Jonjonz wrote on May 5, 2020, 06:40:
Re-watching the first movie, at the end, why didn't Chewy get a medal?

Wookie Lives Matter

OpticNerve wrote on May 4, 2020, 23:31:

jdreyer wrote on May 4, 2020, 21:32:

OpticNerve wrote on May 4, 2020, 21:24:
I did read the news that Taika Waititi is signed on to direct and co-write a new Star Wars film so hopefully he'll be able to revitalize the franchise like he did with Thor: Ragnarok

Hopefully they will not meddle and/or force him to quit midway. Lord and Miller left part way though Solo for those reasons.

I have mixed feelings when it comes to them meddling with a director's vision in the Star Wars universe. I felt that someone should have stood up and said, "Whoa Rian, wtf are you doing?" when he went in and decided to just undo what Abrams did with Awakens. But at the same time Taika definitely has a certain unique and whimsical style in his films and Disney meddling in that would be a shame.

I think the fact that Taika's upcoming film will be a standalone would help with that a lot whereas Rian''s film might have been better received by fans if it wasn't smack dab in the middle of a new trilogy and a lot of his "subverted expectations" messed with some beloved SW characters.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy would have been so much better if David Lynch had directed The Two Towers and M. Night Shamalyan followed up with The Return of the King. Continuous change and meddling is good. /sarcasm

Jonjonz wrote on May 5, 2020, 06:40:
Re-watching the first movie, at the end, why didn't Chewy get a medal?

Fan service - he did not get one in A New Hope. Like so much in The Force Awakens, this was included to make the fans happy. But a planned and coherent story for this trilogy would have made fans much, MUCH happier.

Re-watching the first movie, at the end, why didn't Chewy get a medal?

Blue, better don't watch this final travesty of the catastrophic final Skywalker trilogy. Just ignore these movies ever happened if you love the classic characters. Their story ended with Return of the Jedi - there was nothing left to tell. Believe me: it is much better this way. Listen to Yoda when he tells you: no new trilogy, there is.

But you should totally watch Rogue One. It is the one good Star Wars movie Disney produced. You might give Solo a chance: it is meh in my opinion and there should have never been a recast Solo, but at least it is not actively trying to destroy the Skywalker history and legend.

jdreyer wrote on May 4, 2020, 21:32:

OpticNerve wrote on May 4, 2020, 21:24:
I did read the news that Taika Waititi is signed on to direct and co-write a new Star Wars film so hopefully he'll be able to revitalize the franchise like he did with Thor: Ragnarok

Hopefully they will not meddle and/or force him to quit midway. Lord and Miller left part way though Solo for those reasons.

I have mixed feelings when it comes to them meddling with a director's vision in the Star Wars universe. I felt that someone should have stood up and said, "Whoa Rian, wtf are you doing?" when he went in and decided to just undo what Abrams did with Awakens. But at the same time Taika definitely has a certain unique and whimsical style in his films and Disney meddling in that would be a shame.

I think the fact that Taika's upcoming film will be a standalone would help with that a lot whereas Rian''s film might have been better received by fans if it wasn't smack dab in the middle of a new trilogy and a lot of his "subverted expectations" messed with some beloved SW characters.

This comment was edited on May 5, 2020, 02:41.

OpticNerve wrote on May 4, 2020, 21:24:
I did read the news that Taika Waititi is signed on to direct and co-write a new Star Wars film so hopefully he'll be able to revitalize the franchise like he did with Thor: Ragnarok

Hopefully they will not meddle and/or force him to quit midway. Lord and Miller left part way though Solo for those reasons.

Heh, I bought HW Remastered, played the first mission, and never went back. I do remember one of the original missions when I played it you were supposed to go through an asteroid field or minefield or something. It was super hard. I ended up routing my fleet up, across, and down to avoid the whole mess.

I do need to play Deserts of Kharak.

I did read the news that Taika Waititi is signed on to direct and co-write a new Star Wars film so hopefully he'll be able to revitalize the franchise like he did with Thor: Ragnarok

jdreyer wrote on May 4, 2020, 20:48:
So I'm playing They Are Billions right now (picked up during the TD sale), and it's quite appropriate to our times: worldwide pandemic, everyone wears masks, society reverting to a simpler time, etc. It's also an amazing game. I'm about 15 hours in and it's one of the best RTSs I've ever played (it's kind of a hybrid RTS/TD). Everything is spot on: gameplay, balance (so far), graphics, music, atmosphere, map design, etc. And it's hard, you have to really be on your toes.

Failure in this game also serves as allegory for the COVID19 pandemic: if a single zombie gets into your city, he infects two people, and they infect two people, etc. etc. You get to see the exponential effect of infection in real time, as your entire city crumbles in a minute.

They Are Billions is pretty awesome, I think I have like 120-130 hours into it? Finished the campaign with all sidequests/maps, but I don't think I beat every survival map. Compared to the tech you have in the campaign the survival mode is a bit boring unfortunately.

TAB did well enough that I'm sure they will either do a sequel or another campaign as DLC or something at some point. I LOVE building huge fortifications in games. TAB comes close to my ideal game for that, but unfortunately you'll find out soon the best strat is to make a Soldier ball, Starcraft 1 style, and clear the map as soon as possible, while building up your base. It is great, but also becomes repetitive. Also some tower setups(I'm looking at you, WASP) are far, far superior to other towers. WASPs + Shock > the game, basically.

Only downside to the campaign is the relatively boring Hero missions, but you need to do those to secure Research/Supply credits, or whatever they're called in game, for the tech tree.

As far as your city getting infected, yeah it's rough, but you can come back from it, unless they get right into your main population area. Even then I've clawed back from that level of infection, with mechs/flame troopers, although you're kind of blowing up your own city at that point.

I've been running through the Homeworld Remastered series recently, and just finished up Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, for the zero base building side of RTS games. I had forgotten how infuriating the Homeworld 1 campaign was in some spots.

So I'm playing They Are Billions right now (picked up during the TD sale), and it's quite appropriate to our times: worldwide pandemic, everyone wears masks, society reverting to a simpler time, etc. It's also an amazing game. I'm about 15 hours in and it's one of the best RTSs I've ever played (it's kind of a hybrid RTS/TD). Everything is spot on: gameplay, balance (so far), graphics, music, atmosphere, map design, etc. And it's hard, you have to really be on your toes.

Failure in this game also serves as allegory for the COVID19 pandemic: if a single zombie gets into your city, he infects two people, and they infect two people, etc. etc. You get to see the exponential effect of infection in real time, as your entire city crumbles in a minute.

RedEye9 wrote on May 4, 2020, 19:50:
Rise of Skywalker
MaJoR sPoIlEr
Is no one bothered by Palpatine waiving his hand and up pops a big big large huge massive fleet of planet killing Star Destroyers? Like they grow on trees.

Yup, Beethoven's Fifth right there.

Blue wrote on May 4, 2020, 18:43:

Cram wrote on May 4, 2020, 17:32:
Question that's not exactly related here, but I am curious. You watch any Redlettermedia content Blue? If you haven't, I'd recommend giving their Half in the Bag review (Skip the Plinkett review, a completely different video of theirs) of The Last Jedi a watch; you might enjoy it based on exactly what you just said. Their other stuff, while my favorite content on the internet, isn't for everybody.

I've seen a lot of his videos, but I don't think I've seen the ones for the most recent trilogy. I linked here to a bunch of them a long time ago. The comedy is weird and they can be a little pedantic, but they are great.

Their disassembly of the second trilogy movies is genius.

Blue wrote on May 4, 2020, 14:32:

thestryker wrote on May 4, 2020, 12:58:
I'd argue that Rise is exactly what you get when you decide to make a new trilogy, but clearly do not have anyone overseeing the structure of said trilogy. Force Awakens wasn't bad, but it definitely didn't break any new ground either. The Last Jedi was a perfectly fine movie, or rather it would have been if it wasn't supposed to be the middle movie of a trilogy and hadn't ignored everything that happened in the first one. There was simply nowhere logical to go to tie everything up in Rise so you get this movie which is largely just set pieces designed to tick the Star Wars boxes.

I'd love to know who over at Disney thought that having a trilogy with such dramatically different visions was ever going to end well. Sure they all made money, but I can't help but think at the same time they've also managed to sour people towards the series which is never good in the long run.

Giving Rian Johnson such free reign on the Last Jedi was a ridiculous decision. He made it impossible to even pretend there was a cohesive plan for the series. "Hey, I know... I'll shatter all the expectations from the first movie! That will be so awesome!" Yeesh.

As someone who despised the TFA, I was actually happy that he took it in a different direction. But yeah, the entire trilogy is very disjointed as a result.

thestryker wrote on May 4, 2020, 12:58:
I'd argue that Rise is exactly what you get when you decide to make a new trilogy, but clearly do not have anyone overseeing the structure of said trilogy. Force Awakens wasn't bad, but it definitely didn't break any new ground either. The Last Jedi was a perfectly fine movie, or rather it would have been if it wasn't supposed to be the middle movie of a trilogy and hadn't ignored everything that happened in the first one. There was simply nowhere logical to go to tie everything up in Rise so you get this movie which is largely just set pieces designed to tick the Star Wars boxes.

I'd love to know who over at Disney thought that having a trilogy with such dramatically different visions was ever going to end well. Sure they all made money, but I can't help but think at the same time they've also managed to sour people towards the series which is never good in the long run.

Sounds like you might be up for a Rian Johnson trilogy, where he sets the entire arc start to finish. I'd love to see that, although there are certain elements of LTJ that were entirely his doing that were not good.

Verno wrote on May 4, 2020, 11:41:
Rise of Skywalker is a pretty mediocre experience from start to finish and is incredibly unsatisfying despite its long runtime. Nonsensical plot closure about a bunch of characters that you don't care about, played by actors with zero screen chemistry. A boring, rambling affair that hits studio quotas (need a fight here, a kiss there, a death there!) but lacks any sort of passion behind its creation. It's the final result of a lack of planning and vision, the sort of thing that happens when you have too many people involved and direct movies by committee.

It is the worst Star Wars movie, dead last with a thud. The best thing about it is that it closes off that trilogy and hopefully puts Star Wars on the backburner for awhile.

Hard to disagree with this. I "liked" RoS better than TFA, but the entire trilogy is just not good. Worse than even the second trilogy, and that's saying a lot. I liked TLJ best for it's interesting ideas and character work, but even that movie is deeply flawed. The whole scenario is so depressing. Rogue One, with it's cast of unlikable characters who have no chemistry, is the best of the new movie bunch.

Rise of Skywalker
MaJoR sPoIlEr
Is no one bothered by Palpatine waiving his hand and up pops a big big large huge massive fleet of planet killing Star Destroyers? Like they grow on trees.

Agree that Rogue One is the one movie that does honor to the saga.

As to the last movies, assaulting a position of a Star Destroyer, mounted on horses, running on the exterior of said vessel.

How ridiculous could you get ? They tried so repeatedly, it was tiring.

Cram wrote on May 4, 2020, 17:32:
Question that's not exactly related here, but I am curious. You watch any Redlettermedia content Blue? If you haven't, I'd recommend giving their Half in the Bag review (Skip the Plinkett review, a completely different video of theirs) of The Last Jedi a watch; you might enjoy it based on exactly what you just said. Their other stuff, while my favorite content on the internet, isn't for everybody.

I've seen a lot of his videos, but I don't think I've seen the ones for the most recent trilogy. I linked here to a bunch of them a long time ago. The comedy is weird and they can be a little pedantic, but they are great.

Blue wrote on May 4, 2020, 14:32:

thestryker wrote on May 4, 2020, 12:58:
I'd argue that Rise is exactly what you get when you decide to make a new trilogy, but clearly do not have anyone overseeing the structure of said trilogy. Force Awakens wasn't bad, but it definitely didn't break any new ground either. The Last Jedi was a perfectly fine movie, or rather it would have been if it wasn't supposed to be the middle movie of a trilogy and hadn't ignored everything that happened in the first one. There was simply nowhere logical to go to tie everything up in Rise so you get this movie which is largely just set pieces designed to tick the Star Wars boxes.

I'd love to know who over at Disney thought that having a trilogy with such dramatically different visions was ever going to end well. Sure they all made money, but I can't help but think at the same time they've also managed to sour people towards the series which is never good in the long run.

Giving Rian Johnson such free reign on the Last Jedi was a ridiculous decision. He made it impossible to even pretend there was a cohesive plan for the series. "Hey, I know... I'll shatter all the expectations from the first movie! That will be so awesome!" Yeesh.

Question that's not exactly related here, but I am curious. You watch any Redlettermedia content Blue? If you haven't, I'd recommend giving their Half in the Bag review (Skip the Plinkett review, a completely different video of theirs) of The Last Jedi a watch; you might enjoy it based on exactly what you just said. Their other stuff, while my favorite content on the internet, isn't for everybody.