Archaon

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I actually don't enjoy his tracks all that much. There are a couple that I do like, but for the most part they're all too noisy and fast-paced and...I don't know, samey for my taste. I listen for more than a couple of minutes and it just devolves in my head to a chaotic mishmash of artificial-sounding guitars. Particularly so with his Guilty Gear remixes. Just...no. I'll stick with the originals, thanks.

Uh. Does this look a little Freudian to anyone else?

"Have you never thought about how special the Pokéballs are? Have you never wondered how they came to be, or what they are truly capable of? Probably not. You, like most people, simply accept them as a convenient fact of life. That is understandable, I suppose; their significance is easily lost on one not familiar with the old sciences. At their core, Pokéballs are devices that convert mass into pure energy and store it. That is remarkable enough in itself, but even more so is the fact that the transmutation is flawless. No mass is ever lost or corrupted during the process, and whatever is kept inside will always be reconstructed perfectly when it is released, no matter how long it has been stored. They were, however, extremely dangerous when they were first created. There was nothing to stop someone from "capturing" an edifice, for example, or even another human being. To prevent this, a limitation was introduced. The balls were designed so that they would only initiate the capture process when they detected the brainwaves of wild animals. This way, the Pokéball's effect on living matter could be tested safely without any accidents or misuse occurring. You may have wondered why the balls will not function on an unconscious Pokémon? This is why. The scope of the balls' detectors is limited, and they simply won't respond to the subdued brain activity of a creature that isn't awake and alert. Then, of course, the war happened and the world was laid to ruin, before the full potential of the balls could ever be realised. Sooner or later, they were rediscovered and humanity was content to make use of them, but in all that time we never properly studied them. I did. I knew that they were too important and too sophisticated to simply be treated like any other scavenged commodity. After much experimentation, I was eventually able to reverse-engineer the Pokéball and discover exactly how they are designed. I now know how to create them, and with so much of the old sciences lost to the war and the ravages of time, I am likely the only one in the world who does. I admit that I owe much of this to luck. Had this magnificent cache of knowledge and technology not been so well-preserved, and had I not the good fortune to stumble across it in my travels, I would never have had the resources to perform this level of research. Many would have been content to stop there, but I was not. I was determined to push the envelope, to discover just how much the Pokéball could be used to change our world for the better. With time, I was able to uncover two significant facts. Firstly, the power of a ball increases exponentially with its size. You may even have suspected this yourself; so-called "Great Balls" and "Ultra Balls" are much more efficient at capturing the bigger and stronger varieties of Pokémon, despite being only slightly larger and heavier than a regular ball. Secondly, the interior of the ball is designed so that whatever creature is inside can remain happy and docile. Did you know that? That is why Pokémon do not become aggressive or difficult to handle after being caged for so long; each ball contains an environment that is designed to maintain comfort and keep the mind pleasantly stimulated. However, these environments are rather primitive; not rich or complex enough to satisfy a human for long. I sought to improve them; to make the world contained within the ball a perfect one, not just for Pokémon, but for all life. Behold my greatest creation; the Master Ball. This ball is the culmination of years of painstaking research, and the combined efforts of the world's most brilliant minds. It is large enough to effectively capture and hold the entire planet and all its inhabitants. Contained within...is paradise. A beautiful, lush, untainted world, free of pain and adversity. Think about it. No more desperate scavenging for food. No more disease. No more radiation. In short, no more struggle to survive. I will literally erase all the troubles of the world with the touch of a button. I will create an eternal, perfect existence for everyone. However, the ball is not fully complete yet. There is work yet to be done, materials yet to be recovered, and that is why I still need strong, capable trainers...much like yourself. You have proven yourself to be an exceptionally talented and driven individual, especially for one so young. In the face of all your trials, you have triumphed at every turn. For this reason, it would be my honour to offer you a place in this great project of mine. When the world is finally saved, I promise you that everyone will know of the part you played, and the sacrifices you made to make the Master Ball a reality. Will you accept this responsibility?"

I was going to say Noel Vermillion, but the gloves are the wrong colour. Stop drawing characters that look so much like other characters, damn it.

The Navis had their own theme tunes? I wish I had the first clue how to remix, though, because this is a nifty idea. I'd love to personally see Cold Man to the top. Or Knight Man.

Wait, what? Have they even released Final Fantasy XIII yet?

I swear, the actual videos are starting to become less of an overall part of the Zero Punctuation experience than finding out what's going to prevent me from watching them this Wednesday. One week I just get the "Flowplayer" logo with a play button that doesn't work, then the next it freezes on the "Video not loading? Click here for help" bit, (the link being completely unhelpful, naturally) then the page itself just won't load, and now this week the video loads up until the one minute mark and outright refuses to go any further.

That's what I was thinking. I mean, if you're going to add bits to the console, surely you might as well just shove the components of a high-end gaming PC in there and say "Look! Now my SNES can play Crysis!"

I would theorize that it was there to start with. Just part of the image.

Isn't there a horror game somewhere that made use of this effect? So that you, the player, can hear stuff behind you and whatnot? If not then there really should be.

Are you sure? Looks orange-ish to me. I think it could be Clyde. Maybe Blinky and Clyde's bastard offspring, Clinky? Blinde? No. 1 kind of looks like Sothe from Fire Emblem.

Well, it's been just over a week now. I'd hoped for at least one response, (although hoped != expected) but since there's been no further activity, I'm just going to go ahead and give the synopsis anyway. I didn't spend ten minutes typing it up to NOT post it, dammit. SPOILERS (assuming you actually care, you callous brutes): You are a foetus. The village is a womb. The game as a whole alludes to the subjects of childbirth and abortion. Major themes throughout the game are those of helplessness and ignorance. When the game starts, you simply appear unceremoniously in a dark and confined space. You have no idea where you are or who you are, and no explanation is forthcoming. When you enter a house (and you ultimately have no choice but to do so) you are presented with three doors, two of which lead to a maze. Shortly after you enter the maze, you receive an ominous message and tense, threatening music begins playing. You get the impression that you're in danger, but you don't know what (or where) the source is, so you have to simply start navigating the maze, hoping to find your way out. The maze itself is unsolvable, although you don't know that. It is desperation and futility; you run all over the place, meeting dead end after dead end, to no avail. You might even come across a few spots that look like exits, but even they don't do you any good, and all the while the music keeps building, no doubt indicating that the threat is drawing nearer. There is something after you, but it's not something you can escape from. In a short while, the music stops and you are faced with a monster, which will growl some justification for your death before attacking you. Regardless of your actions, you are swiftly and decisively defeated. You are then transported to a narrow path. It appears to lead both up and down; back towards the village and away from it, respectively; but regardless of which direction you press, you invariably move down, slowly and agonizingly. You're not leaving; you're being forced out. As you descend further and further, what little light there is gradually drains away as you die, and the game ultimately ends. The only way to prevent this outcome is to first enter the one door that doesn't lead to a maze. Should you do so, you encounter a mysterious figure that disappears abruptly when you try to interact with it. It doesn't seem to accomplish anything, however, and ultimately you still have to enter the maze. This time, however, when the monster appears and speaks its line, the character that you encountered earlier materialises in front of you, shielding you and delivering a riposte. The monster then fades and takes on a more corporeal and decidedly less intimidating form, and you engage in a battle. This time, it's the intervening character (either Compassion, Justice, Logic or Truth) who fights in your stead, and you also learn the identity of the monster (either Indifference, Iniquity, Fallacy or Deception.) When there is no-one to protect you, the four monsters are simply nameless horrors that you cannot possibly defend yourself against. However, with the monster's "opposite" present and ready to fight, it is revealed for what it is, and the ensuing battle can be won. There is little you can do to influence this, however; you don't know beforehand which doors will lead to mazes and which won't, so you just have to hope that the characters are there when you need them. Once the four monsters are defeated, you must enter another house, whereupon you are immediately faced with a new enemy. Since you've already unlocked the four characters, however, they appear automatically to defend you once again. This battle is a little different; here, you need to have been paying attention to what the earlier monsters have been saying. At the start of each turn, the enemy speaks a line corresponding to one of the monsters, and you must respond by attacking ONLY with the appropriate character. Compassion counters Indifference, Justice counters Iniquity, Logic counters Fallacy and Truth counters Deception. Neither brute force nor inactivity will win the fight for you; if you attack with the "wrong" character, or if you let a turn go by without attacking at all, you will always lose. If you get it right, however, the monster is defeated and you are transported back to the village. The first thing you'll notice is that the atmosphere has changed. With all the monsters defeated, the danger has passed; where once you were constantly under threat, the village is now inviting and carefree. This is the first time in the game where you have any real freedom. You are no longer "boxed in" by your limited awareness and are free to explore as you like. However, you'll soon realise that ultimately, there's nothing left for you here. While it's sad that you must leave just when you were beginning to appreciate how peaceful and safe this place is, it's time to face the world outside the village, whatever it may be. Once you leave, and just before the credits roll, you are finally given a name.

The RPG Maker XP tilesets are pretty limited. You're only allowed one set per map, and it gives you a fairly small variety of objects to work with. They took a step towards fixing this in RPG Maker VX, which allows you to use tiles from whatever sets you want...and then took a step back by only allowing a maximum of five sets. But surely the whole point of the exercise is to see how much of a game you can pack into this small village.

I don't care how much anyone tells me this is just a matter of opinion; Kelis' "Milkshake" is OBJECTIVE PROOF that this statement is false.

Only the tiniest iota of download activity. Come on, folks. I almost had to make an effort to create this in a single day. Don't make me create a new thread for it!

It it just me or does his voice seem a little different in this one? Either a scratchy throat or a new mic, from the sound of it.

Yeah, I somehow managed to put two "http"s in the URL. Here. NOTE: Should you lose a battle, be sure to hit Enter to dismiss the text boxes in the ensuing scene once you've read them; it's the only instance where you'll still be able to move while a message is showing. If you don't, you will not get the full experience.

Do we all remember this thread? I didn't. Totally forgot about it until today, when it suddenly dawned on me in the middle of lunch that I said I'd put something together. Introducing: Nameless. Now, there are a few things I should point out. First, due to the troubles I had with accessing CHIPP's project data, I had to recreate his map simply by looking at the picture and estimating where everything was, so the village is more of a rough approximation than an exact copy. Secondly, I pretty much threw this whole thing together today, so don't be surprised if there are any bugs. I've playtested it a few times, though, so unless you go out of your way to break it, you shouldn't encounter any trouble. Thirdly, this is more of an experiment than an actual "game". It'll only take about ten minutes to finish, and the level of gameplay is minimal at best. What I'm interested in is seeing whether or not people get what I was going for with the project, and exactly how much they manage pick up on. Give it a try and let me know your thoughts. Once a few people have made their guesses, I'll post a full synopsis of what exactly is going on and why I designed things the way I did. If nothing else, I did put some cool music in there, so you should download it if only for that. That said, here are the controls and a hint: Movement: Arrow Keys Select/Confirm/OK/Etc.: Enter Menu: Esc Hint: Save every time you get the chance. I can almost guarantee you will not get through this without dying at least once. EDIT: One additional note. While I think I did include everything in the file, you might have to download and install the RPG Maker XP runtime package before the game will work.

Mages are pretty ridiculous, yeah. I certainly wouldn't want to form a party without one. Of course, it's also just a fairly tough game.

Not really, no. It does kind of answer why the Grey Wardens are actually crucial, rather than just "good to have around", but otherwise it's a classic example of Diabolus Ex Machina. Actually, I'm going to add that as an example.

I personally would have found that choice more difficult if: 1. Kaidan was a useful character. 2. Kaidan had said anything new in the last ten hours. 3. Ashley was not totally into me at that point. On topic, while it doesn't actually make me tear up or anything, the isn't something I'd listen to on an off day.

This is why it really annoyed me that Riordan left it so damn late to tell you that the person who kills the archdemon will die. If he'd mentioned that earlier, you could (possibly) placate Alistair by simply saying "OK, we let him live so he can be the fall guy." Evil dude still gets brought to justice and neither of us has to die or sire an eldritch abomination. Happy ending with no ominous undertones! Man, I sure hope everyone reading this is using the default forum skin. We should petition to either get some proper spoiler tags or bring size 0 text back.

I still maintain that this is softcore porn music.

Well now, that's a little unfair. Morrigan watches you for maybe half an hour, and only when you start getting near her home and she has good reason to be wary. Elanee, on the other hand, is a creepy voyeur who's been looking through your window every day since you were born and probably has more than a few pairs of your underwear. If you want another comparison, I give you Leliana as the cheerful, plucky, female rogue. Although that's not so much a Neverwinter Nights 2 thing as an "every BioWare game ever" thing. Imoen, Alora, Mission Vao, Mira, (she's rogue-ISH) Neeshka and now this.

Oh. I thought it was to point out that a lot of people are mistakenly calling it a trilogy. Because I checked and it isn't necessarily going to be one; people have just assumed it will be because of Mass Effect. There will be a Dragon Age 2, (as if you couldn't tell from the ending) but there aren't any further games slated after that. That actually makes my speculation less likely to come true, because unless it becomes a major plot point right from the beginning, it's going to be tough to squeeze "The Maker is actually a demon or a myth" into just one more game, rather than two. I'm still banking on it, though.