tegan

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Posts posted by tegan

  1. Posted

    It's a toss-up with those made-up -egan names. I went to high school with a girl named Degan and a guy named Kegan.

    My name's not made-up! :getmecoat

    You know, the first twenty minutes or so of Limbo really make me sad that the rest is filled with gravity switches and magnet puzzles and junk. That game was so much more interesting when it was stark and terrifying with some implied Lord of the Flies stuff going on in the background.

  2. Posted

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    Corocoro magazine has revealed that Eevee is evolving again! Its Japanese name is Ninfia and its typing is currently unknown, though the overall design of it suggests Normal-type, which would be kind of enormous given the established pattern of Eevee evolutions (ie: that they're all Special-types that resist themselves), so some are speculating that this means a new type coming down the pipeline. Every generation has a rumour about a new type being introduced, of course, but this is beginning to look almost credible. Pokémon Gold and Silver introduced new types to rebalance the game by making Fighting-types useful, shutting down the previously practically invincible Psychic-type, making Toxic less of a sure thing, and making defensive strategies actually worthwhile. Given that we're starting to see certain types become less and less useful (eg: Poison, Bug) and seeing the metagame start to get dominated by certain overused strategies (eg: Stealth Rock), it wouldn't be entirely unlikely for Game Freak to attempt another massive overhaul by adding a new type. It would also follow the established pattern of forcing players to rethink their strategies every second generation, as with reorganizing Physical and Special moves in Gen IV.

    More importantly, though, this probably means that we're once again going to be seeing lots of new evolutions of old favourites, which seems to be another every-two-generations thing. Although I really hope they don't finally go full-tilt and finally eliminate the last of the standalone Gen I Pokémon, I always like seeing the way new monsters legitimize classic ones. I hope Pinsir doesn't have to be second banana to Scyther anymore.

    I'm like an expectant mother, folks. Expect nine more months of this.

  3. Posted

    It's Tuesday and I'm in the mood for killing beautiful things!

    Sixth Colossus (Barba) Thoughts:

    I love Barba's beard and the way it crouches down to peek at you. It makes the fight feel like kind of a goofy cartoon thing to me. That being said, I forgot how much of a shaker Barba is. It took me three tries to get on there and stay there. Maybe it's to compensate for how easy it is to actually get onto it. Also, I tried something new this time. Instead of climbing down the big panel that Barba hides behind, I just ran out to one of the ledges in front of it and jumped down instead. It didn't give me as much of a head start as I would have hoped. Also, this is the first time that the camera actively worked against me, since it likes to cut and pan back to the colossus while you're running to the shelter area, but also leaves you in control of your character at the same time.

    Next time: most stamina-draining colossus!

  7. Posted

    There's all the other webcomics, and then there's Homestuck.

    I'm not sure where I'd even begin to explain it,

    I usually use the phrase "extradimensional Jumanji from hell."

    Homestuck is impressive to me from the standpoint of its format. I'm sure that Scott McCloud would be cry tears of joy if he looked at the ways that Hussie's used the nature of the internet to shape the way he does comics. The musical team is fantastic, too; and Hussie is a legitimately funny guy who can write pretty consistently amusing dialogue and is good at sneaking foreshadowing into his work (or, more likely, retroactively making things seem more important than they actually are). But from a writing standpoint, I really can't stand the Lost-style bullshit that Hussie is constantly pulling. In particular I dislike that every time it seems like an arc is going to resolve itself, he instead introduces an entirely new group of characters to dick around with until they seem close to a resolution (at which point the process repeats itself until you have unfinished stories within unfinished stories like some kind of matryoshka doll of half-baked ideas). It's been ages since I read the comic, but it felt like he was just perpetually stalling for time.

    Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff is still awesome though. That hardcover book was seriously tempting, especially once I realized that the title on the spine is deliberately left autocorrected so the book looks like it's about "Sweet Bro and Helpful Jeff."

    So has anyone else been following Cucumber Quest? It's by Gigi Digi, also known as Hiimdaisy, best known for a series of

    . It's basically like watching a playthrough of a very cute, self-aware RPG. Kind of like a Paper Mario comic.

  9. Posted

    Fifth Colossus (Avion) Thoughts:

    If Gaius is the first time I feel bad for killing a colossus, Avion is probably the worst I've ever felt for killing one. Everything about it is peaceful and majestic. It does absolutely nothing to bother you until you start threatening it, and the serene music that accompanies it before you clamber onto it is my favourite in the game. Watching such a beautiful creature come crashing down to the earth just breaks my heart every time.

    ...On the other hand, this is another one of those times when I wish I had been playing in Time Attack, because I absolutely wrecked shop. I don't think I've ever killed it without falling off even once before.

    Some interesting tutorialization stuff for this one: Note that a player is required to dive to enter this area. I presume that this is to teach the player that diving is faster than swimming so that they don't get as frustrated when they fall off of Avion's body and have to swim back to a platform. I also noticed that this is the first time that the most direct route to a colossus will yield a fruit tree (and one with an unusually high crop at that), so maybe that was supposed to introduce the player to the upgrade system as well.

    I grabbed my first fruit for this playthrough this time. I think I'll only grab upgrades like this if they're within eyeshot of the path I'm taking.

    Next time: most endearingly goofy colossus!

  11. Posted

    Finished Dennou Coil!

    I don't really know what to say about the last couple of episodes since pretty much everything is a major spoiler, but I will say that I got a rare sense of definite closure from watching the finale.

    Oh, also, I love all of the crazy foreshadowing in this show.

    The first thing you see in the opening theme is the four manholes that mark the Coil Space. They're also present in the ending credits as the last thing that Densuke walks past. Densuke also walks past little kids drawing the portal next to a pair of glasses. You can see Satchi on a poster several times in the first episode, and Tamako Harakawa and Sōsuke Nekome are both clearly seen hanging out in the restaurant that Yasako and Kyoko go to in the first episode

    .

  12. Posted

    I used a free trial of Netflix for a month and they've been pestering me to come back ever since. I really like the idea of the service, but everything I remember of Canadian Netflix was pretty awful. They dropped every episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 except for "Pod People" the day after I signed up, for example. And the only film I could find that had been released in the previous six months was Black Swan. Can any Canadians tell me if it's worth owning now?

  13. Posted

    Even though I grew up with Mario, or perhaps because I did, I find Mario the character to be incredibly banal and boring. A plumber with a mustache. The Rayman character I came to later in life through Legends on the PC and I love the game and the character so much more than Mario the character or the game.

    I really think our perception of the quality of the game they are in colors our views of how good the characters are.

    See, I specifically like that Mario as a character is somehow so mundane. I think it's fascinating/hilarious that in a world filled with space marines, world adventurers, and superheroes; the most enduring icon of video games as a whole has been an overweight guy with a blue-collar job and a mustache.

    I don't think it's coincidence that Mario, who has stayed a fundamentally boring character, has had more enduring popularity than rival Sonic the Hedgehog, who aggressively adapted to try to be as cool as possible whatever era he was in.

  14. Posted

    The Retro Duo has NES sound issues, but it's an easy enough fix with some simple soldering. And it can do S-Video for SNES titles, too! Really the only reason why I'm having trouble deciding if I want one or not is because I'm objectively better off just rebuying my games on Virtual Console. I actually already have most of my SNES games on VC already. But I really like the idea of having a cartridge unit for those games you find at yard sales and such. And for the stuff that will never ever be rereleased (ie: I keep an N64 around pretty much exclusively for when I finally track down another copy of Beetle Adventure Racing).

  15. Posted

    So I have a hypothesis regarding Rayman's lack of appeal.

    What if what we're seeing here is a microcosm of the Uncanny Valley, where a character can be either an icon or realistic, but if you get too close to the middle it becomes unnatural. Going back to even before Mario, the only characters rendered in early, low-fidelity game graphics that actually survived tend to be the ones that were either suitably realistic or can be boiled down to an emblematic shape. Compare the enduring popularity of the fairly realistic (for his time and medium) Mario and barely-anthropomorphized Pac-Man or Space Invader with, say, the largely forgotten weird not-quite-anything design of Q-Bert. I think Rayman falls into that same unnatural middle ground.

    Also, I notice that I have a deep-seated innate hatred for video game characters whose designs have unusually elongated muzzles. This includes Rayman, Yoshi, and the Rare redesign of Donkey Kong.

  16. Posted

    I really liked the demo of this, but the local EB Games broke the street date and now that there's a shipment shortage I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a copy at all by the time I can afford one.

    As a side note, I don't know much about Fire Emblem, but it's my absolute favourite example of taking a doofy-ass video game tune from years gone by and making it as grandiose as possible by giving it an orchestral treatment. You know that incredible theme music that the series has?

    It's literally a commercial jingle.

    Fire Emblem, tough simulation

    When you'll begin playing it, you won't be able to sleep anymore

    Although you should surpass your opponent, a critical hit !

    When there's nothing more left, Life Staff, when you're in a hurry, Relife Staff

    Both in attack and defense, don't press unwisely,

    And don't let anyone die !!

    Fire Emblem, tough simulation

    When you'll begin playing it, you won't be able to sleep anymore

    Put too much effort on powerful people,

    And your warriors on the whole will only be novices

    Fire Emblem, tough simulation

    A tale of love and courage

    Fire Emblem, tough simulation

    Come and win bravely !

    When things become dangerous, run like the wind !

    Those who get cocky will put themselves in peril

    Fire Emblem, tough simulation

    Come and win bravely !

  17. Posted

    Now, that game actually has really great music, but try turning it off for extra immersion, because there is also a really phenomenally rich soundscape in that game.

    I played Metroid Prime without music this summer (and then wrote into Idle Thumbs about it!), I was amazed at how immersive it became. Just make sure that you try it with the Trilogy version. Meta Ridley was given a goofy-ass stomp attack for the Wii rerelease for some reason, and it makes a rhythmic metallic clanging noise that acts almost like a natural score. It really adds a lot to what's already a very tense personal duel.

  18. Posted

    The best thing about Metropolis is that it's basically a love letter to Osamu Tezuka. It doesn't resemble the original manga very closely, but it fully embraces Tezuka's "Star System" concept of reusing characters in key roles and playing with the expectations created by their repeated appearances. I notice something new every time I watch it. Off the top of my head:

    • Shunsaku Ban names the robot detective "Pero" after a dog he had. In an early Astro Boy story, Shunsaku Ban's dog, Pero, had its brain removed and placed in the same robot body that the detective has.
    • The President's secretary, Acetylene Lamp, has a candle appear on his head for a split-second in one scene. This is based on a recurring joke that started more than fifty years before the movie was made.
    • Fifi the robot appears to be Robita, a major robot character from Tezuka's magnum opus Phoenix. The weird patched-up gourd thing that Robita picks up at one point is Hyoutan-tsugi, a character based on a doodle that Tezuka's sister drew as a kid that he would insert in scenes whenever the action was getting too serious.
    • The anti-robot revolutionary leader is, ironically, a human version of the second iteration of the robot Atlas, Astro Boy's evil counterpart.
    • the movie effectively serves as an end to the sad story of Rock Holmes, a major character who had a personal story arc across thirty years of manga series detailing his fall from grace.

    Basically it's a good movie that becomes increasingly amazing the more time you invest into it.

  21. Posted

    Tekkon Kinkreet is stellar. The manga is really good, too.

    So I started watching Dennou Coil.

    I'm really liking this so far. I've always loved science fiction and fantasy set in modern urban environments and I've had a recent fascination with augmented reality tech, so this is right up my alley. I'm eight episodes in so far and the highlight has been the war in the classrooms. Also, I totally called the illegals being nonagressive.

  22. Posted

    Most characters' names only ever appear in peripheral material like the manual. I have no idea why. I'm guessing because it wasn't considered important enough, considering how conservatively applied the dialogue is.

    For anyone who wants to know all of them:

    The protagonist: Wander (obvious)

    The girl: Mono (also pretty obvious)

    The horse: Agro (most plausible root is Latin for "acre")

    The voice: Dormin (Reverse of "Nimrod," Biblical king of Shinar; means "hunter")

    The chief: Lord Emon (possibly named for 9th-century Japanese religious pilgrim Emon Saburo)

    The first Colossus: Valus (Estonian for "painful")

    The second Colossus: Quadratus (Latin root "square." Refers to approximately square muscles and also means quarry. Can mean "magic" in Spanish)

    The third Colossus: Gaius ( "Rejoice" in Latin, probably comes from "Gaia" for earth. Also Julis Caesar's first name)

    The fourth Colossus: Phaedra (derived from "phaedros," Greek for "bright." Also the name of a character from Greek myth)

    The fifth Colossus: Avion (from "avis," Latin for "bird." "Avion" is French for "airplane")

    The sixth Colossus: Barba ("beard" in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian)

    The seventh Colossus: Hydrus (Constellation in the southern sky whose name literally means "male water snake." Pretty straightforward)

    The eighth Colossus: Kuromori ("Black forest" in Japanese. I think that it's named after a beta area that it was supposed to originally appear in, because otherwise it makes no sense)

    The ninth Colossus: Basaran (Basque for "darkness")

    The tenth Colossus: Dirge (mournful or eulogistic song, pulled from a Latin quote)

    The eleventh Colossus: Celosia (scientific name for the edible plants known as "woolflowers." Comes from the Latin "kelos," meaning "burned."

    The twelfth Colossus: Pelagia (A whole bunch of crap, but probably named after either the saint or the jellyfish)

    The thirteenth Colossus: Phalanx (a close-together group of people. Also the singular of "phalanges," as in the bones of a finger or toe)

    The fourteenth Colossus: Cenobia (Spanish variant of "Zenobia," meaning "life of Zeus." A girl's name)

    The fifteenth Colossus: Argus (Latinized version of Greek "Argos," could mean one of a million things)

    The sixteenth Colossus: Malus (Latin for "evil")

  23. Posted

    If I can make this a general Famiclone thread for a moment; I've been humming and hawing for years about getting a Retro Duo (console version), my NES finally broke down this year, I haven't been able to repair it myself, and just now I got an Amazon gift card as a present that would cover most of the cost. All of the research I've done indicates that if you're only looking for NES, SNES, and Super Famicom games, Retro Duo is the way to go since it can still run some of the special carts that other systems have trouble with (ie: Super Mario RPG works just fine as of the first hardware revision). And as a nice bonus, it's the only one that isn't butt-ugly. Anyone have any hands-on experience with one?

  24. Posted

    Erkki I like that your New Year's Resolution is literally a new year's resolution.

    I'm trying to do the usual things: eat healthier, exercise more, do better at my job, improve my mental health situation, and try to meet new people and do things.

    Thus far I have succeeded in cutting juice out of my diet.

    Last year's resolutions went better than anticipated. I didn't get any dates, but I succeeded in getting a decent job, moving to a new city, finding a bigger apartment, and getting over some of my anxiety. That's a win.