📷By Hat Lion Photos

25 x 20 cm, I already had this panel with just random swirly paint strokes. And y'know... it's always fun to paint an eye.

I posted a week or two back about how much Starfield bummed me out, and after bouncing off of it, I decided to finally giver Cyberpunk a go. I didn't plan it this way, but the big expansion patch had just come out, so there were a lot of improvements and optimizations so I've never seen anything about what the game was like before really. Just heard Jeff Gerstamann talk about it a few times.

Idk if it's cuz of how flat and disconnected every character in starfield felt, but doing side stuff in Cyberpunk and having characters have like, even a little bit of nuance to them feels like downing the first glass of cold water after sleeping all night with a stopped up nose. It feels like almost every side mission ends up opening up into an interesting character story. The big thing though is that unlike starfield, the NPCs feel like a part of their setting? Like characters might make bad or stupid decisions, but it all feels natural and believable. It doesn't have this overwhelming sense that the game's characters aren't bought in to the setting.

I get that on some level, this is not the game that I heard people talk about when it first came out years ago, but honestly I'm shocked at how... rich? the characters feel in cyberpunk. I went in fully expecting a bunch of flat edgelords but no it's actually been really good.

I had heard criticism of his character along the lines of "he sucks on purpose but that sucks because the game is clearly making him out to be cool too." I get some of that, and yeah it's clear from the flashbacks that everyone in his life hates him, and he doesn't seem to realize that? It's kind of funny on its own, but what really sells me on his character is going a full 20 points into cool.

When I started playing, I thought the Cool stat was more generic, like you get to do Cool stuff with guns, you get to say Cool lines in conversations, and just get to be an action hero sort of stuff? I don't think that's exactly right though. Once I hit 20 cool, which is also around when I started to get closer with Johnny and got to see a lot more of how he acts around people...

Cool is the "Act More Like Johnny" stat. Pretty much all the lines you get at 20 cool are fucking awful. Everyone groans or gets mad at you when you use them, and all of them are you being so up your own ass you don't seem to realize how flat everything you say is falling for everyone who isn't you. The fact that they let you max out a stat and act like Johnny and have everyone just be so sick of your shit is perfect.

with complete sincerity the battle scene in episode 6 still gets my blood pumping on a second watch. it's hectic, exciting, and i genuinely enjoy how it subverted my expectations re: how kai would be in her first battle (i.e. i assumed based on her previous comments she would become sadistic and cruel but instead she got frightened and overwhelmed).

i am remembering how i watched the special features (which are cool as hell by the way) and saw so many comments about how excited everyone was to introduce, uh... atriox? like okay look i'm not trying to be some kind of halo boomer or a purist or anything but... atriox? really? that feels like making a batman movie and getting really excited about how you get to introduce fuckinnnnn... idk, lock-up or something.

The Madrigal stuff is still a bit slow to get through but since I knew it would be there this time around it wasn't nearly as much of a hassle to sit through as the first time I watched it. It's still sort of the low point of the series (Burn Gorman very clearly wants to be a fun, scene-chewing bastard of a character and while I appreciate his enthusiasm I don't think the character quite reaches the levels he's clearly acting for) but I feel like I was a bit less harsh on it in my mind this time. I think this also let me appreciate the parallels with real life examples of certain world superpowers that won't be named here but that you can probably guess installing friendly-but-fascistic governments in areas rich with important resources.

I don't know if a second rewatch can save the character of Makee, though; as I've said before, i recognize the practical necessity of her character as a measure to save on the special effects budget by giving us a character on the Covenant side of the conflict who doesn't require a boatload of CG. But she's also a reminder of how they reduced the important of Humanity In General within the Halo story down to a Chosen One narrative. It's also really funny that all it took to give her a crisis of faith was getting dicked down by Master Chief (Please Note: This Is An Exaggeration For Comedic Purposes. Said Dicking Down Was Actually The Culmination Of Her Crisis Of Faith, Not Its Impetus).

The real treat as we reach the end of the series is the climax of Cortana's narrative arc, watching her go from being eager to fulfill her ultimate duty of completely overriding Chief's mental faculties to genuinely caring for his well-being and being horrified at Halsey's disregard for his newfound happiness. Finally seeing them work in tandem is quite honestly a personal highlight of the series for me, as is Kai cementing herself as probably my favorite show-original character by getting her Big Damn Hero moment saving Chief's life and nearly taking Halsey down. Do I think this would all be better if it had been Kelly, Fred, and Linda in these scenes? Absolutely, but that's just because I have a nostalgic affinity for Blue Team. The new guys are honestly fine.