how to stop an exploding man -- or a Zergling rush

[samedietc]

Did you see the season finale of Heroes? What did you think?

Have you looked at the gameplay video for StarCraft 2? What did you think?

Comments

[chiefsheepy]

I was honestly a little disappointed in the big showdown on Heroes. I liked the things that happened, but I didn't like the execution. It felt a little too structured. Would've served them well to have a "guest director" to punch up that scene, I think.

[samedietc]

yeah, I was torn, and i think you've hit it -- good narrative, not brilliant execution. more time would have helped, as josh says. but...

[tragic_ohara]

I haven't watched the video because I don't have broadband, but I'm going to go on the record now as saying StarCraft 2 will be pretty good and pretty fun to play.

The announcement did spur me on to reinstall Brood War and play through the campaign again. DURAAAAAANNN

[samedietc]

this makes me curious if i even played brood war. do you think starcraft is good to go back to even after warcraft? i might miss the hero-characters.

[tragic_ohara]

I'm going back to it after loads of WCIII, and it's still highly enjoyable. I'd forgotten you could shift-queue orders in Brood War. The only gameplay change I really find myself missing is directing a group of casters to cast something and only one of them does so, whereas in Brood War you got to click on an individual caster to avoid wasting energy.

Anyway, I enjoyed heroes quite a bit too, but the two games play differently enough that you may still enjoy SC a good deal.

[cthulhie]

I feel like Starcraft held up better, actually. I played Warcraft 3 and the expansion through once and didn't think about it much after that. I played the motherloving hell out of Starcraft. It's different, of course, when you don't have friends to play against....

[charlequin]

I liked the end of Heroes from a plotting standpoint but agree with everyone else in the world that it was hamstrung by NBC's refusal to give them (a) 2 hours and (b) any money to make it with. I'm satisfied.

Starcraft 2 looks soooo awesome. KEKEKEKEK

[samedietc]

maybe i blinked and missed it, but i'm having trouble with something about the ending. (spoiler warning, if you haven't seen it yet.)

peter is a power chameleon; he mimics power, but the person still has it; he can activate any power he has previously mimicked.

a) so, if claire shoots to kill when he's exploding, they can remove the bullet and he'll probably regenerate, no? he's done it before when he was invisible and sylar hit him with that shard of glass. therefore, what's the big problem with shooting him?

b) he's had trouble flying before, and nathan is clearly the better flier -- but he has mimicked flying before, so couldn't peter have simply flown himself away?

WE ARE VIGILANT

[lizzabette]

I would say more than being a chameleon, Peter's an empath. So, he's not mimicking powers, he's actually taking on the powers of others but without removing theirs --- much like if powers were emotions. And the powers stay with him, as emotions would.

The problem is because the powers are not his powers, he has trouble controlling each new one unless he had the time to dedicate to it. (Example, Clive the Invisible.) So, what I think happened was in addition to absorbing Ted's radioactive power, he also absorbed the radioactive power Sylar took from Ted....if that makes sense in anyway. Thus, he was hit with a double-whammy with a terribly hard power to control to begin with --- it took Ted quite a bit of practice before he was able to control it....

I think in the case of the ending of this season, Peter was too overwhelmed to concentrate enough on using any other powers he may have had . . .

[samedietc]

i do love working out the metaphysics of worlds with other physics. i think i take your point re: chameleon/empath (i.e., chameleon changes colors only on background, whereas peter can take his "background" [read: history] with him).

i wonder if different powers have different learning curves; i mean, did peter mimic niki's super-strength at the end there?

[uncleernie50]

All in all very happy. Kinda saw it coming a mile away.. Also i like how a seemingly simple power like flight solved the problem. I did find the tease about the badguy next season a little TOO ungraceful but.. yeah.. ill keep watching

[samedietc]

well, that child actor isn't great, but i do love when people hint at crazy things.

and i don't even remember who the xel'naga are.

[uncleernie50]

xel' naga are prolly better described in wikipedia.. but basically they are the ancient race that "dissappeared" that kinda inspired the Zerg and Protoss to be what they are "purity of mind"-protoss "purity of form"-Zerg

In the game all the temples and stuff you try to acquire (like the protoss temple mission where you try to purge the zerg from aiur) belong to the Xel' NAga. There is a secret mission where Duran is on his own looking for a Zerg/Protoss hybrid that hints that Duran himself might be Xel'Naga.

[lizzabette]

HOLY JEEZ!

Simone's dad. That's all I have to say. Did not see that one coming, and I really hope "Generations" is as good --- and damn it, I want to know what Mama Petrelli's power is.

[samedietc]

heroes may get criticized for being every super-hero comic with the serial numbers rubbed off, but i do like the secret history of the world that was hinted at, about there being a previous group of heroes.

[cthulhie]

Having not watched the show: I've heard that criticism and heard some examples, but I'm not entirely clear on how that's a criticism. Don't we think it's better that a show about superheroes be actively in touch with its roots? I understand that comic fans might feel annoyed when they see a mutated version of a story they love, but I'm not sure it's a genuine problem. I'm thrilled by the idea of an amalgamated version of classic comics in a different medium. Once we have a genuinely GOOD live-action superhero show, THEN we can move on to novel revisions or parodies. Watchmen (which, of course, they apparently ripped off) doesn't make sense without a history of comics.

[samedietc]

I agree -- being in touch with history of comics is good, which is why i'm glad that jeph loeb is one of the producers, but i think there are two separable criticisms that underlie the "serial numbers filed off" critique:
a) it's not being creative; and b) "they're making money off of our ideas"; i don't agree with either of those critiques, but i think that's what's going through people's heads. (oh, and maybe a third: c) "now they're making this popular our comic book stores will be flooded with the masses!")