|
inthesto posted:Can you really fault the artist for phoning it in on this thing She was also forced to draw all these day in and day out under tons of pressure so Klace could have his "dream published." Getting close to homelessness
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 20:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 21:08 |
|
|
I mean faults and all, this whole set of portraits does represent a gently caress of a lot of work. Especially when fully half of the drawings only get flashed once and then never seen again.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 20:40
|
|
|
  My god, Akihabara is even nerdier and sweatier in person.   Well, what do you think? It's stunning! I almost don't believe it. It's prettier than I could've ever imagined. So, where are you taking us...? I don't know why, but there's something about the writer using the word 'scurries' that fills me with unease.   'Arcadia' has to be the laziest drat name for an arcade I've ever seen.  You'll play air hockey and like it, Kila. You don't deserve Ms. Pac-Man.    Isn't PC gaming largely Not A Thing in Japan? Oh, I didn't know about that. But it must have been resolved, right? I mean -- if it's still open today. Yeah, thanks to an anonymous donation. Someone with a big passion for gaming. I can neither confirm or deny it was me. I think you just confirmed it was you... Did I...?  Jade gives us both a sly wink. Kila shrugs -- unsure of how to respond. Well, either way -- it's still open. And the owners love their kind benefactor. Enough to give them free reign of the place.   THEN DON'T loving TAKE US THERE So let's not waste any time getting there. Wouldn't want to keep Rook waiting. And there's lots of fun to be had! Alright -- I'm game! I have to say, this sounded cooler than a Maid Cafe. And Kila seems to enjoy our destination as well. She starts to lead the way, and we follow.  Jade why did you take us here we could be taking in Noh theater or something Not much farther. It's pretty close. That's convenient! I thought it'd be farther away. The location must be good for business. Yeah. Easily accessible. A lot of tourists stop to check it out. You know -- before they go deeper in. It also stands out in it's own unique way. You'll see when we turn the next corner. Sure enough -- I see it when we turn the corner. It's not what I expected at all, to be honest. It looks dull. Kila was right. Every other building was so bright. But Arcadia -- it was dull and inconspicuous. It almost looked more like a shipping warehouse. Well I hope I can change your mind, Kila. Don't you know it's the inside that counts? I'll show you what they have to offer. She motions towards the door. After we slowly approach it -- she opens it up. And our eyes behold Arcadia in all of its glory.   This is the third-blurriest arcade I've ever seen.  Thank me later. You're among the elite. You got a personal welcome to Arcadia! This here is our home away from home.  Okay, so Rook and Jade are homeless.  I will put money down that this arcade smells like cigarettes and flat soda. Rook, make sure to show them a good time. I have some things to do in my office. Oh, Rabies? Come see me before you leave. There's something I'd like to talk about. No rush -- just make sure to come later on. She smirks at me before walking away. Show me the Time Crisis cabinet you've hacked to run Doom.  Is this really what Klace considers impressive multitasking?  Of course we do--we're not rookies. But I prefer the Turbo Edition, don't you? Is that so? Didn't take you to be hardcore. But if that's the case -- then one-on-one! I know I could take you. Years of practice!I'm no expert on fightmans, but I'm pretty sure most people would prefer the 'Turbo' edition anyway because it would have more characters and stuff, not because it's 'hardcore'.  I'm starting to see how this place went into bankruptcy.   Inthesto pointed this out to me, but arcade cabinets for fighting games don't just break. They are designed to take huge amounts of punishment, and you'd basically have to be deliberately trying to break the joystick to damage it. Klace couldn't even put in a cursory amount of research into the thing that he's supposedly 'passionate' about.  Also, Jade's a master of fighting games apparently. This never comes up again, by the way.   Quake on an oscilloscope?  Klace is not very good at naming fake arcade games is he These are a staple at Japanese arcades. You have to win yourself a souvenir. Something to remember us by! We have these games back at home. They're just not themed around UFO's. Don't you just win little stuffed animals? They're almost always rigged. The claw can't support that much weight. Can't we play something that takes skill?   Okay, so this me for a loop. In a world of anthro furries, what exactly counts as an 'animal'?. Are there actual squirrels and ferrets in this world? Actually, I should mention something that's gonna be a consistent theme throughout the game. There is no reason the characters should be furry. As far as I can remember, there is not one instance where a character's species plays any kind of role in the plot. Every single person in the story could be human and absolutely nothing would change.  Who will be the first among us to waste money?   Rook's honestly talking like the writer thinks playing an arcade claw machine is a very novel and unique experience.  And I'm not letting this go. Is it just socially acceptable to make cute plushes of anthro bears? Do normal bears still root around in people's garbage? Could a furry bear marry a normal bear? If they hosed, would the offspring be stupid or sapient?   Anyway, we win, even though it just involved pressing a button to make the dialogue go.  In furry world, nobody has standards.  Also, why are they called Teddy Bears in this game? Was Teddy Roosevelt a bear? What species is Obama? My god, what species is Trump?  Well this was definitely worth the thousand yen it took to start the game.   I just love how they played up Arcadia as this gamer's paradise when almost all of their machines are broken. Keep in mind, this place is supposedly kept afloat by generous donations, so it's not like they can't afford to repair them.  The teddy bear's button eyes are silently judging me for playing this game.  Into the garbage it goes!  What 'bond' with Rook? We've known the guy for all of ten minutes.  So here's another choice that doesn't matter at all.  Since I can't afford to let either of them think that I'm their friend, I keep the bear.   As Rook walks away, he keeps yelling something about the arcade repairman being drunk again.   This place is pretty cool for an arcade with no working arcade cabinets, I guess.    And we come up on another choice, but this one's pretty obvious since Jade isn't Kila.  I suppose Kila could entertain himself staring at the debug screen of House of the Dead until we get back. Probably for the best. Who knows how long Rook will be. I can try to win my own toy, I suppose. I wander in the same general direction that Jade did. For a moment, I'm scared -- this place is massive. But eventually I find a large single stairway. This definitely leads to some sort of office space.  Hey Jade! We need to have a talk about your definition of 'arcade'! 
Blarghalt fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Jul 20, 2017 |
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 20:47
|
|
|
free reign asafhghahghagbblbll
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 20:51
|
|
|
1. It probably doesn't make much sense for a Japanese arcade to be named Arcadia because they don't CALL them arcades, the common loan term used is "game center." Also 2. In Japan, they never went through the crash that they did in America. Game centers are an alive and flourishing industry in Japan!
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 20:59
|
|
|
Also I wonder if Klace is aware that arcade bars are a thing in the US too? I know, let's go to Tokyo and make a beeline for the equivalent of the Times Square Applebee's
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:05
|
|
|
 
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:07
|
|
|
Go to loving Club Sega or something, gently caress!
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:11
|
|
|
it has always been my life's dream to travel to a foreign country and play games & watch animes there
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:15
|
|
|
quote:Well this picture certainly doesn't. Also, a retro arcade with half the machines out of service -- okay, in my experience that checks out, but one without a snack bar? That's just shameful mismanagement.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:19
|
|
|
Data Graham posted:Also I wonder if Klace is aware that arcade bars are a thing in the US too? Only in major cities. Though I've been wanting to open one in AZ because I do love Arcades a lot.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:19
|
|
|
Waffleman_ posted:1. It probably doesn't make much sense for a Japanese arcade to be named Arcadia because they don't CALL them arcades, the common loan term used is "game center." Pfff you expect Klace to do research.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:18
|
|
|
A lifetime of failed attempts has taught me that I suck at writing fiction, but this game is making me want to try again Because gently caress
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:20
|
|
|
Mechanical Ape posted:Well this picture certainly doesn't. Yeah, I love how much of the actual things that happen have to be conveyed through narration, over an unrelated background, with no difference in the appearance of the characters. Why isn't this just an IM log? You could make the character pics into avatars and paste the background images into your chat client and bang, $20 on steam
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:22
|
|
|
Data Graham posted:A lifetime of failed attempts has taught me that I suck at writing fiction, but this game is making me want to try again I will allow you to write about my OC: General Sasuke von Morningstar, Lord Mayor of the Dickgirl Dimension
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:23
|
|
|
I can't figure out how self-aware Klace is, or thinks he is. The whole "dramatic welcome" scene and the claw machine scene—he goes to great lengths to lampshade how dumb and anticlimactic they are, by having the narration and even the characters point it out. In that sense it's way better than if they were actually played straight and we were supposed to be impressed by the arcade or excited by the claw machine. But even with that in play, it's still pathetic beyond what the lampshading can justify. It's like he's saying "Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a lovely writer, right guuuuyyyys  " —knowing and expecting that he'll get plaudits just for showing up
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:27
|
|
|
That could also be the anime influence popping up in his writing because a lot of bad anime, especially those based on light novels, like to think that being self-aware of anime tropes means that they're clever, to the point where pointing out overused anime tropes has itself become an overused anime trope.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:32
|
|
|
Waffleman_ posted:That could also be the anime influence popping up in his writing because a lot of bad anime, especially those based on light novels, like to think that being self-aware of anime tropes means that they're clever, to the point where pointing out overused anime tropes has itself become an overused anime trope. Of course, the risk in taking this tack is always the audience asking the obvious question: "If you know this scene is poo poo why did you write it that way?"
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:36
|
|
|
I think a good rule of thumb for your furry/fantasy/sci-fi/whatever fiction is to ask yourself, "If these characters were mundane human beings, would I care about them?" And if not then you need to take another pass at character development and where your drama is coming from. Take these technicolor squirrel people and replace them with schlubby regular dudes and it's easy to see how little is going on here.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:43
|
|
|
Mechanical Ape posted:Take these technicolor squirrel people and replace them with schlubby regular dudes and it's easy to see how little is going on here. And now you know why these schlubby dudes spend all their time pretending to be technicolor squirrel people.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:44
|
|
|
"it's" even among the sea of terrible garbage, this still sticks out to me 
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 21:47
|
|
|
Why do I get this horrible, sinking feeling, that this is turning into an overlong furry Penthouse letter?
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 22:03
|
|
|
inscrutable horse posted:Why do I get this horrible, sinking feeling, that this is turning into an overlong furry Penthouse letter? "Deer Penthouse, "
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 22:08
|
|
|
Waffleman_ posted:1. It probably doesn't make much sense for a Japanese arcade to be named Arcadia because they don't CALL them arcades, the common loan term used is "game center." This scene bothered me a lot because I'm a big figniting game nerd and the writer obviously did zero research on arcades. First off, "Arcadia" is indeed a real thing in Japan. It's in fact a periodical about arcades, i.e. which games make the most money, what's coming up, etc. It would be like naming a specialty video game shop here IGN. Second, youre right in that arcades in Japan are doing just fine. AFAIK they're a shrinking industry but weird idol simulators are keeping them afloat. Either way, this is a pretty recent development and Japanese arcades were booming in the mid to late 90s, when they were dying in North America like the story references. My third point is pretty pedantic but there is no arcade game called "Street Fighter 2 Turbo". That's the name given to the console port of Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 22:12
|
|
|
Whatever you call it, if it's a mega-popular classic fighting game, your sprawling arcade paradise should probably have more than one of them.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 22:17
|
|
|
I like how there is an "arcade game repair man" who they have to call Like, if they run the place, they wouldn't be hobbyists/tinkerers themselves, like that wouldn't be the entire reason why they're doing it E: Jade is independently wealthy so she just funds an arcade to play in and otherwise know nothing about, like Notch's mansion or some poo poo
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 22:21
|
|
|
I don't want to look at this game anymore.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 22:28
|
|
|
Data Graham posted:I like how there is an "arcade game repair man" who they have to call Oh wait, I remember what this reminded me of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmanland
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 22:31
|
|
|
Oh right, that's another thing: fixing broken arcade controls isn't even difficult. Hobbyists replace stuff in their home arcade sticks all the time. poo poo, I've replaced the parts in my own stick many times, and I can't even build IKEA furniture without it coming out crooked. Does this place even make money?
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 22:31
|
|
|
Yeah, I thankfully never had to replace broken things in my sticks yet, but I've put in an 8 way gate over the 4 or 0 gates and it's super easy. Everything is pretty tame to replace if need be looking into it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 22:37
|
|
|
Man, we hung on that goddam claw game for a while, huh? I mean that went on forever. What was the point of all that? Just so the player could get a "decision" about whom to give the bear to for +1 squirrel rep or whatever? Why does this blurry arcade exist at all?
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2016 00:50
|
|
|
Somehow it gets even worse. I have been to Akihabara before. It makes it all the more crazy that this game no only chooses to make it part of the setting, but chooses to talk about it in such a way as to make it completely obvious that the writer doesn't have the slightest clue about anything to do with the place. To my mind, the only thing more shameful than having part of your story revolve around western otaku stereotypes in Akihabara is having your story revolve around western otaku stereotypes in Akihabara when you haven't even been there yourself.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2016 02:21
|
|
|
So, what's Akihabara? I know very little about modern Tokyo.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2016 02:28
|
|
|
^^ Akihabara is a district in the Chidoya ward of Tokyo, which gained renown after WWII for being a major shopping center consumer electronics and is nowadays considered a major otaku cultural center and a major shopping center for anime and video game goods. There are plenty of things you could do in Tokyo in addition to Akihabara, which I would admittedly totally go to because I am anime trash. You could go shopping in Shibuya, enjoy the nightlife in Shinjuku, enjoy Harajuku fashion, and there are plenty of museums, shrines, and historical sites to enjoy the country's heritage. Waffleman_ fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Dec 8, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2016 02:31
|
|
|
This is actually a big issue I have with writing fiction. I can't fathom how someone can write convincingly about some subject matter like submarine warfare or medieval battles or superlawyer intrigue when they clearly have not experienced any of those things first-hand. Research can only get you so far, right? Yet I don't think I could write a convincing story about being a cubicle nerd even though that's all I've done to a degree that I'd think you'd need in order to be confident writing about a thing. Yet people do it all the drat time. I know Tom Clancy was an insurance salesman whose closest brush with the military was getting drummed out of ROTC for nearsightedness, and I'm pretty sure Vince Gilligan didn't spend ten years of his life as a drug lord. I feel like there's got to be a sort of innate ability that some people have to write immersively and engagingly about a subject even if they have no first-hand knowledge of it, and not everyone can do it—that's what makes good authors. But if you can't, you'd better at least go with the first-hand experience fallback for the thing you use as your big Act 1 hook.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2016 02:32
|
|
|
Waffleman_ posted:^^ Akihabara is a district in the Chidoya ward of Tokyo, which gained renown after WWII for being a major shopping center consumer electronics and is nowadays considered a major otaku cultural center and a major shopping center for anime and video game goods. Yeah but I am a giant anime nerd and I only know Akihabara because it panders to me!
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2016 02:47
|
|
|
Blarghalt posted:Isn't PC gaming largely Not A Thing in Japan? This obviously isn't a perfect metric, because not all PC gaming goes through Steam, and it only measures download traffic rather than play time or revenue, and so on, but I think it's good enough to give you a pretty clear idea of what you're looking at. PC gaming in Japan is definitely a thing - the Japanese versions of Firaxis games must make enough money that 2K keep paying for them - but it's extremely under-represented relative to other countries, especially since Japan is a major hub for console and mobile development. FractalSandwich fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Dec 8, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2016 02:48
|
|
|
God, a lot of Harajuku fashion would even track well to the aesthetic of the character designs in this game! Akiba is cool but there's also a lot of other cool things too!
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2016 02:49
|
|
|
Data Graham posted:This is actually a big issue I have with writing fiction. I can't fathom how someone can write convincingly about some subject matter like submarine warfare or medieval battles or superlawyer intrigue when they clearly have not experienced any of those things first-hand. Research can only get you so far, right? Yet I don't think I could write a convincing story about being a cubicle nerd even though that's all I've done to a degree that I'd think you'd need in order to be confident writing about a thing. Good writers can write about things they haven't experienced because they understand that most people operate on the same set of basic emotions that manifest in most situations. Research and technical mastery are also big pieces of the puzzle, but if you don't have a good grasp on basic emotions, then you're not going to be an engaging writer. Bad writers cargo cult it by aping TV tropes.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2016 03:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 21:08 |
|
|
Data Graham posted:This is actually a big issue I have with writing fiction. I can't fathom how someone can write convincingly about some subject matter like submarine warfare or medieval battles or superlawyer intrigue when they clearly have not experienced any of those things first-hand. Research can only get you so far, right? Yet I don't think I could write a convincing story about being a cubicle nerd even though that's all I've done to a degree that I'd think you'd need in order to be confident writing about a thing. In addition to that, it can be easier to write about doing things you haven't done than it can to write about going places you haven't been to. There are ways to convince a reader that they're reading a believable submarine warfare or superlawyer intrigue scenario, even if you haven't done your research and are just making GBS threads out whatever seems exciting and/or awesome. Accurately capturing the feel of a known location, however, is a different level of challenge. As an example, I'd like to point to a work of fiction that tries to emulate the "feel" of a known location and fails horribly. I recently saw a fair bit of Final Fantasy XV being played, and found it to be unintentionally hilarious. The setting seemed to be trying really hard to emulate the look-and-feel of midwestern America, with the main characters as a group of Americans doing American things. The game expresses this by having the main characters swagger across a sweltering, rocky countryside in black leather jackets and sunglasses, driving from gas station to gas station, eating at weird little diners serving weird little dishes, having excessively well-equipped campouts where they grill up still more weird food, and taking shitloads of selfies. The setting is very lovingly crafted and detailed, but it feels like the artists and designers were working off photos the entire time and trying to approximate an America from those. A counter-example would be the novel American Gods by a British fellow named Neil Gaiman. In that novel, a group of men drive around the United States, visiting a mixture of big cities and podunk tourist trap towns, and mostly just con the poo poo out of random people. The author writes very convincingly about the con artistry and about particularly the locations; every home, business, and town visited sound exactly like they would be actual places in America, down to the personalities of the one-off characters inhabiting each. The author noted in his foreword that it was a challenge to write about America as a person who didn't grow up there, and he addressed that challenge by driving all over America and taking up residence in the areas he was writing about, slamming out chapters while in hotel rooms, cabins, houses, and so on. He even put in a note that the residents of Lakeside were probably as astonished as anyone to find themselves in a work of fiction.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2016 03:47
|
|