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Post by Friendly Person :) on Feb 27, 2019 14:59:41 GMT -5
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Post by Youngster Joey on Feb 27, 2019 17:27:13 GMT -5
Fair, none of them scream "I want that," on merit of being cute, cool, or otherwise. But, hey, on the plus side, I can't be bitterly disappointed when they reveal a super ugly end evolution that totally ruins a great starter? (Emboar? Incineroar??)
Although, I never really liked Torchic, either, and Blaziken is the walking embodiment of hideous. I don't know why I am wedded to always getting Fire starters, because they're almost always ugly as sin.
I'm curious if I'll manage to finish the new Pokemon game. I haven't beaten Let's Go, and don't really have any particular motivation to do so. I liked the game. I just don't really care if I finish or not. I kind of got my fill, and I know what happens in the game anyway. I've played the originals fifty thousand times over. Let's Go has great music, and the battle graphics are really cool, but aside from that, it doesn't add anything new to my experience of Gen I or Pokemon more broadly. The game's defining asset, catching lots of Pokemon with no battling, is one I respect and think is a fine mechanic, but ultimately, it just doesn't do anything for me. Luckily, I don't have to catch everything ever if I don't want to, so I don't and it's fine, but opting out of that mechanic does have the net effect of the game feeling like it's just more of the same.
Gen 8 is new, but the Pokemon formula hasn't changed a lot, so there's an open question of whether it'll add anything to my experience the previous 7 gens haven't. We'll see.
I really love the character interaction in Vesperia--the chemistry is the best in the series--but I dont' think it comes close to Abyss on character development. Which... isn't a bad thing? I think that's part of the reason I enjoyed it. Yuri was already a mature, fully-fledged character. He was a breath of fresh, mature air after shonen dopes like Lloyd and buttheads like Senel. The reason Vesperia's plot is interesting, in my opinion, is that Yuri is a mature character, who makes the decisions he does because he's self-assured and confident. He has no qualms going rogue, not because he's an immature pipsqueak who believes in the power of friendship and it all works out, but because he understands the situation and the consequences, and decides, like a rational, informed adult, to fight from within. He didn't need character development, really, because that wasn't even the point. The fact that he was a developed character meant he could move the plot along in an interesting, believable way. Honestly, I liked Vesperia's plot quite a lot until they unceremoniously sh*t all over it.
This isn't to say that Vesperia didn't have character development, because it did. Karol was an obnoxious brat for a while, and I really didn't like him. He got way better, and so did Rita. But it just doesn't compare to Abyss's, particularly Luke's.
I was initially going to note Vesperia's cast stands out because its cast is stronger overall than Abyss's. Natalia and Anise make up 1/3 of the cast and are both pretty forgettable. But then, I didn't like Estelle or Raven (and sorry Derman, but Flynn was drier than dust). No, I think Vesperia stands out with its cast because its cast interaction is better than Abyss's. It feels like a real team. Abyss centers really heavily around Luke and others' interactions with him. Do you know that much about how Tear feels about Anise, for instance? Not really. I don't feel like they interacted beyond their shared investment in Luke. This works out well because the game is about Luke and his development, mind you, but still. Vesperia's cast was much more melded together.
I'm not sure if I would go as far to say Shinji is like two different people, but it's definitely jarring and there is no way you can argue he had any kind of defined character arc. He jerked around way too much, in a "wait what?" sort of way. The writing of that show is really poor, honestly. It has an interesting concept, and you can see what they were trying to do, but the execution just isn't there a lot of the time.
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Derman
Oracle Knight
I still don't have a knife tag on my golden birth knife
Posts: 194
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Post by Derman on Feb 27, 2019 18:28:50 GMT -5
Yea maybe "two different people" isn't the best way to put it. It was jarring, and I didn't like it. It's hard to find any motivation to finish that show, because it's just such a rollercoaster.
Vesperia definitely doesn't have as much character development as Abyss. Aside from the kids they don't really progress that much. Judith and Raven barely had anything besides their own secrets. And I guess that was the point. Yuri did have his "relying on others" and the vigilante-thing going on. He grew to rely on others, so there was some character growth there, but I personally wasn't very satisfied by how the vigilante thing was handled. It felt like they just forgot about it. Maybe it was better to keep things simpler.
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Feb 27, 2019 18:47:31 GMT -5
I feel like the added PS3 scenes helped flesh out Yuri and Flynn even if they don't give that aspect of the story the arch it deserves. Flynn realises that his view of justice has obvious limitations: black and white are not always so clear, as he finds himself continually unable to punish the people who deserve it. Yuri, for his part, learns that if your solution to every bad thing is to kill it, you'll soon find yourself killing people you really don't want to. While this happens with Bellius, it comes to a head with Estelle in the capital. No matter how much he thinks on it, the solution he can arrive at is to end her life. Ultimately it's Estelle herself who breaks free of Alexi's grip, not the result of either Yuri or Flynn. It's not really handled in the best way, but playing it through this time it feels more like it was sloppily done than completely absent. I also won't deny the third act going completely off of the rails, but it doesn't seem as egregious this time around. In terms of casts, I think I'd rank: I Didn't Hate A Single CharacterVesperia Berseria Excellent Dudes Balance Out Bland ChicksAbyss So Much Lost PotentialXillia Zestiria Can't Even Make A Damn SandwhichSymphonia I Don't Care Enough To Have an OpinionEveryone else Wouldn't Go To Their Birthday Party If They Paid MeGraces
These are factual and not open to debate.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Mar 1, 2019 22:22:25 GMT -5
Hahahaha. I have to admit, I got a good laugh out of Graces and Symphonia. Picked up The Tatami Galaxy. I've known of the main character for years--well, his likeness, anyway. Not the exact picture--I can't find it--but something to the effect of this: Knew nothing about the show or the character himself. I'd thought he must have come from a sad, serious show; he seemed so pensive and reflective. I finally got around to watching the show, and.... uh. Well. He's not pensive or thoughtful or kind in a kind way. He's a totally absurd Loser, with a capital L. It's kind of great, actually. I normally really don't like plot-less wacky anime (I think I lost brain cells watching Kill La Kill), but I am thoroughly enjoying this. Different type of absurd. I'm a sucker for weird shit, just has to be the right kind of weird shit.
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Mar 1, 2019 23:30:25 GMT -5
Oh, I watched Tatami Galaxy not too long ago*. Did I not make a post? Well, in summation, I enjoyed it, but would have enjoyed it more if it was about 4 episodes shorter. Which, fun fact, the novel it's based on only covers 4 cycles. If you enjoy Tatami Galaxy, three other of the author's novels were adapted into anime. There's The Night is Short, Walk on Girl, a movie I haven't seen but tells a different story in Tatami Galaxy from the perspective of the female lead. There's also Penguin Highway, which only just recently (as in, within this past week) became available in any kind of translation. Lastly there's The Eccentric Family, which isn't quite as high-minded as Tatami Galaxy -- especially in its second season -- but was still a very enjoyable watch. Also they are all animated by different studios (excepting Tatami Galaxy and Night is Young), so it's like seeing different takes on the same material. On a different note, I managed to avoid the temptation of Civ 6... if only because I got the complete edition of 5. I've been missing the Brave New World expansion, so I figure for 10 bucks I can get the complete set and scratch the Civ itch. I'm sure 6 will go on a cheaper sale at some point anyway, but 5 is pretty well adored by the community, including myself. On a DIFFERENT different note, holy hell D-man, them Finns are kicking butt this tournament! ENCE beat out Liquid, which were the #2 team to win. I doubt they could beat Astralis, but with any of the other contenders (even my beloved MIBR) I think they stand a chance. I'm actually hoping they make it to the final.
-edit- FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKEEEEEEEEEEEEN FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS MADE IT TO THE FINALS, GOD BLESS 'EM
Also f*ck Civ -- who wants a 'time' victory? Can I change victory conditions mid-game?
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Mar 3, 2019 11:50:57 GMT -5
I’m looking through old posts to see if I’ve mentioned Hirokazu Koreeda yet*, and it doesn’t seem like I have. He’s a Japanese film director of the non-anime affair that I discovered when his most recent film, Shoplifters, was nominated for an Oscar. I started with After the Storm because it was free on Amazon Prime, and have since watched three others, including Shoplifters. What makes Koreeda so appealing is that his films focus on very domestic families. If you’re looking for typical over-stated drama (and I don’t mean that in a negative way), you won’t find it here. Subtlety and realism dominate his movies, which in turn make them incredibly fascinating as someone interested in the day-to-day workings of Japan. Also they do a great job capturing various aspects of what it means to be family. In particular though, Shoplifters left a lot to be digested. If it’s not my favourite of his films ( After the Storm will probably always be), it is without a doubt the one that left me with the most to digest. While I doubt anyone will watch it, I’ll nonetheless spoiler the following, as it’s really best experienced without foreknowledge of the plot. Essentially the movie follows a band of poverty-stricken individuals who have come together to form a family unit. The “father” and the young boy (10-ish, named Shota) shoplift most of their goods. One day on coming home the father discovers a seven-year old girl (Yuri) on the balcony of her home in the freezing cold. Her parents don’t want her, and after taking her home he discovers scars all over her body.
The movie essentially follows her integration into the family in what seems a fairly typical down-and-out, family-is-the-bigger-picture movie. Except, this is Koreeda. Eventually Shota begins to doubt the shaky justifications for their shoplifting as he witnesses Yuri in the act. He allows himself to get caught, the police arrest the family (Yuri’s kidnapping has made national news), and you gradually discover all the secrets these people have been hiding.
Now, the general impression then is that everything was just a facade: these are selfish people just looking out for themselves. Yet the movie doesn’t make it that easy. Some of the earlier scenes are too genuine to accept as coming from a purely selfish place, and that’s basically what the movie does so well: it challenges the viewer by presenting so many conflicting layers of morals and ethics that – at least for me – it’s near impossible to firmly describe the characters as ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘real’ or ‘fake’.
What Koreeda does best (with the films that I’ve seen) is shying away from the Hollywood ending – whether that means ‘happily ever after’ or ‘everyone died’. There’s layers (I keep using that word, but I can’t think of another way to describe it) of both to them. If people change for the better, it might still be too late for the situation. There’s hope, but potential is useless unless acted on, and this isn’t a man to offer guarantees. The one weird thing I have to comment on is how frequently he re-uses actors. After the Storm and Still Walking have the same protagonist (with the same effing first name), the same grandmother played in After the Storm, Still Walking and Shoplifters (the latter of which was her final role, RIP). Basically you will see a lot of the same people, and I don’t know if I want to attribute it to director’s preference or if Japan has a more limited pool of actors. * I realised after typing this that I talked about After the Storm a few days ago. I’m not changing sh*t.
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Mar 3, 2019 18:16:09 GMT -5
I just spent 5 hours straight playing Civ 5. Only stopped because my eyes hurt. Decided to restart so the stupid time limit is gone. My plan this time is to play friendly with everyone, stockpile science and money, and as soon as I can build the Japo plane... well... you never can trust the Japanese, can you? TBH, I'm having more fun with Civ than ever before. I dunno why everything just suddenly makes perfect sense now.
-edit- Scratch that. Just spent 6 hours straight, meaning I played for 11 hours today. I'm going to bed and never thinking of that ever ever ever again.
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Derman
Oracle Knight
I still don't have a knife tag on my golden birth knife
Posts: 194
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Post by Derman on Mar 4, 2019 10:45:16 GMT -5
-edit- Scratch that. Just spent 6 hours straight, meaning I played for 11 hours today. I'm going to bed and never thinking of that ever ever ever again.
Dude r u ok? I watched the Astralis/ENCE match (only saw the second map) on my way home. It was pretty brutal, if I were a ENCE fanboy I might've been traumatized by that. The production was great, the way they explained the Inferno matchup before the game made it easier for me to understand the state of the game. Even though I haven't played the game that much I was able to notice all the cool things they did just fine. ENCE did make it to the news though, which was nice. Finland has a lot of good players in esports, and now the mainstream media is starting to notice that too. I signed a contract at Synopsys for next summer, so now I've got that out of the way. I'm pretty happy with it, it's one of the more contested places for interns around here, and they prefer longer-term relationships, so there's a chance I'll stay there for a few years. Mostly I'm just glad that I get to stay at my own apartment, have the standard 40 hour weeks and just get more time for myself in general.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Mar 5, 2019 0:21:15 GMT -5
Yeah, I can definitely see how The Tatami Galaxy is on a short lease. I just finished episode 7, and I'm having fun with it, although the very nature of rolling back time and playing out another unfortunate situation for the hopelessly inept and unlucky protagonist means it has a natural short lease. I think 11 episodes will be fine, once I get there. I'm not fatigued by it, but everyone's going to hit that point sooner or later.
I chose to watch on Funimation. I've never watched anything on Funimation before, and The Tatami Galaxy will probably be both my first and my last. I signed up for the free, ad-supported version, since I really, honestly don't mind watching a few minutes of ads in return for seeing something for free. But... some sites abused that. YouTube with Udemy man and Purple Martress girl, and now Funimation. My friend warned me that Funimation repeatedly advertises for itself, and it's true. They're not even interesting or varied commercials; just really generic, boring ads for their merchandise. There will be maybe one or two non-Funimation ads (which get repeated every ad break), and the rest are Funimation ads. While they're honestly really generic and uninteresting and therefore largely inoffensive, it does get kind of annoying anyway? I wish if they were going to serve me Funimation ads, they could put a little more effort into it. Swap out image still of Dragon Ball Z for [insert show here], wow, new commercial! Not.
But what really rankled me and made me decide I was done was when I watched ~20 minutes of an episode on my laptop and decided to finish the last 3 or 4 minutes at the gym. The app remembered what episode I was on; it didn't remember where exactly within. Not the best design, but no problem, I'll just skip ahead to minute 20 myself. But wait! the Funimation app cries. There were 3 scheduled ad breaks up until that point! Never mind I had already watched them; never mind the more intelligent idea of making me re-watch just one, if I had to rewatch anything; no, the Funimation app made me re-watch every ad break in full. All 5 or 6 minutes of them. They were all Funimation ads, too. Seriously? I have 3 minutes left of an episode, I already watched your stupid ad breaks, and you're making me watching all of them again, one after the other? No. F**k you. I don't like anime enough, let alone Funimation's underwhelming tropey shonen/shojo selection, to have patience for that. I also don't like anime enough to pay $6 a month for it ad-free. So I will see myself out and go back to my non-anime watching ways :-)
As for Civ, well, what can I say? I think I poured another good 10 hours into this weekend, bringing my total hours spent to somewhere in the 260s. The problem with that game is that you get sucked in, every time. I'm fine if I don't play it. But if I do play it, I'm done, I'm sucked in, it's over. At least with The Sims, whenever I've tried to play outside of my "all-in" cycles, I couldn't do it for more than fifteen or twenty minutes before becoming bored. Never have had that problem with Civ. No, once I sit down, I'm not leaving.
I had a great win over the weekend where I got a Science Victory on Immortal. Spamming Great People really helps. Harald Siggurdson for once was blitheringly incompetent in a different way, in that he was by and away biggest contributor to global warming. The dodo kept voting (and passing, with other similar morons, I suppose) to ban nuclear plants, like it was his job to ratchet up global warming as quickly as possible or something. I'm pretty sure the only accomplishment he achieved the entire game was losing my cities to him via culture and him submerging the coastlines.
I suppose it's not a completely unclever strategy, though. After all, it's not like I vindictively employed the same means or anything in my preceding game. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, I suppose.
Congrats on the contract! Hope you enjoy it. Will probably beat roofing.
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Mar 5, 2019 0:47:04 GMT -5
Question Joey:
Sell me on Civ 6 (including expansions).
I don't mean that literally -- you won't give a sh*t one way or the other. I'm just wondering, since I've sunk nearly 20 hours into this single (earth-scale) game of 5 what I might be missing with 6. I've watched reviews, and in terms of general aesthetics I'm more biased towards 5's cleaner, straight-edged look. In terms of gameplay though, they both seem fairly similar. The word I hear thrown around a lot for 6 is "streamlined" -- a word I have a complex history with. Civ Revolution (the console one) is highly streamlined, but in such a way that it lacks so much depth compared to the PC games. Alternatively, Civ 4 was such a tedious mess that I actually didn't like it, and it's -because- 5 was so streamlined (hex grid, no stacking military units, etc.) that I'm actually able to enjoy it.
I'm not planning on rushing out and getting 6, but one of my close friends has no interest, saying that 5 is just perfect for him. In a sense, I agree: I'm having enough fun with 5 that I wouldn't even consider a sequel necessary. But one exists, so I'm curious what (or if) it does differently enough that justifies its existence, and if those things are tempting enough to pick it up at the next sale (or a later, cheaper sale, or not at all).
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Mar 6, 2019 20:00:13 GMT -5
Oh thank god. 26 hours later, I finally won. I am free of this addiction!
So DMC5 in a few days...
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Mar 9, 2019 14:29:28 GMT -5
Stemming from a desire for something mindless to veg out with (after a ton of Civ, semi-complex novels and definitely complex movies) I actually went and watched a T.V. anime. It was advertised as a down-to-earth affair without a lot of drama, and an anime original from the author of Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai. If you don’t know, the latter is a show I’ve heard compared to Oregairu, and so I’ve been waiting for the LNs to get published with middling anticipation. Alas, at this juncture I discovered that the author of Bunny Girl Senpai is also the author of Sakurasou, a semi-popular anime where most of the drama feels forced or stems from the idiocy of the characters. In other words, it’s phenomenally stupid and made me reconsider my anticipation for Bunny Girl Senpai. But hey, maybe the guy improved, which brings us to Just Because! (yes, that is really the title).
Right from the first episode this show puts on display everything that will make it interesting and everything that will undermine that. The main character is moving back to the city for the last semester of school, and having already secured a recommendation for a top-end college, his entire presence is mostly a formality. This puts him in close proximity to his old middle school friends, of whom he fell out of contact with after leaving. He clearly harbours some resentment, and his general disinterest was the most interesting draw of the show. Coupled with the second biggest draw – everyone either getting ready for major changes as they either study for college entrance exams or prep to enter the work force – and there’s the chance for something good.
The problem is, right from the start you can grasp everything that will go wrong with the series. See, our main boy here has a crush on the main girl, who has a crush on his friend, who has a crush on some other girl. You can see how the end pairings will go within seconds, particularly since all that resentment the MC feels is discarded nearly the moment he meets his friend. Despite missing four years of these people’s lives, his reintegration is essentially seamless. His status as an ‘outsider’ lasts approximately 15 minutes, and that’s even taking into account the fact that he never even goes into a classroom (but rather spends his time alone inside the physics room). Essentially rather than a unique element to add layers to the plot or themes, it’s little more than window dressing.
This, more-or-less, drives home the thematic problems with the show. Everyone is on the cusp of adulthood (or so the show claims), but rather than having anything to say about the subject, it merely serves as window-dressing to generic teenage drama. Take main-girl: she rejects all her friend’s suggestions to hang out because she has to study. So there’s potential for a kind-of falling out with your friends as your lives begin to diverge, right? Except, she always seems to make time for her new group of friends, while her old group remains fiercely devoted to her success. Best friend character spends 10 minutes of an episode worrying that his new job will take over all of his free time (a.k.a. his ‘life’), but after a friendly baseball game with co-workers I guess everything is okay. I could go on listing how every single character has some kind of central drama worth exploring that is ultimately undermined, but I think you get the picture.
So what you’re left with is the romance, except once again it falls into some of the worst tropes anime has to offer. It starts with the aforementioned love quadrangle, but actually that’s not too bad because pretty early on best friend confesses to the girl he likes. Whew – bullet dodged! Except I sh*t you not, the show brings up A COMPLETELY NEW triangle with MC, FeMC and photography girl. Because see, photo girl recognises MC’s affections, and decides to “support” him. In doing so they talk together, get to know each other, and actually have some kind of chemistry together. That photo girl falls for him is – aside from the fact that he’s complete cardboard – actually completely natural.
You know what isn’t natural? Spending the majority of the show avoiding each other, only showing up at opportune moments to help out with some grand gesture, and deciding that’s a good indication of a solid romance. Seriously, the big finale is, ‘if I pass my exams, I’ll confess my feelings!’. What do exams have to do with feelings? What does studying have to do with developing a connection with another human? How does any of this lead to two people better understanding one another? In fact, in their complete LACK of understanding, they both take the test for the university the other person applied for. Tragedy is avoided not because the two realised their mistake by talking to one another, but rather because MC couldn’t cram enough in three weeks to pass.
In other words, despite not talking the whole time and nearly creating a major tragedy as a result, MC and FeMC are destined to end up together while the relationship with the girl he actually spoke with and spent time around is destined to fail. I do not think this trope will ever, EVER, be anything short of absolute f*cking sh*t. It’s the romance equivalent of working your ass off every day, but the guy who only shows up half the time gets the promotion. Or the old isekai adage of being level 1, but still being the best at everything because you’re the MC. It’s just absolutely astounding that you’re supposed to feel happy when two characters who can’t even talk to each other end up together, while the girl who he could be open with is left in tears.
The worst part is, thanks to the bad writing, FeMC comes across as a complete female dog. I don’t think she’s inherently a terrible character – someone so caught up in their studies they don’t have a chance to really analyze their own feelings – but the problem is that the bad tropes end up dashing any likable qualities she possesses. First she likes best friend, but then he falls for another girl because she can’t voice her feelings. Fine, whatever. But then she likes MC, but photo girl beats her to the punch again. Throw in the aforementioned, ‘I can’t hang out with my friends because I’m studying but I’ll always make time for you guys’ subtle dis and you’ve got a character who comes across as incredibly selfish and wishy-washy.
I don’t know why this show infuriates me as much as it does. It’s not like I was particularly into the characters while I was watching it, and as I said, I could tell from episode 1 that things would not end well. Yet I wanted to give it a chance to surprise me, but instead of rising above it indulged in the worst tropes the genre has to offer. It’s far from the first show to do this, yet somehow it’s just so frustrating – perhaps because of how clearly proud it is of itself. I have a friend who goes into an autistic rage whenever Sakurasou is so-much as mentioned. Maybe this is my ‘Sakurasou’ (ironically by the same author) – not worth the time to get mad at, but for some reason I can’t help but rant about it.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Mar 9, 2019 17:35:19 GMT -5
Being totally frank, the vast majority of my time on Civ V was spent in my freshman year of college. For a couple of unrelated reasons, mostly around computer issues, I didn't really pick up the series again until I was several years out of college, and by that time, Civ VI was out. I've only played it for a few hours since 2011, and I can't say I remember the mechanics super well or what differentiates it. So, I'm afraid I can offer no compelling appraisal, or at least not one I think does full justice or is thoughtful in any way.
Here are a few things, though:
- Separate tech and culture trees. As I recall in V, tech and culture are in the same "tree," so to speak. In Civ VI, they're split out, which means you can be blazing ahead on, say, science and neglect culture, or vice versa. To me, I think this makes a cultural victory feel considerably different from a science victory--you may have completely different buildings/features/etc. available to you based on the branches you pursue and at what speed.
- Boosts. Every node in the science and culture trees have preconditions you can meet that reduce the amount of time it takes you to research that thing. For instance, having a city on the coast accelerates discovering sailing; building a world wonder advances you closer to unlocking the Theater District, which greatly accelerates your accumulation of culture. This really impacts the way the game is played, for a couple of reasons. For one, it gamefies smaller steps, sort of like a miniquest. There's no excitement quite like getting the notification that you boosted something. (If you're wondering if this plays into the one more turn aspect, it absolutely does; why, in 2 turns, I'll unlock the boost, which means I only have to wait X more turns for Y technology, which means I can build Z thing!). Secondly, it puts pressure on you to be focused. In higher difficulties, if you fart around and don't go out of your way to get boosts where humanly possible, well, guess what, the computer players are getting the boosts and will just leapfrog ahead of you. I might trade with someone or take over a city if I need something for a boost, whereas I maybe wouldn't bother otherwise.
- Districts. In Civ V, the land you amass in your city's borders is basically just for wonders and land improvements. City buildings all magically live within your city center, and, aside from population, natural resources and improvements, I don't feel like one city is hugely appreciably different from one to the next.
In VI, specialized districts live outside of the city center, and you can improve their output by strategically placing them. For instance, Industrial Zones are boosted by being next to adjacent mines, and the Theater District is boosted by being next to wonders. The number of districts you place down is limited by your population size, so you have to think carefully about what you lay down, when, and where, keeping in mind the placement of districts you can't get yet. Leaders can add their own spin on this, as well; for instance, normally districts are boosted by having at least 2 districts near them, but in Seondeok's case, her Campus districts always have maximum output, but she can't place said districts anywhere but on a mountain, and her Campuses lose output if next to adjacent districts. I am certainly not going to plant an early city as Seondeok in the middle of plains, because then her best selling point is totally nerfed.
I mentioned previously that the number of districts you have is limited by your city population. Since it takes a while to grow big enough to support a large number of districts, and geography might augment or limit the inherent potential of particular districts, you think long and hard about how to get the most out of your cities. Often, you might decide that you have one city totally specialize in one thing, rather than be a jack of all trades, master of none. For instance--using Seondeok as an example again--my first course of action is to build Campus districts right away in all of my early cities, and then the Encampment district. Why the Encampment District, over, say the Theater District? I don't care about pumping out Culture when I'm playing for a science victory, but I also don't want to impede my Science progress by failing to boost something that required unlocking something in the Culture tree. The Encampment district provides me some culture, and, critically, it provides production so I can build science buildings faster. Indeed, the Theater District is one of the last districts I build in science victories.
Meanwhile, sometimes I'll settle cities in crappy areas for Seondeok because the alternative is my next door neighbor setting up shop there. In that case, I may not be able to build a Campus district, or it'll be crap if I do. So I might make that city a money-making machine, since generally money is simply a nice-to-have and I won't bother with the Commercial District in cities that can effectively pump out Science.
Basically, long story short, individual cities can be very different, and city organization is a big deal in Civ VI. You can really beef up a city into a monstrous powerhouse if you play your cards right; on the flipside, settling in a bad area or designing your city layout thoughtlessly can end up with cities that just feel like underperforming dead weight.
- The Rise and Fall expansion. I think Civ VI vanilla is a fine game on its own merit, and Rise & Fall isn't one of those expansions that makes it impossible to go back to the base game (hi, Sim expansions). I still have a great time on vanilla (Switch, fwiw, is vanilla). But Rise & Fall is like getting chocolate syrup on your ice cream. You'll still enjoy the ice cream either way, but the chocolate syrup makes it even better. Critically, Rise and Fall add in the concept of Dark, Normal and Golden Ages. If you play poorly, you can plunge into a Dark Age where loyalty is halved; play well, and you can get extra bonuses and exert loyalty on other civilizations' cities, potentially prompting them to join you. How you achieve a Golden Age is dependent on goals you set for yourself; for instance, you might be rewarded for building lots of science buildings, or for setting up trade routes. The ensuing tug-of-war between, say, getting a tech boost for science vs. narrowly avoiding an almost-Dark Age makes for some tough decisions and careful planning.
Moreover, the concept of Governors is great. You have 5 governors, all of which have 5 promotions that confer particular benefits on a city. For instance, Pingala, my favorite, has a promotion that doubles Great Person point production. Placed in a city with the Oracle Wonder that also increases points, Great Person spam time! Governors also boost loyalty, protecting your city (or a city-state) from succumbing to the influences of nearby civs. Since more isolated cities are more susceptible to pressure from other civs, it's critical you balance them appropriately.
Basically, there's a common theme here. The expansion adds more levers to push and increases the complexity, but, critically, it's not in a burdensome way. Nuance would be a better term for it. I suppose perhaps the additional levers might make the game harder for some, but I relish the constant set of trade-offs and playing to the strengths of my cities.
- Workers. This is kind of a minor thing and not a selling point, but--I like the way Civ VI handles workers much better. In V, when you make workers, they take a few turns to build whatever, but they're yours for the rest of the game. In VI, builders have a limited number of uses, but they build improvements immediately. V sounds like a better deal, but in practice, by the end of the game, I would have no improvements left to make and lots of workers who I'd have to tell to do to things. That's annoying to micromanage. You can automate them, yes... but then they go insane carving circuitous roads EVERYWHERE. Why have 1 road when an ugly interweaving clusterf**k of 20 roads will do? So, your options are let them go amok or just delete them. I don't find I need workers in either game after a certain point, so VI's approach of making temporary ones actually works out pretty well.
Well, anyway, that was a lot more than I intended to write. Like 5x more. I think it ended up being more of a "I love Civ VI" and not really "here's why you should buy VI over V". But yeah.
Anyway, on the anime note, that sounds pretty disappointing... and, honestly, like a pretty generic anime. Even the ones that dance at the potential for deeper material often don't. But I suppose that's not unique to anime, is it? (I think it feels more prominent in anime because 90% of it features high schoolers, so it already doesn't feel relatable.)
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Mar 10, 2019 19:36:22 GMT -5
Actually this the kind of info I wanted. My biggest concern is that districts will become tedious. I see the potential they hold for adding more layers, but I feel like as a newcomer I face a few sh*tty games where you don't know how to plan for what to go where -- in other words, plotting late-game cities from the start seems impossible until you've reached late-game a few times. I'm sure it's not as bad or tedious as it sounds, but it's certainly the biggest hesitation when it comes to considering the game.
As for the anime, I think what's so hard to grasp is how my expectations were low and it still managed to fail? As you said, it's pretty much impossible to relate to high school drama. Unless it's dealing with some broader concepts ala Shinkai or Oregairu it's hard to do anything short of scream at the screen, "NONE OF THIS IS IMPORTANT, NONE OF IT MATTERS, HIGH SCHOOL DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING WHEN YOU ACTUALLY BECOME AN ADULT!". But even still enjoyable characters can inject some kind of value into something? Like, even if Persona 4 didn't have the whole facing-yourself aspect, I like the cast enough that I don't hate spending time with them (Golden exclusive concert scene aside). But these characters... ugh.
I was thinking, it's weird how I feel like FeMC isn't a bad character inherently, but that the shoddy writing ruins her. Characters only exist because of writing, so if the writing is shoddy, the character must be too, no? Maybe it's here that the consumer aspect of art comes into play. That is, art is an exchange between creator and consumer. The creator injects something into his creation, but then in engaging with that creation the consumer must also give something of themselves (i.e. interpretation). Maybe that sympathy exists because I embed in the character, to some extent, how I might have done it better?
F*ck it, I dunno.
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