My Little Pony LI: FE

[Aotrs Commander]

*sigh*

Weary rant incoming...

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Bored out of my mind today, making myself not do any more painting (because if I keep doing for days on end I'll end up going all peculiar); completely stumped as to what to do (it's not like I'm spoilt for choice with the amount of half-played games or untouched games I've got to hand), I decided to have another stab at Earth 2150.

Shoulda stuck with Pokemon...

Even with a walkthrough, on easy, the last mission I did was tiresome. 2150 is great (well, okay, just the positive side of moderate) when the enemy attriciates itself to death on your base (because it has limited resources), but when the AI just sits back in it's base and waits for you to attack it, in particular this mission... Not only is kinda boring (since you spend half your time waiting for your air units to reload), but damn-near impossible without spending several hours whittling the enemy away until they finally run out of resources (and of course, the whole game is on a global timer, so you don't have that luxury anyway). It also has a habit of gotchaing you, and worse, unless you're very deliberate with the quick-save, not always saving. (And the pathfinding at attack routines are pretty dreadful to boot - and the unit selection controls are pretty much the worst I've seen on an RTS. Heck, all the hotkeys are kinda weird and out there, for that matter...)

After what must have been a few hours of faffing around, I finally gave up, threw my hands in the air and said "bugger this, this isn't enjoyable at all, I'm gonna use the cheat code, so at least maybe I can get on to some other mission."

So I did. And it still took about five reloads to actually finish, with it being extra annoying. And then I came to the next mission - for which the only walkthrough on the whole internet stops at - (out of the three sides, the ED, which is the "first" side, this walkthrough only gets about half-way through) and tried to figure out how to even start. Wisely, I used the reveal map cheat, and I say wisely, because you could have spent long hours trying to search the map otherwise, looking for your harvastable resources... Of which there appear to be none, except that held by enemy forces. Which means the solution is probably a rush... And on top of that, the largest resources field (as the mission is get [x] resources looks like it might not actually be accessible without new units, which I would have to research from this mission and I may not be able to build anyway (because I'm well over the paltry unit cap with my high-level veteran units).

I've just sort of given up at this point... It's more tedium that it's worth. The individual bits are a pain, but when the add up together, it's just... a vertibale conacopia of meh. (It's not even at if the game is really bad, so much, just, at this point... dull.) It's a game that's okay for turtling (but not as good as even C&C, depressingly) but really not good for when the computer turtles... Which is a shame, since the concept was actually quite good. It's not the worst RTS I've ever played (that special honour is reserved for Star Trek New Worlds and Perimeter), but it's definately not one of the best I've played.

Trouble is, pretty much every game I'm part way through at the moment is stuck in a bit that either requires grinding or is a more tedious bit, even in my RPGs that I'm part way through, and I just can't seem to work up any ethusiasm for the like, two, that aren't at the moment.

And to cap it all, I am literally about one-and-a-half pony fanfics away from pretty much having read all the longish stories that hold any interest for me. (And Naruto and HP have also rather run dry of good stuff in the last year or so.)

Long story short: bored and frustrated Lich is bored and frustrated.

Doesn't help, I don't think, that the weather is so muggy; I really hate that.

I think I might have to go an watch some more Rock Lee Springitme of Youth episodes, just because that at least will be cheery.

(To be fair, the internet could be devided into those who would laugh and those who would get squemish at that comics punchline.)

And apparently those of use who missed the joke...

[Tiki Snakes]

And apparently those of use who missed the joke...

Theoretically, if you got the joke, you would laugh or be squeemish.

It's a ponification of a short horror manga, basically. The Enigma of Amigara Fault, by Junji Ito. It's okay.
I much prefer Gyo, by the same, or possibly Uzumaki, which are both full length and significantly more disturbing.

[erikun]

Glasses look strangely alluring on Applejack:

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This is for you.

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[Pokonic]

Theoretically, if you got the joke, you would laugh or be squeemish.

It's a ponification of a short horror manga, basically. The Enigma of Amigara Fault, by Junji Ito. It's okay.
I much prefer Gyo, by the same, or possibly Uzumaki, which are both full length and significantly more disturbing.

Annnnd this is where I look at the title of this thread, look at a post,and go "How have we gone from ponies to talking about the merits of varying horror manga?"
But I know, in this case, its my fault, so I can blame only myself.

[Kd7sov]

Okay guys, my cousin from France is over for a visit, to help practice his English. While I was talking to him, I mentioned MLP, and interested him enough that he decided he wanted to watch an episode to see what it's all about. Always good.

Now here's the thing: I need an episode to show him. We've done the whole "what's the best episode to show a newbie?" bit over and over, but now I'm wondering, what would be the best episode for a non-native english speaker? Would this change? I think I'd need something with less word-play, and probably an episode focusing on slower speaking characters (i.e. probably not Pinkie) and without strong accents (i.e. probably not AJ). And thoughts?

And before you ask, yes I know there's a French dub, but he wants to see it in the original English.

I'm off to bed now, so I'll respond to any queries tomorrow. Night all.

For what it's worth: I took a few years of German in high school, several years ago, and had little practice with it since, I had little trouble understanding any of the German dub. How much of that is specific to that dub, or to me, or what, I have no idea. I do know that a single semester of Arabic was insufficient to understand that dub, beyond one of Applejack's lines in "Ticket Master".

As for actual recommendations... I don't know what to say yes on, but don't go with Pinkie-heavy episodes. Especially stuff like "Griffon the Brush-Off", where she speaks very quickly.

I'm going to add "Being stabbed by a muffin" to my list of ways I want to go out from this mortal coil.

"Stabbed by a muffin" suggests that the muffin is the perpetrator, the stabber. If you want something like the picture, "stabbed with a muffin" is probably a better bet.

[Lix Lorn]

Shoulda stuck with Pokemon...

(And Naruto )

ALL of the signs are pointing that I need to write fanfiction again.
Perhaps the Kazekage trials shall exist...

[Tiki Snakes]

Annnnd this is where I look at the title of this thread, look at a post,and go "How have we gone from ponies to talking about the merits of varying horror manga?"
But I know, in this case, its my fault, so I can blame only myself.

I literally just found out they released a Gyo anime earlier this year.
Oh my.

[Maxtronaut]

Hey Tiki. I wanted to ask you something.

Why's your avatar just a tiny plant? What is it?

[Forum Explorer]

ok, i swear the world is trying to kill me.

i roll up to a red at an intersection. light turns green. car to my left (in the straight only lane), turns straight into me and knocks me off my bike. i now have a 2 1/2 inch gash running down my leg.
oh the joys of sharing the road

i request medical themed pony, stat!

That really sucks, sorry to hear that.

Hey Tiki. I wanted to ask you something.

Why's your avatar just a tiny plant? What is it?

I'm guessing it's ponythid's grave that Thanqol made.

[SiuiS]

Theoretically, if you got the joke, you would laugh or be squeemish.

It's a ponification of a short horror manga, basically. The Enigma of Amigara Fault, by Junji Ito. It's okay.
I much prefer Gyo, by the same, or possibly Uzumaki, which are both full length and significantly more disturbing.

Hmm. Maybe I'll have to look into this

[SiuiS]

That really sucks, sorry to hear that.



I'm guessing it's ponythid's grave that Thanqol made.

*cough*
Thanqol is a green garbed metamagi?

[Forum Explorer]

*cough*
Thanqol is a green garbed metamagi?

If he wants to be


More honestly ever since you stopped coding your words green I've more or less lost the ability to tell you apart from Thanqol. I'm half convinced you are in fact the same person.

[Pokonic]

If he wants to be


More honestly ever since you stopped coding your words green I've more or less lost the ability to tell you apart from Thanqol. I'm half convinced you are in fact the same person.

Wait a moment, why are we pretending Siruqul has two different accounts?

[Thanqol]

If he wants to be


More honestly ever since you stopped coding your words green I've more or less lost the ability to tell you apart from Thanqol. I'm half convinced you are in fact the same person.

I resent that.

[Dexam]

Dear Princess Celestia Premier Pony Party Planner Pinkie Pie,

Cleaning the entire house, re-arranging all the furniture, cooking a four course meal for two dozen people, hosting the party, re-cleaning the house and moving all the furniture back is extremely hard work; especially with a baby who has been screaming his little head off when not being held by his parents (coating oneself in flour did seem to work in this case) and depriving them of even more sleep than usual. Still, it was a good party, fun was had by all, the food was well received, and I now have your likeness in miniature gracing my desk at work to remind me of the event.

Your extremely weary student,
Dexam.

Thanks for the birthday wishes everypony. I look forward to catching up with ponythread later.

[SiuiS]

If he wants to be

I honestly did not foresee this. Damn you mortals and your ability to play dress-up.

More honestly ever since you stopped coding your words green I've more or less lost the ability to tell you apart from Thanqol. I'm half convinced you are in fact the same person.

I am conflicted between an immediate sense of disappointment and a fridge-sense of "oh, that's a good thing."

I resent that.

Pfft. Plain green? *puts on mask*
Poseur.

[Pendulous]

I'm sure this image has been posted a few times in the past but who cares IT'S ADORABLE!!!

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SMARTY PANTS IS BEST DONKEY can someone give me a new pancreas?

It reminds me of the scene in Super Mario RPG where Gaz is playing with his dolls.

[Pokonic]

Hey everyone, look! Someone spotted Seaponies on a peice of merch and took a photo of it!

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I regret nothing.

[Balmas]

ok, i swear the world is trying to kill me.

i roll up to a red at an intersection. light turns green. car to my left (in the straight only lane), turns straight into me and knocks me off my bike. i now have a 2 1/2 inch gash running down my leg.
oh the joys of sharing the road

i request medical themed pony, stat!

Medic ponies incoming!

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That really sucks Thubby, feel better.

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I love the title of the book on Dash's bed.

Okay guys, my cousin from France is over for a visit, to help practice his English. While I was talking to him, I mentioned MLP, and interested him enough that he decided he wanted to watch an episode to see what it's all about. Always good.

Now here's the thing: I need an episode to show him. We've done the whole "what's the best episode to show a newbie?" bit over and over, but now I'm wondering, what would be the best episode for a non-native english speaker? Would this change? I think I'd need something with less word-play, and probably an episode focusing on slower speaking characters (i.e. probably not Pinkie) and without strong accents (i.e. probably not AJ). And thoughts?

And before you ask, yes I know there's a French dub, but he wants to see it in the original English.

I'm off to bed now, so I'll respond to any queries tomorrow. Night all.

Well, I'd recommend that you see Sonic Rainboom, if only because it has a fairly clear plot issue and resolution, even without any words at all.

Hey everyone, look! Someone spotted Seaponies on a peice of merch and took a photo of it!

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I regret nothing.

Blunt, what would the appropriate response be?

Well, based off your past reaction to such things, and the undead's current resistance to OFC bombardment, I would suggest an overkill amount of force.

I like the way you think.

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[Thanqol]

Pfft. Plain green? *puts on mask*
Poseur.

You use green whenever you're female.


YELLING UPDATE:

SiuiS: While chasing a duck
Bleakbane: While voting

[Excession]

And to cap it all, I am literally about one-and-a-half pony fanfics away from pretty much having read all the longish stories that hold any interest for me. (And Naruto and HP have also rather run dry of good stuff in the last year or so.)

Long story short: bored and frustrated Lich is bored and frustrated.

Doesn't help, I don't think, that the weather is so muggy; I really hate that.

Not pony related, but if you're looking for a good book, I would recommend finding a copy of Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. So far everyone I've lent it to has really liked it. It's a police procedural that feels like a cross between Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, Harry Potter (but grown up), and an episode of The Bill. You might know the author from such things Remembrance of the Daleks. The book does get fairly dark at times, but to the "not for children" level.

[Thanqol]

Not pony related, but if you're looking for a good book, I would recommend finding a copy of Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. So far everyone I've lent it to has really liked it. It's a police procedural that feels like a cross between Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, Harry Potter (but grown up), and an episode of The Bill. You might know the author from such things Remembrance of the Daleks. The book does get fairly dark at times, but to the "not for children" level.

I read that and didn't like it. While the story was great, a wonderful source inspiration for a Mage game, and the twists were compelling the writing was unbearably dry and bland. I just felt bored throughout because of how simplistic the style was.

[Tiki Snakes]

Hey Tiki. I wanted to ask you something.

Why's your avatar just a tiny plant? What is it?

Well,

I'm guessing it's ponythid's grave that Thanqol made.

Ye- wait, actually,

*cough*
Thanqol is a green garbed metamagi?

er, yeah. Not Thanqol, SiuiS.

[otakuryoga]

I'm going to add "Being stabbed by a muffin" to my list of ways I want to go out from this mortal coil.

I'll take an Apple Pie shot over the muffining any time

[SiuiS]

Hey everyone, look! Someone spotted Seaponies on a peice of merch and took a photo of it!

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I regret nothing.

Oh ouch I fell for it.

You use green whenever you're female.

Wow, even I didn't remember that at first. Good show.

YELLING UPDATE:

SiuiS: While chasing a duck
Bleakbane: While voting

Screaming at water fowl. I feel like my name has been used appropriately.
And it wasn't util this very moment that I realized I dislike geese almost as much as I hate primates.

[Balmas]

Comics time!

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Not only is Luna best Pony, she's best troll too.





...Yeah.

[BlasTech]

Uhhh, guys ... do you have any idea what to do when one of your OC's just starts grinning madly?

Heh ... hehehehe ... MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

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Oh great, now he's laughing ... this can't be good.

[Thanqol]

YELLING UPDATE:
Tiki Snakes: In Car, when instructed to by the song Cheering 101
Gamerlord: Philosophy Lecture
Diego Havoc: While ordering dinner

[Beacon of Chaos]

Cry Havoc! and let slip the Diegos of War!

Warning: Diegos of War are dangerous when startled and may bite.

(To be fair, the internet could be devided into those who would laugh and those who would get squemish at that comics punchline.)

Put me down for both. I laughed at Fluttershy going in sideways like that, then I remembered what this was based on and my skin crawled.

Though if you liked this I recommend looking for the Lyra version.

In not any particular order, I might suggest:

Dragonshy
Fall Weather Friends
Green Isn't Your Color
Sweet and Elite
Read it and Weep
Hurricane Fluttershy

I hadn't considered most of these actually. Hurricane Fluttershy might be good. Focus on Dash and Fluttershy, lots of silly jokes, slapstick, a look into how pegasi make the weather (world-building, always good).

winter wrap up.
arguably best song in the series, has a good conflict that gets resolved, and we get to see a lot of the ponies being who they are without a need for backstory.

I dunno if WWU will be for him, not as a starter, but I'll bare it in mind.

The clip that got me to try it was from Sonic Rainboom, overdubbed with Guile's Theme from street-fighter.

I think that episode has enough physical cues that it'd work perfectly well even if you only follow one in three words, or something. Just a thought though. Of course, my standard answer is to start with episode 1 and damn any attempts to be smart about it, but that's just my obsession with chronological order.

I'm thinking about the first episode too. That's where I started.

...

*smacks off Diego's glasses*

*replaces with shades*

Summon Monster IV

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hmmm. Sonic rainboom, followed by Sweet & Elite. Rarity as the antagonist, Rarity as the conflicted antihero, and then you can show either Dog and Pony Show to show Rarity as the Hero, or the Dering Do episode to give Rainbow Dash depth.

Good options, and another vote for Sonic Rainboom too.

Glasses look strangely alluring on Applejack:

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Glasses look good on everyone. Well known fact.

For what it's worth: I took a few years of German in high school, several years ago, and had little practice with it since, I had little trouble understanding any of the German dub. How much of that is specific to that dub, or to me, or what, I have no idea. I do know that a single semester of Arabic was insufficient to understand that dub, beyond one of Applejack's lines in "Ticket Master".

Well, my cousin has a hard time with fast speakers and with heavy accents, which is why I think Pinkie and AJ should be avoided. Apart from that, he has watched a lot of English TV, so maybe he'll be okay. His English is pretty good.

Well, I'd recommend that you see Sonic Rainboom, if only because it has a fairly clear plot issue and resolution, even without any words at all.

Sonic Rainboom again, eh? I think this or Hurricane Fluttershy seem like good palces to start.

My first thought was to go for Bridal Gossip, simply because it's one of my favourites and contains everypony. It's funny, draws you in before the opening sequence (that first minute is very important), explains the world a bit, and has a short but silly song. I just don't know about the bits with Pinkie, AJ and Zecora (I don't know how he'll deal with the rhyming).

Thank's for the help everyone.

[Beacon of Chaos]

YELLING UPDATE:

Diego Havoc: While ordering dinner

Nice! What were you ordering, and how did the waiter/waitress respond?