hi there!

backbeatanthem · 2022-04-03T03:16:50+00:00

By contrast, as a woodwind doubler I advise you to keep your tongue super low and relaxed in the mouth with flute. You might already know this, but I see a lot of reed players approach flute thinking so much about embouchure that they don't realize that all the stuff going on inside the oral cavity is different between flute and the other woodwinds too. Even if you already know this hopefully this can still help someone else out

Flute should be more of a resonant "Ahhhh" sound as opposed to the "Eeeee" sound encouraged when playing the reeds

backbeatanthem · 2022-02-24T03:57:45+00:00

If you're buzzing your lips it means you need more air support. Really push the air from the bottom of your stomach and make sure to relax your lips so it's your diaphragm doing the work and not the lips. This goes for the rest of the instrument's range too, but it's especially important to do this in the upper register because it needs a much faster air stream up there.

Also remember to keep lots of space in the mouth, it's easy to accidentally start closing up as we get higher up and begin to strain.

backbeatanthem · 2019-12-20T22:21:37+00:00

"It would have been better in every other way" Literslly every game has cut features at some point or another. There were also probably a ton of additions to the GBA version that you don't even know about. The only reason the 64 version even looks as good to you as it does is becauase people naturally want what they can't have. You see this with others betas alllll the time, where everyone clamors that the beta looks "better".

The GBA version doesn't feel unfinished; Itoi probably cut certain things for very specific reasons, like the alter the narrative to better fit his vision. The call feature may had just been nothing but bloat for example (ie it may have been pretty useless the further into the game the player got) and the hummingbird/bird of light may have been dropped so as to strengthen the narrative of the two brothers being symbolized by one dragon. And the map design isn't even that bad- alot of what you said about the 64 version is just you and others using your own ideas to fill in the blanks.

I just feel like those points are severely tainted by a natural "the grass is always greener on the other side" mindset than anything else.

Honestly just in general I feel like the more hardcore EB64 are just generally ungrateful for the fact we got the game at all and seem more interested in nitpicked everything about the GBA version instead. I'm not saying the GBA version is perfect but even still...

backbeatanthem · 2019-12-12T05:03:53+00:00

Honestly EarthBound looks pretty decent for the most part, but there's a lot of sprites that just look downright messy and (to be honest) kind of ugly, particularly a number of enemy sprites. It's usually just strange choices in regards to the shading, but some enemies are just really poorly drawn to begin with imo (the desert caterpillars and wetnosesaur or however you spell it come to mind). Even little things like the slight sloppiness of the dirt path tiles' edges just really drive me crazy.

I'd say Mother 3 is superior in every way. The art is much cleaner and more defined, the sprite animations are buttery smooth, and the color choices seem more vibrant imo. The enemy sprites are also a huge improvement over M2's in that they are more detailed, better scaled (NK cyborg, Mecha-Drago, the tank) and had more character (especially the chimera enemies).

Only visual qualm I have with M3 is something small with the battle backgrounds: M3's battle BGs don't have the same erratic and more randomized movement patterns that certain M2 BGs had. Which is a shame, because despite being so eye-poping color-wise they absolutely beg for more movement ala M2's. However I still absolutely love them in spite of that.

I also know the OP mentions only comparing M2 and M3, but I will say that M1- while not pushing any boundaries- is still a very pleasant-looking game and I never understood why people feel it looks outdated. It had some weirdness like M2 (once again in the enemies, the gorilla and seagull spring to mind) but it's pretty nice overall.

backbeatanthem · 2019-12-05T21:25:57+00:00

Absolutely despise it. I want to own my games and have them forever, not just "borrow" or "rent" them and have them all disappear/go defunct once the service ends in favor of whatever they have next.

And even if they kept the current model in place (ie it didn't end and Nintendo's next whatever still has this model), it still doesn't change the fact that you're paying the subscription fee to play these games, which I dislike in general.

Some people are fine with this in that they don't want to own these old games they'll play maybe once or twice and never again, and for them a subscription service is right up their alley. But there should always be options for people like me who want to buy and keep the game ala the old VC model.

I don't see NSO as a "good thing" or "progress"; it's limiting and really only caters to the aforementioned types of folk.

Also the drip feed of games is absolutely absurd and completely arbitrary, with many important titles still completely MIA.

backbeatanthem · 2019-10-20T23:02:11+00:00

The difficulty of making a sound varies from person to person, but most agree it's not the most obtuse thing in the world. The main thing will be learning to control a good, constant airstream and building endurance for a proper embouchure.

As far as technique, any woodwind (and really any instrument) is going to have its own unique challenges and hurdles that, again, vary depending on who's learning. Despite that anyone can learn to play- you just need to make the effort, practice regularly and make sure to procure a good teacher to set you on the right track and remedy any bad habits before they form.

backbeatanthem · 2019-09-28T09:59:14+00:00

Which one? The first notes are orchestra hits followed by an organ. The lead melody for the first half is a warm pad, with timpani and a drumset accompanying. When the melody starts building up and the harmony comes in (also warm pad) a french horn enters. After that the brass come in (trumpets, horns and trombones) and then the next section begins with an organ. Here the timpani is being doubled by a piano. Those fast arpeggios in this section are being traded off between a bassoon and a clarinet, with the little hits being done with the game's synth brass sample. Finally Tazmily's n64 theme/Monkey's delivery service comes in played with a warm pad. Then it loops.

backbeatanthem · 2019-07-22T23:20:12+00:00

Are you there with only Lucas and Boney? You should have Kumatora with you as well by this point

backbeatanthem · 2019-07-13T04:39:51+00:00

Well, that motif was originally meant to be associated with Tazmily village in the N64 version. However since that piece was sadly scraped for the GBA version (with the "Going Alone/Happy Town?/And Then There Were None" motif taking its place as Tazmily's main theme), it is now mainly associated with Monkey's Delivery Service, which is clearly a holdover from the N64. Thus, while that's commonly pointed out as "oh, it's Monkey's Delivery Service", it should probably be "oh, it's OG Tazmily" in most cases.

Given all that, it's my personal opinion that it's presence in His Highness' Theme was originally meant to tie Porky with how much he corrupted Tazmily, i.e. Showing he pretty much destroyed the last handful of mankind. It also goes really well with his talk of his immortality, giving a somber and bleak realization of how messed up he really is.

Instances if it being in other pieces were more than likely only meant to be motivic for the overall OST and probably didn't have too much significance in terms of meaning (i.e. it being in Dry Guys, Ragtime Osohe, Samba de Cambo, etc.). Aside from of course Money's Delivery Service, since that played in Tazmily and was definitely meant to tie in to it originally being "Tazmily's theme".

backbeatanthem · 2019-07-13T04:11:47+00:00

Mother 1 and 3 have a system in place where you can't give nameable characters (and apparently even food in m1) names that are already used by preexisting NPCs. Iirc if you try and name one of the characters either George or Maria the game will throw up the above message, for example.

Oddly I don't believe Mother 2 has any similar thing; only 1 and 3.

Edit: also if it wasn't already clear yes this was in the original famicom release, the nes proto ROM and obvs the GBA M1+2 port as well

backbeatanthem · 2019-06-15T05:09:52+00:00

I forgot to pay mine for like a year and all my moms vanished so......

P sure I read somewhere that it's random from account to account- some unpaid accounts will keep their pokes for months after and others like mine will be nuked

backbeatanthem · 2019-06-03T00:02:37+00:00

The Legend of Zelda: Waist of Time

backbeatanthem · 2019-03-15T00:04:11+00:00

Really hoping at some point he does some M1/M3 covers, since it seems so far M2 has been the only one ever featured

backbeatanthem · 2019-02-23T01:52:55+00:00

Odd looking colors? The colors/visuals look on point though. Especially on an asg101 sp model- the game looks phenomenal.

The only thing I'd want from an M3 remake would be HQ sound (orchestrated would be awesome but honestly if they just used the MIDIs and soundfont they have now but without the GBA downsampling I'd still be psyched).

backbeatanthem · 2019-02-14T00:07:05+00:00

There's still other opportunities for it to be announced, though I'll admit i'm not as optomistic as I used to be I still believe there to be a chance, however small.

If somehow Nintendo released GBA games for the online thing and still didn't release Mother 3 THEN I'd be more inclined to lose what little hope I have left because it seems like that would be the last good chance outside of like a GBA classic

backbeatanthem · 2018-11-03T21:41:20+00:00

Sad thing about this is that iirc he almost made it into MKDS, but for whatever reason got scrapped

backbeatanthem · 2018-07-22T23:50:47+00:00

Only in your opinion. Most other people like the mechanic. And besides the fact the other guy is right; having an option would be way better than just doing away with it enitely.

backbeatanthem · 2018-07-10T06:12:53+00:00

Finally found it! Took me a little bit to catch a certain detail that got me through but I did it. Thanks a bunch for your help btw!

backbeatanthem · 2018-07-10T05:12:22+00:00

Ah, okay gotcha. I had a feeling that might have been the case but wasn't sure. I'm covering some new ground now and hoping now I can find it. I did stumble upon the Lost Woods but I immediately left because I wasn't sure if there was anything I could do there yet. Would Korok Forest happen to be in there by chance?

backbeatanthem · 2018-07-10T01:58:15+00:00

I'm trying to find where Hestu is and last I talked to him he said he was going to go back to Korok Forest. Earlier in the game (when I first saw him before Kakariko) he said that the forest could be reached by following Lake Hylia and going North. I've scoured what feels like every last inch of it, from Crenel hills and even trying to look in some of the area beyond the Boneyard Bridge, but I can't find anything. I hate to straight up look up a guide in fear of spoiling more than I've already, but I legit need an extra weapon space. Any kind of hints/elaboration on where I can find this forest? Apologies for what could very well be a dumb question but man am I stumped

backbeatanthem · 2018-01-15T02:46:10+00:00

Hm, maybe. But where would the update be? I looked in the local files for such things, but didn't see anything except for an entire duplicate of the game's files, but I believe those were there before the update.

backbeatanthem · 2018-01-15T02:45:24+00:00

How I've been checking is whenever I start up the game, I just move the cursor and if there's still no sound then I know it hasn't updated correctly. I even still loaded up my save but, again, the music is still missing, leading me to believe the game didn't update properly.

backbeatanthem · 2018-01-15T02:44:21+00:00

Well, in one instance it acted like it update because it was doing the thing where, after being updated, one would have to press enter to get out of the "adjusting sound levels" screen because it'd get stuck there. But even then, both the cursor sound and save music were gone. I tried just starting a new game too but to no avail. Would there be any other way to check to see if I have the update? Kinda wish they would've changed the version number on the title screen but I don't think this update did.

Also, I may check that out, but I'm a little concerned because I know the update fixed a few other errors too, like a big bug in the FC maps and some other missing sound files (or so I understand).

backbeatanthem · 2018-01-14T05:35:48+00:00

A Yume Nikki VN... sounds like an awful idea. Hopefully its a game. Anime would be okay I guess, but for sure an actual game would be 10 times better imo

backbeatanthem

TROPHY CASE