Worst waste of story telling potential that annoyed you.

[Pappytech]

I'm going to agree with the Attack on Titan sentiment. While I personally think the anime ended on a pretty high note (ignoring its rough start and pacing issues), when I picked up the manga afterwards, I was more than disappointed. The story's changed directions too many times, avoids explaining things in an ill-advised attempt to create "suspense", and the reveal of two certain Titans' identities was just hilariously awful.

That said, I'm still looking forward to the next season. The anime crew has already proven that they can make the story better and easier to follow; with luck, maybe they can turn the second half of the manga around as well.

However, the show I'd really like to talk about is Samurai Flamenco. For those who haven't heard of it, the anime follows Masayoshi Hazama, a magazine model who's been obsessed with toku and sentai heroes since he was a kid and decides that he wants to be a hero just like his idols. For the first seven episodes, the show's basically a far brighter version of Kick-Ass set in Japan, with Hazama running around in a homemade costume battling small-time crooks and delinquents, and is pretty dang fun to watch, with plenty of focus on developing the characters. It was fun, it was well-written, and it looked like it was setting itself up to be one of my favorite shows of the season.

Spoiler: Samurai Flamenco spoilers

Except then real monsters and villains start showing up, and the show stops focusing on the characters in order to either parody or reference every single Toku trope they possibly can. Now, this in and of itself isn't a problem, but the writing turns to shit along the way, creating countless plot holes and barely giving cursory explanations in order to keep "upgrading" the threat level to artificially raise the stakes.

Spoiler: Super spoiler

Hell, when it was eventually revealed that it was literally God making all this happen so that he could mess with Hazama, I was almost glad. That was pretty much the only way they could've possibly explained the plot at that point.

With only one episode left in the series, the writers have finally chosen to stop focusing on toku and sentai tropes in order to shoehorn in some last-minute character development, but by this point I can't bring myself to actually care about any of them. This entire last arc would've been good if they'd used it earlier, but in context of everything that happened during the show's second act, it's entirely pointless.

Anyway, I'm going to finish out the season due to some sick sense of obligation, but I don't plan on enjoying it. It had so much potential too...

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Dragon Age 2...

It is a darkly tragic tale at it's best parts but it's hampered by completely illusory player choice, repetitive enemies, REALLY repetitive dungeons and some kinda dumb villains. Also the weak directing of a lot of those "darkly tragic" moments isn't handled that well.

I'm really on board with the idea of an RPG deeply exploring the fate of a smaller location like DA2 tried to do with Kirkwall but man... they just... really didn't pull it off well...

Lending credence to my suspicions that DA2 was DLC that got turned into a full game at the last minute.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Wow, I'm surprised that we made it to page two and no one mentioned Diablo 3.

"Hey there, Deckard Cain. I see you've been an extremely important part of the entire franchise lore, would be a shame if you got killed off at the start of the second act by one of the lamest bosses in Diablo history."

Considering only a handful of people give a shit about Diablo's plot to begin with, not to even mention the lore, I don't think that's such a huge surprise.

I'll include Inyasha on this list, because I read the first few chapters a couple of years back, and the setup is actually really good: you have a reincarnation of a warrior in the body of a young girl, her demonic lover who now hates her, countless shards of power scattered all around to world, capable of tearing it apart, a ninja who had to watch her brother kill her entire clan, a cursed monk facing inevitable death and the reanimated warrior walking the land, her soul now trapped in and between two bodies. How do you make that premise suck? By doing fuck-all with it and just repeating the same formula for over god knows how many fucking chapters that series had.

 

[FPLOON]

Glee. Everybody who still watches that crap knows what I'm talking about.

*sighs* ...and that was before [REDACTED] "left" the show, if I'm not mistaken...
Why am I still watching this over Agents of Shield, again?

OT: God of War: Ascension

Then again, it's very rare for a prequel-based story to be worth diving into...

 

[lucky_sharm]

You've probably seen it, a book, a movie or a show that had great potential because of the setting, and it got pissed away for something entirely different. Just name them, what went wrong and what could have gone right.

Worst offender I can think of in recent years was Sword Art Online.

10 000 people trapped in an MMO where if you die you die in real life? And to escape they need to finish the game? That could be an epic story that lasts years. Wait, why is episode 4 filler? Why is episode 5 filler? Why was that Two Parter not relevant to anything? Why are those two characters married when they barley knew each other? Why where there 11 filler episodes out of 15 in the setting? So many questions, no logical answers.

And then there's the second arc.

No. The anime was not meant to be about everyone's struggle in the game, it is about character development and the romance between the two. In fact, this is the only anime that I've watched that has no fault. The animation is flawless, the story is one of the top 5 I have ever seen, the characters are unbelievably well written and the romance is the best written, better than even Clannad. The male lead is strong loner who develops his humanity through the game while the female lead is strong, free willed and a great role model. She even tries to save herself in act 2, which most heroines wouldn't even try to do.

Overall, SAO is the greatest anime I have ever seen, because as hard as I try, I can't seem to find fault in it. What you call filler I see as character development, allowing us to fall in love with the characters while discovering more about them.


P.s. I don't care how easy a captcha is, anything this annoying is never as "easy as cake"

That's a joke, right? Even if it was about romance and character development (more on that in a sec), the opening arc started with the explicit implication that it was about them trying to escape the game. You don't spend your first three episodes going in one direction (the only genuinely good episodes I might add) and then shift the whole focus of your show. By then you've attracted your audience and cemented what the story is about.

Now on to the romance and the character development: it sucks. That's really all I can say about it. The romance is so forced it reminds me of the Star Wars Prequels. The characters had no chemistry, and they where put together just because the writer wanted them to be. Hell, half the first arc is the "protagonist" making some random girl we never see again fall in love with him because the writer said so. Chobits had a better romance. Actually, even Karin had a better romance. On third thought, even Rosario Vampire (the anime) had a better romance. At least in that one the reasons for the girls falling for the protagonist where at least plausible.

And character development? What character development? The only character who ever changes is Asuna, and that's because she regressed from a kick-ass fighter and poorly written tsundere to a damsel in distress and poorly written tsundere. Kirito didn't develop, by the end of the show he was still the same asshole he was at the start. The only thing that changed was he became an idiot in the second arc. Can't say anything about the other characters either, since we never see them long enough for them to even be characters.

And then there's the villain decay. No motivation for the first villain, and a second villain who was as threatening as a butterfly.

But to be honest let's just ignore the second arc exsists just for the sake of argument, because that shows that everyone, from the characters to the government, are all morons in the world of SAO.

Yes lets agree that the second half was the worse of the two, just like death note. And while I disagree about the romance being bad, there is no way you just put Rosario Vampire in that list. While that show was super funny, it just doesn't have the power of SAO's romance, or the quality. As for no character development, We learn about their relationship with the "child" they adopt, learn about the "motivations" of the villians and learn more about his cousin (I think she was his cousin I forget). Karin was a decent show that was pretty damn funny but still lacks the class that SAO has.

What are you bringing up Death Note for? These are two completely different properties, unless you're implying that they're both on the same level in terms of quality in which case you are dead wrong.

You still haven't explained how their romance is so great. They don't even have a convincing relationship, let alone a romantic one. Their interactions are devoid of any kind of chemistry or dynamic, and that is because their personalities are so flat and barebones.

Furthermore, I don't think the term "character development" means what you think it means. It refers to how characters evolve based on what they've experienced throughout the story. Usually these characters have flaws that make them less likable and efficient, which they eventually overcome by the end of their character arc. To demonstrate how a character has changed, they'll be placed in a similar situation that they were previously incapable of handling because of their formerly held vices.

Take for example Eren Jaeger from Attack on Titan, who would constantly vent his anger on everyone, causing danger to himself and others. He attacked Hannes while escaping Shiganshina, blaming him for his mother's death. After having his attitude tempered by his friends and his military training, however, he meets with Hannes once again but with respect and gratitude. That is what character development is.

 

[forgo911]

You've probably seen it, a book, a movie or a show that had great potential because of the setting, and it got pissed away for something entirely different. Just name them, what went wrong and what could have gone right.

Worst offender I can think of in recent years was Sword Art Online.

10 000 people trapped in an MMO where if you die you die in real life? And to escape they need to finish the game? That could be an epic story that lasts years. Wait, why is episode 4 filler? Why is episode 5 filler? Why was that Two Parter not relevant to anything? Why are those two characters married when they barley knew each other? Why where there 11 filler episodes out of 15 in the setting? So many questions, no logical answers.

And then there's the second arc.

No. The anime was not meant to be about everyone's struggle in the game, it is about character development and the romance between the two. In fact, this is the only anime that I've watched that has no fault. The animation is flawless, the story is one of the top 5 I have ever seen, the characters are unbelievably well written and the romance is the best written, better than even Clannad. The male lead is strong loner who develops his humanity through the game while the female lead is strong, free willed and a great role model. She even tries to save herself in act 2, which most heroines wouldn't even try to do.

Overall, SAO is the greatest anime I have ever seen, because as hard as I try, I can't seem to find fault in it. What you call filler I see as character development, allowing us to fall in love with the characters while discovering more about them.


P.s. I don't care how easy a captcha is, anything this annoying is never as "easy as cake"

That's a joke, right? Even if it was about romance and character development (more on that in a sec), the opening arc started with the explicit implication that it was about them trying to escape the game. You don't spend your first three episodes going in one direction (the only genuinely good episodes I might add) and then shift the whole focus of your show. By then you've attracted your audience and cemented what the story is about.

Now on to the romance and the character development: it sucks. That's really all I can say about it. The romance is so forced it reminds me of the Star Wars Prequels. The characters had no chemistry, and they where put together just because the writer wanted them to be. Hell, half the first arc is the "protagonist" making some random girl we never see again fall in love with him because the writer said so. Chobits had a better romance. Actually, even Karin had a better romance. On third thought, even Rosario Vampire (the anime) had a better romance. At least in that one the reasons for the girls falling for the protagonist where at least plausible.

And character development? What character development? The only character who ever changes is Asuna, and that's because she regressed from a kick-ass fighter and poorly written tsundere to a damsel in distress and poorly written tsundere. Kirito didn't develop, by the end of the show he was still the same asshole he was at the start. The only thing that changed was he became an idiot in the second arc. Can't say anything about the other characters either, since we never see them long enough for them to even be characters.

And then there's the villain decay. No motivation for the first villain, and a second villain who was as threatening as a butterfly.

But to be honest let's just ignore the second arc exsists just for the sake of argument, because that shows that everyone, from the characters to the government, are all morons in the world of SAO.

Yes lets agree that the second half was the worse of the two, just like death note. And while I disagree about the romance being bad, there is no way you just put Rosario Vampire in that list. While that show was super funny, it just doesn't have the power of SAO's romance, or the quality. As for no character development, We learn about their relationship with the "child" they adopt, learn about the "motivations" of the villians and learn more about his cousin (I think she was his cousin I forget). Karin was a decent show that was pretty damn funny but still lacks the class that SAO has.

What are you bringing up Death Note for? These are two completely different properties, unless you're implying that they're both on the same level in terms of quality in which case you are dead wrong.

You still haven't explained how their romance is so great. They don't even have a convincing relationship, let alone a romantic one. Their interactions are devoid of any kind of chemistry or dynamic, and that is because their personalities are so flat and barebones.

Furthermore, I don't think the term "character development" means what you think it means. It refers to how characters evolve based on what they've experienced throughout the story. Usually these characters have flaws that make them less likable and efficient, which they eventually overcome by the end of their character arc. To demonstrate how a character has changed, they'll be placed in a similar situation that they were previously incapable of handling because of their formerly held vices.

Take for example Eren Jaeger from Attack on Titan, who would constantly vent his anger on everyone, causing danger to himself and others. He attacked Hannes while escaping Shiganshina, blaming him for his mother's death. After having his attitude tempered by his friends and his military training, however, he meets with Hannes once again but with respect and gratitude. That is what character development is.

The second half of death note was bad by it's own standards. The only thing I can say is different tastes for different generation. I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I see a great story with some of the best characters while you see a piece of trash. I can see why you think its trash, but I can not understand it.

 

[Platypus540]

I'm going to mix it up and say Battlefield 4's campaign mode. Yes, really. The absolute basic setup of the story was actually a pretty good idea for a war game, but then... they completely fucked it up.

Just make another Bad Company already DICE!

 

[Zeke63]

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Episode 19 ends with the main character kicking major ass after having suffered a mental breakdown, resulted from being forced to kill his friend, with a gigantic robot-human hybrid awakened, about to go on a rampage through an already ruined Tokyo. It seems like answers are finally coming, secrets are about to unveil and the series is entering a spectacular final act...

...and the next episode is mostly static images with voiceovers of characters talking, the main character tripping balls in a liquefied state and fuck-all getting resolved. Even the death of Toji (or did he die only in the manga? I forget) is merely glossed over in a phone call scene.

And don't even get me started how it turned out in the remake movies.

Gantz

Incredible potential for really edgy and darkly comedic social satire in the beginning with a perfect fish-out-of-water setting, lots of unexplained mysteries to uncover, characters with lots to evolve into...

...and turns out... wait, I have to use this meme:

Spoiler: It was...

And a literal Deus ex machina.

Supernatural

I like the series just fine, but it had some maddening misses of potential in Season 3. Bela, for example, was one of my favorite characters (and freaking hot), but she just got axed anticlimactically in the end. Dean literally went to hell and came back in season 4, and all we got was characters talking about it with some occasional close ups of his bloody face with screaming in the background. A horde of demons was supposed to have broken out of hell at the end of season 2, but season 3 just stuck to the formula.

Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra

ATLA is awesome, but season 3 was still initially disappointing after the incredible finale of season 2.

Spoiler: Spoilers for season 3 of Avatar

In the beginning of season 3, the Fire Nation has won the war and effectively conquered the world. The Avatar and a few rebels are in hiding and struggling just to survive. But then the rest of the season just follows the series' formula as normal

Korra is the far worse offender in this regard. So much potential with the setting, characters and setups, and most of season 2 was just meandering around and Korra acting like a stupid *****. And the very last minutes of season 1 pretty much rendered all that happened during the season pointless.

I'm almost tempted to include A Song of Ice and Fire here as well, as Daenerys has still yet to drag her ass and dragons into Westeros and the White Walkers seem to have disappeared off the face of the Earth, but as the series remains unfinished, it's not exactly fair.

they ran out of budget with evangelion, watch end of evangelion if you want the satisfying ending

 

[Zeke63]

Attack on Titan.

Great premise. Horrible, horrible writing.

yeah it was disapointing, it was trying to be like the next evangelion and so many people are trying to act like its such a good show, but its pretty generic when it comes right down to it with rather stale chars

 

[Fox12]

Game of Thrones.

The first book was fantastic. It had great conflict and characters, and all the arcs felt like they were going to converge in an epic sequel and finale. There was a cliffhanger, but it felt energetic, like the series was really going places.

Then you realize that Martin has no idea where he's going with this story. Entire character arcs can be skipped, and most chapters are just random characters wandering around aimlessly. Nothing ever gets resolved. I just can't see this series getting finished in a satisfactory way. Fifty years from now, the general consensus will be "the ending may have been weak, but Game of Thrones is still a must read for all fans of fantasy." Not bad praise by any means, but it can't deliver a satisfactory conclusion at this point. It's the fate of all series that overstay their welcome.

EDIT: Wow, I'm surprised, and a little pleased, to see people are so critical of Martin now. It's not his fault, but I'm rather sick of the "dark and gritty" tone that he's come to embody, and that perforates our culture. He's also extremely predictable.

 

[lucky_sharm]

You've probably seen it, a book, a movie or a show that had great potential because of the setting, and it got pissed away for something entirely different. Just name them, what went wrong and what could have gone right.

Worst offender I can think of in recent years was Sword Art Online.

10 000 people trapped in an MMO where if you die you die in real life? And to escape they need to finish the game? That could be an epic story that lasts years. Wait, why is episode 4 filler? Why is episode 5 filler? Why was that Two Parter not relevant to anything? Why are those two characters married when they barley knew each other? Why where there 11 filler episodes out of 15 in the setting? So many questions, no logical answers.

And then there's the second arc.

No. The anime was not meant to be about everyone's struggle in the game, it is about character development and the romance between the two. In fact, this is the only anime that I've watched that has no fault. The animation is flawless, the story is one of the top 5 I have ever seen, the characters are unbelievably well written and the romance is the best written, better than even Clannad. The male lead is strong loner who develops his humanity through the game while the female lead is strong, free willed and a great role model. She even tries to save herself in act 2, which most heroines wouldn't even try to do.

Overall, SAO is the greatest anime I have ever seen, because as hard as I try, I can't seem to find fault in it. What you call filler I see as character development, allowing us to fall in love with the characters while discovering more about them.


P.s. I don't care how easy a captcha is, anything this annoying is never as "easy as cake"

That's a joke, right? Even if it was about romance and character development (more on that in a sec), the opening arc started with the explicit implication that it was about them trying to escape the game. You don't spend your first three episodes going in one direction (the only genuinely good episodes I might add) and then shift the whole focus of your show. By then you've attracted your audience and cemented what the story is about.

Now on to the romance and the character development: it sucks. That's really all I can say about it. The romance is so forced it reminds me of the Star Wars Prequels. The characters had no chemistry, and they where put together just because the writer wanted them to be. Hell, half the first arc is the "protagonist" making some random girl we never see again fall in love with him because the writer said so. Chobits had a better romance. Actually, even Karin had a better romance. On third thought, even Rosario Vampire (the anime) had a better romance. At least in that one the reasons for the girls falling for the protagonist where at least plausible.

And character development? What character development? The only character who ever changes is Asuna, and that's because she regressed from a kick-ass fighter and poorly written tsundere to a damsel in distress and poorly written tsundere. Kirito didn't develop, by the end of the show he was still the same asshole he was at the start. The only thing that changed was he became an idiot in the second arc. Can't say anything about the other characters either, since we never see them long enough for them to even be characters.

And then there's the villain decay. No motivation for the first villain, and a second villain who was as threatening as a butterfly.

But to be honest let's just ignore the second arc exsists just for the sake of argument, because that shows that everyone, from the characters to the government, are all morons in the world of SAO.

Yes lets agree that the second half was the worse of the two, just like death note. And while I disagree about the romance being bad, there is no way you just put Rosario Vampire in that list. While that show was super funny, it just doesn't have the power of SAO's romance, or the quality. As for no character development, We learn about their relationship with the "child" they adopt, learn about the "motivations" of the villians and learn more about his cousin (I think she was his cousin I forget). Karin was a decent show that was pretty damn funny but still lacks the class that SAO has.

What are you bringing up Death Note for? These are two completely different properties, unless you're implying that they're both on the same level in terms of quality in which case you are dead wrong.

You still haven't explained how their romance is so great. They don't even have a convincing relationship, let alone a romantic one. Their interactions are devoid of any kind of chemistry or dynamic, and that is because their personalities are so flat and barebones.

Furthermore, I don't think the term "character development" means what you think it means. It refers to how characters evolve based on what they've experienced throughout the story. Usually these characters have flaws that make them less likable and efficient, which they eventually overcome by the end of their character arc. To demonstrate how a character has changed, they'll be placed in a similar situation that they were previously incapable of handling because of their formerly held vices.

Take for example Eren Jaeger from Attack on Titan, who would constantly vent his anger on everyone, causing danger to himself and others. He attacked Hannes while escaping Shiganshina, blaming him for his mother's death. After having his attitude tempered by his friends and his military training, however, he meets with Hannes once again but with respect and gratitude. That is what character development is.

The second half of death note was bad by it's own standards. The only thing I can say is different tastes for different generation. I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I see a great story with some of the best characters while you see a piece of trash. I can see why you think its trash, but I can not understand it.

I've a pretty good notion of why people like Sword Art Online, seeing how its basically the ultimate wish fulfillment power fantasy, as it features a faceless cardboard cutout who is badass by virtue of being really good at video games and all the gorgeous internet waifus will inexplicably fall for.

I was questioning your Death Note comparison because that show actually stuck to its intellectual, higher level concepts rather than turning into a harem hijinks fetish parade, then remembering its original death MMO premise, AND THEN back to its harem hijinks fetish parade after the first arc ended.

I'm flummoxed as to how you can praise its characters, too, when every character save for Kirito is sidelined in favor of, who else, Kirito to show off how awesome he is. What little we see of these side characters is them acting as barebones archetypes. Klein, for all the promise he showed as a main character, is reduced to a mere cameo that occasionally shows up to remind you he exists. Asuna, the supposed strong female lead and thematically opposite to Kirito, introduces herself as Kirito's equal but soon after is reduced to a generic tsundere without actually developing any further than that. And bear in mind, these are just the most prominent side characters that are in the story's woefully lacking cast.

 

[SidheKnight]

MARVEL's "Civil War" comic book event.

The premise had a lot of potential:

Spoiler

A group of young inexperienced heroes get in a fight with a group of villains, while being recorded for a superhero-themed reality show. In the middle of the fight, one of the villains mysteriously* goes BOOM and blows up right next to an elementary school, killing some children. This is broadcasted live on TV.

Suddenly an anti-vigilantism movement starts demanding that superheroes should reveal their secret identities to the authorities, work as government-trained agents (to prevent situations like the one previously mentioned) and be held responsible for their actions. A Super-Human Registration Act is passed as law.

Some heroes, lead by Iron Man, agree with the idea and think it's a) inevitable and b) the next logical step. People could trust heroes if they were held accountable to democratically elected authorities.

Others, siding with Captain America, think that it is dangerous for super-heroes to share their secret identities with the government, since they could get in the hands of supervillains, and that super-heroes acting as government agents leads the way to making them "super soldiers" and don't want to get involved in politics or war.

Predictably, this conflict of ideas leads to a "Civil War" of heroes vs. heroes.

This premise could challenge the notions readers have of superheroes, and how they should act, instead, the whole series devolves into:

Spoiler

A thinly veiled, scarcely thought-out, poorly executed, terribly bad allegory for the Patriot Act and the Bush administration in general. Though the creators promised to give both sides of the argument a fair and balanced treatment, highlighting their pros and cons, the series almost immediately started demonizing the Pro-Registration side and turning their characters, especially Iron Man, as Bush stand-ins.

Captured heroes who refused to register are imprisoned for life in the Negative Zone WITHOUT TRIAL, not even the right to an attorney.
Tony Stark, Hank Pym and Reed Richards create an out-of-control Thor clone that kills Goliath (Bill Foster).

The specific text of the SHRA is never revealed, nor is it treated consistently between comics. Are all superhumans obligated to register with the government, or only those who wish to become superheroes? (If the former is true, then this is basically the same as the Mutant Registration Act, only not limited to mutants)

Meanwhile, Cap keeps insisting that secret identities are part of the right to privacy of superheroes (which is bull, the right to privacy doesn't include vigilantism, again this is a sypthom of trying to be a Patriot Act analogy when it just doesn't work)

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Spoilers ahead (sorry, no idea how to create that Spoiler: click to view thing)

Prototype (the original, not the sequel). I actually wanted more scenes of just Alex Mercer acting like a normal person and interacting with people, thought it would have made things more interesting, and would have made the big revelation in the game a lot more impactful.

The Syndicate reboot. I think it would have been wildly intriguing and way more interesting if they had basically shown how now that the world is (literally) run by Corporations, many things have gotten worse, but many things have also improved, and in the end have given Miles Kilo a choice of whether he wants to go to war with the Syndicates or just join them and crush the resistance once and for all.

 

[newfoundsky]

Alan Wake, just... Fucking Alan Wake.

Spoiler: Spoilery stuff.

The story is kinda decent up until you get to the mental institution and the doctors are telling Alan that everything is on his mind and he's in complete denial, still believing everything that's happened up to that point is real. IMO, it would've been a struck of genious if they kept going with it, Alan is murdering hundreds of innocents on his fantasy driven world, or everything is a metaphor of his "writer blockage" driving him insane, literally trying to rescue his wife that represented his sanity, but NOPE, everything is indeed real and Remedy just threw out of the window a potentially strong piece of storytelling that would've been akin to Spec Ops: The Line and instead kept going with their shit imitation of a shit Stephen King movie.

I actually enjoyed this part because the "Oh you are just crazy all along" has been done and done and done. So much so that I almost stopped playing the game when the doctor was like "you have been a patient all along".

Shutter Island, The Lazarus Project (literally any movie with Lazarus in the title) hundreds of books, shows, movies have always done that. Seriously, if there is an insane asylum involved, it is safer to assume that the main character is a patient all along. Which makes that particular part of Alan Wake so beautiful and aware of the cliche. Think about it.

Alan Wake is a writer, obviously well read. He knows what the guy is saying is bullshit because he has read and wrote it before.

Now the tornado bullshit at the end. That's just stupid.

 

[Unia]

Ohmygosh perfect time to bring up the movie Shelter. It starts a psychological thriller. Main character is a psychiatrist on a crusade to proof multiple personalities disorder doesn't exist. Enter a psych patient with apparently multiple personalities that have different physiological attributes (one's paralyzed waist down, other walks fine). Further investigation shows one of the personas uses the name of a ritual murder victim...

Sounds interesting so far. Then the movie goes supernatural horror and turns so dumb it breaks it's own internal logic. Some of the last scenes might as well have had Benny Hill theme playing in the background. Everything boils down to one silly binary question:

Spoiler

Do you believe in God yes/no

 

[Rad Party God]

Crysis: They could have American and North Korean forces trapped on the island with no contact with the outside world and having to work together against a much bigger foe.

BONUS Crysis 2: Afghanistan was mentioned in the first game as the place where the first artifact was found. They did nothing with it. Imagine, a war-torn country, a people who have recently resisted two massive invasions and fighting among themselves and now they have to go up against a much much bigger invasion than even they have ever faced before.

I learned a while ago to just treat the Crysis trilogy as their own separate entities with a few similarities, kind of like each Final Fantasy has been.

Spoiler

I mean, Crysis 1 ends on a cliffhanger and Warhead kinda reinforces that cliffhanger, now that the Koreans could potentially be working with the aliens, so fecal matter would hit the fan in Crysis 2, right?, NOPE, where the fuck is Nomad and Psycho?, a virus?, why the aliens are so different?, where are the koreans?, now there's a conspiracy as stupid as Metal Gear's Patriots?. At least it looked pretty while being pretty stupid...

 

[Nouw]

Fate Fu-cking Zero. Not even getting into the overall execution of things, the fact that they gave two entire episodes detailing the tragic-hero's tragic past when we already know that he had some kind of fucked-up life is frustrating. Maybe you could have, I don't know, spared a couple of minutes for the servants history? Maybe tell us about you-know-who's relationship with Sabre in more detail? What about Assasin or Rider?

Spoiler: This minute and a half of stills was more compelling to me than 40 minutes of dialogue and animation.

Pause on the third and second to last pictures. You see that? You see it?!?!

 

[Rad Party God]

Alan Wake, just... Fucking Alan Wake.

Spoiler: Spoilery stuff.

The story is kinda decent up until you get to the mental institution and the doctors are telling Alan that everything is on his mind and he's in complete denial, still believing everything that's happened up to that point is real. IMO, it would've been a struck of genious if they kept going with it, Alan is murdering hundreds of innocents on his fantasy driven world, or everything is a metaphor of his "writer blockage" driving him insane, literally trying to rescue his wife that represented his sanity, but NOPE, everything is indeed real and Remedy just threw out of the window a potentially strong piece of storytelling that would've been akin to Spec Ops: The Line and instead kept going with their shit imitation of a shit Stephen King movie.

I actually enjoyed this part because the "Oh you are just crazy all along" has been done and done and done. So much so that I almost stopped playing the game when the doctor was like "you have been a patient all along".

Shutter Island, The Lazarus Project (literally any movie with Lazarus in the title) hundreds of books, shows, movies have always done that. Seriously, if there is an insane asylum involved, it is safer to assume that the main character is a patient all along. Which makes that particular part of Alan Wake so beautiful and aware of the cliche. Think about it.

Alan Wake is a writer, obviously well read. He knows what the guy is saying is bullshit because he has read and wrote it before.

Now the tornado bullshit at the end. That's just stupid.

I... think I might have to replay the game sometime, because I'm kinda glad I'm not a storyteller or part of a focus group. The only thing holding me back for a potential replay is the tedious combat, so it's gonna take me some time to gather the will to play it again.

 

[ThePurpleStuff]

The character Shad, from Zelda: Twilight Princess. We don't know much about him, only that his father died and hes carrying on his research about the sky people. Also hes 17 years old, dunno if that really matters, but, theres so little about him already. Hes a soft spoken, bookish type, hes overly fascinated over anything related to the sky people. He seems shy, but hes inviting to new ideas and when he doesn't make progress hes genuinely disappointed in it and himself, so much so he sulks, thinking hes wasted his time and Link's time as well. But what really pissed me off, was instead of Shad getting his chance to actually fulfill the goal he set to finish for his father, Link gets to do it instead. In order to make progress with his sidequest, you have to travel around the land and find the sky letters, the special language of the sky people, trapped under their ancient statues. It may sound lame, but I had fun with it since I was helping a really nice guy. But, in the end, they find the sky cannon underneath Kakariko Village, he doesn't even get a chance to look at it, examine it, nothing... I felt so bad for him. He was the only side character I liked in the whole damn game. And then we learn nothing else about him.

It got so bad that I made him into my own character that I've roleplayed for the past 5-6 years. He'll always be remembered to me, I just wish Nintendo did more with him...