ARK: The Animated Series is Live!

[TyranntX]

As usual, the community is being entitled and toxic... which I suppose is just becoming pretty common place in dinosaur games

[aikkam]

12 hours ago, Veloci2 said:

Smettere di piagnucolare. Se hai sperimentato ASE nella sua infanzia, sapevi cosa aspettarti. Il problema è che questo gioco è così bravo che le persone vogliono giocarci senza bug. Il secondo problema è che le persone sono viziate e lo vogliono ORA ORA ORA invece di essere pazienti. Accedi comunque e se non giochi rimani fuori dal forum. Ark è ancora il miglior gioco Dino/sopravvivenza che esista.

it's the best survival game and dino just because it's practically the only one, palword if it had dinosaurs and graphics that aim for realism instead of a cartoon-like ark would be as good as buried, instead of being some kind of zombie game that's still moving just because of the lack of competition  

[FlorianWind9]

18 hours ago, CptYarrr said:

Finally, this is what every player needed. A cartoon. 

Wooptiedoo.

Well, now, to be fair, this is the only Ark thing that I've actually still been looking forward to since its announcement early last year. So, unless it also lets me down then it is very much a wooptiedoo for me. I'll let ya know if it also lets me down like the previous year and a half has. 😛

[FlorianWind9]

19 hours ago, Arkbestpro said:

Finally, it's here. If only me and the other non-north americans didn't have to wait a month.

You Don't! 

There are...ways around such things as region locks and paywalls. 

[FlorianWind9]

12 hours ago, St1ckyBandit said:

Watched the first 2 episodes. Kinda meh.

The scenes of Helena's backstory in modern times were all either cringe or boring.

It's clearly a vehicle for woke feminism. Women are strong. Women can do everything a man can do blah blah blah.

One such scene has her at a protest where someone's holding up a sign that reads "WHITE AUSTRALIA HAS A BLACK HISTORY." So I guess throw in the anti-white agenda as well.

Shame. The scenes where they are on the ark were enjoyable (except the broodmother, what the hell even happened?), but I doubt I'm gonna watch the rest of it. If the first 2 episodes work this hard at establishing a "men bad, men cause problem" feel to the show, I'm sure it'll only increase the further the show runs.

No thanks.

 

I understand and hear your criticisms/concerns, but please allow me to paint from a different perspective.

If you go to my profile and look back through the comments I've made you will know how I feel about wc and sg. And how I feel about A.S.A. So you will know that I do NOT speak from a favorable bias towards them. 

I am a writer and my favorite thing is stories in all medium. I also consider myself to be a very harsh critic of others' writing; especially story-telling; or artistic expression in general. 

So then; firstly, I am comfortable enough with myself to admit that Helena and Victoria's relationship is not my favorite thing. For Helena's character as a personality I much preferred in A.S.E.'s early days when I assumed that she was a very self-assured, independent, single individual with no romantic desire. The passionately nerdy yet fully capable character expressed in her original explorer notes was a much better fit for her character.

However, we learned long before the animated series that Helena had a female romantic interest in her original life; so if that's a problem now then you don't have an issue with the animated series, but instead an issue with wildcard's Ark story as a whole. Which may be the case for many and truly is a valid opinion as wc and sg aren't the best of writers.

Me personally, if I had decided to pair Helena with a romantic interest in her original life then I think I would have gone with an effeminate male to compliment the passionately nerdy yet fully capable character that I would have given her. In effect, the personality roles expressed in the animated series would have been reversed in my version with Helena being the stronger personality.

That all being said; I am an extremely harsh critic of woke and cringe and hate these things in stories, but I did not see such things expressed too deeply in the first episode. There were a few cliché, somewhat "cringe", moments; mostly dealing with the Parasaur and Dodo dino friends that just seemed far too coincidental and unrealistic, but they are a minor part to the story and even so the cliché events could technically be possible the way they were written; just very unlikely; soooo, they get a pass.

Otherwise however; whatever your perspective might have been concerning the various characters' personalities, actions, and dialogue...none of it seemed forced or out of place.

I was very confused and somewhat disappointed that Helena's relationship with Rockwell was far more antagonistic than the explorer notes expressed. That's not supposed to happen until they get to Aberration. I'm very confused now how they could ever possibly have an intellectual friendship relationship like they do in the original Ark story. I kinda feel like they went a bit too fast into the action with the first episode, but that's their choice I suppose. Likewise, I was confused that Nerva's personality was so reasonable and docile compared to the explorer notes. However, these personalities and how they acted are actually very accurate to how they should be for their characters and if they chose to rewrite the story a bit to speed into the action a bit faster, then they did it the right way. 

As for the "Men Bad" feel to many of the characters, this is actually where I place a lot of surprised respect for the writing. You see, whoever wrote the first episode I just watched clearly has a keen eye for detail in story-telling. To you, the characters may have acted in a woke "Men Bad" formula. However, if we are being accurate, they acted exactly as they should have acted for what their characters were. You have to remember that every single one of those characters lived during a time period where the thought of a woman being knowledgeable or capable was fantastically unheard of. (Aside from very few and specific instances in their history.) So the various ways in which they acted and reacted to Helena was spot on for each of their respective time-period perspectives and personal personalities. These characters do not represent a woke expression but instead stand true to their time periods and the characters' personalities. Nothing felt forced or out of place. 

In-fact; looking closely to notice the detail of the dialogue, the detail of the background pieces in the artwork, the detail to the various characters' personalities and facial expressions as well as how they acted and reacted to each situation; it was all spot on and didn't feel forced or out of place in any way. The attention to detail for the diverse time-periods, cultures, and social stations that each of the characters came from is very well done.

As for the protest scene in the second episode, well, you have to remember that 1) Victoria as a character was very active in protests and activism so you're gonna have to expect that for her character. and 2) As for the specific scene; if they wanted to incorporate a protest scene into the backstory to show this aspect of these characters in their backstory, then they couldn't have picked a better example as the "White Australia Has A Black History" thing was a very big and important issue of the time period in Australia if you didn't know or don't remember. So again, it feels appropriate to the characters and not forced.

As for the flashbacks in general, I didn't particularly feel like they worked entirely well here. I feel like if it was me, I would have started the story, the episode, from the flashbacks one after the other and then not gotten to The Island until after showing her death. Keep the story in chronological order, rather than showing intermittent flashbacks.

However; this is purely a story-staging choice of the writer and personally speaking even though I felt it didn't quite work right in this animated format, to be completely honest if I myself had written this story in book format then I probably would indeed have written it this way by starting from waking up on The Island and then having intermittent flashbacks to give that mysterious feel to the story. I feel like this mode of story-staging works better in written form than animated form. Even so, how they staged the flashbacks and where they placed them in the story did feel right so the overall flow of the story didn't feel too interrupted by the flashbacks or that the flashbacks felt forced. If this was their choice of how to do it, then they did do it right. 

Now then. Allllllll this winding review aside; I can't believe you didn't call out the show for the ONE THING THEY DID DO VERY WRONG!

Which was what?

Which was what THEY DID to the VERY BEST CHARACTER of the ENTIRE SERIES right away in the FIRST MOMENTS of the FIRST EPISODE! 

BOB IS THE VERY BEST CHARACTER OF THE ENTIRE SHOW!

The first few moments with him genuinely made me laugh and if a story can do that then I know it was written well. And all betrayed extremely sad feelings aside, how they did handle what they did to him was admitably handled perfectly and if I had chosen to speed into the action of the story early on then what they did is probably exactly how I would have also written it. 

P.S. I am somewhat angrily irritated that Helena did not have to deal with the GIANT SIZED ants and dragonflies that I had to deal with when I first started Ark. The ants and dragonflies showed in this first episode were normal sized. I feel like things are a little bit unfair here as if I had to deal with their terrible deadly giant pincers then I think she should have had to deal with them to! 😛

Edited March 22 by FlorianWind9

[MajinJake328]

Voice acting is trash.  Doesn't follow the lore laid in explorer notes.  Animation is at the very least 10 years behind where it should be.

6/10.

The 6 points are purely because it's Ark.

Maybe my stream will somehow help them get some money and the game needs support.  Maybe I'll keep it on repeat in the guest room or something where I don't have to see it to try to boost their views

[CosmicSkeleton]

19 hours ago, MMaas said:

You realize you are aplauding for WC's policy to only use CPR to keep the game alive?
No structural health improvement, no pacemaker to keep it goin.

Just CPR everytime the patient stops breathing for another short burst of life.

Pretty sure it was a joke, bud. The player count screenshot was the clue. I don’t think anyone here genuinely thinks they’ll pull a cyberpunk and animated series their way back to success. 

[MMaas]

1 hour ago, CosmicSkeleton said:

Pretty sure it was a joke, bud. The player count screenshot was the clue. I don’t think anyone here genuinely thinks they’ll pull a cyberpunk and animated series their way back to success. 

Yeah, he explained that and I reacted to that already 🙂

[St1ckyBandit]

9 hours ago, FlorianWind9 said:

I understand and hear your criticisms/concerns, but please allow me to paint from a different perspective.

If you go to my profile and look back through the comments I've made you will know how I feel about wc and sg. And how I feel about A.S.A. So you will know that I do NOT speak from a favorable bias towards them. 

I am a writer and my favorite thing is stories in all medium. I also consider myself to be a very harsh critic of others' writing; especially story-telling; or artistic expression in general. 

So then; firstly, I am comfortable enough with myself to admit that Helena and Victoria's relationship is not my favorite thing. For Helena's character as a personality I much preferred in A.S.E.'s early days when I assumed that she was a very self-assured, independent, single individual with no romantic desire. The passionately nerdy yet fully capable character expressed in her original explorer notes was a much better fit for her character.

However, we learned long before the animated series that Helena had a female romantic interest in her original life; so if that's a problem now then you don't have an issue with the animated series, but instead an issue with wildcard's Ark story as a whole. Which may be the case for many and truly is a valid opinion as wc and sg aren't the best of writers.

Me personally, if I had decided to pair Helena with a romantic interest in her original life then I think I would have gone with an effeminate male to compliment the passionately nerdy yet fully capable character that I would have given her. In effect, the personality roles expressed in the animated series would have been reversed in my version with Helena being the stronger personality.

That all being said; I am an extremely harsh critic of woke and cringe and hate these things in stories, but I did not see such things expressed too deeply in the first episode. There were a few cliché, somewhat "cringe", moments; mostly dealing with the Parasaur and Dodo dino friends that just seemed far too coincidental and unrealistic, but they are a minor part to the story and even so the cliché events could technically be possible the way they were written; just very unlikely; soooo, they get a pass.

Otherwise however; whatever your perspective might have been concerning the various characters' personalities, actions, and dialogue...none of it seemed forced or out of place.

I was very confused and somewhat disappointed that Helena's relationship with Rockwell was far more antagonistic than the explorer notes expressed. That's not supposed to happen until they get to Aberration. I'm very confused now how they could ever possibly have an intellectual friendship relationship like they do in the original Ark story. I kinda feel like they went a bit too fast into the action with the first episode, but that's their choice I suppose. Likewise, I was confused that Nerva's personality was so reasonable and docile compared to the explorer notes. However, these personalities and how they acted are actually very accurate to how they should be for their characters and if they chose to rewrite the story a bit to speed into the action a bit faster, then they did it the right way. 

As for the "Men Bad" feel to many of the characters, this is actually where I place a lot of surprised respect for the writing. You see, whoever wrote the first episode I just watched clearly has a keen eye for detail in story-telling. To you, the characters may have acted in a woke "Men Bad" formula. However, if we are being accurate, they acted exactly as they should have acted for what their characters were. You have to remember that every single one of those characters lived during a time period where the thought of a woman being knowledgeable or capable was fantastically unheard of. (Aside from very few and specific instances in their history.) So the various ways in which they acted and reacted to Helena was spot on for each of their respective time-period perspectives and personal personalities. These characters do not represent a woke expression but instead stand true to their time periods and the characters' personalities. Nothing felt forced or out of place. 

In-fact; looking closely to notice the detail of the dialogue, the detail of the background pieces in the artwork, the detail to the various characters' personalities and facial expressions as well as how they acted and reacted to each situation; it was all spot on and didn't feel forced or out of place in any way. The attention to detail for the diverse time-periods, cultures, and social stations that each of the characters came from is very well done.

As for the protest scene in the second episode, well, you have to remember that 1) Victoria as a character was very active in protests and activism so you're gonna have to expect that for her character. and 2) As for the specific scene; if they wanted to incorporate a protest scene into the backstory to show this aspect of these characters in their backstory, then they couldn't have picked a better example as the "White Australia Has A Black History" thing was a very big and important issue of the time period in Australia if you didn't know or don't remember. So again, it feels appropriate to the characters and not forced.

As for the flashbacks in general, I didn't particularly feel like they worked entirely well here. I feel like if it was me, I would have started the story, the episode, from the flashbacks one after the other and then not gotten to The Island until after showing her death. Keep the story in chronological order, rather than showing intermittent flashbacks.

However; this is purely a story-staging choice of the writer and personally speaking even though I felt it didn't quite work right in this animated format, to be completely honest if I myself had written this story in book format then I probably would indeed have written it this way by starting from waking up on The Island and then having intermittent flashbacks to give that mysterious feel to the story. I feel like this mode of story-staging works better in written form than animated form. Even so, how they staged the flashbacks and where they placed them in the story did feel right so the overall flow of the story didn't feel too interrupted by the flashbacks or that the flashbacks felt forced. If this was their choice of how to do it, then they did do it right. 

Now then. Allllllll this winding review aside; I can't believe you didn't call out the show for the ONE THING THEY DID DO VERY WRONG!

Which was what?

Which was what THEY DID to the VERY BEST CHARACTER of the ENTIRE SERIES right away in the FIRST MOMENTS of the FIRST EPISODE! 

BOB IS THE VERY BEST CHARACTER OF THE ENTIRE SHOW!

The first few moments with him genuinely made me laugh and if a story can do that then I know it was written well. And all betrayed extremely sad feelings aside, how they did handle what they did to him was admitably handled perfectly and if I had chosen to speed into the action of the story early on then what they did is probably exactly how I would have also written it. 

P.S. I am somewhat angrily irritated that Helena did not have to deal with the GIANT SIZED ants and dragonflies that I had to deal with when I first started Ark. The ants and dragonflies showed in this first episode were normal sized. I feel like things are a little bit unfair here as if I had to deal with their terrible deadly giant pincers then I think she should have had to deal with them to! 😛

I liked Bob overall. It was a fun nod to the noob stage of ark. But they chose to make him a misogynistic guy from 1940s on purpose.

He started "mansplaining" the island to Helena and expressed she would die without him. He then gets shot in the face when he's about to decry her for being a woman professor.

This dialogue is not by accident. The writers clearly wanted the audience to cheer the death of the misogynistic male character.

Every male in the 1st episode (Bob, Dominus, Rockwell) is either a jerk or a ruthless killer. Every female is a hero that is pushed further in the 2nd episode with the addition of Mei Yin and Helena's mom.

Tomb Raider is one of my favorite games ever. Furiosa from Mad Max is one of the coolest most BA movie characters ever. My character in ASA is female. I enjoy well done hero female leads as much as the next guy.

The problem is when there is no balance and one sex is entirely depicted as good while the other is bad. So far this series has the nuance of a sledgehammer when it comes to building the characters personalities and showing duality or the conflicted nature of people.

Maybe thats a lot to ask for in the first episode or 2 but I could have a lot more patience if the show wasnt so blatantly spamming FEMALES ARE STRONG THEY DONT NEED MEN SEE SEE GUYS.

Edited March 22 by St1ckyBandit

[NoobSupreme]

22 hours ago, St1ckyBandit said:

Watched the first 2 episodes. Kinda meh.

The scenes of Helena's backstory in modern times were all either cringe or boring.

It's clearly a vehicle for woke feminism. Women are strong. Women can do everything a man can do blah blah blah.

One such scene has her at a protest where someone's holding up a sign that reads "WHITE AUSTRALIA HAS A BLACK HISTORY." So I guess throw in the anti-white agenda as well.

Shame. The scenes where they are on the ark were enjoyable (except the broodmother, what the hell even happened?), but I doubt I'm gonna watch the rest of it. If the first 2 episodes work this hard at establishing a "men bad, men cause problem" feel to the show, I'm sure it'll only increase the further the show runs.

No thanks.

 

Exactly my point. reptar I’m a white male who isn’t gay and I’m slightly offended by this bigotry. I’m not a whiner tho so u don’t see me laying down in the middle of the street with a sign

[NoobSupreme]

10 hours ago, FlorianWind9 said:

I understand and hear your criticisms/concerns, but please allow me to paint from a different perspective.

If you go to my profile and look back through the comments I've made you will know how I feel about wc and sg. And how I feel about A.S.A. So you will know that I do NOT speak from a favorable bias towards them. 

I am a writer and my favorite thing is stories in all medium. I also consider myself to be a very harsh critic of others' writing; especially story-telling; or artistic expression in general. 

So then; firstly, I am comfortable enough with myself to admit that Helena and Victoria's relationship is not my favorite thing. For Helena's character as a personality I much preferred in A.S.E.'s early days when I assumed that she was a very self-assured, independent, single individual with no romantic desire. The passionately nerdy yet fully capable character expressed in her original explorer notes was a much better fit for her character.

However, we learned long before the animated series that Helena had a female romantic interest in her original life; so if that's a problem now then you don't have an issue with the animated series, but instead an issue with wildcard's Ark story as a whole. Which may be the case for many and truly is a valid opinion as wc and sg aren't the best of writers.

Me personally, if I had decided to pair Helena with a romantic interest in her original life then I think I would have gone with an effeminate male to compliment the passionately nerdy yet fully capable character that I would have given her. In effect, the personality roles expressed in the animated series would have been reversed in my version with Helena being the stronger personality.

That all being said; I am an extremely harsh critic of woke and cringe and hate these things in stories, but I did not see such things expressed too deeply in the first episode. There were a few cliché, somewhat "cringe", moments; mostly dealing with the Parasaur and Dodo dino friends that just seemed far too coincidental and unrealistic, but they are a minor part to the story and even so the cliché events could technically be possible the way they were written; just very unlikely; soooo, they get a pass.

Otherwise however; whatever your perspective might have been concerning the various characters' personalities, actions, and dialogue...none of it seemed forced or out of place.

I was very confused and somewhat disappointed that Helena's relationship with Rockwell was far more antagonistic than the explorer notes expressed. That's not supposed to happen until they get to Aberration. I'm very confused now how they could ever possibly have an intellectual friendship relationship like they do in the original Ark story. I kinda feel like they went a bit too fast into the action with the first episode, but that's their choice I suppose. Likewise, I was confused that Nerva's personality was so reasonable and docile compared to the explorer notes. However, these personalities and how they acted are actually very accurate to how they should be for their characters and if they chose to rewrite the story a bit to speed into the action a bit faster, then they did it the right way. 

As for the "Men Bad" feel to many of the characters, this is actually where I place a lot of surprised respect for the writing. You see, whoever wrote the first episode I just watched clearly has a keen eye for detail in story-telling. To you, the characters may have acted in a woke "Men Bad" formula. However, if we are being accurate, they acted exactly as they should have acted for what their characters were. You have to remember that every single one of those characters lived during a time period where the thought of a woman being knowledgeable or capable was fantastically unheard of. (Aside from very few and specific instances in their history.) So the various ways in which they acted and reacted to Helena was spot on for each of their respective time-period perspectives and personal personalities. These characters do not represent a woke expression but instead stand true to their time periods and the characters' personalities. Nothing felt forced or out of place. 

In-fact; looking closely to notice the detail of the dialogue, the detail of the background pieces in the artwork, the detail to the various characters' personalities and facial expressions as well as how they acted and reacted to each situation; it was all spot on and didn't feel forced or out of place in any way. The attention to detail for the diverse time-periods, cultures, and social stations that each of the characters came from is very well done.

As for the protest scene in the second episode, well, you have to remember that 1) Victoria as a character was very active in protests and activism so you're gonna have to expect that for her character. and 2) As for the specific scene; if they wanted to incorporate a protest scene into the backstory to show this aspect of these characters in their backstory, then they couldn't have picked a better example as the "White Australia Has A Black History" thing was a very big and important issue of the time period in Australia if you didn't know or don't remember. So again, it feels appropriate to the characters and not forced.

As for the flashbacks in general, I didn't particularly feel like they worked entirely well here. I feel like if it was me, I would have started the story, the episode, from the flashbacks one after the other and then not gotten to The Island until after showing her death. Keep the story in chronological order, rather than showing intermittent flashbacks.

However; this is purely a story-staging choice of the writer and personally speaking even though I felt it didn't quite work right in this animated format, to be completely honest if I myself had written this story in book format then I probably would indeed have written it this way by starting from waking up on The Island and then having intermittent flashbacks to give that mysterious feel to the story. I feel like this mode of story-staging works better in written form than animated form. Even so, how they staged the flashbacks and where they placed them in the story did feel right so the overall flow of the story didn't feel too interrupted by the flashbacks or that the flashbacks felt forced. If this was their choice of how to do it, then they did do it right. 

Now then. Allllllll this winding review aside; I can't believe you didn't call out the show for the ONE THING THEY DID DO VERY WRONG!

Which was what?

Which was what THEY DID to the VERY BEST CHARACTER of the ENTIRE SERIES right away in the FIRST MOMENTS of the FIRST EPISODE! 

BOB IS THE VERY BEST CHARACTER OF THE ENTIRE SHOW!

The first few moments with him genuinely made me laugh and if a story can do that then I know it was written well. And all betrayed extremely sad feelings aside, how they did handle what they did to him was admitably handled perfectly and if I had chosen to speed into the action of the story early on then what they did is probably exactly how I would have also written it. 

P.S. I am somewhat angrily irritated that Helena did not have to deal with the GIANT SIZED ants and dragonflies that I had to deal with when I first started Ark. The ants and dragonflies showed in this first episode were normal sized. I feel like things are a little bit unfair here as if I had to deal with their terrible deadly giant pincers then I think she should have had to deal with them to! 😛

I love how Helena describes her lesbian sex in her flashbacks. Really adds to the story.

[davetherave]

Dollie is single handedly killing ark get rid of her before it's too late

[DarkHero2707]

At least we got something. I know it is no content for the Game but we finally have something new. Thank U!!!

[Jmc1975]

Seeing I'm in the UK I will NOT be watching this rubbish cartoon as I refuse to pay for another subscription service.and found the first note but it's still locked when checking explorer notes as it's not even given me my 10 extra levels after getting every note on the island.....WC need to sort this BS out🤬🤬🤬

[Scriffignano]

If it makes anyone feel any better... Victoria Walker is probably a fictitious memory implanted in Helena's mind given what the Arks really are and how humans really come to be on them. 

Otherwise who she loves is a bit of a moot point in the end that everyone is squabbling over for no reason. Mei-Yin falls in love with Diana Altaras during the events of Aberration and Extinction so why is this relationship so taboo? Sure she's an added character that doesn't show up in the notes, but honestly I think Helena's love for Victoria explains her friendship with Mei-Yin. Like Victoria, Mei-Yin is a humanitarian of a different breed that fights to liberate those who were being oppressed by Nerva and the New Legion. I sure as hell would find a level of comfort in that if I was Helena.

In the end, its a cartoon about a game that we all share an interest in. Perhaps turning off the political mind for the 170 minutes the show runs for and enjoy it is a better idea. I sure as hell will over and over again. 

[TheTwistedKeeper]

Are the skins/costumes permanent & able to be gotten at any time, or can they only be gotten till the 11th?

Because I can't/won't play ark ascended right now but I do enjoy collecting all the skins/costumes that I can.

[FungusJohn]

Luckily I live in the US! Sadly, I’m broke 😥

[FlorianWind9]

13 hours ago, St1ckyBandit said:

I liked Bob overall. It was a fun nod to the noob stage of ark. But they chose to make him a misogynistic guy from 1940s on purpose.

He started "mansplaining" the island to Helena and expressed she would die without him. He then gets shot in the face when he's about to decry her for being a woman professor.

This dialogue is not by accident. The writers clearly wanted the audience to cheer the death of the misogynistic male character.

Every male in the 1st episode (Bob, Dominus, Rockwell) is either a jerk or a ruthless killer. Every female is a hero that is pushed further in the 2nd episode with the addition of Mei Yin and Helena's mom.

Tomb Raider is one of my favorite games ever. Furiosa from Mad Max is one of the coolest most BA movie characters ever. My character in ASA is female. I enjoy well done hero female leads as much as the next guy.

The problem is when there is no balance and one sex is entirely depicted as good while the other is bad. So far this series has the nuance of a sledgehammer when it comes to building the characters personalities and showing duality or the conflicted nature of people.

Maybe thats a lot to ask for in the first episode or 2 but I could have a lot more patience if the show wasnt so blatantly spamming FEMALES ARE STRONG THEY DONT NEED MEN SEE SEE GUYS.

Having now seen all 6 of these first episodes as well as the trailer for the second 6 I can give a much more experienced review of the story than I did previously. 

At this current point in my viewing, I have only 1 major criticism of Ark the Animated series. This major criticism, is that the story does not in any way follow the original story of the explorer notes. If you think you know the Ark story from playing the game and reading the notes? I guess you(we) don't, because apparently all the characters wrote down a very different more laidback version of the events. The original characters are there; their original backstories are still there; and the characters' personalities are still exactly the same as in the game's explorer notes; but all the events of the notes' stories are completely different. 

However, is this a negative criticism if the rewritten story is good? No. This single major criticism of mine is not a negative one because the rewritten story, while somewhat fast feeling at times, has been written very well. 

(Please make note that I personally am also still not a fan of Helena having romantic interests and even if I myself would have given her one it would have been a male romantic interest but that's my personal opinion and fortunately how they've incorporated their romantic interest does not overly distract from the rest of the story so I can overlook this.)

Now, as for Bob, I think he was written as a thick-headed misogynistic guy from the 1940s because that was the typical male character of that time period. Particularly when concerning an individual who was very clearly ingrained deep into the military lifestyle and likely may have even had a bit of a rank which would have caused him to be even more snobbery. Maybe even with a family heritage and tradition of military upbringing. 

There were no other characters in Ark's story yet from the WWII era, and the WWII era is a very interesting and popular one, especially an interesting one to use to open up the story with, so why not choose that for his time period and how he died? Well, what was the typical military meat-head of that time period like? When women in high professions and people of color also being in high professions was unheard of. I'm actually surprised that he never mentioned her color as well.

Did you know that women exclusively refrained from the public workforce until after WWII in America? In-fact, it was WWII that created the desire and drive for women to entire into the public work force because during WWII they had to since all the men were off fighting, and then once all the men came back they decided that they didn't want to go back to being simple housewives. Well, Bob died before he could see this culture change after coming back from the war. All he knew was pre-WWII American culture which meant that a female professor would have sounded ridiculous. Female school teacher? No. But professor? Very yes. 

So you can see why a guy from his time period who has a thick headed personality would act as he does?

I think Bob is a comic relief and we're supposed to laugh at him. Also, him being representative of the average Ark player, I think it's pretty common for 2 week old noobs to find someone who is more of a noob and start "splaining" Ark to them and saying how they're not going to survive a day without their superior 2 week old experience. 😛 I mean, I get what you're saying with him, but it all fits his character perfectly fine.

(Also. SPOILERS..................................He Comes Back In Part 2! The Comic Relief Lives On!)

As for the other male characters: Dominus, Rockwell; uhm, they uh, they were jerks in the original Ark story so I don't know if choosing not to rewrite their personalities counts. I mean, Dominus and Rockwell were the main bad guys of original Ark so it's just unfortunate that these were the first main characters that Helena met in this version of the story.

HOWEVER; I would like to make note that Dominus's actions towards Helena are in no way the same as Bob's or Rockwell's. You can see it both in his tone of voice, use of words, and body language that he acquires a great respect for Helena and never down-talks her except in the fact that she has become his enemy after she poisons him. Before she poisons him, Dominus is seriously considering replacing Rockwell's obvious incompetence and lack of fighting spirit with her. When he sees that she has far more knowledge than Rockwell, and is not afraid to take action by hitting Rockwell, he respects that. He, as a Roman Centurion, respects aggression and fighting spirit. Rockwell is a limp spineless man; Dominus does not like. (You get to see this more and more in episodes 3-6)

Of course, if this theme that you see and that is largely expressed through Bob and Rockwell were to continue throughout the rest of the characters then I would agree with you. But, balance you say? Well, just wait until the "good" characters from Ark's original story are introduced. 😛

Enter John Dahkeya(Thunder Comes Charging); depicted as a slightly overprotective but very loving, caring, strong male character. He is the main good male character of the first 6 episodes and boy oh boy does he:

(Spoilers.........................................goes down in a blazing bombshell of self-sacrificial heroism as he gives all he has to rescue Li Mei Yin while attempting to damage Gaius Marcellus Nerva as much as possible even to the extent of single-handedly taking out a Giga!)

DUDE! This guy is a true warrior and arguably on equal standing with Li Mei Yin!

Next is Henry Townsend. Your typical "I'm not so sure about this" guy. However, considering that he was an 18th century watchmaker and patriot spy then this personality fits him well. Even so, while he is cautious about Helena and Li Mei Yin, he never down-talks them like Bob or Rockwell do. He is always cautious, but reasonable. 

Now, balance on the other side you say? Well: Enter the Gladiatrix; she is a commander in Nerva's army and, guess what? She acts just as brutal if not more brutal than Nerva does. She is a female character who is shown as a bloodthirsty villain. Not at all a hero. She down-talks Helena brutally and tries to get into her head with mental torture. You will not think that the show is trying to paint all females as good great heroes when you see her. I mean, this lady makes Nerva seem like a reasonable diplomat. 

Now, the duality and conflicted nature of people you say? Character growth, you say?

Through episodes 3-6 you get far less flashbacks from Helena and far more from all the other main characters. These flashbacks you already should know, as they are the explorer notes from original Ark. They paint Nerva's background, Li Mei Yin's background, and John's background far deeper than simple stone blocks. Further, they show a contrast with how the characters are feeling in the present on Ark and how they, in some small ways, are trying to do things differently from their past lives and change things for the better within themselves.

Li Mei Yin struggles with blind-hatred and revenge and has to learn to pull back for the good and saftey of those around her.

In contrast, John Dahkeya played things too safe and didn't do enough to fight for his family during his life so now he expresses a greater sense of decisiveness, courage, and willingness to do what is necessary to protect those he cares for.

Nerva has a somewhat complicated past; he has delusions of grandeur and seeks power, but from his flashbacks and other dialogue it almost seems like there is a just cause/reason in his past life propelling him to seek power to rule over others. Kindof in the line of; "I'm the only one who can lead them in the right way, and I'll do whatever is necessary to achieve this goal even if it means doing things that I don't even agree with."

Helena herself struggles with the crippling sadness, still, of losing her loved one in life while at the same time struggles to prove herself as capable and not in need of others like Li Mei Yin to save her. See, she is depicted right away as being "Incredibly ridiculously smart" but has no combat capabilities aside from trickery and getting lucky. This is the same way that she is depicted in the original explorer notes. She has to struggle with and ask for help to learn how to defend herself with weapons. But, more than that, is that in episodes 3-6 she really deeply struggles with the thought of "killing someone". She can't bring herself to do it; even though Gladiatrix tries to paint her as a killer because her actions towards the end of episode 1 end up killing a large number of Nerva's men. She must struggle with this and come to the decision whether or not she will be able to kill another in order to protect those she cares for. 

My verdict of these first 6 episodes, as well as the trailer for the second 6, is that the writing is exceptionally well done.

The attention to detail of the very diverse personalities, time-periods, and cultures of the various main characters is well done.

Every "Cliche" moment is very soon after explained directly in the story so that there are no strange plot-holes left open and these odd moments become plausible. There are many writers who write in cliche moments, such as cute pet friends, just because they want to even if it doesn't feel organic and then they never take the time to explain it so holes in the story are felt. Those who wrote this story do take the time to fill in these holes, and I very much appreciate that. 

One such cliche moment is the BroodMother fight. You know how weird and rushed that was right? Well, before they enter the fight Li Mei Yin tells Helena to be careful of the blue bioluminescent plants because they attract the fire-worms(Arthropleura). The Arthropleura have an acid within them that can burn through most things. Well, apparently part of the chemical reaction to produce that acid comes from eating the bioluminescent fungi plants and even just the inner goo from the plants themselves has some form of mild acidic nature to it; with also apparently a smell that attracts insects even that aren't Arthropleura but the spiders as well. You'll notice that in the fight, when she figures this out, Helena is careful not to burst the larger fungi nodes on herself but only touches the firmer outer coating of the plant. It bursts upon hitting the BroodMother, spilling its acidic goo and attracting the smaller spiders. The smaller spiders, apparently starved and cannibalistic, go after the weakened mother and gang-up on her and start eating her due to the attractive smell of the plant, attractive light of the plant, and the weakness they sense in their once queen who can now be devoured and a new alpha bug be declared. As far out in left-field as this miraculous victory is, it is still very much explainable and understandable and they gave you the clues to figure it out. 

My verdict here of these first 6 episodes is that Ark The Animated Series has the Heart and Passion that wildcard and snail games have lost. The Heart and Passion that Ark has lost with A.S.A.

Something that makes sense, as apparently Ark The Animated Series was fully personally funded by and overseen by Ark's original founder Jeremy. Supposedly, if we are to believe what they say, snail games and wildcard had absolutely no hand in the development of this show. Only the original founder with his original vision of Ark had a hand in creating it. That being the case, I can see where the show would have the Heart and Passion that Jeremy was forced to sell to snail games after the lawsuit. 

So far, I give Ark The Animated Series a solid 8/10 for writing, attention to detail, and animation. We'll see how the second 6 episodes go, which based upon previous timelines I expect to see in about 1 year from now, but based upon the trailer for these second 6 episodes I can assume that this rating will stand; and perhaps even be elevated. 

[FlorianWind9]

On 3/21/2024 at 11:21 AM, MMaas said:

Thanks for the heads up.

[Note to self: Don't get a subscription to streaming service for this, it's appearantly not Cyberpunk or Witcher s1 quality level.]

No, it is not quite up to that level. You can see my reviews on it as I've now watched all 6 episodes. However, I also did not get a subscription to watch these first 6 episodes or the trailer for the second 6. 👀

[Zeldei]

On 3/21/2024 at 5:53 PM, St1ckyBandit said:

Agreed.

Any complaining at all about woke is too much, because that divisive nonsense shouldnt even exist in something like a flippin ark cartoon. 

One thing I did like is how brutal Rockwell is portrayed. Feeding the kid to the Trex was awesome, one of the best scenes. Didn't think they would actually go through with it, but they did and it delivered. Rockwell is 1000% the best character on the show so far.

The complaints about woke are mind-blowing to me because no one ever really explains what would satisfy them short of simply never having characters that are either gay, female, or non-white. The presence of any one of those is enough to send conservatives into a tizzy of rage and persecution complex.  Even though gay characters are a vanishingly small percentage of the total characters, it's still not enough.  

You say it should not exist in a cartoon, but why? We see relationships, love, and family issues all the time in historical children's media. No one bats an eye at it unless one of the characters is not the traditional view of love.  It is like saying we shouldn't have interracial couples in media because it might offend people who hate other races.  After all, anti-miscegenation laws were around much longer than interracial marriage was the norm.  Should we protect children from ever seeing an asian guy with a white chick? Is that woke?  Children are inundated with extreme violence, and a lot of people are fine with that. Bob got stabbed in the face. That's okay, but two women kissing is apparently traumatizing for children to handle. Even though it exists in the real world they live in.  

One commentor in a youtube video about the ARK series complained that all the villains are white men. Therefore it is woke. Like, what did he want? To make Nerva black?  To make Rockwell female? Wouldn't that be race-sex swapping and thus also WOKE? Then he'd complain about that. So what's the deal?  Following the story accurately would be too woke for him. 

Someone in another thread was hating the show and he admitted he didn't even see it. That is why so much of the complaints feel disingenuous. 

The wokeness complaints get so absurd that it's like people must not have ever paid attention to the ARK story in the past 8 years. If they did, they would know a character was already overtly gay.  And the main hero characters were already female. Simply adhering to lore perfectly would still be woke!

I feel like the real criticisms of the ARK animated series is that it destroys Rockwell's character completely. That's a real complaint. Not because the developers hate men, though.   Diverging from the actual story was a mistake because certain characters no longer make sense. 

 

I am not targeting this at you. I am genuinely interested in what people really want. Just never having a gay character? Or a brown female? A 1/100 ratio?  Should we race swap Nerva into a black female villain? 

Edited March 24 by Zeldei

[Mike585x]

10 hours ago, Zeldei said:

The complaints about woke are mind-blowing 

Heck, "woke" isn't even supposed to be an insult or used as such. It's very sad to see that it is nowadays, as it's simply supposed to refer to those who have opened their eyes to reality and can see the truth.

 

Edit: I guess those opposed just prefer to live in the "ignorance is bliss" era. ( ͡º ͜ʖ ͡º)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edited March 24 by Mike585x

[MMaas]

1 hour ago, Mike585x said:

Edit: I guess those opposed just prefer to live in the "ignorance is bliss" era. ( ͡º ͜ʖ ͡º)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Those were the days, when life was simple.

And games launchred in a relative bugfree state.

[FlorianWind9]

19 hours ago, Zeldei said:

The complaints about woke are mind-blowing to me......

Agreed.

Now, I understand that "Woke" isn't supposed to be a bad word. However, to me personally it has become a negative word and I'll try to explain the negativity that it means to me. To me; if something is "Woke" then it means that someone has done something in such a way that it doesn't feel organic; it doesn't feel realistic; or it was done for no real reason. In other words, someone did something just to check a box. Such as changing gender, race, or age of a preset character in a story just to check a box. (Like what they did with the The Last Of Us live action TV series.) Or having a certain character be a certain gender, race, age, or relationship just to check a box; even if it doesn't feel organic or realistic to the story. 

I absolutely despise when people do this because by doing so they ruin what could have otherwise been a great story and I love stories.

This being said, I don't understand the complaint against Ark The Animated Series because I found absolutely no "Woke" aspects to it at all. Every single piece of the story felt organic, realistic, and made sense for every single character and situation within the story. I saw absolutely no box checking at all. 

[Zeldei]

5 hours ago, FlorianWind9 said:

Agreed.

Now, I understand that "Woke" isn't supposed to be a bad word. However, to me personally it has become a negative word and I'll try to explain the negativity that it means to me. To me; if something is "Woke" then it means that someone has done something in such a way that it doesn't feel organic; it doesn't feel realistic; or it was done for no real reason. In other words, someone did something just to check a box. Such as changing gender, race, or age of a preset character in a story just to check a box. (Like what they did with the The Last Of Us live action TV series.) Or having a certain character be a certain gender, race, age, or relationship just to check a box; even if it doesn't feel organic or realistic to the story. 

I absolutely despise when people do this because by doing so they ruin what could have otherwise been a great story and I love stories.

This being said, I don't understand the complaint against Ark The Animated Series because I found absolutely no "Woke" aspects to it at all. Every single piece of the story felt organic, realistic, and made sense for every single character and situation within the story. I saw absolutely no box checking at all. 

 I didn't see it either. But right off the bat, months ago, I knew conservatives would hate it because Helena is a Lesbian.  I was like "Man, they gonna complain about this to no end."  What I didn't expect was people saying it is woke because the villains are all men.  Or white.  Like DILO do they want?  To change the original story?  One guy even complained that Helena's mom was protesting the Australian government for Aboriginal rights. That was woke too.  I guess they should just all hold hands and love each other. 

[prosans]

On 3/21/2024 at 2:59 PM, ChrisBManos said:

-> https://ark.wiki.gg/wiki/Tek_Binoculars_(Survival_Ascended)  <-

They are a real item in the game, click on the link above for more info.

you try spawning or getting  it then