Shagger

Hey everyone? Just to make you aware that I am now back and starting to become an active member of the VGR community. For those that don’t know me, my name is Alex and I’m from the UK.

Before I get started:
 
This review will be spoiler free, but I will open the discussion below to spoilers, you have been warned. @The Blackangel I can't say for sure, but I think is is possible that some of the images in this show, trailer and contained in this review might be triggering for you. I'd have somebody take a look at the media in this post before you read just to be sure.  
A television series published by Amazon based of the Fallout series on video games released April 11nth viewable on Amazon Prime Video. Me and my better half binged the series yesterday and I decided to share my thoughts.
 
See the trailer below.
 
 
I've been a fan of the games since Fallout 3 and whilst games vary in strength from a storytelling perspective, it was always going to be a challenge to tell a story in this universe from the more uninvolved perspective one has merely watching said story as apposed to role playing it. A very different challenge as, say, the Last of US TV series on HBO because even though one controlled Joel in the The Last of Us video game, the story was was still told from an observers perspective. Adapting a video game whare the player has full control over what a character says, whare they go and what they do right down to the base morals was never going to be easy.  Maybe impossible to do in a way that pleases everyone.
 
However, I've got to give Amazon, MGM Studios and Kitler films thier props because I think they absolutely nailed it!
 
First, the story. Shades of Fallout 3 with the naïve, but courageous Lucy Maclain (Ella Purnell) as she leaves the sanctuary of a nuclear survivor's shelter called Vault 33 to search for her father, the Vault's overseer, kidnapped by a mysterious raider named Moldaver (Sarita Cloudhury). Meanwhile, a defected Enclave Scientist is pursued by a pre-war actor named Cooper Howard turned bounty hunter now known as "The Ghoul" (Walton Goggins) and an opportunistic Brotherhood of Steel Squire named Maximus (Aaron Moten).  This is a complex, yet deeply compelling story with a great drive, great energy, great pacing with lots of unexpected twists and turns. As the viewer, you are always kept guessing as the full story behind not just the motivations of our characters, but the origins of the great war itself unravel.  The show pulled no punches with the violence and with a surprising amount of superb comedy thrown in for free along with all the drama.  I absolutely loved it.
 
The aesthetics are absolutely nailed.  This looks exactly as fans of the show would hope with authentic looking costumes and sets. The pre-war and Vault settings in particular I liked, especially the pre-war cars, many of which actually appeared to be fully functional, a nice touch.  What creative liberties were taken, they were smart about. Nothing felt out of place. The effects, both practical and CGI were also really good.
 
However, one thing I wasn't so sure about was Walton Goggins make up as "The Ghoul". Compared to the other ghouls in the series and, indeed, the games, he skin looked a little to "complete" in the sense that it didn't really look like it was hanging off like it should with a very monotone look to the colour.  He looked less like a ghoul and more like a burn victim with a spray-on tan. Here's a side-by-side of Walton Goggins as "The Ghoul" and a Ghoul from Fallout 3 and I just think that the Ghoul from Fallout 3 looks better with a varied colour pallet and more varied textures going on. 
 

 
The characters themselves are well fleshed out and very well performed by all the cast, no complaints here. Whether you agree with thier motivations and goals or not, you are always given a chance to relate to them and understand them.  The show never gets bogged down with exposition, we learn about these characters through the story in a vey easy to digest yet exiting way.  This doesn't mean I like all the characters though, more specifically Maximus. The guy was traitorous, selfish, stupid and incompetent. That would have bene fine if it weren't for two serious issues:
 
I didn't feel like this character really learned or grew much at all through the story.  He was pretty much the same self-centred glory hound at the end that was at the start. The show tried a little too hard to make one empathise with him, even when he was at his worst, and that was annoying.  
Still, Maximus aside, these characters really grew on me.  I loved Lucy for her sincere compassion as well as her courage and admire the way she refused to let this harsh, merciless world re-shape her principles.  A clever contrast to The Ghoul/Cooper who left me wanting more of the heart that has clearly been buried and hardened by decades of life in this world and the tragedies' in his life. And even without that, he would still be ruthlessly fucking cool. And I must say, I want The Ghoul's Gun modded into Fallout 4 immediately.
 
 The only other thing I didn't like was Amazon and thier stupid video player. Not only did it glitch out frequently blackening the screen in whole or in part several times while watched, we still had to put up with ads even though we pay for Amazon Prime. Sorry, but that's not good enough. I'd actually feel inclined to download this show if I wanted to rewatch it to avoid this nonsense.
 
But that's nothing against the show itself. It was entertaining, compelling, respected the source material and was well produced. I am even temped to say this was better than HBO's The Last of Us as an adaptation, and that is saying something. A much watch for both fans and newcomers alike.
 
9/10

I do t know what is going on, but I'm getting concerned at some of the recent topics popping up, especially on the Mobile Games sub-forum.  Why are people being so happy-go-lucky describing some of the worst things in gaming.  Take this, for example:
 
 
That's Pay-to-Win! Literally the worst and most universally and justifiably hated example of in-app purchases there is!  And you're describing it like free ice cream!  So what is going on here?

Some well established communication apps like Discord, WhatsApp and social media might be useful for this.  DialMyCalks looks pretty good as well, but people might be less inclined to use a more obscure app.

Today I accomplished something I thought I never would.  Something that's been tormenting me for over 20 years.
 
I dodged more than 200 lightning strikes in a row on FFX:
 

 

 
If you don't know anything about this, then I will go back 25 years in time and take up residence inside your head, all safe and warm never to know anything about it either.
 
But if you NEED the context, here it is.  There are a selection of ultimate weapons called Celestial Weapons, one for each character.  Obtaining these weapons and charging them up to thier full potential require completing a variety of challenging side missions and mini games.  Some of these challenges are fairly straight forward, but take a lot of time and grind.  Others in theory should not take that long, but are so nightmarishly hard that the developers responsible have a place reserved in hell.
 
This, what they call "The Lightning Dance" challenge, is one of the very worst. There is an area called "The Thunder Plains" whare lightning can strike the character. It does not harm the party or anything, it's just an indigenous feature of this region.  Is possible to dodge these lightning strikes by hitting the right button when you see a "flash" on the screen.  The thing is, the time between the "flash" and the lightning strike is right on the limit of a human being's reaction time.  I'm not exaduating when I say it's barely possible to dodge just one of them.
 
Yet for this challenge, you are expected to dodge 200 of them in a row.  No saves, no leaving the area, no nothing.  Get hit, and start all over again.
 
For years this has tormented me, but I've got there with, if I may say so, a pretty impressive 309.  Fantastic.  Now I never need to do this again in my life ever.
 
Next, and last, is trying to get a time of 0.00 seconds in the Chocobo Race.  God help me...

To be fair, I've never known of a forum that would do account deletion.  It's bad for forum security and post preservation.  We don't do it on VGR either and there are people who have asked.

I do t know what is going on, but I'm getting concerned at some of the recent topics popping up, especially on the Mobile Games sub-forum.  Why are people being so happy-go-lucky describing some of the worst things in gaming.  Take this, for example:
 
 
That's Pay-to-Win! Literally the worst and most universally and justifiably hated example of in-app purchases there is!  And you're describing it like free ice cream!  So what is going on here?

Yes, members can edit thier own posts on VGR, but only within 10 minutes of posting them.  This has been a long standing policy and it is there for security and to maintain post consistency.  Being able to infinitely edit posts does open up the chance for people to abuse the system to retroactively add bad links and spam as well as "alter" arguments they have made when debating with others and unfairly affect the integrity of others posts.  The 10 minute limit has been discussed before and we're certainly open to the idea of extending it if a compelling argument can be made.  
 
Even if you're already past that 10 minute window, if you report your post to the mod team and explain why you want you post edited, we would consider that request so long as there is a good reason.

To be fair, I've never known of a forum that would do account deletion.  It's bad for forum security and post preservation.  We don't do it on VGR either and there are people who have asked.

I think I discovered a floor once.

Why did you go back?  I don't understand why after what you described you so much as watch his content again, never mind donate to him.
 
It's like watching someone in an abusive reletionship.  It is so often the case you see this pattern repeat itself again and again.  As much as I, as the observer looking in from the outside, am trying to understand what it is you see in this, I just can't see why you keep giving second chances.  Just stop, please?  Let his online career die the slow death it deserves.

The fans chanting crap like this horrid, but in a true statement of just how bad football/soccer fans can get, not surprising.  For the players to do so is completly unacceptable.  They are representing thier country as professional athletes, a major responcibility.  Not only is it a mockery of that responcibility for them to partake in such actions, it is (or at least it should be) part of that responcibility to condemn such actions from anyone.  To me, it would not be to harsh for Agentenia stripped of the Copa America Cup over this as well as fines and suspensions/bans for the players involved.

Welcome to VGR. If you have any questions, please ask and I'll do my best to answer them.

I would prefer game companies re-learn how to get a release right because they've clearly forgotten. Once they figure that out, then we can address celebrating it.

What is your drink/snack of choice when playing a video game? 
I'm a big fan of Baja Blast Mountain Dew.  However, I try not to drink too much soda so I'll alternate some water and/or gatorade in there as well. 
As far as snacks go, I don't usually eat a lot of stuff while I'm gaming because I don't want to get a lot of gunk on the controller. 

I great you all..

Gamers! Happy to be here

Yep, more Japanese games 😆
 
Anyway, that crossover thing isn't anything new.  The "Tales of..." series from Bandai Namco does a similar thing with some sort of half baked, alternate universe bullshit just so they can have characters from other Tales games appear in cameo roles, usually as high level optional bosses to fight.  I also heard read somewhere the Jecht was meant to be a recurring character in Final Fantasy, but was only ever canonised in the world of FFX.  I have NO idea how they were going to make that work.

Just because they can do it doesn't mean they should. 
It's one thing to be doing your job but it's another thing to have to take up a bunch of that person's time to the point they don't get to see their family or don't get any down time. 

@Knight Plug I edited your post to embed the video you linked to, I hope you don't mind.
 
This all looks interesting.  An open world Resident Evil is intriguing and the Dead Rising Remake looks like a lot of fun.

A trailer's purpose is marketing, simple as that.  The level of insight it offers may be helpful in determining if it's the kind of game one might be interested in, but they are not to be trusted.

What aggravates me about these kind of lawsuits and legal cases whare entertainment media is blamed for somebody's heinous actions in real life is the complete and utter failure it represents to address the real, root causes of such incidents.  People are doomed to die in future incidents as a result. 
 
Whilst America's well documented issue with gun culture is certainly a factor, so I do think weapon manufactures have to held accountable, it is obviously nonsense to suggest any entertainment media, whether it's a video game, movie, music, or book, is any way responsible for the real life actions of a person.  Human beings have sentience, the power to imagine and fantasize, it's inherent in all of us.  We also have the ability to recognizes the difference between fantasy and reality as a part of that sentience.  If a person does not have the ability to recognise the difference between reality and fantasy, then there is a problem with that person's mind. They are mentally ill.  It has nothing to do with with a video game.

I don't get it, why equip the console with the disk drive with the larger SSD and leave the all-digital version with the smaller SSD?  Wouldn't common sense dictate it be the other way round?

I don't get it, why equip the console with the disk drive with the larger SSD and leave the all-digital version with the smaller SSD?  Wouldn't common sense dictate it be the other way round?

This...