Hello and welcome to the Ballad of Shame and Wasted Lives, the regular hangout for the Best-Looking Bunch of Geeks on the InternetTM.
This board has never had a set topic. Frequent subjects of discussion include video games (both PC and console), movies, video games, fanfiction, video game fanfiction, television shows, video games, funny websites, video games, original fiction, the WWWF Grudge Match, improvisational fanfiction, your mom, pro wrestling, politics, music, hockey, current events, video games about your mom, and so very much more.
servbot #132
discourages the use
of flash photography
The rules here are simple, yet profound:
attn: new users. We have been taught by long and bitter experience to distrust those who are unfamiliar to us. Please routinely use a single handle, and make a calm, relatively rational introductory post telling us who you are. Otherwise, you run the risk of being repeatedly subjected to the Traditional Newbie Question*.
this board is unmoderated and uncensored. Please don't do anything that would make us change that policy.
we tend to converse here in casual, unmodified English with occasional forays into volleys of inventive profanity. Deliberate misuse of the English language, unironic l33tspeak, or morons who can't be bothered to look at what they're typing will be, at best, mocked. As a general rule, if what you've just written would result in your death at the hands of your high school English teacher, it is unacceptable here.
one online quiz per person per week. Please. If the only reason you come here is to post quizzes, then get a Livejournal.
get off Kenma's damn grass.
evil twins, sibling masquerades, and multiple personalities are strictly forbidden.
almost against our better judgement, we maintain an IRC channel. Connect to irc.esper.net and join #octagonrumble.
That's about it. Enjoy.
chibi-gief
has a posse
ADMINS: Wanderer, Nere, Racewing, Arlieth, AoD, Mysterious Stealth Admin X WELCOME WAGON: Racewing
SODOMITE: Darkheart
HERO OF THE PEOPLE: Nere
AMERICA'S FAVORITE LESBIAN: Nash
Wilde, the moment you have been dreading has finally come.
by Nash
Perry's finished with Resident Evil Zero.
Oh, and for a parting shot, here's a review off the publisher's website.
i love the series, December 20, 2004
By: The RE masta
This series is the greatest, especially #5: Nemesis. Trent is the f*cking coolest. Crapcom should add Trent to the RE series. And bring back the zombies. Boycott RE4!!!!!
...I seriously doubt that I'll be returning to LiveJournal. Mads was right when he said that it was focusing and amplifying my negative urges instead of venting and dissipating them.
If I ever get back to writing, it'll either be a restart of "Showtime" or glosses for UVR4.
I know through just statistics that there's people here who played and liked the first one. Nathan gave me II for an early Christmas present, so I'm about 1/4 of the way through the game right about now.
Does anyone have an opinion on the game? I'd like to hear what you guys thought about it.
Largely I've enjoyed it immensely; the fighting system was left largely untouched (which is good), the matters of Influence and whatnot are really good touches, and I like all the characters more than any of the original KotOR ones. I only liked Carth for his backstory (he was an annoyance), Bastilla was a bitch until she turned evil, at which point she was pretty damn cool, and the others were okay. Juhani would have been much cooler had they gotten a better voice actress. Ugh.
Anyway. The characters in this one I find largely more appealing; Kreia is really cool (the cutscenes for her backstory were badass), the female characters are far and away better than Bastilla or any of the other females from the last one, and I like the villains much more. Sion is pretty damn neat-looking.
Also, though it's a matter of personal taste, Atton is pretty hot. I'm enjoying leading him down the path of Sith-dom. ^^
Light side sentinel first time, as for the second...
by Steven Scougall
I tried to go Dark side but just couldn't. Even just going back to the Temple Summit and attempting Dark Side from that point lasted until I got back to the Hawk, and my attempt died right there.
I'm too much of a goody two-shoes. Or a wuss. One of the two.
I've beaten the light side part. The game starts strong, but gets weaker near the end. My game locked up from time to time, definitely more than any game I've seen, plus other weird glitchs like a black screen of doom.
Overall, I'll give it to this game, but just barely. The technical problems in this game is pretty severe. Also, it's proven that Force armor does not give the AC bonus at all. Force speed doesn't give the AC bonus, but you still get the extra attacks.
I think the Dec date really affected this game, because the end game felt very rushed and not well thought through. Once you beat it, you'll probably understand it more.
The influence system is very nice, but it's nothing I haven't seen before (first time in a console RPG that I played though), but weird glitches in there messed up the influence and alignment as well. The good and bad thing with the influence system is lack of areas to properly influence all of your party members. I'm fairly certain you cannot influence everybody in one game.
A major issue with the game is that the exile (your character) is outshadowed by Revan constantly in this game. It is annoying, especially the deeper you get into the game. Also, I mentioned this already, but the further you go, the weirder the story becomes. The game feels very epic, but once I got through everything, it didn't feel as big or severe as KotOR. A lot of people complain about the lightsaber quest. It's not a big deal for me at this point since I learned how to get one fast.
As always, I'm on GameFAQs board a lot when a game I really love is out.
Bruce
PS: Abuse your X-box HD like crazy. Safe than sorry.
I wanted to make this post so other people can compare their games with mine. I'll try and be as detailed, yet brief about all the things I did in the game.
Male light side consular/Jedi master. SPOILERS, obviously.
Kreia - I gained enough influence that Kreia revealed everything. Knowing Atris, knowing Revan, knowing the Sith that pursues me, knowing Visas' master, revealing her own exile/fall. I assume the following are suppose to be revealed, to show her role in the entire game. She discovers Atton's secret on Telo Academy, she talks with Mandalore on Dxun right before the shuttle trip to Onderon, she tells me not to get involved with Visas and Handmaiden, she enslaves Hanharr, she gets Colonel Tobin to go to Telos, she kills the Council on Dantooine once it was reformed, she reveals her secrets to Atris, driving Atris over the edge. I think that's it...
Atton - I discover his secrets, with him killing the Jedi and how she protected his Force sensitivity to the Sith, he offers to become a Jedi, but I turn him down (in this game, I don't actually do the final act to make them a Jedi on purpose). He tells Kreia that my character knows, so she has no power over him anymore. She then threatens to unlock his dark side so that he enjoys killing and such again. He and the Handmaiden goes at it about the Echani forms, and how he knows she's being close to breaking protocal with me during the spars ("fool, schutta!" great exchange ^_^). I learn how to "count pazaaka" from him. He tells T3 that if he's yelling, he it's because he cares. Atton has the scenes with Kreia about my character and how main character can learn with without the Force and such.
T3 - I only repair him twice. He knocks out HK-47 when HK confronts him about the nav computer. Bao-Dur upgrades T3 once. I confront T3 about knowing Kreia was on the Ebon Hawk when it was attacked. T3 wouldn't talk, even when I actually THREATENED him.
Bao-Dur - I didn't even get close with turning him Jedi at all. Upgrades Goto twice. After Freedon Nadd's tomb mission (my party was myself, Kreia, and Visas. Dxun party was Mira leading, Mandalore, and Goto), I tried talking to him about Dxun, but he doesn't reveal anything.
Handmaiden - I defeat her 3 times, but I don't offer to make her Jedi. I do all the steps needed to make her Jedi, but don't actually do it. Also, because I don't even bring that subject up, Kreia doesn't send the Force message to Atris about betrayal. She warns of Visas when Visas joins of course, but no catfights (if there are suppose to be). I did not get enough influence with her to get her to talk about Atris. Handmaiden revealed she cared about my character (I thought I lost you) during after the fight with Atris.
Visas Marr - I only got the same dialogue options about "who is your master, who sent you, how did you find me, what happened to your homeworld, and did your group destroy Peragus". I took her on Korriban and got some minor dialogues about Korriban being powerful and darkside. I think it was right before getting back to Telos did she mention her master, then she talked about loving you, caring for you, wanting to know how/why the Handmaiden loves you, and then we "saw" each other in the Force. She felt better once Nilihus died. I encouraged her during the fight, and she begged her master to punish her for betrayal, and to let me go.
HK-47 - I didn't get anywhere with him. He had a conversation with Goto about how Goto thought HK-47 was destroyed, but he was wrong. I already mentioned that T3 owns HK during the nav computer talk. He interjects himself briefly when I asked Mira for lethal grenades. Mira got really annoyed with HK talking about death and killing all the time (funny).
Mira - I found out everything about Mira, and could have turn her into a Jedi, but didn't take her to the spot on Nar Shadda to trigger the change. I used her as the party leader on Dxun during the Freedon Nadd tomb. I made her slightly interested in the darkside. Afterwards, she didn't really want to talk about it, but did said she felt like she knows herself better now. She follows the main character on Malachor V, fight Hanharr, and I let him live yet again. On Onderon, when the bounty hunters attacked me, I told them to leave her alone, and gained influence.
Goto - I read the spoilers, so I know he's a droid, but in the game, I didn't bother doing it yet. He talked 2-3 times with Bao-Dur about upgrades and such. He destroyes Remote in the engine room in one cut scene. At the end of the game, Remote activites the engines, and then Goto shows up (no resolution on this at all, from what I've read). Never got any influnce with him, and he refuses to make me security tunnelers, even when I was actually out.
Mandalore - Don't recall anything specific happening with him. I got him last however, so probably missed a lot of things with him.
Contrary to popular opinion, I was okay with the ending. Last boss was HARD. >_<
Overall opinion: I really enjoyed it. In fact, I may like it more than the first one. The only real qualms I had with II were that they didn't cash in on everyone's backstory (especially what the hell the deal was with Nihilus -_-), the glitches were a problem (for some people, I only ran into one freeze), it got a little easy in the endgame once you became a Sith Lord of Walking Doom, the graphical engine could've used a little touching up, and DAMMIT, the only people that got a real "romance" were male characters that got to have Force-sex with Visas. Fuck you, male characters. I didn't get to sex up Atton because of your spoiled asses. ;_;
"He did WHAT?! The goddamn, foolish... wait, is this going to be in the paper? Then I'm really, really proud. And honoured. And I'm going to kick him in the balls when he gets home."
If, by chance, your nick on XBL is significantly different from a name I'd readily recognize, please please please attach a message to your friend request so I can put one and one together. Handle and witty taunt would be fine.
So I saw the movie last night and yeah, it was pretty bad. Not exactly jaw-droppingly awful, but if you need to see it, I suggest either going to a $1 theater or waiting until you can rent it on DVD.
Now I'm not expecting Pulp Fiction here, but is it too much to ask that a movie have at least an iota of character development? Because there's absolutely none here. None. Blade never suggests "Hey, you Nightstalkers are all right." Abigail and King don't learn any lessons or shit. It's just a handful of goodguys vs. a handful of badguys that goes back and forth in winning and losing until one group is completely dead.
Blade is the same as always. Just going through the same motions of Blade 2. In fact, a lot of the movie could be described as that.
Jessica Biel's Abigail Whistler is awful. Her ENTIRE character is this: she shoots arrows and fights while listening to her iPod. That's it. That's all there is to her character. Oh yeah, there's a scene where she's in the shower and has flashbacks to her father telling her about vampires, but it's ultimately pointless.
Ryan Reynold's Hannibal King keeps the movie from being completely horrible. I went into the movie knowing the news that if there is ever a Deadpool movie, Reynolds would be all but a lock to play the lead role. And believe me, his character is Wade Wilson here. Sure, he doesn't have the red spandex or the freakish skin, but throughout the movie he's pure Wade. Pretty much every good line from the movie comes from him.
"What the fuck?! ......WHAT THE FUCK?!"
"So... can I interest you in a Nightstalkers decoder ring?"
"Two things. One, your haircut... is ridiculous. Two, I ate a lot of garlic today and I just farted, so you better stand back."
While Dracula's true form is pretty badass, the less said about his human form the better. "Ready to die, Blade," is probably one of the worst delivered lines since Storm fought Toad. There is a funny scene where he wanders through NYC and enters a goth shop that specializes in Dracula merchandise. But his fight scene against Blade is really just a lesser version of Blade vs. Deacon Frost and Blade vs. Nomak.
Triple H is one of the badguys in this movie. He's basically just Triple H except he's a vampire and he loves his vampire yappy dog. Dwayne Johnson he ain't. Also, the scene where he's running at full speed like a toddler filled with sugar is the most unintentionally hilarious scene in the movie.
There were some other characters, but none are worth mentioning. Including an appearance by Patton Oswalt where you continue to forget he's even in the movie.
Anyway, the action was good enough and Hannibal King was awesome. But other than that, it's just a watered down Blade 2. Plus the ending was lame.
One and a half stars out of four.
Gavok
Oh, and one major spoiler about something awesome:
I am perhaps too willing to appreciate a good mook slaughter. While Dracula was a paper tiger, the chase scene was okay, and I liked it when they stormed the office.
I've been following the developments closely since announcement. The same company makes the WWE Raw Deal TCG as well. So far, the RPG looks decent. I'll certainly pick up a book when released to mess around with. Doesn't require a GM if players just want to wrestle for results and fun.
A Street Fighter RPG would inherently be combat based. Storyteller is only slightly more combat friendly than, say, Amber or Gurps.
The only way you could play a Street Fighter RPG in anything resembling an efficient manner would be by either creating an engine from the ground up with combat in mind, or by utilising a pre-existing system that had a similar design philosophy.
I finally relented and started playing a bit of that, possibly owing to KOTOR, and it shares a number of the same problems I had with AD&D near the end there (too self-consciously complex, impossible to do actions of a certain drama level, impossibly munchkin-friendly, old-school GMs who want to kill you real hard).
Were I to want to run a Street Fighter game, I'd probably do so using Feng Shui.
It's all about the DM and players sharing the same goal. If they do, it'll work. They they don't, it won't. My group is damn great, and my DM is the best I ever played with.
The Family Fun Center in Omaha has Capcom Fighting Evolution. I'm mostly happy with it; I'm an unashamed Jedah fan, and Ingrid is almost enough to make me a disciple of Racewing.
I remember seeing in an earlier post on this board something along the lines of Capcom of Japan handing the rights to the Street Fighter series to Capcom of America since any other fighters in the series would be a Mugen-fest.
This got me to thinking. What could Capcom (or fighting game companies in general) do to put a new spin on the fighting genre.
Then it hit me. A royal rumble. Just like the UVR.
Forget teams of two and three. Throw a truckload of fighters into a heavily reinforced ring and let them duke it out. Yes, it would be a great challenge to code, but just think of what the finished product could be. Online multiplayer options. A cast of potentially hundreds with a variety of grooves/styles. A new learning curve as players have to deal with impromptu alliances, ring outs, outside interference, etc.
No, I'm not talking about "WWE vs. Capcom." I'll let Gavok and MMK run wild with that monster.
So... am I crazy, or is there actually something to it?
Oh... and lest I forget... anybody out there need a Software Test Engineer or a Software Engineer? [long, silent pause] ...didn't think so. ^_^;;;;;;;;
There is a game that might offer a template. Iron Phoenix, which is supposedly going to be a very fun multiplayer game for XBOX, allows for up to sixteen players to get going at once, each wielding and then switching a variety of weapons, and partnering up for a variety of cool combo attacks.
While this game supposedly plays like a really fast multiplayer version of Dynasty Warriors, it could be modified to support a variety of Capcom or X-Men, or whatever style players, with the Grooves potentially replacing the variety of weapon styles that fits in Iron Phoenix (although, I really dig the idea of my character switching from style to style at my whim).
And since Sammy Studios owns the rights to Iron Phoenix, it's at least somewhat within the realm of possibilities.
Well, this is taken from the Alternate Reality FAQ.
6.15 WHY IS THE MOVIE THE MATRIX SO SIMILAR TO AR?
--------------------------------------------------
Nobody knows for certain, it might just be coincidence. However, Philip Price has posted a
story about him having dinner with two movie making brothers in Hollywood to whom he retold
the entire AR story and concept.
I have constructed the following sentences so that they can be read to be true for both
Alternate Reality and The Matrix movies at the same time:
1. THE MATRIX = ALTERNATE REALITY
* Your body is being kept alive inside a metal cocoon controlled by machines.
2. BLUE PILL/RED PILL = DESTINY
* To continue to live in the other world, or reject it and fight it from the outside.
3. AGENTS = ALIENS
* The captors of humans.
* Can track humans, and take human form.
4. THE ONE = ACRINIMIRIL
* A person with unique knowledge on how to use Agent/Alien powers against them.
* He is outside the system, beyond the controlling abilities of the Agents/Aliens.
5. MORPHEUS = OZOB
* A person who believes in Neo/Acrinimiril.
* He teaches how to "cheat" in the other world.
6. ORACLE = THE RIDDLER
* An apparently friendly Agent/Alien.
* Helps by giving only small bits of information.
7. BULLET TIME = TEMPORAL FUGUE
* An ability to move incredibly fast.
The sequels to the movie contain a few more connections, like rogue Agents/Aliens.
Ladies and gentlemen of the court, the plaintiff seems to believe that the defendants have copied her story and adapted it into a movie, barely altered. Nothing can be further from the truth.
I bring you this piece of evidence. This is the screenplay the Wachowski Brothers wrote in 1995 based on the comedic DC superhero Plastic Man. Now if you were to read even two pages of this awful tripe, you'll realize that the Wachowskis don't know the first thing about Plastic Man. A tree-hugging hippy who gained his powers from trying to save product-tested animals from a lab? And then he uses his powers to stop litterbugs? No! Plastic Man is a case-cracking criminal who got shot up and filled with chemicals due to his friends' turning their back on him, only to leave his life of crime because of one stranger's act of kindness! I mean, this is shit is as bad as what they did to Catwoman!
So you see, the Matrix could in no way be based on the Third Eye. The stories are too similar and the Wachowskis are too much of fuck-ups for it to make sense. Now to say that the Matrix is the Wachowskis' movie adaptation of a Jack Chick comic? Well, there you might have a case.
Ladies and gentlemen of the court, I rest my case.
Actually, as Neil Gaiman points out here, that's a notice of the case going to trial, not that she's won it. Note the well-camouflaged phrase "allegations... were received and acknowledged" in the opening paragraph.
If she's for real, good luck to her. If not, well, I doubt she's got a chance against the Hollywood legal machine anyway.
...didn't Harlan Ellison already claim to be the inspiration for the Terminator films? I think he's got a credit of some sort in the later releases of the first film...
How can Hollywood possibly ignore Fruitbooty? Bill Goldberg is off making Santa's Slay, which is most likely an F grade movie - and a sure Best Picture/Best Actor combination like Stevie Ray and Fruitbooty is being ignored.
I highly suggest the members of the ballad begin a letter writing campaign.
Cause Suckas Gots Ta Know.
-TMP
P.S. Could we get That 70s Guy Mike Awesome and Disco Inferno (especially the NWO Disco Inferno?) to team up and form a retro villain team?
I need pictures of people doing very stupid things (along the lines of Jackass/Darwin Awards) for an English project. Could you help out? Google has failed me on this one.
J. Malone
PS: The project in question is a collage for "The Scarlet Letter" (which, in my oppinion, is rather boring). I was supposed to pick out a sin/act/emotion/etc. that I thought was rather bad to base it around. Please note my english teacher sucks.
MMK and I could do wonders for that game. Wonders, I say!
by Gavok
The cover of the next game would feature a glittery Stormtrooper helmet face-to-face with a blond-haired Sub-Zero rip-off (that's a lot of hyphens!). And watching over them would be Planet Stasiak.
I can already picture the epic cage match between Zodiac and La Parka. Or That 70's Guy Mike Awesome powerbombing Papa Shango out of the ring and winning a battle royal.
