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Ronnie

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Posts posted by Ronnie

  1. Posted

    1 hour ago, Julius said:

    Right?! I can't remember anything major that was pre-rendered in Fallen Order, so unless I'm missing something, this just seems like a terrible job at (or complete lack of) optimisation for a next-gen only title and their first UE5 game (right?). Does make me wonder what the delay was about if it wasn't tied to optimising their assets though, and it'd be concerning if this was the best they felt they could do with it, but it is what it is ::shrug:

    I don't think Survivor is UE5, I think that's a common misconception. It's UE4 but new-gen only. I can't say I'm massively fussed about the big file size. Modern consoles can only hold a handful of big games anyway so I just delete an old one I'm finished with to make room.

    1 hour ago, Julius said:

    So I might find myself just breezing through the story and not focusing on side content the first time with Survivor, before really exploring every nook and cranny the second time around, which means I won't need to rush to do before TotK but can instead chip away at it? But still avoid having the story spoiled...

    ...nah, who am I kidding, I'm 100% just going to try to do everything the first time :p

    That's a good idea but there's no way I wouldn't be tempted to veer off the beaten path. It sounds like there's lots of stuff to do if you look around. If this game was out three weeks before Zelda I'd probably go for it, but as it stands I'll prob just wait a couple months before playing.

    Might play a pixel art game before Zelda instead so that the graphical jump will make TOTK look great (at first glance), as opposed to going from Survivor > Zelda :laughing:

    • Haha 1

  2. Posted · Edited by Ronnie

    Chapter 24... Man, that was a fantastic season finale. In fact I actually thought it retroactively brought the rest of the season up a level. Incredible action, satisfying resolutions and in true Mando video game fashion, another *Main Quest Complete* to round off the season, with a tease of what's in store in S4.

    Truth be told, I was relieved when the Armorer told Din he had to go off with his new apprentice on adventures. The Mandalore storyline has been fun, but I'm ready for some non-Mando-centric, Outer Rim adventures now.I'd read far too many bullshit internet rumours about a falling out between Pedro Pascal and Lucasfilm and how they were supposedly killing him off this episode :indeed: stupid me for paying any attention to stuff like that, but I did go into the episode a bit worried, especially with Brendan Wayne talking about how this one is going to hurt. Sounds like he was just messing with the fanbase a bit cause it was as happy an ending as can be really. 

    Spoiler

     

    10 hours ago, Julius said:

    no episode title listed in Disney+, does this mean something?!

    Seasons 1 and 2 only put episode titles on Disney+ a few days after release. It was only the start of S3 where they'd put them from the beginning for some reason? I much prefer waiting till the title card to find out what it's called.

    10 hours ago, Julius said:

    another fun arc to go on: Woves is totally about to betray them > oh never mind he's actually sticking around > ????? > oh okay he's sacrificing himself and going to kamikaze the lightcruiser into the Imp base, got it > oh wow okay never mind he actually jumped ship

    Relieved he jumped ship otherwise that would have been a real Picard facepalm moment. I like the character a lot actually, from what little we've seen, glad he's sticking around. 

    10 hours ago, Julius said:

    some really badass shots, especially pretty much anything flying towards/away from the Imp base. The Mandalorians charging with Bo wielding the Darksaber and The Armourer's drop before then, clanging at Imps with hammers, was absolutely badass :D

    The action all episode (season?) was top notch, but I was really impressed by the mid-air battle at the base, something that crazy could have been really hard to follow along with but they did a great job keeping it all visible.

    10 hours ago, Julius said:

    crazy to finally see Mandalore reclaimed by the Mandalorians, I was a bit worried going into this episode that it'd be left over again until S4, but nope, it took us where it needed to and got the job done. 

    Yeah I was really glad this resolved this season too. The show doesn't tend to string things along too much I feel, gets to where it needs to go relatively quickly, (with the occasional side-quest or two).

    10 hours ago, Julius said:

    speaking of which, damn, from this ending I definitely get the sense that S3 got heavily altered based on other shows stepping into the limelight (namely Ahsoka) and others being cancelled (Rangers of the New Republic), because Din's and Grogu's new role as working for the New Republic and helping track down Imperial Remnants (amongst other busywork) sounds exactly like what Rangers was going to be, which I'm very excited for, because some parts of S2 and most of S3 definitely saw the story steer far away from Mando and Grogu, which is what I missed most from S1 and early S2. Also positions him rather well to turn up in Ahsoka if needed, because it seems like he'll be hunting down the other members of the Shadow Council? 

    It's been a strange season. The focus on Bo Katan really made me wonder if they were pivoting the whole show to her, especially with Rick Famuyiwa's comments at Celebration about who the titular Mandalorian really is. That, combined with the rumours of Din being killed off, made me wonder if he was foreshadowing or preparing fans for it. Glad S4 seems to be back to Din and Grogu though, albeit with a Rangers of the New Republic flavour to it like you say. Fine by me, get as many X-wings and Y-wings in the show as you can Jon!

    10 hours ago, Julius said:

    R5 and the mouse droids were hilarious, really thought that mouse droid went to go get some Supercommandos, so I was chuckling to myself when it came back with three more mouse droids and they just started headbutting R5 :laughing: the one falling to its unfortunate demise killed me too!

    This whole bit was HILARIOUS. What a legend R5 has become. 

    10 hours ago, Julius said:

    I never try to go into Star Wars expecting post-credits scenes with them being so rare, but with no Boba at all this season and with Episode 7 namedropping Thrawn to tease Ahsoka, I'm surprised that there was nothing at the end here. Guess they felt the bow they tied on everything and essentially telling us what S4 would be handling was enough, so fair enough! 

    Kind of glad it's not become a Marvel thing where you expect it every time. The Mando S2 one was to announce a new series and the Andor one was cool but a little un-necessary.

     

     

     

    Anyway, a 10/10 for me. Had a great time.

    Overall, bit of an up and down season. Some fantastic highs for me: The Mines of Mandalore, The Pirate and The Return, and a couple of lows: The Foundling and Guns for Hire. Then you had great little moments like Din in the Anzellan workshop in the first episode, the Purrgill scene, the awesome creature design of the Pirate King and that incredible ship dogfight on Bo's planet, the creepy spider monster thing on Mandalore, and of course, my boy, Zeb in live action :heart:. Overall negatives? Clunky dialogue quite often, and a few too many big monsters. 

    The scope has definitely increased and this season was always going to be a bit of an adjustment because of that. 

    13 hours ago, Happenstance said:

    Anyone got any of the Black Series helmets? I'm in the mood for a new project so I'm thinking about getting some to weather a bit and display. At the moment I'm probably going with Mando's and Bo-Katan's but the reason I ask if anyone has them is to check the heights so I know they'll fit on my shelves. I get conflicting info when I Google or use Amazon etc.

    Haven't got any but this display case might give you an idea, it has the dimensions of the case included so might help a bit narrow things down.

    On 19/04/2023 at 12:58 AM, Julius said:

    I don't so much buy the "they believed they could tell it better in live-action than animation", because while that's Jon's medium, it's not so much Dave's - yet - and if he wanted it to be animated, he could have played it safe and gone with trying to drive it down that route. Dave is better positioned than just about anyone to observe the limitations of live-action, and the timelessness of animation, if nothing else, makes it an interesting proposition which could have gone either way...before the success of Mando and Disney+.

    Yeah that strikes me as more of a Jon quote than anything Dave might say. Tbh it was never officially quoted, was just an insider report, so who knows really. 

    On 19/04/2023 at 12:58 AM, Julius said:

    Again, think there's multiple factors at play here – if Ahsoka is tying into Mando and leading up to the culmination event film? Well we now know it is - but was that always the plan, I wonder? I'd guess not with the directions Mando has taken since its first season, and S3 E7 felt like a hard left turn into making aggressive ties to the sequels and setting up their future plans - which to be clear, I loved, but it's just interesting. 

    That exact question was asked in interview with the pair of them on IGN the other day, was it always the plan to tell a crossover story. They basically said that it was always the plan to expand the scope and start telling more galaxy-wide stories. I think Bad Batch is probably tying into the sequel trilogy (well, TROS in particular) more than Mando tbh, especially with the revelations of what Gideon wanted to do with cloning. Then again, he wasn't the only warlord interested in it, so I'm sure there'll be much more there in future seasons. S3 E7 only seemed to hint at it, for now.

    On 19/04/2023 at 12:58 AM, Julius said:

    I'm excited for Ahsoka, just generally cautious, because while I trust Dave and what he does, they do seem to be steering incredibly close to setting up their own take on Heir to the Empire (so much so that I'd be kind of shocked if Dave's film isn't called that) with everything they're setting up in the shows. That comes with its own load of baggage that I'm sure we'll get into some other time, though! 

    His film is definitely being called that! I don't think it'll be a direct adaptation though, I've not read the Thrawn trilogy but from what I hear there's some weird stuff in it like clone Luuke. 

    On 19/04/2023 at 12:58 AM, Julius said:

    It's an interesting one with Ahsoka, because I don't know about you, but for me - and I say this as someone who has always liked the character, before people needed to be convinced about her with her growth in TCW - in the timeline it doesn't really feel like she's had much growth since The Clone Wars. Maybe that's more to do with the extent of her role being somewhat limited in Rebels and the Disney+ live-action shows, but it makes naming the show after her an even more interesting decision for me (then again, I generally hate the fact that we're just naming shows after characters, so :p), so maybe some flashbacks or conversations with certain blue wispy folk could be a good opportunity for that. 

    This is her moment for growth and development, like you say she didn't have a big role in Rebels and definitely not the Mandoverse shows, so if not now then when.

    Always interesting to hear the rest of your thoughts btw, even if I don't reply to everything. Only four months to go... only four :cry: Ditto your thoughts on the previous two eps of Mando. Briefly for me...

    Guns for Hire: 

    - really disliked the opening scene. Did they pick some random dude off the street to voice the Mon Cala? Really cringeworthy scene. Very soap-opera and weird.
    - really disliked the closing scene. Like you say, weird plot progression with just handing over the Darksaber on a technicality. 
    - hated the celebrity guests. The casting has always been weird on this show, be it comedians, or MMA fighters or Favreau's mates.
    - I actually really enjoyed the middle, detective part of the episode but it didn't get enough time for it to feel satisfying and the resolution was an example of Star Wars talking to itself. The reveal that Christopher Lloyd was a separatist will have flown way over the heads of casual Star Wars fans. A mate of mine still has no clue where the whole droids going rogue storyline went in the end for example.

    5/10 for me. Tough gig for Bryce to be given!

    The Spies:

    - I think I was in a really bad mood when I watched this episode because I didn't enjoy it as much as I probably should. I could tell it was a good one but the awful dialogue was getting on my nerves. I was rolling my eyes so hard by the time the 13th Mandalorian said "I will go".
    - Cool pirate ship, or at least it was until another monster came in out of nowhere.
    - RIP Paz, you will be missed.

    7/10

    Spoiler

    The Apostate: 8/10
    The Mines of Mandalore: 8/10
    The Convert: 7/10
    The Foundling: 6.5/10
    The Pirate: 9/10
    Guns for Hire: 5/10
    The Spies: 7/10
    The Return: 10/10

     

  3. Posted

    If Cal is customisable I can't imagine there's pre-rendered cutscenes, unless there's literally one for every variation which would account for the huge file size :laughing:

    Can I just say it's really annoying this comes out just two weeks before Zelda. I'm playing the latter as soon as it comes out but I doubt I'll have 100%'d Survivor by then. Might have to wait till after I'm done with Zelda to play it :indeed:

  6. Posted · Edited by Ronnie

    On 17/04/2023 at 3:54 PM, Julius said:

    We did, we made it into Galaxy Stage! But that's a whole other story haha, that'll be fun to get into, or to say it with a GIF...

    tumblr_o88xl6xKIR1v03umko3_500.gif

    :laughing: :laughing: nice, glad to hear it!

    On 17/04/2023 at 3:54 PM, Julius said:

    I guess it didn't really hit me until Celebration, that even though it was clear the sort of direction it was heading (Rebels sequel/Thrawn stuff), just how much it was heading in that direction. Maybe it's because it's not animated and we've only seen Ahsoka sporadically since Rebels ended, but it hit me hard in the Lucasfilm (and then the Ahsoka) panel that, yeah, I've been waiting 5+ years for this since Rebels ended. It doesn't feel that long, but I remember when and where I was in my life when I watched that final episode, and I refuse to believe it's been 5+ years already. It's scary. 

    I read a rumour/report from BespinBulletin I think it was a couple of years ago, that said Favreau/Filoni realised they could tell the Rebels sequel series better in live action, so that got cancelled. It'll be interesting what sort of line the show walks between the search for Ezra and Ahsoka's own personal storyline. I 100% trust Filoni to maintain the Rebels spirit and do all those characters justice. My issue with him and Favreau is as ever, the dialogue, but we'll see how it goes there. I suppose I better...

    Spoiler

    tumblr_p5f2bbZAc61tu7563o3_r1_540.gif

     

    • Like 1

  8. Posted

    Never change ResetEra...

    Quote

    Like what is up with the princess defending his fragile male ego? Or how even though he fails by her standards he still gets to come along in a perfect display of what white male privilege is? Or that the key to everything is Mario's toxic masculinity of challenging Donkey Kong to a fight? Just such dated concepts.

     

    • Haha 1

  9. Posted · Edited by Ronnie

    14 minutes ago, Julius said:

    Plus I'm way more hyped for Ahsoka than I thought I would be

    Take it you didn't see the extended trailer from the Ahsoka panel? There was an action shot on Lothal... :heart: so yeah, series looks great. 

    As for Tales season 2, tbh I'd be surprised if Filoni doesn't just do more Clone Wars, which whilst not for me, would certainly make a huge chunk of the fanbase happy so who could blame him. Getting some darksaber context would be good although you'd imagine that might have been better timed to be in S1 to tie into Mando S3, but who knows, could still work....

    14 minutes ago, Julius said:

    star-wars-kylo-ren.gif

    PS: please, never stop posting contextual Star Wars gifs. :laughing:

    • Like 1

  10. Posted

    A couple of panels definitely came in handy as a place to rest your feet, looking at you Funko. Turns out, people dodging in the huge crowds was knackering.

    19 minutes ago, Julius said:

    giphy.webp?cid=6c09b952a0fef569eb5c39c93

    Celebration write-up will probably happen first, might start on that today! Post-con depression hit hard but I'm finally starting to get over it :smile: (is what I'll keep telling myself, honestly it started hitting me on the Saturday of Celebration :p)

    Bad Batch S2 I'll refer back to my notes later this week and probably talk about that separately, because there's a lot to say! 

    For now though, I watched Tales of the Jedi in one sitting on Wednesday last week, trying to keep my Star Wars hype alive.

    Loved it for what it was, which is basically Clone Wars shorts with the appearance of Bad Batch, really enjoyed getting to see younger Dooku and Qui-Gon, as well as seeing more of Ahsoka (and that tie-in to the final ep of Clone Wars!!!). Really excited to see what they plan on tackling in S2, would love for them to jump around the timeline some more! 

    Take your time was only joking around.

    Post con depression remedies: Jedi Survivor in like 11 days and Zelda TOTK in 3 and a half weeks.

    Glad you liked Tales of the Jedi, I've not watched it yet. Really hope S2 isn't the same Clone Wars era and like you say they jump around a bit. How about Luke's temple before TFA, or the first Mando Jedi who's name escapes me now.

     

  13. Posted · Edited by Ronnie

    16 minutes ago, Julius said:

    Fair warning: while I loved the trailer, I feel like it showed a loooooooooot, so if you're on the fence, it might be best to skip this one? 

    Thanks for the above, I'm definitely going to do my best to skip it. Glad it was good though.

    Noticed it was 4 minutes long :eek: 

  16. Posted

    There's definitely something intangible missing from the spirit of the game, it could just be because the concept isn't fresh anymore.

    Looking back, I also wasn't a fan of the way they changed the battle system. The game is easier than the first because they allowed for free movement, so you could position everyone wherever you want to extend range with no consequences. People talk about the lack of grid, but there's still a grid, it's just invisible. It's the free-roam that's the game changer, and not in a good way imo.

  17. Posted

    The film is still a brilliant time the second time around, confirmed.

    The only bit where I think something is missing is when Mario and DK are swallowed up by the Unagi eel. It feels like that was leading to a slower moment where they talked about their respective dads not believing in them etc, but instead it just kind of cut away to the action suddenly. Wonder if there was a scene there that got cut.

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    1 minute ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

    It felt incredibly lazy, they might as well have had them meet each other in their dreams, but that meant they couldn't rely on mind-reading-seeing-through-eyes to move the plot along

    I found it compelling and extremely well portrayed. Did you think Obi Wan talking to Luke in his X-wing was lazy? Or Vader talking to Luke on the Falcon in Empire?

    • Weird 1

  20. Posted

    Had an absolute blast at Star Wars Celebration. You really feel the love for the franchise among fans, everyone’s so friendly and nice. That love goes the other way too though, Lucasfilm doing such a great job putting on some amazing stuff for us. Even wandering around meeting and greeting the day before and during.

    So much fun cosplay-watching. Green jumper Mon Cala mechanic from The Heiress ep of Mando was one of my favourites, just cause l love that character. Shirtless swole Kylo made my sister blush.

    The actual organisation and running of the show was pretty good I thought. Everything was mostly seamless. Apart from the entranceway and how they barely checked badges. I suppose that’s the downside of having a public transport station literally right outside. You get this huge mass of people coming in at once as opposed to somewhere like Anaheim which is more spread out.

    That said, the only negative I can think of, too many people. Waaaay too many people. Especially on Friday and Saturday. They absolutely overbooked. It actually made it s bit of a challenge to enjoy the show at first. Sunday and Monday especially were much better tbf.

    2022 was a fair bit better overall as a convention for me personally, but the content Lucasfilm had to show was much better here in London. The Live Stage was 100x more approachable in Anaheim too. You could walk up and be 2 or 3 rows from the front. Here you were always miles away. I think because it was tucked away in LA whereas here it was so easy to spot as you go in.

    Highlight for me was probably wandering into the portfolio review room and showing my infographics to the Licensing Art Director at Lucasfilm and seeing his reaction to my work. “I never give out my email at events like this, but, email me.” Shook his hand and took a moment to recover outside the room. Another highlight, the Rebels mural. That epilogue is one of my favourite scenes in Star Wars so to see it life size and beautifully realised, amazing. Final highlight, Daisy Ridley coming out on stage, to Rey’s theme no less. Wow. Don’t think many saw that coming.

    Panel wise,

    Lucasfilm Showcase: Mind-blowingly good. Last year’s one was decent but this blew the doors off. 5 tv shows. All with trailers or footage. And movie news! Loved the timeline. Loved the whole presentation, pacing and all. Almost too much stuff lol

    Making of Andor: awesome, love hearing Tony Gilroy and Diego Luna speak.

    Ahsoka: This was great but a big step down from Mando+ last year. Surprised no Ezra reveal but we got Thrawn which was pretty cool. Great to see an extended trailer. Very brief Purrgil scene at the very end, awesome. And Sabine using Ezra’s lightsaber.

    Visual Effects of Andor: amazing. So glad I went to this. Really fascinating conversation with the ILM guys. Well put together too with footage at right times etc

    Lucasfilm Publishing: good fun. Nice to FINALLY see them reveal a new visual guide reference book.

    The Bad Batch: one I was most excited about and it didn’t disappoint. Wasn’t expecting a trailer for S3 so that was a nice surprise. Looked brilliant.

    Doug Chiang: Always a great time. The crowd go mad for him and rightly so. Legend. Blagged a seat in the second row too.

    Overall had a brilliant time. Felt exhausted on day 2 but thankfully got a second wind on day 3. Then felt exhausted again on day 4 :laughing:

    As for 2025, was planning on potentially going to Japan next year, I guess I'll hold off on that for another 12 months! 

    • Thanks 1

  24. Posted

    To see 35+ years of Mario history given such reverence on the big screen, wow. No the film isn't Citizen Kane but it was never going to be. The storyline was perfectly fine for what this film is.

    No complaints about any of the cast. Credit where credit's due, Chris Pratt did a great job. I thought Mario was perfect. Same with most of the voices tbh. Loved Toad (never in a million years did I think I'd hear the Captain Toad theme tune at the cinema). I take back what I said about Seth Rogen, he was actually pretty decent. DK in general was a standout character for me, great fun watching him and his rivalry antics with Mario. Peach, fantastic. Kamek, Luigi, list goes on. Charles Martinet playing Mario's dad, loved it.

    The film is beautiful. Side-scrolling sections were incredible. Likewise the Mario Kart sequence, loved that one continuous shot. SNES Rainbow Road music gave me goosebumps. 

    I was a little worried they seemed to be rushing through the plot really quickly as soon as Mario got to the Mushroom Kingdom, but as soon as they got to the Kongs that stopped being a thing.

    Only negative I was hoping it would be a bit funnier. Some were good but a lot of the jokes were worth a slight chuckle but that's it. I've not really seen an Illumination film before though so from what I hear that's just kind of par for the course.

    Going again next week.

    • Like 1
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