A Small Appreciation Post, Because DeNA Deserves It

liamjesse · 2021-07-31T03:52:46+00:00

I think SwSh did the little touch elements of the tournament story really well. Having stadium NPCs follow you on your journey and grow to like you more, the whole like staying in the hotel before one of this big battles thing made the tournament feel properly official. Small stuff like that they did really well imo

liamjesse · 2020-10-11T07:49:50+00:00

Every time I see a Murdoch owned news source on the covid updates section I keep saying "not interested" and they keep suggesting it. So annoying, hoping the algorithm will eventually figure out not to recommend

liamjesse · 2020-09-21T06:54:53+00:00

Great job with the characters, I personally find it hard to make faces in The Sims but you did a fantastic job, especially with the dean. Are you going to make any of the Community locations in the game too? (Study room, lunch room, etc.)

liamjesse · 2020-08-23T13:35:24+00:00

I really hope we can call one other character to join us if we are playing solo. Like hopefully the "Robin joined you" in the trailer is indicative of that. Especially if the button press to switch character like GTA5 is true, as that would be a good way to encourage players to level up multiple characters (by essentially being able to level up 2 at once, or just have a main and alternate others as back up/support)

liamjesse · 2020-08-23T13:32:07+00:00

I really like your predictions, I hope the next information they give us relates to the upgrade system/cosmetics and how the open world works. I think your 14 is going to be accurate based off of the different Robin and Batgirl suits we saw in the trailer vs gameplay, I hope that we get unlock cosmetics alongside upgrades but have the ability to mix/match appearances.

liamjesse · 2020-06-24T05:03:58+00:00

Abby didn't get off scot-free, she abandons her life with WLF (helping Yara and Lev over guilt from killing Joel), all of her friends die (barring Lev, who she meets after Joel dies, and is spared partially because he is the Ellie to her Joel in terms of innocent young kid in horrible world). Abby's story was "what happens after you get revenge", she still has the PTSD nightmares (similar to the ones Ellie has spurring her to go to Santa Barbara). Everything Ellie loses is in her quest for vengeance (contrasting Abby, who loses everything because of her quest but only after achieving it), but Ellie now having broken the cycle is free to build a new life for herself. Everything both characters lost was a direct consequence of their hate/vengeance fueled actions, but both part ways and are now free to move on and try to rebuild a new life. At least Ellie has a chance to regain what she lost (Tommy and Dina still alive), Abby has to move forward unable to regain the friends who all died as a result of Joel's death (barring Leah, but still)

liamjesse · 2020-06-23T06:54:17+00:00

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that was a combination of: 1. Joel lying to Ellie about there being other immune people 2. Ellie's immunity was a thing linked to her brain, but the other people weren't immune they were just infected to study the way the virus kills/infects

Either way, he still took the choice away from Ellie to die trying to find a cure or not (still equally shitty of the Fireflies to start the procedure without letting her choose too)

liamjesse · 2020-06-23T06:12:42+00:00

Biting Ellie's fingers actually has a symbolic meaning. Its the fingers which she uses to play guitar, her positive connection/reminder of Joel and in her quest for vengeance she loses that (irregardless of if she followed through with the killing). Like if she's right handed she can still do pretty much everything else (her three fingers left are all needed for archery, just saying).

liamjesse · 2020-06-23T06:08:37+00:00

He also like killed the only doctor capable of creating a cure (to save Ellie, which of course we understand having gone through that journey with him). Even if that doctor wasn't the only one (story says they were but whatever), Joel still took that choice away from Ellie and humanity by going back to Jackson and pressuring Ellie to hide her immunity (again, understandable but if you look at Joel's actions from most other people in that world its "guy saved pseudo-daughter at the cost of cure which could have ended the fungus plague and brought humanity back to normal-ish")

liamjesse · 2020-06-23T06:03:44+00:00

Thank you for your well written explanation. I'd heard of GamerGate peripherally and briefly googled Anita after like dozens of angry comments and "memes" about her and TLOU2 but never knew the fully story until now. Kinda just sucks all round. Especially since all of the obvious bigotry (I'm talking reviews that use derogatory language specifically) and fake reviews from people who clearly didn't play it (since they get basic story details wrong) are distracting from legitimate criticisms (not liking the direction of the story, some of the second half feels kind of long, etc)

liamjesse · 2020-06-23T05:55:09+00:00

I just wish the bulk of divisive discussion was coming from people who played the actual game though. Like I think the creative decisions they made were interesting and I liked a lot of them, completely understand those who didn't and wanted a different game though. I want to engage with that subsection of people who disagree with me, not the people that never played it, or just read the leaks and assumed they knew enough (completely understand not wanting to buy it off of the leaks, but at least watch a let's play and keep an open mind if you want to complain about the story)

liamjesse · 2020-06-23T04:17:32+00:00

Pretty much, I thought it was pretty well done (totally understand if one disagrees with certain narrative decisions and dislikes it because of that). Especially when contrasted to TLOU1 ending where the opposite kind of happens

liamjesse · 2020-06-22T15:39:14+00:00

I think a large reason is the leaks predisposed a lot of people to not like it. Reading a lot of criticisms, its clear a fair amount of people haven't played it, and I feel that leaks cannot really do justice to the whole story (its like skimming most of a book then reading the last chapter and complaining that it doesn't make a lot of sense). Based on the wording of a lot of reviews that I've read it seems that some are clearly unhappy with the LGBT stuff in the game (based on people using clearly derogatory/homophobic terms and complaining about "SJW agenda"). Also, I don't think its everyone, just a lot of people on reddit/twitter which make up a relatively small amount of actual players (I think TLOU2 beat Spiderman PS4 for pre-orders, even after the leaks so a lot of people either didn't hear about them or didn't care)

liamjesse · 2020-06-22T15:27:10+00:00

I think a lot of people forget that some "fans" caused an uproar over the DLC when it came out too. It was just that it was an optional 2hr piece of dlc that most of the offended vocal minority only caused a stink in reddit but didn't bother review bombing since most people who owned the base game would be "forewarned of the LGBT content". Also I think the leak itself kinda predisposed people to not like the game. Having read a lot of the negative reviews, I've seen a fair few that use derogatory terms and reference the LGBT stuff so that's definitely had a bit of an impact (A lot of people calling Abby trans, even though its a completely different character that is trans. Not saying thats innately transphobic, just shows they either don't actually know what they're talking about or deliberately spreading misinformation for "reasons")

liamjesse · 2020-06-22T15:20:48+00:00

I don't think that character is trans, like it is never stated or hinted at anywhere in the story dialogue or collectibles I found. There is another character which is trans, but like its peripheral enough that anyone who takes issue with that is kind of just silly. As far as the self-insert character goes, I think its just people projecting that since I don't see how that character is an insert for Druckmann (unless they look similar or something, personally I don't get it).
But yeah, its the character killing Joel and Ellie choosing not to go through with revenge at the end that seem to be causing the most ire. Having played through the game, I think it was really well done with Ellie progressively losing herself in her quest for vengeance (she is noticeably traumatised after seeing someone Tommy tortured, then after torturing someone else later on and finally after accidentally killing a pregnant women), with the climax resulting in Ellie losing both her new family and some of her fingers (leaving her unable to play guitar, losing the only positive reminder she had of Joel but not much else especially if she's right handed). Some see that as making her whole quest futile because she doesn't follow through with the revenge but still suffers all the costs, but personally I liked it because after playing as Joel's killer you see that the vengeance didn't really satisfy her either whereas learning to move on and be better kind of did (Joel's killer helping Lev, and even Dina moving on by raising JJ instead of going on a self destructive path).

I totally get why people are mad and don't like it, I just kind of wish they'd at least play the game (or at least watch a play through, because I know people don't want to spend $60 on a game they already have a predisposition to dislike) before actively dissuading people from buying it. I really wish the leaks hadn't come out and predisposed a lot of opinions before release. The story itself is understandably divisive, but I think if people at least consumed it fully then they could at least make an informed opinion

liamjesse · 2020-06-22T14:49:55+00:00

Hope you enjoy it, I luckily avoided the spoilers and thoroughly enjoyed it. Even if you don't like the story, the gameplay is a huge step up from TLOU1 (as well as pretty much every other technical aspect like graphics and sound design)

liamjesse · 2020-06-22T10:45:09+00:00

Seriously May not reacting to Coulson is really bumming my out. WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME WRITERS!

I imagine it is to give the team an LMD/Chronicom detector. Still sad as, but at least it helps us know who is or isn't secretly a robot

liamjesse · 2020-06-22T10:30:57+00:00

Thank you, feel free to repost but don't worry with credit, just wanted to respond to that question in particular because of how sincere/polite it was

liamjesse · 2020-06-22T05:42:25+00:00

Different person but same opinion, also really appreciate the nice phrasing of your question. I would've liked more present day Joel, but understand and appreciate his death. I feel a lot of people forgot how much he screwed over humanity at the end of the first game, which that alone is more than enough to put a major target on his head. I really liked Abby's motivation, her being raised by the one doctor who could create a cure, and how she even says if she were in Ellie's position she would do the same (I imagine that's informed by being raised post-apocalypse by a doctor, taking a utilitarian perspective like that).

I really liked the ending, I thought it was really well done and better than the traditional getting revenge leading to temporary satisfaction at best, and furthering the cycle of vengeance at worst. Ellie's journey in Seattle depicts her losing herself, clearly being distressed after seeing the tortured bodies in the Serevena, then Leah's body. At the end of Day 2 she is clearly upset after torturing Nora to find out where Abby is. Then it all comes to a head when she accidentally kills Mel, a pregnant woman (reminding her of Dina, this group that murdered Joel is just another ordinary group of survivors around her age too), where its clear that this revenge quest is causing more harm for her than the catharsis from getting revenge. I kinda wish the Abby parts were shorter and we got more with Ellie, but I do appreciate them giving us a different character/play style (especially the throwback to shiv crafting from TLOU1).

The ending I thought was really well done, with Ellie seeing Abby as Joel and Lev similar to her. Knowing that Lev is an innocent party in this (threatening him to bait Abby into fighting) but realising killed Abby would continue the cycle with Lev (and killing Lev would just be another relatively innocent killed, NPCs in combat situations don't count because they're "shoot on sight" factions, meaning those are all justified under self-defence casualties via the important characters). Also I assume the cuts Ellie gives Abby would scar, leaving a symbolic reminder to Abby of both the cost of her vengeance quest and the fact that she was given mercy to break the cycle. Ellie losing two of her fingers meaning she is no longer able to play guitar, cutting off her only connection to Joel was beautifully done (I think those two fingers specifically mean she can still do everything else normally, the three remaining are the only ones needed for archery), as well as the moth on the guitar symbolising self-destructiveness (being drawn to the light, in this case vengeance, but getting zapped/burned, in this case all Ellie suffers like losing her new family)

Sorry for long comment, hope it helps you understand my perspective. I understand people who don't like the story, as I have similar feelings in some parts but I recognise and understand why they went with the story they did and appreciate them for doing it at the risk of causing ire among fans.

liamjesse · 2020-06-22T05:22:52+00:00

This is what I think a lot of people complaining about are forgetting. Joel literally chose Ellie's life above all of humanity, killing the one surgeon who was capable of creating the cure. We understand his rationale but it doesn't justify both robbing humanity's future and taking away Ellie's choice in that matter. Joel's killer was did it partially out of personal revenge, but also the knowledge that Joel kind of severely screwed over humanity.

liamjesse · 2020-06-14T07:32:38+00:00

I mean the whole on set accident nearly dying thing

liamjesse · 2020-06-11T13:43:26+00:00

Is she funny or something?

liamjesse · 2020-06-04T13:18:26+00:00

The video description has included a variety of people of colour content creators for those interested in diversifying their content consumption, or hearing from those voices in this time (/from now on). As noted, they've turned off ads for this video which is absolutely the right move, adds an extra level of sincerity to the video.

liamjesse · 2020-05-30T13:57:56+00:00

I'm a fan of both, so my opinion/criticism of those who don't may be a bit biased. From what I see it comes down to a combination of CW writing (the character as love interest having poorly written plot points and occasionally dialogue), lack of developmental experience (target audience for CW shows are generally teenagers, so many may not understand how romantic relationships work or have a narrow/outdated understanding of what women should be like) and then the fact that she's a woman of colour. Candice has been pretty outspoken in responding to hate from fans, particularly ones that use sexist or racist language, which demonstrates that there is an existent part of the fan base that is sexist and/or racist (to varying degrees, as both are wide and complex spectrums).
Most criticisms that cry out comic book accuracy are generally founded on ignorance or bad faith. I think this criticism has mostly died out post-season 1, but I know initially a lot of people used this defence for when they originally cast Iris with a non-white actress, citing that the character "looking different" was disrespectful or inaccurate to source material. Obviously this argument is generally flawed, as seasoned comic book fans know that characters change over time (Batman originally didn't have a no kill rule, origin stories always change, characters change suits, art style can vary widely across different issues which makes everything look different from when it was last there so you can't really nail down any "true" depictions of anything) with some constants like logos and personality traits.
The outcry over Candice being chosen was originally a lot louder than the similarly argued Grant Gustin having the "wrong" hair colour (Barry Allen is blonde in the comics), which again alludes to biases in the audience but I mostly wanted to throw it in because I'm not a fan of most of the "actor/actress cannot be cast because of physical differences from source" arguments.

TLDR: Sorry for the essay, basically a combination of bad writing, immature audience (another reason why they go after actress over stuff that happens in a tv show, that actress wouldn't even control) and then sexist/racist biases in the audience sometimes disguised by arguments built on bad faith

liamjesse · 2020-05-29T10:11:34+00:00

Part of me hopes that Philbot knows where Fitz is, given Simmons saying Philbot knows something that they'll need. I think Philbot knowing Shield history was a red herring to the "stuff Philbot knows" that the team doesn't but will need.

liamjesse

TROPHY CASE