-TFitC
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Booklog
It returns....
After an unexpectedly long hiatus, due in part to some unexpected real-life stuff that happened unexpectedly, The Word Smith will be resuming sometime in January. When it does, the schedule will be something along the lines of "whenever I can get a page done" which will hopefully be no slower than a page every other week, on average. We shall see. Until then, here follows a couple of concept sketches for the Episode 9 title page:
Freak Out,
-TFitC
-TFitC
Monday, December 21, 2015
New Car Small
I bought a Tesla on the weekend - two of them even! Here they are chilling on my bookshelf with Bumblebee:
On the left is a Tesla Roadster, on the right is a Model S and in the middle, disguised as a VW Beetle (and feeling rather old fashioned about it - and perhaps even a bit self-conscious given the recent VW diesel scandal thing) is Bumblebee. It is probably obvious at this point that these aren't real Teslas (I don't have anywhere near that kind of money), rather these are the Hot Wheels versions which I found whilst doing some Christmas shopping. Now, I don't personally care much about the Roadster (as it's not the sort of car I would buy myself even if I did have the money) but as there was a Model S available and they were cheap ($1 each!) I figured I'd pick up the pair.
Anywho, that is all for the nonce. There may be other posts coming before too long...
Freak Out,
-TFitC
On the left is a Tesla Roadster, on the right is a Model S and in the middle, disguised as a VW Beetle (and feeling rather old fashioned about it - and perhaps even a bit self-conscious given the recent VW diesel scandal thing) is Bumblebee. It is probably obvious at this point that these aren't real Teslas (I don't have anywhere near that kind of money), rather these are the Hot Wheels versions which I found whilst doing some Christmas shopping. Now, I don't personally care much about the Roadster (as it's not the sort of car I would buy myself even if I did have the money) but as there was a Model S available and they were cheap ($1 each!) I figured I'd pick up the pair.
Anywho, that is all for the nonce. There may be other posts coming before too long...
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
The Long Night is Finally Over
Well, perhaps the post title overstates things a bit. Nevertheless, yesterday's Canadian federal election delivered what is, in my opinion, a much welcomed (and perhaps overdue) change in government.
I have one piece of advice for our incoming Prime Minister, Mr. Trudeau: don't screw up. Easier said than done, I know! To elaborate, there seems to be a desire for a more open, transparent, accountable (and so forth) governement. I believe that there was a rather high anti-Harper sentiment in this election for a reason, so please don't let Canadians down, the country deserves better.
Sincerely,
Some random guy on the interweebs.
-TFitC
I have one piece of advice for our incoming Prime Minister, Mr. Trudeau: don't screw up. Easier said than done, I know! To elaborate, there seems to be a desire for a more open, transparent, accountable (and so forth) governement. I believe that there was a rather high anti-Harper sentiment in this election for a reason, so please don't let Canadians down, the country deserves better.
Sincerely,
Some random guy on the interweebs.
-TFitC
Monday, August 31, 2015
Unfaq Vol 5
As the Freak Log continues to do not much of anything, it occured to me that I never got around to doing the Unfaq for Word Smith Episode 8. The lack of an outcry on this matter suggests that nobody cares, but why should that stop me? So lets do this thing.
Episode 8 - Isn't it Ironic?
The episode's title is the same as an Alanis Morissette song. The answer to the title's question (in both cases) is, probably, no, or, at best, maybe. I was a bit wary about doing an episode related to irony as irony is a concept that I don't think that I entirely get. Oh, I went and read the definition and all that, and whilst I sort of "get" it, irony is one of those concepts which to me seems a little bit nebulous, and I'm not sure if I really "get" it on a fundamental level. Or at least when I'm trying to deliberately be (non-)ironic in some fashion. Oh well, lets not dwell on this.
The title page features the "villain of the week," as it were - the Irony Chef, meant to be a spoof on the Iron Chef (a show I've never actually watched, ironically enough.) I tried to associate him with a bunch of things connected to "iron," mostly prominently via a golf club and a curling iron as seen in the title.
Page 1 occurs in another bit of Kitchener/Waterloo - a part of Victoria park, in this instance. We get a look at the transformation sequence of one of the behind-the-scenes villains here. I practiced whirling my cape (that I own) around for the second last panel.
The next scene is another location in K/W. We get to see The Pen and The Waitress hanging out "out of costume" and get to hear about The Waitress' new job working at MegaBook Co. This is a reference back to Episode 2. The unfortunate victim of the cashiers in the middle row is meant to be a cameo of me (and not actually my first appearance.) The Pen's MegaBook Co membership was previously mention on this page.
We then have a series of flashbacks that reveal The Pen's origin story. This sequence is kicked off with a super dorky Magic: The Gathering reference. (Flashback is an ability that appears in some instants and sorceries.) The Pen became "The Pen" due to a co-op job that nobody else applied for. The whole bit about "still better than making charts" is based on one of my own work terms (which involved making charts...)
The final sequence takes place at a mall in K/W, though it's probably not overly obvious since there's no long shots of the mall so only a small portion gets shown in panels. We also find out that the Irony Chef's dialogue seems to involve a lot of iron-related things.
And there's not too much else to say. The situation with the Irony Chef turns out to be a trap that succussfuly lures out The Word Smith. The "book trap" at the end was meant to evoke the traps from Ghostbusters, ending the episode on a cliff hanger.
And with that, Episode 8 is officially finished. The script for Episode 9 is actually mostly written at this point so with any luck, and a bit of self-discipline, work should commence on it soonish and hopefully the adventures of The Word Smith should continue.
Until next time,
Freak Out.
-TFitC
Episode 8 - Isn't it Ironic?
The episode's title is the same as an Alanis Morissette song. The answer to the title's question (in both cases) is, probably, no, or, at best, maybe. I was a bit wary about doing an episode related to irony as irony is a concept that I don't think that I entirely get. Oh, I went and read the definition and all that, and whilst I sort of "get" it, irony is one of those concepts which to me seems a little bit nebulous, and I'm not sure if I really "get" it on a fundamental level. Or at least when I'm trying to deliberately be (non-)ironic in some fashion. Oh well, lets not dwell on this.
The title page features the "villain of the week," as it were - the Irony Chef, meant to be a spoof on the Iron Chef (a show I've never actually watched, ironically enough.) I tried to associate him with a bunch of things connected to "iron," mostly prominently via a golf club and a curling iron as seen in the title.
Page 1 occurs in another bit of Kitchener/Waterloo - a part of Victoria park, in this instance. We get a look at the transformation sequence of one of the behind-the-scenes villains here. I practiced whirling my cape (that I own) around for the second last panel.
The next scene is another location in K/W. We get to see The Pen and The Waitress hanging out "out of costume" and get to hear about The Waitress' new job working at MegaBook Co. This is a reference back to Episode 2. The unfortunate victim of the cashiers in the middle row is meant to be a cameo of me (and not actually my first appearance.) The Pen's MegaBook Co membership was previously mention on this page.
We then have a series of flashbacks that reveal The Pen's origin story. This sequence is kicked off with a super dorky Magic: The Gathering reference. (Flashback is an ability that appears in some instants and sorceries.) The Pen became "The Pen" due to a co-op job that nobody else applied for. The whole bit about "still better than making charts" is based on one of my own work terms (which involved making charts...)
The final sequence takes place at a mall in K/W, though it's probably not overly obvious since there's no long shots of the mall so only a small portion gets shown in panels. We also find out that the Irony Chef's dialogue seems to involve a lot of iron-related things.
And there's not too much else to say. The situation with the Irony Chef turns out to be a trap that succussfuly lures out The Word Smith. The "book trap" at the end was meant to evoke the traps from Ghostbusters, ending the episode on a cliff hanger.
And with that, Episode 8 is officially finished. The script for Episode 9 is actually mostly written at this point so with any luck, and a bit of self-discipline, work should commence on it soonish and hopefully the adventures of The Word Smith should continue.
Until next time,
Freak Out.
-TFitC
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Wherein I Try to Convince People That They Should Vote
While I imagine the "regular" readership of The Freak Report could be counted on one hand, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the 2015 Canadian Federal election that just kicked off this past weekend.
The short version is this: if you are an eligible voter, you should make a point of voting in the election. Seriously. Do it. Take a few moments this October and go vote. Don't make excuses, just go do it.
If that short plea from a random stranger on the internet didn't convince you to go vote, well, consider the following. (Be sure to read past the next paragraph!)
I can't address all the reasons why someone might choose not to vote, but a common one that I do want to address is that "my vote won't matter." To this I say... yes and no. In some sense, it's true that an individual's vote doesn't really matter. Populations these days are just too large for any one single vote to materially change the outcome. Without harping on things too much, a single vote is less than 1% of eligible voters - much less than 1%, really - so no, it doesn't really make a whole lot of difference whether any single individual votes or who they vote for.
"But wait", you might say, "aren't you trying to convince people to vote? Because all this talk of votes not mattering isn't really all that encouraging." Well, no, not if one looks at things individually. But when you look at the aggregate, when large segments of the population are underrepresented at the polls, well, that does matter. And can matter quite a bit.
There was an article on CBC a while after the 2011 Federal Election which reported on a study that examined the effect of underrepresentation of young voters (defined as being under 30) during that election. (The article is here for those interested.) While the election had an overall voter turnout of a little over 60%, the youth turnout was under 40%. The study found that had the youth turnout been the same as the overall turnout, the results of the election would likely have been much different - notably, the Conservatives would likely not have won a majority.
That article suggests to me that when large swathes of eligible voters choose not to vote, the outcome of the election can change significantly. So in this sense, whether or not someone votes very much does matter, not as an idividual, but as part of a group. And this is why I say everyone should make sure to vote. Because it matters that all segments of the population are represented. Because groups do have the ability to make a difference for the better. So go vote. Don't say it doesn't matter, because it does. Just go vote.
Lastly, on a personal note, I feel that if someone who is eligible elects not to vote, then they have no right to complain about the outcome. So if nothing else, vote so you can proudly complain about the results of the election for the next four years or so.
And with that, I shall get down off the soap box and will hopefully return with something more light hearted in my next post, whenever that happens to be.
Freak Out,
-TFitC
The short version is this: if you are an eligible voter, you should make a point of voting in the election. Seriously. Do it. Take a few moments this October and go vote. Don't make excuses, just go do it.
If that short plea from a random stranger on the internet didn't convince you to go vote, well, consider the following. (Be sure to read past the next paragraph!)
I can't address all the reasons why someone might choose not to vote, but a common one that I do want to address is that "my vote won't matter." To this I say... yes and no. In some sense, it's true that an individual's vote doesn't really matter. Populations these days are just too large for any one single vote to materially change the outcome. Without harping on things too much, a single vote is less than 1% of eligible voters - much less than 1%, really - so no, it doesn't really make a whole lot of difference whether any single individual votes or who they vote for.
"But wait", you might say, "aren't you trying to convince people to vote? Because all this talk of votes not mattering isn't really all that encouraging." Well, no, not if one looks at things individually. But when you look at the aggregate, when large segments of the population are underrepresented at the polls, well, that does matter. And can matter quite a bit.
There was an article on CBC a while after the 2011 Federal Election which reported on a study that examined the effect of underrepresentation of young voters (defined as being under 30) during that election. (The article is here for those interested.) While the election had an overall voter turnout of a little over 60%, the youth turnout was under 40%. The study found that had the youth turnout been the same as the overall turnout, the results of the election would likely have been much different - notably, the Conservatives would likely not have won a majority.
That article suggests to me that when large swathes of eligible voters choose not to vote, the outcome of the election can change significantly. So in this sense, whether or not someone votes very much does matter, not as an idividual, but as part of a group. And this is why I say everyone should make sure to vote. Because it matters that all segments of the population are represented. Because groups do have the ability to make a difference for the better. So go vote. Don't say it doesn't matter, because it does. Just go vote.
Lastly, on a personal note, I feel that if someone who is eligible elects not to vote, then they have no right to complain about the outcome. So if nothing else, vote so you can proudly complain about the results of the election for the next four years or so.
And with that, I shall get down off the soap box and will hopefully return with something more light hearted in my next post, whenever that happens to be.
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Friday, July 10, 2015
Schroedinger's Blog
The Word Smith continues to be on hiatus. This is due, in part, to some Real Life stuff that happened last month that threw a bunch of stuff out of whack. As such, the continuation of The Word Smith is delayed and, while I'm hoping to get back to it before too long, the Real Life stuff is, for the moment, ongoing and occupies a (not small) chunk of the time I would normally have used for working on the comic. So, expect delays, is what I'm saying.
Until such a time as The Word Smith resumes, I may try posting some other things here. Or I may not. Treat it like Schroedinger's Cat, if you will. Or don't.
Until some time in the future,
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Until such a time as The Word Smith resumes, I may try posting some other things here. Or I may not. Treat it like Schroedinger's Cat, if you will. Or don't.
Until some time in the future,
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Hanging From Cliffs
And the final page of episode 8 of The Word Smith has appeared on-line. Yes, this is ending the episode on a cliff hanger, so, dun, dun, dun!
There'll be an intentional hiatus for maybe about a month or so as I finalize script details for episode 9 and (hopefully) get a bit of a head start on drawing the actual pages.
Please look forward to it!
Freak Out,
-TFitC
There'll be an intentional hiatus for maybe about a month or so as I finalize script details for episode 9 and (hopefully) get a bit of a head start on drawing the actual pages.
Please look forward to it!
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Friday, June 5, 2015
Processing Time
The latest page of The Word Smith is not quite done - it's in the process of being coloured (nearly finished!) and should be up sometime this weekend, but in the interim, I thought it might be interesting (for some definition of interesting) to talk a bit about my comic-making process, such as it is.
It all begins with a script, or something like one, anyway. I do, in fact, have the entirety of The Word Smith planned out, in point-form, at least. Before I start actually drawing an episode, I write that episode up in detail, on a panel-by-panel level. Sometime I'm a bit lazy with dialogue and don't finalize it until I need to start actually putting it on the actual comic, which is a bad habit that I need to try to avoid. Anyway, the script stage is all just typing into a word processor so I'm not going to dwell on it.
The first actual drawing that happens is creating thumbnails. My thumbnails are pretty rough and (usually) drawn four pages to a single piece of (scrap) paper, like so:
There are some artists out there who do pretty detailed thumbnails, but I keep 'em simple mainly for two reasons. One, I'm lazy. Two, as this is just a hobby and I try to get things done in a timely manner, I prefer not to spend too much time on something that's just going to get redrawn anyway. Even so, I do view thumbnails as an important planning tool. Sometimes I do change the final layout from the thumbnailed version (as shall be seen), but overall, I don't think I'd want to attempt drawing the actual final page without some sort of plan in place regarding how I'm going to do it.
After thumbnails, I move on to the actual page. I draw pages on pieces of bristol board which measure approximately 28cm x 35.5cm. My current batch of bristol board (which I started using as of page 2 in episode 8) is also made of partly recycled material, for what it's worth. I start by drawing the panel borders, usually measured out using a ruler, though occassionally (as with page 7 below) I just draw them in roughly. I do this if I'm not entirely sure what proportions some of the panels should be or if I'm still a little unsure on some parts of the layout. By just drawing in a rough sense of the panel borders I feel freer to draw outside of them, if need be.
After panel boundaries are in place, I do the rough pencils. In theory, I actually put in any dialogue/text first so that I know that the text will all fit and I don't waste time drawing stuff that's just going to get covered up by word balloons; however, this doesn't always happen, especially if I haven't gotten around to finalizing the dialogue yet and sometimes it comes back to bite me. Fortunately, I did everything in the correct order for this page.
Once dialogue is in place, I draw everything in pencil. I generally start out fairly rough and then refine it. For instance, I'll often use rough shapes (boxes, mainly) to position and size characters in relation to each other before getting too caught up in the details; some of those guidelines can be seen in the above pencils. I currently use a mechanical pencil for the pencilling stage, mostly because I don't have to worry about sharpening it constantly.
When pencils are done, I ink everything using a set of inking pens (one brush pen and a set of pens of varying widths), erase all the pencils, scan it in and colour everything in Photoshop. Colouring could really be its own post so for now it'll suffice to say that there's several annoying things about it.
Anyway, that's an overview of everything up until the colouring stage, at any rate. Perhaps in some future post I'll go into the details on colouring.
Until next time,
Freak Out,
-TfitC
It all begins with a script, or something like one, anyway. I do, in fact, have the entirety of The Word Smith planned out, in point-form, at least. Before I start actually drawing an episode, I write that episode up in detail, on a panel-by-panel level. Sometime I'm a bit lazy with dialogue and don't finalize it until I need to start actually putting it on the actual comic, which is a bad habit that I need to try to avoid. Anyway, the script stage is all just typing into a word processor so I'm not going to dwell on it.
The first actual drawing that happens is creating thumbnails. My thumbnails are pretty rough and (usually) drawn four pages to a single piece of (scrap) paper, like so:
Pages 5-7 of Episode 8. The last quarter shows a couple of alternate ideas for page 6 - in particular it shows the composition I ended up using for the first panel, which was different from my original idea.
There are some artists out there who do pretty detailed thumbnails, but I keep 'em simple mainly for two reasons. One, I'm lazy. Two, as this is just a hobby and I try to get things done in a timely manner, I prefer not to spend too much time on something that's just going to get redrawn anyway. Even so, I do view thumbnails as an important planning tool. Sometimes I do change the final layout from the thumbnailed version (as shall be seen), but overall, I don't think I'd want to attempt drawing the actual final page without some sort of plan in place regarding how I'm going to do it.
After thumbnails, I move on to the actual page. I draw pages on pieces of bristol board which measure approximately 28cm x 35.5cm. My current batch of bristol board (which I started using as of page 2 in episode 8) is also made of partly recycled material, for what it's worth. I start by drawing the panel borders, usually measured out using a ruler, though occassionally (as with page 7 below) I just draw them in roughly. I do this if I'm not entirely sure what proportions some of the panels should be or if I'm still a little unsure on some parts of the layout. By just drawing in a rough sense of the panel borders I feel freer to draw outside of them, if need be.
Rough pencils of episode 8, page 7. Note the layout of the lower right corner has changed from the thumbnailed version.
After panel boundaries are in place, I do the rough pencils. In theory, I actually put in any dialogue/text first so that I know that the text will all fit and I don't waste time drawing stuff that's just going to get covered up by word balloons; however, this doesn't always happen, especially if I haven't gotten around to finalizing the dialogue yet and sometimes it comes back to bite me. Fortunately, I did everything in the correct order for this page.
Once dialogue is in place, I draw everything in pencil. I generally start out fairly rough and then refine it. For instance, I'll often use rough shapes (boxes, mainly) to position and size characters in relation to each other before getting too caught up in the details; some of those guidelines can be seen in the above pencils. I currently use a mechanical pencil for the pencilling stage, mostly because I don't have to worry about sharpening it constantly.
When pencils are done, I ink everything using a set of inking pens (one brush pen and a set of pens of varying widths), erase all the pencils, scan it in and colour everything in Photoshop. Colouring could really be its own post so for now it'll suffice to say that there's several annoying things about it.
Anyway, that's an overview of everything up until the colouring stage, at any rate. Perhaps in some future post I'll go into the details on colouring.
Until next time,
Freak Out,
-TfitC
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Quick Note
A very quick update to announce that the next page of The Word Smith is in its usual location.
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Isn't it Ironic?
After a much longer delay than intended (I have no excuse) the latest episode of The Word Smith makes its internet debut at the usual venue. I hope to get the next page up much quicker than this one, but as this weekend is looking to be somewhat busy it's probably not going to be up next week.
And now a discussion about irony.
One tricky thing about writing a comic about a grammar conscious super hero who fights to protect the English language (or thus he would claim) is that I really ought to at least make the effort to be as correct as possible with my grammar in the comic, and I am not a grammar nut. Granted, there's definitely some leeway with writing dialogue since real people don't always talk perfectly grammatically and they usually manage to understand each other just fine even so. But still, it's the principle of the matter, and, while I think I'm reasonably competent when it comes to writing and stuff (technical term, that, "stuff"), I don't really have any personal pet peeves and I don't really nitpick about the finer points of grammar or things like that. This can make coming up with topics a bit tricky.
Sorry, that was a bit long winded there. Moving onto the actual topic of the moment: irony.
As part of writing this episode of the comic, I did some reading up on definitions of irony to try to make sure I was using the term at least passingly correctly. It seems to me that irony is one of those things which is a bit nebulous: oh, there's definitions and examples and that's all well and good, but it's not something as well defined as, say, 2+2=4, and there seems to be some leeway as to what is or is not considered to be irony.
An example. Some people seem to think that sarcasm is (or can be) a form of verbal irony, but this is by no means universal and not all sarcasm is ironic.
The situation that I have set up in this episode has attempted to employ situational irony -- The Pen has gone to some lengths (to the point of turning off her phone) so that her boss cannot contact her and drag her into some language related escapades but, as today's page shows, language related escapades appear to be happening anyway. Is this ironic? I'm still undecided on the matter, which is why I have the Waitress (real name as yet undetermined) babble a bit about the subject in the final panel.
TLDR version: go look at this other comic which seems to match up with my thoughts on the matter fairly well. Also go read my comic.
Until next time
Freak Out,
-TFitC
And now a discussion about irony.
One tricky thing about writing a comic about a grammar conscious super hero who fights to protect the English language (or thus he would claim) is that I really ought to at least make the effort to be as correct as possible with my grammar in the comic, and I am not a grammar nut. Granted, there's definitely some leeway with writing dialogue since real people don't always talk perfectly grammatically and they usually manage to understand each other just fine even so. But still, it's the principle of the matter, and, while I think I'm reasonably competent when it comes to writing and stuff (technical term, that, "stuff"), I don't really have any personal pet peeves and I don't really nitpick about the finer points of grammar or things like that. This can make coming up with topics a bit tricky.
Sorry, that was a bit long winded there. Moving onto the actual topic of the moment: irony.
As part of writing this episode of the comic, I did some reading up on definitions of irony to try to make sure I was using the term at least passingly correctly. It seems to me that irony is one of those things which is a bit nebulous: oh, there's definitions and examples and that's all well and good, but it's not something as well defined as, say, 2+2=4, and there seems to be some leeway as to what is or is not considered to be irony.
An example. Some people seem to think that sarcasm is (or can be) a form of verbal irony, but this is by no means universal and not all sarcasm is ironic.
The situation that I have set up in this episode has attempted to employ situational irony -- The Pen has gone to some lengths (to the point of turning off her phone) so that her boss cannot contact her and drag her into some language related escapades but, as today's page shows, language related escapades appear to be happening anyway. Is this ironic? I'm still undecided on the matter, which is why I have the Waitress (real name as yet undetermined) babble a bit about the subject in the final panel.
TLDR version: go look at this other comic which seems to match up with my thoughts on the matter fairly well. Also go read my comic.
Until next time
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Rough Translation
Splurg!
That means, roughly translated, that the latest page of The Word Smith is up online in the usual locale. But don't just take my word for it, go see for yourself!
That is all, Freak Out,
-TFitC
That means, roughly translated, that the latest page of The Word Smith is up online in the usual locale. But don't just take my word for it, go see for yourself!
That is all, Freak Out,
-TFitC
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Charting a Course
Well! It's a bit later than intended, but the most recent page of The Word Smith is now up on the internets. The delay in getting this page up probably means that there won't be a page next week, unless I'm super fast about things, but don't hold your breath. Seriously. Breathing is important.
I also plan to continue the FFXI Let's Play! I just need a weekend afternoon (or equivalent) where I'm not otherwise distracted...
Anyway, that's all for the present.
Freak Out,
-TFitC
I also plan to continue the FFXI Let's Play! I just need a weekend afternoon (or equivalent) where I'm not otherwise distracted...
Anyway, that's all for the present.
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Those Three Cashiers
The latest page of The Word Smith is now online! This one took a little longer than expected to complete owing to some last minute changes to one of the panels. I should probably try to plan things a bit better. Anywho, the rough pencils are already more-or-less finished for the next page so hopefully it should be up more-or-less on schedule (I have a schedule?) next week.
This page also calls back to episode 2, which you should totally go read.
Freak Out,
-TFitC
This page also calls back to episode 2, which you should totally go read.
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Walk in the Park
It is a joyous day, for the next page of The Word Smith has wandered onto the interwebs. It is full of stuff. And things happen. Read it, or something.
... And that is basically all there is to say about that! Hopefully the next page will be up in about a week.
Freak Out,
-TFitC
... And that is basically all there is to say about that! Hopefully the next page will be up in about a week.
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Distant Worlds: Let's Play FF XI
Welcome to the first episode of my pseudo let's play of Final Fantasy XI. As to why this is a "pseudo" let's play and a few other details, see my previous post. Today is going to be mostly some background information and setting the stage, so let's get to it.
What is Final Fantasy XI?
As one might surmise from the name, FF XI is the eleventh entry in the long running Final Fantasy series. What might not be obvious from the name alone isthat FF XI was the first online entry in the series, making it fairly different from most of the rest of the series. It was originally released in Japan in 2002 and for PC in North America 2003. This would later be followed by a North American PS2 release, official European releases and an XBox 360 version. One of the unique aspects of FF XI is that all players played on the same pool of servers regardless of platform or region in which they lived.
FF XI was released whilst Everquest was basically the pre-eminent MMO of the day. In its height, FF XI boasted around 500 000 players which made it one of the larger MMOs of its time (see the second chart here). One could make the argument that FF XI was the last (or one of the last) successful pre-Warcraft MMOs. But that's something that is perhaps best left to the historians. For now, let's look at getting started...
In Character
The first thing one does in an MMO (and in many RPGs for that matter) is create a character. But I suspect you already knew that. Character creation in FF XI is, actually, kind of anemic compared even to other things of its time (to my knowledge, anyway.) Whilst I can only speculate as to why, I suggest the two following reasons: FF games, in general, don't place much emphasis on visual customization of characters, so Square-Enic (henceforth SE) was somewhat inexperienced in this matter, and PS2 limitations. Speaking of which, this seems like a good time to comment on one of the larger monkies on FF XI's back.
Humes. These are basically your boring old humans. They're the most balanced, in terms of stats. Nobody invites them to parties because they're boring.
Elvaans. These are, in theory, FF XI's version of elves, if elves were tall, awkward and gangly with long necks. Players sometimes called them "Dhalmel necks" after giraffe-like monsters in-game. Elvaan stats skew them towards melee fighters with high HP and low MP.
Tarutaru. The littlefolk of FF XI. Many of them have names that rhyme or containing repeated syllables, many also have various speech affectations, presumably because someone thought it would be cutaru. Tarutaru are skewed towards mages, particularly the kind that blow things up, having the highest MP but lowest MP. Fun fact: the name Tarutaru apparently comes from the Japanese pronunciation of Tartar sauce.
Galka. These are big, hulking meat bags. Technically, they are genderless though they are typically referred to in-game using male pronouns. Galka supposedly reproduce via some sort of cycle of reincarnation, but how that would actually work is a mystery. At any rate, Galka have the highest HP and lowest MP and are skewed to wards being tanky.
Mithra. These are a race of cat-people and are therefore the best, because cats. Male mithra are rare and thus are kept at home as breeders so only the females go out adventuring. This means only female mithra are actually playable. Mithra are probably the second most balanced after humes, being skewed towards dexterity.
Job Search
After picking a race, one picks a starting job. Being a Final Fantasy game, characters can switch jobs (and unlock new ones) later, but to start, one can pick one of six jobs. These jobs are the six classic FF jobs that first appeared in FFI. I won't go into much detail here, but here is a quick run down:
Warrior - wears heavy armour and can use a wide variety of weapons, but focuses on axes and great axes. At low levels can serve as a tank in a pinch, but is mostly a melee damage dealer.
Monk - wears light armour, uses hand-to-hand weapons and likes to punch things in the face. Or whatever the passes for the monster's face. Monks are pretty uncomplicated.
Thief - uses daggers and stabs things in the back. Also steals things because shinies. A melee class that does spike damage and can help control enmity/hate/agro levels.
White Mage - the classic Final Fantasy healer. They keep everyone alive and ticking. They also cast Holy. Holyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
Black Mage - they cast the spells that make the people fall down.
Red Mage - supposedly a hybrid melee/mage that can cast white and black magic, but in practice ended up being mostly a support/healer. I could go on at great length about the short comings of red mages as implemented in FF XI, but I'll spare you all the rant (for now.)
Place Mats
The world of FF XI is called Vana'diel and the last thing the player selects when creating a character is one of three starting cities. These are:
The Kingdom of San d'Oria. A castle town at the north end of the Ronfaure forest, the kingdom is primarily inhabited by Elvaans. San d'Orians are a somewhat xenophobic bunch and, oddly enough, have french inspired names and have a religion headed by a strangely pope-like figure. I do not judge, I merely report. San d'Oria is at odds with the reptile-like Orcs.
The Republic of Bastok. Affectionately refered to as "Lastok," the Republic is an industrial mining town in the Gustaberg region which is the least visually of all of the starter regions owing to basically being a blasted wasteland. Bastok is home to predominantly Hume and Galka populations. The local beastmen are the turtle-like Quadav.
The Federation of Windurst. Located at the southern end of othe Sarutabaruta savannahs, Windurst is home to the Tarutaru and Mithra and is, therefor, the best (owing to the Mithra, not the easily puntable, bite-sized Tarutaru.) The Federation has an uneasy peace with the bird-like Yagudo.
Guide Lines
And this brings us almost to the end of our inaugural episode. Before we go, lets meet the tour guides for this Let's Play.
Mirayrl was my main character and will (I expect) serve as the primary guide for the Let's Play, but Beruthiel will likely show up from time to time.
I'm going to try to keep these generally less wordy than this post and hope to push through at a steady rate. Next time, the plan is to cover levels 1-30 of one of the starting nation storyline. If anyone is still reading and has a preference, should I start with Windurst, Bastok or San d'Oria?
Freak Out,
-TFitC
What is Final Fantasy XI?
As one might surmise from the name, FF XI is the eleventh entry in the long running Final Fantasy series. What might not be obvious from the name alone isthat FF XI was the first online entry in the series, making it fairly different from most of the rest of the series. It was originally released in Japan in 2002 and for PC in North America 2003. This would later be followed by a North American PS2 release, official European releases and an XBox 360 version. One of the unique aspects of FF XI is that all players played on the same pool of servers regardless of platform or region in which they lived.
FF XI was released whilst Everquest was basically the pre-eminent MMO of the day. In its height, FF XI boasted around 500 000 players which made it one of the larger MMOs of its time (see the second chart here). One could make the argument that FF XI was the last (or one of the last) successful pre-Warcraft MMOs. But that's something that is perhaps best left to the historians. For now, let's look at getting started...
In Character
The first thing one does in an MMO (and in many RPGs for that matter) is create a character. But I suspect you already knew that. Character creation in FF XI is, actually, kind of anemic compared even to other things of its time (to my knowledge, anyway.) Whilst I can only speculate as to why, I suggest the two following reasons: FF games, in general, don't place much emphasis on visual customization of characters, so Square-Enic (henceforth SE) was somewhat inexperienced in this matter, and PS2 limitations. Speaking of which, this seems like a good time to comment on one of the larger monkies on FF XI's back.
PS2 Limitations. FF XI was (perhaps still is) tethered to the PS2. While it was a decent enough system for it's time, it has a number of limitations compared to more upgradable systems like the PC, most notably (I think) it's limited memory. It became somewhat of a joke among the players that "PS2 Limitations" prevented any number of things from being added to the game. Regardless, things did well enough, technical limitations aside.Anywho... the first part of character creation is picking a race of which FF XI provides five choices:
 |
| FF XI Races from left to righ: Hume, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Galka, Mithra |
 |
| The majestic Elvaan - er, Dhalmel. |
Tarutaru. The littlefolk of FF XI. Many of them have names that rhyme or containing repeated syllables, many also have various speech affectations, presumably because someone thought it would be cutaru. Tarutaru are skewed towards mages, particularly the kind that blow things up, having the highest MP but lowest MP. Fun fact: the name Tarutaru apparently comes from the Japanese pronunciation of Tartar sauce.
Galka. These are big, hulking meat bags. Technically, they are genderless though they are typically referred to in-game using male pronouns. Galka supposedly reproduce via some sort of cycle of reincarnation, but how that would actually work is a mystery. At any rate, Galka have the highest HP and lowest MP and are skewed to wards being tanky.
Mithra. These are a race of cat-people and are therefore the best, because cats. Male mithra are rare and thus are kept at home as breeders so only the females go out adventuring. This means only female mithra are actually playable. Mithra are probably the second most balanced after humes, being skewed towards dexterity.
Job Search
After picking a race, one picks a starting job. Being a Final Fantasy game, characters can switch jobs (and unlock new ones) later, but to start, one can pick one of six jobs. These jobs are the six classic FF jobs that first appeared in FFI. I won't go into much detail here, but here is a quick run down:
Warrior - wears heavy armour and can use a wide variety of weapons, but focuses on axes and great axes. At low levels can serve as a tank in a pinch, but is mostly a melee damage dealer.
Monk - wears light armour, uses hand-to-hand weapons and likes to punch things in the face. Or whatever the passes for the monster's face. Monks are pretty uncomplicated.
Thief - uses daggers and stabs things in the back. Also steals things because shinies. A melee class that does spike damage and can help control enmity/hate/agro levels.
White Mage - the classic Final Fantasy healer. They keep everyone alive and ticking. They also cast Holy. Holyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
Black Mage - they cast the spells that make the people fall down.
Red Mage - supposedly a hybrid melee/mage that can cast white and black magic, but in practice ended up being mostly a support/healer. I could go on at great length about the short comings of red mages as implemented in FF XI, but I'll spare you all the rant (for now.)
Place Mats
The world of FF XI is called Vana'diel and the last thing the player selects when creating a character is one of three starting cities. These are:
 |
| San d'Oria |
 |
| Fireworks in Bastok |
 |
| Cherry trees in Windurst |
Guide Lines
And this brings us almost to the end of our inaugural episode. Before we go, lets meet the tour guides for this Let's Play.
I'm going to try to keep these generally less wordy than this post and hope to push through at a steady rate. Next time, the plan is to cover levels 1-30 of one of the starting nation storyline. If anyone is still reading and has a preference, should I start with Windurst, Bastok or San d'Oria?
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Friday, February 27, 2015
Let's Something
So... no Word Smith page this week. (Episode 8's off to a great start, ne?) This is partly because I one panel is being a little more difficult than usual, partly because I haven't been quite as diligent with things as I could have been and partly due to fine tuning dialogue and related things. In the end I decided not to rush things and just push the page back to next week. However, this post isn't just to say how lazy I am or to waste time when I could be doing something more productive, no, I also wanted to make an...
ANNOUNCEMENT!
In addition to my (semi-)regular Word Smith updates, I am going to start a pseudo-let's play of Final Fantasy XI and wanted to get some of the preamble out of the way.
What's a "Let's Play"?
For those who might not be familiar with the concept, a Let's Play is a thing where someone plays through a game and posts about it in some form. The Let's Plays that I peruse are primarily presented on forums using screenshots and various commentaries. Depending on the person doing the Let's Play and on the game being played, sometimes reader's are asked to vote on how to progress through the game.
Why is this a "pseudo" Let's Play?
Well... that's because I'm not currently playing Final Fantasy XI. See, FF XI is an MMO and, while I played it for a while, I'm not currently subscribed to it and have no plans to restart. Thus, I will be relying on my collection of screenshots for the Let's Play, supplementing it with outside sources as necessary. It also means that there won't really be any reader interaction in deciding how I proceed, other than maybe voting on the order in which I cover certain things. Anyone who is interested should still feel free to ask (relevant) questions in the comments and I shall do my best to answer.
I am also quite happy to talk to myself on the interwebs if there are no comments/questions.
If you're not currently playing it then why bother?
Because I feel like it. Also, I'm considering this to be part of my tongue-in-cheek recaps of each final fantasy game. As FF XI is different from most other FFs, I thought I'd do the recap in a slightly different manner. This also means that the tone of the Let's Play is likely going to often lean towards the sarcastic/snarky side of things. But we'll see how things play out.
So how is this going to work?
I plan to make one post a week until I'm through all of the major storylines in FF XI and I will try to make the first post this weekend. I may talk a bit about game mechanics and other non-story stuff as I progress, depending on feedback. So I guess my first question to anyone who's interested is: how much detail should I include?
Freak Out,
-TFitC
ANNOUNCEMENT!
In addition to my (semi-)regular Word Smith updates, I am going to start a pseudo-let's play of Final Fantasy XI and wanted to get some of the preamble out of the way.
What's a "Let's Play"?
For those who might not be familiar with the concept, a Let's Play is a thing where someone plays through a game and posts about it in some form. The Let's Plays that I peruse are primarily presented on forums using screenshots and various commentaries. Depending on the person doing the Let's Play and on the game being played, sometimes reader's are asked to vote on how to progress through the game.
Why is this a "pseudo" Let's Play?
Well... that's because I'm not currently playing Final Fantasy XI. See, FF XI is an MMO and, while I played it for a while, I'm not currently subscribed to it and have no plans to restart. Thus, I will be relying on my collection of screenshots for the Let's Play, supplementing it with outside sources as necessary. It also means that there won't really be any reader interaction in deciding how I proceed, other than maybe voting on the order in which I cover certain things. Anyone who is interested should still feel free to ask (relevant) questions in the comments and I shall do my best to answer.
I am also quite happy to talk to myself on the interwebs if there are no comments/questions.
If you're not currently playing it then why bother?
Because I feel like it. Also, I'm considering this to be part of my tongue-in-cheek recaps of each final fantasy game. As FF XI is different from most other FFs, I thought I'd do the recap in a slightly different manner. This also means that the tone of the Let's Play is likely going to often lean towards the sarcastic/snarky side of things. But we'll see how things play out.
So how is this going to work?
I plan to make one post a week until I'm through all of the major storylines in FF XI and I will try to make the first post this weekend. I may talk a bit about game mechanics and other non-story stuff as I progress, depending on feedback. So I guess my first question to anyone who's interested is: how much detail should I include?
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Irony: Good for the Blood and Keeps Your Clothes Wrinkle Free!
What is this? Can it be? I think, perhaps, it is... That's right, the title page for the eighth episode of The Word Smith is live on the internets! Now quick, put it back in its bottle before it makes a mess of things.
I'm hoping to get back to my one page per week schedule (more-or-less, anyway) though it's always possible that I'll miss a week here and there. Stay tuned to find out!
Freak Out,
-TFitC
I'm hoping to get back to my one page per week schedule (more-or-less, anyway) though it's always possible that I'll miss a week here and there. Stay tuned to find out!
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Thursday, February 5, 2015
This Space Unintentionally Left Blank
It seems like I probably fail at blogging, not that the internet cares. Regardless, the gap betwixt posts has been longer than intended. Not that I've had much to blog about, but whatever...
Anywho, the only real purpose of making this post is to indicate that there is a new interlude for The Word Smith in the usual place. I am aiming to start posting episode 8 sometime in the next couple of weeks. The script is (more-or-less) done and thumbnails are coming along. I just have to set aside time to start drawing the actual pages.
And with that,
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Anywho, the only real purpose of making this post is to indicate that there is a new interlude for The Word Smith in the usual place. I am aiming to start posting episode 8 sometime in the next couple of weeks. The script is (more-or-less) done and thumbnails are coming along. I just have to set aside time to start drawing the actual pages.
And with that,
Freak Out,
-TFitC
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)