Secret Level
Dec. 21st, 2024 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI really enjoyed this and I hope it gets a second season. The animation was solid to excellent across the board. I enjoyed the different styles. I for the most part liked the stories and characters and several of them I wanted even more.
1 Dungeons & Dragons was a favourite. I really wanted more of this story. It felt more like a preview then it's own self contained thing. The animation was amazing. The backgrounds, the characters, the magic - it all looked so good. I loved the entrence to the cave - beautiful. I loved that the group was made up of 3 women and 1 man. History had me thinking it was the other way so it was just a really nice and welcome reversal of expectations. Mora's compassion was great. I liked Solon worried about Oriel. It was very upsetting when Tiamat killed Oriel from the inside and took over his body even if it did look amazing.
2 Sifu was ok. I really liked the Main Character's scene with Li at the end and the question about what revenge is worth. Was it worth it to spend his lifespan in such a short time in order to get revenge, verses Li spending her lifetime perfecting a recipe. I liked her realisation and compassion.
3 New World was really fun and I liked it a lot. The humour was great. Aelstrom slowly, very very slowly, realising that the true treasure was Scaevola and using his crown to make him an arm was super lovely. I loved his journey of selfishness to being maybe a decent person. I'm curious about why Scaevola was so loyal to Aelstrom but his patience and belife in him was amazing. I was so happy that he got not only a King who respected his skill but the friendship of the man he considered his friend/king. Scaevola should have only good things. King Zimah was a delight. I liked his mental sigh every time Aelstrom showed up. He was so done with him from the very start and it was a great. The chest of crowns made me laugh. I loved his ubber competence too.
4 Unreal Tournament was fun. I enjoy a good robot sapience to rebellion arc. One learning and using the tournament 'games' to win the audience was a good take on Roman Colosseum games. The action was great.
5 Warhammer 40,000 I liked a lot. Heard of the game but honestly know nothing about it. I like the whole medieval in sci-fi vibe it has going on. It looked beautiful. I was honestly intrigued enough by the story and worldbuilding that it made me want to look up the game.
6 PAC-MAN was deeply weird and an unexpected direction. IDK, maybe this is what this game is about. Not really sure how I feel about it tbh. Not bad, just a strange direction.
7 Crossfire I liked a lot. I like the murkiness of good and bad, that there wasn't a designated bad group vs good group. I like that we followed both. I liked how skilled both were. I liked how Frank dying in the bridge diversion led to Cross killing Mason which led to Fitz attacking Mason. The cause and effect in action. Good action scenes. I liked the storm as backdrop atmosphere.
8 Armored Core was fine. Always nice to see Keanu and I was definitely intrigued by the relationship with the Voice haunting him. It was intriguing. I wanted to know more about what she really was. Her final line "nobody's like us" was very ominous. Him squishing the other pilot shocked me.
9 The Outer Worlds was rather fun until it was just sad. The sense of humour worked for me. The comedy of terrible things happening around him as he happily goes through life was amusing. The world itself was so terrible, definitely would not like to live there. While the end was sad/depressing in a way Felicity manipulating Amos and fooling him into believing in her again/choosing to trust her was actually a good ending for him. He was so depressed and lost and broken, and when he accepted loving her again he got back his sunny attitude and his peace at his life. It's all based on a lie, and is depressing as hell, but for his sake I'm glad for him. Also Felicity is terrible and her manipulation of him was really well done, good for her.
10 Mega Man was nice. Short but as long as it needed to be. Rock was sweet. It was a nice little origin story.
11 Exodus: Odyssey was one of my favourites. Another with really great animation. But I also really loved the story. Nik's love for his daughter and his unwillingness to give up hope of finding her, Mari choosing the life of adventure she always wanted, Nik eventually finding Mari and being able to help her enough to get a little time in the end with her before her death was all wonderful. I wish we'd had a little more of Mari. I wonder if Mari realised when she left that she wouldn't see her father again? She was young so I can see her thinking she'd come back one day. I wonder when she realised she wouldn't? I felt so bad for Nik when he found the note. There is this deep bittersweetness of how space travel means losing connections because of time. I liked the little we saw of Nik's friendship with Thadie Voss. For all that Mari and Rafe only knew each other for days before she left with him theirs was a relationship that stood the test of time. Through good and a lot of ill they spent 53 years together and seemed to still have a strong bond till the end and I'm glad for both of them. It was great to see a 71 year old woman in an action role at the end. I liked Nik choosing to continue Mari's adventure at the end. A part of me kind of wishes Kara had joined him at the end or he'd had some company, maybe another girl who wanted to leave the world for adventure.
Melayu was beautiful and that's my choice of where to live, also I want a giant cat of my own.
12 Spelunky was really cute. I really love the concept. Her entering a cave, facing a new adventure each time before inevitably dying and finding herself alive back outside the cave is just fun and there are was so many possibilities. It's just an idea that could be easy to fuse with another canon, and I wouldn't mind seeing that. I liked that it both wrestled with how dying over and over will mentally affect people, and us getting to see that with Ana as she keeps going in and getting more worn down with each death, but also the spin Liz gives Ana by pointing out all the beauty and adventure and joy she gets with each adventure. I am curious about why Liz and Ana are there, what exactly they are going in there to get, if Liz is still going in and if not is it simply because she already got her run?
13 Concord: Tale of the Implacable was ok. I liked the style. I loved the opening about the dangers of space. I liked the use of colour. The heist rescue opening was fun though I'm really surprised that they didn't consider the line would be cute. That seemed an obvious weakness. Rade was my favourite, he was a sweetie. Sladie the axolotl alien was cute. I liked how it ended.
14 Honor of King was one of my favourites. Absolutely beautiful looking, the animation was great. I loved the Weiqi showdown between Yi Xing and Tiangong. I liked that their game affected the city itself. Does that mean that the city 'failing' was because people keep challenging Tiangong and causing the damage? I loved so much that Yi Xing's parents were absolutely equal. I was expecting her to hold her son and be protected but then her husband tossed a sword to her and they worked as a unit to kill the demons and it was so fucking delightful. A+ for that. The pass of Xing between them was excellent. I loved their silent communication. I also liked the reveal of them sacrificing themselves to protect him and the city. So Yi Xing beat Tiangong and took his power - and looked great with it - but the statue was of him. Did the statue change after he won? Or if that was always of him is there some sort of time loop happening? I am definitely missing what happened at the end. It was very cool looking, very dramatic looking. But Tiangong at the end was it just that the episode was him seeing what was going to happen in the future?
15 Playtime: Fulfillment was okay. I liked O. The Conduit was adorable. I loved it. Nice colouring. The terms of service for the Buddie with unseen clauses was amusing. Not really sure the point of the story or what was happening.
1 Dungeons & Dragons was a favourite. I really wanted more of this story. It felt more like a preview then it's own self contained thing. The animation was amazing. The backgrounds, the characters, the magic - it all looked so good. I loved the entrence to the cave - beautiful. I loved that the group was made up of 3 women and 1 man. History had me thinking it was the other way so it was just a really nice and welcome reversal of expectations. Mora's compassion was great. I liked Solon worried about Oriel. It was very upsetting when Tiamat killed Oriel from the inside and took over his body even if it did look amazing.
2 Sifu was ok. I really liked the Main Character's scene with Li at the end and the question about what revenge is worth. Was it worth it to spend his lifespan in such a short time in order to get revenge, verses Li spending her lifetime perfecting a recipe. I liked her realisation and compassion.
3 New World was really fun and I liked it a lot. The humour was great. Aelstrom slowly, very very slowly, realising that the true treasure was Scaevola and using his crown to make him an arm was super lovely. I loved his journey of selfishness to being maybe a decent person. I'm curious about why Scaevola was so loyal to Aelstrom but his patience and belife in him was amazing. I was so happy that he got not only a King who respected his skill but the friendship of the man he considered his friend/king. Scaevola should have only good things. King Zimah was a delight. I liked his mental sigh every time Aelstrom showed up. He was so done with him from the very start and it was a great. The chest of crowns made me laugh. I loved his ubber competence too.
4 Unreal Tournament was fun. I enjoy a good robot sapience to rebellion arc. One learning and using the tournament 'games' to win the audience was a good take on Roman Colosseum games. The action was great.
5 Warhammer 40,000 I liked a lot. Heard of the game but honestly know nothing about it. I like the whole medieval in sci-fi vibe it has going on. It looked beautiful. I was honestly intrigued enough by the story and worldbuilding that it made me want to look up the game.
6 PAC-MAN was deeply weird and an unexpected direction. IDK, maybe this is what this game is about. Not really sure how I feel about it tbh. Not bad, just a strange direction.
7 Crossfire I liked a lot. I like the murkiness of good and bad, that there wasn't a designated bad group vs good group. I like that we followed both. I liked how skilled both were. I liked how Frank dying in the bridge diversion led to Cross killing Mason which led to Fitz attacking Mason. The cause and effect in action. Good action scenes. I liked the storm as backdrop atmosphere.
8 Armored Core was fine. Always nice to see Keanu and I was definitely intrigued by the relationship with the Voice haunting him. It was intriguing. I wanted to know more about what she really was. Her final line "nobody's like us" was very ominous. Him squishing the other pilot shocked me.
9 The Outer Worlds was rather fun until it was just sad. The sense of humour worked for me. The comedy of terrible things happening around him as he happily goes through life was amusing. The world itself was so terrible, definitely would not like to live there. While the end was sad/depressing in a way Felicity manipulating Amos and fooling him into believing in her again/choosing to trust her was actually a good ending for him. He was so depressed and lost and broken, and when he accepted loving her again he got back his sunny attitude and his peace at his life. It's all based on a lie, and is depressing as hell, but for his sake I'm glad for him. Also Felicity is terrible and her manipulation of him was really well done, good for her.
10 Mega Man was nice. Short but as long as it needed to be. Rock was sweet. It was a nice little origin story.
11 Exodus: Odyssey was one of my favourites. Another with really great animation. But I also really loved the story. Nik's love for his daughter and his unwillingness to give up hope of finding her, Mari choosing the life of adventure she always wanted, Nik eventually finding Mari and being able to help her enough to get a little time in the end with her before her death was all wonderful. I wish we'd had a little more of Mari. I wonder if Mari realised when she left that she wouldn't see her father again? She was young so I can see her thinking she'd come back one day. I wonder when she realised she wouldn't? I felt so bad for Nik when he found the note. There is this deep bittersweetness of how space travel means losing connections because of time. I liked the little we saw of Nik's friendship with Thadie Voss. For all that Mari and Rafe only knew each other for days before she left with him theirs was a relationship that stood the test of time. Through good and a lot of ill they spent 53 years together and seemed to still have a strong bond till the end and I'm glad for both of them. It was great to see a 71 year old woman in an action role at the end. I liked Nik choosing to continue Mari's adventure at the end. A part of me kind of wishes Kara had joined him at the end or he'd had some company, maybe another girl who wanted to leave the world for adventure.
Melayu was beautiful and that's my choice of where to live, also I want a giant cat of my own.
12 Spelunky was really cute. I really love the concept. Her entering a cave, facing a new adventure each time before inevitably dying and finding herself alive back outside the cave is just fun and there are was so many possibilities. It's just an idea that could be easy to fuse with another canon, and I wouldn't mind seeing that. I liked that it both wrestled with how dying over and over will mentally affect people, and us getting to see that with Ana as she keeps going in and getting more worn down with each death, but also the spin Liz gives Ana by pointing out all the beauty and adventure and joy she gets with each adventure. I am curious about why Liz and Ana are there, what exactly they are going in there to get, if Liz is still going in and if not is it simply because she already got her run?
13 Concord: Tale of the Implacable was ok. I liked the style. I loved the opening about the dangers of space. I liked the use of colour. The heist rescue opening was fun though I'm really surprised that they didn't consider the line would be cute. That seemed an obvious weakness. Rade was my favourite, he was a sweetie. Sladie the axolotl alien was cute. I liked how it ended.
14 Honor of King was one of my favourites. Absolutely beautiful looking, the animation was great. I loved the Weiqi showdown between Yi Xing and Tiangong. I liked that their game affected the city itself. Does that mean that the city 'failing' was because people keep challenging Tiangong and causing the damage? I loved so much that Yi Xing's parents were absolutely equal. I was expecting her to hold her son and be protected but then her husband tossed a sword to her and they worked as a unit to kill the demons and it was so fucking delightful. A+ for that. The pass of Xing between them was excellent. I loved their silent communication. I also liked the reveal of them sacrificing themselves to protect him and the city. So Yi Xing beat Tiangong and took his power - and looked great with it - but the statue was of him. Did the statue change after he won? Or if that was always of him is there some sort of time loop happening? I am definitely missing what happened at the end. It was very cool looking, very dramatic looking. But Tiangong at the end was it just that the episode was him seeing what was going to happen in the future?
15 Playtime: Fulfillment was okay. I liked O. The Conduit was adorable. I loved it. Nice colouring. The terms of service for the Buddie with unseen clauses was amusing. Not really sure the point of the story or what was happening.
