Hot Heart

This guy always does a good "script notes" analysis of things (he's a script editor), and his thoughts on GotG2 pretty much sum up my issues with it. I didn't mind the slapstick sort of stuff and I liked the thematic stuff, just that the execution wasn't so great in some areas.

Bubbles within bubbles, my man.

After seeing these local election results, I really do despair. You might rejoice that UKIP are being "wiped out" but it's only because the Tories have taken their platform. And I'm seeing the "progressive alliance" for tactical voting means fuck all in some regions. I'd like to think that it's more related to local issues and not representative of a larger pattern, but a modern opposition never loses this many seats. The pattern seems to be "The Tories have never gained so much/Labour lost so much in the past 40 years, etc." and Labour can do sod all about it. Most people don't really pay that much attention to politics -- I think a study concluded it was something like an average of 15 minutes a week -- and so they grab onto the most identifiable slogans and sound bites. It's all about clear messaging, which Labour simply does not have. They are a fucking shambles at the moment and I see all the Labour canvassers are hearing "I'm not voting for Corbyn." Meanwhile, Tories parrot this "strong and stable" bollocks ad nauseam because it latches onto some subconscious part of boomers' brains instead of them noticing that the last 7 years of Tories has fucked everything and will do so for their children and grandchildren. Thing is, though, even that slogan has only reached about 15% of the electorate (so a poll says), which means we'll be hearing it a lot more for the rest of this month. I really don't see the Labour party making any progress until they ditch Corbyn. People will go for personality over politics and he clearly doesn't appeal to a wide range of people (the party membership that swelled in response to his leadership nomination is predominantly middle class and located in south east England, if not London specifically). And at critical moments (EU referendum, Livingstone) it seems he manages to take the route that alienates everyone, so half are saying he's gone too far while the other side will say he didn't go far enough. And it begs the question whether centrism needs to make a comeback or... wait until an actual political revolution? I mean, seriously, there can only be one outcome to growing inequality, right? That's a whole 'nother big topic. Anyway, I really don't know what to do. I know who I'll be voting for locally, based on some process of deduction, but it's still probably got John Redwood the flaming idiot in a safe seat.

TMNT, nice! I don't think there's actually anywhere near me that participates. The one dedicated comic book store we had, run by a miserable pair, told me that they couldn't afford to participate the one year I asked and they've closed down now anyway.

Shaolin I'm a sucker for martial arts epics and heard this was good. Andy Lau plays a warlord who seeks refuge in a shaolin temple after tragedy befalls him, but enlightenment and a full atonement is still to come. It has a good cast, with Jackie Chan doing his thing for a bit too, and a decent story alongside the action. For an epic it felt "short" at just over two hours, which I discovered is because they chopped a great deal out of it that you find in the deleted scenes. I thought they'd all be fairly short things but it turns out the last one is 19 minutes long. It's really good stuff though with more comedic moments and a whole couple of subplots for some of the "main" monks that really should have been in there.

Push One of those "curious about it" films that I discovered was on Netflix. Dakota Fanning does a really good job at not being an annoying kid/teen and there's some fancy direction alongside the occasional ropey special effect. There are some decent scenes that showcase the various powers ("Pushing" is not telekinesis but powerful suggestion with implanting false memories, "Moving" is telekinesis, "Sniffers" can gain visions and track people via scent, etc.) but other than that, it's not a particularly great watch. At one point, given the idea of "implanted false memories" it almost feels like there could have been a decent twist, but instead the second half is more a sort of "superpowered heist" where you just watch everything fall into place, Oceans Eleven-style. It's certainly a superpowered twist on the genre but it's nothing super.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 Great sequel. Lots of humour and it builds on the characters from before. I think there are some missteps with certain aspects but the thematic throughline is pretty strong and actually quite touching. Really pretty film with some decent bits of action (and some messy not so good stuff). I think Mantis was really good and fit perfectly with Drax whose every line is golden. A bunch of funny cameos and I even spotted the dude from Farscape among the Sovereign. Another great soundtrack and it was actually used as a sort of story point even. Kind of a shame they never used the second part of The Chain outside of the trailers. Fun end credits, too.

War on Everyone This was a little disappointing, given how much I love The Guard. It's in a similar vein, with somewhat corrupt asshole cops instead of Garda and has similar sort of humour but something just doesn't quite click. And it's not even that the performances are bad, I think it's just slightly more directionless and with too many jokes that feel thrown in and miss the mark. And that's the thing. There are some good performances from creepy Caleb Landry Jones through to Skarsgard's belligerent, towering bully of a cop. There's even a "hey, it is that guy!" with Paul Reiser. Not a great watch but not a bad one if you get the chance.

So, first, a small update Mythotopia It's a Martin Wallace game in the vein of A Study In Emerald & A Few Acres of Snow in that it's got deck-building combined with area control and "two actions per turn". Its theme doesn't exactly leap out at you but the gameplay is solid stuff. Conquer regions to capture the corresponding card and its symbol for improving your military, construction or purchasing power. There are other special improvement cards that can help focus on a certain strategy (an extra build card, an extra ship card, ability to store more cards in reserve, etc.) which you're pursuing based on the VP cards that can change from game to game. As it was a learning game for all of us, no one was really playing that boldly (except maybe me). The game keeps you fairly reined in with your military strength and building capabilities (invading typcially takes a whole hand of cards) so the best route seems to be to improve your reserve early on (through building cities or the warehouse card) so you can cycle your deck fairly quickly while keeping things open for flexibility. And the military stuff is actually more like bidding where you might be better to concede defeat somewhere in order to take somewhere else. Overall though, enjoyable game and should definitely prove more interesting on future plays. And now for a MEGA update, which might be a mega mess as I try to recall and write up a day-long game. Sorry. A game of Watch the Skies was scheduled in town for International Tabletop Day and it's not something you get to experience often, so I jumped at the chance to join the team the regular local group was organising. If you don't know what Watch the Skies is, then Shut Up & Sit Down did a video of their experience with the first edition (the one we played) as well as with the mega-MEGA 2.0 version. However, if you don't have time to watch that (understandably) then it can best be described as a sort of "X-COM LARP". The game involves teams of 4-5 people taking direct control of a few major countries, alien factions, the UN and even the Press, where there have been sporadic sightings of aliens but nothing widely known among the general public. Everything plays out over 12 half-hour turns in which the various members of your team carry out their given roles. Your chief of defence will go to the world map and control your units their, your scientist will go off to conferences with all the other scientists and coordinate (or not) on different fields of research, your foreign minister will go to the UN ("CRISIS ALERT!") to get into heated debates about certain crises and other nation's military actions while your head(s) of state will talk to the other heads and be harassed by the press. My role in all this was the Vice President of the (glorious) People's Republic of China, with it being two heads of state since they are probably the joint most powerful nation in the game. They also are possibly the most "productive" country in the game based on how their Public Opinion: Resource Points scales That was our control chart and as you can see from the track on the right, where the pen is, you have a purpley Public Opinion track which then awards Resource Points (the red numbers) based on how high that is. It starts at 6, which awards us 12 RP each turn whereas another country might only get 9RP for a PO of 6 (Russia, for example). The control thing is, generally, just a way to track how you're spending your RP each turn and it's so busy than the game is reliant on you carrying out the actual spending of them (there aren't enough "Control" players to come round and check each thing you've assigned). What this means is that you'll talk to your Defence buy and ask how much he wants/thinks he needs to carry out your plans, ask your scientist what they need and what your foreign minister thinks the UN requires/expects, etc. There are a whole bunch of things to learn with regards to this because the military involves conventional units (tanks, fleets, etc.) as well as advanced "Interceptors" which are special planes developed using covert alien technology and are purely for engaging flying saucers rather than conventional forces. They can also go to anywhere in the world just like that *clicks finger*. In addition to that, you have special agents who can conduct all manner of missions (which is down to the discretion of Control). Each one requires a basic RP expenditure to maintain (depending on where they are) and additional RP can better ensure success by modifying die rolls. Essentially, every area of the game will stretch your budget, whether it's contributing as a UN member, unlocking scientific upgrades or paying for other possible activities (bribes, visiting the "grey market" for alien tech, sending comms to the aliens, etc.) and it can be a lot to take in. Most of its tactical rather than strategic, although there are long term goals for your team, which is where the simulation aspect takes over. See, rather than having a specific "scenario" emerge, every single team will have their own principles and agenda (including the aliens), which will obviously affect all their interactions. As China, we were basically trying to be the best at everything. More specifically, we were to ensure alien incursions stopped, fully exploit alien tech to advance our military, and ensure we gained more scientific recognition than Japan and the US. Our guiding principles were essentially to stay friendly with Russia, look to expand our commercial interests overseas and make sure we remain a key player on the world stage. Roleplay and enacting all this is actually very tricky. The other thing important factor is that you roll to check your Public Opinion at the end of each turn, which is modified by various things going on: (un)successful military actions, press coverage, science upgrades etc. Usually, there's no change but pretty significant events can really impact it, namely the most important one: CONFIRMING THAT ALIENS EXIST. See, suddenly announcing that "oh, by the way, there are actually aliens" puts a pretty severe dent in that nation's Public Opinion and the end of turn roll, so it's not necessarily something you want to do if you can help it... Session report: So, the game itself got underway and our immediate approach was to form an Asian Bloc with the other player nations (Russia & India) so that we can both respond to alien incursions within each others' airspace without incurring their wrath. I spoke to India's leader while our President spoke to Russia. India weren't immediately thrilled at the prospect but would run it by their Chief of Defence (generally, a wise deferrment in any case). Straight after that, I'm approached by a member of the Press and asked how we're dealing with Russia despite the fact that I hadn't spoken to them personally; a pattern that would persist for a while... I was then asked my opinion on Japan developing more Interceptors - those being the units designed solely for engaging UFOs - and said that it was within their right to increase spending on defence and recon (really, them putting RP into that would mean they weren't doing so well as a science competitor). With the knowledge that Interceptors aren't really for defence, he pushed me for more and I said that it's a global program that we all pursue so... yeah, it's not a concern to me. He then asked why we were taking military action in Peru. What?! I had no idea we were taking military action in Peru... which obviously makes me look silly, but I hadn't managed to catch our Chief of Defence for an update. Rushing to him immediately, I found out a lot had been happening already. With Peru as a trade ally, we sent an Interceptor to engage it but our CoD rolled a 6 which is an insta-fail regardless. Fortunately, a couple of other nations had also responded and (I think) shot it down. Either way, Peru (a non-player country) were said to be pissed off but also publically denied that there was any military action. Meanwhile, a whole fuckload of saucers had emerged over both Europe and Russia. Russia, with our help, had chased them all away without conflict while a dogfight had occurred over Europe, with some shot down. There was stirrings of shit going down between North and South Korea but it seemed more like US and Russian sabre rattling. We simply held strong that we would not tolerate non-Asian countries intefering the region unless requested by that country or it was UN-sanctioned. Looking to strengthen our influence in Asia, we made diplomatic missions to Mongolia and... some other country, I've actually forgotten since it didn't turn out to be that important (we wouldn't anger them if we sent Interceptors there). Next turn, we had UFOs over China and with help from Germany and France managed to drive off most of them but one got through (CoD rolled another 6) to Hong Kong. We tried to deal with that but our CoD managed to roll a couple more 6s (COME ON!) and some people were abducted. Meanwhile, the Press began to report strange radio signals from the Vatican and then India. It was clear that we were missing a lot of stuff and an alien sighting in Greenland seemed to pass by everyone but me. At some early stage, we also had a message from the aliens "Hi, kind, pal" which obviously sounded friendly but you can't be too sure. The press would keep coming at us and asking all sorts of probing questions and, being an isolationist and wary China, I was keeping the responses fairly non-commital although, I had to evade more questions when it had gotten out (the press are free to eavesdrop) that we were developing tech for communicating with the aliens (you can send messages but how much gets through is based on your tech level). Whoops. Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about keeping secrets as, the next turn, India loudly declared that aliens exist and they have one who is friendly. Regardless, their PO took a huge hit (possibly 3/4) while everyone else's also took a lesser one (we dropped 2 levels) and then another hit for any successful alien landings (the abduction in HK didn't count). India were very close to resigning, at 1 PO, and we offered to help in exchange for access to alien tech (we start with some action cards, one of which is to boost another country's PO by 1) but that didn't seem to go anywhere because of a few other immediate concerns. The Pope (yes, the Holy See is in the game) sent out an audio-only broadcast that the aliens were good and friendly and that he'd been to visit them. As it turns out, through some odd German involvement, both the German military chief and the Pope had been taken by the aliens and returned. As it turns out, however, they had contracted some kind of "space flu" and voluntarily entered quarantine... except the Vatican City sent a bunch of their own agents who busted the Pope out of Germany and back to the Vatican. This caused a spread of this mysterious ailment across Germany and the Vatican City with many country's scientists then scrambling to develop some kind of cure The aliens also made a very public broadcast, with images, to try and explain that the illness was not intentional. At his point, we had a few concerns. 1. We were trying to communicate with whoever took our people in HK but had no response, 2. Chinese corps had been accused of supplying uranium to Angola, who were engaged in a conflict with South Africa, who had threatened to use their own nukes, 3. We needed to find some way to stop "space flu" or vaccinate against it and 4. No one was paying attention to Greenland! While I was off exploring diplomatic routes both regarding a cure for space flu and the situation in Germany, I had directed our CoD to focusing our agents' efforts both on learning more about the alien infiltration in Greenland and making sure what I'd just told the press ("No Chinese corporations have been supplying Angola with components for nuclear bombs") was actually true. Oh, and the world's eyes had turned to us thanks to an announcement that a new "super fuel" had been discovered in Nepal with a coalition of China, India and Russia aiming to exploit it. That, I had to leave our foreign minister to negotiate. From what I could gather, it sounded like a Control or Press-created thing that, in the spirit of roleplaying, they decided to run with and get the players to flesh out. India threw some shade with regards to us moving ground troops into Nepal being a dealbreaker but our foreign minister did a good job and got us 1 extra RP a turn, which is a white token as it's "temporary" and subject to change. Germany was overrun with other countries and the Press trying to establish what was going on, especially now that an alien player was sat at their table, and a plucky reporter had embarked on a secret mission (which we partially funded) to get into Berlin and report what was going on. Thankfully, this all drew attention away from the fact that Chinese corporations had in fact been helping Angola acquire the resources to build their own nuke and we had some sort of rogue faction within the government. That was not good news. The reporter told us that he managed to explore a bit of the alien base in Berlin where he saw miltary units and mechs (which Control then placed on the world map) as well as processes involving converting our soil and water, i.e. colonisation. This had everyone worried and Control actually had to use a blank piece of paper to represent Germany on the world map as nearly everyone sent units there in some shape or form (we actually didn't). The President and I had also engaged in some back and forths with the aliens which basically told us they couldn't understand what we were saying and then some other messages: "Us go you" and "Can us build?" which both confirmed my suspicion that the aliens could only use one-syllable words and perhaps 3-word messages. We sat on that because weren't going to let them land while we couldn't deal with space flu or trust them. In talks with Brazil, who I'd cosied up to as late players (car breakdown meant they didn't join until turn 4) and offered assistance, I discovered they were working on a vaccine/cure for space flu and like those wiley reporters, surmised that they had access to an alien, pushing for them to confess. They were welcoming and, knowing we'd made advances in alien communications, let me join their talks with their captive alien, who spoke in the same manner as the others. The alien seemed friendly and was offering to bring or make food if they needed it. I asked him if they wanted to build and was told "just small". While all this was happening, Russia kidnapped the Pope (I strongly condemned Pope-napping when asked by a reporter... which made the news) and had a small outbreak in their country (which they contained with martial law) before the Vatican City, with help from the UK and Germany, successfully recovered him. Following our principle of keeping close ties with Russia was tough. How little did I know... Because then Russia invaded Belarus and Ukraine on their way to Germany, claiming they didn't want these aliens on their borders. Borders they'd just created. By invading Belarus and Ukraine. Well, shit... As the next turn began, we were informed that aliens were going to be speaking at the UN and a world leader from each country should attend also. With our President engaged in coordinating something else and the meeting about to begin, I followed our foreign minister (I had no idea where the UN actually met at that point) and joined a heated discussion as the aliens were speaking via video link, aided by India's leader. The discussion involved the aliens going to "cold south place" which was their way of describing Antarctica and perhaps leaving Germany. After what I'd heard in Brazil, giving them some land sounded fair, but the empasse came when they refused to give up their weapons and Russia refused to withdraw their forces. Our President also came to join and sensing this wasn't going to get anywhere anytime soon, I left to steer the ship. It turns out, I avoided the US locking down the UN meeting and moving it to Nevada, which should've worried everyone, except no one, not even the embedded reporter, texted anyone outside to alert them. I returned to our CoD to find we'd managed to break into Greenland and found some aliens trying to subvert the democratic process and ensure it became pro-alien. This was disconcerting but also fit with the aliens trying to find friendly settlement somewhere. When our foreign minister returned it sounded like things had been resolved and the aliens would be getting a "cold, southern home" and Russia would tone down the aggression. Except, that was a lie. Because Russia nuked Berlin and then Germany and the UK retaliated in kind. This was not good news as it made the Global Terror Track (there are milestones which cause drops in Public Opinion and a game ending max of 250) soar waaaay up. It also angered the aliens (those still alive) who delivered a broadcast that we should destroy all tech. Things were starting to get out of hand for us, because we felt we should support Russia but couldn't condone nuclear warfare. We also weren't prepared to destroy all our technology and make ourselves vulnerable. Besides, what tech did we have besides a few things here and there? It's not like the superweapon that Russia kept mentioning. Except, we were involved in the "superweapon" they kept mentioning, except it was a space station. Thanks to our scientist, we'd made great strides in galactic travel and discovered a renewable fuel. Which was handy since Nepal reneged on a PERFECTLY GOOD DEAL with regards to their superfuel. Anyway, I went to the moon. Which was probably a mistake. We'd heard murmurs of an alien base on the moon and since we had these space travel capabilities that no one else possessed, we figured we'd try and learn more and since I was somewhat expendable, I should go. I was able to speak directly via video link, in the same monosyllabic manner, but all I learned was that they were pissed off at this intrusion (on our moon!) and just told me to go. They didn't attack, though, so that was good and I looked out to see it wasn't a big military operation, just a small outpost/staging area. In was a nice break from Russia's attack on Europe. This was a full-scale conflict as Russia invaded the UK only to fail and find their general captured, their scientist defecting to the Vatican and their President assassinated. Yes, assassinated. I would discover that Control had handed out the very rare assassination action cards, which can kill player characters, to some world leaders, including our President. He guessed it was the aliens encouraging regime changes or Control had hinted at that being the reason, I'm not sure, I was on the moon (with Steve). Maybe it's triggered by the Global Terror Track getting that high and needing to rein in players with some in-game justification invented? So then, with only one official left in Russia, the UN took control of it. This struck our President as the perfect time to negotiate forming some soviet superstate where we also governed Russia (it was the penultimate turn at this point) and gained all their benefits... like, uh, half an irradiated country and a record low public opinion? Either way, I left him to it and with us flying high, unscated and with an abundance of RP, made our agents infiltrated Germany and stole the research into space flu, since Brazil was busy with some other "big science project" and Germany would only provide their samples. Brazil's big science project turned out to be "Mycroft" an advanced AI that told all countries to allow it access to their systems and it would take care of global defence. Russia's current head of state, the former foreign minister, seemed to know what that signified and said "No, destroy it" while advising us not to allow it access. This is when chaos erupted. The aliens said, "Goodbye" and then all other nations began scrambling and making plans while we sat back and just formed the largest country ever. End of game. This is when we got some sort of summary where we discovered more about the other team's goals. - The aliens had some sort of split where most were waking up mind-wiped, with only a select few leaders left aware of their mission to test humanity as they tried to create a home. - Brazil didn't realise what Mycroft would actually do and hoped this AI supercomputer would solve things. This attracted the wrath of many people who had played before (a bit metagamey but eh...) and left them in ruins. - The US was supposed to find out who their most powerful adversary was out of Russia or China and make it their mission to destroy them. I think our early focus on non-military research and Russia's immediate aggressive overtures solved that one. - The UK was trying to finish ahead of France and Germany in technology, which they sort of managed but got dragged into the whole European conflict, severely weakening them in all respects. - The Pope joined the aliens on Mars - France were meant to be altruistic and aid any country they could (hence them helping us with UFOs) but also to join in any of their allies' retaliations (like Germany's). They took the destroy tech warning way seriously and shut down all their computers (after sending an EMP to Brazil), returning themselves to the '50s. - Russia, umm, just wanted to rule the world? Not actually sure. But their President actually survived two assassination attempts and found safety in the vacant Vatican City while their promoted Foreign Minister also survived an assassination attempt. However, had there been another turn, with our consolidated control over Russia, we would've used our assassination card on him to seize full control. - Germany's aims were a little unclear but they drove the coup in Russia which put the UN in control. At the end, they opted to upload all EU citizens' (UK not included) brains into computers? - India were building their own supercomputer but French and German forces invaded and destroyed that base along with everyone in it, including their own men. - Japan were mostly wrecked by low PO the whole game and a lot of their influence, we would learn, was covert as they seemed to be involved in a lot of major events. They decided to upload their brains into the cloud also. All in all though, hugely confusing and stressful but a great experience and some funny emergent gameplay. If you get a chance to try something like that, I highly recommend it.

I'm still working with shitty weapons, and the new enemy types just aren't quite as fun as the old factions of Cerberus, Reapers and Geth but multiplayer is still a ton of fun in short bursts. The different classes definitely stand out a lot more this time, actually. I've just been going between an asari huntress and krogan vanguard lately because I think the unlock packs are a little shittier this time with too many consumables & not enough characters, weapons or weapon mods, as well as seemingly favouring certain classes. I've got turian soldier a few times now and male sentinel but never the female one. Anywhoo, some videos of gameplay. The newer more agile manoeuvrability is neat for the most part, but I think it still makes some firefights kind of a mess. I think the better battles are fought on wider, flatter planes... like the extraction rounds. I think silver might make for a tenser challenge, and I think teams learn to function better rather than chasing kills, but I'm not going to attempt that until both my skills and equipment improve...

To be fair, I think everyone is entitled to their opinions and if they feel that a modern take on a franchise, which let's face it, couldn't even make it to a trilogy is the better version then who ar- BAN HIM! BAAAAAAAN HIIIIIM!

I really liked Minority Report. The "bleach bypass" (think that's the term) look of the film was really cool and Tom Cruise is good. Anyway, a bunch of films I had on my Amazon wishlist all reached that low price sweet spot, so I finally got around to watching Iron Monkey. I had forgotten how much I love cheesy martial arts films and Iron Fist left me hankering for decent action. Fortunately, this has better action in the first five minutes than that entire series did. It's an old film by Yuen Woo-ping (greatest martial arts action director ever) with a young Donnie Yen. From what I remembered of hearing about it, I was expecting something a little more epic but it doesn't disappoint in any way. It's a simple tale of the "Iron Monkey" who plays a Robin Hood-like role in this small town with corrupt officials. Donnie Yen's character gets caught up in it as he is forced into capturing the Iron Monkey due to his skills and it goes from there. It's just got everything you want from a martial arts film. Great action, some silly humour and straightforward drama. Nothing really drags on too long except maybe the kind-of-too-ridiculous final fight sequence but it's still inventive and fun.

I don't know much about Cloak & Dagger other than some brief stuff in the Civil War comics but that trailer's not really selling it to me. And the Marvel shows haven't exactly been great as of late... Sooooo, I finished watching Iron Fist. I probably shouldn't have expected much from the guy behind the later seasons of Dexter but, my god, what a mess of a show. First of all, Danny himself is such a crap character. He's not really someone I'm familiar with in the comics but I don't recall him being such a dullard. The first few episodes is him not realising how weird he comes across and then he just makes stupid decisions all the way through. You're not really given a reason to care too much about what's going on because it's never exactly contextualised that well. I also think the way they portray his power is really simplistic and, well, plain crap. And the action is nearly all terrible. For something you expect to have a load of martial arts, it's worse than Daredevil. And that's also because, they never fucking show you any K'un Lun stuff. Like, maybe they just couldn't spare the budget? Daredevil gives you all the important parts of his past (moreso in the second season, I guess?). You barely get anything here besides some stories. So, the whole show just ambles along with a sort of twist towards the end, although, perhaps the most surprising is where the Meacham characters wind up (I'd say it's a nice touch if half of it weren't so dumb).

So, after a great many hours, I finished it and have tried to gather some somewhat in-depth thoughts. Firstly, real mess of a game technically-speaking. It's a huge game, that's for sure, so some of it seems inevitable. However, there are plain dumb things like finding out that the helmet I'd been using (researching and crafting) every ten levels, fucks up when you get to level 60. Rather than going VI, VII, VII it goes, uh... VI, VII, VI, VI, X. There are so many oddities with the crafting that I'm not sure if they're bugs or not. For one, some of the blueprints are just unlocked for you after each ten level increment but it's not immediate. So if I wanted a new Carnifex, I might have to go somewhere first and then come back and see if it appears. Later, I discovered that the chestpiece "brand" I'd been using just stopped appearing anywhere in the menu (the Pathfinder one, no less) so I switched to the N7 one. It turns out I could research that all the way to level X, which is generally reserved for when you get to level 80... except when I had to switch helmets, I went for the N7 and that was only up to VIII. So annoyingly inconsistent. That's in addition to the pop-ups for loot that linger there, the occasional freeze on the galaxy map (they added a skip feature for going between planet now, thankfully) and the audio bugs in the Nomad. There's probably all sorts of things I'm forgetting as well. And the Nomad is... not actually that fun. I get people loved/hated the Mako is equal measure and, I don't know, the Nomad feels like the current Labour Party approach of pleasing neither party. It has no weapons and it's not that fun to drive, especially since a) you have to monitor this switch between 4WD/6WD depending on how steep the surface is, which links to b) there's only really one fun environment to drive in because it has lower gravity. Plus, it's not even one of the "core" worlds. No, the core worlds are mostly boring open spaces or frustrating sets of mountains where you might have to drive a long way to get round them since your 6WD can't quite manage the incline. Nor is running over enemies that fun or a valid tactic. From what I can tell from elsewhere, however, is that people do enjoy driving round and finding beautiful views. Different strokes... Also, I think the game suffers for its semi-open-world approach. In some ways, it feels cool to discover areas and stumble across new quests/objectives but those quickly become a repetitive case of driving around, spotting an enemy outpost then killing everyone and scanning/destroying a thing. Then you go somewhere and someone thanks you and you get some viability points that are good early on and then completely useless once you've done the major stuff. I'm probably being far too reductive, since it's a staple of RPGs but rarely does it lead to anything significant either gameplay or storywise. And, overall, the story feels... odd. As GOH said, with meeting the Angara for the first time, it's like encountering a new faction rather than entire species. The same goes for the whole game in some sense. At the beginning, it feels like it's supposed to be some desperate struggle for survival as the Milky Way races enter a whole new galaxy but then you see that the actual Nexus (new Citadel, essentially) arrived long before you and you step into some interesting politics and the aftermatch of issues they've already had that suddenly feels like more "business as usual". There's not the same atmosphere of struggle or dire circumstances that push people to tricky situations. I was hoping for a sort of Battlestar Galactica thing and instead I got something closer to Star Wars' Outer Rim. However, it's all the crew-related stuff that really shines. They're not the most interesting of ME casts (they're possibly the most boring actually), but I really grew to care about them and they really benefit from the advances BioWare have made here. Lexi's a really good addition for how, as the ship's doctor, she brings it all together. In the Codex she keeps a little psych profile for you, and you can even get insight into crew morale plus there are some really nice scenes regarding other characters. Some of the others feel like BioWare knew they couldn't rehash what went before, which isn't exactly a criticism. Drack seems like Wrex except he's actually even older and feels himself way past usefulness, Nyx is not as strait-laced as most turians, Liam tries to get involved in everything, etc. Peebee is your asari interested in the mysterious Remnant technology, except she's far more lively and outgoing than Liara ever was. In fact, she's probably one of the standouts and has a really good voice actor. If anything, BioWare still knows how to get good performances from its cast. And in many ways, they are front and centre. Most of the time, you'll want to keep wandering the ship or seeking them out on the hubs because you'll encounter some new conversation. The most significant stuff will come after each major mission (like in ME2 and 3) but you'll also get all sorts of snippets here and there. So much that you'll want to try different combinations of squadmates to hear how they mesh, e.g. Drack being a krogan and Cora having worked with asari huntresses have a friendly rivalry over their differing combat prowess. This is an example of Peebee actually commenting on my relationship with Cora, when I think I'd already flirted with both. I think this is also an example of how annoying it is when dialogue cuts off because of mission dialogue... except it's Peebee interrupting herself, which might actually make sense. It's also neat when you get those little character-tailored bits during missions. Some of it's mostly minor, but it all speaks to each character's perspectives, and then there's the more noticeable things like having Jaal with you whenever it's heavily Angara-related or Peebee when dealing with Remnant. Most of the time I just stuck with Cora and Drack though, except for the loyalty missions. Ah, the loyalty missions are the real highlight of the game and also why I'm inclined to think it's a better approach than all that open-world stuff. Like the ME2 stuff, these are well-crafted mini-episodes within the larger narrative except all of it now feels more relevant to the bigger picture and a few of them feature some major choices. Most bring some sort of gameplay twist if not some enhanced character insight. If the game were a series of lengthy missions given that same increased focus and managed to mix in little moments tailored to the squadmates you choose, then it would be perfect. It's here where things really feel like they matter as opposed to reaching waypoints and scanning things to make a viability number go up. And then there's the combat. I know GOH had his criticisms, and in some ways they are valid, but I enjoyed it for the most part. It does suffer from a lack of variety in some respects but I think the real problem is that the hyper fast pace somewhat harm its RPG approach. Only one on rare occasion, for a particular type of fight I won't spoil, would I switch between the same 3 powers I used nearly all game (Biotic Charge, Incinerate, Energy Drain) and even then it was only 1 of the 3 powers I changed. There's just no need for it, even on Hardcore difficulty. I believe the developers did ME3's multiplayer and that narrower focus with powers there has carried over somewhat. I mean, it's nice that you can go all sorts of different paths and there is plenty of room for experimentation but, maybe so it doesn't punish the more casual players, you never need to switch it up (I had probably overlevelled somewhat for some sections though). I never needed to control the battlefield or infiltrate an area to find a better vantage point when I could just dash around, picking off the weaker enemies and exploding everything. Combat arenas are usually large enough that you can work with whatever approach you prefer. I tried to take the methodical approach but I've always been a vanguard that gets stuck right into the chaos. That said, it is super fun... Mostly, its shortcomings link back to the open-world thing. There are, like ME3, essentially 3 enemy factions but it doesn't provide enough variety for such a long game. If they'd put the main focus on contained missions, they could craft setpieces (some of which appear in the loyalty missions) with memorable fights and mechanical twists. Having no control over which powers your squadmates use isn't terrible in practice (I think it's wise to focus the level ups on combo triggers/detonators though), and they generally fufill their role pretty well, but it does remove a tactical level to proceedings. I dunno. I can't say there's anything "wrong" with the combat but with all the welcome RPG stuff there's a level that's missing there, I feel. Anyway, now to throw myself into the multiplayer, I guess... even if they've ruined the krogan melee and the tactile satisfaction of it.

Mass Effect: Andromeda I'll put my lengthier and spoilerier thoughts in the Mass Effect thread but, overall, I really enjoyed it. It's a little tough to talk about generally, and I lack any reference within BioWare's output, so maybe it is more succinctly described as "Inquisition in space" but I can only talk as a "Mass Effect fan". My main criticism is that this game should not have been released in this state. Funnily enough, it's not like BioWare games of old where you might want to keep multiple saves in case of game-breaking bugs, but there are so many little niggling things and a few quest-breaking elements. My second major criticism is actually that I don't think the game should've gone semi-open-world. I mean, in some contexts it works in its narrative approach, but it also somewhat shrinks its "world" and adds to the repetitiveness of open-world games. Overall, though, I really liked the combat, levelling, crafting stuff, while the attention given to building an attachment to your crew and squadmates really worked for me, even if they were probably the least interesting of all ME casts (ME3 would probably win here if not for the returning ones though). There's so much incidental dialogue and fun crew banter that it's a real shame when the game cuts it off thanks to Jarvis SAM or mission dialogue. I always felt it kind of cheesy to see so many people hooked up on the romantic stuff but the way it's handled here, and maybe this is my age and changing attitude talking, is really quite sweet. It's mostly subtle things, but it also helps dispel that notion of sex being a game reward/achievement (even if there is a trophy for getting three relationships across playthroughs..). In fact, in some sense of approaching it more "maturely", it seems like one crewmate is even open to a casual thing. I think that path was locked off for me but a friend told me as such. I think the game will be a tough sell, even to many Mass Effect fans, because it does feel like there's "something" missing or it's just that the whole new approach doesn't feel as comfortably familiar. It really wants to be a blend of ME1 and ME2 in many ways, but also selling itself as a new beginning. In any case, I'd advise curious latecomers to wait until they patch a bunch of the issues.

If I recall, Enchantress was in Agents of SHIELD, which probably means it's dead to the wider MCU...

Some of you may already have seen it on Facebook but, last week, we had to have our cat put down. Having not been there for the process before (we've had a few cats reach old age), it's a sad thing to witness. She was nearly 18 and had gone downhill pretty quickly. She'd had something funny with one of her legs for a while (we suspected arthritis but vets couldn't identify it and in retrospect it might have been related to balance and hearing loss?) and had lost her hearing sometime last year but was otherwise fairly perky. Then in February, she'd stopped drinking and eating for a couple of days. A trip to the vets and some IV stuff during an overnight stay and she seemed to recover, although no real cause could be found. She'd been on and off different types of food for a couple of weeks, then last week she'd stopped eating and drinking (even from the taps, which she always enjoyed) as well as showing breathing problems and what seemed like an inability to find a comfortable position for resting. She'd also stopped purring and seemed generally lethargic (moreso than cats are usually...) She'd started to get a growth in her abdomen as well as the one they get in their mouths, which is basically the tumour that all old cats get so we took the decision not to prolong her suffering. It's still kind of upsetting as we'd had her over half my life and she became very much "my cat". And since I work with my dad and join my parents for dinners (I'm usually the one cooking it) it's strange not to see her waiting in the hallway and loudly meowing upon seeing me, or running out into the driveway, or finding her upstairs and greeting her like so. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUSRLczmxYc

Because it's on Prime and was only 6 episodes, so not some huge commitment, I watched Into the Badlands. First of all, I will say that I'm a sucker for most martial arts things (except Iron Fist, which is so poorly done) but the cheesy premise kinda drew me in too. It's set in a sort of post-apocalyptic feudal society (ding ding on your popular tropes!) where guns are... outlawed? I dunno how multiple "barons" hold power yet they keep people from having guns. Anyway, it means that people learn martial arts instead. The story begins with the main protagonist who's the chief "Clipper" (enforcer) for one of the barons and he discovers some kid that another baron was trying to get hold of and who happens to have an intriguing pendant with a symbol that matches something from his mysterious childhood. Supposedly, it's the key to finding a way out of that hellhole and discovering this paradise city of Azra. Thing is, this kid also has some weird power inside him that activates whenever he sees his own blood. His eyes go black and he can fucking murderise everyone around with ease. Also, it turns out the "Clipper" has a secret lover who is pregnant, which could spell trouble It's actually a decent watch because while it's somewhat hokey, it feels true to its martial arts film style of storytelling while also providing a decent set of characters with their own motives and proper conflicts. There's an erratic baron who's dying, a woman who wants to end the feudal patriarchy, a conflicted girl who's unsure of her "mother". And it's got a funky production style with these big, old American houses with poppy fields and old American trucks. Also, there are hot chicks.

I've played a whole heap, and up to level 31, but only feel like I'm just scratching the surface... I kinda dig how they've approached things but it's definitely a slow start, partly because you just spend so long talking to people and picking up quests. The game is packed with lots of little things and I really appreciate the attention to details with the crewmate stuff; getting follow-up emails about conversations you've had, the little comments at certain points, all the various interactions aboard the ship. I get the sense that it wants to be a mash-up of ME1 and 2, with its focus on general discovery and uncovering of the past mixed with the threat of a sinister, mysterious alien force. The writing itself is really quite patchy. There are cool bits and the usual moral dilemmas but then there's some really odd moments. The big standout for me is Liam. The characterisation is there (and repeated constantly) but he has so many bizarre little scenes that should be simple but whizz past with you scratching your head, thinking, "What? Huh? Hold up..." And Cora. I was expecting a Miranda-like character but it feels like they don't want to repeat that so they set up this hint of tension only for her to warm to you one scene later. I'm digging the combat now I've got more reliable ways of getting combos and switched from playing a Sentinel-like character to embracing biotic charge and all the chaos it brings, once again. The levelling and gear stuff is really cool and allows for all sorts of experimentation and squad builds. The three-powers-only profile business is a little annoying though... Which brings me onto the negative stuff: the game should not have been released in this state. In general, it's not as if it's crashing all the time, and there is a fucktonne of stuff in this game, but there are technical hitches and weird glitches in many places. Much, much more than in a usual BioWare game. You've probably seen a bunch of stuff on YouTube and I've experienced a few myself (along with others I've yet to upload) as well as just not being able to complete one quest... It's gotten to the point where I'm not sure if this is a bug or a neat occurrence. Still, I find myself wanting to see and do everything and it really sells that feeling of establishing new homeworlds, new relationships and just making Andromeda a safer place. Also, it is amusing...

There are multiple reasons. 1. Nearly every game is better for having other people to play with you. There's a simple pleasure in setting up flanking manoeuvres or hunkering down side-by-side while stealing data or waiting for extraction. It's also cool to coordinate tech and biotic combos, especially now that asari adepts have Annihilation as standard, which means you're a walking biotic powder keg. 2. You get to jump right into the action. You were saying that the main game involves lots of wandering around, talking to people, which is true. MP means you can break that up and get straight to shooting lots of fools. 3. The variety. Sure, the main game gives you almost free rein on your character development, but this shows you all sorts of races and classes with different power combinations. In ME3 it was particularly great because with all the free DLC releases they began to experiment with new powers that were never seen in the single-player (like the aforementioned Annihilation, which is now part of ME:A). So you could play as batarians, geth and even a krogan who ran around with a hammer. It was also cool for checking out all the various weapons as you unlocked them. On top of that, there were some cool maps and they released "hazard" versions for an extra challenge. And I will say that after a couple of games in ME:A (although, one was with almost unplayable lag), this presents a much tougher challenge, which should be fun. Anyone who isn't even thinking of touching MP should still get the APEX HQ app though. On the surface, it's a little like those Assassin's Creed minigames where you send your brotherhood on missions, or ships off trading, but it does help your SP stuff. You don't have to pay for anything and it unlocks in-game "mission funds" (you can better equip your teams or, more wisely, get decent stuff in MP for yourself) as well as reward crates which will give you credits and crafting materials for the main game, which is super handy. It's a bit opaque but easy enough to just get a couple of strike teams and work through bronze missions until they level up, then they'll earn some "positive traits" which increases their overall effectiveness or for certain types of missions, and soon you'll be tackling silver missions with a 75%+ success rate. Even if a team fails, they still get XP. There is the ability to gain "negative traits" but I've not seen any yet and they're probably if you send the teams on missions where they're way out of their depth. It's good because you don't need to spend anything on them (real money or mission funds) and you can just check into the app every now and then, plop 'em both on some missions and check back in 1-3 hours. It allows you to earn a bunch of stuff while you can't play the game then pop over to Kandrios' terminal and collect a bunch of loot when you get back on. ... as for the single-player, I've only had enough time to play up to getting the Nomad but I'm liking it. Combat feels really good now that I've got a Carnifex ("hand-cannon") and there are some intriguing story hooks and potential for moral dilemmas, so I'll see how that pans out.

To clarify my comment on Walker, he's always struck me as a Charlie Brooker or Yahtzee wannabe. As for better combat, I mean in that you can level up any powers/skills you wish, so you can experiment with all sorts of styles and that it's a lot more open with the added verticality.

I'm hearing more positive things from other places. Ones I trust more, like Eurogamer. John Walker's alright, but he always does these lousy, try-hard exaggerations. Like this stinker of a paragraph. "gruesome trudge through the most trite bilge". Okay. The combat looks far better than he's giving it credit for, also. That said, I am skeptical about the writing quality since this is a different BioWare studio and they have lost a lot of their best writers while putting people like Mac Walters in a more senior position. The "floating rocks!" thing in the opening feels like it was supposed to be a running joke that was poorly executed. Still, the loyalty mission looked entertaining so I think the game gets better anyway.

Kong: Skull Island Only saw this because my cousin wanted to but I suppose Brie Larson was draw enough also. First thing I will say is that, having not paid much attention to it, I didn't realise it was set just after the end of the Vietnam War. Makes sense though and it certainly fits with the themes going on. Overall, it's alright. Some nice imagery (although, some obviously pilfered from actual Vietnam war films) and bits of Kong action; the effects are pretty good and the emotion you get from Kong in one particular moment is very effective. Most of the human characters are somewhat wafer-thin or stereotypical, however, and there are some really odd moments. Some funny ones too, mostly thanks to John C. Reilly who probably saves this from being in the "Crap" thread. There is one morbidly funny moment not from him though... There is also a post-credits scene... that is somewhat spoiled, seconds before, by some copyright notice.

New Edgar Wright.