Poll of the Day > Spider-Geek: Homecoming

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ParanoidObsessive 04/18/17 9:20:02 AM #151:	Raganork10 posted... Y'know, I was kinda happy when RLM made the original Nerd Crew podcast episodes, but I was expecting it to last several episodes and then die off. They made their point already. Now they've made a fourth episode and it's beyond beating a dead horse at this point, and has crossed over into I'm not gonna watch this territory. I stopped watching them somewhere in the middle of the first one. I always sort of saw it as being a bit too petty and a little bitter, mixed with the sort of smug superiority that always sort of makes me want to punch someone's teeth in. It also doesn't really help that it feels like they're painting a very wide brush across segments of a cultural group that doesn't necessarily deserve it (ie, judging an entire type of genre fan by the worst stereotypes of the group). Which is kind of funny, because you'd think two huge Star Trek nerds would actually be kind of aware of that sort of thing. Hell, you could even throw Jay into that, because he's a huge horror fan, and that's another fanbase that tends to have a lot of negative stereotypes attached. It's basically a joke that was funny in the first couple minutes of the first one because, hey, it's referential, but it's sort of gone through the other side to not really being funny anymore, because now it just sort of feels a bit vindictive, almost. It's more mockery for the sake of being an asshole than it is for the sake of humor. I understand why they're doing them, though. The first couple got more views than most of the videos they make that don't have Plinkett talking about Star Wars in them, and they kind of enjoy making them (or at least Mike does - and Rich mostly just gets blindsided by jokes Mike has set up while not letting him in on the punchline). And there's an active part of their fanbase that basically starts pestering them about when they're making the next one 30 seconds after the last one goes up (watch some of the PreRec live streams, you'll actually hear people bring it up in the chat, with Rich's usual answer being "Whenever Mike wants to do one"). I fully expect them to make at least a few more before they (or the audience) gets bored with it, but I'll probably just keep skipping them all. shadowsword87 posted... I mean, I'm still enjoying it because I like watching other people get made fun of >_> Ironically, and at risk of contradicting my usual persona, I've never really been a huge fan of that style of humor. I rarely find it all that funny when I'm watching something where it feels like someone is opening and maliciously making fun of someone very specific, or even just a particular type of person in general. A lot of times, if a particular comedy act, routine, or movie sort of boils down to "Hey, come and laugh at these people", it turns me off really, really fast. It's part of the reason why I loathed Dumb and Dumber when it came out (in spite of apparently being the only one). I don't mind as much if the mocking feels more playful or lighthearted, or seems like it's coming from a place of laughing "with" someone rather than "at" them, but when something feels meanspirited I don't find it funny as much as I just sort of see the person doing it as an asshole. I also feel like that sort of reaction has actually gotten stronger for me as I get older - I probably wouldn't have been as fussy about that sort of thing when I was younger, especially when I was more of an asshole myself. --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:877421466] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>Raganork10 posted...</cite> <quote>Y'know, I was kinda happy when RLM made the original Nerd Crew podcast episodes, but I was expecting it to last several episodes and then die off. They made their point already. Now they've made a fourth episode and it's beyond beating a dead horse at this point, and has crossed over into I'm not gonna watch this territory.</quote> I stopped watching them somewhere in the middle of the first one. I always sort of saw it as being a bit too petty and a little bitter, mixed with the sort of smug superiority that always sort of makes me want to punch someone's teeth in. It also doesn't really help that it feels like they're painting a very wide brush across segments of a cultural group that doesn't necessarily deserve it (ie, judging an entire type of genre fan by the worst stereotypes of the group). Which is kind of funny, because you'd think two huge Star Trek nerds would actually be kind of aware of that sort of thing. Hell, you could even throw Jay into that, because he's a huge horror fan, and that's another fanbase that tends to have a lot of negative stereotypes attached. It's basically a joke that was funny in the first couple minutes of the first one because, hey, it's referential, but it's sort of gone through the other side to not really being funny anymore, because now it just sort of feels a bit vindictive, almost. It's more mockery for the sake of being an asshole than it is for the sake of humor. I understand why they're doing them, though. The first couple got more views than most of the videos they make that don't have Plinkett talking about Star Wars in them, and they kind of enjoy making them (or at least Mike does - and Rich mostly just gets blindsided by jokes Mike has set up while not letting him in on the punchline). And there's an active part of their fanbase that basically starts pestering them about when they're making the next one 30 seconds after the last one goes up (watch some of the PreRec live streams, you'll actually hear people bring it up in the chat, with Rich's usual answer being "Whenever Mike wants to do one"). I fully expect them to make at least a few more before they (or the audience) gets bored with it, but I'll probably just keep skipping them all. <cite>shadowsword87 posted...</cite> <quote>I mean, I'm still enjoying it because I like watching other people get made fun of >_></quote> Ironically, and at risk of contradicting my usual persona, I've never really been a huge fan of that style of humor. I rarely find it all that funny when I'm watching something where it feels like someone is opening and maliciously making fun of someone very specific, or even just a particular type of person in general. A lot of times, if a particular comedy act, routine, or movie sort of boils down to "Hey, come and laugh at these people", it turns me off really, really fast. It's part of the reason why I loathed Dumb and Dumber when it came out (in spite of apparently being the only one). I don't mind as much if the mocking feels more playful or lighthearted, or seems like it's coming from a place of laughing "with" someone rather than "at" them, but when something feels meanspirited I don't find it funny as much as I just sort of see the person doing it as an asshole. I also feel like that sort of reaction has actually gotten stronger for me as I get older - I probably wouldn't have been as fussy about that sort of thing when I was younger, especially when I was more of an asshole myself. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 04/18/17 9:35:39 AM #152:	The Wave Master posted... I feel horrible for feeling the same way the writers do about Peter Parker. He isn't a happy character, he is a tragic character, he should suffer. Peter Parker is primarily driven by guilt. The guilt of loss and failure compel him. He can't and shouldn't have victory without first experiencing loss. That actually raises an interesting question, though. SHOULD it be that Peter has to suffer through loss to experience victory, or is it more the case that every moment of happiness or victory should immediately be followed by painful loss? Because I'd say the former can actually make for interesting characters, and is at the root of a lot of "hero's journey"-esque story arcs, but the latter is more the way people tend to write Peter. He is literally not allowed to be happy, ever. The stronger a given moment of joy, and the longer it lasts, the worse it's going to be when everything blows up in his face. And that can be kind of depressing. A character who suffers greatly but ultimately overcomes adversity is an interesting character. A character who is literally doomed to suffer eternally with no respite or hope of redemption or ultimate success is a character I don't really want to read about, ever. (And which may go a long way towards why I pretty much NEVER identified with or ever really liked Spider-Man even at the height of my comic obsession). I wouldn't even necessarily say that's a TRAGIC character, as tragic characters tend to have ultimately doomed endings, but usually aren't one long string of tantalizing success jerked away at the last moment, leaving a life of constant, nonstop boots to the gut. I might even say that interpretation of Spider-Man is FAR darker than even Batman at his very worst, because even in the bleakest versions of Batman where he's pretty much miserable his entire life from the moment his parents die until his own death, it's still really only one WHAM moment followed by the consequences of that moment. And often, Batman's way less bleak than that, because he's always had a lot of little lights in the greater darkness. Zeus posted... Flash's mom died and he doesn't mope the entire fucking time. To be fair, he did shatter the entire universe to try and save her. --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:877422115] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>The Wave Master posted...</cite> <quote>I feel horrible for feeling the same way the writers do about Peter Parker. He isn't a happy character, he is a tragic character, he should suffer. Peter Parker is primarily driven by guilt. The guilt of loss and failure compel him. He can't and shouldn't have victory without first experiencing loss.</quote> That actually raises an interesting question, though. SHOULD it be that Peter has to suffer through loss to experience victory, or is it more the case that every moment of happiness or victory should immediately be followed by painful loss? Because I'd say the former can actually make for interesting characters, and is at the root of a lot of "hero's journey"-esque story arcs, but the latter is more the way people tend to write Peter. He is literally not allowed to be happy, ever. The stronger a given moment of joy, and the longer it lasts, the worse it's going to be when everything blows up in his face. And that can be kind of depressing. A character who suffers greatly but ultimately overcomes adversity is an interesting character. A character who is literally doomed to suffer eternally with no respite or hope of redemption or ultimate success is a character I don't really want to read about, ever. (And which may go a long way towards why I pretty much NEVER identified with or ever really liked Spider-Man even at the height of my comic obsession). I wouldn't even necessarily say that's a TRAGIC character, as tragic characters tend to have ultimately doomed endings, but usually aren't one long string of tantalizing success jerked away at the last moment, leaving a life of constant, nonstop boots to the gut. I might even say that interpretation of Spider-Man is FAR darker than even Batman at his very worst, because even in the bleakest versions of Batman where he's pretty much miserable his entire life from the moment his parents die until his own death, it's still really only one WHAM moment followed by the consequences of that moment. And often, Batman's way less bleak than that, because he's always had a lot of little lights in the greater darkness. <cite>Zeus posted...</cite> <quote>Flash's mom died and he doesn't mope the entire fucking time.</quote> To be fair, he did shatter the entire universe to try and save her. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 04/18/17 10:09:54 AM #153:	Entity13 posted... In other news, I'm looking again at my main bookcase and wondering what I should get to fill some of the empty space in the first two shelves. I'm open to suggestions regarding authors whose surnames start with either letter A-G. Asimov's a given. Stephen R. Donaldson is my go-to #1 fantasy recommendation when I'm not recommending Roger Zelazny. Piers Anthony is pretty much fantasy with training wheels, while David Eddings is one step up from that before you graduate into actual, more robust writing. And there's always the Dark is Rising books by Susan Cooper, which is sort of like Harry Potter, except 20 years earlier and for literate people. Terry Brooks is an option if you want something Tolkien-esque but a bit lighter, though you may want to stick to the original Shannara trilogy and maybe the second series of four, and steer clear of the 30 or so blatant cash-in books he's written since then (on the other hand, you could always check out his Landover novels as well). The princess books by Jim Hines weren't terrible reading. Steven Brust is pretty popular as well. I've heard good things about Robert Asprin, though I've never read him myself outside of a couple of short story collections. Poul Anderson's more sci-fi, but I read a bunch of his stuff when I went through my long-ago time travel fiction phase. Marion Zimmer Bradley is kind of an acquired taste (and I think she's somewhat "love it or hate it"), but I have a soft-spot in my heart for the "Shadow's Gate" series, and Mists of Avalon is one of those keystone books in the fantasy genre. Jack Chalker is more sci-fi than fantasy, but he does blur the lines a bit. And I've always been a pretty big fan of his Four Lords of the Diamond series. And then there's always L. Sprague de Camp and Philip Jose Farmer, who are both older classic writers of the field, though their work might be a harder slog for people today. And that's mainly just what I either own and am looking at on my own fiction shelves now, or remember having read via my library. In retrospect, I think a sizeable chunk of my fantasy collection falls somewhere between A and G. The two major exceptions to that are Fred Saberhagen and Roger Zelazny. Oh, and Terry Prachett. shadowsword87 posted... Of course The Dresden Files byJim Butcher isn't... good writing. But it's good enjoyable trash. My literal first awareness of him was when one of my online friends years ago basically described his books to me as "Sort of like someone wrote shitty White Wolf fanfiction and somehow got it published." shadowsword87 posted... Man, I like a mostly scifi stuff, sorry fantasy isn't my thing. I tend to be the reverse, but here's an appropriate Twitter post from the previously-mentioned Steven Brust: "No belief in a distinction between science fiction and fantasy can withstand an encounter with Zelazny." shadowsword87 posted... I tried to read The Hero With a Thousand Faces, I couldn't get passed the love for Freud, in unashamed love for him. I'd say it's less Freud, and more that he has a pretty massive hard-on for Jung. Though Jung was Freud's protege, so a lot of Freud does tend to rub off on Jung (even if he went in radically different directions and they wound up influences radically different schools of thought). Interestingly enough, both are also relatively discredited in modern psychology, though Freud's influence is still hugely strong on layman pop psychology while Jung casts a huge shadow over a lot of New Age bullshit philosophy (and the pseudo-science Myers-Briggs test). . --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:877423577] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>Entity13 posted...</cite> <quote>In other news, I'm looking again at my main bookcase and wondering what I should get to fill some of the empty space in the first two shelves. I'm open to suggestions regarding authors whose surnames start with either letter A-G.</quote> Asimov's a given. Stephen R. Donaldson is my go-to #1 fantasy recommendation when I'm not recommending Roger Zelazny. Piers Anthony is pretty much fantasy with training wheels, while David Eddings is one step up from that before you graduate into actual, more robust writing. And there's always the Dark is Rising books by Susan Cooper, which is sort of like Harry Potter, except 20 years earlier and for literate people. Terry Brooks is an option if you want something Tolkien-esque but a bit lighter, though you may want to stick to the original Shannara trilogy and maybe the second series of four, and steer clear of the 30 or so blatant cash-in books he's written since then (on the other hand, you could always check out his Landover novels as well). The princess books by Jim Hines weren't terrible reading. Steven Brust is pretty popular as well. I've heard good things about Robert Asprin, though I've never read him myself outside of a couple of short story collections. Poul Anderson's more sci-fi, but I read a bunch of his stuff when I went through my long-ago time travel fiction phase. Marion Zimmer Bradley is kind of an acquired taste (and I think she's somewhat "love it or hate it"), but I have a soft-spot in my heart for the "Shadow's Gate" series, and Mists of Avalon is one of those keystone books in the fantasy genre. Jack Chalker is more sci-fi than fantasy, but he does blur the lines a bit. And I've always been a pretty big fan of his Four Lords of the Diamond series. And then there's always L. Sprague de Camp and Philip Jose Farmer, who are both older classic writers of the field, though their work might be a harder slog for people today. And that's mainly just what I either own and am looking at on my own fiction shelves now, or remember having read via my library. In retrospect, I think a sizeable chunk of my fantasy collection falls somewhere between A and G. The two major exceptions to that are Fred Saberhagen and Roger Zelazny. Oh, and Terry Prachett. <cite>shadowsword87 posted...</cite> <quote>Of course The Dresden Files byJim Butcher isn't... good writing. But it's good enjoyable trash.</quote> My literal first awareness of him was when one of my online friends years ago basically described his books to me as "Sort of like someone wrote shitty White Wolf fanfiction and somehow got it published." <cite>shadowsword87 posted...</cite> <quote>Man, I like a mostly scifi stuff, sorry fantasy isn't my thing.</quote> I tend to be the reverse, but here's an appropriate Twitter post from the previously-mentioned Steven Brust: "No belief in a distinction between science fiction and fantasy can withstand an encounter with Zelazny." <cite>shadowsword87 posted...</cite> <quote>I tried to read The Hero With a Thousand Faces, I couldn't get passed the love for Freud, in unashamed love for him.</quote> I'd say it's less Freud, and more that he has a pretty massive hard-on for Jung. Though Jung was Freud's protege, so a lot of Freud does tend to rub off on Jung (even if he went in radically different directions and they wound up influences radically different schools of thought). Interestingly enough, both are also relatively discredited in modern psychology, though Freud's influence is still hugely strong on layman pop psychology while Jung casts a huge shadow over a lot of New Age bullshit philosophy (and the pseudo-science Myers-Briggs test). .</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
The Wave Master 04/19/17 10:59:18 AM #154:	Well this make sense. Shady, shady, shady Nintendo. Hopefully there will be enough for everybody this time around. (Probably Not.) http://m.ign.com/articles/2017/04/19/nintendo-will-reportedly-release-snes-classic-edition-this-year --- We are who we choose to be. <cite>The Wave Master posted [p:877492452] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>Well this make sense. Shady, shady, shady Nintendo. Hopefully there will be enough for everybody this time around. (Probably Not.) http://m.ign.com/articles/2017/04/19/nintendo-will-reportedly-release-snes-classic-edition-this-year</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Entity13 04/19/17 2:45:29 PM #155:	The Wave Master posted... Well this make sense. Shady, shady, shady Nintendo. Hopefully there will be enough for everybody this time around. (Probably Not.) http://m.ign.com/articles/2017/04/19/nintendo-will-reportedly-release-snes-classic-edition-this-year Nintendo, not learning their lesson the first umpteen times they do something wrong? Surely you jest. --- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb179/EntityXIII/entityfn7.jpg <cite>Entity13 posted [p:877505848] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>The Wave Master posted...</cite> <quote>Well this make sense. Shady, shady, shady Nintendo. Hopefully there will be enough for everybody this time around. (Probably Not.) http://m.ign.com/articles/2017/04/19/nintendo-will-reportedly-release-snes-classic-edition-this-year</quote> Nintendo, not learning their lesson the first umpteen times they do something wrong? Surely you jest.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Zeus 04/19/17 7:13:42 PM #156:	I still have a SNES and quite a few games I owned for it (albeit I'm missing out on a few things I only rented, most notably Lufia 2 which wouldn't find its way into a collection here anyway), but I'm still likely to pick it up. --- (\/)(\/)\|-\| In Zeus We Trust: All Others Pay Cash <cite>Zeus posted [p:877522364] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>I still have a SNES and quite a few games I owned for it (albeit I'm missing out on a few things I only rented, most notably Lufia 2 which wouldn't find its way into a collection here anyway), but I'm still likely to pick it up.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
shadowsword87 04/19/17 7:54:27 PM #157:	Maybe this is the first time Mother 3 will be released in the US! <cite>shadowsword87 posted [p:877524763] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>Maybe this is the first time Mother 3 will be released in the US!</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
NightMareBunny 04/19/17 8:00:06 PM #158:	Squirrel Girl and the new warriors premieres on freeform next year --- PSN: VV_Argost XB1:GamerClawdeen WiiU: GothicNightmare <cite>NightMareBunny posted [p:877525102] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>Squirrel Girl and the new warriors premieres on freeform next year</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 04/20/17 1:43:29 PM #159:	The Wave Master posted... Well this make sense. Shady, shady, shady Nintendo. Hopefully there will be enough for everybody this time around. (Probably Not.) http://m.ign.com/articles/2017/04/19/nintendo-will-reportedly-release-snes-classic-edition-this-year In THEORY, if the sole reason they discontinued the NES Classic was because they underestimated demand and couldn't cancel production plans for the SNES to clear room for a second run, then it would be entirely possible for them to eventually re-release a new version of the NES Classic after the SNES run is done. That being said, I don't think that's the real reason, and I tend to think it's entirely spin-control on their part at this point, so I expect the SNES Classic to have a similarly limited run, and then neither of them getting an extension afterward. With a tepid "Well, you can still play all those games on a Switch's Virtual Console!" consolation insincerely offered afterwards. --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:877568087] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>The Wave Master posted...</cite> <quote>Well this make sense. Shady, shady, shady Nintendo. Hopefully there will be enough for everybody this time around. (Probably Not.) http://m.ign.com/articles/2017/04/19/nintendo-will-reportedly-release-snes-classic-edition-this-year</quote> In THEORY, if the sole reason they discontinued the NES Classic was because they underestimated demand and couldn't cancel production plans for the SNES to clear room for a second run, then it would be entirely possible for them to eventually re-release a new version of the NES Classic after the SNES run is done. That being said, I don't think that's the real reason, and I tend to think it's entirely spin-control on their part at this point, so I expect the SNES Classic to have a similarly limited run, and then neither of them getting an extension afterward. With a tepid "Well, you can still play all those games on a Switch's Virtual Console!" consolation insincerely offered afterwards. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Zeus 04/20/17 1:59:07 PM #160:	Knowing the demand for the first, I would assume they would supply more of the second or, at the very least, hold off on the next project for additional product runs of this. --- (\/)(\/)\|-\| In Zeus We Trust: All Others Pay Cash <cite>Zeus posted [p:877569061] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>Knowing the demand for the first, I would assume they would supply more of the second or, at the very least, hold off on the next project for additional product runs of this.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
knivesX2004 04/22/17 8:00:33 PM #161:	I haven't read anything in the last 2 topics due to persona 5. <cite>knivesX2004 posted [p:877708976] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>I haven't read anything in the last 2 topics due to persona 5.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Zeus 04/23/17 12:49:41 AM #162:	Finished reading a fantasy novel for the first time in years. I'm not sure what really grabbed me about in the first place but it was the kind of horrendously-written, generic pulp novels which one so often associates with the fantasy genre (and for which the genre is rightly derided). Of course, had I realized the novel (Dragon Weather, by Lawrence Watt-Evans) was part one of a trilogy, I hardly would have bothered. However, since the damn thing ends so abruptly, I'm half tempted to seek out the sequels. Granted, part of the reason I kept going might been that I wanted to look up a specific spoiler, read another ambiguous spoiler which suggested something that didn't occur, and thought that the novel was a great deal more than it was. Instead, it plays out like any number of other novels with an adventurous boy from a doomed hometown going after a cliche, totally evil almost for the sake of evil villain. Even at the end, there's very little characterization for the villain to imply any motive for many of his actions. He's never implied to take joy in sadism, but he frequently commits sadistic acts. He tries to accumulate power, but doesn't seem to have much enjoyment of it nor does his political clout benefit him much. There's generally no useful function behind his actions. --- (\/)(\/)\|-\| In Zeus We Trust: All Others Pay Cash <cite>Zeus posted [p:877723084] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>Finished reading a fantasy novel for the first time in years. I'm not sure what really grabbed me about in the first place but it was the kind of horrendously-written, generic pulp novels which one so often associates with the fantasy genre (and for which the genre is rightly derided). Of course, had I realized the novel (Dragon Weather, by Lawrence Watt-Evans) was part one of a trilogy, I hardly would have bothered. However, since the damn thing ends so abruptly, I'm half tempted to seek out the sequels. Granted, part of the reason I kept going might been that I wanted to look up a specific spoiler, read another ambiguous spoiler which suggested something that didn't occur, and thought that the novel was a great deal more than it was. Instead, it plays out like any number of other novels with an adventurous boy from a doomed hometown going after a cliche, totally evil almost for the sake of evil villain. Even at the end, there's very little characterization for the villain to imply any motive for many of his actions. He's never implied to take joy in sadism, but he frequently commits sadistic acts. He tries to accumulate power, but doesn't seem to have much enjoyment of it nor does his political clout benefit him much. There's generally no useful function behind his actions. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
shadowsword87 04/23/17 1:09:54 AM #163:	Zeus posted... I'm not sure what really grabbed me about in the first place but it was the kind of horrendously-written, generic pulp novels which one so often associates with the fantasy genre (and for which the genre is rightly derided). Better than what I've been reading, which have been boring ass non-fiction recently. Like I have a book on the history of alcohol in America from 1790 to 1840, and next I'm reading about the layout of shopping buildings and why people pick certain brands over other brands. Some good old Nazi-punching could be nice. <cite>shadowsword87 posted [p:877723979] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>Zeus posted...</cite> <quote>I'm not sure what really grabbed me about in the first place but it was the kind of horrendously-written, generic pulp novels which one so often associates with the fantasy genre (and for which the genre is rightly derided). </quote> Better than what I've been reading, which have been boring ass non-fiction recently. Like I have a book on the history of alcohol in America from 1790 to 1840, and next I'm reading about the layout of shopping buildings and why people pick certain brands over other brands. Some good old Nazi-punching could be nice.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
The Wave Master 04/23/17 10:03:59 AM #164:	I'm married. It was an interesting few days. Family made the experience terrible and great. Either way somehow it all got done, and I'm in bed with Scarlett listening to the rain. --- We are who we choose to be. <cite>The Wave Master posted [p:877737099] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>I'm married. It was an interesting few days. Family made the experience terrible and great. Either way somehow it all got done, and I'm in bed with Scarlett listening to the rain.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Zeus 04/23/17 3:19:17 PM #165:	shadowsword87 posted... Zeus posted... I'm not sure what really grabbed me about in the first place but it was the kind of horrendously-written, generic pulp novels which one so often associates with the fantasy genre (and for which the genre is rightly derided). Better than what I've been reading, which have been boring ass non-fiction recently. Like I have a book on the history of alcohol in America from 1790 to 1840, and next I'm reading about the layout of shopping buildings and why people pick certain brands over other brands. I've got a stack of non-fiction I want to get through, including a biography of Thomas Jefferson (no spoilers please!) and a sizable tome on the history of China. I also put down a book on consumerism and branding, which I can't seem to find anywhere. Then, of course, I have a copy of Stephen King's On Writing that I've meant to get back to. All of which I expect to be impeded by several horror anthologies currently in my possession, as well as a copy of Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories which I found while looking around for said book on consumerism. At any rate, if you find the non-fiction you're reading so dull, why are you reading it? =p The Wave Master posted... I'm married. It was an interesting few days. Family made the experience terrible and great. Either way somehow it all got done, and I'm in bed with Scarlett listening to the rain. Grats. --- (\/)(\/)\|-\| In Zeus We Trust: All Others Pay Cash <cite>Zeus posted [p:877751839] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>shadowsword87 posted...</cite> <quote><cite>Zeus posted...</cite> <quote>I'm not sure what really grabbed me about in the first place but it was the kind of horrendously-written, generic pulp novels which one so often associates with the fantasy genre (and for which the genre is rightly derided). </quote> Better than what I've been reading, which have been boring ass non-fiction recently. Like I have a book on the history of alcohol in America from 1790 to 1840, and next I'm reading about the layout of shopping buildings and why people pick certain brands over other brands. </quote> I've got a stack of non-fiction I want to get through, including a biography of Thomas Jefferson (no spoilers please!) and a sizable tome on the history of China. I also put down a book on consumerism and branding, which I can't seem to find anywhere. Then, of course, I have a copy of Stephen King's On Writing that I've meant to get back to. All of which I expect to be impeded by several horror anthologies currently in my possession, as well as a copy of Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories which I found while looking around for said book on consumerism. At any rate, if you find the non-fiction you're reading so dull, why are you reading it? =p <cite>The Wave Master posted...</cite> <quote>I'm married. It was an interesting few days. Family made the experience terrible and great. Either way somehow it all got done, and I'm in bed with Scarlett listening to the rain.</quote> Grats.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
shadowsword87 04/23/17 5:43:45 PM #166:	Zeus posted... At any rate, if you find the non-fiction you're reading so dull, why are you reading it? =p Those damn nuggets of wonderful pieces of information is more than woth it for all of the information about startup costs for distilleries. Not even for RPGs either, it's just fun to have a trove of weird Benjamin Franklin quotes. <cite>shadowsword87 posted [p:877760184] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>Zeus posted...</cite> <quote>At any rate, if you find the non-fiction you're reading so dull, why are you reading it? =p</quote> Those damn nuggets of wonderful pieces of information is more than woth it for all of the information about startup costs for distilleries. Not even for RPGs either, it's just fun to have a trove of weird Benjamin Franklin quotes.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 04/24/17 1:38:29 PM #167:	shadowsword87 posted... Not even for RPGs either The funniest part is, for every overly obsessive GM reading Wiki articles or history books or whatever for little details and ideas to weave into their next campaign or to improve the "realism" of their fantasy setting, there are a dozen players who simply do not give a single fuck and likely won't even notice. As much as I'm the sort of player who spends a week making a character and working that sort of detail into backstories (mainly because I read too much history as-is just for my own amusement/interest), nearly everyone else I've ever played with was perfectly content to just go for the occasional pop-culture reference or "Hollywood History" level of info and couldn't care less how anachronistic or inaccurate their character or setting was. As much as I love in-depth, meaty history (I just finished reading a book about 11th century Europe and will probably start a book about the Byzantine Empire next), I'm the first to suggest people shouldn't force themselves to read those sorts of things if they don't enjoy them. Everybody has different interests - and the person reading books about Ancient Egypt or the Crusades or (like me) aren't really superior to someone who reads a ton of historical biographies (like my best friend does), or someone who really gets into the nitty-gritty of historical socioeconomics (which bores me), or even someone who just sits down and reads a book of quotes (something I've been known to do) or something like the Devil's Dictionary. Most reading has inherent value, and pretty much any knowledge gained thereby or even just general life experience can help make for better RPing. I've played characters that took a week of research and writing to make, and I've run scenes referencing (ie, stealing) ideas from FFIV and Time Bandits. Creativity can be found pretty much everywhere. --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:877808001] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>shadowsword87 posted...</cite> <quote>Not even for RPGs either</quote> The funniest part is, for every overly obsessive GM reading Wiki articles or history books or whatever for little details and ideas to weave into their next campaign or to improve the "realism" of their fantasy setting, there are a dozen players who simply do not give a single fuck and likely won't even notice. As much as I'm the sort of player who spends a week making a character and working that sort of detail into backstories (mainly because I read too much history as-is just for my own amusement/interest), nearly everyone else I've ever played with was perfectly content to just go for the occasional pop-culture reference or "Hollywood History" level of info and couldn't care less how anachronistic or inaccurate their character or setting was. As much as I love in-depth, meaty history (I just finished reading a book about 11th century Europe and will probably start a book about the Byzantine Empire next), I'm the first to suggest people shouldn't force themselves to read those sorts of things if they don't enjoy them. Everybody has different interests - and the person reading books about Ancient Egypt or the Crusades or (like me) aren't really superior to someone who reads a ton of historical biographies (like my best friend does), or someone who really gets into the nitty-gritty of historical socioeconomics (which bores me), or even someone who just sits down and reads a book of quotes (something I've been known to do) or something like the Devil's Dictionary. Most reading has inherent value, and pretty much any knowledge gained thereby or even just general life experience can help make for better RPing. I've played characters that took a week of research and writing to make, and I've run scenes referencing (ie, stealing) ideas from FFIV and Time Bandits. Creativity can be found pretty much everywhere. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Zeus 04/24/17 9:59:47 PM #168:	ParanoidObsessive posted... The funniest part is, for every overly obsessive GM reading Wiki articles or history books or whatever for little details and ideas to weave into their next campaign or to improve the "realism" of their fantasy setting, there are a dozen players who simply do not give a single fuck and likely won't even notice. Which is also something that most film-goers and gamers don't appreciate either. A few months back, I got into watching a lot of Scholaglatoria, Shadiversity, LindyBeige, etc, videos which pick apart the issues with historical accuracy and just basic logic concerning fantasy, historical works, etc. Many of the issues noted were things I hadn't even thought about prior to the videos, such as the stupidity of not having a drawbridge and only on a single, large wooden gate to keep out invaders. ParanoidObsessive posted... Most reading has inherent value, tbh, the thing I worry about is that reading pulp novels will actually decrease my literacy, given that many are incredibly poorly written. As a kid, I read tons of poorly written fantasy novels -- including a lot of D&D ones -- which gave me some poor writing habits. --- (\/)(\/)\|-\| In Zeus We Trust: All Others Pay Cash <cite>Zeus posted [p:877838165] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>ParanoidObsessive posted...</cite> <quote>The funniest part is, for every overly obsessive GM reading Wiki articles or history books or whatever for little details and ideas to weave into their next campaign or to improve the "realism" of their fantasy setting, there are a dozen players who simply do not give a single fuck and likely won't even notice.</quote> Which is also something that most film-goers and gamers don't appreciate either. A few months back, I got into watching a lot of Scholaglatoria, Shadiversity, LindyBeige, etc, videos which pick apart the issues with historical accuracy and just basic logic concerning fantasy, historical works, etc. Many of the issues noted were things I hadn't even thought about prior to the videos, such as the stupidity of not having a drawbridge and only on a single, large wooden gate to keep out invaders. <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted...</cite> <quote>Most reading has inherent value,</quote> tbh, the thing I worry about is that reading pulp novels will actually decrease my literacy, given that many are incredibly poorly written. As a kid, I read tons of poorly written fantasy novels -- including a lot of D&D ones -- which gave me some poor writing habits.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 04/25/17 9:25:57 AM #169:	Zeus posted... tbh, the thing I worry about is that reading pulp novels will actually decrease my literacy, given that many are incredibly poorly written. As a kid, I read tons of poorly written fantasy novels -- including a lot of D&D ones -- which gave me some poor writing habits. Well, I was mostly referring to non-fiction reading or good fiction. I AM the person who's railed in the past about what I refer to as the Unholy Trinity - aka, the writers who basically became ultra-popular for churning out shit-dreck work that the masses lap up because its easy for the borderline illiterate to read books that are only borderline literature. A lot of people always call out that "genre trash" adaptations are bad (ie, video game and RPG novels), but that almost goes without saying, and most people know going in that it's garbage (which is why the main audience for most of it is teenagers). I find stuff far worse when it appeals to a larger, older audience who actually think they're reading "literature", when they're essentially reading bad fan fiction or work deliberately calculated to appeal to people who don't actually like reading coughDan Browncough. That being said, even reading crap genre trash or pulp stuff is still better than not reading anything, and doubly so if it eventually acts as a gateway into deeper reading. I know I'm not the ideal example, but I know I basically started out reading comic books and Choose Your Own Adventure books, and segued into fantasy and sci-fi novels before eventually picking up the habit of reading straight-up classic literature and history (ie, all the stuff they try to force you to read in high school and college, I know willingly read for pleasure as an adult). So much so that I don't actually read as much of the "lighter" stuff as I used to... though I still do as well (I basically just read Joe Abercrombie's Before They Are Hanged after finishing a book about the formation of Western culture in Europe circa the 11th century and before starting a book about the Byzantine Empire). As for writing and RPing, even terrible novels can help make you better at writing - even if just by providing you good examples of what NOT to do. Sure, someone who reads nothing BUT pulp crap may not be able to see the weaknesses in the work, but someone who reads that AND other works broadens their experience and gets a much better view of how things work narratively. It's one of the reasons why the best writers always say that, if you want to become a writer, you should read as much as you can, across as many different subjects as possible. And why it's always the worst writers who say they go out of their way to NOT read other books, to keep their work from being influenced by other writers. A good writer WANTS to be influenced by other writers. Preferably as many other great writers as you possibly can. "Creativity is hiding your sources". --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:877860225] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>Zeus posted...</cite> <quote>tbh, the thing I worry about is that reading pulp novels will actually decrease my literacy, given that many are incredibly poorly written. As a kid, I read tons of poorly written fantasy novels -- including a lot of D&D ones -- which gave me some poor writing habits.</quote> Well, I was mostly referring to non-fiction reading or good fiction. I AM the person who's railed in the past about what I refer to as the Unholy Trinity - aka, the writers who basically became ultra-popular for churning out shit-dreck work that the masses lap up because its easy for the borderline illiterate to read books that are only borderline literature. A lot of people always call out that "genre trash" adaptations are bad (ie, video game and RPG novels), but that almost goes without saying, and most people know going in that it's garbage (which is why the main audience for most of it is teenagers). I find stuff far worse when it appeals to a larger, older audience who actually think they're reading "literature", when they're essentially reading bad fan fiction or work deliberately calculated to appeal to people who don't actually like reading coughDan Browncough. That being said, even reading crap genre trash or pulp stuff is still better than not reading anything, and doubly so if it eventually acts as a gateway into deeper reading. I know I'm not the ideal example, but I know I basically started out reading comic books and Choose Your Own Adventure books, and segued into fantasy and sci-fi novels before eventually picking up the habit of reading straight-up classic literature and history (ie, all the stuff they try to force you to read in high school and college, I know willingly read for pleasure as an adult). So much so that I don't actually read as much of the "lighter" stuff as I used to... though I still do as well (I basically just read Joe Abercrombie's Before They Are Hanged after finishing a book about the formation of Western culture in Europe circa the 11th century and before starting a book about the Byzantine Empire). As for writing and RPing, even terrible novels can help make you better at writing - even if just by providing you good examples of what NOT to do. Sure, someone who reads nothing BUT pulp crap may not be able to see the weaknesses in the work, but someone who reads that AND other works broadens their experience and gets a much better view of how things work narratively. It's one of the reasons why the best writers always say that, if you want to become a writer, you should read as much as you can, across as many different subjects as possible. And why it's always the worst writers who say they go out of their way to NOT read other books, to keep their work from being influenced by other writers. A good writer WANTS to be influenced by other writers. Preferably as many other great writers as you possibly can. "Creativity is hiding your sources". </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
The Wave Master 04/26/17 12:26:32 AM #170:	I did manage to snag a NES Classic Edition, on my stay at home because I'm broke, Honeymoon. Bank Robber is a manager at Best Buy and he told me anout the final shipment coming in on Monday. So, the wife and I got up early, stood in line, and got one. It is now hooked up in my bedroom and she kicked my ass in Dr. Mario. I also suck at Mario 3 now, but not at Double Dragon II. So, I see it as a push. --- We are who we choose to be. <cite>The Wave Master posted [p:877914013] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>I did manage to snag a NES Classic Edition, on my stay at home because I'm broke, Honeymoon. Bank Robber is a manager at Best Buy and he told me anout the final shipment coming in on Monday. So, the wife and I got up early, stood in line, and got one. It is now hooked up in my bedroom and she kicked my ass in Dr. Mario. I also suck at Mario 3 now, but not at Double Dragon II. So, I see it as a push.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
shadowsword87 04/27/17 11:13:24 AM #171:	Oh PO, I was wondering what sort of book you can give me a recommendation for a book on the ancient China side of things. More specifically I was listening to a podcast about ancient China and the guy passively mentioned that there were texts written during ancient China talking about people who weren't actually settled into civilization, and I was curious if you knew any books like that. <cite>shadowsword87 posted [p:878002850] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>Oh PO, I was wondering what sort of book you can give me a recommendation for a book on the ancient China side of things. More specifically I was listening to a podcast about ancient China and the guy passively mentioned that there were texts written during ancient China talking about people who weren't actually settled into civilization, and I was curious if you knew any books like that.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 04/27/17 11:38:48 AM #172:	No idea. While I went through a bit of a weeaboo phase in my younger years, I mostly focused on Japan more than anything - I've never been all that overly interested in China (and most other Asian nations even less). All I could recommend to you would be the obvious "classics" - Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin/Suikoden, and Journey to the West. Those are pretty much the only Sino-centric books I've read (apart from a semi-related biography of Genghis Khan). Well, no, there were also a couple books on philosophy and mythology from a class I took in college, but none of that really addresses what you seem to be looking for, though. There's also always stuff like GURPS China, but that's basic in the extreme, and probably wouldn't help you much. All I can really do is recommend you go look at Wikipedia articles about Shang/Zhou/Chin era China and see if any of them touch on what you're looking for, then see if they offer any references or external links to the subject. That's probably the time period you're looking for (unless you're more interested in the "barbarians" on the fringes of Han, some of whom show up in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which happens later). --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:878004287] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>No idea. While I went through a bit of a weeaboo phase in my younger years, I mostly focused on Japan more than anything - I've never been all that overly interested in China (and most other Asian nations even less). All I could recommend to you would be the obvious "classics" - Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin/Suikoden, and Journey to the West. Those are pretty much the only Sino-centric books I've read (apart from a semi-related biography of Genghis Khan). Well, no, there were also a couple books on philosophy and mythology from a class I took in college, but none of that really addresses what you seem to be looking for, though. There's also always stuff like GURPS China, but that's basic in the extreme, and probably wouldn't help you much. All I can really do is recommend you go look at Wikipedia articles about Shang/Zhou/Chin era China and see if any of them touch on what you're looking for, then see if they offer any references or external links to the subject. That's probably the time period you're looking for (unless you're more interested in the "barbarians" on the fringes of Han, some of whom show up in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which happens later). </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
The Wave Master 04/27/17 3:18:50 PM #173:	See, this is why I don't support any damn thing on Kickstarter. There is NO GUARANTEE, I repeat, NO GUARANTEE, that you will ever see a finished product or a return on investment. http://kotaku.com/games-like-project-phoenix-ruin-kickstarter-for-everyon-1794668083 --- We are who we choose to be. <cite>The Wave Master posted [p:878017724] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>See, this is why I don't support any damn thing on Kickstarter. There is NO GUARANTEE, I repeat, NO GUARANTEE, that you will ever see a finished product or a return on investment. http://kotaku.com/games-like-project-phoenix-ruin-kickstarter-for-everyon-1794668083</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 04/27/17 7:39:11 PM #174:	I don't support anything on Kickstarter because there are always tons of other people who will throw their money at anything worth supporting anyway. And because even the products that succeed tend to be crap anyway. Pandering to amateur venture capitalists with a massive nostalgia boner isn't really a recipe for quality. --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:878034122] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>I don't support anything on Kickstarter because there are always tons of other people who will throw their money at anything worth supporting anyway. And because even the products that succeed tend to be crap anyway. Pandering to amateur venture capitalists with a massive nostalgia boner isn't really a recipe for quality. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Zeus 04/27/17 8:24:22 PM #175:	ParanoidObsessive posted... I don't support anything on Kickstarter because there are always tons of other people who will throw their money at anything worth supporting anyway. This. --- (\/)(\/)\|-\| In Zeus We Trust: All Others Pay Cash <cite>Zeus posted [p:878037070] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>ParanoidObsessive posted...</cite> <quote>I don't support anything on Kickstarter because there are always tons of other people who will throw their money at anything worth supporting anyway.</quote> This.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
shadowsword87 04/27/17 10:31:20 PM #176:	ParanoidObsessive posted... I don't support anything on Kickstarter because there are always tons of other people who will throw their money at anything worth supporting anyway. And because even the products that succeed tend to be crap anyway. Pandering to amateur venture capitalists with a massive nostalgia boner isn't really a recipe for quality. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/507486226/eclipse-phase-second-edition I mean... there's this going on right now. <cite>shadowsword87 posted [p:878046162] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>ParanoidObsessive posted...</cite> <quote>I don't support anything on Kickstarter because there are always tons of other people who will throw their money at anything worth supporting anyway. And because even the products that succeed tend to be crap anyway. Pandering to amateur venture capitalists with a massive nostalgia boner isn't really a recipe for quality.</quote> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/507486226/eclipse-phase-second-edition I mean... there's this going on right now.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
WhiskeyDisk 04/27/17 11:52:23 PM #177:	shadowsword87 posted... ParanoidObsessive posted... I don't support anything on Kickstarter because there are always tons of other people who will throw their money at anything worth supporting anyway. And because even the products that succeed tend to be crap anyway. Pandering to amateur venture capitalists with a massive nostalgia boner isn't really a recipe for quality. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/507486226/eclipse-phase-second-edition I mean... there's this going on right now. I still have high hopes for Bloodstained even if it's only to see what Iga really wanted to do with Symphony of the Night. --- http://i.imgur.com/4fmtLFt.gif http://s1.zetaboards.com/sba/ ~there's always free cheese in a mousetrap. <cite>WhiskeyDisk posted [p:878051601] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>shadowsword87 posted...</cite> <quote><cite>ParanoidObsessive posted...</cite> <quote>I don't support anything on Kickstarter because there are always tons of other people who will throw their money at anything worth supporting anyway. And because even the products that succeed tend to be crap anyway. Pandering to amateur venture capitalists with a massive nostalgia boner isn't really a recipe for quality.</quote> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/507486226/eclipse-phase-second-edition I mean... there's this going on right now.</quote> I still have high hopes for Bloodstained even if it's only to see what Iga really wanted to do with Symphony of the Night.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 04/28/17 11:47:00 AM #178:	shadowsword87 posted... I mean... there's this going on right now. Can I donate negative money? --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:878076360] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>shadowsword87 posted...</cite> <quote>I mean... there's this going on right now.</quote> Can I donate negative money? </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
shadowsword87 04/28/17 8:19:29 PM #179:	Oh, PO, I was wondering if you could help with another book suggestion then, Indian culture. Just the basics though, because I'm white, and more importantly, American. Just sort of a jumping off point. Mythology, cultural dynamics, ancient history, and so on. Not for RPGs, so you don't need to suggest GURPS, this is just because I know nothing about it, because of the whole White American boy thing. <cite>shadowsword87 posted [p:878106698] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>Oh, PO, I was wondering if you could help with another book suggestion then, Indian culture. Just the basics though, because I'm white, and more importantly, American. Just sort of a jumping off point. Mythology, cultural dynamics, ancient history, and so on. Not for RPGs, so you don't need to suggest GURPS, this is just because I know nothing about it, because of the whole White American boy thing.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 04/28/17 9:34:46 PM #180:	shadowsword87 posted... Oh, PO, I was wondering if you could help with another book suggestion then, Indian culture. Just the basics though, because I'm white, and more importantly, American. Just sort of a jumping off point. Well, first question here is, by "Indian", do you mean the less PC way to say "Native American", or someone who is literally from India? I'll assume the latter because you're a damned young'un, and didn't grow up in an era when the former was way more common. Ironically enough, I've probably read even less about India than I have China. I have precisely one book about it (more specifically, this one: http://www.amazon.com/Sourcebook-Indian-Philosophy-Sarvepalli-Radhakrishnan/dp/0691019584 ), from the same class I took in college that I mentioned earlier (and on the subject, here was the other book from that class: http://www.amazon.com/Source-Book-Chinese-Philosophy/dp/0691019649 ). I wouldn't necessarily recommend either of those books, though, because while it's been about 20 years since I've read either of them, and my impression of them then might be biased because they were required reading, but I remember them being fairly dry and not particularly interesting. If you're coming into the subject with almost no knowledge whatsoever and are basically looking for a complete intro-primer sort of deal, you're almost better off just reading Wikipedia (despite how much people whine about it not being a valid source or how anyone can edit it so apparently everything in it must automatically be totally wrong all of the time). History articles there are usually written for the layperson, and can give a general awareness of the overview, which can then be used to investigate in more detail later (for instance, reading a Wiki article about the history of India could lead to the part about the Mughal Empire catching your eye, which in turn sends you to the article about that, which in turn could inspire you to start looking for books on Amazon about the Taj Mahal or Tamerlane or whatever). shadowsword87 posted... Not for RPGs, so you don't need to suggest GURPS I was actually suggesting GURPS earlier because, at least when it comes to their setting sourcebooks, they're basically a very simplistic "History for Dummies" style summary of whatever location/time period they're referencing. You don't necessarily need to intend to use the information for roleplaying purposes to learn actual factual historical info out of, say, GURPS Imperial Rome or GURPS China or GURPS Russia. Most of those are actually pretty interesting if you're a layperson with limited knowledge of the time/area. Then, in theory, you could use what you learn there to expand your search. So, for instance, reading GURPS Russia might lead you to be really interested in the Time of Troubles, so you might go out of your way to track down a book on that specific period. Or you might narrow your search to Romanov-era Czarist Russia, or maybe look for a biography on Catherine, or so on. Sadly, there IS no GURPS India, though - supposedly it was actually in development at one point, but for whatever reason it never managed to get published. (Honestly, about 90% of the reason why I bought the GURPS setting books myself was more for the history than because I wanted to use them for RP. I've also bought a number of "History for Dummies" style books for the same reason - they give a nice, basic overview of the topic. Then you can dig down into the meatier stuff yourself, like how I have "Medieval History for Dummies" but then also have multiple books specifically talking about "The Birth of the West", the Wars of the Roses, the Holy Roman Empire, and so on). --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:878111451] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>shadowsword87 posted...</cite> <quote>Oh, PO, I was wondering if you could help with another book suggestion then, Indian culture. Just the basics though, because I'm white, and more importantly, American. Just sort of a jumping off point.</quote> Well, first question here is, by "Indian", do you mean the less PC way to say "Native American", or someone who is literally from India? I'll assume the latter because you're a damned young'un, and didn't grow up in an era when the former was way more common. Ironically enough, I've probably read even less about India than I have China. I have precisely one book about it (more specifically, this one: http://www.amazon.com/Sourcebook-Indian-Philosophy-Sarvepalli-Radhakrishnan/dp/0691019584 ), from the same class I took in college that I mentioned earlier (and on the subject, here was the other book from that class: http://www.amazon.com/Source-Book-Chinese-Philosophy/dp/0691019649 ). I wouldn't necessarily recommend either of those books, though, because while it's been about 20 years since I've read either of them, and my impression of them then might be biased because they were required reading, but I remember them being fairly dry and not particularly interesting. If you're coming into the subject with almost no knowledge whatsoever and are basically looking for a complete intro-primer sort of deal, you're almost better off just reading Wikipedia (despite how much people whine about it not being a valid source or how anyone can edit it so apparently everything in it must automatically be totally wrong all of the time). History articles there are usually written for the layperson, and can give a general awareness of the overview, which can then be used to investigate in more detail later (for instance, reading a Wiki article about the history of India could lead to the part about the Mughal Empire catching your eye, which in turn sends you to the article about that, which in turn could inspire you to start looking for books on Amazon about the Taj Mahal or Tamerlane or whatever). <cite>shadowsword87 posted...</cite> <quote>Not for RPGs, so you don't need to suggest GURPS</quote> I was actually suggesting GURPS earlier because, at least when it comes to their setting sourcebooks, they're basically a very simplistic "History for Dummies" style summary of whatever location/time period they're referencing. You don't necessarily need to intend to use the information for roleplaying purposes to learn actual factual historical info out of, say, GURPS Imperial Rome or GURPS China or GURPS Russia. Most of those are actually pretty interesting if you're a layperson with limited knowledge of the time/area. Then, in theory, you could use what you learn there to expand your search. So, for instance, reading GURPS Russia might lead you to be really interested in the Time of Troubles, so you might go out of your way to track down a book on that specific period. Or you might narrow your search to Romanov-era Czarist Russia, or maybe look for a biography on Catherine, or so on. Sadly, there IS no GURPS India, though - supposedly it was actually in development at one point, but for whatever reason it never managed to get published. (Honestly, about 90% of the reason why I bought the GURPS setting books myself was more for the history than because I wanted to use them for RP. I've also bought a number of "History for Dummies" style books for the same reason - they give a nice, basic overview of the topic. Then you can dig down into the meatier stuff yourself, like how I have "Medieval History for Dummies" but then also have multiple books specifically talking about "The Birth of the West", the Wars of the Roses, the Holy Roman Empire, and so on). </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 04/28/17 9:46:06 PM #181:	One other thing to keep in mind about India - it's BIG. While the fact that it's a single country tends to lead people to think about it in historical terms similar to other nations, it's probably a lot more accurate to think of it more as a patchwork of preexisting nation states welded together into a single larger whole. It's part of why they actually speak multiple different "Indian" languages (which is part of why they kept English as the official language even after throwing the British out - it was the only way some of those different groups could talk to each other at all). So when you're looking back into history, there are multiple different kingdoms and empires that would occasionally exist simultaneously, occasionally fighting, and occasionally absorbing each other or breaking apart into smaller pieces. Which also means that, when you're looking into modern Indian culture, there's a lot of little (and not so little) differences rooted in precisely which part of the country you're talking about. Whether you're looking at people from Mumbai, or Hyderabad, or Bengal, you're going to be looking at different types of people (and even more so if you're comparing urban and rural areas). The best metaphor to think of it as might be to think about how the EU is sort of a patchwork of culturally diverse groups - just imagine each different region of India like one of the nations in the EU (rather than, say, states in the US). --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:878112088] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>One other thing to keep in mind about India - it's BIG. While the fact that it's a single country tends to lead people to think about it in historical terms similar to other nations, it's probably a lot more accurate to think of it more as a patchwork of preexisting nation states welded together into a single larger whole. It's part of why they actually speak multiple different "Indian" languages (which is part of why they kept English as the official language even after throwing the British out - it was the only way some of those different groups could talk to each other at all). So when you're looking back into history, there are multiple different kingdoms and empires that would occasionally exist simultaneously, occasionally fighting, and occasionally absorbing each other or breaking apart into smaller pieces. Which also means that, when you're looking into modern Indian culture, there's a lot of little (and not so little) differences rooted in precisely which part of the country you're talking about. Whether you're looking at people from Mumbai, or Hyderabad, or Bengal, you're going to be looking at different types of people (and even more so if you're comparing urban and rural areas). The best metaphor to think of it as might be to think about how the EU is sort of a patchwork of culturally diverse groups - just imagine each different region of India like one of the nations in the EU (rather than, say, states in the US). </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Metalsonic66 04/30/17 9:06:01 AM #182:	WhiskeyDisk posted... I still have high hopes for Bloodstained even if it's only to see what Iga really wanted to do with Symphony of the Night. At least Shovel Knight was great. --- PSN/Steam ID: Metalsonic_69 Big bombs go kabang. <cite>Metalsonic66 posted [p:878189394] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>WhiskeyDisk posted...</cite> <quote>I still have high hopes for Bloodstained even if it's only to see what Iga really wanted to do with Symphony of the Night. </quote> At least Shovel Knight was great.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Zeus 04/30/17 10:16:38 PM #183:	Was glancing at a copy of the Ouran HS Host Club manga today and, as much as I enjoyed the anime, it reminded me how much I hate the shojo style. It's the same general art style that made Ghost Hunt unreadable for me, which is annoying because I liked that anime as well and it only ran one season. --- (\/)(\/)\|-\| In Zeus We Trust: All Others Pay Cash <cite>Zeus posted [p:878231147] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>Was glancing at a copy of the Ouran HS Host Club manga today and, as much as I enjoyed the anime, it reminded me how much I hate the shojo style. It's the same general art style that made Ghost Hunt unreadable for me, which is annoying because I liked that anime as well and it only ran one season.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 05/02/17 2:05:48 PM #184:	Bumping for safety. Saw a video on YouTube the other day from Looper, with the title "16 Upcoming DC Movies That Are Going to Blow Everyone Away". Only the title got cut down because it was too long, so it read "16 Upcoming DC Movies That Are Going to Blow" instead. Based on everything we've already seen and from things people have said about the movies that aren't released yet, I feel like the shorter title is going to be the more accurate one by far. Serendipity! I was kind of floored that DC apparently has 16 movies planned, though. I mean, I know they want to mimic Marvel (and are doing a piss-poor job of it), but I didn't realize they were so far down that particular rabbit hole. --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:878335497] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>Bumping for safety. Saw a video on YouTube the other day from Looper, with the title "16 Upcoming DC Movies That Are Going to Blow Everyone Away". Only the title got cut down because it was too long, so it read "16 Upcoming DC Movies That Are Going to Blow" instead. Based on everything we've already seen and from things people have said about the movies that aren't released yet, I feel like the shorter title is going to be the more accurate one by far. Serendipity! I was kind of floored that DC apparently has 16 movies planned, though. I mean, I know they want to mimic Marvel (and are doing a piss-poor job of it), but I didn't realize they were so far down that particular rabbit hole. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
The Wave Master 05/02/17 6:59:24 PM #185:	I really enjoyed the first episode of American Gods last night. Really good stuff f and future appointment television. I haven't read the Gaiman novel in years, but there are a lot of familiar beats and fantastic themes. Plus o got to see a lady swallow a guy whole with her lady parts. Not a bad hour of television. --- We are who we choose to be. <cite>The Wave Master posted [p:878353579] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>I really enjoyed the first episode of American Gods last night. Really good stuff f and future appointment television. I haven't read the Gaiman novel in years, but there are a lot of familiar beats and fantastic themes. Plus o got to see a lady swallow a guy whole with her lady parts. Not a bad hour of television.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
WhiskeyDisk 05/02/17 8:23:53 PM #186:	The Wave Master posted... I really enjoyed the first episode of American Gods last night. Really good stuff f and future appointment television. I haven't read the Gaiman novel in years, but there are a lot of familiar beats and fantastic themes. Plus o got to see a lady swallow a guy whole with her lady parts. Not a bad hour of television. yeah between Lucifer and American Gods, it gives me hope that we may someday see a live-action Sandman project of some kind. i know Gaiman has been shopping one around, but its been in development hell since the 90's. its strange to me that at this point he's more or less gotten everything he's written that wasn't a short story made into a show or a movie except Sandman. not sure if its a DC rights issue or the sheer difficulty budget-wise of doing a live action Sandman. i mean Lucifer as-written is nearly unfilmable on a network budget, so i can see why its been changed so heavily for the show but i'm pretty surprised at how close to the source material American Gods has been so far. --- http://i.imgur.com/4fmtLFt.gif http://s1.zetaboards.com/sba/ ~there's always free cheese in a mousetrap. <cite>WhiskeyDisk posted [p:878358822] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>The Wave Master posted...</cite> <quote>I really enjoyed the first episode of American Gods last night. Really good stuff f and future appointment television. I haven't read the Gaiman novel in years, but there are a lot of familiar beats and fantastic themes. Plus o got to see a lady swallow a guy whole with her lady parts. Not a bad hour of television.</quote> yeah between Lucifer and American Gods, it gives me hope that we may someday see a live-action Sandman project of some kind. i know Gaiman has been shopping one around, but its been in development hell since the 90's. its strange to me that at this point he's more or less gotten everything he's written that wasn't a short story made into a show or a movie except Sandman. not sure if its a DC rights issue or the sheer difficulty budget-wise of doing a live action Sandman. i mean Lucifer as-written is nearly unfilmable on a network budget, so i can see why its been changed so heavily for the show but i'm pretty surprised at how close to the source material American Gods has been so far.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 05/02/17 8:53:29 PM #187:	WhiskeyDisk posted... its strange to me that at this point he's more or less gotten everything he's written that wasn't a short story made into a show or a movie except Sandman. not sure if its a DC rights issue or the sheer difficulty budget-wise of doing a live action Sandman. My assumption would be a rights issue - technically, while at least some Vertigo titles were explicitly creator-owned, it seems like DC has free rein over the Sandman rights (at least in the sense that multiple Sandman characters have shown up in other, mainstream DC comics without Gaiman being directly involved). And if DC has the rights, they would also have right-of-refusal on anyone other than Warner Bros. doing a Sandman movie or TV show. Which would mean if Warner Bros doesn't want to do it, it isn't getting done, period. That being said, DC's already demonstrated a willingness to go "out-of-house" for TV shows (or, at the very least, to handle them as co-productions with other companies) with shows like Gotham and Lucifer, so there's at least the possibility that a deal could get done eventually if they find an outside studio willing to work with them (or just do it all in-house if they prefer), but I suspect the real sticking point is that the execs don't really see it as a viable property. Like it or not, Sandman tends to appeal to a very specific sort of audience, and that audience really doesn't fit into the mainstream demo studios are usually courting (the middling response to Stardust probably only reinforces that idea, since it's probably the Gaiman work that feels closest to the tone of Sandman). The other problem might be that the execs DO think it can appeal to a mainstream audience... only with a number of tweaks and changes that Gaiman is unwilling to let them do to his baby. I could easily see the higher ups wanting to turn it into a more traditional super-hero story or tying it in to the Justice League or whatever. But honestly, if DC didn't manage to capitalize on the success of Harry Potter by pushing a Books of Magic show/movie, and if they couldn't get Fables off the ground (regardless of Disney blatantly stealing the idea for Once Upon a Time) I feel like Sandman's pretty much fucked. --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:878360787] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>WhiskeyDisk posted...</cite> <quote>its strange to me that at this point he's more or less gotten everything he's written that wasn't a short story made into a show or a movie except Sandman. not sure if its a DC rights issue or the sheer difficulty budget-wise of doing a live action Sandman.</quote> My assumption would be a rights issue - technically, while at least some Vertigo titles were explicitly creator-owned, it seems like DC has free rein over the Sandman rights (at least in the sense that multiple Sandman characters have shown up in other, mainstream DC comics without Gaiman being directly involved). And if DC has the rights, they would also have right-of-refusal on anyone other than Warner Bros. doing a Sandman movie or TV show. Which would mean if Warner Bros doesn't want to do it, it isn't getting done, period. That being said, DC's already demonstrated a willingness to go "out-of-house" for TV shows (or, at the very least, to handle them as co-productions with other companies) with shows like Gotham and Lucifer, so there's at least the possibility that a deal could get done eventually if they find an outside studio willing to work with them (or just do it all in-house if they prefer), but I suspect the real sticking point is that the execs don't really see it as a viable property. Like it or not, Sandman tends to appeal to a very specific sort of audience, and that audience really doesn't fit into the mainstream demo studios are usually courting (the middling response to Stardust probably only reinforces that idea, since it's probably the Gaiman work that feels closest to the tone of Sandman). The other problem might be that the execs DO think it can appeal to a mainstream audience... only with a number of tweaks and changes that Gaiman is unwilling to let them do to his baby. I could easily see the higher ups wanting to turn it into a more traditional super-hero story or tying it in to the Justice League or whatever. But honestly, if DC didn't manage to capitalize on the success of Harry Potter by pushing a Books of Magic show/movie, and if they couldn't get Fables off the ground (regardless of Disney blatantly stealing the idea for Once Upon a Time) I feel like Sandman's pretty much fucked. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
shadowsword87 05/02/17 10:09:35 PM #188:	The Wave Master posted... I really enjoyed the first episode of American Gods last night. Really good stuff f and future appointment television. I haven't read the Gaiman novel in years, but there are a lot of familiar beats and fantastic themes. Yaaay, I loved that book and I'm happy I can watch it all when the season is done. <cite>shadowsword87 posted [p:878365729] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>The Wave Master posted...</cite> <quote>I really enjoyed the first episode of American Gods last night. Really good stuff f and future appointment television. I haven't read the Gaiman novel in years, but there are a lot of familiar beats and fantastic themes.</quote> Yaaay, I loved that book and I'm happy I can watch it all when the season is done.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
The Wave Master 05/03/17 10:38:23 PM #189:	My other thought was that lately I'm having a hard time buckling down and playing a video game from start to finish. I have a massive back catalog, but my motivation is severely lacking. I would not consider myself a casual gamer, but I'm just playing games less and less Are any of you having this same problem? --- We are who we choose to be. <cite>The Wave Master posted [p:878431978] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>My other thought was that lately I'm having a hard time buckling down and playing a video game from start to finish. I have a massive back catalog, but my motivation is severely lacking. I would not consider myself a casual gamer, but I'm just playing games less and less Are any of you having this same problem?</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
knivesX2004 05/03/17 10:40:02 PM #190:	I just beat Persona 5. Time to return to the world of the living. <cite>knivesX2004 posted [p:878432093] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>I just beat Persona 5. Time to return to the world of the living.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Zeus 05/03/17 11:13:21 PM #191:	The Wave Master posted... My other thought was that lately I'm having a hard time buckling down and playing a video game from start to finish. I have a massive back catalog, but my motivation is severely lacking. I would not consider myself a casual gamer, but I'm just playing games less and less Are any of you having this same problem? I've had a massive backlog for years and years and years, although mostly for lack of wanting to start something or putting it off until I can devote more of my attention to it. In fact, despite pre-ordering Pokemon Moon (which arrived late), I only got back to playing it last week. Prior to that, I hadn't even made it to the starter select scene (which, in SM, is almost a fucking hour into the game thanks to long-ass cutscenes and random nonsense). Granted, in the case of Moon, it had several problems between arriving late (so my initial enthusiasm had dimmed a little), having so much filler in the beginning, the fact that I wanted to cut out a chunk of time to really devote my attention to it, and -- because it had arrived late -- I wound up getting some stuff on Black Friday/Cyber Monday which iirc arrived first including Final Fantasy Explorers which I quickly got crazy into and kept to that for several months. In fact, in terms of activity, FFEx is now my second-most played 3DS game at 183 hours (KIU still takes #1 with 470 hours) --- (\/)(\/)\|-\| In Zeus We Trust: All Others Pay Cash <cite>Zeus posted [p:878433883] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>The Wave Master posted...</cite> <quote>My other thought was that lately I'm having a hard time buckling down and playing a video game from start to finish. I have a massive back catalog, but my motivation is severely lacking. I would not consider myself a casual gamer, but I'm just playing games less and less Are any of you having this same problem?</quote> I've had a massive backlog for years and years and years, although mostly for lack of wanting to start something or putting it off until I can devote more of my attention to it. In fact, despite pre-ordering Pokemon Moon (which arrived late), I only got back to playing it last week. Prior to that, I hadn't even made it to the starter select scene (which, in SM, is almost a fucking hour into the game thanks to long-ass cutscenes and random nonsense). Granted, in the case of Moon, it had several problems between arriving late (so my initial enthusiasm had dimmed a little), having so much filler in the beginning, the fact that I wanted to cut out a chunk of time to really devote my attention to it, and -- because it had arrived late -- I wound up getting some stuff on Black Friday/Cyber Monday which iirc arrived first including Final Fantasy Explorers which I quickly got crazy into and kept to that for several months. In fact, in terms of activity, FFEx is now my second-most played 3DS game at 183 hours (KIU still takes #1 with 470 hours)</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Metalsonic66 05/04/17 3:17:48 AM #192:	The Wave Master posted... My other thought was that lately I'm having a hard time buckling down and playing a video game from start to finish. I have a massive back catalog, but my motivation is severely lacking. I would not consider myself a casual gamer, but I'm just playing games less and less Are any of you having this same problem? Exact same problem for me. For story-based games, I tend to put them off unless I know I have at least a few hours to dedicate to them. And I've always been a huge procrastinator. 2016 was actually a good year for me in this regard; I finished at least 8 or 9 games, some of which had literally been on my shelf for years. I'm... not off to a good start this year. --- PSN/Steam ID: Metalsonic_69 Big bombs go kabang. <cite>Metalsonic66 posted [p:878443139] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>The Wave Master posted...</cite> <quote>My other thought was that lately I'm having a hard time buckling down and playing a video game from start to finish. I have a massive back catalog, but my motivation is severely lacking. I would not consider myself a casual gamer, but I'm just playing games less and less Are any of you having this same problem?</quote> Exact same problem for me. For story-based games, I tend to put them off unless I know I have at least a few hours to dedicate to them. And I've always been a huge procrastinator. 2016 was actually a good year for me in this regard; I finished at least 8 or 9 games, some of which had literally been on my shelf for years. I'm... not off to a good start this year.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
wolfy42 05/04/17 11:17:37 AM #193:	Metalsonic66 posted... The Wave Master posted... My other thought was that lately I'm having a hard time buckling down and playing a video game from start to finish. I have a massive back catalog, but my motivation is severely lacking. I would not consider myself a casual gamer, but I'm just playing games less and less Are any of you having this same problem? Exact same problem for me. For story-based games, I tend to put them off unless I know I have at least a few hours to dedicate to them. And I've always been a huge procrastinator. 2016 was actually a good year for me in this regard; I finished at least 8 or 9 games, some of which had literally been on my shelf for years. I'm... not off to a good start this year. Seriously problem for me, can't even start the games anymore, forget about finish them. Played less then 5 hours of games last month (other then idle games on kongregate). Have not played any this month and have no motivation to. Still have the new zelda to play most of and tons of games on my ps4 that I have not played (all of FFXV for isntance). Last game I played a decent amount of was Let it Die on the ps4, but that was over 3 months ago now. --- Proud member of the Arv The Great is great fan club!!! Join today by putting it in your sig. <cite>wolfy42 posted [p:878456675] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>Metalsonic66 posted...</cite> <quote><cite>The Wave Master posted...</cite> <quote>My other thought was that lately I'm having a hard time buckling down and playing a video game from start to finish. I have a massive back catalog, but my motivation is severely lacking. I would not consider myself a casual gamer, but I'm just playing games less and less Are any of you having this same problem?</quote> Exact same problem for me. For story-based games, I tend to put them off unless I know I have at least a few hours to dedicate to them. And I've always been a huge procrastinator. 2016 was actually a good year for me in this regard; I finished at least 8 or 9 games, some of which had literally been on my shelf for years. I'm... not off to a good start this year.</quote> Seriously problem for me, can't even start the games anymore, forget about finish them. Played less then 5 hours of games last month (other then idle games on kongregate). Have not played any this month and have no motivation to. Still have the new zelda to play most of and tons of games on my ps4 that I have not played (all of FFXV for isntance). Last game I played a decent amount of was Let it Die on the ps4, but that was over 3 months ago now.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ParanoidObsessive 05/04/17 6:30:22 PM #194:	I just finished a playthrough of Mass Effect 1-3. The irony of all the talk about how terrible Andromeda is just sort of made me nostalgic for ME1-3 again. Though now that I've finished them I'm sort of dithering on what game to move on to next (I'm sort of tossing up between the copy of Assassin's Creed Rogue that I bought and never opened, and finally finishing Uncharted 3 and then starting Uncharted 4 for the first time. Also, I've got an unopened copy of Arkham Origins I didn't even remember buying). And I could always get back into a bit of leveling in Borderlands or GTA Online, since I've been off those for a bit. At some point in the near future I'm probably going to buy Dishonored 2 and Horizon: Zero Dawn, and my nephew was sort of prodding me at one point to buy Elder Scrolls Online, which I might. So, if anything, I'm kind of spoiled by choice at the moment. --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:878481723] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>I just finished a playthrough of Mass Effect 1-3. The irony of all the talk about how terrible Andromeda is just sort of made me nostalgic for ME1-3 again. Though now that I've finished them I'm sort of dithering on what game to move on to next (I'm sort of tossing up between the copy of Assassin's Creed Rogue that I bought and never opened, and finally finishing Uncharted 3 and then starting Uncharted 4 for the first time. Also, I've got an unopened copy of Arkham Origins I didn't even remember buying). And I could always get back into a bit of leveling in Borderlands or GTA Online, since I've been off those for a bit. At some point in the near future I'm probably going to buy Dishonored 2 and Horizon: Zero Dawn, and my nephew was sort of prodding me at one point to buy Elder Scrolls Online, which I might. So, if anything, I'm kind of spoiled by choice at the moment. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Entity13 05/04/17 6:35:19 PM #195:	I had a hankering for Final Fantasy X again lately, and, even though I have the ps2 version still in good condition, I decided to grab the ps4 version. Oh, and my boyfriend--who is not a console game by far as he prefers PC--bought himself a Switch and copy of BotW. I laughed at him on that one, but hey... at least it's his choice. =p --- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb179/EntityXIII/entityfn7.jpg <cite>Entity13 posted [p:878481999] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>I had a hankering for Final Fantasy X again lately, and, even though I have the ps2 version still in good condition, I decided to grab the ps4 version. Oh, and my boyfriend--who is not a console game by far as he prefers PC--bought himself a Switch and copy of BotW. I laughed at him on that one, but hey... at least it's his choice. =p</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Raganork10 05/04/17 6:43:09 PM #196:	knivesX2004 posted... I just beat Persona 5. Time to return to the world of the living. I'm ~85 hours in and still haven't beaten it. Unlike nearly everyone else playing, I'm not gonna kiss the game's ass. It's far too long for its own good (like the previous Personas), and the characters are more miss than hit. It's mostly my fault; I knew what I was getting into and bought the game anyway. I love the combat and the dungeons, but the social aspects drop the game down a number of pegs in my book. The writing isn't consistently good, too many characters are one-dimensional, and I'm not a weeaboo, so I couldn't give a shit about the poorly-developed romantic relationships you can have. That said, the gameplay is exceptional, but if anything, my experience has only made me appreciate the actual SMT games even more. In fact, Persona 5 makes me want to give Nocturne another shot. Nocturne was awesome, but it kicked my ass all those years ago when I played it, so I stopped. Rather play that than any Persona, honestly. Shit, I even wanna replay Digital Devil Saga, which has my favorite video game narrative. Had the pacing been better, like if you didn't have 6 hours of tedious daily life to "role play" between every dungeon, and if I wasn't under a time constraint that makes me feel forced to do dungeons in one go to maximize my use of in-game allotted time, I would've enjoyed the game so much more. <cite>Raganork10 posted [p:878482507] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>knivesX2004 posted...</cite> <quote>I just beat Persona 5. Time to return to the world of the living.</quote> I'm ~85 hours in and still haven't beaten it. Unlike nearly everyone else playing, I'm not gonna kiss the game's ass. It's far too long for its own good (like the previous Personas), and the characters are more miss than hit. It's mostly my fault; I knew what I was getting into and bought the game anyway. I love the combat and the dungeons, but the social aspects drop the game down a number of pegs in my book. The writing isn't consistently good, too many characters are one-dimensional, and I'm not a weeaboo, so I couldn't give a shit about the poorly-developed romantic relationships you can have. That said, the gameplay is exceptional, but if anything, my experience has only made me appreciate the actual SMT games even more. In fact, Persona 5 makes me want to give Nocturne another shot. Nocturne was awesome, but it kicked my ass all those years ago when I played it, so I stopped. Rather play that than any Persona, honestly. Shit, I even wanna replay Digital Devil Saga, which has my favorite video game narrative. Had the pacing been better, like if you didn't have 6 hours of tedious daily life to "role play" between every dungeon, and if I wasn't under a time constraint that makes me feel forced to do dungeons in one go to maximize my use of in-game allotted time, I would've enjoyed the game so much more.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
WhiskeyDisk 05/04/17 7:02:38 PM #197:	Raganork10 posted... . In fact, Persona 5 makes me want to give Nocturne another shot. Nocturne was awesome, but it kicked my ass all those years ago when I played it, so I stopped. Rather play that than any Persona, honestly. Shit, I even wanna replay Digital Devil Saga, which has my favorite video game narrative. Strange Journey is also pretty close to Nocturne if you haven't played it. SMT IV was kind of a letdown for me storywise. --- http://i.imgur.com/4fmtLFt.gif http://s1.zetaboards.com/sba/ ~there's always free cheese in a mousetrap. <cite>WhiskeyDisk posted [p:878483735] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote><cite>Raganork10 posted...</cite> <quote>. In fact, Persona 5 makes me want to give Nocturne another shot. Nocturne was awesome, but it kicked my ass all those years ago when I played it, so I stopped. Rather play that than any Persona, honestly. Shit, I even wanna replay Digital Devil Saga, which has my favorite video game narrative.</quote> Strange Journey is also pretty close to Nocturne if you haven't played it. SMT IV was kind of a letdown for me storywise.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Raganork10 05/04/17 7:21:41 PM #198:	I didn't like SMT4 either. Not just because it squandered such a strong introductory act by having the story fed to you crumble by crumble, but because the map was such an annoying hassle to deal with. Plus, your fellow Samurai got on my nerves every time they opened their mouths. Strange Journey looks pretty good, and it's getting a 3DS remake, so there's no better time to check it out. But still, I've been watching Nocturne videos, and I don't think any SMT has come close to the greatness of those few PS2 games. The different directions you can pull the story, the atmosphere, the implementation of various religions' themes, and the tactical strategy the game demands of the player makes Nocturne feel like the perfect SMT, and it makes me so disappointed that I gave up because Matador handed me my ass. It's definitely not an SMT for newcomers, which I very much was when I played it. <cite>Raganork10 posted [p:878484897] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>I didn't like SMT4 either. Not just because it squandered such a strong introductory act by having the story fed to you crumble by crumble, but because the map was such an annoying hassle to deal with. Plus, your fellow Samurai got on my nerves every time they opened their mouths. Strange Journey looks pretty good, and it's getting a 3DS remake, so there's no better time to check it out. But still, I've been watching Nocturne videos, and I don't think any SMT has come close to the greatness of those few PS2 games. The different directions you can pull the story, the atmosphere, the implementation of various religions' themes, and the tactical strategy the game demands of the player makes Nocturne feel like the perfect SMT, and it makes me so disappointed that I gave up because Matador handed me my ass. It's definitely not an SMT for newcomers, which I very much was when I played it.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
WhiskeyDisk 05/04/17 7:38:12 PM #199:	My main problem with smt IV was just how batshit crazy all of the ending choices were. Like every ending was distasteful and jarring narratively. I dislike DDS, but will always have a soft spot for the Raidou K. Vs games, even if we'll never see the third one localized. --- http://i.imgur.com/4fmtLFt.gif http://s1.zetaboards.com/sba/ ~there's always free cheese in a mousetrap. <cite>WhiskeyDisk posted [p:878485826] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>My main problem with smt IV was just how batshit crazy all of the ending choices were. Like every ending was distasteful and jarring narratively. I dislike DDS, but will always have a soft spot for the Raidou K. Vs games, even if we'll never see the third one localized.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Raganork10 05/04/17 8:22:39 PM #200:	Thing is, if you have multiple endings in a game, they had all better be entertaining or satisfying in some way. With SMT4, chaos and lawful both sucked, leaving you with only neutral left, which was decent, but basically requires a guide to obtain. As for DDS, I love it because the cast is so strong, with not a single unlikeable character. Plus, the plot twists were actually fucking surprising. That final dungeon, though, Jesus. Most ridiculous dungeon ever. <cite>Raganork10 posted [p:878488323] in Spider-Gee... [t:75167540]...</cite> <quote>Thing is, if you have multiple endings in a game, they had all better be entertaining or satisfying in some way. With SMT4, chaos and lawful both sucked, leaving you with only neutral left, which was decent, but basically requires a guide to obtain. As for DDS, I love it because the cast is so strong, with not a single unlikeable character. Plus, the plot twists were actually fucking surprising. That final dungeon, though, Jesus. Most ridiculous dungeon ever.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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