Dark_Respite

I am so there. I've been saving each of the trailers as they come out, and just cannot wait for November (and then July).

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I just realized you had my arc "Too Clever by Half" listed! Thank you so much!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Yes, I backtalk to NPCs all the time, either in /team or /local. The game then delights in making me regret it because while I am standing there smugly, I almost invariably miss the ambush that comes up behind me and stomps me.

Still fun, though.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Ya-HAAAH! I was wondering when you were going to get this done! Very well done!

(And my husband, who is a big villain supporter, is now DEMANDING I save this for him. And he wants to use this as the main theme for one of his primary villains and that villain's entire group.)

Brilliant...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Salieri plots Mozart's murder, from Amadeus (written by Peter Shaffer)

Salieri: My plan was so simple that it terrified me. First I must get the death mass and then I, I must achieve his death. His funeral! Imagine it, all of Vienna there, Mozart's coffin, Mozart's little coffin in the middle, and then suddenly, in that silence, music! A divine music bursts out over them all. A great mass of death! Requiem mass for Wolfgang Mozart, composed by his dear friend, Antonio Salieri! Oh what sublimity, what depth, what passion in the music! Salieri has been touched by God at last. And God is forced to listen!! Powerless, powerless to stop it! I, for once in the end, laughing at him!! The only thing that bothered me was the actual killing. How does one do that? Hmmm? How does one kill a man? Well it's one thing to dream about it; very different when you, when you have to do it with your own hands...

Kikuchiyo berates the farmers and the samurai, from Samurai 7 (based on The Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa)

Kikuchiyo: "Do I think farmers are noble? Oh, they're foxes! Treacherous beasts! They'll stoop to anything that makes their lives easier! That's why they hired samurai to defend Kanna for them! It's your village... put your own stinking lives on the line! But oh, no! They'd never do that! Sure, they'd sweat all day in the fields for their darling rice... but they won't spill their blood for it! They say, 'We have no rice, we only eat millet, we've got nothing!' But they have everything! Dig under the floorboards, search the barns, or those hidden storehouses... you'll find plenty there! Rice! Sake! Salt! Meat! Oh, they pose as meek, but they're all full of lies! If they smell battle, they hunt the defeated! If the winds change, they betray you! Farmers are stinking, foxy, blathering, cowardly, cruel, stupid murderers! Damn it, that's what they are! But who made them into these miserable beasts? You did... you samurai did it to them! You burn their villages, destroy their farms, steal their food, force them into slave labour, take their women, kill them if they resist! So what should farmers do? WHAT? I can't blame Manzo, conniving and pathetic as he is. He just played the odds and the bandits won, that's all. Because farmers are corrupt, the bandits are corrupt, and samurai are corrupt! Why would anyone risk their lives for anyone? But I'll fight for them! I'll kill all the bandits, damn it! Damn it..."

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

"The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears above ground he is a protector...

At first, in the early days of his power, he is full of smiles, and he salutes every one whom he meets;—he to be called a tyrant, who is making promises in public and also in private! liberating debtors, and distributing land to the people and his followers, and wanting to be so kind and good to every one! And if any of them are suspected by him of having notions of freedom, and of resistance to his authority, he will have a good pretext for destroying them by placing them at the mercy of the enemy; and for all these reasons the tyrant must be always getting up a war.

And the tyrant, if he means to rule, must get rid of them; he cannot stop while he has a friend or an enemy who is good for anything."

Source: Plato, The Republic, Book VIII.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

And on the first day, the devs said, "Let there be light!"

The animators weren't quite sure which direction was east, having spent all their living hours in a basement, cubicle, or other indoor-only format, but took their best guess and created an NPC Puddle with the SUN FX. Because of arguments about color, it was agreed that the colors would change depending on the time of day.

The powers guys called Arcanaville, who gave them the precise mathematical formulae for lighting the world without creating a scorched earth policy. (That code is being held for a future expansion.)

The costume guys, of course, were still busy figuring out animated hair.

Marketing, however, was still in the dark, and so slept through the whole thing.

But there was light!

Most of the playerbase thought it was good.

Some tried to kill the sun, and were upset that it was a non-targetable NPC. (Considering that the sun was in fact trying to kill them, they felt it being an attackable object was only fair.)

The RPers promptly demanded emotes for sun worship, sun bathing, and of course, sleeping and sex emotes for when it WASN'T light.

And as a whole, the playerbase thought it was a nice touch, but a bit useless in a game where you spend most of your time in missions in caves or tunnels or buildings where the word WINDOWS obviously wasn't in the architectural blueprints.

But there was light!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I loathe the Arachnoid caves. Ugh.
The mineshaft caves I can take or leave, though the cake room does tend to drive me a bit wonky.
Troll caves are fine as long as it's not the BOSTON MARATHON TO REACH ATTA cave.
Cimeroran caves are nice too.
But I would throw the devs a party at Tavern on the Green if they ever get rid of the Nazi Fish Farm.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Having noticed there are no children in Paragon, the citizens have headed indoors to correct the situation. In about nine months, we will see a significant population boom.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

It's not related to Vista - I'm on XP and I don't have sound either.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Johanna Sinclair (aka Mender Anomaly) - energy/energy blaster whose powers are coloured gold to represent the temporal energy she wields.

Ifreann - my demon/storm MM whose storm attacks are colored pale reddish-orange to resemble a hurricane from hell - literally!

COUNTERMEASURES - my human-form Kheldian who is actually the sentient manifestation of our SG's base computer and whose blasts of energy are drawn from both the base and her teammates as a secondary assault method.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Eddie Izzard as Vernon von Grun. HANDS DOWN.

Geoffrey Rush (trancechanneling his Casanova Frankenstein persona) as Dr. Aeon.

Jason Carter as Hero 1.

And actually, at the PAX M&G, I made the joke that Wil Wheaton should voice Synapse... amazing how many people agreed with me!

Unfortunately, Mike Kleinhenz, my candidate for voicing Recluse, passed away a year or so ago from heart failure. Greatness lost...

EDIT: How could I forget? Keith David as BAB. Oh yeah...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Wishing you and the rest of the PS team a safe trip, and enjoy New York! Remember, make sure to enjoy a street vendor hot dog and pretzel while you're there, and have fun at NYCC and at the M&G!

I miss home... can I sneak back to NYC in someone's luggage?

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Let me try doing the "drag and drop" demo launch technique...

Nope, no sound that way either.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Since I almost never use the sound anyway, I haven't really seen it as much of an issue. It does raise the interesting question, though...

What do yo use to play back your demofiles?

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

*laughing*

Some of these are just GOLD. Please keep them coming - I am making notes of my favorites so I can plan out the commercials.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I could be wrong, but I think the "retired" thing means from 'hero-ing' (a la BAB standing in Galaxy training people). I remember just before he closed down his twitter account, he'd announced that all of his attention was going into GOING ROGUE, and same went for him accepting PMs on here.

And this after he'd established something of a reputation for being known for answering players' PMs and questions and comments and whatnot (unlike some of the others who are less likely to answer). It probably just came down to: he could answer people, or he could get work done.

But yeah, I miss BAB.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

*absolutely howling with laughter*

MOO, that is nothing short of brilliance. Thank you for the best damn laugh I've had all night.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

And has the Northern CA Meet and Greet (Bay Area, CA. Exact city TBD) been cancelled, or just postponed til after NYCC?

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite