Messages

26

Discussion / Re: An Aesthetic Discussion Spanning 17 Years - Andrew versus Pokemon

« on: May 05, 2018, 05:47:24 PM »

I like both. But Andy is right on Camelrupt where the O's on the side ruin an otherwise great design.

Are they speed holes? Are they meant to make Camelrupt go faster? They don't help at all!

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General Chat / Re: Fire Emblem Heroes Topic: You knew this was coming!

« on: April 22, 2018, 11:09:21 PM »

I liked Grand Conquest inasmuch as it was free loot and I enjoy Rival Domains pretty well. Misery Howitzer Clarisse totes finds her niche in both! I would agree though next time it just needs to be ONE session of maybe three days rather than 3 sessions of 2 days apiece, and you can form teams with your friends.

At long last I finally have Bunny Sharena. I've been throwing 100% of the free orbs I've gotten all month at this banner, plus 40 saved orbs at the start. The game must've known it's the first time I legit wanted a specific unit. Ended up with Neutral IV

I got 5 other 5*'s on this banner. 2 Alfonse, Titania, Elise, and Zelgius. As well as a Sigurd on the free pull on one of the later banners for 6 altogether. Titania-First Alfonse-Sigurd were all in a row too.

I suppose I can't complain after that kind of haul, but man was that frustrating. Now I have a huge backlog of 5* units to raise...

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Discussion / Re: An Aesthetic Discussion Spanning 17 Years - Andrew versus Pokemon

« on: April 19, 2018, 03:14:46 PM »

Or it can be Buzz Aldrin’s campaign slogan

Goddamnit stop showing me why I miss you so, Grefbro<3

Anyway, I agree with NEB. It's not great, but for Manectric I think they were just going for those zig-zaggy lines and contrasting colors and didn't think it through all the way. The tail isn't really any dumber than a pug's curl tail. Not sure why they tried to add a lion's mane to a wolf though.

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General Chat / Re: What Games are You Playing 2018?

« on: April 15, 2018, 09:18:16 AM »

Platinum: Third badge obtained. Got a little distracted by things, both outside the game and poking around the digging/minesweeper minigame. I'm enjoying the challenge. I'm not grinding more or less than I usually do in a pokemon game, and while the lack of some of the QoL improvements are missed, the game doesn't get steamrolled as easily as X and Moon. Mooooostly though because Exp Share isn't just raising the entire party? Results in a sort of Chicken and Egg really. Suppose I should just then turn the Exp Share off from now on.

Third gym mostly kicked by Chatot and Chatter, mix of other pokemon's Sp.Atk moves as well. Chatot has been fun to use, glad I did the in-game NPC trade I usually don't partake in for it. Always about doing something different. Got kinda lucky with Grotle getting a crit on Mismaigus to finish off the fight though. Coulda been dicey if that hadn't happened.

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Discussion / Re: DLCon 2018: The Big Apple

« on: April 06, 2018, 05:29:43 AM »

BOOOOOOOOO

BTW hard confirming at this point. Bought my ticket.

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Discussion / Re: DLCon 2018: The Big Apple

« on: April 02, 2018, 03:59:48 PM »

y u gotta b so extra

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Discussion / Re: DLCon 2018: The Big Apple

« on: March 31, 2018, 05:46:59 PM »

Planning to be present.

EDIT: by the way, if anybody wants Utena on DVD, let me know and I'll bring it along. Was cleaning out the apartment this week and discovered I still had my original 90s copies in a drawer (I've since bought the remaster).

Woot CPM release

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General Chat / Re: What Games are You Playing 2018?

« on: March 30, 2018, 05:35:35 AM »

Pokémon Platinum: Ponyta owned the second gym (and Eterna Forest mostly). I do enjoy the Eterna town music, and I totally dig (har har) the not-Minesweeper game for the underground. So far it is balancing meh grinding with the breezing-no effort feeling I got from Moon. So I'm having fun so far.

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Discussion / Re: DLCon 2018: The Big Apple

« on: March 23, 2018, 04:40:19 AM »

Probably coming. May or may not stay at the house, might stay at home in NJ and bus in. We'll see.

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General Chat / Re: What Games are You Playing 2018?

« on: March 20, 2018, 03:42:50 PM »

Yeah, there really is a lot to like about ToCS1's presentation and structure. Curious what your take on the end will be.

Pokemon Platinum: kinda puttered out on FM4. Started this. I blame Andy and Andy alone. Chose Turtwig, cause WORLD TURTLE. Only gen I haven't played yet, so fight as well fill that gap while I'm in the mood. No theme this playthrough though.
 

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General Chat / Re: What Games are You Playing 2018?

« on: March 13, 2018, 02:17:43 PM »

Let's be fair, Djinn. Even for Phantasy Star II I would still trust the usual 98% Shit/2% Good ratio for fan content.

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General Chat / Re: Good Morning 2018: 3 More Years...

« on: March 11, 2018, 08:27:18 PM »

So I went down to Tampa for Cigar City's Hunahpu's Day festival, one of the largest and most prestigious beer fests in the country. 135 breweries, 386 listed beers (and some surprises), almost everyone brings their A-Game. Specialty one-off beers you'll never see again, chase rare beers from all over the country. Unlimited 2 oz. pours, free food. So, so, so worth it. Here's what I got in the order I got them... (all scores out of 5)

Cigar City Brewing - Hunahpu's Final Push   - 11.2%ABV - Imperial stout with Kopi Luwak coffee and vanilla - 4.5 First beer of the day. Rich and complex, very dry aftertaste.

LauderAle - Barrel Aged Quintessence - 13%ABV - Bourbon barrel-aged Quad - 4.5 Extremely good, well-rounded quad.

Surly Brewing Co. - Barrel Aged Darkness   - 12%ABV - Imperial Stout - 4.75 Wow, slight licorice smell and taste, but it manages to somehow enhance the beer for me in ways I would've never expected. I hate licorice! #2 beer of the Fest for me.

Pair O' Dice Brewing - Thin White Line - 8%ABV - Imperial White Milk Stout - 4 Super interesting beer. Smells like a stout, tastes like a stout, looks like a cloudy blonde ale.

 St Bernardus - 2006 St. Bernardus Abt 12    - 11%ABV - Belgian Strong Dark/Quadruple - 5 Holy shit, the 10+ years of bottle aging made an already amazing beer even better. #1 Beer of the Fest to me, entered in the top 5 lifetime really. Mindblowing.

St Bernardus - Saison Baksteenwinkel - 6.2%ABV -Saison collaboration with Kazematten and Brick Store Pub - 4 Damn solid saison.

Barrier Brewing Co. - Crowning Achievement - 12%ABV - Imperial stout brewed with maple syrup aged in Rye & Scotch barrels - 4.5 Didn't really get any maple flavor, but the rye and scotch gave it a nice subtle smoky flavor that was just fantastic. And I don't like smoked beers!

Compania Cervecera Hercules S.A. de C.V.  - Honey Monk - 10%ABV - Tripel with Mexican honey - 3.5 No real honey taste to it, but a solid enough North American tripel.

Omnipollo - Agamemnon Special Edition - 12.5%ABV - Quadruple Maple Imperial Stout - 4 A great name that didn't quite live up to expectations. Omnipollo is more known for Sours and Gozes though.

The Bruery & Bruery Terreux - Black Tuesday Port - 17.8%ABV  - Imperial stout aged in Port barrels. - 3.75 Had a sip of a friend's. Not bad.

The Lost Abbey - Cuvee de Tomme - 12.5%ABV - Barrel-aged Strong Ale with sour cherries - 3.5 Had a sip of a friend's. Not bad for a sour beer.

Perennial Artisen Ales - Abraxas - 10%ABV - Imperial Stout with Ancho chilies, cocoa nibs, cinnamon, and vanilla beans - 4.25 Was looking forward to this since it's usually listed with the above Darkness from Surly Brewing on a lot of Top 100 lists, but not quite as good.

Pipeworks Brewing Co. - The Coffee Break Abduction - 13%ABV - Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with coffee and vanilla - 4 Right next to Toppling Goliath's booth, where they were serving Assassin (another famous stout also usually on lists with Abraxas and Darkness), but they ran out while I was in line. This was next door with no line, so just hopped over and grabbed it even though it wasn't originally on my watch list. No complaints.

Cigar City Brewing - Bourbon Barrel-aged Coffee & Hazelnut Hunahpu's Imperial Stout - 11.2%ABV - Imperial stout with barrel-aged coffee, roasted hazelnuts, cinnamon, vanilla, cacao nibs, and chile peppers - 3.5 Got coffee and nothing else. Pretty disappointing even if still better than most beers. 

The Woodlands by Sweetwater Brewing Company - Heaven Hill Barrel-Aged Stout with Coconut - 13.5%ABV -    Bourbon barrel-aged stout – 4.25 Nothing complicated, just a solid coconut barrel-aged.

Alesong Brewing and Blending - Rackhouse Reserve - 11.4%ABV - Imperial milk stout aged in rum, bourbon, and whiskey barrels - 4 The booziness cut through most things. Still pretty smooth drinking despite that.

AF Brew - Serotonin Syndrome Convulsive Attack - 10%ABV - Bourbon barrel-aged monster breakfast stout with oatmeal, cacao, vanilla, and hot chocolate - 4.25 Definitely wins Best Beer Name of the fest. Pretty damn good, but doesn't quite live up to the name.

Bolero Snort Brewery - The Bull Abides - 10.5% ABV - White Russian Imperial Stout - 4.25 Like I wasn't going to try the Lebowski themed beer. Very solid.

Edmund's Oast Brewing Co. - Apple Brandy Cask Azathoth - 11.5%ABV - Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout in Apple Brandy casks - 3.75 They had run out of the beer I wanted to get from them, but had added this previously unlisted beer after it ran out. Nothing wrong with a Lovecraft reference! Not a whole lot of the apple flavor though.

Cigar City Brewing - Blueberry Chocolate Chip Pancake Brown Ale - 5.5%ABV - Brown ale with blueberry, maple, and cacao nibs. – 3.5 Smells AMAZING. Crisp, clear blueberry on the nose. The taste wasn't all there though.

Brew Bus Brewing - Hazelnut Spread Imperial Milk Porter - 9.3%ABV - Imperial milk porter - 3.75 Pretty good. Most places were starting to run out of stuff by the time I got here.

Squatters Craft Beers & Wasatch Brewery - Wasatch Devastator - 8%ABV - Double Bock - 3.25 Good but nothing special.

Cigar City Brewing - Lemon Raspberry Cranberry Belgian-style White Ale - 5.5%ABV - Belgian-style white ale with lemon zest, raspberries, and cranberries – 2.75 Not bad, but there was a little TOO much fruit flavor overpowering everything.

Edge Brewing Barcelona - Vintage 2017 Master Blend - 12.3%ABV - Imperial stout aged in Jim Beam & Buffalo Trace barrels - 4 I like that breweries are starting to source their barrels, but this didn't come out as well as I was hoping. Buffalo Trace is amazing.

Mack House - Big Mack - 10%ABV - Imperial Stout - 3.75 My last beer of the day. Tried 4 booths that had stuff I was looking for but were all empty before I settled for it. Still not a bad beer to end the day on!


After a nap and some sobering up, I later walked down the street from the hotel to the actual brewery to pick up my 4 bottles of the festival beer (included with admission). They ended up having a bunch of the festival varients on tap so I stayed to try more. Glad I did!

Cigar City Brewing - Marshmallow Hunahpu's Imperial Stout - 11.2%ABV - Imperial stout with marshmallows, cinnamon, vanilla, cacao nibs, and chile peppers - 4.5 Damn good. Nice subtle sweetness added by the marshmallows

Cigar City Brewing - Caramel Pretzel Hunahpu's Imperial Stout - 11.2%ABV - Imperial stout with caramel, unsalted organic pretzels, cinnamon, vanilla, cacao nibs, and chile peppers - 4.75 Fantastic! The caramel sweetness mixes really well with the bready pretzel flavor (which also softens all the stronger flavors of the normal Hunahpu like the cinnamon and chilies). What a combo!

Cigar City Brewing - Maple Hunahpu's Imperial Stout   11.2   Imperial stout with maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, cacao nibs, and chile peppers - 5 Oh my sweet god. This beer was almost perfect. The right amount of maple sweetness perfectly accentuates the rest of the flavors. If I had had this at the fest itself, would've probably been #1 or 2.

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General Chat / Re: Fire Emblem Heroes Topic: You knew this was coming!

« on: March 11, 2018, 01:09:03 AM »

Yeah. I'm digging Rival Domains and the way it uses friend units. Easy to pass for rewards, but also challenging for something like a Deathless run

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General Chat / Re: Fire Emblem Heroes Topic: You knew this was coming!

« on: March 01, 2018, 12:24:06 AM »

Sad that Tharja didn't win the Legendary Hero contest. Considering that the game tried to rig the contest for Ike, though, it was pretty close. Now I have a new character who isn't even good skill fodder. Sad.

Same. I pulled Legendary Ike on the first banner, so I voted Ayra round 1, and then Axe-zura. Then on the free pull for this legendary banner "Welp, no Blues. I guess I'll go Red. .... Legendary Ike. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF"

gfdi

Both the new ones are neutral. I forget what the old one is.

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General Chat / Re: Movies

« on: February 25, 2018, 02:06:06 AM »

I saw a really good idea floating around to, if the Fox merger comes about, use Dr. Doom. The plot would be an international conflict between two formerly reclusive nations and their leaders as a theme. That would be tits.

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General Chat / Re: Movies

« on: February 23, 2018, 06:14:20 PM »

Well.   His plan elsewhere was pretty darn competent!  (If anything, too competent...  similar to how the Joker pulls off multiple complicated terrorist attacks within a week in The Dark Knight, for someone who has very little warning that his time to strike is now, he manages to pull off a major robbery, a jailbreak, and find his way into Wakanda in like no time at all).  I especially liked him burning the magic herbs.  He still ends up looking okay, it's more everyone else who looks odd for shrugging at that stunt.

Per Snowfire's nitpicks...

In terms of his plan vis a vis Klaue, it works more or less because they can't really prove it was him. Yes, if they could prove that Killmonger broke Klaue out of prison just to deliver him to Wakanda himself for the cred, sure it falls apart. But they couldn't, and T'Challa knows this. His people are already mad at him for failing, so he couldn't just go "you're the guy who broke him out" without some kind of definitive proof. So he stakes his chances on combat.

The breakdown at the airport seemed pretty much like you said. This was Killmonger's plan all along. Ross said it himself that he was trained to overthrow regimes at times of instability and changes in power. He probably had plans the whole time and bided his time, and seeing T'Chaka's death announcement at the UN put it into action. He had to have planned on the Black Panther attempting to move on Klaue during this, and it was part and parcel in his plan to discredit T'Challa and seize the throne. At the airport, as soon as Killmonger mentioned Klaue taking him to Wakanda and then not taking No for an answer, Klaue knew he was a dead man either way, because he's certainly not handing over a live Klaue to Wakanda to tell them of Killmonger's role in everything.

Parts of it are totally a Xanatos Gambit on Killmonger's part, but they're way more calculated than those normally are. Even if BP doesn't attempt to grab Klaue, KM can still just shoot him later and arrive on Wakanda's doorstep. He might be more trusted in general since there isn't the looming cloud of the breakout, but T'Challa also wouldn't be in temporary disgrace, letting him win over more people so easily. But again, I really think the Vibranium heist was all about luring out BP (and Klaue really) in the first place.

I think it's okay that his plan post-takeover doesn't make a lot of sense. Like Jim said, it's about him being a torrent of emotions than anything. But in political science it's been shown that most revolutionaries don't make good rulers. I do wonder how he viewed his father giving Klaue the ability to go in and attack his people though.

Putting Killmonger aside for a moment, one of the other things that struck me about the movie was the invocation of tradition and it's selective application. Both T'Challa's side and the people who go over to KM's side (Like General Okoye's husband, whose name escapes me) are guilty of it. Especially in the latter's case, where in the beginning he's your standard traditionalist, but when it suits his goals (Klaue's death) he totally is fine with going along with both T'Challa going out and grabbing Klaue, and then later KM's agenda. This one issue actually really works on fleshing out all the characters in general, seeing where they break on it and for what reasons.

But yeah. Solid movie is solid. Most solid Marvel movie in a long time, with one of the best villains. It didn't completely revive my MCU Love, but I'd totally go see another Black Panther movie.

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General Chat / Re: Good Morning 2018: 3 More Years...

« on: February 20, 2018, 03:00:42 PM »

Life ain't nothing but bitches and money.

I hear ya, bro. I hear ya.

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General Chat / Re: What Games are You Playing 2018?

« on: February 20, 2018, 02:56:12 PM »

FFVII definitely has some dead periods, as is probably evident from the delay since last post. Why are we trying to get all the huge materia from Shinra, again? Let 'em fire the damn rocket if they want to. The worst that happens is that it doesn't work.

And when it doesn't work, we'll already be on our way over the only bridge out of town while everyone else is here twiddling their thumbs going doooo doodoo doo doo doo doodoodoo doodoo doo doooodoo doo doo doo doodoo doodoo doodoodoo.

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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one

« on: February 16, 2018, 10:44:03 PM »

I'm still on the fence on how bad the first tweet is. Perhaps if he hadn't added the last part with "another sad reason..." it would've stood just fine. That's where it adds the terrible implication he feels he needs to qualify.

It's the second tweet where he verily falls on his own sword and deserves all the derision. The equivocation/apology is worse than the offense, running kill count 11billion.

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General Chat / Re: Fire Emblem Heroes Topic: You knew this was coming!

« on: February 15, 2018, 06:14:21 PM »

Managed to clear the All-Armor one for Ursula on Infernal. Only have 4 armored units to work from though, so it was all about finding proper positioning to wall/avoid magic nukes.

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Music Tournament / Re: Music Tournament of DOOM 2017- This is... the FINALE

« on: February 14, 2018, 05:09:53 AM »

Bah stupid fate bringing Fate. Tempting to vote for my own nom, but better song wins out.

Nier.

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Music Tournament / Re: Music Tournament of DOOM 2017 (Ha) Round 7

« on: February 03, 2018, 02:17:53 AM »

Shovel Knight- Strike the Earth! Plans of Passage  vs  White Knight Chronicles 2 - The Battlefield Flower (Violin Version)

 Bravely Default- Wicked Flight vs  NieR- Song of the Ancients ~ Fate

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Discussion / Re: CK's Cartoon Corner

« on: January 25, 2018, 06:45:27 PM »

I found the manga (the cleaned up one, not the source manga) much easier to follow and more entertaining. Though I did go and watch the relevant fight scenes. I tend to nope out of manga adaptations pretty quickly these days for some reason. The transition tends to show.

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Tournaments / Re: Music Tournament of DOOM 2017 Round 6

« on: January 21, 2018, 05:47:30 AM »

Chrono Trigger- Battle with Magus vs White Knight Chronicles 2 - The Battlefield Flower (Violin Version) - Echoing NEB's head-scratching, but for me it's the CT OST. BwM is a decent song! But I don't quite have the same sentimental attachment to the CT OST and I'm sort of at a loss to explain its success. Let alone how Singing Mountain got so far...

NieR- Song of the Ancients ~ Fate vs Xenogears- Small Two of Pieces - To answer NEB's question... mostly lucky draws, to me. Battle For Everyone's Souls it's toughest opponent, but I'm a fan of schmaltz so whatevs. The Drakengard 3 final song also, but... I dunno. They just found a vocalist able to nail the song. Fate ends this run pretty hard. If this were the music box version now... much tougher decision there

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General Chat / Re: What Games are You Playing 2018?

« on: January 14, 2018, 06:28:08 AM »

Beat Ys1. That was a thing. Nice little thing full of olden charm, but nothing amazing.

New year, so Soppy's randomized backlog playthrough comes first. This year, Front Mission 4!