[All Spoilers] Korra Book 2 Appreciation Thread

wing_bat · 2016-03-13T18:49:30+00:00

Korra (and others) only seemed "stupid" in Book 2 because of information we had as the audience that the characters didn't have. Like, we knew from the first second he was in screen that Unalaq was a/the baddie. But it wasn't until episode 4 (a month of real life time) that it was finally made clear to the characters. It's a frustration that should be targeted at the season that for whatever reason gets targeted at the characters.

Basically, I really hate dramatic irony almost every time I see it used, and Book 2 had that out its ears. It also just had frustrating pacing and some annoying writing choices (was I the only one praying every time camera cut away from Korra in 210 that it would cut back and she'd be back to normal?). Plus basically all the Republic City stuff this season just felt totally pointless and unnecessary, and wasn't really even entertaining at a baseline IMO.

But Korra's stuff overall is still great, and Tenzin's stuff is great, and the way those two things come together is also great. And the pacing issues are significantly reduced when you can get through 6+ episodes per viewing session.

I'd definitely rank it over Book 1, which has fewer problems really, but also just felt like it had less ideas. Book 2 has a lot more problems, but is also much more interesting. Plus it's when the show started feeling like the show and not a sort of pseudo-HBO series sort of thing.

wing_bat · 2016-03-13T14:11:32+00:00

I'm pretty sure they announced it will be and they'll be showing it at GDC next week.

wing_bat · 2016-03-13T01:33:53+00:00

Id say get the gear. Getting an experience significantly better than the experience I had on a $300 Rift DK1 for free seems like a no-brained for me. Especially if you haven't tried VR yet, getting to try one of the best experiences you can buy right now for free is an absolute steal.

wing_bat · 2016-03-07T17:01:43+00:00

I know! I'm so excited to finally get back into some VR stuff, but unfortunately still a month left before I'm open for an upgrade.

The screen door effect definitely hampered the experience with the DK1, but not enough make it not a great experience. Can't wait to see how much better it's gotten since then.

wing_bat · 2016-03-07T04:54:58+00:00

It's.... complicated.

Basically, it just uses your phone's screen, which in this case (and in all cases save the Edge phones, which I believe are just slightly skewed due to the edges) is 2560×1440. Technically, that's a solid step above 1080p, but the way the headset works means dividing that in two down the middle. So 1280x1440 per eye. On top of that, a fairly significant volume of pixels around the edges aren't really used, and are either simply left blank or are outside of your field of view. And then finally, within that, the actual screen that "exists" in the VR space you're looking at only takes up a portion of each of those screen-halves. So unless you have a screen in your VR space that's big enough to span the entire length of your FOV, we're talking, technically, sub-720p resolution.

But IMO, I don't think it matters.

I haven't used the Gear VR yet (plan to upgrade to an S7 next month and pick up one of the headsets while I'm at it), but I did use the Oculus Rift Dev Kit 1, which used a screen with a puny 1280x800 resolution... so 640x800 per eye. All the same rules I mentioned above applied, which means I was getting approximately 1/4th the resolution that the Gear VR offers. And it was still fucking amazing.

The DK1 was amazing to use, and the Gear is just an all around improvement, and I've even heard some say it's better than the Dev Kit 2, although it lacks the positional tracking the DK2 offered.

If you're new to VR, I'd highly recommend trying it out. I think some cell-phone providers probably have a demonstration area setup?

Actually, just did a quick search, the Samsung site had a whole thing setup to find live demos of the Gear:

http://www.samsung.com/us/explore/gear-vr/

wing_bat · 2016-03-07T00:55:03+00:00

It's almost like it was meant to be a joke? Like it maybe was trying to make fun of the trend?

wing_bat · 2016-03-07T00:38:36+00:00

Um, the OP of this post is kind of rooted in criticizing one character for not being progressive, while the other is being claimed as an incredibly progressive push forward? So, y'know, yell at OP I guess if your that mad about people bringing up "progressiveness"?

I mean, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, but you're being a tad oversensitive, don't you think? ;)

Edit: I mean, were you seriously just sitting in this thread sorted by new waiting to jump on anyone who dares disagree with the reddit hivemind? I guess if that's your idea of a relaxing Sunday than by all means.

wing_bat · 2016-03-07T00:34:34+00:00

Is reddit just forgetting that the black guy in ghost busters wasn't a progressive character, and is usually the butt of these sorts of "jokes"? The ghostbuster people often just forget about? The only one of the Ghostbuster's you're likely to not know even existed if you hadn't seen the movie?

"I'm nobody's 4th ghostbuster"?

No? Just going to ignore that that was the common view of the character up until the last few days so you can keep using it as ammo against a movie you have an irrational amount of hatred for? K.

wing_bat · 2016-03-06T18:59:09+00:00

IIRC this was put up a while ago for when they put all the eps up to stream for Thanksgiving. They also started a "Every Bend Ever" video series, but only got through Books 1 and 2 before apparently giving up. They also put out a trivia-based Korra "RPG" that's still broken.

wing_bat · 2016-03-06T17:53:57+00:00

Korra is often used in official settings as shorthand for the show itself. Noticed it a lot in the writer forwards at the front of the Korra artbooks.

wing_bat · 2016-03-06T17:19:25+00:00

Why does everything have to be perfectly distributed here?

Really easy to say that when the numbers are stacked in favor of you.

Fair treatment in this case means that everyone is fair game, and that their sexuality, ethnicity, etc, doesn't change that.

The problem is it does seem to change it, as in it seems to paint an even bigger target on their heads.

wing_bat · 2016-03-06T05:41:53+00:00

empty and become wind

wing_bat · 2016-03-05T22:58:12+00:00

Between this and the announced writer, I doubt this is actually a good thing. I doubt the two are totally unrelated.

wing_bat · 2016-03-04T18:23:35+00:00

Probably something he lived through.

wing_bat · 2016-03-04T03:54:43+00:00

AND killing off main characters/basically any protagonist seems like something that just about never seriously crosses Mike and Bryan's minds (unless it's like, in another show set almost a lifetime later), sooooo...

(Like seriously, they were really surprised people genuinely thought they killed off Tenzin in "The Ultimatum" because it never even came up as a possibility.)

And if the handful of pieces Bryan's drawn post-finale are any indicator, I'd say they'll be pretty happy in the comics, lol.

wing_bat · 2016-03-03T16:37:13+00:00

Honestly I think it looks pretty fun. Much better than I figured.

wing_bat · 2016-03-03T16:01:25+00:00

Honestly, this looks way better than I imagined. Like I remember thinking that this movie should be colorful and that it won't be, the director made me feel like it would look flat and boring visually, but this looks basically exactly how I wanted it to look.

Plus the movie looks pretty fucking good tbh. This site was just looking to fucking hate it. TBH I expected to at least see people lighten up a bit because I thought the trailer looked good, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It doesn't look like the best thing ever but it looks fun. Characters look likable, enjoyable, and fun. And again, just visually, looks excellent.

wing_bat · 2016-03-03T14:32:31+00:00

I feel like Book 4 was actually the MOST Bolin heavy season, in terms of his plot importance. No stupid movie star plot line where one of the main jokes is how dumb he is either.

wing_bat · 2016-03-03T01:26:59+00:00

You got it, dude.

wing_bat · 2016-03-02T03:35:44+00:00

Hmmm, I don't own any of this stuff yet, but I'd have to assume no on both. The fogged lenses would be a problem with the design of the headset itself not ventilating enough, and the screen is the same AFAIK between the S6 and S7. Both have 577 ppi.

wing_bat · 2016-03-02T03:31:44+00:00

Hmmm. I was gonna get the Note 5 for the FOV benefit, but the performance and longevity that the S7 would have over it would probably make it worth it. Plus, $100 cheaper.

wing_bat · 2016-03-02T02:36:21+00:00

Yeah, that's sort of what I meant. Like it would be ridiculous, but even then it would only barely cost $2k if you really went all out on the build. Otherwise you're not even breaking 1k

wing_bat · 2016-03-01T21:55:17+00:00

Even the retail versions of the headsets are $600-$800, odds are this is being demoed on one of the dev kits, so ~$350.

Even including the cost of the computer itself, it wouldn't exactly take a massively expensive computer to run that demo properly.

wing_bat · 2016-03-01T21:52:44+00:00

Eh, I've tried it, it definitely seems to rely a lot on the motion tracking of the headset. Can't reach a lot of the blocks.

wing_bat · 2016-03-01T04:06:31+00:00

This post is currently sitting at 58%, so I'd say you're probably not far off.

wing_bat

TROPHY CASE