Controversial Opinions

[Orlion Blight]

I would say most, if not all, Netflix original programming is bad. 

I enjoyed Aggretsuko, but that's been made by the same company for years and Netflix only distributes it. Compare that with Castlevania or pick a Marvel show and you are plagued with bad acting, pacing issues and "but it gets good about 80 % of the way through!" defenses. 

Ok, I do remember enjoying season 1 of Stranger Things. Never saw season 2 because, well, I enjoyed season 1.

Also, Black Mirror is shallow, pedantic, juvenile garbage. It has about as much depth as a high school sophomore smoking pot for the first time. 

Edited January 23, 2019 by TheOoklaThatComesBefore

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

10 hours ago, Pagliacci said:

Hilda is good but not boundary pushing. Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it enough to finish the season.

Part of my problem with it might have been the high expectation that rave review set. Whoever saw it obviously loved the series, and so I went in expecting a sweet and gentle series reminiscent of Over the Garden Wall. It's certainly sweet and gentle, but the characterization and worldbuilding aren't particularly deep. It's not a bad series, but it's not the type of show I'd like to curl up with again and again. 

[Toaster Retribution]

The new Battlefront games are awesome. 

 

[Dunkum]

1 hour ago, TheOoklaThatComesBefore said:

I would say most, if not all, Netflix original programming is bad. 

I enjoyed Aggretsuko, but that's been made by the same company for years and Netflix only distributes it. Compare that with Castlevania or pick a Marvel show and you are plagued with bad acting, pacing issues and "but it gets good about 80 % of the way through!" defenses. 

Ok, I do remember enjoying season 1 of Stranger Things. Never saw season 2 because, well, I enjoyed season 1.

Also, Black Mirror is shallow, pedantic, juvenile garbage. It has about as much depth as a high school sophomore smoking pot for the first time. 

i quite liked Jessica Jones (both seasons, but season 1 is better).  It wasn't perfect, but I think it was still Good.  and if we're allowed to grade season by seaon Daredevil Season 1 was pretty good too, and I'd probably include Altered Carbon in the good list as well.  beyond that they are enough of a mix of good and bad that I wouldn't feel confident saying any of them were "good" wihtout caveats.  though i wouldn't necessarily say "bad" either, at least for the ones I have seen.

[Ethan_sedai]

This has probably been done before, but 

Platinum is better than any other version of Pokémon so far.

[Matias]

On 31-03-2019 at 1:07 PM, Ethan_Sedai said:

This has probably been done before, but 

Platinum is better than any other version of Pokémon so far.

I think you misspell Heartgold

[Ethan_sedai]

54 minutes ago, Matias said:

I think you misspell Heartgold

No, I spelled Platinum correctly.

I haven’t played heartgold, but Platinum has the best battle resort area of all time. In Platinum, you get a somewhat impressive villa. In Platinum, you get the Pokétch. In Platinum, you could get quite a few legendaries, but not to the extent that it goes too far, like in Alpha Saphire/Omega Ruby. In Platinum, you get to visit the distortion world. In Platinum, you get to walk around with your starter Pokémon in the park. In Platinum, the legendaries have the most detailed backstories, as they are part of the history of the universe. In Platinum, there is an underground network of tunnels for secret bases across the entire region. In Platinum, you get to interact with the Pokémon that created the universe.... I could go on, but I will state the biggest negatives in Platinum, at least in my mind: they nerfed Cynthia, and the saving time is still somewhat long. 

I haven’t played heartgold, but I will still argue that Platinum is better. 

And I will argue this to my dying Breath. And then I will Return to continue to argue my point. 

Edited April 2, 2019 by Ethan_Sedai

[Dunkum]

40 minutes ago, Ethan_Sedai said:

No, I spelled Platinum correctly.

I haven’t played heartgold, but Platinum has the best battle resort area of all time. In Platinum, you get a somewhat impressive villa. In Platinum, you get the Pokétch. In Platinum, you could get quite a few legendaries, but not to the extent that it goes too far, like in Alpha Saphire/Omega Ruby. In Platinum, you get to visit the distortion world. In Platinum, you get to walk around with your starter Pokémon in the park. In Platinum, the legendaries have the most detailed backstories, as they are part of the history of the universe. In Platinum, there is an underground network of tunnels for secret bases across the entire region. In Platinum, you get to interact with the Pokémon that created the universe.... I could go on, but I will state the biggest negatives in Platinum, at least in my mind: they nerfed Cynthia, and the saving time is still somewhat long. 

I haven’t played heartgold, but I will still argue that Platinum is better. 

And I will argue this to my dying Breath. And then I will Return to continue to argue my point. 

the fact that you can catch and command pokemon that created the iniverse, and the fact that they don't just auto-win battles against all other pokemon, is actually a problem to me.  if you are going to claim that arceus is this nigh-omnipotent godlike being then for the love of god, dont let a human trainer cram him into a tiny ball and order him around like a ratatta.  It smacks of the writers trying to one up each and rather than make him impressive, it makes him pathetic.

[Ethan_sedai]

1 hour ago, Dunkum said:

the fact that you can catch and command pokemon that created the iniverse, and the fact that they don't just auto-win battles against all other pokemon, is actually a problem to me.  if you are going to claim that arceus is this nigh-omnipotent godlike being then for the love of god, dont let a human trainer cram him into a tiny ball and order him around like a ratatta.  It smacks of the writers trying to one up each and rather than make him impressive, it makes him pathetic.

I think it has to do with the lore of the legendaries.

Platinum plot spoilers:

Spoiler

instead of a Pokéball, you need the “red chain,” which is Uxie, Azelf, and Mespirit, in order to command its full power, because a pokeball will limit its power. However, Team Galactic extracted this red chain from Uxie, Azelf, and Mespirit, in order to control Palkia and Dialga’s power to reset the universe. I think Cyrus still had it when Giratina grabbed him and either ate him or pulled him into the distortion world, never to be seen again.

 

also, since you save the universe from Team Galactic, and interacted with Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and Uxie, Azelf, and Mespirit, andhave shown your worth as a trainer, and as a human, Arceus is willing to go with you for a while. Besides, I think Arceus could just unexist the pokeball it’s in and leave if it really wanted to. 

I do agree that it does kind of show that the writers were trying to outdo each other, and that Arceus wasn’t as strong as it should have been, but I think the story was incredible, and that it was more about just being able to catch the Pokémon that created the universe, and less about being able to create the universe. 

so, yes, there are some problems, but those aren’t really main features. (And, as far as I know, you can’t get Arceus at all anymore, because they disabled internet features in 2014, which still makes me mad.)

 

Edit: also, what if it’s not coming with you, you’re going with it? I mean, it created the universe, is it such a stretch that it could create  a human that would catch it and journey with it? 

(Just a product of my tired mind, I think)

Edited April 3, 2019 by Ethan_Sedai

[Dunkum]

50 minutes ago, Ethan_Sedai said:

I think it has to do with the lore of the legendaries.

Platinum plot spoilers:

  Hide contents

instead of a Pokéball, you need the “red chain,” which is Uxie, Azelf, and Mespirit, in order to command its full power, because a pokeball will limit its power. However, Team Galactic extracted this red chain from Uxie, Azelf, and Mespirit, in order to control Palkia and Dialga’s power to reset the universe. I think Cyrus still had it when Giratina grabbed him and either ate him or pulled him into the distortion world, never to be seen again.

 

also, since you save the universe from Team Galactic, and interacted with Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and Uxie, Azelf, and Mespirit, andhave shown your worth as a trainer, and as a human, Arceus is willing to go with you for a while. Besides, I think Arceus could just unexist the pokeball it’s in and leave if it really wanted to. 

I do agree that it does kind of show that the writers were trying to outdo each other, and that Arceus wasn’t as strong as it should have been, but I think the story was incredible, and that it was more about just being able to catch the Pokémon that created the universe, and less about being able to create the universe. 

so, yes, there are some problems, but those aren’t really main features. (And, as far as I know, you can’t get Arceus at all anymore, because they disabled internet features in 2014, which still makes me mad.)

 

Edit: also, what if it’s not coming with you, you’re going with it? I mean, it created the universe, is it such a stretch that it could create  a human that would catch it and journey with it? 

(Just a product of my tired mind, I think)

i don't recall most of that from my playthrough of plaitnum years ago.  ultimately like I said I have a problem with the supposedly godlike legendaries that start popping up in Ruby/Sapphire.  I prefer the hidden away legendaries of the gen 1 games, where they are actually spoken of as myths and legends by NPCs when they are mentioned at all.  I guess i think it feels more special, and more appropriate to the legendary status, to maneuver your way through seafoam islands, delving deeper and deeper, instead of just leaving, until you are finally standing in front of Articuno as opposed to playing through the game until you inevitably encounter Giratina/Groudon/Zekrom/Xerneas/etc.  And to me Platinum may have been the worst in that regard, since it pulls what 6 legendaries into the plot?

[Ethan_sedai]

26 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

i don't recall most of that from my playthrough of plaitnum years ago.  ultimately like I said I have a problem with the supposedly godlike legendaries that start popping up in Ruby/Sapphire.  I prefer the hidden away legendaries of the gen 1 games, where they are actually spoken of as myths and legends by NPCs when they are mentioned at all.  I guess i think it feels more special, and more appropriate to the legendary status, to maneuver your way through seafoam islands, delving deeper and deeper, instead of just leaving, until you are finally standing in front of Articuno as opposed to playing through the game until you inevitably encounter Giratina/Groudon/Zekrom/Xerneas/etc.  And to me Platinum may have been the worst in that regard, since it pulls what 6 legendaries into the plot?

Ok, you have a point there, but I feel like there are some exceptions in Platinum, such as Uxie jumping around on the map, and needing to track it with the Pokétch, wandering through the distortion world until you find Giratina, (I’ll admit, that took me a very long time, because I thought I needed waterfall, but I couldn’t get waterfall until I’d gone through the distortion world... until I realized that I could just surf sideways since gravity doesn’t matter in the distortion world.) or wandering through turnback cave to get Giratina.

Say, what’s the plot about when it isn’t about the bad guy Team attempting to use the legendary Pokémon for their own ends? I actually have no clue, I should probably play some earlier versions of Pokémon.

[Dunkum]

18 hours ago, Ethan_Sedai said:

Ok, you have a point there, but I feel like there are some exceptions in Platinum, such as Uxie jumping around on the map, and needing to track it with the Pokétch, wandering through the distortion world until you find Giratina, (I’ll admit, that took me a very long time, because I thought I needed waterfall, but I couldn’t get waterfall until I’d gone through the distortion world... until I realized that I could just surf sideways since gravity doesn’t matter in the distortion world.) or wandering through turnback cave to get Giratina.

Say, what’s the plot about when it isn’t about the bad guy Team attempting to use the legendary Pokémon for their own ends? I actually have no clue, I should probably play some earlier versions of Pokémon.

there isn't as much of one in the older Gens.  In Gen 1, at least as I always saw it, the plot is that you want to go wander aorund the world catching/training pokemon and Team Rocket keeps getting in the way of that, so you trounce them a few times in the process.  Gen 2 it is a little bit more well defined, but even then, Team rocket isn't really your main antagonists, they are just an obstacle that keeps gtting in your way.  I think I prefer it that way too.  my, admittedly foggy, recollection of the more plot hevay later entries was that the plot really didn't add all that much to them.

To be honest, I think Pokemon is well set up for a more open-world, plot-light type adventure where your explicit goal is to become champion, by beating the 8 gym leaders (the specific 8 or just any 8 out of however many they feel like including, could be interesting either way) and then the elite 4, but they don't force you to do it in any specific order.

[Ethan_sedai]

On 4/3/2019 at 3:29 PM, Dunkum said:

there isn't as much of one in the older Gens.  In Gen 1, at least as I always saw it, the plot is that you want to go wander aorund the world catching/training pokemon and Team Rocket keeps getting in the way of that, so you trounce them a few times in the process.  Gen 2 it is a little bit more well defined, but even then, Team rocket isn't really your main antagonists, they are just an obstacle that keeps gtting in your way.  I think I prefer it that way too.  my, admittedly foggy, recollection of the more plot hevay later entries was that the plot really didn't add all that much to them.

To be honest, I think Pokemon is well set up for a more open-world, plot-light type adventure where your explicit goal is to become champion, by beating the 8 gym leaders (the specific 8 or just any 8 out of however many they feel like including, could be interesting either way) and then the elite 4, but they don't force you to do it in any specific order.

I think that sounds nice, actually, rather than there being something that stops you if you want to go to a new area, but haven’t defeated a gym leader or something. After a while, it gets really annoying. Although, it’s more a matter of personal preference than anything.

[Orlion Blight]

The whole "sci-fi vs literary" arguments that crop up all the time are really dumb. It essentially boils down to hack sci-fi writers trying to artificially raise their work to a higher artistic sphere while the literary writers are trying to distance themselves from pulp genre works. All this occurs while both sides refuse to recognize what sci-fi and literary works are, what those terms mean in a genre sense and how they are both in such different markets that they aren't really competing with each other anyway. 

Just a waste of time. 

[Jaywalk]

28 minutes ago, TheOrlionThatComesBefore said:

The whole "sci-fi vs literary" arguments that crop up all the time are really dumb. It essentially boils down to hack sci-fi writers trying to artificially raise their work to a higher artistic sphere while the literary writers are trying to distance themselves from pulp genre works. All this occurs while both sides refuse to recognize what sci-fi and literary works are, what those terms mean in a genre sense and how they are both in such different markets that they aren't really competing with each other anyway. 

Just a waste of time. 

I agree.

But is it really that controversial?

[Orlion Blight]

38 minutes ago, Jaywalk said:

I agree.

But is it really that controversial?

Depends. If I added "Brandon is not anywhere close to being literary" and "literary is better than sci-fi", it might be more controversial here, but it isn't what I meant and kinda distracts from the point. 

I also imagine that it's a controversial opinion for those who have a knee-jerk reaction to this "ongoing controversy." I don't know how many of those are on this forum, but experience tells me there is a substantial number that will grow and become more vocal as the fanbase ages.

But, for the sake of controversy, how's this for a spicy take: the literary genre produces more good writers of a higher quality than the sci-fi genre.

[Jaywalk]

4 minutes ago, TheOrlionThatComesBefore said:

But, for the sake of controversy, how's this for a spicy take: the literary genre produces more good writers of a higher quality than the sci-fi genre.

I actually agree with this too, though I prefer reading speculative fiction to literary. My preference, however, has no bearing on the quality of either genre.

[Wyndlerunner]

I prefer the Star Wars prequels over the Original Trilogy. Boom. 

*Mic drop*

[Pagliacci]

7 hours ago, Wyndlerunner said:

I prefer the Star Wars prequels over the Original Trilogy. Boom. 

 

It's treason then.

 

I prefer the story of the prequels over the originals but I feel the original trilogy was better made.

[Wyndlerunner]

1 minute ago, Pagliacci said:

It's treason then.

 

I prefer the story of the prequels over the originals but I feel the original trilogy was better made.

Same here. I much prefer the prequels in terms of story, but they're dragged down by several things. I'm always going to prefer the widescale political and religious conflict of the prequels over the standard 'evil empire' story. (also the prequels are dramatically boosted in quality by the presence of The Clone Wars)

[Snipexe]

4 minutes ago, Wyndlerunner said:

Same here. I much prefer the prequels in terms of story, but they're dragged down by several things. I'm always going to prefer the widescale political and religious conflict of the prequels over the standard 'evil empire' story. (also the prequels are dramatically boosted in quality by the presence of The Clone Wars)

The existence of the prequels is justified by The Clone Wars and r/prequelmemes

[Wyndlerunner]

Just now, Snipexe said:

The existence of the prequels is justified by The Clone Wars and r/prequelmemes

Truth!

[Pagliacci]

1 hour ago, Wyndlerunner said:

1 hour ago, Snipexe said:

The existence of the prequels is justified by The Clone Wars and r/prequelmemes

 

The Clone Wars is equal to if not greater than the original trilogy in my eyes.

 

I think I might just put this here....

If I were to make two adjustments to the sequel trilogy it be this: Replace Snoke with Thrawn (ignoring Rebels) and turn Poe into a supporting character. 

Each trilogy of Star Wars to me seems to have three main characters: Luke, Han and Leia; Anakin, Obi-wan and Padme; but it seems to me the sequel trilogy actually has four: Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren and Poe. I'd argue that Kylo Ren is less of a villain in the sense of Vader or Palpatine in that we spend more time seeing things from his point of view. I feel the sequel trilogy was perhaps weakened by having 4 instead of 3 main characters. I'd propose either merge Finn and Poe or relegate Poe to more of a supporting role.

The other drastic change would be to replace Supreme Leader Snoke with Grand Admiral Thrawn. The first reason being I feel it makes more sense that the remnants of the empire would rally behind a well known and established figure as their leader. Also it opens up some thematic opportunities that aren't provided by Snoke. Thrawn is a character who takes the cultures of his enemies and uses it against them, he weaponizes the past, which creates an interesting contrast to Kylo's infatuation with the past in TFA and later desire to be rid of the past in TLJ.

I don't know if this is 'controversial' enough but shrug.

[Jaywalk]

12 hours ago, Pagliacci said:

The Clone Wars is equal to if not greater than the original trilogy in my eyes.

Preach.

14 hours ago, Snipexe said:

The existence of the prequels is justified by The Clone Wars and r/prequelmemes

Clone Wars made that era so much better.

[Truthless of Shinovar]

On 4/2/2019 at 7:23 PM, Ethan_Sedai said:

No, I spelled Platinum correctly.

I haven’t played heartgold, but Platinum has the best battle resort area of all time. In Platinum, you get a somewhat impressive villa. In Platinum, you get the Pokétch. In Platinum, you could get quite a few legendaries, but not to the extent that it goes too far, like in Alpha Saphire/Omega Ruby. In Platinum, you get to visit the distortion world. In Platinum, you get to walk around with your starter Pokémon in the park. In Platinum, the legendaries have the most detailed backstories, as they are part of the history of the universe. In Platinum, there is an underground network of tunnels for secret bases across the entire region. In Platinum, you get to interact with the Pokémon that created the universe.... I could go on, but I will state the biggest negatives in Platinum, at least in my mind: they nerfed Cynthia, and the saving time is still somewhat long. 

I haven’t played heartgold, but I will still argue that Platinum is better. 

And I will argue this to my dying Breath. And then I will Return to continue to argue my point. 

I mean you can't argue there