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A few weeks ago the final chapter in Fullmetal Alchemist was published in Monthly Gangan Comics. Soon afterwards, the anime based on the comic, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, came to an end, as well. I’ll spare you the nitty-gritty of the series; its creator, Hiromu Arakawa (hereafter referred to as Miss Arakawa), poured over 9 years of her life into this series, and I’ve followed it since the first chapter. It never really had the success of contemporary Japanese comics like One Piece or Naruto, but it was better for that; it always kept the main plot as the central focus and never really veered too much into sidestory territories or introduced too many characters for its own good. Miss Arawaka was very good with giving the audience small pieces of the larger picture, supplying just enough enigmatic essence in the comic to mystify readers enough to continue reading her next chapter. The last few chapters, however, it all began to unravel. This should go without saying but this post will contain major spoilers.

First off, there was the goal of the primary antagonist; for ease of reference, I’ll refer to him as Father. It seemed that through this entire convoluted and complex series of events he seemed to be striving towards some sort of ultimate goal that was beyond comprehension, but by the end we find out it’s just another God-complex. Father’s true and final aim was to become a God among men and to… do what? His/her/its motivations and destination were a mystery to everyone except itself, and, perhaps, maybe Miss Arawaka as well. Similarly, the homonculi, beings representative of human sins that Father desired to exorcise from himself, were given rather hasty send offs. Greed, for example, just reintegrated himself into Father and turned himself into charcoal, allowing Edward to easily deal the final blow. Pride made even less sense, due to the fact that his battle with Edward lasted all of a few pages – a few pages that explained nothing about his reason for being, something that was touched on for almost all the homonculi. Oh, and by the way, the way Kimbley went out was poorly done, too – it screams of Deus Ex Machina. In fact, most of the characters received incredibly subpar send-offs. It was like Miss Arakawa was trying to tie everything up before the end, and it just came off as contrived. A whole lot of planning went into this on the part of Miss Arakawa and it ended up being somewhat of a misfire. The finale where Edward brings back Alphonse by sacrificing the Gate inside himself, and the scene where ‘God’ tells him that is the ‘correct answer’ was incredibly cheesy and an unbelievable copout – it’s basically the same ending as all those after school specials we watched as second graders, except executed with much less bravado and class.

Which reminds me, there were a lot of plot twists and story threads that ended up getting dropped. Off the top of my head I can remember two or three big ones: first, there was the entire origin of alchemy. It’s implied over the course of the series that alchemy is basically powered by human souls that are buried deep underground in the form of philosopher’s stones, which themselves are created as a crystallization of hundreds, if not thousands, of humans. While speculation is nice, it is also important that the audience’s questions are answered – what exactly IS the true form of alchemy? Why was Father able to control its use? Why did it suddenly come back when the final transmutation circle was activated by Scar? Another story element that was never further explained – and this is probably the cardinal sin of the series, in my eyes – is the final secret of Roy Mustang’s teacher, Professor Hawkeye. The fact that Miss Arakawa devoted an entire flashback scene and a large transmutation circle inscribed on Riza’s back is telling of her intentions to make this a large part of the story, but for whatever reason, maybe because of time constraints or the possibility that she just plain forgot about it, it was never explored again.

By the end of the story, a large amount of plot threads are left dangling, and all the characters seem to have a happy ending. Hohenheim dies in front of Trisha’s grave, something he has been striving to do for centuries. Alphonse gets his body back and (ostensibly) starts a relationship with Meiling. Edward and Winry marry and have a litter. Scar, Miles, and the rest of the exiled Ishbalans return to Ishbal with Marco as their chief medical doctor. Roy gains a philosopher’s stone to regain his eyesight. Ling becomes emperor and makes sure the other clans are well cared for. So on and so forth. While it certainly is an ending, it’s an unfulfilling one. It’s almost as if Miss Arakawa wanted to finish the story at chapter 108, or wanted to finish it before the anime could air the final episodes and one-up her. The fact of the matter is the ending was rushed, poorly done, and, worst of all, incredibly anticlimactic – and with a story that spent the better part of a decade to realize the finale of its narrative, it is an affront and a disservice not only to fans of the series that have followed Miss Arakawa’s magnum opus for so long, but also to Miss Arakawa herself, for having tarnished such an incredible piece of fiction with such a slipshod and half-assed ending.

An unceremonious send off, and a weak conclusion to a great series. Never before has the words, “So this is how it ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper,” rang more true.

(Scanlation pages provided by scanlators Darkside and ZOMGFTA)

First of all, if you haven’t read my official opinion, then go ahead and read my review here. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Finished? Good.

Anyway, that’s my official opinion as a reviewer on a site, because I have mixed in some objectiveness and the knowledge that, yes, some people like this game. That being said, my personal opinion is much less flattering to the game. It’s horrible. Everything from the story to the battle system to the general gameplay just grates on my nerves.

Let’s start with the story. I know that going into the plot in medias res is a big thing these days, but the story is just nonsensical. In order for the player to have any understanding of the plot they need to delve into the datalog (basically a collection of information regarding the game world, its culture, and events leading up to the game), which is an atrocious method of storytelling. The story was already pretty bad to begin with but having half of it ripped out and stuffed into the datalog makes it that much worse. This is not good story telling, Square Enix. This is complete and utter tripe. The characters, similarly, are a collection of idiotic tropes and clichés that really end up doing nothing but annoying me to hell. One character, Hope, is consistently pissy and pathetic, while Vanille seems like she comes from outer space since her attitude is a cross between a retard and a stupid blonde.

The horrible story’s the least of its problems, too, because it’s gameplay is similarly shoddy. Battles take place in a completely passive method, all you really do is select your party’s job and then auto battle. The fact that the game is over when the party leader’s HP reaches 0 is an absurd way to add challenge to the game; this is called artificial challenge, and this is bad. Also, the entire game is basically completely on rails. There are a few branching paths but they normally lead to dead ends or crappy treasure.

The argument most supporters of the game make is that it “gets good” about 20 hours into the game. That’s not exactly handing it a compliment, since that means the first 20 hours is just complete crap. It’s like digging through manure in the hopes of finding a few flakes of gold, not only will you have hands covered in animal feces, but you will probably not find the gold anyway. About the only thing that’s good about the game is the graphics, which are good – it’s almost like Square Enix spent all their time polishing up the visuals and no time creating a deep battle system, engaging narrative, likable characters, or a game that resembles fun in any way. Skip this game, please. It’s horrible.

The Good
+ Graphics are great
+ The music…. I guess?

The Bad
- Gameplay
- Story
- Characters
- No exploration whatsoever

The WTF
?! Whoever thought it was a good idea for the game to end when the party leader is knocked out, you’re a moron.

I have to say, waiting a quarter of a year between episodes is a bad move because I’ve started losing any semblance of interest I have for this show. Before it reaches that point, let’s take a look at the episode we left off at.

It starts with a pretty good cliffhanger type in medias res opening, but anyone who’s familiar with any type of storytelling knows that the subject matter is prime for interpretation. In any case, there’s a lot of progress made in this episode. While I find the entire ‘blowing up a pharmaceutical lab’ by a total of about four people to be incredibly absurd, it serves as a good example of how a well-planned attack can procure a well-needed result. In any case, this episode isn’t all about the flash of an exploding alien research lab, a lot of reveals happen as well.

Tyler’s mom finding out he’s now on the alien mothership should lead to some decent drama, but I find myself less and less interested in the character, since Tyler represents the whole ‘thinking he’s a nonconformist when he’s just a douche’ archetype. The entire reveal about how Jack used to be a soldier didn’t really work for me (I mean, come on, what kind of priest can fight like that?), but the fact that he’s stabbed and left for dead by the end is a pretty damn good cliffhanger, I’ll say that. It definitely gives the impression that the entire idea of Resistance is a complete and utter waste and that they’re fighting what amounts to be a losing battle.

The most interesting reveals are about Ryan and Valerie’s baby – presumably a half V, half human baby; let’s just ignore the utter genetic impossibility of two completely different species somehow coincidentally having the exact same number of chromosomes and the exact same conditions for gestation, but the original series had a pretty decent plot twist involving that aspect, though it was more horrifying than worrying. I can’t really say how the final scene reminds me similarly of Mass Effect 2’s final scene, as well… hm. I probably just have Mass Effect on the mind. Anyway, I look forward to where the series will go but I’m losing interest rather quickly.

The title of this episode gives me bad memories, if only because it’s incredibly similar to the Brand New Day storyline from the Spider Man comics in recent years. Thankfully, it’s much, much less idiotic. In fact, this episode was rather enjoyable.

Things are actually going underway in this episode, as the resistance is formed at the end of the episode. The fact that it is only four people who can ostensibly barely make a dent in the V’s plans notwithstanding, it makes me hopeful that the series won’t fall into the tired routine other TV series such as Smallville or Heroes falls into – either dropping plot points entirely or focusing on inane storytelling methods so much that people just don’t care anymore. This episode also digs the V’s claws deeper and deeper into the ‘irredeemable monsters’ visage, as their manipulative and deceptive qualities are revealed. I’m rather disappointed that Chad Decker didn’t get as much screen time this episode, as his information war with the Vs was a welcome change from the Resistance storyline.

All in all, a pretty decent episode, as things are shaping up nicely and it seems that the series will be chugging along at a nice pace; here’s hoping it doesn’t get too full of itself.

While the media debates the issue of games being ‘harmful’ or ‘poisonous’ to people’s minds, it never speaks of the creative capacity of the medium, as well as its capacity to incite an emotional as well as an intellectual reaction from its audience. While the media is busy lynching its latest scapegoat, it unsurprisingly refuses to acknowledge that games have a significant capacity for sending messages. Modern Warfare 2 sends a clear and simple message: War is brutal. War is ugly. War has consequences.

It hits home on a number of missions. One of which involves the player character going undercover and being forced to mow down unarmed civilians with a powerful assault rifle. It’s unsettling and disturbing, and as I watched a nameless civilian attempt to carry an injured man to safety, only to be mowed down himself by one of my “allies,” I felt a sick feeling in my stomach. In another mission, I rappel down from a cliff and kill a guard with my knife. I can see his face as he dies, while his eyes frozen in horror melts away into a dead, blank stare as the life drains out of him. The game pulls no punches, and unflinchingly shows the most horrible consequences that war has on us: not the loss of our lives, but the loss of our humanity, which is something infinitely more terrifying. Of course this will be lost on most of the gamer population who think of themselves as REAL HARD MEN who scream “YEAH I’M KILLING CIVVIES YEAHHH” or “Who cares, they’re just pixels on a screen.” The subtleties of any narrative are lost on these neanderthals.

Still, there’s a game underneath the layers of story, and while not much has changed from Call of Duty 4, it has a great deal more variety. You can find yourself engaged in a stealth operation one mission, then rooftop hopping to escape from an angry mob the next. The game literally has no missions where you can rest, as every mission thrusts you waist deep into the action. Certain missions are almost chilling in their depiction of war, especially those set in the U.S. Spec Ops is damn good, as it includes a multiplayer that does not involve killing other players and instead focuses on coop, which I enjoy a lot more (I got more out of Horde Mode in Gears of War 2 than Versus). It recreates some instances of the game, while others are completely new scenarios to tackles for those who have finished the Campaign. The Campaign itself is brief – almost too brief, as I was able to finish in about 5 or 6 hours on Veteran difficulty, but regardless, it was an incredibly experience.

The graphics use the same engine as Call of Duty 4, so it’s nothing too revolutionary, but it’s nothing to sneeze at either; it’s still a great looking game, and has no slowdown even with the myriad (sometimes dozens) of enemies on screen at once. The musical score is incredible, and it supplements each mission and scenario incredibly well, making for what is probably the most immersive game I’ve played this year.

The Good
+ Strong story with powerful emotional impact
+ Phenomenal score to enhance the experience
+ Large amount of mission variety (both within the campaign and Spec Ops)
+ Excellent graphics and weapon realism

The Bad
- Scenario clocks in at around 5 to 6 hours … on Veteran. A bit too short.
- Lag is (as of this writing) really bad, though it is like to clear up in the coming months.
- Online Versus is still incredibly newbie-unfriendly. Uninitiated players will be slaughtered endlessly.

The WTF
?! The general response to the ‘offensive material’ in the game, from the media and gamers alike.

If episode 1 set the structure, then episode 2 begins to solidify the series. It takes place directly after the end of the first episode, and we really get to see how the characters are reacting to their new found discovery. Some try to ignore it, others are unsure what to do, still others decide to continue resisting, but by the end of the episode they end up thinking the same thing anyway, to start a resistance … which is odd because that was the same thing they decided at the end of the last episode, too.

What this episode does well is show how distrustful the characters are now that they know the truth of the matter, and it leads to some of them making irrational or unwise decisions. The acting and dialogue is still pretty wooden to me, honestly. I’m interested, surprisingly, in Chad Decker’s story and development most of all, due to his ignorance of the truth yet incapability of yielding to the Visitors. The other characters evolve in predictable directions (FBI Agent, Priest, Visitor turncoat are all pretty stock when it comes down to it), but his character seems to be developing in the most interesting direction, probably because he’s the one who has the most interaction with the Visitors.

I’m thoroughly uninterested and unimpressed with any scenes that involve Logan Huffman. It’s nothing to do with his acting, but his character’s story is boring, pedestrian, and worst of all, annoying. The whole teenage subplot in the context of a show about alien invasion is completely absurd, and though I’m aware that it’ll eventually lead to him becoming an unknowing sleeper spy for the Visitors (if the show synopsis is to be believed), his storyline for the foreseeable future seems to involve him doing stupid teenage things. I’m half expecting him to get high in the next episode.

Not a bad episode, and the ending shows promise of potential story twists, but the show has still not realized its potential yet. We can only hope it will get better.

I finally beat Lost Odyssey this past weekend, over a year after its release. I stopped playing about half a year ago halfway into disc 3, then only recently picked it back up and continued. The reasons for my doing so were threefold. First of all, the battle system is slow as molasses, which is irritating because Lost Odyssey operates on a random-encounter type system, and escaping from battle is difficult as hell, so every time the screen flashed into that battle transition, I prepared myself for a 3 to 5 minute battle. This may not sound that bad, but picture doing it all throughout a dungeon. It would drive you nuts. Though, if the story were any good, I would’ve been convinced to suffer through the battle system, which leads me to my second complaint.

The story is absolutely insufferable – and this is largely due to the stupidly obligatory child characters that every JRPG just has to have. One of the main story events involves the two kids hijacking a train in the hopes of seeing their dead mother (yeah, you read that right – I don’t get it either). You then have to catch another train to go after them and stop them from doing something stupid. Of course, if the adults were doing their job then this wouldn’t have happened in the first place, but I guess common sense is lacking in JRPG worlds. There are child characters who are characterized excellently and that I personally actually like: Lymsleia from Suikoden V immediately comes to mind, as does Nanako from Persona 4. Even Karol from Tales of Vesperia can be likable thanks to his gung ho attitude. This disappoints me mainly because the story started off really great, then dropped like a rock from the side of the Grand Canyon when Cooke and Mack (the aforementioned child characters) were introduced. Fortunately their roles are downplayed near the end of the game, where the story picks up steam again, so it gets good, but it never gets great.

Another thing I found disappointing was the skill mechanic; the immortals can learn any skill they want, but all of them are shuffled into specific roles, with Kaim and Seth being physical attackers and Sarah and Ming being mages. Having a largely customizable skill/abilities list for the immortals serves no purpose if I can’t do what I want with them. Besides that, once they get enough abilities they become so powerful that there’s no real reason to use any of the mortals as anything other than cannon fodder, because they just don’t measure up.

Still, it’s not a total loss. The 1000 Years of Dreams sequences included in the game are great. Each of them convey the frailty of life as well as how the horrors of war can warp people; if the main storyline was written in this method then perhaps it would’ve succeeded. Instead it was generic JRPG tripe. Ah, what could have been…

The Good
+ The Thousand Years of Dreams vignettes are wonderfully written and incredibly well translated.
+ The graphics are pretty good and doesn’t require five minute long effects in order to show it.
+ Robust skill/equipment system allows players to customize characters for any situation.’

The Bad
- The music is surprisingly pedestrian, and a weak effort from Nobuo Uematsu
- The story, in stark contrast to the vignettes, is bland and uninspired.
- The battle system is way too slow, making random encounters drag on and on.
- Characters are cast in one of two specific, unchangeable roles: fighter or mage.

The WTF
?! Random encounters? Really?
?! Cooke and Mack. What were they thinking?

Let me get this out of the way first: I never watched the original V TV series. It was before my time. I have heard good things about it, and wanted to check it out (and I still plan on it … someday), but for now I’ve started watching the remake.

It was a good watch, and the show is well worth the time, but falls back too much on formulaic storytelling. From the start of the Pilot to the end, there’s nothing at all that will catch anybody that’s seen, well, any TV show or movie, off guard. The method by which the different character’s storylines are tied together by the end of the episode is done beautifully, and I suppose that that was the entire point of the episode – to lay down the infrastructure for future episodes. At this the episode succeeds marvelously.

The episode opens with the mundane lives of normal people on their normal everyday routine when alien ships fly over 29 major cities in the world, causing mass panic. Then, a  few moments later, the Visitors make an open declaration of peace, causing mass joy (and later, mass protests). The episode centers on individuals who aren’t entirely sure that the Visitors are evil, but don’t exactly trust their motives to be entirely benevolent either. At least one of the characters already knows they’re evil from the start, and the others find out by the end one way or another, and the episode ends just as they begin to plan a resistance. I can already say that I’m going to be annoyed by the character Logan Huffman is playing – kids with daddy/mommy issues are the most annoying kind of archetypes. The dialogue is clichéd, but any problems it had are made up by the actors themselves.

Anyway, it’s to early to be judging the series as a whole as some reviewers are saying (have we learned nothing from Heroes?), and it’s definitely not the best pilot episode I’ve ever seen (that honor would belong to House). But it’s still a great opening episode and I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season will shape up.

I’ve been a viewer of Heroes since the first season, and it’s been going downhill for a while now – though, this latest episode (Once Upon A Time In Texas) is the best in a while, mainly because Hiro stopped acting like a moron. Thanks, Heroes writers! Anyway, the latest episode deals with Hiro’s attempts to save his one true love (Sorry, Yaeko from season 2! You were just a fluke!), Charlie, from being killed by Sylar, the ‘brain man.’ Anyway, he succeeds, but Charlie has an aneurysm (thinning of the blood vessel walls due to blockage of blood) caused by a blood clot in her brain. As a last ditch effort, Hiro gets Sylar to ‘fix’ Charlie, and this involves Sylar telekinetically crushing the blood clot and draining it out of Charlie’s tear duct.

Now, depending on where the blood clot is, this can range from being completely absurd to somewhat plausible… but only somewhat. The bigger problem here is that the aneurysm had already ruptured. Right after Sylar took out the clot, Charlie’s back up and about as if nothing happened. Uh – she still has a blood vessel spilling blood into her brain! This is called an intracerebral hemorrhage. This is not a good thing! Charlie should be at a hospital instead of prancing around and getting pissed at Hiro.

I’ve read my own share of blogs, and I figured I might as well work on one myself, just to pass some time and to give my thoughts on a few things. It’s not anything special or awesome, just a medium where I can share thoughts on a variety of subjects such as games, television, movies, and (sometimes) medicine.