#the MK II is my favorite but the MK I (which is basically just a smaller version lol) is a super cool boot knife!

[fostersffff]

The Big Gundam Watch, Part 15: Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

In my War in the Pocket post, I noted that it and The 08th MS Team make up what are considered to be The Good OVAs. Which, if you haven't read that post, doesn't mean that they're the only good Gundam OVAs, but they're the ones some people like to point to when recommending an entry point to the franchise. This is due to their consistently high production values, relatively short length, and stories that are more "grounded and realistic" than most of the other TV shows, OVAs, and movies in the franchise (which I have since learned is code for "No Newtype Bullshit", rather than implying anything about the believability of the giant robots). The 08th MS Team even sounds like a good compliment to War in the Pocket on paper: one was about the One Year War from an uninvolved child's perspective, and the other is about the same event from an actual military perspective.

Now having seen it for myself: people are not doing this OVA any favors by pairing it with War in the Pocket. I've made multiple passes on trying to soften the impact of that statement, because I don't feel that negatively about The 08th MS Team, but the problem is that I also don't feel that positively about it, either. I don't really feel anything about it, which might be worse!

THE STUFF I LIKED:

The number one thing I liked about The 08th MS Team: the characters have zero reverence for giant robots. And there shouldn't be! This is a story about soldiers almost a full year into a war where mobile suits and mobile armors have become the standard for combat. The Gundams are top-of-the-line equipment, but ultimately, still just equipment, so they don't earn much more that an initial wave of awe. The sole exception is Ginius, whose obsession with the Apsaras is his entire character; Aina and Norris's involvement with that project is largely out of loyalty to him, and to basically everyone else it's considered to be a frivolous waste of resources (which is saying something for Zeon, home of the Big Zam).

The number two thing I liked about The 08th MS Team: the staff had tons of reverence for the giant robots. There are so many little mechanical details to appreciate, but the one I want to call out special is when Shiro is coaching Aina on activating the beam saber to create a hot spring, and you see this intricate sequence revealing that there's a little connector in the hand that locks into another connector in the hilt. It's genuinely my favorite scene in this entire OVA.

This ties into the detail-oriented nature of the production, but I do want to reiterate that this OVA looks fantastic the whole way through. To point to a specific example, Battle Line on the Burning Sand uses a super washed out color palette on everything to emphasize the blinding desert light, even at night.

The extent to which Shiro Amada is a White Meat Babyface Shonen Hero Boy is kind of refreshing. He's a remarkably simple, earnest guy with almost no clumsy awkwardness to his character.

He's also maybe the only character in Gundam thus far to have delivered an actually justifiable Bright Slap (other than the man himself) that didn't feel exclusively like 'MEMBER THE BRIGHT SLAP?????? Considering how much I hate when the Bright Slap is referenced for the sake of reference, I wanted to call attention to when corrections are actually used appropriately.

Norris Packard locks in Best Character, without question. Hard to argue against "Ramba Ral Mk-II with a bigger budget for when he pops off".

Wrote down WAOW BEAUTYFUL 90'S OVA WAMEN multiple times in my notes, but I do want to be slightly more specific and say that the character design for this series falls into my favorite style, which is very... "spiky". Being a 30-something, this style of character design hits the nostalgia center of my brain perfectly, despite the fact that I had never seen this particular series before. Like, if you compare Kou and Nina to Shiro and Aina, the difference in my mind would be described as "spikyness".

I'm actually gonna take an opportunity to punch 0083 and say I really appreciate that Shiro and Aina just a have a normal, adult relationship that doesn't introduce a last minute love triangle that feels as confused as it is tepid. Two good-looking young adults in extreme situations who are still drawn to one another despite being forced apart by circumstances is solid!

ELEDORE AND KAREN DON'T END UP TOGETHER ON SCREEN THANK GOD. I was really fuckin' scared for a bit there when Eledore kept going "MY WOMAN, KAREN, WHO I WILL MARRY" out of fuckin' nowhere. Hey, speaking of that...

THE STUFF I LIKED LESS:

Eledore sucks. He is a black hole of suck. Cowardly shitheels are nothing new- they're an institution, even, dating back to Kai in 0079- but in addition to being a cowardly shitheel who receives no comeuppance for being one, like Beecha in ZZ, he's also poorly written. And what sucks the most about that is the fact that he could've been totally acceptable with a grand total of like three expository lines peppered throughout the series. Even a single line about being drafted- something I don't think has ever been confirmed one way or the other in the Universal Century- would've gone a long way towards explaining why this guy was within 1000 miles of a warzone.

They shouldn't have had that last episode. It was fine, but I think the way The Shuddering Mountain (Part 2) ends is pretty much perfect. I genuinely wondered if it was tagged on years after the original, but it appears to have been planned from the start. Bizarre.

Okay, with those out of the way, I need to address what I feel is the underlying problem for this story: the writing in The 08th MS Team is hollow. I made a post taking a pot shot at the at the fact that this series is touted as being "grounded and realistic" when it does, in fact, have Newtypes, and tagged on the fact that it seems like the writer seemingly didn't understand that swans and swan imagery aren't a Newtype thing, they're a Lalah Sune thing. That wasn't something that actively bugged me in the moment, but the more I thought about the problems I had with this series on the whole, the more I thought about that. It's such a weird, superficial mistake to make... and then I latched onto the word "superficial", and it all came tumbling down from there.

Let's start with the theme. Like a lot of other Gundam stories, it can be boiled down to "War Is Bad", but what things lead to that understanding? We see countless reasons War Is Bad across all the preceding Universal Century TV shows, OVAs, and movies: the destruction of the environment, the devastation of the human population, the institutional disregard for human lives, including lives that are on your side, including the lives of children, the trauma- physical and mental- that haunts you even if you make it out alive, the arbitrary division of people who might otherwise be friends or lovers, how easily bad actors can consolidate power during or even with just the threat of war... all those are just off the top of my head, and I'm sure if pressed more can be listed. The 08th MS Team really only concerns itself with one of these- the arbitrary division of people who might otherwise be friends or lovers- because the main arc for both Shiro and Aina is that they abandon their respective duties because they are star-crossed lovers.

It's a weirder arc for Shiro than it is for Aina. Aina's association with Zeon comes across strictly as a birthright thing: the Sakhalins appear to be minor Zeon nobility, and her being a test pilot is all but stated to be at Ginius's request. So when she has two fateful life-or-death encounters with a quirked up white Japanese boy, she only really has to justify herself to her brother, which turns out to be pretty easy since he's gone off the deep end at that point anyway. The only thing that keeps her at the Zeon base past that point is her kindly nature, compelling her to help as many wounded people escape as she possibly can.

Shiro's break with the Federation, on the other hand, implies that he got so horny his higher brain functions shut down. And I get it! Aina's a Beautyful 90's OVA Wamen, but it's a little weird for him to completely renounce war so soon after we see his flashback where Zeon launched a gas attack inside a colony and he had to watch a man liquefy in front of his very eyes. You'd think that would matter more than just within the context of that one scene in that one episode!

(Also only realizing this as I write it, but like... was Zeon established to have used gas attacks before this OVA? 'Cuz gassing colonies was the Titans favorite move. Unlike the Newtype swans, it's fine for this to be introduced here, but in light of thinking about the Newtypes swans...)

Actually, Shiro's trauma being a non-factor is a great segue into weird out-of-character moments that start to crop up towards the end of the OVA. Not all the characters, and not all the time, but enough that I noticed several, including:

Aina swearing she's going to go sicko mode if Norris dies, only to not go sicko mode at all once Norris sends the signal that he's going to die.

Karen turning into Goku and getting excited about the prospect of fighting an enemy ace when Norris's Gouf Custom shows up, despite never having shown to be that kind of person before then, or afterwards.

Kellerne (the Zeon officer who cancels the Apsaras project) revealing he's actually a Noble Soldier in the episode where Ginius kills him, despite being a big brash shitheel not just in personal interactions, but also by breaking the Antarctic Treaty and using a nuke.

The 08th MS Team- the squad- never really felt like they developed any interpersonal relationships beyond being in a squad together (this is actually actually addressed in the short that was produced for the blu-ray), so the crux of the last episode being "IT'S CRITICALLY IMPORTANT TO ALL OF US THAT SOMEONE CONFIRMS THE COMMANDER IS STILL ALIVE!!!" is another contributing factor to why that episode just feels wrong.

These strike me as examples of "we need a character who will do x in this scene, but we don't have a character who would do x... well, for this scene, they will", and it colors the entire thing as utilitarian. It's not putting well-defined characters into situations, and then showing how those characters would react to that situation, it's presenting a conclusion and then working your way backwards to present the situation that leads to that conclusion.

And it's not even like this can be explained with the complaint (from people who don't engage with mecha anime) that mecha anime is more concerned with showing cool robots than it is with characters. This story is about the characters! The only particularly cool mecha stuff I have ever seen people point to in this is the Gouf Custom, which I now know is because that's really the only mecha stuff of note in this. Like, if you put a gun to my head to come up with other setpieces of note: the Apsaras blowing a hole clean through the mountain was striking imagery... the underwater fight with Kiki tumbling around the cockpit was fun... Shiro trying to take down the Zeon squad occupying the guerilla village on foot was probably the overall most compelling scene in the OVA.

Mind you, The 08th MS Team not having tons and tons of hyper memorable giant robot fight scenes is by no means a strike against it. I can probably only vaguely recall most action sequences from the Gundams I've watched to date, and that's because the cool giant robot fight scenes aren't really ever the point. But, with everything else being a bland and hollow as it is, the whole OVA just comes across as Things Happening. It's not even particularly interesting Things Happening; by nature of being a One Year War side story, you know nothing that happens here can really matter in the greater canon of the Universal Century, so in the end it really just feels like "All this stuff happened. Moving along!"

OTHER OBSERVATIONS:

At least some of my disappointment definitely comes from the fact that the OP writes a check that the OVA never really tries to cash. Based on this thing that plays before every episode and the way I've always heard people talk about it, I don't think it's unreasonable to have expected this to be a military drama!

Oh nooo Michel you got Military Cucked Michel nooo, and judging by the picture (getting married after the baby is born) she must have gotten knocked up like right after she sent that Dear John letter Michel nooo!!!

It's a little weird that the last episode takes care to show that Shiro is lame following their escape, but no attention is called to the fact that Aina's normal suit got melted off. My understanding is that space suits are meant to be ultra heat resistant, so the fact that shit melted must mean she suffered horrible burns, right? Maybe it's working on fictional lava physics, where it's only hot if you're touching it, considering that neither the rest of her body nor Shiro suffer any burns from being that close to the beam.

I understand that the implication is that Shiro and Aina taught the kids how to do it, but doing the "using a beam weapon to turn a frigid body of water into a hot spring" twice cheapened how cool it was the first time.

I was trying to hash out whether it would be worse to be subjected to a court martial or get grilled by your older brother slash superior officer for hooking up with an enemy combatant, but I never considered the dimension of the guards and brass just laughing their asses off at Shiro during the court martial, which makes that infinitely worse.

The blu-ray extra for this was a 9 minute short putting focus on Michel and Sanders, which was actually pretty nice considering how little they interact in the series proper. I'm a little bitter that this got a legit animated short while Cima Garahau got a "picture drama", but this was genuinely a much nicer way for the 08th MS Team to go out than Last Resort was.

IN CONCLUSION:

I re-read my post on the original Mobile Suit Gundam recently, and right at the start I talked about how I was originally only planning on checking out War in the Pocket, Stardust Memory, and this. It's actually kind of difficult to speculate how I would feel about Gundam as a franchise if I had watched those three OVAs in isolation. Maybe I'd like The 08th MS Team more if I didn't have have such a large base of things to compare it to unfavorably, or maybe I'd still wind up unenthusiastic about it, without having the ability to really express why. What I can say with certainty is that I've spent this entire write-up thinking about how the two minute send-off for Duker Iq and Renda- two minor recurring antagonists- in Victory Gundam was significantly more affecting and engaging than anything in The 08th MS Team.

If you'll indulge a food analogy, the experience of watching this really was like eating a sleeve of crackers. They're crackers: there's nothing wrong with them, but rarely if ever will you walk away from eating a sleeve of crackers going "damn, that was great!"

Next up: After War Gundam X! I'm super pumped for this one, because I know almost nothing about it besides the fact that it was the only Gundam TV Series to have been cancelled after 0079. Was it cancelled because of franchise fatigue? Or because it was bad? Possibly some third thing? All or none of the above? I'm excited to find out!

Also it's the source of that funny doctor with a gun meme! You know the one!

#The 08th MS Team #Gundam #Mobile Suit Gundam #The Big Gundam Watch #anime #blu-ray #long post

[escapistsatellite]

On the Geneology of Liger Zoids

Here is a long post detailing the relationships between these zoids as I understand them.

So starting from the right-hand side of this chart, we have the older ligers/lion types. I assume that at least one of these types are mechanized versions of this->

which is from the continent of Delpoi, which was initially ruled entirely by the Helic Republic before a schism formed in the royal family that led to the first Helic Republic/Zenebus Empire war.

From this species came 2 machine beasts, one developed by each faction

And, of course, our old standby,

Just going by the chart it seems like Zenebus never further developed their ligers, which is the complete opposite than the Helic Republic, who developed a new fuselage for the core type

And then improved upon the design with a 2nd iteration.

From this point onward the Kings seemed to be either phased out or just declared "good enough" and R&D centered squarely on the Shield Liger; I will focus on the linear Shieldy->Blades lineage here because to avoid bloating the post, I'll detail their off-shoots later.

So after the Shield Liger came...

After which came MK-II & MK-II B

What really catches my attention is the construction of the laser blade mount-

and its resemblance to->

The high-output ion boosters on the blade arms of the Liger Zero Schneider. I can't be sure though, since I assume the weapons and equipment list only includes features common to all 3 versions.

So at this point the old Delpoian Ligers' core is deemed to be of insufficient strength by the Republican Army, which left them at a developmental dead end; the Imperial Army meanwhile has begun to develop a fuselage based on this-

From the western continent of Europa. Their prototype was stolen by the Republican Army and thus we got 2 versions of the resulting zoid:

These zoids were designed partly around the concept of the Changing Armor System (CAS), which makes the zoid suitable for a variety of different missions. I won't cover all the CAS units since I assume that most zoids fans are familiar with them, so I'll just be posting the versions that seem to have never left the hobby publications.

So first I will show the Imperial side,

So basically the Empire took a very stealth based approach to their ligers.

Next, one of my very favorites <3

So firstly, I wonder what this zoids' top speed looks like. 2nd, those drill swords might be the most terror-inducing weapons on a Liger Zero beside the Panzer's homing missiles. 3rd, it's equipped with a little spy drone on it's tail!

So up next->

I don't have anything to add, I just know nothing. I seems to link directly back to the Ultimate Liger, so maybe it was intended to be an Imperial Zoid?

And last & absolutely least:

Yup. A CAS that concerts the Liger Zero into a buffed Shield Liger. It just doesn't thrill or interest me, even though I won't deny it's versatility.

#zoids #zoid #smack zoids #concept art #mecha #mecha art #anime and manga #wild zoids #buster liger #liger zero buster #liger zero #shield liger #Blade Liger #Tyranno Liger #Liger Zero EM #Liger Zero X #Liger Zero Phantom #Wild Liger #<3 #King Liger #King Baron #Zenebas Empire #Helic Republic #lore #Planet Zi #Lidier

[tillman]

what is Robo ky's role in the themes of gg?

hi wifey :-)

i actually rlly rlly love thinking about this particularly throwing his x series themes and ideas behind him next to xrds depiction and then of course throwing all of that next to the little slayer drama cd w him . theres a lot . to chew on . and i think its particularly sad a lot of people arent willing to give his depiction in the earlier games any mind... i have to put on my im sorry women hat but i love him in the x/xx games... sorry..... i lvoe him so bad.

anyways under a readmore cus . its . 3 am dont expect good concepts fleshed out i just want to talk about my favorite robert ideas ok ? hes cute to me.

i like. ok this is not even worth mentioning really but i really liek his like 7 lines in slash. SORRY. maybe just because i play him so so much and he is so so dear to me but well i will take all i can get. anyways this is my favorite of his its very cute. he only shows up in kys route for one ending that has way sicker art of it than it should haev but ..

i love this..... his raison d'etre being exclusively to defeat ky. <- this comes up later too (i love you nok)... like he kinda becomes Exclusively a pawn for the greater pwab story in mc and and also ac but.... like what a simple tie in to the constant gg theme of identity and being human and what not. this w his nok depiction make me fucking insnae... hes truly just some guy trying to prove he is Some Guy. like he sucks and should be put down ruthlessly but hey! thats something!! hes not just a ky clone hes the anticatholic ky clone and that makes him worthy of life just like anyone else. he should be not so weird about women though ok ?

i think i am too autistically attached to like. the assassins guild w millia and venom but the theme in gg that resonates w me most is this idea of life? and what it means to live. and this idea of wanting to live despite everything. life isnt something you earn or have to deserve . theres a lot in millia and eddies AC routes in particular when i think of this ...... anyways its why i genuinely really am touched by xrds portrayal of robo ky as this kinda like. dude who is jsut very confident in his own way of life. all his stuff about dreams and all is basically the exact same as millias ending in AC after she kills eddie and realizes she can move on and live happily and find life outside of zato and shit. u know? i liek when gg does this - telling the same story over and over in different ways. this one in particular is just the one i find myself coming to over and over again....

i also really like robo ky as a like . motivation for venoms arc? i guess? i cant word that. but all the assassins guild members go thru this mostly thru the urge of slayer this like realization they are more than just objects and weapons and can live and find themselves and what not. and like slayer kinda pushes venom over To robo ky as his own sort of mirror in that storyline. which is cute. it works. for both of them . theyre two very interesting characters to pair together and i get why they did it especially w the nok story of robo ky watching mk ii die and be unable to save him and venoms themes in ac mostly ending w this cautionary warning of his own destruction if he keeps up the whole ignoring the guild to look for zato thing. i just like it.

^ in this it does baffle me they became like the Yaoi bait or whatever i dont really understand that. i think theyre silly together but they have such a fucking interesting dynamic... crying rolling around i want their story to continue so bad and not because im biased and want either of them in strive because i think theyre the most fun gimmick characters. hey speaking of that htye are the most fucking fun characters im glad theyre the two arc sys paired up for xrd cus it means i get content of both my mains together easily. epic fucking win. the issue of this is that sadly they are both bad to women . venom is just slightly better because hes just awful to one specific woman and calls her a bitch so so so much . anwyays bad influences on each other on that issue but i like that two of the characters whos struggles focus on being human and reconning with being just a tool of those that gave them life get solace with each other. makes me happy

anyways. tldr. robo kys only addition to the themes of gg is that tits fucking rock and you should suicide bait ! thanks !

#i like him . maybe i am just an issues haver and really appreciate themes of like. being human despite a perceived fault and #othering.. but ... waa waa. ok i like him

[felassan]

Dragon Age development insights and highlights from Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development

Some really tasty factoids here.

Cut for length.

Dragon Age: Origins

The continent of Thedas was at one point going to be named Pelledia, a name initially floated by James Ohlen

“Qunari” was a temporary name that ended up unintentionally sticking, much like “Thedas”

Mary Kirby wrote the Landsmeet. To this day, nobody understands how it works, except possibly her. If she’s “really really drunk” she can explain how it works. There’s as many words in it as Sten’s entire conversations put together

Concept art for Thedosian art - as in in-world art - draws heavily on Renaissance-era portraiture, the Art Nouveau movement, religious styles and media like stained glass, and favorite pieces from the golden age of illustrations in the early 20th century

Andrastianism in-world (art-wise) is depicted in wildly different methods depending on who in-world made the art in question. “One religion, 3 different lenses”. There’s the Chantry take, the Orlesian take and the Fereldan take; each with its own different interpretations, different mediums and different stories

The stained glass images were drawn by Nick Thornborrow for DAI, to decorate religious spaces in that game “and beyond”

irl Viking art influenced Ferelden

Greek and Italian art influenced Orlais

The book also had other insights into and anecdotes from the development of DAO, but I’ve transcribed them recently as they’re essentially the stories DG has recently been relating on the awesome Summerfall Studios DAO playthrough Twitch streams. (On those streams he provides dev commentary while Liam Esler plays through DA. The ones with DG are currently once every two weeks. Check them out! Here’s a calendar where you can check when the next one is) Instead of repeating myself I’ll just provide the link to the first transcript. From there you can navigate to the subsequent parts. Note these streams are ongoing. At this point I will also point you to a related post which is cliff notes of the Dragon Age chapter in Jason Schreier’s book Blood Sweat and Pixels.

Dragon Age II

DAO had the longest development period in BioWare history. In contrast DA2 had the shortest

Initially DA2 was going to be an expansion to DAO. A few months in EA said “Yeah, expansions like these don’t sell very well, so let’s make it a sequel.” So it suddenly became DA2 and they had to make it even bigger, although they still only had 1.5 years of time in which to do this

Production of DA2 officially lasted only 9 months, and at the time the team was still supporting live content for DAO! They finished development that January after the design team crunched all the way through the holiday period that year. Then it went to cert 9 times

The limited time they had is why the story takes place mostly in and around 1 city, and over 7 years (so it was temporal, rather than over physical distance, because a more expansive world would have taken more irl time to make)

They had no time to review even the main plot. Mike Laidlaw pitched the idea of 3 stories taking place at different points in the PC’s life, tied together by Varric’s recollections of events. DG rolled with this and made 1 presentation on the idea. This presentation was then approved and off they went

As they were writing DG realized that there was going to be no oversight and that everything was going to be a ‘first draft’. “Because nobody had time.” He sat down with the writers and said “Look, here’s the conditions we’re working under. A lot of what we’re putting out is gonna be raw. We’re not going to get the editing we need. We’re not going to get the kind of iteration we need. So I’m going to trust you all to do your best work.”

Looking back, DG has mixed feelings on DA2. “A lot of corners were cut. The public perception was that it was smaller than DAO. That’s a sin on its own.”

Despite this he thinks DA2 has some of the best writing in the series, especially character-wise. The DA2 chars are his favorite

The pace with which production progressed may in some ways have helped. “When we do a lot of revision, we often file away [as in buff off] some of the good writing as well. Somehow DA2′s whirlwind process resulted in some really good writing”

The pace meant chars landed on the writers in various stages of completion. For example Isabela was fairly defined due to appearing in DAO. In contrast Varric at the start was just that single piece of widely-shown concept art

Varric was conceived as a storyteller not a fighter. His skills are talking and bullshitting. Hence the question became, so what does this guy do in combat? The direction was to make him as different as possible to Oghren, so not a warrior. He couldn’t be a dual-wielding rogue in order to differentiate him from Bela. But you can’t really picture this guy with a bow. “For a dwarf, it would probably be a crossbow. We didn’t have crossbows, or we only had crossbows for the darkspawn. And they were part of the models. We didn’t have a separate crossbow that was equip-able by the chars. They had to like, crop one off a darkspawn and remodel it. And that became Bianca” (quote: Mary Kirby)

“Dwarven mages are exceedingly rare.” [???]

If DAO was a classic fantasy painting, DA2 was a screenshot from a Kurosawa film or a northern Renaissance painting. (Here Matt Rhodes was commenting on art style)

John Epler: “In any one of our games, there’s a 95% chance that if you turn the camera away from what it’s looking at, you’ll see all kinds of janky stuff. The moment we know the camera is no longer facing someone, we no longer care what happens to them. We will teleport people around. We will jump people around. We will literally have someone walk off screen and then we will shift them 1000 meters down, because we’re fixing some bug.” John also talked about this camera stuff in a recent charity Twitch stream for Gamers For Groceries. There’s a writeup of that stream here

Designing Kirkwall pushed concept artists to the limits of visual storytelling, because it has a long history that they wanted to be present. It was once the hub of Tevinter’s slave empire, so it needed to look brutal and harsh, but it also then needed to feel reclaimed, evolved, and with elements of contemporary Free Marches culture

The initial plan was for DA titles to be distinguished by subtitles not numbers, so that each experience could stand on its own rather than feel like a sequel or continuation. (My note: New PCs in each entry make sense then when you consider this and other factoids we know like how DA is the story of the world not of any one PC). Later, DA2′s name was made DA2 in a bid to more clearly connect the game to its predecessor. For DAI they returned to the original naming convention. (My note: so I’d reckon they’d be continuing the subtitle naming convention for DA4)

DA2 was initially code-named “Nug Storm”, strictly internally

The Cancelled DA2 Expansion - Exalted March

This was a precursor to DAI

It was meant to bridge the gap between DA2 and DAI

It focused on the fallout from Kirkwall’s explosion, with Cory serving as the villain

Meredith’s red lyrium statue was basically going to infest Kirkwall and it would end up [with what would end up] the red templars taking over Kirkwall and essentially being Cory’s army

To stop him Hawke would have recruited various factions, including Bela’s Felicisima Armada and the Qunari at Estwatch, forcing Hawke to split loyalties and risk relationships in the process

It was meant to bring DA2′s story to an end and end in Varric’s death. DG was very happy with this because all of DA2 is Varric’s tale. The expansion was supposed to start at the moment Cassandra’s interrogation of him ended in the present. “And we finished off the story with Varric having this heroic death.” It tied things up and would have broken many fan hearts, something BioWare writers notoriously enjoy. But between a transition to the new Frostbite engine and the scope of DAI, the decision was made to cancel EM, work any hard-to-lose concepts into DAI, and in the process save Varric’s life. DG has talked about the Varric dying thing before

Concept art for EM explored new areas previously not depicted in the DA universe, with costumes that reflected next steps for familiar chars. Varric was going to war, what would he have worn? With Anders, if he survived DA2, the plan was to present a redeemed Warden

A char that vaguely resembled Sera in DAI was first concepted for EM. This fact was mentioned near this concept art (see the female elf) and this concept art of Bethany with the blond bob

The writers sketched out plans to end it with Hawke having the option to marry their LI. This included alternate ceremonies for party members like Bethany and Sebastian if the player opted not to wed. There was even a wedding dress made for Hawke. This asset made it into DAI (Sera and Cullen’s weddings in Trespasser). The dress can also be seen in DAI during an ambient NPC wedding after completing a chain of war table missions

The destruction of a Chantry was explored in concept art as it might have happened in EM. This idea ended up carrying over to the beginning of DAI. (My note: Lol, the idea that DA2 could have had 2 Chantries being destroyed in it 😆)

World of Thedas

Sheryl Chee and Mary Kirby started with “a disgusting little dish called fluffy mackerel pudding”. In the middle of DAO’s busy dev period one of them (they can’t remember who) found a recipe online for this, scanned in from a 70s cookbook. “I don’t understand why it was fluffy. Why would you want fluffy mackerel pudding?” MK says. “We loved it so much we included it in a DAO codex.”

This led them to create more food for Thedas, full recipes included, like a Fereldan turnip and barley stew from MK and SC’s Starkhaven fish and egg pie. The fish pie became Sebastian’s favorite. “To me it made sense for it to be fish pie because a lot of the Free Marches are on the coast”, SC says, “It was something that was popular in medieval times, so I thought, let’s make a fish pie! I looked at medieval recipes and I concocted a fish pie which I fed to my partner, and he was like ‘This is not terrible’”

For WoT the whole studio was asked to contribute family recipes which might have a place in Thedas. SC adapted these to fit in one Thedosian culture or another, including a beloved banana bread that localization producer Melanie Fleming would regularly bake to keep the DA team motivated. “Melanie’s banana bread got us through Inquisition”

DAI

It says part of DAI takes place in or near the border with Nevarra [???]

This game was aimed to be bigger than DA2 and even DAO in every conceivable way

The first hour had to do a lot of heavy lifting, tying together the events of DAO and DA2 while introducing a new PC, new followers etc in the aftermath of the big attack. DG rewrote it 7 times then Lukas Kristjanson did 2 more passes

DG: “Our problem is always that our endings are so important, but we leave them to last, when we have no time. I kept pushing on DAI: ‘Can we work on the ending now? Can we work on the ending now? Can we do it early on?’ Because I knew exactly what it was going to be. But despite the fact that it kept getting scheduled, whenever the schedule started falling behind, it kept getting pushed back... so, of course, it got left til last again.”

“The reveal of the story’s real antagonist, Solas, a follower until the end, when he betrayed the player”. “Solas’ story remains a main thread in Inquisition’s long-awaited follow-up” [these aren’t DG quotes, just bits of general text]

Over the course of development they had 8 full-time writers and 4 editors working on it. Other writers joined later to help wrangle what ended up being close to 1 million words of dialogue and unspoken text. While many teams moved to a more open concept style of work for DAI, the writers remained tucked away in their own room, a choice DG says was necessary, given how much they talked. All the talking had a purpose ofc as if someone hit a bump or wall in their writing they would open the problem up to the room

As writing on a project like DAI progresses, the writers grow punchier and weirder things make it into the game. This is especially the case towards the end of a project (they get tired, burned out)

Banter and codexes require less ‘buy-in’ (DG has talked about this concept a few times on the Twitch streams) from other designers. DG liked to leave banter for last as a reward because it was fun. Banter begins as lists of topics for 2 followers to discuss. These may progress over time or be one off exchanges. One banter script can balloon to well over 10k words. “The banter was always huge because we were always like, laughing, and really at that point, our fields of fucks were rather barren, so we would just do whatever”

The bog unicorn happened pretty much by accident. It was designed by Matt Rhodes and was one of his fav things to design. They needed horse variations and he had already designed an undead variant which was a bog mummy [bog body]. irl these are preserved in a much different way to traditional mummies. When someone dies in a bog their skin turns black and raisin-like. The examples we know of tend to have bright red hair for whatever reason. It’s a very striking look and MR wanted to do a horse version of this as he thought it’d be neat. 5 mins before the review meeting for it he had a big ‘Aha!’ moment, quickly looked up a rusty old Viking sword, and photoshopped it through its skull like that was how it died. “And I was like, ‘I just made a unicorn. Alright, in it goes!’” It got approved. “So we built the thing. It fit. It told a little story”

With the irl Inquisition longsword, one of the objects they tested its cleaving ability on was a plush version of Leliana’s nug Schmooples

The concept art team explored a wide variety of visuals for the Inquisitor’s signature mark. It needed to look powerful and raw but couldn’t look like a horrific wound. In some cases, as cool as the idea looked on paper, they just weren’t technically feasible, especially as they had to be able to fit on any number of different bodies

Bug report: “Endlessly spawning mounts! At one point during development, Inquisitors could summon a new horse every time they whistled, allowing them to amass a near infinite number of eager steeds that faithfully followed them across Thedas. “You could go charging across levels and they’d all gallop behind you,” Jen Cheverie says, “It was beautiful.” Trotting into town became an epic horse siege as a tidal wave of mounts enveloped the streets. Jen called it her Army of Ponies”

The giants came from DA Week, an internal period when devs can pursue different individual creative projects that in some way benefit DA. They also had a board game from one of these that they were going to put in but they didn’t have time. It’s referenced though. It was dwarven chess

Josie’s outfit is made of gold silk and patterned velvet, with leather at her waist. She carries “an ornate ledger” and she has “an ornamented collar sitting around her neck, finished by a brilliant red ruby, like a drop of Antivan wine in a sunbeam”

Iron Bull’s armor is leather. His loose pantaloons and leather boots give him agility to charge

On DAI in particular, concept artists took special care to make sure costumes would be realistic, at least in a practical ‘this obeys the laws of physics and textiles’ sense. “While on Inquisition, we thought about cosplay from a concept art perspective. Given how incredible a lot of [cosplays] are, I now am not worried about them. In fact in some cases in the future I want to throw them curveballs like, ‘All right, you clever bastards. Let’s see if you can do this!’”

2 geese that nested on the office building and had chicks were named Ganders and Arishonk (it wasn’t known who was the mom or the dad). Other possible names were Carver Honke, Bethany Honke, Urdnot Pecks, Quackwall, Cassandra Pentagoose, the Iron Bill, Shepbird, Garroose, Admiral Quackett, Scout Honking, HChick-47 and Darth Malgoose

Bug report: “The surprising adventures of Ser Noodles!” DAI was the first time the series had a mount feature, meaning this had a lot of bugs. A lot of the teams’ favorite bugs were to do with the mounts. There was a period of time where the Inquisitor’s horse seemed to lose all bone and muscle in its legs. They had a week or so where all quadruped legs were broken. It was a bit noticeable in things like nugs and other small beasties but the horse was insanely obvious. “The first time we summoned the horse [for this] and started running around, the entire QA exploration room just exploded with laughter.” Its legs flapped around like cooked fettucine, leading testers to lovingly nickname it Ser Noodles. At galloping speeds the legs almost looked like helicopter blades, especially when footage was set to classic pieces such as Wagner’s Flight of the Valkyries

For DAI the artists were asked questions like “What would Morrigan wear to a formal ball? Can Cassandra pull off a jaunty hat?”

On DAI storyboarding became the norm. John Epler: “Cinematic design for the longest time was the Wild West. It was ‘here’s a bunch of content, now do it however you want’, which resulted in some successes and some failures.” Storyboarding gave designers a consistent visual blueprint based on ideas from designers, writers and concept artists

Quote from a storyboard by Nick Thornborrow (the Inquisitor going into the party at the end of basegame sequence): “Until Corypheus revealed himself they could not see the single hand behind the chaos. A magister and a darkspawn combined. The ultimate evil. So evil. Eviler than puppy-killers and egg farts combined.”

A general note on concept art:

In the early stages of any project, before the concept artists are aware of any writing, they like to just draw what they think cool story moments could be. It’s not unusual for the team to then be inspired by these and fold them into the game as the project progresses

– From Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development

#dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #dragon age #bioware #video games #the da4 tags are due to a few references to da4 #cassandra pentaghast #my lady paladin #lul #feels #solas #mass effect #garrus vakarian #best boy #morrigan #queen of my heart #fenris #the Fenaissance #Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development spoilers #Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development spoiler #Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development #spoilers #spoiler #mj best of

[soybeeftacos]

A Long Rant and Mediocre Analysis of the Future of My Beloved Jinteki Faction, by scd.

I have been thinking about Jinteki and the impending rotation of a lot of Jinteki cards...

As many have, I eagerly anticipate the upcoming System Update and System Gateway releases from NISEI. I’ve not been the hugest fan of Ashes, to put it mildly, especially their ID design. As someone on the Green Level Clearance Discord said the other day (I forget who, sorry), it’s almost as if they made every Runner a different kind of Shaper. And the Corps are, by and large, uncompetitive and overly fiddly for my tastes — oh, how I wish Hyoubu Institute was any good! I’m dipping my toes back into Standard after a few years away, and have lately been trying to get my head around what’s coming around the corner, especially since beyond Engram Flush and LaCosta Grid, I don’t see a ton to be excited about in recent Jinteki cards.

Then it dawned on me, with the upcoming replacement of SC2019, Honor & Profit, and the SanSan Cycle, we are actually losing a lot of Jinteki cards. This hit me most the most at the level of identities. On the potential chopping block are: Jinteki: Personal Evolution, Jinteki: Replication Perfection, Harmony Medtech, Nisei Division, Tennin Institute, Jinteki Biotech, and Chronos Protocol. Add in that Mti Mwekundu and Jinteki: Potential Unleashed are currently banned, this leaves the competitive pool as of System Gateway/System Update: one of the above identities (if the rumors that System Update will have only one Corp ID per faction are true), the new Jinteki ID in System Gateway, then Pālanā Foods, AgInfusion, and Saraswati. No other legal Jinteki IDs. I understand that the first two are solid glacier choices, and I actually quite like Saraswati, but I want more and more variety.

So it’s a bit of a bummer for my favorite faction, which has had goofy FA Tennin decks, Punitive Medtech techs, Complete Image Chronos Protocol kill decks, lots and lots of different PE decks. Will we see the death of the Jinteki I loved? Or will it rise again from the proverbial coffin of rotation? (Yes, this was all an elaborate justification for using the old GIF above that I think Eric Caoili made many years ago).

I’m basically just sick of Jinteki glacier. It’s never been fun for me, nor does it feel like what the faction should be primarily “about.” Jinteki’s current state as a glacier faction primarily has as much to do with what’s been banned as much as what’s been printed (LaCosta, for instance). If there are enough net damage cards in the pool, someone will make yet another new version of the caustic “Potatoes” deck and then NISEI will ban a bunch of the most troublesome cards again. Ignoring currents, there are five Jinteki cards on the current banlist, which is tied with Weyland for the most — followed by four NBN cards, two HB cards, and four neutrals.

If System Update has only one Corp ID per faction, as the recent rumor has stated, then I’ll be bummed out. If it’s true, I fully expect that Personal Evolution will be the one to stick around. It’s always been at least marginally playable, it does something different (a net damage tax), and it’s intelligible for new players. But what other cards stick around? What else should stick around? I thought I’d look and see what cards are actually going to rotate and which ones I was most upset about. What I found was actually a little surprising to me — while I claim I love this faction, I’m, uh, not going to miss many of these! I’ve gone through below and identified from SC2019, Honor & Profit, and the SanSan Cycle all of the cards that I suspect just can’t go and/or I’d be real sad if they did.

From the pool of SC2019 Cards, here’s what I’d hold onto:

Jinteki: Personal Evolution Nisei Mk II Fetal AI Philotic Entanglement Project Junebug Ronin Snare! Neural EMP

All of these are such key cards to me, I just can’t see Jinteki without nearly all of them. Fetal AI, Philotic and Ronin are possibly marginal, but I think NISEI really made the right call bringing Fetal back (t’s a beautiful card on a number of levels); Philotic being limited to 1-per-deck has always made it a fun surprise and/or a welcome 3/2 in the faction; and without Ronin or a suitable combo-kill replacement, I don’t see the faction moving beyond just glacier decks. Can you imagine Netrunner without Snare!? Or NISEI getting rid of Nisei Mk II? Personal Evolution, Neural EMP, Junebug — these have always been faction-defining cards to me, and I don’t see NISEI being foolish enough to mess with that.

So, what would I lose from SC2019?

Jinteki: Replicating Perfection Sundew Hokusai Grid Celebrity Gift Trick of Light Himitsu-Bako Wall of Thorns Lotus Field Yagura Neural Katana Swordsman Tsurugi

A lot of great cards here, but push come to shove, I could lose any of them. I’ll miss all of these if they all go, and I won’t be sad if any are kept (other than maybe RP, as I think there are better options, if NISEI has more than one core Jinteki ID in System Update; see below).

Onward and on to the Honor & Profit Cards:

Psychic Field Mushin No Shin Komainu

This genuinely surprised me! I had expected that there would be many, many more Honor & Profit cards I’d want to keep. As a Jinteki lover, I’ve played with all of the cards in this box (with the possible exception of NeoTokyo Grid), but only Psychic Field, Mushin, and Komainu seemed obvious keepers to me. Now, now, I’m sure there’s some group of people out there who think Mushin is "bad” and I understand that, but without Mushin there needs to be something I want there to be something that has a similar effect — Saraswati is kinda it, but it’s also the ID itself and Mushin as an ID is not the same. I think Mushin needs to be kept to help facilitate the shell game Jinteki that has been a staple since Hinkes’ Cambridge PE. In the online play world of Jinteki.net, many people would love to see mind games and traps leave the game entirely, but I don’t think NISEI does (given that they kept Cerebral Overwriter in Uprising). Psychic Field, I’d keep, partially to facilitate this but also as a necessary, hard 419 counter — a counter on a mechanical vector that is not just about money and math. Komainu is a beautiful piece of ice, and one I’d love to see stay in the game.

So, what are we losing if I ruled NISEI?

Harmony Medtech Nisei Division Tennin Institute House of Knives Medical Breakthrough The Future Perfect Chairman Hiro Mental Health Clinic Shi.Kyū Tenma Line Cerebral Cast Medical Research Fundraiser Inazuma Pup Shiro Susanoo-no-Mikoto NeoTokyo Grid Tori Hanzō

Ouch. There are a lot of almost-keepers here. House of Knives, TFP, Tennin, Pup, and Susanoo, are all cards I’d love to see stick around but frankly, I don’t think they really need to. TFP is a great defensive agenda but we already have some fantastic defensive agendas in the faction (and I’d love to see what NISEI cooks up for other defensive Jinteki 5/3s). House of Knives is a great card and maybe it should stick around, I dunno, but perhaps there’s more interesting space to explore in net-damaging 3/1s (plus, we just got Sting! somewhat recently). These remaining ice don’t get a lot of play, even if they once did (like Pup); I’d be happy to see any of them stick around, but I’d also like to see new ideas. So, they can all go.

What about the SanSan Cycle? I’d keep:

Jinteki Biotech: Life Imagined Crick Cortex Lock Marcus Batty An Offer You Can’t Refuse

Okay, whoa, there’s actually an ID in here! Yeah, I love Biotech, even if I haven’t played it in a long time. I feel like Biotech needed just another couple of cards to make the other non-Brewery flip sides workable. I’d love to see NISEI attempt to fix an ID rather than just rotate it. Crick and Cortex Lock seem like such solid, interesting ice that I wouldn’t want to lose either — Cortex Lock is of course a wonderful facechecking ice, good early game ice that was only really ever a problem during the Mti meta. I’ve always loved the positional ice of that cycle, and Crick is lovely. Batty is too fun to ignore and is versatile for multiple decks, and is not stifling like other defensive upgrades. And An Offer You Can’t Refuse — clearly the weirdest, least-played card of this entire post — I just want to keep it around, for the novelty of forcing a run on the Corp’s turn and its related rules confusions. And for the memes.

What would we lose?

Genetic Resequencing Ancestral Imager Allele Repression Genetics Pavilion Lockdown It’s a Trap! Clairvoyant Monitor Chronos Protocol: Selective Mind-Mapping Recruiting Trip Valley Grid

Not a lot here that I really care about, I guess? Genetics Pavilion is probably the one I’d miss the most, not that it’s had much play since Wyldside rotated. And Chronos Protocol — I’m glad it got a brief moment to shine in the sun of Complete Image, but I’m not going to miss it otherwise. Maybe Allele Repression, but frankly, Genotyping, Preemptive Action, etc. have shown that Operation-based card recycling is the best way to go post-Jackson. The rest of these cards were, I think, pretty mediocre design; I’m surprised at how little wheat to chaff there was in SanSan for Jinteki, as my memory is quite different!

And, of course, with the release of System Update, we’ll presumably get some other old cards resurfacing that we haven’t seen in a while. I certainly hope NISEI gets aggressive and interesting with these choices, as I think they did a pretty good job with SC2019 (even if I found Core Experience to be a slog of a format). I’m excited at the options of what from the original core, Genesis, Spin, and Lunar might resurface. If it were up to me, here are the four cards that I would bring back:

Hostile Infrastructure Shock! Edge of World Industrial Genomics

Okay, okay, Hostile Infrastructure won’t be popular, but I love it. It’s expensive to rez and with SanSan gone there won’t be the old Breaker Bay Grid cheese to get it rezzed for free. It’s been back in the meta with Salvaged Memories for a bit now and doesn’t appear to be the scourge of the meta, so why not just keep it? More importantly, I’d love to see Shock! come back — it felt infinitely more fair than Breached Dome with a similar (albeit costlier to trash) effect. Edge of World was a jank-enabler that I would love to see again (perhaps because I’m currently playing Retrunner with these old cards again), and then there’s ... Industrial Genomics.

Okay, okay, okay, I hear you, “IG bad.” It’s a mean, mean, Bad People Play It™ identity that made you cry real bad that one time. It did the same to me once, too! I get that perspective, but if we are going to choose a Jinteki ID that is very functionally different than Personal Evolution to complement it in System Update, I’d like one that facilitates the kinds of play IG does. Biotech fits that bill, but frankly, Biotech unless it gets the card support will just be another Brewery kill ID, and I’m not sure NISEI are thinking that’s worth keeping. I’m being hopelessly optimistic that we’ll be getting three Jinteki IDs when System Gateway and Update drop rather than just two, and if I had to choose between Biotech and IG, I’m going IG every time.

Now, with Kakurenbo in the cardpool, a return of IG just can’t happen; so... ban Kakurenbo! It is a ridiculous card that was, seemingly, mainly designed for IG to play in Eternal. I can’t see any other good use for it, at least. Bring back the old IG from before Bio-Ethics prison. Bring back Shock! Hell, even go ahead and ban Bio-Ethics — gasp, I can’t believe I’m typing such blashemy — and give us something that can open up new kinds of play with this interesting, classic, and overly-maligned ID. Industrial Genomics was a weird thing of beauty, and it deserves another run. Laugh at me all you want, you know I’m right.

One more thing — what about Caprice Nisei? Shouldn’t she be discussed? Nah, she gets no love from me, simply because of the playstyle she empowers. Caprice is of course a great and meta-defining card — for glacier! But haven’t we had enough of glacier by now? Like, two years of mainly glacier Jinteki? And I’m the lord of my own barely-read blog fiefdom; I decree that if you really want a psi game to protect your agenda, you should just go play Hyoubu Precog Manifold.

Anyway, just some thoughts by someone who doesn’t play any Standard but wants to do more. I started writing this thinking it was about the dire state of Jinteki, but I’m now left thinking there’s actually a much smaller set of must-keep Jinteki cards than I initially thought. Granted, most of them are non-ice cards, and that’s a problem here — only a handful of ice here seem really necessary to keep. And maybe that’s what this is about; encouraging more deckbuilding that has little to do with building remotes.

I’m most concerned about IDs. Keeping PE and either Biotech or IG would make me personally happy, and Tennin would be an acceptable “sure, why not.” There’s a lot of potential for Jinteki to move into more forms of play that aren’t so glacier-heavy, and I’m hopeful about that. I do think what they do in System Gateway and System Update will need to address the loss of Jinteki cards, but perhaps not as seriously as I had feared when I started writing this.

Anyway, I’d love to hear any reactions to this. Long Live Chairman Hiro!

#netrunner #jinteki #rant #nisei #systemupdate #systemgateway #iloveyouig

[a-ratt]

How do you write your stories. I know it sounds like a broad question, but I have been inspired to write because you make it so fun! The problem is... well I have a lot of problems. For example how to start a chapter and/or outline, making dialogue correctly, how not to make the plot/chapter feel rushed, etc... Do you have links, process, or tutorials on how to write and get started and all that good stuff? Thanks in advance!

Well, my dear anon, I do love talking about writing. So, for starters, I should probably explain that I’m an English-Creative Writing Major in uni, so I’m going all in with my writing. Besides that, though, I usually start with an outline.

Idk how most people write their outlines, but I usually use “Blake Snyder’s Beatsheet”. It’s basically a list of “story beats” that help plan out the plot of whatever story I’m writing. It’s actually a screenwriting strategy I started using to plot out novel writing. Here’s the list:

1.) Opening Image: 2.) Theme Stated: 3.) Set-up: 4.) Catalyst: 5.) Debate: 6.) Break into Two: 7.) B-Story: 8.) Fun and Games: 9.) Midpoint: 10.) Bad Guys Close In: 11.) All Is Lost: 12.) Dark Night of the Soul: 13.) Break into Three: 14.) Finale: 15.) Final Image:

Basically, 1.) through 6.) make up the First Act. 7.) through 13.) make up the second act. 14.) and 15.) are essentially the third act.

So, 1.) through 6.) are all about the setup. The Opening Image is the first impression you’re giving your readers. It’s a tiny snapshot of what they should be expecting. Theme Stated is generally a moment where the story’s theme/message is given to the protagonist in some way/shape/form. The Set-Up is all about world building. This is where you’ve gotta give us the rundown on the protagonist’s “normal world”, what a day in their normal life is like. The Catalyst is where the fun starts. This is Luke Skywalker getting the message from Princess Leia. Where Frodo Baggins is given the One Ring. When Tony Stark gets blown up. And the moment where Ant-Man comes back from the Quantum Realm 5 years after Infinity War. This is essentially the moment where the conflict is started because the protagonist is pushed into the adventure. (Make sure they have a personal stake in it, though.) The Debate is a small moment where the protagonist, or just characters in general, argue about ‘going on this adventure’, about leaving their normal world. The Break Into Two is my favorite moment in Act I. This is when the protagonist chooses (and they usually must choose) to leave their normal world and embark on the adventure. Bilbo Baggins leaves the Shire. Frodo Baggins leaves the Shire. Luke Skywalker joins Ben Kenobi and leaves his homestead. Tony Stark builds his Mk. I Iron Man suit and fights his way to freedom. The Avengers plan how to time travel to collect the Infinity Stones.

7.) to 13.) is the longest act, Act II. This is the introduction of the B-Story to the Break Into Three. It encapsulates the Fun and Games, all the trials and obstacles the protagonist will have to face.

The B-Story is the subplot you want to implement into the story. This can be a lot of things and can be multiple things. Sometimes it’s a romance, or a learning curve, or a friendship. The Fun and Games, like I said above, is the trials and obstacles the protagonist must overcome. Essentially, in screenwriting, it’s everything you want to put in a movie trailer that’ll draw audiences in. In storywriting, I make up this part of the story as everything I want to happen along the way. The small adventures and little moments I can have fun with before I need to head back to the main story/conflict. The Midpoint is where everything changes. It’s either a “False Victory” or “False Defeat”, mirrored by the All Is Lost beat. An example of this is in Avengers: Infinity War, when Thor enters the Battle of Wakanda, but then Thanos breaks free from the Guardians, Iron Man, and Spider-Man’s trap later. There is a ‘peak’, where it seems like “Hell yeah, we’re going to win”, but then they start losing and losing and losing. The next beat is Bad Guys Close In, which is all about the bad guys closing in. Either the enemy literally shows up. fights them, and wins, or the good guys start fighting amongst themselves. All Is Lost follows up as the moment when the heroes lose. They fail. Often, there’s “a Scent of Death”, which can be an actual character death or someone coming close to death. This is Ben Kenobi getting cut down by Darth Vader. Gandalf getting pulled into the abyss by the Balrog. Thanos confessing that he murdered Gamora for the Soul Stone. Black Widow sacrificing herself to get the Soul Stone. Right after this is the Dark Night of the Soul, which is where the heroes are depressed. They’re at the bottom of the pit. They don’t know what to do with themselves. The mood is usually: It’s over, they’re done. No take backs. No do-overs. We. Lost. Everyone’s defeated and they don’t know what to do next. Following is the Break Into Three, where the heroes find their resolve, get back up, and forge ahead to the final confrontation. A few perfect examples of this is when: the Avengers ruminate over Black Widow’s sacrifice, reaffirm their mission, and then reverse the Snap. Luke Skywalker gets inside the X-Wing to go fight the Death Star. And when Peter Parker tells Happy Hogan that’s he’s going to kick Mysterio’s ass. Finally, we reach the Finale, where it all ends. This is the final confrontation. Thanos attacks the New Avengers Facility. The Rebel Alliance attacks the Death Star. And Ladybug and Chat Noir face Stoneheart one last time. The Finale isn’t bogged down by one fight, though, as Avengers: Endgame shows us. You can stretch it out a bit, play with the audience’s emotions. While Nebula and Gamora help Hawkeye, and Ant-Man saves Hulk, Rocket, and Rhodey, the Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor face down Thanos in a 3v1. It’s an epic battle and it feels like the end, but then the rest of the Avengers show up and we get the biggest battle in the entire story. This is the final battle.Then, there’s the Final Image. This mirrors the Opening Image, shows how far we’ve come and how much has changed. At the start, Luke Skywalker was a farmer boy and at the end he’s a galactic hero/terrorist. At the start, Frodo was just a normal guy living in the Shire, but at the end he’s on an epic adventure to save the world. At the beginning, Bilbo Baggins is content with living at home, but in the end he’s prepared to go on an adventure to help his friends take back their home from a dragon. In Miraculous Ladybug, Marinette is an introverted klutz who grows into a confident superhero.

So, yeah, that’s how I plan out my stories. Each beat is an essential component to create the narrative flow. If none of this made sense, here’s a link to a website that might help out: (x)

Of course, a story is more than it’s plot. You mentioned you had issues with dialogue?

Well, my method for writing dialogue is by throwing myself into the character. I act like them. I try to emulate them. For me, dialogue isn’t about making it correct, it’s about making it organic. Dialogue is linked to the characters you write it for. So someone stiff and stoic is probably not going to clip words and spell everything out. Someone lax and playful will probably clip words and phrases, and also throw in slang.

The kind of dialogue I usually write is inspired by Thor: Ragnarok, because the dialogue used is mostly improv, or improvised. In other words, make it up on the go. Have fun with it. If you want to, throw yourself into the character and try to act like them.

In terms of chapters, I don’t think length matters as much as content and flow. You want to make sure it paces well. You want to make sure that you’re not bogging it down with writing that’s unnecessary, like a diverging plot about food while the characters have to worry about going somewhere. Not unless it’s necessary for the plot.

In other words, chapter density is all up to you. What’s necessary and what’s not? Does it feel too short, as in they reader reads it and it feels like the hero punched the villain and it’s over? Or the read it and they felt like there was a full struggle where they fought and clashed and finally won.

Besides that, I don’t have much else to give. In terms of links and tutorials, all that I learned in class or from experience. (Don’t make me talk about the Fanfiction.net days.) But, if you’ve got anymore questions, I’ll be glad to answer.

#ask Apex #writing tips #if the formatting f-ed up i'm sorry

[cockpitpod]

Otakon 2019: Studio Trigger Interview

Patrick and Tom were fortunate enough to sit down with Hiromi Wakabayashi, Shigeto Koyama, and Hiroyuki Imaishi at Otakon this year to discuss PROMARE and our collective love of robots. As a heads up this interview was conducted before we had seen PROMARE

Patrick: Let’s start with something very simple – we like robots. I know you guys like robots. I’ve heard this about everyone from Trigger, when they come to America… have you guys done any toy shopping yet while you’ve been here? Have you been looking for anything fun?

WAKABAYASHI: Target. If you have any local suggestions, any toy stores, we’d be more than interested to hear your take.

Patrick: All the good toy stores keep disappearing. No more Toys ‘R’ Us.

WAKABAYASHI: Where can American nerds even get their toy fix anymore?

Patrick: Internet, conventions, <laughs> ...Target. Wal-Mart has been reissuing Transformers, so if you’re looking for that stuff, they’re all there.

WAKABAYASHI: That’s very helpful. I have high hopes for this interview.

Tom: PROMARE is, of course, a CG work, the first of its kind for Trigger really. SSSS.GRIDMAN also had a good amount of CG elements in it. How did work on Gridman help prepare Trigger for PROMARE?

IMAISHI: Gridman’s production team is separate from PROMARE, so we didn’t actually use Gridman for experimentation. The foundation or main concept of each project is completely different to begin with. For PROMARE, the idea was to incorporate both 2D and 3D animation. However, for Gridman, the idea was to replicate the tokusatsu feel. So what the Gridman team did was, any place a tokusatsu production would use miniatures they would instead create that with CG animation and models. 

Tom: What do you find are the challenges and limitations of CG as opposed to 2D? Or do you find that the two are good enough at different things that it doesn’t really matter?

IMAISHI: I feel, in the Japanese CG industry at least, that there’s a limitation of expression with CG animation. This doesn’t just mean characters – both characters and mecha I feel there’s a limit to what we can express with CG animation. For example, let’s say there’s a very close-up scene of a particular character’s arm, and part of that arm gets damaged. We would have to make a completely new model for that damaged arm. If it’s 2D, we just draw a little bit over it and it’s done. There’s good and bad with both 2D and CG. CG animation has to be planned out very well prior to execution. I can’t just make a change or fix on a whim, where that would be easier with 2D animation.

Patrick: To follow up on that with both you and Mr. Koyama, how does using CG more heavily inform your approach to design – character design, world design, any of that? Does it change how you approach that or is it largely the same?

KOYAMA: It definitely feel it affects design, be it characters or any models in general. I knew PROMARE would be a project that heavily used CG animation, so I kept that in mind when designing characters in accordance with how it would be executed within the film.

Patrick: Do you feel like it was at all liberating to work knowing it would be animated in CG, or not?

KOYAMA: Knowing it would be in CG, I avoided designing things that would be hard to execute, but I didn’t feel like it held me back. More angular designs like the Rescue Gears are usually harder to animate when it’s hand-drawn, so I was able to incorporate that kind of design more freely for PROMARE. You can see the pilot in the chest portion of one of the Gears – that kind of thing would be hard to execute if it was hand-drawn. If there’s any kind of drawback to designing for CG animation, it’s that I have to make the designs very detailed. When it’s hand-drawn, the animators can help fill in the blanks on the angles the model sheets don’t show. That doesn’t happen when it’s CG.

Patrick: That’s interesting, since I feel like a lot of your design sensibility tends to be very rounded, with less hard angles. Seeing CG as an advantage for more angular design is an interesting shift.

KOYAMA: It’s actually harder in CG animation to show round objects, especially in terms of shading. It’s hard to make the shadows fall in a way that feels convincing. That’s a reason I avoided my more traditional, round design.

Tom: What do you feel it is about Studio Trigger’s work in particular that resonates so well with international audiences?

WAKABAYASHI: This isn’t me speaking for everyone at Trigger, but I personally feel that it resonates well with the international fans is because, at least in the projects I’m involved in, I don’t have a particular demographic in mind. I make a project or get involved in one with the mindset of executing an interesting idea that I wanted animated. I just put in what I think is interesting, that I want everyone to see. That’s my motivation. Maybe that’s why it resonates so well with the fans, the nerdy types across the globe.

IMAISHI: I feel similarly, where I don’t have a specific demographic in mind, but I do feel like I pay a little closer attention to make sure the Japanese audience understands what I’m trying to get across. The international fans seem to be more open-minded; I can get away with more.

KOYAMA: I also agree. I basically put a concentrated form of what I like into the work. It’s entertainment, and what I want out of entertainment is what I put into what I create. Hopefully the people watching my stuff are entertained by the same things. 

Patrick: You’ve found an audience of people like yourself that want to see the same cool stuff.

KOYAMA: That’s probably it. We’re not too bright, and maybe our audience is similar. <laughter> That’s a compliment, by the way. We’re all family.

Tom: SSSS.GRIDMAN represented a different kind of work for Trigger in that it was based on a licensed property. What would be a character or IP that you’d personally want to work on given the chance?

WAKABAYASHI: Before we answer, I’d just like to note that although Gridman was an existing property we feel like it leans towards being original content as well. We only borrowed the idea, taking Gridman as a concept. Usually when we say “adaptation” it’s like a manga or comic being adapted to animation with the same or similar story and the same characters. I don’t feel like Gridman followed that method. Among us at Team Imaishi, we generally like doing original work. But if we had to choose, it would probably be along the lines of Transformers or Marvel.

KOYAMA: <laughing> I’d like to do Steamboat Willie.

WAKABAYASHI: Maybe the steamboat could transform into something.

Tom: Sounds like a good idea for a toy. For our last question, since we are a robot anime-themed podcast: I have to ask, what’s your favorite robot?

<Wakabayashi, Imaishi, and Koyama all agonize over their decision>

WAKABAYASHI: This changes quite often, but as of right now, July 27 at 11AM, it’s Hot Rod from Transformers: The Movie. Tomorrow it may be something else.

IMAISHI: I recently bought a soft vinyl toy of Zambot 3, so that’s my current favorite.

KOYAMA: I was just browsing through Twitter and I’m heavily influenced by my feed, so I don’t know if I can give a pure, honest, unbiased answer. Right now I feel like Tetsujin 28. I like Black Ox too – I can definitely say Tetsujin 28 isn’t my usual favorite as I’m very influenced by my feed.

WAKABAYASHI: What about you two? What’s your favorite?

Tom: Oh boy. Probably Gundam Mk. II.

WAKABAYASHI: Which one? AEUG or Titans?

Tom: AEUG colors.

Patrick: What? No! Titans colors

<Everyone Laughs>

Patrick: My answer is super-basic, but it’s always Optimus Prime. I have about fifty Optimus figures.

WAKABAYASHI: I’m not too far behind with my own Optimus count.

Patrick: Who in the office has the most Transformers?

WAKABAYASHI: It’s either me or [Akira] Amemiya, the director of Gridman. It’s a close call. We’d have to actually count them up.

Patrick: Thank you all for taking the time to speak with us today and we hope you find some cool toys this weekend.

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for our discussion of PROMARE coming soon!

#otakon2019 #studio trigger #promare #ssssgridman #Gridman #gundam #animation #anime #transformers

[ahiddenpath]

Vidja Games

So I checked out Game Informer’s list of the top 300 greatest video games, and they are objectively wrong, lol (I can’t imagine the fights that went into making this list??)!

I’m no critic, and I’m not interested in attempting to objectively rate games, but here are my (subjective) faves in rough order-ish, if you’re interested!  They are arranged by franchise for my sanity below the cut.

The Elder Scrolls (TES)

My all time favorite video game series is TES, although I wasn’t able to stomach playing I and II.  In order, my favorites are: Morrowind, then Oblivion, then Skyrim.

Morrowind is unfriendly to casual gamers, and even experienced folks need to learn the lay of the enormous world, how to fast travel, and even how to level and plan characters to best effect.  The learning curve is enormous, and if you decide to play a different type of character later on, you’re stuck!  You might even have to start over, since you level your character by increasing the major and minor skills you chose upfront.

But I have never experienced such an open, imaginative world.  The later installments felt both smaller and less varied.  In Morrowind, you’ll find everything from sprawling floating cities to houses built into enormous mushrooms, with ashlands, swamps, and mountainous terrains in between, complete with hell-on-earth smack-dab in the middle of everything.

Oblivion is more user-friendly than Morrowind, and it has some of the most engaging quests in the series.  What it loses in environmental diversity and sheer exploration potential, it almost- almost- compensates for in fun quests (there’s much less ‘fetch me some swamp muck’ involved), easier transportation, and the wonderful world of Shivering Isles, an expansion.

Skyrim is the most accessible of the three by far, and it’s forgiving in that it allows players to change their play style on the fly with little repercussions.  It also has the best combat.  Sadly, the repetitive environments make it far less compelling to explore than its predecessors, which is a huge part of TES’s charm for me.  I also found the enemies repetitive.  The more fanciful enemies are almost absent, and the few that exist are tied to specific daedric quest lines.  Do you know how hard it is to recharge enchanted items when you only encounter a handful of daedra?  Wolves and trolls just don’t fill them back up well.

Also, while the accessibility widens the target audience considerably, it cuts into the customization options previously available to more experienced gamers.  That was a huge disappointment for me, personally.

To be clear, though, I still adore Skyrim.

Personal anecdote:  My Morrowind strategy book was so worn that it fell apart, so I punched holes in the pages and kept it in a binder.  I took out the fast travel map and the local map of whatever area I was combing to find a dungeon door tucked into a cave hidden behind ivy or whatever.  I still have it; it’s a sentimental treasure.

The Sims

The more open-ended a game is, the more I like it, and The Sims is king of that arena!  For me, 3 is by far the best installment.  2 introduced the idea of having types of Sims with personal goals to meet to create direction for the player, but ultimately, it felt like I was stuck with the same five Sims over and over again.  The wishes and moodlet system of 3, along with the five slots for personality traits, gave me so much more power to create Sims that felt like actual characters.

I... don’t even want to know how much of my life I’ve put into The Sims...

My ranking:  3>1>2>4

It should be noted that I didn’t mind 1′s lack of direction, since my imagination alone is way more than enough to pull me forward in a sandbox game.  In comparison, 2 felt restrictive by creating five character types, limiting me to that in a way I couldn’t ignore.

Personal anecdote:  I received the original Sims for Christmas when I was in middle school.  I accidentally played from bed time until 4 AM, which is the closest I’ve ever come to pulling an all-nighter.

Sonic the Hedgehog

WHERE DO I EVEN START WITH THE BLUE BLUR.

Sonic was an enormous part of my childhood, guys.  I played all the games.  I watched both cartoons (the one with Sally and the Freedom Fighters and the one where it’s just Sonic/Tails/Eggman/some robots), I learned to read with the comic books.  I have a vivid memory of my brother taunting me by refusing to let me see his comics “because I couldn’t read”...  So I spite-learned using the comics when he wasn’t paying attention.

I don’t think I can pick a favorite!  As a kid, I played Sonic 3 the most; I was a huge Knuckles fan, so that might have played a role (also the original Sonic was too difficult for me at the time, although I certainly tried).  But I also loooooved Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2.  And Sonic Generations was so much fun!

Mario Bros

Lord, I was playing Mario games before I could read, I don’t...  Mario has always been around for me, okay?  It’s a huge part of my story, and the franchise is so iconic that there’s little for me to say.  There are way too many amazing games in this franchise for me to name, but personal faves include: Super Mario RPG, Super Mario World, and Yoshi’s Island.

The Legend of Zelda

This is another franchise where I don’t know what to say...  It’s too iconic for me to offer much.  Zelda games are known for their exploration and adventure, even from the beginning.  Ocarina of Time was a big part of my childhood, but I also adore the newest installment, Breath of the Wild.  And I know this may be silly, but I love Hyrule Warriors!  I can’t wait to play it on the Switch with all the DLC.

And the music???  Guys?????  THE MUSIC?!?!?!    

Bioshock 

Amazing atmosphere, fun game play, and one of the best stories in gaming history add up to an unforgettable experience.  Also a fore-runner to the idea of playing dialogue and recordings while the player explores, a trend that caught on in a huuuge way.

Persona

It’s hard to describe Persona games...  They basically combine Jungian psychology with various mythologies, sprinkle in some horror (or glob it on in the case of 3), throw in an RPG, and add a heaping serving of everyday high school life.  The games tackle a wide range of ideas and game play, creating a unique experience that has drawn a devoted following.

I’ll make this quick:

3:  Best story and atmosphere, worst/most needlessly frustrating game play, very prickly cast lol

4:  Best characters and character development

5:  Best game play (exquisitely polished game play, really), best overall style, worst story and character development

My ranking is 4>3>5.  It should probably be noted that story and character are king for me, so while 5 was incredibly polished mechanics wise, the comparatively weak story and characters sunk it to the bottom of the list for me.  It was one of those games where I understood where they were going hours ahead of time, and then they would explain “the twist” to the player for half an hour over and over and over.  Frankly, it was... kind of insulting, and soured the experience for me.

Also, Mona, I swear to god, how am I supposed to pass school if you don’t let me study or do my homework because you think I need to sleep at 5 PM every day ahhhhh!  XD

Harvest Moon

Oh god, here’s another franchise I don’t want to delve into in terms of hours I’ve spent playing O_O

I can’t even explain why I like these games...  In HM, you are a farmer, and your job is usually to prove to the villagers that you’re a valuable member of society so that they won’t evict you from your own inherited property.  (I’m curious about their deeds and legal policies, lol.  How do you write that clause up?).

These games combine farming with socialization and light dating sim elements, and time management is the name of the game.  They pull in players by tapping into the universal desire to create order and advancement.

My favorite installment is Friends of Mineral Town.  I also adored Harvest Moon 64, but the controls are sadly too dated for me to replay it.

Pokemon

I’m sure I’ve missed at least one, but I’ve played almost every mainstream release of Pokemon since Red and Blue came out.  It must be doing something right, lol!

I’m a huge sucker for games where you choose monsters to raise.  It’s so fun to assemble a team based on your tastes and raise them just so!

My favorite release is the remake of Gold and Silver.

Monster Rancher 2

OH MY LORD I played this game to the point where I’m shocked the disc still works.  In Monster Rancher 2, you find monsters by placing discs into your Play Station, which each encode a monster.  In order to access the strongest monsters, you must raise your rank as a trainer by winning official tournaments.

I wish I could explain why I latched on to this particular game so hard, but...  I think it had something to do with the massive variety of monsters, the difficulty of the tournaments (I never did hit S rank, and not for lack of trying!), and the myriad of odd ways to unlock special monsters.

Mario Kart

Seriously, who doesn’t like smiting friends and family on the race track?  MK is a fun, family-friendly way to deliver a beat down...  As long as you contain your desire to cuss like a sailor, anyway.

It’s so hard to pick a favorite here!  It’s hard to top the original for the challenge...  But Double Dash and Infinity are contenders, too.

Danganronpa

Danganronpa games are visual novels that mix survival, horror, and crime-solving into a dark, bizarre, unique experience.  I’ve written a ton about this series lately, so I won’t delve into it here, but you can check out the danganronpa tag on my blog for more.

Kingdom Hearts

These games are so charming and fun to play!  I’ve never completed one on my own- linear games are rough for me- but I’ve seen my husband play them all, even the (many) extra installments.  KH2 is probably my favorite, although Birth by Sleep was amazing, too.

Final Fantasy

I’ll admit that I don’t really enjoy playing Japanese RPGs; linear gameplay doesn’t appeal to me much in general.  But the FF franchise is famous for its sweeping narratives, imaginative environments, and breath-taking music, and I enjoy them for that.  I’ve watched my husband play X-XV, and I briefly joined him in playing XI and XIV.  My favorite is probably X...  Although I have an enormous crush on Ignis from XV.  

My favorite FF game to play is Theaterhythm: Curtain Call.

Mass Effect

How do I say this...  I don’t think I’ve ever played a game that better simulated becoming an entire universe’s hero and moral center.  In Mass Effect, you shape the world and the political climate in unprecedented ways.  By the end of 3, every player is so deeply invested in their Shepard and the world s/he created.  In that sense, it’s en epic experience without peer.

Destiny

I love playing Destiny with my husband and our friend!  I’m a titan, Tony is a hunter, and our buddy is a warlock, and together, we are... three guardians, lol!  

Okay, so the vanilla Destiny release needed some help, but it became a great game with the expansions.  I’m still waiting for that breath of rejuvenation for 2, but I treasure the time we spend together kicking ass as a team.

Left 4 Dead

This game redefined what co-op meant to me.  I always thought of it as Halo, basically competing on the same team against other players.  And yeah, you do that in L4D...  But the cooperation angle that this game brought to the table was more or less unprecedented.

In L4D, if your team of ragtag survivors doesn’t work together, it’s unlikely that anyone will survive.  I spent a lot of free time in college playing this with my friends spread out over different schools.  I had so, so much fun with it.

Although 2 had more varied game play, which was great, I enjoyed the original more, mostly because the online game play wasn’t as loaded in favor of the zombie team.  Objectively speaking, though, the sequel was the more robust game.

Personal anecdote:  L4D is where I learned about dealing with males online.  With Halo, which I also played at the time, I only enjoyed it enough to play it with people I knew.  I loved L4D so much that I would log in to play even when my friends weren’t available, which meant that I was teamed with random players.

I have a very feminine voice, which apparently means that I am meant to be treated like crap online.  Even though it’s a co-op game, and communication is important, I spent most of my sessions with the headset turned off.

Borderlands

THIS GAME, I HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH IT!  The crass humor, the expanse of wastelands, the gun-slinging insanity, the incredible couch co-op!  What’s not to love?

Sadly, the sequel was a downgrade from the original, but the first game was an amazing ride.  I’ve been considering replaying it with Tony with all of the DLC.

Metal Gear

I’ve never played these myself, but I watched my husband play the first three.  They’re so cinematic and goofy and over-the-top and awesome!  I love breaking out my Solid Snake gravel voice, too.  My favorite is... probably 3?  It’s hard to pick between 2 and 3, though... 

Disgaea

Hmm...  How to describe these games...  They’re tactics games, I guess?  And there’s a lot of story, too...  Game play wise, the later installments perfect what the earlier ones started, but you can’t beat the story and characters of the original.  Laharl is still one of my all-time favorite male video game characters.  He’s... such a brat?  I love him???

Honorable mentions in no order (ie, I’m tired of writing descriptions, sorry to the rest of these games):

Halo, Dragon Age, Fallout 3, Ratchet & Clank, Resident Evil, Portal, Soul Calibur, Tetris Attack, Uncharted, Ms. Pacman,  the Batman Arkham games

EDIT:  I forgot Nier: Automata and Super Smash Bros!  FOR SHAME!

#video games #vidja games #hidden's favorite video games #my favorite games

[eestudy]

Hey :) do you have any recommendations for good Japanese dramas?? I love your blog btw :D

Yay! Thank you!Ooh ok. If you're new to j-drama, I suggest Mischievous Kiss. It's super cheesy but it's a good introduction to the shoujo adaptation genre. You can watch both seasons on Netflix or DramaFever.Quickly follow that with Hana Yori Dango. HanaDan is my ultimate fave of all time. It's the drama that MADE Arashi and like it's fantastic. It's also cheesy but the music is pretty good, the story is fucking adorable, and the characters are wonderful. It's like the OG Rave Cycle accept with zero magic. I watched both seasons and the movie. The movie is a train wreck but it's literally one the best Japanese live action manga adaptation film I have ever seen in my whole life. You can find this pretty easily on YouTube Other suggestions include:Terrace House I LIVE FOR DRAMA ok and this show is literally gold. Like it sucks because it's not up-to-date with release in Japan but it's a great fucking show omg.A Clinic on the Sea海の上の診療所（うみのうえにしんりょうじょ）I don't know this show was just dank? I watched it because I am in love with Fukushi Sota (who is in the live action adaptation of my favorite manga of all time Sukitte Ii Na Yo. 5/10 don't waste your time watching that movie) and it was great. It stars Shota Matsuda (who is in HanaDan) as this like doctor who thinks he's real hot shit. He joins a boat that sails through the Ryukyuu Islands in the south of Japan to the "Doctorless Islands" which are exactly what they sound like. The show is like mostly comedy but with this fantastic formula. He keeps falling in love with women on the island, declaring he'll leave to marry said women, and then ending up masterfully performing a major surgery in 5 minutes of panic on the boat. Like it's a good fucking show. It's on Hulu and DramaFeverHm I'm on a rollこの恋を思い出してきっと泣いてしまう（このこいをおもいだしてきっとないてしまう）or in English "When we remember this love we will surely cry" THIS SHOW. Alright so I started watching this show because I was in love with Sakaguchi Ryo (I'm a hot mess mk) but this show. Omg. I cried. I laughed. I screamed. It's about this guy who moved to Tokyo from like Fukushima and lives with his best friend and near his other bff from home whatever. And one day this girl drops her wallet and the card in it says she's in fucking Hokkaido so he's like "welp fuck" and DRIVES TO HOKKAIDO ALONE JUST FOR THIS GAL and he returns the wallet. And then they low-key start to fall in love which is cute BUT THE DRAMA actually spans like ten-ish years and is also about the 3/11 earthquake and the twists omg. You have to hunt for this one tbh but it's worth it. Hm I love j-drama lol.私は恋愛できない理由（わたしはれないできないりゆう）The Reason I Can't Find My LoveSo every now and then it's healthy to watch j-dramas about the love lives of older women and THIS J-DRAMA . The drama, the intrigue, the message! It's about these 3 women who move in together and are all looking for love in their own way and it's really good. Like a wonderful feminist show for the books. It's on Hulu and DramaFever.Liar GameAgain. I was in love with Shota Matsuda. But this show! It was adapted to a K-Drama but I don't think it would be as good if it wasn't Japanese. J-drama's always have this extra touch of "over the top" that works really well for this show. It's like just enough too much that it's great. Liar Game is basically about this girl who is too innocent to do anything wrong who gets sucked into this crazy blackmail game. She ends up on the losing side so she hunts down this crazy released criminal guy who swindled a company out of like $10 billion dollars or something and he helps her beat the game. But the game keeps getting worse. If you like whodunnits or like being stumped by puzzles and then falling down when someone else solves them like this drama is lit as fuck. Like the music is amazing (the drama is from the mid 2000s and the music is by CAPSULE). It's a wild ass ride and the two leads and like the only thing that could make the cast better is if Oguri Shun made a cameo like omg.Hm I should stop but I have more. You should also watch Last Cinderella (fall in love with Miura Haruma), Dear Sister (iconic), Bitter Blood (the English title is like not that for some reason?), and ５時から9時まで (From 5 to 9), and the first Japanese adaptation of Hana Kimi ( 花盛りの君たちへfor you in full bloom) with Oguri Shun. There are so many more and I could go on and on and on and on. So if you would like more I've got more. I haven't watched a j-drama in a while and now I'm itching for one ugh. This is long but one more thing.J-drama's are SO HARD TO FIND. When it comes to Japanese stuff, there are a lot of resources to learn Japanese even directly from like NHK and the Japanese government and the country is like "Yes learn Japanese!" But Japanese companies are STINGY with pop culture sharing. Be careful looking for places to watch dramas or torrenting them because sites and forums get taken down left and right and torrenting is kind of dangerous and weird lol. So I tried to give you ones that are actually legal? But if you want to watch some online, make sure you have a good anti virus program (Windows defender is really good and it comes on all PCs I think).bBut yeah enjoy! I hope that helps. Sorry that was so long.

[overratedjoe-blog]

Trivia time! (about the Sometimes' series!)

With the ending of the Sometimes' main trilogy, I figured it would be nice to share some stuff about the development of the series – what changed, what has stayed the same, scrapped concepts, etc etc. I think it's cool to do this because when you write something you go through a lot of things that don't exactly show into the final product, and your audience often won't know about it if you don't tell. 

It's also nice because it shows not everything goes as you initially planned – and that's alright!

Notice there are spoilers here, including for Undying Wish – Act II, so consider this before continuing to read. So, without further ado, let's begin:

Falling Apart was originally going to be called "Overture". I changed it during the process of writing that fic because "Overture" was way too generic and didn't really say anything about the story. 

Magda's first name was Linda. I actually wrote the entirety of Falling Apart calling her Linda, until I discovered there was also a character named Linda in an Undertale PTA AU – she's like this rude, racist, obnoxious mother who nobody likes (which was funny since Frisk in my series doesn't like Magda either). I thought people could confuse things and decided to ultimately change her name to "Magda". Her final name, by the way, is just a short from "Magdaline".

Still about "Linda": this is really embarrassing, but as I needed to change her name to "Magda" in every instance she was mentioned in the revision, I actually missed one right in Chapter 1. Yes, there was a "Linda" lost in the middle of the fic, and I only noticed that three months after I had published the story. So, if you read Falling Apart just as it was published, my apologies for that. :(

I always knew I had to kill someone from the main cast. Keeping everyone alive was not an option. Yes – I am that evil.

I considered killing Papyrus and MK first though – because I was really reluctant in killing Sans, since he's my favorite character and all. Decided to do it anyway because it made more sense plot-wise than to kill Papyrus, and I figured it would make way more of an impact on the audience than if I killed MK.

A long, long time ago, when the series was just an idea in my head, I wanted to leave the reset plot device out of it. Well, we all know where that got me.

Sometime when I was writing Undying Wish, I considered killing Frisk in the end, too. I'm such a lovely person, right?

Phantom Memories had an entirely different concept. Before it became what it is today, the plot from that part revolved around the Gaster's followers – you know, those gray little dudes who you can only see in Undertale if your FUN value is at specific points. The basic idea was that Frisk and crew would encounter each one of them, and each one of them would die a bizarre death – but not before giving a little clue to help Frisk remember his involvement with the resets and the timelines. I changed my mind before I even wrote that, however, because I felt that 1) it didn't focus enough on the war and the survival aspect I wanted to convey on that part, 2) it felt way too horror-themed for the series, 3) it would leave little to no room for the characters to develop in the way I wanted them to develop.

I also wanted to include Mettaton in the story – my plan was to make him part of Bonnie's, Berna's and Boone's group, but I ended up scrapping that because I couldn't think of a way to introduce our sexy robot in the plot convincingly. 

What happened to Mettaton in the Sometimes' universe, you ask? That story is for another time...

Ever wondered where I took the generic names from Eileen's and Leonard's group members? Look no further – they are just character names from the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. 

In Undying Wish, the chapters "Polaroids and Keys" and "Silent Promise" were originally a single chapter. The same goes for "Still You" and "Futures" in the end. I split them solely for the sake of not making the chapters too long. 

Frisk's and Undyne's fight in Undying Wish was going to be way more violent – moreover, Undyne was going to be the one to stab Frisk in the back, and not one of the guard dogs. Ended up changing that because it felt out of character to Undyne to stab someone in the back – even in her Empress form.

I actually began writing a scene between when Frisk passes out in Chapter 7 and the Mt. Ebott scene in the beginning of Chapter 8. It's hard to describe, but it was like Frisk going on a spiritual, metaphorical journey to reach the reset button. It also had some meta elements, as a nod to Undertale itself. Discontinued it because it felt too pretentious and didn't add anything on the bigger picture of the series, despite being "cool".

I had planned a scene for the epilogue in which Papyrus would visit Undyne in prison. Scrapped that because the idea felt too ridiculous, considering the state of things by the end of the series.

And I think that's pretty much it. Thinking back about it, it's actually really cool to see how things evolved – and I like the way the series turned out!

Thank you for reading!

#sometimes it's better to take what's given to you #trivia #falling apart #phantom memories #undying wish #fanfic writing #fanfiction #undertale

[kazephantom]

Was working on this for awhile, never thought of a #6 for the comics list so I didn’t post it but now I suppose it’s too late. Posting for archival sake.

So despite the whole suit list leaking online, I still want to make my predictions on which suits will and won’t be in the game.  I have not seen the suit list leak yet and don’t intend to so if you reply please no spoilers.  First a short list I pulled from TV Tropes of suits that were confirmed before the list leaked.

Confirmed:

Advanced Suit

Classic Suit

Spider-Punk

Movie Iron Spider

Noir suit

Homecoming Homemade suit

Insomniac original Velocity suit

Ben Reilly Scarlet Spider

Spider-Armor mark II  -- This one I have my doubts about because I haven’t seen it in trailers or heard it mentioned in interviews yet so idk on TV Tropes’ source.  

Working off the rumor that there are 25 suits I think the suit load out would break down to 10 comic suits, 10 Insomniac Original (IO) suits, and 5 movie suits, so based on that so far we have 2 IO suits with the Advanced and Velocity, 2 movie suits with Iron Spider and Homemade, and 4 comic suits with Punk, Noir, Scarlet and Mk II Armor.  But I have no idea how to count the classic suit since it could count for anything really. Also I won’t be trying to predict the IO suits since those are basically impossible to predict. So with that in mind here are my predictions:

Movie suits: 

Tobey Maguire classic suit -- While there aren’t that many movie suits the thing that makes it difficult to predict this is that the three main suits of Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland are all in my opinion, too similar to the version of the Classic suit we’ve already seen. I think if they were going to do one they would go with the Maguire suit since with it’s darker colors and raised webbing it can be textured differently from the more comic-like Classic suit we’ve seen.

Andrew Garfield movie 1 suit -- To me this suit is the most iconic of the Garfield movie series. I remember it also caused the most controversy since it was a significant enough departure from the classic design.  That design departure is also why I think it might make it, with it’s gold eyes, lack of red belt, and longer spider legs.

Tobey Maguire "Human Spider” suit -- I’m putting this one here since the rest of the movie outfits are all too similar like I said, so only the Maguire “Human Spider” wresting suit and the Garfield “Vigilante” suit really look different and between the two of them I think the Human Spider suit is more iconic while the Vigilante suit really barely counts as a suit, it’s just civvies and a red mask and if we were going to get a suit that’s mostly civvies I would just prefer a Peter Parker skin which was already confirmed we aren’t getting. It was also confirmed we aren’t getting any symbiotes so that’s why the Maguire symbiote costume isn’t on my predictions list

Comic suits:

Classic 2099 suit -- The white ANAD 2099 could also take this spot but since suit spots are very limited I think they would want to go for the more iconic version. (Though I do hear a lot of people saying they wouldn’t mind the ANAD verison)

Superior -- Honestly I would prefer the Maguire movie Alex Ross design that this suit is based on just because the character leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. But I won’t deny that the suit itself is wonderful and it’s both popular enough and different enough from the iconic look to be in the game.

Future Foundation -- With a primarily white color it looks very different from any other suit, it is also very well known to fans.  The only problem I could see is if it needs Fantastic Four rights to go with it but I don’t think so since it has appeared in other games.

Secret War (2004) -- This is honestly only on here cuz I heard a rumor it was in the game. I didn’t even know this suit existed before this rumor. But after looking it up I do think it looks different enough to be included and it could be useful as another stealth suit.

Amazing Bag-Man -- It’s a classic! The joke suit that is in every game! Only problem I could see again is it might need FF rights, but I wouldn’t mind it if to get around those they just replaced the 4 logo with a spider.

Bet won’t be in game:

Comic Iron Spider -- While the suit does look different enough, movie Iron Spider is already confirmed and I don’t think they’d be doubling up on suit names

Symbiote/Black Suit -- Symbiotes already confirmed not in the game

Spider-Gwen/Spider-Woman Jessica Drew/ Spider-Girl Mayday Parker --They would require a female model, duh. I think these are kind of obvious..... although there are confirmed sections you play as MJ so they do have a playable female model... Ah, nah, still don’t think they would do it.

Ben Reilly Spider-Man -- Too similar to the classic suit and the Ben Reilly Scarlet Spider suit is already confirmed

Any of the Identity Crisis suits -- While it’s a fan-favorite storyline, I don’t think any of the suits are iconic enough to make it into the limited number of available spaces

Big Time suit -- Green with Tron lines is already covered by the Mk II suit.  Also this suit is just. So ugly. 

I wish would be in the game but don’t think will be:

Parker’s Last Stand suit  -- I love the JMS era, in part cuz it was the comics when I was a kid and in part cuz it was the last era untouched by OMD. And the Parker’s Last Stand suit is pretty much iconic to this time period.  Though I don’t think it will be in the game because it’s not very iconic and it looks a lot like the Noir suit just in color

Spider-Armor Mark I -- It’s my favorite Spider-Armor design since as essentially just a bulked up black and silver version of the original suit i think it looks the most like Spider-Man, I also had a toy of it as a kid so big nostalgia factor for me. But I don’t think they’ll be including more that one Spider-Armor so if Mk II really is in the game then that’s that.

Aaron Aikman suit -- I just think his suit looks cool

[studio77photouk]

Must Have Gear for Travel Photography Newbies

Fresh vacation photographers are usually currently requesting me what gear they ought to purchase when first getting started. Before I enter what in my opinion would be the fundamental necessities that novices must begin with, certainly a few items are that you’ll wish to undertake panel first.

A far more costly your camera create your pictures better. The camera is a device, and also the primary facets are such things as illumination structure, and specialized elements, like emphasis.

Begin with the fundamentals and develop from there. The final factor any journey shooter really wants to do is pull a lot of cameras around.

Obtain sufficient insurance to protect components and your camera. Robberies and incidents do occur whenever you travel with cameras.

Today towards the listing. Clearly, this all hangs in your budget, but here’s equipment’s fundamental listing that I believe beginner journey photographers will require.

Camera

Obviously that the necessity that is fundamental is just a camera. You will find a wide variety of options readily available for every budget the method that is only to truly understand that will be correct for you personally would be to do your study. Journey photographers that are skilled utilize high end Cannon cameras or Nikon including around $1,500 000 USD, to $5. But there are many of really able cameras under $1000. Among the greatest methods to come to a decision before you buy would be to lease the camera to get a morning. Venture out and consider some pictures withit and get of what it’s like a concept.

One choice that’s been in vacation photography increasing recently is cameras. These are usually cheaper and significantly smaller than highend cameras but nonetheless with the capacity of creating top quality pictures. Increasingly more journey photographers are now actually transporting these possibly like an extra or an alternate for their primary DLSR camera.

When you’re prepared to purchase, don’t and look around overlook you could buy maintained second hand cameras which is in a discounted, but in ideal operating situation.

Search DSLR cameras under $1000 on W&H Picture

DSLRs on T&H over $1000

Take a look at DSLRs on Amazon under $1000

DSLRs on Amazon over $1000

You might think about a mirrorless program of journey, take a look at these dPS posts on mirrorless cameras.

Our camera of preference is just a Rule MK III. It has a significant cost, however it is definitely an exemplary camera that won’t stands perfectly at high-iso options and allow you to along. I often bring an additional body with me that we leave-in my accommodation in case that something occurs to my camera that is primary. Or occasionally I’ve my additional body installed with my lens easily believe I’ll use it a great deal that day-to save me needing to adjust contacts.

Contacts

Often, cameras can be found like a bundle having simply your body or a contact, meaning you’ll need to buy the contact individually. As you will see various contact options whatever you choose will often fall for your budget.

Like a starting place, you’ll require what I’d contact a contact. Nearly all your pictures is likely to be obtained with and certainly will have to provide a great key length array It’s the one which. Anything across the 24’s outlines – lens is a great variety to begin. This can permit you to seize from areas to pictures. Actually, you can really get nearly all the full time with simply that one contact away.

You can put in a lens to enhance your wide-angle in case your budget subsequently enables. Something similar to A70-200mm contact means you’re coated for just about everything you’ll require daily. With time you are able to develop your lenscollection more by the addition of macro or primary contacts. But to begin, only if your allowance enables a telephoto, and a wide-angle move, is likely to be adequate.

Our fundamental listing of contacts that I keep on every journey are:

Canon 24-70mm y/2.8 two USM contact lens

Canon EF 70-200mm y/2.8L IS II USM lens

Canon EF 50mm y/1.2L USM lens

Canon EF 100mm y/2.8L Macro IS USM

Tripod

Many vacation photographers may state that there is a tripod probably their favorite item. Basically with no tripod, you’ll not have the ability to consider pictures which need sluggish shutter rates while you won’t have the ability to contain the camera constant enough manually. But there is a tripod really a lot more helpful than simply for shooting low-light problems. Utilizing a tripod can indicate a little more moment is spent by you creating and thinking the picture in the place of simply taking away.

Which tripod you select just how much weight-you may bring from daily, and can come right down to individual option, budget. Carbon-fiber tripods are often what journey photographers utilize because they are light and steady. I take advantage of the Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 which is really a durable carbon-fiber tripod that will be light to transport. I also make use of a Manfrotto 327RC2 light-duty hold ball-head for connecting my camera towards the tripod.

But like every camera item, you will find plenty of tripods from cheap completely right into a hundred bucks, ranging. Frequently people are seen by me with the most recent costly cameras but cheap tripod that is a very. Through vibrations tripods can in fact have a bad impact on your pictures aside from the proven fact that low-end, you may not wish to depend on anything lightweight and inexpensive to put on your costly camera up? Choose the tripod that is best as you are able to manage since it you will be really worth the first expense long haul and can last you quite a long time.

An alternate choice to conventional tripods is just a monopod. You’ll frequently observe photographers which big telephoto lenses utilize these being a help to aid the fat of the camera or activities photographers. Clearly, the monopod’s drawback is the fact that it isn’t so that your pictures with sluggish shutter rates may suffer with camera-shake backed by three thighs.

Camera Case

There is a great camera carrier among the most significant issues you’ll purchase. Not just may the tote maintain your gear additionally when you’re at your location shooting although secure during transportation. There’s no scarcity of bags nowadays plus they differ when it comes to utilization dimension, and price. It’s probable you will have various bags for various situations while you be much more skilled. For instance, if I’m walking or out within the wilderness I bring my  LowePro Pro Trekker 450 because it is just a comfy tote for lengthy hikes and it has lots of space for gear in addition to room for such things as a water tank or even to tie my tripod onto.

But this tote could be too large in a where in hectic locations including areas, I do want to picture for instance. Therefore in these circumstances, I’d possibly consider my Lowepro evening tote bunch (an older edition of the Fastpack BP 150 AW two) or my shoulder-bag (Lowepro Passport Throw sequence). Periodically easily possess a day-off I would simply bring my Toploader Pro70 AW two which simply bears one camera and contact. Therefore it’s convenient to carry .

Lowepro is among the marketplace leaders plus they have almost every kind of camera carrier you’ll ever need lined. The most important thing to think about is what’s the absolute most comfy design for you really to bring and what you should use the tote for.

Additional Necessities

After you have your camera, contact, and tripod the only real other activities you’ll need are camera batteries, storage cards, along with a lens cleaning system. It’ll have a battery whenever you purchase a camera however it may be a good idea to purchase a minumum of one more. The final point you’d need will be aside someplace also you can’t cost it and whenever your battery fails. There are available may usually an extra in useful.

Another important you will require is just a size memory that is good. The price may again be considered an element below, but bear in mind that NATURAL files take a lot more space up on firing for the reason that structure you’ll require additional memory room if you are organizing. It isn’t uncommon when going to load a 32GB memory in only a couple of days, therefore usually bring several extras.

Of what I contemplate to become important, the final is a few kind of contact cleaning package. That may you need to be a contact fabric along with a comb but there’s without doubt you will have to clean dirt, dirt, and filth off your contact glass several times . I’d also suggest that you simply match a UV – filter for your contacts as this can enable make sure that the contact doesn’t get damaged. It’ll be significantly cheaper to displace a UV – filter than to correct a glass that is damaged.

Components

The checklist addresses of what any journey shooter will require the fundamentals but obviously, you will find other activities as you are able to include with time that’ll become extremely helpful in certain circumstances.

– aids eliminate undesirable insights while improving blues and vegetables.

– helps you to restrict the quantity of lighting entering the camera, that allows for results for example smooth-looking water to become produced.

– much like ND filters, finished filters are helpful in circumstances where you’ve a within the lighting between your history and forefront and need to actually that out.

Drive – when you yourself have restricted memory room, a tough drive is advantageous to move your pictures to. But a tough drive can also be helpful like a copy just in case anything occurs for your storage cards.

Our listing of components are the following:

Canon Speedlite 580EX two.

All my contacts are installed having a Hoya Pro-1 Electronic UV – filter. This can help safeguard the contact glass particularly in really severe problems like the leave.

Some Cokin Z Pro sequence ND and finished ND filters.

16GB and 32GB ScanDisk compactflash storage cards. I consider roughly enough to make use of one every day.

Hoya Pro-1 polarizing filter.

3 x WD 250GB passport exterior hard disk drives.

Summary

Purchasing all of the components and your camera that you’ll require could be a possibility that is challenging. Just purchase the complete necessities and the important thing would be to do your study. With time you are able to usually include more specific gear. The checklist that is above mentioned really should have and is my fundamental suggestion to get a journey shooter.

Something I’ve overlooked? Let’s understand your ideas below.

The article Should Have Equipment for Vacation Photography Newcomers by Kav Dadfar seemed first on Photography Institution.

The post Must Have Gear for Travel Photography Newbies appeared first on Studio 77 Photography Gwent Wedding Photographers.

from Studio 77 Photography Gwent Wedding Photographers http://www.studio77photography.co.uk/must-have-gear-for-travel-photography-newbies-2/

[daisyckinguk]

Must Have Gear for Travel Photography Newbies

Fresh vacation photographers are usually currently requesting me what gear they ought to purchase when first getting started. Before I enter what in my opinion would be the fundamental necessities that novices must begin with, certainly a few items are that you’ll wish to undertake panel first.

A far more costly your camera create your pictures better. The camera is a device, and also the primary facets are such things as illumination structure, and specialized elements, like emphasis.

Begin with the fundamentals and develop from there. The final factor any journey shooter really wants to do is pull a lot of cameras around.

Obtain sufficient insurance to protect components and your camera. Robberies and incidents do occur whenever you travel with cameras.

Today towards the listing. Clearly, this all hangs in your budget, but here’s equipment’s fundamental listing that I believe beginner journey photographers will require.

Camera

Obviously that the necessity that is fundamental is just a camera. You will find a wide variety of options readily available for every budget the method that is only to truly understand that will be correct for you personally would be to do your study. Journey photographers that are skilled utilize high end Cannon cameras or Nikon including around $1,500 000 USD, to $5. But there are many of really able cameras under $1000. Among the greatest methods to come to a decision before you buy would be to lease the camera to get a morning. Venture out and consider some pictures withit and get of what it’s like a concept.

One choice that’s been in vacation photography increasing recently is cameras. These are usually cheaper and significantly smaller than highend cameras but nonetheless with the capacity of creating top quality pictures. Increasingly more journey photographers are now actually transporting these possibly like an extra or an alternate for their primary DLSR camera.

When you’re prepared to purchase, don’t and look around overlook you could buy maintained second hand cameras which is in a discounted, but in ideal operating situation.

Search DSLR cameras under $1000 on W&H Picture

DSLRs on T&H over $1000

Take a look at DSLRs on Amazon under $1000

DSLRs on Amazon over $1000

You might think about a mirrorless program of journey, take a look at these dPS posts on mirrorless cameras.

Our camera of preference is just a Rule MK III. It has a significant cost, however it is definitely an exemplary camera that won’t stands perfectly at high-iso options and allow you to along. I often bring an additional body with me that we leave-in my accommodation in case that something occurs to my camera that is primary. Or occasionally I’ve my additional body installed with my lens easily believe I’ll use it a great deal that day-to save me needing to adjust contacts.

Contacts

Often, cameras can be found like a bundle having simply your body or a contact, meaning you’ll need to buy the contact individually. As you will see various contact options whatever you choose will often fall for your budget.

Like a starting place, you’ll require what I’d contact a contact. Nearly all your pictures is likely to be obtained with and certainly will have to provide a great key length array It’s the one which. Anything across the 24’s outlines – lens is a great variety to begin. This can permit you to seize from areas to pictures. Actually, you can really get nearly all the full time with simply that one contact away.

You can put in a lens to enhance your wide-angle in case your budget subsequently enables. Something similar to A70-200mm contact means you’re coated for just about everything you’ll require daily. With time you are able to develop your lenscollection more by the addition of macro or primary contacts. But to begin, only if your allowance enables a telephoto, and a wide-angle move, is likely to be adequate.

Our fundamental listing of contacts that I keep on every journey are:

Canon 24-70mm y/2.8 two USM contact lens

Canon EF 70-200mm y/2.8L IS II USM lens

Canon EF 50mm y/1.2L USM lens

Canon EF 100mm y/2.8L Macro IS USM

Tripod

Many vacation photographers may state that there is a tripod probably their favorite item. Basically with no tripod, you’ll not have the ability to consider pictures which need sluggish shutter rates while you won’t have the ability to contain the camera constant enough manually. But there is a tripod really a lot more helpful than simply for shooting low-light problems. Utilizing a tripod can indicate a little more moment is spent by you creating and thinking the picture in the place of simply taking away.

Which tripod you select just how much weight-you may bring from daily, and can come right down to individual option, budget. Carbon-fiber tripods are often what journey photographers utilize because they are light and steady. I take advantage of the Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 which is really a durable carbon-fiber tripod that will be light to transport. I also make use of a Manfrotto 327RC2 light-duty hold ball-head for connecting my camera towards the tripod.

But like every camera item, you will find plenty of tripods from cheap completely right into a hundred bucks, ranging. Frequently people are seen by me with the most recent costly cameras but cheap tripod that is a very. Through vibrations tripods can in fact have a bad impact on your pictures aside from the proven fact that low-end, you may not wish to depend on anything lightweight and inexpensive to put on your costly camera up? Choose the tripod that is best as you are able to manage since it you will be really worth the first expense long haul and can last you quite a long time.

An alternate choice to conventional tripods is just a monopod. You’ll frequently observe photographers which big telephoto lenses utilize these being a help to aid the fat of the camera or activities photographers. Clearly, the monopod’s drawback is the fact that it isn’t so that your pictures with sluggish shutter rates may suffer with camera-shake backed by three thighs.

Camera Case

There is a great camera carrier among the most significant issues you’ll purchase. Not just may the tote maintain your gear additionally when you’re at your location shooting although secure during transportation. There’s no scarcity of bags nowadays plus they differ when it comes to utilization dimension, and price. It’s probable you will have various bags for various situations while you be much more skilled. For instance, if I’m walking or out within the wilderness I bring my  LowePro Pro Trekker 450 because it is just a comfy tote for lengthy hikes and it has lots of space for gear in addition to room for such things as a water tank or even to tie my tripod onto.

But this tote could be too large in a where in hectic locations including areas, I do want to picture for instance. Therefore in these circumstances, I’d possibly consider my Lowepro evening tote bunch (an older edition of the Fastpack BP 150 AW two) or my shoulder-bag (Lowepro Passport Throw sequence). Periodically easily possess a day-off I would simply bring my Toploader Pro70 AW two which simply bears one camera and contact. Therefore it’s convenient to carry .

Lowepro is among the marketplace leaders plus they have almost every kind of camera carrier you’ll ever need lined. The most important thing to think about is what’s the absolute most comfy design for you really to bring and what you should use the tote for.

Additional Necessities

After you have your camera, contact, and tripod the only real other activities you’ll need are camera batteries, storage cards, along with a lens cleaning system. It’ll have a battery whenever you purchase a camera however it may be a good idea to purchase a minumum of one more. The final point you’d need will be aside someplace also you can’t cost it and whenever your battery fails. There are available may usually an extra in useful.

Another important you will require is just a size memory that is good. The price may again be considered an element below, but bear in mind that NATURAL files take a lot more space up on firing for the reason that structure you’ll require additional memory room if you are organizing. It isn’t uncommon when going to load a 32GB memory in only a couple of days, therefore usually bring several extras.

Of what I contemplate to become important, the final is a few kind of contact cleaning package. That may you need to be a contact fabric along with a comb but there’s without doubt you will have to clean dirt, dirt, and filth off your contact glass several times . I’d also suggest that you simply match a UV – filter for your contacts as this can enable make sure that the contact doesn’t get damaged. It’ll be significantly cheaper to displace a UV – filter than to correct a glass that is damaged.

Components

The checklist addresses of what any journey shooter will require the fundamentals but obviously, you will find other activities as you are able to include with time that’ll become extremely helpful in certain circumstances.

– aids eliminate undesirable insights while improving blues and vegetables.

– helps you to restrict the quantity of lighting entering the camera, that allows for results for example smooth-looking water to become produced.

– much like ND filters, finished filters are helpful in circumstances where you’ve a within the lighting between your history and forefront and need to actually that out.

Drive – when you yourself have restricted memory room, a tough drive is advantageous to move your pictures to. But a tough drive can also be helpful like a copy just in case anything occurs for your storage cards.

Our listing of components are the following:

Canon Speedlite 580EX two.

All my contacts are installed having a Hoya Pro-1 Electronic UV – filter. This can help safeguard the contact glass particularly in really severe problems like the leave.

Some Cokin Z Pro sequence ND and finished ND filters.

16GB and 32GB ScanDisk compactflash storage cards. I consider roughly enough to make use of one every day.

Hoya Pro-1 polarizing filter.

3 x WD 250GB passport exterior hard disk drives.

Summary

Purchasing all of the components and your camera that you’ll require could be a possibility that is challenging. Just purchase the complete necessities and the important thing would be to do your study. With time you are able to usually include more specific gear. The checklist that is above mentioned really should have and is my fundamental suggestion to get a journey shooter.

Something I’ve overlooked? Let’s understand your ideas below.

The article Should Have Equipment for Vacation Photography Newcomers by Kav Dadfar seemed first on Photography Institution.

from network 10 http://www.visagesphotography.co.uk/must-have-gear-for-travel-photography-newbies/

[visagesphotography]

Must Have Gear for Travel Photography Newbies

Fresh vacation photographers are usually currently requesting me what gear they ought to purchase when first getting started. Before I enter what in my opinion would be the fundamental necessities that novices must begin with, certainly a few items are that you’ll wish to undertake panel first.

A far more costly your camera create your pictures better. The camera is a device, and also the primary facets are such things as illumination structure, and specialized elements, like emphasis.

Begin with the fundamentals and develop from there. The final factor any journey shooter really wants to do is pull a lot of cameras around.

Obtain sufficient insurance to protect components and your camera. Robberies and incidents do occur whenever you travel with cameras.

Today towards the listing. Clearly, this all hangs in your budget, but here’s equipment’s fundamental listing that I believe beginner journey photographers will require.

Camera

Obviously that the necessity that is fundamental is just a camera. You will find a wide variety of options readily available for every budget the method that is only to truly understand that will be correct for you personally would be to do your study. Journey photographers that are skilled utilize high end Cannon cameras or Nikon including around $1,500 000 USD, to $5. But there are many of really able cameras under $1000. Among the greatest methods to come to a decision before you buy would be to lease the camera to get a morning. Venture out and consider some pictures withit and get of what it’s like a concept.

One choice that’s been in vacation photography increasing recently is cameras. These are usually cheaper and significantly smaller than highend cameras but nonetheless with the capacity of creating top quality pictures. Increasingly more journey photographers are now actually transporting these possibly like an extra or an alternate for their primary DLSR camera.

When you’re prepared to purchase, don’t and look around overlook you could buy maintained second hand cameras which is in a discounted, but in ideal operating situation.

Search DSLR cameras under $1000 on W&H Picture

DSLRs on T&H over $1000

Take a look at DSLRs on Amazon under $1000

DSLRs on Amazon over $1000

You might think about a mirrorless program of journey, take a look at these dPS posts on mirrorless cameras.

Our camera of preference is just a Rule MK III. It has a significant cost, however it is definitely an exemplary camera that won’t stands perfectly at high-iso options and allow you to along. I often bring an additional body with me that we leave-in my accommodation in case that something occurs to my camera that is primary. Or occasionally I’ve my additional body installed with my lens easily believe I’ll use it a great deal that day-to save me needing to adjust contacts.

Contacts

Often, cameras can be found like a bundle having simply your body or a contact, meaning you’ll need to buy the contact individually. As you will see various contact options whatever you choose will often fall for your budget.

Like a starting place, you’ll require what I’d contact a contact. Nearly all your pictures is likely to be obtained with and certainly will have to provide a great key length array It’s the one which. Anything across the 24’s outlines – lens is a great variety to begin. This can permit you to seize from areas to pictures. Actually, you can really get nearly all the full time with simply that one contact away.

You can put in a lens to enhance your wide-angle in case your budget subsequently enables. Something similar to A70-200mm contact means you’re coated for just about everything you’ll require daily. With time you are able to develop your lenscollection more by the addition of macro or primary contacts. But to begin, only if your allowance enables a telephoto, and a wide-angle move, is likely to be adequate.

Our fundamental listing of contacts that I keep on every journey are:

Canon 24-70mm y/2.8 two USM contact lens

Canon EF 70-200mm y/2.8L IS II USM lens

Canon EF 50mm y/1.2L USM lens

Canon EF 100mm y/2.8L Macro IS USM

Tripod

Many vacation photographers may state that there is a tripod probably their favorite item. Basically with no tripod, you’ll not have the ability to consider pictures which need sluggish shutter rates while you won’t have the ability to contain the camera constant enough manually. But there is a tripod really a lot more helpful than simply for shooting low-light problems. Utilizing a tripod can indicate a little more moment is spent by you creating and thinking the picture in the place of simply taking away.

Which tripod you select just how much weight-you may bring from daily, and can come right down to individual option, budget. Carbon-fiber tripods are often what journey photographers utilize because they are light and steady. I take advantage of the Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 which is really a durable carbon-fiber tripod that will be light to transport. I also make use of a Manfrotto 327RC2 light-duty hold ball-head for connecting my camera towards the tripod.

But like every camera item, you will find plenty of tripods from cheap completely right into a hundred bucks, ranging. Frequently people are seen by me with the most recent costly cameras but cheap tripod that is a very. Through vibrations tripods can in fact have a bad impact on your pictures aside from the proven fact that low-end, you may not wish to depend on anything lightweight and inexpensive to put on your costly camera up? Choose the tripod that is best as you are able to manage since it you will be really worth the first expense long haul and can last you quite a long time.

An alternate choice to conventional tripods is just a monopod. You’ll frequently observe photographers which big telephoto lenses utilize these being a help to aid the fat of the camera or activities photographers. Clearly, the monopod’s drawback is the fact that it isn’t so that your pictures with sluggish shutter rates may suffer with camera-shake backed by three thighs.

Camera Case

There is a great camera carrier among the most significant issues you’ll purchase. Not just may the tote maintain your gear additionally when you’re at your location shooting although secure during transportation. There’s no scarcity of bags nowadays plus they differ when it comes to utilization dimension, and price. It’s probable you will have various bags for various situations while you be much more skilled. For instance, if I’m walking or out within the wilderness I bring my  LowePro Pro Trekker 450 because it is just a comfy tote for lengthy hikes and it has lots of space for gear in addition to room for such things as a water tank or even to tie my tripod onto.

But this tote could be too large in a where in hectic locations including areas, I do want to picture for instance. Therefore in these circumstances, I’d possibly consider my Lowepro evening tote bunch (an older edition of the Fastpack BP 150 AW two) or my shoulder-bag (Lowepro Passport Throw sequence). Periodically easily possess a day-off I would simply bring my Toploader Pro70 AW two which simply bears one camera and contact. Therefore it’s convenient to carry .

Lowepro is among the marketplace leaders plus they have almost every kind of camera carrier you’ll ever need lined. The most important thing to think about is what’s the absolute most comfy design for you really to bring and what you should use the tote for.

Additional Necessities

After you have your camera, contact, and tripod the only real other activities you’ll need are camera batteries, storage cards, along with a lens cleaning system. It’ll have a battery whenever you purchase a camera however it may be a good idea to purchase a minumum of one more. The final point you’d need will be aside someplace also you can’t cost it and whenever your battery fails. There are available may usually an extra in useful.

Another important you will require is just a size memory that is good. The price may again be considered an element below, but bear in mind that NATURAL files take a lot more space up on firing for the reason that structure you’ll require additional memory room if you are organizing. It isn’t uncommon when going to load a 32GB memory in only a couple of days, therefore usually bring several extras.

Of what I contemplate to become important, the final is a few kind of contact cleaning package. That may you need to be a contact fabric along with a comb but there’s without doubt you will have to clean dirt, dirt, and filth off your contact glass several times . I’d also suggest that you simply match a UV – filter for your contacts as this can enable make sure that the contact doesn’t get damaged. It’ll be significantly cheaper to displace a UV – filter than to correct a glass that is damaged.

Components

The checklist addresses of what any journey shooter will require the fundamentals but obviously, you will find other activities as you are able to include with time that’ll become extremely helpful in certain circumstances.

– aids eliminate undesirable insights while improving blues and vegetables.

– helps you to restrict the quantity of lighting entering the camera, that allows for results for example smooth-looking water to become produced.

– much like ND filters, finished filters are helpful in circumstances where you’ve a within the lighting between your history and forefront and need to actually that out.

Drive – when you yourself have restricted memory room, a tough drive is advantageous to move your pictures to. But a tough drive can also be helpful like a copy just in case anything occurs for your storage cards.

Our listing of components are the following:

Canon Speedlite 580EX two.

All my contacts are installed having a Hoya Pro-1 Electronic UV – filter. This can help safeguard the contact glass particularly in really severe problems like the leave.

Some Cokin Z Pro sequence ND and finished ND filters.

16GB and 32GB ScanDisk compactflash storage cards. I consider roughly enough to make use of one every day.

Hoya Pro-1 polarizing filter.

3 x WD 250GB passport exterior hard disk drives.

Summary

Purchasing all of the components and your camera that you’ll require could be a possibility that is challenging. Just purchase the complete necessities and the important thing would be to do your study. With time you are able to usually include more specific gear. The checklist that is above mentioned really should have and is my fundamental suggestion to get a journey shooter.

Something I’ve overlooked? Let’s understand your ideas below.

The article Should Have Equipment for Vacation Photography Newcomers by Kav Dadfar seemed first on Photography Institution.

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