Svenzon

I have the same issues with the Valley as you, but my main problem is how the game just becomes tedious once you get down to the swamp. To me it feels like the whole area was designed to punish me for not wearing heavy armor, since you can't roll while you're in the water. The giants frequently knock me off balance and then proceed to smash me to bits. When I completed the other areas I get a feeling of accomplishment. The Valley just made me think "Well, never have to do this again, thank God". It's a shame really, because I think Maiden Astrea is by far one of the most interesting characters in the game.

As for Latria, the final part of the prison is cool. I love fighting the Fool's Idol and I like the Mind Flayers. Hell, even the machine is cool. What I don't like is having to run back and forth through the confusing cell blocks. The monotony just kills the atmosphere for me. Thankfully, the world picks up considerably once you reach the upper level.

Dark Souls 1 is my favorite, with Bloodborne following very closely. They would probably have shared the #1 spot if I didn't have to spend to much time farming for Blood Vials in the latter.

Dark Souls 2 and Demon's Souls are pretty much in the same spot for me. They're both very good games with some very rough spots. The Valley of Defilement and first part of Tower of Latria can go fuck themselves forever.

PS4. Nearly all of the Souls fans in my circle of friends are playing it on PS4. My PC is a laptop from 2011, so it probably won't run very well on it anyway.

Nope. I played Demon's Souls first, but Dark Souls is my favorite. It wasn't until after I had finished Dark Souls that I went back and played through Demon's. I liked it a lot, but it feels a lot less weighty than Dark Souls and I really don't like having to teleport back and forth to level up. Why the hell did they bring that back in DS2 and Bloodborne?

Only 2016 release I've bought so far is Salt and Sanctuary, which is pretty good. Most of the time it's very impressive for a game made essentially by two people. Sometimes it shows though.

Saw The Martian last weekend, which was okay but not all that memorable. Good stuff first: it's a beautiful-looking film. Seriously, all those shots of the Martian landscape look absolutely gorgeous. The acting is on point for the most part and everything is so well paced the 2½ hours just fly by. The problem for me is that the movie is oddly weightless. There's no real tension to it. Watney rarely seems all that distressed over being left alone on Mars, except for in a few short scenes, and that really weirded me out. Jeff Daniels was hard for me to take seriously. He talks in the same condescending way as on The Newsroom, a show I really don't like. All in all, Ridley Scott's best movie in years, even if it isn't all that great. 3/5, if you will.

Sicario, on the other hand, is pretty damn heavy and pretty damn good. It's way slower paced than I expected, which really worked in the movie's favor. The opening is brutal and it all just gets darker from there. Usually when I watch movies with friends we talk a lot over it, but not this time. Aside from a few comments, we were all silent and completely captivated. Emily Blunt is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses and she is very good here, as always. The real scene stealer, however, is Benicio Del Toro. He starts out as mildly creepy, then grows more and more terrifying. His presence can almost be felt even when he's not physically on screen. Really good and well recommended. Don't go in expecting a feelgood movie though. 4/5

This is what the transportation advisor in SimLordran 2000 would say.

I'm so tempted to buy Bully again. It remains one of my favorite games on the PS2 and the Halloween mission might be my favorite mission in a Rockstar game.

Great. Now that bassline is stuck in my head again.

Used to be a tie between GZA and Inspectah Deck, but I think Ghostface has taken the no 1 spot for me lately.

Beasts of No Nation: A pretty great movie. Abraham Attah gives one of the best performances I've ever seen from a child actor, nearly outacting Idris Elba in many scenes. We rarely get to see war from a child's perspective on film, especially a child soldier, which makes this movie all the more important. My one complaint is that the ending is somewhat weak compared to the rest. But only somewhat. 5/5

The Prestige: Second viewing. I've heard a lot of people say The Prestige is Christopher Nolan's best movie, so maybe there was something I missed when I saw it back '06. Nope, not really. In fact I liked it even less this time around. The movie has three strong points: Jackman's charismatic turn as Angier, David Bowie as Tesla and that shot of the light bulbs in the snow. Otherwise it has the standard Nolan problems: bland characters and a plot that relies way too much on twists and turns. It's very hard for me to care what happens to the characters when they are so one-dimensional. 2/5

Stargate: Needed a popcorn flick to watch with my girlfriend and we decided on this for purely nostalgic reasons. I loved this movie as a 12-year old, but I can't say the same for 32-year old me. It's a really dumb action flick with solid acting from Spader, Russell and Davidson that spawned a bunch of really horrible TV shows. 2/5