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Lou Grande (148 KP) rated Suikoden II in Video Games

May 12, 2018

Suikoden II

1999 | Role-Playing

8.3

(4 Ratings)

Video Game Rating

108 Characters (4 more)

Expanded World

Multiple Endings

Sidequests

Great Music

Favorite Game - Hands Down

Like the first game, Suikoden II centers on a young man who is pulled into a war between nations. Once again, you must collect the 108 Stars of Destiny, and your success determines how the story ends. Several characters from Suikoden I appear here, as the story is only set a few years after. I love everything about this game, down to the sprites. Although it follows the same basic formula as the first, it improves on it in almost every way. The music is better, the battle system is better, and the plot is much more far-reaching and ambitious--and heartbreaking, depending on how you play your cards. Luca Blight is a terrifyingly human villain. It's a pity this game was so rare in its day.

Kudos

Before the Crown

Flora Harding

9.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Before the crown there was a love story… Windsor Castle, 1943 As war rages across the world,...

Kati Horna

Jean-Francois Chevrier, Estrella de Diego, Petar Baki and Kati Horna

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

On the occasion of the centenary of the birth of photographer Kati Horna. The Museo Amparo in Puebla...

ClareR (6225 KP) rated Songlight in Books

May 13, 2026

Songlight

Moira Buffini | 2024 | Dystopia, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

This book is so underrated - I hadn’t heard of it before I chanced upon it. And it’s supposed to be YA? There are parts that I would think were most certainly not YA - but then I think it’s a term thrown about far too much. In my opinion, this is an excellent book that I listened to compulsively! As a multi-book reader, I actually put the others to one side for the duration of Songlight.

Songlight is set in a dystopian world ravaged by war, and a country under the dictatorial control of a regime that decides whether you deserve to live or die based on whether you possess a telepathic gift. They decide to go to war with a neighbouring country in order to take their land (their own having been destroyed, pretty much, by climate change and a war sometime in the past that we don’t learn that much about), and destroy their telepaths. Telepaths are sent to something called a Chrysalis House, where they’re more or less lobotomised and turned into slaves to the state.

Women are subservient (not my favourite trope, it has to be said), but are learning to be quietly rebellious. They still must live in a world where they become first, second or third wives. Third wives are prostitutes in brothels. Again, women are the ones most affected by war and dictatorial regimes. I hate this idea, but it’s so well dealt with in this.

I adored this, and immediately went back over to Xigxag to buy the second book. I haven’t listened to it yet, but it’s on my TBR!!

Kudos

David McK (3791 KP) rated Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) in Movies

Mar 20, 2021

As I write this in the Spring on 2021, the first episode of 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier' has just dropped on Disney+.

Originally intended to be the first post-snap TV series to be released (before Covid hit, and the release dates were reordered so that WandaVision came first), both series are set after the events of Avengers: Endgame, which - to date - is the last appearance of Chris Evans Steve Rogers aka Captain America.

This was his first (and the 5th released, albeit earliest set, MCU film)

Essentially a retro sci-fi origin story, this is largely set during World War 2 and sees Captain America taking on Hydra and their leader The Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), aided by the Howling Mad commandos, Agent Peggy Carter (who would get her own TV show) and his best mate Bucky Barnes.

Speaking personally, I also have to say that - character wise - I don't feel that the Captain America movies really got good until The Winter Soldier, where the MCU really started exploring the 'man out of time' context of the character.

Having said that, this is perfectly pleasant.