Seth Calaway

Hey, everyone. It has dawned on me that I haven't posted in a while. With that in mind, here's an update for you guys:

To start, Life has forced my siblings to stay with me for another year possibly. As a result, I simply don't have the space right now to set up a streaming room for Twitch and YouTube. As someone who wants to entertain people and connect with those who are struggling with depression and give them that extra jolt of joy, I feel incredibly frustrated. At the same time, I'm aware that family has to come first right now.

Moving on, my writing career is on pause for a bit, but I'm hoping to revisit my first screenplay by the end of the summer. I just wasn't satisfied with it, but with more research into certain elements of the story, I think I can edit the narrative into something great. The potential is there, it just needs more help.

The last bit of news regards my next two books. They are separate from one another, but I have the plot outlines nearly complete for both. I often treat these outlines as guides since I may think of better ideas as I'm actually writing, but having the major events (and some bridges for them) mapped out will really help me along the way.

That's it for today. Guys, thank you so much for liking this page and following along. It means a lot to me. I know the journey is off to a rather frustrating start, but regardless, I hope it'll be a journey worth following.

My friend got a reply from the writing master himself, Stephen King!

Saw that Stephen King commented on my latest tweet - I think I can die happy now 😳 Fans of Stephen King

An update for those wondering about Twitch:
I was planning to start streaming this year, but unfortunately, I will have to wait until next year due to college. I considered making my streams for a mature audience only (as I could deal with less censoring and be myself more), but I have decided to make my stream for everyone. I know kids and teens are going through a lot in this day and age, and if any advice I can offer could help them, then I certainly want to. I want to genuinely connect with my audience and be a friend that can take their mind off the bad, or help them cope with it.

A "We Bare Bears" marathon is exactly what I need today as I wait for the movie's television premiere tomorrow!

Finally saw "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Part I" on Toonami. Very underrated in my opinion! I saw Part II a few years ago out of curiosity regarding an older Joker, and I think the plot to Part I was better overall. The Cold War-esque plot of Part II didn't interest me that much. Still, both films are fun and gritty, and I highly recommend watching them sometime!

Story Review:
This is the second part of my review for “The Last of Us Part II”. To avoid either post getting too long, I made the first post mostly about gameplay, and this one covers the story (as well as a little bit of gameplay for one boss fight that I chose not to cover in the gameplay post to avoid spoilers). And just like the first post, this post is sectioned off for those who only want to know my opinion on certain elements.

SPOILERS (Obviously)

The First Game and Act I: In the first game, we saw two complete strangers slowly fill the void in each other’s hearts that had plagued them for much of their respective lives: Ellie filled the void that Sarah had left behind, and Joel filled the void that Ellie’s unknown father and deceased mother had left behind. Seeing their relationship build from nothing to everything was really heartwarming to experience, even more so after I played the game a second time in preparation for Part II. However, out of fear of losing another daughter, Joel saved Ellie’s life, and in turn, sacrificed a potential cure that could have saved humanity. One could argue that humanity had been worn too thin to really be saved by a cure at that point (not to mention the heavily darkened mentality of many survivors), but the point still stands that Joel was not a hero in “The Last of Us”, and many characters understood that. As a result, Joel is hunted down and eventually killed by Abby, a former Firefly and daughter of the only surgeon capable of removing the fungus from Ellie’s brain to study it and potentially develop a cure. In Abby’s eyes, Joel’s death was not only revenge for her father’s death, but also for the countless lives Joel potentially screwed over by saving Ellie. While many can agree that Joel was not in the right by saving Ellie, I think it’s safe to say that it is understandable — after we’ve gone on this journey with him and Ellie — why he did that. But to Abby and others — people who never knew him or followed his journey — he is looked at as a vile and selfish human being who doomed humanity. It is for this reason that my anger towards Abby slowly vanished over the course of the game.
But before I move on, I do have to address the elephant in the room (and perhaps the reason most of you are even reading this): Joel’s death, and how it was handled. For the story to have the same emotional depth it had in the first game, I understand why they chose to kill him and why they did so early on in the game (which shocked me insanely; I figured he would die maybe towards the middle or the end). I was heartbroken over Joel’s death, but I’m not mad it happened. However, I am frustrated with *how* it happened. Emotionally, it was handled quite well (especially with Ellie yelling at Joel, “Joel, fu***ng get up!” in reference to how Joel has persevered through so much since the outbreak started). Joel simply stares at Ellie right before his death, as his brain is so damaged that he cannot mutter any final words. The amount of heartbreak in this scene was insane, and Ashley Johnson’s performance as Ellie here made it so much more impactful. With that being said, my criticisms with Joel’s death lie in its setup. Joel, a hardened survivor for 20 years before the events of the first game, told Abby and Co. — complete strangers — who he was. Also, he knew there was a target on his back for what he had done at the end of the first game, so you would think this would make him *more* hesitant to give his name to new people. I get that Tommy and Joel are meant to have warmed up to new possible additions to their community, and I get that they help supply people passing through with survival goods. But at the same time, they know all too well the kind of awful people survivors can become, and they knew that this group in particular was not planning to join their community. In fact, Tommy literally says they can come to their town to stock up on supplies and leave. I understand Tommy is (until the final act of the game) a generous and caring human being compared to most in that world, but given the kind of cold-blooded murderers, rapists, etc. running around in that world, one would expect them to have some type of safety procedures in place, should they meet bad people instead. If that is the case, then those safety measures definitely were not considered with Abby's group. Also, wouldn’t it have been more effective to just come back and bring supplies to them? The setup to Joel’s death really should have had a lot more consideration behind it, even if an alternative setup would have slowed the game down a bit in terms of pacing. When dealing with the death of one of the story’s most important and beloved characters, setup can be just as vital as the death itself. I think if one of Abby’s people was seriously hurt and needed immediate medical attention, it would have made more sense to open up to them and bring them back. Then, after learning who Joel was, Abby could have found a way to kill him once her friend was healed up, and they would end up escaping Jackson by the skin of their teeth. To me, something like that would have made a lot more sense than just telling these strangers who they are out of the blue.

Ellie’s Arc in Act I: I felt the aftermath of Joel’s death was handled very well, especially from Ellie’s perspective. Having lost my father a year prior to playing this, I could tell how much realism they put into Ellie’s reaction to losing her father figure, especially in smelling his jacket, wanting to remember his scent. It’s an odd thing to do when you think about it, but as she was unable to hear his voice or see him alive again, filling one of her senses (in this case, her sense of smell) with something from him provided her with a tiny bit of comfort. I think the story for the first act (after Joel’s death) was set up nicely. And I really loved how Troy Baker portrayed Joel, having him be soft-spoken with Ellie whenever their relationship was strained, but then warm and lively around Ellie when they were on good terms with one another. The flashback moments between him and Ellie were fantastic, to say the least. Beyond that, I enjoyed Dina’s character and felt that she and Ellie were perfect for each other. My only grip with Ellie’s quest for revenge through Act I is how the game never allows you to kill the main people on her hit list directly, instead opting to have Ellie kill them in a cutscene (or have Tommy kill them off-screen).

Abby’s Story: From what I saw in the second trailer for the game, I was really hoping that Abby was actually Anna, Ellie’s mother, and we would play as her through the final year of her life. While I was disappointed that I couldn’t experience that story, I did enjoy Abby’s story (for the most part). I initially dreaded playing as her once I saw her murder Joel in brutal fashion (especially in front of someone who clearly loved him), but Abby slowly won me over during her campaign. I loved how she is very similar to Ellie in terms of personality, demonstrating that the two would have made great friends, but because of the circumstances, they were enemies who despised one another. I also liked that they gave her a relatable fear of heights, and then they took full advantage of that by forcing her to tread bridges between skyscrapers (which I would have crapped bricks over, had I been in her shoes), but like a true friend would, Lev helped her face her fear when she really needed to.

I think whether or not Abby resonates with you as a character will greatly affect whether or not you enjoy playing as her. Personally, she did resonate with me (aside from killing the man she hated in front of someone who clearly loved him — when they could have just knocked Ellie out first), but I do firmly believe that Abby’s story did not need to be as long as Ellie’s (or at least feel that way, until Act 3). I get that they wanted her perspective to really be understood to show that (in a way) Abby is just as much a victim in the story as Ellie is. But in trying to increase her runtime, they added segments that I personally felt offered little to the story and came off as filler more than anything else. If there were maybe two segments cut from her campaign, I think the story would have been better, especially by omitting one of the aquarium scenes and maybe the section involving Abby going after Lev to save him from his deranged mother. I get that the writers needed a way to get Abby away from the aquarium so Ellie could murder everyone there, but the segment just did not work for me. Though I loved the last part of that segment (where you escape on horseback through the destructive and brutal carnage that War can bring between two factions you no longer want anything to do with), the stealth/firefights leading up to that just felt like a chore to me.
In regards to Abby’s relationships, I understand that the writers wanted to build up the relationship between Abby and Owen, as well as Abby and Lev’s relationship, but neither of these relationships resonated with me as much as the relationship between Joel and Ellie has. While Abby’s relationships only had 9 or so hours to be established, Joel and Ellie’s relationship had been established over an entire game and then some, which made their flashback segments in Part II much more meaningful than the segments and flashbacks meant to establish Abby’s relationships with Lev and Owen. As a result, I think the game would have been better off using the extra time from those would-be omitted portions to do more tender flashback moments between Joel and Ellie.

With all of that said, I want to quickly mention the first boss fight between Abby and Ellie, where you end up fighting Ellie as Abby. As I mentioned earlier, I avoided discussing it in the gameplay post to avoid spoilers. Now, I hated this boss battle, yet loved it at the same time. I honestly would have been pi**ed if I played as Abby and was forced to kill Ellie, but thankfully, Naughty Dog did not go that route. Instead, I just got to play from Abby’s perspective in a very interesting boss battle. I’m not gonna lie, Ellie killed me at least 4 times with her one-shot machete attack and her traps. I was pi**ed at her, yet proud of her at the same time, because she had become such a capable survivor, and I think these conflicting emotions were intentional on the part of Naughty Dog. As a result, I thought it was very clever of them to make her insanely difficult to take down (but thankfully, not out).

Theme and Climax: In thinking about this review, I’ve come to realize that the game is not wholeheartedly about revenge, but rather, the tragedy that comes in trying to seek it. Ellie lost so much in her path to vengeance – her friends, her family, her home – that she ultimately lost herself in the process. I believe the team who came up with the story intended on making us feel less sympathy for Ellie in the third act as we watch her become consumed by vengeance once again. There is a point near the game’s end in which Ellie and Dina are raising Dina’s baby on a farm in peace. The game could have ended perfectly right there — with Abby and Ellie finally moving on with their lives — but instead, the game keeps going. The game continuing is poetic in an odd way: despite Ellie seemingly moving on from her desire for revenge and living a relatively happy life with a family of her own, the game matches her deep stubbornness by continuing on in an attempt to close the circle of revenge that Ellie started a year or two prior. I think the third act is meant to show how the desire for revenge does not go away completely, but if you keep trying to pursue it, it will only lead to more pain on all sides. Ellie eventually discovers that Abby was taken prisoner, and upon finding her tied to a pole and having lost most of her muscle mass, Ellie feels a brief sense of pity — knowing that Abby is now a shell of her former self. However, despite wanting to let her and Lev go initially, she feels her side wound and looks down at the blood on her hand, thinking back to the metaphorical blood on Abby’s hands from when she killed Joel. At this point, Abby does not want to fight, but Ellie forces her to by threatening to murder a weakened and starving Lev.
The final battle ends when Ellie — finally realizing that she has gone too far in her quest for revenge — decides to spare Abby’s life and let her go. At this point, I did not want to kill Abby, but at the same time, I can’t help but feel frustrated that this did not happen. The problem I have with this part of the game is that whether or not you wanted Abby to die, you come out of it frustrated, as Ellie went through so much, only to not follow through with her goal. I think this sequence would have worked much better if it was executed better. Had Ellie been killed instead of Joel, Joel would have killed Abby no matter what, so Ellie simply seeing an image of Joel in her mind before sparing Abby made the scene rather jarring — especially since Abby just bit off two of her fingers. Had she thought about Jesse’s death, the dozens and dozens of W.L.F. soldiers she murdered, unknowingly killing a pregnant woman, losing Dina and Jesse Jr., and threatening to murder a young teen just to get the fight with Abby she always wanted — had images of any of these events popped into her mind in that moment — I think her reasoning would have been much clearer.

The Ending: The ending purposefully leaves a lot open to interpretation. Some have noted the bracelet Ellie had been given by Dina is now back on her wrist, meaning it is possible that she has already made up with Dina. This is further supported by her lack of weaponry once she nears the farmhouse and sees it abandoned (though one could argue the bracelet represents Ellie realizing that she needs to get back to Dina, and she assumed that Dina would leave the farmhouse in her absence, hence her emotionless reaction to the confirmation). Regardless of what theory you believe, Ellie finds her stuff in one of the bedrooms, along with Joel’s guitar. Ellie tries to play the guitar, but after losing two of her fingers, she realizes she no longer can. She then reflects on finally beginning the path to forgiving Joel, only to lose him the very next day. With that, she leans the guitar against the wall, and leaves the house (along with her past) behind, either returning to Jackson to find Dina, or to find a new purpose in life elsewhere. Looking back on it, I think this ending is beautiful in a way. But at the same time, knowing we may never get a third part, it does sadden me that we may never truly know where Ellie ended up. Hopefully in a place with love, care, and pun books that aren’t always punny.

Final Thoughts: Ultimately, I think the story — like my overall rating for the game — deserves a 7 out of 10. I never did an in-depth story review for Part I, so I can’t really compare the two rating-wise, but I do believe the first game told the story in a near-perfect (if not perfect) way. I think with better ex*****on and certain elements removed/added that “The Last of Us Part II” could have conveyed its story in a way that would have lived up to the very high expectations that the first game had set.

What did you think of "The Last of Us Part II" and its story? Did it live up to the hype, or did it crumble under its predecessor's weight? Let me know your thoughts down below.

Hey, everybody. This is Part I of my review for “The Last of Us Part II”. I’m sorry I’m getting this review out rather late; I had some personal life issues going on, and I didn’t want to just force this review out when my mind wasn’t clear. I didn’t think that would be fair to you guys, nor would it be fair to those who created the project being critiqued. This particular post will focus mainly on gameplay, but there is a brief non-spoiler review of the story near the bottom as well.
Now, before I really dive into it, I want to applaud Naughty Dog for their very inclusive gameplay options for the deaf and blind, as well as allowing players of all skill levels to adjust certain aspects of the game so that it can be enjoyable for everyone to play. I thought those were very awesome things to do, and I hope other Triple-A game developers take note of them. Now, I will not cover every single gameplay mechanic, as this post would get too long, but I will discuss as many of them as I can. For those who only care about certain aspects of the game, I have divided this non-spoiler review into sections.

The Open World and Core Gameplay Mechanics: The majority of the game takes you through a much larger open world in comparison to the first game, and it is quite beautiful. The amount of work the developers put into detailing the environments and making covers blend in more naturally is outstanding. You now have the ability to go prone and crawl through tight spaces, which adds an element of realism to the game that I had always wondered about when playing the first game (“Why does Joel have to go around when he should be able to squeeze through this gap or crawl under this?” for example). However, despite some more variety in traversing environments and containing an insane amount of detail, this larger world feels very hollow, and with a longer runtime than the first game, the gameplay suffers a great deal from it.
The core gameplay mechanics involve searching for enough supplies to help you survive serious threats, taking out those threats, and then moving on to the next area in repeating fashion. This cycle became especially tedious in one section, where I made my way down a skyscraper...floor by floor. I kid you not, I nearly groaned out loud when I realized that I still had a long way to go before reaching the bottom and moving on to a new area. Furthermore, the open world provides very little to interact with. Where the first game had small, optional story moments between Joel and Ellie that brought more depth to their relationship bit by bit, moments like that feel rather scarce in Part II. Sure, there are optional conversations that add more insight or amusement like the first game had, but these interactions feel brief, and the characters do not interact with anything interesting in the environment around them. That’s not to say the game completely lacks fun interactions characters can have with objects. There is a scene in which Ellie can pick up a guitar and start playing it, and in doing so, she will sing and play the guitar for another character. It’s a very sweet and tender moment that players can miss entirely. Yet despite how cool it is that players can miss this lovely scene entirely, scenes like this are still scarce to the point where exploring the environment is really just for finding letters that reveal more backstory about your enemies and safe combinations, as well as finding resources.

Resources: the rarity of them is another reason why the gameplay feels so repetitive. Even when messing with the easier settings to experiment with how many resources an enemy or environment can yield, I found that resources are still very scarce in comparison to the first game. With scarce resources and a large damage output by enemy combatants, I believe the developers wanted to put a larger emphasize on stealth gameplay this time around, but as a result, it feels like the game is punishing you a bit too harshly for taking a guns-a-blazing approach versus constantly taking the stealth approach.

Combat and New Enemy Types: I enjoyed the tension delivered by the Scars as they tried to hunt me down from various positions. They easily feel like the most sophisticated A.I. enemies in the game. But I can’t give that same praise to the W.L.F. soldiers, as their A.I. feels awkward, and I was mainly interested in their attack dogs, which can sniff out your position and attack you if you don’t have a bottle or brick to throw and distract them with. The trip mines used by the W.L.F. in one section are a nice callback to Bill’s traps in the first game, but the nostalgia wore off fast for me, as a lot of the traps are well-hidden, and it is very easy to die in that section and be forced to start it all over again (until you reach a checkpoint near the very end of that area anyway).
Moving on, I also like the new infected types, which seem to be new variations on Types 2-4, going more in depth with these sort-of in-between transformations. My favorite one (and also the one I hated the most when fighting) was what I’m assuming is a Type 5 infected, known as the “Rat King”. I won’t spoil just what the heck this thing is, but it is absolutely terrifying. Even your character is like “oh, hell no, I’m out,” trying to get away from it before being forced to fight it. What I found frustrating is that the Rat King should not be as fast as it is, given its biological composition, but it can essentially charge you and one-shot you in gruesome fashion. It became very frustrating during my first few attempts to kill it, and I actually had to strategize with how I was gonna take it down, but that strategizing also made it kind of fun. Having to face an enemy so overpowered that I had to genuinely think about how to use my weapons and resources to take it down definitely made it one of my favorite boss fights in the game (once the dust settled and I was no longer in rage mode, of course). There is another boss battle that I found very frustrating but also satisfying, but I will save that one for the spoiler review due to its story elements. Overall, the combat is a fun experience. But I was occasionally taken out of the experience by A.I. partners being in complete view of the enemy, yet the enemy never reacted until I, myself, was spotted. I get it was to avoid getting spotted due to an A.I., but I ended up laughing a bit at certain points because of it. It was something that happened with the first game as well (especially with Ellie’s A.I.), and I’m a little surprised it was kept in this time around.
Upgrades and Weapons: There is a great deal of variety in character and weapon upgrades. The gameplay for both Abby and Ellie offers some differences, such as Abby having a really fun flamethrower, and the crossbow is much easier to handle than Ellie’s traditional bow and arrow, not to mention that Abby’s hand-to-hand combat is a bit more brutal (which I always enjoy in a game like this). Abby’s campaign is more action-heavy while Ellie’s campaign relies more on story, so it makes sense to me why the gameplay felt a bit more fun when playing as Abby. Still, I felt that Abby's campaign did not need a runtime almost equal to Ellie’s. I understand why that was the case (which I’ll get to in the spoiler review), but with the repetitive gameplay and certain segments that I felt could have been omitted entirely from her run, I began groaning a bit as I continued playing as her. I think if her run was trimmed by about 30-90 minutes, I would have enjoyed her campaign a lot more. I’ll continue discussing my issues with her run in the spoiler review.

Non-spoiler story review: Now, for those wondering about my thoughts on the story but do not want spoilers, here are my thoughts. I thought the story was good in a lot of ways, but it also suffered in a few ways as well, mainly in how established characters behaved in illogical ways, given all the experiences that they’ve been through, yet they still acted in those ways for the sake of the plot. I believe that certain plot threads could have been woven together in ways that did not call for some characters to act in ways that made no sense. Moving on, without giving any context/spoilers here, I think the game isn’t about Revenge as advertised, but more so about Loss and the very tragedy that comes with seeking revenge. It keeps to that latter theme in a stubborn, yet heartbreaking way. You want the game to end at a certain point for emotional reasons, but like two of the main characters, it just keeps going, knowing full-well what could be lost in the process. It’s oddly poetic in a way, but I can’t really say much more than that without going into spoilers.

So, with all of that in mind, I’m giving “The Last of Us Part II” a 7 out of 10. I do believe the first game is superior due to its length and pacing not allowing gameplay to feel repetitive, but also because the story felt much tighter and more emotional overall. Whether or not I believe there should be a Part III, I’ll discuss in the spoiler review (depending on how long it gets anyway — I might just make a separate post for it entirely at some point and put a spoiler warning at the beginning of it). Thanks for reading!

Just finished "The Last of Us Part II". I plan on doing an extensive review of it soon. I'm gonna do a non-spoiler version, followed by a longer, spoiler-filled review.

And in response to the events going on in the United States, I will say this:
I think it can be agreed upon by most that there needs to be serious reform in the police force. Part of that reform comes down to better training and experience. If one is experienced in their field, they are much less likely to panic in tough situations. Most officers actually can't take a suspect down without a weapon. If they have efficient hand-to-hand combat skills, they can diffuse the situation without panicking and discharging their weapon.
They can also be required to take sensitivity training and learn how to talk down suspects by studying how experts have done so in the past. If they can talk down a suspect, they'll be calmed down enough to be arrested without incident.
With that said, I am happy with people uniting in peaceful protest, and I only ask that it stays that way - please, guys, don't loot and set fire to businesses that have absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand. Remember that we are all hurting right now in different ways, but that doesn't justify spreading the hurt.

Honestly starting to wonder if it's even worth it to become a YouTuber and/or Twitch streamer when there are so many ridiculous copyright issues on both platforms now. Background music should be considered fair use - not to mention that people don't go to streams solely to hear that song. If anything, songs get free promotion out of it. And yet, companies don't care and will still try to give you a strike on either platform. Now, there much, much more pressing matters to deal with in the world right now, but I hope copyright reform comes soon so I can entertain viewers more with nice background music without fear of a strike.

I remember 'Jessie' and the cringiness he brought to the awkward teen, Luke, yet he also brought a lot of his own talent to the character through his amazing dance skills. He was only a little younger than me when he passed in his sleep from a seizure. Just goes to show you that despite the opportunities you get in life, you can go at any time, so enjoy life while you can.

Cameron Boyce's Final Appearance Before Death Revealed in Paradise City Trailer Cameron Boyce’s final appearance before his death just got revealed in the Paradise City [...]