Moments when a piece of entertainment annoys you no end

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:23 pm

Maxus wrote:I think I'll read it start to finish when it ends. Apart from that, I'm not bothering.

You know, maybe I would enjoy it more if I just stop reading it for a month or two at a time.

A month or two ago I let it slip for a few weeks, and miraculously, Rich updated the comic two or three times during that period. I got this warm giddy feeling when I realized I had several comics to read. This could be the best of both worlds: all of the fun of reading OOTS without the disappointment of checking for updates and finding none.

Akula · Post by **Akula** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 4:20 am

He has actually been surprisingly consistent in the last few weeks. It really shocked the hell out of me.

Vebyast · Post by **Vebyast** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 5:13 am

RSS feeds for the win. I "follow" roughly thirty-five webcomics, maybe ten of which update on any reasonable schedule. Thanks to my RSS feeds, I just don't care about the ones that don't update. I just read what hits the inbox.

Jacob_Orlove · Post by **Jacob_Orlove** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 5:23 am

Vebyast wrote:RSS feeds for the win. I "follow" roughly thirty-five webcomics, maybe ten of which update on any reasonable schedule. Thanks to my RSS feeds, I just don't care about the ones that don't update. I just read what hits the inbox.

I don't even bother with that. I have a bunch of webcomics bookmarked at different points in their archives. Every so often, I'll read a month or two worth of one comic, bookmark my new stopping point, and move it to the bottom of the list. It's a great system, I can't recommend it enough. You can even go on vacation or get busy with work, and instead of losing track of where you were, you just get more comics to read when you get back.

The only comic I check regularly for updates is Erfworld, because their archive system is a mess. They count backwards from the current page, instead of forwards from the first, so a given url points to different comics on different days. The other archive doesn't include the text updates.

Wyzzard · Post by **Wyzzard** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:41 pm

RobbyPants wrote:You know, maybe I would enjoy it more if I just stop reading it for a month or two at a time.

A month or two ago I let it slip for a few weeks, and miraculously, Rich updated the comic two or three times during that period. I got this warm giddy feeling when I realized I had several comics to read. This could be the best of both worlds: all of the fun of reading OOTS without the disappointment of checking for updates and finding none.

I tried that. I stopped reading it back when Rich first split up the party.
When I caught-up about a year later, I realized nothing had happened.

But otherwise I agree; if you set your expectations low enough, checking it monthly could work.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:44 pm

Wyzzard wrote:
RobbyPants wrote:You know, maybe I would enjoy it more if I just stop reading it for a month or two at a time.

A month or two ago I let it slip for a few weeks, and miraculously, Rich updated the comic two or three times during that period. I got this warm giddy feeling when I realized I had several comics to read. This could be the best of both worlds: all of the fun of reading OOTS without the disappointment of checking for updates and finding none.
I tried that. I stopped reading it back when Rich first split up the party.
When I caught-up about a year later, I realized nothing had happened.

But otherwise I agree; if you set your expectations low enough, checking it monthly could work.

Yeah, the benefit of low expectations is that every now and then, you're pleasantly surprised.

Of course, the draw back is you tend not to have much respect for the thing for which your expectations are set so low.

Wyzzard · Post by **Wyzzard** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:59 pm

RobbyPants wrote:Yeah, the benefit of low expectations is that every now and then, you're pleasantly surprised.

Of course, the draw back is you tend not to have much respect for the thing for which your expectations are set so low.

Ooh yeah, my respect has been waning steadily for quite a while now.

Although the lack of progress doesn't bother me nearly as much as all the little contrivances in the comic, such as Xykon's boundless incompetence. I'm completely behind Lago on that one.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 2:11 pm

I'm honestly pretty bummed that when the AVGN comes back he'll be scaling back the rate of his updates.

He's really one of the better reviewers / nostalgia geeks on the Internet. I'm serious. With very, very few exceptions the AVGN has consistently entertained and delighted me. And one video of Godzilla or the Zelda CDi games makes up for 10 Deadly Towers or Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castles.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 2:19 pm

Maxus wrote:I realize the story is just not fun for me now. Furthermore, it hadn't been fun for a long time leading up to that.

I'd pick up the plot again at where O'Chul breaks free.

I'm not kidding when I said that for no reason whatsoever, the comic becomes waaaay better after that point.

Roy · Post by **Roy** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 3:06 pm

Koumei wrote:Now pre-4th, it sucked, because all Water moves were special, and thus Gyarados was worthless. No really. You only used it as HM bitch in 3rd, and in 2nd you catch the Red one (Shiny meant better stats back then) and used Thrash to sweep most battles. But you know what? Pre-4th can eat a dick. I wasn't hooked on 2nd gen, and thought 3rd gen was the worst of the bunch.

Bullshit. In 2nd gen if the poke had one of 8 sets of base stats out of 65,536 it was shiny. NONE OF THESE WERE MAXIMUM, or even that good. It was impossible for a shiny to have max stats. I don't know if they changed the shininess to a different variable in later editions but you are absolutely and completely wrong.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 3:35 pm

Oh snap, you're right. I checked Serebii but it just said Metal generation had "Set IV values", not "the best IV values". In 4th gen (and apparently 3rd) it's completely random and not tied to IVs though.

Roy · Post by **Roy** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 2:47 pm

Yeah, they changed it to some other variable. Still 1/8,192 though. And then like... 3/65,536 for Pokerus.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 4:28 pm

The RNG in the 3rd and 4th generation games is...well, not trivial to abuse, but not impossible either. I don't know if people have used it to get 6-way max shinies, but I wouldn't be surprised. (I don't bother with doing anything legal in-game myself.)

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 5:16 pm

If you're reading order of the stick, you should stop, and read all of schlock mercenary instead. He updates daily, every day, and has for like 10 years, and the story is pretty okay. the first two chapters the art is crap, but 10 years of practice has made him less bad.

Vebyast · Post by **Vebyast** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 5:22 pm

cthulhu wrote:If you're reading order of the stick, you should stop, and read all of schlock mercenary instead. He updates daily, every day, and has for like 10 years, and the story is pretty okay. the first two chapters the art is crap, but 10 years of practice has made him less bad.

Agreed. Schlock Mercenary is awesome. The story is ok, and the art after the first few years is pretty good, but what really does it is the attention to detail with regard to plot technology. There are no wall bangers or fridge logic here.

Calibron · Post by **Calibron** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 5:23 pm

Schlock Mercenary is pretty okay, and both the quality and schedule are unfailingly consistent.

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 6:06 pm

Yeah, and late for him means 2 hours late, not the next day or something.

He must have a massive set of prepared comics because he offers paid subscribers to his iPhone app one or two weeks in advance of regular readers.

But yeah, do take that that suggestion on the website of starting with chapter 3 seriously, or just clench your teeth re: art of the first few years.

Edit: I'd love playable rules for Scholk as well. For any game system haha.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:53 pm

Surgo wrote:The RNG in the 3rd and 4th generation games is...well, not trivial to abuse, but not impossible either. I don't know if people have used it to get 6-way max shinies, but I wouldn't be surprised. (I don't bother with doing anything legal in-game myself.)

I finally decided to say fuck it and update my action replay to have the soulsilver codes, and use that for my level grinding. It's still taking an annoyingly long time because there's currently no option between "gain level every three fights, or so," and "gain 20 levels and lose control of your pokemon every fight"

Cthulhu wrote:If you're reading order of the stick, you should stop, and read all of schlock mercenary instead. He updates daily, every day, and has for like 10 years, and the story is pretty okay. the first two chapters the art is crap, but 10 years of practice has made him less bad.

What if space operas bore the shit out of you?

Roy · Post by **Roy** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 10:01 pm

Surgo wrote:The RNG in the 3rd and 4th generation games is...well, not trivial to abuse, but not impossible either. I don't know if people have used it to get 6-way max shinies, but I wouldn't be surprised. (I don't bother with doing anything legal in-game myself.)

Well it's possible, just really low odds. A lot better odds with breeding since you can pass on... I think three stats, so if they're maxed you only need four variables in the right spot. But for all practical purposes, cheat or it doesn't happen.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:15 pm

Roy wrote:But for all practical purposes, cheat or it doesn't happen.

What I'm saying is, that's not the case. The PRNG algorithm for the games is known, and with that knowledge comes the ability to abuse it to get exactly the pokemon you want. People have been doing this for a while now.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 4:30 am

Prak_Anima wrote: I finally decided to say fuck it and update my action replay to have the soulsilver codes, and use that for my level grinding. It's still taking an annoyingly long time because there's currently no option between "gain level every three fights, or so," and "gain 20 levels and lose control of your pokemon every fight"

Use the "Give me 999 Rare Candy" code.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 4:36 am

Koumei wrote:
Prak_Anima wrote: I finally decided to say fuck it and update my action replay to have the soulsilver codes, and use that for my level grinding. It's still taking an annoyingly long time because there's currently no option between "gain level every three fights, or so," and "gain 20 levels and lose control of your pokemon every fight"
Use the "Give me 999 Rare Candy" code.

I hate Rare Candies.

Like, really. I reeally, really hate them.

I try to stay at gym leader levels, or just below, because it's not really much fun if I'm wiping them out without breaking a sweat. If I'm playing through the game where it's basically mandatory to be solo, I'm going to challenge myself a bit while I'm doing it.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 7:01 pm

When the fuck did Willpower and Greed become god damned emotions?

Reading the dc storyline "blackest night."

I haven't read DC in ages. I vaguely knew of the other lantern corps and stuff from looking at the comic shelves. But I didn't know that they were divided on the "emotional spectrum" Willpower, fear, rage, love, avarice, and compassion.

I don't even know what the fuck black is supposed to be?

Calibron · Post by **Calibron** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 7:04 pm

Black is the Emo Corps.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 7:12 pm

is that like if you combine all colors, you get black?