MOVING!

Blogger hates me, and I've grown to hate blogger. We're breaking up.

Okay, that's not true, but I want to transition to Wordpress completely since I might have a job that involves administrating a wordpress blog.

sinborn.wordpress.com - Go there. Forsake this wretched place.

Pioneering Your Imagination #1 - GE RP Explorations.

As my other factionmates will tell you, I leave games because of a lack of role-play. I would go as far to say that computer games that have no role-play or immersive potential are the easiest to abandon. Granado Espada was no exception. During my spring break, I opted to check out Second Life and effectively "played" a game that had zero combat substance. The interaction wasn't exceptional either, save for a few folk, but it was there and I thoughoughly enjoyed it.

I was recently roped back into Granado Espada because of a role-play contest, the third part of the Return of the Dark Lord. However, I expect to lose this time around. Polarbearz is a better writer than myself, and I couldn't survive the arduous trek to Deprimav to display any worthwhile character development inside of the game.

sGE has near-zero RP. This is partly because GE is a Korean-style MMO, which does not encourage interaction nor does it cater to individuals that nitpick about plot details. Role-playing is primarily an American and European activity from my experience, mainly due to having a larger-than-necessary English vocabulary as a general prerequisite.

Anyhow, let's skip to the basis of this posting-sequence: "What is Role-Play?"

The basic definition of pole-play is better described in a list, so here goes!

• Role-playing is like acting without a script. You play your character's personality as if you were that character. Putting your feet in another's shoes is the essence of Role-Play.
• Role-Playing is forgetting the interface even exists. The only additional medium you should be concerned with is the text-box. When acting out your character, you don't see people's names floating above their head or their health-bars.
• Role-playing is describing what the game cannot display or represent with its given models. For example, a gash on the face or a bird-plop on your shield.
• Role-playing is subjecting yourself to issues that the game doesn't force you to consider, such as needing to eat or, heaven-forbid, having a bowel movement.
• Role-playing is involving yourself with more than one individual, whether just for a chat or engaging in long-term relationships. Although the definition can be interpreted to be an activity for a single individual, the term generally implies it as a group activity. Role-play that concerns only its writer might be considered fan-fiction by extension.

Next up, I'll embelish on the reasons why someone would waste their time doing the above!

Coming soon - Sidewinder, War of the Lions review and Aurvana Day 4+.

I made an in-faction promise evaluate Sidewinder, the greatsword veteran stance, after I acquired it on my stock fighter, Undine, seeing that I am the wielder of a Big Bang +7. It will be analyzed in an unusual manner, combining a meticulous attention to detail with a sensational splash of purple. If you don't gag from it, then we should be bed-mates.

War of the Lions

I haven't finished the game yet, so don't expect a review. Instead, impressions will be thrown into your face.

First of all, Final Fantasy Tactics is an amazing game. War of the Lions is a remake of the title, so it's already worth your money if you haven't played it. If you have, then still consider buying it for the two new classes, the impressive multiplayer modes, rewritten scripts and excellent stylized animations.

However, WotL is not a perfect translation to those with fat PSPs. There is slowdown, a considerable amount of it. The basic formula for calculating the time it will take to complete a skill with a particle effect is (N)ormal time x 1.5 = (L)ion War time. The sound is also poorly executed. Some notes, such as the party selection screen, drawl and cut abruptly. The sound of lightning striking resembles a cat filtered through a square-wave wah-wah. If you've experienced the original Tactics, you'll be frustrated. Even more so if you've played the converted PSX iso on your PSP, which has no slowdown, in comparison to original, and very little sound disruption. Still, you. . . might get used to it.

That being said, the rest of the game the FFT I know and love with a little extra difficulty thrown in. Most classes take one more job level to unlock, which is a pain when dealing with thief or classes that you don't have weapons for. (Lancer, much?) As far as I can see, nothing has been changed for the worst.

I'll cut myself there. As this is being written, I am level 40+ before heading to the waterfall, practically destroying the game with three stock characters and Ramza. All my old tricks still work. It'll take a week before I get level 99 with all masters.

Creative AURVANA DJ - Day 4+

I have one gripe about my headset. The plug is huge. It's so long that it can create enough leverage in a pocket to actually bend the pin. At one point, the end of my Aurvana was at a 45' angle and on the verge of self destruction. Luckily, I reset the pin to a mere <2' point without losing any sound quality. However, I caution owners of pockets and runners that you can ruin your set if you apply enough pressure. Still, my headset still sounds amazing and remains quite comfortable, so I suppose it's good it suffered a crooked situation. (I shall be much more cautious in the future, hah!)

At the moment, I've been picking up on more Chillout. A very complex and thoughtful style of electronic music, comforting as smooth jazz with a futuristic feel. Good for photoshop inspiration and directly responsible for the image above.

P.S.

Anyway, that's a good, fat blog post for ya', no? Also, if you're into giant robots and forum roleplay, go to Mobile Suit Awesome and fire up a character. It's well-concieved and managed by my good friend, Geomaster, and I shall also participate there as an Armored Core pilot. It's fresh, new and damn sexy.

Dark Lord 2, again.

Alright staff, here's the low-down.

You took an event that previously failed and made it monstrously appealing to me. Unfortunately, Dark Lord 2 did not affect others as strongly or as favorably. A good job, but I think server-raids should take a rest for a bit until a sure and rewarding formula is discovered to benefit the entirety of the GE player core.

The staff successfully took measures to optimize playing experience with simple placement decisions. Splaying the conflict across three channels was something I would have done. Granted, the graphic lag was frightening to a number of clients, but I still managed to click through the chaos and land a good number of strikes on the gigantic horses. Deciding to have players explore for monsters was a good idea as well. Having the monsters come to the players would probably lead to another lag massacre.

However, graphical lag will always be apparent despite the measures taken to avoid it. Although the staff is not to blame for the playerbase's lack of decent computing equipment, graphical slowdowns do lead to a diminishing in fun-factor. It was difficult to move, use skills and effectively micromanage with a mere five-to-ten frames per second. Regardless, it would be nice to have in-game events that are not as brutally affected by low-midrange computer specifications. I can't think of one off the top of my head, but I will reserve a positive review for such an activity.

I personally felt the raid was monstrously exciting until the last creature fell, but its lack of rewards soured the aftermath. The loot was dismal for my faction and me, managing to scavenge a single 68 +5 from the entire endeavor. It was hinted that Amethy was being particularly generous post-victory, but none of my faction's inventories reflected it. While I am vying for the RP reward, my friends were not and conveyed their disappointment with the event with frankness and spite. They had worked hard despite the overwhelming odds and oppressive graphic lag for practically nothing. I happen to be an optimist and an appreciative goon, but I suspect other players are not so forgiving.

However, there is a negative pit in my stomach. I'm under the impression that I was the only role-player actively playing my character's emotions in Doriane's army, if not the entire Cervantes server. I do know NineMoons and other Cervantes-based RP advocates from the RP thread do exist, but reports from a few friends in other channels reported zero literary activity. While I'm not entirely surprised, I'm somewhat disappointed in the GE community for being so frighteningly cold to RP in general. "Personally" engaging with other characters' personalities was something I looked forward to.

The incorporation of the forum was a nice gesture, but I do not believe judging role-play is an appropriate contest. As I voiced in my previous posts, it isn't an activity that should be put under the competitive banner. Role-play is not about winning, it's about expressing your creativity through an emotional avenue without fear of being judged. Although I do approve of rewarding RPers for their efforts over not at all, I would prefer that all fiction writers/role-players should be commended for their unrewarded contributions to the flavor of Granado Espada. Also, it appears that very few members of sGE actively participate in RP, as evidenced by the frequent "confused-fellow" post in every thread.

Either way, I had a good deal of fun. My emotions are still clutching the event, a clear indicator that it was a success on a small, individual scale. On a larger, more unkind platform, it appears lukewarm and slightly out of touch with the general sGE player.

Granado Espada and Me.

Alright, I've been sucked into sGE. It might explain why I haven't been talking to anybody but my GE partners in crime. I won't go into what the game in great depth. The only thing that you need to know is that it's addictive, beautiful and offering a role-play contest until Friday.

I play extensively, devoting most of my CPU to running GE day and night. Most of my conversations are about GE, whether it concerns general gameplay, the exciting grind, my ridiculous loot luck or making a huge deal about Granado Espada history. I can't say that GE has exclusively grabbed my heart in terms of MMOs, but the mixture of flavor and excellent game design keeps me devoted.

The only problem at the moment is the lack of serious, if not beautiful, role-play, an issue I constantly encounter in MMOs that my friends drag me into. In GE's case, I'm surprised and not surprised simultaneously. When I first came upon GE's interface and chatting system, I noticed that local chat had the customary limited range, could be applied above the heads of any of your three characters and there were plenty of emotes to work with for the textually-challenged. However, after I saw the pros, I was reminded that GE doesn't have the most eloquent or thought-provoking player core and the background story is vague at best.

I chose a humorous name for my family, figuring I would never see another delicious personality on Cervantes, the server that I send and receive packets from on a daily basis. Futanari. Yes, Futanari. On occasion, people notice that my family title is plain insidious and I relish in the positive OOC attention. My character names all have some sort of Futanari/Quasi-sexual reference, such as Reika, Undine (From Claymore, whom I love with all my heart), Trapalicious, New1/2, etc.

So what am I? A hardcore standard gamer or the frighteningly devoted role-player that some remember me as? Unfortunately, more of the former than the latter. I don't have anyone to play with, nobody to express my obsession with. A good 75% of the server doesn't understand what I say, and those who seem to actively engage in the craft are on different servers. Besides, my style is monstrously libidinous and I'll probably be banned for sexual harassment after I start engaging in a deeper, erotic plot. As it stands, I am left with the forums and the recent roleplay contest to sate my desire to be deep, thoughtful and exceptional among others.

However, the contest is not a true avenue of role-play. The second the craft is put into a competitive environment, the true essence wanes. I, frankly, do not enjoy the contest. The damned competition has brought me nothing but stress, ego and apprehension for the future if I should lose (A very likely prospect, I'm afraid. Esme/NineMoons/Presea/EonOmega/DeusAngeles will probably go away with Doriane's favor.) It has been my obsession, it keeps my lids peeled and my nose constantly in a book or hovering over my keyboard. This experience has turned role-play into a vicious monster. Part of me wants to boycott the event, but another demands I acquire the prize for the sake of my own self.

I don't have much to work on, unfortunately. There are a number of holes in the background of GE and I'm unsure if it is entirely appropriate to role-play a RNPC. I'm trying to develop my stock class characters, Reika and Undine, into memorable souls, but I have only a few more days and perhaps three more posts maximum before the event comes to its climax and its ultimate conclusion. Even so, I feel hopeless and nervous in the same stroke. I've been outclassed by so many other writers in my lifetime. If there is an opportunity to escape that grim shadow, the time is now. (GE players will appreciate that line.)

. . . I want to crush my hopes desperately. I want my expectations to be set to the soil before the day they christen the dramatic royalty. This worry resembles the worst role-play related catastrophe I've suffered, the wedding of Lokasenna, where I screamed into the nothingness. I won't kill myself over it, but my pillows will suffer salt and screams like I did before.

My mattress frightens me. If I go to sleep, I will dream of failure.

-Sinborn

Admin News - Hey, it's back!

I'm sick of trying to work my way around a low end SQL server with blogging programs. This is the new sinborn.net
until further notice. I'll be posting all sorts of random garbage
here for your viewing pleasure.