entelechy's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
entelechy (edited )LinkI've been playing the critically-acclaimed Yakuza 0 on and off for a few weeks, and I'm still only 1/3 of the way through it. In it, you play as two yakuza-affiliated characters, Kiryu and Majima....I've been playing the critically-acclaimed Yakuza 0 on and off for a few weeks, and I'm still only 1/3 of the way through it. In it, you play as two yakuza-affiliated characters, Kiryu and Majima.
The main story is phenomenal. Set in 1980s Japan, you alternate between the two main characters throughout the game, swapping between their stories every two chapters. Kiryu is a big teddy bear of a man - he's not afraid to beat someone within an inch of their life if his job requires it, but he has a strong moral code and a big heart. He's a grunt for the yakuza, and suddenly finds himself in serious trouble when a simple debt collection job goes wrong. Majima is a suave, successful manager of a cabaret club. He was exiled from the yakuza after refusing orders and has spent the last year trying to get back in.
It takes maybe 3-5 hours to get rolling, but when it does you'll be hooked. I won't spoil it but the first chapter ends in the most dramatic, yakuza way possible - it felt like a Quentin Tarantino film.
The game is a great entry-point into the series and was really what made an obscure series well-known in the states. If I had to describe it, I'd say that it's essentially GTA but extremely weird and Japanese. A dense, open world, filled to the brim with side quests and mini-games, pulls you away from the main plot with endless distractions. In contrast to the serious, dramatic main plot, the many side quests are absolutely bonkers and frequently hilarious. As Majima I had to pretend to be a young girl's fiance over dinner to appease her overly protective father (hilarity ensues). As Kiryu I helped a pop star named "Miracle Johnson" produce a music video, directed by a man named "Stephen Spining", the famous director of "Indian Jeans". And the help that he needed was protection from zombie-dressed actors while he moon-walked down a street.
I spent about ten hours at one point learning and playing mahjong, as well as watching youtube videos on strategy. Tried to learn Shogi but it was too frustrating to pick up after playing so much chess - the piece movement is less interesting, it feels like you're slowing moving an army.
Combat is engaging, complex and rewarding. Each character develops three distinct fighting styles that you can swap between on the fly. Certain ones can be useful in different situations, but all are fun to mess around with and eventually develop large repertoires of moves, stat boosts and situational abilities as you upgrade your character. It features a "heat" system that changes how you fight as it builds in combat, and can be spent to perform incredibly violent, cinematic attacks. These heat attacks vary with enemy placement and any weapons you've picked up. Think brutally smashing a nearby bicycle into a man or stomping them into the curb. I was really sold on the combat after I force-fed a man a box of nails.
I'd recommend the game if any of this sounds remotely interesting, and it's a few years old so it's fairly inexpensive (and free if you have XBox Game Pass). I bought it during a steam sale $10 and have put probably 30 hours in.
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Comment on The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles will be released in English on July 27, 2021 for PC, Switch, and PS4 in ~games
entelechy Link ParentI didn't realize that Shu directed them, that's so hype! I've played almost all of the AA games but the original trilogy (especially game 3) is a masterpiece with a huge emotional payoff.I didn't realize that Shu directed them, that's so hype! I've played almost all of the AA games but the original trilogy (especially game 3) is a masterpiece with a huge emotional payoff.
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Comment on The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles will be released in English on July 27, 2021 for PC, Switch, and PS4 in ~games
entelechy LinkThis is fantastic. I'm a huge Ace Attorney fan and have meant to play the fan translation for a while, but having an official translation on switch is so nice. I'm pretty curious how some of it...This is fantastic. I'm a huge Ace Attorney fan and have meant to play the fan translation for a while, but having an official translation on switch is so nice.
I'm pretty curious how some of it will be localized, tbh. If I remember correctly, I heard that there was one case where you needed to know the way that a japanese style of clothing was worn or something, which would be challenging to localize.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
entelechy LinkI've gotten really into Free Enterprise, a mod for the old SNES Final Fantasy 4 that turns it into a randomized open-world game. Random characters, random items in different chests, and you have...I've gotten really into Free Enterprise, a mod for the old SNES Final Fantasy 4 that turns it into a randomized open-world game. Random characters, random items in different chests, and you have to figure out ways to use what you get to beat the game as quickly as possible - completing objectives until you're awarded the crystal, a key item that lets you fight the final boss.
It's a total labor of love with a lot of cute touches - the final boss turns into it's "true form" when you use the crystal, which they've changed to be one of 500 different sprites from other games, community members, etc.
There's an ongoing tournament for it where they have casters cover races live on twitch, and the discord community for it is super welcoming and helpful. Hoping to compete in the next tournament in the fall.
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Comment on Biden's first 100 days - How has he done? in ~society
entelechy Link ParentI think the challenge with Climate Change action is that because it's a slow, looming threat, it doesn't get as much attention as the immediate problems that are directly screaming at you. But if...I think the challenge with Climate Change action is that because it's a slow, looming threat, it doesn't get as much attention as the immediate problems that are directly screaming at you. But if we don't make extremely aggressive changes and quickly, we will suddenly find ourselves with many more more screaming immediate problems to deal with.
Agreed though, it seems like it should be pretty easy for him to at least reverse Trump's exec orders.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
entelechy Link ParentFound the intro credits - it's in English, and written as ANSI hex: https://imgur.com/iNZpn0X Some other folks in the community suggested that the opening dialogue I was trying to find might just...Found the intro credits - it's in English, and written as ANSI hex: https://imgur.com/iNZpn0X
Some other folks in the community suggested that the opening dialogue I was trying to find might just be a static image, and told me to for it in VRAM with bsnes plus. Making progress :)
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
entelechy Link ParentThe roman alphabet is used in a few places, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to reuse it - the one place I've seen it is in the main menu, and the font there wouldn't really fit the places where...The roman alphabet is used in a few places, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to reuse it - the one place I've seen it is in the main menu, and the font there wouldn't really fit the places where there's japanese text.
Right now I'm focused on creating a table file - kind of a rosetta stone of which hex values match which characters. From there I can figure out where the script is located. This is typically simple in an English ROM because you can use relative search tools to look for strings you know are in the script. But because it's Japanese it's been a bit harder, and I haven't been able to find the English strings this way.
Working on it today - once I've cracked the code and made a table file, I'll know what the next steps are.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
entelechy (edited )LinkI'm working on translating an obscure SNES platformer from Japanese to English. Japanese has three writing systems: hiragana, a basic phoenetic alphabet katakana, used for loan words kanji, which...I'm working on translating an obscure SNES platformer from Japanese to English.
Japanese has three writing systems:
- hiragana, a basic phoenetic alphabet
- katakana, used for loan words
- kanji, which represents ideas instead of pronunciations, and has thousands of characters
There's a good explanation on legends of localization.
I've learned the hiragana characters and am working on katakana. I just want to know enough to be able to transpose characters I see on the screen, and will likely be asking friends to check my google-translate-level efforts as I go.
The game itself is short - only a few boxes of text. The next step for me is to figure out where the script is located in the ROM - so just poking around and seeing if I can get the text in the intro to change. I'm still pretty early on and have just been pestering folks at romhacking.net with questions as I go. But it feels like an interesting puzzle to reverse engineer.
Wow, I hadn't heard about Wildermyth and it looks absolutely gorgeous. I love the pop-up book aesthetic.