Change Your Image
soloriamagic08
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
The Host (2013)
Boyfriend the Movie
The title often happens when a female is the main character. Her thoughts, feelings, accomplishments, depth, worth, etc will revolve around her getting and keeping a guy. World gone to hell? Who cares I need a boyfriend. So called nice aliens have basically committed genocide on my race by literally getting inside us and taking our freewill? Who cares I need a boyfriend did you not hear! Should we form a resistance of the people who have not been taken over to come up with some kind of plan to take back our planet and people? Nah, me getting a boyfriend is way more important!! The uninfected humans are getting hunted down like animals to be infected, but some of them kill themselves instead of getting caught? This important? Nope! Boyfriend! How about even more importantly again forming a resistance? A Plan? Nada!Boyfriend!
This is the movie. Aliens come down; humans get wiped out by getting infected by these aliens. Yet instead of the plot revolving around the main character herself getting infected, but still being alive within, and what that means for herself and all other infected people the movie said nah we got a girl main time for a love triangle.
None of the above becomes the A plot. It's not even B plot. Any and all plot points get taken over rather swiftly by choosing a boyfriend because that is all females, mains or otherwise, should think is important.However, you can bet your *** that if the main was male all the important bits listed above would have been the main plot and stayed that way.
I thank god that I saw this on Netflix and didn't waste money watching this in theaters. I am sick and tired of most entertainment media, which features a woman, being about her world revolving around getting a guy. However, all became clear when I finished the movie and it said based on the book by Stephanie Meyer. If the Twilight mess of books and its nightmare movies are any indication this women is the queen of **** lit where women are concerned. Thanks for helping us stay in the dark ages just a bit longer Steph. You are a trooper.
It gets 2 out of 10 for an interesting premise (that unfortunately went nowhere), an okay lead acting wise, and visually I thought the (genocidal) aliens were simple but nice looking. Also the eye change that happens with the infected was a nice visual touch.
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Strongly lacks the emotional core of the first movie
A dark elf named Malekith and his right hand Argrim/Kurse fought an ancient war against Odin's father for the possession of a powerful macguffin called the Aether. If possessed by the elves it has the power to put the entire universe back into darkness. However, this can only occur during the convergence. This is when all planets in the nine realms are perfectly aligned and thus easier for Malekith to use the aether to darkify all worlds at once. He loses and is forced to flee and put himself and his surviving people into stasis until the aether is accidentally found once again by a certain brown-haired scientist. Cue Thor and the problems this brings to his world and family.
Mal and Argrim/Kurse- Neither character has any real depth. The director said that unfortunately most of it was left on the cutting room floor. However, even though kurse does most of the brute strength work in the movie, and Mal really doesn't get to do anything groundbreaking until the final battle, both are deliciously intimidating and menacing. Basically they are everything Loki failed to be in two movies. Good villains. They lack strong characterization but they both got the job done. Their actors worked with what they had and they did it beautifully. Also of special mention is the dark elf language. It was made especially for this movie and sounds deliciously demonic.
When the aether is awoken again Thor is forced to team up with his deeply untrustworthy adopted brother Loki, and his shallow as a kiddle pool love interest Jane Foster. He is more mature here, but also still very likable. Movie hit its stride when Thor and Loki are together. Great chemistry. Their screen-time together is unfortunately all to brief. Gotta get back to what's important Jane's posse and their'funny' earth scenes.
Jane- she serves three unfortunate purposes and they are the plot device to get Thor to earth, his depthless love interest, and a damsel in the distress. Seriously she literally spends the second half of the film knocked out, has no speaking lines with Loki after the infamous slap, and barely any lines of note with Thor either for that matter. She does get to be of use in the final battle, but it's a little too late. Foster (and friends) needs to be written out of the story someday soon.
Loki-I liked the character yet again and he is the sole reason I went to the theater to see this. I saw Thor and the Avengers on Netflix. He has such a strong presence that the screen feels empty when he isn't on it. His overall characterization and agency felt more at home here. Like this is the real continuation of Loki from Thor 1 instead of that pathetic comedic mess he was written as in the Avengers. This movie just proved to me yet again that Loki is treated better as a character in the Thor movies.
Acting overall was good.I loved the ending credit artwork.No love triangle crap. Asgard was beautiful. It looked more lived in here. Music was decent, but scenes go by so quickly that you really can't appreciate it. You will actually have to youtube if you actually want to listen to it.
Fanservice pandering is very evident here to the detriment of overall characterization. Will become very apparent what I mean by this after the movie is watched.
Comedy- overall execution is the problem. Sad things happen in this movie and yet I didn't care. Couldn't care. A lot of the comedic points were strongly misplaced.
This leads me to my biggest problem there was a severe lack of emotional impact. The somber scenes just flew past while the earth and funny got to keep on strutting. Transitions from melancholy to earth/funny were off big time. We aren't given time to linger and soak in what just happened and the characters aren't either. More time should have been spent on the emotional scenes and less on the latter.
Earth- more tolerable then the first one, but overall still the most boring part of the Thor movies. If they can't (or won't) get rid of earth, at least in his movies, then please tone it down. Just like the first film the most exciting and character driven scenes happened on Asgard and the other worlds. Leave earth for the avenger team-ups. It's not the runtime it's what you do with it that matters. We stayed on earth with its meh characters and comedic moments to long, and the emotional parts suffered greatly for it.The overall dialogue was off. It was clunky in parts and cheesy. I definitely preferred the first movie.Two credit scenes - The mid is foreshadowing a movie to come and it's an atrocious looking scene. It looked like it came from the worst of the sci-fi channel. Even the director has gone on record despising it. It was filmed by someone else. If this is a hint to what this future movie will look, and play, like then I sense marvels first bomb. End credit was meh to.
Disney's cheesy stamp is all over this. You can tell Marvel /Disney had their hands too far in the cookie jar in this one. To the point the director is asking fans to petition for a director's cut so we can get the serious, emotional movie he wanted instead of this big budget action comedy. I will never understand how they seem to know that the family drama is where the juicy meat is, and yet they keep giving us large doses of earth characters and their 'funny' moments. It's like since the Avengers has made this a shared universe Thor can't be the high fantasy drama it could and should be. Overall this movie did the visuals and action better than the first, but it missed the boat on the most important thing to me. A soul.
The Avengers (2012)
The Avengers, a movie about six heroes and yet the villain is the most interesting character in it.
The Avengers,the story of a group of super-powered people (well some of them anyway) who are recruited by a secret agency to stop a threat that apparently one hero alone can't fight. Such lies.
Captain America,(Chris Evans)- the so called leader of the avengers. A nice person to the point of garystudom. He is one of the most boring characters in the movie. I watched the avengers for the first time a few months ago on Netflix, and Cap's origin movie was on there as well, and I tried to watch it but only got to the 30 minute mark and shut it off. I was bored to proverbial tears. I don't get the appeal. For me he has no presence and is as forgettable and boring as Hawkeye and Black Widow.
Ironman,(RDJ)- the real leader in my opinion. He seems to be the focus for most of the important plot points, and he is the one who untimely saves New-York. He just has a presence that the rest of them lacked. Where the heroes were concerned the movie was more like Ironman featuring the Avengers and I actually didn't have problem with that.Out of them all I loved his costume the most, and seeing him here has made me want to go out and see his origin movie and sequels.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth)- Thor is decent by himself, but the interest level really comes in when he's playing against Tom Hiddleston's Loki. Hemsworth and Hiddleston play well off each other. They have great chemistry and their love/hate brother dynamic is always fascinating to watch. This is a shame that this was barely touched on in Thor's own movie. Since to me the family dynamic is the meat of their stories. I loved watching their scenes in this movie (the little that we got to see of it) where we get to witness them bounce their dialogue and emotions off each other.
Thor as a character shines better when he is on his own planet. Or pretty much any planet not named Earth. It's like when he's on ours it nearly sucks out everything interesting about him.
Hawkeye( Jeremy Renner) and Black-Widow(Scarlett Johansson )- Two completely human characters fighting alongside super- powered people. Yea, really don't get that. They were wallpaper for me just like Captain America. When they were on screen it's like they were barely registering. I should not have a continuous question mark in my brain when it comes to a character.
Bruce Banner/The Hulk(MarkRuffalo)- I have never seen the hulk movies (apparently there are a fair few) or the TV show. My first foray into this character was in this movie. He is nervous and twitchy, but generally a nice person and I think Ruffalo pulled that off nicely.Then he turns into the Hulk
. I didn't like the Hulk. He's too godlike for one thing. Same problem I have with Thor and his kind. It takes the emotional stakes out of the character if it's pretty impossible for them to die. He also acts like an animal. Also not a fan of obvious CGI characters (huge green ones at that) being mains and running around with actual real people. It's very jarring in a bad way. I also don't think a full-blown movie works for him. His character works better in an ensemble or even better not part of the cast at all. As for the Bruce part of him well we already have a genius level scientist. Don't really need two. Overall I didn't enjoy the hulk and wanted him off my screen.
Loki (Tom Hiddleston) - the main villain who pretty much took over the movie by his first scene on down. Like in his co-origin movie 'Thor' he is a true scene stealer. I loved watching him. Hiddleston is a treasure to watch act this character out. If the academy wasn't such stuck- ups about fantasy/sci-fi movies I truly think he deserved an Oscar for his portrayal in this and the first 'Thor' movie. His acting for Loki is just brilliant.
However, no amount of scene stealing acting is going to erase that Whedon pretty much destroyed his overall character. He went from a sympathetic villain in 'Thor' to a complete monster punch line in this one. The tone of this movie wasn't serious enough in the first place with Whedon thinking he had to make everyone be a walking comedian, but I will never understand the logic of making your villain be the silliest thing in the movie.Sadly that is exactly what Whedon did. Loki was a pathetic villain.
He took a great character and made him into a joke. The last straw though was not the constant beat downs and jokes at his expense, but an encounter with one of the avengers toward the end of the movie. Loki as a villain had officially went into ludicrous territory at that point. However, what saved him as a character for me was no matter how silly his dialogue sounded at points, or how many times he kissed pavement, or just how overall ridiculous he was as a villain, Hiddleston acted his butt off as Loki. I couldn't take my eyes off the character. All I wish is that Loki from now on stays in the 'Thor' movies and that Joss Whedon doesn't get to touch the character ever again.
In summary the movie's tone was to comedic. It was like whedon was writing for the next bada bing instead of great emotional character moments. The dialogue was more cheesy and cliché then not.The CGI looked dated.There was no real emotional punch. I just didn't care if they lived or died. Although It wasn't like they were in any real danger of that happening in the first place since the movie overall lacked believable tension,and the villain was well acted but really pathetic as one.
Thor (2011)
One character sells the movie. Everyone else, including the title character, are afterthoughts.
Thor, the movie where a god (alien? demi-god? Not completely sure) changes his century old or so personality in three days. Because of a girl. Come on director if you're going to be cliché at least try not to be so obvious about it. I'm going to review this in parts because I have so much to say about it.
Story- Like I hinted at above Thor is a prince that is exiled from Asgard,a fantasy like world in another dimension, to our meager little planet Earth. Here he has to learn humility if he wants to come home because he pretty much started a realm wide war by being an arrogant prick.The problem with this plot point is that for the first 25 minutes or so, when the story was based on Asgard and one other realm (not earth),the story was actually interesting. That takes a severe nosedive when Thor is thrown to a small desert in the middle of nowhere on our planet. To say this part of the movie was very boring would be like me saying rain is wet. All the interesting bits happen on Asgard with Thor's family, but unfortunately since Thor is the main character it's his sleep inducing antics on earth that we have to follow the most and not the far more captivating Asgardian plot points.
Characters- Overall everyone was decent in their roles. I thought Chris Hemsworth, apparently a newcomer at the time, was good as Thor. He was very arrogant (at first), but overall nice and kinda goofy like a big kid. Natalie Portman, as the earth-based scientist Jane and Thor's unfortunate love interest did what she had to do. However, this wasn't much, but that's the thing her part could have been given to anyone and worked. That's why it was obvious that Portman and Hopkins (to a lesser extent) were only really cast because they were the big name draws in a sea of relative unknowns. Speaking of Anthony Hopkins he had a commanding, but still kind, presence as Odin the King of Asgard.However, the role that shined above all was from,apparently another newcomer, Tom Hiddleston.
He played Thor's younger, quieter, darkly mischievous brother Loki, and my god did he blow everyone out of the water. I watched this movie for the first time on Netflix a few months ago, and not being a superhero movie fan I admit I wasn't expecting much. Especially not the Oscar caliber brilliance from Hiddleston. Loki was a scene stealer and really the sole reason I kept watching to the end.
Romance plot- A plot tumor that should have been regulated to C plot or even better not been in the movie at all. The biggest problem with this plot line however was not its existence, but that the two leads had NO chemistry with each other. To say Hemsworth and Portman didn't have this would actually be an understatement. This is unfortunate since they had it with everybody else. Just sadly not with each other.
Visuals and music-Asgard, and one other world, was beautiful but it was glossy looking and didn't look lived in. It was also very obvious they were on a set in a lot of the interior scenes. Very boxy. The earth scenes were a desert and of course very dry and boring looking. The music had a good fantasy vibe, but it wasn't memorable for me.
The Bad Guy-The villain's overall motivation wasn't executed well, and since this is the essence of his start of darkness a lot more effort should have been done in the writing room in this regard.
Battle scenes -Overall I wasn't in awe. I was barely in meh.
There's supposed to be a war brewing and yet we are not shown this even a little. Definitely takes a whole lot of tension out of the movie in that regard.
A very important character is called a master of magic, his power is this for god's sake, and yet I've seen more magic, big and small, done by the children in the Harry Potter films.
Costumes help you get immersed in a world. Especially in a fantasy setting, but sadly the asgardian's costumes overall looked like they came off the Halloween rack at Wal-Mart. Clearly the 150 million or so budget barely was dipped into for the costume department.
Deleted Scenes- This bares a special mention because after seeing them it's one of those what the hell was the director thinking face-palm worthy things. After watching some deleted scenes from other movies it's usually very obvious why they were done away with. This isn't one of those movies. Even when watching the original cut I felt something was missing. Dialogue that didn't make sense, didn't flow right, or seemed to be gone. Transitions that were off and whole plot points that seem to have more to them then what was shown. Then I watched the deleted scenes and go oh there's the rest of the movie! Why would you cut scenes that fleshed out your overall story and more importantly your characters! The deleted scenes made the movie so much more and it's a shame they were cut.
In summary the script, dialogue, story, and just overall execution wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. The acting (especially Hiddleston's Loki) is what overall helped sell it for me. However, in all honestly this is not a movie I can watch in its entirety again. Certain scenes certainly, but not the whole movie.
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Unfortunately Disney's clichéd cheese still reigns supreme.
This movie should not have been called the princess and the frog. It should have been a truly original magical story. However, Disney chose a story that had already been done before, and even with the twist it was still a boring, clichéd affair. It's like the ticked off every cliché they could for the characters, especially the mains, and the whole overall package itself. However, cliché or not the execution is what I have a problem with not necessarily that I've seen this all before.
Characters-Tiana and Naveen are both likable, in a they are clearly on the good side so they have that tis a good person so they will be liked even a bit armor on them, but nothing goes deeper than that. They are good,but boring. I didn't care about their plight. Or them.Their love story was very, very forced, and they barely had personalities.The little that was there was of course Disney's cheese-box of clichés 101.It definitely didn't help that Tiana was human for about 15 minutes, and then she's a frog the rest of the time. Except for the end. Naveen was human for less. Not only that,but they met in passing,as humans once, in a super fast scene with no dialog. There was no build up to their *romance*, and apparently the art of flashbacks to give us more insight into their individual characters is beneath Disney.
The supporting cast was boring as well,but Lotte Tiania's friend was amusing to a point, and Ray the firefly was nice to. The villain was interesting,but his plan was not well thought out, and really didn't make all the much sense at the start.
Plot- boring pack of clichés from the dialog to well everything. Tiana's a workaholic and wants a restaurant. She saves up to buy one.Blah,blah, blah. She goes to her rich, dumb blond best friend's party and meets a frog. Cue *twist* etc.I didn't care about the characters, and I certainly didn't care about the story.
Also what didn't help was the transition was done very, very, poorly in this movie. It doesn't give you time to breath.To suck in the emotion you should be feeling for a scene. The characters talk, move, and emote so fast it's on to the next scene before you can feel anything with them. It's like the developers had a mild form of ADD. That's not good when your trying to tell a story, and make your audience give a fig about the characters in it.
Music- I hated all the songs. Every last one of them. They were horribly written and forgettable. Amusingly and sadly the villain song everyone goes crazy for, Friends on the Other Side, was the worst one. Which is not saying much since all the songs were really bad.
Graphics- never listen to the hype. Graphics looked just like their other 2D films. Just like them. Nice, but nothing spectacular. I assure you my eyes were not having eye-gasms at any point in this movie. As a matter of fact some of the locals and magic used were very ugly and poorly done. Especially when it came to color. Looked almost like a Saturday morning cartoon in way to many places.
Bottom-line: Glad this was borrowed from one of my sisters friends. It's definitely a rental not a buy. Could have been gold, but Disney went the clichéd cheese predictable route hard on pretty much everything. Start thinking outside the mainstream velvetta box. You can still have a interesting, child friendly, story and characters by not putting such boring velvetta all over everything. Changing the skin color of your protagonists was a start, but you still need work when it comes to dialog, story, character personalities, and just the overall package.
Avatar (2009)
Gorgeous visuals anchored in a cliché storm story.
Apparently my local theater was to good to keep showing the biggest movie in the world in their theaters. So for my mother's 50th birthday my sisters and I drove an hour and forty-six minutes to the next town to see it. They were showing the 3D version. I was skeptical in seeing it like that, but fortunately that vanished because I was blown away by the visuals. So were my family. However, story-wise if you've seen Pocahontas, Titanic, Fern-gully, The Last Samarui, and even Terminator you have seen this movie etc. God you have definitely seen this movie.
Story- In some very far off future the US military wants some god-like mineral on this alien planet called Pandora. Well of course the Navi,tall majestic looking blue people, ain't budging. So they send a wheelchair bound solider in as a Avatar(super technology mind-link to a doll that looks just like the Navi) to infiltrate and learn more about them. This is all to get them to move or else force will be used. Of course he falls in love with the people and it's princess. Tells them to fight his own blah, blah... Heard, and seen, it all before.
I swear I thought I was watching the live action version of Pocahontas in Fern-gully come to life. The problem with the story and dialog is that it's as cliché as the sun rising. The enemy soldier that just wants to blast Pandora out of the universe is a walking stereotype if I ever saw one. Then there's the velvetta induced speech by the lead character to the Navi. Also the lead villain to his troops has a cheese-ball one as well etc. It's like they had a tick counter with a list of clichés, and went to town with them on this whole movie.
I'm aware that there is nothing new anymore. I know that everything is pretty much a cliché/stereotype now. However, there are ways to go about it so that the viewer forgets that they have seen it all before. You won't forget that fact at all in this movie. At all. The movie wasn't even trying to be subtle. It was in your face. Get your tick counters ready.
Also this movie is full of unfortunate implications. I won't list them all. You'll be able to do that yourself when you see it just fine. One for example though is that the Navi can bond with the trees and the wild animals of Pandora. They can do this by sticking an intimate part of their body into an intimate part of their victim's. Then forcing the tree or creature to submit to their wills. Without even seeing the movie what does that sound like to you? Then when you actually see the act.. Yea implications indeed.
Visuals- The visuals were so good I would've given this movie a 10 just for that fact alone. However, my conscious won't allow me to do that lol. See this movie in 3D if you can. It is absolutely breathtaking. The world of Pandora is like every fantasy setting put together. It's all just a magical eye-gasm. Like I said it's pretty much Fern-gully come to life. That's not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all.
I at first dragged my feet at going to see this movie because of the Navi being blue, catlike beings with huge anime eyes. However, once I saw them in the movie I came to realize they look beautiful like that, and go well with Pandora. Their height took me by surprise though. You won't get to see them by humans until the end and they are huge.
Bottom-line: You can enjoy this movie. Even if the title should have been called Avatar: The Cliché. The way to do it is leave your brain at the door. Just enjoy the visuals and the beautiful,realistic looking Navi. If you let in your logical detestment at seeing obvious stereotypes rolling around like dice, then you won't enjoy this movie. You'll pull yourself right out of it. I didn't want to leave when the credits rolled. I didn't even realize two hours had passed. I was so engrossed in it. Could it have been the graphics I didn't want to leave? Probably. However, since they are part of the overall package I bared with the whole movie.
There's no deep character development in this movie. There's no deep anything really. The dialog is a big chuck of cheese. The mineral that they wanted was more like an obvious plot device. The first time it's brought up is the last time. The characters are all one dimensional stereotypes etc. However,the movie did entertain me. Also as cliché and stereotypical as everyone was they were likable. So that's something. Also it at least had five passable movies to be cloned from. *Hmm maybe not Titanic. I think I'm the only person in the world that has never liked that movie. lol*
Kenpuu Denki Berserk (1997)
The male version of Claymore( to an intent)
Berserk is a very dark anime who's first episode starts with a man named Guts(Yes, unfortunately that is his name) killing a bunch of people and a snake like demon. Then the next 24 episodes are a flashback that will describe how he got to that point.
The similarities with Claymore is that demons do exist(but you really don't find out that fact until real late in the series and the end), and that the main character fights them with a sword that's to big for his body. That's were the similarities end because unlike Claymore the main characters do kill humans and a lot of them, and again unlike Claymore there is no good side in Berserk. In berserk's world you have anti-hero evil and complete monster evil with the former dancing on a(frayed)tightrope in becoming the latter.
For example one of the characters kills an innocent child in cold blood. On screen with nothing to the imagination. Here's the kicker it isn't the *bad* side that did this. Welcome to to the dark world of Berserk where the body count for the *good* guys is high or even higher than the *bad* ones, and these are the people we are supposed to be rooting for. Basically this anime only gives you the choice of choosing between the LESSER of TWO evils.
Pros
Characters- Griffith( very handsome), Guts( not bad looking himself) and Casca( pretty tomboy) are the three main,main characters and they are likable(as likable as dark anti-heroes can be) and the character development for them is not much but it's memorable.The voices for all three of them( and everybody else as well) is very good. Suits their characters to a T.
Script-Surprisingly good. I liked a lot of the dialogue.
Cons
The animation is bad,and the fight scenes don't flow smoothly at all.As a matter of fact I wouldn't really call them fight scenes. More like really bad drawings stopped in time, and then the fight is over.
Plot- Until the last three episodes the plot is on the boring side. Its basically a kingdom tells Guts and co. to go kill a bunch of people in a neighboring kingdom, and they do then rinse and repeat. You'll do well to pay more attention to the characters then the plot because that's were the interest is.
Even though the three main characters are likable(and tragic) It would be nice to root for a character that doesn't have a bucket load of blood on their hands,but Berserk is a world were finding a person like that is damn near impossible.
Boring invincible(anti-)hero syndrome-Guts here's looking at you.The man can plow through a 100 men by himself with no life threatening injuries.He damn near fought a WAR by himself to.
Music- Horrible. Especially the intro song. Doesn't fit at all. The music in the story plays at odd times and is not good either just tolerable.
The ending-It was good,dark, and leaves you definitely wanting more. It's really the point we're everything went to hell literally and figuratively,but the reason why it's in the con section is that it explains NOTHING. It ends in a HORRIBLE downer ending with NO CLOSURE whatsoever. Since this anime was made a decade and some years ago the possibility of a second season to give closure is real slim to nonexistent. So if you want that you will have to read the (unfinished) manga.
I'll end the review with this.
The gooder the person the darker the fall. You want understand what I mean until the end.
Gantz (2004)
The saw movies in anime form seriously
If you have seen the Saw movies then you should know what I'm talking about. This anime is like the devils spawn of them. A group of people( dead people) are transported to a room in an abandoned apartment minutes after their deaths.In the room is a black ball with a person in it. This is Gantz, and he's a sadistic bastard.Cue the mind rapes and psychological trauma among other things. You have just walked into hell trust me. You can return back to the real world but there's a catch. Gantz likes to play, and the game he likes to play can cost you your life. The game is simple. It's seek and destroy. If you're alive after the time limit is up you get to go home fully restored. You die you stay dead.
However, your life belongs to Gantz and he can, and will, call you back to the game whenever he feels like it.Oh yea gantz doesn't explain the rules to you. On purpose. If you break his rules, that he doesn't tell you about in the first place, then let's just say seeing you in any more episodes becomes slim(er).
What exactly is Gantz, and w.t.f. does he want no ones knows. The anime never explains it and I'm not sure if the manga does either.This anime is full of nudity, sex, violence, and gore. Oh god the violence and gore. It's definitely M or even AO material.
Pros- Everybody can die and god damn they can die horribly. No one has plot armor. If you are transported into Gantz's game, no matter if you have main character stamped to you, you can die as easily as everybody else. I like this because it's realistic. No one likes an immune hero. Its gets boring when you know no matter how many limbs, and blood they lose they will survive over and over. Looks at you Bleach.However, the one bad thing about this is it's easy to get attached to the characters, well some of them anyway, but since everybody can die it's a good chance you'll not be seeing them alive for much longer.
Dialouge- Most of it was so good. So realistic. I laughed at quite a few bits even in a sadistic, dark anime like this. However, there were some bad nuggets.
Visuals- the people looked real. You can actually imagine them in everyday life.
Voice acting- I don't see why a lot of people hated the voice acting. I quite liked it. The voices for each character suited them.
Music- creepy and fits the scenes. Love the intro music.
Cons- This anime is not particular nice to female characters. The main character is likable in a jerkass with a heart of gold kinda way, and I use the heart of gold part lightly. However, he is sex crazy.EVERYTHING regarding sex in this anime is a direct result of his antics.I know its part of his personalty, and him being male unfortunately, but they could have toned it down a bit.
The to dumb to live idiot ball gets passed around a lot.Characters take their sweet time trying to kill the things that are trying to kill them. I understand being passive but this is going overboard. Way to much naive idealistic talking goes on as well.What makes the idiot ball even more profound is that gantz, the sadistic chess-master, sends them to kill things that weren't bothering anyone in the first place.So if they had just left well enough along until time ran out then well what might have been...
Gantz cheats. A lot. To the point that even getting half of the people to come back alive is nearly impossible.
Teiruzu obu Shinfuonia: Ratatosuku no kishi (2008)
Orginality is dying if not dead
The only real thing separating this game from its predecessor is that its called a sequel.The plot of this game and the first one are disappointingly very, very similar.
Pros- The game's story moves at a much faster pace then the first one. This is not necessarily a good thing though, but I will get to that later.
Mystic arts are actually required game-play mechanics complete with portrait. Well for the main characters anyway.In the first game you had to do some special mind-numbing crap just to see it.
You get to see the rest of the Symphonia cast and they even join your party, but you don't have to buy anything for them at all. They come pre-equipped and pre-leveled with each coming and leaving of your party,and they level cap at 50. This might seem like a problem for some, but I didn't care. It just meant that I wouldn't have to worry about leveling them up, and also their mystic artes alone are more powerful then the two main characters even with the level cap.
World Map- LOVE IT. No more having to walk for 30 minutes or more around terrain to get to the next town complete with monsters trying to attack you. The map in this game is point and click. The world map pops up. You point the wii remote or scroll down to where you want to go and you're there.
Gameplay- real time like the first game.
All skits are voiced thank god unlike the first one. Does wonders for character development.
Tenebrae-The summon..er Centurion of Darkness that travels with the two main characters Emil and Marta. He provides most of the witty and funny dialog. He's a snarky gem.
Cons- Plot-Its faster but still boring.You are practically playing the same confusing and convoluted story of the first game. Mostly just names of things are different.The main bad guys in the story are called the Vanguard,but you could just call them Cruxis without the angel element. You have to find centurion cores which are basically summon spirits to stop their dastardly plan which isn't that much different from the first games plan. There is a twist at the end. However,....
There's a reason you hadn't heard of centurion cores or even a hint of them from the first game because they were Retconned in.Guess where the centurion cores you have to collect are? Hint:your first thought is probably right. Also off the top of my head you go to three new places, but that's really so the makers could pretend like you aren't playing the first game all over again. Did you think you would never have to see the darkness and lightening temples again? Nor their throw the controllers against the wall puzzles? Think again.
Characters-Marta. She is damn annoying. Emil I like. He's sweet and quite.Its Ratatosk a bad-a** that's to much of an a** that I don't. The original cast voices, with the exception of Colette and Presea, have been changed for the worst. Looking at you Lloyd and Zelos.
So and So has left the party.Formation has changed. Get used to seeing those words a lot.
Player Berserk button- "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality." You'll be seeing this line A LOT as well. Sometimes complete with redundant flashback.
Graphics-Kinda bad. They really look like game-cube graphics.Which is sad and surprising this being on the Wii a next gen system.
Monster hunting- Think Pokemon. You have to spellbound monsters in battle. It's unfortunately mandatory especially for a certain fight at the end of the game. The problem is that they suck. Their point is to make your team four. You can switch them with other human characters when the symphonia cast joins you,but since they often leave a lot you are stuck with two monsters of your choosing. They have higher HP and MP and level up much, much quicker then Emil and Marta. However, they don't do sh*t in battle so what good are they? Plus they can have full HP,but if your two human characters die its game-over, no exceptions, regardless.
Anime Cutscenes- There's ONE,and its the INTRO. You know the scenes that flash with the theme song when you first pop the CD in? That intro.Even the first game had more than that even if it was sadly mostly of buildings.
Kureimoa (2007)
Dark Fantasy at its peak
I'm very picky about the animes I watch and even more picky about the animes I actually like. So for this one to get a high score from me is no small feat.
Claymore at its core is a dark action fantasy.It follows a human/demon hybrid warrior named Clare and her gary-stuish morality pet Rocky(he's not that annoying) as they go from town to town to fight demons as giving to Clare by her boss the organization. The name Claymore derides from the huge sword she wields. The plot from the first few episodes seems like its a boring monster of the week show,but by episode 7 that thought will change.It will turn into so much more and won't let up.
There's a lot of secrets in this show.What happens to a claymore when they go over their yoki(demon)limit? Hmm let's just say that they get more bad-ass(which is not much of a feat since they're already that) that's for sure, but it comes with some...consequences. Another would be why are all the claymores female?If there were male claymores what happen to them?If you want answers watch. The show is rather gory. I mean blood and limbs getting detached is like a common theme for every episode. So if you're squeamish I wouldn't watch this.
Pros
The Characters- are so badass it's not even funny. Literally the first few minutes of the first episode will clue you in on just what kind of main character you are dealing with, and the dark fantasy tone has been set. You will not find a mary-sue/damsel in distress in this anime. Which is surprising in itself this being from Japan and all. However,I found that the manga's, that this is based upon, author is female. That would explain a lot of things. You would have to play where is waldo or in this case where's the mary-sue to even begin to find one,and seriously good luck with that. Also character development on Clare and the rest of the claymores is skimpy but memorable.
Voice Acting-top notch quality. Very good.
Animation- very nice and the battles are fluid.
Music- creepy and fits the mood.
Cons
Skimpy Character Development- Even if the character development is memorable it's still skimpy. Some characters are literally introduced in one episode and then gone by the next few. They might show back up at the end.Or not.Clare herself is not spared this.
Clones- What I mean by that is all the main characters, the claymores, look like each other. They all have white blond hair, silver eyes that turn into a catlike yellow complete with slit when they use their powers, the same uniform, and while the few odd ones out might have long hair all the rest will have a tomboyish bob. This includes Clare. I mean seriously I have mistaken Clare for other claymores more than once. The only way you can really tell them apart is by their personalities. Would it have hurt to give them at-lease different colored hair? Their silver/yellow eyes and their demonic powers were more than enough to tell us they are not fully human.
My kunfu is better than yours-This happens when a character likes to talk about their attacks/powerups before,during,and after an attack. While it's not near the level of Bleach, and of so I've heard Naruto and Dragonball Z, it's still annoying regardless.
The Organization- They give the claymores their orders,but who or what these characters are(besides the claymores) that make up the organization is never explained. I hear its not explained in the manga either.
The Ending- Way to open ended. A whole lotta lose ends and characters are never given closure. This can be rectified in a second season, but that'll probably never happen.
Monster (2004)
Dark anime that's to long for its own good among other things.
Monster is a dark anime about human nature. It's main character is a renowned neurosurgeon that works at hospital where money and status come first and human lives second. Dr. Tenma makes a choice one night on just which side of the human life vs money spectrum his on when a little child with a gun shot wound to the head comes in followed a little later by a mayor with an a brain problem to. Well to make a long story short the choice he makes ends up ruining his life 9 years later in more ways then one, and he unfortunately starts out on a 74 episode journey to right his mistake. Yes, 74 episodes. I'll get to what's the problem with that later.
The Good
Realism in animation and plot for the most part. People looked like real people. No mind-numbing power ups every three episodes. No women with unrealistically large breasts or slut wear that Japanese anime's seem to think all women wear. No mindless cursing just for s**** and giggles etc. Basically take out what's in 99% of anime's and you get Monster,and that's a good thing.
Characters- Tenma is a a good protagonist. He's kind, handsome but strong willed to a point. Almost to good to be true. Nina is a good heroine. No mary-suish tendencies except a few unfortunate lapses real late in the series. She's also smart, kinda bad-ass while still being a nice person, and pretty without looking like a sex object. There are more characters that join Tenma on his quest and they are done well for the most part to.
Dialouge- For the most part the dialog is okay and realistic. No friendship speeches. No over-dramatic love will win the day monologues etc, but then you do have some of it being naively idealistic, and when you hear this especially in a dark anime like this then it does get a bit annoying.
The Neutral- Not titled the bad because I don't think these things are bad or good they just are.
Even though the title seems to be referring to one particular monster there are quite a bit of them in the story. I'll even go so far as to say one of the monsters lackeys is more of one then spoiler is. Anyway the main monster who tenma is after can only be called Omniscient. There are to many things in this anime that the monster pulls off that asks for your suspension of disbelief in spades. One of the main ones being that some of the monster's plans, no what am I saying, all of the monster's plans, no matter how w.t.f.ish come of without a hitch.
The Ugly
74 episodes- Monster's biggest problem is that it tries to tell,a what's in reality, a 26 to 30 episode tops story into 74. What you get is a story that really doesn't know when to end for its own good. The first half of the show is mixed with small fillers, but still additive to a point, and then it teeters off into full blown filler boredom for the rest until the last four or so episodes.
The Monster's plan was inane. You go 74 episodes just to finally find out in the end the master plan, and it just wasn't worth the long ride.
The Monster barely shows up in any of the episodes. To the point that if spoiler wasn't such a tension filled presence on those extremely rare occasions when spoiler does decide to show up you would forget spoiler is even in the story.Even though a good villain stays out of sight that doesn't mean said villain should not get sufficient character development.
Telling not showing- We are supposed to believe that the monster is this mass murdering sociopath and yet we really never see anything of the sort done by the monster. Sure we hear what the monster has done, but its real rare though 74 episodes that we will every see these deeds.There's this place called 511 that's brought up as a big plot point concerning the monster, and yet you never find out what really went on in there,and you definitely will never see it. It was really just used as a plot device with no ending and no real explanation.
So many characters are introduced that they all sort of run together after a while.
Most plot points are left unexplained or poorly explained especially things that have to do with the overall plot.
Also almost every character without fail will tell the main character, or someone else, their life story to the point that you can't help but roll your eyes in boredom.
My apologies if this sounds shallow, but even though the the people look realistic if you aren't a main character then the majority of them will look unusually pudgy, and just downright ugly with some very creepy looking eyes.
The Ending- God the ending.When you hit the ending you will literally be asking yourself why you watched this. The ending makes everything done in those 74 episodes pointless as hell. I can literally sum up the bs of an ending in two sentences, and yet those two sentences would spoil the entire plot of Monster.
Ôran kôkô hosutobu (2006)
Brilliant character driven anime with extreme second season potential if I ever saw one.
This is a masterpiece of an anime, and I'm very picky about the anime I watch so for those words to come out of my mouth is saying something. It's 26 episodes of pure genius. Okay, 25 episodes with one w.t.f. ending, but I'll rant on that later. This is a character driven show more than anything because plot wise its stupid as hell, but the brilliant characters save this show ten times over. It's about seven friends that are members of a high school host club in a prestigious, filthy rich school. This host club entertains women; however, one of the host is a women.She's the main character and the other characters antics are mostly seen from her eyes. Haruhi is a poor student on an academic scholarship. She's intelligent, assertive, nice, practical, calm, and the real cincher not a scantily clad b*tch or a vomit inducing marysue.When you have 99% of anime's featuring females being damsels in distresses to the point that you want to puke, and then when a rare anime comes along with the main female character being as far from a mary-sue that you can get, you get a bit giddy. Anyway, she looks like a boy because of an incident involving her hair and gum, and she joins the host club at first out of being forced. She broke an expensive vase and to pay of her debt she joins as a male. Of course the others find out which is humorous in itself. However, her being forced to put up with these rich fools, and their insane antics changes and everyone becomes more than best friends. They become a family.
This anime is very humorous, very witty, but knows when to get serious when it calls for it. The main characters are each different and bring their own personality and back-stories to the table. The music is catchy and the animation is nice to look at. The show makes fun of every Japanese cliché in the book even within the main characters and amusedly so. However, the downside of this anime is the ending. You don't make a brilliant character driven show like this and end it like that. If a show ever needed a season two this is one of those shows. Trust me. There is a manga, but once you've seen these wonderful characters voiced and animated and all their adorable, sad, and romantic antics come to life a manga cannot fill that void. Believe me once you finish being peeved off like I was at the unfulfilling ending, and then it slowly sinks in that there is not going to be another season to resolve it, the withdrawal symptoms hurt and they hurt bad lol. In all seriousness though this anime is d*mn near perfect, and even though the ending left me wanting I don't regret watching this show and its extremely endearing characters one bit.
Tales of Symphonia (2003)
Final Fantasy X : The Gamecube Version
Usually when I write a review I start out with a mini synopsis, but I feel it would be redundant to do it this time since I have already reviewed this game. It was just called Final Fantasy X at the time.Anyone who says this game is not X just with angels thrown into the mix are seriously fangirling/boying hard or just plain delusional. I find that fan-girl/boy and delusional are one and the same though. Anywho on to the review.
Pros Characters-Make no mistake they are cliché. You have the Mary-sue and Gary-Stu, the bad ass with the dark past, The jive talking brat, the playboy, the head strong woman, the smart women but with a bite etc.. However they take their cliché's and have fun with them. All the characters are endearing(protagonists and antagonists) despite their clichéd roles. The line between good and evil is blurred. The *good guys* body count is up there and this includes innocents. Also the *bad guys* are actually likable and their stories are real sad. Although the main *bad* guy's story is sad it has creepy incestuous undertones.
Dialog-Sure it has the usual cheesy clichéd love and friendship will win the day lines especially towards the end but the majority of the dialog is witty, funny, and serious when need be. I was actually shocked at the level of wit this game has.
Battle System-Real time and no random encounters thank god. I seriously and honest to god can not see how someone can enjoy playing a turn based system. It is the most boring way to play a game I have ever seen in my life. Yea, in real life you will take slow , tedious, turns when someone is trying to beat the crap out of you sure... Anyway, the combos of the mêlée characters are great and fast. The magic is fantastic to watch. Some of the spells are pretty and creative. When a lot of spells and combos are on screen together there is a noticeable lag though. This game is like Final Fantasy 12 as well. FF12 had a gambit A.I. system that basically let the computer play for ALL your characters you just set the controller down and watched while the A.I. laid waste to enemies and bosses. TOS is the exact same way. Leveling up is way more faster this way because the computer actually knows how to use magic and techs way more than you can and faster as well. Bosses were gone in a matter of minutes.With the computer controlling all the characters you watch and just give out potions and what not when their HP or MP starts to get low. Since I play RPG's for story and not game play the faster I can get to said story the better. Whoever came up with this was ingenious. The characters are linked. The main character Lloyd is linked with Collete. That means when you have him in the field she levels up also and learns new skills and magic and vice versa. The same with other characters. This ultimately means that you don't ever have to play for a character and they will level up and learn new skill regardless. And if you find you feel like playing for them eventually you would not have to go through the pain and tedium of leveling them up to catch up with your main party.
Music- Most of the music was good(there were some bad apples), very church sounding and creepy but strangely forgettable.
Cons: Plot-Boring ,tedious,incomprehensible, just like its clone Final Fantasy 10.The characters saved this game because it sure as hell wasn't the plot. Obvious plot devices where used like clockwork, the dungeon crawls were poke your eyes out, throw the controller tedious. I mean I actually had to print a walk through out for the MAJORITY of them. The game is an extremely unnecessary two discs and I swear this games story( The unnecessary tedious B.S. is what makes it longer) can be finished in 40 hours not the 80 the namco lied on the back of the box with.
Graphics- Ugly as sin. The back of the box says anime cut scenes. I swear it leads you to believe that they will be full blown and all throughout the game. That is a lie. Let me repeat. THAT IS A LIE! I can seriously count on ONE hand how many anime cut scenes are in this game. Only two of them are of the actual freaking characters. The intro and the ending(and you only get to see two of the characters and a nobody!) I mean hell lets make the gamer get attached to all the main characters and then not show them when the hardships of their journey is rewarded. The rest of the anime scenes are of water and buildings. I am so serious. Also it is hard to feel an emotional impact for this game because the characters are chibis. I would love to know what *Einstein* thought that was a good idea. They tried to rectify this with an anime based off the game. I felt more emotion for them in that then in the game because I can actually see as well as hear the intensity of the scenes instead of looking at a ugly chibi trying to get me to feel something for it.Hello, Namco that anime should have been the freaking cut scenes in the game.
Predictability- Mostly all of the OBVIOUS plot twists can be seen a mile and a half away. I swear there is one of the main twists that I figured out barely 5 hours into the game. I will dub it Star Wars. The other concerns a character that you will meet very late in the game and all I will say to that is you have to be blind not to see that one.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend (2006)
No Plot or Character development and yet this game gets a 8.6 rating . Wow.
This game has the(dis)honor of being the first game that I have stopped playing right in the middle of and felt like smashing into bits and then burning. Congratulations. FIRST and LAST Tomb Raider I will ever play I assure you.
Plot: Just typing that word made me laugh. There isn't one. Neither is there character development. We finally have a girl heroine who can take care of herself,who isn't a *beeping*mary-sue,but unfortunately she dresses like a slut and her breast are huge. They had to attract the sexist boy gamers you see. Anyway all she does is go in tomb after tomb shooting things as she goes along. Why she does this I have no idea. I had subtitles on and the t.v. as loud as I could and I still didn't understand a damn thing. The development(or lack there of) for her, her two friends and the*villains*were laughable. There also will be levels that you have to go through that do-not give you any hint on what you have to do next and you literally will be in most of the boring as hell tombs for HOURS trying to figure out what the hell you are supposed to be doing. There is one course(out of two) in particular with her on a motorbike(Believe me it is not at all fun)that you will be on for ATLEASE an HOUR with NO save point in sight. That means you get hit by the other motorist and guys in vans shooting at you or you hit a tree you start the hour long trek OVER.
Boss Stupid F*ck: You know lets makes the levels very long, have basically no save points, have no story, no character development, give no variety in game play, have most of the music on the longest levels ear-bleeding,and give no hints whatsoever to the player so they can stay even longer in a place instead of getting to the nonexistent plot.
Stupid F*ck one: Those sound like bang up ideas.
Stupid F*ck two: I concur. Who needs character development ,plot, or unboring game-play.
Todd: I'm sorry sir,but these ideas seem like they will extremely p*ss the player off.
Boss Stupid F*ck: Shut up Todd. You're fired.
Game-play: All she does is shoot. Of course she can flip while SHOOTING, jump while SHOOTING, or kick while again SHOOTING.But flipping, jumping, and kicking does not erase the fact that all she is ultimately doing is SHOOTING. BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Music: The intro music is extremely beautiful. I love listening to it. The in game music goes from tolerable to wanting to cut your ears off.
Visuals:Considering this game was made in 2006, I was expecting the visuals to blow me away.Well I was blown,but definitely not in a good way.
Bottom-line: This game is a plot-less, no character development mess with a barely dressed unmarysuish(THANKFULLY)young women in the lead that goes through boring tombs for some boring reason(what that might be I couldn't tell you)with unimaginative shooting gameplay. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS B.S.!!!!!!!!It's gets two stars for having a women who isn't a damsel in distress(No matter how scantily clad she might be) and the beautiful into music.
Kingdom Hearts II (2005)
Disney kills whatever mature,character and story driven potential the KH series could have had.
Hi, My name is plot and character development. Will you find me in this game? Answer: Don't bet on it.
Plot: A year has passed and Sora, Donald, and Goofy,wake up in pods with no clue how they got there in a strange mansion. After about five seconds of debating on why and how they got there and why some strange girl's name is written in Jimmy's journal. They don't mention it again. NOT ONCE. Even after Sora meets said girl at the end of the game. Before that though you play for 3 to 6 hours(depends on how slow or fast a player you are)as a boy named Roxas. He has a strange connection to Sora as does the girl who's name is in Jimmy's journal. Don't get attached to Roxas though because he will get snatched from you, and will only appear again in about three more cut-scenes in the entire game. After Sora wakes up his sob story of wanting to find Riku and then later the Mary-Sue in his life Kairi begins YET AGAIN, (Apparently TWO games of him doing the EXACT same thing is not enough),but is slightly derailed by new beings called nobodies(who barely appear in the game I might add)and Organization 13. Beings with no hearts.
Anyway you get to the main *STORY* after about 30 to 40 hours of BORING, CHEESY, Disney filler,but will you understand it. Two words HELL NO. Then after those cut-scenes you are right back to the fillers of the Disney B.S until the end of the game. There are so many plot holes in the KH games that if I were to list them all and go into detail I would have a mini term paper on my hands. Case in point: Is Chain of Memories the game before this one and after the first one needed to understand this game. NO. Why? Because 9 out of 10 you STILL want understand a d*mn thing. I have played and watched the cut-scenes of all 3 games and I still don't. That's how plot-holey it is,but of course Enix/Disney thinks that if they throw in a bunch of confusing images and symbolism , give some vague and equally useless term for why something happens(or doesn't happen) and call it a story it'll sell. Apparently their right if judging by the sales of this over-hyped, overrated series is any indication.
Characters: Sora: Better clothes, more adult-like voice. BIG A** EGO. Riku barely in the game until the end. Kairi gets herself kidnapped like all good Mary-Sues do. Organization 13:The *baddies*and who Sora has decided he is going to MURDER because some cheese-ball Disney character, and some old man bent on revenge said they are EVIL. Of course NO HEARTS=NO EMOTIONS and that automatically means TIS EVIL, DIE.Let's not mention that at almost every point in the game the so called villains being TIS EVIL is contradicted.Sora hypocritical,naivety kills me. It's okay for Riku(HIS BEST FRIEND) to turn evil,and try to KILL him,but incomplete people who just want their hearts back automatically are evil because they want to be complete again and don't have emotions?! Of course the game tries to give you a vague reason why Sora must kill them,but trust me the reason is so vague,confusing, and plot-holey it's not even funny. Sora nd Co. are walking hypocrites.Out of the 7 surviving members ( 6 were killed in Memories) only 2 of them (this is not including the final boss) get any character development. 6 cut-scenes each for only 2 of the organization(Axel,Saix) is hardly what I call character development,but whatever. Final Mix tries to rectify this,but fails badly. I hardly call 4 new cut-scenes with the organization discussing basically what we already know from the original game character development.
Gameplay. HUGE UPGRADE from the 1st game. Stll real-time,but Sora is practically a god in this game. His combo's are unbelievable. He also has something call drives. They look (Duel wielding key-blades,clothes change)flashy,but are pretty useless. You CAN win the game without them and they have to be leveled up under certain conditions which is time consuming and boring.Don't listen to the people who who say this game is two easy even on proud mode. I played on standard and died so many times I have lost count.I didn't start heavily dying on the first game until the END(and this was not against ANY of the final boss forms) Of course a game is not worthy to people like them until they die from a boss 20+times.
Visuals:A SLIGHT upgrade. I say slight because if you look at the Hallow Bastion on the first game and then this one you will be going W.T.F. has happened?! It is a lot of worlds on this game where the first game graphics looked better than this one. Which is real sad.
Music: Most Disney music= EAR BLEEDING. Original Music= VERY GOOD. Loved listening to it.
Bottomline:Disney kills the KH series.The FF parts are bad to,but at lease they are just cameos. Disney is this series Achilles heel.You literally have to go through boring,Disney cheesball filler just like the other games in the series to get to the main WAY MORE interesting(albeit confusing and plot-holey) story. The dialog(Velveeta) on this game alone(while way better than the first game's dialog) will d*mn near kill you. If these games took the base of the plot, took out Disney and Final Fantasy, and added more originality they would be the mature and dark stories they have the potential of being. But with Baby Disney at the helm that'll never happen. Pity. Example: New KH2 final mix trailer has it all dark atmosphere, dark music,and some dark action, and then when the trailer is coming to an end MICKEY appears with his a stereotypically girly(Mickey's male RIGHT?!)STAR-SHAPED Keybalde.D*mn near RUINED what could have been an epic portrayal of what the KH series should have been in the first place.
Kingdom Hearts (2002)
Story had SO much potential and failed. Pity
.I'm not surprised at the 9.3 rating this game has because unfortunately the power of Enix's fanatics is a powerful thing .It has been my experience with games (Final Fantasy) that have Enix's name slapped on it is AUTOMATICALLY given a high rating no matter how abysmal the actually contents are. The thing with Enix's walking dollar signs is Enix's games=high scores automatically to them,but Enix here's one person who isn't under your spell.
Plot: Friends Sora(14) Kairi(14) and Riku(15) live on Destiny Islands. Riku bored of their home tells them they should build a raft and sail off on it to see other worlds. Their plans are dashed when a storm brews that night and their home is swallowed up by darkness. Sora is saved by a mysterious weapon called a keyblade. Riku.Kairi disappear in darkness. Sora sets of with Donald and Goofy to find their king(Mickey) who has also gone missing and his friends. Game is your basic light vs. dark story, and clichéd as those stories are they can be done beautifully in the hands of competent people with loads of imagination. This game had so much potential that it makes me want to weep that it wasn't realized. First, the story should have not had Disney or Final Fantasy anywhere near it. Should have been an entirely original light vs dark ,original characters, worlds story with different companies behind the helm. Having Disney in it already handicapped it because Disney=Kiddie and with kiddie having a deep mature storyline is already thrown out the window. Enix should not have been near it because Character Development and Story are not their strong suits and this game was NO exception. All the worlds you visit with the exception of 3 are Disney and mostly all of them have nothing to do with the main plot. Fortunately the main plot picks up,but unfortunately it's the 3rd world(Neverland) to the end of the game. It's like Enix/Disney forgot they were suppose to be telling a STORY and then when they finally do remember you are literally at the end. You know those things used to tell a story, CUTSCENES, yea that. Well good luck trying to find them. This game had so few cut- scenes to the point of being ridiculous. Sadly the few cut- scenes you do get pertaining to the main story will leave you going ? The story of this game is so convulsed that when you finally get to the so-called climatic cutscene your left feeling WHAT THAT'S IT?!! Wait this story made NO COHESIVE sense and the game is ENDING?! It HAS to be more to flesh out the story and characters!!! Sadly there isn't. Hence my feeling of wanting to weep for what this game COULD have been.
Characters:Sora is likable because his innocence make him endearing. Unfortunately that's all you get from him He's innocent and...? From the manual it says Kairi is one of the main characters and yet all her cutscenes combined would barely scrap 30 minutes. I get she loss her heart but what about the scenes before she loss her heart or after she got it back. WHERE WAS THE DEEP CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?! NOT JUST FOR HER BUT FOR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS?!! I mean Kairi(And six other people) play a pivotal role in the games main plot and all I get from her in the manner of character development is 30 minutes COMBINED?! The other six even less. If I had to say anyone got any DEEP character development no matter how minimal it would be Riku. I liked him(I don't know why)He had a huge chip on his shoulder where his attitude was concerned, he was jealous of Sora and he was a bit to fascinated with darkness. From what I gathered from the ending a man who's obsessed with darkness named Ansem is the REAL villain of the game and yet despite a one minute cameo appearance at the beginning you see nor hear from him until the END. Instead we get 5 minute cameos from Disney villains and Disney Maleificent who seemed to be the REAL villain of the game until she dies in the second to last world and then Ansem decides he wants to finally make another appearance. Battle System: LOVED IT. Real time. No boring turn-based. Battles were actually fun..to a point. Not only did Enix/Disney seem to think that Story and Character Development should be as minimal and confusing as possible,but also thought that Hard=Fun. NO! Take out fun and replace with boring and frustrating then they would have got it right. With me when dieing from a boss starts reaching 6, 7 going on to the double digits I get frustrated then when I have to level up to INSANE levels just to finally beat them I get bored and when I get bored I eventually stop playing. Battling can only take you so far. If you are like me and get games for the STORY rather than GAMEPLAY then having emphasis on gameplay by making the bosses near impossible to beat to the point that you CAN'T go on with the story you start to hate the game. Something to ponder Enix.
Music: HATED almost every song and not because Disney. I would have hated it had they came from ANYONE. Eargrating plain and simple.Had to mute for the majority of the game. I just couldn't take it. The only music that doesn't make you feel like your ears are bleeding is Simple and Clean, the worlds Hallow Bastion and the End of the World. I'll like to think that none of the songs that I actually could stomach are not Disney by mere coincidence.
Visuals: Nice/Bad. Would have loved to actually HEAR the wonderful voice talent(when they actually got to speak that is)instead of READING it.
Fainaru fantajî X-2 (2003)
CGI Charlie's Angels is what this should have been called instead
A friend of my sister let her borrow this game,and I watched her play a while and I decided to play out of boredom and a detached curiosity. Note: I HATED Final Fantasy X(It's predecessor)so I had NO expectations that it's sequel was going to be anything but garbage and I was right.
Plot: 2 years have passed and Summoner Yuna(High Summoner now)from X and her very annoying ADD-induced cousin Rikku and a girl named Paine try to find her 5 minutes I'm in love with you DEAD lover Tidus and also try to reunite another insane DEAD boy (Shuyin) and his DEAD lover(Lenne). All the while they search for little glowing balls called spheres that 99 percent of the time hold NOTHING of importance. Oh you are laughing now. You probably think okay jokes over now review the REAL plot. Well sadly this is the REAL plot. Ohh and throw in MUSIC CONCERTS that some how quell the fighting between two political factions,getting NUDE in the heat of battle to try ON CLOTHES, fighting another scantily clad dim-bulb sphere-hunter and her cronies,and some childish stereotypical girl dialog and you have the *plot* of X-2.
Characters: Submissive, damsel in distress Yuna from X is gone (which is a very good thing),but what's in her place is not good at all. Yuna of X is replaced with Rikku 2. What's a Rikku 2 you ask. Well if you remember from X Rikku was this 15 year old hyper active stereotypical dumb blond with a capital on the hyper part. Well now on X-2 you have that same Rikku just two years older and MORE hyper like SPEED mixed with RITLAN hyper. So in essence Yuna on X-2 acts like Rikku from X and Rikku on here acts like herself from X times a MILLION.Paine acts like Lulu,Kamari and Auron. She looks like Lulu,is silent like Kamari and when she does talk it's like Auron. The little plot that was in here was about her and her friends.Very little was about Shuyin,Lenne,or Yuna. Characters from X have cameo appearances. Lulu who I hated from X is back,but her personality does a 180. She's SUBMISSIVE now with a baby from her dead boyfriend's brother. Wakka is the same dumb,disgusting ya beefcake.Just with his dead brother's girlfriend. Kamari is now elder of his people,and is as silent and useless as ever. A lot of DEAD people make cameos as well. DEAD Tidus makes a appearance at the end,but ONLY if you do certain things in the game. This whole DUMB as HELL game is about Yuna getting Tidus back,but you only do so in one of THREE endings, and again only if you do certain things EXACTLY right in the game. OKKKAY. DEAD Braska, Auron,and Jecht also make appearances as Yuna's cheering squad when she's fighting the VERY easy boss at the end of the game. It strikes me as odd that Yuna asks the Fayth to bring her five minutes I'm in love with you boyfriend back,but not her MOTHER and FATHER who she only got to see the first SEVEN years of her life.
Battle System: Made CLEARLY by sexist men at SquareEnix for horny teenage boys. The girls get literally NUDE in the HEAT of BATTLE to change into dresspheres. You put the dresspheres on GARMENT GRIDS. Out of the I think 19 or so dresspheres you can collect you only need to use TWO. The berserker dressphere,and for the final boss the dark knight dressphere. ALL the others are completely and utterly USELESS. The *Story* is mission based . As in you can go anywhere you want,but you have to complete missions. And guess what the missions have ZERO to do with the story,buy hay there really ISN'T a story so I guess it evens out.
Music: When you pop the disc into the PlayStation a concert starts with Yuna(an impostor but whatever) singing a well you guessed it a POP song. Yes, sadly I'm serious. The music in this game goes from POPPY,to 70's sounding. Again I'm serious. She has another concert in the middle of the game to quell the fighting of Spira. OKKKAY. I admit that song(1000 words) and the song in the intro of the game of very beautiful,but that's about it. The rest is ear-grating.
Visuals: Rehashed locations from X with one or two differences. It's like you are playing X all over again just with Yuna as the main character.This game has only NINE cut-scenes as well.
Bottom-line: Was made strictly BY sexist pigs FOR sexist pigs who think females act like this and want this kind of trash in a game.How else can you explain rationally the stupid dialog, garment grids, the dresspheres,the only thing that makes the world worth living in is if I have a boyfriend on my arm theme, the slut-induced clothes, the Britney Spears/Happy Days music,the concerts, and the ridiculous amount of ease battles are won (this includes the final boss as well) *plot*. To further that this game was made for sexist boys there is a hot spring scene staring the 3 main characters in bathing suits. They have a playful cat-fight in the water. Not only was this scene the most pointless B.S. I have ever seen in a game, but what GIRL would want to see that? This game is also just plain out EXTREMELY BORING as well.
Fainaru fantajî XII (2006)
A BABY step in the right direction
I told myself after the only other Final Fantasy I have ever played(10)that I wasn't going to play another because 10 bored me so much. Other than the ending I hate 10 with a passion, but as I was browsing the electronic section I saw Ff12 and decided to give the Final Fantasy series one final shot,and I have to say if the other FF's to come are like this with a few twinks here and there I might buy them,and like them a lot more.
Plot:Final Fantasy XII takes place mostly in the kingdom of Dalmasca, a small city-state in Ivalice. A neutral party in the past wars between its neighboring kingdoms of Arcadia and Rozaria, Dalmasca was ultimately conquered by Arcadia and reduced to the status of an occupied state under Arcadian rule.Arcadia has the king of Dalmasca killed in the mist of a fake treaty signing,and thus his only daughter Princess Ashe(Arcadia lies and said she took her own life) is forced to hide and aid the resistance to take back her kingdom that has been loss to her for two years. She gets the help of some unlikely allies. Two street urchins of dalmasca,two sky pirates, a disgraced and framed captain of the Dalmascan army, and even the brother of the very man who has Dalmasca under his control. They each have their own back-stories with different twist and turns that tie up nicely with the main story. Bring in some godlike beings named the Occuria,a mad scientist who likes to play with powerful stones of the gods with some sorrowful effects, a power-hungry Prince of Arcadia who wants the reigns of history to be man's not a God's and will try to get that end even if it means taking on the God's themselves and you have a interesting story indeed. Another good thing is you don't quite know who the bad guys are. Both sides want freedom,but one side just goes about the wrong way of getting it. I agree with people who say that you have cut-scenes and then hour long dungeons,then another cut-scene then another dungeon, and so on and so on. I liked the story but it did get bogged down with the tedium of the dungeon crawls.
Characters: I liked them. To Balthier the sky pirates dashing charm and funny one-liners to Basch a failed captain who vows to keep safe the one remaining royal of a Kingdom he failed to protect,and Princess Ashe. A strong, opinionated female character unlike the perfect damsel in distress Yuna of FF10 and from what I've heard the other FF's as well. You even feel sympathy for Young Lord Larsa and the Judges both of Arcadia. Feeling sympathy for who in essence should be the bad guys just shows that their really isn't a good and evil in this story.The voice acting was top-notch. I just wish it was just a little bit of emotion in some of their voices in key cut-scenes especially the ending. I'm also glad that their wasn't a fake a** I fell in love with you in five minutes love story. I NEVER believed for a millisecond that Tidus and Yuna(FF10) were in love. There were subtle hints that some romance was going on between some characters, the sky-pirates Fran and Baltier,Lord Larsa,and the street urchin Penelo,and Basch,and Princess Ashe. That's all there was to it SUBTLE, Believable romance. Not the Unbelievable, shoved down your throat,over the top, five minutes I'm in love romance of 10 and from what I've heard the other FF's as well.
Music:I'm not fond of FF music so I'll just sat this was okay.I especially hated the ending music. The melody went with the scenes,but the women singing was ear-grating. Cut her voice out and I would have loved it.
Battle System:100% in the right direction.The turn-based system of 10 and the other FF's is the most boring way to play a game EVER.That is one of the main reasons I'll never touch FF10 again or any FF before it. This one integrated real-time and a gambit AI system that makes battling and leveling ENJOYABLE and more fast paced. No more random boring a** battles, no more breaking glass screens that makes loading times slow as hell,and especially no more my guys stand in line and your guys stand in line and we take TURNS hitting each other! The battles and monsters are on the same screen as your characters and with REAL-TIME! Visuals: Out-game cut-scenes are very beautiful just like ten,but unlike ten their clothes and hair and jewelry actually MOVE in the in-game cut-scenes.
I'm going to have to give this game a 5 because although I liked some things I hated some things as well and they should be addressed in other FF's if Square-Enix every wants me to be a fan. Plots needs to be more interesting and LESS boring. Even though I liked this story way better than X it did suffer from being extremely boring at times. Character Development has got to be stronger. If a game is meant to tell a story then tell a story. Don't go full-forced with gameplay and long dungeon crawls and forget what you are supposed to be doing. Men have GOT to start looking like men.Not she-males(EffeminateBaltier,Basch the judges,and Lord Vayne are the only ones who remotely resemble males. The other *males* looked liked females and in Larsa's case sounded like them to. The clothes have GOT to start looking realistic. If you are looking for the most ugly, mismatched clothes in the history of video games then look NO FURTHER than the Final Fantasy series. Stop with the stupid Cid reference's, stupid espers names in every FF and please for the love of God stop having the characters ride K.F.C(chocobos) It definitely takes down a few thousand notches the seriousness of these games.
Fainaru fantajî sebun adobento chirudoren (2005)
I didn't think it was possible, but now we have the first CUTSCENE being marketed as a movie. My God
This *movie* proves two things. 1. It is the SUPREME poster child for the phrase all style and no substance,and 2. As long as the title Final Fantasy is slapped on something it will be hyped and adored to high heaven by SquareEnix's walking dollar signs A.K.A. fanatics no matter if the actual contents are complete and utter B.S. Ahhh I'm glad I rented this and didn't buy.
Plot: There isn't one. No seriously there isn't. There are these clips from the atrocious looking video game this *movie* was based on to try to explain what will be going on in the *movie*. Good luck trying to figure THAT out. Then when the actual crap begins there's a 1&1/2 minute storytelling bit from one of the characters in the game who still tries to get you to understand what you are about to see. Note to Enix if you must try THAT hard to get people to understand something maybe you shouldn't have marketed this as a movie in the first place. It seems that only people who have played the game will get this,but from most of the reviews I have read even THEY don't understand it. That's not good Enix. Anyway,hear how the loyal p*ss is gold fanatics tell it this is in fact a masterpiece of a movie. Yea..and I am the creator of the universe. No.. In truth this is a 90 minute CUTSCENE that was marketed as a movie so fans of the Final Fantasy games could slobber at the mouth at it. The one's who's brains have not been fried by the *Gods* known as Square- Enix know better.
Characters: Well It doesn't have plot so of course it doesn't have character development either.I mean really it's not like PLOT and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT is important in a movie. Isn't that right Enix? Cloud: The main character in the literal sense of the word. He fights all of these long and BORING to watch battles all by himself while his friends sit in the sidelines watching. I'm serious. Tifa: Er..she was there for something. Um I guess she was there for the eye-candy factor Oh.. she said some things(That sounded like a whole lotta nonsense) to Cloud to make him feel better. Marlene and Denzel: Two orphans living with Cloud and Tifa. Do they have a point? No. Does this *movie* have a point? No. By the way they both get kidnapped by this clones of Oh I stabbed a girl through the back so I am the biggest baddie in gaming history a.k.a Sephiroth. For what reason? I have no idea. And now to the clones in question: Kadaj,Loz,and Yazoo. Three effeminate looking guys(This seems to be and ongoing theme in the Final Fantasy games. A man NEVER looks like one, and from looking at the character creator on the special features I can see why they never do) who have SERIOUS Obediah complex tendencies. They are looking for their mother and trust me you will NEVER forget that fact. They say it for ohh about a good TWENTY times. Their mother is this green goo in a box,and they are so royally p.o.ed they that can't find her so they infect every one in this city with this geostigma which can only it seems be cleansed by this powerful WATER(Rain?) from the sky. I have to mention that the stigma looks like DIRT. Seems to me all they needed was SOAP and WATER. Areith: A dead girl. Seriously. Who keeps showing up in Cloud's mind and even helps lift him in the air to fight this monster(Who also serves NO purpose). Did I mention she was DEAD. She had more screen time then some of the living characters. Reno and Rude: From the way they acted I suppose they were supposed to be the comic relief and yet they failed miserably on that. Very useless and unfunny characters. All the characters in this mess were useless. They were just more useless then others. Rufus Shinra: A man who I hear DIED in the game( In such a way that you were in NO doubt he was dead) just like Aerith and yet magically appears ALIVE in the movie. Okkay. Sephiroth: The supposedly ultimate baddie. He shows up at the end of the movie in all his 4 minute cameo glory just to die yet again. He'll be back though. I mean they killed him in the game,the *movie* and he still came back. Final Fantasy characters just don't STAY dead. There was some other characters to. Supposedly some of Cloud's friends we were suppose to care about,but they were in the movie(after showing up LITERALLY out of NOWHERE)for about 1&1/2 minutes so they don't bear mentioning.
Music: I liked most of it. It had this epic, creepy tone to it. Too bad the scenes this beautiful music was playing in didn't match it.
Dialogue. NO. Just NO. The phrase Dilly Dally, shilly shally (I'm Serious) is just one of the nuggets of incomprehension that will be uttered in this *movie*.
Visuals: Supreme Eye-candy. Very beautiful and mostly realistic looking. Now if only these beautiful visuals had some substance(Plot and Character Development)to make it complete.
Lastly Cloud and Co. can fly without wings for LONG periods of time.Cut through MOTORCYCLES with a sword. Get thrown through buildings without any kind of injury,get hit with buildings again with no injury. Get SHOT in the face, again you guessed it. No injury and so on and so on. I know it's called Final FANTASY,but come on. Even Fantasy have rules. At NO time will you be given the impression that Cloud and everyone else are anything but HUMAN and yet they can do all this stuff(The flying REALLY got out of hand) without no injury whatsoever.
Bottomline: This movie was a in actuality a cut-scene to satisfy Final Fantasy Fanatics around the globe wet dreams.
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
The cat was the only highlight
Maybe if I had seen this movie in the 60's I would appreciate it because this was considered high class entertainment back then,but I was born in 86,and saw this movie for the first time in 2006 and gotta say wasn't in the least bit impressed. Everything that was in this movie has been done bigger and better in this time. I was really bored watching this,and the cat was the only interesting thing in the movie.
Plot: You have a young women who thinks and acts like she's rich and isn't. Basically she's a goldigger who wants to marry a rich man to get her out of her humble beginning. Here comes a male whore who falls in love with her,but she doesn't want him because he's a struggling writer and a whore to boot.Things happen for no reason.Like for example the writer just meets her and asks to use her phone,but once in her house he forgets about the call and they have a long conversation with each other. The scene transitions are poor,and they are clearly on a set. This movie's plot was all over the place,and I can honestly say it really doesn't have one.
Characters: They both are despicable as human beings so you really can't like them. The acting was okay I'll give it that.
Dialouge. Cheesy.Only missing bread in some scenes.
Visuals: From a 2006 perspective I have seen much, much better.
Bottomline: Hollywood has been spewing out garbage,but even their garbage is better than then this movie.Only comformist keep saying this and all movie's like it are the best thing since slice bread in this day and age.
Mononoke-hime (1997)
You'll feel either of these three things after watching. Hate, Love, or Neutral
Plot:A prince from a far away land gets a wound put on him when defending his village from a demon. He is banished from his village and is told he will die,but might have a chance if he can find the spirit of the forest.On his journey he meets different people who all seem to have one track minds and he seems to be the only voice of reason in the whole film.He also meets a girl who can talk to animals and seems to be bloodthirsty for humans even though she's a human herself. That's maybe because she was raised by wolves,and that humans especially one B*tch in particular has been destroying the forest and animals just so she can make iron.Anyway this movie will definitely p*ss you off,and if that was it's intent it succeeded.Oh,but the ending SUCKED. I mean really could it have been any cheesier?
Visuals: Looking at the visuals from a 2006 perspective they weren't all that great. Better than old Disney cartoon visuals,but definitely not better than anything that has been put out since we entered the new millennium.
Characters: You will feel for the characters especially the main character.I quite liked him, and hated others. On a superficial note he has a sexy voice too.LoL! Bottomline: This movie is rather drama orientated,and really violent in some scenes. If you like those sort of things you'll fully like this movie. I have hated so far all this man's movies with the exception of Howl's Moving Castle.So for this movie to get a 5(Neutral) from me is saying something.Basically see this movie if you love drama. Stay away from it if you don't.
Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004)
You'll fall in love with the characters.
Finally a movie by this director that I liked. His other two that I have watched are Kiki's Delievey Service(Not really confusing just boring),and Spirted Away(confusing,and UBER boring). So I was real skeptical on liking this one when I hated the others. Well imagine my surprise when not only did I like this movie,but have watched it a total of 7 times(about to be eight once I finish writing this review LOL!)just to see the memorable,lovable characters. I guarantee that if you don't like anything else you will love them. They are so endearing. Even the sub-characters make this movie.
Plot: Sadly, if I was going strictly by plot when rating this movie I'll give it a 4 because it needed some huge work,but happily I went with the flow because the characters are so great.
Characters. I LOVE them. You have Howl a vain, effeminate,metrosexual,cowardly wizard that literally has no heart,and is voiced by Cristian Bale. Let me just say Bale's voice MADE Howl. It is sexy as hell. I have re-watched Howl's scenes over, and over, and over just to hear him speak!Sophie a young women who's confidence is so low that she thinks she's ugly,and has a spell put on her by a obese witch(seriously)that is obsessed with Howl for some reason,and who turns Sophie old. She try's to find away to break the curse and ends up in Howls Castle. Howl and Old Sophie play well of each other,and the ending is so sweet.If you are wandering yes her and Howl get together eventually.When she's old her confidence is higher then it ever was when she was young.The there's Cacifer a wisecracking,hilarious fire demon who has a strange link to Howl. He is voiced perfectly by Billy Crystal.Lastly out of the main characters is a young apprentice of Howl's who's sweet,and funny also.
Music. Most is very good. Almost eerie in some parts.
Visuals: Good for hand-drawn animation.
Bottomline: If you just don't like Japanese animation ,but want to see this movie rent it or watch it on you-tube like I did. The characters make this movie and just to see them in action I implore you to check this movie out. Forget the shaky plot(First and last time I'll ever say that. That is how fantastic the characters are)and just watch for them. 6 1/2 stars
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
Not just boring,but very,VERY boring.
Two kinds of people will love this film. People who think anything,and I do mean ANYTHING made by the Japanese especially concerning anime and games*cough* Final Fantasy Series* is crafted by God himself.a.k.a.fanatics,and people who have a INFINITE reservoir of patience.Everyone else and by that I mean people who will call out B.S. no matter how so called good their past works are will hate this film with a passion.I watched this film for the first time in 10th grade and now as a sophomore in college I watched it again on Youtube because the same person who uploaded the entire movie called Howl's Moving Castle also uploaded this too,and I said what the hay I'll give Spirited Away another chance. I did,and It still bored the hell out of me. Although I must admit I did understand it a little better this time.
Plot:Girl and family moving to new place. Girl's father runs off road. Girl's parents see old building. They want to explore. They see food, eat food, and turn into pigs. It suddenly turns night. Weird boy comes out of no where tells girl to leave. Weird creatures start moving all over weird town. Boy disappears for 80% of movie. Girl can't remember her name,boy (before he disappears that is says he can't remember his name either. Girl gets job, and so on and so on.. That sounds like a okay weird plot, and done right it could have been great,but the Japanese aren't known for their plot or character development skills or excitement for that matter. Bottomline: The storyline and pacing of it was boring as hell, cheesy, and a good deal confusing, and holey. If you have insomnia this is the movie for you.
Visuals: Okay for hand-drawing.
Characters. In the end you don't care if she gets home or not and you will p*ss yourself laughing when you find out what the boy's real name is.Everyone is easily forgettable once you turn the VCR off.
Dubbing: The dubbing was very good to me. I hate Japanese dubbing because their men always sound like girls,and the girls always have high pitched squeaky air-headed voices,and I can't understand a d*mn thing.The one's who say English dubbing sucks are prime examples of Japanese worshiping fanatics. All dubbing sucks to them as long as it's not Japanese.
Bottomline: P*ss isn't gold no matter what Japanese worshipers say. If your not one of them this movie will bore and outright confuse you on most parts. Make no mistake of that.
Fainaru fantajî X (2001)
You'll like it if you're one of Square's walking dollar signs otherwise...
If the word Overrated ever needed a poster child then it should look no further than the Final Fantasy series. FF10 is the first and last Final Fantasy I will ever play I assure you. What I got from the reviews before I brought this game was that it was some sort of epic, emotionally driven masterpiece. As a matter of fact hear the way Final Fantasy groupies tell it ALL of the FF titles are masterpieces. Well let me tell you if FF10 is ANY indication of what even a SMIDGEN of the others are like. Take your money and RUN LIKE HELL! I'm serious.
Plot:All over the place is the best way I can describe it. Your understand jumbled as it is(Or think you do)about 60% of it and the other 40% good luck. Here's a rough draft of the *Plot*. A 17 year old boy is transported 1000years into the future to a place called Spira by a creature named Sin. This creature has a strange link to the boy.If you want to know what kind of link one word need apply, StarWars.Anyway he is joined there by a 17 year old summoner and her guardians. Their mission is to defeat Sin blah, blah, blah. Sounds like your run of the mill good vs evil plot doesn't it. In more capable hands it could have been cohesive and better,but alas the Japanese aren't known for their strong plots or dialogue for that matter. I'm not saying an American could have done better. I'm saying ANY country,but them could have.
Music:There's some good.What comes to mind are the songs Zankarand,Auron's Theme,the music playing before and during Yuna's wedding, Mt. Gazet. Then you have some downright atrocious. The Chocoboos theme or walking K.F.C. as I like to call them, Rikku's theme, the cloister of trials. All the music really. Except the pieces I first mentioned.
Battle System: Two words. Pokemon Stadium. Turnbased is a battle system that you will either completely love or completely hate. I'm the latter. It IS the most boring way of playing a game EVER. You will be bored out of your skull. As I hear it ALL the FF games are turn-based.Got to say the prospect of losing my mind and trying out another FF title isn't looking to good. This is one of the main reasons re-playability is thrown out the window.Make a game in REAL TIME or don't make it at all.
Sphere Grid: Is the game's way of leveling up. All I have to say is Advel. Preferably two bottles if your playing for a long period of time. Although, seriously why would you want to? Characters. You want get attached believe me. They all have 2 dimensional personalities. Most are quite boring to be perfectly honest. The only person you will probably be able to stomach is Auron.
Visuals: Movie like cutscences are beautiful,very realistic. Then you have the in game cut-scenes and in game graphics that look hideous,but hey it was made in 2001 so there you go. Another thing is the character designs itself. The character designer needs to stop tiptoeing in the closet and come on out.Someone has been shopping in the softer side of Sears. I have looked at pictures of the other *men* designs of the FF series and KH just to see if this was just a FF10 thing and no it isn't. ALL the *men* look like women,and in the case of FF10 sound like them too.*Cough*Seymour.I think the correct word would be EFFEMINATE. Another thing is the clothes. If you are looking for the most hideous,mismatched clothes to ever come out of the human imagination look NO FURTHER than the FF series. Clothes to me can help make or break a plot. And in FF it broke it to pieces. Just look at it this way would you take the characters from the movies Lord of the Rings or Oceans 11 seriously if they were dressed like the characters from this or any FF game? Bottomline: This game lacks a lot of things,but mainly it lacks seriousness. You just can't take the evil villain seriously if he is SUPPOSED to be male but sounds and dresses like a female. You can't take a plot that is boring and all over the place,visually lacking, 2 dimensional characters, and the carvery riding K.F.C. seriously. If Square knows anything it's SERIOUS MILKAGE. They know that as long as they slap the Final Fantasy name on something their loyal walking dollar signs will eat it up. Final Fantasy just needs to be FINAL period. Just do yourself a BIG favor and STAY AWAY from this.
Threshold (2005)
Not a masterpiece(yet), but was good, so far.
I will admit that I only was anticipating this show because Brent Spiner(Data, from St.TNG), was on it. I loved his acting as Data and I loved his acting on this. He has that wry , sarcastic part down pat. God, I love him,!!! I also will admit I was thinking oh god what have I gotten my self in to, about 20 minutes into the show, but that all changed in the middle and ending,especially the ending.My hopes for this show weren't very good depite Brent being on it, because it was being compared to the X-files,and I HATE the X-files, but surffice it to say, this show is WAY WAY better than X-files,and I am glad of that! The characters are likable enough although my favs are brent's character, and the little nervous, scientist guy. Now I have said the good parts, now here are the bad. The show needs to stop relying on comic relief so much, if it is going to be a sci-fi drama than be a sci-fi drama, not a dramedy(a comedy/drama), much as I loved brent's character wise cracking sarcasm , and the little guys jokes, if the writers aren't careful, they are going to eliminate any seriousness this show possesses,and the plot could do with a little more fine tuning, hopefully that will happen in episodes to come, and the visuals, not perfect, but semi/believable, and a little more work on that wouldn't hurt. All in all I did untimely enjoy this new series, and will be watching future episodes.