YouTube decided to give us back our beloved grid view a while back, after having revoked it from us and subjected us all to the cancer that was the list view. During that time myself and many others used one of various solutions that turned the list view back into the grid view that we knew and loved, but after having gotten the grid view back, all was good, right?
Well, wrong.
Their idea of a grid view is now this horrendous thing that's segregated by various arbitrary time periods, resulting in a lot of wasted screen space. In addition, even after you've watched and hidden a video, it eventually comes back in an un-hideable form courtesy of a special section titled "Older", or sometimes "Most recent uploads", or sometimes "More recent uploads". Fortunately for us, though, the HTML DOM is easily manipulated via JavaScript, so we can move all this stuff around and clean it up to present the grid view of old, while not actually harming any critical page functionality.
I have done precisely that. Technically I did it a long time ago, but there was a silly bug in the script and it didn't work and I got all dejected and forgot about it until recently, when I tracked down that silly bug, squashed it, and polished it up for release.
Feature-wise, it collapses all of the arbitrary time period sections into the topmost section, maintaining chronological order, and removes the sections it emptied. It then applies an Expand/Collapse button to the section(s) of un-hideable videos, and collapses them by default. If any more of these sections are added to the page, they automatically get collapsed and have the Expand/Collapse button applied. Essentially, you can see the content of those sections whenever you want, but they're hidden and out of the way by default.
Continuing my new habit of posting scripts like this on Pastebin, here's a Pastebin link. That way you can see the entire source code before downloading it and installing it. Also, I have tested it in both Firefox + GreaseMonkey, and Chrome + TamperMonkey, and it works as-is in both. Just putting that out there.
Anyway, if you need me, I'll be over here working on a Twitter megascript. It's almost done, to be honest, I just need to add one more feature and make it do a couple things in a way less stupid manner.
Edit (2016-03-01): Of course, I tweaked it. The Expand/Collapse buttons now have some of YouTube's CSS classes applied, which makes them look like the rest of the buttons found on the site.
Double edit (same day): Also, in terms of scripts I'm working on, I have an updated version of the Chrono Trigger XP/TP grinding run calculation script. The updated version uses an XML file, both to store and retrieve grinding run details, and to store the per-character XP/TP values you pass to it. The practical upshot: custom grinding locations are a lot easier to add as you no longer need to edit the script directly. I have a couple things I want to add before releasing the update, so no link just yet.
Edit (2016-03-14): Version 1.2 is out now. It fixes an issue and does a few things more intelligently. 1.3 is coming down the pike as well, so prepare for impact.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Sunday, February 21, 2016
MAGFest 14
I refuse to call it "MAGFest 2016". The reason for changing the numbering was, and I quote, "sequential numbering was too confusing". Well, congratulations. You've only changed from one sequential numbering system to another. Wow, you accomplished so much. I will refer to it as "MAGFest 14" because IT'S THE FOURTEENTH MAGFEST. I will refer to it as "MAGFest 2016" after we have 2002 more MAGFests and actually get to that number.
...Now that I've gotten that off my shoulders, MAGFest!
My staffing schedule this year was much like previous years: overnight console room desk staff. Except this year, instead of the position being called "desk staff", it's "inventory specialist". Ooh, now I'm a specialist! The gist of it is that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings, beginning at midnight, I worked the desk in the Console room, which I've gotten great enjoyment out of in past years due to it being an awesome department in general.
As usual, I left on Wednesday evening. I may decide not to do this in future years. There's less and less incentive for me to get there on the butt-crack of Thursday morning. I'd like to get there early enough that I can get to registration and get my staff badge without issue, but I could accomplish that and leave several hours later if I so desire. The main issue is that parking is incredibly expensive in National Harbor, MD, and MAGFest staffers haven't gotten a discount basically since MAGFest 10 when due to a fluke or a glitch in the system or whatever it was $11 for the entire weekend.
I originally planned to do a day-by-day summary, but it wouldn't really say the things I want to say, so here's a series of categorized summaries and some closing thoughts.
On Randomly Selected Roommates
Every year, I take advantage of MAGFest's 30-weighted-shift-hour staffing perk: a free hotel room. This has saved me a lot of money over the years, and I'm quite a fan of that. However, beginning with this year, rooming with randoms is kind of beginning to suck. Here's how it went down, names not mentioned because I either forget them, or never learned them in the first place. (to be fair, we do get sent an email with names and contact details of everyone who's going to be in the room, but I always forget that information)
Apparently, it's now standard practice to charge your phone with someone else's charger instead of getting out your own, if someone else's charger is available and not currently in use. I wouldn't have a problem with doing this, except that one of the $GUYS_WHO_RAN_ROCKSMITH plugged his phone into my charger and then proceeded to go to sleep. I came back from my shift while he was asleep and was then unable to charge my phone while I was asleep. Yeah, I'm too nice, I should've just unplugged his phone. It worked out in the end, though, because of the difference in our sleep schedules. They got up and left, which unavoidably woke me up in the process since they had to move all the Rocksmith equipment, so I reached over and plugged in my phone really quick. My phone charger spent the rest of the event in my backpack, except when I was using it.
On Methodology Of Staying In A Hotel Room
So, when I stay in a hotel room, I keep all my shit together. All of my stuff stays in my bags unless I'm using it. Once I'm done using it, it goes right back in the bag. I don't leave shit everywhere around the room, and I always put any trash I generate in the trash can. I consider this to be the most efficient and courteous-to-hotel-staff method of doing things. Keeping everything in my bags means packing up to leave the hotel takes about five minutes tops, and putting the trash in the proper place as soon as possible makes it even more clear that I'm not leaving anything behind by accident.
Apparently, though, other people have other ideas. My roommates, for instance, had their shit everywhere. $NON_OBJECTIONABLE_ROOMMATE kept his stuff mostly together and wasn't really an issue. The $GUYS_WHO_RAN_ROCKSMITH, however... as I said above, the sink became a disaster area. They just left all their toiletries strewn about, taking up a maximum of space and forcing me to rearrange their shit just so I could have room to put my shit down while I used it. It was exactly two people's worth of stuff, and it didn't arrive until they arrived, so I know it wasn't the doing of $NON_OBJECTIONABLE_ROOMMATE. Also, their stuff consisted of two pre-made, store-bought "men's travel kits". One of them had a tiny can of Barbasol and a generic blue two-blade shaver. I didn't even know they still made generic blue two-blade shavers. All the rest of their stuff was "travel size", i.e. tiny. For contrast, my toiletries bag contains stuff I grab out of my regular bathroom stuff and just chuck in there.
Also, during the first encounter with housekeeping, they got two fresh towels and didn't exchange any of the used ones. I, however, was the only one there for the second encounter with housekeeping, during which I exchanged ALL the used towels and got five fresh ones, even though there were only four of us. You can thank me later.
On Hotel Shower Design
Why is it that hotel showers never have exhaust fans? Every single time I showered, I was sweaty going in (event with lots of people in the same space = all that body heat combines = con funk), and sweaty coming out. The only thing that had happened was that I had cleaned myself in the meantime.
On Highway Design
So, whatever asshole decided it was a great idea to have a 495 and a 95+495, that are mutually exclusive with different sets of exits, and even crossing the Potomac on different bridges, needs to die. I lost two hours of my life and a quarter tank of gas due to having gotten on the wrong 495.
On Foot Pain
It fucking sucks. I don't know what I can do, to be honest. I got a brand new pair of supportive shoes specifically to wear to events like MAGFest, and nowhere else, and my feet are still completely in pain at the end of each day.
On The Best Department Of MAGFest
Shoutouts to Consoles for having the best staff and the best organizational layout. Everyone from the department heads, managers, and mini-managers, to the rest of us floor staff, inventory specialists, and runners, are a great bunch of people. We're all serious about getting our jobs done, but we don't let that get in the way of having fun. Every position's duties are helpfully laid out on easily-accessible sheets of paper for the duration of the event, and as long as you're doing the things you're supposed to be doing, you have total autonomy. It's macromanaged rather than micromanaged, and it's completely refreshing (not to mention ideal) for an introvert such as myself. To be allowed to make judgment calls on minor things while still elevating more major things to the appropriate people is awesome. To be allowed to do my job without someone coming around every 5 minutes asking for a status check, is also awesome. If this was eBay-style feedback, I'd probably say something along the lines of AAAAA++++++++++ WOULD STAFF AGAIN.
I've staffed a few other areas of MAGFest, but the current Consoles department is the one I'll gladly work overnight double-shifts for time and time again.
On The Staff Suite
I've been hard on them in the past, and even again this year, having tweeted "Dinner is over an hour late. Staff Suite business as usual(tm).", but they don't really deserve it. Staff Suite provides those of us staffers who work enough weighted shift hours with food for the duration of the event. They keep us alive and able to do our jobs. Every year, Staff Suite has gotten more and more streamlined and improved in its operation. The system before Staff Suite became a thing was to fill Fest Ops with packages of cup ramen, snack-size bags of chips, Pop Tarts, and other things, and just let people try to get a decent meal from that. A lot of people went out for food. I was a gopher at MAGFest 5 and at one point ended up with the task of taking people's orders and money, and driving around the area grabbing food to deliver to them. The point I'm trying to make is, the current system is way better than the way we used to do it. If they need an extra hour to make sure we get fed, go right ahead. Just don't do it too often, okay? Also, can we get some spicy brown mustard?
On Music And Gaming
That's the entire purpose of MAGFest, after all. It's right in the name. Music And Gaming Festival. I played some games and I listened to some music. But wait, that description isn't satisfactory in the slightest, now is it? Well... I played some Muchi Muchi Pork, I cheesed a new high score on the MAGFest-hacked Arkanoid Machine and entered "XUL" as my initials because it went past T and doesn't have a backspace, I discovered that I suck at Mario Kart Wii, and then there was this arcade game called Killer Queen. No, it doesn't involve the Queen song with the same name. It's actually a really neat idea, and it's really well executed.
Killer Queen is two connected machines that support up to five players each, and the group on one machine are playing against the group on the other machine in an attempt to defeat the other group and win. There's three ways to win: Military, where your group takes down the other group's queen three times; Economy, where your group brings back enough of these little purple blob things to your base, one at a time, and unable to defend yourself while you do it; and Snail, which involves getting a snail that spawns in the middle of the stage to your team's side of the stage, again, completely vulnerable while you do it, and also moving really slowly because it's a snail. It makes for some hectic and incredibly fun action. It's sorta like Joust, except all the characters on screen are controlled by players, and with other goals than "kill the enemies". Games are fast, strategic, and can swing either way at a moment's notice.
Also, the console room had a "MAGFest Plays Pokemon" thing going on. There was a projector displaying Pokemon Red on one of the walls, and eight buttons were randomly located throughout the room, each connected to a specific input for the Gameboy. Predictably, there ended up being a Pokemon nicknamed "Penis", and while I don't really know my Pokemon, it knew Poison Sting. It pretty much ground to a halt because the wall was also lit by ceiling lights and gameplay eventually progressed to a dark area, which resulted in nobody being able to see what the fuck was going on.
Music-wise, I went to the Psychostick concert, which was every bit as awesome as I'd hoped it would be, except maybe for the parts that were more awesome. Psychostick is very much a crowd participation band, and it's an incredibly fun and awesome experience. If you ever have the opportunity to see them live, I totally recommend it.
...On Music And Gaming
Every year I have the same set of emotions in roughly the same order regarding MAGFest. For most of the year I'm eagerly awaiting the next MAGFest. As it approaches, I gladly retweet announcements, spread event dates, etc. I eventually sign up for shifts once they're available. Then, about a week or so before MAGFest, I start to feel uneasy about the whole thing. It's hard to describe because I'm not currently in that state, but I do know that the act of leaving for and driving to MAGFest has never felt right to me, for whatever reason. It feels like I'm doing it on impulse. "I could do all this other stuff, or I could go to MAGFest!" kind of sums it up. Even if "all this other stuff" is actually just everything I do in a normal sequence of four days, which isn't much because I'm unemployed. Then I get to MAGFest and the hype is back. The hype stays until the end of the event, when I pack my stuff and leave. Driving home has a much different feeling than driving to MAGFest, as I spend the drive home reflecting on everything I experienced. Then I spend about the next month or so recovering, because I totally reverse and go full extravert for the duration of the event, and it eventually catches up to me.
This year, the uneasiness came with something I'd never experienced before: the thought that either this might be my last MAGFest, or that I might switch to going to MAGClassic instead. I can't say for certain what's going to happen because I'm in "of course I'd go to another MAGFest and you'd be silly to think otherwise" mode, but I've noticed that I spend far less of my time at MAGFest actually roaming the festival, playing games and attending panels and concerts. It kind of feels like going to MAGFest has become more of a habit and less of a desire. Maybe I'm entitled to think that way after having gone to eleven of them and having staffed ten of them. I dunno.
On The Summarization of Summaries (Sup Dawg)
MAGFest 14 was great and I'll probably go to MAGFest 15, if for no other reason than to staff the overnight console room shifts. Hopefully by then I'll have a job, and therefore a budget for more than just parking and gas. Might even leave the hamster habitrail, you never know...
...Now that I've gotten that off my shoulders, MAGFest!
My staffing schedule this year was much like previous years: overnight console room desk staff. Except this year, instead of the position being called "desk staff", it's "inventory specialist". Ooh, now I'm a specialist! The gist of it is that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings, beginning at midnight, I worked the desk in the Console room, which I've gotten great enjoyment out of in past years due to it being an awesome department in general.
As usual, I left on Wednesday evening. I may decide not to do this in future years. There's less and less incentive for me to get there on the butt-crack of Thursday morning. I'd like to get there early enough that I can get to registration and get my staff badge without issue, but I could accomplish that and leave several hours later if I so desire. The main issue is that parking is incredibly expensive in National Harbor, MD, and MAGFest staffers haven't gotten a discount basically since MAGFest 10 when due to a fluke or a glitch in the system or whatever it was $11 for the entire weekend.
I originally planned to do a day-by-day summary, but it wouldn't really say the things I want to say, so here's a series of categorized summaries and some closing thoughts.
On Randomly Selected Roommates
Every year, I take advantage of MAGFest's 30-weighted-shift-hour staffing perk: a free hotel room. This has saved me a lot of money over the years, and I'm quite a fan of that. However, beginning with this year, rooming with randoms is kind of beginning to suck. Here's how it went down, names not mentioned because I either forget them, or never learned them in the first place. (to be fair, we do get sent an email with names and contact details of everyone who's going to be in the room, but I always forget that information)
- I checked into the hotel on Thursday, and as usual I was the first one in the room. Put my stuff down between the closest bed to the door and the wall, as if to claim that area and hopefully sleep in that bed.
- Later on, $NON_OBJECTIONABLE_ROOMMATE arrives and drops off his stuff. I happened to be in the room at the time. We exchanged pleasantries, which for whatever reason didsn't include introductions. Whatever.
- Later that evening, $GUYS_WHO_RAN_ROCKSMITH showed up while I'm out and about.
- I got back from my staff shift, after 4 AM. All of the Rocksmith equipment is neatly packed into one corner of the room (so it was as out of the way as it could possibly be, indicating some small level of human compassion). One of them placed his stuff on top of my stuff. Both of them were fast asleep in the bed I was hoping to sleep in. *sad trombone*
- My stuff had been covered up by one of theirs to the point that I had to carefully and quietly extract my toiletries bag so I could get ready for bed. I decided to move the rest later after they were gone. Perhaps I'm too nice.
- I inspected the sink and bathroom area to see that it's now a total disaster area and that someone doesn't know how to flush a damn toilet, which would be a recurring theme.
- I proceeded to spend the rest of the event picking up after them in various cases.
Apparently, it's now standard practice to charge your phone with someone else's charger instead of getting out your own, if someone else's charger is available and not currently in use. I wouldn't have a problem with doing this, except that one of the $GUYS_WHO_RAN_ROCKSMITH plugged his phone into my charger and then proceeded to go to sleep. I came back from my shift while he was asleep and was then unable to charge my phone while I was asleep. Yeah, I'm too nice, I should've just unplugged his phone. It worked out in the end, though, because of the difference in our sleep schedules. They got up and left, which unavoidably woke me up in the process since they had to move all the Rocksmith equipment, so I reached over and plugged in my phone really quick. My phone charger spent the rest of the event in my backpack, except when I was using it.
On Methodology Of Staying In A Hotel Room
So, when I stay in a hotel room, I keep all my shit together. All of my stuff stays in my bags unless I'm using it. Once I'm done using it, it goes right back in the bag. I don't leave shit everywhere around the room, and I always put any trash I generate in the trash can. I consider this to be the most efficient and courteous-to-hotel-staff method of doing things. Keeping everything in my bags means packing up to leave the hotel takes about five minutes tops, and putting the trash in the proper place as soon as possible makes it even more clear that I'm not leaving anything behind by accident.
Apparently, though, other people have other ideas. My roommates, for instance, had their shit everywhere. $NON_OBJECTIONABLE_ROOMMATE kept his stuff mostly together and wasn't really an issue. The $GUYS_WHO_RAN_ROCKSMITH, however... as I said above, the sink became a disaster area. They just left all their toiletries strewn about, taking up a maximum of space and forcing me to rearrange their shit just so I could have room to put my shit down while I used it. It was exactly two people's worth of stuff, and it didn't arrive until they arrived, so I know it wasn't the doing of $NON_OBJECTIONABLE_ROOMMATE. Also, their stuff consisted of two pre-made, store-bought "men's travel kits". One of them had a tiny can of Barbasol and a generic blue two-blade shaver. I didn't even know they still made generic blue two-blade shavers. All the rest of their stuff was "travel size", i.e. tiny. For contrast, my toiletries bag contains stuff I grab out of my regular bathroom stuff and just chuck in there.
Also, during the first encounter with housekeeping, they got two fresh towels and didn't exchange any of the used ones. I, however, was the only one there for the second encounter with housekeeping, during which I exchanged ALL the used towels and got five fresh ones, even though there were only four of us. You can thank me later.
On Hotel Shower Design
Why is it that hotel showers never have exhaust fans? Every single time I showered, I was sweaty going in (event with lots of people in the same space = all that body heat combines = con funk), and sweaty coming out. The only thing that had happened was that I had cleaned myself in the meantime.
On Highway Design
So, whatever asshole decided it was a great idea to have a 495 and a 95+495, that are mutually exclusive with different sets of exits, and even crossing the Potomac on different bridges, needs to die. I lost two hours of my life and a quarter tank of gas due to having gotten on the wrong 495.
On Foot Pain
It fucking sucks. I don't know what I can do, to be honest. I got a brand new pair of supportive shoes specifically to wear to events like MAGFest, and nowhere else, and my feet are still completely in pain at the end of each day.
On The Best Department Of MAGFest
Shoutouts to Consoles for having the best staff and the best organizational layout. Everyone from the department heads, managers, and mini-managers, to the rest of us floor staff, inventory specialists, and runners, are a great bunch of people. We're all serious about getting our jobs done, but we don't let that get in the way of having fun. Every position's duties are helpfully laid out on easily-accessible sheets of paper for the duration of the event, and as long as you're doing the things you're supposed to be doing, you have total autonomy. It's macromanaged rather than micromanaged, and it's completely refreshing (not to mention ideal) for an introvert such as myself. To be allowed to make judgment calls on minor things while still elevating more major things to the appropriate people is awesome. To be allowed to do my job without someone coming around every 5 minutes asking for a status check, is also awesome. If this was eBay-style feedback, I'd probably say something along the lines of AAAAA++++++++++ WOULD STAFF AGAIN.
I've staffed a few other areas of MAGFest, but the current Consoles department is the one I'll gladly work overnight double-shifts for time and time again.
On The Staff Suite
I've been hard on them in the past, and even again this year, having tweeted "Dinner is over an hour late. Staff Suite business as usual(tm).", but they don't really deserve it. Staff Suite provides those of us staffers who work enough weighted shift hours with food for the duration of the event. They keep us alive and able to do our jobs. Every year, Staff Suite has gotten more and more streamlined and improved in its operation. The system before Staff Suite became a thing was to fill Fest Ops with packages of cup ramen, snack-size bags of chips, Pop Tarts, and other things, and just let people try to get a decent meal from that. A lot of people went out for food. I was a gopher at MAGFest 5 and at one point ended up with the task of taking people's orders and money, and driving around the area grabbing food to deliver to them. The point I'm trying to make is, the current system is way better than the way we used to do it. If they need an extra hour to make sure we get fed, go right ahead. Just don't do it too often, okay? Also, can we get some spicy brown mustard?
On Music And Gaming
That's the entire purpose of MAGFest, after all. It's right in the name. Music And Gaming Festival. I played some games and I listened to some music. But wait, that description isn't satisfactory in the slightest, now is it? Well... I played some Muchi Muchi Pork, I cheesed a new high score on the MAGFest-hacked Arkanoid Machine and entered "XUL" as my initials because it went past T and doesn't have a backspace, I discovered that I suck at Mario Kart Wii, and then there was this arcade game called Killer Queen. No, it doesn't involve the Queen song with the same name. It's actually a really neat idea, and it's really well executed.
Killer Queen is two connected machines that support up to five players each, and the group on one machine are playing against the group on the other machine in an attempt to defeat the other group and win. There's three ways to win: Military, where your group takes down the other group's queen three times; Economy, where your group brings back enough of these little purple blob things to your base, one at a time, and unable to defend yourself while you do it; and Snail, which involves getting a snail that spawns in the middle of the stage to your team's side of the stage, again, completely vulnerable while you do it, and also moving really slowly because it's a snail. It makes for some hectic and incredibly fun action. It's sorta like Joust, except all the characters on screen are controlled by players, and with other goals than "kill the enemies". Games are fast, strategic, and can swing either way at a moment's notice.
Also, the console room had a "MAGFest Plays Pokemon" thing going on. There was a projector displaying Pokemon Red on one of the walls, and eight buttons were randomly located throughout the room, each connected to a specific input for the Gameboy. Predictably, there ended up being a Pokemon nicknamed "Penis", and while I don't really know my Pokemon, it knew Poison Sting. It pretty much ground to a halt because the wall was also lit by ceiling lights and gameplay eventually progressed to a dark area, which resulted in nobody being able to see what the fuck was going on.
Music-wise, I went to the Psychostick concert, which was every bit as awesome as I'd hoped it would be, except maybe for the parts that were more awesome. Psychostick is very much a crowd participation band, and it's an incredibly fun and awesome experience. If you ever have the opportunity to see them live, I totally recommend it.
...On Music And Gaming
Every year I have the same set of emotions in roughly the same order regarding MAGFest. For most of the year I'm eagerly awaiting the next MAGFest. As it approaches, I gladly retweet announcements, spread event dates, etc. I eventually sign up for shifts once they're available. Then, about a week or so before MAGFest, I start to feel uneasy about the whole thing. It's hard to describe because I'm not currently in that state, but I do know that the act of leaving for and driving to MAGFest has never felt right to me, for whatever reason. It feels like I'm doing it on impulse. "I could do all this other stuff, or I could go to MAGFest!" kind of sums it up. Even if "all this other stuff" is actually just everything I do in a normal sequence of four days, which isn't much because I'm unemployed. Then I get to MAGFest and the hype is back. The hype stays until the end of the event, when I pack my stuff and leave. Driving home has a much different feeling than driving to MAGFest, as I spend the drive home reflecting on everything I experienced. Then I spend about the next month or so recovering, because I totally reverse and go full extravert for the duration of the event, and it eventually catches up to me.
This year, the uneasiness came with something I'd never experienced before: the thought that either this might be my last MAGFest, or that I might switch to going to MAGClassic instead. I can't say for certain what's going to happen because I'm in "of course I'd go to another MAGFest and you'd be silly to think otherwise" mode, but I've noticed that I spend far less of my time at MAGFest actually roaming the festival, playing games and attending panels and concerts. It kind of feels like going to MAGFest has become more of a habit and less of a desire. Maybe I'm entitled to think that way after having gone to eleven of them and having staffed ten of them. I dunno.
On The Summarization of Summaries (Sup Dawg)
MAGFest 14 was great and I'll probably go to MAGFest 15, if for no other reason than to staff the overnight console room shifts. Hopefully by then I'll have a job, and therefore a budget for more than just parking and gas. Might even leave the hamster habitrail, you never know...
Sunday, January 24, 2016
The Problems I've Noticed with Fallout 4
Up-front disclaimer: I don't actually own a copy of the game, and I haven't played it through any other means. I have, however, been watching two LPers on YouTube (Vechs and ArchmageMelek, both of whom you should totally subscribe to) who are playing through it, so everything in this post is based on observations I've made from their videos.
Narrative Dissonance
Vechs very neatly spelled this one out in a rant in one of his episodes. I'll link you to the episode with a timestamp just before the rant, but I'll also paraphrase here in case you can't be bothered to click a link and listen to it directly.
Basically, the main character's motivation to be out there in the wastelands doing anything at all is because they're looking for their son. Seems kind of urgent, doesn't it? Main character's son was kidnapped, main character desperately wants to find him, and is ready to go on a murderous rampage to make that happen.
But wait, fifteen minutes into the game, all this side content and settlement management and stuff gets thrown at you. So suddenly it's "gotta find my kidnapped son at all costs" with a side of "...on my own schedule as I dick around with side quests and helping random people". You see, despite the game having a day/night cycle, no story time actually passes unless you're out there doing the main quest line. To be fair, though, very few RPGs include any sort of time pressure on the player. When they do, it's typically only on a specific section of the game. For a story like this one that implies a sense of urgency, though, the game conveys zero sense of urgency to the player.
While looking for your kidnapped son and trying to bring those who did it to justice is a perfectly fine story plot, it just doesn't work with the only kind of RPG Bethesda knows how to make: the open world.
Lack of Direction
Skyrim had this problem as well. The player is simply given zero motivation to continue with the story, because after doing anything, you can go anywhere in the game world and do anything else. The game actually incentivizes this in that dicking about in the game world ignoring the story and doing side quests will get you lots of experience and items. This means your character gets a nice power boost, and whenever you do decide to return to the main story, it'll be easier than perhaps they originally intended.
Bethesda, in claiming that Western RPGs are so much better than Japanese RPGs, holds their games' lack of direction up on a pedestal and claims it as one of the reasons why they're better. Maybe you just suck at telling a story that draws the player in, and are creating open worlds to try and mask that fact? JRPGs might give the player less choice in the development of their characters, but their stories are absolutely on point.
JRPGs also use music to help draw the player in, which is sorely lacking in Bethesda's open world RPG formula. You could put any music you want to it, to the point that Fallout 4 offers the player several in-game radio stations to listen to. You're not going to be able to say things like "oh man, the theme song for the Glowing Sea is so amazing" because it has no theme song.
Choice is an Illusion
Another reason that Bethesda touts when claiming that Western RPGs are so much better than Japanese RPGs is that, when you play one of their RPGs, you can level your character up however you want, and choose a play style that fits you. From a gameplay perspective, that's totally fine. I've played the original Dungeon Siege, where your characters level up according to how you use them, and it's a totally viable facet of game design.
Except when the game is blatantly designed for one specific playstyle, as ArchmageMelek is slowly beginning to realize in his melee-only, no power armor playthrough.
Very early in Fallout 4, your character is given a complete set of power armor and a minigun, and immediately sent into an encounter that's basically impossible otherwise. If you're trying to play melee-only, or avoid using power armor, you're kinda boned. Okay, whatever, just equip it for that one encounter and then abandon it afterwards, right? Well, later on in the game, you encounter all sorts of areas, whether on the main quest line or not, that are also basically impossible for a melee-only character. Also, there's the Glowing Sea, which is a giant radioactive area that power armor gives you a hefty resistance to. The main quest line sends you through it. Not going through it is not an option. So much for choice.
Required Settlement Micromanagement
One of the side plot points in Fallout 4 is that the people are trying to band together and survive in this post-apocalyptic wasteland. Managing the vast majority of this is entirely on the player, and while you initially start with just one settlement, that number balloons as you play the game. It's a turnoff to me, because I don't find those portions of the videos I'm watching to be very engaging. If I were to actually play the game, I'd want some sort of mod to enable macromanagement instead, where I can just hit a button and the settlement's defenses get upgraded, or more living quarters get built, or bigger, better farms get planted, or whatever. I'd make my own bases in the obtainable yet unpopulated Red Rocket "gas" stations strewn throughout the game.
You could just ignore the settlement management entirely. The game gives you that freedom. But it's so tied into the gameplay that you'll encounter it whether you want to or not. I'd be fine with it being an optional gameplay element that gives extra bonuses or whatever, with very few if any downsides, but having to manage all that? No thanks.
Overall
Don't get me wrong, Fallout 4 looks like a great game. In terms of RPGs and levelling up and getting new abilities and equipment, there's a lot to do. I'm sure that if I had the game I could very easily lose several hours of my life to it per gameplay session. If you can get past its gaping flaws, perhaps using mods to assist in this, you could have a good time. So long as that good time is with firearms and power armor, because the game isn't designed to be played any other way.
Narrative Dissonance
Vechs very neatly spelled this one out in a rant in one of his episodes. I'll link you to the episode with a timestamp just before the rant, but I'll also paraphrase here in case you can't be bothered to click a link and listen to it directly.
Basically, the main character's motivation to be out there in the wastelands doing anything at all is because they're looking for their son. Seems kind of urgent, doesn't it? Main character's son was kidnapped, main character desperately wants to find him, and is ready to go on a murderous rampage to make that happen.
But wait, fifteen minutes into the game, all this side content and settlement management and stuff gets thrown at you. So suddenly it's "gotta find my kidnapped son at all costs" with a side of "...on my own schedule as I dick around with side quests and helping random people". You see, despite the game having a day/night cycle, no story time actually passes unless you're out there doing the main quest line. To be fair, though, very few RPGs include any sort of time pressure on the player. When they do, it's typically only on a specific section of the game. For a story like this one that implies a sense of urgency, though, the game conveys zero sense of urgency to the player.
While looking for your kidnapped son and trying to bring those who did it to justice is a perfectly fine story plot, it just doesn't work with the only kind of RPG Bethesda knows how to make: the open world.
Lack of Direction
Skyrim had this problem as well. The player is simply given zero motivation to continue with the story, because after doing anything, you can go anywhere in the game world and do anything else. The game actually incentivizes this in that dicking about in the game world ignoring the story and doing side quests will get you lots of experience and items. This means your character gets a nice power boost, and whenever you do decide to return to the main story, it'll be easier than perhaps they originally intended.
Bethesda, in claiming that Western RPGs are so much better than Japanese RPGs, holds their games' lack of direction up on a pedestal and claims it as one of the reasons why they're better. Maybe you just suck at telling a story that draws the player in, and are creating open worlds to try and mask that fact? JRPGs might give the player less choice in the development of their characters, but their stories are absolutely on point.
JRPGs also use music to help draw the player in, which is sorely lacking in Bethesda's open world RPG formula. You could put any music you want to it, to the point that Fallout 4 offers the player several in-game radio stations to listen to. You're not going to be able to say things like "oh man, the theme song for the Glowing Sea is so amazing" because it has no theme song.
Choice is an Illusion
Another reason that Bethesda touts when claiming that Western RPGs are so much better than Japanese RPGs is that, when you play one of their RPGs, you can level your character up however you want, and choose a play style that fits you. From a gameplay perspective, that's totally fine. I've played the original Dungeon Siege, where your characters level up according to how you use them, and it's a totally viable facet of game design.
Except when the game is blatantly designed for one specific playstyle, as ArchmageMelek is slowly beginning to realize in his melee-only, no power armor playthrough.
Very early in Fallout 4, your character is given a complete set of power armor and a minigun, and immediately sent into an encounter that's basically impossible otherwise. If you're trying to play melee-only, or avoid using power armor, you're kinda boned. Okay, whatever, just equip it for that one encounter and then abandon it afterwards, right? Well, later on in the game, you encounter all sorts of areas, whether on the main quest line or not, that are also basically impossible for a melee-only character. Also, there's the Glowing Sea, which is a giant radioactive area that power armor gives you a hefty resistance to. The main quest line sends you through it. Not going through it is not an option. So much for choice.
Required Settlement Micromanagement
One of the side plot points in Fallout 4 is that the people are trying to band together and survive in this post-apocalyptic wasteland. Managing the vast majority of this is entirely on the player, and while you initially start with just one settlement, that number balloons as you play the game. It's a turnoff to me, because I don't find those portions of the videos I'm watching to be very engaging. If I were to actually play the game, I'd want some sort of mod to enable macromanagement instead, where I can just hit a button and the settlement's defenses get upgraded, or more living quarters get built, or bigger, better farms get planted, or whatever. I'd make my own bases in the obtainable yet unpopulated Red Rocket "gas" stations strewn throughout the game.
You could just ignore the settlement management entirely. The game gives you that freedom. But it's so tied into the gameplay that you'll encounter it whether you want to or not. I'd be fine with it being an optional gameplay element that gives extra bonuses or whatever, with very few if any downsides, but having to manage all that? No thanks.
Overall
Don't get me wrong, Fallout 4 looks like a great game. In terms of RPGs and levelling up and getting new abilities and equipment, there's a lot to do. I'm sure that if I had the game I could very easily lose several hours of my life to it per gameplay session. If you can get past its gaping flaws, perhaps using mods to assist in this, you could have a good time. So long as that good time is with firearms and power armor, because the game isn't designed to be played any other way.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
クロノ・トリガー
Since I got the Super Famicom cartridge of Chrono Trigger at Nekocon, and modified my Super Nintendo's cartridge slot so I could actually play it, I've been, well, playing it.
I suppose this is more of a progress report than a "session post" like I did for Rogue Galaxy and a couple other games, seeing as how I haven't mentioned any gameplay details prior to this.
As far as the language barrier goes, I do pop the occasional thing into Google Translate, mostly to make sure I'm selecting the right dialogue choice, equipping the right item, or using the right tech. But generally I've played the game enough (and, oddly enough, learned enough katakana/hiragana) that I don't have to lean on Google Translate all the time. There will be another post, eventually, covering some of the things I've noticed about both the Ted Woolsey and Tom Slattery translations of the game, but for now, this is all you'll hear about the language shenanigans. I'm going to continue using terms from the Ted Woolsey translation for the most part, since that's what I'm used to.
So, where am I in the game? I just got the Masamune repaired, and gave it to Frog in the scene you get when you go to the Magic Cave. Immediately GTFO'd to The End of Time so Spekkio could teach him magic, and then I went back to 65000000 BC to prepare for grinding up both Frog's and Marle's tech points.
If you know my usual first playthrough thing by now, then nothing's different. Crono, Ayla, Robo, and Lucca have all their techs already. Frog and Marle, as I just mentioned, are about to fill out their respective tech lists.
One thing I'm doing differently this time, however, is the use of glitches. After having found out how easy the fade-out menu glitch is to use, and therefore how easy it is to activate the save anywhere glitch, I've generally been activating save anywhere whenever possible. I used save anywhere to skip the scene with Tata in the Denadoro Mountains, just for the lulz. But generally, I have save anywhere active just for convenience.
If you don't know about these glitches, I'll explain them now. When you trigger a room transition, normally the room you were in fades out and the next room fades in. During the fade-out time, you can actually move your characters around, and more importantly, bring up the menu. If you bring up the menu during the fade-out, and then close it, the fade-out restarts. If you keep moving and opening/closing the menu, you can cover distance. This can be used to skip various things throughout the game, by triggering the room transition while standing on an event trigger.
Here, though, we're using it to step onto a save point. When the room transition happens while you're standing on a save point, the game doesn't clear the flag that says "the player is standing on a save point", and it then thinks you're always standing on a save point. This is the save anywhere glitch. It will stay active until you enter a room that contains a save point, where the game realizes that you're no longer standing on a save point.
The Denadoro Mountains scene skip involves using the save anywhere glitch to save in a specific spot, then soft reset (press L+R+Start+Select) and reload the save, and in the process, you clip through some terrain and end up on a higher level than you were on before you saved. This is done from the screen that has the chest that contains Robo's Mirage Hand, which is probably my single-most missed weapon in the entire game because it doesn't even really look like you could leave the previous screen in any manner other than going up the ladder. Going up the ladder triggers the scene with Tata, during which you have to press A to get through dialogue and then fight some stuff that you have to burn before you can deal any real amount of damage. Sure, the scene with Tata and the fight thereafter isn't a very long sequence, but this is typically used in speed runs, where you want to save all the time you possibly can.
Anyway, like I said before the glitch explanation, I'm in 65000000 BC with just Frog's and Marle's tech points left to obtain before I really dig into the story so I can get Magus and begin the long grind to level 99. I have the save anywhere glitch active, courtesy of the save point at the end of the Reptite Lair.
I suppose this is more of a progress report than a "session post" like I did for Rogue Galaxy and a couple other games, seeing as how I haven't mentioned any gameplay details prior to this.
As far as the language barrier goes, I do pop the occasional thing into Google Translate, mostly to make sure I'm selecting the right dialogue choice, equipping the right item, or using the right tech. But generally I've played the game enough (and, oddly enough, learned enough katakana/hiragana) that I don't have to lean on Google Translate all the time. There will be another post, eventually, covering some of the things I've noticed about both the Ted Woolsey and Tom Slattery translations of the game, but for now, this is all you'll hear about the language shenanigans. I'm going to continue using terms from the Ted Woolsey translation for the most part, since that's what I'm used to.
So, where am I in the game? I just got the Masamune repaired, and gave it to Frog in the scene you get when you go to the Magic Cave. Immediately GTFO'd to The End of Time so Spekkio could teach him magic, and then I went back to 65000000 BC to prepare for grinding up both Frog's and Marle's tech points.
If you know my usual first playthrough thing by now, then nothing's different. Crono, Ayla, Robo, and Lucca have all their techs already. Frog and Marle, as I just mentioned, are about to fill out their respective tech lists.
One thing I'm doing differently this time, however, is the use of glitches. After having found out how easy the fade-out menu glitch is to use, and therefore how easy it is to activate the save anywhere glitch, I've generally been activating save anywhere whenever possible. I used save anywhere to skip the scene with Tata in the Denadoro Mountains, just for the lulz. But generally, I have save anywhere active just for convenience.
If you don't know about these glitches, I'll explain them now. When you trigger a room transition, normally the room you were in fades out and the next room fades in. During the fade-out time, you can actually move your characters around, and more importantly, bring up the menu. If you bring up the menu during the fade-out, and then close it, the fade-out restarts. If you keep moving and opening/closing the menu, you can cover distance. This can be used to skip various things throughout the game, by triggering the room transition while standing on an event trigger.
Here, though, we're using it to step onto a save point. When the room transition happens while you're standing on a save point, the game doesn't clear the flag that says "the player is standing on a save point", and it then thinks you're always standing on a save point. This is the save anywhere glitch. It will stay active until you enter a room that contains a save point, where the game realizes that you're no longer standing on a save point.
The Denadoro Mountains scene skip involves using the save anywhere glitch to save in a specific spot, then soft reset (press L+R+Start+Select) and reload the save, and in the process, you clip through some terrain and end up on a higher level than you were on before you saved. This is done from the screen that has the chest that contains Robo's Mirage Hand, which is probably my single-most missed weapon in the entire game because it doesn't even really look like you could leave the previous screen in any manner other than going up the ladder. Going up the ladder triggers the scene with Tata, during which you have to press A to get through dialogue and then fight some stuff that you have to burn before you can deal any real amount of damage. Sure, the scene with Tata and the fight thereafter isn't a very long sequence, but this is typically used in speed runs, where you want to save all the time you possibly can.
Anyway, like I said before the glitch explanation, I'm in 65000000 BC with just Frog's and Marle's tech points left to obtain before I really dig into the story so I can get Magus and begin the long grind to level 99. I have the save anywhere glitch active, courtesy of the save point at the end of the Reptite Lair.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
I'm Free!
So, the past few months, there was something I had to do nearly every day that took a good portion of my time. As of a couple days ago, I no longer need to do this thing, and as a result I have a lot more free time. Maybe I can use this free time to get a job and end my society-perceived uselessness? Dunno.
Anyway, the thing I had to do was take care of the dog. She had bladder cancer and had to be let outside on a very regular basis or she'd end up going in the house. My days were basically: get up, take care of dog until mom gets home, small bit of free time until dinner, eat dinner, free time until I go to sleep around 2-4AM. It wasn't the majority of the time it took, but it was significant, and it kinda drained on me.
Now that the dog had to be put down (mom never said what led to them taking the dog to have her put down, I never asked, it happened while I was asleep), I have these hours of free time back again.
I mean, sure, it's sad the dog's gone. I'll accept that. However, thinking logically, which is what I do, taking care of her was a burden and now that burden is gone.
So basically, fuck you, I'm going out for lunch now that I can. This Visa gift card isn't going to spend itself.
Anyway, the thing I had to do was take care of the dog. She had bladder cancer and had to be let outside on a very regular basis or she'd end up going in the house. My days were basically: get up, take care of dog until mom gets home, small bit of free time until dinner, eat dinner, free time until I go to sleep around 2-4AM. It wasn't the majority of the time it took, but it was significant, and it kinda drained on me.
Now that the dog had to be put down (mom never said what led to them taking the dog to have her put down, I never asked, it happened while I was asleep), I have these hours of free time back again.
I mean, sure, it's sad the dog's gone. I'll accept that. However, thinking logically, which is what I do, taking care of her was a burden and now that burden is gone.
So basically, fuck you, I'm going out for lunch now that I can. This Visa gift card isn't going to spend itself.
Monday, January 4, 2016
The AGDQ Problem
For whatever reason, I've never been terribly interested in most of AGDQ. Last year, I watched some of it, but when SGDQ came around, it was absolutely full of speedruns that I wanted to watch, to the point that I had to sacrifice watching some of them so that I could get sleep to watch others.
I don't understand why this is, but I'm not here to debate on the subject. What I'm here to do is, illustrate what I intend to watch. Hopefully when SGDQ 2016 rolls around, I'll remember to do the same, and we can compare.
Sunday
I don't understand why this is, but I'm not here to debate on the subject. What I'm here to do is, illustrate what I intend to watch. Hopefully when SGDQ 2016 rolls around, I'll remember to do the same, and we can compare.
Sunday
- None. Will probably watch Kirby 64 once the runs are chopped up and posted on YouTube.
- Ori and the Blind Forest
- The Simpsons arcade game
- Half-Life 2
- Portal 2 co-op
- Alien Swarm co-op
- The entire 2D Mario Block
- The entire Awful Games Done Quick block, which extends into Thursday
- The entire Awful Games Done Quick block, continued
- Secret of Mana
- The entire TAS Block
- Super Metroid
- None. Currently just the finale is scheduled to take place on Sunday, which doesn't contain any actual gameplay. SGDQ's was a quick "thank you to everyone who ran games and everyone who donated, it's over now, bye" and then they stopped streaming, so that's about what I expect this finale to be.
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Ridge Racer 3D: Duplicating Duels (Simpler Method)
So, a while back when I posted that other post, I had this really long and complex method to duplicate a StreetPass Duel that involved backing up data on the SD card and game title IDs and all kinds of nonsense. The bonus points duplication was far simpler and therefore the preferred method.
Well, I'm an idiot. Duplicating a duel is, in fact, just as easy as duplicating the bonus points. You do, in fact, get to a point where you have completed the duel, but the game hasn't deleted it yet, and it politely waits for your input before actually deleting it. So, without further ado, the method!
Well, I'm an idiot. Duplicating a duel is, in fact, just as easy as duplicating the bonus points. You do, in fact, get to a point where you have completed the duel, but the game hasn't deleted it yet, and it politely waits for your input before actually deleting it. So, without further ado, the method!
- Start up Ridge Racer 3D once you've gotten some StreetPasses for it.
- Go to Single Player → StreetPass Duel, get your bonus points, and then hopefully also a duel or two.
- If you got a duel, race it, and win so you get the points.
- Once you finish the duel, there will be a screen saying "you finished first!" and showing you the points you just earned. Press A.
- The game will now save, which credits you with those nice juicy points you're after.
- Next up is a dialog that basically says "okay, we're just going to delete this now...". Pressing A here causes the duel to be deleted. So don't press A.
- Press HOME instead, and close the game. Repeat the process from step 1 and the duel will still be there, because the game never had the chance to delete it.
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