Star Trek Discovery: First Impressions

CBS has decided to restrict their new Star Trek to their new streaming service. This is a horrible idea, which might kill the show. I was planning to avoid it until it came out somewhere else, but I saw the first half of the two-part opening on TV Sunday and decided to check it out.

I do not think Star Trek discovery is bad.

A lot of people are saying it’s terrible but I don’t agree. It had some interesting characters and built up tension throughout the episode. I didn’t like the retconned Klingons but it’s not like they haven’t taken liberties with them in the past.

But what bothered me was that Discovery is not trying to channel TOS or Next Generation. It’s not even following the trail of DS9 or Voyager. It’s trying to channel Star Trek 2009. You can see this in the odd camera angles, the lens flair, the Vulcan school straight out of the movie, and the Star Fleet officers acting like action stars rather than the calm, considered officers we are used to. This is a mistake.

Star Trek is not about the action, or Sci-Fi adventure, it’s about humanism and optimism. It’s about the idea that we humans can settle our own problems with technology and cooperation. Naive perhaps, but that’s what made Star Trek what it is. In times of political instability, shows like Star Trek provided hope for an era where we had gotten past societal conflicts and created a paradise on Earth

This Star Trek seems different. Conflict is a forgone conclusion. Star fleet is portrayed as naïve and rigid for not firing on the bad Klingons before they shoot at Star Fleet.  There is an underlining darkness and pessimism which does not feel right.

Now, my first impressions could be totally off the mark. What if you judged all of Next Generation by the first half of Encounter at Far Point? It took them several seasons to find their footing and produce watchable TV consistently. Discovery’s beginning is arguably more solid than that. So I will maintain some hope for this one. Here is hoping the ship holds together.

-Gedaemon

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Dragon Ball Super Ep.108 Awesome Gohan Freeza Fight That Totally Won't Disappoint You

Gohan episode! Oh boy, I get to watch Gohan beat up Freeza! I can’t wait. Surely I will not be disappointed!

Goku and Ribrianne are still going at it, love versus fighting spirit and all that. Goku defends while she releases attacks like “pretty cannon” and “pretty love machine gun”.

And as the fighting continues Freeza-- whose name is spelled with an “I” in the subtitles for some reason--looks on with an arrogant smirk.

Gohan is also fighting. He’s making his way through several enemies including the Jimeze: the Yardrat of Universe Two. They square up and the Yardrat uses instant transmission to attack Gohan’s blind spots. Gohan impresses Jimeze. He offers to teach him if they somehow both survive, but plans to finish him off when Freeza steps in.

Freeza mocks Gohan for struggling against a warrior of Jimeze’s level. But rather than helping he just stands there. Beerus and the others quickly surmise that Freeza isn’t really on their side.

Freeza backs off to let Jimeze and Gohan finish their fight. They start again and the Yardrat still seems to have the advantage, until Freeza interrupts from behind. Unlike Gohan, Freeza has no trouble reading Jimeze’s instant transmission, and beats him to a pulp in his usual sadistic manner.

Gohan is quite pissed off after this display of sadism but Freeza dismisses his concern. At that moment Frost steps in. Frost announces that he is working with Freeza. The cat out of the bag Freeza confirms it and the two team up. It appears that Freeza is only interested in the grand prize and has no intention of helping his own universe.

Gohan is drained from the last fight, so Freeza intends to take him alone. After a beating Gohan finally uses his ultimate form and fights back. Freeza responds by going Golden. 

A kick puts Gohan down and Frost walks over to compliment his friend. In return Freeza shows him how to buff up. Freeza tells him it drains energy quickly so it’s best to use a quick overwhelming attack in that form. He demonstrates its use by blasting Frost out of the ring.

Gohan stands up. He could tell Freeza was not attacking seriously and decided to play along.

Frost is infuriated and attempts to attack Freeza from outside the ring. As a result he is promptly erased from existence by Zen-oh, and discount Freeza is no more.

Why, after so many years is Funimation still using outdated Romanizations? Seriously, DBZA mocked this years ago. Are we afraid that if we change a vowel long time English speaking fans will be thrown into confusion?

Other than that this episode felt like a bait and switch. I expected Gohan taking on and possibly beating Freeza and Frost at the same time. But it was all a bluff and Freeza got all the glory. I guess it’s my fault for putting too much faith in the preview, but damn it, Freeza vs Gohan would have been cool even if it didn’t make a lick of sense for Freeza to betray them at this point.

The animation was good, and while I am very disappointed with how they treated Gohan it was not a bad episode, I just wanted a lot more than was delivered.

The preview implies Goku is going to use the Spirit bomb against Jiren. I’m not expecting it to work but maybe it will still look cool. 

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Dragon Ball Super Ep. 107 :Discount Freeza Bullies An Old Man

I just want to remind everyone, last tournament Frost was stronger than Piccolo. He is now facing Roshi. I know power levels are nonsense by this point, but there are limits.

The episode starts with a flash back. Frost is trying to convince Champa to pardon his crimes. At first the god refuses but Frost when Frost says he will personally disrupt universe 7 Champa seems interested.

We then get a summery from the grand priest of how many fighters are left:

Universe Two has six fighters

Universe Three has seven fighters

Universe Four has four fighters, only two of which have been seen.

Universe Six and Seven have eight fighters

Universe Eleven has three fighters left.

At the order of Ea: the Kaioshin of Universe Three, Maji Kayo from Universe three tries to analyze Toppo but his surprise attack is repelled Dyspo. It seems he is defeated but Kayo surprises Dyspo with his liquid-like body. He can instantly regenerate and change from.

Jiren steps up to deal with the warrior, who makes a huge fist to smash him. Kayo is of course, instantly knocked out with a single blow. Jiren’s fist didn’t even have to make contact. Even Goku is left speechless.

Roshi meanwhile is chilling out, when Frost ambushes him from behind. Goku goes to help but Ribrianne intercepts him.

Frost takes him time to sadistically torture Roshi, which will probably prove a mistake. Roshi manages to buff up and attacks. He actually forces Frost on the defensive for a bit but is knocked down.

But this creates an opening. Roshi activates the mafuba with incredible strain, but after an impressive scene the attack fails.

Frost is terrified of the attack but as he trembles he sees Vegeta in the corner of his eye and smirks. He goes back to torturing Roshi and actually provokes Vegeta with a stray ki blast at the same time. It seems Frost thinks he can use the mafuba on Vegeta

Frost goes back to torturing Roshi, and he is punched in the face by Vegata.  Frost warns Vegeta that he isnt like before. Vegeta counters that it doesn’t matter how strong he has gotten, he is still no match for him. But Frost doesn’t mean he has gotten stronger, his body has gotten weaker from being on the run. Instead he has been thinking about how to beat Vegeta who exposed him as a cheater.

Frost avoids Vegeta’s next attack and Megetta intervenes. Frost has plugged Megetta’s ears so insults will not work like before.  Frost and Megetta tag team Vegeta. Megetta taking his attacks and Frost counter attacking.

Roshi watches on, seeing Vegeta in a pinch he intervenes and unleashes the mafuba, but Frost has been waiting ! he intercepts that tack and redirects it at Vegeta, trapping him in a bottle!

Frost attacks Roshi who barely manages to counter attack with “missed” ki blast. Frost takes the time to taunt him, which is a bad idea because the ki blast Roshi fired changes direction and cracks open the bottle.

Enter Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta. Bowing off Megetta’s ear protection he insults the metal man, taking him down. Frost creates a smoke screen and retreats.

Roshi apologies to Vegeta, but Vegeta just tells him to retire and eat a senzu bean before he dies. Roshi takes the advice and falls off by his own accord.

I really liked this episode. It was very well directed and action packed. It didn’t jump around too much during the fighting. This makes it easier to follow. While its kind of silly that Vegeta didn’t just jump to Super Saiyan Blue, the in universe explanation at least gives it a little credibility. Not much though.

I love Roshi fighting against stronger guys and winning but Frost would have been to much, unless they really had him throw his life away to do it. That would have been even better than what we got. Instead Roshi is allowed to retire on his own accord and Universe Six and Seven are still even.

I’ve said before death has no meaning in Dragon Ball but it can make situations more tense and dramatic. This would have been a good time to do it.

I should also mention that Frost lost because he took the time to torture and mock Roshi. This is hardly out of character for him, but the villain’s arrogance trope can be rather boring and this just seemed so cliché

Next week it looks like the plot between Frost and Freeza will be uncovered a Gohan will be taking them both on. A tall order given that Freeza is even with his dad, but then again Gohan was only beaten with SSB kaioken, which Goku didn’t use in the fight with Freeza.

I’m a bit of a Gohan fanboy so I’m looking forward to it.

-Gedaemon

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Ocarina vs Link to the Past Reconsidered: My Response to a Two Year Old Youtube Video

I recently rewatched Egorapter’s (Arin Hanson) Sequelitis episode on A Link to the Past Vs. Ocarina of time. For those of you not familiar with it he makes some pretty good arguments about the flaws in OOT and why LTTP is superior. He has a good eye for design elements. That said he is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Arin’s argument centers around game play and exploration elements, present in LTTP but downgraded in Ocarina. He argues that cinematics were used as a substitute for compelling game mechanics and that waiting and time consuming tasks were used as a substitute for exploration and difficulty. In the original Zelda you’re given an open world to explore with little to no hand holding. Link to the Past cut down on free exploration but still had a seamless interface between combat and exploration. Once we get to OOT the exploration had been downgraded and a divide had developed between combat and exploration. 

I recently praised the original Legend of Zelda's exploration and difficulty, so I am somewhat open to Arin’s arguments. Many of them hold water. Free exploration in OOT is minimal compared to LOZ. Hyrule field is amazing the first time you enter it, but eventually you realize there isn’t much there. It’s a hub for other parts of the game. Neither the camera nor the combat is as well developed as in later titles, though both are very good for late 90’s 3D graphics. The game has not aged poorly, but compared to LOZ and LTTP it has not aged well. Later re-releases of LTTP and LOZ had only minor touch-ups compared to the graphic overhaul of OOT for the 3DS. 

If a good video game is just a collection of good mechanics and level design than Link to the Past is probably better than Ocarina of Time. But a good video game is more than mechanics and visual design. It’s how the game engages you that define the experience. LOZ was a lot of fun but had very little immersion. LTTP had much more complex puzzle and level design but failed to engage me on an emotional level with the exception of a few well done scenes and stages. OOT on the other hand drew me in with its 3D graphics and well done story elements. Ganon wasn’t just some pig-man I had to beat, he was a devious sorcerer who destroyed Hyrule and had plagued me since childhood. Zelda was a wise woman who guided me through the destruction of Hyrule. I had real empathy for the characters and their world. LTTP tried to do this, but with mixed results. The early game is very compelling, some of the NPC’s say very cryptic lines that really get to you, but overall the story is delivered as pure exposition at the end of dungeons and fails to trigger any sort of emotional response. 

LTTP is a title I have a lot of mixed feeling about. It’s a great game, at least 9/10 but I really didn’t grow up with it.. The puzzles and level design are all improved from the original, but at the same time it has faults. The dungeons kind of blur together, and while it has a great story to tell, it doesn’t tell the story very well. LTTP is a longer game than LOZ and without the immersion element it can get old fast. It often seems like LOZ did exploration better and OOT did story telling better, leaving LTTP with only good level design.

Arin levels several complaints about the transition to the 3D environments. Bats are no longer on level with the player and are a pain to kill. Enemies and objects come at you from outside the camera view  and the camera forces a separation between combat and the environment. While these critiques are partially true they are not compelling. The transition to 3D by necessity means perceiving the world in a new way.  Just like in real life, in a 3D game you have to mentally map out your surroundings through a mix of looking around and guesswork. It doesn’t always work as well as the top down model, but it adds a degree of immersion to the environment that the top down perspective doesn’t offer. There are advantages to the 3D design. Just as LTTP used its limited up down axis to introduce more advanced maps and environmental puzzles, OOT uses its fully 3D environment to take environmental puzzles to a much greater level. Even simple block puzzles require a greater degree of thought and awareness. OOT draws the player into the game in a way that LTTP could not. 

 The combat system of OOT is a weak point as Aron suggests. It is far weaker than later 3D entries in the series. It’s not bad by any means, but it is repetitive and the game constantly holds your hand through battles. Combat in LTTP is also repetitive but the saving grace is that it does not hold your hand. LTTP also had some of the best boss fights of any Zelda game. But other than the boss fights I did not find most of LTTP’s combat enjoyable.

The reason I entertained the idea that LTTP might be better is because of how the games have aged. After playing OOT for decades and watching graphics advance, the game no longer has the same impact it did when I was in grade school. Back then OOT blew my mind. The first fight with Queen Gohma seemed hard, and even a little scary with how dark the room was. The graphics were the best I had ever seen, and the game had some of the best combat I had ever seen. Today I can look back and say: “Wow, this was really well done”. But it’s no longer mind blowing. By contrast I never appreciated LTTP as a kid, but as an adult I see its charms and its excellent design which has aged so well. However I never saw it as equal to OOT, and never considered the question until others suggested it. 

For many gamers in our 30’s Link to the Past and Ocarina of time helped define our childhoods, so it can be hard to approach them objectively. In the last few months I’ve really immersed myself in Zelda so I thought I would give it a try. Immersion is one of the main reasons I play video games, so for me a game that does not offer that will always be missing something. OOT was a masterpiece of immersion so it was hard for me to see any faults in it. In that sense I thank Arin for making that video. I’ve said before I’ve never played a perfect game, and both OOT and LTTP have their faults. While I strongly argue that OOT was superior, that in part comes from what I look for in a video game. I can understand that not everyone looks for the same thing and I can see why some would prefer LTTP. They’re wrong of course, but it’s also personal preference. To me OOT does something that LTTP tries to do but fails: it draws you into its world in a way few games before or sense of done. That’s why to me OOT is the Zelda game that originally captured my heart.

-Gedaemon 

Dragon Ball Super Ep.106: Piccolo Loses Alot of Arms

War never changes; Ki blasts and Namekian arms everywhere.

It makes sense that not all the fighters in this tournament are going to use brute force, or even fancy martial arts techniques. Snipers are famous for their ability to pin down superior forces with stealth and deadly shots. Can this be adapted to Dragon Ball; a series all about one on one fights?

After taking out three opponents last week master Roshi is taking a rest, meanwhile Gohan and Piccolo are dealing with a…wart hog?  Doctor Rota apparently thinks he is a match for Gohan and Piccolo, but before he can announce his special power—like an idiot—a ki blast takes him out.

Gohan and Piccolo take shelter from the incoming blasts. They don’t know where the blasts are coming from and are pinned down. But there attempts at moving silently are foiled by several mirror like balls that track them and reflect the blasts at them. The beam is strong enough to blow off Piccolo’s arm. Regrowing it, the pair come up with another plan. Piccolo provides a target while Gohan tracks down the source. They then create a smoke screen and use that for cover. By luck they stumble on one of the orbs and realize it finds them using body heat. He then gets both his arms blown off.

The constant regeneration is taking a toll on Piccolo but he realizes by creating heat sources he can fool the sniper. In response the sniper fires multiple beams simultaneously; maintaining the advantage.

Meanwhile Tenshinhan, Goku and Vegeta discover there is actually a pair of snipers; one who shoots and another who reflects the beams at the target. Tenshinhan goes to help Piccolo and Gohan while Goku and Vegeta goes to take out the Plum; reflector. Vegeta seems to consider sniping tactics shameful and blasts him, but the shot is reflected back. Realizing they should have gone after the sniper first, Goku and Vegeta split up. The sniper; Hermila tries to prevent this with some more reflection tactics.

With the attention off Gohan, Tenshinhan and Piccolo, Tenshinhan takes action. He uses the multiform technique to go after the sniper. The clones fall to ki blast one by one, but Tenshinhan keeps going. At the same time Vegeta and Goku attack the reflector by throwing rocks. With the sniper pair’s group tactics restricted Tenshinhan goes on the offensive.  One shinkikoho later and the sniper is on his knees. His shoulder was damaged in the attack but as he feigns defeat he blows up the ground beneath of them. Tenshinhan seems to have seen through the tactic however. He has already deployed clones that drag Hermila off the edge, taking both of them out.

Without his partner the reflector: Prum is useless. He is attacked by Dr. Rota. Right before the good doctor can reveal his power Vegeta gets fed up and blows them both out of the ring.

This idea of this episode was pretty good: a fighter who uses unconventional tactics to take down head on fighters. It kind of delivers, but I was left wanting. Prum had a horrible character design, and was a one trick pony. I don’t know anything about Hermila other than he ran around shooting. You would think someone who used tactics like those would be a thinker first and a fighter second, but I never got that feeling from him. If anything I got the feeling of a guy who thinks he is smarter and stronger than he actually is.

Bad villain’s give bad pay off when they are defeated. So investing a whole episode to hunting down a sniper can only pay off if you make that sniper interesting. This is not easy in a one off episode but it can be done, if you’re not lazy about making him. This time Dragon Ball Super did not deliver.

I won’t say this episode was bad. It was… disappointing. Next week’s villain is one that is actually clever. Frost will be back and perhaps facing Roshi’s mafuba. That I do have some hope for.

-Gedaemon