Zodi Plays: Custom Robo (Redesign Your Robo, We Know What We're Doing)

[LaZodiac]

That little discussion reminded me of something Samual L Jackson said in an interview that was in the bonus content on the Attack of the Clones DVD (I was 13 when that came out, I hadn't developed good taste yet, okay). He said that his feeling about jedi and lightsaber fighting especially was that it was a futuristic version of classic "samurai movies", implying that he saw katanas underneath the laser swords.

I mean he wouldn't be wrong; Star Wars has a lot of its DNA from Kurosawa films.

[12milematt]

zodi and I had some more followup discussion about this in discord lol

yeah absolutely star wars is inspired by samurai films, and the characters act (and in the OT, fight) like samurai. But that doesn't make a lightsaber a katana. They treat it like a katana because they're samurai, not because it's a katana. It's just a sword. If you gave a lightsaber to Spartacus, it would resemble a gladius. Darth Vader's armor looks like samurai armor if you squint your eyes and you have spent a lot of time reading about samurai and you're coming into the movie knowing "this was inspired by samurai movies", but everybody else just sees big cool scary shadow guy.

Rewatching the video now though, hey wait a second, this started out as a discussion where zodi said "star wars is generic" and I said "no it's got its own style", and somehow we switched over to a totally different discussion about star wars' unique japanese influence and therefore my original point that it's not generic is completely right, as always.

[LaZodiac]

Rewatching the video now though, hey wait a second, this started out as a discussion where zodi said "star wars is generic" and I said "no it's got its own style", and somehow we switched over to a totally different discussion about star wars' unique japanese influence and therefore my original point that it's not generic is completely right, as always.

I'm debating whether I should concede the point that "space samurai times" is actually unique, or whether I should keep up the charade and insist that no actually it's still generic because aside from the space wizard samurai bros it is basically just regular space army stuff.

[Ninja_Prawn]

tbh I think you're looking at it upside down anyway. The 'generic sci-fi feeling' Em was talking about is something that comes about because of the existing oeuvre of sci fi media, but it didn't exist before that media was produced. No one sets out to write/film a generic sci fi (I hope), but we as an audience can identify a certain aesthetic as being 'generic' as a result of having seen dozens of people's attempts at telling unique stories. Am I making sense? I think it's kind of beside the point which individual work seems closest to the platonic ideal of sci fi.

[LaZodiac]

tbh I think you're looking at it upside down anyway. The 'generic sci-fi feeling' Em was talking about is something that comes about because of the existing oeuvre of sci fi media, but it didn't exist before that media was produced. No one sets out to write/film a generic sci fi (I hope), but we as an audience can identify a certain aesthetic as being 'generic' as a result of having seen dozens of people's attempts at telling unique stories. Am I making sense? I think it's kind of beside the point which individual work seems closest to the platonic ideal of sci fi.

That's honestly a really good point, yeah.

[DataNinja]

Yeah, what the other Ninja said.

There are really only two ways for something to be generic. Either all your ideas get stolen to form more genre stuff, or you've stolen all your ideas from the same genre stuff. That happens a lot, where something is no longer innovative just because everyone saw the value in it, and so stripped it for constituent parts.

So, I wouldn't say that any of the discussed ones are truly generic, as they all have parts that if they show up in another media, we still say "oh, that's based off Star Wars!" or whatever. Or at least have parts that're still fairly able to be recognized as more uniquely them. At least, that's my two cents of uneducated literary analysis.

[LaZodiac]

It is a Wednesday, which means it is time for a Halo... three?!

Zodi Plays: Halo 3 [1] Jungle Japes

Video Length: 40:28

Halo 3 is the first of these that I have absolutely zero experience with, and I think that shows a fair bit. It also features a LOT of changes, some of which are good (Brute Shot has become a mini rocket launcher, you can get cool turret weapons!) and some of which are mixed (Needler is more effective a weapon but now less cool in basically every regard, the new Brute Pistol thing is the only gun with a good melee attack animation wise) and some of which is... bad? Possibly? (Brute's having armour that just works as shields for no reason is silly, and I feel like it could have been fine to just not have them have anything akin to energy shields, personally. Also why did Master Chief jump out of Truth's ship...?)

That all being said, I think Halo 3 has left a pretty good first impression on me, even if it does take me a bit to readjust myself to it.

(also, Custom Robo will be resuming this Friday. Zodi had to take care of some stuff)

[DataNinja]

Yeah, it's one of those things never given much detail, but Cortana was just a temporary AI for the Pillar of Autumn. She was created by Halsey, and then chose John Masterchief out of all of Halsey's Spartans. The permanent Pillar of Autumn AI was never even given a name. Wellsley was another onboard AI, but it's unknown if he was the actual ship's AI (unlikely), and was assigned to Alpha Base on Halo in the first game.


You have, at the very least, three friends who like Halo, and would probably be willing to fail badly if you asked.


Hahahahahaha, yes. Birthday party!


I mean, you know the Elites and Humans worked something out, Zodi. "Anderson" was riding in that Scarab.


Hey, Jackals were allowed to have Pistol, Sniper, Other Sniper, or Needler before.


Pretty sure the reason for implementing the Armour as "shields", was because without Elites, it'd basically otherwise make plasma stuff... worthless. Because pretty much nothing else in the Covenant had shields, besides Jackal shields.


There are more survivors of the Prophets besides Truth (since while most were on High Charity, there were some lesser ones accompanying other fleets), but... they basically do nothing, and they're just waved away as "never heard from again, hiding from the Elites."

And, yeah, I think I mentioned before that while the Grunts are sympathetic to the Elites... they also wanna live, so if they're around Brutes, and there's a lot of threatening there? Sorry, nope, they're gonna try and shoot you. Because the Brutes are threatening them and all of their siblings.


So... much like the First Strike novel filled in the gap between 1 and 2, the Halo: Uprising graphic novel filled in between 2 and 3. Basically, the short version of why he jumped:

Meanwhile, John-117, having failed in his attempt to assassinate Truth, fights his way out of the Forerunner ship's airlock in a Ghost. On the surface of the Dreadnought, he is informed that the command ship holding the "key" [a plot McGuffin for the graphic novel] is to be destroyed, and that he will be within the radius of the blast unless he takes immediate evasive maneuvers. He moves to another part of the Forerunner ship to avoid being caught in the blast's wake. The Master Chief is then ordered to find a way to return to Earth quickly. His subsequent drop can be seen in the opening cutscene of Halo 3.

It's one of those lovely things where you only know the reasons why because of EU stuff. Look forwards to a lot more of that come Halo 4!!!

[Lord Raziere]

On Halo 3, Episode 1:
Look I just assume that in any war movie/franchise whatever its the job of the drill sergeant to spit out complete and under utter nonsense to be funny in an attempt to keep up morale and provide levity with their rants. So Johnson saying something like "looks like they after the smell of hero" is just par for the course.

Cortana was not a ship AI, she is this multi-faceted AI digital super weapon developed by cloning Halsey's brain so as to basically hack into anything and wreak havoc on scales no super-soldier can do on their own. she was just on the Pillar of Autumn because thats like, the ship they chose to get her away from Reach. and its less like she is doing busywork, and more like she and Master Chief are meant to be partners, and his entire side of the relationship is that he gets her into some hostile fortress and plugs her in, and she provides intel while he does this, then she hacks into that place and goes about screwing things up, then he takes her out and they begin escaping. basically, MC is Cortana's bodyguard and Cortana is the person the UNSC uses to make all your weapons fire on each other or your ship blow up from its own self destruct mechanisms, or steals vital info they can use....things like that. in short: MC is the second most powerful weapon in the UNSC's arsenal. Cortana is their first.

why MC jumped out of truth's ship is an incredibly good question. the only reason I could think of for him doing that is him doing something destructive to make the thing crash and not wanting to be on the ship while it does so. So we're probably going to the wreck remains of the ship.

I mean I play Halo 1-3 long ago, so I'd be up for it if I bothered to get the collection.

yeah, get used to weird visions and voices speaking in your head in 3, I don't know why it happens, but it happens.

yeah the mini gun is fun even if you only get it for a short while, just pick up and third person melt faces everywhere.

[LaZodiac]

Ooops a lot of things happened and now Halo 3 episode 2 is here instead of anything else.

Zodi Plays: Halo 3 [2] Set Us Up The Bomb

Video Length: 38:03

In this lovely episode, we get introduced to Truth once again... and his voice actor is now bad! Oh no! This sucks! Also the Covenant Remnants are attacking the base we're at that is full of injured folk so that's also pretty bad so it's time for us to do the thing we do.

And honestly, this level is pretty great. Has a, as Em says, fun open feel to it, while still managing to not feel repetative. There are some things we dislike, like Drones in general or the fact that hey the Brute's all have dark blue armour that blends in real well and that sucks and is bad. But I get a big hammer and I learn how to use the side weapon things so that's fun. There's also way more "Cortana gives us a weird brain message" and girl, we are NOT getting your texts I'm sorry but I'm leaving you on read for the time being.

[DataNinja]

>Power goes out, cutting the screens.
>Screens turn on, displaying Truth
>Power returns
...makes sense to me.

Ugh. I don't like this one, because my friend and I kept getting lost in it.

"I have no controversial opinions!" Wait, you're all out of them?

It's okay, Em, I laughed at your Eiffel 65 joke.
Wait... do I have to pretend that I didn't but am pretending I did?

Of course, Zodi. We would never spite you.

[Ninja_Prawn]

It's okay, Em, I laughed at your Eiffel 65 joke.

Sorry Em, I got the reference well enough, but I didn't laugh. I think the thought of 90s eurodance fills me with too much rage and disgust for me to find it funny.

Also that time where Zodi died without being hit, I think I heard a brute shot explode just to her left, so I assume she was killed by splash damage from that, after the splash from a stray spike grenade stripped off her shields. I think maybe you didn't clock that your shields had disappared because that happened after you ducked into cover, so the sudden death seemed to come out of nowhere. Happens all the time. Best thing is to take cover well before you think you need to.

[LaZodiac]

Sorry Em, I got the reference well enough, but I didn't laugh. I think the thought of 90s eurodance fills me with too much rage and disgust for me to find it funny.

Also that time where Zodi died without being hit, I think I heard a brute shot explode just to her left, so I assume she was killed by splash damage from that, after the splash from a stray spike grenade stripped off her shields. I think maybe you didn't clock that your shields had disappared because that happened after you ducked into cover, so the sudden death seemed to come out of nowhere. Happens all the time. Best thing is to take cover well before you think you need to.

If you frame by frame the footage (and I actually ended up checking this in Theatre mode when Em was showing me the "spawned on top of you" moment) you can see the gold Brute turn the corner in SUCH a way that my gun perfectly conceals it from my vision except for like, two or three frames, and it shoots a blast at me that kills me. Womp womp xP

[DataNinja]

I take it that them spawning on top of you wasn't funny enough in Theater mode to splice in/didn't show up on your end?

[12milematt]

unfortunately theater in MCC has no seek or rewind in campaign missions, so the fastest method available is fastforwarding, which is still not very fast, so to get the footage and edit it in wasn't worth it

[DataNinja]

C'est la vie. I figured it'd be some limitation like that. Woulda been funny, but, yeah, for a five second joke, not worth it.

[LaZodiac]

Oh hey time for a new Halo 3.

Zodi Plays: Halo 3 [3] Motorcycle Punk

Video Length: 32:46

In this episode, we make our way across the broken and dusty trail towards Voy, in our attempt to stop the camel from activating the mystery box and killing all of us. It's a vehicle level, but one that does not overstay its welcome and actually makes use of vehicles in a fun way. They even introduce the Brute motorcycle, a mad-max ass monowheel called the Chopper. It's pretty cool, and I look forward to seeing what other innovations "angry monkey" brings to the table. There's also a new turret but it is not that interesting.

[12milematt]

wow my audio levels were wack in this one, sorry everyone's ears!

[DataNinja]

I have nothing much really to add, because you discovered all the stuff I was gonna mention - that you can blow up the floating sniper perches with enough ordnance, and you couldn't get off because people were on and punching you. Didn't know Drones could do that, though!

I guess the really only thing is that the Turrets aren't technically new. They're the Type-26 Shade, as opposed to the Type-29 Shade that's been showing up until now. They get... a little inconsistent in future games for which one they choose to use.

Spoiler: Old Shade

Show

Also, eh, I didn't notice Audio weirdness, Em, don't worry.

[Lord Raziere]

Halo 3, Episode 2-3
Happy Birthday Zodi, just to say it today.

its always funny to see the Halo confetti explosions. I wonder what the people around MC would think if they saw the people he killed exploding like that:
soldier: uuuh....MC? Why are the grunts exploding into confetti?
MC: don't know don't care. it doesn't impact my effectiveness, moving on.
solider: .....but why is it happeni-
MC: it doesn't impact my effectiveness, moving on.

as for why they're blowing up the base: UNSC strategy for fighting Covenant focused heavily on resource denial and scorched earth tactics. since the covenant has a technological advantage and could use their computers to gain all sorts of information on them to gain even more of an advantage, things like the Cole Protocol were considered vital for humanity's survival since a single leak could lead to the Covenant finding hundreds of human colonies to kill and even Earth. blowing up the base is probably because they don't have the resources or manpower to defend it and have important things on it that could allow the Covenant some advantage, so they're not taking chances, since none of their tech compares to covenant tech, so all their stuff is disposable since none of it can be expected to stand up against the covenant armada in a straight up fight anyways. such information in a war like this is worth all the lives is saves by being kept secret. basically the whole Human-Covenant War is a guerrilla war on an interstellar scale, with UNSC being the guerrillas. the reason why they sent Spartans to fight it rather than better ships is because they never had the time to do so: the Spartans were originally intended for an entirely different war, the Covenant is wiping out humanity too fast for them to ever study covenant tech to balance their advantage with a fleet of their own in time, so their only choice for survival is to destroy anything that can be used against them and hope more covert methods like ONI or the Spartans will carry them through.

I will not spite Zodi on her birthday M, I don't even know what Eiffel 65 even is!

...meh considering all the times M killed Zodi as a joke, I don't feel sorry for him.

Later: *M destroys covenant tank then dies* his sacrifice will be remembered.

but yeah didn't know these bikes were actually Brute ones. for a while I thought the Chopper was UNSC designed, but I guess I was wrong.

[LaZodiac]

I will note that video is not today's video, so it wouldn't technically be spiting me on my birthday

That said, new Halo.

Zodi Plays: Halo 3 [4] Universal Off Switch

Video Length: 35:04

A pretty short one, but also the first step this game takes from good to great. A small number of new things get introduced, but we also get a REALLY cool set piece that I quite like.

We also get one of the luckiest (or unluckiest...) shots I've ever made! So that's fun.

[DataNinja]

Nothing really much for me to comment on in this one. Besides the fact that the Hunter worms aren't really driving the Scarab. It's literally a suit of armour with a gun for them. It's basically just a big Hunter. Superheavy Infantry.

[LaZodiac]

More Halo! That's the ticket!

Zodi Plays: Halo 3 [5] Flame'd Thrower

Video Length: 25:57

I'm pretty sure from this point on, the game basically never stops being outstanding. It's honestly amazing, aside from the very first time you meet the Flood (and even that pushed it a little) this is the first time the Flood have actually felt like, threatening as an enemy type. This is the first time since their introduction that they've actually succeeded in delivering the sense that they simply being here is a completely destructive, controlling, unstoppable force that you're only recourse with is to cut through them and hope for the best.

And they do all that WHILE ALSO providing you with tools and methods and ways to not feel ENTIRELY overwhelmed, without making the Flood seem impossible to ENDURE, and by still making the gameplay fun instead of a slog. The hammer, the flamethrower, the new Flood types that add a bit more horror and variety. It all comes together really well.

[DataNinja]

Hahahahahah, yep! Gravity hammer is so satisfying, and getting the flamethrower feels amazing.

...your comment about the enemy having rockets with you having a grav hammer has reminded me that the grav hammer can deflect rockets when grav-ing. Which is apparently first in this game. (Disclaimer: Do not try this with your hammers at home, kids.)

Ah, yes, the flood Pure Form. My favorite new triple-changer Transformer.
(I hate fighting them, but also it was sorely needed to give the Flood more unique mechanics.)

The "could be corrupt" probably comes from the whole... collapsing in pain bit.

The thing I most remember about this scene is just the end, where the friend I was playing with strenuously objected to Johnson being able to tote around 3 Covenant weapons, while we were limited to two. I never heard the end of it.

[Lord Raziere]

Halo Episodes 4-5
I remember playing through the flood level, because I remember the Gravemind speaking like this

Yeah Halo is real good at its world ending threat drama. sells it well, and the flood level shows that as well as the horror angle. it can do smaller stories, but doesn't focus much on them, and I wonder if we would've gotten more of halo if we weren't frontloaded with the whole Covenant and Flood thing threatening extinction right off the bat.

like I wonder if we got more of MC fighting the regular Covenant war in gameplay format before the Halos got involved we'd something more fleshed out in terms of setting. like something similar to RvB's more serious moments and stories, because those do a lot of smaller stories in Halo's universe that make sense on some level. like Flood and Covenant are great but the higher echelons of the Covenant and the Flood could've gotten more build up in my opinion.

But then that might ruin things, because the Halo franchise is very.....Movie-esque in some ways. they have a kind star wars-like feel to them while putting their own more grounded military spin on it, so I can see the original Halo trilogy being three movies if you clean and clarify up some of what happens in Halo 1 to tell its story better, and have it all connect to MC's overcoming of his own grief and loss of his comrades by making friends with Arbiter in an understated manner. but then I think Vel'Adam should've been in Halo 1 to provide a more consistent face to the Covenant to begin with and starter antagonist. We could've had the final boss of Halo 1 be Vel'Adam before becomes Arbiter and its just a testament of his skill that he is able to keep up with and survive against MC himself as he tries to like get the key to fire Halo or something.

but oh well, that'll never happen. but yes, flamethrowers and gravity hammers are awesome.

[LaZodiac]

Onwards, to more Halo!

Zodi Plays: Halo 3 [6] Spoiled By Explosives

Video Length: 26:06

The first "level too long cut the video in half" for this to happen! But well worth it, because this one was fun! We get to experience the Brute's transport vehicle, and the game just kinda... gives me a lot of explosive weaponry. What a nice video game.

------

Due to a variety of health issues, life and work stuff, and general just ****ing up, I have failed to deliver on Custom Robo, and I apologize. Friday, it will return, guaranteed.

[DataNinja]

You will be happy to know that they made it so shooting Grunts in the backpack does kill them in the next game, and you even get a special animation for it.

Regret (the level riding over the antigravity gondolas and through the temple to face, well, Regret) was the sniper level in Halo 2. The Sniper level is a Halo tradition. Though, neither 2 nor 3 had the absurdly over-ammo'd rifle that CE did. But, they tend to try and let you have at least some fun with them around once per game.

Ohhhhhhhhh. Both being near it explains why I wasn't able to touch it during my playthrough. That's... frustrating.

For Zodi's convenience: To didact is basically to instruct others - being didactic tends to have a negative connotation of being overly inclined to do so. The Maginot line being metaphorically referenced is the fortification network France built to stop the German invasion for World War 2. There's obviously... more to all of this, but that gets into spoilers. So there's just the terminology.

Yeah, the Brute vehicles pseudo-hover. They have wheels or sled skis, or whatnot, and tend to touch the ground with hover stuff for aid only.

Ooh boy. I think I remember the next section. Ehehehe… Fun times ahead. (For real, not sarcastic! Or sadistic.)

[Aeson]

Due to a variety of health issues, life and work stuff, and general just ****ing up, I have failed to deliver on Custom Robo, and I apologize. Friday, it will return, guaranteed.

But isn't this the Zodi Plays Halo thread?

To didact is basically to instruct others

A didact is a person with a didactic manner; there is no verb "to didact."

[LaZodiac]

But isn't this the Zodi Plays Halo thread?

A bout of sickness and severe depression has made it harder to find time of Custom Robo, and I'll be rectifying that this week, I promise

[DataNinja]

A didact is a person with a didactic manner; there is no verb "to didact."

Whoopsies. I'm bad at language sometimes.