fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3039 ]

[ SECRET POST #3039 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3039 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Starsky and Hutch]

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(legend of Zelda)

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[Ernest Hemingway (and his cat)]

Notes:

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What are some shows/books/other media you think would've been better if they'd done one or more things differently (with specific things in mind)? Can be something you liked and just think needed improvement, something you hated, or in between. (For ease, though, list the fandom in the subject.)

What I am going to say might break people's hearts, so let me just say I LOVE this character, and it hurts to say this. But...

I sort of think the later seasons of Buffy would've been better if they'd killed off Giles in season five. (Instead of killing Buffy.) Anthony Head didn't want to do the show anymore, and his cameos could've been supernatural or flashbacks, like they did with Joyce. That would also have explained the disconnect between the characters far better - without Giles, they would literally have to rebuild everything, especially Willow, Buffy and Xander, who were brought together by him.

Also, I think Willow's evil spell (heh) should've been what it seemed to be all along - a result of her wanting to fight for the greater good and going too far with it. In season two, the only reason she becomes interested in magic is Jenny Calendar's death. That's her main incentive, to finish what her teacher and mentor started. So when she loses another teacher and mentor, she becomes even more persistent.

This is an interesting theory. I have trouble agreeing with it though because Giles is my fav and I felt like the show really suffered when Anthony Head started showing up less. But I can see your argument for it.

My personal change to Buffy would be to get rid of the potentials and therefor get rid of the plotline to make them all Slayers. I wasn't a fan of the Slayer army and in the last season it diverted too much attention away from the main cast (plus it's kind of a cruel thing to do to other girls when Buffy struggled so much as a Slayer and a Slayer has the instinct to seek out death.)

Jesse survives the first episode instead of Xander.

(Or, in my dreams, Xander is replaced by Shawn and Gus from Psych)

I think including Garcia was a big mistake; she never fit with the team and her exposition was always awkward. Also, I think they needed to have all the characters say each other's names a lot, especially early on. I had a lot of trouble knowing who was who and why I should care about them. They should've made it much clearer what made a Red Cell team different from the BAU (I know it says what the difference is in the opening sequence but in practice, they seemed to be the same thing). And they shouldn't have focused quite so much on Sam Cooper's character in the first season and made him so mythical.

The show had a great cast. The writing was a little shaky but I thought it was improving. If they had done the things I mentioned, I think they would've gotten a second season and more time to iron out the kinks.

So, I just played through BSI and the Burial At Sea DLC and I can tell you right out that Burial At Sea is what BSI should have been. The main game could easily have included the alternate universe angle (which I'd still hate, but tolerate a bit more) and included parts of the gilded-age setting without completely getting rid of the main reason people played Bioshock in the first place (Rapture and its moody, nocturnal, urban art deco orgy.) As it is, we had to put up with gameplay that boils down to Call of Duty fuckfest and a hamfisted critique of American exceptionalism, paternalism, racism and the age of the robber baron that could have worked if not for the game completely undermining itself by making a lame point about how resistance groups are no better than tyrants, which is glib, trite, undifferentiated, and ahistorical (and pretty much a popular plutocratic meme designed to keep people on the fence from siding against them.)

I mildly disagree. I think that the idea of Columbia and the imagery are beautiful and ripe with potential. However, I think that my personal problem with the game was that Columbia felt more empty and less alive than Rapture, even though it was supposed to be a thriving city. The mechanics of it didn't make sense. The vigors and tonics were poorly explained and appeared to be there because "it's Bioshock". The citizens didn't use them. The enemies used them, but why only the enemies?

I think they struck on an interesting topic with the racism of the time, and could have incorporated the concept of CHOICE which was in the original Bioshock. They could have focused less on the fantastical and more on the reality of such a city and the people in it, just like Bioshock did. Maybe that would be a lame "copy", but Columbia's ideas were so fundamentally different from Rapture that it would still have been interesting. But nooo. Alternate universes. This whole "blowing your mind" bullshit that we all know and love (lol) from Doctor Who and other franchises. My mind doesn't want to be blown. I want to enjoy my game! Have some questions at the end!

Like you mentioned, the gameplay was awful. The vigors were less flexible than the plasmids and only one or two of them made it to the arsenal with little capabilities. The weapons were uninteresting and not upgradable. The enemies were boring. I was bored with endlessly being attacked by these stupid guys with guns (all the same) and the Handymen were a godawful chore. I loved fighting the Big Daddies and I can't figure out what the difference was. Bioshock Infinite seemed to suck the fun out of the combat.

(P.S. You're right about their stupid resistance group point. "Who are the real bad ones????" That gets old fast.)

I don't disagree that Columbia was pretty and had potential but totally empty. Even though Rapture was basically one big abandoned mall right out of a 70s/80s dystopian sci-fi (complete with roving gangs of freaks) it had something of a stronger sense of place. Columbia just felt like a setpiece... not unlike the first Mafia in that regard (still don't understand that game's popularity.)

Burial At Sea fixed just about everything wrong with BSI, including how poorly explained the vigors were as well as regressing the gameplay back to the classic open-ended exploration game that's been a staple since System Shock 1. The only thing it didn't do was adequately explain how the city could float beyond some handwaving about quantum particles or some such nonsense. At least Rapture basically boiled down to "good old human ingenuity and advanced science" -- though there's an audiolog in Burial At Sea that claims most of the structures were built with aluminum, which is complete nonsense. Water pressure, what's that? (I liked the novel's explanation better, in which most of the materials -- glass included -- were a custom alloy by Ryan's scientists.)

I will say that I did enjoy some of the weapons, but there were too many of them and the strict two-gun limit was frustrating.

Definitely like a set piece. Rapture made me want to wander around and see everything. I spent hours just trying to get all of the audiobooks. With Columbia, I felt there was nothing to be seen and nothing new to be explored. Yeah. They're racist. They're SUPER racist. I get it, with the racism. There was so much potential that was just wasted, which seems worse than just an outright bad "Dress Up Barbie" game.

I must admit I haven't played BSI. I took a little offense to this retconning of the Bioshock world, because I didn't want it to be like Elizabeth really had a hand in everything and was the true God or whatever. I feel like when they don't try really hard to explain something, it works a lot better. Their lame attempt at explaining Columbia's existence with that whole part of the level seemed too hamfisted. I didn't question its existence until they did that.

I liked the hand cannon, I think. I also liked using that sky hook thing to kill people. I loved the drill in Bioshock 2 but I think I was alone in liking that game.

Oh god you are NOT alone in liking Bioshock 2. I like the first game okay but the 2nd is easily in my top 10 favorite games of all time. And not just because Ken Levine had nothing to do with it.

I love everything about that game, holy fuck.

Haha, yes, finally someone who likes it! All I've met are people who hated it or never played it. I LOVED the Big Sisters - they were a bit of a pain to fight, but so cool in general. I thought the story was great and I really liked escorting the Little Sisters.

The Big Sisters are legitimately the best fights in the entire series, they really force you to be aware of the area around you as well as smart use of the powers and equipment you have on hand.

I love how the game just takes this massive melancholy shift in tone, too. And the colors! Colors everywhere! The bioluminescence is a really neat play off the neon signs that were all over BS1.

Donna never being mind - wiped.

Yeah. That was bullshit.

DA I'll add and say she should have stayed on for another series, maybe even be there for the 10 to 11 regeneration.

Yes, this. Also agree to another series with Donna. Donna and Eleven would have been awesome.

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[ SECRET POST #3039 ]

It would've been better if...

Buffy

Re: Buffy

Buffy

Criminal Minds SB

Bioshock Infinite

Re: Bioshock Infinite

Re: Bioshock Infinite

Re: Bioshock Infinite

Re: Bioshock Infinite

Re: Bioshock Infinite

Re: Bioshock Infinite

Doctor Who

Re: Doctor Who

Re: Doctor Who

Re: Doctor Who