No, they're heavily influenced by large groups of like-minded people. And that's just how things like this work out. Don't be a sore loser and blame it on the Gutter, because that isn't fair and it is just indulging in the same attitudes everyone in the Coffeehouse was complaining about just a bit ago.Why was I happy to lose? Well because obviously the forum awards are heavily influenced by the invisible Gutter. And I've expressed anti-Gutter sentiments before.
Funny, and constantly up to date with everyone else's drama.And we all know that the only thing that matters on MTGS is being funny.
Anyway, so today is Josh's and my 7th anniversary- and from here, only 7 and a half months until the wedding! I'm pretty excited, I've got pretty much all of our vendors lined up and gotten the ball rolling there- the only thing I still need to figure out is where to hire an ASL interpreter for the ceremony.
We're not able to celebrate our anniversary today, though- I just got off work, and we seriously need to do laundry and do some shopping before we do anything else. But we will be getting away for dinner and a movie this weekend. I think we may be heading into "old couple" territory, because the dinner and movie notion is like, waaay too exciting for me at this point. We never seem to be able to get much time with just the two of us anymore, and we just don't have the energy or interest in anything much wilder anymore. One night last week we actually went to bed at 8:30pm. It's pretty sad.
Anyway, don't have much else to contribute to the Cube conversation- except one thing- Alacar, you said you use some Un cards? Which sort of Un cards do you think are fair game for general play? Some are obviously too wacky or gimmicky to make for fair play outside a decidely Un game, but for regular casual play, what sort of Un cards are playable?
Which ones are even sort of good? And which ones can become problematic in a casual environment due to power levels? Just curious.
It will clear up. You actually have a good deal of game left, you are sort of entering the last stretch here and it will all be a lot clearer.
P4 was 40 dollars when it was new, so a year later, you should be able to find it used for ... not too bad. Hard to say how much, but I'm willing to bet you can pick it up for about 20 bucks in the right place. I really recommend it. I loved P3, but P4 is easily one of my favorite games of all time. It has so much charm. I get all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.
Edit:
... the HELL, Stuff!?
Persona 4 has a friendlier combat system, and a lot of the catches in P3's system are ironed out. Persona 4, mechanically, is like Persona 3 with all the annoying bits taken out. You can control your allies in combat, you have a relationship meter with all your allies, not just the girls you can date, your relationship meter actually impacts combat (people with high affection for you will save you from attacks that will kill you), the attack properties are better balanced and there are fewer of them, and it is easier to budget your time, since you can do dungeon exploration in the afternoon. There is very little dead time in P4, you can pretty much find something to do every day.
Furthermore, Persona 4 has more challenging battles, but at the same time is more forgiving- basically, it makes fights more dangerous, but gives you options and interface aspects that make it easier for you to deal with that difficulty. So basically, the difficulty kind of evens out, and you are left with battles that are rewarding and strategic without being aggravatingly difficult or overly punitive. P3 has battles that can be hard, but many of them are just ... well, they pull punches. And then, with most other Megaten games, they don't even care, the battles will crush you mercilessly, but you never feel a lack of challenge. So P4 kinda of gives you a happy medium.
As far as other RPGs that are like P3 and P4, I can't really think of any offhand. The Persona series on a whole is pretty unique, conceptually, but 3 and 4 are radically different not only from the rest of the series, but from most other games in their genre. They're pretty unique. Josh says that the Mana-Khemia games are supposed to be a bit like them, but having not played them, I don't really know how accurate that is.
As for how long The Answer is... honestly, I don't know! I've only played the original P3, I've never actually played through FES. It's supposed to be a good 20 hours, though, I believe. It's also pretty difficult, from what Josh tells me.
Unlike a lot of RPGs, Megaten in particular, P3 and P4 are easy to pick up after putting them down for a bit, because of the way they play. You never end up stuck in a dungeon, you always know where you are because of the calendar, and you tend to have a routine, so it is a good game for that.
Most of the anime cutscenes don't have a ton of voice acting, fortunately, so you aren't missing too, too much- you do miss some, but they are used pretty sparingly.
Oh, hahaha, yeah. Not to spoil, but prepare yourself for a lot more craziness after that.
Some of the full moon shadows are a joke, and then some are just outlandishly powerful if you go in unprepared. I can't remember which one it was, since I haven't played it for a good while, but one of them just absolutely trounced me. So I take it you are enjoying the game then?
You might really enjoy Persona 4 once you finish it- Persona 4 is a lot like 3, only more streamlined, with a very engaging story, a bit more variety, and (in my opinion) a more engaging cast.
Anyway, after 4 hours of recording with/for Blaine Woodturtle, my throat and mouth are completely trashed! My jaws ache, and my voice is all scratchy... voice acting is pretty exhausting work!
What was the problem?
Didn't really get to play EDH this weekend, couldn't get a decent game going, ended playing 1v1 with Josh, which really isn't the same.
Ugh. That sounds awful. We've been avoiding sleeving in EDH just because no one wants to go out and buy a bunch of matching sleeves (it may just be me, but it seems like most of the time, the only sleeves they have come in packs of 40, and they don't have more than 1 or 2 of the same kind at the store at any one time, making it impossible to have a fully sleeved EDH deck that matches). Cube sounds like it is probably something to try eventually, but to be really honest, it sounds like a lot of work for one person, and I can't see anyone else I play with taking a lot of interest in doing one.
Same for me! I'm looking forward to it, although I don't know that anyone else in the group is.
Yeah, I haven't been here in over a year, and prior to that, my posting was sporadic, a few posts every few months or so. I really haven't been around in some time.
It's a Smash Bros. meme, where very serious competitive players will often preface a match by stating they will only play as Fox in the stage Final Destination with items turned off. Fox is a very versatile character, typically considered to be one of the highest tier characters, and thus the best to display how skilled of a player you are. The stage Final Destination is small, basic, and gimmick free, leaving the focus on the match on the combat, and with no items, there is no random element to interfere with the match. Basically, it takes everything that is fun and unique about SSB (tons of different characters, low entry curve, unpredictable game play, unusual stages that can swing the tide of a match all over the place, a casual environment) and removes them. Shorthand- it means someone who considers a game to be very serious business, to the point where they end up tossing aside a good 75% or more of the game's features because they don't contribute to their desired environment for testing their skill.
So it is sort of like drafting, but for people who are too cheap to buy boosters and/or people who want to draft but are too "FINAL DESTINATION, FOX ONLY, NO ITEMS" to run the risk of possibly drafting Moonlace?
That sounds kinda cool. Will have to try that sometime.
I'm told by Craig that if you do come, we have to opt for the strip club option. Don't worry about it too much, just make sure if you are coming you let me know with some advance- ideally a couple of months, but to be quite honest, in specific circumstances, even a couple of weeks is fine. I just don't want to set a precedent, but one or two people isn't a big deal. The only thing I worry about is accommodations, given that I have a lot of out of town guests coming, and it is prime wedding/graduation party season, and our little town only has so much available room- and I'm already putting up more people than I am really comfortable with, to be totally honest. But hopefully you can come, that would be fun.
I have no idea what a Cube is, and frankly, I'm too lazy to Google it.
Thanks for taking five minutes away from your busy schedule of buying things out of every used pantie machine in Kabukicho to keep us in the loop, Ace.
There is also a trophy and an international leaderboard.
What is this, Time Spiral?
That's my problem: who I am is equal parts strip club and Saproling tokens.
I've never had the opportunity to play Limited, but it's always appealed to me for that reason. Call me crazy, but if I am going to spend money on a pack with 15 cards in it, I should be able to use at LEAST 12 of them on a theoretical level, you know? The closest experience I have had to Limited was running some Sealed for Academy on MWS, and that was a lot of fun.
Oh, I see how it is. I come back, I get a nod of the head, a tip of the hat. Maybe next time I disappear and then return, I'll come back with hooters and see how you respond, mister.
Okay, you want to know the sad thing- one of the first things I thought was "hey, we could do Magic as a game at the pre-wedding party!" Then I was filled with deep shame. I'm still trying to figure out just what to do with the pre-party. A lot of it depends on when the out of town guests get into town, and how much time I can get off of work. Part of me wants to do something safe and inclusive for everyone, part of me wants to do something tacky like hit a strip club as a group, part of me wants to do something really nerdy like MTG and D&D and Smash Bros. Also, part of me is really just trying to figure out which option is the cheapest and which group of guests I don't mind excluding from the fun to satisfy that part of myself.
Strip EDH is easy enough. Whenever you take General damage, you take something off. Obviously, that shifts the metagame towards small, cheap evasive Generals and means some perv will spend most of the time trying to figure out how to give Isamaru, Hound of Konda shadow.
That sounds like a horrible idea for me, as I am much more competitive at sex than I am at Magic.
I haven't really been on Facebook a whole lot the past few days due to work, so I must have missed the update. I'm really sorry, I know that the job was a big deal for you, and obviously having a job in our current economy is very important. Plus, everything else that sucks about the situation.
Anyway, just killing time over lunch at work here. Looking forward to coming home, we're running D&D this weekend and hopefully playing EDH with some people on Friday. I've been trying to get other players I know turned onto the format, especially those that I know have sort of abandoned the game due to how ugly and competitive the local meta got right around the time I quit. I think I have at least 2 interested. I'm also trying to plan a party of some sort for an Operation Christmas Child event and being frustrated by a lack of available weekends. I hate planning crap with people I know. They always have something going on- someone always has work, or is going out of town, or has previous obligations, or has the swine flu, or some crap excuse. It really messes with my whole solipsist view of reality in which people do not exist unless I am giving them some sort of attention.
Ugh! But you do have to admit, that is sort of funny, though. Dying to your own general is probably the sort of thing that is cute once, but then never again. Sort of like when someone casts Temporal Extortion in Izzet Steam Maze and everyone's life totals go to hell. I have no idea if the card actually works in that situation or not, but we decided to run it that way. Made me laugh, but never again.
The goats are awesome, everyone cheers when we get into Goldmeadow. Last night, Josh send a creature to the graveyard with Grave Pact out, and so my sister had to sac something. She wasn't sure what to do, so since I was already dead and out of the game, I just nudged her and said "just sacrifice one of your goats." She just looked at me and says:
"My friends at church were right, this game is Satanic!"
I don't have a lot of my Fallen Empires anymore, though, which makes me really sad. You know, say what you will about it, but I loved that set as a kid. Especially all the thallids. I was ALL about them, even though I think I only marginally understood how they worked at age 12. God, what I wouldn't give to go back to a time when Thorn Thallid was awesome.
Having fun with crappy cards is the heart of the game, if you ask me. It's fine to play with good cards- good cards are good, after all, hence the term "good cards", but there is something very satisfying about dropping a completely mediocre piece of binder chaff to the table and doing fun things with it, you know? Beating someone down with a Darksteel Colossus you Tinkered into play? That's effective, and can be pretty cool, but beating someone down with a Combat Medic equipped with a Loxodon Warhammer and Tatsumasa the Dragon's Fang is something of beauty.
Haha, I actually spent some time trying to figure out how one could effectively use Norin as a general. I failed, obviously, but I would love to see someone do it.
Last night, I played 4 player Planechase EDH, and it was really a lot of fun. Josh and M played with us, too, and it seems like everyone liked it. Josh ran Lyzolda, I ran Ib again, M ran Experiment Kraj, and the fourth player was our 16 year old sister who has played all of two games of Magic in her entire life- once when she was at a laundromat with us and was bored, and once when she found a copy of Autocthon Wurm and was like "Can I make a deck with this? It looks fun!" She ran Tolsimir Wolfsblood, and she actually ended up coming in first at the end of the night. It was crazy.
The planar aspect really seemed to break up the tension and add a lot of swing. The first round of the game, we started in Skybreen, and ended up getting two chaos effects in a row, making everyone but the first two players take 14 damage (the first two players, having made land drops, ate only 12 damage). We then spent the next two rounds frantically attempting to shift away. It seems like getting into planes like Sokenzan and Undercity Reaches really makes the game move very quickly and makes people much more aggressive, even with slower decks, which was a lot of fun. We ended the game in Goldmeadow, which everyone loved. Endless chump blocking and lots of reasons for people to make stupid jokes and bleat like sheep is a good thing! All in all, a lot of fun!