’s Rights. You can agree with her, you can disagree with her, but the attacks have been a blanket shrill cry of transphobia.

Late on Saturday evening, scrolling through children’s pictures before I went to bed, I forgot the first rule of Twitter–never, ever expect a nuanced conversation–and reacted to what I felt was degrading language about women. I spoke up about the importance of sex and have been paying the price ever since. I was transphobic, I was a cunt, a bitch, a TERF, I deserved cancelling, punching and death. You are Voldemort said one person, clearly feeling this was the only language I’d understand.

It would be so much easier to tweet the approved hashtags–because of course trans rights are human rights and of course trans lives matter–scoop up the woke cookies and bask in a virtue-signalling afterglow. There’s joy, relief and safety in conformity. As Simone de Beauvoir also wrote, “… without a doubt it is more comfortable to endure blind bondage than to work for one’s liberation; the dead, too, are better suited to the earth than the living.”

J.K. Rowling

TransWomen seem to be lobbying to be simply referred to as Women without the Trans and it pisses the most strident of activists to have that stance questioned. This without a pause when considering the bizarre and almost abusive practice of encouraging eight-year-old children to undergo hormone therapy and TransWomen (biologically imbued with denser muscle and thicker bone structure) dominating Women’s Sports at the expense of biological Women.

The argument is that the binary mode is more societal than natural and that we are hung up on the Men/Women thing far too much to be inclusive of those who do not fit that restrictive model. I (and it seems J.K. Rowling) agree. I suspect most TransCitizens just want to be left alone to be themselves without a lot of puritanical bullshit. Likewise, I suspect most biological Women want to hang onto the thin thread of gains they have fought so hard for.

What confuses me is the insistence, after so successfully arguing against binary labels, that TransWomen are Women and TransMen are Men. If non-binary is the goal, why fight so hard to keep these binary labels?

The journey toward gender-neutral pronouns has been a rough one—I’m still of the mind that if I don’t know your preference upon meeting you, and you don’t let me know right off the bat whether you are a him/her/they/it/symbol, then your offense at my misgendering is entirely on you. If I’m told and I ignore your preference, I’m a dickhead.

The pronoun thing is all about rejecting the binary. It’s a clean, unambiguous argument and, in my opinion, if you are that threatened by pronouns, perhaps you need to pull your head out of your ass. Or at least practice a bit. I find the need for preferences like that to be a bit precious but I’m an old man—I find most things when it comes to Gen Z to be a bit precious. Like trigger warnings, safe spaces, and TikTok.

No one is surprised at my confusion. So I rely on the stories presented to me by artists because activists are loud, generally one-note, and prefer I shut up and listen. I’m too old to obey the orders of a twenty-two year old unless she’s my manager and I’m working in the fast food industry. Artists have that way of telling a story that resonates with me that polemics do not.

Have you seen DC’s Doom Patrol yet?

Season One, Episode Eight is entitled Danny Patrol and features a sentient, queer-gender transporting street block known as Danny the Street. Effectively a floating haven for those whom society has deemed outcast, the place is filled with queers, queens, and so many of those who have been told they do not fit in with the Normals.

The show is pretty out there but one of the main characters is a sixties era Right Stuff sort of pilot. Married, kids, secretly gay. He is inhabited by a radiation creature that he does not communicate with because he has been trained since childhood to deny himself from being, well, himself.

In Danny the Street, he is slowly pried open by the existence of this special place/creation and there is a moment where he allows himself to sing on a karaoke stage. It is a moving and beautiful thing to behold and reminded me that while I and Rowling and all of these angry trans activists are abstractly intellectualizing these questions of who gets to own the binary and whether or not the binary is the point, the people we are talking around are... people. Some hurt, some frightened, some enraged, some just wanting go about their lives away from judgment and misunderstanding.

Speaking strictly as a straight, white, cisgendered dude in his fifties, when I see a TransWoman or TransMan, I do not see Male and Female biologies. I see people. I see people who are striving to carve out acceptance in a harsh and hateful world and are not some monolithic group of like-minded zealots. I also see someone different and unique. A new category of interesting and exciting. When they’re trolling someone on Twitter, I just see the petulant rage so well-learned from the Huckster-in-Chief.

Does questioning the logic of lobbying for the non-binary while craving the binary equal disrespect or harm to them? Only for the most troubled and wounded. Asking the questions and discussing the parameters of demanded social change should be encouraged. If the only answer one has to questions and counterpoints is to troll and threaten, the counterpoint gains merit. Some can’t handle that. The rest understand that questions, discussions, and dialogues about these exact issues is how we all find ways to progress. 

As people.