LP Update/Comment Thread

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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by IskatuMesk »

Ah, so he made a game filled with super annoying QTE's in spite of everything - just like Lords of Game Testing. Great! That really fills me with confidence.
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by ArcCain »

Never played it, just I've heard things about it. Didn't you like the bosses in it though? Haven't seen your LP but I remember you saying something about the bosses in it.

Edit; what kind of QTE's were in Dragon's Dogma?
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by IskatuMesk »

Wolves, penises, the mounting mechanic, certain enemy abilities, etc. Basically all of Bitterblack is a string of QTE's.

Some of the bosses are alright but after seeing footage of dmc5 I have no hopes for it. DMC4 was a colossal disaster for boss fights.
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by ArcCain »

Ah, yes. Those types of QTE's are the worst. They single-handedly made me hate Metal Gear Revengeance.

As for the bosses in 4, they were all designed around Nero's Buster with each having their own windows during which they can be grappled. However it might not be clear in some cases and other's require experimentation or looking up online to figure out when you can grab them--I remember that you sometimes grabbed them without knowing how you pulled it off. Naturally designing pretty much all the enemies and bosses around Nero's grapple mechanics meant that Dante was left with just a carry over kit from 3 and some new toys to play with. 4 had a lot of issues during its development with Dante being the main character at first before being swapped out for Nero and later put back into the game. Ultimately Capcom pushed the game out before it was finished which shows in the final product.

Personally I think the boss fights in 4 are all right save for three (first Agnus, the Pope and the Saviour) which are dull at best or frustrating at worst. Credo is the one boss which comes the closest to dmc3 bosses but that is about it. As for 5, I'll wait and see. I am worried that you'll be able to unload massive damage on them whilst they are stuck doing scripted stuff, or that they'll carry over unwanted elements of DMC:DMC...

https://youtu.be/yP-UqnXSGDk?t=28
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by Drunk Swede »

DMC4 is a casualified mess made up of 50% DMC3 copypasta and 50% failed intern flailing. Unless you use something like the supertrainer to add GMD difficulty with Instant Enemy DT and Max AI tweaks, most if not all of the bosses can be killed in less than 30 seconds even by low skill players. See, the bosses and enemies in DMC4, by default, have these massive stalls between every action where they'll just stand around doing fuck all, so without raising their aggression level with that trainer, you can just lay on the damage indefinitely, often even stun-locking the boss so it never gets to act. On top of the stalls, all the duel bosses like Credo and Dante also have super exploitable AI. The grab attacks are completely irrelevant to this, and can just be ignored entirely if you want to.

If the stalls and broken AI weren't enough casualification for you though, the devteam also thought it'd be a good idea to apply a global limit on how many enemies can be attacking at a time. In most parts of the game, this limit is 3, but in many sections, only a single enemy in a group can attack at a time while the rest just flail around uselessly. Additionally, health pools were massively cut compared to the 3rd game, and enemy devil trigger was all but made irrelevant because of how rarely enemies actually get to DT, and you're handed such overpowered abilities in DMC4 regardless of your preferred character, that every part of the game can be cheesed to death.

As an example, if you plan to SSS-rank the 4th game, you really don't need to do anything, just play it enough and you'll automatically SSS-rank every mission. In comparison, in DMC3, if you wanna SS-rank that game, you're gonna be spending years getting good, and after that, you're gonna spend months planning and practicing every single mission over and over.

People are still to this day improving on their DMC3 SS-runs, either by going for the most entertaining, stylish runs, or the most effective, rank-conscious runs, or silly challenge runs like no-upgrade runs, the floor is lava runs where they can't touch the ground, Yamato-only runs, or whatever. People can still get things out of that game even after all this time. Meanwhile, in DMC4, you only see combo masturbation, because there's no real engaging challenge to be had in that game even with the supertrainer enabled. You're still just slogging through permanently stunlocked enemies and cheesing easily abusable bosses.

And even then, DMC3 isn't perfect either. Mission 14-19 is just filler, with boss designs that strongly imply that Capcom was already firing all their talent back before they were finalizing the 3rd game in 2005.

All of this combined makes a strong case for DMC5 being just as bad as dmcdmc. They've either fired or leaked all their talent for 14 years by now, and at this point they're just milking the remaining fanboys who are still too dumb to see through this bullshit even after Capcom let Ninja Theory shit on them for liking the previous titles. I mean, they handed a well liked, established series over to a shovelware developer. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by IskatuMesk »

I have added four new Castovers to the Castover section: Gods, Fester's Quest, Bad Street Brawler and A Week of Garfield.

Some information from the Battletoads note in Gods will be corrected in a later cast (that was recorded in 2016).
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by IskatuMesk »

A graveyard release for segment 1 of Painkiller is now available.
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by IskatuMesk »

Due to constant complications such as my audio randomly producing super fucked up recordings, most of January is a write-off and I am very behind my original projections.

Recordings for Scourge Project are complete.

Warcraft 3 has been started primarily as a platform to test current instability of my audio hardware (which already managed to damage segment 1).

Now, the two major audio problems I have to deal with.

For the last year, my AT m50x have been digging my glasses into my head and have significantly deformed. The padding lasted maybe a month or two before it significantly degraded and the surface was eroded off in quick succession. The left cup is angular and requires me to hold the cord around my right shoulder to get it to align to my head.

Pricing and research for suitable replacement headphones didn't offer even a shred of encouragement. The m50x are some of the only headphones with neutral sound. Most that claim to have neutral sound still filter it. Furthermore, most headphones are smaller than the m50x which are already way too small. My ears get crushed from all sides and the speakers are right against my inner ear. They are quite possibly the least comfortable headphones I've ever used - a shame given they have the best sound.

This is far from the first time I've forced myself to endure constant pain because of lack of finances. Back when I accidentally sat on my glasses it took eroding flesh off my nose and getting blood in my eyes to do anything about it. That was when we had money, though.

So, I can't replace the headphones, but I was able to convince my grandmother to spare money for some replacement pads. The pain is just too much for me to deal with anymore. I often play silent as a result.

Replacement pads for headphones typically change their sound, according to reviews. So, picking the right ones was basically shotgun roulette in total darkness. They are also insanely fucking expensive - Canada wanted $80 before taxes for replacement pads, while I could just buy them from Best America for $22. Even with conversion rates and shipping, they came to less than half the price of the Canadian ones. Still way more than they should have been. But, if they fix the headphones, then it's worth it. We'll know in a few weeks.

The other problem is my interface (maybe?) has started corrupting my mic audio at random, which damages both video and anything else I'm doing. It's totally unpredictable and the only known solution is to use old drivers - the drivers I was already using. I reinstalled them, and the problem didn't resolve. Since there's no way I can replace that hardware or even isolate the cause to it alone I'm basically fucked.
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by IskatuMesk »

OK, the headphone pads have arrived and I have been using them for about a day with mixed content. You can treat this post as a preliminary review if the subject has ever crossed your mind.

Headphones - AT m50x
Replacement pads - Wicked Cushions -

Firstly, the pads cost over triple that in Canadian (22 > 69) not to speak of the increased taxes. Canadian sellers are fucking insane and don't deserve your money.

The pads are very well rated and many reviews claim they do not effect audio balance. Given most people listen to music through youtube from their iglasses I'm not surprised they can't tell the difference. Nonetheless, I couldn't afford gambling to replace the headphones themselves. Also, I was curious how well replacements actually worked. Well, it technically wasn't my money I was spending, so I took the opportunity despite my reservations.


The pads arrived friday (about 10 days ahead of schedule) but I wasn't made aware of this until two days ago. Amazon didn't notify me where the pads were left off, or who left them off - only that the American shipper delivered them. As it turns out, packages tend to get handed to Canada Post when they cross the border and it was left at the community mailbox (aka the "legalized theft" outlet). Since Amazon didn't say any of this or offer a convenient way to access the shipper's website anymore I had to go through everything by hand.

This lead to me walking through -10 ice wind in early morning since I really wanted to get the ball rolling on these. The package was pretty small, a cardboard envelope containing a small black bag with the two pads in them and the same 20% coupon the manufacturer sells on their website. The bag is just some plastic thing, nothing to hoot about. The thing that concerned me immediately with Wicked Cushions physical merchandise is the incredible amount of bad grammar and English, commonly having spaces before periods in multiple sentences. Nothing sets off a red flag like someone selling English-translated content without proof reading it.

The bag contained a small paper foldout with drawings and instructions for replacing the earpads. Some of the arrows are not oriented correctly and point to the wrong part of the image. Extremely unprofessional.

The pads themselves are basically fake leather. They're deeper and bigger than the stock versions (as the photos on the Amazon page show). Removing the stock pads was difficult because the fake leather on them was hard as rock. No covering on the originals remained, they were just foam pads now. Some articles read that the foam in headphones absorb sweat and tend to stink. That was never the case for me. They were, however, always too small for me, crushed my ears and pushed my glasses into my skull hard enough to bleed. My AT m50x headphone is also deformed and the left cup requires me to wrap a cord around my right shoulder to hold it against my head properly. I hoped the larger earpads would fix that.

To remove the old earpads, you have to put a finger under the foam and pull rather hard to get the hard leather out of the inset they're dug into. I heard a few snaps and had a few snags as I pulled them - I presume small dabs of glue or whatever from being machine pressed. It took me a total of about 6 minutes to get both pads out once I figured out how. The first one had begun to rip inside because they clearly weren't very durable. Investigations of the earpads themselves yielded they were tearing up inside the foam from rubbing against my ears for so long - the stock m50x is right up against the inside of my ear and was extraordinarily uncomfortable.

Getting the new pads in was a lot more difficult. Due to their larger size, you're inclined to think you can kind of slide the new edges into the insets and be on your way. You can't. The instructions were actually pretty useful here, since they tell you to use your finger inside them. They are pretty vague on the actual process, so it took me some trial and error. About 10 minutes were spent flailing around until I discovered you use your finger to lead the lining while holding the "finished" inset cup with the back of your hand so it doesn't move.

Make note this review is after only a day of using them.

Comfort

I'd rate the stock M50x pads at -4/10. Between the deformation of the headband and holding a cord under my arm, to pushing against my ear, to crushing all sides of my ear, to pushing my glasses into my skull, the tiny stock pads lost 99% of their leather covering in about 3 months or less. Of all the headphones I've worn these were by far the worst.

The Wicked Cushions I'd rate at 6/10. They don't smash my glasses, but they don't fix the headband deformation either. They're larger, but the weight is not much more. I can feel that sweat may be a problem in summer, but there's not much I can do about it. The pads themselves are larger, but still crush the sides of my ears very slightly - not enough to be painful. The headband is now a significantly greater presence with these pads since I have short hair and is rather distracting.

I don't like leather at all, but I read the other variants of these brands weren't even made by the same company and were terrible, so I stuck with these anyways.

As long as they don't degrade like the stock do, I'd say on a comfort level they are a big improvement but I would prefer softer materials.

During a long DDDA recording session I always felt conscious of the presence of the new headphones.

Isolation

They halved the sound of my own voice. I don't know about the environment yet, I'll do a fan test sometime. This can probably be attributed to the tighter fit.

Sound

Anyone who claims earpads don't effect the sound probably listens to music on youtube on their iwatch.

My first reaction to getting any new headphones is immediate dejection. They always sound terrible. This is because your ears aren't accustomed to the sound. The myth of "burning" is just a myth and that's that. It's all down to how your ears adapt.

Currently, the earpads are giving me the exact same result. The lows were totally gone and the highest ranges on Garnidelia's Color and Lucifer were irritatingly distorted when I first used them. I was pretty close to screaming in frustration but I accepted that the problem was most likely my ears and not the pads and I needed a few days to get used to them.

The biggest issue with the m50x is their sound isn't entirely neutral. Both the bass and the highs are altered, which is a huge no-no for audio hardware. The fact these are getting changed is attributable to the deeper cups, since I noticed the speakers in the headphones are on an angle. The distance and accoustics are a big part of sound stage for headphones, it seems, and anyone who claims they sound "better" is full of shit, period - something that dramatically changes how a product was designed to sound doesn't necessarily improve it, it changes the device and creates a new product. Whether or not they sound better doesn't matter - this isn't a first-party modification so it's no longer a first-party device. And, currently, they absolutely do not sound better. Do they sound worse, though? I have to wait for my ears to fully adapt, but this morning they sound alright if not flat.

The sound stage is totally different

Because the speakers are more distant I had to greatly elevate my volume to get the same base response. After my ears adapted through some hours of DDDA and I returned to Garnidelia and various Nasheeds, I felt the base response was returning to me. It's less pronounced, and thus more neutral, than the m50x - but how close to neutral is too difficult to objectively address without a lot of hardware at my disposal. My greatest fears were that the high range would remain unpleasantly distorted and force me to return to my old pads.

I feel a physical sensation when switching audio environments. My ears feel "full", as if I have an ear infection, and become sore after a while. The sound will be flat. That is currently what the headphones do with many tracks, such as the Neir orchestral recordings. Other tracks that occupy largely the midrange actually sound almost identical, though. Due to the increased speaker distance, the audio sounds more "encompassing" - it isn't being forced into your ear, but rather is surrounding your ear. This has consequences on tracks with stereoscopic presence such as many jpop tracks like Garnidelia Blazing in which the initial twinklers tend to push out to the sides more often than they used to. I would personally consider this an improvement, but it does diverge from the original device so that's a subjective opinion at best.

My voice in Scourge Project sounded very flat when I first began, and the base was largely absent. Right now, it's more like I remember, though it still sounds more distant due to the accoustics changes.

Currently, I no longer hear distortions in the high range.

What surprises me most is how midranges are basically unchanged. The camrip of Heavens Feel II is basically identical to before, and many electronic tracks in my CPGA collection are subjectively similar to previously.

Preliminary Conclusion

Make no mistake, changing earpads is basically getting new headphones unless you exactly replicate the distances and accoustics with stock replacements. Even when my ears get fully accustomed to the sound the headphones will never sound the same and I'll probably have lost some of their fidelity in the low and high ranges. Whether or not that is an improvement, by pushing me more towards a neutral response, or not, is beyond the scope of my resources to review.

$22 is far too much for headphone pads. Such a product should be closer to $5. In general, replacement hardware is stupidly overpriced and the entire market is out of control. In the subjective sense, the price for escaping the pain of the previous headphone pads isn't too high (especially compared to new headphones entirely, especially ones of comparable quality), but comparing apples to oranges headphones should never have gotten so expensive to begin with.

I expect my ears will fully adapt in around a week or so. If that gets rid of the discomforting pressurized feeling I get from new sound systems and levels out the flatness I'll consider it an acceptable middleground.
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by IskatuMesk »

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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by IskatuMesk »

After some internal delegation I have decided to release the currently complete videos for Skyrim as a Part 1 for the compilation today. This psychological adventure is one of the most bizarre and wacky series I have ever produced.
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by IskatuMesk »

The final two sessions for BiB are up in the D&D section. These are likely to be the last D&D videos from a player's or spectator's perspective I ever release unless Siriel or Christemo run another game in the future, or Lollerskates ever gets to run his game and I decide to record it. Was great fun while it lasted, but beyond Starsworn my time with D&D seems to be over. I'll continue producing dev videos for that game in the future, but I don't know when, if ever, I'll get to doing proper dialogue casts of it. It is quite possible I'll dissolve the D&D section and push the content in it into the Extras section at a later period.

Look forward to a DDDA Psychological Adventure release in the coming weeks. Currently, the most shining peer review of the project is as follows:
Drunk Swede: ok, first off, you are really as terrible a player as you claim to be.
Drunk Swede: you are like an intern forever stuck in the closet
Drunk Swede: you are like the gamer equivalent of a blizzard dev in these rpg casts
Drunk Swede: as soon as we move beyond reflex based shit, you just derp the fuck out
Drunk Swede: it'd be funny
Drunk Swede: if it wasn't...
Drunk Swede: sad?
Drunk Swede: is it really sad though?
Drunk Swede: it's like cringe comedy
god bless
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by IskatuMesk »

A 6-part compilation for Dragon's Dogma is now available in the Compilations section.
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Re: LP Update/Comment Thread

Post by ArcCain »

So I finished my first playthrough of DMC5 today and wanted to give a quick take on it without going into too much detail in case you want to play it with a somewhat neutral mindset. If you want I can give a more detailed review of it.

Q: Is it better than DMC3?
A: No. Over all DMC3 remains the best game in the series.

Q: Is it better than DMC:DMC?
A: Yes. It is not as edgy, although it suffers from spots of bad writing, and there are no QTE's--unless you count Nero's buster moves, which work like they did in DMC4, as such. I do not.
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