#then end credit scenes of all the main characters doing domestic shit that they deserve

[leafmutual]

breath of the wild 2: electric boogaloo where we get to play as link AND zelda as they go around fixing hyrule and tying up the loose ends that didn’t really get tied during the first game. nintendo hire me

[toomuchtv95]

My Savior Part 2

Characters: Jay Halstead x Reader, WIll Halstead, Jake (OC), Antonio Dawson

Word Count: 2.2k+

Chapter Warnings: Kidnapping, Fluff, Swearing

A/n: So, I know I was supposed to get out a couple of days ago, but with everything going on in the world right now I just needed a few days to process everything. Now because of the stuff happening around us, my place of work was unfortunately closed down temporarily which means I have some time to work on this. I am now working on part 3 and I plan on having a smut scene in it so just a heads up on that. Also, there might be more there 3 chapters it all depends on the ending of the next chapter and the feedback I get. Anyways, let me know what guys think of this chapter. 

Enjoy! :)

A/N: Excuse any major grammar mistakes hopefully Grammarly caught most of them.

Series MasterList

(I do not own the gif. Credits to whoever owns it.)

“Hey, Will have you seen Y/N? She said she was going to wait for me outside, but I didn’t see her. I figured she came back in here.” Jay walked into the hospital looking for Y/N, but instead, he saw his brother standing at one of the computer stations.

"No, after I took out her stitches, she left, and I just assumed she was waiting for you to pick her up.” Jay ran a hand down her face before pulling out his phone and giving you another call. When you didn’t answer, Jay started to get worried especially when your husband was still out there. “Jay?”

“I’m worried. I’m going to have Hailey ping her phone.” Jay dialed Hailey’s phone and told her what was going on. Once Hailey pinged your phone, Jay hung up the phone and headed outside with Will right behind him. “Hailey said that Y/N’s phone pinged right outside the hospital.”

"Okay, I'll go this way and you go that way." Will didn't think twice about helping Jay look for you. Growing up Will was like an older brother to you, considering you were an only child. As Jay walked towards the west parking lot, he dialed your phone number again and that's when he heard your ring tone from a distance. Once Jay ran towards the sound, what he saw made him panic even more. Squatting down, Jay picked up your phone that was laying on the floor next to your purse. Jay knew exactly what was going on and who had done it. Angry boiled underneath Jay’s skin as grabbed your stuff and headed back towards the main entrance of the hospital.

“I need to see the parking lot security cameras.” Jay saw Will walking back and Will saw that Jay was holding your purse. “That sick son of a bitch took her. I need to find them now or he’s going to hurt or worse.” Jay felt sick to his stomach just thinking about what Jake was going to do to you.

“Yeah, okay. Let’s talk to Godwin.” Both brothers head back into the hospital to find Godwin and get access to the security footage.

Jake dragged you into the house, your feet dragging against every step it took to get to the house. Jake pulled out a chair from the dinner table, tied both your hands and feet to the chair so that you were incapacitated of doing anything. He stared at you for a moment gave you a sinful smile. Jake crouched in front of you as he removed the handkerchief from your mouth. He grabbed hold of your chin so that you were forced to look at him. “You think you could just leave, and I wouldn’t find you?” Even though you were scared out of your mind, you didn’t want him to know that.

“This is your out. You can just leave. Find someone else. You said it yourself, that I was a worthless piece of shit. So why bother taking me with?"

Jake stood up to circle around you then stood behind you and leaned over and whispered in your ear, “because you are my wife.” As a chill ran down your spine as you closed your eyes to stop the tears from rolling down your face.

“You won’t get away with this. The cops are looking for you.”

Jake circled back around and came face to face again with you. "You think that your little detective boyfriend is going to come to save you? Be your night in shining armor?” Jake grabbed a handful of your hair and force you to look at him. “We will be long gone before he finds you anyways.” Without hesitation, Jake placed a rough kiss on your lips before replacing the handkerchief on your mouth. You wanted nothing more to vomit when his lips were against yours, but you needed to get through this and hope that Jay and his team would find you soon. “I have to finish making plans.”

Jake pulled out his phone and disappeared somewhere down the hall. As you left alone, the tears finally emerged and rolled down your face. Maybe this is was destiny. You were stuck with Jake for the rest of your life and thought of that makes you sick. Before you won’t think twice about spending the rest of your life with him, but now you would do anything to get away from this man you so-called your husband. Maybe you missed all the signs but, how could you? He put on the perfect act. Tricked you into falling in love with him and marrying you. He promised you a life together and this is not what he meant. Abusing you is one thing, but to kidnap you were on a whole new level.

An hour passed when Jake reappeared, and he was angry about something. “Change of plans. We’re leaving now.” Panic spread through your body as shuffled across the room to up tie you from the chair, but something stopped him. “What was that?” As Jake pulled out his gun from his waistband, the front door flew open and relief washed over you. Jake instantly stood behind you and pressed his gun to your forehead causing you to flinch.

“Let her go!” Jay slowly walked into the room with his gun raised. “Adding kidnapping to your list of charges? Murder, gun dealing, and domestic violence wasn’t enough?”

“She brought this on herself." Jay took a few more steps into the house causing Jake to press the gun harder to your forehead. "Don't take one more step or I swear I will put a bullet in her head.”

Jay stopped in his track not wanting to make Jake do something irrational. “You used her as a punching bag what did you expect? You think she was going to stay with you forever?” Jay couldn’t help but lock eyes with you as he saw the pain and hurt in your eyes. The way Jay looked at you wasn't the cop in him, it was the man who was still in love with you even after all these years.

“She got in the way. She deserved what she got.” Anger filled through Jay’s body hearing those words escape Jake’s mouth. Jay took another slow step into the room and Jake’s fingers instantly went onto the trigger.

“Don’t think about or I will put a bullet in your myself.” You shut your eyes the moment you head Antonio Dawson’s voice behind you. After a few seconds of silence, you opened your eyes to see Jake was being handcuffed and dragged out of the house.

Jay walked towards you as he holstered his gun and removed the handkerchief. "Are you okay?" You nodded your head in response as Jay crouched down to cut the ropes from both your hands and feet. “He didn’t hurt you, did he? Cause if he did, I swear-” You crashed body into his and let more tears roll down your face. “Shh, it’s okay. Your safe now.” Jay wrapped his arms around you and held you close.

For the first time in a long time, you felt safe. Jake was sentence to 20yrs in prison without probation or early release which was a relief to you. Two months have passed, and you were still trying to adjust to life without Jake. For the first couple of days, you were shaken up, so Jay suggested that you talk to someone to help you and at first you hesitate, but after some convincing, you decided to talk to someone. Since talking to someone, you started to feel better about things. On another note, things between you and Jay have changed, and maybe for the better. Being back with Jay felt like the two of you never separated. All those feelings you have held back for the last 10yrs were starting resurfaces and you weren’t sure how to deal with it. You were still married, and that makes things complicated.

Jay walked into the apartment around 10:30 pm which his later then usual but he said he was working late on a case. Jay kicked off his boots, unclipped both his badge and gun and tossed them along with his keys onto the table by the door. “Hey.”

“Hi.” You smiled up at Jay as you closed the current book you were reading and set in on the coffee table. Jay walked over the empty side of the sofa and plopped himself down, exhausted. “You okay?”

Jay has never felt this comfortable with a woman expect for you and for you to be back in his life felt like a blessing. To say that Jay didn’t love you anymore would be a lie. Jay never stopped loving you, but things right now things were complicated, and he doesn't know how to handle it. “Tough case is all.”

“Wanna talk about it?” You sat crossed-legged on the sofa and faced Jay. Jay nodded head no, which you knew not to push. The two of you sat there for a moment before you spoke up, “I talked to your lawyer friend today.”

“Yeah?” Jay looked at you with hope.

“Yeah, she said that we have to file even if we assume or know that he won’t sign them. Then there’s a waiting period and if he doesn't respond or refuses to sign, we can then file for a default divorce.” You looked down as fiddled with the loose strings at the end of your sweater.  “She said that she hopefully that once we fill for a default divorce the judge will grant me a divorce because of everything has happened.”

Jay reached over and held your hand. “You deserve everything good and he wasn't the guy was going to give it to you."

“Yeah, well I deserve someone like you.” You whispered as you looked down in hopes that he didn’t hear you. Things between you and Jay were complicated and you didn’t want to make things more complicated.

“Y/N.” You put out your hand out to stop him from saying something that he might regret.

“I’m gonna head to bed. I got an early shift in the morning.” Kissing Jay on the cheek, you got up from the couch and headed into your bedroom. “I’ll see you in the morning”

As you walked into your bedroom, you sat down on the edge of your bed and ran a hand through your hair. Before you married or worked at Jake’s bar, you were a nurse practitioner and you loved it. Unfortunately, you had left about a year ago, because of Jake. Jake started to get weird about you working at the hospital and not being able to keep an eye on you. He had forced you to work at the bar when he was there so that he could an eye on you. You never wanted to give up your career. You saved lives and that all you ever wanted to do. Once, you started working at the bar, you started to notice your bank account slowly draining not only from paying back your student loans but because of Jake. He was taking your money to use for gun dealing and god knows what else.

A soft knock filled the room causing you to pull out of your thoughts. “Y/N, can we need to talk?” The door opened and Jay leaned against the doorframe with his hands in his pockets. You looked up at Jay giving him the cue to talk. “I meant what I said back there. He was never going to give you everything you deserved.” Jay took a step into the room and stood a few feet in front of you. “There is nothing in this world I would want but to be with you again, but you are just getting your life back and I don’t be the guy that slows that process down.”

"How could you think that?" You stood up from your spot on the bed and stood directly in front of him. “Your right I did just get my life back and it’s because of you. So, don’t think that you are going to slow me down, because you’re not. You are the reason why I’m still going. If it wasn’t for you, I would still be with someone I never loved. Being with you these last couple months, just made me realized that I still love you and I know still married, it’s messed up, but you are the one who is going to giving me everything I deserve.”

The next thing you knew, he had slammed his lips to your and nearly knocked all wind from your lungs. You hardly had a moment to react before he pressed his tongue to the seam of your lips asking for access, which you allowed. You laid your hands on his upper biceps pulled him closer. Once the two of you pulled away after a few moments Jay leaned his forehead against yours. “I still love you too, and I am sorry that I let you go all those years ago, but I’m not doing it again.” A soft smile appeared on your face as you pulled Jay in for another kiss.

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[odanurr87]

2018: My year in games

2018 was another good year for gaming as far as I’m concerned, provided you haven’t played Fallout 76 that is. Sony’s still releasing great exclusives, to the point I’m left wondering whether they can keep it up, and we’ve had some interesting releases on PC as well. I don’t have a clue as to how Microsoft is doing, but their one exclusive title I might’ve been interested in, Sea of Thieves, had a messy release and is only available on the Windows 10 store (no, thanks). Notably absent in the release schedule this year was EA’s BioWare, who have been working to release Anthem come February 2019, a title I have little hopes for considering how much it departs from the games the developer is known for as EA tries to embrace the Destiny “live services” crowd everyone is so keen on getting these days (*cough*Bethesda*cough*). CD Projekt RED is also on standby as they continue to work towards Cyberpunk 2077′s release... sometime. Well, at least we know we’re probably getting it sooner than Star Citizen or Half-Life 3. Thankfully, it was a year absent of controversies, like, say, a studio using a franchise to cash in on the battle-royale rage with minimal effort, or a company mocking consumers and telling them not to buy their game... Oh... Well, shit, guess no year is absent of controversy then, but it’s nice to see EA’s spreading the love.

But enough remembrance. You’re here for the list of my top games of 2018, or whatever category I come up with to sort them into, and that’s exactly what you’re going to get. 100% guaranteed, no microtransactions included. This year I’m going to try something different, listing the best games I played this year without ranking them, then selecting my favourite among these, my GOTY if you will. It may be rather unusual, and we all enjoy debating whether this game is the best or that other, but, on the plus side, it builds suspense for my GOTY, doesn’t it? After all, once you see a number other than 1 next to a title, you already know it won’t be my #1 choice. That and I’ve had a tough time trying to rank these games, especially the ones I’ve only just played. Perhaps I’ll change my mind later, but, for now, let’s what games were deserving of some praise this year, shall we?

PSA: This list won’t feature Red Dead Redemption 2 in any way, shape, or form, largely for two reasons: 1) I haven’t played it; and 2) it doesn’t particularly appeal to me, and its large runtime is one of the reasons why.

Let the epicness begin to this theme!

Best Aesthetic

Let’s start with a classic. Last year, the award went to Abzû for its excellent blend of pastel colours, pleasant gameplay, and wonderful soundtrack. It’s only fitting then that this year the award go to the game I recently called “2018′s Abzû”...

Released only a few weeks ago, Gris is another great example on how a game can exquisitely combine gorgeous artwork with an infinitely beautiful soundtrack, and provide an engaging, and rather creative, gameplay experience. Indeed, I'd go so far as say that is one aspect where Gris actually stands out over Abzû, with puzzles that are quite simple, but may require some lateral thinking from the player at times. The level design is fairly intuitive and I was hardly ever stumped as to what to do or where to go to next. Or maybe I was too busy enjoying the watercolour landscapes to pay much attention to where I was going. While Gris won't take more than 4 to 6 hours of your life, depending on whether you've found all collectibles, it is a visual and auditory spectacle well worth your time.

Runners-up:

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

Forgotton Anne

The PlayStation Exclusives

A Telltale-like game on steroids with spectacular visuals, thanks to an insane amount of mocap, and a great soundtrack, Detroit: Become Human really pushed the envelope in regards to choices and consequences within a narrative, so much so that every chapter has a story tree that shows the choices you made as well as the different branching-off points. Our story takes place sometime in the future of Detroit and explores the onset of an android revolution through three different characters, all of them androids: Kara, a housemaid android who runs away with a little girl called Alice; Markus, a domestic android turned rebel leader; and Connor, an advanced prototype specifically designed to help the police track down deviant androids.

Gameplay-wise, Connor’s story is definitely the best of the three, as it allows for more input from the player as Connor has to solve cases with his partner, Lt. Hank Anderson, played by Clancy Brown. These sections of the game are similar to the ones in the Arkham games, requiring you to analyze the scene and put together the clues to recreate past events. At times though, you’ll be placed in adrenaline-filled chases of suspects that make an impressive use of QTEs. As much as I loved this human-android crime-solving duo, the award for most dramatic and emotional story has to go to Kara and Alice’s odyssey to find a new home in the midst of all the chaos. I couldn’t help but feel immediately protective of Alice so I naturally roleplayed Kara as a mom, trying to set a good example for her through my actions. My one regret about this story concerns a decision the developers made, that takes place towards the game’s end and chips away a little at the significance of their relationship for no real value. As for Markus, he felt the more underdeveloped of the three, perhaps because he’s written more as a symbol than a person, becoming the Messiah for all androids (the game’s anything but subtle about this). He’s given a romance arc with the gorgeous Minka Kelly that, sadly, feels unearned, as her character, North, doesn’t have that many intimate moments with him.

Damn you for so obviously pulling at my heartstrings you two!

No story is without flaws and Detroit: Become Human is no exception. While it does feature humans interacting with androids here and there, I was surprised that the android revolution was 100% human-free, what seems rather disingenuous. The game also does little to explain android deviancy and actually muddles the issue by giving its Messiah a unique ability that ends up being not so unique after all. Furthermore, the story doesn’t explore at all the possibility that, even after going deviant, some androids would prefer to stay with their families rather than join Markus’ uncertain revolution. The game’s not particularly subtle in its depiction of android segregation in human society, to the point some of it struck me as more than a bit ridiculous (exclusive stairs for androids?), but I rolled with it thanks to the strength of some of its characters.

Clocking in at around 12 hours, give or take, this is one game that encourages multiple playthroughs as you read the decision trees to figure out where exactly you want to take the characters next and how to do that. A blind first playthrough is encouraged, especially if you want to end up an emotional wreck. For my part, Detroit: Become Human scratched my sci-fi and Telltale itch this year, and that’s why it makes it on my list.

A solid action-adventure title, and one that further disproves EA’s bold, but dumb, claim that single player games are dead. While perhaps not as visually striking as titles like Horizon Zero Dawn or Assassin’s Creed Odyssey -probably due to do the muted colour palette used to depict this world-, God of War remains engaging gameplay-wise, throwing in a healthy mix of satisfying combat and puzzles that will put Kratos’ skills to the test, as well as interesting side quests that never feel like a chore to play, thanks to how well integrated they are to the game’s theme and main story. The customization system is simple enough to understand and use, what is always welcome, and plays a key role in ensuring you will survive your journey, allowing you to upgrade your weapons, craft unique armours, and further tune the both with enchantments, through the tireless efforts of the best side characters in the game, the dwarves Brok and Sindri. The only fault I can find here is related to progression, and how the better armours in the game are available a little too close to the end. By that time, I had three great sets of armour to choose from when I could’ve used at least one of these earlier.

For those new to the franchise, as yours truly, you play Kratos, voiced by none other than Christopher Judge (Teal’c!), a Greek God (with a capital G) who has decided to exile himself to somewhere around Scandinavia after the events of the previous games. The game’s premise centers around trying to fulfill your deceased wife’s last wish to spread her ashes from the highest peak of the mountain. Along for the journey comes your BOY, Atreus, who does his best to connect with a father he rarely knew growing up, what strikes me as odd. Being a Spartan, and given his background, Kratos is more tight-lipped than I would’ve preferred, what makes communicating with his son rather difficult, at least in the beginning. While I understand and welcome what they tried to do with the characters here, I feel the father-son relationship could’ve used further development, especially in regards to a radical personality shift Atreus experiences out of the blue mid-way through the game and is gone just as quickly.

Infused as it is in Norse mythology, comparisons with 2017′s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice seem inevitable, but whereas that game retells the myths via a great narrator, in God of War you actually get to partake in this mythical world and explore some of them. Perhaps precisely because I had previously played Hellblade, most of the twists didn’t come as a surprise, but that doesn’t make them or the story any worse for it. I also have to give the game credit for its ending, which avoided some of the more cliché options available to it. Given the running theme, it would’ve been easy to turn it into something else entirely, and a few minutes leading up to it, I feared that’s exactly what the game would do, but was pleasantly surprised to find out otherwise. It even went the extra mile of hiding away the post-credits scene where one could expect to find it.

In the end, despite a few flaws in its storytelling, God of War is a solid entry in the single player action-adventure genre that I can easily recommend to anyone. If Hellblade didn’t scratch your Norse mythology itch, then God of War most assuredly will.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say this game has done for Spider-Man what the Arkham series did for Batman. Marvel’s Spider-Man is a great Spider-Man story and a very entertaining superhero game, that truly makes you feel like the highly acrobatic, web-slinging, joke-cracking, crime fighter. Swinging your way through NYC was a great rush, reminding me of Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst’s best parkour moments. But Spider-Man is only half of what makes the character great, and the other half, Peter Parker, is perhaps the best adaptation of the character I’ve seen to date, foregoing the tale of his early days as a superhero and reporter for The Daily Bugle, instead focusing on his career as a research assistant under Doctor Otto Octavius. He’s still broke as fuck though.

The story throws you right into the action at the onset, as you ensure Wilson Fisk finally goes to jail for the many crimes he has committed. It doesn’t take long before a new criminal group moves into town however, one that is far less concerned about civilian casualties and is determined to bring down the mayor of NYC, Norman Osborn. So begins a rather complicated web of lies and secrets that both Peter and Spider-Man will have to untangle as the city is slowly engulfed in chaos. Joining you in this fight are NYPD captain Yuriko Watanabe, Mary Jane Watson, now a reporter at The Daily Bugle, and even Miles Morales. Of the three, I liked Yuri the best and felt we could’ve used more time bonding with her. I know very little of Miles’ run as Spider-Man and, while I welcomed his addition to the game, it felt a little lazy to make him such a carbon-copy of Peter. As for MJ, she thoroughly annoyed me with her shtick of getting mad at Spider-Man for constantly saving her, moreso considering how she recklessly puts herself in extremely dangerous situations to begin with.

Less MJ and more Yuri please.

The game features an open world that gets layered with side activities the more you progress through the main campaign. It’s a good idea so as not to overwhelm players with a ton of busy work right at the beginning, and I’ll admit some of them give the player more insight into Peter’s past and Harry Osborn’s character. However, busy work they remain, and you’re obliged to tackle at least some of them if you want to buy suits or upgrade your equipment. While often creative, especially Harry’s research stations, their abundance highlight the lack of more (and more interesting) side quests (the amount of loading screens doesn’t help either). Furthermore, teases like Felicia’s Black Cat returning to NYC or even Silver Sable’s introduction were begging for side quests of their own. Even so, the game’s worst sin by far is how it forces you to play scripted “stealth” sections with Miles and MJ that I kept wishing I could skip. I’m a huge fan of stealth games, but these sections felt extremely forced, perhaps done out of a need to give these characters some agency.

In the end though, Marvel’s Spider-Man is one of the best superhero games to date, and perhaps the best story we never got to see on the big screen, but it naturally benefits from a running time longer than 2 hours. Ironically, it’s similar to the recently released Aquaman, in the sense that it throws a lot of familiar faces and action-packed set pieces at you, particularly towards its emotional third act, unfortunately sacrificing some villains (in terms of storytelling) in the process. Furthermore, this final act feels a little rushed, as if it were missing a cutscene or two in the beginning, and likewise in the end to explain the state of the world. Yet for me, Marvel’s Spider-Man’s crowning achievement remains making me feel like one of my favourite Marvel superheroes as I parkour, fight, and web-sling my way through New York City.

Best Soundtrack

This was not an easy choice to make as there were several titles with solid scores this year, such as Detroit: Become Human, created by three different composers for each of the characters, Peter Due’s Forgotton Anne, or even Joe Haisashi’s Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom. Even John Paesano makes a comeback from his average work on Mass Effect: Andromeda with an excellent main theme for Spider-Man as well as a few other great tracks like “City of Hope” (which plays every time you traverse the city), “Responsibility” and “Behind the Mask.” But the difficulty in choosing one of these increased exponentially when Gris released to an absolutely mesmerizing score by Berlinist, putting me in a similar predicament as last year. In the end though, only one gets to take home this prestigious award, and that game is...

This one was almost a toss between Gris and Detroit, but, in the end, I have to give it to the latter for the sheer amount of work put by Philip Sheppard (Kara), Nima Fakhrara (Connor), and John Paesano (Markus) into crafting three separate and distinct scores that not only feel authentic to each of the characters but are also wonderful to listen to on their own, effectively elevating the source material, something not many titles can boast. If you were to force my hand right now to pick between one of the three, I’d naturally have to go with Philip Sheppard’s score, as his Kara leitmotif was the one that stuck with me the most throughout the game. It’s a simple string composition but the things he does with it, the way he builds upon it, it’s something truly wonderful. It doesn’t hurt that I loved Kara and Alice’s story the most, from an emotional standpoint, and Philip Sheppard’s score plays no small part in this. Having said that, I also have to congratulate Fakhrara’s Connor score, far and wide the one that feels more at home in this sci-fi world, and Paesano’s work in elevating Markus’ character through his music, with great tracks such as “Something You’ve Never Seen Before” or “Markus’ Speech,” to mention a couple. Like last year’s NieR:Automata, Detroit: Become Human’s score is definitely worth a purchase.

Runners-up:

Gris

Forgotton Anne

The Animated Adventures

Of all the games in this list, none fit the category of “family game” better than Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. Everything from its bright and colourful art design that could be lifted straight from a Studio Ghibli production at times, imaginative world and characters, and cheerful soundtrack, made this game a delight to play from beginning to end. It was truly refreshing to play such a straightforward and sincere story about a young prince who wishes to unite the world in peace, working together with his mentor and a motley cast of allies from all corners of the world. The story is framed as a series of chapters, with opening slides and even a narrator to close each one, and it follows Prince Evan as he's exiled from his kingdom after a coup, yet finds the strength in his newfound commitment to bring peace unto the entire world. As such, he founds a new kingdom that you get to micromanage throughout the game, building and creating different facilities, undertaking research or crafting new weapons and armour, finding new recipes for your cook, or scouring the world for people keen on becoming the first citizens of your new kingdom. Unless you’re planning on rushing through the main story, kingdom building will take a good deal of your time, as you’re sent on quest after quest to gather ingredients, find missing people, or engage in battle from time to time. To give an example, it took me 37 hours to beat this game and I still had a ton of things to do on my quest log!

As perhaps one would expect from such a kid-friendly game, Ni no Kuni II is surprisingly easy to play, so much so that people actually complained it lacked difficulty levels, which were eventually added in a patch. If I had to criticize it for something, it would have to be for its world map exploration, which looks similar to Worlds of Final Fantasy, a design decision that clashes with the vibrant Ghibli-like art that is prominent throughout. Perhaps it was outsourced to a different studio than Level-5? Also, the amount of side content in this game can get a bit overwhelming and more than a little repetitive, but if my runtime proves anything, it’s that you can engage it at your own leisure (indeed, it takes 90 hours for a completionist run), or not. The game also features a sort of in-world Facebook/Twitter where you can check posts with pictures of events that have transpired, people looking for new jobs or challenges (a nice way to search for citizens), or even examples of the world’s flora and fauna. It’s a nice little feature that makes the world feel a little more alive and reactive than it really is. As for its score, composed by Joe Hisaishi, while it does have great tracks such as “The Curious Boy” (my personal favourite), “Kingmaker’s Theme,” or “Happily Ever After,” not to mention its main theme, and is solid overall (more so than other titles in this list), it’s probably not one I’ll often find myself listening to, which is why I didn’t award it with my Best Soundtrack award.

All in all, Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is a title I’d heartily recommend to anyone who wants to experience a charming and colourful bedtime story in a little country a long, long way from here...

Developed by ThroughLine Studios and released by Square Enix earlier in May, this game wasn’t even on my radar, but, like Ni no Kuni II, Forgotton Anne is a game brimming with imagination, that pleasantly surprised me with its great voice acting and soundtrack. Unlike Ni no Kuni II however, the game maintains its beautiful, hand-crafted, aesthetic throughout, making you the protagonist of an animated adventure with high production values, as you take on the role of Anne, a human tasked with enforcing the law in a world of forgotten objects turned sentient, called Forgotlings. When a group of rebel Forgotlings strike a power plant, Anne will have to track down the mysterious rebel leader and uncover the truth about herself and this world. Forgotton Anne is a game that allows you to roleplay a ruthless Enforcer as well as one that prefers more peaceful means of resolving conflict and these decisions are acknowledged throughout the game. Equipped with the Arca, a glove that allows you to manipulate anima (or soul energy), Anne will often be presented the choice of 'distilling' Forgotlings or sparing them, opening or closing certain doors for you.

The game plays as a platformer with puzzles that revolve around your use of the Arca to open doors, power up consoles, etc. These are not terribly difficult but you may find one or two that leave you scratching your head for a bit. Exploration is encouraged by way of collectibles and, in fact, a feature is introduced at the end of the game that allows you to travel back in time and replay certain levels in order to track down memorabilia and unlock achievements. It's a neat way of allowing replayability while in the context of the story and it gets extra marks from me for the additional effort.

While the story is largely predictable, it's by no means any less good for it and was, to my mind, perfectly executed. One lingering issue I have, nonetheless, is how the game makes a reveal halfway through, believing it'll have more impact than it actually did as I'd already been playing under the basis this was true. Perhaps they should've made more of an effort to hide it in the beginning. Then again, maybe that would've drawn more attention to it. Another issue I had storywise has to do with how underdeveloped, and slightly contradictory, I felt one of the endings was. It's a feeling I also had when playing the original Life is Strange and realizing how much more effort was put into of the endings as opposed to the other.

When all is said and done, Forgotton Anne is a charming animated adventure that will undoubtedly pull at your heart strings, but also make you smile merely for being allowed to partake in this world of ill-tempered teddy bears, trigger-happy guns, and Shakespearean mannequins, and it’s a definite recommendation.

Lara’s Final Chapter

Shadow of the Tomb Raider delivered almost everything I wanted from a new entry in the Tomb Raider series, but not all I would’ve expected from Lara’s final chapter. Together with her friend Jonah, Lara must stop Trinity from finding an ancient artifact in South America that has the power to reshape the world. However, in her rush to beat Trinity to the finish line, Lara may have inadvertedly set in motion a series of events that threaten to trigger an apocalypse. As a result, Shadow of the Tomb Raider turns out to be a darker game than its predecessors, a fact highlighted at several points throughout the game, but never sufficiently explored, though I give it credit for acknowledging it. Sadly, while Shadow tries to tie together the Trinity storyline from Rise, we learn very little in terms of the composition and overall goals of this shadowy organization, that is now practically reduced to providing cannon fodder for our favourite Croft. The main villain is a little more nuanced and sympathetic than previous ones, and for once the series doesn’t tie your hands behind your back during the final boss fight. Unfortunately for the game, I was more invested in fighting his lieutenant, who gets killed in a cutscene.

In terms of gameplay, Shadow doubles down on tomb raiding, adding underground and underwater exploration, but one can’t help but feel its maps are more constrained than in Rise, favouring the Uncharted series’ more linear approach, particularly when it comes to the game’s combat sections, which feel more scripted than ever before. Perhaps by way of compensation, the game introduces a new stealth mechanic that allows Lara to camouflage herself, thus getting insanely close to her enemies, and the ability to hang enemies from tree tops a la Arkham series. The crafting system now allows you to harvest insects to craft poison grenades or special arrows that turn your enemies against each other, though, regrettably, these are introduced rather late in the game. Weapon customization also makes a comeback as does Lara's ever-increasing wardrobe. Shadow also tries something new by introducing side quests, but thankfully never so many as to feel burdensome.

This game looks pretty to boot too.

The music is mostly unremarkable, working to great effect immersing you in the setting and building on the game’s atmosphere, as I’m sure was Brian D’Oliveira’s intention, but there's nothing that'll stick with you after you're done tomb raiding your way to the end. The pieces that stood out to me the most are “Lara's Dream” and the end credits song, “Goodbye Paititi,” but that’s about it. This might partially explain why Lara’s final chapter lacks emotional resonance; a lot of the emphasis is placed on the action, few, if any, leitmotifs or themes are introduced, with (maybe) only the main theme carried over from previous games. It would be wrong to lay the blame entirely at Shadow’s feet when the first game didn’t establish a musical narrative beyond Lara’s theme though. I don't recall a Jonah theme or a Trinity theme, for instance. Perhaps if the series had maintained a coherent musical narrative with its score the story beats would've been more impactful.

Our story ends in an uneventful note that I feel doesn’t do the series justice. It’s not a bad ending, but it doesn’t pack the same punch as, say, Uncharted 4 did. In a way, this is a curse of its own making, as the Tomb Raider series is tonally different from Uncharted; and whereas the strength of the latter rests in Nate’s interactions with his friends and family, Lara has always been terribly isolated in these games, Jonah notwithstanding. Thus, while not exactly the swan song our tomb raider deserves, if you played the previous two games, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is definitely not one to miss.

Best Side Content

I don’t think any other game I’ve played this year has come close to making its world come alive nearly as much as this game did. With plenty of side quests and side activities, it would be easy to make them seem like busy work, but this game somehow manages to turn them into events the player can look forward to, building the world these characters live in, making it feel real. Some are so entertaining that I found myself delaying the main campaign so I could play more of them. No game released this year did this better than...

While the game shows some signs of its age (it was originally released in 2015 in Japan), what it lacks in visuals it more than makes up packing its world full of fun things to do. Do you want to go out for drinks and do some karaoke? You can do that. How about some batting practice? You can do that too. Dinner? Sure. Car racing? You bet. Can I rock the dance floor? Like freaking Travolta. You can even play games at your nearest SEGA arcade, bet big on an underground fight ring (there are two), get into real estate or manage your cabaret club, by far the mini-game I had most fun with. The amount of detail put into some of these mini-games is beyond ridiculous and would definitely justify having a game of their own. Beyond these activities, you also get to meet a lot of interesting NPCs that have their own unique stories to tell and that you always feel glad to have helped at the end of the day. You can help a mother rescue her daughter from a cult, have the Chinese mafia fake a ring for a guy’s girlfriend, teach a dominatrix how to be better at her job, or even share your stories with a radio programme to win a prize, to mention a bare few. You can also have a few laughs at how bad Majima is tailing people and trying to hide from them.

Yakuza 0 is an example of side content done right, that foregoes the modern-day open-world formula, opting for a more constrained setting a la Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but that feels big and rich thanks to its content and characters. And on that note, let’s give it up for Judgement Kazzy!

Runners-up:

God of War

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

Assassins No More

Last year, Origins made it into my list through sheer spectacle, the lure of exploring Ancient Egypt, and the promise of a return to the modern storyline of the Isu with the introduction of a new set protagonist, Layla Hassan. This year, Odyssey ups the ante by delivering a story that, while still revolving around a family drama, no longer makes revenge the driving force of the narrative. Indeed, for a good chunk of the game, our character’s motivation (Kassandra, in my case) is a blend of making a living as a mercenary and exploring the world beyond her small island of Kephallonia. Given how beautiful and colourful the world in Odyssey is, I’d say it was a smart choice. The game also introduces more interesting side quests than its predecessor did, and better tied to the main campaign, with one of my favourites being the Silver Islands arc; perhaps in no small part thanks to how cute the rebel leader, Kyra, is. In fact, Kassandra can romance a TON of people as she explores the world and runs errands, but, sadly, no relationship is as well crafted as, say, your relationship with Triss or Yennefer in The Witcher 3. Some might come close to being as impactful, such as your relationship with Daphnae, one of the Daughters of Artemis, but they’re all mostly just one-night stands, with one particular relationship coming out of the blue as the game ends that I wished the game had set up and built further.

I know I said cute, but hot works too.

Gameplay-wise, Odyssey plays very much like Origins, with a more streamlined crafing system, that requires less variety (but still tons) of resources to upgrade your gear, but with blocking gone after the shield was removed, an odd design choice. You still get to level up your character, though the leveling-up curve is rather steep at the beginning, forcing you to play much of the side content that would qualify under busy work. It doesn’t help that the in-game store sells a Permanent XP booster that gives you an additional 50% XP for $10, as well as materiales to upgrade your gear, and has the balls to outright call them “Time Savers.” Ubisoft further pushes the in-game store and Helix credits by introducing a new currency in-game, necessary to buy crates with random legendary gear drops from a special vendor, that you get at a much slower rate than your usual credits. I’m not too mad about this, given that the game does reward you with some great-looking armours through normal playthrough, but it’s something we should be on the lookout for future titles.

Naval battles make a return and, simple as they are, I welcomed the distraction and opportunity to sail the Aegean Sea and discover new locations and secrets. At times, Odyssey manages to replicate the sense of wonder and mystery I experienced when playing Skyrim. On the other hand, Conquest battles, its newest addition to the franchise, fail to live up to the expectation. Beyond their limited scope, the worst sin they commit is how inconsequential they are, having no impact in the world around you beyond what banner the closest fort will fly. Curiously, these battles are missing from the main story's end content, what seems odd considering they would've been a perfect fit for the story. In fact, there's a stark contrast between Chapters 1-7 and 8-10, with the latter chapters moving at a brisk pace that is not necessarily justified. On the plus side, Ubisoft has seemingly embraced the Isu civilization, what has allowed them to include mythical creatures like the Minotaur or Medusa, and even throw in Atlantis for good measure. I only hope they’ll go the extra mile and throw in some Greek Gods as well.

The game has some well-placed humour as well.

For all the things it does better than Origins however, I feel Odyssey takes a few steps back, especially insofar the modern-day storyline is concerned. While Layla Hassan makes a comeback, her story is so short and uneventful that it comes across as an afterthought, jumping ahead in time and introducing a whole host of new characters we have never met and referencing events we know nothing about. Layla herself experiences a radical transformation from being skeptical of the assassins’ intentions to becoming one of their strongest supporters. Nothing about the modern-day storyline makes a lot of sense, with many gaps that are probably filled in with other material such as comics and novels, but I’ve always believed that to be the hallmark of lazy and poor storytelling. Either commit to the modern-day storyline or don’t, Ubisoft, you can’t have it both ways.

Overall, I feel like Odyssey is an improvement over Origins, and that’s why it makes it on the list. I am however, skeptical that Ubisoft will pull it off a third time before the charm and novelty of an open-world Assassin’s Creed game wears off -it already is thanks in no small part to its side content-, or before they push the Helix Store so hard down our throats that they have their own Battlefront 2 controversy. Perhaps they still have a shot with a game set in Japan or China. Only time will tell.

My favourite game of 2018

This wasn’t a particularly easy choice to make considering the different strengths and weaknesses of the games in this list, not to mention their different approaches to storytelling. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is a strong contender, but its world is so filled with busy work, its modern-day story so underdeveloped, and the push of the Helix Store so blatant, that I cannot in good conscience say this was my favourite game of 2018, let alone GOTY. Likewise, Shadow of the Tomb Raider was initially well-positioned in my mind to take it home, but it just didn’t stick the landing for what it’s supposed to be (but hopefully isn’t) Lara’s final chapter. Another single-player action-adventure title, God of War, gets almost everything right, but I couldn’t connect with the story of Kratos and Atreus in the same way I did, say, Kara and Alice in Detroit: Become Human. I could go on knocking out competitors, but I’d rather talk about my favourite game released in 2018...

Yakuza 0 is not a perfect game, but it gets pretty close at times. Set in the 80s, Yakuza 0 follows the characters of Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima, two rookie Yakuza who, for different reasons, have fallen in disfavour with their respective families, and need to figure out whether they have what it takes to return to the fold. That’s about as much as I can reveal without talking spoilers. No story in any of the games I played this year gripped me nearly as much as this one did (some moments in Detroit: Become Human come close), not only because of how well-written the characters are across the board (including the villains who come across as fearsome opponents), but also because of its many twists and turns that will keep you guessing what the real goal of the different players you find yourself involved with is. Your character, be it Kiryu or Majima, and his understanding of events by the game’s end, is radically different from his starting point, as you unveil plots within plots within plots, a result of the many and varied agendas at play here. To say this game has as many layers as an onion would be high praise... for the onion. Both Kiryu and Majima are powerful characters in their own right when fighting thugs, as demonstrable by the gameplay, but Yakuza 0 is quite ruthless in showing you exactly how out of their depth they are when they decide to take on... bigger opponents. You would think this is because Kiryu and Majima get beat up, and they do, a lot, but I actually found it’s the conversations they have with other characters, the villains in particular, that’s the highlight of the game. Yes, characters in Yakuza 0 talk, a lot, so you’d better get used to it, but these conversations, excellently voice-acted, fill the atmosphere with so much tension, dread, or sometimes anticipation, that you can’t help but be absorbed by them, as you can never guess what the other party might say that will surprise you. And this game surprised me a lot.

Man, the conversations in this game...

Having said that, it is true many of the twists and turns that were a surprise in the beginning started to feel a bit trite when they’re re-used in the final chapters. One that annoyed me in particular was the game’s use of the “Your Princess is in Another Castle” trope (incidentally, God of War also does this to some extent), sometimes forcing events a little much to pull it off. I suppose this has to do with the fact that this “Princess” becomes the sole motivation for your two characters towards the end, getting shuffled around so both Kiryu and Majima can get a crack at the villains. It works thanks to the strength of the characters and their dialogue, but I would certainly take issue with a lesser game that kept me running around the place for 4 or 5 chapters straight. I also felt that, of the two leads, Kiryu’s ending is the one that feels more natural to his character, as opposed to Majima’s, who experiences an odd personality shift that doesn’t seem to jibe with what we know of him. It’s possible this has to do with the fact that, while Yakuza 0 is the starting point in the series for our two protagonists, it’s not the first game in the series. As a matter of fact, there were 5 Yakuza games, released over the space of 10 years, prior to Yakuza 0.

Having previously awarded it with my “Best Side Content” award and praising it for its world-building, despite not being an open-world game (yes, you can have invisible walls and still make a great game!), Yakuza 0 only needed to deliver on its story and characters, and it did that in spades.

And that’s it for my list of the best games I played in 2018! It’s a bit of a long read, for sure, but I could hardly have done these games justice had I written less, and in some cases I probably didn’t write enough. What about you? What are some of the best games you played in 2018?

[irenenorth]

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My 2017 movie list

With 2017 near it’s end, here is another list compiled by me of the movies I watched this year. They are listed mostly in the order I viewed them throughout the year.

Predestination

For his final assignment, a top temporal agent must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time. The chase turns into a unique, surprising and mind-bending exploration of love, fate, identity and time travel taboos.

I’m not going to tell you more. Go see it. You’ll thank me. The less you know about the movie going in, the better.

Don’t get caught up in the twists and turns and trying to figure out where it’s going to go next. You’ll be disappointed. Instead, hold on for the ride, the storytelling, and the fine acting from everyone involved.

The movie does not get the recognition it deserves. It’s original and creative within the science fiction genre. Even if you don’t like science fiction, you find yourself entangled in the story line, waiting for each moment.

Ghost in the Shell

I like Scarlett Johannsen. I like Ghost in the Shell. The movie was average. If you haven’t followed Ghost in the Shell over the years, you’re probably going to walk away liking the film. It doesn’t compare to the long history of Ghost in the Shell. While it was decent, I didn’t feel it quite captured the world like Dredd did. It’s difficult to capture an entire world with a history into one film, so it’s not the worst film in the world, but I probably won’t watch it again. In the end, it felt like another in a long line of action flicks.

The Lost City of Z

The Lost City of Z is a true-life drama, centering on British explorer Col. Percival Fawcett, who disappeared while searching for a mysterious city in the Amazon in the 1920s. It was an interesting movie that got bogged down by being boring in certain parts.

Charlie Hunnam did a great job with the character, as did most of the other actors, but I felt myself just watching because I felt obligated to continue. I usually like these kinds of movies, the slow pace made it feel like the movie was dragging me along. At 141 minutes, it shouldn’t have felt that way.

Churchill

Absolute shit. I didn’t make it through the entire movie. Inaccurate, messy, and a pile of garbage.

Wonder Woman

I didn’t want to get my hopes up since Wonder Woman had so much potential and I was afraid it was going to get screwed up. I should have gotten my hopes up. There is no doubt, it is one of the best movies of the year.

Gal Gadot nailed it as Wonder Woman and I can’t think of anyone else who could perform the role better. My only quibble with the movie is setting it in World War I when the Wonder Woman I grew up with lived during World War II. It’s a small quibble and it doesn’t detract from the awesomeness of the movie. I’m looking forward to more.

Dunkirk

The opening scene was gripping. It got me to sit up and pay attention. I thought, “If these first few minutes are indicative of the entire film, this is going to be a fantastic movie.”

Dunkirk is fantastic if you are only watching it for the cinematography. I went in to the movie knowing the basic facts about Dunkirk and what happened. I left the movie no wiser. If the plot had been more than paper thin, that would have been fine. The movie jumped around, had weird cuts, cuts in the middle of things happening, and nothing really is explained. If the breaks between the three story lines were done properly, it might have worked. Instead, I saw repetitive scenes from different angles.

I didn’t care about a single character. I did not find myself emotionally invested in any part of the plot or a character. The times I started to be immersed in the story, I was ripped out to shift to some other scene.

What I did like was the reliance on actual things – boats, planes, tanks, etc. – instead of CGI. That’s what makes the cinematography so good. But even here, it didn’t capture the scale of the evacuation and CGI could have been helpful in this case.

The movie is overrated. Christopher Nolan will always please you with visuals. The plot this time, I think it got lost in the mail.

One IMDB reviewer summed it up well:

“Trapped on a beach awaiting rescue but the ships keep getting destroyed by dive bombers with only 3 planes to protect those ships. Ends with Hardy finally revealing his face when he is captured after landing his plane which has run out of fuel.”

That’s it. Everything else in between is just noise.

Yep. That’s about it.

Blade Runner 2049

Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner 2049 in association with Columbia Pictures, domestic distribution by Warner Bros. Pictures and international distribution by Sony Pictures Releasing International.

A sequel to a classic movie. I feared it would be screwed up, but it was so well done, it’s hard to find fault with the movie. Don’t go see Blade Runner 2049 if you don’t like to think. This is the kind of movie that is rarely made anymore. the plot, the mood, the visuals all keep you entrenched in the movie until the end. I can’t really say much else without spoiling the movie and I don’t want to do that for anyone who might go see it. It is a worthy successor to Blade Runner. This was a big gamble and it paid off in so many ways.

Monsturd

It’s as bad as you think it would be. I found the link somewhere on Reddit. I knew it would be bad, but I just had to watch it.

The story is about serial killer Jack Schmitt who has escaped prison, but dies mysteriously inside the city’s sewage treatment facility. Naturally, a horrific accident a a genetic research lab causes a chemical to be dumped. Schmitt is resurrected and uses the county sewer system as his lair while he goes about killing people.

The acting is bad, usually over the top bad. The music is crap meant to make you scared. I either laughed or rolled my eyes through most of the movie.

The song that plays during the ends credits is awesome.

The movie is really terrible.

Kedi

Kedi is a delightful documentary about the thousands of street cats who roam the streets in Istanbul, Turkey and the people who take care of them. The film focuses on seven cats and does some filming from their point of view. If you like cats, watch it.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

A beautiful looking movie that sucked. The two leads sucked. There was no chemistry between, just a couple of people reading lines to get paid, and we’re supposed to believe they like each other enough to get married.

The plot was all over the place. If you want a fun sci-fi movie, just go pop in The Fifth Element. It, too, was made by Luc Besson and is so much better.

The Mummy

Go watch The Mummy and The Mummy Returns with Brendan Frasier and Rachel Weisz. You’ll thank me.

Victoria and Abdul

Victoria and Abdul tells of the friendship between Queen Victoria and her Munshie, Abdul Karim, a young clerk, who traveled from India to participate in the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. As their friendship develops, the household’s inner circle is determined to destroy it. The queen, however, sees the world in a new way through Abdul’s eyes.

Judi Dench is brilliant in her portrayal of Queen Victoria. The movie is worth seeing for her alone. The movie is charming, but it is difficult to gauge how true to real life events it is since the royal household burned all letters and documents between Victoria and Abdul. There has to be some poetic license given the time period and lack of documentation, but it’s a pleasant film nonetheless. Just don’t consider it absolute British history.

Alien: Covenant

I had hoped the movie would pick up where Prometheus left off, but when we see the two survivors, Shaw and David, again, Shaw is now dead. We only get cursory details of what happened to her. I would have liked this Alien installment to cover that story either as a whole movie or at least see what happened. But that is not this movie. This movie explores the character of David and what he has turned into, which is why his line was discontinued/upgraded to begin with.

One nitpick I do have is that, while trapped in the quarantine room, a baby alien pops out of a dude’s back. The woman just screams, grabs a knife and sits on the floor. Meanwhile, the baby plops on the floor and doesn’t yet know what is happening. This is the perfect time to stomp on that thing and kill it. Yeah, she deserved to die for being stupid. Yes, I laughed when the baby alien literally ripped her to shreds.

Alien and Aliens are classics. If you come to accept that these new movies by Ridley Scott are more popcorn movie than thriller, you’ll have a much more enjoyable time watching the movies. I know I do.

Anthropoid

Anthropoid is based on the extraordinary true story of “Operation Anthropoid,” the code name for the Czechoslovakian operatives’ mission to assassinate SS officer Reinhard Heydrich.

Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution, was the Reich’s third in command behind Hitler and Himmler and the leader of Nazi forces in Czechoslovakia. The film follows two soldiers from the Czechoslovakian army-in-exile, Josef Gabčík (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubiš (Jamie Dornan), who are parachuted into their occupied homeland in December 1941. With limited intelligence and little equipment in a city under lock down, they must find a way to assassinate Heydrich, an operation that would change the face of Europe forever.

The movie was shot entirely in Prague, where the actual events too place. Whenever it was possible, filming took place at the exact locations for authenticity. The film was praised for its realism and being committed to recounting the events.

Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan excel in their performances. The plot is tense and gripping. Though the assassination of Heydrich takes place midway through the movie, the aftermath will have you on the edge of your seat.

Atomic Blonde

To say Charlize Theron is a badass action heroine is an understatement. Based on the graphic novel The Coldest City, Atomic Blonde is a blast. It’s one of my favorite movies of the year.

The music is perfect. The story line is great. One of the best things about the movie is, when they call the main character by her name, Lorraine, I think of my grandma kicking ass and killing bad guys with her shoe.

The action scenes are phenomenal. It’s part Bond, part Bourne, and more. It’s violent and Theron kicks a lot of ass. Is it going to win any awards? No. But it’s some damned good fun.

Seed: the Untold Story

Genetic diversity is the hedge between us and global famine.

The film looks at seed keepers who are trying to protect our 12,000 year-old food legacy. It discusses how seeds, such as corn, transformed villages into empires as it spread across the Americas. Corn is so elastic and adaptive that it is now grown on every continent of the world.

Seed discusses how 94 percent of our seed varieties disappeared in the last century and the role biotech chemical companies have played in controlling the majority of our seeds. This is the story of farmers, scientists, lawyers, and indigenous seed keepers fighting to defend the future of our food.

There are 300,000 species of plants on the planet. We came down to 30,000 edible plants. Of that, 120 are used on a regular basis. Most of humanity subsists on 10 – beans, corn, wheat, barley, and rice. We need to pay attention to the seeds of wild plants and how to put them into cultivation because they are the biodiversity heritage will feed the world.

The Hopi see the seed as life. “When you lose the seeds, you lose your traditional way of eating.” Seeds are living embroyos and they do have a lifespan. If we lose these seed banks, like the seed bank we blew up in Iraq, how vulnerable do we become?

Climate change is also having an impact on saving our seed culture. It is more difficult to plant in drought-stricken areas. A food bank that wasn’t backed up was destroyed in 2006 due to a typhoon in the Philippines.

The story tells how these seed keepers are helping to rekindle a lost connection to our most important resource and revive our connection to seed. This is a heartwarming and sad story of how we are slowly destroying ourselves.

Logan

Logan was a great ending to a comic book superhero. Some argue that it is is the best comic book movie of 2017, but I would argue that Atomic Blonde could hold that place as well.

One refreshing aspect of the film is that, although we don’t know exactly why Logan has aged so much, this movie is aimed 100 percent at adults. It’s violent the way Logan should have been throughout all the X-Men movies, but it is also much more human.

The film is set in 2029. The world has fallen apart. There are virtually no mutants left. The film is gritty and realistic. Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart’s acting is top notch throughout the several dilemmas they get themselves into.

The film is a fitting end to an iconic character.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

If you haven’t seen this yet and you don’t want any spoilers, stop reading now.

The latest installment of the Star Wars saga was meh. It was okay. It was better than The Force Awakens, but that’s only because it didn’t try to retread what was already done.

While I’m a fan of the series and have seen every one in a theater, the film didn’t do much for me. There were several clunky moment in the movie, including Poe Dameron’s stupid prank phone call, Finn waking up from a coma and then runs around in a clear suit leaking fluid, and when Leia was blown out into space and floated herself back inside long after she should have been dead. It was cheesy and cringe-worthy. Several of the jokes were done for cheap laughs. They weren’t witty. There were just…there.

Rey is our protagonist, but we have yet to really learn anything about her. A protagonist is supposed to be the focus, not the ensemble cast.

Why was the scene of Luke getting and drinking milk from the beast necessary? What is the point of Porgs other than to sell toys?

The film has too many characters and the plot is cluttered with bullshit. The formerly smart characters are now dumb and make stupid mistakes.

The entire plot line with Finn, Rose and whoever Benicio Del Toro was is unnecessary.

Kylo Ren is still the bad guy, but there doesn’t seem to be a reason why in The Last Jedi. He’s just there to move the plot along. Dialogue between Ren, Snoke, and Rey is sometimes too reminiscent of the conversation between Vader, the Emperor, and Luke in Return of the the Jedi. Moments like those took me out of the movie. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

There are some good parts. I wanted to see more of Rey in the dark hole in Ireland. The battle on the salt planet was visually spectacular. But that’s it. The movie was battles, explosions, and dumb plot points. I mean, really? What is the point of Luke dying?

I’m going to watch Rogue One again. Much better movie.

There are some good movies on the way in 2018. Hopefully I will get to see them all. And, hopefully, Solo: A Star Wars Story will be a better Star Wars movie.