Harmonixer

The effects of the rings are put into Runes/Seals whatever the fuck they are called. You have to switch them out at the bench, once you get far enough in the game. Main-hand weapons are basically two weapons in one, the lack of variety is vaguely balanced out with this annnnnnnd: I like the simplified stats, the weapon customization is MUCH deeper than Souls. You can make STR weapons scale with SKL instead, you can add poison to weapons without having to lose base damage. It's wicked nice. The game is focused on evasion and offense all in the same motion. You can evade through everything, nearly anyway. I noticed I was able to just stay on bosses 90% of the time and had a much higher survival rate than trying to get away. The most distance gets you killed it seems like. I've died more to random wolves and dog than to any boss so far. Along with another mob I won't spoil here, they remind me of trick or treaters. (You'll see.) As Hunters, we answer only to ourselves (and blood). It's nice that I don't have to grind rep with anyone this time. I like the coop better here too, even the PVP is already better than Dark Souls 2. Plus the hitboxes are a bit better than Dark Souls 2, Yay! EDIT: I stand corrected! There ARE Covenants. Won't spoil too much though. This game is everything good about the Souls series in a different environment and better. It's super gorey and bloody, has plenty of personality. It's most crippling features are the load times, which last I heard are getting patched out hopefully and it's absolutely shitty framerates. They TANK when too many things are on the screen or you do multiplayer. Really kills the mood running at 30fps in a game so pretty but it's worse when it drops dramatically sometimes. I say, if you have the system and the money, it's a great title to add. For vets from the Souls series you should give it a shot and see if you can handle it. It's a real ego crusher if you hid behind a shield in Souls. You just can't do that in this game. Don't second guess yourself, just rush that shit down and paint it red!

I won't really be repeating anything that any of the others have posted, since I feel the points have already been made- but I will comment on the subject of villain rpers using it as a vehicle to get ERP. I guess, I find it amusing that was even said in the first place, because I haven't run into enough of it myself? I mostly see do-gooders and everyone else using their characters to achieve the same goal. Understand that, I am not against ERP or people that do it. I just think it's a lot like 'pot calling the kettle black' scenario. I honestly don't believe it's limited to any particular type of RP. There's plenty of people guilty of this and they are 'public' RP figures and both openly and privately do the same things. This extends to all games with RP I find. So, there's that. Also, Verad makes and excellent point on unrelatable villains. I hadn't thought of it that way. I do love monsters, especially the ones we can't actually understand. Kaiju, for example.

Counterexample: Rhonin and Thrall from Warcraft are almost universally hated for being Mary Sues. Rhonin is a near-omnipotent time wizard and ladies man, and Thrall is Orc-Jesus, and nobody likes either of them. Meanwhile, the only genuinely overpowered female character, Jaina, mostly flies under the radar. People just dislike her because she tries to be so god damn edgy... It's not only Jaina, either. Sylvanas is another great example for that particular setting of a character that is unfortunately given a free pass despite making very little sense and being a major example of a 'Mary Sue'. There was a time, before I knew the lore that the concept of the Banshee Queen was super cool beans to me. I loved the Undercity and the Forsaken are a really visually appealing race, their voices were top notch and I liked quests related to them. As the years went by, I started learning more about the lore and quickly realized how fucking awful of a character Sylvanas was. And not even in a cool way either, just how whiny and terribly put together. Then she got that new booby model and suddenly she was everyone's favorite ever! It's no secret that WoW lore is... shaky at best. Things that are actually kind of cool are very understated and everything else is really overbearing. I think it's like that in this game too, but it's much easier for me to overlook it for some reason. Bias, I think. In terms of the OP subject? I'm really not a fan of shit like this lately. Was it in the last few years that everyone was like 'dood, did you hear? I can be offended and someone HAS to give a shit now!' What's going to happen with future generations with the examples that are currently being set? You can't be a victim forever. That's just a miserable existence.

I suppose a lot of what this thread could be is some cool story sharing along with the usual- look how fucking cool I am outside of rp!-. But for myself I can say that I tend to RP things I don't have irl expertise on as sort of a way to expand my interests. I mean, sure. I do have a theatre background, I preformed a lot when I was younger and I was back stage for even longer than that. I think researching subjects and ingesting media is one of my favorite activities. I love helping people and I admit to using RP as a vehicle to socialize and to expand my personal interests. If I see something I like, I ask a lot of questions and then take when I learn to apply to whatever it is I continue to do in the future. I've said it before, I like to play villains in RP. I find it far more fun and much more stimulating than anything else. Being a good guy just doesn't get my rocks off. But I don't need to research how to be a bad guy by reading something online really. I can just do the opposite of what my current target is doing. Usually. It can get more complicated than that, depending on themes. I like to prey on weaknesses and educate myself that way. So I can provide a more entertaining performance for all parties involved. On occasion, I'll purpose watch a tv show I hate simply to relate to people I'm trying to understand. I joke about 'normies' and the like but it's true. I don't care much for sportball, but sometimes at work I have to seem excited about local sports team or pop artist I've never heard of. I don't have to sacrifice much of my own time to learn something, just means I have to observe long enough to pick up on important stuff that stands out and listen. I've learned very quickly most people just love to hear themselves talk about what they like. RP very often for me is rarely about what I want, and more about what Super White Knight Todd is going to do to continue to be the hero. Mind you, not everyone is like this and I certainly don't hate anyone that is. People are usually very pleasant and I remove anyone from my social circle that isn't quite quickly. IRL, I don't like to have problems. I'm too laid back. I ask, I listen and and apply the best I can. It usually leads me on some kind of adventure, and I'm always thankful for it. Although I'd never want to go into actual battle, truly harm people or take poison 'for the sake of research'. I can just always ask instead!

Can't imagine more people having the ability to continue rping what they already are being a bad thing really. Visual aids to get the idea across seems great. I myself considered something related to it ICly, but since I'm stuck with both hands up my ass on lore (because the expac isn't out yet) I won't shun it. I'd definitely welcome them before I chase them off, I don't like closing off rpers because of something 'new'.

We'll see. With so many people bitching about the differences between the genders they may not be popular at all. I don't really mind eitherway. Au Ra are a really awesome looking race and I hope their lore lives up to expectations. I'd rather see a bunch of horned freaks than more cats though, if I'm being honest.

So, Verad and Edvyn mentioned the two-ish things that are my personal red flags in FC's and Guilds. In particular, egocults are the single most rage inducing parts of playing online games with people. I have no need to name names, people know who these figures are and if you read this going 'shit, is he talking about me?' No, it's not you. Hopefully. Most people who run an egocult aren't aware they are dickheads because they are only focused on themselves and their own personal gains. It's especially irritating when people just let it happen, because they are unwilling to speak up on the issue. We have been gifted with minds that can constantly expand, and grow. Being shy is one thing, but to let yourself be stepped on by someone who has collected a group of 'weaker willed' individuals under the guise of 'reaching glory is' rage inducing for me. House RP bothers me, I've yet to see it done well. The time that I thought it was good, was because I was part of the problem. I wasn't aware until I took a step back. It was just another egocult, and I was a favorite. I personally feel that groups that think together as a unit, and bounce ideas off one another are the most fun to be around and tend to be the most successful. The willingness to change and adapt and openly discuss problems like drama and the like stand the test of time. One person running the show with a list of favorites is a disaster and I hope to avoid it at all costs. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Edvyn refers to something in particular that I see in nearly all RP groups that absolutely drives me insane. 'hugboxing' They put it so perfectly. The ~huggles u~ and *bites everyone in fc! ^o^* thing makes me wish violence upon their existence. I realize that a lot of my friends do it, and I've kindly kept my trap shut on the subject but I am compelled to speak on it now. It is a strange pet peeve, but it makes me think of being on AOL/Yahoo chatrooms. Passing out cookies of luv! and everything related to is a surefire way for me to lose interest in anything being said. It's used for flirting, shitty passive aggressive comments and trying desperately to be cute when you are in fact just being insufferable and the opposite of what you probably intend. I think emotes are fine, faces, whatever. It's part of our communication, expressions. But so are accurately conveying your feelings through the wonder of the w̶r̶i̶t̶t̶e̶n̶ typed word. And sometimes, a funny entry here and there is welcome. But if another catgirl 'tee hee licks teh FC! *0*' I'm going to lose my shit. But really, I still like most everyone I've encountered so far and if I've dealt with the hugboxing(stealing it, I'm sorry Edvyn) this long, I'll put up with it longer. I'm sure I'm not always pleasant to be around. I promise I will be if you fucking stop though! Egocults however, I will not stand for. Never again.

I was really upset when I read this today. When I first heard he had the condition, I sort of realized it was only a matter of time. Hearing him talk about the subject was always something... terrifying, yet amazing at the same time. May he rest in peace, he walks with Death now.

I'm kind of playing it by ear for now. In the meantime I have some side RP projects, just trying to meet people and figure out what my options! I won't be committing to anything in particular just yet. This is because of the lack of Au Ra lore and my current roster of friends are all Ishgardians, heretics or not- it could be somewhat difficult to work with! Or more fun, depending on my particular flavors of RP. I still would like to cement myself as something of an antagonist though, I can't imagine being too much of a good guy. I'm sure some nice things will happen along the way, but that won't last forever I'm sure.

There's a ton of hand holding in Dark Souls that isn't readily apparent to players who aren't paying attention. Pyromancy, heavy armors that raise your mitigation levels insanely high, buffs that let you 1 shot shield poke mobs, plenty of easy methods for 'difficult' bosses. The charm of the game from it's hands off storytelling and methods of teaching a player through pure gameplay. It's difficulty is almost gone once you grasp certain concepts. I'd argue that it's more 'difficult' to learn an MMO because you can't learn certain things from just the game alone. You need to talk to other players and test yourself repeatedly in combat environments, along with a steady increase in gear and level is an introduction to other things. In most MMOs, you never get a complete character until you reach cap. In games like Dark Souls, you can beat the game with literally nothing but a wooden club equipped and never need to heal once. That being said, I still don't find it excusable for players in MMOs to disregard others and do the standard, stand in the fire and then blame the healer shit that still persists. Understand that you are playing in a team based environment and every mistake you make without learning from, makes it more difficult for others to progress. While is possible to outgear certain mechanics, it is not possible to survive all of them and continue to be successful. We can cite examples and argue about that all we want, but until every player is decked in the best gear ever regardless of how much time they might have dedicated regardless of how skilled they might be, but that's something else entirely. I think I'm somewhat of an elitist, but in the sense that I expect my fellow players to be able to communicate to me their shortcomings if they are aware of them and a willingness to learn if presented with criticism in efforts to better themselves for the benefit of smoother play in groups. Be ready to pull your weight, realize you aren't just wasting your own time, that you are also wasting others. Especially when it comes to MMOs. Chances are if you are playing one, you have a way to research things in some way, and if you don't you certainly can ask other players and people like myself are more than happy to take time to explain things and help others. I love helping people, I can't stand people who expect me to do the work for them however. Earlier today, I wanted to respond to posts in particular about RP elitisim. Thinking it over for the better part of the day, I think it's better that I simply leave it as this, which I've said a few times here before. You should be able to enjoy yourself however you feel fit so long as you don't do it at the expense of others and should no way feel entitled to anything in particular. You are sharing a virtual space with real, living breathing humans and it's always better to be open minded than it is to shut yourself further in. Also, cocks.

Auri huh? Can't say I saw that coming but it'll do I guess. Now to see arguments over surnames! Still, some information is better than none. I definitely clicked with the quickness after seeing the title. Hopefully we get more soon!

I've very impressed with the zones. The new city especially! Reminds me of Lindblum (sp?) in FF9. The different districts and elevations. Quite pleased with all the other zones, can't wait to see the lore. Now that I see the animations for myself on the Au Ra I'm still going to be making one of them my main. It was a tiny bit jarring at first, but it's appropriate I think. I think they said there will be a character creator for them next month. I'm sure I'll be spending hours on that! I most definitely will be playing all 3 of the new jobs. Maybe more of a focus on DRK, simply because I find tanking to be my most comfortable role. I'm a little sad to know they had to choose between SAM and DRK, but this should do nicely for now. Flying mounts are cool, I'm surprised flying looks as cool as it does. Although I strongly suspect the footage we saw was flight paths, and not so much our own choice. At least not all of it. Did I mention how impressed I am with the zones? I don't know how this game manages to do it, but it really knocks some of that shit out of the park with how good some of it looks. ... The release date is a tiny bit farther out than I would have liked, but it sounds like with as much content as we are getting it's quite worth the wait. So in the meantime, I have way more classes to level and I suppose I should start working on my relic weapon thing some more. It glows now! Just not the super bling I see some of you rockin'. And I guess I should really RP more too.

Well, like I said the other night. Count me in. I've been kind of considering starting something like this myself, but lack the 'guts' of the operation. I can have a dedicated character for this, if you like. Incidentally, my main was going to have something in this vein anyway! http://www.goodmagic.com/carny/car_j-p.htm This link I posted is a list of real circus/carnival/con-man related terms. There's a few more sources I can list but we'll get to that as the time comes. It's pretty fuckin' awesome. As someone who's huge fan of the subject, it's history, I'd be more than happy to contribute! By which I mean the theme is more closely related than many people realize. If it wasn't abundantly clear already. The title under my username, is related in-fact. Also, Juicy is close to: Mark — A townsperson you see as a conspicuously easy victim. When a carny, often the ticket-seller, spotted a towny with a big bankroll, he would give him a friendly slap on the back leaving a chalk mark so other carnies would know that this customer had lots of money. The ticket booth would have a high counter, above the average person's eyesight, and the ticket seller would short-change the customer, leaving the change on the counter. If the customer didn't notice or didn't count his change, the ticket seller would lean over to give him some "friendly" advice about the best attractions, putting his hand on the customer's shoulder to point him toward a show he simply must see, simultaneously dusting his back with chalk from a hidden supply. If the customer instead complained about the wrong change, the ticket seller could always push the remaining change to him and say "I told you to take it." And what does an agent do when he spots a mark? He "plays" him - that's right, just like you play a hooked fish. But a carny truism is, "Always leave the mark a dollar for gas." With gas money he can go home (you don't want him stuck there growing angrier with you every minute). You gotta squeeze the bastards for just enough gil for them to want to come back and try again. I could list hundreds, but that would just be too much to fit all here. The general vibe I get from NPCs in the Saucer is they straight up hate everyone anyway, and the whole thing is more of a punishment than it is a blessing. I'm sure we'd be doing them a favor by sorting out the trash. The best thing about this is, it's a little better than just a conman operation. It's a business. "Time to get the fuckin' money."

Ah-hah! Well that seems more reasonable then. Certainly getting your money's worth! I will say that also appreciate OP's post. Really got me thinking on the subject.

So I found myself smiling at Dogberry's post. I haven't LARPed in years. My experience with it only lasted a short year, and it mostly fold in on itself simply because of cost issues and the usual drama llamas running about. I never got to get really involved, and the one overnight experience I had was really just not a very pleasant one overall. Reading his post however, was very interesting though. I can't imagine being that paranoid after such an experience. I do applaud him for his ability to carry on though. Now that I've said that, I suppose it raises the question if I'm able to separate my characters from myself. I'm fortunate that I often play characters that I generally want nothing to do with in life. I've had plenty of abrasive, hateful, racist and just downright vile characters. I think it has more to do with my observations of others and things done to me and me as a person, trying to understand and apply it differently. I could never bring myself to harm people the way some of my characters have, the desire isn't there. At least, I'm fairly certain! It's the matter of theatrics and entertainment. I generally RP for the benefit of others and seeing other people happier is what drives me. By nature, I like helping people. I like watching nice characters (the good guys, whatever) overcome obstacles I place before them. As I type this, I realize that a large part of me does enjoy it. A contradiction. I like to help people! But I also love to prey on weakness and challenge others and myself. Maybe the thought process is 'if I make it harder for others, they will improve and thusly make it harder for me in return'. I think that's me trying to identify my own 'bleed'.

I'm really picky about my LP's. I can definitely agree that Cry is worth watching. I like the lack of facecam and his brand of humor. He makes really mundane segments of games worth watching and impresses me from time to time with his ability to not say anything super interesting, yet keep me entertained. His video descriptions are sometimes better than his playthroughs, just something about his presentation. Try his Vampire LP. Jesse Cox has some pretty entertaining playthroughs if you can stand watching him grab every side quest and item along the way. He doesn't always play stuff I enjoy but I can pop in here and there and be satisfied with giving him time. To a lesser degree I enjoy watching Dodger play stuff too. She picks on a lot of titles that aren't played as often and doesn't irritate the hell out of me with attention grabbing bs. I'm not certain I would call them LPers, but I'm a fan of Emarrel. He's a Dark Souls players, and seems to be the best I'll ever have the pleasure of witnessing. He doesn't talk, as far as I can recall so it's annotations only. But man can that guy play. Mixing self discovered tech with stuff that's mostly know but hardly explored enough, he provides solid gameplay. MartyrsBrigade and YamiTamashi are really excellent to watch too. Yami is another silent one, but the Brigade tends to have longer dialogues about what he learns and is pretty adamant about his opinions. Love or hate him, he helped me overcome some of my shortcomings when it came to the first games PvP. I fully admit that I was a more successful invader once I dropped the thought process that I had to play a certain way. Does Gootecks and Mike Ross count as LPers? They do a show every month or so of them doing online Street Fighter 4 matches. It tends to be amazing simply because anyone that plays fighting games online knows that it's utter bs 90% of the time. The reactions are so genuine and the hype is hard to overlook for me. Maybe it's easier for me to get into since I still compete from time to time in fighters, it's still my favorite genre. I could never truly leave the scene, they are a fun way to accept that arcades are long gone and this is how it's going to be for the foreseeable future.

I'm glad this was brought up, I've been wondering about the subject myself. I found all of this really helpful! There's quite the divide acceptable in terms of lore on this game. It's pretty amusing to see the picking and choosing of specific things. Ignoring some aspects and embracing others. I of course agree that everything should be taken into consideration but I particularly find it funny when it's mostly supported and someone says 'Eh.' It's a two-way street, is what I think of.

That, is incredible. Hahahha. EDIT: OH GOTT DOUBLE POST, MERGE IF POSSIBLE

Ah-hah. The stories in this thread are really entertaining. It's always interesting for me to see where other people started. Brings a smile to my face. When it comes to myself, if I had to pinpoint a moment where I discovered RP... Hmm. It was when AOL discs, the freebie ones were still a huge thing. I mean most people used them as frisbees and coasters, but I was collecting them and making new accounts wherever and whenever I could. I remember discovering general chatrooms and really fascinated with the idea of being able to communicate with people very far away outside of letters and just phone calls. Something we take for granted today sometimes. I was pretty young at the time, and at the mercy of whatever hardware I had access to. I can't tell you the excitement I had when I was able to move on from dial-up and to use cable for my isp, hahah. I used to see strange titled rooms, not always sexual mind you. Themed, and often using weird combos of letters and numbers to spell out things. Remember when leetspeak was a thing? Sometimes if the room wasn't locked, you could get a glimpse of this world, where people claimed to be wizards and werewolves, women could be men, men could be inanimate objects capable of sentience. Huge distant lands that we could only dream of, until now that is! I quickly became obsessed! I had to know more, to understand what it all was. So I first started RPing in the official AOL chat room called The Red Dragon Inn. As the years went by, I ended up joining various MUDs and spent an awful lot of time in The Keep. Which, I'm fairly sure still exists today. I used to RP really goody goody knights. Really typical shit. I mostly started as a good guy. Always had a sword, too good to ever use a gun. (I know, right?) 0It is something that I can't bring myself to do these days. Everytime I try to play a nice guy now, it usually turns out boring for myself. So yeah, I started in AOL chatrooms, then moved to bbs/forums, The Keep and then mostly every MMO I've played since Everquest. There's too many to list here, but most notably EQ, WoW and more recently TERA, GW2, and Wildstar ones that I enjoyed while I still played them. Maybe not so much GW2 outside of very close friends. I had mostly awful experiences. One thing I will say, I think having RPed in so many forms and in as many games as I have and for as long as I have, it has only made me appreciate it more. I started very young, was able to convince people I was much older than I actually was. Which I attribute to reading so much, which I still do. I spend most of my time reading or writing when I'm not working. Or daydreaming, hahah. I refuse to play an MMO unless I can find some form of RP, it's just not as fun for me as the communities aren't to my liking. It's rare that I play games that don't cover it in some way, even if it's for myself. Even my Monster Hunter character has a loose story behind it that my fellow hunters often crack jokes about it.

I'm actually baffled as to how all of you lovely people (just based on what I read in this thread, perhaps I've overlooked) managed to overlook my absolute favorite series ever: Shadow Hearts. It has yet to be topped by any RPG I've ever played and everytime I play it I notice something different. The story is creepy and unsettling, lined with lots of dark humor and for every typical trope there's a boatload of shining moments. It also has a evolved gameplay mechanic that I believe Legend of Legaia/Dragoon started- called the Judgement Ring. Along with a Sanity meter, you'll need that. The main characters don't use swords, they punch things. They also turn into horrible monsters and wreck shit. In one of the games, you bust Al Capone out of prison and in another you participate in 'The Man Festival'. A wrestling match where the losers... well I suppose it depends on your tastes. How about vampires that fight with sign posts and tables? Maybe you'd like to talking about the merits of necromancy? I won't go as far to say it's all high concept stuff, but it's entertaining and full of twists I never saw coming. The characters are still better (subjective) in this series than years of FF and it's sadly never going to continue. I felt more feelings than anyone should ever have a right to feel. I mean seriously, this wrestler rips out a pillar off a building and carries it around as his weapon. There's a ninja that uses a cactus as a sword. That's the tame stuff. It's horror themed, that in itself was enough to attract me. If you haven't played it, or someone else mentioned it and I missed it- you should go play it. I mean that, you really should.

Friggin' EXCELLENT. I was just lamenting to a friend about this, I felt like it really limited what I could wear! Tired of black plate armors, very happy to hear this.

Can't imagine a total shift there. Too many players have alts that they never level and just stick around Ul'dah because they don't actually progress on them (or need to in some cases) Most of what I see is new characters being rolled and just left in the Sands. Bar/Tavern RP is easier and what a lot of people are generally comfortable with, it's a lot harder to get out to farther places in this game without actually leveling a little. Like what others said, it may be popular with certain circles, but not so much with the masses I don't think.

Incredibly kind of you to link this, thank you! Should help a bit with people stressing over getting on their preferred realms.

The thought process behind some of these polices baffles the shit out of me. It's not the first time I've seen something like this, and I doubt it will be the last. Eitherway, it's easily worked around thankfully.

I feel your pain on trying to get a character on this realm. It took some patience and timing to sneak in, I'm really grateful for it. So far, I've liked the community here. For the most part people are open to discuss things and listen. I got into a few linkshells and have been slowly networking my way around. It's very different from what I'm used to. The ecosystem here isn't so fragile and sensitive, just has way more cats than usual. As for the game, I don't think it's fair to compare it to PSO2. The combat here is very deliberate and in raid environments it's quite pleasant compared to 'I hope to gott my latency let's me get out these keybinds and doesn't skullfuck me for it'. You have to be precise and plan ahead more than react on the fly. It's very good MMO combat. PSO2 is more of a nod to action games and having the perfect PA set up to apply the most damage at once without getting killed in the process. As for moving a character and then hoping for the best? Well that's really the risk in a lot of things, isn't it? It largely what you make of it, in every trash heap of a community there's hopefully some gems right? Having moved around a lot myself, I learned you can't force a community to work for you, you'll have to adjust to it accordingly. I wish you the best of luck! There's a lot of people on here, ask around and don't be afraid to change your mind a little if the need comes up. The first people you meet might not be perfect for you, but if you look around you may be quite surprised.