CRAZE'S PROFILE

Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15170
a wolf can eat the equivalent of 100 hamburgers in one sitting

who needs PLOT whe nyou ahve GAY PEOPLE
Wakenights
"Save" the "princess" from the "demon"

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Let's Fail At Playing (Let's Play with Craze)

I've been doing some Let's Tries recently, although I wish I did more. When I booted up Legionwood today, however, I felt a sudden urge to do something different - thus, I started a Let's Play. I even finished it!

Latest update: Super Mario World 4-5
Updated on 11/27/2010

Jed
Genre: Platformer | Status: Completed
A short platformer about saving baby robots
Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/user/Crazetex?#p/c/2FDE7981F9D57029/0/lmcbOP8Q_m4
(Four videos)


Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Genre: RPG | Status: Cancelled
Gameboy + Harry Potter + Awesome = HP&tCoS
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NOos1HLJCg
I actually did more videos, but I need more LPing practice before doing an RPG. Whoops.


Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Genre: Action RPG | Status: Hiatus
One does not simply hack & slash into Mordor
Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/user/Crazetex#p/c/A0A1AC7B5B20CA86/0/MXC-rjeCzLg
(Twelve videos)


The Elder Scrolls IV: OBLIVION
Genre: Freeform First-person RPG | Status: Testing
Incredible journey through mods and almost roguelikeish deaths
Mod List: http://rpgmaker.net/forums/topics/2690/?post=215652#post215652
FPS Test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7Obm-rjanc

Super Mario World
Genre: Platformer | Status: In Progress
Mario: I am pretty bad at it.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkDqlh63nMw
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=canN4xA5twg
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-w584dj8-M
-
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MxU4B_O_dA
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0qOPXBj3AI


I'll actually do more later! I'm thinking about doing Immortal Defense or Knightfall next; I'm feeling the former more, though. Maybe an SNES or GBA game...? Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets...?

Single Character RPGs: How Can They Work?

I've been replaying Iji, which if you haven't played you better fucking play it right now. It's a platformer with non-linear elements, even if the game's broad areas progress linearly.

In Iji, you can distribute your stats to make your cyborg very customized. Different play styles play, well, differently. It's pretty cool, and lots of fun to mess around with!

How can this translate to a traditional RPG (not an action RPG) with a single character?

The game could have customization, or a few main characters to choose from, but needs to only have a single character playable at a time. How would you make this work? Do you think it'd be any fun? Is Dragon Quest I a good game or not? If you're making one yourself, I'd like to hear about your design process (F-G, I'm looking at you).

Some of my own rough ideas:
-Break the PC into a number of parts; his/her body, mind and soul, or something along those longs. That way, hits can still be spread out in combat
-Very deep customization available
-A focus on dueling instead of taking on hordes of enemies

Get Engaged: How A Partner Can Help

People do better when they talk about stuff.
Works cited: Life. You had that awesome night or that upsetting argument, so you chat with your friend over breakfast or coffee or whatever about it. You get to share the feeling or just vent. You feel better - you do better. You don't become a homicidal maniac after keeping it all inside.

Making games benefits from talking, too. That's why I made the "what are you working on now" topic, which I think works fairly well in sharing little stuff that doesn't necessarily warrant a blog. That's not to say that blogs can't work really well, yet they do seem to be more ignored than I'd like.

Let's Tries are a pretty good way to get some honest, immediate feedback for your game, but you need something playable in order to be able to be LT'd, and even then not all LTers are of the same caliber.

What you need is to really talk about your design, with or without amazing feedback. I'm lucky to have been good friends with Karsuman for, well... a considerable portion of my life, and since we now work together, we've been able to bounce (and build off of!) the other's ideas. I'm also friends with the energetic chaos, who I probably do the majority of the design talk with.

chaos: hmm
chaos: At Lv01 Siah has 34 HP and 41 in each defense
chaos: at Lv10 she has 160 HP and 50 in each defense
chaos: that is... drastic
Craze: yes
Craze: but is it an issue?
chaos: not really
chaos: The player will like seeing +14 HP each level up, I assume.
chaos: I think the game should open up a bit once Rila has her new familiar
chaos: like, maybe allowing you to take caravans voluntarily
Craze: That'd be fun.
chaos: and just letting you dick around for a bit
Craze: And probably necessary

It sounds trivial, but it's helpful.

Again, having great feedback isn't really the most important part of this exercise. chaos and I (Xenosaga?) usually have advice/tips for the other, especially if it's just HALP I NEED TO NAME THIS SKILL THAT DOES X (which happens way more often than you might think), but sometimes we just talk at the other person. There's active listening going on, but it's really just a release of information. Just talking about it helps you sort out your ideas.

This is why you guys should do your best to find somebody to talk to, hopefully as an exchange. A fair "you share, then I share" system works just fine. It doesn't need to be formal, and if karsu/chaos are any indication, it's usually interspersed between random bouts of normal chatter.

Find somebody to talk to.


chaos: Wandering Vagabond
Cost 1 Wind
Creature , Power Warrior
40 PWR / 30 MGC
You may sacrifice this creature to untap one of your own mana and draw a card.
Craze: Mercy Care costs 2? Meh.
chaos: there's uses
Craze: I like how you can
Craze: kill vagrants
Craze: to benefit yourself


***


Am I crazy for expecting you guys to do this? Do you have somebody you do this with? Is it helpful for you?

Four Heroes of Light ~ In Soviet Russia, Battles Target You



Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light, by Matrix Software (which created the FFIII/IV DS remakes), is both an attempt to capture the essence of the early Final Fantasy games and a departure from the series' norms. New music, style and battles make it different, yet still similar to, the games it tries to emulate.



The game takes place in a vibrant, storybook-esque setting with seven central cities. While there are still villages and towns as well, the cities define the tone of an area with its associated deadly sin (and appropriate demon). By saving the world one demon at a time, you'll earn new hats that let you change and upgrade your job. There are over twenty hats to be earned, including optional ones!

Similarities to Chromatose are probably not intended.



Battles take place using a point system, where MP is replaced by a cost of up to six (your total) points for an action. It is not dissimilar to FFXIII's ATB segments, except you start with the maximum total points and the game is turn-based.

One part of the game causing contention is that you can only lug fifteen items around on each character, including equipment and spellbooks. This is entirely on purpose and designed around, however, so it will hopefully not be as horrifying as modern jRPG enthusiasts believe it to be. Jobs like the Monk/Black Belt-type will certainly become appealing to balance out a black mage carrying Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga.

Another debated aspect is the fact that auto-targeting is used. Each action has a "rule," displayed on the action's button, that describes how it works. FRNT means that it attacks an enemy in the front row (meaning that if you want to take out that spellcaster in the back, you had better use a spell or archer of some kind).



Some cute art:


And some music:


***

I have Yunita as my wallpaper and $35 ready to shell out tomorrow.

Planescape: Torment for $10

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=408625

Planescape: Torment is for sale on gog.com.

I'm seriously considering getting it again. I owned it when I was a kid, but some friend's older brother "borrowed" it. He later went to jail.

I'm not sure which is better news, Suiko1 or this.

Usernames and You: Seperate, or...?

I recently realized how fucking weird it was that my own father calls me by my e-mail and AIM usernames. Like, y'know, "oh, hey, Crazetex, why don't you run and get some peanut butter" while we're in a grocery store.

Note that the name started entirely because when I first discovered invisionfree I thought "Crazeye" was clever, but eventually shortened it to "Craze." When "Craze" taken, I append "-tex" because once on Gaming World, Marcus called me "Tex." My father calls me by a name he had no part in creating.

Anybody else have weird histories/real-world connections to their usernames?

MOG

Here is why:

1) When I was younger, I had a nose with, like, no idea how to close itself. As a result, I would routinely wake up with blood all over my pillow (how's that for mental scarring) and the slightest bump would send the red rivers aflowin'
2) This was decided to be a problem, so I was taken to the doctor's office and had my nose cauterized (i.e. they shove a hot metal rod up your nose to melt it shut (how's that for mental scarring))
3) They overcompensated. My right nostril does absolutely nothing and I cannot get enough air through my left nostril to "blow" it unless I sneeze

You asked.

Crazewriting 2

New piece, new topic. I probably won't do this every week, but I feel like this might just be the most adorable thing I've ever written.

I really hate how it ends. Suggestions? I mean, by the time you read this I'll already have turned it in, but still. I'm open to critique.

The assignment was to develop 2-3 characters based on their dialogue and interactions with one another while playing a common non-athletic game.


Hang Me, Please
“B? Yeah, B.”

“You idiot, you're supposed to say 'A'! It's obviously 'Monica'.” Nick, hanging over the edge of his seat, thwacked the guesser on the shoulder. The bus driver looked up and told Nick to sit down, please.

“But there's only 'M' and 'I' filled in. How should I know?”

The reply came from the boy sitting next to the guesser. “Maybe because you've got a crush on her real bad.” He smirked and handed the notebook smothered with letters over to his friend. “How'd you like it if she started talking to you, Erk?”

Erik began furiously drawing a pedestal with two lines underneath it, then glared at Harry.

“Only two letters? The heck? Whatever.” Harry looked at his friend, then again at the paper. “N.” Erik bit his tongue and wrote the letter in the first slot. “O.”

Nick crawled over the edge of his seat again. “Meaning 'yes,' right Erk?”

“It wasn't a yes or no question,” said Harry. “Give me that.” He flipped the notebook over to reveal a page with some random doodles, which he crossed out. After a moment to set up the new game, he asked Erik for his first guess. It got to the point where the hanging man had a thumb on each hand.

“IT'S 'SHE LIKES YOU TOO'!” burst Nick, not able to contain himself any longer. In his excitement, he managed to slide off of his seat before the bus driver could tell him to sit down. The bus driver looked back at the road; all of the children turned to look at seat B7.

Erik grabbed the notebook, his face bright red. He drew a pedestal with a man fully hanged and an arrow pointing to it labeled “Harry Jenkins.” Underneath he scratched six lines and the words “shut up.”

Harry smiled. “I'm not lying. She's besties with my older sister!”

Erik didn't talk to Harry for the next two bus stops. Finally, Harry took the notebook and set up a new game, grinning. Nick had propped his elbows up on the seat's edge again already.

“M.” “Yup.” Harry marked the letter down. Nick asked if it was “Monica,” playfully punching Erik.

“The word doesn't start with an 'M',” sighed Harry. Nick made a weird noise and slid back down into his seat, bored.

Erik bit his tongue again. “N.” “Yup.” By the time the hanging man was wearing a top hat, Erik had managed to guess that “I” was the last letter in an incorrect spelling of “pomegranate.”

“That was dumb,” said Erik. Harry leaned over and whispered into his friend's ear: “that's Monica and my sister's codename for you.” Nick, listening in again, laughed hysterically at Erik's blushing face.

The bus driver was relieved when he finally got to the trio's street.

Crazewriting

Sometimes I write. Sometimes I write for class. I'm an Elementary Education major, but I'm concentrating in Language Arts, so I'm taking a lot of writing classes.

This is a piece where I had to write it in both first- and third-person perspective. I feel like they're way too interdependent, but whatever, I'm mostly just posting this to try to entertain you. I'm open to criticism.



Jason's So Pleasant
Jason this, Jason that. Everything's about Jason. Jason's so handsome, Jason's so pleasant, Jason's colors are so coordinated, Jason knows how to buy groceries so well. I mean, sure, I'm happy for my sister, but why wasn't anybody talking about her? Krissy's perfectly lovely.

“You're awfully deep in thought for a party-goer. What's eating you?”

“Jason,” I replied, snapping out of a dazed trance. I hadn't realized I was thinking so intently about this. “N â€" Not anything bad or -”

“I understand, don't worry. Everybody's talking about Jason. Look, there's mom chatting him up right now. You'd think she was trying to get his number.”

What a gross analogy. “You seem fine with that, Krissy.”

“Yeah, well, any man with balls enough to date our mother is a keeper.”

After few seconds of standing awkwardly, I moved away to talk to one of Jason's cousins or uncles or whoever, bringing up how my sister looked stunning in that emerald-color dress.

“Yes indeed, but Jason's snappy -”

Annoyed, I stopped really paying attention, nodding occasionally. Unfortunately, I stopped paying attention to more than just Cousin Somebody and knocked the punch all over Krissy. This proved to be a terrific mistake.

“The Hell's going on here?” bellowed a rosy-cheeked Jason from a couple yards away, snapping at my admittedly klutzy move. “You think it's funny to ruin my fiancé's dress? I spent over two hundred dollars on that!” He began to stride toward me with those legs that shopped so well.

“Jason, dear, it's not a big deal. I can change.” My sister was trying to smooth over the situation, knowing that it was purely accidental, but Jason would have none of it. The decidedly intoxicated man yelled at the two of us about money and idiocy while both families looked on in astonishment. Handsome, pleasant Jason was rolling up his well-coordinated sleeves, making me gulp.

Jason took another step toward me, screaming “I'm gonna teach you to mess with Kristina, you stupid brat!” My sister tried to stop him, but soon I landed in a puddle of sticky, red punch. Winded from the freight train of a man, I began to quicken my breath to match my racing heartbeat. Uncles and fathers and Aunt Marie were starting to run up and try to pull Jason away. I looked up at the fierce man's face, noticing how he was starting to turn from red to a shade of the angriest purple I've ever been forced to witness... but then a second fist came at my me, and -

* * *

Jason was the center of everybody's conversation. The son of a weathy violinist and painter, he was both sophisticated and well-educated. His fiancé, Kristina, was not an uninteresting or unintelligent girl, but had not been in a photo shoot on the top of the Eiffel Tower or spent a semester studying in South Africa. Kristina's family was clamoring to ask Jason about his stories, while Jason's family was more than willing to indulge anybody in Jason's history. Jason himself was spending time with his fiancé's mother, finding her enthusiasm greatly amusing... but maybe that was just his fourth glass of wine getting to him.

Kristina's younger brother was deep in thought when she started chatting with him. Her “what's eating you?” was promptly responded to with “Jason,” after Daniel had snapped out of a dazed state. He was not as enthralled with Jason as the rest of his family, and Kristina didn't really mind. She loved Jason, but she was a little sick of it as well.

“Look, there's mom chatting him up right now,” Kristina said of her betrothed. “You'd think she was trying to get his number.” A look of disgust appeared on Daniel's face, causing Kristina to laugh.

Daniel walked up to Jason's uncle and tried to start a conversation about Kristina. He found little success at subverting the overwhelming subject of Jason, being replied with a comment on Jason's outfit. It was a good-looking outfit, tailored to fit his broad shoulders specifically, but ultimately not of interest to Daniel. The conversation dulled his senses enough to cause Daniel to knock over the giant punch bowl. Red drink splashed all over Kristina and her new dress, staining it a rather disgusting color. Jason turned and saw Daniel apologizing.

“The Hell's going on here?” demanded the rosy-cheeked man, making Daniel act incredibly flustered. “You think it's funny to ruin my fiancé's dress? I spent over two hundred dollars on that!” Jason walked up to Daniel and Kristina while yelling about how her brother was a complete idiot and a disgrace to her family name. Kristina tried to calm Jason down, but he wouldn't have any of it.

Jason rolled up his sleeves, then let loose a punch so hard it knocked Daniel straight to the ground. His drunken bellowing filled the room and his face turned purple from anger. He punched Daniel again, knocking the young man unconscious. Various onlookers dashed forward, trying to pull back Jason, finally succeeding to do so after the second blow.

Everybody was still talking about Jason, but it was about how he was no longer engaged.

Craze's Let's Play! Topic

Yeah, I'm jumping on the bandwagon. I also lithp.

My goal is for RMN to produce games that I wouldn't be embarrassed to see outside of the incestpool RM* community.

The only games I know of that fit that description for me are Hero's Realm, Exit Fate and Last Scenario. I'd love to be able to add your game to that list. Funny thing... none of those games had their origins at RMN, and two have absolutely nothing to do with this site. Huh.

Latest update: Legionwood Session 3: Parts 19-23
Also, I started splitting different sessions up! Not a major change, but whatever.
(October 10th, 2010)

Dragonlands
Game Progress: 2-3 hour demo | LT Status: Completed


Pirates of the Internet
Game Progress: 15 minute full game | LT Status: Completed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YULdrXx6TTo

Legend of Denadel
Game Progress: 1-2 hour demo | LT Status: Completed
My voice is incredibly soft in this. I apologize, turn up your speakers!


Bronze Soul
Game Progress: Short demo | LT Status: Cancelled
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVZsQyQYcdk
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnBJtiDqc_c
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4BIjgrFoUc

Vacant Sky Act 1+
Game Progress: Completed; being revised | LT Status: Completed
I lost the last few parts in an incredibly unfortunate stroke of luck. I am pissed.


Fenrir: First Operation
Game Progress: Completed? | LT Status: Cancelled
This is a very unprofessional LT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKUBU3dmPXc

Legionwood
Game Progress: Completed | LT Status: In progress (Session 3)


The Room: Pandemonium in the Penthouse
Game Progress: Completed | LT Status: Completed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbz9hKggcdU


...could a mod change the title to Try instead of Play? Whoops.

On another note, I guess you can request The Lithp but I'm likely just going to do whatever catches my eye.

Official Backlog:
-Finish Legionwood
-Parallel
-Alter AILA: Genesis
-Forever's End

Potential Backlog:
-Balmung Cycle
-Chronology of the Last Era, whenever MOG sends it to me