I remember the spring of 99, waiting in a line of over a hundred for like 2 hours so I could see the very first showing of the Phantom Menace, the first new Star Wars movie in about 15 years. I was too little to remember the other ones in the theater but the Star Wars franchise was one of my all time favorites, like just about everyone else on the planet.
I had no doubts it was going to be awesome, I mean, it was the freaking Star Wars franchise, there's no way they'd ever make a bad Star Wars movie, amirite?
I remember walking of of the theater not knowing what to think. I mean, deep down I knew it was a crappy movie, but maybe I was just processing it correctly. I actually saw it again the next weekend, there were parts that were cool, but it just felt cold and boring and at all interesting or compelling.
And what is the movie's legacy? Well the hardcore fans hated it, the critics hated it, it's legacy was that of a bad joke, a punchline, the long awaited but disappointing and downright embarassing follow up to the legendary Star Wars franchise. The beginning of the end of the legend of Lucas.
How could this have happened? How could they have made it so bad? I mean parts of it were good, but the bad parts are so bad and unnecessary, they could have easily been fixed. It's like the took all the charm, originality, and character and squeezed it out of the franchise.
Interestingly enough the movie went on to be a major finacial success, in fact, not factoring in inflation, it's the #10 highest grossing movie of all time.
Sound familiar?
Behold, Diablo 3, the Phantom Menance. It's taken me a few weeks to recognize my feelings towards the game but now I remember when I felt like this before. It was after my couple viewings of Episode 1