Titan Network
Graveyard => Save Paragon Retirees => Save Paragon City! => Topic started by: Samuraiko on October 18, 2012, 05:03:57 PM
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What else would you expect from the player whose first character was a videographer?
"CITY OF HEROES: One Last Day" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9IFDGRp6tk
(watch it in HD if you can)
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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Very beautiful.... :'(
Any plans for a comedic 'farewell' vid?
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Very beautiful.... :'(
Any plans for a comedic 'farewell' vid?
If I can, I am trying to finish CoVIDEO HELL. That should be all the comedy that people could want and then some.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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Your title is inaccurate.
It is even more so.
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Daaaamnn...
The onion-wielding ninjas didn't even bother waiting this time - they hit me practically the moment this video started :'(
Incredible job as always!
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Your video was very moving and I was legitimately starting to choke up.
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This is the best work you have ever done.
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Very moving. The Sleeping in Light music was a perfect fit.
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Defintely moving -- beautiful work.
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A beautiful piece.
Damned ninjas sneaking in here to cut onions...
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Great idea and great vid. Makes my little vignettes on the COH forums with all my alts seem much, much more plain.
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It wasn't heartwrenching enough, you just HAD to add the music from the Babylon 5 finale? Excellent job!
... I need to go now, I have something in my eye.
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Another beautiful video. If this made me as emotional as it did, I don't know how I'm going to react to your memorium video. :'(
Is there anywere we can go to download a copy of this? I had the site you kept your videos on for folks to download on my favorites tab, but it must be an old link as it doesn't lead to anything. I hope you haven't taken your site down!
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So many emotions ... So many memories ...... Thank you Samuraiko!
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I... hardly know where to begin... I've written so much about this game and it's passing on the boards and elsewhere... I've expressed as best I can my outrage and my nostalgia and sadness and determination...
But none of it - NONE of what I have said comes close to this. This is a masterwork.
And I'm not in the least bit ashamed to be crying even now as I type this. It's just that powerful.
Sleeping in Light... I have no words left. Only tears.
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Another beautiful video. If this made me as emotional as it did, I don't know how I'm going to react to your memorium video. :'(
Is there anywere we can go to download a copy of this? I had the site you kept your videos on for folks to download on my favorites tab, but it must be an old link as it doesn't lead to anything. I hope you haven't taken your site down!
Oops - yeah, samuraiko.com and samuraikoproductions.com now both point to my business site. The new domain of my website is http://www.wanderingcrane.com and the video is available on the Multimedia>Videos page.
Please don't hotlink the actual file, though, if you intend to share it, or my bandwidth will scream.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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Darn it, you made me start crying again.
I thought I was almost done with the crying part.
This was...beautiful. And tremendously sad.
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I sobbed the entire way through it.
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Once more Samuraiko you aww me in your skills.
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Not even the most lugubrious, sinister, cackling-mad 4-color cartoon villain among my characters could keep from shedding a tear at that.
Near the end, when Anomaly broke down all distraught... I just wanted to reach out and give her a hug.
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Amazing, simply, Amazing. It really brought a tear to my eye and broke my heart.
:'(
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I could use a brownie right about now...
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Wow...
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I watched it while I was on my afternoon break.
......
I had to sit in my car for an extra 10 minutes to stop crying, that way when I went back into my office my co-workers would not think I just lost a close family member.
What really got me was the ending... I know I will be a friggin wreck when I see the lost connection message.
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I waited so long to watch your video because I pretty much knew how it would make me feel. It broke my heart all over again, just as NCSoft's announcement did on August 31st, 2012. It also made me angry all over again, just as I was after that same announcement, and reminded me why I'm fighting so hard to try and save CoH. Because it doesn't deserve to go away yet.
In the slightly more TMI category on this topic...
For the last month and a half I've been thinking from time to time why the sunsetting makes me so sad. I had to really, really think about it, because occasionally I wonder if maybe those people who are easily shrugging it off have a more realistic perspective that I'm not allowing myself to have. I came to the conclusion that what I'll miss most, the part that makes it so sad for me, is the thought of not *being there*.
Let me explain that a little more. A lot of the time, I log into CoH and just leave it on, so even when I'm working and can't really play, I can still talk to people. And occasionally, someone would pop up that I haven't seen in weeks, or months, or even years, sending me a tell out of the blue. I'd talk to them for a while, try to add them to the latest global channels so they have incentive to come back and talk again. Sometimes for hours, the backdrop of Paragon City keeping us company, sometimes pretty late when most players have logged off. This even happened after the sunset announcement once or twice.
And that's what I thought about (once again) when I watched your video. That after CoH is gone, I won't *be there* anymore. I'll be playing other games and wondering where all of those people I hadn't spoken to in ages have gone, knowing that aside from some crazy twist of fate, I'll probably never find them again.
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I watched it while I was on my afternoon break.
......
I had to sit in my car for an extra 10 minutes to stop crying, that way when I went back into my office my co-workers would not think I just lost a close family member.
What really got me was the ending... I know I will be a friggin wreck when I see the lost connection message.
That both makes me both glad and sad I can't watch it right now (no sound at work). =/
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I've watched this about 7-8 times now. And I still can't get through it without sobbing.
Why am I doing this to myself?
Because it's just that beautiful, that's why.
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This video gives form to the weight upon my soul. The weight that I will carry with me as this community, this experience, this part of my life fall to memory.
I will carry this burdening sorrow forward, knowing that it will help define and inspire me in times to come. But right now, it is such a heavy thing to hold.
I cannot bear it. Nor can I let it go.
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Not even the most lugubrious, sinister, cackling-mad 4-color cartoon villain among my characters could keep from shedding a tear at that.
Near the end, when Anomaly broke down all distraught... I just wanted to reach out and give her a hug.
Same here.
I wish we could do the same for all our characters.
Or - as crazy and as meta as it sounds - that they could do the same for us - tell us it's going to be okay. That though we can't see them, that they and Paragon City live on. (My character Kara Skye is very good at hugs. She has wings, and doesn't just hug you with her arms, she draws you in with her wings as well.)
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This video gives form to the weight upon my soul. The weight that I will carry with me as this community, this experience, this part of my life fall to memory.
I will carry this burdening sorrow forward, knowing that it will help define and inspire me in times to come. But right now, it is such a heavy thing to hold.
I cannot bear it. Nor can I let it go.
In all of my life as a writer, I have never, ever, completely lost a character. The books are still there, even if they are out of print, and I still have the original manuscript in storage.
NCSoft has done something no one, ever, has been able to do. They are destroying at least five dozen of my characters and their stories, some among the most dearly beloved of my "mind-children" that I have ever had. How can you properly mourn the deaths of over sixty of your friends, some as close to your heart as if you had given flesh and blood birth to them?
I don't think I will ever get over this.
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:Sitting in the dark the glow of of the computer screen on my face. Then a figure enters settling down on the bed and hands over a beer. "That one hell of a sad video" He says then takes a drink of his. "Yeah, it's heart braking."
The figure sighs and looks over to me "How long do we have left?" I look at the calender "42 days not counting today. But who knows what time they pull the plug on November 30th. I know I have taken a brake from you before. Once by force but... this is different, you be gone..." sobs.
Rotten Luck looks over "Bull shit. Do you think we live in a computer hard drive? Do you think this pixel body or audio file is what I am? I'm part of you even if you can't be hover over my shoulder like some little angle we will never be part. I'm and everyone in Paragon is an echo of your and every players dreams. A mirror on the best parts of yourselves or in some cases the worst parts. You can no more cut us off then cut out your own heart. And like the heart it true you won't see us in form anymore. Deep inside you will still feel us. The friends we made together are now heading to that Titan Network or other locations. You find them again with that face book thing.. or twitter. Remember kid we are Heroes and even if we fall into the darkness we will rise again. In the comics the dead don't stay dead. And as long as you and the rest keep us in your hearts we will rise again."
Smiles a smile only a dead man can produce. "We are heroes all of us both in the system and out. This may be when we are faced down in the mud, but we will stand again and we will keep fighting." I sigh and take a gulp "But we are loosing.." He laughs "Who ever said we will win? All of you on Save City of heroes and the Titan network Knew that. It's not the wining that's important it's fighting on in the face of loosing. One day the words Remember Paragon will be spoken with the same fire people called out for the Alamo. Okay maybe more so for you are all over the world the Alamo is important to only a group of Americans, but you get my point. It's better we go down fighting standing proud as the darkness over takes us and we loose the connection. Much better then being a coward and flee. Now pucker up we have 42 days to bust some skulls!" Looks to the computer screen "That goes for you too out there! Your not loosing anything us characters are from you, with out you were pixels and raw data. Your memories gives us life, your feelings are our souls. That can't be taken away ever.":
There from the zombie man himself!
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Connection lost...
Indeed.
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I just wanna hug everyone in this thread :(
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Connection lost...
Indeed.
I spent some time wondering exactly what should display when the countdown finished... originally I'd wanted to use "Connection terminated", but "Connection lost" not only implied the potentially involuntary aspect, but also what else was being 'lost' along with the connection.
Bit of trivia - I shot the ending first. Otherwise I'd never have gotten through making this.
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And thank you for all the kind words and compliments. I'm glad I was able to 'give form' to what a lot of people wanted to express and couldn't.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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A very beautiful video indeed! And I agree with what others said, that choice of music was great!
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Wow. Just wow.
Such a fantastic piece of art, makes me happy and proud to have been part of this game world and community but so sad at its passing.
And yes, I cried through it :'(
FeeFye
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Oops - yeah, samuraiko.com and samuraikoproductions.com now both point to my business site. The new domain of my website is http://www.wanderingcrane.com and the video is available on the Multimedia>Videos page.
Please don't hotlink the actual file, though, if you intend to share it, or my bandwidth will scream.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
Thanks much! Yeah, I noticed your new page link on the City Life forum. I'd just happened to check here first.
No worries about me hotlinking it :) I usually download a copy for my own records, then send copies of the file to a few folks in my SG who can't keep up with stuff like I do, but enjoy news about the game, and videos like yours!
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This made me sad and angry all over again.
Ceterum censeo NCsoft delendam esse.
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A hot tear is shed
The testament of one's life
This is what we do.
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This made me sad and angry all over again.
Ceterum censeo NCsoft delendam esse.
Dum vita est, spes est.
Melius patriam desideramus.
Melius, sine NCSoft.
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I find it almost amusing that on this thread, the thread on the COH forums, and my YT comments, it's all praise. But the forums I'm NOT on... boy are people having fun bashing this thing. Oh well - as the saying goes, "No one ever raised a statue in honor of a critic." :)
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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WHAT???
HOW could anyone bash this??? What kind of soulless abomination could...
Oh right. The same type of people who closed the game. That's what kind.
Links please. If they are merely mis-informed, I wish to do my best to educate them. If not... Well then, I think we have more than a few people happy to DISMANTLE their criticism.
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What else would you expect from the player whose first character was a videographer?
Your work has always amazed and inspired me. It's beautiful.
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Michelle,
My first post on this forum goes to you.
I loved all your videos and I consider you as a famous person in the COH community.
That last video is heartbreaking and I think it relate how everyone if feeling.
Hope to see your works again for the next years... and of course I'd like to see videos about COH still alive.
Thank you.
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WHAT???
HOW could anyone bash this??? What kind of soulless abomination could...
Oh right. The same type of people who closed the game. That's what kind.
Links please. If they are merely mis-informed, I wish to do my best to educate them. If not... Well then, I think we have more than a few people happy to DISMANTLE their criticism.
Nah, it's not worth starting flamewars over. If they don't have the balls to come onto the vid's comments and say it 'to my face', as it were, then meh. I don't MIND criticism, as long as it's something reasonably intelligent and constructive. "u suk" does not count as criticism, in my book - that's a display of stupidity and paucity of language.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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The video made me weep and realise I still have time left. Even if I have no means to take memories other than screen caps I want to ... finish some things. Thank you for reminding me I still had time.
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'Ko is making one for me, the farewell for one of my own darlings, Belladonna Aura, aka Commissar Bella Dawn Parker of the CCCP.
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Really poignant - beautiful.
I hope the link has been sent to every board member at NCSoft - even if they asked not to be sent mail - send it!
Its not just a game - people have developed overlays, forums, badge hunting tools etc - a not so small industry shed a tear when NCSoft made their decision, and Im not too proud to say this masterpeice left me with tears in my eyes too.
I wish I could express my feelings so well as this video does.
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I find it almost amusing that on this thread, the thread on the COH forums, and my YT comments, it's all praise. But the forums I'm NOT on... boy are people having fun bashing this thing. Oh well - as the saying goes, "No one ever raised a statue in honor of a critic." :)
Haters gotta hate.
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I find it almost amusing that on this thread, the thread on the COH forums, and my YT comments, it's all praise. But the forums I'm NOT on... boy are people having fun bashing this thing. Oh well - as the saying goes, "No one ever raised a statue in honor of a critic." :)
I like to think that we mostly got the nice, intelligent, well-thinking members to come here. Most of the trolls already hate me and have no desire to join the Titan Network.
But yeah, I hate to bring a bit of a negative vibe to the thread, but it makes me SO mad that NCsoft is so needlessly killing off this game. This video represents one story, one among thousands of people who have a genuine emotional attachment to their creations, the result of years of creative expression poured into a character. I wish I could take all of these videos like this, force the executives of NCsoft to watch them Clockwork Orange-style, and say, "Do you see now? Do you finally understand what you've been doing, not just to us, but to our brothers and sisters at your other games that you've killed? Do you really want to be known as the company that destroys these creations?"
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I didn't think I'd ever get it to download on the connection I have for the weekend, but wow, it worked!
Well now, what was sobering. I'm kinda speechless now. Gotta say though, that is very much what I figured it'd be like for me at the end, so it sort of felt like I was seeing my own future. Unless the Rikti are attacking AP33 at that time. Interesting thing about us MMO gamers. The rest of the world has only pondered over what they would do if they knew the world was ending (even Y2K really didn't have that much fear to it by the time Dec 31st came). We're actually going to live through it.
I find it almost amusing that on this thread, the thread on the COH forums, and my YT comments, it's all praise. But the forums I'm NOT on... boy are people having fun bashing this thing. Oh well - as the saying goes, "No one ever raised a statue in honor of a critic." :)
Are you just typing the full address of your vid into a search engine in order to find these 'other' forums? YT seems largely useless for showing where a video has been linked.
And... heh. You just made me shudder at the kind of flak I'm going to get on my next vid (which sadly I had hoped to get out this weekend, but alas, Premiere wasn't "in the mood" for cooperating). I'm someone who has only done comedic voices in the past, and now I'm trying an emotionally serious role for the first time, with no clue if I'm any good at it (and I hate the sound of my voice). As for Youtube though, you sure nobody tried to rip it apart? When the Unity Rally vid hit the news sites, I was certain my YT channel was going to turn into a warzone, but the community did a great job policing it. Any attempt to start a flame war was voted out of sight within hours. That said, pleeeeeease let us "police" the forums that are starting in on this video. 8)
How long did it take you to get all the shots for that collage from the Atlas statue? And ugh, now I'm going to have to really sift through it. Did you use anything from when you were taking clips of us at the cape party under the statue a couple weeks ago? I vaguely remember you pulling out the camera and saying you were working on this.
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...too many onions being chopped around here...
/me hugs Samuraiko
...a fitting tribute. Always.
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I didn't think I'd ever get it to download on the connection I have for the weekend, but wow, it worked!
Well now, what was sobering. I'm kinda speechless now. Gotta say though, that is very much what I figured it'd be like for me at the end, so it sort of felt like I was seeing my own future. Unless the Rikti are attacking AP33 at that time. Interesting thing about us MMO gamers. The rest of the world has only pondered over what they would do if they knew the world was ending (even Y2K really didn't have that much fear to it by the time Dec 31st came). We're actually going to live through it.
Are you just typing the full address of your vid into a search engine in order to find these 'other' forums? YT seems largely useless for showing where a video has been linked.
And... heh. You just made me shudder at the kind of flak I'm going to get on my next vid (which sadly I had hoped to get out this weekend, but alas, Premiere wasn't "in the mood" for cooperating). I'm someone who has only done comedic voices in the past, and now I'm trying an emotionally serious role for the first time, with no clue if I'm any good at it (and I hate the sound of my voice). As for Youtube though, you sure nobody tried to rip it apart? When the Unity Rally vid hit the news sites, I was certain my YT channel was going to turn into a warzone, but the community did a great job policing it. Any attempt to start a flame war was voted out of sight within hours. That said, pleeeeeease let us "police" the forums that are starting in on this video. 8)
How long did it take you to get all the shots for that collage from the Atlas statue? And ugh, now I'm going to have to really sift through it. Did you use anything from when you were taking clips of us at the cape party under the statue a couple weeks ago? I vaguely remember you pulling out the camera and saying you were working on this.
YT's Statistics feature lets me see (somewhat) where my traffic is coming from - both the "Playback Location" and "Traffic Sources" are good starts. By now, if I see a site like MMORPG.NET or whatnot, it's usually on their forums, and I just go to the COH section.
As far as the comments on the actual vid on YT, what you see there is what I've gotten. Comments are set for approval first because a while back, some moron was spamming all my comment sections with obscenity, hate mail, etc (and yes, it was directed at ME, not just some random drive-by flaming). But if someone comes on and says, "I didn't like it", I approve it (several of my videos have lengthy negative opinions). On the YT vid itself, nothing but positive so far.
The flybys under Atlas were from the day where I ran around to as many servers as I could (including a couple folks who went to their own servers to get footage for me), told everyone:
"Okay, stand under Atlas. I'm gonna count down from five... when I say GO, fly/run/teleport/superspeed/superjump/hoverboard/whatever in a random direction and don't stop til you hit a War Wall."
I'd count down, say GO, and off they went.
Step 1: Demoedit Jo saluting in each of them, and set all of them to the same in-game time (5pm)
Step 2: Use Zloth's Demo Editing app to enforce the camera circling motion on each.
Step 3: Render each demofile as JPGs, then recompile them in VirtualDub as AVIs.
Step 4: Add all the AVI files to one project in Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 and set them all to 50% transparency so I could see everyone flying off at the same time.
Step 5: Re-arrange and trim the footage so that as the camera panned around, heroes were visible in each shot, and each server got used.
Step 6: Turn off the transparency, fade one segment into the next, and render. Voila.
As for using the footage I shot at the Unity Rally, yes and no - thanks to me demoediting all 33 of the Atlas Parks (thanks again, Hit Streak!), and using Leandro's character extraction programs, I now have a HUGE repository of characters... but the end shot I wanted to use was swapped instead for the AP flybys.
The original endshot - 8080 unique heroes, villains, rogues, and vigilantes forming the City of Heroes skyline and the COH logo beneath it. Yes, you read that right - EIGHT THOUSAND different characters. Unlike Leandro's computer, mine could handle it. :)
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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But yeah, I hate to bring a bit of a negative vibe to the thread, but it makes me SO mad that NCsoft is so needlessly killing off this game. This video represents one story, one among thousands of people who have a genuine emotional attachment to their creations, the result of years of creative expression poured into a character. I wish I could take all of these videos like this, force the executives of NCsoft to watch them Clockwork Orange-style, and say, "Do you see now? Do you finally understand what you've been doing, not just to us, but to our brothers and sisters at your other games that you've killed? Do you really want to be known as the company that destroys these creations?"
Speaking of angry, Tony...it's almost time. Check your PM's and prepare. :)
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That was Beautiful...there are tears dripping down my face right this very moment from this video. I *wish* I had the skills and software to make something that wonderful and powerful.
Bravo
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This video represents one story, one among thousands of people who have a genuine emotional attachment to their creations, the result of years of creative expression poured into a character.
I wish my video capture and editing skills were sufficient to tell the story of my characters that I'd like to capture before the lights go out. But that's one of those areas I never quite got around to because, "there will always be time later..."
Dammit.
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I like to think that we mostly got the nice, intelligent, well-thinking members to come here. Most of the unicorns already hate me and have no desire to join the Titan Network.
Wisdom speaking, you've got to admit that those speaking on other forums instead of here and youtube at least have a functionning survival instinct. Just imagine their unicorning here or there. Would backfire dramatically, and I would be working the temperature :) Too bad they are not *that* stupid.
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I wish my video capture and editing skills were sufficient to tell the story of my characters that I'd like to capture before the lights go out. But that's one of those areas I never quite got around to because, "there will always be time later..."
Dammit.
Dude, I have FIFTY videos I wanted to make.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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I wish my video capture and editing skills were sufficient to tell the story of my characters that I'd like to capture before the lights go out. But that's one of those areas I never quite got around to because, "there will always be time later..."
Dammit.
That's my world right now.
I'm currently trying to script (literally- like hit this chat/emote bind and pan here, then go here) a demorecord of me giving a tour of the SG base to send to my group, and for myself, as a momento. I spent hours upon hours getting the stones in the doorways to form an arch, and the fireplaces, and the briefing room, and the flight deck, and Aster's dance cage in the Legacy Lounge...
What? She wanted one. :P
It won't come anywhere near what these wonderful demoedit people have done, and maybe one day I'll get Fraps and make it a different file type and add musing and such to it... but I'm hoping to at least save that one little corner of the game for my SG. Who knows, I may take the time I would be playing to figure some of it out and spice it up a bit, when I'm not playing... something else with the SG (still debating what that'll be with the group) Sigh... nothin's like home.
Really wish I'd made the time to learn it all. :-[
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Dude, I have FIFTY videos I wanted to make.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
Yeah, whether it's videos, stories, or just plain playing the game, we're all in that boat right now. At least we're in good company. :)
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So a little over a week later, "One Last Day" has gotten coverage on over a dozen gaming blogs/news sites from around the world (French, Russian, Hungarian, and German to name just a few) - some of which also mentions the SaveCoH movement. Never mind the gamers' blogs, forums, and whatnot.
And most of the comments deal not only with the video but how sad it is that the game is closing (there's virtually no NCsoft bashing going on, btw).
Bringing our plight to the world gamer community one video at a time...
*sighs*
I still wish I hadn't had to make the thing...
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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I wish you weren't having to make Bella's farewell. :'(
What I wanted you to make (and was going to discuss with you) was the AE "Secret World Chronicle: INVASION!" arc video.
Another thing that will never be.
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I wish you weren't having to make Bella's farewell. :'(
What I wanted you to make (and was going to discuss with you) was the AE "Secret World Chronicle: INVASION!" arc video.
Another thing that will never be.
Been working on your video this weekend. I managed to get a good quality version of the track you wanted (pulling off YT doesn't always work well *grumble*) and I'm watching all the footage you gave me to see how much of it I can use (barring costume editing/replacement stuff).
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite