Sonya Church

The writing is about average and passable in this movie, or it would be if it weren't for the fact that it's set in an alternate time. Yes, it has been confirmed by Kunihiko Yuyama that this along with I Choose You is set in an alternate timeline and thus isn't canon to the anime. As I stated in my review for I Choose You, I can't bring myself to care about AU movies because they're not canon and because all of the characters are throwaways. There is no impact on the "greater story" (because it takes place in an alternate timeline with no actual history, it can't really be called a story) and nothing that happens matters. Another one of biggest gripes I have with the AU movies is the fact that diverging from the canon series confuses adults and children in the audience alike. Many of the reviews for this movie and I choose you are full of confusion over the divergent timelines. Do you know how many people I have to explain to that these movies are set in a different timeline? It kills me inside every time I have to explain. Characters are all throwaways that are impossible to become attached to just because I know they're never going to appear again and aren't canon? There is no living world because it has no history, no beloved characters, no one worth revisiting, and everything within the movie is contained within it's own little narrative. Nothing lives. Say what you want about the canon movies, but at least they have connection to the canon world, have impact, characters (which we care about) reoccur, there's actual history/timeline and they are at least cohesive. From the bottom of my heart, I hope they stop making alternate universe movies after Coco which I am already one thousand percent skeptical of. I miss main universe movies so much. I am so glad they at least released Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, the only main universe movie in four years. It allowed me to regain some of my waning sanity. Too bad we still don't know, after nearly 20 years what's going on with him. At this point, I'll take a cameo in the new anime or an appearance in an episode and be happy. Please, I am desperate at this point. Please for the love of everything pokemon, stop with the alternate universe movies! Gimme my Mewtwo cameo.

I know I may be one of the few that feel this way, but the fact that this is an alternate reality movie destroys my ability to enjoy it. The writing is fine, but I cannot bring myself to care about the characters at all. These events are all non-canon as are the characters because they are separate from the canon movie universe. The time used to develop new characters that I will call "throwaways" could have been used to develop the multiple already storied characters that older fans love and miss. There are characters, Mewtwo (from Mewtwo Strikes Back) for example, that have had little to no updates on their story in modern times. Where is this city (from the end of Mewtwo Returns) that Mewtwo lives in present day? What has he been up to? How has the search for the meaning of his life going? Will Ash see him again? I've been wanting to know these answers for so long and they've driven me crazy for equally as long. Yet, because we are stuck in AU pokemon to the canon, the time used to answer these questions has been extended. It's not just about Mewtwo, either. There are plenty of other stories and characters suffering long hiatuses. I want to see resolutions to those ones too. Finish what you started, please. I hate when stories are neglected for a long time or never resolve. It kills me inside. The canon pokemon story has so much history and so many characters that it could revisit and bring to a new audience. I'd love for today's children to meet the characters I grew up with and loved and get to know them as I have. Yet, it feels, through these AU movies, that history will be ignored. It shouldn't be about pulling in new, temporary fans that will inevitably abandon the series in a year or two, it should be about keeping the older loyal fans and creating new loyal fans. Don't use the excuse that it is a children's movie either, the Japanese version of Pokemon the first movie, Myuutsuu no Gyakushu was beautifully complex and dark, but kids loved it and fans still treasure it. It is and will always be, in my opinion, the best pokemon movie of all time because of the depth and beauty of the story and its message. Shows like Steven Universe prove that kids shows don't have to be vapid and shallow. Don't fall back on to the excuse that the last in universe movies prior to this one haven't done well and that this AU bull is the only way to fix that. It's not. Go back to these old stories and instill love and passion I saw in the earlier movies. Don't use them to just sell merchandise, use them to tell stories with depth and care. Selling stuff should be secondary. I'm not giving this movie low marks because I'm angry or because I can't accept change. My reasons come from love for the series and how much I cherish it. I'd love to see the stories of the characters I love continued.

Sims 4 is worlds away from the game it was at its initial launch, which was to say, bare bones and lacking in content. Where its predecessor was unstable and prone to crashing, Sims 4 is considerably more stable and seldom crashes unless there are conflicts with custom content or improper patch installation. The created-a-sim style has returned to the bright and cartoony aesthetic that the series is known for as opposed to the more "realistic" style of 3. Whereas 3's weird skin texture made all sims suffer from same pudding face syndrome no matter how you changed their features, 4's allows you to create sims with distinct faces and bodies. The eyes in 3 made your sims look dead inside with their creepy doll-like glassiness. Seriously, they looked they were anguished and trapped behind their eyes, pleading to escape the torment of existing but not finding the release they so desperately yearn for. Sims 4 make your sims look like they have souls and functional amygdala. Even despite create-a-style being removed, Sims 4 offers far more customization than the previous game allowing players greater customization of their sim's facial and body features. While Sims 4 no longer has an open world like Sims 3, its load times are far swifter. I remember waiting over an hour for Sims 3 to properly load down town and thirty minutes to start up the game. Not to mention Sims 4 is a lot easier on your PC/Laptop and better optimized. However, there a couple things that Sims 3 still does better. Sims 3 had more occult life states which adds more variety to your sim world and makes things more interesting. Plus occults used to give players something to work for in game. It felt more fantastical and mysterious. I really want more supernatural life states. Another thing that Sims 3 did better was the amount of traits you could apply to your sims, truly making them feel special. Lastly, Sims 3 had a lot more to do without buying expansions. Overall, Sims 4 is still far superior to Sims 3.