Real Detective is about real-life detectives and the true cases that consume and haunt them. Every detective has one. A case that pushes them to the brink. A case that takes hold of them and won’t let go. (source: IMDB)
Every Sunday at lunch, we watch a true crime documentary and this show is our favourite so far.
In each episode, a cop is telling the story of the worst crime he had to solve, while the case is being reconstructed in an event dramatisation.
The first reason why Real Detective is so good is because the stories themselves are very interesting to follow. The suspense is very well built, from the introduction to the conclusion, you wanna know who’s responsible for the murders.
The other reason is that, thanks to a huge budget, many of the episodes star actors who, if not famous, are excellent character actors that we’ve seen many times in many films and TV shows: Michael Madsen, Mia Kirshner, etc.
This makes Real Detective perhaps the most moving and interesting of any true crime documentaries shows on television nowadays.
Since we’re trying to complete each day all the Pet Battle World Quests that award Polished Pet Charms, I have created a page with all the pet battle strategies that Soforah and I use in Shadowlands. They are not always the most optimal strategies, but they work even with a rooster of not-so-rare pets. So far, all the battles from Shadowlands are covered and I’ll soon add the strategies for BFA. That page is accessible via the “Links” menu located in the brand new top bar of the blog (ooh, shiny).
We’ve seen the last episode of American Story Hotel and it was amazing!
Lady Gaga was absolutely stunning as was the rest of the cast, but it’s Denis O’Hare that left us speechless. Liz Taylor is probably the most amazing character I’ve ever seen in any TV show.
As usual for AHS, the show is extremely eye candy, from the setting to the actors, it’s a real treat. Some scenes are incredibly powerful, like when vampires Lady Gaga (as The Countess) and Matt Bomer go on the hunt for victims on the song Tear You Apart (performed by She Wants Revenge).
https://youtube.com/watch?v=QWontiEFJwY
AHS’s Hotel Cortez is widely inspired by the real Hotel Cecil. This is made clear from the fact that both the real and fictional hotel are based in Los Angeles to a specific episode named Devil’s Night, which features Richard Ramirez, a serial killer who stayed at the Cecil Hotel during his murder spree in the mid 1980s.
Much like the Cecil Hotel, AHS’s Hotel Cortez was the scene of countless deaths, including murders, suicides and accidental overdoses. While the Cecil wasn’t home to a murderous hotel owner ghost and a vampire Countess played by Lady Gaga, a lot of the deaths in Hotel reflected many of the real life deaths at the Cecil.
I wish that I could write a post that would reflect how much we’ve enjoyed each Friday evening spent watching this show… It was amazing in so many ways. Hotel is officially our second favourite AHS season, right after 1984 (which also features Richard Ramirez btw).
An eccentric mortician recounts several macabre and phantasmagorical tales that he’s encountered in his distinguished career. (Source: IMDB)
There are 2 things that I really enjoyed in The Mortuary Collection: the voice of Clancy Brown and the aesthetics of the movie.
Unfortunately, the stories told by the mortician were too unsurprising. With such a setting, it could have been much better, if only the tales wouldn’t have such a feeling of deja-vu.
Imagine this: you’re sitting in a classroom, falling asleep on the monotonous tone of your teacher’s voice when the girl in front of you suddenly explodes, for absolutely no reason. Later, another kid from school follows the same fate, then another and you might be next.
There’s something incredibly creepy in waiting for a death that may or may not come, in an hour or in a day. Ineluctability is one of human’s greatest fear. When each moment might be the last, everything has to happen now, especially love.
We were afraid to watch a modern teen romantic comedy. Fortunately, the movie didn’t become over corny, probably thanks to the excellent performance of Katherine Langford (13 reasons why) who’s mostly portraying very unlucky teens. I wish that she’d never age, so she could save many more teen movies.
A married couple becomes stranded at an isolated motel and finds hidden video cameras in their room. They soon realise that unless they escape, they’ll be the next victims of a snuff film. (Source: IMDB)
Another underrated gem, perfect for a Saturday evening. The tension is built through the first 20 minutes of the movie and it doesn’t let go until its conclusion. The casting is great. As usual, Kate Beckinsale is fantastic and Frank Whaley plays a really good freak.
The advertising strategy for the film made use of a toll-free phone number. The number was made to sound as if one is actually calling the Pinewood Motel. In the background, screaming can be heard accompanying the voice of the proprietor, who informs callers about “slashing” prices and the “killer” deals that the motel has, if it has a vacancy. (Source: IMDB)
Soforah and I are having a blast in Shadowlands. Between the Anima hunt, the mushroom quests, Torghast, the covenant upgrades and Korthia, our daily routine is really fun and diverse. However, reading the developer update made us very excited for the things to come. I’m also glad that Blizzard continues to be the kind of developer who listens to the feedback, despite the negative vibe spread by the toxic community.
Well, that’s a lot, but what makes me really happy is:
21 new soul shapes (mostly critters), I wanna be a squirrel and a cat;
Soloable Islands expeditions (we didn’t give it enough love during BFA);
I never enjoyed streamers, I don’t find them entertaining. They call themselves “content creators”, but they’re only a bunch of backseat drivers who never created anything (free speech feels good!).
When a game is popular, they’re on the first line, singing its praises but, when the game loses in popularity, they’re the first to lead the hate charge. The human brain is wired toward negativity, it’s a biological fact, it’s what makes us look for cars before we cross the streets. Medias have been abusing this facts for hundreds of years by serving us all the bad things happening in the world through their news shows. Streamers are doing the same, because a negative video simply brings more views.
The problem is that, by gaining a greater audience, they gain the power to influence the trend. Do you honestly believe that Final Fantasy XIV would have such stellar numbers if streamers wouldn’t play it? The problem is when a nobody uses that power to damage a game or a company for profit or just because he got cocky over an insult on Twitter.
When the scandal against Blizzard first appeared, the amount of streamers to jump on the hate train was incredible. The same people who profited their games for over a decade suddenly became a linch mob. Now, they’re already tempering their speech, realising that World of Warcraft is still a great game and that it is still popular. The “I will never return” has already turned into a “I still enjoy the game”. Wait for the next patch or the next expansion and you will see those hypocrites posting WoW videos again.
So, where’s the integrity in all that? Well, that’s simple, there’s none. If you’re looking for integrity, just stop watching video game streamers, they’re just trying to pay their bills, mostly at the developer’s expanse.
When nature strikes, humanity doesn’t stand a chance. This time, the threat isn’t a tornado or a volcano, but a toxin released by the plants. It has two effects: it pushes humans to kill themselves and it makes actors play bad.
However, if you don’t mind a bad scenario, a lot of mistakes (like Zooey Deschanel suddenly changing outfit even though they didn’t bring anything with them) and a super awkward acting, you’ll maybe make it until the end… After all, it’s only 90 minutes. This movie is the evidence the M. Night Shyamalan doesn’t make only good movies.
Trivia: We watched The Happening while we were both experiencing hay fever, which made it even weirder.
Sometimes, you realise how good something is after you’ve tried something else… Well this is exactly what happened to us. We were a bit burned out of Shadowlands, then came the Blizzard scandal and the huge “let’s quit WoW” trend that followed. So, out of curiosity, we gave FFXIV a try.
Final Fantasy Online was released in 2010 but we’ve never felt that it was something for us. We’re not fans of anime, we don’t like their aesthetics, it doesn’t match our idea of heroic fantasy. However, the hype got us and we felt that we had to give the game a chance.
The first thing that I can say is that, if you don’t like steaks, no sauce will make you love them. Well, it’s the same with games. No matter how you look at it, Final Fantasy is, at its core, a Japanese game with anime-like graphics. But I thought that I could close my eyes, put the steak in my mouth, chew and Swallow… I was wrong!
Graphics
The first thing that prevented me from enjoying the game is the lack of details in the landscape. For example, when you walk in a desert, it’s just plain yellow, you move on a yellow flat plate that’s supposed to feel like a desert.
The lines are too straight, the buildings feel like they’ve been drawn with a pencil and a ruler. There are entire cities made out of a bunch of textured polygons stuck together that resemble houses and castles but that’s it, there’s no charm.
Music and Voices
The music is miles away from what was composed for World of Warcraft. Most WoW themes have created memories that I will remember forever (Lament of the highborn, Aldrassil, Coldridge Valley,…), while FF14 themes are tunes that I want to forget.
We started by muting the music that launches automatically every time you ride a mount. Then we muted the combat music, which makes the game feel like Pokemon. We ended up by muting the entire sound, we couldn’t take it anymore.
There’s almost no voice acting, and when there is, it sounds bad. World of Warcraft’s voice actors can pride themselves for the amazing job that they do. FFXIV voice actors should rethink their career choices. Most of the time, it sounds so ridiculous that it triggered uncontrollable laughters.
Text
Each quest comes with pages of text . If you don’t read it, the game easily becomes shallow and if you do, you end up reading the worst literature that I’ve ever read in my entire life. The localization team apparently decided to go for some “old English” style, the results is a annoying to read, and there’s a lot of it.
Dungeons
Honestly, how can anyone find FF14’s dungeons good? Their design is uncharacteristic and the bosses are uncharismatic.
If you wanna see what I’m talking about, you could compare two starting dungeons from both games: The Deadmines (WoW) and The Copperbell Mines (FFXIV), the difference of quality is so huge, it’s embarrassing.
Gameplay
From the start, killing mobs in WoW feels amazing. Whether you hit them with a huge stick or you curse them from afar, WoW’s gameplay is smooth, fast and addictive.
FF14’s gameplay, when you get to experience it (between the hours of text reading), feels clunky. You will often read that you have to wait the last levels to experience the real gameplay of Final Fantasy, but no matter how many buttons are added to the action bar, weaving easily gets tedious.
Ridiculous
Everyone who plays WoW knows of Muradin, Sylvanas, Anduin, Ragnaros,… In FF14, I don’t even know the name of 2 NPCs, and if I do, it’s because they’re so ridiculous that I can’t forget them (unfortunately).
The name of the places are horrible: Limsa Lominsa (I had to google to spell it right), Costa del Sol (yep, I swear),…
I have to say something about the gear… Why even bother with dragons and castles, only to have us stumble upon a dude dressed in Summer attire? I completely breaks immersion.
Conclusion
Of course, my opinion isn’t objective but this is my blog and I don’t need to be objective. Now, I must admit that a great part of my negativity towards Final Fantasy comes from the fact that I’m not into anime. I love western fantasy, the one from Dungeons & Dragons.
But, regardless of my preference, I think that FF14 suffers of a huge lack of quality. From its gameplay, the way the lore is passed on, the graphics, the music and the overall charm, it feels like a cheap asian rip-off. Coming from WoW, it’s as if you’d be walking inside of a fake Chinese Disney park after visiting the real thing for years.
Trying FF14 has brought us some good though, it made us realize how spoiled we are with World of Warcraft. Since we’ve tried FF14, I’m even more amazed by the quality of Blizzard’s MMORPG. So many things are over-the-top, from the smooth gameplay to the music and the polished graphics, but the thing that matters most to me is the charm of the world and Eorzea doesn’t hold a candle to Azeroth.
