Shmee.Me

March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

Downton Abbey Is Over! Where Will I Go For My 1920’s Fashion Fix!

There are two ways to end a show: try to go out with a bang (and unless you are Breaking Bad usually fail), or wrap everything up with a pretty bow. Downton Abbey went with the pretty bow option, and it was a lovely bow at that. The final episode was pretty much fan wish fulfilment. Everyone got a happy ending. Well pretty much everyone, we don’t know about Tom, but screw Tom nobody likes him anyway. I kid, I kid, I love Tom, and he gets his cars to play with. Plus his whole role this season was to be Mary’s Jiminy Cricket, and I think he was successful Mary is now a real girl. It is a miracle!

It is a shame that this show never really showed the true downfall of the Edwardian era. It was only alluded to by looking at what had happened to other great houses. Instead we got to watch a family overcome it all, and not only that thrive in the end. Which is kind of disingenuous. There should have been some major consequences. Still after following a family and their staff for six years it was heartwarming to see them all well and taken care of. If you are going go for the happy ending there is something to be said for going all in. No half measures as they say. Downton Abbey’s ending was sugary sweet, but I guess after six seasons the family deserved a treat. Now I will have to find some other show to fill the period drama sized hole in my TV rotation, but I fear whatever I fill it with will not be as good or as well executed as Downton Abbey.

March 9, 2016

The Paladin watches 2 Tiger, 2 Dragon: The Second One

Consider the stone dropped in the center of a still pond.

The air gently moves, rustling the leaves of the trees. Golden yellows, ripe greens, fiery red all dance in the breeze.

Ripples race across the smooth surface. The crane looks on.

The crane is staring at you. It’s black eyes fix your own. It is peering into your soul.

The ripples reach the edge of the pond. A snowflake lands on your cheek.

The first.

Conversely its sequel…

Consider the stone. Now look at me. Now back to the stone.

Oh, young love. Old love. Big drunken guy in love.

Now back to me. There’s a bald guy.

Foot balancing wushu.

Ninjas.

Dead. Undead. Credits.

Such is the unevenness of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in comparison to its sequel Netflix’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (CTHD:SD). The first is a contemplative film, shot amongst sweeping vistas, and eye popping wire-fu. The latter is a far more standard affair with a predictable plot and typical archetypes. CTHD:SD attempts at times to mimic the world and atmosphere of the first film, but more often than not comes off as a made for TV movie.

All the actors are fine, Michelle Yeoh can be in everything, but none are required to or give stellar performances. The fact that they all speak English is also disappointing, being the sequel to one of the most successful non-english films in the US.

Ultimately, Ang Lee infused Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with such contemplation and wonder that the sequel seems heavy handed and hollow. Had the first one been a more classic martial arts film the lower budget sequel wouldn’t have been so jarring.

Taken on its own CTHD:SD isn’t terrible, but it’s not great either. The fights aren’t super exciting or technical and they also seem to have an urgency to get to the talking parts. Really, if you are craving a good martial arts movie this will do to take the edge off, but it’s not a full meal. If your wanting something that stops to smell the flowers and contemplate leaves falling it doesn’t do that either. However if you want to watch a foreign film without British accents or subtitles… here you go.

March 8, 2016March 8, 2016

Was Grim Fandango Remastered?

Thanks to a recent Humble Bundle, I was about to get Grim Fandango Remastered for $3, which was a steal, but just how Remastered is the game over the original? Honestly it doesn’t seem like they put a lot of work in to this new port. It has some higher res textures, a new lighting engine, it is able to run on modern computers, and that is about it. Luckily the game is still awesome, so it is still worth the price of admission.

If you have never played Grim Fandango before, you take the role of Manny Calavera a Grim Reaper/Travel Agent in charge of getting people to their proper places in the underworld. Though things are not what they seem and someone is rigging the game, so you will have to help Manny figure out what is going on. Mostly by sticking random stuff in random places.

With recent adventure game remasters like the Monkey Island games there have been major graphical improvements. That is not the case with Grim Fandango. While everything has been given a spit and polish it mostly looks like how I remember it from its original release in 1998. The big exception is the new lighting engine: Shadows are cast realistically, and light sources have a more natural look. Also thanks to the PS3/PS4 port, the game now works well with a game pad. Though since I didn’t try it with a game pad in 1998 maybe it already did.

Honestly the biggest additions to Grim Fandango are just the fact it works on modern computers without any finagling and the developer commentary. Listening to Tim and crew talk about creating one of the greatest adventure games of all time is a lot of fun and very interesting. They should just release a documentary about that. I would watch it, that is for sure.

I have been kind of hard on Grim Fandango Remastered, but that really shouldn’t deter you. It is still a wonderful game, and possibly the best classic style adventure game ever created, so now that you can get it cheap and it will work on your computer or PlayStation you should totally buy it. Though just don’t expect anything be crazy different.

March 7, 2016March 7, 2016

So Long Lionhead Studios! You Will Be Missed!

I can’t believe I am writing this, but Microsoft is shutting Lionhead Studios down, and development on Fable Legends has been canceled! Fable Legends has had a troubled development, but I have had not any indication that they were going to just shut it down this far along. From what I understand they were still releasing regular builds for their closed beta.

Regardless of the reason for this closure, I will be very sad. I know some people were let down by the Fable games, they couldn’t quite live up to Peter Molyneux’s extreme hype, but I loved them. They were light and easy to play RPGs. You didn’t have to get bogged down in crafting or endless dialog trees, you just got to go out and adventure.

Maybe if Lionhead had focused on Fable 4 and not some odd 4v1 free to play hybrid things could have worked out, but now we will never know. I will miss the Fable games, and I will miss Lionhead Studios.

March 4, 2016

It Is Friday So It Is Time To Give Away Some Free Code!

Thanks to the current Star Wars HumbleBundle going on, I have an extra copy of ‘Knights of the Old Republic‘ and ‘Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords’ on Steam. Sure you could pay, as of now, just a little over $8 to guarantee yourself a copy of each, but where is the fun in that? You can randomly win one of them for nothing! Well nothing except a follow and a retweet. Just go on Twitter and follow me (@Shmee_Is_Me) and re-tweet this tweet:

Win a Steam copy of Knights of the Old Republic I or II! Follow and RT for a random chance to win. Winners chosen at 6PM PST #FreeCodeFriday

— Shmee (@Shmee_Is_Me) March 4, 2016

I will randomly pick a winner for each game at 6PM Pacific Standard Time and then message them! Fun right! RIGHT! If you have any questions feel free to ask them. Happy #FreeCodeFriday everyone!