Tacticslion |
What is Case Closed?
detective boy conan, ancient anime and even older manga about a boy detective.
Yes. Case Closed, via Wikipedia. Manga started in '94, and, 89 volumes later, is still going. Anime started (apparently) in '96, and 818 episodes (25 seasons) later, is still going. Apparently never having missed a year.
That is an impressive accomplishment.
While I have subsequently had the basic premise explained to me, I have missed much of the character development, and would like to see how the guy ended up in the situation he did in the first place. One supposes that episode 748 is... acceptable at introducing the characters and their situations, bu it's not exactly ideal for the job, as it leaves me with several questions about who, exactly, are certain people, why they're there, and what narrative purpose they serve.
Also, if Conan actually ages, and if his friends do.
Tacticslion |
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagumit.
Super Mario Galaxy 2, you suck.
stupidperfectrunstarandyourstupiddirtytricks
The very, very last star in the game is frustrating.
It's not that there are no other frustrating stars - there are several - but I've wasted more lives on this last one.
See, I don't mind the fact that it's a "Daredevil" run.
I don't mind the fact that it's a very hard stage.
I do mind the fact that it both removes all save points along the way, and artificially inflates the difficulty of what is already a very hard level by purposefully altering the stage in extremely minor, yet significant ways, and saddles you with a "power up" that is useful exactly three times, and then becomes a liability as it weakens your ability to control your character's jumps by making your character 'floaty' in a segment where your jumps are not only critical, but getting down on the ground quickly is also critical.
What this means is that you have to memorize this stage on this particular setting with the particular power ups. That is all there is to it.
It's irritating, and it's not fun.
I've proven that I can do the unaltered level without taking a hit - several times. I've succeeded at the first three of the six sections without much difficulty all the time.
I know there are people who are better than me. That's fine - I applaud them at it. But the thing is, the only real skill to beating this level at this point, is beating this version of this level - it's not that my general skill is lacking (though it may or may not be), it's that my skill at this specific level is lacking.
I've never really enjoyed that kind of gameplay. Battletoads called: it wants its stupidity back.
I'm a completionist, and I've come close enough several times to finishing this stupid thing that I'm not giving up.
It's just a really irritating and un-fun kind of level design to me.
I'm glad some people enjoy it, but it's not my kind of gaming.
Dang it.
EDIT:
I like the 2D Marios better than the 3D.
This isn't a preference for "old school" - I include the ones on Wii and Wii U as part of that.
I think they both have their place.
I love both of them in different ways, and, despite my rant above, I generally love both of the 'Galaxy games. I just find the last level or extra challenges needless and tiresome.
Similarly, some of the challenges in the Super Mario Bros. Wii Star World (World 9) were stupid, as well - as were a few of the golden coins getting to world nine in the first place.
I love that game... but I don't like the needless inflation of difficulty just for the sake of difficulty. For fun, sure - there are cases where ramping up difficulty can be fun. It can also be the case that creating a fun level design is the same as making a difficult level design.
But "memorize this particular level; that's the way to win" isn't fun and feels (at this stage in my life) like I'm wasting time that I could be enjoying endings or other fun things with my son.
baron arem heshvaun |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Tango! Alpha! Charlie! Tango! India! Charlie! Sierra! Lima! India! Oscar! November!
That's Tacticslion in the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, commonly known as the NATO phonetic alphabet.
Tacticslion |
So, very recently, in a purely solo game (where I run for myself)... I have successfully shown:
- a 4th level shabti lore warden fighter focusing on combat maneuvers, with absurd stats (all 18s, +5 inherent bonus to all ~> 23 before racials or template adjustments) and an extra +8 CR-worth of templates, and the limited ability to buy items as-needed "on the fly" (must be within budget) cannot successfully complete an adventure designed for a team of 3rd level characters solo
- using the exact same rolls, a 4th level shabti cleric with optimized, but not excessive, stats and only a single +2 CR template can successfully complete the exact same adventure (or at least get further) and do so without the limited ability to customize equipment on the fly
WELP.
:I
(It sucks. I was really rooting for the fighter. But once he took eight points of strength damage, it was over.)
For the record, the templates were:
- Alacritous Creature (+1 CR)
- Alchemically Quickened (+1 CR)
- Quickling Creature (+3 CR)
- Agile Simple Mythic (+1 CR, plus 1 MR ~> +1 CR; the one the cleric got)
While I find the value of Alchemically Quickened dubious for it's CR adjustment, the over-all suit of abilities is extremely expansive, and should have heavily weighed everything in the fighter's favor. While a number of things are certainly tied to the rolls (it would have been mildly different, had I relied upon averages), it's a potent thing to be able to sit back and allow your enemies to be devastated for you.
Also for the record, I was running the 3.5 Twilight Tomb for myself. I stopped playing when the fighter had run down to 1 hit point and had to roll an 11 or higher d20 for a will save on every round of combat against a foe who needed to roll a 16/20 or higher d20 (each round roll twice) to hit once and he was out of combat. In turn, he had to nat-20 it in order to damage her at all, due to her DR and his lowered STR.
(Hypothetically, on maximum damage, he could have dealt a mighty 2/rnd.)
The main reason I stopped here was that the fighter was out of resources. He'd spent his wealth, was lacking in strength, and had exactly 1 hit point. If, somehow, he'd managed to rest for the night unmolested (not a likely possibility, where he was), he'd go up to... 5 hit points, total: still exactly one attack away from losing. That is in addition to needing to roll an 11 every round against a will save or be dominated against a foe he'd be fishing for natural 20s against. The probability of succeeding past the first couple of rounds was so staggering that it wasn't reasonable to continue the 'game' (such as it was).
The cleric had a reasonable chance to handle the enemies he'd come across, because he could afford to have a golfbag of weapons, because he came with his own built-in healing. He was immune to some of the nastiest tricks of the foe in question, and had a few spells that allowed him to really hammer it down, quickly (which they did).
While the cleric wouldn't have been able to recruit the nymph (only getting her to friendly instead of helpful), I didn't recruit her with the fighter either, as this was supposed to be a "solo" adventure test (and said recruitment wasn't because the character was a fighter, but because the character had ludicrously generous stats).
Certainly specific fighter builds could have functioned better, but a cleric with, you know, actual feats probably could have fared better, as well (considering I didn't choose any).
So... yeah. Fun, I suppose, though weird. And frustrating - I really wanted a maneuver master who worked well as a solo character (and, unfortunately, the actual Maneuver Master archetype was not it, either).
thegreenteagamer |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
In other news, Is Freehold DM secretly a Browncoat?
Freehold DM wrote:Anything not Firefly-related.
Cuz hurling a spear through a ship is stupid.
Although it did make me laugh.
I was the only one in the theatre laughing.
Clearly he went to the Theater to watch Serenity.
My guess: he did it for a woman. You'd be amazed what a man will do for a beautiful woman. I saw Catwoman in theater.
I did get laid.
It was not worth it.
Freehold DM |
In other news, Is Freehold DM secretly a Browncoat?
Freehold DM wrote:Anything not Firefly-related.
Cuz hurling a spear through a ship is stupid.
Although it did make me laugh.
I was the only one in the theatre laughing.
Clearly he went to the Theater to watch Serenity.
I went there specifically to laugh at that part of the film.
Aranna |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Aranna wrote:I went there specifically to laugh at that part of the film.In other news, Is Freehold DM secretly a Browncoat?
Freehold DM wrote:Anything not Firefly-related.
Cuz hurling a spear through a ship is stupid.
Although it did make me laugh.
I was the only one in the theatre laughing.
Clearly he went to the Theater to watch Serenity.
~grins~
Yeah you spent hard earned money supporting the Whedonverse just to laugh at one scene you could have watched all you wanted on YouTube for free? I don't believe you.Freehold DM |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Freehold DM wrote:Aranna wrote:I went there specifically to laugh at that part of the film.In other news, Is Freehold DM secretly a Browncoat?
Freehold DM wrote:Anything not Firefly-related.
Cuz hurling a spear through a ship is stupid.
Although it did make me laugh.
I was the only one in the theatre laughing.
Clearly he went to the Theater to watch Serenity.
~grins~
Yeah you spent hard earned money supporting the Whedonverse just to laugh at one scene you could have watched all you wanted on YouTube for free? I don't believe you.
friend paid for the ticket. He stopped talking to me after that...
Freehold DM |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I can't fault or give crap to Freehold for seeing an awful movie in the theater. We've all done it.
I saw Masters of the Universe in the theater. And loved it! (I was young)
And yes, I've also gone to movies with friends just to laugh at them.
masters of the universe was AWESOME! as an 8 year old.
As a thirty something, it's awe-inspiring.
Tacticslion |
So, very recently, in a purely solo game (where I run for myself)... I have successfully shown:
- a 4th level shabti lore warden fighter focusing on combat maneuvers, with absurd stats (all 18s, +5 inherent bonus to all ~> 23 before racials or template adjustments) and an extra +8 CR-worth of templates, and the limited ability to buy items as-needed "on the fly" (must be within budget) cannot successfully complete an adventure designed for a team of 3rd level characters solo
- using the exact same rolls, a 4th level shabti cleric with optimized, but not excessive, stats and only a single +2 CR template can successfully complete the exact same adventure (or at least get further) and do so without the limited ability to customize equipment on the flyWELP.
:I
(It sucks. I was really rooting for the fighter. But once he took eight points of strength damage, it was over.)
For the record, the templates were:
- Alacritous Creature (+1 CR)
- Alchemically Quickened (+1 CR)
- Quickling Creature (+3 CR)
- Agile Simple Mythic (+1 CR, plus 1 MR ~> +1 CR; the one the cleric got)While I find the value of Alchemically Quickened dubious for it's CR adjustment, the over-all suit of abilities is extremely expansive, and should have heavily weighed everything in the fighter's favor. While a number of things are certainly tied to the rolls (it would have been mildly different, had I relied upon averages), it's a potent thing to be able to sit back and allow your enemies to be devastated for you.
Also for the record, I was running the 3.5 Twilight Tomb for myself. I stopped playing when the fighter...
Two points of clarification:
- 1) the cleric was entirely spent at the end of his combat v. bad guy and the bad guy wasn't dead, but did run away (successful bluff check plus the baddie's tactics block*)- 2) the fighter would have had to natural 20 it for every hit; it would take at minimum 5 hits against that DR (the cleric also carried around weapons that were useless v. DR in this game). I quasi-ran the combat with the fighter and it went exactly how I expected; first save -> owned fighter.
* Lest an understandible cry of "foul" is given, I'd actually forgotten that part of its tactics until after the bluff. I'd kind of thought the cleric was over, but he made it through by choosing to bluff in a way that the baddie's triggering condition was triggered. The bluff was the exact same strategy I would have used as on the fighter, and he would have been better at it than the cleric... I just couldn't get to that point.
Tacticslion |
Sharoth wrote:I hear that Joss Whedon is planning on doing a Gatchaman movie.
** spoiler omitted **
he'd probably just do a shot for shot remake of the 90s ova and slap his name on it.
Like he does with everything.
Okay... whaaaaaaat? I've never seen him shot-for-shot anything. Mind telling where you've seen this?
The Whedonverse |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Sharoth wrote:I hear that Joss Whedon is planning on doing a Gatchaman movie.
** spoiler omitted **
he'd probably just do a shot for shot remake of the 90s ova and slap his name on it.
Like he does with everything.
Slaps name on Freehold's bum.
I'm gonna really jump the shark with this one...
captain yesterday |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Freehold DM wrote:Okay... whaaaaaaat? I've never seen him shot-for-shot anything. Mind telling where you've seen this?Sharoth wrote:I hear that Joss Whedon is planning on doing a Gatchaman movie.
** spoiler omitted **
he'd probably just do a shot for shot remake of the 90s ova and slap his name on it.
Like he does with everything.
Buffy's pretty much just a slightly more violent and gory Sabrina the Teenaged Witch.
Drejk |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Tacticslion wrote:Buffy's pretty much just a slightly more violent and gory Sabrina the Teenaged Witch.Freehold DM wrote:Okay... whaaaaaaat? I've never seen him shot-for-shot anything. Mind telling where you've seen this?Sharoth wrote:I hear that Joss Whedon is planning on doing a Gatchaman movie.
** spoiler omitted **
he'd probably just do a shot for shot remake of the 90s ova and slap his name on it.
Like he does with everything.
With much better magic. And Willow. And Giles.
Tacticslion |
I hear that Joss Whedon is planning on doing a Gatchaman movie.
** spoiler omitted **
he'd probably just do a shot for shot remake of the 90s ova and slap his name on it.
Like he does with everything.
Okay... whaaaaaaat? I've never seen him shot-for-shot anything. Mind telling where you've seen this?
Buffy's pretty much just a slightly more violent and gory Sabrina the Teenaged Witch.
You mean film that went in a direction different from what he intended?
Because that still predated the other film by four years.
If you mean the series, than I commend you for being able to watch both series back to back to the degree that you can ascertain that 'Buffy (which appeared one year after 'Sabrina) is a shot-for-shot remake...
EDIT:
With much better magic. And Willow. And Giles.
Didn't want to leave you out of the quote chain, you ninja-dragon, you.
thegreenteagamer |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I will let you know what I think of Joss Whedon as a director when I see Avengers 3 without him. I liked 1&2, but the best way to define his directing is to take a product that's otherwise the same and remove him from it - that will be the case with Avengers 3 - same actors, writers, budget, producers, etc, but the director will change. If it's better, he's not great, if it's worse, he's probably a good director.
It's kind of impossible to isolate the effects of the director because a good director can't make up for bad actors and writing, and even a bad director has a hard time ruining good actors and writing.
As a world creator he's...decent. The one thing he didn't "re-imagine" was Firefly, and I thought that a universe without ANY aliens was a nice change in pace. It was totally a Cowboy Bebop ripoff, though.
As a writer, he's cliched and tends to radically modify characters for the purpose of following trends.
I don't hate him, but he's definitely overrated. Also, he seems incapable of producing anything that isn't a ripoff or "re-imagining" of something someone else did.
Pillbug Toenibbler |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Sharoth wrote:I hear that Joss Whedon is planning on doing a Gatchaman movie.
** spoiler omitted **
he'd probably just do a shot for shot remake of the 90s ova and slap his name on it.
Like he does with everything.
¬_¬
Wait, I missed the segue. When did we switch to dissing Tarantino? ;)
Tacticslion |
As a world creator he's...decent. The one thing he didn't "re-imagine" was Firefly, and I thought that a universe without ANY aliens was a nice change in pace. It was totally a Cowboy Bebop ripoff, though.
I disagree with this.
While I love Cowboy Bebop (and Outlaw Star), the entire set-up, crew, and so on are very different in Firefly and Cowboy Bebop. If anything, I could see Firefly as taking strong inspirations from Outlaw Star - even more so than Cowboy Bebop, what with whole "container opened to reveal a naked girl inside (who proves to be special)" thing.
The rest of the cultures and concepts are extremely different - but I will own up to that being a scene-recreation, now that I've remembered it.
With Whedon, I've enjoyed most of the things he's touched - Alien: Resurrection being a notable exception, and one that he's on record as having had problems with studio meddling.
Posted sans reading, as I'm pulled into a different project.
Ragadolf |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
(Masters of the Universe movie mentioned)
I should totally find it and watch it with the kids. :-)
Yes! Ohmygoodness yes! I can add it to my collection, right next to my Flash Gordon Movie. :)
Yes, I'm serious. I'm not claiming that they were great works of art. I'm just claiming that they are FUN and I like watching them. Both as a teenager, and as an 'adult' (I won't say 'mature'). ;)
Ragadolf |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I will let you know what I think of Joss Whedon as a director when I see Avengers 3 without him. I liked 1&2, but the best way to define his directing is to take a product that's otherwise the same and remove him from it - that will be the case with Avengers 3 - same actors, writers, budget, producers, etc, but the director will change. If it's better, he's not great, if it's worse, he's probably a good director.
It's kind of impossible to isolate the effects of the director because a good director can't make up for bad actors and writing, and even a bad director has a hard time ruining good actors and writing.
As a world creator he's...decent. The one thing he didn't "re-imagine" was Firefly, and I thought that a universe without ANY aliens was a nice change in pace. It was totally a Cowboy Bebop ripoff, though.
As a writer, he's cliched and tends to radically modify characters for the purpose of following trends.
I don't hate him, but he's definitely overrated. Also, he seems incapable of producing anything that isn't a ripoff or "re-imagining" of something someone else did.
(Italics Mine)
Oh, so he's the modern day Shakespeare?!? COOL! :)
So one day all our descendants will be singing the praises of Whedon? The greatest director who ever lived?!? ;P
Sorry all you haters of the Whedonverse. But I actually like most of his stuff. :)
(I say most because I'm pretty sure that I haven't seen everything that he's done.) (?) I'm pretty sure that he's done stuff I wouldn't like.
But that's OK, I live in America, where we are free to like or dislike any TV or Movie that we see. :D