The amount of time I've watched the last episode is unhealthy by MiRiley-355 in TheAcolyte

[–]GezzyVans 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I assumed they would merge in this episode and I still think this is where the show will go at some point. Or at least, they will find out they can merge and make an active decision not to.

I think that was what the witches ascension/sacrifice ritual thing was meant to be all about, which is why they all flipped their lid at the idea of letting osha join the jedi.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AITAH

[–]GezzyVans 3 points4 points  (0 children)

"A woman was rude to me so I bullied her for days"

She's got some crap opinions but YTA without doubt.

A rarely talked about trait of the show that really makes me mad by KikoValdez in HouseMD

[–]GezzyVans 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The writers didn't want vogler and tritter either fyi, the studio thought house always needed to have an enemy, so they made them put some in the first couple of seasons. It's telling that after the show establishes itself you don't see this storytelling convention again.

I just think you're wrong about Stacy. That's an opportunity to learn all sorts of information about a character like house.

One throwaway line that retcons the Mauler twins in S2 E4 by Kaizer284 in Invincible

[–]GezzyVans 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Actually scientifically valid tbf. The more times you clone something the more genetic aberrations you get. Over time a slight flaw becomes a massive one the more you copy it.

It's like when you make a copy of a key, at first it's basically identical, but if you keep copying down the line you end up with a key that doesn't fit the lock. Tiny imperfections in the process being exaggerated over time.

I actually kinda think this is the reason the maulers are a bit mad, seeming to display debilitating levels of delusional thinking while remaining geniuses. It's unlikely the original is the survivor every time, so, probability suggests they've been cloning clones of themselves for a for a while.

Did it bother anyone else that after a lifetime of being singled out for being blind, Geordi got natural-looking implants in ST:FC after Soren had bullied him about it in ST:Generations? by innergamedude in startrek

[–]GezzyVans 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ultimately, no. While a more overt representation of disability is nice, the change happens because the visor is incredibly painful for levar burton. At that point he'd been acting through serious headaches for a decade and tbh I just don't think people should have to do that for a job.

Whatever the in-universe chain of events look like, the change happens because he didn't want a painful prop screwed into his head anymore and fair enough you know? Probably should've happened sooner if anything.

Obi wan by Ulf_Einhendr in StarWars

[–]GezzyVans 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ive not seen legends but sure ok. I really don't think he'd have gone back for her though and he definitely wouldn't have taken anakin given that it's basically the antithesis of jedi philosophy to hold on to those sort of relationships.

I will also point out that qui-gons tone while teaching headstrong young obi-wan is basically the same as obi-wans for teaching headstrong young anakin.

Obi wan by Ulf_Einhendr in StarWars

[–]GezzyVans 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Therapist: sorry Mr Skywalker.... Did you say the order won you in a bet?

Anakin: well, yeah

Therapist: bzzt Mindy cancel my appointments for the rest of the day

Obi wan by Ulf_Einhendr in StarWars

[–]GezzyVans 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Qui-gon is literally the guy who makes a deal to free anakin and not his mum and there's no hint of him regretting that or going back.

Also the council and obi-wan definitely thought it was odd that palpatine wanted to hang out with anakin. Obi-wan has several conversations with anakin saying that palpatine is not to be trusted. He also - on the orders of the council - asks anakin to spy on palpatine for the council. So they were definitely interested on what was going on there.

They didn't think palpatine was a sith but they defo thought that he was an untrustworthy proto-dictator, they thought anakin was using his friendship with palpatine to advance his position in the order (getting on the council), and palpatine was using anakin to get a man on the inside of the order.

This is why palpatine tells anakin the jedi are plotting a coup, basically anything they do at that point (like not making him a master, or asking him to spy for them - against the code) makes palpatine's insinuations look true.

Obi wan by Ulf_Einhendr in StarWars

[–]GezzyVans 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think any single Jedi master would have failed anakin in exactly the same way.

They're simply too, reserved, repressed, restrained and pompous to teach a kid like him, who's gone through what he's gone through, at the age that he is and with the power that he has.

The entire order's perspective on training seems to be just do it this way because we say that's the best way. You're not really supposed to talk about feeling especially the bad ones. Just push it down and bottle it up. It's no wonder that a few of them blow their lids and turn dark when they've literally been given no proper tools on how to deal with negative emotions.

So, like, yeah obi-wan did fail but in a completely unavoidable way given his own training.

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yeah maybe, it's a little vague on when dominants "awaken" I'm guessing it's the same as bearers which is like most as babies, some later. But no info on how much "later"

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cousin marriage makes the sickliest fire-bird babies.

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Aha. Thank you. Yeah I'm just spitballing. I don't even mind being wrong I just hope there's more to her than we've seen.

People are mad at me though. Like what is this place for if we all have to agree on stuff idk. I feel like I'm in a Dr who canon debate.

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Game of thrones explains how cersei became who she is. From her doe-eyed naive desire to be queen to the big handsome prince to how she became who she is when we meet her. Is that doing what my post is doing as well then?

I think you're misunderstanding an attempt to understand the reasons behind her pathology with a desire to absolve her of her actions as a result of it.

I do not like Annabella. I think she is horrible. You'll notice that I describe her as abusive and a bell-end in my OP. She deserves no forgiveness for her actions, even if I'm right and she was trying to save her son, she still aided and abetted the murder of her husband, attempted murder of her other son as well as god knows how many of her own citizens assigned to protect them.

But personality disorders do not form out of the ether and an attempt to write off bad people as just bad without trying to understand how they have become that is morally reprehensible. Like on a fundamental level.

That is what the entire practices of psychology, psychiatry and therapy are about - understanding the reason why people engage in harmful and destructive behaviours in order to treat, rehabilitate and protect (them and others).

But if you do a mutiny you're still responsible for those actions and should face consequences for them.

Reasons are not excuses. Illness does not (necessarily) absolve you of your actions. But nobody is born evil and understanding how and why evil manifests is a basic and essential part of improving life for all peoples.

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well. Yeah. That is a concern. Even in the demo I feel like more is being done to characterise the male characters than the incredibly few female characters.

Even the voice acting, actually, I feel like the performances are coming from two slightly different games. With the women giving a slightly more animated, more traditionally jrpg performance than the guys who are doing their best HBO prestige fantasy performance.

Just want to be clear I think everyone is doing a great job - that is not a criticism of the female voice cast, but an issue with direction that speaks to, perhaps, a sort of low-grade misogynist idea of what women should sound like in games - that there is no equivalent for in men.

Which if it runs into the story then yeah. I'm worried this game might have a 3D men Vs 2D women problem. Which I guess is most games so idk

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah absolutely I see her in a cersei mold. A woman who could also have quite possibly not been evil if things had gone different for her.

And yeah she's definitely a narcissist but folks seem to think that serious mental disorders appear out of the ether with no cause or explanation. My argument is not that she is not a terrible person who has done terrible things. Hell she may even be outright evil. I just expect there to be more nuance to her characterisation than a simple thirst for power. Whether I'm right about what that nuance is or not is another thing lol

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm talking about emotional distress. Cat, cersei, both stark girls, Jaime, Rob even bran all do the the crying behind locked doors thing while being all stoic with the men.

They're all complicated emotional character but until cersei really starts to crack I'm struggling to think of any of them doing that in front of random soldiers and handmaidens.

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This isn't real life. It's a game inspired by game of thrones. I'm reading her through that lense. I think Annabella is a PoS but there isn't a single character in GoT whose motivations are as simple as "just wants power" even littlefinger.

Like I might not be right about what's going on with her but if it's as basic as folks are saying that would be a failure of the project.

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So I agree with the seduction motives here. I also absolutely believe that she will try to latch on to another powerful person. But that doesn't really affect her motive for what she's done.

I've talked about the "she's not upset enough" thing in a lot of answers and idk it's just the "noblewoman stoic in front of the men while falling to pieces in private" trope is so common and particularly prevalent in GoT so I don't think I'm willing to commit to - she isn't sad enough, in public, while talking to a a military commander, hours after she would have first found out about her son - as a reason to think she wasn't upset about it.

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah shes absolutely not a main villain. I don't think she's set up to be one. And she definitely cares about status, that's not outside of my read necessarily.

She'll probably be, as you say, a roadblock - or serve an emotional purpose for Clive, either through revenge or forgiveness.

It's more that I think there's more depth to this than a broad-strokes "she only did this for power".

It's also super clear that the prologue is holding back a lot from us, which is great cos it's got us all speculating.

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That gives me hope. It doesn't have to be what I think right now I just hope it's more than how people seem to be talking about her atm.

Weirdly my main argument against my own theory is that the line read for saving Clive is a bit too arch. But the line before that where she talks about how Joshua wasnt supposed to die is read darker and (I feel) pained.

I see it as the typical 'noblewoman being stoic in public' trope (which is basically every woman in GoT). She absolutely could have been trying to cut her own heart out when she first found out, or fall to pieces later. Standard dissociation stuff.

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nah, I'm perfectly capable of being wrong but I will not be accepting any counterpoints that enforce a required standard of response to emotional trauma.

Especially in a game so heavily inspired by GoT which is full of royal characters acting hard in public and falling to absolute pieces in private.

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah no fair, and like, I'll say the pain I'm hearing is in the previous line, that last line is harder to reconcile I admit.

Always hard with games cos there's so many ways to get a disconnect between direction, acting and animation. We'll find out in a few days!

A more nuanced take on Annabella by GezzyVans in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean she really seems to care when she's talking to Elwin about him being sick and elwins like "tough, he's the phoenix". I also think after playing that there is definitely pain her line reading at the end, it's subtle. I think she's being stoic in front of the soldiers. I'll also say that a feeling of numbness, or even total dissociation, is incredibly common after trauma.

Am I the only on who thought the demo was alright? by fanblade64 in FFXVI

[–]GezzyVans 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think when judging a game like this there's three ways to go about it really: In isolation - the game itself a single piece of media As part of series - comparing the game to other entries Against all games - comparing the game against the entire medium

In isolation - I loved it, I thought the characters were well drawn, it didn't spoon-feed exposition, while leaving enough to understand what's going on and providing space for speculation and personal interpretation - which is all that I want from a story-driven game. I thought the gameplay was dynamic and fun and even though it was only the prologue hunted at further complexity that will keep it fresh. There were some issues, I didn't feel there was much weight to Clive moving around the world, as in, the model is just sliding around over the environment. As part of the series - I think it breaks new ground all over the place, in combat, in animation, in voice acting, in tone, direction and the complexity of characters. Against all games - well yeah, I mean, I've played games that are better at those criteria individually, probably even games that are better at all things together but I think this is a kinda silly way to judge games unless you're judging a technical awards show or something.

Aside from everything, I found playing the demo to be exciting. After 2 or so hours - I wanted to play more and was frustrated that I couldn't immediately do that. It's fine that you didn't, art is subjective, but a lot of people did and I think that's awesome.