I always thought that using sex to cover up bad writing was a definition of porn.

This is what I keep telling people. If you want better films, stop watching the bad ones.

This is why I don't keep up with whatever Hollywood is pumping out these days... Waste of my time and nerves. I'd rather go look for older good media that I haven't gotten to experience yet, there's SO MUCH of it that one lifetime won't be enough to get trough all of it anyway ^^

You know what, I think you're right about video games! For example, the inquisitors in Jedi Fallen Order were so tragic and psychologically terrifying, but then when they adapted them (particularly Reva) for the Obi Wan show they were just lame and one dimensional.

I am very much of the same mind. About 3-4 years ago, i tried starting to just prioritize entertainment that I’ll likely / know I’ll like and ignore the lazy / woke crap that media insists on. I used to be an avid American comic book reader, but since 2018 i gave up on them entirely because how expensive and godawful the books are, I’ll still read back issues, but currently there is no desire on my part to part with my money and time, nor is there any sign of improvement in the quality of the books. So whether it’s movies, shows, games, comics. I really try to just focus on stuff i find quality, and I’m much happier for it. And yes i do listen to a couple of audiobooks every year.

Lazy, woke, and uninspired content is what put me in a depression at one point in my life. Since then I've taken my life back from entertainment and I am THRIVING. This is why I like to support those who are putting their heart and souls into their projects. Hayao Miyazaki is coming back for another movie!

The greatest story of any video game, in my opinion, is the Hotline Miami franchise. Trust me, if you don’t mind the hyperviolence this will be the most significant addiction you’ve ever had in your life: imagine beluga caviar and crack cooked together and directed by Nicholas Winding Refn

Best part about video games is the story happens to you as the player. Games like GOW are great but traditional RPGs are also awesome as if done right you get introduced some characters that join your party and become like some freinds from another world that you get to go on an adventure with. Games like Persona or final fantasy and the tales of series great that way.

Incredible. As soon as you mentioned the wheel of time I was with you 100%. They butchered the story. They sacrificed culture for diversity and removed all masculine side characters!! Also agree with the audio book version. Spent a year listening to all the books and I loved it.

Amid all the talking, I'm thinking to myself... "That coffee is getting cold"

"Kratos was just rage murdering his way across the Greek Pantheon" Please don't tell me you're one of those people who can't see the actual depth of past Kratos. Just saying he kills for vengeance undermines a LOT of what makes Kratos a great character. Since the first game, he's been a broken man, only wanting to be forgiven for his sins. Eventually, he was lead to killing the God of War himself, and when attempting to kill hinself after he was denied to be rid of his nightmares, he was forced into becoming the new God of War. There's even been moments in the OG games where Kratos shows genuine concern and sadness for his actions, and even apologises for what he has caused. Hell, Kratos's entire body is a symbol of his grief. His snow white skin is the ashes of his wife Lyssandre and daughter Calliope, who he was tricked into killing by Ares. His red mark is a symbol of respect and homage to his long lost brother, Deimos, who he actively tried time and time again to reconcile with, only for him to die by the hands of Thanatos, the God of Death, once the two finally make amends. The Blades of Chaos are a permanent scar to when he sold his soul to Ares, becoming his champion. The Ghost of Sparta cannot get rid of the cursed memories that are the Blades, no matter how hard he tries. One time, Kratos was given an option. Lose all of his godly powers but reunite with his daughter in the Elysium Fields. Without a second thought, Kratos abandoned his power just to be with his daughter again, but the reunion was short lived as the fields were threatened to be destroyed, resulting in Kratos pushing Calliope away in a quick time event, those that are usually used for when Kratos uses all of his power to slay monsters showing it takes him all of his might to abandon his daughter, forever ruining her thoughts on her father, reclaiming his powers and slaying Persephone. By GoW3, all humanity that Kratos once had has been drained. He recovers a little bit of his old self through Pandora, but the man who once just wanted to be removed of all his memories and sins has been so completely broken by the gods, that he has turned into the Bane of Olympus. Kratos's entire character isn't a raging musclehead who only got deep in 2018, he's a broken man who was slowly turned into a monster that he despised by countless betrayals. Also, saying he wasn't deep before ruins literally everything about Modern Kratos. He's only "deep" now BECAUSE of the past games. Modern Kratos is now lamenting on his past, and seeing Atreus as a way of redeeming himself for his past sins. Why do you think he's weaker? He's actively holding back because he knows that if he doesn't, he'll become a monster again. Kratos has ALWAYS been grown up. There are entire videos explaining it. Fuck, I haven't even PLAYED any other games other than 2018 and Ragnarok, I just know Kratos's past and many people alongside me would agree that Kratos is a deep dude since forever.

I love that message of not wasting time on bad entertainment. I wish more content creators like you would talk about and express alternatives. For any movie lovers out there who can afford it, I highly reccommend Mubi and Criterion. Especially Criterion, where they have tons of film from older days when film making was still an art and not woke propaganda garbage (and I swear they're not paying me to say this lol).

Here are some other games with great stories: - LISA the Painful & LISA the Joyful(Genuinely a masterpiece) - Scarlet Hollow - Portal 1 & 2 - Hotline miami 1 & 2 - Star Fetchers - Zero escape 1 - Fallout New Vegas - Iron Lung If I was to recommend one game to play it would have to be LISA tho. That shit is so strong on all fronts. The comedy is great, the characters are well written, the emotional scenes hit you in the chest, and the ending is perfect.

I stopped watching new movies and shows when I started to get into video games (about 2019). I was so impressed by the world and story of the souls games. Such deep lore can be discovered and experience by myself in a way that can only be done by video games, gameplay.

Video games have given me more meaningful adventures & characters who helped shape me into the man I am today. Undertale, for as much of a meme as it is, is my personal most important game ever. It helped me understand what it meant to actually empathize with somebody I barely know, something that these shitty movie & tv show hack fraudsters refuse to understand. A game with silly skeletons and a very annoying dog taught me more about being an emotionally mature adult than actual adult entertainment. What fucking sense does that make?!

I heavily disagree with your "Just rage murdering" statement of the older God of War games. Without these games the impact of growth for 2018 Kratos would be quite less impactful. The older games had a lot of meaningful and Deep content as GOW 2018. He was pushed by the gods to slay, compared to self defense in GOW 2018. There were even moments he doubt his sanity and morality of the gods. He even got desperate to see his family again making a deal with a god, finding out he has to give them up to save mankind from those gods. In Part III he even recognized the monster he had become and wanted to commit suicide due to his guilt. Replaying the old games made me realize that 2018 is getting praise for topics GOW already had covered. It feels disingenuous to me. Because it wasn't shot in a mid 2010s cinematic frame device doesn't mean the prior games had no story. I recommend watching: God of War Was Always Deep You Cowards by Endless Jess kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eKydnbicsNmbZmw.html

The Wheel of Time series is incredible, I just finished reading through the series for the second time and I appreciated it even more

The Dune critique is so accurate. I've read all the books and seen all the adaptations so I was so excited. My wife, who was experiencing Dune for the first time, turned to me as the credits rolled and said, "I don't get it. What was this about? All the best moments were in the trailer." That was when I realized the movie didn't try to explain anything. It literally just had scenes happen without any nuance for explanation.

You deserve credit for being one of the only creators that uses the term “woke” in a way that makes sense rather than using it as an excuse to go on a reactionary screed

So long as Hollywood keeps pumping out woke garbage,people will continue to find better ways of entertainment. Like:Anime, Manga,Doujinshis,Video Games,KZfaq,ect. Even if the Western Entertainment Media as a whole were to die (which is happening),Japan has us covered. 😏

I'm so glad you mentioned Michael Kramer and Kate Reading! They're quite simply awesome, they add value to what is already a wonderful book series. And Michael Kramer also reads Brandon Sanderson's books. They're all must-hear audiobooks!

This crappy era of bad entertainment can’t take away my classic books, video games & movies.

I've always preferred animation. I just love seeing art come to life in an immersive world that isn't reality. I don't want to spend all the time it takes to read, and I don't want to put in my cognitive effort in playing through a video game. I want to be able to sit back and watch a story unfold while I pick apart the characters. This country's entertainment industry has lost sight of the magic animation can capture. So my solution has just been to go back and watch 90s film and TV shows. Some are pretty cheesy, so I move on to another. But most are very well-written and also original. Also, run-time isn't an issue when you're not basing something on a book's standard to begin with. And movies and series that are inspired by books (rather than being based on them) don't bring about that sense of trying to include every little detail in a limited amount of time. You can see the elements of the original story, but it's a whole new experience. Instead of trying to copy/paste a story between two mediums, re-create the world from the ground up with new characters to fit those roles in the story. Batman (The Animated Series) did that and ended up with several spin-off series. The writing was done in a way that carried a different meaning to every age group. No garbage needed. Thought provoking questions about right and wrong and what makes a hero or a villain were not uncommon. It's like there's no originality anymore. Or if there is an original idea, there's no skill to make that idea come to life. There are acceptations, but overall it just seems like the entertainment industry here only wants to plagiarize other works while adding their own narrative so people will listen. And kill animation. Seriously. I think these people are afraid of anything that requires skill, and animation story-telling takes a LOT of skill. >_>

The new Star Wars Jedi Survivor was a fantastic experience. Honestly the Disney twist villains that they keep coming up with are frustrating but I believe that Cal got more character development from this. Highly recommend giving it a shot and seeing how it goes. Maybe even a video about your experience??

Video games are kinda shit nowadays even. Most games I play came out in the 2017-2018 or earlier. Some standouts like Ragnarock, Er, etc but still.

You're WAY more entertaining than most of the stuff Netflix puts out...

Haha. This was funny. Nice editing. I see you having a real future in this. Good luck 👍

I’m actually glad a lot of media is trash nowadays. Gives me more time to experience what life has to offer.

Another awesome take from my new favorite critic of the garbage being pumped out in current year. What happened to character growth, internal conflict, etc? Why is every new movie/show just full of unlikable Mary Sue types who seem to be more focused on highlighting forced diversity and pandering to a small percentage of consumers?!

GREAT GREG OWEN VIDEO INTERESTING POINT 👍😉👏👏👏

Actually, I think God of War Ragnarok (And a lot of Sony games for that Matter.) Are kind of a bad example of how video games work as a narrative medium. It's not that the stories are bad, it's that their interactivity is so restrictive and scripted that they might as well be movies. Isn't one of the biggest criticism of God of War Ragnarok that the characters wont shut up during puzzles because the devs didn't want players turned off by something as basic as... Taking their time to solve a puzzle on their own? ...like thousands of video games that came before?

You’re so right about the weak shows of late killing momentum. Star Wars and Marvel were two of my favorite things as a kid and now I watch yours and others content to replace my loss. Ugh.

thanks for the video game recommendations, I'd completely overlooked GOW, and will definitely check out your other suggestions. Best!

I've always shared that point of view that video games are a superb medium to tell stories. I have been using entertainment as a way to escape and I've done it more than I'd like to admit. For that reason, I have all but eliminated video games and binge watching streaming services. Don't get me wrong. I still like games but personally I want to do achieve some other goals in my life first before I can indulge in them again.

I'd like to add to your recommendation of audiobooks: the Discworld books. All of them. The early ones were read by Nigel Planer (yes, _that_ Nigel Planer from The Young Ones) and the later ones by Stephen Briggs. I got used to Nigel's voice first and didn't much care for Stephen Briggs' readings, but he's completely grown on me. Both are fantastic in different ways. I can't imagine Rincewind without Nigel's voice or Sam Vimes without Stephen's. There are also meta ways you can enjoy the books. You can listen to them by sub-series (Wizards, Watch, Death, etc.), chronologically, etc. and tease out additional references and remarkable continuity between stories. I'm also including the Tiffany Aching books. They're like the Harry Potter books, but not shit (that is, the protagonist isn't baggage to be carried to the end in every story... she's actually competent and does things).

Astonishingly spot on, my man.

This video was not mid Fr fr It was great 🤣😁😁 I loved the wholesome ending 😭

Red Dead Redemption 2! I can’t even begin to express how good the story is. oh, and Disco Elysium

MadWorld is a pretty good example of a good video game story, what with themes like inherent evil of human beings

And to top it all off, you didn’t waste our time at the end of the video with a 15-60 second outro, which is why I’m willing to _give_ you my time by writing this comment.

So many truth bombs dropped. Greg, if you haven't played them yet, the greatest video game story in my experience has been the Mass Effect trilogy. The first one is dated now, but the story and "world building" is fantastic. The second has better game mechanics and an equal quality story. The third has its problems, but moments that are heart breaking and well worth the play. Thanks for incredible content. I just added God of War and Kontrol to my cart for future purchases.

I think the last time I was invested in a video game atmosphere was Alien: Isolation. It had really good storytelling, great voice acting and good mechanics but I think it’s strongest suit is the atmosphere. You’re stuck onboard this deserted station out in the middle of space with nowhere to run. It’s not only abandoned and creepy as heck but the Xenomorph is running loose. Most of the time, you’re just waiting for the damn thing to pounce on you. It’s just light enough to see but just dark enough that you start seeing things. And the sound is just…wow…it was great! When I finished the game, I looked at my brother and said “That is the best game I’ve ever played but I’m probably never going to play it again because of how much it scared me.”

I can't tell you just how good God of War Ragnarok is. There's so much in every scene and every place you explore. Details, deep nuances, good writing and acting. If you like gaming, it's well worth a play.

First off I just want to say that I found your channel recently and really enjoy the videos you’ve been putting out. I have a couple of comments regarding this video though. Firstly, i think that the old god of war games are deeper than you are giving them credit for. Kratos definitely had a lot of character development and the series dealt with some pretty mature topics. Secondly, I was wondering if you have ever played Persona 3? It’s hands down my favorite game of all time and has a fantastic story that I think everyone should experience.

Speaking of books I highly recommend The StormLight Achieves, starting with the first book The Way Of Kings. Better story than 90% of the crap you see in theaters nowadays.

Today was the last time someone told me a Marvel studios movie was great. The movie was the recent "Ant-Man". 😫🤦🏿‍♂️

On that, I absolutely agree.

Just watch TV shows from the 1950's-1970's if you want live-action. If we're talking TV cartoons, the 90's-2010's are what you need. If we're talking animated movies, just watch Dreamworks and the best of Pixar and Disney.

I haven't had great success with audiobooks. Some, but not many. Often, the narrator tries to do voices for characters and that's harder than it seems. Most of the audiobooks I've tried have done this poorly, including the Books On Tape version of The Eye of the World that I bought shortly after discovering the WoT series. You get voices that sound basically the same, hokey accents, and cringeworthy "man doing a woman's voice". I'm sure good voice actors can handle this sort of thing with no problem, but most of the audiobooks I've tried have either had a friend of the author read the book, which never works out well, or had a semi-celeb trying to make the next mortgage payment with an audiobook, which makes me wish the publishing company had just gotten a friend of the author to do the reading. All in all, I've got maybe two or three audiobooks that I really like and a couple that I don't but tolerate because the story is so good.

The best way to change our consumption of narratives is to craft them yourself. It’s grueling, rewarding and a much better use of time.

Dune was great! While it couldn't include all the themes of the book, those it did include were expertly done. It even was able to develop themes in a way entirely unique to the medium. Let me give an example; bear with me. In the both the book and the film, Paul's duel with Jamis is crucial for him to be accepted by the Fremen. However, the movie also adds another layer to the drama of the scene by having shown Jamis in visions to Paul throughout the film. Jamis is even given Thufir's line (from the book) "The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. A process that cannot be understood by stopping it. We must move with the flow of the process. We must join it. We must flow with it," when Paul is figuring out how to survive the storm. This piece of advice saves his life, so by the time Paul meets Jamis in real life he thinks they will be friends, or even that Jamis will be a mentor to him. It must have been heartbreaking to realize he had to kill Jamis. Additionally, it throws all his visions into uncertainty. They may have truth, but they are NOT necessarily the future. The unreliability of the visions and their impact on Paul was a major part of the book that takes scores of pages to lay out, but the movie was able to explore this with just a few images and one paragraph. It was a brilliant piece of filmmaking.

Another great video man, keep up the amazing work. All the points you brought up are absolutely spot on.

velma is the best example on awful modern TV

I love this guy. He's not like many of the other commentators that just subjectively hate anything that smells "woke", nor does he mindlessly simp for wokeness or "inclusivity." He's objective and thoughtful. He's a keeper.

Control was great, but it was a bit lacking in boss battles.

Yes a thousand times 😂 These people think it's by big actors and big budgets that they can just spit out whatever trash show they coughed up. No to that, and no to bad entertainment.

Might I also reccomend Uncharted It's a fantastic adventure game as well.

I stopped caring about TV and the movies. So many cool books. You are right about Dune..it was so boring and they stripped out the meat of the story

Red Dead Redemption 2 might be the best video game ever made IMO. It is truly an experience.

I've been really disappointed with entertainment for years now. It's gotten to the point where whenever we watch a new movie or show I feel the need to prepare for it to be bad. Although there's one show that is very well done and it's the least woke show right now, called 1883. This is a cowboy series which is based on the story of a real family, and I have never really been interested in cowboy movies, but I'm loving this show!

You know your getting old when the movies, the songs and the TV shows of the past are better than now. 😅

I am rewatching Game of Thrones and I can't stop laughing 🙂

Within the last month I started playing Star Trek Online. It's been around for 13 years but I finally jumped in after finding out it is free and because I wanted Star Trek but not the crap that passes for Star Trek today. Sure it doesn't have the complex character drama of Deep Space Nine, but it doesn't make my anus cringe up into my chest and I get to play my own captain in charge of my own ship with a crew of sexy alien babes. The rest of the time, I've basically given up on modern media and just watch old movies from the 20's through 60's. Anything you've never seen is new to you, so get out there and watch it.

I've heard psychonauts two was really good as well if you're looking for cool games. I also love sonic frontiers but thats more of a power trip piece than a heartbreaking story.

I'm reading the Wheel of Time books now :)

This is why I moved on to the indie ones that has more entertaining and more story than any Hollywood movies these days.

Cannot agree here. As much as I love a good game with a compelling plot, story telling and characters, I have read books that absorbed my mind more than any game. But it is down to imagination.

Did anyone else constantly concern that he will spill his drink because of the shaking? Or is it just me?

The problem with video games right now tho is that not even those are safe from political correctness. We’ve seen fan favorite gaming franchises fall to woke ideologies. So yeah, they are an alternative. Unfortunately, they too are being corrupted by activists. In fact, I would say it started with video games before TV and movies followed along.

I disagree. I think Dune (part 1) offered a very efficient story line and the book can be a quicksand bog, taking the reader away from the the essential story. I am very anxious to see how Part two will deliver.

You say God of War Ragnarok doesn’t have strictly good guys and bad guys; but counterpoint: Odin and debatably Heimdal

God I hope the Last of Us TV show is good. The story albeit it simple, is beautiful. The games absolutely excel at attatching you to the characters, to the point where damning the world to save Ellie seems like the absolute right choice. In most games you'd do things for the "greater good" in The Last of Us, you're just protecting your psuedo-surrogate daughter, to hell with the rest of it.

If you wanna play a game with an amazing story you should play any of the red dread redemption games preferably 2 then 1 because 2 is a prequel to 1 but by the end of 2 you come to absolutely despise the villian and love your main character

anime are also great.

I loved control!

I was always more of a video game kind of guy. Although I must say my inner child is pretty strong in menwhen it comes to my tastes. My favorite Video game feels like a playable kids cartoon/anime akin to somthing like Digimon and I love that feeling. I love cute wholesome stories and characters with a bit of a dark edge to it. I honestly feel like most of the stuff I love is not that deep or mature. Not that I would be a good judge of that. But I am good in pickingout what I love. I am actully pretty unfamiliar with stuff that comes out of Hoolywood. I remember as a kid I liked some live action series though, like Xena, Stargate and Babylon 5. I also like a few Animes. My favorite work of fiction is the Anime/Manga series "Made in Abyss". I have not watched its second season yet. I wait until the blue rays release in my country and that is in July this year. I also only read the Manga as far as I watched the anime. So I am really exited to see how the Adventure continues.

2:10 most anime be like

Movie name ? 1:16

That's why I like Shonen. No political agenda of either sides. Just straight Anime.

Your definiton of the early GoW games tells me you never really played them lol

Sorry, Old Fruit, but I just can't get past how much like Dean Cain you sound 🙂 I read all of the previous (superb) WoT books each time the next one came out, and lasted 20 minutes with the series on AP... God awful. Games... not really played much since the idiots at Valve refused to make Half Life 3. HL2 = best game ever.

Hard disagree on the Dune film. There is so much in the books that it could never be properly told in a movie or even a longer TV show. I think they did an excellent job of taking enough of that detail to tell a coherent story and cutting the rest, as there was really no other option. It would have been exhausting and honestly probably boring if it tried to cram all of the lore into a two hour runtime.

If those are your picks for "good" stories in video games, then you're obviously new to video games. I'm surprised you didn't bring up Nier: Automata or Final Fantasy X, but like I said, you seem pretty new to scene.

I didn't even try watching She-Hulk, because I simply respect myself too much to subject myself to that garbage. However I was excited for Netflix's Wednesday and was wowed simply by the show not taking 3 episodes to actually get interesting and to-the-point. They made Wednesday kickass without making her a Mary-Sue, and her somewhat meta and cynical dialogue makes sense as that's always how Wednesday has been as a character, plus it's so damn funny both in writing and Jenna Ortega's masterful performance. One of the best shows of 2022 in my opinion

The reason they haphazardly cram sex into period and romantic dramas is so the boyfriend/husband has at least something to look forward to when forced to watch it.

For anyone who watches this video I’m going to film school so I can try and make non woke original movies for general audiences to get reenergized with movies. Keep your eyes out for me? 😂

I recommend games from RGG studios.

No mention of RDR2? Tisk tisk…

Ironically, Rings of Power is the least woke American made show I have watched recently. It's less woke than even Reacher season 2! Something finally putting women in the forefront after decades of neglect doesn't make something woke, it's just basic common sense.

I'm surprised nobody mentions the games that tell amazing stories without a word being spoken, like Journey, Gris, Hob, Aer-Memories of Old, where you go through the emotional roller-coaster just from exploring gorgeous scenery and listening to beautiful, beautiful music....

You're completely off on the original god of war series. The graphics may not be as good but the storytelling has always been top tier.

Havent watched any the disney marvel shit ms marvel the other one one before tht i dont even kno the name lol havent seen black panther (ig im supposed to love it cuz im black) bt nope refuse ant man 3 hell no ur right brotha wont waste my time on shows n movies i kno are nuthn but a platform for political messeging with bad to lazy writing been playin borderlands 3 n god of war ragnarok great stories great characters 👏

Watch some Korean shows they are amazing

You can actually do a good job in bringing the inner thoughts and monologues of books into movies/shows. Ironically enough Amazon did that well with Reacher. The opening scene of the first episode is a master class in that. Reacher literally doesn't say a word for the first 10 minutes. You see him walking, then stopping at a diner. He sees a wife beating moron verbally abusing his wife/girlfriend. He just stands there and stares the guy down when he gets in Reacher's face, and the guy backs down. You get a really good feel for Reacher's size and how he knows how to use it for intimidation. Then he's sitting in the diner about to eat, and he sees two cop cars scream up to the door. He looks around the diner and you can see the wheels turning in his head as he evaluates the situation. He sees two kids and an older couple as the only other occupants, and realizes he's the obvious target of the cops. You see the irritation in his face, and he slips a bill under his uneaten pie to take care of the meal and then places his hands in clear sight. Then the two redneck cops are shoving him through the station door and he turns menacingly towards the most obnoxious one. Then Deputy Roscoe calls him over with confidence and humor, and he complies easily. You can tell he instantly has respect for her, and none for the other deputies.

I knew present-day media was going to ruin WOT.

I have to admit audiobooks are pretty good

Learning C#?

You know the God of War reboots in your thumbnail is just as woke? Lol.

Bioware has the distinction of having released both the best and worst storytelling techniques that you've talked about. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Neverwinter Nights are great stories. Mass Effect: Andromeda and Dragon Age: Inquisition are utter garbage

In my opinion when it comes to Sanderson the Mistborn stuff was better