L’Chevalier D’Eon

Posted on January 25, 2007 by Ubu Roi

So, having nothing better to do, I decided to click on the offer to watch the first episode of this series (coming out on DVD in R1 on 2/20). I wasn’t expecting much, but it might be interesting, and definately worth ordering the first DVD just for the animation and art. I wish I had some screenshots to show for this one because they seem to have blown the entire art budget on the first episode. It is set in France, during the reign of King Louis the XV, and a number of scenes are set at Versailles. The depection of the hallways and rooms look very authentic and the detailing of the fountain (not to mention the CG water effects) was just stunning. Most of the time, when I say “the art was good,” the reader should probably take it with a grain of salt; I’m still getting adjusted to the digital age of animé, and impress easily. This is definately an exception; when I say the art is impressive, I mean impressive. I don’t see how they could continue it for a 26 episode series, so I expect a quick drop in quality.

The streaming video is of the dub, of course, and the voice actors read their lines fairly well. The narrator is D’Eon as an older man, and that actor has done well, but the one playing the younger (bible-quoting and utterly loyal) D’Eon is trying for a youthful earnestness that sometimes falls a bit flat. Of course, despite their being French, the dub is in English, but the history of the language will be relevant to the first episode, and the translators have striven for a measure of authenticity; for instance, Louis is said as “Lewie” not “Lewis” as a native English-speaker would (or at least the American variant of it).

Plotwise, it appears to fall into the category of “Earnest & Loyal Retainer of King Investigates Evil Consipricy” category, with the usual “Politics and Corruption at High Levels”, “Avenges Family Member”, “Hero is Unwitting Pawn” and “Wheels Within Wheels” sub-variants in play. Heh. I feel like I’m naming plot cards from TORG. Hmmmmm….

D’Eon’s Player: “Oh cool, I got a Personal Stake card — and the Campaign card!”

GM: “Well your sister was killed by this unknown society, shortly after sending you a strange manuscript. Worse, they filled her body with mercury, to keep it from decaying. Because of that, the Holy Church refused to bury her, and her spirit is still wandering the world. You feel it about you from time to time, and she wants vengence.”

D’Eon’s Player: “Okaaaaaay, I play a Contact card. Where can I start the investigation?”

GM: “Well, it seems she was a member of the King’s Secret Police, a band of utterly loyal men (and women) who don’t believe in the Fifth Amendment–or the Fourth, either. They can arrest, use torture, and pretty much do as they wish. So your contact, an old friend, has accepted your application, and you became one of them a year ago.”

D’Eon’s Player: “Oh, cool, I drew another Contact card–I’ll put it in play too.”

GM: “Well, you’ve done a really good job on some minor investigations so far, and have come to the attention of both the King and the Queen, who regard you as competant and loyal. You’re not on speaking terms, but His Majesty has acknowledged your presence once or twice. You might be able to get an audience with the Queen if you found someone to intercede for you.”

Well, anyway, I’ve gotten sidetracked. I’m not going to do the whole episode like that; I’m not Shamus! (Heh, but I loved that game. Of all the RPG’s, I ever played, Torg was the most sheer fun to GM, and I had a couple of whacky roleplayers in Dr.Heinous and The Dread Pirate Pintito. Ah, the time DrHeinous thought it would be funny to ride the Orient Express with fake vampire teeth to scare people….only to discover that one of the baddest vampires in the world was actually on the train with them!)

Er, back to the story. Naturally of course, there’s some form of (classical) alchemy and supernatural elements involved. There are skulls that talk, zombified people, possiblely vampires–and as we see at the end of the episode, Lia D’Eon’s soul really is about…. and she’s in the mood to kick some zombie butt. Based on the first episode, I’d say it’s worth springing for the first DVD, at a minimum.

Posted in Upcoming Releases | Tagged | 4 Comments

What’s With the Site?

Posted on January 24, 2007 by Ubu Roi

This note will stay up for the coming week. It’s just a quick heads up, in case you’re new here or haven’t been around in a while, and wonder what’s up with the new decor.

I lost.

Posted in Administrative, Random Nonsense | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Did I Really Want to Know that?

Posted on January 24, 2007 by Ubu Roi

Well, I dithered too long and missed Robert’s deal on Cardcaptor Sakura, so I ended up over at RightStuff (“Our motto: We ship when we want to!”), picking up theirs. Over $500 in anime for $80; well, the series would have to suck something grandly to make me regret that deal, and by all accounts, it doesn’t. So I’ll have plenty to watch for the next, oh, two months or so? That is, assuming I actually get it from them.

Watch me try to burn through all of it in three days. (Ain’t happening, not with that much material, but still…)

While I was on their site, I noticed the category, “Adult Games.” I’d gotten mildly curious about the subject, since Kanon came along — I’d actualy gone looking for a translated copy of it, and also for a copy of Otome wa Boku. (Purely to confirm Mizuho’s sex, I assure you! Inquiring minds want to know.) I figured that if the genre spawns that much animé, it can’t suck too badly. (Wait, I should reconsider that choice of words…)

I hadn’t checked out RightStuff’s list before, so I started looking at some of the descriptions of the games. It was obvious that their specials were mostly of the really bad stuff. Laughably and obviously so. Then I ran across Tokimeki Check-in, which wasn’t on special. I recognized the cover character from MT-i’s entry in last October’s De-motivational Poster contest over at TJ’s — she’s the entrant for Gentlemanliness, and I remember thinking “That’s…. not going to be an easy decision in the game, given the ‘provocation.’ And that outfit is one helluva provocation!”

Ok, ok, so I ordered it. “Porno for the people!” is the new cry of the revolution, and all that. I will probably have to set up one of the systems to dual boot, since it doesn’t say it will run under Win2k. Ah well. But then I really pushed my luck by looking at another of of the bargain games: Jewel Knights. The text made it look borderline bad, but maybe funny, until I got to this part:

Features a full “auto forwarding mode” mode as well for handsfree play.

Um. Well, there’s nothing like user-friendly features, after all….. Oh, look, and it is compatible with Win2k!

(Wait. I use the mouse left-handed anyway….)

Posted in Commerce | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

This Ugly Yet Beautiful Fanservice?

Posted on January 22, 2007 by Ubu Roi

Steven remarked (20070122.1945):

UPDATE: I don’t know what DVD Ubu Roi watched, but it isn’t the one I’m watching. After three episodes, I definitely see characters being built and groundwork being laid for a real story. It remains to be seen whether it’s a worthwhile story, but it sure isn’t lighthearted hijinks at high school so far.

Well, in my defense I don’t think I said “high school” but he may not be speaking literally anyway. Perhaps I’m being too harsh; the show wasn’t bad, but it was off-putting to me. What didn’t work on DVD 1 was the sudden switch from the intense combat and mystery of ep. 1 to several episodes of harem silliness. Yes, there’s chracter development going on, and quite a few serious moments, some hints being dropped, but the crazy scientist chick is just unbelievable (I can’t even buy it as an act!) and no one even considers calling in the government. “Hey, we’ve got a couple of alien girls here, you think someone should know we just made first contact?” (Words you don’t hear in that show.) And the pacing seems spastic. We have the slow build-up in episode 1 to a raucous fight sequence, and then…. we’re poking along leisurely for the rest of the DVD, with little or no tension. Just a typical week with a couple of hot-bodied teen alien girls hanging out with the guys….

If the best that can be said about the ending is that “it didn’t suck,” I have to question whether it’s worth buying the rest. OTOH, it’s not like it’s 7 DVDs or anything….I’ll have to watch it again before I decide, and I intend to watch the last two episodes of Lain before that. To give credit where credit is due, it’s a good OP song; I liked it instantly when I ran across it on Gendou.com.

Posted in DVD Reviews, Episode Reviews | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Double Disappointing Day

Posted on January 22, 2007 by Ubu Roi

Bad enough the Saints got waxed in Chicago, but the new Dresden Files series on Sci-Fi just sucks. They totally got him wrong, they got Karin Murphy wrong, they got Bob wrong…. it’s just a similarly themed show with none of the charm of the original Dresden novels. The thing about Harry is that hes a tough guy. He really isn’t as tough as he acts; it’s a shell he’s put up because he’s been scarred so much in his life. The real Harry underneath the cynical wiseass is the one that keeps him sane in a crazy world, but the Harry he shows to everyone else is drawn straight from Sam Malone Spade.

The actor playing Harry in this series just can’t pull it off. He’s coming across as an actor trying to play a tough guy who isn’t; in other words, he’s not selling me on himself as the character. He hasn’t got the chops to play Dresden like he should. (Not like there are many Bogarts waiting in line to work for the SF Channel anyway, eh?) Sad thing is, the same is true of the actress playing Karin Murphy. Never mind that she’s not a blonde anymore; she’s too pretty… and soft. Karin always comes across hard as nails and tightly wound — ready to go off at any moment. She has always sort of scared me just a bit. This one makes me want to cuddle. And what’s with Harry inviting the mother and kid over to his place and fixing dinner? OMG, they’ve turned Harry into a metrosexual! No. No. No. A thousand times no, and then some.

They’ve obviously mucked about with the backstory, and have no intention of following any of the novels. I didn’t expect they would, but it’s still disappointing. As I said, it’s going to be a similarly-themed show, not the Dresden Files. Also, we’re going to be told that backstory through being subjected to constant flashbacks. It should be done in bits and pieces, as things become relevant to whatever plot is underway. That’s how the author did it, and it worked, though it did make the first novel a bit hard to take. In the show, the flashbacks after every commercial break really interrrupted the narrative, because they had nothing to do with whatever was going on before the commercials.

Don’t even get me started on Bob having an illusionary body. When he threatened the Skinwalker, I just had to throw my hands up in despair. The hallmark of their relationship is that Bob is hundreds of years old, and to him, Harry’s just another user. Well, he is sorta fond of him, but not to that extent. Bob has absolutely no moral code whatsoever; he answers to whomever posesses his skull. He’s a lech, a bigger smart-ass than Harry, and a discorporate library of magical knowledge–but one thing he is not, is Harry’s guardian angel.

Well, that’s yet another TV show I won’t make time for. Is it any wonder I don’t watch American TV? If it were done as a Japanese animé, they’d have no problem with the idea of doing a completely faithful rendition of the novels. That’s not to say it would be done that way, but there would be a very good chance of it. In Hollywood, there is ZERO chance that a novel will survive translation to the big or small screen. Once the egos of the director and/or producers get hold of it, they have to put their stamp on it; tell their version of the story. Or in this case, a different story entirely.

Edit: And now it may be triple disappointment. Just watched Simoun 23. Less answers, more questions. I think I’ve been strung along. I thought there was a grand narrative underneath it all, a “what’s really going on” type of thing. Although the preview hints at revelations, I am concerned that it’s all just a head fake and the story is about nothing but the girls, with the Simoun and all the weirdness going on just serving as a backdrop.

Posted in Bitching, Series Reviews | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Game On!

Posted on January 21, 2007 by Ubu Roi

Well, I had technical difficulties setting up the laptop so the first series has just completed. Looks like the cloud (huh?) crowd noise is goign to be a bigger factor than the non-existant weather. Snow? What snow? Well, the five minutes of commercials is done, so let’s see how the defense does. I’ll update on the fly…

ARGH. Had him dead to rights for the sack. Still forced a punt. Good coverage.

9:49 in first quarter. Clear that the weather isn’t stopping the Saints passing game, but the turf is a issue.

OUCH. We got lucky on the fumble. I remember high school. “Never try to pick up a fumble, fall on it!” I’m constantly amazed that pros can’t follow that rule. Eyes on the goal, not the ball.

Tip drill! Dangit.

Ok, got the ball back. Lets get rolling.

Grr. Fumble. Clearly, the Bears D is out to prove something.

Hmm. So’s the offense. First and goal. And we’ve gotten past the required bad officiating call against the saints.

Well that should be challenged successfully. He clearly had his hand on top of the ball as well as his arm underneath; the ground cannot cause a fumble. I’m thinking more people need to take their gloves off.

Ok, I was wrong. NOW we have the bad call. Yes it slipped before, but HE STILL HAD CONTROL OF IT. Still, we shouldn’t be allowing it to be possible for a call that bad to occur.

Ok, our D is doing it’s job. Now if the offense will just hang on to the ball. So far, it’s been enough to make me regret that the NFL banned Stickum.

So am I the only person that sees the robotic football player in the Fox graphic and thinks “Space Marine!” from Warhammer 40k?

Hm. The announcers were talking about how the turf favored the receiver over the defense. I don’t know about that, but I think it’s a lot clearer that it favors the defense over the runner. None of the running backs are on their game. Though they do seem to be on their butts a lot.

Woof. Saints D is saving our keisters right now. It could easily be 21-0.

Sigh. And that D has been on the field too long, so the advantage has gone to the running back; the defenders are a half-step too slow. It’s about to be 16-0.

Damn, we need Joe Horne. Colston can’t get it done today. (And as soon as I say that he catches a big one.)

YES! TD! Finally on the board.

Halftime. We’re in striking distance and I’ll be honest: we’re lucky to be there. I don’t think the cold is affecting Drew Brees as much as the announcers are making out, but it’s clearly affecting the team overall.

Ok, second half, and we’ve held them on the first series. Clearly we’re going to live or die by the corners and safeties. Sigh. someone always gets overzealous and blocks in the back.

OH YEAH. THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT BABY~! Bush is just cocky, dayum. If this hadn’t been a playoff game, I think he’d have gotten flagged for taunting.

Gah! My liveblogging is on hold. For some reason the laptop claims it has lost the wireless connection and can’t get it back. Or rather, the browsers are claiming such; the wireless software says it’s doing fine. Rebooting while I’m on my main comp (which is in another room). It’s not the router, computer #3 is six feet from the laptop and working fine. If I get back up, I’ll continue, otherwise, notes at the major breaks only.

Ok, rebooting did the trick. Held them after the punt, but the snow has started, and we’ve got our backs to the end zone.

Sigh. Brees wasn’t outside the hashmarks. Intentional grounding, safety.

Yes, the Saints D has definitely stepped up. 3 and out.

Hm. Chicago has figured out the secret to punting to the Saints. Don’t let Bush touch the ball!

Grrr. The offense isn’t getting the job done either. Chicago’s D is tenacious.

And Grossman’s finally gotten his act together. That’s two good passes and catches. I think the snowing is affecting the Saints more psychologically than physically right now.

Yep, Wait, that’s a TD? Not down by contact? Sigh. Probably is… I don’t think he touched him again until he was back up. Yep, on the replay, the receiver was off his knee before he was touched. Thomas knew it too, you could see it in his eyes: “I f—ed up.”

ARGH. We almost got away with that one. I think they’re saying that Brees was down when the Bear took the ball away. I thought at first he wasn’t but Oguliate (sp?) dropped it before the refs realized he had it. If it hinges on whether Brees was down, I think we’ll win the challenge, based on the way the earlier one went. Well, no luck. Damn.

Ok, I’m not even arguing it, with 11:29 to go, I don’t think it’s going to happen. They’re not that good.

And Brees just threw an interception to boot.

Grrr. I realized that the dark background hid the title, but I can’t for the life of me, edit the right line the right way to make the color change. There is such a thing as making stylesheets too complicated, and I’ve damaged this one enough trying to fix the title.

Eh. Ugly margin of victory too. I really expected the Saints to give a better accounting of themselves.

Posted in Random Nonsense | Tagged | 9 Comments

We Played This?

Posted on January 21, 2007 by Ubu Roi

No, I’m not talking about football. I’m talking about Command & Conquer. You see, a couple of weeks ago, I picked up Dawn of War for some online action against Dr.Heinous. While I was at Fry’s (which would be my home-away-from-home should I ever win the lottery), I saw an item on the shelf: CNC: The First Ten Years. If I hadn’t been there to get something else, I’d have grabbed it on the spot. How much had I been missing those games? I had actually been thinking about setting up one of the computers to dual boot Win98 so I could play it again! I have fond memories of Red Alert in particular, and the kick-ass soundtrack that came with it. IIRC, you could play the original game CD as a music CD also, and to this day, Hellmarch still gives me goosebumps.

I know that last tidbit because in my boredom, I went back last night and picked it up. Cue the music, cue the goosebumps. I remember waiting for the game to come out with same sense of anticipation that I had for Episode V of Star Wars. And like that movie, it delivered. So when I put it in the drive last night, what I felt was… trepidation.

You see, I’d failed to note that the games were on DVD, not CD. All twelve games on one DVD. Well, I’ve mentioned before that my DVD seems a bit…cranky at times. And sure enough, it didn’t want to accept the DVD. I tried twice, and it even managed to partly crash the O/S. (However, it didn’t fubar it totally, unlike some people’s I won’t name. Thanks to hyperlinks, I don’t have to.) So after failing twice, I set it aside and played something else for a bit, while I tried to decide what to do about it. After a couple of hours, I tried to reload it again, and that time it worked. No idea why…. but then this morning it wouldn’t again. Grrr. I’m not going to replace the DVD on speculation, seeing as I’m setting money aside already for a complete system replacement.

Anyway, the point of the post was my reaction to playing CNC:RA again, for the first time in years. The game was everything I remembered… and a few things I had been glad to forget. OMG, but it was bad… The cut screen graphics were blurry and had a low frame rate. The menus were weird; the non-campaign games vs. computer were under multiplayer. The game launched directly into the campaign, not the menu, and it took me several minutes to figure out how to get out of the campaign. In the game, I couldn’t queue build orders, or produce from multiple factories of the same type. All the build orders were dumped into a single scrolling bar. I had to left-click to select a unit, then left-click again to move it, not right click. I couldn’t tell my newly built units to go to a particular place. I couldn’t set waypoints. The AI was horrible. (That’s one thing I did remember; it was bad about going to “sleep” when it couldn’t find resources to mine and not waking back up when they appeared again.) All of these things would make the game be considered amateurish at best today, or written by incompetents or ripoff artists at worst. But the music is as good as I remember, at least.

Amazing how games have progressed, and how certain conventions/features have become standard, isn’t it?

Posted in Gaming | Tagged | 2 Comments