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 On 06/16/2013 at 02:46 AM by Super Step See More From This User » |
Time Warner's cable guy came today unexpectedly and everything worked again ... then the cable guy left and it all stopped working again ... then many hours later after we told them what happened and troubleshooted, it was back on.
Anyway, in that time with no cable TV/internet, I did play a couple games, Street Fighter X Mega Man, like I tend to play, and an Injustice Gods Among Us[1] game/app my brother had downloaded on mom's iPad last time he visited. I have gotten through the first set of stages and let me tell you: it might be better than nothing, but simply tapping your way to victory is boring as all hell. And that is seriously all you do, that and swipe your finger across the screen. I also sawed a bunch of trees down outside yesterday, and that was way more satisfying, cause at least I was being productive, feeling useful and burning calories. The tapping is just mind numbing.
It seems to also have "card game elements" and you earn abilities, weapons (Catwoman got new claws after a match or something), and your characters level up; the actual game though, is still just a tag team fighter where you trade three characters in and out, then tap to fight the opponent, and swipe when prompted to cause a knock down blow. It's dull.
Behold, the mighty swipe of Jus ... zzzzz
And that got me thinking, is that what you all, who unlike me prefer JRPGs to action games, think of all action games you play? If so, then holy shit do I understand your frustration about Final Fantasy XV. I mean I'm still stoked for it, cause it looks like a lot more than tapping to me, and I enjoy a good, varied action game with large scope, story and graphics (albeit while admitting the absurdity of some of those elements regarding FF, especially after some Spoony[2] reviews of them), but if in your mind that means it's devolved to the level of what I feel playing this iPad version of Injustice, then holy crap do I feel for you.
And I feel for the beast inside you all ...
the one that's angry, mostly because of its stupid looking haircut
Plus, as I mentioned in GeminiMan's blog, I've had this done to me with Star Fox. Now I for one actually enjoyed Adventure and Assault; hell I really liked Adventure, and the only reason I own Assault instead is cause I beat Adventure with a rental, and my older brother got me a used copy of Assault as a cool birthday gift, but the point is I would prefer to just have my straightforward on-rails space shooter back.
Above: A prequel to Star Fox in which Fox is a farmer and is goin' a 'git them spacecraft 'fer messin' with his woman and his triceradog; ya don't fuck with a man's woman or his triceradog.
It got me to thinking of all the things I love that I feel have been fucked with. Like that time I fell in love with the charm of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, only to have the sequel be a "dark," dumb, bloody shell of what I liked about that amazing game.
4:27 - 'Bout How I Felt
What had once been sweeping Arabic landscapes with matching music, a truly unique and fun focus on puzzle platforming, with what I thought were cinematic and pleasing fight sequences thrown in the mix, had become a dumb beat 'em up, with muddy graphics and some cool platforming, and mostly similar gameplay, but with just not at all the same feeling and enjoyment I got from the first game. Pretty sure Warrior Within, the sequel I'm talking about, sold a lot better than Sands of Time, though. Oh well.
In that sense, I think my disappointment with Warrior Within is the most analagous to FF fans' feelings about FFXV being an action game, only XV is a lot more drastic a change gameplay-wise, and again, I think I'd like it.
How about an example of me being retroactively pissed off, this time about a movie made from a TV series?
I actually first saw Shyamalama ding dong's The Last Airbender when my dad rented it from Red Box along with Cop Out. As a big Kevin Smith fan, I found Cop Out a lot more disappointing (so incredibly boring), and only knew about Airbender cause some friends had watched the series when they were younger and it had been critically panned (it's at %6 on rottentomatoes). I thought it was silly how upset they were over it; I mean, it's a damn kid's show that got what I thought was a kinda boring movie, so what? I honestly thought there were a couple interesting things there with the uncle and his nephew chasing the kid though, so I decided to see what all the fuss over the series was about.
And that's when I retroactively felt betrayed by that movie.
Yes Aang, "Wiieer!", whatever the hell that means; that German?
The cartoon had interesting themes about what it meant for nations of people to be at war; it humanized its characters far better than most Hollywood war films, it had genuinely funny humor, it perfectly blended a lighthearted feel with its child characters against a brooding setting with excellent storytelling, pacing, and breathtaking animation.
The movie recapped the bullet points faithfully enough, but damn was it missing ANY of the show's charm. Can't wait for Nostalgia Critic[3] to get to the movie after he reviews the episodes. I think he'll wind up making a full episode of his show around it. 
There have been other series that I felt have betrayed me, but in all honesty, while these examples are irksome, they mostly just lost charm or relegated a core element to the back burner; they didn't revamp everything about how the series had been prior the way XV is doing.
So I want to know, what are some of the series you felt betrayed you in their changes, be it in sequels, adaptations, or whatever else you can think of?
[1] All instances in this blog of "Injustice: Gods Among Us" are in reference to the limited iPad app version of the game. That is what I am comparing to action games from the perspective of someone who might not enjoy them, I have never played the console version and would probably like that much better as a fighting game fan.
[2] Spoony is the alter ego of internet reviewer Noah Antwiler, and does humorous negative reviews on several recent Final Fantasy games, among other things.
[3] Nostalgia Critic is the alter ego of internet reviewer Doug Walker, and reviews movies. Recently, Doug has been appearing as himself to present vlogs with his honest opinion about The Last Airbender cartoon series.
I felt betrayed by Star Wars. I grew up with it, and nothing could attain that same magical power. But Lucas just kind of totally screwed it up, and mediocre shows like Clone Wars didn't help. I love Star Wars. Lucas raped my childhood! 
There's other things but that was the worst.
Turn based battles aren't all about tapping, though tapping is involved, like most games. I guess it's strategy, or something. I don't know why I like turnbased JRPG's but I do, to an insane degree.
I wasn't saying JRPGs are about tapping at all; I'm saying Injustice is a mind numbing game of tapping, and if that type of mindless, repetitive input is what JRPG fans see in action games, I can see why they're upset by the changes made to the gameplay in XV.I understand the appeal is strategy for JRPGs, I wasn't making a comparison between Injustice and JRPGs.
As for Star Wars, I grew up watching the originals on VHS rentals and feeling kind of meh about them, and liking the prequels cause they were in theaters when I was young, but now I definitely think I'd like the originals better.
That's definitely one of the most common things to feel betrayed about though, people HATE the prequels. lol
I like action games too, like I love Ninja Gaiden and beat em ups and stuff. It's mostly FPS's that I get tired of these days. But I played them so much I love them, I'm just kind of burned out on the genre after a lifetime of playing them with so little innovation.
Yeah, I get that people love all types of games, but a lot of the negative feedback to FFXV has lamented a "dumbing down" that comes from the changes, so I addressed that reaction specifically.
I'm no big fan of FPS myself, I find them to be fairly boring as well, frankly. I mean I have had a lot of fun in Halo multiplayer matches, but I feel like it has to be the right people, and the game while fun, has less to do with it, especially since I've been just as bored playing it with the wrong people.
Glad you got the cable back on netflix and redbox etc is not the same. With that said Ipad and 3ds etc is not the same i was just having this convo with Giminiman and as great as the vita,3ds,Ipad etc is, i just cant get into it like with a console and i tried i just wish yiu could plug in the 3ds to you TV screen.
Honestly though, it was kind of nice to just focus on other things for a bit. Even read the first chapter of Mockingjay while everything was out. Plus like I said, got some exercise in, been needing that for a while.
But I was also doing most of that cause of the onset of insanity that came from not being "plugged in," so it's hit or miss I guess. And now we know I have an addiction, so acknowledging the problem is the first step to being cured, right?
Well be glad you did not have a Xbone or you wouldnt be gaming either lol!!! Yea its good to not have Cable etc sometimes, my kids all four only get an hour a day on games and TV although im a poor example lol but i grew up playing outside and i think more youngsters should be outdoors more when i was growing up i was outside from the time i got up till supper only came in for lunch and if we wanted somethingto drink it was from the garden hose lol!!!
I like both action based and turn based so I don't have anything to lose either way. 
Good, gooood. Come to the neutral side. We have both sugar and chocolate chip cookies. Red velvet with frosting and sprinkles upon request.
I like action games and I like RPGs. I don't like action mixed with my RPGs. I think it's because I'm old. I grew up on text adventures like Zork and dungeon crawlers like Wizardry, where everything was turn-based.
As for series being messed with: you ranted about one of my big ones in this blog. Star Wars is another. Han shot first, I remember him doing it on the big screen when I was eight, and he does it on the video cassette that I will hold onto until Hell freezes over. I hate the LoTR movies. I know I'm in the minority, but...
I don't think it's cause you're old; if a long-standing action series I loved had a major title become turn-based, I'd be a bit miffed as well. It's just a matter of preference, and again I understand that, I just happen to be on the side that benefits.
And it's funny you mention the remakes of Star Wars as opposed to the prequels, cause with the prequels, you can just avoid them, but if you didn't get the right VHS copy of whatever Lucas stayed the hell away from, you don't get that many options when it comes to the altered originals, do you? I agree with the director of The People vs. George Lucas, the original cuts deserve to be maintained, and people should have access to them. And I'm not even a huge Star Wars fan, though I enjoy them.
LotR is an interesting one; what I've read of Fellowship seems fairly similar, but I know there's about a million more characters and plot threads than in the movies. There's a Nostalgia Chick series of reviews that mentions a lot of that. Me personally, I casually enjoyed the trilogy, but the only Tolkien book I've actually finished is Hobbit. Saw the movie too, and a bit annoyed Jackson didn't just make it one movie, but I enjoyed that as well, despite the criticism, though I enjoyed the book a lot more. It was assigned in 8th grade, and I've also seen the 70s cartoon of it. lol
I'm surprised you didn't mention Star Trek, but I guess we've been through that already. I watched "Space Seed" and had seen Wrath of Kahn before this new movie, and I enjoyed all of them, old and new.
The Fellowship of the Ring was the closest to the book, and the only one of the movies I liked. The other two deviated way too much. That whole bit with Aragorn going over the cliff in The Two Towers? So not part of the book. I think I may actually have liked the 70s cartoon version of The Lord of the Rings better than the Peter Jackson movies. There was a very good film critique in The New York Times called "What Have They Done To Our Precious?" (or something like that) that pretty much hit the nail on the head as to why I dislike the movies so.
As for Star Wars...if I pretend the reboots don't exist, I'm a much happier person, lol.
Yeah, the Nostalgia Critic did an Old vs. New episode comparing the old cartoon to the Jackson movies ... I watch too much nostalgia themed internet content. lol
I actually don't remember Aragorn going over a cliff; when I say casual, I mean I sort of drifted in and out and liked watching people slide down elephants to fight. I remember the crowd reaction to the bajillion endings in Return, though. Never been in a theater with something like that since. lol
I haven't seen The Last Airbender movie, but i'm still debating wheter I should watch it or not. I have a curiosity to see how much they got right and wrong from the book, but at the same time what i've heard of the movie is making me have a bad feeling. Specially since i'm a BIG fan of Avatar.
Anyway, can't say or recall any case were I felt a franchise was Ruined FOREVER or something similar.
If you're a BIG fan of Avatar, then you'll notice they stayed faithful to the basic plot progression, but left out a lot of characters, changed some things around, and it's a lot "darker" in look and overall tone, which really doesn't work. But I liked the CGI, personally, I actually thought it was pretty good on Appa and Momo. Plus all the crap surrounding it got me to watch the show, so there's that.
That link was fun. Might read tv tropes more often.
One person's screwings is another persons alterations I take it as.
I myself never really stood back and analized why I stopped liking a series or how it started to fall apart. I just know RE wasn't the same for me since 4 and am crious to see how reveltations holds up.
That reminds me, I need to check out spoony's panel at his recent convention you was in along with the NC's Vlogs on avatar. Was too focused on Sage's Anime Abandon myself.
I haven't watched Anime Abandon in a while, but I should, Sage makes those pretty funny. I have listened to his new podcasts, though.
I never played an RE title, so don't know about that.
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