Jump to content

T3551ER

Knob Twiddlers
  • Posts

    945
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by T3551ER

  1. Easily my most anticipated EP of the year (I mean - no lie, more hyped for this release than Squarepusher) and god damn it delivers. For fans of the Drukqs era especially this EP is solid fucking gold and will, unfortunately, likely be overshadowed by the []< release on the same day. One hopes not, because listening to this EP is like gaining insight into a parallel universe where Aphex twin is still young but somehow already reached his Drukqs level of sound mastery, beginning to iterate and expand on it. This is amazing. Whatever comes next is, in a word, inconceivable. https://kaidiak.bandcamp.com/album/acid-bihelical
  2. Track for the most recent Renoise Mutant Breaks competition. Restrictions were tiiiiiight: No VST's, only native effects, samples only, cumulatively all samples could not add up to more than 1.4mb. Music for Headphones and People with ADHD
  3. Alan Wake 2: I'm about 5-6 hours in, so consider this a "review in progress." This game sets itself up for critique a bit, because the references it draws on are some of those things most dear to my heart - specifically, Twin Peaks (particularly S3) and House of Leaves (as well as Stephen King to a somewhat lesser degree). That's some pretty high caliber shit to be putting yourself in the same sphere of, and the game never quite reaches the heights of those two, but if you're going to be influenced by anything, you might as well go for the best. This might be premature, but my issues are more with some of the ideas being slightly spoonfed and diluted. I'm sure this is to cater at least a bit to a more general audience - but even so, some of the stuff is just a teensy bit too hamfisted and obvious. That being said, it's also a fucking bonkers ride and has continued to get more bonkers as it goes along. Nitpicks aside, it's one of the most ambitious survival horror/detective/action horror games that has ever existed. It looks amazing. It's controls are just the right combo of limited movement and snappy to make it challenging but not frustrating. It's also one of the few games that I have enjoyed every moment of playing. I think that's in part the pacing, both also the variety of settings, characters, etc. Again, I do have some small issues with the writing being slightly obvious, but when we're talking about a game that takes the ideas of meta narrative seriously and goes fucking all in on being it's own thing, it's easily forgivable. I never finished Control but this actually makes me want to go back and play- because clearly Remedy is making games for people like me, people who like bizarre, dreamlike, liminal shit that also has a solid action element (Control leaned more on the action, this one feels much more in the survival horror vein). So, yeah, it's not perfect but it's pretty fucking great - if I never knew TP and HOL existed this thing would (already) have just been blowing my mind all over the place.
  4. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwCKf7KsgxG/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
  5. I like how, for just a glimmering moment, every thread on WATMM became the Dank Memes thread
  6. Awesome, great little EP here!!!
  7. yeah, noticed that too. A beautiful track to leave in remembrance, but still sorry for the loss. Got to have been hard...
  8. 100% re the chemical reactions stuff at the beginning... some bits reminded me a little of interstellar. Lol, maybe it's an overcorrection for today's ADD audience / nervousness over having to capture people's attention for THREE HOURS.
  9. Hi friends! Also in the CC Undefined releases thread, but thought I'd post here too. Never been so happy with a release as much as this one, never been so close to getting the sounds in my head into the corporeal realm. Bandcamp link below, but also linking a track that, when I made it, it made me think "Ahh, this is something folks on WATMM would enjoy." I hope you do. ?
  10. Got a chance to see Oppenheimer this weekend. A treat, in part because w/ family duties etc. I almost never get to see films in the theater anymore. Only other film in last three years was Dune, another film that deserves the "big screen" treatment. Really loved it - I could quibble with a few things here and there, but the fact that the film is 3 hours long and I was utterly compelled the entire time is a testament to the filmmaking. Even scenes that might otherwise be turgid, like the interviews, are so well acted/directed/sound designed/edited that they are gripping. Cillian deserves a fucking Oscar, RDJ crushed it. Not much more to say. It's a film that I left feeling... somewhat sad. It exposes the callousness that human beings, particularly those in power, are prone to. I'm sure the ending is meant to have us think about what our choices as a species have potentially wrought for our future survival, and (maybe this is the point too) it also left me wondering if we should. My one little gripe (the algorithm reads my mind, as I actually saw an article about this exact thing this AM): Looks dope af imop. I feel like Ridley Scott has good movies in him, but those movies no longer start with an A and end with an lien.
  11. I wasn't even sure it was him when I started watching. I was like "did I read the cast list wrong?" Amazing performance.
  12. Speaking of social commentary and whatnot, watched They Cloned Tyrone last night, an absolutely terrible title for an amazing film, that remains so until the very last frame (when it becomes clear that it's sort of a wink and a nod to people who have been paying attention). I'm hyperbolizing, but in my mind I keep on thinking about how Boyz in the Hood was this watershed moment for both black representation in film, and black cinema. This one is much less bleak (except in the moments when it's terrifyingly bleak) and has moments that are just fucking hilarious, but it seems like a similar thing. Ofc there are plenty of other people doing consciousness raising films, but this one feels somehow special. Maybe it's because it so thoroughly entertaining all the way through - and deftly shifts tones so gracefully. Had no idea how good an actor John Boyega is until this one, particularly in the last quarter/end of the film. Jamie Foxx also fantastic. Tldr: dumb name, smart movie.
  13. Totally agree the Oats Studio stuff is great - I guess I sort of omit them when I think about his cinematic output. They actually remind me of his pre District 9 stuff, like the Halo shit that was so compelling. Elysium agree def had great pieces, but it feels like those pieces never add up to a coherent film, which makes it feel like a step down from D9. I'm actually a pretty big Blomkamp apologist -to me it's worth it even if it's a mishmash, but some of those pieces are brilliant. I think what kind of killed it for me was Demonic. It was admittedly a pandemic project but it's just..... man, it's really bad. So, in my mind when I graph out his cinematic output the trend line is slanted real far down - but thsts partly because Demonic is so bad. Honestly, I kind of think the GT movie might actually be really good? - and it might be good for him to be making a film that has inherent structure because it was written by someone else.
  14. Yeah, but Chappie notwithstanding (I'm probably one of the few who really likes it), his trajectory has been pretty downward since District 9. Don't know if u saw his horror movie (Demonic) but.... God it was awful. I mean, irredeemably bad. Might be dude just needs the paycheck...
  15. Finished From Season 2. Definitely a show that I need to remember (in two years or whenever tf s3 drops) to just wait until the end to binge. Felt this season had a looooooot of padding which binging helps with, but no amount of binge can make up for stuff that just feels poorly paced. Part of that is introducing a ton of new characters - it means you don't spend enough time consistently with any core group of characters to establish a bond/cohesion. I still love the show, still find it extremely entertaining, but if I had to watch it week to week I'd hate it. I still have hopes they can reign it in for S3 - this season felt like they were playing with adding new things in to try and stretch it out, but what they really need to do is go in laser focused on executing compelling TV. Ofc everyone wants their show to run for 13 seasons, but sometimes it's better to commit to 5 and gtfo. Spoilers for anyone who hasn't gotten to the ending.
  16. A decent ways into Final Fantasy XVI and it's... pretty much what I expected (TLDR: It's fucking great). The plot / voice acting is great - totally like watching a realllly good medieval fantasy show, with some of the scenes being top-tier eye candy. Major story beats are super high fidelity, with some drop in quality (visual wise) for the subplot stuff, all the way down to "generic poses by my character and whomever they're speaking to" when you get down into the sidequest level of stuff. No matter - the main story is so good and so well done I'm really not bothered by that at all. Was initially worried that I'd be overwhelmed by the amount of cutscenes (I know that's a staple for the series) but they are well paced, and provide some nice downtime from the action. Plus, as above - I'm genuinely enjoying just watching - it's like I get to experience this great TV series but then also play it too. Some minor story beats that feel a bit quick, but extremely small quibbles there. Soundtrack/audio work is out of this world good - incredible. The action is really where this motherfucker shines, including the visual spectacle that accompanies it. It's just a fantastic LOOKING game (even on performance mode) and you add in the visual flares for your various Eikonic abilities/strikes/charges and man does this thing ever look amazeballs. Controls are tip/top, and the game is masterful at feeding your new techniques at just the right pace. When I played the demo, the second portion was a slice of action with lots of abilities unlocked, and I found it almost overwhelming. Playing through the full version, the game totally just keeps sliding you new cards to play, in a way that just feels natural. The game designers have said the first run through is to "teach you how to play the game," with subsequent runs allowing you to really flex your muscles (Final Fantasy Mode allows you to replay with remixed + different enemy placement - I can't waiiiiiit). Too soon to tell for absolute sure but it seems likely that this will be my GOTY and, even better, one that I'm going to play for a looooong time. The combat system combined with the visual spectacle is just 11/10 (for me) with some minor complaints (listed below) that I suspect will be addressed in a future update: The inability to turn off the HUD as well as the hit #'s from your attacks can make the action difficult to follow at times. There is just so much shit going on on screen that it would be much better to be able to turn some of this stuff off. Ironically, although I'm complaining about this, I actually haven't found it has hampered my ability to play - it's just something that would make wtf is going on less overwhelming. Some issues with HDR - Good news/bad news. My old TV started crapping out a few weeks before the game dropped (bad) so I got a new TV (good - but costly). It's a QLED w/ micro LED's and looks fucking amaaaaaazing when dialed in - but the HDR in this game (and PS5 in general) is very finicky. It would be great to have in-game HDR adjustments. I've basically gotten it almost perfect as is, but just would be good to have independent HDR adjustments in game. Motion Blur - they are going to patch it so you can toggle this, and you better believe I'm turning that shit off Performance - I'm not going to really ding them too much here, because there is some voodoo involved in making a game that looks this good (even on a PS5). One thing they (wisely) did was to optimize during combat, where performance mode sticks around 60fps (though I've seen analysis that have dropped this to sub-40 in some instances).. Outside of combat, performance is varied, and on graphic mode things can get a little dicey. Oddly enough, performance mode actually looks almost as good as graphics mode so I leave it on that - once you go +30fps it's hard to go back, but they should probably offer a lower resolution performance mode that locks above 45 fps (if that's even possible) to accommodate VRR. Too soon to make a final call but, if this is a measure of anything, I've ALREADY gotten easily my 70$ worth out of this title (both in terms of time spent and enjoyment) and I haven't even unlocked limit breaks yet (which is not a spoiler, because you either know what that is so already know, or you don't know what that is and doesn't mean fuckall to you anyway).
  17. Someone posted a "45rpm" of Blackbox Life Recorder around when it dropped and .. uh, I kind of liked it better?
  18. Definitely digging these more than Blackbox Life Recorder (though, I will say - I played that in the car and the sub bass on that shit is deeeeep... imagine in a club/show setting it must be mental). These totally give me Analord vibes in the best way possible - really hope digitals drop sometime soon.
  19. It's funny you mention it, I started P5 Royale last year (or maybe the year before). It legit charmed the shit out of me for the bit I played, but I ended up kind of letting it go. In part it was bc my daughter was still so young and the massive amounts of sleep deprivation (and very limited game time) made it hard to keep at it. When you only have 15-20 minutes to game/work on music/warch something long dungeon crawls can feel stifling - but I have to say the overall combat was totally enjoyable, even for a person like me who usually is turned off my turned base combat. On my list to come back to though. Lots of h8rs out there about FFXVI, for various reasons. I'd say if your at all unsure, just play the demo. It's the first 2 hrs of the game (plus a separate section later that shows of combat later in the game). I feel like you'll either be like "whatever, mid" or like "holy fuck give this me yesterday." EDIT: lol should have read closer, glad you seemed to enjoy it! I think it's going to be a masterpiece, shit like this are the sort of thing that reinforces that sense of attention to detail: https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-16-demo-jrpg-menu-ps5-square-enix-clive-1850543246?utm_campaign=Kotaku&utm_content=1686845294&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0bHurUMVMezCai457e7OCt2WyKzzudMbS334N2FEqswBAuskLXYwpAls8
  20. Wanted to second the recommend for Channel Zero - in particular, the No End House season, which gives off some serious HOL vibes (but also does it's own thing). Turns out, the same group did BNCF but... I stopped at ep1 too. Whereas the Channel Zero stuff seemed to grab me immediately BNCF just didn't... maybe will give it another go!
  21. Almost done with the FFXVI demo. I'm not a Final Fantasy fan. I'm not an RPG fan. I'm not even a medieval fantasy fan. But goddamn am I excited about the game, particularly after running through the demo (which is basically the first 2+ hours of the game). Insanely high production values on literally everything, action is spot on. They got the combat director for DMC to head up that part (I love DMC5), but it's not exactly DMC - and I think it's better for it. They created something that feels like it fits in this genre, while still taking queues from the action heavy titles. Like, the balance seems perfect - I was worried battles would be a frustrating grind against bullet (or sword swipe I guess) sponges, but it's more nuanced. You wear down stamina and then it leaves big creatures open to increasingly higher count attacks - and at no point did I feel like I was grinding. Just, like, having FUN. I think the thing that sort of surprised me has been the characters/story. Like, I'm already ultra invested in these characters / actually starting to care about them. It's like watching a really well done TV series but then you're sort of playing the action beats - and boy, some of the set piece stuff is crazy OTT. It hard to know from this slice if they'll be able to keep up this quality for the duration - but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is going to be on a lot of GOTY lists. My friend sent me this link about what goes into making Japanese calligraphy ink, and why it's so expensive. TLDR, it's the excessive care, effort, and precision that goes into every step of the process. You can feel that sort of effort here - someone thought deeply about every aspect, every visual que, every interface design, every action beat, and also made sure it all felt part of a unified whole. Hats off, I'll be disappearing for a while in 12 days. https://fb.watch/l8cSzh6pUF/?mibextid=l2pjGR
  22. haha. FACTS. I really think the introduction of the additional people kneecaps the show. The first season seemed much better at creating interesting (sometimes annoying) characters that you end up caring about - but when you only see those people for 5 minutes over the span of like 4 episodes it makes you be like.. "and why do I care again?" And, like you and @Nebraskanote, when they are doing something, they seem to be way OTT, but with little context as to why. I'll still probably binge every season and mildly hate myself for it in the end
  23. Yeah, I'm stuck! I flew threw the first season and now I'm semi invested in the characters (and the mysteries) but... if the endgame isn't there (they say they have it planned but who tf knows) and/or if it's cancelled and they haven't been able to wrap it up, that'll blow chunks.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.