BardicKnowledge

Smash 3DS is absolutely sick so far -- I really like that everyone has customizable special moves, though I wish they were even more drastically changed like Palutena's set, which are actually different moves...one wonders if Sakurai had trouble deciding! Problem: The special moves are taking FOREVER to unlock, even doing roulette on high-difficulty Classic mode. Hopefully when they say that custom characters made on 3DS can transfer to Wii U, that will mean that moves unlocked on 3DS will be unlocked on Wii U also.

Let's broaden this thread to being more about feeding. How do/did people deal with tantrums for babies just about two years old? Our current strategy is to ignore them by and large. As an aside, what good stories does everyone have about their kids? About three months ago, Owen spilled a little bit of water on my head in the bath and giggled, saying "All wet!" We thought it was funny...and just as I relaxed, he _decked_ me with a cup of water, shouting "More all wet!"

This is a major issue with everything at the university level. The main goal of the university is to collect as much tuition money as possible, full stop. Students pursuing lawsuits against the university makes them look bad, which leads to fewer students and less money. Many university systems (CIC institutions are my current background, fwiw) try to deal with accusations of rape internally so that they don't have to report all of the details to the public. The same is true for grade inflation, incidentally. Students are merely customers, which is why I have to work so hard to fail someone these days -- to give someone an F, I have to specify a reason for so doing and provide documentation if asked. Nobody cares if suddenly I give everyone an A grade!

My experience more closely mirrors Meteo Xavier's -- breastfeeding so strongly encouraged that even the IDEA of not doing it for at least a full year was looked at with outright disdain by health care people here.

Hahaha, you have never lived in the Midwest -- everything is far away!

We will almost certainly _not_ be coming this year, since we are moving over the holiday break (from Minneapolis MN to West Lafayette IN). Indiana does put us within driving distance though, so I am hoping to see many of you for Otakon instead this year.

In case anyone with a Playstation 4 or PS Vita is unaware, FuturLab's latest game, Velocity 2X, is absolutely fantastic, and it's free this month on PS+. The game plays as part top-down shooter, part platformer, both with an emphasis on raw speed. It's easily the best game of either genre, and mixing the two into one experience happens so smoothly that it's hard to describe. The main mechanic unique to the game is the ability to teleport whenever and wherever you want. I'm 36 levels in (of 50, before counting unlockable bonus content) and can't get enough. Anyone else enjoying it? The trailer is for those interested.

I'm hoping to be a professor at a major research university someday, teaching the history of music to future college students, while holding graduate seminars (and the occasional undergrad elective course) on game audio. Another year or so and I should finally be done with my Ph.D...

If you carry a laptop bag with you everywhere, putting a 3DS into the bag doesn't add much weight at all. I routinely carry both 3DS and Vita to work on the bus.

Aside from MAGFest (which we can't attend this year -- boo!) Addie and I don't see anyone that isn't local to the Twin Cities. We get together on a fairly regular basis with OA and Deia though!

Not to mention the self-control! Lolo 3 has the distinction of being the only cartridge I flung across the room in anger. (It's still perfectly functional since those carts are nigh indestructable).

It's been a while since the overwhelming emotion you feel through a movie is fun. Captain America: Winter Soldier was amazing, and still my pick for best modern Marvel film, but you never have fun while you're watching it the way you do during Guardians. Go see this film immediately if you like fun of any sort. I can't wait to see how they balance this level of comedy and lighthearted-ness with the Avengers in the third film, which presumably will draw absolutely everyone together.

I highly recommend all of the Super Solvers! series of titles -- Ancient Empires is even more action-game than education software, though I enjoyed playing the lot of them as a child. Will likely require Dosbox etc. for most of them.

That looks like a re-skin of Lucas. It's not actually a new character, just new graphics on top of an old one.

I wouldn't say that about Lucas -- Magnet Boosting and Zap Jumping were both really nice techniques only available to him, as I recall.

As a relatively high-skill Melee and M player myself, I have to say that L-cancelling is essentially a waste of attention -- the game (Melee or P:M, take your pick) would be just as good if the moves that required it just had the shorter amount of recovery time L-cancelling provides by default. I am definitely hoping for directional air-dodge + wavedash though. Grand dream: fixed item spawn locations, so competitive players will use items.

Currently Smash 4 has 36 characters announced, and Brawl had 39. Guessing at a max total roster of 45 characters and assuming Ness and Ice Climbers will be included as returning chars, that leaves my guess with a max 7 slots left. Wouldn't surprise me if we only end up with 41-43 characters though...

Not counting the multitude of games I have played on Steam for 10 minutes and decided I shouldn't have bought them.... ...the biggest two are Final Fantasy VIII, in which a cutscene either very end of disc 3 or beginning of disc 4 didn't work due to a scratch and I was too frustrated to play again, and Lost Winds: Winter of the Melodias where I was near the end, got Okami (which I also am yet to finish, ha -- hopefully Deia and I can do that this fall?) and quit playing.

Parallax scrolling and a few other tricks (no flickering for > 8 sprites, as one example) let you know it couldn't have been an NES game. Full list here: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidDAngelo/20140625/219383/Breaking_the_NES_for_Shovel_Knight.php

New discussion point, since I think we've all hashed out most of what there is to say about Nidalee until the next patch... Who should be buying Essence Reaver? Is it a viable replacement for Tear --> Manamune on mana-heavy characters like Yorick, Jayce, and Ezreal? Is it a viable replacement for a Bloodthirster and/or BotRK? Intuition tells me no for the latter, since BT and BotRK both output quite a bit more damage -- one via raw number, the other via passive. I think it's too expensive to buy with the intention of selling off lategame, though I know prophet disagrees with me on that point, especially at most of our levels of play where we all tend to get far more income than we should (e.g. games with more than 25 kills in them).

I agree with the majority of what you said. On surviving during the all in: if I am building full tank Nidalee, I rarely have trouble pouncing in and pouncing out, even if I eat one CC spell during the process. If you are building her all damage, then sure. I'd rate her below Kha'zix for sure, but I think that she provides more utility than the others you mentioned there. One champion she works particularly well against (as AD, tanky build) is Yasuo -- your burst actually outclasses his on the timescale of a single combo rotation, which is often all you'll need to finish him off. If I survive the ult, I am yet to have anything happen but immediately eating him. One caveat for support Nidalee: Spellthief's Edge provides enough mana regen that you will never run out, assuming you only use traps. You shouldn't be having any mana issues if you don't spear throw, and your ADC isn't in desperate need of heals. Definitely trying AD masteries but building AP -- that might work well in top lane as a counterpick also... Edit: Oh, and the comparison to Diana was only for gameplay style -- Nidalee's numbers are better in every way right now, and her kit overall is flat-out superior imo. Diana is in need of some kind of rework. I'd like to see the vaccum moved to the ult (given more stun / power) and the dash lose its double reset gimmick.

Essentially, unless it is clearly _before_ and not during a fight, you shouldn't be throwing max range spears anymore, ever. Think of spear not primarily as a damage tool, but as a means to set up W pounce --> E swipe --> auto attack --> Q execute --> W pounce out --> morph to human, repeat. Spear (and trap, but that's harder to guarantee) now gives you Rengar's leap range! Use that -- diving after spear throw is now the _ideal_ play, since the E claw swipe resets the W leap cooldown, which allows you to leap away, back towards your team. I'm not saying it'll get you out every time, but it works for me a lot, especially when your team follows you and there are other threats to deal with. I agree with you, Armadon, that AD Nidalee is probably better than AP Nidalee currently -- don't think of her as a long range poke character anymore. Play her as if you were playing Diana with a long range attack (and build her similarly as well) and you'll do much better. Similarly, I find that I have the most success on 4.10 Nidalee when I build either Triforce + BotRK (AD) or Lich Bane + Liandry's (AP) into full tank. Because she fights up close now, she has to have a lot more toughness than before. Support Nidalee has changed drastically, by the way: Traps deal an outrageous amount of damage if you max them first, and you can get them everywhere. Any support Nidalee throwing spears when it's not to force cat combo in a chase is just wasting mana. I'd go so far as to say that no other character controls the bushes as well as Nidalee, currently. I agree that the lack of CC makes her a situational support, but if you can harass enough that the diving Leona is killing herself to get into position to make a move, that's still victory. Last note: The proposed changes to Nidalee for 4.11 should make her a really wicked jungler -- I've already found considerable success playing the new Nidalee in the jungle, and I think I will continue to do so. Starting 4.11 I also intend to get Nashor's on her...

I think that AD Nidalee is making a strong comeback with the new kit. What does everyone think of the 4.10 changes to Nidalee, and the new items?

FYI, my thoughts on worst job for each crystal are Thief, Berserker, Geomancer, and Dragoon. I'm currently rocking White Mage, Berserker, Geomancer, and haven't unlocked the Earth Crystal yet -- I'll likely do this next week sometime. WM makes for relatively smooth sailing even with two inferior classes.

Happy birthday, Jarel!