MIDI Week Singles: "Temple of Anubis" - Overwatch (PC, PS4, XBO)

"Temple of Anubis" from Overwatch on the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One (2016)

Composer: Derek Duke

Album: Overwatch Soundtrack

Label: Blizzard Entertainment

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

I know Overwatch.  

Okay.  I know of Overwatch but I have never played the game as I have never gotten into MOBAs as a genre, but when I have played them, I have really only played Team Fortress 2.  Earlier in the year, as in a few weeks ago, and partly due to an Instagram account we follow who showcases video game music a few times a week (gametracks), I got to thinking that branching out a bit from game soundtracks that I already have to soundtracks to games that I have never played might be a fun way of exploring new music.  So Overwatch it was, since it's apparently a fairly popular game, so I've heard anyway.

After listening to the soundtrack, I landed on "Temple of Anubis" and I was kind of irritated by that because I felt that "Temple of Anubis" was written in order for it to be a well liked song.  Sort of how, more often than not, a single from an album will be one of the more popular songs off of that album.   But what I do like about this song, is that it feels like a combination of The Mummy (the 19 year old one with Brendan Fraser), the first Assassin's Creed, and club music from 2008.  

Now, I do not know what is going on in the Temple of Anubis or why a bunch of people are trying to shoot each other in said temple, but at least there are some rollicking tunes.  Now I cannot say that this song (or the soundtrack as a whole) makes me want to go out and buy Overwatch only to find that my computer could barely handle it, but that is not to say that, again, it is some pretty good music and worth a listen.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Fighting for Survival

At a 3DS Intersection

This is going to be another semi-short post so there is a likely chance that this will ramble on for another 505 words.

I would say, for the last month or so, the B button on my 3DS has been acting a little wonky.  The button itself looks fine, there are no cracks or visual signs of misuse.  The problem is that unless I press the button pretty hard, there will be no response in-game.

When playing Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, this is not too much of an annoyance as the B button is mainly used to exit out of conversations, to exit out of transactions with merchants, to cancel/back out of actions during combat, and to talk to other members in your party while out walking around.  In games like Mega Man V however, that is the button you use to shoot your arm cannon.  Kind of an important one there.

After doing a bit of research, I have found that I really have three options.

1. Attempt to find out what is wrong with the B button by delving into the hardware and potentially risk permanently damaging my 3DS while in the process of fixing it.
2. Buy a Nintendo New 3DS XL.
3. Buy a Nintendo New 2DS XL.

I did look into seeing about official repair options from Nintendo, but they no longer service original 3DS units, so attempting to fix the unit myself is an option.  I feel somewhat okay attempting this as I have some experience replacing computer bits, but I am still afraid of permanently damaging the system, which is currently frustrating to play, and limited to the types of games that I can currently play.  So if/when I do follow this attempt, to find if anything has been lodged between the B button and the silicon cover, or something to do with the contacts, I will obviously back up my system information to an SD card in the off chance that I end up bricking the system.

There is also the question, do I actually need to replace the 3DS?  Could I get by without it as I have been for the last couple of weeks?  I mean I could and I kind of have been, but somewhat begrudgingly.  I still have a number of 3DS (physical and digital) and even DS games that I have that I have not played for one reason or another (Steam, and time).  And does it have to be the 3DS or can it be the non 3D 2DS?  While I do not always use the 3D to its fullest extent, I do frequently use it on games where I feel it either enhances the game or it's just damn pretty to play with it on but does not add anything to the game; usually during boss fights in non-RPG games I will turn it down or off as I sometimes find it too distracting when it goes out of focus.

So this is where I am at.  To repair, buy, or not.  And I am heavily leaning towards repairing and then buying if that road goes too far south.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

Mentally Reconciling Video Game Prices

I'm reusing the graphic because damn it, I can!

This is going to be somewhat of a short post, and thus it was stated and so it shall ever be.  Amen.

Something I have noticed since acquiring the Switch, is that I am mentally more likely to drop $30+ on a video game than any time in the last 11 years.  I'm sure this has something to do with whatever the name for the phenomenon where your brain tells you that paying $5.50 for 20 oz of beer in a restaurant isn't too bad of a deal, but get me in the grocery store, and I typically won't pay over $13.99 for a 12 pack of beer.  So what it is with buying console games versus buying PC games via Steam or GOG?

That is basically the point of this, so you are welcome to stop, but I'm going to continue for a short bit longer.

I may have mentioned the fact that that last console I owned was heavily discounted PS2 from Dr. Potts and I guess you could say that the last console game I pre-ordered was Final Fantasy XII back in 2006.  I paid whatever the retail price for the two disc steel case set was and I was perfectly happy doing it.  Apparently the Internet seems incapable to telling me how much the steelbook edition was back in 2006, but I would surprised if it was less than the industry standard of $59.99, but let's say it was $69.99 because of the extra disc and 'special' case.  In 2017, you would have been hard pressed to see me paying even $59.99 for a PC game pre-order.  The last PC game I did pre-order was Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and that was, I think, around $29.99.  

And yet, I pre-ordered DOOM for the Switch, albeit using Amazon's Prime 20% discount plus a 10% moving discount because Conklederp and I recently moved.  I also pre-ordered Bayonetta 1/2, and project OCTOPATH TRAVELER; although both of those games were pretty heavily discounted as well.

So why is that I am okay with paying (around) the $60 mark for a console game when I won't go near similarly priced PC games?  The simplest answer is that I am pretty sure that my computer could not handle a game that was released within the last year that would have sold for $60.  Consoles are, more and hopefully not less, designed to play any game that is designed for them, be it a game that is released on launch day, or the very last game to be released for that system 13 years later.  There is also the fact that a lot of console games have physical release and it might be easier to mentally reconcile spending $60 for a physical object rather than a digital one.

And with that in mind, I am finding it just a little hard not plunking down $70 for a game and some sheets of bloody stupid cardboard.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

We Will Meet Again

MIDI Week Singles: "The Great Warrior" - Final Fantasy VII (PSX)

"The Great Warrior" from Final Fantasy VII on the PlayStation, PC, iOS, PlayStation4, & Android (1997)

Composer: Nobuo Uematsu

Album: Final Fantasy VII Original SoundTrack

Label: DigiCube

Developer: Squaresoft

I was having a conversation with Conklederp late last week about Final Fantasy VII, specifically that I do not hate the game.  I do think that it is one of the more overrated games, but I do not hate it.  One of the key reasons for that is the music (but don't get me wrong, I severely lament the victory fanfare that was written over what before that point, is what had always been and sounds more victorious).  But the piece of music that I wanted to bring up today from FF VII was "The Great Warrior,"  the piece that plays during Red XIII's return to Cosmo Canyon and when he finds out the truth about his father whom he had always thought had abandoned him and his mother.

What I like about this theme, is that despite all of the flaws in FF VII, this cue and the story associated with it have an emotional impact on me; possibly even more so than Aerith's death scene.  The theme here sounds like it was Seto's theme, and later because of his sacrifice, it develops and becomes the theme of Cosmo Canyon.

I am 99.47% positive that people have written dissertations on Nobuo Uematsu's music from Final Fantasy VII, so I will leave it at that I really love this piece in particular, out of an entire 85 track soundtrack with a good number of songs.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Beneath Your Stream of Words

First Impressions: Heroes of the Monkey Tavern (NS)

I first heard about Heroes of the Monkey Tavern back in late November when I was perusing the Nintendo eShop for demos on the Switch.  What drew me to this title, was in fact the silliness of the name.  I also really liked the idea of play an "old school" dungeon crawler, something that I enjoyed about Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey that I haven't really experienced much since (at least in my little corner of video gaming, although it is very reminiscent of exploring dungeons in Ultima: Exodus on the NES).  The trailer also played a deciding factor; yes, I also know about Eye of the Beholder, I just have not played it yet.

So I played the demo, which consisted of the first floor in the game, which isn't as expansive as some of the later dungeon floors, but does contain a pretty good overview of how the game operates, at least as much as I have come to realize that is.  After really liking the demo, I ended up buying the game a few weeks back, shortly before Conklederp and I left for Christmas in SoCal.

What I love about HotMT, is that it really feels like playing Dungeons & Dragons; hopefully I won't have to go up against any dragons though.  The game is pretty easy to operate once you realize that the directional buttons on the left Joy-Con are what you use to both move within the game space, as well as navigating the menus.  The left Joy-Con joystick is used to use either healing or mana potions, and only recently have I been finding myself accidentally hitting either up or down on the joystick and mistakingly using up one of the not at all common potions.  Thankfully though, hit points and mana are automatically regenerated, otherwise the game that was developed would be almost too difficult.

Something I have yet to figure out though, is what to do with a deceased character.  From what I can tell, once they are dead, they are dead.  I have not come across any resurrection spells and. . .well, I have not tried going back down to each floor and exiting the dungeon completely to see if you can "return" and have your character resurrected.  That might work.  I also have not found out what to do with extra weapons and armor that I no longer need.  Do I just hold onto them and let them clog up my inventory?  And your inventory screen (as seen above) is exactly what I was hoping it would be.  And as one might expect, not all equipment can be equipped by everyone.  And speaking of equipment, while there are ranged weapons, I do not know if ranged battle is a thing in this game.  And now that I think about it, I do not know if you are able to un-equip and re-equip gear while in combat, and I am pretty sure that you can still be attacked while in the inventory screen, which makes the un-equip/re-equip question null since moving around the inventory screen is not as fast as you would want it to be in a stressing situation, like combat.

Speaking of combat, fighting is easily one of the most stressful portions of this game, at least for me.  Battles happen in real time and you have four characters to control, each with two hands which are controlled by pressing either the A or B button.  But only after you select that character with the ZLeft or ZRight button.  Occasionally, I will find that I accidentally pressed the B button on teh cleric when I mean to press A in order to heal the Paladin.  Or I will press the R bumper button (which has you rotate to the right) instead of ZR.  The game also punishes you if you try to run away while engaged with an enemy (basically invoking an opportunity of attack, like in D&D), mainly so that you cannot perform hit and run attacks.  Because the way most of the rooms and hallways are laid out, I have not come across an instance where I have had to fight more than one enemy at a time, and I really think that that would quickly be the end of me, especially in the later floors when my cleric and elementalist (wizard) are nearly drained of mana and have to wait for it to recharge.

You know, after three hours, I apparently have a lot more questions about how the game works than I would have thought.  Although the last time I played, I did discover something that I thought was pretty cool.  If you have the map open and you go through an area that you have not yet explored, that section of the map is drawn in for you in real time, accompanied by the sound of the lines being drawn.  This sound is only heard if you have the map open, as opposed to when you are normally exploring.  And let us just take a minute to admire the old school-ness of the the map for the above floor.  Something about the layout of this floor of the dungeon just does not make a lick of sense, from the perspective of someone designing how this built structure should actually function, but I really do not care.  While going through the dungeon, it is not something that I actively think about though, until I look at the map and just wonder.

Well, I guess this article turned into half First Impressions, half Game Review.  The point is, I really like what Heroes of the Monkey Tavern is as opposed to what it is not.  It is not story heavy RPG with dialogue options, branching story points, morality meter, or even named characters.  It really is just an old school-esque dungeon crawl that looks and plays really well on the Switch.  But if the Switch is not your thing, it is also available through Steam, and on the PlayStation 4.  I would say that it is definitely worth whatever you end up paying for it.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Drop the Hourglass of Time


P.S.  I should also mention that I love the fact that their icon on the Switch is exactly what you see on their Nintendo page.  It's just the company logo.  And I really appreciate this, considering all of the shit that was given to Snake Pass and SteamWorld Dig 2 among many others.  It is not the most attractive looking icon considering all of the unused white space, but I love it.  I like to think that solo developer Cédric Maussion presented the icon to Nintendo and hasn't looked back.  I also have not looked into to see if there is in fact an outcry about the logo, but for all I know, people love it and here I am loving it too.

P.P.S.  It should be noted that after writing this article, that a few things happened that I talked about above.  First off, I ran into a situation that pitted me against two enemies at one time.  There was no way around this as the encounter happened in a room with my exit cut off.  Secondly, after said encounter, I discovered that small single-serve fountains containing magical water have the ability to revive dead companions.  I had come across these before but was unsure what their purpose was.  Lastly, before it was posted, Heroes of the Monkey Tavern received an update that did in fact update their icon on the Switch (see above right).  I see it not so much as an improvement, but a re-imagining, and along the same lines. 

MIDI Week Singles: "Hellwalker" - DOOM (NS)

"Hellwalker" from DOOM on the Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One (2016)

Composer: Mick Gordon

Album: DOOM Original Game Soundtrack

Label: Bethesda Softworks

Developer: id Software

I decided on this song for today before I realized that this is also the music that plays over the menu, at least in the Nintendo Switch version (have not played others, but it makes sense if it is so).  What I really like about "Hellwalker" is that I feel like this song depicts fairly well how I play DOOM on the Switch.

When I turn the game on, there will usually be a lull as the game loads up and for the first couple of seconds as I reorient myself to my surrounds, what I was doing.  "Oh, my map is telling me that there is a secret over in this, and now I am being inundated by a horde of, nope, just a pair of imps and a Possessed Soldier.  Okay, down this hallway and then turn, oh shit a pair of Possessed Security.  Now that they are out of the way, let me enter this large room with that item in the back and an artifact sitting in the middle of the room, oh and there is a gore next, aaaaaaannnnnddd now there is the horde.  Goodtimes."  I am not a big fan of wiping a horde of hellspawn from an area of the map that you are enclosed in, only to take a short walk down a hallway to fight another massive horde, this time with 50% more Mancubus' and 100% more Revenants.  I would rather have the map littered with enemies with occasional rooms full of demons, but that is just me I guess.

One of the other reasons why I chose to highlight this song, is that unlike a number of the other songs on this soundtrack, "Hellwalker" lets you catch your breath.  There is a bit of definition in the song as it is not all horde all the time, but when composer Mick Gordon does bring the horde, it is pretty fun and exciting.  Plus a 5:06 minute song seemed a bit easier on the soft pallet than one of the more intense 7+ minute songs.  But seriously, if this song at all piqued your interest, the entire album is not only a great video game soundtrack, it is a pretty great (mostly) instrumental metal album, with occasional punctuations of narration.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

The Song of Thy Salvation

Pathfinder Update

It's been Six Months since my previous post about Pathfinder, and I've been happily enjoying Bi-Weekly games since that time.  We are very close to wrapping up our first quest, and I realize now that I haven't updated a single time since we began!  So I owe you all some updates, which I am happy to deliver at this time.

I settled on a Halfling Bard.  I decided the more complex classes were probably not best for my first D&D game in a long while.  Her name is Lili Von Schtupp, a name I took from Madeline Kahn's character in the movie Blazing Saddles.  Her specialties are Singing and Comedy, which overlap a little, but are fun to role-play.  My rolls started really weak;  I rolled a strength of 8, and being a halfling, I could only carry 27 pounds without being encumbered.  So I chose not to play an instrument so I wouldn't have to lug it around, (though I had wanted to play the accordion).  My charisma is 20, which is the most essential stat for Bards, this gave me hope.  It was quite clear I wouldn't be much of a bruiser, but I hoped I could help a little.  I took a short bow and a whip, which I can use to trip foes (though, admittedly, I rarely roll well enough to pull that trick off).  I hope to one day incorporate my whip into my Bard performance, perhaps I'll take Dance as a skill next time.

Our quest was written by our DM, 8.5Tails.  It takes place in a Germanic country, in the town of Halstater.  All the basic races, Human, Elf, Halfling, Dwarf, etc, live together and mix, and there are no cultural divides.  However, there are no monster races in their land, and no magic.  At least, not in their society.  There is a parallel world known as the Hedge, where monsters and magic reign supreme.   The people of Halstater are not aware of the hedge, and are generally slow and stupid, generally unaware of much going on.  They have a very 'NPC' vibe to them, like in an RPG were the commonfolk have only a few lines of dialogue.  It's been a really interesting  process getting to know the town and figuring out what the citizens can and can't do for us.  Our biggest obstacle by far has been the endless mountain of bureaucracy.

This one of my favorite qualities of 8.5Tails' DM style.  He has managed to make a D&D quest about bureaucracy.  We were able to determine, through lots of frustrating investigation, that the Book of the Law has gone missing, and as a result, the laws of the land have become broken and non-functional.  We have a Lawful Cleric who worships the god of Law, so he has led us on some truly pointless roundabout experiences, waiting to see magistrates and getting called into court for illegally carrying weapons through town.  Ultimately, we have seen no bad consequences outside of mild inconveniences, so most of our party has chosen to ignore the law and all authority figures, which is very difficult for our Cleric Glowryn.  

We are approaching the end of our quest, I expect 1-2 more sessions remaining.  I've had a lot of fun developing Lili Von Schtupp into a self-promoting Bard, who is small but intimidating.  She uses savagely humorous insults to get her way, and is quite effective.  Additionally, I've discovered a lot of use for the basic Bard songs, and had my highest achievement using Countersong to protect my party from an Audio-based mind control effect.  This spell replaces our willpower save with Lili's performance skill.  Given the effects of our time in this terrible Bureaucratic nightmare has been a steady loss of Will, this really worked out for us all.   

We haven't talked plans of a new campaign after this one, but I am hopeful for a chance to continue with this group.  

-D

TV Review: Runaways (Hulu)

left to right:  Gert, Nico, Alex, Chase, Carolina, Molly

I believe superhero fatigue is a real thing.  The endless Movies and TV shows being released at steady intervals, despite the generally high quality, can get tiring.  It seems like whenever a new superhero idea or property appears, I have an immediate sense of "that would have been cool a couple years ago, but now I don't know."

I am very happy to say that Marvel's The Runaways is cool now.  This is a property I knew very little about going into it, though it had passed through my awareness here and there.  It turns out, the comic series it is based on was written by Brian K. Vaughn, the celebrated writer of 'Y, the Last Man' and 'Saga.'  Vaughn is on as a producer and consultant for the show, which I've heard departs significantly from the comics in terms of pacing. Jane and I really enjoyed this show, and we are eagerly anticipating the second season.  

Runaways is a 10 episode season, which just finished up last night.  It stars mostly unknowns, though there are two familiar faces that bring me joy:  James Marsters, most famous for playing Spike on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (and also a northern California native), and Marshall, from ALIAS (Kevin Weisman), who is a delightful and charismatic actor.  There are 15 principal characters in this show, which is really a lot, but the shows handling of these characters is probably it's best quality.

The story follows six teenagers, who have been friends since childhood, and their parents.  There are two parallel stories of the teenagers and their parents, and each of these is broken into different threads following the characters individually.  To give only the most basic spoiler, the action starts when the kids discover their parents are part of some sort of bizarre murder cult.  From that point, there is a growing amount of tension in the show, as you discover more and more about each character, while they also learn about the parents' secrets.  This tension is managed very well, and carries across the whole season.  

It doesn't hurt that the teenagers and parents are likeable and competently played by all of the actors.  Some characters, like Marshall, his wife Stacey, and daughter Gert are so charming-- I just love them (yes, I'm just calling him Marshall, even though the characters name is Dale).  Other characters take a bit of growing into, like Leslie, the religious-leader mom with the awesome freckles.  

Jane and I found ourselves completely sucked in by this show, and really hope it keeps going at the current level of quality.  We're both going to read the comics in the interim, and spoil ourselves on what is to come.  I hear that the entire first season is covered in like a single issue of the comics, so I expect there will be some major differences.

The Runaways on Hulu:  Highly Recommended.

-D

MIDI Week Singles: "The Innocent Abandoned" - Sanitarium (PC)

"The Innocent Abandoned" from Sanitarium on the PC (1998), and Android, & iOS (2015)

Composer: Stephen Bennett & James C. McMenamy

Album: Sanitarium In-Game Soundtrack

Label: Available through GOG.com

Developer: DreamForge Entertainment, & DotEmu

Somewhat based on my Year in Review article, I have unofficially decided to play more games through GOG, mainly because there are a lot more good ol' games (eh!?) that I have not played that I feel that I would really love.  Sanitarium is one of those games, and awesomely enough, the soundtrack comes packaged with the game!  Although I did have to scour the Internet a bit to find the track listing since it was not included with the bundled soundtrack and the ID3 tags were only labeled as "Track 01" and so on.  So this may not be the official title of the song, but it seems to be the general consensus that this is what this particular track is called.

Now I presently have not played Sanitarium and I really hope that when I do, that I will have better luck than my foray into both I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, and Dark Fall: The Journal, both of which I really enjoyed, but some of the puzzles became too much for my little brain and I stepped away too long to recall well enough what I was doing and what I had previously done to get me there.

But "The Innocent Abandoned" is what I felt was the first stand out track on the album for me, and considering that it was the third track after the first two that sounded like dark and ambient songs, this should not come as much of a surprise.  The piano intro reminds me a lot of "Promise (Reprise)" from the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack, as well as the 30th anniversary version of Night of the Living Dead with additional music by Scott Vladimir Licina, "The Dead Walk."

So now I guess Sanitarium is going to come up sometime after I decide that I have finished with either The Shivering Isles, DOOM, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Wolfenstein 3D, or Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation.  Hoo boy.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

This Is What We Were Put Here For.

Second Impressions: Dragon Quest 8 (PS2)

I'm posting this update to my impressions of Dragon Quest VIII, because I found I missed some important details in my first post, and I've grown into the game somewhat in the interim.

First up: Music.  I can't believe I left out the music!  The music is great in this very grand fashion, with big arrangements, lots of strings and woodwinds and stuff.  It has a very 'traditional' european feel to it.   While none of hte tracks have hooked me, they all create a pleasant environment.  In general, the whole game has that feel, which is sort of refreshing.  It's like stripped down, it feels like the creators just want to make the world live, and don't worry to much about being original.  And it works!  And there are fun little differences, most markedly that the churches you go to save and get your characters resurrected (an old DQ tradition) all worship a goddess, rather than god.  It's a small thing, but significant.

The monsters really are adorable.  The fight scenes are really well animated.  Everything moves quickly, so as not to bore you, but it also moves smoothly, which makes it nice to watch.  Favorites include the boot guy and drakees and the fencing foxes.  

Yangus, your first character, seems like he has an interesting arc ahead of him.  He is very rough, and speaks with a cockney accent.  However, his key skill element is 'heart.'  and As you dedicate skill points to it, he becomes more compassionate, which I think is really cool.  I don't know if this will reflect in the actual story, but I like the idea of the big brutish fellow being full of heart.  The lead hero, whom you get to name, and who does not speak, gains courage, because of course he does.

There are some issues with the interface.  I don't particularly like the control scheme.  R2 brings you into first person mode, which stops you in your tracks and allows you to look around.  This doesn't have much use, and the R2 button has a hair trigger, so I often find myself jumping into first person mode on accident, and it is obnoxious.  There is no option to customize the buttons, minus inverted axes (thank god).  The menus are very slow, and require a lot of redundant selections, which make the whole process rather cumbersome.  These are elements of throwback that I am not into.  Luckily, it really doesn't affect my play experience in any significant way, just slightly annoying.

How is her shirt not falling off?

Okay, now I have to take a minute to talk about my frustrations with the character of Jessica.  I like her, she is hard-edged, and assertive.  However, the designers decided to treat her as a sex object.  It's not enough that her first adventuring outfit features an absurd amount of cleavage, but her special skill attribute is 'Sex Appeal.'  It seems to be foisted onto the character to delight young boys, as her actual personality doesn't fit this at all.  Super irritating, especially as I've got Jane following me along a good amount of the time.  Consequently, I've refused to put any skill points toward sex appeal.  

Finally, as a final insult, Jessica is the only character I've seen change outfits, and each one is equally scandalous to the previous.  It's poor treatment of her character, and it annoys us both. There is no escaping it.  There is a sense that Jane is being excluded, because she really doesn't want to see this, whereas I may have an easier time shrugging it off.  

Apart from this deep irritation, I am thoroughly enjoying this game.  I also love that Jane watches me play.  But every time some cheap sex joke is thrown at Jessica, or a bunny outfitted girl, I feel like we're close to losing her.  

-D

Movie Review: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

To be clear (because it is going to come up in a bit), before seeing Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle last week, the only exposure I had to seeing anything about this movie was the poster, and reading somewhere that Karen Gillan was trying to quell voices pointing out how scantily clad her character was in the first promo images coming out about the film.  I did not even know that a Guns 'n Roses song was the tagline until the evening before heading out to the theatre.  Basically I was going into this movie being about as blind as one could be with the exception of that knowing the movie existed.

The point of this hipster run up to my actual talking bits, is because the movie I watched that night contained nearly 50% of the plot for the 1993 Warcraft movie that I wrote back in August 2015.  If you have not seen J:WttJ yet and do not want any spoilers, I urge you not to read that article.  Yet, anyway; I actually think it's one of my better ones, but that's purely subjective because I'm me.  The point is, what I wrote about what I feared a Warcraft movie would be about, is a lot of what J:WttJ did in fact turn into, but here it worked instead of being a mostly cringe-worthy mess.

Was J:WttJ a bad film?  No.  But J:WttJ was not a great movie by any stretch of my imagination.  It was a fun movie that was entertaining and I would be lying if I said that I was bored at all during the 119 minutes the movie ran for.  The movie does a lot right with what they were trying to accomplish, but they also do do some things wrong even they acknowledged its shortcomings.  

Again, without trying to spoil much, recall the outcry against the movie's costuming decision to put Karen Gillan in about as much clothing as Dwayne Johnson's pants.  Now the this design choice is addressed within the movie itself and it receives a bit of chuckle, but then it ventured into a scenario similar to that of one in Persona 5 that the Extra Credits made and excellent point about.  In the movie, it is acknowledged that the character of Martha is uncomfortable in her outfit, but then at the behest of the entire group, she is made to use her sexuality in a pretty demeaning and insulting way.  Considering her skills include various forms of martial arts, and something called "Dance Fighting."  So rather than having her use her other non sexualized fighting skills, in two instances she is forced to resort to dancing around a group of NPCs before kicking their asses.  Imagine if Jackie Chan had been playing someone recovering from alcohol abuse at the beginning of The Legend of Drunken Master and is forced to become drunk every time he is forced through situations beyond his control to defend his familial village from having their relics stolen.

Alright, climbing down from my pedestalled horse of soap now.

The original point of all this is that I was amused at how many similarities there were between my 8/10/15 article and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.  Although at the end of my movie, AC/DC would have played and not Guns N' Roses.  Anyway if you're looking for a movie to just sit back and be entertained, this might be a pretty good option*.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Dance with Flames of Fire

*P.S.  Unless you already don't like The Rock, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, or Jack Black.

P.P.S.  I must admit, I did not know anything about Nick Jonas being in this movie, but thought he did a really good job with his role.  Surprisingly so.

MIDI Week Singles: "Chaos' Temple" - Final Fantasy (NES)

"Chaos' Temple" from Final Fantasy on the Nintendo Entertainment System, & Nearly Everything Else (1987)

Composer: Nobuo Uematsu

Album: All Sounds of Final Fantasy I - II

Label: DATAM Polystar

Developer: Square

I had first considered doing the "Menu Screen" music because of the memories that song brings back, but then I thought, "No!  This is the first MIDI Week Single of the year and I want to do something that I love!  A song that has five stars on my iTunes!"  So "Chaos' Temple" was the next logical choice as I was already mentally Hell bent on using a song from the first Final Fantasy game.

What I love about "Chaos' Temple" requires a bit of explanation and does kind of contain spoilers if you have not delved into this game yet.  You first hear this song on your first mission when you go to rescue Princess Sarah from Garland who has taken her to the Temple of Fiends.  This is even before the player becomes aware of Chaos as the main antagonist, and before they discover the possibility of the whole time paradox loop.  "Chaos' Temple" sounds like a very heroic piece of music to be given to a seemingly benign princess-napper.  Maybe my brain has become biased over the years, but I am actually unable to hear anything close to a hint that this music is trying to relate to Garland being more evil than his first encounter portends.

This song is made even better by its arrangement that was included in the Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite that was released on CD back in 1989.  As the penultimate finale for the fifth movement, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra just. . ., I mean. . ., holy Hel, it is just bloody damn amazing.  Seriously give it a listen and just wait for that french horn glissando.  Tell me this is the villain's theme after listening to that beautiful work of heroic art.  The chills.  The chills.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

I Can Honestly Tell You That You Make Me Proud

Year in Review: 2017

Well 2017 was a doozy of a year, almost regardless of what aspect of the year you happen to be looking regarding.

2017 saw my own personal resurgence into the console gaming marking with Conklederp and myself acquiring a Nintendo Switch, and a semi-coveted Super Nintendo Classic.  During 2017 in particular, I felt that I have moved more away from PC gaming, partly because of the Switch purchase, but also because I am finding that my computer, for whatever reason, is having more and more difficulties playing games that I want it to be able to play.  From older games like Fallout New Vegas, Fallout III, to more recent games like The Walking Dead: A New Frontier and The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, my computer either likes to not keep the game open beyond the first couple of seconds loading, or will randomly crash 5 - 35 minutes into playing.  And then there are games like DOOM that my computer maxes out at 15 fps even on the lowest settings, which is pretty much unplayable for that type of game.

Another reason I have found why I have been leaning more towards console gaming recently is because I want Nintendo to know that they have a customer who is willing to purchase third party games on their system.  Over Christmas, I purchased Oxenfree for the Switch, which was discounted 75% even though less than a week before, I had received it for free through GOG's winter sale.  I am looking forward to purchasing Resident Evil Revelations on the Switch even though I already have the first game in that series on the 3DS because I want Capcom to know that there is a market for Resident Evil games on the Switch.  I even pre-ordered project Octopath Traveler a few months back because the demo was what I have wanted from a JRPG for a long time, although Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia did scratch that itch quite a bit earlier in the year.

In other forms of gaming news, Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition continues to be the D&D is going to be interesting this year.  Beardsnbourbon (and his girlfriend), who is the head of our SoCal contingency (and Conklederp's brother) are moving out mid-west, about a mile higher than their current location, so we may end up just Google Hangingout in order to keep that group going.  Our PDX group is seeing one of our founding members move a bit further south due to purchasing a house, so hopefully monthly meet ups are still in the cards.  And we've managed to bring her fellow house-purchaser into the fold, so that is pretty great; he also plays a pretty mean barbarian.  Coupled with two couples in our D&D are now engaged, which is pretty damn awesome if you ask me.  Lots of things happening.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that both Conklederp and I, and Dr. Potts and Jane both bought houses in 2017!?  We are all now home owners because we bought fucking houses!!  That's is flipping crazy in the best kind of adult way.  I have found that in the last four months, half of which was spent being busy in the actual buying process and the other two were spent in a combination of doing renovations before moving in, moving in, cleaning up, and then doing touch up repairs.  It is all kind of busy, but it is a good kind of busy, or at least the kind of busy that makes you feel good at the end of the day.  Tack onto all of that the fact that I am now working more hours, which is indubitably a great thing, has also meant that keeping up with writing articles for you all (or just you) sometimes gets put on the back burner until after I get home from work and do other housely duties.

 For 2018. . .hmmmm.  I feel like that I am going to be playing the Switch a lot (I had better anyway), especially with Bayonetta 1, 2, & 3, coming out, along with, I hope, Dark Souls I, II, and/or III, and project Octopath Traveler, and Wolfenstein II, and Layers of Fear (again, which I have already played but damn it, I want to support my 3rd party horror games) and whatever Nintendo ends up doing with their Switch Online component.  Oh, and then the re-release of the NES Classic later this summer.  I am also finding myself wanting to play a lot more games through GOG Galaxy, partly because I was having an issue running Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs through Steam, but through Galaxy it ran flawlessly, so there is that too.  AND Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition currently has one more physical expansion out and another planned for sometime in the next three months.

The point is, I am somewhat more optimistic about 2018 than I past-tense feel about 2017, although 2017 did have a fair amount of good points considering the first four paragraphs here; but I guess I did leave out a bit of the negativity, but that is what I chose to do.  So there.  

Stay positive people, if you can.  And if you cannot, then find a way to do something about it.  Me, I have gotten back in to platelet donations on a semi regular basis.  Now stop calling me Red Cross, I'll make an appointment when I have the time.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Mesmerized in Night