I don't know why I keep ranting into the ether about this. Maybe it's an extension of my need/tendency to constantly explain and justify myself (thank you, anxiety). But whatever.
Let's talk about computer software again.
To really, really pin down my thoughts on SynthV 2, I've been running an experiment: same song (short version of Seikan Hikou), same/equivalent voice (AI GUMI), working to the best of my ability in both VOCALOID6 and Synthesizer V Studio 2 to get appealing results. It's still in progress, but it's helping me realize and articulate my thoughts--and get a feel for SVS2 in general.
So, what are my thoughts now that I've had a few days with SynthV 2 (as opposed to just a few hours)?
Each of these engines has its own set of strengths that I appreciate:
What I like about V6
Rendering/applying changes is faster; no lag when placing notes, brief loading times, etc.
The UI is less cluttered and more comprehensible to me.
Being able to see note labels (C3, B2, etc.) when I mouse over the piano roll is pretty nice.
Entering a long sequence of lyrics is crazy simple when you're typing syllables on the piano roll.
I feel way more in control with the tuning system here, especially when drawing pitchbends. I'm not fighting for my life against the will of the AI autotune.
The vibrato controls are just so much more flexible here. The timing, rate, and depth per note are all up to you.
Concatenative voicebanks still get to vibe and have their own dedicated functions/features. Heck, with the return of cross synthesis, they have more here than they did in V5.
What I like about SVS2
Startup is waaaay faster (a few seconds vs. V6's full minute)
Smooth, pretty-sounding results right off the bat
Voices sound "closer" and clearer/less fuzzy during playback
The cross-language synthesis is excellent in terms of both quality and variety. (Yamaha, please give Spanish another chance... T^T)
No weird reverb in the background for the AI voicebanks
The Vocal Mode system is effective and intuitive.
Rap Mode is a great base for spoken vocals.
While it does add even more visual clutter, the character overlay option is cute. :)
With all that said, am I going to take the plunge and officially get SVS2?
I'm leaning toward "yes" (my birthday is this week, and I don't mind spoiling myself a bit). I was kind of spiteful toward SynthV at first due to the attitudes that some people had about it in relation to other softwares, but I'm glad that I swallowed my prejudice and gave it a chance. It could be a great tool when I find the right project for it.
As I said previously, though, V6 is probably going to remain my primary vocal synth--especially with the bug in SVS2 that resets my audio playback every time I adjust my laptop's volume; that is honestly the biggest disruptor to my workflow. I hope they fix it...
Finished Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice (AA6) today.
Overall, it was really good. In the end, I absolutely enjoyed it. However, there were definitely some low points.
Gameplay wise, the game was solid. It was very much the same as the games before. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. The divination seances were interesting even if they made me feel like we've finally jumped the shark. Overall, I liked the cases except for maybe number 2.
Graphically, i thought it looked good. The models look better than AA5. I'm used to the 3d at this point, even if I wish they had kept the AA4 art style. The animated cutscenes look good. But I wish you could skip some of the special animations during trials.
Way more thoughts about the story (too many thoughts) below. Minor spoilers, i guess?
The main story was great. It's an intriguing mystery that really ramps up at the end. It does a lot for Apollo's character that I thought was cool. Especially after Dual Destinies kind of wasn't about him.
I really wish Phoenix Wright had stayed homeless. But, him being a lawyer again didn't bother me this time because of crazy situation he finds himself in. His character is written very well in this one.
Athena is there, too.
Rayfa at first was the mean, smug, annoying princess she was supposed to be. But by the end I really liked her character. I love to see someone high and mighty get humbled. Even better when they question themselves and change because of it.
Nahyuta was a good enemy prosecutor, also because of his smug attitude. I wish he'd stop trying to send Apollo to hell. His redemption is quick, but I'm glad he gets one in the end.
Cases 2 and 4 were low points for me. Magical Tournabout (2), mostly because by the end of the game, it felt like it was from a completely different game. I didn't particularly enjoy the characters in it. It did introduce Nahyuta and establish a connection between him and Apollo, but otherwise, I feel like it was kind of a nothing case.
Turnabout Storyteller (4). I get it. You need something to break up the Khura'in segments. The characters were fine, except Simon, I thought his whole deal with the soba place was weird. It gave us Geiru Toneido so it breaks even I guess.
Case 1 was fine. The mystery of it was kind of whatever. It was at least intriguing to learn about Khura'in and set everything up. The names of the Khuran'inese characters that aren't in the main cast make me want to blow my brains out.
Case 3 was good, but I can't believe we're still saving Maya from being accused after all this time. Especially after defending Trucy *again*. It is (afaik) the only case in the entire series that does what I will call "The Sakura" (which is not a great name for it but it's the closest thing I've got without outright spoiling the case). I feel like this is where the game really begins.
P.s. on this case - how does Phoenix go from "gets hit by a car and thrown into a telephone pole and is fine within the day" in AA4 to "passes out for multiple days due to back pain" within three years?? Lawyering must really take it out of you...
Case 5-1 was really great. I hated Paul Atishon just like i should have. Going back to Kurain Village was good fan service. I skipped the special case of AA5, so this is where I saw Pearl again. Edgeworth shows up. I thought it was really cool to have Apollo and Phoenix face off like that. We can get a break from being called putrid and evil and told we're going to hell for *checks notes* trying to find the truth. Anyway, It's the only civil trial in the entire series. This is where the game really grabbed me and made me care about Apollo and Dhurke. And even though it's a long case, why does the game wait so long to be this good? I'm glad I stuck with it, but there were points in cases 2 and 4 where I almost started playing something else.
Case 5-2 was the best part of the game. It's a satisfying finale that reminded me of the last case of AA1. Mostly in that, there's a final boss prosecutor, and I didn't really see that coming at all. It wraps everything up from this game really nicely. Everyone who needed it gets their redemption here. In the end, I really like Rayfa's character. It didn't make me like Nahyuta any more than I did before, but he gets his arc (I did cheer when he takes his glove off).
Unfortunately, my biggest "why aren't they talking about this????" Gets a half answer in a post credit scene. But it is what it is. AA5 and 6 weren't written by Shu Takumi, so some threads get lost, i suppose.
Overall, i would give it an 8/10. I'm excited to play The Great Ace Attorney and Investigations, but I'm not sure which will come first yet.
How to Train Your Dragon The Hidden World Thoughts
So it finally happened. Last week, I got to see the last ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ movie. My almost 9 years old journy with Hiccup and Toothless technically came to an end. I was a bit hesitent to write this post because... well, first of all not a lot of people get to see it until Faburary. Second reason was that I didn’t think I was able to fully process it the day I watched it. But after letting the movie sit in my mind and got the chance to think about everything; I think I’m ready for this post.
Yes. There will also be a Berkcast episode to those who know me from there. It’ll come later though, probably around the time the movie will hit theaters in North America.
Note: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS AHEAD! I’ll keep the first paragraph spoiler free but anything afterwards? You’ve been warned!
I guess I’ll start by saying what you’re all asking. Yes, this movie is amazing and it’s defenitly a worthy conclusion to Hiccup and Toothless’s story. If you liked the previous 2 films, you’ll defenitly enjoy this one and this is a finale that you can’t miss! A part of me wants to say that this might be the strongest of the 3 films as it basically combines what works in the previous 2 films. You get the heartwarming and personal moments from the first movie alongside the action and scale of the second movie; alongside a wonderfully animated characters and universe, fantastic voice acting and an ending which... I won’t say much aside from the fact that it’s earned. I think I’ll need to think about it more to really tell you if it’s my favorite of the 3, but it is defenitly an option.
Spoilers from now on...
I really don’t have much to say regarding Hiccup and Toothless because... wel... They are Hiccup and Toothless. You know them, you love them, nothing changed in that regard. It does feel like all of their adventures in the previous movies and the show brought them to this moment and it all feels organic. Seeing Hiccup taking over as Cheif, making decisions for his villiage and his loved ones was the one thing I wanted to see from this movie and it delieverd. He’s not a perfect Cheif, he even gets called on it a bit, but you get why he’s making the decisions he’s making.
Toothless gets a lot more screen time in this movie, no doubt thanks to the Light Fury. You can feel his growth after he meets her, and their moments together are cute as hell. It is interesting to see Toothless being on his own and coming into terms with what it’s like being the Alpha, and all with no daialog! His story feels just as finished as Hiccup’s, and it’s wonderful. I also like how the Light Fury isn’t the sole reason Toothless agrees to leave Hiccup. She just helps him find his real place in the world.
The side characters were also extremly fun. It is entertaning to finally see Hiccup and Astrid talk about a wedding(Which is great once we do see it), I like Snotlout hitting on Valka(Which surprisingly works), I like Fishlegs being like a dad to this baby Gronckle, Ruffnut was a delight in this movie, Tuffnut’s bromance with Hiccup I can’t get enough of, everyone just got a moment to shine! I liked Valka and Eret too, but there’s nothing on top of my head that I recall loving about them in this one. Maybe after another veiwing.
Now for Grimmel... I liked him. I love the way he’s animated, he’s threatning, he’s smart, and I like that out of all the villians we had he feels like the most similiar to Hiccup. He’s also funny to boot, which I didn’t expect! I will say the one part I’m a bit ‘eh’ about with him is his backstory. It’s not bad, if anything I like how he started from the same point Hiccup did only he killed the Night Fury. Then again, I wish I could have seen that instead of just being told that. It’s such a great parallel that it kind of sucks it was just thrown away in a line of daialog instead of showing it to us.
One other thing I didn’t like, though it is very minor, is that there’s no real answer what happened to the Night Furies. We know Grimmel killed all of them and that the Light Fury is like a sub-species, so why didn’t Grimmel going after the Light Furies as well? We see some in the Hidden World, so what’s the deal? Are they the same or not? I think that could have been better explained for something that is such a big thing about Toothless and him meeting the Light Fury.
But now, let’s talk about that ending. Yes, I cried. Like, the last 20 minutes of this movie, I was crying like a whimp. It’s not a sad ending by any means, but seeing Hiccup and Toothless realizing their paths can no longer cross just breaks my heart. I knew this was coming, I knew this needed to happen, but it still got me. Seeing the other riders saying goodbye didn’t help things either.
The final scene was also great. Still hitting them feels while still keeping me smiling. This is how you cap a trilogy.
Thank you Hiccup and Toothless for this amazing, funny, and emotional journy!
so theyve given up on practical effects? a damn shame
im calling him teflon ron now
also tbh thought his handsomeness was an interesting contrast to darth vader and now that’s ruined
i love rey bae???
are people worried abt finn wearing black like come how could you forget luke’s iconic black co-ord
(did he literally only get .5 sec in that trailer like what the fuck)
(theyre a TRIO like i love rey but BALANCE MUST BE RESTORED TO THE TRIO)
mark hamill has changed so much since he was luke that i can only see hamill now and not luke like his voice is super different too
if teflon ron kills his mother i will personally break the laws of physics to shit on any and all redemption arcs he may receive
eta, i cant believe they put something that looked so much like a lightsabre but not a lightsabre in my son finn’s hand how could they betray me like this
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was really good. It was a lot like Metroid Prime 1 (shocking). I played it on my Steam Deck through Primehack, so it played just like the remaster as well.
The gameplay was solid. No complaints there. I had heard that Echoes is more difficult than Prime 1. That's sort of true, but I didn't have much trouble with the game except for a couple of bosses. And even then, I never died, and really, it was just me throwing myself at the boss until I found the gimmick/solution. (After I wrote this I read they tweaked the difficulty for the wii version, which is what Primehack is running, so maybe that's why it wasn't so bad)
Graphically, the game was good. I never had any frame drops. The textures were clear, and there were no pop-ins or anything. There was enough variance in the environments. I thought the sky boxes were really pretty and sometimes I would just stop and look at the ones in the Temple Grounds, Agon Wastes, and Sanctuary Fortress. I thought Torvus Bog was really pretty confusing and bland. I really liked the Sanctuary Fortress for being a big sci-fi megastructure.
Finding the lore was cool, and I found the conflict between the Luminoth and the Ing interesting. It really leans into that environmental storytelling and lore from descriptions strategy that Dark Souls uses so well. The story of the game itself is pretty standard. At least Samus has a whole one (1) character to talk to this time. Even if she's mute.
Solid 8.5/10. It's more Metroid Prime. There's not a lot of innovation here, but Retro had a winning strategy. Don't fix what isn't broken.
This section is already too long. More thoughts under the cut
I went through the Temple Grounds and Agon Wastes wide eyed and determined. I thought the dark world was interesting. Hopping from safe zone to safe zone was fun, but I can see how some would find it tedious. I'm glad you get the Dark Suit early. Although I don't particularly like how it looks.
About halfway through the Torvus Bog, fatigue and confusion started to set in. I guess it's fitting that the Bog level is where it sort of felt like a slog.
I hate those bipedal Dino things that you have to shoot in the back. I hate the squid guys that you have to wait until they charge you to damage. The enemies in this area had crappy gimmicks, but at least they're all in this space, I suppose.
I also hate the space pirate commandos (before you get the Dark visor) and the Ing Hunters, but at least you just have to have patience to fight those and you aren't constantly strafing underwater in a pond the size of an above ground pool.
I made myself keep going though and I'm glad I did because the Sanctuary Foretress ROCKS. I'm a sucker for big sci-fi megastructures and it delivered there. I enjoyed how different it was from the natural environments of the other areas. I thought the mechanized enemies were neat.
I could absolutely see someone getting through all that, only to be told you need to find the Sky Temple Keys in areas you've already been to, to throw up their hands and say, "ok nevermind, I'll just look up the ending". But i think those people would not have been scanning every little thing they could find. The clues for those keys are handed straight to you, and the rooms you need to be in are highlighted in the entry. You just gotta use your brain, people!
There were moments when I was not using my brain either though. Which were the boss fights. Overall, I thought they were cool and good. However, I would throttle the Grapple Guardian with my own hand and arm cannon if I could (see Torvus Bog dinos). Each phase of Emperor Ing I have my issues with. But there were some good standouts too. I actually liked the Spider Guardian fight, I thought it was a good implementation of the morph ball combat. On the other hand, I did not like the Caretaker Class Drone. That was not good morph ball combat. I thought Quadraxis was a good fight. It was a cool way to mix morph ball and regular combat. My favorite bosses were the Dark Samus fights. Mostly because it could be just us wailing on each other.
I can't comment on the music because I am an anomalous person who likes to play games in silence. So I didn't hear it much. Although what I did hear was every explosion sound like it was being put through a phaser effect pedal.
I finished the game with 79% items and a playtime of 15:59. I missed two E tanks, four missle expansions, and a handful of other stuff. But I thought that completion level was pretty good for not using a walkthrough.
Again, strong 8.5/10. I'm not sure what I'll hop into next. Probably not Prime 3 because I expect it'll just be even more Prime.
Well, I did something for the first episode of ‘Titans’, so why not just give this thing a shot?
Anyway, ‘Big Hero 6′. I guess I could start by saying that I really like the movie, it’s among my top 10 favorite Disney movies despite one problem I have with its ending(And HTTYD 2 MIGHT have desserved that oscar more if you ask me). When people started talking about a sequel, I saw how that could work, but I also thought a TV series would be an even better idea. A story about Super-Heroes could be so much more with multiple villians, having episodes focusing on different members of the team, it all just spoke to me more than another movie, honestly.
Welp, the first season has now come and gone. What did I think of it? I really liked it... for the most part. The characters are still as great as they were in the movie. The returning voice actors all do a great job once again and the replacements are also great. I enjoyed the villians. There’s a lot to like about this show and if you liked the movie, I’ll defenitly recommend it!
I do have 2 problems though, not counting the nitpick complaint that these guys have no business having secret identities. One problem I have is that show seems to focus A LOT about Hiro. Yes, he’s the main character, but it seems most of the episodes seem to force a plot focusing on him just because of it. We have 4 other members on the team which didn’t get much development in the movie and could benefit from plots focusing on them. Granted, they do have these like Go-Go and Honey Lemon becoming roommates and we learn a lot more about Fred’s family, but it seems like the writers still need to push Hiro into the center in these episodes. It gets better as the season goes on I think, and I do enjoy Hiro, but let the other guys shine a bit too.
Now we have the main villian, Obake. Spoilers for the finale ahead.
I like this guy’s concept. He’s the Slade to BH6′s Teen Titans(This comparison kind of had to come), and considering BH6 is just starting out he’s a great first arch-enemy for them to fight. I also like his backstory and how similiar he is to Hiro, kind of like Challgahn from the movie. It’s also cool that he lacks both a super-power and the ability to know right from wrong. That’s a very interesting motivasion for a villian, but it goes nowhere because once he fails he just... gives up? He had a lot of build up, and was pretty threatning, and he gives up after only ONE failiure? I’ve heard he might not come back for the next season and if that’s the case... that kind of sucks.
But again, I really enjoyed the show overall and I can’t wait to see what season 2 has in store for Big Hero 6 :)
i saw @lemondifficult ranting abt this film and it reminded me i need to rant abt this film (you may notice similarities)
i dont think the soundtrack was good enough to carry the conceit of the film
(some of that may be due to it being american music)
(the only song i got stuck in my head is from the music video the film was based on)
and hot fuzz had better rhythm
(and was funnier)
it is 6000% a film that panders to men like
there are two female characters and one hangs of john hamm and the other hangs off baby
and baby and the girl were cute when they met like they had great chemistry but they didnt do enough show to justify her apparently fatalistic love for him by the end of the film
and he’d lost any moral redeemability by the end (and he’d been a career criminal since he was 16) but the narrative didnt seem to ... know that like he was still the hero ... all the people defending him like oh he stole your car but not your handbag??? what an angel. and he still got the weirdly devoted girl.
