panapp

An infinitely vain, narcissistic, and faux-ironic review, overflowing with gratuitous vulgarities that are hardly amusing: this is humor of the lowest, lowest caliber, easily recognizable by the constant salacious references that instead of enhancing the whole make it worse. I would also like to gloss over the calling of Sephiroth a "transgender Jew funded by the States" and referring to other users interested in reviewing this video game as "merde." Lastly, what infinite arrogance does the writer display by saying "I've said everything I think should be said"??? I give it a 2 instead of a 1 solely because I found here and there some intelligent observations ("it's a story disguised as a video game," "to what extent am I playing, and to what extent are they making me play?" etc.), which improve the situation without saving it; rather, they make it worse because it leads one to think that the reviewer might have something worthwhile to say but gets lost in the awfulness of a writing style that is simply annoying, believing instead that it is simply fantastic. About the game: exceptional blend of great characters, story, music, settings, and innovative ideas; the fame that precedes it is entirely deserved. On all the enormous merchandise created by Square Enix (movies, spin-offs, various versions): mere machinations to make money that are artistically poor and commercially fantastic.

Conceptually very intelligent, practically very unplayable: the gameplay is so complex and stressful that after five minutes you no longer feel like committing to it. However, I repeat, conceptually it is very intelligent.

All I know is that the medieval soundtrack of this chapter is worth 5 stars on its own. However, since I haven't played it even for a second, I can't give it a rating.

@DizionarioRock: I agree with everything.

Silvia Ziche is a genius of comics!!! I hope her greatness is fully recognized while she is still actively creating. The Papernovela and Topokolossal are wonderful, her long stories, short strips, and humorous vignettes in "Topolino" are amazing, and the extra-Disney stories are fantastic... I hope it's clear that I like her work! The two volumes of "Olimpo S.p.A." are nice, but Vincenzo Cerami is annoying and much of the credit goes to Ziche; "Infierno!" with Tito Faraci is much better.

@sexyajax: Duchamp created three nudes descending the stairs, of which the one exhibited in Rome is the famous number 2; number 1 is smaller (1 meter x 60 cm), and number 3 (1.5 meters by about 1 meter) is the one on photographic paper that you’re referring to. The one displayed in the exhibition I attended on May 3, 2009, was undoubtedly number 2: not only did I see it with my own eyes and read the label, but I also have the official catalog, not to mention that the work is extremely famous and cited in every single art history book as an oil on canvas. Obviously, you are confusing it with number 3. If you still don’t believe it, visit the Philadelphia MoA website where you can find the details of the three works and read for yourself: no. 1 Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 1) no. 2 (the one you are reviewing) Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) and no. 3 Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 3) If you're still not convinced, download from here 404 - File or directory not found. the free booklet that was given at the entrance of the exhibition (if you really visited, they surely handed it to you, so there’s no need for you to download it because you have a paper copy), go to page 15 and tell me what you read in the fourth and fifth line from the bottom; if you don’t feel like making this effort, I’ll do it for you, copy-pasting: «the criticism of the time considers his Nude descending the stairs no. 2 (1912) ‘too close to futurism’», a phrase preceded and followed by exhaustive demonstrations of the validity of this statement. I hope this is enough to dispel your illusion of the avant-gardes as distinct and non-communicating worlds. Lastly, regarding your observations about my state of spleen resulting from erotic deprivations, I must contradict you here as well because fortunately, I am a man with an active sex life and physiologically free from menstrual issues.

No.

@Tobby: I agree, the quality has dropped dangerously.

@Savickas: really? I didn't know that. Well, I still find it hard to believe he said something like that, considering that the Italian version is extraordinary and, to be honest, the singing in English is much weaker compared to the Italian version, infinitely smoother (could it be Danny Elfman's voice? Could it be the language? Who knows). Anyway, regarding the Italian dubbing, which I will ALWAYS support because it is excellent and often even enhances the performance of the original actor, I believe that Scorsese has also spoken very positively about it; I just can't remember which film he was referring to.

I don't rate the video game because I haven't played it, but since both my brother and sister are completely ADDICTED to it and I've been seeing it in front of my eyes practically every day for years, I feel I can comment. I abandoned "Final Fantasy VIII" after no more than three or four hours of play because honestly, I just can’t do it: even just the painfully complicated gray menu leaves my brain in a mess (and my siblings navigate it with ease... how do they do that???), then there are other small flaws here and there that honestly killed my enthusiasm. And be careful: I LOVE RPGs, especially/exclusively the Japanese ones (puzzle, musical, and RPGs are my favorite genres and the ones I excel at), but with this one, I don’t know what to say, I really just can’t handle it. However, I know well that it is revered as a total cult by many fans, so doing the math, I understand that it’s me who can’t play it, and not the game that is unplayable. This episode is probably the most cult of all (in the dual sense of "niche" and "beloved"), because VII and IX onward are all super famous, perfectly self-contained, and much more what you would call "normal Japanese RPGs" compared to this eighth chapter, where the developers wanted to create a sort of interactive realistic film, which is evident even if you just watch it for five minutes. Everything else (summons, combat method, minigames, the white cover with Yoshitaka Amano's drawing, etc.) are brilliant elements, but constant in the "Final Fantasy" saga and therefore do not count as improvements for this title. Although noble in its intentions, I still can't give it a top score because it just didn't capture me. P.S.: Faye Wong is also famous in Japan, but she is Chinese, not Japanese.