Fire_Guardian_EU

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I don't think thats.. suitable for the forums, chap.

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I'm glad you said it before I did.

Whilst I will answer any question (and I do mean any question) you have to bear in mind that this is a series of webisodes linked to a 12+ forum for a 12+ game. I'm sure people have noted that, in the past, I've used profanity in the episodes (especially in conjunction with Gala Bingo) - that's something I, personally, don't have a problem with. In my last job, I would regularly meet children younger than 12, who could (and would) swear better than some of the guys I go drinking with. So, to me, swearing isn't an issue. Even sexual innuendo isn't something I totally have a problem with (see Episode One, for example) as innuendo can be taken two ways. Innuendo means subtle (and not so subtle) references to something else. You could take a sentance like

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Everyone's jealous of my huge, enormous Assault Rifle

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and either infer that I'm referring to my in-game gun, or...something else. Someone in the know would get it, and (I would hope) find humour in the joke...someone not in the know would still get a joke out of it, as in that particular episode, I was bemoaning not having stamina triple slotted.

Make of that what you will.

But, harmless fun it may be, I will not be the cause of little Timmy turning around at the dinner table and saying:

"Mummy? Some guy in the game I play was talking about some things that sound really cool, can I get them?"
"Sure, what are they?"
"There's a two foot long double dildo, Vibrating Love Eggs, and KY Jelly."

...Not conductive to either family harmony, in-game contentment, and my personal happiness. Find another question that doesn't involve objects that a stereotypical 12 year old would find questionable, and I'll happily run with it.

Righty-ho. Let's see what I've collected so far, shall we?

1) My first ever screenshot, and still my favourite.
2) An early screenshot
3) One I picked up just today
4) Mobs that stick to War Walls!
5) Me at open auditions for "The Wizard Of Oz" musical
6) The Experiment. So much fire....how I miss thee.
7) Brokeback Mountain 2: The Girls Turn
8) Me as The Blue Whackadoo, hanging out in The Hollows
9) Myself and Chiefette meeting Golden Girl
10) Re-doing screenshot 2 for today.

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I think a comic based medium to tell the stories is a wonderful approach, that's too underutilised in the forums.

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Meanwhile elsewhere...

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Right, but I didn't say it wasn't done at all. I said it was underutilised in the forums. As in "People on the forums don't do this enough".

Well, FG hit 24 a day or two ago, but I'll happily 'arrest' green- and blue-names. I don't mind the XP I get from them anyway, so with double, I'm laughing.

I'm toying with getting a team together to take advantage of the double XP, starting on Friday and culminating on Sunday.

Anyone with a character who's level 21-24 is more than welcome to join, as we're going to try to get through as much as possible.

Prices in dollars are here.

What's the matter, Weas? You're that anxious to lose to me?

Another song, from the sleep deprived mind of FG. 28 hours and counting!

Be Like That
(based on Be Like That, by 3 Doors Down...proving they're good for something)

He spends his nights In Steel Canyon
Watching the heroes pass him by
And then he sees them go to Icon
Colourful costumes, theirs to buy

And in his life he's not got much to hope for,
Lost his family in the Rikti War, oh, yeah
But before he turns to go
He looks at me, and says "I wish I was a Hero", oh yeah.

(Chorus)
If I could be like that
I would give anything
Just to live one day in those shoes
If I could be like that
What would I do
What would I do
Yeah

Now in dreams we run

She spends her days hiding somewhere
Anywhere to stop the pain
And if she won't say she fell over
Her husband beats her again
And then she sees the women
Self confident and happy,
As she goes back home, to a life that's crappy
She knows that if she were one of the few
She could leave her life, onto something new
And she says

(Chorus)

Wow! Okay, so she's evil, has an eyepatch, really pale skin, and a venus fly-trap as her best friend, but I'd still ask her out.

Good job!

Brilliant, utterly brilliant!

I think a comic based medium to tell the stories is a wonderful approach, that's too underutilised in the forums. I know that, if I could draw, I'd love to try my hand at it.

However, writing in a comic book approach is, in my mind, much more time consuming than a novel-based approach. Take, for example, one of the stories that I've done, The Flames Of Justice.

In a novel approach, which is how I tackled it, it comes to 66 pages in Word. Now, a lot of that would be cut down in a comic book approach, as the descriptions for characters, settings, and whatnot would be cut out. However, there's still a lot of dialogue in there, which would still have to be mapped out. Then, you'd have to draw a rough storyboard so that you're 100% certain of what set, character positions, emotions, etc get used, along with the right lines. Then you'd have to draw it, ink it, colour it in...those 66 pages went from being a three week proposition into months of hard work - not an easy feat if you have a job, or coursework, or a family to support emotionally.

If you have the time to do a comic book style story, then, by all means, go for it! I know I'll look forward to reading something fresh on the creative forums, I always do. A visual medium, too, would be a great approach. However, it'd be a much harder task than just writing a straight text story.

Very nice, m'lady.

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Help me Ben/Guardian! I wish i new how to do that.
I've only made one vid sofar and i can barely use the program.
If you have some pointers/advice i would love it!

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Okay. Here's what I do when making a demo vid. This might not be how others do it, and it may not be the best for you, but it works for me. I'm going to assume you've made the necessary avi files using Fraps. I'm sure you're sick of hearing "do /demorecord" stuff. Not that it isn't helpful, because it is - but you know that already.

1. Take the CoH demo avi into Premiere, and save it again in another directory, labelled "demo vids", or something similar. (I'll explain why in a second)
2. Get onto BitTorrent, etc, and find/download 'Vegas Video'. It isn't made by Sonic Foundry anymore, so you won't find it in shops, etc. Therefore, it isn't theft.
3. Open the video in Vegas Video.
4. Do any editing in Vegas. It's much more user friendly than Premiere 2.0 (it should be noted that you CANNOT use MP3s, though. Any music you want to add MUST be wma or wav format. It should also be noted that Vegas Video can't read the original AVI file, for reasons unknown)
5. Render as a 3MB WMV, Version 8. Length depending, it should be fairly low in terms of filesize, and with a barely noticeable reduction in quality. As an example, the average Ask A Ben episode, in AVI format, can be anywhere from 200-500 MB, and that's just a few minutes long. The WMV version (version 8, not version 9) is around 30-40 MB. Quite a difference.
10) Upload to the video hosting site of your choice.

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when i was done editing my video, using Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0,
the file size turned out to be 383MB for a 1.38 minute film.
What did you guys use and please tell me who is hosting that vid,
cause i want to keep my quality if i continue doing this.

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Premiere 2.0's a great program. I use it for Ask A Ben's post-editing stuff (as well as the fact that Vegas Video doesn't recognise the CoH demo's, for some reason) - but you might think about shrinking it down to a 3 meg WMV, if you have the capabilities, as you lose almost no video quality, and the filesize compression is brilliant.

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Anyone can guard fire.. ask a little favour and all you get is a look *mutters off* pfft!

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Ahh, but they can't! It takes a certain type of person to be able to maintain the flame at a precise level of light/heat. The 'certain' type of person, of course, being a great one.

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FG.. you are sooooo cool.. you know we're friends right.. and friends.. help.. each other right.. right?

I mean.. you are sooooooo cool.. right? Paying for my art would mean alota goodness.. right?

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Nice try.

Heh I've got the screenshots, I've got the money, I've got the idea...now I just need the patience to wait.

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Hehe. Looking good Gill.

Hey, is Countess Ivy a Frog Mastermind? *punchline*

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If she is, that's be ribbeting.

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Hellowie!

They be's gorgeous! More I say! More! Possibly of Raz' himself. Some I can keep them...

The Rot Hood.

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I'm sure I can come up with something, just for you

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They're brilliant, Raz. The Witchblade one, in particular, was just fantastic!

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For those that haven't seen it...

DANCING

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That is....incredibly scary. Happy Cake Day, just the same.

A song inspired by Zortel leaving us. I really wanted to re-do this tomorrow, but a mixture of humidity, alcohol, and Try A Little Tenderness/Chocolate Salty Balls/She Will Be Loved at karaoke tonight have conspired to make me lose my voice. As I said, it was inspired by Z leaving, but it could just as easily be taken to mean anyone who's left recently - I know there've been more than a couple.

The Insps Don't Work

All this talk of killing Skuls
It's getting me down, you know
'Cause we'll never team up
The kittens will stop
Once you go.

And I doubt I'll ever PvP
In the Arena again
You smacked me around
Till I fell to the ground
But I call you my friend.

No the Insps don't work
Can't get rid of this hurt
Cause I'll never see you post again.

Well I know that I can't change your mind
You must go when you think it's time
So if you're ready to leave
We will all grieve
But we'll let you go just the same.
No the Insps don't work
Can't get rid of this hurt
Cause I'll never see you post again.

And now you're going
To another game
You won't be here.

You will make new friends
And make new posts
As we shed a tear.

All this talk of killing Skuls
It's getting me down, you know
'Cause we'll never team up
The kittens will stop
Once you go.

No the Insps don't work
Can't get rid of this hurt
Cause I'll never see you post again.

And now you're going
To another game
You won't be here.

You will make new friends
And make new posts
As we shed a tear.

So if you're ready to leave
We will all grieve
But we'll let you go just the same.
No the Insps don't work
Can't get rid of this hurt
Cause I'll never see you post again.

No, I'll never see you post again.
No I'll never see you post again.
Whoa.
Yes I'll never see you post again.
Yeah.
Yeah I'll never see you post again.

Never gonna post, no, never gonna post
No more, no more, no more...

Shock Tactics Picture by Corona.

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hehe its a program from mtv where 1 person dates with 2 other persons and pickes one of em at the end:P

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Ohhh, gotcha. I don't get MTV, so I haven't seen it. I'm definately looking forward to answering this, though.

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(Icy)

If you would play in dismissed where you could date with both ms liberty and Sister psyche who would you choose

If so why?..

Would statesman be happy with that?:P

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...I love this question, and I look forward to answering it. However, I'm curious about the "in dismissed" part.

Gill, I have a question for you, which will probably revolve around my eventual purchase. I'm trying to get a few things straight in my head, so I know exactly what's what before I wait until you accept commissions again.

Now, my character uses two slots for the same costume, if that makes sense. The first slot is the full costume, and the second slot is without the helmet, showing his face. Now, if I were to order a single character piece with portrait, with the second slot's head/shoulders as the portrait, would that be considered a second character?