Avengers: Infinity War reaction (spoilers)

As I sit in the movie theater waiting for the usual end of credits scenes that Marvel likes to put in their movies I sit in shock at what I just watched, unable to really think straight all I can this is wow. Marvel pulled out all the stops in this the latest Avengers Movie. The best possible scenario played out for thanos, not only were the Avengers completely separated they weren't even on speaking terms making picking them apart that much easier.

From Iron man's unwillingness to make a phone call to his unwillingness to go home regroup and gameplan... Obviously if they did this in the first place there would be no need for two movies and I wouldn't be writing this post but I digress.

Thanos got everything he could ask for, the avengers all separated, easy access to the infinity stones(though the soul stone kicked him where it hurts) and no one who could really stop him, like all his wishes came true... Not cool... Really glad Thor got a badass axe and the use of both eyes, if only he could've finished of Thanos but alas.

Oh the questions so many questions... What happens next? How? Why? Are the guardians really gone along with Spiderman, Wanda, vision, black panther, Bucky, Dr. Strange, falcon, and even Loki??? Marvel can't just kill them all like that can they? I mean they just did but will they really stay dead?? How is there supposed to be a Spiderman sequel with no Spiderman?? How does marvel continue screw with us like this??

Obvious answer is just wait for the next installment of infinity war and everything will work itself out. How they'll do it? It's marvel it'll be fucking amazing!

Man do I love super hero movies, marvel did yet another amazing job putting this thing together and deserve all the credit they always get... I can't wait to see what happens in the next one but first we get another fun adventure with everyone favourite non hero Deadpool which I'm super excited for, oh and that gap between marvel and DC is just getting wider.

Dishonored 2 Review

Slight spoilers for the first Dishonored.

Dishonored is a mostly good game with some deep flaws.  For a game that at its core is a stealth assassin game with non-lethal options, even for your main assassination targets, Dishonored's non-lethal play was largely dull as you had few toys to play with.  It was also a game with very deep lore and world building, but characters that didn't seem to change with anything happening around them.  Only assassination targets got more than basic characterization which is a problem because a major twist in Dishonored is having most of your co-conspirators turning against you, killing many loyal to you, and doing so for painfully obvious reasons.  All these rich guys are loyal to the true heir and recruit you because you're the empresses secret father....yeah something doesn't sit right there.

Dishonored 2 attempts to fix these mistakes.  It leads to a game that is better than the original, and probably the best out of the 5 I've played from this old blogpost from forever ago (haven't played two of them yet), but still falls short of being an all time great.  

The Dishonored team cares about its narrative but only to a point.  In D2, the main plot is pretty similar to the first game.  The empire is overthrown by a coup, only this time the empress isn't killed as she is the optional player character.  A woman named Delilah comes out of nowhere with the Duke of Serkonos claiming she is Empress Emily's long lost Aunt.  She usurps the throne even as Corvo, protagonist of the first game, stabs her in the chest.  She survives with powers, and turns to stone whoever you decide not to play as.  (I decided to play as Emily as I thought the story would be better suited to that character).  You then need to escape the imperial capital city of Dunwall by fleeing to Serkonos where the coup plot was hatched.

I'd say Emily is "Antifa as fuck", but that collar.  Oh and being an Empress. 

Having the main plot being another coup is probably a by product of making (the now adult) Emily a playable character along with Corvo.  There has to be a reason for the empress to go around stealth assassinating people after all.  That said, it is a little odd that this developer treats their narrative so basic while giving the world of Dishonored so much detail.  More about the technology is expanded upon this time, plus a lot more about the geography and even some about the far off Pandyssian Continent.  It was obvious these islands are not on Earth in the previous game so more detail on just where the hell we are is much appreciated.  Also, there is far more about the supernatural elements of the world.  Witches are a common enemy later in the game and have powers similar to yours.  There is more about the void and a lot more about the Outsider too (more on him later).

The fuck is with the collars in this game?

Emily being a playable character and Delilah being the main villain is a good step in the right direction from a common criticism of the first game, in that Dishonored's treatment of women in the first game was trash.  Sorry if I'm going super SJW on you for a second, but it's ridiculously true.

Women in the previous game are just sort of there.  They get very little characterization, including pre-teen Emily who is the rightful heir, and the ones that get some characterization are given just a handful of personality traits tops.  For example, we know two things about Callista, one of your co-conspirators.  She tutors Emily and you can spy on her taking a bath.  Actually, you can barge in, jump into the bath with her still in it and get a unique Game Over screen as the developers knew players would try this.  Kinda weird to put into the game to begin with.  But that is NOTHING compared to Lady Boyle's non-lethal assassination, which has you knocking her out and handing her over to some creeper who has loved her forever.  Dude is going to take her far away and he is going to teach her to love him.  Ah yes.  The moral high ground of not killing her by giving her away to the most obvious rapist ever.*

*There's also a degree of slut shaming here as the only reason she is even an assassination target in the first place is because she banged the wrong dudes.  Trash.

There is nothing like that in Dishonored 2.  There are two women assassination targets other than Delilah and they get a good amount of characterization.  There is also a main secondary character, Meagan Foster, who is with you through the whole game and gets a great deal of pathos.  You gradually learn more about her as the game goes on and you eventually learn why she is so distant with you.  Even the dudes get better characterization as your inner circle is much smaller this time.  The only returning secondary character is Anton Sokolov, and don't worry, his inclusion isn't really a spoiler.  Shouldn't be that surprising as he was the most fleshed out character in the first game other than maybe Daud.  Other old secondary characters are just given brief notes about their whereabouts only found in letters in the game world.  The developers knew the old characters were bunk.

Delilah has a permanent scowl.  

Emily could have used more though. Most of her dialogue is making statements or asking questions the player is likely to do anyway.  Early in the game, she makes observations on every damn thing you interact with, so much so that I was ready to mute her.  I mean, yes Emily, I know what a Globe is. Luckily this only really happens in the first mission and it's more natural through the rest of the game.  Plus, a lot of her dialogue seems to be focused on self reflection on the lethal vs non-lethal paths to progress the game and at least that stuff was well done.

Dishonored is known for tying its narrative to your playstyle with a chaos mechanic.  Kill a bunch of people, high chaos, don't kill many (or any), low chaos.  In the first game, low chaos was the only way to get the good ending, although I don't know how not killing people would cure the rat plague.  In Dishonored 2, chaos only really effects the ruthlessness of the ending. Spoilers:  Kill a lot of people and you return to the throne to rule with an iron fist.  Don't kill people and you rule as a benevolent leader who suddenly seems open to listen to other leaders...? However, other than the ending, plus a handful of dialogue and Sokolov's painting, your playstyle doesn't really effect anything else.  This isn't so much of a criticism as wishing more games would rip off MSGV here.

Non-lethal play is better in this game but still not quite as fun as lethal play.*  Sleep darts are still here but you also get a dart that makes enemies forget they saw you, stun mines as a non-lethal wire mine, and a non-lethal takedown while in combat !!!!!!!......that kind of sucks.  You can only do it while parrying.  If you are being shot at, just stick to the tried and true "run and hide" or you are fucked (you can upgrade your parry to block bullets but it is possible to deflect a bullet back, getting a kill and screwing a non-lethal playstyle).  You also get some new powers that help with stealth and non-lethal takedowns but they are still outweighed by the many more lethal powers and weapons.  Overall, it's more balanced than the first game, but not equal yet.

The clockwork soldiers have eyes on the back of their heads.  Had to get creative to stay stealthy.

*Perhaps stupidly, I did my lethal runthrough second.  Since I knew my way around now, I was better able to stay in stealth mode as I was spotted far less.  I uh, I felt like a serial killer.  However, it was nice to stand and fight the few times I did get spotted and could actually take down multiple enemies.  It is damn near impossible to do a non-lethal takedown in combat with more than one enemy on you.  The 2 seconds it takes to choke a guard out is long enough for the other guard to attack you and there is no counter except throwing the guard you're choking into the other guard....usually right into the other guards firing gun, leading to a death.  Fucking bullshit.

Unlike other games that offer non-lethal play, I do kind of like Dishonored's morality system in a narrative sense.  The vast majority of enemies are just city guards, doing their jobs for a paycheck.  They don't care who sits on the throne.....buuuuuuut, if they spot you and kill you, they talk mad shit.  Like, yeah, I probably shouldn't be killing these people who are my subjects, but they aren't exactly loyal either.  Hmmmmm....

This is my favorite part of Dishonored 2 (along with the great stealth action gameplay and fantastic level design rivaling the last Deus Ex).  How do you treat those who work in the system but may not really have a stake in it?  Do you fight back against the coup by executing literally everyone even remotely involved in it?  How do you secure a better future?  With brute force and an iron fist, or with leniency and forgiveness?

Too bad it's still more fun to be evil.

It's my favorite part while also being sloppy in execution.  The non-lethal options are better this time with assassination targets, a couple are quite sympathetic and can be saved, though most non-lethal options are arguably just as bad as killing them.  One you brainwash into a incoherent, jabbering, idiot.  One you have imprisoned for a completely false charge.  Delilah Spoiler:  You trap her in a magical dimension where she thinks she has won...and that one might not be so bad actually, even if it isn't real.  She literally no longer exists in reality cause magic.

I also don't understand what the coup and assassinations had to do with The Outsider (I told you I'd come back to him).  For those that don't know, he is a....dude in the void who gives you your powers.  Later on, you learn Delilah also has these powers.  In the first game, The Outsider is kind of a trickster God who doesn't seem to care that much about what Corvo is doing, instead, giving him powers mostly out of entertainment and getting more people to worship him.  He definitely likes it better when you go the lethal route in the first game, but is mostly indifferent as long as people find out he exists.  In Dishonored 2, he has a stake.  He says Delilah has "a part of him" and he is definitely rooting for you this time. You also kiiiiiiind of get to learn about his origin buuuuuut....hey what's the name of the first DLC?

Hold on.  Googling. 

....Motherfucker!

On a game design point, I want to mention two excellent missions.  One has you either siding with some gangsters or some religious nutjobs who are fighting one another (NOT the religion of the Outsider but one that is similar to Christianity only with more Sun worship.  People who worship the Outsider are considered heretics).  You can side with one or the other, OR you can side with neither and kill both leaders, OR take a non-lethal approach to get rid of them, OR you can ignore them entirely if you figure out a riddle to open a door to your destination in that mission.  Who you side with effects the ending along with what you do on the mission to assassinate the Duke.  Who rules Karnaca (the Capital of Serkonos) at the end of the game depends on these actions.  There are like 9 outcomes here and it's great.

The other excellent mission, and I can't believe I'm about to say this, has a great time travel mechanic.  The mansion you go to in present day is falling apart, has many dead ends, the guy you need to talk to is bonkers, and there are corridors with bloodflies*.  The answers you need are in the past when the mansion was in a better state but filled with guards.  The Outsider actually intervenes here and gives you a time travel machine with a lense that lets you look at one timeline, while being in the other, and it's really, really cool.  You can be in the dilapidated mansion, walk around with the lense up, and see guard movements in real time.  It's so fucking cool.  It's also cheap because if a guard spots you you can instantly warp to the present timeline like nothing happened.  Not sure why the guards are not freaked out by somebody vanishing in thin air all the time but hey, cool nonetheless.

It's so cheap.

*Bloodflies is this games version of the rat plague from the first game. Unlike the first game, they barely relate to the main narrative this time.  They are almost treated like an environmental puzzle side-route in a lot of missions.

I should also mention, certain decisions in the time travel mission will change small things about the present, especially with Meagan Foster.  I have....MANY questions about the narrative here but I will let it slide for such a cool mission.

Dishonored 2 is close to my favorite game I played last year.  It's really good, but not great, and it's hard to explain why.  D2 is basically just Dishonored again, a game I liked, only with improved characterization, improved non-lethal play, and improved level design with fun gimmicks.  But its story is a little worse than Dishonored despite having a near identical plot.  Dishonored doesn't even have that good of a story but it least it had a cool plot twist when your co-conspirators turn on you.  D2 doesn't have that.  Not really.  You could make the argument that some of the revelations about Delilah are this games "plot twist" but one occurs too early (and I'm not sure if it is true)*, and the other is obvious.  I don't really care how she got her powers and the fact that she got her powers practically the same way Corvo and Emily did is...yawn.  Also, some of that seemed to be held off for DLC and I'm not pleased about that.  Not.  Pleased.

*I've played this game twice and still don't know if Delilah is lying about being Emily's Step-Aunt.  (I wouldn't even consider it a lie if Emily didn't openly question it several times). This is a problem with "immersive sims" in general like Bioshock, Prey, and even Deus Ex.  They often hide story critical information on some letter or audio log you have to find somewhere.  Now don't get me wrong, I like this mechanic in these games.  I even like seeing important information on these items but there is a line.  Something crucial like the villain's motive should probably not need to be found.  Weirdly, Deus Ex Mankind Divided made the same mistake with its main villain. 

The story is the only thing holding Dishonored back from being great.  It's closest relatable game is Deus Ex which has a much better story.  The story of Deus Ex is much larger than Adam Jensen. Dishonored has a more personal story despite great world building, and there is nothing wrong with that in general, it's just that THIS personal story is about an Empress reclaiming her throne.  Not exactly the most relatable thing.  Also, pretty hard sell in this political climate.  Game of Thrones at least has a worldwide threat to overshadow the many wars for the Iron Throne.  Dishonored 2 has a bloodfly infestation that doesn't relate to anything except for being proof that the Duke of Serkonos is a bad leader...I guess?  How?  The bloodflies are only local to Serkonos anyway.  The throne is in Dunwall.

Story aside, Dishonored 2 is really solid.  I'd like to see a potential Dishonored 3 fix the flaws of D2 the same way D2 did of the original.  Maybe then we can finally get a Dishonored game that can really use the great world it's built and not be about the very, very tired trope of "the rightful heir reclaiming their throne."

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Life is Strange: Before the Storm Review. (Light Spoilers)

Note:  This review is going to assume you already played the first Life is Strange since this prequel relies heavily on the player knowing who many of the characters already are.  So with that in mind, I will be spoiling the first Life is Strange to some degree.  I will also lightly spoil this game, mainly about what the game leaves out.

Prequels are almost never that good.  It's hard to tell a compelling story when A. the outcome is already known and B. the plot is forced onto a path that follows the original story's backstory.  Life is Strange: Before the Storm (referred to as BtS from now on because I am not writing that full title out every time) however is pretty good, not quite "really good", but pretty good.  The reason for this is that the game largely ignores much of A. and B.

BtS is squared on Chloe meeting and befriending Rachel Amber.  The game does cover Chloe's grief about her fathers death (WHOO BOY, more on that later), her relationship to David and her mom who he is currently dating, her relationships with Blackwell Academy students and the school itself, and her relationship with Frank.  All of this is....ehhhh it's fine, but I found myself wanting to get through it just to get back to the games core, Chloe and Rachel.  And because that is the core of this game, I was initially apprehensive of even playing it.

The safety of playing as Max is far out of town.

This is for two reasons.  Firstly, you get to play as Chloe who is the most fleshed out character of the original game, even more so than Max since she has to double as the player avatar.  Max has soft personality traits like being geeky, but not TOO geeky, and being an artsy hipster, but not TOO much so that players aren't put off and can feel free to make choices.  Chloe has hard personality traits established like being a "punky bitch" who flirts with varying degrees of criminality and whose sharp edge is dulled by a hidden softer side.  Giving the player choices on her actions could easily derail her into somebody she isn't.  To my surprise, that largely doesn't happen.  I did find myself trying to "play the character" a lot more than I usually do in these kinds of games, "what would CHLOE do" so to speak, but it works out.  Typically choices look like something Chloe would do or say, with maybe a rare part being out of character.

The other reason is because Rachel Amber is a primary character who is a unicorn.  She is too perfect in the first game.  Everybody loves her except Victoria who viewed her as a rival, she has straight A's, she is good at everything she does, and is largely NOT a character.  She is a plot device in the first game, basically a MacGuffin.  Yeah, the player discovers a hidden dark side that even Chloe didn't know about, mainly Rachel's hidden relationship with Frank, but it's played off as "wild child" stuff to make her fit in with Chloe better.  Why would a perfect super popular girl be friends with Chloe in the first place?

Well, in BtS Rachel's mythos is safe because the game actually does a good job of humanizing her.  The most obvious way was to give her flaws which the game pulls off without completely destroying her character traits in the first game.  It's honestly the most impressive aspect of the entire game in my opinion.  I went from, "I'm not sure I want to see Rachel Amber the character," to after the first episode, "....I have a crush on Rachel Amber."  That is quite a turn around.  Respect to the developers.

Damn your charm!

While BtS is not as good as the first game it makes some solid improvements.  It amplifies the strengths of the first game, character development and relationships, while excluding its weaknesses, the supernatural stuff and video gamey-ness.  Obviously Chloe does not have time travel powers so that game mechanic is replaced with a "talk back" feature.  It basically allows Chloe to insult someone into giving her what she wants via sick burns.  BtS also has better presentation.  The animations are noticeably improved and facial expressions are much better.  The game does not have to lean on writing and voice acting* as much as the previous game but these too are really good.  I was surprised to see that the developers used motion capture for the animations considering the probably small-ish game budget, but the use of them made everything so much more natural combined with the previously great parts.

*It's a shame that Ashly Burch couldn't reprise her role due to the strike, which is apparently the longest in history, but she is coming back for a bonus episode featuring Chloe and Max.  The new actress did a great job despite the voice sounding a little off at first and also for being a SCAB (It's union lingo).  You get used to her though.

The game also largely avoids awkward video gamey-ness by keeping the mechanics simple.  It's mostly talking to people and exploring stuff in a space with some light puzzles.  The puzzles are mostly just go get a thing to unlock this other thing.  They work just fine in a grounded real world game.  There are no utterly bizarre stealth sections here.

En fuego utero.  

Where the game really deviates is with its plot.  There almost isn't one for the first two episodes.  Every story needs conflict of course, but the conflict here is so low stakes that it is at once a breath of fresh air and feeling lacking at the same time.  Then, in episode 3, the tension is ramped up out of nowhere to life and death stakes.  It's a bit jarring even if it isn't all that surprising since the first two episodes feature so little "action".  The first two episodes play more like a teenage drama with some sitcom thrown in there.

The game largely ignores a lot of backstory to focus on the backstory the player is more likely to care about, Chloe and Rachel.  Things like, Rachel and Frank's future relationship is (almost) completely ignored, to the point where it seems like a....what's the term for a prequel ret-con?  Is it pret-con?  Ew.....anyway.  There are certain aspects of Rachel that the player will know, but Chloe does not until discovered in the first Life is Strange, making the future narrative VERY bittersweet and not just because Rachel is murdered. 

Since you play as Chloe, it wouldn't make sense to see Rachel getting involved with Frank, Nathan, and especially Jefferson since he isn't even in this game.  Chloe does not know about any of this at this time.  Yet, the player knows these relationships happen later, leaving us to assume this happens after this game.  And the ending is so goddamn bright, excluding one after credit scene confirming Rachel's future doom*, that it is no wonder Chloe gets so upset when she learns about Rachel and Frank's relationship in the first game.  I mean yeah, playing as Chloe, I'd feel betrayed too.  What happens between them after this game considering how strong their friendship/romance is at the end of it?  What leads Rachel into the secrets she keeps from Chloe?

*Unless you are one of the 10% of players (on PC at least) where Rachel meets her mother.  That replaces the dark room scene.  Also, it's fucking horse shit how you get her to meet her mother.  Fucking nobody saw that relationship as "not a romance".  Of course I picked the kiss option in ep 2.  The only way Rachel meets her mother is if you choose the bracelet, which you give to her mother (then I guess FUCKING FRANK gets?  HOW?).  Stupid.

I get the impression that the developers didn't want to go there.  I think they knew that a prequel featuring them would be bittersweet enough so they made a game where a player could almost head canon/fan-fic a completely different future.  Chloe and Rachel live happily ever after if you so choose.  But more importantly the developers wanted to capture a specific time, a friendship/romance between two girls, fate be damned. 

I mean, look at em.  Cliche?  Yes.  Badass?  Fuck yes.

Dear reader, ask yourself this question.  "What do you care about more in your stories?  Theme and evoking emotions, or narrative consistency?"*  Preferably you'd want both but that isn't always possible, and with a Life is Strange prequel, it's pretty impossible.  The only thing that would be interesting in a prequel is Rachel Amber and specifically her relationship to Chloe, and this game nails that.  A prequel could include more darker stuff but instead BtS went with a lower stakes game and more down to earth theme, excluding a specific scene in episode 3.  The game is better off for it.  If you want literally every backstory explained in a prequel, try Star Wars.  It's a cautionary tale.

*Life is Strange: Before the Storm is a decent example but this idea is amplified to a million with a certain movie I saw on the SAME DAY as finishing this game.  Wanna watch it a 2nd time before writing about it.  I also know every, EVERY, argument against it now and the vast majority are...nerds are fucking stupid.  Stooooopid.**

**I'm talking about Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

BtS is a good game, pretty great as prequels are concerned, and a decent lesson for all future prequels.  Do you have to tell the backstory exactly as told in the original or can certain things be left out without it feeling unfaithful?  Did the game have to tell the story of Frank and Rachel?  I don't think so.  I like that people are finally challenging the idea that canon is sacrosanct.  We get stories worth talking about.  Media and art that can provoke an emotion, and/or is more concerned with its theme, is sometimes better than a great logical story.  Logic is helpful but not always REAL.  Life is Strange: Before the Storm is good emotional storytelling even if it's logic doesn't always make sense.

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So I mentioned a thing I'd talk about later with a WHOO BOY.....here is that thing.

DEEP BREATH.......My Dad passed away in early November.  Episode 1 spends a good amount of time dealing with the death of Chloe's father and while I played this before he passed, he was in the hospital at this time.  My life was a roller coaster while he was in the hospital for a month straight so Chloe's scenes dealing with her grief of her father left me with such varying emotions I can't even begin to describe them. 

My experience isn't that relatable to Chloe on the details.  Her dad died in a car accident when she was a teenager.  My Dad died at 80 years old, while I'm in my 30's, because he was a badass.  Buuuuuut, my dad did die from a fall*, something that you beat yourself up over about not preventing, and yeah.  Even acknowledging that a teenager losing her father due to an accident is going to result in significantly different emotions and changes as opposed to a father who lived a long life, this game gave me something to relate too even if it isn't that close.  The "event" may be wildly different, but at least some of the emotions are similar.

  I even had a bizarre dream with my Dad in it too.

*The fall was the spark really.  He died from smoking, drinking, and especially Parkinson's Disease, which caused him to fall in the first place.  But still, with all that stacked against him, he lived to almost 81 (his birthday is in December).  Not too shabby old man.

This game, along with a certain movie that I hope to write about in January, helped me with the grieving process.  (I'm leaving the name of the movie blank as a teaser BTW.  I haven't quite gotten to the point that I can write about that movie and my dad, but I am getting closer.  I've wanted to write it for ages.)

I was hesitant to play episode 2 of BtS just because of how much Chloe's father was present in the first.  But...her father is barely in episode 2 and 3.  It was weirdly reassuring.  He was still there, but not.  It's very hard to explain.  The death of a parent.  I'll let you know if I ever understand these emotions.

Chloe is one of the most actualized teenage characters I have ever seen in media and having her grieve with me as the game was coming out was...thank you.  This makes my whole review look biased as hell but thank you to the developers for making this game, and out of pure serendipity, at the right time.  Hell I'm still sort of critical of the narrative, but I changed man.  I changed.

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Full Spoiler Section.  Additional thoughts that didn't fit into the post.

1.  I'm not sure if I like ep.1 or 2 more but ep.3 is certainly the weakest.  All anybody wanted to do was spend more time with Chloe and Rachel but ep.3 stabs Rachel and puts her in the hospital, effectively removing her from the story.  I get the idea of having Chloe be the hero in the climax but it felt lacking that Rachel wouldn't be involved.  Only one half of the core is present when it should be the two of them tackling the climax together. 

2.  That final showdown with Damon is weird.  Also, Frank killed a guy.  I guess he could get out of it with a "self-defense/defense of innocents" thing but whoa.

3.  How fucking bananas is it now that Frank knows Rachel's mom.  The relationship between him and Rachel just keeps getting grosser and grosser. 

4.  As I hinted at in the post, that future relationship isn't completely ignored.  Frank checks Rachel out in the junkyard in ep.3 and she seems embarrassed.  That's it.  That is the only aspect of that thread visible. 

5.  I gotta stop talking about Rachel and Frank.  I sound like a jealous girlfriend.....

6.  The train scene is probably my favorite, other than maybe the post Tempest play scene for obvious reasons.  Also, how awkward would it have been if Chloe doesn't share her earbuds with Rachel on the train?  Almost nobody picked the option to not share.  What would Rachel do?  Just sit there?

One of the few times I let the whole song play in one of these games. 

7.  Finally, I'd like to discuss the symbolism in these games.  The doe in the first game is obviously Rachel, while the raven in this game is Chloe's father.  The doe watches Max and at times, aides her in the first game.  The raven is present in dream sequences where Chloe's father gives her advice.  While the animal choices seem kind of random, I do like their usage.  The use of fire is a little more vague though.  The motif is certainly a combination of "fire is pretty but destructive" and "the truth hides in darkness, the light can bring it out".  I can't tell if this is in relation to the truth about Rachel's mom or a larger metaphor about the two girls relationship being like a fire that burns bright at first but will eventually burn out.  Or hell, even both. 

There is also The Tempest.  This motif is probably meant to be more than surface level as both ep.2 Brave New World, and ep.3 Hell is Empty, are both in famous lines from the play.  (Ep.1 Awake could be anything though).  I'm curious if it's more connected to the game than I know.  I'm not gonna sit here and claim to know a lot about Shakespeare but from what little I looked up....maybe.  Chloe and Rachel's relationship isn't very similar to Prospero and Ariel, the two characters they perform in the play, unless you take a very broad approach as "When Rachel dies she sets Chloe free".  That doesn't feel accurate at all.  Nor would relating the two girls to Ferdinand and Miranda so....I dunno.  I look forward to seeing possible fan theories about this. 

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Getting ready for my Star Wars: The Last Jedi fight.

Doki Doki Literature Club Review (SPOILERS).

Sigh.

Note:  I know.  It's weird enough that I played this game and felt compelled to write about it.  If you know nothing about this game, the title alone is probably making you think, "Jason?  You okay man?"  No, I don't know what "Doki Doki" means, (according to Google, it's a term meaning a quickening heart rate due to being close to someone you wanna bone down with) and dating sims are about as realistic as shrugging off a bullet wound in an FPS.  However....

After so much word of mouth, the Internet version anyway, seeing this game on several "best of 2017" lists, and seeing it listed in Youtube recommendations, I had to see what the big deal is.  

This game is very interesting and pretty damn cool.  I'm not sure if it's a good game, read below to learn more, but it's unique.  I'm going to spoil the shit out of this game in this review.  I recommend playing it, (IT'S FREE), if you don't mind playing a Japanese style dating sim with a horrifying twist.  That...probably only convinced 0.01% of you to play it but hey.  MAJOR SPOILER WARNING.  

Also, personal stuff got in the way of updating this blog regularly but I want to get back to writing more.  I'm planing on posting about that personal stuff soon because not one but TWO pieces of media I've enjoyed this year relate to my personal stuff.  It's gonna come up.  Oh, and a Dishonored 2 review I've been had mostly done for 3 months.  

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Last Spoiler Warning!!!!!

Game of Thrones Season 7 Review (Spoilers Obviously).

Game of Thrones has always been a show that rarely had its constituent parts meet.  It was easy in the past to write a season review split into different sections by geography as I did in my season 5 review (and had I written it quicker, season 6 too).  Season 7 however has essentially re-formatted the show.  It no longer has the slow drip of information, planning, strategizing, character development, and especially travel.  Everything happens very quickly, creating a different feel for a show that never used to be this conventional.

The largest reason for this is because this season was only 7 episodes long.  Crucial information is delivered in two scenes max and at minimum, even a single line of dialogue.  This means there is a lot to soak in between set pieces and more rewinding for a "what did he say?" than I ever have done before.*  Likewise, it's very noticeable that the writers are working off an outline rather than completed books, thank you very much George RR "slowest writer ever" Martin.  Plot detail is scant, leading to a season that feels more like a Marvel movie than a Game of Thrones season.

*Also, I've never straight up paused so many times to absorb, what would be, 15 minutes worth of information in previous seasons that here is unleashed in, like, 5 minutes.

Not that everything needed more detail.  

Travel is also absurdly fast now.  Dany, in one season, is in; Dragonstone, Kings Landing, north of The Wall briefly, and somewhere on the road between Highgarden and Kings Landing (Granted, she flew alone for one of those locations).  Army movements are unrealistically fast based on this shows rules, ravens are getting information around faster than in the past (except for all that crucial information Bran knows cause he's a weirdo now),  and yet the White Walkers still take all season to reach The Wall.

HOWEVER, I personally don't care that much about the timelines of troop movements in this show at this time.  Fans complaining about this seems to me like nitpicky CinemaSins garbage.  If, instead, Dany spent as much time in Dragonstone as she did in Meereen, I would light myself on fire before her dragons could.  I mean what is the alternative?  Do these fans want more of the excellent Dorne subplot?  You wanna drag that out a little longer?  How about we have a few scenes in Essos checking in with whatever Daario is doing in Meereen to pad things out or maybe the Iron Bank banker doing paperwork in Braavos?  I don't even remember his name.  Did they even give him a name?

You don't know his name either Khalessi.

The sped up nature of the season works well for the battles and holy hell does the Battle of Blackwater Bay seem dumb now.  Way back in season 2, it was rumored but never confirmed that that battle was the most expensive single episode in TV history.  There is no way that is remotely true now as the production value is sky high.  The battle scenes were all great this time around.  No muddy ugliness of the Battle of the Bastards with an inexplicable wall of bodies.  The chaos of the....Battle of the Loot Train?  Really?  Okay....even that battle through all it's fiery smoke was easier to watch.  The Unsullied taking Casterly Rock with a montage* was weird but whatever.

*Is it just me or did this season LOVE montages.

What didn't work so well with this sped up season is with interpersonal stories and character development.  Much of the early episodes seem to be questioning if Dany has a little of the Mad King in her with Tyrion being the only one who can keep her from going nutty.  The answer is to have Dany listen to him and this kind of works?  She listens to his initial invasion plan and to his plan to bring a zombie to Cersei, but she doesn't listen to him when she flies north to rescue Jon and pals.  So I guess it's a wash?  Also, her romance to Jon is weird in multiple ways.  Obviously the incest, which could have been prevented with a raven Bran you asshole, and also that the chemistry isn't really there.  The romance just kinda happens from staring longingly at each other.  It's like a teenager wrote this.

There is also the Sansa, Arya, Littlefinger trifecta of what the fuck?  Even after the finale, I'm still unsure if they were playing Littlefinger all season long.  And if they were, WHY?  Did they need time to make sure the Vale would be okay with this?  This is the timeline I'm confused about.  Also, what was the point in Arya threatening to kill Sansa in episode 6 if it doesn't matter?  Just to trick the audience so that the twist would have more of an effect?  That is horse shit.  If they are tricking Littlefinger, well, the episode didn't show him spying on them.  Are we left to assume he was spying on them OFF SCREEN?  I am so confused.*

*Apparently there is a deleted scene that explains this.  Terrible editing decision.

There are a ton of first meeting and reuniting characters this season, many given one quick scene.  Obviously Jon, Dany, and Tyrion were going to get a lot of time together and so were the Stark kids, but others could have used more.  Tyrion meeting with Bronn, Podrick, and even Jamie felt like they needed more time.  Jamie and Tyrion actually get two scenes with one another (alone at least) and it felt rushed.  Tyrion and Cersei was fine with just one scene though because multiple would have lead me to question how one hasn't killed the other yet (That scene was actually REALLY good, even if it didn't make narrative sense.  I'll always go for a great emotional scene over a good logical one).  Other first meetings like virtually everyone on the expedition north could have used a little more.  I think they were going for a motley crew type feel but it would have been better with the characters interacting with each other more before the battle at the frozen lake.  The Hound saving Tormund should have been more impactful than, "oh, they talked about Brienne once."  Maybe Jorah could have accepted Longclaw (Jon Snow's sword) then given it back with more time.  Maybe Gendry....could.....uh.

He uses a hammer cause he's a blacksmith get it AHAHAHA

Okay.  Why bring Gendry back for that?  His main contribution is running back to Eastwatch exceptionally fast.  Also, they don't show him being there in the finale so Gendry is missing, yet again.  I assume Tormund and Beric died at The Wall (if they survived that, you have got to be kidding me) but maybe Gendry too.  It would almost be fitting if they killed Gendry without giving him one final scene.  Watch him magically turn up at Winterfell next season.

Great set pieces and muddy character development.  Yeah.  This season is a Marvel movie.  But, and this is important, I didn't hate it.  I liked a shitload of it.  I don't mind that the show became more traditional since it is completely out of source material to borrow from.  Plus, the story is wrapping up.  It is ending.  Of course it's going to speed up with little to go off of.  The details are missing and it would be really, really, really weird to throw in tiny character details the author has not yet decided on.  Game of Thrones has always worked closely with George RR Martin.  It would be weird to go too far off the outline.

Most importantly, it was still entertaining as hell.  To be honest, most of my bitching came after the fact.  I didn't notice how stupid the Arya threatening to kill Sansa scene was until thinking about it later.  Instead...lets talk about how Dany fucked her nephew.....

Actually lets not.

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Random thoughts that don't fit into the post.

1.  So....how, exactly, were the White Walkers planning to get past the wall without the zombie dragon?  I assume the Night King has Bran powers since he always sees Bran spying on him and maybe knew a dragon would come to him some day?  But Bran can't see the future, just past and present via warg, so ??????

2.  Despite the sped up season, it still found time for padding with Sam at the Citadel.  He finds only two pieces of information.  The first is that Dragonstone is sitting on a ton of Dragonglass.  Other people pointed out that he must have forgotten this because Stannis tells him this in Season 4.  Oops.  Secondly, he learns about Rheagar Targaryean's annulment which you may notice as having nothing to do with how to stop the White Walkers.  Shockingly, Bran doesn't know this because reasons.  Sam did cure Jorah though so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

3.  Speaking of Sam, remember when he met with his father and they hated each other so then he stole his fathers sword?  Remember how that seemed to foreshadow that they would meet again but instead his dad gets roasted by a dragon?  Yyyyyyyyeah.  I guess that was just to get Sam a Valeryin steel sword?

4.  In the Jon Snow is a terrible military commander department, what did he plan to do at the frozen lake after Dany comes to save him?  Just rush up that hill and kill the Night King with a few thousand soldiers around him?  Why does he keep charging ARMIES by himself?

5.  The trial and execution of Littlefinger genuinely took me by surprise and was a great scene but I'm left with questions.  What was Littlefinger......doing?  Like, what was his plan?  Just getting into HIS head for a sec, but I always thought he was trying to maneuver some sort of massive power grab.  Was it all he ever really wanted was to be with Sansa?  Cause I mean, what?  Wow is he stupid.  Selling her off to Ramsey would lead to him being with Sansa, how?  Getting Sansa to execute Arya would lead to, what?  And if convincing Arya that Sansa may have betrayed the family, like what I assume he did letting her find the scroll, what if Arya gets Sansa executed?  What in the holy hell was his endgame?  Did he even have one?

6.  I am unsure about Jamie's character arc.  The threat of the army of the dead is what broke the camels back?  This might be controversial, but I always thought of Jamie as the abused in an abusive relationship (I'll explain).  Thinking of it like that would explain why he holds on to her despite her psychosis.  Now, there is that completely out of character rape scene in season 5 that the show runners decided to change (this is in the books apparently but it is consensual) for no reason.  Jamie needed to go into villain territory more?  WHY?!?!  That one scene destroyed his character arc and his possible redemption will always look tainted.  Game of Thrones wants me to root for a rapist apparently.  Fuck this show.

Yet....Cersei has all the power.  That GREAT scene with Tyrion in the finale tries to reel her back in but it's way too late for that.  One of her major character attributes is she cares about family A LOT.  Her biggest hang up from going full evil is her unborn child.  So uh...and you can tell the people in charge of this show are men...why are her choices so illogical in that regard?  Jamie is right that the victor of the north is going to kill them all.  I sense some "pregnant women are emotional lunatics" in this writing and it is stupid and sexist.

7.  What is with the Theon side quest?  He's the person who plays a video game, only does the side quests and maybe accidentally does a main story quest.  He probably has one more major story event happen but whyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAHJKGFAJGJHIO ???????????  Nobody cares about Theon.  It's dull as hell.  Literally everyone is concerned about the war in the north, and Cersei backstabbing, but then hey....how about the Iron Isles?  Who gives a shit?

8.  Having a romantic incest scene while ALSO having narration about Jon's true parents was very weird.  I....just wrote that sentence.

9.  Finally....this is a prediction but I have a weird feeling Daario is gonna save Dany and company from the Golden Company.  Like, him ruling Meeren will lead to him learning about it and, yeah.  Especially for this show, if he hasn't even been hinted at being killed, he isn't out of it yet.

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Prey Review (Spoilers)

Note:  I'm gonna spoil the shit out of this game because the ending is the most interesting thing about it.  

Prey is a game that openly shows its influences.  Bioshock is probably the largest as it directly inspires the art design, level design, and even the basics of combat.  The skill tree reminds me of Deus Ex and the weapons are similar to Dishonored.  There is a hidden morality system similar to Dishonored and MGSV as well.  There is even survival horror elements like resource management and the rare poorly executed jumpscare.  All these influences combine to make a game with something of an identity crisis.

I'm not sure what I played.  Prey is not a bad game by any means and I like plenty of stuff that is just a mashup of other properties best ideas, but here those influences don't always mix well.  The paradox that is Prey, is a game that has a great first 5 hours, a great last 6-7 hours, and a middle 12-ish that falls into to many video game design traps.

The game has a major twist in its first hour and its a brilliant one too as it's a twist you interact with as opposed to something you're just told.  The game starts as you wake up to take a helicopter (while listening to this games awesome theme song) to another building to do some tests.  You seem to be failing these tests, which will be important much later, until something attacks the scientists and you wake up back in your room*.  You get up again to find out that the whole thing was a simulation, except for the creature attack.

Looking Glass Studios reference??.....Nahhhhh

*Side note but I only just now realized this is a plot hole.  How did you get back to your room?

The game takes place on the Talos 1 space station where creatures called the Typhon have broken out and are killing/possessing everybody on the station.  You play as Morgan Yu, who has amnesia because of course he/she does, your brother Alex Yu is hiding out somewhere and might be responsible, and a robot with your voice named January is giving you advice.  The Typhon were being used to make Neuromods, a dreadfully painful looking eye ball needle that gives you powers.  Also, other than being a narrative catalyst, the Neuromods double as your ability points for your skill tree and I'm always a fan of skill points having a narrative explanation rather than generic "Level Up".  Good on ya Prey.

Why are those needles coming out of that camera OH GOD NO.

The first act ends once you reach your office and an old video of yourself tells you about why you lost your memory (removing Neuromods resets your memory back to before it was installed, or, when Morgan was on Earth) and what you need to do.  Your mission is to blow up Talos 1 killing everything, including yourself, to keep the Typhon from spreading to Earth.  Easy enough but that doesn't leave much room for story in the middle section.  "Act 2" basically ends up stalling the story for hours until you finally get some twists in the last section.  Sure, the middle section has some decent side quests to deal with and they are much better than the put on hold main story, but it does feel like a drag after seeing what the last section of the game can bring.

The main missions fall into the video game trap of checking items off a list.  You need to go to this area but the door has no power so you go somewhere else, turn on the power, then go back.  The next door you need a keycard so you go get it then go back.  This device you need doesn't work until you go get this item then go back.  So on and so on.  Prey is a paradox in having it's main missions be fetch quests while its side quests, usually, are not.  The side quests feel like real stories while the main missions, until the last 5 hours, are go do the thing so you can do the other thing then do this other thing.  They seem to exist only to unlock areas of the space station so that the second half of the game can be free roaming without any real narrative reason for doing so.

Later, you can freely explore Rapture....I mean, Talos 1.

Well....there is a meta-narrative reason for this stalling.  That hidden morality system is about those side quests which usually revolves around saving the other survivors of the station.  This is juxtaposed to your suicide mission of blowing up the station.  These people are going to die anyway.  When you do these, even January is like, "it's telling that you went out of your way to save these people knowing what their fate will be."  Why you judging me robot?  Step off.  The choices only really effect certain lines of dialogue in the ending but it's still cool to have around....even if it probably shouldn't be?  I'll get to that.

There is also a meta-narrative with the skill tree because Dishonored is also a Bethesda game.  You get three human branches and three Typhon branches.  The game warns you that it's a bad idea to use the Typhon tree so I only unlocked a few.  Yes, this game borrows from Dishonored twice here.  Once with the narrative depending on who you kill and also giving you a bunch of fancy toys you can't use unless you want the "evil" ending.

The main narrative is bogged down with so much running around, reading E-mails about people you are not sure if you will ever meet, listening to audio logs about people you will probably not meet (and cause Bioshock did it), listening to January give you fetch questy objectives and Alex being vague over the radio about what is going on.  The main narrative never progresses until much later because this story doesn't have a 2nd act.  Well, I guess it has a 2nd act but you never know if any of the people you learn about are alive and the few that do actually are pretty good, especially Danielle Sho who gets enough backstory with her relationship to Abigail Foy.  You find Foy's body before finding the still alive Sho, who then requests that you kill the guy who killed her girlfriend.  Good stuff.

The rest of the 2nd acts story is about....the most pointless and boring world building ever.  Why is this story set in an alternate timeline where the USA/USSR secretly cooperated during the space race, for no reason?  There is a ton of stuff about TranStar, the company that owns Talos 1 and who everyone is an employee of, but they are only important on the periphery.  Even the Wikia only has three sentences about them (I checked cause I was wondering if I missed something...nah).  There is also a ton of psuedo-science "tech talk" about researching the Typhon that all leads to a, "hell if we know?"  It's like all this work was put into world building without really relating to anything.

While the story drags, you get to spend your time with the Typhon, the whole 8-ish types.  The first enemies you encounter are Prey's marque enemy, the Mimic, which can transform into a chair, box, coffee mug, desk lamp, whatever.  These black Half-Life head crab looking things are the dominant enemy in the entire game and give the player a mild paranoia about what objects might actually jump out at you and attack.  Luckily they don't do much damage and can largely be killed with a few good whacks from your wrench.  This gets tiresome though as this leads to a lot of combat being focused at looking down at your feet as these things are only about a knee high a lot of the time.  Other enemies are more humanoid Typhons called Phantoms.  They are the generic black one, the fire one, the lighting one, the purple one, and the strangely weak invisible one.  Oh, and there is even a giant one that acts as a mini boss.  They are all palate swapped versions of the same thing like this is a JRPG or something.  You also have two floating squid things that are super tough to take down, one that controls people, and one that controls robots.  Add in a few other flying thingies (see footnotes) and corrupted robots and you have Prey's very limited enemies list.  They are all introduced by the mid-point of the game in which fighting the same things over and over gets boring.

Sorry.  I should have said: "Indistinguishable Blob 1, Indistinguishable Blob 2,..."

I mean, combat is fun...for a while.  Guns don't actually do a whole bunch of damage so you have to stun the enemies first.  The most common way is with the GLOO Cannon which, works exactly as it sounds.  Slow or even freeze them with it then switch to another weapon to deal greater damage.  You also get stun guns, emp grenades (which only work on the robots and electric Typhons), lures, and environmental weapons like turrets.  Add in some offensive Typhon abilities and there are a lot of creative ways to take them down.  You can lure them into turret traps, stun them with a telekinetic blast, and even throw objects at them to knock them down.  However, after a while, you are just going to stick with the strategies that work best, and with the limited enemy selection, combat becomes a chore.  I got really, really sick of whacking at the ground with my wrench for those Mimics man.

A lot...of whacking....the ground.

"But Jason," I hear you asking, "can't you just avoid combat if you want?  Doesn't this game have.....stealth mechanics?"  Oh.  You know me too well.  Of course I'm gonna talk about that.

Prey is NOT a stealth game.  I mean, sure, the stealth mechanics work just fine but....it's boring.  Firstly, the Bioshock level design, that thinks it is Deus Ex level design, doesn't really gel with stealth all that well.  The game outright says that there are multiple paths to get to objectives but that is misleading.  What they really mean is there is one main path but you can build stairs/bridges with the GLOO Cannon to reach other areas.  That's fine, but firing the GLOO cannon alerts enemies to your presence.  How am I supposed to stealth my way around like that?  (Also, I never had fucking ammo for the thing when I wanted to do construction with it).

Not gonna lie.  I want some.

Secondly, there just isn't that many stealth skills.  There is some "make it harder for enemies to detect you while crouched" bullshit that always feels like a waste.  Shouldn't that be standard?  Whatever.  The Typhon abilities include the ability to Mimic, which I did unlock, and is pretty unique.  Unfortunately, I couldn't upgrade it due to the meta-narrative and at level 1 it is almost worthless.  You can transform right before an enemy sees you but as you stay disguised it drains your Psi (mana) pool.  The Typhon have sloooooow patrols so the odds of running out of juice before you leave their line of sight is high.  You can move as an object a little before tipping them off but it was difficult to get down the timing.

Lastly, the large amount of backtracking, added with the fact that enemies respawn when you leave an area (and seem to comeback with a dozen buddies), adds to NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN.  It sucks stealthing through the same areas over and over again.  I did it in some sections but it felt like a waste of time especially when in the late game I found the best method of getting around...just openly sprinting everywhere.  I knew my way around by this point and since I was so sick of combat and stealth I just wanted to see where the story goes as fast as possible.  I had a mountain of health packs so I didn't mind taking a few hits in the 5 seconds I could sprint through some of the hubs (I also maxed out my stamina).

The biggest flaw of the game is that it is too repetitive on a small scale.  As much as I like the Meta-narrative stuff, it probably would have worked better for me had those side quests been more related to the main quests in favor of more set pieces.  Because, wow, those set pieces are great.

They pick up again near the end.  Most of the game tries to convince you Alex Yu is the villain by making him be vague about everything.  Eventually you get to his office and he shows you another video that proves this whole thing is kinda sorta your fault.  That OTHER video was the fail safe plan in case your own stupid plan fails.  It also shows why your relationship with the rest of the Talos staff is pretty rocky.  You were kind of a dick pre memory wipe.  Anyway, Alex proposes a new plan that will wipe out the Typhon with a MacGuffin but leave the station in tact.  Meanwhile, those side quests finally start getting involved in the main narrative as saved people present other options to end the game.*  January, of course, tries to convince you to stick to the suicide mission plan, which you can do, but side characters make it possible to escape the station during the self destruct.  There are multiple options....that lead to only barely different endings but, the final levels are significantly different.

The....the robot is playing God?

*There is also another ending you can access earlier on when you find the keys to Alex's personal escape pod, the only one that works.  It's basically the "fuck everyone, I'm out" bad ending but it's there.

Just when you think the ending is kinda lame, there is an after credits scene that drops a bomb.  You wake up to see Alex and four robots all with the names and voices of the people you saved.  You were playing as a Mimic the whole time, in a simulation based on Morgan's memories.  (That means, the beginning of this game was a simulation INSIDE a simulation can I get a BWWAAAAHH in this mutha!  Yeah!).  Alex shows you that Earth is already taken over by the Typhon and says something like, "I spent all this time tying to make humans more like the Typhon (ie. Neuromods) but I never tried to make them more like us", and yeah.  Cool shit.

Prey on the whole ends up being a game that isn't sure what it is, but thinks it knows.  The aspects that are unique to Prey or parts that are pretty good, the game ends up overusing.  Things that Prey does really well, like the set pieces and the meta-narrative stuff, is jammed into short sections of the game.  It's like the designers made an opening and closing act to Prey but forgot to put in a middle and instead just put Bioshock there.  Prey would have been better suited if its interesting ideas made for a more cohesive whole.

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Follow me on Twitter.  No I have not played Dishonored 2 yet.  I actually just bought it on sale though so....

Couple notes that didn't fit into my post:

1.  Due to some video game law I assume, because this is a game released in the last few years, of course there is a crafting system.  It's mechanically the same as every other one.  It's boring so lets move on.

2.  One part of the ending I HATED was the sudden new villain who is a mercenary sent by your parents to kill everything on Talos 1.  The dude spams military robots and it's extremely annoying.  I just ran past them as fast as I could to deactivate them and/or lead them to a bunch a Typhon where they would fight each other.

3.  There is several parts of the game in zero gravity.  This too the game made boring even though it should have been cool.  There is really only one enemy type in this area which are these little flying radioactive balls that don't do much damage, are easy to kill, but they are fucking legion!  They need to be killed at a distance too since they are radioactive and I hate, hate, hated wasting a ton of ammo in a game where ammo isn't that plentiful on this almost non-threat.  Plus...I'm fighting balls!  They're fucking balls!

Balls!  Fuckin balls!

Wonder woman: Review

First reaction: wow I'm starting to think DC might just be getting it.... Just a little... Maybe... After nearly falling face first with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and then d with Suicide Squad, it would appear as if DC is finally starting to get on its feet.


   The question still remains, is DC trying too hard to be like Marvel?!?! I say yes and no at the same time. Yes because of how they're making their movies and whose in them. I also say no in that I believe that DC realizes that they will never be Marvel... Marvel is ridiculously far ahead of DC in the movie making department and DC (I hope) knows that.

   Wonder woman is by far the Best DC has done in recent memory. Everything about this movie is awesome! Ok maybe not everything, but just about everything. Chris Pine did amazing and I loved the end fight scenes. Gal Gadot did an amazing job as wonder woman continueing her strong performance from Batman V Superman. Ye

   Yes the movie has its rocky points and points where you wonder "does this really need to be in this movie" then it all comes together and yes they belong there, unlike Dawn of Justice where you felt like a ton of the movie could've been cut out Wonder Woman Didn't really have that issues which shows DC is learning.

   Overall well done by DC and all involve with this movie and I'm building excitement now for Justice League where we will see if DC keeps progressing. Discuss.