Sweet semen of baby Jesus, you’ve basically NAILED it. You’ve earned a subscribe from me and I subscribe to almost no one. Our views on this are nearly identical. I believe it is hard to make a show both episodic and serial but the creators did a tremendous job of it in the first 3 seasons. I really think the biggest downfall of this show is the deal they struck with Adult Swim. If I’m not mistaken they even stated that they made each of the first 3 seasons as if it would be the last because there was no guarantee they’d be renewed. After the deal, between being required to develop content faster and being guaranteed to have following seasons, they’ve made episodes out of the worst ideas and are okay with releasing poor quality because there’s no chance of cancelation. Following the deal, Rick and Morty RARELY (basically nonexistent in seasons 6 & 7) features the expertly crafted combination of hilarious, stupid, intelligent, emotional, and thought provoking moments that the show nailed nearly every episode in the early seasons. The quality has nosedived and anyone still arguing this point can take a look at the recorded views of each season. The numbers are clear that more and more are rapidly abandoning this show and it began with season 4. Season 7 was an absolute train wreck. Rick Prime and the Hole were the only acceptable episodes and even they weren’t very good. They just feel so much better when surrounded by the trash heap that is the rest of season 7. The BEST episodes of season 6 & 7 are by far worse than the WORST episodes from season 1-3. I also agree on the voices. All the gripe that the voices made season 7 bad is laughable. The season is almost unwatchable and it has absolutely nothing to do with the voice changes or Roiland being let go. Roiland was there for season 6 and it sucked almost as much. The only possible disagreement here I could possibly muster is Total Rickall being one of the best episodes of the series. I was surprised to find out it was so liked recently as I thought it was one of the weaker entries in season 2. That’s not to say it’s bad because overall I believe season 2 & 3 of Rick and Morty are probably the best seasons of any adult animation ever made. I say all this not to be a prude though, I would’ve take the Adult Swim deal in their shoes and likely done the same things. It just sucks to see one of the best shows out there turn into something that is becoming unwatchable.
After witnessing the migraine simulator "High on Life", I knew Roiland had to be nothing but a detriment to the story's plot (the only interesting part of the show, if not for the story it'd just be a collection of dumb adventures where no one learns anything). Like it's incredible that the man _can't _*_shut up._* The "game" just makes you feel like the show would have been entirely interdimensional television if it were up to him. iTV isn't even remotely good either, so many parts are painfully low effort improv. _(just like the entirety of HoL's dialogue..)_
TNG pulled off the side character focus episode with lower decks. What made it work was they chose side characters who were younger mirrors of main characters.
Ridiculous video. Completely false narrative that suggests there is a downfall when there clearly isnt. The show isn't in decline, isn't losing viewership, and is infact still growing its audience. Presenting your opinion like they are facts makes you look dumb
I would say that the show relied so much upon weird surrealism that it had to burn out pretty early. When making a show like Emmerdale, where people go about their merry day, you can make 10000 episodes, but when you're making a show like Rick and Morty, you have to come up with completely crazy things all the time, to keep the viewers. How many of you could even come up with one of the episodes from S1? Same goes with shows like Ugly Americans and Adventure time. The former did the right thing, and stopped after two seasons. But some shows just keep squeezing.
What happens when a studio swaps out all the old writers and directors, not only that but for obvious DEI hires, the women writers are just pouring in from season 3 and onwards and they did tend to write the worst episodes. Fun fact, the head writer and director of She-Hulk, Jessica Gao, wrote Pickle Rick. It's very obvious when you look at each episodes writers. Really sad.
Pickle Rick was a great episode though. However it’s interesting that a lot of the writers here went on to work for Marvel at the same time Marvel completely tanked in quality as well.
Xiaolin Showdown (the original, not chronicles) did the whole episodic show with overarching elements right. It kept character development done in each episode without making the characters feel like completely different people in the next episode. There was a problem with episodes being shown somewhat randomly, fir example if you see part 2 before 1 of a 2-part episode, but that isn't a problem with writing.
"No bro, you don't understand bro! Rick and Morty is good again bro! Reddit says so bro! Trust me bro! You're just not smart enough to undersrand the high IQ comedy, bro!"
Such a thoughtful and in-depth video from someone who knows the game really well 🙂 Loved it. It’s my favourite game of all time (first played when I was 26 back in ’96). Unfortunately I don’t have an M1 Mac so I’m watching playthrough’s. Personally I don’t like that they made stuff easier. And took away some of the significance of the animals by changing those wooden balls. And yeah, as you say, the real people’s recorded parts in the original. There was no choice really as I know Catherine and Gehn are gone now (deceased)…so no way to re-do it.
The numbers that you refer to as Rivenese are actually D’ni numerals. The Rivenese numerals are the ones with the wedges rotating around a central point. (Yes, I liked the video ❤)
That difference is only made in the 2024 remake. In the original (and by the time this video was uploaded), there was no circular numbers in th game, only the ones in squares, later revealed to be D'ni and only to differentiate them from the Rivenese circular numeric system. I loved the addition of this layer in the remake.
Absolutely agree My own thoughts: - I think that VR had a negative impact on this game, and I feel a lot of the interactable elements were watered down to make them mesh with someone who's just standing there. Fan vent was changed (tho replaced with something better tbh), crawling under the door was changed, I imagine some of the buttons were changed for this reason. - I miss the sounds too, and at first I thought they had made it so the corresponding animals were based on location, after seeing the fish hanging in the village. But no, it's just straight up symbols. Kind of disappointing, even if the lens itself is cool. - The starry expanse just looks bad, I'm afraid. The original was so mysterious, in the remake it looks way too bright and foggy. - Most of the new content (tho I agree about the spheres being worse, and I really miss that image of the book in the weird podium) is very good, the fire marble mine, the statues look awesome, walking around on Tay and 223 was fantastic, etc. - I actually think real-time is not the best way to experience this game. It feels video gamey, invisible walls etc, and the still frames really helped with the atmosphere compared to sprinting around making everything hard to register. I think the best format would have been what they did with Myst 3, where it was point and click, but locations were 3D prerendered skyboxes that you could look 360 degrees in. Best of both worlds, imo, especially since it's compatible with live actors. - Over all they really nailed it in terms of understanding the world, though the presentation I feel has suffered. It really just doesn't have the atmosphere of the original, but It's also easier to recommend to people. I think having them play the remake first makes sense, but I also worry it may water down the magic of seeing those scenes properly for the first time.
It's basically the best looking VR game ever. So even with its faults, it's still a unique experience for that given technology. Plus, new songs like the one on prison island enhance its atmosphere
The earlier episodic episodes were peak Rick and Morty. The alien simulation, purge, inception episodes to name a few. The characters had specific mannerisms, Inter personal dynamics, specific humor to the situation. The characters weren’t insufferable, the jokes weren’t over done meta analysis, the mannerisms genuinely made me laugh. RIP peak Rick and Morty, you will be missed.
I do hope they’ll improve on the character models at some point soon! Especially the absent acting on the faces. And please give onesie-man something else to wear! 😂
Can't agree more. When I found out that Riven Remake would not run on my Intel Mac I was heartbroken, but after viewing with a walk -through of the new Riven, I had no desire to play the remake. In the original Riven I was swallowed up by the environment from the beginning. I cared about the inhabitants of that lonely world. In the remake, meeting Katherine wasn't particularity interesting (boring, actually), and Ghen wasn't menacing. I had no empathic investment in Katherine as a character or in her situation; I never bought into Ghen's malevolence, and the Moriety (sp?) were uninteresting. The environment was sterile and artificial. I particularly hated the ad hoc, unnecessary subterranean freeway from island to island.
How I rationalized the Star Fissure being repurposed... Gehn is a known hack. Read the books, especially the first one, and it's all there to see. He doesn't have a single original bone in his body. His writing style as a creator of Ages involves smashing known-good text segments together with basic "that'll do 'er" levels of spit-shine, whereas Atrus and most other decent users of the Art understand that the process really is akin to coding. It's also why Atrus' real-time patching of Riven is so involving and prevents him from assisting the player directly - every single fix he implements into Riven's Descriptive Book contradicts another passage written by Gehn. Stability is something he's left forever chasing after, seeing as the only way to create a stable Age would involve starting over from scratch. Can't do that if your goal is saving the Rivenese and Catherine, so... What Gehn has in common with Atrus, however, is having some patience when it comes to working problems. He has no patience for someone else's systems, yes, but faced with no other choice than to deal with the presence of the Star Fissure, Gehn did as Gehn does - and repurposed it for his own gains. It makes complete sense for the character, if you think about it. If he already has artwork commissioned that falsely depicts him as this godlike being that opened the Fissure to cast Atrus out, why wouldn't he claim ownership of what's actually intended to be Catherine's single, biggest middle finger to her people's tyrant?
Bro what I thought you were going to talk about the voices of the characters and how the writing went horrible and the voices were bad and how they eventually got to be better with the voices and made the writhting good again like bro the point of Rick’s me Morty that’s funny is that their problems are solved easily like when Morty says in the season 4 finale that he killed the guy off screeen
Im so tired of these lazy ass parodies of something famous, „look people its Jurassic Park, do you see it? So cool huh??“ in the later show these episodes are basically 100% filler
I love this game! When it came out, wish I had beaten it the hard way but I was young and just ended up looking up the walkthrough after awhile. It was kinda nice to replay it in the remake with the puzzles just different enough to make it feel like I was figuring everything out again, but I already know the Dni number system and never had to learn it the hard way. Pretty much agree with all of your points, but I do think this is the definitive way to play the game now. While the character animations suck, the world feels like Riven and I'm blown away by the graphical fidelity on epic settings of the world itself. If it was just tweaked a little with better character animations and the re-implementation of the sounds and some of the logic of the world restored, it would be perfect! It's kinda surprising because Cyan never made a game that was anything like Riven ever again... I think maybe losing Gehn as an antagonist was a mistake. He's a pretty nuanced Character and replaying Riven I kind wish they had given us the option to join him instead... It kinda makes me question if it was morally correct for Gehn to have his people worship him as a God... I mean sure he's a pretty shady 'God' but part of me thinks it would have been morally incorrect for him NOT to do so... I mean, look at all the art that was created in Gehn's name by the people of Riven out of them thinking he was a God? Like the entire beauty of the world comes out of Gehn's over-inflated sense of self worth, without Gehn the "God of Riven" Riven would not be this culturally distinct masterpiece it became. Every other Age falls flat in comparison... some of Myst 3's Ages we're pretty good, but Riven is still the best. I don't know, I'm just thinking about this now upon playing the remake but they should have kept Gehn as the central antagonist throughout the series. With the worlds he creates always being these timeless wonders doomed to the fate of an inevitable slow death, while Atrus worlds would always be stable but fail to achieve the wonder his fathers works induced, solely because Gehn would infuse his worlds with religion... and that would just add that "spice of life" that makes the whole Age really pop.
