Zagorath

Zagorath, 10 months ago

What evidence would you accept? Because you act as though you’ve already convinced yourself it’s not real and wouldn’t accept any evidence to the contrary. What, precisely, would convince you that you’re wrong, if firsthand accounts aren’t good enough?

Zagorath, 10 months ago

My favourite living composer is probably Elena Kats-Chernin.

Favourite dead composer is definitely Beethoven, but I’ve been getting very into Shostakovich lately.

Zagorath, 9 months ago

Riker would be so good at Transition 1 if he did a triathlon.

Zagorath, 9 months ago

In thoroughly confused. They’re not even similar.

Zagorath, 9 months ago

Is the Greek question mark a legal identifier for variable names?

Zagorath, 9 months ago

Comments explain why, not what. Any comments that explain what a section of code is doing would probably be better off as separated methods.

Apart from basic documentation comments, like JavaDoc or C#'s XML documentation comments.

Zagorath, 9 months ago

There’s nothing limiting what a comment should be as far as I know.

Nothing technical, sure. Just good coding practices.

Zagorath, 10 months ago

No disagreement from me whatsoever.

Zagorath, 10 months ago

Yeah fair enough. That sort of thing is definitely subjective and it would be impossible for anyone to say you’re wrong.

Personally, I find the new QOL features impossible to live without now. Shift-queueing absolutely any task, being able to queue multiple techs or techs and units, villagers keeping one resource until they actually start gathering—rather than losing all the gold they’re carrying just because you accidentally clicked a tree—farm autoreseeding. To me, none of these really change the fundamental way the game feels, they just make it feel like a smoother, more polished version of the original game.

Zagorath, 10 months ago

Huh, that’s very interesting. I’m genuinely curious to know what it was that you didn’t like about it.

Because the truth is that you’re seemingly in the extreme minority. While 2013’s HD edition seemed to split the community and received a bit of a mixed reaction, since 2019’s DE has been an unmitigated success in terms of both finances for the devs, and in terms of unifying and growing the size of the community.

Zagorath, 10 months ago

Uhh, no, not for me. Was that a problem quite a few people were reporting?

Zagorath, 10 months ago

Yeah for sure. That’s actually another reason that old abandonware should be kept available for people to play. If they come up with a replacement that’s good enough to displace the original, that’s awesome. But if they come up with a replacement that isn’t worth it, they shouldn’t be able to artificially prop up that version by making the original unavailable.

Zagorath, 10 months ago

Yeah that’s not great. To be honest for the most part I really like it. Most of the stuff you unlock is pure cosmetics (profile pictures or alternate looks for units—which only display as different for you, not your opponent). They’re just some good fun, and I find my completionist nature enjoys jumping into the game to get them.

But there have been a few of the things unlocked as part of the challenges—that 256x mod is one of them, and there have also been a couple of cheat codes more recently—that did feel like more substantial things to miss out on if you happened not to be able to play while they were on offer. I wasn’t playing when the 256x mod was around, but when the cheat codes first appeared I recall thinking it was pretty disappointing for anyone who might have wanted them that would miss out for whatever reason.

Zagorath, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

I agree with the goal of this, but don’t necessarily agree with its specific assertions.

Like yes, 100% we would be way better off if companies would actively support emulation by selling super-cheap any games that they otherwise have no interest in anymore.

But actually, yes, I do enjoy paying $40 for the remake of an old classic, if it’s done well.

The Spyro remaster from a few years ago was extremely well-done and I loved being able to play a favourite from my childhood on my computer. It was exactly the same game, only with modernised graphics. Well worth it.

Even better, Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. It upgraded the graphics, but also added an enormous amount of new content and (most importantly) quality of life features, all done in consultation with the community that had been playing the original game for 20 years at the time DE came out. It would be best if you could still buy the original 1999 version for five bucks, but frankly I doubt many people would if you could, because the Definitive Edition was done so well.

It’s obviously different when there’s a remake that’s nothing but a cheap cash grab. Or when there hasn’t been any type of modern update. I wish, for example, it was easier for me to get my hands on a copy of Battle for Middle-Earth 2 to play with my friends. But the company that made it isn’t even allowed to continue selling it, for complicated licensing reasons. Because copyright law sucks.

Zagorath, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago)

From the perspective of someone just wanting an awesome time, I agree completely. Or from the perspective of a Star Wars fan who wants all the lore and extended material. And personally, I would never want to skip it, myself.

But the goal of the Machete cut is to take a look at the Original Trilogy and ask: how can we get the best narrative experience out of this? It’s ultimately about telling Luke Skywalker’s story, and providing context to enhance the experience of his narrative. You put 2 and 3 after 4 and 5 to avoid spoiling the reveal at the end of Empire. You use the extended 2-movie flashback as a way to explain who that ghost that appears at the end of 6 is, as well as to enhance the parallels between Luke’s and Anakin’s characters; namely Luke’s use of force choke on Jabba’s guards, and him telling Jabba “you underestimate my power”—the same line Anakin uses on Obi Wan in Revenge.

Essentially, we see Anakin’s story as a way to provide further context to Luke’s. Phantom doesn’t aid this at all. Neither Qui-Gon nor Maul appear in any later core film. Phantom only provides further context to Anakin’s story, without aiding in Luke’s. In the words of the Machete order’s original creator:

Some people claim that Episode I isn’t that bad, and shouldn’t be removed (again, it’s not that it’s bad, it’s that it’s not relevant to Luke’s journey in the way that Episode II and III are). Lots of people like the pod race or Darth Maul or Qui-Gon or they were born in 1992. Whatever your reason, if you want to watch Episode I I’d recommend doing so separately, sort of like an “Anthology” film. After all, Machete Order doesn’t interfere with canon, everything is canonically compatible with Episode I (or any later ones) because we’re not watching fan edits.

The original creation came along with a lengthy essay explaining why, pointing to some possible disadvantages, and addressing those. It then briefly went over their experience trying it with someone new to the franchise. Even if, like me, you actually ultimately disagree with the idea of Machete order, it is well worth the read, because the logic behind it is very well put together. Here’s a link.

(Incidentally, I always thought the name machete order came from how you’re chopping up the timeline. In fact, it’s because the former name of the author’s blog was “Absolutely No Machete Juggling”.)

Zagorath, 9 months ago

Responding to your deleted comment, I’m genuinely not sure how Jar Jar’s role in the downfall of the Republic in Episode 3 is the joke being made by this comment. Sorry.

Zagorath, 9 months ago

No need to talk about a background character with a few lines.

Uhh, Jar Jar has a pretty key role in Episode 3…

Zagorath, 9 months ago

Because my app shows it to me and I wanted to understand.

Zagorath, 9 months ago

Machete order says you should skip 1 because it’s bad and allegedly doesn’t add anything to the story, particularly if you’re looking at 2 and 3 as providing more context around Luke’s story in the OT.

Zagorath, 9 months ago

I’ve spent most of the ~45 minutes since writing that last comment reading the machete order creator’s update post and the comments underneath it. And I just really wanted to highlight one particularly excellent comment from a user going by “amusingmurff”.

I didn’t know the “right” way was to skip TPM, and while I find a lot of your points valid for skipping it, I find it to be helpful to demonstrate how the Jedi Order failed. There are references to the Jedi prohibition against strong emotion in II and III, but it is in terms of how Anakin is failing to be a “proper” Jedi by his inability to let go of his emotions and attachments. Ep I shows that perhaps it is the Jedi Council, who only say “don’t feel anything, that way leads to the Dark Side!” that are mistaken. Is Anakin’s inability to let go of emotion/attachment at the core of his Fall? Yeah. But Luke succeeds in VI because he also fails to let go of attachment and sentiment - Vader is only redeemed and defeats Palapatine because Luke can’t let go of the affection he has for a family tie and the idea that his father still has some good. […] I find it a more compelling story if you see that it’s not really a tale of the beleaguered good guys (Jedi) who are outwitted by the evil, all powerful Emperor, but that they contributed to their own downfall and doomed the rest of the galaxy. That way, the OT heroes have to not only do away with the Empire, but probably do away with a lot of the forms of the old order, including the Jedi Code as it was

There’s some other good discussion in those comments, including a reply to that one, and I definitely recommend reading through it if this line of discussion is interesting to you.

Zagorath, 10 months ago

There are protections against false DMCA claims. I think a false DMCA claim is actually perjury.

The thing is though, the vast majority of claims on YouTube are not DMCA. YouTube has their own extra-legal system called Content ID. Where a DMCA claim carries the force of law and requires the allegedly infringing content be removed from the platform, claims under Content ID are essentially a contract with YouTube, and they give the claimant the choice of taking the video down, muting it (if the allegedly infringing content is audio), or monetising it and taking all the money for the claimant. They can also do different things by region, which is why at least historically a lot of videos were taken down in Germany but available elsewhere.

Zagorath, 10 months ago

Yes, and I own that copyright, because it’s my performance.

The claim wasn’t against the recording though. It was against the composition.

Zagorath, 10 months ago (edited 9 months ago)

That relies on their detection actually detecting the right piece.

I once recorded myself playing Beethoven’s “Pathetique” sonata, mvt 2. It gave me a strike for a recording of Beethoven’s “Moonlight” sonata, mvt 1.

edit: of course, in both cases, the thing is public domain, and no company has any right to claim copyright on it. The fact that YouTube lets them is fucking criminal. And it was the piece itself that copyright was being claimed on, not the recording.

Zagorath, 9 months ago

It’s always weird to talk about indexes. Is the “first” element the one with index 0, or with index 1? You can make a good case for both.

Zagorath, 9 months ago

I raise you the Mongol Empire.