Michael*

On 2/16/2016 at 7:47 AM, Michael* said:

 

I resisted the lure of the PS4 for quite a while, but it seemed like a pretty good Christmas for new releases (with more on the way - I'm particularly looking forward to 'No Man’s Sky' and of course 'Uncharted 4'), so now felt like the right time to take the plunge. I managed to pick up an 'Arkham Knight' bundle, and have already made it about halfway through the main story mode. 

 

Once I'm done with 'Arkham', I'll have to try and make a decision on what to play next, because the only other thing I've sampled up to now is 'Star Wars Battlefront' via an online demo. It's certainly fun to play and they've perfectly captured the look, feel and atmosphere of the movies, but it does indeed feel very limited in terms of depth and progression. Overall, it's probably just a bit too light and arcadey to justify splurging on. Maybe down the road when the price drops a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if DLC arrived with levels and characters from 'Force Awakens' in the near future.

Star Wars Battlefront looks fun but it's too simple as you say.  It looks like it'll get boring quick.

I always liked the voice actor for Batman (I believe he's the same guy who did the cartoons? or not?).    With AK I liked the whole police station area as well.   I thought Arkham Knight was a bit dated in respects but also next gen in others.  The thing that hurt the world building (just like in the pre-quel) was the lack of people on the streets.  Gotham never really feels "alive".  

The Mr. Freeze DLC wraps up his arc, BTW.

You know my view: Bloodborne and Witcher 3 (also on PC) are the best.  Until Dawn is a very good rental or good buy on the cheap.  Soma is good, although last-gen. Uncharted 4 looks interesting.  There is also Dark Souls 3 and Far Cry Primal.  No Man's sky (thanks for the heads up) looks interesting.  I like anything with a lot of good exploration.  I am most looking forward to the Witcher (second DLC), Dark Souls 3, and the next Deus Ex.

Fallout 4 is decent, too.

The Division- a big release with a Beta. I haven't seen much of it yet:

A pre-release playthrough appeared on youtube today.  Frankly it looks more novel than exciting:

A lot of games seem to be sharing technology these days.  

For instance, the whole Far Cry, Metro, and  Dying Light series uses a very similar base program.

Batman series, the Witcher 3, Assassin's Creed series, Watchdogs, and the Division-  while very different games- seem to share a lot of primary or secondary programs/mechanics.

Yeah, it's Kevin Conroy from the old animated series. There have been quite a few good interpretations of Batman down the years, but I still consider Conroy the definitive one. He just seems to have a certain knack of showing all sides of the character and really making you feel the backstory. He manages to invest a lot of emotion too, but never in a way that feels exaggerated or makes him sound like just another actor putting on a funny voice.

Thinking about it now, the lack of citizens in the streets was a bigger gripe in 'Origins' for me, because it was sold beforehand as being set in a vibrant and lived-in Gotham, which simply wasn't the case. The quarantining of the city in 'Knight' was a rather convenient direction to take the story, but it felt a lot less tenuous than a weather warning.

With something like 'Assassin's Creed', I think an overhaul of the mechanics is probably long overdue, although I suspect that the main thing we can expect from the series in the future will be the ability to see more of the world at once, and to have many more objects and characters on screen at the same time. That wouldn't necessarily change the nature of the gameplay, but rather affect the way you interact with your surroundings, which in turn would make the games feel more alive and dynamic than those from previous generations. Speaking of which, one of the things that impresses me about 'The Witcher' is that it lets you navigate stormy seas, and that land takes on a different tone depending on when you're there. Animals seem to move around more realistically, too. It's a great way of making them feel like a part of your environment instead of standing out like sore thumbs they way they often did in older games.

On 2/16/2016 at 9:23 AM, Michael* said:

 

I don't know if I'm a huge believer in making distinctions between high fashion and commercial, but I definitely welcome the return of the multi-faceted model, as in someone who has the best of both worlds and can tackle any and all aspects of modelling. Overall, the way I see it is that a model is a model and there are some good ones, and some average ones.

 

I suppose thinking about it now, although at times it's surprising to see how easily some of the VS girls are able to transition back into more high fashion-orientated stuff, you'll usually see things pan out in a similar way for most models when VS comes calling. Their catalogue stuff completely swamps their other work, and I often feel a bit sad about that, because it's rare to see the same level of variety from them afterwards.

Well, I must admit that 'commercial' and 'high fashion' are for me more of a habit for description. Someone like a Masha Tyelna might never crossover with a broader audience but even Kate Upton has done high fashion in the dictionary sense (high end clothes and or designers) but some may in the prejudice only assume that its commercial because she did it. Overall, the labels don't have any real practical value. Some refer to Lara Stone's nudes as high fashion even though there are no clothes involved and thus no fashion . On the other hand, there are 'glamor models' with some shoots that advertise actual clothes, making such shoots categorically fashion   .

That is unfortunate about VS though. Its a weird thing that although I don't like to see models that I like 'snubbed' their overall work is probably a lot more interesting because of it. I personally think that Candice Swanepoel is a versatile model . She can pass for anything from a dominatrix to a girl scout, but obviously all of her range isn't required for angel work. Also, YouTube views don't mean what they used to, but X-Men trailer has 5.8 million views after the first day .

Oh, I finished season 1 of SHIELD and I'm truly on the bandwagon !

here's another one (content started coming out today):

It features a bunch of TV actors (including Littlefinger/FBI (LOL) /Game of Thrones) guy and an upcoming actor that has a potato face..lol

It has a mixture of motion capture/time travel story, matrix style game play and live action footage with TV series grade production values.

On 18/03/2016 at 8:31 PM, Joe > Average said:

 

Well, I must admit that 'commercial' and 'high fashion' are for me more of a habit for description. Someone like a Masha Tyelna might never crossover with a broader audience but even Kate Upton has done high fashion in the dictionary sense (high end clothes and or designers) but some may in the prejudice only assume that its commercial because she did it. Overall, the labels don't have any real practical value. Some refer to Lara Stone's nudes as high fashion even though there are no clothes involved and thus no fashion . On the other hand, there are 'glamor models' with some shoots that advertise actual clothes, making such shoots categorically fashion   .

 

That is unfortunate about VS though. Its a weird thing that although I don't like to see models that I like 'snubbed' their overall work is probably a lot more interesting because of it. I personally think that Candice Swanepoel is a versatile model . She can pass for anything from a dominatrix to a girl scout, but obviously all of her range isn't required for angel work. Also, YouTube views don't mean what they used to, but X-Men trailer has 5.8 million views after the first day .

 

 

Oh, I finished season 1 of SHIELD and I'm truly on the bandwagon !

The curious thing to me is that the majority of really successful niche high fashion models only seem to be successful for a stretch of a few years, presumably because they're often kept in that tight bubble of high fashion. So diversity of work helps no end with having more in the way of career longevity. It's interesting to see different models take different career pathways too, of course. I'm pretty sure Gisele and Alessandra started mostly by doing massive amounts of runway stuff, which then led them into commercial work, whereas someone like Miranda I believe started out more commercially and then veered towards high fashion later. All three seem to have arrived at similar points now, at least with regard to money, recognition and celebrity status.

I suppose high fashion does tend to be stricter about certain requirements like height and proportion, although you can still find girls of all stripes doing runway stuff, from quirky to exotic to classic to sexy, especially if you take more of a long-term view. Saying that, I think if one were to look at most of the VS Angels of the past 15-20 years, it would be possible to identify a model with similar looks who was a regular on the high fashion runway, Vogue Italia and Vogue Paris. It would probably be a bit harder find parallels for VS, Vogue Italia or Vogue Paris regulars.

In general, I'm still excited about the X-Men, although I'm not sure if I like the fact that Singer is staying closer to the original costume designs this time around. The fans don't generally like to admit it, but there are certain concessions you have to make in order to adapt this kind of material, and I'm a bit worried that some of the characters could end up looking slightly silly on the big screen.

Apparently, SHIELD was just picked up for a fourth season, which I'll be the first in line to gawk at when it starts. I thought in the show's first run, although I was seriously impressed by the 'Winter Solider' tie-in, that Bill Paxton's character was really the key in pushing the stories away from the 'random villain of the week' type stuff and developing some real forward momentum. He was always going to turn out to be the villain of the piece, though. I mean, get a load of that infernal polo-neck sweater.

On 21/03/2016 at 5:19 PM, Cult Icon said:

here's another one (content started coming out today):

 

It features a bunch of TV actors (including Littlefinger/FBI (LOL) /Game of Thrones) guy and an upcoming actor that has a potato face..lol

 

It has a mixture of motion capture/time travel story, matrix style game play and live action footage with TV series grade production values.

@ the Polo sweater . I'll openly admit that changes need to be made to wardrobes . On the side of characterization though, I feel as though they've completely missed the boat on a lot of characters (Cyclops, Rogue ect.) so this one will be interesting to see. I kindof wish Disney would just go ahead and buy Fox out .

On 5/24/2016 at 10:26 AM, Joe > Average said:

@ the Polo sweater . I'll openly admit that changes need to be made to wardrobes . On the side of characterization though, I feel as though they've completely missed the boat on a lot of characters (Cyclops, Rogue ect.) so this one will be interesting to see. I kindof wish Disney would just go ahead and buy Fox out .

Yeah, Rogue and Cyclops always seemed sort of lost in the shuffle, although I'd imagine the reason why Anna Paquin never became ‘badass’ Rogue was that the storyline from the books would have been hard to do without eating up a large chunk of the movie. They probably would have needed to dedicate as much time to it as they did to Jean's arc in 'Last Stand', which of course, can't be done for everyone. If and when we see her again, I suspect that it'll be with someone new in the role, to fall in line with the current direction of the team appearing as their younger selves.

I wouldn't be surprised if we saw the Fantastic Four returned to Marvel/Disney eventually, though. Fox have tried their hardest to keep a grip on the property, but they clearly have a problem delivering a movie that connects with the fans. It's very difficult to just drop the characters into a bleak, humourless setting like the previous story did, because they're so inherently goofy as a group that it's important for the audience to laugh with the movie, as opposed to laughing at it. You can't go to town on showcasing their cool powers either, because with the exception of the Human Torch, they don't really have any. I always thought that the real key to writing them was grasping that they're more like adventurers than superheroes, it's a soap opera and an underdog story with homely characters that you can recognise and root for.

Hey stretching is cool   . I've always been a fan of Mr. Fantastic although I actually think Elongated Man is better .

 Could you by any chance recommend any X-Men games btw? I've had the strange urge to build a character and run around fighting mindlessly in such a way, but using
those powers and whatnot .

Also, I finally checked out that Sherlock series ! On the start of season 2 now. Its really well done and they seem to have been able to put them in a modern setting while staying true to the characters themselves. So far, they have at times fallen into the trend of modern shows whereby the character doesn't give the audience a chance to figure things out, but not as bad as some on that front. I was always disappointed that such a budget went into two movies with Robert Downey's awful accent (and weird kwirkiness) and Jude Law's bad acting. Not sure whether McAddams' even attempted an accent, but was probably the bright spot. Elementary made up for it some, but this show makes me get over it all the way .

On 5/27/2016 at 2:29 PM, Joe > Average said:

Hey stretching is cool   . I've always been a fan of Mr. Fantastic although I actually think Elongated Man is better .

 

Could you by any chance recommend any X-Men games btw? I've had the strange urge to build a character and run around fighting mindlessly in such a way, but using those powers and whatnot .

 

Also, I finally checked out that Sherlock series ! On the start of season 2 now. Its really well done and they seem to have been able to put them in a modern setting while staying true to the characters themselves. So far, they have at times fallen into the trend of modern shows whereby the character doesn't give the audience a chance to figure things out, but not as bad as some on that front. I was always disappointed that such a budget went into two movies with Robert Downey's awful accent (and weird kwirkiness) and Jude Law's bad acting. Not sure whether McAddams' even attempted an accent, but was probably the bright spot. Elementary made up for it some, but this show makes me get over it all the way .

On 3/22/2016 at 1:18 PM, Michael* said:

 

I was just recently reading about this and having now watched the vid as well, I'm rather looking forward to it.

 

I suspect what the game will end up being judged on is whether or not the episodic bits do something that couldn't otherwise have been done with in-game cutscenes (like the MGS saga) or via live action video (like Wing Commander or Command & Conquer, maybe). If not, then it does seem like those junction points could reasonably just be mistaken for extremely long cutscenes. Time will tell on that I suppose, but it still sounds like a pretty fascinating project and, chances are, one that I'll really enjoy.

No Man sky just came out (reviews sub-par- like 6 out of 10s).  It is very original but apparently the game is repetitive after a while.

Deus Ex: Mankinded divided reviews are at around 8.5 out of 10

On 8/21/2016 at 0:48 PM, Cult Icon said:

No Man sky just came out (reviews sub-par- like 6 out of 10s).  It is very original but apparently the game is repetitive after a while.

 

Deus Ex: Mankinded divided reviews are at around 8.5 out of 10

A friend of mine who bought 'No Man's Sky' on the day of release tells me that it only takes a few hours for the exploration of planets to start feeling really samey. Which, having read so much beforehand about the amount of variety on offer, was disappointing to hear. I'll probably still try and pick it up somewhere down the line, but at the current price, it just feels like too expensive an experiment at the moment.

I actually found the last 'Deus Ex' a bit overrated, if I'm honest. Most of the reviews I've seen of this latest one have been highly positive, although a few of them do mention that the story ends quite abruptly, with certain important plot points given too little attention. I guess perhaps look for DLC providing more closure to be released later on.

Anything else on your radar as of late?

On 8/25/2016 at 9:43 PM, Michael* said:

I actually found the last 'Deus Ex' a bit overrated, if I'm honest. Most of the reviews I've seen of this latest one have been highly positive, although a few of them do mention that the story ends quite abruptly, with certain important plot points given too little attention. I guess perhaps look for DLC providing more closure to be released later on.

 

Anything else on your radar as of late?

Nothing at the moment.  I haven't seen anything interesting yet.  There is an open world Cyperpunk game by the same studio that did the Witcher.  But they have been tight lipped about it.  I consider the witcher to be the greatest game series ever made so I expect big things from this studio.

I did check out "Battlefield one" on youtube.  it's novel but completely screwed up in the 'basic realism' department.  The uniforms, equipment, etc. are mostly fake.  Kind of boring and derivative.

Then there is Kojima's new game.  He showed almost nothing about it other than the fact that it's going to be extremely weird.  Which is a good thing!

The thing that makes me like Deus Ex is the fact that it's Cyberpunk.  Blade Runner is my favorite Sci-fi movie, go figure..

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided feels like Fallout 4 to me.  It has some of the same upgrades and drawbacks.  It's pretty similar to the first one but with next gen graphics.  However, I like the setting of the first one (Detroit/China) a lot better than Prague.  In terms of story, it is a significant step back from Human revolution.   However, it has the same very good (but not awesome) design elements.

I would rate Deus Ex: Human revolution a 9.5 out of 10.   Mankind Divided is around 8.5 out of 10.

Interesting commentary on No man's sky:

On 8/31/2016 at 2:26 PM, Cult Icon said:

Interesting commentary on No man's sky:

The voiceover guy sounds so much like the actor Bruce Campbell.

Honestly, I expected a lot more from it than warping to random planets, looking around, gathering supplies and leaving. I get the feeling that the developers have been doing their damndest to create a grown-up version of 'Minecraft' in a space setting, but without really having enough of a handle on what made that game a success. There was always so much more to explore and discover in it, and as an added bonus, you had the system of establishing a base and building your own world. If this game had offered something similar, I could have seen myself having a blast with it. From the footage I've seen up to now, playing it just looks like such a cold and lonely experience.

On 8/29/2016 at 0:43 AM, Cult Icon said:

 

Nothing at the moment.  I haven't seen anything interesting yet.  There is an open world Cyperpunk game by the same studio that did the Witcher.  But they have been tight lipped about it.  I consider the witcher to be the greatest game series ever made so I expect big things from this studio.

 

I did check out "Battlefield one" on youtube.  it's novel but completely screwed up in the 'basic realism' department.  The uniforms, equipment, etc. are mostly fake.  Kind of boring and derivative.

 

Then there is Kojima's new game.  He showed almost nothing about it other than the fact that it's going to be extremely weird.  Which is a good thing!

 

The thing that makes me like Deus Ex is the fact that it's Cyberpunk.  Blade Runner is my favorite Sci-fi movie, go figure..

 

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided feels like Fallout 4 to me.  It has some of the same upgrades and drawbacks.  It's pretty similar to the first one but with next gen graphics.  However, I like the setting of the first one (Detroit/China) a lot better than Prague.  In terms of story, it is a significant step back from Human revolution.   However, it has the same very good (but not awesome) design elements.

 

I would rate Deus Ex: Human revolution a 9.5 out of 10.   Mankind Divided is around 8.5 out of 10.

Some of the features in the original 'Deus Ex' were really cool. I liked the fact that you had to build up your 'Augs' carefully, because strengthening in one area usually came at the expense of another, and those choices led to different strategies. Later on when I played 'Human Revolution' I found that it was quite easy to get all the Augs before the end of the game, so although there was more variety on offer, I missed that emphasis on strategy over prioritisation a little.

Did you catch the playable teaser, 'PT', that Kojima made in collaboration with Guillermo Del Toro? I must confess, I'm not really into the horror genre, but it was beautifully rendered and felt genuinely frightening. Even if this new one isn't ready for release anytime soon though, it should be worth the wait. Sometimes I wonder if old Hideo just needs to make a movie and get it out of his system.

Along with 'Last Guardian', I think 'Gravity Rush 2' is probably one of my most anticipated games at the moment. The original was released in about 2012 for PS Vita, and for the three or four people who actually bought that console, it became a cult favourite. I got into it a lot later via the 'remastered' edition on the PS4, which didn't disappoint either. The presentation is a bit of an acquired taste, and you'd probably have to say that the story is the weakest aspect (there's a sort of meandering narrative that ends in a weird half-resolution, although you do meet some interesting characters along the way), but I remain taken with it just because it's so beautiful to look at and so much fun to play.

With Deus Ex: Mankind divided:  The artistic direction was above average but I felt that the design of the scenarios/stories and such was around the level of fallout 4 but below that of, say, fallout 3  and Human revolution.  The game seems to have been rushed to market like MGS4 and there is a lack of length and a feeling that there are missing links throughout.

The thing that impressed me most about MD are some aspects of the AI.  The gameplay is similar to MGS4 and the AI is above average.   The AI does not rush toward the player, but 'leapfrogs'.  Not only that, but some units leapfrog forward while others open fire.  Sometimes, they don't even advance, but just hold position with their weapons drawn towards a hostile position.  

That game reminds me of Jet Set radio future.  I liked it. (I actually played this one)

Oh I have to say that I saw "For Honor" alpha videos and it looks pretty good.  The main problem however, is the lack of content.  

On 9/3/2016 at 5:41 PM, Cult Icon said:

That game reminds me of Jet Set radio future.  I liked it. (I actually played this one)

Wow, I haven't thought about the Jet Set series for ages. Always nice to be reminded, though.

The original game was one of my favourites back in the day, although I never played JSRF. That's certainly a title that not only could use a re-release, but with the bonus of online play too. If it was done well, a four-player co-op version of it would be dynamite.

I don't know if you heard (the news only broke earlier today), but apparently No Man's Sky is going to be the subject of an investigation by the advertising standards agency, on the grounds that the marketing campaign was purposely erroneous from the start, and continues to be even beyond the point of release. I suppose one could level the same accusation at something like Destiny or perhaps even Watch Dogs too, which both had false advertising to an extent. Mostly Destiny though, since even now, it's missing quite a lot of the features that were promised initially.

No, never heard of it.  Apparently no man's sky has been a shxtshow.  There was also the steam error of refunds.  Watch dogs 2 has some parts on youtube already.

I have been revisiting Bioshock remastered as of late.   It is such a good game that needs to be re-made.  The graphical upgrade is noticeable but not that much TBH.

Bioshock 2 was an improvement in the gameplay/graphical elements but the story/writing and environmental concepts were not really at the same level of impact as the original.