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Diman, please refrain from modifying your texts size and colors and such. It makes it just more annoying to read, the default text size and black color is just fine.
Also, nice to see you on the forum again :)
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
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Maximo: Ghosts to Glory and Maximo vs. The Army of Zin are hack 'n' slash type games that resemble the Ghosts 'n' Goblins series. I really liked those games, as they are challenging and fun to play and the platforming parts don't seem tacked on. They're also pleasing to the eye.
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I'm not really into politics, but I've determined that not a single Finnish party really matches with my views and thoughts, so I'm not really into voting for any party. There might be several fine candidates for me, except that their party stands for something I don't really like.
The compulosry Swedish in Finland (+ rivalry between Finland and Sweden that's very strong in Finland) seems to increase negative thoughts and attitude towards Swedish and Sweden in general, as you're not given a choice of learning the language. In my opinion, Swedish shouldn't be compulsory, as it's not really that useful or important language in Finland. People should be encouraged to learn foreign languages though, be it Swedish or some other language.
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Nach wrote:
I couldn't agree with you more. Further, we should round up everyone that doesn't have a strong German rooted or German sounding name, take them out back, and shoot them.
Oh yes, I'm saved!
And to say something about this submission, both sides have a valid point. I do agree more with the entertainment factor side, since entertainment is more important in my opinion.
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I'd like to show my appreciation to everyone on this site who is nice, for being nice.
And my special appreciations go to all of the people I've befriended via this site. You know who you are. Thanks for being there.
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Tervetuloa minunkin puolestani. Mikäli jokin on epäselvää ja haluatte kysyä jotain, voitte tehdä näin joko foorumin yksityisviestillä tai Freenoden irkkiverkossa (irc.freenode.net).
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Kirkq wrote:
Brushy, how do you feel about the current quality of this year's April Fools submissions as of the time of your reply to this post.
Also, which is more legendary? -- Color a Dinosaur, or Desert Bus.
I haven't seen even a single one of those April Fools submissions yet and I will probably take a look at the tomorrow if I have time. There seem to be quite many of them, I hope that they haven't suffered from inflation. The R.O.B. TAS seemed like a fun idea and I smirked at the name of the Metal Gear Salad run.
Although Desert Bus is epic and quite an accomplishment, I think that Color a Dinosaur is more legendary. It quickly became a running gag that still lives on.
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JXQ wrote:
Anyway, would it really be a problem to allow the "Ask [etc]" threads to run rampant? This is the off-topic thread, after all. The more interesting discussions will float to the top as is the way forums work. Shrug.
I think that such threads would quickly become the subject of trolling if they were let to run rampant. As a moderator I find it's best to prevent trolling on this forum and encouraging people not to create threads that are most likely going to become just tools for trolling is a way to prevent it. Flygon himself said that his thread will probably be locked because of the questions he expected and I wanted to prevent such questions ever being asked to keep this board more civilized.
Though, if everyone else disagrees with me, I won't stand in the way of more "Ask me" threads.
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I'd like to add that if you have a question for me but don't feel like asking it in public, you can always send me a private message here on the forums.
Now here's that list of my favorite games. Please note that they aren't in any particular order and that I might be forgetting some games. Here goes:
The Secret of Monkey Island
LeChuck's Revenge
Trials HD
Super Mario Bros. 3
Mega Man 2
Super Mario Sunshine
Diablo 2
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Metroid Prime
Peggle
Fallout
Civilization III
Tekken 3
International Track & Field
Tombi
Spyro the Dragon
Crash Bandicoot 2
Viewtiful Joe
Angry Birds
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Donkey Kong Country
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Sam & Max Hit the Road
The Day of the Tentacle
Indiana Jones and the Fate of the Atlantis
Earth Defence Force 2017
Rock Band
That's all I can think of now and I'd say it's pretty comprehensive. I do like other games too, but I'd say those are my favorites.
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Patryk1023 wrote:
Dear Brushy,
If you have all comunicators, like ICQ, AIM, XFire and another, what you will to do, to get me?
I'm sorry, I didn't quite understand the question. Which instant messenger would I use to contact you? Well, out of all the available instant messengers I use MSN Messenger, Facebook chat and IRC. I think IRC is by far the best protocol, so I would prefer to use that to contact you.
Warepire wrote:
Dear Brushy
What do you think of governments that passes laws out of spite?
Well, I wouldn't show my support for such a government. I'm not really that much into politics though, so I don't think I can say more about that. Governments should only make good decisions, but that's not easy.
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Mitjitsu wrote:
Dear Brushy
What form of death, and what form of torture do you fear most?
Hmm, this is a tough one as I'm not particularly afraid of dying. I would want to die peacefully knowing that I would die soon, so I could say good bye to all my loved ones. I wouldn't want to die alone or suddenly or painfully, but I can't say that I'm afraid of it.
As for torture, I'd say that I'm most afraid of my torturers making me watch other people suffer. I can withstand pain although I don't like it, but I don't want other people to suffer because of me.
Thank you for this question, it made me think about things.
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Warp wrote:
Dear Brushy.
I saw this ad that said that only I can prevent wildfires! And here I am, sitting on my ass even though I am the only person in the world who could prevent wildfires. The ad was very adamant and specific and emphasized that only I can do it. What should I do? So many wildfires to prevent, so little time.
You saw that ad too? I thought I was the only one who can prevent wildfires, but now you tell me that you can do it too. Awesome! We can form a wildfire-preventing team, Brushwarp! You'll be Warp and I'll be Brushy. You will have the Warpmobile and I will drive the Brushmobile. Now, let's get cracking!
Well in reality, Smokey the Bear is a filthy liar and his pants should be set on fire just to show him that lying isn't nice. Just don't play with fire in the wild and practice safe sex and you'll do fine.
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Dada wrote:
Not to belittle the people who work in the industry these days. They're all also extremely talented and hard working individuals, but it's become much more of an industry than a craft.
This is very well put.
Dada wrote:
Sorry for rambling since this is your topic and not mine, but I liked your answer and I'm glad there are people here who agree with the notion that it's not just all about nostalgia.
No need to apologize, you and everyone else is free to "ramble" and comment on my answers and post their thoughts here. This is not really my thread, it's just a thread to help me with my English and maybe help people get to know me. I encourage everyone to post their questions and thoughts about me or the subjects discussed here to this thread!
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Mukki wrote:
In which context do you hope to study English? Do you hope to study the literature, or are you interested in the more everyday functional, or perhaps technical, application of the language? I have recently considered doing a postgraduate degree in English, however as a British citizen it would be geared towards literature and I wonder how representative that would be of other English degrees throughout the world.
Well, the study program has been reformed quite recently and it fused English translation and philology. So if I will be accepted, I will study both. I guess my main interest is in translation right now, but different aspects of the language might grasp my interest when I actually get to know them better. I'm not quite sure what I will be studying and how much, I haven't really put my mind to this yet and I just hope to get in. Then I will see what I'm put up against.
To be honest, I haven't really ever studied English as a school subject that much, so actually having to learn the grammar and spelling rules and such more carefully and be able to tell why it is so might prove challenging. Though I'm not sure, I might adapt the reasons for the rules as naturally as I've adapted the usage of the rules. School hasn't ever really taught me much about English, I'm quite self-educated. I basically taught English to myself right after I learned to read by playing video games such as Monkey Island with a dictionary next to me. Using English has always been quite natural to me, I don't really have to put as much thought into forming sentences and spelling words correctly as one would think.
Mukki wrote:
As the English language seems to be something of a legacy of the British Empire, do you feel pressured to learn it in order to get full enjoyment out of the internet and modern culture? In other words, do you hope to study out of necessity or out of genuine enjoyment of the language as opposed to others? Do you know people with less proficiency in English and feel that they are losing out in some way?
I do not feel pressured. I have chosen myself to learn English to be able to enjoy everything offered in English. I enjoy studying and using English mainly because it's somewhat a lingua franca. I'm able to communicate with millions of people without big difficulties. Of course media is also a big reason to study English. I'm able to enjoy the lyrics of so many of my favorite artists because they write their lyrics in English. I don't have to rely on the Finnish translator's interpretations of American phrases and pop culture references when watching The Simpsons. I'm able to watch so many foreign movies, because one can almost every time find English subtitles for them. So I enjoy English, but I've never felt pressured to learn it.
I do know people whose language skills are not on par with mine and some of them do feel that they're missing out on things. Most of them just don't care though, as they watch their movies and series on TV and there's always a Finnish subtitle available or they don't care about the lyrics of the song they listen to etc.
Mukki wrote:
I remember learning French back in High School and the language was taught as being inextricably tied to the culture itself (i.e. examples would always be set in a stereotypical parisian setup with questions based on widely known French culture). Do you feel that the study of English requires a meaningful understanding of British (or North American) culture, or do you find it to be more worldly than that?
I think that English doesn't require that much knowledge or understanding of the British or North American culture. It's an asset to know about these things, but I don't think it's necessary. One doesn't have to be in the UK or the US to use English as so many people from so many different cultures use the language on a daily basis. I have a pretty good understanding of British and North American culture, I think, and I've been able to my benefit. For example, my ex-girlfriend's father was an American. I got along with him quite well and I was able to understand his cultural references and be more relaxed in conversations because I understood the American phrases he used without any problems and so on.
Mukki wrote:
What are your opinions on being bilingual? Do you feel that the extra vocabularly has allowed you to express yourself in ways that would otherwise be impossible, or more difficult? Have you found the experience of engaging with those of a different tongue to be worthwhile? Last year, on a whim, I asked a German friend of mine which language she thought in, she said English, as it was faster. Do you find merit in this?
I find that being bilingual is an asset. I should actually be trilingual, as I was born in Estonia and my family is Estonian. My mother and my older siblings speak mainly Estonian to each other, but I've never used Estonian on a daily basis. It's a shame really, as I am really out of touch with my Estonian now.
Being bilingual allows me to use phrases and words from both languages to express my feelings and thoughts to most of my friends from all over the world. If English has a good way to say how I feel or what I think about something, I say it in English (or in some rare cases, translate it to Finnish). It also helps if I don't remember a word in Finnish, but I remember what it is in English, since then I can make myself understood.
I can think in English and I usually do if I'm using it. This is extremely useful, as it allows me to communicate with a lot better efficiency because I don't have to translate everything to English in my head first. I don't think I normally think in English that much, because my environment is mostly in Finnish.
Mukki wrote:
Finally, most native English speakers do not have a second language due to the vast numbers of English speaking people in the world. As a person who has made the effort to learn English as a second language, do you find this attitude of native English speakers to be distasteful in any way? Do you feel that it contributes to a sense of isolationism that may manifest itself in foreign policy decisions of English speaking nations?
Yes, I do find it sometimes a bit silly (not distasteful, but silly) that native English speakers sometimes refuse to learn any other language because English is so widely spoken. Different languages enrich ones life, because they allow to understand different cultures a lot better. But some people don't care about different cultures and that's fine by me. Every person is an individual with their own choices. I do think it's a shame they choose to be ignorant. Please note that this doesn't apply to just native English speakers, but to all nationalities.
I don't unfortunately know what to say about that last question. I guess it does contribute to that, but I don't know.
I hope I made some sense and that you got something out of these answers. Thank you for the questions, they were very stimulating and interesting.
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Cardboard wrote:
Dearest Brushy.
What do I owe you for the candy which was brought to my vicinity this weekend?
Sincerely, Cardboard.
You must enjoy it my friend, that's all you owe me :)
Patryk1023 wrote:
Dear Brushy,
What is your best TASed game?
What is my best TAS? Well, I'm not a good TASer, but from my published runs I think that The Flintstones has the least possible improvements. I enjoy the obsolete Duck Tales TAS the most though.
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Dada wrote:
Dear Brushy,
It's been a long time since the release of Monkey Island 2, the game in your avatar. Talk about how gaming has changed since then and what you miss about the old days.
That's not a question, but I suppose it doesn't need to be.
There's not much to do here at work so I decided to compose an answer to this.
So, old video games. Me being relatively young and talking about old video games might seem a bit weird. But I like old video games. I'm not sure why exactly though. I'll try to gather my thoughts into this post but I won't promise they will make sense though.
First thing that comes to my min is graphics. Games are nowdays sold by how realistic the graphics are. I couldn't care about this at all. I prefer cartoonish and non-realistic graphics in games. Monkey Island 2 has the best graphics of all time in my opinion. The pixel art is great and clever and the backgrounds are just gorgeous. Crysis... Meh. I can look out the window if I want to see realistic nature and people. Spyro the Dragon has better graphics in my opinion, although they're fairly early 3D. They just look nice and serve the game well. Game developers concentrate too much on non-gameplay elements in general in my opinion.
The gameplay is too guided and linear nowdays when compared to the olden days. Tutorials take up a lot of time and game developers underestimate gamers all the time. This is not always a bad thing and might help introduce new people to video games, but I rarely have the feeling of achievement and discovery when playing modern games.
Action games suffer from michaelbayism. Explosions and slow motion all that seem to make a good game nowdays. I dislike senseless and meaningless effects.
People usually think that old games are played purely because of nostalgia. I disagree with this as I play a lot of old games because they have beautiful graphics, excellent and solid gameplay, inventive level designs and they're just fun to play! The first three games that come to my mind are Mega Man 2, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Monkey Island games.
There, I hope this didn't come out as a rant. I do enjoy many modern games and I will compose a list of my favorite games later. If Dada wishes to know more, please ask more specific questions.
Also, I apologize for possible typos. I used my phone to write this message.
