I think you're selling sequels short. They're pretty bad, but not that bad. For every three Tremors, Matrix, or Mask you have a Toy Story 2/TMNT 2/X-Men 2. But that's about the ratio of mediocre/bad Hollywood movies to watchable ones anyway.
Bad sequels are a combination of survivorship bias + regression to the mean. It's obvious that the producers still aren't quite sure what makes a good movie, so oftentimes the quality just boils down to luck. Movies that start out as bad or unprofitable generally don't get sequels at all -- so that when a sequel does get made, rather than there just being someone inherently wrong with the property or the idea of continuing the story in-genre, their luck just runs out.
Moments when a piece of entertainment completely rocked you.
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Lago PARANOIA
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Last edited by Lago PARANOIA on Sat Aug 16, 2014 7:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Josh Kablack wrote:Your freedom to make rulings up on the fly is in direct conflict with my freedom to interact with an internally consistent narrative. Your freedom to run/play a game without needing to understand a complex rule system is in direct conflict with my freedom to play a character whose abilities and flaws function as I intended within that ruleset. Your freedom to add and change rules in the middle of the game is in direct conflict with my ability to understand that rules system before I decided whether or not to join your game.
In short, your entire post is dismissive of not merely my intelligence, but my agency. And I don't mean agency as a player within one of your games, I mean my agency as a person. You do not want me to be informed when I make the fundamental decisions of deciding whether to join your game or buying your rules system.
Honestly, I kind of think direct sequels are a bit overrated. Trilogies are fine, but past that... I'm sure someone can tell me, but I have no clue when the last time a movie had a 4 on the cover was.
I lie, Scream 4. But that shit is accepted in horror/slasher movies.
But my point is that endless direct sequels are dumb, specifically when it's a single story dragged out past three movies (Fuck you, Saw). Shared Universe, Different Story is a much better way to do sequels, because, ok, sure, people want to keep watching Deckard or Batman running around doing their thing, but that doesn't mean that it all has to be one huge "campaign." Comics prove this point rather well, with franchises that go on for decades, and tell many stories, rather than trying to stick to a single overall story for decades.
I guess what I'm saying is that movies should do what the Alien franchise did for the first couple movies, and take up a new naming convention similar to how James Bond movies are titled. You can have direct sequels, certainly, but those should be planned out to be, not have shit tacked on or dragged out for the purpose (Fuck you, Saw).
I lie, Scream 4. But that shit is accepted in horror/slasher movies.
But my point is that endless direct sequels are dumb, specifically when it's a single story dragged out past three movies (Fuck you, Saw). Shared Universe, Different Story is a much better way to do sequels, because, ok, sure, people want to keep watching Deckard or Batman running around doing their thing, but that doesn't mean that it all has to be one huge "campaign." Comics prove this point rather well, with franchises that go on for decades, and tell many stories, rather than trying to stick to a single overall story for decades.
I guess what I'm saying is that movies should do what the Alien franchise did for the first couple movies, and take up a new naming convention similar to how James Bond movies are titled. You can have direct sequels, certainly, but those should be planned out to be, not have shit tacked on or dragged out for the purpose (Fuck you, Saw).
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
Fuck you, Saw, indeed. But the rules are a little different for horror movies, as you point out. (At least for deliberately-bad horror movies; I can't imagine a sequel to something like Jacob's Ladder.)
The issue I'm complaining about isn't that direct sequels are automatically bad. Some of them can be good (Godfather 2, The Dark Knight, Toy Story 2.) The issue I'm complaining about is that they tend to be vastly less original than new movies are, while also making more money. Therefore originality is selected against. This is bad new for those of us who like original movies.
(Edited because the word "original" means something different when discussing long franchises.)
The issue I'm complaining about isn't that direct sequels are automatically bad. Some of them can be good (Godfather 2, The Dark Knight, Toy Story 2.) The issue I'm complaining about is that they tend to be vastly less original than new movies are, while also making more money. Therefore originality is selected against. This is bad new for those of us who like original movies.
(Edited because the word "original" means something different when discussing long franchises.)
Last edited by Laertes on Sat Aug 16, 2014 11:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Movie sequels tend to be less original than the original" verges on a tautology, man. Of course "hey, lets tell more of the story" is less original than "ok, so I got this idea for a new story."
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
It actually fails the one useful attribute of tautologies, because it is not even true. Laertus gave us five "good" "original" movies, that included one sequel and three adaptations. So... I could plausibly see sequels being about as or even more original than the originals that he likes.Prak_Anima wrote:"Movie sequels tend to be less original than the original" verges on a tautology, man. Of course "hey, lets tell more of the story" is less original than "ok, so I got this idea for a new story."
The U.S. isn't a democracy and if you think it is, you are a rube.DSMatticus wrote:Kaelik gonna kaelik. Whatcha gonna do?
That's libertarians for you - anarchists who want police protection from their slaves.
It's not quite a tautology, because Aliens. But the principle holds. Also, it's past my bedtime and I just finished watching Strange Days so I'm exhausted and sloppy with my language use. I should go to bed.
Last edited by Laertes on Sat Aug 16, 2014 11:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Except, not.Chamomile wrote: In 2001, Halo is released and has the Flood and the Covenant, who shake things up by only being almost exactly the same as the Zerg and Protoss, being that they are two ancient species with a common creator who have a built-in hatred for one another and also the humanoid aliens are religious zealots who must eventually team up with humanity to defeat the non-humanoid and therefore more evil aliens.
I mean, the Covenant aren't an ancient species. They're a rather recent coalition of species that came across abandoned Forerunner tech and made a stupid religion to explain where the Forerunners went. (And also justify the political dominance of the Elites and the Prophets). But they really are rather recent and didn't exist the last time the Flood was stomping around.
The Flood's origin, likewise, is "fuck if we know." for most of the series. They're mysterious like that.
If we ignore Bungi's original intent, in which ancient Humans were the Forerunners, and go with the Greg Bear version of things then the Forerunners and the Flood might qualify. The Forerunners were probably created by the Precursors and certainly slaughtered them. It's unclear if the Flood was created by the Precursors or if it is the surviving Precursors. There is evidence going both ways.
Congratulations, hyzmarca, on being a Halo fanboy and utterly ignorant of the significant differences between the xenomorphs, Tyranids, and Zerg. The Flood predating the Covenant, the Covenant's slightly muddled line of descent from the Forerunners/Precursors, and the Flood's backstory being implied rather than stated outright are all very minor deviations. It's still a species of ancient religious zealots (and yes, they are ancient, they were space capable before the Persian Empire existed, being young compared to the Flood does not mean they are not ancient) and a species of infestors who create new forms by infesting new species and then regular humans who fight their wars with space marines - the fact that those space marines got a huge downgrade in overall importance from the transition from 40k to StarCraft does not mean that StarCraft is not descended from 40k, and the fact that the timeline got messed with slightly does not mean that Halo is not descended from StarCraft.
On the subject of Alien and Aliens:
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Count Arioch the 28th
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Lago PARANOIA
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While we're on the subject of the Alien v. Predator by Capcom:
1.) Holy shit, there are a lot more moves in this game than I remembered. Seriously, it's almost as many as Gaia Crusaders or Denjin Makai. And the movesets of the characters are way different. That is by itself a selling point. It feels a lot more like a fighting game than a Final Fight-derived beat-'em-up.
2.) I both like and I don't like how the game showers you with weapons. If you see playthroughs of people who aren't scrubs but are above-average, they lean on Dutch/Kurosawa's guns a lot. And the game isn't shy about dropping them. Granted, this isn't as huge of a problem as it could be because your basic moves are better for anything other than crowd control -- but it's a shame that the best part of this game (see point 1) gets kind of elided.
3.) The soundtrack for this game kicks ass. It's a little repetitive, but it's an arcade beat-'em-up so that's okay.
4.) Unfortunately, by far the weakest point of the game is the enemy design. It's great for the first two levels, but by then you've seen most of what the game has to offer in terms of enemy sprites. The xenomorphs and the humans don't have enough differentiation in abilities or appearances and it can make the game feel really repetitive. Not to mention that the game also shamelessly reuses every single boss. Even the final boss is a sprite reuse. If they just had twice as many more enemies (which isn't as big feat, because this game no-fooling has about half the unique enemy sprites of Final Fight) it could've been classic. As it is, it's merely great. Poor form, Crapcom.
1.) Holy shit, there are a lot more moves in this game than I remembered. Seriously, it's almost as many as Gaia Crusaders or Denjin Makai. And the movesets of the characters are way different. That is by itself a selling point. It feels a lot more like a fighting game than a Final Fight-derived beat-'em-up.
2.) I both like and I don't like how the game showers you with weapons. If you see playthroughs of people who aren't scrubs but are above-average, they lean on Dutch/Kurosawa's guns a lot. And the game isn't shy about dropping them. Granted, this isn't as huge of a problem as it could be because your basic moves are better for anything other than crowd control -- but it's a shame that the best part of this game (see point 1) gets kind of elided.
3.) The soundtrack for this game kicks ass. It's a little repetitive, but it's an arcade beat-'em-up so that's okay.
4.) Unfortunately, by far the weakest point of the game is the enemy design. It's great for the first two levels, but by then you've seen most of what the game has to offer in terms of enemy sprites. The xenomorphs and the humans don't have enough differentiation in abilities or appearances and it can make the game feel really repetitive. Not to mention that the game also shamelessly reuses every single boss. Even the final boss is a sprite reuse. If they just had twice as many more enemies (which isn't as big feat, because this game no-fooling has about half the unique enemy sprites of Final Fight) it could've been classic. As it is, it's merely great. Poor form, Crapcom.
Josh Kablack wrote:Your freedom to make rulings up on the fly is in direct conflict with my freedom to interact with an internally consistent narrative. Your freedom to run/play a game without needing to understand a complex rule system is in direct conflict with my freedom to play a character whose abilities and flaws function as I intended within that ruleset. Your freedom to add and change rules in the middle of the game is in direct conflict with my ability to understand that rules system before I decided whether or not to join your game.
In short, your entire post is dismissive of not merely my intelligence, but my agency. And I don't mean agency as a player within one of your games, I mean my agency as a person. You do not want me to be informed when I make the fundamental decisions of deciding whether to join your game or buying your rules system.
Kinda reminded me of Chronicles of Mystara's moves.
Shame I never played this.
Shame I never played this.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Avoraciopoctules
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Avoraciopoctules
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- Location: Oakland, CA
http://www.somethingawful.com/news/top-places-nyc/
The Momofuku Milk Bar's infamous Crack Pie earns its name by being so delicious that it turns people who try it into depraved addicts who rob churches and sell their own skeletons to support their habits. Some dough fiends even bake the pastry themselves, despite the high risk of an explosion when the eggs are added to the sugar.
In this burned-out building in the Bronx's Hell's Bakery district, homeless pieheads toil over makeshift ovens while others huddle in corners shooting dough into infected veins or obsessively straining their flour for invisible weevils. Calmly approach one of the cooks, avoiding eye contact and sudden movements, and you might score a slice for $3 - a fantastic price that more than makes up for the silica dust and arsenic in the crust.
For what it's worth, the Lady Antebellum concert I went to back in 2012 fits the subject of this thread.
It was at the Staples Center - excellent venue - had two really cute girls from the OC dressed all cowgirl sitting next to me (yum) - had three really great acts - Thompson Square (good), Darius Rucker (could have been a main act all his own - 90 minutes of his music and Hootie and the Blowfish classics), and Lady Antebellum (who appropriately managed to top Darius Rucker's performance).
I think I (along with most of the audience) sang along with most of the show, and it was energetic the whole time. If all concerts were like this for me, I'd go to more of them.
My 2 yen,
Akiosama
It was at the Staples Center - excellent venue - had two really cute girls from the OC dressed all cowgirl sitting next to me (yum) - had three really great acts - Thompson Square (good), Darius Rucker (could have been a main act all his own - 90 minutes of his music and Hootie and the Blowfish classics), and Lady Antebellum (who appropriately managed to top Darius Rucker's performance).
I think I (along with most of the audience) sang along with most of the show, and it was energetic the whole time. If all concerts were like this for me, I'd go to more of them.
My 2 yen,
Akiosama
Last edited by Akiosama on Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Corsair114
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Kenshiro's ability to keep the entire jean-jacket industry afloat post-Armageddon is truly a sight to behold.
Why yes, I am watching Fist of the North Star. How'd you guess?
[Edit]
Oh yeah, the part where he jumped onto a helicopter flown by the general of the "airforce," poked said general in the head, then controlled said general with little more than his feet to the end of wiping out the airforce was pretty cool.
Why yes, I am watching Fist of the North Star. How'd you guess?
[Edit]
Oh yeah, the part where he jumped onto a helicopter flown by the general of the "airforce," poked said general in the head, then controlled said general with little more than his feet to the end of wiping out the airforce was pretty cool.
Last edited by Corsair114 on Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
The rules are the game, without them you're just playing cowboys and indians with a side of craps.
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Count Arioch the 28th
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So I just watched the LEGO movie for the first time. The first two thirds is pretty much Robot Chicken: the Movie. The last third is a sudden, weird sidetrack into gnosticism. It is glorious. It +1'd The Matrix. If you haven't seen it, seriously, do so.
Last edited by Laertes on Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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...You Lost Me
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Last edited by ...You Lost Me on Mon Aug 25, 2014 5:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
DSMatticus wrote:Again, look at this fucking map you moron. Take your finger and trace each country's coast, then trace its claim line. Even you - and I say that as someone who could not think less of your intelligence - should be able to tell that one of these things is not like the other.
Kaelik wrote:I invented saying mean things about Tussock.
I've been watching Fairy Tail to catch up, and I totally called the identity of the rabbit in the Grand Magic Games arc. I am proud and that was fucking hilarious, especially Erza's reaction.
DSMatticus wrote:It's not just that everything you say is stupid, but that they are Gordian knots of stupid that leave me completely bewildered as to where to even begin. After hearing you speak Alexander the Great would stab you and triumphantly declare the puzzle solved.
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Josh_Kablack
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Fairy Tail is at its best when it remembers to be hilarious. It's when it gets all long drawn out srs epic that it starts to drag.
It's also basically a 4e campaign:
It's also basically a 4e campaign:
- Wizards solve problems with melee combat, even at the highest levels (Gildarts, Makarov, etc)
- Characters spend a lot of time trading ineffectual attacks padded-sumo style
- Characters spam the same moves over and over again, but can only use each particular move once or twice per episode
- Move usage resets after a short rest at the end of each episode
- It's supposedly meaningful whether your lasers Dragonslayer Magic attacks are Flame, Lightning, Iron, Poison, Shadow, Wind or White Powered
- Basically any magic that lasts longer than a combat requires a ritual and residium a Lacrima.
- Player Characters are flat-out not allowed to use the special effects of their attack powers for non-combat movement. (Mainly Lucy never figures to use Gemini's tunneling to escape from sealed forts / dungeons, etc, but Happy and the other cats also don't get to do much with their flight)
"But transportation issues are social-justice issues. The toll of bad transit policies and worse infrastructure—trains and buses that don’t run well and badly serve low-income neighborhoods, vehicular traffic that pollutes the environment and endangers the lives of cyclists and pedestrians—is borne disproportionately by black and brown communities."