The following is a review of a road trip I took in September of 2017. I think I wrote it in September of 2017. It is not to be taken at all seriously.
we drove through 13 states and visited 10 cities (and 4 sec schools)
virginia
just drove through
roads: B, good shape, most southern drivers know how to use a two-lane highway
food: n/a
sights: D, rural highways
people: C, chatty but genuine
tennessee
we visited knoxville and vanderbilt then stayed two nights in nashville
roads: B, see above
food: A, brisket at sweet ps, biscuits & gravy at biscuit love, smoked meatloaf at pucketts, hot chicken & pecan divinities, all fuckin great
sights: B, broadway is a lot of fun with great music but wasn't sure what else to do other than eat. saw some confederate monuments possibly for the last time ever!
people: B, really nice and fun to talk to
alabama
stopped to eat in birmingham and visited university of alabama
roads: D, get some fukin asphalt idiots
food: B, smoked turkey w/ white bbq at saw's
sights: F+, birmingham is genuinely depressing, 90% burnt down buildings and derelicts, but uoa was real nice
people: n/a, didn't really talk to anyone
mississippi
visited msu but mostly drove through
roads: A, great for driving 120mph
food: n/a
sights: E, slightly more interesting scenery than trees, i was asleep for the msu drive-through
people: n/a
louisiana
stayed 2 nights in new orleans. the hurricane hit the day before we arrived so there was a bit of flooding out in the country, but nbd.
roads: C, the fuckin bugs that smash on your windshield in the bayou are such a pain to get off
food: A+, best meal of the trip was jambalaya/red beans/shrimp creole at gumbo shop. also beignets.
sights: A, french quarter is just weird as hell, like time travel. great music & chicks on frenchmen street. only disappointment was missed an airboat tour bc winds were 30mph.
people: A+, locals go out of their way to help you out and are hilarious
texas
stayed 3 nights in austin. austin was unaffected by harvey. i got bronchitis at this point in the trip.
roads: D, insane amount of trucks and ppl not observing fast lane rules (maybe this was bc hurricane? idk)
food: C+, kind of a mix with texmex at chuy's, pizza at home slice, voodoo doughnuts (not local), nothing really outstanding. whataburger best fast food of the trip.
sights: A, apparently there's a great local punk/metal scene so that gave me plenty to do. ghost wolves rule and caught a surprise gbh show.
people: B, polite, tbh didn't interact with people a ton bc i was hoarse from coughing all night
colorado
we actually flew from austin to denver and then did a day there before driving the rockies overnight
roads: B, some winding roads in the rockies but no traffic since it was overnight
food: B+, awesome apps and pizza at bar dough
sights: B, went to a barcade with great selection (1up) and obviously the rockies are massive and impressive
people: B, lots of chicks at the arcade
utah/arizona/nevada
this was one long 14-hour day drive
roads: A, desert driving so you just blast it
food: B, tasty hole-in-the-wall hawaiian bbq in nv, carl's jr. also good
sights: A+, gorgeous scenery and it's constantly changing, so many photo ops. we drove through vegas but didn't have time to stop.
people: n/a
socal/yosemite
spent a night in fresno as a staging area for yosemite where we did a day driving/hiking
roads: D, concrete like alabama and fucking awful drivers, then winding as all hell in yosemite
food: C, got good jew york bagels but that was it
sights: A, i mean, yosemite is incredible, don't need to say that, but too bad about all the smoke in the air
people: E, what am i in fucking mexico?
northern california
stayed two nights in san fran & visited with friends, then drove the pch and wine country
roads: E, highways still a mess, driving in sfc is a joke, and the scenic routes take forever to drive
food: B, sushi way better than east coast, chinese food exactly the same as everywhere else, and this sour beer that i can't remember the name of but was great. in n out is the most overrated burger in america.
sights: C, kinda disappointing tbh. 49-mile drive was cool and there are some beautiful parks, but the beaches may as well be jersey shore and there apparently isn't a nightlife? sadly we got a foggy day for route 1.
people: D, the number of homeless in sfc is absurd and a major turnoff
oregon
stayed a day/night in portland then flew out in the morning
roads: B, fine, only time we got pulled over the whole trip was doing 80 in a 65 here, but nice cop / no ticket
food: B, solid cheap prime rib @ clydes, coco's donuts not as good as voodoo
sights: A, very nice and attractive city, stayed in a house from 1880, botanical gardens, lots of live music and punk scene
people: A, friendly and all white/asian, proof you can interact with people without politics mattering
trip overall
A, honestly it's hard to say i'd change anything within the two-week limit. after a couple 10-hour drives you get used to it, and so much scenery out west can only be seen by car, so i'm glad we drove. probably would fly from nashville to nola to save some time, that drive through the south was pretty boring and a waste of a day (except alabama bbq). new orleans was the highlight of the trip in most ways, but portland/denver seem like the places i'd want to live. san francisco wasn't great and in retrospect i'd have rather spent a day at sequoia or grand canyon, but there was no way to know that going in.
Monday, December 10, 2018
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
A brief consideration of tells in shoot-em-ups
I was considering the application of "show &" tells to shoot-em-ups the past few days while playing Raiden IV, Mushi-F, and Lightening* Force; the idea that enemies should visually indicate when an attack is about to happen (e.g. Bowser sucking in air before breathing fire). It should be taken into consideration that I have not cleared any of the three games I'm about to discuss, although I'm on the final stages of Raiden IV and Mushi-F. Lightening Force I've played for like 3 hours so take that with a grain of salt.
As I said before, Raiden is so positionally-oriented that precise shot timing doesn't really matter. If there's a group of enemies above me that I know fire single tracking bullets, I also know that I will be safe sweeping left until I clear the bullets. I can start the sweep any time before the first bullet reaches me and end it any time after the last one fires. If there's also an enemy left of me, then I should probably sweep up-right to get away or down-left to get under it and fire. These scenarios are pretty static across runs. Timing doesn't really matter that much - what matters is doing these movements in such a way as to sync up with targets while also setting up the next dodge. Which is quite enough to make it more complicated than "sweep left". I did think it would be helpful on a few enemies who shoot starburst or static patterns - and I also noticed these enemies do have animated tells (e.g. a mine blinking faster before it explodes).
Mushihimesama Futari yeah nah. It's all sight-dodging. I'm looking at the bullets for paths through them, or for enemies under them to shoot and consume them. Also, everything pretty much shoots immediately as it comes on screen and doesn't stop til it's destroyed. Herding is a pretty big deal in situations where aggression fails - essentially, you can treat enemies as though they are firing at all times and this would not significantly change the strategy.
Lightening Force I can definitely see the applicability. Not for bullets so much, but the game is plagued with enemies that blast on screen and smash into you so fast there's barely a second to react. Some of them do have foreshadowing, swooping across the background or burrowing through the desert sand, but not nearly enough. Blazing Star solves this in the simplest way possible, with "incoming" arrows where enemies are about to emerge. Crude, but effective. The bosses desperately need tells for everything they do, because they move around jerkily without pattern and again fire extremely fast bullets without warning. Maybe need is too strong - they'd be altered, for sure. As is, playing it safe and staying completely out of their targeting zone is pretty much the only road to success. The anxious fidgeting makes sure that even that isn't particularly easy.
So yeah, I'm inclined to think something is wrong with Gradius if it would really benefit from visual tells, and I'm starting to question if it actually would. The most troubling factors seem to be malingering enemies like the footbots who hang around for 10 or 20 seconds and can mostly be ignored except for those three random times they shoot, and the crowded spacing that means sustained motions like I described re:Raiden lead to constant collisions (I've said in the past I don't care for walls in shmups). It's like the series carves out a weird space between Thunderforce, where you always have to play it safe, and Mushihimesama, where you always have to wait and see, but without having the elegant level design of Raiden IV which realizes that it's in that space.
As I said before, Raiden is so positionally-oriented that precise shot timing doesn't really matter. If there's a group of enemies above me that I know fire single tracking bullets, I also know that I will be safe sweeping left until I clear the bullets. I can start the sweep any time before the first bullet reaches me and end it any time after the last one fires. If there's also an enemy left of me, then I should probably sweep up-right to get away or down-left to get under it and fire. These scenarios are pretty static across runs. Timing doesn't really matter that much - what matters is doing these movements in such a way as to sync up with targets while also setting up the next dodge. Which is quite enough to make it more complicated than "sweep left". I did think it would be helpful on a few enemies who shoot starburst or static patterns - and I also noticed these enemies do have animated tells (e.g. a mine blinking faster before it explodes).
Mushihimesama Futari yeah nah. It's all sight-dodging. I'm looking at the bullets for paths through them, or for enemies under them to shoot and consume them. Also, everything pretty much shoots immediately as it comes on screen and doesn't stop til it's destroyed. Herding is a pretty big deal in situations where aggression fails - essentially, you can treat enemies as though they are firing at all times and this would not significantly change the strategy.
Lightening Force I can definitely see the applicability. Not for bullets so much, but the game is plagued with enemies that blast on screen and smash into you so fast there's barely a second to react. Some of them do have foreshadowing, swooping across the background or burrowing through the desert sand, but not nearly enough. Blazing Star solves this in the simplest way possible, with "incoming" arrows where enemies are about to emerge. Crude, but effective. The bosses desperately need tells for everything they do, because they move around jerkily without pattern and again fire extremely fast bullets without warning. Maybe need is too strong - they'd be altered, for sure. As is, playing it safe and staying completely out of their targeting zone is pretty much the only road to success. The anxious fidgeting makes sure that even that isn't particularly easy.
So yeah, I'm inclined to think something is wrong with Gradius if it would really benefit from visual tells, and I'm starting to question if it actually would. The most troubling factors seem to be malingering enemies like the footbots who hang around for 10 or 20 seconds and can mostly be ignored except for those three random times they shoot, and the crowded spacing that means sustained motions like I described re:Raiden lead to constant collisions (I've said in the past I don't care for walls in shmups). It's like the series carves out a weird space between Thunderforce, where you always have to play it safe, and Mushihimesama, where you always have to wait and see, but without having the elegant level design of Raiden IV which realizes that it's in that space.
*light·en·ing
/ˈlītniNG/
noun
- a drop in the level of the uterus during the last weeks of pregnancy as the head of the fetus engages in the pelvis.
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