Monday, October 17, 2016

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Neutral Alignment for Dummies

First, huge thanks to KeyBlade999 for his FAQZaruel for the original Neutral method, and Tigo73 for a more condensed version of it. But it still wasn't as easy as it could be. Here's what the FAQ says:

  • When given the choice, use the first-listed response for all questions.
  • Go with Jonathan when the team splits after Shene Duque ("An Important Rendezvous").
  • In Tsukiji's question maze, always go left.
  • Choose "Destroy the status quo" when speaking with the White after Infernal Tokyo, but don't opt to become the True Messiah.
  • Only do the Challenge Quests required of you, or at least those that don't affect alignment. (See Challenge Quest Interactions for more.)
But I'm on my second playthrough and I want to get everything, so I'm doing everything considered optional. That also means keeping things in mind:
  • Don't worry about killing the demonized Issachar too quickly in your OP NG+ form. In keeping with using the first-listed response for all questions, killing Issachar too quickly means you'll miss the chance to choose the first response, which means your alignment points will be 5 points higher. Following through the end with first-listed/choice/Jonathan/destroy the status quo, however, that means your alignment points will be exactly zero instead of -5 (which also counts as Neutral). This however assumes you do the following as well:
  • With the two hunter tournaments (prelims and finals), you want to kill two and spare two, effectively canceling the alignment points out. The tournaments have four rounds each, and this way you'll have easier math.
  • In Ikebukuro there's an apparently optional woman who forces you to answer a question, and that question moves your alignment 10 points in either direction. Keeping in mind the previous two points, if you want to experience "everything" and still get the Neutral ending, then talking to the woman is not optional. So don't worry about talking without saving.

Friday, October 14, 2016

Less capturing from the TiVo and more buying from Amazon

I've noticed I no longer have the time and energy to capture, edit, and encode absolutely every show I want to keep forever, so I've decided to buy from Amazon more. I'm not just talking Blu-rays (which I absolutely will for the CW superhero shows), but Amazon Video as well.

This decision was made a lot easier when I realized that even if I did have a 1080p capture card, various TiVo hiccups (loss of sound, Skip notifications) and huge lower screen ads mean I won't ever get a clean capture anyway. And I'm going with Amazon rather than iTunes because while you can view your Amazon content on many different devices, you can only watch your iTunes content on Apple devices. Also, SD content on iTunes is complete crap (think: low-res, mobile-friendly videos).

America's Secret Slang is still just as good as I remember, and the quality is excellent in full 1080p. But there are plenty of other one-off History specials that I'd like to see, and they're all on Amazon too. Just search "History Specials." It's all part of one season, and obviously they won't let you just purchase an entire season (they're all unrelated and who knows how big the list will get), but they're (mostly) reasonably priced; $1.99 for SD, $2.99 for HD, and $4.99 for the handful of ripoffs.

Shows I'd want to buy in the future:

  • 101 Objects that Changed the World (and the other "101" shows)
  • How Life Began
  • Hacking the System
  • Wizard Wars
  • The various Anthony Bourdain shows
  • Food: Fact or Fiction

Panasonic AG-1980 quirk

I noticed Ranma 1/2 was on Hulu, but I got nostalgic for the way I watched it from the Blockbuster rentals: in English, and with various Viz Video trailers. I was able to snag the complete English-dubbed OAV collection for about $12 on eBay.

So I just hooked my Panasonic AG-1980 back up to my DVDO Edge for the first time in years and I'm noticing I need to let the VCR warm up for about 30 minutes (making sure to actually press the power button after plugging the power cord). No need to have a VHS playing for 30 minutes too.

I know this because after I had the VCR displaying a good picture, I had to leave so I stopped playback and powered off. When I powered on and hit Play, the bad picture returned.

For reference: