First, this will be my rage toward Haruhi Suzumiya’s french dubbing. If you english speakers were whining about the quality of english dubbing, you actually got it better than us, the frenchmen.
The voice actress sounded like an unpaid walker-by they randomly picked up in the parisian underground train. Even a highschooler from the theater club would have done it better. It is clear that the company that bought the rights was more interested in milking the cow than offering quality products to its customers. They intends to release it at a rate of one DVD of 4 episodes (likely 4, 4, 3, 3) for 19.99 euros. From the exchange rate, it’s about 15 dollars. Anime DVD is an expensive hobby in France.
Bitches don’t know about my rage
Next topic is D&D4
I am not angry over D&D4 changes but more annoyed by the haters. Mind you, as a pen & paper RPer, I am mostly from a AD&D2 background.
What I liked about D&D4:
- The skills has been trimmed down. Making it a little less intimidating for the newbie who don’t know in what skill to invest, and casting away the fear to have a skill he will never use.
- Whatever character build you make, it will be playable, and will have something to do in the group. D&D3.5 may have offered LOT of options, but in the long run, only a few are actually viable and “competitive”, and an handful of builds were just plain useless, or just here for the lulz.
- “Healing surges” and “Second wind” makes the dungeon crawls less deadly and bring the campains a cinematographic or anime-like touch.
- The fighters classes has been beefed up, and has a lot of options opened to them. An axe fighter will definitely be different from the one with a chain, a sword, a polearm or a mace. “Tome of Battle” from D&D3.5 were a step on the right direction.
- Spellcasters were toned down, potentially making for less arguments over the more ambiguous spells. Now wizards has to depend on the group more than ever, instead of stealing the limelight from the frontline tanks.
- The choice of race DOES matter a lot. Eladrin’s Planewalk will remind the Moorcock fans, like me, of the Corum’s ability.
What I has not liked in D&D4
- Disappearance of Barbarian, Bard, Druid and Monk classes. They may go back in other books tho.
- The Vancian magic system is gone. It was one of the most unique features of Dungeons & Dragons. I guess it was the cost of the spellcasting classes nerf.
- No more Hit Dice. It was the random factor of D&D up to D&D4 when you leveled up, the source of great joy or great despair.
- No more animal companions or familiars. It is the reasons you usually play a ranger, a paladin, a druid, a wizard or a sorcerer. You wanted that damn pet you can show off for bragging right. “hi I am a ranger with a HUEG black bear as companion.” That was badass. I am hoping that WoTC bring them back. Then again, D&D3 has done away with the Figther’s followers that started to come to follow him when he hit the 9th level. It’s like people has heard of how balls-out badass that fighter was and started joining him.
The common regret I have when I read D&D3 and D&D4 is how much fluff is gone. When I open my AD&D2 books and read them, the amount of fluff usually spark my inspiration and scenarios are getting played out in my mind. Just reading the AD&D2 version of the magical items section brings me nerd tears, imagine the adventure ideas you get as a Dungeon Master. Yes, the dungeon master is not always that sadist with a god complex bent on making the players’ lifes a hell, he is also a guy who want to share a good time and a nice story with his players.
I can somewhat understand the backlash against D&D4 from one angle: Wizards of the Coast marketed D&D4 as in “D&D3.5 BAD! D&D4 GOOD!”, raising unreasonable expectations from the playing base.
I understand less the guys whining about lack of rules covering this or that. Back in AD&D2, we used to houserule when we could. Has “houseruling” become an obscenity, an aberration in the minds of D&D3/3.5 players? what part of the Dungeon Master Guide’s “Pick the rules you want” they has not understood? Has Roleplaying game become Ruleplaying or diceplaying game? I am not badmouthing D&D3.5, I think it’s a fantasic game systems… for video games. Sadly for you naysayers, I am the DM who usually improvise and houserule when I feel that rules are slowing down the game.
As for the “It’s a videogame now” argument, remember that back in the 1970s, videogames were barely an industry. Things has now changed, and WoTC has to find a way to appeal the newcomers. Designing mechanisms that are easily assimilated by the VGamers was the way to go. The popularity of anime or cartoons like Avatar was also something to keep in mind, as a consequence, “Haut en couleurs” was the flavor to take to appeal to them. If people wants grit in their heroic fantasy, they could always play Warhammer Fantasy Game. I’ll stay with my D&D.
Yup, this is a D20, from Ancient Rome
Pen & paper RPGs were a fantastic tool for people like me who couldn’t afford a console in the 1980s-1990s, I’ll always cherish the memories of my very first AD&D2 campain, that was epic, offering feelings and emotions over those I got from playing, let’s say, FFVII. The thrill over when my party’s barbarian was rolling a D20 on which the fate of the party was lying, the selfless, tear-jerking, sacrifice of the paladin when they has to do something about the Big Bad Boss, it is something that has to be lived. I have gotten attached to the characters of my players, and the universe I crafted, because it was something we built all together. Such was the charm of Dungeons & Dragons, it was a sandbox on which I could draw or write a world and its characters I can claim as my own creations. Something that the video game industry can’t give to me.
What I gonna do with D&D4? I’m likely going to pick bits from previous editions I liked and houserule again.
Tags: Anime, pen & paper rpg, Random
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Anime DVDs cost more in the US, I think (vol.1 of Lucky Star is currently US$22 at Amazon).
Euro has a higher value than dollar actually, so we have no luck actually (example : Age of Conan’s monthly payment, basically, americans pay 9 euros per month whereas europeans pay 15 euros per month).
D&D4 looks fun, as a 3.5 player, the fact that wizards became easier in the beginning is good, and fighters actually being really differents between them is more than good(I liked a lot the tome of battle, it added so much possibilities for fighters).
Actually 19.99 EUR would be about 31 USD, that’s what almost I paid for each of my US Limited Edition DVDs (35 USD/ea), anyway the french dub made me cringe.
It’s been a while I haven’t played D&D, since my players lost my FR manual, maybe I should use D&D4 as an excuse to form my casual players group again (too bad for them I am that sadist with a god-complex DM type).
The changes with the fighters are very tempting, maybe I should find another DM and play my mace brutal fighter archetype, I am so sick of players only using sword type weapons because well… heroes like to use swords! orz.
@ SS
As said by the people before me, it’s actually cheaper for europeans to buy goodies from USA or in US $ than buying them in France in euros. Not to mention the ridiculous tax on audiovisual goods from the french governement. Oro’s Azumanga Daioh was actually cheaper to me than the french version.