Alternate Vlarion 3 - Echo of Time

Alternate Vlarion 3: the one movie that seems to spark the most controversy in the neverending struggle between text dialouge and using voices. The main problem is however is that most people are too wrapped up in the things that they see wrong with a movie such as this (text instead of voices, static shots, RPGish game style directing) that they fail to notice any of the good points, such as the incredible animations and complex storyline. This is why admist all the stubbornness and complaining rises a truely great movie.

AV3 starts off pretty much where AV2 left off, with Dask and co planning to take down Rosal in his castle. Tensions between party members rise and fall and danger lurks around every corner for our heroes. The typical RPGish setting is directed well by Aaron in this sense. I personally liked it, especially in the battle scenes. What was so good about using such a means of directing was that while a shot would remain static for 1000 frames Aaron was able to concentrate on creating awe inspiring animations of various spells and sword attacks on the Vlarions. One such attack, which remains now as one of the single most incredible animations I have ever seen, is the Dancing Air Slash attack which Dask performs on our heroes. The way Aaron pulls off the slow-mo is just mind blowing.

The complex storyline also bothers some people but I however found it quite interesting. Though fantasy may not be everyone's cup of tea Aaron creates dialouge and such theories about time and the dimensions of reality that it's almost criminal not to compliment on. I'll be damned if I could've ever thought up most of the stuff but the more I think about some of the explanations that the characters were given in the film the more it begins to make you really think about how events occur. The way the situation with Vlaria and the ending of the human race (OMG SO ORIGINAL! heh sorry Aaron I couldn't resist ) was presented, as well as some of the twists including Dask's turn towards the dark side couldn't have been done better. But that leads us to our next part...

The dialouge. Now the dialouge itself was obviously well thought out and planned. The interaction with the characters, the way the story carried itself, was all done on a level not usually seen in most 3DMM movies. I was really intrigued by most of the dialouge and the different triats each character presented through such dialouge. Points here definitely. The way the dialouge was presented however...that lead to some trouble. Now myself I have the patience to actually read and enjoy the text boxes. Most people however don't, which is a real shame; and I'm not going to go into why I think that because I've said it before a few times.

Now all RPGs wouldn't be complete without a kickass soundtrack and as a good fantasy series should AV3 does too...IN MIDI FORM! Surprisingly the midis played quite well and worked with the movie, such as Megoda Hospital. Most people bitch and moan about midis but christ the file size was already 13 meg, mp3s would have doubled it. Besides alot of the music was well placed and though repetetive at times (one of my only complaints) they didn't become too bothersome. I even had to go out and download some of these tracks because I liked them so much, but hey that's just me.

The sound effects were crazy for this movie. Everything ranging from a spaceship to Aaron growling into his mic with a few wierd filters, this movie has it all. You can tell Aaron put alot of time into this aspect along with the crazy animations to make sure that the spells and stuff would become a collection of 3-20 second audio/visual orgasms. This film truely masters in this category.

My only complaints in this movie were some of the static shots which weren't all that bad, especially when Aaron gives us a few easter eggs to keep us interested (talkin' about scene 34 if anyone knows what I mean) and the text situation, which is bearable for me but I'd love to see voice acting in this just to enhance the experience, even though I'm not all that sure it would help because of the content. Other than that though I have no qualms here.

AV3 is one of those movies that needs to be looked at for what was given. Throw aside that text vs voices bullshit and actually read the damn movie and be entertained. Aaron has offered us alot more than what most people do but gets shunned over ONE FUCKING THING. Shit Happens had shitty animation and scenery but people still watched it. What's so different from AV3 having no voices? It lacks in one area and makes up for it 100x in another. There are just some things I don't get. Also people like to complain about the static shots with 1000 frames of talking with text. Well guess what? MOS had those exact same types of scenes only they actually had voices. And what's even better is that people still complained. It's a no win situation it seems.

Overall Aaron Haynes has given us one of the most thought provoking movies I've ever seen. My brain still hurts trying to fathom all of the stuff I gathered but it really made me think. People really need to give this a chance and see this movie for what it really is: a great film.