Ynots Rants

There are times when I see things that drive me bonkers, grind my gears, or what have you. On occasions like these, I tend to ramble on about what ever it is on Skype, or Facebook, and no one really listens, and they get lost in time.
So, from now on, I will post them here. Read on, if you would like to listen to my ramblings, if not, whatever. Also, feel free to post a Rant of your own.

Today's rant, ladies and gentlemen, is on the subject of Load Screens.
Why do they still exist? They are a blight on video games, that make me want to chuck my console out a window! "Oh, but Ynot, you can't make a completely open video game without having to load at SOME point."

Bullshit. Jak and Daxter back on the PLAYSTATION 2 pulled it off. But here we are, on the cusp of the PS4, still having to load anytime I cross in between an interior and exterior of a building. I'm sure someone is wondering what has triggered this rant, yeah? This video. They are touting seamless open world as if it was never possible before now.
I don't know. Maybe I'm being a little harsh on the Canadians? They seem nice enough, introducing whaling to video gaming.

On to the load screens themselves. Anyone notice they are trying to cram actual story into Load screens? Like, little pieces of information that aren't critical to the game, but might help you understand a little better? Well, that's all well and good, emerse us in the world and all...
Wait... this is a LOAD SCREEN. The only thing that is pulling me OUT of the story! What's worse, is if you are trying to actually read these little tidbits, and the screen loads faster than you can read, so it winds up something like "Booker DeWitt had a daughter named.." YOU'RE BEING SHOT AT! So, by the time you realize that you're no longer loading, and that the game has restarted, you've found yourself at a disadvantage in the upcoming level because you became disenchanted with the actual game play momentarily trying to read the crap on the load screen.

How about load screens in between game play and cut scenes? In the middle of this massive all out battle, then out of nowhere, five minute load screen for twenty seconds of film, another five minute load, back to game, but, what's this? In that ten and a half minutes, your fingers have relaxed, and aren't on edge like they were before, as you've been calmly watching the screen and letting your heart rate decline and adrenaline run it's course!(Also, on the long loads like these, those on screen tidbits don't hold your attention past 60 seconds)

"Well, Ynot, what about interactive load screens?" That only pisses me off more. You took time out of production to not only make load screens shiny and attention holding, but interactive...
That is probably a good week that could have been spent on adding more content on the actual GAME! I don't care if i can make Master Roshi spin around 50 times, or make Crash Bandicoot fly around a vortex. Let me get back to the actual game. As quickly as possible.

One last thing before I go. Do NOT come to me listing other games that don't have Load screens. i am aware they exist. This rant is about the ones that still DO.

Glad you all can relate.
Tonight's rant is on the subject of Wall cloggers. "What the devil is a Wall Clogger, Ynot?" A Wall Clogger is someone who vigorously posts drivel and crap on your Facebook wall, Twitter feed, or Tumblr thread. Things you don't care about, but they post 3 every minute.

First, there are the relationship motivational posters. The ones like "If you find a woman that is to stupid to leave you, she's the one" With the couple clinging to each other in the background. These seem more demeaning that actually useful. Now remember, I said they post several every minute. Approximately 90 posts in an hour of this subject matter. Then you start to read them, and notice a pattern. Four of I love her, five of she loves me, three I wonder if I could live without her, no I can't, seven of my life would be crap without her, 50 get me a doggamn sandwich, female dog. -.- get a life, and respect those you are in a relationship a little more, scum.

Next are the memes. Facebook is not 9gag or Failbog. One every now and again is fine. But when I can't tell which site is in which tab because they are F#ck identical, this is a overkill. I do not need Philosiraptor arguing with Morpheus about what you had for lunch. WTF Patrick Stuart does not need to inform me that it is a stupid idea to place a cat scratch stand precariously on top of a pile of pizza boxes next to your computer.

Profile picture updates. PEOPLE! I do not need a fresh picture of you every thirteen point five seconds. I do not need to see your retarded duck faces. Once a month is the most you need to change it. Exceptions may include a special event. No ones life is so important that you need to take a picture every time you step into the bathroom. On that subject, can we get a little more CREATIVE with our pictures? Let us assume that if your picture is in the bathroom, I don't want to see it. If you are making a retarded face into your phone, this also applies. Throwing up gang signs with a Justin Beiber poster in the background makes me want to kill you. Go have a life outside your house, have someone take a picture of you, and use that.

Now that that is off my chest, I will confess I am guilty of flooding my wall with trophy updates. I do not do this intentionally, as my PS3 automatically uploads at noon. I just happen to get that many trophies in a day. One of the perks/downsides to PS+.

I confess that I am guilty of sharing a few memes and things. But otherwise, your post is true.

"If you find a woman that is to stupid to leave you, she's the one"

As a man in a relationship, I must say



(replace "that post" with "that quote")

Wall cloggers also irk me. Twitter is to be used as a stream of consciousness, not FB.

Plus, I can emphasize with the profile picture updates thing. Up until a few months ago, I knew an attractive female classmate who seemingly every other male worshipped, liking every photo she posted on FB. I thought she was pretty, yes, but she didn't really annoy me until I realized that she was posting MULTIPLE pictures of her face a DAY. I remember not too long after, I posted "It seems you're taking the site's name 'Facebook' a little too seriously". She apologized, but continued anyway.

Mini Rant:

Friends of Friends Friending you.

I don't know you directly. We have never met. Stop asking to be my friend. Meet me in a place I know, and hang first(preferably with the person we both know). Let me get to know you and vice versa. If I like you, I will be your friend.

Also, let's be honest. If you are ASKING to be my friend. You don't know me very well. I am not the person you ask to be friends with. I am just there. If you tolerate me for long enough, we can be friends.

I'm playing Star Trek Online now, and I have to restate my agreement with the loading screens rant.

*sigh*

I am about to get a lot of flak.

Today's rant is on Parents, or rather their methods. Yes there is a back story as to why, but that's not for here.

Parents, yelling at a child that is still learning the language you speak and it's intricacies does not help. If a child does something that does not please you, stop the child, calmly talk to him/her and state that, no, that isn't how you are supposed to do things. Alternately, if it wont kill the kid, let the kid do it, and see WHY. Let kids learn from their mistakes, or if they are old enough to comprehend what you are saying, tell them of how YOU learned that's not how to do it. Yelling is only going to startle the kid and make them cry, making you scream louder, and we get into an infinite loop. This is not an effective solution.

Spanking. Touchy subject here. Yes, spanking has it's place and time, but it is not the solution to EVERYTHING. At the same time, not every kid needs a spanking, as some, myself included, can grow up just fine without having to be spanked. Now, people like my younger brother, who was one hell of a hell raiser, could have used a swift smack up side his a$$.

I am being called away, so I will edit in the rest later.

Ignoring children does nothing either. If they are wailing at the top of their lungs, chances are something is in fact, wrong. Yes, I know there ARE ones who cry for no reason other than attention. That being said, if a kid requires attention, give it to them. If you are 'too busy' to dedicate yourself to parenting properly, you should have kept it in your pants. Too many kids these days have issues with getting attention they need because parents couldn't care less. Ignoring cries for attention can in fact lead to more desperate ones along the way if they feel unloved. Remember the whiny little brat a few years ago that got really quiet, wears a lot of black, and doesn't have many friends? He's in his room right now slitting his wrists, horizontally, so that you will pay attention to him, and will live long enough to know the attention. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR KIDS.

On the other side of this coin, do not give your kids EVERYTHING they could possibly imagine. This spoils them, and instills in them no value of the dollar, declining as it may be. If they want a toy, make them do chores, give the kid an allowance. Make them know what work is, and how much you have to do to get what you want. At the same time, if you want to reward them for something special, don't do it with material belongings. Take them somewhere fun. A zoo, a picnic, a theme park, anything where you spend a lot of time focusing on the kid and have a good time doing it. Harping a bit here, but this is a rant topic. Kids need attention and love.

Parents who leave their spouse. This really irritates me. I get it, I know. You don't want to be around this person anymore. Blows to be you. You had a kid, that is an 18 year minimum commitment. Suck it up, and tough it out. Chances are, if the you don't like your spouse, neither will your kid, and the little demon may cling to you instead. If the child likes your spouse better, hey, guess what, so did you at one point, they see what you used to. Perhaps you can follow their example and remember what got you in this situation in the first place, and rekindle what had died.

Now, of course their are exceptions to all of these suggestions. People who beat the living tar out of each other do not need to stay together, yatta yatta. But before you think ill of me, if those people had a better childhood to begin with, perhaps they wouldn't be so hateful NOW!

Back with another Rant. Pardon the Double post but, no one felt like replying to my last one

The subject on Today's rant is commercials. Firstly, I never want to see a commercial, the SAME commercial, played back to back, ever again. I don't give a rats a$$ if you are the primary funder for the program I am watching. This is highly irritating. Seeing your shitty commercial more than once is not going to convince me to buy your product. Hell, I can tolerate twice in a longer commercial break, but back to back is just pointless.

Next up, commercials that just barely show what there product is. Ones that show some off the wall scene, or non sequitur and following up with the name of your product does not make me want to buy your product, or look into your service. Let me be perfectly clear. A good commercial should show it's product or service in action in an appealing way. Selling Food? Show people eating it. Promoting a perfume? Stop the bullshit and tell me that's what this is about. Video games should only use IRL people if they are shown playing the game, not portraying the characters in a way we will never see in the game you doggamm teases and fakes.

Commercials that have no zing to them. The ones that are incredibly bland. These don't irritate me, but they defeat their purpose. Television is an entertainment medium, entertain me. i don't mind you trying to sell me things, just do it in a way that keeps my attention on the channel you are on. Make me laugh, or stare in amazement. For instance, have you seen this ad for Dr. Pepper 10? I would never drink this, ever. But it's a good commercial. It identifies it's target audience, engages them, and shoves the product down their throat in a way that is humorous and entertaining.

That just about wraps up tonight's rant. Good night, and good luck

You forgot to mention slogans that are utterly, utterly meaningless and could only appeal to a two-year-old.

"Refreshing attack of freshness" was my favourite.

Welcome back to Ynot's Rants. Today I'm ranting about HD Remakes. There is a lot to say about these things, but I'm going fr things that might not have been said as much the louder arguments.

I swear to Aphrodite, if I see a single HD Remake of an HD remake on the PS4/XBOne, I quit. The graphical difference between this gen and the next is minimal. You don't want us playing our old games on the new console, fine. Don't shove the same games down our throat again and expect us to pay a third/fourth time.

*Looks at notes*

Says here my next topic is the games that get remade. So, yeah, I get that only the best sellers got remade. That's fine and dandy. Can I get some PS1 Best Sellers? Like, can I see Gex or Croc at PS3/4 level graphics, so that I can actually SEE a difference? (More on that in a bit) Or, I don't know, what about a Collection of Lesser known titles that didn't get sequels? Cult Classics? F#ck, I don't know.

Apparently a lot of developers didn't used to archive their source code, and therefore it was lost making their remakes more difficult to make. This has been a blessing to some, and a curse to others. Look at KH 1.5 HD. That is beautifully done and they HAD to remake everything because the source was no longer available. They put in the time required to do it right. Not only that, but now I get to play this great game with a camera that sucks less. On the other end is Silent Hill... Not touching that S**t with a ten foot pole.

My last point for tonight I touched on before. If I cannot tell the difference between the old and new versions of the game, it didn't need an updating. Release it on the PSN/XBLA as it was, but playable on this gen(Like GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas). There are obviously games that GAIN something with the update in graphics, like Ocarina of Time and Okami HD.

In conclusion, stop wasting time stalling games I want with games I've already played with a new coat of paint. Either make that game BETTER, to the extent of warranting the remake, or get on with what ever comes next. Remake older games that need refresher. Release more PS2 Classics. I will murder if I see Ratchet and Clank HD 2.0 Remastered on the PS4.

Good night, and good luck

So you're saying HD remakes aren't necessarily bad if they actually make the games look good or offer them for consoles that otherwise wouldn't be able to play them?

Yes and no.

I'm saying that there are instances for any problem that another route is plausible.
Somethings have multiple options.
Like the R&C Collection would have been just fine as PS2 Classics on the PSN, and we've seen that Sony has a patent for adding Trophies TO those classics without charging the developers to update.
While others like KH NEEDED to be redone, cause the original source was lost and they couldn't just repost. (And it gave America Final Mix)
And then there are the little shits that need not even have tried and it is obviously a complete money grab with no actual effort being put in.

As with all things, I'm a bit contradictory to myself.
But it boils down to Need of the remake, effort put in, and result coming out.

Ah, gotcha!

Been a while, hasn't it? This evenings entertainment is me complaining about companies announcing things too early.

Firstly, announcing things anymore than a year before it comes out will only foster bad feelings in people. This might seem counter-intuitive, but think about it. Let's say Naughty Dog announces Jak and Daxter 4 to be coming out 2017. Right now, I'm ecstatic, I can't wait, nothing will replace the high I get from KNOWING it's FINALLY COMING. A couple months pass, there are more details, it's setting is known, and sparse plot details are given. I'm happy, but not as happy as I was when they announced it. Radio silent for a couple more months until the next big conference, say E3. More plot details are given, we see our first look AT the main character, Jak, in his new HD incarnation. They give the release window, Holiday 2017. I'm hyped, I want to go buy it RIGHT NOW, but it's still a year and a half away. Now, either the studio again goes radio silent, or they open the flood gates with information. Radio silence is a no win situation. Either I get pissed at them for not giving me something to chew on in the mean time, or I forget the game exists. OR, they flood me with information. I know everything about this game. Down to where the plot twists will happen. I have no reason to play this game now. Release gets closer, and what do you know? It's delayed. My heart is shattered. Not only am I already burned from waiting this long, but now you're telling me it's going to take EVEN LONGER. I'm furious. There is no way you are getting my enthusiasm back to where it was at that E3, much less the announcement. I cancel my preorder and move it to something closer that requires my attention. I might pick the game up later, when it's used in a bargain bin.

Huh? Oh, you're still here? Good, cause that was only point one. My second is that long incubating periods like the one I've previously described leave a large room for public outcry against X, Y, or Z details that don't effect the game much, but takes the developer time to go fix, instead of just finishing the game. Sure, as a consumer, I'm always glad to see whatever nitpick I had fixed. But if changing the character model of your protagonist so he is bald instead of having a crew cut takes you two weeks to fix, that time could have been spent adding more missions, or a cut scene elaborating on a supporting character. This results in a product less than what could have been, and I can always feel when something was intended to be more grand than it actually was. The inverse of this is giving the public time to nitpick the hell out of what you show, and you DON'T address it, and/or blow it off as inconsequential. This is when you get bags and bags of hate mail and death threats. No one needs that. All avoided if they hadn't the time to over analyze that three minute trailer showcasing all the best parts of your game.

My last point is a bit simpler. By announcing the game well in advanced, you usually don't have a lot to show that will reflect the actual game experience at the announcement. When done right, and near launch, you can hit SO MUCH HARDER, and there is a stronger sense of surprise when you are able to show straight away what you can expect. Surprise is hard to come by these days. Especially a pleasant surprise.

Yenot Out.