Plex and the Streaming of Media

 

Streaming has made life more easy.

The dispute or controversy surrounding ownership, copyright and distribution of media will not be talked about today.

In the past, I was introduced to the software media platforms called XBMC, and later on Kodi. For a while, using my small media based mini PC, I used them primarily for my movies and TV series, and I used external storage instead of the LAN.

For about six months now, I discovered Plex because of a tip in my social network, and I found how comfortable and easier it is to use it's streaming, or cloud frame work across several devices. In combination with my LG C8 and a Gigabit based network, I became hooked.

Setting up the media server on my custom PC was straightforward, although I was looking for a while how I was able to synchronize and update my various libraries such as films and pictures. The sleek stylish basic interface is also nice, although customization is available.

Of course competition exists, but I am not the most tweaking engineer out there, and I was quickly content with what Plex offers. Customizing stuff can be a fun thing to do though, one of the earliest examples I can give of that personally is using various Winamp skins.

Plex is worth trying and using in the current age as home theater software, or simply as a media server as many environments and OS's are compatible with it.

Super Mario Odyssey Part 2

 New Donk City

As promised, here's part 2.

But perhaps a part 3 is needed as well, because at the time of writing, I only have collected a meager 250 Power Moons in total so far...and I know how much there are in total for Super Mario Odyssey, the biggest 3D Mario game yet.

After the credits, moon rocks will fall down on all of the kingdoms, and if you touch them with Cappy, more Power Moons will appear all over the maps. Some of them are easily found, others require some kind of condition, challenge or perception.

And then there are those where you really will need to decipher the environment or review the hints in order to find them.  I was surprised to unlock another area after reaching number 250, I wonder if there is anything else left.

Anyhow, a buddy of mine told an interesting review on his own regarding the game's level design. It is designed in such a brilliant way that both veterans, including speed runners and hardcore fans, as well as newcomers, can beat the game.

Precisely because the design lets you perform and work with it either by the advanced move sets available, some of which are never explained in a tutorial, or simply by only running, jumping and doing Cappy's basic throw.

Not only is Super Mario Odyssey packed with content, it makes you feel happy and cozy, and it's brilliant, as the momentum is hard to resist. As for me personally, I play it in my leisure time alongside other recent major releases.

Let's rate this a 8.8 for now. Let's see if that will fluctuate in the future!

Chronologically Confused about Kingdom Hearts

 Monstrous Monstro

Inspired by James Rolfe AKA AVGN's latest episode, as well as the nature of the game's overall plot being timely complex, let's write a bit about it. Although, as a disclaimer and stating the obvious; we are only talking about video games, and we are having fun discussing the timeline and events.

While preparing for Kingdom Hearts III, by now, I have also managed to beat Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance, which are alongside Kingdom Hearts I and II, which I beat last year, key for understanding the overall saga.

Birth by Sleep is a prequel towards most of the franchise’s chronology, it lets you play as 3 different characters Terra, Ventus and Aqua, who are friends and go through similar adventures in here, although it is recommended to play and beat each campaign in that particular order.

The Disney worlds are a mix of old and new ones such as Olympus Colosseum and Deep Space. The story chronicles the three becoming worthy Keyblade wielders, while Master Xehanort’s origin is depicted, who seems to be the overall main antagonist.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is more of the same gameplay and story if you liked KH 1 and KH 2, although as it originally was released onto the PSP, it feels like smaller segments.

Rating: 7.5

Dream Drop Distance sees you returning to play as both Sora and Riku, as they traverse familiar and new worlds to awaken 7 sleeping keyholes because of overall plot progression. The combat is intact, while a new interactive free flow mechanic lets you act upon environmental objects and solve puzzles or deal damage as results.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is new, while returning worlds include Monstro and Tron, although the stories and level designs are new. As it first was a 3DS game, it got a HD remaster on the Final Chapter Prologue collection, and now it looks and plays similar to I and II.

More of the overall plot's overall meaning is explained, what Xehanort and his numerous forms are really planning, more stuff about friendship and Kingdom Hearts, and many characters return in here. I must say that the campaigns are about the same level of enjoyment, although Square Enix really went too far with Riku's final bosses while Sora only seems to have gotten 1.

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is also a continuation of everything for the franchise, while it sets up the events for the next game. It's a fine addition and among the best available.

Rating: 7.9

 Halloween Town

Now to talk briefly about the overall plot and saga of the Darkseeker Xehanort. So basically he wants to get the special X blade in order to ignite a second Keyblade War so that Kingdom Hearts can happen again and thus have a balance between light and darkness.

Mickey and other Keyblade wielders or Masters are there to keep hearts, light and friendships intact, and to stop Xehanort's many forms, including Ansem, Xemnas, Terra Xehanort, Young Xehanort and most likely more, as Organization XIII is build with ambitions in mind.

Meanwhile, Sora happens to have numerous forms too, including Ventus, Roxas and Xion, which all exist for various reasons. And then you have the Disney worlds with their recognizable characters and the princesses which are also a key in the storyline.

And then there are guest cameos by Final Fantasy characters, as well as The World End With You if you played DDD. And then the normal enemies consist of Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed and Dream Eaters, which all exist also because of plot mechanics.

Can you still follow it? Yeah? Well, too be honest, I got tired by this point to write more about the grand plot, so I will leave it here at that and instead watch a fancy compilation video on YouTube by a hardcore fan who can explain things much better than me.

You can correct me about what I wrote, but I don't care, as it's fun to interpreted and guess stuff on my own.

As I said, despite Kingdom Hearts, a complex and confusing narrative, it's still fun to try to understand it, or make fun of it.

Anyhow, let's finally experience the sequel that is long overdue!

Upcoming Promising Games in 2019

REmake 2

My most anticipated video game of the foreseeable upcoming year, REmake 2, or Resident Evil 2, is looking fantastic, what with the gore being spilled and delivered everywhere. I get really excited of the fact that although the police station looks familiar,

everything has been thrown into the remix pan, and new puzzles, mechanics from Resident Evil 7, careful lightning and darkness design, voice acting, graphics and the highly likely possibility of uncovering new areas, story and enemies finishes off what might be the best remake video game since the first REmake, one of my all time favorite games.

Kingdom Hearts III

While typing this, I am finishing off the related games after finishing part 1 and 2 last year. As Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance are mandatory for the overall plot, I am almost done with them, while I while watch the rest through the available cut scenes.

Kingdom Hearts III, like Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian, took forever to develop, and now Squeenix is finally releasing it. With a modern graphical engine and beautiful new Dinsey worlds to discover such as Toy Story, Rapunzel and Big Hero 6, consider me joyful. Despite the inconsistent overall plot narration, everything else is fun to experience with this franchise!

Sekiro

Hidetaka Miyazaki and his primary team are almost bringing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the spiritual successor of both Tenchu and the Soulsborne games. With a controversial new approach as to making it a single player only experience, the online experience is removed.

What is added though is that the overall design is intended for the sole player to explore, as the open design with the ability to slingshot your way very quickly around, combined with stealth and the robust action RPG gameplay we are familiar with makes this look good.

The demonic Japanese setting seems to compete with Nioh 2 and Ghost of Tsushima, but make not mistake; that's only aesthetically speaking. From Software has promised to bring a deep layer of lore to Sekiro as well, as well as stating that the death penalty will be unlike anything gamers has seen.

Also saying that it's more challenging than anything in last 10 years they released, I really hope that Sekiro succeeds wonderfully, especially just like Demon's Souls, the first Dark Souls and Bloodborne did, as first entries seems to be when Miyazaki and From Software excel the most.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Graphically, this game needs some serious work. However, if the gameplay is anything like Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, which is just like Castlevania, then it will be worth waiting for, whether it's linear, or whether it's Metroidvania type.

I will cautiously await for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. And these 4 are basically the only known video games I am looking forward too! Usually I have a few more, but I'm sure that like any year, 2019 will bring out a worthy GotY title, and unexpected great new IP's, or sequels.

Upcoming Promising Movies in 2019

I'm happy to report that there will be numerous promising movies for this year, but the ones that excite me the most are:

John Wick: Chapter 3

My most anticipated movie, the expertly crafted Jown Wick movies so far have been the modern action sequenced variants of earlier ones such as Taken, The Matrix and Die Hard. Keanu Reeves is intimidating, convincing, stellar and most of all a bad-ass, and I can't wait to see how the assassin underground world will bleed out further because of people who touched his dog and repaying debts.

Breaking Bad Movie

Both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul have been mindblowing in their own ways as TV series, with crazy writings, cliffhangers and fun characters to witness, and with the recent announcement of a feature film, let's see if Jesse Pinkman can carry it on his own.

Avengers: Endgame

With one of the biggest cliffhangers in recent movie history, everyone, from comic nerds to regular moviegoers, to film buffs, will want to know how The Avengers and thus the majority of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will end with Endgame. I like to get surprised with this blockbuster movie, so like previous Avengers movies, I will anticipate this one with my buddies, and enjoy the massive all-stars ride that already worked so well, especially with Infinity War. Thanks Thanos for messing everyone up!

Star Wars: Episode IX

Will J.J. Abrams save the horrible fate of Star Wars's current state as a franchise? After The Last Jedi, which shook everyone up, despite me liking that one as well, so many people felt confounded and disappointed by it. I have never been a big fan of Star Wars, but it's hard to deny it's global popularity and the hype it spreads. I don't think that Kylo Ren can carry the whole movie as an antagonist, so I hope that Snoke returns. Whatever happens after the current milking of Star Wars by Disney, let's see where the sequel trilogy will stand after Episode IX; either with the prequels, or with the originals.

Dark Phoenix

From what I have understood, the movie rights of the X-Men have been bought by Walt Disney Company, so after, or perhaps during X-Men: Dark Phoenix's running time, we might see them make contact with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Anyhow, Dark Phoenix tells the famous story arc of Jean Grey's transformation into the Dark Phoenix, a story that I remember seeing during the 90's animation of the X-Men. I wonder though, will Wolverine ever return as a character after the incredible future Logan movie, as I remember that he is important towards Jean Grey as well, next to Cyclops?
 

The canonical continuation of The Terminator franchise 

James Cameron finally returns towards perhaps his most well known cinematic production, The Terminator, not as a director, but as a producer. With Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton returning as the original characters, could this entry finally redeem the status towards the legendary part 1 and of course Terminator 2: Judgment Day? If it ret-con's the previous entries Rise of the Machines, Salvation and Genisys, and that's rather a big if at this point, how the hell can the aging Arnold, Linda and James still make it work? Consider me cautiously excited by this soft reboot.

Detroit: Become Human

 

It took a while, but Quantic Dream has developed a fine new addition to their portfolio, and this one might be my favorite.

Detroit: Become Human is a third person interactive game, or as I like to call these, a movie game, where you play as 3 different characters with a premise that is very interesting to think about; artificial intelligence taking over on many levels, if not all.

As Kara, you will take care of a neglected child, escape, hide and attempt to cross the border. As Connor, you will partner up with a veteran detective and investigate, interrogate and question allegiance.

As Markus, whom I first found to be dull, you will fall into loss and defeat, until you revive and re-invent yourself, finding a revolutionary new movement, lead it, define what it means to survive, and become a savior by any means necessary.

Connor's relationship with Hank is the most interesting to follow and see develop, as the android and human both have the simplest and deepest conversations throughout the story. Kara and Alice's is rather standard, while Markus gets to cope and deal with the biggest questions, topics and problems.

The game's flowchart and thus it's narrating nature lets you change the outcome of important decisions during dialogue trees for many events, meaning that you can review this structure and then decide if it's worthy to replay.

Quick time events will occupy mainly the action sequences, which got better the farther you got with the 32 chapters available, and with some of the playable androids, through augmented reality, they can analyze physical decisions to make and reconstruct crime scenes.

It was nice to switch between the 3, as it kept playing more binge worthy, and because the arcs overlap, you get to see the outcome of previous decisions. Upon beating the game, I managed to get the good ending, as all 3 of them survived in the end.

The graphics and especially the motion capturing need no clarification, as they speak for themselves, what a technical achievement. While the gameplay for these kind of games is "low", the story, setting and characters more than make up for that.

While I really enjoy Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain as well, Detroit: Become Human's dialogue options and levels of emotion, as well as asking what it means to be free, to be alive, and to be aware, is what raised the quality in overall for me.

Rating: 8.2

Spotify and the Discovery of Music

 

I have been using this for about 3 months. Before that, I largely ignored the music industry.

Now with Spotify, I can finally discover music, as odd as that might sound. Now I can look up the names of songs, the biography of artists, figure out on which album the songs came with, or vice versa, and perhaps best of all, I get music suggestions.

With suggestions, you discover more. Also, creating, sharing and following playlists is another very popular feature to use, and the user interface is slick, smooth and stylish. This freemium service comes with advertisements, but once you upgrade to Premium subscription, you will have full control.

Having it installed on my smartphone, my smart TV and I guess my smart PC, synchronizing and streaming between devices was getting used to it at first, but now it works. I call also blast the music inside my car through an AUX cable.

I haven't discovered yet under which genres a particular song is associated with, but under Wikipedia, those are listed. Maybe it's already available in some form, maybe not. Maybe it just takes time to categorize each song, album and artist under genres in an algorithm manner.

Spotify has enriched my life, now I can finally discover and say the names of popular songs easier, or let others hear what I have been listening too. Praise must also be given to it's gigantic availability of countless songs, as it feels like the whole music industry is present.

It's really a streaming service that would make the cinema industry a much better place for film buffs if they would use it as an example so that we would no longer have dozens of apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and the upcoming Disney+, while potentially paying for all of the subscriptions.

Oh, and shout out to the app Shazam too, for recognizing unknown songs to me on the radio and elsewhere!