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From The Archives:
The Gradient of Plot Holes
Most stories have plot holes. The failure isn't that they exist, it's when you notice them while immersed in the story.
I Was Wrong About Borderlands 3
I really thought one thing, but then something else. There's a bunch more to it, but you'll have to read the article.
Skylines of the Future
Cities: Skylines is bound to have a sequel sooner or later. Where can this series go next, and what changes would I like to see?
Megatextures
A video discussing Megatexture technology. Why we needed it, what it was supposed to do, and why it maybe didn't totally work.
Programming Vexations
Here is a 13 part series where I talk about programming games, programming languages, and programming problems.
Oh wow, that strip is how I discovered Shamus’ blog, I think. The last panel got posted to TvTropes.
I followed a link to the uncertainty lich from a different webcomic (I forget which one).
FWIW, I think this is one of the panels where the framing device of the roleplaying game kind of breaks down, and this is clearly Shamus taking a swipe at the movie itself.
Because otherwise… I mean, what is this even representing at the “players sitting around a table” level? Is the DM giving a long description of the orc army encircling them with Aragorn’s player occasionally interrupting with “wait for it”s? That doesn’t really fit their behavior.
It’s a fair point. This has always come off as riffing on the jokes about how “Aragorn” is bad at strategy and being a leader. If it was “in game” commentary I would think there would be constant narration about how the orc forces just keep growing, surrounding the party, etc.
Fair point.
I kind of chalk this up to the movie in general feeling very rushed towards the end. I get that they didn’t want to make a 4th movie, and the third was already approaching butt-pain lengths even in the comfiest cinema seats.
But given how long it took Frodo and Sam to get TO Mordor, the speed in which the movie rushes them through it (without even any visually implied time passing like camp scenes or montages) feels weirdly fast. Like Aragorn just tilted the entire country to make the orc soup flow to one side, and then the halflings power-stumble to Mount Doom inside of one battle’s worth of time.
I love the movies, but I wish almost everything between the Corsairs and Sauron exploding had been given more breathing space.
Anyway, I need to plan time for another rewatch…
“Excellent. We can now attack in any direction!”
A target rich environment.