Chase_Arcanum
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Quote:it may not need to be changed too much.Originally Posted by Shadow State
From the Lore thread:
whether some of that has changed with the whole Well thing is unclear.
A world with Incarnates at war would be a terrible mess. It could be that the Incarnates of each successive era band together to defeat/imprison the belligerent ones (under an island, under a city's, etc) and then, witnessing the destruction they could cause, withdraw *somewhere else* ... perhaps leaving behind remnanats that can intervene when they detect their old foes awakening. -
Quote:Perhaps, or it could be some nature of the powers.Originally Posted by Anti_Proton
It must be some sort of "creative liberty" when they claim to bestow powers on a mortal.
- Stheno, a Serpent incarnate from some earlier "age of heroes" has serpentine "children" followers.
- Lord Recluse uses technology to extract a serum that mutates people into arachnoids, much the same.
- Going with this theme, Merulina, while extraterrestrial in origin, also made the coralax from coral imbued with its essence. Nothing says the incarnates have to be terrestrial...
- ... And if Shiva was really an giant entity like Merulina, its shivans could similarly be "bled off" powers from its (destroyed/damaged/regenerating) incarnate remains.
- So a "Magical" themed incarnate did much the same in imbuing followers with magic? -
Quote:Ok, IMDB and Wikipedia credits him in the Director, Producer, Animation Dept (Animation Director), and Art Dept (additional scene layout), and directors often have strong influence on where character design goes.... so that's probably my cause of confusion. Perhaps they had fine lines for each participant that they respected, but I've never known a director/producer to say "y'know... I didn't like that character's appearance either, but I wasn't the character designer so I had to live with it."Originally Posted by Father Xmas
I'm talking about the mini-episodes. As far as I can tell all he did with that series was produce and direct. The only mentions in the art or animation departments were animation director and additional scene layout.
Paul Rudish, Lynne Naylor and Andy Suriano were the character designers, Naylor and Suriano were also CDs for Samurai Jack. Storyboards were done by Bryan Andrews and Mark Andrews. Bryan also did storyboards for Samurai Jack.
Sounds like Lucas hired as much of the crew who did Samurai Jack and asked them to do the same "no edge line" style to a Clone Wars series.
Probably would have been better if I had referenced the team that shared many duties against these shows that thus shared many common art elements, but I was most aware of the director. -
Quote:Ah, sorry, saw he was credited with Powerpuff on wikipedia for director, writer, producer, and animation director... so assumed he had a role on character design too.Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Powerpuff Girls were Craig McCracken's creation not Genndy Tartakovsky, though he worked with Craig on the series (they were classmates at CalArts).
Anyway he's, Tartakovsky, is now more of a director than character designer/storyboard artist. And then only on Dexter's and Samurai Jack, not Clone Wars.
Tartakovsky directed, wrote, produced, and storyboarded the clone wars miniseries, -- a series of shorts that aired between Eps 2 & 3. While he was director, his influence on the character design was still heavily credited at the time. As much as I disliked some of the long-neck-character design, it was well deserving of its two emmy awards.
You're right in that he wasn't affiliated with the OTHER computer-generated series. -
Quote:I always thought that the normal beast-run looked bad in Champions, but loved the way the shift-run "sprint" looked with that leaping, stretched out look.Originally Posted by Test_Rat
Anthropoid skeletons weren't meant to move like that, and it looks like crap in Champions, and it looks like crap here in City of Heroes.
From what we're seeing here (we still haven't seen how leaps and backflips look) and what we know of its stats (ninja run speeds) the base animation seems a bit more stretched out than the other game's base beast run, but not as extreme as the sprint's constant-leaping. We'll be able to judge better once all this is visible. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Durakken
No. He "appears" to ignore them. Especially with Alfred. Alfred will say something and it is later shown that his advice is th key to everything OR it will be shown that if Bruce actually ignore Alfred that something will go wrong and he will later apologize to Alfred and say that Alfred was right.
That doesn't work. It only seems to work because most people's knowledge of Batman's life only starts at the Crime Alley event and people say he had a suer happy childhood, but it is shown that Bruce had problem with teachers and had been bullied when he was young... and not to mention he saw his father having to deal with the mob on several occurrences and being strong armed ... and then there is his Grandpa Wayne who who gave Thomas Wayne a crap for quite a while that Bruce would have lived through a part of and Grandpa/Grandma Kane were sick and broke, having lost all/most of their wealth.
Bruce would have experienced a lot of these problems and as such is not like the Buddha who had never experienced anything bad in his life.
Not only that...
Joker = Rich - Super Smart - Great Fighter
Penguin = Rich/Formerly Rich - Great Fighter
Riddler = Could be rich if he wanted - Super Smart
Catwoman = Rich - Great fighter
Hush = Formerly Rich... lost his fortune to Catwoman - Smart - Great fighter
Poison Ivy = Rich - Super Smart - Super Powered
Harley Quinn = Rich - Smart - Super Powered
Scarecrow = Middle Class - Super Smart - Great Fighter - Super Powered
Bane = ???? - Super Smart - Great Fighter - Super Powered
R'as al Ghul = Super extra Rich - Super smart - Great Fighter
Victor Fries = Upper Middle Class - Super Smart - Super Powered
Black Mask = Rich - Clever
Dr. Hugo Strange = Rich - Super Smart - Decent Fighter
Two-Face = Upper Middle Class - Smart - Great fighter
The Ventriloquist = Rich - Smart
Killer Croc = Poor - dumb - Good Fighter - Super Powered
The Mad Hatter = Middle Class - Super Smart - Gadget powered
Man-Bat = Upper Middle Class - Super Smart - Super Powered
This is pretty much all of Batman's "rogues gallery." A majority of them are rich. Not middle class, not poor. How they got their wealth is another issues, but they are regardlessly rich for the most part.
Agreed.
When you look at the earlier comics, when the Gotham society and government was portrayed as less-corrupt and the crisis less "global" (oh noes! the whole city is at risk again!) you have a Batman as a wealthy man that sees beyond the distractions of his class and takes to fight against powerful criminals whose actions, more often than not, affected the underclass, not the prevailing social order.
Yes, he goes beyond investigative (and arresting) processes that the law would reasonably allow... but the main thesis in the OP quote is that he's maintaining the balance of power, which doesn't pan out over the full scope of a work that spans decades... especially when you're trying to determine the core theme.
...although I will concede that if you ignore the history and focus just on the later work, as the stories became increasingly ones of "batman is all that stands between Gotham and social disorder" the OP's quote gains some validity. This is more of a case of bad storytelling always needing the bigger-badder-nastier threat to hook readers rather than anything intentional, but even unintentional... this recent (mis)portrayal of batman does come closer to the OP quote's premise. -
If these were one-off images, yes, the disproportions and irregular angles could be considered an issue of competence. However, if you look at things like line regularity, where and how different line thicknesses are used, color palette selection, and even the character geometry, a learned person has to conclude that these were all deliberate actions precisely delivered and intended to convey a certain message when taken in synthesis.
Dee Dee's spindly legs and clownlike oversized feet convey personality characteristics that get across even before you hear that grating voice actress. Samurai Jack's angular design reflects the rigid discipline of the character, while the surreal landscape around him relays some of Jack's own sense of being out of place. Even the ridiculously-styled ultra-deformed Powerpuff Girls exaggerated proportions convey intentional meaning. Heck, even using styles that DO sometime seem to use a child's perspective is a an intentional communication through the art.
Now, you may intelligently disagree with the merits of the style taken. You might even be disgusted with how he applied it to iconic Star Wars characters, or how mixing that style with the computer-generated ships in the Clone Wars miniseries meshed so damn badly. Those are all valid intelligent uses of analysis on a style. (And I don't say that just because I found PowerPuff Girls too grating to even sit through a commercial... and the Clone Wars miniseries sometimes painful to watch (and sometimes excellent)... and don't get me started on Dexter...)
...But when you disregard all that with a shallow statement that this is what "a kid would draw", you're not seeing what the artist is trying to do or communicate.
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All that said, there's also one other factor that does weigh in your favor-- all artistic decisions aside, this art style is incredibly cheap to do. By limiting character angles, making more abrupt movements the norm, and keeping the detail low, viewers don't notice just how littile work needs done in the "tween" frames. If you did something like that on a more realistic model, it would be much MUCH more visible. It makes for much more cost-effective production work, but it does also contribute to the "cheapness" feel for one used to higher-production-cost work like a Disney feature film. -
Great find, BurningChick
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Quote:Also Army here, also use that quote... way too often.Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
And the blizzard got me!
As Indy said. It's not the years, it's the mileage.
I think my odometer's rolled over a few times. -
Its you, Samuel.
Your reputation precedes you. -
Any chance the mapserv issues have more to do with the rampant power and line outage issues going on through a sizable chunk of the country?
I'm seeing more packet loss and latency on the "internetpulse.net" than I've seen in two years of checking that site.
No clue exactly where our servers are located, but with so much rerouting going on at the backbone level, I wouldn't be surprised that people are losing connection left and right. -
Quote:Nah, bird-demons are burned on a spit, not a stake. Preferrably atop a charcoal fire... a little tabasco mixed in with the barbecue sauce... cooked till the edges are slightly blackened...Originally Posted by Leo_G
Do the guys that pump up the breast slider and put their females in bikinis or go hitting on any females in-game get a pass while me playing a bird demon should be burned at the stake? Lol, well maybe I should be burned at the stake since I'm probably a pervert too @_@
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Quote:<poke>Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
Somewhat distant--Erie, PA. I'm just a big fan.
People from Erie, PA tend to be big fans of... well... just about anywhere else. Ya gotta vist the place to understand.
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Quote:So you're saying that you like to watch?Originally Posted by Leo_G
You did just say that, right Sam? I guess you can be on my 'To watch' list.Quote:
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I'm a pervert...
Pervert -
Quote:Parts of Paragon remind me of my hometown.Originally Posted by Zekiran_Immortal
Not much of it, since many parts of Praetoria remind ME of downtown San Diego. Neon trim on buildings, very pretty indeed.
... Unfortunately, those parts are Kings' Row and Crey's Folly. -
Quote:Ok, but you have to promise to do something about the heat leaking into our summers up here. I actually had to run the damn air conditioning for two weeks last summer when it broke into the 90's!Originally Posted by sleestack
Well, here in Austin is was about 80 yesterday. Today it is 35. I'd appreciate it if all you "ha ha I walk around naked when it's 2 degrees outside" folks would kindly keep this "cold" stuff away from me. I mean, I had to PUT ON A COAT!! HAVE YOU PEOPLE NO MERCY!?!? I actually get SOMEWHAT CHILLED when I go outside for a smoke! This is an OUTRAGE!!
Oh, but it rained when the cold front moved through, which is nice. -
Quote:Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake
i'm just a little southeast of you, and im looking forward to the morning commute myself. love heading to work before the school buses are out, penndot is so very good about making sure the roads are good for us
a quarter inch of ice tommorow, with an inch of sleet.
Just a few blocks from ^this guy.^
Ya gotta love a tech job that lets you telecommute when the weather gets bad. Hope you get to work and back safely today Rian. I'll be here sipping hot cocoa in warm pajamas while occasionally cursing at temperamental servers.
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Quote:Not to mention the ability to explain away any tardiness to work by just saying to your boss "lag" as you run by.Originally Posted by MaHaBone23
Having lived in Providence for 10 years and Rhode Island currently, I'll take Paragon any day.
Not that Providence is all that bad, but the mutants, Ghost ships, giant monsters, alien invasions and zombie outbreaks would be a small price to pay for no snow, potholes or traffic. -
Quote:Yeah. I know knockback is reviled, but used well, Handclap can be a VERY helpful power for crowd control. It DOES go against the natural strategy of clustering together, depending on when and where you use it, but the power comes back fast and has a reasonable chance to stun. I use it teamed with my wife's energy/energy blaster, so there's already so much knockback going on that a little more doesn't really hurt much.Originally Posted by Socorro
Recently, with slots free due to fitness, I took Handclap on my SS Brute just as a fill in Power, and I've taken to really pushing the envelope when soloing and to my surprise I've been using it more often than I thought I would. If a cascading defense failure ( or some other crisis ), Handclap does a pretty good job of clearing things out and giving me some time and breathing room to recover.
Not sure I'd recommend it if you're slot starved, but if you have spare room, it's surprisingly, if situationaly, useful. -
Quote:No, Techbot's pretty much spot on.Originally Posted by zachary_EU
I think because we all like this game so much it could sometimes cause little bit too emotional texts but it not looked that bad when I wrote that. No bad feelings Techbot.
I see more issue with ground vehicles than air:
Ok, BAM, you're morphed into a car. Your character used to be able to turn while standing still. Will the car?
If you can, It'll look pretty damn stupid rotating along its axis.
If you can't... if you have to be moving forward or backward to facilitate turning... well that's a mighty big inconvenience... and tech that isn't there.
Now, let's look at the roads. They aren't really scaled like roads in driving games. They're narrower, contain more interruptions (intersections) and have very VERY abrupt turns. Running players regularly dodge, shift to the sidewalk, and leap over stuff.
Players as vehicles, you noted, wouldn't have jump. They'd unrealistically come to a dead stop when colliding with pedestrians, other cars, or curbside obstacles. Their collision boxes are wider, making this even more challenging... and the game already has a speed cap that's hit by runners... so... again, no real benefit for a lot more inconvenience.
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What I could see:
- A vehicle that serves as a kind of "insta teleporter" (particularly air vehicle). You summon your Longbow flyer. It swoops in and lands (much like how MM pets tend to appear from the periphery) and you click on it, select destination zone, and it swoops away (start loading screen).
Granted, if I'm gonna have a car that just blinks in, screeches to a halt, then screeches away before blinking out of existence, it better be a Delorean. -
Quote:Correct, and it isn't even JUST our engine that has the issue. If you look at EQ2 "robes" carefully, they're really just baggy pants that clip into a "cape-like" same-colored piece hanging down across the middle. In SWG, the princess-leia-style bikini bottom skirt stretches just like described here when kicks are performed. Other games limit robes to classes that can't kick just to avoid this bad appearance.Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Long skirts and robes do exist in the game, but only on NPCs.
Why?
Because they can tailor an NPC to only have certain powers, while players are free to take any powers they like. That would mean those skirts, with the way they work, would look horrible on a character who uses Martial Arts, or really any power that has an animation dealing with the legs.
Go watch a CoT mage or Tsoo Sorcerer sometime, and pay attention to how little they actually move their legs. Hell, Carnie Illusionists don't even HAVE legs.
We didn't get long skirts because the game engine doesn't really have a way to make them not look like crap.
It would look very bad with the existing tech...
<joking>... but... now that we have combat-specific auras, hmm.... well, if we could expand the tech to costume pieces... we could have a long dress that, when combat mode is entered, is replaced with a shorter, torn-looking one. Maybe accompany it with a ripping sound and some incomprehensible female-voiced cursing. </joking> -
Quote:It would certainly help spread the cost of development if they did. (insert my oft-repeated hope of a "Savage Lands" in Praetoria here).Originally Posted by Golden Girl
I wonder if the devs will use any of these parts on new NPCs?
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Quote:They definitely need to revise their rulesset-- or at least be able to flag certain validated users as exemptions, but in their defense, they're in a tough spot. CC fraud is ridiculously high for online subscription games, and they (the merchant) eat all the losses. There's no product to retrieve and very little chance to catch the perp (particularly since chasing after an under-$20 purchase isn't a high priority).Originally Posted by Siberian_Spring
Have the exact same issue in the United States... I tended to swap between my two accounts, depending on which one had money in it and that, apparently, was enough to make me "High Risk". The standards they have are draconian at best.
Unfortunately, what you're doing (alternating cards) is a rather common action among fraudsters. Many people just don't notice a single mischarge for a single month- especially if they frequently use those cards. Those that do rarely bother to pursue it if the charge is low enough, as the hassle is rather high. Recurring charges get more attention. I'm not surprised they're looking for that sort of behavior, particularly since NCSoft has been burned so badly (and publicly) in the past.
They still need a way to better exempt you from those flags. It might require more proof of legitimacy by you in some way, but after that's on record, they really SHOULD be able to exempt the account from such high scrutiny. -
Quote:Very nice. I'd been tinkering with using the "clockwork" pieces for a similar effect. Her name was going to be tab-E.Originally Posted by Ironik
My catgirl is anything but "furry."
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Quote:Not entirely. Virtually everything is validated against the server, so gameplay mods shouldn't be too much of a risk. The problem is thatOriginally Posted by StormSurvivor
I think this is the case. If I remember correctly, the issue with Pigg Diving isn't that some people get to see things that aren't in the game yet (even though I will agree that mass-hype on unannounced features can get a little tricky), but that people will reverse-engineer the game and make modifications that actually effect gameplay. Or something like that. Sharing information on how to pigg-dive is a serious no-no, though. No question. There just isn't any of that here.
1) pigg diving is NOT permitted, for many legit and legal reasons but...
2) ...there's no real way to tell that this is how you got the information...
3) ... unless you admit you pigg dove.
Thus, if you know how to do it, don't ADMIT to doing it, don't publicly help people doing it, and don't post things that can't be found from any other way EXCEPT doing it without a good counterstory.