dienekes96

That’s great news. I’ve been waiting for that since D+’s launch.

Bloodborne is a genuine treasure, one of the purest gaming experiences I’ve ever had. It tickled my sense of wonder, dread, and awe equally, while being a very traditional gamer’s game. Anything that gets it in more hands is a win for the gaming community.

Inspired by JFo, I fired up Origins, started from the beginning (only had gone a half hour a year or so ago), and started plugging away. I didn’t realize the DLC allowed you to boost to level 45. I did realize it right after I hit 19 the old-fashioned way, though. I took advantage of it, to save myself the misery of the level grind (and buy a bunch of abilities). Spent the last bunch of hours getting rid of fog and synchronizing the vantage points. Just exploring. Quite enjoying it this way, with less stress on doing every little side quest. The map is enormous, but I like all of the different environments they incorporated.

Would be happy to get both Pitch Black and Flash Gordon.

If only Elmore Leonard could write his lines. Love Olyphant, though.

Watched 5 episodes of the Prop Culture. The best by far was The Muppet Show. Just magic. The worst was Pirates (a film I love). Also really dug the Poppins and Roger Rabbit episodes. More please.

Very intriguing. Some thoughts, and a word of caution. Random thoughts first. I got the first game back in 2007, but couldn’t really get into it. So I shelved it, enjoyed the Blur CG trailers for the next few games, and thought little more of it, beyond some general pleasure in historical games having AAA titles. That changed with the GI cover for ACIII. As a amateur aficionado of U.S. history, I was drawn to the idea of a half-Native American participating in Assassin-Templar hijinks in the U.S. Revolution. I was absolutely enamored, and ACIII immediately became my most anticipated game. I put AC back into my 360, and played it through, finally enjoying it. I dove into ACII straight after, and that was revelatory. II is such an upgrade, gameplay-wise, that it feels like a new game. That game consumed me, in a positive way, and I went right to Brotherhood. Brotherhood is essentially a true sequel to II, polished and perfected. Plowed through that, and dove into Revelations. About 3 hours in, though, I hit the wall. Not because of the game, but the formula. Having played AC, then II, then Brotherhood, in quick succession...I needed a break. I didn’t want to burn out before III. So I quit Revelations, and haven’t touched it since. When III came out, I was incredibly excited. First mission, interesting. Then more and more and more Haytham, and when I was finally Connor (hours of game time later), I was just a little kid trying to figure out how to find animal traps. After all my excitement for the game and all the joy that II and Brotherhood brought me, said no thanks and bailed. Just like that. Picked it up a time or two again, even made it as far as getting my regalia, axe, and ship...but then just couldn’t be bothered to push farther. I did start and quit Black Flag on my first PS4. Dug it a bit, but other games called. I was impressed by Unity’s trailer, but didn’t play it. Same with Syndicate. Eventually, thankfully, I decided to watch Black Sails on my STARZ app (highly recommended, btw), which made me want to try Black Flag again. Which I loved. Loved the Naval combat, loved the exploration, loved that game. That made me try Unity, because I loved the Paris location and timeline, but I hated the combat, and couldn’t get into it. A regret, because I loved this concept. Never tried Syndicate. Heard wonderful things about Origins, and even tried the first two hours, but no more (see a pattern here?). Now I’ve bought every AC game, for me or my son, to date. I’ve completed less than half of them. I’ve bought the art books back through the entire series, and I always anticipate and enjoy the trailers for new games I continue to love the idea of AAA games set in meaningful history...I love Venice, Rome, Paris, London, and ancient Egypt recreated in digital form to explore and experience. I don’t love the gameplay as much, though I continue to try. I really would like to play through Origins, and I hear wonderful things about Odyssey as well. And I’ve always been drawn to Viking iconography, so Valhalla is of great interest. So, weirdly, I’m a bigger fan of the series than I am the games at this point. But still a fan. I do want to caution against burnout. Because of the mission/side-quest repetitiveness, especially within the Ezio trilogy portion, you may want to consider some palate cleansers in between some of the games. I’ll be reading your updates, and you may have inspired me to pick up Origins again and make a real go. I wish you good fortune in the wars to come.

After getting all of the way to the Arkham Knight reveal (where you are trying to get him off the gargoyles) and then just drifting back to Destiny, never to progress further in AK back at release, I restarted this about two weeks ago and played it to completion. Except for the Riddler trophies, which I did almost none of. And the original comments in here remain accurate. The Batman/Joker stuff works quite well story-wise, as do the Batfamily dynamics and drama, but the game just defaults to the BatTank way too often. And it actually felt pretty balanced until about 2/3rds of the way through. Then it just became too much. And I wasn’t aware of the post-villain reveal content. So I was pretty excited when Deathstroke arrived. Imagine my almost crushing disappointment when the Deathstroke fight is another Tank battle, a repeat of one of the worst stages of the game. But I am mostly a completist, so I played the DLC Villains missions too. Conceptually, they were alright, but they were mostly just more of the same. Still, the design work is great, and I loved some of the stages and set pieces. And I enjoyed the APC chases. I mostly liked the Batmobile stuff, but I mostly hated the Bat Tank. Voice work was great as usual. And it is really polished. But City was still the pinnacle. I get the incorporation of the car, as it is such a big part of the mythos. And integrating the car elements seamlessly with the rest for the gameplay is impressive. But it was probably so much work, technically, that they felt they had to justify it with a BIG footprint in the game. I’m glad I played it, having never done so. Doubt I’ll ever play it again, beyond maybe trying some of the DLC missions.

Is there going to be some assassin stuff in the game? The Viking stuff looks good and, as usual, all of the design work is lovely and thematic. But I usually hope the assassin stuff is what ties the games loosely together.

Today I learned that DC had scheduled an Absolute Gotham By Gaslight, one of my most favorite Batman stories, for a Fall 2020 release. I also learned, five seconds later, that DC cancelled the Absolute Gotham By Gaslight release about four months after announcing it. It was a great five seconds.

I was on the DV train with Sicario (so, a little late). 2049, against all odds, was a worthy sequel and my favorite film that year.

Trying to help comic shops, Jim Lee is creating 60 sketches in 60 days, selling them on eBay, and donating the proceeds to BINC to help the stores. He’s about a quarter of the way through. Auction winners get to choose who gets drawn next (as long as they haven’t been chosen). Other artists are donating some sketch art as well. I’m not going to win any of these, lowest I saw was 5K (Doomsday), highest is a Red Rain Batman (with 90s Catwoman) at 17K. I’d forgotten what an exceptional draftsman Lee is. DC is going to collect the 60 sketches into book for sale with proceeds also going to BINC. I can probably afford that. Considering how rough this pandemic is for the comic stores, and theaters, etc...really nice gesture.

I’ll see any and every movie DV makes.

It also lets the previous guy make the long-term unpopular decisions. Having just gone in January, I’m almost certain fewer employees is NOT the best way to create magic. Increasing prices and reducing service in what will be a tough economy is going to be interesting. I really felt like our experience in January was at the limits of my interest. Crowds were huge, meals were very expensive, wait times were routinely unbearable. Lowering park employees will only exacerbate the wait time issue. I was already skeptical going forward with Chapek, this only fuels that further. Definitely taking a wait and see approach before we hit WDW any time in next few years. I also think Graeme is correct. This is an unprecedented situation for any CEO, much less a new one. Might as well lean on expertise as much as possible.

4 is, by a meaningful margin, my favorite game in the series. But it has also aged well. I also love Code Veronica, which would really benefit from such a polish. To be honest, I’d buy either game, but would be more excited about CV. I would also wager that RE4 is more of a gamble. It’s rightly considered one of the finest video games ever made. Walking that line in a remake between update and “improvement” is tougher with such a familiar and vocal fan base. Good luck to them.