DoctorEncore

6 hours ago, CodysGameRoom said:

Been buying this on “layaway” for lack of a better term for a few months now. Just paid it off! The game inside is sealed. The certificate of authenticity is inside the book.
 

This is such a cool item. Collector's Edition before CEs were a thing.

Finished up Hi-Fi Rush which was amazing and Rayman Legends Definitive Edition (Switch) which was not my cup of tea. Neither was on my backlog list although Rayman certainly counts as a backlog game given how long I've wanted to play it. Deathloop remains on hold out of pure lack of interest.

I usually try to keep one Switch game going at all times since it's my go to gaming experience for early bed times. I'm thinkin 13 Sentinels or The LoZ Oracles games as my next play there. Otherwise it's going to be all Starfield and Alan Wake for the rest of the year with maybe some Sea of Stars thrown in.

On 8/28/2023 at 12:50 PM, a3quit4s said:

People who ordered Pocket like over a year ago are gonna burn down the place when they see this is gonna ship same week lmao

 

 

Seems kind of silly considering I want minimal light directly next to my screen, but to each their own.

50 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

I’m pretty excited about the potential of Starfield. I get it free with game pass so I preloaded it. I’m not excited about the time commitment, I probably won’t even finish the main campaign if it takes like 80-100 hours though. 

I'll probably play it like I play Elder Scrolls and just wander around the galaxy doing whatever I feel like. I never finished the main story in Oblivion or Skyrim, so I'd be surprised if I finish the story in Starfield. I really just want to see and do interesting things and play until I get bored. That could be 40 hours or 140 hours and either is fine with me. I've completely cleared my gaming schedule although Alan Wake 2 is singing its siren song...

With Starfield coming out in a matter of days, I'm not likely to make much progress on my remaining list. I'll eventually finish up Deathloop even though I haven't enjoyed it much at all. I'm also playing Hi Fi Rush which is amazing but not on my backlog since it released this year.

8/10. Great movie for film buffs and cinemaphiles, but I wouldn't recommend it to more casual watchers. It's a bit too caught up in its own chaos and probably too self aware for the average viewer. That being said, the opening scenes involving the raid are just as relevant now as they were in 1985. The rest of the movie can be very hit or miss and the plot doesn't always serve the themes, but the ending is still a stone cold classic.

Sorry to hear about this my friend. I went through a very similar thing in 2020 when my basement flooded and it was a rough few months. The expansion tank on my water heater exploded because the builders cheaped out and didn't install a pressure-reducing valve. A bunch of semi-valuable stuff was destroyed, but I just thank God that I was home and awake at the time it happened. I was helping my son brush his teeth when the water pressure dropped precipitously. I knew no one was outside using the hose so I ran down to the basement to a sight of extreme horror. To onlookers, I'm sure it was extremely comical to see me fighting a giant spray of water to the face as I tried to reach the main water shutoff valve.

Anyways, things turned out just fine in the end. Insurance covered all the floor, wall, and furniture damage, but wouldn't replace any videogame items. I learned that the collection needs to be separately insured, so now I've got a policy covering all that stuff and a much better tracking system. Also, everything I lost was just sitting on the floor for a reason; I never used it or looked at it or really cared that much about it. I haven't replaced a single item and I don't miss them in the slightest.

So, I hope everything works out okay, but in the end it's just stuff and it isn't the be-all end-all in this life.

13 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

My hands got sweaty just watching this

I just couldn't imagine any way they could stretch this idea out to feature length. Any good?

I've seen his first six movies and nothing since then. I don't really understand his choices for projects after Fight Club and he kind of lost his shine after that. I do think that Fight Club, Seven, and Zodiac are all pretty good, but I went with Seven since it's the most impactful. Fincher has always felt like a style over substance kind of director to me and I've never been a huge fan of anything he's done. We can argue all day about studio interference when it comes to Alien 3, but even the director's cut is still a mediocre film at best. I also find all the love for Mindhunter somewhat mind boggling. The general plot beats feel like bargain-bin Seven/Zodiac and the acting from the cast is so wooden and stilted, it totally ruined the show for me. Some of the supporting actors were excellent, but Jonathan Graff makes the entire thing unwatchable.

I am looking forward to The Killer though. The cast is stacked and it sounds like a movie that would benefit from his particular approach to directing. I believe it's heading directly to Netflix, so we'll see if that kind of directorial freedom benefits or hinders him.

15 hours ago, Gloves said:

For the longest time I'd have gone with Reservoir Dogs, but honestly Hateful Eight and Django Unchained are just such masterpieces I have to give it to one of them. I went with H8 as it's one of my favorite types of movies, and it just works so insanely well.

15 hours ago, doner24 said:

I actually like it a lot too, but it’s usually last or second to last on his film lists with Death Proof. It definitely has some big flaws, number 1 being the running time. Could’ve trimmed the fat no problem and not lost anything. 

Hateful Eight could've been a great film, but it absolutely died in the editing room. Whoever decided that every little aspect of the story needed to be explained in the flashback chapter really fucked up. I don't know if they were trying to make it more palatable for the general audience or just really liked what they had on film, but that really destroyed the pacing and killed the movie for me. I'd be willing to watch a tighter edit that was closer to two hours, but I'd never even consider the longer Roadshow version or Netflix adapted series.

I wouldn't put him on my favorite directors list, although I have seen every movie he's directed. Inglourious Bastards is my favorite and I think it's the pinnacle of his particular style. It's a perfect mixture of the clever dialog, absurd morality, and over-the-top violence that define his other films. His other movies range from terrible (Death Proof) to excellent (Pulp Fiction) for me.

QT Tier List:

• Great: Inglourious Bastards, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs
• Good: Kill Bill Vol 2, Jackie Brown
• Okay: Django Unchained, Kill Bill Vol 1
• Bad: Hateful Eight, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Terrible: Death Proof

On 8/9/2023 at 9:22 PM, Mega Tank said:

It was very strange they got rid of Shaw this way. I never looked into it, but was there a reason given as to why?

I don't know why they took that route and unceremoniously dumped the strongest character from Prometheus. My guess is that Scott wanted the movie to be focused on David and he felt that Shaw distracted from that. Or perhaps her pursuit of the precursor alien race would've taken the movie in the wrong direction. In my opinion, she would have provided for a much better foil for David than whoever was in that movie. In fact, I literally cannot remember a single thing about the non-David characters or the actors who played them. I was pretty pissed after I watched Covenant and haven't gone back to it. Perhaps some day I'll try to find some redeeming traits, but I'm still annoyed how they did Noomi Rapace dirty like that.

They actually did make a prologue for Covenant showing a bit of what happened with Shaw, but it doesn't make the movie any better.

5 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Made it chapter 4 in Paper Mario, a game I've been working on since January.  Been slow going, but I'll share those thoughts once I wrap it up.

Found a $7 steam code for Trails in the Sky, so I'll be playing it on my laptop soon.

Been rocking Doon Eternal the last few nights.  You know how @Tanooki is always going on about games and button kung fu?  Well, here's a game where that's actually true.  Like with the Doom Remake you need to be constantly moving around as fast as possible.

Now you also have a double dash, in addition to the double jump.  And this whole gymnast thing.

And you have a regenerating grenade that you want to make heavy use of with it's own dedicated button.

And the chainsaw now regenerates and needs to be used liberally to spawn ammo.  Dedicated button.

And there's a flamethrower used to spawn armor drops.  Dedicated button.

And the melee attacks, for spawning health.  Dedicated button.

And the secondary fire, and weapon wheel. 

At any given moment you're probably pressing all of the buttons.

Good stuff.

Doom Eternal is one of the best FPS games ever made. I've never had a game work every part of my brain simultaneously like that. It's so good and so different from everything else that it's almost in its own genre. It's a puzzle-rhythm-shooter-platformer and I loved every second of it.

On 7/31/2023 at 10:25 PM, doner24 said:

Trying to watch some lesser known A24 films, started with The Green Knight, a fantasy film based on Sir Gaiwan of Arthur’s Court, really liked it. Then watched Zola, a crazy apparently real life story based on a tweet, it was decent. 
 

Also watched the recent Dungeons and Dragons movie, not a big action movie guy, but really liked it because it didn’t take itself too seriously. 

I haven't watched The Green Knight yet but I have the 4k blu-ray on my shelf just waiting for a good movie night. I loved D&D. I felt like it was perfectly cast with just the right mix of action and comedy. I hope it gets some kind of sequel or even a limited series with the same cast.

I'm a big fan of Alien and the mythos surrounding it. Most people only remember the scenes on the Nostromo, but a good chunk of the opening is actually spent with the characters exploring the derelict alien ship. There are many context clues as to what happened, but very little hard evidence. If you listen to Ridley Scott's commentary on the film, he actually talks a lot about the backstory he envisioned for the doomed alien race and he brings many of those concepts to life in Prometheus.

That being said, the first time I saw the movie, I left disappointed. I thought I was getting another Alien film and that's not really what Prometheus is. If that's what you want or that's what you expect, you will be disappointed. However, if you're open to something new and willing to circle back around to it a few times, it is supremely interesting.

In fact, I LOVE the audacity of creating a new movie in a mega franchise without even featuring the main character or main antagonists of the entire series. I love Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw and Michael Fassbender is superb as David. I love that everything just feels slightly off the whole movie, but you can never really figure out why. The movie plays on the themes of life and death, old age and rebirth, and, of course, man's attempt to control nature. Good and bad is almost an afterthought.

I still love to go back and watch this movie every now and then. The acting is fantastic, the special effects are awesome, and I love the world building. It's right up there with Ridley Scott's best movies in my book. I still can't believe that Ridley Scott let Shaw die off-screen in the prologue to Alien: Covenant. I was so excited to see her journey to the alien home world. What an absolute waste of a fantastic character.

2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I just finished watching Eternals a few minutes ago, after owning it for quite awhile.  That catches me up through Guardians 3.

I will agree with basically everyone else saying that the MCU isn't as... exciting as it originally was.  A big part of that is the original group of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Guardians being a pretty perfectly cast lightning in a bottle sort of thing.  Hell, you could say the entire thing owes a complete debt to Robert Downey Jr. for making it all possible.  Now that he's gone it doesn't have that core nucleus anymore.

But I'd still say I've enjoyed every movie, and wouldn't call any of them bad.

Favorite is either Iron Man or Thor Ragnarok.  And I was very pleasantly surprised by Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness recently.  I didn't know it was a Sam Raimi film until some of the shots mid-film immediately tipped me off.

Sounds like we have a lot of similar thoughts on the MCU. I enjoy almost all of them, even if they can get pretty predictable. Also, I think Multiverse of Madness is crazy underrated. Raimi is perhaps the only MCU filmmaker who actually retained his own style and it's extremely obvious if you're familiar with his filmography. There are some great nods to his past in that movie and I think the horror tilt plays much better than you'd expect.

2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Also, I've started watching the whole series with my oldest.  These are a ton of fun to watch with a child, and kind of reignited my interest in the stuff, as historically I am not a comic book guy (at all).  So far we're only on Captain America, and at this rate it will take us 2 years to get through the whole thing.  But it's a fun ride.

I can't wait to start the MCU with my son. If he's half as excited for the first Avengers movie as I was, then I will consider it a success. We watched the original Star Wars trilogy this Summer as his introduction to more adult, PG movies and I'm already working on a list for next summer.

Things have definitely taken a turn for the worse since Endgame, but the early phases of the MCU were so damn fun. In fact, the first phase buildup and subsequent payoff with The Avengers remains one of my all-time favorite movie moments, so that's where I put my vote for best movie. There are plenty of other MCU films that I truly enjoy, but none of them felt quite so impactful (Endgame was such a terrible disappointment after the otherwise stellar Infinity War). 

The only movies I haven't seen are Black Panther 2, Ant-Man 3, and GoG 3. I'll catch them on Disney+ at some point, but it's hard to care about the overarching story anymore. Honestly, I think many of the Disney+ series are significantly better than the movies. There are some real stinkers like Falcon and Winter Soldier, but Loki and WandaVision were both excellent and I really enjoyed the much maligned She-Hulk. I'll probably keep watching, but they're going to have to do something drastic to get me into a movie theater. I don't think any character outside of Spider-Man really has the early MCU starpower anymore.

Other Favorites from the MCU:

The Pocket is just so flipping good that it's hard to go back to anything else. Bonus points since I can play on the TV.

6 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

I’m not saying it doesn’t count but like @DoctorEncore said it’s just world class track meet lol

I have all the NES games, I just don't have all the labels.

7 hours ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

This is one of the rare times like with the Lord of the Rings trilogy where I've read the book, but never saw the movie.

Bro... you gotta watch this movie. It probably won't hit you as hard as it hit 8 year old me, but it is fantastic. Not quite as dark as the book, but great in its own way.

10/10. This was an absolutely formative movie-going experience for me. This was Spielberg in his prime with yet another Summer blockbuster that changed the entire industry. I still remember being 8 years old, in love with dinosaurs, walking to the $3 movie theater with my brother to see it on opening weekend. I was scared and thrilled and mesmerized; I was literally on the edge of my seat for the whole thing. Every cast member was perfect, the dinosaurs were so real, and my mind was racing in hopes I could see a real dinosaur one day. I wanted to be Alan Grant. I will always love this movie. I can't wait to watch it with my son.

1 hour ago, a3quit4s said:

It’s the only one I’m missing but the price of admission just to say I own it is way to high

4 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

Me too. Everybody of course wants top dollar for it too, and I am personally fine with the old “-1” set. Or you and I can piss everyone off and act like it doesn't count

Not worth the price, imo. I found a couple sellers back when I was considering a CIB copy, but they weren't willing to budge in the slightest. I'd rather own several other CIB fullsets. Also, since it's the same game as World Class Track Meet, I have zero problem with people who don't have it claiming they have a full set.

Anyways, not trying to disparage @CIB_Wholesale in any way here. Wish you the best of luck on the sale, my friend.

The fact that the election coverage starts earlier and earlier every cycle is so terribly draining. By the time I'm retired, the talking heads will be analyzing the next election the day after the previous one finishes.

48 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I've been binging Dark Souls 2 for a couple weeks now.

I think every Soulsborne person either knows the game or knows the reputation, so not exactly a lot of revelations here.  But yeah, it has a lot of problems.  Questionable mechanics changes, lack of cohesion to the world map, subpar boss lineup, PS3-ish graphics, endless mobs of mobs, etc.

Still, even a weaker Souls game is like an 8/10 overall.  But after doing Elden Ring and Sekiro over the last year this definitely feels inferior in comparison.

Like, I bet I one-shot most of the bosses so far, and the hardest one yet (Smelter Demon) was still probably only like 5 attempts.

And why does it constantly eat my inputs for using a heal?  Drives me nuts.

Anyway, I'm aiming to do Bloodborne early next year, and then Dark Souls III around a year from now, and then I'll be caught up.

I started Demon's Souls when the PS5 first released and only made it to the second level before moving my attention elsewhere so I think it's gonna be a long, long time until I make it to the newer games. Even with its problems, would you say it's still better than the Souls-like imitators?

While I know the game and have certainly booted it up numerous times in numerous formats, I've never given it dedicated playtime. Perhaps someday it will join the backlog.

Finally finished up A Way Out, which I've been working on with one of my good buddies for quite a while now. It's an interesting game with a strong ending, but gets bogged down by some lackluster gameplay in certain segments. The game has a tough time balancing story, co-op design, and gameplay. It really feels like the awkward teenage phase for Hazelight Studios and director Josef Fares. It improves upon a lot of the concepts from Brothers (a greatly overrated game in my opinion), but never coalesces into the magical feeling that It Takes Two somehow managed to carry for its entire length. 

Overall: 6.5/10. It's worth checking out if you're desperately searching for a modern a co-op game that offers slightly more story than your typical shooter. Just don't expect it to blow your mind and try not to be too disappointed when it inevitably does devolve into a typical co-op shooter. If you have the option, It Takes Two is better in every possible way.