Editorial: My thoughts on all the conferences at E3 2017 (E3 Month 2017 Part 3)

My thoughts on all the conferences at E3 2017

          Well, E3 has come and gone, and now it’s time to look back and decide who are the winners and losers. As always I’ll be going through each of the six major conferences in order of when they aired, and instead of giving a play-by-play recap I’ll just be talking about what I did and didn’t like. So with that said…

EA

          It’s been a running joke that EA keeps trying to squeeze as much sports content as possible into their annual conference, with these games getting more and more airtime as the years have gone on. This conference seems like the proper next step for them, as it felt more like a sports show with a few video games sprinkled here and there for good measure.

          With their only major anchor game this year being Star Wars Battlefront II, one had to wonder what surprises EA had up its sleeves. And, to their credit, they had surprises.

          By that of course I mean they had two of them. Or, rather, one and a half.

          Most of the conference was dominated by an ungodly amount of sports and eSports content, enough to really make you question whether you were watching a video game conference at all. As soon as it began with a college drum line advertising Madden, I knew we were in for a rough ride.

          This year saw parts of the show given up for FIFA and NBA, as well as three separate Madden showcases. Three! For a game that’s basically identical to the one that came out last year! And the year before that!

As someone who doesn’t care about sports in any medium, I can’t tell you whether these trailers were good or not. I guess it’s cool that Madden is getting its own generic EA Sports singleplayer campaign, but whatever. Like I said last year, E3 is predominantly watched by geeks and nerds who have no interest in real-life sports. While EA Sports inevitably needs to be there for the shareholders, I’ve always said that they should get it out of the way early on to please the penny-pinchers and spend the rest of their time showing off stuff the majority of the audience will care about.

          So did we see anything new? Well, there were a couple of interesting things. We got a first glimpse at BioWare’s next game, entitled Anthem, but as they said we’ll see more at Microsoft’s conference, you can hear my thoughts on it over there.

We also saw this year’s EA Originals indie game by the developers of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, called A Way Out. The idea behind this game is that it’s exclusively couch co-op splitscreen multiplayer, where you and a friend play as two prisoners attempting to break out and finish the job that got them in there. I really think this is a cool concept, especially as you can see one player involved in a cutscene while the other is wandering around gathering information. I’ll need to see a bit more before I’m sold on the concept, but for now I’ll be watching this one with great interest.

And with that really poorly handled Star Wars reference, let’s talk about Star Wars Battlefront II. Despite being an enormous fan of Star Wars as a whole, I’ve made my dislike of 2015’s Battlefront quite public. I hated how the game released as barely a shell, with more content coming later…for a price. It was a bad sign of things to come now that EA had their grubby little hands on the Star Wars license.

While I’m still not ready to put down seventy bucks for Battlefront II, I am extremely happy to say that it looks like EA’s taken some of the major complaints people had with the first game to heart. In addition to stuff like space battles and a campaign, Battlefront II is pulling a Splatoon and releasing all future content for the game at no cost. If you bought the game, you’re getting all the stuff that EA and DICE add in later updates. No season pass bullcrap here, just a developer doing what the industry standard should be.

They showed off an extended look at the gameplay (and when I say extended, I mean it), and honestly, it looks like more of what we saw in the first game. Part of my problem with Battlefront was how massive the maps were, leaving you spending most of your time running up and down looking for enemy players to fight. I remember getting lost on Hoth trying to find other players so often. The Naboo map they showed here looks to be pretty darn big as well, and I worry that the same problem will be the case here.

The addition of “battle tokens” that you can use to unlock different weapons as well as hero characters like Rey or Darth Maul also worry me about the potential for microtransactions coming later on. Who’s to say that a more powerful character like Emperor Palpatine won’t cost silly amounts of coin that would take hours of gameplay grinding to earn, or a quick fee that allows you to unlock him early?

On the plus side, the graphics look just as good as they did in the first game (ironically Naboo here looks more realistic than it does in Phantom Menace), and the flying combat looks to be far less sluggish and cumbersome than it was in the original. I feel that if EA makes this game more like Titanfall 2 and less like the original, we could have something special on our hands.

          Overall, EA was a real bore this year. The overabundance of sports that nobody really cared about made large portions of the conference feel sluggish, like they had nothing else to show so they just gave us a bunch of filler content. The Battlefront II gameplay demo was also given way too much screentime, although I was happy it was at the tail end of the conference and didn’t really matter. Despite this Battlefront II looks to be a huge improvement on the original, A Way Out looks really intriguing, and while I wish we’d seen a little bit more of Anthem the teaser did a great job of getting me excited for the Microsoft conference the following day.

          EA’s biggest problem is that it doesn’t know who its audience is. Cramming a bunch of trailers for EA Sports games doesn’t really gel with the geeks that watch these conferences on Twitch. While the trailers we got for the real games looked pretty good, this conference floundered because there just weren’t enough of them.

Microsoft

          Microsoft’s been navigating a slippery slope lately. After the Xbox One suffered a disastrous pre-release phase, things didn’t improve for the gaming giant afterwards. With a lack of interesting exclusives (and the ability to play them all on Windows 10 anyways), there was little point in buying a One instead of a PS4.

          Ever since last E3 Microsoft has been teasing “Project Scorpio”, an upgraded version of the One with some of the most powerful processors ever seen on a home gaming console. Here Scorpio was officially revealed as the Xbox One X, the definitive version of the One.

          They got it right out of the way first thing, revealing the One X and its specs. A lot of it was technical mumbo-jumbo, but the message was clear: this thing was powerful, and games on it will look outstanding.

          To prove this point, we jumped right into this year’s Forza showcase. As much as I dislike going through this every year, I will give Microsoft this: they got it out of the way for the investors early on, it didn’t go on for too long, and then they moved onto the real games. If EA adopted this tactic for its sports games, I think they could really improve their conferences.

          With all that out of the way it was time to get to the real meat and potatoes of the conference: the games. And boy, there were a lot of them. Some were better or worse than others, but overall I found myself invested for the whole hour and a half. I got excited seeing all these new titles. Not enough to shell out $500 to buy a One X considering all these games will be available on the Windows 10 store, but enough to strongly consider buying quite a few of them.

          Easily the highlight of the conference for me came in the form of Sea of Thieves. The latest game to emerge from the tomb of Rareware, this game was notorious last year for the awful trailer they had. This year felt like a completely different game, with some awesome looking footage accompanied by some of Rare’s trademark wit in the form of a funny narrator talking over the whole thing. The trailer showed off how hunting for buried treasure will work in the game, as it detailed the quest of a hearty crew voyaging to a mysterious island to find themselves some loot. There they faced off against foes like sharks, skeleton warriors, and of course other pirates to try and keep the loot for themselves. I thought it looked like a ton of fun, especially in a group setting. Pirate games have always been really hit or miss, so I really hope this one will turn out good when it releases next year.

          One of the biggest surprises for me came in an unlikely form. Strangely enough the next Assassin’s Creed was announced here instead of at the Ubisoft conference, being set in Ancient Egypt and telling the story of how the group of assassins were formed. While at first I brushed it off as just another Assassin’s Creed that’ll make little use of the cool setting it was put in, the more I saw the more interested I got. It looked much more like Prince of Persia than Assassin’s Creed, and the trailer showing stuff like giant monsters really bookended this for me. Maybe this long since tired franchise going back to the game it owes its roots to will be just the breath of fresh air it needs?

          Or maybe Ubisoft will screw it up again. Who knows?

          They also announced the next Metro game, called Metro: Exodus. Honestly, at this point whenever I see a game is being set in a drab and brown post-apocalyptic world I immediately lose interest, twice so if zombies are involved. I’m sure fans of the franchise are excited, I just couldn’t get into it.

          Speaking of zombies and apocalypses, easily the worst trailer of the conference came in the form of State of Decay 2. It felt really mismatched to me, with the voiceover being really intense and serious and talking about how awful the apocalypse is and how they need to make tough decisions accompanied by visuals of cartoonish zombies exploding and ripping people up. It didn’t sell me on the game, that’s for sure.

          The conference ended with what was easily the most anticipated part for me: the reveal of Anthem, BioWare’s new IP. It looked like a hybrid of Destiny and Titanfall to me, with a bit of Horizon: Zero Dawn thrown in for good measure. This game sees you playing as freelance warriors of a sci-fi outpost, where you’re given quests from townsfolk (one of which looks eerily similar to Nolan North) to go on missions, find treasure, fight monsters and all that good stuff.

          The trailer looked awesome. I’m always up for sci-fi action and adventure, and this game looks like it’s going to deliver. What I didn’t like was that this trailer employed Ubisoft’s awful Mic Trick, having voice actors acting like gamers throughout, which worries me that they’re trying to make the game seem more dynamic than it actually is. Despite that, the trailer looked great and I can’t wait to see more of the game.

          Microsoft did a great job this year. Borrowing Sony’s strategy of game after game after game with little nonsense in between really worked for them, and allowed them to have a high energy conference with plenty of stuff to get excited about. It did have its low moments (that yellow shirt guy doing live eSports commentary over a trailer for a MOBA will forever live on in E3 infamy), but those were easily forgiven.

          If anything, this conference made me get excited about an Assassin’s Creed game, so I have to give it props for that.

Bethesda

          Step right up, folks, and welcome to Bethesdaland, the only theme park in the world filled to the brim with bugs that people still say is worth visiting!

          Bethesda’s conference last year was easily my least favourite of the bunch. It was overly long and drawn out, and focused almost entirely on DLC and expansions for old games with very few surprises. So did they do a better job this year?

          Well, it felt more like two steps forward and one step back. While they had a few neat things to show off and the show was mercifully shorter than last year, there wasn’t much to get excited about.

          This wasn’t so much a press conference in the same vein as the other on-stage showings. It honestly felt more like Bethesda’s take on the Nintendo Direct format. It opened with a Bethesda executive coming out and introducing themselves, they played the video showing off all the new stuff, and then that was it. The “Bethesda showcase” lasted just under forty minutes, and was basically trailer after trailer tied together using transitions with a cute vintage theme park ad style. Normally I’m a fan of this, because this usually lets the trailers speak for themselves without a bunch of fluffing around in between. Sony’s conference last year was a fantastic example of how this can work well.

          The only problem was that quite a few of the trailers didn’t really speak for themselves. For example, there was a trailer for a new Dishonored…thing. Is it an expansion to Dishonored 2? Is it an Uncharted: Lost Legacy style spinoff? Or is it a full-fledged sequel? Going by just this conference, I have absolutely no idea.

          Just like last year, a good 75% of this conference was given up to Bethesda saying “Hey, remember all those games you loved that we released years ago? Here’s more stuff for those!” This led to a lot of talk of DLC, VR expansions, and Elder Scrolls Online nonsense. Thankfully the trailers this year were far less sterile and boring than the ones we saw last year, leaving me a little more invested in stuff that I’m never going to play than I would’ve been otherwise.

          Easily the highlight for me was when they talked about how Skyrim is going to work on the Nintendo Switch. It was very brief, but it gave us a good idea of what’s going to be included in that version. For one thing, Breath of the Wild amiibo will be compatible in the game, unlocking awesome gear like Link’s champion tunic from the game and the Master Sword. They also revealed that you can use the Joycon motion controls for the combat in-game, but I highly doubt that anyone will actually use those.

          I guess I should also talk about the big controversial reveal that was here as well. Bethesda’s introducing something called the Creation Club, which is a really fancy way of saying that they’re making paid-for mods a thing. In all honesty, I see no way this is going to work. What’s stopping someone from making a mod identical to the one that costs three bucks but releases it for free? Plus with so many mods released over the six years since Skyrim released I find it hard to believe they’ll come up with something worth paying for that we haven’t seen a million times already.

          We also saw more of Quake Champions, and man, I was really disappointed. They gave us some actual gameplay, but it just looks like Overwatch minus the charm. The characters run around teleporting and moon jumping and using all sorts of powers we’ve seen a million times before, and they all spout edgy chatter trying and failing to sound badass. It looked really average and not that interesting to me.

          Then we moved on to some actual new games we haven’t seen before. We got a brief look at The Evil Within 2, which got a really trippy looking CG trailer involving a guy being engulfed by white goop a lot. It looks like a decent horror game, just not one I’m interested in.

          The big finale game they had was a new Wolfenstein, which really reflected the rest of the conference: pretty darn forgettable. It had a cool intro with a crazy Lassie knockoff starring a giant robot dog, but after that it looked just like every other generic action game we’ve seen a million times before. Main character dude is a white guy with a shaved head and a gun, and he’s angry and wants to kill all the Nazis. While story isn’t something I really prioritize in games, a good story can take an average game and elevate it to a good or even great one. This just looked like something I’ve seen a million times before.

          I think I can safely say that Bethesda really didn’t need to hold a conference this year. They could’ve shown off Evil Within and Wolfenstein at Sony’s or Microsoft’s conference and it would’ve saved all of us forty minutes of our time. As soon as they learn to stop relying on patting themselves on the back for games that they released up to six years ago to fill time and instead only do conferences if they actually have something to show, I think Bethesda might become one to look forward to. Until then though, you can skip this conference and miss absolutely nothing.

Ubisoft

          Let me start this off by saying I take full responsibility for this conference. Two weeks ago a wrote an article titled “Fixing Ubisoft’s E3 Conferences”, where I went over all the ways those wacky Frenchmen over at Ubisoft could salvage their conferences and create shows worth looking forward to.

          Much to my surprise, they took nearly every suggestion I made and applied it. This year was just over an hour in length, had no Aisha Tyler, no extended interviews with developers, no wacky memes and skits, every game onstage got its fair share of screentime, and best of all, no annoying fake gamer chat layered over the multiplayer trailers. I mean, Microsoft did that last thing in their Anthem trailer, but having the ones who originated that stupid trick seemingly retire it is a definite step in the right direction.

          Instead, this Ubisoft conference was all about games, games and more games, and, to nobody’s surprise, it really worked. It worked enough to make you forget that you were watching a conference by the kings of false promises who release games with downgraded graphics, an infestation of bugs, and filled to the brim with microtransactions on a regular basis.

          We started off with what is perhaps the worst kept secret of the video game industry in years: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. Much to everyone’s surprise, Shigeru Miyamoto himself arrived on the scene packing heat. The game itself looks pretty interesting, kind of like a “Baby’s First XCOM” type of thing. I think if the Rabbids weren’t a part of it and it was just Mario I’d be much more interested.

          The big announcement of the conference for me was Skull and Bones, a brand new pirate game from Ubisoft (making this the second swashbuckling game we’ve seen at this conference. I personally am all for a pirate game renaissance). While it looks like the type of game that’s doomed to be filled with bugs and microtransactions, it looked like a lot of fun. It’s definitely a more realistic pirate game than Microsoft’s Sea of Thieves, and I really like that we’re going to have two very different games in the same genre next year. I’m really excited to see more of what this game has to offer.

          They also introduced Starlink: Battle for Atlas, which looked like an interesting concept, while also seeming kind of like a money pit. From the looks of it Starlink looks to be a game in similar vein to Skylanders with a sci-fi twist. You can mix and match pieces of a ship in the real world, and then attach it to a terminal tied to your controller to have it appear in the game. It’s a neat idea, but one has to wonder if this’ll actually work. For one thing if the ship parts are expensive, sold separately, and necessary to progress in the game, I feel this one’ll sink quicker than Disney Infinity did. Only time will tell.

          Despite these highs, there were a few low points as well. For one thing the trailer for The Crew 2 went on for way too long while at the same time showing us absolutely nothing of what the game would actually look and play like. There was also a big wacky dance number to advertise Just Dance, complete with Mortal Kombat knockoffs and a very disheveled looking panda. It was thankfully short, leading me to believe that EA is the only company left that doesn’t understand they should get the games that are only at the conference for the investors out of the way either early on in the show or in a very brief segment.

          Much to my surprise Assassin’s Creed had barely any presence this year. We actually saw more of it at Microsoft’s show than at Ubisoft’s. What they showed still looked really interesting, and as I said before the Egyptian setting has the potential to be the breath of fresh air this exhausted franchise needs to survive.

          Just as it looked as if the conference was going to end with a Far Cry 5 trailer (which looks pretty boring to me), Ubisoft announced they had one last thing. And guess what? After nearly fifteen years, Beyond Good and Evil 2 finally debuted. I’m completely unfamiliar with the first game so I’m not super excited for it, but I’ll admit the trailer looked really unique. The character designs looked really cool, and the action was very well animated. The swearing made it feel kind of juvenile to be completely honest, but other than that it looked like something fans of the first game will be excited about.

          Ubisoft really wowed me this year. They finally did what we’d been asking them to do for years and trimmed all the unnecessary fat that’s plagued them in the past. With no memes, extended breaks for interviews or overly long sketches, we got to see a lot of stuff in a much shorter amount of time. If this is their first steps on the road to redemption, I’ll happily walk with them the whole way.

Sony

          Sony has changed the way E3 has been presented just with their last conference alone. The reason why Microsoft and Ubisoft really dazzled this year was because they borrowed a lot of the tricks Sony used for their 2016 conference. So this year they decided to do the same thing again and…it was underwhelming.

          Don’t get me wrong, this conference wasn’t bad by any means. They showed a lot of trailers for games that looked really cool, but there wasn’t really a big “wow” moment until the very end of the show, nor was there a big surprise that turned a lot of heads. Compared to how Microsoft had stuff like Anthem and Ubisoft had Beyond Good and Evil 2 and this conference felt like it was lacking a bit of oomph.

          (I’m also not considering the stuff announced in the pre-show as part of the actual conference so Undertale on PS4 doesn’t count)

          We started off with a look at Uncharted: Lost Legacy as well as some DLC for Horizon: Zero Dawn entitled The Frozen Wilds. A Horizon expansion of sorts was very high on my list for Sony’s conference, so I’m very happy to be returning to Aloy and her mechanical world later this year. Uncharted looks delightful as well, as we got more of a look at the story. I did feel we saw a bit more than I would’ve liked (for example it looks like Nadine is gonna betray Chloe at some point in the game), but it got me very excited to play the game come August.

          We then got another extended look at Days Gone. Last year they wowed us with how many zombies they were able to render onscreen. This year…there was nothing in it that really impressed. I think zombie apocalypse games’ days in the sun have come and gone, and this kind of feels like a “me too!” game instead of a release worth getting excited over. I personally am so sick of the genre that this didn’t interest me even after it showed a zombie bear.

          We then segued into several short trailers for various smaller games being released, including Monster Hunter Worlds, an HD remake of Shadow of the Colossus, and a further look at Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite. While I’m not a fan of the franchise at all, I really thought that Monster Hunter looked really cool. Shadow of the Colossus also looked great on the PS4. I wasn’t a fan of the Marvel vs. Capcom trailer though. The cutscenes honestly looked like something off the PS2, with unsynched mouth movements and frankly very poor voice acting. I get the feeling the story mode in the game won’t be one that impresses.

          The conference then decided to faceplant as it showed off ten minutes of games for PlayStation VR. I thought that VR was dead and buried, but I guess Sony felt the need to drag its corpse out of the mausoleum for all to see. None of the games looked even remotely interesting, and they ranged from yet another new version of Skyrim to a Final Fantasy fishing minigame. If there ever was a way to kill hype in an E3 conference, it was what Sony did here.

          Thankfully, God of War swooped in to try and save the day, and it looked really cool. I would’ve preferred a longer gameplay demo instead of the sizzle real we got, but I did enjoy seeing Kratos rip into some Norse goblins. The dynamic between him and the boy (confirmed to be his son here) also looked to be a huge part of the story, and it looked to be a great relationship. I really like how the game seems to be a departure from past God of War games, giving newbies to the franchise like myself a jumping-on point while also giving the devs a chance to try something new.

          Next up was Detroit: Become Human, the next game by David Cage of Heavy Rain fame. Last year it looked like a really interesting concept as a sort of massive choose-your-own adventure game, and this year it still looked like just that: an interesting concept. I still think like I need to see the real meat and potatoes of what makes this game tick before I can really be interested in it. That, and the storyline they showed off looked considerably less interesting than the android investigator we saw last year. It’s yet another rebellion/uprising story, one we’ve seen done many times before. If that’s the route they’re going I can’t say I’m too excited.

          They say it’s best to end on a high, and Sony did just that with their knockout punch: the gameplay reveal for Spider-Man. And what a reveal it was. This looks like it’s going to be the Arkham of Spider-Man games. The combat, webslinging and Spidey-sense all look like they’re going to be a blast to work with, even if there did seem to be a reliance on quick-time events. I also liked that a lesser known Spidey villain, Mr. Negative, was represented as the main villain here. I really want them to cram as much into this game as possible, and having a ton of missions involving a bunch of Spidey’s rogues gallery sounds just plain awesome.

          And that was it! While I really enjoyed this conference, I couldn’t help but feel a little unsatisfied at the end. There wasn’t really a big reveal of a brand new game. I knew Uncharted, God of War, Detroit and Spider-Man were all going to be there, and while those all looked really cool, I felt like this conference was missing a crucial part of E3: the surprises. Their biggest surprise in my opinion was the Horizon DLC, which still has me stoked, but just like how Bethesda had an over-reliance on past glories, I didn’t feel like Sony had anything new to show me.

          But that Spider-Man trailer was incredible and I don’t want to wait until 2018 to play it.

Nintendo

          Nintendo’s never really taken E3 seriously. Since they hold a Nintendo Direct once every few months, there’s really no need for them to rush all their latest news out the door in June. Instead they usually take this opportunity to show off what they’ve got planned for later on this year, and save their announcements for what’s coming later down the line for around November.

          This conference was easily the shortest of them all, but it moved about in a way that still left you feeling fulfilled. I left this conference feeling like I got everything I came for: new info on games coming later this year plus some surprises for the future.

          While we got some more of the expected stuff like Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade (more on those in a second), Nintendo also had quite a few surprises. First off, both Kirby and Yoshi will be getting new platforming games on the Switch next year. While I’ve never been a huge Kirby fan, the mechanic of turning enemies into your own personal army looks like a lot of fun. On the other hand I love the Yoshi series, and while I think I would’ve preferred a Woolly World sequel, this game looks to be taking some inspiration from Yoshi Story, a nostalgic favourite of mine.

          Oh yeah, and they also announced Metroid Prime 4. Seems cool.

          In all seriousness, this was definitely Nintendo’s big bomb they were packing this year, and they knew it. While this trailer only showed the logo, it did it in a way that was still awesome. This year marks a decade long wait since the last really good Metroid game, and while I’m guessing it’s still quite a ways off, I’m glad fans of the franchise finally have something to hold on to.

          Speaking of brief announcements, Ishihara of The Pokémon Company arrived to confirm that they were working on a brand new main series Pokémon game for Nintendo Switch. He also added that it was still at least a year away from release, so this tells me that they only threw this in there to silence those who were whining about Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon being on the 3DS. It’s still really exciting to think that we’re finally getting a real Pokémon game on consoles after all these years, and it’s not some knockoff like Colosseum or Battle Revolution.

          We also got a glimpse at some new content for Breath of the Wild, including a release date for the first DLC pack as well as a tease for what the second one will hold. It looks like it’ll focus on the story of the four Champions, which was further hinted thanks to the announcement of amiibo for all four of them. They look really well designed, but I’m gonna be waiting to see what they actually do before I pick them up.

          As for the stuff coming this year, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 got a story trailer showing off what it’s going to look like. As someone who isn’t a fan of active-time battle RPGs whatsoever I’m not really interested, but it looked like something the fans would enjoy. We also saw a glimpse of Fire Emblem Warriors, which I’m guessing is a crossover between the Fire Emblem series and the Dynasty Warriors games in the same vein of Hyrule Warriors. While I’m not huge on Fire Emblem I do enjoy Warriors games, so I’m looking forward to seeing more.

          And then it was time for the big man in red himself to finally show up.

          No, not Santa. The other guy.

          Super Mario Odyssey has easily been the most anticipated Switch game ever since Breath of the Wild launched, and it was obvious Nintendo was going to have it be their big name this year. What we didn’t expect was exactly how it was going to look. The Mario Odyssey trailer gave us a better idea of how the game is going to work. While it’s similar in style to stuff like Mario Sunshine, the two big hooks this time is that Mario can change his outfit and use his that to possess enemies, animals, NPCs, and basically whatever he wants. You want to be a t-rex with Mario’s mustache? You can do that. Despite the terrifying implications of that, I really like it as a mechanic. It’s a clever twist on Mario’s standard power-ups.

          Nintendo’s conference was short but oh so sweet. They packed a ton of fun trailers and info into those twenty-five minutes, leaving me with a huge smile on my face. I’m also glad that a lot of the games they showed off are releasing sooner rather than later, because a gripe I usually have with E3 is how they so often showcase games not coming out for up to two years later. Good job, guys.

FINAL SCORES

          (Friendly reminder that this is just my opinion and doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things)

1. Microsoft: 8/10 (Great)

2. Ubisoft: 8/10 (Great)

3. Nintendo: 7/10 (Good)

4. Sony: 6/10 (Okay)

5. Bethesda: 3/10 (Bad)

6. EA: 2/10 (Awful)

          We live in a world where Ubisoft had a better E3 this year than Sony. Let that sink in.

          Honestly, it was pretty hard for me to decide where to place the top three this year. I shuffled them and changed their scores a lot, but ultimately I made my decision once I considered the sheer amount of interesting and exciting looking stuff Microsoft showed off. They stuck to their promise of showing forty-two games, and while not all the trailers were created equal, a lot of them really piqued my interest. They even found a way to make the next Assassin’s Creed look cool!

          Ubisoft and Nintendo both had extremely stellar showings packed with surprises. The Beyond Good and Evil 2 and Metroid Prime 4 reveals were some of the most memorable parts of the entire conference, and with good reason. Having those games finally shown off after long absences really encapsulated what makes E3 great for me: being surprised and wowed by what the games industry is packing next.

          And this is where Sony was sorely lacking this year. People joked that their conference was “2016 Remastered”, and I’d have to agree with them on that. While they had some awesome trailers for stuff like Spider-Man and God of War, we knew those games were coming. The lack of something new really made the conference lose some of the “oomph” it’s had in the past.

          Leading up the rear are Bethesda and EA for obvious reasons. Bethesda honestly shouldn’t even have held a conference this year, considering they had barely anything to show. Plus the paid mods announcement made people way angrier than it did excite and interest them. EA, on the other hand, traveled further down the path of adding more and more sports into the conference, leaving us with a real snoozefest.

          As always, I really enjoyed watching E3! Even the worst conferences make me more excited about being a part of the game industry, and I love seeing what the companies have in store for us each year.

          But I’m not done yet! Come back Monday as I count down my best and worst trailers from the entire show! See you then!

Little Witch Academia Episode 23 Review

A believing heart is your magic

(This review contains spoilers!)

          I’ve always maintained that Little Witch Academia’s biggest strength is its ensemble cast. While Akko has always been the main focus, characters like Lotte, Sucy, Diana, Amanda’s crew and Ursula really add to the world of this show and make it feel truly magical. The sad thing is that since the second cour has began quite a few of these characters have been shifted considerably to the sidelines in favour of more development for Akko, most notably Lotte and Sucy. This episode brought them all back out of the woodwork as we begin the climax of the season.

          This episode also treated us to Chariot’s complete backstory, something that’s been a long time coming. After last week’s mother of a twist, the time has come to see where this character came from and how she got to the point where she was stealing others magic. As many predicted, the rift between Croix and Chariot came from how the former’s displeasure at watching the latter use the Shiny Rod as a tool for cheap magic shows. When her search for the words stalled at the last one and her shows were declining in popularity, it was Croix who suggested she harnessed the dream magic, which she used at the show Akko and Diana attended among others. The final straw came once Chariot refused to use the dream magic anymore and, in a final effort to wow the crowd, shot an arrow into the moon, creating the star shape we see in it in every episode. At this the Shiny Rod deemed her unworthy and she went into hiding, setting up the creation of her Ursula persona.

          I think it was kind of obvious that Chariot was going to turn out to be sympathetic in the end and Croix was going to be the mastermind behind it all (just look at the designs on the two of them and tell me which one screams evil and which one doesn’t). Despite this, I love the story behind the two of them. It adds a lot of depth to both characters, especially seeing the parallels between them and their modern-day variants in Akko and Diana.

          Speaking of Diana, she took what would’ve been a fantastic episode on its own and elevated it to new heights. I love what the writers have done with her character ever since the second cour started, as she turned from an aristocrat who went literally nose-to-nose with Akko over the Luna Nova staff’s rights to the one who convinced her to return to the school. The conversation the two of them had about their relationships with Shiny Chariot, magic and the expectations the world has for them could’ve gone on for hours and I wouldn’t have minded. These characters have developed so much in just a few episodes, and I love to see them together.

          Lotte and Sucy also had a pretty big part to play this episode (finally!), and it’s so nice to see them actually doing stuff again after their prolonged absence. Seeing Sucy, arguably the most one note character in the main cast, actually feeling concern for Akko and having her be the one to bring the Shiny Rod at the end instead of Lotte or Diana is a great utilization of her. I also love how she searched the bridge where she first met Akko in Episode 1 in hopes she’d find her there. It’s little touches like that that really make this show so magical.

          We’ve already gotten a glimpse of what’s coming next week, and from the looks of things it’s going to be Chariot vs. Croix Round 2. Considering this is such a cutesy show I’m pretty sure both ladies are making it out alive, but considering this is Studio Trigger we’re talking about anything’s game.

          But that’s for next time. This episode was just plain delightful, and it really showed how far we’ve come in our Luna Nova adventure. The Chariot flashbacks were gorgeously animated and had a lot of great cute and emotional moments, and in contrast the talk between Akko and Diana was just plain heartwarming. Seeing all the major player finally back in action was also a delight, and I love how Sucy finally got a few sympathetic moments here and there. While I hate to see this season coming to a close, if we can get more stuff like this we’re in for one magical ending.

FINAL SCORE

10/10

Legendary

Re:Creators Episode 10 Review

Selesiademption

(This review contains spoilers!)

          While I love Re:Creators a lot, I’ll be the first to admit that it has its fair share of problems and issues. For instance, with a cast this big it comes as no surprise that a few main players haven’t quite had the same amount of screentime as others. One of the stranger decisions thus far is to have Selesia, the character usually central on posters, advertising material and the like for this show, do basically nothing past the first few episodes.

          While this episode didn’t do much for her plot-wise, it was an enjoyable way to bring her back to the frontlines, while also creating a great fight scene.

          There isn’t much by way of plot this week, as Re:Creators once again gathers everyone for an awesome fight scene. Seriously, this show has some of the best anime fights I’ve seen since One Punch Man. The animation is always top-notch, and the new inclusion of techno music with lyrics in the background make it even cooler. All the characters got a little slice of action this time around as well, even ones like the mecha guy who’ve done barely anything thus far.

          Selesia is the one who truly takes center stage, as she arrives to protect Meteora from Alice. But just as it looks like we’re about to get a fight between the two, Altair intervenes, disarming Selesia and having Alice accidentally stab her. The two main girls are down, the mech guy and the rival guy are off fighting their own battles, and things aren’t looking good.

          Re:Creators then decides to throw us for yet another loop, introducing a new way to power up the characters. Selesia’s creator sends out a tweet with the image drawn a few episodes ago, and after people respond positively to it Selesia is revived with amped up fire magic. I love this idea so much! It’s been made clear that fans need to accept a change before it can actually happen in the creations, so having a tweet by the creators with some new changes give a temporary boost to the creations is a brilliant idea. I really hope this is explained a bit more later on, because I really want to see more of it.

          While this episode is definitely more of a “finale showdown” type of story that doesn’t really progress the plot (aside from the tweet thing), it’s so much fun to watch. The fights in this show alone are well worth the time spent in exposition hell earlier on in the season. According to Magane at the end (as well as the showrunners) we’ve reached the halfway point in our adventure with these characters, and it’s been quite the ride so far.

FINAL SCORE

9/10

Amazing

Editorial: My E3 2017 Predictions (E3 Month 2017 Part 2)

My E3 2017 Predictions

          Alright, it’s time once again to give my predictions for what we’ll be seeing at the six major conferences this year. My rule as always: it’s cheating to predict something they’ve already announced will be there (for example, “new Assassin’s Creed” would be a no-go because we know they’re going to announce it). Plus, it’s more fun to try to figure out the new stuff that’s coming than guessing what’s going to earn a second year at E3 on its belt. With that said…

EA

A Star Wars game that isn’t Battlefront

          EA’s conference is a toughie this year. Unless they pull out a huge surprise, they won’t have a Mass Effect, Battlefield or Titanfall game they can rely on to amaze people this year. Are they going to continue the annual release of screentime given up to EA Sports titles? Or are they going to try to do what Nintendo pulled off last year and dedicate the entire conference to Battlefront II?

          Honestly, neither of those sound like a good idea (although this is EA we’re talking about, and they’re the kings of bad ideas). That’s why I think we’ll be seeing a brand new Star Wars title completely unrelated to Battlefront announced this year.

          Last year we got a laughably bad montage where they showed off all the Star Wars content that they promised we’d get to see for real…eventually. Well, a year’s gone by since then, so one would hope we’d be seeing something from one of those developers this year. 1313 brought back from the dead, anyone?

Bethesda

Doom 2

          They say it’s best to strike the iron while it’s hot. Doom was met with huge praise and success last year (which accidentally introduced the worst review policy ever), so it doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to think that plans are already underway for round 2.

          While I doubt we’ll actually be getting the game this year (even next year seems like a stretch), I wouldn’t be surprised to see a brief announcement trailer for the sequel this time around. Bethesda hasn’t announced much of their lineup for the next few years aside from Quake Champions, so announcing the sequel to one of 2016’s biggest success stories seems like a plausible route to take.

Microsoft

Halo 6 on Scorpio

          The Xbox One’s been floundering ever since it was first announced, thanks to the initial sales pitch being one of the worst console marketing schemes ever conceived and having a lack of exclusives worth buying an entire console for. Considering this conference will likely be focused on announcing and advertising the new Xbox Scorpio, I’m willing to bet that Microsoft knows they’ll need a Breath of the Wild sized launch game to really push this console.

          And what better route to take than pulling out Ol’ Reliable?

          Halo 5 launched with all the impact of a marshmallow landing on a cotton swab (note to self: need better allegories), so the franchise that set the standard for first-person shooter games is currently trying to crawl its way out of mediocrity. What better way to fix two problems at once by releasing a show stopping Halo 6, available exclusively on the Scorpio?

          Microsoft has announced that a new Halo game won’t be at the conference, and usually when a developer says something won’t be at E3 they stick to their guns. But the Scorpio needs a good game at launch, and having it be Microsoft’s biggest franchise makes the most sense.

Ubisoft

The ultimate dance-off

          I mean, last time they started off with a huge dance number, so they’ve gotta top it this year, right? And what better way to do it than with a massive dance battle onstage?

          I dunno, they already announced all the major games they’re doing this year and it’s too early for sequels to the stuff they talked about last time. There’s nothing I can really say.

Sony

Spyro Remastered

          Sony’s been bringing out a lot of nostalgic licenses from the PS1 days lately for either remasters or new installments. The Crash and Wipeout remasters have a lot of people excited, and fans really enjoyed PaRappa HD. So who’s next to be brought out of the history books?

          People have been asking for this one ever since Spyro became the poster boy for the first Skylanders game, and now that Sony’s gotten all aboard the nostalgia train I think it’s finally his time to shine. While I’m not really familiar with the franchise myself, I think a remaster of the first three games would really make people happy.

Nintendo

Smash Bros. for Switch

          Nintendo’s been doing a great job in maintaining a steady stream of popular IPs coming out for the Switch. We already have Zelda and Mario Kart, and Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Odyssey are due out for later this year. Honestly, having the next step be Smash Bros seems like a no-brainer.

          I wouldn’t be surprised if Nintendo decided to go the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe route with Smash, releasing a “Definitive Edition” of the Wii U/3DS game with all modes included in one package, plus all the DLC included. Throw in a few new characters and stages (Splatoon and ARMS alone would make for a bunch of new content) and Nintendo has a fantastic little game sure to move more consoles.

          So there’s my big predictions for this year’s conference! Odds are I’m right for at least one of them, so there’s that I guess.

          Stay tuned for next time, as I give my thoughts on all the major conferences and decide on who my E3 winner is!

Little Witch Academia Episode 22 Review

Feels

(This review contains MASSIVE spoilers!)

(Seriously, if you haven’t watched the episode yet and you wish to do so, stay away from this review. There’s some “Luke, I am your father” level stuff here)

          The biggest question since the first episode of Little Witch has been if and when Ursula would reveal herself to be Chariot to Akko. We’ve known the two were one and the same ever since the first short, so with the big reveal kind of inevitable as the series shifted gears much further towards Akko and Ursula’s relationship in the second cour it became kind of a guessing game for how the answer would be given.

          This episode gave answers to not only that question, but to multiple others as well, as Croix’s master plan began to unfold. Despite all this, the writers still managed to create an episode packed with Little Witch’s trademark brand of sweetness and humour.

          Honestly, it’s hard to tell where to begin with this episode. The seventh word is on the horizon, but before that can happen Andrew stops by town to return Akko’s hat. I love how Andrew’s finally had stuff to do these past few weeks aside from bail Akko out of some wacky situations she can’t fix herself. The chemistry between the two of them is just fantastic, as we can see in the scene the two of them share where he encourages her to stop trying to be Chariot and start trying to be herself. It’s a lesson she’ll probably be taking to heart after the events of this episode.

          The weird soccer game controversy that’s been popping up these last few weeks also finally got some explanation. It’s the result of a growing animosity between two competing countries, except amplified by Croix. Her master plan is to harness people’s negative emotions to forcefully break the seal on the Grand Triskelion, while at the same time guaranteeing a future for magic even when the old style fades away.

          Croix finally decides Akko is interfering with her plans too much, and targets her with her evil robots. Ursula swoops in to save her, and while doing so lets her disguise slip and reveals herself to be Chariot.

          Now, for most shows this would be a good place to end it. But here’s where Little Witch decided to go full-on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D on us, leaving a cliffhanger that changes literally everything about the overarching plot of the series.

          After Ursula apologizes to Akko for not telling her sooner, Croix decides to explain why Chariot stopped performing. Similarly to how Croix is currently using magic to control emotions, Chariot used to harness the power of dreams to fuel her magic. The downside is that everyone who she used the dream magic on could never use magic themselves later on.

          This explains so much about the series that most of us never gave a second thought. Why Akko spent so much of the first cour being the worst witch ever and why she can’t ride a broom? Chariot stole her magic. Why Diana grew up alone and friendless because she was so dedicated to relearning magic and becoming a witch worthy of the Cavendish family name? She attended the same Chariot show Akko did. It even explains why Akko, a witch not from a magical family, was accepted into Luna Nova in the first place. Wizarding children are vanishing by the hundreds because Chariot stole their magic.

          This episode also ruined that adorable opening scene in the first episode forever. So there’s that.

          Obviously Akko is more than a little distraught to discover that the idol she’s been searching for for years is the reason why she’s so much worse than all the other Luna Nova students, and the episode ends on that note. Honestly, it’s anyone’s guess where it’s going to go from this point, but considering this is Little Witch Academia, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s all smiles and magic again before long.

          While I’ve been a little frustrated about how wishy-washy Trigger seems to have been over the Chariot reveal since the second cour started, this episode absolutely made it worth the wait. Everything from the writing to the animation to the music to even how everything was lit was just perfection, and it really gave the episode a stake nothing else before it had.

FINAL SCORE

10/10

Legendary

Re:Creators Episode 9 Review

Magane Fan Club now open for business

(This review contains spoilers!)

          Last week’s Re:Creators continued to finally become more of the show it promised it would be from the beginning, upping the action and mystery while at the same time throwing out the unnecessary overdose of exposition that plagued the first few episodes. This week was a continuation of that same high, as the show focused on one of the most fun and interesting characters in the whole thing.

          The big question from last week was whether Mamika was going to survive her encounter with Altair or not. This question was answered in the cold open with a big and bloody “nope”, as she was brought crashing down to Earth still mortally wounded. What this episode doesn’t tell us is what the consequences of the Magical Splash Flare were. Altair is nowhere to be seen this week, and neither is the gun-toting guy that seems to be her number two. While it’s fairly obvious they’re still alive, one has to wonder what happened to them afterwards.

          Anyways, Mamika dies in front of Magane, with her last wish being for her to tell Alice that they need to side with Meteora to take down Altair. Magane, of course, doesn’t exactly tell Alice the truth, instead flipping the narrative to make it sound like Meteora is the one who killed Mamika and Altair is the one they need to side with.

          A lot of the episode is given up to Magane, and how she’s working to turn all the heroes against each other. It’s been made obvious that she doesn’t care whether the world is saved or destroyed, but rather just wants to have fun messing with everyone. Since Altair has done barely anything at all over the course of the series, Magane is the closest we have to a main villain right now, and she’s a lot of fun. I love the subtle ways she’s able to turn conversations around in her favour and get people to do what she wants. She’s an extremely interesting and fun bad guy.

          Through her we also got hints to Sota’s past, and how he’s done something in the past so that he “can’t see someone anymore”. I think at this point we’ve been given all the puzzle pieces to figure out what happened here. Sota was friends with the girl who created Altair, but the two drifted apart after she became successful. Then he did something to make her commit suicide, which is why Altair targeted him in the first episode. All that’s left is for the show to explicitly tell us the details.

          There’s also an interesting little nugget of conspiracy lying beneath Magane’s lies. What if Meteora is actually working for Altair? She kind of randomly showed up in the first episode alongside her, and it would explain her sudden knowledge of all her plans despite never really coming into contact with her. Plus there’s also the fact that it would help Altair’s plan of making the creations fight each other if she had a double agent working on the other side.

          My one big problem with this episode is a continuing one with the entire series: there are too many characters than they can juggle right now. Selesia is completely absent this week, as is the mech guy who still has done squat. While they don’t really have a place in an episode so focused on Magane, I really wish they’d been given something to do. Why not have Selesia be the one to fight Magane in the end? She’s the most prominent character in the intro and advertising, yet has done basically nothing crucial since the pilot.

          Despite that, this episode is awesome. The writing on Magane turned her from a fun baddie to a truly interesting antagonist, and the way she’s subtly trying to manipulate the narrative is fantastic. Plus, if my Meteora prediction comes true, it’s an awesome little nugget placed early on for the more zealous fans.

FINAL SCORE

9/10

Amazing

Star Wars Saturday: Who is Supreme Leader Snoke?

Who is Supreme Leader Snoke?

          He’s tall, dark and not-so-handsome, but as of right now we don’t know too much about Snoke, the enigmatic leader behind the First Order. He only appears in hologram form in a handful of scenes in Force Awakens and I’ve heard conflicting reports on whether he’ll be more of a major player or not in Last Jedi, furthering the mystery of exactly who he is and why he has such a grudge against not only the galaxy, but specifically the Skywalker family.

          So I thought it’d be fun to go through a police lineup of sorts and see if we can pin down exactly who this mysterious dark side master is. But before we get started…

What we know for sure

          Not much, as a matter of fact. Snoke’s Wookieepedia page is more dominated by a description of his appearance and some behind the scenes facts than an actual description of where he comes from and who he truly is.

          Despite that, there’s a couple things we know for sure from various sources. We know he’s extremely skilled in wielding the dark side of the Force. We know from the Force Awakens novelization that, while he may appear human, he isn’t of the human race (though it’s been suggested that this may just be him tampering with his holographic appearance to hide his true identity). We know he witnessed the rise and fall of the Empire, meaning he’s been around since Revenge of the Sith at the absolute latest. We also know that he’s the one who seduced Kylo Ren to the dark side, leading him to destroy Luke’s Jedi academy.

          Last but not least, it’s implied that he being the true mastermind behind the First Order isn’t exactly a secret. Leia namedrops him when discussing Kylo to Han in Force Awakens, so they at least know who he is. I’d also be very surprised is Luke wasn’t at least a bit familiar with him.

          But that’s really it. Lucasfilm has barely given us breadcrumbs of Snoke’s true identity, leaving the internet with a lot to speculate on and not much detail to utilize.

          So it’s time to go through some of the more popular theories and give my thoughts on who this guy might be.

Suspect #1: An entirely new character

          At this time of writing, this one seems to be the most viable option. Snoke doesn’t bear a strong resemblance to anyone we know from the movies, and he’s played by Andy Serkis, an actor entirely new to Star Wars. Doesn’t exactly match up with anyone else.

          So if he’s not someone we know, who the heck is he?

          A lot of fingers are pointing towards the Unknown Regions, an uncharted area of the Star Wars galaxy that’s never been truly explored. We know that after the Empire was destroyed they retreated into the Unknown Regions to regroup, and there they transformed into the First Order and constructed Starkiller Base. Who’s to say the Empire didn’t bump into Snoke along the way? Maybe he was the one who orchestrated their comeback?

          There’s even more evidence if you read some of the recently released books. We know from them that Thrawn, the blue skinned Grand Admiral of the Empire, was sent out into the Unknown Regions early on in his career to investigate a mysterious threat the Republic detected was lurking there. We don’t know what he found, but the pieces line up with that “mysterious threat” being Snoke. We also know from the Aftermath novels that Palpatine detected “the source of his power” in the Unknown Regions, which is one of the main reasons the Empire journeyed there after his demise. Who better to tip Palpatine off that something sinister is lurking beyond charted territory than Thrawn, one of the highest ranking and most brilliant officers in his cabinet?

          A spirit that embodies an aspect of the Force isn’t exactly a new idea in Star Wars either. Star Wars Rebels recently introduced the Bendu, a spirit meant to represent the balance between the light and dark sides of the force. Could Snoke be the literal manifestation of the dark side?

          So that leaves us with a mysterious figure hiding out in uncharted space, possibly the source of the dark side itself. The Empire discovered him on their travels after being defeated, and he took it upon himself to fix them up and make them better.

Suspect #2: Darth Plagueis

          This is easily the most popular theory out there, and it has quite a bit of evidence behind it. Many fans will tell you that Snoke is actually Darth Plagueis, Palpatine’s Sith master and one of the strongest dark side users in galactic history.

          We know about Plagueis from the famous opera scene in Revenge of the Sith, where Palpatine recounts the Sith legend to Anakin in an attempt to sway him further to the dark side. According to Palpatine, Plagueis was so powerful in using the dark side that he could influence midichlorians to create life, saving those he loved from death. Eventually, he got so powerful that his apprentice killed him in his sleep, that apprentice obviously being Palpatine himself.

          So, let’s look at the facts here. Both Snoke and Plagueis are said to be extremely strong in wielding the dark side of the Force. Snoke’s face looks more than a little torn up, so much so that it’d make sense if an attempt had been made on his life. Also, if Plagueis could create life to save others from death, whoever said he couldn’t do the same on himself?

          The biggest piece of evidence for this theory comes from none other than John Williams himself. Here’s the music that plays during the Plagueis scene in Revenge of the Sith.

          And now here’s the music that plays during Snoke’s first scene in Force Awakens.

          The two are frighteningly similar. Both employ an unsettling “uuuuuuhhh” tone beneath some sinister sounding notes. Almost like there’s a connection between the two.

Suspect #3: Boba Fett

          Now we’re starting to get into some of the wackier theories. Despite what you may think, this one actually holds a bit of ground, despite it being highly unlikely that Fett actually turns out to be the ultimate evil. It also helps us solve that pesky “Rey’s parents” mystery (but that’s a story for another day).

          This theory, by Reddit user “TheReturnofBobaFett”, is based a lot on the similarities Force Awakens shares with the 90’s non-Disney animated fairy tale movie Anastasia. Both stories are about a girl left alone, far away from her family. She’s trapped until she meets an innocent and helpless character who leads her to a young man on the run from his past. The girl and young man go on adventures together until she is kidnapped by the villain. The young man fights for her freedom, ending with him unconscious. The girl then summons a power she didn’t know she had and gets the villain’s weapon before he does. The movie ends with the girl reuniting with her family before leaving again to follow her destiny.

          Sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it? But how does this lead up to Boba Fett becoming a dark side master?

          The main villain in Anastasia attacks the titular princess because he wants revenge on a family that crossed him long ago. Obviously in this situation that would be the Skywalker/Solo family. This is why he specifically targeted Ben Solo to become Kylo Ren, knowing it’d be a big hit to the original trio. He also orchestrated Rey disappearing (this theory having her turn out to be the long-lost daughter of Han and Leia) to further the divide between the two of them, having Han return to smuggling and Leia go back to politics.

          The only character that’s still alive with such a grudge against the family is Boba Fett, according to TheReturn. It also explains how Snoke knows the name of the Millennium Falcon despite it having gone unused for years by the time of Force Awakens. The Aftermath books hint that Fett survived his encounter with the Sarlacc numerous times. This also explains how Snoke saw the rise and fall of the Empire, as Fett was present at the start of the Clone Wars in Attack of the Clones.

          The only thing this theory missed was that it never really explains how exactly Fett managed to go from being a highly-talented bounty hunter and become a super-powerful dark side user, making me feel that, while there are a lot of interesting points to speculate on here, the end conclusion of Snoke’s identity is a bit of a miss. Still, the full theory is well worth reading here.

Suspect #4: Sith Master Jar Jar Binks

          Let me make something clear here: do I think there’s even a glimmer of a chance that the Lucasfilm story group decided to make one of the most unintentionally despised characters in cinema history the main antagonist of their new trilogy? No way, not a chance. But honestly, the theory’s just too awesome to pass up a chance to talk about it.

          Around the time when Force Awakens hype had reached its peak, Reddit user “Lumpawarroo” (taking his name from a character in the holiday special that shall not be named) posted an extensive amount of evidence that Jar Jar’s character was originally going to turn out to be an accomplice of Palpatine’s in Attack of the Clones, mirroring the reveal in Empire Strikes Back that the hyperactive green thing messing with Luke’s stuff and cooking root stew is actually the greatest Jedi master that ever lived. Of course, after the response to Jar Jar in Phantom Menace was…underwhelming, Lucas went back to the drawing board and removed his story going forward, replacing him with Count Dooku in future movies.

          There’s actually a frightening amount of detail in Phantom Menace that gives away Jar Jar’s true nature. Jar Jar performs several acrobatic feats throughout the film more often attributed to Jedi knights. He also tends to move his hands subtly when talking to others, which often lead to him being promoted in the Gungan army and the Senate.

          If you haven’t checked the theory out, give it a look here. It goes into way more detail than I could here, including how Jar Jar subtly gives young Anakin an early disrespect for Jedi and fans the flames of his love for Padme. Despite there being absolutely no chance that Disney will pull this one out of nowhere for a big reveal in the new trilogy, it’s a real intriguing look at how one of the most disliked characters in all of Star Wars almost became a massive surprise.

          There are several more, but these are the only ones that hold water (Mace Windu, Leia, a reborn Palpatine, and even the reanimated body of Darth Vader all came up as popular theories albeit ones with little backing evidence while I researched this article). Needless to say that this is a topic that’s been hotly discussed ever since the topic first came up. If I were to put my two cents in I’d say that Snoke is most likely the manifestation of the dark side not unlike Bendu from Rebels, although I wouldn’t discount him turning out to be Plagueis. Regardless of who he is, I can’t wait to learn more about who he really is and where he came from.