A Link to the Past
Banned
I can't believe that there's no outrage toward Scott Pilgrim being listed. It is certainly NOT better. True that more story is not necessarily good, but that statement is invalid if you don't explain why it's true in this case. I can list MANY plot elements that the movie lacked or changed that were either inferior or simply silly. Spoilers for both film and book.
But all-in-all, it was a great game. Music was great, references were great, acting was great, special effects were great, and even the plot was great. They did a great job of translating the series... but it's still got tons of problems that make it fall short. The person obviously doesn't understand what makes the books great if he would denounce the importance of the two plot elements that he mentioned.
EDIT: Well, now there's outrage. I guess it came while I was posting this!
Ramona is controlled by a chip. How can that even compare to a part of her mind always belonging to Gideon?
Scott causing the break-up with Envy in the first place. The movie almost blames her 100% for being a bitch, when they were both possibly the instigators in the situation, if not Scott himself.
Kim was relegated to one-liners, which is arguably the worst thing they did in the transition - even Wright admits to this. Kim had a huge influence to his character.
The movie did nothing with the Katanayagi Twins. Where in the book it establishes that Ramona isn't perfect, a fact which is not nearly as well conveyed in the books. It's the best scene in the movie, but they had NO characterization.
Todd Ingram is depicted in a much less jerky fashion. The books depict him as a cheater and a dick, which the latter was admittedly conveyed in punching Knives, but him hitting Envy has much, much more impact. Envy is not even a character in the film, she's just something there for the sole purpose of furthering the plot.
Ramona has no reason to be with Scott; at least, a poor reason compared to the books. In the fourth book, Scott gives this grand speech, and proves to Ramona his love. In the movies, she sounds barely interested in him at any given time.
The reason for the break-up is very weak compared to the books. Their relationship wanes in the fourth book after his encounter with Lisa. They both do things without thinking as a result, leading to Ramona presumably sleeping with Roxy. However, Scott rekindles this by earning the power of love with his grand speech. Eventually, after defeating the Twins and hearing the tale of her wrongitude, Ramona leaves him to think things through (providing us a hilarious characterization of Ramona as pretty nerdy and a match for him as a result). In the movies, she just gets pissed at him, gets possessed, and disappears until Scott breaks her free.
Understanding is way better than self-respect. Understanding shows Scott learning a thing or two about himself. He did so in the movies, but the whole reveal - that Scott has been mistaken about himself, and is actually a bad person - is way better than how they depicted it, where it basically shows him as having fucked up. Considering the theme of self-respect, it makes no sense for Scott to go with Knives OR Ramona - the strongest element of self-respect, or one of them, would be learning to live without needing a significant other. Having a revelation and then being forced to do something that contradicts the whole basis just to stay true is silly. If you're going to make a big change like that, stick with it.
Being a huge Zelda fan, I loved all of the references, and I know that Wright put a lot of love into the references. But please, not at the expense of all of the other ones! Why can't we have a Space Channel 5 reference? Or a Super Mario Bros. 2 reference? Metroid reference? And what's with the lack of the Achievement Unlocked with the Katanayagi Twins?!
But all-in-all, it was a great game. Music was great, references were great, acting was great, special effects were great, and even the plot was great. They did a great job of translating the series... but it's still got tons of problems that make it fall short. The person obviously doesn't understand what makes the books great if he would denounce the importance of the two plot elements that he mentioned.
EDIT: Well, now there's outrage. I guess it came while I was posting this!
