Monday, December 21, 2015

Pixels [2015]

"When aliens misinterpret video feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war, they attack the Earth in the form of the video games." [1]
At first I didn't want to watch this movie, because I'm not really a fan of comedies, but this was also sci-fi and contained arcade games. And I thought that I might like it, considering I loved Wreck-It-Ralph.
And I was right. Yes, there were some stupid moments, but all in all, I enjoyed the movie immensly. The basic plot is that the 1982 arcade game championship is filmed and then the footage is send to the space where it is found by aliens that consider it a declaration of war. 
They come to attack earth some 20 or so years later. I'm not entirely sure what 'present' year it takes place in, but I'm guesssing that around 20-30 years passed from the championship. 
A group of people, that are good at arcade games, or were, band together under the president, who used to be an arcade gamer too, though not that good, and they fight the aliens who re-create the arcade games in real life. 
The movie is full of fun as well as intense moments and while I'm not a big fan of comedies, I am all for some fun and I think that this 'comedy' didn't overdo it with the fun and that's good. 
The main characters are played by Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad. 
The guy who played Boromir, Sean Bean, also makes an appearance. Not a big one, but one non the less and that was actually the main reason I watched the movie. Though in the end I enjoyed it regardless of Sean Bean. 
The one actor that I didn't like was Peter Dinklage, but not because of his acting skills, I think he's a good actor, but I just don't like the characters he playes. First it's Trask in X-men, now this little cheating twit. Sure, his acting is good, but the characters he playes make me not like him. 
I would definitely recommend the movie, but I would also say that it is not a movie for everyone. If you like crack-ish sci-fy, you will definitely like this. If you don't, you might still like it, but it is not guaranteed. 
The one thing I do when picking what movie to watch, I go by the people who play in them. If a favourite actor plays in it, I usually watch it without checking either the summary or anything else. 
Most of the times it works. Unless we go by My Bloody Valentine, where I started watching and then I got curiious and went and googled who the murderer was before the movie ended and got angry that it was the actor because of whom I was watching the movie, who was the bad guy that I turned the movie off without finishing it. From that moment on, I decided that I would never look things up before actually finishing whatever it is I'm watching. 
Not that that did me any good considering I did the same bloody thing with Prison Break, only there, I went and googled who of my favourite characters will survive. Again, stopped watching because of the answer I got.


Saturday, December 19, 2015

Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil 6 is, so far, the newest Resident Evil game. A lot of charcters are back and some new ones come into play. The one main character return is Leon Kennedy who wasn't part of the fifth gmae. Only mentioned there.
The sixth game is vastly different from RE4 and the ones before that. It is a lot like RE5 from what little I've played of that. The big difference is that RE 5 and 6 are controled not only by keyboard but also by mouse. Or you can just use the controler like I'm doing. For RE4 it is not necessary as it is playable with keyboard only, but RE 6 is best played with controler. Well, apart from certain parts that take too long to react to the controler.
But enough of my comparsions.
RE6 has four campaigns and three of them can be played with one out of two characters. First is Leon and Helena, second Chris Redfield and Pires Nivans, third Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin and the last one is a solo campaign where you play as Ada. She's one of the few female characters that I actually like. All four of the campaigns take part during the same timeframe and the characters meet each other. Each of the campaigns meet at one point or another with all the others. And that is something that I really like about this game.
Of course, the fact that Ada has her own full length campaign, is a bonus, as well as Leon being back. Before fully trying RE6, I was always saying that RE4 was the best. But I take that back. RE6 is the best, so far.
Admitedly, I don't relaly like Chris's campaign, but that's because Piers dies at the end. Or, well, it sure looks that way. Though fanfic authors decided that he lives and comes back. Bless them!
So far, I'm still deciding if my favourite is Leon's or Ada's campaign.
Leon's campaign starts with the death of a president of USA and continues with a run through a city and trying to reach a chaple. There, they fight a boss with the help of some survivors that were there. Follows a trip to the underground to find Helena's sister and another boss fight, thsi time, against said sister herself.
Then fleeing the crumbling dungeon and faking their deaths and going to China or wherever it is. It sounds chinese.
There, they meet Alpha team and then Sherry and Jake.
After that, they have to fight the final boss with the help of Ada. And then, the end.
Now, for the second campaign. Chris and Piers. They start on an earlier mission in Edonia. Fight some virus infected mutated things, two gigantic things, meet Sherry and Jake, then there is a time skip and we go to China. They fight their way through the infected city chasing Ada's doppleganger and end up on a ship and then in an underground facility. But before that they meet with Leon and Helena while confronting said fake Ada.
In the underwater facility they meet Sherry and Jake and fight a gigantic thing called Haos. At the end, Piers is infected with enhanced C-virus and dies while protecting his captain. But like I said, I'm part of the group of people that believe that Piers is alive!
The third campaign starts in Edonia too. This is Jake and Sherry. Jake is immune to the C-virus and Sherry is tasked with protecting him. Well, it turns more like him protecting her, but I'll let this slide.
They meet with Chris nad Piers and fight the two gigantic mutated things, then split up with them and go in a chopper. Well, throughout the whole campaign they are chased by this 'thing'. It makes their chopper crash and they end up somwhere in a foggy place. And let's just say that that is my least favourite part of their campaign. They end up in a cave and have to sneak past the 'thing' in order to escape. It can't see them, but it has really good hearing and can her them if they mess up.
Not an easy part to play through.
After that, they are captured and have to escape an Umbrella facility in China. They meet up with Leon and Helena and have a quick go at the 'thing' before spliting up again.
They end up at the underwater facility where they meet Chris and Piers fot the second time and have to escape Haos, but at least they don't have to fight it. On the other hand, they have to fight the 'thing' in a lava cave. My suggestion is to save your magnum shots for this fight. Or it will take ages.
The last campaign is Ada. She starts on a submarine and tehre learns of the C-virus and when she escapes, she makes her way to the chapple, well, the underground part of it. There, she meets Leon and Helena and helps with the fight agains Helena's sister that mutated. Then, she goes on her own way and to China. Yes, everyone is going to China. There, she vitnesses Leon and Helena crashing a plane and has to fight a chainsaw boss. She saves Sherry from being shredded by a chopper rotor and continues on in pursuit of her own doppleganger. She end up fighting it (Carla) in it's mutated state and manages to win. After that, she goes on to help Leon and Helena with their final boss - Simons.
The last thing Ada does is to wreck Carla's lab in the Quad tower.
I think that Ada has the least of boss fights. But the encounter with Carla in her mutated form is probably the hardest. Well, hardest for Ada. Teh ahrdest alltogether is Haos! And I'm saing that mainly because Piers dies. I liked him! I didn't want him to die!
Oh well.
I managed to win all four campaigns and to be honest, I'm never playing Chris's again. I'm definitely replaying Ada and Leon. as for Jake, it is a maybe. I'll probably replay it at some point, but Ada and Leon have the best campaigns. That's for sure.
Again, there are some extras and there are a lot more things you can do with the game, but you have to have an official version, not just a download from somwhere like I do. But it's not like I'm planning to play online with someone playing the other member of the pair.
There's also something like Agent hunt, but again, requires to be able to play online, therefore official version. I'm not missing it though.
And now, that this post is completed, I'll go and play some RE6.
~AnnElfwind

Friday, December 18, 2015

Lead Ropes

So I've been playing SSO for almost a year now. And for the past two or three months I've been reading that people want lead ropes to be implemented in the game. Well, that happened this week's wednesday. And I'm one of the few who just don't see what the hype is all about. I mean, yeah, okay, looks cute when you're leading your horse, but that's about it. Because it's slow and I don't do slow. 
Why would I wanna lead my horse when I can ride it to my destination. 
And the argument of someone about loosing your horse, well, someone said it before me, but there's the pick-up option that will transport you and your horse to your home stable. 
The new lead function has, in my opinion, two major disadvantages. One, it costs a one-time payment of 135 or so star coins, which is, frankly, ridiculously insane and two, it doesn't give you anything. 
Like I said, looks cute, but that's all it is. 
So yeah, I'm part of the small group of people that will not be buyign the lead ropes and I'm happy to be part of that group. I just don't see myself using the lead ropes. 
I mean, yeah, if it was part of a quest or something, but the way it is now, not a chance in hell that I'm using it. 
Now, if any of my readers are SSO players, I would like to know what you think of the lead ropes and wether you're part of the group that's using it or part of the group that isn't. 
~AnnElfwid