Also, fuck "British Isles". Its a bullshit imperial term that is not even in official use. All Westminster documents have "These Isles" instead
Yes and offensive cause it's like an unintentional implication that we Irish ought to still be pulling the forelock to our former masters. Like honestly rankles me even in a playful context, like saying our history is a joke.
Yea I'm touchy about that one more than I should be perhaps
Have not watched the feature yet and not familiar with Ellison, but would agree with you that we shouldn't project what a writer's characters have to say about women onto the writer themselves.
It can depend though also on what balance a writer gives to more positive archetypes for women. Like John Updike seem predominantly to write 'at' women in a nasty kind of way so the criticism can be warranted there I feel.
Well put. It's unfortunate that he threw in his lot with GamerGate at an early stage and I don't think anyone who's had his fanbase sicced on them will be expected to forgive or forget. He was a complicated guy with a lot of influence and power and he didn't always use that power responsibly. But it did feel like he distanced himself from that garbage and his death was still desperately sad.
People are complicated and some of us make shitty decisions that we regret later on. I did see though that Vinny tweeted his condolences to his wife though.
There wasn't anything on TB over at waypoint and it seems like they locked the thread for his passing, for what that's worth
I'd say Don Quixote as the Citizen Kane of books. At least I think so. Don Quixote is considered the first modern novel but tbqh I struggle to understand what 'Citizen Kane of X' means oftentimes.
Moby Dick I'm reading right now (page 400) but it seems more anticipatory of the kinds of fragmented storytelling the post-modernists would be doing later on.
Also, with regard to the stance-change stuff. Best thing is to pick a moment after an attack that will stun a group of enemies (that hold R1 attack, or the hold R2 & press R2 to beat your shield with a shockwave attack) and then take that second when enemies are laid up on their ass for a bit to get Kratos to change stance.
It doesn't work well if you try to change stance between standard melee type stuff. You need to exploit the knockback effects of certain attacks which is where unarmed combat is really really useful sometimes. Or that charge in and slam with an ice smash move.
Such an intelligently designed system imo. Could gush about this all day.
With regard to the questions Jeff has on combat, what I've found is that as you go further and further in the game does a brilliant job of pummelling into your brain the different effects and uses of your moveset through its enemy design. Later enemies will block and shield and suddenly those fist and shield blows become important to undermine an enemy's guards and not just one or two attacks like Jason is saying.
What I will say about GoW's combat is that while it isn't as technically deep as a Bayonetta it has one of the least flabby combat arsenals I've seen in a game of that genre. I'm not complete yet but I feel like it's done a great job at justifying its moveset and giving reasons to explore combat possibilities. Firstly by making you fight 'soft' enemies and giving you the feel of movement and closing space quickly between enemies as well as using ranged attacks. Then later on by throwing enemies at you that don't hitstun to your axe as easily as your stun attacks. Then later still by throwing enemies which require you to parry constantly and use those evade+throw axe attacks you might have bought but didnt really understand the application for.
It hits a balance between its moveset and enemy design and paces itself in such a way that I haven't seen maybe since the original Devil May Cry. Its looping environment also calls back for me memories of that game, though this is more intensely MetroidVania.
I had no real interest in the reboot when it was announced other than "Oh, it looks neat that they are doing this". I found the original series kind of laughable past the first game. But this new one is such a shock and a wonderful case of eating crow and being thrilled by something you had negative hype for. It is up there as one of the best in its genre I feel and it's found again that neglected niche in character action for these more vicious, brutal lumbering action titles that sits neatly alongside the more quick, fast-paced Ninja Gaiden stuff.
Absolute top-drawer stuff so far. I don't know my playtime but I'm reckoning 30~ hours or so.
wrt Mulholland Drive chat at the end, I did have a similar frustrating experience first time seeing it (though they didn't change the cast like Ben remembers). But watched it a second time years later and found it much more rewarding and now it's my favourite film.
My favourite Lynch stuff is when he's put under some sort of creative pressure and has not got full freedom to do whatever the fuk he wants. Stuff like Eraserhead and Twin Peaks season 3 is really really boring to me. Inland Empire nigh unwatchable. He's best when put through a filter.
Mindkiller's comments