21
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2015, Games, K-Pop, Lists, Movies, Music. Tagged: 10, 1886, 2015, 5, bad, batman, Best, countdown, disappointments, dying, five, light, metroid, Order, snsd, splatoon, ten, thing, top, worst, Year. Leave a Comment
Let’s get this 100-mile-an-hour time of year started with some good old fashioned negativity, shall we?
It doesn’t really feel like 2015 was a particularly disappointing year in entertainment media, at least not in terms of things that weren’t my own fault (such as the fact that I barely saw any movies this year due to the relative lack of gigantic blockbusters). I can’t really think of too many releases that fell far below my own expectations quality-wise, but there was enough ancillary stuff going on around those releases to fill a list. The list is very heavily skewed towards videogames this year, but when there were so very many big ones released, you might say such a trend was inevitable. Maybe. Anyway, here we go.
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VR BEST OF 2015 DISCLAIMER
This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s weird. Cool, but definitely weird. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.
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10. The Order’s Beautiful Failure
After a 2014 that saw Microsoft’s lead console trounce Sony’s in the exclusive games department – despite lagging behind in sales – 2015 looked set to be the year that Sony hit back. And it was going to hit back very early. February saw the release of The Order: 1886, quite simply the best-looking game that had come out on either major console at the time. The story was intriguing, the weapons looked cool, and the game received a ton of marketing support. And it was over very, very quickly. A game with a largely repetitive combat loop that I finished in a single day – something very rare indeed – The critical consensus on The Order: 1886 was not particularly kind. The general internet reaction was, predictably, much worse. I don’t think it was a bad game per se – The story and gunplay were decent enough to pull me through the whole game, after all – but no replay value or extra content to speak of is pretty hard to justify with a full-priced retail game in today’s climate. The Order: 1886 certainly failed to live up to its billing as the PS4’s first exceptional exclusive title – nope, apparently that came a month later with Bloodborne.
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21
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2015, Lists. Tagged: 10, 2015, 5, Best, blog, five, recap, ten, thing, top, write, Year. Leave a Comment
I know it’s quite easy to say this, but it’s been a crazy year. My life was so busy in 2015 that I only ended up writing less than half of the blog posts here that I wrote in either 2013 or 2014, while the gaming/movie podcast I co-ran for almost two years, the Mega Ultra Blast Cast, had to cease as the three of us took on more adult responsibilities. It could be disheartening at times, but it really needn’t have been, because even though I have never advertised this blog outside my friend circles and do not intend to, I’m on track to have more post views than last year! I cannot stress how important it is for me to be able to write about what I love, and so to know that there are people out there, many of whom I’ve never met, who think some of this stuff worthy of their time is just freaking amazing. This year I had another tremendous guest post week, a record-breaking Pokémon-themed September, my most successful album review ever, and just yesterday, the most-read movie review I’ve ever written (well, I mean, it was Star Wars, but still). That’s all because of people who find some value in what I do to keep myself sane. So thank you.
And then, of course, we arrive here, at my favourite time of the year. It’s time to count down 100 things across ten lists, with a bag of honourable mentions along for the ride and kinda-maybe an extra bonus in there somewhere. It was a phenomenal year across all three of the things I cover on this blog, and while it did take until the last two months of the year for the big exciting movies to hit and lift the year’s average in my opinion, videogames and K-Pop hit hard from the get-go and just kept delivering. All things considered, it will be a tough year to follow.
But before I start gushing positivity, it’s time to reflect on some of the less fun things about entertainment media in 2015. Top 10 Disappointments, coming shortly.
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VR BEST OF 2015 DISCLAIMER
The next ten lists represent my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s weird. Cool, but definitely weird. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.
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20
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 7, abrams, awakens, bb8, episode, Film, finn, force, han, jedi, jj, kylo, leia, lightsaber, luke, Movie, part, peeta, ren, Review, rey, seven, sith, star, wars. Leave a Comment
It’s a bit difficult to review a movie with this much weight riding on it, so soon after seeing it. The gap between the midnight screenings and the ideal start time for my year-end countdown posts is mere days, so I had to get cracking. But believe me, I’ve been mulling this movie over in my mind almost every second of that short time.
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Starring: Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac
Director: JJ Abrams (Star Trek, Super 8)
Rating: M
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Say whatever you want about 2015 in movies – If Star Wars was good, the year was always going to be remembered fondly. In fact you might even argue that it didn’t have to be good, only better than those endlessly panned prequel films. The carefully timed, Disney engineered hype cycle for Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been lengthy, intense and omnipresent, and the, ahem, force of that hype has been looming over the movie, waiting to crush it like it did The Phantom Menace way back in 1999.
Within that unenviable context, what director/superfan JJ Abrams has done with this mega-franchise is astounding.
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1
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 2, Film, francis, gale, Games, hunger, ii, jennifer, lawrence, mockingjay, Movie, one, part, peeta, Review, two. 1 Comment
Nothing like a few gigantic rapid-fire movie releases to get you blogging again. I couldn’t let this series go without a lengthy review, of course.
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Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore, Natalie Dormer
Director: Francis Lawrence (Constantine, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1)
Rating: M
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I feel a little conflicted when it comes to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II. Every movie adaptation mega-saga has to end, and now The Hunger Games has joined that club. The second half of Suzanne Collins‘ bestselling finale novel Mockingjay has completed its transition to the big screen, and I have a funny feeling the lasting impact of this film will divide opinions just as much, if not more, than that sucker punch of a book did back in 2010.
Filmgoers who haven’t delved into Collins‘ vehemently anti-war pages will likely find themselves a little shocked at how depressing this final chapter can get, even despite the film’s much higher action emphasis than that of its predecessor, Mockingjay Part I. Meanwhile those who have read the trilogy may find that, despite some crucial scenes that don’t quite land in the same way they did on paper, Francis Lawrence‘s closing vision for this wildly popular series successfully achieves what it needs to.
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23
Nov
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 007, action, bond, craig, daniel, Film, james, m, Movie, q, Review, Sequel, spectre, spy. Leave a Comment
We’re nearing the end of the year in movies, and that means my personal “big four” most hyped films are just about on screens. The first of these is 007’s latest outing. Let’s go.
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Starring: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes
Director: Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall)
Rating: M
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In my experience watching and discussing movies, I’ve come to realise that modern James Bond fans, diverse as they are, fall into two major categories: Those who like the movies despite their tendency to hit similar notes each time, and those who like the movies BECAUSE of their tendency to hit similar notes each time. The Daniel Craig era of Bond films has certainly courted the former type more than the latter, sporting a more rustic, sombre edge than the 007 movies of old, not to mention a tendency to draw inspiration more from Bourne and Batman than former incarnations of the suave super-spy.
In 2012 this trend arguably reached its peak with Sam Mendes’ Skyfall, my personal favourite Bond movie, and having achieved something quite surprising given his decidedly non-action back catalogue, Mendes and his crew have returned to make a very different kind of James Bond movie – one for the traditionalists. Spectre is sillier, grander in scope, packs more characters and “ticks more Bond movie boxes” than any of the other three Craig outings, which pretty much means that depending on what kind of Bond fan you are, there’s probably no avoiding either a palpable sense of disappointment or a refreshing sigh of relief. Either way, however, Spectre is a pretty fun time at the movies.
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21
Nov
Posted by vagrantesque in Music. Tagged: adelaide, australia, bgm, big, concert, generation, house, list, Music, opera, orchestra, Pokemon, Review, set, setlist, sydney, symphony. Leave a Comment
Yep, another concert post! What a time to be alive.
I’ve lived in Australia for 17 years now, and been a tourist to these great shores before that. But last night marked the very first time I had the pleasure of entering the Sydney Opera House. My reason for doing so was not exactly standard for the venue, mind you, but it was certainly worth the wait. The long-hyped orchestral treatment of the music from the Pokémon series had finally arrived in our backyard, and the event did not disappoint.
It was a bit of a sore spot for me that I had never seen the famous Sydney Symphony Orchestra live in any capacity, not least of all because that meant I’d missed both 2011’s Distant Worlds concert (music from Final Fantasy) and 2013’s Symphony of the Goddesses (music from the Legend of Zelda series). But I was never going to miss this one, and there were very obviously hundreds of others who felt the same, because there was a real excited buzz in and around the iconic Darling Harbour venue. Continue reading
22
Oct
Posted by vagrantesque in K-Pop, Music. Tagged: australia, baebae, bang, big, bigbang, concert, daesung, dragon, fantastic, gd, kpop, list, loser, made, melbourne, Pop, Review, set, setlist, seungri, solo, sydney, taeyang, top, vip. Leave a Comment
The first of two concerts I’ll hopefully be writing about before the end of the year! This post got long…
Well what a treat that was.
In the world of K-Pop, there are few bigger acts than Big Bang (Is that the right way to write it? I’m never sure – Should it be Bigbang? Or BIGBANG, even? Let’s just go with the way that makes the most English sense). Debuting nine long years ago, the YG Entertainment flagship group has been consistently at the top of the K-Pop consciousness for a while, and has amassed quite a considerable reputation in the Western music world as well. Outside of PSY and perhaps Girls’ Generation, there isn’t a more widely recognised K-Pop name than Big Bang. Just about every solo release from the group’s five extremely busy members is met with pandemonium by fans, and when all five get together, well, that’s something else.
So it was a big enough deal when Big Bang announced earlier this year that they would be coming out with their first release(s) as a group since 2012. I never expected that in their subsequent world tour announcement, Australia would be included. Yes, the country ritually ignored by the big name Korean music labels, especially since the relatively disappointing – though still loud and passionate – attendance at 2011’s poorly-marketed K-Pop Festival. Yep, the arrival of Big Bang on our shores for the first time – for two rapidly sold-out shows no less (and a reactively added third) – is probably going to be pretty significant for Korean pop music fans down under going forward.
But never mind all that. Big Bang’s second Sydney show, which I was lucky enough to attend alongside five friends, was just a really good time.
Yep, it really happened.
I’ve been to one K-Pop concert before – B.A.P’s Live on Earth tour appearance in Sydney last year, and it was a lot of fun. But this was next level. Yeah, that’s mostly because Allphones Arena is a much bigger and more technically impressive venue than the Big Top, of course, not to mention Big Bang has more money to put into a spectacular show than B.A.P does. The boys from YG have also been around for far longer, and have built their name up over a sizeable body of work. G-Dragon, T.O.P, Daesung, Seungri and Taeyang are walking legends in their field, and they wouldn’t have had to do much to send the beyond-feverish crowd into raptures. Yet if you ask me, they matched their much younger colleagues in just about every way on stage, turning what was already a major event into one hell of a night.
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1
Oct
Posted by vagrantesque in 3DS, DS, Games, GB, GBA. Tagged: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, boy, favourite, Game, gen, generation, Pokemon, strong, weak. Leave a Comment
Well, that was fun.
As you wait on the intriguing next development in the Pokémon main series, why not peruse my subjective stances on the six generations of Pokémon games released thus far? The links are all here in one place:
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The Best & Worst of Gen I
The Best & Worst of Gen II
The Best & Worst of Gen III
The Best & Worst of Gen IV
The Best & Worst of Gen V
The Best & Worst of Gen VI
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Happy battling.
30
Sep
Posted by vagrantesque in 3DS, DS, Games, GB, GBA. Tagged: 1, 2, 3, 3DS, 4, 5, 6, advance, Best, cons, DS, game boy, Games, gen, generation, nostalgia, Pokemon, pros, videogames, worst. Leave a Comment
Games
Pokémon X
Pokémon Y
Platform
3DS
Region
Kalos
New Pokemon
72
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+7. Sweet divergence
The mantra of the development team behind Pokémon X and Y was simple: Bring back lapsed Pokémon players from different generations by capitalising on the headline that the Gen VI pair would be the first Pokémon games to be rendered in full polygonal 3D. To maximise this, an intimidating number of new Pokémon was not necessary – instead the developers decided to give special attention to older generation Pokémon wherever possible, while introducing fresh ‘mons at a nice steady rate. And they started to put this design decision into action very early on in the story. On the first long grass route in the game, you can catch an astonishing six different Pokémon, both old and new, and by the time you hit the first Gym, that number has almost tripled. While this may seem unremarkable to some, it means that Gen VI achieves the exact opposite of the problematic situation I outlined in my Gen IV post – odds are your team will be different from those of your friends in the early game. Ergo, early multiplayer encounters are exciting. And that is a titanic plus in my book.
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28
Sep
Posted by vagrantesque in 3DS, DS, Games, GB, GBA. Tagged: 1, 2, 3, 3DS, 4, 5, 6, advance, Best, cons, DS, game boy, Games, gen, generation, nostalgia, Pokemon, pros, videogames, worst. Leave a Comment
Games
Pokémon Black Version
Pokémon White Version
Pokémon Black Version 2
Pokémon White Version 2
Platform
DS
Region
Unova
New Pokemon
156
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+6. Generous seasoning
I wanted to make an entry devoted solely to the auto-prompt that pops up when you run out of steps on a Repel item in Gen V and beyond, but I definitely don’t have the space.
In a rare example of consistent visual iteration within the Pokémon main series, Gen V built on the significant attention to day-night cycles that Gen IV exhibited so thoroughly by introducing a seasonal cycle. Not quite one-to-one, the cycle saw the region of Unova change seasons at the start of every real-life month, changing up the look of several pivotal routes, slightly altering the encounter rates of certain Pokémon, changing the appearance of Deerling and its awesome evolution Sawsbuck, and even granting/removing access to certain items or events. I kind of wish the developers went even further than they did with the concept, affecting more than just isolated areas, but I’m still very happy it was included.
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Vagrant Rant 