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Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
2019 | Sci-Fi, Thriller
Over-hyped? Yes. Good? Meh. Then why a 7? Read on.
So, I'll keep this spoiler-free, although I'm sure everyone and their dog will have seen this within a week of it's release. Let me say here that when I watch a movie, I remember the boring parts, especially when most of the movie is boring. And I also don't fall for it when the ending of a movie is awesome & so I leave the theater thinking the whole movie was awesome, when it just wasn't.

Anyway, the movie starts with a scene that could have been (and should have been) the ending to Infinity War & it would have changed nothing of the "half the world is dead" cliffhanger we were left with. We would have also gotten a shorter final movie, which would be better off. At least we wouldn't have those ridiculous "when to pee" articles on the internet. Please. I've seen all the Lord of the Rings movies in the theater. Nobody talked pee breaks & those movies were far superior to the Marvel movies. So, after this fantastic beginning, we then get a long sequence of scenes where it seems to want to re-introduce the characters we've seen in 20 freaking films already. Let's catch-up, shall we? Yes, let's make a 3 hour movie to show us our heroes eating lunch. Are you kidding me? The film goes on too long here & it's all very unnecessary. We are finally told the heroes are going to do something about the situation & they start to figure out how to do it. So, here's a minor SPOILER here, so skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to see it. The heroes decide to get the Infinity stones. And here's where there's a problem for me. See in Infinity War, I felt Thanos got the stones too easily. In a half hour, he got all 6. Well, the heroes get them even quicker in this film. What could have been made into a separate movie, they have the stones in 20 minutes. Playing with time-travel, they could have spread out the nostalgic look back into the older films, like they did in this film, but they could have had a lot more fun or play with it like Back to the Future II did when Marty went back to 1955 again. I felt a missed opportunity.

Okay, no more spoilers. So after the heroes do this, they now have to ability to do what they want & then starts maybe the greatest piece of film I've ever seen. At least in any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. It's incredible & a comic-book fan's sweet dream come true. There are really no surprises as to what is going to happen. You know who's showing up. You know when they're showing up & you know what the endgame is going to be. Again, I will not give anything away, but I'm pretty sure everyone knows someone or someones will not continue on. We know the rumors & you've heard the end will bring you to tears. So, after this scene, we are "treated" to about 15 minutes of a sad sequence. Boo Hoo. We say goodbye, but then something extraordinary. The final scene to the film is perfect. It fixes one of what I considered a great injustice in the MCU & ends the film with a "YES!" moment.

So, final verdict is I am giving the film a 7 out of 10. Don't believe the perfect 10 scores. It's not a 10. In fact, I feel that if I ever watch it again, I will probably watch the beginning, then skip to the end. Most of the film is filler to lead us to that phenomenal scene.
  
Tiny Epic Defenders
Tiny Epic Defenders
2015 | Fantasy, Medieval
The Tiny Epic series. Where do we begin? They’re tiny and they’re epic – need I say more? Oh, I do have to say more? Ok then, here I go. Tiny Epic Defenders was the first of these games that I ever played, so I think it’s appropriate that it is the first one we review!

DISCLAIMER!! This review is for vanilla Tiny Epic Defenders, first edition. We have since added the second edition and The Dark War expansions, so we will revisit this game again including those additions for a nice contrast. -T

A kingdom at peace, finally, after years of war. All is calm across the lands, but the quiet never lasts. Reports start to come in of monsters spotted in the surrounding regions. If they manage to take over the Capital City, all will be lost. But there is still hope! A group of mighty warriors bands together to defend their kingdom at all costs! Only by working together can this group (the only line of defense between peace and destruction) defeat the monsters and save the realm!

In Tiny Epic Defenders, you play as one of the heroes trying to defend the kingdom. You and your comrades must travel between the outer regions of the kingdom and fend off the advancing monsters! Communication and cooperation are key – one small misstep could be the difference between victory and defeat. All of the heroes have unique special abilities, and all of the regions of the kingdom offer either a bonus or penalty for the heroes defending them. On your turn, you get 3 actions to either move, defend, or use a special ability. Once per round, there will be a group turn, where you must collectively decide how to best use the 3 actions between all players. New monsters surface every round, and eventually the Epic Foe will begin its final assault on the realm! If you manage to slay the Epic Foe before the Capital City falls, you win! But if you are overrun with monsters, unfortunately it’s game over for your kingdom.

The thing about Tiny Epic Defenders is that it starts off seemingly super easy, but then suddenly everything is on fire and you lose. I think that disparity comes from the turn order. The turn deck is shuffled anew every round, so the hero turns are not always evenly spaced throughout the deck. Sometimes all of the hero turns occur early in the round, which allow monsters who emerge later to attack undefended regions (players can move only on their turn), and overwhelm the heroes. The same happens if all the hero turns occur too late in the round – the monsters have already done their worst and the heroes must scramble to rectify the situation. And on top of that, a more menacing monster is added to the deck every round as well, so that just creates more of an imbalance between player turns and monster turns.

Even though the game can get a little overwhelming, I do really like the cooperative aspect of it! Everyone is working towards the same goal and all communication is open and free. Need advice for what to do on your turn? Just ask! Have an idea about how to deal with a certain monster? Tell the group! No single player bears all of the pressure because it really is a group effort!

Someday soon we will get the Second Edition to the table. And get that expansion added in too. But for the time being, our thoughts based solely on the original base game, Purple Phoenix Games give Tiny Epic Defenders a 16 / 24.

https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2018/12/05/tiny-epic-defenders-review/
  
Let me get this out of the way first. I do like games like Dynasty Warriors and they are fun to play when I just want to relax and do a few minutes of hack and slash, so I didn't mind that Dragon Quest Heroes seemed to be a mashup of Dynasty Warriors, Tower Defense, and Hyrule Warriors. It was different and not like Dragon Quest 8 and 9 which I loved, but I did find myself having fun with it. The graphics are beautiful and you have over 10 characters from the various Dragon Quest games to choose from to be in your party. There are a lot of references to the Dragon Quest lore which is fun as well.

First fight with a dragon!

The tutorial for the controls is easy to follow and the game play controls handle really well. The battle system for the most part is pretty decently thought out and you can play a quick mission here and there. You can switch back and forth between your party members with a quick press of a button which is handy. The story isn't as good as previous Dragon Quest games with a pretty thin plot and a rather sub-par ending. The thing that really shines is the various special battle moves characters can do and the tension gauge. As your heroes land hits on monsters, the tension meter builds up and once it's full you can unleash a chain of powerful attacks that will defeat your enemies.


Tension attacks really pack a punch.

There are side quests you can do while doing the main story; mainly fetch quests or defeat a certain number of monsters. That can get tedious after a while because you revisit some of the same dungeon areas. There's a lack of exploration as you basically just go from one dungeon crawl area to another. Sure the airship town is cool, but I would have liked an opportunity to at least get to check out areas freely rather than have a go from point A to point B situation. Level grinding is pretty easy especially with the live weekend events they have where you can get extra EXP for your heroes (20% this weekend), rare items, and bonus gold. With all the battles your heroes do you can earn more than enough gold to buy weapons and gear for your party which is pretty great. The addition of monster medals is also a plus. Monster medals drop off any monsters you defeat and you can use the medals to summon those monsters to fight alongside you.


A town with everything you need all on one ship!

While I did like Dragon Quest Heroes, I did not love it the way I have the previous games. It is good, but it's not perfect. I understand they went in a different direction and for the most part it works and is fun up to a point. In many of the missions there's usually an object that must be protected from the onslaught of monsters and strategy is crucial here as well as deciding your party setup and which monsters to summon. However, sometimes the strategy isn't enough because there can be hordes of monsters that can overwhelm your party and as you're struggling to zip to and from different areas, it can be frustrating as you try to read a very cluttered map. Sometimes you will fail a mission and have to try again from the beginning. The one good thing about that is all your EXP and items you've gained carry over. It can get repetitive and I did find myself a little bored as I progressed. I tried different tactics if I had trouble with a mission and trying different things does help to an extent. The AI can also be incredibly stupid. There were a few times where I had a party member just standing there doing nothing while they would be attacked by enemies.


Early dungeons start out okay and then it gets complicated.



The game play overall is good, but it's not great. Dragon Quest Heroes is fun to play once and not at full price especially with only 30 hours of play time. I'd suggest waiting until it goes on sale or buying it used. It pains me to say that because I love the Dragon Quest series, but this game could have been better and it just felt so much like a Dynasty Warriors/Hyrule Warriors clone in places which left me a little disappointed.
  
Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer
Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer
Rick Riordan | 2016 | Children
10
9.4 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Talking Sword (3 more)
Sassiness
Strange Gods
Elf and Drawf BFF
Norse Gods and a new sassy half-blood? Why yes I would like to sign my life over for this.

Magnus Chase has had it tough enough living on the streets after wolves killed his mother, but then it all goes down the toilet when he dies attempting to do something for his estrange uncle. Next thing you know he is in the afterlife for other great heroes, Valhalla, trying to grasp being the living dead and who is actually is. On top of having to save the world, prove he is worth being part of Odin's army, and overcoming what happened to him.
  
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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Duolingo Spanish Podcast in Podcasts

Jan 4, 2018 (Updated Jan 4, 2018)  
Duolingo Spanish Podcast
Duolingo Spanish Podcast
Education
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Podcast Rating
Interesting and useful
@Duolingo is one of the most popular language learning apps on the market, so it was only a matter of time it explored other avenues. With its new Spanish podcast range, it has upped its game, as it feels much more useful and meaningful than learning sentences such as "I am a pretty duck".

The main topic of discussion is life experiences, from meeting heroes to rites of passage - it seems far more relevant than the content of the app. And the podcast is bilingual. However, it is for intermediate level which is perhaps why the content is a bit more interesting and varied. So far, so good.
  
Mortal Engines (2018)
Mortal Engines (2018)
2018 | Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Surprising
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The acting was good with interesting characters. The cinematography, imagery, effects were all very well done. The story unfolded ok but had a lot of very predictable parts. This was a "Steam Punk" future world with a lot of cool stuff in it but had just a bit of a "Star Wars-esque" feel to it. Not in a bad way, though. But the story, simplified, was that someone opened Pandora's box and the heroes had to shut it down. Anyway, if you enjoy a good sci-fi/action/adventure tale with just a smidge of love story thrown in, you'll really enjoy this movie. Worth a watch!
  
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
2019 | Sci-Fi, Thriller
It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for. Avengers: Endgame (2019) Review
“Avengers: Endgame” does everything it needed to do, and then some. It does some of the things you expected it to do, but perhaps not in quite the way you expected. You may be expecting an action-packed adventure across time and space as the heroes desperately seek redemption after their first real defeat but what you may not be expecting is how much of a character-driven victory lap the Russos and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have managed to weave organically into the story to propel us to the MCU’s most potent and emotive finale to date...

FULL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/CraggusEndgame
  
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Ross (3284 KP) rated Arrow in TV

May 28, 2018  
Arrow
Arrow
2012 | Drama
This series is a decent attempt at chronicling the background, and current activities of one of the DC Universe's lesser known/adapted for the screen heroes - the Green Arrow. While it starts as quite a dark, Batman-esque vigilante, it soon develops into a more team-based, lighter-hearted series. I think part of this is to fit more naturally with the cheesy spandex of The Flash. Despite this, the character of Oliver Queen retains a dark streak and his actions are much more morally dubious, giving it an edge. The story flips between present day and the island Oliver was marooned on, where he learned the skills needed to become the Green Arrow.
  
TB
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book was an absolute delight! It had me captivated from page one and I could hardly put it down! I brought the book everywhere with me so I could get in a few pages in a spare moment.

I loved that the main characters were heroic, but not heroes. The whole concept of the Greatcoats being cast down by society and hated by everyone was fascinating to me. It made the characters more interesting and the struggles more real. The characters and plot was compelling. There was intrigue and action. I borrowed the first one from the library but have already purchased them all from a bookstore online so I can read the rest shortly! :)