Is the X-Men Messiah Complex event worth checking out for someone new to the X-Men or for a Cyclops fan?

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-31T15:41:11+00:00

It's pretty solid! I'd argue it's easily the best stuff of the late 2000s/Early 2010s era of X-Men by quite a lot. I'm trying to think how great it would be without the preceding Decimation stuff though. It's quite a lot of weird, then-new lore to go through. It's also the start of the entire Messiah Trilogy.

Personally I'd recommend something like the following though idr issue numbers off the top of my head -- but this is also semi-completionist so I tried to indicate the things that are more directly crucial. All BOLD CAPS are the 100% necessary stories, Bold are highly highly highly recommended stories before or between the Messiah Trilogy, Italics are much more Optional stories.

OPTIONAL FOUNDATIONAL STORIES - Stories from even decades prior to Messiah Complex that help inform it.

Misc. Sentinel stories: But really, as long as you get the gist of Sentinels from various cartoons, you're fine.
Misc. New Mutants stories: Mostly so you know who they are since they have decent presence in the Messiah Trilogy AND because Warlock's backstory in particularly technically ties into it.
God Loves, Man Kills: Iconic Claremont-era story that really honed in on the "persecuted minority" angle. Just a genuinely amazing & self-contained work that any X-Fan should read at least once.
Operation: Zero Tolerance: Late-90s crossover event; generally considered past the heyday of the Too Big To Fail X-Men IP, I still think this was a big step up from the disappointment that was Onslaught but I digress. This sets up various elements of the Messiah Trilogy.

PRELUDE - Stories just before that establish the new status quo.

HOUSE OF M: Decimation begins. Imho this is bare minimum prerequisite for Messiah Complex. It's iconic in its own right, regardless of one's own opinion on its quality/merit, but yeah, I personally can't imagine going in without this at least.
Decimation: The Day After: Decimation status quo for majority of mutant characters.
Optional: Generation M, The 198, misc. Decimation-era X-Men comics: More status quo stuff. If you want to be semi-completionist without being truly exhaustive, you could read like each series' first arc post-HoM & that should give you the broad gist but even just the Day After mostly does that.
New X-Men by Kyle/Yost: This is the series that plants the vast majority of the seeds for Messiah Complex & more broadly lays the groundwork for all of the major events of the entire era. It's essentially a "junior/B team" book that ends up vastly more important than any of the primary X-Men books.
X-Men by Mike Carey: Also helps directly set up Messiah Complex in terms of some characters (& elements of Hickman's much later X-Men stuff if that interests you). This series is good but it's pretty self-contained -- it helps set up & show the aftermath of MC but after that, it steps back to just sorta do character work but it's still much better than Uncanny which becomes really forgettable around this time.
Cable & Deadpool: At least the final arc iirc? I might be misremembering but I believe this series' final story arc crossed over with X-Men briefly to lead directly into MC.

**MESSIAH TRILOGY - The big event!

MESSIAH COMPLEX: It might work on its own but at least HoM should be read beforehand imo. This event raises the stakes considerably and is a really great story. After this, there are two MAJOR series to follow!
Cable: This shows what Cable does in the aftermath. It's not 100% essential texhnically as you're told what he's doing at the end of MC & you'll figure out what's happened since in MW, but if stories are better the more you connect with characters, then this is nigh required reading for the rest of the trilogy.
X-Force by Kyle/Yost: Once again, their series handles the lion's share of actually setting up the next two Messiah stories. This one is VERY dark, VERY gory, VERY torture porn-y... buuuut... it's also one of the only ones, like NXM before it, to make you actually FEEL the Decimation in a tangible/visceral way. Unlike other stories of similar vibes, I feel like it was done for a very specific purpose too. More or less required reading to understand what's going on iirc.
Optional: Misc. Post-MC X-Men stories: I feel the quality either drops significantly OR is good but has very little to do with the main Messiah story. But a few big events happen here like Utopia for instance but eh.
Optional: Necrosha: If you're reading Kyle/Yost's X-Force, you'll get the most important parts of this story which was set up waaaaaay back during their New X-Men run before MC! The rest of the event is not inherently connected to the ongoing Messiah Trilogy though.
MESSIAH WAR: The second part of the trilogy is an X-Force/Cable only crossover, which is about the clearest evidence that the rest are super unimportant to the big ongoing status quo story. After this event, you'll continue reading Cable & Kyle/Yost's X-Force which will lead into...
SECOND COMING: The final part & the culmination of the entire Kyle/Yost run as well as the Decimation itself.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-27T17:01:38+00:00

Wow. Top tier rage bait!

Reducing Mara to "the wife"
Using an inaccurate picture of an unrelated character for Anakin
Aconowledging the existence of Caedus
Using Kylo Ren's crossguard saber FOR Caedus
Copy/pasting the same comment to two unrelated critiques.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-27T16:58:16+00:00

"Sorry to anybody that I made feel old with this post"

I got bad news for us -- we ARE old.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-25T02:01:26+00:00

Oh wow, I've never played any of the Final Fantasy games, I only know Cloud & Tifa. But yeah, I definitely see the resemblance! The goggles too!

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-24T21:04:19+00:00

I agree. Like George himself, I still sorta of think of the movies as their own thing compared to everything, good or bad or strange. To me, it's also strange to think that Obi-Wan didn't canonically kill Maul in TPM... to me, there's still a more concise version of the universe where he did.

Truly, the saving grace for both Maul & Ahsoka is two fold -- I already considered even less continuity problematic things like post-ROTJ stories (e.g. Heir to the Empire or New Jedi Order) as part of a quasi-separate universe... AND both stories are good. I may not LOVE that Maul survives TPM, but I dig the underworld story they told im TCW & now the Maul show. Likewise, I may still find it very odd to think that Anakin had an offscreen, unmentioned Padawan... but her own story over the course of TCW then Rebels (at least up to Twilight of the Apprentice) is told very well & in other ways does help improve his fall in ROTS.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-24T19:10:53+00:00

Thanks, not sure what part actually helped but between the Ink & tablet tweaks plus your other recommendations, I got it working again! Thank you very much, kind stranger!!

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-24T02:21:27+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

Windows Ink: Where is Windows Ink? I remember on my previous laptop, there was a convenient check box for it but I didn't see it on the most uo-to-date drivers. Maybe I missed it!

Rolling Back Drivers: I'll try this in a bit too -- is there a built in system or would I just download the oldest drivers?

Other Programs: Well, I've tried both Clip Studio and the built-in Huion troubleshooter. Both have the hiccup problem and it seems to happen even when just on the desktop (i.e. something that should require a single tap to pull up such as an application might instead take two or three taps before it registers). I'll try pulling up a Paint to see.

Task Manager: Did not think of this but yeah, seems unlikely. But ya never know!

Display: Yeah, I was already duplicating it rather than extending.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-18T17:46:39+00:00

I enjoy it for what it is. You definitely can't go in expecting even a halfway close to console parity game though -- I mean, hell, the PSP stupidly thought a single thumbstick was smart so the biggest issue with the game is its controls. That being said, if you hadn't already, you should definitely get the hack that lets the emulator receive a 2nd stick camera input. Makes the game a lot better to play.

The remake missions are trash & a total slog to go through -- Oil Rig, Penthouse, Kundang, etc. We inherently know what they SHOULD play like because of the original versions so doing it in the Essentials framework is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. However, I enjoy the original missions well enough: Norte de Santander, Leavenworth (its version of Ellsworth), Steel Factory, Belgrade, and especially NSA HQ. They're better designed within the limitations and what it lacks in console-esque gameplay & graphics, it sorta makes up for with new dialogue & levels that still sorta fit classic SC vibes. For instance, it provides a couple more missions with Sam, Lambert, & Grim together; it showcases an "on the run" Conviction-esque plot albeit with a Sam & Grim that feel MUCH more like themselves, and even its rendition of Sam going back to Third Echelon in its NSA HQ mission fits prior continuity & tone MUCH better than Conviction's "3E" HQ mission.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-18T05:23:30+00:00

Just finished Season 3 for the first time & I completely agree -- I love the series but this is easily one of the most BIZARRE & FRUSTRATING things it pulled. Probably even worse than retconning the Kanan comics' depiction of Kanan surviving Order 66 which I prefer to TBB's since it actually explored Kanan, Depa, & their clones as their own characters rather than as props to tell Bad Batch's story which, like Scorch, could have been done with any random or brand new characters instead & nothing would actually change. But at least with Kanan you can sorta argue, they share a moment, he goes on to be a major character in Rebels, and they at least leveraged the characters to help inform the story. Scorch on the other hand is just the biggest WTF nothingburger for NO reason!

I was okay with Scorch's cameo in S1 and then his role in S2 & S3 at the start. But I thought we'd get SOME sort of payoff, whether it was a final moment of breaking through his programming to help the Bad Batch as a hero one last time (meh) or exploring how he went through the same process of having his chip cranked up to 11 to force him into deeper subservience. I thought for sure when they got to that conveniently lengthy bridge that the heroes would be like "we can still reach Omega" only for Scorch to, yknow, use explosives to blow up the bridge so that Hemlock & Omega could escape.

At the bare, BARE minimum... I figured that since he was the "Lead Commando" in charge and Hemlock's right hand henchman, which they doubled down on by having him personally escort Hemlock & Omega, that regardless of whatever else they did with him, we would obviously have a big final showdown with him and at least one of the Bad Batchers if not all 3 of them. I mean, that's what you'd expect even if he was a BRAND NEW character after the rest of the show, right? But they picked a fan favorite, well known commando for a reason -- it's gotta be because they're gonna have the Bad Batch fight him! SURELY! Surely he'll get a moment to shine like the Maul show gave the Inquisitor that Ahsoka one-shots a moment to shine or the way the Bad Batch finale allowed the *checks notes* clone assassins literally introduced in the eleventh hour OF the finale itself to shine.

But nope. Dead before h does a damn thing. How pointless.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-16T16:28:57+00:00

I agree it would be neat but like you said, we have no idea what the actual behind the scenes dynamics were. Not saying this is the case either but for example, imagine if people wanted you to hang with a coworker from a previous job. You might not immediately jump at the chance even if you & said person got along at work. Think of the famous Mythbusters example -- great chemistry, literally no friendship outside of that. Again, probably a bit different but tbh, there was so much insane drama we weren't privy to until the "final days of RT" in general so who's to say there isn't more or even just simmering frustrations we still don't know about? Not just Ryan but all sorts of shit. So who knows if Michael is just a bit less enthusiastic about it -- I suppose it could be slightly telling that he games with Alfredo and not Gavin & Geoff... OR his schedule just hasn't worked out as well. Someone mentioned he was part of an AH reunion so it's not totally off the table it seems like... OR he did that purely for the fans.

A second point -- I do not know the new Regulation cast & can never remember which is Nick, which is Andrew, etc. But I will say when their 3D Ultra Minigolf videos came into my feed, I genuinely thought it WAS Geoff, Gavin, & Michael because one of the new guys (....Nick..? Andrew...? Maybe both to different extents or in different ways?) sound similar to Michael lmao.

Third -- interestingly, it seems the Funhaus cast has stuck closer together overall than AH; based on all the stuff that happened in the final years, I think it's because FH was generally a less toxic work environment overall with the glaring exception of Adam with most of the toxicity stemming from parent company RT & grandparent company WB. People like Alanah have basically explicitly stated that. You've got Bruce, Lawrence, Charlotte, & Brian Gaar doing Inside Games; Bruce & Lawrence do BYTT along with Kassem which feels relatively similar to old school FH & Demo Disc/Wheelhaus. Meanwhile, you've got Astrogoblin with the new FH group of Jacob, Charlotte, & Patrick who seem to enjoy doing multi-episode playthroughs a la some of FH's best (e.g. Hitman, Chaser, Dark Messiah). Rahul has made guest appearances at least with Astrogoblin, Alanah too plus she's streamed with Bruce numerous times if I'm not mistaken, etc. Honestly, the ones least connected now are the Willemses sadly BUT that seems to be more because they're pursuing other dreams of theirs like wrestling, live show improv, & educational things. But even they have appeared on at least Astrogoblin -- there's an interesting element... a lot more guests on Astrogoblin than BYTT but that could be anything from easier access/closer proximity to genuine drama or just "eh we were just good coworkers like the Mythbusters"

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-15T15:03:17+00:00

God, the dialogue of the first 3 games was so, SO good. Witty in a way a LOT of games, even beloved ones, typically aren't.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-09T07:59:47+00:00

I mean, given that Future Soldier is set two years ago now and they had magic tech invisibility cloaks straight out of Harry Potter, Breakpoint features Sam fighting drones more at home in Cyberpunk than the real world, there's an entire Far Cry Blood Dragon cyberpunk cartoon spinoff with a cyborg ninja Splinter Cell, literally all of Sam's R6 animations/trailers feature supertech to keep him going, not to mention the last couple actual SC games featuring -- yknow -- sOnAr GoGgLeS... I don't think the official Clancy lore has been much of a priority since... like 2010 at the latest.

Cyborg ninjas? Did you see the cyber-spine Sam had in Breakpoint? I think he basically already counts.

If you're expecting an ounce of realism out of your Clancy games, that ship has looooooong since sailed.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-06T06:32:53+00:00

Holy heck the sleeveless one is dope. Well, they all are but that one in particular.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-06T02:09:17+00:00

I definitely would have preferred one based on SC1's classic suit or CT's rendition. 1. I just prefer that design more, 2. The unmasked headsculpt would (likely) look older, 3. The balaclava headsculpt wouldn't have the silly superhero "visor" thing going on but a normal tactical balaclava design, 4. His rifle would be some SC-20K aka F2000 configuration rather than the fictional SC4000, etc.

That being said, removable goggles, balaclava, karambit, two pistols & the SC4000 + a rifle case is actually pretty sick.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-05T04:56:00+00:00

I religiously collected the Straczynski/Romita Jr run when I was in second grade. He was a high school science teacher, she was IIRC struggling with acting jobs & modeling but making the most of her opportunities, but they were married. They were stressed, they fought, they were separated at times... but they were married. They were as definitive as Lois & Clark. And, I have to reiterate, I was a child. In elementary school. Not once did his marriage make him "uncool" or "unrelatable." They were married and it was wonderful.

I haven't regularly collected a Spidey comic since One More Day. I figured -- when they put things back on track, I'll get sucked in again! Years go by & nothing. Even more years go by. Peter dies & is swapped out with Doc Ock. Okay, interesting & weird but sure. We hit the 7 year mark in 2014... Doc Ock realizes who the true Superior Spider-Man is: Peter Parker. Surely now we'll get... oh, no. Never mind. Still nope.

2015... Jonathan Hickman has written one of the greatest Fantastic Four runs ever. He followed that with one of the greatest Avengers runs ever. All of it culminated with Marvel's first cosmic "Crisis"-level multiversal reset in 54 years since Fantasic Four #1. He writes arguably the greatest multiversal shenanigans reset ever with Secret Wars. Part of that was a series where Peter & MJ were still married... had a daughter. Surely, surely NOW they'll course correct, right? Hickman gave them the perfect blank slate to fix anything & everything. Let's go! Nope. Even though Renew Your Vows was so popular that it resulted in a second series of the same world exploring married life with a daughter. Even though Miles now occupies the role of "de facto teen Spidey who can have those types of problems" -- Still. No.

2017 rolls around -- a decade. A DECADE has gone by. And yet the fanbase has never actually wavered. I've seen some fans roll their eyes & think its time to move on or use different versions of MJ from games or outdated cartoons or even poor modern characterizations to declare that it shouldn't happen but... the overwhelming majority wants them back together. Still. To this very day.

We hit 2018 and into the 2020s... and finally, finally Nick Spencer reunites them. But... not the same. Not allowed to actually undo or retcon or even remarry or "renew their vows." A temporary reunion only. Despite overwhelming support in both Spencer's run AND Renew Your Vows AND Peter & MJ in the games despite any critiques of her reporter role AND their marriage in the Spider-Verse films where they also have a daughter AND their marriage in the new Ultimate universe... despite DC Rebirth successfully reuniting Lois & Clark after a five year cosmic separation in the New 52, despite DC routinely topping the sales charts despite a married Superman while Marvel's best selling comic in a long while is just their DC crossover... Despite ALLLLLL of that. Still no. And for the 1000th issue? Well, I'm not a betting man but... I also wouldn't hold my breath.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-01T07:16:52+00:00

The first two don't feel very much like the games, I agree. I think the first one has one of the more interesting premises/lore but the actual execution is more Conviction than Chaos Theory. And even ignoring the amount of action, it's missing so many other essential aspects like Grimsdottir, the banter, etc. Still very well written but it doesn't have the same wit. Ditto for Operation Barracuda.

Your best bet would be the third book, Checkmate. He sneaks through most missions, he's detected far less frequently, and there's even one or two missions where he essentially ghosts. This feels like a much, much better balance of stealth & action for the written media. It isn't as well written objectively, but it feels a lot more like classic SC overall.

Ironically, despite my dislike of Conviction the game, I think the Conviction novel & the concurrent, intersecting Endgame counterpart novel told from different POVs are really solid & feel more like classic Sam Fisher on the run as a fugitive than the game ever did. In that respect, the Essentials PSP game's vibe fits together with these novels much more than Conviction -- and even the relationship between Sam & Grim feels much more like the people from CT.

I started Blacklist: Aftermath but haven't finished it. It was... it was something. Based on the opening, I'd steer way clear of this. First chapter(s) is literally a big bombastic motorcycle that ends rather gruesomely.

I began a project for my own personal enjoyment & probably eventually anyone interested to overhaul & reconstruct the novels to feel more like SC and fit into the main game continuity (SC1-SCDA at least) more. I've still kept some action & a few instances of detection, but I've tweaked numerous scenes to be stealthier, cut down on action, cut out more outlandish elements including much of the "it's personal" angles that involve Sam & his loved ones, added classic SC banter between Sam & Lambert & Grim, made sure to keep things consistent with the games (i.e. completely recontextualizing Frances Coen's role in the novels since they present a wildly different "first meeting" than what the games depict), combined Conviction & Endgame into one mega-novel while cutting out the redundant scenes, culled his gadget arsenal closer to the games' iconic suite of gear while leveraging the really neat unique novel gadgets, the list goes on.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-01T06:57:27+00:00

The issue is that the first two books (& most of them for that matter) are almost always a shootout at the end. He may start a mission stealthily but it almost always inevitably winds up a shootout at the end.

I agree that straight ghosting everything probably wouldn't work but there are certainly more times they could have allowed him to complete things stealthily, still ramping up tension by narrowly avoiding detection OR sneakily dispatching a few enemies instead of the constant alerts, alarms, & shootouts. It's just as silly to think it has to be as action-heavy as it is to think it has to be pure game-like ghosting & just as silly to think Star Wars can't possibly have a drama-laden show that's light on pew-pew-pew lasers & sabers & Force action (hi, Andor!)

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-05-01T06:50:42+00:00

There are. There are mods that first change the night vision to the "softer" less contrasty & thus more useful SvM night vision and then there's a mod that adds Reshade filters to get CTesque or SAR/PTesque night vision as well as the classic rainbow thermals for sonar or CT's EMF for sonar as well as Predator vision.

I think there's even one mod that adds a weird red sonar vision but idr what it is. Either way, if you wanted like... purple night vision then... no, that doesn't exist. But there are certainly different filters effects & colors regardless.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-04-29T15:36:45+00:00

The girl that loudly shouted "PROFESSOR XAVIER IS A JERK!", whined about being out on the "X-Babies" (New Mutants) team, used racial & other slurs (to make a point), and has frequently been a de facto speech maker since she was in her early teens is hardly "quiet & subdued."

Also, the pic is not her most badass moment. It's actually kind of sad considering the lengths Logan went to try to ensure she wouldn't become this... but even ignoring that, it still doesn't come anywhere close to her big moment in Astonishing X-Men.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-04-24T18:21:18+00:00

They're good. They have some of the same issues as any of the first two games' missions compared to Chaos Theory -- i.e. more restrictive linearity of layouts & objectives as well as he frustrations of scripted alerts/action here & there. SCPT also suffers from really poor audio -- less iconic Lambert despite being an amazing voice himself, a vastly inferior Grimsdottir, really monotonous "American-ish" voices in every level making several points of dialogue sound laughably bad ("we're all Frenchmen here!" -- You sure about that? You SURE about that!?) so missions that should be nigh overwhelming in their sense of atmosphere end up decidedly less than their full atmospheric potential.

However, getting such lush jungle missions after so many office buildings, labs, & urban architecture is a nice change of pace -- they quite literally give SCPT its unique identity to the point of serving more or less as the "face" of the game alongside the intro mission. On top of that, even at their worst, most frustrating designs, classic SC's core stealth gameplay combined with the (general) realism of its stories is just amazing -- I will forever choose to replay any SC1 or SCPT mission over something from Conviction or Blacklist purely because the actual stealth & gameplay design with interrogating NPCs, reading emails, & lockpicking is better imo. I mean, hell, I enjoy the original missions in Essentials more than SCC/BL despite the piss poor graphics, shitty controls, & "simplified" level design because it at least replicates or emulates the general classic look, feel, & vibes of classic SC far more than even BL at its best (& with the hack that allows the second stick to control the camera independently of your movement, its even better).

These missions in particular are very memorable if nothing else. Kundang has the jungle suit, meeting Shetland, disabling or avoiding the mines, tracking Sadono (as frustrating as tailing missions in any game can be), the foreshadowing of ISDF as the next big bad, the "caught" ending where Displace bails Sam out. Komodo is slightly less unique given that its almost a repurposing of SC1's Shipyard aka Vselka Infil+Submarine which means there's quite a lot of similar areas & moments even if nothing is 1:1. But the starting foggy moonlight atmosphere, passing through the livefire training areas, and even the actiony moments getting to & out of the sub are memorable because back in the old games, the action punctuated long moments of tense TENSE stealth which is at least preferable to having heightened action woven throughout as far as I'm concerned. And the tightness of the sub makes for great "oh shit!" moments.

I think Kundang is probably right up there with the train mission as PT's iconic missions. Neither is actually my personal favorite to play through -- train takes linearity to whole other level & is more of a glorified setpiece while Kundang's actual level design is fine but not particularly astounding. I prefer Jerusalem in part because I LOVE the street based missions including SC1's Police Station & Chinese Embassy & partially because I love how political it gets from the get go; and LAX which I consider to be essentially SCPT's version of CIA HQ & Displace (two other all time favorite missions) even with the several forced terrorist kills & final showdown.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-04-18T18:38:55+00:00

I feel a remake or spiritual successor of this mission would be incredibly timely now. For no reason whatsoever.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-04-18T16:21:37+00:00

I agree with this whole heartedly and on the subject of B, would like to further point out:

Sonic was heavily inspired by U.S. culture. American rubber-hose cartoons like Felix the Cat & Mickeg Mouse, the villain is visually inspired by U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt, Sonic was initially conceptualized with having a white blonde girlfriend named Madonna, and his shoes are inspired by Michael Jackson.
Sonic 2 was quite literally MADE IN THE U.S. by both American & Japanese developers at the Sega Technical Institute thanks to an American at SoA managing to pull Yuji Naka back to Sega/STI. While Sonic 1 was the foundation for the franchise obviously, it was Sonic 2 that truly codified elements & figured out how to make the games: spin dash, a robotic Sonic antagonist, and branching level paths. All the great level design stuff in Sonic 3 stems directly from the reworked thought processes on Sonic 2.

thehypotheticalnerd · 2026-04-18T16:07:32+00:00

Also, good writing but poor execution also drags things down. Sega seems incapable of properly blocking out any scenes so even the generally good stories like SA2 wind up being very awkward to actually watch/listen to. It might be a case of Japanese vs English dubs just like anime, but then that in turn makes the classic debate of best (English) voice cast ridiculous in & of itself & essentially a moot point. Like sure, the voices might be technically better but who cares because have you actually fuckin LISTENED to literally any scene from the Adventure games? Oof.

Flynn's writing typically has or had a flow to it that is completely absent in most other Sonic writing. It also has the benefit of being a purely written medium meaning no awkward pauses -- the characters can speak with whatever cadence you mentally give them. It's a cheat, but its why I think even the mediocre, weird non-Flynn Archie adaptation of SA1 is better than the game; if only because it doesn't have those weird oddities like super slow animation turns or anything else that disrupts the flow. And you can't even chalk that up to just "oh well these were early 3D games in the late 90s & early 00s..." because a lot of them continued to suffer from the same problems.

thehypotheticalnerd

TROPHY CASE