Dès les premières lueurs

oddacious @ 2012-03-18T13:18:00

2012-03-18T17:18:32Z

To those who might be interested, I'm doing a Legend of Korra RPG.

unitedrepublic

It might move to IJ later, but eh.

Hellsing AMV

2012-03-15T18:40:51Z

Video: Hellsing OVA (Incl. spoilers for 8/9)
Audio: Passive - A Perfect Circle
Summary: "It's always humans who defeat monsters."

Watch the Video

ME3 Demo

2012-02-14T20:38:51Z

Well, that was underwhelming.

The demo's split up into two parts. Part one, you're on Earth, and Reapers attack, and we see how Bioware has been trying to take cues from Modern Warfare in that it A: Tries to incorporate action and things blowing up into the central gameplay and B: Uses tacky sad war music and dead children to hamhandedly try to tug at our heartstrings. This section is just 100% narm.

Part two is protecting the krogan female. I would name her, but Bioware apparently didn't think it was necessary to do so, and thus everybody just calls her "the female." She never sees fit to correct them. Possibly because this is just a male krogan model in a niqab that doesn't want to push its luck, IDK. I think I was perhaps expecting more than a save-the-unnamed-princess quest... and I was definitely expecting to at least SEE the Krogan females, but I guess that would have taxed their design team, so we continue the trend of no female aliens for you. Normally, I'd be cool with there being approximately no visual differences between the species, but given that Bioware's refused to do that with the rest of their alien races and marketed a lady Krogan as something new, I wanted more than a boy Krogan in a dress.

Also, Shep's face is weird and broken, is that just me? I don't think it's just me.

crossposted from dreamwidth, but you can comment in either place

So I'm going to try this crossposting business.

2012-02-12T00:42:44Z

I miss having someplace to write about things I dislike rather than just posting silly gifs about things I dislike, though I am sure there is a delicate balance to be struck there, yes? Yes.

So a couple people were asking for my thoughts on Assassin's Creed: Revelations and it took me a while to dig out, so there's a link.

I'll add additionally that when I attended the AC:R Ubisoft launch party I talked to the head writer and told him I'd be interested in seeing more women Assassins. He told me there were a lot of reasons that he couldn't talk about why things were the way they were, but that I should "watch Embers because I wouldn't be disappointed." I was hella disappointed. I went numbercrunching after I watched and found out that A) We only meet one named female assassin who doesn't die/isn't killed, and that's Rebecca, and B) The female characters that appear in any given game are proportionally something like 11% for Assassins and 33% for Templars... I lost the numbers exactly, I'll have to do some angry pie charts.

Anyway, I also made a video. Full of spoilers, but one of my better ones. Watch it here.

crossposted from dreamwidth, but you can comment in either place

oddacious @ 2012-02-10T23:03:00

2012-02-11T04:03:50Z

Is anybody still here?

Other than russian spambots.

dmc is dumb

2011-09-17T01:47:35Z

It just looks grimmer and grimmer.

DMC released this artwork recently, depicting the new Dante being doted upon by a chorus of half-naked angel girls in shiny, skintight underwear.

What I have to ask is: What the fuck?

There's been absolutely nothing that inspires faith about this remake. The developers stumble through speeches on updating the original Devil May Cry for a new decade of "cool," apparently blithely oblivious to the fact that this is rather like wanting to update Evil Dead for similar reasons. DMC - the original, that is - may have sported then-cool white-haired protagonists and trenchcoats, but it was campy even in its age. I mean, did they just never play to the infamous LIIIIGHT scene? He renames his bar when tears come flying dramatically off his face. It's one of the most sincere-yet-narmalicious things I've ever seen.

But back to this specific image. Devil May Cry has never been fabulous about its women, but the mainstays - Trish and Lady, specifically - were at least endearing and capable enough, however much breast bounce was added as the series progressed. This is the first I've seen of any depiction of women in the new dmc, and the fact that it's squirmy sexy angel chicks just makes me feel angry and dirty.

I think the icing on the cake is the fact that while he looks emo at first, he is actually pointing his fingers in the shape of a gun at one of the angels. I just. What the fuck is this? It's like a more ethereal Duke Nukem poster with a skinny english brat. I wondered this upon the first trailer, but now I have to wonder again: Who the fuck are they marketing to?

No, people do not hate Yuna more than Tidus.

2011-09-12T05:18:26Z

There's a womenlovefest event going on that I've only just become aware of - "We love the women that fandom hates." Besides being a needlessly incendiary, spiteful and combative title, this event has two very obvious problems.

a) Many of these women are not, in fact, women that fandom hate. I challenge you to show me the group of Avatar fans in which the majority did not love Azula - or at least hate her in the capacity any villain ought rightly to be hated.

b) Many of the "hatred" aimed at characters being profiled is, in fact, legitimate and non-sexist criticism of characters who, while certainly endearing to some, were in fact flawed. Ginny Weasley fans may feel slighted, but I am personally more offended by the fact that she seems to exist in the story as Harry's ticket into the Weasley family and the Token Fiery Girl than by anything I have ever seen anything said about her on the internet.

The gesture is too weak and less-than-critical to in any way impact pervasive sexism in fandom and too unnecessarily spiteful to be an adequate everyone-can-join-in celebration of people's favourite lady characters. Frankly, I would have been perfectly interested people's thoughts on why they like what they like without the futile, redundant and superfluous passive-aggressive undercurrent.

I know it's frustrating to see characters you like torn down, but if the point is to stop sexist tearing-down, then I think it would probably be much better to address that than to try to persuade others to our point of view about the character. If the point is just to talk about characters we like in a space that will affirm us, then why is the event so named?

This kind of thing really undermines our collective point.

Bleach AMV

2011-07-11T04:19:12Z

Title: Something Left to Save
Video: Bleach
Audio: Savior - Rise Against
Spoilers: YES
Rating: PG for blood.
Summary: A Gin/Rangiku Tribute.

Watch the Video!

AMV - Morrigan Tribute

2011-06-18T23:39:38Z

Title: Why Would You Offer More?
Video: Dragon Age: Origins
Audio: Black Black Heart - David Usher
Spoilers: YES
Rating: Probably NSFW, due to awkward bioware sex scenes
Summary: A tribute to Morrigan based on her Love arc in DA:O, focusing on her guilt and relationship with the warden.

Watch the Video!

Arts

2011-06-08T23:23:36Z

Art post - ME2, DA2, Etc

DA2 Ending

2011-05-30T21:01:09Z

I beat DA2. I have never wanted so badly to end a game with my character throwing their hands in the air, going "Fuck this," and walking away.

Okay, first of all, fuck Anders. He's like a really poor Delita imitator who isn't half as smart or competent. I really don't like him. The chantry antics were the cherry on top.

Secondly, this is the most stupid and contrived conflict. I threw in with the mages because I didn't want Meredith to invoke the Right of Annulment. That's it. I fully supported the Templars and the Circle-setup. Unfortunately there is no way to actually specify this so you are always ~FIGHTING FOR DA REVOLUTION OF MAGES~. Secondly, when Orsino of course turns out to be a Blood Mage who of course had a hand in killing your mother (who else could that note from O could have been from, honestly), why is there no option to march out and be like "Hey, fuck that guy." Why does Hawke not say anything about it? She just curbstomps his head and sort of stares. Into the distance. Possibly because, like me, she already totally knew this and was just trying not to seem too godmodey about it.

So, I mean, ultimately my sympathies lie with Meredith. She might be harsh but hey, lyrium swords of cray cray do that to people-- wait, waht the fuck, where did she get that and how long did she have it and when did she have it commissioned and how is this not the most bogus excuse for "LOL I'M CRAZY NOW" glowing redeyed bossfights that are spoiled by the loading screens ever and. Just. Fuck.

I like how no matter what you actually pick, the end result is that mages RISE UP AGAINST DA TEMPLAR OPPRESSORS. Like, what the fuck was the point in that? They were billing this game as a way for you to define and create the Champion of Kirkwall who was probably one of the most important figures in Thedas. That is a bullshit claim. Besides the pigeonholed dialogue wheel options, you're consistently forced into taking sides on a very grey issue and your choice ultimately has no real lasting effect on anything.

I would have played this game if it had just been 40 hours of "Hawke hangs out with buddies and attends poker night." And enjoyed it more.

Dragon Age II

2011-05-16T06:12:01Z

Aveline
With her eyes so green
Is the greatest lady
That I've ever seen

Tries to make things right
But her losing fight
Is trying to make Isabela
Be less obscene

So I've been playing DA2. I'll preface this by saying that as a sequel to Origins it is terrible and god awful and every bit of the fail I thought it was going to be. However, as a game and some kind of spinoff, it's fairly entertaining. I'm in Act 2 now, and I'll go more in depth as we go.

Things I Like:
Your party members. All your companions are pretty interesting and amusing and I want to know more about them. Except for maybe Isabela, who seems every bit as shallow as she was when she appeared in DA:O. I like that they all have their own lives and home bases where they chill, I like that they all seem to be friends, I like that they raid Hawke's house and leave silly notes. They are the most interesting thing about the game thus far and most of why I'm playing.

Illustrations: Love the visual identity DA has established in this game.

Dalish Accents: Helps to distinguish them a lot!

VA in general: Even Isabela's.

Things I Don't Like:
The Friendship/Rivalry system: I loved this in theory. In practice, it is way less forgiving and requires a lot of metagaming. Because so much of what you need to know about your companions to build approval is locked behind gated conversations that require approval, it is really frustrating and requires constant checking and party rotating to have any kind of relationship at all with any of your party members. I miss being able to just talk to them. The F/R system is functioning less like what I had imaged and much more like the old Good Side/Bad Side Bioware Standard Sliding Bar. It's annoying. They are perfectly capable of making these things flag based on significant decisions rather than a points system that will cancel out sometiems if you ever try to actually roleplay.

Pacing: The game's biggest flaw in my opinion. I know they're leading up to something with all of these poorly executed timeskips and loosely held together sidequests that continue over the timeskips as though it was just yesterday, but they are taking far too long to get to that something, and the timeskips are awkward, and the whole thing is just... Not good, but an excuse to reuse all of the locations in Kirkwall and the surrounding area ad infinitum.

Atmosphere & Dialogue: The itneractivity has been stripped way down, you can't talk to hardly anyone, and very little about the city ever changes despite the constant timeskips. If they're going to be trapping me in this place for so long they ought to be using it to better communicate the story.

Infinite Sidequests: Please just give them to me upfront. It's overwhelming and it gets to feel very grindy.

Lack of Roleplaying: The game kind of penalizes you for roleplaying. The only control I feel I really have over Hawke is the limited personality, and even then, that's pretty pathetic. Nothing at all like working with the warden.

Cameos: Please stop. I know you're supposed to be a sequel. Spontaneous Cullen appearance and the fact that half my present party are side characters from DA:O doesn't help to establish your sequel cred.

Qunari and Flemeth redesigns: So filled with unfortunate implications on the former.

More as I play through it. I can't really comment on the plot - I still don't have any reasonable idea of what it is.

Final Fantasy XII AMV - Waving Flag

2011-05-06T00:30:21Z

Video: Final Fantasy XII
Audio: Waving Flag - K'naan
Spoilers?: Yes
Summary: My third Ivalice video and a tribute to XII, this video focuses on the character's struggles through Ivalice's wars and politics, with an emphasis on Ashe and secondary focus on Vaan, Basch, Gabranth and Larsa.

Watch the Video!

oddacious @ 2011-04-02T04:18:00

2011-04-02T08:18:45Z

I'm so happy I found this gif again because it so concisely sums up the feeling I get when I follow links from ff_press. The SPN Tifa/Aeris crossover curtainfic set in Tennessee just confuses me deeply.

I showed appalachias a snippet of it where they gave Tifa an accent. He replied "when did Tifa turn into Applejack." As if it wasn't bad enough, I can't unsee it.

A Meme, stolen.

2011-04-02T05:37:39Z

Pick any (or several) character from a fandom of mine and I'll answer the following questions:

1) What is your opinion of this character? If you like, explain why you like him/her.

2) Is he/she important to the general plot?

3) Can you relate to this character at all? Does he/she grip you emotionally?

4) How much do you like the fandom that this character comes from?

5) Do you ship this character with any other character? Or, are you particularly intrigued by his/her relationship with any other character(s)? (romance-wise or platonic)

6) Is there anything about the character you would change?

7) If you were in the fandom with this character or knew this character in real life, how would you see yourself interacting with him/her?

8) Does this character make the cut as one of your all time favorites (if you like) or least favorites?

9) Would you hype up this character (if you like) or warn about this character (if you dislike) to someone new to fandom?

10) Is this character popular with the fanbase?

Try to give me some unusual ones!

oddacious @ 2011-03-28T22:58:00

2011-03-29T02:58:37Z

I'm really enjoying the RPG-ishness of B/W. Here's my team:

Wotter

Luna

Soleil

Gaspard

Kiriko

Zevran

I'm in Celestial Tower and about level 37 currently.

30 Days of Video Games - Day 30

2011-03-22T20:02:05Z

Day 30 - Your favourite game of all time.

I love a lot of games, but I don’t think I could give this to anything that isn’t FFVII. For all that I can recognize it’s shortcomings it’s had a special place in my heart since I was 13. I don’t think something can stay with you that long and not somehow be your favourite.

And that concludes the spam. Thanks for your patience and comments, everyone.

oddacious @ 2011-03-20T13:48:00

2011-03-20T17:48:33Z

Day 29 - A game you thought you wouldn't like, but ended up loving.

I thought I’d hate Dragon Age. Everything about it screamed “generic fantasy adventure in generic fantasy setting with generic characters and generic love interests and a generic save the world you’re the chosen one plot.” But it looks like they saved all that shit for DA2, because DA was easily the most roleplayable game I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. I appreciated that your warden wasn’t the centre of the universe, and that your two most developed party members were probably more important. I like that they dispensed with that bullshit moral choice system where you have to pick GOOD or EVIL, because that is nonsensical and stupid. I liked that your teammates approve or disapprove according to their personally philosophies. As always you can just opt to not roleplay but in my opinion they gave you a lot of viable options for playing however you wanted to play, rather than just some superficial tacked-on shit about choosing your name and which boring by-the-numbers romance subplot you wanted to pursue.

30 Days of Video Games - Day 28

2011-03-19T17:25:07Z

Day 28 - Favourite game developer.

I don’t really have one…? Too often they’ll disappoint you. But I guess in general I like Hideki Kamiya and Chris Avellone (though the latter is a writer).

30 Days of Video Games - Day 27

2011-03-18T22:36:23Z

Day 27: Most epic scene ever.

I can't answer this one either. Nothing really stands out to me right yet.

30 Days of Video Games - Day 26

2011-03-17T22:18:44Z

Day 25 skipped on account of being a frivolous questions - I plan to play a million games.

Day 26 - Best voice acting.

Voice acting in video games always sounds a little stilted. Japanese games are usually the worst about it – Final Fantasy and KH are just terrible. Not specifically, they just happen to typify the problem of supremely unnatural sounding VA where all the actors seem to be getting paid by the gasp. The stupid little noises that punctuate every silence are just terrible.
So long as I’m ranting, who the fuck cast Altair with an American accent? I want to write them an angry letter.

Okay, with that out of the way, Psychonauts gets this one. The voice acting is perfect – it feels like a kid’s cartoon, and not a shitty kid’s cartoon, but like Hey Arnold or something in a way that is just pitch perfect. All the voices are loaded with character – even Sasha’s deliberately monotonous one. The guy who did Boyd did a great job in particular.

Honourable mentions: Bioshock, Half-Life 2

30 Days of Video Games - Day 24

2011-03-16T05:48:03Z

Day 24 - Favourite classic game.

Space Invaders.

What?

30 Days of Video Games - Day 23

2011-03-14T15:48:37Z

Day 23 - Game you think had the best graphics or art style.

Odin Sphere’s hand drawn sprites capture my heart. This game is just beautiful, and so much more charming than a try for straight realism (successful or not).

Honourable Mentions: Psychonauts, Dark Cloud 2, Prince of Persia (2008), Radiata Stories, Little Big Planet, Okami, Vagrant Story

30 Days of Video Games - Day 22

2011-03-13T18:25:25Z

Day 22 - A game sequel which disappointed you.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within was beyond disappointing. Where is Farah? What is with the haircut? Why are you swearing all the time now? I know you were kind of a prick, but did you up the dosage on your douchebag pills or something? Who is the chick in the metal thong? Why doesn’t Kaileena wear a shirt? Why are her tits like water balloons? Am I supposed to feel anything but resentment towards this fucking throwaway fanservice character? How are you too stupid to have seen that she’s the empress of time? Why is she such a shitty empress? How could you let this fucking noncharacter replace Farah? You liked Farah, didn’t you? So why are we ending the game with an implicit blowjob from Kaileena while Farah hangs on a fucking cross waiting to be rescued? This is bullshit, Ubisoft, and you know it.

Honourable mentions: Xenosaga, FFTA, and from the looks of it, DA2

30 Days of Video Games - Day 21

2011-03-12T17:28:29Z

Day 21 - Game with the best story.

Stories are really important to me when I play video games and it’s difficult to choose just one. There are so many elements that go into making up a story, after all – the world, the characters, the plot, the way all three of them connect together, the delivery, etc, etc. I’m picking two.

The first is Planescape: Torment. I’m on a PS:T high and I can’t seem to come down, but regardless, I think it deserves the spot. PS:T sucks you in from the get go and defies expectations. You understand from the beginning that this is going to be a quest of self-discovery, and the opening movie, viewed with no context, is hugely misleading as to what you’re going to find. Fire, suffering women, sudden loss of a girl who was close to you – it looks like we’re gearing up for an adventure in manpain.

That never happens. There’s an adventure in pain, hence the name “torment,” but it is kind of a neat subversion of the whole concept of manpain, as who you really come to feel sorry for isn’t yourself. The story’s ever-interesting and chalk full of real emotional impact that isn’t born out of cheap tricks like Sudden Random Cutscene Death or Your Girlfriend Got Kidnapped And Tortured How Sad or other such trite bullshit.

The game is an experience, and my feelings and expectations changed at every level of it. It’s very well written, and for that I’m including it here.

The other game is Bioshock which I’m including not only for the story, but for the way that it’s told.

I like Bioshock’s story. I’m apparently partial to stories where we discover more about the identity of the viewpoint character, and boy howdy does Bioshock drop a bomb on you there. What’s more impressive than just the straight-up story you’re immersed in about yourself and Atlas and Andrew Ryan, though, is the story about the world around you, and the way that it’s told.

There’s so much you can learn from the environment by just stopping, looking, and listening. The fabulously voice-acted audio tapes are an immersive way to learn about what happened in Rapture and come to feel like you know characters who you’ll never have a conversation with. You also get to know Rapture itself, what it was like, its rise, its fall, the ideological cancer that ate it from the inside out. Rapture is more of a main character than you are – you’re just a piece of the puzzle.

The ending is disappointing and the moral choice system is frivolous, but other than that, I can’t find any complaints. I think Bioshock really shines because it uses the medium to its advantage to tell the story rather than trying to do it through straight text, or predetermined cutscenes. When the game does default to cutscenes, it’s underscoring a point about the inherent lack of interactivity and user input in a really meta way, anyhow.

Honourable Mentions: FFVII, KOTOR2