Desbreko

[color=#4B0082]Check out the movie's [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=49165][u]thread[/u][/url] over in the Music, Movies & TV forum. There's been quite a few opinions of it posted. Thread Closed[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Er . . . that second image is a png, not a gif. And while it looks great in Firefox with the alpha channel transparency, this is what you get in IE when you try to use it: [quote][img]http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/9710/iescrewspng4az.gif[/img][/quote]IE has no clue what to make of anything but single color transparency, so it just slaps a solid background color behind images with alpha channel transparency.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]With prices on the new Tombs greens plummeting along with their drop rates, not to mention how hard it is to find a decent group that'll actually clear the place, I've resorted to solo farming. I didn't want to, and had avoided doing so in the past (even though I knew it could be done without too much trouble in some areas), but it's finally come down to this: Solo farming, or not getting my fissure armor for probably another couple of months. So where do I farm? Outside Augury Rock in Prophet's Path, mostly, killing the minotuars and griffons just southwest of there. I'd heard about the place getting its drops nerfed, because so many people started farming there, along with the place being majorly exploited by bots, but I decided to try it anyway. So, while you don't get the same level of cash as you could before, I was still surprised at just how much faster it is than pretty much any party-based farming of higher level areas. I'd get the same amount of money as a Tombs run (3k-4k, not counting any ecto or green drops), except it would take me an hour and a half less time. Now, having made around 70k in maybe five days, I decided I'd post the build I use, and how to do it, here. Since I know there are more than a couple people in the guild who are short on cash. If you have an ascended warrior and are willing to endure some hours of repetitive farming (I listen to music while I do it), it's stupidly easy to make enough money for 15k armor or whatever it is you're looking to buy. [b]The Character[/b] You'll need an ascended Warrior/Monk to use this build. If you have a warrior but his/her secondary isn't monk, that's easily changed. Just go to Seeker's Passage in the desert and do the Monk's Path quest to change your secondary to monk. (You can change back and forth freely, so don't worry about losing the skills of your current secondary.) If you do have to change, you'll need 2 or 3k gold to buy the necessary skills, but that's not overly hard to scrape together. [b]The Equipment[/b] Armor from Droknar's is a must. The type of armor doesn't matter overly much -- though the best set is all Gladiator's, except for an Ascalon helm -- so don't worry about it too much so long as you're not running around in Denravi/Amnoon armor. An axe is required for this build. There are also sword builds which can get the job done, but axe is the easiest and most efficient. If you don't have a decent axe, you can get a good collector one from either [url=http://216.86.149.248/wiki/Brandon_Harlin][u]Brandon Harlin[/u][/url] or [url=http://216.86.149.248/wiki/Sir_Pohl_Sanbert][u]Sir Pohl Sanbert[/u][/url], both in the desert. Either or those will work just fine. You'll also want a 16 armor shield. Mods on it aren't critical, but they help. If you can manage to get your hands on five Bleached Shells, you'll be able to get a great collector shield from [url=http://216.86.149.248/wiki/Lord_Dorn_Lendrigen][u]Lord Dorn Lendrigen[/u][/url], but those are pretty hard to find and expensive to buy. [i]Update:[/i] I came up with a build for solo farming the Sand Wurm near Heroes' Audience. Takes about five minutes from stepping outside to killing the wurm with it, and that's how I got enough shells for my shield. IM me or ask me in game if you'd like the details; I don't feel like writing it all out at the moment. [b]The Attributes[/b] Attributes can be tweaked as you see fit within a certain range, so I'll just post what I'm currently using. If you think something else would work better for you, try it out. Healing Prayers: 10 Strength: 6+1 (minor rune) Axe Mastery: 8+4 (helm, superior rune) Tactics: 11+1 (minor rune) Preferably, I'd have a tactics helm and superior tactics rune, as tactics counts for more than axe mastery does for dealing damage with this build. But this works perfectly fine. Also, I have a major vigor and major absorption runes, but minors (which aren't too expensive at the trader) should also work. Things will just be a bit harder. [b]The Skills[/b] Again, the exact skills can be tweaked somewhat to suit what you think works best, but there's a few core skills that are needed. This is what I use: Cyclone Axe Bonetti's Defense Gladiator's Defense (elite) Endure Pain Sprint Vigorous Spirit Live Vicariously Mending Cyclone Axe, Bonetti's Defense, Vigorous Spirit, Live Vicariously, and Mending are the core of this build. Those are what keep you alive. Gladiator's Defense is your main damage output as well, so while it's not absolutely necessary, farming will take way longer without it Endure Pain is for when something goes wrong, or when you need a boost of health while herding mobs together. Sprint is for avoiding enemies you don't want to be fighting. If you don't have Gladiator's Defense, it can be captured from the Facet of Strength in the Dragon's Lair mission. It's a great elite for tanking as well as soloing, so I'd definitely go cap it if you don't already have it. [b]The Execution[/b] Time to put the build into action. Step out of Augury into Prophet's Path, and cast Mending on yourself. Wait for your energy to regen back to 20 or so, then cast Live Vicariously on yourself. With these two enchantments active, you'll have zero energy regen -- but that's okay. Head out along the path and run past the nearby Rockshot Devourer. (Do [i]not[/i] try to fight Rockshots at all. If there's some attacking you from a distance while you're fighting other things, that's fine, but they lay traps that will take you down fast if you get close to them.) Don't bother Sprinting, as it'll stop following you after a bit anyway. You should see two or three minotaurs bounding towards you; aggro them so that they start chasing you, but keep running until the path opens up. Take a left just before after the first stone pillar, and you'll see another two or three minotaurs coming towards you. Aggro them and let both groups of minotaurs start hitting you. As soon as they're all attacking you, use Gladiator's Defense, then cast Vigorous Spirit, then use Cyclone Axe. (If there are Rockshots attacking you, wait one or two seconds in between Vigorous Spirit and Cyclone Axe, or else you run the risk of being interrupted.) Did you see what just happened to your health? Live Vicariously and Vigorous Spirit will both give you 10 health each every time you attack something, and when you hit a big mob of enemies around you with Cyclone Axe, they give you 20 health for [i]each enemy[/i] you hit. With a four second recharge on Cyclone Axe for a ton of life each time, plus Mending to keep you topped off, you should rarely drop below 50% health. So, after using Gladiator's Defense and Vigorous Spirit, hit Cyclone Axe, wait for it to recharge, then hit it again if you have the energy. At this point, Gladiator's Defense should be wearing off, so use Bonetti's Defense -- do you see what's happening to your energy? Bonetti's Defense is an adrenaline based stance with a 75% chance to block attacks. And for each melee attack you block, you gain five energy. With a large mob of enemies attacking you, it's easy to go from empty to full energy in no time at all. This is why you don't have to care about the two upkeep enchantments bringing you down to zero energy regen. Now that you have energy again, hit Cyclone Axe once more, then [i]immediately[/i] use Bonetti's Defense again. This is extremely important, because using a skill -- such as Cyclone Axe -- cancels Bonetti's Defense. And in large mobs, without that 75% block rate, you'll quickly get eaten alive. But how can you use Bonetti's Defense twice in so little time? Remember, Bonetti's Defense is an adrenaline based skill, so by hitting everything around you with Cyclone Axe, you gain enough adrenaline to use it again right away. Or, if there aren't enough enemies around you to instantly charge it up, don't worry. That means there are too few enemies to kill you so long as you keep attacking and getting those 20 hit points back each swing, along with the three health regen from Mending. Again, auto attack until Cyclone Axe recharges, hit Cyclone Axe, hit Bonetti's Defense. Rinse and repeat until Gladiator's Defense recharges. When it does, put it on, then recast Vigorous Spirit, which should just be wearing off. Use Cyclone Axe twice until Gladiator's Defense wears off, then go back to alternating between Bonetti's Defense and Cyclone Axe. That's really all there is to it. Those minotaurs are the first of three mobs I kill. This screen shot shows the path I take, and the three places I stop to fight. The first, obviously, is the minotaurs and is the smallest. The second is the largest, and you should be able to herd together three or four groups of griffons and minotaurs nearby. The third is all griffons; there should be two or three mobs around there that you can herd together. [URL=http://img137.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gwgriffonrun4ta.jpg][IMG]http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/3535/gwgriffonrun4ta.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [b]Action Shots[/b] Here's a few more screen shots, for the heck of it. [URL=http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gwgriffonrun28rk.jpg][IMG]http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/1602/gwgriffonrun28rk.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gwgriffonrun31cq.jpg][IMG]http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/1263/gwgriffonrun31cq.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gwgriffonrun45xt.jpg][IMG]http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2749/gwgriffonrun45xt.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [b]Edit:[/b] I've made some changes to the build since posting this, and have gotten it to take less time. But I don't feel like going through and making major changes to the post, so I'll leave people to tweak things on their own if they like. Being able to come up with your own solo builds (not that this one was completely mine, but I've worked on some others from scratch) is a good skill anyway. [b]And Again:[/b] Heh, looks like they got sick of so many people making money off these things. Most of the griffons have been replaced by scarabs in the last update, so this run doesn't work so well anymore. But the build still works for soloing other similar enemies.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Not quite. Having it transparent but with anti-aliasing gives it more flexibility, just not unlimited flexibility. That image would look fine, for example, on a somewhat darker background, just not a really dark one. One practical use, for example, is the slight difference in background color between the Liquid and Geisha skins. Say you have an avatar using the Liquid background color; well, it's going to look a bit off whenever someone using the Geisha skin views it, and vice versa. But if you use anti-aliasing with the rest transparent, it will look fine on both, since the two shades of gray aren't all that far apart. Personally, I'd just use png and be done with it, except that Microsoft still haven't gotten off their butts and implemented full support for png transparency in IE yet.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]For the gif to look smooth, it needs anti-aliasing around the edges. But, with the gif format, you get "transparent," and, "not transparent," with no in between. (Unlike png which, while it can have varying levels of transparency, doesn't work in IE.) So the color of the anti-aliasing has to match the background it's going to be set against, or else it looks horrble. Setting that image against a dark blue background instead of a light gray/white, for example, it ends up looking like this: [img]http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/5933/akaks27rv.gif[/img] Not pretty. And, in fact, it would look better without anti-aliasing when set against anything but a light background. The trick, then, is being able to change the color of the anti-aliasing to match up against whatever background you intend the image to be set against. At least in Paint Shop Pro (which is what I use, and I'd think Photoshop would be able to do the same), you can accomplish that by making a layer containing the image you want, with anti-aliasing turned on. Then you create a solid-color background layer behind it, with the color that the final image is going to be set against, and then merge the layers. Next you get the fill tool and change the solid background color around the image to whatever color you're going to make transparent, making sure that the fill tool is set to zero tolerance, so as not to recolor any of the anti-aliasing. This'll get you an image looking very much like the editted one I showed above, where the anti-aliasing shows up strongly against the new background color. Then all you have to do is set that new color to be transparent, save the image as a gif, and you've got yourself an anti-aliased image with a transparent background. Now, to change the anti-aliasing to match a different color background, all you'd need to do is save a copy of the image in .psd format before the merging of the image and the background layer. Then you could just change the color of the background layer to whatever you wanted and repeat the process to save a new gif copy with different anti-aliasing.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]We already have threads for both Katamari games, which you can find links to in the [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=46746][u]Play It Thread Directory[/u][/url], so check out those if you'd like to get info about and discuss the games. Thread Closed[/color]

[QUOTE=DeathKnight][color=crimson]Nice. I can tell you are a sharp individual. I don't have a problem with emo people or their numerous variants. It could be worse, really. They could all be super bright and cheery and singing: [i]I'm so happy! AHA! Happy go lucky me! I just go my way, living everyday! I don't worry! Worrying don't agree, Things that bother you, never bother me~~ Things that bother you, never bother me! I feel happy and fine! AHA! Living in the sunlight, loving in the moonlight Having a wonderful time![/i] So, yeah. Count your blessings.[/color][/QUOTE][color=#4B0082]Oh, I don't know. I think that could be [url=http://gmanisnotpleased.ytmnd.com/][u]pretty awesome[/u][/url].[/color]

[color=#4B0082]^ What they said. This is the KH2 thread, please stay on topic, peoples. *deletes posts*[/color]

[color=#4B0082][url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=44317][u]We[/u][/url] [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=44323][u]already[/u][/url] [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=44313][u]have[/u][/url]. Just read the stickies at the tops of the Arena forums and they should tell you everything you need to know. Though if you still have questions after that, feel free to PM one of the staff. :)[/color]

[color=#4B0082]*laughs* . . . *laughs some more* . . . Sorry, I -- *more laughing* *deep breath* Okay, even taking this seriously (and assuming it's even possible), changing the URL would, if anything, decrease the number of visitors we'd get. Think about it: People hear about this "OtakuBoards" site from wherever, and what do you think the first thing they're going to try is? They're going to type "www.otakuboards.com" into the address bar because .com is by far and wide the most commonly used. If that doesn't do it, they may then try .net, or even go as far as .org. But I doubt .wand or .elf is going to enter their mind. And with .com, .net, and .org all coming up empty, they may just give up without ever even touching a search engine.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Metroid Prime's soundtrack is awesome while you're playing the game, but I don't think the music holds up quite as well on its own. It's certainly above average still, and there's a few tracks I listen to pretty regularly (VS. Hive Totem, Ice Valley, and Ending Staff Roll for the most part), but most of it really needs to be accompanied by the game's settings. The boss themes, with a couple exceptions, are a good example of that. Take the VS. Thardus theme; it's okay by itself, but a bit slow and repetitive. When you're actually fighting that huge, hulking rock monster, however, and dodging for your life to avoid being literally rolled over, it makes things seem a lot more tense. I find this true of most of the game's themes -- they don't seem overly impressive to me by themselves, but they add a lot of atmosphere within the context of the game. Oh, and Chrono Cross's soundtrack should be put right up next to Chrono Trigger's. Anymore, I consider them to be pretty much equal, SNES quality midis in CT notwithstanding.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]So it goes on and on, melodies -- er, another update. *pauses the FFIX OST* Lots of great avatars in this batch, but there were also a lot that didn't make it in. The vast majority of those were due to them being the wrong size. (Though a few also had too much visible jpg artifacting.) Those Bleach avatars, for example; I would've loved to add those, but submissions have to be [i]exactly[/i] 150x80 pixels in order to be accepted. And White, if you're using a template image to make your avatars, you'll want to double check its dimensions. All of the ones you submitted are 149x79. Myself, I kind of went a little crazy making Slayers avatars. I added 45 of them, as well as digging up some Ah! My Goddess avatars that I'd made.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]One Winged Angel is indeed quite the awesome song. I think it was the first vocal song to appear in the FF series; I remember it being a surprise when I first heard it. Previous to it, the closest song in the series would probably be the other that you mentioned, Dancing Mad, though I think that falls a bit short of One Winged Angel. Uematsu really outdid himself on this one. Even better than the original One Winged Angel theme, however, is the [spoiler]Advent Children[/spoiler] version. If only for the increase in sound quality, I'd consider it better, though I like the faster beat as well. There's also some breaks and more variety in the vocals, so it doesn't become as repetitive. And I'll attach the Latin lyrics to the original theme along with their English translation:[/color]

[color=#4B0082]I always just tell people to pick a combination of professions that they think they'll enjoy. You can find skills that complement each other in any combination, or just playing a pure primary build works as well. And the way the attribute point system works in GW, you never have to worry about screwing up and being stuck with a crappy character. When you've got an account set up, post your character name and I'll send you a guild invite. :)[/color]

[color=#4B0082]You forgot the ending that makes the story a complete tragedy. You know, when the recycled games finally flop after people get sick of them, and the game companies die in poverty. Meanwhile, I'm going to be snuggling with my DS and Revolution. :animesmil[/color]

[color=#4B0082]You forgot to put in the new myOtaku username along with the ID number, heh. I stuck that in, and the OB-to-myOtaku link is working now, though I don't see a myOtaku-to-OB link on his page. Getting that up would probably require some tinkering in the myOtaku database. Would've tried this to start, except I couldn't remember how to find the myOtaku ID number. ^_^;[/color]

[color=#4B0082]You might find reading through the site [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/faq.php?][u]FAQ[/u][/url] to be helpful. It answers a lot of the questions regarding how to use the forum, what certain things do, etc.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]The CD key that comes with the game only works to create one account, but your account isn't tied to a PC. So you can install the game on one PC, create an account, and then install it on another and log into the same account from both PCs just fine. (Me and my brother did this when he let me try out the game on his account, before I bought it myself.) All your account information is stored on the server, so the game really doesn't care where you're logging in from. In fact, once you have an account, you don't even really need the game discs. You can download the client from guildwars.com, install it wherever, and it'll stream all the necessary files to you as you play. Of course, that takes a while even on broadband, but it can be done.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Rapture Ruckus: Okay, I cleared out the info for your previous myOtaku account from your OB profile. Try linking again and see if it works. If it doesn't, I think it's beyond my control and would need an admin of myOtaku to look into it. Pumpkin: Not much I can do about this, I'm afraid. I'd e-mail/PM [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/member.php?u=4616][u]Justin[/u][/url] and see if he can reset your password or something.[/color]

[quote name='Parabola][COLOR=SlateGray][SIZE=1]In anycase, if anyone has a Ninja Hood and any kiddie furniture they could sell me that would be greatly appreciated.[/SIZE'][/COLOR][/quote][color=#4B0082]I just picked up a Ninja Hood from the Able Sisters' shop this morning, so you're in luck if you haven't gotten one already. I also have a few pieces of Kiddie furniture, either stowed or in my catalog. The stereo, wardrobe, and a couple others I think.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Teddy gave me a Bow completely out of the blue yesterday (he seems to have taken a liking to me), so I don't need that anymore. But the rest of those I'll gladly accept, so order away. And I've started depositing my cash into my bank account instead of making loan payments right away, so I have some money on hand to pay you back for them, or else I can trade you something else if you're looking for anything in particular. Next time we're both online, maybe we can set up an exchange.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Whoo! I payed off another house loan and got the east room upgrade. Only one more upgrade to go before my house is fully expanded. . . . Though I've got 800,000 (out of 848,000 total) bells left to pay on that east room. That's going to take me a while to pay off. It's absolutely wonderful to have this much space. There's so much cool stuff to collect in AC, and now you actually get enough room to use it all. Well, maybe not all of it, but a dang lot more than in the GCN game. I've already got plans for a few of the rooms (as you can see above, from the furniture I'm looking for, which I've updated), and I'm sure the last one will fill up easily enough. I may be constantly scrounging for money even though I'm bringing in thousands of bells per day, but the house upgrades are definitely worth it.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]You unlock TT by beating his ghost on every track in the time trial mode. First you have to get a good enough time to make the ghost appear, then beat it; you'd probably be able to find a list of the times somewhere like GameFAQs. Personally, I used Pipsy (the mouse) through most of my first run of the game, including the Wizpig races. She has the best handling and acceleration, but the lowest top speed, so I know it's possible on the slower characters. Her excellent handling is really nice for swerving around all the obstacles on the course.[/color]

[quote name='James][font=franklin gothic medium']And yeah, Tony asked to be banned. I think people sometimes overestimate the level of subversive stuff that goes on among staff, lol.[/font][/quote][color=#4B0082]Heheheh. The [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=35704][u]DailyOtaku[/u][/url] is working. ;)[/color]

[quote name='Lore][color=33333][font=trebuchet ms]We should abolish PMs altogether. Clearly, they are too much hassle.[/font'][/color][/quote][color=#4B0082]ZOMG YES! *turns private messaging off altogether* Problem solved! :toothy: Seriously though, in previous versions of Virtual Bulletin it used to do exactly as Baron described; automatic tracking with no pop-ups. And I always found that to be great, so I wouldn't mind going back to that at all. Problem is, I can't find [i]anything[/i] related to message tracking in the admin options. There are some options for what's allowed about PMs themselves, but not a one for the tracking of PMs. So at this point, nothing can be done about the pop-ups.[/color]