Celan Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 On 1/11/2023 at 9:51 AM, The Good Doctor said: Don’t know if I ever posted it on here, but I ended up watching House of the Dragon and really liked it a lot. Daemon and Aemond were badasses who stole every scene they were in, but King Viserys was the real MVP of the season. I’d go so far as to say that he has the best arc of anyone in this show or even Game of Thrones when it was at its peak. We don’t get a lot of characters like this on TV these days. Rhaenyra and Alicent were also distinct improvements over their book counterparts. A great job was done of making both of them likable and understandable despite their many flaws. And the dragons were really damn cool. Lots of personality and physical traits to make each one feel unique. Far moreso than Dany’s did in GoT. @Celan Glad you talked me into giving it a chance. Only character I didn’t like from a writing standpoint was- Reveal hidden contents - Rhaenys. The writers made her a hypocritical, murderous bitch and I don’t think they are aware of it. Unlike Aegon II, who is a monster that we are obviously supposed to hate, I get the distinct impression that they want us to be rooting for Rhaenys even after her stunt towards the end. It sounds like you liked it even more than I did. I found it a bit slow in spots. Daemon was definitely my favorite, in an anti-heroic way. And yeah, fuck that bitch Rhaenys for crushing a bunch of innocent bystanders just to make her big dragon entrance. I do think that's indicative of how Targaryens see the smallfolk. 1 "If you know me you know I don't keep up with the times. I just go with the flow." - Woody Copeland, life coach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 13, 2023 Author Share Posted January 13, 2023 16 hours ago, Celan said: It sounds like you liked it even more than I did. I found it a bit slow in spots. Daemon was definitely my favorite, in an anti-heroic way. I didn’t mind the slowness, really. The character dramas were enough to keep my attention. Especially anything involving Viserys or Daemon. And Aemond was just cool once he started being proactive. 16 hours ago, Celan said: Hide contents And yeah, fuck that bitch Rhaenys for crushing a bunch of innocent bystanders just to make her big dragon entrance. I do think that's indicative of how Targaryens see the smallfolk. I wouldn’t even go that far for Targaryens. It’s hard to imagine Viserys or even Daemon being so callous about innocent lives. Viserys works really damn hard to keep the realm at peace, and Daemon spends a lot of time among the smallfolk. Even Allicent is clearly sympathetic towards that serving girl who got raped. Rhaenys carrying on like she would have been a good queen and about how the men of this realm are the problem… only to do that? Yeah, screw her. I’m glad they didn’t make that bitch queen. She’s basically season 8 Daenerys levels of bad. But at least Dany was portrayed as losing her mind (stupid as that was). Rhaenys just has this smug look on her face while triumphant music plays behind her. Her death can’t come soon enough. * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBossBalrog Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 2 hours ago, The Good Doctor said: I didn’t mind the slowness, really. The character dramas were enough to keep my attention. Especially anything involving Viserys or Daemon. And Aemond was just cool once he started being proactive. Reveal hidden contents I wouldn’t even go that far for Targaryens. It’s hard to imagine Viserys or even Daemon being so callous about innocent lives. Viserys works really damn hard to keep the realm at peace, and Daemon spends a lot of time among the smallfolk. Even Allicent is clearly sympathetic towards that serving girl who got raped. Rhaenys carrying on like she would have been a good queen and about how the men of this realm are the problem… only to do that? Yeah, screw her. I’m glad they didn’t make that bitch queen. She’s basically season 8 Daenerys levels of bad. But at least Dany was portrayed as losing her mind (stupid as that was). Rhaenys just has this smug look on her face while triumphant music plays behind her. Her death can’t come soon enough. For Daemon, I found it to go beyond the usual, considering he was hellbent on making King's Landing a place everyone, no matter there, class enjoy as the crown jewel of the land. Sure...his me thods were to gather every known criminal and brutally fucking deal with them, but his heart was in the right place Just look how much he loved giving speeches to his common Goldcloaks. I'm still seeing people giving shit for what Alicent did with the serving girl...but by Medieval standards, I thought she acted very kind. She told her she believed her, comforted her, and gave her a generous purse to start elsewhere. Sure, dealing with potential bastards and letting her trash son ultimately get away with it with a very overt chewing out, is pretty fucked by our own societal norms, but what do people expect from her? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 13, 2023 Author Share Posted January 13, 2023 6 hours ago, BigBossBalrog said: Hide contents For Daemon, I found it to go beyond the usual, considering he was hellbent on making King's Landing a place everyone, no matter there, class enjoy as the crown jewel of the land. Sure...his me thods were to gather every known criminal and brutally fucking deal with them, but his heart was in the right place Just look how much he loved giving speeches to his common Goldcloaks. I'm still seeing people giving shit for what Alicent did with the serving girl...but by Medieval standards, I thought she acted very kind. She told her she believed her, comforted her, and gave her a generous purse to start elsewhere. Sure, dealing with potential bastards and letting her trash son ultimately get away with it with a very overt chewing out, is pretty fucked by our own societal norms, but what do people expect from her? And I don’t think even Daemon would make a habit of doing that. Viserys was hosting celebrations for his son’s birth, so lots of people from all over the kingdom were coming to the city. Daemon didn’t want the scum of the city to prey on the visitors, so he struck first. Agreed on Alicent. Not saying what she did was right, but she clearly felt a lot of remorse for the woman, and she was infuriated with her son for it. If it had been anyone but him, I imagine she’d have had them punished much more severely. Alicent’s not a great mother, but I do think that she has a kinder heart than almost anyone else in the story. She’s a lot more conflicted about her family’s crimes than she was in the book. I’m kinda glad of that right now, because if she wasn’t the Greens would not have many redeeming qualities to them. I also quite liked the decision to make Aemond’s killing of Luke an accident. He is much more interesting as a bully who underestimates his own power than a full blown psychopath like in the books. * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celan Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 The Last of Us premieres on HBO this weekend- curious what those of you who played the game will think of it. "If you know me you know I don't keep up with the times. I just go with the flow." - Woody Copeland, life coach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 11 hours ago, Celan said: The Last of Us premieres on HBO this weekend- curious what those of you who played the game will think of it. I’m really pessimistic about it. They’ve already completely changed how the infection works, which was one of the most interesting things about the premise that set it apart from other zombie media. And they explicitly told the Ellie’s actress to not play the video game, which only makes sense to do if they don’t want her to take inspiration from the source material. On top of that, the casting for both her and Joel is terrible. Pedro Pascal is a solid actor but he doesn’t look the part at all. Worst part is that this will be an adaptation of both games. So even if it starts out good like the first one, it will inevitably devolve into garbage when it reaches the sequel. Don’t know if I’ll watch it yet or not. If I want to experience this story, I’ll just replay the first game. Every time it’s been touched since then, it’s just been for the worse. * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celan Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 39 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said: I’m really pessimistic about it. They’ve already completely changed how the infection works, which was one of the most interesting things about the premise that set it apart from other zombie media. And they explicitly told the Ellie’s actress to not play the video game, which only makes sense to do if they don’t want her to take inspiration from the source material. On top of that, the casting for both her and Joel is terrible. Pedro Pascal is a solid actor but he doesn’t look the part at all. Worst part is that this will be an adaptation of both games. So even if it starts out good like the first one, it will inevitably devolve into garbage when it reaches the sequel. Don’t know if I’ll watch it yet or not. If I want to experience this story, I’ll just replay the first game. Every time it’s been touched since then, it’s just been for the worse. How does the infection work in the games vs the TV show? I don't care about spoilers. "If you know me you know I don't keep up with the times. I just go with the flow." - Woody Copeland, life coach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCzarsHussar Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBossBalrog Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 47 minutes ago, Celan said: How does the infection work in the games vs the TV show? I don't care about spoilers. It was a fungal infection. Most games go with a generic "Resident Evil-lite" method but the Cordyceps was very unique "In The Last of Us, a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus began to spread in the United States in late September 2013. The Cordyceps originated from South America, carrying into humans through infected crops. Joel and Sarah Miller's local newspaper in Austin, the Texas Herald, reported on the infection, stating on the front page of the September 26 edition: "Admittance spikes at area hospitals! 300% increase due to mysterious infection" The fungus grows while the host is still alive, with hosts undergoing four stages of infection. Stage one begins within two days of infection, wherein the host loses their higher brain function (and with it, their humanity), rendering them hyper-aggressive and incapable of reason or rational thought. Within two weeks, the host enters stage two of the infection, wherein the fungus begins altering their sight as a result of progressing fungal growth over the head and corruption of their visual cortex. After a year of infection, the infection enters stage three; scarring their face and blinding them, resulting in them developing a primitive form of echolocation to compensate. In very rare cases, if the host survives for over a decade, they reach stage four. They develop hardened fungal plates over most of their body. When the fungus kills the host, the host's body grows stalk-like fungal projections which release infectious spores. The infection can also be spread through bites from living hosts. Hosts can only be infected while alive, as the fungus is unable to infect dead bodies due to its parasitic nature, though dead infected can release spores regardless of stage.The infection seems unable to spread in open air areas, such as the countryside, although some of these areas (such as Lincoln and a suburban neighborhood in Pittsburgh) possess a high population of infected. The infection mostly thrives in underground or enclosed areas commonly avoided by people, especially sewers, subway tunnels, and some buildings." In the show they changed it to to be non-fungal, it spreads via tendrils coming from the infected (Super generic). It's also not in the air, so they don't have to wear gasmask. Apparently this was done because they didn't want the actors to be wearing gas masks alot of the time (which is super stupid) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 1 hour ago, Celan said: How does the infection work in the games vs the TV show? I don't care about spoilers. The infection is fungal, which is why all the infected people have weird mushroom-like growths on them. It can spread through bites like most zombie media, but the more dangerous way that it spreads is through spores in the air. This makes it so the infected naturally gravitate towards dark and damp locations, often indoors or underground, where the fungus can grow and thrive and the spores can fill the area without sunlight and fresh air to combat them. Perfect and believable explanation for creating these unique horror environments. It was based on a real fungus that has zombie-like effects on certain insects in the Amazon (it would spread to their brains and literally control their bodies to infect the rest of their colony), which added a cool element of creepy realism to it. In the show, they decided not to include the spores, and made it this weird tentacley shit instead, which is just completely arbitrary but changes the entire core concept for the worse. It’s basically just a generic zombie infection now instead of something that was uniquely grounded for this genre. 2 * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 48 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said: It's also not in the air, so they don't have to wear gasmask. Apparently this was done because they didn't want the actors to be wearing gas masks alot of the time (which is super stupid) It’s insane that they would change such a fundamental aspect of the setting for the sake of making sure Pedro Pascal’s face is always front and center. They wouldn’t even need to wear gas masks very often. Even in the game, there aren’t that many many plot critical scenes involving spores. * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 35 minutes ago, TheCzarsHussar said: This what Caesar sees in his violent coma nightmares. 1 * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBossBalrog Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 2 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said: It’s insane that they would change such a fundamental aspect of the setting for the sake of making sure Pedro Pascal’s face is always front and center. A They wouldn’t even need to wear gas masks very often. Even in the game, there aren’t that many many plot critical scenes involving spores. Imagine if the rumored Bloodborne adaption made the Scourge no longer Bloodborne 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 Just now, BigBossBalrog said: Imagine if the rumored Bloodborne adaption made the Scourge no longer Bloodborne Or a Fallout adaptation where the world got destroyed by climate change. Just… why? 1 * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBossBalrog Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 2 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said: Or a Fallout adaptation where the world got destroyed by climate change. Just… why? Dont give Amazon ideas. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 You know, as much as I crap on Bethesda, I’d take a hundred Todd Howards over Neil Druckman. * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBossBalrog Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 4 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said: You know, as much as I crap on Bethesda, I’d take a hundred Todd Howards over Neil Druckman. I'd rather have Josh Sawyers or Hidetaka Miyazakis, but yeah the choice between the two is clear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Witchking of Angmar Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 1/10/2023 at 2:10 PM, The Good Doctor said: This got a chuckle out of me. @Witchking of Angmar don’t know why, but it made me think of you. I'm guessing you did because Yornar cares very little about who will succeed him. 2 Power corrupts, absolute power... is a whole lot of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCzarsHussar Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 33 minutes ago, Witchking of Angmar said: I'm guessing you did because Yornar cares very little about who will succeed him. Because nobody will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 57 minutes ago, Witchking of Angmar said: I'm guessing you did because Yornar cares very little about who will succeed him. That, and it reminded me of your old "absolute power… is a whole lot of fun" tagline. * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 @Celan @BigBossBalrog Did either of y’all end up watching TLoU? I heard the first episode wasn’t bad. At least as its own thing. I have no hope for it once it reaches the material from TLoU2, but at least the first game should provide it with a season’s worth of decent story to cover. * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBossBalrog Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 22 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said: @Celan @BigBossBalrog Did either of y’all end up watching TLoU? I heard the first episode wasn’t bad. At least as its own thing. I have no hope for it once it reaches the material from TLoU2, but at least the first game should provide it with a season’s worth of decent story to cover. Nah, but I might check it out in that case. There adapting Left Behind too, which was some of my favorite content () Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 8 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said: Nah, but I might check it out in that case. There adapting Left Behind too, which was some of my favorite content () I don’t know if I will or not at this point. All the recent stirrings have honestly just made me want to replay the first game more than they’ve made me want to watch Oberyn Martel and Lyanna Mormont try to imitate it. And I mean the real first game. Not the "Part 1" remake. * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCzarsHussar Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Who eeeeeeveeeer could have guessed this show would have been hot shit. I don't even care about Scooby Doo and this irks me 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Doctor Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 40 minutes ago, TheCzarsHussar said: don't even care about Scooby Doo and this irks me Was one of my favorite shows way back in the day, but I just find this silly. Show looks like it was just made to farm rage. 1 * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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