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dutchdread · 9 days

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Hi Dutch. Since you have answered many questions about Cloti, what is your thought about Zerith in Rebirth? I saw many people disappointed or having no hope for them but others said the devs are creating angst. Do you agree?

Hi, thanks for the question. Yeah, I understand being disappointed with the Zerith content in Rebirth. The developers spent a lot of time hyping up Zacks importance, not just with Remake but also with developer interviews and such. To have such a build-up and then have him relegated to just a few playable intermissions, to not get a Zack Aerith reunion, and depending on who you listen to to have him being brushed aside in favor of Cloud in regards to Aeriths affections, can understandably feel disheartening.

But really this is just a lack of understanding concerning story structure, to put it simply, Rebirth is EXTREMELY Zerith.

When reading Harry Potter I always knew that Snape was most likely going to end up a good guy, despite the seeming back and forths. And do you know which moment to me proved that he was a good guy? When he killed Dumbledore at the end of book 6. I knew then without a doubt that he was a good guy, because there was still one book to go, and it was obvious that that book would have the final ultimate reversal.

Rebirth didn't have a lot of Zerith pay-off, but if anything that's a good thing. If it did I would be worried about what would happen in part 3 to flip that pay-off on its head. Instead Zerith has gotten a lot of build-up that is now screaming to receive pay-off in part 3.

We have shots of Zack desperately trying to come back to Aerith. We have Aerith admitting she still has feelings for Zack. We have Aerith desperately trying to recreate her time with Zack. We have Tifa and Aerith talking about Zack. We have Aerith sensing Zacks touch in the cave of the GI. We have Aerith singing songs about meeting again. We have Aerith admitting to seeing Zack again in Cloud. We have Aerith instantly going to Zacks parents. We have Cloud talking about how Zack is head over heels for Aerith. We have Zack in Nibelheim talking to Cloud about their respective girlfriends

And the question you need to ask for all these things is "why?" Why would they include all these scenes if it's not getting a pay-off? Why show scenes of Aerith trying and failing to recreate her days with Zack interspersed with scenes of Zack trying to get back to her if that ultimately isn't of importance? Why show Zack positively contrasted with a negatively presented Cloud if the message you're trying to convey is that Zack has been replaced? Why show Zack to be an amazing guy if you want to end his arc with people being ok with him being rejected? Why make a themesong with the desire for meeting again at its core and have Zacks entire story in the game being about trying to reunite with Aerith if the point of that reunion is heartbreak?

The answer is that a writer wouldn't do those things, they make no sense. If you want your love story to feel positive then you need to disassemble the alternatives first. You need to show how the other pairings don't work, minimize their importance, or in some other way make it clear to the audience that the "main couple" coming together is the desirable outcome.

If you want to show that Aerith is getting over Zack you don't spend your limited screentime showing Aerith pining over Zack, you instead show how she's no longer occupying his mind as much. If you want to show Aerith getting over Zack you don't have her talking about still loving him, you instead have her talking about how she DID once, but that that was a long time ago. You don't end her arc with a date that remind the viewer of the existence of Zack, but one that is fully between Cloud and Aerith. If you want to show the compatibility of Cloud and Aerith then you don't make it so that everything goes wrong, you make it so that the dream date goes "DREAMY"!. And if you want to sell the idea that Aerith is over Zack and has come to the conclusion that she truly romantically loves Cloud then you DON'T place that confession right after said horrible date, with Zack scenes left right and center, a Cloud thats talking about you being "nakama", and Aerith dialogue that at best says she's not sure about what she feels, and at worst is a straight up friendzoning. If you want to replace a very positively portrayed romance then you will need the end all be all of chemistry and certainty in the new one, and talks about "well, I like you, but there is liking and then there's liking" is NOT a recipe for that.

In short, if you want to sell the idea that Cloud has truly replaced Zack in Aeriths heart and more importantly IN THE NARRATIVE, then you don't put emphasis on the existence of Aeriths feelings for Zack, and you don't put emphasis on Zacks feelings for Aerith. Those things all serve to maximize the connection between Aerith and Zack when what you need to do if you want to sell Clerith is minimize it. The reason being that this romance is in narrative conflict with the supposed Aerith Cloud romance, and the stronger the Aerith Zack connection is presented, the more extravagant the bond between Cloud and Aerith needs to be written for the story to make sense.

And that won't happen when you have Cloud deriding Aerith for the way she tries turning everything into a date the one moment, and then a scene showing Zack taking care of Aerith while in a coma the next. It doesn't happen when you show a scene of Cloud bonding with Tifa in one scene and almost kissing her, and then show Zack bonding with Aeriths mother in the next. It doesn't happen when you show Aerith failing to recreate her date with Zack and asking Cloud to find her in "her place", and then show Zack waiting for Aerith in "her place" the next.

All these things signal the same thing "Zack good for Aerith, Cloud bad".

You can extrapolate this idea beyond Rebirth of course. If Zack and Aerith isn't getting a pay-off what is the point of re-releasing Crisis Core before Rebirth? If the point is to show that Zack is no longer in the picture what is the point of showing off an entire game all about how important he and Aerith are to each other and about how desperate he is to get back to her? What is the point of showing that the bow Aerith is always wearing was gift from him. What is the point of her always wearing the clothes that she said she'd wear in anticipation of seeing him again. What is the point in bringing up the fact that she wrote Zack 89 letters and has been waiting for him for 5 years if Zack is replaceable in 2 weeks? What is the point of writing that Aeriths one wish is to spend more time with Zack if her literally spending time with a Zack stand-in isn't relevant? What is the point of writing it that Aerith didn't just see Zack in Cloud because they're similar...but because he's LITERALLY putting on a fake persona based on Zack, if Zacks presence in Clouds persona is irrelevant to Aeriths feelings regarding him?

If you want us to believe that Aerith likes Cloud for Cloud then these are all very questionable writing choices, especially when you also keep harping on about her wanting to get to know the real Cloud, which implies that she doesn't know him YET. It's not that you can't still have it so that Aerith does actually prefer Cloud despite all this, but if that's the case then you've failed as a writer because this would be VERY incoherent storytelling. If the writers want you to believe that Aerith has moved on from Zack, then they shouldn't and wouldn't have spend so much time showing Aerith not having moved on from Zack. Ultimately the question is one of focus, a story about Aerith falling in love with Cloud, and a story about moving on from Zack might look superficially similar, and entail the same basic events. But the difference is the focus. Is that focus on Cloud and what he means to Aerith? Or is the focus on Zack? In rebirth there is a heavy focus, not on the developing bond between Cloud and Aerith, those are limited almost exclusively to Tifa, but there is a heavy focus on Aeriths feelings in regards to Zack. There is no storytelling purpose to Aerith telling Cloud she still loves Zack 3/4ths of the way through her story if the focus of the story isn't Aeriths feelings for Zack, but her feelings for Cloud. If the writers wanted you to think Zack doesn't matter they wouldn't spend so much time hammering in the idea that Zack matters. These moments are all in service to Aerith and Zack, not Aerith and Cloud.

Even things like Zack discovering that Aerith has started developing feelings for Cloud only makes sense to include if the pay-off for that is them reuniting and him showing Aerith what love really is. So if we saw in Rebirth wasn't a "lack of Zerith", then what DID we see? Well, to reiterate what I said earlier:

If you want your love story to feel positive then you need to disassemble the alternatives first.

This is what we saw in Rebirth, Cloud and Aerith being disassembled, so that part 3 can get us to the pay-off. We see Cloud and Aerith bonding, yes, but it's ALWAYS contrasted with Tifa and Zack. If we have a scene where Aerith tries to engage Cloud in talks concerning food he will be shown to engage with the same discouraging passivity of the average woman on tinder, then that scene will invariably be followed by a similar scene with Tifa where he is enthusiastically trying to keep the conversation flowing. If we see a scene where Aerith is trying to get a certain energy from Cloud and failing, it won't be long till we see a scene of Zack having that same desired energy naturally.

In short, Rebirth was filled with scenes that "serve a purpose in the overall narrative". But the only way those scenes WOULD serve a purpose in the overall narrative, is if the overall narrative is: "Aerith is trying to get over Zack and is trying to move on through Cloud. But by doing so she discovers that it's just not the same. While Cloud helps Aerith move on and accept the past, he can never replace Zack". If the overall narrative is: "Aerith used to be pining over Zack, but now she has truly replaced Zack in her heart with Cloud and Zack is a relic of the past" then none of these scenes would make sense to include. You can also look at it like this, why didn't Rebirth have a Zerith Reunion scene? Because apparently that's too important of a scene to quickly tack on to the end of part 2. Nomura has already hinted at something very important to include in part 3 that wasn't in part 2, something that he thinks will make people very happy if done right. And I am pretty freaking confident that what he's talking about is the long-awaited Aerith - Zack reunion. And that is why this game is extremely favorable to Zerith, so be excited for part 3.

#ffvii #ffvii rebirth #cloti #ffvii remake #cloud strife #tifa lockhart #ff7 #aerith gainsborough #shipping #zack fair #zerith

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opalrosechalydra · 3 months

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Emesis Blue & Postmeta Art

We live in a media driven society. Our most famous celebrities star in our favorite movies and TV shows, our politicians are elected by whose propaganda-adjacent advertising campaigns were the most effective, even our youngest children are put in front of screens which permanently alter their brain chemistry. In a world where all of us must abide by systems that force us to sacrifice our whole lives at jobs and all of our free time managing our non-guaranteed shelter, food and health, we have to find solace in something easy to consume and easier to distribute. When your work day is done, what better way to wind down than by putting something on the television for your tired mind to be lost in?

The history of media is almost as old as our most ancient civilization. It has evolved to become a very complicated, interconnected system of referential pieces. Martin Luther wrote the 95 theses critiquing the Catholic church in 1517. Papers at the turn of the 20th century critiqued films of the blossoming industry of cinema. Musicians preached an anti-war message throughout the US invasion of Vietnam and Korea. Now, there is an entire video sharing platform where independent videographers, filmmakers, editors, artists, and thespians may share projects with their own views and opinions. YouTube is home to a number of genres as defined by the internet communities who participate in them. Critiques, reviews, essays and more, all in video form by people who are unbound by contractual restraint and free to express their personal feelings.

Those who rise to the top of this massive, competitive industry are those whose feelings resonate with the most people. Oftentimes, it can be difficult to pin down exactly what something is saying, but the fact that it invokes a primal emotion tends to indicate that it resonates with the experiences of the viewer. Many experimental films have stood the test of time despite having unclear messages, or perhaps being made with no intended message at all. Eraserhead, The Holy Mountain, A Serbian Film and more are difficult for viewers to get through due to their subject matter and presentation, but have remained among the most influential movies ever produced. Many analyze them, try to derive meaning from sequences of abstract or even nonsensical images. These things disturb us on a greater level than just their superfluous design. There is a deeper message that these films convey which lets them stay with viewers for longer than just the night they watched it. This, obviously, brings us to…

Team Fortress 2.

It’s a silly game, truly. It detaches itself from its predecessor with a cartoony artstyle, quirky dialogue and somewhat developed characters. Each of the nine playable classes is fleshed out in a series of, “Meet the…” videos released by Valve. These little nuggets of cinematic gold characterize each mercenary through an expert use of comedy, receiving further depth in the official Team Fortress 2 comic series for fans hard enough to the core to read through. However, this content was sparse and separate from the main game. Players who wanted to experience more stories involving these characters had to make some themselves.

Fanfiction is a very common aspect of any online community surrounding media. People will inevitably want more from products than its producers can produce. The one thing that set TF2’s fanbase apart from others is that Valve released a tool that allowed users to stage scenes using assets from all of Valve’s games: Source Filmmaker. Valve has famously stopped releasing accessible mainline entries in their franchises for a decade now, with Dota 2 in 2013 being their last non-spinoff/non-VR release. Their older releases still maintain a decently high level of popularity despite minimal updates. One of the main reasons they stay so loved is because of Source Filmmaker. SFM gave fans a creative outlet to contribute to their favorite Valve games when Valve themselves weren’t. These videos can be indistinguishable from the professionally made animations Valve produced if given enough time and effort.

Something happened to Team Fortress 2’s mercenaries as the fans took the creative reins from Valve. The same thing happened to many other IP’s, most famously Sonic the Hedgehog and Garfield. When an internet community puts their twist onto a neglected franchise, it usually turns out experimental. There are things that small internet communities can get away with that large publishers seeking the widest audience can’t risk. TF2’s characters took on insane personas that spoke in broken sentences edited together from their existing voice lines. For every SFM video there was, there were two Gary’s Mod videos with rougher animation and wilder content. These videos broke every law of physics that these characters should abide by for the sake of surreal, mildly horrific humor. Fans eventually stopped associating TF2 characters with their in-game personas, replaced with odd inside jokes like Sandvich, Spycrab and Surprise Buttsex.

As public perception of TF2 became altered by these niche YouTubers, the game itself underwent a bit of a crisis. Blizzard released Overwatch in 2016 as a much larger, more diverse Hero Shooter heavily inspired by Team Fortress 2. It had the cartoony artstyle, quirky dialogue and somewhat developed characters. Each character was fleshed out in video packages released by Blizzard and an Overwatch comic. Essentially, a much larger company just made a fresh game that represented more people that the company would pay more attention to than Valve had with Team Fortress 2 at that point. This revitalization of the Hero Shooter genre pushed other large developers like Respawn Entertainment and Riot Games to come out with their own. TF2 was seen as the old man game with all these young upstart series doing what TF2 did with a more effective understanding of the, “video games as a service,” trend that continues to dominate the market.

Players moved from TF2 to these alternatives over the next few years. This depopulation made two existing problems within the game worse: Bots and hackers. Bots made up such a large portion of the player base that #SaveTF2 went viral among fans wishing to combat the issue. Updates would come out tackling random exploits, but no progress on the bot issue was ever really made. These bots have been reported to spam hateful rhetoric including homophobic and racist slurs in game chat. Given how progressive Overwatch and its new wave of Hero Shooters presented themselves, these bots made TF2’s community seem like an even worse haven of bigotry. The hacker issue is mainly rooted in the Valve Anti-cheat (VAC.) It had been around since 2002, meaning that players had over a decade to figure out ways to get around its archaic system. Less players meant that a higher ratio of them were these hackers who dedicated too much time to learning how to mess with the game to leave now. TF2 seemed unplayable in comparison to the more well regulated alternatives throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s.

What seemed like the final nail in the coffin for TF2 was a source code leak that occurred in 2020. On top of all of the other factors pushing players out from TF2, it was revealed that simply playing the game could expose an unwitting player to malware. Team Fortress 2 became this wasteland of godlike cheaters among mindless zombies that worked together to attack people and invade their privacy, represented by twisted corruptions of the game’s original cast. All of the fun times that people had with the game years prior seemed to come to an end in a cataclysmic sequence of events worse than the last.

TF2’s reality was completely distorted. Players could look back at a golden age over a decade ago where these problems could barely be conceived of. The game could still be fun if you went through the effort of finding servers unaffected by its litany of issues. As established, this world is one that leaves people with little energy. Why waste time trying to find safe servers to play on when there are so many alternatives with modern solutions which avoid these problems? It comes back down to ease of access, which is very important to most of the working class laborers of the world.

This frustration, combined with the disruption of realism within the community’s fan-made content, inspired a group to action. There is a massive history known to millions of people, a history that ~100k people still partake in daily, which had never been put to art. It is only collectively archived in the minds of those who partake in the game’s legacy, be it playing the game itself or following the animators who made content for it long after Valve’s abandonment. These all collectively made up what people thought of TF2, but were never combined in a meaningful way. There was SFM/Garry’s Mod, then there was the game itself. This is what Fortress Films wanted to unify in their impressive passion project:

Emesis Blue

Emesis Blue is a fantastic representation of the progress fanmade media has made. People have been making their own video game content since before the internet gave it a worldwide platform. Players on old school cartridge based systems would tinker with their favorite games to create ROM hacks that completely changed its content. Sprites would be ripped by early 2000’s Newgrounds users who would create astounding animations with them. Even Valve chose to publish Gary’s Mod six years before they released Source Filmmaker because players could not stop themselves from trying to make their own content.

Not only does it show how far the quality of the tools has come, but it raises the bar for the artistry that these pieces are made with. Emesis Blue is art. Many people have claimed that it’s a cinematic masterpiece deserving to be played in theaters. As much credit as Emesis Blue deserves, it is the natural next step in a further industrializing YouTube. Channels continue to make longer and longer videos, providing aspiring filmmakers with a space to release passion projects that would never be picked up by sound of mind producers. YouTubers have to make the most emotional pieces that they can to stay afloat among the 500 other hours of content uploaded to the site every minute. This crushing amount is supposed to be compartmentalized by the YouTube algorithm, though many professional YouTube content creators have claimed that it is a wildly irrational system that cannot be tamed. In place of trying to master the system, the best channels master their craft.

Following the human desire to organize, a genre began developing among the most experimental of these art pieces. Fans produced content for their favorite franchises, some of which evolved to accommodate all the angst that came with being fans of these series. Sonic the Hedgehog has perhaps the most famous fan community of any video game in history for this reason. Many young artists growing up into a confusing world used Sonic as a tool to vent their frustrations. It often came out very cringeworthy, giving Sonic fans the reputation they have today. However, the outlandish behaviors of the Sonic community have been deconstructed through comics like Tails Gets Trolled and games like Sonic Dreams Collection. Despite not being official, fans used canon characters to provide a meta commentary on the original piece.

This occurred again with Garfield. Though most people wouldn’t consider themselves fans of Garfield, there was something to be said about the success it received. That little orange cat is perhaps one of the most recognizable characters globally. The lack of depth compared to its astounding success inspired observers to create pieces that commented on Garfield's indomitable presence and the shadow it cast over Jim Davis as a cartoonist. The characters of Garfield and John Arbuckle are featured prominently in fan works like Lasagna Cat and those posted in r/ImSorryJon. Yet again, artists used pre-existing characters to create a meta narrative of their source.

Three for three, Emesis Blue followed this trend for Team Fortress 2. The chaos occurring in TF2 during the production of Emesis Blue was captured in the aggressive non-linear pacing. The unnecessary brutality of bots was captured in the hyperviolence of the film's most gruesome moments and in the throngs of mindless zombie-like monsters that pursue the main cast. Many entities, such as the Medic, defy the laws of the world to gain an unfair advantage like the hackers that plagued servers. 2020’s source code leak could be felt when Scout’s home was invaded and the multiple unsolicited phone calls Blu team received. All the while, the game being abandoned for fresher titles inspired the decrepit look of the classic 2Fort map.

Emesis Blue captured TF2 fans' frustrations and insecurities through a surrealist psychological horror. It was an unofficial piece of brilliance that added lore to a game that had been mostly forgotten by the people who made it and departed fans. Emesis Blue has the supreme luck of being provided assets directly from the games to express feelings about its greater existence outside of just its canon. It is also significant as a milestone in a new medium that seems to be taking off. There will be many more projects inspired by it utilizing the same core principles. As such, these pieces must be compartmentalized into their own genre:

POSTMETA - Being composed of storytelling elements belonging to a medias canon, such as characters and settings, which produces a narrative which provides commentary to the reputation the source media has in reality

Emesis Blue obviously is not the first Postmeta piece, but it marks a point where a coincidence becomes a trend. These works are indicative of the place that media has in our lives. Passionately followed media are taken from the hands of neglectful producers by an online fan base too vast to stop. Where companies fail to provide, the people will make up for it. They will also use that opportunity to capture the reality of that product as it influences people's lives, not just providing more escapist fiction to be consumed mindlessly. As people have sacrificed their time and money to make art more prosperous, it is able to say more about the human condition. Even through something as silly as a cartoony Hero Shooter, Fortress Films is able to bring out emotions within us that spark questions about our society. There’s something beautiful to that.

A miraculous thing has happened with TF2 in 2023. Though its player base was slowly decreasing in numbers since the release of its competitors, only a few months after the release of Emesis Blue did Team Fortress 2 break its peak player count at 253,225 in June of 2023. In a combined effort with fellow enduring YouTubers like Uncle Dane and Elmaxo, Fortress Films helped to bring TF2 to a level of popularity far surpassing that of its golden age. As of the time this essay is being written, Emesis Blue itself has over 8.7 million views and TF2 averaged over 100k players throughout the entirety of 2023, almost twice the number of players in its darkest periods. Art resonates with people, and it inspires people to action. No matter what the source is, how abstract it becomes, or even how relevant the subject is anymore, there is something to be felt in every corner of the world. Art about art does not devalue it, but simply gives it a value we couldn’t rightly calculate in a world where that didn’t happen. And a video about a game almost 2 decades old got that sentence to be written. Watch Emesis Blue, play Team Fortress 2, and enjoy the new wave of Postmeta art that it and pieces like it will inspire.

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #emesis blue #essay #meta

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ac-liveblogs · 6 months

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Fontaine's worldbuilding is ... yeah, very confusing when you think about it. It really looks like it wants to have the cake & eat it too, it wants to tackle Serious Issues (child traffic + sexual exploitation) while also making sure that the players like the playable characters who is supposed to be responsible for this. This game's ability to believably write narrative consequences is practically non-existent to begin with but ... why ... to this extent, huh. I hope you enjoy FSR at least?

They're just too scared to commit to the bit. Sitting through Lyney raging about Wrio imprisoning his siblings while Wrio is just throwing up his hands like "hey it wasn't that bad I wasn't that mean also I was justified also this is your fault +L +ratio" is like. I'm sorry. How am I meant to feel about this character or this situation? At all? Bad that Wrio hit Lyney's trauma buttons by accident, I suppose, what an unfortunate situation?

Or the absolute incoherence of Neuvillette not being able to ask Wrio about anything to do with Meropide - even to prevent an international incident - so he has to send us to investigate, but also, he and Wrio are on very good terms and Wrio is absolutely fine letting him and his employee (Clorinde) enter the prison all the way to the Forbidden Zone... nonsense, it's absolute nonsense.

I'm sure you could rationalise it if you treated them like real people, but in fiction it muddles the message being conveyed to the reader when you keep having characters backtracking on the traits they are trying to establish a person or place as having - especially if you're doing it mere sentences apart, Neuvillette. Is Meropide completely unwilling to work with Fontaine No Matter What or not? Whatever makes Wrio look better at that exact moment in time, I guess?

I think the absolutely incoherent writing in and around the trials were still worse, but like. It reads as super insecure? They have absolutely no faith that people will like their characters enough to buy them if they're Not Good People, so they just aim for the lowest common denominator every time (Fatui excluded, but even then...).

I don't understand why people accept this. Genshin has managed to, via cowardice, gameplay limitations and incompetence, crafted the most boring cast I have ever seen. It's incredible that they make characters like Wriothesely, Collei, Cyno or Dottore boring.

Samurai Remnant is fun! A way denser game than I expected though, I'm taking my time with it. I hope they revisit this concept again, I think it's a good format for Holy Grail Wars.

#replies #ac plays genshin impact

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kyogre-blue · 1 year

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Nahida story quest is done. Special thanks to AC for sticking with me, I would have needed at least two weeks for it (if not two months) if we weren’t doing it in tandem.

Special shoutout to this story quest for having the most absolutely broken moral messaging so far.

The overall concept is super basic: NCPs who lost loved ones become obsessed with dreaming of the dead to escape their grief, and this can all be traced back to one dude who is using them for dream energy in order to power his lost loved one dream.

Since this is Genshin, the message toward why these people shouldn’t just keep dreaming and need to wake up is extremely muddled and poorly implemented, while also having jackall to do with any playable character, thus making it lack both impact and any meaningful characterization benefit. But the issue is actually that Nahida TWICE repeats that people need to stop doing this because, you see, they are harming others. They have families who are counting on them, they have jobs, they should be contributing to society!

“stop being selfish, you could be figuring out how to cure cancer if you’d just stop being emo, won’t you think of all the little cancer patients you could be saving??”

It’s SUCH a fucked up approach to people being so stricken by grief that they were directed to a mental illness specialist (because that’s why they were specifically targeted, and given that their grief is the only common point between them, that’s probably what they were getting treatment for). Nahida mixes in some other points too, but this is the direction she takes twice and what she uses to break them out of it when the antagonist gets everyone to turn against her. It’s her main thrust.

It really highlights that, not only are Genshin’s writers too inexperienced to convey messages, but they also just do not think about their messages at all. They really just do not give a shit and don’t know what deeper thinking is. This kind of story happens a lot in anime, so if they just ape it, it’ll be fine, right??

Additional points:

Nahida additionally suffers from this when she tells a dude who feels trapped by his difficult job that he should just decorate his hammer, so he’ll feel better about having no way out of the dead end capitalist hellscape he’s in :) She’s not meant to come across this stupid, but she really does seem to be utterly detached from basic thinking.

The writers make the entire team seem very stupid by just... never going beyond the absolute lowest denominator during the “strategy meetings” inside the dream. Given that everyone we encounter is suffering from losing a loved one, we can guess way early that the core of the dream is... someone who lost a loved one.

Traveler’s sibling is not used at all, which is just... Genshin, I guess.

Scaramouche 4shadowing.

#playing genshin

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slorpi · 5 months

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Summative Assessment Compulsory Question 3: Connect CTS A to your learning and professional journey

Design For Communication and Experiences, an all rounded course that tackles almost every aspect of design. The core modules presented to us are there to help further enhance our skills in every way. Expanding our skill set to help us navigate comfortably into the ever changing industry that is always evolving as time goes on. The professional journey ahead will be one of the many obstacles to overcome.

I would love to collaborate with Broadcast Media for one of the projects. Broadcast as a whole is a huge ever evolving industry and I've always had a soft spot for film & media, so collaborating with the Broadcast Media team will allow me to expand my horizons into media and allow me to showcase my take on what I feel like it’s appropriate and that is short films. It’s no secret that art & film has had a hand to hand relationship for decades with cinematography that’s groundbreaking or just jaw dropping. A few movies that I can proudly recommend are Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Blade Runner 2049. These movies have changed my perspective on how a story can be told without words but with just moving frames. It’s an artform in itself that speaks a lot to the audience and reveals the complicated mind of the cinematographer. I aim to inspire the eyes that are set on my film and remind them that actions do speak louder than words sometimes.

For my final project, I've thought about diving into the expanding community through interactive art. A living and playable art space that both children and adults can experience altogether. A mini playground in a sense that takes advantage of everything I've learned and transitions that into a space that’s full of colours, shapes and visuals that will inspire the generations to come. It will make use of the environment to symbolise that anything can be art and everything we see can be interacted. The topic title being “Venture Out” which I hope gets across the message that I'm trying to convey.

Graphic Design has always been at the top of the list of jobs that I'm deeply passionate about. I’ve worked in this industry before with different kinds of clients from all walks of life and have experienced all it has to offer. Graphic design is everywhere, you see it, feel it even down towards the small little typography on your instruction manuals. Posters excites, shop fronts invites and adverts create an opportunity/a window to pull you into their products and world without the need to imagine it yourself. It tells you so much by doing so little. That has always intrigued me as a designer, being able to get the point across with simplicity that is so beautiful in itself without over-simplifying aspects. CTS A has created an opening for me to improve on my craft and allowed me to take inspiration from others perfecting my style. This module has also taught and strengthened my confidence to work with others and dive into collaborative projects which will help on my path to get the desired job that I'm striving for.

To conclude, CTS A as a whole is used in every way. Down to the minor things, working its way up towards the bigger picture. Professional environment strives on these components CTS A has to offer to survive an ever growing industry.

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whitleydixon22 · 1 year

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freemake video converter audio out of sync

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kitorin · 2 years

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little drabbles based off lantern rite interactions

characters. xiao, ganyu, shenhe x reader (all separate) a/n. these aren't quest based, if you look around Liyue you can see and interact with some playable characters

work under the cut !!

xiao

As Liyue was busily preparing for the upcoming festival, you made your way to pay Pervases a visit, wanting to let the deceased yaksha know Liyue was getting ready for another beautiful, lively festival. On your way there you noticed a familiar figure, squinting, you noticed it was Xiao, you also had a message you wanted to convey to him"

"Xiao ! "

"Y/N"

Cold and collected like always, but a look of worry was on his face.

"Is everything alright?" Concerned, you tried to check up on him.

"The fireworks have warded off demons. Pervases, certainly would've been happy about that,"

Your heart sank, hearing about one of the yakshas, who were all gone except for Xiao himself. Before you could try to comfort him, he spoke again.

"You're here to try to convince me to go to Liyue Harbour, for the fireworks, aren't you?"

"Ahahaha, you got me there..." As if he read your mind, he perfectly predicted your goal, catching you off guard, "You should join us though, Keqing and others worked hard to set everything up,"

Xiao gazed up at the night sky, closing his eyes, exhaling, "I can see them from here, besides, I'm not one to enjoy human crowds. I don't really belong with them either.." The last few words were particularly quiet, as he mumbled them out shyly.

"If that's what you wish for, that's fine, but you're always welcome at Liyue Harbour," You grinned, trying to cheer him up, "You've done so much for Liyue, everyone would adore you, you've done so well,"

Xiao hastily turned away, covering the soft pink that was dusted on his cheeks, you giggled at this reaction, finding how flustered he was so adorable.

"C'mon, we can tell Pervases together, Wang Ping'an built his shrine down other there, he'll have enough incense,"

"Wait-"

You halted, curious about why he stopped you. Your head tilted in confusion.

"If it is with you, I do not mind going to the harbour. I cannot guarantee anything, but I'll do my best, since you asked"

ganyu

Exhausted, and panting, you finally made your way up Mt. Aocang, where Cloud Retainer resided. You had found another gadget that would've fascinated her, and decided to gift it to her for her service to Liyue. Sore and tired, you leaned on the side of the mountain, trying to catch your breath.

"Oh, Y/N, Happy Lantern Rite !! Are you alright?"

You recognised the sweet voice of the half adepti, making you grin, as you returned her wave.

"I hope you're doing alright, don't be like me, always worried... I was going to assist preparation in Yujing Terrace, but Lady Ningguang insisted I go on vacation, as it is a festival to connect with family and friends,"

"Seems great," You were happy Ganyu was finally taking a break, you were always worried about her overworking herself "Are you spending time with Cloud Retainer?"

Ganyu ruffled the hair on the back of her head, "Well, if I spent this vacation with Cloud Retainer, she'd soon ask me things like "How has your career been this year?" or "Any new crushes one should know about?"..."

"Ahhh I see... Anyways got a crush at the moment?"

"Ahh-" Blush bloomed on her face, flustered, she tried to speak, "What- Don't you start as well-!"

You kept playfully teasing her, "Ooh is it the Yuheng? Or maybe even Tianquan? Or-" Before you could list another title, Ganyu tightly wrapped her arms around you. You could feel how hot she was, and how her skin was burning.

"You. I like you..." Your eyes widened, "Besides your teasing... Being with you makes me happy, and how you let me get things off my chest, from the bottom of my heart, thank you"

shenhe

'Woah.." A gasp left your lips as your admired the beauty of the Harbour, all the dazzling decorations and bright lanterns, bringing back memories of the previous year's festival. You spotted Shenhe's tall and slim figure. As you made your way to her, she observed her surroundings.

"Shenheeee !"

"Liyue Harbour is brighter than Mt. Aocang at day..." She whispered under her breath, "I wasn't used to this at first, but I learnt this is how it looks every year. Afterall everyone smiles when Lantern Rite is talked about. Like this," Shenhe's lips curved into a grin, crimson eyeliner defining her eyes, with genuine happiness painted on her face.

Her smile made your heart warm, knowing how she's getting used to human life, "Yes, like that !"

"Will you be staying for good now, Y/N?" She returned to her usual stoic expression.

"Only for the festival, I have a lot of travelling to do," You replied, wishing you could stay with her.

Her smile returned, despite knowing you'd be leaving soon, "It was nice to see you,"

"I'll be back, don't worry," You reassured her, "I just have a lot to do, once that's over I'll be back, okay?"

"I believe you, but if only the Lantern Rite could continue indefinitely,"

#xiao x reader #shenhe x reader #ganyu x reader #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin fanfic #x reader #fluff #xiao #ganyu #shenhe #i loved the interactions with them ToT

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invertedfate · 2 years

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Hey, how come Mad Mew Mew gets handled the way she does? It's really odd to me. You make a great deal about Mettaton having a huge say in how his SPIRAL form was designed, how Papyrus was asking MTT every step of the way, and yet Mew Mew gets no say in what her body actually looks like? Undyne just drops in, says "this is you", and she goes "oh, okay". You don't just get *told* what gender you are.

I can see how it might feel imbalanced since more time was put into exploring Papyrus and MTT’s bond, but it certainly wasn’t my intention for Undyne to force a gender onto Mew Mew. Undyne had known her long enough to have picked up on the fact that she really liked Mew Mew Kissy Cutie and magical girls. I meant to convey this here:

Undyne was being empathetic here. It was meant to show that she was perceptive enough to realize that Mew Mew was hiding her more feminine inclinations. The way her expression shifts here was meant to convey that, shoot, Undyne saw through her. This whole time, she was trying to cling to this body specifically so she could train with Undyne, not because she LIKED it. Some of the dialogue in the playable version of the fight goes into more depth and we may include it when we do a video version of that fight.

There are other moments that hint at this, too:

She's projecting. Trying to mask that she LIKES cats. And she LIKES pink. While these chapters were released pre-UT switch, with the added context of the switch port, it became foreshadowing of her true interests and passions.

That's also shown here:

More hinting that she actually likes cats/catgirls.

And keep in mind, Mew Mew likes this body. She says it's perfect. That means Undyne was intuitive enough to know what her training dummy really wanted. They've known each other for a long time and trusted each other quite a bit. I didn't want to treat it as Undyne forcing a gender presentation on her, but rather knowing her well enough to understand and support her when she was too proud to open up about it before.

Undyne didn't want her to merge with a body she knew Mew Mew wouldn't be happy with, be it the Season Dudes or the dummy unit. And even then, if she DIDN'T like it, she could have left the body or told Undyne what to tweak.

But I tried to convey through her dialogue that this is what she wanted. She’s happy. She’s excited! She can finally express herself because the person she was trying to impress the most understands her better than she anticipated.

Even so, we do plan to add a bit more context for this in the playable fight remaster as a bonus unlock. We also have some Secret Pages about her that are from her POV that give a bit more insight into Mew Mew's feelings (the ones that involve cat sounds as their answers). Secret Pages are of course supplementary, but I bring this up because there just wasn't a lot of space in the main story to really handle this in more depth than the way I did here, with Undyne's dialogue and small context clues.

Still, I hope this clarifies because it was never my intention to paint a hurtful message about gender and transitioning here, or make it out that friends and loved ones have a say in how someone chooses to present their gender. The ONLY person with a say in gender is the person themself, and anyone who tries to actively dictate that is in the wrong, 100%. If I did make anyone uncomfortable, I do apologize, as while it wasn’t my intention, authorial intent doesn’t change how others interpret a work.

#asks #mad dummy #mad mew mew #undyne

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thewertsearch · 2 years

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If you're using the collection I think you might have unlocked some stuff from the time period which Andy was interacting with the Fandom.

I did indeed!

Most of the news posts are pre-Homestuck, but interesting nonetheless. A lot of it's just housekeeping - announcements about donation commands, thank-you messages to contributors, short hiatuses from the comic, etc, but there's also a lot of interesting stuff to highlight.

Turns out Problem Sleuth really was bigger than I thought, enough for it to have millions of hits and a sold-out merch store.

I'd been assuming that Homestuck was Hussie's big breakout comic. Maybe it was, but they had a pretty sizeable following before it ever started.

Really everything that's happened so far [by the end of Act 1] probably serves as more of a prologue than a first chapter.

Hussie talks a bit about Act 1 after it ended, saying that the entire thing is essentially a prologue to the comic proper.

This is definitely the impression I got. The whole Act is just an elaborate tutorial sequence for John, after all.

Glancing backwards, I can't help but monitor my progress. 55 days, 247 pages (with 295 images). That's a little more than 5 images per day, which is almost the exact pace I set with Problem Sleuth over the course of a year.

Their pace at this point was an astounding five pages per day.

This is an average which includes time spent making gifs and Flash animations, so I'm kind of losing it over this. Webcomics are notorious for the exact opposite of this update speed, and there must have been a lot of optimization behind the scenes to make it work.

It's especially impressive considering that they were only updating a couple of times a week back in the Bard Quest days. They seem to have found their rhythm in early 2008, because this is a hell of a jump in productivity.

John's shirt, which of course appears to be Slimer from Ghostbusters, is actually a depiction of an Asian knock-off of Slimer called the GREEN SLIME GHOST. Rose's shirt was once a depiction of a character from a fake cute cartoon show which I totally made up called "Squiddles!". She then went about defacing this shirt to make it look mean!

We get a bit of flavor on the kids' symbol shirts. This newspost predates Jade's introduction by several months, so we finally have an answer for where the name originally came from, which I was wondering about earlier.

A familiar refrain with pages like this I have found is something like: "Is that all? Can I do anything else? Can I kill the imp? Is there an objective I'm missing?" The answer is, what you see is what you get! These are not really fully functional mini-games with the sort of objectives you would expect to see from such things. They are partially interactive pages in a story, leaning on certian traditional elements of gameplay to convey the story-purpose of the page.

Bit of commentary here about the 'playable' pages. They're intended to be interactive cutscenes, rather than actual games. There isn't going to be any 'hidden' content, just obvious beats that progress the story in a format that looks like a videogame.

We get a hint that there's a secret in Jaspers' flash, which apparently is no longer clickable on the website version of this animation. This pretty much immediately destroys my assumption above that these things won't have any hidden content in them.

It's not any secret lore or anything, though, just a cute little animation giving us a look into Rose's head. She really is an animal lover, isn't she?

This archive link to a poll on what items John should have alchemized no longer works, which breaks my heart :'( I'll see about finding it later, I guess...

Anyway, I'll be back here later, when there's more to read.

Someone remind me to check out the Blogspot later, too. It looks super wordy, and I wanna get back to the comic!

#asks #homestuck liveblog #full liveblog #act 3

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gear-project · 3 years

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4Gamer Interview GUILTY GEAR STRIVE DEVELOPMENT INTERVIEW. "The Secret Story of the Development of the Trailer Movies, Opening Movie, and Story Mode."

Source: 4Gamer Translation: Yours Truly (Gear-Project)

Guilty Gear -Strive- (the fighting game) was released by ARC System Works on June 11th for PC/PS4/PS5/ARCADE. This is the latest work in the popular "Guilty Gear Series" of fighting games, which began with the original Guilty Gear in 1998.

Speaking of the Guilty Gear Series, it is a title that has been highly supported by Arcade Gamers for a long time as a fighting game where you can enjoy complex negotiation, but that is not the only degree of perfection by which a fighting game is evaluated. Video works with expressiveness that move in 3D graphics drawn in the style of 2D animation along with complex stories have been attracting a great deal of attention.

This time, 4Gamer asked the Production Staff including Mr. Daisuke Ishiwatari to tell the secret story of the development in the video portions such as the opening movie and story mode, aside from the "fighting game" parts of Guilty Gear -Strive-.

The Interview was divided in to two parts, the first concerning the opening movie with interviews from Art Directors Hidehiko Sakamura and Hiroshi Nagano, followed by the Story Mode itself with interview from Daisuke Ishiwatari and Hidehiko Sakamura.

In the Second Half, the Story Mode discussion tries to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but some discussion was included, so please be careful if you want to AVOID SPOILERS TO THE STORY MODE.

The Opening Featured in the Story as a Compilation of Works:

4Gamer [4G]: Thank you for your time today. In the first part, we will ask about the opening movie. It was released two days before the release date, but how was the response?

Hidehiko Sakamura [HS]: It was better than we imagined. Since the opening of the past series was only made according to the format of a fighting game, I think that the full animation like this time was fresh and more pleasing.

youtube

[4G]: The format of a fighting game is like introducing a full-body picture of a character and battle action. Why did you make it full animation this time?

[HS]: Nagano was particular about "I want to do full animation without including images of fighting games." I wanted to do the same thing myself, so I decided to adopt the full animation opening this time. All the videos are produced by Nagano alone.

Hiroshi "Ryo" Nagano [RN]: The story of the Guilty Gear Series is a popular title, and this time the story of Sol has come to an end, so the opening of the full animation featured the story as a culmination. I wanted to make it anyway.

[HS]: It's a big thing to break the story. I think I had a strong desire to take on the challenges that I had wanted to do but couldn't do, and to make a satisfactory break. Originally, all the staff like animation. It's true that there was something I longed for to make a video like this one, and I thought that the format of a fighting game (by itself) wouldn't look as good.

[4G]: It's an attempt you've never done before, but are there any parts that you were particular about in the overall composition of the opening?

[RN]: What I had in mind was the completeness of the story. I want to convey something like the connection between Sol and "That Man" from the Opening. I also think that Sol and Ky are the main characters in the series, so I was aware that the end of the video would emphasize Sol and Ky.

[HS]: As an Order from Ishiwatari, it doesn't have to be a fighting game, but there was an attractive cut for each character. After that, spoilers of the story were strictly prohibited, so I asked Nagano a lot of variations at the time of composition.

[RN]: There was also a point where I wanted you to make it closer to the image rather than making it a short movie that gathers the highlights of the story. Mr. Katano (Akira Katano), the Development Director, told me that there are a lot of non-playable characters involved (laughs).

[HS]: That was a difficult part (laughs). The fighting game part is the main part, but there are many characters that only appear in story mode.

[RN]: I really wanted to put out more, such as President Vernon (laughs). Also, in one particular part, the impression changes before and after watching Story Mode, I would like you to review the Opening after playing Story Mode!

[4G]: How long was the production schedule?

[RN]: It was about three months. Since I was left to myself, I couldn't do it, so I was very conscious of the parts I had to make in 3 months.

[4G]: Please tell us if you had any difficulties during production.

[RN]: I was always worried about whether I could make it within the period. I was so worried that I couldn't help until I could make about half of it.

[HS]: In a situation where I don't have time, I think it was quite reckless to leave it to one person to produce, but as for the animation part, quite a good number of things have come up from the beginning of production, so I myself was looking at it with a lot of peace of mind. I think Nagano had it hard.

[4G]: "Guilty Gear -Strive-" has been postponed once and changed from April 9th to June 11th. Which was the best time to make the opening movie?

[HS]: It was released in April. Composite* after video production. It also takes time, so we completed the video storyboard* at the beginning of the year and had it produced from January to March.

*Composite: Finishing multiple materials and clips in to one video.

*Video Storyboard: A moving storyboard. Script to check the flow of the entire video.

[4G]: Finally, please give a message to readers and players.

[Mr. Sakamura] Nagano has prepared the material in quite a few small parts, so I'd be happy if you could watch it while considering each cut.

[Mr. Nagano] As I mentioned earlier, the video has a different impression before and after watching the story mode, so I definitely want you to watch it again after playing. Actually, Ishiwatari's part also contains spoiler elements that are secret and difficult to understand, so please look for small spoilers after playing.

[The Reason for the Production of "GUILTY GEAR" was an encounter with "SFII".]

*Please note the following includes some spoilers in Story Mode.*

[4G]: Next is the part about Story Mode. From here, I would thank Mr. Ishiwatari and Mr. Sakamura. When I played all the way, I felt that there was a lot of volume. When did the development start?

Daisuke Ishiwatari [DI]: The first plot was published more than two years ago, so production started long ago. At that time, the content focused on more playable characters, but if it was left as it was, the content would be too bloated and the production would not be on time, so we decided to focus on the production.

[4G]: Were the playable characters decided when the first plot was released?

[DI]: It was almost solid, but some characters were fluid. The characters that were unofficially decided at that time may have been changed.

[4G]: Which production took longer, Story Mode or Fighting Game part?

[DI]: It takes time for each, but the fighting game part takes much more time. The story mode may be created by diverting the resources created for the fighting game.

Hidehiko Sakamura [HS]: I'm working on the back of the fighting game part little by little, but it's the end of the whole production that comes out. It feels like I'm working on a schedule at the very end.

[4G]: Is Mr. Ishiwatari in charge of the story part and the overall composition?

[DI]: Yes. First of all, I will put out a plot and check the volume and what material is needed by the staff. Not surprisingly, the plot stage is much larger than the retail version.

[HS]: As it is not the amount that can be produced as it is, it is the first job of the staff to ask Mr. Ishiwatari to cut it.

[4G]: Please tell us the story of the story part. What is the theme of the entire GUILTY GEAR Series?

[DI]: The Theme of "What is a Human being?" has remained unchanged since the time of the first GUILTY GEAR. From the GUILTY GEAR XRD Series, we are developing a story centered on Sol, but I was allowed to tell the outlook on life through the human eyes of Sol.

[4G]: The story of Sol is developed from GUILTY GEAR XRD, but in the GUILTY GEAR XX Series for Home use, a Story Mode was prepared for each character.

[DI]: Is it okay to say this? Actually, I haven't touched the GUILTY GEAR XX Series for home use at all. The company told me that they wanted to create a story mode when porting it to home use, but it was physically impossible to put the same story as what I had in mind, so I told them to stop.

[4G]: I didn't know that.

[DI]: However, the company asked me if I would like to have a port for home use... Then I told them that the story mode is good, but I'm not involved, so don't give a name.

[4G]: Then, was the story mode at that time lending only the (world) settings and letting them do the rest freely?

[DI]: No, I wasn't exposed to it at all. However, I dug it up (as reference) when developing the story from "GUILTY GEAR XRD". It's something that users play, and I thought it was dishonest to ignore the image and world view that got me here to continue as a continuation.

[4G]: The GUILTY GEAR XX Series was also a long-lived work, but wasn't there any talk about developing the story from Mr. Ishiwatari's thoughts at that time?

[DI] At that time, the main flow was to first develop an arcade version and then port it to home use, but behind the scenes of making home use, the development of the next arcade game is progressing. Was always the case. I didn't have enough time to develop the story.

[4G]: In this interview, I watch the story from "GUILTY GEAR XRD SIGN" to "GUILTY GEAR STRIVE" but I felt that the settings were well-crafted. When did the overall configuration and settings settle?

[DI]: The overall big flow hasn't changed since I first thought about it. However, the details are fluid, for example, it was decided that a character in the position of Ramlethal would appear, but it is different from saying that it was the current Ramlethal from the beginning.

[4G]: The whole "flow" was decided, and the rest was fleshed out.

[DI]: It was a little "too" fleshed out. Since the first generation, I had decided to make a trilogy, and at that time, Aliens were scheduled to appear at the End (laughs). As expected, it was outrageous, and the position of the "alien" changed to a character in the Backyard.

[4G]: That's an interesting change. In that case, wasn't there a Backyard Setting at that time?

[DI]: No, there was a Backyard setting itself. For the theorizing of Magic (as a concept). I needed to put out a character with a non-human perspective, and that was an "alien" at first.

[4G]: Are there any other major changes?

[DI]: Of course there are many things, but I can't talk about them. At least at the time of this work, the role and casting of each character has changed considerably. I have another (separate) character "do" what I tried to do with one character.

[4G]: For example, I think Axl is a very important character in the story, but was the role of Axl decided since the first generation?

[DI]: Axl Low hasn't changed since the very beginning. Also, in the early days, it was not decided that I-No would appear, but I was thinking of releasing a character with the same framework as Axl Low.

[4G]: Then when I-No first appeared in GUILTY GEAR XX, the settings had already been set.

[DI]: That's right.

[4G]: When I followed the story, I often found unexpected facts, and I wondered how far Mr. Ishiwatari was thinking from the beginning.

[DI]: There are quite a lot of retroactive settings, though. Especially the settings of the small parts have changed considerably. Jack-O' for example, wasn't initially supposed to be a "character."

[4G]: Jack-O'Valentine appeared in "GUILTY GEAR XRD REVELATOR" but when was the setting completed?

[DI]: I don't remember the detailed timing, but I think that the Backyard setting was fixed around when GUILTY GEAR 2 OVERTURE was produced.

[HS]: When I first saw Jack-O's design, I never thought it would be a heroine position character (laughs).

[4G]: In the first place, when did Mr. Ishiwatari think about setting up a game called GUILTY GEAR?

[DI] It was when I was still a professional student that I came up with the specific settings. I decided to make a fighting game because of my encounter with "Street Fighter II", but I think that about half the settings I thought about at that time were incorporated in to the original GUILTY GEAR.

[4G]: The opportunity was your encounter with "SFII".

[DI]: "Street Fighter II" was a revolutionary game for me. Speaking of which, "Ishiwatari Version Strike II" ("Ishiwatari-ban Suto II" the provisional name) is "GUILTY GEAR". At the time, I liked fantasy manga comics such as "BASTARD!!", and under the influence of them, I incorporated a story-like world view into the fighting game.

[Being able to Draw a Story becomes One Property]

4Gamer [4G]: In this work, the production side has been changed considerably compared to the story mode of the GUILTY GEAR XRD Series. What are the points you would like us to pay particular attention to?

Daisuke Ishiwatari [DI] First of all, in the case of GUILTY GEAR XRD, the big concept was to create a 3D image that looks like a 2D animation. This time it changed to make a movie-like image.

Mr. Sakamura [HS]: This is very difficult, so what makes a movie? What is the movie-likeness that Ishiwatari is looking for? At the beginning of the production, everything was groping.

[DI]: I didn't show the staff what it was like to be a movie. Therefore, at first I thought that I was quite stray, but one day I suddenly found the answer, and Sakamura awakened. From there, it was finished in a movie-like image all at once.

[4G]: Were any of the staff involved in filmmaking in the past?

[HS]: It wasn't there at all. In the first place, even with GUILTY GEAR XRD, I made something that looks like a 2D animation with 3D images, but no one was from the animation industry. We always imitate the appearance and continue to produce with a spirt of familiarity rather than learning.

[4G]: Just listening to the story tells you how difficult it is. By the way, why did you decide to pursue a movie-like character this time?

[DI]: I thought that if we evolved from GUILTY GEAR XRD, it would be similar to "DRAGON BALL FIGHTERZ" and "GRANBLUE FANTASY VERSUS". That may not give you a new surprise. Then it would be a movie.

[4G]: A Trailer that introduced a part of the story was released before the release, but at that time I heard a voice that it was like a movie.

youtube

[DI]: If you have been involved in production for a long time, you may not be able to judge for yourself whether you have something you want delivered to users, but I was relieved to hear such a voice. Also, I don't usually think so much, but this time when I completed and reviewed everything, I thought "I did my best", so I felt a response.

[4G]: Please tells us if you had any difficulties during production or small stories.

[DI]: I don't have a hard time talking (laughs).

[HS]: I think the hardest part was having to create a fighting game part and a story mode at the same time. Normally, I was able to focus on the fighting game part for arcade version first. Also, this time it was a culmination, so the latter half o the story was difficult with only action scenes.

[DI]: Certainly in GUILTY GEAR XRD (Sign), the focus was on conversational plays (talking heads dialogue), and at the end there was little action.

[4G]: This time it's set in the United States. Is there any reason for this?

[DI]: There is no deep reason, but first of all, Sol's birthplace is the United States. And sometimes I didn't want the stage to be the same every time. Also, it was decided at the time of the After Story of GUILTY GEAR XRD REV2 that the stage would be in the United States.

[4G]: It used to be a Western-style or Fantasy-Style world view, but I was surprised to see that it was suddenly become a modern American painting.

[DI]: At the beginning, there was an impressive scene in which the streets of the United States were drawn, but in reality, that scene was planned to draw a wider range. However, it was reduced because it was too heavy.

[4G]: Please tell us if you have any favorite scenes or productions.

[DI]: At the end, there is a scene where everyone fights with I-No. It's not a scene where I can cry, but when I first saw it, tears came out on their own. That's the one that left the most impression on me. I never felt like this when I'd been making games, but I've been trying my best to support everyone.

[HS]: I also have a great feeling for the last battle. In other scenes, there is a scene where Sol and Jack-O' run on a motorcycle at the beginning, but I think that Jack-O's cuteness at that time is considerable (laugh). It's also cute to sit in the sidecar.

[DI]: The only thing that left an impression on me was the action scene. I didn't know what kind of image it will be until it actually comes up, but I was surprised that the images that came up were beyond my imagination.

[HS]: We don't prepare storyboards* for production. I make it only with a script.

*Storyboards: A script for shooting movies and TV, instructions such as dialogue and actions are written for each cut.

[4G]: Conte has not been prepared since GUILTY GEAR XRD.

[HS]: In GUILTY GEAR XRD, we prepared only some cutscenes. I didn't prepare it at all after it became this work.

[DI]: We only get together and have meetings about important scenes.

[4G]: Do you have any favorite parts in terms of production?

[DI]: The goal was to make the conversation drama look like a movie as a whole. It feels like the conversation continues with a series of short words, rather than an explanation tone. I think I was able to create that kind of atmosphere overall in this work.

[4G]: This is the end of Sol's story. What kind of character is Sol for the production team?

[DI]: First of all, he's simply the main character. From the time I started making GUILTY GEAR, I decided to draw a humanity and outlook on life that can only be talked about by a free-spirited person named Sol. I feel that I am thankful for the time being because his thoughts have come to fruition in this work. Being able to face myself through the story was a very valuable experience.

[HS]: Sols' first image was a character that didn't reveal his emotions, but in the stories after GUILTY GEAR XRD, I think that humanity has come out very much, and I'm attached to it. He's a cute guy (laughs).

[4G]: Certainly, I feel that Sol's personality has changed considerably from the past.

[DI] It's not like a human being that the personality remains the same as the story and the times progress. As he interacts with various people, Sol also regains his humanity. I needed a background to answer the question, "What is a human being?"

[4G]: The story of GUILTY GEAR that started in 1998 has been completed. Finally, please tell us your current feelings.

[DI]: Anyway, I feel relieved for 20 years because I was able to draw the story to the end. Being able to finish what I started was very valuable to me and became a great asset. However, this time I focused too much on Sol. The challenge remained that we couldn't express what more users would have wanted to see.

[4G]: What are your thoughts on Future developments?

[DI]: Of course, I'm thinking about various things, but since I'm a good age, I may not be able to do it at the top of a project of the same scale in the future. Please look forward to the new style fo GUILTY GEAR and new IP.

4Gamer: Thank you for your time today.

#GG Interviews #ARC System Works #Daisuke Ishiwatari #Hiroshi Nagano #Hidehiko Sakamura #4Gamer

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tainbocuailnge · 4 years

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Couldn't be there for the stream, but congrats on finishing Nier. What did you think of it? And what game will you play next? (Maybe you already answered somewhere, if so sorry for being redundant.)

in terms of style and aesthetic the game is absolutely gorgeous. definitely one of its strongest points is the ways it uses design to reinforce its themes and provide subtle worldbuilding. the example freshest in my memory is how different hacking a2 looks from hacking anything else because she’s such an old model, but also the way the vivid colors of the regular overworld contrast with the grayscale of the bunker or the white cubes of that city where you fight adam/the tower cannon, or 9s’ fucked up memories of 2b in C and D routes using the same attacks as adam and eve’s bossfights in A and B routes. the game really leans into the strong contrast between vibrant organic shapes and washed out mechanical shapes, from the very start with the overgrown buildings of the city but also the difference between the detailed & colorful regular interface and the hacking segments consisting of straight lines & muted browns, and it will reverse that distinction at key moments to make a point. switching between different styles of video game (like the visual novel sections) is a really neat way to control the pacing of the story too

conversely i think a lot of the game’s actual playability was sacrificed for the aesthetic. hacking is really cool as concept and visually i adore the way it’s implemented but in terms of gameplay it fucking sucks. not only does it throw off the whole flow of combat but the actual gameplay of the hacking segments themselves is just frustrating as hell because it wants you to hack stronger enemies instead of fight them with 9s’ weak noodle arms but then makes specifically the stronger enemies a huge pain to hack, and if you fail at hacking you take damage anyway so in the end it’s still easier to just fight directly. stuff like the emp’s being able to seal your combat abilities or fuck up your visual processors also makes sense and enriches the game storywise, but is a huge fucking pain in the ass to deal with as someone Playing A Video Game because it means you just have to run the fuck away until the effect has worn off. switching between 9s and a2′s individual bossfights in the tower, too, is very cool conceptually but ended up being super annoying in practise because like the hacking it just disrupts the flow of combat (it was very cool when they were fighting the same enemy though)

i also feel like a lot of the fights just took way too damn long. this one might be on me since I didn’t do a lot of sidequests and thus was underleveled, but it felt like a lot of the combat was intentionally stretched out in order to pad out the game’s length. honestly i think i have a case here even with being underleveled because having to do the sidequests in order to even be strong enough to progress the main story at a reasonable pace is very much padding out the game’s length. even though it took me several dozen hours to complete the main story it still feels pretty short to me because so much of that was just dragged out bossfights. bloodborne definitely spoilt me on this point because in that one once you figure out a boss youre Done, you prove you know how to deal with it and you perform the Trick a few times and then you’re done with it but every Phucking nier automata boss was just endlessly whaling on some annoying mother fucker while i’m thinking bro just show me the next story section already. and then every other bossfight they dump lore on you WHILE you’re trying not to die and i hate that too dude i can’t fucking read and fight at the same time Don’t Call For A Meeting You Son Of A Bitch This Could Have Been A Cutscene

STORYWISE. storywise. honestly I need to rewatch some cutscenes before i can form a Real In-Depth Informed Opinion cuz we spent so much of the stream joking about horsecock that i didn’t pay enough attention to perform my true analysis no jutsu. what you’re about to read is subject to change. looking at just the progression of events in nier tomato there’s some things I don’t really understand why they happened other than ‘themes, bro’ which is not necessarily a complaint mind you because im a fate fan after all but its. hmm how do i say this. i feel like yoko taro is very much a Conceptual Writer. he’s got a strong idea of the kind of message and themes he wants to convey and then he constructs a story around that idea, but because it’s all so thematically driven the actual logistics of the story end up falling behind, like with all the above bitching about the gameplay suffering for the aesthetic. a lot of time i was like ‘no idea who i am no idea why im here all i know is im sad’ if you’re the kind of person who needs [ending EXPLAINED] videos then tomato is probably an incomprehensible robot ass simulator. speaking of robot ass I think it’s super cool that they just fuckin killed 2b actually because I absolutely did not expect that, it really puts a hard line between AB and CD routes.

it’s a very bittersweet game.... it asks “is there meaning in wanting to live when there is nothing left to live for?” and “is there meaning in wanting to protect something when there is nothing left of it to protect?” and answers with “if you want there to be, yeah” it’s about being able to die with hope in your heart as ultimate definition of humanity

ultimately it’s a very beautiful game both in visuals and emotionally and I’d recommend it to anyone whose tastes even vaguely align with mine but I don’t think I’m ever gonna actually replay it. look up story compilations on youtube at most. and it’s really such a shame because I think the way the gameplay is integrated in the story is fantastic from a thematic standpoint but it comes at the expense of the enjoyability of that gameplay so even though this is very much a Video Game Story it’s a hassle to actually consume it in video game format. [yoko taro voice] you WILL be sad about these robots and you WILL work for it

#king of asks #fefeman

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reliciron · 5 years

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SWTOR Nautolan Headcanons

So is everyone as psyched about Nautolans being a playable race as I am?

No?

Well too bad, here's a bunch of biology headcanons I made because there is barely any canon stuff and I like trying to figure these things out.

(I am not a biologist, I just really enjoy learning about animals. I did my best not to stray too far from real life traits, but I did do a lot of picking and choosing from different species, so if someone knows this stuff and it sounds completely impossible, your thoughts would be appreciated.)

Sex, Sex Characteristics, and Reproduction

Since this is Star Wars and they're humanoid, I'm just going to assume they reproduce sexually, with internal fertilization. And since, I've never seen a fish or amphibian swimming around with their junk out, I'm pretty sure males keep the family jewels inside until it's party time.

Also, no boobs. I don't care that Nautolan ladies are always depicted with boobs. You ever see a frog with boobs? No, you haven't, and if they lay eggs there is literally no need for them. So I'm gonna say that, just like how Twi'lek ladies sometimes get eyebrows tattooed on to fit in, Nautolan ladies sometimes get breast implants to fit in (I'm not saying that changing yourself that drastically just to be more accepted by the wider galaxy is a healthy thing, only that it happens and it's their choice).

Canon says they're amphibians, so basic stuff applies: they lay shell-less eggs in water. Females lay eggs into a specially made pool, preferably from their home world, Glee Anselm, or into a synthetic, permeable sack if underwater. Egg clutches are between 2-4, but most of the time, only 1 or 2 actually hatch into tadpoles. "Gestation" is about as long as a human, but broken into 3 steps: 3 months from fertilization to egg laying, 3 months from egg to tadpole, and 3 months from tadpole to fully formed Nautolan child. During the entire 9 months, the young must stay submerged. Once fully formed, the child is at a similar level of physical and mental development as a human toddler and the parents begin introducing them to life on land.

General Biology

Canon also says that they are as much at home on land as they are in water so I'm guessing that they have more in common with toads than frogs/ salamanders. Toad skin is warty because of granular glands that produce bad tasting compounds, which Nautolans don't seem to have, so I'm going with dry, smooth skin, that's kind of loose and fairly thin.

Like toads, they can last pretty long outside of water, even longer if they drink a lot, but they will eventually have to soak in it or face severe dehydration. Their skin is highly sensitive to chemicals, and they can easily become ill if they swim in tainted water. It is because of their need for large quantities of reliable, clean water and a safe place to soak, that few Nautolans venture out from their home world for long.

Nautolans are omnivores, so they have a mix of slicing and crushing teeth. Their incisors are flattened, like humans, but much sharper and slightly pointed to better grip and cut into their food. Their back teeth are very broad and rounded, similar to bottom dwelling animals that feed on shellfish.

Their skeletons are mostly made of hardened cartilage, strong enough to support them on land, but light and flexible enough to let them chase fish through the twisting reef tunnels of their home.

The nails on their fingers and toes are short and narrow, forming little claws that help in catching slippery prey. Most Nautolans that travel the galaxy file them down into nubs to keep from accidentally scratching people and to let them wear gloves without ruining the fingertips. Webbing between the digits and at the armpits is common, but varies wildly in thickness.

Nautolan vocal chords are particularly well adapted to making sound at both the high and low ends of the spectrum, with a heavy emphasis on holding a resonating tone. The language that most other species know as their native tongue is actually only used on land and for short distance communication, their version of an "inside voice". The secondary language is a sort of short hand and is used underwater over long distances. It can only convey simple messages, but the low rumbles and clicks can carry for miles. The oceans of Glee Anselm are full of these calls, and the few Nautolans who swim in alien waters are often disturbed by how "quiet" it is.

Sensory Biology

Canon says their head tentacles are highly sensitive and could "detect chemical signatures, effectively analyzing others' emotions". The closest analog we have in real life are the barbels on certain fish that help them feel and taste for food in sand and murky water. These barbels are not prehensile, but they can be waved around by tiny muscles attached to the base. Nautolans can do the same. When underwater, they can swish their tentacles around independently to "taste" for chemicals/ pheromones. However, when on land, under the full weight of their tentacles, these muscles are not strong enough to move them around. At best, you might see them twitch slightly where they join the skull. (these tiny movements are a common way to tell when a Nautolan is unsure or curious, and a large reason why they often make horrible card players).

Their large, dark eyes are obviously adapted to low light, so most either avoid bright areas, or constantly wear dark goggles to protect themselves. Harsh light leads to temporary blindness, and severe headaches, and long term exposure can cause cataracts and permanent blindness.

Their sense of smell is average, but their hearing is fairly good. Like in whales, the internal structure of their ears are adapted to hearing underwater, and the much smaller, semi-circular canals in their inner ears prevent them from getting dizzy. This ability that evolved to let them twist and spin after prey, makes them natural fighter pilots and acrobats.

#swtor #swtor onslaught #nautolan #alien biology #biology headcanons #relicwrites

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elijah-cornejo · 4 years

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“What aspect of video game storytelling could be improved?”

May 26, 2020

Regarding the question brought up during yesterday’s lecture, I think it is quite difficult to pinpoint an aspect of storytelling in video games that could use improvement since narration in video games has evolved rapidly ever since the early days of Donkey Kong and Pac-Man. Thousands of different video games and video game franchises have been developed, many of which follow one story with the same events occurring through every playthrough, and others which provide the player with the ability to alter its ending depending on the choices they make throughout the progression of the game. Some games even have the ability to remember every action you have done throughout the history of your interaction with it. For example, Undertale is a hit game where the message conveyed is to make peace with your enemies. If you do a playthrough of the game where every single enemy is spared their lives right after a run where you killed the same characters, the visual audio cues of the game at the very end give you a hint that you wouldn’t be forgiven. In the ending photo, there would be “X”s on the faces of those you killed on the previous run, which would not be there had you spared at least one of them during your first playthrough.

Perhaps one thing that could be improved is personalization. So far, in games such as Saints Row, Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto, character creation gives the player the opportunity to customize their physical appearance within the game to their liking. Sometimes, they would be shown interacting with non-player characters throughout the cutscenes.

Nintendo’s “Mii”s do a similar thing with a variety of Nintendo games, such as Wii Sports, Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers. Despite how far gaming has gotten in terms of physical personalization to create a much more immersive experience, I have yet to come across a game where the non-player characters are able to directly say the player’s name, which is often also customizable but only through text in heads-up displays and account settings screens.

I think that the addition of customizable audio cues would further enhance the immersion in future games. As of late, there only seems to be general terms such as “our friend”, “me”, “you”, “the hero”, etc. by characters when referring to the protagonist in-game. It has appeared to be too difficult or expensive to get the non-playable characters to say spliced phrases or words without sounding similar to a cheap text-to-speech program, which would put them out of character. Some ESRB ratings would prevent this due to the possibility of child-inappropriate phrases being entered.

Despite this, I believe that it would be much sooner than later where we get to see audio and character voice personalization in games. I recently found out about a free online program, on the website fifteen.ai, where one could get a popular character, such as Spongebob Squarepants or the Soldier from Team Fortress 2, to say anything inputted in a text box with the use of advanced audio-splicing technology. What makes this significantly more different than regular text-to-speech programs is the fact that people can choose the type of expression the character is conveying, such as neutral, happy, angry, or crazy. The application shows that the ability for artificial intelligence to create custom sound clips that sound as natural as the voice actor themselves is within our reach, and that we will eventually see cutscenes in video games where we would not only see a visual representation of ourselves, but hear ourselves in conversations between other characters as well, making us feel like we are actually in the game.

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tawannabaume2-blog · 5 years

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three Methods To Change A Midi File To A Wav Or MP3 File

2.2 Convert MP3 to MIDI Online with Convert Cat If you want to convert MP3 to MIDI online, Convert Cat is also a sensible choice. If you happen to don't wish to obtain and install any third-get together desktop-based software program, attempt the net-based mostly MP3 to MIDI online conversion, for example, Bear File Converter. Step 2: Click on Choose File option and add the file audio you want to convert. Bear File Converter - On-line & Free. Bear file converter is the best in business on-line software and it's free to use. It is extremely easy to get your MP3 file transformed to MIDI using this on-line software. Choose the MIDI file that you need to convert. We didn't discover outcomes for: How To Convert Midi File To Mp3 Or Wav?. Attempt the solutions below or sort a new query above. Observe Begin > All Packages > DVDVideoSoft > Programs > Free Audio CD to MP3 Converter or just click on the DVDVideoSoft Free Studio icon on the desktop. The interface may be very simple and self explaining. There is a subject for audio tracks, a discipline for an output path and the Convert button. Step 3. When the observe is loaded, click on the "Convert" button. Changing CDA recordsdata Will Home windows Media Player convert CDA information to MP3 files? I used a converter software that I thought did it but after I went to play it in my car cd participant it wouldn't work even though they play on my LAPTOP. OneRepublic - Oh My My 2016 mp3 complet Apexy MP3GAIN to MP3features: Youtube to MP3MP3 from YouTube Video FLV to MP3 extract MP3 from sparkle video get hold of MP3 from YouTube Video to MP3 converter Convert youtube to mp3 on-line MP3 converter Welcome to good day,After a really long time we decided to convey back in enterprise. Click on button "Convert" to start out upload your file. Use Our Converter mp3 from YouTube On Any OS. Be happy to make use of our YouTube MP3 converter on any operating system. Whether you will have Linux, MacOS, or Windows, you'll be able to simply convert your favourite videos from YouTube into the most popular codecs with our MP3 converter. Convert MP3 to iTunes Step. Click on "Music" underneath "Library" on the left portion of iTunes. All the songs inside iTunes, including the file that you simply added to iTunes in Part 1, will seem. Step. Scroll by means of the iTunes songs until you find the MP3 you need to convert to iTunes. MIDI Converter Studio helps to convert message-recordsdata into real music. The resulting information you'll be able to take anywhere you want (load into your MP3 participant, for instance), and they'll sound exactly the same. Step three:В Click вЂњConvert buttonвЂќ to vary the file format. Then, Convert Cat will send an e-mail to the actual id, and you can tap the download link to get entry to the transformed MIDI file format. Step 4:В Discover the вЂњFormatвЂќ discipline and tap on drop-down menu. Select вЂњOther uncompressed recordsвЂќ as the output file sort. Tap the вЂњOptionвЂќ button to at least one side of this area. Select the MIDI output type and click on вЂњOk,вЂќ now click вЂњSaveвЂќ to start toВ convert the MP3 to MIDIВ file. The transformed file will save within the Audacity folder. VideoSolo Free Video Converter is an environment friendly and dependable video and audio converter. Though here you can not convert MP3 into MIDI, it may well convert a file to many other codecs. For example, you can convert MP3 to M4R for making iPhone ringtone. What's more, after converting MP3 recordsdata to other codecs akin to AAC, AC3, AIFF, AMR, M4A, ALAC, and so on, you'll be able to play your songs. MP3 (.mp3) is commonly used as the audio format since it is supported by most of the gadgets and players. Regardless of that, there are some flaws which is why MP3 isn't the right audio format. It removes some unneeded components from audio information and likewise reduces the accuracy of the sound so as to compress the file measurement. Hence, to listen to raised music, MP3 can be converted to MIDI. Output Formats: MP3, WAV, WMA, M4A, AAC, FLAC, AC3, AIFF, M4R, M4B, AU, APE, OGG, MKA As soon as the information have been transformed, you'll be able to obtain them individually or collectively in a ZIP file There's also an possibility to save them to your Dropbox account. Bear File Converter is a free midi to mp3 converter and helpful on-line audio converter, which can assist you change WAV, OGG, WMA, MP3 and more stream audio to MIDI file. And the output MIDI audio might be playable in Audacity or sport software program.

In its pages, they have audio lecture files in mp3 format and slide footage. I wish to convert these information into one video. Since it's not a photograph album with music, good timing may be very crucial. I've yet to find a software program to do this. Powerpoint does have a record function, but that does not assist when you already have the audio. Please assist me.

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esmeiolanthe · 5 years

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Spy Challenge rules

I’ve made up a challenge, because making up challenges is fun. It has to do with spies, because spies are cool. The rules are pretty hefty, because I like making lists and challenge rules are all about lists. You can read the rules below the cut or at my Dreamwidth.

The challenge is to play a successful spy. There are a few Dos, a few Don’ts, and lots of flavor.

Max Body skill (Spies need to be able to climb things, swim away from things, ski down mountains after jumping out of airplanes, and fight big thugs with metal teeth – or at least James Bond does in the movies…)

Max Logic skill (Spies need to know how to figure things out from little hints and scraps of information, and know what information is important and what isn’t)

Max Charisma skill (Spies often have to recruit others to find things out for them, so they need to be charming)

If your sim was a playable with a family, you have two options.

1. Easy Mode: You can have contact with your family as normal – unless your cover is blown

2. Hard Mode: You can have contact with one relative of your choice, once per week +200 points for voluntarily completing the challenge on Hard Mode

DON’T

Do NOT take a job in the Intelligence career, if it’s available in your game set up (Successful spies don’t go around saying “Hi, I’m a spy!”)

Do NOT use strawberry juice (If someone gets mad at a spy and somehow blows their cover, their life is on the line, after all)

FLAVOR SKILLS

Spies have lots of skills they need to know. I freely admit that I picked up a lot of these from a BBC reality show called Spy that came out in the early 2000s. I’ll list the skill and then how to incorporate it into your game.

Go gray/Go undercover: Spies need to be able to blend in with everyone else and not stand out in any way at all. Get a job in any career (except Intelligence), but make sure you do NOT pass Level 5. If you pass Level 5, your cover is blown. You may not ignore chance cards.

Withstand torture: Spies need to be able to keep their heads at all times, even under adverse conditions. Keep your sim with all meters in orange/red for at least 24 hours without any critical failures or death. “Critical failures” are the Shrink, the Social Bunny, or any of the Aspiration desperation actions. If your sim wets their pants, that’s okay – just have them drink three glasses of water right away afterwards. +15 for every time you complete this. You can only choose to do this once. It may trigger additional times based on other circumstances.

Talk their way into someone’s home: Spies need to be personable and able to talk their way into places. Build a relationship with another sim such that they invite you to a community lot/on a date. When you get the invitation, accept it, and have the outing/date be at least a Good Time if not better. Bonus points if this sim is a townie or a safe NPC. +5 for every time you complete this.

Follow someone: Spies need to be able to follow people without being caught. Go to from one community lot to another and see the same sim 5 times in a row. (This is somewhat random due to game mechanisms, but theoretically possible.) +20 for every time you accomplish this.

Get someone to do iffy things for them: The first step for a spy to recruit an informant is to get them to do something a little bit iffy but not actually illegal. If that works, they ask for a bit more and a bit more and all of a sudden, the spy has another unwitting spy working for them. Use Influence 5 times in a row without being rejected. Refusal to perform the task resets the counter to 0 and means that you can never try Influence on that particular sim again. Bonus points if you manage this on 5 different people. +5 for every time you complete this. +25 bonus points for completing this with 5 different people.

Be good at languages: Spies need to be able to talk to people from other countries. In some cases, they even need to pass as people from other countries. Travel to all three vacation destinations and learn the vacation greetings. Do not stay at expensive hotels, and do not stay a long time, as both of these will make your sim stand out. +10 for every vacation destination greeting mastered.

Evade pursuers: Spies need to be able to get away when an enemy is following or actively chasing them. Learn to teleport, either from the ninja or from meditation once your Logic skill gets high enough. +10 for learning via meditation, +20 for learning from the ninja. You can only learn to teleport via one method, not both.

Have covert contacts with allies, informers, double agents, and so forth: Sometimes spies need to meet with contacts that they can’t really be seen with, so these meetings need to be brief, casual, and apparently accidental. In Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman stated that this was usually done by feeding the ducks, but there aren’t any ducks to feed in TS2. Fish in public and chat with other sims fishing. +5 per event.

Romance/seduce people: Spies sometimes have to use their sex appeal to get information from the enemy. Get Mr. Big/The Diva to fall in love with you. Bonus points if the love is one-sided (them to you only). Double bonus points if the one you seduce is the one that’s opposite your autonomous gender preference. +50 for successful completion. +25 for a one-sided love. +50 for a successful romance with the opposite of your autonomous gender preference.

Take covert pictures/plant cameras: Spies often need to get footage of an enemy doing something, or need to photograph important documents. Take pictures on four separate, busy community lots without having any other sims looking in your direction when you take the picture. If you do not have Bon Voyage, see if you can figure out a way to use the University career reward. +15 for every time you manage this.

Send hidden messages in innocuous things: Spies sometimes send messages in otherwise ordinary items rather than on secret thumb drives or microdots or similar. (For instance, sending a contact a perfectly ordinary book where the message is conveyed by the book chosen.) Paint a picture or write a novel. The painting cannot be a masterpiece, and the novel cannot be a best-seller, since this will make your sim stand out. +10 for every time you complete this.

Drive well: As anyone who has ever watched a spy movie knows, car chases are inevitable. Buy a car, install an alarm, and “Go for a spin” 3 times a week to practice driving – and to learn the lay of the land. +10 at the end of the challenge if you have completed this faithfully. If you have not completed it faithfully, -10 points.

Hack into systems: Spies often need to get into protected databases. Have a LAN party 2 times a week and chat online 3 times a week. +10 at the end of the challenge if you have completed this faithfully. If you have not completed it faithfully, -10 points.

Courier items from one place to another: Spies often need to transport secret documents, packages, or messages. (Fun Fact: Josephine Baker once smuggled important documents past an enemy checkpoint in her underwear.) Take something from one lot to another lot and leave it at the second lot. The second lot must be a community lot. You can hand the item off to a secret contact identified with the appropriate code phrase (see below). Bonus points if you somehow manage to leave the item on a community lot without handing it off to a contact. Extra bonus points if the item in question didn’t belong to your sim in the first place – for example, a gnome stolen from a different sim’s house. +10 for each successful courier mission. +20 if you manage to leave the couriered item on a community lot without handing it off to a contact. +10 if the item in question didn’t belong to you in the first place.

Use code phrases: Spies often have to identify allies they have never met to get help in difficult or emergency situations. To be sure that you are working with an ally, first pick an area of Interest. There are 18 of these in TS2. Each area of Interest has 5 icons that represent it. For example, for Sci-Fi, the icons are rocket ship, astronaut, robot, planet, gray alien. (You can find a full list here: http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Interest) Before you go to a meeting, pick a sequence of icons. This sequence can be as few as two icons, or as many as you like. (The higher the number, the more unlikely it is that you be able to use it.) When you arrive at the meeting, go up to the sim you think might be your contact and initiate a conversation about the chosen Interest. When your first chosen icon starts off the conversation, this is bringing in the code phrase. If the other sim replies with the next icon in your chosen sequence, they are an allied agent. (If your chosen sequence is longer than two icons, then matching icons need to continue until the correct sequence is reached.) In English, this exchange might go something like “The pelican flies at midnight” answered with “Crickets chirp in the rain.” In TS2, the exchange might go “Rocket ship” answered with “Gray alien.” Feel free to make up your own fancy code phrases to go along with the icons; making up silly code phrases is fun! +25 for every successful pair of code phrases exchanged. -10 every time the initial code phrase is not met with the return code phrase. -25 if the entire topic of conversation is rejected.

Use dead drops: Spies often communicate with or leave things for allies who they never meet. They do this by leaving things in a public place to be picked up later, leaving things visible in an area they control, or doing specific things that are publicly visible. This way, their ally can get the message without ever having to come in contact with the spy. Every day, flip a coin or roll a die to see if you need to do one of the “dead drop” type tasks listed below. Heads/evens= yes, tails/odds=no. If you get an assignment, roll a d20 or use a different randomizer of your choice to choose what your assignment is for the day.

1. Put red flowers out in front of your house (in a vase or a pot or something, not on a bush)

2. Mail something (this can be paying a bill or using the custom mail system of your choice)

3. Wear a blue shirt

4. Read the newspaper in your front lawn

5. Wear a hat

6. Play fetch

7. Go jogging

8. Buy a magazine

9. Walk to work/drive to work (whichever is not usual for you). If it is your day off, walk/drive to a community lot, again doing whichever is not usual for you.

10. Order groceries

11. Have coffee on a community lot between 4-6 pm

12. Comb/style your hair differently (do not cut or dye it – just a different part, an updo, something like that)

13. Sunbathe (either on a towel or in a recliner – if it is currently winter, this will be quite cold)

14. Water your plants between 2-3 pm

15. Dig for treasure and leave the hole for 24 hours

16. Make and play with a paper airplane, then leave it on the lawn

17. Buy and display a new lawn ornament (you can leave it on the lawn after – it won’t be new anymore, so it’s okay)

18. Leave trash on the lawn while you are at work

19. Wear sunglasses

20. Hang out in the yard with a radio playing salsa music in the yard with you

If you do not have the specific EP needed to perform one of these actions, do something similar given your particular game set up. +1 for every dead drop completed

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

These are special circumstances that may or may not come up in your game, depending on your set up and play style.

Friend or Foe?: When you identify an allied agent using a code phrase, spend 3 hours cultivating a relationship with them. If you end up with a positive relationship, you earn points. If you end up with a negative relationship, as enemies, and/or with the other sim furious at you, they will betray you. You lose points when they betray you. If you are Enemies, this blows your cover. +15 for a positive relationship. -25 points for a negative relationship.

Take a Chance on Me: If a stranger calls you up and asks you to go out (either date or outing), always accept. Flip a coin before you head out. Heads=the person is an ally, tails=the person is an enemy agent. If the person is an ally, nothing further happens – have an ordinary outing. If the person is an enemy agent, try to befriend them. If you max out the outing/date meter, you turn them into a double agent who is now secretly on your side. If you have a positive (but not maxed) or a neutral outing/date, you and your enemy go your separate ways with a new respect for each other, but without interference. If you have a negative (but not bottomed out) outing/date, this triggers the torture scenario above. If you bottom out the outing/date meter, you become the double agent who is now secretly on the enemy’s side. If you become a double agent, adjust your relationship with the enemy spy to 75/75, and change your relationships with your former allies to no more than 30/30. For all scoring purposes, your former allies are now your enemies and your former enemies are now your allies. Every time you complete a mission for your former allies, call your friendly enemy spy and chat on the phone for one game hour. +25 for a maxed outing/date meter, 0 for a neutral meter, -20 for a negative meter, -100 for a bottomed out meter.

Sim of a Thousand Faces: If you are contacted by a hobby leader, you must put on a disguise – in fact, a whole new identity (see below) – go to a community lot (or even the hobby lot), and pick a sim you don’t know to interact with in keeping with the disguise for 3 hours. At the end of the time, if your relationship with the sim is positive, your mission was a success. If your relationship is negative, this triggers the torture scenario above. If you end up as enemies/furious, your cover has been blown. +25 for a successful mission, -20 for a failure triggering torture.

Identity Elements (Choose all 20 elements randomly via whatever randomizing method you prefer)

1. Male/Female

2. Young Adult/Adult/Elder

3. Hair: Red/Blonde/Brown/Black/Custom

4. Fit/Average/Fat

5. Eyes: Brown/Dark blue/Green/Gray/Light blue/custom

6. Supernatural/Not supernatural

a. If supernatural: combination supernatural/just one type of supernatural

b. Vampire/Alien/Zombie/Witch/Bigfoot/Genie/Servo/Plantsim/Werewolf

c. If witch: Good/Neutral/Evil

7. Employed/Not employed

8. Rich/Not rich

9. Hobby: Cuisine/Film & Literature/Tinkering/Sports/Music & Dance/Fitness/Arts & Crafts/Science/Games/Nature

10. Turn On: Hair Color/Clothing/Accessories/Makeup/Fitness/Smell/Life State/Employment

a. Hair color: Red/blonde/brown/black/grey/custom/facial hair

b. Clothing: Swim wear/formal wear/underwear

c. Accessories: Glasses/hats/jewelry

d. Makeup: Makeup/full face makeup

e. Fitness: Fat/fit/average

f. Smell: Cologne/stink

g. Supernatural state: As in #6b above

h. Employment: Unemployed, employed, hard worker (Level 6+ in career)

11. Turn Off: As in #10 above. Remove the Turn On you chose from consideration.

12. Primary Interest: Environment/Food/Weather/Culture/Money/Politics/Paranormal/Health/ Fashion/Travel/Crime/Sports/Entertainment/Animals/Work/School/Toys/Sci-Fi

13. Career: Adventurer/Architecture/Artist/Athlete/Business/Culinary/Criminal/Dance/Education/ Entertainment/Show Business/Journalism/Law/Law Enforcement/Medicine/ Military/Music/Natural Scientist/Oceanographer/Paranormal/Politics/Science/Slacker (Note that Intelligence is NOT an option!)

14. Successful/Not successful

15. Pet/No pet

a. If pet: cat/dog/bird/fish

16. Taken/Available (for romantic purposes)

17. Kids/No kids

18. Favorite color: Red/Orange/Yellow/Green/Blue/Purple/Pink/Black/White/Gray/Brown

19. Conservative/Rebellious/Quirky/Sporty/Elegant/Geeky/Ordinary

20. Social group: None/Gearhead/Bohemian/Jock/Tech/Socialite

Some of these things may require custom content to pull off. (For example, if a male sim has to pass himself off as a female sim, you will probably need some form of custom content for his clothing.) Some of the things you choose will not show (such as social group), but can inform your interactions. For example, if your sim is supposed to be a Socialite, they should greet people with the Kiss Kiss Darling interaction. If your sim is supposed to have a Turn Off for red hair, they should not flirt with any redheads. If your sim has kids, they might turn the conversation topic to School or Toys. If your sim is a geeky sim with a pet fish and with the favorite color of pink, they might wear a pink shirt with a picture of a fish on it. Some of the Turn On options listed above are not available in game, or are broken. That’s okay – you’re not really changing your sim’s preferences, just having them pretend. (It’s harder that way.)

Maintain a Legend: Have a pretend relationship with another sim, preferably an allied agent. This pretend relationship has all the trappings of marriage/romance, including living together and sleeping in the same bed, but without romantic attachment. This sim may NOT be Mr. Big or The Diva. Bonus points if, when you’re playing a different household and invite the spy over, this pretend partner comes along when the spy asks “Can my friend come too?” +100 for a cover identity, +50 if the pretend partner your sim’s friend brought to a different household.

END OF THE CHALLENGE

This challenge can end in one of two ways: Either you are successful enough to eventually be brought in from the cold, or you mess up badly and can never work as a spy again.

If you make it to Elder without having your cover blown, you can come in from the cold. You can drop your cover identity, and even take a job in Intelligence if you like. (This represents getting a nice desk job or training new recruits.) Alternatively, you can relax and enjoy retirement without any fear of anyone torturing or killing you. You do have to move to a completely different house. +500 for honorably coming in from the cold.

If your cover is blown once, you lose all your points, lose your job, and lose any Rewards or inventory you may have earned. You have to move to a new house with a new cover identity (use the Sim of a Thousand Faces chart to help pick this) and start a new job. Your new job cannot be in your old career track. You are immediately placed in Hard Mode, if you weren’t already there. -200 points for being forced to complete the challenge on Hard Mode because your cover was blown (Yes, this means you might start over with negative points.)

If your cover is blown a second time, you are not cut out for the spy life. Flip a coin or roll a die to decide what happens to you.

1. Heads/evens=You are forcibly retired. You move to a new house with a new identity. You can never see your family again (if you had one), and you have to get a new job that is not in any prior career path, in Intelligence, or in Law Enforcement.

2. Tails/odds=You are found out and killed by the enemy. You lose all your points. Kill your sim via the method of your choice. Hey, being a spy is dangerous!

SCORING

+1 for every dead drop completed

+5 for every time your sim is invited on an outing/date with a known sim

+5 per covert contact

+5 for every successful completion of the “iffy things” requirement above.

+25 bonus points for completion of the “iffy things” requirement with five different sims

+10 for every vacation destination greeting mastered

+10 for learning to teleport via meditation

You can only learn to teleport via one method, not both.

+10 for every time you send a message via an innocuous object

+10 if you faithfully complete the driving requirements

-10 If you have not completed it faithfully

+10 if you faithfully complete the hacking requirements

-10 If you have not completed it faithfully

+10 for each successful courier mission

+20 if you leave the couriered item on a community lot without handing it off to a contact.

+10 if the item in question didn’t belong to you in the first place.

+15 for every time your sim is invited on an outing/date with an unknown sim

+15 for every time you successfully take covert pictures

+15 for every time your sim withstands torture

+20 for every time your sim successfully follows someone

+20 for learning to teleport from the ninja

You can only learn to teleport via one method, not both.

+25 for every successful pair of code phrases exchanged

-10 every time the initial code phrase is not met with the return code phrase

-25 if the entire topic of conversation is rejected

+50 for successful romance/seduction of Mr. Big/The Diva

+25 bonus points for a one-sided love

+50 bonus points for a romance with the opposite of your autonomous gender preference.

+200 points for voluntarily completing the challenge on Hard Mode

-200 points for being forced to complete the challenge on Hard Mode because your cover was blown

+500 for honorably coming in from the cold

Friend or Foe? scenario

+15 for a positive relationship

-25 points for a negative relationship

Take a Chance On Me scenario

+25 for a maxed outing/date meter

0 for a neutral meter or a positive but not maxed meter

-20 for a negative meter

-100 for a bottomed out meter

Sim of a Thousand Faces scenario

+25 for a successful mission

-20 for a failure triggering torture

Maintain a Legend scenario

+100 for a cover identity

+50 if the pretend partner is the “bring a friend” at a different household when your sim goes to visit

#sims 2 #sims 2 challenges

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