La La LaTale

AdaDodd is cruel. She makes people fight each other with pickaxes and cheers them on until only one remains. Don't believe me? Here's proof:


In all seriousness, the only times I find myself really enjoying La Tale is when I'm playing with my friends. Sure, we don't play in a serious way and grind and level and try to get the best equips (Fashion is more important, doncha know?) but we have fun. It usually involves mining, or me leading certain people into dangerous situations. XD The joke's usually on me, however, since those certain people end up ditching me and leaving me to die.

I used to really enjoy playing La Tale alone. I'd play it alone most of the time, and level up and do quests and was all YAY about it. I mean, it's a good game, but I suppose the appeal is starting to wear off given the fact the people who operate the game can't.. do it right.

Ever since the beginning of the release, and supposedly even in beta, maaaany users suffer serious lag and latency issues with the game. Sometimes it's barely playable, if playable at all. That's one of those major issues, I think, that should have been addressed from the get go. Instead, the company releases other shiny features. The sad part is the majority of the populace seems to go for it and is totally appeased when a shiny comes out.

However, every time OGPlanet releases a shiny, at least 2 serious glitches to the game seems to come along with it. XD It's kinda funny really... but also disappointing. I really enjoy this game, but at the same time, if the lag problem gets much worse, I won't really be able to play it anymore. So right now, I just keep hoping that they fix the major issues so it's actually playable to people.

I figure eventually they'll pretty much have to fix the lag. I'm just not sure when that is. But I'm not above not being a serious player for a number of months as I wait for fixinz. XD

I know there's other really good, and even free, MMORPGs I could play, but I find that one MMORPG addiction is enough. I don't know how people juggle multiple MMORPGs. It'd drive me crazy, I think.

Video Games. Music. Communities. <3

I believe we're in a day and age where it's not really acceptable to say that video game music isn't good because it's just 'beeps and blips'. You don't have to like it, of course, but I'd like to see a more valid and true excuse than that.

Certainly, back in the 80s and early 90s music might have been classified as such (I still loved it~) but nowadays you have composers like Hitoshi Sakimoto known for the awesomeness they do that certainly cannot be classified as beep nor blip. Minuet by Masayoshi Yamazaki is also a far cry from a beep... I could probably go on for pages about the awesomeness of various composers, but... that likely wouldn't make for a good read. XD

Anyways, not too many years ago I was pleased to find various communities dedicated to the glorification of game music. Talented musicians pay tribute to their favorite composers by remixing and arranging their work - I think of it like the equivalent of fan art.

There's a bit more to it than that, with musicians and composers helping each other out, and sharing their own original works too. I remember people from a couple years back when they were just 'noobies' and I remember their music. And... I remember cringing at that music. And it's amazing to me, that I listen to something they did recently, and I really enjoy it because they've improved so much! Because they practice, and work hard, and other people in the same field offer their insight and advice. (Some people on these sites make music professionally) Positive communities can really make a positive difference in someone.

My main fix for music and socializing in this 'scene' used to be VGMix, but alas, it was taken down and currently still in the process of revivification. OverClocked Remix, however, is still up and running stronger than ever. I admit I haven't dived that deep into it, but with VGMix still in a limbo of sorts, I do hang around OCR more often these days.

I'm sure OCR has its sour grapes, as any community does, but I have to say that I believe the main contributers to the site are nothing short of awesome. Not necessarily for their music (which is awesome) but I believe this community is a fine example of what many (most?) online communities should aspire to be. One of the members became ill not long ago, so a lot of people got together to arrange music from one of their favorite games as a 'get well album' and showed an outpouring of support to him and his then-fiancee. (He's better now and they're married so happy endings yay!)

I pondered over other communities I've been a part of and wondered if they were capable of something similar to the above. And I... am uncertain. Human behavior is hard to predict.

I'm pretty sure I started this post to talk about video game music and totally deviated in about fifty different directions. Hurrah! Likely a result of me not really being deeply involved in any community right now, and mostly 'drifting'. I always enjoyed being a part of a community of some kind, so it's a bit strange to not be deeply involved anywhere anymore.

But yes. Game music. Awesome. <3
(One day I'll learn to make a blog post and keep to a single topic)

Chameleon

When you're nice, it's an obvious sign of weakness. You worry too much about stepping on people's toes, you take crap, and it paves the way for people to walk all over you.

When you're mean, well, you're just a big jerk. No one wants to be around you, because you have no care for people's feelings, and take advantage of others for your own benefit.

If you give things away for free, then the people who didn't receive anything will bawl and shout that, "it's not fair!" that they didn't get anything.

If you don't give things away for free, then you're stingy and greedy, and whatever you have, you don't deserve.

When you tell someone the truth, they often don't want to hear it.

When you lie to someone, you're not doing them much good are you?

If you follow a faith or God, you're a fool for doing so.

If you choose to abstain from religion, then you're damned.

When the homeless man asks for money, and you give it to him, you're only supporting his drug habit.

When the homeless man asks for money, and you refuse him, you're being cruel.

Agreeing means you're sucking up.

Disagreeing means you're too contrary.

When you try to please everyone, you will invariably fail.

When you try to please yourself, there's a chance you might actually succeed.

Tutorial!

Returning from an absence, I'll open with something that's (hopefully) useful. Art tutorial! I have it on my DA, but I figured I'd post it here as well.

Politics and Haikus

Obama has won.
Bush ruined Republicans;
the best thing he did.

Right, so I get 0 Creativity points for that one. I should totally brush up on my haiku skills sometime. I used to like writing them. I guess I'd feel successful solely because I could get the 5-7-5 syllable thing down easily, even if the content of that was garbage.

Writing a haiku-
I'm counting five, seven, five.
Five syllables here.

Wow. Move over... famous poet people. Here I come! Or not. Likely not.

Cats go meow meow meow!
And when I step on their feet?
They go hiss hiss hiss!

It's sort of torturous isn't it?

When I want to hurt,
I say things without thinking.
Poetic garbage.

Seriously. Zero creativity points.

It is very late.
So I'm going to bed now.
You can have relief.

Legend of the Seeker

Fans of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series likely knew about the new television series based on Wizard's First Rule that came out yesterday. At first I was excited about this series, Legend of the Seeker, when I first heard about it a while back. Though Goodkind's later books left a sour taste in my mouth, I found his first book to be made of awesome and win. My excitement died a little when I realized that it was likely the people making the series might botch a few things, but I accepted that.

When I watched the first episode of The Legend of the Seeker, I was very surprised to find they hadn't botched a few things - they had botched very nearly everything. Before I dive too deeply in my comparisons and contrasts and pointing and laughing, I want to give a heads up that this will most definitely contain spoilers. So if people don't want to be spoiled, I suggest they not finish this article.

In the Sword of Truth Series, the two main characters are Richard Cypher and Kahlan Amnell. Richard's character was shaped heavily by the way his father raised him, and his friendship with Zedd, his best friend. Richard is this opened minded, intelligent, thoughtful, inquisitive man. Please note that I'm stressing the man. He's not a teenager, he's well out of his teenage years, and somewhere in his mid-twenties.

Kahlan is a woman of power and prestige in her homeland, so she carries herself in a certain way. With dignity and grace and strength. She is also a woman, and not a teen. During her first encounters with Richard they had a couple misunderstandings, but mostly they got along great. He was always very kind to her, and enamored with her from the get go.

Let's look at the television series...

Richard is no longer anything he once was in the books. In the series, he is whiny, reckless, and has many moments of teen angst. He and Kahlan were right bratty with one another during their first encounter as well, before parting ways for the first time. In the series, likely what I found most appalling, was the fact Richard didn't even know Zedd. At times he was downright disrespectful to the man.

I understand things likely have to be changed from book to series, but did they have to change parts of the foundation?

Kahlan gave Richard the Book of Counted Shadows in the show, then he burned it to keep it out of the D'Harans hands. Oh, and the D'Harans aren't blue eyed and blond anymore. Did I mention D'Harans broke the Boundary (That rift between the living and dead) with a catapault? Then Richard and Kahlan went on Slaughterfest '08 in the Hartland Woods.

We learn in the first episode that George Cypher is not Richard's biological father, where that came later in the book series as a plot twist.

Craig Horner looked nice without his shirt on at least. Gogo, fanservice!

So the cons are: Everything.
The pros are: A moment of fanservice.

I may try to watch another episode, but if it's more or less the same, I likely won't be watching this series.

Perhaps I'm speaking unfairly, and judging too harshly based on the fact I read the book. Perhaps people who haven't read the series and don't know 'what's supposed to happen' will like the show, and not find it to be hollow and too-fast paced with terrible inter-character relationships. It is targeted to a younger demographic than I am, after all. And when I was a teen I'd watch a show if it had fanservice. I admit it. I watched Smallville because Tom Welling was hot.

But once the novelty of that passed, I was done with Smallville. It didn't help that the characters they focused on couldn't act their way through a high school play, but that's neither here or now.

So if you're a teen and like fantasy and stabbity stab and shirtless guys? Give LotS a go! If you like things with substance, I'd pass.

La Tale Bravery

La Tale is my latest gaming addiction. It is also a MMORPG, the type of game I've pretty much always sworn off as being evil wastes of time. La Tale is likely still an evil waste of time, but it's an evil waste of time I actually really enjoy.

To the picky MMORPGers, La Tale probably isn't much. Quests, grind, quests. And it's true, there's lots of quests. Then there's the grinding. But what makes La Tale, like many other MMORPGs, fun? Playing with other people.

Witness in this screenshot, the bravery of my comrade.

That right there, would be my character's dead body. You see, when we teleported to the next part of the mountain we were on, we unwittingly stepped right in the midst of three very big, angry bears. Not happy cuddly bears, but big angry bears that craved human blood and flesh.

Grabbing on to my character, they began to play a fun game of keep away with her, tossing her back and forth while violently depleting her HP bar like crazy. I thought it would be okay, however, since I assumed my friend would jump in and help out.

Wrong.

I watched in utter horror and lolz as 'SSJSoerl' turned and ran in the opposite direction, as my character's dead/unconscious self was tossed the other way.

I eventually got my revenge by running away when he was attacked by exactly eleventy jillion enemies at once.

That brings me to my La Tale/MMORPRG tip of the day!

When you have to travel to a place filled with enemies that might kill you, bring bait (ie, one of your friends). When you're traveling in that enemy filled place, always keep your bait in between yourself and the enemy at all times. Just don't tell the other person what you're up to. Make sure to keep an open for the exit at all times, or better yet, keep a warp stone or spell on hand. That way when your bait starts getting ripped to shreds, you can make a hasty exit. Unannounced.

Bonus points if you loot rare items and money in the process and don't share later.