And it's about time, too
Feb. 5th, 2005 01:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thessalianNote to self: do not -- repeat, do not -- be the last one of your friends to see any given anime. Particularly not when it's your bloody DVD.
Yes, after over a year of owning it, I sat down and watched my Hellsing DVD. The problem is that I don't know what I think of it. Part of the reason for this, I think, is![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nadriel telling me that I must see this anime in a way that indicates that, in his opinion anyway, this is "Best. Thing. EVAR". And then when I came to watch it, there in my mind was the concept, "Oh, I'm supposed to be really keen on this". And then about halfway into the second ep, still thinking, "I'm supposed to be really keen on this", the question came back, "Okay, but why are you supposed to be keen on this?" This indicated to me that I wasn't as into it as I expected to be. But it wasn't bad, is the thing. Divorce it from the expectation of UberCool, and I'd have probably enjoyed it a lot more.
I had the same problem with a couple of Firefly eps, actually -- "Shindig" and "Objects in Space". The latter in particular becausecholten99 went on for ages about how fantastic an episode that was, whereas I only had a couple of brief moments of gushing from corone about "Shindig". And yeah, probably fantastic eps ... when divorced from the expectations.
Anyway, back to Hellsing. Yeah, okay, it's nice to have a vamp who really seems to enjoy his 'work', but does Alucard have to be such a sanctimonious prick about what it is to be a vampire? Almost as bad as that "the Lonely Ones" crap, if you ask me. Victoria -- God, I want to hit her. Unless she's been living under a rock all her life she knows the basic tenets of being a vampire, so she made her choice in all knowledge of what it all entailed, and now she's having a hissy fit over blood-drinking? Sheesh.
The premise turning up in the third ep was interesting -- Catholic versus Protestant in a shoot-em-up setting, hmm? So you have sociopathic vampire (basically Hannibal Lecter with fangs and a BFG) against equally sociopathic regenerating priest thing. Yyyyyyeah. I'm more interested in the politics involved, but of course we haven't seen very much of that; what we've seen is Alucard preaching to newbies about the true nature of vampirism and Victoria angsting about OMGWTFBLOOD. And knife fu v. gun fu. And more blood and gore than is strictly speaking necessary. Do I really have to risk corruption by d20 and run the freakin' game to get a better look at the Hellsing Organisation?
And it should disturb me that one of the things that I think about when looking over that is the RPG possibilities. Then again, I had considered picking up BESM andcorone's Lain supplement thing and trying a one-off Lain thing. Except BESM is also d20, and I don't understand it and corone won't touch it. Then again, I'm not great at maths but I'm sure I could do a few White Wolf/Roll+Keep conversions if I had to.
Oh shoot me now, I am such a geek.
Yes, after over a year of owning it, I sat down and watched my Hellsing DVD. The problem is that I don't know what I think of it. Part of the reason for this, I think, is
nadriel telling me that I must see this anime in a way that indicates that, in his opinion anyway, this is "Best. Thing. EVAR". And then when I came to watch it, there in my mind was the concept, "Oh, I'm supposed to be really keen on this". And then about halfway into the second ep, still thinking, "I'm supposed to be really keen on this", the question came back, "Okay, but why are you supposed to be keen on this?" This indicated to me that I wasn't as into it as I expected to be. But it wasn't bad, is the thing. Divorce it from the expectation of UberCool, and I'd have probably enjoyed it a lot more.I had the same problem with a couple of Firefly eps, actually -- "Shindig" and "Objects in Space". The latter in particular because
cholten99 went on for ages about how fantastic an episode that was, whereas I only had a couple of brief moments of gushing from corone about "Shindig". And yeah, probably fantastic eps ... when divorced from the expectations.Anyway, back to Hellsing. Yeah, okay, it's nice to have a vamp who really seems to enjoy his 'work', but does Alucard have to be such a sanctimonious prick about what it is to be a vampire? Almost as bad as that "the Lonely Ones" crap, if you ask me. Victoria -- God, I want to hit her. Unless she's been living under a rock all her life she knows the basic tenets of being a vampire, so she made her choice in all knowledge of what it all entailed, and now she's having a hissy fit over blood-drinking? Sheesh.
The premise turning up in the third ep was interesting -- Catholic versus Protestant in a shoot-em-up setting, hmm? So you have sociopathic vampire (basically Hannibal Lecter with fangs and a BFG) against equally sociopathic regenerating priest thing. Yyyyyyeah. I'm more interested in the politics involved, but of course we haven't seen very much of that; what we've seen is Alucard preaching to newbies about the true nature of vampirism and Victoria angsting about OMGWTFBLOOD. And knife fu v. gun fu. And more blood and gore than is strictly speaking necessary. Do I really have to risk corruption by d20 and run the freakin' game to get a better look at the Hellsing Organisation?
And it should disturb me that one of the things that I think about when looking over that is the RPG possibilities. Then again, I had considered picking up BESM and
corone's Lain supplement thing and trying a one-off Lain thing. Except BESM is also d20, and I don't understand it and corone won't touch it. Then again, I'm not great at maths but I'm sure I could do a few White Wolf/Roll+Keep conversions if I had to.Oh shoot me now, I am such a geek.
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no subject
Date: 2005-02-05 02:30 am (UTC)As to why I find Alucard so cool, who knows. Definitely part of it is the lack of angst- hence why Spike is another favourite vampire of mine. But then, I'm coming from the direction of being a fan of vampires in general.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-05 09:38 am (UTC)Stat + skill + d20 roll vs difficulty. Come on guys, what's the problem here? Really, how much harder is that than any other system? Pointless / broken conversions aside (7th Sea, probably Fading Suns) it's a perfectly good core system, and (repeat until face turns blue) you do not have to use the extra rules that make up most of the PBH / DMG! This is why Farscape ditched everything but the bare minimum needed for the D20 license, no "attack of opportunity" crap there.
Not that I'm a D20 evangelist or anything, I prefer WOD as you know, but this constant D20=too hard / D20=shit thing is just daft. /rant.
Are the BESM sourcebooks D20-only though? That's a bit crap, the original system worked fine. (Haven't seen enough to know if this is another pointless conversion yet...)
As for Seras Victoria - it's in a *bowl* for crying out loud! Freak out when you have to feed off a *person*...
no subject
Date: 2005-02-05 12:46 pm (UTC)As for BESM, I'd have to have another look at the books to see if, like the Swashbuckling Adventures supplements, they have non-d20 rules. The only books I've seen for it (and for Hellsing in specific) had d20 stamped on the spines, so I kind of figured.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-05 01:36 pm (UTC)I don't think it is too complicated, just that it isn't any good.
I'll play a game I love the background for no matter the system,
(Andy's excellent Farscape game for instance)
however, as BESM was and still is a non-D20 game with a D20 conversion book,
I'd prefer to play it in original system,
which I beleive is simpler and better.
But if you are doing Lain then count me in whatever system you choose to use.
I'll bring my BESM rulebook and Lain supplement tommorrow so you can have a look.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-05 02:09 pm (UTC)I still say it's a fine system in itself! (Minus most of the bloated combat system, possibly levels per se...) :P
no subject
Date: 2005-02-05 03:00 pm (UTC)As for GURPS, I never really got the hang of that either. But then, it probably makes a better conversion guide for people who know the original system than it does a starting point.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-05 03:15 pm (UTC)I think GURPS is a little different, as most GURPS worldbooks are almost systemless.
They are useful if you don't play GURPS,and only have a few rules.
(I bought and used the Prisoner GURPS book several years before getting the GURPS main rules)
D20 conversions are usually at least half/three quarters rules.
Not sure why we needed them to convert the White Wolf stuff though,
but it was nice to have all the WW books condensed into one or two.
I don't blame companies who covert games, as it is just the cash for logo thing I agree.
I find it a shame there are so many gamers who won't play anthing else but D20.
I agree with the Microsoft/Apple thing,
but D20 is definately Microsoft, taking over due to being the biggest rather than the best,
and inviting (sometimes unfair) criticism for similar reasons.
I think the backlash is mostly due to old and tried systems being shelved to go D20.
Even the Bi-system ones (like 7th sea) lean heavily to the D20 look.
When GURPS did the WW books, WW didn't stop producing their system.
As you say though, it is the background and the GM that makes the game,
system isn't as important, but a good one makes the whole process easier.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-05 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-05 08:17 pm (UTC)we have made you
we have made you
...
ONE OF US! ONE OF US!
::
skipstrots off chanting "i'm gonna do some ee-vil, i'm gonna do some ee-vil..."::