BardicKnowledge

Source track, so that others may reference it: Edit: This is pretty close to the source material -- too close, I think. That being said, what's here is nice to listen to, and I enjoyed the piece. I was hoping for more variation in the melody, especially since it is presented so many times as the only rhythmic element of interest. At around 2:50 when the cello begins to separate from the other instruments, I was hoping things would pick up and move towards a more polyphonic texture. I would have enjoyed the piece much more if it had branched out into hearing some sort of overlap begin to occur between instances of the melody, or the cello fully developed into a counter-melody, or anything to add more variance to what's going on. The addition of the cello at 2:50 is good, but I was hoping for more afterwards. It's a good piece to chill out to, since it doesn't demand anything from the listener, but it is so passive and repetitive that it could be just as interesting at at least one minute shorter than it is.

First off, this is great work -- a great way for me to return to the WIP forums, I must say! I'm a huge fan of how you've added so much richness via variety of texture and their placements in the mix, something the (Nier) original lacks. The piece begins by giving us this warm, murky texture where notes are somewhat unclear, except for the piano which pierces that texture. When Sabrina enters, it's unclear at first to which realm she belongs, that of the "ancient" murky texture, or the "present" piano texture -- I'd suggest that the answer may well be both simultaneously. Even as the drums pick up and bring us towards a more forward ("present") placement of things, the more murky synths stick around, giving us a context in which to listen to the lead parts. Incidentally, the piano sound on the Gerudo interlude does not pierce the veil, if you will, as much as the Nier melody on the piano during the introduction -- is is mastered differently here, or have we as listeners been trained to hear it differently as a result of what has previously occurred? It's to your credit that you delay giving us the Gerudo melody in the second bridge section -- it certainly heightens both our expectations that we receive it, and the moment when the cello soars to give it to us. Speaking of which, excellent job differentiating the two with regard to timbre also -- it would have been very simple (and worse, obviously) to just stick in the piano again. I wonder if you had ever considered a slightly longer ending that played more with the contrast between the synths and the instrumental? With such an interesting buildup to your full instrumentation, it may be equally interesting to pull us back to where we began over a longer period of time. Lastly, to Sabrina: What a nice voice you have! You manage to maintain a nice forward tone without coming off as too bright, barring a couple vowel endings where I feel the diphthong begins to emerge a little early. This is extremely nitpicky because otherwise I think you sound gorgeous; as a result, I have nothing broader to address. This feels like it is in a comfortable lower range for you -- I wonder how your tone changes as you really let loose, both in volume and towards the ends of your range?

Soulstealer / Shadow Fiend is not a targeted ability -- you press the button and it happens immediately. I only want ranges on things that are targeted. For Lion's stun, why not have the targeting ring show the 1000 range to encourage people to not directly target it? Mana bars are much more significant, incidentally. I was unaware of that change and don't approve of it. I often base my spot-judgments of "can I dive and get a kill" on how much mana my opponent has remaining -- especially against a hero like Behemoth / Pebbles (I forget the DotA names).

Personally, I'd like to see every skill get a distance-targetable ring as in League of Legends -- it doesn't hurt the competitive environment and makes the game much more accessible to new players.

The tricky thing about the 2nd quest is that you should never go to a dungeon 4 or above without 100 rupees -- giving up a maximum point of health to get out of a room is unacceptable. Also, the 2nd Quest really demands that you have the upgraded shield asap, since Stalfos will shoot otherwise-unblockable things. Overall, the only extremely cheap thing about it IMO is the location of dungeon 8. I mean seriously wtf how are you supposed to find that?

Go download Cockatrice, install it and download the card sets. Afterwards, just head over to #vgmmtg and see if people are around to play!

Haha, CS doesn't provide anywhere near that type of advantage to the losing team, especially since it was patched. You should play it more often.

There are games that usually get it right that are worth mentioning. For instance, I am currently taking a graduate course on the Italian madrigal. While none of the music in 16th century Italy actually made it into Assassin's Creed (alas, and something my professors have rightly criticized), lots of the history is as close as it could be. Example: Caterina Sforza was actually imprisoned inside the Castle Sant'Angelo in 1499. After her release (which, of course, was not in reality a daring rescue by Ezio Auditore, but bear with me), she indeed traveled to seek an audience with the Pope for the restoration of her lands, ultimately failing to do so. It is much, MUCH easier to remember this having played AC: Brotherhood. Similarly, it is much easier to recall that Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) comes (two) before Julius II, who is finally succeeded by Pope Leo X (Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici) -- the AC Lorenzo's son. I'm not saying AC gets everything right, because obviously it does not (and isn't trying to). An easy example is that in the actual Florence, Italy, the Duomo is taller than Giotto's Belltower, and it is the reverse ingame. There are a number of details that it changes for the sake of the fiction. But overall, you can read the logs and figure out what was real vs. what was not -- and educate yourself greatly in the process.

Wow, this is amazing. Congratulations!!

I would be up for it -- I don't have much work to do in any case.

Congrats to Hemophiliac for beating me 2-1 in the winners bracket of our four-man draft last night! A blast was had by all -- we'd love to have enough people to do a full 8-man draft next time around, so join up at #vgmmtg on espernet if you're interested!

Hooray! I'm so happy that Phoenix Wright made it into the game -- that is awesome. I'm feeling like Nova is similar to enough other characters in playstyle that he will be either superior and picked a lot, or inferior and never played.

The damage on the shield spell is the hardest part, imo. Especially since you often have to choose between the ideal shield target (your initiator) and the ideal damage line from one point to another...which is rarely the same target. These are choices Annie never has to make, since her shield is fire-and-forget. Tibbers is also much simpler to use than Orianna's ult, which I see far too many players using to fling opponents to safety by launching them the wrong direction.

Orianna is one of the more complex heroes to play -- compare the difficulty of positioning her ball to Annie's direct target, fire-and-forget spells.

I disagree -- Combofiend played Oni and did very well at Devastation. I play Oni as a secondary character atm and do quite well with him most of the time -- ask Arek.

Happy birthday, Tensei!

Morello's isn't all that great for Summoner's Rift, but on Crystal Scar I find that it gives everything you need as an AP caster. Zilean works with it especially well -- CDR on Rewind means that he can keep his speed buff on permanently...and the mana regen makes it practical.

Dominion global balance changes! Ambient gold gain reduced by 7% Reduced the time range of the respawns to help early winning teams finish games Hopefully this addresses some of Tensei's complaints; at the least, it shows that they are continuing to balance the gametype.

Both ABC and NPR have compared him to Thomas Edison -- I would suggest that Jobs' legacy was even further reaching. It's tragic that someone who contributed so much to our society (the personal computer, the first digital goods platform, and countless other innovations) is gone.

For what it's worth, Dominion is my most played gametime easily since it came out, and I prefer it for a variety of reasons. One of the major ones that hasn't been discussed much is that I prefer to do my online gaming in 20 minute chunks instead of 50 minute ones.

FYI, both the pipe organ and the NES were tradtionally written with three musical lines -- organ sheet music is printed on three staves. This is probably why those similarities exist. All of the greats covered in your average undergrad music history class are put there for a reason. Pachelbel, JS Bach, Gluck, JC Bach, CPE Back, Sammartini, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, Wagner, Strauss (his Alpine Symphony is an amazing "sunrise"), Berlioz, and Bartok are all worth your time. DrumUltima touched on modern minimalism which is great -- I just heard a John Adams piece that was outstanding. As for more modern work, I'd avoid twelve tone serialism (the 2nd Viennese School and their ilk) for a while -- they are extremely difficult to enjoy unless you know how the pieces are constructed. If I were to recommend one piece for you, it would be Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. The piece is amazing -- especially the beheading during the march to the scaffold, and the outstanding use of the Dies Irae motive in the final movement.

Alien Breed 2: Assault Amnesia: The Dark Descent And Yet it Moves Aquaria Atom Zombie Smasher Audiosurf Bastion Borderlands Braid Cogs Crayon Physics Deluxe Deux Ex: GOTY Frozen Synapse Gish Greed Corp Half-Life 2 HL2 Deathmatch HL2: Episode 1 HL2: Episode 2 HL2: Lost Coast Hammerfight Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Left 4 Dead Left 4 Dead 2 Lucidity Lugaru HD Machinarium Madballs in Babo: Invasion Magicka The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom Monkey Island 2: Special Edition Myst: Masterpiece Edition Osmos Penumbra: Overture Plain Sight Plants vs. Zombies: GOTY Portal Portal 2 Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands Puzzle Quest Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale Revenge of the Titans Samorost 2 The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition Shadowgrounds Shadowgrounds: Survivor Shatter Star Wars: KOTOR Starcraft II (non-steam) Steel Storm: Burning Retribution Super SFIV: Arcade Edition Team Fortress 2 Torchlight Trine VVVVVV World of Goo Worms Reloaded

PC owners: The mods for the game are fantastic. Have a look at my new Ibuki-themed main menu: and Makoto vs. Juri as Lightning (FFXIII) and Faith (Mirror's Edge).

Gradius: [Fully Equipped]: Reach maximum power (all options, laser, missiles, shield) without use of a cheat code. Crystalis: [Take that, Guard!] Paralyze an NPC. Adventure Island 2/3: [Collector]: Hold two of every item in your inventory. Adventures of Lolo: [sneaky Snake]: Get Snakey to reappear in a different place after blasting him. Blades of Steel: [i Hate Sports Games]: Win at Gradius. Clash at Demonhead: [Doomsday] Fail to disarm the bomb. Fantasy Zone: [No Legs]: Finish a level without landing. Gargoyle's Quest 2: [Where Angles Fear to Tread] Fly across a large gap with the Wings of an Angel. Flying Warriors 1 (and 2, Japan only): [Only Human]: Finish a Dark Dimension battle without transforming. Little Ninja Brothers: [Athlete]: Finish every minigame during the course of the RPG. Milon's Secret Castle: [beeliever]: Find and collect a Hudson Bee. Nightshade: [Relic Hunter] Collect the Urn and the Amulet. Power Blade: [Metal Man] Finish a level with the Power Suit. Power Blade 2: [Patriot] Finish a level with the Patriot Suit. Startropics: [Ace Pitcher] Defeat a boss by throwing baseballs. Startropics 2: [Just a Baseball Player] Finish a level without Psychic Shock Wave. World Cup Soccer: [bigfoot] Perform a special move without using a bicycle kick or headbutt. Zelda: [i Know My Way Around]: Get through the Lost Woods.

I agree with this -- I'd rather see everyone get a slight 5% boost in whatever roles Riot wants to push heroes towards (make heroes that "should" jungle capable of it w/o runes, give spellcasters the Ignite bonus, melee heroes the Exhaust bonus, etc) and get rid of runes/masteries.