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51

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo Year in Review 2023

« on: December 14, 2023, 08:30:57 PM »

Alright! Prepare yourself for my non-gamer cred!









Read 'em and weep, people! I've become the top filthy casual gamer of the forums now!

52

General Gaming / Re: 2022 NWR Forum Awards - Best PlayStation Game

« on: December 07, 2023, 02:26:04 PM »

I cast my vote for Horizon Forbidden West both here and at The Game Awards, where you can select up to ten choices. However, I'd like to highlight Stray, currently in my backlog and holding the spot as my most anticipated game from the backlog. While I'm still completing Sackboy, I hope to dive into Stray soon. Although I was content with the PS4 version of The Last of Us and didn't enjoy the previous God of War as much as many others, I don't have plans to acquire either of those.

It's crazy how much this matches my situation from last year. I was the one person who voted for Forbidden West, I had Stray in my backlog, I was still working on Sackboy, and I passed on Last of Us and God of War for the same reasons mentioned above.

How could a new user vote on a poll that ended a year ago? There's a reason why it's so similar....

I voted for Horizon Forbidden West here and with The Game Awards (which allows you to vote for up to ten choices!). But I wanted to give a shout out to Stray which is on my backlog and probably my most anticipated backlogged game. I am still finishing Sackboy but I hope to get to it soon. I was fine with the PS4 version of The Last of Us and did not enjoy the previous God of War as much as most people so I am not planning to get either of those.

53

Nintendo Gaming / Re: 2023 NWR Forum Awards - Best Switch Game

« on: December 07, 2023, 12:22:00 PM »

Like usual, I'm just not hip with current games and mostly playing stuff from last year or further back. Of all the games listed, I do own Tears of the Kingdom and keep putting it off because I'm afraid of being sucked into it like Breath of the Wild and having it dominate my time. I keep thinking I'll clear some room on my schedule to finally dive into and just never seem to do so.

Like Monster Kohga Ultra, I do want to purchase a bunch of these titles at some point as well. Particularly Mario Wonder but Pikmin 4, Illusion Island and Engage are still on my radar. I just never feel like I should be voting on these things because I have not played every entry (let alone one of them) to be able to say why one is better than the other. Now if we were judging the Nintendo games of 2001 or something then I'd likely have a better grasp of how to view the entries and what deserves the honor of "best".

This is why I'll often do an Oscar thread each year. Much easier timewise for me to see 8 - 10 movies than play through 8 - 10 games and the cost is much less as well. There's much more to discuss as well when actually having experienced the nominations. Perhaps in 2030 I'll finally be able to weigh back in on this thread. I suppose for now I'll throw my vote to Tears of the Kingdom on the fact that it got me to actually buy it when it released and based on the comments of other game developers who were so impressed at the physics of the game. If people more expertly aware of game mechanics like that thought it was impressive then it seems like it should get the glory.

54

Nintendo Gaming / Re: 2023 NWR Forum Awards - Best Rerelease or Compilation

« on: December 07, 2023, 11:41:20 AM »

Surprised Pikmin 1 & 2 didn't make the cut.

I have bought none of these. I don't plan on buying any of them although I may yet crumble on Metroid Prime. In the past, I've bought some remasters or rereleases of games I'd already owned but now I rarely ever want to do it. Unless it is a significant remake, I find there is often little value to it aside.

I supposed I will do a write-in candidate and give my vote to the Batman Arkham collection as I do want to pick that up for Switch at some point. I had been hoping since the Wii U launched that perhaps Arkham Asylum would get ported to a Nintendo system. Earlier this year, my cousin had played that game for the first time on PC and was telling me how much he was loving it. I brought up then that I had been hoping for awhile it might finally get ported to Switch especially after all sorts of other big releases from the past had been getting brought over like Borderlands, Bioshock and Portal. I do have Arkham City on Wii U but Arkham Knight wasn't released for Wii U so 2/3 being new games is still a worthwhile package. (And after all this time of wanting to play Arkham City on Wii U, it still sits unopened on my shelf so I could almost treat it as 3 new games if I play it on Switch first.)

We certainly do live in an age of recycled media, which can be nice.

Yes and no. It can sometimes be a bit frustrating when you see a lot of games you've played before filling up a release schedule making it seem like there's less new experiences being made. Especially right now as Nintendo is likely saving up software for their next system. Super Mario RPG, Mario VS Donkey Kong, Thousand Year Door, Luigi's Mansion 2. At least Another Code has the Wii game that never came to North America. But with all that and stuff like Advance Wars 1&2, Metroid Prime Remastered, Pikmin 1&2, Kirby's Return to Dreamland. I've been pretty happy with the Switch Apps for SNES, N64, etc for being able to replay games I've played before or already own on the original systems but have the convenience of being able to boot up right away. It may make it harder for Nintendo to be able to remaster some of those titles now in the future like they did for Super Mario RPG unless they remove them from the system. But maybe there'd still be a market for those games done in new HD graphics. For example, would there be gamers willing to pay full price for a Donkey Kong Collection of the 3 SNES games with updated HD graphics, remastered soundtrack and maybe a few tweaks?

Of course, as my Backloggery shows, I can't complain too greatly about games getting re-released since there's still so many I've yet to get around to playing so it should make it easier for me to do that. And I am glad when a port is something that came from a non-Nintendo system and was something I missed out on before like the Arkham games. Yet there is one more negative I see about this rise on of compilations and re-releases. It almost seems to make sense these days to skip a generation of gaming for like 5 or 6 years. Then when stuff gets ported to that next generation you're likely to get the best version of that game. Look at the Switch. Tropical Freeze got the additional Funky Mode if that's appealing to you. Pikmin 3 came with all the additional paid DLC. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe came with all the paid DLC and has ended up having even more DLC now made for it. Super Mario 3D World came with the additional Bowser's Fury content. Heck, even look at something like the BioShock or Arkham Collection. You can potentially buy all three games for the cost (or less) of what one of them would have been when they first individually released. You might end up saving more money this way by not having to buy everything piece meal when it is first released with the base game and then DLC or every individual entry. Plus, then everything will seem more fresh when you re-enter the scene as you catch up on that missed stuff.

Still, there's a few negatives to that. For one, there's no guarantees that everything you might want to play would get ported later on. Stuff can end up becoming obscure instead. In which case you might have to pay a higher price for some games but maybe it balances out. With Nintendo's experimentations on controls and devices, it has resulted in a lot of software tied to some platforms that may never leave them. Look at how many Nintendo games for the GameCube are still tied to that system. Switch may have now beat Wii in being the system with the most GameCube games that have been available on it. Another thing has been the shift in the industry to try and follow the World of Warcraft route in Games as a Service and have titles that keep getting content and events released for months or years to keep people playing them usually online. However, when the next iteration comes out then that userbase may move on (or just naturally peter out) so that if you were to try it years later than you may have missed out and find it a husk of what it had been. I think about something like Splatoon or Super Mario Maker, especially now with the online for the Wii U being terminated.

Hmm, it seems I've rambled enough on this subject now with no clear conclusion so let's call it a post! 

55

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Sales Thread

« on: December 07, 2023, 08:02:28 AM »

Well, we are coming up to the end of the year and it is looking like the correct answer for the poll was that Sony plays spoiler and there is no Nintendomination of the charts this year after all with a 30 out of 30 run. Color me surprised. There were a couple times it was so close too. With about one month left to go for reporting, it's looking like my guess of it happening 4 times is about to proven incorrect. Whoever voted for it happening once may still have a shot but Playstation keeps getting more releases every couple weeks to pop up the charts and then quickly work their way down in time for the next release to show up and repeat this cycle to prevent an all Switch reign.

56

General Gaming / Re: The Great(?) Video Game Spreadsheet Project: Year 32 Challenge!

« on: December 07, 2023, 07:42:47 AM »

LOL! Just got rid of a spambot that posted in this thread. It gave itself away by trying to use my own writing! Spammers trying to be clever with bloody plagiarizing AI. Anyways, just thought I'd post a record of what the spambot posted along with my earlier post for comparison to examine since I'll also admit that it's slightly fascinating to see how these programs are able to understand some of the meaning and reword things. Gives me flashbacks to school when you weren't supposed to just copy out a paragraph from a book for an answer so it was often just this kind of trying to change the words enough to put it in your own words while saying the same thing.

I'm thrilled that Kirby's Air Ride holds the top spot as the highest-rated GameCube game, giving Mario Kart a run for its money! Surprisingly, it even outshines the fantastic TTYD and the somewhat forgotten ARMS on the Switch. While Splatoon enjoys two releases on the Switch, ARMS seems to have been left in the shadows. It's a nod to that period from 2015 to 2018 when Nintendo was truly exploring creativity in game ideas and franchises.

By the way, Evan_B(iscotti) maintains a Backloggery page, though I'm unsure of its current status. It displays 105 unfinished games. To respect privacy, I'll hold off on sharing the link until Evan_B gives the green light after reading this post.

I'm loving that Kirby's Air Ride is the highest rated GameCube game. Take that, Mario Kart! Even higher than the great TTYD. And ARMS! No one talks about ARMS anymore on the Switch. Splatoon got two releases on Switch while ARMS is left behind. That 2015 - 2018 when Nintendo seemed to be getting creative with game ideas and franchises.

Evan_B(iscotti) does have a Backloggery page though I'm not sure how up-to-date it is. It only shows 105 total unfinished games. I'm not sure if he'd be alright with me posting the link to it or not so to err on the side of privacy, I'll wait to see what he says after reading this post.

Also, for the record, I had clicked on this thread to see the latest post and when it loaded, it was actually the second paragraph that caught my eye because I saw the Evan_B(iscotti) name and was confused for a moment as to why someone would be using that to refer to him and if other users were now using that to reference him. Then it suddenly clicked in my head that I was being ripped off by AI! Just goes to show that dumb jokes are the key to defeating the rise of the robots. They can't understand our humor yet!

57

NWR Mafia Games / Re: Mafia XC: Xenoblade Chronicles 1 - Definitive Mafia Edition. Sign-up Thread.

« on: November 29, 2023, 11:59:02 PM »

So, you want to play a Mafia game, huh?

To be honest, it has been on my mind a couple weeks before ThePerm bumped this. But I figured that I'll have to redo sign-ups to double check who's still in. And if I give it a couple weeks that would have put it into the Thanksgiving weekend and people may not want to play during that time as they'll be busy in life. After that is December which traditionally can have a lower turnout as people don't want to commit to a long or complicated game as they prepare for the holidays. Thus, it seemed to me that maybe the second week of January would be the best time to try again on this. Things can be a bit slower at that time after New Year's is over so it might allow for more player participation. I've actually got my copy of XC:DE back out because I was thinking of popping that back in and messing around a bit in the game to remind myself about elements of the game and the story during December so as to try for a January launch. So stay tuned on that front.

In the meantime, if someone wants to host a Safe Words game, I'd love to continue beating you all at that and make it three in a row victories!

58

NWR Forums Discord / Re: Unclebob posts bumps

« on: November 29, 2023, 11:51:18 PM »

Isn't this just the UncleBob Discussion Thread in which users can post and talk about that long time Forum Champ UncleBob?

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Unclebob posts bumps

« on: November 25, 2023, 11:03:58 PM »

Unc.... UncleBob?!?

60

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Announces Development Of Live-Action Zelda Movie

« on: November 07, 2023, 08:11:26 PM »

Sony Pictures Entertainment

Oh good. Things ended up so well the last time Nintendo and Sony partnered up.....

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Nintendo Gaming / NSO November 2023! (AKA Not Another Forum Event!)

« on: November 04, 2023, 06:09:54 PM »

So, I've had this kicking around in my head from early this year and I've decided to throw it out there and see what the response is. Having jumped into the upgraded Online Switch plan late last year to get the N64, GBA, Genesis offerings, I started taking some time at the start of the year to make an effort to get through some of the games being offered. I don't know what it's like for you but after spending some time on the SNES app when it was first growing, I petered off from it a bit and now there's so many titles on these various apps and I feel I've gotten through very few of them.

Curious to find out how much the community has dug into these apps and how much they've played and how much they have yet to play. Perhaps a focus could be made by other NWR Forum users to try and play through some of the titles to mark some progress for the apps. As well, too, this may be a chance to try and meet up with others to also do some multi-player with those games. Pokepal148 mentioned wanting to do 4 player online for Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and I'll admit I'm game to play the game that way as I've never been able to do any multiplayer with that or other GBA games before. Curious to see if it would make the game better. Likewise others may have games they'd like to try some multiplayer action with on these apps. (I'd also like to do some Mario Party from the 64 app particularly with MP3 now available.)

Although, with the recent announcement of the Wii U and 3DS online multiplayer facinf termination in a few short months, I'm willing to extend beyond the scope of the NSO titles to include those game libraries if people want to accomplish some multiplayer action there before the door closes. Perhaps you've had your mind of getting through Tri Force Heroes or Federation Force or maybe you'd just like to do some original Splatoon multiplayer for one last time. The floor is open. Just post in here what you'd like to play and hopefully others will be able to let you know about joining up to help you play that. Or if you want to be a lone wolf and just tackle a few games yourself then mention what you're playing and any thoughts you'd like to share about games on the app.

The Community Event Train don't stop!! Woo-WOOOOO!! 

62

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 846: The Release Calendar

« on: November 02, 2023, 04:35:14 AM »

Umm, I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this but James audio seems to be having some issues on this podcast. You might want to look into that and see if you can fix it. Just thought I'd give you a heads up on that.

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General Chat / Re: After a deep reflection, thinking of quitting following entertainment stuff soo

« on: October 18, 2023, 04:48:30 AM »

Well... ok.

Not sure what you may be hoping to hear from posting that. Do you want us to say yes or say no? You have to make decisions in life and it seems like you've been doing some thinking on the matter and what would be best for yourself so I hope your decision works out.

It does seem like you are doing some deep reflecting on who you are and have come to the conclusion that you can get influenced by others and hate things because they say to when you may not have felt that way. You also say you are an extremely fragile person but I'd also say that you don't have to stay that way. For example, a person could suffer a stroke and as a result they've lost the ability to easily walk about like they could before. Perhaps being in a bed for a long time as resulted in the leg muscles deteriorating so now they are fragile physically. Yet, by slowly working on building up those muscles again over what may take a long period of time, that person may find they can return to that regular walking ability that they had before the stroke. They can take that fragile part of the body and make it stronger. Likewise, you too may be able to mentally strengthen yourself over a period of time and not feel as fragile as you do now. With that mental strength, you may find that you can just ignore the comments that bug or that they don't affect you as they once did.

You said that you thought the comments from the Youtuber on not paying attention to the haters and fanboys was wise. I feel like that was what we were trying to tell you in the other thread in which you worried about Nintendo's future. I'm glad that you are seeing the benefit in realizing this. I hope you can eventually put that into practice. You seem to be causing much worry and anxiety on yourself about these comments you read which is a shame. Here's something else to remember. Those comments could easily disappear one day. Already on the internet, there's been cases in which sites have removed forums and comment threads on articles old and new. Sites have been shut down and articles erased or gone missing. Even this site could just have all its data lost or destroyed. It highlights that a lot of internet content is more temporary than one might think and preservation isn't that easy or worth it in many cases. Knowing that, you should remind yourself of it and ask if you really want to live your life in fear of things that might not even exist five years from now. Why keep taking it so personally when people say things you dislike when their comments could easily disappear one day? Of what value was any of it?

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Movies & TV / Re: Alright! Let's Get Serious With TV Talk! Your Top Shows of the 21st Century!

« on: October 18, 2023, 04:18:39 AM »

Shows That I've Watched Completely (21-35)

Gonna increase this entry for a reason that will be obvious soon. But first, Homeland.

Homeland

Homeland came onto my radar when it won the Emmy for Best Drama in its first season ending Mad Men's reign of winning that award for four years in a row. I hadn't even heard of the show until that point. When watching that first season, I get why it was immediately popular. It's got a great premise and immediately starts building suspense and a lot of forward momentum to keep you hooked for more. Unfortunately, it also never really was able to keep up with how well the first season went with a lot of diminishing returns. It started off as kind of trying to be a semi-realistic look at the current state of espionage and global politics at the time while still wanting to have larger than life plots and missions. It continued trying to do that while also basically becoming its own alternate reality as the show continued since the events that were unfolding on the show weren't always meshing up with actual things in life. This also created a contrast in which people lost their suspension of disbelief over the larger than life plots because of the show trying to have it both ways. For instance, the show was already going off the rails by the end of the second season when like the second most wanted terrorist in the world is somehow able to get into the US and meet an operative.

If you can accept the show would do dumb things and just roll with it, you could still be entertained. That push and pull of smart and stupid also meant as a viewer you'd feel conflicted of liking and disliking the show throughout its run. It also seems hard to discuss Homeland without looking at it by its seasons as the various plots each season varied in quality. Would I still recommend it? Yes, on the condition that you don't necessarily try to binge it all at once. I think it helped watching it slowly air over time season by season to stick with it. If you binge it, you'll probably get sick of it at some point faster. Maybe you return later but maybe not depending on how much it could burn you out.


And here we get to the reason why I went with 15 shows for this post. I sort of broke up the alphabetical order of things with this as I wanted to just post these shows more in order from oldest to newest and sort categorized them all as under "Jamie" when first making my list. I wondered whether I should bother listing a whole bunch of cooking shows like this but this is TV I've ended up liking and rewatching a bunch of times. Stuff like 30 Minute Meals or 15 Minute Meals have around 40 episodes each so it's a significant chunk of time to watch it all. Moreover, most of the shows have their own sort of identity and moods which might seem odd to hear if you just think of a standard cooking show.

What might be surprising is that I really only got into all of Jamie's shows early 2019. Before that, I didn't really think much of the dude. I'm not going to try and sell you all on watching his stuff but I'll just say that I've appreciated the more positive vibes of his stuff. It's also quite instructive to be able to actually see a person cook the recipes in a cookbook. Most of his shows are based off his latest cookbook. While one can read a recipe and figure out what to do, it still helps to see things in action. Particularly with the 30-Minute and 15-Minute meal stuff he did since that relies on doing a few things at once which is something that takes more practice and skill.

While it might be surprising to think there'd be much to say about each of these shows, you know me, the wall of text creating machine. However, I'm just going to try and limit things to a couple sentences each and keep this train moving so here go.

Jamie's 30 Minute Meals

This is about as far back as I'd want to go with his cooking shows. Having seen some clips of footage of older stuff, they look pretty rough compared to the production quality of these episodes. This is also what I'd call the end of the "young upstart" Jamie era or the image that was part of why I wasn't that interested in his stuff. I do like this series as sort of giving me a goal of being better at multi-tasking in the kitchen and almost think it is necessary to see in order to fully understand the directions in the cookbook because of that multi-tasking.

Jamie's 15 Minute Meals

This series is kind of the transition from young adult Jamie to Dad Jamie which isn't exactly true since he's probably at 40 when making it. Unlike the previous series which tried to put together a bunch of different dishes, the meals here were basically one big dish like Chicken Cacciatore or maybe some prepared meat with a side or two. There's definitely a bit of a difference in the production from 30-minutes being a bit more refined and slicker.

Save With Jamie

This is a bit of a weaker series because time has changed what the pricing is and what might be available in the UK isn't the same for the rest of the world. That said, the recipes will still stand up if you want to use them. This also seems to be Jamie trying to deconstruct the idea of a cooking show as he shows more behind the scenes of his cooking operation and showing the cast and crew doing the filming.

Jamie's Comfort Food

This is kind of an odd show especially when considering Jamie's usually trying to talk more on healthy eating and putting forth balanced meals. Here he's putting forth his take on the ultimate lasagna or grilled cheese sandwich and desserts. At the same time, I think that's why he also seems to have made the recipes pretty elaborate to put people off from making a lot of this stuff. He's also bringing in his family and friends more on this and shooting stuff around his place making it almost like "Instagram Life Shots".

Jamie's Super Food Family Classics

A show recently popped up on Netflix about Live to 100: Secrets of Blue Zone Places which I guess are places noted where people live the longest. Quickly glanced at the episodes to see it's pretty much the same places Jamie visits and showcases in this series. A mix of travel and recipes.

Jamie's Quick and Easy Food

I feel this series is when he set the bar for what a cooking show should be. Every recipe on this show and the cookbook is based around 5 ingredients (not including seasoning stuff like salt, pepper, oil or vinegar). Because of this, he can bang out 4 recipes in a 30 minute episode. So, it makes it extremely appealing to feel like you could cook most of what is being shown and the photography seems to have hit a high point here that he's yet to surpass.

Jamie Cooks Italy

Much more of a travel show highlighting various spots in Italy and what locals are doing and then putting a bit of a spin on their recipes. However, it does feel like this is a lot more of a specialized cookbook and show and that duplicating these recipes would be a lot harder outside of Italy. At least he and Gennaro seem to be having a good time in making the show.

Jamie's Ultimate Veg

Another mix of travel and cooking but Jamie the locations are in different spots instead of one place like Italy. Again, the travel portions are neat to see how other cultures eat and cook things. The cooking portions still feel like they have some of the Quick and Easy Meals momentum but they've got more than 5 ingredients here.

Jamie: Keep Cooking Family Favorites

This was done during the Covid years and filming is done around his property indoors and outdoors. His family is making cameo appearances throughout. The cookbook was sort of his attempt to do another Quick and Easy Meals as that seems to have been the one to get the most positive reaction but here the recipes can go up to 8 ingredients. The show Fargo will sometimes contrast the cozy, maybe slightly dull but still loving home atmosphere of the good guys of the show compared to the anxiety and lacking in love home life of the bad guys. That former vibe kind of comes through on this show where you might think more about how nice it would be to live the life Jamie's got more than the cooking not that the recipes aren't lacking in appeal here. However, having his son Buddy do a few cooking segments felt a bit of overindulgent. It's fine to love your kids but that doesn't mean the viewer will have the same pride you might feel in seeing you child learning your craft.

Jamie Oliver: Together

This felt more cynical like trying to latch on to the desire people had of seeing Covid restrictions lift and being able to get more freedom to start resuming what life used to be like. It's about making large dinners for a big gathering that can be prepped (and probably need to be) both the day ahead and when people are coming over. Not sure how many people are looking for a cookbook to make big feasts like it has. Still the same vibes as the previous series in being shot around Oliver's home with family and friends around.

The Great Cookbook Challenge With Jamie Oliver

So far, the only type of "food competition" show Oliver has ever done. Yet, he's more the host on this as the judging is done by others while he just helps the contestants around the building that houses his cooking operation. There is no real cooking instruction with this show and you aren't missing much if you skip it.

Jamie's One-Pan Wonders

It's alright. More your average cooking type show. Jamie's returned to a studio for shooting this one. Just feels lesser than what has come before though. If ranking these shows, it would probably be right in the middle.


Joe Pera Talks With You

Hooray! The cooking talk is over! But the good vibes are not. I'd heard positive things about this show at the time it was airing its second season back when The A.V. Club website had worthwhile content. It was only around late 2021 that I finally saw an episode on Adult Swim and I was immediately a fan of it. It was the second episode of its first season and I watched through all that first season. Later tracked down the second and third seasons and am really disappointed that the series was cancelled after its third season. Most of the episodes are around 13 minutes long with a couple that are about 30 minutes so it's a pretty easy show to watch through but as tempting as that might be I usually like watching 2 or 3 and savoring them.

But how to describe this show? In a way, it is like an examination of life and looking closely at all the ways one can find joy or satisfactions from it. The delights that can be found in breakfast foods, shopping at the grocery story, growing a bean arch, or in sitting. Those are just some of the topics that can come up. Yet, it's also got a sweet and soft side of following along this fictional Joe Pera's life as he navigates the ups and downs that happen in life like love, death and interacting with other people. It occurred to me as writing this that Joe Pera himself is almost like a more modern version of Mister Rogers with his manner of delivery and talking to the home viewer but am disappointed to see someone else has had that same thought which is mentioned on Wikipedia when I was looking up a couple things on the show. Just when I thought I had come up with a great way to describe the show. Perhaps it can seen also be seen as yet another variation of the Andy Griffith show in which a genial main character in an idealized laid back small town dealing with the situations that can arise from the people around him.

In any case, it's a series I keep wanting to show other people in my life and hope more people check out. Highly recommended.


John Adams

Big admission coming up. I was not born and raised in the USA. As such, US History wasn't as thoroughly taught to me here in... Sao Tome and Principe (yeah! that's the ticket...) so watching this mini-series was very informative to me and helped give me a better picture on some of the events that were happening leading to the American Revolution and beginning of the country under its first presidents. It did so by still being entertaining. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney gave some strong performances here and when thinking of them, this series usually pops up first in my mind for them. It's been over a decade since I saw this and I'd be up for watching it again now so clearly did something right.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 844: Why Are We Talking About Horace?

« on: October 17, 2023, 10:05:48 AM »

Returned? He never left! Horace will always be with us until the heat death of the universe. (And even then he'll probably still be around after that.)

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Movies & TV / Re: Alright! Let's Get Serious With TV Talk! Your Top Shows of the 21st Century!

« on: October 17, 2023, 05:11:28 AM »

Shows That I've Watched Completely (11-20)

Bones

I got into this series for a couple reasons. One is that I'd heard there was a good twist about the hunt for a killer on the show and the second is because Noah Hawley who was responsible for Fargo and Legion had been a writer on it. (I've still yet to ever get around to Legion despite being interested about it). Ultimately, I got semi-spoiled on the twist based on a little bit of knowledge of future seasons when I did begin watching it. As well, Hawley wasn't really a major writer on the show. He might have been showrunner for Seasons 2 and 3 but he was gone after season 3 and the show went for 11 seasons. There's a lot of ridiculous things about the show and I'm surprised I watched the whole thing through but it had a lot of characters you just liked seeing play off each other and it found ways to inject a lot of comedy to keep things a bit more light amongst the continuous rotting corpses and bones.

Breaking Bad

From the first episode, this show hooks you and just seems to continually have one obstacle after another to overcome. It just seemed to keep building momentum and expanding its world to keep surprising you. At the time, I was so impressed at how tightly written it seemed to be like keeping track of how many days the action of the show was taking place over and making sure it didn't exceed it or keeping track of things like the ricin poison. It's crazy to find out that they were mostly making it up as they went along. Still a top tier series to me.

Brooklyn Nine Nine

As a fan of Andy Samberg because of SNL and his Lonely Island stuff and with Micheal Schur also behind it, I checked this show out when it first aired and followed it all through as it aired. If it wasn't for Abby's or Rutherford Falls, this would probably be the weakest of the Schur created comedies I've watched. Perhaps it was because of the setting but the show just never seemed able to get to a higher comedy level being stuck with what it could do in that law enforcement setting. As well, it just seemed like there were some characters that couldn't mesh well together for comedy and felt uneven in that regard. I'm sometimes amazed how much leverage the show got out of the deadpan seriousness of Captain Holt but it was often the reason for some of the biggest laughs on the show. Also, a shoutout to Amy Santiago who's nerdiness and facial reactions also did a lot of heavy lifting for that show when things like Boyle's weirdness or Gina's indifference could fall flat. There were times I considered dropping the show but I don't regret sticking with it and watching the whole thing. However, I also have no real desire to go back and rewatch it at this point in time.

Community

There's a lot I can think about saying on this show because it's a wild ride. It starts out like an expected sitcom. There's even a sort of love triangle forming by the end of the first season. But Dan Harmon isn't interested in going by regular story beats so he dismisses and blows up that stuff at the start of the second season and forget about even trying to keep things semi-realistic. Although there are some signs of it in the first season, by the second season on, I had the thought that this was practically an animated series just done in real-life. I drew a parallel to Futurama which would often do a lot of episodes parodying something and slotting in the characters to work within that parody. With the cast changes and some background drama that occurred during its run, that approach basically helped the show keep surviving and still being able to put out funny stuff without ever feeling stale although the later 3 seasons do feel a bit uneven compared to the first three.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

I'm not sure if anyone else here as ever seen this show or given it a chance. As far as I remember, I was the only one to post about it or try and talk about it in the "Rate the Last TV Show You Watched" thread to try and generate interest on it and give it some word of mouth. I think the idea of Musical TV scared a lot of people perhaps because of Glee which seemed to be a polarizing show. I wasn't really sure if I would care for it myself when there were advertisements for it before it aired but the premise did seem like it could be funny so I gave it a shot and I'm glad I did. It could have some of painfully awkward comedic moments like The Office and there were a lot of great comedic moments and gems in the songs that were created for the show. Yet, I was also surprised at how much it actually cared about the "Crazy" part of the name and also began to take a serious look at mental health which just wasn't something I'd seen in many shows at that point. The triumphs, the setbacks and the effort that can come from taking an honest look at ones self and working to improve and get better. I still think this is a gem of a show and hopefully other people will find they like it more than expected if they give it a shot also.

Godless

My father likes Western movies. I was visiting my parents at a time when this had just recently come on Netflix so we watched through it all over a few nights. It was a mixed reaction. It could have some good moments and there were a few characters that we got invested in but there were also some characters and subplots that felt like they were dragging or taking away from the more interesting ones and then when it ended, it was kind of a shrug. It just wasn't the most satisfying ending. It's something I've mostly forgotten about.

Good Eats

I don't know how I missed out on this show when it first aired as I liked Alton Brown from stuff I'd seen him do on the Food Network like Iron Chef or appearances on shows like The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Before I finally saw this in 2017, I had been watching a bit of MasterChef and Chopped and always found it amazing how people could know how to make all types of food without a recipe in front of them. Watching Good Eats felt like getting a real cooking class on understanding how a dish came to be, how to properly cook it and the science behind the recipes and ingredients. This alos includes the recent Good Eats:Reloaded and Good Eats: The Return. Sadly, it seems Good Eats is now done forever but I hope Alton continues to find some new ways to keep educating on the science of food. Good Eats:Reloaded was fascinating to me in seeing how even in the past 15 - 20 years, there have been new refinements and innovations in cooking to change up a lot of things he had first presented and do them better.

Great News

I'm not sure why I watched this. I saw it after it had been cancelled. I remember it being mentioned as kind of the next big project for Tina Fey and Tracey Wigfield after 30 Rock which didn't exactly peak my interest but I feel I probably some online comments and reviews of people liking it or saying it was funny. It definitely felt like a comedy more in-line with 30 Rock's approach and I never really found it that hilarious. For some reason, the biggest laugh I remember having was when a character talked about the sadness of eating alone at the Olive Garden; "They say when you're here you're family... but they don't really mean that." Perhaps those who like 30 Rock would enjoy it but I don't think anyone is missing out on anything if the skip it.

Heroes & Heroes:Reborn

Hey! Remember Heroes?! This show went from so popular to so forgotten pretty fast. Plenty enough has been said about it already. I'll just say that I seem to be on the more forgiving side of the show and don't hate the time I spent on it compared to others. I feel it did a lot of things well in doing a "superhero" show for TV that one could learn from or copy for future projects. When Heroes:Reborn first aired, I was struck at how well they were able to recreate the tone and pace of the original series and how exciting and compelling it could feel at times. Yeah, there was weakness in the logic at times and the plotting could fumble things. I know there was always disappointment at never showing any kind of great budget heavy superhero fights but I still enjoyed the ride enough that I'd still try it again whether there is a Heroes: Reborn Again or maybe watch it all through again with someone else who hadn't seen it before.

Hit & Miss

Wow. Here's an obscure show. A quick synopsis from Wikipedia: "It stars Chloë Sevigny as a transgender contract killer who discovers she has a child with her former lover. She struggles between caring for her newfound family and maintaining her job as an assassin." It was a British show that only lasted for one season of six episodes. It's been around a decade since I saw it. I don't remember why I ended up watching it now. I recall being more interested in the assassin part than the becoming a parent part but in the end nothing was particularly great about it. Forgettable.

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Downloads - October 19, 2023

« on: October 16, 2023, 06:15:06 PM »

Agatha Christie - Murder on the Orient Express ($39.99/$45.99)

Seriously?!

Just go to the library and read the book or just watch one of the movie versions of it if you don't know this story yet. To spend that much on it and I have no idea what the time spent on it would be like seems wild. I just don't get the reason for why this exists...

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Movies & TV / Re: Alright! Let's Get Serious With TV Talk! Your Top Shows of the 21st Century!

« on: October 16, 2023, 03:36:58 AM »

Shows That I've Watched Completely (The First 10)

30 Rock

I'll be listing these shows in alphabetical order. My final actual list will be after I've listed everything for my judging pool. That makes 30 Rock the first and it's the only way this show would ever end up first in a list that I can think of. There was a brief time when NBC had a Thursday night comedy block with 30 Rock, Community, The Office and Parks and Recreation. All these comedies developed big fan followings and are still talked about even though at the time, some struggled with ratings as the TV landscape began fragmenting under more cable channels and Netflix streaming. I watched an episode or two of 30 Rock at the time but just didn't find it that great compared to the other shows. To me, it is the weakest of those 4 comedies listed yet it is the one that dominated the Emmys during that run of shows.

It was around 2018 - 2019 that I finally decided to watch the show from the beginning since a lot of comedy shows can build off past jokes so I knew watching an episode here and there isn't the best way to judge a show. Yet, ultimately, I still don't get the popularity of the show. After a couple months of going through the first four seasons, I stopped at a point with season 5 as I was then in a move. It was almost one year after that I finally decided to get back to finishing the series. It was sort of a case of I'd gone this far and might as well see where it all ends up. But I could have just as easily not bothered. It just never hooked me like those other shows. It's also a weird show in that it seemed built more around bringing in all sorts of big name guest stars to do jokes about or with them while some of the regulars were sort of underutilized (or just not that funny to spend time with in my opinion). In that regard, it was almost like SNL: The Sitcom which, in a way, is sort of what the setting of the show was. Ultimately, I see it as an uneven show that felt quite dated by the time I watched it.

Seeing it at number 4 on THR's list is just something that doesn't compute to me. I seriously forget I ever watched this show most of the time. Nothing about it has ever really stuck with me. THR said "And its cynicism — about Hollywood, the Bush administration, corporate greed — appears to have prognosticated the cultural and political crises we find ourselves in 15 years later" but I think they've gone overboard. Yeah, 30 Rock would make fun of TV and what might air on it with stuff like MILF Island but I don't think anything the show did surpassed reality. Looking over broadcast TV, even before 30 Rock aired, you had Are You Hot?, Extreme Makeover and The Swan or Tiaras and Toddlers which began after it was airing as just some of the What-The-Hell ideas of shows to actually air. And I'll also add that when it comes to TV, the movie Network still seems like the most prescient and accurate take of TV's future that still applies to today despite coming out in 1975 and I'd say is more cynical than anything on 30 Rock.

Welp, that's my brief rant on 30 Rock. Spoiler alert, it's not going to make my final list. A real shocker, I know.

Abby’s

Micheal Schur has talked about his love for Cheers and this was his attempt to sort of duplicate it. Because of his work on stuff like The Office and Parks and Rec, I checked it out when it first aired. It only lasted a single season of 10 episodes. It wasn't that great and it wasn't that bad. Like I don't regret watching it but there's really nothing to recommend about it especially with Cheers still existing. It wasn't that memorable aside from the weird premise of a woman running an open air bar in her backyard that her neighbors actually would frequent.

American Crime Story

This is an anthology series. Each season focuses on a different real life crime. So far, the seasons have been The People v. O. J. Simpson, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, and Impeachment (about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal). It's possible there could be more entries in the series but so far this has been it. Although I've found all seasons to have some compelling elements about them and would consider worth checking out, by far, it is the first season with O.J. Simpson that is the must see of this show. When it first aired back in 2016, it was the show that I couldn't wait for the next episode to air. Back when it actually happened in real life, it was called The Trial of the Century and, after watching this version of it, I feel that comment is still appropriate. I was joking at work that here we are over 20 years later and I can't wait to see what happens next in the trial. 

I guess it shouldn't be surprising that the show has been unable to top that first season because of all that things that happened and coalesced during that trial. Of the other two seasons, I'd put Impeachment as second best. It was a bit different than expected as the impeachment isn't exactly the main focus. Rather it's more focused on Linda Tripp and Monica Lewinsky and what led to the whole affair coming out and the effect it had on them with although how that led to an impeachment trial was enlightening as it wasn't something I really followed back at the time. Although it can be debated, I felt the ending points about Clinton being found Not Guilty and the effects it had on US politics after that seemed to have a ring of truth to them.

The second season on Versace is the weakest of the three. There's a couple reasons. There was no trial in this case. I'm not sure it was really a news story that dominated like OJ or the Impeachment. It's also told of backwards with each episode sort of happening at an early point in the life of the killer until the last episode which resumes after the death of Versace. Moreover, most of those other episodes would then take a focus on the other victims of the killer before he got to Versace so you're being introduced to all these people coming and going and it makes for a bit more of disorienting journey compared to the unfolding action of the other two. Plus, there's really no connection between Versace and the killer aside from the killing. So then you have Versace's past also unfolding which just feels superfluous. At the same time, I think I get why it was done this way because of when you get to the penultimate episode. I won't say why so as not to give much away for those that may want to see it but if anyone just wants to know then I guess I can post something in spoilers later or maybe you can figure it out by looking up reviews of it.

American Vandal

I wasn't planning on doing a review of all these shows yet I seem to have suddenly put myself down this path which I'm regretting as I didn't expect to do all this typing. Unless there is an actual demand for it I'm going to scale down my comments here. (If you want more of my thoughts on a show listed, you can also ask for them since it's easier typing more when you know there's an interest).

Basically, I saw this show earlier this year. I'd been intrigued by it's premise and reviews back when it first aired. The idea is a comedy and sort of send-up of all the true crime podcasts or documentaries that have been springing up with things like Making a Murderer but this is all fiction and scripted. Yet, it proved me to why this content has become so popular in the last decade. As it would slowly examine the evidence and testimony to see what could or couldn't be trusted and dole out different evidence and conclusions in the unfolding of the investigation, I was hooked and invested in seeing how it would all unfold. It also gave me a slight vibe of working through Phoenix Wright cases. Worth checking out.

Andy Barker P.I.

Alright. I'll admit. I hardly remember anything about this series. It was a late TV season addition and only had 6 episodes made and aired. For some reason, the only thing I recall is a hazy season of tracking down a bad guy who worked at a chicken farm and in the confrontation he ranted about having to handle chicken eggs and the smell with the hens laying them. I don't know why that's my only memory but that's about all I can tell you of the show. I regretted missing out on Richter's earlier sitcom effort of Andy Richter Controls the Universe so when this came out, I was there plus it aired during the Thursdays of The Office, Parks and Rec, etc so it was easy for me to catch. I suppose like the Abby's right up, it was just alright, clearly nothing memorable. I'd have been ok with it getting more a chance to flesh itself out and see what it might develop into but I'd also have to watch it again at this point to see what the quality was like. It certainly was no First Season (6 episodes) of The Office.

Arrested Development

When I finally got around to watching Arrested Development, it was around 2017 and it felt like this sort of missing link between your classic sitcoms of Seinfeld, Frasier and the newer style like The Office, Parks and Rec, etc. It wasn't a mockumentary but it almost had that feeling with the cameras not being in the same sort of fixed locations and moving along with the characters. So many great things about the first two seasons. The shorter third season is still pretty good but I thought the British / Mr. F stuff was a bit weaker while the second half when it worked on wrapping some things up worked better. I have also seen the fourth and fifth Netflix seasons. They're definitely weaker and you get the sense that the creativity and comedic magic of the first years had been lost by the gap in time. There are still some great moments to me in those later seasons but it seemed more like the show was interested in how much plotting it could cram in than jokes. Look at how many plates we keep spinning at the same time. Still, those later seasons don't ruin the show for me or undo the greatness of those early seasons. Absolutely loved those ending stingers for next time.

Arrow

Myself and other users have engaged in a lot of Arrow talk over the years as the show unfolded. Thus, I'm not going to comment much on it but to say, when thinking about it overall, I still have some fondness for the series. Not that much fondness that I'd think about watching it all over again but enough that I'd still say it might be worth a watch for someone who hasn't seen it but were looking for a superhero show to watch. Casting Stephen Amell was a big reason in keeping that show watchable even when it got rough in the later seasons particularly when a lot of the stronger secondary characters slowly left over time although David Ramsey's Diggle sticking around also helped.

Band of Brothers

It's harder for me to remember much about this miniseries compared to things like Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day or Patton which are movies I've seen a few times and deal with a lot of the same moments of the war like D-Day or The Battle of the Bulge. The one thing I do recall is near the end of the series when they liberate a concentration camp and the bewildering sight of seeing how the prisoners had been starved and treated. Perhaps I should revisit this series again because I'm surprised how much has faded from my mind.   

Batman Beyond

Looking it up, about half of the show aired in the 21st Century. Around 7 or 8 years ago, I watched through the whole series because I had missed a lot of the third season episodes back when it was first airing and had recently gone through the whole Batman: TAS episodes. This still feels like an underrated series when people think of the DC Animated series as talk usually is about the Batman, Superman or Justice League series. Personally, I still quite enjoy the unrealistic future setting that was created for it and the premise and situation the characters find themselves in. Yet, it also feels like they only scratched the surface here and there was a lot more drama and conflict that could have been found from it beyond how it often felt of just setting up new villain origin stories and foiling their plots when they returned.

Better Call Saul

I'll probably talk more on this later as it will be somewhere on my list. Absolutely one if not the top show for the year during the years it aired. As soon as a season was over, the idea of having to wait so long for another season just seemed so cruel. And then counting down the time when a new season would get an air date. But it always felt to be worth the wait and I got so engrossed in each episode as it would air. So well shot and directed.

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Movies & TV / Re: Alright! Let's Get Serious With TV Talk! Your Top Shows of the 21st Century!

« on: October 16, 2023, 01:18:31 AM »

Alrighty. So, I've been spending some time on Wikipedia going over Network Broadcast television for the past 23 years to look over their schedules as well as programming on other cable channels. I created a list of about 200 shows for which I felt I could comment on from having seen a few episodes to the whole series.

Before I create my list, I'm going to create a few posts going over what my TV knowledge and background is. So, if you don't see something like The Wire on my final list, you'll notice it's because it won't be listed among the shows my judging pool will contain since I've yet to see any episode of it. I'm just going based on what I feel confident enough to judge.

When creating my list, I threw in everything I could recall watching over the past 23 years. This included things like NHL games or other sports like Baseball and Poker. Ultimately, I decided to leave off sports for the list because it's a weird sort of entertainment not really judged for any specific artistry when one thinks of a scripted TV Program or the catch-all "Reality" TV. This also made me question if I should include Game Shows which are almost closer to sports than actual TV programs and could almost be considered more disposable programming. When you know the outcome or can remember the answers to a show, does one really want to rewatch a game show like they may want to rewatch an episode of the Simpsons? And yet might that then further apply to reality shows like Survivor or The Amazing Race which I've always felt fall more on the Game Show side of things compared to stuff like Below Deck or The Real Housewives of whatever which are more built around personalities or "slices of life"? In the end, I decided that Game Shows or Cooking Shows or other less scripted programming should count because they are ultimately more of an actual TV production than sports. Sports can happen without TV and weren't built for the medium. The medium just helps broadcast the event. Whereas something like The Price is Right probably isn't going to exist if it was done without TV.

Enough preamble, let's start going through what TV of the 21st Century I've consumed.

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Random LOL of the day thread

« on: October 10, 2023, 10:14:47 PM »

71

Movies & TV / Re: Alright! Let's Get Serious With TV Talk! Your Top Shows of the 21st Century!

« on: October 08, 2023, 04:51:44 AM »

The West Wing is pretty much great from the start, but it runs into HEAVY seasonal rot by its 6th season and limps its way through its final 2 seasons.

Funny enough, I've always been interested in getting around to the West Wing because of its last season since I know Alan Alda was a big part of it. I've always liked checking out other things he has been in since watching M*A*S*H and I remember reading bits of reviews and articles about the West Wing at the end and how he played a candidate running for President. Him playing a role like that is the biggest reason as to why I sometimes think about getting around to watching that show but, aside from downloading it somewhere, I've never really seen any easy option to get around to watching that show. So, it's an idea that keeps getting kicked further down the road.

On a side note, animation (as usual) got ignored on this list. Avatar TLA being on the list period is nice (especially since I don't believe Korra was, as it deserves), but it's way lower on that list than it should be and the DCAU got screwed in general. Seriously? No love for Batman Beyond; Justice League; or Justice League Unlimited? No love for Spectacular Spider-Man, either.

Yeah, and that's mentioned in the article.

We each have feelings about things that are missing from the list or things that the list could use more of. Short version: Needs more British TV! Needs more animation! Needs more reality TV!

Perhaps if this was a list of 100 then there would have been more included. There's only two animated shows which are Avatar and Bojack Horseman. I thought Rick and Morty was on the list for some reason until I went back and just checked it over. Bob's Burgers and Harley Quinn got mentioned in the Honorable Mentions but that's it. That said, while making my own list of TV I've seen, I did remember and check to see if Batman Beyond qualified for this century and have noted it among things I've watched. Yet, I doubt it will make my final list. Same with Justice League. They're shows I've enjoyed watching but when thinking of what I would rank among best of TV when compared to things like Mad Men, Better Call Saul, Mr. Robot, etc, it is not a surprise to me none of the DCAU made a list like this either.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Worried about Nintendo's games future...

« on: October 08, 2023, 04:24:33 AM »

Fine. Then it's settled: I will quit gaming as whole, as soon Switch ends its lifecycle next year. However I'm not changing what I've said: I'm still going to get the remaining worthy games that will come on the platform by then (including all the remakes of the games I never played before... which are pretty much all of them except Luigi's Mansion 2, which I did already played, and also not a personal favorite game of mine). Until then I'm still going active on it. If it can help, I can leave this place right now, but don't expect that I'm gonna take easy the direction videogames and the people who play them are going to until I quit it... Nintendo games are being destroyed, and there's nothing I can do about it.

As for this comment, again, it would be nice to get some context. Is there no way to copy and paste some examples of how Nintendo games are being destroyed and why you can't do anything about it? I'd love to be able to see what you are seeing and reading since it just isn't something I've encountered where I live.

In regards to whether you keep gaming or not when a Switch successor comes, that's up to you to decide. I just find it odd that you keep talking about how you are worried about the future of Nintendo and its games vanishing or no longer existing and being made in the future yet your solution is to quit buying their stuff in the future anyways. Isn't quitting Nintendo doing just what the fanboy lies are hoping to accomplish? Have people not buy and play their stuff? I just don't understand why not playing Nintendo stuff you still enjoy in the future is your main solution whereas not bothering to engage in online arguments with people that dislike Nintendo is an impossible solution?

Again, it is your time, money and mental health so make the decision that is the best for you in those areas. If that is the best solution than so be it. It just doesn't quite make sense to me.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Worried about Nintendo's games future...

« on: October 08, 2023, 04:11:14 AM »

Also thank you a lot for making me feeling even more lonely in loving XBC2 by telling me that there are other people who hate it around here. Like if I hadn't heard enough hate for it already... no offence.

No offense taken. I was just trying to highlight that from my personal experience, I've seen a lot of different reactions about the game which may be why you've had a hard time finding others who like it as much as you do. I also never said that they hate it. Just that there were elements about it that caused them to like that particular entry less than others.

I would caution that you may want to be careful to assume that because someone doesn't view something with the same emotion you do that this means they must hate it or are the opposite of your view. Let's use the example of a movie. A person can watch a movie and afterwards they may find that they liked some of the characters and specific scenes and moments but didn't like or care for others and they may give reasons why they felt that way. Meanwhile, you may have seen that same movie and liked everything about it and are surprised to find out that this person didn't feel that same way or has complaints about it. Yet, that doesn't mean they hated it. As mentioned, there can be a lot they did still like. To them, there was just other stuff they thought could be better. And that's just human nature. We all have our own likes and dislikes. It isn't necessary that everyone has to feel the same way about everything.

Going back to videogames, Super Mario Sunshine is nowadays often considered the "worst" 3D Mario game. I say worst because when people make a list of Best 3D Mario games it will often be the last entry on the list. Yet, even when ranking the games in this way, people will still mention that there is some good stuff to it. It's not like they are considering it the worst game ever made. Just that in this specific instance of criteria and judging that it is at the bottom. Yet, for me, Sunshine will always be a top Mario game. I recognize that it does have its faults and I can see why many people would put it at the bottom. It's just that the game came out during a time in my life where it could make a big impact and in which I could spend a lot of time with it and repeatedly play it.

Nowadays, it just seems hard to replay and revisit games like that when there is so much out there to play. That's why I've only played through Super Mario Odyssey once. I really liked it. It had a lot of great worlds to explore and challenges in it. It has some excellent music to it. I loved the ability with the hat to control different species and things. But after getting all the Moons and costumes unlocked, I moved on to other games to keep up with all the other stuff I'd like to try out and play. Perhaps if I went back and replayed it over and over again like I did Sunshine then it would become my favorite Mario game or I'd have the same feelings for it as I do for Sunshine. But that's probably not going to happen. That's why for my own list, I would still put Sunshine ahead of Odyssey if I was ranking the Mario titles. Doesn't mean I hate Odyssey or anyone would say Odyssey is a better game that Sunshine. I still like Odyssey and would highly recommend people play it. It's just that I have a greater fondness for Sunshine beyond just it's technical merits which will make it hard for any game to be able to overcome that longtime affection.

At one point, if I saw Mario Sunshine being ranked low on a list, I'd have commented about that and mentioned how I disagreed and why I thought other Mario games were worse than it or why it was better. However, my attitude on that has changed. Having read and listened to the viewpoints of others as to what they don't like about the game and why they don't rate it as highly as I do, when I've revisited and replayed Sunshine, I've since been able to appreciate and see that there is some validity to their points. There are things that haven't aged well. Yet, that hasn't destroyed the game for me. I still get great pleasure in playing it again. What I liked about the game, I still like and enjoy. And that's why I don't bother trying to "defend the honor" of Sunshine like I once might have. Why I don't try and tell other people that they're wrong and I'm right because what does it really matter? The game still exists. It hasn't been taken away. I can still play it and enjoy it. And other people can still play it and decide for themselves if they like it or not regardless of what I tell them. The only thing that's changed is I've gotten more perspective on the game (and life in general) to appreciate and understand other viewpoints beyond my own.

That's why we've been trying to tell you to not get so obsessed over whatever criticism you may being seeing directed at the games you like, whether that criticism is legit or lies. People have their own opinions. Yours is that you like XC2. You Luigi's Mansion 3 more than Luigi's Mansion 2. That's cool. That's great. Go on liking them and playing them. Just remember that you are under no obligation to have to defend them or your reasons for liking them. Unless something absolutely wild happens in which Nintendo is bought by another company or they experience crazy financial misfortune, they are most likely going to still be around and keep making these types of games you like for quite some time. And as for Nintendo being bought or crazy financial misfortune, neither of those things will come about from the mass of lies you are worried about which is, again, why you shouldn't view it as the major issue you are feeling it to be.

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: I REMAIN YOUR GOD IN ABSTENTIA

« on: October 06, 2023, 11:00:52 PM »

I think Crimm is Jon Lindemann.

The Happy Mask Salesman guy that this forum always encourages us to revere via our avatars?

Hmmm, well, he does seem like a very important dude so I guess I'll show my respect for such a powerful figure like that.

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: I REMAIN YOUR GOD IN ABSTENTIA

« on: October 06, 2023, 08:25:54 PM »

Podcast Discussion

Follow-up. There's a Podcast Discussion forum?! Since when? What is even for? Who would ever use such a thing?