I was always under the impression that Magneto's power was restricted to magnetic metals. But, since his actual power is the generation and manipulation of magnetic fields, shouldn't he be able to manipulate literally any and all object? It's not like magnetic fields only affect metal.
I've been thinking about this for some time. I love The Clone Wars. I love the Prequels, and the worldbuilding is part of that, so the show is important to me. The problem is, it made quite a few changes to the lore, some of which 1) Were not needed and were not for the better, 2) Kind of contradict what came before.
For example:
As a bonus, there's all the characters that have died and come back to life. Some of them shouldn't have been revived. Some shouldn't have died in the first place.
Anyway, I think my examples are enough. My title may come off a little dramatic, but I do think certain changes can be fixed only with another complete reboot of non-movie canon. And The Clone Wars is largely to blame for that. Excluding the movies, it's the most popular entry in the franchise, and it has provided lore that has even influenced the live action shows and/or movies. I feel like, even though that is not how you're supposed to take it, it shouldn't be seen as pure, hard canon, because it simply isn't consistent with the movies.
Yeah, that.
I've been thinking about this for some time. Yes, GTA Online sucks ass today, and is so blatantly greedy that it wouldn't feel out of place in GTA satire, ironically. But, countless things have been said about that, so I'm here not to talk more shit about it, though it'd deserve it. I'm here to reminisce about a brief moment in time when GTA Online was one of the best gaming experiences you could have, if not the best.
So, just to fill you in, GTA Online showed up about a month after GTA V went on sale. In that time, anyone interested in the game had had time to get to know the map, the mechanics, the weapons, etc. What more did GTA Online offer? Two things. A character of your own creation, and the option to run around in a map where other, real people also ran around in. That's it. I know, it doesn't sound like much, but holy shit, it was something else.
Now, that was not the first online GTA experience. GTA IV had multiplayer, but it was a far simpler attempt at bringing people together in a maniacal GTA world, because there really wasn't a lot you could do. San Andreas also had multiplayer, but that was different, cause it wasn't part of the main game, I think. Somehow, GTA Online was different.
You were now the protagonist. You did jobs alone, or with your real life friends, to make money and a very stripped down economy allowed you to purchase houses, where you and your real life friends could hang out. And once that got boring 5 minutes later, you could grab one of your personally owned vehicles, which you bought with the money you made doing jobs with your real life friends, and you could just go for a drive or other adventures. I know what that must sound like to people who haven't actually played it. Like nothing special, probably. I agree, on paper, it doesn't sound like much, but god damn, it was crazy good in practice.
I remember those first days of GTA Online, when microtransactions basically only bought you cosmetic stuff, and nothing too crazy at that, and people were just having fun. They ran around in lobbies, causing chaos, like actual GTA characters, only they were real people. And Rockstar made sure that the chaos had an impact. I still remember the first time I saw a plane piloted by another player crashing into a building, and it was insane. The game was exciting. Playing GTA with real people was exciting. It was IMMERSIVE. To this day, that period in GTA Online is still one of the most fun experiences I've ever had playing games.
I'm just saying all this to remind people that it wasn't always pay-to-win, flying bikes and orbital strikes and shit. At one brief point in time, it was basically everything it needed to be. Simply, fun. And then, it wasn't.
Greed.
So, I remember seeing the trailer for Rogue Incursion and thinking...this is straight up an Alien: Isolation spiritual sequel, but now it's Aliens instead of Alien, and that got me hooked immediately since I LOVE that game...but then it was revealed that it was a VR game, and I do not own a VR headset. Lucky for me and anyone else interested, it's now available as a non-VR version, called the Evolved Edition, so I got my chance to play it finally.
Well...it's kind of a mixed bag.
You play as former marine called Zula, who has been summoned to a planet by an old marine friend of hers, and it appears to be an emergency. There is a crash landing and Zula and her android companion Davis (who doesn't actually look like a real person) have to figure out what caused the now obviously destroyed facilities to...become obviously destroyed.
Now, right off the bat. I like a lot of things about it. I like the aesthetic of the planet and facilities, I like that Davis doesn't have the appearance of a person, I like that you play as a former soldier, I like...basically every aesthetic and/or creative choice made in this game. I wish we got into more detail about a few things, like how >!Amanda Ripley is known to have encountered a Xenomorph and actually knows the protagonist, Zula.!< But I also like it when you're just thrown into a situation, if done right. Where this whole thing kind of stumbles for me is in the execution.
I mentioned Alien: Isolation, and you really can't talk about Rogue Incursion without also talking about that too, cause it borrows so much from it. The gameplay loop is, at its core, basically the same. It's a first-person horror survival game, where you have very limited abilities and you have to navigate dark corridors, going from objective to objective. Along the way, you loot cupboards and stuff for supplies, get information from computers you find in different rooms, etc. Where the two games start to diverge is in what I consider to be my biggest criticism of Rogue Incursion.
Now, I understand how this sounds...but this is clearly a VR game, with all the implications. While the basic gameplay is the same, it feels like a lot of things have been removed. Now, I get that priorities are different for VR, but...it's very clear here too. A lot of it is click this button, carry this thing, walk from here to there while looking around for Xenomorphs. The gameplay is simply not as engaging if you're playing it as a normal game. It is fun still, buuuuuut. And yes, it's probably not fair to criticize a VR game when played as non-VR, but is it all that unfair when they decided to release it that way as well? They clearly thought there was a market for it, or they wouldn't have done it. So, should it not be criticized that way too since it's also trying to be a normal game?
So yeah, the complexity of Alien: Isolation is simply gone. You can't hide in lockers anymore, you don't have many throwables, there's no crafting at all (for better or for worse), stuff like that. And that's also because of how each game approaches the Xenomorph. In Rogue Incursion, Xenomorphs are not a threat, like at all. You have a gun and it takes literally three bullets to kill one. Their appearance is simply not followed by any fear or stress anymore. And that is probably the game's single greatest failure. Where Isolation did such a great job managing the Xenomorph with several enemy types, and making sure it doesn't get overexposed, this one just throws it at you, all the time. And it's the only enemy type in the game too, excluding facehuggers. I very quickly felt more frustrated when I kept seeing them, than I felt stressed. And they're so predictable too, always in waves of three or two, with what feels like fixed frequency no less, excluding the occasional scripted encounters where there's a bunch of them. And they're very unintelligent as well, which is ironic, since Isolation's selling point is that the Alien adapts to your actions.
I forgot to mention it's really short too, though I guess that is also expected from a VR game. I read that it's like 10 hours long before I played it. It might be, in VR. If you play the evolved edition, it's closer to 5-6 hours long, maybe. It took me two roughly 3 hour long sessions to finish.
So yeah, while this is made in the spirit of Alien: Isolation, it's very clearly a very different beast, so keep that in mind.
I understand that resin shouldn't be handled for long even if cured, but I'm thinking about using it for moulds that require detail. I want to make a cup out of ceramic, which will be baked in a kiln. I'm thinking the temperature would be high enough for even a solid print to sublime, so any uncured resin should also evaporate. Is this a good idea?
I think I'll be looking into getting it once sales permit it. I understand it was released as an 8th gen game, but the director's cut is a 9th gen exclusive. I assume it's basically a more polished version for current gen consoles.
So, which version should I go for? OG for the PS4? OG, but played on a PS5? Director's cut?
I've been making cookies for a while now, and even though I'd say I'm dialing in the process, I still haven't ironed out every bug. This latest batch I made produced cookies that rose in the oven, and then sagged so much they broke apart. Also, it needs to be said that I use a silicone mould for the cookies.
I know the recipe works. I've used it many times, and I've followed it religiously basically every time. The stages are:
Apart from the butter, I mix everything else by hand, and I've gotten a wide range of results. Some of them really good, some of them almost complete failures, and I'd say the only real variable is the mixing.
Is there any way to get the excess air out of the remaining dough? And how can I make sure not to overmix in the future?
Disclaimer: I've been told many times not to use a silicone mould because of the soapy flavour, but it's been a part of the process every single time, and it's not the point of this post.
So, (kinda) brief...briefing: I remember when OG Alan Wake was unveiled, and I thought it was cool as hell. I played it at the time, but never had the chance to finish it, cause I didn't own an Xbox. I went back to it like a year ago, after I got Alan Wake Remastered for spare change, and I thought it was awful. The premise was interesting, but the story was not nearly as interesting as I remembered, and the gameplay was laughable. It was insanely repetitive, and it wasn't fun enough to support that kind of repetition. I think I dropped it like 3/4 in, and played Control, which I thought was alright, but definitely not as strong as the parts that made it up. I decided to finish Alan Wake a few days ago, which I basically forced myself to do, since it was such a chore. Then I jumped to Alan Wake II.
What a fantastic fucking game. I don't think I recall any jump in quality between installments as huge as the one between Alan Wake 1 and 2. And I'm taking all media into account, not just video games. It's almost unbelievable.
So, Alan Wake II picks up 13 years after the events of Alan Wake. You now play as Saga Anderson, an FBI agent who goes to Bright Falls, specifically Cauldron Lake, after there is a ritualistic murder that seems like the work of a serial killer she's after. She is accompanied by Alex Casey, an agent who shares a name with Alan Wake's book protagonist, and is, for all intents and puproses, >!a Max Payne stand-in.!< Well, it turns out the murder victim is actually >!Agent Nightingale,!< who was taken by the darkness in the first game and has been missing for 13 years. It doesn't take long for Alan Wake's name to come up, who has also been missing for the same amount of time. Soon, >!Nightingale rises as a Taken!< and the two FBI agents understand supernatural shit is going on. He flees and Saga tracks him to a place in Cauldron Lake called The Overlap, >!an area where the world and the dark place occupy the same space.!< >!She kills Nightingale,!< and lo and behold, >!Alan Wake shows up, 13 years after going missing,!< not knowing what has happened, or how long it's been. After that point, you >!switch between playing as Saga in the real world,!< and as >!Alan Wake in the Dark Place, trying to remember what has happened while he was in there.!<
So. What's so different in this clearly superior sequel. For starters, the gameplay is actually entertaining. In the OG game, you basically walk (or sometimes drive) from A to B, and you encounter the occasional Taken. Point flashlight, shoot, continue. That's literally all you did in that game. Well, here, there's an actual gameplay loop other than walking, and it works very well. And of course it does, cause it's lifted straight out of Resident Evil, lol. I mean, it's such an obvious copy, that it's clear they're not even trying to hide it. As I understand it, even big Remedy fans admit that gameplay is not the company's strongest suit. It's usually the concepts and lore that make up for it. But now they've tried to change that. It doesn't work quite as well as Resident Evil, but it's a very welcome change. You now have asset management to deal with, a semi-open world, sections you have to backtrack to once you find the proper equipment, stuff like that. There are also a lot more collectibles than just the manuscript pages this time, and there's also the evidence based case-building mechanic, which to be honest, isn't all that strong, since it's scripted and doesn't actually allow you to make any decisions, but it's something. All in all, the gameplay has finally managed to keep up with the narrative. And since I mention that...
...so much more happens in this game. Not only does >!the split between narratives!< feel organic and add complexity to the story, but also >!each of them has way more twists and turns than Alan Wake 1 on their own.!< At the same time, >!the two narratives!< feel like they complement each other, but also manage to stand on their own. Also, this time, even though the plot is more complex, it feels like it actually makes a lot more sense than the OG game, whose mystery felt to me like it didn't actually have any structure behind it to back it up. And that's true even though Alan Wake II still keeps a lot of answers from you, and the ones you get lead to even more questions. Also, very solid writing work, very solid ideas. I'm really pleased with the plot and the wackiness and overall creativity of it.
Of course, I also have to mention all the connections to Control (2019), both narrative and creative. I appreciate how at least some of Control's DNA has shaped this game, such as the more extensive live action footage blending in with in-engine footage, the use of the colour red to signify spooky, otherworldly shit, and the general feeling that what you're seeing is somehow related to the wacky stuff caused by the hiss in Control, if not directly, then in the "both are paranatural phenomena that take place in Control's world" way.
The game also tries a lot harder to be "real" horror this time, unlike Alan Wake 1, which is laughably tame, at least in comparison. It probably won't keep you up at night, or whatever, but there were moments when I actually felt uneasy, and a few that made me jump, though it needs to be said that jumpscares caused that, but I thought they used them well, so it's fine. And, last but not least, the music. I'll say nothing more, cause I need not say more. If you know, you know. A+.
So yeah, I expected this game to be better than Alan Wake, but I wasn't expecting this. It goes without saying that you should absolutely play it if you like the Remedyverse even a little.