If you've followed the blog for any amount of time you know I tend to ramble on, so I'll try to keep this short.
This video explains something I had heard about in 1 or 2 of the of the retsupurae podcasts. Something about Sega acting crazy and removing videos on YouTube that were even vaguely related to the Shining Force series. This video explains it in detail.
And since the video is rather long, here's a summary.
Sega Going Nuts
Months back, Sega began to systematically take down videos on YouTube that just mentioned Shining Force, even videos that didn't even feature ANY footage of the game. As long as Shining force was mentioned, it was taken down from YouTube.
Videos were flagged down so fast that it caused several channels to be taken down entirely. Sega isn't even responding about the situation at all.
I'm fairly sure false copyright claims is a crime and thus illegal, but I'm no lawyer and it may vary from country to country.
It's assumed it's someone that works at Sega, or at least someone in Japan. It's suspected that they're just removing all videos that mention Shining force just so they can manipulate the search results for those keywords.
Backstory (Optional read)
In my opinion, it's worth going to the beginning of the video and watch all of it. It talks about how Sega of Japan seems to hate it's non-Japanese fans.
There's a considerably big and devoted fanbase to Shining Force, these fans have sent emails, packages, and even petitions to the developers of the Shining games, to express either their love for the games, how they would love to have a translation to the 2 final episodes of Shining force 3, and asking them to make more games in the style of the older games.
Sega of Japan's response in particular was harshly cold, if a response was given at all. The current producer of the series actually went on twitter and posted a rude comment towards the person who organized the campaigns and sent the packages.
I'm really summarizing it though. If you're interested, watch the whole video.
My Opinion
As for the YouTube issue thing, it's been confirmed it's someone from Japan. I guess there's still the possibility it's not someone from Sega.
More than that though, it makes me think about how it's a miracle that YouTube even works. The "shoot first, ask questions later" policy is just terrible and unfair. Really makes me wonder how that site hasn't had more issues like this in the past or even functions at all. Also makes sense why most serious LPers use blip.tv or other hosting instead.
For me this is more about how badly YouTube's policy is than how crazy Sega might have become.
Sega really should issue some sort of statement about this mess though, but it may be too late as it is. This whole Shining story kinda makes them sound like massive dicks and everyone who has heard of it considers boycotting Sega to some degree.
I don't believe there was that much miscommunication between the new producer of the Shining series and the non-jap fans, I think at most he jumped to illogical conclusions or was butthurt that people liked the older games for whatever reasons. There's some fucked up ego thing going on there.
You know, any developer should be honored to have fans like that, and Sega of Japan basically spits in their face.
I'm starting to suspect Sega doesn't actually have a PR department at all.
Yesterday I was gifted DotA 2, which confuses me because steam always said I already owned the game.
I dunno who the guy who gifted it to me is, so i dunno if it's someone I used to talk to. If we used to chat and if you're reading this, dude, I'm sorry I don't remember who you are.
Anyway, this gift made me think about a few things, the main thing was how much i dislike DotA, but also about how I used to spent tons of time in Warcraft 3 playing all the different maps.
My problem with DotA back then was how elitist the players were, and often really racist (not towards me, but it's still awkward). I just didn't want to associate with people like that.
Ok here's the thing, you control 1 guy. It couldn't be simpler especially compared to other Warcraft 3 maps. Where the "depth" came from, was from ambushing, getting last hits on shit and shopping. I always thought the shopping part was really, really annoying to get into, as in I just refuse to bother learning the best order to buy items. and the strategy is a fucking joke.
Another thing that bothered me was that bored DotA players would drop by Footmen Frenzy games and try to play it using only their heroes. And because they're used to a poor ass simple game, they just always lose. I mean, any average WC3 players would do way better than they would.
Here's why, in Footman Frenzy under your control you get heroes, towers, an army, a base and special units. To beat a player you have to destroy his base, and even if you're losing overall, you can win if you're smart. As I'm told, most DotA matches are decided in the first few kills.
I'm not saying simple games are bad, I'm just saying in DotA, it's fucking boring..
I LOVE Magic the gathering, and had always been a fan of it. So when they started making PC versions of the game I was ecstatic because I could now play my favorite card game without having to spend so much money on "booster cards" or whatever else they decide to call it. This was pretty much Downloadable Content before it was popularized on the current gaming consoles
All card games are unbalanced in someway. While it may not be what the original creator had intended on doing people exploit or randomly find out problems in the games that just overturns the table... currently I am playing Magic 2013 when I have a few minutes of relax time, but I've already managed to find some exploits.
As you can see above. By playing the right cards you can increase your creature cards to an insane amount in one turn. This is most doable on the green decks since they have lots of creatures that have abilities to summon more creatures. There are some elements that are insanely unbalanced like the */* creatures. I mean look at that screenshot up close, one of those creates is a 52/52 power. Not only that those slime on the top right corner gets x/x boost for each land I have when they attack. That's just insane.
If you look at this one, you would think you are seeing the same thing. Except originally I was on the verge of losing. I had two creatures summoned, while my opponent had several creatures over me with flying (meaning my ground based ones could not block them it if they chose to attack. In addition the opponent just casted Rite of Replication and copied five of my Chancellor of the Spires. I was screwed. Then one card was drawn by me that changed the game around.
The clone card was the one luck/strategy I needed. I chose my Chancellor of the Spires.
The important thing about the CotS is the bottom portion. This broken trick can only be done by decks that have replication/cloning instant and sorcery.
Luckily for me, my opponent had just used this, and it pissed me off. While there is a kicker (pay mana for extra benefits) it is not necessary because of the infinite loop trick. Instead just choose the CotS and then select the Rite of Replication again. Repeat as desired.
While broken it is still pretty darn fun. There are plenty of whacked stuff in this game and I'll post them if I remember.
Hey folks in order to help post on the blog more often I have downloaded an app on my phone. It is not great and very limited, but hey... I am still alive.
Anyway, I will be adding to the console girls this monday or tuesday. Expect WiiU girl (she sounds so dirty) and two more unexpected ones to show up!
