What's Next On My List? Avatar: The Last Airbender

The spin-off of one of my favorite shows just ended a couple of months ago and I thought I would take the time to write about it a bit more in detail and they are both big favorites of mine!

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Book One - Water: The Avatar is the only one who can control all four elements. However, he disappeared hundred years ago when the Fire Nation attacked the other nations in a war. Sokka and Katara - a brother and sister of the Southern Water tribe - find the young Avatar in an iceberg on the South Pole. His name is Aang, and he is the last airbender, as his kind was wiped out by the Fire Nation in search of him. When Aang is faced with what he left behind when he was scared to accept his responsibilities, he decides to set out to learn the other elements with the help of Sokka and Katara to soon defeat the Fire Lord. Their trip, however, is a very bumpy one as they continuously ambushed by the Fire Lord's son, Zuko. Zuko, after disrespecting his father was scarred and then banished from the Fire Nation. The only way for him to get back his honor is to find the Avatar. Not only does he end up fighting with Aang, but with other Fire Nation soldiers as well, as they manage to capture Aang before him. At the end of the season Aang reaches the North Pole where he and Katara learn waterbending. Aang and his friends manage to escape from Zuko, he - because of his rivalries with Fire Nation soldiers - is forced to hide in the Earth Kingdom with his Uncle Iroh.

Book Two - Earth: After learning to waterbend, Aang has to master earthbending. He tried to change the order of elements, but he hurt Katara while trying to learn firebending, so he continued his quest to master earthbending instead. In order to do that, he has to find a teacher. He reaches his old friend, Bumi, one of the best earthbenders in the world. But they can't stay and Bumi can't leave his kingdom. Aang finds another master, someone who never uses her eyes, but her other senses, because she is blind. Toph wishes to escape her life and she decides to join the team and teach Aang. Her blindness causes several reasons for laughter as Sokka's jokes keep focusing on what the others face while running from the Fire Nation. After Zuko hid in the Earth Kingdom and stopped his search for the Avatar, his place is taken by Azula, his sister. Azula decides to use more fatal ways to find Aang, and the paths of the siblings as well as that of the Avatar often cross. And the last time they cross Zuko decides to attack the Avatar instead of going back to a life of hiding with his Uncle Iroh. And at the end they all believe that they have killed Aang in his Avatar state, and if he dies there, the cycle of the Avatar is broken.

Book Three - Fire: The Avatar has to act fast to defeat Fire Lord Ozai, as their only chance is the the day of Black Sun, a solar eclipse when firebenders lose their powers. Unfortunately, even if the forces guided by Sokka's father to gain control of the Fire Nation get very far, they are outsmarted as the Fire Lord expected their arrival. During the eclipse Zuko escapes and follows the Avatar one last time to tell him that he wishes to teach him firebending. That he understands that what his father is doing is wrong: fire only brings about destruction, and not power. His nation is not sharing his gift with the world but oppressing it. Although hesitant, but everyone from the group spends time to find out who Zuko really is and they learn to trust him. Aang is, however, troubled as he was taught to cherish every life: He has a problem with taking Fire Lord Ozai's life, even if he threatens to wipe out the whole world with the help of a meteor that is set to orbit the planet. Just days before the fight Aang leaves the others behind on a spiritual quest where he learns that he is able to take away others' bending. He fights the Fire Lord and takes his bending in order to ensure peace among nations and ends of the hundred year war.

To quickly summarize my overall feeling about the show: If you haven't known already, this is one of the best series every made in television. It is smart, funny and everything a child needs as well as an adult! It doesn't shy away from conflict, and it shows that sometimes your friends can become your family instead of your relatives. And that is a beautiful lesson for anyone who ever felt lonely because of their parents or siblings. I also love that although Aang faced his demons and his responsibilities alone, he didn't have to. His friends had his back all the way. There is a lot to learn from this show and me, for instance will show it to my kids for sure!

(This bit also appears in my review of The Legend of Korra, so if you to read that first, skip to the end!)
From a critical point of view: I watched this series while I waited for the second season of The Legend of Korra. I love that a lot, for several reasons, but I noticed a huge difference between the two shows. All of my friends seem to have preferred either one to the other, but not me. I saw the genius behind both of them and I enjoyed the evolution from one to the other. Be honest, if they would've copied the first series it would not have been nearly as good. And I will debate anyone who doesn't feel that the first was excellent ground work for the second one!

That being said, when you watch both series, you will realize something: Korra barely has any non-benders. On one side, this is not a problem because you will also see that Korra brought bending to a whole other level! And the non-benders? They are kickass too. But, they are still limited. Asami (a beautiful and smart girl), Pema (a fierce mother), Varrick (a backstabbing business man who really only does good in the end) and his assistant Zhu Li (a bad-ass girl with the brain of a genius). And if you don't feel connection with either of these characters, you are somewhat bound to be left out, you know? Think about Sokka, the Kyoshi Warriors, the Air Acolytes who learn about the nomad cultures of airbenders, the inventors and just a series of people who have never needed bending in their life for it to be full. I think, or at least I have seen, that people found it easier to get lost in this world - or feel like they are a part of it - when they could be one of those humans themselves. And I get that. But I am full fantasy all the time, which means, that the less it has to do with sucky reality the more I love it.

I will tell you this, however, that you should watch both series and I would even recommend starting with Korra. Why? Well, people who started with Aang's adventures had problems with the other that I never quite got my head around too - besides the ones mentioned above. Also, there is something fun about seeing what was the origin for a series. The Legend of Korra took it to a next level with several nods to the old series and a lot of inside jokes, but ultimately, you know the story is good because it stands on it own! Imagine, if you will that Korra is the era in which you live in, while that of Aang is inside a history book that comes to life when you open it. If you check out the first series while watching the second, I think you will find it a lot more fun. Getting answers to questions while they are being asked is a wonderful feeling!

That said, do watch it. It isn't critically acclaimed for nothing! I have myself re-watched it several times. And, after posting this, I will schedule another marathon for myself! In a couple of weeks you can read my Legend of Korra review as well!

PS: NO. DON'T WATCH THE MOVIE VERSION, IT SUCKS. If yo need more info on it, check out the Nostalgia Critic's review here!

Stay tuned, until the next item on my list!

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Aang - Zach Tyler

Katara - Mae Whitman

Sokka - Jack De Sena

Toph - Jesse Flower

Zuko - Dante Basco

Azula - Grey DeLisle

Uncle Iroh - Mako

and

Fire Lord Ozai - Mark Hamill

Blogger: Judge Me. Now.

Magyar verzióért gurulj lejebb!
For la versione italiana vai giú!

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vampirebrain/sets/72157649159297904/

During my life I had my share of prejudice from others. I mostly take the time and the effort to change other people's mind, at least about me. Also, I will admit that I too have thoughts sometimes that I shouldn't, but I am proud to say that I am not blinded by first impressions. Nonetheless, I am tired.

I am tired of hearing about young people giving up their lives because of bullying. I am tired of children calling each others names. And mostly I am tired of the parents: Why are you so afraid of talking to your children? How do you not see that sometimes they are influenced by the prejudice of others? And most importantly, why can't you see that the world is changing? You have to be able to teach them, guide them, NOT tell them what to think! No good will come of it.
I know I'm not going to change the world. And why? Because the world doesn't want to change itself. I do, however, believe that something much better is just around the corner. I remember a picture of a rally against black people in the 50's compared with a rally against gay marriage, and the tagline just said: "Imagine how stupid you will look in fifty years". And I loved that. It shows that with proper motivation and hard work we will have a better world.
This small photo-shoot that I am planned for over two years now has a simple mission, a question really: Try and judge someone when they don't have clothes you can criticize, you don't know where they come from, who they are, how poor and how rich, what's their sexual orientation or what grades they get in school. Try. Try to judge them now. You'll see that your prejudice shackles them the same way as handcuffs would.

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Durante la mia vita ho sofferto anch'io per causa del pregiudizio degli altri. Penso sia mio dovere prendere il tempo e la forza di cercare di cambiare la mente della gente, almeno per quanto riguarda la loro opinione su di me. Ammetterò che anche io avvolte ho avuto pensieri incerti, ma sono fiera di dire che non sono accecata da prime impressioni. Non cambia il fatto che sono stanca. 

Stanca di giovani che rinunciano alla propria vita a causa di bullismo. Sono stanca di bambini che prendono in giro altri con nomignoli. Ma più di tutto sono stanca del comportamento dei genitori. Perché avete tanta paura di parlare con i vostri figli? Come fate a non vedere che sono influenzati dal pregiudizio di altri? E come fate a non vedere che il mondo sta cambiando? Dovete essere capaci di insegnare a guidare, NON di dirgli cosa pensare! Non ne verrà fuori niente di buono.
Lo so che non sarò io a cambiare il mondo. Perché chiedete? Perché é il mondo che si rifiuta di cambiare. Credo comunque che qualcosa di migliore sia vicino per noi. Mi ricordo di un'immagine di una protesta negli anni cinquanta contro l'ammissione di Africani-Americani nati negli Stati Uniti come cittadini. L'immagine era paragonato ad una protesta contro il matrimonio omosessuale e il titolo diceva "Immagina quanto sembrerete stupidi tra 50 anni". Adoravo quella foto. Dimostra che con determinata motivazione e lavoro duro riusciremo a cambiare il mondo per il meglio.
Con queste foto volevo solo porre una domanda alle persone: Prova a giudicare qualcuno quando non porta vestiti che potresti criticare, quando non sai da dove vengono, chi sono, quanto poveri o ricchi, quale sia la loro orientazione sessuale a che voti hanno a scuola. Prova. Prova a giudicarli adesso. Vedrai che il tuo pregiudizio li incatena esattamente come farebbero le manette.

(Per vedere le foto clicca sul link all'inizio della pagina, oppure sull'immagine iniziale.)

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Az életem során én is voltam már előítélet áldozata. Mindig is úgy tartottam, hogy az én feladatom, hogy jobb belátásra bírjam az embereket, legalább azzal kapcsolatban, amit rólam gondolnak. Elismerem, hogy olykor az én agyam is elvándorolt már rossz gondolatok felé, de büszkén mondhatom, hogy sosem vakított még el az első benyomásom valakiről. Ez nem változtat azon, hogy elfáradtam. 

Nem bírom, hogy fiatalok feladják az életüket mert terrorizálják őket. Nem bírom már, hogy gyerekek egymást olyan szavakkal sértik, amin a jelentését sem ismerik. De mindennél jobban a szülők viselkedésébe fáradtam bele. Miért félnek olyan sokan attól, hogy beszéljenek a gyerekeikkel? Hogy nem veszitek észre, hogy befolyásolják őket mások előítéletei? Hogy nem veszitek észre, hogy változik a világ? Képesnek kell lennetek tanítani őket és vezetni, de NEM megmondani előre, hogy mit gondoljanak! Nem lesz abból semmi jó.
Tudom, hogy nem én fogom megváltani a világot. Miért? Mert a világ nem akar megváltozni. De ennek ellenére bízom benne, hogy valami jobb vár ránk és hamar. Emlékszem egy képre, ami az 50-es évek Amerikájában készült, egy tüntetésen, ahol az emberek ellenezték a feketék jogát, hogy egyenrangú állampolgárok legyenek. Ezt egy másik kép mellé tették, melyen a melegházasság ellen tüntettek és a cím csak ennyit írt: "Képzeljétek el, milyen hülyén fogtok kinézni 50 év múlva". Imádom azt a képet. Bemutatja, hogy ha elszánt az ember és keményen dolgozik akkor egy jobb világot fogunk alkotni.
Ez a fotósorozat, amit már két éve terveztem, egy egyszerű problémára akarja felhívni a figyelmet: Próbáld meg elítélni a másikat így, hogy nem látod milyen ruhákban jár, hogy nem tudod honnan származik, kik ők, gazdagok vagy szegények, hogy melyik nemhez vonzódnak és milyen jegyeik vannak az iskolában. Próbáld csak. Próbáld meg őket most elítélni. Meg fogok látni, hogy a te előítéleted ugyanúgy leköti őket, mintha egy bilincset tennél a kezükre.

(Hogy lásd a többi fotót, klikkelj a linkre a bejegyzés elején vagy a kezdő fotóra!)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Wishing everyone a pint of their favorite 

beer and a pot of gold! 

Happy St. Paddy's!

What's Next On my List? Game Of Thrones

Season One, Two, Three and Four

In anticipation of the fifth season - just one month to go! - I thought I would share my thoughts on what I have seen so far. First is first, if you like this show, don't read my review. I don't hate it, don't worry, but I do disagree with a couple of things and I will complain, not little, a lot! In case you don't want any spoilers than you shouldn't read at all because I will spoil, project ahead and try to find answers in any way I can.
Lastly, no, I have not read the books. I don't really like to read and well, I decided that I would only read them if the show got me interested - and the two storylines that did I was told were not in the books, only the show. So, there you go! Ready? Let's do this!

Game Of Thrones

Season 1: I have chosen this picture to head this season specifically because it summarizes my feelings. They were mixed, but positive. I liked the idea and I liked the initial conflict. I had no idea where it was going and I was curious. Most importantly: I didn't hate anyone.

I was so curious and I knew about the show enough to know that I have to be in a special mood to watch it. And the best thing about it was the fact that I liked the little characters. The scenery and the smart dialogue, it all caught me by surprise. My favorite characters are Petyr and Varys, and all of their scenes deserve academy awards! I even liked the prostitutes' dialogues! They were simply very well written! Almost every detail was perfect and I can tell you that without having to think twice about it because it got everyone to look forward to the next season. Now, I liked the scenery too, but I have since seen illustrations of what the author actually had in mind and I am sorry it didn't go that way - perhaps if you spent more attention the design instead of the sex scenes we would be much better off!

On the subject of sex scenes: I don't want to go into detail, I will say this, however, some scenes bear such importance - like a rape scene in season 4 - that due to the fact that there is so much in it, some lose substance. Importance, in other words. The act of love, or simply put sex, should have a different tone, because you can pick out the ones where the book too tried to emphasize the importance of certain conjugal elements. I'm not against it, don't attack me! But, less is sometimes more!

This season killed someone I thought would become the main protagonist, Khal Drogo, in the dumbest possible way... that cut? He must have had worse cuts in his life! That was the first time I felt disappointed by this story. You could have at least cut his arm off or something... And people keep surviving the most horrible things and he really died from that? The warrior he was? I just laugh at this... in my ear I hear "Tis' but a scratch" by the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in case you want me to ruin the first season for you completely! He gets all of his limbs cut off and still wants to fight!
(Update: I've just come across an article about jokes and insights that GoT threw in and only a few noticed, and number 7 was that Monty Python is everywhere! I feel proud I caught that! Click here for the whole article!)

Season 2: Oh good, another two thousand characters were added to the cast! This season was so memorable that I cannot recall what happened. Oh yeah, Jon Snow told everyone who his father is - as if he could still find anyone in the Seven Kingdoms who didn't already know! If I try really hard then I can also maybe recall a very painful relationship of Robb Stark with a woman he had absolutely no chemistry with and a couple of really cool conversations between Petyr 'Littlefinger' and Varys 'Spider'- but then again, that was about the only thing enjoyable in all of the seasons so far. OK, Arya working for Tywin Lannister was also really cool - an awesome addition to the show. And I say the show because I know it wasn't in the book. Another reason why I won't read it. I swear that for the life of me I can't recall anything else of interest in this season. I was hoping we would get to know more about the White Walkers, but that never happened. And Brann Stark seems to be the most interesting character and we see so little of him that I just don't care by the time they do get back to him...

Season 3: Meh... no. No. People told me that it will get better, it didn't. I hate Jon Snow. I hate Daenerys. I did not, however, hate Joffrey! And I don't really get why people keep hating him - that sick bastard who was torturing Theon on the other hand? Ramsay? He makes me scared to leave my room! Why doesn't everyone hate him instead? In comparison Joffrey is a scared little rabbit! Yes, admittedly he is not the most likable character, but I was so ready to hate him - after what I was told - but he barely got me irritated. And while on the subject of irritating... I will personally pay the author to kill of Theon! I just want him to die so bad... you have no idea! His character does NOTHING and we see him literally all the time! I can't think of one episode where he wasn't featured, and for that? His character was mushed and he doesn't even exist anymore. Such a waste of time - precious time!

I was not warned that I would like Jaime Lannister this much, but his character was very well constructed and I am happy about that. Also, Daenerys almost did something interesting, but every critical aspect of this season I encountered referred to the fact that she does not seem to want to move toward Westeros. Actually, she managed to build up a Kingdom almost bigger than the one she is supposed to inherit, why would you move? You have found people who cherish you and soldiers who follow you gladly. What would be the point in crossing the ocean, leaving behind all of this to be taken, only to rule in a city where you are no longer welcome? It's stupid. I know she is trying to build an army and all, but it looks like she is seeking every excuse in the world to not go back to Westeros... oh and now she's got another old fart advising her! Are you collecting them or something?

Season 4: This was the first season that made me understand why people are depressed over this show. How they fall in love with a character which then gets killed off. This was the first season that made me care for a side character and their death destroyed me. Oberyn Martell was his name, and in his last scene he recited "You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children!", which reminded me of another character, Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die". Not sure if that was intentional, but I liked it. I was very sad when he died. And that is where my grief ended. I might be a heartless bitch, but I did not care when anyone else who died. Ingrith? Won't miss her. Sandor Clegane? ... maybe, but he had it coming. Joffrey? Didn't change much, honestly.
Then, for me, the most disgusting thing happened: Daenerys locked up 2 of her 3 dragons. Favoritism much? What kind of a mother are you? I understand that you had to make a hard choice, considering your people and all, but dear god, lock them all up then! Or teach them, if you can control 1, why can't you control the other ones?! It was in that exact moment that I lost the last shred of care I ever had for this character!

In the end this was the best of all the seasons because we started to see the true color of most of the characters and I enjoyed that very much. Brianne of Tarth's adventures to find Arya; Sansa and Petyr; Tyrion's trial; Cersei's relationship with Jamie? All well written, interesting and they have shown development since the first time we had seen them. My new favorite character was Margaery: I loved how she manipulated Joffrey, and really, anyone around her! It was quite amusing. I personally loved that she didn't abuse Sansa's honesty and that her grandmother is her closest confidant. She showed us that she can play the game as well as Cersei does, without actually betraying the trust of those around her. It's a great take on the character, in my opinion. Lastly, Jon Snow... no. Don't care.

Now, let's go more into detail about my problems with the show itself. The Stark children: just one died out of the 5 and yet the story of the others one are so badly told that I keep forgetting they are still alive! I have the feeling that the Stark family is no more (or was that their aim?), and yet, most of the family is alive and well and on their path to something greater! Arya is simply fantastic, but to be honest with you, my favorite is Sansa. I knew she had to become something really cool and her last scenes, were she helps Petyr and kind of taunts him... chills ran down my spine! I wouldn't mind a show about just these two! And while on the subject of the Stark children, their wolves... Where the hell is Arya's wolf? I had to ask a friend who read the book and she told me that yes, her wolf is very much in the story and their meeting will be essential but the show messed up on this big time. They keep talking about how important they are, how they have become one with the children, and I am supposed to believe that after Arya spent ALL OF HER TIME in the forest for 3 seasons, her wolf didn't come around to find her? It doesn't make any sense! One sentence, people, this is something you could've explained with one sentence!

I'm not going to go into the wait because... why should I? You know what the problem is, three episodes pass before we get back to one character and even then they don't show them enough. I also think Jon Snow is an asshole, after four season I still don't understand why the wildlings can't come over the wall! Have you met Joffrey? You have far worse monsters on this side of the Kingdom! Those poor souls are running from the one thing that - I hope - will actually kill everyone in the story. Why do yu want to kill them so bad? Let's move on then to the cool part of the show: The White Walkers - AWESOME. More of them, please! Why do you show so little? No, I don't care about the King of the North; no, I don't care about Daenary's lack of motherly feelings or how many old farts give her advice she doesn't listen to; no, I don't want to know which of her relatives is Cersei's currently sleeping with! GIVE ME THE ZOMBIES!!! And if not the zombies, then more of the side characters! My favorite scene in the whole four season was when Varys put Tyrion on a boat and then he looked up at the castle and you could clearly see the sentiment of "Oh... f*ck it" before getting on the boat to leave this wretched and corrupt place behind.
Oh and I watched the first two seasons without subtitles and, although I thought I had a good ear for British pronunciation, I then found out that Casterly Rock and Castle Black were actually two different places... you might want to work on your enunciation...

BIGGEST DUMBEST PLOT HOLE OF ALL: Everyone receives a letter about the White Walkers, everyone, there is a scene dedicated to it and yet Stannis Baratheon is the ONLY one that replies? He is the only one that arrives to Castle Black? How can he be the only one who gives a shit about the pending doom of the whole Kingdom? (I don't know about you, but just that alone would make me want to give Him the throne...). At the end of the day I should be glad that the fat kid - sorry, Sam - survived, because it gives me hope in case of a zombie apocalypse, but I am so used to them dying first that I feel sad that Sam is still alive. That is how much this show makes me enraged!

And I have come to the conclusion that I will not watch it anymore. First of all, I am curious, but only about the faith of 5 characters (Petyr, Sansa, Arya, Varys and Tyrion). Second, I hate snakes. The tagline for the trailer of the fifth season said 'snakes' and I haven't seen the trailer still. So, unless a brave friend watches it with me to let me know when to close and open my eyes, I will not watch the next season. It is quite unlikely that I will find anyone when the show actually airs, so either marathon or nothing.

That said, have fun watching! I had fun writing this down, and I had discussions with people who have read the books and I have not gotten closer to the answers. Why? I have found, surprisingly, that most of my question actually came from the show's innovations and not the stories that both mediums share. So a lot of them cannot be answered yet. But I like that, I like that their answer is not 'read the book'.

Until the next item on my list!

PS: "Winter is coming"? More like any other season... Still related, Sean Bean... like, are you doing it on purpose or something?
And finally, me, on the iron throne. I look good, wouldn't you say? This show needs a queen!

What's Next On My List? (Games) Assassin's Creed III

I managed to complete this game last summer, and since didn't get a chance to talk about it here. I did discuss it with a lot of friends of mine, so I thought I'd share our common grief.

Assassin's Creed III

The story: Desmond Miles goes into the Animus to reincarnate one of his ancestors. In this game he goes back to the War of Independence between the British colonies in the Americas and the Crown. Our main character appears to be a man named Haytham Kenway, who travels to the colonies from England to enforce the Crown's wishes. We soon find out that he a Templar (one of the bad guys) and although he personally has nothing against the natives on the American lands, some of his partners do. Haytham falls in love with a native woman and he fathers her child, Connor. Connor, in order to save his village seeks training from a man named Achilles - an assassin. Connor helps the American troops in the War of Independence as they promise safety for his fellow natives. He also sets his mind on avenging his mother's death, who died in a fire caused by his father's friend, Charles Lee.

Game play: The biggest problem with the game was that you can barely enjoy the towns. Yes, I know that the point of these games is to sneak around, but when the militia decides to attack you - even when you have no wanted posters or have not done anything suspicious yet - then you just simply get bored. I found myself mostly running from conflict, while in other games I loved fighting on the streets. The tomahawk was a wonderful addition, another reason why I hated running away... and there was a lot of running! Each time you left the town to get back to Achilles, going back took like six hundred hours! And I know that there was the carriage, that was supposed to fasten travel, and I don't know if my game was jammed, but it kept taking me to the wrong place, so I had to run three times as much! In the end, I just gave up on using 'fast travel' altogether and went by horse as much as I could (that is, until they didn't get stuck between two rocks). Biggest problem I encountered was that I didn't care... the side missions? I completed about 3, because I didn't care to explore the world, for the very reason mentioned above. I had 37% synchronization in the end, to give you an idea of how little I cared. Also, explain this to me, you get a series of clothes you can buy Connor, but the cut scenes? They keep showing you in the same white outfit. What is that about? In Brotherhood (click here to read my review!) Ezio always had the outfit I put him in... Even in the pre-rendered cut scenes! (And yes, I enjoy changing outfits, I'm a girl and I get bored very soon!).
Mini-Bosses: a drag... I recently watched (again) Sequelitis - ZELDA: A Link to the Past vs. Ocarina of Time, by Egoraptor,where he talks about how "the games idea of difficulty is waiting", which in itself is not really difficult but it gives you that illusion. I remember having to fight off 10 soldiers to get to the main guy and it always took me 10 minutes because I had to run away for a minute after each kill to recover my health and even then I got to the mini-boss and I couldn't get 100% synchronization BECAUSE I was supposed to jump from a tree... I can recall three different cases when the tree was nowhere near the target and I also could not find the one tree I could climb on and then jump onto the other one... as fun as running around the forest was, it was a bit all over the place.

The Boss Fight: This was probably the biggest disappointment in the whole game for me. I was looking forward to fighting Haytham, I thought he would be the boss battle, which turned out to be a 'drunken disaster'. I mean that literally: Connor is half wounded and you have to use gadgets around you. This took me forever, to actually find the right combo to protect myself and be able to limp closer to something that I can use... I died 300 times and then I did it in three seconds... That did not feel very fulfilling. However, the bad guy was not our dad, but Charles Lee. Oh Lee, you'll remember him as Connor only mentions his name like every two seconds in a 100 hour long game. You chase Lee around, then chase him some more and then you ki---. He dies in a cut scene. ARE F*CKING KIDDING ME? I don't even get to kill this guy? He just died in the cut scene. The main boss fight was running around like and idiot and I don't even get to push the blade into his heart? This just pissed me off, this is straight out where the game lost me completely.

What didn't work? You know, when I actually look forward to playing with Desmond, you clearly got something wrong in your game... You have either played it yourself or you have read reviews of people being disappointed and I can tell you they are not lying. I wanted to love this game so much! I was actually studying the War of Independence while I played it and it was true fun all the way through, I didn't even care about the running or the faulty trees or the fact that Connor was not a very likable character... I don't want to complain, but dear god he was boring!
What worked? Very little, unfortunately. Desmond's scenes were really cool and I enjoyed those a lot. The boat missions? Surprisingly very entertaining and when my bombs hit the other boats I was very satisfied! The music and the scenery were again fantastic and I even liked the story! Don't get me wrong, this is not the worst game ever but it went wrong on the simplest of things and this drives me mad! But something about the game did get to me: I am not sorry I played it and I am glad I got through it because I love the franchise. No matter how mad I get I still enjoy it somehow. I will one day - in the very far future - replay it, just to see if I got better at it or if I remember incorrectly, but the small details that I complained about will still very much be there, unfortunately.

Until the next item on my list!

PS: Looking forward to the AC movie! Read more about it here:

• http://www.gamespot.com/articles/assassin-s-creed-movie-officially-enters-productio/1100-6425266/
• http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/assassin-s-creed/33552/assassins-creed-movie-production-begins-release-date-set