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SKATER FACT Arto Saari is our token Finn, who's been riding with Flip for most of his professional career. He temporarily left Flip for a few years after fellow team skaters Shane Cross died and Ali Boulala was seriously injured when they went on a drunken motorcycle ride (resulting in Boulala being sentenced to 4 years in prison as the driver). He's also a longtime photographer with a vintage film camera collection (something I share with him) and is highly in demand for advertising photography. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdpA-Xhr98A
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Jun 29, 2018 17:59
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 07:40 |
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As I briefly mention in the video, Arto Saari is the only character we can pick for our team who doesn't actually show up in story mode. There are also a handful of skaters you can play as in free skate, who also never show up in story mode; Steve Caballerro, Kareem Campbell, Rune Glifberg, and Elissa Steamer all return from the last game. It's kinda weird that there's a handful of skaters that just don't show up in the main game, not to mention some confusion over the story's timeline (How long were we stuck in Moscow that Eric is ballin that hard now?). I almost feel like there were some things that got left on the cutting room floor to stick to a development schedule, but I don't have any concrete evidence to offer up. The only things I know for sure were what I mentioned about the three old school levels that didn't get the final polish needed, so they were removed and used in THUG2 instead. If anything else didn't make the cut, it would have happened extremely early in development, because there are no remnants of anything on the discs.
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Jul 1, 2018 01:23
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I recognize there's no real urgency because of how generous the timers are, but on a visceral level timer=urgency=go go go WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE  and I've yet to figure out how to turn that off.
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Jul 1, 2018 01:53
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 And that does it for THUG. Couple things. -The alternate ending is gotten by running through the game a second time. However, I couldn't figure out how to continue using Bart for a new playthrough (possibly some emulator fuckery), and had to remake him. If he looks a bit different, that's why. -Afro Jim is a real person. It seems obvious now, but I never really questioned that Neversoft would have a character called Afro Jim just show up for some reason. He works at the Skate Park of Tampa (SPoT) alongside Ryan Clements, who also had a couple missions for us. -Ryan Clements is not voiced by the actual Ryan Clements, but actually by... Wally Wingert! Even though he voiced Ollie the Bum in the last game, he doesn't this time, but I can't say for sure which person in the credits did. -The footage I covered up was of the aftermath of a Neversoft employee eating poo poo on a ramp. He apparently landed hard on his face and smashed his front teeth into the ground so hard they gouged a hole into the floor. They show the spot where he hit, his broken teeth laying on the floor, and then him in the bathroom rinsing his mouth in the sink. There's a fair amount of blood and a big toothless smile, and I just figured it was better not to share those visuals. I'm sure you can kind it on YouTube already anyway. -Here's an interview with a bunch of Neversoft folks that went up this past November, where they talk about THUG's development. I haven't read it all yet, but I imagine it'll be a nice way to end this. Thank you, kisses, and see you next game!
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Jul 6, 2018 05:15
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Thanks a lot for the LP man. It brought back lots of great memories. That alternate ending is so freakin satisfying by that point. Eric definitely earned it. Speaking of Eric getting clowned on, THUG2 has several scenes of Eric totally sucking and being a wussy poser. That and Jersy being used in the intro despite not being in the game-plus your dude already being a pro at the start all add up to small clues that it's supposed to be a direct sequel to THUG 1. It's funny, 2 switches the pros and cons from 1. Like, the levels are for the most part interesting and huge (Berlin is prob my fave, with lots vying for second place. Too bad Boston is the first new level, it's probably worst whole game). On the other hand the writing is pants on head stupid, with Tony Hawk and Bam Margera deciding to jump on the Jackass phenomenon that was just starting to wane at the time, and make 2 competing teams of pros to go on a world tour of skating and hooliganism, heavy on the latter. Like the 2 games do reflect each other well. THAW also isn't awful, but you can definitely tell that the spark is fading. The script is so so and straight out of an 80s movie (we gotta save the park! Let's put on a show!) and the pros rarely get more than a token appearance for their late game goals. Also the mechanics are a little more grounded while the level design and goals aren't, creating some frustration. Also a lot of the levels are very samey in story mode, probably half deliberately, as you never leave LA. Wow, that's a lot of words for games not in this LP...
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Jul 6, 2018 11:10
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Loved the Clue reference there. Underated movie.
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Jul 6, 2018 14:38
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 07:40 |
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The implication in THUG2 is that your character is the same one from THUG1, but there's never anything too explicit that references anything that happened to your character. You start out in Jersey, Eric is on the rival team, and that's it. So if I ever do THUG2, Bart will not be along for the ride. In fact, I already have an idea on what I'd be doing instead. I took a look at THUG2 to refresh my memory on it, and I forgot just how little the skating matters in that game. With an emphasis on destruction and guest characters, you're not really asked to do much in the way of actual skating. There is the Classic Mode though. I think AW aged better than THUG2, because they return the focus to skating. Bland levels and loading tunnels aside, I remember it being fun enough. We'll cross these bridges when we get there.
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Jul 6, 2018 22:39
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