Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/12/26/microtransactions-overwhelmed.html
…
It must be really weird to get paid to over-analyze stuff to death for a living.
I’m just imagining the editorial wall at the Post, covered in buzzwords, with darts stuck in “Star Wars”, “microtransactions”, and “DLC”, with a poor shlub who has to submit 800 words by the day after Christmas connecting them.
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When I saw microtransactions, I wondered if they had a Star Wars blockchain.
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DLC means downloadable content. https://honeysanime.com/what-is-dlc-definition-meaning/
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I’m just a filthy casual who still managed just fine without comic books or clone wars. People take their space wizards a bit too seriously, imho.
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I find myself comparing The Two Popes to the reductio ad absurdum of Disney’s “universe” of mutually reinforcing game, movie and theme park tie-ins. A movie with a generous bit of philosophical meat (and gristle) on its bones versus, for all practical purposes, algorithmically generated entertainment.
You could probably model Star Wars with group theory.
… which gives me an idea … 
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Entertainment companies have been theming rides, comics, books, fast-food toys, video games, and whatever else to tie in to tentpole big-budget movies for something like 70 years; Star Wars isn’t unique and this isn’t a new phenomenon.
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We’re aware of that.
Perhaps you’re unaware of how many studios these days ship incomplete games that aren’t very fun until you pay another 40 dollars for the DLC bundle?
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I also did not feel like I was missing out on much as a movies-only viewer of Ep IX. The opening crawl felt truer to its roots in old serials than most in the franchise, and it refreshingly dispensed with the pretense of building to a big reveal for something spoiled by the trailers. I’m actually a little disappointed to learn they over-explained it in other media.
I did, however, notice the resemblance to an action RPG, with a fairly thin main quest plot padded out beyond recognition by a chain of fetch quests, making the final product feel a bit byzantine in a Squaresoft-ish way, but also, to be fair, in a very unsurprisingly JJ-Abrams-ish way.
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I feel like a movie that starts with the words “THE DEAD SPEAK!” makes it pretty clear that it’s a pulp-sci-fi movie serial right from the get-go, and I’m okay with that.
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While I do take my space wizards/space samurai and their struggles against the space nazis very seriously, I enjoy the movies that I see, and don’t feel obliged to seek out any other bits of hobbies or merch to round out the experience. Noticing a movie is very much like a video game usually results in me enjoying the movie less. Felt that very much with the Hobbit movies.
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You mean it’s not another Clinton conspiracy theory?
Well, damn, I knew that.
I swear.
Where is 44?
There’s no Boba Fett in the sequel trilogy. Remember, he died on tatooine in ep 6.
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Why would someone assume the opening crawl refers to a Fortnite event that probably wasn’t planned when that crawl was created, instead of the multiple trailers that contained Palpatine dialogue?
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- Star Wars
- Empire Strikes Back
- Rogue One
- Return of the Jedi (effin’ Ewoks)
I watch them, but after the Letdown of the Prequels™, it’s hard to shake the marketing stink unless they’re killing everyone off.
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" Jar Jar makes the Ewoks look like effin’ Shaft!"
I liked all the sequel films well enough, but I’m not blind to their flaws.
fixed 
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When I drag myself to the movies to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster in 3D-- my television is a normal 2D–I often find myself wondering if the big action set piece is best experienced as a roller coaster ride. But now I see that this is nearly synonymous with a video game.
Solo felt very gamey-- as if the entire heist scene was somehow destined for other media.
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technically boba fett is still being digested during the events of the sequel trilogy, his body’s systems merging with those of the sarlaac over the course of centuries if not millennia, becoming both meal and the closest thing to companionship the sarlaac can ever know.
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