Oihan

On NCSX's website regarding "Gekijouban Macross F: Itsuwarino Utahime Hybrid Pack"

The hybrid Blu-Ray disc contains the False Songstress movie and a Playstation 3 game titled Macross Trial Frontier which is a remake of the PSP Macross Ultimate Frontier game. The series featured in the game include SDF Macross: Do You Remember Love?, SDF Macross Plus, SDF Macross 7, and SDF Macross Zero along with SDF Macross Frontier.

Anyone know if that statement is true about it being a remake? If that's the case then would it be safe to assume it's a full blown game?

Ami Ami's cause they're the cheapest around.

.jp ? Just want to make sure I'm going to the right site....

So just out of curiosity...where is everyone pre-ordering this from? Play-Asia, YesAsia or NCSX? Or from some place completely different?

It was once feared that the VCR would destroy the movie industry...that the cassette recorder would kill the music/record industry...and I'm sure there was a fear that the photocopier was going to kill the magazine and book industries.

I know the thread description "says" to stop asking...but...is there a release date yet? >_< *cries* I need my fix!!! It's been far too long!

...Jun Seba and now Carl Macek. Nujabes has moved me musically, and Carl Macek had introduced me to one of the very few things I'll forever be passionate about in life - Macross. R.I.P.

Again, you guys have to invent magical scenarios where people design vehicles that look like anachronistic 20th century warplanes to fight a war that not one of you has described where a 40 ft tall anything would be remotely useful.

If you have to design a magical scenario where:

- magically strong materials only get applied to transforming vehicles

- transformation necessary components weigh the same as a non transforming airframe

- transformation necessary components do not cost more to manufacture or maintain in terms of money and time

- joints and the systems necessary to run them aren't more vulnerable than armor

- do battle in some sort of terrain where their size and slow movement speed are not an issue

- have magical targeting and stabilization systems to compensate for bipedal movement that can't be applied with greater effect on an ineherently stable platform

- where non transforming vehicles have received zero upgrades in the past however many hundreds or thousands of years necessary to get to this point...

Then YOU have proven that a valkyrie is not practical.

Say for example, something like what's seen in the anime "Patlabor" comes to bear fruit. Who's to say "a 40 ft tall anything" wouldn't be remotely useful?

I never brought up anything of the sort in regards to "magically strong materials." But since you bring it up, who's to say that we won't discover something stronger than what we already have? We're constantly improving the strength of our metals and our materials...making them more durable and etc - take steel as one of many examples. As for weight, cost, money, and time...not to come across like an ass or anything but does the word "refinement" not mean anything to you? Look at the computer and the microprocessor back then compared to how they are now. As for "slow movement speed"...you don't think that by the time we actually have this technology that we wouldn't have the the ability to speed up the transformation process and or the movement of whatever it is we implement the technology in? I can't honestly imagine anyone would put out something so slow and clunky (making it like a sitting rock) with that kind of technology out in the field. It'd be like making a car with only axles and no tires or something just a stupid. It'll go...sure...but not fast...hence a reason why we have tires. ...And I never said anything about "non transforming vehicles hav[ing] received zero upgrades in the past." What I did say though (paraphrasing) was that anything that could be implemented on a dedicated fighter/tank/naval craft, to make it even better, could easily be implemented in the transforming vehicle as well.

I have NOT proven that a Valkyrie is not practical.

Moreover, I've been arguing with the thought that the OP was talking about the practicality of a Valkyrie regardless of what time period we are in. Mr. March had to remind me kindly (thank you very much) that the OP was talking about today's technology and today's world. Using today's technology in today's world...NO...a Valkyrie isn't practical - I'll agree and concede that much.

Edit: Grammar

The OP was pondering a way to make the Valkyrie practical without implying a caveat of many, many, many ad infinitum years of technological advancement (he even mentions conventional technology as a benchmark).

I obviously missed that...so I retract everything I've said.

As has been mentioned, arguing for an infinite time line for technological advancement is akin to simply accepting the caveat of magic hand-waving OverTechnology. That brings us right back to the beginning of any speculation and also removes any reason for doing so.

I'd also like to reiterate several important points made earlier which were either not understood or simply missed. Our imperfect understanding of future developments in technology is not a one way street that inevitably favors realization of our dream machines. It is equally plausible (and in fact, MORE probable) that long before the incredible technology exists to build a transforming jet fighter the very idea of using a jet fighter will have long since been abandoned. Even the popular idea of the science fiction styled space fighter is suspect as a practical war machine thanks to the realities of space. This also goes hand in hand with singularities and the totally pervasive effect they would have on the way war will be fought. The more "possible future technology" one speculates, the greater likelihood that singularities will completely alter technology and warfare far from all we understand today...that applies to our modern fiction too.

Think of it in terms of the sci-fi stories of old and their prognostications. How many actually hold up to the present? None of them do. That's because for every prediction past fiction got right, other predictions turned out wrong. We may think right now that fighters, helicopters and tanks are going to be around for a hundred years, a thousand years or ten thousand years when it's even more likely they'll become obsolete relics far sooner than we can imagine. In his 1933 The Shape of Things to Come, H.G. Wells predicted a world war that would feature the aerial bombing of cities, a technological development he found "unsporting". So too may future technology alter warfare to such a degree that the obsolescence of fighters, helicopters and tanks offends our romanticized fondness for these modern weapons.

Lastly, I'd like to just say that examining the impracticality of a Valkyrie is not being a "naysayer". I think it's more than apparent the members participating here love Valkyries, my own love being rather blatantly apparent. Being pragmatic when discussing fiction is not a fault, it's a strength. The real robot genre itself was predicated by a creator unsatisfied with the simple explanation. Thinking critically about his favorite shows, he deconstructed them and then sought to rebuild them to achieve something greater. The point of this debate is not to stick our heads in the sand in favor of Valkyries or stomp our feet and pout about the impracticality of the Valkyrie. It's the debate itself that is the reward. The discovery of why things work the way they do and the exchange of interesting ideas. That is the essence of what makes this all worthwhile and is the birth of better fiction...or at least discussion such as this breeds an appreciation for better fiction, since most of us are perhaps destined to remain consumers rather than creators.

I didn't mean to incline that the naysayers didn't love Valkyries, were heretics, or anything of the sort. I was merely arguing for the practicality of it all with the future technological advances in mind. Just as you touched on though...with the advent of certain technologies brought about from (science) fiction from the past...I have some beliefs that what was dreamt about then can be made a reality in the future. I've obviously missed the part where the OP was talking about today's technology. So I have no real ground to stand on.

Anyway, more food for thought

I'm sorry, but I have to chime back in. All of you naysayers seem to be thinking in terms of today's technology and the type of warfare today. Don't you think that by the time we are able to actually have the technology to produce things like the Valk, many...many...many....many years down the road, that they wouldn't have solved most, if not all, of these other problems you all speak of? Why is that so far fetched to think that? And I'm sure any technology that would make a dedicated aircraft all that better would be used in these Valks as well. Wouldn't it be asinine to think that they wouldn't implement the same technology in their multi-functioning machines?

Macross Zero is a great example of your dedicated aircraft vs a Valk...Nora vs Shin in episode 1, anyone? With all of the maneuvers Nora was able to pull over Shin....

I still see practical purposes.... I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

I don't think I see Valkyries as an inevitable reality. In fact, it's quite possible that fighters, helicopters and tanks will be obsolete as war machines long before the technology exists to combine them all into a single transforming robot. Future singularities are bound to completely alter the dynamics of both technology and warfare in ways that we're not even capable of understanding as yet. The only thing that's inevitable is the introduction of robotics to warfare, the start of such an era is that which we are living in right now.

If we dial it back a little from far future speculation and avoid the caveat of unlimited technological advancement (which would bring us right back to the point about the magic of OverTechnology), we could ponder "Valkyrie Practicality" in between now and some time in the future BEFORE singularities change technology (and thus warfare) beyond what we can understand today. From that assumption, it's easiest to understand the likely impossibility of Valkyries just by examining the reason why we build fighters, helicopters and tanks in the first place. These vehicles serve only a single purpose...to function as the simplest, most direct way to deliver a weapon into an enemy target.

Weapon delivery systems...nothing more.

For a Valkyrie to be in any way practical, it would have to be designed in such a way that it's incredible cost, maintenance, complexity, manufacturing, logistics, reliability and all other factors somehow justifies the Valkyrie ABOVE the those very same factors for a fighter, a helicopter and a tank. Not only that, but a Valkyrie would somehow need to maintain comparable performance to each individual competing war machine. Ergo, a Valkyrie Fighter must equal or exceed operational capabilities of the closest competing dedicated fighter (multi-role or otherwise). Also, that dedicated fighter would enjoy the same technology base as the Valkyrie. Same thing for the best competing helicopter and tank. How then is the Valkyrie going to function as a superior weapon delivery system when in order to function as all three vehicles must suffer design compromises to do so? The answer is the Valkyrie couldn't compete, which is why it wouldn't be practical.

What I can see as an inevitability is some rich guy a couple hundred years from now building a Valkyrie because in his era combining transforming robots with ancient military vehicles is an anachronistic future hobby equivalent to what steam punk is to us today

Well, if we're going to be talking about the not-so-distant future with our current technology then yeah it's not practical at all. But to say that it won't be practical at all in the distant future? As for all of the other variables that you bring up...I'm sure that with time we can refine whatever is that we happen to create...just as we do now.

just because you CAN make something doesn't mean you SHOULD. Even if someone was to come up with the technology to make a 40 foot tall battle robot or a transforming jet work, it would still be cheaper and more effective to use those technologies to make a better conventional take/fighter/whatever.

Even if you were able to mass produce this all-in-one-does-everything-jack-of-all-trades machine to the point where it is cost effective? I mean...look at our own technology. We're always refining it and making it more cost effective...like CPUs...the gaming consoles...TVs.

No matter how light all the robot parts can be made, a conventional jet will always be lighter and be able to carry more weapons/fuel because it doesn't have superfluous robot bits to haul around. likewise no matter how light you get the armor, a tank will always be able to have stronger armor and bigger guns.

and in every case, a robot will always be more expensive and less reliable do to the very nature of having all the joints and motors and hydraulics needed to make the thing walk.

I'd like to think that if we had the technology to make a machine transform into various things that we'd be able to solve all of those problems you listed.

As for your examples. Patlabor doesn't make sense because it's whole logic is that you need fighting robots to combat crime using construction robots... but why do you need construction robots?

on the subject of transformers, shixshot sucked as a toy. even for the 80's he had worse articulation and more superfluous kibble than the other transformer toys and didn't look good in any mode. If price and level of engineering are the same, a toy with 2 modes will be better than a toy with 6, and a toy that doesn't transform will be better than either (in terms of quality of construction, detail, features etc...). upscale this from toys to Jets; everything gets more expensive and complex but the principle stays the same.

lastly there's a big difference between a jet that can drop a bombs on buildings and then shoot down a plane; and a plane that turns into a walking robot fighting on the ground.

We use huge cranes and other construction vehicles to construct things...and again assuming the creation of a "labor" is inevitable...why not make use of something found in Patlabor to do the work? And assuming the military hadn't already implemented the technology for their own use...I'm sure they eventually would. Look at how well the US nuclear secrets were kept. I'm sure other countries would adopt the technology as well and use it for war. Hence the need for fighting robots - should any of it ever become reality.

I don't see why it wouldn't be practical to have a variable fighter like the Valkyrie that we all know and love. If it is inevitable that we will create such machines, as seen in Patlabor for example, and say we were to come up with the technology to transform these machines into other forms....why not make one mecha that can do it all? You wouldn't have a need then to create your separate tanks, fighers, bipedal robots, and naval crafts. Just make the one and be done with it. Think of any of the "triple changers" in Transformers...like Sixshot for example. Do we not have multi-role fighter jets?

Yah, I didn't get professional because, for the extra Windows XP mode, it was an extra $30. I figured that if worse came to worse, I'd setup the computer for a dual boot, and switch back to XP if I needed to.

Well, the compatibility modes (including XP Mode) are the only things I can think of to help with your problem...aside from dual booting like you've suggested. Good luck.

I've got a windows 7 64 bit question: Is there any way to get the older games to run on it? I'm trying to get system shock 2 to work, and it's not being very nice... I've got Home premium of Windows 7.

I'm tempted to partition my main hard drive and set the computer up for a dual boot... But I'd rather not.

None of the compatibility modes work? I'd suggest downloading XP Mode but you have the Home version.

Oh yeah, I forgot about The World is Mine. Which reminds me, Project Diva 2nd!

You are right, the composer provides both melody and lyrics. It's basically like a music-mixing program in a way. You spell out the lyrics at different pitches.

Here's a screenshot of how it works (this is the Vocaloid 1 program by the way):

Wow! That definitely looks complicated! I would be completely lost trying to get everything to come out sounding just right...etc. I must say though, I'm watching the 'Live Concert' video and I'm quite impressed. I'm liking what I'm hearing. Is there an album out?

So how exactly does this work? Does one provide just the melody and it starts singing whatever it sees fit that goes with the melody? Or does one provide the lyrics as well? I heard 'Hatsune Miku's' version of "Tenshi no Enogu." I'm inclined to believe that one provides both the lyrics and melody but I don't know. Thanks.

I'm at chapter 9, busy grinding; made about 150k gil. Any idea about just how much I should be aiming for? I only ask cause I'm not too sure how expensive it will be to upgrade the main weapons for all of my characters. Still loving this game! Thanks!

It was announced today that Nujabes (real name Jun Seba), the producer of Samurai Champloo's music, was killed in a car accident on February 26.

R.I.P. Nujabes

Oddly enough, I found out about his death through DeviantArt. I thoroughly enjoy his music. His passing is very saddening indeed. He will definitely be sorely missed.

If none of you have already...should give "

R.I.P., Jun Seba.

This thread lists the stats when maxed out for every weapon, and their effects:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/rpg/finalfanta...&pid=928790

May be useful for future planning etc. (really, the game itself doesn't describe weapon upgrading well at all)

Also, from looking around the boards, any "strike" attack from Lightning is determined by her str, not her mag (I had thought it was so, but I like confirmation). So even as a ravager, she should go for str IMHO. (of course, that requires that you are controlling her and making sure she always does strike attacks whenever possible---an AI'd Lightning will mix in lots of spells as a ravager)

PS--I've seen a few places say something about the enemies scaling/level with your weapon? Do they? How so? I mean, if I boost Lightning's to 20 or something, will the enemies become much tougher---that'd really kind of screw you if the rest of the party had weak weapons.

I just wanted to add that I'm not a fan at all of Action RPGs. However, FFXIII is the one exception to the rule for me; I'm really enjoying the game. Looking at that list, do you guys think it would it be best to wait to upgrade the weapons till the ones you want are picked up? I know some of you have already started upgrading...but I only have 1500gil so far...so I dunno how much I'll be able to buy later on; I have kept all of my components thus far. I've finally reached the point where I can upgrade my weapons for the first time and I'm hesitant to do so.

The Halo story is pretty overrated anyways. Just play through for the gameplay. Both the original Halo and Halo 2 has pretty crappy single player campaigns and they're not worth going back to now unless you're really trying to be thorough.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you about the single player campaign in Halo: CE being pretty crappy. The single player campaign in that game is what convinced me to go with the Xbox over the PS2. I know a lot of other people who fell in love with the franchise because of the single player campaign. I believe it truly redefined, if you will, the FPS genre and I'm sure I'm not alone with this point of view.

Now the single player campaign in Halo 2 is a different story - I couldn't get into it at all and was rather disappointed with it. I think the only saving grace was the multiplayer aspect of Halo 2. I'm also sure I'm not alone when I say that.

People would be missing out playing Halo 3 without having at least played Halo: CE if you ask me.

Any advice for someone who spilled a glass of Pepsi on his good Microsoft keyboard? At first, it seemed like it was ok, but the space bar abruptly stopped working, and whenever you hit the "S" key you'd get "2s3d". I'm not real pleased with this development, as the only other keyboard I have handy is a cheaper Logitech one.

Well, if it's like a standard traditional keyboard then I think you'd be okay with rinsing it under water. Just be sure to give it a day or two to fully dry. Otherwise, I don't know what else to tell ya.

What are the alternatives to an ipod? I'm looking for the simplest, cheapest "thing" that can play MP3's. Specifically want one with as few buttons/controls as possible.(it's not for me). ipod shuffle is not an option due to the controls being on the cord.

Also---ipod requires itunes, zune requires whatever MS uses. I'm looking for one where I can just take their favorite couple CDs, rip them to MP3s, and put them on their player with minimal fuss.

I recommend the Cowow iAudio 7. It's a great DAP that plays just about every audio format out there (like my fav. format: FLAC) with a battery life of about 60 hours, I sh*t you not. You won't need any special software to transfer music over. Just simply copy and paste the music you want in the appropriate folder and it's there. You can browse through your music on the DAP through ID3 tags (I don't know the technical name for this browsing method) ala iPod or you can browse through your music like you would any other file on your PC. Last I checked the price of this player is $130 for the 16GB model.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but nothing I've read about the game makes me want to play it. Though, I've only played the first DMC for like 5 minutes...

If you ever played any Ninja Gaiden game for the XBox or PS and enjoyed it, you'll love Bayonetta. I've seen comparisons to God of War as well...so if GoW is up your ally this game will be too. I've already spent 36 hours on this game since it came out; it's one of the best games I've played. I've finally managed to buy just about everything I possibly can in the in-game store with plenty of halos left over. This game is pretty 'gnarly' as far as a challenge goes. It's just way too much fun!

Edit: If you have both a 360 and a PS3...and intend to get this game...get it for the 360. As previously mentioned, there's some issues on the PS3 version.

Oh, I'm really not ruling it out. Thing is, for me anyway, I remember enjoying DMC, skipped DMC2, enjoyed DMC3, but absolutely loved DMC4. I don't know if it was just because there wasn't a lot else to play at the time, or if it was better than I expected, and it's all just fond memories, but I really thought that DMC4 was the best of the series. As for Bayonetta, I'm really not that far into it. I just earned the ability to buy Onyx Roses from the Gates of Hell, but I'm lacking the halos. Like I said, I still feel like I'm mostly button mashing at this point, but after I get a few weapons and skills, I might feel differently.

I see. Well as for the Onyx Roses, it took me till about chapter II or III to realize this but you don't need to purchase them. Once Rodin makes the weapons you have them in your inventory. The weapons you see in at Gates of Hell are replicas as far as I know. As for buying techniques, if you haven't already bought any, I'd suggest picking up "Air Dodge" and (when available) "Bat Within." I can definitely see why you feel like you're just button mashing though. I'm not terribly good at timing the combos just right (for instance YYBB*B where the * is a small pause)...so I'm constantly hitting the Y button and every now and then the B button depending on how I want to finish off a series of moves. Another thing...I've noticed that whenever you're about to get hit you'll see a rose appear on your character...with the accessory I bought I'm still having a hard time trying to parry at the right moments. There's just so much going on the screen and it's happening quite fast that I rarely see the rose. I have become quite good at dodging though...

Moreoever, I just beat the game about an hour ago. I thought it was a great experience overall. I'm about to play a second time through...I'm that impressed with it. According to it I beat the game in 6 hours. I have a hard time believing that though, for I've practically been playing it for two days straight - I'm on vacation right now. I know it took me about 10 hours the other day just to get to chapter IX. I wonder how it calculates that.... Anyway, I still can't seem to decide on which accessory to buy next...it takes a while to accumulate 100,000 halos. But yeah....

Edit: I just saved again and noticed that I've spent 16 hours on this game. I'm a little confused as to why the "Play History" says 6 hours though. Unless the one in front of the six is not displaying properly.... Anyway.... Also, I just learned that the "replica" weapons are there so that you can equip them both on the feet and hands at the same time...