Virtual Tourist - Secret World Legends 7/30/17

Morning!

Haven't been able to do movie reviews the last few weeks. Just too darn busy! Figured I'd do a few quickies for the ones I have seen recently, then get on with the virtual tourist. :P

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets - 95% gorgeous and quirky, 5% giant plot holes. :(

Dunkirk - decent film but could have been great! Not once did it look like 400,000 people on the beach or thousands of small boats. With CGI anymore, there was no excuse. Time issues as well. And the added noise to the soundtrack? Horrible! No blood either. Like war movies in the 40's. Weird and disappointing. :(

Atomic Blonde - Awesome fight scenes. The plot was contrived, and even hubby left feeling blah about it when it was over. Said it was only worth matinee. :(


Secret World Legends

Since my screenshots of the character screen wouldn't take, I found a different way to take a selfie. Bwahahahaha!

My poor unsuspecting character in the game. :P

Dragon Cabal's leader is the child sitting in the chair. The lady next to him is his mouthpiece. 

Entrance building to get to the portal to Agartha.

The little floating square that looks like a honeycomb is very important. You will find them all over the place, many in hard to spot locations. They give you lore and legends which will help with your personal museum of the bizarre. Since you were given your powers by a bee, this seemed apt. :)

A closeup view of the portal itself.

Behind me, you can see where I just came from. Now I am in Agartha. A different dimension with a giant life tree. 

Guardians of the tree - so steampunk. Love it! The gentleman with them introduces us to the place.

A higher view of the zone. The little lit round objects boost you up to the central tree area or take you to other portals out.

A really neat place, no?

This players jetpack is a movement boost item you can buy. Weird looking! 

Inside the central tree trunk. 

Hope your weekend has been fruitful and fun!

Virtual Tourist - Secret World Legends 7/23/17

July has been catastrophic with regards to getting stuff done. Quarter Ends at work are just brutal. Didn't help we had some major projects due and a hierarchy system conversion all at the same time! Wheee!

Secret World Legends

I remembered to lighten the pics before I uploaded them to the photo albums this time. The game is at times very dark and the details I might see while playing, are not so visible in the screenshots. Doh!

For example, this guy looked normal on last week's pic. But look at him now!

He has some super cool tats! :P

We're still in the newbie intro phase. Here we're about to get a glimpse of the trouble out in the world before I meet with the actual leaders of the Cabal.

The lady from last week has somehow sent my soul/entity into the body of another. This is where I woke up. 

These are the manner of creatures we have to deal with. It's more than just undead.

People from other Cabals. Uniting in the trenches to fight. The Illuminati, the Templars, the Dragons. They are just the top three organizations.

Together we're trying to get out of the subway up to the streets. Lots of weird nastiness all over.

Definitely not in Kansas anymore! 

She is the person I am currently inhabiting in this place. She was dead before I arrived to use her shell.

I leave her as I found her. (Not that I had control in any of it.) What manner of things are making into our realm from rifts like these?

Dragon HQ in Seoul Korea. Gorgeous!

This is the leader of the Cabal. He did not speak. Letting the woman beside him do it for him. 

She explains how the Dragons believe in controlled chaos. 

Fascinating!

One curious thing. My character never talks. She only listens. People tell her all sorts of things. Between the great voice acting and the weird characters, it's always fun to listen to all they have to say. :)

Hope you have had a restful weekend!

Virtual Tourist - Secret World Legends 7/16/17

Morning!

Quarter End has proved as harrying as usual this quarter. Ugh. There are still reports and more to do. One of the ladies came in sick last week, and I am horrified that I might have caught whatever she had. Noooooooooo!

Anyway, more peeks into...

Secret World Legends

Two weeks after the bee flew into my mouth, I have finally learned to control my new found power.

That's when they come for me.

(I should have lightened these up! Argh!) He is a representative of the Dragon. They believe in controlled chaos.

 My first view of the streets of Seoul, Korea.

Nice work!

Following butterflies to get to one of the Dragon's places. Yes, butterflies!

A gentleman who gives me some insight into what I am getting into as well as the other major players out there.

Look at all those tattoos!

More tattoos!  This lady is about to send me on a mental trip. She's also a major tease. :P

Did I mention she's a tease? :P

Hope your coming weeks is more fun than mine! :P

Virtual Tourist - Secret World Legends 7/9/17

Morning everyone!

During the July 4th weekend, Funcom made their supernatural MMO called Secret World Legends a free to play game.

Looked interesting, so we gave it a shot. Been loving it so far! Like that there are a variety mission types - main storyline, investigative, side quests, but the most unusual part that sets the MMO aside is that there are also puzzles within the game. There are even achievements for not being seen/caught during your mission. It makes the MMO act a lot like a regular PC game. Sweet!

Finally remembered to go locate how to take screen pics in the game, so I'm farther along than the beginning on these.

This is part of an underground pyramid hidden inside a normal-seeming cemetery. To the right is a trapped floor. You have to step on only the tiles with the symbol on the wall. (Have not yet figured out how to do pics without the UI. Sorry!)

 

Lovely hieroglyphics!

They've done a nice job on the textures too!

The cobwebs came out nicely! Great for the atmosphere. 

Isn't this corridor just too awesome? They obviously did some research.

Those are some gargantuan doors!

War Machine Robot I had to deactivate and then get info out of. This was a sneak part of the mission as being seen by him before deactivation would mean my death! (He got me the first time, too! Wah!)

Look at the back of the picture. See those giant tentacle things? This is what this war is about. A neat section of the tutorial/game where you are placed inside the body of someone who's died and get to see a glimpse of what the societies are fighting against. Eek! (We don't win. Then you get to wake up.) :P

A better view of one of the tentacles. Yes, they have mouths! Eek! (Just noticed the Orochi building! Those guys are scientists and more involved in containment but are not aligned with any of the three secret societies you get to pick to join.

That's me waking up. Every since the bee with glowing pollen flew into my mouth while I slept, life has gotten very weird. Two weeks of hell. And then they came for me, just as I was finally getting a grip of the energy that seems to course through me.

They have great voice acting on the characters. And one was a giant surprise! Tim Russ! He played Tuvok on Star Trek Voyager! How cool is that?! (Went to IMDB ands starting looking at the lists of voice actors, and they got all sorts of cool people doing the voices for this! Dang!)

Hope you have a fabulous Sunday!

Movie Review - Spider-man: Homecoming

Spider-man: Homecoming

Starring: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, and more.

Directed by: Jon Watts Screenplay by: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, and Erik Sommers Based on the Comic Book by: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Cinematography by: Salvatore Totino Music by: Michael Giacchino

Premise: After getting a new suit and helping out during the Civil War, Peter is dying to help again. Unfortunately, he's not getting any callbacks. But he makes do by going out every night and helping people where he can. But after tangling with a group of robbers using alien technology, he's told to stay out of it. But Peter can't let it go. (Rated  PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Tom Holland does a nice job as Peter Parker. Michael Keaton did a fresh and cold spin on Adrian Toomes to great effect.  (His talk on the way to the prom and his picking up on things was almost creepy!) Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau brought some lovely additional dimensions to the story. Nice work by all parties.
Additional kudos to Jacob Batalon. He was adorable as Peter's friend. He brought a lot to the film as well.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: The special effects department was kept very busy in the movie. They came up with some neat human and alien technology hybrids - vulture's gear is a prime example. Toomes looked creepy in the mask and glowing green eyes. Brrr.

Tony's Spider-man suit was fab! More gadgets and gizmos than James Bond. Wait till you see all the awesome ways Tony has given him to use his web thrower. The suit is just too cool!

The cutter machine at the bank, the shock puncher, and the phase gadgets were excellent. If Toomes had been a little less messed up in the head, he could have helped bring some super amazing advances to the world.

The ferry scene and the Washington Monument scenes were great. The destruction at the bank and the deli were well done, and we even get bus wars! The group looked to have had a lot of fun with the Stark plane as well. There were some terrific bits in that sequence. Tons of neat stuff for out viewing pleasure.

3) Plot/Story - Total Thumbs Up: They started the movie right - with a mutated version of the cartoon theme song! Booyah! It got me right in the mood. :) Then the beginning sequence (shaky cam, but not for long - yay!) where we see Peter picked up and taken to join Tony and the others in Civil War.  Priceless!

With six people credited for the screenplay, I was amazed it came out so good. Toomes motivation wasn't well grounded but wasn't bad enough to be jarring. No way he didn't make a ton of cash from his illegal sales. You'd think he would have saved some. :P

Tons and tons and tons of adorable moments. (Guy in a chair!) The introduction of the Captain America tapes was a genius idea! This is especially so because they take the gag all the way to the end of the credits! (So stay until he shows! :P) I laughed myself silly at the last one. :P The comments from teachers and others in different parts of the movie were also rather humorous and came up when you least expected them.

I was a little puzzled that they decided to make Peter fifteen years old. That seemed a little young. Plus he didn't look fifteen. Seventeen would have been much more believable, and he would have still had all the same problems. :P Spidey is super tough, so his getting knocked out by a small tap at one point seemed a little convenient, but it was a minor nitpick.

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: CGI mixed with real stunt work gave the audience all sorts of fun to enjoy.

5) Music - Total Thumbs Up: Like I mentioned before - Michael Giacchino had me at the groovy version of the original 1967 Spiderman cartoon's theme music. Some snazzy tracks and great action tracks. It added to the enjoyment of the film.

Conclusion: This Spider-man reboot is well worth seeing. All the small and fun moments truly make it a delicious film. Great effects and cool gadgets are 'frosting on the cake'. :)

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price to See Again!)

Greetings!

Posting has been sporadic again. Between conventions and back muscle issues, it's been tough going. :P

Final Fantasy XIV

Canyon area just brushed with a bit of dawn.

Sun is now full up and heating up the zone! Ruins and a cave entrance await.

Remnants of a failed expedition by youngsters who should have known better. :P

Leader of the hot heads. :P

The ones the hot heads tried to steal from. They are also up to no good.

Flattery will get you - everywhere! Heh heh.

A closer look at the ruins.

Valentine decorations in New Gridania.

Adorable. No?

So cute!

Hope you guys have a great day!