WarTraveller

What, like the ICR-1 from Black Ops III?

Is it time for another? I believe it is! CTRL-C, CTRL-O, CTRL-D So...yes, this went a bit off-target, so I'll keep it simple here. I found a video called Copy/Paste of Duty by chap known as Suddenly Oranges, looking over the various times COD copied itself. Not through the gameplay, for once, but through the weapons. Now, I understand WHY he and they did so, but it's...still a rather petty thing to get pedantic about, I must admit. Partly because people seemed to be treating this as if ONLY Call of Duty recycled assets all the time, which simply isn't true. Battlefield 4 basically recycled the entire last game, after all. Still, I got some good use out of this...confusion, as it gave me a chance to talk about reusing assets for other games. Obviously it is appreciated if that isn't the case at all, as in every new game has new assets in some manner, no matter how small. But when you have a perfectly done M4A1 model with animations and all, why WOULD you throw it out and make another set, unless you want to improve? And when it comes to such boorish, annualised, "make-this-every-year" franchises like...well, this, it's kind of becomes necessary. The revolving trio of developers for these games results in three-year development cycles for COD games, even though they come out every year. And while this is actually a good thing for MOST games, it still doesn't seem enough for others. Most likely because about half of that time (and about half of the budget) most likely goes into publisher-mandated stuff, like Zombies, celebrity voice actors and the marketing aspects. Reusing assets sort of becomes essential in that regard, as it saves money and time that can be better spent on other things. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean it should be accepted as much, especially when there's no excuse. If you can do it, and it won't hurt the budget doing so, you probably SHOULD make new assets so each game doesn't feel like a complete copy-paste of the game before it. Something that Sonic has, to its credit, staved away from quite well (it at the cost of running into the opposite problem). Like Ghosts reusing the ending of Modern Warfare 2 for it's beginning, that's the sort of thing people should angry about, not iron sights and reload animations. In other words, reusing assets is fine...when done professionally. It's finding the right mix of things to keep and throw away, and not looking lazy or cheap in the process. It is, like most other things in life, fine in moderation but damaging in any other fashion. Oh yes, and keep in mind that this was all BEFORE Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered, when I felt like there was something in COD that was defendable. Not anymore. DA Link: http://fav.me/dai1tim

Hmm. Questions...not sure I have anything. But I can come up with a few; What was your favourite iteration of the convention? Where does the majority of the funding for these things go? Would you say that these conventions help to unify Sonic fans, regardless of which parts of the franchise they like?

That's pretty cool, actually. Sort of looks like what an OC would logically look like in the FP universe...for better and worse.

Like I keep saying, this isn't something really to get sad by. The comic has good elements and I like SOME of the characters, but it's been put through so many lawsuits, structural changes, rewrites, rectons and mandates, it is little more than a shell of its even-then-not-that-great older self. All you can really do at this point is ensure that its passing is as smooth and painless as possible...unless SEGA steps in and blows its brains out to hasten it. I think the problem is, like Sonic Runners and Sonic Boom, I should be glad that it's gone, IF it goes away. It's something I personally consider a complete blotch on Sonic's already-disreputable reputation, and something that wouldn't be personally missed. HOWEVER. There's a classic saying in the world of business; If the Product Doesn't Sell, the Product Doesn't Get Made. And in the case of Sonic, SEGA has more-or-less made it clear that they are happy to milk that Classic Sonic gravy train for as long as they can get away with, using the failures of alternate media Sonics to prove why Classic is, for lack of a better internet term, bae. Nevermind the fact that most of the various problems with Sonic THEY have perpetrated, repeatedly and often without shame or even pause for thought. But lord knows that a publisher cannot deem themselves responsible for anything that would cause their focus-tested, paint-by-numbers, merch-fuelled games to not meet the profit line their calculators told them they would. It MUST be something else in the franchise, something to be removed at once. And this is what I'm sort of annoyed by. SEGA will, in this passing of something truly toxic to the franchise, probably learn the wrong lesson. They failed to learn it with 06, they failed to learn it with Rise of Lyric and they failed to learn it in Runners, too; don't screw your own games over to keep them marketable. Instead, they learned different lessons; in the same way the failure of 06 and RoL have probably told them that non-Classic Sonic titles that try something a little different don't work, and making Sonic 4-2 is a better use of their time. Sonic Runners probably told them that Sonic's Worthless FriendsTM are still not popular, so just keep it Sonic and Tails for uber-profits. And with the potential failure of the Archie Comics, I fully predict that they will just go, "Oh. So We guess that characters with personality, backstories and love lives don't work that well" and continue with the bland, uninspired, empty, hollow, happy-crappy Pontac-and-Graff bullcrap we've had to put up with for the past six years, that have made Sonic games annoying and unmemorable and has demoted SEGA to "that what company who keeps making crappy Sonic and football games" in the eyes of both those toxic gremlins within the gaming press and the gaming community at large. And SEGA will sit there, in their ivory towers, wondering why the Archie comics died. Not with a bang, but with a restricted, disgraceful whimper.

[Sorry this is late. I, uh...forgot] [Aria Finklidge] Aria could only really shiver in her boots as she held the letter, the odd tear splashing onto the already yellowed paper. This was...this was impossible! This was surely impossible, it had to be; her family was still alive?! But they couldn't be! Aria knew they couldn't...right? She still remembered the night she had made her escape, after all. It wasn't exactly something she was going to be able to forget in a long time. Even now, the crackling fires and the screaming of her people played out in her mind, as fresh as the time itself, in and out of her memory like a painful twang of guilt; 'Aria! Aria, wake up!" She could remember that smell of burning wood, the amber flare of the fires raging outside of their predominantly wooden shack, as she was hastily awakened from her slumber. In front of her, looks sadly lost to the grief and ravishes of time, was her sister with a look of terror on her face. She spoke up; 'S-Sister? What is going on? Why is there screaming?!' 'The soldiers, Aria. They have descended upon us! They are grouping people up in the town square and...I don't even know what is going on there. They have already captured mother!' 'Oh no!' Aria wailed, getting to her feet, 'What do we do?' 'There is no time, Aria. We must go! We must run away as fast as possible! I have gathered whatever I could in these bundles. We must go!' 'But-" Aria could not get another word out before the door to their shack crackled and crumbled before them. In flooded a number of Chutokan guards, all wielding only the latest in outdated old-war weapons but with strong armour to more than make up for it. The two that had made it into the room looked at the pair through their heavy helmets that only accentuated their gravelly voices; 'Hey! You two! Out to the square, now!' 'Why?! What are you doing?!' 'We have our orders, rabbit. Now MOVE!' ...Even Aria couldn't remember what happened next. All she could remember was the sensation of hitting something hard and landing outside the house in a pile of what used to be the rear window of the shack. She could see her sister in the windowframe, screaming, 'Go! GO!' before she screamed as the soldiers grabbed her by the arms and thrust her back into the shack. Aria screamed, reaching her own hand out, but a bullet struck her palm and she screamed in pain as she turned and bolted. She wanted to go back and save her sister, to kick those nasty soldiers off of her body...to not run away and spend the rest of the night in a ditch like a coward. But she couldn't. "Sister..." Aria weeped as the flashbacks finally faded from her memories. She held the rabbit close, "I am so, so sorry...I let you down. I...I let you ALL down..." She continued to stare at the letter, then back at the money. There was quite a bit within it, the exact amount hard to determine, but a large amount nonetheless. She turned back to the letter, read it again and again, then her brain clicked; she knew what to do now. With the money, with her life above all. 'But you survived. Somehow, I do not know how. But if you are still out there, Sister. I will find you. And I will make sure that we will never have to endure such hardships again. Now..." Aria paused, images of that Husky flashing in her head, "Where do I begin?" [What are the chances that someone in-town might have information on Aria's sister?]

"Yes, Caleb!" Mujha said hastily, "Stop him! Or catch him...or kill him, I do not know. But! I have an idea that we can go with! It is going to sound...odd, but..." Mujha breathed a hasty sigh, "I am going to grab you, have you sit on my shoulders and we will run after them. You can then use this height advantage to stop them with your spells, yes?"

It's going well. A bit of a shame we don't have that many participating as we'd like, but it's a start.

Oh yes. That. Couldn't see it myself; it was like at Stupid O'clock and I had to be in bed by midnight. And, annoyingly, STILL no news about Project Sonic 2017. Just a rather pointless announcement that Sonic Mania is coming to the Switch. As if we didn't already know that. That new Mario game though...THERE'S a fun time in the making.

Done. Gonna be honest, I'm actually quite proud of this!

Oooooh. Found one. This might take a while, though. Thanks.

No, I mean any specific websites.

Hmm...any specific examples?

Yeah, but my art skills are...not good.

Question; does anyone know someone who makes custom skins for Minecraft?

Yeah, that's great news. It's nice to see that what Kojima hasn't been slowed down by the hardships he's had over the past couple years. I'm not the biggest fan of his work (I was one of the few who disliked P.T. Thought it was a bit...pretentious), but his dedication to what he does is admirable, to say the least. A lot more than Konami's current stance of "YAY PACHINKO".

Who is The Traveller? Well that's for him to know, and you to find out.

Heh, found my little addition, did you? I basically spent my first time on the server in awe of just how much you did. Maybe next time I'll actually build stuff. Like my own house. I have an idea on what to do.

I'm not quite sure that can be possible. Mainly because the episodes we already have are designed to be standalone, with no connectors outside of passing references. You'd have to stretch it PRETTY far to connect them.

The game was sort of around BEFORE I was born, so no I don't remember it. As for how the game would be today, simple; go shameless. Just fully copy Mario Party. Dice instead of cards, capsules instead of candies, emeralds instead of stars, rings instead of coins. The whole kaboodle. Normally this would be insane, but it might work in ones favour NOW more than ever. With Nintendo basically screwing up the very concept of a party game with Mario Party 9, and sticking to it with 10, a more traditional board-game style party game would be a welcomed addition. As long as the AI doesn't cheat, the minigames are fun and the character selection isn't dumb as hell. Seriously, who ever picked Blooper or Hammer Guy in Mario Party 8?

After a bit of a hiatus (yeah, I sort of forgot), it's time for another page of OBSERVATIONS! Mandydates Pretty sure there's an Undertale meme in there SOMEWHERE...can't remember where, though. And hey, at least I remembered Boom!Sonic's blue arms this time! So yeah, this one was sort of a quick and cheap shot at SEGA's ever infamous, ever strangulating, and ever annoying mandates. Sometimes they work in their favour, most of the time it just severely restricts what you can do with Sonic, all to keep him "marketable". Never mind the fact that SEGA completely tarnished Sonic's reputation several times over and made him something that is shunned by the younger gens and mocked by the older gens (or the other way 'round. Can't remember), and more-or-less the only reason half the merchandise they make sell is out of our sheer loyalty. Because I can't exactly picture a kid watching Sonic Boom and wanting to pick up a soft toy of someone like Sticks afterwards. Not when there's other stuff like Steven Universe or Adventure Time or Gravity Falls, shows that actually treat them like people worth time and respect. And not, you know, brainless cattle who will watch any old meme-stuffed garbage with access to their parents' money. Sorry, got off track. Anyway, the mandates can be restrictive, and sometimes they can be logical. And sometimes they can be...just plain silly. The reason I even made this one is because I caught some news that those who created those "crossover" (that's about the largest size quotes I can get away with on this forum) game, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Basically, the developers wanted Sonic to take his shoes and gloves off for when he is swimming (and put on a lifejacket, which of course makes sense. Even though hedgehogs can naturally swim and apparently no-one at SEGA knew that at the time. Turns out they were dumb even then), and SEGA said no. Apparently it's one of their mandates that Sonic can never be seen without them. Hence why his feet have that white stripe on them when he turned into Darkspine Sonic. It was such a strange thing to me, especially since Classic was still The Hot Thing and Boom was still in SEGA's good books at the time. So basically, when it came to their mascot; Making him look like he's six is recommended. Covering him in bog roll and completely ruining his design is acceptable. But taking off what little clothes he has? OOH, now it's gonna get litigious! Of course before anyone says so, yes I know that Sonic's gloves and shoes are iconic (and that's proper iconic, not Ubisoft Iconic) and thus they can't take them off. Which is odd, as you can still see him as Sonic without them. I mean, not a lot of (official) characters in the gaming world really look like him. Heck, with mascot platformers sort of making a comeback, Sonic's simple design can sort of still stand up against the modern, more detailed designs. So the mandate in this case DOES make sense. But you know what mandates DON'T make sense? The ones where he's not allowed to have a family, or a girlfriend, or any personality whatsoever, because some suit in the middle The Land of The Rising Sun thought it would end up selling less lunchboxes. For Chaos' Sake. DA Link: http://fav.me/dabfgan

Then I hereby call Pokemon Emerald as Retro. I love this game, so much. Though I must admit, Sun and Moon are better designed. But Emerald is still a classic.

Well then, that means the GB/GBC/GBA Pokemon games count as Retro, yes?

Yes. It's the same program that Valve uses to make their animated films.