Ross Scott

Daniel: I've seen all of those, but thanks for the suggestions! McFirson: I actually haven't seen that one, I can definitely check it out. Regarding satire, "Behind The Mask" falls in that vein.

Hey everyone, I was invited back to a podcast recently to talk about horror movies since I'm an avid horror fan. You can check out the discussion here: 8-bit life Halloween Podcast This actually went online just before the latest Freeman's Mind, so I held off a few days announcing it so it wouldn't be buried immediately. This podcast isn't really an interview, but is more talking about one horror movie after another, there ended up being a lot of title dropping in the thread. If you're not into scary movies, you may not get much out of this podcast, but if you are, it's an extra bonus. At the end of the podcast I ask the audience if they have any recommendations for any scary movies they've seen, specifically the truly terrifying stuff. That offer extends here also, although odds are anything you recommend I've already seen. It's questionable how much time I'll have to watch any this year, but I'm happy to add to my "to watch" list if people have recommendations for some really scary stuff. LINK TO FORUM COMMENTS

Okay this goes back to the "multiple breakthroughs" line again. I considered that maybe it only detects motion on a certain level, but what level? At the cellular level, who knows fast your cells are moving? Hell I think sneezes are at 100mph. Nerve connections and the brain in general must move pretty damn fast as well. I guess the thing is I don't see how you would cancel one type of momentum, but not the other; additionally I don't see how there would be technology to DISTINGUISH the two or even DETECT the difference in the first place. I really tried to think this one out and I couldn't come up with any scenario where momentum is cancelled AND you come out alive on the other end short of having some positional tracking and computational system way, way beyond anything we could dream about. Let us not forget, Black Mesa still uses giant tape reels on their computers.

Well the irony is you "save" it in HL1 then in HL2 the Earth is still screwed. It's really not until Episode 2 that there's any hint that you're not involved in a futile battle.

No, that's as it appears in-game. I didn't! Maybe it seems shorter because I went up there and started talking to the scientist instead of standing around. The only other thing I can think of is Half-Life Source shortens it compared to Half-Life original. If you guys want to be scientific about this, how about somebody load up Half-Life and clock it? I didn't modify the timing in this episode except small adjustments during the level loads (which occurs before you even enter the chamber), so you can use my video as a benchmark for HL:Source. Oh I can talk about Machinima, just that there's a few small things I can't discuss. All the huge stuff is public anyway. As for Blip, I made a post on it a while back, but my timing couldn't have been worse essentially. I joined blip.tv JUST before Maker Studios came in and bought them out, since then, the income from them fell dramatically. I'm not removing the old links, but it's simply not worth it compared to Youtube now.

Yeah, it took me 3 weeks to get a serviceable version of that line from Robin. There was one other take, but there simply wasn't enough force behind his voice for it to fit in with everything. In my opinion, it wouldn't have fit in well at all with everything else that was happening.

Alright this is the last I hope to say on the matter, but I really think you're giving the narration far more credit than it deserves: They're giving minimal reference, which doesn't result in clear communication. That's like me saying "The model will go to the limits, but you have to watch out for overheating." Yes, it gives vague instructions, but what model? What limits? What causes the overheating? Their entire briefing is like this. They never explicitly say this. Seriously, go and listen to it. Give me the exact quote where they say this. They don't. Here's what they do say: -They collected specimens from the border world. -They suspect there is an immense portal over THERE, created by a being -I must kill it -I OWE THEM NOTHING, suggesting I have options -I should gear up -here is a long jump module for the world of ZEN. Yes, "Zen", seeing as how you're never given any context whatsoever to this name prior in the game and phonetically that's the only known word in English with this name. This is one of the best examples of poor communication and only reinforces Freeman's perception that the scientists don't fully know what they're talking about. He may as well have told him these weapons enhance his chi and the teleporter will modify his personal feng shui. -There is someone waiting at the portal CONTROLS, suggesting you know, control. Again, Half-Life is all about vague descriptions and withholding details. I really think you're looking at the game with many assumptions you have now instead of a blank slate. The game really doesn't fill in the gaps like you imply it does. No, see that's just it, you're assuming more than they said. It says there is a portal OVER THERE control. It says they have a portal CONTROLS. It does imply people have been sent there. It never says that's the ONLY destination and the fact that there are portals around Black Mesa is proof Freeman has seen that they can teleport on Earth as well. They've been spilling out the entire game with no portals active. How do you know that's not cross interference? Except a gung-ho guard with weapons training and extra suits lying around and a scientist willing to use a shotgun. "You owe us nothing", again, one interpretation is they respect his decision to just leave. They never said this, they said they were COLLECTED. You're assuming things again. The thing is, your assumptions are correct, but you have the benefit of having played the game and been able to read about more the context after the fact. I'm operating on JUST what the game tells you, and it's highly interpretive. You can disagree, but I've already established multiple things you're ASSUMING and are not explicitly stated. If you don't explain something CLEARLY to someone, you can't expect good communication. You think it's unrealistic, I'm showing that the game is saying a lot less than you think it does, you're connecting more dots with the benefit of knowing the story after the fact. I rest my case.

"Of course, you owe us nothing." Freeman sees this as a way out of Black Mesa, which he's been trying to do this entire time. The scientist's talk sounds like the middle of a discussion he's not up to speed on and I wanted to allocate more time to explaining that he's not the person they're looking for. Since he seems to be the dominant personality, he's hoping he can just get them to send him on his way instead. It would be like if you wandered into the investor meeting for General Motors. You're not sure what's going on, but you'll be happy to get a ride home from someone. I mean the real reason of course is the game gives me no other option, this is why I prefer being able to do more original videos rather than have to shoehorn in explanations. As for your analysis below, you're looking into it too much. It reminds me a quote I heard from a cop before: "Lawyers have weeks to go over decisions we have seconds to make."

No, this can be explained by NOT EXPLAINING THIS ANYWHERE IN THE GAME. Freeman hasn't had ANY briefing on this, the Lambda labs were outside his security clearance. While I gloss over it for the sake of the series, Freeman would be extremely weak at this point having exhausted adrenaline, doing strenuous physical activity, and barely having any food for two days. He's not qualified for this at all aside from being a tenacious survivor. While he doesn't have faith in the military or the Black Mesa staff, I don't think I've suggested Freeman considers the entire globe to be incompetent. Freeman has no evidence this isn't a localized event confined to Black Mesa aside from one scientist saying otherwise. Keep in mind, these scientists also claimed they had to "seal off" the area when aliens were clearly teleporting inside. Freeman doesn't trust these people, but he's hoping they can teleport him AWAY FROM BLACK MESA since all hell has been broken loose, he suspects it could get nuked, and he's still lost and hungry. Even if they are telling the truth, he's in no condition to handle this and figures there would be better people for the job. I mean everybody's commenting on how selfish he is, but in this scenario, they're asking an awful lot and not telling him much at all. You'll hear some more on this topic in the next episode, I didn't work in everything I meant to say on it in this one anyway. Anyway, you can't really take a game like Half-Life too seriously, it doesn't hold up to serious scrutiny, Valve masks most of this with a lack of information. The game is so outrageously sparse on details, that's the very reason a character like Freeman can even exist, they've left so much open.

It was definitely a survival thing, he sees the scientist cocking his shotgun, pointing it right at Freeman, my first instinct would be to get the hell out of his line of sight too! Oh I think Freeman would care about that, he just doesn't see that as HIS responsibility. I mean Freeman isn't TRAINED as a fighter, he's just paranoid, lucky, and in an impenetrable suit. I plan on talking a little more about this in 62.

Well that goes back to the teleporter clone question again huh?

If I had allocated a little more time when recording I would have talked more about this (I may come back to it in the next episode), but the bottom line is they sort of thrust this information on you with no context at all. Besides for self preservation, who the hell says HE has to be the one to go in there and stop it? There are plenty more qualified people on Earth to handle it, plus it's assuming they know everything that's happening globally. The way I see it Freeman would rather take his chance on Earth than trust these clowns to teleport him to another part of the galaxy. This comes back down to Half-Life's story presentation, they give you the absolute bare minimum and you're just supposed to go along with it. I think a lot of people remember details that are plugged in later from HL2 or online supplements, when the game gives you almost nothing and you only have one option anyway. As for the teleportation rant, not every line is meant to be a laugh out loud event, there's always a bunch of space to fill and I try to mix it up with thoughts that might be interesting to follow.

I never planned on doing that because I thought it was too predictable and didn't add to the humor too much. My original plan was to have him say something crazier like "gimme some tacos!" or "rubber jump pants!" But the timing for him ended up being too short because of everything going on in the scene. It got drowned out a bit by everything else going on, but there wasn't any good way to make it more audible without making it sound like he was standing right next to Freeman.

(Downloadable copy will be up later) Here's the final Black Mesa episode of Freeman's Mind! This one has been about 98% done for a couple weeks, but there were some complications with some of the final aspects of it. Some things that people may find interesting: 1. The volume of the last scientist is as it sounded in-game. I was kind of amazed how quiet it was. Otto was going to increase the volume to it, but I decided it worked better with Freeman shouting that he couldn't hear him at the original volume. 2. The slipping wasn't planned, but I thought it was a great addition to the episode, plus I'm never in a rush to redo a gameplay sequence if I don't have to. 3. My thoughts reflect Freeman's regarding the teleporter in that I couldn't imagine any scenario where Freeman is still alive after being teleported if momentum isn't preserved. The footage for the next episode is done, though I haven't made progress on the voicework yet. I doubt there will be another FM episode before Halloween, but we'll see. Expect more in November! LINK TO FORUM COMMENTS

I may or may not do Patreon. My main concern with it is what extras I can offer without it digging too much into time and sacrificing other things. Besides, I'm still stretching the donation from earlier this year as far as I can. I thought even considering Patreon before finishing FM people might seem as greedy, although I really am making the money count. As for the textures, it makes me wonder what they're upscaling from, since the game only ran at one resolution. As for DirectX, Microsoft essentially killed off Directsound3D support with Vista onward. As for Direct3D, I will say on older games I have seen a little bit better compatibility on Nvidia hardware than AMD; although who knows, maybe on AMD I would have had less bugs with Revenant. For redbook audio, I've never had any problems, although I've never gotten it to work in-game via emulation. If I don't have the original disc, I'll usually burn the audio tracks to a CD-RW in order to hear it in-game.

It looks like you didn't read the previous comments. Either you bet a minimum of $20 against me that I won't make it, or you stop with further comments like this or else you'll get a ban. You have to put your money where your mouth is, essentially. You sound pretty confident I won't make it, so why not make some money off it? Alright, you're on. If you make it through HL1 in FM by 12:00 AM January 1 2015 GMT+8 then I'll donate AU$20 through the fundraiser page or any other method you care to name except physical means. If you don't then I will PM you my paypal address so you can put the $20 in, you are also welcome to use any other methods you like, just let me know beforehand so I can get the details ready That's the spirit. I was thinking USD instead of AU, but that's close enough.

Yeah it's all true. The tongue was from falling down stairs and landing face first on a metal chest with a jagged metal corner.

Well I feel like GOG are one of the few people doing things right, I'm just happy of their DRM policy. As for sponsorship, I'd rather get more Game Dungeons done first, plus for the remainder of the year I'm going to be focusing more on FM anyway. Also I don't know if it's something they would want, because if I think a game sucks, I'm likely to be vocal about it.

It's not especially obscure actually, but it likely won't be one people are thinking of. It's none of the ones you've mentioned.

It looks like you didn't read the previous comments. Either you bet a minimum of $20 against me that I won't make it, or you stop with further comments like this or else you'll get a ban. You have to put your money where your mouth is, essentially. You sound pretty confident I won't make it, so why not make some money off it?

I've already done it, I'll cover Dungeon Siege eventually.

Turning on the real time mode in Fallout Tactics I find is better suited at trying to sneak your way through the game and getting the drop on enemies. It was really intense having to sneak through enemy filled bases knowing at any moment you could blow your cover and be completely overwhelmed. It also has the added benefit of being really satisfying when you sneak your squad behind the enemy and deliberately set off the alarm once you've set up a kill zone for the incoming guards. The only problem is it makes the game really slow. Easily an hour or more each mission if you don't know where the enemies are. It's been a while since I played it, but I remember equipping all my guys with accurate single shot guns (except whoever was in front) so they wouldn't shoot each other, fanning out in a small cluster to further minimize it, trying to take people down at a distance as much as possible. Often the noise would draw out a lot of enemies. My memory is fuzzy on it though, but I definitely used the realtime mode. It does make some tactics unusable then, but hey, it's still beatable.

Well I didn't code it or anything as I'm not a programmer. I use a combination of Litestep, Nexus Dock, Autohotkey, and Directory Opus. I use Nexus Dock to replace the taskbar pretty much, Directory Opus to replace Windows explorer, and Litestep replaces the rest of windows, like the start menu, my most commonly run programs are integrated into it, etc. I could release it, but honestly Litestep is such a customization process, you would kind of have to learn how to configure it to make it work for you. I recommend just trying to run a vanilla theme of it first. Plus, I have no idea how it works on Windows 8. Yeah, some of the tracks are just incredible. I kind of butchered the intro music a bit to shorten the length of the intro, but the full thing is on the MP3 tracks.