DarthMikey

So to be super-honest King Crimson and Panda Bear are not two names that get me super-excited, but both albums turned out to be good so I was just being closed-minded by waiting so long to check them out. I will hopefully do better from now on! [spoiler=Albumz] My only experience with King Crimson is a mostly-forgotten late-night listen to their debut album, which I can vaguely remember having mixed feelings on, so I wasn't sure what to expect from Discipline. My first thought was that it's definitely an album taken straight out of the early 80s, when Talking Heads and Devo's jarring rhythms and nervous, off-kilter guitars were ruling the conversation. King Crimson's way of approaching this, though, is super-smooth and polished; it's completely professional without ever coming off as self-indulgent or gutless. It's weird because the sound feels really dense even though it's actually a pretty stripped-down band; although the "Frippertronics" provide a lot of weird space-age noises throughout, it's only four guys without excessive multi-tracking from what I could hear. There's a surprising amount of versatility in both mood and style, from the carefully compressed anxiety of "Elephant Talk" to the relaxed pace and strangely gorgeous melody of "Matte Kudasa." This is especially impressive because the album's not very long, with only seven tracks that mostly remain where they are. One complaint I could probably offer is that the album feels kind of weirdly structured, namely because "The Sheltering Sky" felt bizarre coming right after "Thela Hun Ginjeet." I guess it's just because the latter feels sort of climactic and intense while the former is really ambient and peaceful, almost like an instrumental track you would use to open an album instead of placing it in the penultimate spot. But regardless, Discipline comes off as a finely-tuned piece of work, an interesting picture of King Crimson using their prog-rock chops to explore new wave and pulling it off surprisingly well. I can't shake the feeling that there's something missing from it, but it's probably just my personal taste. Favorite tracks: "Frame by Frame," "Matte Kudasai," "Indiscipline" Person Pitch was super-distinctive; I don't think I'll forget it anytime soon, if only because it instilled a very singular mood in me while listening that I'm not sure I enjoyed, but anyway. I'm familiar with the name of Animal Collective and the big reputation they have among most music critics/music geeks/general hipsters, but I can't remember ever listening to them or Panda Bear, so I barely know the guy, although a couple of these songs seemed familiar; maybe I've just heard some of the samples, as there seems to be loads of them? The album itself almost felt like a slightly twisted imitation of 60s pop-rock; Panda Bear's bright boy-ish voice and thick, intense style of production are ripped straight from Brian Wilson, and he even throws in a couple jangling guitar notes into the mix every now and then, but the removed, spooky, almost druggy haze of sampling and tape effects he filters everything through make it more than just a throwback, giving the album a charmingly messy style and even a semi-creepy environment on some songs. This is that distinctive mood I mentioned; it's hard to describe, but I felt almost uncomfortable listening to a lot of this album. I think it's the way that the child-like melodies and the chaotic, psychedelic horde of samples intermix and exchange with each other, creating a lot of weird moments and effects that fascinate and spook at the same time. Well, even if I'm not totally sure how I feel about all of it personally, Panda Bear is one of those super-talented weirdos that only comes along every once in a while, and he's created a weird, kitschy, colorful, cheerily depressed Frankenstein's monster of an album with Person Pitch. It's far from perfect, but the chaotic songs and bumpy structure add to the charm, and ultimately it's an album to remember. Favorite tracks: "Comfy In Nautica," "Bros," "Good Girl/Carrots" (mostly the second half)

Yeah, I doubt that debate seriously changed anything. Hillary and Bernie just kinda re-asserted their positions (the composed, experienced, boring frontrunner and the scrappy progressive who would suck at anything bi-partisan), and none of the three lower-tier candidates did anything to break out. O'Malley holds the unfortunate position of "the probable frontrunner if Hillary wasn't in the race," I'm seriously uncertain why Webb is a Democrat at all, and I just felt bad for Chafee. It was like somebody's grandpa wandered onstage with the candidates.

Yes, gay rights, abortion rights, and gun control would all be considered social issues under the quiz's system and so are not really left or right so to speak. Though now that I think about it, I'm not sure where gun control stacks up in there... (The former two would definitely be social-libertarian domain, but I suppose gun control could be considered social-authoritarian.) I will definitely concede that the quiz is flawed, but I think it's at the very least a decent approximation of one's positions. I doubt there's any simple test out there that can fully approximate all the different nuances of people's political thinking, but you can get a fuzzy picture.

I think the test itself is not that bad although there is an obvious bias towards the left from the creators (see their page on the 2012 U.S. election). I'll check out the one you posted. EDIT: Here are my results on the GoToQuiz link. It seems reliable although I also don't find it significantly different from the PC. I can add it to the OP if you'd like.

Out of curiosity what would a Warpless playthrough look more like, would choice of units/forges or anything like that be significantly changed?

How about a quiz? Quizzes are always fun, right?! ...No? Wait, don't close the topic yet! The Political Compass is a pretty well-known test that basically examines your opinions on a variety of topics and then places you somewhere on a two-axis graph based on your positions. The two axes are left-to-right (assessing your economic opinions) and libertarian-to-authoritarian (assessing your social positions). Of course, it's not a perfect test, as political opinions are often complicated and involve a lot more than just these two factors, but it's better than the typical left-to-right labels that just throw everything into one big one-dimensional pot. Similar tests include the World's Smallest Political Quiz and the Nolan Chart, but I think this one is best since it's the most comprehensive that I've seen. The test is here (and also linked above :I) if you want to try it out and post your results, though it is a little lengthy. Here are my results. I'm suppose I'm just interested to see the variety of views that exist here on the forum.

I pretty much always use Alance, Rutger, Astore and Milady, more for their stats than anything. In terms of personality, the only character I really like is Gonzales, though I guess Astore, the Sacaens, and Niime are kinda cool as well.

Alright, that's fair. I still don't know if I agree that player emotion and customized input is just the "frosting," but I understand your perspective and I think this is a fascinating discussion to have. I basically agree that the feedback loops are the basis for what players ultimately do, but I also think that their ultimate control over the outcome of the game depends on how many options the game gives the player to respond to, which creates more variety in what ultimately happens.

I'm fairly sure that's just a clerical error, as Real Clear Politics (again, sorry, can't link; just Google their poll data page) lists the 3% as belonging to Rand Paul. I agree that this one poll should probably with a grain of salt, though, as other recent ones show Trump still in the lead and Fiorina gaining more significantly than Rubio. But I also wouldn't be shocked if it was accurate, considering Carson has likely gained with right-wingers due to his defiance of "political correctness."

This is an interesting way to look at FE's basic design, but in a sense I'm not sure how much I like it because it sort of mechanizes the whole idea/design of the series. You can't always predict the various ways in which players will interpret, connect to, and toy with the different forms of input and feedback any given game presents them with, so I'm not totally on board with this way of looking at game design because it doesn't take emotion and creative ways of playing into account. I.e. Interpreting Monopoly as little more than a basic feedback loop that quickly gets boring isn't really true because most people modify and customize the way they play it on the spot. It's common practice in that game to make deals, gang up on players who are doing well, get screwed over by factors of chance, make bad decisions driven by emotion, etc. etc. But don't get me wrong, it's a really informative and well-written post, and certainly made me think about the way that FE works. Just airing my thoughts on the whole concept.

Can't link on mobile, but the latest GOP poll shows Carson leading the field, a whopping seven points ahead of Trump. This, of course, correlates uncomfortably with his recent comments denigrating Muslims, but I'm not sure if that should come as a surprise at this point.

Jamke/Ayra is hilarious since the skill-set it passes down gives the swordtwins the ability to ORKO pretty much anything as long as they do even a tiny amount of damage to their target. But from the available choices I'd probably go for Noish, both because Ayra's pairs with Lex and Holyn are overdone and because Noish's tanky stats and Charge + Critical combo are pretty potent stuff for the swordtwins. I guess he can also pass swords down to Ulster, though that doesn't really matter much since I think his rank is capped at B.

I'm kind of intimidated by the idea of an outside contact Mafia game, can any Good Samaritans out there tell me how it works exactly?

I feel really bad about bussing Terra on D1, but it seemed like a full wagon had formed in a flash and I had no clue what to do. My vote-change to Disco was more an assessment of how acceptable it was to get off the wagon at that point, and seeing as it clearly was not going to end well for me I just went with it. Sorry! I empathize 'cause getting lynched for nothing but role stuff on D2 really sucked! That's just the way the cards fell, I guess. I probably should have gone with a less "trusted" target than Quote. Fun game! Just might sign up for more on this subforum.

I just mess around in GIMP with some image I like (generally of something I like) until I get something I think looks cool, and then change it whenever I get bored with it. Or I'll just nab a stock GIF or something that I like off of Google. Then I guess text is added at whim.

Wait, what are the albums supposed to be this week/next week? Panda Bear and King Crimson? (I'm too lazy to go get the actual album names)

Those boss strategies are really interesting. I never imagined units like Jake and Astram could be used to ORKO bosses on H5, even with forges.

There's a part of me that's always felt kind of bad for Boehner. Right-wing congressmen have pretty much been slamming everything about him from day one just for so much as attempting compromise with the Democrats. He's probably relieved to leave and get out of Ted Cruz's crosshairs.

If you want to get the actual ending, remember to reach all the gaiden chapters. I've heard a lot of horror stories of new players getting screwed over and not being able to play the last few chapters because the game never tells you about that little requirement. Another big thing to remember is that reinforcements spawn on the beginning of Enemy Phase instead of the end, even on Normal Mode. That sounds like a small thing but it can become really annoying if you forget about it, so try to steer vulnerable units away from obvious spawn points.

That was the most soft-spoken interview I've ever seen Trump give on Colbert last night. Still, Colbert did a good job with what he had, though I thought it was a little strange how he genuinely seemed to be buddying up to Trump at some points. The Trump or Colbert game made up for everything, though. I think Scott Walker can pretty confidently be deemed Tim Pawlenty 2.0 at this point.

[spoiler='Late Album Thoughts] I'll admit that the super-plain album cover did not give me high hopes for Board of Whores, but I gave it a shot and was pleasantly surprised... well, to some level. The main band they remind me of is the Strokes; the album itself kind of feels like an EDM-festival-era take on Is This It, although that comparison obviously breaks down if you try to make too much of it. But anyway, this album is full of up-tempo, full-speed-ahead pop songs with snappy hooks, crunchy guitars, and pounding rhythms. One of the most striking things about the album is its vulgarity; while the Strokes have kind of a seedy-city-life element to a lot of their songs, they also set it off with plenty of introspection, while Board of Whores are pretty unabashed about their sex-and-drugs lifestyle, and I kind of doubt that it's some sort of subtle criticism of such a thing, even if they don't necessarily live quite as wildly as they claim in their songs. Of course, I could be wrong, but it doesn't seem a very deep album no matter how you try to analyze it. It's basically a bunch of quick, catchy, raunchy songs about urban life, and while there's nothing inherently wrong with that, and it's produced and performed convincingly enough, it's also not especially original or captivating; not many risks are taken outside of the basic formula laid out by "Fashion 666," all the way down to the lyrics. It's a fun album, particularly if you like the style, but it's not a very memorable one. ...But, of course, the big exception is Zoloft, the closing track that almost sounds like it belongs on a different record completely. With a downbeat, existential mood and a mournful melody to match it, it's definitely the album's standout, and it interested me in what Board of Whores might be capable of if they tried expanding their emotional palette and taking bigger risks. But as things stand, it's a solid but not particularly exceptional album, I hate to say. I'm probably being a little hard on this album; it's definitely got potential and a breezy, catchy feeling that's hard for a lot of these types of bands to successfully capture. Maybe I'm just not a huge fan of club-punk or dance-punk or whatever you wanna call this style??? Favorite tracks: "Fashion 666," "Bombs Away," "Zoloft" House of Balloons kind of feels like it's in the same vein as Board of Whores in some ways, what with the focus on partying and sexytime, but aside from the themes it's doing something completely different from the other album, especially in regards to how it handles those themes. The Weeknd approaches the highs of modern youth culture with outright melancholy, let alone the lows, which are evoked with an almost palpable weight and darkness. The real magic of this album, without a doubt, is in its atmosphere; some of these songs could easily be put in a lighter or looser environment and come out almost completely transformed, but the way they're produced is what leaves them with the unique impact they have. The Weeknd himself also has a really effective voice, capable of switching on the fly from a gruff, breathy baritone to a keening falsetto to almost instantly change the mood. It especially helps add variety and extra oomph to the longer tracks like "House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls" and "The Party & The After Party," which could have easily zeroed in on one sound for too long and just felt like slogs, but the way they morph and move along so fluidly over the course of their runtime instead makes them some of the best songs on the album. I also liked the whole musical backbone that drove the sound, with the spooky keyboards and wry, straightforward beats. I'm probably rambling, and the album did have its flaws (the lethargic pace got me sort of bored by the end), but I thought it was ultimately good stuff, certainly a good display of the The Weeknd's talent and musical dexterity. Favorite songs: "What You Need," "House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls," "The Party & The After Party"

I kind of hope Colbert turns his show back into the Colbert Report for one night only just for Trump. As is probably common knowledge by now, Scott Walker dropped out today after a new poll showed him below 1%. His whole story is kind of weird because just a couple months ago he was, what, first or second in the national polls? Certainly shows how quickly times change when it comes to these things.

I blame myself for blocking Quote. Hammer me.

This is kinda hard. I voted for Steel but it's not really my absolute favorite; I like Ghost, Poison, and even Water a lot, too. I don't really have a least-favorite type, so I went for Bug because it always annoys me that, like, no Bug-type is good in-game once you get past the fourth or fifth gym. The only big examples I can think of are Scyther and Pinsir, and they're super-rare.

I forgot about Quote... argh. My vote is still on Dan because he's my only real scum-read, but something's off. I feel like somebody's playing me.