Happy Star Wars Day
May the 4th be with you! You'll need the force if you are trying to run Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
Showing posts with label Star Wars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Wars. Show all posts
Thursday, May 04, 2023
Cuatro De Mayo!
Monday, January 01, 2018
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review - The Pictures
In part one of my review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi I will use the following pictures to describe my thoughts:
In part two I will put down some words. Until then; happy new year (apparently my new trend will be to post Star Wars reviews as the first post of the year).
Saturday, December 30, 2017
How I would change The Last Jedi (Spoiler Alert)
Warning; rambling and poorly organized thoughts below. Lots of spoilers (duh!).Top changes I would make to The Last Jedi (and that I honestly think could have been made keeping most of the key plot points and footage). End result would have been a passable movie.
Lightsaber toss is changed into Luke handing it back to Rey and walking away. Luke is really just testing Rey's patience as Yoda originally did to Luke.
Leia dies in space sparking Luke to cut the Yoda-crazy-act and train Rey. Bonus points if Luke is lead to believe Kylo Ren pulled the trigger (even though he didn't).
Rose never happens.
Canto Bight never happens.
Dreadnought and bombers in space never happens.
Hacker guy never happens.
Slowest space chase in history never happens.
Super-super Snoke star destroyer never happens. How about the First Order shows a bit of set back from having lost a planet-sized base!
Yoda never happens.
Frog people never happens.
Universe spanning mind link never happens.
Luke flashbacks to trying-to-kill Kylo never happens.
Resistance escapes directly to the salt planet and activate the defenses.
Rey/Luke sensing the impending doom of The First Order having the remnants of the Resistance trapped on the salt planet fly off to save the day. However, due to being cut short on time to train together they have a disagreement on how to proceed.
As they arrive at the planet Rey jettisons herself from the Millennium Falcon.
Snoke sensing Rey's arrival tells Kylo Ren to bring her to him.
Luke and Chewie are forced to escape to the planet and meet up with the resistance.
Snoke pits Kylo and Rey against each other. First, he trigger's Kylo's teeny-angst by planting false lies about Rey's parentage and how Rey is his better. Second, he trigger's Rey's emotion by telling her that her parent's were nobodies and that she is just a pawn to the force filling a vacuum.
Rey and Kylo have an epic fight before realizing that Snoke is playing them. They turn on Snoke to kill him but have to go through the red dudes to get it done. Snoke is greatly amused by the fight assuming he can kill the weaker of the two and keep the other.
After Rey and Kylo finish the red dudes Snoke utters a bad ass one liner like "good, use your anger". Then Kylo realizing he is forever limited by Snoke (the same as he was limited by the weakness that was his father, Han) turns and kills Snoke. Before Snoke goes down he utters "if you strike me down I will become stronger than you ever could know" setting him up to return in the next movie. Kylo slices Snoke's head off.
Rey can't convince Kylo of her viewpoint and vice versa Kylo can't convince Rey of his. Kylo traps Rey and finds out Luke is on the planet. In a rage he takes an invasion force to get Luke.
Rey escapes and heads to the planet.
Luke fearing that Rey has been turned to the dark side fights to the death on the planet surface. Kylo and Luke have the most amazing lightsaber duel all the while Kylo is taunting him about Rey. Kylo takes a wicked face hit forcing him to forever keep his mask on in future movies.
The Resistance hope-o-meter goes bankrupt as Luke falls on the battlefield and they escape into the tunnels.
Surprise, Rey is OK and saves the day. The Resistance's hope-o-meter is full again.
Ending scene is Kylo donning his mask and going "Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!" as the Millennium Falcon zips into hyperspace.
End credits.
Where are Finn and Poe during this movie? Keeping the bromance going and working to keep the remnants of the Resistance from imploding under the doom and gloom.
Phasma? I actually sort-of-like Phasma being a running meme in each new Star Wars movie. A slow roll of her trying to squash out the "bug" that is Finn would be epic.
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Rolling Dice in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire
The first thing to note is that this tabletop RPG is not a D20 (20 sided dice) based system like D&D. The dice are custom dice specific to this system and function in a different manner than a D20 based system (or a D6 system for that matter).
 |
| The unique dice |
In the D20 system the narrative culminates with a single dice roll deciding the fate of an action. Then, more dice are chucked to derive a number for things like damage or how much gold was found.
For example; "Reed decides to attack the goblin." The player playing as Reed rolls a D20 to determine if they hit/miss. "Reed hits." The player now rolls more dice to determine damage. Any number of interesting things may have happened leading up to this point but ultimately it all came down to that attack roll hitting.
In the FFG custom-dice system the roll (of multiple dice) is ahead of the narrative and decides the choices that the players and GM get to make. Each roll results in multiple outputs; first the number of success symbols compared to the number of failures. If there are more success then the action is a success; more failures then it fails.
Success/failure is not the end of the roll as there are also symbols for threat and advantage. As with success/failure both threat and advantage cancel each other out. If there are more advantage than threat then something good can happen for the player or GM rolling; alternately more threat means something bad may happens. This allows for the possibility that someone could be successful at a task but have something bad still happen because of it. Or alternately they could fail at a task but have a positive side effect.
This opens a huge opportunity for narrative choice for both the players and GM. For example; "Reed decides to aim and attack the stormtrooper." The player playing Reed rolls a dice pool and fails (more failures than success) with three advantage (three more advantage than threat). The roll has now opened a door; the attack misses but Reed has a choice (or the GM has the choice) to decide how that advantage impacts the narrative. It could be a "game" element such as recovering a point of strain. Or it could be a "story" element such as "Reed is surprised when the blaster bolt ricochets off the wall and still hits his target." because it was important to the narrative for Reed to hit in this situation. (+3 advantage is like rolling a natural 20 on a D20... and anyways Han didn't shoot first... he rolled a failure with advantage!). Like the D20 example any number of interesting things could have happened before this roll and those interesting things could influence choices for either success/failures or threat/advantage.
The D20 aligns more with a "game" while the FFG system aligns more with a "story" and for a gamer that leans more towards the role playing side of tabletop RPGs I find the FFG system a better option. It does put the onus on the GM being good at thinking on their feet and not defaulting to the same result for rolls (i.e. every failure with advantage can't be a ricocheting blaster shot). The system also moves the narrative forward in new and interesting ways instead of the static this/that way of the D20 system.
In the next post I will cover my thoughts on how the unique dice mechanic translate to the rest of the game and compare combat, movement, and abstract vs exact representation of the game world.
Sunday, January 08, 2017
Star Wars: Rogue One Review
Since seeing Rogue One (twice now) I’ve been thinking about Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), the ill-fated Star Wars MMO. A key moment in my history with SWG was in response to a comment from the developers stating that “no one wants to play a moisture farmer”.
As a longtime poster on the SWG role-playing forum I argued that this mentality was wrong. There were tons of players that wanted to exist in the Star Wars universe as something other than a Jedi, smuggler, or bounty hunter. Players wanted to be that moisture farmer. I wanted to be that moisture farmer.
I was and continue to be a Star Wars expanded universe junky and this is why I found Star Wars Rogue One to be my favorite Star Wars movie of all time. With it’s menagerie of characters, locations, and fan service indulgences Rogue One is a movie that diehard fans can place themselves in. Maybe you are one of the protectors of the Jedi temple on Jedha? Or a two foot tall member of Saw’s rebellious band? Or maybe you are one of the various imperial roles featured on Scarif? Maybe even a black armor wearing Deathtrooper! Personally, I am the space farmer being bothered by some imperial bigwig.
As much as Rogue One is a movie for the want-to-be moisture farmer, I can see why casual fans and regular movie goers would be less enamored with it. I could write a lot about this, but it’s easier for me to point you at Red Letter Media and Mr Plinkett’s thoughts on the matter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJgfxlgUIZY In short, for a movie review, I agree with Mr Plinkett.
However, as the Star Wars super fan, none of what makes for an underwhelming movie matters. The feel and look of the movie is consistent with the originals. The acting, while not perfect, doesn’t detract from the experience (case in point; go back and try to watch the acting in Episode 1,2, or 3). The movie delivers an expansion of the new cannon that fits right into the old. Basically, they didn’t screw it up and that is what matters for me.
I can handle the conflict when I agree with critical reviews such as Mr Plinkett’s and still make the statement that Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars movie. I don’t believe for a second that Disney intends to make Star Wars movies for fans like me. Rogue One is a happy accident for fans like me and I am comfortable with my love for it.
I never wrote a review for The Force Awakens. If I had, one of my chief complaints would have been that of Starkiller Base. While I loved the movie I could not bring myself to rationalize Starkiller Base. The Death Star (1 and 2) were big deals, not just from the perspective of the rebels, but from the perspective of the story and plot. Starkiller Base, while a big deal to the “new rebels”, is nothing but a stolen plot point from the original trilogy and multiplied by three (ITS BIGGER AND SHOOTS MULTIPLE BEAMS!!!). It did NOT fit the story and did nothing more than fill a spot in the “soft reboot” formula which is why the wise Mr Plinkett dinged TFA in the story category.
With Rogue One in place I have an even harder time buying Starkiller Base. Rogue One provides incredible depth to what seemed silly in A New Hope (a moon sized super weapon taken down by a shot to an exhaust tube). The movie goes a long way to show the struggle and loss endured to start the wheels in motion for The Rebels to be able to destroy the Death Star.
Looking at TFA; Starkiller Base appears, fires, and then is subsequently destroyed through an even harder to believe series of events than the exhaust port. A series of events that has no way to ever be explained in a clever way as Rogue One was used to flesh out the weakness of the first Death Star.
This is because TFA goes out of its way to plant explanations in the movie: Finn having worked on the planet and knowing how it can be destroyed, Phasma being able to turn off the shields, the Millenium Falcon warping through the planet’s shield, and Starkiller Base having the same functional weakness as the Death Stars.
Rogue One really ruins TFA for me because of this. However, I know it doesn’t ruin it for the average movie going public. Just as I love Rogue One because I want to be a Star Wars space farmer I know that the rest of the general audience loves TFA because it’s a good movie.
As a longtime poster on the SWG role-playing forum I argued that this mentality was wrong. There were tons of players that wanted to exist in the Star Wars universe as something other than a Jedi, smuggler, or bounty hunter. Players wanted to be that moisture farmer. I wanted to be that moisture farmer.
I was and continue to be a Star Wars expanded universe junky and this is why I found Star Wars Rogue One to be my favorite Star Wars movie of all time. With it’s menagerie of characters, locations, and fan service indulgences Rogue One is a movie that diehard fans can place themselves in. Maybe you are one of the protectors of the Jedi temple on Jedha? Or a two foot tall member of Saw’s rebellious band? Or maybe you are one of the various imperial roles featured on Scarif? Maybe even a black armor wearing Deathtrooper! Personally, I am the space farmer being bothered by some imperial bigwig.
As much as Rogue One is a movie for the want-to-be moisture farmer, I can see why casual fans and regular movie goers would be less enamored with it. I could write a lot about this, but it’s easier for me to point you at Red Letter Media and Mr Plinkett’s thoughts on the matter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJgfxlgUIZY In short, for a movie review, I agree with Mr Plinkett.
However, as the Star Wars super fan, none of what makes for an underwhelming movie matters. The feel and look of the movie is consistent with the originals. The acting, while not perfect, doesn’t detract from the experience (case in point; go back and try to watch the acting in Episode 1,2, or 3). The movie delivers an expansion of the new cannon that fits right into the old. Basically, they didn’t screw it up and that is what matters for me.
I can handle the conflict when I agree with critical reviews such as Mr Plinkett’s and still make the statement that Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars movie. I don’t believe for a second that Disney intends to make Star Wars movies for fans like me. Rogue One is a happy accident for fans like me and I am comfortable with my love for it.
A quick thought on The Force Awakens and Starkiller Base
I never wrote a review for The Force Awakens. If I had, one of my chief complaints would have been that of Starkiller Base. While I loved the movie I could not bring myself to rationalize Starkiller Base. The Death Star (1 and 2) were big deals, not just from the perspective of the rebels, but from the perspective of the story and plot. Starkiller Base, while a big deal to the “new rebels”, is nothing but a stolen plot point from the original trilogy and multiplied by three (ITS BIGGER AND SHOOTS MULTIPLE BEAMS!!!). It did NOT fit the story and did nothing more than fill a spot in the “soft reboot” formula which is why the wise Mr Plinkett dinged TFA in the story category.With Rogue One in place I have an even harder time buying Starkiller Base. Rogue One provides incredible depth to what seemed silly in A New Hope (a moon sized super weapon taken down by a shot to an exhaust tube). The movie goes a long way to show the struggle and loss endured to start the wheels in motion for The Rebels to be able to destroy the Death Star.
Looking at TFA; Starkiller Base appears, fires, and then is subsequently destroyed through an even harder to believe series of events than the exhaust port. A series of events that has no way to ever be explained in a clever way as Rogue One was used to flesh out the weakness of the first Death Star.
This is because TFA goes out of its way to plant explanations in the movie: Finn having worked on the planet and knowing how it can be destroyed, Phasma being able to turn off the shields, the Millenium Falcon warping through the planet’s shield, and Starkiller Base having the same functional weakness as the Death Stars.
Rogue One really ruins TFA for me because of this. However, I know it doesn’t ruin it for the average movie going public. Just as I love Rogue One because I want to be a Star Wars space farmer I know that the rest of the general audience loves TFA because it’s a good movie.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Star Wars Galaxies shutdown, thoughts on a troubled past
The writing is on the wall: Lucas Arts must close the Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) chapter of Star Wars MMOs. SWG is a black eye for the MMO community as a whole; wonderfully envisioned yet poorly managed by SOE and hamstrung by Lucas Arts. SWG will be shutdown as of Dec 15th, 2011. Anyone thinking this wasn’t inevitable hasn’t taken a look back on the history of Star Wars gaming. This is Lucasfilm’s (now Lucas Arts) calling card: out with the old and in with the new.
Let’s step back in time to 2001. Decipher, a card game company, has been running the Star Wars Customizable Card Game (SW:CCG) for the past six years. They are competing directly with the behemoth that is Magic: The Gathering (MtG). SW:CCG is consistently considered the second place card game on the market behind MtG. On occasion, SW:CCG is even outselling MtG. The future is bright with new Star Wars prequel movies in the theatres and a SW:CCG expansion pack sitting with the printers. Then suddenly word hits that Lucasfilm is looking to pull the plug on SW:CCG. After several negotiations, the Star Wars license is pulled from Decipher and the SW:CCG grinds to halt.
Many people not familiar with this story may assume that there was a valid reason for Lucasfilms (this is pre Lucas Arts days) to pull the license. It certainly couldn’t be because the game flopped: it was, after all, competing alongside MtG. While no solid answer was ever given for the whole debacle, it didn’t take long for the card gaming community to figure out the true motivations. Lucasfilms had gone and recruited Wizards of the Coast and MtG developer Richard Garfield to create a new Star Wars trading card game (SW:TCG). It was clear that Lucasfilms did not want a Star Wars game playing second fiddle and who better to fix that than the people behind the number one game! Too bad for Lucasfilm, because the SW:TCG flopped and closed within a couple years.
Looking back to SWG and we can see the same pattern emerge. A new MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic (SW:TOR), is right around the corner and SWG is not even second fiddle in the MMO market. On top of not even being competitive in the market, SWG is a laughing stock ever since the disaster known as the New Game Experience (NGE). Lucas Arts wants all focus on SW:ToR and SWG’s license was up in 2012. SWG had to be closed.
To be honest though, I am simply amazed how long SWG remained alive. I was actually talking about SWG’s demise in 2006 and my post from March of that year is eerily relevant to the current events.
The Star Wars fan inside of me died a little researching and writing this post. I truly wanted SWG to succeed and still hold it within my top MMOs of all time simply on wasted potential. I also want SW:ToR to surprise me and be a new dawn for Star Wars MMOs. Sadly, with Star Wars it doesn’t appear we can have two separate properties exist in the same market and we're forced to accept whichever one Lucas Arts determines to be the best.
*I apologize for the acronym soup.
Let’s step back in time to 2001. Decipher, a card game company, has been running the Star Wars Customizable Card Game (SW:CCG) for the past six years. They are competing directly with the behemoth that is Magic: The Gathering (MtG). SW:CCG is consistently considered the second place card game on the market behind MtG. On occasion, SW:CCG is even outselling MtG. The future is bright with new Star Wars prequel movies in the theatres and a SW:CCG expansion pack sitting with the printers. Then suddenly word hits that Lucasfilm is looking to pull the plug on SW:CCG. After several negotiations, the Star Wars license is pulled from Decipher and the SW:CCG grinds to halt.
Many people not familiar with this story may assume that there was a valid reason for Lucasfilms (this is pre Lucas Arts days) to pull the license. It certainly couldn’t be because the game flopped: it was, after all, competing alongside MtG. While no solid answer was ever given for the whole debacle, it didn’t take long for the card gaming community to figure out the true motivations. Lucasfilms had gone and recruited Wizards of the Coast and MtG developer Richard Garfield to create a new Star Wars trading card game (SW:TCG). It was clear that Lucasfilms did not want a Star Wars game playing second fiddle and who better to fix that than the people behind the number one game! Too bad for Lucasfilm, because the SW:TCG flopped and closed within a couple years.
Looking back to SWG and we can see the same pattern emerge. A new MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic (SW:TOR), is right around the corner and SWG is not even second fiddle in the MMO market. On top of not even being competitive in the market, SWG is a laughing stock ever since the disaster known as the New Game Experience (NGE). Lucas Arts wants all focus on SW:ToR and SWG’s license was up in 2012. SWG had to be closed.
To be honest though, I am simply amazed how long SWG remained alive. I was actually talking about SWG’s demise in 2006 and my post from March of that year is eerily relevant to the current events.
“I am not an expert on licensing, but I couldn't imagine Lucas Arts letting the Star Wars name be dragged through the mud by the national media much longer. Lucas Arts was a driving force behind the changes to make the game more "Star Warsy" and I doubt they are pleased with the results. So I will blame both SOE and Lucas Arts for the current state of the game. “And then:
“What I do know is that a new Star Wars MMORPG would generate a ton of buzz. First of all there is SWG that has a few years under its belt that has taught us a lot about what the gaming and Star Wars communities want out of a game. We know that space flight and combat, action inspired game play, and Star Warsy"ness" are all required. We know there isn't people lining up to be Moisture Farmers. We also know there is plenty of wannabe Jedi in the galaxy.”SW:ToR is exactly that: space flight and combat, action inspired game play, and Star Warsy"ness". Unfortunately back then I didn’t realize I was going to be on the other side of the fence, completely put off by what SW:ToR is shaping up to be.
The Star Wars fan inside of me died a little researching and writing this post. I truly wanted SWG to succeed and still hold it within my top MMOs of all time simply on wasted potential. I also want SW:ToR to surprise me and be a new dawn for Star Wars MMOs. Sadly, with Star Wars it doesn’t appear we can have two separate properties exist in the same market and we're forced to accept whichever one Lucas Arts determines to be the best.
*I apologize for the acronym soup.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Amalur is a failure
First, watch this:
Next, read this: Amalur? 38 Studios, you just failed.
Look, I want to give 38 Studios the benefit of the doubt. I want to believe they've assembled this great team and haven't squandered this opportunity. However, I just can't do anything but laugh after seeing a video as terrible as the one posted above.
The setting is so generic fantasy that it makes Star Wars look like science fiction.
Brooding dark voice? Check.
Too much plate armor? Check.
Oversized, unrealistic weapons? Check.
Skeletons? Check.
Over-sized boss character incoming at end of video? Check.
What a fucking disaster this video is. Not only is it highly disappointing to watch, but it fails to say a single thing about the game itself. Plus it doesn't even bother to explain a single thing about the world of Amular.
This was 38 Studios big reveal and it failed; hard. Amalur, just another generic fantasy setting that fails to impress.
Pro-tip: if the majority of a video game trailer features bylines with "John Doe, X, from game Y" , people may perceive that as the current game being unable to stand on it's own merits.
Further evidence abounds, check out the comments over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
Next, read this: Amalur? 38 Studios, you just failed.
Look, I want to give 38 Studios the benefit of the doubt. I want to believe they've assembled this great team and haven't squandered this opportunity. However, I just can't do anything but laugh after seeing a video as terrible as the one posted above.
The setting is so generic fantasy that it makes Star Wars look like science fiction.
Brooding dark voice? Check.
Too much plate armor? Check.
Oversized, unrealistic weapons? Check.
Skeletons? Check.
Over-sized boss character incoming at end of video? Check.
What a fucking disaster this video is. Not only is it highly disappointing to watch, but it fails to say a single thing about the game itself. Plus it doesn't even bother to explain a single thing about the world of Amular.
This was 38 Studios big reveal and it failed; hard. Amalur, just another generic fantasy setting that fails to impress.
Pro-tip: if the majority of a video game trailer features bylines with "John Doe, X, from game Y" , people may perceive that as the current game being unable to stand on it's own merits.
Further evidence abounds, check out the comments over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
Choca says:
July 23, 2010 at 11:25 am
The trailer looks bad.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
SOE + Star Wars + MMO = Star Wars in Free Realms?
However, SOE seems to have learned a lesson with the success of Free Realms: casual and micro-transaction supported games can work. Visit their website or watch the video below and it is immediately noticeable that the game is not aimed at the hardcore or even core MMO gamers.
It will be interesting to see how this is received and whether the MMO blog'o'sphere will start writing the obituary for SOE's core franchises like Everquest.
P.S. Unlike many others, I liked the Clone Wars animated movie.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Return to the Galaxy for FREE
Any player that has previously subscribed to Star Wars Galaxies
will be able to play the game free of charge between February 1st and March 1st.
No, this is not out of the kindness of SOE's heart. Its an offer to promote their upcoming Galactic Civil War expansion: Forces Under Siege. This would be the expansion where SOE finally realizes that there is a galactic civil war occurring during the Star Wars classic time line.
Any old-school player (that means pre-NGE) will probably remember little to nothing about the galactic civil war from the original game, because there wasn't one. Sure, Rebels and Imperial scum could chase each other around and spam knockdowns, but it was for no gain to either faction. It was nothing more than a constant gankfest at each of the spaceports. It sucked. No, it really, really sucked.
However, the new expansion approach to the GCW isn't going to tempt me back into the game. I only mention it because its a free month of play for a MMOG, a Star Wars MMOG no less.
will be able to play the game free of charge between February 1st and March 1st.No, this is not out of the kindness of SOE's heart. Its an offer to promote their upcoming Galactic Civil War expansion: Forces Under Siege. This would be the expansion where SOE finally realizes that there is a galactic civil war occurring during the Star Wars classic time line.
Any old-school player (that means pre-NGE) will probably remember little to nothing about the galactic civil war from the original game, because there wasn't one. Sure, Rebels and Imperial scum could chase each other around and spam knockdowns, but it was for no gain to either faction. It was nothing more than a constant gankfest at each of the spaceports. It sucked. No, it really, really sucked.
However, the new expansion approach to the GCW isn't going to tempt me back into the game. I only mention it because its a free month of play for a MMOG, a Star Wars MMOG no less.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Movie Thoughts: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
I am a Star Wars fan. I am not a blind Star Wars fan and refuse to blindly love the movies. I watch them, because I love the universe behind them. Any glimpse into that universe will get some of my money, but not always my praise. The Phantom Menace started out good, but fell down in the end. Attack of the Clones was full of action, but not much else. Revenge of the Sith made me smile, but only did the end finally make me feel like the actors were earning their paychecks.
My biggest problem with the prequels was the character of Anakin Skywalker. Weakly written and horribly acted lead to a big gaping whole in all three prequels. When Anakin finally rose up as Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith and screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOO!", I screamed "YES, Anakins gone." This brings me to my thoughts on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and unfortunately the lackluster Anakin rears his ugly head.
Fortunately, the movie is completely computer animated, so no Hayden Christensen was needed. Unfortunately, the character of Anakin still feels stiff and forced through the entire movie. Good thing there is enough action and comedy to save Clone Wars from a failure. The graphics are cartoony, but believable against vivid backgrounds and settings. The important note here is that the movie is consistent and easily fits into the epic Star Wars movie saga.
Also, the move to complete computer graphics opened the door for much better action sequences. I don't want to spoil the movie, but one scene has our heroes scaling vertically up a cliff face while fighting the never ending droid army. It was believable and did not once feel faked for the sake of a live actor. That single scene absolutely convinced me this was the right move for the Star Wars franchise.
Overall, the movie was fun, albeit aimed at a younger audience. The general aim helped me forgive some plot shortfalls and out of place comedy. The movie was a general mix of the classic Star Wars we all love and the new age Star Wars that is hard to enjoy even as a fan. I highly recommend a viewing for any Star Wars fan, especially those with children.
My biggest problem with the prequels was the character of Anakin Skywalker. Weakly written and horribly acted lead to a big gaping whole in all three prequels. When Anakin finally rose up as Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith and screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOO!", I screamed "YES, Anakins gone." This brings me to my thoughts on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and unfortunately the lackluster Anakin rears his ugly head.
Fortunately, the movie is completely computer animated, so no Hayden Christensen was needed. Unfortunately, the character of Anakin still feels stiff and forced through the entire movie. Good thing there is enough action and comedy to save Clone Wars from a failure. The graphics are cartoony, but believable against vivid backgrounds and settings. The important note here is that the movie is consistent and easily fits into the epic Star Wars movie saga.
Also, the move to complete computer graphics opened the door for much better action sequences. I don't want to spoil the movie, but one scene has our heroes scaling vertically up a cliff face while fighting the never ending droid army. It was believable and did not once feel faked for the sake of a live actor. That single scene absolutely convinced me this was the right move for the Star Wars franchise.
Overall, the movie was fun, albeit aimed at a younger audience. The general aim helped me forgive some plot shortfalls and out of place comedy. The movie was a general mix of the classic Star Wars we all love and the new age Star Wars that is hard to enjoy even as a fan. I highly recommend a viewing for any Star Wars fan, especially those with children.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Meh
Meh, Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) gets its own card game. This is something that would of been awesomely cool at launch, but feels completely tacked on now. Plus, Sabaac is the penultimate card game for any Star Wars role-playing game, and no company seems to be willing to touch it. I honestly had wet dreams when it was mentioned that SWG would possibly have Sabaac in game at some point. Sadly it never happened.
I am not going to blast SOE too hard on this one. I am a sucker for card games and the market needs more of them on official online platforms that don't cost an arm and a leg to participate in (I'm looking at you MtG Online).
I've said it before; these sort of projects are the ones I can bear coming out of SOE. I just don't like the tacked on feeling of most of them. Can't one of them be launched on its own platform without a tie-in to a B-rate MMO?
I am not going to blast SOE too hard on this one. I am a sucker for card games and the market needs more of them on official online platforms that don't cost an arm and a leg to participate in (I'm looking at you MtG Online).
I've said it before; these sort of projects are the ones I can bear coming out of SOE. I just don't like the tacked on feeling of most of them. Can't one of them be launched on its own platform without a tie-in to a B-rate MMO?
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Why letting Star Wars Galaxies die is the best thing that could happen... for Star Wars fans
On the heels of some pretty bad press coverage (Washington Post, CBS, etc.) and the cold hard facts that focus groups just don't like the changes to Star Wars Galaxies I have something to say. Letting SWG die is the best thing that could happen if you are a Star Wars (and MMORPG) fan.
It is unlikely that SOE would let SWG die, but it is very possible that they will rollback the NGE. Rolling back the NGE would be a toss up to whether the game could survive. My guess would be that any major change would completely alienate any remaining fan base and possibly push Lucas Arts to pull the license.
I am not an expert on licensing, but I couldn't imagine Lucas Arts letting the Star Wars name be dragged through the mud by the national media much longer. Lucas Arts was a driving force behind the changes to make the game more "Star Warsy" and I doubt they are pleased with the results. So I will blame both SOE and Lucas Arts for the current state of the game. After all we know Lucas Arts had to sign off on moving the time line forward and allowing Jedi to appear all over the place.
So what does this all mean for the Star Wars fan that is still looking for the game where they can experience the Star Wars universe in all its glory? If SWG was to die it would be very possible that the license for a Star Wars themed MMORPG could be up for grabs. That is a tempting prospect for any MMORPG developer with the current state of the market.
World of Warcraft has proven there is a market for MMORPGs that extends beyond just Everquest's 500,000 subscribers. In fact it extends far beyond that. The market is global for MMORPGs that want to support a huge development cost. While Star Wars is a global name it is unknown what sort of following a Star Wars game would have in the heavy gaming countries of China or Korea. World of Warcraft is one of the only games to really succeed in both the East and West.
What I do know is that a new Star Wars MMORPG would generate a ton of buzz. First of all there is SWG that has a few years under its belt that has taught us a lot about what the gaming and Star Wars communities want out of a game. We know that space flight and combat, action inspired game play, and Star Warsy"ness" are all required. We know there isn't people lining up to be Moisture Farmers. We also know there is plenty of wannabe Jedi in the galaxy.
A new Star Wars MMORPG should have a pretty solid understanding of what to build. It would be an exciting development period as SWG critics, SWG fanbois, Star Wars fans & critics, and MMORPG fans all battle to get a game that will bring the excitement that the Star Wars films and MMORPGs have brought to millions of fans. Star Wars galaxies is better dead than alive.
Update: 29 Nov, 2009 - Edited post, corrected spelling, and applied labels.
It is unlikely that SOE would let SWG die, but it is very possible that they will rollback the NGE. Rolling back the NGE would be a toss up to whether the game could survive. My guess would be that any major change would completely alienate any remaining fan base and possibly push Lucas Arts to pull the license.
I am not an expert on licensing, but I couldn't imagine Lucas Arts letting the Star Wars name be dragged through the mud by the national media much longer. Lucas Arts was a driving force behind the changes to make the game more "Star Warsy" and I doubt they are pleased with the results. So I will blame both SOE and Lucas Arts for the current state of the game. After all we know Lucas Arts had to sign off on moving the time line forward and allowing Jedi to appear all over the place.
So what does this all mean for the Star Wars fan that is still looking for the game where they can experience the Star Wars universe in all its glory? If SWG was to die it would be very possible that the license for a Star Wars themed MMORPG could be up for grabs. That is a tempting prospect for any MMORPG developer with the current state of the market.
World of Warcraft has proven there is a market for MMORPGs that extends beyond just Everquest's 500,000 subscribers. In fact it extends far beyond that. The market is global for MMORPGs that want to support a huge development cost. While Star Wars is a global name it is unknown what sort of following a Star Wars game would have in the heavy gaming countries of China or Korea. World of Warcraft is one of the only games to really succeed in both the East and West.
What I do know is that a new Star Wars MMORPG would generate a ton of buzz. First of all there is SWG that has a few years under its belt that has taught us a lot about what the gaming and Star Wars communities want out of a game. We know that space flight and combat, action inspired game play, and Star Warsy"ness" are all required. We know there isn't people lining up to be Moisture Farmers. We also know there is plenty of wannabe Jedi in the galaxy.
A new Star Wars MMORPG should have a pretty solid understanding of what to build. It would be an exciting development period as SWG critics, SWG fanbois, Star Wars fans & critics, and MMORPG fans all battle to get a game that will bring the excitement that the Star Wars films and MMORPGs have brought to millions of fans. Star Wars galaxies is better dead than alive.
Update: 29 Nov, 2009 - Edited post, corrected spelling, and applied labels.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
I hath returned!
The week long raid concluded with the following pile of loot:
Star Wars Episode 3 DVD
War of the Worlds DVD
Books:
Two heavy duty frying pans. Afterall, working on that oh-so-important cooking skill!
Long sleeved Green Bay Packers shirt with +5 Fanboi enchant!
Air Force plaque with medallion and US flag stamp.
Mini-nativity set.
Update: 25 July, 2008 - Edited post and applied labels.
Star Wars Episode 3 DVD
War of the Worlds DVD
Books:
Two heavy duty frying pans. Afterall, working on that oh-so-important cooking skill!
Long sleeved Green Bay Packers shirt with +5 Fanboi enchant!
Air Force plaque with medallion and US flag stamp.
Mini-nativity set.
Update: 25 July, 2008 - Edited post and applied labels.
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