ectogemia

Check it, yo. edit: But I'll take the bait anyway. Maybe I'm expecting something out of the genre that can't happen within the constraints of the genre. Xenoblade just feels like most other JRPGs in terms of gameplay. You press A a lot til the thing dies. When I imagine an innovative RPG, I guess I picture something with a real, skill-based challenge, like a platformer, but still within reasonable genre constraints of an RPG. I don't picture AI-controlled cohorts, a schedule for villagers, and infini-quests as particularly revolutionary or game-changing attributes. Sure, they're innovative in that they're not common among modern JRPGs, but to go a step further and a couple decades earlier, does it really feel like anything has changed from Lufia I to Xenoblade in terms of the gameplay experience? My opinion is that no, I don't really think the core mechanics of JRPGs have really *ever* changed, just superficial dressings, conveniences like quick-travel, and some AI control (which I think is detrimental, actually). My main contention in this thread is simply that the core gameplay mechanics of JRPGs just don't do it for me anymore because there's no *real* challenge associated with them, only a game of persistence and number-increasing which can *only* be won if enough time is invested. This is not true of other genres which rest on skill-based gameplay mechanics, not RNGs and stats. If I do the same unsuccessful thing in Mario a billion times, I'll still never save the princess. In an RPG, if I do the same unsuccessful thing enough times, I *will* ultimately succeed, no matter the state of my party, gear, stats, level, etc. That sort of gameplay just doesn't appeal to me anymore. I don't feel like I've done anything noteworthy when I reach the end of a JRPG. There's nothing wrong with liking JRPGs. They were my preferred genre for my whole childhood, and I've got nothing but fond memories of them. As I said in another post, I just grew out of them. It happens.

Yeeeep, but I don't play games much anymore. Figured I'd get rid of it since I knew I'd never play it again. Then again, I still have Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire 1 & 2, FF6, etc. for SNES, and I haven't played them for a good 6-8 years. I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING. Gonna be a long time before I get to Xenoblade, dude, sorry I have a lot of projects going on right now + school and general life stuff. But rest assured, it's definitely on my list, and it's going to happen.

Didn't like the game, and I agree 100%. I'll definitely be remixing it at some point. edit: Whoa, what? When did this game become so valuable? It was being sold at a local used-games chain for like $25 not 8 months ago when I bought it, and I sold it back to them for $15 or so figuring it wasn't much of a loss. Now it's worth $80. Shit.

The game got a lot of hype, though, for allegedly "redefining" the modern JRPG. I said it was a typical JRPG because I missed how it was any different than the rest of the pack.

I played through it all the way up til the final area. Meh. I thought it was a typical JRPG. Typical paper-thin characters, poopy story where characters about-face their moral code on a dime with no strong impetus, hundreds of senseless quests. Dunno man, I think I just grew out the genre. I loved JRPGs so much as a kid, but over the past 6 years or so, I just haven't been able to enjoy them at all. Just not much gameplay or honest challenge to 'em. That being said, to the game's credit, it has one of the best VGM soundtracks of all time. Period. Mechonis Field? Mechanical Rhythm? Agniratha? Mount Valas (or whatever it's called)? Yes, please. Just amazing tunes. And spoiler alert (highlight after this to reveal the white text): What the FUCK is up with JRPGs making the final boss some villain you've never heard of til the final 5% of the game?

Wasn't I the one who was going to wait a month to gather 10 people? Welp, sure. Let's keep the thread around for make benefit of sale times.

Shit. Might as well delete the thread D:

Hey man, if she's Paleo, she should be down with the brown. Brown being dirt and grime, not black guys. I'm sure she's a very faithful woman.

Sounds like a lot of gluten that you aren't eating now. Strange that they aren't gone or at least diminishing. That being said, there are many paths to allergies. A friend of mine who is definitely not eating well at all was able to kill his horrible allergies (I remember my parents having to take him to the ER at my 10th birthday party because he was so allergic to all the cat dander floating around my house that his airway nearly occluded). His secret? Not showering daily and never using soap to wash his dishes. Yep. It can be that simple. It sounds ridiculous, but it's strongly based in science and slowly permeating into conventional wisdom. You may have heard the media hawk it as "clean baby vs. mucky baby." In any case, if the article is a little too dense for you (no idea what your biology background is), I'll translate it. Basically, your immune system is responsible for allergies, specifically your B-cells. These cells themselves are activated strongly by another type of immune cell called a TH2 cell. The secretions of a TH2 cell not only activate your allergy-causing B cells, but they also secrete other inflammatory molecules which exacerbate allergies and predispose your tissues to invasion by circulating inflammatory cells. There are two types of TH cells, though. The TH2, as I mentioned, are meant to activate B cells which take care of foreign bodies found outside of cells. The TH1 cells, instead, activate T-cells which, unlike allergy-causing B cells, are responsible for killing your own cells which are infected with pathogens and materials found within a cell. OK, so what's the point of all of that? Well, if you're squeaky clean all the time, the only real immune challenge getting into your body on a regular basis is "dirt" -- just sort of day-to-day intake of little, random particles. Allergens. If you aren't taking in loads of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, etc., you're doing yourself a disservice. You aren't leaving your TH1 (T-cell-activating) cells any work to do, so your body instead shifts its resources towards an overproduction and overstimulation of TH2 cells (allergy-causers). This is actually why I believe gluten to be such a nasty potentiator of allergies. It's a very ripe molecule for B-cell activation based on its structure, so it fires up the TH2 side of your immune system and pre-disposes you to overreactions to foreign bodies -- to allergies, systemic inflammation, acne, intestinal malabsorption, etc. And being a little dirty is Paleo as fuck. Evolutionarily, humans have never been clean. Now that we're showering daily and using soap and staying indoors all the time, allergies are becoming a thing. There are consequences for that vanity. Myself, I shower maybe 3 times per week, use Dr. Bronner's soap only on my armpits and nether-regions (dick and butthole for the kids out there), only rinse my dishes with water to get the chunks off 'em. And if you're worried about smelling bad or whatever if you only shower a couple or 3 times per week, it's not an issue. No one's the wiser about my hygiene habits now than when I showered and soaped daily. And my OCD-as-shit mother-in-law has eaten off our plates and doesn't suspect a thing. So maybe try being a little dirtier if Whole 30 isn't killing the allergies.

Weird. I felt incredible after switching to Paleo, and I was also eating relatively healthily before that, although it was more of a flexitarian-type diet with lots of homemade whole grain bread. "Conventionally healthy" but not actually healthy. What exactly was your diet like prior to trying out Whole 30? At the very least, your allergies should be gone if you've cut out gluten and casein. You'd literally be the first person I've heard of not to see 'em go away after making the necessary changes D: I know dat feel. That's why I don't give a fuck anymore in social situations, so when I eat out with friends/family, I order whatever I want within reasonable limitations. I'll have some pizza as long as it isn't shitty fast-food-type pizza. I'll order some chicken, but not the fried chicken smothered in shit sauce. And so on. Buuuut you're doing the Whole 30, so you gotta stay clean for at least 30 days, so I understand the frustration. I stayed totally pure for, man... 6 months? I felt great, but it really did hurt some friendships. Not worth it.

The Ultimate Megadrive Soundfont should please m'lord. Also, VOPM is a good AND FUCKING CONFUSING free VST for Sega YM-whatever chip emulation. In fact, you can rip .opm files from Genesis ROMs or download packs of them from the internets and load them into VOPM and BOOM, it'll dial in the actual FM synthesis parameters for your selection and be a perfect replication of the chip sound. You can also make your own FM patches. Genesis FM patches are super-duper basic. They're not very hard to make in any FM synthesizer. The real trick is understanding just how the fuck FM synthesis works. To my knowledge, though, Chipsounds only does 8-bit stuff. NES, Gameboy, Commodore, Atari, etc. So I can sign you up, right?

That would require waiting until September. I got chiptunes to write, bro. Maybe even for your stoopit dumb FF3 thing

Cool story bro, but why not save $20? It's called the "What a Deal!" thread, not the "Things at Full Retail Price!" thread.

Plogue's Chipsounds, a really bitchin' plugin which emulates a lot of classic VG soundchips and has a ton of class-style envelope and arp creation options, modern customizability, and more, normally costs $95.00. Buuuut just today, I discovered that if a bulk purchase of 10 or more copies of it is done, then it's only $75.00 apiece. That's a deal, right? Don't delete this post, Shariq, gobdammit NEWayz, I started a thread elsewhere in the forum to keep a list going of people who may be interested in getting in on a bulk purchase. Here it be.

Welp, this is a longshot, but I might as well try... Plogue's Chipsounds is a fantastic plugin which does a whole lot of justice to a bunch of old soundchips. Head on over to the site if you've not heard it in action. Normally, it's $95.00, but in a bulk order of 10 or more copies, it's discounted to $75.00 apiece. So basically, I'm trying to get 10 people here who are interested in buying it I'll start a list and give it a month. If we're not at 10, I'm just going to go ahead and buy it. 10 COOL PEOPLE WHO WANT CHIPSOUNDS: 1. ectogemia 2. Brandon Strader 3. PixelPanic

I have the Scarlett 2i4 which is basically the same thing. It does the trick. My only complaint is that the headphone amp is a little weak. I want to mix at -15 dB RMS with my 250 Ohm headphones, so I'm asking a lot of the headphone amp to drive the output to a decent level. It can't quite get to where I want, so I've had to up my mixing level a bit, but all-in-all, that's my only complaint. Good interface if you don't do a ton of recording and just need some mic and monitor plugins.

Huh. Never heard of this plugin. It looks pretty sweet. Gonna give this one a try. Thanks for the suggestion, man!

Oooookkkk, a solid day late on that promise to post some demo .flps, but here I am finally. Can't guarantee how wholly these projects will open, and please forgive the mixing and production value Not that they're all that bad, but I've come a long way since all of these were written, I promise, haha. The sequencing is solid, though, and that should get you started on writing fakebit. And regarding the duty cycling (pulse width modulation) that DDRKirby was talking about earlier, you can automate that with magical8bit's first knobbie. Just avoid the triangle and noise ranges and click all over the place in the square, 12.5% pulse, and 25% pulse ranges to get cool duty cycling. I think I did that in Snow Storm which I included with this .zip. LINK TO .FLPs

Aaaand one last time. :/ Come on, man, we put a lot of time and effort into this. Let's get some closure.

Yeeeep. I'll compile some into a .zip later on when I got home. Should be another 5-6 hours.

o: Does not compute. buuut yeaaah, just let me know if you need some samples of fakebit writing.

When you say it is going to be in an 8-bit game of sorts, do you mean like a NES homebrew? Because if that's the case, better start practicing with Famitracker Otherwise, if it's only supposed to sound 8-bit, you gotta go the fakebit route and impose upon yourself the restrictions of the NES. 2 pulse channels with 12.5% and 25% and basic square wave pulse width, a triangle, a noise channel, and a DPCM. I'm pretty skilled with fakebit sequencing if I do say so myself So if you have FL Studio, I can send you .flp files to check out how I emulated fakebit sounds with MIDI sequencing. Otherwise, I can toss some MIDIs of mine your way. Sequencing it is definitely a skill that takes a little time and practice to acquire.

Happy birthday. I hope Ribbon pays you a visit.

Nice, thanks for the response, man. I agree that the headphone amp within my interface is pretty weak. My current pair of headphones has 63 Ohms of impedance, and the pair I'm looking at has nearly 10x as much impedance o_O Looks like I may be tacking a headphone amp onto this purchase ;( I was also looking at the AKG K701's. What do you like/dislike most about those?