HBO Westworld

[Zef Otter]

I like it so far, Anthony Hopkins is great in it as the owner of Westworld where you can pretty much do anything since the park itself is staffed with very realistic androids that play their roles. Guests can rape, kill, and torture the androids then after they are cleaned up, mind wiped and sent out to play the same roles.

Its pretty much like the 1970 movie but much more updated and very gritty. I like it deals with memories of the robots and the interactions with the humans and choices people make. So if you enjoy westerns and cyberpunk give it a shot (I love the man in black).

 

[Zef Otter]

I should add more

It's pretty much a irl mmo. Android Npc's have quests you can do like hunt for outlaws, save a lady from bandits, or find treasure in the hills. It's all up to you. Heck you don't even have to kill you could easily go on picnics or pan for gold. It's all up to you, It also plays up on being a white hat or a black hat, In cowboy movies it means good guy or Bad guy.

Also deeper into the park the more hardcore it gets, the longest you can stay is 27 days and its 47,000 dollars a day. You pretty much get dropped off by train at the starter town then after that it's up to you.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I'm loving it so far. Though, I have to suppress a chuckle every time I see Liam McPoyle. It's weird seeing him in a serious role, but he does a good job. I'm liking the ideas the show is exploring and it doesn't seem like it'll just take a surface deep look at them.

The one thing that I find kind of odd is the amount of swearing. I'm not offended, it just seems strange for so much of it to be going on in what should be an extremely professional environment. Maybe I'm just too used to working in a government office.

 

[pookie101]

its easy to see the similarity between westworld and fallout 4..

where westworld succeeds over fallout 4 is showing syths as machines.. in fallout 4 they are just another npc labeled "synth".
while you get to see synth production in fallout 4 you dont get to see the further stages that you get in westworld like cold storage of decommissioned hots, the testing phase of hosts, just sitting there raising their arm to command, etc

a mod that added those things would add a lot to the big question of synth freedom... machines or slaves

 

[Glongpre]

Watched the first episode today.

It seems really good, definitely hits all the right sci fi angles. I am pretty intrigued by Ed Harris' character. Anthony Hopkins as the creator is cool, and the guy who plays the lead programmer is a good actor.
Some interesting stuff going on.

It reminds me of other movies that look at A.I., and consciousness and what makes a human, etc. So I think I have a good idea about where the plot is headed.

But I don't know how Ed Harris will fit in. Is he good? Is he bad? Neutral?

Ohhhhh, I remember now. It reminds me a lot of the Jim Carrey movie (which also has Ed Harris), The Truman Show.

 

[DarthCoercis]

Fallout 4? I don't really see the comparison. Seems more like the matrix in reverse to me. I've only seen the first 3 episodes, but I'm honestly already kinda bored with it.

 

[Fallow]

Watched the first episode today.

It seems really good, definitely hits all the right sci fi angles. I am pretty intrigued by Ed Harris' character. Anthony Hopkins as the creator is cool, and the guy who plays the lead programmer is a good actor.
Some interesting stuff going on.

It reminds me of other movies that look at A.I., and consciousness and what makes a human, etc. So I think I have a good idea about where the plot is headed.

But I don't know how Ed Harris will fit in. Is he good? Is he bad? Neutral?

Ohhhhh, I remember now. It reminds me a lot of the Jim Carrey movie (which also has Ed Harris), The Truman Show.

Ed Harris is never good or bad, Ed Harris is Ed Harris.

The one thing you can bank on every time is that Ed harris is awesome, and that's really all you need to know.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, they just remade the Magnificent Seven, so they could have got Yul Brynner's replacement from that, provided he does not blink.

 

[Terminal Blue]

where westworld succeeds over fallout 4 is showing syths as machines.. in fallout 4 they are just another npc labeled "synth".
while you get to see synth production in fallout 4 you dont get to see the further stages that you get in westworld like cold storage of decommissioned hots, the testing phase of hosts, just sitting there raising their arm to command, etc

Honestly, that sounds legit and I would agree, but as far as I can see every single time a moral discussion comes up about fallout 4 it's inundated with people insisting that synths are inherently evil and must be destroyed. Sure, 90% of that is probably brotherhood of steel fan wanking (because at this point everyone has forgotten the original narrative role of the brotherhood of steel and just treats them as the good guys) but overall people are pretty dumb and sometimes they really do need to have moral complexity drilled into their skulls in order to get it.

The big problem with Fallout 4 is one that actually comes up at one point in the narrative and is glossed over. The world is already full of machines with simulated intelligence and, in some cases, apparent free will, yet synths are treated as something radically different because they resemble a human form. This could actually be used to point out a massive flaw in the Turing test, that it's based on the ability to resemble a human being rather than the ability to demonstrate intelligence, but the game doesn't really go there and as a result the Institute come off as bafflingly stupid when they really should have more of a point.

 

[pookie101]

where westworld succeeds over fallout 4 is showing syths as machines.. in fallout 4 they are just another npc labeled "synth".
while you get to see synth production in fallout 4 you dont get to see the further stages that you get in westworld like cold storage of decommissioned hots, the testing phase of hosts, just sitting there raising their arm to command, etc

Honestly, that sounds legit and I would agree, but as far as I can see every single time a moral discussion comes up about fallout 4 it's inundated with people insisting that synths are inherently evil and must be destroyed. Sure, 90% of that is probably brotherhood of steel fan wanking (because at this point everyone has forgotten the original narrative role of the brotherhood of steel and just treats them as the good guys) but overall people are pretty dumb and sometimes they really do need to have moral complexity drilled into their skulls in order to get it.

The big problem with Fallout 4 is one that actually comes up at one point in the narrative and is glossed over. The world is already full of machines with simulated intelligence and, in some cases, apparent free will, yet synths are treated as something radically different because they resemble a human form. This could actually be used to point out a massive flaw in the Turing test, that it's based on the ability to resemble a human being rather than the ability to demonstrate intelligence, but the game doesn't really go there and as a result the Institute come off as bafflingly stupid when they really should have more of a point.

you are completely right. hell three of the companions are non synth robots who are sentient and have free will. your characters own codsworth, the prewar robot your family owns, chooses of his own free will to walk away from you if you choose to be evil. yet the brotherhood goes ape shit when a human robot displays the same level of sentience and morals?

makes no sense

 

[sageoftruth]

It's definitely interesting to see a show that has the uncanny valley as a tool rather than a flaw. It actually created quite a bit of tension for me. Every time something happened to lift the illusion that it was a real western environment, like robots glitching out, or kids going "You're not real are you" it felt like being onstage and having my partner suddenly forget her lines. The customers seemed to be a lot more forgiving of it than I expected. I would be thinking, "Oh god. The jig is up. The experience is ruined," while the customers would simply shrug it off as a bug in the system.

Westworld itself looks like a programmer's nightmare.

 

[Parasondox]

What really happened to Arnold? That's what I want to know.

Plus Sir Anthony Hopkins is amazing in this. He simply sees his creations as just props. Toys. They apparently mean nothing to him other than just a machine that can easily be turned on and off. Looking forward to more.

More "bugs" to come.

 

[WolfThomas]

It's pretty much what Jurassic World should have been. Instead of just going straight for malfunction and chaos, they show all the work that goes into maintaining the parks, shows us the adventures people get caught up and the moral discussions over the questionable ethics involved.

It's great.