Dark

Toni chose the next show for our dinner with Netflix theme and he chose Dark, which had a really cool trailer but was also talked about as "Stranger Things for intelligent people". It's a German show and neither of us speak German, but slap some subs on there and we're fine.

We both spent the first season in perpetual confusion, but at the same time it was so so good and exciting and interesting that we just kept watching. Every evening it was time for "Jonas and food". However, by the time we started the second season I had figured out how the characters connected and which story thread went where. Or so I thought. The third season turned everything I knew upside down, in a way that actually disappointed me. It seemed like such lazy writing to have the first two seasons be one way only to introduce things at the last minute to kind of tie the whole story together. As a result the third season seemed kind of haphazardly put together and pretty rushed out.

The story is about time-travelling and later on dimension-travelling. It revolves around a small German village called Winden. The kind of place where people all know each other and somehow nobody ever leaves even though they may dream of it as teenagers. 

The time-travelling is connected to the nuclear power station in the town, and the heroes of the story want to prevent the apocalypse that will happen due to the power station, and the bad guys want to make sure it happens. Their respective plots stretch through the times from 1888 to 2052.

The first two seasons were brilliantly done, which is probably why the third season fell so flat for me.

But up until the moment they decided to destroy everything they had established over two seasons this show was so so good. Give it a watch. Maybe you'll think differently from me.

My last 5 books: Fantasy and superheroes

1. The Trouble With Peace, by Joe Abercrombie. Holy fucking shit. Like wow. Those twists at the end have me at a loss for words, like... What?! How did I not see that coming? None of it?! I usually figure stuff out! Okay, from the start. Most of this book is about Savine and Leo ending up working with the conspiracists who plan to overthrow the government, and they're both so convinced they can do it. Half the book had me shaking my head at Leo, like what are you doing, you blundering dunderhead of a fool!? The other half had me exasperated at Savine, wishing Stour would die, admiring Rikke, really starting to like Orso, and kind of wishing Clover was my big brother. Then came the battle and through it all I had no idea who would win at the end, the writing was just so expertly done that every time I read about Orso's side I was convinced he'd win, and every time I read about Leo's side I was convinced he'd win. Like damn. O_o And Abercrombie can write battles. He's proven that time and time again. I was actually wincing at the book as I read my way through the battle. I was really sad to see Glokta resign though, that passage (apart from the ends) really hit me the hardest, like admitting he was getting old and I don't want him to die. Don't kill my favourite, please? But those final thirty pages. Savine. Orso. Leo. Clover. Stour. Rikke. Pike. O.M.G. Is the next one out yet?

2. Storm Front, by Jim Butcher. Amazingly, I have never read a Harry Dresden book before. I grew up slightly preoccupied with another wizard named Harry. Just as well. This book was published in 2001 and I don't think 10 y/o me would have appreciated this book. 30 y/o me very much did, though. It was snarky, sarcastic, exciting, interesting, action-filled and clever. Dresden sounds like a very fun guy to hang around. I kind of envy Susan. And Murphy. This book starts out with two cases, one run-of-the-mill missing husband (probably cheating) and one definitely not run-of-the-mill double murder. Unsurprisingly, these two cases have everything to do with each other and exactly in the way I first figured. The story and lore are cleverly crafted, but I solved the puzzle way before Dresden did and with a lot less roundabout manners. Dresden is lucky he's so cute. "Cute" meaning odd and sweet, not "cute" as the word you use for a puppy. Even if I did figure out where the story was heading way before even the second murder scene, the story was engaging enough and Dresden amusing enough that I didn't mind to read about all the ways he tried to figure things out. Do yourself a favour and don't ever listen to Bob again, alright?

3. The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite, by Gerard Way & Gabriel Bá. I've known about this comic for years, but it was only after we watched the Netflix show that I decided I wanted to read it. I went in expecting something very similar to the show, but there were major differences. Personality wise they've done a pretty good job in casting, except Allison and Klaus are way cooler in the comic than they are in the show. Luther's body is way different in the comic than in the show. Considering the way he looks in the comic I think that would've been really hard to portray on camera without a blockbuster budget and lots of CGI. Klaus' powers are so much cooler in the comic too! Like he can fly/float and he's telekinetic on top of being psychic! All of them are sarcastic shits in the comic while they're mostly just sad sacks in the show because their lives have been hard. If I try to look at the comic objectively, and if I try to think of how it would be to start reading it without any previous knowledge of the characters or the story, then I assume it would fall pretty flat because it leaves a lot empty spaces and question marks in the story, but I really enjoyed the sarcastic shits and the action-packed superhero thing. Like I always do. I just really like superheroes. And sarcasm. 

4. The Umbrella Academy: Dallas, by Gerard Way & Gabriel Bá. Yes! This is what I'm talking about! Beautifully crafted threads of story that all come together in the end! For the show I felt that the second season was weaker than the first, but for the comic the second volume is way better and a lot stronger than the first. We finally have Hazel and Cha-Cha and the stupid goldfish. And I love that Vanya isn't the cause of the apocalypse this time around (she deserves a break), but that it's actually a joint effort by Five and Klaus. And Klaus has a baby?! omfg! Nothing in this volume turned out the way it did in the show and so I kept being pleasantly surprised every time I turned the page. This was so good.

5. The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion, by Gerard Way & Gabriel Bá. This one disappointed me. I believe it was designed to be the epic climax that brings everything introduced previously to a point and brings back old villains and heroes and there's a huge thing. Kind of like Endgame. But it fell completely short of it. Mostly I think because the villains hardly ever got established. Some of these villains show up briefly in Apocalypse Suite and are then never heard of or from again until this volume. It made the whole epic showdown seem disjointed. It was a lot of wait who are you and do I know you and where did you come from and how do you connect with all this? Vanya's sidestory was a whole lot more interesting to me than the epic showdown, too bad there was so little of it and nothing came of it before the volume ended. Worst part? The next volume isn't out yet. This volume ended the same way as season 2 of the show. Sort of. Same basis anyway. So that's gonna be interesting. 

Game completed: Cyberpunk 2077

One hundred hours later and I've done every side quest and all endings. I usually luck out on rocky releases and Cyberpunk wasn't an exception for me. It ran pretty smoothly. No missing textures, no falling through the map, no stuttering. Only glitches I found was that sometimes I couldn't pick up white trash loot because it had glitched into the ground. But that was it. And my GTX 1070 autodetected the game on ultra so I was happy about that. Didn't manage to run it at 120hz ofc, but I still had no major stuttering. Hair glitched, but hair never looks great in games tbh... So yay, game worked and I'm happy.

And holy shit I loved this game. The world, the quests, the characters, the aesthetic... Just mwah ♥ 

As with any game I look forward to I don't watch anything beside the announcement trailer. So Cyberpunk turned out to be everything I wasn't expecting and nothing at all like I was expecting. But in a good way. I was thoroughly blown away. 

Any downsides? Traffic was hell, driving in first person was terrible (so I always switched to third person for driving), and it happened way too many times that I accidentally chose a dialogue option when I was just trying to loot and a character started talking to me at the same time. Same button xD But Night City was so darn beautiful.

On a side note I really love that the band Samurai is available on Spotify as Samurai, even though it's Refused that's making the songs IRL. I'd love for Refused to do a world tour as Samurai and bring Keanu Reeves along and then have him appear on stage for every gig in full Silverhand getup. Can we please get on that?

HERE BE SPOILERS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

So in the order stuff pops into my head:

Johnny was an ass, but a loveable ass. Halfway through the game I was properly in love with the guy. And I really enjoyed every quest where he got to take over and be in control. Those were always a lot of fun. Especially his boys night out xD

I loved Judy- And she was so pretty. Half of my screenshots from this game are just close-ups of her. So I was really sad when I came to the decision to turn her down and stick with River. River was a lot better SO for V. Like seriously. I love you, Judy, but you're volatile. 

The side quests became soooo much better in the second act. I managed to play the quest with the crucifixion and the quest with Randy's kidnapping right after one another and I'm not sure whether I was blown away or grossed out, but both of those stayed with me. Because damn. Having to actually crucify a guy... I winced with every hit on the nails...

Losing Jackie in the beginning made me so sad and the memorial with Mama Welles brought me to tears. I used Jackie's bike 90% of the time after that. 

I super enjoyed the hidden side quest where I get to fix and then ride a rollercoaster. So much fun! And all the loveable AIs... Skippy and Delamain to name a few. I wasn't happy with how Delamain's quest ended for me. But all three choices had terrible downsides... 

And the endings... I played through all five of them. The first ending I chose was the default one which ultimately has you choose whether to surrender to Arasaka or not. I chose to surrender because V would die anyway. Sadness. Second ending I chose was going with Rogue and letting Johnny keep the body. I really liked the way this ending turned out, but that visit to the cemetery... More sad. Third ending was to go with Rogue but keep the body. V is still dying and the relationship is in shambles. Ffs. Fourth ending was to go with Panam and this ending shows the most promise in finding a way for V to survive. But losing Saul... SAD. Fifth ending is the one where V just goes fuck it all and commits suicide. That one broke me and I was trying so hard not to flat out burst into tears as the credits rolled and V's friends' voicemails started playing. Can I get one happy ending, please?! Just one?!?! :C

I definitely need to play through this game again. Once as a female and get Judy and maybe that means she'll go with me when I leave with Panam? She leaves on her own if you don't romance her so probably? And I also need to replay it as a male so I can get in Rogue's pants. 

One thing I learned from this game; sex scenes in first-person POV are very strange.

I loved this game.