Dark_Respite
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Posts
4927 -
Joined
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Okay, first...
Miss Liberty is Statesman's daughter. She shows up in Mender Tesseract's arc for villains, and again in SSA1 where *spoilersshediesendspoilers*. That's it.
Ms. Liberty is Statesman's granddaughter, and the trainer in Atlas Park (and now the giver of what used to be the Statesman Task Force).
With that out of the way, the devs have been known to pop in the game every now and again as the signature characters to do wonky stuff.
I know that in one of my videos, I have Ms. Liberty dancing on her dais along with several other heroes (and later waving a protest sign with all of them)... but I personally don't recall a redname making her dance in-game...
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:I will say this for RIFT's marketing team - they have done absolutely stellar trailers for their game (and they are shot in-game). My absolute personal favorite, and one I wish that The Powers That Be had paralleled for COH, is this one. It is a brilliantly-executed video of what makes the game awesome.Originally Posted by Captain-Electric
Just want to assure RIFT fans that I didn't mean to say RIFT sucks--just that I'm making a grand assumption that it probably sucks compared to City of Heroes. Because, I mean, come on, we're talkin' about City of Heroes.
However, based on your recommendation, I went to RIFT's website and watched the trailer for their latest expansion and, well, watched it again. And again. And again. You know, I'm not into fantasy MMOs and it still blows my mind how cool and BIG that game looks. Or maybe it's because the last fantasy MMO I played was Ultima Online. Maybe I'll take a vacation in RIFT after November.
Also, I went to your website looking to see if you were making RIFT trailers and low and behold, found THE Earth Eternal trailer. Ha! You made the official trailer for that?! I was a beta tester and played the heck out of it. Was so sad when it didn't make the cut. It wasn't my type of game at all and was pretty simple for an MMO, but my goodness did it have charm and personality and a great upstart community and GREAT teaming. Was just refreshing to play. Man, I miss that game.
And no, I didn't consider it fantasy because, after all, it takes place in the future and my character was a robot.
I got into it during its beta because from what little I'd seen when John started beta testing it, it appeared to be everything I'd hoped AION would be (and wasn't). I'm still there over a year later.
And yes, I did do the official EARTH ETERNAL trailer. Guess who I have to thank for that? Ex Libris. Yep - while she was at Sparkplay, and they were talking about having a video made of the game, she showed them my COH vids, I did a quick sample for them just using the screenshots they had made available, and was invited to be a beta tester (and contracted to make the trailer). We storyboarded it out, shot in-game footage... I even had access to all the dev tools. It was wonderful fun.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
I was laughing my way through the whole thing. Respect is definitely due.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:Yeah... they're actually using a combination of cue cards and semaphore.Originally Posted by Hit Streak
The point of my post was that unless someone comes forward with "we're happy to announce we have a deal in place..." it's better to assume that the rumors you're reading are just that...rumors.
And please, don't assume that someone's feeding me lines. That couldn't be further from the truth.
Thanks.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:Personally I'd have been thrilled if Trion got hold of it. I happen to enjoy RIFT a great deal, and as a whole, the way they've been running, updating, and promoting the game (plus the dev interaction with the community) has been fantastic. (Granted, our devs are BETTER.)Originally Posted by Captain-Electric
The full rumor was that Trion Worlds (publisher of the RTS game End of Nations [which isn't cooler than Dawn of War 2, I'm just sayin'] and the MMO game Rift [blows chunks compared to City of Heroes, no offense Trion, not your fault, Paragon's just that good]) offered $80 million and were subsequently turned down by Taek Jin "NCSoft" McCan'tWon't. Personally, I dug under bedrock looking for proof, but the fact that I found none doesn't mean there isn't a kernel of truth here somewhere--Trion's MMO stable isn't exactly brimming over and they might have made some kind of offer, who knows? Oh, wait.
But if they were to become the white knight to save COH, I'd have NO problem with that.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
The two MMOs I play other than COH are LotRO and RIFT. (Of the two, I like RIFT better, but LotRO is fun, too.) Personally, I would cheerfully throw some deserving soul down several flights of stairs if I could convince Trion to buy COH from NCsoft.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Made more videos.
Michelle
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/em applause
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
I wish there were a larger, more comprehensive list, but the only resource I know is Scuzz's page.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Founders Falls. Even got the building picked out.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:And for the community's next trick, we will now detour the Mississippi River through Nebraska.Originally Posted by Hit Streak
Have the discussion without the personal attacks, please.
Thank you.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:I was so stupidly happy when I saw that. The day those went into the game, I must have gotten like fifteen tells in a row saying, "GO LOOK AT THE POSTERS!"Originally Posted by Steel_Golem
I stopped to read the movie posters outside the movie theater in Talos, and noticed that Samuraiko was credited as the director on Ascension. That was kind of cool.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:Arcanaville, I have nothing but the greatest respect and admiration for you. But Hawkward is one of the hotter guys at Paragon, and if you killed him, I'd be most unhappy with you.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Sustain was going to go live if I had to kill Arbiter Hawk and push him around the office in his chair like Weekend at Bernie's.
And then my brain segues into you doing a British accent saying, "He's not dead... he's just pining for the fjords. It's Rest. Only affects self. Of course he's not moving."
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:*grins*Originally Posted by Atlantea
BA-ZING!!!!
Ye-OWTCH!!!
I felt that blast of vitriol way down here in Texas!
Reminds me of Delenn protecting Babylon 5: "There is only ONE human captain who has ever defeated the Mimbari. He is BEHIND me. You are in FRONT of me! If you value your lives, be somewhere ELSE!"
I'm glad I'm behind you, Samuraiko! ^.^
S/D_R (from the bridge of White Star TITAN): "This is Samuraiko of the CITY OF HEROES community. Paragon Studios is under our protection. Withdraw or be bankrupted."
NCSoft: "Negative. We have authority here. Do not force us to engage your community."
S/D_R: "Why not? Only one game studio has ever survived battle over the CITY OF HEROES game. They are behind us. You are in front of us. If you value your PR, be somewhere else. And leave the IP with us while you're at it."
*****
Or if we wanted to go with something a bit more dignified...
*****Quote:The Community speaks in many languages but only one voice. A language which is not English or French or German or Catgirl or l337. It speaks in the language of hope. It speaks in the language of trust. It speaks in the language of heroism and the language of villainy. It is the language of the heart and of the language of the soul; but always it is the same voice; it is the voice of our heroes, villains, rogues, and vigilantes speaking through us, and the voice of all our characters waiting to be created; it is the small still voice that says: "We are one."
No matter the server, no matter the archetype, no matter the alignment, no matter the build. We are one. No matter the pain, no matter the trolling, no matter the frustrations, no matter the fear. We are one.
Here, gathered together in common cause we agree to recognize this singular truth and this singular rule: that we respect this game and respect one another. Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us, and each voice lost diminishes us. We are the voice of the community, the soul of creativity, the torchlight that will light the way to a better future.
We are one.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
To clarify Zwill's situation, in his "last post as CM" thread, he was voluntarily leaving early so he could spend some time with his wife and kids before the job search REALLY began. (I imagine folks in their field end up trekking hither and yon for interviews and whatnot, and that can be seriously draining.)
Granted, the ENTIRE Paragon team got the shaft, but some (like Hit Streak) are still there for now. Zwill just chose to go a bit earlier, and I can't say I blame him - he's got a family to support.
*****
All that being said, about the 'official' announcement, well... here's how my immediate train of thought went:
From:
"You know, maybe it might make a good video/PR to have actual PLAYERS (those of us in or near the Seattle area) get a bunch of those tiki torch things and do our own RL torchlight unity vigil right outside the NCsoft office..."
To:
"Actually, I think we'd be more inclined to set the place on fire and see how many heroes show up to put it out..."
To:
"Still, I'm tempted to go down there anyway and give them a piece of my mind!"
To:
"Probably not a good idea. They're already using outdated mental software, giving them even a piece of MY mind would be like trying to install Windows 8 on a Commodore 64."
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:More inclined to agree with this.Originally Posted by Hercules
Yeah, probably asked far more than the property was actually worth.. crying shame that they'd rather sink the game than sell.
Michelle
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Posted on the Titan forums.
Michelle
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David Lewis.
Most of you guys probably don't know who he is. (Unless you were lucky enough to attend his panel at HeroCon 2009.) But he was the guy who used to make the trailers for COH, and the dev who taught me a lot about the demorecord system.
When most players were submitting beta bugs about powers or numbers or graphics or whatever, I was submitting them about demo problems, and we'd regularly yap via email about the ones I'd submitted. We routinely exchanged tips and tricks about the system, and he was kind enough to offer suggestions after watching my latest vid on things on how I could improve (and what i was doing right).
At both of the original HeroCons, he gave me at least an hour and a half of his undivided attention, talking about filming in-game, things that we both wanted to see implemented into the system, how he was driving the art guys and the programmers crazy trying to make sure that the system kept working with each new release.
So... thanks, David. For all of it.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
PS - Matt "Positron" Miller was actually tied for first place. -
I can also assure you that Alpha Wolf isn't me, either.
Sorry I've not been around to help you get to 50 - been busy filming. However, if you're close to 50 and want it filmed, send me a tell (or a PM here) and I'll get back onto Justice to demorecord it.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Oh Gods, I'm in the picture with the HeroCon 2009 trivia group. *winces*
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:No joke - the original Johanna Sinclair (on Triumph, and on hubby's account no less) is a carryover from my TRINITY BLOOD: UNEXPECTED RESULTS fanfic series of stories/novels. Sister Johanna Sinclair (AX call sign: Anomaly) became the Vatican liaison to John's SG, the Twilight Vanguard.Originally Posted by Leandro
Congratulations!
Iiiiinteresting... you know, Doctor Leo is currently on Triumph to help with a Really Hard Way attempt. I'm pretty sure he'd like to meet this "nun" of yours.
She is my "time-bending, troublemaking, techie pagan nun."
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
The rough draft of this video is breaking my heart.
Michelle
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Quote:Getting it is easy. Getting rid of it is another matter entirely.Originally Posted by Angry_Citizen
Congrats on level ten. Now you can get debt!
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
I can't remember if it was GM_Lloyd specifically, but I remember having some problem or another in-game, and a GM popped in to help. After solving the problem, I thanked him (or her), and he (or she) asked if there was anything else I needed. I said no, and then the GM replied, "By the way, we love your book."
I paused. "What?"
"COURSE OF SUPERHERO ROMANCE", the GM replied.
"You READ that?!"
"I think all the GMs have. Keep writing." And then he logged off.
And I just sat there at my desk laughing.
Michelle
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Today is the 10th anniversary of @Blood Speaker and me being married. Through a year-and-a-half-long engagement, a comedy of errors wedding at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, moves from Tucson to Phoenix to Seattle, multiple job changes, and three separate gaming groups, we are still together.
(There should be veteran rewards for marriage. Badges, at least, since it IS an achievement!)
A couple secrets of our success:
1) Never going to bed angry at each other. Even if that means saying right before going to bed, "I'm angry, but I'm tired, and I want to get some sleep so we can discuss this more rationally in the morning" - the problem has been acknowledged and we know we'll be talking.
2) No relationship games. We agreed on that the first day we started dating. Both of us had gone through that with previous partners and were heartily sick of it.
3) Maintaining both shared and separate interests and friends. We do not do EVERYTHING together. Sometimes that means 'me time'. It is not a privilege - it is a right.
All that being said... one of the things we DO share is CITY OF HEROES. John got started in January of 2007. (He'd heard about the game from the outset, but said he would never play until he could play a villain, damn it. For Christmas 2006, his friends got him a CoV account.) I got started in March. Took me until July to be able to play more than 5 minutes without getting motion sickness, so at first I played on his account. (I also was the one to unlock Kheldians on his account because his first 50 was actually a villain, while mine was a hero.)
Then I got my own account. And we have been playing COH pretty much nonstop ever since.
Oh sure, we've tested the waters of other MMOs - we both tried AION for about a year. No, thank you. John also plays TSW, LotRO and STO (he's a big fan of their source materials). And we both play RIFT. But COH is home. We have NEVER let our accounts lapse. Even when we were down-and-out broke, we made sure we had the $30/month to maintain our subscriptions. The other MMOs would come and go, but COH was OUR GAME. This was entertainment whenever we wanted, as often as we wanted. Instead of dinner and a movie, it was crockpot night and COH.
Strangely enough, our characters have never been romantically involved. None of them on either side. (Here's a side note: my Freedom incarnation of my signature character, Johanna Sinclair, is actually married to Leandro's Doctor Leo. And yes, John knows. He thinks it's funny because Jo's Triumph incarnation is a nun.) Although one of his characters is kinda-sorta the father of one of mine. It's a long story.
When we found out that COH was being closed, we both cried. Even in the other games we play together, it still wasn't OUR game. Paragon City and Grandville are home for us. We have met several friends IRL thanks to befriending them in COH (including the friends who helped us move to Seattle when we made a fresh start on our lives). And now it feels like we're not only being forcibly evicted, but that we're being forced to stand and watch as it's torn down behind us.
This game holds not just our characters and the friendships we've formed throughout the community - it holds five years of shared stories, ideas, laughs, tears, memories, failures, triumphs, hardships, successes, friendships, and sheer goofiness.
Just like our marriage.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite