Hertz

I've been listening to #9 and there are only a few lines that might need to be re-done. I can hear them on my speakers, but the level does drop. I think I can try to re-mix just those lines. They are:

"And nothing can go wrong if you miscount the surgical instruments before you close up."

"Dr. Vahzilok is very keen on green."

"I am not allowed to give you my telephone number until you have spoken to me seven more times and run several unimportant errands to all corners of the city..."

"I studied Practical Embalming at the University of Cheops."

"Ah, yes, quite true, you noticed that I had mine replaced."

"Gunter! Get me the file on Portas the Ruin Mage."

Let me know which lines aren't clear and I'll try to fix those particular ones. That will be easier than re-doing all of Karl's lines, if I don't need to. Of course, if you can't understand any of his lines, say so.

I'll see if I can re-mix that -- I'm not sure, I may have to re-record him entirely.

And number nine.

Stan and Lou in the Sewers (Again)

Take a listen to episode eight.

Stan and Lou in the Hollows

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I'm guessing that the next part will be the result of that open box? >_>

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Are you fishing for spoilers? Or maybe spoiling for fishes?

Here's the next episode.

Stan and Lou in the Warehouse

They are attempting to guard a glowing box. How hard could it be?

Sorry there's no Stan and Lou this morning — I do rehearse for a play many weeknights, and I didn't have time last night to record anything worth posting.

I did want to post on the thread, however, to let everyone know what I was considering. Over the weekend I would like to record some more Stan and Lou and launch them off into a serialized story. It will still be much easier to lampoon certain aspects of the game if the two of them are doing something familiar: doing missions, traveling from zone to zone, visiting contacts, etc. As anybody knows who is a fan of "The Order of the Stick," you can only go so far in skewering game mechanics until you start to need characters and plot.

There is already a plot in my mind. No spoilers... but should still be funny.

What I wanted to say is that I may, in the future, need additional voices to help round things out. Acting ability and comedic timing count, of course. Ability to do accents and character voices is a plus. What I really would like is a female voice actor or two, if there are any volunteers.

I don't know yet what I'd use additional actors for, exactly, but I can foresee a use for some if I had any.

When I do the Circle of Thorns, it's definitely gonna be in Perez. I'm pretty sure I know what the gist of their conversation will be, too...

And here's another for your review:

Stan and Lou in Kings Row

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Okay, I finally listened to the first three last night, and the two new ones today. Great stuff, Hertz.

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Thanks, Pep. I'm really glad people are enjoying this, because humor is such a tricky thing — what I find funny, not everyone will. I'll have as many people violently disagreeing with me as enthusiastically agreeing on any given line.
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However, a bit of a complaint on the sewers one. ... I guess I'm just missing the amusing conversations between the two of them, since it's the Mort that is delivering the gag lines, instead of our main characters.

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I agree that it's a slightly different dynamic, but there are some groups that Stan and Lou probably can't join — the Vahzilok is one of them, and there has to be a reason why. For one episode I can feature the Vahzilok, so they could well take a front seat just once. Another episode might feature the Trolls or the Freakshow in a similar way. I do have some other funny Stan-Lou conversations in mind that don't directly involve any other groups, so fret not, this is not a permanent new direction but an occasional flavoring.

They could be taunted by that in any zone, though, right?

Thanks, Echoed — that'll be very useful. Mostly I think it'll be a process of elimination. If I put Banished Pantheon in Dark Astoria, then I have to put either Warriors, Tsoo, COT, DE, or Freaks in Talos, and so forth.

As you can no doubt see, I am trying to match up episodes to zones. I go into each of the zones to record some ambient noise, to use as background; but I also add a few sounds to the mix to make it more distinct (such as birds and a stream to Galaxy City, and additional police radio sounds to Outbreak). Of course, I also add incidental sounds, like Lou's shovel, or Karl's ball point pen.

I am also trying to link one episode per enemy group (except the Skulls, which Stan and Lou would never join on principle, being Hellions). Some are logical: Prisoners with Breakout, Contaminated with Outbreak, and so on.

Eventually I hope to cover most villain groups and most zones, including indoor-only zones like the High Tech Lab and the Warehouse. (The background for the Sewer setting was recorded in a Vahzilok mission, since the Sewer Zone has music playing throughout.)

The tricky bit is going to be recording 3 minutes of ambient silence in the PVP zones. Any volunteers?

I also don't know the Villain-side groups as well as the heroes, so I'm not sure which enemies to put in which zones, or how to lampoon them all — yet. Input on which COV zones go with which groups would be appreciated.

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Another excellent set! I loved how you kind of masked: "Did you six slot stupid?" in episode 5.

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I think it should be episode 4, in Galaxy City, but thank you. (Maybe that's my mistake, I could have goofed up the title card.)

The other one that I sort of hid in the mix, which nobody has yet pointed out, was in episode #3 — "That was not funny! I know funny, and that was not funny!" "You got a Mag 2 Resistance to funny, that's what you got."

Another script is ready: Lou goes on a job interview with the Trolls.

I have updated all of these audio files and turned them into video files. They can now be found on YouTube at...

Stan and Lou in Outbreak
Stan and Lou in Breakout
Stan and Lou in Atlas Park

And now, since you asked, two more:

Stan and Lou in Galaxy City
Stan and Lou in the Sewers

Those are probably pretty close to what I have in mind, Zikar. I anticipate some disagreement about my presentation of some of the various groups, but... well, so what? It's just for fun, it's not as if this is part of COH canon.

Eventually Stan and Lou will quit the Hellions and get a job with some of the other villain groups. The tricky part is deciding how to represent them.

What, for example, should a Troll sound like? How does a Mortificator speak? What accent do you give the Nemesis? What kind of sound would you use to represent the Rikti?

I have a few more scripts written which I just need to record. One is in Galaxy City, where Stan and Lou are debating about what powers to take when they level up, and the other Stan attending an unusual job interview with one of Paragon's lowbie villain groups...

"How should I know? It's just music. I didn't vote for it."

Here is a new one:

Stan and Lou in Atlas Park

Enjoy!

Yes, that was my intention. I didn't like that punchline, and I had already lengthened it with added dialogue. I re-recorded all of the pieces and re-assembled it with Audacity.

I have re-recorded the first Stan and Lou (in Outbreak) and added a second one, in Breakout.

Stan and Lou in Outbreak
Stan and Lou in Breakout

These recordings are allegedly comedic. Judge for yourself!

I agree that the best solution is to give hostages a power that activates upon rescue — maybe two powers.

One powers is a huge self +Perception buff for the hostage himself (so he can see you).

The other is a huge aura of +Perception to enemies, so they can see you.

That means Stalkers can still use Hide for a hostage mission — still get the Assassin Strike if they can get in the hit before Hide is broken — but enemies will be able to find you because you're being trailed by an unstealthy goof.

Some examples of repeatable do-at-any-time content that could be used instead of Story Arcs:
<ul type="square">[*]Mayhem/Safeguard missions[*]Giant Monsters[*]Zone events (ghost ship, Steel Canyon fires)[/list]As much as I hate the idea of farming giant monsters for recipes, at least you can repeat it. Yes, repeatable means farmable, but I'd rather have that than ultra-exclusive-rare that you can only get by doing the last mission of a story arc. That should give you some idea how much I hate the idea of Story-Arc only rewards.

If you changed that pool to "Story Arcs or Monsters" then you'd reward both and still give 50s something to do.

It's good to know that performance is being given high priority. I'm sure BillZBubba will be pleased.