Cookie's Corner Y4 - Spark 3 ending explained on page 14

[cookie]

12 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

 

Well after I traumatized you I wanted the first act to settle you back in.

Yeah but if there's one complaint I'm probably going to have by the end of it is that some things could've been trimmed.

Edited October 5, 2018 by cookie

[cookie]

If this friend of Eder is going to be around much longer he should probably be given a name.

[4815162342]

28 minutes ago, cookie said:

Yeah but if there's one complaint I'm probably going to have by the end of it is that some things could've been trimmed.

 

Of the first act, there is one scene I think could be tossed.

[cookie]

Alright, city's rising up, villian's getting hammier, stakes are being raised, let's do this

Edited October 5, 2018 by cookie

[cookie]

Is it wrong of me to say that I'm kinda starting to get vibes of a certain baddie that won an Oscar last year from Raedric?

[YM!]

9 minutes ago, cookie said:

Is it wrong of me to say that I'm kinda starting to get vibes of a certain baddie that won an Oscar last year from Raedric?

TBH I kind of did as well.

[4815162342]

15 minutes ago, cookie said:

Is it wrong of me to say that I'm kinda starting to get vibes of a certain baddie that won an Oscar last year from Raedric?

 

I get the similarity. It's connected to game stuff so I can explain when home from work.

[cookie]

17 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

 

I get the similarity. It's connected to game stuff so I can explain when home from work.

I think all that's missing right now is for him to make an epic speech about how he's going to burn the whole shit down and then hilariously rekt the protagonist.

[4815162342]

3 minutes ago, cookie said:

I think all that's missing right now is for him to make an epic speech about how he's going to burn the whole shit down and then hilariously rekt the protagonist.

 

Let's just say that there's one aspect of the character I left out of the film that would go beyond the Full Pack.

[cookie]

The Packer-isms just keep on coming lmao

 

Not that I mind, this climax is pretty neato

[cookie]

Pillars of Eternity: The Hollow Vale

 

In many ways Pillars wants to be like the epics of CAYOM's (recent) past, the likes of The Odyssey and The Scavenger Wars certainly come to mind, and not just for the obvious reasons. Does this first part of a whooping seven-film saga live up to such a monumental task?

 

In some ways yes, in other ways... I hope the sequels improve a few things.

 

One thing important to note is the film's pacing. Not that individual scenes drag themselves out, but there are a LOT of them and it certainly takes a while before you get the sense that the story is actually progressing anywhere. This is far more notable in the first act than it is in later parts (though I think prolonging the epilogue with yet another giant exposition dump was unnecessary), mainly that it consists of the characters sitting around and talking while the threat very slowly builds in the background. In part this is because it's a huge world with a complicated mythos, but I don't think it would kill to abbreviate some of it.

 

I presume some characters are set to get far juicier developments in future movies because for now they kinda seem redundant, Aloth being an early example. I understand if one doesn't want to make significant alterations from the source material so as to not break the sequence with future movies, so I'm going to reserve my judgement for now.

 

But is what's there solid? Definitely. The actors all do a good job at least making all the exposition palpable and they deliver some funny lines every now and then (J.K Simmons wizard is a highlight), plus once the plot actually feels like it gets going it delivers on the action after a long build-up, though the climax is somewhat short although given how long the movie already was keeping it brief was probably for the best.

 

I'm going to be a bit reserved on this one since what I'll think about this film down the road will depend on how the sequels address some things, but for now it's an undeniably solid franchise starter, provided you're willing to sit through some of the baggier bits.

 

8/10

Edited October 5, 2018 by cookie

[4815162342]

As I mentioned in @Xillix's thread, this was very much an Eder movie for character focus. Aloth becomes a lot more central in the second film. But yeah, waiting for payoff and all that.

 

It's funny what you say about pacing in that I admit I overcorrected a bit from the game. The game is structured such that 15% of the content is in the first act, 25% in the third act, and the remaining 60% is in the middle. So I beefed up the first act somewhat.

 

 

As for the final lore dump. I invented that on my own and it has no basis in the actual game 

For reasons relevant to future films, I thought it'd be a nifty thing to work in. 

[cookie]

As I kinda want to make Odyssey into a bigger deal I'm going to do dem Turians tomorrow.

 

Surprised there haven't been more requests.

[4815162342]

3 hours ago, cookie said:

Is it wrong of me to say that I'm kinda starting to get vibes of a certain baddie that won an Oscar last year from Raedric?

 

3 hours ago, YourMother the Edgelord said:

TBH I kind of did as well.

 

2 hours ago, 4815162342 said:

 

I get the similarity. It's connected to game stuff so I can explain when home from work.

 

So as I said

 

Spoiler

 

In the game, after you do a couple good deeds around Gilded Vale, Kolsc shows up and goes "hey, you should totally help me murder the crazy tyrant." So you go and infiltrate Raedric's castle and eventually you confront him and he goes "hey, Kolsc is a greedy asshole who wants power for himself, and since you just killed half my guards how about I hire you to go kill Kolsc." So you can either side with Kolsc, or betray him and work for Raedric. If you work for Raedric that is the end of it. If you kill Raedric then Kolsc takes over and things seem to stop being all murdery and tyranny.

 

Then, much much later, near the end of the game, you get a message that Raedric is back, so you have the option of returning to Gilded Vale and Raedric's castle, where you learn that Raedric has come back to life as a Death Knight pledged to Berath, and you have to fight him a second time to kill him for good.

 

So I decided to simplify that and have Raedric slowly be consumed into a Death Knight during this film as a way of showing the depths a desperate man will go to to try and solve an unfixable problem (that we know of), as well as demonstrating in one manner the effect Gods can have in the mortal world.

 Also wanted to flesh him out a bit so he wasn't just Super Evil Tyrant Man, and the whole greater good, harsh measures for harsh times schtick happens to also be Packer's deal

 

 

[Rorschach]

56 minutes ago, cookie said:

As I kinda want to make Odyssey into a bigger deal I'm going to do dem Turians tomorrow.

 

Surprised there haven't been more requests.

I can’t wait to see what you got cooking.

[cookie]

@4815162342

 

[cookie]

Mass Effect

 

To say that Mass Effect has similar ambitions as Pillars of Eternity is hardly an overstatement and not one made to be entirely critical. It's been clear for a while now that this is seeking to ride the wave of space opera sagas popularized by the one-two-three punch of Voltron, Spark and The Scavenger Wars ( I would include Treasure Planet on here, but that is more riding the live-action remake trend than the space opera trend) and in Mass Effect's favor it has one element that helps make it stand out a bit: it is very much a Mission: Impossible team-of-competent-if-a-bit-rowdy-professionals-finds-out-bad-guy's-scheme-and-tries-to-stop-it action movie and that in turn makes it a much breezier experience than one might expect, and that should play very well with audiences looking for an Easter escape.

 

Like Pillars though, its ambitions are met in some ways but could see improvement in some other ways, but for different reasons.

 

The plotting itself is really good. It keeps the pace brisk, the downtime comes at appropriate moments and the numerous action sequences are varied enough so it doesn't start feeling repetitive. While the politics can get a little muddled at times the motivations are all fairly clear and the world building is very solid.

 

Character-wise it could've been a bit more exciting though, since everyone here is between serviceable to good, but none reach the level of great. I think the shortfall is ultimately in the antagonists, one is a bit too generic for my taste and the other, while it's a twist I won't spoil, makes his villain turn a bit too late. I think it would've made the climax more personal if said villain revealed himself before the third act instead of being sprung on us when the conflict is five minutes away from being resolved. Plus, you can see the twist coming so it's not like there's any real shock value to it that would've otherwise made up for the last minute turn.

 

I'm not entirely sure whether Pillars or this is ultimately the better movie. They have their different strengths and weaknesses and it kinda evens out. Like Pillars as well a lot depends on what future movies do with the developments introduced in this one, so it's another wait-and-see game.

 

8/10

 

 

Edited October 6, 2018 by cookie

[4815162342]

15 minutes ago, cookie said:

Mass Effect

 

 

 

 

Hmm, so you and @YourMother the Edgelord have a difference of opinion about a certain character. Clearly he is the more astute one 

[4815162342]

But the Mission: Impossible comparison is apt. I didn't want to jump into OMG SAVE THE GALAXY stuff, I wanted to build the team with a couple movies of adventures that are important, but not epic battles of good and evil.

[4815162342]

BTW what did you think about the credit scenes?