Ryan Vs. series

[Blackthorne]

Doon, you have to be aware of who you're talking to. A gay guy and a bunch of girls. A lot of the discussion is likely to shift to whether people are hot or not...

That's odd.  I have plenty of gay and female friends, and we are consistently able to talk about less shallow subjects than "who is hot and who is not." 

Thank you, Lambonius.

Yeah.  And seriously, talking about how "hot" Alexander is is just silly.  Seriously - the character is basically an empty vessel that one can fill with whatever they like.  Why?  Because he's the Player Character in two Sierra games - you adopt the role.  All you really know about him is that he's noble, and that he's in love with Cassima.  The rest.... well, those are detail you fill in.  I mean, you created pictures of him, but he has this spiky, metrosexual hair that is probably something YOU find attractive.... but that's not how he "looks".  That's an image you created (As well as TSL... he has that same modern, lame haircut in the game.)   I mean, creating a fantasy dude to swoon over is nothing new - but it's just a creation. 


Bt

[Arkillian]

Don't be an ass about it :/ Who cares who finds him attractive, and how he looks? This is how fans operate. Get over it. Fans are the reason a game becomes popular, the reason fanart and fanfic is made, and... oh my gosh- lets  not forget that it's the reason The Silver lining was made. Oh yeah, that and the reason why you're getting Part 3 in a few days time! Cause the fans faught the company that owns the rights TWICE to prove that we want the game!

Without people that are passionate about the game, then this all wouldn't exist. Passion for a character, a universe, a concept... What's the difference? Are you going to mock the TSL group for being passionate about the TSL story? No- cause you're passionate about it too. Just cause you're not into him that way, doesn't mean you can rain over everyone's parade :/

(Posted on: February 14, 2011, 09:56:17 PM)

In anycase, I'm the last one to stop Alexander conversation, but this is now totally off topic. I'm gonna open a thread for Alexander fans so that we can leave BT in peace :/

[Blackthorne]

Please, by all means, start and Alexander thread.   If you're having fun fantasizing over him, good for you - really.  You're right, passion for the games is a good thing.  I, personally, think obsessing over a fictional video game character is silly, but there's sillier and stupider things on this planet.  And I don't have to get involved in an Alexander thread.  I was involved in a Ryan Vs. Lightsaber battles here, though, and a tangent about how hot Alexander is made me shake my head.


Bt

[Lambonius]

Fans are the reason a game becomes popular, the reason fanart and fanfic is made, and... oh my gosh- lets  not forget that it's the reason The Silver lining was made. Oh yeah, that and the reason why you're getting Part 3 in a few days time! Cause the fans faught the company that owns the rights TWICE to prove that we want the game!

Without people that are passionate about the game, then this all wouldn't exist. Passion for a character, a universe, a concept... What's the difference? Are you going to mock the TSL group for being passionate about the TSL story? No- cause you're passionate about it too. Just cause you're not into him that way, doesn't mean you can rain over everyone's parade

Hahaha...don't make me laugh.  I can usually deal with the immature teeny-bopperisms by simply ignoring them.  But please don't equate that shallow drivel with a love for the actual games, because it's simply not the same thing.  Go hang up some half naked pictures of fantasy princes [MOD EDIT] if that's what pleases you, but don't act like it's because you love old school adventure games.

[KatieHal]

I made an edit to your last post in here, Lamb. Refrain from vulgarity in this forum.

Let's get back to lightsaber duels, folks.

[Lambonius]

Right.  Sorry.  Sometimes I forget what colloquialisms others might find vulgar.  Didn't contain any swears though. 

[KatieHal]

True, but one need not swear to be vulgar.

[Damar]

Ironic how this whole tangent occurred in a thread about an amateur lightsaber duel.  I can't think of anything more fanboyish and teenybopperish than choreographing, scripting, and doing special effects for your own lightsaber duel.  Mainly, I feel that way for two reasons.  First, is what Blackthorne already said, which is that duels need to have a story leading up to them.  Otherwise they're just meaningless.  Fun to watch, maybe, but just indulgent.

Second is because I just plain am kind of "meh" when it comes to Star Wars.  The movies are good I guess (the original three, of course.  Not the others) but they're certainly no Star Trek.  Star Wars wishes it could have the depth and development of Star Trek!

[Lambonius]

Star Wars wishes it could have the depth and development of Star Trek!

You should check out some of the Expanded Universe stuff--it's extremely well-developed.  I agree with your other points though.    I love Star Wars and Trek pretty much equally, and for different reasons.

The SW Expanded Universe novels can be daunting because there are just SO many, but I can narrow it down for you.  Start with the Heir to the Empire Trilogy, which is Timothy Zaan's officially sanctioned sequel to the original trilogy, and go from there.  He also wrote two sequels to the THAT trilogy, called Spectre of the Past and Vision of the Future, respectively (if memory serves.)  They're all fantastic, and MUCH deeper than the films.  In fact, some of the characters in the books are significantly better written and more well-developed than anything you'll see on screen.  Grand Admiral Thrawn may actually be my favorite Star Wars character EVER, film or not.  It's that good. 

[KatieHal]

I read some SW Expanded Universe stuff in my teens--mostly the Young Jedi Knights series. Though I also read a few others, none of them were really part of the "main" series. Somehow I could never quite get into those, I did try a few times.

Oh, also, while I agree a good duel needs a good story, those guys did pretty well without one, and a few parts of the battle had a little story implied. Not much, granted, but there were some pauses and actions that could easily enough get turned into a story.

[Lambonius]

I read some SW Expanded Universe stuff in my teens--mostly the Young Jedi Knights series. Though I also read a few others, none of them were really part of the "main" series. Somehow I could never quite get into those, I did try a few times.

You should definitely try Heir to the Empire.  It's a direct continuation of Luke, Leia, Han, and all the rest's story.  It really should be required reading for people looking to get into the EU.  I was wary of the EU stuff at first, too, but Heir to the Empire is REALLY friggin' good.

[Damar]

Yeah, I have read those.  And Thrawn was awesome.  I personally loved how he could get into people's heads by analyzing art.  The whole psychology angle was enjoyable for me.

The whole expanded universe seems like a blessing and a curse though.  On the one hand, you get awesome stuff like Thrawn, but on the other hand, I think it can become a crutch.  I remember seeing stuff in the prequels that didn't make sense, like say General Grievous, and the moment I'd bring it up to someone they'd say something like, "Oh well, you needed to have read such and such" or "You needed to see the Clone War cartoon" or whatever.  Well, I didn't read or see anything.  I watched a movie and didn't expect to see an extremely important character appear without any background or explanation for what the crap he (it?) was.  The whole expanded universe might have some good stuff, but I think it also made the prequels even more convoluted than they already were.  Though clearly there was no avoiding the major amounts of suckage that were going to occur regardless where the prequels were concerned.

[dark-daventry]

Ironic how this whole tangent occurred in a thread about an amateur lightsaber duel.  I can't think of anything more fanboyish and teenybopperish than choreographing, scripting, and doing special effects for your own lightsaber duel.  Mainly, I feel that way for two reasons.  First, is what Blackthorne already said, which is that duels need to have a story leading up to them.  Otherwise they're just meaningless.  Fun to watch, maybe, but just indulgent.

Second is because I just plain am kind of "meh" when it comes to Star Wars.  The movies are good I guess (the original three, of course.  Not the others) but they're certainly no Star Trek.  Star Wars wishes it could have the depth and development of Star Trek!

I'm a Trekkie first and foremost; I believe DS9 and the characters therein are among the most underrated shows and characters in all of TV. But I can also enjoy Star Wars. I've watched all six movies, plus the two animated ones (not the CG clone wars, mind you) and I've played both Force Unleashed games. I find the universe of Star Wars intriguing. Although I firmly believe that the Borg will totally pwn Vader's butt, I can still appreciate and watch Star Wars. And let's be honest here; although there may be little to no plot to these light-saber duels, the fact is they're making them for their love of the series. I would do the same thing for Star Trek. In fact, a lot of fan movies have already been made, some of which I hear are really good.

Star Wars wishes it could have the depth and development of Star Trek!

You should check out some of the Expanded Universe stuff--it's extremely well-developed.  I agree with your other points though.    I love Star Wars and Trek pretty much equally, and for different reasons.

The SW Expanded Universe novels can be daunting because there are just SO many, but I can narrow it down for you.  Start with the Heir to the Empire Trilogy, which is Timothy Zaan's officially sanctioned sequel to the original trilogy, and go from there.  He also wrote two sequels to the THAT trilogy, called Spectre of the Past and Vision of the Future, respectively (if memory serves.)  They're all fantastic, and MUCH deeper than the films.  In fact, some of the characters in the books are significantly better written and more well-developed than anything you'll see on screen.  Grand Admiral Thrawn may actually be my favorite Star Wars character EVER, film or not.  It's that good.  

I've been meaning to read some of the expanded universe for Star Wars. The Star Trek expanded universe is terrific from the little I've read of it.

[Lambonius]

The whole expanded universe seems like a blessing and a curse though.  On the one hand, you get awesome stuff like Thrawn, but on the other hand, I think it can become a crutch.  I remember seeing stuff in the prequels that didn't make sense, like say General Grievous, and the moment I'd bring it up to someone they'd say something like, "Oh well, you needed to have read such and such" or "You needed to see the Clone War cartoon" or whatever.  Well, I didn't read or see anything.  I watched a movie and didn't expect to see an extremely important character appear without any background or explanation for what the crap he (it?) was.  The whole expanded universe might have some good stuff, but I think it also made the prequels even more convoluted than they already were.  Though clearly there was no avoiding the major amounts of suckage that were going to occur regardless where the prequels were concerned.

Yeah, I don't bother with any prequel related stuff.  I pretty much am just not interested in that era of the saga.  Anything dealing with the original trilogy characters though, I will usually take a look at.  Currently, I've only read Zaan's books, but I glanced at some of the other stuff, and it's pretty apparent that there is a lot of trash mixed in with the treasures.

[Blackthorne]

It's funny, I'm a huge Star Wars film fan - I can geek out with you about the myriad details of the original trilogy, and I can even wax on the prequel trilogy - but I'm not really a fan of the EU stuff beyond Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy - and especially think all the Prequel related EU stuff is garbage.


Bt

[KatieHal]

I did read the...what was it...the first one where Jacen and Jaina were adult characters. I forget the name. I didn't really like it that much, though. I've heard good things about the Heir to the Empire trilogy, though.

And I'd say any and all prequel-EU-related nonsense is just one of many flaws in the prequels!