Enough people have signed up for monthly GameSpite support subscriptions that I can afford private web and MySQL hosting for the site. This means, assuming it works out correctly, that the site will become much more reliable, especially where the forums are concerned. Apparently it’ll take a few weeks for the switchover, but those irritating Error 500 messages should be a thing of the past, soon.
Also, I’m not sure if this is good news, per se, but my review of Chocobo’s Dungeon is online. Spoiler: It’s good! The game, I mean. I make no claims about the review.
With the “Quarterly Goodies” should we expect them near the start of the quarter, end of it, or whenever you get around to it? Its no rush, but I was curious.
And can we get images in the feed? I read your posts in Google Reader, and the images never render. Are those features for paying subscribers? Who do I send my cheque out to, and where do I send it?
The server is set to prevent image hotlinking, so you’ll need to read the posts here to see the accompanying visuals. The feed actually isn’t supposed to include text at all, just the title and a link, so I’m not sure how you’re seeing that much.
I’m glad that our money has helped support the site in such a manner!
Chocobo looks like great fun. A good looking rogue-like? With a Final Fantasy job system? Awesome! Methinks I’ll sell something on eBay…
One question: Can you change jobs mid-dungeon, or are you stuck with one choice each dive? I couldn’t glean that information from the review.
Sounded like you pick your job and stay with it on the dive.. which is still fine for me. I was prepared to give the game a pass but I am a sucker for the job system. When’s this due out, anyway? This week? Next?
If you will make no claims about the review, I’d be happy to – it was damn good.
The game comes out on the 8th.
You can change Jobs within some of the dungeons, but you’re always stuck with your choice until you reach the next change point.
Oh, man, please don’t take away text from the RSS feeds. :( :( :(
Text in feeds is already supposed to be off. I’m not sure why anyone’s able to see it, and I’m annoyed that they can. Is it so frickin’ hard to click a link once a day? I love RSS but geez, it makes people awfully lazy.
Oh please, you beat yourself up too much. There’s nothing wrong with your writing here except for a few areas that could be edited down. There are some long sentences and some superfluous info, big deal. I’d even say that’s irrelevant considering the type of game it is. People unsure about buying a Chocobo RPG already have bigger issues like “will the Gamestop clerk think I’m a crazy Otaku or a gay? Both? Should I just go full throttle and buy Viva Pinata too?” They will take any info they can get, you know?
At least you’re still staying in the realm of legibility. Half the stuff Sean Elliot writes requires multiple readings and a thesaurus. It’s like he’s writing for some new, monocle wearing, secret society of gamer that you have to be a five year veteran of GAF to join.
RSS isn’t about being lazy. It’s about being able to stay in touch with more websites. I follow a few hundred sites, several hundred items per day. And on the sites that are important to me, with articles I find relevant to comment on, I’ll click through.
I’m pretty new to following this site. I like what I read. But I wouldn’t be able to follow it in a meaningful way if I didn’t receive the updates in my reader. And with the volume of information I read, pinging me with the title only would be too inconvenient for me to continue the relationship. I hope you don’t go down that path.
My $0.02
JP:
Enough with the self-deprecation. I really enjoy your writing and the Retronauts podcast, and your sophistication and enthusiasm are always appreciated.
That said, is this a Retronauts week?
I use RSS almost exclusively to view the web, but I also click through to read any article that looks interesting in its original context. I feel I owe creators the courtesy of viewing their work they way they intended, not within the badly-formatted mess of an RSS feed. I suppose this is just a quirk of being old-fashioned.
one question re: Chocobo review: why a B+? What kept it from being an A? I didn’t see anything actually negative in the review so’s I’m wondering about that.