FredEffinChopin

I'm starting to feel like youtube is for the birds lately as well. I'm hoping that eventually they let you just save them to shiny MP4s that you can do whatever you want with.

I think I'm jumping back in tonight to check the first stage of the Lightning content. Anyone check it out yet? I've been in and out the past week or two, but mostly just doing light crafting and farming while doing other stuff on the laptop. I haven't been on much at all since I got back from a trip at the beginning of October. Before that, I was grinding out tomes for my darklight gear, both for WHM and PLD, and waiting for 2.1 to drop. It's dropping on 11/22, btw. Btw, and I probably should have said something at the time, but I'm now on Hyperion. It was the only way I could get in one place with a few irl friends that weren't able to hook up during the early chaos, and with the combination of the clusterfuck that was the initial server transfers (especially between my friends and I, trying to hook up), and the fact that I hadn't actually done much of anything with anyone on my friends list (both in and outside of this forum; I was almost exclusively playing with strangers, and just bullshitting with one friend in a ls), I just never found the right time to bring it up. Also, I was pretty sure that I was the only one on here left playing... I might still be.

Haha no, and if there is any game I'm not going to mind paying for after missing an opportunity for a free copy, it's going to be by a company whose work I've gotten as much joy out of as Housemarque. I am (or was, rather, before all of the much-welcome discouragement) considering getting in on the PS4 immediately just to be able to play that single game asap, and because the excitement is rubbing off on me. I sat pretty damned high on that SSDHD leaderboard for a while.... It'd be nice to artificially inflate my gamer ego by scrapping for a high spot early on. I'll be patient though, and continue to work through this queue of PS3 and PC games that I've got. I'll just be over here... listening... craning my neck and such...

Damn it. I was totally cool with my decision to hold off on one of these until the summer or so, but the excitement in here is killing me... I feel like a total derelict. The Resogun review aren't helping at all either... I'd really love to play another Housemarque game, and especially a free one that is being so well-received... I may have to scrape together some funds and get in here sooner than I expected... That's not a permanent library game, right? I'd have to activate it from a PS4 in the first month?

Sounds pretty intimate.

Damn, this is tough... It kills me to throw so many games out of the running. One of these is a no-brainer though, so I'll get going. The Last of Us - One of the GOAT, really. TLoU revealed a potential for the future of gaming that gives me goosebumps, and not just because of the (narrative) genre. Whether one believes games are art or just artful, TLoU achieved an interactive experience that is on par with the best of static ones. Super Stardust HD - This one earns the spot just based one the amount of hours I must have poured into it. I've played a bunch of dual-stick shooters this gen, but none of them brought me back at all, let alone time and time again, the way SSDHD does. I've never felt so comfortable being thoroughly surrounded by dangerous debris and gunfire. Rock Band - Even if some people consider it to be a fad of sorts (albeit a long one), I think that it's not only arguably the most unique experience introduced to the medium during this generation, but valuable outside of gaming, as it turned legions of people on to new music that they might not have ever heard of otherwise. The fact that it turned a lot of them into musicians doesn't hurt for its reputation either. It enjoyed unparalleled DLC support, and mostly sensible and welcome improvements as the series progressed, too. A worthy addition to this list. Honorable mention: If not for my moral dilemma(s) regarding it, Dungeon Defenders might have held the spot that SSDHD has. The Skate series came close to making the cut as well. Mass Effect, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and GTA (either of them, really), Uncharted are all worthy of nominations. Journey, Nier, Civilization Revolution, Valkyria Chronicles, Heavy Rain, (the first) Bioshock, MLB The Show... I need to stop. There are so many great ones. Most probably "better" than SSDHD... I'm starting to regret that nomination... Gonna hurry and post. *edit* I'm working under the assumption that the lack of follow-up indicates that a tally hasn't happened...

I'm not sure what you mean by the worst of your friends (or if that makes me horrible by comparison), but if their opinion is enough to casually dismiss some pretty clearly listed criticisms that I took the time to communicate, then I'll say that the two friends I saw it with thought it was an embarrassment of a movie as well, and hope that everything cancels out, and that I can have an opinion again without being accused of it being a pure result of preconception or bias. I mean, shit, I enjoyed (despite some criticisms I had) the Starship Troopers film (which was pretty passionately slammed by critics and fans) after having read the book first... Several times, even. I feel like I'm pretty well past the point of criticizing cinematic adaptations for not being replicas of the novels that inspire them. For what it's worth, I'm generally more critical of movies than most people I know are. In my mind I feel like I just have less of a tolerance for pandering, soulless art (especially when it's in a format that takes so long to consume), but even that is subjective, and I'm certain I enjoy a lot of shit that can be accused of being both of those things, in any medium. I almost never go to the theater though (less than 5 times in the last decade), and most of the newer movies I've seen in recent years make me glad that I don't. I made an exception for this hoping at least for something that fell short of the mark but still had satisfying moments, or something in the realm of that. I genuinely thought it was terrible, and if I were at home I'd have shut it off and told myself I'd finish it another time, and then I never would. The only reason I stayed in the theater is because I was there with friends... and we drove from their house in their car. I was curious to know how they wrapped things up, but not so much that I wouldn't have taken a reasonable exit if one presented itself. I almost wished I smoked again so I'd have something to do if I decided to go stand outside. It was just excruciating when it wasn't laughable. But anyway, the point is that I didn't like A Clockwork Orange (after the book), and I thought The Dark Knight was just decent. I'm not the easiest person to please, so keep that in mind while I tell you how terrible this movie is.

While I do occasionally throw on some music off of the PS3 HDD (mainly when I already have it on, and am getting ready to leave or something), I'm not so much annoyed that I can't use the PS4 to play music that way. The real bummer for me is that it seems like that means you won't be able to use your own tracks for BGM in games that allow it. While the number of those games is relatively small on the PS3, I really enjoyed it when it was available. Especially in games like Skate, in which I'd be listening to the same small playlist for the countless hours I poured into it, or Super Stardust HDD. I loved its incorporation in things like MLB The Show, where you get to create custom at-bat music and such, complete with an editor to select the portion of the song you want. I can also say goodbye to any rhythm based games that let you use custom music. While I can't name any off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure I've played such a game on the PS3. Either way, it seems I definitely won't on PS4. So yeah, I'm let down about the music thing. *Edit* In case anyone is curious which games even let you use your own music:

Ender's Game (some spoilers) While I understand that an adaptation must make sacrifices when going from novel to film, not only was this butchered beyond reason, but some of the stuff that was included was either portrayed very poorly/misunderstood or stripped of their real significance due the the absence of a lot of other content. This isn't just a problem for fans of the book; a bunch of impotent scenes that only make sense to people who read the book don't do anyone much good. I assume that a lot of these are a result of a struggle to include certain things to remain "faithful" to the source material, but Jesus... The pacing was horrible, and most of it felt rushed. Again, I understand sacrifices must be made, but they should be sacrifices that are made to achieve something *that works*. There were just horrible decisions made regarding what to jettison and what to hold onto, and it felt like Ender's problems were being overcome in the same moment that they were being introduced. They could easily have adjusted the narrative to convey that there was a deal of time passing between events, but they didn't, and it seems like everything is happening the day after what happened before it. The only indication that there is any time passing at all is when one scene wherein Ender is writing a letter to Valentine. Still, when he meets her, the idea that they should miss each other as dearly as they are being depicted seems silly. Speaking of bizarre decisions, the single biggest plot twist in the entire story is totally undermined when, maybe 60% of the way through, they actually show the viewer that there is a human fleet en route to the formic homeworld to launch an offensive. Not only that, but fucking Ender knows! The only reason I could think of to justify the decision is to facilitate a discussion between Ender and Graff on the morality of attacking the formics on their home planet when there hadn't been any threatening gestures or even contact with them in decades. It doesn't justify it though. Showing their hand that early was a horrible decision, especially for the viewers that aren't familiar with the novel. There are SO many bad choices I can discuss, but one last thing I will mention is the casting choices. I can't slam the actors for the jobs they did so much, as they had a whole lot of garbage to work with, as well as what seemed like a director that didn't properly understand the original story. Some of the choices of actors were off, though. The biggest offender in this category is Bonzo Madrid. It seems that someone decided it would add to his character to make him short, so as to appear Napoleonic in his behavior, perhaps as a fast explanation, rather than doing actual character building (though the film moronically references the character building that it didn't do, that readers are already aware of going in). They made him tiny though. To the point of distraction. Also (and pardon my bluntness), while the novel makes a big deal out of how handsome Bonzo is, which is one source of his disproportionate pride, the film decided to go a different direction with that. And it's not just Bonzo, the film has this obnoxious, condescending habit of showing you who you're supposed to like or dislike by showing you a fat (as with Bernard) or relatively (to the others) unattractive child as a mental prompt. I found it completely revolting. Such a letdown.

Thanks for all the details, Jack. Any info on whether or not one can use it wirelessly yet? I'm assuming it uses bluetooth as its predecessor did, but I know that getting that to work properly on PC was a task. If I can get it working today, I'll be hunting for one today.

Not so much today, but a lot right before I finished it a few days ago =) *hint hint* *wink nudge* *begbeg*

Funny, while I haven't been on GTAV as much as I should be, I've been throwing on the radio stations on youtube while playing other stuff (since when I do play I often find myself stopping in the car to finish hearing what's on), and just yesterday I was telling my friend that I believe this to be the best reggae station of any GTA game. I was also bragging about how many of the songs I already knew. That Yelowman tune was one I first heard back when I got a box set called The Story of Jamaican music, maybe around 99. Great stuff, from dancehall's golden age. Gotta love that ketchup. On a side note, I believe the name of the station to be a tribute to Black Ark Studios, which was the name of the studio where Lee "Scratch" Perry produced tons of classic tracks, and reshaped the dub scene with techniques that, last I've heard, have still not been completely sussed out today. Jump at the Lee Perry "Arkology" compilation if you're interested. I'm pretty sure that at least one or two tracks from that collection are featured in GTAV.

Just back in town, request sent.

I love how I got on a plane last week, landed, and found out that a beta signup had just begun that required me to play a game in BPM with a controller to sign up. Of course. I know I'll have time to get in before it's over, but still. I've been a really big BPM supporter, and am very interested in future living room ideas that are in the works. I'll be completing my signup first thing when I get back home. Anyway. This. I think they have some good ideas, but are going a little too far off the beaten path, and created something that isn't going to be quite ideal. We'll see what happens though.

So this announcement came just in time, as I beat the main story last night, and it seems like the endgame content is kind of sparse. You unlock a harder version of the prime fights (and I believe there may be a harder one yet, but I'm not positive), and there are quests to improve your gear (which you can grind dungeons to obtain the necessary currency for), but that's about it. Oh and some sort of raid. This new stuff should fill things out nicely, at least for a time. As long as nothing has changed since this post, I'm assuming that inventory sorting will arrive in this update, which I need SO desperately. The biggest problem is that I don't see what I see as two even bigger issues being addressed. a) The RMT spam - At minimum they need to give us a quick way of reporting and blocking people. The idea of making people either type in full names in a command or search might have been for the purpose of making sure that people know for certain who they are blisting, but I think at this point they need to give us a little bit of trust, and let us shoot /blist at people like laser. Also, it would be nice if there was a way to report as quickly that also automatically /blists them. I can hold off my filter criticisms if they let me do that. As it stands, I /blist roughly 10 people any day I play, and I report them with the text copied & pasted (in case they do decide to adjust or add new filters). The time is starting to add up. One day I logged in and had to /blist & report 5 people in under 10 minutes, no joke. 2 /tells in my room at inn, 2 shouters as soon as I stepped out, and another tell a few minutes later. I just logged. b) A solution to playing with our friends across servers - This is THE thing to fix, and I see nothing about it. I know Yoshida had said it was coming soon, and "mid-September" was mentioned at some point. I suppose it probably wouldn't require a version update to offer that, but I'm nervous nonetheless. The coming and going of mid-Sept is part of it, and the lack of mention of it at this point is the rest. Seems like a good update though, aside from those possible omissions. I was kind of missing the fact that I didn't have a private space to retire to, even if it is largely useless. I'm really hoping though, that there is something going on like the moghancements in XI, where certain pieces of furniture could activate an effect on your mog house or character. The endgame content will be a huge relief for lots of people, as will the PvP. I'm still a bit concerned about replaying 1-50 with other classes though, as it seems like one almost inevitably has to resort to FATE grinding, which can get pretty boring. Anyway, looking forward to more details.

It's possible that they didn't have the foresight to have it ready for everyone (everyone in R*'s mind, which = everyone that owns a smartphone, and screw anyone else) to use from day-1. At very best, it was a really silly oversight, and pretty negligent; to pack in this 1p function (?) in, remind gamers of it as they play, but not have it available for a great deal of them to use. It seems silly to me though, that someone with their resources wouldn't be able to have an Android app ready for a title they've been working on for years, and that seems to have been in-mind as they were putting things together in the game. Or that they would have to develop two smartphone apps separately, even, due to any kind of constraint. If it wasn't coming from the company that I also suspect of trying to pretend that the (eventual) PC versions of upcoming games doesn't exist in hopes of selling two copies to people, I might not suspect anything beyond a lack of foresight as the reason for it. It's R* though, and I don't put shit like that past them for a second. Sure, we can make arguments for why they might push out the console versions first, but it's not like other devs don't manage to release on 3-platforms simultaneously with regularity. Anyway, while I genuinely think this Ifruit thing is lame both in concept and execution, and that (as I've now made clear) there is a possibility of planned, timed exclusivity for it, I was mainly using the term just to refer to the fact of the exclusivity, rather than any possible intent; and the second part of what I wrote was mostly in jest. Just to be clear. Sometimes I worry that my avatar lends a tone to my posts that I don't intend for them to contain.

Ifruit (temporarily) exclusive to the IPhone, eh? I wouldn't mind if they let you at least use the features from the website. Really, I have little desire to even use my phone to do anything outside of/for GTAV (or any game that isn't on my phone, which is about all games I play), especially when it's something that could and should have been in the game itself anyway. I just want to be able to do Chop stuff. I've always found timed exclusivity a bit of a kick to the balls of anyone who bought day-1, and who likely won't be playing the game anymore when the developer decides to let customers have (usually buy) it. This is no exception. Especially since the game keeps reminding me about how I could be doing other stuff if I had decided to buy Apple's products. On the other hand, since there is no good reason to make people do this from their phones (I'm sure the pretense is extending the "experience"), and since smartphones are the giant gateways to personal information that they are, I'm sure that this is part of some massive data triangulation scheme. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself every time I'm playing the same game with Chop, and the (GTA) game is reminding me that I can teach him new tricks. Oh yeah, aside from that, I'm loving the game. I'm still in the early phases though, where I'm likely to stop what I'm doing to listen to 10 minutes of a talk radio segment.

Big picture mode makes this tease exciting. Steambox makes me skeptical. I'm definitely curious.

Same here FMW, my name is Frederic Chopin, feel free to hit me up with any questions, or if you need a healer or tank in some of your dungeon crawling. /welcome @Cowboy No problem, glad it came in handy. And congratulations on DRG! And yeah, it sounds like you weren't ruining anything by not-knowing how LB works haha.

Yeah, there are some really silly oversights in regards to that. I don't understand why they act like such amateurs in some respects. So here is the breakdown of how the jobs go: Each job can be earned when a specific combination of two class levels is achieved. Each of the starting classes has 1 "job" that it can transform to @30 (and when the second required class is @15), save for ACN (Arcanist), which actually can branch into two jobs; SCH (scholar) and SMN (summoner). You may have noticed that there is an item slot in the lower right hand corner of your armory screen that you've never had anything equipped in. That is where the job items go. So for example, when I equip my WHM (white mage) soul crystal as CNJ (conjurer), it acts as the modification that turns me into a WHM. I've read that the classes might be better for soloing in some cases, while the more focused jobs are more useful for party roles. However for my particular main at the moment, there doesn't really seem to be any reason to go back to being a CNJ. All the stats seem superior as WHM, and there don't seem to be any abilities unique to CNJ or anything like that. That's just for my particular job though, I can't speak for others yet. Jobs level alongside the primary class that is used to unlock it. So when I unlocked WHM at CNJ lvl 30, I was already a 30WHM. They level together, so no matter which one you gain experience as, the other will be right there with it. I'm actually curious as to how ACN handles this, since there are two jobs that can result of it. I actually get the feeling that if you unlock both SCH and SMN, you might be leveling two jobs and a class all at once (SMN, SCH, ACN). I plan to experiment with that, but not before I unlock BLM (black mage) and PLD (paladin). Right now my highest is 40WHM. As of today though, I've got levels in every class, and in several crafts as well. The next highest behind WHM is 21GLA (gladiator, which @30, combined with 15CNJ, enables one to unlock PLD), followed by 19THM (thurmaturge), and 15 ACN. Everything else is 10 or below. Leatherworking is @15. I've found this guide here very useful for several different things. Like I said, if you ever need a healer (or tank, once I unlock PLD), feel free to hit me up. A word of advice, if you ever decide you want to level a bunch of stuff: The hunting logs for each class hailing from the same town are nearly identical, and at least take you to the same spots when they're not. For that reason, I found it pretty efficient to go to Gridania, unlock LNC (lancer), ARC (archer), and BTN (botany) all at once, and then take them all to 5 in one session outside, then do their lvl 5 quests together, and so on. It saves little bit of time, at the cost of the comfort of learning a single job and becoming comfortable with it. It is a very big sacrifice. I'm banking on the availability of all the extra abilities to come in handy in higher levels. Which brings me to one last thing. There are certain abilities within each class that can be used by any other job. For every 5 levels of a class/job, you can have one additional ability equipped that has been earned on another class, regardless of levels. So for example, having cure on my CNJ means that any class I start out with can be equipped with the cure spell, which is pretty handy in early lvls, even with melee classes. Ok I think I rambled enough.

@staySICK Wow, I had no idea Michaels was still around. Good to know those two are in touch. @TheFlyingGerbil I must have listened to that Dio song 30 times since you posted it. Well done, and thank you.

I'm sure it's true to some extent or other. There are things that work to drastically curb it though, as evidenced by the trickle that XI was reduced to even with the free trials. I just don't understand why they wouldn't take what they learned there and carry it over to XIV. Between shouts and /tells, I probably blisted 6 or 7 people yesterday. Have I mentioned that I'm thoroughly hooked on this game?

I'm not sure about the Diablo spamming. Are you saying they're paying for the game? If so, then consider me stumped. I wouldn't imagine it to be a cost-effective way of advertising, provided that there is a staff present to constantly ban accounts that are engaging in stuff like that. I'm guessing that no matter what is in the way, they will try to find some way around to spam, but I also feel like there have to be ways to filter out the majority of it. While I complained about /tell spam in XI, it was only restricted to that (no shouting, or filling the entire screen, as there were things in place to prevent that), and the characters would vanish within minuted of reporting them. I'd imagine there would not have been free trials, they would have to find a way around that as well. I can't believe they're jacking accounts for it either, though. Here is the official response.