December Meme: Talking about stuff

[yalumesse]

Meme borrowed from the kindly author_by_night, and I'm picking and choosing questions to answer, since I don't do real life stuff online and some of them just aren't applicable.

December 3, 4, 5, 8 & 9 : talk about movies, television, books, games, art this year

So this is going to very quickly illustrate how slow (slow? un-varied) a year I've had, because I did relatively little this year. I don't think I've watched a single new movie, new TV episodes, read any new books, nor done any art.

My media this year has entirely consisted of actual play DnD games and video games. Which, I think, kind of explains the lack of other media - those all have very long, involved stories that I sink deep into, so it takes more brain space, and I to get pretty focused on a single story world at a time anyway.

 

DnD actualplay games

Critical Role: I've been less invested in campaign 3 than the previous two, and I'm still not quite sure why. I don't connect with the characters quite so well, and I feel like the story has been very go-go-go-things-are-always-dire without any real downtime, practically ever. Which I think is why I really enjoyed the last episode with Nana Morri's teambuilding exercises, and the recent character-heavy episodes dealing with the fire shard fallout.

Candela Obscura: I've watched most of what's been released so far, and my opinons are mixed. I like the short format and the smaller cast, allowing everyone time to shine, especially the guest players - which, always good to see both old and new guests. The genre isn't really my style, though.

Dimension20: Several new seasons this year:

Ravening War was pretty good, always nice seeing Matt and Brennan and Aabria at the same table, and it was a well-done prequel. Heavy, but that's to be expected. I want to rewatch Crown of Candy at some point.

Mentopolis was very good, I really enjoyed the noir setting and the PCs embodying concepts and emotions, though I found the story of the outside world a little forced. So I ingore that. Watching Siobhan get to be a chaos gremlin was delightful.

Burrow's End was also pretty good, not got many comments yet, still processing.

(I didn't watch Dungeons and Drag Queens; I hear the queens were a lot of fun, but I wasn't in the mood at the time and never got round to it.)

 

Video games

I started the year on Jedi: Fallen Order, then jumped into Jedi: Survivor when it came out. Both are just so good; Cal's story is very well written and told, a kid whose life has turned him into a raw nerve wrapped in ponchos and a charming sense of humour. The meta and fanfic for it is both very insightful and heartbreaking, but the games only show the depth of it now and then, meaning that minute-to-minute playing is quite fun, in lovely environments with great companions. The relationships between the characters (friends, mentors, partner) all feel natural and are equally well-written. I've played both games twice now and will definitely be doing so again.

Forspoken was next, I think, and I see why it's gotten mixed-to-negative responses in general, but I enjoyed it overall. There were definitely things that could be improved - I have a whole writeup in my head about how they should've restructured and rearranged the existing plot segments to make it more fluid and sensible; that was part of why the whole thing felt awkward and hard to relate to.
Frey was fine, and I liked Cuff well enough once I came to the twist, though I wish he'd had some demonstrated growth after that. They were hoping too hard for a sequel which will probably never happen.
The minute-to-minute gameplay was the best: I loved the traversal, loved the spells and how you had to grow into them, and the world had some spectacular sights. It did feel empty, but in a game where you move at such speeds, anything more densely packed would have made you keep stopping all the time. I also really appreciated they went out of their way to make it femenine: the magic items you collect and improve to up your stats are cloaks, necklaces and nail polish, combined with a protagonist who loves her old jeans and running shoes. It had potential to do so much better than it did, and that's sad. I'll play it again, but it won't be for the story, which is rare for me.

Horizon: Forbidden West was the one I'd been waiting for, ever since finishing Zero Dawn, and wow it did not disappoint. Everything about the first game that was good was kept, and improved, and the new stuff was just as good - I especially appreciate the extra effort made to create many good puzzles; so many games default to making things harder by throwing in more and more combat, but not here. I love Aloy so much, and her character has had great opportunities to grow, but she grows only at her own pace, and it all feels natural. I did a NewGame+ run, which was fine, but I think I want to play it again from scratch.

And then Baldur's Gate 3 crashed into my world and I'm still in it. It's very good. It's HUGE, and I'm getting a bit worn down as I approach the end of the game, but I also have all these plans for my next play-through so it's not going anywhere - I just need to make sure to take a break in between. (I fell for Karlach, in case you wondered.)