Monday, July 14, 2008

Vacation != Me

A little comparison operator humor in the title. Could be my lamest joke to date. Determing that may be my next poll.

In any case I'm back, fully fingered, mostly because I didn't actually light any fireworks this year, with the rest of that because being I'm not an idiot. See, last few years the cops have been hammering down on illegal fireworks, and in Wisconsin the legal ones basically are either snakes, sparklers, marigolds (kind of like sparklers, used to light better fireworks mostly), and 3 inch tall fountains.

So there's really no point in even bothering with that, I'm not going to lower myself to lighting sparklers just for the sake of lighting fireworks. I like to think I'm a better man than that. A man who appreciates a good mortar or finding a dud from the 4th on the beach and throwing it into a campfire.

Speaking of Wisconsin, and again bringing up brats, where I'm from there we have a brat fry basically every Sunday year round. Not "we" as in my family, but like going to the parking lot of basically any business establishment anywhere and finding a group of people cooking brats. Which nobody else in the country does, and I find that bizarre. I mean, they're good as hell and an any time of day type meal. Although here in Tennessee, they seem to like to sell either pit bulls or shoes in all of the parking lots. I'll leave that to you to decide which is better (hint: a brat fry).

I also managed to golf for the second time this year, which was a lot of fun. Not that I'm any good at it, ignoring that I did hit this beautiful 250 yard drive that split the fairway. I'm almost at the point where I can hit the ball every time without messing up and rolling it 50 feet because I topped it, but not quite past hitting 3-4 putts every hole.

In any case, I got back a few days ago, and rather than putting up a blog post like all "I'm back" and then talking about nonsense and then people are like "welcome back I guess" or "I like your blog follow this link to some kind of money scam I can't read because the site's in Spanish", I waited a few days so I could say something about my NWN2 campaign. Yeah I know, even I forget sometimes that's what this blog is really about.

Anyway, I've now finished all of the noble house quests, which basically leaves the last section of the main quest and I'm, more or less, done. I have a list of "extras" I want to add, like more companion interjections, some item hunt crap, maybe a pick pocket system and some consequence encounters from how you treat NPCs, but none of that is really critical and I'll do it as long as time permits. Because my wife is coming back for 18 days from Iraq in August, and this WILL be on the Vault before then (thank you again to everyone who's tested throughout, it's really because of that I can pop it out a week or two after the content is done). How much extra is directly related to how much time I have left after finishing the main quest.

Which should be quite a bit, even with an alternate "evil" ending I'm adding. There's one, possibly two areas to build depending on how far I want to take the main quest sequence, but most of it is spawning things and a few cutscenes, I expect to be "done" by the end of this week if things go well.

So that's pretty much that.

Really Late EDIT!!!!

I almost forgot about this.

So anway, I usually have a TV series I like to kick back and watch from time to time. Having seen Oz, Rome, Deadwood, The Shield, and waiting on The Wire, I'm in between shows now. I remember when I was a bit younger, they used to play anime on the Sci Fi channel Saturday mornings, so I've seen like a handful of them. I always thought they were kind of cool, but I don't even know what's good and what's not besides Ninja Scroll.

So I went on a little digging expedition to see what's what, and here's what I came up with. If you all have seen these joints, let me know what's good:

Boogiepop Phantom: The name is awful in pretty much every way imagineable, but these Japanese, evidenced by their RPGs, wouldn't know something cool if I kicked them in their collective asses (still mad I haven't gotten a letter from them like all: Hey Dirty, you're cool!"). It's supposed to be some Twilight Zone type horror stuff, though.

Elfen Lied: Another awfully named horror type joint. Not sure who exactly Elfen is, but he (or she, it's a bit androgenous) is apparently full of it. Um, not sure what to say here. There's a half naked broad on the box?

Gantz: See what I'm saying? Boogiepop, Elfen, Gantz, it's like they pulled their titles out of a Shining Force game. This is supposed to be like ultra nasty horror/action, which works for me. One of the things I discovered about anime is that they are big on using all of their blood red colored ink.

Gungrave: Well, this one comes in a blood red cube instead of a box, which again attests that they Japanese really like their cartoons bloody, or just have an affinity towards red. This one is about a guy that comes back from the dead to kill, which is awesome. However, they kind of dropped the ball by naming the hero "Brandon" instead of "John H. Gungrave" or something like that.

Hellsing: Well, this has nothing to do with Hugh Jackman, Andrew Jackson, Action Jackson, nor "Downtown" Willie Brown, though those last three may come as no surprise. Pretty similar though, guy fights vampires and whatnot. Looks a bit dull, but who knows?

Noir: This looks a little on the artsy side to me, but there's supposed to be a lot of killing popping off. Whatever, I don't know.

Serial Experiments Lain: Again awfully titled. Also about a 13 year old girl. However, it's supposed to be more horror themed and weird, which could be fun. What can I say, the Japanese even like their animated horror stars young. And there's also probably a lot of blood and other weird crap.

So, any input? I know somebody who reads this likes anime, don't be shy now.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back DW. Good to hear about the progress on SoT2.

I hope your wifes return home, "even if some what short" turns out to be a great few weeks.

I am curious to see what % of jerk you come out with this poll :D :D hehe

Liso

dirtywick said...

Hey, it might be a new record this post!

Yeah, I booked a hotel outside of Disney World, or Land, or whatever, the one in Florida, for a week. So we'll head down there after I pick her up in Atlanta.

I'm bringing my golf clubs too haha

Thanks for stopping by.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, hope you enjoyed your vacation. Cant wait to play SoT 2, it sounds like its going to be good, and there haven't been many good modules lately so this will be a welcome addition. By the way, I have seen the anime Noir, and the theory behind it is quite good and the anime itself is quite good, though I have definately seen better.

Maeniel Celeres

Wyrin said...

Hellsing is kinda cool - could have done a lot more with it, but it's not bad. some neat characters in it

not fully watched any o f the others so I'll keep schtum on them for now

dirtywick said...

Maeniel,

What's better? I don't even know where to begin. I've seen like a handful of them.

Wyrin,

If you've seen the others at all, let me know what you think. Like I said, I've got nothing, I'm not even sure if I want to buy any of them.

If Noir is kind of "eh" and Hellsing is kind of "eh", then what's "awesome"?

Elf des coquillages said...

Ah, anime, one of my favorite subjects. Hope I won't be too long.

Boogiepop Phantom: Excellent show. The storytelling is fragmented in the manner of a very clever puzzle, that you have to put together through the various point of views and events in each episode. Animation isn't great, but it's (for the most part) intentional. It deals with urban legends and folks that are out of the norm (in a bad way).

Elfen Lied: Not recommended. Cliched and annoying characters (yay, split personnality and amnesia!), contrived story, mindless violence and gore, irrelevant nudity, cute design (?), all mixed up with bits of comedy and pseudo drama. I just can't figure out why this title is so popular.

Gantz: Haven't seen it, but I have a few books. Without having seen the show, in doubt I wouldn't recommend it.

Gungrave: Great show. It tells the rise and fall of two friends in a mafia organization, and tells it well (if a little rushed and disappointing in the last episodes, where the source of the title shows - it was a videogame).

Hellsing: Good. It has this nice 'cool factor' to it, but unfortunately that's about all. You can sum it up to vampires and big guns.

Noir: Not seen, should be good. Well known for its (excellent) music.

Serial Experiments Lain: (partially) seen, not recommended as a first anime show (I'm not sure I can say this one has an actual story...).

Based on what you've picked up, I'd also recommend the following:
- In the vein of Boogiepop Phantom (complex, weird, slow paced, multiple pov): Paranoia Agent (excellent), Ergo Proxy (good), Texhnolyze (great, but really odd).
- In the vein of Hellsing (kick-ass action, 'cool'): Samurai Champloo (great).
- In the vein of Gungrave (story, friendship and betrayal, flashbacks): Berserk (good, would be great with better animation, the book is a must), Gankutsuou - The Count of Monte Cristo (great, the animation is an acquired taste).

dirtywick said...

Thanks elf!

Yeah, I don't like that like in DBZ when like their eyes bug out or their face gets all weird and contorted with a giant sweat bead. Hopefully you know what I'm talking about. I don't know how to explain that other than it's ridiculous.

I've seen a few animes over the years, the ones I liked were Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D, Fist of the North Star was alright kind of lame but the expoding head stuff is cool (actually seen that not too long ago, they used to run it on Showtime), I liked Akira, and I think that's about it. Demon City Shinjuki or something like that was cool too.

May have seen some others that I can't remember.

Otherwise, my only requirements is that it's voiced in English and nothing with giant robots! I like horror/monsters/aliens/ninja stuff as far as anime goes.

But basically I'm cool with anything other than that. Maybe I'll start with Gungrave and I'll check out Paranoia Agent on Amazon or something.

But if you want to talk more, feel free! I'm interested in seeing the "best" out there, so talk man!

Anonymous said...

The only anime that I really like is Cowboy Bebop(the series follows the adventures of a group of bounty hunters traveling on their spaceship, the Bebop).

Anonymous said...

And you may like Samurai Champloo(The series is a cross-genre work of media, blending the action and samurai genres with elements of non-slapstick comedy. It is also a period piece, taking place during Japan's Edo period.)

Anonymous said...

Hiya, Well I have always thought Outlaw Star was a good anime, and its made by the same people who did Cowboy Bebop, so you should enjoy it. There is a Fan service episode which you can basically skip since its got nothing really to do with the main story. lol Do Spaceships count as giant robots Dirtywick? And you can get an English version of the anime. Night Wizard I think has a good story, though they could have spread it over more episodes, and is a good laugh at some points. No giant robots in that one. Only thing is its in Japanese only as far as I know. Another good one is Dragonaut the Resonance, again in Japanese but I thought it was really good. I would reccomend Bleach, but you wouldnt like some of the faces they make in it.

Maeniel Celeres

Elf des coquillages said...

One of the very best I've seen lately is Mushishi, however you need to be in the right mood to truly appreciate it.

And you've mentioned Vampire Hunter D, wich reminds me that the second movie (Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust) is nothing short of awesome. You can check the first ten minutes or so here on YouTube.

In fact, most of the shows we listed should have their opening or maybe the first episode available on YouTube, if you want a taste of them. Just keep away from AMVs (Animated Music Videos), as they're likely to contain big spoilers.

And for the sake of it: the thought-provoking opening credits from Paranoia Agent.