Pokémon Ultra Sun Review – Part 2: Akala Island

So last time we looked at the events of Melemele Island, the good, and the bad.  However, the island ended off on a good note on one of the game’s most unique new additions, the Mantine Surf minigame.

 

On Akala Island I found some good parts, some bad parts and some really samey copy/pasted parts. It was on this island that my team for the game began to take shape and I had decided to try all new Pokémon at this point. I’d gone from a Rowlet to an interesting mish-mash of Pokémon I’d never even considered using before – even if some of those were sneakily transferred over from Pokémon Sun via PokéBank. My justification of this was the game was already being samey enough I may as well throw a curveball and shake up the game a bit.

My team at the start of Akala Island

So, much like last time I will list my good points and my bad points of this island and try to explain my reasoning of each part.  I will be comparing this game to Pokémon Sun because it is a retelling of the story and like all interpretations should stand up to the original or even improve upon it.

 

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Good Points:

1. Mallow’s Trial

   

   Trial Captain Mallow

In Sun & Moon I wasn’t a huge fan of Mallow’s Grass type Island Trial in the Lush Jungle.  In Ultra Sun I found myself quite liking it.  It felt like the Lush Jungle was bursting at the seems with wild and interesting Pokémon and having a chance to interact with them in a game of chance added a slight hint of tension to it.  If you picked the wrong item that a wild Pokémon had its eye on, it would come and fight you for it just before the Totem arrived so the pressure was on to get them right.  I got one right and had to fight two Fomantis before the Totem Lurantis came.

 

2. Totem Lurantis

It was a beast in Pokémon Sun, it was a monster in Pokémon Ultra Sun.  I actually lost to this thing the first time I fought it.  It’s the only time I lost to a Totem Pokémon in Sun, Moon and Ultra Sun up to that point and it brought back that drive to progress in this game and take it down. That difficulty spike I mentioned in part 1? It reared its head again here, and it was very welcome.

 

3. Kaiwe’s Trial

   

   Trial Captain Kaiwe

While this happens before Mallow’s Trial I have it after that in my notes, so I’ll go with that.  In Sun, Kaiwe’s Trial was a light-hearted pain in the back end.  The dancing Alolan Marowak always seemed to jumble around for me and I could never get the right differences between them.  In Ultra Sun I got all of them right first try and it made me feel more accomplished, that I’d grown more observant since last time.  The Trial itself was very samey though.  Totem Marowak provided some challenge though.

 

4. Ultra Recon Squad

As I said last time, when this game tries to be its own thing and not just copy/pasting Sun & Moon, it’s actually really good.  Better than Sun & Moon in some accounts – it’s just a shame this is the 3rd time I’ve sat through it this year. When we encounter the Ultra Recon Squad on Akala Island they battle us with a Pokémon from their world – a Piopole.  In the lead up to these games this new Pokémon had gone completely over my head so I had no idea it existed.  I freaked out a little with glee. That was the most fun moment of the game at that point.

 

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Bad Points:

1. Character Development

One thing I was sad about missing out on in this game was the boat ride to Akala Island with Hau & Lillie. In Pokémon Sun there was an exciting cutscene showing their journey and setting up the characters you’d be going through the game with a bit more.  It was a nice little cinematic that established a friendship between you, Hau & Lillie.  It was cut from this game in favour of introducing the Mantine Surf but I won’t complain about it too much because it’s only a small detail that was replaced with a fun and exciting new minigame.

 

2. The Zygarde Cell Quest – Or Lack Of

When we arrive in HeaHea City we’re approached by Dexio and… *Googles* Sina who challenge us to a battle.  At this point in Sun & Moon they give us a Zygarde Cube and tell us to collect the Zygon Cells to give us a side-quest that goes on for most of the game. This time, however, the entire Zygarde Cell collection side-quest is taken out of the game and replaced with a Totem Sticker quest, which just made their appearance in this time a bit pointless.  Furthermore it makes the Zygarde Cell quest in Sun & Moon seem unnecessary and redundant.

 

3. Lana’s Trial

   

   Trial Captain Lana

Tried to be different, was slightly different, didn’t work as well as in Sun & Moon.  Still interesting though. Totem Aquaranid didn’t fit the scene as much as Totem Wishiwashi.  Of all the Totem changes in these games this was the most unfitting.

 

4. Too Much Exposition

When you’ve beaten Mallow’s Trial you are required to return to HeaHea City for the biggest exposition dump of the game.  In Sun it was interesting and I enjoyed reading it.  In Moon it dragged on a bit but I was still engaged enough to be reminded of everything that had happened so far.  In Ultra Sun I spammed the A button until I stopped seeing text screens and was allowed to leave the building.  There was nothing different to the other two games and it seemed never ending.

 

5. Olivia’s “Grand” Trial

   

   Kahuna Olivia

Imagine this, you’re the top of the leader board in your home town.  Everyone who comes there to win a challenge has to go through you to proceed on their journey.  What do you bring with you to have in your team? If you said a Lilleep, an Anorith and a Lycanroc get out. Lycanroc, fair enough, it’s a good showcase Pokémon for the 7th Generation… But Lilleep and Anorith? Really? In a Grand Trial? Talk about a disappointment. I JUST defeated a hard-as-nails Lurantis and now I have to take on a Lilleep and an Anorith. That’s progressive.

 

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So on that rather disappointing note Akala is mostly exactly the same in both tellings of the Alolan story.  There are a few new differences but nothing big enough or different enough for me to justify saying that it felt like I was playing an intentionally different game.

 

By the time I defeated Totem Lurantis and knew I then had to go to HeaHea City and sit through a load of exposition for the rest of the Island I kind of game up on the game for a couple of weeks.  If I played it, it was only for a few minutes and then had to stop again.  I knew I had to get through it to proceed with the game for this review but I wasn’t looking forward to it whatsoever.  I eventually forced myself to sit through it and meekly trailed off to the Aether paradise to sit through that mountain of exposition which was exactly the same as Sun & Moon’s mountain, even down to setting Lusamine up as the villain and battling Nihilego before meekly being dragged along to Ula’Ula Island.

 

I include to visit to the Aether Paradise here because there would be no point whatsoever in making a review part for that and that alone so there it is.

My team by the end of the Aether Foundation visit

Pokémon Ultra Sun – Part 2: Akala Island gets another 4/10.

 

Until next time when we take on Ula’Ula Island,

The Spectacled Observer.

My Cinema Trips of 2017

Hello and welcome to 2018! Hope you had a fun week doing whatever it is you’ve been doing but it’s back to the usual routine now, I suppose.  Don’t be sad, it’ll be Christmas again in 356 days.

 

2017 was an interesting year for film, so I was wondering, if I could sum up my thoughts on each film I’d seen in the cinema that year, it might do for a blog entry, don’t you think?

 

I’ll go in chronological order of when I saw them and I may as well date it too, ey? So, let’s get started!

 

1. A Monster Calls – 7th January

A deep exploration of a young boy’s mind in turmoil.  It was interesting to see the way the story panned out over the duration of the film and the acting from every one involved was simply top notch.  Even if it did lose itself a bit in its own narrative toward the end

Rating then: 9/10

Rating now: 8/10

 

2. The Lego Batman Movie – 18th February

Fun, Lego action with everyone’s favourite overrated mental patient, Batman.  A good story in its own right, as its own thing and still gets quite a few laughs out of me but I feel the very climax of the film was a bit of a let down.  Hold hands to stop Gotham tearing in half? Really? It’s fine, it’s fine! It’s a kid’s film after all and there is a level of suspension of disbelief to take into consideration.

Rating then: 10/10

Rating now: 8/10

 

3. Logan – 2nd March

Hugh Jackman’s swansong (Maybe) Wolverine escapade.  A dark, gritty and realistic portrayal of the final days of the mutants.  Logan is one of those films that people will be talking about for a long time – and it earned that recognition.  Some say it’s bad, some say it’s a masterpiece.  I’m in the middle.  It’s a really well made film, but it was too drastic a change from the X-Men franchise.  Personal opinion, don’t torture me.  Seeing the Charles Xavier in the silo  having gone mad at the start hurt my childhood though.

Rating then: 9/10

Rating now: 7/10

 

4. The Great Wall – 7th March

One of those whitewashed films that was doomed to fail.  It was alright I guess.  Nothing to write home about, but fun enough to watch if you just want to switch off for a couple of hours and watch some urban historic fantasy.

Rating then: 6/10

Rating now: 6/10

 

5. Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 – 29th April

The Guardians of the Galaxy return in my most anticipated sequel of the year, and proved to be ever so slightly disappointing.  It was great and I loved it, but the first one is still my preferred venture.  I think splitting the team up for so long is to blame for my preference of the first, but I enjoyed the two intertwining stories told throughout and Ego is by far easily one of the best villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far.  Can’t wait for Infinity War though.

Rating then: 8/10

Rating now: 8/10

 

6. Wonder Woman – 11th June

With the advent of the Justice League monstricity, Wonder Woman stands as a beaming light of what a DC film could be.  By no means the best film of the year but definitely earned a spot in the top 5 of a lot of fans’ lists.  The trench scene alone perfectly captures Wonder Woman and showed an audience how little modern superhero films focus on actually actively going out of the way to save people.

Rating then: 9/10

Rating now: 8/10

 

7. Spider-Man: Homecoming – 8th July & 11th July

Saw this film twice, actually.  Easily the nest of the three MCU films to be released in 2017 as it once again focused on the littler stories.  No world-ending disaster plot or subjugation for all mankind. First time I went to see it the cinema ticket cut of “Spi” and “Home” so on the ticket it looked like I was going to see Der-Man Coming.  It has been referred to by that name ever since.

Rating then: 8/10

Rating now: 8/10

 

8. Kingsman: The Golden Circle – 23rd September

Elton John.  Enough said.  What a great adventure from start to finish.  It was funny, sad and engaging all at the same time.  Though the start was a little too trigger happy with established characters in order to shoehorn in the American version. Elton John though.

Rating then: 8/10

Rating now: Not out on DVD yet so would be unfair to judge *Sad face*

 

9. Thor: Ragnarok – 28th October

The weakest of the three MCU films this year, for me.  It was great fun and I enjoyed every minute of it… But as a trilogy the tone and pacing of this one doesn’t match Thor or Thor: The Dark World in any way whatsoever.  I get it was trying to be its own thing but at the expense of everything to happen prior to Ragnarok?

Rating then: 8/10

Rating now: *Patiently awaits DVD release whilst listening to Led Zeppelin*

 

10. Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You – 6th November

Pure untainted nostalgia and a treat for the soul.  After 14 years of not being in the cinema Ash & Pikachu exploded back onto the silver screen in marvellous fashion.  I already did a review of this film which I’ll attempt to link in here but yeah, I really loved this one.

Rating then: 7/10

Rating now: I keep checking Amazon every week for a DVD release date but it never has one. This makes me sad.

 

11. Justice League – 19th November

From sheer nostalgic beauty to tainted nostalgic dread. This is another film I reviewed at the time of release but I will never stop hating this filth.  As a film, it was stupid, as a comic book story, it was badly done, as a superhero film it was insulting and there are no redeeming qualities in this thing whatsoever.  Avoid at all costs.  Linking the review in if possible here.

Rating then: 2/10

Rating now: Negative 2/10.  Not wasting any more time or money on it.

 

12. The Disaster Artist – 9th December

Oh hi Mark.  An interesting look into the filming process of one of cinemas greatest duds – The Room.  It was light and entertaining, silly and serious, and had the ever loveable Tommy Wiseau in the end credits.  It makes me so happy, and I love Lisa so much.

Rating then: 8/10

Rating now: It’s bullshit, I don’t have it yet. It’s bullshit.  It is not! Oh hi Mark.

 

13. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – 9th December

So what happens if you put Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan and Kevin Hart in a game of Jumanji? A lot of controversy and needless hate.  I liked this film.  It wasn’t perfect but give me it over a lot of other films *Cough*JusticeLeague*Cough* any day.  While not every joke hit the mark it got a few laughs out of myself and the people I was seeing it with (One a die-hard cynic of the thing) and all in all it was a bit of harmless fun.

Rating then: 7/10

Rating now: You know the drill by this point.

 

14. Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi – 16th December

Following on from the Force Awakens a lot was expected to be revealed in this installment of the Star Wars saga.  In the end not a lot was actually revealed and the film suffered from existing in the Star Wars universe.  Had it been its own one-off film, yeah, it could have worked, but as Episode VIII of a 9-part saga… It left a lot to be desired.  It wasn’t all bad though.  Mark Hamill gave the performance of his career and it was interesting to see Rey & Kylo Ren’s relationship grow throughout the film.

Rating then: 8/10

Rating now: Blu-Ray.  Surprise! Nah, I’ll be getting the DVD… Whenever that comes out.

 

Caught up in the now.  It’s interesting looking back at the films you saw over the space of a year.  Almost all of them [NOT YOU JUSTICE LEAGUE] were good and I don’t regret seeing any of them.  Barring the black sheep of the universe. There were of course some films I had wanted to see but never had the opportunity for one reason or another – Murder on the Orient Express, Blade Runner 2049, It, War for the Planet of the Apes  etc but nothing to be done about that now.

 

As for 2018 there are a few films I’m looking forward to seeing.  Avengers: Infinity War, The Incredibles 2, Black Panther to name a few but others I’m slightly dubious about… Looking at you Solo: A Star Wars Story.   I suppose there’s one way to find out though, ey?

 

Thank you for following my posts in 2017, next year will continue on as usual, posting on Wednesdays with reviews, look-backs, top 10s or whatever takes my fancy during the week. Should probably get around to finishing my reviews of the David Tennant Doctor Who Big Finish audio stories though.

 

Hoping you had a Qwark-tastic new year and are settling into the first year with an 8 in it since 2008.

 

Spectacled Observer. 🙂

Doctor Who: Twice Upon A Time Review

INTRO

Christmas 2017 has been and gone.  Wasn’t it a cracker? We got a new Star Wars film, Moffat leaving Doctor Who and Jodie Whittaker… But we also lost Peter Capaldi’s incarnation in the trade off…

I still remember, crystal clear, my reaction to his announcement way back when in 2013.  It was one of giddy excitement and enthusiasm.  I knew Peter would be a great Doctor the moment he walked out onto that stage and I was not proven wrong.  From day one of filming series 8 Capaldi simply radiated the Doctor at its purest.  He’d meet with fans and go out of his way to help children to understand that Matt (Smith) said it was okay for him to take over being the Doctor.  His charasmatic nature and sheer thrill at being able to play his childhood hero was infectious and he truly brought his A-game to the role.

However, like all good things, his tenure had to end and on 25th December 2017 it happened.  Peter Capaldi’s (questionable) “12th” Doctor regenerated into Jodie Whittaker – the 15th incarnation of the Time Lord… Lady… Gallifreyan in Doctor Who: Twice Upon A Time.

 

Spoilers ahead.

 

PLOT SYNOPSIS

So following on from the cliffhanger we left off on in “The Doctor Falls we find the current Doctor meeting up with the first Doctor (Played by David Bradley who previously played William Hartnell in the excellent “An Adventure in Space & Time”) and shortly after they find themselves thrown into one final adventure for each of them.

Time has frozen and a captain from World War I is stranded at the south pole with the two Doctors.  A mystery has surfaced and this time it’ll take two Time Lords to solve it.  What follows is a ridiculously fun back and forth through space and time to figure out the mystery of the captain and to fix time.

The captain warns the two Doctors that a race of glass-people are after him and soon after they are abducted by Testimony.  The glass-people, the Testimony, offer the Doctors Bill – The former companion of the previous series – in exchange for the life of the captain.  The current Doctor immediately identifies Bill as a false duplicate but he manages to escape with his prior self, the captain and Bill.

The Doctor takes the other three to the centre of the universe.  There he confronts Rusty (The Dalek from “Into the Dalek”) and learns that the Testimony is New Earth technology dedicated to preserving the memories of the deceased.  No big, evil doomsday plan whatsoever.  The Testimony glass-person Bill convinces the two Doctors to put the captain back in his allocated time of death and they oblige.

On the way back to the battlefield and the captain’s fatal standoff the Doctor tweaks it slightly so it is somehow Christmas 1914 and the Christmas truce is about to begin.  The captain, accepting his fate, resumes his position in history, forgetting any of his sidetrack adventure even happened.  Before time recommences he asks the Doctors to look after his family, revealing himself to be Captain Lethbridge-Stewart and by extension a relative of the cherished and sorely missed Brigadier of Classic Who.  Captain Lethbridge-Stewart takes up position in the trench as time resumes but is saved when the Germans begin carolling, the English joining soon after and the truce takes effect.

The first Doctor accepts he has to change and asks the current if he feels the same way to which he replies he will find out, the long way around.  The first Doctor then departs, meeting back up with Ben & Polly at the closing moments of “The Tenth Planet” and regenerates into the second Doctor (Patrick Troughton).

The Doctor then says goodbye to glass-people representations of the memories of Bill, Nardole and Clara before stepping foot into the TARDIS for the final time.  He resolves to regenerate on the logic that the universe will do it wrong without him to save it anyway.  Before giving into his regeneration though he provides some advice and relays some rules to his next incarnation before vanishing into a void of yellow regenerative light.

A new Doctor stands in place of the previous.  New possibilities cloud the minds of the viewer (Singular) who didn’t know what was coming next.  The Doctor adjusts one of the TARDIS monitors to get a good look at herself but shortly after the TARDIS veers out of control, resulting in the central console blowing to smithereens and the Doctor being flung out into the skies above a city that’ll probably end up being London again.

 

GOOD POINTS

1. The cast.  Peter Capaldi, David Bradley, Mark Gatiss & Pearl Mackie gave it their all.  Every one of them were perfect and it really was a treat.  Capaldi, in particular, really shone through in this episode.  His last scene in which he departs his advice to the future Doctor is one of the best performances he has ever given and this episode as a whole I’m confident in saying was his best performance to date.
2. The two Doctors had such a magnificent chemistry and they worked so well off one another.  The interactions between the two easily overshadow the rather tame “I-guess-I-have-to” interactions between David Tennant & Matt Smith’s Doctors in “The Day of the Doctor”
3. There was no big, doomsday, death to all, evil plot this time.  It was really refreshing too.  It’s one of those things you don’t realise you’d like to see happen until it actually does and it was a great light-hearted story to just bask in the original and the most current incarnations of the Doctor interact.
4. One thing I really am glad they kept is the original footage of the first Doctor’s regeneration.  I’d have been fine with them re-doing it with David Bradley’s version but it was fantastic to see William Hartnell appearing on broadcast television in one of his most iconic roles again – as it always is whenever he turns up.
5. On one hand, yes, I love it.  On another… Just… Why? The Brigadier twist.  You know when you have an idea what something is but you don’t want to say anything because it’s so ridiculous and unlikely that there’s no way it’ll be true and it’ll be a spot of ridicule for you thinking such a thing if you were to tell anyone? That was the Brigadier twist for me.  Ages and ages ago I had a passing thought Mark Gatiss’ character could be the Brigadier’s father but I dismissed it.  Turns out I was pretty much right on the money.  It’s nice Moffat’s last contribution to the Brigadier isn’t sticking a middle finger up at him and converting a hero to so many into a run of the mill Cyberman.  Never. Forget. But at the same time… Why?
6. A minor good point here but I really liked it.  Remember in “The Day of the Doctor” when we got out first glimpse of Capaldi? When his eyes lit up the screen and we knew for certain the future of the programme was in good hands.  Yeah, they paralleled that in “Twice Upon A Time” by having the last shot of Capaldi’s Doctor focus on his eyes.  Symmetry.
7. Something I didn’t expect to see in this episode was Rusty, the first Dalek Capaldfi encountered in his second episode – “Into the Dalek”.  It was a nice addition, though ultimately unnecessary. I like it when a Doctor’s era comes full circle.  Tennant had Ood Sigma, Smith had… Best we forget Time of the Doctor, ey?
8. Speaking of Time of the Doctor, remember when Moffat shoehorned in Amy for no reason other than for closure? Remember how it made no sense whatsoever in the context of the story? This episode did that again, but it made sense! Clara, Bill & Nardole returned to bid the Doctor farewell in the shape of the Testimony.  It was so much better than Karen Gillan showing up to wish Matt Smith goodnight from out of nowhere and vanishing in the blink of an eye.
9. Speaking of Steven Moffat – the Moffat Era is over and the Doctor Who universe can finally breathe a sigh of relief.  It started out amazing in series 5 and then slumped to the worst in the show’s history in series 6, crawled back to a respectable place in series 7 and then just freefell at the reveal of John Hurt’s “War” (9th) Doctor from which it never truly recovered from until this year’s series 10.  Like a phoenix from the ashes.  Moffat’s era had some ups and some downs (Mainly downs, hence why this is in the good points section – it’s finally over!) but at the end, the crazed Scotsman with writing issues pulled it out of the bag to give Capaldi the best send off we could have hoped for.
10. Let’s talk about Jodie.  It’s too early to have an opinion of her Doctor, but she’s given a good impression so far.  She’s kept the accent – which is all I really wanted from her – and the cliffhanger she leaves us on is one of the more “How will they resolve that?” cliffhangers of recent years!

 

BAD POINTS

1. The Dalek hive mind is more knowledgeable than the Matrix of Gallifrey?  Really though? Really? Don’t do that, Moffat.  Honestly, you were doing so well.
2. I feel I need to mention to mention the sexism. People seem to be having a problem with it, and I totally understand why.  It wasn’t necessary and it didn’t add anything.  But the first Doctor was written in a time when things like that were perfectly normal.  I’m not saying it was right, but it was the accepted social norm.  I promise you if you go back and watch some of Hartnell’s or Troughton’s episodes you’ll see other sexist comments, intentional or no.  Obvious or no.
3. Can we just make not of how badly CGI’d the Testimony glass-people were? There were moments where they moved in a certain way that made them look like early 90s attempts at visual effects…
4. As much as I loved Capaldi’s regeneration… The children comments whoffled on a bit didn’t they? You could cut the whole “Children can hear your name” bit entirely and the scene would actually benefit from it.  If you were determined to include some of it, just leave it at “Oh, and you mustn’t tell anyone your name.  No one would understand it anyway.” I don’t know.  It just took away from the emotional gravitas of the scene for me.
5. Whilst we’re on about the regeneration scene, let’s move onto Jodie’s half of it.  Wasn’t it remarkably similar to Matt Smith’s entrance into the series? Regenerate, first line, TARDIS veers out of control, bang, bang, boom, cliffhanger – next series begins with the Doctor hanging in the air in some way whilst the TARDIS crashes about and will require a new ‘desktop setting’ for the new Doctor to use.
6. Murray Gold is leaving the series after twelve years of amazing musical scores, but this episode just seemed like a “Greatest Hits of” rather than any effort put into it.  It was very distracting and look out of the moment at times.  The example that sticks in mind is this:

The Doctor has just regenerated, it’s all mystical and mysterious, the audience doesn’t know what’s coming.  What will this new Doctor be like? What does this new era of the programme have in store for us? I wonder what her unique theme will be – David Tennant’s Doctor’s theme blasting away.  Well that’s fitting.

CONCLUSION & RATING

All in all a fitting end to the Moffat era.  Ups, down, laughs, cries, anger, joy.  A perfect summary of his work.  As Capaldi’s swansong, it’s not perfect, but damn it’s a good send off for the man.

This episode left me feeling like Capaldi’s era was complete, in a way Time of the Doctor failed to deliver on a massive scale for Matt Smith’s Doctor.  It’s because of this, I don’t think I’ll miss him too much.  I mean, I will miss the guy, but his time is done now.  The story has been told.  Any more would just be meaningless add-on fodder.  All wrapped up in a neat little package with a Jodie Whittaker-shaped bow on top.

I’m eagerly awaiting September to see how Jodie does in the role and I wish her all the success and love that Capaldi received during his tenure.  The Doctor is dead, long love the Doctor.

With all of this in mind, Doctor Who: Twice Upon A Time, Peter Capaldi’s swansong episode, gets a very impressive 9/10 from me.

… I have no ideas what to do next week… Should probably get on that…

With hopes you had a fab-tacular holiday season,

The Spectacled Observer. 🙂