Lilura's Blog: An Ongoing Codexian Obsession

[Lilura]

authority is granted with knowledge - which is granted to anyone willing to knuckle down and really understand it.

Who or what grants the authority (in RPG commentary)? What I mean is, who or what identifies the knowledgeable (or wise)? As opposed to say, the crafty fraud, charlatan and plagiarist?

 

[Latro]

authority is granted with knowledge - which is granted to anyone willing to knuckle down and really understand it.

Who or what grants the authority (in RPG commentary)? What I mean is, who or what identifies the knowledgeable (or wise)? As opposed to say, the crafty fraud, charlatan and plagiarist?

For my own part, I will say your personality and writing style attracted me first (thanks to both roguey and fairfax discussing you in shoutbox - which made me curious in the first place) , then your write-ups (and helpful beginner's guide/class explanations, etc) established the authority. You can talk the talk and walk the walk, is how I would put it. Crafty frauds and charlatans wouldn't be able to put together comprehensive sources of information, and a plagiarist isn't someone who puts together the organic keywords and opinions that you do.

 

[aweigh]

Also storyfags who want to fake it, like felipe, give themselves away as frauds.

games are about gameplay, and this includes rpgs.

 

[Thunar]

Interesting to see that Lilura is "almost" as popular as the CRPG addict.
I'd be curious to see how she compares to the digital antiquarian.

 

[GhostCow]

Really?
And are you sure it's not "Lilura is being edgy and confrontational on reddit, 'Dex and all relevant forums related to lilura commentary"?

The reasons for the hatred don't matter as it pertains to Google authority (the context at hand as per the above citation-comparison).

I'm friendly to those who are friendly to me. If someone's going to be snarky and unfair in their criticism of me or my blog, I'll bite back: an eye of an eye, all the way. Plus, I like debating anyway!

Says the person who blocked me when I had only been here like a day and never talked to her before. Someone with a blocklist of over 100 people is just a dumb cunt. There was no niceness and no debate there. Just blocked and called an alt for no reason. It doesn't bother me on a personal level. What bothers me is that someone like that still has a bunch of beta orbiter losers.

 

[Lilura]

authority is granted with knowledge - which is granted to anyone willing to knuckle down and really understand it.

Who or what grants the authority (in RPG commentary)? What I mean is, who or what identifies the knowledgeable (or wise)? As opposed to say, the crafty fraud, charlatan and plagiarist?

For my own part, I will say your personality and writing style attracted me first (thanks to both roguey and fairfax discussing you in shoutbox - which made me curious in the first place) , then your write-ups (and helpful beginner's guide/class explanations, etc) established the authority. You can talk the talk and walk the walk, is how I would put it. Crafty frauds and charlatans wouldn't be able to put together comprehensive sources of information, and a plagiarist isn't someone who puts together the organic keywords and opinions that you do.

Thanks for the kind words. My point is that authority (in RPG commentary) comes not just from knowledge but also from popularity (citations).

For example, there are several scrubs (casuals, frauds, charlatans or plagiarists) ranked higher than me on certain keywords despite my write-ups being superior to theirs.

In some cases, literal shit is ranked higher than me. That can (and has) changed over time, though.

games are about gameplay, and this includes rpgs.

We're on the same page there. That's the main warpath I'm on: emphasizing combat and all but ignoring story/dialogue. I barely comment on the latter, and I hate storyfags.

 

[anvi]

Lil I would pay good money to talk to you about EverQuest and maybe convince you to play it. (not the legit version)

 

[Lilura]

Says the person who blocked me when I had only been here like a day and never talked to her before. Someone with a blocklist of over 100 people is just a dumb cunt. There was no niceness and no debate there. Just blocked and called an alt for no reason. It doesn't bother me on a personal level. What bothers me is that someone like that still has a bunch of beta orbiter losers.

You seem upset.

Lil I would pay good money to talk to you about EverQuest and maybe convince you to play it. (not the legit version)

Never played it. And why would I play MMORPG? I don't understand.

 

[anvi]

Lil I would pay good money to talk to you about EverQuest and maybe convince you to play it. (not the legit version)

Never played it. And why would I play MMORPG? I don't understand.

Basically because it is like an old school RPG and you can sort of play it without the MMO part. It is complicated, and it gets really complex depending on how you play it (for example you can play it with a party that you control yourself). It is as simple or complex as you want, but also a lot to learn, some technical screwing around required, but it is so worth it because it is so freakishly good. All the MMOs that came after it are just like dumb nintendo games, EQ was different. Also these days you can play it in lots of different ways, like different rules to suit you, and you can even play it offline. I think you would be blown away but it would be better if I could give some guidance to make sure you play the best version that would suit you best.

edit: Imagine Baldurs Gate 2 but without the ability to pause. Believe it or not, it is kinda sorta similar.

 

[Lilura]

So what you're saying is someone made a single-player mod for it?

 

[ItsChon]

Lol. Lilura really exposes herself as a woman when she says shit like

"If YoU dIdN't PlAy Ja2 wHeN iT cAmE oUt, YoUr OpiNiOn Is InVaLiD"

I'll refrain from hurling personal insults out of respect, but you do yourself no favors when you make silly comments like this. It'd be akin to someone that grew up playing GoldenBox games saying,

If you played (insert some weird DosBox game) for the first time in 1990, your viewpoint is invalid and you've been tainted by current gen fads, trends, and "sensibilities".

Lilura lives in a glass house, and every single one of her opinions are based around preserving her fragile ego and worldview. Add this to the list of reasons she's hardly taken seriously. Lilura you cite all these forums that hate you, have you ever stopped to consider that the common factor is you? Perhaps people enjoy your blog, but once they get to interact with you and see just how logically inconsistent and disingenuous you are, any respect they might have had instantly evaporates? Just something to chew in.

 

[anvi]

So what you're saying is someone made a single-player mod for it?

Sort of but it is complicated. Firstly, even the MMO version is probably something you could enjoy. The official version is really dumbed down and a total waste of time. But there is a semi-official fan-run version of it called Project 1999 which reproduces how the game was in 1999. It is much better. It is played online but you can play alone. Some of the classes can't cope very well alone and need to group with other people once you get a bit higher level. But some of the classes can be played alone all the way through the game. The spell casters like Necromancer, Magician, Druid, Enchanter, they can solo. Combat is a modified AD&D, almost everything has a dice roll and the spell lists are very similar etc. But the game is played real time, and it has a lot of depth and quite hardcore like an old RPG, some spells require components, you can be poisoned, diseased, etc. There are resistances to fire, cold, magic, disease, poison, etc. The game was designed for people to play with a group of other real people, but there was "emergent gameplay" where people figured out how you can play solo too. Most melee characters are simple to play but need to group with others to cope after level 10 or something. Spell casters are strong enough to play solo. Necromancer for example has the Fear spell which lasts about 30 seconds, but also an ensnare type spell, so if you use that first and then Fear, the enemy runs away slowly and you can follow it with your skeleton pet and start casting poison and disease spells on it. But there are other ways to do it and you need to use different methods for different areas etc.

Secondly, there is a thing called EQ Emulator which is another community created project which copies the original (great version) of the game into an exe that you can run and make your own server. You can run it offline so you can play on your own pc, and there are dozens of servers run by various people online, and each one has their own rules. So people who found the original game to take too much time have easier/faster versions of the game, and everything in between.

But here is the more complex part. I played the game for years by myself and it is extremely good, I occasionally grouped with other people but just soloing with a Necro or Enchanter was the best gaming I've ever had, especially doing dungeons by myself. But you can run the game a second time, and make another character, and now you can alt-tab between the two characters and you play them both. It takes a lot of getting used to but it gets twice as interesting and you get twice as strong, especially if you add a Cleric or something. You can do this 6 times and have an entire group that you control yourself, like Baldurs Gate 2 but no pausing, real time, and you have to alt tab to each character to do what needs doing. It is doable but very intense, so people get macros to jump to a specific character with a button press, and then there is a mod which basically lets you program the other characters to do what you want. So you play a Warrior and attack an enemy and then your Cleric will automatically heal you, your Druid will start poisoning things etc. It can get extremely complex but it is best to start simple and just do more when you want to do more.

I am convinced anyone who loves renaissance era RPGs would be amazed by it if they gave it some time. And you know RPGs better than anyone so I think it might really interest you.

 

[anvi]

If you played (insert some weird DosBox game) for the first time in 1990, your viewpoint is invalid and you've been tainted by current gen fads, trends, and "sensibilities".

.

That is true though. It is ok to play an old game later on dosbox, if you played other games at that time, so you can at least appreciate and understand how things were back then. But it is annoying to see some young dipshit whose only experience of an RPG is Skyrim, find a list of classic RPGs and then gets hold of some old classic RPG and starts bitching about "OMG I can't even play with WASD and this interface wtf?! Omg turn baseded takes forever omg!"

 

[ItsChon]

That is true though. It is ok to play an old game later on dosbox, if you played other games at that time, so you can at least appreciate and understand how things were back then. But it is annoying to see some young dipshit whose only experience of an RPG is Skyrim, find a list of classic RPGs and then gets hold of some old classic RPG and starts bitching about "OMG I can't even play with WASD and this interface wtf?! Omg turn baseded takes forever omg!"

You're right in a sense, and I've acknowledged my own biases when it comes DOS games, and even newer games that were released during the 90's (such as Fallout and Arcanum). My point is that it needs to be evaluated on a case by case, and making sweeping statements like Lilura does is intellectually lazy and serves only to shield herself from criticism, as there are only a handful of people here that were around and in a position to play those games when they were first released. And this argument is far more applicable to dated DOSBox games, and doesn't hold nearly as much water when it comes to more recently released RPGs such as the IE games and JA2, which is what Lilura used as her example.

 

[anvi]

I agree although I think sweeping statements are for the lols, and to save time. I mostly post here when I should be doing something else.

 

[Farewell young Prince into the night]

I find it somewhat amusing that some people seem to expect everyone to be civil, reasonable and unassuming on this website.

 

[Tweed]

Some of the classes can't cope very well alone

That's an understatement, being a warrior was the absolute worst experience I ever had in that game and that was all pre-Luclin. If you didn't have a clique of people to run with being a tank or pure melee dps was the absolute worst class to play as.

 

[GhostCow]

I find it somewhat amusing that some people seem to expect everyone to be civil, reasonable and unassuming on this website.

I mean I am. I might call you a faggot but that's not even an insult in my circles.

 

[anvi]

Some of the classes can't cope very well alone

That's an understatement, being a warrior was the absolute worst experience I ever had in that game and that was all pre-Luclin. If you didn't have a clique of people to run with being a tank or pure melee dps was the absolute worst class to play as.

Warrior is the only thing I like about modern EQ, they gave it lots of abilities and it became advanced and deep. In classic EQ it was just auto attacks, taunt, kick, bash. And soloing was brutal. I never liked the Pally either, or the Rogue, although at least the Rogue could really dish some damage in a group. Shadowknight was cool though and I love the Monk. But I am all about the casters, charming stuff with Ench, Necro shenanigans, self sufficient Mage, awesome Shaman and Druid.

 

[Tweed]

Warrior is the only thing I like about modern EQ, they gave it lots of abilities and it became advanced and deep. In classic EQ it was just auto attacks, taunt, kick, bash. And soloing was brutal. I never liked the Pally either, or the Rogue, although at least the Rogue could really dish some damage in a group. Shadowknight was cool though and I love the Monk. But I am all about the casters, charming stuff with Ench, Necro shenanigans, self sufficient Mage, awesome Shaman and Druid.

I never went back to tanking after I tried out wizard. I found it to my liking and discovered it's the secret slacker class, forget what you know about necros, wizards have it the best. Quad kiting for solo, teleporting where you want when you want, and barely having to do anything at all, especially on raids. You get to sit around, stand up once in awhile to toss some nukes and then alt-tab out. Plus, dps being based entirely on mana pool meant we got first crack at int and mana boosting gear. The only time a wizard ever needs to work in a raid is during boss mobs to burn stuff down, otherwise it was the easiest job in the world. For fun we started using knockback spells to push mobs around until the raid leader figured out what was happening and screamed at us to stop.

Last time I played was on The Combine back when it first opened and progression servers were the new gimmick, old content being relevant again was a lot of fun.

 

[anvi]

Haha I played Wiz in some guilds because I liked to slack off.

 

[The_Mask]

You're right in a sense, and I've acknowledged my own biases when it comes DOS games, and even newer games that were released during the 90's (such as Fallout and Arcanum).

Actually, the angle and approach should've been a lot different in your case.

Since you belong to a completely different generation, you coming out and saying "I don't like Fallout 1" has a completely different meaning. You SHOULDN'T like Fallout 1. In fact, to you, it should hold little meaning more than basic respect as a milestone in RPG history.

Why?

Because you SHOULD be wanting more from an RPG than the standard Fallout 1 set at the time. You should be the generation that improves on that formula!



So the approach in your case should've been: "I understand your angle, but here... let's talk about what you think, Mr. Chon, should an RPG have to be considered superior to Fallout 1."



We following here? The people you should be terrfied of is young people, because of their tabula rasa approach based on values and standards already set. And you would show a cogent analysis and wisdom approaching the topic like this.
Why didn't she? It's a mystery. But here we are. And you've shown more wisdom in 1 post, than she did in 10.

Who or what grants the authority (in RPG commentary)? What I mean is, who or what identifies the knowledgeable (or wise)? As opposed to say, the crafty fraud, charlatan and plagiarist?

Like... these thoughts... the way she thinks right now, is what I used to think in 8th grade. If she's in her 30s, and she keeps following this trend, she'll be reading Kafka at 126.

 

[Alpan]

Since you belong to a completely different generation, you coming out and saying "I don't like Fallout 1" has a completely different meaning. You SHOULDN'T like Fallout 1. In fact, to you, it should hold little meaning more than basic respect as a milestone in RPG history.

Do you have any conception of what a "classic" is? The zoomer's instincts are in the right place, because he rightly recognizes that if something has survived and persisted in gaming circles for this long, it has lasting power, which demands respect.

This is how timelessness in culture and cultural artifacts works. It's better to read Kafka a second time than to read J.K. Rowling once.

 

[The_Mask]

This is true. And as far as I know, Chon did play Fallout, and respects it for what it is.

 

[Latro]

because he rightly recognizes that if something has survived and persisted in gaming circles for this long, it has lasting power, which demands respect.

he has hour long sperg rants about how much it sucks in shoutbox, you shouldn't take people at face-value