K.B.
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Posts posted by K.B.
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I guess I feel that, despite that possible downside, the gains would outweigh the losses. Bringing a wider variety of people onto a creative team lead to greater variety in the team's output. Everyone brings new experiences and perspectives. Not only would we see a broader range of stories, but new approaches to design, new aesthetics and new gameplay innovations. Still, I definitely understand your concern.
I did a little bit of zone-out-during-work thinking on this today, and I now wholeheartedly agree with you on this point. I still have the same phobia of the demographic change of gamers, but I think a demographic change on the development side will be a positive one as you say. I mean, if a design team were going to make a game with more girl appeal, they'd do it regardless of who was on the team (and if that's their goal, they just might do a better job of it with some female input). If they were going to make a 'guys-only' game, they'd still make a 'guys-only' game if women were on staff. But if they're not aiming for an extreme, well, I'd just be echoing what you said if I continued on.
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My apologies for the complete post rewrite. Newb mistake not to refresh before posting.
Yep, I concur. Not a bad analogy with the books, either. But truly, what you're pointing at is exactly what I fear: the middle-of-the-road games will be compromised.
Imagine a sliding scale that ranges from manly to womanly. Braveheart was a bad example on my part; that's way over to the manly side of the scale. It's akin to, oh, Halo or Left4dead. Chances are those games aren't going to be messed with. They're going to stay how they are because they're so freaking masculine that designers couldn't possibly slide them far enough towards the feminine side without creating an entirely different game. Master Chief with flowers and puppies... that's not going to happen, so that's not what worries me.
What worries me is directors of game companies seeing games that are just to the manly side of the scale and trying to tweak those to make them appeal more to women. The untapped potential you mention equals dollar (or yen) signs in their eyes, and I don't fault them for their thought process. I just don't like what I see as the result. I'm two gens behind, but based on playing FF4-9, I think it's safe to say that the Final Fantasy franchise is not 'ugh' manly. It's well within the danger zone of developers trying to tweak the a story to appeal more to potential female audiences. And that's exactly what's going to happen as the female-gamer demographic increases. One could contend that FF8 was an early attempt at this, and we know how that landed: a more-than-decent game that got a tepid response because it pissed off a bunch of fanboys (doing what they do best). Even if that had drawn in the female audience, would it have been worth it? I don't know if female appeal was a goal or not, but those who played the game have to wonder if developing more plot intricacies and character depth were sacrificed to focus on the appeal of the central love story.
Our difference in opinion probably boils down to our take on women in gaming. I couldn't care less about any gamer besides myself. You are benevolent and want to open the doors to female gamers and developers. I would have no problem with this except that I, perhaps cynically, see this trend leading developers to mangle otherise perfectly-good titles (that lie toward the center of that sliding scale) in an attempt to appeal to the woman gamer.
I'm also resistant to change.
As an aside, not every character is idealized. Many video games have taken cues from our modern era and made very human characters. The appeal is in their flaws and how they struggle to overcome them. IOW: we're not all reading Verne these days.
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Hmmm...
First off, as always, very well-done video. Interesting throughout. Put the compliment upfront because my post for your last video was idiotic and your videos are always good.
However, I wonder, did you intentionally shy away from the obvious question? That is: do we really want girls involved in the gaming culture? Do we want to change the substance of video games so that women will want to play them?
I'll use a movie example to show what I mean. I love Braveheart. It's fucking awesome. I can relate to the efforts of and personalities of just about all the main protagonists, to the sacrifices made for honor's sake, and to good kicking the ass of evil (in the end). But how many chicks love Braveheart? How many would put it in their top ten? From my experience, not many (and I know because I used to somehow manage to bring it up to most everyone I knew at some point). I could be wrong, but I don't think Mel made any compromises in making Braveheart. Sure, there was a love story, but it wasn't forced. And it was told from the man's perspective. Sure, there was backstory on the French hottie. But she had her head on straight and was worried about doing the right thing; even though she was holding out for love, she put right before her own desires. Plus, the good guy got to 'know' her. And, of course, there was a hell of a lot of swords and blood throughout.
What would Braveheart had been if it had made women a target audience? Your guess is as good as mine, but I'm certain it wouldn't have been Braveheart. It wouldn't have been nearly as awesome if I had to hear the plight of women involved in the movie. I don't care about women when I'm watching Braveheart. I care about loony Irishmen. I care about kicking the shit out of the bad guy. I care about putting right over your own life.
Back to video games. When you talk about dubiously scantilly-clad women and crass stereotypes, I'm with you. No need for them in mainstream gaming, and specialized games can always be made for the interested audience. But to bring women into the mainstream gaming world... yeah, I'd rather keep it a boy's club. I want to look at games from a man's perspective. If a game has a good design team and can do the balancing act, awesome; I'm all for it. For example, I couldn't care less that the controlled character in Portal is a woman. It doesn't affect the gameplay, storyline, etc. And I absolutely loved ICO. My folks and I had a good time playing it when they visited me (and hell it's been about a decade since I could get my mom even remotely interested in a video game). So you don't need gore and you don't need sex for a game to still be a guy's game (and it's obviously an enjoyable game for ladies too). However, if I play an RPG, I don't want to be a woman. I also don't want to drudge through blatantly-feminine sidekick dialoge or side quests that delve into the woman's world. That's not my thing. If games are made like this, that's cool; I won't hate on them. But I'm probably not going to buy them. And I'd rather have developers of my favorite franchises focusing on kicking ass and triumphing over evil in a completely 'ugh' manly way. Because that is my thing.
I'm not implying you were saying the only way to get women involved in mainstream gaming is to include sappy love-interest side plots. You didn't say that. But that's how it's done in other mediums. Because it works. And I don't want that for video games. I'd rather have my lady friend completely uninterested in my casual pastime than water down my pastime to involve my lady friend. It's not like there aren't better things for us to do together.
[longpost is looooooooooooong]
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So... you almost lost me there around 2:05 - it just meandered about for ten seconds - then the percussive-esque strings came in. And then the background (strings?). And it was good. And the meandering was ok since it worked as a break. And
Please, please tell me you're not ending it here though. You have such an awesome buildup but you didn't let me climax. Don't do me like that.
Seriously though, I hope you either come back to what you were building up through 2:55 as another round or keep working that climax before going back into chill. I don't know what the former is called. When I say build it up as another round, think 'Letters' by Stroke 9 and how they had one sweet climax-chorus then went back to normal and then did the climax again but then added an even more awesome and emotionally charged climax-chorus on top of that (that starts out "believe I had a chance in hell"). Relating this barely intelligible language to your remix, I'd say you could top this off in epic fashion with a climax part two - a climax on a climax - if that makes any sense at all. Just an ideer. At any rate, I really like where you were going through 2:55 and I hope you build more upon that at some point.
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Most drama in a judge thread ever?
Best remix title ever?
I cheered when I saw this in the to-be-posted queue. The 'sauce version was kickass, and the retouched version is even better. Not quite digging the synth that's been highlighted at one point early on... chalk it up to resistance to change.
Cyan is hands-down my favorite track from FF6, but this remix takes the idea and charts its own course. And this is by no means unwelcome. The source is fully represented and the remix kicks. Surprisingly to me, in spite of the huge sylistic changes, only nostalgia is preventing me from saying this is even more gut-wrenching than the original (3:38 on, esp 4:02-4:08 = yessssssss). There's a little (positive) character-attribution bias for ya.
For what this remix was gunning for, it reached in spades. Divergent throughout, yet building throughout. And, of course, some sweet picking (and keyboarding!) to boot.
The world needs more bass players. It's always awesome to hear a good bass line (and bass lead!). Keep remixing!
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Oh, I get your signature now. It has nothing to do with the fact that you did a remix of a tetris-derived game. And nine is not remainder-freely divisible by four.
In before... Marble Madness!
Anyway, you wanted comments, so... I agree with floor covering business in that there is a large degree of similarity to the original. The absence of the discordant aspects changed things quite a bit: so far this has the markings of a very happy remix (and I like happy remixes!). But at the same time, it could be hard to execute the the pick-me-up - the more uplifting section - without the discord to set it up. Not sure if that's what you're planning to do or if you're planning to deviate more from the source later on. Or if you have a sweeping climax in mind that'll blow away the orignal. I'll put it this way: I'm interested in what thematic turn you choose to take. [And in where those drums are going, since I know you always add a nice finish to your wips that doesn't always mark where you're heading next.]
I really, really like the instrumentation choices. I had an instant like for this, which usually isn't the case with your stuff (usually I have to let the chiptuneness grow on me before fully appreciating it). I started into a headbob in under twenty seconds, and smiling commenced in under forty.
I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but this has the makings of becoming my favorite remixes by you when fully finished. But I like most all your stuff... a lot... so perhaps you better listen more to the critical reviewers.
Glad you're back in the game. Now, finish this!
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Wait five years. VGMix will be back up by then.
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Awesome news! Rock on, OA! Or, rather, continue doing so.
Two letters for life, bitches. (that was terrible I'm leaving now-)
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Amy noticed that the 15 latest comments on a ReMix page also shows deleted comments. Check out http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00316/ vs. http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=148&page=5 for an example.
Noticed that too. Another occurrence (eighth one down, as of now): http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01711/ and http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16169&page=2. It was deleted for a good reason, but the ones Palpable pointed out are worse.
Also, this page just delivers coding errors: http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01180/.
(such as: Warning: DOMDocument::loadXML() [domdocument.loadxml]: Opening and ending tag mismatch: x line 11 and blockquote in Entity, line: 18 in /home/ocremix/public_html/includes/php/classes/BaseView.php on line 155)
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No reason. No reason, apart from ignorance, that this has not yet been remixed. And that excuse I intend to eliminate right now.
Goes without saying: watch in HD.
Does not go without saying: watch through the loop to fully appreciate the rockingness of this source!
This is a little piece from Illusion of Gaia I like to call FUCK YEAH. This is 2m45s of full-on orchestral rockingness, with the snes soundchip. Think you can do better? Up for the challenge?
PS: the spc can be found at http://snesmusic.org/v2/profile.php?profile=set&selected=1189. Track 22. The proper title is Clash Of Light And Shadow. This is the final battle.
PPS: The IoG soundtrack does nothing for me (and I have fond memories of the game), but this track is phenomenal. Composition (arrangement, time sig changes, motif callouts, etc), chutzpah, they all impress. Amongst the best. If nothing else, this is another kickass chiptune to add to your playlist.
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This is a thing of beauty. A love song between two instruments as fine as has ever been told. As one fades, the other slides in and carries them on; then each sings its own part, which only together makes a song; and finally they intertwine and rise into twinkling chimes. I cannot help but longingly smile at the simple and honest devotion made manifest in the subtleties of this piece.
On first listen, many... months... ago, I was turned off at how upfront the drum kick and synth were in the mix. While I no longer mind the synth, the drums are still uncomfortably loud when listening at volume. But both do carry the mix, and I see why they were done as they were. If nothing else, the atmosphere becomes delicate when they dissipate, and this is timed perfectly with the more poignant sections. And, of course, the rest of the instrumentation fits beautifully.
Upon listening to the source, I cannot help be even more impressed. A very pleasant and heartfelt tune has been given an excellent interpretation, yes, but what strikes me most is how much more emotion has been infused. And I repeat myself.
This remix is the musical version of the woman you find you want to spend the rest of your life with.
Thank you, Messrs Floyd and Liao.
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There's a party in my pants. Oh yes.
C'MON JUNLY
She don't swing like that.
So get it off early and in advance.
I leave you guys alone for two months, and....... well I guess that is a long time, but... yuck!
The other day I decided to break my forum-checking abstention to check this thread out of release impatience, and I got so excited that I (oh, I'm making this too easy to pun, aren't I?) logged on to post here. You guys kick serious ass and I am eagerly looking forward to the album release. Wish I could have been involved somehow, but as a literal fan of both the game and the works of this website I know this album is going to be a complete delight to hear.
So thanks dudes, and rock on.
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At this rate, you'll be taking longer than SoS.
Now that's just mean.
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Thread needs moar belligerent criticism.
13 months not out yet wtf?!? This project couldn't move more slowly if it were done by Palom after his encounter with Cagnazzo.
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Gran Turismo 2 - Moon Over The Castle
Epic. Whoever decided to leave this off of the US version of the game was a freaking idiot. Yet another awesome discovery coming from the OCRPG (link buried somewhere in the old fogies from unmod thread).
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Makes sense, djp, but from the perspective a relatively new poster, this site can be a bit confusing in how many locations have navigation functions. For instance, I still always forget about the tabs on the main site until I click on the sidebar or the nav buttons at the top of the page... I don't realize the tabs are there until I'm in one of those main areas; they stand out better once off the main page. I'm not trying to complain here, I'm just saying don't toil over making it perfect. Especially since, btw, it's pretty awesome already.
Regardless, this is very cool! On the first page I viewed it made instant sense to have it this way. And, of course, I hope this will attract more reviewers (and hopefully positive reviewers at that).
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Sweetness! Rock on everyone who helped make this happen!
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This is the debate that keeps on giving.
Thanks for the OP though. Interesting news I'm certain I otherwise would have missed.
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The Pezman's hidden text needs the disclaimer that it's a spoiler for the ending of Portal. Which probably only matters to the about five other people here who haven't played it yet plan to.
Damnit.
I seem to be the only one here who doesn't see any significance to this. It only takes a few seconds to put the thing back on course, so it's nothing special to help the machine. And because it's a machine and not a living being, it's also not wrong to walk on by. It would be an interesting experiment, however, to take a sample of people who understood the goal given to the machine and do some non-intrusive psychological testing on the individuals' empathy levels to see if individuals who helped the machine had more empathy than those that didn't help it. I'd tune in for that.
I did enjoy the happy music though.
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Oh hell yes. This remix rocks. Hard.
And what's up with the hating of Battle 1? From here on I declare it only appropriate when done in deference to this remix.
Had I made this (and had I the talent and dedication to do so), I would have done a few things differently. Most glaringly, I would increased the dynamic range and extended the breakdown starting at 3:08 (incorporating guitar at 3:14), giving a comparative pause to the piece and allowing for an extended buildup to an even louder climax. HOWEVER, now that I've listened to this a hundred times or so (it rocks so hard that winamp has sustained mostly this remix on repeat for the past few days), I've come to see the merit in what Nekofrog obviously had in mind. This is get-the-lead-out, 100% energy, 100% of the time. No silly, gratuitous ups and downs. Even the supposed breakdown isn't a rest. It's nonstop adrenaline. If this were to become the battle theme for the next remake of ct, I think I would be wiped out from playing it in less than an hour.
The layering is awesome (especially when there are three hot damn) and sync-ed spot-on, the picking/riffing is clean, and the chugging is downright nasty. I love every bit of that guitar work. I know I'm not qualified to comment, but I still love it.
And those bits of Schala. How did you think to incorporate...? Nevermind. It works perfectly.
Man, that's it I'm done. F-ing rock on, Neko.
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Yep, still in Clemson, just turned 22. I'll be here a while longer due to life shit happening which had the end result of a year hiatus from classes.
Are you still in Atlanta?
He's in Athens.
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That was his name! Primoris Haruspex.. his posts were always thought provoking.
So it was the power of his mind that made him conquer all of unmod in the ocrpg?
Btw whoever posted that here: you are awesome and thank you. Got the basic jokes (quality), and some character-based ones (metal-as-fuck attack from EdgeCrusher comes to mind), but it makes me wish I had stumbled upon a couple epic mixes instead of a couple shit mixes back in late 03/early 04. Would have found another way to kill time and partake in some of the unmod shenanigans laid out in this thread. Because holy crap that unmod cars race looks like it was f-ing awesome. Among many other things, of course.
I give deference to this thread though, as it is made of much goodness, and remove myself as I'm not properly acquainted and don't belong. Before I go: I am very happy to see that some folks have stayed for a bit; the additional presence and contributions have enlivened this place. I hope a few of you stay for a while longer... at least long enough to learn us a few tricks.
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1. Buy a car.
2. Don't drive into another cow.
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The music is what does it for me and Chrono Trigger. Great game as a kid, but the music is what I really loved about the game.The point where I really felt like I loved the game was actually the first time I heard the Corridors of Time song play when I stepped out of the teleporter on the floating islands. Beautiful, and that image will forever be ingrained in my mind.
This still sends chills down my spine whenever I hear it. That was the turning point of the game for me where things went from fun to enrapturing. It was like I had entered heaven; it was magical.
The torture Mitsuda put himself through resulted in what I believe is his strongest work and very possibly, still, the greatest vg soundtrack ever made.
Chrono Trigger, I'd argue, thrives on its comparative simplicity. The storyline pulls few punches and is modeled in the style of a traditional epic, so it's easy to get behind.This too. The characters are imperfect yet strive for genuinely good purposes; the background given to justify their actions make the observer appreciate the cast even more. Also, the themes of love, loyalty, good vs evil, and overcoming adversity resonate with everyone. CT is like a good Disney flick: using a fantastical story to convey basic ideas, or ideals, that even a child can appreciate with a few subtleties thrown in for the enjoyment of adults.
Besaid Island (basically finished)
in Post Your Game ReMixes!
Posted
Nah, not underwhelmed. Well... different direction than I was thinking, but still very cool. Keeps the lighthearted feel better the way you finished it. Continuing with the plucked strings, throwing in again the warbling synth, then a little creative diddling with that high-pitched... whatever it is. All of those I like very much.
Good luck in submissions!