Code 8 Part II and House of Ninjas (Season 1)

Shows that are... Meh?

Code 8 Part II

This continuation of Code 8 sees the return of actor brothers Robbie and Stephen Amell in the lead roles. Time has passed plot wise and now there are robot dogs as well? What follows is a story of corruption and witness protection which drives the plot forward faster than the original, but fights and the use of abilities is really held back for key moments (and to save on budget). Unfortunately the main person they are protecting isn't great which detracts a fair bit for me. Still, if you enjoyed the first movie you'll probably enjoy this one.

House of Ninjas (Season 1)

A modern day family that are secretly ninjas are very bored in their undercover "regular" life. To that end, many of them do stupid things for fun and just as they are about to get in trouble for it a rival ninja clan reappears and they officially have to get their swords out to stop the threat. While the action parts are ok with some decent fight choreo and wire work it can take time getting there with some pretty slow moving plot and idiotic characters who don't do the obvious "correct" thing just to expand on the drama. Not great, but if it does get a season two I'll still be watching it.

Code 8

Argues that robocops are better than sentinels.

Born to a poor home, Connor (Robbie Amell) is drawn to some dangerous and illegal work to make a lot of money in a short time to try save his sick mom. To make things more interesting, the world he lives in is heavily policed and (super)powered individuals like himself are treated as second class citizens. While the plot doesn't have surprises the world itself is interesting enough as are the segments where powers are actually used.

The Amell brothers back in action together.

Alas there are a few gaping holes in the story and worse, a few slow sections. I also can't bring myself to believe that "powered" people would be so weak in a world like that. Perhaps all that Marvel and DC media I've consumed has colored my judgement? Anyway, a good enough flick especially if you are a fan of the Amell brothers (yes, "Green Arrow" Stephen is here too). I give it 2.5 psykes out of 5.

Arrow

"I'm the original vigilante!" -Oliver Queen

After being presumed dead for five years, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) returns to Star City with new skills, a bow and arrow, and a secret mission to become someone else. Something else.

DC really hit the bullseye with this TV Series with good physical action pieces, nice world building and decent story lines especially early in the show when it's focused mainly on him. Over the course of 8 seasons Oliver's team expands a bit which does end up diluting the quality as more time is given to other characters and the flashbacks get more ridiculous.

I'm guessing it also made the salmon ladder more popular.

On the flip side, it also allowed for spin-offs such as the Flash and Legends of Tomorrow - later coupled with annual crossover events to include Supergirl, Batwoman and others and now proudly fly the "Arrowverse" flag. Definitely a series I recommend, though after season 2 your mileage may vary.

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Somehow, less Batman is more awesome? What!?

A major improvement from the last game, this one sees you control the entire Justice League as they do their hero thing. It also fixes the problems of having the Batman theme on loop (he's not around as much) and being able to carry only one suit at a time. In this game, if you have a suit unlocked it and its abilities are always available to you.

This does make the game slightly harder as you have more options for puzzle solving which don't always make sense: such as Batman's ice gun being able to put out fires EXCEPT these fires which look exactly the same which can only be crossed by someone holding a shield. Uh, sure.

Suicide Squad go!

The game also comes with nice extra levels (the Arrow one is great, thanks Stephen Amell!) and the side missions are more enticing to participate in. Definitely a step up from the last outing, I give it 3 shrunken cities out of 5.

Insight: Not sure where to go? Follow the trail of ghost lego!

Training to face Oblivion

Part of the journals from Wizardry Online! You can view the rest here!

With Dwark looking into further leads to chase down the "mysterious four", we received a quest from the elf priestess Caladre to recover a soul gem from a nearby underground shrine called "the Temple of Oblivion". The crumbling, claustrophobic tunnels are littered with traps and are home to powerful spirits, zombies, demonic imps and conjurers who are (despite our newly upgraded gear) too dangerous to deal with. Even more annoying is that like the Golden Dragon Ruins, this place has barriers blocked by riddles that can only be solved by exploring each passage for historic slates.

Despite that I managed to get Caanon and Quark past the first barrier and they made it all the way to the second floor by luring each guardian spirit (in each barrier) one by one. The zombies are comparatively the safest to deal with as thier slow gait still makes them easy spear fodder and the majority of the paths are linear.

Still, they've come across a chamber with "light spirits" which are too strong to push past so they returned to town to train up a bit first. Fortunately Caladre isn't in a hurry for that gem, so Quark and Caanon have been hunting the cursed coins back at Aria, as well as more Bullspawn (with the porkul thief Arsenic and elf mage Helga) to gain the strength needed to face the horrors still awaiting them in the temple. Selenka has also finished helping Mighty Dog at Deltis Keep and is now assisting the remainder of the cavalry unit at the Aria entryway, while I've continued culling the numbers of Zule back at the Golden Dragon Ruins. It is worth noting that our masked "friend" Arahawi was also in the Temple sometime before us as he took the soul lantern of a spirit there. Tried questioning him on the matter but he seems content on just giving out free tarot card readings in town while avoiding questions.

If only we could train like Stephen Amell!

-Thanam

As an OOC note: The multiclassing system sounds really interesting here. Quark switched from priest to mage and back (having gained skills/levels between each switch) and it looks like you can bring a number of skills from your previous profession over to your new one. Even better you can "grandfather" skills by bringing skills further down the skill tree back to the original class saving you points from any skills you didn't use higher up but previously needed to unlock. Powerplaying sounds like a key mechanic here, the only draw back is each time you change you require 7 class stones of the relevant class which only drop from monsters in... the Temple of Oblivion. :P