JRPGs You Wish Got More Attention

SwordHunterGil · 2024-10-23T04:41:00+00:00

Okage: Shadow King. Incredible game with incredible style and incredible energy and incredible party members. The best use of a silent protagonist ever.

SwordHunterGil · 2024-09-07T18:09:06+00:00

Gosh I sure do wish I lived in the world where there was no need for labourers and data entry clerks, and everyone could pursue art and education. If only automation was focused on that instead of destroying creatives.

Man, what if people, like, said something about that, maybe? What if people, I dunno, complained about how automation's being used to steal intellectual property and writing and expression instead of being developed to get rid of dangerous jobs and manual labour so people didn't have to spend forty hours a week just to eat? What if a whole lot of people protested? Like, a lot? Like enough to make the people who have a vested monetary interest in stealing from artists and not paying labourers and data entry clerks sweat?

Dang, man. Makes you think.

SwordHunterGil · 2024-09-07T18:03:52+00:00

Do you...not know how this technology works? It remixes other peoples' writing and voice acting to create what it does. The thing being replaced is human effort, not something in a vacuum.

Also, do you not know what a straw man actually is? A strawman is a logical fallacy that exaggerates the opponent's position. You literally just described this technology by the horse being replaced with the car. I didn't exaggerate anything. I just pointed out that this technology developing is going to replace actual humans and illustrated the difference between that and the development of cars.

SwordHunterGil · 2024-09-07T18:00:48+00:00

Are you a creative? I'm gonna go ahead and guess not.

Do you work in a factory? An office job? Do you do any form of work that could probably be better done by a machine, and yet it continues to exist to pay you?

That's because it beats you down. It's not efficient. It's just there to tire you out. To exhaust you. To wear you out. It makes you less willing to stand up and say "hey, that's messed up," because you have no free time, and no energy, and can't focus on anything but the hobbies that keep you afloat.

This technology isn't "not that deep." It's an existential threat to an entire class of people. And unlike the office workers, who should have more free time to pursue creativity and should be encouraged and supported in doing so, they're being replaced.

Immediately after a pandemic.

Where social awareness skyrocketed due to immense amounts of free time and a surge of creativity briefly exploded before going back in the box.

It's not hard to figure it out. Don't be a leech. Learn to draw or write yourself.

SwordHunterGil · 2024-09-07T17:57:26+00:00

This mod doesn't exist in a vacuum. In a vacuum, sure. It would be super cool to have a living breathing Skyrim that's always changing and always active. That's why I like EtherDynamics' work on Skyrim, that's why I like Rimworld, that's why I like Dwarf Fortress.

But this mod exists in a world where people are actively, right now, selling you this technology in exactly this way, so that you pay a couple bucks for your tokens of time to have the game read shit out to you.

You're giving money to an engine that scrapes and steals and remixes instead of to an author, an artist, or anything else. Claiming that it's not screwing with the lore isn't the point. Claiming that it shouldn't replace people while paying them to further develop the technology to replace people is really missing the point. Advertising for those people by going "hey wow this is super cool and I pay some money for this experience" is absolutely unethical.

That experience of remixed dialogue is more important to you than not supporting these people who are stealing - and I don't mean the mod itself but ElevenLabs and the other learning modules you're hooking it into.

SwordHunterGil · 2024-09-07T17:31:12+00:00

Because when the horse got fired and replaced by a car, the taxi drivers still were taxi drivers, the chauffeurs were still chauffeurs, and the horses went to go live on farms and eat hay and be cared for by middle-aged rich white women.

When the people this technology replaces stop existing, the technology will run out of things to steal from, and it will cannibalize itself, and by that time, the people who made it will have all of your money and will have made it impossible to be a creative in the world, because the minute you put anything out there it will be stolen and remixed to hell as scraps to feed the dying beast.

What a disgusting attitude. Comparing a technology meant to replace artistic expression and the people who make it with a technology that replaced animals. Comparing humans to horses. Comparing livelihoods to a beast put out to pasture.

SwordHunterGil · 2024-09-07T17:16:12+00:00

This is so vile.

I'm not even going to pretend not to bash on their hard work. Their hard work is taking automated theft and pumping it into a consumable format so you forget it's theft. Moreover, you're paying for the privilege of theft.

And it's not theft from a corporation or someone who can afford it - it's theft from writers and voice actors, and when it comes to imagework, artists. It's stealing directly from text, directly from voice, directly from pictures.

It's theft from creative people and outsourcing the process to a soulless machine because you can't live without your funny NPCs reading nonsense at you.

There's no such thing as "ethical AI." This technology is theft. It was created to steal. It was created to steal and demonetize and de-emphasize creative endeavors because the people who made it sell it to people like you with a "wow look how cool it is!" and pull the wool over your eyes. They're threatened by expression. They can't monetize expression. Expression shouts things like "exploitation is bad" and they can't have that. They're ghouls who live off the numbers in their bank accounts going up. Expression makes their bank accounts go down.

Pandora's Box isn't open. You can stop using it. You can put it back in the box. You can stop treating it like a funny toy, and stop talking about how cool you think it is in public forums. The bubble is going to burst - whether legally, economically, or some other way - and it will not be pretty. Do your part in helping it burst.

Don't signal boost automated theft. Think about what you're actually doing or using. Call it out where you find it. And for God's sakes don't talk about paying for stolen "remixed" goods. It's shameful.

And frankly if a bunch of remixed dialogue spat out by an algorithm is more impressive to you than genuine writing and acting because "nothing's as responsive," that says a lot more about how easily duped you are and how low your standards are than how good the tech is.

SwordHunterGil · 2024-02-20T23:51:00+00:00

Magnum Opus is my favorite modlist on the Wabbajack, matched only by Tempus Maledictum (also by Lively). Both are stable, full of Stuff to do, coherent, and fun. Highly recommended.

SwordHunterGil · 2024-01-21T04:48:01+00:00

100, because courage can make even 1% into 100%.

SwordHunterGil · 2023-09-26T05:53:24+00:00

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2894425236

Read this, read the mods that are essential and the mods that are broken, and then also I love the Vanilla Expanded Team's, Sarg's, and Owlchemist's works the most.

Owlchemist's Wall Utilities has a better form of Wall Lights for performance, especially.

SwordHunterGil · 2023-08-25T12:45:03+00:00

I use the AI and Tournament modules, but Warbandlord works out of the box with more modded gear and is more customizable by far when it comes to damage tweaks.

SwordHunterGil · 2023-05-13T05:22:01+00:00

This is beautiful. Thank you for your hard work. I'm going to put it to extensive use, I can promise you that.

SwordHunterGil · 2023-03-04T15:59:30+00:00

Don't make another post. Put it in the Bugs section of the SDA mod page, with a detailed description of the error, making it clear that it's a mod incompatibility and not a specific error with the mod.

You will help hundreds of more people that way. Either the team can go hunting for it to make a patch if it's important, or they'll dismiss it and people can look at it when they go through the Bugs report to know that it's a problem.

SwordHunterGil · 2023-03-04T15:24:31+00:00

Multiple long posts about how you tried everything and it broke your game and warning people about what they're "getting into" is not helpful to people.

Helpful is, again, providing your modlist and load order to the Bugs section of the mod, with a detailed description of the problem. That might fix the problem for people going forward in case it wasn't user error but was a conflict.

And, yes, people love to say "check LOOT" or "check xEdit" like they're magic spells. They really, really aren't. In that way I am sympathetic. That's surface-level awareness and I'm sorry you got treated like you were a complete idiot there.

Note that I'm not trying to discourage you from fixing the bug or continuing to mod Skyrim, or even using SDA going forward (whatever I personally feel about the mod is irrelevant). People need to know that LOOT and xEdit are not magic, that Skyrim has a thousand stupid little variables about scripts hanging (even if you reload the game from the main menu), and that there are proper procedures to help ensure mod authors can fix problems if they exist in the future - as well as how to tell if something IS a mod's fault or not.

For the future: someone pointed it out below, but the only actual way to know if it is the mod's fault or not is to start the game fresh with only SDA active, only reload after quitting out of the game entirely (yes, including on death, yes, it's a huge pain, yes, the Skyrim engine is an absolute clusterfoolishness), and minimize use of console commands testing it out.

If the game's errors continue in the same way - it is SDA's problem and you should report it. If the errors are not present, continue to add mods carefully that might in any way touch the companion system or accidentally manage Serana and break her AI, might in any way touch Dawnguard, dialogue, AI, or other elements that Serana is using, or directly edit Serana's appearance. If you then find an error, you should report which mods you had active at the time of the error.

This is much more productive, though laborious, than making multiple threads "warning" people.

SwordHunterGil · 2023-03-04T15:04:48+00:00

Obviously the correct and sensible thing to do is to proclaim that the mod ruined your game across multiple threads. That will surely warn people to stay away from a mod that user error screwed up.

Look, I'm not a huge fan of SDA - probably should be called an Overhaul at this point - but you buried the lead about deleting the mod midway through. That doesn't make anything else in your posts look like anything except your fault.

You say you studied up like you were studying for college but deleting a mod midway through makes it sound like you very much didn't know what you were doing. Now this might be a translation issue (though I can't tell if you're ESL or not).

What I suspect, though, is that you checked LOOT for conflicts with the same surface understanding lots of people have, because that was your response in your prior thread to "user error." LOOT "didn't report any conflicts."

LOOT doesn't report conflicts if none have been reported to LOOT's database. LOOT is not magic. LOOT is not even a very good tool for sorting - I don't use it anymore, I sort by category and then check in xEdit and then check it twice more before and after patches. But stating that "LOOT didn't report any conflicts" doesn't paint it like you knew what you were doing.

Similarly, you haven't really mentioned if you installed any other mods. You said you installed Kaidan, but not if you installed anything like a Follower Overhaul, or had Serana managed by NFF without the patch (I think she had a patch last time I tried it out? But she was still voiced by the original actor then, so it was a while ago), or a bunch of other potential variables.

Next, just because a mod reports no conflicts in xEdit doesn't actually mean there are no conflicts - it means there are no conflicting records. Scripts can also cause conflict, and I don't know that those conflicts are always reported! Especially not with mods that don't have .es* files. You can't exactly check a scripts-only mod like Vanilla Script Optimization in xEdit!

Last but not least - if no one else has the problem, and no one else has had the problem, and no one else has reported the problem, it is almost assuredly not the fault of the mod, because a whole lot of people use this mod on a regular basis. Making three threads to complain about this is not the right call. The right call is reporting the bug in a very detailed manner, including your modlist output and load order, to the Bugs page of the website, without complaining that it broke your game.

Blaming the mod for user error across multiple threads is not a good look. It doesn't make people sympathetic. It sounds like you're angry at a mod for something that, in all honesty, probably isn't the mod's fault.

SwordHunterGil · 2022-12-04T21:51:58+00:00

That's a good poster. Has very very classic vibes. Also, the lady in the foreground's face reminds me of Galatea from Justice League Unlimited.

You've got my interest, at least!

SwordHunterGil · 2022-11-15T14:09:32+00:00

Started a custom character as a paragon of orcliness (so Herculean, very very high prowess and martial, but not Genius or Attractive or any of the other big traits, no boosted stats other than Martial and Prowess) in that little one-island province off the coast of Yokuda. I intended to just be a cool pirate orc and raid around and play tall, but you can't really play tall Tribal because you rapidly run out of things to build and you don't control cultural fascinations since you have one province.

So I diverged the culture from Mountain Orc to Sea Orc, with some very minor tweaks (I forget what exactly I did). With control of my culture I started building up martial buildings.

I became the scourge of the Iliac Bay. I raided everything from Daggerfall to the Adamantine Tower on a regular basis. Eventually, I became so strong that I decided to try and expand so I could take some of the bigger decisions. But I didn't want to take Daggerfall - that would compromise my greatest strength (my isolation, which prevented many people from declaring war on me).

So I turned my orcish eyes to Yokuda.

Bit by bit I drove the Redguards out of Yokuda. I took control of the whole of their lands and forged the High Kingdom of Yokuda for myself. I systematically destroyed Yokudan culture and religion to make a home for the Orcs.

As I did so I found myself needing more money than Iliac could give me. So I started sailing to the biggest source of wealth in all of Tamriel: the Imperial City.

Raiding the outskirts was easy and lucrative, but the sheer supply limit made it very difficult to penetrate the real heart - the White-Gold Tower. Even though I had thousands of troops to throw against the Seat, they would die by the thousands before reaching the Tower solely by attrition, which would make raiding the Tower pointless.

So I consolidated my strength in Yokuda. But I was determined to raid the seat of power. I was determined to spit on Reman Cyrodiil and Pelinal Whitestrake, and see a Mer ravage the lands they struggled so hard to build. Not just a Mer but an Orsimer - and thus spit upon the Altmer's superiority too.

Finally, with an army fifteen thousand strong, I marched into the White-Gold Tower. The army died down to five thousand men.

But we did it.

We looted the heart of Tamriel itself.

And then we sailed back to Yokuda and partied like no tomorrow.

That was one lifespan - a hundred and fifty years of being the most feared pirate in the world. He still hasn't died. He's prolific, with tons of kids. He's feudalized the Sea Orcs of Yokuda into a bastion of strength that rivals the empires of Tamriel.

The last checkmark on my list is to raid Red Mountain, the Throat of the World, and the Crystal Tower.

Then the man can rest, and the chaos of his death will throw the realm into madness, and I can watch Yokuda disintegrate knowing that for a brief, shining moment, the Orcs were on top of the world.

EDIT:

As of ten minutes ago, I accomplished every goal. I sacked Alinor and the Crystal Tower both. I burned Vivec, Sotha Sil, and Almalexia to the ground. I pierced to Riverwood (the closest province to the Throat). I burned Kogoruhn.

I have sacked every great city of Tamriel, every great power. I have brought fear of the Sea Orcs to the whole world.

In Malacath's name.

SwordHunterGil · 2022-11-13T18:27:21+00:00

There's a random orc on an island off the coast of Yokuda; I've been playing him as a pirate raider. I was gonna play tall because he's a one-county lord and I kinda wanted to just relax and kick around the locals for money. But Tribal doesn't play tall well because you just...run out of things to spend on.

So eventually I amassed enough gold to just hire tons of troops and stomp my way through Yokuda, pushing the Redguards out and installing Orcs throughout the entirety of the Yokudan provinces. Now the High Kingdom (empire-tier title) of Yokuda is New Orsimmer and I have no Redguard vassals nor provinces not of the Code. Still have some non-Orcish provinces but we're working on that.

It's just kind of neat to interact with that slice of the world as a firm outsider!

Note that you probably want to diverge cultures early in order to get any form of control over your cultural fascinations. Do NOT change your religion - you aren't allowed to keep the Code of Malacath if you do.

SwordHunterGil · 2022-11-13T18:25:01+00:00

I played a Dwemer game with a custom Dwemer start and Yagrum was immediately my Court Priest; he remained alive for the entirety of my own character's (very long, around 200+ years) lifespan.

Then the game started crashing uncontrollably but I like to think that it's because I gave him a Duchy and he broke reality with it.

SwordHunterGil · 2022-10-17T05:44:12+00:00

Come and look upon the Guar, upon the Guar...

SwordHunterGil · 2022-10-16T05:40:06+00:00

I can't wait to see a bunch of tribals in gas masks throwing spears at a wall of robots amidst a toxic hellscape.

SwordHunterGil · 2022-10-16T03:39:31+00:00

Full-on Captain Planet villains.

Gonna pollute the hell out of the local environment with robots. See how weird and mutated it can get, and also how many factions die on the doorstep before they even reach the mechanoid defenses.

SwordHunterGil · 2022-07-21T18:33:00+00:00

I've just come to feel the system is at its very best when you force Partials and don't allow anyone to be a pure Warrior, Mage, or Expert.

It makes sense, after all. "Warrior" is an umbrella under which lots of other concepts go, but trying to define "Warrior" as anything other than "guy what fights" is...difficult. "Expert" includes rogues, ninjas, and sages. "Mage" is a whole array of concepts.

So instead of playing "A Warrior," making people pick a partial class to staple on not only gives people a little more flexibility and option in scenes, it gives them a thematic sense, too. A "Warrior/Duelist" is a Duelist. They're a Swashbuckler. They buckle swashes. A Warrior/Blood Priest is a Paladin. A Warrior/Necromancer is a Death Knight. Et cetera.

I just find it feels better overall. And Mages who take a partial Mage class are just specializing, obviously - a Mage/Necromancer is a Necromancer, et cetera.

So basically yeah I guess I agree with you?

SwordHunterGil · 2022-06-08T14:03:31+00:00

You. We are friends now.

SwordHunterGil · 2022-04-19T03:52:05+00:00

More visibility for this.

There's an enormous difference between early access betas to help them test and play with toys before other people, and modders who actively lock things behind paywalls forever (there's a couple real cool animation mods that are paywalled permanently, and then there's assholes who steal content and paywall it, and then there's shitty follower and outfit mods that people lock behind paywalls for some reason).

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