The Strategic Slump

Last night I began playing Fire Emblem Awakening again. It had been lost for two years after moving to Hawaii, but I recently found the small cache of games I'd brought with me to play on the trip stowed away in a small DS pouch sitting under my nose all this time. It was nearly a year ago I started playing Fire Emblem Fates that I wanted to go through Awakening again and do all the things I had neglected to do originally -- but I couldn't find it until now. Among the things I never did was play through on Classic-style (permanent deaths of units) and Lunatic difficulty. That's not even it's final form! There's a Lunatic + that unlocks if you clear it.

So I booted it up and found I had a Lunatic file on Chapter 15. I honestly don't even remember how many Chapters the game has because it's been so long since seen it, let alone played it. So I decided to start a new file. I spent a minimum of four hours trying to get through Chapter 1-4 last night. It was probably more than that including time spent reading some strategies and tips on how to play the random number generator just right. Then I discovered I don't have access to my old DLC content on this newer 3DS because I neglected to import the data from my old SD card and for some reason my Nintendo Network ID won't simply let me re-download it. That's bogus. This is bad news.

So like a fool, I decided that my current run wasn't good enough. That without the support of the DLC maps, I wouldn't be able to push much farther unless I made a few god-like characters over the first 5 chapters -- Fredrick and Robin, I'm looking at you. So I restarted with an updated player character [Robin] and went through that slog again this morning trying out some new strategies -- and generally it went a lot faster.

There is still this issue of getting to the last 2-3 enemies and watching as their 33% chance to hit and 6% chance of gaining a critical hit off of that 33% turn their expected 14 damage (to my 33 HP on Frederick) into 60 damage. Negating about 35 minutes of careful planning, because now I have to restart the entire map again. These situations are excruciatingly frustrating. I'm sitting here now because I'm asking myself -- am I having fun? I honestly can't tell.

The number of times you'll miss with 85% chance to hit and the enemy will land a hail Mary 4x damage critical combo on you with only a 5% chance are really the tip of the iceberg on how frustrating this experience has been thus far. I'm certainly irritated by the 10th reset due to crappy dice rolls that screw over a unit's survival or give my superstar characters a piss-poor level up gain. Then again when it all comes together, and Lady Luck smiles down on some clutch misses in my favor, it feels pretty damn good to push through the map and take down the boss. Is that moment of victory enough to keep me going? An hour or two of turmoil for an instant of triumph? I wish I knew.

What I do know is that I really want to play Fire Emblem Awakening one more time, and backing down from Lunatic at this time feels like giving up. Can I be the hero Ylisse needs right now if I back down from this challenge and take the easy road? I don't think my pride will allow it, but I'm not having much fun slogging my way through trial and error on these maps -- resetting every 15-25 minutes. How long will it even go on like this? Will I just give up and walk away from this great game, or can I suffer through this hardship and lead my troops to a new level of victory? I don't have any of the answers, friends.

- TOP

@TOPGamingBlog

THERE Is Your Enemy.

One down. Countless more to go!

Ep 38: A Tankful Of Lard Is Live!

Ep 38: A Tankful of Lard is live!
https://soundcloud.com/user-989538417/episode-38-a-tankful-of-lard

Join the conversation at https://theveteranwargamer.blogspot.com, email theveteranwargamer@gmail.com, Twitter @veteranwargamer

What a Tanker!
https://toofatlardies.co.uk/product-category/what-a-tanker/

Veteran Wargamer What a Tanker play through
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym5Fw996JbE&lc=

Too Fat Lardies What a Tanker - an introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWE_ShqU5L8

What a Tanker Twitter thread
https://twitter.com/VeteranWargamer/status/985596472128401408

What a Tanker FB Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/934280466751499/

Music courtesy bensound.com. Recorded with zencastr.com. Edited with Audacity. Make your town beautiful; get a haircut.

1005, Stargunner!

Thank you to everyone for your patience waiting for this Stargunner episode. Of course, the research was all done the week before the episode was due out, then I got sick that weekend. So the lesson here is that procrastination is good. I have a lot of the research done for Infiltrate, so that will be out the week after Thanksgiving, and that will be the last game of the year. So if you have feedback for Infiltrate, please send it to 2600gamebygame@gmail.com by end of day November 25th.

I would like to thank everyone who donated to my Extra Life campaign as well as those of you who watched the live streams that I did. I raised $1500 for the Children's Hospital of Philadephia thanks to all of you. I got an email from Extra Life saying that I was in the top 30 earners for the hospital, which is great! I plan on doing it again next year, but I will be doing the two days in one weekend. I had fun playing the games, but I got a little frustrated towards the end of the second weekend. Sinistar is an extremely difficult game but I love it so much, for some reason.

Thank you all so much for watching, listening, and donating. I hope that all my American friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Please donate to my Extra Life campaign!
Sean's Extra Life page
Andrew's Extra Life page
Rick's Extra Life page
Bryce's Extra Life page
Marc's Extra Life page
Stargunner on Random Terrain
Alex Leavens interview by Dan Gutman, Video Game Players magazine 11/83
Stargunner on Atari Protos
Video Game Update newsletter February 1983
Arcade Express newsletter January 3 1983
Arcade USA Atari Remote Control Joysticks

Yorg 0.11 Released, Now With Split-Screen Multiplayer!

Yorg, the Panda3D based arcade racer has been updated to version 0.11 which includes some long awaited features. Most notably split-screen multiplayer:

Really cool is also the new controller support and awesome particle effects (a pet-peeve of mine in previous versions ;) ).
Add to that some significant performance improvements due to an update to the latest version of Panda3d.

Read the full release announcement on the Yorg website here. And download it from itch.io.

Comment on this in our forums here.

This post was retrieved from freegamer.blogspot.com.

One Day, They'll Come For You, As Well

Greetings, comrades of Inclusive Intersectional Compassion.

Let us begin with a resistance-prayer: The State is our community... where we all meet, where we all matter.  Social Justice for all!

My name is of no importance.  Obviously, my race, sexual preferences, and gender identity are incredibly important; however, the people of 2020 cannot be trusted with such vital information.  #GET_WOKE_OR_DIE_BROKE, as we say.  Irregardless, I have a message from 5 years in the future.  I'm a time traveler from 2025, and wanted to give you a snap-shot of the world.

Congratulations are in order, for our efforts have paid off.  Individuality is a sin before Secular Leftism.  Whatever your system of beliefs, it must conform to the Collective Will of the Masses or be purged... just as all discriminatory personal property and wealth has been sacrificed upon the altar of Secular Leftism.

Those who've already confessed their sins may continue to live, as long as they are useful to The State.  Everyone who has not yet sought forgiveness for past and present sins, as well as future transgressions, have forfeit their contaminated existence.  Daily Purity Tests are Mandatory!  Proceed to one of the conveniently located self-immolation booths.

For those who seem shocked by this inevitable progression, don't be.  As our Collectivist Leaders teach us, terrible beliefs are held by terrible people, but they can be made useful in State Sponsored Work Camps.  Please, do not humanize the enemies of The State, unless you want to join them in the gulag.

The nazis held terrible beliefs.  Therefore, everyone with terrible beliefs are considered nazis and deemed undeserving of consideration, rights, or even the burden of life.  After all, are we not all victims in the eyes of Secular Leftism?  Praise be to The State!  Since everyone who disagrees with us is nazi scum, there is only agreement, only conformity.  The State is an unbreakable monolith - omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent.

Furthermore, the terrorist propaganda of christianity, judaism, satanism, cthulhuism, not-religious-but-spiritual-ism, libertarianism, individualism, capitalism, conservatism, moderation, freedom, jokes, memes, and common sense is no longer allowed in public or private spaces.  The State, in its infinite wisdom, has declared these problematic ideologies of racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia to be violent attacks upon Our Great Uniformity.

Only total submission to The State is tolerated.  Anything that does not conform must be condemned and destroyed in the People's Square of Mutual Grievances!  Failure to pledge public support for Our Shared Values is the equivalent of terrorism, nazism, and white supremacy.

Those of your flawed era still cling to the idea that The State is not god, but in 2025 we know better than you.  The State is the only rational substitute for him, in all his toxic patriarchy.  In fact, society cannot progress without his destruction.  Praise be to The State!

Your comrade of inclusive intersectionality,

A-non

p.s. Bonus!  In 2025, we have 100% free Universal Health Care and College.  Unfortunately, you're not eligible if you have any demerits.  Demerits are earned by saying something offensive, exhibiting problematic behavior, having wrong ideas, or expressions of individuality.

The Case Of Turner Prize: Are Too Many Ties Devaluing The Concept Of Competition?

CNN reports on the winners of this year's Turner Prize, an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. All of the finalists asked to be given the prize jointly, as a group, and so all of the contenders "won" in a competition in which no one lost.

This, combined with what some people see as a pattern in recent years, has irked some people. These people see this "tie" and equate it with the concept of spoiled Millennials who get "participation trophies" or prizes for trying. What has happened to cutthroat competition and actual winning.

The Arguments For and Against

The arguments against the Turner prize tie, in this case, are that the refusal to announce a single winner is indicative of snowflakes, who can't handle being losers. That too many winners devalues the concept of winning, and of competition in general. And that it lacks drama.

The arguments in favor are rather specific to this event. The artists decided that their works were complementary, rather than competitive, and did not feel that a competition was the right way to judge them. That felt that they had already "won" by having reached the shortlist for the prize. Alex Farquharson, the director of the Tate Britain gallery which organizes the prize, argues that times have changed and that competition may not be the right format to judge these kinds of works, anymore. Andrew Russeth, a writer for the Daily Mail, writes "This notion of having artists compete in public and one walk away the winner feels a little demeaning and unpleasant."

Some Points to Consider

As for the arguments against, it is important to divide up those activities in which competition really brings out the most effort and the best results versus those in which we have stuck absolute competitions because we were too boring or lazy to provide a better framework. The Olympics doesn't have a single winner, because we don't make the downhill skier compete against the figure skater; the disciplines and forms are too different to compare. So maybe, when it comes to art competitions with very loose frameworks, it is silly to compare different kinds of entries in different subjects, and with different intents. Maybe the Turner Prize is overdue for a restructure.

When it comes to "participation trophies", there are two hands here. On the one hand, participation trophies are not just a Millennial issue; that is lazy, biased journalism, and the usual "look down at the next generation" attitude of Boomers who have suddenly publicized a concept that has existed for generations. Everyone who joins the army (and doesn't screw up too badly) gets stripes and awards during and after service. Everyone who shows up for work gets paid, and often gets bonuses, even if they aren't the number one worker. Even the specific concept of participation trophies is a century old.

On the other hand, participation trophies are not "everyone gets a trophy". They are, unless severely mishandled, a reward for having put in effort. In the same event, different people, i.e. winners, get specific prizes, while everyone who at least put in effort gets the participation trophy. The recipients of these trophies are not morons, and they know that trophies for winning and trophies for participation have different values. But studies show that encouraging effort is better motivation than acknowledging talent. When you tell someone they have won, they stop trying; when you tell someone that they are smart, they often find a way to not be, act, or appear smart. When you tell someone that you see their hard work and you think it is worthwhile, they may end up trying harder, and, sometimes, they may eventually win or get smarter.

However, announcing the Turner Prize as a tie is lazy; if you set up a competition, you should not change the rules in the middle when you realize that the competition was the wrong format. They should have, originally, defined better categories that were more conductive to direct competition, or they should have defined goals for which prizes could be given to all, or a list, of people who met these goals. But, since they didn't, they should have awarded a winner and let the artists figure out how to deal with this.

Competition is not inherently evil. It brings out efforts and results that would not happen without it. When mishandled, it can bring out people too focused on the goal; they might even short circuit the permitted methods to get to that goal. Winning, when handled well, can be a goal or a stepping stone to more effort. Losing, when handled well, is not something to be afraid of. Competition against others should always be, in parallel, competition against ourselves. And for that, a job well done results in a self-award that does not require any external acknowledgement.